Korean Peoples Army soldiers march in Pyongyang Thursday. Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images As the two adolescent leaders of the U.S. and North Korea continue their increasingly tense standoff, China warned both countries on Friday that if war breaks out, no one will win. We urge all parties to refrain from inflammatory or threatening statements or deeds to prevent irreversible damage to the situation on the Korean Peninsula, said Wang Yi, Chinas foreign minister, according to state news agency Xinhua. Wangs comments were full of criticism of both countries, which he said are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent. As North Korea appears to be nearing a nuclear test, and the U.S. military stages naval forces nearby, Wang implored the countries to communicate. As long as dialogue takes place, it can be official or unofficial, through one channel or dual channels, bilateral or multilateral. China is willing to give support to all of them, he said. Wangs warning comes hours after North Korea released a blustery response to President Trumps recent comments that the U.S. may soon solve the problem and deal with North Korea. I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2017 North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2017 In an interview with the AP on Friday, North Koreas vice-minister Han Song Ryol accused Trump of making trouble and provocations with his aggressive words. The AP adds that Han cited Trumps tweets as problematic. In a separate interview with CBS, Han said Trump is openly pursuing a policy to annihilate North Korea, and added that the country could preemptively strike with a nuclear weapon, if they sense a threat from the U.S. If the U.S. comes up with a dangerous military option, then the first card is in our hands. Well deal with it with our pre-emptive strike. This means war, Han said. Tracy sought to clarify Hans remark; So you are saying if you feel North Korea is going to be attacked, you will use nuclear weapons? Of course, Han replied. The North Korean military also got in on the fun on Friday, with its own statement, saying that American military bases in South Korea are at risk. It also denounced the maniacal military provocations coming out of Washington, D.C. China is not alone in its worry about a potential North Korean nuclear test and the unpredictability of Trumps response. Japan is reportedly discussing plans to evacuate 60,000 citizens from South Korea, and considering how it would handle a wave of North Korean migrants in the event of a war. Meanwhile, Vice-president Pence is preparing to travel to South Korea amid the drama. He will arrive in Seoul on Sunday, on the first stop of a ten-day Asian tour. What happens if North Korea tests a nuclear weapon the day before Pence arrives in Seoul, as some expect? The White House has contingency plans, Reuters says. The visitor logs will be available through FOIA five years later. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images The White House under President Trump will keep its visitors logs a secret, the administration announced Friday, citing concerns over privacy and national security, along with the pittance this change will save taxpayers. The move is a break from the Obama era, when the White House maintained a website with a searchable archive of millions of visitors. That website is now dead. The Obama policy was not perfect: An exception allowed purely personal visits to go unreported, and that exception was often abused. As Time notes, meeting lobbyists at nearby coffee shops, instead of at the White House, emerged as another favored way to skirt the logs. Still, the Obama policy allowed him to keep his promise, at least in this one area, to have the most transparent administration in history. The Trump White House, on the other hand, will keep its visitor logs secret for five years, at which point they would be available through the Freedom of Information Act. Why does Obama believe he shouldn't comply with record releases that his predecessors did of their own volition? Hiding something? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2012 In seeking to justify the change, an unnamed White House official told Time that it was made because of the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. They also mentioned the money that could be saved by ending the contract for Open.gov. Its a whole $17,500 a year, or $48 a day. Photo: Letizia Le Fur/Getty Images/Onoky Theres a fair chance chemical 1,4-dioxane hasnt crossed your radar, but its everywhere, and now senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to ban the ingredient from personal-care products because of its potentially cancerous effect, according to a report from the Hill. Used as a solvent in everyday items that range from shampoos and liquid soaps, to lotions and household cleaning products, 1,4-dioxane has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a likely carcinogen to humans. Still, brands continue to use the ingredient, as the FDA the regulatory agency for cosmetics has not prohibited its use. Not all companies are required to list 1,4-dioxane on product labels, either, which further muddles the scale of its reach. The fact that 1,4-dioxane, a potentially dangerous chemical, is hiding out in everyday products expected to make us clean is very disturbing, and to make matters worse, likely carcinogens like this one can be even more harmful to kids, wrote Senator Schumer in a statement. Schumer and Gillibrand were motivated to call for the ban after concentrations of the chemical that posed a one-in-a-million cancer risk were found in 71 percent of Long Island water suppliers subject to testing. That may not seem alarming, but in contrast, only 6.9 percent of water suppliers nationwide detected 1,4-dioxane in levels that posed the same cancer risk. In 2008, the Environmental Working Group a human-health and environment-protection nonprofit found that 46 percent of personal-care items contained the potentially cancerous compound. By petitioning the FDA to ban 1,4-dioxane, the senators are hoping to clamp the spread of the chemical in New Yorks and the United States water supply for good. Since 2001, Russian-Chinese relations have been largely grounded in security issues, both military and economic. The former is a shared perception of an increasingly aggressive United States and, in the case of Russia, concerns over the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations (NATO) deployments on the periphery of both countries. In the economic sphere, the defining element is Chinas rising interest in Russian energy exports. These twin issues will dominate Russian-Chinese relations for the foreseeable future andgiven the geographical distances involvedfocus increasingly on Russias Far East and the opening up of the Russian Arctic. Russias commitment to building up its Arctic infrastructure, as well as Chinas interest in this pursuit, was illustrated by the arrival, on March 30, of Sovcomflots $300 million Kristof de Marzheri liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker at the Kara Sea port of Sabetta, on the Yamal Peninsula (Komsomolskaya Pravda, April 2; see EDM, March 29). China is heavily invested in the development of Novateks $27 billion Yamal LNG plant at Sabetta. Last year, Yamal LNG signed agreements, in Beijing, with the Export-Import Bank of China and the Development Bank of China for providing about $11.2 billion for a period of 15 years to build the LNG plant. This liquefied natural gas facilitys output will be exported from Sabetta, a port custom-built for that purpose (RBK, April 29 2016). The deepening relationship between the worlds largest country and the worlds second-largest economy dates back to July 16, 2001, when Russia and China signed the Treaty for Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, the first such agreement between these two neighboring states since 1950. The most important elements of the 2001 Russia-China treaty covered cooperation on border demarcation, coordinated efforts to resist a perceived U.S. drive toward global hegemony, arms sales, technology transfers, energy and raw materials sales, as well as joint efforts to combat the rise of militant Islam in Central Asia (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, March 20, 2009). Related: Georgia Is Giving Up On Gazprom In the 15 years since the agreement was signed, significant progress has been made in all areas. During the period 20042012, foreign direct investment (FDI) by Chinese companies in Russia increased by a striking 40 times, to reach $4.9 billion (Xinhua, October 22, 2012). And in 2016, bilateral trade between China and Russia reached $69.5 billion, an amount that authorities hope to increase to $200 billion by 2020 (Russian.china.org.cn, February 20, 2017). An integral element in increasing bilateral trade will be the increased maritime transit of goods and hydrocarbon resources by developing Russias merchant marine infrastructure. Sovcomflot intends to buy 15 LNG tankers in total to export Yamal natural gas. Given the importance of Asian markets to these energy exports, upgrading Russias Far East maritime infrastructure has become a high priority for President Vladimir Putins government. And today, the Yamal LNG development epitomizes a new development opportunity benefiting both countries (see EDM, March 29). In March 2016, Russia began the total reconstruction of the Zvezda shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen Bay, Primorsky Krai, originally built in the 1950s. It will be the largest civil shipyard in Russia as well as a base for offshore equipment manufacturing and development. The shipyard will produce ships up to 350,000 tons, offshore platform infrastructure, reinforced ice-class vessels and other types of marine equipment. When Zvezda is fully operational, it will reportedly employ 6,500 workers (Dcss.ru, accessed April 7). The Zvezda facility will complement the Far Eastern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center (FESRC), currently the Far Eastern Federal Districts main facility for constructing and overhauling seagoing vessels (Dcss.ru, accessed April 7). As with Yamal, Russia is interested in possible Chinese participation. Last August, Russian ambassador to China Andrei Denisov said, We are proposing to our Chinese colleagues to contribute to the development of our shipbuilding in Russias Far East. We are interested in attracting Chinese partners. If the Chinese side expresses interest in the reconstruction and modernization of production at the Russian Zvezda shipyard, then we will consider options, whether it would be investments or the purchase of a stake (Sputnik News, August 8, 2016). Clouding this rosy picture, however, is the fact that while the Far East is already Russias least densely populated region, Russians have continued to leave the area in search of more opportunities in other parts of the country. A 2012 poll by the All-Russian Center of Public Opinion found that almost 40 percent of the inhabitants of the Far East and Siberia were considering the possibility of leaving, citing low salaries (44 percent of respondents) and lack of career prospects (36 percent). Of those who wanted to migrate, 57 percent want to move to another Russian city (Vostok-Media, July 13, 2012). Related: Uzbekistan, Gazprom Settle On 5 Year, $2.5B Gas Deal Russian President Vladimir Putin has identified stopping the regional population outflow from the Far East to be a key task for the country. On September 1, 2016, he met with Vladivostok high school students on the eve of the 2nd Eastern Economic Forum and told them that his administration intended to retain and attract people to the region through an effective system of training young specialists (Kremlin.ru, September 1, 2016). Later that day, he visited the Zvezda construction site, thus highlighting the projects political importance to the Kremlin. Chinese interest in security for its energy imports will become an increasingly important factor in its relations with Russia. Moscow, in turn, will likely use that Chinese interest to bolster its Arctic development as well as its infrastructure investments in the Far East, particularly its maritime infrastructure. But whether Putins administration can convince Eastern Siberias population to participate in the regions renewal remains to be seen. By The Jamestown Foundation More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The deal struck at the start of April has been cast as historic for how long it runs before expiring long enough to ensure some certainty of cash transfers in economically uncertain times, but not so long as to make the hedge feel semi-permanent. Gazprom has historically favored calculating gas supply agreements in Central Asia in decades rather than single years. Despite that spin, the deal evidently signals a noteworthy withdrawal by Russia from the Central Asian market. Gazprom bought 6.2 billion cubic meters of gas from Uzbekistan in 2016 and is buying only 5 billion cubic meters this year, so the five-year deal represents another drop. And Gazprom has recently reiterated that it has no intention of resuming gas supplies from Turkmenistan. As to the question of why Gazprom is buying the gas when it has more than enough of its own, the explanation is offered succinctly by Mikhail Krutikhin, an analyst with RusEnergy, writing in Russian weekly magazine New Times. Gazprom sells its Uzbek gas to the southern regions of Kazakhstan, and in exchange on the Kazakhstan-Russian border it receives fuel for its gas refinery in Orenburg [in Russia]. This plant is heavily reliant on these foreign deliveries, which average around 8 billion cubic meters annually. And these substitution schemes, whereby the deliveries are partly compensated for by the gas from Uzbekistan remains in place, although the Kazakh are gradually working out the supply to their southern regions with their own gas, which will make Uzbek deliveries less critical than they are now, he wrote. Related: Goldmans $50 Forecast May Prove Bullish Krutikhin looks at the matter from an understandably Russian perspective and speculates about the implications of Kazakhstan gradually meeting its own demands internally. The survival of the Orenburg plant would remain in doubt, he said. But significance for Uzbekistan is hardly any less grave since it would as is happening to Turkmenistan now be reduced to a dwindling set of options about where to export its gas other than China. That said, Uzbekistan currently struggles to meet even internal demand, leading to thousands of households having to go without gas supplies at times of peak demand, such as in the winter. A gradual transition to a market-based internal distribution could prove more advantageous than any deal with Gazprom, but that scenario would require a substantial improvement in household incomes if it is not to cause deep and perilous discontent. Gazproms relationship with Uzbekistan goes back many years. In 2002, it signed a strategic partnership deal with Uzbekneftegaz that envisioned its participation in production sharing agreement (PSA) projects to pump gas in Uzbekistan. That is now bearing fruit. In 2004, Gazprom began producing gas at the Shahpahty field under a PSA. Between August 2004 and July 2010, the field saw an output of 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas. In 2006, Uzbekneftegaz and Gazprom entered another agreement on the conditions for joint explorations at investment blocks in the Ustyurt region, where reserves of gas are estimated at around 120 billion cubic meters of gas. At the end of the year, Uzbekneftegaz granted Gazprom exploration licenses for seven investment blocks investment into exploration was valued at $400 million. A breakthrough came in 2009, when the Dzhel natural gas field was found on the Ustyurt plateau. A PSA is reportedly in the works there too, but it is unclear what stage things are at on this front. Both Shahpahty and Dzhel are located in the remote western deserts of Uzbekistan. Related: Petrobras Reports 2.74M Bpd Daily Output For March In February, Alisher Sultanov, chairman of Gazprom affiliate company Gas Project Development Central Asia, or GPD, predicted that there were imminent plans to sign a PSA between Gazprom and Uzbekneftegaz on yet another investment block Independence of Uzbekistan (Uzbekiston Mustakilligi), in the southern Surkhandarya province. We plan to sign the PSA during the visit of the president [of Uzbekistan] to Russia in April, he said at an intergovernmental commission in Tashkent on cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan. Sultanov admitted that the project was fraught with complications. This is not the easiest field, the geology and the gas content is complicated, he said. And that PSA was indeed signed during President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs visit to Moscow making it the second PSA between Gazprom and Uzbekistan although no useful details have been divulged by either party. The deal appears to require the near-site construction of a gas refinery facility, which implies a serious commitment. While Gazprom may not be interested in buying huge amounts of Uzbekistans gas, it evidently sees a commercial future in investing into producing fuel there. By Eurasianet.org More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Proven reserves in Alaskas North Slope could be tapped despite low barrel prices, increasing the United States footprint in international energy markets, according to a new report by MarketWatch. Currently, foreign firms are partnering with American companies to scope out opportunities in the northern state. In March, Spanish oil firm Repsol SA announced the largest onshore oil discovery in the U.S. in three decades a 1.2-billion-barrel find on Alaskas North Slope. Repsol has been actively exploring in Alaska since 2008 and finally hit a big one with partner Armstrong Oil & Gas. First oil is expected by 2021. The past five years have led to oil discoveries in the North Slope that have increased proven reserves by 14 percent. Another noteworthy find was made by Dallas-based Caelus Energy, which claimed that the shallow waters of Smith Bay held 10 billion barrels of light oil, with one-third recoverable at a $50-barrel price. President Donald Trumps team is set to review applications for companies like Eni, which aims to restart drilling in the Nikaitchuq Unit in state waters of the Beaufort Sea. The Department of Interior presides over applications to extract oil from federal waters in the area. Enis authorization to drill there was not automatically cancelled by President Barack Obamas ban, because the Italian companys contract predated the restrictions. Related: Georgia Is Giving Up On Gazprom The White House will likely approve the application for Eni to restart drilling based off of Trumps campaign promises to remove hurdles for oil and gas companies to work in federal lands and waters. But the new government has limited authority to approve new ventures in the northern reserves. Before leaving office, President Obama formally blocked offshore oil and gas drilling in most of the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean through 2022, responding to a call from environmentalists who say the government needs to do more to prevent drilling in environmentally sensitive areas of U.S.-controlled oceans. By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The blog ad industry has blackballed me and all of my websites because of my political views, so I can no longer support this site through ads. Accordingly, I have posted my resume for prospective employers to view. Even if Anthony had a year to analyze and dissect each piece...(he couldn't tell if it would)... stand the harsh light of public exposure. WUWT insider Willis Eschenbach tells you all you need to know about Anthony Watts and his blog, WattsUpWithThat (WUWT). As part of his scathing commentary , Wondering Willis accuses Anthony Watts of being clueless about the blog articles he posts. To paraphrase: Click here to read more. From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As... Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. 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Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy News / Africa by Agencies WINDHOEK - President Hage Geingob has said Namibia will make it mandatory for white-owned businesses to sell a 25% stake to blacks, calling the country one of the most unequal in the world.A draft bill on the Namibia Economic Empowerment Framework (NEEF) was expected to be tabled before his cabinet soon, Geingob said in a speech on Wednesday.Whites make up only about 6% of Namibia's population of 2.4 million, but overwhelmingly dominate business ownership.Geingob said Namibia had not seen significant transformation in the 27 years of independence from apartheid South African rule."The majority of Namibians remain structurally excluded from meaningful participation in the economy and as we established earlier, inclusivity ensures harmony and exclusivity brings discord," Geingob told the country's lawmakers."We require the support of all Namibians to fix the obvious and dangerous flaws in our social structure."Last year, rating agency Fitch cited the empowerment plan as one of the reasons it had downgraded Namibia's economic outlook from stable to negative, saying the policy would scare away investors who might not be willing to cede stakes in their companies.The Construction Industries Federation (CIF), the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Namibian Employers Federation have all expressed concern about the empowerment plan."Any empowerment initiatives should not lead to distinctions based on race, as it would negatively impact race relations," the CIF, which has a membership of over 470 companies, has said."Instead, poor Namibians, regardless of racial origins, should benefit through increased focus and monitoring of already existing empowerment efforts."The government of neighbouring South Africa has a regulation that at least 26% of the ownership of mining companies be in black hands. Companies say they should be considered to have met the rule even after black owners have sold their shares, which has become a bone of contention.In Zimbabwe, the government is considering amending black empowerment laws that aims to transfer majority shares from foreign-owned firms to black Zimbabweans after it was blamed for deterring investment. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East News / National by Robert G Mugabe Vice-President, Comrade Emmerson Mnangagwa and Amai Mnangagwa, The President of the Senate, Mai Ednah Madzongwe, Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, The Chief Justice, Honourable Luke Malaba, The Metropolitan Minister of Harare Province, Mai Miriam Chikukwa and all Honourable Ministers here present, Our Service Chiefs, Traditional Leaders here present, War Veterans, Detainees, Restrictees and Collaborators, Members of Parliament, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Fellow Mourners, Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades and Friends. AMAI Murozvi and the bereaved Murozvi family,We are, yet again, gathered here at the National Heroes Acre, in deep sorrow as we mourn and give a befitting send- off to one of our distinguished freedom fighters of the Second Chimurenga, the late Brigadier-General James Jotham Murozvi, whose Chimurenga name was James Tichatonga.Brigadier-General Murozvi's sudden death on Thursday last week, in circumstances that have shocked all of us, has robbed the Murozvi family, the Defence Forces of Zimbabwe, our party Zanu-PF and the Civil Service, of an illustrious family figure, freedom fighter, colleague and compatriot.May I, on behalf of Government and the people of Zimbabwe, Murozvi's wife Group Captain (Retired) Joice Murozvi, the children and his entire family, express my deep condolences over the untimely death of their beloved one. May his family draw comfort and courage from the knowledge that they are not alone in this their moment of grief. The pain they are going through is our pain together. For the late Comrade Murozvi was no longer their son alone, but our son together.Comrades and Friends,Many of us might wonder who Comrade Murozvi was, to deserve national hero status, which we have seen fit to bestow on him. National hero status is not conferred willy-nilly on our fallen comrades, but is given after careful consideration of one's personal attributes and contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe, and quality of faithful service to our nation and our people, throughout one's life.The late Brigadier-General Murozvi's life is characterised by acts of valour and supreme sacrifice for his beloved country, his family, which he had to leave behind, when he decided to join the trail to Mozambique, like many young men and women of his age. Many of them, if not all, abandoned education and work to join others in the liberation struggle.Leaving the country to join the liberation struggle was in itself an act of bravery and chivalry, which very few men and women voluntarily undertook at the same time. Some people who were coerced to join the liberation struggle were the very ones who deserted the struggle. But not so for the likes of the late Brigadier-General Murozvi, who volunteered to go for military and guerrilla training, in order to fight for the liberation of our country.In the period between 1975, when the young Comrade Murozvi crossed into Mozambique, until the time of the ceasefire in 1979, he undertook various assignments which he discharged admirably.As a member of the Education Department at the rear in Mozambique, Comrade James Tichatonga, as he was called then, played a very important role in teaching many children of school-going age, who had crossed the border into that country.(image)He ably and conscientiously applied the skills he had acquired during his short teacher training programme which he was forced to cut short, to avoid being conscripted into the national youth service that would have seen him fighting alongside our erstwhile colonial regime forces, but that would have been against his own oppressed fellow black Zimbabweans.After receiving specialised military training, Comrade Murozvi was deployed to the front where he distinguished himself both in combat in Manica Province and as a political commissar. He was later to serve as Detachment Security Officer in the Gaza Province until the attainment of our Independence in 1980.Some of the commanders he served under during the war of liberation struggle testified to Comrade Murozvi's heroic and remarkable achievements during that period. Some of his commanders include the likes of Comrades Paradzayi Zimondi (Commissioner-General of Prisons and Correctional Services), Major-General (Rtd) Gibson Mashingaidze, Colonel (Retired) Shumba and others.At the time of the ceasefire, Comrade Murozvi was deployed among a select Zanla Reserve Force which did not go into the Assembly Points, but instead remained in the operational areas, as our precautionary measure in case the ceasefire broke down, needing us to fall back on Comrade Murozvi's group, for us to continue prosecuting the armed struggle. As it turned out, the ceasefire remained in force and Comrade Murozvi and his team were to become instrumental in mobilising our people to go and vote en-masse in the 1980 general elections.After the attainment of our Independence, Comrade Murozvi was attested into the Zimbabwe National Army, starting at the level of lieutenant and rising through the ranks, to the level of Brigadier-General. Among his notable achievements as a serving member of the army include his involvement with the pioneer group of officers who spearheaded the integration of Zanla, Zipra and the Rhodesian Forces into the Zimbabwe National Army.As Military Intelligence Officer at Headquarters 1 Brigade, under General Chiwenga (current Commander of the Defence Forces), the late Comrade ensured the security of the South African National Congress' Umkhonto we Sizwe fighters, inside Zimbabwe en-route to South Africa, to wage war against the apartheid regime.He actively participated in the Operation Butterfly, along the Beira Corridor and Operation Cobweb, along the Nyamapanda-Zobwe Corridor during the Mozambique Campaign. After serving as our Defence Attache in the United Kingdom, his recent secondment was to the Ministry of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees, as Principal Director.The late Brigadier-General Murozvi excelled in his illustrious military career, before and after Independence. Academically, he is the proud holder of a series of several professional and academic qualifications, which include four academic degrees.In recognition of his selfless dedication to the liberation struggle and loyal service to Zimbabwe, the late Brigadier-General received the following medals:The Liberation Medal;The independence Medal;Ten Years of Service Medal for his contribution during the integration of the Zanla, Zipra and the Rhodesian combatants into the Zimbabwe National Army;Fifteen Year Long and Exemplary Service Medal;The Mozambique Campaign Medal, for his contribution to peace and stability in Mozambique;Democratic Republic of Congo Campaign Medal; andThe Grand Officer of the Zimbabwe Order of Merit Award, for the distinguished service to Zimbabwe and the sub-region.Comrade Murozvi was well decorated indeed.Comrades and Friends;The hallmark in the life of a national hero is dedication to a cause. All our national heroes who lie at this National Shrine fought for a cause, the common cause of our Independence, the common cause to defend our National Sovereignty, and the common cause to foster Unity, Peace and Development.What is your cause today? It certainly can't be a departure from our common cause, the revolutionary cause? People like Comrade Murozvi never prevaricated. They stood firm on the principle of national sovereignty and would not be compromised into betraying their hard- won Independence.To Comrade Murozvi, we say thank you for a job well done, a life well lived. You did not disappoint us during and after the liberation struggle. You saved your country well.May I, on behalf of all of you gathered here, bid our gallant son of the soil, Brigadier-General James Jotham Murozvi, farewell.Go well freedom fighter; go well beloved Comrade.May your soul rest in eternal peace!I thank you. Constituents peppered the Republican lawmaker with questions about President Donald Trump's actions in office, and his broader agenda on climate change, the president's taxes, the Supreme Court and Planned Parenthood. Much like other GOP town halls held since Trump assumed the Oval Office, attendees railed against Flake, many of whom accused him of being a rubber stamp for Trump. Flake, like Reps. Jason Chaffetz, Mike Coffman, and Sen. Mitch McConnell before him, attempted to answer the audience's concerns, though most explanations drew shouts and boos from the crowd. That was especially evident when an audience member asked Flake about Trump's nearly weekly trips to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. "Does this concern you at all? Do you approve a budget for these weekly excursions," an unidentified woman asked. "If yes, how much is that? And if no, why do you have no desire to control President Trump's spending or his personal profit from that spending?" The audience erupted. Flake answered: "As I mentioned, I wasn't critical of the last president or the president before that for what they do on their time off." "That's something we'll deal with when we deal with the budget," Flake said, "but I'm not going to tell the president where he can and cannot spend his weekends." Flake often criticized Trump during the 2016 election and dramatically confronted the then-candidate at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill in July. Though Flake's town hall on Thursday did not appear to have a large presence of demonstrators as those of some high-profile congress members in recent months, Flake at times struggled to contend with fits of chanting and jeering from the crowd at the Mesa Convention Center. "Can you please take your job more seriously, senator? We would appreciate it," one woman asked, displeased with Flake's response to a question about holding Trump accountable. "Three things always come out: the sun, the moon, and the truth why don't you get in front of those," a man asked, concerning the congressional investigations into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. On a question about Republican leaders' refusal to hold confirmation hearings for Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, Flake said the move was not without precedent. A man in the audience shouted, "Bulls--t!" as the crowd chanted "shame on you." "When do you feel like you'll have the backbone or conviction to put country over party and impeach him," a man asked Flake of Trump. "I don't care for Mike Pence either, but he's not as dangerous as Trump," the man said. Not all of the questions were hostile, and some constituents applauded Flake for sharing his time. The senator extended the meeting by one hour to take more questions, but the mood frequently returned to a bitter note. "Can you just remind me when you're up for reelection," one woman asked. The audience erupted in cheers at the question. Flake replied: "I think everybody knows." It was revealed last week by the former power minister under the Mahama administration, Kwabena Donkor, that AMERI bought flight tickets, paid hotel bills, and gave per diem and shopping money to members of the Addison committee when the committee went to Dubai to investigate the company. The statement added: "In 2015 before the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed between state-owned distributor, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Karpowership Ghana Company Limited, members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines And Energy, who were responsible for ensuring due diligence before the contract was signed by the government, and who was saddled with responsibility for ratifying the transaction were sponsored on a trip to Turkey by the very company (Karpowership) that the agreement was to be signed with. "Karpowership paid their airfares, hotel expenses and per diems." The Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas said there have also been several cases of government officials who are supposed to have oversight responsibilities over companies and institutions being sponsored by these same companies on trips abroad, serving on boards of these companies or involved with the company for personal gains. It described the trend as worrying, saying it "constitutes a huge impediment to the fight against corruption." The Minority in Parliament has said it will petition the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to probe the Addison Committee for accepting a sponsorship package from AMERI. The Minority spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, said the Addison Committee failed to disclose the benefits they got from AMERI, a company it was investigating for wrongdoing in a power agreement it signed with Ghana in 2015. Clearly, they failed to disclose the matter, and what is the intent behind the failure to disclose the matter? In terms of materiality, the amount given to them and flying them first class is enough justification to make it material. Putting them in a first class hotel is worse, and the fact that they accepted per diem and shopping money from the contractor, he said. What makes the matter worse is that I am hearing that since they came back, they made a phone call to ECG telling ECG to pay every unpaid invoice of AMERI. But the CSPOG said any investigation by CHRAJ must lead to the prescription and adoption of guidelines by which public office holders, institutions, and investigative committees would be held to. Actions such as we did yesterday to remove 50,000 names from payroll and pension to ensure that there are not ghost, Ofori Atta said. Changes at GRA and changes at customs ensure that we get the revenues that we need because I think part of the wage bill of our programme is really a test as to whether we really have the methods to ensure that the revenue that we have projected will get the money, he said. News / National by Stephen Jakes Police in Gwanda have reportedly summoned Mthwakazi Republic Party officials following their plans to hold an awareness campaign at the mining town.MRP spokesperson Mbonisi Gumbo said it has come to their attention that the CID Law and Order in Gwanda has visited one of their Matabeleland South MRP executive member and ordered him to come to their police station tomorrow at 10:00am (Friday)."The ZRP CID law and order demanded that when he come tomorrow should be in possession of the party's full structures. We would like to state categorically clear that we are not going to be intimidated by the police for what ever reason and we mean it. The Gwanda police denied us a clearance to hold our road show. So we have since decided not to go back to them. Instead we resolved to approach the Bulawayo High Court," he said."We can not be stopped by police from campaigning. Ever since MRP was officially launched on 11 January 2014 we have always been peaceful and we recently held another peaceful road show in Bulawayo. There were no incidence of violence. Therefore there is no reason why we shouldn't be given a clearance to peacefully campaign in our Mthwakazi territory."He said they view the actions by the Gwanda CID as intimidation and they are worried that those who are calling for extra judicial means to gain themselves determination as opposed to the peaceful means that MRP is trying to follow could be right."How can we participate in an election, where the process is not free and fair? We go to Matabeleland North you arrest us. In Bulawayo you arrested us in Plumtree you arrested us, now in Gwanda you deny us our Constitutional Right to hold a Sensitisation Road Show. "Kanti liyas'hlolela yini?" he said."We will not allow the Zimbabwe Republic Police to illegally run our party. Our party does not report to ZRP but to its relevant structures, therefore why must the ZRP be a thorn in the flesh for us? CID Law and Order in Bulawayo recently tried to sneak into our private meeting."He said they are aware that Zanu PF is running scared of MRP and they are doing all they can to stop them." We would like to warn you Abenico Ncube Zanu PF 's god father in Gwanda to stay away from MRP. We know how dirty you are but we don't fear you. Don't even try it. Chances are very high that the denial by ZRP to give us our clearance to campaign in Gwanda were influenced by you and Mashingaidze that dirty CIO in Matabeleland South," he said."Asikhathali njalo asibuyeli emuva, unyakozayo ngunyaka wokuqala kwenhlala kahle kweSizwe sika Mambo lo Mzilikazi liyathanda noma alithandi, liyafuna noma alifuni." Today, Ghanas foreign policy is to pursue economic diplomacy in every relationship it engages in with other countries. The foreign policy of this country has shifted focus from what we call normal diplomacy, that is, good neighbourliness, good relations, making sure that the countries surrounding you, you are very chummy with them and all of that," Mrs Botchwey said during her vetting as the countrys chief diplomat. She added: "What we have moved to is economic diplomacy and that is to ensure that in every relationship that Ghana engages in, that relationship should end up in promoting and protecting the interest of Ghana and also to ensure that it ends up in giving us positive dividends towards our development economically. So, that is the thrust of our foreign policy right now." This new line of diplomacy is informed by the Nana Akufo-Addo administration policy to industrialize the Ghanaian economy in line with the one-district one-factory policy. Last week, the Chinese Embassy in Accra warned Ghana diplomatic relation between the two countries could hit bottom rock if the clamp down on illegal Chinese miners continues. The Ambassador, Sun Baohong, claimed that most of the Chinese illegal miners engaged in the destruction of the nations water bodies and farm lands are victims of fraud. In a strongly worded letter to Ghanas Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Peter Amewu, the Chinese government also asked the Ghanaian government to guide the media in its work and how its portray Chinese leaders in various cartoon publications. China portrays itself as a developing country. Over the last decades, it has become the second biggest economy in the world behind the USA. What this means is that China is indispensable in the economy of third world economies like Ghana. It has the worlds biggest millionaires and billionaires. Trade volumes between Ghana and China reached $5.6 billion at the end of 2014, making Ghana the Asian Countrys single biggest trading partner. It has surged from $100 in 2000 to $5.6 billion. In addition, Ghanas export to China hit $1.4 billion in the same year. In the last decades, as its economy booms, and the demand for natural resources increases, Ghana, and many developing countries have borne the brunt of its imperialism. Chinas quest for natural resources to feed it factories and industries have been forceful, cozy, and without mercy. It is ruthless. The attempt to flush out Galamseyers (illegal mines) has ruffled the feathers of the Chinese government prompting the threat from Beijing. Galamseyers have existed in Ghana for over 50 years since Ghana begun mining gold. It is the introduction of Chinese technology in small-scale mining and galamsey that is causing destruction Ghanas cocoa lands and river bodies. The Water Research Institute of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research has warned that in the next 10 to 20 years, Ghana may import water for domestic use. In addition, cocoa production targets are increasingly under threat because of the technology the Chinese have introduced in our mining history. Already, the destruction of rivers and other water bodies by the Chinese and their Ghanaian accomplice is affecting diplomatic relations with Ivory Coast. The country last month complained bitterly to the Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Frimpong Boateng, that river pollution in Ghana is affecting the quality of water in Ivory Coast. Beijings international economic affairs policy lacks principles. It emphasizes on profit and ignoring justice. It gives meager with the left and takes much with the right. Ghana has become the receiving end of Chinas imperialism just like it has over the centuries with Western imperialism. China does not see our relationship with them as mutual. They see it as a master and a servant relationship. In diplomacy, friends dont threaten friends. It is in this light that we have to change our relationship with the Chinese. China needs us just like we need them. They need our raw materials, we also need their investments. They need our market badly, and Chinese diplomats know this fact. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi, refused to grant the plea of the accused. Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Simeon Inuoha, told court that the offences were committed on Feb. 16 at Iloro area of Dopemu, near Lagos. Inuoha said that the accused and some others at large, armed with a locally-made gun, robbed a pedestrian. The accused and his accomplice robbed one Mr Emmanuel of his two mobile phones, valued at N117,000. Inuoha said that a police team on patrol apprehended the accused while others escaped. The offences contravened Sections 295 and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. Adamu who resides at Tudun Murtala Quarters Kano, is standing trial on a one-count charge of rape, contrary to section 283 of the penal code. The prosecutor, Mr Rufai Inusa, told the Court that on March 13, one Aminu Safiyanu of the same address reported the case to Gwagwarwa police Division Kano. Inusa said that on the same date at about 7.30pm Safiyanu discovered that Adamu have been deceiving and luring his 12-year-old younger sister into an uncompleted building situated at Tudun Murtala Quarters Kano. Adamu had unlawful sexual intercourse with her several times, he told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge levelled against him. Fashola is standing trial on a two-count charge of unlawful damage and theft. The Prosecutor, Insp. Philip Osijiale, told the court that the traffic officer, who was attached to Apapa Local Government, committed the offences on April 3, at about 3 p.m., at Tokunbo Street in Lagos Island. He said that the accused climbed a ladder, cut the cable and was taking it away when some policemen on patrol saw and arrested him. The prosecutor said that the offences contravened Sections 248 and 348 of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011 which prescribe two and three years imprisonment respectively for offenders. The accused however pleaded not guilty to the charge. The Magistrate, Mr Omolaja Kazeem, admitted the accused to N50,000 bail with two sureties in like sum. Responding to the threat, Bio said: If collapsing galamsey will make you vote us out of power,that is fine. We know there are well-meaning Ghanaians who will support us in this cause because we are doing this to save our future generations. He reiterated the governments determination to fight the canker of galamsey after researchers from the Water Research Institute warned that Ghana could be importing water for domestic use in the next 10 to 20 years. He said: In 10 years time, we are likely to lose our water bodies due to your activities, so I want to state that the NPP government will not relent on its fight to stop Galamsey now. If because of that you will vote us out of power in 2020, so be it. Meanwhile, the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has asked the government to expose the invisible powers behind illegal mining (galamsey) in the country, saying it is the most potent way of clamping down on the galamsey menace. READ MORE: Galamsey Four more Chinese illegal miners arrested In a statement signed by its Deputy Executive Director, Mr Benjamin Boakye, ACEP said: One major impediment to the success of these efforts has been the invisible powers behind illegal mining activities. Some of the faces that show up in the day against galamsey are also the same ones that are, at night, behind the dredging of river bodies, the destruction of cocoa farms and the abandoned pits that serve as death traps in many mining communities. The minister, who was at Odweanoma Mountain at Atibie, Kwahu, in the Eastern Region for the opening of this year's paragliding festival, said some pilots in the USA have agreed to train the local people who are interested in piloting. According to her, the move will reduce unemployment, boost the tourism sector and bring foreign exchange. She told Citi FM: We are in talks to establish the pilot training school to help nurture indigenous people, you know there are a lot of Ghanaians interested in learning so we have spoken to the pilots from the USA who have agreed to train our local people. Three of the pilots have their own schools in the USA so it wont be difficult. Our youth who will have the chance to be trained in this program will also be employed and this will reduce the unemployment rate in the country. We turn to have a lot of foreign nationals who visit the country day in day out and not only during Easter, so this will also boost the tourism sector and bring foreign exchange. : , , , , - 28 . News / National by Staff reporter The European Union (EU) has given Zimbabwe $2,4 million to help farmers alleviate the impact of the lean season that peaked from January to March 2017.Once the bread-basket of the region, Zimbabwe has since 2000 struggled to feed its people due to droughts and President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks, which badly affected commercial agriculture.Ambassador Philippe Van Damme, EU head of Delegation in Harare, said with 70 percent of Zimbabweans living in rural areas and mostly surviving on farming, supporting agriculture would speed up economic recovery.The money would be paid out through the EU's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and comes barely five months after the EU had allocated another $8 million from the reserve of the 11th European Development Fund to address the impact of the crises through various resilience building initiatives.This latest allocation brings the total contribution by the EU and its member states to combat this crisis to approximately $114 million, which will help assisting some of the most vulnerable among the 4,1 million people that have become food insecure during the peak of the lean season and therefore in need of humanitarian assistance.Recent flooding has only exacerbated an already fragile situation."The EU has shown continuous solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in the face of successive hazards and consequent humanitarian challenges," Van Damme said."The worst has been avoided and we now have to prepare for the future, building more resilient communities against future climate shocks and other hazards."Through cash transfers initiatives we have contributed to prevent most vulnerable people to fall into chronic destitution while maintaining functioning markets; it is now important to strengthen capacities and coping mechanisms of these communities, improving, among others, their livelihood base systems, farming productivity and market linkages as well as better prepare them in case of new future disasters."This additional funding will ensure the EU's implementing partners, including the UN World Food Programme and Save the Children, continue and increase the geographical reach of actions started in 2016 until the end of the lean season.The Save the Children project targets over 58 000 affected people in four districts with humanitarian food assistance through mobile cash transfers. The WFP project targets over 67 000 beneficiaries, assisting them also through cash transfers. With this latest top-up, the EU has mobilised $27,5 million for measures to alleviate the El Nino-induced drought, such as cash-based responses and emergency livestock initiatives.The EU member states, of which eleven are represented in Harare, have bilaterally since 2015 also provided a total of $86 million for relief programs; in particular by contributions from the United Kingdom/DFID, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Italy across a number of key sectors such as food assistance, water and sanitation, nutrition and overall support to livelihood systems.Responses modalities are based on market assessment with a strong emphasis on the use of initiatives based on cash transfers.The sizeable total contribution by the EU and its member states is in direct response to the declaration of a state of emergency by the government of Zimbabwe and the subsequent appeal for humanitarian assistance in February 2016.Zimbabwe revised upwards to $188 million its emergency aid appeal last month after floods devastated large areas of the country.Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko reported that government was now seeking $188m for a flash appeal for Zimbabwe, a sharp increase from the $100m sought earlier.Van Damme said the EU's response was further proof of the continuing commitment to strengthen Zimbabwe's coping mechanisms regarding shocks such as the El Nino-induced drought. It said it was also contributing to the United Nations' Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP April 2016 to March 2017), for which a total of $352 million has been requested.Since imposing sanctions in 2002 over electoral fraud and human rights abuses, the EU has eased measures to encourage political reform in Zimbabwe, although it has kept its ban on Mugabe and his wife Grace, as well as an arms embargo.The EU accusations have been denied by Mugabe, saying the bloc was leading the West in trying to remove him from power as punishment for the land seizures. READ MORE: Four more Chinese illegal miners arrested The Water Research Institute of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research has warned that in the next 10 to 20 years, Ghana may import water for domestic use. In addition, cocoa production targets are increasingly under threat because of the technology the Chinese have introduced in our mining history. In a statement signed by its Deputy Executive Director, Mr Benjamin Boakye, ACEP said: One major impediment to the success of these efforts has been the invisible powers behind illegal mining activities. Some of the faces that show up in the day against galamsey are also the same ones that are, at night, behind the dredging of river bodies, the destruction of cocoa farms and the abandoned pits that serve as death traps in many mining communities. If current efforts will be successful, responsibility must be placed right where it belongs. We cannot win the battle against galamsey if those held accountable live in Accra and are out of touch with suffering communities. The statement also called on the government to support local authorities in mining areas with security reinforcement and logistics. These must have primary responsibilities for the sustenance of the environment and be required to give accounts of their stewardship to local communities and the Central Government. Central Government must, however, be on the beat to support local authorities with security reinforcement and logistics when needed. Civil society groups and the general public must also provide the needed oversight to keep all duty bearers in check, ACEP said. The police cum the military have stabilize the situation following the violence that we witness at Abogbloshie (Old Fadama). As I speak to you, we have adopted saturated patrols in the environment, making sure that our presence is felt, he told Radio Ghana. He added: So I can say that there is some kind of police authority on the ground and assisted by the military. We also talking to community leaders from both factions for them to bring amnesty to bear on their people. READ MORE:Old Fadama residents kick against relocation following unrest According to him, because of the history between the Dagombas and the Konkombas, whenever violence erupts at Old Fadama, the media often misreport it as a clash between the two ethnic groups. It has nothing to do with Konkombas and Dagombas. Konkombas and Dangombas are all brothers. The issue is, it bothers on criminality," Iddrisu told Radio Ghana. He continued: It was just a misunderstanding between some youths. We know we have a history: Konkombas and Dagombas. You know somewhere between 1993/94 we have a history. So if the media is taking that to make it look like when some youth groups fight something like that will be resurrected, it is very wrong [SIC]. I think we should be careful when we are reporting some certain issue because this issue stands a chance of exploding the northern region and Ghana, disturbing the peace of Ghana." The Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante Apeatu, had said relocating residents of Old Fadama will ensure there is peace in the area. But Iddrisu pushed hard against the suggestion, saying it will not solve the problem of violence confronting the community. "Because if you are relocating, it is not about the place, it is about the people in there, the behaviour of the people in there," he said. He said most asphalted roads develop potholes after a year of rainfall. We will consider doing this and it will be transformational because as for laying concrete, we can all do it in Ghana. You dont need to get anybody to come and lay concrete for you. Any mason from any village can come and lay the concrete and go on, he said. Touching on the costing, the vice president said a kilometre of concrete roads will cost $3.8 million which can last for 40 years while an asphalted road has a lifespan of 10 years costing $2.8 million The accused Saheed Muyideen, 38, Afeez Kareem, 28, reside at Ojota area of Lagos and are being tried for conspiracy and stealing. According to the prosecutor, Insp. Simeon Inuoha, the accused committed the offences on March 16 at Iyana-Ipaja, a Lagos suburb. Inuoha said the accused stole 15 iron doors, a welding machine and a grinding machine, property of the complainant, Mr Ademola David, valued at N570,000. The accused were, however, caught at the point of selling the stolen items, he told the court. The offences contravened Sections 285 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised). The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 285 provides three years imprisonment for stealing, while Section 409 stipulates two years for conspiracy. The accused, however, entered a 'not guilty plea. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs B. O. Osunsanmi, in her ruling, granted the accused a bail of N200,000 each with two sureties each in like sum. The accused was arraigned over a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide, contrary to sections 97 and 221 of the Penal Code. The prosecutor, Mr Emmanuel Danladi, told the court that one Isyaku Hussaini of Garatu village in Bosso Local Government of Niger, reported the matter to the police on April 4. Danladi quoted the complainant as alleging that he received information that the accused conspired with some persons to attack and machete his son to death in the bush. When the charges were read to the accused person, he pleaded not guilty. The prosecutor thereafter prayed the court for an adjournment to enable police complete its investigation into the case.The magistrate, Aisha Bawa, however, declined to take the plea of the accused person, saying that she lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter. Bawa said that the offence could only be tried by a high court and ordered the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice. The EFCC uncovered about $38million, N23million and 27,000 from an Ikoyi apartment. This is the latest loot that the EFCC has found this week. The numbers can make someone dizzy. The amount is just staggering. Thanks to the whistle blowing policy, the EFCC is finding stolen money faster than the Colombian government discovering Pablo Escobar's hidden money in Narcos. It's almost unbelievable to think the many empty houses we pass every day in Ikoyi has millions of dollars and Naira stashed in them. It's the same thing as standing on a spot and not knowing there is a treasure buried under it. This describes the struggle of the common man in Nigeria. Money is everywhere, you can feel it but you don't know exactly where it is. It's frustratingly elusive. A lot of sharp guys in the know are now snitching and exposing a lot of corrupt politicians. Nigeria is hard. Money must be made at all costs. Everyone wants a slice of the action right now. Anyway, whistle blowing is the new Yahoo-Yahoo. Why work all month and get a miserable pay when you can call the EFCC and blow the lid on some hidden money that you are aware of? Just imagine how much the whistle blower who tipped the EFCC to the money in the Ikoyi apartment would get? That's a whole lot of money. Even the boys who press the keyboards all day won't see that This might be a fool's journey. You have to be an insider within the corruption cabal to know where exactly the loot is. Who cares though? Fortune favours the bold. There is a strong temptation to buy a torch light and search many of the abandoned/unoccupied houses in Ikoyi and Victoria Island. You never know, you might strike gold and stumble on a stash of dollar bundles hidden away. As a patriotic citizen, it is your right to find where these corrupt politicians are hiding our money. It is your civic duty. Also, it will make you a rich man overnight. Serving Nigeria is not free, there must be some monetary reward attached to it at the end of the day. We think slavery doesn't exist in these modern times How wrong. Not only does slavery still exist it is happening here in America. Several Nigerians who were desperate to get to Europe by any means possible are now slaves in Libya. Nigerians and other citizens from Africa countries are being auctioned in slave markets in Libya. The North African country serves as a passage to Africans who want to get to Europe. From Libya, they take a boat to Europe if they don't drown in the sea. Some Nigerians are kidnapped by smugglers and sold in slave markets. They demand ransom from the families of these Nigerians and if they cannot pay they are sold as slaves. "Apparently they dont have money and their families cannot pay the ransom, so they are being sold to get at least a minimum benefit from that, said Othman Belbeisi, who is the International Organization for Migration's chief of mission for Libya. These Nigerians and other Africans are sold in public and parking spaces report the BBC. "People are purchased for between $200 and $500 and are held on average for two or three months" Belbeisi further said. Women have it a whole lot worse as many of them are raped and forced into prostitution. The governor made the call in his Easter message issued by Mr Semiu Okanlawon, a media aide to the governor in Osogbo on Saturday. The governor said it was in this attitude that citizens could be galvanized towards contributing their quota to the overall progress of the country. The governor however urged Christians to reflect on the importance of Easter celebrations in their dealings, not only with other Christians, but with people of other religions. He said Nigerians must eschew bitterness and all forms of violence, stressing that the progress, peace and security of the nation was anchored on good neighbourliness and peaceful co-existence. I urge you all to let the significance of the celebration reflect in our relationship with one another both Christians and the people of other religions. There is no doubt that these are tough times in our country but we must all keep hope alive that life will be better, he said. Aregbesola also reminded Christians that having gone through forty days of fasting and praying, Easter was a better time for them to purge themselves of things that are not Christlike. ALSO READ: Osun Governor says no meaningful development without women The major lesson of Easter is for us as Christians to reconsider the reality of our faith. The passion and death of Jesus underscores the love of the Father, who gave his only begotten son in love for us and the willingness of the Son to sacrifice himself for others to be liberated from the weight of sin, the governor said. He said the period should not just be used for merriment and visiting family friends, but Christians must lead by example in terms of contributing meaningfully to the growth and development of Nigeria. According to him, by laying down His life, Christ made the ultimate sacrifice in order to save mankind and bring hope to those who had lost direction and salvation. Peterside called on Nigerians to continue to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari, who he said had been working assiduously to reposition Nigeria and restore its lost glory. As we mark the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us also use the opportunity to pray for the APC-led Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. It has pleased God to put President Buhari in charge of Nigeria at this point in time and we are beginning to see a turnaround in the affairs of our country. Opinion / Columnist From a developmental perspective point of view regarding divergence of views pertaining to our economy foreign nationals and the so called purported investors have cause harm on our beloved economy. I have been studying carefully how most of these foreign nationals honestly we have remained poorer because these people. Most of them they come to Zimbabwe with small bags and satchels only to leave this country with millions of dollars. Why can't we also take advantage of our own resources and build ourselves from there. We have natural resources, wealthy mineral findings and we are gifted with high levels of literacy in our country but we have remained poorer probably by failing to provide good balance and checks. I want to make a very strong critical analysis regarding the foreign nationals and investors in our country and make good findings for recommendation to the cabinet of Zimbabwe as an academic and analyst in Zimbabwe. Our role as analysts is not only to criticise but also to appreciate were development has taken place and make good recommendations to enhance development in our country.Black empowermentOur president made a right thing by championing black empowerment policies spearheaded by organizations such as Affirmative Action Group (AAG) led by Phillip Chiyangwa and Peter Pamire. These were good programmes which saw the likes of Chiyangwas and Chanakiras and Masiyiwas rising to prominence. This is what should continue in our country so that at the end the rest of us will benefit economically to contribute positively towards our economy and development. Black empowerment is good for our country because it promotes development and self-reliance amongst our citizens. If you look at the land question, the idea was very good but the way it was implemented it was wrong because it had some loopholes economically and politically at the same time. Whilst the idea was good for our black majority but it has negative impact towards our economy. Previously land was owned by majority of the whites whilst the minority which are blacks were squatters in most parts of the country. These is happening already in our economy that the major space of our economy has been occupied by Chinese and indian nationals. The Chinese and Indians bring their own resources, labour, materials and resources and they do not even bank money which makes it very difficult for the locals to benefit.Foreign nationals are fuelling corruptionIf you look at major deals which involve foreign nationals especially Chinese it's all about corruption, they do not follow proper procedures and rules of investments they evade taxes and avoid paying royalties at the same. This is a serious challenge towards our economy. They keep large sums of money in their homes and they get away with minerals and most of our resources through leakages in different sectors of the economy. Our major challenge is these foreign nationals use locals to do their corruption and majority of them do not even follow immigration laws which makes it difficult to account for national resources. If you look at Chiadzwa diamonds you can even bemoan lack of transparency evolving foreign nationals and senior officials. We had diamonds that were worth 60 billion and up to now no one knows what exactly happened to these diamonds and major companies that were purporting to be investors looted almost everything leaving the country poorer with a lot of debts.Tex evasions and avoidanceEveryone knows that for every economy to function and perform very well, we survive on revenue from taxes and royalties. Most of these Indians and Chinese do not pay tax because probably they are fronting senior people which makes it difficult to have full tax compliance. If all tax procedures were followed very well I tell you this country can have more than 280 million United States Dollar revenue collections on monthly basis. We are having mining and tax leakages because of the Chinese and Indians in our country and this must come to an end.Labour and employment factorsWe have seen most of the locals being abused physically and emotionally and the law failing to take its course because they are politically connected. Labour laws should be repealed to protect locals from any kind of abuse from these foreign thugs who have plundered our natural resources. Most of our locals have been under paid and some to an extend of going for months without salaries and proper accommodation whilst they loot everything and siphoning our resources to their mother destinations. If you look at china today it's one of the economies that has grown so big because of taking advantages of sub Saharan nations using manipulation to bleed their economies. China bring their own labour, resources, capital they do not even use local banking sector which makes it very difficult for our economy to perform very well what the Government of Zimbabwe should consider is to repeal laws to protect our resources and our own people. They are several mega deals that were signed by the Government and China and nobody knows the nature of deals and what the country will benefit from those deals. Who exactly will benefit from these deals? Who is involved? Most of the deals were done in a rush without having balance and checks interms of legal consultations and procedures and this will find the country losing billions of dollars and actually we have mortgaged our country to Chinese and Indians.Indian communityIndian community has literally caused harm to our economy. There is widespread information regarding how they operate their businesses in Zimbabwe and Africa at large. They have taken advantage of the locals and manipulate them using their wealthy which is not a good idea. They keep large sums of money in their homes, majority of buildings in Zimbabwe especially Harare they are owned by Indians and what do we benefit from that. I think the Government needs to do something before it is too late for our economy. They employ locals and under pay them and most of the locals employed by Indians cannot even afford to have a decent meal yet they are in our own country. Empowerment laws should be revised and they should cede a greater percentage to the locals for community development and economic growth through tax compliance. Currently we have a serious cash crisis and these are the people who are keeping large sums of money in their homes and trunks and this is total sabotage to our Government. Majority of locals are suffering whilst they occupy 87% of our land and buildings in major cities which makes it difficult for black empowerment championed by our head of state.-----Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo heads Mentorship Institute of National Development and Sustainability (MINDS) which deals with policy research and development. He is a development consultant and analyst. He can be contacted at greatorminds@gmail.com The Commands spokesman, DSP Anjuguri Manzah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday that the deployment covered recreational centres, places of worship and other busy areas. He said that the command had drawn up operational order to take care of the policing activities in the FCT within the period. Manzah said that the command was committed to fulfilling its constitutional mandate of protecting lives and property. He said Kimo, while wishing residents a fun-filled celebration, enjoined them to continue to partner with the command for better service delivery. Fayose also accused the EFCC of arresting suspects first, before looking for evidence to prosecute them. The Governor said EFCC will continue to lose more court cases because it does not investigate cases thoroughly. Fayose also said that the anti-graft agency has no right to detain people without trial. He said It is even more worrisome that former Governor Suswam has been in detention since February 26 this year and Austin Okai, who was arrested in Abuja last Sunday, was arraigned in Lokoja Magistrate Court on Thursday, granted bail and rearrested at the court premises by the same police that charged him to court. Arresting people without proper and thorough investigation is the reason EFCC continues lose its cases. How can you arrest someone, put him in detention and start looking for evidence to prosecute him? On Wednesday, the Department of State Services came up with the most ridiculous reason for keeping Suswam in detention since February. The service said it would not release the former governor because he has failed to cooperate with investigators. The question is; what cooperation does the DSS need from someone that will require him being kept in detention for close to two months without charging him to court? One may also ask: is the DSS also keeping the head of Nigerias Islamic Movement, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who has been in detention since late 2015 despite that the court ruled that he should be released? Are we back to the era of Decree 2 of 1984 when the National Security Organisation had powers to arrest and detain Nigerians indefinitely? Also, for what lawful reason would the Police charge Austin Okai to court and rearrest him at the court premises after he was granted bail? Isnt the brutish use of power by these APC elements getting too much? Most importantly, it is assumed that before anyone can be arrested for alleged corruption, the EFCC ought to have done its job by gathering necessary facts. This practice of EFCC arresting Nigerians, detaining them indefinitely so that they can give indicting evidences against themselves is alien to crime investigation in civilised world. Therefore, if EFCC has any evidence of corruption against Dr Babangida Aliyu, the commission should simply charge him to court and use the evidence(s) to prosecute him. In the absence of this, he should be released forthwith; else one will also believe the insinuation that the EFCC is holding him (Babangida) as part of the APC-led Federal Government clampdown on anyone that is perceived as having presidential ambition in 2019, he added. Meanwhile, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has rubbished reports of funds discovered in an apartment in Ikoyi. Wike made the comment in relation to the money which was found in an apartment in Ikoyi by the EFCC. According to the Governor, the Federal Government is covering the matter because its financial sponsor is involved. Wike also said that his government is not interested in Rotimi Amaechis prosecution, adding that the money should be returned to Rivers state. The Governor added that if the Federal Government does not return the funds, the administration will not know peace. Wike made the comment while speaking with Christian leaders in Rivers state. According to Vanguard, the Governor said The Federal Government wants us to believe that a security agency will keep a whopping N 16billion in a private residence in cash. They think that Nigerians dont have brains. When millions of dollars were found in Kaduna, the EFCC was quick to announce the owner of that money. Now they dont know the whistle blower in the case of the Ikoyi Billions and they are afraid to disclose the owner of the money. I am not interested in the prosecution of our son, the former governor, Rotimi Amaechi. We are just interested in the return of Rivers money . God has caught them. Meanwhile, the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has described the Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike as a confused child. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The Programme Manager, Mr Abubakar Malami, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto on Saturday that more than N6.6 million was spent on the repairs. Malami said: I inherited two grounded rigs and they were repaired with about N1.6 million, to assist dry season farmers in drilling subsidised tubewells for them. We have so far dug no fewer than 60 of such tubewells for the farmers across the state. Each tubewell was drilled for them at N40,000 as against the N 90,000 they were hitherto paying to private drillers per tubewell. According to Malami, the project had also recruited additional 159 agricultural extension agents. This, he explained, brought the number to 279 from the less than 100 he inherited about eight months ago. Malami further said Gov. Aminu Tambuwal had approved the recruitment of additional 250 extension agents between now and the end of 2018. The extension agents have been adequately trained and deployed to the 23 local government areas of the state. We are seriously partnering with the Institute of Agricultural Research, Zaria, Kaduna State, in this direction. The aim of these gestures is to meet the World Bank ratio of one extension agent to 800 farmers. These agents were provided with adequate mobility and logistics to be advising the farmers all-year round, he added. Malami further stated that the agency had repaired eight operational vehicles with over N5 million to ensure routine monitoring and evaluation. He lamented that he inherited only one partially operational vehicle, saying that the rehabilitated vehicles are being put into proper use. We really have to commend the governor for reviving the hitherto moribund project by injecting huge human and material resources into it. Gov. Tambuwal had repeatedly promised to turn farming in the state into a business and not farming only for subsistence. The import of this would be enhanced food production, value addition, reduction of hunger and poverty, among others. The State Commandant of the Corps, Mr Babangida Abdullahi, disclosed this at a news briefing in Sokoto on Friday. Babangida said: The two armed robbery suspects were arrested on Thursday night, at the Bado area, an outskirts of Sokoto metropolis. They were arrested by our personnel sequel to a distress call put to us by the victim. They were lucky to have seized N50,000, from the victim, but were unlucky as they had been apprehended. Their accomplices were now at large, with two AK 47 rifles, but we are trailing them. Abdullahi further said that the suspects believed to be between the ages of 26 and 27, hailed from the area. In a related development, the commandant said the command also arrested a 35-year-old man, Aliyu Umar, who had been parading himself as an Assistant Commandant of the corps. Abdullahi said the suspect was apprehended on Thursday when he went to the commands anti-vandalism unit at Bado, and introduced himself as an Assistant Commandant. He said the suspect was an unregistered volunteer of the corps until his arrest. The commandant averred that all the suspects were being interrogated at the corps headquarters in Sokoto. Speaking at the ceremony, Bishop Stephen Mamza, said the church paid the fine amount and got them released. The church also presented foodstuff to the remaining inmates. Mamza urged Christians to demonstrate love through sharing with the needy and underprivileged such as prisoners and internally displaced persons during such festive periods. Mamza said that the role of the Church as body of Christ is to put smile in the lives of the hopeless one in the society. In his remarks at the occasion, the officer in charge of the prison, Mr Idi Abubakar lauded the church for the gesture and its sustain assistance to the inmates during such festive periods. Abubakar tasked those released to reciprocate the gesture by being responsible members of the society. Recently, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered $38million, N23million and 27,000 from the apartment. Ozekhome said that the news of the discovery is a bid by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government to distract Nigerians from the poverty in the land. The lawyer also alleged that it is an attempt to present the EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu as an effective officer. According to Vanguard, Ozekhome also said The farcical story that National Intelligence Agency (NIA) , Nigerias external secret Police has claimed ownership of the sum of $43.4m, 27, 800 and N23.2m is total hogwash, bunkum and balderdash. Let this government and its minions credit Nigerians with some modicum of sense and capacity to reason, even with their valiant attempts to cow, browbeat and intimidate all opposition elements and critical voices in their so called corruption war. At least, not even the terror halo cast on our individual and collective psyche has dulled our analytical minds. The entire theatricality and Baba Salas Alawada Kerikeri buffoonery ought to be reserved for some circus show at the National theatre or Trafalgar Square, where comedians and humour merchants entertain. The emergent facts do not show NIAs ownership of the money, but grand cover-up of a serving ministers ownership of the money. It is so, so sad that all these national diversions are simply geared towards highlighting and emphasizing the omnipotence and indispensability of just one man, Ibrahim Magu, as Executive Chairman of the EFCC. We should build strong institutions, not strong individuals. Before Ibrahim Magu, there was a Nuhu Ribadu; there was a Mrs Waziri: and there was an Ibrahim Lamorde. After Magu, there would still be another EFCC Executive Chairman. All these so-called humongous recoveries of orphaned monies are simply geared towards showcasing ineffable efficiency, effectiveness and matchless proficiency. It simply doesnt work that way. In the USA, wherefrom we borrowed our presidentialism, the equivalent agency works silently behind the scene, only seen, but never heard, except where it becomes absolutely necessary. But, here in Nigeria, the EFCC engages in grotesque media trial, hifalutin and shocking disclosures of orphaned monies whose destinations after the media hype are never known. Where are all the alleged recoveries of are vast sums, attached properties, etc, made by the EFCC, kept and how much are they? When asked this question by the Senate during screening, Magu told a shocked and bewildered Nation he did not know! We seem now fixated to name, shame and humiliate Nigerians with the paint brush of shame, odium, obloquy and denigration. How can about N15 billion be found in highbrow Osborne Road, Ikoyi, by no means a back squalid street? How can a foreign arm of the Nigerian secret Police, the equivalent of CIA, keep such hard currency in cash at an unguarded apartment, tucked away with many other apartments in a block of flats, not in a separate heavily fortified and fiercely guarded stand -alone building that has keep off carefully imprinted on it? What was it meant for and who approved it and in which budget? Who was the whistle blower that could identify that such money was hidden in the bedroom in flat 7A, leaving out flat 7B, yet not knowing who kept the money there or its ownership? Why was EFCC not pictured or videoed going into the apartment, before we suddenly saw an arranged counting of money? Is there no CCTV in such a highbrow wealthy society members abode? Can we see the footages please? Only last week, N49m orphaned sum was arrested at Kaduna Airport! Then, suddenly another sum of orphaned N448m was discovered in an ownerless shop in Victoria Island. Who owned the plaza? Who sold there? Are there no CCTV there? Can we see them please? The truth is that all these simulated arrangee discoveries can only temporarily divert attention from the hunger, squalor, fear, disease, not performance and cluelessness of this government. But, unfortunately, even lies have their expiry date. Truth is inexorable, immutable and eternal. The chicken will finally come home to roost. Meanwhile, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said the $50million found in a luxury apartment in Ikoyi belongs to the Rivers State Government. This is coming on the heels of Wike's statement claiming that the $43.45million found in a Lagos apartment belongs to the Rivers state Government. The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) recovered the suspicious money in different currencies at a residence in Ikoyi, Lagos State. Wike alleged that the money was the proceeds from the sale of gas turbines by Rotimi Amaechi, who was his predecessor. Peterside, who also served in the Amaechi administration as a commissioner for works and later a member of the House of Representatives, slammed Wikes claim as deceptive. He accused the governor of turning governance into a circus show and lacking the sense of dignity by constantly being in the news for all the wrong reasons. Not too long ago, Wike apparently suffering from overdose of self delusion said he awarded road projects in far away Benue State and had mobilised contractors to site. The same Wike has also accused the Inspector General of Police of plotting to assassinate him through the new CP in Rivers State. We thought these were jokes taken too far. But the clownish governor has surprised himself with another tale by moonlight in trying to link his former boss and benefactor to the unclaimed money, he said. According to Peterside, there is need to examine Wikes state of mind because his utterances and actions are embarrassing Rivers people. Time and time again, Wike is bringing ridicule to the office he occupies and embarrassing the people of Rivers State who are known to be intelligent, responsible and decent in upbringing, he said. The APC chieftain said Amaechi, Minister of Transportation had since denied owning the said house in Lagos and challenged the Rivers Government to provide evidence to the contrary. Peterside explained that the money realised from the sale of gas turbines was paid into the account of Rivers state and used for projects. While Wike can never come near the record of Amaechi, he is doing everything to reverse the unmatchable records of his predecessor. As at today, no one has seen copies of 2016 and 2017 budgets of Rivers State. Schools and health centres are shutting down with thousands of school age children out of school, he said. It is people like Wike who have made Nigerians to call to question the issue of immunity in the Constitution. He is taking immunity as shield to abuse the dignity of the office of Governor. The governor can still retrace his steps and follow the path of dignity, decorum and respect the office he occupies for he holds it in trust on behalf of Rivers people, he said. He spoke at the first in the series of women empowerment sponsored by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in partnership with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and Hephzibar Innovative Network. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 200 women are participating in the month-long training in the various vocations at Oba Okunade Sijuwade Memorial Hall, Enuwa, Ile-Ife. Aregbesola, who was represented by Deputy Gov. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, congratulated the beneficiaries for being selected for the programme. He said women should have access to education, healthcare, employment and be protected against violence. The governor also called for active participation of women in decision-making at all levels of government. Also speaking, Women Affairs and Social Development Minister Aisha Alhassan noted that the programme would enable participants to create jobs and help them to address economic challenges. The minister, who was represented by Mrs Anetu Aliu, a Director in the ministry, also pledged her support for the programme. In his remarks, Oba Ogunwusi, commended NDE, Hephzibar Network as well as the federal and the state government for their support for the programme. Without women life is incomplete and there cannot be any meaningful development, he said. Mr Olakunle Obayan, the Acting Director-General of NDE, said the monarchs initiative was commendable as it would impact positively on the lives of the poor. This great initiative is unique and timely particularly at this period of our countrys history where every hand is required to be on deck for employment creation and poverty eradication, he said. The NDE boss thanked the traditional ruler for creating jobs for youths, women and widows to reduce poverty. Obayan assured the monarch that the empowerment programme would be sustained to add value to the lives of the beneficiaries. Mr Olajide Awosunle, the Chief Executive Officer, Hephzibar Innovative Network and Project Director, said the acquisition of vocational skills would further empower the women as home makers and in some families, as bread winners. He described womens entrepreneurial spirit as critical to the nations economic growth. Opinion / Columnist I have listened with interest to the Zimeye LIVE panel discussion "Dr Nkosana Moyo seriously considering entering 2018 Presidential race". The reader should make the effort to listen to the video because the lively discussion raised a number of interesting and important issues.I would like to comment on the following points:a) Can voter mobilization be enough to foil Zanu PF vote rigging?b) There must be possibility of opposition winning otherwise why would any of them participate?c) What do we, the ordinary people, stand to lose by participating in next year's elections?d) What is the National Transition Authority and why do we need it?So, starting at the top.a) Can voter mobilization be enough to foil Zanu PF vote rigging?Zanu PF's vote rigging has grown in diversity and complexity over the last 37 years and it is very well funded; it is no exaggeration that it is able to cope with almost anything that is thrown at it and will come up on top.Dr Moyo said only 19 000 out of 47 000 voted in the recent Mwenezi East by-elections; Zanu PF won 18 000 of the vote. His argument was that the opposition show target the remaining 28 000. In the past Zanu PF has been able to respond in a number of ways to counter such moves. The regime has made rural areas no-go areas for the opposition.In 2013, the regime made is very difficult for opposition supporters to register as voters, there were more registration centres in Mhondoro (Zanu PF stronghold) with a population of 100 000 than in Harare and Bulawayo with a population of 2 million each.When it came to voting, the regime denied nearly one million voters, many opposition supporters, the vote; the personal details were not in the constituency voters' roll they expected. If the regime had released the voters' roll as it should have done the individual would have had the mistake corrected thus proof this was a deliberate move.Zanu PF has total controls all aspects of the voting process and thus very the opportunity to adjust and influence everything to ensure a Zanu PF victory.Zanu PF has tasted absolute power and the party's determination to hang on to power, to protect their loot and ensure their dirty past is kept a secret, at all cost is the only thing the regime cares about. The regime has all the tools it needs to rig the vote and anyone who thinks the regime will rig the vote and lose the election is naive.b) There must be a possibility of opposition winning otherwise why would any of them participate?There is simply no possibility of the opposition winning the elections as long as there are no democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote. None!Since the fiasco of the 2008 elections in which Zanu PF was forced to go into a GNU with MDC, President Mugabe has learnt that he will never again have any more legitimacy problems as long as he allowed the opposition to win some seat on the gravy train. The opposition politicians will contest the election regardless how blatantly flawed the process becomes as long as there are bait seats to be won; Senator David Coltart admitted this in his book."The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious withdraw from the elections," explained Senator Coltart."The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."c) What do we, the ordinary people, stand to lose by participating in next year's elections?Keeping the status quo, of contesting flawed elections, suits Zanu PF to the T because it gets to rule forever. "Zanu PF ichatonga, tigotonga, tigotanga!" (Zanu PF will rule, and rule and rule!) as VP Emerson Mnangagwa has often boasted in recent times.Yes, opposition politicians would love to be ministers, VPs and even President but they have settled for the half loaf of the few bait gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away.The real big losers are the ordinary Zimbabweans who are stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for a long time. The only other way for the nation to bring about any meaningful regime change is for the people to stage street protests or worse and pressure Zanu PF to accept meaningful political change leading to free and fair elections.So, by failing to pressure Zanu PF to accept democratic reforms the people are extending their suffering under the Zanu PF regime and when they have suffered enough, they will come back to the same point pressure Zanu PF to accept reforms.d) What is the National Transition Authority (NTA) and why do we need it?To understand the NTA one must understand why we needed the GNU in 2008. The primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote and thus prevent a repeat of the blatant vote rigging and wanton violence of 2008 elections. Sadly, at the end of the five years it turned out that Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had failed to get even one reforms implemented.To go forward, we need the reforms to be implemented. The danger of the country being stuck with the present unworkable political system is the country will not have a robust system to elect competent leaders and thus will be stuck with mediocre leaders and regimes.We can ask the government of the day, be it Zanu PF or MDC or whatever, to implement the reforms. It is unlikely that all the reforms will be implemented because the present system favours the incumbent regime and so there is no incentive for the sitting government to reform itself out of an advantageous position.Force the government of the day to go into yet another GNU and ask the latter to implement the reforms. If the circumstances leading to the formation of the 2008 GNU can be replicated complete with SADC as the guarantor then there is a chance the second GNU will implement the reforms.Instead of the second GNU being run by the politicians, much less the same individuals who were in the 2008 GNU, a new body staffed with none politicians could be instituted. The new body is the NTA.Ever since President Mugabe and his Zanu PF regime came into power in 1980 he has systematically denied the ordinary Zimbabweans their basic freedoms and human rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life. After 37 years of being harassed, beaten, raped and some even killed in Zimbabwe's infamous political culture of vote rigging and wanton violence it is high time people said enough is enough.The people of Zimbabwe must demand the implementation of all democratic reforms BEFORE the next elections. They have everything to lose from having yet another flawing election and everything to gain from having the country's first free, fair and credible elections.Zimbabwe is in this deplorable political and economic mess because there has been no quality political leaders on both side of the political divide. If Dr Nkosana Moyo is considering contesting next year's elections as a Zanu PF candidate then it must be out of "if you cannot beat them, join them". Or as one of many opposition candidates contesting for the bait gravy train seats. Either way, he is just one of the many mediocre politicians whose primary interest is his selfish ambition and we should just ignore him!Senator David Coltart did not make the right decision himself in 2013 but there is no doubt that boycotting a flawed and illegal electoral process, in this case, was and still is the "obvious" choice, the common-sense choice. If Dr Nkosana Moyo cannot be trusted to make the common-sense choice then what good is he as an MP much less as a President! The Director General of the NIA, Ayodele Oke, has been running round the presidential villa since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided flat 7B, No. 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, presidency sources told Pulse, Saturday. Reports have since revealed that the cash, neatly arranged and concealed in cabinets behind wooden panels of a bedroom wardrobe, were for a "covert operation" being put together by the NIA. The NIA is an intelligence security outfit marooned in the same space occupied by the Department of State Security (DSS) on the outskirts of the presidential Villa in Abuja. The NIA reports to the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) now headed by Babagana Monguno. Oke has been trying to explain to President Muhammadu Buhari why the huge stash of cash was lodged in a private apartment and not a government facility. He's practically making a case to keep his job at the moment, Pulse was told. "Buhari is surprised that the NIA is claiming the money", a source at the Villa told Pulse. "The NIA has official safes where the money should have been kept. "The President has been completely taken aback by events because, if a covert operation that will require that amount of cash has to take place, as the Commander-In-Chief, Buhari should be aware, but he wasn't", the source added. A couple of other sources in the Villa have also disclosed to Pulse that Oke, who was appointed DG of NIA by immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan in 2013, is only an official announcement away from losing his job. "He's a goner", one source disclosed. "There's no way back for him now. First, Buhari doesn't trust him any longer after what has just happened. Second, he was boss of NIA under former and you know the rest of the Dasuki story. "It's a miracle that he wasn't swept away when Buhari replaced all the service chiefs as soon as he assumed the reins. But now, the President must have realised that he made a mistake by keeping him on". Villa sources say the huge stash of cash may not be unconnected to the alleged theft of monies meant for procurement of weapons under Dasuki. There are insinuations from within the power corridors that Oke still launders cash for Dasuki who is facing trial for misappropriating billions of dollars earmarked for equipping the military during the Jonathan administration. According to our sources, Buhari is pleased with acting EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu for the operation that uncovered the cash and has since ordered the anti-graft agency to deposit the haul at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Online news platform, Sahara Reporters says the meeting between Oke and Buhari was a charged one. During the meeting, Oke reportedly explained to the President that the National Security Adviser, Monguno, was fully briefed about the covert operation and its progress. Oke also said the money was part of his agency's budget, even though questions have been asked about what year's budget the money came from. The meeting ended with President Buhari asking Mr. Oke to reapply for fresh funding for the covert project, Sahara Reporters said. However, the presidency has been left confused and embarrassed by recent developments as it concerns the recovered cash, Villa sources told Pulse. To put the confusion and embarrassment being felt by the presidency in context, there's been no official statement from Aso Villa or EFCC, 48 hours after news broke that the money has been claimed by the NIA. The anti-graft agency rebuffed a plea for comments on the story from Pulse, on Friday. Villa sources also told Pulse that on Friday, the president's spokesperson, Garba Shehu, enquired from Magu if he should put out a statement in the light of recent developments. Magu asked Shehu to hold on since Nigerians are in the middle of Easter celebrations and since there are still a few loose ends to the saga. "Expect a presidency statement soon, maybe after the Easter holidays",Pulse was told by a top presidency official, Saturday. The Emir of Kano also said that the statement of the Zamfara state Governor is not Islamically correct. In his response, Governor Yari disagreed with the Emir, saying that Meningitis has a spiritual link. According to Premium Times, the Zamfara state Governor has also issued a statement, slamming Sanusi. The statement reads: For those who consider the emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II to be anything but a first class intellectual, a consummate banker and a bona fide member of Nigerias royalty, the last couple of weeks were a dizzying spectacle of mixed messages on integrity, royalty and wisdom. Within a perimeter of weeks, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, whose royal tentacles and social networks traverse the length and breadth of this country, lambasted the nations economic framework, the northern elite, sub-national leadership especially the governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, and the traditional institution of marriage. All frontiers that we hold so dear. With due respect to our highly revered traditional institutions and royal fathers, as a blue-blooded family member himself, Hon Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar holds the emir in very high esteem. He believes that the emir as a brother and co-occupant of elite positions in Nigeria, he could advise governors and those in positions of authority in several chains of communication that are richly available to him. But he preferred the public platform, for reasons best known to him. Governor Yari firmly believes that a country that goes to its pastors and Imams who recommend prayer and fasting as the solution to every social misfortune, from matrimonial disagreements, to social and economic complications needs to be wary of the wrath of God in the event of an epidemic of unquantifiable proportion such as Type C meningitis. And as a country that succumbs to the supremacy of Allah, we must continue to link Him with all things, fair or foul. Those who want to equate science with God, like HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, can denounce Yaris statement from the rooftops but that will not change Governor Yaris beliefs in the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence of Allah. By a certain bizarre coincidence too, like a prophesy foretold, Sheikh Mahmood Jaafar had before he was assassinated named Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as one of those whose hypocrisy would bring an epidemic of monumental proportions to this country. The tapes are very much in circulation long after Sheikh Jaafars death. He had argued in that sermon that Sanusi Lamido is one of the enemies of Islam who would assume all traits of a good Muslim but deep inside them is a hatred of Islam, and the people far beyond human imagination. Could this be a prophecy foretold? However, the emir should be aware that Allah who gives power to whoever He wills at His own time, also takes it away at the most inauspicious time. As elected officials, we are obliged to serve people just as we serve God. Within this precinct Governor Yari has done his best. As representatives of the best of our traditions, our Emirs, chiefs, kings and queens are also obliged to lead by example, show empathy, adjudicate with compassion, display wisdom and embrace the fear of God, in all they do. In this HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II is struggling. Recently, our erudite emir has been mired in several controversies, which rather than enhance his profile and the integrity of royalty, have put him very much on the spot. And the emir has put up a spirited defense of all the allegations against him. But he was not transparent enough, as he always accused officials, especially governors, to tell the public what he found in the Kano Emirate palace coffers when he ascended the exalted throne. This is the least of his peoples expectations of him. It was the first that our finest royalty would offer. Sacrifice is another attribute known to our royal fathers. But when an emir pledges to commit his hard earned resources for the face-lifting of the palace where he alone would reside and eventually transfers the burden to his impoverished subjects, there is a breach, or a problem. Late Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki, of blessed memory, used his money to rebuild the Sultans Palace in Sokoto to his taste, but until his demise, he never tendered the bill to his subjects for reimbursement. Over time, we know our traditional fathers for their compassion. When their friends from far and near offer to assist them, they would rather the assistance was given to alleviate the sufferings of their people in cash or kind. But for a traditional ruler who identifies the problems of his people and utters these words: We are in denial. The north-west and the north-east, demographically, constitute the bulk of Nigerias population, but look at human development indices, look at the number of children out of school, look at adult literacy, look at maternal mortality, look at infant mortality, look at girl-child completion rate, look at income per capita The north-east and the north-west Nigeria are among the poorest parts of the world, and yet when his friends offered help, he asks for a Rolls Royce. There is more than a fundamental problem. There is a big disconnect. Like Governor Yari has always said, his respect for our creator will never waver. He will also rue joining issues with royalty, in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. He maintains that his reverence of the institution that HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II represents is also unshaken. Hon Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar is only asking HRH to either practice what he preaches or forever keep his peace, because in a situation where epidemics are taking our children, maternal mortality, uneducated youth, social vices and incompetent leaders are the national scourge, to borrow the words of the emir, and all he wants to do is ride a Rolls Royce in the face of palpable poverty, he shouldnt engage in throwing accusations at others. Kano kingdom is an important kingdom amongst the kingdoms in Africa. It is also an important and strategic institution in the history of Nigeria. The occupants of the seat before HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II played a significant and dignified role in making Nigeria what it is today. They respected themselves. HRH should emulate his predecessors and not play to the gallery in a manner that ridicules his own heritage. A similar incident occurred on July 24, 2016 at the textile section of the market. The Head of Operations, Sokoto State Fire Service, Mr Mustapha Mohammed, told NAN that the inferno started at around 9pm yesterday night. But we were able to put it out in about two and half hours, with the assistance of the affected traders and other good Samaritans. There was no loss of life. A fireman suffered a dislocation in his right leg but he is responding to treatment. The cause of the fire is not yet known, but, there was no public power supply when the inferno started. Mohammed stated that the department would conduct thorough investigations to unravel the cause of the fire incident. A cross section of the affected traders told NAN that we have resigned our fate to God. Mohammad Chika, one of the affected traders, called for assistance to enable them recoups their loss. We are appealing for an urgent support from the state and Federal Government, as well as other well-meaning Nigerians, he told NAN. This is coming after Wike told newsmen the Ikoyi loot belongs to the Rivers state government. Amaechi also debunked reports that the money recovered from the apartment in Ikoyi by the EFCC belongs to him. According to Cable News, he said Wikes reckless, irresponsible and fictitious tirade against the President Buhari administration at his media briefing of Friday is a declaration of war against the federal government. Rivers State is perpetually in crisis, the state in a mess as Wike has made a total mess of governance in the state. That child who sits there as governor is confused, he doesnt know what to do. Wikes only solution is to attack Amaechi. Since he became governor, Wike sleeps and wakes up everyday, with a sole, one-point agenda to attack and denigrate Rotimi Amaechi, no matter how ridiculous and silly he sounds. Everyday in Rivers state, there is one frivolous, false story of what Amaechi did or didnt do. Same pattern, the same blatant lies with no proof, same old concocted stories of corruption allegations against Amaechi told with different flavours. At this rate, if Wike is unable to perform his spousal duties, he will blame it on Amaechi. Yes, thats how despicably low he can go in his consuming fixation to throw mud at Amaechi This latest outburst by Wike is typical of him. We are aware that Wike first tried to float the fake news of Amaechis ownership of the recovered $43million and the Ikoyi house in the social media using his minions and lackeys, spending huge sums of Rivers money on the failed project. His minions and lackeys were calling journalists, bloggers and media organisations to run the fake story with promises of almost irresistible mouth-watering compensation for using the fake story. When that failed and the story didnt gain traction that was when Wike decided to hurriedly hold the press conference Friday night, to rant and spew his outright lies, yet again without providing any proof of Amaechis ownership of both the property and the money. For clarity and emphasis, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is not the owner of the $43million and the Ikoyi apartment in which the money was recovered from. Amaechi has no business, link or connection to the money or property. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi does not know who owns the money or Ikoyi apartment. Uzuokwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna that Nigerians should particularly pray for Gods intervention in the nations economy, security and corrupt tendencies by those in power. We must seek divine intervention to pull Nigeria out of its economic recession. We must also seek divine intervention toward ending security issues that have discouraged some investors from patronising Nigeria and even made it impossible for farmers to go to the fields, he said. He called on the Federal Government to provide a conducive environment that would attract investors, noting that the nation was blessed with abundant human and natural resources that were wasting away. The Bishop also urged government to introduce policies that would promote modern farming so as to improve food production, feed the nation and even export. President Macky Sall visited the site on Friday and confirmed that Gambians and Mauritanians were also among the victims in footage broadcast on Senegal's RTS television. "Taking account of the number of victims, as this morning another has passed away, we now have 25 dead and I have decided to announce today three days of national mourning, with flags flying at half-mast," Sall said. Senegalese media reported Friday that police suspect a gas canister exploded as the pilgrims prepared tea at the retreat site. Members of the powerful Tijaniyya Muslim brotherhood gather in their thousands to worship at the site every year. Pilgrims were weighed down with food and luggage, local media reported. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was the first death sentence issued against a journalist in Yemen. "This Huthi-imposed death sentence sets a dangerous precedent for journalists in Yemen," said Alexandra El Khazen, the head of RSF's Middle East desk. "Issued at the end of an unfair trial, it constitutes a grave violation of international law. We urge Huthi leaders to free this journalist at once," she said. The Huthis hail from Yemen's Shiite-linked Zaidi minority in northern Yemen. Since March 2015, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has been leading a deadly military intervention against the Huthis and their allies in the kingdom's impoverished neighbour. The Huthis, supported by renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have controlled all government institutions in Sanaa since they overran the capital in September 2014. Rival bodies loyal to internationally recognised president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi operate out of second city Aden or from exile in Saudi Arabia. Yemen's press union on Thursday condemned the sentence as "arbitrary" and accused the rebels of "targeting press freedom". It said Jubaihi, 61, was seized from his home on September 6. Press watchdogs and human rights groups have been deeply critical of the rebels' treatment of journalists as the conflict in the Arabian peninsula country has escalated over the past two years. Eight reporters were killed in Yemen last year, according to the International Federation of Journalists. RSF says at least 16 journalists and media workers are currently being held by armed groups in Yemen including the Huthis and Al-Qaeda. Led by rows of military bands, columns of troops toting rifles and a troupe of sword-wielding female soldiers marched into the vast square in the heart of the city which was festooned in the national colours of blue, white and red. "Today's parade will provide a chance to display our powerful military might," a male voiceover said on the TV broadcast. Ostensibly the event is to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim's grandfather, the North's founder Kim Il-Sung - a date known as the "Day of the Sun" in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name. But it is also intended to send an unmistakable message to Washington about the isolated, nuclear-armed North's military might. Kim did not address the rally, but his close aide Choe Ryong-Hae gave a defiant speech saying that Pyongyang would react in kind to any provocation -- nuclear or otherwise. "We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and we are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks," Choe said. Pyongyang is under multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes, and has ambitions to build a rocket capable of delivering a warhead to the US mainland - something US President Donald Trump has vowed "won't happen". It has carried out five nuclear tests - two of them last year - and multiple missile launches, one of which saw three rockets come down in waters provocatively close to Japan last month. Speculation that it could conduct a sixth blast in the coming days to coincide with the anniversary has reached fever pitch, with specialist US website 38North describing its Punggye-ri test site as "primed and ready" and White House officials saying military options were "already being assessed". Trump has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and an accompanying battle group to the Korean peninsula. "We are sending an armada. Very powerful," Trump told the Fox Business Network. "He is doing the wrong thing," he added of Kim. "He's making a big mistake." China, the North's sole major ally, and Russia have both urged restraint, with Beijing's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warning Friday that "conflict could break out at any moment". North Korea's army vowed Friday a "merciless" response to any US provocation but diplomats in Pyongyang are more sanguine, pointing out that the North raises its rhetoric every spring, when Washington and Seoul hold annual joint exercises that it views as preparations for invasion. None of the North's five previous nuclear tests has taken place in the month of April. 'Tough message' The hardware displayed Saturday included what appeared to be a new ICBM and a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which Pyongyang successfully test-fired last August, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. Military specialists keep a close eye on Pyongyang's military parades for clues about developments in the North's capabilities. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty and Pyongyang says that it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against a possible US invasion. The US cruise missile strike on Syria vindicated its stance, it said last weekend. Pyongyang could use the parade as a show of strength in preference to a nuclear test, analysts said. It wanted to send "a tough message to the United States in response to the Trump administration's recent rhetoric and the military steps the United States has taken", said Evans Revere of the Brookings Institution in Washington. Another missile launch or nuclear test "can't be ruled out", he said, but the Syria strike and Washington's implied threats "may give Pyongyang some pause". "A parade is a highly visible but non-kinetic way of showing off capabilities," he told AFP. The North is aiming its message at China as well as the US, analysts say. Beijing has made clear its frustration with Pyongyangs stubbornness but its priority remains preventing any instability on its doorstep, and it has been unnerved by the sabre-rattling. Copies of a former Quad-City-based artists paintings may soon end up in many more households throughout the U.S. and Australia. Buyers, however, will first have to assemble Patrick Costellos works before they can admire his depictions of lush, green landscapes in Ireland, which recently caught the eyes of a couple puzzle manufacturers. Ceaco, a Massachusetts-based puzzle maker, recently turned three of Costellos oil paintings into 750-piece jigsaw puzzles, which now are available in Barnes & Noble stores throughout the U.S., including the one in Davenport. I would never dream in a million years I would be in the puzzle business, Costello, 77, said from his home in Carefree, Arizona. The self-taught artist spent 20 years working in the commercial art market in the Quad-Cities, which included a stint at the Quad-City Times. He then bought and renovated an 1869 grist mill in 1978 in Maquoketa, Iowa. Costello spent 30-plus years illustrating from a studio on his property in Jackson County, which also housed a public gallery. He and his wife, Joan, moved to the Southwest in 2012. In his prime, Costello enjoyed the outdoors, but a surge of health issues, including esophageal cancer and diabetes, has slowed him down. His family said this out-of-the-blue puzzle deal could not have come at a better time. "Its a rough time," said Tracy Costello, who shares her home with her folks. "My dad needed this so bad to lift his spirits." Costello recently finished chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment and will undergo surgery next month. Ive felt better, Costello said. Its just one damn thing after another, but thats life. But how did the puzzle companies including Holdson, a New Zealand-based corporation that turned four of his works into 1,000-piece puzzles discover his works? Well, Costello belongs to the Sonoran Arts League, and every fall, the organization presents Hidden in the Hills, a popular studio tour and sale in the region. During the event last November, longtime licensing agent Dean Berko, who lives within a mile of Costello, happened upon the artists at-home studio, and immediately realized an opportunity for them both. "I saw his wonderful artwork, and thats when I knew his work would be very appropriate for jigsaw puzzles," said Berko, who launched his company, Lifestyle Licensing International, more than three decades ago. Specifically, Costello's detailed, colorful and storytelling scenes drew Berko's attention. When it comes to puzzles, he noted, the more detailed, the better. "They want it to be hard," he said, describing his client and friend's work as "beautiful" and "romantic." "That is truly what puzzle makers are looking for," he said. Costello said he signed a contract with Berko and will reap a share of the royalties for every one of his puzzles that sells. "It's nice to be honored," said Costello, who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, before moving to Davenport as a teenager. Despite his ailments, Costello said he has a collection of 20-30 photographs, all of which hold "emotional quality" in his mind, that he hopes to recreate at some point. "I've always painted from the heart," he said, calling art his refuge for the past 57 years. "I go to my easel, and Im always able to get lost in there. Its a great place to put your mind." If Costello's puzzles are a hit, Berko said he is "100 percent confident" they are just scratching the surface of this venture. Opinion / Columnist Ever wondered why the Zimbabwe Government and its ministers find parastatals attractive despite them costing the taxpayer billions of dollars? Our previous article asked questions on the wisdom of the government taking over Telecel mobile network. This article explores the reasons and why the Telecel conundrum and indeed government ownership of parastatals are attractive to politicians but costly to the taxpayer.Zimbabwe is known to have generated Rolls Royce parastatal related millionaires overnight without any explanation on how they made their money. In most cases Zimbabwe's miraculous millionaires do not have any business; they simply become millionaires through their relationship with government officials or parastatals.We will explore why ministers are very keen to be appointed into ministries that are responsible for parastatals by scrutinising the money trail and hypothesise on why the government would want to own Telecel despite the fact that they already own NetOne.Parastatals are companies that are owned by the public/tax paying citizens. Traditionally, they are organisations that are considered of significant strategic importance to the country or critical to the public but too unprofitable for a private company to invest in. In recent times, questions have been asked about why the Zimbabwean government wants to hold on to parastatals when they are neither of strategic importance nor profitable. Some examples that come to mind are mobile phone networks as questioned in our last article, National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), Grain Marketing Board (GMB), Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) and the Cold Storage Commission (CSC).Our quest starts with a look at the governance of parastatals. The parastatal board (senior management team) is appointed by the responsible minister. Decisions on how to spend money (including on tenders) is made by the parastatal board. The boards are not necessarily performance managed in terms of how much they improve shareholder value, they are considered good' if they are loyal and play ball. Directors who come up with innovative ideas and strategies that represent the best interests of the taxpayer are sidelined because their ideas put the looter's opportunities in jeopardy. That explains why ministers are very keen to reshuffle' the boards of parastatals soon after their appointments; they want to put their people' into the board people who will do the minister's bidding people who do what the minister wants instead of what the public deserves.Zimbabwe's parastatals are costing the taxpayer a fortune and have contributed immensely to the national debt. They are unprofitable and do not represent value for money. In fact, taxpayer's money keeps pouring in as debt, and comes out on the other side in individual pockets. That is the reason why parastatals are the most heavily geared companies in the country their debt outweighs equity.The question then is: How are parastatals looted? If one follows the money, one can have a feel of where the money leaks out of these institutions. Two main looting opportunities are salaries and perks of the boards' and procurement/tenders. Salaries and perks are where executives are paid exorbitant salaries that are not commensurate with their responsibilities and performance. Salary scandals were explored extensively when the Ca$hbert' Dube PSMAS scandal was unearthed. Only a feeble mind to believe that everything that Cuthbert Dube earned ended up in his personal pocket.Procurement and tendering are other vehicles of looting. A minister running a ministry that oversees a parastatal and appoints the board of the parastatal has a lot of say in how that parastatal award tenders. Looting from tenders is generally done in three main ways; awarding tenders to cronies, inflating tender value in order to cream off the extra value or kickbacks or a combination of cronyism and inflated values. In all cases, the objectives are the same; steal from the citizens and benefit personally.The cronies have also perfected the art of looting; they make sure that they keep the minister and the ruling party happy. They donate to the cause. Jonathan Moyo's admission that he diverted Zimdef money to party programs is just a tip of the iceberg. President Mugabe has been alerted to scandals many times and he chooses to look away. Readers may recall Minister of Energy Samuel Undenge admitting that a high profile tender had been awarded unprocedurally but nothing was done to him. That emboldens the looters and the vicious cycle goes on and the taxpayer continues to pay. The Zimbabwean government is even known to shun foreign' strategic investors because such investors are considered to stand in the way of the looting spree. We are not surprised to learn that MTN (one of the biggest players) was turned away from acquiring a 49% stake in NetOne. If the Stragegic Parternship had been approved as proposed way back in 2012, the state of mobile communications in Zimbabwe would be at par with world standards.A forensic audit of all material tenders that have been awarded by parastatals would be interesting. Who was awarded the tenders, did the tenders represent value for money for the taxpayer, whom are tender winners related to? Not long ago, we heard one Wicknell Chivayo boasting that he made his money from tenders when he was asked what business he was involved in. As hard to swallow as his answer might seem, Chivayo actually described what happens in the real world of tendering in Zimbabwe. An audit of those awarded tenders would even be more interesting as it gives insights into how they spend the money.The looting process is as follows;1.Citizens' money is poured into parastatals2.Parastatals award inflated tenders to cronies through a crony board appointed by the minister3.Cronies give kickbacks to public officials and donate to the party'4.Ministers look away and parastatals run out of cash5.Ministers go back to the citizens to ask for more cash and the cycle goes onThere is a fundamental corporate governance flaw in giving one person (the minister) sole power of appointing boards of directors of parastatals. For transparency and accountability, such authority should lie with the parliamentary committee which would thoroughly scrutinise any deals.Zimbabweans United for Democracy (ZUNDE) strongly believes that at the centre of rebuilding Zimbabwe is good governance. There is no way good governance can prevail if a minister who knows very little about the ministry they run is given excessive powers to do as they please for as long as they keep the master happy through looting of public assets.Also, acquisition of a private mobile operator by Government is contrary to the global trend where governments are moving out of mobile communications business. The money wasted in this business could be put to better use if it was spent on health, education, infrastructure and other social services.The collapse of many parastatals that used to perform very well at independence was not accidental. It was a product of many years of systematic and state-sanctioned looting, which continues to this day. There must be an end to this madness and the only way of achieving this is through electing a proper and responsible government.When looting becomes second nature to ZANU PF, we must not accept it as normal.David Mutori is a UK-based economist and pro-democracy activist. He can be contacted on mutorid@gmail.com. Benjamin Paradza is the Exiled Judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe and President of ZUNDE. He can be contacted on contact@zunde.org; wwwzunde.org; @zundezim For a reminder of how new administrations can quickly get into trouble in foreign policy, consider that Monday, April 17, marks the anniversary of the catastrophic Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. Bad things can happen to good presidents, and vice versa. President Donald Trump, after a mostly disastrous first two months, has had a good run these past two weeks in foreign policy. He acted decisively in Syria, gained China as a possible partner in dealing with North Korea, repaired relations with NATO, and began addressing the serious tensions with Russia. Why is Trump making better decisions now? And what could disrupt his progress toward a more coherent foreign policy? Trump is making gains because he has assembled a competent national-security team -- and listens to their advice. There was a consensus among his top advisers for a quick, limited strike on a Syria air base, and Trump took the recommendation. He didn't amplify, augment or otherwise disrupt it with his own "tweets." He allowed the process to work. If Trump goes back to his freewheeling, tweeter-in-chief role, or if the disruptive would-be chief strategist Stephen Bannon regains influence, then chaos could return. But for now, Trump has bonded with his core team. And in this White House, starved for a win, nothing succeeds like success. Contrast the quick, relatively clean decision on the Syria military strike with the chaotic White House discussions about the 1961 Cuba invasion. The CIA didn't level with Kennedy about its doubts that Cuban exiles could succeed without air cover; the Pentagon resented the covert paramilitary operation; Kennedy let himself get dragged into a mistake that prefigured the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and nearly led to nuclear war. The Bay of Pigs illustrates what happens when a policy process goes bad. Other administrations have also had bumpy starts. President George W. Bush had a messy first few years, with recurring feuds between Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney. It was only in Bush's second term that he really got the balance right. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton also had ragged beginnings. The Trump team, for now, is basking in self-congratulation. Bannon's power is diminished and H.R. McMaster has taken over as a disciplined national security adviser. Comity reigns in part because Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hammer out common positions before every meeting in the Situation Room. Trump's strength and weakness is his emphasis on personality politics. That was evident in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which included nearly four hours of one-on-one conversation. Trump was bubbly at a Wednesday news conference in describing the "good chemistry" of the meeting. Such talk is the elevator music of summits but in this case, the two do seem to have developed a mutually opportunistic bond. Xi is signaling that China's interests are served by working with the U.S. to check North Korea, short of war. Will that last? We'll see. Trump's North Korea strategy had a coherent rollout. First Mattis visited the region, followed by Tillerson; as tensions rose this week, the U.S. signaled resolve by dispatching an aircraft-carrier task force. Behind these tactical moves are some big strategic ideas about a future North Korea that wouldn't threaten China's interests. The danger is over-personalizing policy. Trump likes people who make him look good (as Xi has done). But personal success can't be the engine of statecraft. Trump's first two months were a case study in self-destructive actions. An example of how he undermined his team's good ideas was a plan back in January for defusing trade and immigration tensions with Mexico. The centerpiece would have been a visit to Washington by President Enrique Pena Nieto. But Trump got defensive about criticism that he was backing away from his campaign rhetoric and unleashed an inflammatory tweet that led Pena Nieto to cancel the visit. The Mexico flap added to the uproar and disarray of Trump's first weeks. Trump was running at government with his head; he was behaving like a guy who gets into bar fights. Somebody (presumably Bannon) must have told him this was a good idea. That's how advisers lose clout. Over the past week, Trump has adopted a different approach -- more careful and consensual. Yes, it brings Trump closer to the foreign policy mainstream he and Bannon derided during the campaign. But it also gives Trump a taste of the success he craves. Thumbs up to John Deere Classic's Birdies for Charity. The Quad-Cities' annual rite of spring kicked off this week. Last year, it raised $10.5 million for 500 charities. Backers pledge cash for every birdie during July's JDC tournament. Deere and Co. matches every pledge dollar for dollar. JDC is a cool event. And thanks to Birdies for Charity, it does a lot of good throughout the Quad-Cities. Thumbs down to the misers in Des Moines who hope to gut important state programs, including Iowa Flood Center at University of Iowa. The flood center was birthed in need, after the 2008 floods caught too many communities off guard. Since its creation, the clearinghouse for meteorological and geographical information has become a vital asset for Iowans and local officials. But faced with slumping revenue, state lawmakers are targeting programs such as these. Lawmakers also are moving to cut more funding for Iowa Regents, which can only end with tuition hikes. Doing so is an outright rejection of the purpose of government. Thumbs up to Arconic for completing the installation of its massive metal stretcher. The promise of the $150 million piece of equipment was instrumental in landing several big contracts. Arconic's customer portfolio includes aviation giant Airbus and automotive titans Ford and Toyota. It's investments like these that keep manufacturing strong in the U.S. Arconic is taking steps to maintain its Quad-Cities operations for years to come. YANKTON | A city in southern South Dakota will be getting its own ride-sharing operation aimed at rural communities, to the dismay of existing taxi companies. The Yankton Press and Dakotan reports that Tuesday the Yankton Area Progressive Growth's board of directors agreed to pay ride-sharing company Liberty Mobility $25,000 to help get started in the area. Liberty Mobility is similar to ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft, where rides can be booked through an app or call center, but focuses on operating in rural areas. "The company's technology is optimized to work in small urban and rural communities where cell signals may be quite poor," said Yankton city commissioner Nathan Johnson. Johnson said he hopes the service will put the city on the cutting edge of transportation and help residents be more mobile. Some taxi cab companies feel the city is too small to support a ride-share program and existing cab companies. "When they come in, where are they going to get this customer base at, because they're going to pull customers away from us and we're going to fail," said Shawna Fiechuk, co-owner of Yankton Affordable Taxi Cab Co. Launch of Liberty in Yankton is expected within the next 90 days. The service will have one full-time employee in the region to manage drivers. A ride of up to four miles will cost $5.25 no matter how many people are in the vehicle. After that, it is $1 per mile. When Lisa Lonehill saw her 21-year-old daughter, Larissa, in the afternoon of Oct. 2, she had a terrible feeling it might be the last time. So far, her fears have been realized. They were in the back porch of a Rapid City townhouse, discussing Larissas recent quarrel with her older sister, Carol Piper. Two weeks earlier, Piper had told Larissa to leave Pipers rented townhouse where Larissa would sometimes stay when she came to Rapid City from Manderson, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. I told her, Larissa's mother recalls saying, whatever she did to upset Carol, just dont do it again. Larissa then left with her boyfriend and a female friend after saying they wanted to go to the nearby Rushmore Mall. Six months later, on Tuesday, the Rapid City Police Department announced a $5,000 reward for help in solving the case of Larissas disappearance. Her mother is the last family member known to have seen her. Detectives believe Larissa is dead and buried within a 100-mile radius of Rapid City, said Capt. James Johns, head of the department's Criminal Investigations Division. It was the first time authorities publicized Larissas disappearance, which Johns said police began investigating in November. He emphasized it remains a missing person case, and not a homicide investigation. At the press conference, Larissa's mother sat beside Johns. When her turn at the lectern came, she cried as she spoke about Larissas 2-year-old daughter who was missing her mom, and asked anyone with information on Larissa to come forward. Larissa is among the 85 names on the FBI database of people reported missing in South Dakota as of March 31, according to figures from the state Attorney Generals Office. Half of the missing persons are 21 or younger. Her familys knowledge of Larissas whereabouts ended on the morning of Oct. 3, when she texted a cousin to say she was with two male friends from Pine Ridge. They found her at her boyfriends house, so they took her, Larissa's mom, 55, said in a phone interview Thursday. Larissas boyfriend thought one of the men was her cousin since Larissa introduced him as such, even though they were not related, Lisa said. One of Larissas brothers reported her missing to the Rapid City police a few days later, said Lisa, after Larissas boyfriend told the family she could not be found. One of the men who reportedly picked up Larissa said he dropped her off at a party, Piper said in an interview Thursday. The other man, she said, denied being with Larissa that day. Piper, 30, is convinced they were the last people to see Larissa. Larissas relationship with the men involved drugs, Piper said, citing text messages she saw. She kicked her sister out of the townhouse, Piper said, after a brother told her Larissa had been smoking meth in the bathroom. I dont regret it at all, Piper said of asking her sister to leave. Larissa's mother said she also believes Larissa was involved in illegal drugs. Piper wanted the public to know that Larissa was a wonderful mother, sister and aunt. She regularly read to Pipers five young children and picked up house chores waiting to be done. The last time the sisters spoke, several days after their fight, Piper said she told Larissa to seek substance abuse treatment. Before saying goodbye, they apparently told each other I love you. Larissa's mother, who is back home in Manderson, misses Larissas thoughtfulness and cheerful attitude. Larissa, for instance, would prepare a hot pad whenever her mothers stomach pain acted up. The sixth of eight children, Larissa went to school on the reservation but did not finish high school. The young woman did not work because she lost her identification card, and Larissa's mother said she sometimes wondered where her daughter got her spending money. Larissas daughter is under the custody of the fathers family, Lisa said. She said Larissa regularly visited the child even if she had to hitchhike or walk to a neighboring town where the girl lived. Since Larissas disappearance, her family has received various unverified information about her location. One of them was from a man who tried to extort money by saying he needed $500 to help bring Larissa back from Florida. Another was from a self-described psychic who said the young woman was buried underneath rocks at a quarry. Im so confused, Larissa's mother said. This drives me crazy, wondering who could have done this to her and why. Evident in her words was the tug-of-war between hoping her daughter was alive and thinking she was gone for good. Lisas chronic stomach pain has been exacerbated by her daughters disappearance, on top of other family worries. The eldest of her four daughters and the youngest of her four sons are both in jail on Pine Ridge. Her eldest son is in an alcohol treatment program. Her second son died of an illness last year, three weeks after Larissa disappeared. Lisa just broke up with a boyfriend who she said has a drinking problem. And she is raising the 6-month-old son of her daughter who is in jail. Being with her grandchildren is what keeps her going, Lisa said, along with the hope of seeing Larissa again. One evening last month, the family conducted a traditional Lakota ceremony for Larissa. Afterward, Lisa served dinner for the gathering of about 20 people. The table fare included spaghetti, fried rice and a cake Lisa made to celebrate Larissas 22nd birthday that day. The U.S. Attorney office for the district of South Dakota made the following announcements of federal sentences Thursday. Stephan George Jones, 45, of White River, was sentenced to 120 months in custody for conspiring with others to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. Lavern David Luxon Jr., 25, of Rosebud, was sentenced to 96 months in prison for sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl during the night at her home in Parmelee. Amber Rae Millian, 34, of Winner, was sentenced to six months in custody as a felon in possession of a firearm. She was arrested while spotlighting deer at the edge of Winner. Delano White Eagle, 46, of Eagle Butte, was sentenced to 46 months in custody for assault by strangulation and suffocation of his female dating partner during an argument. Patrick Medearis, 33, of Mission, was sentenced to 22 months in prison for convictions from separate incidents. One occurred while driving to Mission when Medearis ripped off his girlfriends shirt. The second took place outside a home at White Horse where Medearis was revving his vehicles engine and was forcibly subdued while brandishing a knife. For the first time in 42 years, the West Boulevard Summer Festival will not grace the grounds of Wilson Park in June. The two-day event, which typically attracts around 20,000 visitors and 100 vendors, has been canceled due to the ongoing construction on nearby Mount Rushmore Road. Wilson Park is located just west of Mount Rushmore Road. Patrick Roseland, president of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Association, said the decision to cancel the event was made after the Rapid City Roads Department notified organizers that water and electricity at Wilson Park could be affected this summer. The festival has been a mainstay in Wilson Park every summer since 1975, offering jewelers, artists, basket weavers and other artisans a chance to sell their handmade wares, and attendees the opportunity to browse the shops while snacking on popcorn and corn on the cob. Funds raised from the event are used to protect the West Boulevard Historic District, Wilson Park and the Wilson school playground. Initially, the event was created to raise money to replace the dying American elm trees dotting the West Boulevard landscape, Roseland said. A smaller event may still be held this summer at a different location, Roseland said, but no details have been released. Roseland said the festival will return to Wilson Park next year. Were going to be back in 2018 bigger and better and stronger, and we continue to hope that the people of Rapid City continue to support us as they did in the past, Roseland said. We want to keep the historic district as pristine as possible and as historic as possible and thats why were here. The Mount Rushmore Road reconstruction project is on schedule to be completed before June 2018, when the next festival would take place. The first part of the three-phase project, from Tower Road to Flormann Street, is finished except for some reseeding, said John Van Beek, president of Ferber Engineering Company. Phase 2 from Kansas City to St. James streets is scheduled to be completed by mid-May. Work on phase 3, from St. James Street to Flormann Street, is underway. Van Beek said two-lane traffic on both sides of Mount Rushmore Road will reopen by Dec. 1, and cleanup work will be completed in spring 2018. The total cost of all three phases of the road rebuild, which began in 2015, is around $30 million. [April 14, 2017] Turkish Journalists Acquitted After Six Years on Trial Based on Arsenal Consulting's Digital Forensics BOSTON, April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- An Istanbul court on April 12 ordered the acquittal of the 13 remaining defendants in the Odatv case. A fourteenth defendant, Kasif Kozinoglu, who had been a senior intelligence officer at MIT, died while in custody. Odatv runs one of the most-popular news websites in Turkey and has a reputation for being critical of both the current government and its former allies associated with the Gulen movement. The Odatv defendants were accused of supporting the Ergenekon terrorist organization, an alleged secularist "deep state" in Turkey with ties to the military, academia, NGOs, and the media. Ergenekon's supporters were charged with plotting to overthrow the Turkish government. What did Arsenal Consulting's (ArsenalExperts.com) digital forensics reveal? Arsenal's rigorous analysis of electronic evidence in the Odatv case revealed evidence tampering that was missed, ignored, or misunderstood by many other digital forensics experts. Arsenal used a combination of techniques and tools developed in-house to determine how attackers placed crucial documents on Odatv journalists Baris Pehlivan and Muyesser Yildiz's computers without their knowledge. In addition, Arsenal used the "Anchors in Relative Time" analysis technique to identify the remote access trojan Ahtapot - which had never been seen before or since in the wild. Finally, Arsenal determined that the attackers sent 420 emails in the operation targeting Odatv, but only 24 emails have been recovered from Mr. Pehlivan and Ms. Yildiz - leaving 396 (likely weaponized) emails and an unknown number of additional victims still unaccounted for. What is Odatv defendant and investigative journalit Baris Pehlivan saying? "I am a journalist who spent 19 months in jail due to a conspiracy organized by a gang within the state of the Turkish Republic. Arsenal uncovered the fraudulent activity of this illegal organization, which imprisoned me by planting files on my computer. It assisted in my acquittal thanks to its detailed forensic analyses and extraordinary efforts. I thank Arsenal for once more proving that science will defeat lies." Are there lessons to be learned from Arsenal's digital forensics? When the stakes are high enough, digital forensics practitioners ought not be surprised that all the relevant timestamps within evidence have been forged. They should also be aware that merely determining malware was present within evidence is not enough to answer serious questions - to the best extent possible, they need to establish whether the malware was operational and what it actually did. Did anyone stand up with Arsenal during the Odatv trial? "I would like to thank a small group of people and companies who helped us, publicly or privately, when many others failed to - even after being made aware of the gravity of the situation," said Arsenal President Mark Spencer. "The people we owe a great deal of thanks include Gabor Szappanos, who helped us rip apart malware, and Joakim Schicht and Olof Lagerkvist, who helped us build and improve digital forensics tools." How can people learn more about Arsenal's work? A case study related to Arsenal's work in the Odatv case is in development on the Arsenal website at https://ArsenalExperts.com/Case-Studies/Odatv/. About Mark Spencer Mark Spencer is President of Arsenal Consulting, where he leads engagements involving digital forensics for law firms, corporations, and government agencies. Mark is also President of Arsenal Recon, where he guides development of digital forensics tools. Mark has more than 15 years of law-enforcement and private-sector digital forensics experience. He has led the Arsenal team on many high-profile and high-stakes cases, from allegations of intellectual property theft and evidence spoliation to support of foreign terrorist organizations and military-coup planning. Arsenal is headquartered in the Chelsea Naval Magazine, a historic military structure in which arms for the famous heavy frigate USS Constitution were stored, just outside Boston, Massachusetts. Contact: Mark Spencer [email protected] Photos: https://www.prlog.org/12633407 Press release distributed by PRLog To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/turkish-journalists-acquitted-after-six-years-on-trial-based-on-arsenal-consultings-digital-forensics-300440004.html SOURCE Arsenal Consulting, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Since 1948, physicians who call the Black Hills "home" have worked together in a private physician group known as "Rapid City Medical Center, LLP." Rapid City Medical Center has 89 providers in 14 medical specialties with seven Black Hills locations. Like many in western South Dakota, these physicians value hard work and strive for excellence in what they do. They are their own bosses but make up part of the hospital "medical staff" serving patients when medical needs require a hospital setting. Medical staff physicians support the hospital. They are called away from their families for emergencies at all times of day and night and/or to consult with other doctors to serve those with medical needs. Medical staff members have a common commitment to quality medical care at the hospital. And for the most part over the years the medical staff in Rapid City has partnered with hospital administration in an attempt do things better for all patients. On Tuesday, April 4, Regional Hospital's medical staff voted 97-45 that it had "no confidence" in the current leadership of Mr. Brent R. Phillips, president and CEO of Regional Health. This vote was taken after months of attempting to meaningfully work with Mr. Phillips. The issues remain: misallocation of resources for patient care; contempt for physicians, nurses and other hospital staff resulting in low morale and productivity; cultivating an environment of fear instead of fostering positive ideas for improvement; allowing medical "specialties of need" to wither. Perhaps the final straw for this medical staff decision was the recent Behavioral Health crisis, which showed Regional Health administration to be insensitive to the needs of the community. This position was contrary to what many physicians know and expect of their community hospital. Mr. Phillips has relayed to the medical staff his disappointment in the "no confidence" vote yet noted there would be continued "winners and losers" in ongoing hospital plans. While disagreement is expected, divisiveness inherent in a set of predetermined "losers" does not support a successful care-giving model. Physicians know how to give care their opinions have value for patients and should be genuinely considered. Rapid City Medical Center physicians desire a positive working relationship with the Regional Health Board and its administrative leadership. It has enjoyed that for almost 70 years. Yet Mr. Phillips' current leadership strategy leaves urgency for patients in our community. This is what the vote of "no confidence" means. We hope the Board meaningfully considers this plea. [April 15, 2017] 121st Canton Fair Kicks off in Guangzhou Upgraded Exhibitions and Events to showcase 2017 market dynamics in international trade GUANGZHOU, China, April 15, 2017 /CNW/ -- The 121st Canton Fair officially opens at April 15. From April 15 to May 5 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, Canton Fair launches new product areas while at the same time hosting a series of events to offer an outlook for current international trade market. The exhibition is accommodating over 20,000 exhibitors from around the world. An estimated number of 200,000 buyers from 210 countries and regions are expected to join the 121st Canton Fair where they can access more than 60,000 exhibition booths. 50 exhibition zones with 16 product categories gathering world's signature products The 121st Canton Fair will host 3 phases of exhibitions to cover industries such as: - Electronics & household electrical appliances - Textile & garments - New energy - Pet supplies - Toys - Outdoor spa facilities/p> For more information on exhibition layout please visit: http://i.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index Wide coverage of cross-border operation topics for international trade The 121st Canton Fair will also host more than 60 meetings and forums for buyers that will help them improve overall corporate and sales performance. Event topics are as follows: - Industry summit - International market - Creative design - Branding - Fashion and trend - Technology research & development - Local promotion - Corporate operation optimization. Meanwhile, The Canton Fair Design Awards will be hosted during the fair. Participants are from 98 design institutions and 9 fashion design brands from 12 countries and will demonstrate their designs on site. For more information on event schedule, please visit http://cantonfair.org.cn/en/conference/schedule_121.shtml "During Canton Fair's 60 years of history, the trade show is constantly exploring new topics for buyers in response to the current economic environment," said Xu Bing, spokesperson of the Canton Fair and Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre. "We wish more global players can join us on this journey to shape the international trade industry together." About Canton Fair The China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, is held biannually in Guangzhou every spring and autumn. For more information, please visit: http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.aspx To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/121st-canton-fair-kicks-off-in-guangzhou-300440057.html SOURCE Canton Fair Corvallis senior Abbey Dunn was elected as Montana FFAs second vice president at the 87th Montana FFA State Convention in Great Falls in March. Corvallis and Victor FFA chapters did well at the FFA convention. As second vice president, Dunn said she will represent the organization and will be building relationships with members, getting to know sponsors and working directly with the FFA foundation and board of directors. She completed the three-day initial training of state officers in Bozeman Tuesday. Im thrilled to show my chapter that if you set your mind on something and work hard toward a goal that you made for yourself then truly anything is possible, Dunn said. Thats something that I learned in my time in FFA and something I want to share with all the state. Dunn said that she developed the why not attitude. I thought why not me? she said. I think that attitude of believing in myself and working hard made that happen. FFA has many components. Dunn values her experiences of making presentations to legislatures in Helena and touring local ranches and make connections. The best part of being in FFA is the people that Ive met and the experiences that I have had in the blue jacket, Dunn said. Ive met people from all across the state and those that are influential and making decisions in their industries, agricultural related or not. Corvallis High School began an agricultural education program and an FFA chapter two years ago. Dunn has served as chapter president both years. Growing up with an agricultural background it has always been something Ive been passionate about, she said. When I found out we were getting a chapter I knew it was something I needed to be involved in. Dunn will serve as a state officer while a college freshman. She is required to take 15 credits to keep her scholarships. Im looking forward to that, she said. Im planning on majoring in agriculture education with a focus on animal science and pre vet prerequisites. So, when I graduate Ill have the option of applying to vet school if Im still interested. Ill also have the option of teaching agriculture which is also something Im very passionate about. Either way I know it will be something I love. Other state FFA officers include: President Sheridan Johnson, Conrad; First Vice President Seth Rekdal, Shepherd; Second Vice President Abbey Dunn, Corvallis; Secretary Mikayla Comes, Fergus; Treasurer John Power, Wheatland; Reporter Kelsey Kraft, Laurel; Sentinel Shelby Morris, Missoula; Parliamentarian Jessica Horan, Moore. FFA develops students for leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. There are 629,367 FFA members, ages 12-21, across the nation. The Corvallis FFA chapter has 146 members enrolled in six different high school courses and two middle school courses. The chapter is the fourth largest program in the state. They attended and competed in the state FFA conference, March 22-25. Brandon Braaten is the advisor and educator of the Corvallis program. We had 16 students attend and compete in numerous events from public speaking to livestock evaluation and AG mechanics, Braaten said. Its an honor to be part of the Corvallis education program. The students have high achievements even after just two years of having a chapter. We received many awards given during evening sessions beyond competitive events. The Corvallis chapter was awarded $3,000 in scholarships. Several individuals were selected for top honors. Dunn is Montana FFAs 2017 Star in Agribusiness. She was selected for this honor for best demonstrating her knowledge and skill in agribusiness and active involvement in FFA. Dunn raised a herd of cattle and sells her calves to 4-H and FFA members to use as projects and show at local fairs. She plans to sell her herd to fund her college education. Corvallis senior Morgan Weidow is Montana FFAs 2017 Star in Agriscience. She demonstrated her knowledge and skill in agriscience research and experimentation. This year Weidow had an internship at Rocky Mountain Laboratories and participated in the Intramural Research Training Award program, working in the Neuroimmunology Unit under chief investigator, Karin Peterson, Ph.D. Morgan maintained laboratory and equipment, learned to operate in a laboratory setting and conduct experiment procedures, assist with ongoing studies and process tissues from murine studies conducted by Karins lab. Morgan plans to major in biochemistry at the University of Montana and hopes to conduct research that benefits the agricultural industry and public health. Corvallis FFA members received the following scholarships: Emily Siefert and Matt Wolksy, $125 to attend the Montana FFA Alumni Leadership camp; Emily Siefert, Michael McKay, Morgan Weidow and Abbey Dunn received $250-$500 to attend the Washington Leadership Conference; Michael McKay, $100 to attend the National FFA Convention in October in Indianapolis, Indiana; Abbey Dunn, $1,000 for college from the Montana FFA Foundation; Kyle Tintzman, $300 cash scholarship for his Supervised Ag Experience Proficiency Award ; Morgan Weidow, $300 SAE Proficiency Award; Abbey Dunn and Morgan Weidow, $300 cash for Star Awards. To learn more about the Corvallis FFA visit www.corvallisffa.org. Members of the Victor FFA chapter attended the state convention and participated in mechanics, junior and senior creed, livestock, farm bureau speech contest and agronomy. Victor chapter secretary, Alexis Scichilone, ran for a state office; Gracie Smith placed first in the Farm Bureau speech contest and placed third in senior creed; Lilly Challinor placed second in the farm bureau speech contest. The Victor FFA Chapter invites all members of the community to their annual banquet at 6 p.m. on May 18 at Victor School. Hamilton Farmers Market Co-op will hold a smaller 'early market' in American Legion Park two weeks prior to the regular market opening on May 6 and then two weeks after the regular market ends in October. The Early Market will be open Saturdays, April 22, 29, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. American Legion Park is directly across from Hamilton City Hall on South Second and Bedford Streets. Mary Bricker, co-owner of Sweetroot Farm and a board member of the Hamilton Farmers Market Co-op, explains that some farmers have suggested that the market should stay open later in the fall, and the early market became part of that wish. This year enough farmers, craftspeople and food vendors wanted to be part of it to make it viable. Not enough vendors wanted an earlier and later extension to the regular Hamilton Farmers Market, and so we thought that having a mini-market in the park would work well for those who did want to try it, Bricker said. Its been warmer earlier in the spring for the last five years or so. And, last season, we were as busy on the last day of market as we were all season. Bricker says that farmers are extending their earlier and later growing season with hoop houses and row covers. More storage crops could be grown to supply customers at a later fall market. About a dozen vendors have decided to give the early market a try. If it works well, the regular market may extend its dates. Expect to find early produce, microgreens, baked goods, Mexican food, coffee, eggs, pasties, cheese and fine crafts at the Early Farmers Market. In the fall, the smaller 'late market' will be held in the park after the regular market closes. Dates are set for Oct. 21, 28. For more information about the Hamilton Farmers Market or the Early and Late Markets, contact market manager Laura Craig at 961-0004. On April 22, in addition to the Mini Farmers Market, a day full of events is planned in Hamilton. The Hamilton March for Science will begin in American Legion Park at 9:30 a.m. and circle around to end at the park later. The March for Science is made up of people who value science: science advocates, educators, scientists and concerned citizens. More than 170 partner organizations are members. The main march will be held in Washington, D.C., and there will also be over 500 satellite marches, including Hamilton, to celebrate the critical role that science plays in our lives. Due to having both Rocky Mountain Labs and GSK in Hamilton, there should be a good turnout. The Race to End Hunger begins at 9 a.m. at Hamilton High School, and at 6 p.m., the Hamilton Downtown Association Wine Fest will be held at the City Hall Community Center. 'Spring-Back' is a celebration of well-being, resilience from adversity and less daily stress. It is hosted by The Bitterroot Cares for Kids Network, Emmas House and Tobacco Free Ravalli, on April 20, in the Bedford Building. "Spring-Back 2017 is designed to uplift professionals working with kids and parents or caregivers by understanding ways to take care of themselves in order to care for others effectively, said Kierstin Schmitt, prevention coordinator at Emma's House. We will offer a simple yoga class, a nutrition class, booths to visit with resources for self-care and the Resilience movie with discussion. Schmitt said everyone who works with children can benefit from understanding the long-term effects of trauma on kids. The importance of understanding how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or toxic stress effect children and families cannot be understated when it comes to personal physical and mental health, social and economic health, she said. Faylee Favara, prevention program manager for Western Montana Addictions Services, said the event is open to the general public. We hope people just come in and have a good day, Favara said. Were looking at resiliency, adverse childhood experiences and the next step of what to do about it. Were creating tools for resiliency. The event on Thursday begins at 8:30 a.m. with guest speaker Kat Werner sharing about the book Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, founder and director of The Trauma Stewardship Institute. Thats followed by an hour-long session starting at 9:30 a.m. on yoga for healing and resiliency. Schmitt said the easy mat and chair techniques are simple things people can do at their desk at work if they need a little break. People have mixed feelings on yoga, said Favara. She is keeping it very simple and addressing resilience in movement. Movement can be a huge component in healing. At 10:30 a.m. Favara will present 'Nutrition for Happiness! With Think Whole Nutrition Counseling' about how food can help with general self-care. Participants will enjoy the lunch Favara has prepared and visit booths with information on resiliency. At 1 p.m. the 'Spring-Back' event coordinators will show the film Resilience by James Redford and will host a discussion afterwards. Resilience is the follow-up to the Paper Tigers documentary that we showed last year, both directed by James Redford, Schmitt said. This film brings together leaders in the medical field, social work, education and communities to bring hope and healing to our most vulnerable population, our children. Schmitt said the movie is about finding hope. It is important to understand that the effect of trauma, but it doesnt mean youre doomed for the rest of your life, she said. The awareness of the ACEs study in the mental health field and education field can bring significant changes. There are some struggles, like everybody has, and there are ways with the right resources and information that you can thrive and overcome. Schmitt said the community benefits from people, such as first responders and police, who may have been through hard experiences and can respond in stressful situations effectively. Children may have had trauma but they can overcome, she said. Just because they are acting up in school doesnt mean they are a bad kid. It just means we need to address it in a different way. Lyndsay Stover, program director for Tobacco Free Ravalli, said everyone who works with children would benefit from the event. As a mother of two kids under the age of 3, I know the stresses of motherhood, and they can be taxing and you dont know what to do or who to turn to, Stover said. This event gives the opportunity to learn different skills to deal with these stresses in daily life. Stover said the information will be great to bring into the home or work and create a positive environment. Teachers too are overwhelmed with work meeting guidelines and they may just view this as one more thing for them but I think this workshop will be great and will open different doors on how to look at stressors, she said. Schmitt said the goal of the 'Spring-Back' is to honor and recognize the people that have kids and those that work with kids. The Spring-Back resilience fair is to recognize the strain that our professionals and caregivers experience and to help them and help our community understand the benefits in finding ways of resilient, building a resilient community, she said. The most important thing is understanding the importance of self-care in our fields. If we dont take care of ourselves then we cannot effectively take care of other people. 'Spring-Back' is from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., April 20, at Hamilton City Hall, with a $5 donation suggested. Call 532-9149 or go to www.bckn.weebly.com for more information and to register. Five free continuing education credits and renewal credits are available for social workers and educators. KATHMANDU: The Central Committee meeting of the CPN-UML, called for Sunday, has been postponed owing to the absence of party Chairman KP Sharma Oli. The meeting would be held after Oli would return from Thailand, according to the chief of the partys Publicity Department, Yogesh Bhattarai. The former Prime Minister is currently in Bangkok on his follow-up medical trip. Oli had left for Bangkok on last Saturday and he was said to back after a week. The meeting is scheduled to mull over finalising partys local level election manifesto, internal preparations for the elections among others.RSS WARNING for European visitors European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent. As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies. China on Friday sought to defuse the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula, urging international powers to back down from a possible showdown before the crisis turned into all-out war. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks in response to the growing threat of a major conflict erupting between rival neighbors North Korea and South Korea. The U.S. and Japan have readied their naval forces to defend South Korea, which nuclear-armed North Korea has routinely threatened to destroy since the two nations went to war in the 1950s. Pyongyang's traditional ally, China, has found itself dealing this year with a much more aggressive administration in the U.S. that has not ruled out military action if North Korea pursued a planned upcoming nuclear test on the 105 birthday Saturday of the nation's late founder Kim Il Sung. "The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent, and there have been storm clouds gathering," Wang said in Beijing, according to China's state-run media outlet Xinhua, cited by The New York Times "If war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, multiple parties will lose and no one will win," he added Military provocations between Seoul and Pyongyang are ongoing in a region that the U.S. has long viewed as a nuisance to its interests in the Asia-Pacific region. But President Donald Trump's threats of possible preemptive strike against North Korea could prompt a disastrous response. Trump's surprise launch of cruise missiles at a Syrian air force base and first combat use of its largest non-nuclear bomb on the Islamic State group (ISIS) in Afghanistan have demonstrated the current administration's willingness to use force in an unpredictable manner. Despite international condemnation, North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests since 2006 and experts have suspected another one to be scheduled in the coming days. Kim Jong Un , who became the third member of his family to lead the reclusive, authoritarian state since his father's death in 2011, has sought weapons of mass destruction to deter invasion from foreign powers such as the U.S. His government has shielded the nation against outside influence and reacted strongly to perceived slights against his rule. China remains the only nation with any influence on North Korean policy. Recent events have likely strained that connection. Since North Korea was founded in 1948, China has supported North Korea's battle against South Korean and U.S. troops during the Korean War and has continued to oppose the presence of the U.S. military on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons, however, has frustrated China and has led Beijing to support U.N. Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang. China's economic policies were an early target of Trump's political rhetoric, but in recent days the two nations appeared to be capable of working together. As tensions rise in the region, Beijing has asked for calm with increasing urgency and said it sought a diplomatic solution. KIM HONG-JI/REUTERS That solution would entail North Korea ceasing its nuclear tests and the U.S. canceling its massive joint military drills with South Korea. China has reacted strongly against perceived provocations such as the U.S. and South Korean military drills called Foal Eagle . This year's exercises were held last month and drew a fierce response from Pyongyang, which threatened to use the full extent of its arsenal against South Korea and the U.S. if it felt its sovereignty was threatened. South Korea, which just suffered a political scandal that saw its president jailed, has relied on the U.S. for security and welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's comments that a military option against North Korea was "on the table." 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Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. You have permission to edit this html. Edit Close A blast has killed and injured tens of people amidst an evacuation exchange between the Syrian government and Syrian rebels that involved thousands of people, according to state-run Syria media. As featured on Syria: 100 killed as bomb hits buses with evacuees About 100 people were killed Saturday in a car bomb explosion targeting pro-regime evacuees leaving besieged Syrian towns, a volunteer rescue agency said. Classic leftist (in)tolerance being displayed on our campus:https://t.co/7B2tF4lJRc Berkeley Republicans (@BerkeleyCRs) April 14, 2017 Berkeley College Republicans say they're threatened by intolerance and aggression on campus, the latest instance of which is graffiti and the one before that the breaking of a sign. Campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof told the Daily Cal that the school condemns all acts of vandalism and threats. The graffiti read "KILL BCR, BEHEAD THE B.C.R.s and LYNCH the B.C.R.s." and was removed after it was reported. There isn't much we can do about it beyond reporting, the group's spokesperson Naweed Tahmas told the school paper. Its up to students to manage their behavior towards us and understand that we are students as well. He also rejects the idea that there's been an uptick in aggression toward conservatives on campus since the election, because he thinks conservatives have always been unfairly targeted and ostracized on Cal's liberal campus. Perhaps it's this constant state of threat that has the Republicans, who appear to double as a gun club, practicing their second amendment rights. We had a great time at the range today! Always good to get some target practice in. #SecondAmendment #MakeBerkeleyGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/n9AIjFEyPS Berkeley Republicans (@BerkeleyCRs) April 8, 2017 The background here, duh, is the tension created when the Berkeley College Republicans invited the now-disgraced alt-right person Milo Yiannopoulos to campus, sparking protests that cancelled his planned speech. That brings us to tomorrow, Saturday: A planned "Patriots Day" rally in Berkeley's Civic Center Park has all the makings of another Milo clash, or at best a repeat of the smaller skirmish that happened a month ago in this same park over a similar rally. This "free speech" demonstration quickly drew organizers to form a a counter-rally, and in an extremely Berkeley turn of events, the weekly farmers' market nearby has been canceled as a precaution. One speaker at the Patriot's Day rally will be Lauren Southern, a female men's rights activist from Canada known for shouting down rape victims. She's apparently arrived on campus already and was recently paying her respects to the men and women of the Berkeley College Republicans. Related: Berkeley Braces For Another Pro-Trump Rally Saturday, Cancels Farmers Market It's a challenge to round up the food news this week, as we're still all in carb comas after compiling our best San Francisco bakeries and are suffering from hangovers after our final visits to Doc's Clock in its current location. Fortunately, this food-toting robot is here to deliver us from our suffering, but don't expect it to transport goods from Hecho (it's closing) or Adesso (ditto). Oh, well, at least we've got this $1 Yes Plz cup of coffee and SF's first Salt & Straw to ease our pain. Opening this week is Arthur Mac's Tap & Snack a few steps from Oakland's MacArthur BART station at 4006 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in the MacArthur Annex. Inside Scoop tells us to expect beers in the $4.50-7 range from this, the latest spot from Farm League Management (Tigerlily, Drake's Dealership). The menu's still shaking out, but pizza and wings are appear to be their strongest suit thus far. Outer Sunset residents have been wondering what happened with the popular Brother Seafood Restaurant at 1830 Irving Street. It shuttered and underwent a lengthy remodel to become Cafe 1920 in 2015, but shuttered a few months later. Last Friday, Nami Ramen Bar opened in the space, Hoodline reports. There you'll find Kyoto-style noodles, but (as of yet) no booze. Also opening last week near Union Square was Kinara Kitchen, which Hoodline tells us "offers an unusual combination: pizza, Indian-fusion fare, and hookah." Located at 710 Post Street, the food's pizza and wings type stuff, and the (fully permitted, they say) "hookah bar boasts an illuminated water feature." No plans for any liquor, though, so you'll be smoking clean and sober. We've been hearing about Navi Kitchen, the Emeryville joint planned by Juhu Beach Club's chef Preeti Mistry and business partner and wife Ann Nadeau, since last October. Eater now has the menu for the all-day cafe in the Bakery Lofts at 5000 Adeline Street, which promises Indian-Neapolitan pizza, a "Mumbai morning burger," and tikka masala mac and cheese. The opening date has yet to be set, but should happen in the next few weeks. Also happening sometime in the future, Hoodline reports, is a mini wave of Mission Moroccan eateries. Khamsa Restaurant is preparing to serve "California-Morocco fusion" at 1503 15th Street, and Magador Moroccan Cafe And Cuisine is seeking permits at 105 Valencia Street. No word as yet on opening dates for either. Kantine, a Scandinavian restaurant from chef Nichole Accettola, whose Danish-style open-faced sandwiches you might have seen at pop-ups or the Ferry Building, is also in the works on Upper Market. The space they're hoping to open in is the former Little Hollywood laundromat at 1906 Market Street, the Bay Area Reporter says, next to the Orbit Room. An opening this fall is planned, if all goes well with DBI and Planning. Another thing to look forward to this fall is the opening of C.D.P., James Syhabout's planned full bar and lounge space next door to his Michelin-starred Commis on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. Food will be small plates and snacks, the booze will be heavy on Brandy and Champagnes. Speaking with Inside Scoop. Syhabout says "This is going to be a laid-back space for people that want the Commis-type of experience, but they don't want to have a full sit-down dinner." Construction on the space at Oakland's 3861 Piedmont Avenue begins in May, a fall opening is planned. If you're wondering about the fate of the long-shuttered McKenzie's Bar at 5320 Geary Boulevard, wonder no more a 27-year-old guy named Norman Louie bought it in "late 2015," Hoodline reports. By June it should open as Natives, its previous dive bar trappings eradicated as Louie says From the inside to the outside, everythings going to be new." He's planning 5-10 specialty cocktails, local beers, and possible "portable hot plates" from nearby Super Pan. Another longtime bar that's transforming is Coronitas Bar and Grill. Open for the last 26 years at 3326 Mission Street, owner Jorge Esparza tells Mission Local the place has become profitless, so he's applied to turn it into a Latino-oriented pot club. Should everything pass all approvals, keep an eye out for La Corona Wellness Center to open there in October, a bar no more. When we last left the ongoing suds opera that is Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, they had decided against shutting down and were continuing to produce as they sought a sale. Now Inside Scoop says that they're outsourcing production to New York's Shmaltz Brewing Company, so when a new buyer comes in there's a plan to keep the beer flowing while permits are transferred. The window to bid on Speakeasy closed yesterday, so I guess we'll know who the highest bidder is soon enough. Thursday, May 4 is A Taste of Potrero, planned for 6 p.m. at Pier 70. Eater reports that the fundraiser for "Daniel Webster, a Potrero Hill elementary school which faces closure every year due to an extreme lack of funding," will feature basically every high-profile food and drink name in the local biz. Tickets range from $100-225. Another food event worth noting is Clusterfest, the star-studded June comedy event held in Civic Center. Eater says organizers also promise a massive lineup of food stars, including a Wise Sons version of Seinfeld's Monks Cafe and a list of general vendors that will make you drool. " " Oakland's alaMar Kitchen continues to seek its footing, NBC Bay Area reports. They switched to a counter service model in January to cut costs, and now they're only taking payments by credit cards. Sorry, cash, you're no longer king. This Week In Reviews The New York Times' Freda Moon visited Mister Jiu's and calls out Chinatown's "medical herb vendors and knickknack shops." She describes Mister Jiu's bar as "crowded with Ivanka Trump types in tall heels and straight blond ponytails." Ouch. We get to the food at the very end, with some dishes falling flat even as the place "promises to grow even more compelling and provocative." Over at SF Weekly, Pete Kane heads to Mission Cajun destination Bayou Creole Kitchen. The casual counterpart to Cajun neighbor Alba Ray's, Kane praises the small spot's frog legs and chicken-and-andouille gumbo, while fretting that the other chicken entrees can be a bit of a miss. Overall, it's a positive review, but Kane seems to worry that there might be more missteps than successes. He also reviews Hecho. With all due respect to Kane's excellent work, since Hecho's closing, who cares? Here's the link anyway. Heading Chronside, Jonathan Kauffman explores the wild world of Japanese hot dogs, which is basically just a wiener with a bunch of crap on it. Here's hoping he can expense the shirts he doubtlessly ruined trying to eat those things. Chris Ying spends ten paragraphs establishing his Japantown creds before he gets down to talking about Marufuku. We already knew that it opened in February, and Ying thinks it's something special, rhapsodizing over their chicken paitan and Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen. "Its a convincing reason to eat in Japantown," he says, applauding the broth and the "thin, slurpable" noodles. Michael Bauer continue's the paper's Asian trend this week, with a visit to Palo Alto's Tamarine, a Vietnamese restaurant where M-Bau notes "Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were spotted together recently." That sighting "piqued my curiosity" about the place, Bauer says, so now you know how you can get the big guy to review your place, thirsty restauranteurs get mentioned in TechCrunch. He says the restaurant "skewed to an established customer base," which means the people who eat there are old. That might be why the food was basically just "tame" and "safe" (if a bit too sweet), but pretty unmemorable. His greatest contempt is for dessert, a coconut tapioca "served in a white bowl that reminded me of a Toto urinal" and "misleadingly named" banana beignets. Food gets two stars, the quiet (you know Mikey hates noise) atmosphere gets three, so we end up with a tepid 2.5. For Sunday, Bauer travels to Half Moon Bay to visit Dad's Luncheonette. The review is an interesting departure for Bauer, as it drops the pretense of anonymity to which he's clung for far too long. He speaks directly with Dad's co-founder/chef Scott Clark, which means we get quotes and backstory to enrich the review. It's a refreshing (and welcome) change for Bauer's format. He praises their burger, an insaneo creation on toasted white bread with a "4-ounce patty, oak leaf lettuce, fried egg, pickled red onions, cheese and a sauce made with Meyer lemon, pepper, honey, sauerkraut juice and mayonnaise." Their mac and cheese, he says, is too bland. Bauer's not a fan of the atmosphere (you eat outside), giving it only 1.5 stars. The food gets 2.5, as does the overall star count. Spring Bridge Lifts Could Snarl Traffic Near Chicago River Saturday Morning By Rachel Cromidas in News on Apr 14, 2017 10:20PM Photo via Chicago Flickr Pool user Stephanie Barto The sun is out, the air is getting warmer, and Chicago's enviable boat owners are ready to hit the water. But first, the city needs to lift the two dozen bridges over the Chicago River to allow boats to move from their storage yards to Lake Michigan's harbors. The first, springtime lifting of the bridges will begin Saturday morning at Ashland Avenue, then move north and east along the branches of the Chicago River as the boats travel from storage to the harbors, the city Department of Transportation announced Friday afternoon. Michigan Avenue's bridge will likely be lifted between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m., if you want to head downtown to see the sight firsthand. The bridges, 27 in total, will be lifted one at a time, according to CDOT, and each lift should take up to 12 minutes. SIOUX CITY | It's been more than 40 years since the death of Tommy Bolin and the Sioux City native is still being recognized for his music. The guitarist for such 1970s bands as Zephyr, The James Gang and Deep Purple will be posthumously honored at the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association Hall of Fame induction ceremonies being held at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Ramkota Exhibition Hall, 3200 W. Maple St., Sioux Falls. "Tommy is being inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Spirit of Music recipient," Johnnie Bolin, the younger brother of Tommy Bolin, explained. "He'll be inducted alongside (teen idol and Fargo, North Dakota, native) Bobby Vee and Buddy Miles (an Omaha native best known for being a drummer in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies)." A longtime drummer in the Southern rock band Black Oak Arkansas, Johnnie Bolin will be performing at the induction concert in tribute to his late brother. This is a role that Johnnie Bolin has filled many times since his brother's drug-related death in Miami on Dec. 4, 1976, at the age of 25. It's also a way to preserve Tommy Bolin's legacy for a younger generation. "Too many musicians are forgotten over time," Johnnie Bolin said inside his mid-city home. "Tommy's one of the lucky ones. His legacy is still alive." 'Tommy wanted to be the next Elvis' Richard Bolin, a worker in several of Sioux City's meat packing plants, never wanted his sons to have to follow in his footsteps. Instead, he introduced them to the rock and roll music that he loved so much. "Dad bought Tommy a guitar at the age of 10," Johnnie Bolin said. "Tommy mastered the guitar and, then, drums and the organ. Tommy wanted to be the next Elvis (Presley). Certainly Tommy had the looks plus he also had the talent." It was this talent that drove the teenage Tommy Bolin to join a local band called A Patch of Blue. "A Patch of Blue played the Broadway Ballroom (in Centerville, South Dakota)," Johnnie Bolin said. "Then he played in (the Vermillion, South Dakota) Chateaux as a 14-year-old." The then-11-year-old Johnnie Bolin said he idolized his rock and roll brother. But he knew it was only a matter of time before Tommy would need to leave Sioux City. With his parent's permission, Tommy hitchhiked his way to Colorado and joined a band that would eventually be called Zephyr. "Sioux City was a great working-class town, which influenced the musical scene," Johnnie Bolin said. "Tommy respected that but he had bigger dreams." A rock and roll lifestyle Johnnie Bolin could appreciate his brother's ambitions as well as his wanderlust. Like Tommy, Johnnie Bolin had a natural affinity for music. Over time, he tracked his brother's moves from Zephyr to The James Gang and, eventually, to replacing Ritchie Blackmore in the pioneering British heavy metal band Deep Purple. A drummer and a guitarist, the younger Bolin would occasionally play gigs with Tommy. This collaboration increased when Deep Purple disbanded in early 1976 and Tommy recorded "Private Eyes," his second and final solo album. Classic tracks bring renewed interest Nearly 13 years after his death, Tommy Bolin acquired a whole new following. That was when 1989's "Tommy Bolin: The Ultimate" -- containing tracks throughout his career -- was released to critical acclaim. The retrospective allowed older fans to appreciate lost talent and, more significantly, it inspired a younger generation to discover a guitar hero. Ever since, Johnnie Bolin has been re-releasing his brother's music to fans around the world. A Sioux City-born guitar hero Inside a house full with memorabilia, Johnnie Bolin is proud of his own musical accomplishments and he is pleased that his brother's work that has influenced artists as diverse as Peter Frampton and Joe Bonamassa. "There are so many musicians who have faded away without a trace," Johnnie Bolin said. "Tommy's retrospective gave his music the exposure and acclaim it deserved. This redemption is still bittersweet even after all this time. "I miss Tommy but his music is meant to be played," Johnnie Bolin said. "Tommy wanted his music to put a smile on the faces of people who love rock and roll." "When I'm playing Tommy's music at the (South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) induction concert, I'll be watching the faces of his smiling fans," he continued. "Yeah, that's what Tommy would want me to do." SIOUX CITY | Susan Jordan pulled out a folder containing drawings, poems and letters from her students, past and present. Many of these handwritten notes thanked the veteran teacher for all of her hard work. "This is the reason people become teachers," she said. "We want to make a difference in the lives of our students." Jordan has been making a difference in the lives of Sioux City Community School District students for the past 33 years. That's why the Morningside Elementary School second grade teacher was selected to be the district's 2018 Teacher of the Year. Growing up in Akron, Iowa, Jordan said she can't remember a time when she didn't want to become a teacher. "I was the type of kid who played school at home for fun," she remembered. "That happens when your mom happened to be a teacher." Jordan explained her mom Donna Lucken gave her an excellent work ethic as well as some important pieces of advice. "Mom said to always do your best and, whenever possible, kill 'em with kindness," she remembered. "Being a kind person goes a long way when you're a teacher." That kindness has extended to Jordan's colleagues as well as to her students. "Everyone knows Mrs. Jordan," Keith Juelfs explained. "(People) will get a smile on their faces whenever you mention her name." Juelfs, a Morningside fifth grade teacher nominated Jordan to become the district's top teacher as did Gennifer Paul-Fetterman, the school's Title 1/Reading Recovery teacher. "(Jordan) is the kind of person that brings cheer to anyone at anytime," Paul-Fetterman said. This included the time Jordan dressed up as an old woman to dramatized the book, "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything," or even "kissed a pig" when her students met their reading goal. "I don't mind dressing up or hamming things up," she reasoned. "You're trying to connect with students in every way you can. If one way doesn't work, you try something different." That was true when Jordan started as a special education teacher in the district. It was also the case during the 20 years she spent as a second grade teacher at the former Whittier Elementary School. It has continued in the two years she's been at Morningside, a STEM specialty school. However, she admitted her real-life family sometimes took second place to her school family. "A teacher's day doesn't stop at the end of the school day," Jordan said. "Until the time you go to sleep, you're always thinking about the next day of class." She credits her husband Bill and their three children for being her side. Plus she credits all of her colleagues for their support. "I think the level of collaboration has increased over the years," Jordan said. "While teachers remain important, we're just part of a team that includes the office staff, the janitorial staff, you name it." "We all want to be looking out for the kids," she added. At the end of each school year, Jordan has gotten into the habit of writing notes to her graduating students. The notes tell the kids how proud their teacher is of their progress. "I also write that, no matter what, I'll always be there for them and that I'll never forget them," Jordan said. This sentiment is apparently mutual. She said several of her former students have decided to go into education themselves. "It's really gratifying to know you've made a difference in somebody's life," Jordan said. "That's still what every teacher wants for their students." SIOUX CITY | The gaming floor of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino was temporarily shut down following a problem in its information technology system Saturday afternoon. Patrons on the floor-- where the slot machines and gambling tables are-- were asked to leave once the problem happened after noon and security would not allow anyone back in the gated area. The casino, at 111 Third St., "experienced a temporary interruption of our Information technology system," a company press release said. "Iowa gaming law requires that... our information technology systems be fully functional in order for the gaming floor to be occupied." Hard Rock officials said the floor would be opened back up Saturday evening. The hotel, World Tour Buffet and Main + Abbey remained open during the shutdown. The release did not specify what kind of information technology problem was to blame. SIOUX CITY | Tuesday is Tax Day, a deadline for taxpayers to file federal income taxes without a penalty. Liberty Tax Service office manager Maria Herrera said the business at 1321 Nebraska St. has been crowded as the deadline looms. "We have two different areas of tax season that are busy. In mid-February when employers send out W-2s and right now," she said Saturday. "It's all hands on deck." The business won't be open Easter Sunday but will offer help to late-filers Monday and Tuesday. To make the filing go as quickly as possible she advises to bring 2016's W-2s, a proof of insurance and a valid ID for both you and dependents. "Bring it all," she said, "so we can tell you what you need instead of what you should have brought. Especially since the deadline is so close." Herrera said the influx of late filers is not a problem for the four-year tax preparation veteran. "Its not stressful since we have a lot of experience doing it here," she said. "But it does get crowded when all the people come in the last day." Bloomberg reports being a procrastinator isn't an exclusive label to merit as about 22 percent of Americans file in the last two weeks when it comes to tax time. Jacob Perkins, of Sergeant Bluff, admits he falls into that statistic. "Work just kind of got in the way and I forgot until like last week when my mom texted me," the 25-year-old said. "I've had to do them for a couple years since I graduated. Scary at first but doing them online is pretty easy." Perkins says he eagerly awaits his coming tax refund even though it will go "straight to debt." For state income taxes, Nebraskans also have a deadline to file Tuesday. But Iowans get until May 1. South Dakota is one of the few states in the country that does not have an income tax. Traditionally, Tax Day is April 15 but this year the date fell on a Saturday which pushes it back to the next work day. Since Washington D.C. observes Emancipation Day Monday, it bumped the deadline back again. In the spirit of taxes, members of the Siouxland Progressive Women marched downtown Saturday. The "Tax March" brought almost 100 people and was an attempt to put pressure on President Donald Trump to release his tax returns, which the group says "provide(s) important insight into President Trump's wealth, tax conformity, as well as potential conflicts of interest." Beforehand, Karen Mackey, executive director of the Sioux City Human Rights Commission, held a seminar at the Wilbur Aalfs Library on how to protest in accordance with the law. CHICAGO -- There are a few precious moments in every parent's life when you realize you didn't inadvertently torpedo your kid's chances at success and happiness. Last week, I had one. My vindication came courtesy of a new paper to be published in the Summer 2017 issue of Education Next, a policy research journal. The paper focuses on all the reasons that "academic redshirting" -- delaying a child's entry into kindergarten in order to derive benefit from an extra year of physical growth and social-emotional maturity -- can potentially do more harm than good. "Redshirting is generally not worth it," write authors Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, a professor of education and social policy at Northwestern University, and Stephanie Howard Larson, the director of a Montessori school in Wilmette, Illinois. In fact, they write, "the benefit of being older at the start of kindergarten declines sharply as children move through the school grades." And, notably, "For the older students [who were redshirted] ... the positive impacts of being more mature are offset by the negative effects of attending class with younger students." This was music to my ears. My youngest son's childhood nickname was "The Wiggler" because even in the womb he was in perpetual motion. He was that toddler who could not sit still, and eventually became a troublesome preschooler who irritated his teachers. There was seemingly no end to the phone calls and notes home to discuss behavioral issues: refusal to sleep at naptime, tugging on peers' hair or clothes, reluctance to participate in quiet activities. His birthday is in early August, close to our state's September 1 cutoff, and we agonized over whether to let him proceed to kindergarten. And then, for the next 10 years, we agonized over whether we failed him by not keeping him out an extra year. Today, as a sophomore in high school, The Wiggler is still one of the youngest in his class. Until recently he was always one of the smallest boys in his class. And also the most annoying to his teachers who, over the years, continued to send notes home begging us to keep him from tapping his pencils, making silly noises and, yes, wiggling himself practically out of his seat. But, according to Schanzenbach and Larson, "The research on relative age indicates that being among the youngest in the class has benefits, in both the short and long term. Why? Because older classmates tend to be higher achieving and better behaved. They model positive behavior, and the younger students achieve greater academic gains from learning and competing with older ones. [Two studies reviewed] find that, with age held constant, learning with older classmates boosts students' test scores." Not only are students who are held back for a year not more likely to be accepted in gifted and talented programs, but the authors conclude that, "Both research and experience suggest that the gains that accrue from being an older student are likely to be short-lived. Because of the important role of classroom peer effects, redshirted children can be educationally and socially harmed by being with others who are performing and behaving at lower developmental levels." Whew! So I didn't ruin my kid's life after all. Schanzenbach hit upon the idea of investigating the veracity of redshirting while chatting with Larson about whether Schanzenbach's daughter's development would adequately prepare her to be successful in kindergarten this coming fall. "This is one of the hottest topics on the playground! Parents often struggle with this decision, and want to know what the advice from experts is, and what the research says," Schanzenbach told me via email. "I just asked [Larson] what she advises parents. And she immediately started describing the potential for mismatch between a student and his/her peers if he is redshirted, which of course is consistent with my own academic research study that documents the importance of peers, and that having slightly older peers has a positive impact." This is really the most comforting thing we can hear. So much of what parents do revolves around making the best choices for their kids and we always worry that we haven't chosen well enough. On any given day we must just do our best with the information we have and hope that the scholarly research eventually pats us on the back for not messing up too badly. Attempts to educate students about sexual assault in a high school setting sometimes lack effectiveness, according to interviews with teachers, administrators and high school students from 18 Iowa school districts conducted by IowaWatch. The result is students who said they didnt know what sexual assault consisted of, how to prevent it and how to get help after an assault took place. The interviews revealed that the problem stems, in part, from too little time for the topic when so many things need to be covered in health classes. In some schools, the education is only in ninth grade, a time before most students become sexually active, educators said in the IowaWatch interviews. In other schools, education is not provided at all. I have had to go out and do my own research on it, and that shouldnt be the case, Harley Atchison, 17, a junior at Pella High School, said. She said she has no memory of any sexual assault prevention education in school. For how large of a problem sexual assault is, there is nothing being done about it early on. Many girls especially are not aware of the dangers they will be exposed to once they leave the comfort of their own home. Curriculum among school districts varies because it is chosen at the local, not state, level, Staci Hupp Ballard, Iowa Department of Education communications director, said. A schools curriculum decision is approved by its school board or authorities in charge, Hupp Ballard said. The Iowa Department of Educations role is to ensure districts are providing the required courses and to provide resource links for school districts or schools to access, she said. Des Moines Valley High School Principal Tim Miller said, We do not have a course in place that has curriculum specifically tied to sexual assault. Reasons include not having time or course material, he said. The unspoken topic Rape and sexual violence are commonly known abuses on college and high school campuses, according to RAINN, the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network. About 70 percent of all sexual assault cases happen to children ages 17 and under. More than 42 million adults were sexually assaulted before the age of 18, information released by the Childrens Assessment Center shows. More education about sexual assault would teach young people about healthy relationships, break stereotypes and expose people to what sexual violence really is, Kathryn Rittenhour, a Rape Victim Advocacy Program volunteer in Iowa City, said. Rittenhour, a University of Iowa graduate student in the Department of Sociology, speaks frequently in Iowa City-area schools about rape and assault prevention. Then students may be able to assist someone who has been a victim of sexual violence or they could be able to recognize what abuse and violence looks like in their own lives, she said. That kind of knowledge would have helped one Eastern Iowa high school junior who said she was sexually assaulted and who consented to being interviewed by IowaWatch if her name was not used. IowaWatch confirmed that her case was turned over to police and agreed not to identify her because she is a minor and because of the nature of what happened. The student said her body shut down and froze and that she didnt know what to do when she was assaulted in November 2015. She received counseling from rape victim advocates. They talked to me about it and helped me understand that it wasnt my fault that I froze, because I blamed myself for so long, she said. That is what people dont understand. They dont realize how it happens. A lot of people think that you have to be in a dark alley or be drunk for you to be sexually assaulted, and thats not true. Mixed messages Rittenhour said these misconceptions about sexual violence are common among Iowa high school students and teachers. A lot of young people dont have much exposure to education about healthy relationships and sexual violence, Rittenhour said. And unfortunately there are a lot of myths and stereotypical images in media which get perpetuated in schools and classroom that can be really harmful. This can create some negative betrayals of what relationships look like for teenagers, making sexual assault a huge problem in high school settings. Cecilia Roudabush, a health teacher at North Central Junior High School in North Liberty in the Iowa City school district, said media such as demeaning music lyrics and videos should not be teaching children about sexual assault. She points to videos portraying women ogled by men, which she shows in class in order to make a point with students. They dont realize what some of the material is promoting, she said. Education is aimed at boys as well as girls. But Prairie High student Andre Vongpanya, 16, said he doesnt know if he could have benefited from more attention to sexual assault prevention in class. The reason, the junior said, is that he has been given little to no education about the topic. The only education we ever got was a one-day presentation in ninth grade, he said. Taylor Grider, 16, an Iowa City West High School junior said she took one trimester of health during her freshman year but that seemed like a minimal amount considering that she was going to high school for four years. I dont think we even really touch the subject of assault that much. I dont even remember talking about it, Grider said. Students are not the only ones who think this. West High health teacher Kathy Bresnahan said sexual assault should be brought up in more than just freshman health class. Brooke Timmerman, 18, a senior at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School, said she fears that minimal education makes students more vulnerable to sexual abuse. When students arent educated on sexual assault they feel lost when it happens to them or a friend; they dont know exactly what it is, how to stop it, and how to report it, she said. A lack of understanding I honestly never really knew what a sexual assault was, or what you would consider an act of sexual assault, said Sydnie, another Eastern Iowa high school junior who said she was sexually abused at her school in a place where cameras did not exist. IowaWatch chose not to use her full name in this story. Now, if one of my friends or family members, or even just an acquaintance, would come up to me and say something happened, I would urge them to tell someone right away. I kept mine hidden for a long time, and it only made things worse. She eventually reported the incident to school officials and police. After her incident, Sydnie began to notice that many of her peers didnt understand sexual assault. I heard this one guy say, He touched her butt, I bet shes going to turn him in for sexual assault now. They dont understand how serious it is, and that it is more than just that. How some districts respond Despite concerns about sexual assault prevention education, several Iowa school administrators said the amount of education is right where it needs to be. Many Iowa districts share a partnership with the University of Northern Iowa Center for Violence Prevention, implementing a program called Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP). The districts include Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, Marshalltown and Cedar Falls school districts. Jen Gomez, director of student services and equity education in the Sioux City Community School District, said each school in that district has trained adult advisors who teach various lessons to ninth grade students, typically through an Advisory/Homework block. This year, the districts health teachers hosted a viewing of Audrie & Daisy for all ninth grade students. This movie follows two teenage girls through being sexually assaulted to dealing with the harassment of fellow students, eventually leading to attempted suicide. After the viewing, school counselors, mental health therapists and domestic violence and sexual assault specialists and advocates led small group discussions with the students, Gomez said. Marshalltown Community School District Superintendent Theron Schutte said MVP students in that district talk about situations that could lead to sexual assault. The discussion includes setting boundaries and what to do when someone crosses them, he said. We talk a lot about values, pressure situations and what to do in the event that those things happen, Schutte said. In the Cedar Falls district, a partnership with the Riverview Center in Waterloo, another program influencing the education of sexual assault, uses a program called Safe Dates in junior high and high schools. Dan Conrad, Cedar Falls districts director of secondary education, said the program is used during one class period monthly to discuss consent, healthy relationships and positive decision-making. Other districts that are not involved with MVP are making strides addressing sexual violence, said Bruce Amendt, associate superintendent of the Johnston Community School District. A law enforcement officer talks with students once a year in health classes about what to do if assault occurs. As part of the health curriculum, a law enforcement officer provides learning related to safety including what to do if inappropriate dialogue, contacts and situations occur, Amendt said. This story was produced by the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch.org, a non-profit, online news Website that collaborates with Iowa news organizations to produce explanatory and investigative reporting. Chinese President Xi Jinping(C) inspects the Xiongan New Area scheme in Anxin County of Baoding City, north China's Hebei Province, Feb 23, 2017. Xiongan New Area, an economic zone about 100 kilometers south of Beijing, will span Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties in Hebei Province, covering 2,000 square kilometers in the long term with a population of 2 to 2.5 million. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang) Plans for Xiongan New Area, an economic zone about 100 kilometers south of Beijing, are becoming more clear. The zone will span Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties in Hebei Province, covering 2,000 square kilometers in the long term with a population of 2 to 2.5 million. The surprise announcement to set up the new area on April 1 actually represented the results of years of research and rumination by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and is a major strategic decision which will open a new era of development in the region. MILLENNIUM PLAN Drawing an analogy to legendary Chinese flood control hero Dayu, who contained flooding by means of dredging rather than obstruction, President Xi Jinping said, "The capital's core functions should be preserved and strengthened, and some inappropriate functions adjusted and weakened." "Some functions should be transferred to Hebei and Tianjin," said Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. Addressing a central economic meeting at the end of 2014, Xi said that transferring Beijing's non-capital functions, lowering its population density and promoting economic and social development commensurate with its population and resources must be at the core of coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. During CPC meetings in April 2015, Xi suggested investigating the possibility of a new city in Hebei, built according to new development concepts. On March 24, 2016, Xi heard a report on the creation of Beijing's "subsidiary center" and another area where non-capital functions would be shifted from Beijing. The subsidiary center is to be located in the eastern suburb of Tongzhou while the other area will be Xiongan. Xi stressed that Beijing is at an historic juncture. Tongzhou and Xiongan will form two "wings" for Beijing and create new growth engines for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. On May 27, 2016, Xiongan New Area appeared for the first time in a report reviewed at a Political Bureau meeting of the CPC Central Committee. Calling it a "major historic and strategic decision" that would be "crucial for the millennium to come," Xi said the subsidiary center of Beijing and Xiongan New Area should withstand the test of history, and be the legacy of this generation of CPC members. People will see that Xiongan New Area, Pudong New Area in Shanghai and Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in Guangdong form a ladder from north to south across the map of China to act as the testbeds for the country's reform and opening up. These areas are expected to work together to balance the development of China and change the country's make-up which features a strong economy in the south and weaker economic development in the north. A NEW WING FOR BEIJING It took some time to choose the location for an ideal new city. Under Xi's direct guidance, the process began in February 2015, with the final proposal deliberated and agreed by the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau on March 24, 2016. Xiongan sits at the center of a triangular area with Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei's capital Shijiazhuang at the apexes. With good road and rail access, Xiongan commuters will be able reach any of the three cities in about 30 minutes, The site is only 55 km from Beijing's new airport. The area also has a pleasant environment with a relatively low degree of urbanization. Less than 100,000 people currently live in the core area, about the same of a regular residential community in Beijing. Visiting the location on Feb. 23 this year, Xi expressed satisfaction with the location, population and natural resources of Xiongan. "It's a good choice, as it will not create too much trouble for locals, involves only a small amount of relocation and something can be achieved in a short time," said Xi. According to the president's plans, Xiongan New Area will primarily be the receiver of non-capital functions from Beijing, including some administrative and public institutions, company headquarters, financial institutions, higher education institutions and sci-tech units. A NEW CITY MODEL During his February visit, Xi called for "world vision, international standards, Chinese characteristics and high goals" in planning and construction. If all goes according to plan, the area will have an excellent environment, optimal urban layout, great public services and innovative development. As Xi has stressed on many occasions that eco-protection should be the priority in construction. Xiongan New Area is home to Baiyangdian, one of the largest freshwater wetlands in north China. Urban design is another keyword. "Every inch of land should be clearly planned before any construction begins," Xi said many times during meetings. World renowned planners and architects from home and abroad will design Xiongan, with the area to become an exemplar of future city construction. With a free hand to improve public services, provide better public resources and advance reforms in fields including household registration, investment, trade and city management, Xiongan will attract the very best talent. In preparation, purchases and projects related to land and property and changes to household registration have been blocked in the three counties since June last year. Local authorities are on high alert against illegal land and housing purchases or construction to guard against speculation. According to the plans, a major transportation network and basic infrastructure should be in place in Xiongan by 2020. The area will be well connected to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei by 2022 when the Winter Olympic Games are held. The US military on Friday defended its decision to drop its most powerful non-nuclear bomb on ISIS positions in Afghanistan, describing it as a "tactical" move. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was dropped Thursday night on a network of fortified underground tunnels that ISIS had been using to stage attacks on government forces. The strike in Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed 36 ISIS fighters, Afghan officials said. The US military previously estimated ISIS had 600 to 800 active fighters in the area but was unclear whether it had hoped to strike more. The blast destroyed three underground tunnels as well as weapons and ammunition, but no civilians were hurt, Afghan and US officials said. However, ISIS denied that any of its fighters were killed or injured, according to a statement in Arabic distributed by the terror group's media wing, Amaq News Agency. The US military was quizzed Friday on whether the 21,600-pound behemoth, known as the "mother of all bombs" for its extraordinary force, was necessary for that particular target. The GPS-guided bomb is capable of destroying an area equivalent to nine city blocks. "This was the right weapon against the right target," Gen. John Nicholson, commander for US forces in Afghanistan, told a press conference. "It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield." Nicholson gave a vague response to reporters' questions on who ordered or greenlighted the strike, saying only that he enjoyed a certain amount of "latitude" to make decisions in his chain of command. The general confirmed the strike was carried out in coordination with Afghan officials and said rigorous surveillance had been conducted to prevent any civilian deaths. "Let me be clear -- we will not relent in our mission to fight alongside our Afghan comrades to destroy ISIS-K in 2017," he said, referring to the terror group's regional branch. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he approved of the strike and that it was designed to support Afghan and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region. But former President Hamid Karzai accused the United States of using Afghanistan as "a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons." Scrutiny over US strikes The bomb was dropped as Washington faces increased scrutiny over its military actions in the Middle East, including three US-led airstrikes in the past month that reportedly have killed civilians or allies. On Tuesday, the US-led coalition in Syria killed 18 of its own allies from the Syrian Democratic Forces in what was described as a misdirected airstrike. The United States is also investigating two strikes in Iraq and Syria, which Iraqi officials and activists in Syria say killed dozens of civilians. But President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Afghanistan bombing was "another successful job." The bombing -- along with the first US military strikes against the Syrian regime last week -- mark a dramatic change in attitude for Trump, who advocated an isolationist, "America first" foreign policy during his election campaign. In just the last week, Trump has overseen the use of some of the most powerful weaponry in the US arsenal. He once said the invasion of Afghanistan was a mistake, though he later walked back that statement, saying he "always supported" US involvement in the country. A deafening blast Residents in Afghan villages kilometers away from the target area felt Thursday's powerful strike. One resident living around 2 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the blast told CNN he heard an "extremely loud boom that smashed the windows of our house." "We were all scared, and my children and my wife were crying. We thought it had happened right in front of our house," he said. "I have witnessed a countless number of explosions and bombings in the last 30 years of war in Afghanistan, but this one was more powerful than any other bomb as far as I remember." Another Afghan man, 46-year-old Abdul, who lives 3 kilometers from the site, described the thick cloud of dust that formed after the deafening blast. "We were unable to see each other at home because of the excessive dust inside the room," he said. "I was feeling that boom till the morning." Why now? Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said the colossal MOAB was dropped after fighting had intensified over the last week. US and Afghan forces had been unable to advance because ISIS -- which has expanded into Afghanistan in recent years -- had mined the area with explosives. Locals told CNN that more than 3,000 families had fled the district in the past year or so since the militant group established its presence. One man, who did not want to give his name for fear of ISIS retaliation, said there were no civilians left in the area the group controlled. The region butts up against the porous Pakistan border. The rocky landscape is dotted with caves and defensive tunnels, making it easy to hold and hard to attack, according to Nic Robertson, CNN's international diplomatic editor, who has reported from the Afghan mountains. Afghanistan War 'at its lowest point' Those troops are separate from a wider NATO-led effort to train, advise and assist the Afghan army and police force. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in February, Nicholson, the commander, warned of a stalemate in Afghanistan. He told US lawmakers the current troop level was insufficient and there was a "shortfall of a few thousand" advisers to train the Afghans. According to CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, "the war in Afghanistan is at its lowest point for the Afghans and their American allies since the Taliban were overthrown in the months after 9/11." The Taliban "control or contest" about a third of the population of the country, Bergen said, citing senior US military officials. That's around 10 million people -- more than the population ISIS controlled in Syria and Iraq at the height of its power during the summer of 2014, he said. First MOAB strike Thursday marked the first time a MOAB has been used in the battlefield, according to US officials. Developed during the Iraq War, the munition is an air blast-type warhead that explodes before hitting the ground to project a massive blast from all sides. During the final stages of testing in 2003, military officials told CNN the MOAB was mainly conceived as a weapon employed for "psychological operations." Military officials said then they hoped such a huge blast would rattle Iraqi troops and pressure them into surrendering or not even fighting. As originally conceived, the MOAB was to be used against large formations of troops and equipment or hardened above-ground bunkers. The target set has been expanded to include targets buried under softer surfaces, such as caves or tunnels. CNN's Ehsan Popalzai, Ryan Browne, Zachary Cohen, Jim Acosta, Jeremy Diamond and Euan McKirdy and journalist Saleem Mehsud contributed to this report. With its announcement that it would again raise tuition at South Dakotas six public universities, the Board of Regents continues a trend that either ignores or discounts a new reality in higher education. As costs steadily rise, fewer South Dakotans are going to college in their home state, begging the question of whether they are being priced out of higher learning. At its March meeting in Spearfish, the regents approved a 2.9 percent tuition and fee increase for the upcoming school year, which follows a 5.8 percent hike in 2015. As a result of the latest hike, the average cost of tuition and fees has increased from $7,925 in 2014 to $8,555 in 2017, which continues a 10-year trend of increases that makes college here more expensive than in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska. These costs do not include room, board, books, supplies or gasoline money and other ancillary costs. At the same time, overall enrollment has been flat since 2010 and theres been a significant decline in resident enrollment. According to an analysis done by the regents in 2015, the states six public universities lost 4,500 resident, or South Dakotan, students since 2010. Enrollment was also down at the university centers in Rapid City and Sioux Falls, which were created specifically to boost in-state enrollment by increasing access to the system. As a result, enrollment has been treading water since 2010 while regents continue a spending wave by approving new building projects that are largely paid for by the students themselves. The higher education facilities fund, which is used to pay off bond debt, is the recipient of 20 cents of every dollar spent on tuition and fees. But new buildings simply are not boosting enrollment. In 2010, a total of 36,440 students were enrolled in the university system. In 2016, it was 36,531, an increase of 92 over 2015. It is an influx of nonresidents and high school students taking dual-credit courses that have enabled the state to maintain a flat enrollment trend. What is the consequence of fewer South Dakotans attending college in their home state? According to that same 2015 report, it means we will likely not have enough trained professionals to fill key positions in the state someday, which would hamper economic growth. In fact, it is already difficult to retain graduates who in some cases leave college with staggering amounts of student-loan debt, forcing them to look out of state for higher-paying jobs. Despite all of this, it seems the Board of Regents has yet to learn the lessons of the past several years. In announcing the recent hike, the boards executive director, Mike Bush, said the increase will have a direct impact on the quality of the higher education experience and improve student retention. It will have an impact on the student experience, especially when its time to pay the bills or take out another loan. As far as retention or growth in enrollment goes, recent history would suggest otherwise. Rapid City (S.D.) Journal Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. Part big sister, part den mother, Michelle Visage is back at the judges table of RuPauls Drag Race to give this years crop of contestants her best (and most honest) critiques, with a dash of tough love sprinkled throughout. One of our most outspoken allies, Michelle sat down with me to talk about the latest season of Drag Race, what is was like having Lady Gaga join the judges panel on the first episode, and what a blast she and RuPaul are having on their Whats the Tee podcast. We also spoke at length about the current political climate and what our community can do to ensure that we are building each other up, as opposed to tearing each other down. (SFGN) You are back where it all started; VH1! How does it feel to be home again in a way? (MV) Can you believe it? Its our twenty-year anniversary, back to our roots! Are you happy to be on back VH1 or are you missing where RuPauls Drag Race itself started, on Logo? Well, we are happy to that were still on the air with Season Nine! The fact that we are back to VH1 is just extra. I dont know what it will mean to everyone else, but to Ru and I, its where we began on television together. The fact that we are back there is kind of surreal and amazing. The first episode with Lady Gaga has a different vibe and maybe a larger feel of sorts? Yeah. I think you will find going forward that the show has the same feel, but its just bigger and grander. I think the first episode was different because Lady Gaga was there, so it was a special event. What was the experience like spending the day with Lady Gaga judging the ladies at the judges table? She was amazing. I think at first she didnt know what to make of me, because she didnt know me and I didnt know her, we had never met. We sat there next to each other talking about life, and I would ask her questions that I think that maybe the average person would not be ballsy enough to ask. I think after a while she realized this chick is just a regular East Coast chick and from then on, she was amazing. What do you think, now that you have seen the girls on the main stage, what do you think is different this time around? You know, people ask me that every season, whats different about this season? Whats different is that you have a whole new crop of girls that are hopefully bringing their A-game to the stage. Thats all you need to be different. It doesnt need to be a theme, or a catch of any kind. The magic of RuPauls Drag Race is that everyone gets excited about the new girls every season. Its different than any other competition show out there. On other competition shows, you know theyre going to sew clothes, theyre going to do this or that. With us, its more about the contestant than it is the piece of work or the article that they are putting out. Each one is a total package. Each season is different because we have different queens that bring something unique every season. Because they are fans of the show, some of the girls have tried nine years to get on, while others have gotten cast on their first try at auditioning. They have watched eight seasons of Drag Race plus two All Stars seasons, so they know what they are going to have to do-hopefully-and they also know what has already been done. I am the first one to say no, Ive seen this ten times, dont try it. They know that they are going to have to step it up. You have sat at the judges table at RuPauls side since Season Three. Knowing you are a Jersey girl through and through, some have found your judging to be a little tighter and harsher recently. Do you think thats a fair assessment? I think with All Stars when I gave my first critique to Adore (Delano), I told all the girls that this is All Stars 2, I am not holding back. Also, I know what each of those girls can do. I have worked with them, Ive watched them grow, and I know their abilities. Do I think I am harsh and tough on the girls? -yeah. Thats my job. If we all sat there like Paula Abdul and just praised them, what fun would that be? I am there to push them. This show is amazing, and it can go on another ten seasons, but its not going to go on forever. They have to make what they have got count in this moment, because what we only have is right now. I want them to leave the show and for the next five to ten years work, and get top dollar and hopefully parlay it into something. I try to give them the tools that they need and they do with it what they're going to do with it. Its my job to be the tough love mom or the tough love aunt. You and Ru seem to be having a blast doing the Whats the Tee podcast together. It seems to be almost like your old days at KTU without the music. Its so much fun to do it. We love being together, we love talking about things. There is a safety zone between Ru and I where he knows he is never going to be judged and vice versa. I think that I am proud of what he has brought to Whats the Tee and being so honest and not holding back about things. I think its a beautiful piece of work and I love doing it. You have even turned him into a full-fledged Broadway fan now! I know! It only took thirty years, right? (laughs). The truth is, he has always loved Broadway, he just didnt want to admit it. Speaking of Broadway, with the political climate the way it is, we need the arts and specifically, shows like RuPauls Drag Race now more than ever, wouldnt you say? You speak very openly about politics in a very refreshing way. What do you think we can do as a community to pull together? I mean, what is there not to talk about? Its 2017 and we are getting lied to left and right and our President got in on a lie. Why would we not talk about it? I have lost friends over this election and I dont give a shit whether they are back in my life or not, because fundamentally we disagree on major issues. You are allowed to vote for whoever you want. I have friends that voted for him. You can have a debate on certain things, and we can agree on some things and disagree on others. Its the things that we disagree on where you can see my point of view that makes all the difference. One of my closest friends voted for him because she thought she was going to get a break on taxes and get better healthcare. As we knew, that was never going to happen. She has the same beliefs for the LGBT community, but the difference is, it doesnt affect her. I represent a community; I am a big mouthed ally because thats what I am here to do. Thats not her job so shes not looking at it that way. Shes look at it as, I can barely pay my bills and I have to pay for my own insurance. If you can have a regular discussion and speak about it, then I think that friendships dont need to be lost. Unfortunately, this election was so polarizing that anger on both sides has destroyed not only friendships and families, but our community. Now more than ever, our community needs to stop ripping each other down and pull each other up; we need to stand by each other no matter what, now more than ever. I just wrote a piece with a very similar tone referencing Logos Fire Island show. It seemed like many people are more concerned about tearing both the show and the participants to shreds rather than simply embracing it for what it is. Oh, cmon, it looks like fun, everybody goes to Fire Island! Everyone is going to have a problem and they always do. Unfortunately, when we do it against our own kind within the community, everyone on the outside says see this is what we dont want to give them equality, they cant even get along with themselves. You can have your own opinion, but tearing it down and saying things that are not true or saying horrible things that are not true? -keep it within your circle and dont put it on social media. Ok, lets have a quick lightning round on a couple of the new girls on RuPauls Drag Race this season; Alexis Michelle-shes our show tunes queen! Peppermint-I love Peppermint. She IS New York City! Shea Coulee-shes from Chicago honey. Shes also kind of a theater queen also. It seems like from the judges table, you are able to give the girls some great advice when theyre on the main stage. What advice would you give to the girls who have auditioned for the show either one time or eight times? Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza. Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres. Standardbred breeders Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld were named Equestrian Canada's 2016 Canadian Breeder of the Year at the annual Awards Reception, presented by Boehringer Ingelheim, on April 8 in Vancouver, B.C. Equestrian Canada (EC) honoured some of Canadas outstanding equestrians, organizations and horses during its Awards Reception. Held in conjunction with the EC Annual Convention, April 7-9, the Reception celebrated the national award recipients for 2016, and their impressive achievements within the equestrian community. We are proud to recognize the incredible accomplishments within the Canadian equestrian industry over the past year, said EC Chief Executive Officer, Eva Havaris. The quality and quantity of the nominations for 2016 were extremely high, which is a testament to the world-class athletes, owners, officials, organizations, volunteers and supporters found within the Canadian equestrian community. Congratulations to all the deserving winners. The Canadian Breeder of the Year Award was created to recognize Canadian breeders who have displayed incredible dedication to the Canadian equestrian industry through efforts to improve the quality and enhance the reputation of Canadian bred horses. This years recipients, Marvin Katz of Toronto and Al Libfeld of Pickering, Ont., are renowned for developing one of the most respected and successful breeding enterprises in the harness racing industry. Katz and Libfeld entered into their breeding partnership with the goal and plan of becoming market breeders of trotters to fill the void in the North American market. Thanks to their many years of experience, along with careful selection of individuals and bloodlines, Katz and Libfeld soon began producing champions for their yearling buyers. In 2016 alone, horses produced by the Libfeld/Katz breeding partnership won 29 races and earned purses in excess of $1.3 million. Their top horses were Ariana G, who won more than $800,000, and All The Time, the winner of the Hambletonian Oaks who racked up nearly $450,000. Katz and Libfeld also saw success in 2016 with Princess Aurora, a two-year-old trotting filly who won over $300,000, and O Narutac Perfetto, who brought in $100,000. In light of their incredible success, Katz and Libfeld were named the 2015 and 2016 OBrien Award recipients for Armstrong Breeders of the Year, which is the highest honour awarded to Standardbred breeders in Canada. They also received the U.S. Dan Patch Award for top breeder in 2016. EC is pleased to add the 2016 Canadian Breeder of the Year Award to their list of accolades. The following is a complete list of the 2016 award recipients recognized for their equestrian-related achievements. NATIONAL AWARDS Lifetime Achievement Award Cara Whitham Volunteer of the Year, Presented by Henry Equestrian Anne Welch Equestrian of the Year - The Dr. George Jacobson Trophy Eric Lamaze Junior Equestrian of the Year - The Gillian Wilson Trophy, Presented by Asmar Equestrian Carmen Holmes-Smith Horse of the Year The Hickstead Trophy Fine Lady 5 Owner of the Year Artisan Farms Canadian Bred Horse of the Year, Presented by Equinety XL One Hot Krymsun Breeder: Herb Best Canadian Breeder of the Year, Presented by John Deere Marvin Katz & Al Libfeld Boehringer Ingelheim Equestrian Canada Health & Welfare Award New Stride Thoroughbred Adoption Society Equestrian Canada Media Award The Susan Jane Anstey Trophy Spruce Meadows Television BREED SPORT AWARDS Arabian Horse of the Year PA Julius Caesar ++++/ Owner: Lorraine Prowse Half-Arabian Horse of the Year Qaracas CSF ++++/ Owner: Kristen MacGarva Morgan Horse of the Year Attn Postmaster Owner: Mackenzie Collins Saddle Seat Rider of the Year Sara Sheppard Welsh Pony of the Year Beaverwoods Cinnamon Owner: Kirsten Brunner COACHING AWARDS Coach Developer of the Year Betty-Ann McPhedran Community Coach of the Year Gabriele Klotz Competitive Coach of the Year Sandra Donnelly DISCIPLINE AWARDS Dressage Athlete of the Year Belinda Trussell Dressage Horse of the Year Laurencio Dressage Owner of the Year Robyn Eames & Mark Trussell MH Lessard Dressage Volunteer of the Year Renee DeGarie Jumping Official of the Year Michel Vaillancourt Jumping Owner of the Year Artisan Farms Jumping Sponsor of the Year Younger-Millar Family Greenhawk Jumping Volunteer of the Year Marjorie Dennis (With files from Equestrian Canada) Equestrians will now be able to enjoy Willow Grove Park under updated park rules approved by the Port of Longview this week. Previously under the countys old rules, horses were not allowed at the park, although the port temporarily suspended that rule in November. The new horse rules come at the urging of equestrians seeking more places to ride locally. A citizens park advisory board has been deliberating over new park rules for several months. Now port commissioners have officially changed the park rules to allow horses in designated areas at the park (which will be outlined on a kiosk map). Dogs also are welcomed and are no longer required to be licensed to be at the park. However, no other pets are allowed and pet owners must clean up after their animals. Port commissioners also updated the parks fire rules; now fires are only allowed in the designated barbecue rings and fire pit areas. Collecting firewood from the park isn't allowed either. The port plans to upgrade the park's playground this spring, but no date has been set for new playground installation. The port officially took over the park from Cowlitz County in 2015, and has been gradually updating the parks facilities since then. PTI Citizens have a right to have Internet access and banning advertisements on pre-natal sex determination on websites do not curtail such rights, the Supreme Court said on Thursday. The court noted that search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have accepted before it that they would not sponsor any such advertisements and would play a "cooperative role" so that the law enacted by Parliament to prevent sex selection and enhance the sex ratio is "respected". These search engines told a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra that they have never indulged in any such advertisement as contemplated under section 22 of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, and nor do they have any kind of intention to cause any violation of the legislation. Section 22 of the 1994 Act pertains to prohibition of advertisements relating to pre-natal determination of sex and punishment for its contravention. They told the bench that if the nodal officer, appointed by the central government, communicates to them regarding any offensive material posted on the Internet which is in contravention of section 22, they would block it. "It is made clear that there is no need on the part of anyone to infer that it creates any kind of curtailment in his right to access information, knowledge and wisdom and his freedom of expression," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar, said. "What is stayed is only with regard to violation of section 22 of the Act. We may further add that freedom of expression included right to be informed and right to know and feeling of protection of expansive connectivity," it said. The apex court observed that "it is necessary to state that volumes of literature under various heads come within the zone of the Internet and in this virtual world the idea what is extremely significant is only connect". The bench also said it has recorded the concession of the Centre as well as the search engines so that sanctity of the Act is maintained and there is no grievance to anyone that his curiosity for searching anything has been scuttled. "To elaborate, if somebody intends to search for 'Medical Tourism In India' is entitled to search as long as the content does not frustrate or defeat the restriction postulated under section 22 of the Act," it noted in its order. During the hearing, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, who appeared for the Centre, said the government's stand was very clear that search engines and websites cannot facilitate such advertisements. "We have appointed nodal officers in each states. Hosting such advertisements is a penal offence under the Act," he said, adding that a central nodal officer has also been appointed to look after the matter. "Anything which violate Indian law has to be deleted or taken off by these intermediaries," he said. Advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing the petitioner, told the bench that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo were bound to follow scrupulously what is being stated in section 22 of the Act and nothing offensive can be hosted on the websites. Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Microsoft, told the bench that they were completely co-operating with the government and were acting as per the directions of the apex court. The counsel representing Google and Yahoo also said that they were following the directions of the court and were fully co-operating with the government. When the petitioner raised the issue of declining sex ratio, the bench said, "We are on a different platform. We are talking about a concept of pre-censorship. Power of judicial review is extremely limited and courts must be very conscious about it". The bench also noted in its order the submission advanced by the counsel for search engines that in pursuance to the order, they have appointed their own 'in-house' experts to deal with the situation. "Counsel for the respondents would contend, and rightly, that they do not intend to take an adversarial position with the petitioner but on the contrary to play a participative and co-operative role so that the law made by the Parliament of India to control sex selection and to enhance the sex ratio is respected," it said. "The nodal officers appointed in the states under the Act are also entitled to enter into communication with the respondents for which they have no objection. The action taken report, as further acceded to, shall be sent to the nodal officer," the bench said and posted the matter for further hearing on 5 September. The apex court had on 16 February warned that the declining numbers of the girl child was a "disastrous signal for mankind", and directed Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to set up in-house expert bodies "forthwith" to ensure deletion of materials which went against Indian laws prohibiting pre-natal sex determination. The court was hearing a petition by Sabu Mathew George, a doctor, who is seeking the court's intervention in view of the falling sex ratio in the country. PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the BHIM-Aadhaar digital payments platform has the potential to revolutionise the Indian economy while empowering common Indians in the same way as did the Constitution, framed by BR Ambedkar, whose 126th birth anniversary is being celebrated across the country on Friday. Launching the new combined platform here, he said that by enabling each Indian to pay digitally using their biometric data on a merchant's biometric-enabled device, the BHIM-Aadhaar will be like a SmartPhone with a biometric reader and boost digital payments in a manner unprecedented anywhere in the world. It is a step towards a "less-cash" economy and combating the black money menace, he said. "'DigiDhan' is a 'Safai Abhiyaan' to free the nation from corruption and black money," Modi stated. The new app will enable payments with just a 'thumb' impression, which can be used by even an illiterate person to pay digitally with his/her biometric data on a merchant's biometric-enabled device. "Any citizen without access to smartphone, Internet, debit or credit cards will be able to transact digitally through the BHIM-Aadhaar platform," Modi said. "It will make digital payments easy for people who cannot read or write, thus realising Babasaheb Ambedkar's vision of social and financial empowerment for all. Nothing can stop its progress," he said. Modi said India's unprecedented digital payments revolution has attracted the attention of the world with some countries even seeking India's help to implement it for them. The Prime Minister also launched two new incentive schemes for the BHIM-Cashback and Referral Bonus with an outlay of Rs 495 crore for a six-month period to ensure digital payments culture permeates down to the grassroots. Under the Referral Bonus Scheme, both the existing user who refers BHIM and the new user who adopts it would get a cash bonus of Rs 10 credited directly to their accounts. Similarly, under the Cashback scheme, the merchants will get cash back of Rs 25 on every transaction using BHIM. "I appeal to my young friends... I want the support of India's youth in the movement towards increased digital transactions," Modi said. Both schemes will be administered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and implemented by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Besides, 32 banks, including public and private sector and regional rural entities are now on board with three lakh merchants so that they can start accepting payments using BHIM-Aadhaar. Shortly after the Prime Minister's announcement, NPCI CEO and Managing Director AP Hota announced in Mumbai the launch of the BHIM-Aadhaar app which can be downloaded from Google Playstore and iOS as an updated version 1.3, in 12 Indian languages. It will cater to around 40 crore account holders whose Aadhaar card details are linked with their bank accounts and would require only the customer's finger-print for authentication, he said. The BHIM App, launched in December 2016, has created a new world record with 1.90 crore downloads in just four months enabling an unprecedented increase in number of transactions made using several user-friendly digital payments methods. Till November 2016, the volume of all digital transactions was 280,000, worth Rs 101 crore, which zoomed 23 times to 6,380,000 digital transactions valued at Rs 2,425 crore. At the same time, the Aadhaar Enabled Payments have doubled from 2.5 crore in November 2016 to over five crore in March 2017, and Immediate Payment Service transactions jumped from 3.6 crore to 6.7 crore during the same period. Modi also felicitated winners of a mega-draw of two national incentive schemes for digital transactions. A 20-year-old electrical engineering student from Maharashtra's Latur town, Shradha Mengshete bagged the Rs 1 crore Mega Draw for Lucky Grahak Yojana. She had made a transaction of Rs 1,590 through her RuPay card to pay an EMI for her new mobile phone. Under the Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants, Anand Ananthapadmanabhan of GRT Jewellers in Tambaran, Chennai, won the Rs 50 lakh top prize for accepting a Rs 300 digital payment. He immediately announced it as a donation to the Clean Ganga Campaign. Earlier in the day, Modi paid homage to the Indian Constitution's architect, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, revered as Babasaheb Ambedkar, on his 126th birth anniversary. He also inaugurated the 6660x3 MW Koradi Thermal Power Project, and laid the foundation stones for the Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management and All India Institute of Medical Sciences to come here. Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that the Paris climate accord as it stands wont be enough to stave off cataclysmic global warming anyway, even if the U.S. and the other participating countries honor their commitments? To date, 197 countries have signed onto 2015s landmark Paris climate accord ("The Paris Agreement"), which aims to limit global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 through voluntary emissions reduction plans. But skeptics argue that even if all participating countries follow through with their promised cuts, we may still come up short in leveling off global warming as needed. Researchers working on the Climate Action Tracker , a tool used to monitor climate action and global efforts to meet Paris Agreement goals, found that with current and planned emissions reduction policies, we are on track to hold the global mean temperature down to approximately 2.8C above pre-industrial levels by 2100not the 2C environmental leaders are hoping we can achieve. For some context, the current global average mean temperature hovers around 1C above pre-industrial levels, but climatologists expect the warming to accelerate as a result of a centurys worth of carbon dioxide (CO2) built up in the atmosphere. If we keep up our current pace of emissions up without any checks, climate models suggest the global average mean temperature will rise about 3.6C by 2100. Meanwhile, others think we are even further from achieving our goals. Blogger and Skeptical Environmentalist author Bjorn Lomborg calculates that, even if each of the Paris signatories keeps its emissions reduction promises, we can only expect a negligible reduction in global mean temperature, that is, only 0.17C lower by 2100, but still well above what climatologists consider safe and sustainable. "Paris is being sold as the summit where we can help 'heal the planet' and 'save the world'," says Lomborg. "It is no such thing." What such negative extrapolations dont factor in is that the Paris Agreement leaves room for participating nations to adjust their emissions reduction goals moving forward. Indeed, setting more ambitious targets mid-stream is baked into the agreement. Negotiators figure that improving technologies and the reduced cost of renewables in the coming years will help drive down emissions more than we can count on at this point, and getting more nations on-board now is the top priority. To wit, the U.S. has promised "deep, economy-wide emission reductions of 80 percent or more by 2050" while the European Union has likewise pledged to slash its own emissions by 80 to 95 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. Flash Lawyer Thomas Demetrio, who is representing David Dao, the passenger who was violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight, speaks during a press conference in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, on April 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ping) Some U.S. lawmakers and an Asian-American rights group are demanding answers from United Airlines after its violent removal of an Asian-American passenger from a flight on Sunday night. Earlier this week saw a video going viral of David Dao on social media. The 69-year-old Asian-American physician was violently removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight by security officers to make room for crew members at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago after refusing to give up his seat as requested. The video of the incident posted online has been viewed millions of times worldwide, and caused a global uproar and grabbed headlines in multiple countries. Many people in the United States, Vietnam, China and a number of other countries have expressed outrage at the mistreatment of Dao, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s. "It remains to be seen if Dr. Dao was racially profiled for removal from the United flight, but we believe a full and transparent investigation is necessary to determine if there were racial biases at work," John C. Yang, president and executive director of Washington-based rights group Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said in a statement sent to Xinhua. The use of force in this situation was "inappropriate," Yang said. "The incident is also indicative of the continued concerns that vulnerable communities, including African Americans and Latinos, have raised for a long time regarding use of excessive police force," he said. Asian Americans have faced the same discriminatory challenges for over 100 years, and have seen a renewed surge in hate and discrimination against them, Yang said. "It is easy to understand why some would question the motives of the airline, airport security, and law enforcement personnel as targeting an Asian American, a community of people often falsely viewed as the least likely to speak out against situations like this one," Yang said. "The fact that the victim is Asian American and from a distinguished profession should only further prove to Asian Americans that we all have to be part of this broader coalition against hate, police brutality, and disparate treatment of communities color and other marginalized communities," he added. Members of the U.S. Congress have also expressed concern, as U.S. House Representative Judy Chu, a Chinese American, has written both to the United Airlines and to the U.S. Department of Transportation demanding answers. Chu, chair of the U.S. Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), said she is extremely "disturbed" over the violent treatment of Dao. "It is unacceptable to treat any human being in this manner, and the United Airlines has to change its policy," Chu told Xinhua in a phone interview on Wednesday from her home state of California. A bipartisan group of senators also sent a pair of letters earlier this week to United, demanding a "full accounting" of what happened, and are demanding a response by next week. The letters were signed by Senators John Thune, the Senate's third highest ranking Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat representing Florida, Roy Blunt, a Republican representing Missouri, and Maria Cantwell, a Democrat representing Washington State. In a separate letter to United Airlines, Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono joined a group of senators earlier this week to demand answers from the airline. "Consumer trust and confidence are critical to ensure this industry continues to thrive, and we hope United Airlines will work diligently to immediately address this incident and make necessary improvements to ensure it does not occur again," the letter said. While United CEO Oscar Munoz has apologized, lawmakers argue that United's response seemed not to understand the level of outrage worldwide over the incident. In response to the United incident, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen is drafting a bill to make it illegal to forcibly remove passengers from commercial airlines, and is now seeking co-sponsors for the legislation, according to local media. China FM Wang Yi calls Russian counterpart Lavrov to `cool` N Korea situation Chinese FM Wang Yi said the common goal was to \'bring all the parties back to the negotiating table\'. AFP, Beijing : China is seeking Russia's help to cool surging tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, the country's foreign minister has told his Moscow counterpart, after Beijing warned of possible conflict over North Korea. Fears over the North's rogue weapons programme have soared in recent days, with a US naval strike force deployed near the Korean peninsula, while President Donald Trump has warned the threat 'will be taken care of' and Pyongyang has vowed a 'merciless' response to any provocation. China, the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline, on Friday warned that war over North Korea could break out 'at any moment'. In a call with Sergei Lavrov later Friday, Wang Yi said the common goal of the two nations was to 'bring all the parties back to the negotiating table', according to a statement on China's Foreign Ministry website. "China is ready to coordinate closely with Russia to help cool down as quickly as possible the situation on the peninsula and encourage the parties concerned to resume dialogue," Mr Wang told Mr Lavrov, referring to the stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear programme that includes Russia, China and the United States. "Preventing war and chaos on the peninsula meets common interests," he added. Beijing has long opposed dramatic action against the North, fearing the regime's collapse would send a flood of refugees across its borders and leave the US military on its doorstep. Mr Trump insists that China must exert more leverage on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions or suffer the consequences. Pyongyang is already under several sets of UN sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes. Meanwhile, China issued a stern warning Friday that a conflict over North Korea could break out "at any moment", as Pyongyang vowed a "merciless" response to any US military action. Tensions in the region have surged to fresh heights in recent days with speculation mounting that the North is preparing a sixth nuclear test. A US naval strike force has been deployed near the Korean peninsula, and President Donald Trump has issued stark warnings that the threat posed by Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme "will be taken care of". A clearly rattled China, under pressure from Trump to prevent any North Korean provocation, said the situation had reached breaking point. "One has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment," Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said. "If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner," he added during a joint press conference in Beijing with the visiting French foreign minister. Wang's comments mirrored a warning from the North Korean foreign ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace that "thermo-nuclear war may break out any moment". North Korea has invoked similarly dire scenarios on previous occasions when tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked, but Beijing's warnings have fuelled international concerns that the current situation is reaching tipping point. The North's Korean People's Army (KPA) added its voice to the bellicose rhetoric on Friday with a statement threatening strikes against US military bases and other targets in South Korea. "The closer such big targets as nuclear powered aircraft carriers come, the greater would be the effect of merciless strikes," said the statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency. Citing the recent missile strike Trump ordered against Syria - which was widely interpreted as a warning to Pyongyang - the KPA denounced the US president for embarking on a path of "open threat and blackmail" against the North. It also urged Washington to "come to its senses" and find a "proper" solution to the current stand-off. Trump's military muscle-flexing was on display again Thursday when the US on dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb it possesses on Afghanistan, targeting a complex used by the militant Islamic State group. The American president has repeatedly said he will prevent Pyongyang from its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States. Russia, Iran and Syria issue warning to US Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, (centre), stands in the middle as Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, (left) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shake hands after a shared press conference following their talks focused on Syria in AP, Moscow : Russia, Syria and Iran strongly warned the United States Friday against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international investigation of the chemical weapons attack there that killed nearly 90 people. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts in Moscow, denounced the U.S. missile strikes on Syria as a "flagrant violation" of international law. Additional such actions would entail "grave consequences not only for regional but global security," Lavrov said. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said the meeting sent a "strong message" to Washington. Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized that the participants agreed that unilateral actions by the U.S. were unacceptable. The U.S. accuses the Syrian government of deliberately launching the deadly chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. Russia has alleged that the victims were killed by toxic agents from a rebel chemical arsenal hit by Syrian war planes. Moscow has warned against putting the blame on Damascus until an independent inquiry is conducted and vetoed a proposed U.N. resolution on the attack, saying it failed to mention the need to inspect the affected area. Lavrov on Friday expressed skepticism about a preliminary investigation conducted by the U.N.'s chemical weapons watchdog. He alleged that its experts failed to visit the site and said it was unclear to Russia where evidence was taken and how it was In Russia's view, the probe conducted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should be widened to include experts from many nations, he said. "If our U.S. colleagues and some European nations believe that their version is right, they have no reason to fear the creation of such an independent group," Lavrov added. "The investigation into this high-profile incident must be transparent and leave no doubt that someone is trying to hide something." Lavrov said the U.S. strike on the Syrian base has undermined peace efforts in Syria and reflected Washington's focus on ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. "Such attempts won't succeed," he said. The three ministers also discussed the beefing up of U.S. forces on Jordan's border with Syria, Moallem said. He added that Russia, Iran and Syria have "common procedures against any aggression," but wouldn't offer specifics. Lavrov said Moscow has asked Washington about the purpose of the buildup and received assurances that the U.S. troops were deployed there to cut supply lines between the Islamic State group factions in Syria and Iraq. "We will keep monitoring the issue, since the only possible reason for using military force on the territory of Syria is to fight terrorism," Lavrov said. Russia has staunchly backed Assad's government throughout Syria's six-year civil war. It has conducted an air campaign in Syria since September 2015, saving Assad's government from imminent collapse and helping to reverse the Syrian military's fortunes. Chowdhury Hasan Mahmud Hasni, Panel Mayor-1, Chiitagong City Corporation addressing a press conference of councilors at Chittagong Press Club on Thursday. The homework debate Johanna Sorrentino : Every school day brings something new, but there is one status quo most parents expect: homework. The old adage that practice makes perfect seems to make sense when it comes to schoolwork. But, while hunkering down after dinner among books and worksheets might seem like a natural part of childhood, there's more research now than ever suggesting that it shouldn't be so. Many in the education field today are looking for evidence to support the case for homework, but are coming up empty-handed. "Homework is all pain and no gain," says author Alfie Kohn. In his book The Homework Myth, Kohn points out that no study has ever found a correlation between homework and academic achievement in elementary school, and there is little reason to believe that homework is necessary in high school. In fact, it may even diminish interest in learning, says Kohn. If you've ever had a late night argument with your child about completing homework, you probably know first-hand that homework can be a strain on families. In an effort to reduce that stress, a growing number of schools are banning homework. Mary Jane Cera is the academic administrator for the Kino School, a private, nonprofit K-12 school in Tucson, Arizona, which maintains a no-homework policy across all grades. The purpose of the policy is to make sure learning remains a joy for students, not a second shift of work that impedes social time and creative activity. Cera says that when new students are told there will be no homework assignments, they breathe a sigh of relief. Many proponents of homework argue that life is filled with things we don't like to do, and that homework teaches self-discipline, time management and other nonacademic life skills. Kohn challenges this popular notion: If kids have no choice in the matter of homework, they're not really exercising judgment, and are instead losing their sense of autonomy. At the Kino school, Cera says children often choose to take their favorite parts of school home. "A lot of what we see kids doing is continuing to write in journals, practicing music with their friends, and taking experiments home to show their parents," she says. Anecdotal information from Kino graduates suggests that the early control over their education continues to serve them well into college; they feel better equipped to manage their time and approach professors with questions. Standardized Testing One of the reasons that we continue to dole out mountains of homework, Kohn says, is our obsession with standardized tests. This concern is especially relevant with the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results placing American students 25th in math and 21st in science. "The standards and accountability craze that has our students in its grip argues for getting tougher with children, making them do more mindless worksheets at earlier ages so that we can score higher in international assessments," Kohn says. "It's not about learning; it's about winning." Even if we can agree on the importance of kids doing better on tests like PISA, Kohn says, there is no research to suggest that homework is our ticket to success. Our "competitors" in the global marketplace are coming up with the same conclusions about homework. A recent comparative study of kids in China, Japan and two U.S. cities shows there is no correlation between time spent on studying and academic achievement. How Much Is Too Much? So, what's the solution? The National Parent Teacher Association suggests children in kindergarten through second grade should do homework for no more than 10 to 20 minutes a day, and for third through sixth graders the limit is 30-60 minutes a day. Kohn says the question isn't just, "How much homework is too much?" Many parents would be delighted if teachers reduced the amount their children are getting, but he says the quality of those assignments needs to be addressed as well. "Some of this stuff isn't worth two minutes of their children's time," he says. Kohn believes that the "default" setting for schools should be no homework, but that if evening work was assigned on occasion, it better be for a good reason. That means repetitive practice problems from 500-page textbooks get tossed out the window. Instead, Kohn says parents should be asking two fundamental questions: Does this assignment make kids more excited about the topic and learning in general? Does this assignment help kids to think more deeply about questions that matter? What you can do For parents who want to probe deeper into the quality of homework their child is getting, Kohn says the first step is to check the school's policy. In the case where poorly designed homework is being given, it's time to talk to the teacher, sit down with the principal, write a letter to the editor, and/or speak up at the next school board meeting. "It makes sense to do this with other parents," he says. "Ten parents saying that homework does more harm than good are hard to ignore." Wherever the homework debate goes next, be it the front pages or on the back burner, it's worth taking a moment to examine if we're asking the right questions about our children's education. The good news is, it's never too late to start. Higher Math in lower grades: Hurting or helping kids? Cindy Donaldson : Every parent wants to see her child keep up with peers, and these days that means taking algebra in the eighth grade. But sometimes we forget that algebra is a very demanding course, full of sophisticated and abstract ideas. Do students really need to take this higher math course in lower grades, or can it do them more harm than good? There are two sides to the issue. Politicians like the idea of offering algebra in middle school. They argue that the world has sped up over the past generation; technology has gotten more complicated, ideas more complex. Why not introduce harder concepts at younger ages? In 2008, California lawmakers began a campaign to make algebra mandatory for eighth-graders, a shift that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger compared to President John F. Kennedy's pledge to put a man on the moon. Meanwhile, many researchers believe that middle school students aren't ready for algebra. In a 2008 letter to the editor of The Ventura County Star, Professor of Education Dr. Bruce Mitchell argued against California's proposal. His letter referenced the studies of Dr. Herman Epstein, who believed that the human brain has rapid growth periods and plateau periods where no growth seems to take place. For most students, the middle school years occur during a plateau stage, and Epstein argued that "the plateau stages were not optimal times for the introduction of new higher-level thought processes, particularly algebra, which eighth-grade students fail more than any other subject. Historically, algebra has been most often offered in grades 10 though 12. That occurs during the age 14-17 growth-spurt stage, when it's OK to teach abstract reasoning concepts." After listening to these two sides, parents are forced to make a choice: trust the politicians who claim that our children need to take algebra at younger ages, or the researchers who think that our children need to wait. It can be hard to figure out the right path for your child. To get some answers from a hands-on expert, I spoke with award-winning high school math teacher, Jerry Brodkey. Dr. Brodkey has a PhD from Stanford in Mathematics and Curriculum Education, and has taught math for thirty-one years. He had some definite opinions about the move to teach algebra at younger and younger ages. The "normal" track for math classes has shifted down in the past ten years. When Dr. Brodkey began teaching, the normal track was for students to take Algebra I in ninth grade, followed by three years of college-prep math. This worked well for most students, and there was always a way for a select group of students to get ahead by taking algebra in eighth grade and advance to Calculus by their senior year. But in the past ten years, Dr. Brodkey has seen "an explosion of students taking algebra in the eighth grade. In the past five years, I'd call it a super-explosion." The normal track in many schools now has students taking algebra in the eighth grade. The pressure to stay on the new "normal" track pushes students into math classes for which they are not ready. Every year, Dr. Brodkey meets with parents whose freshmen have been appropriately placed in algebra. But want to know how they can accelerate their children onto the new "normal" track so they will reach AP Calculus by their senior year. In turn, Dr. Brodkey asks the parents whether the student wants to make this jump, or if it's a parent-driven decision. He asks them to be careful: "When a student is pushed to take a class for which he is not ready, he rarely acquires a lifelong affinity for math. Instead, he develops a desire to get out of math classes as fast as possible." He has found that when these students get to Calculus, they can struggle. They can do the first step in the problem, but not the next nine that require solid algebra skills. Parents push their children onto this track because they think it's necessary for college admissions. Parents are feeling tremendous pressure about getting their children into college. They are seeing students with a 4.3 GPA get turned away from top universities, and they are desperate to find an advantage for their child. But from Dr. Brodkey's perspective, pushing a child onto the Calculus track doesn't always help: "I think that college admissions officers like to see a student with a solid foundation, effective communication skills, and a record of working well with others, not someone who has struggled to fit in an extra AP class." The move to introduce algebra in lower grades comes from politicians, not teachers. Like many teachers, Dr. Brodkey questions the motives for California's campaign for eighth grade algebra: "I think that this push is part of a political agenda to show rigor in the schools. I can't see how it's a positive; it's not a student-centered decision. Any student can learn algebra, but the timing is critical." Algebra is an extremely challenging course, even more so than Calculus. Teachers introduce a brand-new topic every three or four weeks, and expect complete mastery. Thirteen and fourteen-year-old students are still developing their emotional and organizational skills, and algebra is a course that punishes any immaturity a student may have. Algebra can be taught at lower ages, if it's introduced slowly. Dr. Brodkey approves of the movement to layer algebraic concepts into early education. He asks his eight-year-old daughter questions like, "What number plus eight will make twelve?" He talks to his ten-year-old son about inequalities. But he feels that the traditional way algebra is taught now, with its demanding pace, is not appropriate for all middle school students. "Eighth grade algebra is fine for some students," he says, "and there may even be one or two students per school who benefit from the increasing hyper-acceleration of algebra into the seventh grade. But to make it an expectation for all students is not doing them any good." The age at which a student takes algebra must be determined on a case-by-case basis. The age at which a student takes algebra is an important and individual decision, not one that should be made by blanket policies. Parents and teachers must work closely together to determine a student's placement. If you're a parent wondering whether to accelerate your student, there are some clues to look for. Algebra-ready kids are: Organized Mature Able to pass an Algebra Readiness test If you think your child is struggling in any one of these three areas, you can do him a favor by waiting another year before enrolling him in algebra. Placing your child in the right math class will teach him to feel successful and confident about his math skills. But pushing him up when he's not yet ready can bring on a case of math anxiety that will last for a lifetime. BFA demands distribution of all fertilizers thru BCIC dealers Economic Reporter : Leaders of Bangladesh Fertilizer Association (BFA) on Saturday demanded distribution of all types of fertilizers, including urea, through the dealers of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). They demanded it at the 23rd annual general meeting of BAF at Bashundhara International Convention City in the presence of Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu as chief guest, said an official release. Presided over by the BFA Chairman Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton, MP, the function was addressed by Industries Ministry Senior Secretary Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Agriculture Ministry Secretary Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, BCIC Chairman Mohammad Iqbal and BFA leaders. BFA Vice-President Md Momen Sarker delivered the welcome speech in the function. The BFA leaders said their members who are working as dealers have been distributing fertilizers among the farmers since 1995 by depositing security money of taka 2 lakh. Using this experience, the BCIC dealers would be successful in disbursing the non-urea fertilizers, they added. Addressing the function, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu lauded the BCIC dealers and said that they are performing their duties well by distributing fertilizers among the farmers across the country. Fair on conserving indigenous crops held in Rajshahi BSS, Rajshahi : Taking part in a daylong summer seed fair, more than 200 grassroots farmers both males and females exhibited around 75 varieties of indigenous seeds and plants of crops and vegetables here on Friday. Disseminating their indigenous knowledge and expertise, the farmers unanimously viewed that they are still habituated to protecting and conserving the seeds and plants which are drought-tolerant and more or less adaptive to the changed climatic condition. They mentioned that revival and promotion of the crops and vegetables could be vital means of food security side by side with protecting biodiversity in the present context of climate change caused by global warming. Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK) and Bargachhi Farmers Unity jointly organised the fair on Kutipara High School playground under Paba Upazila in the district to mark the celebration of Pahela Baishakh. Paba Upazila Parishad Chairman Begum Khairunnessa and officer-in-charge of Paba Police Station Parimal Kumar Chakravarty addressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with BARCIK Barind Regional Coordinator Shahidul Islam in the chair. Ensuring better antenatal and post natal care Dr. A.M.M. Anisul Awwal, PhD : Bangladesh has already been identified by all the global economic forums as one of the most rapidly growing economy of the world. Within a short span of 10 years of time, the country has shown tremendous economic growth, and thus, has become a lower middle income county. Geographically the country is smaller in comparison to many neighboring countries like India and China. But the most significant issue is that the country harbors more than 160 million people in such a smaller reverie land which indicates that the country is the most densely populated country of the world. Here, we have not considered the city countries like Hong Kong and Singapore. The development of Bangladesh has already become a wonder for many countries of the world and everyone is eager to know the secret strategy of such a quick economic growth and overall development. Starting from education sector to ICT to Health - all the sectors and sub-sectors are developing keeping a close synchronization with each other so that no imbalance can occur to de-stabilize the sustainability of the developmental pace. If we consider the indices of health, nutrition and population, these (indices) will definitely depict appreciable improvement over the past few years. It is now not a wonder to us (but may be for many other countries) that in health sector, with the expansion of service delivery systems up to village levels, millions of valuable lives are being saved every year. Achievement of EPI program, vitamin A administration, ORS and other public health programs and policies brought a revolution in the country which has become a role model for many developing countries. There are so many issues (sectors and sub-sectors) that we can concentrate to write with the view to let others know our basic status on that particular issue. Here, in this article, I will try to show some of the important aspects of maternal health and care during pregnancy. Appropriate care during pregnancy and childbirth are important both for mother and her baby. In the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), women who had given birth in the five years preceding the survey were asked a number of questions about maternal and child health care, and many of the issues are based on the findings of the survey. Anti natal care (ANC) from a medically trained provider is important to monitor the status of pregnancy and identify the complications associated with it. To be most effective, there should be regular (at least 04 visits) ANC throughout pregnancy. Findings show that more than 70 percent of women with a birth in the three years preceding the survey received ANC at least once from any provider. Majority of the women received care from a medically trained provider, (doctor, nurse, midwife, family welfare visitor, community skilled birth attendant, medical assistant or sub-assistant community medical officer). Comparable data from 2004, 2007 and 2011 BDHS show that while ANC from any provider has increased by 25 percent over the past few years, ANC from a medically trained provider during the same period has increased by more than 10 percent. The urban-rural differential in antenatal care coverage continues to be large: more than 80 percent of urban women receive antenatal care from a trained provider, compared with only about 55 percent of rural women. ANC from a medically trained provider increases with the mother's education level and wealth status. Coverage of ANC from a trained provider increases from about 30 percent for mothers with no education to about 90 percent for mothers who have completed secondary school. Findings also show that significant percent of births in Bangladesh are delivered at a health facility. Delivery in NGO facilities are only 2 percent. Delivery in a health facility is considerably lower for women age 35 years or older compared to those who are younger. Facility delivery decreases sharply as birth order increases. On the other hand, the number of women's ANC visits, education level and wealth status have a positive relationship with health facility. The proportion of births delivered at health facilities has been increasing rapidly since 2004, from 12 percent in 2004, 17 percent in 2007, 29 percent in 2011 to more than 35 percent in 2014. Increase since the past four years is mostly due to a sharp increase in delivery at private facilities and a less significant increase in deliveries in public facilities. More than 35 percent of births in Bangladesh are attended by medically trained personnel. However, more than half of births in Bangladesh are assisted by dais or untrained Traditional Birth Attendants (53 percent), and few percent of deliveries are assisted by relatives and friends. In 2011, 17 percent of births were delivered by caesarean section, which has increased to more than 20 percent. Caesarean section is very high among women in the highest wealth quintile and among women who completed secondary education. Post natal care (PNC) is considered as one of the efficient indicators of health service delivery both for the mother and the baby. PNC is also a crucial component of safe motherhood and neonatal health. Postnatal check-ups provide an opportunity to assess and treat delivery complications, and to counsel mothers on how to care for themselves and their newborn infant. Even a couple of year ago, a large proportion of maternal and neonatal deaths occur during the first 24 hours of delivery. The trend has changed significantly. In addition, the first two days following delivery are critical for monitoring complications both for mothers and newborn. Data shows that about 30 percent of mothers in Bangladesh receive postnatal care from a medically trained provider within 42 days after delivery. The vast majority of these mothers receive postnatal care within the crucial first two days of delivery. Postnatal check-ups are slightly more common for children than mothers. Maternal health service delivery has improved significantly over the past 10 years, and data show that ANC, natal care and PNC - the most vital aspects of saving lives of mother and the baby are still not up to the standard. However, to protect and save our mothers and babies, we need to invest more money, strategies, launch new ideas, policies and interventions. The health goal of the nation should be to have a healthy and well nourished mother and a child. (PID-Project Article) Regaining lost potato export market POTATO exports have remained low ever since Russia barred the entry of the vegetable in May 2015 on food safety grounds after detecting some diseased consignments. Prior to the ban, shipment of the tuber had hit a record high of about 1 lakh ton in 2013-14, spurred by the demand from Russia. Since July last year, about 30,000 tonnes of potato were shipped, with the total exports expected to be 35,000-40,000 tonnes at the end of the fiscal year, said officials of Plant Quarantine Wing under the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). Last fiscal year, potato exports slumped 58 percent to 37,270 tonnes -- a direct manifestation of the embargo from Russia. The lack of availability of export-quality potato has dampened the prospect of increased exports this fiscal year, as per a report of a local daily. The quality of a large quantity of potato has deteriorated due to rainfall during the harvesting period. Farmers planted potato on 5.28 lakh hectares this fiscal year, up 11.16 percent year-on-year basis. Production grew 19 percent year-on-year to 1.13 crore tonnes this fiscal year, according to DAE estimates. Exporters are also finding it tough to compete with their peers from other countries. In Dhaka, the tuber sold at Tk 15-20 a kilogram yesterday, up 25 percent from a month ago, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh. The shipment of the tuber this fiscal year would have been higher had the government not halved the cash incentive for potato export to 10 percent from this year. Malaysia is the main destination for locally grown potatoes. The tuber is also sent to Singapore, the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, according to exporters and government officials. Exporters here have to compete with Pakistan, China and India in the export destinations, mainly Malaysia. Increased incentives for export will make exporters more price competitive and help ship higher quantity of potatoes. But these should not be cash incentives as subsidies always have an opportunity cost in terms of welfare losses. What Bangladesh needs right now are cold storage facilities in every potato growing area to ensure that disease of the tubers are minimized. More than anything, it will go a long way to ensure that our potatoes remain free from blight and are stored safely. This will ensure that we regain the markets we have lost. Anything which decreases production costs can also be looked into. Research and development into high yield disease free tubers are yet another way we can regain the lost export competitiveness. Our farmers are hardworking enough --anything which can give them an upper hand should be looked into to ensure that we can also earn foreign currency from agricultural exports. This will enable us to diversify away from garments, and other areas like ICT development to help with potato farming can also be considered. BD missions in Delhi, Thailand, Singapore celebrate Pahela Baishakh Bangladesh missions in Delhi, Thailand and Singapore have celebrated the first day of the Bengali New Year with traditional fervour. Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi on Friday celebrated the Pahela Baishakh with various cultural programmes. Welcoming the Bengali New year, Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi Syed Muazzem Ali said Pahela Baishakh comes with a message of "hope and optimism" for a better yesterday. "For centuries this has been a day of rejuvenation both for the people and the landscape of Bengal," he said. Many Indian friends of Bangladesh, members of the Bengali community and officials of the High Commission and their families were gathered at Maitree Hall to welcome the New year, according to a Bangladesh High Commission release received here yesterday night. Bangla poetry recitation and array of Tagore, Nazrul, Lalon and folk songs were presented by officials of the High Commission and a group of popular artists. The programme was rounded off with a Bangla dinner of khichri, ruhi maach bhaja, begun bhaja and murighonto. Following deference advice of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, hilsa was not served in the festival. Ambassador Saida Muna Tasneem in Bangkok and High Commissioner Mustafizur Rahman in Singapore called upon the Bangladeshi expatriates in the two countries to uphold the secular identity and heritage of the country during their celebrations on Friday. At home in Bangladesh, a host of cultural organisations, educational institutions, government and non-government offices organised events to celebrate the Bangla New Year . Dhaka University's Faculty of Fine Arts organised the 'Mangal Shobhajatra', the main procession celebrating the Bangla New Year, with a renewed call for a rejection of communalism across the country. UNESCO last year recognised the procession as one of the 'Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity'. The Bangladesh embassy in Bangkok said the embassy premises had been decorated with all the iconic symbols of Bangla New Year celebrations, including a replica of the 'Ramna batamul', for the colorful musical soiree. CID starts probe over death of Raudha bdnews24.com : The investigations into the death of a Maldivian national in a Rajshahi Medical College has been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). On March 29, Raudha Athif, who was also a model, wa found hanging in her room at the hostel of the Rajshahi Islami Bank Medical College Hospital. She was a second-year student studying for her MBBS degree. Police initially suspected it to be a case of suicide, but the family started a murder case at Rajshahi court accusing her classmate Sirat Parveen Mahmud, an Indian national. On Thursday, the police headquarters tasked the CID to probe the death. CID Additional Superintendant in Rajshahi Nazmul Karim Khan said that they have collected evidences, including the victim's phone and laptop. "They will be sent to forensic lab," he said on Saturday. On April 10, when Raudha's family filed the case, their counsel Kamrul Monir told the media that a week before the death, Sirat slipped sedatives in fruit juice meant for Rudha. "She had shared the matter with her mother." Speaking to reporters at the court premises that day, Raudha's father Mohammad Athif, a doctor, claimed that he had also studied forensic medicine. "Based on that experience, it seems to me that the marks found on Raudha's neck were caused by a rope not by a scarf. My daughter was murdered and I want justice for her." Raudha appeared on the cover of ninth anniversary issue of Vogue India in October 2016. The Maldivian police also ran its own investigation. Two of its officers travelled to Bangladesh and spoke with Raudha's family, college authorities and Rajshahi police. Raudha's family arrived Rajshahi the day after she was found dead and returned two weeks later, except for the father, the plaintiff of the murder case. Pol parties patronising militancy: DMP boss Staff Reporter : Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia on Saturday said that internal political activities were strengthening the militancy across the country. "The militants get support from some political parties considered barrier to controlling the activities of the radicals," said he. The DMP chief said it in a seminar titled 'The role of mass media to resist the spreading of militancy, terrorism and drug' held in the National Press Club on Saturday. It was arranged to come out from such act." The prime motto of higher education is to create new knowledge and it comes through research, he said, "If the universities do not continue research how the next generation will get new knowledge," he questioned. The UGC chairman said, "We asked the public universities to stop giving promotion without also research. We will collect the information about the universities who ignore the UGC's direction and to submit it to the Eduction Ministry for taking stern action against them." US govt `hacked global banking system` A huge range of security weaknesses, said to be worth over $2m if sold on the black market, have been leaked online. The tools are said to have been created by the US National Security Agency (NSA), and accompanying documents appear to indicate a possible breach of the Swift global banking system. Such a hack could have enabled the US to covertly monitor financial transactions, researchers said. The files were released by Shadow Brokers, a hacking group that has previously leaked malware. If genuine, it represents perhaps the most significant exposure of NSA files since the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013. On Twitter, Mr Snowden described it as the "Mother Of All Exploits" - a reference to a bomb recently used by the US military in Afghanistan. Multiple experts have said this latest "data dump" is credible - though the institutions implicated have dismissed the claims, or refused to comment. Swift, which is headquartered in Belgium, said: "We have no evidence to suggest that there has ever been any unauthorised access to our network or messaging services." The BBC is not able to verify the authenticity of the files - and the NSA has not commented on the leak. Swift was successfully targeted by hackers last year when criminals stole $81m from the Bangladeshi central bank. Swift is a network that allows global banks to move money around the world. In the Swift network, smaller banks often make use of service bureaus to handle transactions on their behalf. Documents included in the leak suggest at least one major bureau, EastNets, may have been compromised. "If you hack the service bureau, it means that you also have access to all of their clients, all of the banks," said Matt Suiche, founder of the United Arab Emirates-based cybersecurity firm Comae Technologies, speaking to Reuters. Headquartered in Dubai, EastNets has clients in Kuwait, Dubai, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen and Qatar. Spreadsheets published by Shadow Brokers appeared to list banks that had been breached with "implants" - secret data-gathering software. 2 criminals killed in Meherpur gunfight UNB, Meherpur : Two suspected criminals were killed in a reported gunfight between their cohorts and police on Malsadah-Hariadah road in Gangni upazila early Friday. The deceased were identified as Shipon Hossain, son of Madar Ali and Alamgir Hossain, son of Aber Ali of the upazila. Tipped off, a team of police conducted a drive in the area when a gang of criminals were going to collect extortion from a brink kiln around 3 am. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the criminals opened fire towards them, prompting them to retaliate, that triggered a gunfight. At one stage, Shipon and Alamgir caught in the line of fire and died on the spot. Four policemen who were injured during the gunfight were admitted to sadar hospital. Two powerful bombs, one LG short gun and two rounds of bullets were recovered from the spot. No `Gate Lock`, `Sitting Service` from today: BRTA No passenger bus will be allowed to ply in the city streets in the name of 'Sitting Service' or 'Gate Lock' from today (Sunday), said Chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority Md Moshiar Rahman yesterday. He announced it in a press briefing after a meeting with the leaders of the Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity in the BRTA head office in the city. Moshiar Rahman said seats must be reserved in every bus for women and physically-challenged people, and the bus staff must not misuse those reserved seats. He said, action will be taken if anyone charges extra fare from passengers. The fare chart fixed by BRTA must be displayed in every bus to be easily seen. General secretary of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity Khandker Enayetullah said that the BRTA magistrates would conduct drives to enforce the decision. He said the decision is being implemented to restore discipline in all the passenger buses the capital. Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity, an association of the owners of the passenger buses in the capital, in a meeting on April 4 decided against operation of 'Sitting Service' or 'Gate Lock' from April 15, as additional fare was being collected from passengers in the guise of such services. About the delay in executing the decision, it was not possible as the association leaders could not sit on Friday with the BRTA due to the Pahela Baishakh celebration. "We met the BRTA on Saturday and reached consensus of stopping Sitting Service and Gate Lock. Five teams of the samity would keep watch on the buses in the interest of the passengers," he said. Pol link matters Research work has no role in promotion of public varsity teachers' M M Jasim : Political identity, not research work, has now become a major criterion for the promotion of public university teachers, although research work is a must for such promotion. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently detected such malpractice and made directives to the universities to stop this in the interest of quality higher education. The UGC in its report said, "The public universities have not been contributing in research field for many reasons. But it is the prime target of higher education." "It is mandatory to promote a teacher on the basis of his or her research work. But the teachers get it on the basis of their political identities, which undermine the research. It should be stopped immediately," the report observed. "The government introduced 300 research works under the Higher Education Quality Enhancement Projcet (HEQEP) and allocated Tk 600 crore. It will be excellent initiative if the research is done with much responsibility," the report said. It said, "It is true that the government allocates very poor amount of money for the research. But the researchers and their institutions must be sincere and honest." "The public universities outside the capital stop their academic and research at 2pm everyday. They are reluctant to do research in the afternoon. It cannot be continued. It will also have adverse impact on the country's higher education sector," it said. The UGC also observed that the authority of the higher education observatory body is poorer than any other countries in the SouthEast Asia region. The UGC has no direct power to take action against any irregularities. It can only recommend to the Education Ministry for action. A UGC official, wishing anonymity, told this correspondent that many teachers get money in the name of research. But they ultimately cheat with higher education. "The UGC receives many allegations against the public university teachers that they submitted their research papers and get promotion with the support of top authorities," he said. When his attention was drawn to this malpractice, UGC Chairman Professor Abdul Mannan told The New Nation: "It is high time by the Dainik Amar Kagoj, a Bengali daily, where Feni Municipal Mayor Haji Alauddin was present as the president. The DMP Commissioner claimed that some political leaders used to criticize the law-enforcers' strategies against militancy and terrorism. If the radical outfits get political backing, it would be tough to wipe out the militancy in the country, he opined. "In 1979, radicals returning from Afghanistan tried to build a platform. The militancy is a global problem. The influence of the satellite culture, the social media and the internal politics also prompt the militancy," the DMP commissioner said. He regretted for those who criticized the police expedition into the militant dens. With reference to the death of some on-duty force personnel, he said that Police saved the lives of citizens at the cost of their own lives. Federal Union of Journalists President Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Department of Narcotic Control's (DNC) Director General Salauddin Mahmud, Supreme Court Lawyer Barrister Turin Afroj and the Dainik Amar Kagoj Acting Editor Fazul Haque Bhuiyan were present, among others. Before it, Awami League Publicity and Publication Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud accused the BNP-led 20-party alliance of patronizing militancy to serve its ulterior motive. BNP always used to encourage militancy and they killed many AL leaders and workers in the past. No bail, no trial and no presumption of innocence is no justice I am surprised to find ourselves tolerating all wrongs and injustices and still we call ourselves a nation of heroes. The United Nations and the Amnesty International have been expressing anxieties again and again for disappearances and extra-judicial killings. But the government is unperturbed. For the government, the business is as usual. But for the people, it is panic for the safety and security of life and negation of the justice system. Still the people have no other way but to seek justice from the court. The government has to explain every such disappearance and every such extra-judicial killing to make civilised life possible. Criminal cases are multiplying and creating logjam in disposing of the cases. The problem of logjam will not be solved unless we know the cause of accumulation of criminal cases. In our view blaming the courts for not speedily disposing the pending cases is only the half truth. The peculiar method of executing justice in our country is a great encouragement for those who can abuse the system to diminish the justice system itself. To initiate criminal cases arrest is easy at night or day. Even in British colonial days police would not arrest anybody at night. Nobody is sure, however innocent, of the protection of law and his rights that he has any protection against being picked up and find himself shut up from the outside. The common perception is: The courts are helpless before the awesome police power. The fight against terrorism or corruption must not mean fight against our rights or against the truth. Punishing the wrong persons is not a fight against terrorism or corruption. It is understandable that even under the best of system, an innocent person can become a victim of a false case. But he is not frightened to death about his fate. He has the belief that police must have made a mistake. He is sure of the fairness of the justice system and he knows that there will be no pressure on the court to take FIR as proof of the offence alleged. As an accused his prayer for bail will not be refused for extra-judicial consideration or he will not easily be sent to police custody for interrogation without the presence of his lawyer. In short, he is not shorned of his fundamental rights or the presumption of his innocence till found guilty after the trial. The most difficult problem faced by our justice system is the fact that police cannot be trusted for their independence. The police are under full control of the government. Our police are not police for the people like they should be in a functional democracy. In our system if the allegation is serious like corruption or terrorism then praying for bail by his lawyer is considered creating obstruction to the fight against terrorism and corruption. What is not considered is if he is an innocent. It is more or less true in respect of other criminal cases also that an FIR filed by police means imprisonment without bail. He should be in jail to facilitate police investigation and the question of innocence or him to be free is purely academic. It needs a lot of courage for the judges to recognise his constitutional right to be free and release him on bail. An accused is not expected to cooperate with the police to find him guilty of an offence. Our fundamental rights protect us from giving evidence against ourselves. When our constitutional obligation is not to incriminate ourselves before the police or the court and there is the cardinal principle of justice that an accused should be treated as innocent, why bail should be refused easily just because of the FIR is a fundamental question. Granting bail means he must be available for the trial and behave properly. The social and economic consequences must also be weighed if an innocent family bread earner is thus confined only for the allegation against him. This amounts to punishing not only the accused but his family members also before he is found guilty. In my view bail should be refused only if his past record shows he is a danger to society and not for the convenience of others. Our courts must abhor being used for politics. It is so blatant that criminal justice system is abused for repression of the opposition. We have preventive detention law for use against the politicians. Lakhs of criminal cases are pending but not ready for hearing. Either the charge-sheet is not ready or witnesses are not found for producing before the court. The judges cannot dispose of the cases not ready for disposal. If not more than half, at least half of the cases are politically motivated or outright false or frivolous to harass the weak ones for the antagonism of local politics. If bail is denied so easily and the accused is sure to suffer imprisonment there is no reason for taking the trouble of completing the investigation and commencing the trial to prove the case. Apart from the police, there are other agencies or bodies with power to arrest. The Supreme Court's clear direction is that no arrest should be made without an arrest warrant from the court. The police and others find it inconvenient to follow this direction strictly. Anybody with any State power suffers from lordliness of power. This is not appreciated that the courts do not exist only to punish the offenders of law but also for protection of the constitutional rights of an accused. It is basic for justice that an accused is innocent until proved guilty through a court's impartial trial. The speedy trial is no concern, imprisonment without bail is unnecessary. Imprisonment of an under trial prisoner helps lies and injustices but not the cause of justice. The person on bail remains in custody of the court and not fully free. The judiciary must do what is for the judiciary to do and stand between constitutionalism and police state. Police must be made accountable for filing unjustified and false cases thereby hindering the course of justice and also adding to the burden of the court. We are to worry that our justice system is crumbling and losing public faith for lack of effective presumption of innocence, no speedy trial and no bail. The protection of rights and presumption of innocence must begin at the beginning, with the arrest. Let us not make justice a travesty by helping to deny the rule of law. The rule of law does not support arbitrary arrest and arbitrary refuse of bail. Bail means most importantly an accused's right to defend himself freely. The Undead Archives I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of 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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs. CAIRO Dear Ben Carson, sixth-grader Gabriella Lyas has a message for you: She wants to know how Housing and Urban Development can relocate nearly 400 residents from their homes without providing for new public housing within the city limits. The people who live there call that home and you arent doing anything about it, reads the letter Gabriella wrote this past week to Carson, who was tapped by President Donald Trump to oversee a multi-billion-dollar federal housing agency and has been on the job about a month. I have a best friend who lives there and friends who live there. When they move, I will be heartbroken, continues the letter from the 11-year-old. I have lived here for many years, this is my home. Gabriellas letter is one of several concerning public housing in Cairo that will be mailed to Carson as part of a letter-writing campaign the sixth-grade class at Cairo Junior High mounted this week in an effort to save their school and community. They hope to pull at the heartstrings of the renowned pediatric neurosurgeon who rose to prominence from poverty, and motivate him to bring justice to the people of Cairo by holding alleged wrongdoers accountable and by making the situation right by providing new housing options within the city. School children speak out In her letter, Latrece Brooker tells Carson that the discussions the students have had in class concerning the public housing conditions in their community where many of the students live, including Latrece are not good. In what weve talked about, we were discussing about bug infestations, plumbing problems, and so much more, she writes. People in housing apartments cant even leave their food unattended because (theyre) scared there will be rodents to eat it instead of them. And most residents of housing cant even let (their) children play outside because they are too frightened they will get hurt. Residents of housing do not like the conditions in it, but they also dont want to move from their home town neither, continues the letter from Latrece. In this deeply rooted, predominately African-American community at the bottom tip of Illinois, there were many tears shed by parents and children, city leaders and school officials after HUD officials announced Monday that they would begin relocating 185 families from the sprawling Elmwood and McBride family housing complexes they call home. In total, the move directly affects about 400 people, including children, as most units house more than one person, according to an estimate provided by HUD on Friday. Mary Beth Goff, a 14-year-veteran of Cairo public schools who teaches sixth grade, said she encouraged her students to wage a letter-writing campaign because she wanted to help them channel their sadness, anger, frustration, and fears about the future into positive actions that can provide a sense of empowerment. Because much of the focus concerning the conditions of the complexes has been centered on infestation, plumbing problems and other structural issues leading to unsafe and unsanitary conditions, Goff said that some of the students have internalized feelings of shame, even though these longstanding structural issues are not the fault of renters, and should have been addressed long ago by the landlord, the Alexander County Housing Authority. Goff said the students also carry with them the weight of the stress and frustration felt by their parents as they face having to uproot from their city one that for many families has been home for generations and start over again somewhere else. A real-life civics lesson On Wednesday, Goff asked representatives of The Southern Illinoisan to talk about the newspapers investigatory project concerning the Alexander County Housing Authority and its past managers, which began in August 2015 and has resulted in more than 50 stories, editorials and videos. The students have studied a few of the articles, Goff said. At the top of the discussion, the class watched a short documentary on the subject titled People Still Live Here (produced by Isaac Smith and Steve Matzker) that was published online in late February to accompany a story of the same name. Both pieces were about how little the conditions had improved in the complexes in the year since HUD seized control of the local housing authority and placed it under federal receivership. As the students sat attentively watching the familiar faces and apartment units flash on the screen before them, a student in the back row began to cry. Goff brought her a tissue and wrapped her arms around her shoulders to provide her comfort. Sixth grade is a time when many students begin to develop a deeper understanding about the world around them. They learn about how government works, and may hold mock press conferences, trials and elections to get a feel for American democracy. But in Cairo, students do not have the privilege of a mock run-through with this particular civic lesson. Its been a hard week, Goff said with a heaviness in her voice as she returned to her desk from comforting the student. Its their life. After the video ended, the students asked a variety of questions of the newspaper staff. Their inquiries included such topics as how journalists get their information, about how the stories on alleged mismanagement at the ACHA first came to light (a tip via email), and why no one has been held accountable. Several of the students also weighed in on a discussion about the unfair and negative reputation they feel others who live outside of Cairo project onto the town, and how the media can play a role in perpetuating negative stereotypes about their community, but also in shattering those myths by shining light on the things they love about Cairo, and reporting accurately and fairly. The students asked thoughtful questions about what they could do to bring more attention to the good things going on in their community. 'Every single student is impacted' More than half of the students in Goffs class live at Elmwood and McBride a show-of-hands revealed. One of the most important things I want my students to know and understand is that they have a voice they are not powerless in this situation, Goff said. Literally every single student is impacted some way either they are being forced to move or they are losing friends. Student Paris Blake, in her letter to Carson, tells the cabinet-level secretary it is not cool that HUD is making people move from Cairo. It will affect everyone, even those not living in public housing, she writes in her letter. Paris said her mom is concerned about losing her job if that many people leave Cairo. She also worries that the outcome of displacing people from Cairo will be half of the school that is gone, and half of my friends that are gone. I hate that this is happening to my friends and their parents, her letter reads. Goff said that long before HUD announced its plans Monday to relocate families and eventually tear down Elmwood and McBride the first major announcement the federal agency has made since taking over the housing authority more than a year ago the class began the process of understanding housing, that it is a human right, and that in the United States, the conditions in Cairo public housing are inexcusable. Therefore, the students already understood that they are stakeholders in this situation, she said. 'Dear Ben Carson ... We need your help' In their letters, the students ask Carson why HUD cannot provide for new housing in Cairo before tearing down the old units, and why no one has been held held accountable for where the millions of dollars allocated in recent years for their upkeep and maintenance has gone, at least some of which former managers are alleged to have squandered on themselves. They also let him know how much they love their town and all the people who call it home. Dear Ben Carson, The HUD is trying to tear down our public housing starts a letter penned by student Keri Williams. Im writing this letter so I can ask if you could help us, it continues. Most people in our small town feel frustrated and mad. On the other hand, I am worried. I dont want all of my friends to move or leave. My class and I are trying very hard to save the public housing. I am writing this letter because we need your help, and if you dont do it our small town will be smaller than it already is. Student Pircola Brazil tells Carson in her letter she hopes what she has written shows how much I care. I feel horrible about this whole thing, her letter says. Another thing is Im sad about the HUD making us move away from family, friends, everybody we love and care about. Hopefully the plan for the future is that we would be happy where we are. Pircola also tells Carson that she thinks the responsible parties should be held accountable for the housing crisis in Cairo. I think something should happen, like them going to jail, or worse, them going to prison, she writes. I think they should go to prison because they have ruined everything for everybody. The students sat down at their school desks this week to write these heartfelt and heartbreaking letters against the backdrop of a classroom filled with books, brightly colored posters and possibilities. Instead of running the people out of the town, they should just build it up, Latrece tells Carson. Housing conditions are horrible, but not as horrible as getting run out of it. Gabriella closes her letter by writing, If you havent tried to do anything about (it), please try. I dont want to lose my home. We represent Cairo, we are Cairo. Goff said the letters were not written with expectation that they will change something, but with the intention that the world needs to understand what has happened here. Our students are a powerful voice and deserve to be heard, she said. CAIRO Cairo citizens are rallying together to brainstorm ways to save their community after federal housing officials announced Monday that about 185 families would have to move out of their unsafe housing complexes, and that most of the residents will have to relocate to communities outside of Cairo. In total, about 400 people, including children, could be displaced by the housing crisis in Cairo. About 15 percent of the city's population is directly affected. Housing and Urban Development is providing transportable vouchers to all heads of household being relocated from the Elmwood and McBride complexes, and also will provide moving expenses and access to relocation specialists. But many residents say they dont want to go, and they are frustrated that HUD made the announcement Monday about the relocation effort without first coming up with a plan to provide alternative housing within the city limits. We can save ourselves, said Shawn Tarver, who owns an establishment called Talk of the Town in Cairo and, with his brothers, assembled a group of concerned citizens over a year and a half ago, when the housing situation first came to light. The group calls itself Men of Power-Sisters of Strength. Tarver and others announced this week that they are going to start a fundraising campaign in an attempt to raise enough capital to construct new units through a nonprofit, or provide enough matching funds to entice a developer to partner with them. While he said that there are still many details to be ironed out, Tarver said one thing is for certain: Cairo citizens will not give up. This is not just a public housing problem. This is a Cairo city problem, Tarver told a gathering of about 150 community members on Thursday evening who gathered at the Cairo Junior/Senior High School gymnasium to talk about next steps for the community and organize an action plan. The gathering at the high school followed HUDs meeting on Monday at which the relocation plan was announced. Scott Fletcher, executive director of Community Action Place, Inc., a nonprofit social service agency who attended the meeting, noted that print outs were available listing the names and phone numbers of the public officials that represent Alexander County at the state and federal level. Reach out and tell them keeping Cairo alive is important to you, he said. Anthony Walker, the president and founder of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, told the group he was working with the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to bring light to the situation in the Statehouse, and see what can be done. (Note: The Black Chamber of Commerce of Illinois is a separate organization from the nationally affiliated Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce.) This is not going to be a New Orleans situation, he said. This is going to be a right-now situation. We need help right now. I commit to you Im with you until the new complexes get built. Numerous city and state leaders, politicians, HUD officials and other citizens also gathered in-person and by teleconference Tuesday at City Hall for a meeting that City Councilwoman Connie Williams described as positive and collaborative toward the search for solutions. In that initial meeting on Monday, Towanda Macon, a HUD administrator who has served as co-director of the Alexander County Housing Authority since it was placed in federal receivership in February 2016, told the packed house at the First Baptist Missionary Church that she did not want to have to tell the residents this was the outcome that had been reached. She said HUD officials have been meeting with residents for months trying to find a solution that was based on their wants and needs. But to offer that HUD could leverage large sums of money to build new complexes, that would be giving you false hope, Macon said. HUD officials said that over the past year, they have worked to identify possible options for alternative housing within Cairo, and that they will continue that effort. But they also stressed to residents that, in the meantime, they can no longer delay beginning the process of moving people out of the aging developments that have become health and safety risks to the people living in them. The relocation effort is set to begin in May, though there is not a deadline established at this time by which people must move out. The process could take between nine and 11 months, according to HUD. Do I want to see a community destroyed? No I dont. No I dont, Macon said on Monday. But at this point we dont have any other solutions. HUD estimates it would cost $41 million to bring the Elmwood and McBride complexes, constructed in 1942, up to minimal standards and protect them from future flood risks. And it would cost another $12 million to bring all of the ACHA properties up to minimal standards, according to the agencys figures. Including Elmwood and McBride, the ACHA operates 11 separate sites, ranging in size from four to 158 units. In total, the ACHA manages 438 units across its housing portfolio. As for new construction, it would be a rare thing for HUD to go solo in building new public housing complexes, not only in Cairo but anywhere. In recent history, most subsidized housing has been built through partnerships that include some mix of federal housing dollars, private developers, state tax credits, nonprofits and other commitments from state or local governments. Typically in these types of developments, the renters receive varying levels of government subsidy and some people pay full rent. But private developers who agree to invest in an area expect a return on that investment, and solving that equation has apparently proven difficult in Cairo. Were exploring a range of options including private development. Developers however take a holistic view of prospective areas and the economy to support developments is a heavily weighted factor. Thats an issue we have to move beyond in Cairo. Jereon Brown, HUDs deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, said Friday in a statement to the newspaper. At present, Brown said HUD is attempting to acquire a boarded up, one-story unit near the Connell Smith high rise, and is in talks with local landlords to see if there are any other homes or apartments that meet HUD standards in the community. Studying available options has been a months-long effort, and Brown said that as part of a comprehensive review, HUDs contractor explored the states low-income housing tax credit program administered by the Illinois Housing Development Authority, as well as public-private partnerships through the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program. He said all options are still on the table. This past week, numerous politicians weighed in on the crisis, some of them by criticizing HUDs announcement while offering up no concrete plans of their own, either during the past year or more recently, to provide affordable housing solutions within Cairos city limits. In Marion on Wednesday visiting Aisin Manufacturing, Gov. Bruce Rauner called the situation a real tragedy. My heart goes out to the families who are suffering with this disaster in the public housing. It just shows why people dont really have much confidence in government and whats going on there, he said, but passed on the opportunity to address what role the Illinois Housing Development Authority could play in increasing the affordable housing stock in Cairo. Its really a federal government issue, but our team is trying to work and help where we can there, the governor said. State Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, offered the strongest critique of HUDs decision. He called it a disgrace that officials from HUD do not have a plan to provide an adequate housing situation for these families, at a time when so many families throughout Southern Illinois are struggling. While there are obvious problems and maintenance issues in the housing, evicting these families instead of improving their housing is wrong, Phelps said. Closing down the Alexander County Housing Authoritys developments is not only devastating to the families affected, but to the Cairo community as a whole. This is another example of Southern Illinois being overlooked and getting the short end of the stick. In a follow-up interview, Phelps said he had not been to Elmwood and McBride in at least a year, and said that if they need to be condemned and demolished, HUD should at least provide new housing in town. He said he is willing to do what he can in Springfield to see if there is any way to secure emergency funding. Yet, with the state budget crisis, such a feat could be difficult to pull off. State Sen. Dale Fowler, R-Harrisburg, also said hes engaged in trying to figure out how he can best be of assistance. In a statement, Fowler said he met with about 50 concerned citizens at City Hall on Tuesday, and then toured a couple of potential alternative housing options within the city for a portion of the displaced residents. The condition of Elmwood and McBride complexes are not fit for habitation, but obviously with their closure there will be notable side effects on the community, Fowler said. With so many unknowns, Coretta Cornelius, a McBride Place resident and member of the Men of Power, Sisters of Strength organization, said the community cannot wait for answers from the government it has to secure its own future. Its our time now to show we can be responsible as a community, she said. Cornelius said her message to government leaders is, We arent asking for your approval. If you dont want to help us, step out of the way so we can find someone willing to help us. As Cornelius sat around a table at Talk of the Town on Wednesday with Steven and Shawn Tarver planning the community meeting for the next day, they were upbeat and optimistic about the future of the town. Shawn Tarver said he feels it is important that residents do not get hung up on rehashing how they were wronged by the ACHA or HUDs relocation decision, because otherwise the opportunity will pass them by to lean in and do what needs to be done to keep Cairo alive. After navigating this difficult situation, We will be empowered to handle our own selves, said, Steven Tarver, who is a resident of Elmwood Place. And believe me, when we finish this project, this city is going to be the best city in Southern Illinois, Shawn Tarver said. Editor's note: This story has been corrected to accurately attribute comments from Shawn Tarver that in the original version were mistakenly attributed to his brother, Steven Tarver. The Southern regrets the error. Officers responded to a shots fired call at about 6:53 p.m. Friday on 19th Street South, near Hardy Street. A male victim with a gunshot wound to his arm was found and taken to St. Joseph Memorial Hospital. The Murphysboro Police Department is investigating the shooting with assistance from the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Unit. Anyone with information should call the police department at 618-684-2121 or leave an anonymous tip at 618-687--COPS (2677). Cash rewards that lead to an arrest are made anonymously. CARBONDALE When a group of Brazilian college students found their way into an engineering leadership program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Bruce DeRuntz could not have anticipated the impact the program and the students would have on that country. DeRuntz, professor of technology at SIU and director of the College of Engineerings Leadership Development Program, recently returned from a trip to Brazil, where he gave a talk and met with his former students, who are now on a quest to transform their country. Of the 100 Brazilian students who studied in the college during the 2014-15 academic year, six participated in the leadership program. The SIU Leadership Development Program was founded in 2006 by Dick Blaudow, an engineering alumnus and chairman of the board of Advanced Technology Services based in Peoria. Blaudow along with his wife, Brigitte, established the program as a way to help develop the next generation of Americas technical leaders. The program is designed to mold students into future executive leaders of industry by providing them with leadership training, mentoring and community service opportunities. Students also have the opportunity to complete a summer internship program with corporate sponsors. DeRuntz said the Brazilian students developed a deep passion for leadership when they saw how it could transform lives. They took this knowledge and passion back to Brazil and began teaching leadership to both college students and business, DeRuntz said. DeRuntz visited with his former students in Brazil during at their Leadership Experience Day at Juiz de Fora Federal University in Juiz de Fora, which is located in the southeastern part of the country. DeRuntz gave the keynote presentation, while former SIU students gave presentations on other leadership topics, including self-leadership and the science of teamwork. The workshop attracted enough interest to sell-out UFJFs 210-seat university auditorium during the middle of their summer break, DeRuntz said. It not only attracted students, but also some of the largest employers in the area who desired to learn more about leadership. Diogo Seixas was one of the presenters and SIU alumni presenting. He recalled what he learned in the LDP at SIU and said it inspired him to bring those lessons to his home country. Through the LDP, I started to learn more and more about leadership and became more interested, he said. I started to read and pay attention to people's behavior. I noticed how much my friends had grown in the program and how much I was changing. DeRuntz said he was proud to witness his former students progress in becoming industry leaders in their home country. Watching them perform, he said he knew the teacher was now learning from his students. I was most impressed to see how my fledgling students have blossomed into articulate and engaging presenters who inspired the entire audience to see and believe how each of them can become the leader they always dreamed of becoming, DeRuntz said. Even though the presentations were in Portuguese, I could easily read their body language and see how the audience was locked on their every word and almost pushed each other out of the way to participate. COLUMBIA Gov. Henry McMaster supports legislation allowing adults to openly carry a handgun in South Carolina without a permit. McMaster's spokesman Brian Symmes said Friday the Republican governor thinks the bill is constitutional and would "sign it if it reaches his desk." That is unlikely to happen this year. The House passed the bill 64-46 last week after more than three hours of debate. Five did not vote and five were absent. Opponents included eight Republicans. Similar proposals have died repeatedly in the Senate. The latest bill goes further by allowing people to carry their handgun openly, rather than concealed. It does maintain state law on where guns are banned, such as schools. Its Republican supporters argue the government shouldn't require a permit for a constitutional right. Law enforcement officials have long opposed the idea of letting people carry a gun in public without training. Some legislators and opponents of the so-called open carry bill said they were frustrated by the way the bill had been pushed through a committee and onto the House floor. They didnt allow any public input, said Arlene Andrews of Blythewood, a member of the S.C. chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Members of the group are visible around the Statehouse because they don red T-shirts that read EVERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFETY across the back. The shirts establish the women as a part of a nationwide group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The nonprofit group, launched on Facebook by Indiana resident Sharon Watts in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, has expanded across the country with chapters in every state. Each chapter consists of mothers, survivors, and some mayors, who have their own group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Andrews, a retired professor at the University of South Carolina College of Social Work, recalls the images from the Sandy Hook shooting and seeing people praying in the aftermath. The answers to those prayers was to go out and do more, Andrews said. Andrews is one of the women who dons a red shirt. The safe gun law advocacy group monitored the House committee where they were not allowed to speak and followed up by watching the House debate from the gallery above. The group is now on to lobbying their message of safe gun legislation to state senators. Thats what Im doing today, contacting all the senators who oppose this bill, Andrews said on the day of the House vote. The bills sponsor, Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, and proponents of the measure believe it reflects the intention of the U.S. Constitution and the writers of the Second Amendment. But some are worried there is no provision for training in the bill. And foes question how law enforcement would handle volatile situations. Pitts acknowledges the bill would have to be revised before the Senate will pass such a law but he believes the measure should be approved. You are not under government permitting for a constitutional right. Andrews worries the measure would have a detrimental effect on tourism in the state. Most people want to feel safe and they will go elsewhere if they see people walking the beach or in the local bar openly carrying a gun, Andrews said. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has expressed that they are not against guns, nor does the group want to take guns away. We are not against guns, said Sylvie Dessau, but we want safe gun legislation. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. It's not been a good last two years. Even ignoring the effects of the pandemic and the complete shutdown of outdoor live events since t... Sharjah Healthcare City (SHCC) said it has signed a landmark co-operation agreement with the Arab German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ghorfa). This agreement will establish ties and extend co-operation in promoting the Sharjah Healthcare City project situated in UAE emirate. As per the deal, Ghorfa will assist in promoting Sharjah Healthcare City in Germany and other European countries. The co-operation agreement was signed in line with the 10th Arab German Health Forum in Berlin between Abdulla Ali Mahyan, the chairman, Sharjah Healthcare City and Abdulaziz Al Mikhlafi, the secretary general, Ghorfa Arab German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This agreement aims further to strengthen cooperation in healthcare sectors that support the authoritys endeavors and to ensure that its healthcare services are provided by the best and most advanced international experts. Speaking on the occasion, Abdullah Al Mahyan, said: "This landmark co-operation agreement further strengthens our commitment to providing excellent healthcare services in Sharjah." "The agreement with our partners, Ghorfa aims to support the SHCCs vision of attracting the healthcare industrys most respected entities into UAE through Sharjah Healthcare City. We expect this agreement to further elevate Sharjah's position as a formidable player in the global healthcare sector," stated Al Mahyan. Ghorfa will also identify key investors for the SHCC and work in partnership with the authorities to foster the co-operation between Sharjah and Germany in the healthcare field. In order to further promote and encourage the promising co-operation between German and Arab partners in the health sector, Ghorfa, together with high profile partners from Germany and the Arab World, hosted the 10th Arab German Health Forum in Berlin. Renowned German and Arab health experts from business, politics and science discussed current trends and projects in the Arab countries and Germany. The SHCC chairman emphasized that the SHCC and Ghorfa have exchanged a number of views about the existing healthcare system in both countries and have agreed on mutual cooperation in several key areas. To this end, this agreement is aimed at strengthening relations and cementing several core partnerships. One of the main strategic objectives of SHCC is always to partner with international counterparts to share the knowledge, best practices and human resource, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Oman-based Meethaq, a leader in Islamic banking, has signed an agreement to provide Islamic project finance for Dar Al Tomouh Company to set up a first-of-its-kind commercial contract chicken farming project in the sultanate, said a report. The project with an expected annual production capacity of 3.74 million kg live chicken will have a far reaching impact on improving the living standards and generating employment opportunities for farm entrepreneurs, said the Oman Daily Observer report. The project will be established in the wilayat of Nizwa, said Sulaiman Al Harthy, deputy chief executive officer of Meethaq Islamic Banking after signing the deal with Naveen Pasupathy, CEO of Dar Al Tomouh. The support for the project comes in line with Meethaq vision to bring the benefits of Islamic banking to all strata of society, stated Al Harthy. The project will contribute towards food security and economic diversification in the sultanate, he added. Saudi Arabia has signed agreements for seven projects worth $469.34 million in Philippines, which can generate 15,950 jobs in several areas managed by the country's economic zone authority, said a report. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte witnessed the signing of memoranda of understanding for these projects during his recent visit to the kingdom. Shaikh Al Waleed Tuwaijri, owner of Small Investment Group, pledged $133.34 million in projects to establish an academy, hotel and a medical centre in a tourism complex, which will generate 6,650 workers, reported Gulf News, citing data from Saudi Arabia obtained by Philippine Economic Zone Authority's (PEZA) Manila office. Duterte was in Saudi Arabia from April 10 to 12. He went to Bahrain on April 12 and was expected to be there until April 14. He will be in Qatar from April 14 to 16. In Saudi Arabia, Amir M.Q. Siddiqui, business development director of Advanced Electronic Systems International (AESI), signed a deal with Peza for a $150 million airport and hotel project that will be undertaken by a Middle Eastern and a Philippine company, said the report. Faud Abdul Rahman Al Rasheed, president of Future Formation Holdings (FFH), an investment holding company, pledged a $100 million project for the development of logistics facilities, ports, power generation, and warehouses, all of which will generate 5,000 jobs, it stated. Abdul Aziz Abdullah Abanmi, president of Eradh and Reyadhd Development and Commercial Investment, pledged a $50 million project for a 2,000 sqm fine-diningrestaurant chain which will employ 2,500 workers, it added. GAC, a leading provider of integrated shipping, logistics and marine services with a major presence in Middle East region, said its Russian unit has marked an important milestone with its successful handling of the first LNG carrier designed to withstand harsh Arctic conditions at the icy Russian ports of Murmansk and Sabetta. The Christophe De Margerie is the worlds first specialised LNG ship in the reinforced ice Arc7 class, and the first of a fleet of 15 designed to export liquefied natural gas from Sabetta to European and Asian markets. When it arrived in Murmansk for its ice trails in the Kara Sea, GAC Russia provided the vessel with a range of services, including: obtaining its permit to operate in Russian territorial waters; boarding engineers and scientists for the trials; delivering equipment and supplies on board; coordinating her route with the Russian Coast Guard Service; and providing valuable advice on navigation in the Arctic. Once the trials were concluded, customs and border formalities were completed and the ice crew disembarked. GAC Russia also handled safe passenger operations in Murmansk, arranged bunker supplies and delivered machine parts and ship supplies. The ship then set sail for her first call at Sabetta, on Yamal. The port is dedicated to exports of gas and gas condensate from the South-Tambeyskoye gas field and home to a natural gas liquefaction plant to prepare the raw hydrocarbons for transportation by sea. Commercial shipments are expected to commence before the end of this year. Tatyana Shorokhova, GAC Russias general manager, said the expertise of GACs team at the port was an integral part of the successful preparation and implementation of the high profile maiden call of the first ice LNG carrier to the port. "This was an important milestone, both for us and for the country, and one which attracted considerable media attention," she stated. "We believe that this is the start of a new era for Sabetta, and we look to forward with confidence to the part that we will play in that future," she added.-TradeArabia News Service A group of United States insurers has hit 10 defendants, including Saudi banks and companies connected with the family of Osama bin Laden, with a $4.2 billion lawsuit over the 9/11 terror attacks. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday night in US District Court in Manhattan by more than two dozen US insurers affiliated with the insurance holding company Travelers Companies, reported Reuters. The move follows a decision by Congress last September to override a veto by then-President Barack Obama and allow US citizens to sue foreign governments. Included among the defendants is National Commercial Bank, in which the Saudi government, through its Public Investment Fund, holds a majority stake. The bank is listed alongside Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi aviation firm Dallah Avco, Mohamed Binladin Co. and multiple charities. The lawsuit accused them of having aided and abetted the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, through a variety of activities in support of al-Qaeda over a number of years, reported News Week. But for the assistance provided by defendants, Al Qaeda could not have successfully planned, co-ordinated, and carried out the September 11th attacks, which were a foreseeable and intended result of their material support and sponsorship of al-Qaeda, the lawsuit read. The lawsuit, which seeks at least $1.4 billion of compensatory damages, triple damages as well as punitive damages, is just the latest legal move from the families of the victims of the deadliest terror attack ever on US soil. Congress decision to pave the way for such action last year was the only successful override of an Obama veto during his eight years in office, stated the News Week report. And the passing of the Justice Against Terrorism Act (Jatsa) was swiftly criticized by Obama, who said it would put US officials in other countries in danger and subject to similar legal challenges, said the report. It was also condemned by the Saudi government, which had long lobbied against such action, it added. At least 39 people were killed on Saturday in an explosion that hit near buses carrying people evacuated from a besieged area of government loyalists, reported Syrian TV. A war monitor put the death toll at 24 in the area controlled by opposition fighters. The explosion, caused by a car bomb, hit the Rashideen area, a rebel-controlled district outside Aleppo city where evacuation buses carrying nearly 5,000 people from the northern rebel-besieged villages of Foua and Kfraya were stuck, causing a huge plume of black smoke, reported CBS News. Residents from the two villages had been evacuated Friday, along with more than 2,000 from Madaya, an opposition-held town outside of Damascus besieged by government forces. In footage aired on Syrian TV, bodies, including fighters, were seen lying alongside buses, some of which were charred and others gutted from the blast. Personal belongings could be seen dangling out of the windows. The state TV channel said the car was carrying food aid but a rebel spokesman said the car had been parked in the area and abandoned. A senior rebel leader said 20 fighters who guarded the buses were killed as well as dozens of passengers. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Yasser Abdellatif, a member of the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group which negotiated the deal, said at least 30 rebels were killed in the explosion. The explosion came as frustration was already mounting over the stalling evacuation process. Thousands of evacuees from the pro-government and opposition areas were stuck opposite sides of the edge of Aleppo city as rebels and government bickered over the terms for evacuating fighters. Prior to the blast, Syrian Red Crescent teams had distributed meals to the restless evacuees, stuck in limbo after having left their homes over 30 hours earlier. Many were already voicing their dissatisfaction with the wait. Burgan Bank, the youngest commercial bank and second largest by assets in Kuwait, has designed a special package catering to the financial needs of the oil sector employees working in Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) and its subsidiaries or in oil ministry or Equate Petrochemical. In partnership with Kuwait Petroleum Company and its Emtaz project, the new offering allows clients to enjoy several benefits upon transfer of salary to Burgan Bank. Employees of oil sector will be entitled to a cash prize of KD100 ($330) upon salary transfer, free credit cards for the first three years, free concierge services, free account statement for life, free cheque books for life (25 pages), one free telex transfer per month and 50 per cent discount on safety boxes. Burgan Bank called upon the employees of KPC and its subsidiaries to avail the package either in person or by applying online through its official website. As part to its commitment towards offering the best to its clients, Burgan will continue to catering to their financial needs by introducing new offers and promotions throughout the year.-TradeArabia News Service Ramada Hotel & Suites Sharjah today announced the completion of more than Dh25 million in extensive renovations and upgrades, creating an elevated four-star guest experience across all 343 of its guest rooms and suites. Formerly the Ramada Sharjah, the hotel began renovations in June 2016 and now offers deluxe rooms and executive deluxe rooms, as well as one and two bedroom suites. Additional facilities, which were also upgraded as part of the renovations, include an executive lounge, six meeting and event venues with state-of-the-art audio visual capabilities, two restaurants, a gym and spa area, as well as an indoor pool and sun terrace. All newly renovated rooms offer an array of contemporary accommodation, including king and twin bedded deluxe rooms of 50 square meters with modern design and decor and a comfortable seating area with a flat-screen TV. One and two bedroom suites feature a well-appointed kitchen, which includes a refrigerator, oven and washing machine. All rooms and suites feature amenities of the highest quality to ensure a comfortable and memorable stay and are as spacious as 100-sq-m. Dining options at the hotel include Zaafaran, which offers an international menu with a variety of dishes designed to cover all tastes; and the newly added Sunshine Cafe, which offers casual dining and serves hot and cold dishes in an easy light fare menu for visitors and guests to enjoy in a cosy seating area. At Ramada, were focused on helping our guests sample the world and these renovations have enabled us to completely re-imagine the experiences we offer, said cluster general manager Alper Can Bulcum. Our new twin bedded rooms are a wonderful example. Ideal for short-stay, budget-minded travellers, these smaller rooms help guests to keep their costs affordable by easily sharing with a colleague or friend. And for our longer-term guests, our spacious suites offer a private respite from the world outside. Whatever a travellers reasons for visiting Sharjah, our intent is to be their go-to-hotel of choice. Hotel guests seeking recreational activities have access to both an indoor pool and childrens pool, sauna, fitness centre and spa, which offers a variety of treatments. The hotel also offers an on-site tour desk with information on local attractions such as Burj Khalifa (a 15 minute drive away), Mall of the Emirates (a 20 minute drive) and Dubai Parks and Resorts (a 40 minute drive away). Sahara Centre, Sharjahs largest shopping mall, is conveniently located just across the street. - TradeArabia News Service Sometimes Scott Gromer misses Friday nights. He used to be a member of the Wyoming Army National Guard. Friday was the day when the National Guard members would show up for drill. Theyd swap stories and catch up with some of their closest friends, their brothers in the service. Soldiers are known for their camaraderie. Loyalty, skill and teamwork are ingrained in them throughout their training. Gromer did three tours in Iraq, the shortest for six months, the longest for 18 months. The way guys like him describe being in the military, it sounds as if the men and women can read each others thoughts. For veterans, being out of the military can mean losing that sense of community. But at Mesa Natural Gas Solutions, Gromers Casper-based company, a use for that friendship endures. At Mesa, veterans, Reserve and National Guard members are more common than not. More than 60 percent of Gromers employees are current or former servicemembers. Because of its hiring practices, Mesa is a finalist for the 2017 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, which honors businesses that go above and beyond to employ members of the National Guard or Reserves. Nearly half of the U.S. military is made up of National Guard and Reserve members. Gromer has made it a priority to hire those people. Three years after forming his company, he employs 31 veterans and active servicemembers. His total payroll is about 55 employees. Gromer started Mesa in 2014, building and leasing generators, which use the gas coming out of drilled and completed wells to provide electricity on drilling sites. Despite the recent downturn in the oil and gas sector, Mesas business is booming, because companies can cut out the cost of diesel fuel for conventional generators. Mesas generators save operators thousands of dollars on electricity costs at a time when the low prices of oil and natural gas have pushed even the largest producers to cut back. The popularity of gas generators draws clients from every play in the country, from the oil fields around Casper to the Bakken and the Permian. And Mesa teams of a few people 60 percent of them veterans of the armed forces are now working in each of those plays. Vets are ideal employees, especially for what Mesa does, Gromer said. Long hours and extended stays far from family are familiar to servicemembers. The intensity of working out in the field in all weather is something vets take in stride, Gromer said. If its not 110 degrees outside or negative 20, were complaining, he said. I think this award that we are nominated for, its great to get that recognition, but the greatest reward is having veterans, excellent employees working for us. One of Gromers employees, Johnny Taylor, is still in the Guard. He serves one weekend a month and two weeks a year in the largest field artillery battalion in Wyoming. The 33-year-old has done two tours and expects a third in the year to come. Gromer was once his commander. When hes on duty, Taylor leads a firing battalion. They operate rocket launchers, the modern version of cannon fire. When hes at Mesa, he runs safety and compliance making sure the workers follow best practices to avoid injuries in the field. Working with other servicemembers and vets is the best of both worlds, he said. Its a good, steady job, with a work culture thats familiar and efficient. Working with a bunch of vets you cant beat it, he said. The structure, the discipline, the type of people that youre dealing with. They care more about what they do. Even the civilians who work for Mesa understand and adopt that culture, he said. Mesa is one of 30 finalists chosen by the U.S. Department of Defense from a pool of more than 3,000 nominees nationwide. Gromer will learn in a few weeks whether Mesa takes home the award. The 42-year old was in the service for 23 years before entering the oil and gas industry. He doesnt have the Friday night reunion to count on anymore, but hes fou. There are other retirement perks for the father of five. I really like having weekends, and not having to deploy anymore, he said. My wife likes that, too. Located at 818 East 2nd Street, the 1907 home is the first multi-story brick mansion built in Casper and is a seminal structure in telling the urban history of Caspers development through the life of an early pioneer, Marvin L. Bishop. Owned by the Cadoma Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the preservation of Wyoming historic buildings, the Bishop Home is its signature property that demonstrates the essential need for communities to preserve their historic structures. These properties bring to life our unique heritage that connects the young and old. The newly restored third floor of the Historic Bishop Home is a perfect example of the importance of how to restore a building while maintaining the rooms cultural context. Care was taken to not only restore the room, but to maintain the character of the place where the nine Bishop children studied, read, played and learned to get along. The restoration began with a commitment to preserve the feel and character of what was called the attic, now the Third Floor Childrens Gallery. The restoration completed the needed repairs while telling a story. Shadow boxes preserve the bones of the lath and plaster. This labor-intensive construction method was used commonly around the turn of century, but, with the development of newer materials, it is virtually extinct in the building trades today. The rooms interpretation is sparked by the wall graffiti that was recovered. Drawings and sayings written by the familys children are now visible. As the craftsman doing work said, This wall shows a lot of love! Another unique and labor-intensive effort was the restoration of the original floor. The flooring was six-inch fir cut from what the contractor believed were original timbers, based on the character of the wood grain. Several boards were damaged beyond salvage and replacement boards were not available. Replacement of the entire floor was not an acceptable option. Thanks to the wood working talents of Ron Morrisons Legacy Construction, new boards were hand-milled and stained to blend with the original floor. The result is dramatic, and returns the space to a warm and inviting room. A hand rail on the long, steep staircase improves accessibility along with better LED lights that brighten the entrance. Future enhancements are wall washing lights to highlight the wall graffiti and planned exhibits as well as ventilation enhancements to renovate the homes original natural cooling system that capitalized on opening and closing of access to the Widows Walk. Since acquiring the property in 2008, the Cadoma Foundation has created one of Caspers most unique cultural destinations. The home tells the 110-year urban history of Caspers development from a small community to todays central Wyoming business center. Current exhibits connect the life of a family who had a son in World War I to the sacrifices that the nation made to support the war. Future exhibits will highlight the homes collection of antique trunks and explore their use while travelling. Later this year, the home will build on the current applied arts exhibit that features hand-knitted items to support the WWI effort, to include workshops on tatting, crochet and other hand work arts of the early 19th century. Plan to celebrate Historic Preservation Month with a visit to the unique, essential experience the Historic Bishop Home provides the community. The hours are Tuesday and Saturday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. and Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. The home is located on 2nd Street between Jefferson and Lincoln. Parking is available behind the home off Lincoln Street. Admission is $2 per person or $5 for family of four. We are extremely grateful to our partners: the Wyoming Cultural Trust fund, the Natrona County Joint Powers Recreation Board, the First Interstate Bank, the First Interstate Bank Foundation, the Zimmerman Family Foundation, the Casper Preservation Commission and our many private donors who made the preservation of the Historic Bishop Home possible. They know that the preservation of Caspers historic culture is essential to a strong, vibrant, and growing community. For more information, visit www.cadomafoundation.org or www. Facebook.com/Cadoma.Foundation. So when they butt-stroked me to the head from an AK-47 and I was bleeding down the side of my face and they threw me back in the cell I could Town Hall April 18 Indivisible Casper invites you to Constituents Town Hall Three. Every political point of view is welcome. Wyomings members of Congress have been invited by certified letter to attend to discuss the issues of the day. Since Congress in not in session, it is hoped they will attend. If they do not, your comments and questions will be passed on to them in writing. Please come with your questions and ideas at 7 p.m. April 18 to the Food for Thought building, 900 St. John in North Casper. Please call Andrea at 251-0352 with any questions about the town hall. Indivisible is a nationwide organization formed to respond to the Trump agenda in a non-violent manner. It is built on the values of inclusion, acceptance and fairness. Buddhists meet Want to meet Buddhists in Casper? Email: davidvaughn991@yahoo.com. Learn Cybersecurity The Natrona County Library will offer a Cybersecurity class from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, April 19. This course will help you to understand online security and start to protect your digital life, whether at home or work. You will learn how to recognize the threats that could harm you online and the steps you can take to reduce the chances that they will happen to you. Call 577.READ x2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information. Using maps in geneology research The Natrona County Library and Natrona County Genealogical Society will host a genealogy workshop on maps at 7 p.m., on Thursday, April 20 in the librarys glass enclosure on the first floor. The workshops primary focus will be the use of maps in genealogy research: what can be learned from them, where to find them, and the best types of maps. Free and open to the public. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information. Saturday watercolor sessions The schedule for the Saturday Morning Watercolor Sessions from 10 a.m. to noon for April at Art 321 is below. These are coordinated by Ellen Black, 265-6783. $10 per session. April 22, practice session; April 29, building perspective, Dave Sneesby. Beginning Experience in Douglas Beginning Experience of Wyoming is a weekend program that offers healing and renewal to divorced, widowed and separated men and women. It is a nonprofit, faith-based comprehensive program offered to all, regardless of religious preference. A Beginning Experience weekend offers support and direction to help resolve grief or anger that can follow the end of a marriage by divorce, separation or death. The next Beginning Experience weekend will be in Douglas and starts at 7 p.m. on Friday evening, April 28, and runs through Sunday around 4 p.m. on April 30. The cost of the weekend is $150, which includes sleeping arrangements, meals, and materials. Scholarships are available. Registration deadline is April 26, 2017. Ask these team members for more information: Curtis at 307.240.1232 or email westcurtis2014@gmail.com; Diane at 262.4142, Paulette at 267.6375. Landowner solutions workshop A casual learning conversation about country living issues will be held at 6 p.m. April 25 at the Glenrock Community Library, 506 S. Fourth St. Admission is free. Topics will include fighting weeds and animal health among others. Please pre-register so materials will be available. Contact Scott Cotton, UW Extension, 235-9400 or Scotton1@uwyo.edu. Call for portraits at Art 321 This is an open call to all artists in the community, working in any medium, to exhibit their artwork in the Art 321Casper Artists Guild Portrait Exhibit in May. Please note that artwork needs to be delivered to Art 321 Gallery by April 28. McIntyre photo workshop May 5-6 If you love the photography of Suzette McIntyre now on display at Art 321 Gallery, you will be eager to sign up for her workshop coming in May. Convergent Photography is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, instructed by McIntyre. Participants need to bring a digital camera. Fee is $130 for members/ $170 non-members. Write Brain Books training Mercer Family Resource Center will host a Write Brain Books Training from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26, at Mercer Family Resource Center, 535 W. Yellowstone Hwy. The training is $30 and includes lunch. The founder of Write Brain Books will facilitate the training, and is for anyone who works with youth and look for a new way to incorporate literacy into his or her programming/instruction. Write Brain Books are illustrated, wordless books that inspire kids of all ages to become published authors of their own storybooks, each receiving published, hardcover copies of their original tales. To register for the training, please contact Mercer Family Resource Center at 265-7366. For more information on the Write Brain Books training, please contact Keri Owen, NCPC grant assistant, at 265-7366 or kowen@mercercasper.com. DAV mobile van in Casper The DAV Mobile Service Office Van will make a visit to Casper on April 26, parked at the Casper National Guard Armory. One of the various services DAV provides at no cost to veterans is the Mobile Service Office (MSO) Program. These offices-on-wheels travel to under-served communities across the country to help veterans and their families obtain the services and benefits they have earned. Staffed by highly trained DAV National Service Officers, the MSOs provide professional support throughout the claims and appeals process. When you come to one of the MSO locations, please bring your identification, Social Security number, and any other pertinent documentation regarding your military service. DAV membership is not required to utilize these free services. For more information about MSO stops in the area, please call Leroy Kenner, NSO Supervisor at (307) 433-2752. Job fair May 3 The Department of Workforce Services is holding a Youth Job & Career Fair with the intent of informing youth and young adults in Casper of job openings, career opportunities, and college or training options that are available to them in the Casper community. Youth and young adults between ages 16 and 24 who want to jump-start their careers are encouraged to attend. Individuals should dress to impress and take copies of their resumes to the Agriculture Resources & Learning Center from 9 a.m. to noon on May 3. The event aims to connect youth with a range of employment opportunities and help them explore the diversity of education and career options available to them in the future. For more information, call 234-4591. Felt scarf workshop at Nic A felt scarf workshop will be held from noon to 3:30 p.m. May 13 at the Nicolaysen Art Museum, instructed by Tatiana Lushnikova. Fees are $40 for members, 30 for students with valid student ID, and $55 for non-members. Please pre-register and pay by May 8. Bring a friend and save $10 on your class fee. This class is recommended for high school students and older. In this class, students will learn the process of wet felting and produce their own piece of handmade fiber art. For more information, contact Zhanna at zgallegos@thenic.org or call 235-5247. Corporate team building with (theater) murder Casper Theater Company will be teaching teambuilding workshops. After determining areas of emphasis designed to a specific business, the workshop will be steered in that direction. For more information, visit www.caspertheatercompany.net, or Casper Theater Company on Facebook or call Casie at 247-6167, or Donna at 267-7243 to set up a time. Teen Challenge spring groups Smart Step Families: Putting two families together is never easy. The Smart Step Families, led by a Christian couple, will give answers and encouragement. Thursday evenings starting in March. Call Pastor Mark or Linda at 259-1081. Insight: Discovering the path to Christian character, especially in the midst of stress. For more information, call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397. There are nine sessions to the class. Professionals in Recovery: An ongoing Christian recovery group. For more information, call Gary at 267-7777. Free to Grow: Helping people overcome disappointments and setbacks that have arrested or are presently hindering their emotional and spiritual development. Starts in February and meets on Thursdays. For more information, call Jane at 797-7271 or Judy at 251-5644. There are 12 sessions to the class. Peacemaking: In this world of division and conflict, its important for Christians to stay grounded in what the Bible teaches about resolving differences with others in a God- honoring way. Sunday at 4 p.m. For more information, call Teen Challenge Wyoming at 258-5397. There are 12 sessions to the class. Stepping into Freedom: A Christ-centered 12-step program that offers support for anyone struggling with a life controlling problem like drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual addiction, gambling or workaholism. There are 12 sessions to the class. New ministry at HPCC Family Life Ministry at Highland Park Community Church is offering premarital, marriage enrichment, and parenting workshops, seminars, retreats and conferences, empowering families to thrive through Gods love. Please visit the website for more information or to register, http://hpcc.church/FLM. Self-transformation class set A Conscious Co-Creation/Self-Transformation & Healing seminar/live webinar will be offered from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 22 and 23, taught in person at the Agricultural Resources & Learning Center, 2011 Fairgrounds Road, and also via live webinar. In the seminar/playshop, participants will learn how the universal and physical laws of creation work together with thoughts and ideas to form daily experience; how modern science bears out what the ascended masters have known for eons; and how to become aware of, and instantly start changing, the patterns of thought and emotion that are prevent realizing best potentials for a healthy, joyful, fulfilling life. The class is taught by Cathy Hazel Adams, practitioner of Intuitive Multidimensional Transformation & Healing, and Matrix Energetics certified practitioner. For full class description and registration information, visit: www.cathyhazeladams.com and click on Classes & Webinars in the left sidebar, or call 797-9677 for more information. Dementia caregiver support Wyoming Dementia Care offers five Alzheimers Caregiver Support groups each month. Caregivers of those with dementia-related illnesses and the loved ones they care for are welcome at any of the group sessions. Professional staff from Intermountain Home Companions will be on hand to offer separate activities and snacks for those who need care. There is no charge for Wyoming Dementia Cares support groups or for the respite care provided during the approximately one-hour sessions. The morning support group sessions meet on the first and third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. at Central Wyoming Senior Services, 1831 E. Fourth St. The afternoon support groups meet at 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Life Care Center of Casper, 4041 S. Poplar. The evening groups meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Meadow Wind Assisted Living, 3955 E. 12th St. For information, email wyodementia@casperseniorcenter.com or call Dani Guerttman at 265-4678. Family continues suicide support Good Grief, Support will continue at 5:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at the 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott, by request of attendees. Anyone who is grieving a suicide or death or considering suicide is encouraged to attend. Attendance, as well as the content, will be strictly confidential. The Fresh Start Cafe will be open, and you can eat during the meetings. This meeting place was offered by Dan Cantine of the 12-24 Club. You need not be a member to attend. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom. New depression group begins J.R.s Hunt for Life is offering See it Clearly, a free peer support group for people suffering from depression and other mental conditions that lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. The group is led by like-minded peers wishing to offer support. Anonymity and confidentiality is offered to all attending. Meetings are at 6:45 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 500 South Wolcott in the conference room on the second floor, (12-24 Club). Those who have considered or attempted taking their life or are struggling are welcome. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom. Family offers faith-based groups The family of J.R. Hunter, who committed suicide, now has two additional support groups, these faith-based, in addition to the groups they run on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the 12-24 Club. Those continue. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom. J.R.s Hunt for Life presents two faith-based grief and depression peer to peer support groups at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Restoration Church, 411 S. Walsh. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom. Grief Support Group, Good Grief: A faith-based grief support group that the family hosts on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 5:30 p.m. at Restoration Church. The familys loss has moved them to offer this to anyone grieving. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom. Depression Support Group, See It Clearly: A faith-based free peer to peer support group for persons suffering from depression and other mental conditions that may lead to suicidal thoughts and actions. The group is led by like-minded peers wishing to offer support. Anonymity and confidentiality is offered to all attending. Meetings are at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Restoration Church. Those who have considered or attempted taking their life or are struggling are welcome. For more information, email jlh35@hotmailcom. Parkinsons exercise Rocky Mountain Therapy is offering a Parkinsons exercise program. Join us from noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays at Rocky Mountain Therapy, 2546 E. Second St., Building 500. These classes are open to anyone with Parkinsons or caring for someone with Parkinsons. Thursdays class is tailored for the individual with more advanced Parkinsons and focuses on improving endurance, safety and managing symptoms. We are open to all ages and can tailor the class to meet varying exercise needs. The cost of the class is $5. To RSVP, call 577-5204 and ask for Jerri or Shannon. Celebrate Recovery every Friday Celebrate Recovery meets at 5:30 p.m. every Friday at Highland Park Community Church, just south of Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital on East Second Street. A family meal starts the evening, followed by praise and worship. At 7 p.m., theres either a lesson from Celebrate Recoverys planned curriculum or a testimony by a person who has found recovery through Christ. Then, people go to gender-specific small groups until 8:30 p.m., when dessert and fellowship conclude the evening. Child care is available at no cost. For more information, contact Chris at 265-4073. Here and Now: Dementia-focused monthly art class Classes are every third Tuesday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m. There is no charge. Here and Now is a program made possible through a collaboration between Wyoming Dementia Care and the Nicolaysen Art Museum. It is designed to provide a supportive environment for people with dementia and Alzheimers and their loved ones. To register, contact Dani with Wyoming Dementia Care 265-4678, ext. 106, or at wyodementia@casperseniorcenter.com or Zhanna Gallegos at 235-5247 or at zgallegos@thenic.org. The black bear that killed two goats in a south Billings neighborhood has been trapped and euthanized, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services caught the bear and killed it on Thursday morning, according to a news release from Greg Lemon, information bureau chief with FWP. Wildlife Services "typically handles livestock predation situations," Lemon wrote in the release. On Wednesday morning the bear killed, dragged and partially ate two pet goats that had been kept in a pen. It's also believed to have been going through garbage cans in campground facilities. Wednesday afternoon the owner of the goats encountered the bear and shot at with a gun, said Capt. Bill Michaelis of the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office. FWP set up a culvert trap that day in an attempt to catch the bear. The 2-year-old bear was a male and healthy, Lemon said. He was not sure how the bear was killed. The carcass was turned over to FWP, but Lemon said he was not sure what his agency planned to do with the animal's body. Leaders in the Cowboy State appear to be no longer interested in wresting public lands away from the federal government, with the Wyoming Senate president saying he doesnt anticipate any major legislation aimed at securing state ownership next year. Furthermore, Wyoming counties are largely not renewing their memberships to a Utah group that was spearheading the transfer movement. Natrona, Weston, Big Horn and Lincoln counties had previously belonged to the American Lands Council, which has a mission of transferring Western public lands to willing states through legislation or even litigation. Lincoln County is the only remaining Wyoming member of the organization, according to research by the Western Values Project that the Star-Tribune was able to verify. Early in the 2017 state legislative session, Senate President Eli Bebout killed a bill that would have begun the process of amending the Wyoming Constitution to allow the state to accept federal lands. Sportsmen had doggedly rallied against the measure. Bebout on Friday said that the Trump administration gives lawmakers hope that the federal government will manage lands with local interests in mind. I dont think there will be a bill to transfer the lands and get into a lawsuit right now, he said. But stay tuned. Things could change. Rep. David Miller, a Riverton Republican who is one of the Legislatures most enthusiastic supporters of land transfer, said he plans to take a different approach. I dont have anything planned myself right now (for legislation), other than trying to educate the public more, he said. The whole story got distorted last time. Environmental groups exaggerated that the constitutional amendment bill would strip access, Miller said. State ownership of the land would improve access since Washington bureaucrats block access to many areas and roads, he said. The fight over land control in the West has blown up and also recessed over the years. In the 1970s and 1980s, the sagebrush rebellion dominated headlines. And more recently, legislators became interested in land transfer in 2013. Lawmakers begrudged the amount of time it takes to permit oil and gas, timber and other projects. They disagreed with environmental regulations, saying they killed jobs. Activities on public lands generate about $2 billion a year, but the state gets to keep only about half that, with the rest going into the U.S. Treasury. Wyomings current economic woes would be fixed if the state could keep all the revenue, supporters said. Sportsmen and conservationists, however, argued the state wouldnt have money to manage an additional 25 million acres of Wyoming on top of the 3.5 million currently under state control. They said a large wildfire could wipe out the states budget for managing the land, forcing Wyoming to sell acreage to the wealthy and well-connected. Then access for ordinary Wyomingites could be forever blocked, they said. Trump Bebout, a Republican from Riverton, said lawmakers have met several times recently with the state director of the Bureau of Land Management. Lawmakers have explained their concerns to her. He described her as articulate and said she appeared to understand the states needs. I think where we are is theres a lot of optimism because of the new president and his policies, he said. And it gets back to management and doing a better job of having true access for multi-use and sustainable yield. The (American) Lands Council was (targeting) this previous administration, where they really, really overreached and tried to shut down Wyoming and other states. The Wyoming County Commissioners Association has undertaken an effort with conservation groups to ask the federal government to reclassify some protected areas of public land that they do not believe are serving their purpose. The trend now is to collaborate with the feds, not fight them, Commission Vice Chairman Forrest Chadwick, who is active in the County Commissioners Association. Weve taken the attitude of, how do we work with the federal government where we have more input on the management of these lands? he said. That has been the general tenor of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association. Particularly since we have a new administration. In Natrona County, commissioners last paid a $1,000 membership to the American Lands Council in 2013, Chadwick said. Members of the public had pointed questions for commissioners about why county resources were involved in the controversial organization. When the Lands Council asked the county in subsequent years to renew its membership, we didnt really ever have a discussion, he said. We just kind of let it fade. Other counties In Lincoln County, land transfer is still salient, Commission Vice Chairman Kent Connelly said. Seventy-seven percent of the terrain in Lincoln County is federal public land. The countys schools could use the tax dollars generated from energy and other development. The federal government does send some money to the county to make up for losses in development, but its not even half of what the county could generate if there was development, Connelly said. The county paid $5,000 to the American Lands Council in December. Lincoln County gets value from its membership, Connelly said. It is kept abreast of how other Western states are proceeding with the fight. Lincoln County shares a border with Idaho and Utah, which has been more aggressive in fighting the feds, including its lawmakers advocating the state sue for the land. He said the issue is about fairness, as the federal government originally turned over public lands to the eastern U.S. upon statehood. The government never did the same in the West, in part because they obtained statehood later in the 19th century, when Congress started protecting the land. This is about how the West is run versus how the East is run, he said. But in Big Horn County, the American Lands Council is a distant memory. Commission Chairman Felix Carrizales said hes been serving for two years and he isnt entirely familiar with the organization. I think, in the past, Ive received (email,) he said. But Ive never opened it because they tell us we no longer belong to it and I receive so much email. Weston County commissioners received an invoice for $1,000 from the American Lands Council to renew its membership. At the commissions Dec. 12 meeting, they took no action on the matter, according to meeting minutes that the Western Values Project reviewed. The Star-Tribune called Commissioner Marty Ertman to inquire about why the officials declined to renew. She said she wasnt sure and referred questions to the Weston County clerk, who was out of town. The Star-Tribune reviewed commission meeting minutes for five meetings the group had 2017 and could not find any indications the American Lands Council was further discussed. Caution The Western Values Project is an organization that advocates for balanced approach to public land usage. Its executive director, Chris Saeger, said its good that Wyoming seems to be moving away from land transfer. But that doesnt necessarily mean the land will remain protected and pristine since Congress and Trump have started to repeal Obama-era environmental regulations, he said. It looks like all the energy lobbyists are going to write the rules for the next four to eight years, he said. And in Wyoming, groups will continue to monitor the Legislature for any sign of lawmakers again pressing for transfer, said Jessi Johnson, the Wyoming Wildlife Federations public lands coordinator. This is not the time to think that the war is won, she said. This is the time to keep up pressure respectfully and make sure they know this is still an issue. Did you know or care if I had Medicaid I wouldn't be losing my home of 20 years to medical bills and usual cost-of-living bills? I damaged my knees working all my life to support myself and now with Obamacare? Please! You give me the incentive I don't need - how dare you force "insurance" on me that I or no one can afford! You'll make everyone not want to work to avoid you precious penalties and we get denied Medicaid? Thank you, "Mr. Government Official," for nothing. A former citrus grove turned mobile-home park is under transformation again. Rancho Los Amigos, on Orange Grove Road west of Oracle Road, was bought last year by Alta Vista Communities. Now the construction of a 240-unit rental community with two-story, eight-plex buildings is underway. Now called Pima Canyon, the development is expected to be move-in ready this fall. The units will feature 10-foot ceilings and oversized patios and balconies. The developer received a $3 million building permit for the first 32 units and a $500,000 permit for the sales office. Records show that in 1924, Maurice Reid bought a 1,500-acre ranch bounded by what is now Oracle to the east, La Cholla to the west, Orange Grove to the south and Ina to the north to create a citrus farm and moved his wife, Beulah, and sons Gene and Robert from Oakland, California. Reid cultivated more than 200 acres of citrus trees and date palms. Over the years, most of the land was developed or sold as parcels for homes, and in 1950, the remaining property was sold to a group of doctors who developed it into a trailer court in 1955. The 18-acre Rancho Los Amigos was part of the original farm. Gene Reid later became city parks and recreation director and namesake of Reid Park. We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some April 15 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages. Arizona parents interested in taking advantage of the states newly expanded private school voucher program should be able to do so for the upcoming school year. The bill, signed by Gov. Doug Ducey last week, makes it so that all Arizona school children are eligible to apply for state money to help pay for private or parochial schools. Previously, the Empowerment Scholarships were only available to students who met certain eligibility requirements. Vouchers can be used to cover the cost of tuition or fees, textbooks, tutoring and curricula. For children with special needs, the money can be used to help pay for vocational or life-skills education, psychological or educational evaluations, assistive technology rentals, and braille translation services. Heres what you need to know about the new law: WHOS ELIGIBLE? Over the course of the next few years, all students in grades K-12 will be eligible to apply for funding, but thats not the case for the upcoming school year. For the 2017-18 academic year, it is open to children in kindergarten, first, sixth and ninth grades. Students in any grade who meet the eligibility requirements previously established can still apply. That criteria includes children of people in the military on active duty, foster children, all children in failing schools, and those living on Indian reservations. Grades second, seventh and 10th will be added for the 2018-19 school year, followed by third, eighth and 11th for the 2019-20 school year. By the 2020-21 school year, all students in grades kindergarten through 12 will be eligible to apply. HOW MANY VOUCHERS WILL BE AWARDED? A cap has been set for 5,500 new students for the coming school year. Combined with the old cap of 3,500, there could be as many as 9,000 students on the program for the 2017-18 school year. The Arizona Department of Education says its doubtful that cap will be met since the old one isnt currently being met. An additional 5,500 students will be able to sign up each year until it caps out at 30,000 by 2022. WHAT ARE THEY WORTH? The amount awarded depends on the childs need. Awards for non-special needs children range from $3,000 to $7,800 with an average award of $5,728. For special needs applicants, the range is $3,000 to $33,500 with an average award of $18,971. HOW MUCH DOES PRIVATE SCHOOL COST? There are about five dozen private schools in Pima County, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Tuition varies for each school, ranging from $5,100 up to $16,675 per year. Tuition at Tucsons largest private high school, Salpointe, will be $9,400 next year, not including registration or supply fees. WHERE DO I APPLY? The application for the upcoming school year is not yet available but the Arizona Department of Education recommends that parents keep an eye out for it at azed.gov/esa. Applications submitted by May 10, if approved, will be processed in time for the new school year. Source: Arizona Department of Education The Pima County Board of Supervisors will decide Tuesday whether everyones sewer bill goes up, and what to do if anything about a $2.7 million sewer bill county officials say Davis-Monthan Air Force Base owes. The county said the 25-year-old bill stems from years of nonpayment by D-M of connection fees, which are paid when new development occurs. Between 2009 and 2013, the county aggressively pursued the bill, and even contemplated a lawsuit. Since then, officials have expressed a willingness to defer to the bases legal position on the fees, specifically that they constitute a tax, which local jurisdictions cannot assess on federal agencies. Now county officials want the supervisors to decide how to handle the situation. Theyre the decision makers, said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. Were taking it to them, and saying, OK, weve been kind of dancing around the maypole here long enough. What do you want to do? At least one supervisor, Richard Elias, thinks D-M should probably settle up. When these kind of mistakes happen or when these kind of problems arise, they need to be resolved, he said. In this particular case, the ratepayers of Pima County have been subsidizing those users there at the (base). Somehow I feel that needs to be made right to the ratepayers. He said his position is not intended as a criticism of the base, which he said is critical to all of us. Supervisor Steve Christy declined to comment on the matter, pointing out that it is to be discussed in executive session Tuesday. Supervisor Ramon Valadez said he is still considering the matter, but said whatever action is taken should be truly in the best interest of our community. Valadez also said he was considering making public privileged attorney-client material so that whatever decision is made Tuesday is easier to understand. Supervisor Sharon Bronson said shes fairly convinced that our ability to prevail in the courts is slim if the county were to sue the base over the bill, and that its best to just sit down and work this out. Whats past is past, she added. We need to determine our relationship in the future that is equitable to all. Supervisor Ally Miller did not respond to a request for comments. In a March 16 letter to Huckelberry, deputy base engineer Michael Toriello said the Air Force is unaware of any uncompensated impacts to the countys wastewater system that are being caused by (the bases) wastewater discharges. The letter went on to say that readings from a new wastewater metering station installed in collaboration with the county indicate the base may have even been overcharged before the meter was used for billing purposes. If the county still feels the base owes it something, the Air Force is willing to consider discussing those impacts the county can demonstrate through substantiating information, the letter concluded. We will continue to pay for our impact, as we always have, and look forward to continuing our great communication and partnership with Pima County, base spokeswoman Lt. Sydney Smith said in written comments. Smith also said data from the new meter station was intended to help accurately compensate the county based on those metrics. A legal analysis provided to the supervisors by the county attorneys office included previously unreported details about the dispute, among them the fact that the base also refused to pay monthly user fees from 1975 until 1988, when a settlement agreement between the county and base averted another possible lawsuit. Under the terms of the agreement, the base paid user and connection fees and through 1993, when it stopped paying the latter for reasons officials say are unknown. The memo also reveals that the connection fee issue was raised by the county as early as 2005, not 2009 as other documents previously obtained by the Star indicated, meaning that more than a decade has passed since the issue was discovered without resolution. SEWER HIKE After two previous delays, the supervisors consider a single 4 percent increase in the wastewater user fee, along with a 2.6 percent increase in connection fees. The user-fee hike would increase the average residential customers monthly bill by $1.63, according to county estimates. The one-time connection fee, which is paid on new developments or after remodeling that requires additional or larger water meters, would increase to $4,172 for residential customers. The current rates, including a service fee of $12.63 and base volume fee of $3.52 per hundred cubic feet, have been in place since 2013. Elias pushed for a connection fee hike along with a user-fee increase so that developers share in the burden of rising utility costs. In February, the supervisors voted to delay the vote pending the release of a preliminary rate structure study conducted by Raftelis Financial Consultants, which was provided earlier this week. The study, though not directly addressing the rate increase up for a decision, indicates the current user fee rate structure charges many commercial customers significantly less than the strength of the sewage they create merits. To address this, the company suggested several simpler alternatives with fewer industrial and commercial classes that would capture more revenue. The alternatives also propose higher fixed fees to address declining volume-based revenues due to water conservation. Those changes would result in higher monthly bills for most residential users, though the highest hikes are $1.53 per month in two of the alternatives. Jackson Jenkins, wastewater director, said any adoption of a new rate structure, which does not have to be one of the Raftelis alternatives, is likely many months off and would require a vote from the supervisors. He pointed out that the report isnt even finalized, and Amber Smith, chair of the wastewater advisory committee, said she and her colleagues still have questions and concerns about it. As to the rate hike on the agenda Tuesday, the four supervisors who returned calls from the Star expressed concerns about the potential impact of the hikes to constituents, especially those who are low-income or on fixed incomes. County officials said three 4 percent hikes are necessary to stave off potentially serious financial consequences at the wastewater department, including dwindling cash reserves and potential legal issues with lenders. The advisory committee recommended just one of those hikes last year, citing the ongoing Raftelis study. After meeting with wastewater officials and advisory board members, Christy said hes not convinced that the hikes, especially the connection fee increase, are necessary. If things turn into the doom and gloom scenario being presented by some folks, we can take a look at it, he said, adding that the board needs to monitor the situation. Obviously, we want to minimize any rate increase, but at the same time maintain the system in good working order, Bronson said, adding that the board normally follows the recommendations of the advisory committee. She left open the possibility of a smaller rate increase, or delaying any increase until the study is completed. PHOENIX Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law Friday that the head of his own Republican Party wrote will make it possible to throw out initiatives for minor errors which Democratic foes charged was the goal all along. HB 2244 overturns statutes and Supreme Court case law that say efforts by citizens to propose their own laws need be only in substantial compliance with election laws to go on the ballot. Instead, any measure not in strict compliance can now be challenged and stopped before voters get a chance to weigh in. In a prepared statement, Ducey noted the Arizona Constitution limits the ability of lawmakers to alter what voters approve at the ballot. This common-sense legislation preserves the integrity of the (initiative) process by ensuring that those seeking to make lasting changes to our laws comply with current laws, he said. But Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Lines, in a newsletter Friday to party faithful, said the GOP-controlled Legislature enacted something that would make it possible for ballot initiatives to be thrown out for minor errors regarding language and paperwork. Thats precisely what Democrats charged during several hours of debate this week over the measure. But party spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair said Lines was just repeating what had been written in a news story, which does not reflect his views on the bill. The change to strict compliance is not academic. Had this requirement been in place in 2012, voters would not have been given a chance to decide whether to make permanent a 1-cent surcharge on the state sales taxes, with most of the proceeds earmarked for education. And just this past year, voters got a chance to decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use when the Supreme Court concluded the initiative petitions substantially complied with Arizona legal requirements. In both cases, voters decided to reject the proposals. But it was voter approval last November of the minimum-wage increase that led to the full-court press by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry to rein in the initiative process. The Chamber did not mount much opposition to Proposition 206, spending only about $50,000 to urge its defeat, with spokesman Garrick Taylor saying it made no sense to spend money against a measure that voters were expected to approve. Instead, the organization spent close to $1.5 million to quash Proposition 205, the recreational marijuana measure. On the wage increase, the chamber hired attorneys after the fact to try to convince the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn the public vote. That failed. And the 1998 Voter Protection Act bars lawmakers from repealing the law. That left the goal of putting what Chamber President Glenn Hamer called guardrails around the initiative process. Those reforms were originally part of a single measure sponsored by Rep. Vince Leach, R-Tucson. But the bill was divided into three separate measures. Ducey already has inked his approval to legislation making it illegal to pay petition circulators based on the number of signatures they get. Supporters argued such a system invites fraud. Paid circulation remains an option, but only if done on another basis, such as hiring people by the hour. A measure awaiting final Senate approval next week would make initiative organizers financially responsible for incidents of fraud or forgery committed by paid circulators, regardless of whether there is evidence that the organizers knew what the circulators were doing. In all three instances, however, the changes apply only to initiatives. Politicians including lawmakers and the governor himself remain free to use paid circulators, are not subject to fines for acts of circulators, and have no risk of having their nominating petitions thrown out for failure to strictly comply with the law. Leach said that distinction is merited because politicians can be thrown out of office every two or four years. The three Democrats looking to replace City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich discussed mass transportation and a proposed half-cent sales tax as they vied Thursday for support from politically connected party members. In a packed meeting of the Democratic Nucleus Club of Pima County, teacher Felicia Chew, business owner Tom Tronsdal and lawyer Paul Durham spent about 40 minutes discussing their vision for the city. Those in the audience included Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jo Holt, County Supervisor Richard Elias, former state legislators Matt Kopec and Tom Chabin as well as Uhlich, who had previously announced she was not seeking re-election this year for her Ward 3 seat. The candidates were repeatedly asked about mass transportation and specifically whether they would support either cutting Sun Tran bus service or raising fares. Durham said the city has gone down this road before and refuses to accept that it has to choose between raising fees or cutting routes. Weve tried that before and it didnt work, he said. I think we need to find a better solution. One possibility, he said, is a regional solution. There is an idea being tossed around at the city of creating a separate authority with a governing body that would be elected, have a separate revenue source and an independent budget, he said. Chew jumped at the same question, excitedly saying Yes! over and over again as part of her response. We need a dedicated funding source for transit, she said. She also discussed a more-modest proposal for a family friendly type bus pass that would charge a single fee for a family to ride the bus. We are going to start developing ridership at a young age, she said, adding that she hoped it would lead to a new generation of mass-transit riders. Tronsdal also said he supports some regional solution. Transit services, he said, are vital for Ward 3 residents. I was only able to attend high school because I took the bus and used a discounted pass every day for four years, he said. For most people in my ward, mass transportation isnt a choice. It is how they get to work, how they get to school and how they get to day care. On the question of Prop. 101, a half-cent city sales-tax hike up for a ballot vote next month, all three said they supported the temporary tax hike, which would last five years. If approved, the $250 million generated by the city tax would be used for new equipment for the police and fire departments and to fix city roads. Chew said it was important to replace aging vehicles in the police and fire departments, noting she learned many were overdue for replacement. They do need to have these vehicles replaced, she said. Tronsdal said he was on board with the proposal. I believe 101 is essential for the future of our community, he said. We need to take care of our first responders. He said the proposal has a large portion set aside to fix neighborhood streets that otherwise would not get fixed. Durham was also supportive. Police and fire have a very difficult job, he said. Weve got to give them the tools they need to do the job. He explained that with the recession of 2008, the city was forced to make significant cutbacks and could not afford to fix some streets and forced some public-safety equipment remain in service longer than intended. The three candidates are all Democrats and will face off in a primary Aug. 29. Julian Mazza, a Libertarian, filed paperwork to run in the Ward 3 race in the general election, Nov. 7. No Republicans have entered the race. Time is of the essence. That was the message delivered by Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin following a meeting with area dairy farmers about the Canadian trade barriers that are threatening their livelihood. The discussion took place Thursday morning at Five Star Dairy, LLC in rural Elk Mound, an 1,100-cow operation owned and operated by Lee Jensen and his wife, Jean Amundson, for the past 17 years. We talked about a broad array of issues, including an issue that is front and center on my agenda which is significant concerns about unfair trade practices in Canada, Baldwin said, noting that exports are crucial to the viability of the dairy economy in Wisconsin and other states in the upper Midwest. Grassland Dairy Products of Greenwood recently sent a letter to 75 dairy farmers in Wisconsin notifying them that as of May 1, the company was cancelling their milk contracts. Policy changes in Canada forced Grassland to reduce their milk intake volumes by up to 1 million pounds a milk a day. According to Grasslands website, After years of selling milk product into Canada, our Canadian partners notified us that due to their new Canadian dairy regulations, they would stop purchasing our products effective immediately. The ripple effects of the lost sales due to the Canadian trade restrictions on the ultra-filtered milk used to make cheese are being felt throughout Wisconsin and the nation. Baldwin explained that last spring, the Canadian province of Ontario began a dairy pricing policy that gave preference to Canadian dairy products over those imported from the U.S. In February, the policy change was implemented throughout Canada, further blocking American dairy products.Thanks to alerts from both processors and producers, Baldwin said her office has been aware for a while about the possible expansion of the policy. But its moving fast, and its of great concern to me that even though weve been sounding the alarm since last fall, this issue isnt resolved yet. Negotiation needed That lack of resolution has been hampered by the transition still taking place following Novembers U.S. presidential election. Noting that the impact of the change in Canadian policy is costing millions of dollars, Baldwin said, One of the frustrations right now is that just as a new administration comes in, it takes time for them to put together their Cabinet. So we dont have people in the position of Secretary of Agriculture and the position of U.S. Trade Representative who need to be sitting at the table, across the table from their Canadian counterparts and having this negotiation. Doing her best to convey the urgency of the situation to him, the senator said she has brought her concerns to Sonny Perdue, President Donald Trumps nominee for Secretary of Agriculture who is expected to be confirmed in a little over a week. We need our leaders engaged ... to see what we can do to walk this back, Baldwin said. I believe its a very unfair practice, as were already seeing now for some time, Baldwin said. Were asking for fair rules and a level playing field. Thats what we think has gone awry in Canada. Were talking about preferences that theyre giving for their own. State level action About the Grassland announcement, Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin President Marty Hallock noted on Thursday, That went fairly fast if youre looking at exports going back and forth. ... You can talk about it, but until somebody closes the door, you can still have a discussion. A dairy farmer from Sauk City and PDPW vice president Mitch Breunig reported that Wisconsin Agriculture Secretary Ben Brancel, the states dairy farmers and processors are working together on finding a solution at least in the short term to buy some time until the federal agriculture secretary and trade representative are in place at the federal level. Were calling on the processing community to step up as a team in the state of Wisconsin to see if they can take some of this milk for a short period of time to allow negotiations to take place, Breunig said. As of this moment, nobodys stuck their hands up and said we have room for extra milk, but theyre still working on it. While hopeful, Hallock recognizes that the states 120 manufacturing plants are running full: Can each plant pick up a little? I dont see one plant taking the whole thing. We hope and pray the processors can figure that out or we can open the doors back up for exports. And then theres this, Breunig points out: Its planting season. If youre a dairy farmer, youve purchased your corn ... your alfalfa ... your soybeans. Youre planning to go out into the field tomorrow and plant your crop and you dont know if youre going to have cows. As for what happens when May 1 arrives and the farmers affected dont have a market for their milk, Baldwin admitted she doesnt have an answer. But the senator who is up for re-election in 2018 said, I can tell you on a bipartisan basis from House members as well as senators that we are speaking out loudly on this. Although both Breunig and Hallock are glad that the folks in Washington, D.C. are paying attention, they wonder if Wisconsin farmers will be faced with the decision of selling their cows and leaving their family farms. Baldwin hopes that President Trump will take seriously her March 28 letter to him in which she wrote: The health of Wisconsins rural economy rises and falls with the strength of our agriculture industry. We must do everything we can to ensure our rural communities and farms make it through this challenging time for farmers and farm workers. No matter what is accomplished by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillersons timely visit to Moscow this week, the somewhat press-shy former ExxonMobil CEO already scored a few points at home with a smart takedown of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Perhaps more important, he has already demonstrated respect for factual reality and for the potential benefits of diplomacy, neither of which President Donald Trump seems to share. First, the takedown. When asked on the Sunday talk shows, Tillerson observed that the recent use of chemical weapons in Syria reflected Russian incompetence for its failure to hold up a 2013 agreement in which it guaranteed destruction of Bashar Assads chemical arsenal. That hits Putin where he lives, as he either has to stick to his patently false claim that no chemical weapons attack took place or admit to Russias failure. Had a Russian opponent made such an assertion, hed probably be looking out for a hit squad right about now. But heres the other notable observation by the secretary of state: He also spoke unabashedly over the weekend about Russias meddling in the last election and how it undermines any hope of improving relations with the United States. He even went further, fretting that Russia is now pursuing similar tactics to affect elections in Europe. Apparently, the fake news tweets of President Trump that this is all a liberal media fantasy havent quite made it to Foggy Bottom. While we dont relish the thought of another Cold War (and mercifully, were still a long distance from that), Tillersons healthy skepticism of Putin is a welcome respite, given the ongoing FBI and Congressional investigations into Russian hacking and the possibility of collusion with Trump associates a prospect that has become increasingly worrisome with the House Intelligence Committees near-implosion over the matter and its ethically compromised chairmans recent choice to recuse himself from further deliberations. Appreciate these insights? Get State Journal opinion sent daily to your inbox Trumps cruise missile strike was a reasonable and measured action given the horrors of the chemical attack against civilians in Syria, but its the military equivalent of a text message swift and fleeting and not a long-term foreign policy. Tillerson now has the really heavy lift, to try to craft a reasonable U.S. strategy regarding the disaster that is Syria with its civil war and Islamic State involvement. Attempting to put some space between Putin and Assad is probably a good starting point. Just as President Barack Obama sought to bring Russian influence to bear, Trump must realize that Putin and not U.S. military might alone holds the key to progress in the region. Given that Tillersons own ties to Putin (and lack of diplomatic experience) raised doubts about his appointment, this kind of hard line response is a pretty remarkable development. Tillerson once headed Exxons Russia operations, and the companys huge investment in Russia caused Putin to award him the Russian Order of Friendship Prize four years ago. Officials in Moscow may now be having second thoughts about that decision, given the secretary of states commitment to G7 foreign ministers in Italy Monday that the U.S. intends to hold to account any government that commits atrocities against innocent people. ... Granted, our new-found appreciation of Tillerson and for Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, may simply be a matter of the administration exceeding extremely low expectations, given not only Trumps fondness for Putin but also his disdain for diplomacy, a point reinforced by the presidents proposed 29 percent reduction in state department funding. If Tillerson demonstrates any progress in regard to Syria, it might be to show what can be accomplished through negotiation and not just by lobbing missiles from warships. Surely, a president who regards himself as a dealmaker can see the advantages of solving dilemmas without the kind of senseless and counterproductive military escalation that the last Republican president unwisely pursued in Iraq. A bill was signed last week that, over the course of a few years, will make all Arizona school children eligible for state money to help pay for private or parochial school. The money also known as ESA (Empowerment Scholarship Accounts) AKA school vouchers have been available to students who met certain eligibility requirements (special needs, parent in the military...) since 2011. Now an additional 5,500 students will be eligible to receive the money in time for the 2017-18 school year. Here's what you need to know about the new law. Who's eligible? Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, any child who currently attends or is eligible to attend public school in kindergarten, first, sixth or ninth grade is eligible to apply. The old law still applies to those not in the grades mentioned above. Eligibility requirements for those students are: K-12 student with a disability, preschool student with a disability, active military family, legal guardian is legally blind, deaf or hard of hearing, lives within the boundaries and attends a D or F rated school, lives within an Indian Reservation, is the sibling of a qualifying applicant or a ward of the court. When will other grades be eligible? Kids entering kindergarten, first, second, sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth grade will be eligible in the 2018-19 school year. Students entering kindergarten, first through third or grades six through 11 in the 2019-2020 school year will be eligible to apply. For the 2020-21 school year, any student eligible to attend public school in kindergarten through 12th grade will be able to apply for a school voucher. How much money could I qualify for? The amount awarded depends on the child's need. Awards for non-special needs children range from $3,000 to $7,800 with an average award of $5,728. For special needs applicants the range is $3,000 to $33,500 with an average award of $18,971. What can I use the money for? Money will be deposited into the student's empowerment scholarship account and can only be used for tuition or fees at a qualified school; textbooks; tutoring; curricula; and fees or tuition for a nonpublic online learning program. For children with special needs, the money can be used to help pay for vocational or life-skills education; psychological or educational evaluations; assistive technology rentals; and braille translation services approved by the department. How much does private school cost per year here? Register for more free articles. Log in Sign up According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 61 private schools in Pima County. Tuition varies for for each school, ranging from $5,100 up to $16,675 per year. Here are some examples of what it would cost to attend some of Tucson's most well-known private schools next year not including registration or supply fees: $8,762 for elementary students at Kino School; $9,760 for middle school students at St. Michael's School and $9,400 at Salpointe High School. How many vouchers will be awarded? A cap has been set for 5,500 new students for this coming school year. So, combined with the old cap of 3,500, there could be as many as 9,000 students on the program for the 2017-18 school year. The Arizona Department of Education says it's doubtful that cap will be met since the old cap isn't currently being met. An additional 5,500 students will be able to sign up each year until it caps out at 30,000 by 2022. When can I apply? There is no official deadline to apply since applications are taken year round. Applicants can apply at any time and they can request their account be closed at any time. How to apply The new application has not been posted yet, so those interested should watch the website for updates. You can do that here (this is also where you will get your application). Students who meet the requirements of the old law can still apply using the application that is currently posted. Source: Arizona Department of Education Help India! TCN News Aligarh : The Sir Syed Bicentenary Committee, Aligarh Muslim University in collaboration with the National Academy of Letters, Sahitya Academy recently organised a two-day National Seminar on Sir Syed at the Arts Faculty Lounge. Support TwoCircles Allahabad University Vice Chancellor, Professor R.L. Hangloo inaugurated the programme, while Professor Farhatullah Khan (Prof Emeritus) presided over the function. During the inaugural function, Professor Hangloo said that the notion on Sir Syed being pro colonial is wrong as he never supported the British rule. He added that Sir Syed wanted to bring forth a cultural and education revolution for which he promoted English language. Professor Hangloo further said that Sir Syed was a patriot, who was committed to the welfare of people. Sir Syed made the British government in India think about social, cultural, educational and economic upliftment of common Indians, added Professor Hangloo. He added that while we celebrate Sir Syeds Bicentenary, it is high time to ponder upon why we have not been able to produce people, who would walk on Sir Syeds footsteps for the betterment of society. Today, when the world stands on the edge of clashes between civilizations, it is important that we implement thoughts of Sir Syed in real life to bring progress and harmony, further said Prof Hangloo. Noted critic, Professor M Shafey Kidwai said while delivering welcome note that it is high time to revisit Sir Syeds works for taking his mission of education forward in new directions in the contemporary world. Considering the strife, which is present in todays world, Sir Syeds thoughts and ideas become even more important to bring resolutions for progress and betterment of society, said Professor Kidwai. Mr. Chander Bhan Khayal, Convener, Urdu Advisory Board, Sahitya Academy delivered the welcome address. He said that the Sahitya Academy stands proud for organising this programme on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in collaboration with AMU. Recollecting facts from history, Mr Khayal pointed out that Sir Syed lived in a period, which saw the 1857 war of Independence and had intellectuals like Mirza Ghalib and Rabindranath Tagore. Delivering the keynote address, Professor Asghar Abbas said that Sir Syed lived at a time, when there were thinkers like Karl Marx in Europe. Both Sir Syed and Karl Marx reformed the societies, they lived in. During the presidential remarks, Professor Farhatullah Khan emphasised that to maintain secularism and tolerance, it is necessary to work on Sir Syeds thoughts in todays world. Professor Maula Baksh conducted the programme, while Mr. Ajay Kumar Sharma, Assistant Editor, Sahitya Academy proposed the vote of thanks. The programme also had the book releases of Professor M Shafey Kidwais, Swaneh Syed: Ek Baaz Deed; Mr Kaif Farshoris Bahar-e-Dostan Shora; Mr Asad Faisal Farouqis Aligarh Ki Urdu Sahafat and special issue of Sir Syeds Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq edited Professor Sagheer Afraheem. Help India! TCN News Aligarh : The two-day National Workshop on Urdu Translations of Dr. B.R. Ambedkars Writings recently concluded at the Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences with a Valedictory Function. Support TwoCircles During the presidential remarks, Professor Seemin Hassan, Chairperson, Department of English mentioned that translation is an inherent ability of Indians as the Country is multilingual; which makes translation, an indispensible need of our daily lives. Meanwhile, mentioning the hard work of the team members of the Translation Project provided by Dr B R Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India; Professor Hassan congratulated Professor Mohd Asim Siddiqui, the Managing Editor of the Project. Dr. Suhail A Farooqui commented on the proceedings of the workshop and gave valuable suggestions to the translators on the lexical and semantic nuances involved in translating works of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Professor Mohd Asim Siddiqui thanked the audience and the translators for their presence and perseverance. Professor Rashid Nehal, Director AMU Campus Kishanganj Centre and other faculty members of Department of English were also present on the occasion. During the programme, certificates were distributed to the participants of the Workshop. Mr Peer Mohd Ashraf, research scholar associated with the Universitys Department of English proposed the vote of thanks. The Easter weekend brings a chance for many families to come together and mark the Religious Festival in their own way and for Christians to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But just why is it such a moveable feast and how did the traditions of Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny come about in the first place? Variation in dates explained The apparent confusion over the date bearing in mind that Christmas and Valentines Day are both fixed each year is easily explained. The Easter date variation depends on when the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring falls, as decreed by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. Consequently, Easter Sunday can fall on any date between March 22nd and April 25th. Most likely dates for Easter Some dates are more likely than others though judging by some statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Their analysis covering the period between 1600 and extending forwards up to 2099 indicates that March 24th is least likely, with 31st March and April 16th the most popular for the Easter milestone to fall on. Easter egg consumption Most children are probably not so concerned about the origins behind the date, as they look forward to devouring Easter eggs over the holiday period, with figures estimating that as many as 80m chocolate eggs could be consumed. Yet there is also history to be told in that respect. Symbol of new life Eggs were traditionally forbidden during the period of Lent the 40 days from Ash Wednesday leading up to Easter Sunday and act as a symbol of new life and re-birth. Their symbolic importance is believed to have originated in pagan tradition but has subsequently been adopted into Christian folklore. Their association as a childrens treat at Easter most likely arises from the church originally strictly not allowing eggs to be eaten during Holy Week (the week before Easter). Any eggs laid during the week were put aside and decorated, then presented to children as gifts. The Victorians developed the tradition further to create satin-covered cardboard eggs filled with Easter gifts. Sad story set out in York museum York Castle Museum has unveiled a rather poignant display this Easter for its visitors. An uneaten wrapped Terrys chocolate egg will be shown that was originally intended as a gift in the 1920s for a young boy who sadly died before Easter. Experts believe that it could be one of the oldest wrapped Easter eggs in the world. Origins of the Easter Bunny The origins of the Easter Bunny seem to lie in the 19th century, with an association being formed (just as with eggs) to the concept of new life. Rabbits are commonly linked to their strong breeding habits and the legend has been created of the Easter Bunny laying, decorating and hiding eggs as a result. Several countries have developed the notion further, with Switzerland using the cuckoo to deliver their eggs whilst parts of Germany look to the fox instead. 'Baahubali 2' Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam/Hindi trailer :- Baahubali second part (part 2) official Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam/Hindi trailer was out now. The makers of the movie unveiled the trailer on youtube today at 9 am. Soon after the trailer release, it started trending all over the world. The producer Shobu Yarlagadda and director Rajamouli were thrilled with the superb response from the audience.let's check the trailers below. Telugu trailer of 'Baahubali 2' movie The Telugu trailer created sensation by garnering 200k likes within 3 hours of its release and it also achieved the new record in Tollywood Industry as Most Liked trailer. Tamil trailer of the movie The tamil trailer too received good response with more than 95% likes to this Rajamouli's directional film trailer. Hindi trailer of 'Baahubali the conclusion' The Hindi video has more views than others so far as it garnered 436k views and 82k likes within 3 hours of its release. watch Malayalam version video Even though the views are less for Malayalam version trailer of 'Baahubali 2' movie, it still succeeded in grabbing the majority audience support towards it. Extraordinary response from the audience for the trailer The response for the video is superb from the audience. Everyone are spellbound with superb visuals and action sequences in this Prabhas's starrer film's first look video. Especially the background score composed by M M Keeravani elevated the trailer to next level during the last 50 seconds of the video. Finally, ending the trailer with deadly look of Prabhas and Rana Daggubati raised the curiosity among the audience. Overall, one can know that second part is the battle between Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas) and BhallaDeva (Rana Daggubati) and the director Rajamouli successfully cashed on emotional sequences along with war and action sequences. Nonetheless, the film's post-production works are in full swing and the makers are planning to release the movie on April 28th, 2017 as a summer treat for the Indian fans. During a meeting with Boris Johnson, Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lubomir Zaoralek asked the British courts for a full investigation into the death of his countryman, Raymond Sculley 29-year-old from Tower Hamlets in East London, who had been cleared of all charges during a trial at the Old Bailey last week. He has been accused of beating Czech man Zdenek Makar to death with a bike lock in September last year after a brawl at a branch of Perfect Fried Chicken in East London. It had been widely believed that the killing rose concerns about post-Brexit violent acts. Sculley was aggressive The 31-year old Zdenek Makar had lived in London for more than ten years and worked at the Royal Institute of British Architects. During a trial at the Old Bailey, jurors heard, that Mr. Makar was on his way home after a night out with colleagues when Mr. Sculley attacked him. The court heard that Mr. Makar joked to a friend of Sculley. Whats this? A bike gang? when he saw bicycles stranded on the pavement outside the chicken shop in Poplar. The defendant and his friends followed the Czech man who continued his way home. Raymond Sculley was seen on CCTV footage acting aggressively towards Mr. Makar, who was trying for the situation not to escalate, the court was told. Mr. Sculley allegedly hit the victim five or six times with a heavy metal bike chain. Mr. Makar was declared dead when the ambulance arrived. Following the horrific incident, two of Sculley's friends went to the police to report him for the attack. Painter and Decorator, Sculley claimed he did not murder the Czech hospitality manager and acted in self-defense. 'A senseless death' The victim's sister Adela Makarova said, "The non-guilty verdict is absolutely shocking for our family. My brother was unarmed and didn't pose any threat to Sculley." Moreover, she explained that a petition has been filed." We have the full support of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we want to use all opportunities in order to appeal the verdict. The murderer didn't show remorse or any other emotions during the trial. This is another reason why the verdict seems to have a political background. I hope that justice will win and the murderer will be punished. I have never imagined that this kind of injustice is possible in a developed democracy as the U. K.," she explained. "I feel only fury and animosity. No regrets. Zdenek was my best friend, the most important person in my life. His death was absolutely useless and I will never accept that," Ms. Makarova concluded. At the end of 2016, the Vulture Conservation Foundation posted on their website that The european medicines agency (EMA) has their long-awaited technical position on the vulture-killing drug diclofenac, following a request from the European Commission. Finally, it seems that they have confirmed that veterinary diclofenac does represent a real risk to European vultures, and therefore recommends that a number of risk management measures should be taken to avoid the poisoning of vultures, including more regulation, veterinary controls, better labelling and information and/or a ban of the drug. What is being done to address the death of Europe's vultures? The fight for the vultures has been a long and hard one. In 2015, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) announced in a press release that member countries who are Signatories to the MOU on the Conservation of Migratory Birds Of Prey, listed more species of vultures to their annexure 1. The agreement which was discussed in Bonn was motivated by the African vulture crisis. Apart from illegal trade in the birds, poisoning is of very high concern. At that time there were 533 signatory countries, which was good news, but it did raise the question of what they are doing to address the threat to vultures and other birds of prey in Europe. It is becoming urgent now for the European Commission to pressure Italy and Spain to get around to addressing the problem of the mass killing of vultures through the use of diclofenac in veterinary products in those countries. India banned the use of diclofenac in 2006, following an explosive decline of vulture species across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The catastrophic effect of the anti-inflammatory medication on vultures that ate the flesh of dead livestock crashed the population by over 90 percent. It is taking some time, but there are reports that the populations of Indian vultures are now stabilizing. This has been largely due to the fact that an alternative medication which is not toxic to the vultures is available and in use in India. Outrage over Spanish sale of diclofenac for veterinary use The crisis that affected Asian vultures was well publicized, so there was an outcry in 2013 when Spain authorized the sale of diclofenac for veterinary use. Italy also allows the sale of the anti-inflammatory product and exports to several other European countries. Spain is of particular concern as up to 90 percent of Europes vultures are found in Spain. The Society for Conservation Biology, (SCB) along with many other concerned organizations have been lobbying since 2013 for the EU to push for a ban on the product. In November 2014, Birdlife International announced that the EU was finally considering a ban on the drug. They said that the European Commission had requested an opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) about the risks of the medication to vulture populations. The recent EMAs report which everyone was waiting will hopefully make a discernible difference going forward. On International Vultures day every year, The Vulture Conservation Fund consistently raises the concern that the European countries are not taking the threat to vultures seriously. The 2017 International Vulture Day in September will be yet another opportunity to pressure the governments about this seriously declining bird species. Portugal and approval of the sale of vulture killing veterinary medicine The EMA has confirmed the threat to vultures and other species of raptors through the use of this medication. Seeing that all EU member states adopted guidelines in a vital treaty through The Convention of Migratory Species in 2014 to prevent the risk of poisoning to Migratory Birds, it is appalling there has not yet been a ban on the use of this drug throughout Europe. To add to the problem, it was revealed in February in Toledo at a convention of vulture experts and conservation managers, that Portugal is now considering approving veterinary diclofenac, against all scientific evidence and despite Portugals own prior commitments to resolution 11.15 Preventing Poisoning of Migratory Birds. Countries outside of Europe such as Iran have taken the step to ban the product. It is time for Europe to stop talking and push the ban through before it is too late for vultures. LA CROSSE The Western Technical College District Board didnt have to look far for its next president. Western staff announced Tuesday that Boyd native and former Chippewa Falls resident Roger Stanford, the current vice president for academic affairs, will succeed his boss, Lee Rasch, as the seventh president of the college. Rasch, who has led the college for nearly three decades, announced last year that he will retire June 30. District Board Chairman Dennis Treu said Stanford had a passion for student success and the technical colleges mission. Stanford has a deep respect for the work that has gone into the $79.8 million Vision 2020 strategic plan, Treu said, and offers inspiring ideas to keep the college moving forward. During his two years at Western, Stanford started a flexible learning initiative that targets working adult students, created a team model to help get faculty more engaged in college priorities such as student success, and led the implementation of a K-12 academy model, including the design of a facility to serve high school juniors and seniors. He said he decided to come to Western because of the colleges solid reputation and the community support that was apparent when voters approved the Vision 2020 referendum funding renovations and expansions at the campus locations in La Crosse and throughout the region. Stanford said he hoped to be able to build on that as well as bring a strong focus on data analysis and strategic planning to the presidency. Western has a stellar reputation in the district and the state for high-quality education, and has even garnered national attention for leading-edge sustainability efforts, Stanford said. I look forward to sharing my experience and continuing the momentum for many years to come. Before coming to Western, Stanford was vice president of instruction at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire. He has also worked in higher education as an instructor, a dean and a director of professional development, in addition to 10 years teaching at the high school level. Stanford was the first in his family to attend college and is a graduate of the Wisconsin Technical College System, earning his associates degree in marketing management from CVTC. He also earned a bachelors degree in marketing education from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, a masters degree in education and professional development from UW-La Crosse, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Capella University. He was selected from a pool of 35 candidates from across the United States and was one of three finalists the search committee asked to visit campus. All of three of the candidates were invited to closed-door meetings and interviews last week with the district board before the group made its final decision. Stanfords selection will be officially approved at the April 18 board meeting, and he will begin the position July 1. We had an excellent pool of applicants from which to choose, Treu said. Roger rose to the top based on his extensive experience, his enthusiasm for technical education, and his recognition of the importance of community. He is a perfect fit for Western and the district we serve. Correction: An earlier version of this article said Roger Stanford was a native of Stanley. He is a native of Boyd. In a Corp Leader's meeting held at the General's Central command in Rawalpindi led by pakistan Armed force Cheif General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the execution sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav was discussed. Pakistani Generals met in GHQ Despite India's warning, Pakistan has kept its decision on Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence. Pakistan is not ready to compromise on this issue. The Corp commander's conference was held in General Headquarters of Garrison City in Rawalpindi on Thursday. In the meeting chaired by Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, there was a discussion about the hanging of Kulbhushan Jadhav. In the meeting, it was decided that Pakistan won't bargain on the death punishment granted to Kulbhushan. Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed in a statement that this decision was taken at the core commander's meeting under the leadership of Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa. Disappearance of Pakistan's ISI officer It can't be ignored that Pakistan is rendering retribution for the vanishing of its former Army officer. According to media reports, there was discussion about the disappearance of retired Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Habib, who apparently went missing from the Indo-Nepal border on April 5, a few days before the announcement of Jadhav's death sentence. Indian Minister warned Pakistan Significantly, India has warned Pakistan after the execution sentence for Kulbhushan Jadhav was announced. Sushma Swaraj, who is the Indian Minister of Foreign affairs has warned Pakistan over ramifications if they go ahead with the executing of the Indian spy caught red-handed in Pakistan. This was said, during the budget session of Parliament where it was mentioned that the death sentence of Jadhav would be a 'planned killing' and Pakistan should think about the effects on bilateral relations. After the announcement of Kulbhushan's arrest, India denied Jadhav's Indian citizenship but now Kulbhushan is being portrayed as a national hero. Pakistan refused Kulbhushan's request On Thursday India was told that they have no information about Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav. Foreign Ministry spokesman Gopal Bagale said that Kulbhushan Jadhav is innocent. On the location of Kulbhushan, the Ministry has said that they do not know about the current condition of Jadhav because Islamabad did not accept Jadhav's requests for contact with the Indian High Commissioner. A House Of Lords crossbencher has recently described Brexit as a disaster on live radio. Baroness Meacher said the Government has utterly failed to prepare the country for the daunting task of leaving the European Union. The crossbencher recently appeared on the Radio Times, attacking former prime minister David Cameron for failing to draw up contingency plans in case Vote Leave, the main campaign group supporting Brexit last year, won last year's referendum. She said British citizens had no idea what they were voting for when 52% of the population opted for Brexit during June 23rd 2016. But Baroness Meacher believes that public opinion is swinging back towards support for the European Union. She said that the British people were totally ignorant about the consequences of this enormous constitutional change. Lack of clarity The crossbencher said the Department for Exiting the European Union were failing to provide a lack of clarity over how Brexit will be implemented. These comments come as both Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the free movement of workers from the European Union will not immediately end once Britain has left the superbloc in April 2019. This is not the first time the Foreign Secretary has recently hinted Brexit may take longer than expected. He has said there could be a transitional deal post-April 2019. This led to anger from Leave.EU, a pro-Brexit founded by former UKIP donor Arron Banks, that the Tories were planning to betray the country on Brexit. During last year's referendum, this group lost out to Vote Leave to become the official Brexit campaign after a decision by the Electoral Commission ruled them out. But the Prime Minister said at last year's Conservative Party Conference that Britain will be leaving the European Union in its entirety. She said the British people knew exactly what they were voting for and that meant leaving the European Union's single market and customs union as well. She said she understood immigration was a priority to Brexit voters, promising to end the free movement of workers and drawing up a Free Trade Deal with the European Union. Baroness Meacher said the UK will fail to draw up a free trade deal with the European Union in two years' time. She said this is why she believes public opinion is swinging back towards support for remaining in the superbloc. But in a recent Conservative Party broadcast for upcoming local elections, Prime Minister Theresa May said she is optimistic that 'Global Britain' can survive outside the European Union. She acknowledged that last year's vote to leave the superbloc was a recognition for change and that people were frustrated at being left behind. Brexit- what is happening? Mrs May triggered Article 50, the mechanism for leaving the European Union under the controversial 2007 Lisbon Treaty, on March 29th. The Prime Minister's ability to trigger Article 50 was finally approved by a vote in Parliament after Gina Miller challenged Mrs May's right to issue it without parliamentary approval. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, wept as he said he would not seek to punish Britain and that last year's vote was punishment enough. Negotiations will begin in earnest next month. But the European Union has recently issued some harsh red lines in its upcoming negotiations with Britain. Who is Molly Meacher? Before embarking on a career in The House of Lords, Baroness Meacher for social services and the Mental Health Foundation during the 1980s. She also had links to Boris Yeltsin's Russian government during the 1990s as she worked as a chief adviser to them on employment. She was also acting chair to the Police Complaints Authority until 2002. Baroness Meacher was finally made a life peer for Spitalfields in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. She chose to opt to sit as a crossbencher rather than as a peer for one of the main political parties. During her time in the House of Lords, she chaired a UK All-Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform. She led calls for for the decriminalisation of drugs. However, she also has links to the European Union as the baroness is leading an All-Parliamentary Party Group European Initiative on drug reform at the request of the President of Guatemala. Jeffrey Lord, a political commentator for CNN whos in love with President Donald Trump, has drawn controversy and backlash for what seems like the millionth time as he called Trump the Martin Luther King of health care. This has been a heck of a week for historical comparisons: Sean Spicers comments that Assad, the Syrian President, is worse than Hitler because he thought Hitler, famous for his gas chambers, didnt use chemical weapons, and he thought Hitler, famous for exterminating Jews and other minority groups from his country, didnt use weapons against his own people, seemed impossible to top, but Lords comparison between Donald Trump and Martin Luther King really takes the cake. Lords biggest goal is to trend on Twitter Theres a theory that Lord makes these big, brash statements about Trump because when he says these things, he trends on Twitter and hes in the spotlight for a couple of hours. He ticks off some influential figureheads around the political landscape and they get his ridiculous comments out to their followers who are equally outraged and also tweet about it, and Lord becomes a celebrity. Deadline put it best: Mission accomplished. Lord made his attention-seeking comment on CNNs New Day show. The topic of the day was Trumps plans to slash subsidies to financially struggling people under the Affordable Care Act. Hes sneakily threatening to do this so he can box the Democrats in Congress into a corner to get them to agree to repeal and eventually replace Obamacare, since Trumpcare failed spectacularly and hes still feeling bitter about it. Also appearing on New Day were the shows anchor Alisyn Camerota and Democratic political activist Symone Sanders. Lord set up his remarks by telling Camerota that he had something he wanted to say that he knew would probably drive Symone crazy, at which point he called Trump the Martin Luther King of health care. Using JFK, Lord clarified his statements Lord explained why he thinks of Trump that way by going back to his childhood, when John F. Kennedy was President of the United States and led America into the Civil Rights Movement, which was the best thing for black people in America since the abolition of slavery. Black Lives Matter will eventually be considered the best thing for black people in America since the Civil Rights Movement. But anyway, Lord told the story of JFK not wanting to introduce the civil rights bill, citing its lack of popularity and also lack of votes as reasons. He explained that Dr. King got the bill introduced by putting people in the streets, in harms way, to turn up the heat and get peoples attention, and it worked. Never has job hunting been easier. Everywhere the 375 eighth grade students at Chippewa Falls Middle School looked in the schools library was a booth for 16 different career fields on Thursday. The local firms there were eager to let the students know that, when they are older and ready, theres plenty of jobs in Chippewa County and the Chippewa Valley where they can spend a career. There was Dove Healthcare, Chippewa Valley Technical College, Great Northern, the Northwestern Bank, Mid-State Truck Service, Mason Companies and Xcel Energy, along with many others letting the students know they are needed. It was the first time Junior Achievements Its My Future event was held in Chippewa Falls, according to Susan Peterson, director of the local nonprofit organization. She said the organization sees it as being an annual event. The state of Wisconsin requires academic career planning, Peterson said. For instance, every sixth-grader has to have a career plan. Were reaching eighth-graders, because were trying to prep them for high school, she said. Peterson added: Our business community sees the value of collaborating with the school system. Annie Brunn of Junior Achievement helped to put together Thursdays program. I think they are getting a lot out of the day, she said of the middle school students. Brunn said volunteers from local companies went into 10 of the schools classrooms, helping to teach some of Junior Achievements curriculum. The organization stresses work readiness and financial literacy, along with how students can create a personal budget they can use. Students also heard about how to keep a job and also how they could avoid potentially losing one. The Day Career Exploration event was sponsored by Advanced Laser of Chippewa Falls. Online retailer Amazon will create over 5000 part-time jobs over the next year in its Customer Virtual Service program. The program now in its 5th year attracts those needing the flexibility and convenience of working from home, appealing mainly to stay-at-home parents, military spouses, students, and those with disabilities. US March employment numbers down by half Amazon's latest announcement should also give Trump something to tweet about considering that March's employment numbers slumped to 96,000, down from the previous two months. According to The Guardian, economists had been predicting that March would bring in 180,000 jobs. However, factors such as snowstorms on the east coast, Trump's recent order to freeze civilian government job hiring and a retail sector that appears to be floundering may have stalled job market growth. Amazon killing traditional retailers? Although Amazon is promising 30,000 part-time jobs for Americans, just in March over 30,000 jobs in retail were lost with big name stores announcing the shut down of their brick-and-mortar stores due to their inability to compete with online retailers such as Amazon. The trend of big box stores downsizing or filing for bankruptcy doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. In the past few months the following stores have or are planning to close: Payless closed 400 locations in the US and Puerto Rico JCPenney closed 140 in the US Macy's closed 100 of 730 US establishments Sears and KMart closing 150 US establishments HHGregg closing 88 store locations and 3 distribution centers in the US Abercrombie & Fitch closed 60 US stores Guess closed 60 US locations Crocs closing 160 US stores American Apparel dropping 110 establishments Radio Shack losing 552 locations Staples letting go of 70 stores throughout North America The reality is that America has been overstored. We have far too many retail locations, shopping centers and branches of different chains, said consumer expert Clark Howard on his nationally syndicated radio show. But stores that are meeting your needs with low prices will continue to thrive. Nothing to worry about, say some economists Other economists are not deterred by the March employment numbers. PNC chief economist Gus Faucher told The Guardian, Although job growth slowed in March, and was much weaker than expected, the labor market remains in good shape. Job growth this year is running close to last years pace, and is running well ahead of what is needed to keep up with labor force growth. What could be more frightening in the future is when Amazon Robots destroy retail jobs completely. It might not be on the near horizon yet but still a looming reality. A.I.R. Gallery is a popular venue for the visual arts located in Brooklyn. The gallery is currently presenting three exciting new art shows; Pow! New Paintings by Susan Bee, Why does it end here? by Elizabeth Hoy, and a group show called Space/Craft that features artists Tomoko Abe, Liz Ellen Hackl, Surbeck Biddle, and Jackie Welsh. All the exhibitions are on display until April 16. Pow! New Paintings Pow! New Paintings was inspired by 20th-century abstract paintings and the history of film. The artworks in this exhibition incorporate tension, humor, complexity and sensuality via assorted patterns, colors, and textures. Susan Bee, the child of artists, has been making art since early childhood and earned a Masters degree in Creative Art. This is my eighth solo show at A.I.R, Susan stated. It is great to be part of a historically important womens cooperative gallery. We support each other and take risks to show political or experimental work. Susan works intuitively and for this exhibit she focused on dramatic black and white film stills from the 1920s through the 1950s mixed with mediums like paints, crayons, and sand. I like humor in art, Susan said. I think it is important for me to provide a way for the viewer to enjoy the images and to poke some fun at the seriousness of some the art tropes that I use. So, there is a loving amount of irony in the work. I want tenderness but also am interested in ambiguity. The interpretation of the images is open and is left to the viewer. I suppose the Pow! painting is a favorite of mine. Its the postcard for the show and shows a woman knocking out a man. Why Does It End Here? Why Does It End Here? is Elizabeth Hoys first solo show in New York City. Elizabeth is an A.I.R. Fellow who is using her exhibition as a way to comment on environmental destruction and renewal and the currently plight of the EPA which is under governmental attack. Elizabeth was inspired to become an Artist from her sister and brother-in-law and she is especially fond of non-for-profit art spaces that are usually run by artists. For nearly a year, Elizabeth has been painting Superfund Sites in Maine, New York, and Vermont. My first experience with Superfund sites was with a copper mine in Harborside, Maine, she stated. This mine is about a mile away from where I spent my childhood summers. My proximity to these sites pushed me to look into the EPA program and learn about the history of these highly-polluted places. These sites are EPA designated tragedies of the built environment and are places that have endured chronic abuse often by many parties over decades. Spending time there, I get to know and care more about the place and the people who live and work nearby. I hope that my artwork can bring attention to the Superfund program and to the human impact on the environment, both the detrimental impact we have and as well as the positive changes we can make. Space/Craft Space/Craft is a group show featuring four artistsLiz Surbeck Biddle, Jackie Welsh, Ellen Hackl Fagan and Tomoko Abewho decided to collaborate due to their shared interested in themes of playfulness, experimentation, and clay/ceramics. Tomoko Abes pieces not only have a floating aspect to them but also appear to move across the surface like a flash in the solar system. Ellen Hackl Fagans work lately is experimenting with large hovering and floating flying carpet-like idea using only blues. Jackie Welshs installation has dangling cement and clay diatoms suspended in air. Liz Surbeck Biddle has high flying playful kites hanging near the ceiling made from bamboo and cyanotype printed paper with acrylic primary colors. She also is showing some all blue cyanotype framed pieces she experimented in a more traditional format. Upcoming A.I.R. Gallery is constantly seeking new work to exhibit and emerging and established artists to promote. We have many ways that artists can be a part of showing work A.I.R. such as membership, exhibition proposals, and open calls, said Jacqueline Ferrante, the Associate Director and Director of Fellowship. Currently, we have an open call for curators for our bi-annual CURRENTS exhibition and an open call for residents on Governors Island. All of this can be found on our website under the opportunities section. The April 2017 edition of "AARP magazine," has an article that suggests skipping breakfast might increase the risk of Heart Disease. In "The right time for mealtime," Candy Sadon quotes recent scientific studies from the "American Heart Association," journal entitled "Circulation." Information in the journal suggests that missing the first meal of the day is an important factor in heart health. Why breakfast is important The scientists who did the study concluded that our bodies metabolize food differently, based on different times of the day. Their research indicated that people who eat breakfast within 2 hours of walking have lower cholesterol and Blood Pressure when compared with individuals who skip breakfast. Both blood pressure and cholesterol, are risk factors for heart disease. The scientists also found that people who don't eat the first daily meal, have a higher risk for being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Looking at the entire picture The professionals who did this study have not yet researched other healthy habits of breakfast eaters, which may lead to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. For this reason, they stopped short of declaring breakfast as the most important meal of the day. Even so, they stand by their research and recommend that the morning meal not be put off until later in the day. Those who regularly wait until brunch should take note. This is not the only study to suggest the connection between heart health and the first meal of the day. Marie Pierre St. Onge, is a nutrition researcher at Columbia University Medical Center. She led the group who wrote the guidelines regarding missing the first meal of the day. St. Onge believes that the timing of when we eat is just as important as what we eat. She added that population studies show that breakfast eaters typically weigh less than those who don't eat the first meal of the day. She gave as her reasons the fact that our bodies process sugars differently at night than they do in the daytime. The conclusion is that heavier individuals have higher risk for factors that lead to heart disease. Plan ahead Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at Langone Medical University in New York, was not a part of this research but she weighed in. She says that thinking ahead and planning meals can be very important. This will help individuals make better choices in what they eat throughout the day. Although this information is not foolproof, the guidelines are beneficial and certainly will make a difference. Eating a healthy breakfast certainly will not bring adverse effects to our health. There is the possibility that missing it just might. Lithuanian opera diva Violeta Urmana, the world over, portrays the most powerful women, especially Giuseppe Verdis iconic roles. She has enacted the title role of his Aida 14 times at Metropolitan Opera; in their current run, she will rack up 15 performances there as Aidas rival, Amneris, the mighty Pharaohs daughter. When she flowed through the Stage Door entrance on a day off for an exclusive interview with Blasting News, the tall woman with shimmering light-blue, almond-shaped eyes and elegant, slender hands, could not have been more gracious, kind and just downright nice. The Urmana voice, often called mezzo-soprano, still sings various soprano roles. The ten years she performed soprano roles exclusively had been the happiest of her career. Violeta Urmana knew at heart when she began her career as a mezzo-soprano that her voice really wanted to sing soprano roles. So she shifted upwards. She thrived. Verdis Odabella (Attila) and Amelia (Un ballo in maschera) and Leonora (La forza del destino) became performance staples, Aida a favorite. Shes a strong woman, she explains, and much more interesting than Amneris. Her music is gorgeous. Shes incredibly tough, not a weeping weakling. I knew I was a soprano for just a limited time, and it was a wonderful ten years. But when its over, its over, she says with finality. Shifting back brought certain advantages. Now I have the chance to come back and torture Aida. Her ready laughter betrays a lightheartedness unavailable to the tragic heroines she impersonates. The real Violeta Urmana She struggled when asked what three words best describe her, finally saying Im nice. I am nice. And thats a modest understatement. Having grown up in Lithuania under the Soviet Unions iron-fisted control, Violeta Urmana treasures words like freedom and peace. What scares her the most? Its also what most angers her: The possibility of war. And she cant stomach arrogance. Her homelands outstanding natural beauty created the recurring desire to visit the sea, any sea. Total softy Violeta Urmanas tenderness seems to spring from a love of dogs. Her earliest memory is of playing with her dog, Pukas (Feather), who had the most beautiful, fluffy coat. The last film that made her cry was 2009s Hachi: A Dogs Tale, with Richard Gere, based on the true story of Hachiko, an Akita Inu who daily awaited his masters return at the train station, even years after the starring actors character had died. If she could find it, she would gladly binge-watch Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan. If she has to choose between puppies and kittens, she prefers both. And The Sound of Music is her all-time favorite film. But just the romantic first half, to that point when the Nazis show up. When they come looking for the von Trappe family, shining flashlights into the monastery I stop watching. Peaceable peace-maker Obviously a woman of deep faith, when asked whom she most looks up to in life, Violeta Urmana said, You can call it Creator, maybe, some Higher Force. If she had superhuman power, she would destroy every kind of weapon and cleanse violence from the brain of everyone in humanity. It will take a superpower to accomplish that. The best advice anyone ever gave her? The whole world belongs to the brave person. Whats the bravest thing she has ever done? My whole career Ive had to be brave. Behind the scenes Despite elevating pleasantness to an art form, Violeta Urmana warns: After singing Amneris, Eboli and Lady Macbeth so many times, they are part of me now. So I cant guarantee I will always be nice if you step on my toes. For example, in Act Ii of Aida, a suspicious Amneris erupts in wrath after tricking Aida into revealing she loves Radames. Ending the interview, she confessed, Just before Act II Monday night, I told [soprano Krassimira Stoyanova] Im so sorry I must treat you like this. And then, with perfect melodramatic timing she wails: But I was also treated badly! Just two performances of Aida remain at the Met. #Everything Music and Theatre The most controversial aspect of Donald Trump's time in the White House has come in the form of his executive order labeled a "Muslim ban" by critics. After having his first order blocked by a judge, Trump ran into the same problem on Wednesday after his second attempt at a travel ban was halted by a judge in Hawaii. CNN on Trump During the 2016 presidential election, one of the big talking points used by Donald Trump was his vow to prevent the spread of radical Islamic terrorism into the United States. After the former host of "The Apprentice" was sworn into office, he stayed true to his word and signed the aforementioned "Muslim ban" into law. However, backlash quickly followed and the order was axed by a federal judge and an appeals court. Just last week, Trump signed a watered-down version of the bill in question, which was blocked again by another judge on Wednesday night. This issue was the highlighted topic during a heated CNN segment on March 16. Joining CNN host Don Lemon were a panel of guests which included prosecutor John Flannery and Alan Dershowitz of Harvard. The interaction between the two became tense when Flannery accused Dershowitz of supporting the "Muslim ban" signed by Donald Trump simply because it could benefit Israel. "Our dear colleague, Alan Dershowitz, I think, hopes that this may secure Israel," Flannery said. In response, Dershowitz fired backed, asked, "What are you talking about?" CNN Panel Melts Down Over Travel Ban: I Never Want to Be on the Show With This Bigot Again https://t.co/rhiWH5AS8U pic.twitter.com/u7FXb22uYx Mediaite (@Mediaite) March 16, 2017 After Flannery explained that the travel ban was an attack on Muslims, Dershowitz started to lose his cool. "You're lying through your teeth," he said with anger, claiming that he "never said a word about Israel." Not stopping there, Dershowitz said that Flannery's comments "raises questions about your own bigotry and biases." They continued to go back and forth over the issue of the travel ban and Israel, with Dershowitz concluding, "For shame on you sir. I never want to be on the show with this bigot again!" Moving forward The heated exchange on CNN highlights an even larger problem in the United States, as the political gap between many Americans continues to widen on an almost daily basis. While Donald Trump has only been in office for less than two months, it doesn't appear that the nation will be united anytime soon. Over the last two weeks, Donald Trump has been forced to defend his baseless allegations that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his office during the 2016 presidential election. Despite providing no proof to back up the claim, the White House is sticking by their story. Spicer on wiretapping As the pressure mounted on Donald Trump to explain the growing scandal involving Russia and members of his administration, the president was forced to find a way to change the narrative. Trump did so by taking to Twitter two weeks ago and claiming that Barack Obama was spying on him at Trump Tower in New York City. Within moments, the tweets dominated the new cycle, as the mainstream media wondered where the president got his information, while Trump supporters quickly backed up the claim and made it go viral across social media. Since then, the White House has failed to release any evidence, despite being given a deadline of last Monday to do so by the House Intelligence Committee. This issue was a focal point of debate during the March 16 press briefing at the White House. JUST IN: Press Sec. tells @jonkarl Pres. Trump stands by claims that former Pres. Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. https://t.co/n7TqA3VDnW pic.twitter.com/gIJ345X2rB ABC News (@ABC) March 16, 2017 As White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was pressed on the validity of the wiretapping allegations, the room became tense. ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl asked Spicer about the wiretapping, which quickly set the press secretary off into an attack on the press. "Does the president still stand by his allegation that President Obama ordered wiretapping or surveillance of Trump Tower despite the fact that the Senate Intelligence Community says they see no indication that it happened?" Karl asked. "He still stands by it but you are mischaracterizing what happened!"" Spicer said, while adding, "They acknowledge that they have no been in contact with the Department of Justice." Double down Not stopping there, Sean Spicer continued his push back at the media. "Where were you coming to the defense of the same intelligence committee and those members when they said there was no connection to Russia?" Spicer wondered, before claiming, "You (media) want to comment and you want to perpetuate a false narrative." .@PressSec insists Pres. Trump "didn't mean specifically wiretapping" in tweet, when POTUS wrote claim that "Obama had my 'wires tapped.'" pic.twitter.com/whZUztSdyI CBS News (@CBSNews) March 16, 2017 During the same press briefing, Sean Spicer attempted to clarify Donald Trump's tweet to mean that he wasn't specifically speaking about wiretapping when he use the term. "He didn't mean specifically wiretapping," Spicer commented, pointing out, "he had it in quotes." Next up During a Wednesday interview with Fox News, Donald Trump said he would reveal further information about his wiretapping allegations over the next few weeks. Despite the continued backlash, it doesn't look like the president will be backing off his conspiracy anytime soon. One of the biggest political issues in the United States is over how to deal with health care. After the Republican alternative to the affordable care act failed to gain enough support in Congress, Donald Trump is looking at other means to get what he wants. Trump's health care hostage Not long after former President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, he began his push to change the American health care system. One year later and the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was signed into law. In the years that have followed, Republicans have made it their number one political priority to bash the law at every turn, while vowing to repeal and replace it. During the 2016 presidential election, each Republican candidate used Obamacare and its potential repeal as part of their campaign talking points, including the current commander in chief, Donald Trump. As expected, the former host of "The Apprentice" ran down Obamacare on a daily basis, promising that he will give the American people the "best" health care they could imagine. Fast forward to the start of his administration, and that has been a promise he's been unable to keep. Trump worked with House Speaker Paul Ryan to create the best alternative possible, but it failed to gain traction with the right-wing Republican Freedom Caucus, and the president was forced to pull the bill from the floor before a vote could even take place. As reported by New York Magazine on April 12, Trump is now looking to an extreme measure to force Democrats into coming to a deal on health care. During an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Donald Trump warned that he could soon use his power as president to freeze health care subsidies for low-income American until Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate come to him with a deal on repealing and replacing Obamacare. While Trump claims he doesn't want hurt anyone, he believes his strategy will lead to a compromise on the issue at hand. "I think should happen, and will happen is the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating," Trump predicted. Trump threatens to withhold payments to health insurers to press Democrats on health bill https://t.co/AhgwiyPnj3 Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 13, 2017 Donald Trump then took at shot at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over the issue. "He (Schumer) should be calling me and begging me to help him save Obamacare, along with Nancy Pelosi," Trump said. Next up After the GOP replacement bill, titled the American Health Care Act, failed last month, it was assumed that Donald Trump was going to move on from health care and shift to other issues like tax reform. However, the billionaire real estate mogul told the Wall Street Journal "Im going to get health care done." As of press time, it's unknown how the president will move forward, with top Democrats not yet releasing a statement Trump's remarks. Where is Melania Trump? The first lady took her 11-year-old son, Barron, and step-daughter, Tiffany bowling after picking her son from school on Monday. Find out where they went and who went with them to have family fun. The family outing Melania took Barron to Bowlmor Lanes in New York's Chelsea Pier on Monday. Despite being at a bowling alley, Mrs. Trump did not participate, but she watched and cheered for Barron as he had fun. According to AOL, there were over 30 Secret Service agents in attendance watching them. Donald Trump's daughter, Tiffany, left the building about 30 minutes before Melania and Barron. Does Barron have a new nanny? Another woman was in attendance. The media speculated that the woman could be Barron's nanny. Apparently, there was a reported a few days ago that Melania needed to hire a nanny so she can focus on her duties as the first lady. Melania Trumps Bowling Adventure Did Not Include Any Actual Bowling https://t.co/bb5BwhVXg5 healthcareforall (@stop_trump_ryan) April 12, 2017 Moving to Washington, D.C. soon? Trump and Barron are expected to move to the White House in a few weeks. Until Barron's school year concludes, Mrs. Trump continues to travel from New York City to Washington D.C. a few times per week. On Monday, Mrs. Trump will be at the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll event at the White House. The first lady hasn't mentioned if Barron will attend. The annual White House Easter Egg Roll will look a bit different this year after the Donald Trump administration failed to put together the gathering on schedule. After First Lady Melania Trump tweeted about the event, social media users were quick to fire back. Melania's backfire For 138 years, the Easter Egg Roll at the White House, which is typically put together by the first lady, has been a tradition that many look forward. Local schools, military members, and others take part in the event as a way for Americans to get down and socialize with the President of the United States and members of the First Family. However, as Salon reported last week, the Trump administration took too long in putting the event together that it will be a different experience than in years past. Ashley Broadway-Mack of the American Military Partner Association told the New York Times last week that the normal crowd of military participants, around 3,000, will not be in attendance because the White House "has not reached out to us." Schools in the area that normally account for almost 4,000 of the tickets were not informed of the event, while PBS Kids was only able to send a costume for one character because of the late notice. The event will now take place this Monday, which Melania Trump promoted in an April 14 Twitter post, which didn't go over well with many social media users. Looking forward to hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll at the @WhiteHouse on Monday! pic.twitter.com/nz7vucugx9 Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 14, 2017 Taking to her offical Twitter account on Friday night, Melania Trump, or someone tweeting for the First Lady, promoted the Easter Egg Roll. "Looking forward to hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday!" Melania wrote. In response, many Twitter users didn't hold back their thoughts. @tonyposnanski @FLOTUS @WhiteHouse That'll only cost the tax payer about $3m to get her there, then another $3m to get her home the same night. Mike P Williams (@Mike_P_Williams) April 14, 2017 "That'll only cost the tax payer about $3m to get her there, then another $3m to get her home the same night," writer Michael P. Williams tweeted back. "Aren't you embarrassed that it costs 30 MILLION per month for you to stay at Trump Tower?" one Twitter user wrote, before adding, "Flint MI has had no water 3 YEARS." @FLOTUS @WhiteHouse Aren't you embarrassed that it costs 30 MILLION per month for you to stay at Trump Tower? #Flint MI has had no water 3 YEARS iamsarabourne (@iamsarabourne) April 14, 2017 "Sesame Street doesn't recognize fascism in the White House," another social media user wrote. "Why not on Sunday? Oh wait, because Mar-a-Lago" entrepreneur William LeGate tweeted out. In a follow-up tweet, LeGate added, "Also, weren't you initially planning on NOT hosting this? Did Trump call in a favor bc of his plummeting approval numbers?" @FLOTUS @realDonaldTrump @WhiteHouse Also, weren't you initially planning on NOT hosting this? Did Trump call in a favor bc of his plummeting approval numbers? William LeGate (@williamlegate) April 14, 2017 Next up After what critics describe as yet another debacle and example of incompetence in the White House over the Easter Egg Roll, Donald Trump and his team have other issues to worry about. In addition to domestic political struggles weighing down on the president, the former host of "The Apprentice" is also dealing with growing international tension with Russia, Syria, China, and now North Korea. WASHINGTON President Trump rose to power on a combination of meanness, incoherence and falsehoods. His strategy depended almost entirely on playing off the unpopularity and weaknesses of others. Every aspect of his approach has blown up on him since he took office, but as is always the case with Trump, he will not take any personal responsibility for whats going wrong. He must find a scapegoat. The latest object of his opprobrium would seem to be Steve Bannon, the chief White House strategist. But dumping Bannon would only underscore the extent to which Trump is a political weathervane, gyrating wildly with the political winds. Hes populist one day, conventionally conservative the next, and centrist the day after that. His implicit response is: Who cares? Lets just get through another week. At the moment, he is basking in praise from large parts of the foreign policy establishment for his decision to fire missiles into Syria. This is the hour of maximum danger for Bannon. Trump may now figure he should ride for a while with his newfound friends in the elite. The presence of the disheveled ultra-nationalist Bannon just wont do at the tony country club party Trump wants to throw for himself. And so Trump, in an interview with The New York Posts Michael Goodwin, did to Bannon what he has done to everyone else: He offered an entirely misleading account of their relationship. I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late, Trump said. I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didnt know Steve. Im my own strategist, and it wasnt like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary. Hmm. Contrary to Trumps claim, he has known Bannon since 2011 and appeared nine times on Bannons radio show. Just a few months ago, Bannon was cast as the political genius who saw the electoral potential in the Midwestern swing states. But with Trump, every good idea is his idea and every failure belongs to someone else, so Bannon is now an afterthought. The weathervane will twirl again soon because Trump faces renewed trouble, on an old front and a new one. Trump has gone to great lengths including lying about former President Obama having his wires tapped to distract from inquiries into his campaigns possible ties to Russias effort to subvert the 2016 election. But Tuesday brought a reminder that the story wont go away until its resolved. The Washington Post reported that the FBI obtained an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor the communications of the man Trump once listed as a foreign policy adviser, Carter Page. (Trump has since downgraded Pages role to low-level.) The news was an indication of the seriousness of the investigation of links between Trumps campaign and Russia. While Trump hopes that his administrations complete about-face on Vladimir Putin from fawning praise to hostility will settle the matter, it wont. And then the good people of Kansas 4th Congressional District cast ballots in a special election on Tuesday. While Republican Ron Estes hung onto the seat over Democrat James Thompson, Estes 6.8 percent margin was anemic in comparison with Trumps 27-point win in the district last year. And Republican Dan Pompeo, whose appointment as Trumps CIA director created the opening, was re-elected last year by a margin of 31 percent. This swing will petrify Republicans in Congress who, up to now, have largely stayed in line behind Trump. Its also likely to give additional spine to Trumps GOP critics, both on the far right and among politicians closer to the center. The energy in politics is now clearly on the anti-Trump side. Republicans will surely notice the sharp falloff in loyalist turnout in Republican bastions. Last year, for example, Trump carried Harper County, south of Wichita, with 1,996 votes to 393 for Clinton. Estes could manage only 837 votes there, to 307 for Thompson. And energized Democrats swung big Sedgwick County, which includes Wichita, from Trump to Thompson. As Trumps comments to Goodwin showed, he still longs to run against crooked Hillary. He also still loves to bash Obama. But Trump is on his own, with only his own record to answer for. He can let go of Bannon and anyone else he wants to blame for the chaos of his presidency. But governing is hard, especially when your principles are as flexible as your relationship with the truth. Sean Spicer held his first press briefing since Tuesday when he claimed that not even Hilter used chemical warfare on his citizens. Spicer announced the United States dropped the first non-nuclear bomb(MOAB) ever used in battle. Spicer added that the military targeted a system of tunnels and caves in Afghanistan used by ISIS fighters. The military believes that the US troops and Afghan forces will be able to move more freely. How much did Donald Trump know? Spicer didn't comment on whether Trump had signed off on the decision to blast the non-nuclear weapon. First, Spicer said that he wasn't going to go into the details, then stated that the POTUS let the Defense handle the lead on this. When pressed Spicer still refused to say if Trump was in on the decision to drop the bomb. Afterward, it was clear that Trump approved of the move and praised the military. Was the location a coincidence? The reporters didn't ask Sean if the site of the blast has any importance. It was the same providence where Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar was killed on April 8. Many suspect that the attack could have been in connection with the Special Forces soldier's death, but the White House has yet to confirm that. Is Trump a flip-flopper? Spicer defended Trump when asked if he is a flip-flopper, stating that the president hasn't changed, the circumstances have changed. He added that the world is a different place than it was a year ago, the time when Trump made a host of campaign changes. According to Deadline, Trump promised to get more done in his first 100 days than President Obama did during his eight-year term. So far, he's 84 days in, and he hasn't fulfilled one of his campaign promises. The POTUS has discovered that it is hard work working with Congress and getting the approval to get bills approved. Anti-Defamation League offers to hold a Holocaust education course for Sean Spicer and his staff https://t.co/h15nXqsaMi pic.twitter.com/qXmxDwp7qM The Hill (@thehill) April 13, 2017 The president thought that within the first 30 days he would have repealed and replaced ObamaCare plus started building the Mexican border wall. His healthcare bill was a complete failure, and he ran into trouble getting the funding for the wall. Maybe, he should Maybe, he should have listened to Obama when he tried to give him advice? Barack tried to tell him that this job will teach you to be patient and compromise. It was as if he was telling him, "I know you want to get tings done, but you may have to compromise and wait for things to get approved." Defense spending upped over $50 billion Spicer said that another reason that Trump hasn't been able to get things done is that NATO recommended they increase their defense budget. He rambled for a while about how NATO has derailed Trump from getting "his work done." With the budget in place until April 28, Trump plans to up the defense spending by $54 billion. That's not even considering the cost of the Mexican border wall, which will probably be funded by American taxpayers. Trump vows that within the next four years he will repeal and replace ObamaCare. He calls the health care act a "disaster" and "needs to go." Spicer believes that Trump is making progress and "in time" everything will come together. Were making significant progress, and I feel good about the momentum," Sean Spicer said during the Friday Press Briefing. Spicer doesn't want to get involved with who is the nice one or naughty one. He stands by President Trump, and he believes he will guide the country to a better place. Basically, Sean Spicer avoided the question on whether Trump is a flip-flopper, stating that he didn't change his position on policies, but the world changed and Trump re-adjusted his views. Retweet if you demand @SeanSpicer be replaced. A man who denies the #holocaust has no place in #AmericanPolitics, he is all that is wrong. pic.twitter.com/5Hh1SVZ3OQ FixIt_Fitz (@fixit_fitz) April 11, 2017 Do you think Donald Trump is a Flip Flopper? Do you think he will fullfill any of his 2016 campaign promises? This week the #United States of America dropped one of its most powerful bombs ever on an #Islamic State-held enclave in #Afghanistan and it was a decidedly strategic move. The Mother Of All Bombs, the moniker for the particular massive ordinance air blast, was employed at a crucial time for the Trump administration. The explosion, that killed many, happened at a time of mounting international tensions for the US or perhaps it can be seen as a time of mounting US ascendancy. Trump's administration have multiple military scenarios on the go, from simmering tensions in #North Korea that could spill over into a Cuban Missile Crisis-style stand off, as well as the recent bombing of Syrian chemical weapon depositaries and storage facilities in the war-torn country. These ever complex and entwined military moves and tensions have set off other allegiances and apprehensions all around the world. From #Russia's fury over the US bombing of Syria, to the South Koreans who now fear that the country is going to be used as a pawn in a new and frightening war on Friday the world found itself a changed place with a new blackboard of conflicts and worries. The United States bomb drop tips the balance of power It was the United States releasing the #Mother Of All Bombs on Wednesday a huge piece of machinery that weighs 22000 pounds that set in force a new US agenda and message to countries such as Syria, Iran and North Korea. To these countries the deployment of the bomb may indicate deterrence from engagement in US conflicts. For those living in America, the ordinance highlighted the Trump administration's more aggressive stance and attitude to world conflicts, especially when compared to the Obama-era and its measured administration's decision not to rely on weapons to debate with adversaries. Whilst many militants died in the explosion, the #United States military officials said that it was necessary to carry out such actions in order to destroy an Islamic State stronghold where a complex of tunnels and pathways hid fighting multiple positions and strongholds for the rebel army. The officials emphasized that it was in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan and that there was minimal risk to the local civilian population. The bombing also meant that #US troops were not needed to fight in difficult and treacherous hand-to-hand combat within the maze of tunnels where there would have certainly been US fatalities. A new phase The attack signals a new phase and approach in international #conflict strategy for the #United States beneath the Trump administration sparing military commanders from repressive Obama-era restrictions. The US's highest commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, was keen to highlight the many threats and dangers that loom within Afghanistan, and he has asked for an extra 8500 troops to be based in the war torn country. The weapons itself, technically called a GBU-43/B Massive Ordinance Air Blast can obliterate and destroy anything within a radius of 1000 yards, meaning it is a treacherous and hazardous weapon of choice for the #Trump administration to use. The bomb carries within it 19,000 pounds of an explosive and dangerous substance called #Composition H6 that is stronger than an equal weight of TNT by about 30 percent. Because of the strength and coverage of the #Massive Ordinance Air Blast, it poses a grave and serious danger to people nearby. And since many Afghani civilians are engaged in everyday work and activities that involve food sourcing, farming, wood cutting and the herding of various animals, the blast would have most certainly have posed a risk to these people. It's because of this complicated and nefarious dynamic that the #Obama administration refrained from using the mega bomb The American military has worked on a brand new super weapon that it is now seriously considering adding to its arsenal to counter recent military ambitions that Russia has worked toward. This news just adds to growing tension with Russia and the fact that the U.S. has just dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb. A new super weapon? The American military has been in the process of considering to add a new super weapon to its arsenal. This new super weapon is a kinetic energy weapon that is called the Kinetic Energy Projectile. The Kinetic Energy Projectile is a tungsten-based warhead that is launched at a speed that is over three times faster than the speed of sound. Then the warhead will burst into innumerable metal fragments and will be able to easily pierce through most conventional types of vehicle armor. The United States Army is already looking at fitting this kinetic energy weapon on already existing launch platforms that are able to give out enough charge to shoot the warhead at the required speed. Army Director of Strategy, Major General William Hicks, has compared the weapon to a giant shotgun shell. The weapon would obliterate any vehicle and personnel inside that does not have top of the line armor protection. Even if a targeted vehicle did have such protection, its personnel might survive but it would be non-mission capable. Still in testing The Kinetic Energy Projectile was first tested back in 2013 in New Mexico at Holloman Air Force Base. Since the super weapon is still in its conceptual phrase, with it only having been tested by using focused experiments with advanced computer simulations. This also means that the weapon has most likely not had its ownership taken over by the American military, since it is still early in its development. With increased tension with Russia, there is speculation that this would give the U.S. more incentive to develop the weapon. Countering Russia The reason that this new super weapon is being considered is because of Russia. The hope is that the Kinetic Energy Projectile would be able to counter recent and future Russian advances in nuclear technology, as the American military is worried that their tactical military dominance could be threatened. This is because the Russian military has moved toward making a nuclear warhead that is so miniaturized that it would be fired by tanks. The country has already designed the T-14 Armata tank, which has been reported to be the most revolutionary achievement in tank design in decades. The follow-up tank to this will be the one with the 152-millimeter gun missile launcher that could also have nuclear capability. President Donald trump said he is very proud of the US Miltary after they had what he called, "a very successful mission." Earlier, the military blasted a tunnel complex in afghanistan. It was the first non-nuclear weapon to be used in battle. What did Trump know? According to CNBC, Trump said that he won't go into what he know about the attack before the military took action. Trump said they acted quickly and it was a success. He believes the blast will enable the US troops and Afghan officers to be able to move more freely without being attacked by ISIS fighters in the area. The "MOAB," which reportedly killed 36 people, is actually a far less destructive weapon than Donald Trump! pic.twitter.com/HJiHJJwQ8z Merlin's Mom (@mersmom8) April 15, 2017 Trump believes our military is stronger than it's been in years Trump said when you compare the last eight weeks to what happened the past eight years, you will be a significant difference. He believes that under his regime, the military is a "well-oiled machine." The Pentagon spoke about the bombing saying that it will reduce the risk to Afgan and US Forces in the area, reducing their risk to be killed by an ISIS attack. Spicer said the attack protected civilians Spicer said in the Friday press briefing that the MOAB prevent civilian casualties. When pressed how the massive blast would protect those who live near the area, he refused to comment any further. The bottom line is that Trump is proud of the military and he believes they did a great job. Do you think the military under Trump's regime is stronger than it was under President Obama? United Airlines helped to dominate the news last week, and it wasn't for good reasons. The entire world probably saw a clip of Dr. David Dao being dragged off of the airplane because he didn't give up his seat when requested so flight attendants could get to Louisville from Chicago. The clip was shown over and over again. People were disgusted because that could have happened to any Passenger on any airline. Another United Airlines story Another unfortunate incident happened on united airlines on the same day. On Sunday, a husband and wife from Canada were returning from their two-week vacation in Mexico when they encountered a scorpion on board their flight from Houston to Calgary. Richard Bell and his wife, Linda, were in the business class section of the plane. While they were eating lunch, a scorpion fell into Richard's hair from an overhead compartment. Linda told CNN that when her husband felt something landing on his head, he grabbed it by the tail. The scorpion fell on his lunch tray but not before the venomous creature had stung the passenger on his hand. According to Richard, it felt like a wasp sting. Linda recalled that the inch-and-a-half-long scorpion was still alive when Richard pushed it off his tray. When it landed in the aisle, another passenger stomped on it. A flight attendant flushed the scorpion down the toilet. In the meantime, another passenger gave Richard a Benadryl pill just in case he had an allergic reaction. United Airlines' statement A statement from United Airlines acknowledged that a passenger had been stung by a scorpion. A MedLink physician was consulted on the ground immediately. The airline was advised that it was not a life-threatening situation. Medical personnel met the airplane when it arrived in Calgary to see if Richard needed medical attention. Last Wednesday, the airline contacted the Bells and apologized for the incident. The airline also offered an undisclosed amount of compensation. No one knows for sure how the creature got on the plane. Earlier during the day, the same airplane had flown to Houston from Costa Rica. The scorpion might have gotten on board there and was trying to accumulate some frequent flyer miles. This is not the first time a scorpion has stung a passenger on an airplane. Back in 2015, a woman reportedly was stung on her flight from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon. However, that airline was not United. It was an Alaska Airlines flight that was in the news that time. The videos of a passenger being dragged off an airplane of the united airlines has been widely shared and has invited public anger and outrage. Which, finally urged the Airline company to offer a refund to every passenger on that flight. The Incident This incident happened in Chicago on Sunday. where, Dr. David Dao, a 69-year-old man from Kentucky was violently removed from the plane. According to the Department of Aviation, the officers who were involved have been placed on administrative leave, while a further investigation of the episode continues. As one can clearly see at the end of the video, Dr. Dao is left with a bloodied face after being forcefully removed from his seat and dragged down the aisle. This occurred on the united express flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville. The ordeal happened because the airline wanted to board United employees and thus needed four seated passengers of the flight to leave. After being removed from the fight, Dr. Dao was treated at a Chicago hospital for the injuries he sustained. Soon after the videos of the incident surfaced on social media, it was widely shared and was received with huge public anger and backlash. In fact, the public has declared to boycott the airline. People in China and other parts have called out the airline for racial profiling and their violent treatment of an Asian passenger. United Airlines' Response On Wednesday morning, the company's CEO, Oscar Munoz, said that he felt 'shame' on watching the video and on how violently Dr. Dao was treated. Munoz also went on record to express that Dr. Dao cannot be blamed for what happened and that no one should be treated in that manner. Though these statements come as a stark contrast to an earlier position and response of Oscar Munoz. Munoz had said that Dr. Dao was to be blamed for the way he was treated as he had 'defied' the police. This incident has made a deep and permanent damage to United Airlines' public image and reputation and amplified people's anger and negativity towards the airline. This had also affected the company's stock price which plummeted on Tuesday and was down 1.54 points from its earlier opening price. In fact, just two weeks ago, the airline company was criticized for siding with a gate agent who did not allow teenage girls to board the flight at Denver International Airport. The reason that was given by the gate agent was that the leggings worn by the girls were 'inappropriate'. Every major newspaper has an opinion section and while it may be easy to label these articles as propaganda they serve the role of giving dissenting or other opinions on matters of public interest. Straight facts are not the news in themselves and opinion pieces give a means to understand the background and consequences of issues. New President During the recent transition period after the presidential election the New York Times printed an opinion piece by Italian journalist Beppe Severgnini. The Italian described how to oppose the newly elected Donald Trump in the newspapers on the basis of his direct experience with the international politician with whom Trump has most in common; former and now disgraced Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The article described the many similarities between the two businessmen become politicians. While this part was easy, Severgnini also described the mistakes by Italys opposition parties that led to the Italian tycoon being able to remain in power for much longer than his power base should have allowed him. Role and honest It would be easy for supporters of the man now occupying the Oval Office to dismiss such articles as useless and undermining Donald Trump the article made a point that is often missed by supporters of politicians, especially those whose behaviour tends to be authoritarian rather than authoritative. There is a legitimate role for opposition in any government because winning an election does not automatically entitle the winning politician to enact every promise and piece of legislation with no control on its legality or whether or not the treasury has the means to pay for the expenses. Many years ago in Australia a political party was born with the aim of becoming the third force in Australian politics. The founder of the Australian Democrats, Don Chipp, was a former Minister of a national Liberal (centre right) government. The aim of the movement, which would go on to make changes in Australian politics before disappearing due to internal divisions, was summarized by a comment from Senator Chipp that their intention was to keep the bastards honest. Controls and foreign powers The halls of power, as Donald Trump is now discovering, are strange and complicated places where many interests come together and, as we saw in the case of the Freedom Caucus on the issue of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, where individual beliefs often have more priority than to the political party. Added to this is also the issue of the checks and balances within any modern democracy that ensures that the countrys leader does not over step his bounds. Opinion pieces allow the public to hear the other side of issues and to understand the issues and consequences of any specific action. All this is just and proper for normal countries but the United States is not a normal country and there are other considerations that must be made. The United States of America is the worlds biggest superpower and thus is the leader of one side of the quasi permanent diplomatic conflict known as the Cold War as well as being the worlds biggest economy. For these reasons any decision made in America is felt around the world. A paper signed in Washington can start a trade war and another signed in the Oval Office can see bombs and missiles launched in other continents. Thus it is also fair and correct that the views of those affected overseas by American policies are published in the American newspapers, television programmes and news sites, just as American political writers such as Edward Luttwak are regularly interviewed by newspapers and televisions stations overseas. Blocs Just as President Donald Trump meets with world leaders, so does his counterpart on the other side of the cold war, Russias Vladimir Putin. Just as America now gives worldwide news coverage on numerous sites, so too do Russia and her allies. To these two superpowers must now be added China who is taking a greater role in world politics and eventually also the European Union that is still seeking its own identity but which will eventually become the fourth great international player on a regular basis. In between these are their respective allies who plan their own foreign and economic policies to complement those of their leaders. Therefore it is right and proper that the views of all the important players on the international diplomatic and economic playing fields are understood in America and the other superpowers. As a consequence, American newspapers, television programmes and news sites must give the opinions of those from other countries to inform the American public not only of the impact of American policies on these countries but also and especially of how the United States and its Leaders are seen as overseas. Failure to provide such information is also the failure to inform the public which should be the first priority of any news organization. It can only be hoped that such contributions are encouraged to give readers the full range of views on issues of importance. As we watch developments in Syria between the United States and Russia with Syrian Dictator Bashar Al-Assad in between we must understand that Russias foreign policy does not extend only to the Middle East. The worlds largest country is evidently aiming to become also the worlds most powerful country in opposition to the United States. Macedonia Macedonia is one of the countries born out of the splintering of the former Yugoslavia after the death of former Dictator Tito. The splintering was a bloody affair which led to the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s which shocked the world with their cruelty and which led to international intervention headed by the United States to end the massacre in places such as Sarajevo and Srebrenica. In recent months the presence of Russian troops involved in military exercises with its ally Serbia on the countrys border with Kosovo raises the spectre of these tragedies and fears that the violence would begin once more. Adding to this situation was the application by Montenegro to join NATO, presumably to supply protection in the case of a new conflict. This news angered the Kremlin which considers Montenegros actions as an affront to Russia. On Friday the BBC reported that a special prosecutor in Macedonia had arrested 14 people suspected of plotting a coup against the countrys government, including pro Russian opposition politicians. What makes the report particularly worrying is the fact that two of those charged are Russians. At the time of writing the Russian government has yet to make a comment on the matter. The Ukraine While President Donald Trump said in an interview in the Wall Street Journal that he was surprised of the complexity of the history between China and Korea explained to him by Chinas President Xi Jinping during their recent Summit, the history between Russia and the Ukraine is nearly as old and just as bloody. The downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over the Ukraine over Eastern Ukraine in 2014 with the deaths of all 298 aboard blamed on pro Russian rebels and the annexation of Crimea by Russia are two of the reasons for the ongoing economic sanctions against Russia by the many countries including the United States and the members of the European Union. The fighting had never totally stopped in the disputed areas and is still a source of worry for neighbouring countries. NATO and elections In addition NATO has recently deployed its troops, including American tanks and soldiers, in a number of Eastern European countries such as former Soviet Bloc countries Bulgaria, Poland and the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in response to the increasingly aggressive policies being enacted by Vladimir Putin. These deployments have been rebuked by Moscow and NATO has replied that they are purely defensive activities or routine training manoeuvres. To these must also be added the fears that Russia has not only interfered in the American presidential election and hacked the offices of now Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni while has the countrys foreign minister but may also be attempting to interfere in the upcoming national elections in Germany and France which will have profound effects on the future direction of the European Union. It can clearly be seen that the ongoing clash in Syria between the United States and Russia is not an isolated incident and those following these developments put the recent Russian activities in Syria in their proper context. This diplomatic poker game will keep Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Donald Trump busy for the length of the Presidency. They are yet to reach the heat of some incidents during the first Cold War such as over Cuba and during the Korean and Vietnam Wars but they must be closely monitored and appropriate actions to ensure they do not become so. Without doubt this is the greatest challenge now facing the Oval Office. Outbound mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies are set to grow, with more private companies buying overseas as they need to expand business globally, according to a report by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The total volume of outbound M&As has grown "dramatically" in recent years, from $49 billion in 2010 to $227 billion in 2016, and China is still at a relatively early stage of a long-term growth trend, the report said. According to McKinsey research data, Chinese companies spent around 0.9 percent of the 2015 GPD on outbound acquisitions, compared with 2 percent of GDP by European Union companies, and 1.3 percent by United States companies. In recent months, Chinese outbound buying has cooled for several reasons, including tightened management on capital outflows. The slowdown of outbound buying is likely to be a short-term correction, while the long-term growth trend in outward M&As will continue to gain momentum. "It is important to break the myth that Chinese outbound buying is mainly government-driven, done by State-owned enterprises, and big-sized deals with cheap funding. In fact, the rationale behind many outbound buyings are Chinese companies' internal demands to expand their global presence. And besides the big deals that drew public attention, most of the deals were mid-sized or smaller," said Paul Gao, senior partner and head of McKinsey's automotive practice in Asia. David Cogman, a partner who leads McKinsey's China globalization service line, said over the next decade the volume of deals will be a multiple of what was spent in the past. "But extracting value from acquisitions and successfully integrating them will require Chinese companies to build a range of new capabilities they didn't have before. Post-deal management is quite important for success," said Cogman. Many deals received "hands-off" management post-deal, particularly minority investments, and the results for those were less than impressive, while deals where the acquirer took a more active approach to integrating the asset had a much higher success rate, according to the report. Using third-party services for management and consultancy will be increasingly popular among small and mid-sized enterprises, as it may be costly to establish an internal department for global expansion at early stage for a privately owned enterprise, according to the China Overseas Development Association. Matthias Debroyer, economic and commercial consul at Brussels Invest & Export, at the Consulate General of Belgium in Shanghai, said Chinese firms are advised to use more professional services for post-deal management. "Due diligence, risk management and post-deal management are among keys to success. Investors need to ensure that core value of the assets they acquire stay and grow after the deal is made," said Debroyer. TALLINN Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli has expressed appreciation for Estonia's support and participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, calling on both sides to fully tap the potentials to step up economic and trade cooperation. Zhang made the remarks while meeting with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid on Thursday evening in Tallinn, capital of the Baltic country. Estonia is an important country by the Baltic Sea and an important partner of China in the Central and Eastern Europe, Zhang told Kaljulaid. "China hopes the two countries can integrate each other's development strategies so as to add new impetus into the bilateral cooperation," Zhang said. He called on both sides to fully explore cooperation potentials in the areas of infrastructure construction, production capacity, equipment manufacturing, agriculture and information technology in order to step up the bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Zhang said China is willing to discuss with Estonia the possibility to cooperate on the Rail Baltic, an international rail connection that will connect Estonia with Central and Western Europe and its neighbors. China attaches great importance to the relations with Estonia, said the vice premier. The two countries celebrated 25th anniversary of forging diplomatic ties last year, marking that the bilateral ties have entered a new stage of steady and mature growth, he added. China would like to further cement traditional friendship with Estonia, enhance mutual trust, expand two-way cooperation so as to lift the relationship to a new height, Zhang said. For her part, Kaljulaid said her country pays great importance to the exchanges with China at various levels under the "16+1" cooperation mechanism. The "16+1" refers to China and the 16 Central and Eastern European countries. Estonia would like to take the opportunity of the Belt and Road Initiative to expand its economic cooperation with China, she said. Estonia will take the rotating EU presidency in the second half of 2017. Zhang said China firmly supports the European integration and hopes Kaljulaid and her country can exert active influence within the European Union (EU) so as to promote China-EU relations. Kaljulaid said it is in line with both sides' interests that the EU conducts free trade with more partners. Estonia is committed to forging ahead EU-China ties, she added. She also expressed her willingness to visit China at an early date and confidence in a brighter future of Estonia-China cooperation. On Thursday night, Zhang also held talks with Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas, calling on both countries to boost high-level exchanges and cooperation in areas including transportation and logistics, agriculture, culture and tourism. He reaffirmed that China will continue its reform and opening up policy featuring mutual benefit and win-win results. Ratas noted that the two countries' economic ties now are the closest ever in history, expressing willingness to deepen bilateral cooperation in areas of economy and trade, transportation, logistics and third-party market. Estonia hopes to welcome more Chinese tourists, Ratas added. Zhang arrived in Tallinn Thursday afternoon from Moscow for a two-day visit. This is the second leg of his nine-day visit to five Eurasia countries. The trip will also take him to Slovenia, Albania and Kazakhstan. Streaming is making it quicker not only to play music. A new study finds that pop songs themselves are getting faster as listeners' attention spans diminish. [Photo provided to China Daily] Streaming is making it quicker not only to play music. A new study finds that pop songs themselves are getting faster as listeners' attention spans diminish. Instrumental openings to songs have shrunk dramatically over the past three decades and, to a lesser extent, the average tempo of hit singles has been speeding up, the research found. Hubert Leveille Gauvin, a doctoral student in music theory at the Ohio State University, analyzed the year-end top 10 on the US Billboard chart between 1986 and 2015. In 1986, it took roughly 23 seconds before the voice began on the average hit song. In 2015, vocals came in after about five seconds, a drop of 78 percent, he found. In a study published in Musicae Scientiae, the Journal of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Leveille Gauvin linked the trend to the rapid rise of Spotify and other streaming sites that give listeners instant access to millions of songs. "It makes sense that if the environment is so competitive, artists would want to try to grab your attention as quickly as possible," he told AFP. "We know that the voice is one of the most attention-grabbing things that there is," he said, pointing out that people seeking to concentrate often preferred instrumental music. A 2014 study of Spotify listening habits found that 21 percent of songs get skipped over in the first five seconds. As an example of the shift, Leveille Gauvin pointed to Starship's 1987 hit Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, which takes 22 seconds for the vocals to begin and more than a minute for the chorus. On the 2015 hit Sugar by Maroon 5, Adam Levine gets to the point within seven seconds with the lines, "I'm hurting baby/I'm broken down." As the study looked only at megahits, it did not take into account genres such as indie rock in which market forces function much differently. [Photo provided to China Daily] Conscious or not? Leveille Gauvin doesn't claim inside knowledge of record industry secrets and he doubts that many pop stars are clamoring in the studio for shorter intros. Instead, he sees a steady evolution in songwriting conventions. "I think it's partially voluntary, but I think it's just adapting yourself to your environment whether you're aware of it or not," he said. He connected the trend to scholar Michael H. Goldhaber's concept of the "attention economy" - the quest to hold attention in an internet overflowing with information. "You can think of music as this double role. Music has always been a cultural product, but I think that more and more songs are also advertisements for the artists," Leveille Gauvin said. Live performances have increasingly been the key money makers for artists, some of whom complain that they earn little from streaming - which last year accounted for more than half of the US recorded music industry's revenue. Despite the overall trends, Leveille Gauvin pointed out that there was still diversity in song structures. Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know, the chart's top song for 2012, has an instrumental introduction of 20 seconds. As the study looked only at megahits, it did not take into account genres such as indie rock in which market forces function much differently. Agence France-Presse (China Daily 04/15/2017 page16) US President Donald Trump should realize that having a strong trade relationship with China is about American jobs and not putting those jobs in jeopardy, business leaders said in a discussion about China-US business ties. "Trade is amazingly important to maintaining the US-China relationship. Having an appropriate and strong trade relationship with China is about American jobs," said Ellen Kullman, former CEO of US chemical company DuPont, on Wednesday evening at an event organized by the National Committee on US-China Relations. The committee is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization that encourages understanding and cooperation between the US and China. Certain trade processes are being held up now because China "wants to make sure they have enough chips that when the horse race starts on trade, they've got enough to offer that it comes out in the right place, because they understand that President Trump is negotiating," she said. This may be due to Trump's rhetoric on trade historically not being "very positive, and I think it is amazingly important that that come out at the right place for both countries," she said. Kullman said that her former company was responsible for creating jobs in the US and in China. As both markets grew and became unique, she said, job creation became "more of an and' equation" where DuPont added jobs to both countries. Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, said that the US could see China as a threat because the country is becoming powerful, or it can view it the way the pharmaceutical industry does, which is as a market of opportunity. He said that China's aging population needs healthcare that the pharmaceutical industry sees its role to bring about a healthcare revolution in China. "All of that opens up to huge opportunities, so I would encourage trading rules and partnerships to be enhanced in the future," he said. Peter Cohen, chairman and CEO of New York-based financial services firm Cowen Group which last month sold a 20 percent stake to CEFC China Energy, a Chinese energy and finance company said that while he agreed with the other two participants' views, he thinks the US government needs to do some housekeeping before it can tackle foreign trade priorities. "The bureaucracy that's imbedded in Washington just doesn't permit things to happen," he said. "Go fix all the parts you need fixing, and then get focused on how to make things work with China." amyhe@chinadailyusa.com Pandora in the movie Avatar is utopian, but Zhangjiajie is real. Zhangjiajie in the northwest of China's Hunan province is one of the country's most scenic areas. The beauty was captured in the 2010 Oscar-winning movie Avatar, spurring interest among foreign tourists. The science fiction film was set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora. The Hallelujah Mountains in Avatar were inspired by Heavenly Pillar in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. To give Zhangjiajie's unique natural landscape greater international exposure and increase tourism, the municipal government of Zhangjiajie held a briefing on Friday at Xinhua's North American headquarters at Times Square in Manhattan. Guests included representatives of the New York tourism industry. "We hope not only Chinese tourists, but more American tourists and tourists from across the world will come to visit Zhangjiajie to experience the magnificent natural beauty," said Wang Zhaoye, deputy secretary-general of Zhangjiajie. He said that this year Zhangjiajie has had major tourism exchanges and cooperation with 10 countries and regions, including France, Thailand, Laos and Israel, according to Wang. "I think this progress should be explained to potential tourists internationally, to help them have new recognition of Zhangjiajie," said Wang, who hoped to use the the promotional event in New York to present Zhangjiajienot only to Americans, but globally. Zhangjiajie is famous for its precarious peaks, limpid streams, dense forests and large karst caves. It is dominated by more than 3,000 narrow sandstone pillars and peaks, many more than 2,600 feet high. Between the peaks are ravines and gorges with streams, pools and waterfalls, 40 caves and two large natural bridges. It is also home to endangered plant and animal species. In 1982, Zhangjiajie became China's first national forest park. In 1992, it was listed in the World Natural Heritage Catalogue by UNESCO and in 2004, Zhangjiajie was awarded the title of "World Geological Park". Wang said, Zhangjiajie has had a long history with the Americans. When visiting Zhangjiajie in 1986, the then lieutenant-governor of Colorado, Nancy E. Dick, exclaimed that visitors to Zhangjiajie should pay $5 for every breath because of the area's pure air. The forest park is considered a huge "natural oxygen bar". In 2007, Simon Winchester expressed his admiration for the magnificent scenery of Zhangjiajie in an article in The New York Times. "This is as great as the Great Wall", "...the towers to which it leads are not skyscrapers well, they are, though not made of steel and glass, but natural, of a buff Cretaceous sandstone, and topped with clinging pine trees," he wrote. In 2011, American professional skydiver Jeb Corliss successfully glided through the 100-foot-wide archway in the Tianmen Mountain cave in Zhangjiajie using only a wingsuit. In recent years, tourism in Zhangjiajie has grown and a great progress has been made in increasing the international tourism marketing and expanding international exchanges and cooperation. xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com Rescuers conduct a search operation in the Mediterranean sea off the Libyan coast on Thursday. The Libyan coast guard said 97 migrants are missing and believed drowned. Bernat Armangue / Associatedpress TRIPOLI - At least 97 migrants were missing on Thursday after their boat sank off the coast of Libya, a navy spokesman said. According to survivors, the missing include 15 women and five children, said General Ayoub Qassem. He said the Libyan coast guard had rescued a further 23 migrants of various African nationalities just under 10 kilometers off the coast of Tripoli. The boat's hull was completely destroyed and the survivors, all men, were found clinging to a flotation device, he said. Those who had disappeared were "probably dead", but bad weather had so far prevented the recovery of their bodies, Qassem added. A witness said survivors had been given food and medical care at Tripoli before being transferred to a migrant center east of the capital. Six years since the unrest that toppled Muammar Gadhafi, Libya has become a key departure point for migrants risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Hailing mainly from sub-Saharan countries, most of the migrants board boats operated by human traffickers in Libya, and make for the Italian island of Lampedusa 300 km away. Since the beginning of this year, at least 590 migrants have died or gone missing along the Libyan coast, the International Organization for Migration said in late March. In the absence of an army or regular police force in Libya, several militias act as coast guards but are often accused of complicity or even involvement in the lucrative human smuggling business. More than 24,000 migrants arrived in Italy from Libya during the first three months of the year, up from 18,000 during the same period last year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Afp-Reuters Kevin Gallagher (center), professor of global development policy at Boston University, talks about the global impact of China's energy investment at the Tracking China's Global Energy Finance panel discussion held by the Wilson Center on Thursday in Washington. Other panelists were Wang Yan (left), senior fellow at the National School of Developmentwith Peking University, and Paulina Garzon, director of the China Latin-American Sustainable Investments Initiative hosted by the Bank Information Center.YUAN YUAN / FOR CHINA DAILY Queens, a borough in New York City, NY, is home to excellent museums, great restaurants, free things to do, and famous attractions such as the giant World's Fair globe in Flushing Meadows, and the USTA National Tennis Center. Admire contemporary art at MoMA PS1, walk through the beautiful Queens Botanical Garden, and view beautiful sculptures at the Noguchi Museum. Best things to do in Queens, New York with kids include the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Zoo and Hunters Point South Park. We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times. 1. MoMA PS1, Queens, New York MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is one of the largest art museums in the country exclusively devoted to contemporary art, and one of the top attractions in Queens. Established in 1971 as the Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Inc., the museum is housed in a Romanesque Revival public school building dating from 1892. The building was extensively renovated in 1997, and the 125,000 square feet facility houses a two-story project space, a large entrance, and an outdoor gallery. Inside the facility, there are eight spaces devoted to the solo exhibitions of International and National Project artists. Other exhibits combine the works of several or many artists from various countries. 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101, 718-784-2084 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" Back to Top 2. Queens Botanical Garden, Queens, New York Courtesy of anaglic - Fotolia.com Located on Main Street, the 39-acre Queens Botanical Garden began as part of the 1939 New York Worlds Fair and, after the fair ended, it was expanded to encompass a larger part of the Flushing Meadows Park. Later, during the construction of the 1964 Worlds Fair, the botanical garden relocated to an area along Kissena Creek across from its Flushing Meadows Park location. The botanical garden is known for several of its gardens including the bee garden, the herb garden, the perennial garden, and the rose garden. The new Queens Botanical Garden Visitor Center opened in 2007. The garden offers many programs, hosts several different events, and is one of the best things to do in Queens, New York. 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355, 718-886-3800 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" Back to Top 3. New York Hall of Science, Queens, New York New York Hall of Science Located on 111th Street in the Flushing Meadows Park, the New York Hall of Science is a science museum also known as NYSCI. Established as part of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, the museum deteriorated until it was renovated and reopened in 1986; further renovations occurred in 1999, 2003, and 2004. If you are wondering what to do in Queens NY with kids, this is a great place to visit. Today with its 400 exhibits, it is New York Citys only hands-on science and technology museum with a focus on biology, chemistry, and physics. The museum is dedicated to educating children who have little or no experience with science. Some of the museums many permanent exhibits include Connections: The Nature of Networks, Realm of the Atom, and Rocket Park. 47-01 111th Street, Corona, NY 11368, 718-699-0005 More ideas: Best Day Trips from NYC -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" Back to Top 4. The Noguchi Museum, Queens, New York The Noguchi Museum The Noguchi Museum, located on 33rd Road near the Socrates Sculpture Park in the Long Island City section of Queens, is a museum that focuses on the works of the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Opened in 1985 in what was originally a gas station and a photogravure plant, the museum displays the artists architectural models, drawings, furniture designs, sculptures, and much more. The structure was renovated in 2004, and today it contains 12 galleries and a gift shop in a 24,000 square foot two story building. There are several education programs presented at the museum including Art for Families, and Art for Tots. 9-01 33rd Road, 718-204-7088 -- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in Queens, New York this Weekend with Friends" -- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in Queens, New York this Weekend with Friends" Back to Top 5. Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York Courtesy of Stuart Monk - Fotolia.com Flushing Meadows is the fourth largest public park in New York City. Created in 1939 as the site for the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, it is an 879-acre park that contains an amazing array of facilities and venues such as Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets baseball team; the USTA National Tennis Center; the New York Hall of Science; the New York State Pavilion; the Queens Zoo; the Queens Museum of Art; and the Queens Theatre in the Park. Interestingly, the park also hosted the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. Grand Central Parkway, Whitestone Expressway between 111 Street and College Point Boulevard, Park Drive East, 718-760-6565 -- You are reading "What to Do in Queens, New York this Weekend" -- You are reading "What to Do in Queens, New York this Weekend" Back to Top 6. Queens Museum, Queens, New York Queens Museum The Queens Museum, located in the Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, is an art museum formerly known as the Queens Museum of Art. It is housed in the New York City Building, which was constructed for the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. Later, it hosted the United National General Assembly. Founded in 1972, the museum has a permanent collection of 10,000 objects, many of which are related to the 1939 and 1964 New York Worlds Fairs. The most famous object in the collection is the Panorama of the City of New York, a 9,335 square foot model containing nearly 900,000 individual buildings. The museum offers education programs and also hosts special events. New York City Building Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Perimeter Rd, 718-592-9700 -- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in Queens, New York" Back to Top 7. Gantry Plaza State Park, Queens, New York Courtesy of demerzel21 - Fotolia.com Located on 47th Road, Gantry Plaza State Park, also known simply as Gantry Park, sits along the East River in the Hunters Point area of Long Island City. Opened in 1998 and expanded in 2009, it is a 10-acre park with a playground, playing fields, picnic tables, and a riverside walk that offers great, unobstructed views of the midtown Manhattan skyline as well as the United Nations Building. The park is popular with photographers who enjoy capturing images during the day, at sunset, and at night. There are also many bars and restaurants within the park, and people go there to enjoy the views, the food, and the summer hammocks. 4-09 47th Road, Long Island City, NY 11101, 718-786-6385R , From LA -- You are reading "What is There to Do with Kids in Queens, New York" Back to Top 8. Citi Field, Queens, NY Citi Field Citi Field is a stadium located on Roosevelt Avenue in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The stadium is home of the Major League Baseball team the New York Mets. It was built in 2009 and replaced Shea Stadium, which was built in 1964. Citi Field can seat 41,922 spectators, and the outside of the stadium resembles Ebbets Field, a former stadium in Brooklyn. The front entrance to the stadium is the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, named after the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers player, and there is an eight-foot high statue of Robinson in the rotunda. Other features of the stadium include the Taste of the City food court, a family entertainment area called FanFest, video game kiosks, and much more. 123-01 Roosevelt Avenue, New York, NY 11368, 718-507-8499 You may also like: 25 Best Weekend Getaways from New York City and more things to do in NYC today. 9. USTA National Tennis Center, Queens, New York USTA National Tennis Center Located in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, the USTA National Tennis Center is a stadium complex that is the home of the annual US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, which has been held here since 1978. Situated on over 45 acres of land, the complex features 22 courts in the main facility and an additional 11 in an adjoining park. All the courts use DecoTurf as the court surface. Within the complex there are three tennis stadiums that are some of the largest stadiums in the world. Of these three, the Arthur Ashe Stadium is the largest tennis stadium in the world with a seating capacity of 23,200 people. Flushing Meadow - Corona Park, Flushing, NY 11368, 718-760-6200 -- "Best Things to Do in Queens, New York for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" -- "Best Things to Do in Queens, New York for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" Back to Top 10. Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens, NY Louis Armstrong House Museum The Louis Armstrong House, located on 107th Street in Corona, Queens, is the former home of Louis Armstrong and his wife Lucille Wilson. Today, it is a museum devoted to the great musicians life. Armstrong and his wife lived in the brick house from 1943 until he passed away in 1971. His wife gave the house to the city of New York so that a museum could be created. The house was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and a New York City Landmark in 1988. The museums archives contain books, memorabilia, recordings, and writings. The museum also hosts musical performances, and it offers educational programs. 34-56 107th Street, Corona, NY 11368, 718-478-8274 11. Queens Zoo & Aquarium, Queens, New York Queens Zoo & Aquarium Located on 111th Street within the Flushing Meadows Park, the Queens Zoo is an 18-acre zoo that is part of a system of four zoos and one aquarium. Opened in 1968 on the site of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, it was designed to be a cageless zoo. Today, the zoo contains more than 75 species of animals native to the Americas. The zoo offers guided tours and education programs that allow children to learn about animals and how the care they receive. The zoo is available for catered events such as weddings as well as birthday parties in which children can enjoy close encounters with farm animals. 53-51 111th Street, Corona, NY 11368, 718-271-1500 -- "New cool stuff to do in Queens, New York" -- "New cool stuff to do in Queens, New York" Back to Top or Romantic Getaways 12. Lockwood, Queens, New York Lockwood Lockwood is one of those stores that you both cannot stay away from and dread going in. They have four locations all over Queens packed to the rafters with home-goods, gifts, decor, toys, and clothes. Their small, eclectic store on Queens 37th street has an incredible choice of holiday gifts that are difficult to resist. There are also new winter clothes such as vegan-leather Matt Nat bags, delightful sweaters, and hoodies with Astoria and Queens slogans. Lockwood is a one-stop gift shop for any occasion, regardless of how difficult the person is to shop for. Just dig in or ask for help from one of the helpful Lockwood staff and you will find exactly what you need. Lockwood also carries arts and crafts supplies, greeting cards, kids clothes and school supplies, jewelry, and wedding gifts. 7713 37th Ave. Queens, NY 11372, Phone: 347-730-6357 13. Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York Courtesy of pio3 - Fotolia Located on Beach Third Street, Rockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula on the South Shore of Long Island in Queens. Rockaway Beach is the largest urban beach in the U.S. and stretches for many miles along the peninsula. Because of the large number of Irish Americans living here, the area was given the nickname of the Irish Riviera. Rockaway Beach contains the only legal surfing beach in New York City. In addition to the sand and the sea, there are also playgrounds and other outdoor activities for children as well as for adults. Adventurous scuba divers can even explore a sunken ship from Pier Five. Beach Third Street to Beach 153 Street and Boardwalk to Atlantic Ocean More vacation ideas: 25 Best Things To Do in Brooklyn. 14. Park Side Restaurant, Queens, NY Park Side Restaurant It seems like there is always some sort of a celebration going on at Park Side, and thats probably because its true. People have been coming to this charming Italian restaurant in the heart of Corona since 1980, and it is a favorite location for special events. Waiters in tuxedoes and the crisp white tablecloths create an atmosphere of elegance, yet the restaurant is still cheerful and welcoming. The food is traditional Italian in the best sense of the word. People who have been coming to the Park Side for decades can still find their favorites like the chefs fabulous crab cakes or Linguini or Fedelini Marechiaro with clams, shrimp, garlic, and red sauce. Park Side has a fantastic list of some of the most famous Italian desserts, and they are not to be missed. 107-01 Corona Avenue, Corona, NY 11368, 718-271-9274 15. Press 195, Queens, New York Press 195 Everyone has a different definition of comfort food, but pressed sandwiches with fresh brioche or ciabata with cheese oozing out between layers of succulent meats have to be everyones favorite. Add a great selection of craft beers and you get a very popular sandwich place where people line up for the tasty delights. Press 195 is bright and modern, and the list of sandwiches and add-ons is huge, so choosing the right combination is not easy to do quickly. Even so, guests are encouraged to make their own combinations. If you are looking for unique date ideas in Queens, this is a great place to try. Try fresh ciabata with grilled lemon chicken, baby spinach, Fontina cheese, tomatoes, and olives bruschetta, along with the restaurants legendary pesto made of basil and maple syrup. Add their delicious Belgian fries and a tall glass of beer, and you have the makings of a perfect lunch. 4011 Bell Blvd., Bayside, 718-281-1950 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" Back to Top or Amazing things to do around me 16. Rockaway Beach Surf Club, Queens, New York Rockaway Beach Surf Club Rockaway Beach Surf Club is a charming neighborhood restaurant and bar in Rockaway, owned and operated by Long Beach sculptor Brandon d'Leo and Coney Island firefighter Brady Walsh. The unique restaurant serves as both a surf-style hangout and a community gathering space, hosting events throughout the year such as the Festival of Color and the Women's Surf Film Festival. Delicious taco options crafted by executive chef Patrick Quinn are served up throughout the day, ranging from traditional options such as papa con chorizo to vegetarian selections such as tofu or black bean and sweet plantain. Classic summer cocktails such as pina coladas and bloody marys are complemented by a selection of clever aguas frescas in flavors such as pineapple mint, watermelon, and pine. 302 Beach 87th St, Far Rockaway, NY 11693 17. Keuka Kafe, Queens, NY Keuka Kafe Keuka is one of the eleven Finger Lakes, which are narrow, long, and picturesque lakes in central New York. A popular tourist destination for quite some time now, Finger Lakes are now emerging as a great wine and cheese region. Keuka Kafe is a wine bar and restaurant that introduces some of the best Finger Lakes wines as well as wines from other great world wine regions, some of which are well established while others are up and coming. Through regularly scheduled events, Keuka offers a tasting of some of their special wines and beers. Check their calendar for the next event. While browsing through their extensive wine list, taste some exquisite cheeses from their cheese board. The cheeses are served with a baguette, house mustard, chutney made with sun-dried apricots, and candied hazelnuts. If that is not enough, their list of appetizers has something for everyone. You might want to try Keuka warm sandwich with grilled Chorizo sausages with cucumber, yogurt, and feta spread on a slice of baguette bread loaded with fennel slaw. 112-04 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY 11375, 718-880-1478, -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" Back to Top 18. Things to Do in Queens, New York: Finback Brewery Finback Brewery Most craft brewers start out by experimenting quite a bit and eventually settle for their favorites. Kevin Stafford and Basil Lee, on the other hand, are having too much fun experimenting to settle on anything just yet. These two founders of Finback Brewery are introducing some never-before-seen flavors in their 20-barrel brewhouse on 77th Avenue in Queens with exotic ingredients like Szechuan peppercorns, apple cider, roasted coconut, and green tea. All their witchs brews have resulted in some very interesting and extremely drinkable beers that they personally distribute in kegs around New York bars and bottle shops. You can stop by their modern, spacious taproom and try a few beers, have a chat with other craft beer aficionados, and play a board game with them while you are at it. Everyone has their favorite drink, but you might want to try their imperial stout with chocolate and coffee from Native Coffee Roasters and Mast Brothers. 7801 77th Ave, 718-628-8600 19. Museum of the Moving Image Museum of the Moving Image If you are one of the thousands of movie enthusiasts who would like to delve deep into the world of cinema and TV, MoMI, the Museum of the Moving Image, is sure to be a winning attraction in Queens. Here visitors can unlock the secrets of the world of entertainment and learn about the fascinating history and development of the movie and allied industries. You can learn all about the back-stage antics of the Muppets at the Jim Henson exhibition, find out more about intentional Fake News and get and early glimpse of new international films and documentaries. The Behind the Screen exhibition is perfect for younger visitors and offers many interactive experiences for children. MoMI, 36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, NY 11106, 18 777 6800 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" Back to Top 20. Alley Pond Environmental Center Alley Pond Environmental Center Located on Northern Boulevard, Alley Pond Park is the second largest public park in Queens, and it occupies more than 650 acres of land. At the northern part of the park on the south side of Northern Boulevard lies the Alley Pond Environmental Center. Created in 1976, the center is dedicated to providing environmental education for both children and adults and to preserving, protecting, and restoring Alley Pond Park with its bodies of water and its open spaces. The area consists of wetlands and acres of salt marsh that serve as a wildlife refuge for many animals, including 300 species of birds and other animals. Volunteers have worked tirelessly over the years to revive the wetlands. 22806 Northern Boulevard, Little Neck, NY 11362, 718-229-4000 21. Madera Cuban Grill, Queens, NY Madera Cuban Grill Warm colors, family photos, and authentic art pieces from old Havana in the dining room at Madera Cuban Grill instantly create the feeling of being on an exotic tropical Caribbean island. And once you order one of their excellent mojitos and some rum-glazed grilled shrimp, you will practically be able to hear the breeze in the palm fronds and smell the sea. Madera is great place to try authentic Cuban grill, but you cannot go wrong with their stews either. The recipes were inherited from the owners family in Havana, and everything is cooked as it was in the old days, with fresh, local ingredients. Try traditional Ropa Vieja with braised beef cooked with carrots, onions, green and red peppers, tomatoes, cumin, garlic, and sherry. There is a live Cuban jazz on weekends you cannot really experience Cuba without its music. 47-29 Vernon Blvd; Long Island City, NY 11101, 718-606-1236 22. Queens County Farm Museum Queens County Farm Museum Located on one of the oldest, continually farmed sites in New York State, the Queens County Farm Museum is both fun and educational. This is a great place for city kids to get up close and personal with the resident farm animals, enjoy country pursuits like hay rides and learn all about how their food is produced. Resident farm animals include chickens and hens, llamas, sheep, goats, pigs and honey bees. You can see how an apiary works and learn more about the vital role that bees play in agriculture. Children will also enjoy taking part in the Farm Scavenger Hunt. Entry to the farm is free and everyone is welcome to come and visit. Queens County Farm Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, Floral Park, NY 11004-1129, 718 347 3276 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York" Back to Top 23. King Manor Museum King Manor Museum Celebrating the life and times of the great Founding Father Rufus King, who was responsible for framing and signing the United States Constitution, the King Manor Museum is a must-see attraction for all visitors to Queens. Rufus King and his family lived in the manor house and the surrounding farm acres for more than 3 generations and it is now open to the public as an historic house museum. As you make your way through the historic homestead you will find a host of interesting exhibits about this early anti-slavery politician and his remarkable life. You can check their website to see if any special events are scheduled during your visit to Queens. King Manor Museum, 150-03 Jamaica Ave, Jamaica, NY 11432, 718 206 0545 24. Things to Do in Queens, New York: The Thirsty Koala The Thirsty Koala The Thirsty Koala is a relaxed Australian restaurant in Astoria, Queens serving sea-to-table and garden-to-table gluten-free and veggie dishes. The seasonal menus offer dishes that incorporate many indigenous Australian ingredients such as lemon myrtle, desert oak, wattle seed, and akudjura. Interesting new flavors transport you to the land down under without having to hop on the nearby N train on Ditmars Boulevard. You might want to try the delicious award-winning Grilled Wattle Seed and Herb-Crusted Australian Lamb Lollies. When the weather permits, grab one of the sidewalk tables and enjoy people-watching while sipping the Australian Cooper's Pale Ale or Koala lager. Great wines from Down Under are also available and so are fun and refreshing cocktails such as the Gingeroo. 35-12 Ditmars Blvd, Astoria, NY 11105, Phone: 718-626-5430 25. Things to Do in Queens, New York: Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Courtesy of John Anderson - Fotolia.com Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge with open water and salt marshes from Jamaica Bay. Located on Broad Channel, it lies partly in the borough of Queens and partly in the borough of Brooklyn, and it is located near the JFK International Airport. Many kinds of animals, both aquatic and terrestrial, live in the wildlife refuge. Bird watching is popular here for both resident birds as well as migratory species. Other popular attractions are horseshoe crab mating and egg laying, as well as diamondback turtle egg laying. Several mammals, including Eastern Gray Squirrels and raccoons, make their homes in the wildlife refuge. Broad Channel, NY 11693, 718-318-4340 You may also like: 27 Best Day Trips From New York City. 25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York More Ideas: Hunter's Point South Park Hunters Point South Park is a mixed purpose area in Long Island City, the westernmost neighborhood of Queens. Located on Center Boulevard on approximately 30 acres of waterfront property that was at one time an abandoned post-industrial area, the development includes a waterside promenade, a central green, a basketball court, a bikeway and dog run, and a 13,000 square foot pavilion that offers concessions and more. Other features of the park include a 1,100-seat school building that contains 52 classrooms, an auditorium, a cafeteria, a gym, a library, and science labs. From the park, visitors can take advantage of amazing views of the Midtown East Manhattan skyline. Center Boulevard between 50 Avenue and 54 Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101 Sweetleaf Every neighborhood needs a cozy cafe or espresso bar where one can go and jump-start their engines in the morning. Sweetleaf on Jackson Street in Long Island City, Queens offers the atmosphere of a late 19th century parlor and the coffee technology from a Star Trek movie. The multiple brewing machines, fancy calibrated scales, and refractometers are there to show customers that Sweetleaf takes their java very seriously. The beautiful 19th century building has been carefully renovated, and it has authentic antique furniture and tasteful art on the walls. You can sip your first macchiato by the window while people watching, in the laptop room while checking your emails, or in the record room in the back while listening to one of the more than 100 vinyl records. Sweetleaf can be addicting, so do not be surprised if you find yourself there every time you crave a cup of coffee or a bit of conversation. There is even karaoke on Thursday night. Sweetleaf has three locations in Queens. 10-93 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, NY 11101, 917-832-6726 You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York " Back to Top More Ideas: Jackson Heights, Queens One of the most ethnically diverse and vibrant neighborhoods in all of New York City, Jackson Heights is a must-visit spot for anyone in or around the borough of Queens. With a population of over 100,000 people, Jackson Heights is busy and bustling and never quite seems to sleep, much like the rest of New York. The area is best known for its ethnic diversity, with over half of the residents of Jackson Heights having Hispanic heritage, and almost acts as a microcosm of NYC as a whole, bringing together many different people in one exciting place, with lots of different things to see and do all around, from great food to live music and more. Things to Do in Queens White, Asian, African-American, and even Native American people can all be found living and working in Jackson Heights, Queens. The area has surged in popularity in recent years, with a thriving real estate market and a big boost of tourism. With a unique culture and style all its own, Jackson Heights is one of the top spots in Queens and has so much to offer each and every day. Historic District of Jackson Heights, Queens Most of the original Jackson Heights neighborhood, especially the "garden apartment" buildings, which were a set of apartments built in the early 20th century in which residents shared communal garden spaces, was designated as a National Register Historic District and a New York State Historic Register District back in 1993. The Jackson Heights Historic District covers around half of the neighborhood in total, running from 76th to 88th Street and Roosevelt Ave up to Norhtern Blvd. Filled with beautiful old buildings and those trademark private gardens, it's a really pretty spot to walk around. Parks and Events of Jackson Heights, Queens Jackson Heights only has one public park, which is Travers Park, found on 34th Ave between 77th and 78th Street. This two acre park is mostly covered up with asphalt for sports and games like tennis and basketball, but does feature plenty of greenery too. It's a popular gathering spot for locals, with families and kids often found in the children's playground section. The Jackson Heights Greenmarket, a local farmer's market offering tasty fresh produce and other goods, runs in Travers Park each Sunday, and live concerts and shows are also held here on Sundays through the summer months as part of the 'Summer Sundays in the Park' program. Other fun annual events include the Halloween Parade through the streets of Jackson Heights and the Queens LGBT Pride Parade which actually begins in the Jackson Heights neighborhood. Other Things to Do in Jackson Heights, Queens As well as parks, sports, live music, and annual events of all kinds, there are plenty of other fun things to see and do in Jackson Heights on any random day of the week. A couple of movie theaters like the Queens Circuit Jackson Triplex (40-31 82nd St) and the Eagle Theater (73-7 37th Road) can be found in Jackson Heights, along with a library at 35-51 81st Street and plenty of shops and stores on Roosevelt Avenue to check out. An absolute must-see spot in Jackson Heights, Queens can be found at the junction of 35th Avenue and 81st Street. Visitors to the area who are unaware of this spot's history might be confused to see people admiring the local street sign and posing beneath it for selfies and snaps, but it's actually a very important location for anyone who has ever played the popular board game of Scrabble. Scrabble was actually invented by Alfred Mosher Butts, who lived in Jackson Heights. The street sign here is stylized with Scrabble's classic points values assigned to each letter in honor of Alfred Butts. The originally sign was stolen back in 2008 but another one has been put up to replace it. Of course, since this is such an ethnically diverse area, one of the best things to do in Jackson Heights is to sample the varied local cuisine. Jackson Heights boasts some of the best Asian food in all of Queens, with lots of delicious Indian and Thai cuisine in particular, as well as specialties and meals from nations like Nepal, Tibet, and others. The food in this area isn't limited just to Asia, either. Due to the large Hispanic community in Jackson Heights, plenty of yummy Latin American treats and cocktails like Pisco Sour can be found around this neighborhood. Peruvian restaurants are particular popular. So if youre looking to treat your tastebuds and enjoy some new gastronomical experiences, head on down to Jackson Heights. You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York " Back to Top Attraction Spotlight: Queens Zoo The Queens Zoo is a community animal park and zoo in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens. Part of an integrated system of four zoos of aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Queens Zoo spans 18 acres and is home to more than 75 species that are endemic to the Americas. The Zoo also offers a range of educational programs and experiences for visitors of all ages, ranging from animal feeding and demonstrations to school holiday and summer camps. History Designed as a cage-less zoo by Robert Moses in 1966 and built on the site of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, the Queens Zoo was opened to the public in 1968 and has been delighting visitors with an array of animals and displays ever since. The zoos award-winning aviary was designed as a 175-foot geodesic dome and was one of the largest single-layer structures of its time. It was used in the during the 1964 Fair as the fair's major indoor assembly hall, after which it was integrated into the new zoos layout. Animals The Queens Zoo is home to more the 75 that are endemic to North and South America, including the rare Andean bear, pumas, American bison, Canada lynx, bald eagles, Roosevelt elk, California sea lions, snowy owls, and Coywolves. Other animals range from Pudu, pronghorn, thick-billed parrots, and sandhill cranes to Chacoan peccaries, American alligators, and Trumpeter swans. Activities The Queens Zoo features a variety of activities and adventures throughout the zoo for children of all ages, including three Conservation Quest stations, namely the Endangered Species Climbing Wall, the Invasive Species Station and the Migration Playground), which are interactive and hands-on introductions to conservation. Visitors can also enjoy sea lion feedings three times a day. Educational Programs The Queens Zoo offers a variety of educational programs and initiatives, including family programs, school holiday programs, scouts and summer camps. Family programs range from Toddler Time (ages 2-3), Little Hatchlings (12-23 months), Pajama Story Time: A Wild Time (4 years), Family Breakfast Club (ages 4 and up), and Family Overnight Adventures (ages 4 and up). Toddler Time offers a nature-inspired series where toddlers connect with the natural world through arts and crafts, dramatic play, live animal interactions, sensory stations, and songs to foster inquisitive nature and independence. Little Hatchlings offers an introduction to animals and nature through outdoor educational adventures, play and movement, songs, sensory stations, and stories. Family Overnight Adventures present a unique experience for visitors to explore the Zoo at night, meet the animals up close and learn more about animal diets and preparing animal enrichment treats. The Queens Zoo Summer Camp is offered to children of all ages and includes age appropriate, hands-on science activities, up-close animal encounters, visits from the zoos Wildlife Theatre, exhibit visits, arts, and crafts, keep chats, camp T-shirts, and plenty of animal-related fun. The Zoo also offers field trips, classes and educational outreach programs that are run at the Zoos Wildlife Theater. The program uses the theater to teach young visitors about nature, wild places and the wild things that live in them, with the aim of helping to build the next generation of conservationists. Theater performances are interactive, hands-on and fun and include stories, songs, puppets, and games and bring the natural science to life in a fun-filled and memorable way. Back to: Best Things to Do in Queens, NY 2300 Southern Boulevard Bronx, New York 10460, Phone: 718-220-5100 You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in Queens, New York " Back to Top The fifth-largest city in New England, Bridgeport is home to the only zoo in the state of Connecticut, unique museums and great restaurants. Tour the Housatonic Museum of Art, visit the Barnum Museum, and learn with hands-on exhibits at the Discovery Museum and Planetarium. Stop by Captain's Cove Seaport where you will find a selection of shops, eateries and lovely water views. Here are the best things to do in Bridgeport, CT. We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times. 1. The Discovery Museum and Planetarium Courtesy of Martin Capek - Fotolia.com The Discovery Museum and Planetarium is an interactive, educational facility that acts as both an entertainment attraction and educational tool for local schools and caters to families and children. The museum is hands on and activity based, allowing visitors to learn through personal experience and interaction. This Bridgeport attraction places an emphasis on providing fun and creative programs, prompting a favorable environment for developing positive engagement with physical science. The Discovery Museum and Planetarium is one of the best things to do in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The museum is host to three permanent galleries, and it features lessons and activities on electricity, sound, and space. Three additional, traveling exhibits are showcased throughout the year. Planetarium Shows are designed for younger and older children, offering plenty of options. 4450 Park Ave, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-372-3521 -- You are reading "10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut" -- You are reading "10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut" Back to Top 2. Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut: Beardsley Zoo Courtesy of nd700 - Fotolia.com The only zoo in the state of Connecticut, Beardsley Zoo is popular with visitors statewide and beyond. The zoo itself is divided into five sections. The Predators section includes a variety of naturally aggressive creatures, including leopards, lynx, and tigers, while the South American Rainforest section is comprised of several species of monkey, boa constrictors, vampire bats, poison dart frogs, and more. Alligator Alley features a selection of water birds, bald eagles, American alligators, and gray foxes. The New England Farmyard is host to Connecticut natives, including guinea hogs, snowy owls, Cotswold sheep, Nubian goats, and black swans. Finally, Hoofstock is home to a series of bison, llamas, various wolves, black-tailed prairie dogs, and many other animals. If you are planning a weekend getaway with kids, the zoo is one of the must-see Bridgeport attractions. 1875 Noble Ave, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-394-6565 More weekend trips: 25 Best Things to Do in Hartford, Connecticut. -- You are reading "10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut" -- You are reading "10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut" Back to Top 3. Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, Connecticut Housatonic Museum of Art The Housatonic Museum of Art, located in the Housatonic Community College, features a notable collection of art. A large number of significant artists have pieces exhibited in the museum, and a diverse collection of periods and mediums of work are represented. Permanent collections include 18th, 19th, and 20th century pieces, along with a diverse illustration of ethnographic pieces from regions including the American nations, Oceania, and African regions. Throughout the year, the museum also exhibits visiting and rotating displays, along with a series of student work exhibitions, features which are described on the Museums website. 900 Lafayette Blvd, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-332-5052 -- You are reading "10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut" -- You are reading "10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut" Back to Top 4. Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut: Joseph's Steakhouse Joseph's Steakhouse This classic shop open for lunch and dinner is known for its successful encapsulation of qualities characterizing a formal American steakhouse. Josephs, located in downtown Bridgeport, emphasizes the quality of its meat offerings, which are listed alongside a menu of additional standard options for both lunch and dinner. Aesthetically, Josephs features the rich mahogany walls and crisp white tablecloths typically associated with classic steakhouses, and it prioritizes hiring experienced and knowledgeable steakhouse trained servers. The environment is decidedly formal in the main dining room, while the bar area offers a more relaxed, yet still refined atmosphere. 360 Fairfield Ave #2, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-337-9944 More East Coast vacation ideas. -- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut this Weekend with Friends" -- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut this Weekend with Friends" Back to Top 5. The Adventure Park at The Discovery Museum The Adventure Park at The Discovery Museum Adventure Park is a zip line and climbing park within Bridgeports Discovery Museum. The park is home to 11 treetop trails, each of which consists of nearly 200 platforms. Each platform is installed at various heights throughout the forest, and they are connected between trees by various cables. Once visitors are safely harnessed and connected to the cables, they are able to slide along the cables from platform to platform. Additional obstacles made from wood and rope add additional challenging elements to the course. Visitors receive orientation and safety training, but the course is predominantly independently led, promoting self-discovery along the trail. Courses are divided by age and challenge level to ensure that Adventure Park is compatible with a variety of skills and abilities. 4450 Park Ave, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-690-1717 You may also like: 20 Best East Coast Honeymoon Vacations. -- You are reading "What to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut this Weekend" -- You are reading "What to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut this Weekend" Back to Top 6. Duchess, Bridgeport, Connecticut Duchess Replete with classic American fare, Duchess is a breakfast, lunch, and dinner oriented fast food establishment located just outside of downtown Bridgeport. This casual eatery is known for its traditional American perspective with classic favorites filling the menu. Despite an orientation towards casual comfort food and a shop wide emphasis on speed, the restaurant is focused on providing high quality meals with fresh ingredients. Duchess is fast food casual, with counter based ordering and self-clearing, and it features a bright and cheerful family friendly interior typical of a fast food establishment. 35 Boston Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-333-2733 -- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in Bridgeport, Connecticut" -- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in Bridgeport, Connecticut" Back to Top 7. Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut: The Barnum Museum The Barnum Museum The Barnum Museum, located in downtown Bridgeport, is dedicated to demonstrating the historical significance of the city of Bridgeport and the story of local citizen P.T. Barnum. Barnum, who is known for his contribution to American business and showmanship, is also the founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. The museum, housed in a historic home listed on the National Historic Register, hosts a series of year-round exhibits and several rotating demonstrations. Exhibits in the museum include both interactive and interpretive features. Visitors can see the authentic belongings of Barnum and a series of artifacts illustrating the history of the city of Bridgeport. 820 Main St, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-331-1104 , From LA -- You are reading "What is There to Do with Kids in Bridgeport, Connecticut" Back to Top 8. Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut: Ralph 'n' Rich's Ralph 'n' Rich's Open for lunch and dinner, Ralph n Richs is a popular downtown Bridgeport institution. Known for its classic Italian fare, the restaurant features a menu with a variety of traditional Italian favorites. Ralph and Rich are staples of the shop, with Ralph running the back of the house and Rich responsible for the front. The environment is upscale, ensuring a classic fine dining experience. With its old school Italian vibes, the shop manages to balance an elegant ambiance with a family style atmosphere. Throughout the week, Ralph n Richs features live music and hosts a small outdoor patio during warm weather months. 815 Main St, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-366-3597 Also popular: 22 Most Fascinating Gardens on the East Coast. 9. Captain's Cove Seaport, Bridgeport, Connecticut Captain's Cove Seaport Captains Cove Seaport is a small, waterfront event and tourism center situated near an expansive boardwalk surrounding Captains Cove Marina. A series of fish fry restaurants, shops, and lively bars comprise Captains Cove Seaport, and visitors can snack on casual meals, sip drinks, and visit the gift shops while perusing the 350-boat slips surrounding the small complex. Throughout the year, visitors are able to take in live music and special events, all of which are advertised on Captains Cove Seaports website calendar. Additionally, various boat charters, including sports fishing, sunset cruises, and kids based sailing school, are available in the Marina. 1 Bostwick Ave, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Phone: 203-335-1433 More places to visit: 25 Best Things to Do in New Haven, Connecticut. -- "Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" -- "Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" Back to Top 10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut You are reading "10 Best Things to Do in Bridgeport, Connecticut " Back to Top New Braunfels, TX, founded by German settlers in 1845, boasts an old world heritage that combines perfectly with its small town charm. Located in the heart of the Texas Hill country, this small town offers a diverse range of activities, attractions, and entertainment. Comal River provides most of the water for the water paradise Schlitterbahn Waterpark, consisting of seventy acres of family fun and adventures. A visit to the Canyon Lake is as much fun for avid fishermen as it is for those interested in prehistoric dinosaur tracks. We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times. 1. Landa Park Courtesy of Ruth - Fotolia.com Established in 1898, Landa Park has been a popular urban oasis for locals and tourists ever since. Situated on 51 acres along the river, this large park has a range of facilities that offer entertainment and recreation for all generations. There is a large swimming pool, paddle boats on the lake occasionally filled with trout, a lovely picnic area in the shade of ancient oaks, a miniature train that crosses the park from end to end, a mini golf course and a maxi 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and two scenic hiking trails the Panther Canyon Nature Trail and the Harry Landa Tree Trail. William and Dolores Schumann Arboretum will delight nature lovers with 96 species of trees. 164 Landa Park Dr, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-221-4350 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 2. Schlitterbahn Waterpark, New Braunfels, TX Courtesy of MariaBobrova - Fotolia.com Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels is spread over 65 acres on the scenic banks of the Comal River. Actually, most water in this spectacular water park comes from the river. This family-owned resort and water park has been recognized for the last 15 years as being the best waterpark in the world, creating new attractions every year. It has more than three miles of tubing adventures, seventeen water slides, seven childrens playgrounds on the water, the first surfing machine in the world, and three water coasters that coast uphill. The resort has a range of accommodations and various restaurants, but you can bring your own goodies and have a picnic as long as you do not bring alcohol. 400 N Liberty Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-625-2351 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 3. McKenna Children's Museum McKenna Children's Museum McKenna Children's Museum offers kids interactive, hands-on exhibits that focus on culture, technology, and space with a goal of encouraging and unleashing learning and imagination. The range of exhibits is enormous, and there is something for everyone. The activities are linked to scenarios of everyday life that kids can explore, such as the Lend a Hand Ranch, Grocery Store, Outside the Lines Art Studio, Tot Spot, Destination Space, and so much more. Destination Space is particularly popular because it takes the kids out of their own world into another. They learn fun facts about space, have a light and music adventure, and even dress in special clothes for their space exploration. In the Grocery Store, they play at running a store and learn to count and speak Spanish. At McKenna Hospitable, they learn about what goes on in hospitals, in patient rooms, or in an ambulance. The Under the Comal River Exhibit teaches kids about creatures living in rivers and other waters. 801 W San Antonio St, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-606-9525 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 4. Downtown New Braunfels Downtown New Braunfels Exploring New Braunfels is fun it is such a quirky mix of residential homes, beautiful historic buildings, great shops, museums, restaurants, and entertainment venues. You will find Naegelins, the oldest Texas bakery here, and Henne, the oldest Texas hardware store. During the last 40 years, the city put a lot of effort and love into making downtown and Main Street the way it is now. The area stretches from Seguin Avenue from one underpass to another and across ten blocks of San Antonio Street until it meets the Main Plaza with its lovely old fountain, sculptures, music pavilion, and meticulously landscaped grounds. Here, you can watch the parades and the Christmas Festtage, and listen to all kinds of concerts. -- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas this Weekend with Friends" -- You are reading "Fun Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas this Weekend with Friends" Back to Top 5. Canyon Lake, New Braunfels, TX Courtesy of rbryan - Fotolia.com About half way between Austin and San Antonio and less than 14 miles from New Braunfels, Canyon Lake is one of the deepest lakes in Texas. It is popular with fishermen, boaters, and everyone who likes spending a hot summer day on the water. The lake is located on the Guadalupe River and offers 80 miles of scenic shoreline. Five communities are located around the lake, and you can also find a busy marina and two yacht clubs. Eight public parks, managed by The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, offer picnicking areas, boat ramps, and camping. Below Canyon Dam, you can go tubing down the Guadalupe River. You can also explore the Canyon Lake Gorge with 100 million years old fossils and dinosaur tracks. -- You are reading "What to Do in New Braunfels, Texas this Weekend" -- You are reading "What to Do in New Braunfels, Texas this Weekend" Back to Top 6. Comal River Comal River Fed by natural springs coming from the Edwards Aquifer, the Comal River was for a long time the main attraction that drew tourists to New Braunfels. From the aquifer, the river flows through scenic Landa Park and passes through Downtown New Braunfels and nearby Schlitterbahn Waterpark until it eventually merges with the Guadalupe River. The water temperature is constantly 70-72 degrees, making it pleasantly refreshing during the hot Texas summer and warm enough for a swim in the winter. Nobody can come to New Braunfels without experiencing the most popular activity on the Comal River tubing. Tubes can be rented from one of several outfitters all you need is your bathing suit. You can also enjoy the river by renting a paddleboat or a canoe at Landa Park. -- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "Top Romantic Tourist Attractions in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 7. Landa Falls, New Braunfels, TX Courtesy of Jacob Lund - Fotolia.com No visit to New Braunfels can end without at least one tubing trip down Comal River. One of the most popular tubing outfitters is Landa Falls, located on the river bank at the Wurstfest grounds. They offer one of the longest floats, and the portion of the river where they operate is less steep, making the trip slower and more suitable for children. Landa Falls offers tubes without or with bottoms, cooler tubes, and combination cooler and tube. They also provide life vests free of charge. Their free air-conditioned shuttle bus will take you back to the grounds where you can have a nice picnic on the lovely manicured grounds of the Wurstfest festival, or, if you did not have enough, you can even go on another tubing trip down the river free of charge. Landa Park Drive, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-387-4408 , From LA -- You are reading "What is There to Do with Kids in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 8. Texas Tubes, New Braunfels Courtesy of BillionPhotos.com - Fotolia.com Tubing down Comal River is a popular activity in New Braunfels. The constantly pleasant water temperature makes this activity possible year around, and some people can never get enough. To accommodate them, Texas Tubes Outfitters, located in downtown New Braunfels on the banks of the Comal, offer day passes, which allow tubers to use a return shuttle throughout the whole day. So, up and down they go, down the river, up in the shuttle, in one of the bottomless or bottomed tubes with or without cooler. Most people rent the tube with a cooler or bring their own drinking is allowed on Comal, and people take advantage of it. Life vests are optional and free of charge, but even with a vest, drinking too much on the water is not a good idea. 250 Meusebach Street, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-626-9900 9. Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo, New Braunfels, TX Courtesy of pegbes - Fotolia.com What started in 1967 as the popular Snake Farm became a fully accredited zoo in 2012. It still has lots of snakes and gators, but it now also boasts more than 500 different animals, most of which are rescues. You can come and see primates such as cute capuchin monkeys, exotic birds, cats, longhorns, and much more. Visitors can watch animal feeding or even handle snakes at specific hours. Feeding the wild animals is not allowed, but there is a nice petting zoo where kids can enjoy handing out snacks to the animals. The zoo encourages adoption of animals by asking for financial assistance in feeding them, and they stress animal care, conservation, and environmental stewardship. 5640 Interstate 35 Frontage Rd, New Braunfels, TX 78132, Phone: 830-608-9270 -- "Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" -- "Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" Back to Top 10. New Braunfels Farmers Market Courtesy of Dani Vincek - Fotolia.com The New Braunfels Farmers Market is more than just a place to find fresh produce. Every Saturday, vendors from all over the area gather and sell everything from fruits and vegetables to pizza, chocolate, baked goods, meats, and cheeses. You can also find hand-made goods such as accessories, toiletries, and household products made from high-quality natural ingredients. Live entertainment and celebrations are often offered. Check the farmers market website for information on what is being offered each week. The market is open from 9am to 1pm every Saturday, rain or shine. 186 S Castell Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130 11. Natural Bridge Caverns, New Braunfels, Texas Natural Bridge Caverns Natural Bridge Caverns offers a variety of outdoor adventures and fun for the whole family. Guests can see the beautiful stalactites, stalagmites, and rock formations of the caverns 180 feet below ground. Alternatively, they can climb to the top of a 60-foot obstacle course and take the zip line back down with the Canopy Challenge. Gem and fossil mining is also available. After all the fun, guests can grab a bite to eat at the on-site cafe or pick up a gift in the souvenir shop. All activities are appropriate for both children and adults. The caverns are open daily except for major holidays. 26495 Natural Bridge Caverns Road, Natural Bridge Caverns, TX 78266, Phone: 210-651-6101 -- "New cool stuff to do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- "New cool stuff to do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top or Romantic Getaways 12. Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre Courtesy of Andriy Bezuglov - Fotolia.com The Brauntex originally opened in 1942 and operated as a movie theatre for decades. In the late 1990s, citizens of the city came together to raise money to preserve the theater and make it into a performing arts center. Today, the Brauntext is one of the premiere destinations for performance arts in the area. The venue seats 605 and combines modern technology with the art-deco style of the past. Country music singers, bands, comedians, and plays are just some of the shows that come to the Brauntex each year. Tickets can be purchased online or at the theatres box office. 290 W San Antonio St, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-627-0808 13. Stars and Stripes Drive-In Theatre Stars and Stripes Drive-In Theatre Its a blast from the past on the Texas prairie! The Stars and Stripes is one of the few remaining drive-in movie theatres in the United States. This family-owned and operated establishment is open Friday through Sunday year-round, rain or shine. Three huge screens show three different films each night. Tickets are issued for a double feature, so patrons get two films for the price of one! In addition to movies, the drive-in has a 50s themed cafe with affordable snacks such as burgers and fries, corn dogs, funnel cakes, and, of course, popcorn! Tickets can be purchased at the theatre or online. 1178 Kroesche Ln, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-620-7469 (SHOW) | 830-626-1956 Office 14. Spass Walking Tours, New Braunfels, TX Spass Walking Tours Experience all the historic and cultural sites of New Braunfels up-close, in person, and on foot! Spass Walking Tours offers a variety of easy walking tours to help visitors get the most out of their trip to the city. Guests can tour the historic sites of the town or take a walk downtown and discover the magnificent art murals there. There is also a downtown scavenger hunt for friends or teams. There are even tours that include food and drink samples! Tours vary in length and price and can be set up in advance. (Phone: 830-660-7263) 15. Hill Country Craft Beer Trail Courtesy of Joshua Rainey - Fotolia.com The Hill Country Craft Beer Trail offers guests a taste of Texas, one sip at a time. The Hill Country boasts an impressive number of breweries, and travelers can experience all or a few of them on a craft beer tour. Tourists ride on a comfortable shuttle bus with complimentary food and drinks through the beautiful Texas countryside, stopping at breweries along the way. Tours vary in length from as few as three breweries to as many as eight. Tours can be booked in advance by phone or online. The Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce, Inc., 390 S. Seguin Ave., New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-625-2385 | 800-572-2626 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top or Amazing things to do around me 16. The Sophienburg Museum The Sophienburg Museum The Sophienburg Museum is dedicated to the history of early German settlers of the central Texas area. Guests to the museum will follow the journey of Prince Carl and his settlers as they make their way from Germany to the United States and then into what was then called Indian Territory. Exhibits feature historical artifacts, photographs, and maps of the area then and now. The museum also serves the community by offering lectures, events, and research materials. 401 W. Coll St., New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-629-1572 17. The New Braunfels Railroad Museum The New Braunfels Railroad Museum Explore the history of the railroad in Texas at the The New Braunfels Railroad Museum. The members of the NBHRMS have restored the International & Great Northern, Missouri Pacific, and Union Pacific depot building into a museum that is open to the public free of charge. Exhibits include a restored Pullman dining car, a 1950 caboose, and various historic train artifacts and displays. Visitors can even take the controls and drive model trains around large displays. The museum also offers train shows, kids fun days, and a library of approximately 600 railroad-related books. 302 West San Antonio Street, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-627-2447 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 18. Faust Street Bridge, New Braunfels, Texas Faust Street Bridge The Faust Street Bridge has been a New Braunfels landmark for over 100 years. This Whipple truss bridge was constructed over the Guadalupe River in Comal County in 1887. The bridge was one of the first toll-free passages across a waterway in Texas, as most bridges at the time were privately owned and operated. The bridge was also one of the first multi-span Whipple truss bridges, and it is one of the few left in the state. The Faust Street Bridge originally carried horse-drawn carriages and wagons across the river before it started transporting automobiles. In 1978, a fire damaged the bridge, and it was closed to traffic. Today, the bridge is open to bicycles and pedestrians. 19. New Braunfels Conservation Society New Braunfels Conservation Society The New Braunfels Conservation Society is a 3.5-acre complex dedicated to preserving the unique history and way of life of the early settlers to the area. Eighteen historic buildings, including a bed and breakfast, saloon, schoolhouse, barber shop, and music studio, tell the story of life in New Braunfels since its founding in 1845. Tours are offered at certain times. The complex can also be rented out for weddings, parties, or retreats by contacting the Conservation Society office. 1300 Church Hill Drive, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-629-2943 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 20. Circle Arts Theatre Courtesy of Tommy Lee Walker - Fotolia.com The Circle Arts Theatre first opened in 1968 and has been providing high quality theater arts and music to the people of New Braunfels ever since. The theatre company has staged over 130 productions and, in their own words, they are dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the performing arts and the affirmation and growth of the human spirit. Productions include dramas, comedies, and musicals. Circle Arts also has a touring youth company and summer theatre camps for kids. 124 Elizabeth Street, New Braunfels, TX, Phone: 830-837-6172 21. Museum of Texas Handmade Furniture Museum of Texas Handmade Furniture At the Museum of Texas Handmade Furniture, visitors will learn about the history of German immigration to the Texas region, and they can view the furniture they specialized in making. The museum was once the home of furniture collectors Nan and Bill Dillen. It now showcases their collection of over 70 pieces of antique Biedermeier furniture, as well as a collection of handmade quilts, English ironstone, and period accessories. A log cabin, summer kitchen, and cabinet shop are also on the property, and they are open to tours. Museum hours vary. Please visit the museum website or call for more information. 1370 Church Hill Drive, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-629-6504 22. Guadalupe Brewing Company Guadalupe Brewing Company Guadalupe Brewing Company in New Braunfels is riding the wave of the lively growing craft beer scene in Braunfels and Central Texas. The owners Kieth and Anna Kilker, who started the brewery in 2011, focus on full flavored, balanced, and drinkable craft beer, using natural, locally sourced ingredients. They use red wheat from Marion and honey from a local Amish community. Their beers are already securing a solid reputation, and they are distributing in New Braunfels, Austin, and San Antonio. They have small but charming tap room and work with local brewery touring companies. Some of the Guadalupe Brewing Company proceeds are donated to Texas wildlife and bee research. 1586 Wald Rd, New Braunfels, TX 78132, Phone: 512-878-9214 -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" -- You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas" Back to Top 23. Downtown Antique Mall Downtown Antique Mall The Downtown Antique Mall in New Braunfels, Texas is an antique lovers dream! The mall is housed in a restored building from the early 1900s. 6,000 square feet of space house items from more than 60 vendors. Items available include antique furniture, depression glass, art, collectibles, vintage memorabilia, books, silver, jewelry, coins, and more! All items are displayed in a clean, well-organized space. The owners are always ready to help collectors find that special item for which theyve been searching. 209 W. San Antonio St., New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-620-7223 24. Prince Solms Park Courtesy of Jana - Fotolia.com Prince Solms Park is the place to be for outdoor fun. This 19-acre playground features lighted basketball and tennis courts, a large play area, picnic areas, and a 9-hole disc golf course. Best of all is the parks access to the Comal River. The Comal is a flat, spring-fed river, which means that the water is always cool and inviting, even on the hottest summer days. Inner tubes can be rented from several nearby vendors for a lazy float down the river. There is also a tube chute, which is a water slide carved into the side of the river dam, and swimming holes upstream from the chute. 25. Texas Ski Ranch Texas Ski Ranch The Texas Ski Ranch is one of the top facilities in the world for water sports. This 70-acre outdoor sports complex offers activities such as wakeboarding, water skiing, boating, and paintball. There is also an outdoor skate park for skating and skateboarding and an indoor trampoline park for those aged 6 and up. Guests can even learn to snowboard here! Activities are available for both children and adults. The ranch also offers private lessons, camps, birthday parties, and after-school programs. The park is open year-round with specific hours for each activity. 6700 IH-35 N, New Braunfels, TX 78130, Phone: 830-627-2843 25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas You are reading "25 Best Things to Do in New Braunfels, Texas " Back to Top Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome! HCM CITY Viet Nams garment and textile exports may increase by 10 per cent this year if there are not adverse fluctuations in the global market, according to the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex). Pham Minh Huong, Vinatexs managing director, said the garment and textile industry earned US$28.5 billion from exports last year, a year-on-year increase of 5.2 per cent. Viet Nam has advantages in making products for middle-class customers. With prolonged economic difficulties in the world market in recent years, the number of mid-end orders also fell, and importers shifted to import cheap products. That is why the industrys growth rate fell last year, she said. But the number of orders increased significantly in the first months of the year, which is a good sign for the industry, she said. Viet Nams garment and textile sector has certain advantages, including diverse products, a higher level of quality and better skilled labour force than countries with a similar development level. In addition, with its steady production, ensured quality and delivery time and services, as well as stable political situation, Viet Nam is considered a main destination for garment and textile products, she said. Pham Xuan Hong, chairman of the HCM City Association of Garment Textile Embroidery and Knitting (AGTEK), told Viet Nam News that many enterprises had orders until the second quarter of the year. Enterprises were linking up each other to fulfill large orders, said Hong, who is also general director of Saigon 3 Garment Joint Stock Company. Hong said Saigon 3 expected to enjoy a growth rate of 10 per cent this year, with Japan being its largest importer. Both Hong and Huong believe that the industrys value addition has been low since enterprises mainly do sub-contracting work for foreign buyers, lack design capacity, and rely on imported materials. Domestic supply for fabric remains modest, Huong said, adding that domestic and foreign firms have invested more in fabric production to meet domestic demand. Speaking at a recent garment and textile conference, many delegates urged enterprises to switch their production methods to FOB (free on board) and ODM (original design manufacturer) to add value to products. "Proceeding to higher production methods to enhance added value in products is an inevitable trend," said Nguyen inh Truong, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association. Businesses should thoroughly prepare for such methods, focusing on material market research and producing on demand from their partners, he said. Some delegates at the seminar said they were afraid that the garment and textile industry would not reach its export target for the year amid drastic competition. In addition, the increase in labour costs has affected the competitiveness of businesses, said Le Quang Hung, chairman and general director of Sai Gon Garment Trading Joint Stock Company. Huong said to retain competitiveness, enterprises need to invest more in modern technology with higher automation features to improve productivity, save energy consumption and protect the environment. In addition, they should develop similar products that compete with countries that have competitive advantages in those items, she said. Besides prices and quality, large buyers also paid attention to environmental requirements of products when seeking suppliers, she said. VNS QUANG NGAI The Japanese J-Power Development Company plans to build a thermal power plant in Dung Quat Economic Zone in the central province of Quang Ngai, the director of the International Development Business Department of J-Power Electricity, Jahana Takashi, told provincial officials on Thursday. Takashi said the company would proceed with a pre-feasibility study on investment in the coal-fired plant, which will be built in two stages: capacity of 2,400 megawatts (MW) in the first stage in 2028, and the second stage with a 2,000 MW capacity for operation in 2030. The plant will use coal from Australia, Russia, Indonesia and Viet Nam. The chairman of Quang Ngai Peoples Committee, ang Ngoc Dung, promised smooth sailing for the project. He said the province has been calling for investment in updated energy technology to achieve green growth and sustainable development. Sembcorp Development, a partner of the Viet Nam-Singapore Industrial Park Group with Becamex IDC, also plans to build a 1,200-megawatt coal-fired plant in the province under a 25-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement. Last month, American Exxon Mobil and the national oil and gas PetroVietnam (PVN) signed a US$10 billion framework agreement to build a power plant using natural gas extracted from the Ca Voi Xanh (Blue Whale) field in Quang Nam Province. The project will supply raw gas for four plants with a total generation capacity of 3,000MW including two plants in the Dung Quat EZ in Quang Ngai Province in the first phase. VNS Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need a transparent business environment and fair competition rather than too much support that could end up being impractical. Photo petrotimes.vn HA NOI Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need a transparent business environment and fair competition rather than too much support that could end up being impractical, experts say. There was general agreement on this issue at conferences held in Ha Noi and HCM City on Wednesday and Thursday respectively by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Central Council of Viet Nam Business Associations. The conferences aimed to gather feedback on a draft law on support for SMEs. Several conference participants said that no matter what the scale, enterprises need to be treated fairly and protected against legal barriers like relatively limited access to preferential credit. SMEs need protection rather than support, said Phan ang Tuat of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, even suggesting that the name of the law should be changed to Protecting SMEs. He also said that using the word support could affect businesses in implementing free trade agreements. Furthermore, the supports mentioned in the draft law were too general and might be impractical given the Governments budgetary constraints, with 97 per cent of the firms in the country calling under the SME category, Tuat said. It will be better if the Government creates a transparent business environment and equal access to bank credit, land and other infrastructure, he said. Truong Thanh uc, with the firm Basico, said all incentives should be considered carefully because overdoing it could motivate firms to become slack and dependent. It is vital to have appropriate policies to encourage SMEs, uc said. Other experts said the criteria for being an SMEs must be clarified to ensure policies benefit the right firms. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, President of ong Nai Association of Importers and Exporters, said that administrative procedures must be further simplified, so that household businesses are encouraged to become enterprises. Lawyer Hoang Van Son also said that studies must be carried out to identify difficulties faced by the SMEs, why they went bankrupt, etc., so that realistic and practical supports can be provided. He noted that while there were a significant number of new firms established every year, the number that were dissolved or went bankrupt was also considerable. According to the General Statistics Office, there are around 570,000 firms in operation nation-wide. PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) decided to make its initial public offering (IPO) this August, the electricity producer announced. Photo cafef.vn HA NOI PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) decided to make its initial public offering (IPO) this August, the electricity producer announced. The amount of shares offered for the public sale accounts for just 3-4 per cent of its capital. It also plans to sell a 45 per cent stake to long term strategic investors this year and can upstake to 60 per cent, depending on the approval of the Government. The total sale of 49 per cent stake could fetch about US$600 million for this power producer. PV Power has met some strategic investors such as VinaCapital Investment Management Ltd., BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, Deloitte, Indochina Capital Corporation and Dragon Capital. PV Power is a member company of the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) and is currently the second largest power supplier in Viet Nam, behind Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN). The corporation has targeted revenue of VN29 trillion ($1.29 billion) in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 9.3 per cent. VNS Social networks now rival search engines as an effective online marketing and advertising channel, gaining a significant market share and raking in huge revenues in Viet Nam and elsewhere. Photo vietnamnet.vn HA NOI Social networks now rival search engines as an effective online marketing and advertising channel, gaining a significant market share and raking in huge revenues in Viet Nam and elsewhere. A report on domestic eBusiness Index prepared by the Vietnam Ecommerce Association (VECOM), says that in 2016, 34 per cent of domestic businesses advertised on social media, six per cent higher than in 2015. In fact, social media has surpassed search engines to become the most favoured online means of advertisement, employed by 47 per cent of total domestic businesses, with search engines coming in second at 41 per cent, the report says. Because it is economical and effective, social network marketing has been growing at a rapid pace with both large corporations, small and medium enterprises and individual sellers using it to good effect. Tran Trong Tuyen, VECOM General Secretary, said that around 70 per cent of individual retailers in Viet Nam run their own advertisements on their Facebook page instead of relying on tools such as Google Adwords. It is estimated that this segment saw revenue growth of around 10 per cent in 2016. Social media advertisement is now seen as a reliable and effective tool, with about 46 per cent of businesses reporting to have successfully reached their desired demographic, compared to the 44 per cent on search engines in Viet Nam. The online marketing field has immense potential for growth, without relying on one particular channel, said Tuyen. Presently, 38 per cent of domestic firms use their own website as their main sales platform while 34 per cent rely on social networks. Experts estimate that in 2017, Vietnamese businesses will spend around US$1.5 billion on advertising, 16 per cent of which will go to online marketing channels. With more than 47 million Internet users and more than 29 million smartphone users, Viet Nam is among the countries with the largest online connections in the region. So online marketing through social networks is an inevitable trend, led by global technological developments, said ang Tien Phuong, Ford Vietnams Head of Marketing. Yet, in this fast growing market of online advertising, only a handful of Vietnamese marketing firms have managed to gain a foothold. At present, household names like Facebook and Google dominate the online marketing scene in Viet Nam, with the majority of advertising fees paid by domestic firms flowing to these companies despite several recent controversies. The report also mentions several downsides to the emerging trend. The State Bank of Viet Nam is working with the Ministry of Finance and General Department of Taxation on stopping tax fraud and illegal transactions via social media, to help the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) manage this lucrative sales medium, said Le Quang Tu Do, Deputy Head of the MIC. In the domestic advertising market, social networks and search engines are followed by email at 36 per cent, online newspapers at 34 per cent, and printed newspapers at 20 per cent. Television lags far behind at around 10 to 13 per cent. VNS President Tran ai Quang (R) receives US General Electric (GE) Group Chairman Jeffrey Immelt in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sang HA NOI Viet Nam welcomes the US General Electric (GE) Groups plan to expand its investments in energy, aviation, and medical equipment in Viet Nam, President Tran ai Quang said yesterday. These are sectors in need of foreign investment, he told GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt. The President praised GEs operations in Viet Nam, saying the group has made practical contributions to economic, trade and investment co-operation between Viet Nam and the US, boosting bilateral comprehensive partnership. He mentioned US President Donald Trump affirmation that he would work to boost economic, trade and security co-operation with Viet Nam as also co-ordinate on regional and international issues of mutual concern. Trump also said he would consider attending the 25th APEC Summit in Viet Nam, Quang noted. He said APEC 2017 presented opportunities for governments and enterprises to strengthen co-operation, suggesting that GE and other US firms continue investing in Viet Nam and pushing the US Government to strengthen win-win economic and trade relations. Quang also called on US businesses to support Viet Nam in hosting the APEC 2017, including funding the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC 2017). He appreciated the letter that GE sent to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, calling on him and the US President to attend APEC Viet Nam 2017. Immelt informed his host that GE has invested in a factory producing wind and steam turbines to supply the groups subsidiaries in Viet Nam and other countries. VNS Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivers speech at working session with provincial officials of Kien Giang Province. VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat KIEN GIANG Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc yesterday advised Kien Giang Province to develop Phu Quoc Island into a unique, world-class tourism and resort centre. This would generate growth momentum for the province as a whole, he said. The island should become a leading model among three special administrative economic zones in the country, the PM said. During a working session with provincial officials, Phuc described Kien Giang as a miniature Viet Nam with an important position not only in economic growth, but also in ensuring national defence, security, and external relations. Speaking highly of the provinces socio-economic development over the past several years, he noted that the living standard of locals had improved continually. He said the province had done well to develop its marine economy, agricultural production and tourism, while maintaining a sustainable development orientation, he said. Phuc said Kien Giang must strive to become a wealthy province based on its natural advantages. It should apply technological advances to tourism, agriculture and aquaculture, as well as supporting and processing industries, he said. Phu Quoc Island should be developed into a precious, big pearl, attracting more investors and providing fresh momentum for the provinces development, he said. He asked provincial authorities to develop breakthrough policies and mechanisms, especially provisions in the Law on Special Administrative Economic Zones, to boost the local economy and ensure residents livelihoods. He said Kien Giang should complete development plans for Phu Quoc with vision extending to 30 and 50 years, ensuring all steps to maintain the quality of its natural environment. It should build modern tourism facilities, diversify community-based tourism, offer tax incentives and encourage investors to join vocational training programmes for local residents, he said. He also stressed that Kien Giang should study economic restructuring in the context of climate change. He asked the Transport Ministry to study the feasibility of establishing a search and rescue centre on Phu Quoc island. Kien Giang boasts a diverse ecological system with great potential for developing agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Last year, it grew 6.57 per cent, higher than the nations 6.21 per cent. Phu Quoc Island has thus far attracted 254 projects worth VN377.8 trillion (US$16.64 billion). VNS The chairman of HCM Citys Peoples Committee, Nguyen Thanh Phong, is seeking approval from the Prime Minister for the construction of the Thu Thiem Bridge 4 project. Photo cafeland.vn HCM CITY The chairman of HCM Citys Peoples Committee, Nguyen Thanh Phong, is seeking approval from the Prime Minister for the construction of the Thu Thiem Bridge 4 project. The city has proposed to carry out the project under a build-transfer (BT) model. The city also asked for permission to select investors among Phat at Corporation Real Estate, Investment Corporation 620, 168 Construction Development JSC, and Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Company Limited (IPC) . The 2.16km bridge, connecting Districts 2 and 7, would have six lanes, with a total investment of over VN5,200 billion (US$2.29 billion). Last year, the city asked the central Government for early implementation of the project, but was not granted permission. VNS HA NOI Seven members of multi-level marketing firm Lien Ket Viet have been indicted by Ha Noi police for alleged fraudulent appropriation of assets. Investigations into the case were completed yesterday. Management board chairman Le Xuan Giang, 46, general director Le Van Tu, 32, and deputy general director Nguyen Thi Thuy, 47, are among the accused. The remaining four accused are members of the business development team, including Trinh Xuan Sang, 42, Le Thanh Son, 29, Nguyen Xuan Truong, 50, and Vu Thi Hong Dung, 42. The seven were arrested in February 2016, accused of swindling some 67,000 people and appropriating a total VN2 trillion (US$88.2 million). Investigations show that Le Xuan Giang paid investors a total of VN1 trillion ($44 million), of which VN870 billion ($38 million) was paid as commissions. The remaining money was divided among the seven accused. Giang kept VN871 billion ($38 million), Thuy kept VN36 billion ($1.6 million), Tu kept VN62 billion ($2.7 million). The remaining four accused received some VN4-16 billion ($176,000-706,000) each. About 9,000 clients of the firm in 49 provinces were interviewed during investigations, the police said. Most of the clients said they were tricked into believing that Lien Ket Viet and the BQP Medical Equipment Group Joint Stock Company founded by Giang were under the management of the Ministry of National Defence, and that Giang was a colonel in the army, the police added. Lien Ket Viet was established in 2010 and obtained a multi-level marketing licence from the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2014. It focused on marketing and trading products under a pyramid scheme. From March 2014 to November 2015, with a variety of tricks which included forging a fake Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister, the firm opened 34 branches and representative offices in 27 provinces and cities, recruiting thousands of clients, investors and sellers. VNS HA NOI The land accumulation process should not deprive farmers of their livelihoods and force them into unemployment, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung said at a conference in Vinh Phuc Province yesterday. The process should ensure farmers benefits, he stressed. The conference in the northern province aimed to find solutions to promote land accumulation so as to reap economies of scale in agricultural production, boosting industrialisation and modernisation of the sector. It was attended by representatives of many localities and enterprises as well as the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Natural Resources and Environment. Representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said at the conference that land accumulation was being implemented very slowly. Scattered, small-sized land lots hindered locals and enterprises from making long-term investments in agriculture, they said. The average land area owned by agricultural households is about 0.46 hectares and each household owns 2.83 lots on average, which is lower than in China and many other Asian countries. They also said that in many cases, accumulated land had not been used effectively. There was a general lack of awareness among officials and farmers on the necessity for land accumulation for large scale production, the conference heard. Speakers also said that land accumulation for agricultural development had not been properly linked with the economy of farming households, co-operatives, enterprises, sci-tech applications and the market. Deputy PM Dung said that the household economy, with scattered and small land lots no longer matched the need to develop agriculture on a large scale with high-quality, competitive produce. Promoting land accumulation and applying advanced technology on large-scale farms would improve the capacity, quality and competitiveness of the agricultural sector in particular, and the Vietnamese economy in general, he added. Dung said the Party and the State were paying due attention to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, as they are the foundation for ensuring social stability, eradicating poverty and reducing hunger, thereby contributing to the nations development. He reiterated that the agricultural economy was a first priority for the State with household economy as its driving force. Over the last several years, there had been many changes in land policies to tighten land-use management, he said. The need for efficient agricultural production should be analysed to find out where land accumulation was needed and where it should be dispersed, the Deputy PM said. We must carefully study impacts of land accumulation on society, agriculture and the environment, especially the relaxation of land limits, to ensure benefits of the State and its subjects, farmers in particular, he said. He urged those attending the conference to find solutions to conflicts between land accumulation and local livelihood stability, and also study effective land accumulation models. After due analysis, measures must be taken to initiate various types of land accumulation and shift to creating jobs and improving lives of locals while ensuring that accumulated land lots have high productivity, high competitiveness, and deliver benefits to farmers, he said. VNS Vo Kim Cu current Party Secretary-cum-Chairman of the Viet Nam Co-operative Alliance had personally signed several documents related to Formosa activities in Ha Tinh Province. Photo tuoitre.vn HA NOI Several leaders and former leaders will be stripped off their Party titles for their roles in the infamous Formosa episode, the Partys Central Inspection Commission (CIC) said yesterday. After a two-day (April 12-13) meeting on disciplinary actions to be taken against people involved in one of the worst environmental disaster in Viet Nam, the CIC said that Vo Kim Cu, current Party Secretary-cum-Chairman of the Viet Nam Co-operative Alliance, had personally signed several documents related to Formosa activities in Ha Tinh Province. Cu was found to be mainly responsible for wrongdoings from 2008-2016, during which period he served as the Secretary of the Party Committee and the Peoples Committee Chairman. He was also found to have committed violations as the Head of Ha Tinh Economic Zone Management Board (EZMB) from 2008 to 2010. His successor at the EZMB, Ho Anh Tuan, also signed illegal documents allowing Formosa to start construction, instead of following the normal procedures. The CIC concluded that wrongdoings by both officials were serious and recommended that Tuans title as Secretary of the Ha Tinh EZMB during his two terms of 2005-2010 and 2010-2015 be rescinded. It also said legal proceedings should be initiated against Vo Kim Cu. Environmental leaders fingered Also yesterday, the CIC affixed responsibilities of former top leaders of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Former Politburo member and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Minh Quang, was held responsible for infringements by the Party delegation to the ministry. Former deputy minister and former Director General of the Viet Nam Environment Administration (VEA) Bui Cach Tuyen, was found to have acted irresponsibly in signing Formosas environmental impact report and loosening inspection work on the groups environmental protection facilities. Another former deputy minister, Nguyen Thai Lai, also acted irresponsibly in examining and signing Formosas sewage discharge licence. Luong Duy Hanh, Director of the VEAs Environmental Protection Activities Control Department, displayed a lack of responsibility when serving as the head of the inspection team on the Formosa project, the CIC said. During his tenure as the VEAs Environmental Appraisal and Impact Assessment Department Director, Mai Thanh Dung, was irresponsible in reassessing Formosas environmental impact report. The CIC said that infringements by the ministrys Party Civil Affairs Committee and concerned individuals were serious. It asked the Partys Secretariat to consider penalties against all three former environmental officials while stripping Luong Duy Hanh of all Party titles. In Mai Thanh Dungs case, the ministrys Party Committee had already removed him from the VEAs Party Standing Committee. He was also demoted from the VEAs Deputy Director General position, and now serves as Deputy Head of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment. VNS This domain was recently registered at Namecheap.com. Please check back later! CEDAR FALLS Jay Edelnants directing career at the University of Northern Iowa began in 1971 with a play based on Joseph Hellers Catch 22. The UNI theater professor admits, I didnt really know what I was doing, and (UNI professor) Stan Wood told me there was no way Id get 35 men to audition for it, Edelnant recalls. But they did, and the production turned out to be a success. It was the first of many successful and challenging shows Edelnant has directed in a career spanning 45 years. Sometimes it seems like 50, he says, laughing. But always willing to take a leap, his UNI directorial swan song may be one of his most challenging ever, Stephen Sondheims musical, Into the Woods. The show will be presented on the Great Hall stage at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. There are only three performances Friday, Saturday and next Sunday. Into the Woods, with book by James Lapin, weaves the plots of such fairy tales as Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Rapunzel and Cinderella into the story of a childless baker and his wife on their quest to begin a family and the witch who curses them. The musical originally debuted in San Diego in 1986 and premiered on Broadway in 1987. It won Tony awards for best score, best book and best actress in a musical and has been revived in a national tour, a 10th anniversary concert, Broadway and London revivals and most recently, in 2012 as part of New York Citys Shakespeare in the Park. A Disney film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Chris Pine and Johnny Depp, released in 2014, earned three Oscar and three Golden Globe nominations. Its a good way to end a big collaborative effort that is kind of intimidating. Its a big Broadway musical except Sondheim breaks all the rules. The second act is so dark and modern and surprising and prophetic, in terms of issues it tackles. Its a great second act, Edelnant enthuses. His Theatre UNI resume includes directing such productions as Tony Kushners Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, the vintage rock musical Hair, Sondheims Assassins and Frank McGuinnessis Someone Wholl Watch Over Me. He received his doctorate from Northwestern University, has served as national chair of the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival and is founding editor of the national theater journal, Theatre Topics. There are more than 30 cast members in the Sondheim show, which Edelnant describes as musically complex, requiring performers to sing, act and move well in what is probably the most beautiful score Sondheim has ever written. This show has asked more from me than any other Ive done, and the music is the most challenging Ive ever had to sing, says UNI student Mick Evans, who is cast as the Baker. Edelnant says all of his cast has stepped up to the challenge, along with the entire production staff and a musical ensemble from the Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rebecca Burkhardt. Moving from rehearsals at the Strayer-Wood Theatre to the much larger GBPAC stage also has presented hurdles. Weve had to figure out how we can fill the stage with our resources. One way is to put the orchestra on the stage and make them the woods, which weve done. It provides a lot of strong, visual elements for the show, Edelnant explains. When it comes time to strike the set, Edelnant will have few regrets. He plans to continue as a freelance director, including offering his services to community theaters. Retirement comes up on you while youre busy and not thinking about it. Then its time to clean out your office and get rid of things. Ive been fortunate. We have a quality theater department and faculty with a shared sense of our educational mission. Traveling for the Kennedy Center, Ive seen a number of different theater faculties at schools around the country, and the degree of hostility and back-biting is eye-opening. So what we have here is pretty remarkable. WATERLOO A Minnesota man who was shot at by drug investigators as he attempted to vacuum up a quantity of methamphetamine in January has pleaded guilty to federal drug charges. Paul Daniel Greseth, 31, of Wanamingo, entered a plea to one count of possession of 50 grams or more of pure methamphetamine in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids on March 30. Sentencing will be at a later date, and Greseth faces 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine. According to court records, agents with the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement had been investigating Greseth after intercepting 200 grams of meth in West Union. Undercover operatives set up a transaction that was supposed to take place in Waterloo on Jan. 22. Greseth allegedly designated a Logan Avenue car wash as the meeting point, and when marked sheriffs department squad cars began to pull up, he opened the drug packaging and tried to use the car wash vacuum cleaner to suck up the meth. When Greseth failed to respond to orders to show his hands, a DNE agent fired his pistol twice. No one was struck, and a struggle ensued until Greseth was handcuffed. Authorities found 440 grams of meth in and around the vehicle. According to court records and hearing testimony, a month before the shooting Greseth had been involved in a car chase in Minnesota where police found a discarded handgun along the pursuit route. CHARLES CITY State prosecutors have asked the Iowa Supreme Court to reverse a Charles City mans 2016 conviction for sexual abuse of a teen boy. Doug Lindaman, a former attorney, defended himself against accusations he touched the genitals of two teen brothers in 2011 while they were working at his farm. The problem with Lindamans conviction occurred when he was allowed to represent himself at trial without knowingly waiving his right to have an attorney, Iowa Assistant Attorney General Genevieve Reinkoester said in a court motion. In it, Reinkoester said Judge Gregg Rosenblatt did not conduct the required questioning of Lindamans decision to represent himself until midway through the trial. At that point, the state had already presented its evidence. Because the district court failed to conduct an adequate inquiry to determine if (the defendants) attempted waiver of his right to counsel satisfied constitutional requirements, the district court committed reversible error, Reinkoester said. Because defendants Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated, he is entitled to a new trial. The jury deliberated three and a half hours before finding Lindaman guilty of felony third-degree sexual abuse. He was sentenced to serve up to 10 years in prison. An appeal filed by an attorney Lindaman hired after the conviction says Lindaman didnt have experience in criminal law and he hadnt had a licensed to practice law since since 1989. The Iowa Attorney Generals Office does not often lobby for convictions to be reversed, perhaps requesting a few reversals a year, said Spokesman Geoff Greenwood. Its very rare, but it does occur occasionally, he said. Lindamans attorneys, State Appellate Defender Mark C. Smith and Stephan J. Japuntich, an assistant state appellate defender, did not respond to a phone message left Friday seeking comment. The issue of whether Lindman knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived his right to counsel was one of the issues Smith and Japuntich raised in his appeal. In addition, they argued the court erred in not allowing jury instructions proposed by Lindaman and for letting the state call a forensic interviewer provide testimony. The request by the Iowa Attorney Generals Office did not weigh in on the jury instructions or forensic interviewer, saying the alleged improprieties of the waiver to counsel were enough to reverse the conviction. If granted, the case would be sent back to Floyd County District Court to be retried or dismissed. CEDAR FALLS Alberto Sveum has done everything he can to make his voice heard by elected officials. Hes written letters, made phone calls and attended rallies. The University of Northern Iowa student stepped up his efforts Friday by making an in-person stop at U.S. Rep. Rod Blums Cedar Falls office to show his support for Planned Parenthood and womens reproductive rights. You can only send so many letters and get so many not personalized responses to those letters before you say, OK, we need to do something. We need to get out there, and we need to make a difference physically, actively, Sveum said outside Blums office Friday. But once again, he got a non-personalized response. A half-dozen Planned Parenthood supporters found their planned protest had no audience. A note on the door explained the offices staff was in Bremer County and suggested visitors leave a message. Anna Nett, also a UNI student, made sure to leave her message. The students were members of UNI Students Together for the Advancement of Reproductive Rights. The protesters are concerned actions taken in Congress to attack family planning and Planned Parenthood will lead to a reduction in womens health care. Some lists circulating about health providers that could be used in lieu of Planned Parenthood recommend dentists or optometrists. Blum, a Republican, has been clear in his opposition to abortion. He also has supported efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Congressman Blum supports womens health and backs redirecting tax dollars to organizations like community health centers instead of funding abortion providers with taxpayer money, Paul Smith, Blums chief of staff, said in a statement. Smith pointed to a list of alternative health organizations that included more than 200 medical clinics. Congress already forbids federal money from paying for abortions, but it has funded other womens health services provided by Planned Parenthood through Medicaid. Protesters stopped at Blums office Friday because Congress is on recess and members are back in their districts. Blum was in Waverly about the time the protesters showed up. He does plan four town hall meetings next month. Were going to keep fighting, said Erin Cubit, advocacy strategist for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Planned Parenthood Voters of Iowa. Were going to keep having our voices heard. ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Vice President Mike Pence will begin his highly-anticipated trip to Asia Saturday as tension continues to build on the Korean peninsula, with North Korea vowing to continue its provocative campaign to test and advance its nuclear program. Pence, on his first official visit to Asia as vice president, will visit South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Australia before stopping in Hawaii on the return leg of his 10-day trip. The most important message from the vice president on behalf of the president is that we have an ironclad commitment to stand with our allies in the region, in their defense, Pence Press Secretary Marc Lotter said in an interview on ABCs Powerhouse Politics podcast ahead of the trip. The stop in South Korea, where Pence will spend Easter Sunday with American and South Korean troops and hold a bilateral meeting with Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, comes as North Korea celebrates the 105th birthday of founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the countrys current leader Kim Jong Un. Pence will reaffirm the United States commitment to the ironclad U.S.-South Korean alliance, a senior administration official told reporters ahead of the trip. We're going to continue to consult with the Republic of Korea on North Korea's efforts to advance its ballistic missile and its nuclear program, the official said. While Pyongyangs behavior riled the Obama administration, North Korea has taken an even more aggressive posture in the region in recent months, conducting several missile and rocket engine tests since the start of the year. President Trump has responded with a series of remarks condemning the actions, saying North Korea "is looking for trouble" in a recent tweet and telling reporters on Thursday: "North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of." In a recent interview with the Associated Press, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol accused President Trump of creating a vicious cycle of tension in the region, and making trouble with his aggressive tweets. "Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words," Han said. "So that's why. It's not the DPRK but the U.S. and Trump that makes trouble." The White House has prepared for the possibility of another North Korean nuclear test during the vice presidents visit to South Korea this weekend. While Pence will discuss regional security at other stops in Japan, Indonesia and Australia, he will also focus on trade and economic issues, and meet with business leaders throughout the trip. In Japan, Pence will kick off economic talks first announced by Trump and Japanese President Shinzo Abe after their February summit. Pence's visit to Australia, a close U.S. ally, comes after Trump criticized an Obama-era deal between the two countries to resettle refugees. Trump discussed the agreement to resettle asylum seekers held in Australian processing centers with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a 25-minute phone call in the first days of his administration. According to the Washington Post, Trump told Turnbull on the call the refugee agreement was the "worst deal ever." Turnbull called the conversation with Trump frank, while White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president had a "very cordial" discussion with the Australian prime minister. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A startup needs to test an idea quickly. For this, an MVP is created. MVP, Minimal Viable Product a test version of a product or service with a minimum set of functions (up to one or two), which allows you to see the product's value for consumers and the market. MVP is created to test hypotheses and check the viability of the intended product: is it worth developing the project further, what changes should be made? The sooner a startup brings its MVP to market and tests the idea, the better. This article will look at how no-code technology can help founders achieve their business goals. This article will try to cover everything that a founder needs to know about no-code at the initial stage of creating a startup. What is no-code? No-code, zero-code platform is a tool for creating websites, applications, chatbots, and other programs without the need for direct code writing by programmers. No-code is a valuable alternative to traditional development. No-code is confused with low-code, but there is a difference in these terms. Low-code includes no-code and the ability to "finish code", add parts of code and the functionality. A user of a no-code platform usually does not need to know layout, programming languages, or hire a team of programmers. The user of the no-code tool creates an application using a visual block constructor, which he fills with the necessary content and functions, and the no-code platform itself does the processing of requests, compiling the application and other "magic." It generates code using AI and/or contains blocks of code pre-written by programmers. No-code allows the startup founder to create an MVP himself, entrust it to his employee with basic technical literacy and understanding of the project, or hire a no-code developer. Even in the case of hiring a no-code developer, the cost of creating an MVP will be significantly lower than with classical development with programmers. For example, you can read the interview of a startup and no-code developer on our website, who initially worked as a Product Manager and was able to master no-code for his project himself. Benefits of no-code for a startup founder There are the following key advantages for a startup founder in using no-code technology: a large selection of no-code tools, platforms, and their integrations at the moment already in 2022, there are many tools and platforms for creating an MVP, a larger project, or even a finished product on no-code, but few people still know about them, and others are far from all startups and founders use their potential; cost no-code development saves the money by speeding up the development process, not hiring professional programmers or no need to maintain a developer department, monitoring functions and quick bug fixes, avoiding or reducing the growth of technical debt; speed is the main advantage over classical development no-code allows you to build a simple application in a weekend, and a more complex one can be built in a month. In this way, you can test an MVP and even several versions of an MVP very quickly; low entry threshold to master a no-code platform, you often do not need technical education at all, but only an understanding of a company's business processes or product from the inside. In the case of pro-level no-code platforms, technical education is required, but you can get used to it hundreds of times faster than with any programming language. This makes no-code available to almost everyone who wants to work with technology; ease of use no need to write hundreds of code lines just move the blocks and assign links between them. Work on a project can be entrusted to your employee without communicating with a team of third-party developers. You can speak "in your language" without the need to understand the "inner kitchen" of developers; flexibility with the help of no-code, it is easy for a startup founder to add new functionality and new features right during a project or a MVP testing without a significant increase in development costs. Possible disadvantages of no-code for a startup founder As often, any property can be, under certain conditions, both a disadvantage and an advantage. In no-code, many of the benefits with the wrong choice of tool can turn into disadvantages: no-code is not always a budget solution for a project. Sometimes in a no-code development package, you get unnecessary functions and additions (on AppMaster.io you can separately connect the frontend and pay only for the backend or only for those functions that you are using); if you do not understand the needs of your project, then you can make a mistake with the choice of a no-code tool and not be able to implement the necessary functions on it, or it will be too difficult to implement them; often, no-code tools fail to ensure proper data security and contribute to data leakage (but AppMaster.io allows you to host a finished application on any server); no-code tools often do not provide the ability to upload source code or provide uploading in an inconvenient format, which makes it difficult to move to another tool or to your development. You have to choose a no-code tool "once and forever immediately" (AppMaster. io gives you the ability to download the source code. Also, we generate human-readable code and you will not have any difficulties with its transportation); most no-code tools on the market are not suitable for creating a finished product, and there are significant difficulties with scaling the project if the MVP is successful (AppMaster.io is a professional no-code platform and our capabilities allow us to implement and support the finished product and scale it in the future). Forewarned is forearmed. Choose your no-code tool wisely and take full advantage of your choice. Types of no-code platforms Conventionally, all no-code tools can be divided into several types: no-code devices with a low entry threshold (you can create frontend and not very powerful backend on them), integrators that help connect applications and services, and professional no-code platforms (they strive to replace the code completely, provide the ability to create a robust backend and high bandwidth). The basic principle of operation of your MVP and the choice of a no-code platform depend on such a conditional division into types. For example, if you make a simple application like a diary, you can limit yourself to a no-code tool with a low entry threshold and a beautiful design. If your application has powerful potential, high bandwidth, multi-user interface, and works with large amounts of data or real-time data, it is better to choose a professional no-code platform like AppMaster.io or Direcual. If you use several services at once, link them on integrators like Integromat and Zapier. Adalo An easy-to-learn designer with a relatively user-friendly interface. The free version is helpful for learning. The free version contains Adalo watermarks and does not allow you to upload your applications to GooglePlayMarket and AppStore. Beginners often choose this no-code platform to create their first applications with simple logic. Bubble It will take more time to learn Bubble , but the platform allows you to work with the backend, databases, business processes, and layout. There are many plugins. The free plan allows you to master the tool, and you can start developing at the middle rate. The price increase is due to the rise in the number of users. Integromat It is an integrator. Experts talk about it as a simple and affordable platform for linking applications and services. Scenarios can be created personally, or you can use templates. If you need to connect an application with a service not from the Integromat database, fill out the form and connect to its API via HTTP. Zapier This is an integrator for linking applications with each other or with other external services. You can transfer data between thousands of applications. There is a script constructor (one event starts a chain of necessary actions). Directual The no-code platform positions itself for creating MVP applications (Minimal Viable Product, minimum viable product) and full-fledged applications of finished products. Scenarios are the backbone of the platform. Using scripts, you can automate the backend logic of the application, create and combine workflows. The Directual catalog includes out-of-the-box connectors, HTTP requests, webhooks, database listeners, and integration with popular services. AppMaster.io No-code next-generation platform for creating native and web applications on a real backend. Visual drag-and-drop designer, user-friendly business process designer, one-click app publishing to AppMaster Cloud, or integration with any cloud platform. Push notifications, authorization using social networks. Networks, email, and more. Connect applications to hundreds of services or programmatically access them using APIs. The ability to upload source code and documentation in a human-readable format and transfer it to your servers. Documentation auto-generation. Modern and fast language GoLang at the core. No-code perspectives for startups No-code development is gradually gaining popularity around the world. There are already more than 500 no-code tools for creating websites and various types of applications. According to the forecasts of IT world experts, no-code will develop more and more actively and capture parts of the market responsible for medicine, small online business, small business, and all niches where it is possibly necessary to optimize and automate development processes. The mass shift of businesses and their customers online and to gadgets has increased the demand for the fast and inexpensive creation of mobile applications that would work according to a single quality standard and have a simple, understandable, user-friendly interface. Conclusion No-code is visual programming in the form of a constructor without directly writing code. Usually, basic knowledge in development is enough to build applications on no-code. The logic of no-code constructors is intuitive: the application interface is assembled from blocks, icons, buttons, and text which are connected to the database. Usually, you can choose a suitable template or do everything from scratch. Speed and economy are the main advantages of no-code tools. No-code is suitable for creating an MVP, testing an idea or new features in a product, saving time for solving standard tasks. PRO level no-code platforms can provide you with a finished product, an application. If you don't have an account on AppMaster.io yet, join us. After registration, you will be given a free trial period for 14 days, in which all the basic functionality of the platform is available. It will allow you to learn the intricacies of working with a professional-level no-code platform and understand its potential. I went to Tortuguero National Park last weekend. Shortly after arrival, I saw a bird that had me yelling for Robert to come down from his room in the Casa Marbella and look in the scope. Knowing that I wouldnt yell for him to come quick if we were seeing regular species like the endangered Great Green Macaw, toucans, or even a Bare-crowned Antbird, Robert wasted no time in racing down the stairs. Although the bird in question wasnt the major, mega target known as a Crested Eagle, Robert Dean, the illustrator and co-author of The Birds of Costa Rica, A Field Guide still shared my jubilation at seeing none other than a Ring-billed Gull. Must have taken a wrong turn at the nearest parking lot. That or Albuquerque Yeah, we were pretty happy to see a bird often referred to as a rat with wings (by non-birders of course) because it doesnt usually vacation in Costa Rica. It seems that this and most other gull species of the north arent really into the warm climes and would rather stretch their wings elsewhere. The Ring-billed only makes it here by rare chance, neither of us had seen one in Costa Rica before, and neither have many other people. Im not sure but I suspect that there are less than ten records of the good old seagull (sorry for the bad language) in the land of the Flame-throated Warbler, quetzal, and gallo pinto (aka rice and beans). The high mountains of Costa Rica and Panama are the realm of this royal bird. It was an odd occasion for high-fives and satisfaction at upping the country list by one more bird. That said, if we could have, we would have traded the sighting for that of a Crested Eagle without a second thought because you are still more likely to see a Ring-billed Gull than the rare, resident pseudo-Harpy. Maybe not by much but yeah, I warrant that the eagle is tougher to come by (both Robert and I still need it for Costa Rica). But you cant make trades with the birds. They dont collude to reward or deny us with their presence. Once you connect with a nemesis bird, although it sure seems like they lift the species ban and let us see more of them after that first sighting, subsequent views and ticks still come down to the same set of factors that are always in play. These are: Being in the right place at the right time. eBird helps with this. Knowing how to look for the bird in question. This comes from experience but a good guide also helps. Knowing what you are seeing. Once again, experience, and too much time staring at photos and field guides. Having said your prayers to the birding deities. These vary and depend on your imagination but might take the form of The Feathered Serpent, King Goshawk, or perhaps Lord Gullicus. Always looking. This might be the most important factor to connect with rare birds. Let your birding guard down and some super lost wagtail might take advantage of that critical window and fly on past when you were obsessed with a Pokemon search. Stop the vigilance and the nemesis bird flies (and laughs) behind your back. Cease to watch with an open mind and the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is just a funny looking Pec. We miss the unexpected because we fall into the trap of only seeing what we are looking for. Therefore, no matter what you are doing, or what your excuse, never let the birding guard down! The Least Bittern loves to slip by when you let the guard down. A Crested Eagle is out there somewhere in Costa Rica. The good thing is that as long as the population of the target bird in question doesnt decline, the more you look in the right places, probability dictates that the more likely it is that you will find that bird. At least, I think it works that way. Maybe thats why three nemesis birds show after a prolonged absence? Whatever the case, you wont see any rarities if you dont get out there and look. With that in mind, I better go, I need to stare into the sky from my bedroom window to see if an errant Black Swift is up there in the clouds. After nightfall, I need to listen to the sky, see if I can get lucky with calling cuckoos as they migrate high overhead. I need to put in the time if I am going to connect with a Crested Eagle in Costa Rica Not a Crested Eagle but still a great bird for Costa Rica! Apr 15, 2017 | By David Here's another roundup of what's been going on recently in the 3D printing world, with some brief stories that could have easily passed you by in another non-stop week of exciting developments. 3D printed implant company 4Web Medical has announced record growth for the first quarter of this year, and 3D Systems has reduced the price of its ProX SLS 500 3D printer, and more besides. 1. 3D printed implant company 4Web Medical announces record growth Industry leader in 3D printed implant technology 4Web Medical chose the annual meeting of the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS), held April 13, to announce their record fiscal quarter. The first quarter of 2017 saw the largest revenue since the company was founded in 2008, in Dallas, Texas. Success was mostly attributed to high demand for its Posterior Spine Truss System product line, used for TLIF procedures. Investments in sales and distribution infrastructure also contributed to the record achievement. According to Jim Bruty, 4WEB's Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, "The proliferation of 3D printed titanium implants across the industry has fueled the market adoption of these devices in spine surgery." Increased bone implant surface interface and more volume for bone through-growth were cited as two of the main advantages 4WEB Medicals implants offered over other products. 4WEB is named after the unique geometrical structure that was discovered around the time the company was started, that can be used to make lightweight structures with a high degree of strength. The 4WEB Medical product portfolio includes the Cervical Spine Truss System, the Anterior Spine Truss System, the Posterior Spine Truss System, the Lateral Spine Truss System, and the Osteotomy Truss System. 2. 3D Systems reduces price of its Pro X SLS 500 3D printing system In a move that is intended to encourage more widespread implementation of its 3D printing technology, 3D Systems has announced a 30 percent reduction in the price of the Pro X SLS 500 3D printing system. As 3D printing is increasing in popularity across the manufacturing industry, 3D systems are looking to grab a bigger share of the market. This reduction will bring the total cost of operations for their Pro X SLS 500 in line with similar competing systems, starting at around 250,000. "The ProX SLS 500 is winning deals today because of its superior capabilities; the new price point makes it accessible to additional customers, which we believe will enable us to increase our installed base faster and be more competitive in the market," said Jim Ruder, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Plastics, 3D Systems. The Pro X SLS 500 boasts one of the lowest amounts of waste for any 3D printing system, and automation means that it can produce parts up to 7 times faster than a standard FDM machine. 3. Additive Orthopaedics gets FDA clearance for new 3D printed orthopaedics device The FDA has given the go-ahead for a 3D printed Locking Lattice Plating System developed by Additive Orthopaedics to be used in surgical applications. This clearance will be a huge boon for the company and for the medical world, which has been making use of other FDA-approved Additive Orthopaedics products since the end of last year. Over 300 of their devices have been implanted since the first full commercial launch. The new 3D printed Locking Lattice Plating System is intended to address stabilization and fusion of fractures, osteotomies, and arthrodesis of small bones. According to Greg Kowalczyk, President of Additive Orthopaedics, "We are excited to be one of the first companies to leverage the geometric flexibility, clinical advantages and manufacturing cost benefits of additive manufacturing in the orthopaedic plating market. 4. Autodesk announces end of its Open Source Ember 3D Printer range Since it launched 2014, the Ember 3D printer has been an influential product in the industry, inspiring new companies to develop materials for SLA printing that were previously not possible. Autodesk worked beside several clients to develop new, efficient 3D printing network production processes, demonstrating how 3D print speed can be impacted with a connected system and how it is possible to achieve sub-pixel resolution. Now Autodesk has announced that it will no longer be manufacturing 3D printers, and will be transitioning sales of all Ember consumables, including resins, trays, and build heads, to Colorado Photopolymer Solutions. Part of this range will be a new investment casting resin developed in partnership between the two companies, offering very clean burning and excellent detail in printed parts. Embers Print Studio is also being succeeded by Netfabb. 5. ECU professor 3D prints full-color flowers from the Pocono Mountains Darlene Farris-LaBar, an Art and Design professor at East Stroudsburg University, Pennsylvannia, will soon be displaying her work at a number of locations in the U.S and internationally. She took photos of flowers with a macro iPhone lens while hiking in the Swiss mountain range, using these as the basis for her 3D printed replicas. She has made 60 3D printed flowers, that will be part of an exhibition called A Planet that Dreams at the Eckert Gallery at Performing Arts Center at Millersville. They will also be exhibited at shows in Greece, Brazil and England. Her work was intended to encourage environmental awareness of the Pocono region. 6. 3D printer manufacturer Aleph Objects eyes significant expansion Based in Colorado, Aleph Objects has been experiencing some impressive growth recently, mostly thanks to its award-winning LulzBot 3D printers. Now the company will be expanding its physical footprint and financial flexibility, with the purchase of a new facility and a $3m line of credit with the Bank of West. The LulzBot design philosophy was freedom, getting as many people as possible involved in 3D printing and fast prototyping without any limitations on their creativity. It is this that proved to be so popular with customers, and saw Aleph Objects listed as the United States fastest growing privately-held computer hardware company on the 2016 Inc. 500 list. The new building in Loveland, Colorado, is located across the street from scenic Lake Loveland, and has 3 floors over 6,500 square feet. It features a creative studio for content production as well as numerous collaborative spaces. According to Julie Pettit, Aleph Objects R&D Manager, Additional space will increase our efficiency so we can get next generation LulzBot technology in customers hands sooner. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: Hugo Mercier in Quartz: Its an old trope that humans dont like changeespecially when it comes to their opinions. Ancient Greek philosophers complained about the masses refusing to heed their advice. Scholars spearheading the scientific revolution in the 17th century bemoaned their predecessors stubbornness. And today, everybody complains about their brother-in-law who wont admit his political opinions are deeply misinformed. Some findings in experimental psychology bolster this view of humans being pigheaded. In countless studies, psychologists have recorded peoples opinions on subjects from offal-eating to vaccination, exposed them to a message that critiqued their opinion, and then observed changes in their opinion. Some messages proved to be persuasive and others barely had an effectbut most surprisingly, some strong arguments backfired, with people moving their opinion away from the view advocated, rather than toward it. This is a scary prospect. If being exposed to divergent political views ends up reinforcing entrenched opinions rather than altering them, there will be no end to the current increase in political polarization. More here. Letters to public officials, mined by Forman, reveal that much of the black community did not agree on what to do. No one disputed the facts of rising drug use and ballooning murder rates across the city. Some of the earliest options on the table ranged from decriminalization of marijuana following the lead of white civil libertarians to increased sentences. Many agreed that some measure of punitive intervention was necessary. But how much could be deployed without destroying the body politic or the social ecology of black Washington was anybodys guess. There were also calls for prevention and drug treatment over punishment, targeting poverty as a root cause of crime. A number of local and national civil rights leaders preferred to follow Michigan Representative John Conyerss proposal for an urban Marshall Plan. more here. Winter storm could mean 7" of snow from Aberdeen, 2.5" for Watertown The first winter storm of the season is on its way, and that could mean 7 inches of snow for Aberdeen and 2.5 inches of snow in the Watertown area. Hoj Engineering was recently named the best business for South Salt Lake, UT. Hoj Engineering was started by Henning Hoj as a warehouse crane company and has grown with the guidance of his sons Peter Hoj and Tim Hoj to encompass everything needed to run a warehouse and distribution center. In 2016, the 52-year old company moved to South Salt Lakes new Riverfront development at 3700 S. 700 West from just a few blocks farther south. The Hoj business is a hybrid of engineering, manufacturing, wholesale supplier, installer, and maintenance service. Hoj Engineering provides warehouse equipment (shelving, forklifts, and cranes) and also high tech supply chain solutions to help companies speed up the whole process of filling and shipping orders and inventory. The company has helped other corporations around the globe change the way they do businessconverting to iPads and automation to fulfill orders and track inventory. The interior architecture is as modern as their approach to doing business. About Hoj Engineering & Sales Co. Inc.: Hoj Engineering, based in Utah, with clients throughout the United States, are a leader in warehouse distribution consulting and material handling solutions. Hoj (pronounce Hoy) opened their doors more than fifty years ago as an engineering-driven family business with a mission to change the industry. Today Hoj Engineering & Sales Company operates with 150 employees and over 50 service vehicles. Tim Hoj, CEO of the company, shared that all at the firm are passionate for providing the most rigorous and creative design solutions, backed up by exceptional customer service and friendly, caring people. Hoj Engineerings goal is to extend the boundaries of modern material handling and logistics, one customer at a time. Hoj Engineering specializes in internal logistic design, space utilization, productivity and process improvement studies, and app driven inventory management solutions. The company provides support to the distribution, fulfillment, and manufacturing industries throughout the United States. Some of their satisfied customers include Sparkle in Pink, Pitman Creek Wholesale, Backcountry.com, and CampSaver.com Contact Hoj Engineering at http://www.hoj.net/contact-us/. Media Contact Company Name: Hoj Engineering Contact Person: Tim Hoj Email: inquiry@hoj.net Phone: 801- 938-7282 Address:3960 South 500 West City: Salt Lake City State: UT Country: United States Website: http://www.hoj.net April 14, 2017 Taj Accountants recently opened its new office in East London. Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on Curry Industry Paul Scully MP inaugurated this extended office of Taj Accountants on Valence Road of Tower Hamlets Borough. A dinner party and discussion meeting was held after cutting the ribbon where a large number of community leaders and designated businessman took part. Speakers who addressed the audience mentioned that Taj Accountants and Nurujjaman is now an established name in local community. Integrity, hardworking, client service and passion to serve the community has made this accounting firm unique in its field. They are very closely connected with all the activities within the community. The speakers emphasised that an efficient finance management is the key power of running a business competently and a skilled accounting firm can play a vital role to achieve this. They also said that Taj Accountants can best serve the community in regards to this. Prominent TV presenter Farhan Masud Khan presented the event which took place in the Atrium Hall in East London. On his speech, Paul Sculls MP said that British Bangladeshi businessman are now doing very well in other sectors as well as curry industry. There are now many doctors, accountants, barristers and other successful professionals from this community and Taj Accountants is an prime example of this. The welcoming speech was delivered by Senior Vice-chair of British Bangladeshi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BBCCi) Mr Mohib Chowdhury whereas former President of BBCC, S B Faruque delivered the closing speech. Other guests who addressed the audience included Mayor of Brent Cllr Parvez Ahmed, Commercial Consular of Bangladesh High Commission in London Ms Sharifa Khan, President of British Bangldeshi Caterers Association Yafor Ali, Chairperson of Greater Sylhet Council Nurul Islam Mahbub, Managing Director of ATN Bangla Sufi Miah, Chairman of Wales Bangladesh Chamber Dilabor Ali Hossain, President of Bangladeshi Women Chamber Mrs Dilara Khan, Managing Director of Air Express Travel and Tour Mazirul Haque Shumon, Managing Director of Chef Online M A MunimSalik, President of Bianibazar Trust Muhibur Rahman, BCA leader Nasir Uddin and community leader of France Henu Miah. President Gatwick Bangladeshi and Islamic Association, Founder & Ex-President Zuktarazya Nabiganj Education Trust UK, Founder Director & Senior Vice President British Bangladeshi Caterers Association UK, Abul Kalam Azad Suton said in his speech how he saw Nurujjamanborn and brought up. As an uncle he expressed how proud he was for his achievements. Finally Suton wished Taj Accountants all the best and Nurujjaman should carry on with his reputation for quality services. As a community leader, he promised his support for Mr Nurujjamanand Taj Accountants all way. Director of Taj Accountants Abul Hyat Nurujjaman told that this organisation has representation in every fields of the community. He asked for everyones co-operation and assured that clients will always receive the best service from them. Other guests who attended the event included Senior Vice-president of BCA Mithu Chowdhury, President of Society of Bangladeshi Solicitors Ehsan Haque, Chair of Asian Catering Federation Yawor Khan, Chairman of JMG Cargo Monir Ahmed, BCA leader Mojibur Rahman Jhunue, Maidul Hossain, Community leader and Chairman of Development Council for Bangladeshis in the UK Monir Hossain, Secretary of Chittagong Association Showkot Mahmud Tipu, Secretary of Greater Rangpur Association Shahin Alom and Secretary of Italian Bangladeshi Society Rejaul Karim Mridha. Media Contact Company Name: Taj Accountants Contact Person: Abul Nurujjaman Email: taj.act.pr@gmail.com Phone: 02037595649 Address:69 Vallance Road City: London Country: United Kingdom Website: http://www.tajaccountants.co.uk/ The first is accurate and appropriate, as there are medical treatments for people diagnosed with autism that will alleviate the symptoms of autism (some of which are life threatening... re: children in a boat in the water with no supervision). This will make their lives better without them having to spend hours and weeks and years combating a terribly debilitating condition. If there is medical treatment available for a debilitating condition, is ethical to tell people that there is medical treatment available for their debilitating condition. (Let's just skip past the horrid imagery of a child with autism on a boat in the water with no supervision for the sake of time and trauma.) For the few people who don't see a problem with this or understand why so many of us are so angry, please contrast compare two possible positions here. The first has been espoused by our community for more than a decade, the second is espoused by Autism Speaks. NOTE: Seems like since Mrs. Wright's death last year, Autism Speaks has changed its mission from "It's time to listen," to "It's time to give up." What a sin. Let's live with autism. Cancer. Alzheimers. Diabetes. MD. Raise money and live with it. Disgusting in the extreme. By Ginger Taylor, MS Just saw a new Autism Speaks commercial. The message... This is made all the more important, as an autism diagnosis cuts life expectancy IN HALF. The second is a sadistic, self-serving position, held by Autism Speaks and their funders, that leaves the burden on the child. Yes we could work to relieve the burden on the child via medical interventions based on 20 plus years of research and treatment, but have decided to withhold the information that his burden can be lifted, even in part, and simply make him work to "learn to live with it better." While being fine with the fact that his life expectancy is now the age of 36. I hold that the second position is evil. And Autism Speaks used a child with autism to deliver this message, which is just slimy. If this child was able to participate in informed consent, and was offered three years of ABA (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars), or a treatment for brain inflammation (costing even as much as 25,000) that would take up about a month of his time, each having the likelihood that they would give him the same amount of "progress," in functioning in society, which do you think he would choose? What other medical syndromes do we expect people to, "learn to live with," even though there are proven medical interventions for them and that result in the abatement of their symptoms? "Sorry, Grandma, there are medical interventions that help people recover from stroke, and your broken leg that happened in your fall due to your stroke, but we feel the stroke was naturally occurring, and is now a part of your identity, so we are simply going to teach you how to learn to live with it better. So no meds, surgery or cast for you. Get yourself to physical therapy now. Because early intervention is crutial." It has been widely circulated that since last year, Autism Speaks has ended their participation in the pursuit of treatment research. That the line item has been deleted from their mission, and they are now just another group that advocates for support services for autism (quite a lucrative business these days.) This commercial confirmed that for me. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close War, Terrorism, and the Christian Exodus From the Middle East A decade ago, I spent Easter in Damascus. Big chocolate bunnies and baskets of pastel eggs decorated shop windows in the Old City. Both the Catholic and Orthodox Easters were celebrated, and all Syrians were given time off for both three-day holidays on sequential weekends. I stopped in the Umayyad Mosque, which was built in the eighth century and named after the first dynasty to lead the Islamic world. The head of John the Baptist is reputedly buried in a large domed sanctuary--although claims vary--on the mosque's grounds. Muslims revere John as the Prophet Yahya, the name in Arabic. Because of his birth to a long-barren mother and an aged father, Muslim women who are having trouble getting pregnant come to pray at his tomb. I watched as Christian tourists visiting the shrine mingled with Muslim women. At least half of Syria's Christians have fled since then. The flight is so pronounced that, in 2013, Gregory III, the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, wrote an open letter to his flock: "Despite all your suffering, stay here! Don't emigrate!" "We exhort our faithful and call them to patience in these tribulations, especially in this tsunami of stifling, destructive, bloody and tragic crises of our Arab world, particularly in Syria, but also to different degrees in Egypt, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon," he wrote. "Jesus tells us, 'Fear not!' " Syria's Christians are part of a mass exodus taking place throughout the Middle East, the cradle of the faith. Today, Christians are only about four per cent of the region's more than four hundred million people--and probably less. They "have been subject to vicious murders at the hands of terrorist groups, forced out of their ancestral lands by civil wars, suffered societal intolerance fomented by Islamist groups, and subjected to institutional discrimination found in the legal codes and official practices of many Middle Eastern countries," as several fellows at the Center for American Progress put it. Last weekend, suicide bombings in two Egyptian Coptic churches in Alexandria and Tanta, sixty miles north of Cairo, killed almost four dozen Egyptians and injured another hundred. The Palm Sunday attacks, coming just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the country, led the Coptic Church to curtail Easter celebrations in a country that has the largest Christian population--some nine million people--in the Middle East. A pillar of the early faith, the Copts trace their origins to the voyage of the Apostle Mark to Alexandria. "We can consider ourselves in a wave of persecution," Bishop Anba Macarius, of the Minya diocese, who survived an assassination attempt in 2013, said on Thursday. The isis affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula claimed credit for the attacks. In the past two years, it has carried out a series of gruesome killings of Christians, including the forced march of twenty-one Egyptian workers in Libya, all Coptic Christians, each clad in an orange prison jumpsuit, to a Mediterranean beach, where they were forced to kneel and then beheaded. isis threats against Christians have escalated since a suicide bombing on December 11th at St. Mark's Cathedral, in Cairo, killed more than two dozen Egyptians. After a February attack that killed seven Christians on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the majority of Copts have fled the Sinai, according to Human Rights Watch. The largest exodus of Christians is in Iraq, where the group has been trapped in escalating sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, targeted by an Al Qaeda franchise, and forced to flee by the Islamic State. "There were 1.3 million Christians in Iraq in 2003. We're down by a million since then," with hundreds more leaving each month, Bashar Warda, a Chaldean bishop in the northern city of Erbil, the Kurdish capital, told me last month. He was wearing a pink zucchetto skullcap and an amaranth sash tied around his black cassock. A large silver cross hung around his neck. "It's very hard to maintain a Christian presence now," Warda said. "Families have ten reasons to leave and not one reason to stay. This is a critical time in our history in this land. We are desperate." Last month, I drove to Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and home for two millennia to one of the world's oldest Christian communities. Within days of its conquest of Mosul, isis issued an ultimatum to Christians to either convert to Islam, pay an exorbitant and open-ended tax, or face death "by the sword." Homes of Christians were marked by a large "N" for "Nassarah," a term in the Koran for Christians. Some thirty-five thousand Christians fled. Many of their homes were ransacked and then set alight. En route to Mosul, I passed other Christian villages, like Bartella, that had also emptied. Even gravestones at the local cemetery were bullet-ridden. In all, a hundred thousand Christians from across the Biblical Nineveh Plains are estimated to have abandoned their farmlands, villages, and towns for refuge in northern Kurdistan--or beyond Iraq's borders. "For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians," the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako told Agence France-Presse. The Christian flight has broader implications for the Middle East. "If one of the most important religious groups in the world continues to be forced out of the Middle East, this bodes negatively for pluralism, tolerance, and the ability of the region's people to live interlinked with the rest of the world," the Center for American Progress reported. The status of Christians "is a barometer of whether those of other faiths or no faith at all will be able to live and thrive in the future Middle East." In Erbil, fifteen hundred Christian families displaced by isis now live in shipping containers converted into temporary homes in Ashti-2, a teeming camp with narrow dirt roads. Outside the camp, I met Salam Ablaha, a thirty-six-year-old grocer. An Assyrian Christian, he fled Hamdaniya, near Mosul, in August, 2014. He now runs an open-air stall that sells green apples, tomatoes, mushrooms, lemons, and carrots stacked high on crates. He had a light beard and was wearing a black fleece jacket to ward off the spring chill. His extended family of twenty-six--his wife, three children, parents, and the families of seven brothers--live off the charity from the Iraqi Assyrian Church and his modest earnings. Like many Christians I interviewed, Ablaha has no intention of returning to Hamdaniya. Since the city was liberated, last October, he's been back once to check on his home. The furniture was gone; so were the windows and doors. "None of us want to go back," he told me. "We're still scared of what will happen after isis." There's a widespread fear among Christians about the emergence of a third iteration of Islamic extremism--after the rise of an Al Qaeda affiliate, a decade ago, and isis, during the past three years. Ablaha's brother was kidnapped by Al Qaeda in 2007; he was freed only after the family paid a hefty ransom. "Before 2003, we had a perfect life. I never thought about leaving," Ablaha told me. "But we're a minority. We don't have support or someone to protect us. Christians are now waiting to go to Jordan and from there to Australia. Seventy per cent of the people from Hamdaniya have already left Iraq." I asked if he thought Christians had a future in the Middle East. "No! No!" he said. "By 2020, most Christians will have left Iraq." Bishop Warda was only slightly more optimistic. "We have to stay," he told me. "But how many will stay? I doubt fifty, a hundred, or a thousand families will stay in the end." After two thousand years, the Christian presence would have to adapt to a different role, he said. "We will have to become missionaries." A man died after an argument erupted into a shooting Friday afternoon at Loveman Village in Birmingham. Two scenes are being processed by Birmingham police. Officers responded to a shooting into an occupied dwelling located in the 200 block of Coolidge Courtway at 4:40 p.m. Sgt. Bryan Shelton said another shooting also occurred at 200 Roosevelt Courtway. According to witnesses, multiple males started shooting at each other during an argument. Shelton said the motive of the shooting is still being investigated. A male was shot during the altercation. The victim was taken by car to Princeton Hospital, where he later died. His name has not been released. No arrests have been made in the case as of Friday afternoon. An 18-year-old male was charged with second-degree rape for having sexual intercourse with a juvenile, Athens police said. Officers responded to a call Tuesday from Hometown Grocery on South Jefferson Street about a 13-year-old female who said she was being harassed by a person she didn't know. Officers learned the female ran away from home several days earlier and was staying with Jonathan Alexander Knight at his residence on Gordon Drive. The female told authorities she had consensual sexual intercourse with Knight. Police said it is against the law for Knight to have sex with 13-year-old. Knight was booked into Limestone County Jail on Thursday. Reginald Tiller is serving as acting superintendent of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument (Erin Edgemon/eedgemon@al.com) The sign designating the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument was unveiled Saturday afternoon during a dedication ceremony. Birmingham Mayor William Bell said the dedication was about thanking civil rights leaders for their sacrifice. He said it is also about showing the younger generation that they can make change. In one of his last acts as president, Barack Obama in January signed a proclamation designating the Birmingham Civil Rights District as a national monument. The national monument includes portions of the Historic Birmingham Civil Rights District, including the A.G. Gaston Motel, the neighboring Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the 16th Street Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, the Colored Masonic Temple, St. Paul United Methodist Church and portions of the 4th Avenue Business District. Bell said the Gaston Motel, which is being restored, is where Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders planned the march on Washington and the Selma-to-Montgomery March. Reginald Tiller is the acting superintendent of the national monument. The Tennessee native, who has worked for the National Park Service in Colorado, Missouri, Ohio and Georgia, officially starts his post in Birmingham on Monday. His office is in the Civil Rights Institute. During his tenure with the Park Service, Tiller said he has met people from all over the world who visited National Parks to learn more about the civil rights movement. "We can read textbooks and learn about different things, but I still think American citizens learn best when they go see, touch and feel the history that the National Park Service is preserving for future generations," Tiller said, in a city of Birmingham video. This summer, he said, the Park Service will begin meeting with community stakeholders and residents to develop a plan for the park moving forward. Already visitors can receive a National Park stamp when they visit the bookstore inside the Civil Rights Institute. Saturday's dedication included words from General Charles C. Krulak, retired commandant of the Marine Corps and former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Carolyn McKinstry, 16th Street Church bombing survivor; Odessa Woolfolk, founding board chair of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham City Councilor Sheila Tyson; 16th Street Baptist Church Pastor Arthur Price, Bert Frost, acting deputy director of National Park Service; and others. City Councilor Jay Roberson read the presidential proclamation declaring the Civil Rights District a national monument. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, introduced legislation in 2016 in attempt to have the Civil Rights District declared a national park. Sewell, who wasn't in attendance on Saturday issued this statement: "Birmingham was the epicenter of America's civil rights movement, and the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument recognizes the remarkable contributions made by the foot soldiers and leaders of the movement. We can never repay the debts we owe to those who fought, bled, and died to secure the blessings of liberty, equality, and justice for all Americans during the struggle for civil and voting rights. The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument will help preserve their stories for future generations. I am thrilled at the investments the National Park Service is making in Birmingham as part of the national commitment to protecting the legacy of our nation's civil rights heroes." The National Park Service is partnering with the city of Birmingham to restore the A.G. Gaston Motel to its appearance during the Birmingham campaign of 1963. It will be open to visitors once the restoration is complete. The restoration work has begun, city officials said. Carol Jenkins, niece of A.G. Gaston, thanked the city and Park Service for honoring her uncle's work. "This was their life's work," she said. "Birmingham was their life's work." An April 7 legislative report that detailed Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's affair with an adviser and intimidation tactics used to cover it up led to the governor's resignation and guilty plea to two misdemeanor charges. But as much as he tried, the special investigator and author of that report for the Alabama House Judiciary Committee couldn't shed any new light on who may have donated money to the Alabama Council for Excellence in Government (ACEgov). That non-profit "dark money" group, which had been formed by Bentley, paid for at least part of the salary of his senior political adviser and love interest Rebekah Mason. The word ACEgov appears 38 times in that 130-page report, plus numerous other times in letters and emails attached to that document. Special investigator Jack Sharman, however, wasn't the only one trying to get a peek into the inner-workings of ACEgov and who donated money to it. Lawyers in at least three different lawsuits against the former Bentley administration also have questions: Who donated to that group? How much did each give? And did anyone get special access to the governor if they donated to ACEgov? "I don't think we know anything more about ACEgov than we did a year ago," Spencer Collier, former director of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) who was fired by Bentley, told Al.com this week. Who was Mason working for? Collier filed a lawsuit in April 2016 against ACEgov, the governor, Mason, her company RCM Communications, and Stan Stabler, the man who replaced him at ALEA. The suit, among other things, claims he was punished by Bentley, at the direction of Mason, because he refused to lie to the attorney general's office about prosecutorial misconduct alleged by the defense in the case of now convicted Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard. After his firing Collier became the first person to publicly confirm the long-rumored affair between Bentley and Mason. Collier said he and his attorneys will try to depose, among others, ACEgov officers, Bentley and Mason for his lawsuit. Collier said they want information as to who Mason was working for and whose interest she was serving. "She was paid from so many different sites at different times," he said. An attorney for Bentley's former chief of security, Ray Lewis, says they also want to depose ACEgov officers. Lewis' wrongful termination lawsuit also names ACEgov as a defendant. "Given that ACEgov remains a defendant in Ray Lewis' lawsuit, we are interested during the course of discovery to find out who is ACEgov, who are their donors, and what, if anything, did the donors get in return for their donations," John Saxon also said this week. Circuit Judge Truman M. Hobbs ruled Tuesday that Bentley is protected by state immunity in Lewis' case because he was acting in his official capacity when Lewis claims he was forced to retire. The judge said Lewis' claims against ACEgov and Mason can proceed. But the judge said she can't be forced to sit for a deposition but can provide evidentiary discovery unless she believes it would infringe on her right to herself in other cases. The Alabama Ethics Commission, while earlier finding Bentley probably violated ethics laws, on Thursday announced that it had found no probable cause Rebekah Mason had violated ethics laws. A stay of Collier's lawsuit was granted by another judge after Mason also argued she should not have to provide discovery in the case because of the pending ethics or criminal investigations. Cooper Shattuck Sharman's report to the House Judiciary Committee identifies ACEgov as being among the groups and individuals it says didn't cooperate with the investigation of Bentley. Text messages between Governor Bentley and persons related to the formation of ACEgov "are almost entirely blacked out." Emails regarding Mason's compensation are blacked out. And while Mason admitted to getting $15,000 from ACEGov, that compensation did not show up on the group's IRS form, the report notes. Cooper Shattuck, a former legal adviser to Bentley who helped form ACEGov, denied the group refused to cooperate. "Neither ACEGov nor its officers refused to cooperate with any entity. ACEGov has responded to inquiries and provided the information that it could provide to a number of requesters, including news outlets," he wrote. Shattuck stated that, as previously reported, ACEGov "ceased operations and resolved to wind down its operations." "At that time, it (ACEGove) had around $20,000. There are two pending lawsuits (Lewis and Collier suits) which include ACEGOV as defendant. Any remaining funds will be used to wind down operations, including dealing with these lawsuits. There is less than $10,000 remaining. "Very comfortable" The impeachment report described the formation and purpose of ACEGov. After the 2014 election Bentley "devised the idea of a nonprofit to support his agenda, something he had learned about from other governors," the report states. "He turned to Cooper Shattuck, his former legal adviser, to form the entity and personally recruited Marquita Davis, the former State Finance Director, and R.B. Walker, a (then) Alabama Power lobbyist who planned Governor Bentley's second inauguration, to be involved with the new entity." "Bentley said that this new group would focus on rural healthcare, economic development, small businesses, and foster care, an issue important to Dianne Bentley," the report stated. On Feb. 15, 2015, ACEGov was incorporated with Shattuck, Davis, and Walker listed as the board of directors. Two days earlier, ACEGov's attorney, Greg Butrus of Balch & Bingham LLP, sent a letter to the Alabama Ethics Commission asking whether the entity was "adopting the appropriate measures and safeguards to ensure that it operates in a manner that is consistent with the Ethics Act." On Feb. 26, 2015, Hugh R. Evans, III, General Counsel for the Alabama Ethics Commission, responded in a letter that he was "very comfortable with the way Governor Bentley plan[ned] to establish this non-profit," but cautioned that his letter was "merely [his] informal opinion," which "does not carry the weight of law a formal opinion rendered by the Commission carries." But in a Sept. 30, 2015 letter the new Ethics Commission executive director, Thomas B. Albritton wrote a letter to Butrus expressing concerns about the potential for an ethics violation. "This is to advise that in this arrangement my concern is that the Governor, as a public official, cannot solicit a 'thing of value' from a lobbyist, a subordinate of a lobbyist, or a principal," he wrote. "Contributions to a 501(c)(4), set up at his urging, supporting his political agenda, could potentially in my view be a 'thing of value' to him especially when you consider the word 'favor' in this context and the purpose for which this is being established," Albritton wrote. Albritton suggested ACEGov get a formal opinion. No one apparently sought such an opinion. Redacted In response to the Judiciary Committee's request, the governor's office produced approximately six pages of text messages between Bentley and Butrus, "presumably" concerning ACEGov. "Those text messages, however, have been heavily redacted by the Office of the Governor, and their substance is unknown," the report states. Shortly after ACEGov was formed, Governor Bentley revealed that Mason was going to be involved in it. One Bentley staff member reported that Mason said, "I will be running ACEGov." Available information supports her statement. In July and August 2015, ACEGov conducted polls that Mason provided to Governor Bentley's staff for review and dissemination to the Legislature. Mason recruited members of Governor Bentley's staff to attend events supported with ACEGov funds. ACEGov is tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code SS 501(c)(4)218 and by law is not required to identify its donors, the report noted. "We requested information from ACEGov, including the identity of the donors and attempted to serve ACEGov through its counsel but service was refused." Shattuck responded to questions about the donor list and allegations in an email to Al.com this week. "With regard to the donor list, the IRS regulations that permit the creation of entities such as ACEGOV provide confidentiality for such lists and donations," Shattuck wrote. "When the inquiries about ACEGOV's donors began last year, I asked the donors if they would allow me to disclose this information publicly, and they would not. Therefore, as I have said before, I cannot provide this information without subjecting myself to liability." A lawyer for ACEGov, according to the report, stated "even though we believe that Mr. Sharman is without the authority to issue subpoenas (and no subpoena has been formally served), I have provided answers to the questions propounded a few weeks ago, confirming that there is no correspondence between ACEGov and any public official; there were no payments made by ACEGov to or on behalf of any public official; there were no funds received by ACEGov from or on behalf of any public official; ACEGov did no business with the State of Alabama and received no state funds; and ACEGov has no documents relevant to the impeachment of Governor Bentley." Potential donors ACEGov's 2015 tax return reported $90,600 in contributions. The Office of the Governor produced a "Suggested ACEGov Call List" that Randy Wilhelm, one of Governor Bentley's chief fundraisers, emailed on July 19, 2015, to Governor Bentley, Mason, Shattuck, Davis, and Walker. Wilhelm described it as "a list of solid prospects who can provide $100,000 to ACEGov," according to documents in the report. That list identified eleven contacts. The report stated that the investigation found no evidence that any of the individuals or companies were ever contacted or made donations to ACEGov. Wilhelm had left the list because he was taking a leave of absence to work on another project, Wilhelm confirmed this week. He said he didn't return after that leave of absence. "I wasn't in that loop anymore," he said. Wilhelm said he didn't know if anyone made any calls based on that list or whether any money was raised. But Wilhelm said that everybody seemed to think that ACEgov raised more money than was eventually reported to the IRS. "It was kind of like when they opened Al Capones' vault. There wasn't much in there," he said. Rejections On Wilhelm's suggested list, some of whom he had already approached, were: Mobile businessman Angus Cooper; Rob Burton with Hoar construction; Abe Mitchell; Montgomery-based developers Jim Wilson/Will Wilson; Jim Proctor - McWane Industries; Drummond Coal's Garry Neil Drummond; Clay Ryan - an attorney at the time with Maynard Cooper & Gale; Eason Balch, Jr.; and Grayson Hall/Jeff Rabren - Regions Bank. Wilhem's list further states that Cooper and Burton had "pledged $10,000" and instructs to ask the others for $10,000. Evelyn Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications at Regions Bank, stated in an email to AL.com that neither Hall or Rabren, or the bank contributed to ACEGov. "Regions publicly discloses all corporate political contributions and PAC contributions on an ongoing basis. Regions did not make any corporate contribution to ACEGov," she wrote. Hall was never contacted, but Rabren had been contacted by Wilhelm, Mitchell said. Ryan said his firm declined to donate. "Randy (Wilhelm) did ask me if I thought Maynard would be interested in contributing to AceGov. The decision was made not to participate and I don't recall any other conversations with him about contributions from our firm." A spokeswoman for Hoar also stated in an email this week that neither Rob Burton, nor Hoar, donated to ACEGov. Brown says he never was approached and didn't donate to ACEGov, a spokesman for the Alabama Nursing Home Association stated in an email response to questions. Drummond has died since the list was formed. Proctor said he and McWane declined to donate. "The email was a simple one-line request that we take a call about contributing to ACEgov and no specifics were offered about the purpose of the organization or how its funds would be used. We declined to contribute," Proctor stated in an email to AL.com. Cooper, Mitchell, and Balch had not responded to requests for comment prior to publication of this story. An executive at Jim Wilson & Associates emailed Al.com on Monday to say neither Jim or Will Wison had donated to ACEGov. One more name While not on that list one man who had contributed to both Bentley's campaign and inaugural fund was Franklin Haney, a Tennessee businessman who recently bought TVA's unfinished Bellefonte nuclear plant near Scottsboro. He is planning a $13 billion project to finish the plant. Just the traceable donations from Haney's businesses to Bentley's last campaigns total about $300,000, much of which moved into Bentley's campaign account after the last election was over. Haney's name popped up repeatedly in recent months as investigators and lawmakers have sought to learn more about the money paid into ACEgov. Asked if he also donated to ACEGov, Haney said "I don't think so, but I could have." Haney referred questions to Roger Bates, a Birmingham attorney who Haney says handles any donations. "I'm sure we followed the law," if there was a donation, he said. ACEGov also reported $63,574 in expenses on its 2015 tax return, including $22,500 for "web development, social media content & consulting"; $28,000 for "Polling and surveys"; and $10,099 for "Fundraising," according to the report and a copy of ACEGov's IRS form. The Alabama Electronic Campaign Practices Act Reporting System also reflects a contribution of $2,500 by ACEGov to the Alabama Executive Committee in August 2015. Payments to Mason are not broken out on the tax return. Alabama One Among those who also would like a deeper look into ACEgov and its contributors are a couple of attorneys working on lawsuits involving the fight over control of Tuscaloosa-based Alabama One Credit Union. Bentley and Rebekah Mason were asked last year by the lawyers for former Alabama One CEO John Dee Carruth to reveal who or what is funding the "dark money" group. Bentley, Mason, and the governor's legal adviser David B. Byrne Jr., however, filed motions fighting the issuance of subpoenas that would require them to turn over documents and provide depositions about ACEgov and any discussions the three had about the credit union. The lawyers who represent former Alabama One Credit Union officers state in court documents that the depositions and documents they seek are necessary to prove that the state's takeover of the credit union "was the result of an agenda of and pressure directly from Gov. Robert Bentley and his top advisors." The lawyers stated in their request for the subpoenas that Bentley and Mason, "with whom he was engaging in an inappropriate relationship, directed other agencies of state government to attempt to punish persons who these two considered to be opponents of the governor." "There have been press reports that a party might obtain an audience with the Governor or favorable treatment from him if they made a contribution to his 501(c)(4) 'Dark Money' entity, the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, or ACEGOV," according to the subpoena request. Judges have not yet acted on the request for subpoenas in the lawsuit, which is now in federal court. Bentley, Byrne and Mason in court filings denied the allegations they pressured anyone or were involved in the state takeover of the credit union. Attorneys for Bentley and Byrne wrote in their court filing that they seek improper discovery of documents that are "unduly burdensome and patently irrelevant." Updated at 10:15 a.m. April 17, 2017 to add that an executive at Jim Wilson & Associates emailed Al.com say neither Jim or Will Wison had donated to ACEGov. Thousands of Palestinians meet under the slogan 100 years on, a victorious nation and unbreakable determination. Rotterdam, Holland Thousands of Palestinians from across Europe are expected to meet in Rotterdam, Holland, on Saturday for their annual conference held this year under the slogan 100 years on, a victorious nation and unbreakable determination. The Palestinians in Europe conference which enters its sixteenth year is expected to address a number of issues including the international right of return to Palestine, BDS as well as the present political situation in Palestine. The conference coincides with 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, in which the British government pledged its support for a Jewish national home in Palestine, at the expense of the Palestinian indigenous population. Sameh Habeeb, head of communications at the UK-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) said this conference will highlight the very loud call this year to the British government to apologise for the Balfour Declaration on the 100th anniversary. A campaign started in February by the PRC to urge the British public to sign a petition under the name, The Balfour Apology Campaign . The conference will feature several European Parliament speakers, such as Spanish politician Ana Miranda Paz, Dutch politician and member of the European Parliament Anne-Marie Mineur, Dutch politician Martinus Josephus Maria Tiny Kox, and Irish politician Richard Boyd Barrett. Palestinians in Europe are fully integrated citizens working positively and creatively within the European communities; and at the same time working vividly for the Palestinian cause, Majed al-Zeer, chairman of Palestinians in Europe conference, told Al Jazeera. Amin Abu Rashid, the conferences general coordinator, agrees. It is highly important that the Palestinian narrative is widely spread across Europe. This year, the conference will have three parallel panels. One, moderated by the Palestinian American activist Khalid Turaani, will aim at fostering a stronger European position to end the Israeli occupation by exposing Israels crimes against Palestinians, such as building illegal settlements and the Separation Wall in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is highly important that the Palestinian narrative is widely spread across Europe. by Amin Abu Rashid, coordinator for the Palestinians in Europe Conference In addition, several forums will also take place, including a forum dedicated to Palestinians from Syria. Ahmad Hosain, chief executive at Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, said the aim of this forum is to help Palestinians from Syria to integrate within the European communities, discuss opportunities and challenges; and to utilise their potential, with a parallel stress on their right to return to their homeland, Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians in Europe also use the conference as an opportunity to strengthen social bond, network and foster activism and work in Europe, in addition to making the Palestinian voice heard in international, European and Arab media. The conference will also feature an exhibition that will show images, drawings and handicrafts to highlight vital issues to the Palestinian cause, such as prisoners in Israeli jails, Al Nakbas 69th anniversary, the Separation Wall, the siege on the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem among other topics. A number of Palestinian artists, such as Mohanned Mansour, Hani Abbas, Khalil Abed, Samer Issa and Liana Khadeja, are also expected to participate this year. The first Palestinians in Europe conference was held in London in July 2003, under the slogan We shall not give up the right of return. The concept was an initiative of the Palestinian Return Centre. Later, different European-Palestinian organisations hosted the conference on an annual basis, such as the Palestinian Assembly in Germany, Palestinian Forum in Denmark, Centre for Justice in Sweden, the Palestinian Home in Holland, Palestinian Association in Italy, Palestinian Forum in France, Palestinian Council for Communication in Belgium, Palestinian Coordination Centre in Austria and the General Secretariat of Palestinians in Europe Conference. READ MORE Interview: Palestinians in Europe Last May, more than 15,000 Palestinians attended the 14th conference in Malmo, Sweden. Marwan Al Ali, the head of Adalah Palestinian Centre in Sweden, stressed that the Malmo conference highlighted the historical responsibility of Europe for the Palestinian Nakba and displacement of 1948 and called for Europe to refrain from extending and developing its relation with the Israeli occupation and called to employ the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to pressure Israel to end its occupation and suffering of the Palestinians. The BDS theme is expected to be widely discussed during this years conference. Syrians have woven themselves into the fabric of American society since the late 19th century. Here are their stories. Recently, Ive become fascinated with the history of Boston, Massachusetts, where I was born and educated. Boston is a very old city for the US, at least: the birthplace of the American Revolution, a home to the Industrial Revolution, the city upon a hill. Boston is also rich in immigration history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish, Italian, Armenian, Jewish, Chinese, Portuguese and Arab (largely Syrian and Lebanese) groups all made Boston their American home. Although Id always known that Syrian and Lebanese families had settled in Boston at some point in the past century, there was very little media interest in it Hollywood certainly wasnt knocking on our door. For that reason, many people dont realise how thoroughly Syrians are already woven into the fabric of America. After President Donald Trump halted the resettlement of Syrian refugees and banned Syrians from entering the US, I was deeply upset. I started researching the history of Syrian immigration to the US to prove that Syrians have been here all along and that theres nothing to fear from our community. I searched for Syrians in Boston and, after a few queries, discovered the following photo: The caption read: Hudson Street, Boston 1909. Thats when I knew I had found something incredible. As I kept digging, I learned the following: Hudson Street was the centre of Syriantown or Little Syria in Boston. Staring in the 1880s, it had become a neighbourhood for Syrian immigrants in Boston. It was home to Syrian churches, grocery stores, civic associations and small businesses. The famous writer Khalil Gibran made his home in this neighbourhood when he first immigrated to the US. At this point in my research, I was excited. I pitched the series to my boss as a multigenerational story of Syrian immigration to the US. The idea was to identify a descendant of early Syrian immigrants, a family of more recent Syrian immigrants like my parents, plus a family of Syrian refugees who have arrived since the Syrian conflict began in 2011. I came up with the idea of centring it around Boston and jokingly said we could interview my parents as part of the story, since they live in the area not believing that my boss would actually be interested. She loved the idea. After identifying characters for each of our pieces, we set off for Boston, landing during freezing temperatures in the middle of the New England Patriots Super Bowl victory. The next day, we met Olivia Waishek at her home in West Roxbury, Boston. She has lived in the same house since 1963, when she was forced out of her original home in Bostons Syriantown. Her parents had lived in Syriantown since the early 1900s. In their day, it was a thriving neighbourhood in the heart of Boston. Olivia described what it was like to grow up there and what had happened. As I listened to her, I was taken to another time, another era. I could sense the immense pride she had in being a person of Arab and Syrian descent and how urgent she felt it was to share the story of her ancestry. I discovered the depth of the history of Arab-Americans in Boston. Then it was time to go home to see my parents. As I walked up the steps to my parents house cameras following behind me I felt nervous. Would my mum say something to embarrass me? Would my dad be uncomfortable in front of a camera? Would the whole day be a disaster? My mother had jokingly tried to back out a few days before. But they were great. Growing up, you never really appreciate your parents enough. And it stems from not being fully aware of all they have done for you and all the sacrifices that came with bringing you into the world. All those times I poked fun at my mum and dads accent I was completely unaware of how hard theyd struggled to learn a new language in a new country, far away from friends and family. And I tried to bring the knowledge of those difficulties with me as we visited our last interviewees: the Abdo family. Entering Zainabs house, I wasnt sure who was more nervous: Zainab, the familys oldest daughter, or me, asking a family of Syrian refugees to open up about the tragedy that had befallen them on camera. Zainab gave us a powerful interview. I admired her bravery in starting over in the US and was amazed by the generosity and hospitality of a family enduring such financial struggles. I wish everyone could meet them and be a witness to all they have gone through and how hard they are working to adjust to their new home. Home that four-letter word is really why we produced this series; to talk about this place called the United States that I call home. I now understand that home isnt necessarily where you were born or where you are from. Home is the place where you are made to feel accepted by others in your community where you are most comfortable with yourself and those around you. And that applies to Syrians, too. The US is Olivias home and its all she has ever really known. My parents immigrated here from Syria and decided to make this their home. Zainab fled Syria and resettled in the US, which is now her home. It doesnt happen overnight, but whether youre a refugee or an immigrant, you can make this your home. You just need to be given a fair chance. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Aid workers warn of humanitarian catastrophe as Lebanons army threatens to begin demolition of camps in Bekaa Valley. Beirut, Lebanon Thousands of Syrian refugees in Lebanons Bekaa Valley face displacement as a deadline to evacuate their informal tent camps expires on Saturday. Camp residents within a seven-kilometre radius of the Rayak airbase were given five days to remove their homes following an eviction order delivered orally earlier this week by the army. The move, reportedly taken for security reasons, would represent the largest-ever eviction of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. It would cut a circular swath through one of the most densely inhabited areas of camps in the country, uprooting as many as 11,000 people across at least 92 settlements. Weve been at it since six in the morning, in the rain, says Alaaa Turan, as he and his relatives rip piece after piece from the frame of a tent shelter they once built together in the Salaam wa Makhaba camp, on the outskirts of Dalhamiyeh township. For Turan and his family, this is their third forced displacement since they fled government shelling in Homs five years ago. Its a shame. But if the government tells us to do something, we do it. Nobody knows the reason, he adds, shaking his head. Talib Bizzazi, originally a painter from Homs, is the manager of the camp, and lives several tents over from the Turan family. As camp leader, he received the word instructing all 600 inhabitants to vacate their homes. Someone from the army called me and said, you have five days to get out of here, he says. Then, they came in person the next day, just to make sure we heard. The Salaam wa Makhaba camp, holding about 75 white-faced tarp tents packed wall-to-wall within a dizzying maze of alleys, is among the luckier settlements contacted. The army has simply instructed the Turans and their neighbours to move 500m away, to a vacant potato field owned by the same landlord. But for hundreds of Syrian families with just hours remaining on the clock, its still unclear where home will be next. So far, more than 4,000 people have vacate their land since the order was issued earlier this week. Most of them have temporarily moved into other informal camps around a few neighbouring towns, or into smaller urban centres such as Bar Elias, according to data collected by local organisations. But while local NGOs and aid agencies scramble to pull together resources for the humanitarian fallout of the decision, finding relocation areas that could accommodate the potentially overwhelming number of displaced people has been a tall order. Unlike in other neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Turkey, Lebanon has no formal refugee camps a policy stemming from a complex history with Palestinian refugees and worries that a long-term Syrian presence will disrupt the countrys sensitive sectarian balance. Instead, a sprawling web of smaller informal settlements has been erected across the region on privately-owned land, clinging to the sides of highways, under bridges, and tucked away in the corners of potato fields in the fertile Bekaa Valley. READ MORE: Syrias humanitarian crisis Refugees react to relief promises Further complicating matters, a law was introduced in October 2016 by the Bekaa Valley Governate banning the establishment of any new camps in the region. While the Lebanese Ministry of Interior and Municipalities has given preliminary special approval to the town of Majdel Anjar as a site to relocate the displaced families, none of the aid workers involved were certain where everybody could be settled exactly. The lack of official refugee camps is also an issue, forcing refugees to rent on private land from landlords who often engage in predatory practises. Even in the Salaam wa Makhaba camp, where residents say there have been no issues with the landowners, each household pays approximately $800 a year in rent a daunting sum, since Syrians have no right to work legally in the country. New residency requirements for Syrians enacted in January 2015 have also resulted in most refugees in Lebanon losing their legal status, according to Human Rights Watch. Its all destroyed For the Salaam wa Makhaba residents, the move might be small, but the disruption of daily life and destruction of housing materials, latrines and concrete foundations is not, according to Bizzazi. Look at this wooden, at these toilets, the camp manager says, flailing his arm agitatedly towards the ruins of a razed home at the edge of the lot. Its all destroyed. We can never use this to build again. The proximity of the new settlement to the old location has also raised scepticism among some that the move is really about security. This can be closely linked to the new governments strategy to push people to go back to Syria, making it harder and harder to renew you residency, making it harder and harder to attend school, says Rouba Mhaissen, founder and director of the Sawa for Development and Aid group. The [Rayak] airport didnt just suddenly emerge, it has been there for six years. Mhaissen says the decision has disrupted the work of local organisations like hers, forcing them to halt or abandon new projects for schools and community centres in the camps. READ MORE: UN Number of Syrian refugees passes five million While Syrian camps have been evicted and demolished by the government in the past, aid workers describe previous attempts as ad hoc and scattered. This latest decision comes on the heels of an international conference last week in Brussels, hosted by the European Union and Brussels. The two-day event brought together 70 donor countries and aid groups from across the world and resulted in a $6bn commitment from the international community much of that bound for Lebanon. Lama Fakih, the Human Rights Watch director for the Middle East and North Africa, condemned the Lebanese governments rhetoric to donor countries in the face of the latest eviction. As Lebanese leaders in Brussels tout Lebanons humanitarian achievements and call for more aid, refugees here are living in fear of losing their homes, she says. READ MORE: Refugees From Syria to Somalia, tales of displacement People close to the government say that officials are satisfied with the pace of the evacuations around Rayak. If the moves continue rapidly, they say, it is unlikely that the military bulldozers will descend on the settlements on Saturday as they have been threatening. However, the acceptable timeframe for the evictions has not been clearly defined either. Many aid workers and residents also fear that the trend will intensify and that more evictions will follow. With approximately 80 percent of their old building wood destroyed in the process of each move, and no clear funds forthcoming to buy new materials, nobody is sure how they will be able to house everybody at the new location or how safe it will be to stay there. This is not the first time this has happened and there is a lot of fear, says Turan. We are moving everything to this place, but in any moment they could call us and this will start all over again. So the people are afraid. Follow Barrett Limoges on Twitter: @barrett_limoges If China intervenes in North Korea, it would not to be to save Kim Jong-un. North Korea is in the headlines again. For a small, poor country of 25 million people, it sure does make a lot of news. This time its the perennial issue of nuclear testing. North Korea has tested five nuclear devices since 2006. Donald Trump is in no mood to allow a sixth. Just days before his Florida summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump vowed that if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. Then, just after the summit, he backed up his pledge by ordered an aircraft carrier strike group to the region. Most people agree that North Korea is a problem. Aside from its nuclear tests, it also stands accused of state-sponsored counterfeiting of foreign currencies, the industrial-scale manufacture and sale of illicit drugs, and even of assassinating its own citizens in foreign countries. But why is North Korea Chinas problem in particular? China is North Koreas only major diplomatic ally, but the relationship is fraught with difficulties. How did China get saddled with such a troublesome partner? The history of the relationship runs much deeper than most people realise. The first Korean War China fought in the Korean War of 1950-53. In 1950, the new communist regime in China invaded the country with nearly three million troops, losing some 180,000 soldiers in the war. All this happened barely a year after the end of Chinas own civil war in 1949. China didnt participate in North Koreas initial invasion of the South. It intervened after Douglas MacArthurs United Nations troops defeated the North Koreans and launched a counter-invasion of the North. The UN army was virtually on the border with China before China unexpectedly invaded and pushed south to the line that still divides the two Koreas to this day. The last thing China wants is a united Korea under South Korean leadership. by But the 1950-53 Korean War wasnt the first Chinese intervention in Korea. In a distant precursor to the 1950s, a very similar drama played out way back in the 1590s. In 1592, Japan invaded Korea at Busan and rapidly drove up the peninsula to the Chinese border, prompting an intervention from China. The Chinese army pushed the invaders back south, liberating Pyongyang but reaching a stalemate just north of Seoul, roughly where the demilitarised zone stands today. The conflict ended with a negotiated withdrawal of Japanese troops in 1593. Japan went on to invade Korea again in 1597, but Korean forces repelled the attack with Chinese support. For the next three hundred years, Korea was a kind of a Chinese protectorate, first as Chinas closest tributary state and later as an ally in the resistance against Western and Japanese colonialism. READ MORE: North Korea and mounting tensions the view from Seoul In 1894, Japan invaded Korea again, this time as part of the larger 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War. And again Chinese troops made their major stand at Pyongyang. But this time they lost, and by 1910 Korea lost its independence entirely. It became a colony of Japan and suffered a 25-year military occupation which poisons Japanese-Korean relations to this day. Back to Pyongyang Having fought to hold Pyongyang in 1593, 1894, and 1951, Chinas connection with North Korea long predates the current communist regimes in both countries. In fact, it is older than communism itself. North Korea is not exactly a protectorate of China, but its history is so tightly intertwined with Chinas that its independence of Beijing is almost unthinkable. Todays North Korean regime has become such a liability to China that China may finally have lost its patience. In late February, China banned imports of coal from North Korea, an act applauded by US President Donald Trump. Now things seem to be getting more serious. There have been unconfirmed reports that China has moved up to 150,000 troops to its border with North Korea, which Beijing has called pure fabrication. But on Friday, China did suddenly suspend flights between Beijing and Pyongyang without offering any explanation. Whether China is preparing to intervene in Korea once again, preparing to manage the fallout of a US intervention in Korea, or just playing it safe, nobody knows. Northeast China is already host to thousands of North Koreans refugees. Some are on the run from the repressive regime of Kim Jong-un, others are just seeking work, and still others are women forced into prostitution. If there is to be another conflict on the Korean Peninsula, China would be worried about a large number of Koreans fleeing across the border. The second to last thing China wants is a new Korean war. But the last thing China wants is a united Korea under South Korean leadership. Chinas Communist Party leadership has learned the lessons of 1989-1991, when German reunification ultimately pushed the borders of NATO some 1000 kilometres to the east and Soviet communism was thrown into the dustbin of history. If China does intervene in North Korea, it wont be to topple the Kim regime and promote peaceful reunification. It will be to prevent a collapse of the Kim regime in the face of domestic mismanagement and American pressure. Kim may go, but China will make sure that the regime remains. The long-term consequences of any such intervention are anyones guess. Salvatore Babones is a comparative sociologist at the University of Sydney. He is a specialist in global economic structure. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. In todays world people who are white, male, and right-wing can easily get away with racism and bigotry. Politicians who depict themselves as swashbuckling outsiders have helped the rise of right-wing demagoguery throughout much of the West. Its the oldest trick in the book, particularly in the US. But the practice isnt limited to electoral politics, where the goal is to get votes. Todays insurgent right has extrapolated this tactic into a wider public arena, where discredited figures such as Milo Yiannopoulos et al rail against phantom menaces such as political correctness and creeping Sharia. The flip side of this self-styled outsiderness is always a crusading image of the free-speech martyr whos willing to risk his/her life in defence of Western values, usually by trying to annoy as many Muslims as possible. This one-two punch has worked wonders for many on the right from Canadas Mark Steyn to the current king of anti-political correctness, Donald Trump in the post-9/11 era. Collectively, the wider Western culture refers to these figures as provocateurs. Their Charlie Hebdo-esque escapades and rhetorical offensiveness are referred to as edgy. Theyre the so-called gadflies who act as useful checks on the potentially stagnant mainstream, even when their arguments lack substance. Their bigotry and racism is usually qualified by the wider liberal culture as simply provocative statements that are meant to keep the society on its toes. And even if one doesnt agree with what they say, its still vital to uphold the speakers right to say it. Indeed, all speech that falls short of facilitating specific acts of violence should probably all be tolerated in a free society (reasonable people can disagree on this, surely). Provocateurs such as Yiannopoulos and other alt-right blowhards have long been protected under such norms. But its worth examining whether these standards are extended to others who do not make a living by hurling insults at Muslims, women, and black people. It turns out that upon closer examination, its (at best) unclear if non-white, non-alt-right pushers of edgy ideas also get to be called provocateurs who deserve the patience and tolerance of others. Some hatred is more equal than others Take this Canadian example: Black Lives Matter Torontos co-lead Yusra Khogali, a well-known community and anti-racism activist, has been given an immense amount of grief after someone dug up an old tweet of hers last year expressing frustration when dealing with white people as a BLM activist. Plz Allah, she wrote, give me strength to not cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today. Plz plz plz. The entire spectrum of political and media actors then descended upon Khogali with righteous fury to denounce her as an eager advocate for the genocide of white people. There were no Maybe she was just frustrated ; no The wording was unfortunate, but ; and no Couldnt there be more than one side to the story The court of public opinion took about two seconds to decide that there was no need for a trial. Nor did the public bother calling her a provocateur. Nor a gadfly. Nor edgy. Just racist. Why? Because shes unquestionably and undeniably a black monster whos hell-bent on killing white people. No nuance needed. No questions asked. In fact, its surprising that shes not in prison already. OPINION: Milo and the hypocrisy behind free speech claims Or take examples from the Muslim context, which are arguably more ubiquitous and pronounced in the post-9/11 climate. Some less-than-intelligent imams have been known to rhetorically step into the realm of Anti-Semitism, often as a function of some sort of comment on Israel or the Jewish state, thus lending extra firepower to those whove long conflated legitimate criticism of Israeli policies with chomping-at-the-bit-style hatred of Jews. Or, similarly, take the fringe Muslim preachers whose rhetoric includes the promotion of agenda items such as fighting the disbelievers, etc. Some have even been known to go the extra mile to find excuses for terrorist groups and such. But more often than not, these preachers dont actually pick up guns or bombs themselves. If a media personality who makes a living from racist insults and unsubstantiated conspiracies can be called a 'provocateur', then why can't the same culture afford to extend even a second of skepticism or possible context toward those who make controversial remarks but aren't white, male, and mouthpieces for the alt-right? by Either way, no one refers to these preachers as provocateurs. And no one is silly enough to call them gadflies that keep the West on its toes by criticising its foreign policy. Instead, theyre hanged by the press and asked to resign from whatever miserable job they may have (and rightly so). The politics of privileged hatred Then there are the Milo Yiannopouloses of this world. Before being ostracised by the right as a proponent of paedophilia, the self-styled most fabulous supervillain on the Internet was known to spew the most hateful stuff towards, among other groups, Muslims and women. Far from being roundly and unanimously denounced by the media (and other centres of power/privilege), Yiannopoulos has routinely been labelled a provocateur and was even offered a lucrative book deal by Simon & Schuster (since rescinded, in light of pro-molestation comments). This, again, is a pattern when it comes to right-wing ideologues and trolls. Take Ezra Levant of Rebel Media, Canadas Breitbart equivalent. Macleans magazine referred to him in 2013 as a gadfly who loves to offend. These days hes known for inciting fear and paranoia against Muslims. Rebel published a series of videos right after the Quebec city mosque shooting that essentially implied a hidden mainstream media conspiracy possibly to mask some sort of Muslim or Islamist involvement in the massacre. After all, the liberal media is known for hiding the crimes of Muslim terrorists. Gavin McInnes, a well-known Rebel personality, was recently pardoned by Levant after filming himself in an hour-long anti-Semitic rant while on a trip to Israel. A veteran provocateur, McInnes is also known to consistently make racist observations such as this. But one would be hard-pressed to find an unambiguous assertion in the mainstream that clearly denounces someone like Levant or McInnes as bigots. They are, to be sure, provocateurs and gadflies. So where does that leave someone like Yusra Khogali, whose comments have been used to denigrate an entire attempt at racial and social justice, and who has been offered precisely zero amount of open debate? READ MORE: White Lives Matter A new US hate group shows its face If a media personality who makes a living from racist insults and unsubstantiated conspiracies can be called a provocateur, then why cant the same culture afford to extend even a second of skepticism or possible context toward those who make controversial remarks but arent white, male, and mouthpieces for the alt-right? Such is the underlying status quo that upholds the social and political framework through which controversy is understood and interpreted. It turns out that people pass judgments not on the basis of the speech but on the basis of the race and gender of the speaker. As long as this is the case, those who arent afforded any leeway and fairness in the court of public opinion will refuse to take such a state of affairs seriously. Steven Zhou is a national security and foreign affairs journalist based in Toronto. He is an associate editor with The Islamic Monthly and a senior contributor on national security issues to CBC News online. His writings have appeared on Buzzfeed, Salon, Quartz, and the Globe and Mail, among other outlets. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Afghan officials raise the number of ISIL fighters killed after the US army dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb. The number of ISIL fighters killed after the United States army dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb was at least 90, Afghan officials said on Saturday, raising a death toll of 36 reported a day earlier. Dubbed the Mother Of All Bombs, the 9,797kg GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) was unleashed in combat for the first time on Thursday, engulfing a remote area of eastern Nangarhar province in a huge mushroom cloud and towering flames. ISIL fighters have suffered severe losses, Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, told Al Jazeera, adding that Afghan and US forces were conducting clean-up operations on the site of the massive blast. We pulled out 90 dead bodies of fighters who lived underground in those tunnels and caves for years, operating and planning attacks across the country. READ MORE: Condemnation, praise over massive bombing The Pentagon said the target was a series of caves and bunkers used by ISIL, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and is also known as ISIS. Khogyani said that there were no military and civilian casualties. Civilians had moved out of that area years ago. No family lived there except for these fighters, he said. There are strictly no civilian casualties as this raid was well coordinated and measured only to hit ISIL areas that are otherwise not possible to eliminate in a ground operation. An elderly man who lives close to the bombing site in Achins Momand Dara area told the AFP news agency the blast was so piercingly loud that his infant granddaughter was experiencing hearing loss. The massive bomb was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area. A US special forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-ISIL operations. The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in Nangarhar, General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said on Friday. Disproportionate action President Ashraf Ghani threw his support behind the bombardment, saying it was designed to support the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region. The bombing came only a week after US President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack, and as China warned of the potential for conflict amid rising US tensions with North Korea. Trump hailed the mission in Achin district as very, very successful. However, the unprecedented attack triggered global shockwaves, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon. Some analysts called the action disproportionate. OPINION: The mistakes Trump should not repeat in Afghanistan The Trump administration made a lot of noise with this bomb, but the general state of play on the ground remains the same: The Taliban continues to wage a formidable and ferocious insurgency. ISIS, by comparison, is a sideshow, Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington told AFP. Still, from a strategic standpoint, there is an unsettling takeaway here: The US pulled off a huge shock-and-awe mission against an enemy that isnt even the top threat to the US in Afghanistan. The Taliban continues to sit pretty. Hamid Karzai, former Afghan president, also condemned the US militarys deployment of MOAB, saying Afghanistan should not be used as a testing ground for weapons. The Taliban armed group, which is expected to soon announce the start of this years fighting season, also denounced the bombing. Using this massive bomb cannot be justified and will leave a material and psychological impact on our people, the armed group said in a statement. ISIL has made inroads into Afghanistan in recent years, attracting disaffected members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban as well as Uzbek fighters But the group has been steadily losing ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air raids and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. Local newspaper receive claim of responsibility for the attack on Borussia Dortmund team implicating the far right. German investigators have significant doubts that the attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus on Tuesday was the work of Islamists. Three identical letters printed in German found near the scene of Tuesdays attack in Dortmund had stated it was carried out in the name of Allah, broadcaster ARD reported, citing other media. The letters referred to the use of Tornado reconnaissance planes in Syria, which Germany has deployed as part of the military campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS). But a report commissioned by investigators said the letters had likely been written to trick people into thinking there was an ISIL motive, ARD added. READ MORE: Marc Bartra injured in Borussia Dortmund bus blasts Thats accurate, Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for the federal public prosecutors office, said when asked to comment on the ARD report. Asked why there were doubts over the letters, she said she could not give any more information as the investigation was ongoing. Another letter German newspaper Tagesspiegel said on its website later on Friday it had received an anonymous far-right email claiming responsibility for Tuesdays attack. It said the email referred to Adolf Hitler, railed against multiculturalism and suggested another attack might occur on April 22. Koehler said prosecutors had received a copy of the letter but she could not comment further. READ MORE: Police detain Borussia Dortmund bus attack suspect The Borussia Dortmund team bus was heading to their stadium for a Champions League match against AS Monaco on Tuesday when three explosions occurred, injuring Spanish defender Marc Bartra. Experts have been expressing scepticism for days about the origins of the letters claiming responsibility. Security sources have said investigators are looking at whether left or right-wing extremists may have carried out the attack. A day after the attack, the interior minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia described the letters as unusual. Monitor says at least 126 people were killed as explosion targets convoy of evacuees from two pro-government villages. A large blast has killed at least 126 people, including 68 children, in an attack near buses carrying Syrians evacuated from two besieged government-held towns, according to a monitoring group. The explosion on Saturday in Rashidin, west of Aleppo, targeted residents who were evacuated from the rebel-besieged towns of Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province under a deal reached between the Syrian government and rebels. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Sunday said at least 126 people were killed in the blast, raising a previous death toll of 112. The Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue group that operates in rebel-held parts of Syria, had said on Saturday that at least 100 people were killed, while a report on Syrian state TV had given a death toll of 39. While there was no confirmation as to what caused the blast, state media said a suicide bomber allegedly used a van meant for carrying aid supplies to enter the area. The SOHR said the explosion came from a vehicle-born improvised explosive device. Al Jazeeras Adham Abul Hussam, reporting from the scene of the attack, said dozens of bodies littered the ground and ambulances were packed with victims. The civil defence teams are recovering the bodies and searching for survivors. Many of the buses were totally destroyed, he said. READ MORE: Qatar calls for independent probe into chemical attack Pictures posted on state media showed what appeared to be the aftermath of the explosion, with burned bodies and fires belching out thick black smoke. Buses were blackened by the blast with their windows blown out. It appears that the explosion happened at the front of the convoy, which is about 70 buses long. Apparently it happened in an area where the sick and the injured were either being transferred or swapped, Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid said, reporting from Antakya in Turkey. We do understand that the casualties go into the dozens among them women and children and some of the rebel fighters that were there to secure that convoy. Ahrar al-Sham, a key rebel group in Syrias north, condemned the cowardly attack, saying that many of its members were killed in the blast. The group said it was willing to cooperate with an international probe to determine the culprits. The attack took place as thousands of evacuees from the besieged government-held towns of Foua and Kefraya waited to continue their journey to regime-controlled Aleppo, the coastal province of Latakia, or the capital, Damascus. More than 5,000 people who had lived under the crippling siege for more than two years left the two towns, along with 2,200 evacuated from rebel-held Madaya and Zabadani, on Friday. READ MORE: Thousands stuck around Aleppo as evacuation deal stalls They were headed for regime or rebel-held areas via the government-held second city of Aleppo. Thousands of evacuees from Foua and Kefraya were stuck on the road in Rashidin when the blast struck. The evacuation, brokered by government ally Iran and rebel-backer Qatar, is set to see more than 30,000 people evacuated over 60 days. The deal had stipulated that in the first stage 8,000 people, including 2,000 pro-government fighters, leave the two towns. But only 5,000 left, including 1,300 fighters, the Observatory said. Evacuees were left stranded as differences emerged over the number of loyalist fighters leaving, a rebel source said, refusing to elaborate as negotiations are under way. Thousands of evacuees from Madaya and Zabadani were also stuck in government-controlled Ramousa, south of Aleppo.They were due to be transferred to rebel-held Idlib. Mohamed Darwish, a doctor from Madaya, told Al Jazeera by phone that there was a growing fear among civilians aboard buses in Ramousa. Theres a lot of fear on our bus, especially because the regime soldiers are here and there is a crowd all around us, he said. We hope the UN, Turkey, Qatar, Iran, all of those who supported this deal, will look after the civilians and ensure that they all arrive safely. But hours after the explosion, the transfer resumed as dozens of buses, starting with the wounded, left to their respective destinations. Before midnight on Saturday, 100 of some 120 buses from both sides had already arrived to their destinations. The deal to evacuate the towns was the latest in a string of such agreements, touted by the government as the best way to end the fighting. Rebels say they have been forced out by siege and bombardment. The government has retaken several key rebel strongholds including eastern Aleppo since Russias military intervention in September 2015. Additional reporting by Dylan Collins: @Collinsdyl Violence in eastern South Sudan forces 60 aid workers to flee as new battles erupt in the northwestern town of Raga. At least 14 people have been killed in South Sudan after new fighting erupted between government forces and the main rebel group. Lam Paul Gabriel Lam, the SPLM-IO rebel groups spokesman, told Reuters news agency on Saturday during the past two days the army has bombed rebel-held areas around Raga a northwestern town near the border with Sudan and Central African Republic. Yesterday our forces decided to go and raid Raga, he said. Around 14 people were counted killed but many are injured. We had one soldier killed with some injuries. Santo Domic Chol, the governments military spokesman, said he was in Raga and would provide information later on. The United Nations, which has a large peacekeeping force in the East African nation, confirmed the latest outbreak of violence. Fresh fighting has broken out between government and opposition forces in a number of locations including Raga in the west of South Sudan, Waat in Jonglei to the east, and in the area of Wunkur and Tonga in the northern Upper Nile region, the UN said in a statement. Aid workers flee The surge in fighting in eastern South Sudan has forced 60 aid workers to flee, hurting efforts to help desperate civilians in the famine-hit nation, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Saturday,. Three UN World Food Programme workers were killed this week while trying to get to a supply warehouse amid fighting between rebel and government troops near the western city of Wau. There are no words left to explain the level of frustration and outrage I feel regarding the continued attacks against humanitarians in South Sudan who are simply trying to help the civilians suffering as a result of this conflict, said Eugene Owusu, OCHA coordinator, in a statement. Separately, 60 humanitarian workers have had to relocate from multiple locations in Jonglei yesterday and today including Waat and Walgak due to intensified conflict in the area. The outbreak of violence in the eastern Jonglei region came after fierce clashes in southern Pajok and western Wau in the past two weeks. According to a tally of UN figures and deaths that witnesses reported to AFP, 101 people were killed in the two towns. OPINION: South Sudan not facing genocide, but violence is constant The UN peacekeeping mission UNMISS, which has been blocked from accessing some conflict zones, said 13,500 people had fled to their base near Wau this week. More than 3,000 others were seeking refuge at a Catholic church compound. Moustapha Soumare, the special representative for the UN secretary general in South Sudan, on Saturday called for a halt to fighting, urging all parties to prove their commitment to peace. They must show restraint and demonstrate their responsibility to ensure the sanctity of life of all South Sudanese citizens, he said in a statement. Oil-rich South Sudan has been riven by violence since 2013, when President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. The political showdown quickly split along ethnic lines and has drawn many tribes into a complex patchwork of conflict. Feared former interior minister Habib el-Adly sentenced to seven years in jail for embezzling public funds. An Egyptian court has sentenced former interior minister Habib el-Adly, who served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, to seven years in jail for corruption. Adly was found guilty on Saturday of embezzling more than $110m of public funds. The verdict can be appealed before Egypts top civil court, the court of cassation. A long-serving official at the top of Egypts feared internal security apparatus, Adly has faced a string of criminal cases against him since the 2011 uprising that ousted Mubarak. READ MORE: Hosni Mubarak walks free after six-year detention He was released in 2015 after serving three years in prison on charges of using police conscripts as free labour on his private properties In 2012, he was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising. The charges were dropped two years later after an appeals court ordered a retrial. Adly has also been acquitted on other charges of money laundering and profiteering. He did not attend Saturdays verdict and is expected to be taken into custody. A number of Mubarak-era officials have secured acquittals since the military overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and its former commander-in-chief Abdul Fattah el-Sisi took power. Alongside Adly, the court sentenced two other ministry officials to seven years in jail without parole, according to court documents. Another eight officials were sentenced to between three and five years in jail. Mubarak, meanwhile, was freed last month after six years in detention, having been cleared of murder charges. Violence intensifies in disputed region as police respond to rock-throwing protesters with pellet and tear gas fire. A 17-year-old was reportedly shot dead by security forces on Saturday in Indian-administered Kashmir while at least 50 college students were wounded by police officers who fired pellets and tear gas. Residents said security forces shot Sajad Hussain Sheikh, 17, in the head after their armoured vehicles were pelted with stones in the Batamaloo area of Srinagar, capital of the disputed Himalayan region. There were a couple of BSF [border security forces] vehicles passing through when some youths threw stones at them. That is when there was a bullet shot and Sajad was hit straight in the head, Tahir Ahmad, a local resident, told Anadolu news agency. READ MORE: India probes video of human shield in Kashmir In a statement, Indian police said they were collecting the details and are looking into the circumstances under which a person, identified as Sajad Hussain Sheikh, got killed. The statement added, however, there had been no police deployment in the area. Earlier in the day, Indian security forces and students clashed at a college in southern Kashmirs Pulwama town. The Hindustan Times reported that students became angry after a security checkpoint was erected near the school and began hurling stones. Security forces responded by firing pellets and tear gas. According the student union, at least 50 people were wounded. We have so far treated at least 54 persons who were hit by pellets and tear gas shells. Three critically injured persons have been referred to Srinagar. The injured are still coming, the chief medical officer of Pulwama, Dr Talat Jabeen, was quoted as saying. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region, is controlled by nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two over Kashmir. Rebel groups have for decades battled Indian rule for Kashmirs independence or its unification with Pakistan. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed territory. More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989. New long-range ballistic missiles on show during massive parade celebrating countrys founder as US armada approaches. North Korea on Saturday displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles at a massive military parade celebrating the 105th birth anniversary of the nations founding president, Kim Il-sung. The parade, attended by leader Kim Jong-un, saw thousands of soldiers marching through the capital, Pyongyang. Weapons analysts said they believed some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of trucks. North Koreas Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also on parade. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000km, at a military parade. As a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the Korean Peninsula, a top North Korean official issued a warning against the United States during the ceremony. Choe Ryong Hae widely seen by analysts as North Koreas second most important official said US President Donald Trump was guilty of creating a war situation by dispatching US forces to the region. We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack, said Choe. OPINION: Will China intervene in North Korea? Al Jazeeras Nassir Abdulhaq, reporting live from the parade in Pyongyang, said that while it is usual for people in North Korea to mark this anniversary, the scale of this years event and the defiance of North Koreas rhetoric was striking. Its clear that North Korea wants to flex its military muscles amid the recent threats from the deployment of US warships towards the Korean peninsula, said Abdulhaq. State television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a black limousine and saluting his honour guard before walking down a red carpet. He then walked up to a podium and clapped with senior government officials to address the thousands of soldiers and a massive crowd taking part in the parade. READ MORE: Mounting tensions The view from Seoul The display suggested that Pyongyang was working towards a new concept of ICBM, Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, told the Reuters news agency. However, North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them, Hanham said. It is still early days for these missile designs. Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review, told Reuters that the display indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base missiles on submarines, which are hard to detect. It suggests a commitment to this programme, said Pollack. Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the programme. Al Jazeeras Craig Leeson, reporting from Seoul, in the South, said Kim Il-sungs birthday, also known as the Day of the Sun, is a day for celebration in North Korea, but also a day for analysts to observe the military parade. What weve seen already is that its a very large parade. We had expected it would possibly be the largest that theyve held, our correspondent said. He said analysts are noting who is standing beside Kim Jong-un on his right, the countrys second-highest ranking official, who heads the military, and on his left, the countrys premier. What analysts believe is that this is sending a message that Kim Jong-un maintains his dual track policy, Leeson said. That is the military deterrent and developing that military deterrent. And on his left, the economic policy, bringing North Korea into the modern world. That includes the business world, engaging China, its biggest trading partner, and maintaining its strength on the peninsula. Military hysteria In his annual new years address, Kim said that the countrys preparations for an ICBM launch have reached the final stage. Analysts say commercial satellite images from recent weeks indicate increased activity around North Koreas nuclear test site. North Korea warned the US to end its military hysteria earlier on Saturday or face retaliation as the US Navy deployed in the region. All the brigandish provocative moves of the US in the political, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK will thoroughly be foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK, North Koreas KCNA news agency said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean Peoples Army. DPRK stands for the official name of North Korea, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive. It said the Trump administrations serious military hysteria has reached a dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked. The US has warned that a policy of strategic patience with North Korea is over. OPINION: Whats on Kim Jong-uns mind? US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China, North Koreas sole major ally and neighbour, which nevertheless opposes its weapons programme, on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. We call on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing. North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan. You have two of the most unpredictable people on the world stage facing off against each other, Einar Tangen, a China analyst, told Al Jazeera referring to Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. You have armed armadas in position, and you have 11,000 reportedly pieces of artillery aimed at Seoul. Its an explosive situation. The question is how will it be resolved? Jim Walsh, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Al Jazeera that he believed North Korea would conduct a nuclear test but said it was unlikely that the US or its allies would respond militarily. I dont think [the US would] be sending the vice president to Seoul if they were going to respond militarily also the US policy review on North Korea was concluded last week and basically ruled out military options, said Walsh. Maximino Rodriguez Palacios shot and killed in La Paz, becoming the fourth journalist to be murdered in six weeks. A veteran reporter covering the police beat has been shot dead in northeastern Mexico, his employers said, becoming the fourth journalist to be murdered in the country in six weeks. Maximino Rodriguez Palacios was shot and killed outside a store in La Paz on the Baja California peninsula as he arrived in his car at around noon (17:00 GMT) on Friday with his wife, the Colectivo Pericu news website said. She was unharmed. THE LISTENING POST: Silencing journalists in Mexico (8:45) The state prosecutors office confirmed the 71-year-olds murder from gunshot wounds, adding that investigators had obtained shell casings that would be analysed in a lab. Unknown attackers appeared to had used high-powered rifles in the attack, the website said. Colectivo Pericu rejects this attack against a comrade, said a statement on the website. We demand that the authorities clarify this and many other crimes that continue to go unpunished and have left families shattered by pain. Mexico ranks third in the world for the number of journalists killed, after Syria and Afghanistan, according to media rights group Reporters Without Borders. READ MORE: Double standards Do all journalist lives matter? During his long career as a reporter and columnist, Rodriguez made very strong, very critical statements, RSFs Mexico representative Balbina Flores told the AFP news agency. Three other journalists covering organised crime in Mexico have been killed since March 3 in Chihuahua, Guerrero and Veracruz states, according to officials and media groups. In early April, newspaper Norte de Ciudad Juarez announced it would no longer publish after 27 years in existence because of increasing insecurity. University student Mashal Khan was stripped, beaten and shot during attack after being accused of committing blasphemy. Eight Pakistanis accused of killing a fellow university student over allegations of blasphemy have been charged with murder and terrorism, according to court officials. Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was stripped, beaten, shot and thrown from the second floor of his dorm at the Abdul Wali Khan university in the northwestern town of Mardan on Thursday by a large group of people. Two other students were also wounded in the violent attack after being accused of committing blasphemy against Islam. Eight students were presented before an anti-terrorism court in Mardan over murder and challenging the writ of the state, public prosecutor Rafiullah Khan told the AFP news agency on Saturday. READ MORE: Pakistan to meet Facebook over blasphemy posts Four others were arrested on Saturday, Khan said. Graphic video footage from the crime scene showed dozens of men outside the dorm kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground. Mushtaq Ghani, information minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the government had also requested Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident. Students had previously complained to university authorities about the murdered students alleged secular and liberal views and Khan had been in a heated debate during a class the day he was killed. Blasphemy is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, where punishment for the crime ranges from a fine to a mandatory death sentence, depending on the specific offence. No one deserves to die the way Mashal did. We have law and orders placed in the country no one can prove if Mashal did commit blasphemy, a witness, who wished to stay anonymous out of fear of being attacked, told Al Jazeera. This incident has impacted many students here and every time we walk by this university, it will remind us of Mashal and how he was killed. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday condemned the murder and urged the nation to stand united in promoting tolerance. I am shocked and saddened by the senseless display of mob justice that resulted in the murder of a young student, Sharif said. Let it be known to the perpetrators of this act that the state shall not tolerate citizens taking the law in their own hands. No father should have to send his child off to be educated, with the fear of having him return in a coffin. Currently, about 40 people are on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Increasingly, however, right-wing vigilantes and mobs have taken the law into their own hands, killing at least 69 people over alleged blasphemy since 1990, according to an Al Jazeera tally. Those killed have included people accused of blasphemy, their lawyers, their relatives, judges hearing their cases and members of their communities. READ MORE: In Pakistan, a shrine to murder for blasphemy The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has urged that all those involved in the lynching be brought to justice. The states abject failure to protect Mashal Khans right to life has created great panic and horror among students and academia. Unless all those who played any part in Mashals brutal murder are brought to justice, such barbarity will only spread, it said. At his funeral on Friday, Khans father said he hoped his sons murder would evoke realisation among people that killing an innocent is a sin. Qatari foreign minister, in Russia for talks on Syria war, says horrific scenes after gas attack cannot be replicated. Qatar joined Russia and its allies in demanding an independent investigation into a chemical weapon attack in Syria that killed more than 80 people, saying the perpetrators must be punished to prevent future use of poison gas. The foreign ministers of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, and Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met on Saturday in Moscow for talks on Syrias six-year war. The poison gas attack on a rebel-held town in Idlib province earlier this month was a point of discussion. Images and video published shortly after the incident showed dozens of men, women, and children gasping for air, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. The meeting saw the two sides agree on the importance of holding an independent investigation into the chemical attacks that took place in Khan Sheikhoun in Syria, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported. READ MORE: Syrias civil war explained from the beginning The US has blamed Syrias government for the deadly gas attack, and launched a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles against a government-controlled airbase in response. Syrias government says it had nothing to do with the bloodshed in Khan Sheikhoun, and staunch ally Russia has stood by those claims. Russia blocked a UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday that demanded Syria cooperate with an investigation by the UNs chemical weapons watchdog, saying the probe should be widened to include experts from many nations. Qatar is a leading backer of rebels fighting Syrias President Bashar al-Assad, who has received key military and diplomatic support from Russia during the war that has killed hundreds of thousands. Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said both sides were looking for signs of any give in the others position. Qatar [was] working out whether the Russian commitment to Assad could be made any weaker, and Russia was looking to see if Qatari support for armed opposition groups could be made any weaker, said Challands. It was unclear, however, if either side achieved much from the meeting other than an agreement to keep talking, he said. One thing the two countries did agree upon was the need for an independent probe into who released chemical weapons in Idlib. According to QNA, Al Thani said the use of poison gas would continue if the perpetrators arent brought to justice. The horrific scenes in Khan Sheikhoun cannot be replicated and not punishing the perpetrators will be a gateway to repeating similar attacks in the future, he said. READ MORE: Syria chemical attack survivors vow to fight for justice Al Thanis trip to Moscow closely follows visits by foreign ministers from the United States, Syria and Iran. Assad said on Thursday the poison gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun was a fabrication to justify a US military strike. Syria insists it turned over all chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013, and has invited international inspectors to visit the airbase targeted by the US, which Washington claimed served as a platform for the chemical weapon attack. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has blamed Assads government for at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving the use of chlorine. In the lead-up to the government takeover of the rebel-held half of Aleppo last last year, Human Rights Watch reported on the governments systematic use of chlorine gas, marking at least eight incidents in which military helicopters dropped the chemical into residential areas. Former PM and current opposition leader kicks off Al Jazeeras 11th annual forum addressing the new equation in Syria. It is no longer possible for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power, former Syrian prime minister Riyad Hijab, said at Al Jazeeras annual forum in the Qatari capital, Doha. It has become clear to the allies of the [Syrian] regime that it is no longer possible for Bashar al-Assad to remain in power in light of the new equation, which is becoming apparent after the new United States administration, said Hijab at the opening of the event. The forum kicked off its 11th year on Saturday under the slogan State Crisis and the Future of the Middle East, bringing together a wide range of politicians, academics, and journalists to discuss the biggest dilemmas facing the Arab world. Hijab, who defected from Assads government following the 2011 uprising, condemned Russian and Iranian interference in Syria, and the lack of international will to act on the targeting of civilians, shedding light on the governments use of chemical weapons. Earlier this month, a suspected chemical attack hit Syrias Idlib province, killing at least 87 people, and drawing international outrage. Many western leaders, including US President Donald Trump, accused Assads forces of carrying out the attack. In retaliation, the US launched dozens of cruise missiles at a government-controlled airbase in Syria, the first direct military action the US has taken against Assad forces since the start of the conflict. After the chemical attack, the US administrations strike has changed all calculations. In the last round of talks [in Geneva], we felt that there was a lack of willingness to act, especially amongst the Europeans, Fadel Abdul Ghany, founder of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera at the forum. Now, the Americans are building a strategy, which does not include Assad or Iran in Syria. Maybe not in this phase, but something has really changed. Syria is now a priority, added Abdul Ghany. READ MORE: Aleppo blast Syrian evacuation convoy targeted The two-day forum is concentrated on tackling key questions related to the crises of Arab states and their impact on the region at large. Panellists will discuss the Arab Spring, the role of youth in the region, Israel in the Arab world, the options for Arabs vis-a-vis emerging regional powers, and the future of the Middle East. Arab Spring was a tragedy The Arab region has been particularly unstable since the string of uprisings in 2011, dubbed the Arab Spring, which attempted to topple decades-long dictatorships. The subsequent rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) armed group, which seized large swaths of territory in both Syria and Iraq in 2014, wreaked havoc on the region. Today, countrywide conflicts plague a number of states in the region, including Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. READ MORE: Syrians have been in the US all along, Donald Trump The failure of the Arab Spring was due to the lack of coordination between the popular uprisings, steered away from one another by the governments of the region, said Youssef Choueiri, a professor of history at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. The Arab spring has become a grave catastrophe, a tragedy, which lifted the lid off the weakness of the Arab countries and people, said Choueiri. Former prime minister of Sudan, Sadeq al-Mahdi, stressed the lack of strength in Arab institutions, drawing on the Arab League example. The league of Arab states is a mirror of the feebleness of its members. Meetings are held in a seasonal fashion, and Arab causes are being dealt with by non-Arabs, said al-Mahdi. Mahdi said it would be wise for Arab countries to have a common stand vis-a-vis countries expanding in the region, mentioning Turkey, Iran and Israel. We need to have security agreements with Iran and Turkey, and other centres of gravity [in the region] he added. Follow Zena Tahhan on Twitter: @zenatahhan At least 11 civilians were killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their vehicle in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials said on Saturday. The blast hit a van travelling from the remote Nawa district to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah on Friday, government spokesman Omar Zhwak told AFP news agency. The blast was powerful and all those on board the van were killed, Zhwak said, adding that officials were trying to determine whether any women or children were among the victims. Helmand police chief Agha Noor Kentoz blamed the Taliban for the blast, saying the road had been mined to target Afghan security forces who frequently use it. READ MORE: Helmand Taliban kill policemen and confiscate weapons A Taliban spokesman was not immediately reachable for comment, but roadside bombs have been the groups weapon of choice in the war against foreign and Afghan security forces. Planted improvised explosive devices are also increasingly killing and wounding civilians. Most of Helmand, the biggest poppy-growing province in the country, is already estimated to be under Taliban control with Lashkar Gah one of the last government-held enclaves also at risk of falling to the armed group. About 11,500 civilians, of whom a third were children, were killed or wounded in Afghanistan in 2016, according to the United Nations. Afghan security forces now control less than 60 percent of the country, according to US estimates, with the Taliban holding about 10 percent and the remainder contested between various armed groups. The US militarys dropping of the largest conventional bomb in eastern Afghanistan has drawn mixed reaction. The US has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat in eastern Afghanistan on a series of caves used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) group, according to the Pentagon. Afghanistans defence ministry says the 9,797kg GBU-43 nicknamed the mother of all bombs did not cause any civilians deaths. But not everyone is in favour of the strike. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai called it a brutal misuse of our country. So what difference will it make to the fight against ISIL? And how big a threat does the armed group pose to the country? Presenter: Sohail Rahman Guests: Mirwais Yasini Member of the Afghan parliament, representing Nangarhar province where the bomb was dropped Omar Samad Former senior adviser to Afghanistans chief executive Vyacheslav Matuzov a former Russian diplomat The case against Assange is as political as it is legal; where does it go from here? Plus, Kenyas election influencers. Update Sept. 21, 2019: In April 2019, Kelly filed two libel lawsuits, one against Campus Communications, Inc. and the other against UF. On Aug. 8, Kelly and UF agreed to a settlement which provided Kelly would dismiss his suit and release UF from his claims in exchange for UFs removal from its websites its April 14, 2017 official statement, statements.ufl.edu, which said: On April 13, an individual was removed from campus and banned after refusing to leave an office in African American Studies in Walker Hall where he espoused a racist ideology. Kelly was never charged or arrested for any crime. University Police allowed Kelly to leave UFs campus unescorted after he had been issued a trespass warning. The UPD report about the incident states Sharon Burney told UPD that Kelly did not threaten her, but she felt intimidated by his size. Burney said she asked Kelly to leave, but he wanted to have a debate with her. The report further states, Burney said Kelly stood in the doorway to her office and refused to leave. It also states Kelly said that he was never asked to leave and denied blocking the entrance to Burney's office. Kelly denies he ever expressed support for a racist ideology, ranted about reverse racism or espoused a racist ideology. According to the report, UPD issued Kelly a trespass warning form, he said he would comply and that he would seek to have the warning rescinded and it was in April 2019. The report does not refer to Dr. Sharon Austin. Finally, Kelly contends the British Reformed Sectarian Party was created by the Florida Secretary of State, not him, although Kelly filed the documents which the Secretary of States legal staff used for its deliberations. Update Monday 10:25 a.m.: UF President Kent Fuchs released a statement saying police have conducted a security review of Walker Hall following Thomas John Kelly's confronting black faculty members. Kelly is not employed or enrolled at UF. In response, University Police has increased patrols and will consider installing additional safeguards this week, he said. "There is no room for threats and fear tactics on our campus," Fuchs said. "Statements and symbols of hate that hurt, intimidate or disparage others undermine our inclusivity goals. When we embrace our differences and unite as members of the UF community, we can support one another in our quest for an inclusive campus." Original Story: A man was removed from UFs campus Thursday after he confronted two members of the universitys African American studies program in their ofce and expressed support for a racist ideology. Thomas John Kelly, the founder of the British Reformed Sectarian Party of Florida which in the past has reportedly barred African Americans from joining blockaded the ofces doorway as he ranted about reverse racism, said Sharon Burney, a program assistant in the African American studies program. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now University Police removed Kelly, 54, for criminal trespassing about 40 minutes after he entered the of ce space and espoused a racist ideology, UF spokesperson Janine Sikes wrote in an email Friday. Kelly has been banned from the campus and all of UF property, including UF Health Shands Hospital, according to UPDs active trespass list. The ban did little to return Burney her peace of mind. She decided to stay home Friday, and going forward, the front door to Walker Hall, which houses the African American studies program, will remain locked during the day. During the incident, she later said, Burney feared for her life and did not know if Kelly intended to harm anyone or if he was armed. Im just trying to do my job do I have to die in the process? Burney said. Two days earlier, Kelly sent Burney and a professor in the department, Sharon Austin, an email asking to debate members of the program, Burney said. She said he also called Virgil Hawkins, an African-American student who helped desegregate UF, a liar. Burney said Kelly apparently came by the building Wednesday night, according to a janitor, but neither of them were in the office at the time. Because of the layout of the office and Kellys height he stood more than 6 feet tall by the professors estimate neither of the women were able to leave the office when he confronted them. He seemed to be getting agitated, and with the office being such a closed-in space, we couldnt really leave, Austin said. We were very fearful, and it made both of us uncomfortable. When Kelly took a step forward, Burney used the opportunity to slip out and run down the hall to tell a colleague to call the police. She then ran back, afraid to leave Austin alone. The colleague she asked to call the police texted Burney, saying the police wanted Burney to call them herself and provide more details. Burney said she couldnt because the man was right in front of her. Burney and Austin said they were frustrated the police didnt immediately come, considering the rash of hateful incidents that have occurred on campus since January. In a situation like this, I think all calls should be taken seriously, Austin said. Especially in African American studies, because the other incidents in just the last month. Burney said she felt like the response should have been immediate. She said if the two of them had been shot, nobody would have found out for hours. Soon as you heard Walker Hall they should have been on their way, Burney said. Call it a hate crime, because thats what it was. Last month, the sign outside Walker Hall, which also houses the Center for Jewish Studies, was found pushed over, prompting increased police patrols. Sikes said anyone who feels afraid or threatened should call the police immediately. Since an incident earlier this year when the departments sign was pushed over, the University of Florida Police Department has increased patrols and will continue to work with faculty and staff to help ensure a safe work environment, Sikes said Friday. Burney said she was upset to find out Kelly had apparently harassed other African-American professors at the Levin College of Law last year. She said Kelly had waited around for the professors and printed postersized images of their faces. The professors should have been made aware of him, Burney argued, because their lack of knowledge prevented them from taking his initial email seriously. He should have been handled when it happened at the law school, Burney said. To help other students some of whom Kelly described to Burney and Austin with physical characteristics the professors will put up an image of him. I dont want to be a sitting duck, Burney said. I feel like a sitting duck. I feel very unsafe. Contact Romy Ellenbogen at rellenbogen@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @romyellenbogen The warring parties in South Sudan have been urged by the most senior UN official in the country to show restraint in the face of an escalation in violence and remember their responsibility towards protecting civilians from conflict. Fresh fighting has broken out between government SPLA and opposition forces in a number of locations including []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... Easter Week celebrates resurrection. Its fitting that of all weeks, the signs of the American resurrection championed by Donald Trump are finally beginning to show. There is a book titled Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Really Bad Day. Lets change that to the lefts terrible, horrible, really bad week, because an American resurrection is happening. The week started with the swearing in of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. This portends a potentially sane court policy for years. Another ideological leftist on the court would have been a disaster. Instead, we have a stabilizing, common sense, intellectually clear judge to countermand the courts drift to the left. It means we still have a reasonable shot at holding on to being a country of laws, rather than a country of cool personalities with bad ideas. We no longer need to fear the lack of constitutional authority. Thats a big deal. Equally big is how the foolish Democrats tried to filibuster his nomination and lost. This means that the next good Supreme Court nomination by Trump will also sail through. And the next if there is one. Susan Rice has been unmasked as the unmasker. The revelations of what she did in the spying scandal will now take a front seat. These revelations will be investigated, as they are too big to hide, and the attempts by the prior administration and the deep state to undermine and defeat Trump have failed. The statistics on illegal immigration are in. Apparently, the wave of illegals has been cut by 70% since Trumps inauguration. And the Wall doesnt even exist yet. So much for all those who said we couldnt halt this illegal flood. ICE is deporting criminals (and leftists are squealing), sanctuary cities are going to lose a lot of funds, Lansing, Michigan, just voted to stop being a sanctuary city, overcoming their foolish mayor. With Jeff Sessions at the DOJ, Trump being the Wall, with sanctuary cities losing power, money, and steam, the American resurrection now has more than a fighting chance. It is going to be fashionable to be a proud American patriot once again. And now for the big one: America is no longer leading from behind! Trump reasserted a genuinely proud American foreign policy into the world, after eight years of its disappearance. He enforced the red line of a prior, somewhat feckless president, and he did it while eating dessert with the Chinese prime minister. China is now saying and doing things to help stop North Korea. This was a Reaganesque move in many ways. The world now sees a different America, one that is strong, resolute, and unafraid. We will no longer be considered a fat, lazy weakling to kick sand at. Who is it that is angry at us for using our missiles other than Syria? Yes, that would be Russia. The foolish and feeble narrative that two-thirds of hardcore Democratic voters appear to believe, the one that says Russia elected Trump instead of Hillary, is toast. A recent interview with Donald Trump by Maria Bartiromo made it clear that he thinks things are looking better for many of his economic plans. He hinted that they will get the repeal and replacement of ObamaCare done. The ducks are in a row now, and this will finally pass. He also said its the keystone in economic reform, saving millions of dollars for Americans, and saving the once-great U.S. health care industry. Once health reform passes, they are going for tax reform. I remember when Reagans reforms took the country by storm in 1980s. Strength, growth, jobs, we became an economic powerhouse for decades. We overcame Japan and defeated the Soviet Union without a shot. Lets face it -- the obstruction of the we must resist anything Trump does leftists had taken its toll. Slowing cabinet appointments to a snails pace, Judges stopping Trumps clear right as president to reform the vetting process for immigrants, the deep state getting away with its leaking, the disastrous GOP non-rollout of its health care plan. The accumulation of these negatives was having an effect. The Trump promises were in jeopardy of dying a premature death. But the tide has turned in this war for the resurrection of the American spirit. Events have taken place that will overcome the obstruction of Trumps big agenda. The Reagan years began just as rocky. Even though the agenda was set slowly, it eventually became an unstoppable force for the renewing of the American spirit in the 1980s. Many look back on Reagans decision to fire the air traffic controllers as the beginning point of the good things that happened. Likewise, this most excellent week will be looked at as the beginning for Trumps MAGA agenda. American resurrection has never looked better. All in time to celebrate Easter. Every four years, Iranian citizen witness a show called 'elections.' These have nothing in common with genuine democratic elections; they're facades. The upcoming May 19 elections are no exception. A closer look at the candidates proves that they are no different from one another and all have a clear track record of participation in suppression of Iranian people over the past four decades. They have won the approval to enter the race by the mullahs for just this reason. The two more serious ones are: Hassan Rouhani, the incumbent president; and Ebrahim Raisi, custodian of Irans wealthiest charity, Astan Quds Razavi in Irans holiest shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, northeastern Iran. Having charge of such vast amount of wealth, it's a given that Raisi enjoys Supreme Leader Khameneis full trust. Both candidates are cut from the same cloth and are committed to principle to Supreme Guardianship (Velayat-e faqih), meaning, the rule of the ayatollahs So who are they? Let's start with the second one. Ebrahim Raiai a member of Death Commission and close confident of Ali Khamenei He was a low-level cleric who climbed the ladder in the mullahs hierarchy just for his undeniable services to the late Khomeini in slaughtering of 30,000 political prisoners in summer of 1988. (In Iran, we don't refer to Khomeini as "Ayatollah," just Khomeini is enough. The title has been stolen and abused by the ruling mullahs in Iran.) The prisoners were mainly members and sympathizers of the Iranian opposition Peoples Mojahedin Organizations of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The Death Commission was a four-member body with the sole task of carrying out Khomeinis fatwa against dissidents. In his hand-written decree, Khomeini openly ordered the commission to kill the political prisoners, the majority of whom had been already imprisoned. Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeinis handpicked successor was later sacked over his quarrel with Khomeini for the indiscriminate killings. In a shocking 28-year-old audio file of one the meetings of Death Commission leaked in August by his son Ahmad, Montazeri called the killings a crime that future generations will certainly not forget and declared: It is committed in the name of the Islamic Republic and carried out by you. Ahmad Montazeri has regarded Ebrahim Raisis standing for presidential elections a joke and an insult to Iranian people. Raisis record does not stop at just his role in the massacre of political prisoners in 1988, but what he did overrides any other tasks he has undertaken in Islamic Republics killing machine. Canadas Parliament adopted the following motion on June 5th, 2013 on the events of 1988 in Iran: That the House condemn the mass murder of political prisoners in Iran in the summer of 1988 as a crime against humanity, honors the memory of the victims buried in mass graves at Khavaran cemetery and other locations in Iran, and establishes Sept. 1 as a day of solidarity with political prisoners in Iran. Now let's look at the other candidate: Hassan Rouhani is no saint Make no mistake about Rouhani being a saint by comparison. He is not far behind Raisi when it comes to cruelty. For starters, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, his justice minister, is none other than another member of the same notorious Death Commission. Last summer when Pour-Mohammadi was pressed to answer for the massacre of 1988, he proudly said: I carried out Gods will and I have not lost sleep over what I did. The rate of executions during Rouhanis presidency has been unprecedented in past 25 years in Iran, according to Ahmed Shaheed, who was Irans last UN Special Rapporteur for human rights. During Rouhanis tenure, around 3000 executions were carried out. When asked about hangings during his presidency, Rouhani simply said: They were carried out according to Gods laws. Amnesty International's report for 2016 indicates that with the exception of China, Iran carried out 55 percent of all executions worldwide. Rouhani has always said that he has been in a decision making-position throughout the life of the Islamic Republic. He personally was in a commanding position when the 1999 student uprisings were crushed in Iran. The European Union extended its sanctions on Iranian regimes offices for participating in suppression of Iranian citizens. EU documents state that they target persons complicit in torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, or the indiscriminate, excessive and increasing application of the death penalty, including public executions, stoning, hangings or executions of juvenile offenders. As U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley mentioned recently: "Peace and security cannot be achieved in isolation from human rights." The long-suffering people of Iran, Syria, and Iraq bear witness that "human rights abuses are not the byproduct of conflict; they are the cause of conflict, or they are the fuel that feeds the conflict." There's also a third candidate worth looking at: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is back in the race The trio of Rouhani, Raisi and Ahmadinejad in Irans upcoming elections is more than a mere joke: It has a plain and clear message - that of Khameneis extreme weakness in controlling his goons. The humorous Iranian people have already made jokes about the three and this bagatelle called elections. Social media is full of them. Khamenei ordered Ahmadinejad to stay away from elections. By disobeying his masters direct order he is demonstrating the Supreme Leaders unprecedented lack of control over his establishment. Khamenei offered an explicit warning in September that his candidacy would be a "polarizing situation" that would be "harmful to the country." That is a reference to the disputed election in 2009 which ignited massive street demonstrations and subsequent arrests of thousands of protesters and the killing of hundreds of others by the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Final thoughts Irans history has shown that people are willing to risk and speak openly when they have outside support and sympathy. The United States policies with regard to human rights have an instant effect in hearts and minds of ordinary citizens in Iran. What happened in Iran in 2009 is not a distant memory. The Obama administrations flawed policy set off a chain reactions in the region which still reverberates in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. By focusing just on getting the nuclear deal done with the mullahs in Tehran, it actually left out other pressing issues such supporting the Iranian people and indirectly preventing the carnage in the neighboring countries. The elections in Iran for parliament or president - have been designed or engineered, as the word has been widely used, by the regimes inner circles, for both internal and external consumption. However after the nuclear deal with the West, it has become a high priority for the regime to show popular support at home and project it as an image to the rest of the world as a regime fully in control and ready to do business. It is no secret that the regime has no popular support in Iran. Ebrahim Rasis, Hassan Rounhani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and their likes should not be allowed to escape the consequences of their crimes against humanity. Known human rights criminals such as entire ruling mullah class in Iran should not go unpunished. They should soon see the inside of International Criminal Court. Reza Shafiee is a member of Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) There were no vegans or vegetarians in the audience of some 500 Upper West Siders gathered to hear Representative Jerrold (Jerry) Nadlers state of the whatever in New York Citys Brandeis High School on West 84th Street and Amsterdam. Thats because he served up only the reddest of red meat. There was little talk of crime, the costly upsurge in illegal aliens, the messes and scandals of the worst NYC mayor, Bill de Blasio, the brand-new 2nd Avenue subway or even the DNCs favorite pet bete, climate change. Instead, he spoke for some 45 minutes on how the countrys leadership is lacking in the supremely important ingredient that blankets -- for the most part the most populous U.S. city. Where were going, how we can resist and get what we want. What a disappointment DJT is. Representative Jerrold Nadler has served the 10th Congressional District (D-NY) since 2013. He reflects the deep-blue coloration of his largely Democrat constituents. (Unfortunately for those who have not ceded foreign and domestic rights to brain cells and who distance themselves from the rabid denizens of Gotham.). Two long queues of 100%-homespun Birkenstock-types lined up the central aisles of the auditorium to ask urgent questions of the slimmed-down Nadler, who underwent lap-band weigh-reduction radical surgery several years ago. He went from a Disney chubby cartoon caboose to a still-relatively chunky restaurant car. But he no longer needs to inhale and inch in sideways to fit through the average doorframe. Sitting among fiercely agitated Democrats on the fold-up auditorium seats of Brandeis, a high school named after and in honor of the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1846-1941) appointed to the Supreme Court by Woodrow Wilson in 1916, it was difficult to remain seated. Whenever the terms Trump and fascist rubbled the air, rather than tamping down the wild applause and whooping from the 450 or so attendees, Nadler did nothing to quell the uproar, instead adding to the temperature by inciting the crowd further with answers that included allusions to fighting and resistance and Planned Parenthood and even possible -- Yippee do -- Impeachment of the new president. Never mind for what: these guys dont need a reason. He appeared thoughtful in answer to a question about the Syrian attack, responding that such issues ought not be either partys issue, but a complex of concerns requiring earnest dispassion. He came out, to be sure, on the side of the questioner and most of the blue-blue crowd, by saying he had of course voted against the Iraq War and for the (delusionally failed) Iran nuclear deal that has been flouted as often as the dinner gong is wrung at noon in prison. In response to a few heated queries about why President Trump has not yet accomplished all his campaign promises, Nadler allowed as how condemning Watergate took a year and a half, and (he did not say President) Trump has been in office fewer than ten weeks, so even to Nadler its kind of premature to be demanding everything be accomplished by now. Other than that, it was a chore to find a single Republican or non-Dem asking a question in the all-welcome Town Hall the community had been invited to via email and posted notices in neighborhood grocery stores and retail establishments. There were no non-Democrats there, aside from your humble servant. Surprise, not. There was no acknowledgment of anything good about the Trump administration. Trump is severely understaffed, noted Nadler. (Whose fault is that, Sen. Schumer, and the crazy-with-choler DNC constituents on the Hill?) He plans to gut the ACA/ObamaCare, he threw out to rude noises. Successes in foreign policy? Unnoted. A shift to shoring up local and military security? Forgotten. Nadler took dozens of questions from the conga line of worried voters of the blue. Though the event was scheduled to end at 8 p.m., it ran longer, still trying to get tp all the men and women who had stood so patiently for a chance to ask their man in Washington. Budget revisit? Government shutdown? Abortion rights? Social Security security? Socialist Bernie Sanders name was invoked in hallowed and sanctified tones as a normal person and part-time saint, evidently. Socialist? So what? they chorused. Several thanked Nadler for fighting for their issues. One man announced he was heartbroken that so little attention had been paid to the alarming beginning of yet new quagmires in the Middle East. Poor baby. Taking care to wash my hands thoroughly after the session ended, I filled in a comment sheet being flogged by a handsome millennial in the lobby. I wrote how glad I was that we had a President Trump running the country instead of the frightening radicals who sought to find new and easier ways to get people to vote in both the primaries and the Big Show. One would never know that millions of people across the land feel 180 degrees opposite from these sneaker and dirndl-wearing and shamblingly uncosmetic locals. Following this Town Hell, one was fervently grateful Conservative supports are Out There; sick to upchucking of the malicious looniness of these hardcore crackpot DNC losers. Asked about Kim-Jong Un, Nadler remarked Un was mentally unstable, and followed with, But so is President Trump: mentally unstable. Clapping. Agreement. These West Siders seem to be committed to wrecking the country with their plans to shut down the government over the budget, so long as they get back in power and the bigoted, fascistic, xenophobic, yadda yadda leaves Dodge and puts them back in the drivers seat. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding. Justice Louis D. Brandeis I beg to differ with one Steve Goldstein, a professional gay activist (the "Harvey Milk of New Jersey") who has had the unmitigated gall to call himself the Executive Director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect. The ideological media are peddling Mr. Goldsteins PR releases, which are mostly demagogic lies. I dont get hot under the collar over most of the lefts cheatin ways, but this one is beyond outrage. Anne Frank was a saintly young girl in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, who wrote a justly famous diary. Annes diary is still a great source for children and adults in the civilized world to get an understanding of the experiences of an innocent and always hopeful child under the worst circumstances life offers. The Nazi occupation was inconceivably evil, and like 90% of the Jews in the Netherlands, Anne was later deported and murdered. To steal Anne Franks good name for sleazy political demagogy is plainly evil. Yet Mr. Goldstein is managing to do exactly that, with the active collusion of the fakestream media, who are peddling his falsehoods, as usual. Just as a reminder, Hitler killed six million Jews as well as many, many millions of others, with his war machine. He notoriously used gas chambers to massacre Jews in concentration camps. But, and here is a point Mr. Goldstein seems to be ignorant of --- unless he is just screwing with your head -- Hitler did not use poison gas in war. The reason is that the Allies had enormous quantities of toxic gas bombs, to be used if Hitler used them. So Hitler avoided gas warfare. President Trumps spokesman Sean Spicer fell into a semantic trap when he pointed out, quite accurately, that Hitler didn't even sink to the level of using chemical weapons. This is true. Hitler only used poison gas on helpless people in the death camps. So Goldstein did his demagogue act, and jumped on Sean Spicer for "Holocaust denial." This sleazy and evil piece of demagogy was immediately picked up and headlined by our profoundly ignorant media. Goldstein used Mr. Spicers perfectly innocent and accurate remark that the Nazis avoided poison gas bombs because they were afraid of retaliation from Britain, Russia and America. This is not a small point. As a German soldier in the trenches of World War I Hitler was gassed, although he recovered. More important, after World War I the Geneva Conventions agreed to ban poison gas as a weapon of war. Hitler and his malignant crew understood these facts perfectly well. They knew they could kill vast numbers of Jews and others in the gas chambers, because technically the Geneva Conventions did not ban gas chambers. Only gas bombs. Spicers important point was that Assad has repeatedly violated the international Geneva Conventions against Weapons of Mass Destruction, defined to include poison gas bombs. The Left has never bothered to make that point clear to its millions of readers in the West, although it is taught in any decent European history class. In fact, the Left has never bothered to tell its propaganda audiences that terrorism -- defined as the deliberate murder of innocent noncombatants as a weapon of war -- is also clearly and openly prohibited by international treaty. Even the Prussian war theorist Carl von Clausewitz expressed nothing but contempt for irregular thugs who committed war crimes while national armies in the 19th century were often trying to avoid non-combatant deaths. Obama, the Clintons, and the New York Times never tell us that terrorism is prohibited by international convention, because frankly, Karl Marx and Mohammed taught that mass murder of noncombatant women, children, the elderly, the wounded, on and on, was a legitimate weapon of war. That primitive and morally retrogressive style of war has come back to haunt us today, and it is high time for the news media to tell the truth about purposeful mass murder attacks on innocent civilians. What the fakestream doesnt tell us is as bad as the lies they peddle every day. Back to Anne Frank. Ordinary life offers us few examples of truly saintly people. Such people do exist, and some of us have been fortunate enough to know some of them. We honor and cherish them. Anne Frank was one of those people. She still stands as a symbol of innocence and pure intentions to millions of people today. For some smelly little orthodoxy as George Orwell called them, to use Anne Franks good name to smear the President of the United States is simply beneath contempt. Anne Frank's name should never be stolen for any partisan or demagogic purpose. The open theft of Anne Frank's good name should tell us everything we need to know. Anybody funding this sleazy outfit should cut the money supply, and its "Executive Director" should hide his head in shame. Editor's note: An earlier version of this piece was posted under an incorrect byline. American Thinker regrets the error. In opposing Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Senator Dianne Feinstein pontificated: "I firmly believe the American Constitution is a living document intended to evolve as our nation evolves." Well, Senator Feinstein, conservatives agree with you. We think the Constitution ought to be changed when circumstances create a compelling reason for that change. Conservatives, however, believe that the process for changing the Constitution is the process clearly described in Article V. Slavery was ended by amendment, and blacks were granted equal protection of the law as well as the right to vote by the three Civil War amendments. Women were granted the right to vote by amendment. Prohibition and then the end of Prohibition were enacted by amendment. Whether conservatives agreed with the particular amendments and several were anathema to conservatives there was no argument about the process being proper and the amendments changing the Constitution. Likewise, when amendments were proposed and then failed to obtain the requisite three quarters of the state legislatures, there was no doubt that the Constitution remained unchanged. Why don't leftists use the process for evolving the Constitution that is universally accepted as the right process, and why does the left try to use, instead, the profoundly undemocratic and essentially unconstitutional process of having elitist cadres on the federal bench change the Constitution? The left and its agenda are clearly unpopular with the American people and could never gain the supermajority needed to amend the Constitution. Indeed, the left never even tries anymore. Phyllis Schlafly almost single-handedly defeated so-called "Equal Rights Amendment" forty years ago an amendment the Beltway insider assumed was so much a slam dunk that scarcely anyone in Washington spoke against it. After that, the left understood they could never amend the Constitution the way they wish. Indeed, leftists routinely lose ballot initiatives even in states they consider reliably their territory. Sometimes, they take the unbelievable step of trying to get judges to prevent voters from even being able to vote on ballot initiatives. Leftists insist that federal judges, especially the Supreme Court, can legally do exactly the same as Article V amendments if these judges can "read into" the Constitution things that simply are not there. The danger to the Constitution when conservative acquiesce in the propriety of this absurdity actually trumps Article V, because any amendment passed could simply be "interpreted" as meaning something completely contrary to the amendment. How ought conservatives to respond to this threat? Well, sitting around waiting for a leftist justice to die is such a farcical process that it is odd that grownups could accept that and yet that is precisely what has happened. Look at the results: federal judges tie up endlessly President Trump's efforts to prevent terrorists from entering America. Federal judges insist, contrary to all historical evidence, that the First Amendment was intended to impose state atheism on all government actions. Wildly improper federal police bullying of citizens in a variety of ways goes unchecked by the courts. Conservatives ought to completely change the dynamics of an "evolving Constitution," and there are several ways to do that. Conservatives could pack the Supreme Court by adding enough seats to allow a clear conservative majority. A single statute could add six or eight or ten justices, and the nuclear option could get them on the Supreme Court in days. When leftists yelp, conservatives should simply note that they are following the advice of Senator Feinstein and "evolving" the Constitution in ways they think best. Conservatives could also simply abolish lower federal courts like the Ninth Circuit and then reconstitute those bodies with a different name and composition one day later, with completely new judges and the old ones having no judicial office. Conservatives could proclaim that all interpretations of the Constitution by the Supreme Court could be overruled by a single joint resolution of Congress. Indeed, that is what Thomas Jefferson believed. That might create a constitutional crisis, but surely that would be a good thing and not something conservatives ought to dread. Conservatives ought, of course, to use the amendment process, including calling a constitutional convention. High on the list of amendments ought to be an express clipping of the powers of federal judges to "evolve" the Constitution and the creation of a better process when that document seems unclear. Without absurdly powerful federal judges, the left can do nothing. Conservatives ought to make that a high priority. Laughing at others' misfortune shows not only a lack of empathy, but also a lack of humanity. Maine Democrats attending a "Values and Vision" summit found the fact that white male suicide rates are skyrocketing a real knee-slapper. This video is pretty unbelievable. Washington Times: A Maine-based website has released cellphone video of Democrats at a "Values and Vision" community meeting laughing at suicide among America's white male population. Video released Friday from a recent event hosted by the Maine Democratic Party features former state senatorial candidate Richard Fochtmann discussing giddiness at news of white male suicide. The incident, shared by Maine First Media and picked up by The Daily Caller soon afterward, elicited raucous laughter from attendees. "What we need in Maine is we need younger people take a look. It looks almost like a lecture for Social Security," Mr. Fochtmann said. "Okay, so that's one thing. We need to encourage as many young people. We also need more women. Today I saw a thing that said a lot of men, white men are committing suicide," he continued. "I almost thought yeah, great. Then I thought about it little more and I thought maybe I shouldn't say that out in public." Mr. Fochtmann told the Daily Caller on Friday that his comments were in jest. "A joke's a joke, isn't it?" he said. "I thought the point of the joke is that it won't be long, and that this won't be a majority white nation, and I think that's a good thing." The activist also expressed frustration with the "lack of morality" of people his age. Yeah life's a bitch, ain't it? Laughing at people committing suicide no matter what race they are could be considered immoral. But it's not just suicide afflicting white males in their 40s and 50s. Rates for drug addiction, depression, and divorce are all skyrocketing. Middle-aged white males, as a group, are in crisis, and it is attitudes like those expressed by Maine Democrats that it's a good thing white males are killing themselves off that drove these voters to cast a ballot for President Trump. Democrats may laugh at these voters' misfortunes. But it is the voters who will get the last laugh at the ballot box. On April 2, page one of the New York Times online and print editions featured an article entitled "O'Reilly Thrives as Settlements Add Up." The Times assigned at least five reporters and conducted over 60 interviews with former Fox News employees to reopen and investigate harassment complaints filed by women against O'Reilly across the last two decades. Ostensibly, their findings were published at this time because a psychologist, who had appeared as a guest on his program recently, came forward to report he had become "hostile" to her four years ago after she declined to go to his hotel room. Every profession has its favored labels. Psychologists typically use the term "hostile" to summarize negative mood as suggested by facial affect and body language in nonviolent people. In the patois of a psychologist's empathy, she was quoted: "I feel bad that some of these old guys are using mating strategies that were acceptable in the 1950s and are not acceptable now." She also observed that romantic relationships at the workplace "should never happen when there is an imbalance of power." This recommendation is still a recipe for attorney full employment, because there is almost always a power imbalance between two employees in a workplace. Bill O'Reilly was ten years old when the '50s ended. Old guys still ask out younger, beautiful women at work even to this day. Sometimes their advances are not appreciated. In summary, O'Reilly or Fox is reported to have paid large sums to five lawyered up women who claimed they were mistreated by O'Reilly. He denies wrongdoing and says he paid out to protect his children. The psychologist must not have watched The Factor very often if she thinks it's remarkable for Mr. O'Reilly to appear hostile. Almost every night he cuts someone off or calls people pinheads, loons, or dopey. He unabashedly patronized Donald Trump during the campaign, offering his friend numerous points for self-improvement. He tends to be peremptory and dismissive about negative feedback. Whatever the truth about Mr. O'Reilly's behavior towards women, and that particular category of truth is often elusive, here's the real reason the New York Times is dismayed by the fact Mr. O'Reilly continues to "thrive." As a white heterosexual Catholic, O'Reilly is the New York Times' most despised demographic. As the most prominent reporter who first took the Trump candidacy seriously and gave the current president unlimited air time to kick-start his campaign, O'Reilly did more than anyone in the media to get Trump elected. That cannot stand. O'Reilly is a news source for millions of forgotten Americans discounted by the Times, deplored by their candidate. And he must pay for that. More than any other anti-moral legacy media, the most pervasive theme of New York Times for many years has been to advance the "gay" revolution. That movement has established an extreme double standard of conduct for heterosexual and homosexual men. The Times would never lead an investigation into Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Rachel Maddow, or any other homosexual media figure, no matter what the accusation. On the flip-side, their ilk salivate at exposing sexual misbehavior in heterosexual men of traditional values. The anti-moral mind has normalized severely reduced tolerance for expression of even healthy anger in heterosexual men. Men who were once appreciated for being bold and frank are now punished for making people feel "unsafe." The all-important distinction between words and actions by heterosexual white men has been demolished. President Obama complained against Fox News repeatedly during his presidency. Dethroned coastal elites will seek revenge against people like Bill O'Reilly forever because of the election of Trump. If the New York Times can effect a career assassination against Bill O'Reilly, and damage Fox news in the process, it will be a trophy like no other to hang on their mahogany-paneled walls. On a deeper level, the Times is jealous of O'Reilly's enormous relevance to the American political conversation compared with their own insular staleness. O'Reilly shames the Times every day with his message of looking out for the same folks the cosmopolitan upper crust fly over every day. No one expects the Trump administration to reverse the disastrous effects of the Obama-supported Muslim Brotherhood's hijacking of the "Arab Spring" in the Middle East that increased the regional contest for supremacy in the Islamic world. The rivalry has intensified between the Sunni camp led by Saudi Arabia and the Shiite camp led by Iran each with its pet terrorist organizations. It's hard to overstate how much damage was done by the Obama administration's misjudgment that Sunni jihadists and Shia Iran were somehow friendly to us and could be useful tools of American policy. But using jihadi groups claiming to be less violent than al-Qaeda and ISIS resulted in the Benghazi massacre of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and the destabilization of Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, and elsewhere. The "Stop Arming Terrorists Act" (SATA) (H.R. 608), which was sponsored by Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), would help curtail U.S. assistance to Sunni and Shia jihadists, who would gladly use it against Americans, not only against each other. Rep. Gabbard points out in her introductory statement for the bill: Under U.S. law it is illegal for any American to provide money or assistance to al-Qaida, ISIS or other terrorist groups. If you or I gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaida or ISIS, we would be thrown in jail. Yet the U.S. government has been violating this law for years, quietly supporting allies and partners of al-Qaida, ISIL, Jabhat Fateh al Sham, and other terrorist groups with money, weapons, and intelligence support, in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government. The Senate sponsor of SATA (S. 532), Sen. Rand Paul, added in the introductory statement: One of the unintended consequences of nation-building and open-ended intervention is American funds and weapons benefiting those who hate us. This legislation will strengthen our foreign policy, enhance our national security, and safeguard our resources. According to John Eibner, the CEO of Christian Solidarity International: "No one doubts the complexity of the security challenges facing the United States in the Middle East and worldwide. However, under no circumstances is giving money and weapons to al-Qaida and other groups the U.S. government knows to be terrorists and their collaborators a legitimate option or a valid use of Americans' tax dollars." This, unfortunately, has happened again and again. In addition to the SATA, Congress should restrict U.S. government financial and other material support to Iran-supported Shia groups, notably Hezb'allah in Lebanon. While the so-called "military wing" of Hezb'allah has been designated by the U.S. as terrorist, its "political wing" is free to operate in Lebanon. Members of the Hezb'allah-led bloc in the Lebanese Parliament served until recently and wield influence in academic and financial institutions. The case he cited was that of the American University in Beirut (AUB). On March 23, 2017, the settlement penalty of $700,000 against AUB was announced by the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York "for alleged False Claims Act (FCA) violations arising from OFAC sanctions violations, including false certifications of economic sanctions compliance made by AUB to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in connection with U.S. Government grants. AUB acknowledged that it provided journalism training workshops attended by representatives of two designated Hezb'allah media entities, and separately promoted a designated Hezb'allah construction company through its inclusion on a publicly accessible online database. AUB agreed to pay $700,000 and strengthen its compliance program to resolve the civil action." However, this settlement is unlikely to prevent that some of the 2017 U.S. planned aid of $233,510M from going to Hezb'allah and its ilk. The SATA, which already has bipartisan co-sponsorship from Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Peter Welsh (D-Vt.), Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), Thomas Garrett (R-Va.), Paul Gosar (R-Va.), and Scott Perry (R-Penn.). It should be supported by all. BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, April 14th 2017 OECS Heads of Governments are behind in their contributions to the St. Lucia-based Commission and have agreed to pay their subventions on a timely basis. During the continuation of the 64th Heads of Government Meeting hosted in St. Vincent by the Government of Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, the sub-regional leaders reviewed the financial obligations of Member States to the OECS Commission. Heads of Government agreed that the timely payment of contributions is essential to the efficient functioning of the Organisation and committed to the expeditious settlement of outstanding contributions, said the communique issued at the end of the meeting. Heads of Government deliberated on current matters of regional security and proposed recommendations for ongoing support in the areas of border security and intelligence sharing. The Meeting recognised the importance of the Regional Security System (RSS) as well as the CARICOM Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), which continue to be focal points for regional law and order, and considered the benefits of deepening practical cooperation among Member States as a deterrent to criminal activities. The OECS Commission will investigate the feasibility of a regional cooperation framework for policing in the sub region. Heads continued discussions on strategic options for external representation with a view to consolidate diplomatic missions. The Meeting received a detailed report on the current expenditures for external representation by Member States and considered the recommendations for increased collaboration. Heads also reflected on the re-establishment of a joint diplomatic Mission in Canada. Further, the Authority considered a stronger outreach into the African Continent and in particular improving relations with the African Union as an entity, and with individual Member States of the African Union. This outreach to Africa, the Heads affirmed to be an important strategic element in the OECS thrust to deepen south-south cooperation and strengthen ACP relations, the communique said. It added that OECS Heads of Government discussed the financial sustainability of the Health Sector in the region and noted the need to implement a regional Health Insurance capable of providing specialised care to Member States at reduced costs. The Authority commended the progress that individual Member States have made towards the implementation of National Health Insurance programmes and considered viable options for the adoption of an OECS Health Insurance in these Member States. OECS leaders also considered the status of negotiations with St. Martin and agreed that discussions should continue towards its logical conclusion. Heads of Government received a report on the progress of the Agri-shipping Initiative being piloted in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and commended the Ministry of Agriculture for the progressive approach to improve standards and approach new markets. The Meeting noted the significant economic potential of the Initiative and proposed that the OECS Commission continue to work with St. Vincent and the Grenadines to ensure the engagement of all Member States. All Heads expressed their deep appreciation of the hospitality extended by the Government and People of St. Vincent & the Grenadines and looked forward to the speedy implementation of decisions made at the meeting. COLUMBUS Tax season tends to be a painful time of year. But that's a good thing at Eternal Tattoo & Body Piercing in Columbus, where the schedule fills up from January to June as clients look to spend their green on some fresh ink. Its like free money, tattoo artist Dano Miller said of tax refunds. Some use it to pay bills, others use it to get tattoos. One thing is for sure, when tax season hits its full-on. Other than walk-in Saturdays for clients wanting smaller, less-complex tattoos, the business is booked pretty solid this time of year, with a current waiting list up to three months. JeniLynn Storm and her husband Hercules scheduled their appointments four months ago and got their tattoos last week, with another trip needed to complete JeniLynn's design. At the flat rate of $100 an hour, they'll spend $300 on the skull, key and rose tattoos on their forearms. And this isnt the first time theyve gotten tattoos with their tax refund. Miller, who has been tattooing since 2009, said he has regulars just like the Storms who come in each year around this time. JeniLynn and Hercules have gotten tattoos at other times, too, but she said it feels better to pay with the government refund. Its a chunk of money coming in that you didnt have before, she said. Its fun to just splurge every once in a while. But she doesnt just waltz into the shop and pick something out. I only get tattoos that have meaning or hold purpose, said JeniLynn, who has tattoos on her feet in honor of her children. Tattoos tell your story. With limited competition Eternal Tattoo is the only tattoo shop in Columbus the business inks roughly 1,200 clients during the six-month tax rush. Miller said most people who want bigger tattoos often get the work done over multiple sessions because that's what they can afford. But come tax time, they can suddenly afford to pay for the whole thing at once. The most-expensive tattoo hes created so far this year cost around $2,000, which was spread out over a few trips since that equates to a 20-hour session. The past few years weve had one person drop off their whole tax return here, said 25-year-old Ashley Lynn, one of the shops tattoo artists. A Harris poll of more than 2,200 U.S. adults in October 2015 found that nearly three in 10 Americans have at least one tattoo. And once you get one, youre likely to get more: Among people with any tattoos, seven in 10 have two or more. The same survey found that nearly half of millennials have tattoos, with more than a third of Gen Xers saying the same. That compared to about 13 percent for baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). Once you start getting tattoos, you cant stop. Its an addiction, the 48-year-old Miller said. Miller said the stigma associated with tattoos has largely gone away, something he attributed to increased exposure on television. Alfonso Ayala was at Eternal Tattoo on Wednesday afternoon to get a portrait of his mother across his upper arm. Even though he wasnt spending his tax refund money, he did feel the sting of the rush. Ayala, who sat for five hours from start to finish, had to book his session about five months ago. SCHUYLER A 23-year-old Schuyler man with a history of drunken driving was charged last week in connection with a June 2016 crash that killed a 15-year-old girl. The Colfax County Attorneys Office filed charges of manslaughter, driving under the influence resulting in serious bodily injury, second-offense DUI, second-offense reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle during revocation against Angel Lopez, who was behind the wheel of a 2005 Honda Accord that slammed into a tree shortly after 11 p.m. June 15 in the 600 block of West Sixth Street in Schuyler. The charges could result in a prison sentence of more than 20 years. According to court documents, Lopez and two teenage passengers in the vehicle were parked in the picnic area near the Oak Ballroom when a Schuyler Police officer attempted to make contact to notify them of the park curfew. The vehicle drove away, and the officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop, which led to a brief pursuit before the officer ended the chase. A crash involving a vehicle with the same license plate number occurred a few minutes later near the intersection of West Sixth and Elk streets. The Honda Accord, which was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed, drove over the curb and struck a tree head-on. Isabella Brandt of Schuyler, a passenger in the vehicle, was taken by ambulance to CHI Health Schuyler and pronounced dead while being transported by medical helicopter to a Lincoln hospital. Another passenger in the vehicle, then-15-year-old Herodes Gutierrez of Schuyler, fled the crash scene on foot and was taken by ambulance to the local hospital from his home. He required 14 staples to close a gash on his head, according to court documents. Lopez, who had to be extricated from the wrecked vehicle, was transported by ambulance to CHI Health Schuyler then flown to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha for treatment. An affidavit supporting his arrest says Lopez told an emergency room nurse at the Schuyler hospital he had like 10 beers that night. Officers also found a half-empty bottle of tequila inside his vehicle, the document states. A blood sample was taken to test for alcohol. Lopez was arrested in Schuyler the week before the fatal accident for DUI, driving during revocation and procuring alcohol to a minor following a traffic stop that involved the same teenage boy injured in the crash. Three months earlier, he was convicted of DUI in Platte County and had his license revoked for one year. Lopez also has previous convictions in Nebraska for reckless driving in 2014, driving under suspension twice in 2013 and driving under revocation in 2014 and May 2016, according to court documents. He is being held in the Platte County Detention Facility with a bond hearing pending. COLUMBUS The need for a new library remains. But the path forward is unclear. Thats how Columbus Public Library Director Drew Brookhart summed up the current status of the proposed library/cultural arts center. Im really disappointed that it didnt pass, and we have a lot of work to do, he said during Thursdays library board meeting, the first since local residents voted 1,768 to 1,517 on Tuesday to reject an $8.5 million bond issue for the downtown facility. That work will begin with a survey of voters to determine what they liked and disliked about the project and what concerns remain. Well be gathering information on everybody who voted, said Brookhart, who is hoping to put together a phone survey to poll the public. Brookhart said the goal moving forward is to determine what issues size, cost, location, need caused 54 percent of voters to oppose the plan and what can be done to change their opinion. He was also surprised by the low level of participation in Tuesdays election, when just 25 percent of Columbus voters cast ballots. Thats another topic to address moving forward, Brookhart said. The library director said officials wont have a concrete plan for how the plan will proceed until they get real evidence from the community on what needs to change. Thats pretty much all we know right now, he said. A major concern for Brookhart is the potential loss of millions of dollars already committed to the library/cultural arts center, which would be built on the former Gene Steffy Ford property along 14th Street between 23rd and 24th avenues. The plan was to cover at least 50 percent of the estimated $16 million construction price tag with private donations, grants and a library foundation contribution. Only $4.3 million has been raised so far, but Brookhart was confident a vote of support in Tuesdays election would spur additional commitments and open the door to more grant opportunities. Now hes just hoping to keep whats been added to the pot so far. City Administrator Tara Vasicek, who attended Thursdays meeting as an introduction to board members, also expressed her support for the library project. Its definitely a need that the community has, Vasicek said while offering to assist with the process in the months ahead. As proposed, the roughly 45,000-square-foot facility would include a 300-seat auditorium, art gallery, makerspace and enough room for 20 years of library growth. The current library, constructed in 1941 as an office building for an electric utility, is about 33,000 square feet. Columbus residents voted nearly 2 to 1 in May 2016 in favor of extending the local half-cent sales tax to pay for the library/cultural arts center and proposed improvements for the police and fire departments. That tax will remain in place until debt issued for the library and public safety projects is repaid, or voters reject both proposals during bond elections. In 2006, a group of farmers gathered in York for a discussion about on-farm research projects for the coming year. They were looking at ways to reduce input costs without affecting yield. One question asked was: What is the effect of seeding rates on soybean yields? To look at the question, several farmers chose to try a project with four seeding rates (90,000, 120,000, 150,000 and 180,000 seeds/acre) in 30-inch row spacing. Ten years later, the research continues with the same results: reducing soybean seeding rates from 180,000 or 150,000 seeds/acre to 120,000 seeds/acre doesnt statistically reduce yields in 30-inch rows in silty clay loam and silt loam soils in south-central and southeast Nebraska. Results of 16 studies showed for seeding rates of 180,000, 150,000 and 120,000 seeds per acre, average yields were 66.9, 66.5 and 66.2 bu/ac, respectively, which is not statistically different. Surveys conducted via CropWatch (website) and at pesticide trainings found most Nebraska farmers planting an average 150,000 seeds/acre. Our recommendation, based on our research, is to consider reducing the soybean seeding rate to 120,000 seeds per acre and aim for a final plant stand of 100,000 plants per acre. Economically, if you dropped your seeding rate from 150,000 to 120,000 seeds per acre, you would save $10.69/acre (assuming a $60 per bag seed cost at 140,000 seeds). The same question, regarding the effect of reduced populations on soybean yields, exists today for farmers switching to narrow-row soybeans. In 2016, two on-farm research studies were conducted in Richardson and Washington counties with 15-inch row soybeans. Seeding rates of 90,000, 120,000, 150,000 and 180,000 seeds/acre were planted in the Washington County field with non-significant yield differences of 76, 77, 77 and 76 bu/ac respectively with the 90,000 rate resulting in the highest marginal net return. The farmer was able to achieve 91 percent or greater of original planted stand. Seeding rates of 116,000, 130,000, 160,000 and 185,000 were planted in the Richardson County field. There were no statistical yield differences between 185,000, 160,000 and 130,000 seeding rates in this study with yields of 68, 68 and 67 bu/ac, respectively. The 116,000 seeded rate resulted in a yield of 66 bu/ac. Heavy crusting affected final plant populations in the field, resulting in final stands of 87,667, 99,417, 113,667 and 126,333 and for seeding rates of 116,000, 130,000, 160,000 and 185,0000, respectively. The 116,000 seeding rate resulted in the highest marginal net return for this study. Lets be clear about the bottom line here -- Nebraska research shows reducing the soybean seeding rate from 150,000 to 120,000 seeds/acre can result in a $10.69/acre savings without affecting yield. Huffington Post writer says white men should be denied the right to vote If youre looking for something really dumb, reactionary, horrible and bigoted dont bother with Kelvin Mackenzie. Look instead to the Huffington Post, where Shelley Garland puts her case for denying the vote to all white men. Just when you thought wed reached the nadir of self-righteous first world loathing someone digs their nails further into their flesh and pulls out a new nugget soaked in the puss of identity politics. She tells us irony of ironies that denying the vote to millions of people based on the colour of their skin and genitals would strike a blow FOR progress. Garland says you white men are the Untermensch. You are not an individual. You are an ambulatory cipher. You exist to represent. And you are a mistake in need of correcting. And in case any enlightened women, blacks, Jews, Muslims and others want to support white male suffrage by voting one of these sub-humans into office, Garland says no white man will be allowed to hold any position of authority. They will also have their assets seized and redistributed. She begins: Some of the biggest blows to the progressive cause in the past year have often been due to the votes of white men. If white men were not allowed to vote, it is unlikely that the United Kingdom would be leaving the European Union, it is unlikely that Donald Trump would now be the President of the United States, and it is unlikely that the Democratic Alliance would now be governing four of South Africas biggest cities. Upset that the democratic one adult one vote rule has produced the wrong results, Garland would like to maintain the establishment by denying anyone white and male the legal means to bring about change. Garland wants a new caste system where she is at the top and her kind know best. You can read more of her revolting opinion or just file Garlands regressive, illiberal, anti-human nastiness with the thousands of other HuffPost and Guardian anti-egalitarian articles on how white people are stupid and that we should all be on our guard against get this Nazis. Paul Sorene Posted: 15th, April 2017 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink I once met a young man who had escaped from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. He shared his harrowing tale of fleeing, capture, jail, and, ultimately, freedom. He is grateful for his new life and shares the enthusiasm of liberation. To this day, for reasons of safety, he has to keep his identity and whereabouts quiet. He lives with the fear of retaliation. His plight is indicative of an entire nation. The people of North Korea live in a harsh and insular climate marked by fear, desperation and depravity. The country is defined by a psychological construct of belligerent nationalism, marked by the cult of leadership worship. North Korea has the fourth-largest army in the world, and its leader, Kim Jong-un, has repeatedly threatened us. He is paranoid, young, and he has nuclear weapons. The world has a very serious problem. While the Korean War is an increasingly distant memory for our nation, perhaps there is no more vivid example of the gift of American leadership than on the Korean Peninsula. The sacrifice of American troops enabled the people of South Korea to build a flourishing economy, a governing system that adheres to democratic values, and a population that enjoy the general liberties we have in America. That sacrifice continues today as we have 28,500 troops remaining as a guardian force. While to the North it is a dark scene. The key to understanding North Korea's power revolves around its neighbor China. The Peoples Republic of China claims to be troubled by North Korea's behavior, yet, in many ways, it plays a double game. China likely cooperates with the North Korean regime in subtle ways below the public radar, possibly lending technology that North Korea could not advance on its own. North Koreas wild and provocative actions also further Chinese interests by keeping the international eye off of Chinese transgressions: Chinas contradictory capitalistic-communistic model, its militarization of the South China Sea, its belligerent attitude toward transportation in the East China Sea, and its mercantilist maneuvering throughout the world in the name of progress. From China's viewpoint, it has a legitimate worry about a destabilized North Korea, lest a refugee crisis appear on its doorstep. Moreover, China has a long history of victimization by its neighbors. And it has a long memory. United States troops nearby trouble them. China has plowed its newfound economic largesse into a large military buildup. Days before a high-profile United States visit by Chinese President Xi, North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile, an entirely predictable response to the Trump-Xi meeting. What is less predictable is where the situation goes from here. As the Administration has stated, the time for "strategic patience" has ended. A central goal of the United States has been to encourage stable and just economic, governing, and social systems around the world in the interest of international stability. It is the right thing to do and it is smart public policy. Strategic patience allows time for next-generation leaders to understand and seek a new direction. When necessary, enhanced economic pressure and a robust defensive posture are used to incentivize new directions. However, with North Korea accelerating its destructive technology and threats, strategic patience has reached its limits. In foreign affairs, we optimally assume that others will behave rationally and according to commonly accepted values. The case of North Korea sadly illustrates the danger when lethal technology is combined with reckless motivation. China's leverage could help deescalate this situation, and we need them to do so. Just as we saw in a missile strike on Syria for gassing children, now we enter into a new phase of strategic impatience. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Fox News, where women work at their own risk in a misogynist culture frozen somewhere in the 1950s, is back in crisis mode. Nine months after chairman and accused sexual harasser Roger Ailes was forced out, we're wondering whether accused sexual harasser Bill O'Reilly will be forced out, too. Don't hold your breath. I don't write much about O'Reilly, although it was fun two years ago to recount his phony boasts of covering a war that was actually 1,000 miles away from his hotel. But now attention must be paid, because his new flap is for the highest stakes. It's morals versus money. Advertisers are currently fleeing "The O'Reilly Factor," indicating in press releases that they prefer not to be associated with an old-school male chauvinist who has cost his company $13 million to settle sexual harassment claims. The news about O'Reilly -- who allegedly made sexual advances to his five female accusers, and when rebuked, hurt the women's careers -- broke bigly over the weekend, and more than dozen bailing sponsors have scrambled onto the high road. Mercedes-Benz is patting itself on the back: "The allegations are disturbing and, given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don't feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now." Ditto clothing company UNTICKit: "It is important that our corporate partners reflect the same principals of inclusivity and equality upon which we have built our brand." Ditto the pharmaceutical company Bayer, which says it "supports a safe, respectful and non-abusive environment for women." All very noble. But let's not get carried away, because the firms are ultimately beholden to the business of making money. These sponsors are merely shifting their ads to other Fox shows, which means that O'Reilly's notoriety isn't costing Fox News a penny. Plus, the network gets most of its revenue from licensing fees paid by cable and satellite operators, so it's cushioned from any sponsor rebellion. And if the sponsors truly wanted to take a moral stand, they'd bail on Fox News entirely. After all, the network, which claims to have "zero tolerance" for sexual harassment, just renewed its contract with O'Reilly last year after it paid off female accusers. Unfortunately, the sponsors have shown no interest in cutting the cord completely. Granted, ad boycotts have worked on occasion. MSNBC nixed the simulcast of Don Imus' radio show, and Glenn Beck left Fox News after sponsors fled his TV program. But Bill O'Reilly may be too big to fail. To use the mob's terminology, O'Reilly is an earner. He makes $18 million a year, which is dwarfed by the bucks his show brings in: $446 million ad-revenue dollars got pumped into Fox coffers between 2014 and 2016. That's likely deemed to be more important to Fox executives than the sex harassment stuff -- like, for instance, the allegation that O'Reilly told one woman to buy a vibrator, and serenaded the same woman by phone with masturbation noises. By the way, O'Reilly says he has never harassed anyone, that he routinely draws accusers just because he's famous, and that he and Fox have paid off the women because "I'm a father who cares deeply for my children ... I have put to rest any controversies to spare my children." In February 2016 he lost custody of his children, who said they wanted to live with their mother. Bottom line is, money talks. One Fox source told New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman (the journalist with the best Fox sources), "The impact of these boycotts can be cosmetic. The feeling is, let's keep our heads down and hope this blows over." Which may well happen. Here's another remark, from a different source: "We've seen this many times in the past. Some of the advertisers that left will come back, and some will be replaced. Life will go on." That remark was uttered in 2012 by Michael Harrison, who publishes a talk radio magazine. He was referring to Rush Limbaugh -- who, at the time, was hemorrhaging advertisers after he ridiculed a law student, a birth control user, as a "slut" and a "prostitute." You may remember that flap. Scores of big-ticket advertisers, from Capitol One to Quicken Loans, said they would no longer do business with Rush. Critics gleefully tallied the boycotters and awaited Rush's downfall. Last August, Rush inked a new contract with his overlords at Premiere Radio Networks -- for another four years. You get my point. Perhaps Peggy Drexler, an author and gender scholar, is right when she says that the O'Reilly scandal will ultimately help women -- "the more we hear about ... the mistreatment of women in the workplace and anywhere, the more women are likely to band together to hasten that change" -- but Rupert Murdoch and his old-boy underlings are fine with Fox's toxic culture if it works for the balance sheet. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani troops violated the ceasefire regime 25 times on Artsakh-Azerbaijan contact line on April 14 and overnight 15, firing over 400 bullets from different caliber gunfire weapons. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh, Defense Army front line units mainly refrained from retaliation and continued to perform unwavering protection of the military positions. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan assessed the illegal logging in Davitashen district vandalism. Speaking to reporters the Mayor said he will be watchful so as the responsible are severky punished within the frames of the law. Its unacceptable, when we all plant trees and take care. Our task is to expand green zones, but we have citizens who evade all these, Armenpress reports Taron Margaryan saying. He added that the Head of Davitashen administrative district has been tasked to plant new trees in the area. The illegal logging took place on April 10 when 29 trees were logged. The Ministry of Nature Protection has assessed the damage at 2.86 million AMD. [contextly_auto_sidebar] Folks, This week CultureCrash guest columnist Lawrence Christon looks at the legacy of the Saint Lucia-born, US-residing poet Derek Walcott, who died March 17. I share Christons fondness for DWs verse, and was pleased enough to meet the poet once or twice at the Eugene ONeill Theater Inst in CT, which I covered in the mid-90s. Its been nearly a month since Derek Walcott died and Im still waiting for a major publication, or even a minor one at this point, to come out with an authoritative summary of his life and work, the kind of commentary on his esthetic that puts him to rest with the illuminating glow reserved for the truly extraordinary. It looks like its going to be a long wait. Except for The New York Times extensive obit and an appreciation by fellow West Indian Hilton Als in The New Yorker, theres been virtually nothing, not in places where you would expect it, like Harpers, The Atlantic or The Paris review. Not in the once-literary Esquire, nor the culturally emaciated Los Angeles Times, which ran an amateur freelancers marginally embarrassing essay and shunted Walcotts actual obit over to the Associated Press, which could not resist mentioning sexual harassment charges. (The half-mad titular poet in Saul Bellows 1975 Humboldts Gift protested, I have a thick dick! as a matter of pride; and as adventurers of the flesh, e.e. cummings and Dylan Thomas would not have made the cut in todays flinty literary scene. How times have changed.) Need we be reminded that Walcott, a 1992 Nobel Prize-winner, was one of the greatest English-speaking poets of the past 70 years, with a brilliant gift for putting us in an exact setting and extending that moment, that immediate blend of sight and smell and sound, into deepening metaphors that reached into history, place, art, political conditions, memory, emotion, and the ongoing dialogue between the recurrent and the fleeting, all with a language that, as with the greats, offered a sensual satisfaction of its own? Robert Graves, no slouch himself, observed: Walcott handles English with a closer understanding of its inner magic than mostif not anyof his English-born contemporaries. Not even one of Walcotts peers, of whom there are precious few, have stepped up to pay homage as Auden mourned Yeats: He disappeared in the dead of winter:/The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,/And snow disfigured the public statues;/ The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day. The New York Review of Books ran an excellent piece on April 6, but it seemed more a happy accident inasmuch as it dealt with Walcotts collaboration with painter Peter Doig on a book called Morning, Paramin, and otherwise made no mention of Walcotts passing. (Though, to be fair, both the NYRB and Paris Review went to press before they could mention his death.) Walcott was an expert watercolorist, incidentally, which helped vivify his poetrys address to the minds eye. So what gives? Why the shameful, or shameless, neglect? The truth is that this ignorant indifference extends to the genre itself. I spent a couple of days reading through numerous poetry websites, many of them connected with prestigious foundations and publications, and was dismayed to see that, with a few crossover exceptions, their listings of our top 20 or more contemporary poets contained completely different names, as if no one knew or even heard of anyone else. Im not speaking of familiars like W.S Merwin, Billy Collins or Kay Ryan theyre not even mentioned. If poetry editors cant agree on a list, how are us civilians expected to keep up? And what does this say about consensus figures in the English-speaking landscape? Poetry, in America at least, has been taking a beating for more than a half-century, for reasons that overlap. The 50s was the last decade in which youthful rebellion expressed itself in literature, as in the work of the Beats and the epic cry of Allen Ginsbergs Howl, which came out in 1955, (when T.S. Eliot was still a literary demi-god). In the Dionysian 60s, the shift in cultural energy turned to rock music. In the Reagan 80s, the warring politicization of the arts, both on the right and left, exacted its price on the hands-off autonomy of art. By the aught years, movies, TV, cable and the proliferation of cell phones and visuals had all but crowded out the power of the word as a mediator of experience, leaving us in an aural landscape of newspeak, psychobabble, academic jargon and a thin slop of everyday speech. As much as anything, the abandonment of the western canon has encouraged a majority of artists, including poets, to make art as if the shock of the new were the only hit worth taking. Walcott, in searching for his own identity as a poet, contradicted this willful amnesia early on. In Origins, he writes: The flowering breaker detonates its surf. White bees hiss in the coral skull. Nameless I came among olives and algae, Foetus of plankton, I remember nothing. Clouds, log of Colon, I learnt your annals of ocean, Of Hector, bridler of horses, Achilles, Aeneas, Ulysses, But Of that fine race of people which came off the mainland To greet Christobal as he rounded Icacos, Blank pages turn in the wind. Walcott spent a lifetime traveling and educating himself in history and art, writing through the split vision of race, the self and the world, the colonial place in civilization and vice-versa, shadow and light (as in the shade that rested between Christ and the cross). He worked hard at cultivating an erudition that informed his work without burdening it. The classics enriched his poems and painting (he was less successful as a playwright). He had a sharp eye for exploitation and ruin, but he gave no sense of the tradition of Homer, Shakespeare, Cezanne, Durer, and Pietro della Francesca, etc., as a progression of Western imperial decadence. He appreciated the best among his contemporaries, like Hart Crane, Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, in friendship and critical appraisal. The best summary of Walcott came from his late friend, the poet Joseph Brodsky (also a Nobel prize-winner) who, in a lengthy 2010 piece in TNYRB, wondered about the unwillingness of the critical profession to admit that the great poet of the English language is a black man. Brodsky writes, For thirty years his throbbing and relentless lines have kept arriving on the English language like tidal waves, coagulating into an archipelago of poems without which the map of contemporary literature would be like wallpaper. He gives us more than himself or a world; he gives us a sense of infinity embodied in the language as well as in the ocean, which is always present in his poems: as their background and foreground, as their subject, or as their meter. Walcotts last lines, echoing Origins, observe the mountains and sea of his native St. Lucia, and the cloud that slowly covers the page and it goes/white again and the book comes to a close. Hes describing his own end, of course, but you cant help but feel a great beautiful book has closed on us as well. Coleman Hawkins made the tenor saxophone a jazz instrument. Bud Freeman (1906-1991), two years younger than Hawkins, followed as another of the horns early masters. Freeman (pictured) started on C-melody saxophone and was a member of Chicagos Austin High Gang, which also included Frank Teschemacher, Dave Tough and Jimmy McPartland. After he switched to tenor sax in the mid-1920s he went on to play with Ben Pollack, Red Nichols, Ray Noble, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Eddie Condon, among many others. He called his own band The Summa Cum Laude Orchestra. His tone was light compared with most other tenor saxophonists of his era, and almost without vibrato. Freeman was one of the rare early jazz pioneers who became interested in new forms; in the 1950s he studied with Lennie Tristano. In the mid-1960s, Freeman was a guest on Jazz Alley, a television program hosted by his Chicago pianist contemporary Art Hodes. In this segment, Hodes begins by introducing the young soprano saxophohnist Bob Wilber, who does not play, and then Freeman, who does. The bassist is R.L. Wilson, the drummer Bob Cousins. Not all of the introductions are distinct, so here is the tune list: You Took Advantage of Me, Dinah and Three Little Words. For an informative and entertaining account of his career, read Freemans autobiography, You Dont Look Like a Musician. By FRANK JOSEPH The most important questions we can ask are about ourselves, not only as individuals, but as a species. Where did we come from? How did we get here? A question that has bedevilled us for as long as we can remember is: Where and when did we take the step from savagery to civilisation? Mainstream historians, who write our textbooks, insist they know: in Mesopotamia, about 5500 years ago. But they are contradicted by places like Chatal Hueyuek, a 13-hectare condominium village that flourished as part of a much broader urban centre in central Turkey, 15 centuries earlier. More ancient still, archaeologists excavated a nine-metre-high, stone castle in the Near East, at Jerico, that is a 1000 years older. The sophisticated level of construction at Chatal Hueyuek, Jerico, and similar, pre-fourth millennium BCE sites proves they were not the first of their kind, but must have developed from much older precursors. Just who were these precursors, and how far back into prehistory did they lay the foundation for all subsequent civilisations, including our own? This was the question that sparked more than ten years of concerted research and world travel. I found clues left behind by the long-dead Cliff-Dwellers of the American Southwest; among the living oral traditions of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, and New Zealand; and in the pre-Buddhist temples of Japan and Southeast Asia. The accumulated evidence compelled me to conclude that mankinds first civilisation gradually arose in the Pacific around 50,000 years. This period coincided with the Upper Paleolithic, or Late Stone Age, famous for its cave-art in southwestern France, and lowered sea-levels, allowing for occupation of Australia by exposed land-bridges. For the next 38,000 years of relative peace and isolation, the Pacific islanders developed the scientific and spiritual arts to high degrees of sophistication through close observance of natural law. Their country was known as Mu, the Motherland, less a specific geographical territory, than a people and culture spread out over many lands from what is now west-coastal America, throughout Oceania, to Japan. The inhabitants were Lemurians, or the residents of sea-girt Mu. Although they venerated numerous deities, the Sun personified the literal and spiritual Enlightenment of a Compassionate Intelligence that ordered the Universe, and attached the eternity of the human soul to recurring patterns evidenced in the cycles of nature. The Motherland itself was mostly a low-lying, tropical country, much of it close to the equator, and therefore beset by a hot climate. Her population lived in small fishing villages or on farms. Cities were not unknown, but more ceremonial than urban centres. Step-pyramids, temples, plazas and other examples of sacred architecture, many oriented to various positions of the Sun, adorned the verdant landscape. Lemurias prolonged civilised idyll lasted until 12,000 years ago, when the last Ice Age came to an end, causing dynamic increases in sea-level. Much, but not all, of Mu was inundated, and large numbers of its inhabitants fled to the Americas and Asia, where the Jomon Culture arose in Japan. Lemurian refugees and their descendants migrated across China and the then-fertile Gobi Desert region. But Mu recovered from the Late Pleistocene devastation, and her people spent the next 69 centuries elevating their scientific spirituality to levels of achievement still unsurpassed, particularly in monumental construction and what would today be referred to as the development of psychic powers, still known throughout Polynesia as mana. In 3100 BCE, however, an aberrant comet passed near the Earth, provoking a global catastrophe. The lands of Mu were severely effected, and some slipped beneath the sea. Many immigrants escaped to South America, superseding a previous Lemurian colonisation of Pacific coastal Peru. The troublesome comet returned less than a thousand years later to unleash a bombardment of meteoritic material. Mu suffered, but endured, then revived yet again. Her agricultural engineers transformed the high hills of the Philippines into mountainous rice terraces, making Luzon the breadbasket of the Pacific. Then, in 1628 BCE, major volcanism and violent seismicity spawned by a final, cometary pass, afflicted the South Central Pacific. Most of the lands of Mu dropped beneath the sea, or were depopulated by hundred-foot-high tsunamis. With her ceremonial centres toppled, and infrastructure shattered beyond repair, the survivors abandoned what was left of their broken Motherland. Their arrival in other parts of the world acted as powerful stimuli for the beginning of new societies, forming the basis of new civilisations in Asia and America. The lost Motherland was subsequently remembered by numerous names Rutas, Haiviki, Baralku, etc. by the various peoples who shared in the Lemurian experience. During the eighth century BCE, early or proto-Romans began celebrating the annual Lemuria festival to mollify the restless spirits (lemures) of their ancestors. Four hundred years later, the Lemurian domination of Japan ended with the collapse of the Jomon Culture and the arrival of a Mongoloid people from Korea. They found the islands already inhabited by Caucasian indigenes, the degenerated descendants of once-civilised Lemurians. As recently as the early 19th century, the last Lemurians were exterminated by Polynesians in the Poike Ditch Massacre at Easter Island. Later that same century, English scientist, Philip Lutley Sclater, postulated the former existence of Lemuria to explain the occurrence of early primates on either side of the Indian Ocean. His contemporary, the German biologist, Ernst Haeckel, concluded that mankind first evolved in Lemuria. But the first popular discussion of the Pacific Motherland was not published until 1926, by British Army Colonel James M. Churchward. His Lost Continent of Mu, based on a translation of ancient tablets purporting to describe the drowned civilisation, ignited a controversy that persists to this day. Dismissed by most readers as a fantasy at best or a fabrication at worst, it found credibility 60 years later, when Kihachiro Aratake found a monumental building under water near Yonaguni, southernmost of the Japanese Ryukyu Islands. Its discovery was followed by at least a dozen other sunken structures observed off the shores of Japan, Taiwan, Pompei, Fiji, Peru and North America. This story, as incredible as it may appear to mainstream scholars, was not invented, but emerged entirely from an immense body of evidence, including related folk traditions, archaeological remains and artefacts, geology, and genetics. If Mu really existed and the natural catastrophe that destroyed her actually took place, we should expect at least something of this drama to have left its mark in Australia and New Zealand. Indeed, a people who never knew the written word, yet preserved a vivid knowledge of the Lemurian disaster, are the Australian Aboriginals. They tell of Mu-Mu-Na, the flaming rainbow serpent, also known as Mu-It, that fell from heaven to cause a world flood. When recounting the story, even today, Aboriginals swing a bull-roarer named after their mythic rendering of the deluge-inducing comet, because it imitates the fearsome sound produced by the falling rainbow-serpent. Their narrations often include descriptions of an ancestral paradise before it sank beneath the sea, remembered as Baralku. New Zealands Maori tell of a priest who prayed for salvation from a great celestial flame that threatened to incinerate the world when it was still new. His prayers were answered with a colossal flood that quenched all the fires, but wiped out a once splendid kingdom, killing most of its inhabitants. Australian Aborigines believe the tenets of their Dream-time cult arrived from the land of Perfection before it was engulfed by the sea. In Mangaian myth, Ru was the god of Avaiki, the undersea palace of the dead, and creator of an island at the centre of the world, Rangi-motia, yet another name for the sunken civilisation. The noted 19th century anthropologist Abraham Fornander researched a Polynesian legend from Raiatea Society group, which states that the Deluge was occasioned by the wrath of Rua-Haku (Rua, the Lord), the great ocean-god of that group. The Deluge itself was known as Te tai o Rua-tapu after its flood-hero, Rua-tapa, in pre-Christian New Zealand. He was a legendary craftsman from Avaiki, who taught the Maori ancestors the art of woodcarving. Churchwards statement that the word tau (ta-oo) is one of the few of the Motherland that has been handed down appears borne out in Hora-nui-a-Tau, the Great Out-Stretched Land of Tau, and Hau-papa-nui-a-Tau, the Hilly Land of Tau. In Maori folk tradition, these were the homelands from which the Tangata-Whenua, the original inhabitants of New Zealand, arrived in the ancient past. The Lemuria glyph symbolising their homeland was configured into a T, and pronounced ta-oo, identical to tau in the Greek alphabet. The same T-glyph is repeated in Aboriginal bark painting. It encloses seven sparkling figures corresponding to the Pleiades. Aboriginal myth recalls that the constellation belonged to a group of spirits, the Muramura, which combines the names of the sunken Motherland with that of the sun-god, Ra. They created human beings by smoothing out the limbs of unformed beasts, then gave them the first rites of initiation into sacred mysteries. The Muramura were said to have travelled over the world before being drawn up into the night sky by a long hair cord. Their name (a contraction of Mu, the Motherland, and the Egyptian sun-god, Ra), function as creators of human life, and world-travellers, emphasising their Lemurian identity. The Hawaiians referred to the same constellation by the provocative name of Humu. Their tau-shaped Cross of God was known as the ta-ha-oo. Nearly 3000 miles from Hawaii, a colossal pyramidal platform, the Tauhala, stands in Mua, an ancient port-city on the Polynesian island of Tonga. These self-evidently Lemurian names spread across the vast ocean from Australia to Hawaii are invariably connected to enduring traditions of a lost homeland destroyed by an awesome act of nature. The Maoris believed that Te-Tumu was the source which gave birth to mankind in the land of Mataaho, known in the Marquesas Deluge-chant, Tai-Toko, as Matahou. Sometime thereafter, it was overwhelmed by a killer-wave which some ancestral survivors escaped by sailing a great canoe called the Takitumu, in remembrance of the original home they came from, according to the Travels of Tamatea, an indigenous New Zealand chant transcribed in the late 19th century. It also mentions a place called Muri-wai-hou, a submarine realm reigned over by Limu, the god and guardian of the dead, from his vast palace in the depths of the sea. The chant describes the lost country of Irihia: It was a great home of the Maori people, and in it was situated the whare-kura (or temple of learning) of Rongo-marae-roa. It was from this land that men and tribes dispersed to the islands of the great ocean. Numerous oral traditions such as these have been confirmed by regional geologic evidence, which defines the three natural catastrophes that decimated Lemuria before 3000 BCE, around 2100 BCE, and in 1628 BCE. A submerged forest near Wellington in Hutt Valley, New Zealand, dated to circa 3100 BCE, shows a good correspondence with the similar submerged forest deposits of this age in western Europe. Along the west coast of Australia, a prominent fresh submerged beach platform has been noted by divers at a depth of three to four meters below sea-level, which has also been tentatively dated to about 5000 years ago. American investigator Kenneth Caroli states that the last known mega-tsunami in the Indian Ocean hit western Australia around 2000 B.C. William Jett, a US anthropologist, says there was severe climate change in Asia about 2100 B.C. The outstanding volcanic event of 1628 BCE, the final destruction of Mu, was a blast produced by New Zealands Taupo Valley centre. Says Caroli, the Taupo volcanic zone is quite large, about two hundred fifty kilometres long by forty to fifty kilometres wide, encompassing more than just New Zealands north island. It is also broken down into sub-regions. Via carbon-14 dating, it could be exactly contemporary with Akiachak, in Alaska. It generated a 200-foot high wall of water travelling several hundred miles per hour like an all-encompassing shock-wave throughout the entire Pacific Ocean. Islands standing in its way were overwhelmed and utterly swept clean of every obstruction. Whole archipelagos vanished or were depopulated. Others abruptly sank beneath the surface of the ocean in accompanying earthquakes. Despite the trans-Pacific devastation of these natural catastrophes, the physical remains of Lemurian civilisation in New Zealand still exist. Immediately south of Lake Taupo, the Kaimanawa Wall is more probably a step-pyramid or terraced, ceremonial marae of immense proportions. The American maverick archaeologist, David Hatcher Childress, who investigated the site in 1996, observed that the blocks seem to be a standard 1.8 meters long by 1.5 meters high. The bottom block runs straight down to 1.7 meters and beyond. The blocks run for twenty five meters in a straight line from east to west and the wall faces due north. The wall consists of approximately ten regular blocks that are seemingly cut and fitted together without mortar. The Lemurian impact on New Zealand and Australia was profound. And as more evidence emerges to confirm the ancient oral traditions of its native inhabitants, mankind gradually realises that our civilised origins are far more profound, technologically and spiritually greater than we have been led to believe. If you appreciate this article, please consider a digital subscription to New Dawn. . FRANK JOSEPH has published more books (eight) about the lost civilisation of Atlantis than any other writer in history. These and his twenty other titles dealing with archaeology, military history and metaphysics have been released in thirty-seven foreign editions around the world. He was the editor-in-chief of Ancient American, a popular science magazine, from its inception in 1993 until his retirement fourteen years later. He lives today with his wife, Laura, in the Upper Mississippi Valley of the United States. The above article appeared in New Dawn 95 Continue Reading at ..... http://exopolitics.org/pentagon-moab-bomb-giants-afghanistan/ On April 12, the U.S. Air Force dropped the largest conventional bomb in the Pentagons arsenal to flush out Islamic State terrorists according to official Pentagon reports. However, insider testimony suggests another reason for the use of the MOAB bomb. The undisclosed goal is to flush out, capture or destroy giants hiding in Afghanistans ancient cavern system who possess technological secrets going back to the origins of human civilization.The Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), aka Mother Of All Bombs contains 21,600 pounds of explosives and has a mile-long blast radius. The Intercept reported that the MOAB was not used by the Bush administration back in 2003 due to fears of collateral damage.President Donald Trump appears to be living up to his pledge to bomb the shit out of ISIS. But is he? Are ISIS terrorists the real target or just a cover for an undisclosed enemy? A threat Trump may not have been briefed about, but one locked in the cross-hairs of the Deep State that is really behind the Pentagon attack.A number of whistleblowers have come forward with stories of giants hiding in Afghanistan and other locations, where these giants are currently awakening from stasis chambers they have been asleep in for thousands of years.Secret space program whistleblower, Corey Goode, was among the first to publicly disclose the existence of stasis chambers that have been holding perfectly preserved giants for millennia.In an August 4, 2015 interview, Goode discussed how he had accessed information on smart-glass pads during his covert service about these sleeping giants and the technology of the stasis chambers that were preserving them. Goode said:When I was in the program, the Secret Space Program, when I would have time to sit and look at the smart-glass pad, there was lots of information that I looked at. And one of them was that there were beings that they found underneath the surface of Earth, underneathusually underneath mountains, burial mountains Indian burial mounds that were not dead but werent quite alive. They called them stasis beings. And it turned out that had used a technology that had been there long prior, from this group they called the ancient builder race So, it didnt put the beings in stasis that a lot of us would think of, as in being frozen. But it just changed the way they experienced time. they would probably go to sleep for maybe 20 minutes, and 30,000 years or so would pass by.Goode described the size of the beings found in the stasis chambers:And to look down in, they saw these very tall beings, or very large giant humans with reddish beards. these tall, red-headed, red beard groups were in Europe and South and North America. And apparently, at one time, before the last Ice Age apparently, they had a very large area that they ruled.According to Stephen Quayle, who has written several books about giants, elite U.S. military forces have been stationed around the world, including Afghanistan, to locate the giants. He cites elite military personnel who have spoken to him about battles with the giants.During one of Quayles radio interviews on Coast to Coast AM, one of his military informants called in and told the audience about an incident in Afghanistan involving a deadly encounter between a 12 foot giant and U.S. Special Forces. The informant claimed that the giant had killed nine members of an elite team sent to capture it, and it took a second team to arrive and finally kill the giant.I have heard similar stories from another Special Forces operative stationed at McDill Air Force Base, who has served in Afghanistan and is knowledgeable about the secret war to capture or kill giants. I am presently encouraging the operative to come forward with his testimony through a third party. The Director is keen on making Mahabharata with superstars Rajinikanth, Mohanlal and Aamir Khan. Mumbai: The director of Baahubali: The Beginning and its to-release sequel Baahubali: The Conclusion, SS Rajamouli, is keen on making a movie on Sanskrit epic Mahabharata and, in an exclusive with Bollywood Life, he has admitted to discussing the possibility of a cinematic collaboration with superstar Aamir Khan. According to the website, Rajamouli was ready to start with the shooting of the film by the end of 2018 with Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal and Aamir Khan in lead roles. It is also rumoured that the film would be made that Rajamouli on a mega budget of 400 Cr in three different languages- Hindi, Tamil and Telegu. The ace director told Bollywood Life that the plan is very much on and that he has already spoken to Aamir about the movie. I want to do Mahabharata and I have said that many times but definitely not immediately after Baahubali. Mahabharat is such an epic that I need to up my craftsmanship to handle such a subject. Yeah I met Aamir ji once quite sometime back, we spoke about Mahabharata. I know that hes very much interested in doing the film. But as I said, at present I am not thinking anything beyond Baahubali. Mahabharata is definitely not after this. As far as his upcoming movie Baahubali: The Conclusion is concerned, it is releasing on a record 6500 screens across India on April 28. The first instalment of the franchise had earned accolades for its gripping content and was a commercial success as well. Pictures from the sets of the film in Austria have shown up on the internet and have instantly gone viral. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif on the sets of the film. Mumbai: Fans of Salman Khan have been waiting for the superstar's next blockbuster after 'Sultan' which had released in 2016. Salman has two massive releases lined up in 2017, in Kabir Khan's 'Tubelight' and Ali Abbas Zafar's 'Tiger Zinda Hai,' incidentally a sequel to Kabir's 'Ek Tha Tiger'. The superstar has been going the extra mile to perfect the two characters. The latter, especially, has Sallu reuniting with his rumoured former flame, Katrina Kaif, who had also been a part of the prequel. Sallu will be seen sporting a well groomed beard in the film, much in sync with the theme of the espionage thriller. And now, much to the glee of his fans, pictures from the sets of the film in Austria have shown up on the internet and instantly gone viral. The film, produced by Aditya Chopra, has been in the news, much courtesy the immense popularity of the first instalment. 'Tiger Zinda Hai,' Salman's Christmas release, is all set to clash with Rajkumar Hirani's Ranbir Kapoor starrer Sanjay Dutt biopic. Sources told this newspaper that the government decided to deploy MPs and MLAs to tour the nation. It is learnt that publicity units of the government will also be deployed to generate awareness about GST, while in urban towns and cities, hoardings, banners and even audio visual campaigns will be unleashed to simplify its terminology. New Delhi: Ahead of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout on July 1, the Narendra Modi government plans to launch an awarness campaign on the benefits of the new system, particularly in rural India. Elected representatives from the BJP will be roped in for this purpose. The move comes at a time when the BJP has already started preparing for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where the successful implementation of the GST is likely to be highlighted as a major policy initiative of the Central government. Sources told this newspaper that the government decided to deploy MPs and MLAs to tour the nation, especially rural areas, and spread awareness about the benefits of the new tax regime. There is also a plan for a massive contact programme to explain the technicalities to the masses through the media. Through this awareness campaign the Narendra Modi government hopes to drive home the point that while the earlier UPA regime was unable to implement the GST, the BJP-led dispensation has been able to evolve a consensus on the issue and bring the nation under a single taxation regime, sources added. MPs and MLAs from the party have been participating in orientation sessions and workshops by taxation experts, who are clearing their doubts regarding the newly passed law as well as simplifying the complexities for them, sources added. These elected representatives have been mandated with reaching out to the villages through the local panchayats to dispel any doubts regarding the GST within the common populace, sources added. It is learnt that publicity units of the government will also be deployed to generate awareness about GST, while in urban towns and cities, hoardings, banners and even audio visual campaigns will be unleashed to simplify its terminology. Sources said that it is imperative to sensitise people, especially in villages and small towns about the advantages of having a single taxation system. Also all the technical vocabulary and jargons related to GST need to be simplified for the common mans understanding, they added. Sources privy to details said that press conferences will be held throughout the country to convey the benefits of GST through the media. Islamabad claimed that more active diplomacy was needed to arrest the growing crises in India-Pakistan relations before it became more serious. New Delhi: India on Friday made its 14th request to Pakistan for consular access to former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav and also asked for a certified copy of the judgment and chargesheet of the Pakistani military court that has sentenced Mr Jadhav to death. Pakistan, however, continued to harden its stand, saying Mr Jadhavs trial had taken place transparently and advised India to behave responsibly and refrain from issuing statements that will further aggravate people to people hostility. Islamabad claimed that more active diplomacy was needed to arrest the growing crises in India-Pakistan relations before it became more serious. Pakistan also claimed that India had not responded to its letter of assistance in January this year on the probe and questioned India by asking why any innocent man would have two passports, one with a Hindu name and another with a Muslim name. New Delhi had already made it clear on Thursday that consular access to Mr Jadhav was a must before it could ascertain any facts relating to his passport. Pakistan also accused Mr Jadhav of sponsoring and directing IED and grenade attacks in Balochistan, directing attacks on civilian boats, funding terrorists and sponsoring attacks on targets that included gas pipelines, Shias and the Hazara community, and carrying out IED explosions in Quetta. Meanwhile, speculation was rife on whether India would consider issuing a travel advisory to advise its citizens not to visit Pakistan in the current situation, with TV reports suggesting that this was a possiblity. According to news agency reports from Lahore, the Lahore High Court Bar Association also said that it will take action against any lawyer who extends his services to Jadhav. The LHBA has unanimously decided to cancel the membership of any lawyer who offers his services to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, Lahore High Court Bar Association Secretary-General Amer Saeed Raan said after a meeting of the bar today. Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale on Friday met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua in connection with the case of Jadhav, who has been given a death sentence by a Pakistani military court on charges of spying. I have asked for a certified copy of the chargesheet as well as the judgement in the death sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav. They (Pakistan) have denied our request for consular access 13 times (in about the last one year). I have again requested the Pakistan foreign secretary to give access to Jadhav so that we can appeal, Mr Bambawale told news agencies in Islamabad. Indian high commissioner Gautam Bambawale met the Pakistan foreign secretary (and) asked for a certified copy of the judgment, chargesheet and consular access for the fourteenth time for Jadhav, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad said. In Kolkata, home minister Rajnath Singh was quoted by news agencies as saying, I do not agree with what Pakistan has said. Kulbhushan Jadhav did not get a fair trial. All efforts are being made to secure justice for Jadhav. We will do everything. Interestingly, Pakistan on Friday fielded its PMs foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz who had earlier reportedly doubted whether there was any evidence against Jadhav before changing his tune to claim that the trial of Jadhav by the Pakistani military court was as per the Pakistani Constitution. At his briefing in Islamabad, Aziz said, I will like to share details of some terrorist activities in which Kulbushan Jadhav was directly involved. He (Jadhav) sponsored and directed IEDs and grenade attacks in Gawadar and Turbat. (He) directed attacks on the radar station and civilian boats in the sea, opposite Jiwani Port, funded subversive secessionist and terrorist elements through hawala/hundi for subverting the Pakistani youth against the country, especially in Balochistan, sponsored explosions of gas pipelines and electric pylons in Sibi and Sui areas in Balochistan, sponsored IED explosions in Quetta in 2015, causing massive damage to life and property, sponsored attack on Hazaras in Quetta and Shia Zaireen enroute to and back from Iran, (and) abetted attacks through anti-state elements against LEAs/FC and FWO in areas of Turbat, Punjgur, Gawadar, Pasni and Jiwani during 2014-15, killing and injuring many civilians and soldiers. Lashing out at India, Mr Aziz said, As is widely known, Kulbushan Jadhav alias, Hussain Mubarak Patel, a serving commander of Indian Navy, and working with the Indian Intelligence Agency/RAW was apprehended on March 3, 2016 after he illegally crossed over into Pakistan from the Saravan border in Iran. Kulbushan Jadhav was found in possession of an Indian passport issued by the Government of India on May 12, 2015 and valid until May 11, 2024. He confessed that he is a resident of Mumbai, India, still serving in the Indian Navy and his retirement is due in 2022. Jadhav confessed before a magistrate and the court that he was tasked by the Indian Intelligence Agency, RAW, to plan, coordinate and organise espionage and sabotage activities aimed at destabilising and waging war against Pakistan...I would like to ask India why Kulbushan Jadhav was using a fake identity impersonating as a Muslim? Why would an innocent man possess two passports, one with a Hindu name and another with a Muslim name? He further said that India had no credible explanation on why their serving Naval Commander was in Balochistan and hence unleashed a flimsy propaganda campaign. It should be clear from these details that Kulbushan Jadhav was tried under the law of the land in a fully transparent manner. His sentence is based on credible, specific evidence proving his involvement in espionage and terrorist activities in Pakistan. ... We expect India to behave responsibly and refrain from issuing statements that will further aggravate people to people hostility. More active diplomacy is therefore needed to arrest the growing crises in India-Pakistan relations before it becomes even more serious, Mr Aziz said. He further said, From the outset, transparency was ensured in the proceedings of the trial of Commander Kulbushan Jadhav. ... His confessional statement was recorded before a Magistrate under Section 164 CrPC. The proceedings were conducted under the Law of Evidence (Qanun-e-Shahadat 1984) in the competent court. A law qualified field officer was provided to defend him throughout the court proceedings. All statements of witnesses were recorded under oath, in the presence of the accused, in the court. Commander Kulbushan was allowed to ask questions from witnesses. During the trial, a fully qualified, law officer of Judge Advocate General (JAG) Branch remained a part of the court. Punishment after the trial was awarded by the highest forum. He added, As per law, Kulbushan Jadhav has following available options. He has the right to appeal within 40 days to an appellate court. He may lodge a mercy petition to the COAS within 60 days of the decision by the appellate court. He may lodge a mercy petition to the President of Pakistan within 90 days after the decision of COAS on the mercy petition. While China covets Arunachal and refers to it as south Tibet, India regards the state as its integral part. New Delhi: In an apparent move to restore calm after the Chinese fury over the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Friday said there was no change in its policy on Tibet which it regards as part of China. Let me make it absolutely clear that there is no change whatsoever in Government of Indias policy towards the Tibet Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. Similarly, our approach to seeking a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question remains unchanged, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson said. The statement was made in response to a query on whether the visit of Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh signals a change in Indias policy on Tibet or on the boundary negotiations. According to news agency reports earlier from Beijing, China had on Wednesday warned India that the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh will have a negative impact on the settlement of the border dispute and had accused New Delhi of violating its commitment on the Tibet issue. While China covets Arunachal and refers to it as south Tibet, India regards the state as its integral part. The Chinese foreign ministry had said Beijing will take further action to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and had slammed the provocative statements of the Tibetan spiritual leader and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, who reportedly said that the state shares its border only with Tibet, not with China. Three students have been rescued and are under medical observation. Vayri: Eight students of an engineering college from Karnataka, out on a picnic, drowned in the Arabian sea off the Vayri coast in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district on Saturday, the police said. The students from Maratha Engineering College in Belgaum had gone to swim in the sea, it said. The deceased, five boys and three girls, were part of a group of 47 students. Around 30 of them had gone to the sea for swimming, the police said adding three students were rescued from the sea and 19 others swam to safety. "Three students have been rescued and are under medical observation," police said. The incident occurred around the noon at Vayri, a coastal hamlet near Malvan town in the Konkan region of the state. "It was the time of high tide and some students had ventured into the deep water. After some of them began drowning, some others in the group rushed to save them, but it was late," police said. Eight bodies, including those of three girls, were recovered. "Three students were brought to shore by the police in an unconscious state. Two of them are admitted in a Malvan hospital and one girl, who is in a serious condition, is being treated at the state-run hospital in Oros," Amogh Goankar, Superintendent of Police, Sindhudurg, said. As of now no one is missing as around 19 students swam to shore with the help of locals and police, Goankar said. In a similar tragedy, 13 students from a Pune college, who were on a picnic, drowned off the Murud beach near Mumbai in February 2016. A military court in Pakistan earlier this week found Jadhav guilty on two counts of espionage and sentenced him to death. Lahore: Pakistan has prepared a new dossier to be submitted to the United Nations, in regard with more 'evidence' against alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is set to be executed on the charges of espionage and sabotage. The new dossier is based on the early video confessional statement and also statements given in front of the court by Jadhav for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in Karachi and Balochistan, Pakistan media reports. The attested report of Court Martial General will also be included in the dossier. The dossier will also reportedly include the timeline of Jadhav's militant activities and also the court proceedings. Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale on Friday asked Pakistan to provide a copy of the chargesheet filed and the judgment given against Jadhav while strongly raising this issue. The Indian side also conveyed that it will appeal the order and is studying the Pakistan Army Act for the same. In a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, the Indian envoy sought consular access to Jadhav for the 14th time. However, Janjua said since it is a case of espionage, consular access can't be granted contrary to the Indian High Commission's claim that the same must be granted under international law. A military court in Pakistan earlier this week found Jadhav guilty on two counts of espionage and sentenced him to death. Jadhav was arrested in March last year, "for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan," according to a statement released by the Pakistan armed forces. India has strongly objected to the sentencing, saying consular officials were denied access to Jadhav during his trial. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier this week issued a stern warning to Pakistan, saying that Islamabad should be wary of taking such an extreme step as it could result in damaging the bilateral relations between the already hostile neighbours and vowed to go "out of the way" to save Jadhav amid an outrage in India. (ANI) Abdullah was declared winner by a margin of 10,776 votes over his nearest rival and ruling PDP nominee Nazir Ahmad Khan. Srinagar: Opposition National Conference (NC) president and three-time chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who won the closely-watched bypoll for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat on Saturday demanded the imposition of the governors rule in Jammu and Kashmir, alleging that the PDP-BJP government has totally failed on all fronts, particularly law and order. Soon after being declared the winner, Mr Abdullah said that in view of the deteriorating law and order situation and growing discontent among the people against the ruling dispensation he appeals to President Pranab Mukherjee to impose governors rule in the state immediately. He said, The people of my constituency have clearly rejected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and shown contempt to its policies and actions. The state government has totally and miserably failed to deliver. It failed to provide conducive atmosphere for the bypolls. People are suffering because of its flawed policies and actions. Replying to questions, he said that he would work towards securing Article 370 of the Constitution which guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union in its original form and seek meaningful and result-oriented talks involving all stakeholders towards finding an amicable and lasting solution to the Kashmir problem. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered enormously and cant afford more miseries, bloodshed and mayhem. The time has come to address the issue of Kashmir politically to find a solution which should be acceptable to one and all, he said. The NC president said, New Delhi and Islamabad have to talk and try to honesty resolve the Kashmir issue. The people of Kashmir cannot be expected to suffer endlessly. He added, I will demand a dialogue between the two countries and also ask New Delhi to talk to all stakeholders in Kashmir including the Hurriyat leadership. There is no alternative to talk. You have to talk in an effort to find a solution. Mr Abdullah admitted that this was the worst election in history as it witnessed unprecedented bloodshed. No doubt I have won but we have lost precious lives and thats why we are not happy with this win. Yet I dedicate my victory to the people who rejected the divisive politics of PDP-BJP combine, he said. He also said that he would in all earnestness endeavour to be the voice of the alienated and isolated youth of the Valley who have been cornered, stereotyped and pushed to the wall by the politics of arrogance and polarisation. He pledged to voice their angst, their pain and their anguish as an elected representative. He expressed anguish over recent videos that expose incidents of grave human rights violations against our youth and said strictest possible action should be taken against those troops who are found guilty. The bypolls was necessitated by the stepping down of sitting MP of ruling PDP Tariq Hameed Karra who resigned from both the party and Parliament in protest against its forging an alliance with ideologically-divergent BJP to form government. Rachna Sachdeva also claimed that Maken has threatened her and she has been receiving threat calls from unknown numbers. New Delhi: A woman Congress worker quit the party on Friday to join the AAP and accused Ajay Maken and other senior leaders of mental harassment and criminal intimidation. Rachna Sachdeva, who was the Babarpur president of the Mahila Congress, in her complaint at Tughlak Road Police Station, accused Delhi Congress chief Maken, Mahila Congress president Shobha Oza and party leader Netta D'Souza of mental harassment and criminal intimidation, police said. She also claimed that Maken has threatened her and she has been receiving threat calls from unknown numbers. "We have received the complaint and are looking into it. All the allegations made by her are non-cognisable in nature. As of now, no FIR has been lodged," a senior police officer said. Maken was not available for comment. Welcoming Sachdeva into the party fold, AAP's Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey said, this (allegation of mental harassment and criminal intimidation) reflects the Congress' "anti-women and anti-Dalit stand." Apart from Sachdeva, some 13 local-level leaders from both the Congress and the BJP also joined the AAP. A youth identified as Sajjad Hussain Sheikh alias Waza was hit in the head and died instantly, they said. Srinagar: A youth was killed when security forces allegedly Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire in Srinagars Batamalloo area on Saturday evening. A report said that another person was injured in the shooting but the authorities are yet to confirm it. In another incident, unidentified gunmen shot and critically wounded two persons in Pulwamas Qasbayar village late on Saturday. One of them, identified as Bashir Ahmed Dar, succumbed to his injuries later. The authorities blamed the incident on separatists. The witnesses said that two BSF vehicles were passing through SD Colony of the Srinagar suburb when someone hurled a stone at it which apparently prompted the men on board to open fire. A youth identified as Sajjad Hussain Sheikh alias Waza was hit in the head and died instantly, they said. The J&K police officials said that they are verifying the circumstances in which the BSF opened fire. There was no deployment (of a security force) in the area. Were told it was the BSF. Were trying to verify it and to know as to why it opened fire, said a police official. Following the incidents, clashes erupted in some parts of Srinagar. Earlier in the day, over fifty students were injured in clashes with security forces in Pulwama. The security forces fired teargas canisters and shotgun pellets to disperse angry students who were protesting against alleged highhandedness of security forces after they laid a naka outside government-run degree college in Pulwama. The students alleged that the security forces not only harassed them but also barged into the college premises where they were forced them to chant slogans denouncing the separatists and the militants and the freedom cause and that when they protested, the latter resorted to brute force against them. The police denied the charges and said that a normal naka was established around 200 meters away from the college. Doctors at the Pulwama district hospital said that they had till 4pm treated 54 students hit by teargas shells and pellets. As class work ended some miscreants started throwing stones at the naka party. In this incident some miscreants and police personnel were injured. One was referred to Srinagar hospital where his condition is stable, it said in a statement. Late Saturday evening, unidentified gunmen shot and critically wounded two persons in Pulwama's Qasbayar village. One of them identified as Bashir Ahmed Dar succumbed soon after being shifted to a nearby medical facility. The authorities have blamed the incident on separatist militants. The hoardings have also come up near the residences of senior administration and police officials, including the District Commissioner. Meerut: Hoardings declaring that people should chant "Yogi Yogi" if they wanted to live in Uttar Pradesh have been put up across the city purportedly by the district unit of the Hindu Yuva Vahini. The hoardings have also come up near the residences of senior administration and police officials, including the District Commissioner. They carry photographs of the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and Neeraj Sharma Panchali, who claims to be the district unit chief of the youth brigade founded by Yogi Adityanath. "Pradesh mein rehna hai to Yogi Yogi kehna hai (Chant Yogi Yogi if you want to live in the state)," reads one such hoarding. Senior Superintendent of Police J Ravindra Gaur said that he has asked for a detailed report in the matter from the local intelligence unit. "Only after we get the report a case can be registered and action taken," he said. When contacted, Nagendra Pratap Singh, a member of the state unit of the Yuva Vahini, however, said Panchali was removed from the post of district unit chief a month ago and that "he was indulging in such acts to defame the organisation". Anand Kumar is the most trusted member of the BSP presidents family and takes care of her finances. BSP supremo Mayawati addressing supporters on the occasion of 126th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar at Ambedkar Memorial in Lucknow. (Photo: PTI) Lucknow: On Ambedkar Jayanti, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati announced her succession plan by appointing her brother Anand Kumar as the party vice-president. Ms Mayawati also declared that she was no longer averse to taking help from other parties (read rival Samajwadi Party) in her struggle against the BJP, especially on the issue of alleged EVM tampering. The BSP president, who has been guarded about her personal life, also spoke about her medical condition. I cannot put too much stress on my throat after a glandular operation in 1996. That is why I have to read out my speeches, she said. Ms Mayawati on Friday left her supporters almost shocked when she chose her Ambedkar Jayanti address to name her brother as her successor. The BSP has always slammed parties that indulge in nepotism and Ms Mayawati has always underlined the fact that her mentor, late Kanshi Ram, abandoned his family to pursue his political goals. However, she emphasised that Anand Kumar was being appointed as the BSP vice-president on the condition that he would never become MP, MLA, minister or chief minister, and would only work for the party. Mr Kumar is the most trusted member of the BSP presidents family and takes care of her finances. However, he is not known to directly interfere in the running of the party or interact with party workers. He has also recently been under the Income-Tax departments scanner. The department had on April 7 launched multiple survey operations at nearly a dozen premises of businesses and firms linked to Mr Kumar. A survey operation under I-T laws pertains to raids where taxmen only visit the business premises of an entity and do not cover his or her residential premises. The department is in the process of ascertaining the veracity of financial transactions undertaken by these entities. Ms Mayawati also displayed her willingness to be politically flexible after the partys rout in the 2014 Lok Sabha and now the recent Assembly elections. She said she has no reservations in joining hands with other parties to fight against the BJP since it is the democracy which comes first...we have to keep democracy alive. Her statement assumes significance in view of the willingness shown by SP president Akhilesh Yadav to enter into a grand alliance with the BSP to challenge the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BSP chief, who has been under fire following a recent decision of the Yogi Adityanath government to order probe into the sale of 21 sugar mills and construction of memorials under her government, said, I and my family are being targeted under a conspiracy so that I stop speaking on EVM tampering by the BJP. Schools in Uttar Pradesh observe holidays for more than 20 days a year on anniversaries of leaders. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath offering tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar on his 126th birth anniversary at Ambedkar memorial in Lucknow. (Photo: PTI) Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday declared that henceforth all schools across state would remain open on birth anniversaries of great icons. Speaking at a function to pay tributes to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary, the chief minister said, Instead of giving students a holiday on birth anniversaries of legends, schools will now arrange for discussions on the life, work and ideology of that specific person on the legends anniversary. This will help the children become familiar with the life and times of the legend. Schools in Uttar Pradesh observe holidays for more than 20 days a year on anniversaries of leaders. Schools are closed on the birth anniversaries of former Prime Ministers Chandra Shekhar, Chaudhary Charan Singh, late Karpoori Thakur, Maharana Pratap etc. The chief minister stressed on the commitment of the government to extend all possible help to the poor and marginalised people. He said his government will work for all sections of society without discrimination. For the first time ever, the BJP government had ordered all primary government schools to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar though debates and cultural programmes. Mr Gupta claimed that the Congress and AAP are sharing the money from the tanker scam. New Delhi: The Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, has said that the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal are like the characters, Motu-Patlu from the comic series, who are equal partners in corruption and nepotism. Mr Gupta alleged that the saplings of corruption planted by the Congress in various departments of the government, including the Delhi Jal Board, have grown into full grown trees under the Kejriwal-led government and have become a source of income for the ministers under the AAP government. Mr Gupta said that the AAP government, in connivance with Congress, has continued with the water tanker scam, instead of terminating the contract of the firms involved in it. Both the Congress and the AAP are two sides of the same coin. They flock to JNU, Ramjas College, and Hyderabad together in the wake of any issue. Mr Kejriwal, who assumed charge after Sheila Dikshit as the chief minister, continued with the water tanker scam instead of terminating the contract of the companies involved, added Mr Gupta. He claimed that the Congress and AAP are sharing the money from the tanker scam. The DJB makes a payment of Rs 6 crore per month to the tanker mafia out of which Rs 3.5 crore is looted through corruption. The people of Delhi want to know that if this amount of Rs 3.5 crore is not with the government, then to whom is it going to? he said. During a press conference, Mr Gupta named four private companies, which he alleged are involved in the water tanker scam. I want to ask Mr Kejriwal, who claims that his party came to power on anti-graft plank, as to why he did not cancel the contract of those companies or make alternate arrangements, he added. In 1977-78, the then mayor had proposed stopping the car allowance given to BEST corporators. The measures have been proposed as the BEST stands to save Rs 100 crore from it and the sum will be re-diverted to pay salaries for its entire work force. (Representational Image) Mumbai: The Dearness Allowance (DA) of both 4,200 employees including the conductor/drivers of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) as well as A and B-grade officers, stand to be suspended. The measures have been proposed as the BEST stands to save Rs 100 crore from it and the sum will be re-diverted to pay salaries for its entire work force. Besides the DA, the concessions that will be suspended will include 50 litres of free petrol for A-grade officials and concessions for medical treatment. The BEST had been surviving until November last year on the Transport Deficit Loss Recovery (TDLR) that it was taking from its power consumers in the island city, but this reprieve too was suspended after the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) said it was unfair to those who live in south Mumbai. A BEST official said, We have not been getting the Rs 60 crore that we were from the TDLR so cumulatively we have lost Rs 120 crore and now our funds have run dry. So we have to cut costs somewhere or the other. The BEST management had already tabled the proposal to suspend the perks given to employees in its standing committee last week but it did not come up for discussion. Officials hope that the discussion will come up on Monday, when the next committee meeting is scheduled. The official said, Last time, the discussion with BMC officials as well as Sena corporators had not happened but it took place on Wednesday and we hope that the issue will be passed on Monday. The undertaking has been at the receiving end by many corporators including opposition leader Ravi Raja, who feels that the cost cutting is better late than never. He said, The 50 litres petrol, free passes to conductors, subsidies to students, journalists, senior citizens and retired employees should all be taken away. He further added, In fact, we will be suggesting that the 25 per cent subsidy (for bus travel) given to corporators should be taken away too. In 1977-78, the then mayor had proposed stopping the car allowance given to BEST corporators. Back then, a corporator would be given one vehicle for attending BEST standing committee meetings or visiting the Electric House in the Colaba headquarters of the undertaking. The Central government has been appealing the public to have maximum digital transactions post demonetisation. Mumbai: When Sharddha Mengshette (20), an engineering student from Pune (originally from Latur) bought a cellphone using the governments RuPay card, little did she know that she would win a fortune. Ms Mengshette bagged the Rs 1 crore Mega Draw for Lucky Grahak Yojana held by the Central government. She had made a transaction of Rs 1,590 through her RuPay card to pay an EMI for her new mobile phone. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday felicitated winners of the luck draw of two national incentive schemes for digital transactions Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana in Nagpur. It was a dream come true for Ms Mengshette whose father is a small shop owner in Latur. She said, I was informed two days ago that I have won a Rs 1 crore cash prize and would be felicitated for the same by Prime Minister during his visit to Nagpur on Friday. I dont know where to spend the money that I will receive as cash prize. Never thought of getting such a huge sum. I will not spend the money for some time as I want to finish my studies first. The Central government has been appealing the public to have maximum digital transactions post demonetisation. Another winner, Hardik Kumar won Rs 50 lakh as second prize under the same lucky draw for making digital transaction of Rs 1,100 followed by Bharat Singh from Uttarakhand, who won Rs 25 lakh for making digital transaction of Rs 100. The 100 days of DigiDhan Melas, of the Central government NITI Aayog in 100 cities across India, have had a huge impact in enabling increased usage of digital payment methods. The Railways raised a technical issue and said the woman has an alternative remedy to approach Railways Claims Tribunal for compensation. Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has asked the Railways to take a decision on granting compensation to a woman who lost both her legs while trying to board a moving train at Khandala railway station two years ago. A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and Anil Memon, while hearing a petition filed by the victim, recently directed the Railways to decide on the compensation in the light of the peculiar circumstances of this case and posted the matter for final disposal on Monday. The Railways raised a technical issue and argued that the woman has an alternative remedy to approach Railways Claims Tribunal to seek compensation. The victim has claimed that thieves entered her compartment at 3 am on February 9, 2015, and ran away with her purse when Secunderabad-Rajkot express train, in which she was travelling, made a scheduled halt at Khandala station. The woman, Sejal Ladola, got down from and chased the robbers but she aborted the exercise when the train started moving. However, she slipped while attempting to board the train. In the mishap, she lost both her legs. Following the accident, she filed a petition demanding compensation for the treatment on the grounds that the Railways had failed to provide security to the passengers in the trains during night hours. The court noted that the petition had raised a basic issue about the alleged failure of the Railways to provide security to the passengers travelling in night trains. The petitioner relied upon a notice dated April 13, 2015, issued by her lawyer to various respondents. The HC also took on record a letter written by Divisional Security Commissioner, Railway Protection Force, Pune, to the Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, CSRT, Mumbai, stating that an FIR had been filed against the offenders under IPC sections 394 (voluntary causing hurt while committing robbery) and 397 (robbery with attempt to murder or cause grievous hurt) and that investigations were going on. "Surprisingly, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of Railway Protection Force has returned the notice dated April 13, 2015, to the petitioner stating that Khandala falls under the territorial jurisdiction of Central Railway. By way of reply to the notice, none of the parties denied the incident," The High Court noted in the order. "On the contrary, it appears that even FIR was registered. Even in the reply of Dr Ajay Kumar, Senior Divisional Medical Officer of Central Railway, the incident is not denied. Knowing fully well that the petitioner would not get compensation under the Railways Act, 1999, a technical stand has been taken that the petitioner can approach the Railway Claims Tribunal," the HC further observed. Modi paid rich tribute to Dr Ambedkar and lauded his contribution to the new India and the economic revolution. Nagpur: Saluting the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr Babasaheb Ambdkar, on the occasion of his 126th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday paid apt tribute to the late dalit icon by launching a mobile app named Bhim Aadhar after him. Mr Modi paid rich tribute to Dr Ambedkar and lauded his contribution to the new India and the economic revolution. Strongly advocating a premise-less and paperless era, Mr Modi said that ATMs too would disappear in the near future and the thumb impression, which was once looked upon as a sign of illiteracy, would rule the economy. He said that while five security personnel were required to man one ATM, a single thumb press would enable a savings bank account holder to digitally transfer money on purchase. Mr Modi further said that the thumb would regain its lost glory and that the days were not far off when world universities would descend upon the country for a case study. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister for transport Nitin Gadkari were among those present on the occasion. Wholesalers at APMC said they exported 500kg of mangoes to Japan on Thursday via air. Mumbai: The Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) sent off 500 kg of Alphonso mangoes its first consignment to Japan on Thursday. Mangoes from APMC are exported all around the world including to the USA, UK, Saudi Arabia and Japan. However, the development is significant, as for almost a decade Japan had stopped importing Indian mangoes due to quality issues. Wholesalers at APMC said they exported 500kg of mangoes to Japan on Thursday via air. Since Japan resumed importing mangoes from India back in 2014, the demand has been around 50-100 tonnes per year. We expect it to be the same this year too. The first lot of 0.5 tonnes has already reached there, we have been told, said Sanjay Pansare, director, fruits market, APMC. According to wholesalers at APMC, Japan is in the top 50 countries that imports mangoes from India and is behind smaller countries like Zambia, Poland and Mali. Avinash Patil, a wholesaler from the APMC, said, Currently, good quality mangoes are being sold at Rs 600-700 per dozen in the domestic market but when it comes to sending it offshore, the cost goes up because there are certain purifications that the fruit undergo to be exported to Japan, the US and the UK. For Japan, the export rate is around Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 per dozen. The first lot was fewer in quantity so we expect more demand from Japan. Mr Patil added that Japan accepts mangoes that undergo vapour heat treatment (VHT), their executives are present during this procedure and it is only after this treatment that the actual business of export and import is carried out. The ACB laid a trap and arrested the two accused. The ACB laid a trap and arrested the accused after receiving complainant from one of the total 12 victims. (Photo:PTI) Mumbai: The Thane unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested two bureaucrats of the tribal development department for allegedly demanding bribe of Rs 12 lakh from 12 wardens of a ashram shala run by the state government. Milind Gawade, a 2008 batch Indian Administration Service (IAS) officer and additional commissioner for tribal development department and Kiran Mali, deputy commissioner of tribal development department were arrested by the ACB on Saturday. The ACB laid a trap and arrested the accused after receiving complainant from one of the total 12 victims. Sangramsingh Nishandar, superintendent of police, ACB said, The 12 victims were wardens in the ashram shala and were threatened by the accused that if they fail to pay bribe of Rs 1 lakh per worker he would demote them. Mr Nishandar, further, added, We have arrested both the accused for now and filed a First Information Report (FIR) against under section 7 and 13 of the Anti Corruption Act. The ACB said, additional sum of Rs 12 lakh was found from the office desk of Mali. Antara Dev Sen is Editor of The Little Magazine. She can be contacted at: sen@littlemag.com As intolerance rises, the word pluralism is being replaced by tolerance. Something curious happened a few days ago. The President of India was asked by Opposition leaders to step out of his role as a rubberstamp and ensure the rule of law. Protect the fundamental rights of Indian citizens, they said, stem the rising intolerance. It was so good to not hear the usual rhetoric: Bring back the culture of tolerance! The netas knew the quickest way to curb intolerance in a country with a fine Constitution and adequate laws was by ensuring the rule of law. No appeal to the finer sensibilities of an apparently tolerant country here. Which is exactly as it should be. Because trying to promote tolerance does not curb intolerance. It maintains the status quo, at best. While our respected leaders were complaining to the President in New Delhi, a few miles away in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, a band of moral policing lumpens from the Hindu Yuva Vahini founded by chief minister Yogi Adityanath was busy barging into the private residence of a Muslim man. They dragged him and his girlfriend out, shamed them, beat him up and handed the lovers over to the police, who swiftly booked the man for obscenity. At the same time, in Bihar, the Hindu Yuva Vahini was launching its recruitment drive and gathering Hindu boys to set up branches in every district of the state. In Haryana, Operation Durga was set up, modelled on Yogi Adityanaths anti-Romeo squads in UP. Vigilant cops fanned out to catch bad guys bothering women, and amazingly arrested 72 unfortunates the very first day. In neighbouring Punjab, the police was forced to drop sedition charges against 66 students picked up for protesting against a fee hike at Panjab University. The students are still in judicial custody. Charging any inconvenient voice with sedition appears to have become the norm. In West Bengal, the BJP scurried to deal with the uproar after their youth leader put a bounty of Rs 11 lakhs on chief minister Mamata Banerjees head after a clash between the police and a Hanuman Jayanti rally. Thats just Wednesday. Of course intolerance is rising in India. Gujarat has just changed its laws so now cow slaughter gets the offender anywhere between 10 years and life imprisonment. In Rajasthan, self-styled cow protectors recently lynched Pehlu Khan, a farmer who was taking his cows home. Murderous gau rakshaks have been threatening, extorting and lynching Muslims and dalits so shamelessly that the Supreme Court is considering a ban on them. Several slaughterhouses have been banned in UP and Jharkhand. Chhattisgarh is considering turning vegetarian. Bihar has banned alcohol. Across India, the muzzling of dissent has been growing, rationalists have been killed, there has been a sustained attempt to saffronise universities and institutes and any opposition to the Hindutva agenda is crushed ruthlessly. Intolerance seems to be the order of the day. Only a culture of tolerance can save us, we shout. Not true. Tolerance is fine, but not enough. We need the rule of law, prompt and proper justice delivery, an uncompromising commitment to the rights and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. Our Constitution guarantees all citizens equal rights irrespective of religion, caste, creed, region, language or gender. And we are urged to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood as a fundamental duty. Brotherhood, for us, means more brother than friend. Hindu-Muslim bhai-bhai, for example. We are very family-oriented. The streets of India are full of unknown uncles, aunties, sisters and brothers. We are all a big family. And how happy is a family that strives to tolerate each other? Tolerance implies suffering the other, putting up with things and people you dont like. Tolerance implies a power imbalance, where the powerful chooses to endure the powerless, and may at any time decide to stop being so generous. Tolerance belongs to an unequal and unhappy society, where there can never be equal rights, just a condescending acceptance of the other, a humouring of the other, and sometimes indifference towards the other. It implies a society where the powerless live at the pleasure of the powerful. Merely tolerating would always keep the powerful in power and deprive the powerless of equal rights. It can keep the status quo at best but never improve the lot of the less fortunate, the other, the miserable deviants in religion, gender, caste, language or other identity indicators. For a well-balanced society, like in a happy family, we should aim to celebrate, not just tolerate, each other. There needs to be respect, honour and a genuine sense of equality of rights and opportunities. A citizen of India must be celebrated for who he/she is, not merely tolerated. Some of us may find it difficult to celebrate or respect certain identities. That is when we settle for tolerance. To tolerate is the last resort it does not nurture the vibrancy of a pluralistic democracy, it just about keeps the many-hued strands together in a democracy that craves to be majoritarian but cannot defy the Constitution. When we aim so low, our possibility of slipping and falling into the abyss of intolerance is high. Our Constitution did not want us to merely tolerate. It wanted us to celebrate pluralism. It gave us all equal rights over the country, the State was supposed to remain equidistant from all religions, the justice system was supposed to be blind to your gender, class, religion, caste, creed, ethnicity, region, language and other iden-tity markers, you were supposed to be free to think, speak your mind and express your ideas. As intolerance rises, the word pluralism is being replaced by tolerance. Which takes us away from the concept of pluralism to the idea of a majoritarian society that is happily for the lesser folk lenient, broad-minded and condescending. We are so generous, it seems to be saying, now run along before we change our mind and kill you. Instead of focusing on building a culture of tolerance, we should focus on strictly following the Constitution and the rule of law. Tolerance, for what its worth, will follow. India should make Jadhav a test case of its resolve to get our fellow citizen back home. As the nation celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Liberation of Bangladesh I raised the issue of 54 missing Indian prisoners of war (PoWs) in the Lok Sabha on December 29, 2011. They had been in illegal Pakistani captivity since the 1971 war and have never been returned to India. This is despite India returning 91,000 PoWs. Responding to that special mention, then external affairs minister S.M. Krishna in a letter acknowledged that there are believed to be 74 missing defence personnel, including 54 PoWs, since 1971 in Pakistani jails. However, Pakistan does not acknowledge the presence of any Indian PoWs in its custody. He further added that the Government of India has repeatedly taken up the issue of release of missing Indian defence personnel, including PoWs, believed to be in Pakistan, with the Pakistan government through diplomatic channels and during high-level contacts. During the visit of the then external affairs minister to Pakistan in January 2007, the Pakistani government was persuaded to receive a delegation or relatives of missing defence personnel to permit them to visit prisons in Pakistan where they are believed to be incarcerated. A delegation of relatives visited 10 jails in Pakistan around June 1-14, 2007, but could not confirm the physical presence of the Indian PoWs. However, five years later in 2012, a peculiar thing happened. A sepoy of the Punjab Regiment, Jaspal Singh, believed to be dead in the 1971 war, turned up alive in an Omani prison. He reached out to one Sukhdev Singh, a Punjabi carpenter, who had gone to Oman on a work visa in 2010. After his return from Oman in July 2012, Sukhdev, a resident of Dugri village in Rupnagar, informed the locals and officials that he was contacted by sepoy Jaspal Singh when he had gone to install kitchen equipment in the prison at Masirah Island. According to Sukhdev, when he was working in the kitchen, one Punjabi individual discreetly approached him and gave him details of his village, Pamour, in Fatehgarh Sahib district and said that he was sepoy Jaspal Singh of Punjab Regiment and that he was captured by the Pakistan Army at Hussainiwala near the Ferozepur border along with four more soldiers on December 4, 1971, after which they were all detained in a Pakistani prison for six years before being transferred to Masirah Island prison in Oman. Strangely, last month, in March 2017, the Indian embassy in Oman, in reply to a RTI query, disavowed that any Indian national was detained on the Masirah Island jail. Why on earth would Sukhdev have invented a yarn like this? Why did we not follow up on Jaspal? If the person whom Sukhdev met in that island prison was not Jaspal, then who was he? Is he still there or has he disappeared? Why is the silence of the government deafening? Then there is the case of Sarabjit Singh, who was murdered by the Pakistanis in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore on May 2, 2013, despite a very high-decibel and passionate campaign by his sister Dalbir Kaur for his release that had massive support even among liberals in Pakistan. Now turning to Kulbhushan Jadhav, the news about his death sentence came as a bolt from the blue. Ostensibly a Pakistani military court in some kangaroo proceedings tried him and handed down the death penalty. Pakistani Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, in some rather abnormal hurry, has confirmed the same. This is notwithstanding the fact that Sartaz Aziz, the foreign affairs adviser to the Pakistani Prime Minister, told members of the Pakistani Senate on December 8, 2016: What the dossier contained on Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav were mere statements. It did not have any conclusive evidence. What has changed between then and now, given the fact that Mr Aziz does not have a reputation of either shooting from the mouth or the hip? Does this kneejerk confirmation by the Pakistani Army Chief have something to do with the alleged disappearance of retired Lt. Col. Mohammad Habib Zahir of the Pakistan Army in Nepal a few days ago as is being widely speculated on the social and mainstream media? The other thing that seems to be fairly evident is that Jadhav was not arrested from Mashkel Balochistan as was claimed by Pakistan. A theory that has been going around for a while is that Jadhavs abduction is somehow linked to the action taken by the Indian Coast Guard against a Pakistani boat on the night of December 31, 2014. While reports in the Indian media suggested that this was another attempt by Pakistan to orchestrate a 26/11 kind of an operation, which also could be true, what is also speculated is that the boat belonged to a notorious Pakistani smuggler who in retaliation for the gutting of his boat by the Indian Coast Guard kidnapped Jadhav and handed him over to the ISI for monetary or other considerations. While all this would remain in the realm of conjecture what is uncontroverted is that Jadhav is a retired Indian naval officer who unfortunately is in a very life-threatening situation and it is our responsibility as a nation to do everything to bring him back home safe and sound. What are the legal options available to him? Frankly, none. Theoretically, he can appeal to the Military Appellate Tribunal and then even to the Pakistan Supreme Court followed by a clemency petition to the President of Pakistan. However, in such matters, even the court and the President would just end up toeing the line of the establishment. Insofar as the Military Appellate Tribunal is concerned, the less said the better. Only two things will work: one maybe and the other perhaps. The maybe option is that India mounts a shrill high-decibel international campaign to secure his release. This would entail the involvement of inter-governmental organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross, United Nations Human Rights Council, other UN instrumentalities and even organisations like Amnesty International that this government does not really fancy. However, given the manner in which the Pakistanis have played even the Americans over Osama bin Laden and still continue to have a fairly decent relationship with them, it is doubtful whether they will care more than a fig about the international community. The perhaps option is for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pick up the phone and speak to Nawaz Sharif directly and tell him in no uncertain terms that such kangaroo court verdicts are simply unacceptable. The Indian high commission in Pakistan should also concurrently reach out to moderate sections of society, lawyers and other human rights activists, to start a campaign within that country for his release. India should make Jadhav a test case of its resolve to get our fellow citizen back home. Let him not end up like the 54 PoWs, alive but forgotten, or like Sarabjit Singh, brutally murdered. Let no partisan politics divide us. The death in the northwestern city of Mardan is the latest violence linked to accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan. Islamabad: The ransacked university hostel room of slain Pakistani student Mashal Khan has posters of Karl Marx and Che Guevara still hanging on the walls, along with scribbled quotes including one that reads: "Be curious, crazy and mad." The day before, a heated debate over religion with fellow students broke out at the dorm and led to people accusing Khan of blasphemy against Islam. That attracted a crowd that grew to several hundred people, according to witnesses. The mob kicked in the door, dragged Khan from his room and beat him to death, witnesses and police said. The death in the northwestern city of Mardan is the latest violence linked to accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan. Those who knew Khan described him as an intellectually curious student who openly professed devotion to Islam but asked many questions. "Whatever he had to say, he would say it openly, but he didn't understand the environment he was living in," said one of Khan's teachers at Abdul Wali Khan University, who declined to be named for fear of retribution. Aziz ur Rehman, a caretaker at the hostel who witnessed Khan's debate with his fellow students, said he brought up arcane subjects such as whether the offspring of Adam and Eve - the original humans in Islamic texts as well as Judeo-Christian ones - would have married each other, raising the issue of incest. Crimes related to blasphemy are a serious offence in Muslim-majority Pakistan, and penalties range from small fines to the death sentence. At least 65 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to figures from a Center for Research and Security Studies report and local media, and dozens more convicted of the crime are currently on death row in Pakistani jails. The Pakistani government has yet to comment publicly on Khan's killing. In March, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued an order for the removal of blasphemous content online, and said anyone who posted such content should face "strict punishment under the law". Police say they have arrested 20 suspects involved in Khan's murder and have found no evidence to substantiate blasphemy allegations. Imam refuses last rights Rehman, the caretaker, said Khan was alive when the police arrived, but that they did not approach the hostel until it was too late. "They could have easily saved his life but they stood away from the mob ... I heard one officer say it's good that they sent this non-believer to hell," he said. Mardan police chief Mohammad Alam Shinwari denied the allegation that officers did not do enough to save Khan. Also In South Asia News "When we entered the campus, he had already been killed and the mob was trying to burn his body," he said. In Khan's home town of Swabi, around 60 km south of Mardan, his father, Iqbal Shaer, said the accusations of blasphemy were unfounded. "First they killed my son and now they are adding salt to our wounds," he told Reuters. Shaer, who runs a small business selling biscuits and chocolates to local retailers, said he had always been a lover of poetry and literature and encouraged his children to express themselves and appreciate the arts. He added: "My wife told me this morning that she spent her life taking care of her son, but those who killed him have wasted that long struggle." At Khan's funeral, the imam at the local mosque refused to read the last rights, according to Swabi resident Salman Ahmed. A technician who was asked to do so in the cleric's place was confronted by several people afterwards. Khan has since been buried. Mashal was killed, while Abdullah was injured for allegedly 'publishing blasphemous content online'. Nawaz Sharif added that he had been left "deeply saddened" over the student's murder by an "insensitive mob". (Photo: AP) Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday ordered action against those found responsible for the lynching of a university student in Mardan over allegations of blasphemy. "The entire nation should be united in condemning this crime. The state will never tolerate those who take the law in their own hands," the Dawn quoted the Prime Minister, as saying. He added that he had been left "deeply saddened" over the student's murder by an "insensitive mob". Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, also expressed shock over the incident. "Shocked to see Mashal Khan killing video. Vigilantism &mob justice are indicative of regressive & putrid mindset. Is that what we stand for?," she tweeted. "Images of brutal killing of two brothers in Sialkot years ago still haunts & now #MashalKhan. Do we want to be known as benighted nation?" she added. On April 13, Abdul Wali Khan University students Mashal and Abdullah were targeted by a violent mob on campus premises. Mashal was killed, while Abdullah was injured for allegedly "publishing blasphemous content online". This development comes amidst speculations that the regime was preparing to conduct a nuclear test. Missiles are paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on Saturday, April 15, 2017, in Pyongyang to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. (Photo: AP) London: North Korea has begun a vast military parade to celebrate the birth of its founding father, Kim Il-sung, and warned that it was prepared to take the "toughest" action unless the United States ended its "military hysteria", The Guardian reports. This development comes amidst speculations that the regime was preparing to conduct a nuclear test. A senior North Korean official used the parade to accuse the US of "creating a war situation" with the recent dispatch of warships to the region. "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," Choe Ryong-hae said during the parade. Speaking just before the parade, Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies said he was looking out for "the possibility of a new ICBM", adding, "there may be some surprises." China's state-run media warned that the US President was mistaken if he believed that piling military pressure on North Korea would resolve the regime's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The Global Times said Trump's decision to drop the "mother of all bombs" on Afghanistan was clearly "a new gimmick in US military deterrence" designed to intimidate Kim Jong-un. "North Korea must have felt the shock wave travelling all the way from Afghanistan," the Communist party-controlled newspaper said in an editorial. Earlier, as the USS aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and its strike group sailed towards the peninsula, North Korea's official KCNA news agency, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, warned of a "merciless" retaliation against any US provocation. US President Donald Trump's decision to send an "armada" of warships to water off the tense peninsula, coupled with recent US strikes in Syria and Afghanistan, were proof that Washington had chosen the path of "open threat and blackmail", KCNA said. "Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive," it added. It said the Trump administration's "serious military hysteria" had reached a "dangerous phase that can no longer be overlooked". As North Korea's only ally, China has come under unprecedented pressure in recent days to use its influence to persuade Kim not to risk conflict with a nuclear test or ballistic missile launch. Lavrov said this was concluded during Wednesdays visit of US secretary of state Rex Tillerson to Moscow. Moscow: Russia and the United States have a shared understanding that American air strikes on Syria should not be repeated, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moualem in Moscow on Thursday, Interfax news agency reported. Lavrov said this was concluded during Wednesdays visit of US secretary of state Rex Tillerson to Moscow. But in Washington, the US state department said that Tillerson did not eliminate the possibility the US may undertake future strikes. The secretary explained there were no subsequent targets after the missile strike, but he did not rule out any future action, state department acting spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. He stressed that Russia is in a position to use its influence over the Assad regime to ensure it is never again necessary for the U.S. to act, Toner said. As many as 94 suspected Islamic State militants were killed in the strike on Thursday evening. Kabul: US Army General in Afghanistan, John Nicholson said on Friday the decision to deploy one of the largest conventional bombs ever unleashed in combat was a purely tactical decision made as part of the campaign against Islamic State-linked fighters. As many as 94 suspected Islamic State militants were killed in the strike on Thursday evening, Afghan defence officials said, adding there were no civilian casualties. The strike came as US President Donald Trump dispatches his first high-level delegation to Kabul, amid uncertainty about his plans for the nearly 9,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan. Nicknamed "the mother of all bombs," the weapon was dropped from an MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar bordering Pakistan. Nicholson said he was in constant communication with officials in Washington, but the decision to use the 21,600-pound (9,797-kg) GBU-43 bomb was based on his assessment of military needs and not broader political considerations. "This was the first time that we encountered an extensive obstacle to our progress," he said of a joint Afghan-US operation that has been targeting Islamic State since March. "It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield." Afghan and US forces were at the scene of the strike and reported that the "weapon achieved its intended purpose,", Nicholson said. Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the massive blast that targeted a network of caves and tunnels that had been heavily mined. "No civilian has been hurt and only the base, which Daesh used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed," Waziri said in a statement. He was using an Arabic term that refers to Islamic State, which has established a small stronghold in eastern Afghanistan and launched deadly attacks on the capital, Kabul. The GBU-43 is a GPS-guided munition that had never before been used in combat since its first test in 2003, when it produced a mushroom cloud visible from 20 miles (32 km) away. The bomb's destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War Two, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT. At a village about 3 miles (5 km) from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, witnesses said the ground shook, but homes and shops appeared unaffected. "Last night's bomb was really huge, when it dropped, everywhere, it was shaking," said a resident, Palstar Khan, adding that he believed no civilians were in the area hit. He praised the strike, saying killing Islamic State fighters was a "positive move." Other residents said they saw militants climbing up and down the mountain every day, making occasional visits to the village. "They were Arabs, Pakistanis, Chinese and local insurgents coming to buy from shops in the bazaar," said resident Raz Mohammad. 'Testing Ground' On Friday, the village was swarming with Afghan and international troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said in a statement the attack was a part of a joint operation by Afghan and international troops. "Afghan and foreign troops closely coordinated this operation and were extra cautious to avoid any civilian casualties," it said. But former president Hamid Karzai condemned the use of the weapon on Afghan soil. "This is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons," he said on social media network Twitter. The Taliban also denounced the bombing. "Using this massive bomb cannot be justified and will leave a material and psychological impact on our people," the Taliban, who compete with Islamic State in Afghanistan, said in a statement. American officials said the bomb had been positioned for possible use in Afghanistan for "some time" since the administration of former president Barack Obama. The United States has steadily intensified its air campaign against Islamic State and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, with the Air Force deploying nearly 500 weapons in the first three months of 2017, up from 300 in the corresponding 2016 period. Thursday's strike was not the first time Islamic State fighters have been targeted by heavy American bombardment in Nangarhar, where a US special forces soldier was killed battling militants a week ago. Last year, B-52 bombers operating out of Qatar flew at least two missions in Afghanistan for the first time since 2006. Such aircraft can carry as much as 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg)of bombs, missiles, or other weapons on each mission. In March, US forces conducted 79 "counterterror strikes" against Islamic State in Nangarhar, killing as many as 200 militants, according to the US military command in Kabul. US military officials estimate there are about 600 to 800 Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar, but also in the neighbouring province of Kunar. The United Nations has raised concerns that the American air campaign is swelling civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Last year, air strikes by international forces caused at least 127 civilian deaths and 108 injuries, up from 103 deaths and 67 injuries in 2015, the United Nations said. Sri Lanka's parliament was warned recently that the 23 million tonnes of garbage rotting at Kolonnawa was a serious health hazard. Sri Lankan army soldiers and rescue workers stand near buried houses in a collapse of a garbage dump in Meetotamulla, on the outskirts of Colombo. (Photo: AP) Colombo: At least 19 people, including four children, were killed when a 91-metre open garbage pile came crashing down on homes following a fire near Sri Lanka's capital, with the Prime Minister apologising Saturday for the delay in relocating the dump. Over 100 houses were completely destroyed and more than 600 people fled in the aftermath of the fire and the collapse of the dump in Meetotamulla area in Kolonnawa, near here, police said. 19 people, including four children, were killed and 14 others injured in the incident that happened Friday, officials said. More people were feared to be trapped as the military struggled to clear the rubble and rescue people or recover bodies. On President Maithripala Sirisena's directive, hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to rescue the slum dwellers adjacent to the 300-foot (91-metre) garbage dump. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe issued an apology on behalf of the government to the victims. "We had all plans in place to relocate the garbage dump at Meetotamulla. But the tragedy struck before we could put them into action. We apologise for the government's inability to complete the task before the disaster," he said. The residents near the dump had been protesting for months, demanding that the garbage mound be relocated. The authorities, however, claim that they had given enough warning to the slum dwellers to relocate themselves. "We had even paid compensation to them to relocate," Harsha de Silva, the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said. He said the state will bear the funeral expenses of those dead. The minister said it was only a few weeks back that agreements had been signed to begin waste to energy projects at the dumping site. The mountain of garbage caught fire and collapsed on dozens of homes as the residents were celebrating the traditional New Year. Police said the true scale of the damage remained unclear. Sri Lanka's Parliament was recently warned that 23 million tonnes of garbage at Kolonnawa dump was a serious health hazard. About 800 tonnes of garbage is being added to the dump on a daily basis. "This is not a natural disaster but man made due to the sheer negligence by the authorities concerned," M S Marikkar, the ruling party local member of parliament, said. Pyongyang responds with threats "of nuclear strikes" if the US carries out any provocative gestures. The United States aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is deployed to the Korean peninsula. Chinese Minister: Enough provocations and threats. The bishops' conference questions presidential candidates over their policy toward North Korea. Msgr. Lazzaro You Heung-sik sceptical about the possibility of violent acts. Seoul (AsiaNews) - The Korean Church is preparing to face the country's presidential elections and to work for peace and reconciliation, while the North and the United States flex their military muscle in Pyongyang and in the Sea of Japan. "I do not think there will be a military attack or one side or the other," says Msgr. Lazzaro You Heung-sik, bishop of Daejeon and president of the National Justice and Peace Commission (left in picture). "Everyone would have a lot to lose if they attack or carry out some act of violence," adds the bishop. "That's why it is worth preparing for the future. And the future is that on May 9 South Korea will vote for the new president of the country. The Bishops' Conference is focusing on preparing Korean citizens for a just and good choice of candidates. " Among the selection criteria is their policy for reconciliation between North and South and a halt to the Thaad anti-missile system, unpopular with North Korea and especially China. The words of Msgr. You are strident given that just yesterday North Korea warned the United States from provocative actions in the region, saying it was ready to "respond with nuclear strikes." The comment from the Military officer Choe Ryong-Hae occurred during military parades and the celebrations of the 105 years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and grandfather of the dictator Kim Jong-un. For the first time ever the parade included what appears to be a ballistic missile that can be launched from a submarine with nuclear warheads that could reach targets from all parts of the world. As for the US, President Donald Trump and his administration have continued in recent weeks to threaten North Korea, pressuring China to do something to stop the nuclear program of Pyongyang, "otherwise we will do it ourselves." The bombing of the Air Base Shayrat (Syria) and the use of the enormous Moab bomb in Afghanistan have increased tension, while a fleet with 6 thousand soldiers on the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson crosses the Sea of Japan today headed for the peninsula Korean. The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, asked both sides not to continue with "provocations and threats towards each other," saying that "conflict could break out at any moment." Meanwhile, the Korean Bishops' Conference sent to the candidates for presidential elections five questions to clarify their policy on issues concerning life, reconciliation between North and South, ecology, human rights (justice and peace). After their responses, the bishops published their voting criteria. Among the most decisive questions are first of all those relating to issues on life and human rights (abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia, the death penalty, rights of workers - especially young people - and the trade union and labor rights). Then comes the question on the commitment to support agriculture and the economy (agricultural industry protection, genetically modified food, use of chemical fertilizers, economic democratization, privatization of public enterprises, etc.). So, the question of the environment: the use of nuclear power, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, development of renewable energy. Finally, the question related to the relationship with the North and with Japan: relaunching dialogue with North Korea; the problem of the Thaad deployment in the territory of South Korea; the cancellation of the agreement signed by the previous government with Japan. by Bernardo Cervellera In Marks Gospel a young man announces the resurrection of Jesus. The crisis of youth: "distrust, indifference, indignation towards institutions", even toward the Church. They learn to live without God and the Church. The importance of next Synod and the testimony of those who are kept "young" through mission. Rome (AsiaNews) - A dead body, a stiffened corpse, marked by suffering and humiliation, comes back to life and shines, although with signs of the Passion: This is the proclamation - unlikely in the mind of man that the Church proclaims at Easter. In order to render that proclamation credible and reasonable, theologians explain that the basis of all the Gospels is the empty tomb, a concrete fact experienced by almost 2 thousand years ago in Jerusalem. The recently restored shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, proclaims this joy enveloped in icons, lamps and candles, built on a worn stone: for Christians that tomb is nothing to shrink from, but the foundation of our hope. The empty tomb alone is not enough to believe. The evangelists speak of "an angel (Matthew), two men (Luke), two angels (John), who explain to the weeping women that the Lord they seek "is not here", he escaped death. Among all, it is striking that the evangelist Mark entrusts this proclamation to a young man: "On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were afraid. But he said to them, "Do not be afraid! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen, he is not here. See the place where they laid him "(Mk 16: 5-6). This passage sprung to my mind following Pope Francis decision to choose youth as the theme for the next Synod in October 2018, namely: "Young people, faith and vocational discernment". The Synods preparatory document highlights the general aspects of a crisis in the world of youth (and others): fluidity. Uncertainties, rapid changes, relativism. In fact, in contemporary society, young people are seen and valued as consumers. They are exploited, underpaid or even kept away from the world of work by adults, jealous of their privileges. This leads young people to feed "distrust, indifference or anger towards the institutions", even toward the Church, increasingly seen as a useless relic of the past. "Young people - the document says are not 'against', but they are learning to live 'without' the God presented by the Gospel and without the Church". But in the bigger picture of uncertainties, "young people have a need for persons of reference, who are close-by, credible, consistent and honest, in addition to places and occasions for testing their ability to relate to others (both adults and peers) and dealing with their feelings and emotions. Young people look for persons of reference who are able to express empathy and offer them support, encouragement and help in recognizing their limits, but without making them feel they are being judged". In the Message for the 32nd World Youth Day, which this year is celebrated at a diocesan level on Palm Sunday, Pope Francis takes up this theme and suggests young people meet with adults and even with their grandparents: " Do you realize how extraordinarily enriching the encounter between the young and the elderly can be? How much attention do you pay to the elderly, to your grandparents? With good reason you want to soar, your heart is full of great dreams, but you need the wisdom and the vision of the elderly. Spread your wings and fly, but also realize that you need to rediscover your roots and to take up the torch from those who have gone before. ... As Mary did with Elizabeth, look to the elderly, to your grandparents. They will speak to you of things that can thrill your minds and fill your hearts." All this might seem to contradict what we have said previously, that the proclamation of the resurrection was given to a young man. But there is a youth that is of the heart, and can even exceed the stillness and slowness of old age, it is youth gifted by faith and the desire of the mission to communicate the joy that God has conquered death to all. Of my first trip to India, I can still see the image of a nun, Sister Ida a Missionary of the Immaculate (cousins" of PIME),an octogenarian dancing with the children from the kindergarten. It is the resurrection of Christ that makes everyone, young and old, youthful announcers. Happy Easter. by Michele Brambilla Fr. Michele Brambilla was appointed regional superior of PIME in November 2015. Since then he has worked for the handover of Kodbir parish, which he founded. The full-time position as Dinajpur diocesan hospital administrator. The pastoral care of the faithful in the villages. Dinajpur (AsiaNews) An over view of the last months of pastoral work, during which he definitively passed on the pastoral care of Kodbir parish, founded by him, and took over full-time management of Dinajpur diocesan hospital. In his Easter letter to AsiaNews Fr. Michele Brambilla, regional superior of PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions) in Bangladesh speaks of it being time to leave the leadership of the parish. But what makes him happiest, he says, is to see that "once again we have PIME missionaries to carry on this young Christian community." Priority to never forget the care of souls and the administration of the sacraments, because first of all, "I am a priest." Below his letter. Dear friends, greetings from Bangladesh. I write to you on the eve of Easter to send you all my Easter greetings and update you on my life in mission. The main news is the passage of pastoral care of Kodbir to Fr. Adolphe Ndouwe, PIME missionary. On January 8 in the presence of the Vicar General of the Diocese of Dinajpur I bid farewell to the faithful of the parish and passed the baton to Fr. Adolphe, who along with Fr. Emanuele Meli will continue to follow the community of the faithful and not just the parish territory. I was able to thank those who helped me in these five years, especially the catechists who have held and still hold the bonds between the center of mission and the various outlying villages. In taking my leave of them, I expressed my joy that there are still PIME missionaries to carry on this young Christian community of just over three years and at the same time I asked everyone to continue collaborating with the fathers for a more effective job of evangelization and human promotion. I will still have one foot in the parish until next October where in the assembly of the credit union members will appoint my successor. Leaving the parish I will still be kept busy, as I continue my work in the hospital and in charge of the PIME in Bangladesh. Most of the time I spend in hospital administration and about once a month I go to the capital to meet the brothers and see the young people of our educational community. The best moment of the week, is Saturday when I go to Mohespur to Fr. Almir Azevedo to help him over the weekend in the parish or in the villages where he sends me. I am a priest and the administration of the sacraments, the explanation of God's Word and Holy Mass for the people of God are a priority that I try not to forget. To all of you my best wishes for a happy and holy Easter. Photo courtesy of VW. Volkswagen has bought back or repaired more than half of the 475,000 vehicles with 2.0-liter diesel engines that failed to meet emissions standards as part of a federal settlement about six months after it began the program. The company provided the update to the U.S. judge overseeing the settlement in a letter sent April 14. The company provided a copy of the letter to Automotive Fleet. Volkswagen has repurchased or terminated leases on nearly 238,000 vehicles and repaired 6,200 other vehicles. The company has admitted to installing cheat software that enabled the vehicles to pass emissions tests but emit more than 40 times the pollution allowed by the Clean Air Act in daily driving. The company has agreed to buy back or repair 85% of the vehicles by 2019. Editor's note: Read our full coverage here. 15 April 2017 13:00 (UTC+04:00) The Azerbaijani and Iranian customs authorities have discussed ways of easing border crossing between the two countries, Azertac reported. At a meeting held in the Azerbaijani district of Astara, the sides focused on a range of issues with the aim of ensuring a quicker and easier customs control at border checkpoints, including experience exchange involving X-ray operators, expansion of cooperation in dealing with violations of customs laws and combating illegal drug trafficking, and easing border crossing procedures for those traveling by their own cars. 15 April 2017 11:00 (UTC+04:00) By Trend President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has congratulated the countrys Orthodox Christian community on Easter. Dear fellow countrymen, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on a blessed occasion of Holy Easter and wish each of you the best of health and happiness, the Azerbaijani president said in his congratulatory message. Different peoples living in Azerbaijan have enjoyed friendly and brotherly ties, and various religions have coexisted here in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust for centuries, he said. Azerbaijan is today recognized throughout the world as a space of tolerance and multiculturalism, he added. We consider this as a great success of our national statehood, and preserving historical and spiritual legacy and ethnic and cultural diversity, promoting and encouraging public relations based on traditions of multiculturalism are key priorities of our activity. It is not a coincidence that it has become a tradition for Azerbaijan in recent years to host prestigious international events addressing universally important problems of inter-civilizational and inter-faith dialogue, he said. Developing language and culture of national minorities, preserving ethnic and religious diversity and historic and cultural legacy are one of the issues that the Azerbaijani government pays special attention to, and we will continue our efforts in this area. Azerbaijan, as historically, is the homeland for everyone who lives here regardless of their language, religion and ethnic identity, the president said. It is my hope that our Christian fellow countrymen will continue to do their utmost to fulfill important tasks faced by the Republic of Azerbaijan, establish civil solidarity and public and political stability, and increase efforts to ensure a happy future for our people. The embodiment of peace, solidarity and compassion, Easter is solemnly celebrated in Azerbaijan every year, Ilham Aliyev said. On this blessed day I wish you festive mood, and your families joy and prosperity. Happy Easter! --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 15 April 2017 12:35 (UTC+04:00) By Trend French website Dreuz.info has posted an article by deputy mayor of the Neuilly-sur-Seine Commune in France, Philippe Karsenty, headlined Azerbaijan a fascinating country. Karsenty, in his article, says Azerbaijan's attractiveness stems from its culture and geography. Describing Azerbaijan as a multiethnic and multicultural country, Karsenty hails its economic development and its relations with world countries. Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of France, he said. The article says the Christians living in the country can conveniently go to churches and the Jews may comfortably walk in kippahs in the streets. The article also hails clean streets in Baku, as well as spectacular state-of-the-art buildings in this historical city, which were designed by internationally recognized architects. Karsenty describes Azerbaijan as an exemplary country where different cultures and religions live together in peace. He says the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the only painful problem of Azerbaijan, adding the occupation of Azerbaijans territories is recognized by international community. The article also mentions the four UN resolutions on the conflict. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan has a powerful army, the country prefers a peaceful resolution of the conflict, Karsenty said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 15 April 2017 11:36 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR will continue to be a driver of development of the countrys chemical industry, President of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said. He made the remarks at an event dedicated to the presentation of products of SOCAR Polymer OJSC in Baku Apr. 14. Azerbaijans chemical industry has a great future, and private companies will be able to implement their own projects in this sphere soon, he said. He noted that the chemical industry is very important for Azerbaijan. Chemical industry has always been a traditional industry in Azerbaijan, Abdullayev said. There are great opportunities for its development. After the acquisition of Turkeys Petkim petrochemical complex, SOCAR entered the chemical market and gained a lot of experience. The Azerikimya Production Union turned into a profitable enterprise after it became a part of SOCAR, he added. Abdullayev noted that the experience gained allowed to start such a project as SOCAR Polymer. Companies that operate in other sectors of the Azerbaijani economy joined this project and became a part of it, he said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz WHERE THE MONEY'S GOING Almost 70 nonprofit groups received $3 million in funding to improve health outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley, including 11 focusing on initiatives in Kern County. Heres what the local ones received and what issues theyre tackling: Faith in Community: $600,000 In Kern, to educate the community on air quality The Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment: $600,000 Reducing pesticide exposure among vulnerable groups UFW Foundation: $600,000 Identify health needs and implement policies that improve health California Coalition for Rural Housing Project: $20,000 Creating maps to identify areas where housing is needed California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance: $20,000 Advance progressive immigrant rights Central California Environmental Justice Network: $20,000 Identify health disparities among farmworkers Central Valley Air Quality Coalition: $20,000 Engage the community on air quality issues Pacific News Service/New American Media: $20,000 Engage the community on the Kern County General Plan Planned Parenthood Mar Monte: $10,000 Promote reproductive justice among youth Dolores Huerta Foundation: $20,000 Develop an Arvin bike share program Sequoia Riverlands Trust: $20,000 Improve air quality through conservation and compact growth Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Driving test changes are coming into force later this year. Learner drivers in Bath and across the country will soon have to pass a modern test that will include new manoeuvres and a longer independent driving section. This is to make sure that new drivers have the skills, knowledge and confidence to drive on their own. Changes will also include a section where drivers use satellite navigation to find their way. Transport Minister Andrew Jones said: "We have some of the safest roads in the world but we are always looking to make them safer. "These changes announced today will help reduce the number of people killed or injured on our roads and equip new drivers with the skills they need to use our roads safely. "Ensuring the driving test is relevant in the 21st century for example, the introduction of sat navs, will go a long way towards doing this." The new driving test will come into force on December 4, 2017. The four changes are: an increase of the 'independent driving' part of the test from 10 to 20 minutes asking candidates to follow directions on a sat nav as an alternative to following road signs replacing current manoeuvres such as 'reverse around a corner' with more real life scenarios, such as driving into and reversing out of a parking bay asking one of the two vehicle safety questions while the candidate is driving, for example, asking candidates to use the rear heated screen Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Chief Executive, Gareth Llewellyn, said: "DVSA's priority is to help you through a lifetime of safe driving. "Making sure the driving test better assesses a driver's ability to drive safely and independently is part of our strategy to help you stay safe on Britain's roads. "It's vital that the driving test keeps up to date with new vehicle technology and the areas where new drivers face the greatest risk once they've passed their test." Nearly 50 per cent of British car drivers use a sat nav to navigate the roads. To reflect this change in behaviour, the DVSA want new drivers to be trained on how to use them safely. Using sat navs will encourage more practice of independent driving and teach new drivers the skills they need to manage distractions. At present, learner drivers spend a large amount of their test on low risk roads, such as housing estates so they can carry out the current manoeuvres. The new-style manoeuvres will allow DVSA to assess the same skill set as the changes are more representative of what a new driver will experience in their everyday driving. Reducing the focus on slow speed manoeuvres in quiet low risk roads and increasing independent driving will allow DVSA examiners to better assess the learner's ability to drive safely on higher-risk roads, where statistically, new drivers have the most crashes. Feedback on the changes DVSA received more than 3,900 responses to the public consultation on the changes to the test. 88 per cent agreed with increasing the length of the independent driving part of the test 71 per cent agreed with asking candidates to follow directions from a sat nav 79 per cent agreed with the plans to change the reversing manoeuvres that are test 78 per cent agreed with asking the 'show me' question while the candidate is driving Representatives from the driver training industry are also supportive of the changes. This includes driving instructor associations, the RAC, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), AA and the driving training National Associations Strategic Partnership (NASP). RAC Foundation Director, Steve Gooding, said: "We are very supportive of the revisions DVSA is making to the practical driving test, which will mean candidates undergo a far more realistic assessment of their readiness to take to the road unsupervised. "Much has changed since the first driving test was taken in 1935, and it must be right that the test evolves, just as the cars we drive are themselves changing to incorporate ever more driver assist technology such as in-built sat nav systems. Novice drivers need to demonstrate the right skills and driving style to cope with the new environment. "Clearly driving examiners and instructors both need time to adjust to the new test, in particular to ensure that candidates are well-prepared, nevertheless it is good to know that the new test will be running by the end of this calendar year." Lakeland's mayor has chosen to honor the founders of "Lakeland Rocks" with the city's first "CityMaker Award," rewarding the couple for their ingenuity in helping to make the city a better place. Award part of #LoveLakeland campaign "Lakeland Rocks" Facebook group has more than 30,000 members in 6 months Mayor hopes to give out CityMaker awards every month The award is part of the overall #LoveLakeland campaign Mayor Howard Wiggs started four years ago. Hes partnered with Chrissanne Long, CEO of Maximize Digital Media to create a website and hashtag for it. I want Lakeland to be the most livable city in the state of Florida, said Mayor Wiggs. Not the fastest growing, maybe not the biggest, but a city where people want to come and be a part of it because its enjoyable to be here to be, that they can feel connected to it. Thats what city makers do. They contribute to that livability." Scott Urquhart and his wife Kristy are the first to receive the CityMaker award. Im shocked and amazed. Its an honor, said Kristy Urquhart. The couple's Facebook group, Lakeland Rocks, has garnered more than 30,000 members in just six months. The community is what has actually brought the notoriety to the page, Scott Urquhart explained. Its nothing that me or my family did other than bring it to the community. Were just completely humbled. Lakeland Rocks has now become a favorite pastime for many area families. Thousands spend their time either painting, hiding or finding rocks, and sharing their stories with the group. Im pretty amazed. We had no idea it was going to take off, said Kristy. Wiggs said the group has taken off so much that it has added to the well-being of the city, and thats what he looks for when recognizing a "city maker." Thats what this is about," said Wiggs. "Recognizing unsung heroes who are making our city great." Wiggs hopes the award and #LoveLakeland movement lasts well after his term ends at the end of 2017. In the meantime, he is looking for people to nominate others. The goal is to award a CityMaker every month. Heres a link to where to send your nomination: lovelakeland.com/what-is-a-citymaker/nominate/. The Urquhart family will receive its plaque during the city commission meeting on April 17. The St. Petersburg Police Department is investigating an overnight fatal shooting in St. Petersburg. Man fatally shot in strip mall parking lot Victim identified as George Hall, 37 Suspect still on the loose Police were called out around 2:30 a.m. to a strip mall parking lot in the 1800 block of 49th Street South in reference to a shooting. Police found a middle-aged man with a gunshot wound to his upper torso. Officials said the man was shot while sitting in his car. Officials said the parking lot is used as an overflow lot for a club and bar nearby. The victim, identified as George Hall, 37, was transported to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg Hospital where he later died. Mug shot of victim, George Hall. (St. Petersburg Police Department) Investigators are calling the shooting a homicide. Police believe witnesses were in the area leaving the nearby bar when the shooting happened and are asking anyone with information to call (727) 893-7780. No other information has been released on this crime. This is a developing story, please check back for updates. A file containing embedded personal information for an estimated 5,600 Rhode Island benefit recipients was recently discovered on the state's Transparency Portal and its General Assembly websites, according to a statement the Rhode Island Office of Health & Human Services released yesterday. Rhode Island officials discovered the file earlier this month and took immediate action to remove the information, according to the statement. The state benefits system, called Unified Health Infrastructure Project, manages public-assistance programs, such as Medicaid. "At this time, we are unaware of any misuse of personal information," according to the statement. "However, out of an abundance of caution we are offering one year of voluntary credit monitoring service at no cost to our customers." Rhode Island officials expects Deloitte Consulting the vendor building the UHIP system to reimburse the state for the cost of the credit monitoring service, according to WPRI 12. The office is also working with Deloitte to determine the origin of the error, as well as the exact number of affected recipients. "Security is important to us, and we will continue to take every possible measure to ensure personal information is protected," the statement concluded. The state government has spent $364 million on the UHIP system since implementing it in September, according to WPRI 12. This error marks the project's third breach, after two other potential unintended disclosures of personal information occurred in February and fall 2016, Rhode Island Public Radio reports. Here are 18 key notes on orthopedic and spine device companies from the past week. Dublin, Ireland-based Medtronic is voluntarily recalling all unused units of its StrataMR adjustable valves and shunts. A New Mexico judge ruled in favor of a patient claiming Warsaw, Ind.-based Zimmer Biomet's M/L Taper Hip Prosthesis with Kinectiv Technology caused metal poisoning. Caesarea, Israel-based Mazor Robotics earned FDA approval for its Mazor X Align software. Plano-based Texas Back Institute surgeons treated the first patient in the investigational device exemption clinical trial testing Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Simplify Medical's Simplify cervical artificial spinal disc. Marietta, Ga.-based Amendia acquired Carlsbad, Calif.-based Spinal Elements. People magazine and Great Place to Work included Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Stryker in their 2017 "Companies that Care" list. Stryker Endoscopy is opening new headquarters in San Jose, Calif. Minnetonka, Minn.-based Zyga Technology reported that at 24 months post-operation, 94 percent of the patients undergoing procedures using the SImmetry Sacroiliac Joint Fusion System had evidence of bridging bone. Device benefit management company IPG partnered with DJO Global and the company's surgical division to promote value-based care for orthopedic procedures. Ortho Kinematics, an Austin, Texas-based healthcare diagnostics company specializing in spine imaging informatics, closed an $18.6 million Series D equity financing round. Leesburg, Va.-based K2M reached a five-year distribution agreement with Australia-based LifeHealthcare Group. Canada-based Intellijoint Surgical celebrated the 1,000th Intellijoint HIP procedure by launching the 1,000 Thanks project. InVivo Therapeutics added Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston as a new clinical site for the INSPIRE study. Shelton, Conn.-based Spine Wave appointed Brian May its new executive vice president of research and development. Bedford, Mass.-based ConforMIS reported results from a study showing that iTotal PS patients experienced a greater average range of motion during a deep knee bend compared to the NexGen PS patients. DePuy Synthes partnered with Research and Markets to launch the DePuy Synthes Market research Portal. San Francisco-based Invuity plans to release its 2017 first quarter financial results on April 26, following market close. Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris hospitals have listed France-based Safe Orthopaedics' thoracolumbar spinal fusion products. Researchers studied the impact of EHRs on small physician practices, according to Perspectives in Health Information Management. The study involved 15 expert panelists who participated in three rounds of surveys with the initial question, "How do you believe the implementation of an electronic health record system would affect the management of small physician practices? Consider the entire practice operations, including but not limited to the patients, the physicians, and the financial implications to the practice." The panelists met the following criteria: U.S. physician in a practice of one to four physicians Five plus years at small practice At least one year of certified-EHR experience Must be decision maker in practice Researchers used a Delphi research design to study the impact of adopting an EHR on revenue, unintended costs or savings as well as patient encounter changes. Here are four insights: 1. The panelists came to a consensus that "EHRs would reduce the number of patients seen per day, thereby reducing their revenue." 2. Panelists' greatest concern of EHR adoption was the negative impact of face-to-face time with patients. 3. Further, the panelists believed using EHRs would hurt the focus on the patient, and may result in overlooked medical conditions. 4. Researchers concluded EHR vendors should consider teaching physicians how to optimize EHRs. Additionally, vendors should consider showcasing financial success stories in practices due to EHR use. Veterans and their supporters from the JFNIV group gather at the City Hall front gates Supporters of an Army veterans' rally in Belfast city centre yesterday heard that pursuing soldiers for alleged Troubles crimes was a "witch-hunt" and "a Frankenstein version of justice". They were told that due to security force actions, hardline republicans had a right to stage a counter-protest just yards away. The veterans' rally was subject to a counter-demo by supporters of dissident group Saoradh Beal Feirste. A line of police vehicles prevented the two from coming into contact at Belfast City Hall. The demonstration against what organisers branded the "legal witch-hunt" of armed services personnel for actions during the Troubles was organised by Justice For Northern Ireland Veterans (JFNIV) and attracted around 150 people. The main speaker was UUP MLA and Army veteran Doug Beattie. He said that Irish republicans had "a right to be there. They have a right to walk and they have a right to protest because we fought for their freedom of speech". "Every step they take, they take because you stood between the terrorist and the terrorised," he added. He criticised what he called the "imbalanced system". "We all deserve justice but what we are seeing is a Frankenstein version of justice which is all focused one way," he claimed. "We do not want preferential treatment. If you break the law then you should face the law." He said it was important that the Government listened to veterans and did not turn its back on their calls for equality. "Do not let them tread on your voices. Do not let anyone steal it from you because some, for political ends, will try," Mr Beattie added. "We have terrorists walking the streets with on-the-run comfort letters and some with royal pardons." Mr Beattie told supporters that he had met with the families of the 10 people shot dead by British troops in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and that he had no doubt they deserved justice. Former soldier Jim McCaw told veterans that they were "the lucky ones" and warned that the protests will not stop. "While serving in Northern Ireland we were subject to the rules of engagement while the terrorist fought at will," he said. In a seeming reference to a comment by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, he added: "Remember, as the man in the beard who was never in the IRA said, we haven't gone away you know." The former Royal Artillery, UDR and Royal Irish member said that those "who put on a uniform and went out to work not knowing if they would come home again" feel let down by politicians. Simultaneous events saw thousands gather near Horse Guard's Parade in London, while around 200 veterans took to the streets in Glasgow city centre. But speaking after the Belfast City Hall protest, Sinn Fein MLA Linda Dillon said that no one should be above the law. "There can be no amnesty, no one can be above the law regardless of how long ago the incident took place," she said. "During the conflict British soldiers operated with impunity, now they want their government to legalise this practice and provide an amnesty. "Only a handful of British soldiers have ever been convicted or served any time for killing Irish citizens. This further underscores the need to address the outstanding issues around dealing with the legacy of the past. "Sinn Fein will continue to support the families of victims as they campaign for truth and justice." Man made off with a sum of cash in the direction of Earlswood Road Police are appealing for witnesses following an armed robbery of an off licence on Upper Newtownards Road in Belfast. It was reported that shortly after 10am a male, carrying a knife, entered the premises and threatened the female staff member. The man made off with a sum of cash in the direction of Earlswood Road. He is described as being aged in his 40s, approximately 56 or 58 tall, of medium build and was wearing a black coloured hooded top. Detective Sergeant Keith Wilson is appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone with any information that can assist with the investigation to contact detectives at Musgrave Police Station on 101 quoting reference number 379 of 15/04/17. Information can also be passed anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. The mother of a man left with permanent injuries following an assault outside a bar has said she is disgusted his attackers avoided prison. Neil Molloy is still terrified of returning to Newcastle, Co Down, nearly two years after being savagely beaten. The 26-year-old was working as a dementia nurse in a home before the assault, which took place in the early hours of July 11, 2015, outside O'Hare's bar, which faces onto the seafront. A 27-year-old female friend who was with him and who tried to stop the assault also suffered lacerations to her leg and bruised toes. Four off-duty nurses who were attending a wedding at the time came to the stricken man's aid as he lay unconscious. Mr Molloy woke up two days later in intensive care with no memory of the attack. He required steel plates for his face, suffered permanent hearing loss in one ear, needed expensive dental work, was forced to give up the nursing job he had worked in for six years and was left with depression. Expand Close Neil Molloy before the attack / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Neil Molloy before the attack At Newtownards Crown Court last Friday, two men received suspended sentences for the brutal attack. Patrick Haughian (30), from Ballagh Road in Newcastle, who works as a DJ, was convicted of causing actual bodily harm to Mr Molloy. He was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for three years. He was also ordered to pay compensation of 900 towards the victim's dental costs. Clifford Parke (40), from Oldtown lane in Annalong, who runs a construction company, was convicted of common assault and actual bodily harm, with prison sentences of nine and four months suspended for three years. Both previously denied causing grievous bodily harm before pleading guilty to lesser offences. Judges are bound by sentencing guidelines and must take into account mitigating circumstances, such as early guilty pleas, co-operation with police and remorse, as well as aggravating factors, such as intent and excessive violence. On the night of the assault Mr Molloy had been with his friend in O'Hare's. The court heard Haughian invited the pair to a party at Clarke's house, but became aggressive when they refused. Judge Sandra Crawford said a witness saw Haughian punch Mr Molloy to the ground outside the bar, hitting him two or three times in the face. Expand Close Neil Molloy after the attack / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Neil Molloy after the attack He also threw a bottle of wine, which smashed, its glass shards causing injuries to the woman's legs. Mr Parke did not directly take part in the assault, but received an assault charge after stopping the woman helping Mr Molloy. The victim's mother, Celine, said the suspended sentences had brought little comfort to the family. "Neil was disappointed in the verdict, but the trial was tearing everyone down and at least it's done," she added. "He's started going back to the gym, but at half four in the morning to try and build his confidence back up. He doesn't want to be there when it's busy. "He doesn't really open up a lot. He won't go back to Newcastle. He has his apartment up for sale and he hasn't gone back near it. "He's been staying with us. His dad and I go down the odd weekend just to check things. "We're also left to continue to pay Neil's bills. It just doesn't seem fair." Mrs Molloy said one of Haughian's barristers had told Judge Crawford the court case had put his client's life on hold and forced the postponement of his wedding. "I thought, 'And what?' They've turned my son's life upside down literally," an angry Mrs Molloy said. "When they left court I said, 'I hope you can sleep in your bed at night for the 22 months you've put us through as a family'." Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last year, Mr Molloy's parents spoke of the attack's devastating aftermath on their son. Neil Molloy snr said that his son had been forced to leave behind his career as a dementia nurse. "He can't go back to the nursing home," he explained. "He worked with patients with dementia, but if they were to lash out and hit him in the face, it could undo this operation with the metal plates. So he had to resign from his job, a job that he loved and had for six years." Neil's mother agreed that the attack had changed her son. "Before the incident, he was a bubbly young lad and happy," she said But now everything's just changed. He won't even go out now and he's not eating. He's actually lost four stone in weight from when all this happened. It's just completely destroyed his life." Boris Johnson's alliance with Jean-Marc Ayrault is a sign that he is working to build support Boris Johnson and his French counterpart have urged the international community to make sure those responsible for the Syrian chemical weapon attack are held to account. The Foreign Secretary and J ean-Marc Ayrault said the world had a "moral duty" to do more, stressing that it was "crucial for international peace and security" to uphold the ban on the use of the weapons. The pair said there would be "no impunity" for those responsible for the attack, which they said was "highly likely" to have been carried out by Bashar Assad's regime. They said two aircraft took off from Shayrat on April 4 - a "regime-run, Russian-supported airbase" which was later targeted by US missiles as Donald Trump ordered a retaliation for the atrocity. "It seems highly likely that they bombed civilians... with murderous gas," the pair wrote in a strongly-worded Guardian editorial. "What followed is too grim to describe. Painful, indiscriminate and long-lasting agony for babies, women and the elderly. "Deaths by the score. Hundreds of wounded who will bear the scars for ever. "It brings shame on the Syrian regime and its supporters. It brings shame on the world. How long can we endure this?" Mr Johnson's alliance with Mr Ayrault is a sign that he is working to build support, having appeared isolated over the issue of sanctions at a gathering of G7 foreign ministers in Italy. The Foreign Secretary is understood to have floated the idea of sanctions against the Syrian military commanders responsible for the attack, but Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano said there was "no consensus" on the issue. Foreign Office sources said Mr Ayrault supported Mr Johnson's calls for evidence to be gathered to identify those responsible and then target them with sanctions or war crimes charges. They supported the independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) investigation into the attack, saying: " The international community has a moral duty to go further. "It is our responsibility to uphold the strict prohibition of chemical weapons. "It is our responsibility to ensure that those who conducted such chemical attacks are held accountable. It is crucial for international peace and security. "In the name of the international community, the OPCW fact-finding mission will investigate the attack. "The joint investigation mechanism, an independent UN-OPCW body, will then say who is responsible. "We are confident in this process and we fully support it. There will be no impunity." Syrian leader Mr Assad has dismissed the alleged chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun as a "fabrication" to justify the US missile strikes. But the two foreign ministers said: " Regime denials should impress no one. "Assad said it was the terrorists. But then Assad claims not to have barrel bombs, not to bomb civilians, not to torture, 'because it would be illogical'. "No barrel bombs? Their images are everywhere. No attacks on civilians? Refugee camps in Turkey are replete with their victims. "No torture? Amnesty International found that in the Saydnaya prison alone, 13,000 were slaughtered." British scientists had analysed samples from the victims of the Khan Sheikhoun attack which tested positive for the sarin nerve agent or a sarin-like substance. "When children are gassed, we can take no more abject lies," Mr Johnson and Mr Ayrault said. "Our analysis indicates that two Syrian fast jets were in the vicinity of Khan Sheikhoun, and within range of likely impact sites. "We believe that it is only the regime that has the capability to make such an attack. So it is highly likely that attack was carried out by the Assad regime." The pair criticised Russia for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on Syria and accused Moscow and Tehran of covering up details of Mr Assad's chemical weapons use. But their article does not accuse Russia of being involved in the attack and sources said Mr Johnson had not pushed for sanctions against Russian individuals at the G7 meeting. Dozens of people have attempted to reach Europe from Africa by boat A total of 125 migrants trying to make night-time crossings from Africa to Spain have been rescued. Three small boats carrying the migrants were located before daybreak on Saturday. The first vessel, carrying 41 men and 11 women of sub-Saharan origin, was located by rescue teams shortly after midnight in the Alboran Sea east of the Strait of Gibraltar. The Red Cross said all were in good health. A second group of 62 North African males, including 11 minors, was packed into a wooden boat when it was rescued just west of the Strait in the Atlantic Ocean. Eleven more migrants of unknown origin were pulled from a small vessel in the Mediterranean Sea after a Nato aircraft alerted the Spanish maritime rescue service. Tens of thousands of migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries, try to reach the shores of Spain and Italy by boat each year. Between Thursday and Friday, 73 migrants were rescued from five boats by Spanish ships. On Wednesday, a 10-year-old girl and two adults died when their boat capsized while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Spain. The knife used in the attack Emergency services and police at the scene of the knife attack The British woman who was stabbed to death in Jerusalem yesterday has been named as Hannah Bladon. She was attacked near the Old City as she travelled on a light rail train that was packed as Christians celebrated Good Friday and Jews marked Passover. Mark Regev, Israels ambassador to the UK, said: My thoughts are with the family and friends of Hannah Bladon, who was murdered in a senseless act of terror. Ms Bladon, a student at the University of Birmingham, had been on an exchange programme with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since January. It said: The Hebrew University and the Rothberg International School express our deep sorrow over the murder. We extend our deepest condolences to her family and share in their sorrow. The university condemns such acts of terror that harm innocent people, and especially a student who came to study and widen her academic horizons. Hannah came here as part of a student exchange from the University of Birmingham. She began her studies at the end of January and was supposed to continue her studies until the end of the current semester. The Rothberg International School said Ms Bladon (20) had previously been on a religious studies course in Birmingham. She had been studying bible studies, archaeology and Hebrew during her exchange programme. The Rothberg International School added: Her friends described her as an inquisitive and adventurous student who made the most of her opportunity to learn and experience life in Israel. Her family has been notified. Ms Bladon was attacked by a Palestinian man who pulled a knife from his bag and repeatedly stabbed her as the tram neared Jerusalems City Hall. An off-duty policeman pulled an emergency brake and tried to intervene. Paramedics treated her at the scene and rushed her to hospital but she later died. A pregnant women and a 50-year-old man were also injured when the tram came to a sudden stop and in the aftermath of the attack. Police detained a 57-year-old man, and superintendent Micky Rosenfeld said the attack was carried out by an Arab terrorist from east Jerusalem. Israeli intelligence services Shin Bet said the attacker had a history of mental illness, that he recently tried to take his own life in hospital and that he was convicted of sexually abusing his daughter in 2011. Religious persecution: mourners at the funeral for Christians killed by IS in Egypt on Palm Sunday In their joint Easter messages, the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic Primates have echoed Pontius Pilate's question to Jesus during His trial - "What is truth?" Far be it from me to criticise Archbishop Richard Clarke and Archbishop Eamon Martin, but I disagree with their claim that Pilate was being " self-serving and flippant". One could also argue that Pilate was being desperately honest and trying to find a way to save Jesus, whom he knew was framed and was being set up by the Jewish authorities for execution. Whatever Pilate's motive, his question is just as relevant today as it was some 2,000 years ago. The church leaders put the point well when they stated: "Christians must not be content to keep silent in a world where truth has almost become a disposable commodity - occasionally of value, but capable of being twisted or discarded when awkward, disturbing or embarrassing." One thinks immediately of President Trump and his tirades about the media's alleged fake news, though some of his lame chickens are now coming home to roost. Already there is evidence of significant changes of direction, so what was the truth in many of Trump's election promises? What is the truth about the chemical weapons attack in Syria? Did Assad's regime carry it out? And did Russia know about it and back it? The truth of these urgent questions may hold the key to world peace, or trigger off unimaginable destruction. Here, what is the truth about the Stormont talks? Is Sinn Fein telling the truth when it claims that it wants an Assembly to work, or is it cynically using every excuse not to share power and to try and bully Mr Brokenshire into a second election which will be a sectarian headcount and a prelude for a dangerous border poll? Equally, is the DUP sincere when it claims to be trying to do its best to share power? The trouble with politics here is that people have been let down so badly that they do not trust politicians, even when they claim to be telling us the truth. The question 'What is truth?' permeates all our business and personal relationships. Most of us begin by believing that people tell the truth, but if they let us down, it is hard to trust them again. As an old picture editor colleague often said to me, "If a man tells me he is a Christian, I watch him like a hawk". The church leaders in their Easter message conclude: "We may live in a miasma of half-truths and untruths, but the truth that is Christ himself is challenging us, on a daily basis, to take our place at his side in the name of unconditional truth and absolute integrity." These qualities are also to be welcomed in the lives of non-believers who have a strong sense of truth and justice in a world that seems more broken with each day. The Methodist president, the Rev Bill Mullally, states bluntly: "As we look around our world, on the surface all we see is murder and mayhem. Whether it is Coptic Christians in Egypt being targeted, or children dying of starvation in many parts of Africa, hope seems to be in short supply, yet at the heart of the Easter Message is that one word 'Hope'." The theme of 'hope' is central to the Easter message of the Rt Rev Dr Frank Sellar, who underlines that because of this we can make Christ visible "within our land, North and South, by loving God and loving our neighbours - those like us and those different from us". Certainly, we have problems in Northern Ireland, but they are nothing compared to the plight of millions of our fellow human beings around the world. Christians in the Middle East are being murdered daily simply because of their religious beliefs. The latest attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt are the latest evidence of wholesale ethnic and religious cleansing in many parts of the world where Islamic extremists are found. Only this week I heard in a church service of the horrendous oppression of Christians in Iraq by Isis, which is one of the most evil organisations in history. Faced with such evil and mayhem abroad, and with political bloodymindedness and opportunism at home, it would be easy to become down-hearted, especially on the 19th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which brought us all hope. Yet the whole point about Easter is to have hope continually. If we do not have hope, we are incomplete human beings. I wish you all a peaceful and a hope-filled Easter. Theres been an almighty row erupting this week and everyone whos anyone seems to be in on the cross-community slanging match, from politicians and religious leaders to charitable organisations and multi-national corporations. The Church of England, The National Trust, the Prime Minister, The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Archbishop of York, Tesco, Morrisons, Cadbury to name but a few, have all been taking sides in this furious heated debate. But before you ask; no, its not about the bombing of Syria, the prospect of a Third World War nor any of the countless humanitarian disasters that are ongoing across the developing world. Its about...err...wait for it....chocolate Easter Eggs. Or, more appropriately, chocolate eggs. Because its the fact that some manufacturers have dropped the word Easter from their packaging that the chocolate egg industry has gone into meltdown, along with most of our Holier-Than-Thou representatives. Cadbury is being accused of pandering to other faiths for not just omitting the word from their eggs but using Halal chocolate in the process. The Anglican Archbishops are up in arms that the National Trust is organising egg hunts without a single mention of the Christian festival. Tesco is being accused of ignoring the event to avoid offending non-Christians and the debate has even reached parliament with Teresa May responding angrily to the row in the House of Commons with a lengthy polemic. The great fear appears to be that our Christian heritage is under threat in favour of political correctness. Since it all started last week, social media has of course gone into overdrive with all sorts of campaigns being organised to boycott or petition this, that or the other in the cause of religious freedom. Meanwhile, no-one has even bothered to speak to the Easter Bunnies to see what they think. Yes, as you can probably tell, Im finding the whole thing pretty ridiculous. In fact, Id like to use this opportunity to point out a few facts about Easter eggs that nobody seems to have mentioned yet in the whole debate. The egg is actually a Pagan symbol for fertility (obvious, if you think about it) and is specifically associated with the Pagan festival of Ostara celebrating the beginning of spring. Eggs have been a symbol of fertility in cults and pagan rituals around the world for thousands of years, far pre-dating Christianity. In fact the holiday of Easter itself derives its name from the fertility Goddess Eostre. She is typically depicted as a young woman surrounded by dazzling morning light, by budding trees and flowers, and new-born creatures, illustrating her association with dawn and the coming of light in the spring season. Eggs, nests, bunnies, chicks, daffodils...none of these have got anything to do with the Christian festival of Easter which remembers the betrayal and execution of Jesus and his resurrection three days later. In fact all of these symbols were adopted and incorporated into the celebration of Easter simply because of the close proximity of the two events which over time merged into one just like Christmas and Yule. There is no mention of chocolate eggs in the New Testament. Easter Bunnies are nothing to do with the Christian faith. As for the tradition of rabbits laying eggs and then hiding them for children to find...well your guess is as good as mine where that came from but I doubt its Biblical. Its certainly not scientific. So instead of inventing something nonsensical to get het-up and indignant about in the name of Christianity, why dont our leaders put their efforts into the real issues of the day? And now after my Pascal address, Im off to scoff my Lindor egg, which Ive been drooling over for a week and managed to resist until now. Happy Easter and Ostara Blessings to you all. Running mates (from left) Gov. Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat square off with challengers Anies Rasyid Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno during the final Jakarta gubernatorial election debate, April 12, 2017. Jakarta Gov. Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama is facing a stiff challenge from opponent Anies Rasyid Baswedan, with polls showing them running neck-and-neck before next weeks run-off vote in the local governors race. More than 7 million people are expected to turn out for Wednesdays vote that will decide who will lead Indonesias sprawling, diverse and cosmopolitan capital for the next five years. Ahok, a member of Indonesias small ethnic Chinese and Christian community who has served as governor since 2014, is trailing narrowly behind Anies, a former education minister in the administration of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, according to the latest polls. According to numbers released this week by pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), Ahok and running mate Djarot Saiful Hidayat were gaining ground on Anies and his running mate, Sandiaga Uno, and were trailing them by 1 percentage point. The incumbents gained 3.1 percent while the challengers saw their numbers slip by 2.8 percent, according to the poll conducted between March 31 and April 5. A different poll, conducted from March 7 to April by Lingkaran Survei Indonesia (LSI) Denny JA research center, found that 54.1 percent want a new governor to lead Indonesias capital city, while only 33.7 percent want the incumbent to stay. As they did in the previous round of the election, religious tensions have underscored the second and final round. Muslim groups have urged residents of the capital to elect a non-Muslim for governor and have demanded that Ahok be removed from office because of blasphemy charges leveled against him, for which he is now standing trial. J. Kristiadi, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said it is difficult to predict who will win on April 19 because such tensions have marred the run-up to the vote. Still, he is confident voters can make the right decision about who will lead Jakarta for the next five years. The most important thing is the process of democracy runs well. Religious and racial issues should never damage the democracy in the nation, Kristiadi told BenarNews. 13,034 polling stations Ahok and Anies, who finished first and second in a three-way election on Feb. 15, must face off again on Wednesday because neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. Jakarta Election Commission officials expect 7.2 million people to cast ballots, an increase of nearly 110,000 from the February vote. The Commission has 13,034 polling stations in six districts across the province. Jakarta Metro Police Chief M. Iriawan said more than half the force would be deployed during the day to maintain peace and order. A polling station will be guarded by one police, one armed forces member and a number of civil police personnel. There are around 15,000 armed forces personnel and 34,627 police personnel. We will be helped by civil police personnel as well, Iriawan told reporters on Thursday. Blasphemy controversy Ahok has kept campaigning for the post he was appointed to in 2014, when then-Gov. Joko Jokowi Widodo was elected president, even as he stands trial on blasphemy charges. Those charges stem from an online video where he cited a verse from the Quran that hardliners claim insulted Islam. During a visit to Thousand Islands regency last year, Ahok, an ethnic Chinese Christian, told residents not to be deceived by people using the verse Al Maidah 51 to deter them from choosing a non-Muslim leader. Prosecutors decided to postpone the reading of the sentence demand against Ahok until April 20, the day after the run-off election. In February, Minister of Home Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo said Ahok could be removed temporarily from his position as governor if he faced a sentence of five years in prison. Since the video became public, the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and other groups held rallies attended by thousands of Muslims to demand his arrest. One rally in November started out peacefully, but turned violent at the end of the day. More recently, the Electoral Supervisory Board reported that 630 banners with provocative anti-Ahok messages were found in mosques and on Jakarta streets urging Muslims not to vote for a non-Muslim leader who insulted Islam. Some hardline groups have threatened to not perform funeral rites for Muslims who support Ahok. In early March, residents refused to perform such rites for a 78-year-old woman because she had voted for Ahok-Djarot in the first round of the election. Anies courts Muslim votes Anies, who was removed by Jokowi from his role as minister of education, had been recognized as a moderate Muslim, but has been working with hardline groups as the election nears. He was seen sitting next to FPI leader Rizieq Shihab during a recent meeting. Jakarta for all, and every Jakarta resident has the right to discuss with the candidates Anies and Sandi, Anies told DetikNews when asked about the meeting. But on Wednesday when he squared off against Ahok in the final nationally televised debate, Anies separated himself from hardline Muslims, declaring he would not bring Sharia law to Jakarta. Voter Syahrul Idri, 52, said he would stick with the Ahok-Djarot ticket. The Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, resident said the candidates were proven leaders who would make Jakarta a better city. Too many thugs in the city. We need a tough leader like Ahok. He has proved through his works and he is not involved in any corruption cases. I dont care about his religion or race, Syahrul told BenarNews. Merchant Mahdi, 47, said Jakarta needs a leader who will not be divisive. The Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, resident hopes tensions related to the elections will disappear. Whoever the governor will be, we hope there will not be a clash. Peace is all we need, he said. Indonesians report their tax figures at the end of the first round of the tax amnesty program in Jakarta, Sept. 30, 2016. While Indonesias recently concluded tax amnesty program fell short of goals for previously uncollected revenue, analysts said it could help improve future collections and eventually increase the tax ratio to the countrys gross domestic product. Responding to the governments effort to stimulate the economy through the one-time nine-month program that ended in March, Indonesian citizens declared 4,881 trillion rupiah (U.S. $368 billion) in previously unreported assets. Those filers paid 135 trillion rupiah ($10 billion) in penalties, assessed at from 2 percent to 5 percent, depending on when they signed up. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said money collected through the program would be used to boost and develop the economy. Infrastructure, schools, hospitals, assist small medium enterprises, eradicate poverty in villages and border areas, she said on the last day of the amnesty, which expired March 31. Others expressed similar support. Tax amnesty doesnt only help to generate some revenues but also to introduce broader reforms on tax collection, Winfried Wicklein, the Asian Development Banks country director for Indonesia, told reporters earlier this month. Some marks missed The amnesty program fell short in some of the key components sought by the government when it was rolled out in July 2016 after lawmakers approved it one month earlier. For one, only about 972,000 Indonesians participated less than half of the expected 2 million. In addition, regarding the previously unreported assets, claimants promised to repatriate 147 trillion rupiah ($11 billion) into Indonesian accounts, of which, only 121.3 trillion rupiah ($9.1 billion) were returned as of the end of March. The program required those funds be kept in Indonesian banks or invested in bonds for three years. We consider it a failure, given that 147 trillion rupiah is very low compared to the potential funds for repatriation or the government target, Eko Listiyanto, a researcher at Jakarta-based think tank Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), told BenarNews. The government had targeted repatriations to total 1,000 trillion rupiah ($75 billion) of an estimated 11,000 trillion rupiah ($829 billion) potentially available to be returned to the nation of 255 million people. As part of reforming taxes, the government needs to establish regulations on penalties for those found to be stashing their wealth abroad, said Ahmad Heri Firdaus, a fellow economics researcher at Indef. Such regulations are necessary because Indonesia next year plans to join the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) at the intergovernmental Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments (OECD). The exchange requires Indonesias tax office to have automatic access to taxpayers information at local financial markets so it can share data on foreign taxpayers with their countries of origin. But it may not be so easy to find the data since Indonesia and other jurisdictions should have an agreement first to exchange the information on reciprocal basis, Ahmad told BenarNews. About 100 countries have already committed to AEoI and Indonesia is one of nearly 50 more committed to joining the exchange in 2018, according to the OECD. Ratios At 11 percent, Indonesia has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in Southeast Asia and emerging economies, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. By comparison, Malaysia is at 15 percent, Thailand is about 17 percent and OECD countries average 30 percent to 35 percent, according data from the Indonesia Economic Quarterly Report released in March. We aim to increase our tax ratio to 14 percent or 15 percent by 2020, Hestu Yoga Saksama, a spokesman for the Directorate General of Taxation at the Finance Ministry, told BenarNews. Issues One area of concern is the number of registered taxpayers compared with the number who file taxes. Indonesia, which has a workforce of more than 125 million people, has 36 million registered taxpayers. About 22 million are obligated to file tax returns by April 21, an extension from the previous March 31 deadline. The government seeks to generate 1,498 trillion rupiah ($113 billion) from taxes of the 1,750 trillion rupiah ($132 billion) in total government revenue allocated in its 2017 budget. With the extended deadline, we expect to have around 17 million taxpayers submitting their tax returns, Hestu said. The amnesty program could improve collections in the future because it registered more than 52,000 new taxpayers. If all taxpayers comply, the government will have bigger fiscal capability to spend on programs to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and increase infrastructure construction, which will boost our economic growth, Hestu said. Philippine officials plan to emulate Indonesias program to go after tax evaders, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told Bloomberg Television earlier this month. We will design a tax amnesty program, most likely similar to the one that Ibu Sri Mulyani has designed, he said. The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels. You will not find this level of coverage anywhere else, join us! WARNING: Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised. COMMENTS: We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. Already have an account? Log in here The premier of Manitoba will present his state of the province address to an audience of Brandon business minds next week. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The sixth annual Brandon Beer Fest took place at the Imperial Ballroom in the Victoria Inn on Saturday. Ive been writing about beer for well over a decade but the event, which was hosted by the Rotary Club of Brandon Sunset, was one of the best beer festivals Ive been to. The festival had the largest turnout of Manitoba-based breweries yet, so people got to try new breweries like Torque and Little Brown Jug for the first time, and got to chat with the people who brew the actual beers! The folks over at Canadas most popular organic brewery, Beaus All Natural Brewing, needed someone to help pour their beer for a bit, so yours truly poured Strong Patrick Irish Red Ale and Lug Tread Lagered Ale for an hour, and I was impressed with how many people, who dont traditionally drink red or dark ales, fell in love with their Irish red ale that night. I cant wait until next years event because I cant be the only person in Brandon who will influence beer tastes to change here in Westman. This week, I was planning on reviewing a Megadeth-themed saison (farmhouse ale) but after going to several Liquor Marts in Brandon, it simply hasnt arrived in Manitoba, even though it was recently listed. That means I have to review something completely different this week, which is normal even as a beer snob. Submitted First Draught columnist Cody Lobreau says Trailer Park Boys Freedom 35 Lager, brewed by Double Trouble Brewing in Ontario, is light and malty and easy to drink. He also says its reminiscent of a lot of meh lagers on the market. This week were checking out Trailer Park Boys Freedom 35 Lager brewed by the folks over at Double Trouble Brewing. They partnered up with the guys over at Trailer Park Boys, who just launched their 11th season on Netflix last week. Double Trouble Brewing is well known for their Hops & Robbers India Pale Ale and their Prison Break Pilsner here in Manitoba. In fact, Double Trouble Brewing said that a Cody Lobreau-themed beer would be a Crank Cody Cascadian dark and bitter IPA, a triple CDB for short to avoid royalties! How awesome is that? Even though the folks over at Double Trouble have named a non-existent beer after me, I still have to review their newest beer, a Trailer Park Boys-themed beer with absolute neutrality. Freedom 35 pours a very clear, crisp, pale golden ale with a light amount of micro-carbonation, a light amount of white head on top that gives off a face thats telling me to re-think my review, but I have to give this beer a review either way! Its a crisp, very sweet and malt-forward lager thats giving off notes of honey, a bit of creamed corn and bit of sweetness at the very end. The taste has a light amount of salted tortilla chips to it, a bit of sweet barley maltiness and a hint of honey in there somehow. Its very crisp, reminiscent in a sense to a non-green bottle East Coast Lager, so its a bit reminiscent to James Ready, but without the overly malty boozy presence to it. Its very easy to drink and I would consider this in the same category as Moosehead Lager without the skunk or Big Rocks Alberta Genuine Lager to a certain point. The beer is light and malty but I expected better from the boys over at Sunnyvale Trailer Park and the brewers over at Double Trouble Brewing in Ontario. Its reminiscent of a lot of meh lagers on the market but if you are a Trailer Park Boys fan or if you like lagers, you can find Double Trouble Brewings Freedom 35 Lager at Liquor Marts in Brandon (Corral Centre, 10th and Victoria) for $2.95 per 473 ml can. You can also find Trailer Park Boys Liquormens Ol Dirty Whisky in Brandon, Roblin and Virden for $33.97 per 750 ml bottle. Rating: 2.5/5 pints Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Well, that wasnt so bad, was it? After 11 months in office, and NDP fear-mongering that preceded last years election for months, Premier Brian Pallister delivered his second budget on Tuesday. With respect, it wasnt nearly as austere as one would have anticipated or, quite frankly, feared. In fact, the rumoured cuts were nowhere to be found. After announcing workforce reductions at Manitoba Hydro in the range of 900 jobs, or approximately 15 per cent of the workforce, and reducing RHAs budgets by roughly three per cent, it was reasonable to anticipate a rough ideological budget full of spending cuts, job cuts and tax breaks for the rich or at least thats what some former NDP members would have us believe. The reality, as always, is considerably different. From what I can discern in my studying of the Manitoba budget, the government appears to be moving in the proper direction. That is, slowly rightsizing the number of government-funded positions across the province while not negatively hampering services to such a degree that there would be widespread damage to the economy. This is not an easy balancing act. If you recall the credit crisis of 2008-09, you may remember that governments worldwide chose between two different approaches to dealing with the financial crisis austerity or spending. The logic behind austerity was obvious government revenues were collapsing and so, in order to avoid further deficits, government spending needed to be reined in. This approach was undertaken primarily in Europe. It was also supported by many business types who, from an ideological perspective, oppose all government spending. By comparison, Canadas Stephen Harper and U.S. Presidents Bush and Obama spent to prime the pump, including saving the automotive industry. They accepted the risk of moral hazard bailing out businesses could reinforce the poor behaviour that led many businesses into trouble in the first place. This moral hazard argument was very popular and advanced by ideological conservatives and left-wingers who both hate big business, but for different reasons. As we now know, the expansionary spending undertaken by Harper, Bush and Obama turned out to save our economies faster and to a greater degree than European economies. We did the right thing here, ideologies be damned. Austerity programs dont work in the long term, just as bottomless, irresponsible spending sinks governments, too. Pallister was elected a year ago with an overwhelming mandate fix Manitobas finances. He made few promises beyond a commitment to get our financial house in order. In spite of former premier Greg Selingers countless promises, and the power of incumbency, the NDP was wiped out. Obviously, Manitobans had enough of the NDPs philosophy and spending. From what I read and heard this week, our province appears to be going in the right direction. Spending is slowing and being managed more sensibly. There are strategic investments being made, but there appears to be a new emphasis on getting value for dollars. This columnist has been accused, along with many others, of being a Pallister apologist. Rather, I view myself as a taxpayer advocate. Thoughtless spending is not providing value, regardless of what my left-wing friends may suggest. Regardless of what my friends may think, you cannot drown problems with money, although God knows the NDP tried and failed spectacularly. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The airstrikes launched by the United States in Syria last week in response to President Bashar al-Assads apparent use of chemical weapons against his own people is a sad reminder of the multifaceted complexity of international politics. It is also a reminder of the woeful inadequacy of the current system of global governance in dealing with leaders who are bent on committing heinous acts against their own people and the countries that choose to back them. In the fallout of the airstrikes, countries are accusing each other of breaking international law. On the one hand, Russia and Syria argue that the United States invaded the sovereignty of another country, while the U.S., supported by a number of western countries including Canada, counter that its actions were justified given Syrias illegal use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians (itself a violation of international law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2118). The U.S. has also called out Russia for its complicity in the ongoing Syrian conflict, which has led to the death of upwards of half a million people, and the displacement of thousands more, since it began in 2011. Who is right in their accusations? Sadly, they all are. Much of the problem has to do with the murky nature of international law, and the limited tools that exist to enforce it. Generally speaking, international law, as spelled out in the Charter of the United Nations, prohibits the use of force by one country against another country. The charter does, however, recognize two exceptions to this general prohibition: first, in the case of self-defence; and second, when authorized by the United Nations Security Council for the purpose of protecting international peace and security. The UN Security Council can also authorize the use of force against a country for the purposes of humanitarian intervention; say, for example, when a government is committing war crimes or crimes against humanity against a civilian population. On the face of it, requiring that any use of force by one country (or a group of countries) against another be vetted and approved by the UN Security Council is a good thing. The United Nations, as the closest thing we have to a world government, was expressly created to promote peace and security internationally, and to deter countries from attacking each other in pursuit of their own narrow interests. The UN is also responsible for encouraging states to comply with their obligations under international law, and to facilitate collective action against those that choose to act with impunity. But, as we know all too often when it comes to international politics, countries are less motivated by complying with legal norms than by their own national interests, however these might be defined. And this is where the problem of the UN Security Council as an effective mechanism of global governance rests. There are two sets of countries that sit on the Security Council the permanent members (which include Russia, the United States, France, Britain and China) each of whom can effectively block the UN from taking any action, and the 10 non-permanent members that are elected to two-year terms. It is through the veto power of the permanent members where we see global governance running squarely up against great power politics. While investigation into the latest chemical weapon attack in Syria is still ongoing, independent observers have verified Assads use of chemical weapons in the past. Yet, despite this the United Nations has been unable to take any action to protect Syrians from being tortured, killed and displaced by their own government largely due to Russias (and to a lesser extent, Chinas) unwillingness to work with the international community on finding a meaningful diplomatic solution to the crisis. Russia has used its Security Council veto eight times the last as recent as this past Wednesday to block any actions on Syria. As an ally of the Assad regime, Russia is clearly prepared to continue its defiance of international norms for the simple reason that it can. This clearly leaves the rest of the world in a quandary. What do we do if the mechanisms that are designed to promote global stability and enforce compliance with international law such as the UN can be so easily manipulated by single states for their own narrow interests? What do we do when innocent civilians continue to suffer in the wake of grandstanding by realpolitik leaders? What do we do when international laws clash? Unfortunately, given the limited tools we have to enforce peace in the world, there are no easy solutions. The only thing for certain in this most uncertain of times is that the death toll in Syria will continue to increase with each passing day. Kelly Saunders is an associate professor with the department of political science at Brandon University. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In Emerson and in border communities in British Columbia and Quebec, resources are being stretched from an increasing influx of refugees from the U.S. Until Ottawa comes up with a mechanism to restrict this, Manitoba should rightly demand federal funds for legal aid, health care, food and shelter for these migrants. Perhaps this could be made a condition for Manitoba finally signing a bilateral agreement on federal health transfers, as it remains the sole holdout province. In addition, Premier Brian Pallister may be the only person in Canada with the leverage to force Ottawa to finally make medical care portable for all Canadians, including those from Quebec. In the April 11 budget, Manitoba increased health-care spending by 1.8 per cent, but compared to last year, increased spending was cut by $200 million. This reflects a reduction in the annual increase in federal health transfers from six to 3.5 per cent. Health Minister Jane Philpott has offered targeted additional funding for home care, mental health and to treat the opioid crisis. Pallister has requested $6 million annually for 10 years for renal disease. In addition, when the 10-year deal was signed, Quebecs distinct character was recognized as well as the principle of asymmetry thereby legitimizing its ability to accept federal funds without adhering to the principles of the Canada Health Act such as portability of physician services. Quebec residents seeking treatment in another province usually find that the physician refuses to accept their medicare card. They are billed directly and partially reimbursed. Those who permanently move to another province are covered for the first three months by Quebec insurance. Should they need to see a physician for diagnostic tests, prescription renewals, etc. they must pay out-of-pocket until their new provincial insurance is in effect. Health care is a provincial matter. But which province is it that of the patient, or that of the treating physician? At present, Quebec residents fall through the cracks. Surely it is time for the federal government to intervene. Quebec has persistently refused to sign an interprovincial agreement covering medical care. The solution is for Ottawa to pay all Canadian physicians directly for care rendered to a patient outside his/her own province. Precedents exist. MDs are paid by Ottawa for treating federal prisoners and for refugees prior to obtaining their provincial health insurance coverage. This was until recently the payment mechanism for members of the RCMP. Using data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Manitoba now spends about $10 million annually reimbursing other provinces. Ontario spends nearly $27 million, Alberta nearly $29 million, British Columbia more than $26 million, and Nova Scotia about $7.5 million per year for this. I estimate that this proposal would cost about $175 million, or 0.7 per cent of the total amount paid for physician services across Canada. This is an affordable amount. Consider that Ottawa is spending $500 million for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. According to Jean-Denis Frechette, the parliamentary budget officer, if marijuana were legalized, Canadian tax revenues the first year would exceed $600 million. Ottawa could easily increase its health transfers to the provinces by an additional 0.16 per cent so as to make after all these years physician care truly portable for Quebecers who travel to other parts of Canada and for all Canadians who might visit Quebec. In the short term, this would require a slight increase in the federal deficit. While there is only one taxpayer, Ottawa can, at present, borrow more cheaply than many provinces. For example, Manitoba has a AA-minus S&P credit rating, Quebec and Ontario A plus, whereas the federal government still has a AAA rating. If Pallister can include this as part of his bilateral agreement, the same deal should apply for all provinces and territories. This year, the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association will be in Quebec City. How symbolic it would be if residents of that province at last enjoyed the fully portable medical benefits of their fellow Canadians. Let Pallister demonstrate his powers of negotiation in the interest of all Canadians who rely on our universal, supposedly portable health-care system. Charles Shaver, MD Ottawa A Fine Gael Senator says new jobs must be found following the closure of a cigar plant in Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon. Almost 40 people are being made redundant at J Cortes as the new owners move operations to Sri Lanka. Workers have been urged to double check their pay slips this Easter long weekend, due to confusion over penalty rate cuts and public holidays. Slater and Gordon principal employment lawyer Aron Neilson said he expected some employees and employers to be confused about their legal requirements this weekend. Workers are urged to double check their pay slips over Easter due to concerns people may be confused about recent changes. Credit:Tamara Voninski "The Easter long weekend is the first lot of public holidays since the Fair Work Commission announced penalty rate cuts to workers in the hospitality, fast food, restaurant, retail and pharmacy industries," Mr Neilson said. But Mr Neilson said cuts to public holiday penalty rates were not due to come into effect until July 1, 2017, so it would be illegal for any employers to reduce their workers' pay this Easter. The Queensland government discovered toxic firefighting foam had likely spilled into waterways near the Brisbane Airport on Tuesday - three days before the public was notified. And despite Environment Minister Steven Miles receiving health advice on Thursday night that people should not fish or eat seafood caught near the area, the advice was not released until Friday morning. "The initial report to me came on Tuesday but further details were provided to me on Wednesday, the health advice we received late on Thursday, in fact I think it was 8 o'clock on Thursday night that I spoke to the health officer," Dr Miles said. "We took steps to notify the public, there was, as you would appreciate, not a lot of journalists in newsrooms on Thursday night, but we got a notification out, a statement out first thing on Friday, as you know, I stood up yesterday as early as I thought we reasonably could to get this message out." There has been an almost 16 per cent reduction in new cases of HIV reported in Queensland so far this year. There have been 48 HIV notifications in Queensland until April 2, compared with 57 to the same period in 2016. The Queensland government still has spots left in its free PrEP trial. Credit:ACON It comes as the Queensland government encourages more people to sign up to its $6 million four-year expanded PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) trial to stop the transmission of HIV. PrEP is the use of anti-retroviral drugs taken by HIV-negative people to prevent infection. A 64-year-old man has been allegedly beaten and burnt with a lighter and aerosol can during two hours of torture at a Highgate Hill unit on Saturday night. Police said the victim was drinking with two men at the Gladstone Road address when the trio began arguing about 7.45pm. Two men were charged with a string of offences including torture, assault and deprivation of liberty after an alleged attack at Highgate Hill. It will be alleged the two men then started to torture the victim until he managed to escape and raise the alarm. He was taken to hospital with burns to his legs, arms, scalp and face. A 42-year-old Collingwood Park man and 44-year-old Highgate Hill man were each charged with a string of offences including torture, assault and deprivation of liberty. They were expected to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday. The start of the Easter road campaign has produced gloomy results for Queensland drivers, while the weather on the other hand was expected to remain mostly clear well into next week. Brisbane enjoyed plenty of sunshine over the Easter long weekend, with maximums in the late 20s and only slight chances of showers. So far in the 2017 campaign, there have been about 2000 fewer cars caught speeding and 40 less drivers over the blood-alcohol limit compared to last year. Credit:Queensland Police Service The only dampener was partly cloudy conditions at times, but minimum temperatures were expected to remain in the mid-late teens until the end of next week. However, Easter was eventful for the wrong reasons for police there were nearly 5000 vehicles caught speeding and almost 100 drivers found to be drink-driving during Thursday and Good Friday. Little Rock: An Arkansas judge issued a temporary restraining order late on Friday effectively halting the state from executing six men it had planned to put to death this month. The state was prepared to execute the men in an 11-day span starting on Monday, a move that drew strong criticism from opponents of the death penalty who said it was cruel and unusual punishment and increased the likelihood of a botched execution. The state had initially been prepared to execute eight convicted murderers this month, but recent legal rulings had already halted two executions. On Friday Pulaski County Circuit judge Wendell Griffen issued the restraining order preventing Arkansas from using its supply of vecuronium bromide, a drug used in the state's lethal injection cocktail. China has warned that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could spin out of control, as North Korea said it could test a nuclear weapon at any time and a United States naval group neared the peninsula. "The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent, and there have been storm clouds gathering," China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said in Beijing, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. "If they let war break out on the peninsula, they must shoulder that historical culpability and pay the corresponding price for this," Mr Wang said. The comments were unusually blunt from China, which has been trying to steer between the Trump administration's demands for it to do more to stop North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its long-standing reluctance to risk a rupture with the North. Los Angeles: US Vice-President Mike Pence is not expected to use his Australian visit to raise new objections to the controversial asylum-seeker deal that infuriated President Donald Trump, White House officials have said. Mr Pence will depart on Sunday for a week-long Asia-Pacific tour, with the first stop South Korea followed by visits to Japan, Indonesia and Australia. He is scheduled to land in Sydney on April 22. "I wouldn't anticipate any new news on that front," a senior Trump administration official, speaking to reporters on a background conference call ahead of the tour, said in response to a question about the refugee deal. Live election coverage: All eyes on PA as voters head to the polls The nation is closely watching PA as it could decide the balance of power in Washington. Check back regularly for statewide coverage updates. In just 10 episodes, Riverdale has managed to have fans going crazy with different theories on just about everything and everyone. In their high school party episode, a game of Secrets and Sins brought many of those theories forward to lay them all out on the table. Lets look at the major theories that Chapter Ten: The Lost Weekend shed light on and how the gang reacted to each of them. Why is Riverdale Ignoring These 2 Major Love Triangles?>>> Is Betty Crazy? Bettys crazy side (now apparently referred to as Dark Betty) hasnt shown itself in a little while. We saw it peek out when Chuck returned to school and he didnt shy away from egging it on either. After antagonizing her a little bit about it in private, he called her out on it in front of everyone during Secrets and Sins. He let everyone know that Betty dressed in a wig and actually thought for a second that she was Polly and Chuck was Jason. No one has really confronted Betty about her mental stability since Veronica tried to immediately following this incident, so its sort of relieving to see that not everyone knows whats going on. The Blossom Twincest Admit it. Youve wondered the same thing. We all have, but Veronica was the only one brave enough to say it: did Cheryl love Jason a little too much? Its a creepy thought, but there have definitely been a lot of signs pointing to it. Cheryls reaction to this didnt help her case either, as she looked very guilty at the accusation. It may be read as a cold thing for Ronnie to do, but Cheryl pushed her into a corner. Now everyone can let the idea of their relationship stew. Cheryl the Killer Veronica doubled down on the Cheryl takedown by even throwing a murder accusation her way. This is one that many of us hadnt even thought about. What if Jason was a little creeped out by how much Cheryl loved him, and Cheryl killed him out of jealousy when she saw that Jason was in love with Polly? This is a new one for us to think about. Why Is Archie So Unlikable on Riverdale?>>> Would Betty Leave Jughead for Archie? Finally, we get into the juicy love triangle drama. Props to Archie, whos in the middle of two love triangles, and thats not including either of his relationships with Val or Miss Grundy. Jughead finally asked the question we were all wondering would Betty leave him if Archie was interested? Its not exactly a fair question, but given that she went from complete infatuation for Archie right to dating his best friend, it needed to be asked. Hopefully Bettys answer was satisfactory for Jughead, because it definitely eased our concern of her breaking his heart. Whats the Real Reason the Lodges Returned to Riverdale? Cheryl threw another log on the fire. Is there more to the Lodges return to Riverdale than simply a fresh start? We know that Hiram had business with the Serpents which may still be going on, but what about Hermione? Cheryl made a good point. Veronica needs to question her moms innocence in all of this. If anything, laying out all of these theories may have just been a great way to catch everyone up (viewers and characters) on everything thats going on. Now were all on the same page and dont have to speculate about who knows what. In a show with an ensemble cast like this, this can be especially hard to keep track of. Why Betty and Jughead Need to Break up on Riverdale>>> What did you think of the gangs game of Secrets and Sins? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Riverdale season 1 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW. For more news, like BuddyTV on Facebook. (Image courtesy of The CW) Everything you need to know for election day in Burlington County elections Integrated logistics solutions provider would complete its $120-million dollar fund raising plan to partly finance expansion in the domestic market. It is also likely to unveil plans to launch an initial public offer by the end of the month. Besides expanding warehousing space in India and overseas, the company, which is a 90 per cent subsidiary of Apollo International, part of the Onkar Kanwar-promoted Apollo group, would utilise funds for acquisition of one logistics company each in the local as well as international market. Growth in logistics-related business lines and improving IT systems within the company are a top priority, Raaja Kanwar, vice-chairman and managing director, Apollo International, told Business Standard. Some funds will be invested to improve liquid logistics business, he added. However, Kanwar did not elaborate on the companys IPO plan. Last year, entered into a pact with Singapore-based Pacific International Lines (PIL) to explore logistics opportunities in India. The first MoU between and PIL is for mutual cooperation in container freight station and allied services whereas the second between Apollo and Singamas (a subsidiary of PIL) is to jointly pursue transportation of specialised liquids in India. The new company will focus on movement of all types of non-POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) liquids either by rail or road, operation and management of movement of liquid tanks, their maintenance and cleaning. The proposed move would enhance logistic service relating to container freight station, inland container depot, freight forwarding, custom brokerage, warehousing and allied services. The initial investment planned for the JV firm for liquid logistics operations is about Rs 300 crore, Apollo will hold 70 per cent stake and the remaining rest will be with Singamas Container Holdings. Meanwhile, experts see a $50-billion business opportunity in India. As the Indian logistics industry shifts from unorganised to organised, the need for supply chain performance improvement and the need for logistics that serve as supply chain partners will help advance investment opportunities, according to a report by Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), a business advisory firm. Currently, poor industry management, combined with high amounts of waste, losses due to transit damages and limited adoption of technology, create significant challenges, the report said. The Indian logistics market was estimated at approximately Rs 8.1 trillion in FY16. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.5 per cent to roughly Rs 20 trillion in FY20, it added. On the anvil A section of trade unions in state-owned (CIL) is fearing that the ongoing process of wage revision may get delayed, following the termination of Mohan Das from the CILs board. Das, who held the portfolio of the director of personnel and industrial relations in the company, was a key member in the 10th Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry (JBCCI) for pay revision of over three lakh non-executive employees, working at its eight subsidiaries. Aluminium PSU National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is evaluating possibilities of putting up a 150 Mw capacity wind power plant in Odisha. The investment on the proposed green power project may exceed Rs 900 crore considering the thumb rule that for every MW capacity created in wind energy, Rs 6-6.5 crore is needed. The has urged the government to apply the lowest GST rate of 5 per cent across all value chains in the textile and apparel sector, to avoid any possibility of tax evasion. Lok Capital, which means People Capital, is in the process of raising its third fund of $100 million for investments in financial services, healthcare and agriculture. Founded in 2014 with a vision to foster inclusive growth, the company backs entrepreneurs who cater to the large underserved segments through investments in these sectors. It has of late invested in Chennai-based Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre from its third fund. In an interaction with Gireesh Babu, Managing Parnterelaborates on the company's fund raising plans and changes in the funding scenario in India. Edited Excerpts: Could you share with us the status of Lok Capital's third fund? We are still mobilising for the third fund, and the target size $100 million. We have already committed $25 million out of this and our expectation is to completely raise the $100 million by September, this year. We are investing in financial services, healthcare and agriculture. We started investing from this fund only in June last year and still have another three to four years to invest from this fund. Former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was arrested on charges of espionage in March last year, was awarded a death sentence by Pakistan after a secret trial. While Pakistan insists that the sentence is based on credible and specific evidence, India has condemned the death penalty as an act of "pre-meditated murder" by Pakistan and warned of serious consequences. Rajiv Dogra, former Indian consul-general to Karachi, speaks with Veenu Sandhu about the case. Edited excerpts: India has termed Jadhavs trial as farcical". What are you views? I would maintain that there was no trial at all. People think it was a trial conducted under the new dispensation given to the Pakistani army to try terrorists. That is not correct because the section they have quoted is from the British time 1923. Conference President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was on Saturday leading by over 9,000 votes over his PDP rival Nazir Ahmad Khan after the 17th round of counting of votes cast in the Srinagar-Budgam Lok Sabha by-election. Of the 89,865 votes polled, 56,119 votes have been counted, election officials said The counting of votes began at 8 am. Voting was held on April 9, wherein only seven per cent voters turned out to exercise their franchise. However, after the violence in which eight civilians were killed by security forces in clashes with protesters, a re-poll was ordered for April 13 at 38 polling stations in Budgam district, in which a mere 2 per cent voters turned out. There are nine candidates in the fray, but the main battle is between former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Nazir Ahmad Khan. Separatists had called for a boycott of these polls. State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Shantmanu who visited the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar on Friday, where the counting is scheduled, said counting of votes would begin simultaneously in Jammu, Udhampur and New Delhi where Kashmiri migrants had voted. GLEN ROCK A man has died two days after he was found trapped beneath a riding mower in a pond. Southwestern Regional Police near York are investigating the incident involving Timothy Stockslager, 54. The Manheim Township man was found pinned beneath the mower under water, about 10 minutes after he was last seen riding the device Monday morning. He was taken to Hanover Hospital where he died Wednesday evening. York County Coroner Pam Gay says results of a Thursday autopsy are still pending. Police are continuing to investigate. The big disappointment during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas visit to India last weekend was the failure to finalise the Teesta water sharing agreement between the two countries. Data available with thethirdpole.net shows this was because the river now has only one-sixteenth of the water needed for agriculture by the two countries during the dry season, from February to May. Little wonder that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposed the agreement tooth and nail. The disturbing footage of a Kashmiri man, Farooq Ahmed Dar, strapped to an army vehicle in Beerwah tells us a great deal about how bad things are in the Valley. As the vehicle drove through different towns and villages, soldiers inside the jeep warned, Those who pelt stones will meet the same fate. Maruthi and her husband Vellangiri are still mourning for their infant son who lived only for four-and-a-half-hours after birth in 2014. Maruthi, who continued working as a daily wage labourer into her third trimester, had grown steadily weak during pregnancy. There wasnt enough food at home, the drinking water was contaminated and sanitation non-existent in her village. This story is not set in a backward Indian state forever stuck at the bottom of the countrys development chart. Maruthis home is in Kerala, a state that last month reported Indias lowest infant mortality ratesix per 1,000 children under the age of one, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015-16. This is on par with the rate in the US. Farmers were being exploited and oppressed in different ways under Khurki and Teenkathiya systems, says Shri Radha Mohan Singh The Neeley British planters had confiscated more than one lakh acre fertile land, and set up their houses (kothis) there The farmers raised their voice against the atrocities, exploitations, oppression and extortion of the Britishers and forced them to abolish the system through Satyagrah The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that there is no other example in the human civilisation about the war waged by the farmers in a peaceful way against the oppression and injustice of the Britisher under the leadership of Gandhiji. The Minister of Agriculture said it today while addressing a gathering at National Farmer Fair in Champaran. He further said that the innocent, disarmed farmers raised their voice against the atrocities, exploitations, oppression and extortion of the Britishers and forced them to abolish the system through Satyagraha. The Minister added that the Neeley Britishers had confiscated more than one lakh crore fertile lands and set up their kothis there. Farmers were being exploited and oppressed in different ways by Neeley Britishers under Khurki and Teenkathiya systems. Under Khurki system, the British planters used to pay some money to the farmers (Raiyyat) by mortgaging their lands and houses and compelling them to sow indigo. The Minister said that the British administration and Jamindar had established Teen Kahitya system under which teen katha land out of one bigha was reserved for indigo (Neel) farming. The farmers had to bear the cost of indigo farming and the British planters used to keep the yields without compensating the farmers. Not only this, they were even exploited through the various taxes levied on them. Thousands of landless labourers and poor farmers were forced to sow indigo instead of other crops. Before 1867, 5 kathiya land system was reserved for indigo farming. The farmers were forced to pay several taxes while delivering indigo into the factories such as Bapahi-Putahi, Marvah and Sagaura. Despite taxes, the factories used to play very low prices for the indigo and the farmers were never paid their dues in time. The Minister said that in the latter half of the 19th century more than 47000-acre land was sown with indigo. In 1914, the indigo farming was limited to 8100 acres due to stiff competition from the best quality German indigo. In the aftermath of First World War, the British planters stopped importing indigo from Germany which resulted in an increased demand for indigo and after that Champaran gained importance for indigo farming. The government and the landlords expanded indigo farming. However, the British planters used to reap the benefit and the farmer's condition remained the same. The Minister said that Gandhiji reached Motihari on April 15, 1917. Next day, when Gandhi was ready to leave for Champaran, he received a government order to be present before the SDO of Motihari. The order also stated that Gandhiji should leave the area immediately and go somewhere else. But Gandhiji disobeyed the order and continued his journey to Champaran. He was prosecuted for the violation of the order. After having reached Champaran Gandhiji informed the District Collector in writing that he will not leave Champaran until the issues related to indigo farming are not looked into. Thus, Gandhiji presented a burning example of civil disobedience movement. Gandhiji made such an impression on the government that they assured him full cooperation. Babu Rajendra Prasad, Acharya J. P Kriplani, Babu Brij Kishor Prasad and Maulana Mazrul Haq joined Gandhiji to resolve the issues of the farmers of Champaran. The Minister of Agriculture said that in 1907, Sheikh Gulab and Sital Rai had raised their voice against the indigo farming. However, Gandhiji made farmers exploitation a part of freedom movement and inspired the farmers to revolt against British. Gandhijis Satyagraha moment helped in abolishing indigo farming and after that farmers started growing sugarcane and paddy in their fields. has decided to suspend its flights between Beijing and North Korean capital Pyongyang. The suspension of service will go into effect from Monday, according to the Chinese state media. A representative of told CNN that the temporary suspension was done due to weak sales. The suspension comes in the wake of rising tensions in the peninsula. North Korea has been facing pressure from the United States to curtail its programs related to the development of nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. China, on the other hand, acts as an economic bedrock for North Korea. The biggest source of foreign currency for North Korea stands to be China, to which it sells millions of tons of coal. Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump, in a series of tweets, called on China to "solve the North Korean problem". Trump tweeted, "I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!" However, a miffed North Korea's response was a warning of a "merciless" response to any move by the "reckless" Trump government, according to a North Korean Army spokesperson's statement to state-run news agency KCNA. In the latest, China has warned North Korea of a war as a reaction to its "merciless" response to the US. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. North Korean leader oversaw an elaborate military parade in the centre of Pyongyang on Saturday as the world watched for any provocations that risk sparking a conflict with the US. President Donald Trump has been vague about the options he might employ to deal with North Korea, and it may be up to Vice-president to fill in the details. Pence is visiting South Korea beginning Sunday, part of an Asia-Pacific trip that comes amid indications that North Korea is potentially preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade or a significant missile launch. Trump has responded to recent concerns over North Korea with a swagger that suggests a new, tougher stance. A US aircraft carrier has been dispatched to waters off the Korean Peninsula in a show of force. Military officials have said the US Doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Pakistan's security forces on Saturday claimed to have foiled a "major terror attack" on minority Christians after they killed a militant and arrested his two accomplices, including a woman, in this eastern city. "Security forces (Pakistan Rangers and police) on Saturday conducted a special IBO (intelligence based operation) near Punjab Housing Society, Lahore. A terrorist was killed during the operation while four soldiers and two officers received injuries," the military's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement issued here. The terrorists were planning to launch a major terrorist attack during Easter celebrations in Lahore, the statement said. Two suicide jackets, weapons and explosives have been recovered from the possession of the terrorists. According to officials, a joint team of security forces conducted today's raid on a tip off. The team warned the terrorists to surrender but they opened fire on it. In an exchange of fire, a terrorist was killed. The team managed to arrest two terror suspects, including a woman. Last year, at least 72 people have been killed and hundreds wounded after a bomb ripped through a children's play area in Lahore's Iqbal Park where Christian families were celebrating Easter. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, had claimed responsibility for the attack. Asian countries escaped the currency manipulator label in the latest US Treasury report, but remain wary of possible trade friction as President maintains his administration will seek to address trade imbalances. It was obvious to Constantine P. Faller that the 19-year-old boy had seen the worst the war had to offer. He had the old gray color and the downtrodden appearance, the Carlisle area doctor wrote his parents in a letter dated July 30, 1918 published in The Sentinel. The enemy soldier had been shot through the chest by an American bullet the night before during a failed assault on Allied trenches somewhere in France. The Germans sent the pick of their sharpshooters right up to our barbed wire entanglements to grab off a few of our boys, but before they could become set, we picked them off ourselves, Faller wrote. The boy was among those hurt in the firefight. Faller fixed him up with my best skill and then gave the enemy a smoke. They must have talked as the doctor bound the wounds. He had been in the army for two years having come down here from Russia when Germany withdrew her troops from that front, Faller wrote of his patient. He was a college boy of fine manners, good nerve and a wonderful physique. But the boy was also a prisoner-of-war a status he welcomed. He was glad it was over with him as he felt that we Americans would treat him all right. All of our boys liked him instead of hating him, and there was not a one of them who would not have given him his shirt off his back. Only days before, Faller had experienced the misery of a march through a war-torn countryside that started with a midnight downpour. Bathing suits would have been more appropriate than overcoats ... We started on the most severe hike I have ever experienced yet, absolute darkness, the road a sea of mud and water and a steady rainfall ... We carried our own equipment ... Uphill all the way for nine miles. Later he was a passenger in a convoy of trucks that moved through a land of leveled homes, row of graves, mountains of trees bitten off and towns and villages riddled with bullets. Field work Elsewhere in France, Capt. Edward Plank wrote a series of letters to his family back home about his experiences as a doctor with the 316th Field Hospital of the 79th Infantry Division. Excerpts of letters were published in The Sentinel in November 1918. Back then U.S. soldiers used a derogatory ethnic slur to refer to Germans. That term has been replaced with enemy in brackets. On Sept. 19, Plank wrote about an enemy air raid. We were a little nervous at first but everyone behaved well, no sign of panic. I tell you it is pretty hard to march along, hear the plane well above and every little while the crash of a bomb and not know where the next will drop. It is a great relief to hear the Allied plane going in to drive the [enemy] back. We could hear them firing their machine guns when the [enemy] flew home ... But there were plenty of other horrors to behold. All the little villages we pass through are destroyed, no one living in them at all, Plank wrote. We spent last night in French dugouts, small, dirty with lots of rats. I couldnt stand it so [I] got into my bedroll and slept outside. That morning, a German plane came over and dropped bundles of propaganda leaflets written in French just the usual stuff to try to spoil the spirit of the Allies. Sometime later, Plank described the workload he was dealing with in the field hospital. Having a very busy time about 150 cases a day ... We only keep them a few days then send them back to duty or to the evacuation hospital. It is interesting work. We hear big guns and a plane now and then, but they dont bother us. Troops and guns and trucks pass by constantly until we wonder if every man in the world is in the war. We have the [enemy] on the run, and they are getting pretty sick of it but they havent had quite enough yet. At one time, Plank received last-minute orders to replace another doctor to do rounds on a hospital train loaded with the sick and wounded bound for the south of France. That duty temporarily took him away from the front-line. The train is a beauty, all steel cars, three tiered berths on each side, aisle down the center, electric light, kitchen, operating room, sterilizer and everything possible for comfort. After two days and two nights, we finally arrived at this base hospital at Limoges. From Limoges, Plank went to Tours in the west central part of France. This city was crowded with officers and had a large American headquarters, which reminded Plank of Washington D.C. From Tours, he traveled to the nearby commune of Saint-Aignan, which was used as a transfer station and the location where soldiers assigned to the 79th Division received their orders. Plank waited inside a YMCA canteen. It is full of men, the coffee and sandwich department is doing a rushing business ... There were several American ladies running the canteen and they must sell thousands of cups of coffee every day as troop trains are stopping all the time ... All these things help make us feel that everyone is in back of us. Never-ending thunder By early October 1918, Plank was assigned to a field hospital about 10 miles behind the front-line. He reported how the patient wards were constantly full mostly with cases of the grip, a term for influenza. In the following excerpts, Plank described staff accommodations, field conditions and the aftermath of enemy artillery: We are camped on the side of a hill in very fair shacks; some with fire places in them. The only drawback is the rats, which are entirely too tame and familiar. They play around the bunks and run across us at night. They cant be driven out. We are getting some good old Army rations. The men were about starved in the line. It seems very quiet after the awful roar up further. The rear is steady for hours. You cant hear individual guns. It is just like never-ending thunder. Oh, there is no use trying. I cant describe it. My company had an awfully hard time in the line; were shelled and bombed all the time and worked to death. All hospitals were crowded and two of my big tents were blown up and a lot of wounded killed. The 79th Infantry Division covered itself with glory, fought like old timers and gave the [enemy] an awful beating. Plank vowed the veterans have wonderful stories to tell. The doctor returned safely to Carlisle. on Saturday warned the US not to take provocative action in the region, saying it is "ready to hit back with nuclear attacks". The comments came as marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding President, Kim Il-sung, grandfather of leader Kim Jong-un. A huge parade in Pyongyang was held amid speculation that current leader Kim Jong-un could order a new nuclear test, reported BBC. Among the hardware on display appeared to be new intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. On display for the first time were what appeared to be the Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), which have a range of more than 1,000 km. Weapons analysts said there also appeared to be two new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles in canister launchers, but it remains unclear whether they have been tested. The show of strength comes amid mounting tension, with a US aircraft carrier group steaming towards the region. "We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war," said Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be the country's second most powerful official. "We are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks," he said. Rows of military bands and goose-stepping and sword-wielding soldiers marched through Pyongyang's main Kim Il-sung square for the "Day of the Sun" celebrations, as a black-suited Kim Jong-un watched. He was seen clapping and smiling from a reviewing box. Pictures on state television showed thousands of soldiers marching in formation alongside tanks, balloons and enormous crowds. During the pomp and circumstance at Kim II Sung square, citizens showed their revolutionary fervour with choreographed performances while vehicles displaying North Korea's military arsenal rolled by. On Friday, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that "conflict could break out at any moment", adding that if war occurred there could be no winner. Unlike at previous Pyongyang parades there did not appear to be any Chinese representatives present, according to a BBC report. Adding to Chinese unease, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that "the problem of North Korea" would be "taken care of". "If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! USA." Vice-President Mike Pence will be in South Korea on Sunday as part of a 10-day Asia trip. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and an accompanying battle group have also been sent to the Korean peninsula. "We are sending an armada. Very powerful," Trump had told the Fox Business Network. "He is doing the wrong thing," he said of Kim Jong-un. "He's making a big mistake." Slamming former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav over his sardonic remarks against the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) alleged tampering, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shrikant Sharma on Saturday asserted that the state was developing under Yogi Adityanath's regime which the former couldn't accept. "When the world is heading towards technology and moving ahead, Akhilesh Yadav is still talking about his loss and putting the blame on the EVMs. Rather than accepting Adityanath's new ideas and plans for the state, he is condemning and cracking jokes," Sharma told ANI. Sharma further stated that Akhilesh Yadav was putting EVMs as an excuse of their defeat, which was lame. "Not accepting one's defeat and putting EVMs as an excuse is just so lame. And this kind of language and mockery by Akhilesh Yadav will not be tolerated in the state," added Sharma. Resonating similar views, BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak stated that the public of UP has boycotted Akhilesh Yadav which he should accept. "By giving these speeches, people of UP are not going to accept Yadav as the Chief Minister again. He should accept the fact that the public of Uttar Pradesh have boycotted him. Instead of introspecting, he is blaming the EVMs," Pathak told ANI. Earlier in the day, Akhilesh Yadav said he had heard the voters pressed on the symbol of the Samajwadi Party, but the votes went into the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) basket. Further raising doubts on the EVMs, Akhilesh demanded to conduct poll on ballot papers. "It was being said that symbol of the Samajwadi Party was pressed but votes went to the BJP. We have complained about the issue to the Election Commission because after all, it is a machine and can give faulty results," Akhilesh said while addressing a press conference here. The Samajwadi Party president continued his tirade against the Yogi Adityanath-led state government and made sardonic remarks on various issues such as anti-Romeo squads, ban on cow slaughter etc. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Funded by India's biggest crowd funding campaign, 'An Insignificant Man' continued its golden run on the international festival circuit. It won a prestigious award at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The documentary, based on Aam Aadmi Party and its creator Arvind Kejriwal, won the Audience Choice Awards (Documentary) at the festival. The movie has been making waves ever since it's international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Khushboo Ranka, director of the documentary said, "It's been an incredible journey so far with this film and we have had houseful screenings in countries like Mexico and Spain. It's surprising how much people identify with a political story that took place in New Delhi. We are playing across five countries in April alone." The filmmaker followed Kejriwal and the AAP over two years and shot more than 400 hours of behind the scenes footage with them. 'An Insignificant Man' is expected to hit theatres nationwide soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government has released orders for the annual 60-day ban on fishing by motorised and mechanised boats in entire east coast. The ban that begun on the midnight of April 14 reportedly has fishermen recounting their bitter experiences in regard with the payment of compensation they are entitled to. Nearly 900 fishermen are yet to receive compensation from last year, Satya Narayana, a representative of the Fishermen Association of Vizag alleged. He further questioned the authorities saying, "Fishermen are not allowed to venture out in the sea. On top of it, they are not getting compensation. They are not skilled to earn their living from other professions. How will they survive?" he told ANI. "We fishermen only know how to catch fish. So, we request the government to increase the compensation to 10,000 or 15,000. Then only will the fishermen be able to survive," he added. The authorities released GO-97 yesterday, directing district officials to make the arrangements necessary for strict implementation of the ban along the coast. The ban is an annual one, imposed every year to ensure a safe breeding season for marine fish. The order bans the entry of motorised and mechanised fishing boats and vessels into the Bay of Bengal between April 15 and June 14. V. Venkateswara Rao, Joint Director of Visakhapatnam Fisheries stated, "We have received the order today, but the detailed guidelines are awaited. After receiving the rules, we will form teams to enumerate the mechanised and motorised boats." The fishermen have stated that the compensation amount of Rs 6.79 crore was released last year in two phases for the 16,988 fishermen who had registered their names with the district fisheries department. But a group of fishermen reportedly alleged that "60 motorised boats belonging to fishermen from Visakhapatnam district which were anchored along the Antarvedi coast in East Godavari district were not taken into consideration during enumeration and the move resulted in big financial loss to those fishermen. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is on a two-visit to Bhubaneswar for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) executive meeting said this meet can prove to be a milestone in the upcoming elections of Odisha. Talking to the media, Raman Singh said, "I am noticing zeal and vigour in the BJP workers of Odisha. This meeting can prove to be a milestone in the upcoming elections of Odisha." Singh further said the party will take all steps that are in the best interest of the people of Odisha. The BJP's two-day executive meeting will begin in Bhubaneswar this evening. About 350 people, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah, union ministers, Chief Ministers of 13 BJP-ruled states including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, will attend the meeting. The leaders will discuss the BJP's strategy to increase the party's political footprint ahead of the 2019 general elections, while eyeing the 2019 Odisha state elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Strongly condemning the incident where a Panchayat in Madhya Pradesh's Guna passed a diktat of marrying a five-year-old girl off to an eight-year-old boy, social activist Brinda Adige on Saturday called on the Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi to act in this matter to ensure that children's rights were safeguarded. "I would like Maneka Gandhi to actually intervene and say that children cannot be sacrificed at the altar of the Panchayat. Whoever the Panchayat may be, it is important to protect the children, their rights have to be looked after, absolutely safeguarded and protected," Adige told ANI. Adige also lashed out at the local Panchayat and the Local Municipal Council for maintaining silence on such a crucial issue and for passing such a verdict. "What is the Panchayat doing? What is the local municipal council doing there? This is their responsibility. We can say they may be illiterate, they may not have information, but we know that a lot of funds go both from the central government as well as from the state to create awareness. So, where is that awareness?," she said. Resonating similar sentiment, Muslim cleric Hina Zaheer said that by pronouncing such verdict, the Panchayat was misusing the law. "This matter should have been investigated and proper punishment should have been given. It seems like they have some self interest and hence, they are forcing this marriage. This is cruelty against children and is a breach of law," she said. Bringing to fore the regressive mindset still prevalent in rural India, a shocking diktat was given by Khiriyadangi Panchayat in Tarpur village here, where marriage of a five-year-old daughter of a villager was fixed with an eight-year-old boy. The decision was made due to death of a calf by the girl's father Jagdish Banjara three years back. Banjara had hit a calf with a stone while it was feeding in his field, due to which the calf died. Following this, he and his family were boycotted by the villagers. He was also asked to take bath in the Ganges and distribute food in village. According to the Panchayat, since the death of the calf nothing auspicious has happened in the village. Due to this, the Panchayat now fixed Jagdish's five-year-old daughter's marriage with an eight-year-old boy as a mark of repentance. Raising voice against the injustice, the girl's mother filed a complaint with SDM Neeraj Sharma. The officials have already given a warning to the Panchayat to not go forward with such a thing but the Panchayat is adamant on doing it. Earlier in the day, a team was sent to Tarpur village for investigating the incident of the Panchayat. Guna ADM Nizam Khan has assured that strict action would be taken against the culprits. "We are sending a probe team to this village, strict action will be taken against the culprits," Khan told ANI. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fuming over "unfounded rumours", Iran has cautioned Pakistan against a "vilification campaign" launched against it over allegations that Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch had links with Iranian intelligence agencies. The Dawn quoted a statement issued by the Iranian embassy in Islamabad on Friday as rejecting "unfounded rumours being circulated in some media during recent days about linking the activities of some miscreants with some Iranian organisations". A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) set up by the Sindh government to investigate Baloch had last year in its report said: "Uzair Baloch was involved in espionage activities by providing secret information regarding army installations and officials to foreign agents [Iranian intelligence officers] which is a violation of the Official Secret Act 1923." Uzair had in a confessional statement said that he had met an Iranian intelligence official in Chabahar, who had asked him to provide information about Pakistani military officials and Karachi's security environment, reports the Dawn. The embassy said "dissemination of such baseless" material was aimed at turning public opinion against Iran. "It goes without saying that such untrue stories are not commensurate with trajectory of expanding bilateral relations in all spheres between two friendly and brotherly countries of Iran and Pakistan," the embassy said. A 13-page self-written confessional statement of Baloch emerged hours after Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) confirmed on Wednesday that Baloch has been taken into military custody under Pakistan Army Act / Official Secret Act - 1923 On charges of espionage (Leakage of sensitive security information to foreign intelligence agencies). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Navy on Saturday asserted that in the core of India Navy's progressive vision was the 'Make in India' campaign and the naval warship 'INS Chennai', P-15A Guided Missile Destroyer, which was equipped to fight under Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare conditions and today arrived here as part of her maiden visit to Chennai, was an example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intiative. "This ship is an example of Make in India. It is 163 m long , got latest weapons, ward off threats from air and sub surface. It will be placed under the operational and administrative control of the Western Naval Command," Flag Officer of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Naval Area Rear Admiral Alok Bhatnagar told ANI. The ship, commissioned into the Indian Navy in November last year, was a part of the Western Fleet under the administrative control of the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, and Mumbai. INS Chennai would be anchored off Marina beach from 5 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. this evening to enable the people of Chennai to have a glimpse of the frontline warship of the Indian Navy named after the port city. With a displacement of 7,500 tonnes, this ship is was one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India. The ship was propelled by four powerful gas turbines, in a Combined Gas and Gas (COCAG) configuration, capable of achieving speeds in excess of 30 knots. INS Chennai is packed with contemporary and sophisticated 'state of the art' weapons and sensors such as Surface to Surface Missile and Surface to Air Missiles. The ship is fitted with a modern Surveillance Radar which provides target data to the gunnery weapon systems of the ship. It's Anti Submarine Warfare capabilities are provided by the indigenously developed Rocket Launchers and Torpedo Launchers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Conference Chief Farooq Abdullah won the Srinagar by-polls on Saturday, and following his victory announced his demand of the removal of the PDP Government. After completing 13th round of counting, Abdullah bagged 26, 695 votes while the PDP candidate got 17,901 votes. "Thank the eople who supported me. This was the bloodiest election ever. Results show that people are in favour of NC. Request Goverment of India and President to dismiss present government right away. Governor's rule should be imposed," Abdullah told the media after his victory. A voter turnout of 7.13 percent was recorded in the re-polling that went on in 38 polling stations of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat on Thursday. 1.4 percent voter turnout was recorded polling till 12 noon in Budgam where re-polling took place at 38 voting stations. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced re-polling on 38 polling stations on April 13. The by-polls of Srinagar Parliamentary constituency were held on April 9 amidst multiple incidences of violence resulting in the killing of seven civilians and injuring many. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trumps campaign promises to re-create immigration into a vehicle that helps, rather than hurts Americans, catapulted him into the White House. More than repealing and replacing Obamacare, more than withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and more than draining the swamp, enforcing immigration laws and securing the Southwest border put President Trump in the White House., No surprise then that President Trumps base watches his every immigration-related move. But almost three months into his administration, even some of President Trumps most ardent supporters shake their heads. To be sure, President Trump has earned outstanding grades on converting some of his campaign pledges into reality. But the president has totally failed on his other key campaign pledges., President Trump has been fulfilling his promise to rid the nation of criminal aliens. During the last two weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 84 aliens during a three-day Pacific Northwest sweep; 82 aliens in a five-day action in the greater Washington, D.C. area, and during Aprils first week ICE apprehended 368 criminals in seven states and the District of Columbia, a 250 percent increase over the previous week. The targets included aliens that had outstanding final deportation orders and MS-13 transnational gangsters charged with sex crimes against minors. Because of vigorous enforcement, illegal border crossings are, according to the Justice Department, down 60 percent., On enforcement, then, President Trump earns a solid A grade. But, on the low-hanging fruit ending deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) and mandating E-Verify, the free, online program which ensures that employees are legally authorized to work in the United States President Trump has been curiously and infuriatingly silent., The Pew Research Center estimates that eight million illegal immigrants have jobs, many of them outside of agriculture. If President Trump wanted to prove his sincerity about his hire American campaign vow, hed sent a message to Congress that E-Verify is a top priority. In past Congresses, E-Verify sailed through the House Judiciary Committee, but didnt advance because Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan werent on board, possibly because they knew then-President Obama would veto it. But with Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, E-Verify would be a cinch assuming President Trump put his muscle behind it. The miserable March Bureau of Labor Statistics report which reflected a measly 98,000 jobs created is all the incentive President Trump should need., President Trumps DACA dithering may be an even deeper mystery than his E-Verify inaction. On the stump, candidate Trump promised repeatedly to end DACA and the employment authorization documents it grants immediately. Now that Trump is president, voiding President Obamas unconstitutional executive action could be done in a matter of minutes. President Trump simply has to write a memo to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services advising that new DACA applications and renewals are to be suspended immediately and indefinitely. Instead of decisive action to kill DACA that voters counted on, President Trump is content to continue with business as usual. On E-verify and DACA, President Trumps grade is a well-deserved F. President Trump hasnt hit the 100-day mark yet, and he has plenty of time to make good. Pakistan has decided to send a police team to Nepal to investigate the disappearance of Lt. Col. (Retired) Habib Zahir, who went missing earlier this month from Lumbini. The son of the missing retired officer, Muhammad Saad Habib, has suspected the involvement of anti-state elements in the kidnapping and lodged an FIR with Rawat police on April 8, reports the Dawn. After the case was registered, a Rawalpindi police officer wrote a letter to acting Inspector General of Punjab, Capt. (Retd.) Usman Khattak, seeking permission from the ministries concerned for sending a team to Lumbini, near the Indian border, where the retired army officer had gone for a job interview. Lt.Col. Zahir, who retired from the army in 2014, went missing on April 6 from Lumbini, where he arrived after somebody by the name of Mark Thompson had contacted him via email and telephone for a job interview in Nepal. Earlier this week, Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said that the role of foreign intelligence agencies cannot be ruled out in the disappearance of the former army officer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A "major terrorist attack" set to carried be out on Easter Sunday in Lahore has been foiled by Intelligence agencies. Security forces carried out a 'special' intelligence-based operation (IBO) near the Punjab Housing Society in Lahore, killing one suspected militant and arresting one woman from the scene, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. Security personnel also recovered suicide jackets and explosive material from the militants, and four soldiers, including two officers, sustained injuries during the raid. Last year on Easter Sunday, at least 72 people were killed in a suicide blast in Lahore's Gulshan-i-Iqbal park. On February 2017, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Raddul Fasaad in the wake of the spree of terror attacks in the country to eliminate the "residual/latent threat of terrorism", reports Dawn. Reports suggest that hundreds of suspected terrorists have either been killed or arrested in raids since the start of the operation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) If you were waiting to see Princess Leia in 'Star Wars Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, during in an interview with ABC news, said that Carrie Fisher will not be featuring in 'Episode IX' of the 'Star Wars,' reports The Hollywood Reporter. She said, "Sadly, Carrie will not be in nine. But we will see a lot of Carrie in eight." With this she assured that Fisher's role will not just be a cameo. Few weeks back, Todd Fisher, brother of Carrie Fisher told New York Daily News that he and Carrie Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, had given Disney and Lucasfilm permission to use the recent footage of the 'Star Wars: The force Awakens' star in 2019's 'Star Wars: Episode IX'. "Both of us were like, 'Yes, how do you take her out of it?' And the answer is, you don't," he said during an event. The 'Shampoo' star died at the age of 60, last December. Recently, Fisher's life and work was celebrated by the members of the 'Star Wars' family including the creator of the franchise George Lucas and actor Harrison Ford. On a related note, a fan event 'Star Wars Celebration' is currently going on in Florida, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first installment, 'Star Wars: A new Hope'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday ordered action against those found responsible for the lynching of a university student in Mardan over allegations of blasphemy. "The entire nation should be united in condemning this crime. The state will never tolerate those who take the law in their own hands," the Dawn quoted the Prime Minister, as saying. He added that he had been left "deeply saddened" over the student's murder by an "insensitive mob". Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, also expressed shock over the incident. "Shocked to see Mashal Khan killing video. Vigilantism &mob justice are indicative of regressive & putrid mindset. Is that what we stand for?," she tweeted. "Images of brutal killing of two brothers in Sialkot years ago still haunts & now #MashalKhan. Do we want to be known as benighted nation?" she added. On April 13, Abdul Wali Khan University students Mashal and Abdullah were targeted by a violent mob on campus premises. Mashal was killed, while Abdullah was injured for allegedly "publishing blasphemous content online". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lashing out at the Srinagar by-polls' result on Saturday, the Panthers Party (NPP) demanded the elections to be conducted again holding Conference Chief Farooq Abdullah responsible for the 'destruction' of Jammu and Kashmir. "This is the blackest day in the democracy of the state which is part of India. It is Farooq Abdullah and his son who are responsible for the deaths and destructions in the state. They are destroying the democracy of Jammu and Kashmir," NPP leader Bhim Singh told ANI. He added that the Election Commission (EC) has conducted a fraudulent election and the elections should be declared as sham adding new elections should be conducted. "The Panthers Party has been demanding Governor's rule since eight months after Mufti Sahab's death. This is the fraud committed by the central government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is no government in Kashmir, neither any governance," he said. Singh asserted that the elections were not possible at this moment because of growing violence in the state. "People of Kashmir want democracy. Farooq Abdullah has manufactured all the votes," he added. Abdullah won the Srinagar by-polls today, and following his victory announced his demand of the removal of the PDP Government. After completing 13th round of counting, Abdullah bagged 26, 695 votes while the PDP candidate got 17,901 votes. He won the Lok Sabha by-poll defeating the PDP's Nazir Khan. A voter turnout of 7.13 percent was recorded in the re-polling that went on in 38 polling stations of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat on Thursday. 1.4 percent voter turnout was recorded polling till 12 noon in Budgam where re-polling took place at 38 voting stations. There were nine candidates in the fray, but the main contest was between Abdullah and Nazir Ahmad Khan. Abdullah, 79, had lost the seat to PDP's Tariq Hameed Karra in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The seat fell vacant after Karra resigned from the PDP and the Lok Sabha - he eventually joined the Congress which entered in a pre-poll alliance with the Conference. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced re-polling on 38 polling stations on April 13. The by-polls of Srinagar Parliamentary constituency were held on April 9 amidst multiple incidences of violence resulting in the killing of seven civilians and injuring many. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Apr. 15 (ANI) "Nowadays, those who are exact opposite to Gandhiji's thoughts have been taking his name and they think the masses respect him. The name of Gandhiji has immense power and I want people not only take Gandhiji's name but should also follow his teachings," Kumar said. Nitish was speaking at a function here to mark Gandhi's first visit to Champaran hundred years ago. Kumar added that this daily 'ten-minute teaching' would surely take students closer to the Gandhian ideology. "About 50 stories are being compiled about Gandhiji for this. Our aim is inspire people to adopt the thoughts of Gandhiji," he said, adding everyone respects Gandhiji, but few follow his teachings. The Bihar Chief Minister said he was confident that if even 10 percent of the new generation adopts Gandhiji's teachings, then India will be completely transformed in the next 20 years. "When Gandhiji's thoughts will reach up to four crore people during the year-long celebrations, then I am sure the effect will not be only confined to Bihar only," he said. Nitish Kumar also set off a Gandhi Smriti Yatra from Motihari. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Highlighting the growing popularity and prowess of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Centre on Saturday left no stones unturned in reminding the opposition of the crushing loss it faced in the Uttar Pradesh polls, asserting that the results clearly rejected the trend of casteism and nepotism politics in the state. "Winning 325 of the 403 seats proves that the people of UP are with the BJP. The UP result is a rejection of the politics of casteism and nepotism. The people have trusted the politics of development," Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while addressing a press conference during BJP executive meeting here. Brimming with confidence over the upcoming elections in Gujarat, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh this year, the Union Minister stated that the BJP will taste victory again. "When we won in 2014, they said that BJP has reached its peak. The same was said in 2017. But BJP chief (Amit Shah) said that the party is yet to hit its peak. We have 13 Chief Ministers in the country. We want every state to have a BJP or Democratic Alliance (NDA) chief minister. We want Prime Minister Modi to win a second term in 2019. BJP chief also said that we make BJP a pan India party- from panchayat to parliament. BJP will win Gujarat, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh next," Prasad stated. Meanwhile, he also accepted Amit Shah's statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular leader since independence. "Because of his (Prime Minister Modi) extraordinary connect with the people and the trust people have on him, Amit Shah said that Prime Minister Modi is the most popular leader since independence," Prasad said. The BJP's two-day executive meeting began in Bhubaneswar this evening. About 350 people, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah, union ministers, Chief Ministers of 13 BJP-ruled states including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, are in attendance. On the agenda is the BJP's strategy to increase the party's political footprint ahead of the 2019 general elections, while eyeing the 2019 Odisha state elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday demanded an investigation in the matter where a Kashmiri youth was tied to the front of a moving army jeep. Omar urged to prosecute the guilty. "Using youth as human shield is very unfortunate. An inquiry should be initiated in this matter and the guilty must be prosecuted," Omar told ANI. A video showing a Kashmiri youth tied to the front of a moving army jeep went viral yesterday after Omar shared it on his Twitter handle. "This young man was TIED to the front of an army jeep to make sure no stones were thrown at the jeep? This is just so shocking!" Omar tweeted. He followed it up with a video saying, "A warning can be heard (in the video) saying stone pelters will meet this fate. This requires an urgent inquiry and follow up NOW." The video has evoked immense anger among people, with demands for an investigation into alleged brutalities by the Indian Army in Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 11 civilians were killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan's Helmand province, authorities said on Saturday. "A minibus carrying civilians hit an IED in Nawa district on Friday night. The blast completely destroyed the bus and killed all the people aboard," Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying. The Taliban militant group uses improvised explosive devices to target security forces but the weapons also inflict casualties on civilians. The IED explosions are the third largest cause of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, following ground engagements and suicide attacks. Helmand, notorious for poppy growing, is a Taliban stronghold. At least 16 persons died after a rubbish dump collapsed and buried their homes under tonnes of garbage outside the Sri Lankan capital, officials said. "Sixteen people died and seven were injured after the collapse of the Meethotamulla rubbish dump, a worker at the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre (DMC) told Efe news. The 300-feet-high pile had shifted after floods and a fire, and subsequently collapsed on Friday evening onto homes located around the dump, where some 600 people lived, the official said. Rescue and emergency services were still working in the area. According to reports, over 60 houses were damaged, with some witnesses saying more than 100 homes were destroyed. Several others were admitted to hospital for treatment and over 180 people have been displaced, officials said. Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the Disaster Management Centre to provide assistance to the affected families. The residents of the area have been protesting over the past several months urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nearly three dozen men sit on death row in Arkansas, where capital punishment has been suspended since 2005. Unless clemency is granted, seven of them, an eighth man was granted a temporary reprieve, will be given lethal injections all within a 10-day period, between April 17 and 27. Why so many? Why the rush? The New York Times reports that the unprecedented pace is brought about by a looming expiration date for a drug used by the state for lethal injections. The drug is midazolam, which has been used in several botched and gruesome lethal injections in other states in recent years. Because of the controversy surrounding midazolams use, a number of pharmaceutical companies have restricted their drugs from use for capital punishment. Anti-death penalty groups are upset and the state is having difficulty acquiring a sufficient number of witnesses, as required by law. These are bad hombres, as President Trump might describe them. Many of them have been on death row for more than 20 years while the appeals process ground on and relatives of their victims have waited for justice to be served. Don Davis, now 54, was sentenced to death in 1992. He is to be executed April 17. Davis was convicted of shooting 62-year-old Jane Daniel in the back of the head while robbing her home, even though she complied with his demands to hand over her valuables. Bruce Earl Ward, 60, is also slated for execution April 17. Hes been on death row since 1990 after being convicted of murdering 18-year-old Rebecca Doss at a Little Rock convenience store where she worked the night shift. The court heard testimony that Ward drove around town looking for a victim and strangled the young woman in the store bathroom. In 1993, Stacey E. Johnson, now 47, raped, beat, strangled and then slit the throat of Carol Heath, a mother of two. Heath was attacked in her home. TheSun newspaper reported her daughter, Ashley, then six, was found staring out her bedroom window the following morning ... having spent the night knowing her mother was dead in the room next door. The list goes on, but this is their common profile. Now for the innocent. According to the Arkansas Department of Health, 3,771 abortions took place in the state in 2015, a slight drop from the previous year, part of the more than 59 million abortions performed in the United States since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973. Where is the anti-death penalty crowds compassion for those babies and the many women who say they regretted their decision to terminate their pregnancies and would have made a different choice had they received additional information? Those opposed to capital punishment can certainly gin-up outrage and sympathy for convicted murderers and rapists, but seem to offer very little sympathy to the relatives of their victims and not an ounce of outrage for the innocent unborn who have been aborted. Is this an unfair comparison? Not at all. Consider this. Many oppose the death penalty because they claim all human life has value. Then is not an innocent unborn human life? How is an unborn baby any less valuable than a convicted rapist or murderer? For secular-progressives, opposition to the death penalty appears to be based largely on sentiment, not on the intrinsic value of life. Yes, there are reasons to oppose the death penalty. It can often be unequally applied. I get that. But Im speaking of the larger moral issue. In the end, capital punishment is a matter of justice and just deserts. It is justice for the dead and his or her relatives and it is just deserts for the murderer. On several occasions I have offered people opposed to the death penalty a deal. I will oppose capital punishment for the guilty, if they will oppose capital punishment for the innocent unborn. I am still waiting to hear from them. At least 22 persons were killed on Saturday when a car bomb struck an area near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo where an evacuation operation was underway. According to Xinhua news agency, 48 persons were also wounded in the blast which targeted the rebel-held Rashideen area in the countryside of Aleppo province. The explosion took place at the gathering point of buses transporting Shias evacuating from two pro-government towns in northern Syria. It was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped potato truck. The buses carrying 5,000 Shias were waiting the reactivation of a deal designed to secure their transportation to government-controlled area in Aleppo. The deal, reached between the rebels and the government under the supervision of Iran, Turkey and Qatar, was designed to secure the evacuation of the people from the pro-government Shia towns of Kafraya and Foa in Idlib province towards areas in Aleppo province. In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus to reach Idlib province. The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shias leaving Kafaraya and Foa and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving the town of Madaya as first batches, the report said. The Shias reached the rebel-held town of Rashideen, while the rebels reached the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing in Aleppo. Both convoys were set to leave to their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held the convoy of the Shias, adding new demands to the original deal. The rebel convoy was also stuck at Ramouseh, amid reports that communications were underway to continue the implementation of the deal. A source told Xinhua that the rebels' new demand was the evacuation of the Shia fighters first from Kafraya and Foa, before the civilians. But the demand was rejected. An eye witness from those waiting in Rashideen said three people with medical conditions died while waiting, before the explosion. He added that three women gave birth inside the busses amid tough humanitarian situation as those people have been waiting there for 24 hours without enough food or water. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seven policemen and a Maoist prisoner were killed in a road accident in Bihar's Sitamarhi district on Saturday, police said. According to police officials, five policemen and one undertrial Maoist prisoner were also injured in the accident that occurred when the van they were in collided with a truck in Gaighat village, under Runnisaidpur police station on the Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi road. The injured have been admitted in a private hospital. "The accident happened when a police van carrying two undertrial Maoist prisoners and 12 policemen was hit by a speeding truck, which had lost control. Seven policemen and one undertrial Maoist prisoner were killed," a police official, Ashish Nandi, said. --IANS ik/rn/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The death toll of Islamic State (IS) militants killed when the US military dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb or the "mother of all bombs" in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province has risen to 94, a Kabul official said on Saturday. "The number of IS militants killed in the US bomb in Achin district jumped to 94, including four commanders," Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogiani told CNN. "Our team is in the area and they are doing clearance, so the figure might change as they find more bodies," said Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defence. The GBU-43, a non-nuclear, 10-tonne missile powered by a wave of air pressure, was dropped on Thursday onto caves used by the terror group. The initial toll given by Afghan officials for the strike was 36. However, a statement released on Friday through IS' media wing, Amaq News Agency, said none of the terror group's fighters were killed or injured. No civilians were killed in the explosion, said an official. The Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah, said the attack had been carried out in co-ordination with his government and "great care had been taken to avoid civilian harm". The strike targeted a network of fortified underground tunnels that IS had been using to stage attacks on government forces in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border, said the report. The blast destroyed three underground tunnels as well as weapons and ammunition, but no civilians were hurt, Afghan and US officials said. The US military defended its decision when it was quizzed Friday on whether the behemoth bomb was necessary for that particular target. "This was the right weapon against the right target. It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield," General John Nicholson, commander for US forces in Afghanistan, said at a news conference. "The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in southern Nangarhar." The US military previously estimated IS had 600 to 800 active fighters in the area. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he approved of the strike, and it was designed to support Afghan and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region. But former President Hamid Karzai accused the US of using Afghanistan as "a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons." --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress-filmmaker Angelina Jolie is planning to retire from Hollywood amid her ongoing divorce and custody battle against actor Brad Pitt, says a source. The "Maleficent" actress is done making movies and wants to focus on her six children, reports aceshowbiz.com. "Angie is over starring in films. She wants to write and direct but as far as acting is concerned, she has retired. The next chapter of her life will focus on her children and all the important causes she supports. She finds acting shallow and wants to focus on the stuff in life that really matters," the source told Naughty Gossip magazine. "Maleficent 2" will be Jolie's last film. She finished working on the foreign language feature film - "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers", which will be released on video-streaming app Netflix. --IANS ks/nn/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of cheating the people to win power in the state. Addressing a press conference, the 44-year-old leader also alleged that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were manipulated and tampered to favour the BJP in the state assembly elections. "I met lots of party workers and supporters, who told me that they were bewildered over the victory of BJP, as many of them had pressed the button against SP symbol," he said, adding that people had lost faith in EVMs. He also demanded that all future polls in the state be held through the traditional ballot papers method. The SP also started a membership drive from Saturday. Akhilesh Yadav said the party had decided to involve all sections of the society in party work. He also accused the state's Yogi Adityanath government of taking credit for the work done by his government in the past. "We worked a lot to change the power scenario in state, got many sub-stations made and installed new transformers," he said while pointing out that the present BJP government was now taking credit for all this. He also alleged that there was law and order failure in the state under the watch of the Chief Minister and said that only recently the BJP workers had bashed up police officials in Kannauj. "People are being set afire alive, rapes have increased and the state government is doing nothing," Yadav said pointing out how during the SP government even a small crime was blown out of proportions to defame it. Akhilesh Yadav also rebutted the charges levelled by Union Power Minister Piyush Goel on Friday that Uttar Pradesh was deprived of the benefits of many central government-aided schemes, including "Power for All", as he wanted his picture to be displayed over everything relating to the schemes. "I had only said that if Prime Minister's picture will be there, then the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's should also be there," he said. --IANS md/nir/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said the BJP is yet to reach its (political) peak and will attain the position only when it has good presence from "panchayats to Parliament". "Many (people) declared after the 2014 general elections that the BJP has reached its peak, but it was not so. They then said in 2017 (after elections to the five states, including Uttar Pradesh) that the BJP has now attained it peak, but it is not the case," Prasad told the media here. "The BJP will attain its peak when it has members everywhere -- from panchayats to Parliament," he said at the end of the first day of the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive meeting here. The Minister said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will complete three years in office on May 26 and it had worked hard during this period. "... we have done work which other governments would do in two-three terms," he said. --IANS sk/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Friday expressed confidence that the issue of sharing waters of the river Teesta with Bangladesh could be solved through dialogue with all stakeholders, including the West Bengal government. "We don't want any on Teesta water issue. We are looking into all aspects on it carefully," Bharti said here. She said since water is included in the state list, any solution will have to consider that aspect as well. "Any decision that will be taken, will be based on dialogue between stakeholders, the Bengal government included," Bharti added. --IANS sgh/lok (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir police foiled independent MLA Engineer Rashid march to the Army's 15 Corps , just few meters ahead of the main gate. The MLA was protesting against the army using a 27-year-old as a human shield. Rashid along with a dozen supporters was carrying placards protesting against the treatment meted out to the youth. The MLA's spokesman said they resisted but were forcibly dispersed. Some of the protesters, including Rashid, were arrested and have been lodged in police station Ram Munshi Bagh. Meanwhile, reports here said after the video uploaded by former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah went viral and caused widespread condemnation, the army chief, General Bipin Rawat, has rushed to the state to verify facts and take action so that such acts were not repeated. --IANS sq/ahm/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after Facebook suspended 30,000 fake accounts in France, the social networking giant has disrupted spam operations it had been combating for six months. In a post, Facebook's Technical Programme Manager Shabnam Shaik said the spam was made up of inauthentic likes and comments that appeared to come from accounts located in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries. "We found that most of this activity was generated not through traditional mass account creation methods, but by more sophisticated means that try to mask the fact that the accounts are part of the same coordinated operation," Shaik added. With this disruption of inauthentic likes, Facebook said almost 99 per cent of affected Pages having more than 10,000 likes will see a drop of less than 3 per cent. The fake accounts generating spams used tricks to avoid detection, for example, by redirecting their traffic through "proxies" that disguised their location. The social networking giant believes that the aim of the spam-campaign was to deceptively gain new friend connections by liking and interacting primarily with popular publisher Pages on its platform, after which point they would send spam. "By disrupting the campaign now, we expect that we will prevent this network of spammers from reaching its end goal of sending inauthentic material to large numbers of people," Shaik noted. To reduce the spread of misinformation and spam shared by creators of fake accounts, Facebook has disabled over 30,000 such profiles in France. This move is in line with Facebook's efforts to reduce the distribution of misinformation, spam or false news on Facebook. --IANS qd/ruwa/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the by-poll to the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seat, that was marred by large-scale violence and very poor turnout on balloting day. The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister urged the central government to impose Governor's rule in the state, terming the election as the "bloodiest ever". Abdullah defeated the ruling Peoples Democratic Party's Nazir Ahmad Khan by 10,776 votes. Of the 89,865 votes cast, Farooq polled 48,555 while Khan polled 37,779. A total of 963 people voted for NOTA (none of the above), election officials said. The NC said it would not celebrate the victory because of the violence on polling day on April 9 in which eight civilians died in firing by security forces. Addressing reporters after his win, Abdullah urged the BJP-led central government to dismiss the ruling BJP-PDP alliance. "I request the Government of India and the President to dismiss the present government right away. Governor's rule should be imposed and elections conducted under Governor's rule," Farooq told the media. Thanking the people who supported him, he said: "This was the bloodiest election ever. I am not happy with the win. But results show that people are in favour of NC." In a statement issued by the party, spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu said, "We won't celebrate the victory in the by-poll in view of the deaths that occurred on balloting day." Voting for the parliamentary seat saw a record low turnout of 7 per cent on April 9. Re-polling was held on April 13 for 38 polling stations in Budgam district, that saw a mere 2 per cent balloting. There were nine candidates in the fray, but the main battle was between PDP's Khan and Abdullah. Abdullah, 79, a two-time Chief Minister, will be Lok Sabha member for the third time. He had lost the Srinagar constituency to PDP's Tariq Hameed Karra in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Karra's resignation from the party led to the seat getting vacant. --IANS ruwa-sq/rn/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SCRANTON A Pennsylvania National Guardsman who caused a crash that killed another driver will spend up to eight years in prison. WNEP reports Adam Kovaleski, 32, pleaded guilty in January to homicide while driving under the influence. He was sentenced to three to eight years on Thursday. Police say Kovaleskis blood-alcohol content was nearly four times the legal limit for driving and he was driving the wrong way when he crashed head-on into 55-year-old Timothy Kunis vehicle on Interstate 81 in 2015. Kovaleski served in Iraq and Kuwait. The Carbondale native says his drinking problem and post-traumatic stress disorder could have contributed to the fatal crash. Hundreds of home buyers staged a protest outside a police station here on Saturday against Jaiprakash Industries and others for duping them by failing to hand over flats even years after the promised time. Followed by a massive protest outside Surajpur police station where the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police is also located, the local police assured the protesters that an FIR would be lodged against the company. Devender Yadav, who was leading the association of Jaypee Wish Town investors, told IANS that the assurance by a senior police official came after after the huge protest since early morning. Yadav accused Jaiprakash Industries of cheating around 30,000 home buyers. "The company assured to deliver 35,000 houses in Jaypee Wish Town project in Greater Noida, an around Rs 25,000 crore project across 12,000 acres, by 2013," he said, adding that that till now only possession has been given to 5,000 people while 30,000 people are still waiting. He said that people started investing money in the project from 2007 with the company promising possession by 2013 but four years have already passed but the project has not been completed. Another investor, Pranab Dhekial said that he was attracted by the company's attractive advertisements to get a flat in Kasa Isles in Jaypee Wish Town and booked a three bedroom flat for which he paid Rs 30 lakh. He said that the company assured him to hand over possession by 2013 but failed to do so till even now on one pretext or the other. Vikas Arora, another investor, alleged that officials of the company were involved in diverting funds for their own benefits with an intention to cheat and expressed concern that the company was never willing to complete the projects. A disappointed Niti Singh, one of the buyers of Kasa Isles homes, said that she is waiting for the delivery of her flat from the past seven years while paying 90 to 95 per cent of the entire amount. An FIR against Jaiprakash Associates, its Managing Director Manoj Gaur and Directors Sunny Gaur and Pankaj Gaur, company Jaypee Infratech Limited and its Managing Director Sameer Gaur and Director Sachin Gaur under various charges including cheating, criminal breach of trust and fraud was lodged by Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on a complaint by Delhi based investor Sanjiv Bansal. Bansal, who also supported the protest of another buyers, has alleged that accused were in intention to cheat innocent buyers since they started the projects. In his FIR, he said that he has been a victim of the conspiracy hatched by the accused and had been deprived of hard-earned money which could have been utilised for the better future of his children. He also said that when he visited the company's office in Noida, the staff told him that now it will be difficult to complete the flats as there are no funds available for the project. --IANS akk/vd/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of home buyers staged a protest outside a police station here on Saturday against Jaiprakash Industries and others for duping them by failing to hand over flats even several years after the promised time. Followed by a massive protest outside Surajpur police station where the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police is also located, the local police lodged a FIR against the company. Noida Police has booked Jaiprakash Associates, its Managing Director Manoj Gaur and Directors Sunny Gaur and Pankaj Gaur, company Jaypee Infratech Limited and its Managing Director Sameer Gaur and Director Sachin Gaur, along with two others Ajit Kumar and R K Anand. One of the complainants, Chander Goyal told IANS that the accused have been booked under various charges dealing with criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery. The FIR was lodged in the Expressway police station in Noida. Devender Yadav, who was leading the association of Jaypee Wish Town investors, told IANS that the assurance by a senior police official came after the huge protest since early morning. Yadav accused Jaiprakash Industries of cheating around 30,000 home buyers. "The company assured to deliver 35,000 houses in Jaypee Wish Town project in Greater Noida, an around Rs 25,000 crore project across 12,000 acres, by 2013," he said, adding that that till now only possession has been given to 5,000 people while 30,000 people are still waiting. He said that people started investing money in the project from 2007 with the company promising possession by 2013 but four years have already passed and the project has not been completed. Another investor, Pranab Dhekial, said that he was attracted by the company's attractive advertisements to get a flat in Kasa Isles in Jaypee Wish Town and booked a three bedroom flat for which he paid Rs 30 lakh. He said that the company assured him to hand over possession by 2013 but failed to do so till even now on one pretext or the other. Vikas Arora, another investor, alleged that officials of the company were involved in diverting funds for their own benefits with an intention to cheat and expressed concern that the company was never willing to complete the projects. A disappointed Niti Singh, one of the buyers of Kasa Isles homes, said that she is waiting for the delivery of her flat from the past seven years while paying 90 to 95 per cent of the entire amount. An FIR against Jaiprakash Associates, Manoj Gaur, Sunny Gaur and Pankaj Gaur, Jaypee Infratech Ltd and Sameer Gaur and Sachin Gaur under various charges, including cheating, criminal breach of trust and fraud, was lodged by Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing on a complaint by Delhi-based investor Sanjiv Bansal. Bansal, who also supported the protest of other buyers, has alleged that accused intended to cheat innocent buyers since they started the projects. In his FIR, he said that he has been a victim of the conspiracy hatched by the accused and had been deprived of hard-earned money which could have been utilised for the better future of his children. He also said that when he visited the company's office in Noida, the staff told him that now it will be difficult to complete the flats as there are no funds available for the project. India has called off bilateral maritime security talks with Pakistan scheduled for April 17, a coastal security source said on Saturday. A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency officials was to visit New Delhi for maritime talks with the Indian Coast Guard to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations in the seas. The decision came amid tension between India and Pakistan over the death sentence awarded to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistan's military court on charges of spying and espionage on April 10. On Friday, Pakistan rejected India's 14th attempt for consular access to Jadhav and maintained his trial was in accordance with the country's laws. --IANS rs-gt/tsb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jet Airways' pilots union has asked its members not to operate flights with foreign pilots from May 1, sources said on Saturday. According to sources, the National Aviator's Guild has demanded that the airline removes all foreign pilots after a recent incident in which foreign pilots allegedly assaulted a designated examiner during a training session in Bengaluru. The airline currently employs around 60 foreign pilots. The union has more than 900 members. In a statement, the company said that it is an equal opportunities employer and has a limited percentage of expatriate pilots. " is an equal opportunities employer. We today, employ a multi-cultural workforce of over 15,000 people across the globe and are regarded as an employer of choice in the aviation sector," said a spokesperson. "As an Indian airline operating internationally, has always focused on recruiting the brightest talent and today, has best-in-class cockpit crew from around the world, including a limited (marginal) percentage of expatriate pilots," added the spokesperson. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kannada news channel 'Janashri' was arrested here on extortion charges, police said on Saturday. "The television channel's CEO Lakshmiprasad Vajpai, 42, was arrested on Friday night after he was caught accepting the ransom money from a businessman whom he had blackmailed to expose him," Koramanagala Police Inspector R.M. Ajay told IANS here. Police also arrested Mithun, an employee of the channel, along with Vajpai after raiding their office in the city's eastern suburb on a complaint from the businessman. "Vajpai had allegedly threatened the businessman of telecasting a derogatory video footage on him and his company if he did not pay up Rs 10 crore," said Ajay. The news channel had already telecast a part of the video to force the businessman to pay up the ransom. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on Saturday against the accused under sections 384 (extortion), 385 (putting a person in fear of injury) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the victim's complaint. Another case was registered against Vajpai and his associates at the Commercial Street Police Station under the same sections of the IPC for demanding Rs 10 crore and jewellery valued at Rs 30 lakh as extortion from another businessman. Vajpai is alleged to have received Rs 10 crore through bank transactions in unspecified accounts out of the Rs 15-crore ransom he had sought from the second businessman. The arrested persons were produced in a local court for judicial remand for further investigation. --IANS str/fb/nir/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said that the Kherki Daula Toll Plaza on the Delhi-Gurugram expressway must go. Interacting with media after inspecting progress of projects being implemented for allround development of Gurugram, Khattar said that the state government is making efforts for removing the toll plaza and a committee under the Chief Secretary is trying to reach an understanding between the stakeholders. The Chief Minister also said that the work of enhancing the capacity of Badshahpur Drain was going on. He said that this year, arrangements would be made that the Hero Honda Chowk on NH-8 expressway is not flooded but by next year, the problem of water-logging there would become history due to the elaborate arrangements. Traffic was badly hit on NH 8 as well as city roads for nearly 24 hours during monsoon last year due water-logging on Hero Honda Chowk due to overflow of the Badshahpur drain after heavy rainfall. Asked about the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, he said that the state government has in principle approved it and an act in this connection would be moved in the next assembly session. --IANS pradeep/vd/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend World Yoga Day celebrations here on June 21, an official said on Saturday. At a meeting, Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar said as many as 50,000 people are likely to take part in the event and asked all concerned departments to make proper arrangements. The Uttar Pradesh government is looking for a venue that could accommodate such a large crowd and also ensure foolproof security for the VVIP influx, an official told IANS. The Secondary Education Department has been asked to ensure participation of at least 100 students. Preparations are also being made for the participation of senior citizens and 400-500 differently-abled children. Instructions have been issued to arrange for mineral water bottles, shoe bags, t-shirts and yoga mats. A rehearsal will also be held on June 18-19. --IANS md/lok (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NASA has approved a project to build instruments for a future European Space Agency mission to Jupiter and its moons, scheduled for launch in 2022. "NASA's total cost for the project is $114.4 million," the US space agency said in a statement on Saturday. Designed to investigate the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants, the JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is scheduled to launch in five years, arriving at Jupiter in October 2029. JUICE will spend almost four years studying Jupiter's giant magnetosphere, turbulent atmosphere, and its large icy moons Callisto, Ganymede and Europa, which are thought to have oceans of liquid water beneath their icy crusts. The agency-level approval for the project to enter building phase of instruments also provides a baseline for the mission's schedule and budget. "We're pleased with the overall design of the instruments and we're ready to begin implementation," said Jim Green, Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "In the very near future, JUICE will go from the drawing board to instrument building and then on to the launch pad in 2022," Green said. JUICE is a large-class mission -- the first in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme carrying a suite of 10 science instruments. NASA will provide the Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS), and will also provide subsystems and components for two additional instruments: the Particle Environment Package (PEP) and the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME) experiment. The UVS was selected to observe the dynamics and atmospheric chemistry of the Jovian system, including its icy satellites and volcanic moon Io. How will JUICE complement NASA's Europa Clipper multiple flyby mission, also scheduled to launch in the early 2020s? "The missions are like close members of the same family. Together they will explore the entire Jovian system," said Curt Niebur, programme scientist at NASA Headquarters. "Clipper is focused on Europa and determining its habitability. JUICE is looking for a broader understanding of how the entire group of Galilean satellites formed and evolved," Niebur said. --IANS gb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Having failed to delineate a cogent and credible line on secularism, the will have to articulate a new position to find its way back into political reckoning. For a start, the party will have to realise that its efforts to delink religion from politics, or the church from the state the essence of secularism went off track because it identified the "church" too closely with Hinduism and did not pay enough attention to keep Islam also at a distance from the state. Because of this tactical error, the played into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which made no secret of its closeness to Hinduism and accused the of being partial to Islam for the sake of Muslim votes. This is a factor which A K Antony, among others in the Congress, acknowledged in a report on the party's defeat in the last general election. However, the report banked on run-of-the-mill explanations for the party's setback such as infighting, demoralisation among the workers, the absence of pre-poll alliances, the party's corrupt image and communal polarisation orchestrated by the BJP. While much of this may be true, the report did not spell out how the Congress could recover its earlier prime position. A suggestion which has been floated in recent weeks is that the Congress can try "soft" Hindutva as a means of wooing voters. This is a line which has long been prevalent in the Congress with V N Gadgil (1930-2001) being one of the early proponents. For Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, however, "for Congress, peddling 'BJP lite' is like Coke Zero. It will get us zero". Instead, the former Minister of State for External Affairs wants his party to be demonstratively uncompromising on secularism. Apart from the pursuit of secularism in its pristine form which keeps religion, in all its manifestations, at a far distance from governance, what the Congress can do is to reboot itself as a party of the 21st century which rejects the superstitious medievalism of the saffron brotherhood with its propagation of a milk-drinking Hindu deity Ganeshji doodh pi rahein hain -- or the conjuration of a patently fictitious past when Indians were said to have invented everything from stem cell research to cars to planes to television, or astounding claims about cows exhaling oxygen and cow dung providing protection against nuclear radiation. To rescue the country from such outrageous, antediluvian ideas, the Congress has to present itself as the exact opposite a forward-looking, progressive party committed to the development of a rational, scientific temperament so that the common man will not be prone to sectarianism based on hate and prejudice. To achieve this objective, the Congress itself will have to shed some of its present inhibitions such as a disinclination to take a forthright stand on the crucial issues of the day. These include the country's economic direction to which the merit versus quotas debate is related and the question of bans. To start with the last, the Congress will have to set its face against bans of all kinds on books, thereby acknowledging that it made a mistake in banning Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" in 1988 (P Chidambaram has done so, though only in 2015); on films; on liquor and on beef. It has to be remembered that the Congress was the first to ban beef in Madhya Pradesh in 1955 when it was in power and the BJP was not even formed. Moreover, even today it is in favour of a nationwide ban on beef, as its senior general secretary Digvijay Singh has said, in line with Rashtriya Swayamsevek Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat's views. Yet, this pandering to the Hindu cause has led it nowhere, just as its propagation of "socialism" subsided food under the Food Security Act, doles for the rural unemployed under MNREGA has been of little help to the party. The reason is the inherent insincerity in these gimmicks which are seen as populist, vote-catching manoeuvres by an outfit clutching at straws to hold on to power. In contrast, the steps by the BJP against books such as Wendy Doniger's tract on Hinduism or on beef are seen as driven by convictions even if they are ill-conceived in the eyes of the liberals. The latter cannot but be disappointed by the palpable cynicism of Jawaharlal Nehru's party. What is worse for the Congress is that these duplicitous ploys do not deceive anyone. Even if the Congress calls for a nationwide ban on beef, the political advantage will still be the BJP's just as Rajiv Gandhi's shilanyas (foundation) for the Ram temple did not fetch the Congress any votes in the 1989 election that it lost. Instead of indulging in such deceit, the Congress will have to underline its adherence to the principles of liberalism which believe in a free, open society where there are no constraints on what a person reads or eats, or who he or she chooses as a life partner. Spring brings the births of wild animals such as birds, rabbits, and squirrels. With that come good intentions of kind-hearted people who want to adopt baby animals they find because they think they have been orphaned or abandoned. The Missouri Department of Conservation reminds people to leave these young wild animals where they find them, or return them to their nests or nest areas if possible. Baby animals are rarely abandoned or orphaned, said MDC State Wildlife Veterinarian Sherri Russell. The wildlife parent is afraid of people and will retreat when you approach. If the baby animal is left alone, the parent will usually return. Also, parent animals cannot constantly attend to their young so often they spend many hours each day gathering food for the offspring. Russell added that baby birds are common animals people want to help by adopting them. If you see a baby bird on the ground hopping around and it has feathers, leave it alone because it is a fledgling and the parents are nearby keeping an eye on it, she explained. If you find one that is featherless, it probably fell out of nest. Return it to the nest if you can, or at least near the nest. Another common problem is dogs catching baby rabbits and mowers running over nests. Baby rabbits seldom survive in captivity and actually can die of fright from being handled, Russell explained. Even if they are injured, return the baby rabbits to the nest or the general nest area. The mother will most likely return. She added most wild mothers do not abandon their young because of a human smell on them, and most baby wild animals do not survive in captivity. While people may have good intentions, the care and rehabilitation of wild animals requires special training, knowledge, facilities, care and permits, she said. Wild animals, if they are to survive in captivity, often require highly specialized care. Without such care, they will remain in poor health and may eventually die. And it is illegal to possess many wild animals without a valid state or federal permit. Russell added, Animals are better off in their natural habitats where they are free to reproduce and carry on their species. If a wild animal is broken to captivity, it will probably die if returned to the wild. Also, many wild animals are nocturnal. This means they are not active until after dark. They sleep during the day and can be quite disturbing at night while people sleep. She noted wild animals can become dangerous to handle as they mature, can carry parasites and disease, and can damage property. Native wildlife can carry mites, ticks, lice, fleas, flukes, roundworms, tapeworms, rabies, distemper, tuberculosis, respiratory diseases, and skin diseases, Russell explained. Some of these diseases can be transmitted to humans. The Odisha Assembly elections are two years away, but the BJP has began its preparations to bloom the lotus in the state in right earnest. Elated by its stunning victory in the recently concluded assembly polls and also performing exceedingly well in the Odisha panchayat polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to focus on the coastal state of Odisha, where the saffron party begins its two-day national executive meeting on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrives on Saturday, is to hold an eight-km road show here from the airport to Raj Bhawan. At the airport, state unit leaders will give a grand welcome to Modi. At least 300 cultural troupes across the state will perform during the road show. "Apart from the road show Modi will also visit the Sri Lingaraj temple to offer prayers," state BJP spokesperson Sajjan Sharma told IANS. The Lingaraja Temple is dedicated to Harihara, a form of Shiva and Vishnu, and is one of the oldest and revered temples in Bhubaneswar. The Prime Minister will also be welcomed by a group of tribal students at Janata Maidan before arriving at the venue of the BJP meet - Sant Kavi Bheem Bhoi Sabhagar here. Modi is to felicitate members of 16 families associated with the Paika rebellion of 1817 during the meet. Paika rebellion is considered as the first armed mutiny against the British rule in the state. The move is expected to boost the BJP's standing in the state. The capital city has been decked up for the meet with roads getting a facelift and hoardings, banners and flags seen all over. In most of the hoardings and banners Modi and party chief Amit Shah figure prominently, while in some Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Juel Oram - who hail from the state - also find place. The two-day meet would formally begin with the Presidential speech of Shah while on Sunday the concluding remarks will be delivered by Modi. On Saturday, Shah will also hold a national office bearers meet. The national executive meeting is being held in Odisha after a gap of 20 years, as part of the strategy of Modi and Shah. In 1998, the BJP held its national executive meet here and after that the saffron party joined hands with state's now ruling Biju Janata Dal. In 1998, the NDA formed its government at the Centre under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee and the BJD joined the government. Later, the BJP-BJD alliance formed government in the state. After some time, differences appeared in the alliance and BJD parted ways with the NDA. Since then the BJP has been working hard to spread its wings in the state. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, despite the Modi wave in many parts of the country, the BJP could manage to win only one seat from Odisha. The party's unexpected performance in the Panchayat polls has raised hopes in the BJP that under the leadership of Modi and Shah - and also the undeclared face of the party in the state Dharmendra Pradhan - it could come to power and increase its tally in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. (Brajendra Nath Singh can be reached at brajendra.n@ians.in) --IANS bns/rn/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over two dozen students were injured in clashes with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama town on Saturday, police said. Students of a local college objected to the setting up of a 'Naka' (checkpost) outside the college and engaged in stone-pelting at the security forces, police said. Security forces used tear smoke shells to disperse the protesting students who kept on re-grouping to engage the security forces in pitched clashes. Reports from the town said around two dozens students including some girls were injured in these clashes. One of the protesting students was hit on the head by a tear smoke canister and has been shifted to Srinagar city for treatment. --IANS sq/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least three persons, said to be agents of the Research and Analysis Wing by police, have been arrested in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Mohammad Khalil, Imtiaz and Rashid, all from Taroti village in Abbaspur, were in the custody of police in Rawalakot, the headquarters of Poonch division, Dawn online reported. According to Poonch Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sajid Imran, Khalil is the "main suspect." He said the three were involved in anti-state activities, including the bombing of a police station, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Khalil, according to the police, had reportedly visited Indian Kashmir in November 2014 to see his relatives in Bandi Chechian village. There he came in contact with RAW which "lured him to work for them." Khalil had an intra-Kashmir travel permit. Later, he is said to have recruited Imtiaz and Rashid to work with him "for handsome returns". During preliminary investigations, according to the police, Khalil told investigators that he had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) about 14 or 15 times from different parts in Abbaspur sector. Imtiaz and Rashid had also "confessed to crossing the LoC five to six times," the paper said. "Khalil would take with him cigarettes and [mobile phone] memory cards, carrying pictures of bridges, mosques controlled by the Deobandi school of thought, and army and police installations," Imran said. According to him, he had given two active SIM cards registered in his name to Indian officials. The DSP said the arrested persons had planted an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) outside a police station in Abbaspur on September 27 last year. "We tracked their movements and phone calls with the help of intelligence agencies and finally arrested them two days ago (Tuesday)," he said. They have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act. The development follows the death sentence given to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav on April 10. Jadhav has been charged with espionage and waging war against Pakistan. India says Pakistan had abducted Jadhav from Iran. --IANS py/hs/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday denied media reports that he quit as Defence Minister due to "pressure" over the Kashmir issue, but Opposition parties lashed out at the BJP leader, accusing him of being "anti-national" and a "bhagoda" (deserter). All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar said the only thing Parrikar had learnt from Pakistan, during his stint as Defence Minister, was staging coups, referring to the 'coup' staged by the BJP, which upstaged the Congress to come to power in Goa last month. "The Congress believes that securing the borders of the country are more important that becoming Chief Minister of Goa. Parrikar's return to Goa is an 'anti-national' act. He has clearly run away from the Defence Ministry. In fact, Parrikar was the worst Defence Minister India has ever had," Chodankar told reporters at a press conference in Panaji at the party's state headquarters. "The only thing Parrikar has learnt from Pakistan as Defence Minister is how to stage coups, which are popular in Pakistan, where the army dethrones popularly elected governments. No wonder Parrikar staged a coup in Goa, where he led the BJP to power using unfair means," Chodankar said. Reports in a section of the media on Friday quoted Parrikar as saying that he had quit his sensitive central ministry brief because of pressures generated by the Kashmir crisis, among other issues. Parrikar on Saturday took to Twitter to post a clarification, saying the news report was "factually incorrect". The BJP media cell in Goa said the Chief Minister had been misquoted. "This is to clarify that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has never given any such statement that he had pressure of any sort working as Defence Minister," a statement issued by the Goa BJP media cell stated, adding that the senior BJP leader was "willing to take on any challenge in Goa and also at the national level". The Aam Aadmi Party in a statement issued here called Parrikar a "self-admitted bhagoda". "Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's claim in public that it was the pressure of running the Defence Ministry, in particular the vexed Kashmir issue, that got to him and facilitated his grabbing the opportunity to return to Goa is a self-admission that he is a bhagoda," the AAP said in a statement. --IANS maya/rn/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dhanush's Tamil directorial debut "Power Paandi", which released earlier this week, is set to be remade in Telugu. Director Subramaniam Siva says the film's subject will work across languages. "The story is such that it will appeal to audiences across the board. Irrespective of the language in which the film is made, it will work. The Telugu remake is currently being considered with Mohan Babu sir. If everything falls in place, we will go to sets in a couple of months," Siva told IANS. The film's story follows the journey of the self-exploration of a 64-year-old former stuntman, played by Raj Kiran. In the remake, Mohan Babu will reprise Raj Kiran's role. --IANS hp/rb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Al Qaeda-linked rebel groups on Saturday prevented the evacuated Shias from reaching their destination in Syria's Aleppo city, hindering a deal with the government, a source said. Around 5,000 pro-government Shias evacuated the besieged towns of Kafraya and Foa on Friday and headed towards Aleppo under a deal between the government and rebels that should also see the evacuation of rebels and their families from rebel-held areas, Xinhua news agency reported. The convoy of the Shias made a planned stop at the rebel-held town of Rashidien as around 2,300 rebels and their families left Madaya town towards Idlib province and also stopped at the government-controlled Ramouseh area in Aleppo. Ramouseh and Rashidien are the places for the swap between both parties, but the rebels of the Front for Liberating the Levant, previously known as the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, prevented the buses from Kafraya and Foa from proceeding towards Aleppo. The government in return kept the rebels and their families from Madaya town from proceeding towards Idlib. According to the source, the rebels had last minute demands and changes to the original deal. He said the deal was brokered by Iran on the government side and Turkey and Qatar on behalf of the rebels. The rebels' backers have apparently backed down on their pledges to see the abidance by the deal from the rebel side, he said. Efforts were being made to see the deal through in the next hours, as there were other Shia batches from Zabadani town, he said. "Around 500 rebels, mainly commanders from Zabadani near Madaya and 2,000 people from Kafraya and Foa are still in their places and were supposed to evacuate once the first batches arrive to their respective destinations," the source said. The deal from Kafraya and Foa on one side and Madaya and Zabadani on the rebel side is considered the largest ever in Syria as the entire population of the Shia towns will leave. Some of the Madaya people refused to leave with the rebels and their families and chose to remain in their area with some rebels who accepted a reconciliation with the government forces. Now as Madaya is clear of the rebels, the Syrian Army entered the area after two years of laying siege to it. In Zabadani, 500 rebel commanders are set to leave in the second batch. This will largely contribute in expanding the security range around Damascus, particularly as Madaya and Zabadani are both close to the Lebanese borders and were conduits for the smuggling of weapons and radical fighters. Still, opposition activists slammed the deal as another attempt for "demographic cleansing". The deal's first step started on Wednesday with a detainee swap between the rebels and the pro-government fighters in Idlib. --IANS py/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has appealed to the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) to reach a consensus on addressing their issues through talks. During a central office meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) held in Baluwatar on Friday, Prachanda urged the alliance of Madhes-based parties to come to the negotiating table and iron out their differences, the Kathmandu Post reported on Saturday. He also urged the Morcha to take part in the May 14 local elections. A meeting of Morcha earlier this week decided to boycott the polls and continue its protest, saying that the new Constitution amendment bill was even more regressive than the previous one. Maoist leaders advised Prachanda to continue talks with the leaders of the Madhes-based parties and create an environment for them to participate in the elections. The meeting decided to launch a door-to-door poll campaign and to finalise candidates for the vote by April 22. The Madhesi Morcha leaders have said that the new proposal has not addressed their key demand -- revision of provincial boundaries -- and no provisions pertaining to citizenship, National Assembly and language have been changed. Madhesis form a sizeable portion of the country's population, especially in the Terai region. They have been threatening to boycott the local elections if changes in the Constitution are not made to get them greater statutory rights and representation. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Targeting the opposition for questioning electronic voting machines (EVMs), BJP President Amit Shah said on Saturday that instead of making excuses, these parties should have honestly introspected the reasons. Speaking to the media, Shah dubbed this attitude of opposition parties as disrespect to the Election Commission (EC). "After their defeat, these political parties should have honestly and gracefully accepted it, but they began making excuses. Among the excuses, EVMs are being discussed," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted Amit Shah as saying during his presidential speech. According to Prasad, Shah said: "Such talks are like not accepting the defeat honestly and dishonouring the Election Commission." In a sarcastic attack, Shah said that when United Progressive Alliance won two consecutive election in 2004 and 2009, "EVMs were all right". "When Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party won elections in 2007 and 2012, EVMs were all right. When BJP lost elections in Bihar and Delhi, it was OK, but now all of a sudden questions are being raised on EVMs," Shah said. The BJP also challenged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to accept the open challenege of Election Commission to hack EVMs. "The EC has publicly asked to hack EVMs. Why doesn't he (Kejriwal) hack it. He is an IIT gradute," Prasad said. --IANS bns/nir/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Setting a new target for party leaders and workers, President Amit Shah said on Saturday that despite being in power at the centre and in 13 states, the party is yet to achieve its peak and urged them to devote themselves to the cause. Shah also hit out at opposition parties for questioning EVMs and said that blaming EVMs is disrespecting the Election Commission. Shah's remarks came here at the inaugural address of the two-day Executive of BJP, being held at Bhubaneswar after a gap of 20 years. "Many (people) declared after the 2014 general elections that the BJP reached its peak, but it was not so. They then said in 2017 (after elections to the five states, including Uttar Pradesh) that the BJP has now attained it peak, but it is not the case," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted Amit Shah as saying at the inaugural session . "But the BJP is yet to be at its peak. The BJP will attain its peak when BJP will have Chief Ministers in all the states and it has members everywhere -- from panchayats to Parliament," Shah added, according to Prasad. "Let's resolve to make BJP a pan-India party from panchayats to Parliament. BJP's golden period should be associated with country's golden period," Shah said. Noting that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will complete three years in office on May 26 and had worked hard during this period, he said: "... we have done work which other governments would do in two-three terms." The BJP Chief also said that earlier there was a perception that BJP was doing well only where there was Congress and not against the regional parties, but the recent election results of Uttar Pradesh has proved this perception wrong. Targeting the opposition for questioning EVMs, Shah said despite making excuses these parties should have honestly introspected the reasons. "It was expected from the defeated parties that after their defeat, these parties should have honestly accepted it but they began making excuses. Among the excuses EVMs are being discussed. "Such talks are not only about accepting defeat honestly but to dishonour the Election Commission," he said. In a sarcastic attack, Shah said that when United Progressive Alliance won the 2004 and 2009 general elections or the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party won the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2007 and 2012, then there was no problem, but now all of sudden questions are being raised about EVMs. The BJP also challenged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to accept the open challenege of Election Commission to hack EVMs. "The EC has publicly asked to hack EVMs. Why don't he (Kejriwal) and hack it. He is an IIT graduate. An experienced hacker is Chief Minister of a state," Prasad told reporters in response to a query. Urging party workers "not to be lethargic" after stunning victories in recently-concluded assembly polls, Prasad also said that the BJP chief would tour, for 95 days, different parts of the country till September. "Shah will extensively tour the country till September. During this tour Shah will spend three days in Kerala also," he said. Enthused by its resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP seems quite confident that it would come to power in Odisha, where it has never been in a commanding position despite being an ally of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for nine years. The BJP hoped that it would be able to build its prospects in the state in the wake of the anti-incumbency tide against the Naveen Patnaik government, which has been in power since the last 17 years. Shah has given a clear signal in the executive meeting that the party would work relentlessly to grab the eastern state in the 2019 elections. "The people in Odisha want change from the incumbent government, which is in power since 2000. The Naveen Patnaik government has failed to provide basic amenities to the people in the state," he said. The party has been encouraged by its performance in the recently-concluded panchayat polls, where it emerged second, relegating the Congress to the third position. The first day of the two-day meet was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 13 Chief Ministers including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was given a grand welcome. The Prime Minister, earlier, held a roadshow in the state capital ahead of the meeting. A huge crowd gathered on both sides of the road to catch a glimpse of Modi. BJP supporters raised slogans of 'Modi-Modi' and 'Vande Mataram' and some showered flowers on the Prime Minister. Superstar Shah Rukh Khan taught his signature "Lungi dance" step to American filmmaker Brett Ratner, who expressed a desire to direct the actor in a sequel of "Rush Hour" in India here. The two shared the stage at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFILM), which paid a tribute to Shah Rukh in its 60th year. "One day I want to make a 'Rush Hour' sequel in India with SRK in it," said Ratner, known for directing the "Rush Hour" series and "X-Men: The Last Stand", and for producing the Oscar winning movie "The Revenant". Both the stars -- suited and booted -- seemed to have immense fun during their conversation at the Castro Theatre here on Friday evening. Before their tete-a-tete, Ratner posted on Instagram a photograph of himself with Shah Rukh. "With the King of Bollywood - SRK - Getting ready for our conversation at SFFILM," he captioned it. Later, he posted a video wherein Shah Rukh teaches him how to groove to "Lungi dance" -- the catchy number from his blockbuster movie "Chennai Express". Since the music wasn't available, the charmer that Shah Rukh is, he took the mic and sportingly sang the song as well as taught Ratner some of the steps. Ratner followed the steps well, and hugged Shah Rukh, who has spent a quarter of a century in Indian showbiz and is one of Bollywood's most known faces across the globe. "With King Khan doing the Lungi dance during the SFFILM. Inspiring, humble, a great dancer, and smells great too," Ratner captioned the video. Shah Rukh used the term "awesome" for Ratner, who even gifted him a doll modelled on himself. "Thanx Brett Ratner for a great evening at the SFFILM, your doll is awesome like you," he tweeted with an image where he is seen holding up the doll. The Bollywood 'badshah' also thanked the festival officials for the tribute. "You made me feel special and all who came to attend. Love you and hugs," he tweeted. Shah Rukh's "My Name is Khan" was also screened as part of the line-up of movies at the festival, which is even paying a tribute to John Ridley, Gordon Gund, Ethan Hawke and James Ivory. --IANS rb/bg (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On the 105th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, one local resident recalls his role in helping to discover why the ship met its fate that early April morning. Dale Brown of Farmington graduated in the late '70s from the University of Missouri-Rolla with a degree in metallurgical engineering and would go on to work as a chief metallurgist at Laclede Steel in Illinois. Not long after, Brown was asked to be the steel mill representatives on the curriculum advisory committee at the university. At that time, Brown said, he met Dr. Phillip Leighly, one of the foremost historical metallurgists in the country. That means he had a great knowledge of the old ways of making metals, Brown said. He was an expert on that. Brown recalled crews attempting to locate the Titanic in the waters of the Atlantic and their inability to collect any samples from the ship for study in hopes of determining what caused the ocean liner to sink on April 15, 1912 almost three hours after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage. A second attempt with a mini-sub netted samples obtained for study in August of 1996. Dr. Leighly, being one of the foremost experts on old metals, was the first one to receive samples of the Titanic for evaluation, Brown said. Leighly was aware of the testing equipment Brown had available through their work together on the universitys curriculum committee. Subsequently, Brown and his associates at Laclede Steel were tasked with helping to discover a cause for the ships sinking. He contacted me and asked if I could analyze the pieces from the Titanic and give my best guess as to what caused the failure of the ship and thats what we did, Brown said. He sent me the pieces and we ran them through a full battery of tests chemical and physical analysis every important test to determine the failure. Brown then sent his findings back to his colleague. Those findings would later be featured on the Discovery Channel. Mostly what Brown found through the testing is that the lack of metallurgy science at the time was a likely cause of the disaster. There are times when you build something and youre not total aware of all of the technology or properties involved and you build something that is dangerous or unsafe. Thats what the case with the Titanic was, he said. There is this property in steel that scientists in those days were not aware of. Brown explained the property is called the ductile brittle transition temperature the temperature at which steel goes from being very tough and capable of bending without breaking to being as brittle as glass. It doesnt happen gradually. It happens all at one temperature, he said. It depends on the chemistry of the steel. In the case of the Titanic, the steel was built using the crucible process a process which Brown said does not allow for any refining of the steel and made the steel more susceptible to ductile brittle transition. Whatever went into the steel from the ore basically stayed in the steel, he explained. All the dirt, the sulfides, the phosphorus. It could not be reduced out. They did not have the technology to do this. They were not aware of ductile brittle transition. It had not been discovered yet. Further causing unforeseen problems for the ship was the process used to make the steel. Steel in the Titanic was made using a rimming process wherein a large number of the gasses present in the steel were trapped so as to increase the percent of recovery out of each ingot. Brown explained that is to prevent there being a large shrinkage cavity to cut out when the steel was rolled out. What you have with the Titanic steel is a very high sulfur and phosphorus steel which raised the ductile brittle transition temperature at which point it became a very brittle piece of steel, he said. You also had steel that had these holes in it that when you rolled them out internal cracks in the steel that were points of weakness. Brown said those cracks allowed the steel to break along the points of weakness when it was brittle and the cracks were found in the longitudinal direction on the plates of the Titanic. So, you had the worst of both worlds as far as steel goes, Brown said. We had done a lot of testing over the years of steels and we had never tested a steel that had a ductile brittle transition temperature above about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The steel that the Titanic was made out of was brittle at 33 degrees Fahrenheit which means even in the northern Atlantic (Ocean), before it hit an iceberg, the plates that the Titanic was made out of were like glass. He said at that point, if theoretically a sledgehammer was used on the ships hull, the same effect would have occurred. The people who built the Titanic said you could flood 13 compartments and it would stay afloat, he said. No one anticipated that more than 13 compartments would instantaneously be exposed to the water, because if you did have a leak you could shut off those compartments and keep the ship afloat. What happened with the Titanic, because of this brittleness when the cracks started, they went long distances through what I think is 27 compartments, he said. It scraped the iceberg and then broke, but because of the fissures and the brittleness of (the steel) (the cracks) just kept going. Which was a totally unanticipated outcome because they were unaware of that property that steel has in those days. As technology and modern refining processes are developed, todays steel are made with ultra-low sulfur and phosphorus contents. Those bad elements are reduced out the steel, he said. You have a steel that is much more capable of withstanding low temperature applications. He said the work on the Alaska pipeline is what helped the steel industry develop steel to withstand the frigid temperatures. Subsequently, the automotive industry would also begin to implement these products in their automobiles. But, in the days the Titanic was built, they didnt even have a clue, Brown said. Those people were floating around in the North Atlantic in a glass bottom boat. He said others have presented the idea the ship would not have met its demise had it been in the South Atlantic waters. Brown said his team was fortunate to be able to participate in the testing of the steel from the ship. We were still making that rimming steel for some low-quality applications, so I was aware of what a rimming steel looked like under a microscope, he said. A lot of people, had they gotten that steel, would not have been aware of what they were looking at. Because we made it, I looked at it every day under the microscope and knew what it looked like." He said the thinking at the time the Titanic was built was to make the ship thick with the thinking that it would be safe if made thick and strong enough. Most things happen in nature on a gradual basis, he said. One thing that amazed me when I started learning about steel was the fact that, at a given temperature, steel goes from being very tough and bendable, flexible without breaking to very brittle. Metallurgist in the early 1900s had no idea about that. Brown said although other testing on samples by others had different conclusions and could account for a failure. The most common theory is a failure in the rivets on the ships hull. (The theory is) the company that made the Titanic had run out of a certain type of rivet and substituted a different rivet and these rivets snapped and then water rushed in, he said. But that doesnt account for the longitudinal catastrophic failure several compartments flooded instantaneously. The rivet idea, although it does have some merit, doesnt hold water with me. I think our findings were sort of accepted as the most logical reason as to why the Titanic failed. Im 100 percent sure but, just like in the medical field, people have other opinions. After testing was completed, Brown sent the samples back to Leighly, but was able to keep a small part for himself. And, he considers it a blessing to be asked to take part in the study. I was just fortunate that Dr. Leighly knew me from this committee we were on, Brown said. I was nobody special. It just happened to be he knew me and knew I had a complete lab I was in the right place at the right time as getting the opportunity to analyze (the sample). The government on Saturday decided to hike the reservations for the socially and economically backward among Muslims to 12 per cent from the existing four per cent. The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. The cabinet also decided to increase the quota for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) from the current seven per cent to 10 per cent, official sources said. Both the Houses of the state legislature will be meeting on Sunday for a special session to pass a bill for increasing the quantum of reservation for Muslims and STs in education and jobs. As this will take the overall reservations in the state beyond the prescribed limit of 50 per cent, the legislature will pass Reservation Bill and send it to the Centre with a request to include it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu. Chandrasekhar Rao said was following the model of Tamil Nadu, where the overall quota for different groups is 69 per cent. First Donald Trump dumped 59 tomahawk missiles on Syria and chastised Vladimir Putin for backing its "butcher" and "evil" dictator Bashar al-Assad. Then he dropped the "Mother of All Bombs" (MOAB) - America's largest non-nuclear weapon - on a supposedly ISIS cave and tunnel complex in Afghanistan. What had come over the POTUS who had advocated an isolationist "America First" policy and wanted to be friends with Russia, wondered flummoxed pundits. And days after declaring that Assad's overthrow was no longer a priority for the US, his desi ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley told CNN that no political solution was possible in Syria with the strongman in power. Haley, a former Trump critic, also blasted a "nervous" Russia for "covering up" Assad's chemical weapon attack on his own people. "He has given me a lot of leeway to just say what I think and interpret what he thinks," she told CNN. "I would never go rogue, because I'm very aware of who I work for." "I'm sometimes a bull in a china shop," Haley said. "And, you know, he allows me to do that." There were other signs of shifts too. After a summit with the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump no longer wanted to brand Beijing a "currency manipulator." He thought China could easily solve the North Korea problem, but "after listening (to Xi) for 10 minutes, I realized it's not so easy," Trump told the Wall Street Journal. And after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General, the POTUS declared the alliance was "no longer obsolete." Was there really "a new sheriff in town" as another former critic suggested admiringly, signalling a more muscular foreign policy? Or was Trump with no government or military experience, facing a "steep learning curve" just going "flip flop," as the "failing" New York Times concluded? Or was the author of "The Art of the Deal" simply being "flexible" in an exhibition of the Trump doctrine - where nothing is non-negotiable? For even as Trump acknowledged that America-Russia ties "may be at an all time low," he was confident "things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia." "At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!" he tweeted a day after his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Putin in Moscow. "I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea," Trump asserted in another tweet. "If they are unable to do so, the U.S. with its allies will! U.S.A." And as he explained in a tweet after a "great meeting" with the NATO chief, they "agreed on the importance of getting countries to pay their fair share & focus on the threat of terrorism." Trump also seemed to be having a change of heart about his spooks and spies. He had kept FBI Director James Comey, blamed by rival Hillary Clinton for her stunning loss, in his job. But with Comey revealing that the FBI was investigating Russian meddling in the election, and whether Trump aides colluded with Russia, he seemed to be having second thoughts. In an interview with Fox, Trump said he had confidence in Comey even as he criticized the top cop for letting Clinton off the hook over her email saga. But maybe it was not too late for him to fire the director, the POTUS mused. "We'll see what happens. You know, it's going to be interesting." And his chosen CIA director Mike Pompeo suggested the boss had morphed from a critic to a fan of the spy agency. The intelligence community had a "fantastic" relationship with the Trump administration and the POTUS was an enthusiastic consumer of intelligence briefings, he claimed. "Don't laugh. I mean that," Pompeo admonished a tittering audience at a Washington think tank claiming "They are voracious consumers of the product we develop." Meanwhile, the "fake news media" continued with the mother of all tall tales with the venerated old lady of Manhattan leading the charge "The Latest Test for the White House? Pulling off Its Easter Egg Roll," screamed the "failing Times" with a 1330 word piece on how the Trumps were not living up to the standards set by the Obamas. Will the Donald and Melania pass the "eggz-acting" test? Which way would the eggs roll - only 'Times' will tell! (Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in) --IANS ak/tb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Millions of Turks will head to the polls on Sunday to vote in a tight referendum race that could transform the country into a presidential republic, granting sweeping new powers to the President. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to replace the parliamentary system with an executive presidency, Hurriyet Daily News reported. Approval could see him stay in office until 2029. About 55 million Turkish voters will be casting votes following a divisive campaign in October 2016 when the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) announced its support to the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) project of replacing the current government system with a presidential system. The Supreme Board of Election announced that 167,140 ballot boxes will be ready for voters. The election process for Turkish citizens living abroad ended on April 9. Over a million registered citizens voted at 120 foreign missions in 57 countries. Polls open at 7 00 a.m. (local time) and close at 4-00 p.m. on Sunday in 32 eastern provinces, and open and close an hour later in the rest of the country, said the report. Supporters say a "yes" vote would streamline and modernise the country whereas opposition "no" camp fear the move would lead to increasingly authoritarian rule. The "yes" campaign supported by Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and the ruling AKP has dominated Turkey, while the opposition "no" camp had faced threats, violence, arbitrary detentions, a lack of TV airtime, and disregard by pro-government media. Critics fear the change would put too much power in the President's grasp, amounting to one-man rule, without the checks and balances of other presidential systems. The referendum could bring about the biggest change to the governing system since the modern republic was founded almost a century ago. It also takes place under a state of emergency which was imposed following a failed coup last July. President Erdogan was holding his final rally in Istanbul and said he was confident of victory. The referendum on constitutional change would abolish the post of Prime Minister, allowing the President to appoint cabinet ministers and bring all state bureaucracy under his control. If the package is approved, the President will be able to retain ties with the political party he or she belongs to. The changes will also grant authority to the President to issue decrees within the executive jurisdiction, declare a state of emergency and appoint public officials. The President will also be able to declare a state of emergency without necessary cabinet approval and to draft the budget, which is currently drawn up by Parliament. The changes will allow the President to dissolve Parliament. Erdogan said the new system will bring stability in a time of turmoil marked by a Kurdish insurgency, Islamist militancy and conflict in neighbouring Syria. The referendum has a simple "yes" or "no" choice on whether to endorse Parliament's approval of a new draft Constitution. Results of the elections are expected late on Sunday evening. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A judge in Arkansas moved to block the US state from carrying out up to seven executions this month before the lethal drugs used in its injections expire, the media reported. Judge Wendell Griffen of the Pulaski County Circuit Court issued a restraining order on Friday that forbids the Arkansas authorities from using their supply of vecuronium bromide, one of three execution drugs the state planned to use, The New York Times reported. The judge scheduled a hearing for April 18, about 14 hours after the state had intended to carry out its first execution since 2005. The Arkansas attorney general's office said the state would appeal the judge's ruling, which threatened to derail a plan that once called for eight executions over the course of 10 days. Four companies have publicly voiced concerns about how the Arkansas Department of Correction came to stockpile the drugs for its lethal injection cocktail - midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride - but only the McKesson Corporation made an explicit allegation of deception. Arkansas, the company said, bought 10 boxes of vecuronium bromide, which the state can use to stop a prisoner's breathing. But the state prison system "never disclosed its intended purpose to us for these products," a lawyer for McKesson, Ethan M. Posner, wrote in a letter obtained by The New York Times. "To the contrary, it purchased the products on an account that was opened under the valid medical license of an Arkansas physician, implicitly representing that the products would only be used for a legitimate medical purpose." The state had scheduled two executions for April 17. It also planned to carry out double executions on April 20 and April 24, as well as one on April 27. An eighth execution was stayed by a federal judge. All of the condemned prisoners are challenging their executions. The state's midazolam supply is set to expire at the end of April, according to officials. Drug manufacturers are required by law to put an expiration date on drugs in the US, and after that date they cannot guarantee the drug's effectiveness or safety, reports The Washington Post. Arkansas acquired its midazolam in 2015, according to state documents. The drug prompted controversy after it was used in a bungled execution in Oklahoma and in lethal injections that were prolonged and included inmates gasping for breath in Ohio, Arizona and in Alabama, The Washington Post reported. A lethal injection remains the US' primary method of execution, but due to the shortage, states have also been looking to other methods. Utah, Tennessee and Oklahoma added or broadened their abilities to use a firing squad, electric chair or nitrogen gas. --IANS ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A youth was killed in Srinagar after security forces opened fire at protesters on Saturday. Police sources said a youth identified as Sajad Ahmad, a resident of Tangmarg area in north Kashmir Baramulla district, was killed when security forces fired at stone pelters in Batmaloo area of the city. Reports said a vehicle of the paramilitary forces was attacked by stone pelters in the area after which the security forces fired at them, resulting in the death of the youth. --IANS sq/ahm/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Never has the (BJP) been so confident or so ready to face elections as it is in Maharashtra. The thinking in the top leadership is to disregard the taunts and pressures of alliance partner Shiv Sena and make no effort to bend before it or to appear to be the supplicant in any way. This is amply demonstrated by the actions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When a minister went to Mumbai and called on Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, he was rebuked by the PM and asked why he went there. The BJP is confident that it can form a government on its own if a mid-term Assembly election is announced. Wait till the elections to the President of India are over to see the real action. Several weeks back, at a book discussion in New Delhi, two questioners questioned the author, a former senior official at the ministry of external affairs, on reasons for India not explicitly detailing the strategic objectives of its foreign policy. The author responded that the key goals, namely support for the countrys development objectives and the sustenance of its strategic autonomy, are sufficiently well known to not need elaboration. While true, the elaboration of policy objectives in an open document has deeper consequences. Consider the big picture. The may appear to be static post 2014 but Indias grand old party is quietly gearing up to face the future political challenges. The new found surge in support for BJP in Odisha was in full display on the streets of Bhubaneswar today as large number of people thronged the main thoroughfares of the city to welcome Prime Minister who arrived here this afternoon to attend the BJP's executive meet. Long before the special IAF aircraft 'Rajhansh' carrying Modi touched down at the Biju Patnaik airport at 3.30 PM, thousands of people had lined up the entire stretch of his cavalcade, from airport to Governor's house and then on to Janata Maidan, the venue of the meeting with total route length of 9 km, in the sweltering afternoon heat. The first day of Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJPs) two-day executive here was reminiscent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shahs campaign during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls last month. For the duo, there is no stop in their partys electoral preparedness. Across southeast and south central Missouri, I have met some of the hardest working people found anywhere in America. Whether they are farmers, manufacturers or small business owners, they all have one thing in common they want to do their jobs free of government overreach and interference, and provide their products, services and goods to others in Missouri and around the world. American-made goods are the best and highest quality found anywhere in the world, but in order for our farmers and businesses to survive and grow, other countries and businesses they are competing against must follow the rules. For too long we have simply sat back and accepted allowing other countries to subsidize their businesses, illegally flood our borders with their products or use various measures to circumvent U.S. trade laws. Its time we finally say play by the rules or there will be consequences. Last week in the Oval Office, President Trump took major steps to stop countries from cheating on trade. He signed documents demanding that we fully collect all duties and tariffs imposed on foreign importers that cheat and second, that we conduct the first comprehensive review of all violations of trade rules that harm U.S. manufacturers. Trumps action builds on my legislative work of authoring and passing the ENFORCE Act in 2015 which helps end unfair practices by allowing companies in Missouri to take real and meaningful action when foreign companies violate trade agreements. Missouri manufacturers work too hard to compete against an unfair system abroad and a tax and regulatory environment which punishes them here at home. In December of 2016, I met with and sent a letter to the incoming Trump administration asking them to eliminate 14 federal rules and regulations, many of which would impact Missouri manufacturers. In his first 85 days, President Trump has halted or repealed more than half of the regulations outlined in my letter. Two of the biggest regulatory wins for Missourians included stopping a regulation which would have tripled some residents utility rates in Missouri and ending Obamas plan to try and regulate every pond, bucket of water or raindrop on a farmers private land. Ending these regulations is a major victory and will keep money in the pockets of Missouri families, farmers and small businesses. There is huge potential for Missouri farmers, small businesses and manufacturers to sell their American grown or made products around the world, but we must create an environment that is competitive and makes their efforts worthwhile. The ENFORCE Act along with having a President in the Oval Office who is willing to hold countries engaged in illegal trade practices accountable is a huge first step to putting American manufacturers, farmers and workers first, but more work remains to be done. We must enact policies and create an environment where those businesses can bring their products to market with greater ease and lower costs that means reducing the highest tax burden in the industrialized world, repealing onerous regulations driving up the costs of everything from energy to transportation of goods, and rewarding investments made here in the United States to grow ones business or farm, not punishing it. Along with the Trump Administration, I am committed to restoring confidence in the American economy and standing by American farmers, workers and employers. The month-old BJP-led coalition government in Manipur was rocked with senior Minister L. Jayentakumar - in charge of Health and three other important portfolios - tendering his resignation in protest against "uncalled for interference" by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. The chief minister has rushed to Delhi to firefight the political threat, it is learnt. Jayentakumar submitted his resignation personally to Biren on Friday evening. Biren in his capacity as the Minister in charge of the Department of Personnel had suspended Okram Ibomcha, the Health Director, without consulting Jayentakumar. There was no specific charge against Ibomcha. The suspension order said that it was to take 'disciplinary actions' against him. Ibomcha is a close relative of previous Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Jayentakumar is one of the four MLAs of the National People's Party (NPP) who was sworn in on March 15 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government was formed. The resignation letter says that he is thankful to the Chief Minister for inducting him in the ministry. But he was not able to fulfil his vision due to the "interference". Some other NPP MLAs have reasons to be unhappy with some of their portfolios, sources said. Y. Joykumar, NPP MLA from Uripok, who is a former Director General of Police had reportedly wanted the Home portfolio, which is important in insurgency-hit Manipur. However, Biren kept it with him. Joykumar is the Deputy Chief Minister. The coalition ministry was sworn in on March 15. Nine MLAs of BJP, NPP, Naga People's Front, LJP and Congress (who changed loyalty) were inducted. Three more Ministers and 12 Parliamentary secretaries were sworn in on March 23. Senior BJP leader and Union minister on Saturday said that the party, which had done well in the recent rural elections in Odisha, would try to come to power in the state in the next election. "We will try to come to power in Odisha in 2019 (when assembly poll is due)," Naidu, who is here to attend the BJP national executive meeting, told reporters. In the recent panchayat elections in Odisha, the BJP had secured 297 zilla parishad seats while the Congress, the main opposition party, had won just 60 zilla parishad seats. The ruling BJD had, however, maintained its supremacy capturing 473 zilla parishad seats. Naidu was also upbeat on the party's performance in West Bengal. Referring to the recent by-election in Kanthi Dakshin Assembly seat, he said, "The BJP has come to the second position in Bengal while CPM has been pushed to the third. The party is growing under the leadership of Narendra Modi and results of recent elections in several states had gone in our favour." Naidu said the focus of the BJP national executive meeting would be on welfare schemes and policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "People want Modi as their prime minister in 2019 also. The people across the country have faith in the Modi government for its pro-poor schemes and policies ... All efforts were being made to reach benefits to the people across the country," he said. The Opposition has no agenda, leadership, unity and clarity, he added. One person was killed and 17 others injured today after a gas pipeline exploded in the upscale satellite Cairo neighbourhood of New Cairo city in Egypt. The explosion took place at the start of Road 90, the main thoroughfare and entryway to New Cairo. Fire trucks rushed to the place of the incident as police forces cordoned the area. Health ministry officials said that at least one person was killed and 17 others injured in the explosion. Two of them are in critical condition, they said. The deceased sustained heavy burns to his body and died at the scene before being shifted to hospital, a Ministry of Health spokesperson said. According to a statement by the Ministry of Interior, the explosion took place when a loader operator working at a construction site in the area accidentally broke the pipe. The gas has been cut off from other pipes in the area to ensure that no more fires erupt,Head of the Civil Protection Authority Magdy El-Shalaqany told state-run agency MENA. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 14 people were killed and 37 declared missing as flash floods hit northwestern Iran, state media reported today. Torrential rains that began on Friday lashed East Azerbaijan province, with state television showing images of flooded houses and cars carried away by the surging water. The prefect of Ajabshir district told the official IRNA agency that rescue teams had recovered the bodies of three women and nine men. State television said two more people were killed in nearby Azarshahr. It said 37 people were still missing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Twenty activists of AISF, CPI's student wing, were arrested today when they attempted to stage a rail roko at the railway station here, police said. The activists were protesting against the Centre for "neglecting" the state's farmers, who are agitating for the last one month in New Delhi, to press their charter of demands including waiver of loans. They also raised slogans against the proposed hydrocarbon project at Neduvasal in Pudukkottai in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police has arrested a 23-year-old man, who was carrying rewards for his arrest, and was wanted in cases of murder and attempt to murder. Umesh was arrested from near Ghevra More, Rohtak Road here by a team of Special Cell last night, said Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, DCP (Special Cell). Umesh, along with his associates, allegedly shot dead one Amit in northwest Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar area last year in July due to personal enmity, he said. A reward of Rs 50,000 had been declared by Delhi Police for his apprehension. A day after killing Amit, Umesh and his associate Sombir fired on one Sudhir, Amit's paternal uncle in Jhajjar, Haryana. A reward of Rs 25,000 had been declared by Haryana Police in the attempt to murder case. The Special Cell team received information about Umesh and laid a trap for him near Ghevra More. When Umesh realised he wouldn't be able to escape, he took out his pistol and fired one round on police team. However, a constable from the police team snatched the pistol from his hand. The pistol was found loaded with four live cartridges. One more country-made pistol with three live cartridges was also recovered from his possession, said the officer. In 2011, Umesh's paternal uncle Chand Singh was murdered by his relatives Satyawan and his associates who are also residing in the same village. He wanted to take revenge and got to know that Amit, Satyawan's brother stays in Mukherjee Nagar and after making plans with his associates, shot him dead. The next day he attempted to kill Amit's uncle Sudhir but failed. On Saturday, he came to Ghevra More to meet his associate Sanjay and hatch a plan to eliminate one Anil, who is the brother-in-law of deceased Amit but ended up in police net, said Yadav. Umesh disclosed during interrogation that he had made up his mind to become a contract killer. He has been conveying his intention to different gangs of Haryana and Delhi, that he is available to commit any crime for money. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With a week to go for the civic polls, the Delhi BJP today alleged that the AAP government in connivance with the Congress has continued with the "water tanker scam", instead of terminating the contract of the firm involved in it. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta at a press conference held at the party office here raked up the issue of the alleged scam, which incidentally was highlighted by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party last year. "Both, Congress and AAP are two sides of the same coin. They flock to JNU, Ramjas College and Hyderabad, together, in the wake of any issue. "And, Kejriwal, who assumed charge after Sheila Dikshit as the CM, continued with the the water tanker scam, instead of terminating the contract of the companies involved," he alleged. "The Congress and the AAP are sharing the money from this scam," he claimed. Gupta at the press conference, even named four private companies, which he alleged are involved in the "water tankers scam". "I want to ask Kejriwal, who claims his party came to power on anti-graft plank, as to why he did not cancel the contract of those companies or make for alternate arrangements," he said. The senior BJP leader also claimed a "10-year contract with the private companies was signed in 2002 for supply of water through water tankers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India has called off maritime security dialogue with Pakistan, scheduled for early next week, amid tensions over death sentence being awarded to on charges of spying. A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. Coast Guard sources said the Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegation's visit. The development comes amid tension between the two countries over Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, being awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court. India has said if Jadhav were to be executed, it will be considered as a "premeditated murder". At least 36 devotees were injured when a mini truck in which they were returning from a religious place today turned turtle after its tyre burst on a highway near here, police said. The condition of four of them was stated to be serious, they said. While all those injured in the accident, which occured near Dhandhoi village on Batala-Sri Hargobindpur link road, were admitted to civil hospital in Batala, the four seriously wounded were later referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar, police said. The mini truck, carrying at least 40 devotees, was returning to nearby Dhadiala Nazara from Baba Balak Nath Shrine in Shah Talai in Himachal Pardesh. Dr Sanjiv Bhalla, Senior Medical Officer of the civil hospital, said the devotees were given free medical treatment. Meanwhile, Balwinder Singh Ladi, MLA Sri Hargobindpur assembly constituency visited the hospital to inquire about the condition of the injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court has directed authorities to submit details of the link road and access to the National Highway at Gummidipoondi in connection with a case seeking to forebear authorities from proceeding with the construction of a petrol station. It directed the Regional officer of Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Deputy General Manager(Tech) and Project Director National Highways Authority of India, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, and District Collector, Thiruvallur to file counter within two weeks with the details. The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar, gave the direction when a PIL from a social activist, S Selvam, came up on Thursday. The petitioner submitted that one side of the open link road in the inter-section of state highway and national highway of Chennai-Kolkata was closed for the construction of a petrol station by BPC.He submitted that the closure will lead to traffic congestion and cause hardship to the public. When the matter came up, senior Counsel KM Vijayan, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that they are not against the construction of the petrol station provided rules and guidelines are followed and if it is built in accordance with law. He alleged that the No Objection Certificate for the construction of the petrol station was issued by violating guidelines. The petitioner submitted that the PIL was filed as an earlier representation to the authorities concerned did not evoke any action. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Regardless of the issue, moving a bill across the finish line often requires multiple attempts. For the last three sessions, Ive sponsored legislation aimed at restoring fairness and balance to Missouris employment discrimination laws and better protecting our business community from harmful frivolous lawsuits. Today, I am pleased to be able to report that this years vehicle, Senate Bill 43, is now one vote away from heading to the governors desk. Senate Bill 43 changes the standard for determining whether an employer is liable for a discrimination charge under the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA), as well as the Whistleblower Protection Act, from a contributing factor to a motivating factor. An earlier version of SB 43 would have changed the standard to "because of, but for causation." This wouldve restored the original meaning and legislative intent behind existing statutes something Missouri courts began moving away from in 2005, when an advisory committee of lawyers drafted model jury instructions that abandoned because of language in favor of the lower contributing factor standard. Agreeing to change the standard is just one of several compromises that occurred throughout the process. Increasing the caps on how much juries may award in damages for employers with more than 500 employees from $300,000 to $500,000 was another. I also agreed to drop language prohibiting state employees and employees of political subdivisions from being awarded punitive damages in MHRA cases. Senate Bill 43 further stipulates that a person who claims to have been discriminated against must file a complaint with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights (MCHR) within 180 days of the alleged unlawful conduct. It also provides that the Commission may only issue a "Right to Sue" letter under certain circumstances. The current system encourages individuals to pursue a case the MCHR has already deemed meritless simply to force a settlement, costing small businesses time and money they dont have. This is something Ive personally experienced as a business owner. The Commission determined the employees case had no merit, yet they still sent out Notice of Right to Sue letters, opening up the case all over again. Before I wrap up whats likely to be my last detailed column on SB 43, I want to take a moment to reiterate what this legislation is and more importantly, what it isnt. First, SB 43 is not a response to the 2015 lawsuit against my company. To be clear, I first filed this language in 2014, months before the lawsuit was even filed. And I wasnt the first lawmaker to sponsor it; similar bills have been filed in every session as far back as 2006. Second, SB 43 isnt a means to get around any ongoing litigation involving my business. It is in no way retroactive and therefore doesnt apply to any case opened before the law takes effect. Nor is it about permitting discrimination or making it easier for businesses to mistreat their employees. I firmly believe employers who discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex or another protected class should be held accountable for their actions, and their employees should be able to pursue justice. This is why I specifically included language to ensure that any party to an action filed under the MHRA has a right to a jury trial. While its a relief knowing SB 43 is now in the home stretch of becoming a law, its certainly been frustrating at times reading and listening to the medias rather one-sided portrayal of it. Along with the points I mentioned above, the fact that the discrimination case brought against my business was found to be meritless is often left out. So, too, is mention of the many businesses and business organizations, such as the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, that support this legislation. Rather than seeing this bill for what it is one of the most significant economic development measures to come along in years the media has been more interested in eliciting the opinions of trial attorneys, SB 43s only real opposition and a group of people who generally stand to lose from any significant progress on the tort reform front. Since 2005, our courts have encouraged a system that rewards litigious behavior and fraudulent claims. A system that says simply being a member of a protected class is enough to bring a discrimination case against an employer, regardless of the circumstances. A system that has undermined the value of a discrimination case for those who have experienced true discriminatory acts. The bottom line: Missouri has been heading down the wrong path for 12 years, and its been happening at the expense of our businesses and job creators. Thankfully, SB 43 will finally allow us to start reversing course. There have been many folks over the years who recognized the need to restore fairness and balance in our employment discrimination laws and who worked hard to get this language passed. As Ive said before, although I was not the pioneer of this effort or the original architect, Im proud to have been a part of it. With one final vote in the House, SB 43 will head to the governors desk for his consideration. I always appreciate hearing your comments, opinions and concerns. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at (573) 751-4008. You may write me at Gary Romine, Missouri Senate, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101; or email me at gary.romine@senate.mo.gov. : A Business Incubation Centre, promoted by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, the third of its kind in the state, was inaugurated by industries minister A C Moideen here today. The centre at UL Cyber Park on the outskirts of the city, is spread over 4000 square feet, is committed to provide the perfect settingfor 82 young business entrepreneurs, a KSIDC release said. KSIDC leased the land from UL Cyber Park for five years and companies carrying IT or IT related operations aregiven access. The first Centre, set up in GEO Infopark at Infopark, Kochi in 2014, houses 17 'start-up's in 116 seats with portfolios in IT andTechnological Skills. This facility is recognised underCentral Government's 'Startup India' scheme. The second was started at INKEL Tower,Angamaly, in 2015 to promote IT based startup, the release said. To promote and encourage entrepreneurship among students, KSIDC has also extended support to variouscolleges in Kerala to set up Incubation Centres on their own, it said, addingone such centre was set up recently at the Government College Karyavattom KSIDC had also signed a MoU with Inter-University Centre for Intellectual PropertyRights Studies of Cochin University of Scienceand Technology (CUSAT) to spread awareness on the importance of Intellectual Property Rights and facilitating search and filing of provisional patent applications for inventions of start-ups, thus enabling technologicalsupport at a nominal cost for seed funded 'start-ups' established at the corporation's Incubation Centre, the release said. To promote entrepreneurial culture among young generation, KSIDC has started providing financial assistance (seed funding) from 2015 onwards, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The city police have arrested a businessman for allegedly cheating a firm of Rs 9.14 crore. K Venkata Rama Vidya Sagar, managing director of V M Coalogix which deals in minerals, cheated another company, Gimpex Ltd, during 2011-2012, a police release said today. Gimpex had sold imported coal to Vidya Sagar, who allegedly resold it but did not pay the full amount which was due to Gimpex. He was absconding since 2014 after a case of cheating was registered against him. Officers of Hyderabad Central Crime Station arrested him in Mumbai yesterday and brought him here. Further probe is on. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil today took a jibe at Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying they deserve a "national award for acting" for their role during the Mumbai civic body poll campaign. "Last week, when the National Awards were announced, I thought Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray too deserved to get this award in the acting category given their performance to target each other during the Mumbai civic body campaign," Vikhe-Patil told a gathering in Sindhkhedraja in the district. Both the Sena and the BJP, who are partners in the state government, had fought the election for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) held in February on their own strength. They (Fadnavis and Thackeray) had attacked each other during the campaign over various issues ranging from corruption to having a transparent administration in the civic body. Vikhe-Patil was in Sindhkhedraja to launch the second phase of 'Sangharsh Yatra'. Opposition parties in the state have embarked upon this yatra during the last week of March from Chandrapur to highlight the plight of farmers in the state. Looking at the manner in which Shiv Sena supported the Opposition's demand for loan waiver during the Budget Session, it was felt that Uddhav Thackeray will not attend the NDA meeting in New Delhi on April 10, but what happened was totally contrary, said Vikhe-Patil. "Not only did Uddhav Thackeray attend the meeting, he also had dinner with the Prime Minister," he said. Vikhe-Patil said recently in the Lok Sabha, the Shiv Sena MPs took an aggressive stand over the air travel ban on one of its MPs. "Did anyone hear Sena taking (such) a strong stand on the issue of farmers in the Parliament?," the leader asked. NCP's Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Samajwadi party leader Abu Asim Azmi, Peoples Republican Party leader Jogendra Kawade were among those present on the occasion. The yatra will travel across Buldhana and proceed to Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Dhule and Thane districts in the next four days. The leaders also paid tributes to Jijabai, mother of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji at her ancestral home in Sindhkhedraja. Later, they travelled through Chikli town on tractors, a Congress office-bearer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today appealed to the Centre to reconsider the plan for daily revision of petrol and diesel price from May 1. The Petroleum Ministry had announced that a pilot for daily revision of petrol and diesel price would be first implemented in Puducherry, Visakapattanam in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarh. Talking to reporters here, Narayanasamy said he would write to the Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to exempt Puducherry from the pilot plan as it would cause "unnecessary" confusion among dealers and customers. He said the dealers of petrol and diesel here had also expressed their dissatisfaction over the plan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Robert W Taylor, who was instrumental in creating the internet and the modern personal computer, has died. He was 85. Taylor, who had Parkinson's disease, died Thursday at his home in the San Francisco Peninsula community of Woodside, his son, Kurt Taylor, told the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. In 1961, Taylor was a project manager for NASA when he directed funding to Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute, who helped develop the modern computer mouse. Taylor was working for the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1966 when he shepherded the creation of a single computer network to link ARPA-sponsored researchers at companies and institutions around the country. Taylor was frustrated that he had to use three separate terminals to communicate with the researchers through their computer systems. ARPANET, as it was known, evolved into the internet. As Taylor predicted, the limited communications tool morphed into a system that supplies people with fingertip access to everything from encyclopedias to investment advice. A few years later, Taylor went on to work at the Xerox Corp.'s famous Palo Alto Research Center, or PARC, where he was oversaw a team that helped create the Alto, a pioneering personal computer. The Alto supplied each researcher with an individual workstation instead of sharing time on a room-sized mainframe. It was designed to use a graphical user interface, which enabled the user to command the device through icons, windows and menus instead of typing text commands in computer language. The technology inspired Microsoft's Windows software and the Apple computers. Taylor's engineering team also helped develop the Ethernet and a word processing program that became Microsoft Word. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress today said it stood with the government on Kulbhushan Jadhav's sentencing by Pakistan and there can be no politics on it as the judicial process adopted by the neighbouring country lacks credibility. "We all are on the same page as the judicial process that Pakistan has adopted for sentencing Mr Jadhav lacks any credibility, lacks any legitimacy. This is something on which there can be no political brownie point-scoring," Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said. He said the fact that India has demanded consular access 14 times and it has been rejected as many times indicated that the procedure adopted by Pakistan lacked credibility and legitimacy. "It has been said in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha that in the matter of Kulbhushan Jadhav there can be no politics. We believe that the whole judicial proceedings under which he has been sentenced in Pakistan do not inspire any confidence, do not have any credibility. Consular access has been denied 14 times," he said. The Congress leader said India stood together on the issue. A Pakistani military tribunal had on April 10 sentenced Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, to death in a secret trial for alleged involvement in "espionage and sabotage activities" in restive Balochistan and Karachi. According to the Vienna Convention, the state which detains a national of another country must allow consular officers of the other country to access the detainee. India had yesterday said it would appeal against the death sentence and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the charge-sheet as well as the army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CPI(M) will take part in a meeting to be held by DMK here tomorrow to discuss the problems of Tamil Nadu's farmers in the wake of drought. With CPI and VCK already announcing their participation in the meet, it has opened up possibilities of a political realignment ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. CPI(M) State Secretary G Ramakrishnan said the party's executive council has decided to participate in the meeting. The decision is significant since CPI(M) was against participating in a similar meeting convened by DMK on October 25 last. Due to the Marxist party's stand, VCK and CPI, other constituents of the People's Welfare Front, did not participate in it though they were inclined. PWF, comprising CPI(M), CPI and VCK, headed for a virtual split recently when the Marxist party announced its candidate for the R K Nagar assembly bypoll, brushing aside the views of other constituents not to contest. However, the parties had played down the differences, saying they could still work together on "people's issues." Ramakrishnan cited drought and Centre "declining" to constitute Cauvery Management Board in support of the decision to take part in the DMK organised meet. He also referred to alleged farmer suicides in Tamil Nadu in a statement here. On April 13, DMK working president M K Stalin had called an "all party meeting," to discuss the woes of State's farmers. After discussing their grievances, the governments at the Centre and State will be urged to fulfil their demands, he had said. DMK had convened a similar meeting of parties to discuss the Cauvery issue on October 25 last. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man allegedly involved in smuggling of the US-made cigarettes and protein supplements and absconding for past one year has been arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). Rajesh Saini was called for an interrogation yesterday by the DRI officials, and was arrested after the interrogation in Jaipur, a DRI official said. He had been absconding since the seizure of the goods from the Customs Depot at the Thar Dry Port in Jodhpur in April 2016. Saini's company, General Trading, had imported the consignment under the guise of glassware from Dubai through the Pipavav Port in Gujrat but the DRI, acting on a tip off, seized the goods in Jodhpur before it was cleared by the Customs, the official said. Today, Saini was produced before a court in Jodhpur, which sent him to jail till April 27. According to the official, he had formed General Trading for the smuggling purpose and imported the goods for the first time. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Farmers today staged protests in various parts of Tamil Nadu as a mark of solidarity with the ongoing stir by the state's ryots in Delhi. Coming out in support of the farmers, seven trade unions, including CITU, AITUC, LPF (DMK) today tentatively gave a state-wide bandh call on April 22. Protests were held in towns including Thanjavur, the hub of Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, and Kancheepuram. Protesters sought loan waiver for farmers and setting up Cauvery Management Board as per the final verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. Local traders and students also took part in demonstrations. CITU State President A Soundararajan said support of all political parties, traders bodies, employees of state and central governments will be sought for the proposed bandh. "We met DMK working president Stalin today and we will meet all leaders barring those of ruling parties at the state and centre," he told PTI. Stating that the bandh date has been tentatively fixed as April 22, he said it could, however, be rescheduled depending on the feedback and convenience of leaders. He said both the Central and state governments should give drought relief to farmers. "Loans taken from nationalised should be waived and Cauvery Management Board should be set up," he said. He said farm labourers have been hit much more and demanded relief for them as well. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday dedicated to the nation four wind power plants built by and announced an expansion plan for the aluminium major to raise its capacity to 1 mpta. "We are taking concrete steps to increase production of . There is a major expansion programme to raise its capacity to 1 million tonne per annum," Goyal said while dedicating the wind units with a total capacity of 198 MW. Built at a cost of Rs 1350 crore, the plants, unveiled at a function in Bhubaneswar, are located in Rajasthan (two plants), Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, while the company plans more wind power plants of 120 MW besides installing solar units. Stating that Nalco's production remained stagnant for a long time and the company has also mooted establishing an aluminium plant in Iran, the minister said the focus of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was to increase production in Odisha itself. Goyal said the expansion of would also provide employment to thousands of local youths who were not needed to migrate elsewhere in search of jobs. The revenue of the state would also go up substantially. As part of the expansion plan, the capacity of Nalco's smelter at Angul is being increased from .46 mtpa to one mtpa with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore, a senior company official said. Another greenfield plant with .6 mtpa capacity is also proposed to be set up at nearby Kamakshya Nagar, he said adding work was already underway to increase the capacity of alumina refinery at Damanjodi by 1 mtpa with an investment of Rs 5400 crore. Its capacity now is 2.275 mtpa. Referring to switch over to auction mode for mines, he said Odisha would earn huge additional revenue from this which could be utilised for many welfare and developmental schemes. The NDA government is now focussing on the speedy progress of the eastern part of the country, particularly Odisha, he said adding that the production of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) should also be increased as it was affected due to various reasons. Stating that different union ministries have launched ambitious projects for the rapid development of Odisha, Goyal said while NTPC was taking steps for improving power position, an inland waterways project was taken up from Talcher to the port town of Paradip. Similarly, a host of petroleum and petrochemical projects were coming up. Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, who was the chief guest, said production of Nalco should increase in the interest of the state and its people. An MoU was signed by Nalco with IIT-Bhubaneswar on Research and Development and another with Midhani on high-value products in the presence of the union ministers. An exhibition on the celebration of Centenary of Champaran Satyagraha was also organised on the occasion. I just read in the Post Dispatch a review of the latest laws that the religious zealots in Jefferson City want to enact into legislation to punish poor women for their decision to terminate a pregnancy. When you cannot ban something outright, then you try to make it as tough on these women as you can. Notice before I said poor women. It really doesnt affect the rich women, she gets what she wants when she wants it. She doesnt have to worry about the obstacles laid down for the less fortunate. Some states have enacted laws that she must have an ultrasound of the fetus. She must be asked if she wants to look at the image. They note in her record (by law) whether she looked or not. Some states go further and state that the monitor must be turned so the patient can see it and the doctor must tell her what she sees. The zealots frame this as a right to know. Yes, thats right, its called a right. They have the right to be coerced into exercising the right to refuse the right that they came in with. In Florida she doesnt have to look at the ultrasound as long as she became pregnant as the result of rape, incest or human trafficking. Yes that is actually a law. These restrictions keep pouring out of the Missouri Legislature. One that is completely in the hands of the zealots. I can hardly wait to see what kind of touches our new governor adds to this list. Even if Roe itself is overturned the rights for these women are constantly being eroded. These Missouri legislators have a great appetite for shaming and policing poor women. They feel as if even though they cant make it illegal, they can still make these women feel illegal. These Missouri legislators show no shame. Bob Roney Ironton Congress leader Manish Tewari today stressed the need for overhauling of urban local governance and ushering in transparency which is lacking. "There is a need of overhauling of urban local governance," he said here. He stressed on the need to avoid multiplicity of urban local bodies in each city. He said that there is great need to empower our Mayors. "Transparency in urban governance is totally lacking. More public participation should be ensured," he said. He was participating in a panel discussion on a 'Vision for Smart Cities' organized by Mumbai based 'Design Perspective' here. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana Women and Child Development minister Kavita Jain today said that "as a woman" she feels that prohibition should be imposed in the state. She however added that such a move would not work if there was no such ban existed in the neighbouring states. "As a woman I would say prohibition should be imposed," the Women and Child Development Minister told reporters in Sonepat on the sidelines of a function. Haryana shares its boundaries with states where there is no prohibition, she said. Prohibition had been imposed in Haryana in 1996 by the Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government but it was lifted by the same regime in 1998. Jain said that she felt that the attempt had failed as liquor was availble in the neighbouring states. "Earlier also probably one of the reasons of prohibition failing in Haryana was that liquor was available in neighbouring states. There were instances when people brought liquor (into the state) in buses and through other means," she said. Jain said that those who are habitual drinkers, when they don't get liquor, turn violent in their homes and are ready to spend any amount to procure it. "Then the situation turns more explosive," she said while going into the demerits of prohibition if people can procure liquor from neighbouring states. She said the Supreme Court order banning liquor sale along highways was a very good thing. "Drinking liquor is a social evil, any addiction is a habit," she said, adding "government wants to save people of the country from bad habits and addiction". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a heat wave warning for Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra for the next two days. The heat wave conditions are likely to prevail at isolated places in Vidarbha on Sunday (April 16), while similar conditions could develop in Marathwada on Monday (April 17), an official release issued by the IMD said today. "There is a heat wave in north India, including Saurashtra and Kutch area, rise in temperature is likely to be experienced in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions in next 48-hours," V K Rajeev, director of IMD, Mumbai regional centre told PTI. "It is to be noted that the day temperature is soaring but night temperature is still on the lower side. The clear skies are keeping the nights cool and sometimes the temperature dips below the normal," Rajeev said. Meanwhile, Chandrapur recorded a maximum temperature of 45.2 degree celsius today, while the night temperature there stood at 25.2 degree celsius, the release said. Temperatures are recorded early in the morning and in the afternoon for minimum and maximum readings. Ahmednagar recored lowest temperature at 16.6 degree celsius, the IMD data revealed. In Vidarbha, most of the areas reported a temperature of more than 41 degree celsius today with minimum departure (change) of 2.8 degree celsius, but there was some negative departure in its night temperatures. It means the difference between maximum and minimum temperature has widened. For instance, Nagpur's temperature was 44.5 degree celsius today with a departure of four degree celsius. Same city has 23.5 degree celsius as its minimum temperature with a departure of -0.7 degree celsius. Akola, which has been the hottest city during the current season, reported 44.6 degree celsius with the departure of 3.9 degree celsius. But its night temperature was 23.2 degree celsius with a departure of -1.4 degree celsius, the IMD data stated. In Marathwada, Parbhani was the hottest city with 43.8 degree celsius with a departure of 3.3 degree celsius. Its night temperature was 24.2 degree celsius, which was normal, the IMD data stated. In Mumbai, night temperature reported higher departure than its day temperature, which leads to rise in humidity between the night of April 14 and 15, said the data. The state capital's maximum temperature was 34.8 degree celsius, whereas its night temperature was 28 degree celsius. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) He broke into the scene with his stand-up acts and YouTube show, and Kanan Gill is now venturing into acting but he says making a film is what drives him. Kanan, best known for his popular show "Pretentious Movie Reviews", says he wants to make a comedy film as unfortunately good comedies are not getting made in Bollywood. "The idea was always to make movies. India deserves good comedies which people are not making and that is the real drive here," Kanan told PTI. The actor says while trying to get close to his dream of directing a film, he chanced upon the role in "Noor" and took it as he found it appealing. "I always thought I would be making a film at some point. But before I got to do that, I got a chance to be in one. When the role came about, I found it very appealing. I thought it was right up my attic, something that I can do." Kanan says during the shooting period of "Noor", he used all the free time to write his film. "As soon as I get time after release, I am going to get that ball rolling." "Noor", directed by Sunhil Sippy, stars Sonakshi Sinha in the titular role. The film is based on Pakistani author Saba Imtiaz's novel 'Karachi, You're Killing Me!' and is about a journalist trying to navigate her way through Mumbai. Kanan says he is not under any pressure about his debut in Bollywood and does not understand the whole fuss about it. "I don't think like that and I don't care. I really wish people will stop thinking about things like that. I think we should be just working towards being part of good movies." The newcomer says he has received a lot of warmth and support from the current crop of Bollywood actors. "Surprisingly, the new crop of actors knew me. They have seen my work and also other current stand-up acts. They were all very supportive." When asked if he will go back to doing funny reviews in his programme "Pretentious Movie Reviews" which he used to host along with Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kanan says, "We might. But we will not review any current film. We always take more obscure ones. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shia community today appealed the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to keep in mind the Quran, Shariyat and humanity before arriving at any decision on the contentious issue of triple talaq. The Ayodhya dispute and triple talaq are expected to dominate the agenda of the two-day meeting of the Board, which will begin shortly at Nadwatul Ulama here. "My appeal to the AIMPLB is that it should keep in mind the Quran, Shariat and humanity before arriving at any decision on triple talaq," spokesperson of the All India Shia Personal Law Board, Maulana Yasoob Abbas told PTI. He said in the days of Prophet (Muhammed Sahab), there was no tradition of triple talaq. "If triple talaq is a part of Shariat law, it should have been implemented then itself. The need of the hour is to implement the system which was in place during the days of the Prophet," he said. "The kind of information pertaining to triple talaq, which is currently circulating on social media and in the society, is harming the image of Islam. When the Sunnis are of the view that triple talaq is being misued, the practice must cease to exist with mutual agreement," the spokesperson said. Abbas said many Muslim countries have put an end to the practice as it is directly linked to the lives of Muslim women. "In the Shia community, there has been no place for triple talaq since the inception," he asserted. Commenting on the stand of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government on the issue, Abbas said, "The fact is we have allowed these governments to interfere in our Shariat laws. If we had settled our disputes amicably at our level, this scenario would have never arised." Meanwhile, Shaista Amber, president of the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board said, "Before arriving at any decision on the vexed issue, the panelists must recall the faces of their daughters and daughters-in-law. They should decide with an open mind, leaving behind all the pre-conceived notions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Emma Morano, an Italian woman believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor of the 19th century, died today at the age of 117, the Italian media reported. Morano, born on November 29 1899, died at her home in Verbania, northern Italy, the reports said. "She had an extraordinary life, and we will always remember her strength to help us move forward in life," the mayor of Verbania was quoted as saying. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 40-year-old man killed his wife and her alleged paramour at Krishnapuram area in the wee hours of today, police said. V Ramu, a daily wage worker, used a crowbar to smash the heads of V Sandhya Rani (26) and K Rambabu (45), said police. The accused was upset over his wife having an affair with Rambabu, police said. The incident took place in the jurisdiction of Nathavaram police station. Ramu had married Sandhya Rani around eight-years ago and the couple has a son, said police. However, Sandhya Rani since last year was having an affair with Rambabu, said police. Though Ramu had asked his wife to mend her behaviour, she ignored the warnings and continued the relationship, said police. Ramu later fled the spot and the police have launched a manhunt to nab him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Having lost a whopping 262 kgs after two months into her weight reduction treatment here, Egyptian woman Eman Ahmed is now facing a new challenge of neurological rehabilitation, the bariatric surgeon attending her said. Eman landed in the megapolis as the world's heaviest woman weighing nearly 500 kilograms. She arrived here on February 11, in a chartered flight for the treatment. Since then, she is under the care of renowned bariatric surgeon Muffazal Lakdawala and his team at the Saifee Hospital here. "Three years ago, a stroke paralysed her. Since then there was very little muscular movement and it complicated her health issues with subsequent weight gain. Physiotherapy is being administered to her as a part of the treatment. Though I am not an expert in it, her consultants here have now recommended concentration over neurological rehabilitation," Dr Lakdawala told PTI. "It is a crucial phase because the challenge of obesity in her overall health has been successfully addressed. The fluid content is already removed from her body, which helped us in halving her weight," he said. Lakdawala said that when Eman was brought to Mumbai, she was severely obese and her weight was 498 kilograms. Her body parts were then running at five per cent efficiency, which has now increased up to 60 per cent, he said. "She is also facing a bit of depression as hardly anyone is here to talk to her. She does miss her family and it is very difficult to communicate as she barely speaks because of her paralysis. It becomes more difficult for her to converse in a non-Arabic language," Dr Lakdawala said. Now, we have lowered her category from 'high risk' patient to a normal one, he added. On financial assistance received for her treatment, Dr Lakdawala said, "So far, Rs 65 lakh have been received, entirely from Indian donors. It is much less than the cost incurred as yet. And she still needs more medication and treatment in terms of neurological rehabilitation." However, the age factor is on her side, he feels. "She is around 34 years old, which could be of some help to her," the surgeon said. Eman has lost 262 kilograms so far after going through a series of medical procedures and changes in food intake since being admitted. She successfully underwent a laparoscopic weight-loss procedure called sleeve gastrectomy on March 7. Before being brought to Mumbai, the woman was confined to her bed and had not moved out of her house for the last 25 years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police today arrested a Nigerian national for his alleged involvement in two cases of theft of electronic gadgets in south Delhi. With the arrest of the accused, Mohammad Ali Awal, aged 27, police claimed to have worked out two cases of thefts reported from Safdarjang Enclave and Mehrauli areas. Three stolen laptops and other electronic gadgets have also been recovered, said Chinmoy Biswal, additional DCP (South). On April 9, a case of theft of high-end workstation and laptops along with hard disk and some cash was reported by a resident of Hauz Khas Village, said the officer. The complainant had stated that he had noticed that his electronic gadgets had gone missing on the intervening night of April 8-9 from his room. A day later, while the local police was searching for clues, the complainant found a CCTV camera installed a couple of buildings away from his own, he said. The footage was examined and the suspicious movements of a man were noticed, he said. The man was seen climbing up stairs while holding a cell phone to his ear and simultaneously, casually checking the front door latches of flats to find if they were unlocked. Police developed suspicion about his involvement in the theft that happened in the building two blocks away. It was found that a Microsoft account was registered on the stolen workstation and it had been accessed about 24 hours after the theft from a location in Chatarpur Extension, Mehrauli, he said. While working on the case, police found another CCTV footage which pertained to another theft of a laptop and other electronic articles in Mehrauli. The suspects in both the footages had close resemblance. The Chatarpur footage pointed that the suspect had boarded an auto to leave the area early morning, he said. The auto driver was located and he told police that he had dropped the suspect near Chhatarpur Extension, he said. The accused, Awal, belongs to Abuja, Nigeria. He had come to India in 2015 and told police that he is pursuing BBA from Mahatma Gandhi University, Meghalaya through distance learning, Biswal said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today refused to comment on the allegations levelled by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi about dubious land deals by family members of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad. Kumar did not respond to repeated queries of reporters on the issue while leaving the Gandhi Sangrahalay after attending a function. "Jyada bolne par gala kharab ho jata hai (speaking more leads to a sore throat)," was all that Kumar said. Deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav also did not comment on the issue. Tejaswi, the younger son of Lalu Prasad, has been targeted by Sushil Modi with a series of allegations of dubious land deals. While Kumar and Tejaswi refused to comment, state Congress president and minister Ashok Choudhary came down heavily on Sushil Modi. "He is making allegations as part of some political agenda... He should approach the competent authority with his allegations, instead of making political statements everyday," Choudhary told reporters. "Why should we work on an agenda set by Sushil Modi? we have our own agenda to work for the people of Bihar," Choudhary, the state Education minister, said. He dismissed any cracks in the grand alliance in the state, which he said is standing rock solid. Sushil Modi has been making allegations of dubious land deals by Lalu Prasad's family members and has demanded that Kumar sack Lalu's two sons from the ministry. Today he threatened to file a defamation suit against RJD national spokesman Manoj Jha for making false allegations of properties owned by him in Patna and outside the state. "If RJD spokesman Manoj Jha produces any paper with regard to allegations about me owning property in Rajendra Nagar in Patna, Sohna in Haryana, moving around in BMW cars in Bengaluru and Mumbai and fake degree of my wife, then I will register the entire property in the name of Lalu Prasad or file a defamation suit against Jha," Sushil Modi said in a statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Belligerence is in the air in Washington. President Trump is enjoying (extremely rare) bi-partisan praise for a cruise-missile attack on Syria. There's tough talk from some Republicans about more. And even tougher talk about Russia. North Korea, too. Meanwhile, the public's reaction is ... huh? For millions of American voters, the two most striking aspects of the U.S. action against Syria were 1) How quickly Trump moved, and 2) How little he explained his actions. Explaining -- laying the groundwork, making a case -- is an essential part of presidential leadership. That's especially true when what is involved is an act of war. Leaders contemplating military action prepare the public to support that action. They explain why it is needed. They explain why it is in the national interest of the United States. Then they repeat the explanation. No, that doesn't mean they reveal exactly what they're going to do and when they're going to do it. Trump said many times on the campaign trail that he would not telegraph his actions to foreign adversaries. To do so, he said, would be to give up the critical element of surprise. But leaders don't surprise the voters with an out-of-the-blue act of war. In the case of Syria, Trump moved so quickly, and with such little effort at public persuasion beforehand, that he maintained the element of surprise on his own voters. That's not a good idea. Indeed, the public reaction, measured by early polls, is not optimistic for the president. After the attack, Washington Post pollsters asked, "Do you support or oppose President Trump's decision to launch a missile strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation for the Syrian government using chemical weapons against civilians?" The result was 51 percent support, 40 percent oppose. Among registered voters, Trump's support level was a bit higher at 57 percent. Then the Post asked, "Would you support or oppose additional U.S. air strikes against the Syrian government at this time?" Just 35 percent said support, while 54 percent said oppose. Again, Trump's support was a little better, 39 percent, among registered voters. Either way, the fact is, the barest of majorities supports a new president sending military forces into action for the first time as commander-in-chief. "They are not good numbers," says Republican pollster David Winston. Winston points out that it is often hard to assess Trump's poll results because he won the presidency with an unfavorable rating of 60 percent -- that alone should tell everyone that Trump is a different kind of president, as far as polling is concerned. Nevertheless, it's possible to conclude that support for more military action appears tenuous at best -- unless Trump makes the effort to build public support. "He needs to realize that there is a level of explanation that he needs to do, particularly when you're about to put American lives potentially at risk, given that starting point of 60 percent unfavorable," Winston says. "It's not that people are going to disagree with him, but when they hear something he has done, 60 percent of the country starts off with the viewpoint of, 'That guy I don't like.'" Trump's no-explanations style is particularly bad for his political fortunes because, beyond what he promised would be a quick, intense, and winning effort to destroy ISIS, he did not campaign on the idea of going to war. Just the opposite; Trump campaigned day after day on a platform of keeping the United States out of the mess in the Middle East. Trump often excoriated George W. Bush for the "big, fat mistake" of going to war in Iraq. Now, Trump's quick conversion to military action has left some prominent supporters unhappy -- and warning of problems to come. "The thing that's most important right now for Donald Trump is to remember those core issues that he so successfully campaigned on," conservative radio host Laura Ingraham said on Fox News Tuesday morning. "It was all focused on America first. Jobs, the economy, wages going up -- that's it. "What I think is difficult at the same time is to manage this war footing that we increasingly seem to be on," Ingraham continued. "I do have my concerns about this administration getting mired again in another conflict in the Middle East ... I'm not sure getting rid of Bashar al-Assad was at the top of the list of the people in Pennsylvania." At the same time, Trump is winning plaudits of those in his party who tried hardest to defeat him. Bill Kristol called the White House execution of the attack "impressive" and welcomed Trump as a potential convert to regime change. "It would be ironic if Trump, who campaigned against regime change, ends up pursuing it in both Syria and North Korea," Kristol tweeted Tuesday. The day after the attack, Kristol tweeted, "Punishing Assad for use of chemical weapons is good. Regime change in Iran is the prize." No, that is probably not what Trump voters in Pennsylvania had in mind. If Trump has changed his views from what he said in the campaign, or even if he has simply decided that Syria should be a one-time exception to his general opposition to military interventionism, he owes voters all around the country more of an explanation than he has given so far. Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner. North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles in a massive military display in central Pyongyang today, with ruler Kim Jong Un looking on with delight as his nation flaunted its increasingly sophisticated military hardware amid rising regional tensions. Kim did not speak during the annual parade, which celebrates the 1912 birthday of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founding ruler, but a top official warned that the North would stand up to any threat posed by the United States. Choe Ryong Hae said President Donald Trump was guilty of "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching US forces to the region. "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," said Choe, widely seen by analysts as North Korea's No 2 official. The parade, the annual highlight of North Korea's most important holiday, came amid growing international worries that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM capable of reaching US shores. But if the parade signalled a readiness for war, North Korea has long insisted that its goal is peace and survival with the growing arsenal a way to ensure that the government in Pyongyang is not easily overthrown. North Korea saw the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya neither of whom had nuclear weapons as proof of the weapons' power. "It will be the largest of miscalculations if the United States treats us like Iraq and Libya, which are living out miserable fates as victims of aggression, and Syria, which didn't respond immediately even after it was attacked," said a statement yesterday by the general staff of the North Korean army, according to the official Korean Central Agency. Also yesterday, North Korea's vice foreign minister told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that Trump's tweets he recently tweeted, for example, that the North is "looking for trouble" have inflamed tensions. "Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words," Han Song Ryol said. US retaliatory strikes earlier this month against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, coupled with Trump's dispatching of what he called an "armada" of ships to the region, touched off fears in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action against the North. Pyongyang has also expressed anger over the ongoing annual spring military exercises the US holds with South Korea, which it considers a rehearsal for invasion. But US officials told The Associated Press yesterday that the Trump administration had settled on a policy that will emphasise increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's regime. A US military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said the United States doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Kim, wearing a suit and tie, was greeted today with thunderous and extensively practised applause as he stepped into view on a large podium, clapping to acknowledge the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade at Kim Il Sung Square. The parade, an elaborate display of the state's immense power, involves tens of thousands of participants, from goose-stepping soldiers to crowds of civilians who have spent weeks perfecting their ability to wave plastic flowers in unison. For outside military analysts, though, the highlight is the weaponry that the North puts on display. A series of what appeared to be KN-08 missiles were among the weapons rolled out on trucks. Analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, although North Korea has yet to flight test them. The parade also included large rockets covered by canisters in two different types of transporter erector launcher trucks, or TELs. An official from South Korea's Defence Ministry couldn't immediately confirm whether any of the rockets represented a new type of ICBM. Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the canisters and trucks suggested that the North was developing technology to "cold launch" ICBMs, ejecting them from the canisters before they ignite. This would allow North Korea to prevent its limited number of ICBM-capable launcher trucks from being damaged during launches and also make the missiles harder to detect after they're fired, he said. Cold launches would also allow the missiles to be fired from silos. Kim, the analyst, said it's likely that North Korea is also developing solid-fuel ICBMs, and that some of the rockets inside the canisters today might have been prototypes. Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery, as well as a solid- fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines. Also on display was a powerful midrange missile that outside analysts call a "Musudan," and which can potentially reach US air bases in Guam, as well as a new solid-fuel midrange missile that can be fired from land mobile launchers, making them harder to detect before launch. Kim Jong Un, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, emphasises nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defence strategy. Under his watch, North Korea has aggressively pursued a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. In his annual New Year's address, Kim said North Korea's preparations for an ICBM launch had "reached the final stage." Recent satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. North Korea conducted two nuclear tests last year alone, advancing its goal to make nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. The North also last year launched a long-range rocket that put a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology. Other senior officials joining Kim at the parade podium included Kim Won Hong, who the South Korean government had said earlier this year was fired from his job as state security minister, presumably over corruption. South Korea has a spotty record of tracking developments in North Korea, as information about the secretive, authoritarian state is often impossible to confirm. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ananti-terrorism court in Pakistan today remanded eight students in police custody for four days on charges of brutally murdering a fellow university student over his liberal views, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the killing over blasphemy allegations. The eight students of Khan Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were produced before the court which remanded them to police custody for four days. Mashal Khan, a journalism student at the university, was stripped, beaten and shot in the head and chest by a violent mob on Thursday. The video of the gruesome violence made via mobile phone cameras shows Khan's disrobed body - covered in blood - being dragged, first in a hallway and then on a road of the campus. Another student, Abdullah, was beaten bloody before police managed to rescue him from his attackers. Prime Minister Sharif today issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the lynching of the student, saying the entire nation should be united in condemning this crime and to promote tolerance and rule of law in the society. "The state will never tolerate those who take the law in their own hands," he warned. Sharif said he had been left "deeply saddened" at the student's murder by the "insensitive mob". He directed action against those found involved in the incident, ordering police to arrest all those who were responsible. "Shocked to see Mashal Khan killing video. Vigilantism & mob justice are indicative of regressive & putrid mindset. Is that what we stand for?" Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz tweeted soon after the premier's statement. "Images of brutal killing of two brothers in Sialkot years ago still haunts & now #MashalKhan. Do we want to be known as benighted nation?" she added. Speaking on the floor of the house, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak condemned the killing as "barbaric" and "brutal". He announced an independent judicial inquiry into the incident. "We have yet not found any blasphemous material in the case," he told the lawmakers. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani said the Chief Minister hassigned a summary requesting the Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also expressed concern "over the cold-blooded murder of Mashal Khan" in a written statement issued by his party and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Anguished by the lynching of a Pakistani student for alleged blasphemy, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai today said Pakistanis themselves are responsible for tarnishing the image of Islam and the country. Mashal Khan, who studied journalism at the Abdukl Wali Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was mercilessly beaten and then shot dead by a vigilante mob of students from the same varsity, suspecting him of publishing blasphemous content online and promoting the Ahmadi faith, police said. The 19-year-old UK-based Pakistani education activist, in a video message said, "today I got the of Mashal Khan's death. This incident is full of terror and violence. I have spoken to his father who gave the message of peace and patience. I appreciate and salute his message of patience and peace". "We complain that there is Islamophobia, countries are tarnishing the name of our country. No one is diminishing Pakistan and Islam, we ourselves are tarnishing the name of Pakistan and Islam. We ourselves are responsible for tarnishing the image of Pakistan," Malala said. "This was not only the funeral of Mashal Khan but it was also the funeral of the teachings of our religion. We have forgotten the teachings of Islam which teach us about peace and patience," she said. Malala, who shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with India's child rights' activist Kailash Satyarthi said, it is the right of every Pakistani to be safe and lead a normal life. "If we continue to kill one another in such a manner, no one will be safe," she said, referring to the lynching of Khan who, after being assaulted by a large group of students, appeared to have succumbed to a gunshot wound. "So my message to everyone is, please know your religion, culture, values which have always taught us to be patient and preach peace. In the end, I would request all the political parties, leaders and government to stand for peace and justice. Stand for the justice to Mashal Khan's family and do not be silent," Malala added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a rousing welcome by the people here today during his 9 -km roadshow that he held soon after arriving at the city airport to attend the BJP national executive meet. He was welcomed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport by senior party leaders, state Chief Secretary A P Padhi and Director General of Police K B Singh on behalf of the Odisha government after he boarded off the IAF's 'Raj Hans' aircraft. Governor S C Jamir and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were not seen at the airport to welcome the Prime Minister as his visit was "non-official" and political in nature, said the government sources. Clad in an all white, Modi stood on the foot rest of his Range Rover, beamed and waved at the people who had gathered on both sides of the road with lotus flowers in their hands to greet him. Defying the security cordon, Modi even got off his vehicle a couple of times, walked to the people waiting for him for hours in the summer sun, greeted them and even shook hands with some of them. He also paid floral tributes to the freedom fighters and illustrious sons of the soil on his way to the Raj Bhavan. As the Prime Minister's 9 km-long roadshow passed through the main road connecting the airport and the Raj Bhavan, the chants of 'Modi .. Modi,' 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Bande Mataram' rent the air. The state BJP also organised folk dance, songs and folk music at different places along the route taken by the Prime Minister. The members of the BJP's Mahila Morcha felicitated the prime minister in front of the Raj Bhavan, giving him lotus flowers. After a 20-minute halt at Raj Bhavan, Modi resumed his roadshow. He got off the vehicle and walked for about half-a- km near Jaidev Vihar, mingling freely with the people before arriving at Janata Maidan, the venue of the two-day national executive. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his two-day Gujarat visit by holding a roadshow in Surat after arriving there tomorrow evening, an official said. "The PM is scheduled to land at the Surat airport at 6:45 PM. From there, he will embark on a roadshow over an 11-kilometre stretch between Airport and Circuit House," Surat Collector M S Patel told PTI. At Circuit House, the PM will meet BJP leaders and stay there for the night. On Monday, the PM will inaugurate Rs 400-crore Kiran Multi Super Specialty Hospital and Research Centre, built by a trust, Patel said. Modi will then go to Hira Bourse SEZ at Icchapur village in the district to inaugurate a diamond polishing unit of Hari Krishna Export Private Limited. From there, the Prime Minister will go to Bijapur village of Tapi district to inaugurate a cattle feed plant and ice- cream plant of Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, popularly known as Sumul Dairy, and remotely lay foundation stones for dairy products plant at Nava Pardi. He will also address a gathering there, Sumul Dairy officials said. Modi will then visit Silvassa in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli where also he will address a gathering apart from inaugurating new projects and distributing assistance to beneficiaries. Around 21,000 beneficiaries of different schemes of the Centre will be distributed help kits there. Modi will then head to Botad in Saurashtra to inaugurate phase-1 of Sauni project for Botad and surrounding districts. He will also lay foundation stone for phase-2 of the project. In August last year, Modi had inaugurated the first phase of ambitious Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (Sauni) Project from Jamnagar. Under this project, which is divided in four phases, the Gujarat government plans to fill 115 dams of Saurashtra region with excess overflowing water of Sardar Sarovar Dam across river Narmada through a web of pipeline network. This is Modi's second visit to his home state this year. He had earlier visited Gandhinagar on March 8 to address women sarpanchs from across the country on International Women's Day. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pope Francis deplored the suffering of migrants, victims of racism and persecuted Christians as some 20,000 worshippers gathered at Rome's Colosseum to hear his Good Friday prayer. "Christ, our only saviour, we turn towards you this year with eyes lowered in shame," the pope yesterday told the crowds outside the former gladiators' battleground, their faces lit by candlelight. "Shame for all the images of devastation, destruction and shipwrecks which have become ordinary in our lives," Francis said in an apparent reference to Mediterranean migrant disasters that have left at least 590 people feared people dead this year. The pope also spoke of the child abuse scandals that have rocked Catholicism in recent years, expressing "shame for all the times when bishops, priests and the religious have scandalised and hurt" the Church. "Shame for the innocent blood, spilt daily, of women, children, migrants, people persecuted for the colour of their skin or for their social or ethnic group -- or for their faith in you," he said. The Easter holy week commemorating the last days of Jesus's life had a bloody beginning last Sunday with attacks claimed by the Islamic State group on two Coptic churches in Egypt that left 45 people dead. Egyptian Copts observed a solemn Good Friday with prayers and fasting, as the community reeled from the bombings. Despite concerns over security, Francis is planning to go ahead with a visit to the country later this month. In Rome, security was tight for the night-time ceremony, with road blocks and metal detectors in place as worshippers gathered to hear the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics. Three thousand officers were deployed to protect the Colosseum. This year an Egyptian couple and their three young daughters carried a large cross for part of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession, descending through the Colosseum and then outside into the crowd. Worshippers from Portugal and Colombia -- two countries the pontiff is set to visit in May and September respectively -- also took part in the procession, taking turns to carry the cross along with two Chinese Christians. A small group of believers carry a cross between 14 "stations" evoking the hours in the run-up to Jesus's crucifixion during the Via Crucis procession. Francis, 80, sat under his traditional red canopy next to a large cross lit with torchlight for the ceremony, which for the first time included a meditation written by a secular woman, French professor Anne-Marie Pelletier. Good Friday is the second of four important days in the Christian calendar beginning with Maundy Thursday and culminating in Easter Sunday, which commemorates Christ's resurrection. Today, the pontiff will take part in an evening Easter vigil in St Peter's Basilica, before celebrating Easter mass Tomorrow and pronouncing the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" blessing to Rome and the world. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rapper Queen Latifah will star in and executive produce a film about the Michigan water- contamination crisis. Betsy Brandt, Jill Scott and Marin Ireland will also join the cast as activists who fight to bring clean water to Flint, reported New York Daily . The movie titled "Flint" is based on Josh Sanburn's February 2016 Time Magazine article "The Toxic Tap." Cher was originally announced to star in the movie, but pulled out after her mother got sick. "Flint" will begin production next week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure today reported consolidated net profit of Rs 40.94 crore for the March quarter against a net loss of Rs 327.41 crore a year ago. The company's total income for the January-March 2017 declined to Rs 6,145 crore from Rs 6,910 crore a year-ago. "It was an encouraging quarter. The infrastructure sector, which had been through trouble is now starting to pick up. We have already bagged two orders worth Rs 4,386 crore in the last four months in the EPC business and going forward we continue to see a similar trend," RInfra CEO Lalit Jalan told reporters here. The company won an EPC contract for setting-up two 250 MW thermal power plants worth Rs 3,675 crore in Rajasthan from Neyveli Lignite Corporation and a Rs 711 crore road project from NHAI in Tamil Nadu. "Our current order book stands at Rs 5,960 crore and revenue at Rs 2,492 crore in FY17. We are targeting opportunities worth Rs 2 trillion annually planned by government across power, roads, railways, ports and mega infrastructure projects," he said. For the year FY2016-17, the company clocked total revenue of Rs 28,222 crore, while its net profit stood at Rs 1425 crore. During the year, the company added over 2.3 lakh consumers in its Mumbai and Delhi distribution regions. It also recovered Rs 894 crore arrears in Mumbai distribution, the company said in a statement. "We also filed the DRHP with the SEBI for launching investment trust for our road assets. We have received approvals from the NHAI for our nine roads and one from the Haryana government. We will be submitting the approvals from the authority to the SEBI for its final nod next week. "Once we get the final approval from the SEBI, we will launch the first InvIT in the second half of May this year," Jalan said. During the year, RInfra executed share purchase agreement and signed a term sheet with Adani Transmission for 100 per cent sale of WRSSS transmission assets and Parbati Koldam project, respectively. "With these two deals, the debt of the company is expected to reduce by Rs 2,000 crore," he said. The company also received clearance from the Competition Commission of India for joint venture with Dassault Aviation. "This JV will play a major role in meeting offset obligation worth Rs 30000 crore for Rafale 36 contract," Jalan said. During the year, the company won arbitration for two road projects worth Rs 170 crore and over Rs 14000 crore is under advanced stages of arbitration. "We also completed the 100 per cent sale of the cement business to Birla Corporation for Rs 4800 crore," he said. Jalan further said its Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd (RDEL) has signed contract to build 14 fast patrol vessels for Indian Coast Guard and is the only private sector shipyard to deliver Panamax class vessel. "The company has also submitted bids and expressed interest in various naval programmes worth Rs 38,000 crore," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) candidate Dilli Ram Thapa today won the upper Burtuk Assembly seat, garnering 8,406 votes in the bypolls. Out of the total vote count, SDF candidate secured 8,406 votes, Suresh Khanal Sharma of BJP got 374 votes while Congress candidate Sumitra Rai bagged 98 votes. Five Independent candidates contesting from the seat got 449 votes. Nota votes share stood at 100 of the total votes polled. The BJP had fielded Suresh Khanal Sharma, while Sumitra Rai contested on a Congress ticket and Dilli Ram Thapa of the SDF was in the fray in the bypolls. The bypoll was necessitated following the disqualification of sitting MLA Prem Singh Tamang (Goley), who was accused of misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the state Animal Husbandry department minister in 1996-97. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The international hotel and car rental costs for the Secret Service agents who protect the US president's two sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr have topped USD 190,000 since January 1, according to a media report today. The bills, paid by taxpayers, include Eric Trump's trip to the UK and Ireland this week, CBS reported. Documents for Eric Trump's trip to Dublin show that USD 4,029.85 was spent on limousines for his visit and USD 11,261 to cover the hotel costs of the Secret Service agents. These purchase orders do not include airfare costs for Secret Service agents who traditionally conduct advance trips to the location in preparation for visits by protectees. It also does not include the cost of the salaries paid to the agents who protect members of the president's family. The report said that the Trump Organisation did not respond to a request for comment. Eric Trump's visit to the UK was his fifth international trip since the beginning of 2017. He went to Uruguay and the Dominican Republic on his own and accompanied his brother Donald Trump Jr on his trips to Dubai and Vancouver, Canada. The trips by the Trump sons are to promote Trump-branded properties in those countries. According to an analysis by the Economist magazine, the Trump Organisation's international deals account for less than 10 per cent of the firm's value. "The Trump family's frequent travel to international destinations purely to promote the Trump family business is burning through taxpayer dollars at an unprecedented rate and stretching the Secret Service increasingly thin," Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee told the network. President Trump's trips on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago have cost taxpayers an estimated USD 700,000 for each round trip. CBS has estimated, based on a previous Government Accountabilty Office report, that each presidential trip to Mar-a-Lago costs about USD 3 million. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Superstar Shah Rukh Khan made good friend Brett Ratner groove to his popular song "Lungi Dance" and taught him the signature step. The 51-year-old star, who was honoured with a special tribute at the 60th San Francisco Film Festival, sat down for a conversation with Ratner. The two had a long discussion on films, Hollywood- Bollywood collaborations, success and failure, and towards the end shared a light groovy moment. "With #KingKhan @iamsrk doing the #LungiDance during the @sffilm Inspiring, humble, a great dancer, and smells great too!" Ratner posted a video on Instagram. Shah Rukh thanked Ratner, who gifted him a doll modelled on himself, after the session. "Thanx Brett Ratner for a great evening at the SFFILM, your doll is awesome like you," he tweeted with an image where he is seen holding the doll. The actor also thanked the festival organisers for making him feel special. "You made me feel special and all who came to attend. Love you and hugs," he tweeted. Shah Rukh's "My Name is Khan" was screened as part of the line-up of movies at the festival. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police today arrested a smuggler in Munger district and seized six Gupta period idols of Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavir and Gods Shiva Parvati valued at around Rs three crore in the international market. Munger superintendent of police Ashish Bharti said that acting on a tip off a police team led by additional superintendent of police (Operations) Rana Navin laid a trap and arrested the smuggler from Gaida Pahar area and seized the six idols. The idols had been stolen from Lakhisarai district and were to be sold to another smuggler in Munger, he said. The arrested smuggler, who has been identified, had confessed that two idols, including of that of Shiva Parvati were stolen from Chandi temple at Urain village in Lakhisarai district. The other idols were stolen from nearby places. The six idols are made of granite and four of them are of Lord Buddha. Each idol is valued at Rs 50 lakh in the international market and officials of the Archaeological Survey of India have been informed in this regard, the SP said. Bharti said the arrested smuggler, whose two accomplices are absconding, had confessed that he had sold stolen idols in Delhi and Karnataka in the past. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The South Western command of Indian Army today celebrated its 13th Raising Day at Jaipur Military Station here today. A tribute was paid to the martyrs at a solemn ceremony at 'Prerna Sthal' in the military station to mark the Raising Day of the seventh and youngest command of the Army, a defence spokesperson said. Army Commander Lt Gen Abhay Krishna and other serving and retired officers of the station laid wreaths at the ceremony. Lt Gen Krishna recalled the supreme sacrifice made by the martyrs and exhorted all ranks to be forever steadfast in their resolve to meet the myriad security challenges confronting the nation. In addition to its primary role of operational preparedness, the Western command has contributed to environmental protection, national integration, welfare of veterans and women and various empowerment projects and sports. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korea's military forces were massed in Pyongyang today for a show of strength by leader Kim Jong-Un as tensions mount over his nuclear ambitions. Hundreds of flatbed trucks packed with soldiers lined the banks of the Taedong river ahead of a parade through the North Korean capital. Ostensibly the event was to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim's grandfather, the North's founder Kim II- Sung - a date known as the 'Day of the Sun' in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name. But it is also intended to send an unmistakable message to Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and other capitals about the isolated, nuclear-armed North's military might. Pyongyang is under multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes, and has ambitions to build a rocket capable of delivering a warhead to the US mainland - something US President Donald Trump has vowed "won't happen". It has carried out five nuclear tests - two of them last year - and multiple missile launches, one of which saw three rockets come down in waters provocatively close to Japan last month. Speculation that it could conduct a sixth blast in the coming days to coincide with the anniversary has reached fever pitch, with specialist US website 38North describing its Punggye-ri test site as "primed and ready" and White House officials saying military options were "already being assessed". Trump has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and an accompanying battle group to the Korean peninsula. "We are sending an armada. Very powerful," Trump told the Fox Business Network. "He is doing the wrong thing," he added of Kim. "He's making a big mistake." China, the North's sole major ally, and Russia have both urged restraint, with Beijing's foreign minister Wang Yi warning yesterday that "conflict could break out at any moment". The North has reiterated its constant refrain that it is ready for "war" with the US. Its army vowed yesterday a 'merciless' response to any US provocation but diplomats in Pyongyang are more sanguine, pointing out that the North raises its rhetoric every spring, when Washington and Seoul hold annual joint exercises that it views as preparations for invasion. None of the North's five previous nuclear tests have taken place in the month of April. On past form, the parade will see Kim watch ranks of goose-stepping soldiers marching through Kim Il-Sung Square in the centre of Pyongyang, accompanied by tanks, missiles on trailers, and other materiel. Military specialists keep a close eye on such events for clues about developments in the North's capabilities. Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies said he was looking out for "the possibility of a new ICBM", adding: "There may be some surprises. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump plans to nominate a vocal critic of the US Export-Import Bank to serve as its president. The White House announced late yesterday that Trump plans to nominate Scott Garrett, a former Republican congressman from New Jersey, to serve as president of the credit agency, which helps overseas buyers get financing to purchase US exports. He'll also nominate Spencer T Bachus III of Alabama, another former House member, to serve as a member of the bank's board of directors. Garrett voted against renewing the bank's charter while he was in Congress, denouncing it as "corporate welfare." Trump also used to be against it. But he's now changed his mind, telling The Wall Street Journal earlier this week that he believes it helps US companies gain business. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into 17 US-based individuals, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer, ex-attorney Preet Bharara and leading Turkey scholar Henri Barkey on suspicions of aiding a terror group, state-run media reported today. The action by the Istanbul prosecutor's office came after a group of Turkish lawyers filed a complaint against the individual. The lawyers accuse them of links to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen who, according to Ankara, orchestrated last year's failed coup, Anadolu agency reported. The list of accused includes US citizens who have had involvement in Turkey issues and also Turkish citizens resident in the United States. Among them are Bharara, a former US attorney for New York who was fired by President Donald Trump last month; the former director of the CIA, John Brennan; former top CIA official Graham Fuller; Henri Barkey, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Also probed are US-based Turkish citizens including Faruk Taban, president of the Turkic American Alliance (TAA), and Talha Sarac of the Turkish American Business Network, Anadolu reported. The individuals are accused of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order", "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government" and "membership in an armed terror group," it said. According to Anadolu, the suspects met twice around the time of July 15 failed putsch - once on an island off Istanbul on the day of the botched putsch and the other in a restaurant in Karakoy, an Istanbul neighbourhood, two days later. Turkey accuses the movement Gulen leads of being a "terror organisation" although the group insists it is a peaceful organisation promoting moderate Islam. Gulen has denied being behind the failed coup. The government has repeatedly asked the United States to extradite Gulen, who has been living in exile there since 1999. Some Turkish officials have repeatedly insinuated that the United States had a hand in the coup bid but this has been vehemently denied by Washington. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that Libya risks a return to widespread conflict, citing the volatile security situation in Tripoli and fighting in the oil-rich east and elsewhere. The UN chief expressed alarm in a report to the Security Council at the renewed military escalation and ongoing political stalemate in the country. Guterres said the Islamic State extremist group no longer controls territory in Libya but its operatives have been sighted, it has been blamed for a number of attacks in different areas, and the international community remains a target. Libya sank into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and has remained split between rival parliaments and governments in the east and west, each backed by a set of militias, tribes and political factions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Commercial Feature is a Business Standard Digital Marketing Initiative. The Editorial/Content team at Business Standard has not contributed to writing or editing these articles. For further information, please write to assist@bsmail.in Amid tensions over death sentence being awarded to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, India has called off maritime security dialogue with Pakistan, scheduled for early next week. A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. According to reports, the Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegation's visit. The development comes amid tension between the two countries over Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, being awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court. India has said if Jadhav were to be executed, it will be considered as a "premeditated murder". A day after Pakistan's military court pronounced a death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbushan S Jadhav, India warned the neighbor country of consequences to bilateral ties if they proceed further. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj said: "I would caution the Pakistan government to consider the consequences for our bilateral relationship if they proceed on this matter." There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Kulbhushan Jadhav. This is an act of premeditated murder, Swaraj further said. The Minister also assured the House that India would 'go out of the way to save him'. "Will go out of the way to save him, wo poore Hindustan ka beta hai," she had tweeted. Earlier on Friday, former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday said Pakistan is playing a "dangerous game" in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav. "Pakistan is playing a dangerous game. Pakistan should understand that if India starts retaliating then it does not have the power to fight back, whatever they may project themselves to be," the Goa Chief Minister told the Doordarshan in an interview which was aired on Friday evening. "But, we want peace. We do not want provocation. So they should send Jadhav back," he said. (With inputs from PTI) The overall deal activity in Q1 2017 witnessed an unprecedented three-fold year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in value terms, according to a report by Grant Thornton India. It was solely driven by the Vodafone-Idea mega merger, which contributed more than 80 per cent of the total values. Without this mega deal, which is estimated to be a USD 27 billion, the deal activity would have recorded 39 per cent decline in values. "The Indian deal activity was dominated by big-ticket mergers and acquisition this quarter. The quarter witnessed one of the largest deals in the country with Vodafone and Idea's merger, which is estimated at around USD 27 billion. The quarter recorded USD 33.7 billion across 300 deals marking a sharp increase in value as compared to USD10.9 billion in Q1 2016 while volumes declined by 27 per cent," says Prashant Mehra - Partner at Grant Thornton India LLP. M&A transactions were alone valued at USD 31.5 billion demonstrating a four-fold growth. "Primary driver for M&A growth was consolidation in the domestic market with deal values growing by 10x on the back of healthy capital markets and easing credit conditions. This enabled companies strike big ticket deals either to slash debt or consolidate market share. Cross-border deal activity is yet to pick up pace in 2017 as compared to previous quarters due to looming uncertainties in the global economy," adds Mehra. Consolidation in the telecom sector due to increasing competition drove deal activity in Q1 2017, with the sector contributing over 87 per cent of total deal value. The quarter witnessed three mega consolidations led by Vodafone India's merger with Idea Cellular followed by Bharti Airtel's acquisition of Tikona Digital Networks Pvt Ltd's 4G business for USD 244 million and that of Telenor (India) Communications Pvt Ltd for USD 235 million. Start-ups continued to drive M&A deal volumes contributing to 22 per cent of total deal volumes. Apart from consolidation in the telecom sector, big-ticket M&A deals materialised in sectors like pharma and energy. Overall, transaction values were driven by more than 14 big ticket deals (over USD 100 million) which contributed to over 96 per cent of the M&A values. In contrast, absence of big ticket investments in Q1 2017 in PE space drove investment values to the lowest in the last 11 quarters. This quarter recorded only four investments valued at and above USD 100 million, as compared to seven deals in Q1 2016. Private investment activity started on a tepid note in Q1 2017 with private equity deal-making remaining weak as venture capital firms turned cautious about backing start-ups in the first three months, recording over USD 2.1 billion which is 30 per cent fall compared to Q1 2016. "Interestingly, in an environment with reducing investments from larger VC and PE players, we witnessed an increasing number of smaller angel and seed-stage investors backing start-ups, as compared to levels seen in the previous quarter. In contrast, companies looking at larger investments may struggle to find investors in the coming quarters," points out Mehra. M&A activity in 2017 is expected to stay positive owing to the sustained interest in the Indian economy. "A focus on consolidation and expansion is set to be the major theme that will drive the deal activity, especially in healthcare, telecom, e-commerce and infrastructure sectors. In financial services sector, the possibility of new business models emerging post demonetisation, continued fund raising by NBFCs and a consolidation push by micro finance firms will play a big role," says Mehra Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper. "To me that begs a really important and fundamental question why, when you have two groups of prisoners, one of them Indigenous who constitute 25 per cent of the prison population and are massively over-represented in our prison ... there is not a single piece of quantitative data on the experience of Aboriginal participants in Throughcare," Mr Stanhope said. "For a lot of different queer identities, it is very easy to get caught up in how unfair everything is. It's a feeling of being thrown into an unending fight that you don't want to be part of." Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... 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. When the Toyota Raize came into the picture early this year , it commanded the kind of attention that made you think of it as possibly just ... The Air Force deployed a small number of F-35A Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft this weekend on a long-planned training deployment to Europe, Pentagon officials announced today. The aircraft are part of the 34th Fighter Squadron, 388th Fighter Wing, and the Air Force Reserves 466th Fighter Squadron, 419th Fighter Wing, both stationed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The aircraft are scheduled to conduct training with other U.S. and NATO aircraft based in Europe for several weeks, as part of the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI). Though apparently scheduled months in advance, the deployment was announced as relations between Washington and Moscow have been described as at an all-time low by US President Donald Trump. ERI is a program initiated in 2014 by the President Barack Obama to increase U.S. presence in Europe, in face of the growing Russian threat that followed the invasion of Crimea. Originally the initiative was limited to one year but continued through 2016. Originally the initiative was funded by $1 billion in 2014 that was reduced to $789 million in 2016. The new administration dramatically increased ERI appropriations to $3.4 billion in 2017. The presence of the Fifth Generation stealth fighters will enable the US Air Force and NATO at large to better penetrate denied airspaces protected by advanced air defense systems and operate against advanced, Russian-operated fighters. Since the F-35A was announced combat ready in August 2016 the 34th Fighter Squadron at the Hill Air Force Base in Utah carried out a number of aerial exercises, demonstrating impressive performance in air/air and air/ground missions. The aircraft destined to Europe will dispatch from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, USA to Royal Air Force Lakenheath Airbase in England. The aircraft arrived today April 15, 2017, marked the aircrafts first overseas training deployment of the aircraft in Europe. RAF Lakenheath will be the first overseas beddown location for the F-35A, this deployment allows our pilots and maintainers to learn more about the European operating environment and will improve our interoperability with partners in the region, said Gen. Tod D. Wolters, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Air Forces Africa commander. The transatlantic flight for this training deployment was supported by Air Mobility Command and the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England. Multiple air refueling aircraft from four different bases offloaded more than 400,000 pounds of fuel during the tanker bridge from the United States to Europe. Additionally, C-17 and C-5 aircraft moved airlift support, moving maintenance equipment and personnel. In a statement announcing the deployment, officials said the F-35A provides unprecedented global precision attack capability against current and emerging threats while complementing the Air Forces air superiority fleet. The F-35A is a multi-role precision attack fighter with unmatched lethality, survivability, and interoperability, the statement said. The Marine Corps have already deployed the F-35B fighter aircraft to Japan but the US Air Force has limited the deployment of the aircraft to the Continental USA. Among the foreign air forces currently operating the aircraft are Australia, Israel, and Italy. This first deployment of Lightning II aircraft to Europe will enable the Air Force to refine the requirements for eventually basing the F-35A in Europe, which is scheduled to receive the aircraft in the early 2020s. At last years Paris Auto Show, Ferrari stunned many by releasing no less than 70 individual special-edition liveries to celebrate its 70th anniversary. Each livery pays homage to a classic Ferrari model or racing car and will only be available on a single unit of each of Ferraris production models, the F12 Berlinetta, 488 GTB, 488 Spider, California T and GTC4Lusso. For those not in the position to purchase one of these 350 cars, Amalgam Collection has a solution in the form of 1:18 scale models of all 70 liveries across Ferraris range. Each of the scale models will directly mimic the life-sized version and in 1:18 scale, will cost $695. If thats not enough for willing customers, 1:8 scale models will be made to order. The liveries Ferrari has created date back to 1947 with the original 125 S and include designs inspired by the likes of the 250 GT Berlinetta Scaglietti, 250 GTO, 365 P2, Niki Laudas 312 T and Michael Schumachers F2003-GA Formula One car. PHOTO GALLERY Re-Uniting The Moonbot Gang Plans to keep together the core Moonbot crew were formed last fall, after it became apparent that the investors in Moonbot would pull out their funding. An initial plan to sell the company to virtual reality/augmented reality Florida startup Magic Leap never went through, according to a story published this week by Business Insider, due to complex issues over Moonbots intellectual property. Magic Leap, however, did end up hiring around a dozen Moonbot employees. But outside of Moonbot co-founder Bill Joyce, who retains the company name and is relaunching the company in Shreveport, Moonbots core team, including co-founders Brandon Oldenburg and Lampton Enochs, have all shifted over to Flight School. The new company operates out of the same location as the main Reel FX studio in Dallas. It will be led artistically by chief creative officer Brandon Oldenburg, who co-directed the Oscar-winning Moonbot short The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, and executive creative director Limbert Fabian, who shares multiple Emmy Awards for his directing work on advertising shorts like Silent (Dolby) and The Scarecrow (Chipotle). The move back to Dallas is a welcome home party of sorts for Oldenburg, who was employee No. 3 at Reel FX back in the mid-90s and helped develop the company until he moved to Shreveport in 2009 to launch Moonbot. Flight School will be managed by CEO Kyle Clark, Reel FXs current co-CEO, and executive vice president Lampton Enochs, former CEO of Moonbot. Oldenburg, Fabian, and Enochs are among a dozen or so Flight School members who are ex-Moonbot. Others include creative director/head of interactive developers Bohdon Sayre (former CTO of Moonbot), creative director Jake Wyatt (same role at Moonbot), and creative director/head of interactive designers Adam Volker (creative director at Moonbot). Overall, around 30 people, including creative directors, producers, animators, engineers, developers, and game designers comprise the launch team at Flight School. Enochs told Cartoon Brew, For Brandon and Limbert and me and the team that came over, were incredibly grateful. Chuck [Peil, Reel FXs head of strategic partnerships] and Kyle [Clark] worked very hard and gave us this opportunity to keep the team together and keep doing all the amazing work [that we were doing at Moonbot]. A Focus on VR In recent years, Reel FX has become a leading content producer in the virtual reality field, with around 65 activations including a vr tie-in for the theatrical Power Rangers and Verizons Super Bowl 51 Virtual Gridiron VR experience. Flight School promises to further expand Reel FXs presence in the budding vr/ar/mr space. We came to a point, Clark told Cartoon Brew, where we really wanted to take that vast production experience that we were applying to a lot of other folks, and bring an intellectual property and original content piece to the [virtual reality] table, and really bring a great creative team and great storytellers to be able to produce our own content. Oldenburg agreed that virtual reality is the biggest paintbrush in our art kit, but emphasized that Flight School is medium agnostic. Specifically at Flight School, we are focused on telling great stories in emerging tech. What To Expect From Flight School Flight School will debut its first project, Manifest 99, this June. Specifically designed for vr, the original concept will set the course for the types of stories we love to tell said Oldenburg, who described Manifest 99 as an interactive narrative vr experience that leads the user on a mysterious and emotional journey of discovery and redemption. Manifest 99 is just the tip of the development slate, Chuck Peil told Cartoon Brew. He said Flight School is currently developing a dozen or so projects. Photo: Contributed Well, here we are, already at Easter. Are you ready? Probably not. In todays world, time flies. There never seems to be enough moments to make the most of a day; we are always rushing to fill all our obligations. Easter is a celebration that rates the same magnitude as Christmas there is much to be done for it to be heralded in with the appropriate amount of fanfare and indulgence. Whether you are celebrating the end of Lent or planning an Easter Egg hunt for the kids, it is and should be a big deal. The catch is, big deals just dont materialize overnight. Are you feeling like I am? Do you feel as though you just put away the Christmas decorations and here you are trying to find a pastel-coloured tablecloth and napkin rings that match the tulips you bought? Does it irk you that you cant decide which sheets to put in the spare bedroom so that it looks bright and springy? Well, the one saving grace is the reward that awaits us at the end of all the agonizing decisions chocolate! I am not trying to make light of what many consider to be a serious occasion, but I must say that I enjoy the frivolity of Easter. Bunny tails and fuzzy chicks make me smile, and chocolate makes me smile even more. Jelly beans are one of the four Easter goodie food groups and that is not a bad thing either. If you are making kids hunt, think of the learning and sense of accomplishment that comes from following directions or solving the riddle given. The end justifies the means let them eat chocolate. Hunting for your Easter loot is one more reason to enjoy every morsel. One year when I was a kid we had a poem from the Easter Bunny whose rhymes gave hints on where to find the eggs it included a quote from Macbeth that was to lead us to the eggs hidden in the washing machine. The reference was obscure when I was 10, but Ive been dying to use it for an adult Easter hunt. Easter also has a much more solemn and important historical significance. Whatever your faith, Easter is a time to celebrate and gather together. The renewal of spring seems to echo the sentiment that is the theme of Holy Week. A feast at the table is a logical part of such celebrations. Even if you are not religious, it is likely you are entertaining this weekend. Its always good to finish with a bang, so here is a great dessert recipe perfect for a small crowd. It fits the chocolate Easter theme, too. CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE 750g or 3 packages cream cheese, softened to room temperature 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 9 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Zest of one lemon 300ml heavy cream (33% plus) PLUS more for decorating if desired 1 cup frozen whole raspberries 2/3 cup semisweet Callebaut chocolate chunks (available in bulk at most grocery stores) Preheat oven to 325F (160C). Grease a 9 inch (22 cm) springform pan. Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, two at a time, beating well after each addition. Add heavy cream, zest and vanilla. Pour mixture in your greased pan. Add raspberries in the pan and mix carefully so they go everywhere. Drop the chocolate chunks in the pan too do not swirl. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes depending on your pan. Watch for an even motion on top (the filling should be solid enough not to slide as a liquid). Loosen the cake from the rim of the pan; cool before removing the sides from the pan. (Leave cheesecake on pan base.) Place cheesecake on decorative plate if desired. Decorate with fresh raspberries and whipping cream. Makes 12 large servings, 16-20 smaller servings. Store leftovers in the fridge, covered. TIP: Run a large chefs knife under hot water before cutting slices to get a clean cut. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Photo: City of Penticton Perseus Winery in Penticton is taking another crack at opening a lounge patio next to their tasting room at 134 Lower Bench Road. The winery made its last application in 2013, but was rejected by council due to concerns from neighbouring properties about traffic and noise. Since then, the winery has continued to operate with a winery manufacturing & retail licence and picnicking area. The winery is now requesting a 68-seat lounge licence to its existing patio, with 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours of operation. The move has raised the hackles of some neighbours while others have come out in support. Their lounge area is a wedge distance from my yard and the noise from a lounge will also have a negative impact on my lifestyle, wrote Patrick Witzaney, in response to preliminary outreach conducted by the city. The owners knew going in that this property was in a residential area. But in its application to the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch, Perseus claims it has taken several steps to mitigate noise since their last application, including high noise reducing glass around the patio. We are willing to work with our neighbours alongside noise control specialists to establish acceptable decibel levels, the application states. A city report states there are nine wineries within 500 metres of Perseus, three with a lounge license. Some neighbours forwarded positive comments to the city on the plan. We dont feel there will be a problem with noise or traffic, wrote Geoff and Evelyn Ross. So as far as we are concerned it is a big YES to this venture, and we hope that this gets approved. City council will decide on Tuesday if it will move forward with a more formal public consultation process, including an open house, as recommended by staff. Photo: The Canadian Press The coffin with the remains of Dr. Mark Wainberg is carried from the synagogue following his funeral in Montreal, Friday, April 14, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes Dr Mark Wainberg was remembered during his funeral on Friday as a trailblazing HIV researcher and patient advocate who was equally dedicated to his family, his Montreal community, and friends. Wainberg's plain wooden coffin sat at the front of the Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Congregation, the synagogue he attended for many years. He drowned on Tuesday while swimming with his son in rough waters off Bal Harbour, Fla. He was 71. Wainberg's son told the funeral that the loss of his father was a loss for the whole world. "How many people in this world can say their work saved millions of lives?" Zev Wainberg said in a tearful eulogy. Wainberg was part of the medical team that discovered the first antiviral drug to treat patients with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. He started the first AIDS labs in Canada in the 1980s, which grew to be among the largest in the country, his son said Friday. More recently, he served as director of the McGill University AIDS Centre in Montreal. In an emotional moment, the younger Wainberg recalled his father's love of swimming in the Florida ocean, and of trying to pull him from the waves on Tuesday as he died. "I tried to save him and I could not," Zev Wainberg said. It was, he added, "a small comfort to know he died doing something he loved very much." Throughout the hour long service, Wainberg was described as a world-renowned scientist, an advocate, a mentor to thousands of students, and a proud Montreal Jew. He was dedicated to his wife of 48 years as well as his two sons and his grandchildren, the mourners heard. Not content to limit his contributions to the laboratory, Wainberg became an outspoken advocate for people with HIV at a time when such a move was neither politically correct nor popular, Rabbi Yechezkel Freundlich told the packed synagogue. Speaking outside the ceremony, one HIV/AIDS activist described Weinberg as "a tremendous ally" in the fight for access to treatment and for equal rights for people with HIV. "He supported us from a place of passion and reason, and whenever he spoke, people listened," said Ron Rosenes. Photo: Contributed British Columbia's party leaders were levelling criticism at each other's spending promises as they spent Good Friday campaigning. Liberal leader Christy Clark started the day campaigning in her home riding of West Kelowna, dishing out pancakes to local residents. Clark said the NDP's "scheme" to use a $500 million fund generated from liquefied natural gas revenues to eliminate tolls on two major bridges will harm future generations. She says tapping into the prosperity fund created by her government would in her words "raid our kids' inheritance." At an event in South Vancouver, NDP leader John Horgan responded to the criticism, saying the fund is a fantasy because there haven't been any LNG revenues to support it. He says Clark's government failed to create jobs in the LNG sector which they promised in the last election. He maintains his party would deliver balanced budgets if elected. Madison Erhardt A group of people from First United Church in Kelowna walked around downtown Kelowna with a cross to celebrate Good Friday. Pastor Donald Schmidt said it's a great event for the church community. "It helps us reflect on different aspects of our society where issues need to be improved. It feels like it is apart of our faith. It's not a very glamorous thing to do." Schmidt added that the goal is not to force faith on anyone. "We aren't making a big show of it as far as stopping people, but it feels important to do it and to be recognized as Christians," he said. Pastor Schmidt said anyone is welcome to join in on the walk. The U.S. forces in Afghanistan conducted yesterday a strike on a tunnel complex built by the Islamic States Khorasan (ISIS-K) terrorist organization using one of the most devastating conventional weapon in service the Massive Ordnance Air-Blast (MOAB). The target located in Achin district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan was part of a remotely located operational complex that supported the terrorist organizations operations against government and US forces in the country. The Khorasan group is based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and is composed primarily of former members of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban. The US estimates 600 to 800 IS fighters are currently present in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The strike used a GBU-43 bomb dropped from an Air-Force Special-Operations Command (AFSOC) MC-130 aircraft. The GBU-43 is an unpowered 21,000 lb. (9.5 ton) GPS-guided weapon designed to explode above target and create a devastating shockwave by setting off a large fuel-air explosive warhead. MOAB was made to replace the unguided 15,000-pound (6.8 ton) BLU-82 Daisy Cutter weapon that was used by the Air Force in Vietnam and early on in Afghanistan. The MOAB was developed in only nine weeks in 2003 to be available for Operation Iraqi Freedom but it was never used during that war. The 30-foot (9.14 meter) long bomb has a diameter of 40.5 inches (102 cm). It has stabilizing fins and inertial gyro for pitch and roll control. The bomb is too large to be carried by fighter planes or bombers, and, therefore, is loaded into the cargo bay of C-130 Hercules, where the bomb is sat in a cradle on an airdrop platform. When the aircraft reaches its target the weapon and cradle are pulled off the plane at a high altitude by a drogue parachute. Once in the air, the weapon releases from the platform, the grid fins opened to stabilize it and guide it to its target. Unlike penetration bombs designed to destroy bunkers and fortifications, MOAB uses relatively thin aluminum casing designed to burst on a surface, not penetrate it. The BLU-120/B warhead weighs 18,700 pounds (8.482 ton) and contains TNT and aluminum. According to Central Command announcement, the strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities. Media reports said 36 ISIS operatives were killed in the attack. As ISIS-Ks losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers, and tunnels to thicken their defense, said General John W. Nicholson, Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan. This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K. The U.S. Central Command said the forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike. Photo: Contributed The Naramata fire department responded to a truck fire Friday afternoon on Robinson Avenue. The blaze broke out about 3 p.m. on the main street through the village. Fire chief Tony Trovao said firefighters with air packs knocked down the fire before it caused any damage to the home and garage that were nearby. Chino, CA (91710) Today Cloudy skies with periods of rain this afternoon. High near 65F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Localized flooding in recent burn areas.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 49F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Localized flooding in recent burn areas. A fluffy orange cat sat in a carrier on the counter in the parts and service department at Mark Thomas Motors in Albany. The cat, an American longhair tabby named Boots, had wedged itself up behind the dashboard of a 2015 Dodge Journey owned by Boots' owner, Cyleena Harrelson, after running from a house fire Tuesday night at an adult foster-care home. After neither the Albany fire and police departments could remove the cat, they called Mark Thomas Motors for help at about 10 a.m. Technician Adam Horton came out with his tools, but after discovering it was no use, he made the call to bring the car to the shop for some major invasive surgery to get the cat out. When it was all over, almost three hours later, all six technicians in the shop had worked to pull the entire dashboard assembly from the vehicle and remove the cat safely. "It was unreal," said MTM General Manager Mark Patrzik. "I've been in the business for 25 years and I've never seen anything like this." Patrzik said the dashboard on the Dodge Journey is probably the most complicated to take apart. What would normally cost a customer $1,200, the dealership did for free. "We're all animal lovers here," he said. "So we all decided, 'We've gotta get that cat outta there.'" Patrzik said the entire shop basically shut down while it was "all hands on deck" to remove the cat. All the techs Horton, Peter Burdett, Alec Sharpton, Aiden Horning, and Josh Bubick made sure to close all windows, doors and other containers throughout the shop, just in case the cat bolted once free. Although everyone worked to remove the cat, they all agree it was Burdett who ultimately pulled Boots from the vehicle. To do that, he had to remove more than 20 components and 60 bolts, screws and other hardware. According to the manual, the task takes 12 hours. Burdett did it in 45 minutes. "I was just going as fast as I could," said Burdett, who also described the task of removing the dashboard as "three layers of hell." "When they first brought it in, I said 'Why don't you just put some food out and wait for the cat to come out," he said. But he soon realized that was not going to happen. "He was so wedged in there he couldn't even meow," said Horton. "All we could grab was the tail, and if we pulled on it, we would have pulled it off." Once Boots was removed, they said, he was very calm. After all, he'd just spent 12 hours wedged in a car. Someone on the crew ran out and got Boots some cat food, and the Fire Department got the crew three large pizzas and some garlic knots from Pizza Amore. As for Burdett, he said in his 12 years at his job, he's never done anything like this. "I've seen mice and snakes, but never a cat," he said. 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 Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions Poaching is the perfect method for cooking tender fish fillets. Here the liquid is stocked with vermouth, for a delicate flavor. Butter, toasted nuts and lemon finish the dish all accents to look for in a wine pairing, such as the three suggestions here. MAKE THIS Advertisement Vermouth-poached fish fillets Heat a large, dry skillet over medium heat; add 1/2 cup sliced almonds. Toast, stirring, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer almonds to a bowl. Heat 1 cup water, 1 cup dry white vermouth and 2 teaspoons salt in the skillet to a simmer. Add 2 boneless whitefish fillets; simmer until fish just turns opaque and flakes easily, about 5 minutes. Remove fillets; season with salt and pepper. Top with 2 tablespoons melted butter, the almonds and 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley. Serve with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing. Makes: 2 servings Advertisement Recipe by Renee Enna Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > DRINK THIS Pairings by sommelier Belinda Chang of Maple & Ash in Chicago, as told to Michael Austin: 2014 Vietti Roero Arneis, Piedmont, Italy: Butter, almonds and lemon, the components of the sauce in this dish, are also some of the notes you'll find in a top-flight Roero arneis. Though best known for world class age-worthy reds, Piedmont is also planted with arneis, a white grape that produces lovely, plush, full-bodied wines. This arneis is redolent of roasted nuts and citrus. Its buttery texture will also harmonize well. 2013 Palmina Dolcetto, Santa Barbara County, California: A fish dish can be challenging to pair with a red, but this dolcetto delivers. Meaning "little sweet one" in Italian, dolcetto is a super utility player. It is medium-bodied, juicy and peppery with a bit of baking spice on the nose and a lovely fig note on the palate. It will marry nicely with the toasted almond and butter in the dish. Like a fig tart! Szigeti Sekt, Burgenland, Austria: The brightness of a chilled, well balanced bubbly like this sparkling rose will echo the zip of the lemon in the dish. A blend, this bottling includes the lesser-known zweigelt grape variety, which is pinot noir-esque. Also, the wine's nuttiness, achieved by aging it on the lees (the spent yeast cells that give a traditional-method wine its typical brioche and roasted nut character), will vibe well with the almonds. foods@tribune.com Twitter @pour_man Recipe adapted from "Pillsbury's Best 1000 Recipes: Best of the Bake-Off Collection" (1959). It is credited to Mrs. K.E. Cooper, of Silver Springs, Md. Recipe here (Bill Hogan, Chicago Tribune) Sunday mornings other Minneapolis families went to church; we picked up bagels at the Lincoln Del. That's how I knew we were Jewish. Dad ordered a baker's dozen, sliced lox and cream cheese. Also Max's half dills, whitefish wrapped in paper and a block of gritty halvah. I helped by gazing into the glass case. It was cold, bright and packed with astounding confections. I was mesmerized by the frog cakes, cut to reveal raspberry smiles. Advertisement Once, the woman behind the counter lifted out a chocolate-covered log and handed it to me. I couldn't believe she gave me the eclair. I couldn't believe how good it was. Everything at the Lincoln Del was good. But nothing was better than the chocolate pie. Thin crust underneath, piles of whipped cream on top. In between: nothing but chocolate. Not jiggly like pudding. Not fluffy like mousse. Not dense like creme brulee. It broke jagged on the fork and melted buttery in the mouth. I haven't found that texture since. Nor tried. Advertisement The recipe that follows offers a smooth feel and rich taste. But it's not Lincoln Del chocolate pie. I never tacked down all the details of Judaism. But I'm sure there's a rule against forgery. Chocolate pie Prep: 30 minutes Chill: Overnight Makes: One 9-inch pie 1 fully baked 9-inch pie shell (crumb, shortbread or flaky) 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1 cups sugar Advertisement 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 eggs at room temperature* Whipped cream Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Semisweet chocolate Beat: Settle butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed for 15 minutes. Yes, 15 minutes. Set a timer. Advertisement Beat: Scrape in chocolate and vanilla. Beat briefly. Scrape down sides. Slide in 2 eggs; beat 5 minutes. Scrape down sides. Slide in remaining 2 eggs; beat 5 minutes. Chocolate should be silky smooth with no graininess. Chill: Scrape chocolate mixture into pie shell. Cover and chill overnight. Serve: Before serving, spread whipped cream over pie. Use a vegetable peeler to carve on curls of chocolate. Slice and enjoy. *Eggs in this recipe are not cooked. Choose a carton marked "pasteurized" if you have raw-egg concerns. Provenance: Recipe adapted from "Pillsbury's Best 1000 Recipes: Best of the Bake-Off Collection" (1959). It is credited to Mrs. K.E. Cooper, of Silver Springs, Md. The Lincoln Del, a Minneapolis landmark, closed in 2000. Descendants of owner Morris Berenberg, who opened his first bakery in 1935, are at work on a cookbook. Thank goodness! ORLANDO -- John Williams put a finger to his lips, and the room went silent and a large movie screen held on Princess Leia, her face a cast of stony self-possession. The memory of Carrie Fisher had curled up here on Thursday morning, at the start of Star Wars Celebration, the semi-regular Lucasfilm-organized "love letter" to its fans, though by the end of the opening ceremonies, a "Star Wars" family reunion of cast and crew, Fisher loomed largest. Princess Leia ruled over the Orange County Convention Center. A large man in a knitted Leia side-bun wig rumbled past. Then Leia-themed T-shirts reading "Don't Mess With the Princess" and "Rebel." Fisher's head, given David Bowie lightening bolts, adorned dresses. There were grandmothers and infants in white flowing robes. And at the reunion, the series' 40th, George Lucas' voice wavered for a moment, croaking out that Fisher was a "modern woman"; Billie Lourd, the actress' daughter, recited one of her mother's "Star Wars" speeches as if it were prayer; and by the end, after Williams silenced thousands with a single finger and the Orlando Philharmonic finished Leia's lilting theme, the sobs and sighs and sniffles could be heard in the dark. Advertisement Carrie Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd speaks at the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando. (Handout) Which, if you're Mark Hamill, also known as Luke Skywalker, and you're hosting your own tribute to your movie sister, begs the question: What's left to say about Fisher? On Friday night, before a packed hall, Hamill, now 65, walked out and sat in a large fluffy chair and, without much of a warm-up or the usual welcoming niceties, just said: Advertisement "Here was something I was hoping wouldn't come for another 30 years." He stared out at the silent audience. He said he had been trying to deal with Fisher's death in December. He said he wanted to be here to help him deal with it, that speaking to fans might be cathartic. He said she had been at every Star Wars Celebration and she would have been here again. He said that he looked up the definition of "tribute" and then, fumbling a bit, he just told stories. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 11 Author Timothy Zahn leads a discussion called 101 Ideas in an Hour during the Star Wars Celebration event in Orlando, Fla., Friday, April 14, 2017. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Chicago Tribune) When they were told by Lucas that Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia were actual twins, "I was stunned," Hamill said. "I'm five years older than Carrie. I said 'Wait a minute, if I'm Luke Skywalker from a moisture farm on Tatooine, does that make me royalty?' And without missing a beat, Carrie said 'No!' And I said 'OK, OK, just asking!'" He pointed out she had been Hollywood royalty, the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, and he came from a middle-class family. But in fame, Hamill and Fisher were kin, destined to be forever remembered as pop creations, as contemporary mythology, but they embraced their destines with a wink and a boundless respect. Unlike Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo and never seemed comfortable by the intensity of the fandom (or the inevitability of being forever conjoined with a character), Hamill and Fisher made it fun and warm; indeed, you need only look as far as Hamill's own Instagram account for evidence of an actor incapable of phoning in appreciation. What he gave was a true eulogy, referring to notes and then, simply talking. It was a lovely ramble of a memorial. He said she was a joy to be around "most of the time," that he could have never handled her as a girlfriend, that she helped find him an apartment once, that she would force him into crazy outfits and parade him around the studio lot and he would go along with it. He was generous and candid and intimate, a good mimic, a friend at the edge of his seat, recalling memories for a couple of thousand confidants. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR There was that time shooting "Return of the Jedi" and they were suspended on space bikes for hours when Fisher pulled out copies of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, and a highlight marker, and read. Advertisement "I said 'Carrie, why bring Kierkegaard onset when you have National Inquirer in your trailer?' She said, 'Because I want them to think I'm smart!'" Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 26 Attendees walk through the convention hall during the Star Wars Celebration event in Orlando, Fla., Friday, April 14, 2017. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Chicago Tribune) There was that time, more recently, when he suggested they pose with their wax figures at Madame Tussaud's in London and she never replied then posted a picture on Twitter posing with a wax Princess Leia. He complained to her, and said that he thought they would do it together and she said, dismissively, "That's a great idea, you should do that." "When I read the script (for "Star Wars") I thought nothing defines this princess more than this: We risk our lives and board this technical marvel of a Death Star and get her back to the Millennium Falcon and she says (looking at the ship), 'You came in that?'" He said she was that person. There were also tributes from Lucas, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, and new "Star Wars" director Rian Johnson and even Warwick Davis, who played an Ewok. But Hamill had the knowledge of a person that shapes how we remember a person. He believed she would have been a great older actress, and that there was a long time when they didn't speak, and he never knew for sure when things were OK or not -- he likened it to being in a band that "supernovas" then breaks up for a while. He recited a few lyrics from the Kink's "Celluloid Heroes": I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show Advertisement A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain And celluloid heroes never really die He said she was 19 when they met and he was "a worldly 24." Reading the statement he made after she died, his old Luke Skywalker yelp, there but rougher, cracked. He held a fist to his face, fighting tears, and said it was an honor to know her, "my beloved space-twin." But he said that she promised, if he died before her, she would heckle his funeral. "When I think of her now, I think of her looking from the celestial stratosphere with her big brown eyes and that wry smile and... she lovingly extends a middle finger. "And that was Carrie." cborrelli@chicagotribune.com Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Fans thrilled and confused by 'Last Jedi' trailer 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' trailer revealed at Star Wars Celebration Complete Star Wars Celebration coverage from Chicago Tribune Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) Daniel Geiter, founder of the Susan M. Sanders Teaching and Learning Center, speaks with Sister Susan Sanders on the rooftop of the building that houses the center in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood April 14, 2017. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) For felon Daniel Geiter, mercy opened the door to his future. If it hadn't been for a Roman Catholic Sister of Mercy who answered his cry for help eight years ago, Geiter believes he never would have had an opportunity to redeem himself. Advertisement Sister Susan Sanders, then vice president for mission at St. Xavier University, was the only college administrator to answer a mass email from Geiter, a St. Xavier student pleading for support. On top of owing tuition at the private Catholic university, Geiter had fallen behind on his rent and his family of three faced eviction. His utilities had been shut off and, unable to afford bus fare, he was walking 4 miles a day to and from Blue Island to get to classes on the South Side campus. Dropping out seemed to be the only option. But Geiter couldn't bear the thought of another closed door. Advertisement "He was desperate for rent, desperate to continue, desperate to have someone hear him," Sanders recalled. "He was desperate for a future." Sanders found a donor to cover the family's rent and utilities and got Geiter a job on campus. But most importantly, she listened and recognized that Geiter's intentions were sincere. Not only did he want to earn a degree, he wanted to give back to society and help others who had made mistakes. Daniel Geiter, founder of the Susan M. Sanders Teaching and Learning Center, speaks with Sister Susan Sanders on the rooftop of the building that houses the center in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood April 14, 2017. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) This Easter season when Christians celebrate resurrection and rebirth Geiter is giving 15 ex-offenders a similar chance at redemption, and also showing his gratitude for the woman he says changed his life. Last month, Geiter opened the Susan M. Sanders Teaching and Learning Center inside the Lacuna Artists Loft in the Pilsen neighborhood. Named for his mentor and friend, the nonprofit founded by Geiter hosts five men and 10 women all formerly incarcerated who are finding hope as they prepare for what once seemed out of reach: a college education. Sanders, 65, who now helps lead a regional office of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in Omaha, Neb., on Good Friday visited the center conceived and run by Geiter to meet the first crop of students. Fifteen are expected to go through the program before the end of the year. "What can be worse than being without hope?" Sanders said. "That's what Easter is all about. It's about hope in something you haven't seen. It's new life, resurrection." Sanders gave that kind of hope to Geiter who had been in and out of prison since he was a teenager and rejected from jobs because of his criminal record. He eventually turned to education as a way to create a better future for himself and set an example for his son. With Sanders' help, Geiter went on to earn a master's of liberal arts from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in higher education at Benedictine University. Geiter said Sanders gave him a second chance at a life that almost went to waste. Advertisement "That simple act of mercy and kindness with no expectation of payment was enough to make me understand my experience and education is unique," Geiter said. "I know Sister Sue saved my life." Now Geiter, 50, hopes to do the same for others like him. At the center, students learn how to navigate the challenges facing ex-offenders. They are required to work 15 hours a week at a part-time job and another 15 hours taking classes free of charge. They work toward their GEDs or do what it takes to prepare for college or vocational degrees. Most of the instructors, including Geiter, are former offenders. In addition to the 30 participants now enrolled in the program, more than 700 others are on a waiting list. A separate group of students has started coming twice a week at 2:30 a.m. to work toward their GEDs. Few teachers would schedule class before dawn to accommodate students' busy lives, but Geiter said that's the beauty of the center, which is designed to serve unconventional students. "Everyone wants to make the round piece fit into the square hole," he said. "That's not how education works. Everyone needs a different kind of mercy." Advertisement Geiter's life of crime spanned almost two decades. At 15, he stole checks from a teacher's purse, forged them, cashed them and landed behind bars for theft and forgery. For the next 17 years, he continued to commit crimes of fraud, forgery and theft, serving time in most of the state's penitentiaries before he was 30. When his last prison sentence ended in 1999, he vowed he wouldn't be back. He moved to Chicago from Champaign in 2007 when the business he and wife owned went bankrupt. In Chicago, he encountered common barriers that keep ex-offenders segregated from society. At the time, nearly 75 percent of affordable housing was off limits to people with felony convictions, not to mention many jobs. He was ineligible for most state professional licenses and got fired from a job as a dishwasher in a pizza parlor when his background check turned up a conviction. He enrolled in a class at Moraine Valley Community College, where he met Sylvia Jenkins, then a professor and now the college president, who told him the path to redemption was paved by education. "The more knowledge you have, that's something people can't take from you," Jenkins said in a recent interview. "Once you have that education and you're able to think and discern information for yourself, then the better off you will be." After earning an associate's degree at Moraine Valley and deciding he wanted to teach, Geiter was accepted at Chicago State University. But when a St. Xavier recruiter insisted that the school could help him get certified to teach sooner, he followed his calling there instead. Advertisement That decision changed the course of his life, because it led him to Sanders and Elijah Ward, then a professor of African-American studies who taught a class about the social construct of race. Ward said Geiter constantly challenged him during lectures, often based on additional reading, and had an awareness of when issues of day-to-day life transportation, finances, employment were holding students back. "He was constantly pointing out ways to me in which the institution actually thwarts the students' success, even though it's not its intention," said Ward, whose family's foundation is one of the primary financial backers of the center named for Sanders. "He wanted the world to be accessible to each student." Ward, who now serves as chief academic officer of the foundation and the center, said opening the center during the Lenten season, when Christians replicate Jesus' sacrifice leading up to Easter, has special significance. "It's about a chance of becoming the person you know you could be, even though that may have seemed impossible previously," said Ward, who has designed the center's online platform for college preparation and rehabilitation. "It's someone holding out to you or you holding out to others the chance for rebirth." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Sanders, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, said she is humbled by the center's name. She insists she was simply living out the mission of the Sisters of Mercy when she took Geiter under her wing eight years ago and didn't do anything another sister wouldn't do. Geiter just "snitched on what I did for him," she said, jokingly referring to his public show of gratitude. Advertisement She didn't offer Geiter an education simply as a means to an end. Education "is about music, art, mind expansion and meeting new people," she said. Education often focuses too much on professors, rules and institutions and not enough on students and life's fundamental questions, she said, adding that she gave more to Geiter than just financial support. She also offered and gained a friendship. Students need to be reminded by their teachers that, regardless of how society treats them, they "have dignity and respect and talent." "If the Sanders Center can do that for the men and women coming out of prison that need their perspective expanded in a way that's nurturing, that's fabulous." mbrachear@chicagotribune.com Twitter @TribSeeker Two children and five adults were displaced Friday afternoon after a fire damaged their home in the Hermosa neighborhood. The fire broke out shortly before 3:30 p.m. at a house in the 1900 block of North Pulaski Road, according to Chicago Fire Department media information. Advertisement While battling the blaze, firefighters experienced exposure issues, officials said. Seven people who lived at the home were displaced. Advertisement Check back for more details. Philip Vatamaniuc, left, has been charged in connection to the 2013 killing of Colin Nutter. (Lake County Sheriff's Office, Nutter family) Nearly four years after Colin Nutter was shot to death inside his car, his father still has a hard time believing his son was slain. While his wife, Angie Nutter, seeks comfort in her Catholic faith, Michael Nutter said he has found it on long walks, about 10 miles a day. Advertisement "I think about Colin ... about events in his life, things I wish I had done differently," he said. "It's my meditation, and I think about him a lot." The 20-year-old from Highland Park was killed June 3, 2013, after he was targeted in what authorities said was a botched robbery attempt by an acquaintance, Benjamin Schenk, also 20 at the time, and two of Schenk's friends, Michael Coffee and Philip Vatamaniuc, both then just 17. Advertisement Authorities said the three panicked and eventually dumped Nutter's body near the Edens Expressway in Wilmette but that then Schenk and Coffee used Nutter's keys to enter his parents' home and steal another of the family's cars. Michael Nutter, from left, Colin Nutter and Angie Nutter. (Family photo) Now, after the yearslong wait, Vatamaniuc is due to go to trial on murder charges Monday in Lake County court. It will be the first trial for Nutter's death and possibly the only one: Coffee was found unfit to stand trial, and Schenk accepted a plea deal in exchange for the prospect of a lighter sentence and his testimony against Vatamaniuc, now 21. In a preview of that testimony, Schenk has said under oath that it was Vatamaniuc who shot Nutter in the back of the head after the three piled into Nutter's car along a quiet residential street in Highwood with a plan to steal marijuana and money from him. Schenk said he became acquainted with Nutter from buying "weed from him a couple of times." Michael Nutter has attended most of the pretrial hearings and intends to be there Monday with his wife and daughter, Sara. "Seeing that justice is served for his murder is all I have left now," he said. "I feel I owe it to Colin (to be at the court hearings). I am representing him." Nutter looks back on June 4, 2013, as the worst day of his life. He remembers how Colin didn't come home the night before and how he thought his son was probably staying with friends. But when Colin didn't answer his cellphone the next morning, and then his mother discovered their car was missing from the garage, she called police. Authorities told her they had identified Colin's body through fingerprints. A family friend called Michael Nutter at work and told him to come home but didn't tell him why. He walked from the train station to his house and saw police and media trucks parked outside. "I was in shock for at least a year," he said. Advertisement Benjamin Schenk, from left, Michael Coffee and Philip Vatamaniuc. (Highwood Police Department) He described his son as "a wonderful kid" who had many close friends, and he's baffled that anyone would have wanted to do his son harm. Colin attended downstate Lincoln College but was "not that scholarly" and chose to work instead, his father said. He liked his job as a server at an assisted living center and liked listening to music and playing video games with his friends. He was close to his sister. One of Michael Nutter's fondest memories is a road trip to South Dakota when Colin was about 16. It was just the two of them and their golden retriever, Ginger. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "Colin got Ginger for his sixth birthday. She lived longer than Colin; she died about six months after his murder," Nutter said. Colin had always been closer to his mother but he and his father had begun to bond more in the years before his death. "I will never know how his life would have been," Nutter said. "But I like to think we would have been even closer." Advertisement Now he's hoping for the heaviest sentence possible for Vatamaniuc. "I feel it was heinous and unnecessary and he should be punished greatly for what he did," Nutter said. Schenk, despite his plea, also faces a lengthy prison term, with a minimum of 20 years. Coffee remains in Lake County Jail while he awaits placement at a treatment facility, where authorities hope he will regain fitness to stand trial. Jordan Sartin, 18, left, hugs Michael Nutter, father of slaying victim Colin Nutter, following Colin's funeral at Immaculate Conception Church in Highland Park on June 13, 2013. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune) Angie Nutter, left, mother of slaying victim Colin Nutter, is consoled prior to the 20-year-olds funeral at Immaculate Conception Parish in Highland Park on June 13, 2013. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune) Colin Nutter and his sister Sara Nutter. (Family photo) Susan Berger is a freelance reporter. As he traveled the state last week, Gov. Bruce Rauner said the purpose of his two-day, campaign-funded tour was "about getting the message out to the people of Illinois." Behind that message was the reminder that he's up for re-election next year, he's attempting to account for why his agenda is stalled and he thinks the goals he was first elected on in 2014 remain important to achieve. Advertisement Also on display was a trait that's frustrated Democrats and Republicans alike: Rauner portrays himself as flexible on his demands for striking a broad budget deal, but the specifics of what he'll settle for to end the historic impasse remain a moving target. At the Capitol, the details are what matter in getting a compromise done. The idea behind the 10-city trip was to fill the political vacuum created when the General Assembly embarked on a two-week break. It allowed the Republican governor largely unfettered ability to speak without readily available Democratic critics in Springfield. The tour also unfolded during a massive statewide TV ad buy from an affiliate of the Republican Governors Association aimed at pushing Rauner's agenda out to voters. Advertisement Throughout, Rauner steadfastly maintained that his trip was not a re-election announcement. At times, he vacillated between whether the tour was political or not, although his talks consistently revisited themes he previously has discussed on the taxpayer dime. "It was primarily a political trip. It was not paid for by taxpayers. We were specifically inviting Republican grass-roots activists and other leaders," Rauner said in summing up the tour Friday on WBEZ 91.5-FM. "This one was particularly political, although it's really fundamentally about getting the message out to the people of Illinois." In state government circles, however, the trip was viewed as a soft rollout of the re-election campaign. Echoing the theme of the TV ad, in which he accuses career politicians of supporting "duct tape" solutions, Rauner aimed at affixing blame on Madigan and Democrats for blocking his budget prerequisites. During a stop in the small southwestern Illinois community of Bethalto, the governor harked back to the days when he wore a Carhartt hunting jacket in the 2014 campaign. "You guys know it's a brutal battle," Rauner said, according to the Alton Telegraph. "The majority Democrats don't want to change anything. They're just hunkered in like ticks on a dog. You can't get them out. You can't get them off. But by the people coming together this isn't about Democrats versus Republicans it is about people coming together and standing up to a corrupt machine that's running the government for their own benefit." Veteran Democratic Rep. Lou Lang countered that the "southern twang (Rauner) uses doesn't travel very far anymore. I think people are seeing through that." Lang, a top deputy to Rauner nemesis House Speaker Michael Madigan, suggested Rauner felt pressure because the 2018 race for governor already has started. On Friday, for example, billionaire Chicago businessman J.B. Pritzker put $7 million of his own money into his Democratic bid. "I think it's fair to say this is the beginning of the governor's campaign, that he sees Democratic candidates for governor traveling the state and wants to make sure that they don't get ahead of him in the public eye," said Lang, of Skokie. "And so (Rauner has) the opportunity to spend a little time doing a little traveling. He wants to insist this is a tour about how to improve Illinois, not about his re-election, but I think we all know better," Lang said. Christopher Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, said Rauner's message last week was to frame the re-election. Advertisement "They're trying to as they will establish their message that, as he says, 'Everything I can do by myself I'm getting it done, but the legislature's in the way,'" Mooney said. "So in some sense, he's setting up an excuse to countervail a 'do-nothing' governor attack from the others." Rauner got positive coverage outside the glare of Chicago and Springfield, where reporters' questions about his actions and motives usually are more pointed and intense. Even so, newspapers in Peoria and Quincy used terms such as "reiterated" and "repeated" to describe a Rauner message that largely has been unchanged for more than a year as he describes his conditions for resolving the impasse. The Rockford Register Star did not cover his visit there, saying the paper did not consider it "newsworthy." The thrust of Rauner's tour was to push what he used to call his turnaround agenda, which he now refers to as "structural reforms." The governor is seeking term limits and a property tax freeze as well as changes in government pension benefits, workers' compensation and redistricting as a precondition to support a tax hike to help balance the state's out-of-whack budget. Which of those items are on or off the table often varies, however. At various stops on the tour, Rauner declared that term limits and a property tax freeze didn't necessarily need to be part of a deal. It's a way for him to come across as flexible, but also makes it hard for him to be pinned down. "There is no one or two structural changes that we need to have as a requirement. I've never said any one thing has to be there," Rauner said Friday during the radio interview. "But we need a package of changes, structural changes that materially move the needle." Advertisement Yet to move the needle to satisfy Rauner, the governor said "term limits definitely helps big with that." "So far the Senate Democrats have proposed a term limit on Senate leaders through a rule change, just for the Senate leader would be term limited. Well what we need is term limits on everybody, on me, on everybody in the General Assembly. That's not on the table as of now," he said. Such elusiveness has frustrated some lawmakers at the Capitol who are looking for clarity on what it will take to reach agreement. Democrats like Lang suggested Rauner isn't being up front when he's preaching flexibility. "As you've seen the last few days, he's commented, 'Well, I don't really need this. I don't really need that. I just need everyone to come together.' But the truth is that's not what he wants," Lang said. Mooney, the political scientist, questioned the continued effectiveness of Rauner's blame-Madigan excuses as the campaign for governor fully begins to take shape. "Generally speaking, the governor is held responsible, the chief executive of a unit is held responsible, by the public. That's what we know about public opinion. It's a pretty simplistic view of the world. And as time goes on, he's got to take responsibility for that. Maybe he can effectively blame somebody else like Madigan or whoever, but that's not normally what works," Mooney said. Advertisement Pointing to Rauner's previous background as a private equity investor and deal cutter, Mooney said of the governor: "If he's a salesman, this is going to be the hardest sales job he's ever had to make." rap30@aol.com Twitter @rap30 So many people attended 1889 murder victim's Kitty Palmer's funeral, the service had to be moved from the small African Methodist Episcopal Church to the much larger First Methodist Episcopal Church, shown here in this 1870s photo. (Aurora Historical Society) You could say that Black Lives Matter in Aurora goes back to 1889 when a young African-American assistant instructor at Center School on the East Side was shot and killed by a man who had been stalking her after the couple had quarreled. According to the March 1, 1889, edition of the Aurora Daily Express, "never was such a sign seen before in Aurora as the funeral of Miss Kitty Palmer." Advertisement Originally scheduled to take place at the small African Methodist Episcopal Church her parents had helped form, so many mourners came stretching for nine blocks the ceremony was moved to the largest auditorium in Aurora the First Methodist Episcopal Church, where even after more seats were brought in, there was standing room only. "White and blacks were mixed up in a manner never before known here," noted the newspaper article. It also quoted school Superintendent Professor N.A. Prentiss observing afterward that "this commingling of the two races, in an age and country where the color line is often too sharply drawn furnished something to think about." Advertisement Almost 130 years later, we're still thinking about it. This compelling story was brought to my attention by Margie Logman, who is a member of the Local History Round Table that was recently instituted by the Santori Aurora Public Library. In my many years writing about this community, including resurfacing some great tales from deep within the archives, I'd never heard this one before. But its message is more fitting than ever. Logman and I were sitting together in the audience last week at the YWCA's "Stand Against Racism" forum at Aurora University, where we heard a panel of experts discuss the growing concerns of racism, not just in our country but right here in this community. Because we fear what we don't understand, we need to see each other as human beings, this panel stressed to its audience at Aurora University. No doubt that's what happened back in 1889 when a community of black and white residents came together after such a horrible tragedy struck two well-known families. According to historical accounts, Ed Artis, who had never before shown signs of aggression and was very much in love with Palmer, wanted to leave Aurora to move to another state. But the young woman staunchly "refused to leave her parents who had sacrificed so much to give her an education," noted the news article. A quarrel took place and Artis began stalking his former girlfriend, "coaxing and threatening by turns." He shot and killed her at the corner of Main (now Galena) and East Avenue by the African Methodist Episcopal Church now St. John's A.M.E that her parents, George Washington Palmer and his wife Mary, helped found in the 1860s, according to John Jaros, executive director of the Aurora Historical Society. Pursuers chased Artis through the city and into the woods, noted the story, but when it was apparent he could not escape capture, the young man shot himself twice in the heart. Advertisement The story turns even more tragic when his mother, who rushed to the site of Palmer's murder and arrived as the victim was being carried away, became so hysterical she had to be taken away in a patrol wagon and locked up for observation until she "regained her senses." There were so few blacks in this community back then, Jaros said, that Aurorans were very familiar with those here, including the Palmer and Artis families. The killer himself was described in the story as "well known" and his victim as "much respected." The victim's father, who had been born a slave and worked as a Teamster hauling horse-drawn wagons, was particularly well-known because he came to Aurora during the Civil War, which was unusual since most of these former slaves arrived after the war, Jaros added. Like so many minority groups in this country today, including those who are immigrants and refugees, Kitty (sometimes spelled Kittie) was "the pride of her parents," noted the old news article. And her "hardworking father spent his last cent, beyond what was needed for living expenses, in giving her a good education." Despite this outpouring of community support, however, racism still reared its ugly head, even in time of grief. Her pallbearers were fellow graduates from her high school class of 1888, with the exception of Albert Snook he went on to edit the Aurora newspaper for many years who used the "n" word in his refusal to take part in her burial at Spring Lake Cemetery. Murder itself was "very rare," noted Jaros. Most crime that occurred back then, when Aurora's population hovered around 19,600, involved drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Advertisement The case was, concluded Jaros, "absolutely sensational." dcrosby@tribpub.com In honor of the Lions Club International's 100 year anniversary, the Chicago Ridge Lions Club partnered with the Village of Chicago Ridge to host an artwork contest for the village's Vehicle Sticker for 2017-2018. The winner and runners-up are Megan Doon with first place, Mariah Santiago in second place and Weronika Kaczmarazyk in third place. (Chicago Ridge Lions Club photo) Panel discussion focuses on Joliet prison A free Gallery Talk event focusing on the Old Joliet Prison will be at 6 p.m. April 27 at the Gaylord Building, 200 W. 8th St., Lockport. Unlocking the Past: From Prison to Vision features Dennis H. Cremin of Lewis University, Greg Peerbolte of the Joliet Area Historical Museum and Pam Owens of the National Trust for Historic Preservation will participate on a panel to discuss the history of the Old Joliet Prison, current efforts in preservation and advocacy for preserving the prison, as well as models of adaptive reuse for future use of the prison site. More information is at www.gaylordbuilding.org. Advertisement Event allows you to go fly a kite April's windy weather is the perfect time to go fly a kite at the Forest Preserve District of Will County's "Jammin' Family Kite Fly Festival." The event is scheduled for 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, April 29, at Plum Creek Nature Center, 27064 S. Dutton Road, Beecher. The fest will feature synchronized kite dancing, 80-foot flying kites and candy falling from the sky, all set to music. Members of the Illinois Kite Enthusiasts group will be on hand to highlight the excitement of kite flying. Bring your own kite or purchase one from a vendor. More information is at reconnectwithnature.org. Advertisement Six women to enter McAuley Hall of Honor The Mother McAuley/Saint Xavier Academy Alumnae Association will induct six women into the McAuley Hall of Honor on April 30. Set to be honored are philanthropist and Catholic school advocate Kathy Roche Napleton, attorney and ethics lecturer Renee Popovits, Author, scientist and business owner Bernadette Ryan, travel industry leader Kathy Wendt Sudeikis, investment firm executive Marita Carey Sullivan and Mother McAuley art department founder Jean Morman Unsworth. The event will begin with a 10 a.m. Mass followed by the induction and then a champagne brunch. Tickets are $50 and are available at mothermcauley.org/mcauleyhall. Family-friendly military expo set in Orland Park The Orland Park Veterans Commission's first-ever Military Expo will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 7 at the Orland Park Civic Center, 14750 Ravinia Ave. The event features collectibles show with a variety of military items on display with many available for purchase as well as information from vet support groups and organizations. Children will be able to meet service dogs from PAWWS Paws Assisting Wounded Warriors and interact with mini therapy horses from Merciful Minis. Outside, guests can see different military vehicles used during World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Admission for the show is $5 for adults, $3 for veterans and seniors and children under 12 are free. Vendors interested in participating either as a dealer or service organization can call 708-254-7303. More information is at 708-403-6115. Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com. About 35 people gathered Thursday evening in Frankfort to hold a candlelight vigil for refugees from Syria and those still living in the war-torn country. The vigil, held at Breidert Green, a community lawn in the village's historic downtown business district, was part of the 10 Actions for 100 Days campaign initiated by the organizers of the Women's March on Washington. Advertisement Emily Biegel, founder of Southwest Suburban Activists, a group launched in January after the Women's March, said she organized the event to help spread awareness about the civil war in Syria and the plight of its refugees. No one at the vigil discussed the United States' latest military action in the country. "I know that Syria and their problems feel very far away and confusing, but we cannot turn our backs on the most vulnerable," Biegel said. "Ten thousand refugees is not enough. We call on the administration to let in at least 75,000 refugees. Various sources estimate that half of Syrian refugees are children. That means that approximately 2.5 million children have lost their homes, school, family members and innocence." Advertisement Biegel then played an audio recording of Syrian-American poet Amal Kassir describing the loss of 10 family members. Among those listening were Souheir Rahman, a Frankfort resident who moved from the Palestinian territories 28 years ago. Her two daughters, 26-year-old Majd and 19-year-old Jumana, flanked her. "I want our government to open the doors to refugees because we are a strong country and we should help those in need," Souheir Rahman said. Jumana Rahman said: "The whole point of this country is freedom. ... There is the American Dream of coming here and being able to be whatever you want, of equality for all. That's what America is about. That's why people come here. It's a beautiful country for that reason. All I want to see is America being what it's meant to be." During the vigil, Jann Mahaffey, of Orland Park, occasionally beat a drum. "I drum the drum of a heartbeat because we all have one," Mahaffey said. "We all have the same heartbeat." Angela Denk is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. Dr. Bassel Atassi, a hematologist oncologist with Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, recently headed a medical mission trip to the largest Syrian refugee camp in the world. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown) From the start, Dr. Bassel Atassi said, his latest medical mission to refugee camps in Jordan seemed destined to succeed. When the hematologist oncologist on staff at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park announced last year he was heading up another trip in January, he was overwhelmed with offers of help. Advertisement More than 300 expressed an interest in going on the mission, Atassi said. "Most were from the U.S. but different cities, different states," he said. "They all said the same thing: 'What can I do?' 'How can I help?" Advertisement He initially planned to take 50 volunteers, mostly doctors, dentists and nurses, but when offers of help came in from around the world, he expanded the group to 77. Among the 77 doctors, nurses and other professionals who volunteered to help at a Syrian refugee camp in January were physicians from Little Company of Mary and Advocate Christ hospitals. "We had people from six continents on this trip," he said. Among the other local doctors who also volunteered were: Anas Alzoobi, a Chicago anesthesiologist; Junaid Makda, an orthopedic surgeon with Little Company of Mary; Anupama Shivaraju, a cardiologist with Advocate Heart Institute in Oak Lawn; and Zaher Sahloul, a pulmonologist at Advocate Christ Hospital and past president of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). The fact that so many wanted to go, and that thousands more offered to donate supplies and money through SAMS, the group that organizes the missions, is evidence of how much people care about the conflict in Syria and the 11 million people displaced because of it, which Atassi calls "the worst humanitarian crisis in our lifetime." "It tells me, people see what's happening on the TV and they don't stay silent. They see people getting bombed and killed and they want to do what they can to help," he said. "I didn't know most of these volunteers. They just kept sending emails saying they wanted to go." The volunteers paid their own way to Jordan and made the two-hour trek out of Amman, the country's capital, to Zaatari, the world's second largest refugee camp, which is sprawled in the middle of the desert. They spent two weeks treating more than 6,500 patients, many of whom were already lined up waiting when they arrived. "When you first get to this camp that has 85,000 people, you say, 'Oh my God. All these people have been living here for three years and they're not allowed to leave,'" Atassi said. "It is amazing, beyond description." The volunteers saw an average of 30 to 40 patients a day. Pediatricians, he said, saw 50 to 60 a day "because there was so much need." The majority of the biggest camp's population is made up of children and moms, Atassi said. "The men are either dead or detained, or fighting in the conflict. You do see elderly men, but it's mostly women and kids." Advertisement In addition to treating common ailments such as hypertension and diabetes, on this trip, Atassi said, physicians performed 79 cardiac catheter procedures and 51 cataract surgeries. "This was the first time we did eye surgeries," Atassi said. "When I was planning the trip, I called one of the top eye specialists from Emory (University). I told him we needed help and he said, 'I'm ready. Whatever you need.' So I said, 'I need lenses and I need you to come with us.' He did." Two of the cardiac patients needed open heart surgery, he said. A surgeon from Atlanta did the honors, he said. "This was very unique to do at a camp." Dr. Bassel Atassi, a hematologist oncologist with Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, works on a patient during a recent mission trip to the largest Syrian refugee camp in the world. (Alan Pat Lillich) 'Cancer means death' Cancer is a condition that is not typically treated inside the camp, because treatment requires travel to a hospital in Amman and the expense is too great to justify, Atassi said. Unless they can get a sponsor to fund the treatments and travel, he said, most patients with cancer even very treatable cancers succumb to the illness. "For these people, the word cancer means death," he said. "In the rest of the world, more than half the people with cancer gets cured. But not here." Advertisement Atassi said when he goes on medical missions, he typically works as an internist because oncology is not an option. But on this trip, he was asked to at least see 25 patients suspected of having cancer. "This was a day, Jan. 9, 2017, that I will never forget," he said. "The things that I saw were indescribable," he said. "A young woman in her 30s who had a big breast mass. It had become very large, it had opened and was fungating because nobody could take care of it. If that woman was here, or at any decent clinic in the world, this could have been cured. She could go into remission and be cured. With just surgery, with just extra steps. But here, inside the camp, nothing could be done for this lady." Atassi said he also saw a man suffering from leukemia. "Here in the United States we treat this form of leukemia with a pill. If he came to me today for treatment, tomorrow he would be on a pill and in a month he'd be in remission," Atassi said. "But this guy went one year, two years, three years with no treatment. He is now end stage." Advertisement There were also children, he said, who had simple masses that should easily be treated. "So on this day, I almost cried. For me, as an oncologist, I am used to breaking bad news and telling people they have this cancer or that. I'm used to it. Over there, I almost cried because I felt like there was nothing I could do. These people are young and there is nothing I can do. If they were anywhere else they could be cured. But here, at the camp, nothing," he said. "Although we had one or two success stories from this day, this was a bad day," he said. "I wrote that on my Facebook page that this was the worst day in my oncology profession." Dr. Mohamad Atassi talks with one of his nurses at Little Company of Mary Hospital. He recently organized a medical mission to Jordan. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown) From worst to best Inside Zaatari, second in size only to a camp in Rwanda, Atassi said he met a 30-year-old woman named Kadija. "She had a huge mass on her neck. It had been growing and it had started to open and bleed. She was diagnosed with lymphoma, something that with chemo you can cure completely and go on to live a normal life," he said. Advertisement So, he and the other volunteers pitched in to sponsor her treatment, for which she must travel to Amman. Kadija, who is now Atassi's WhatsApp friend, has stayed in touch. "So far she's gotten five cycles (of treatment), one every three weeks. She has to leave to get chemo and then go back to camp. After each cycle she sends me her news. The last news she sent was a couple days ago." He reads the message on his phone. "She tells me, 'Doc, thank you so much, I'm doing very well. The mass is gone. I have one more cycle to go. Thank you very much.'" he said. "This is one of the stories that actually makes your heart sing and makes you keep going," he said. "She'll be OK. My plan when I go next, I hope to see her again." Advertisement Technology helps in other ways, too. He shot video of a young girl who had a mass in her mouth and sent it to an oral surgeon back in the United States. Telemedicine, and tele-ICU, help connect those in need with medical experts around the world. They are important components of medical care inside refugee camps, Atassi said. On the last day of the trip, Atassi said, he gathered all of the volunteers and invited them to speak about the experience. One woman, a nurse from California, wrote a poem and delivered it through tears, he said. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > "People go on these trips not just to help but to help themselves feel good, to feel different," he said. "You see how people suffer, what they eat, how they live in tents in a camp, how they can't leave. And then you see how blessed you are and how happy you are. "So, yes, people go to volunteer, to help, but they also go to help themselves." He knows because that is the reason he goes, he said. "This is at the heart of what I do. When you volunteer to help people who are desperate, who really need it, you understand the true meaning of being a doctor, a healer, a helper." Advertisement Though the harsh lifestyle of the refugees and the personal stories they shared often left his heart feeling squeezed, Atassi said in the end, knowing the group had brought some kind of relief to thousands "made my spirits soar to the highest level ever." Before they departed for home, Atassi said he told the group: "'You are now the messenger. Go back to your country and messenger for these refugees. You tell the story. You advocate. You donate. You volunteer. You help with supplies. Tell your friends. Tell the media. Tell everyone.'" dvickroy@tribpub,com Twitter @dvickroy Darla's Deli & Cafe is now open in Tinley Park and Manteno. Together with the original Darla's in Palos Hills, which opened in June, they are the latest venture for Durbin's owner Tom McAuliffe. Advertisement The Darla's in Tinley and Manteno have video slot machines and offer complementary soft drinks, coffee and snacks and also serve up deli sandwiches and even Boar's Head deli meat by the pound. By law they also have a liquor license for beer and wine. The new Tinley location at 6800 W. 183rd St. is open at 6 a.m. Monday to Saturday and it closes at 10 p.m. Sunday hours are noon to 10 p.m. Advertisement The Manteno location is at 417 S. Locust St. and is open Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to midnight, from 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. Darla's is not the only new gaming cafe in Tinley Park. A Betty's Bistro opened earlier this year at 15950 S. Harlem Ave. in the Park Center plaza shopping center and a Stella's is getting ready to open at 16205 S. Harlem in the Tinley Park Plaza shopping center. Coal-fire pizza coming to Orland Park Florida-based Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza is coming to Illinois with three locations including 14205 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park's Orland Park Crossing shopping center. It's the former location of Bachrach, a men's clothing store that moved across the parking lot into a new site last month. "Chicago is a huge market for growth for Anthony's," said COO Chuck Locke in a release. "We're bringing something completely different to the marketplace and feel that our coal fired concept will be embraced by new fans in the area, just like it has been in the Northeast and Southeast regions." Anthony's cooks pizzas, chicken wings and pork ribs at 800 degrees in ovens fueled by coal. Advertisement The chain was founded in 2002 and has 60 company-owned locations. It is building Illinois stores in Orland Park, Kildeer and Vernon Hills and plans up to 20 additional locations over the next several years. "My main focus has always been to create pizza that's simultaneously unique and classic, and Chicago hasn't seen pizza like ours yet," said Anthony Bruno, a native New Yorker. "We're excited to integrate ourselves in Chicago's reputation as an epicenter for quality pizza, and to introduce Midwesterners to a new pizza experience that's simply different than what they're used to. One of the reasons we set our sights on Chicago was because many Chicagoans travel to Florida and enjoy our coal fired specialties and now I'm excited to bring the 'well done' experience to them." Battery store closes Battery Giant, one of those stores that specialize in batteries for everything from hearing aids to motor vehicles, closed at the end of January at 15006 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park. The store opened in the summer of 2013. Starbuck's opens in Mokena A new Starbucks coffee shop is now open at 19180 S. LaGrange Road in Mokena. The shop is in a small retail center with a Chipotle restaurant. It includes a drive-through lane. Advertisement Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Hours are Monday to Saturday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Sunday, it opens at 5:30 a.m. Jersey Mike's coming to Crestwood Mac Shimmon's Jersey Mike's sandwich shop empire is getting ready to expand again with a new location expected to open in June at 13426 S. Cicero Ave. in Crestwood. Shimmon opened his 13th location in Oak Lawn in January. He opened his first Jersey Mike's in Orland Park in 2011 and now has additional south suburban locations in Frankfort, New Lenox and Palos Heights. Hiring is now underway for the Crestwood store. If interested, applications are being taken at the Oak Lawn location at 4807 W. 95th St. The East Coast-chain started as a mom-and-pop sandwich shop in 1956 in Pleasant Point, N.J., on the New Jersey shore. Advertisement Bob Bong is a freelancer. . The greatest American general in our time was Gen. George Patton. Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, and Patton have a lot of similarities based on the movie "Patton." The older-generation American knows about Patton but the yuppie generation, Generation X and the new so-called millennials need to watch this movie "Patton" over and over again. They'll get it that Trump and Patton are alike and that is what America needs right now. The last great American president we had was Ronald Reagan, and all those after Reagan have made America weaker and less respected in the world. The late Norman Schwarzkopf was also a great general, too, and Colin Powell was a weak general. Rock, Homer Glen Advertisement Where is justice now? There are crooked politicians all over this country. They have beat the system and not been caught. We have people who have numerous felonies and have been paroled several times only to be sent back to prison for more crimes. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is in prison on public corruption charges, has served enough time. Release him. G, Chicago Advertisement With little to no money coming out of Springfield and Chicago leaders crying broke or near broke, I just wonder if they are doing anything to stop double-dipping to increase their pensions. No one is speaking out against the double-dipping. Why not? Because they are hoping to keep the train running in their station. Yet, Chicago is putting a tax on everything they can get away with. The subject of double-dipping seems not to be part of their vocabulary. BJ, Hazel Crest When I saw computers being developed in the early 1960s I thought, "This is going to cost a lot of jobs." I didn't realize that with Facebook and other social media that it's causing a lot of fraud. People from other countries contact you saying they're the Internal Revenue Service and run scams. Now, we have President Donald Trump, thanks to social media. Many uninformed people voted for him. Even though he lost the popular election, he still won the electoral vote because his staff knew how to go after these places that bump a lot of fake news into their social media. I don't know if computers are ending up to be such a good deal as we first thought. What's Speak Out? Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown. Two men and a juvenile were arrested on charges they spray painted properties along the 200 block of North Street, Elgin police said. Bryant Torres-Villagomez, 25, formerly of the 200 block of North Street, Elgin, Trinidad Fernandez, 18, of Carpentersville, and one juvenile were each charged with one count of criminal damage to property, a class 4 felony, a news release from the Elgin Police Department said. Advertisement The incident occurred April 1. Police obtained video surveillance footage that showed the three suspects and their car, the release said. Jack Petersen was one of the first residents of Century Oaks West in Elgin, when he moved to the subdivision in 1980. One of the reasons he picked the lot was because of the white oak trees on the property. This is believed to be the oldest tree in the neighborhood, calculated to be around 230 years old. The tree could be cut down because of it being within a natural gas pipeline easement. (Rafael Guerrero / The Courier-News) The namesake of Elgin's Century Oaks West subdivision makes sense given its oldest residents. At more than 100 years old one even believed to be close to 230 years old the white oak trees are just as much a segment of the neighborhood as the families and residents living in the area. Advertisement "These are historic, they're sacred," said resident Tammi Zemp. "It's almost like a historical house in Elgin, you wouldn't tear it down. These are living things." Some of the oaks, though, could be torn down as Nicor Gas attempts to clear out space surrounding pipeline easements in the backyards of residences. The residents hope to save at least eight oak trees with significant age to them trees that predate the pipelines underground. While the project is on the basis of homeowner and pipeline safety, the residents question if their oldest neighbors are truly a risk. Advertisement "We don't care about the sheds and the playhouses that much, we care about the trees," said Zemp. Following a 2010 gas leak explosion in San Bruno, Calif., that left 8 dead and dozens of homes destroyed, efforts ramped up nationwide to clear natural gas pipelines and make them more accessible for inspections, pipeline work and emergencies. Along with Century Oaks residents, the city of Elgin received notification from Nicor and its parent company Southern Company Gas that it would begin work on the easements this spring, said city communications specialist Molly Center. The easements and pipes are owned by Nicor and not the city, so the city has limited involvement. "They need to be able to see it from above (to identify any potential leaks)," said Center about Nicor's plans, adding the clearing makes it easier for aerial surveillance of the pipelines. "They let us know ahead of time. But unfortunately, there are some items like trees or sheds that have to be moved or taken down." Duane Bourne, a spokesman for Nicor and Southern Company Gas, said safety is the primary concern and reason of the project. Employees already tagged trees in consideration for removal. One of the white oak trees under consideration to be cut down in the Century Oaks West neighborhood in Elgin. (Rafael Guerrero / The Courier-News) "Nicor Gas soon will begin clearing a stretch of natural gas pipeline right of way in Elgin," Bourne said in a written statement. "We have worked with the city and residents to coordinate the removal of any encroachments or vegetation on the pipeline right of way, like trees and sheds. Because trees can interfere with inspection of, and access to, the pipeline right of way, and large root structures can conflict with the safe operation of our underground pipeline system, the removal of some trees is necessary. Nicor Gas is committed to minimizing the potential impact of our work and preserving as many trees as practical." In the case of Jack Petersen, an original owner in Century Oaks West who moved in to the subdivision in 1980, he stands to lose as many as 14 trees. He planted most of the trees in the property, except for the white oaks, which were the reason he decided to build a home there in the first place. The "granddaddy" of the group, as Petersen and neighbors point out, is the large oak on the northeast corner of his property. An arborist the residents contacted to gauge the trees' ages said calculations suggest it to be around 230 years old. Advertisement "It was the only lot in it that had trees," he said. "This had been a farmer's field prior to being subdivided. These trees were on a fence line and there were no other trees." Oaks in the vicinity range from 100 to 230 years old, residents said. "There's a Chicago tree historian that sent us some information saying that if these trees are already 100, 200 years old they can actually live up to 450 years," added Zemp. Laurie Beaver and her husband stand to lose four trees, as one 30-foot easement sits in their backyard, with the other 30-foot easement running parallel on the other side. She said they already spent $1,000 trimming their trees down and apparently isn't enough for what residents perceive as Nicor bypassing on-the-ground inspections for aerial inspections, which tends to be a more affordable option. Beaver has lived in her Century Oaks West home for 23 years. Much like her children, she saw those trees grow up. The trees even played a role in their family, as a tire swing once hung from one of the trees. Uncertainty looms over what these residents can do about the trees. Zemp said Nicor would give them word of a more updated plan soon. The group has also considered hiring an environmental lawyer. However, if they plan to act they must do so soon. The project is slated to begin on April 28, which happens to be Arbor Day ironic, residents said. "If they took them away from us, we would have no shade, so our electrical bills would be going up," said Beaver. She also said property values would drop. Advertisement "(The group of trees) also protects us from storms and wind damage," added Zemp. "It cleans the water, it absorbs a lot of the stormwater runoff. We could have flooding if these trees are taken out. The topography of the land will be changed. It gives us clean air, it feeds the wildlife, provides shelter for birds and squirrels and wildlife." raguerrero@tribpub.com Jessica Kitzinger was one of the volunteer crash victims at Saturday's training drill held by the Hanover Township Emergency Services Unit in Bartlett. Streamwood firefighters helped rescue her and treat her "injuries." (Gloria Casas / The Courier-News) The smoke rising from a car that had just collided with a Canadian National train looked real. So did the dozens of people injured in the crash. But the scene off Spaulding Road in Bartlett Saturday was just a training exercise staged by the Hanover Township Emergency Services Unit. Advertisement "The goal is to simulate the type of incident that may happen in the township and work with the other agencies as if it were a real event," Hanover Emergency Services Director Bill Burke said. It was the first time Hanover Township Emergency Services organized its own full-scale exercise, Burke said. The scenario of a car and school bus crashing with a CN train brought together 18 township departments, local police and fire, utilities and organization like the American Red Cross. Advertisement "We train regularly and go to many classes dealing with disasters," Burke said. "Obviously, the most important thing about the exercise is to test the things we've been trained for. It is an opportunity for us to test our skills and work alongside other people we would work with on an emergency." The challenges in dealing with a large-scale emergency are establishing a unified command and having communication between all the first responders, Burke said. Both can be full of potential stumbling blocks, he said. Saturday's training session was flexible enough to serve as a model for other types of emergency situations, Burke said. Burke and other officials will recap the training exercise, get feedback and produce a written report within 15 days. The entire response will be evaluated in an effort to determine what worked and what didn't, Burke said. The information will help the township formulate its policy and procedures, he said. Only a few townships in the state have an emergency services unit, Burke said. It's certified by Cook County, and its 30 volunteers have received a storm ready designation from the National Weather Service The unit is on call to help with everything from traffic control to lighting emergency scenes to weather spotting to search and rescue, he said. Cook County townships have the ability to create their own emergency services units, a recognition of how large the county is, Supervisor McGuire Brian P. McGuire said. Hanover Township created its unit 10 years ago, he said. "We thought it was a great opportunity to play a role in supporting public safety and giving support to villages," McGuire said. "You have professionally trained volunteers ready to support first responders and step in to help in disasters." Advertisement Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News. After serving as Evanston's 5th Ward alderman since 2005, Delores Holmes decided not to seek reelection in the April 4, 2017 election. She will be succeeded by Robin Rue Simmons. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) Evanston's 5th Ward Ald. Delores Holmes had a few words of advice for her successor as Holmes prepares her departure from the post. "I told her to listen to the aldermen that have been there for awhile and learn from them," Holmes said. "It's all about communication and being open." Advertisement Holmes' comments come as Alderman-elect Robin Rue Simmons prepares to take over the ward when she is sworn in at the May 8 City Council meeting. Simmons, 41, will assume a seat that Holmes has held since 2005. Advertisement Born and raised in the 5th Ward, Simmons ran on a campaign promise to "make the 5th Ward as livable as the rest of Evanston." That includes more child care and services for parents, and more businesses that support the community, Simmons said during the campaign. She also hoped to help expand the budget and improve policies to help Evanston's minority entrepreneurs and businesses. A mom of two adult children, Simmons founded her block club for the 1900-2000 block of Dodge Avenue, she said. She now works as program manager for Chicago-based Sunshine Enterprises, which has received Evanston city grants to teach and train entrepreneurs to help their neighborhoods by building businesses. Simmons advanced from a February primary election field of five to compete against Carolyn Murray in the April 4 general election. Unofficial results from the general election indicate that Simmons picked up 61 percent of the vote to 39 percent for Murray, according to the Cook County Clerk's office. Now that the campaigning is done, Murray said she is still considering what she will pursue next. "I'm exploring opportunities of what would be the most helpful to community service," she said. Before Simmons takes office, she will go before Evanston's Board of Ethics on April 18. She was the subject of two ethics complaints filed last month by two separate residents and was mentioned in another one filed by a former aldermanic challenger. Advertisement The ethics board was unable to consider the complaints before the election earlier this month because it didn't have enough members. Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, who is also retiring next month, only recently appointed members. Simmons also was named in a lawsuit filed by two 5th Ward residents, alleging her former construction company "abandoned all further work" and "walked off the job" after the couple said they paid Simmons to renovate their home in 2012. The lawsuit is pending. Holmes, meanwhile, said she is looking forward to spending more time with her church, Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist which she has attended since 1953, and her sorority. She also hopes to get more involved with the League of Women Voters. "I'm excited to see what the new council is going to do and what direction they're going to go in," Holmes said. As for herself, "no plans. I'm very open to where this new journey is going." Advertisement gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com Twitter @GenevieveBook Jennifer Hoffman picks up pieces of trash on Montrose Beach during an Earth Day cleanup organized by the Sierra Club on April 23, 2016, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Today we mark the start of Earth Week, the annual run-up to Earth Day, April 22. The week will see various activities across Lake County marking a time when we reflect and look at our environment and the actions we can take to lessen our footprint upon our slice of the planet. This year's Earth Day celebration takes on even more import with the chiefly anti-environment policies emanating from Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump is on track to reverse the Clean Power Plan, which requires utilities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. That policy was at the heart of his predecessor's efforts to combat climate change. Advertisement Ironically, another Republican, President Richard Nixon, signed legislation setting aside a national day to celebrate the greening of America. The first Earth Day was held April 22, 1970, and consisted of mainly teach-ins at U.S. colleges and universities. It was an inauspicious start, to say the least. Fast-forward to the new millennium. Advertisement Millions upon millions across the globe celebrate Earth Day. Look around this coming week and you will find encouraging efforts where youngsters in schools across Lake County are getting involved in green, eco-friendly projects aimed at helping our environment. One instance of increasing reliance on renewable energy is Grayslake Community High School District 127 building a solar farm with 4,590 solar panels. That will be followed by installing 4,000 solar panels on the roofs of Grayslake North and Central high schools. Teachers are incorporating solar energy concepts into their curriculum. Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Solar energy, we've found, doesn't only generate its own power. It provides jobs. The number of solar jobs in Illinois increased to 3,718 in 2016, up 6.7 percent from the year before, according to a report by the nonprofit Solar Foundation. Illinois is ranked No. 17 in the country for solar jobs, and employment numbers are expected to grow 5 percent this year. Though solar energy jobs are up, other states have overtaken Illinois, which held the No. 14 spot in 2015. Optimism is stronger nationally, where solar jobs increased 25 percent in 2016 to 260,077 workers. That's expected to increase 10 percent this year. It is doubtful here in the Midwest that solar will totally replace fossil-fueled power-generating plants soon. Yet solar has become more mainstream and cost-effective. Technological advances have brought costs down so that individual homeowners and school districts can tap into the sun's power more cheaply. Solar is just one of the environmental, industrial and educational opportunities that will be on the table at the seventh annual Lake County Green Conference on Thursday at the College of Lake County in Grayslake. The title of this year's session is "Building a Resilient Future," where connections between schools, students and careers will be explored. One of those partnerships involves parents at Meadowview Grade School in Grayslake urging educators to include lesson plans on sustainability. School officials will speak at CLC on including green activities in school curriculums. In other communities, from Antioch to Grayslake to Lake Forest to Lindenhurst to Round Lake, events are planned for adults and kids to take part in throughout Earth Week. These include tree plantings, hikes in forest preserves, a native seed nursery tour and village cleanups. Most are free and require no registration, although the CLC conference costs $25 for adults, with students admitted free. As Earth Day approaches, take part in an activity that will benefit our environment. Learn how to be a green advocate and be a good steward of the environment, even if it's only in your backyard. After all, we've only got one Earth to last us for a while. Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico conceded police "could've done better" than waiting three days to tell the media and the public about a fatal traffic crash in which a Naperville woman died after her car collided with a police squad car. DuPage County Coroner Richard A. Jorgensen's office was similarly slow to release information about the April 8 crash and subsequent death of Phyllis C. Manderson. Advertisement Jorgensen did not post a news release about the matter until Thursday -- five days after the crash -- and then did so only after three days of inquiry from the Naperville Sun. Jorgensen has not returned phone calls. Advertisement The situation was further muddied by the fact that Manderson, 73, originally was identified by police as Phyllis Davis. She lived with one of her daughters, Cari Murawski, who on Thursday said Davis was her mother's previous married name. The crash occurred about 6 p.m. April 8 at the intersection of Ogden Avenue and Feldott Lane, according to a Naper Notify bulletin sent to residents. The bulletin urged residents to avoid the intersection. Murawski, who lives only blocks away on Periwinkle Lane, said her mother had been on her way home from a church service at the time. A news release was issued the afternoon of April 11 noting that the crash involved a collision between the car driven by Manderson and a marked squad car driven by a 26-year department veteran and resulted in a fatality. Naperville police typically contact local media within hours of fatal traffic crashes, robberies and similarly serious events. In this case, a news release was not issued for nearly three full days and provided no information on the time of the crash or other details. Chirico said he was with police Chief Robert Marshall at an awards presentation ceremony when Marshall learned via telephone about the crash. "When the information came to him" regarding the severity of the crash and the officer's involvement in it, Marshall "immediately made the decision to have the investigation done by others," Chirico said. Members of the DuPage County Accident Reconstruction Team are heading up the probe. A spokesman for the DuPage County Sheriff's Office said the crash investigation might last a week or longer. The police officer involved in the crash was not seriously hurt, and was expected to return to active duty. Advertisement "We certainly don't want to be making comments on an investigation we are not conducting and we don't want to say or do anything that might (taint) the investigation or make it biased," Chirico said. "I think you make a fair point about this delay (in releasing information.) What we should have done, in my view, was to immediately release the information to you," he said. "We could've done better, I think." Cmdr. Lou Cammiso, the police department's public information officer, said Naperville police "were coordinating with DuPage County (police) as to what to release and when to release it, and they were fine with us releasing the information that we released on Tuesday" to the media. He acknowledged the error in the victim's name, saying it had to do with Manderson having a hyphenated last name. City Prosecutor Kavita C. Athanikar said Naperville Police Department follows a "general order" when traffic crashes involve city vehicles or on-duty employees. Advertisement "Fatal, potentially fatal, and serious injury crashes involving city police vehicles or on-duty Naperville police employees" that occur within the city's jurisdiction "shall be investigated by an outside agency," the general order reads in part. Illinois State Police and the DuPage County and Will County sheriff's offices become the designated investigators in such cases, depending on location, according to the order. According to the coroner's office, Manderson died at 1:41 a.m. April 9 at Edward Hospital in Naperville, several hours after the crash. "An autopsy was performed on Monday," the online notice said. "The cause and manner of (Manderson's) death are pending autopsy and toxicology results." Murawski and her husband, Ed, declined to comment Thursday on the crash, referring calls to the family's attorney, Matthew Hector, of Chicago. "We really won't have a lot of comment until the investigation is done," Hector said Friday. DuPage County investigators "have been in contact with the family," although Hector would not disclose what was discussed. wbird@tribpub.com The 3-year-old, 5,000-square-foot Knoch Knolls Nature Center, which sits on a 224-acre tract of land donated by the family of Judge Win Knoch, is a beautiful facility and one of Naperville's favorite amenities. The LEED-Platinum certified facility with its two classrooms, a 900-gallon fresh-water aquarium, photovoltaic panels, cisterns to recycle rain water and a green roof was built primarily as a place to conduct environmental education. And until recently, it has fulfilled that function nicely. Advertisement The nature center has been closed indefinitely after two inches of water flooded the facility, damage caused by a backed-up sanitary sewer line. Wallboard, flooring, and furniture were damaged and will have to be replaced. Fortunately, a tradesman was able to quickly remove a sanitary sewer cap outside, which allowed the water to drain and limited the damage. A backflow device has been installed temporarily until a more permanent fix, such as a lift station or pumping station, can be put in place. Advertisement Originally projected to cost $5.4 million in state and local funding, problems with topsoil, construction debris and other issues added about $1 million to the final price tag. Naperville Sun Twice-weekly News updates from the Naperville area delivered every Monday and Wednesday > We still haven't seen a cost estimate for the repairs, which will be done by Wight and Company, the firm that designed and built the facility. The 78-year-old integrated design, engineering, and construction company has shepherded many publicly funded projects in the area, including the renovations of Mill Street School, Central High School and Naperville Bank and Trust. And we don't yet know the cost of temporarily relocating the exhibits in the facility at 320 Knoch Knolls Road, across from McDonald Farm. The site is at the confluence of the East and West Branches of the DuPage River, therefore fairly low in elevation. However, although construction was once briefly delayed by heavy rain, the site has not experienced any problems with flooding or surface water. Of course, everyone wishes this never happened, that additional costs were not necessary and that the initial engineering could have anticipated and prevented the flooding. Naperville Park District Executive Director Ray McGury said it would have been worse "if it was not for our tradesperson, who got on the scene and removed that sanitary sewer cap outside. Once he did that, the water receded immediately." Exhibits were not damaged, and the animals that reside there are safe. City engineers are working on the sewer problem, and Wight and Company has been called back to work on the inside of the building, so the Knoch Knolls Nature Center will be open by summer. That will be a welcome development, especially by all the kids and adults who take advantage of the educational programs and other activities there. The facility, which cost more to build than initially projected, is only a few years old. The park district owes taxpayers an explanation about how this happened, what it will cost, who will pay for it and who is responsible. Johnny Rabe, a Naperville-based actor who's performed on Broadway and stages nationwide, will make a homecoming of sorts when he returns to the Marriott Theatre for its new production, "She Loves Me." "I love working in Chicago and especially the Marriott because it feels like my home," Rabe said. "It's my fourth show there and the theater I've worked at the most. The audiences there are always amazing." Advertisement Rabe plays Arpad Laszlo, a delivery boy who aspires to be a perfume clerk in the Tony Award-winning musical comedy set in a Hungarian perfume shop in the 1930s. "It's a really great part," Rabe said. "The show is a little bit of everything; it's quirky, it's funny and it's romantic. I think it's the epitome of the Golden Age musical that does a good job of being realistic and being modern but also having the charm of a past era." Advertisement Rabe's rehearsals for the show started April 6, and he'll be at it from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week until the show opens April 26 at the Lincolnshire theater. It runs through June 18. Although his acting resume is extensive, he is the youngest member of the cast at 17. "It's kind of cool because a lot of the people (at the Marriott) have been there for many years, so it's comfortable for me to come back," Rabe said. "Everyone is so supportive." His mom, Lilah, shared the sentiment. "Johnny's first professional role was Winthrop in 'The Music Man' at the Marriott Theatre," she said. "We have many great memories from that show. Everyone was so kind and helpful to Johnny and to me." Performing at Marriott has other perks, Lilah Rabe said. "It's nice that Johnny will be performing close to home since many friends and family members will be able to see the show," Lilah said. "That includes one of his biggest fans, his 89-year-old grandmother." When not on stage, Johnny Rabe is a junior at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. He takes the train from Naperville to Chicago daily to attend class. Advertisement "Since I go to a performing arts school, they are very good about working with me and helping me catch up if I miss something," Rabe said. "It's a lot of work but when I am doing a show, it's something I really love. I feel this energy, so when I have breaks or during lunch or after the show, I get my schoolwork done. "I couldn't do any of this without my mom," he said. "She is incredible and supportive. She moved to New York with me when I was 12 so I could do 'A Christmas Story.' As I have gotten older, I have become more independent, but she is always there to support me and I can always trust her opinion." "She Loves Me?" tickets are $50 to $60, and can be bought by calling 847-634-0200 or going to www.marriotttheatre.com. Many protesters brought handmade signs and posed next to an inflated Trump Chicken mascot at Tax Day March in downtown Naperville Saturday. (Diane Moca / Naperville Sun) The sidewalks of downtown Naperville were filled with hundreds of marchers Saturday, many waving signs and chanting "release your taxes" in a Tax Day rally that gathered at the Riverwalk's Free Speech Pavilion. "In the last 40 years, all presidents and presidential candidates have released their tax returns," said U.S. Rep. Bill Foster , D-Naperville, who addressed the large crowd that spilled beyond the pavilion onto the sidewalks and plaza around the Dandelion Fountain. "Over 75 percent of Americans think President Donald Trump should release his tax returns, including Republicans ." Foster said the Naperville protest was one of 180 Tax Day Marches held across the United States and in four other countries to demand Trump make his returns available to the public. Naperville City Councilwoman Becky Anderson also addressed the audience, questioning whether the returns show that Trump has financial ties to foreign governments. Advertisement "Someone has to keep raising questions," rally co-organizer Val Montgomery said. "If you're hiding something in your taxes, what else are you hiding? Everyone wants to know the connections." Toni and Chuck Watrobka, of Geneva, members of the Indivisible Fox Valley group formed after Trump was elected president, brought signs to the Tax Day March in Naperville Saturday. (Diane Moca / Naperville Sun) Montgomery and Anne Stava-Murray organized the event as the first protest for their Naperville Women's March Action group, created after they participated in the national Women's March in January. Advertisement Both organizers and Foster said they were pleasantly surprised by the turnout, estimated to be between 300 and 600 people. Stava-Murray said the group initially requested a permit to hold the rally at the larger Riverwalk Amphitheater and to march along the Riverwalk, but the Naperville Park District rejected the requests, citing a rule prohibiting protests at both locations. She said the American Civil Liberties Union is looking into challenging the district's rule as unconstitutional. As a result, they rerouted the march to public sidewalks east on Jackson Avenue, south on Main Street, west on Aurora Avenue and north on Eagle Street. Police stationed along the route confirmed the marchers were following guidelines worked out with the city for a peaceful protest. "It's important we show our voice, show we don't agree," said 29-year-old Kelly Ryan, who brought her 1-year-old daughter, Nora. "I think there's something Trump's not telling us." Jim and Barbara Kadlec carried around a large American flag because "we love our country as much as anyone else," said Jim Kadlec, who noted he worked for John F. Kennedy's campaign. U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, poses for a photo with a protester who attended Tax Day March in Naperville, organized to protest President Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns. (Diane Moca / Naperville Sun) From longtime activists to women in pussy hats to a large contingent of baby boomers, participants brought an assortment of handmade signs and chanted such messages as, "Who do you owe? We must know," which elicited honks of support from passing cars. Music from the 1960s and periodic chicken sounds from a bullhorn filled the air as people posed for photos in front of a large inflated chicken designed to look like Trump. Several people who were downtown to shop and dine said they were not bothered by the crowd taking over the sidewalk, although a member of one group, who declined to give their name, called the event "one-sided" and said, "Trump should release his taxes when Hillary Clinton releases her emails." Trump has refused to release his tax documents since before his election, saying, "The only ones that care about my tax returns are the reporters. You learn very little from a tax return." Foster told the audience he disagreed. "Whoever is running the country should not be in the pay of a foreign interest. The best way is to see tax returns. If the U.S. Congress had access, we would have a better idea if the president was in debt to a foreign interest." Advertisement Foster said he hopes the protests will convince Congress to "hold a vote to force the tax returns to be released." The House Ways and Means Committee previously voted along party lines to reject such a mandate, he said. Diane Moca is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun. An online petition that criticizes Naperville North High School officials for putting too much pressure on students to achieve has been attracting attention on change.org. (Melissa Jenco / Chicago Tribune) Annika Socolofsky understands the pressure to achieve expressed in a Naperville student petition being circulated online. A 2008 graduate of Naperville North High School, Socolofsky said in her senior year she stepped away from orchestra where she played the violin to make room for AP calculus in her class schedule. Advertisement "It was the worst semester of my life," said Socolofsky, who turned to composing music to ease the stress. At one point in the first semester, Socolofsky said her calculus teacher pulled her aside because her grade fell from an A to a B. She told her teacher she needed to deprioritize math to make room for her newfound love. Advertisement "The stress culture really beats you down," she said. "It was a huge relief to leave high school to head off to college." The 1,437-word essay that accompanies the "Naperville North Pressure Culture Must Change" petition circulated last week on Change.org suggests recent deaths and drug use by students in Naperville are the result of kids being pressured to be perfect. While at least two student deaths have been suspected suicides, a connection to academic pressure has not been established. The essay author notes students often are pushed to take college-prep and Advance Placement courses and participate in multiple extracurricular activities in leadership roles to improve their chances of getting into the best colleges. Naperville North seems to be an environment that is highly competitive. Perfection is pervasive. Naperville resident Silvia Kanney The petition challenges administrators to redefine success and, "Start teaching us to make our own paths, and start guiding us along the way." Naperville School District 203 officials are taking the petition under advisement, said Michelle Fregoso, the district's director of communications. "We are aware of the change.org petition and are reviewing many of the comments and suggestions," Fregoso said Thursday. "Our student and Naperville 203 community feedback is important. By sharing their opinions, they are raising awareness of mental health. We will continue to look for ways to engage our students and community on this important issue." Socolofsky said the need to go to a good school and get a high-paying job is perpetuated by students, just as much as it is by parents and the school. "Naperville North is highly science- and engineering-oriented. You're viewed as something less if you don't want to become a doctor, an engineer or lawyer," she said. Advertisement She followed her passion and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a music degree, falling one course short of a chemistry major for a fallback career. Now she is working on her doctorate in music composition at Princeton. The petition is striking a chord in the community, as it should, said Adam Russo, a licensed clinical social worker and CEO of Edgewood Clinical Services in Naperville. Russo frequently speaks to parent groups and the staff of Naperville and other suburban schools about teaching children how to fail. He maintains children can't be winners all the time. "You aren't going to know how to deal with failure if you've never been taught that," Russo said. "Yet we subscribe to a system that says no one can feel anxious; you need to be happy all the time," Russo said. "But what happens later in life when you lose your job and can't pay your mortgage? You won't know how to cope." The petition, which had gathered support from more than 1,200 people by late Friday, is proof today's youth have no foundation for adversity, Russo said. Advertisement "The kids feel like they've been wronged" when the reality is that they just don't know how to deal with hardships. Russo said the irony is that the outcry from the petition will cause parents and Naperville School District 203 to hold meetings to try to fix the problem, thus validating the student view. "Kids can't handle anxiety, and parents can't either," he said. Naperville resident Silvia Kanney said she signed the petition because she's seen how the push for achievement at Naperville North has affected both her daughters, one who is a freshman and the other who graduated two years ago. "Naperville North seems to be an environment that is highly competitive. Perfection is pervasive," Kanney said. She said students are depressed because they are living in fear of not attaining their goal. Once they attain it, they fear falling off the pedestal. Advertisement "If you're not declaring what college you'll attend by junior year, you're viewed as a loser. If that default is (the College of DuPage), then that's just as bad," she said. Kanney said students have little weekend downtime even at church because they feel obligated to become team leaders in their youth group. The mother said she tells her children to do what makes them happy, even if it means getting a lower grade or not attending the best school. "I would like to see them be well-rounded kids," Kanney said. Russo urges more parents to take a similar approach, but getting out the message isn't easy. Often when he speaks about teaching student resiliency, he said he's "speaking to the choir." Advertisement While Naperville School District 203 is instituting a new social and emotion curriculum at all levels, Russo, who helped draft the piece, said the only way it will work is to have all parents actively participate. "If we are going to do social and emotion learning, we need parents to understand there are real consequences," he said. He proposes requiring all parents to attend a two-hour session. To get parents to attend, he suggests it be tied to a student's assignment grade. "It will never happen, though," Russo said. Naperville mother Laura Hirsch said one of the reasons she homeschools her children is because of the pressure to score well on achievement tests, even at the elementary level. "It's not the sole reason. I just feel like there's more and more pressure, and I don't feel it's appropriate for children at any age level," Hirsch said. "It seems like (Naperville schools) are really grade-obsessed." Hirsch said she fears her oldest child, who will attend junior high school in the fall, will get caught up in the pressure. "I just wonder what it will be like when my kids get to high school," she said. Advertisement "Failure is OK; that's where you learn," Hirsch said. "My mantra is C's get degrees." Russo said evidence shows no correlation between high achievement and success in life, though adults often think there is only one path to success: the best colleges and careers that make money. "The problem is that there are only so many seats on that train, and everyone believes they have to be on that train," he said. subaker@tribpub.com Authorities say a driver narrowly avoided serious injuries as a wild turkey crashed through an SUV's windshield on central Indiana highway. The turkey-vehicle collision on U.S. 36 in Danville is at least the fourth such crash on Indiana roadways in recent weeks during turkey mating season. Danville police said Friday the SUV was going about 55 mph when the turkey flew into its path in the western Indianapolis suburb. The bird ended up dead in the SUV's rear hatch. Police say the driver was treated for minor injuries from flying glass and debris. Danville police say they'd like to offer tips to drivers on avoiding similar crashes, but admit "we've got nothing." A 46-year-old man was burned severely late Friday afternoon when a propane tanker car exploded outside an East Chicago warehouse, a fire department official said. The tanker exploded just after 4 p.m. Friday at Lakeshore Railcar Services LLC, on the 1100 block of East 145th Street in East Chicago, interim East Chicago Fire Chief Anthony Serna said. The blast, which was called in at 4:12 p.m., was felt at the main fire station at 3901 Indianapolis Boulevard, which is more than a mile from the explosion, Serna said. Advertisement "The explosion also was called in by many, many residents from the area," Serna said. The man, whose identity was not released, was transported to Methodist Hospital Northlake with several burns and later airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., in stable condition, Serna said. Advertisement "When crews arrived, they found the warehouse fully engulfed," Serna said. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in about 90 minutes, Serna said. The cause of the explosion is under investigation, Serna said, adding that it's undetermined how much propane was in the tanker when it exploded, or whether it was filled with residual gas. Lakeshore Railcar provides a railcar cleaning service. Florida-based Patriot Rail Co. LLC began operating Lakeshore Railcar Services at the former United Transportation Group location in East Chicago in December, having acquired the assets and property of the company that had been cited by a federal agency for numerous wastewater violations. The specific dollar amount of Patriot Rail's investment was not disclosed, but the company stated that a large amount of money was spent to upgrade the 145th Street facility to meet its safety standards and to ensure ongoing compliance with federal and state regulators. Patriot Rail manages 12 short line railroads in 14 states. Its Lakeshore Railcar Services in East Chicago is a full-service, logistics support complex with rail tank car and tanker truck washes, transloading, truck/trailer mechanical repair, maintenance, hazardous materials testing and wastewater treatment services. Karen Caffarini contributed to this report. Carrie Napoleon and Karen Caffarini are freelance reporters for the Post Tribune. Merrillville Parks director Jan Orlich said Tuesday she is permanently closing Jennings Park at 75th and Hendricks because it cannot follow guidelines for ADA accessibility. Orlich told the Town Council that once you make renovations at a park, the park must follow ADA guidelines. Advertisement She said an underground drain from the street to the park area that carries water to Kaiser Ditch makes installation of an ADA-compliant walkway to Jennings impossible. "Jennings doesn't have a sign, it's behind homes and has no access to it without going in peoples' yards," Orlich said. Advertisement According to the park department's web site, Jennings is a 6-acre park with ball fields, tot equipment and a picnic shelter. Orlich said the equipment is old and not up to standards and will be discarded. She said she isn't looking at selling the property at this time. Orlich said there is another park nearby on Hendricks Street on 81st Avenue for residents in the area to use. The town tried to sell Hendricks Park at an auction a few years ago, saying it was seldom used by town residents. There were no reasonable offers so it stayed a town park. "We'll see if more people use Hendricks now," Orlich said. Hendricks is a 1-acre park with ball fields and tot equipment. Councilwoman Marge Uzelac, D-4th, said she's received a number of phone calls from residents concerning Jennings. Advertisement "It's full of mud and kids hang out there," she said. In other matters, resident Cliff Caldwell, a police officer with the Lake County Sheriff's Department, complained to the council about the way he was treated by the town's code enforcement officer over an expired license plate on a vehicle parked in his driveway. "I'm speaking about respect, the way town employees address residents," Caldwell said. He said the code enforcement officer called his employer about the issue and showed up at his residence with two Merrillville police cars. Caldwell said the car belonged to his grandmother, who passed away last year. The council did not respond to Caldwell's comments. Advertisement Caldwell said he has a May 15 court date regarding the violation. Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. It's Election Day, Pueblo. Make sure your vote is counted Ballots must be returned to a staffed voter center or a drop box by 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8 at the latest to be counted. It's not too late to register. China has new 32 universities introducing undergraduate big data programs this year to address talent shortage, according to the Ministry of Education. In 2016, Peking University, University of International Business and Economics and Central South University became the first three to recruit undergraduates to majors concerning data science and big data technology. China encouraged universities to set up new degree programs to cater to social and economic development needs. According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, by 2018, the United States alone could be short of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills, as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts capable of using the analysis of big data in decision making. Two Chinese men stood trial in Jiangxi Province for aiding and abetting the employment and movement of undocumented migrants. The People's Court of Xinfeng County, Jiangxi, said Saturday that the two were accused of being agents who had brought 15 Vietnamese in nine trips across the border since February 2016. The Vietnamese entered China through land ports and worked as laborers in three counties in Jiangxi. The "agents" earned commission from their charges when the workers returned to Vietnam. The court has adjourned for judgement. Police said undocumented foreign workers in Jiangxi mainly come from Southeast Asia. They are hired by labor intensive factories in industrial parks or in remote rural areas and stay in temporary accommodation. The illegal workers often fall victim to fraud, human trafficking, and can end up being detained. Beijing has scored a good start in reducing non-capital functions citywide and simultaneously improving services for citizens life. In the first quarter of 2017, a total of 28 markets and two logistics centers have been transformed and upgraded, and 260 commercial outlets, for instance, grocery stores, have been built and upgraded. The outlets meet 26 percent of this years target. One of the projects is the transformation of the Jintai Changan Market in Xicheng District. The 21-year-old market was turned into the districts largest life service center after four months work in the summer of 2016. The center now covers 2,600 square meters, featuring not only grocery stores and Beijing citizens favorite food brands (such as Quanjude and Daoxiangcun), but also services such as laundry, maintenance, hairdressing, express delivery and others. A total of 260 such outlets were upgraded in the first quarter, and the city is estimated to have 1,000 new outlets this year. The transfer of the citys wholesale markets has also been stepped up. Three buildings on Yabao Road of Chaoyang District were vacated in the first quarter, with 435 stores relocated. Business in the cultural, financial, scientific and technological industries will be introduced to the buildings. According to the citys plan, a total of 120 markets and 38 logistics centers will be transformed or upgraded throughout 2017. Japanese ambassador bows to apologize to father of Vietnamese girl killed in Japan A photo showing Ambassador Kunio Umeda and another Japanese official bowing to Linh's father in front of their home in the northern province of Hung Yen has been circulated on social media and received thousands of likes and comments from Vietnamese netizens. Photos of the encounter have been widely shared by Vietnamese netizens, who keep a close watch on the murder investigation. Japan's ambassador to Vietnam has visited the family of the Vietnamese girl murdered in Japan and bowed to her father to apologize. During the short meeting on Friday, Ambassador Kunio Umeda advised the family of Le Thi Nhat Linh, who was killed in Japan last month, that Japanese police have arrested a suspect. A photo showing Ambassador Umeda and another Japanese official bowing to Linh's father in front of their home in the northern province of Hung Yen has been circulated on social media and received thousands of likes and comments from Vietnamese netizens. Many local users have praised the Japanese diplomats for being thoughtful and responsible. But others said the public should look past the nice token to see how the Japanese government will handle the case. The murder of the nine-year-old girl has received intensive coverage on both mainstream and social media in Vietnam. On Friday Japanese police arrested a 46-year-old male neighbor of the girl after DNA samples obtained from the crime site matched those of his. The third-year elementary school student went missing after she left home for school in Matsudo City on March 24. Her body was discovered two days later in the grass near a drainage canal. Autopsy results suggested she died from suffocation caused by strangulation. They also showed signs of sexual abuse on her body. Flash Vice President Li Yuanchao on Friday reaffirmed that China supports the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their national legitimate rights and interests. While meeting with the visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki at the Great Hall of the People, Li noted that China firmly supports the Middle East peace process and the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their national legitimate rights and interests. Li expressed his hope that Palestine and Israel will work together to resume their peace talks as early as possible and achieve results. Hailing the traditional friendship between the two countries, Li said China and Palestine had expanded cooperation in various fields. "China is willing to, together with Palestine, continue supporting each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns." Riyad al-Malki thanked China for its support for the just cause of the Palestinian people, hoped to deepen political mutual trust and cooperation and expected China will continue to play a bigger role in the Middle East issue. You are here: Home Flash The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday kicked off grand celebrations marking the 105th birth anniversary of its founder, Kim Il Sung. Soldiers began marching into a grand plaza in central Pyongyang bearing the name of the late supreme leader in the morning to form a pattern with the shape of a sun which symbolizes Kim. DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un and members of the country's political and military leadership are attending the ceremony. This year's celebrations are being held when tension is high between the DPRK and the United States over Washington's threat to attack Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests. Flash Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, held a strategic communication via phone Friday on bilateral ties, the situation in Syria and the Korean Peninsula. The two foreign ministers pledged to actively implement the consensus reached by the two countries' heads of state on the development of China-Russia relations and to prepare for a series of high-level exchanges in the near future. The two ministers stressed that China and Russia enjoy solid mutual trust and are ready to strengthen strategic coordination in regional and international affairs. On the situation in Syria, Wang said the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria should be respected, adding that a top priority of the moment is to conduct an independent, just and professional investigation into the use of chemical weapons in the country. He said he believed that the fact will come to light. On the Korean Peninsula, Wang said, preventing war and chaos on the peninsula meets the common interests of China and Russia, and pulling all the parties back to the negotiating table is the common goal of the two countries. China is willing to coordinate closely with Russia to cool down the situation on the peninsula and push the related parties to resume dialogue, he said. Lavrov said that Russia and China enjoy frequent high-level exchanges, ever deepening mutual trust and fruitful results from bilateral cooperation in various fields. He said Russia is in favor of a fair investigation into Syria's chemical weapon issue as soon as possible and a resumption of dialogue on the Korean Peninsula issue. Lavrov said that Russia is willing to continue to keep close strategic coordination and communication with China. Flash Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem (L), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (C) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a joint press conference in Moscow, Russia, on April 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Evgeny Sinitsyn) Russia, Iran and Syria proposed an on-site investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday. "We insist on conducting a meticulous, objective and unbiased investigation into the alleged chemical weapon attack by Syrian aircraft on April 4," Lavrov said at a joint press conference after talks with his Iranian and Syrian counterparts, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Walid al-Muallem. The three agreed that the probe should be carried out by a well-balanced team of experts under the auspices of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the UN chemical weapons watchdog, Lavrov said. Russia and Iran hailed the readiness of the Syrian government to accept such a mission, he added. On April 7, the United States launched 59 cruise missiles against a Syrian military airfield in the province of Homs in response to the gassing of civilians in Khan Sheikhoun in the province of Idlib. Washington blamed the Syrian government for the attack. But Russia said it might have been caused by the explosion of chemical weapons stored by rebels in a local depot during a raid by the Syrian Air Force. Russia, Iran and Syria unanimously regarded the U.S. missile strikes as an aggression in brutal violation of international law and the UN Charter, Lavrov noted. "We insist that the United States and its allies should respect the sovereignty of Syria and abstain from similar actions," he said. At the press conference, Syria's Muallem reiterated that his government no longer possesses chemical weapons and the destruction of its previous stockpiles had been confirmed by the OPCW. "We do not use chemical weapons against terrorists or our own people. We condemn any use of chemical weapons," said the Syrian top diplomat. For his part, Iran's Zarif said the gassing accusation should be clarified as soon as possible. BEIJING -- Swiss President Doris Leuthard will attend the Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in Beijing on May 14 and 15. Jorg Gasser, head of Switzerland's state secretariat for international financial matters, made the announcement Friday at a press conference at the Embassy of Switzerland in China. Gasser is visiting China along with a delegation headed by Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer. "The Belt and Road Initiative is a very important proposal," said Maurer, adding that Switzerland is willing to cooperate with China on project financing, risk control and insurance under the mechanism. "Given the Belt and Road Initiative is a grand plan, we want to know China's consideration and plan before we find out a specific way to take part in the initiative, such as on large infrastructural projects and risk control in financial sectors," said Gasser. Speaking highly of the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that entered into force on July 1, 2014, Swiss Ambassador to China Jean-Jacques De Dardel said that he is optimistic about the "great potential" for cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. Switzerland was the first European country to sign a bilateral FTA with China. Nguyen Thi Thanh (L) poses with other contestants at the Miss Eco International 2017. Photo by VnExpress The culture ministry never allowed Nguyen Thi Thanh to represent the country. On Friday she was named a Miss Eco runner-up. Nguyen Thi Thanh was disowned by Vietnam after culture officials learnt that she went to Egypt to attend the Miss Eco International contest behind their back. They also threatened to impose a cash fine and to ban the 21-year-old from appearing in future events in Vietnam. On Friday night, in a twist of fate, Thanh cracked the top five of the mostly unknown beauty pageant. She was even named one of the runners-up. It's likely that this title will not give her any immunity when she returns home. Thanh was declared the first runner-up at the Miss Tourism Vietnam contest last month, but the organizer later found out that she had a dental implant and took back her title. Without a national title recognized by the culture ministry, Thanh could not qualify for overseas contests. But she entered herself into the competition in Egypt anyway. More than a dozen of models and contestants have been fined over the past two years for competing overseas without permission in similar cases, according to local media reports. It is believed that most of them have deliberately broken the rule in desperate attempts to give themselves a career boost. Nguyen Dang Chuong, a senior official at the culture ministry, said the authorities will soon make their decision on how to punish Thanh. SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Inc, the manufacturer of iPhone and other electronic devices, joined Friday more than a dozen of companies to be allowed to test self-driving vehicles on public roads in California. While the technology company headquartered in Cupertino, Northern California, did not comment on the latest development, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the Golden State on the US West Coast listed Apple on its website as the latest one getting an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit. As of Friday, the list includes 30 companies, with Volkswagen Group of America, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi Automotive and Tesla Motors as the earliest entities receiving the permit. Other traditional automakers on the list were General Motors Cruise LLC and Ford of the United States; Nissan, Honda and Subaru of Japan; and BMW of Germany. Most other companies holding the testing permit are technology startups. Long suspected of working on a self-driving vehicle project, Apple has never openly and directly discussed its interest in cars. As the state DMV tries to establish a path for the testing and deployment of fully autonomous vehicles in California, the largest and most populous among the 50 states in America, proposed new regulations were published on March 10, 2017, to be followed by a public hearing scheduled for April 25 in the state capital of Sacramento. PetroChina's petrol station is pictured in Beijing, China, March 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] The 1,454-km Kazakh-China link will transport 5 billion cu m annually A new strategically important natural gas pipeline running from southern Kazakhstan to China began operating on Friday, China National Petroleum Corp said in a statement. The company said the pipeline, which has annual installed transportation capacity of 6 billion cubic meters of gas, will help ensure diversification of the nation's gas supplies. The 1,454 kilometer pipeline is being jointly operated by CNPC Trans-Asia Pipeline Co Ltd and Kazakhstan's state KazTransGazand will provide China with 5 billion cu m of natural gas each yearaccording to Asia's biggest oil and gas producer CNPC. CNPC said it is a key energy project between the two countries as well as a significant part of the Central Asia-China gas pipeline, which starts at Turkmen-Uzbek border city Gedaim and runs through central Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan before reaching Horgos in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. According to the State-owned CNPC, which provides more than two-thirds of the country's natural gas, the pipeline is a typical project along the Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan is located in a prominent position. Analysts said the new natural gas pipeline would further diversify China's sources of gas imports and followed the China-Russia crude oil pipeline, the China-Kazakhstan oil pipeline as well as the China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline, which started operations on Monday. Li Li, energy research director at ICIS China, a consulting company that provides analysis of China's energy market, said there is also a chance that China might face a gas surplus. Li said the growth of China's gas consumption had also moderated since the start of the economic slowdown. A bonus was that the safety standards for pipeline transmissions were much higher and the project would also ensure a stable energy supply to China, she added. A researcher at State-owned China National Petroleum Corp in November said the country could face a gas surplus of 50 billion cu m a year by 2020, due to long-term contracts for imports of liquefied natural gas and pipeline expansion plans, energy news agency Platts reported. CNPC said the pipeline would also provide more than 2,000 jobs for locals and provide natural gas for more than 1.5 million local residents. The start of gas flows at the southern Kazakhstan natural gas pipeline followed news that a CNPC unit specializing in oil engineering, manufacturing and constructionChina Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corpsigned a contract with Russian gas giant Gazprom to take part in the construction of the Amur gas processing plant, a move to further secure domestic gas supplies. BEIJING The central bank's yuan outstanding for foreign exchange continued to drop in March, representing the 17th straight month of decline. The funds declined 54.7 billion yuan ($8 billion) in March from February to 21.6 trillion yuan, data from the People's Bank of China showed Friday. The decrease was less than the 58.1 billion yuan registered in February. As the Chinese currency is not freely convertible under the capital account, the central bank has to purchase foreign currency generated by China's trade surplus and foreign investment in the country, adding funds to the money market. China's forex reserves climbed to $3.009 trillion by the end of March from 3.005 trillion dollars a month earlier, still the largest foreign exchange reserve stockpile in the world. BEIJING Trade between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region totaled $36.6 billion in the first two months of this year, down 1.5 percent year-on-year. Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed that mainland-Hong Kong trade during the period accounted for 6.5 percent of the mainland's total overseas trade volume. In January and February, mainland exports to Hong Kong hit $35.5 billion, an increase of 1.5 percent on a year-on-year basis, while the mainland's imports from the region saw a decrease of 48.9 percent to $1.1 billion. Hong Kong is the mainland's sixth-largest trade partner and fourth-largest export market, according to the ministry. The mainland approved 1,847 Hong Kong-invested projects in the first two months, with the actual use of Hong Kong capital reaching $14.9 billion, up 27.5 percent from the same period of last year. By the end of February, the mainland had approved 400,813 Hong Kong-invested projects, with the actual use of Hong Kong capital reaching $929.7 billion, accounting for 52 percent of the total overseas investment in the mainland. BEIJING A central bank official on Saturday said green financing must be improved as the country seeks greener and more sustainable growth. In a speech delivered at a meeting on green financing, vice governor of the central bank Chen Yulu said China's green financing is still at an early stage and it has the potential to be more effective. The investment returns on some green projects are not attractive enough, and some fields still face financing difficulties and high financing costs, Chen noted, calling for a coordinated role between the government and the market to promote green financing. China should encourage local governments to set up green funds and work together with social capital to bring down financing costs, Chen suggested. Innovation for financing products and services should be boosted to speed up development of green bonds, green asset-backed securitization, green indices and green insurance to offer diverse products to investors. China should also enhance transparency in the green financing market and deepen international cooperation in the area, according to Chen. China is pushing the development of green finance to support its industrial upgrading and anti-pollution campaign. According to credit rating agency Moody's, green bond issues worldwide hit a record high of $93.4 billion in 2016, rising 120 percent from a year earlier, bolstered by China-based issuers. China accounted for nearly 40 percent of new green bonds last year, followed by the United States, France and Germany, according to Moody's. The book on President Xi Jinping's views on the governance of China has been released in the Urdu language in Pakistan. At the launch of the Urdu version of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China in Islamabad on Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said China had modernized its economy and governance "with tremendous speed and precision". "From this book, we learn how China has transformed itself in the last four decades," Sharif said during the book's launching ceremony, referring to China's belief in "putting people first". The book contains 79 speeches, talks, interviews, notes and letters by President Xi between November 2012 and June 2014. It briefs readers on China's development, domestic and foreign policies, and responses to concerns of the international community. Urdu and English are both widely used in the South Asian country. The English version of the book was released in Pakistan in December 2014. China International Publishing Group and the Pakistan-China Institute have worked together to translate the book into Urdu to facilitate reading by more Pakistani readers. Jiang Jianguo, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and minister of the State Council Information Office, said that as protectionism and isolationism are on the rise worldwide, Xi's proposal for building a "community of shared destiny" shows China's sense of duty and wisdom. Jiang said that Pakistan, as a good friend and neighbor of China, is a key hub of the Belt and Road Initiative. He added that China invites countries to take the express train of its development. China's ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong, said the book opens a new window for the people of Pakistan to understand and access China, and it tells stories of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation between China and its neighbors. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, as a pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative, is taking the lead, Sun said. Prime Minister Sharif described the corridor as "a symbol and icon of togetherness". The corridor is achieving early results in areas of infrastructure and connectivity, and it will bring more investment and jobs to the country, Sharif said. Mushahid Hussain, chairman of Pakistan's Parliamentary Committee on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute, said the two countries share common views on development and connectivity. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will benefit not only the two countries but also the region, and the two countries will continue to "scale the heights", he said. The Thai and Cambodian language versions of the book were also launched this month. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 The resumption of diplomatic ties between China and the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe has complied with the trend of the times, President Xi Jinping said on Friday, calling for more cooperation in all areas to benefit the people of both sides. While meeting with Patrice Trovoada, prime minister of Sao Tome and Principe, who is on a six-day official visit to China that began on Wednesday, Xi said the two countries' ties have opened a new chapter. China is willing to push forward the establishment of a comprehensive cooperation partnership based on equality, mutual trust and win-win cooperation, he added. Trovoada became his country's first prime minister to visit Beijing after resumption of diplomatic relations on Dec 26. The resumption came one week after the African nation cut "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan. Currently, 21 countries and governments, mainly small nations and islands in Latin America, Oceania and Africa, rely heavily on economic aid from Taiwan and hold such ties with the island. Xi spoke highly of Trovoada's contributions to the resumption of diplomatic ties between China and Sao Tome and Principe. The two nations should understand and support each other in issues that are related to core interests and major concerns, he said. China is willing to support Sao Tome and Principe to improve the African country's overall development plans, boost cooperation in tourism, fishery and agriculture, and help the country's infrastructure construction, use of human resources and security capacity building, Xi said. The two countries should also enhance people-to-people communications in such areas as education, culture, medicine, think tanks, media, youth and women, thus to strengthen the friendship between the people of both sides, he said. China is willing to cooperate with Sao Tome and Principe in security areas including fighting piracy and cross-border organized crime, he added. The president said China would like to support the development of African nations, help them to achieve sustainable development and jointly build the China-Africa community of shared destiny. Sao Tome and Principe firmly upholds the one-China policy and is willing to enhance cooperation with China in such areas as economy and trade, infrastructure, tourism and security, Trovoada said, adding that the resumption of diplomatic ties won wide support in his country. On Wednesday, Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Ming told a news briefing that Sao Tome and Principe has corrected its mistakes in relations with China and will benefit from friendship and cooperation with the world's second-largest economy. Editor's note: President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road initiative aims to create a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes. Since then, more than 100 countries and international organizations have backed the initiative, with more than 40 signing cooperation agreements with China. In May, China will host a Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in Beijing. Let's look back at some of the important comments Xi has made on the initiative in the last three years. Proposing an 'economic belt along the Silk Road' President Xi Jinping delivers the historic speech at the Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, Sept 7, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua] To create the new economic belt, Xi suggested China and Central Asian countries accelerate policy communication, improve road connectivity, promote unimpeded trade, enhance monetary circulation and enhance understanding. A worker cleans the promenade on the Bund along the Huangpu River against the skyline of the Lujiazui Financial District in Pudong in Shanghai on July 24, 2014.[Photo/VCG] Shanghai tops the list of most popular cities in China for expats in a survey released on Saturday. Famous for its international atmosphere and multicultural environment, Shanghai is the most attractive city for foreigners, followed by Beijing and Hangzhou. The financial hub scored highest in the ranking's four key criteria of policies on foreign professionals, government affairs, working environment and living environment. The other seven cities on the list are Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Changchun. This study is conducted by International Talent magazine and the China Society for Research on International Professional Personnel Exchange and Development to promote Chinese cities among expats. The survey has been carried out each year since 2010. About 25,000 foreign professionals took part in the survey through either face-to-face interview or online questionnaires in December and January. China has become a popular destination for many foreigners due to its favorable policies and good career opportunities. Between 2011 and 2015, foreign experts paid more than 3 million visits to China, either for short trips and long-term employment, according to the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs. That's a 30 percent increase compared with 2006 to 2010. Vietnamese tourists are as bad as Chinese visitors, official says Trash almost fills up Con Vanh Beach in the northern province of Thai Binh. Photo by VnExpress It seems Vietnamese people should read the etiquette guide for tourists more carefully before waving their fingers at foreigners. Many Vietnamese tourists still fail to behave properly in public places despite complaining about Chinese visitors who travel to their country, a government tourism official has said. Vietnamese people littering and making a lot of noise at tourist sites is a common problem, said Ngo Hoai Chung, deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). We usually moan about rowdy Chinese tourists, but Vietnamese people are just the same, he said. Vietnamese tourists are as bad as Chinese visitors, official says Trash mars beauty of Vietnam's Ha Long Bay The tourism ministry released a code of conduct guide last month that includes 20 rules of etiquette for both local and foreign tourists. Among the rules are recommendations on queuing, appropriate dressing and responsible drinking. Tourists are also urged to obey local laws and not to consume wildlife products. Vietnamese people traveling abroad are asked to follow the same rules, but they are not legally binding. Nguyen Duc Ke from Hanoitourist Travel Company has asked the ministry to publish English and Chinese versions of the etiquette guide, while Nguyen Cong Hoan from Hanoi Red Tours Joint Stock Company said the guide should include pictures so that everyone can understand it. Tourism firms have also asked authorities to fine people who violate the code, instead of just encouraging tourists to follow it. Jiang Jianguo (2nd, R), vice head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, donates the Urdu version of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2nd, L) at the release ceremony at the Prime Minister Secretariat in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on April 14, 2017.[Photo/Xinhua] ISLAMABAD -- The Urdu language edition of the book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" was launched here on Friday and the launching ceremony was attended by around 300 Pakistani and Chinese officials, academicians and researchers. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Jiang Jianguo, vice head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, participated in the ceremony. In his speech, Sharif said the rich content of the book is both "enlightening and inspiring" and Chinese President Xi Jinping shares his experiences and thoughts with wisdom, empathy and kindness. "What has touched me most is that this book is not just about high politics, but also about moving stories of common people, their lives and inspirations about hard work and family values. In our times, the peaceful development of China has stimulated peaceful rise of the entire world," said Sharif. He added that "this book is as much about our contemporary world as it is about China. This book is as much about Chinese dream as it is about the global dream to have peaceful, harmonious and connected world." For his part, Jiang said in his speech that to create a community of shared future of mankind is an important idea in the book since it aims to build a world with lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness and inclusiveness as well as cleanliness and beauty, adding that this idea points out the direction of the development of the human society and a new method for international problems. Jiang said Pakistan is China's good friend, good neighbor, good brother and the prioritized partner of the Belt and Road Initiative, adding that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship project of the initiative and has created more than 10,000 jobs for the locals in Pakistan. "We fully believe that after our joint cooperation and coordination, a more prosperous and better Pakistan will be presented in front of the world," said Jiang. Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said the English version of Xi's book launched here in 2014 was warmly welcomed in the Pakistani society and the Urdu version will facilitate more Pakistani readers to understand Xi's philosophy of governance, adding that the completion of the Urdu version becomes a new symbol of friendly cooperation between China and Pakistan in the new era. Mushahid Hussain, chairman of Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, said Pakistan is grateful to China and Chinese President Xi for reposing faith and confidence in Pakistan and its people through the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. "Because the CPEC today is a factor for national unity and progress and prosperity of the people of Pakistan, the provinces of Pakistan, particularly the less developed regions of Pakistan in the quest to build a better and more prosperous future," he added. The book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" contains 79 speeches, talks, interviews, notes and letters of the Chinese leader between November 2012 and June 2014. To date, it has been translated into 16 languages and has a distribution of over 6.2 million copies around the world. The book helps readers around the world better understand China's development, domestic and foreign policies, and response to the concerns of the international community. Akram Zaki, former Pakistan ambassador to China, told Xinhua that the Urdu version of the book will help more Pakistanis understand the new level of partnership of the two countries through the CPEC. "Most of Pakistanis don't know English and if they want to know what glorious things Chinese leadership is doing, this book will provide to the people who are fond of reading. They all talk about CPEC and China-Pakistan friendship, now they will know the significance of China-Pakistan friendship," he said. Farrukh Sohail Goindi, chief of the Jamhoori Publications in charge of the Urdu version's translation, said it is an honor and pleasure for him to translate a Chinese president's book in Urdu. "Through this book, we can understand the Chinese politics, the vision of Chinese president and the role of China-Pakistan friendship in the region and all over the world." Goindi, who reads the book five to nine times in different periods in different stages, told Xinhua after the ceremony that Urdu is an opinion-making language in Pakistan and through Urdu publication, a commoner can easily understand the role of China, the leadership of China, and the economic and political roles of China. Chinese traditional brands endeavor to respect their traditions but at the same time try to keep abreast of modern developments. [Photo provided to China Daily] There are few better ways of unraveling some of the mysteries behind Chinese culture than by looking into the history of the country's time-honored brands. You can get a glimpse into the traditional making of fermented bean curd by visiting the 340-year-old Wangzhihe science museum in Beijing. If the history of Chinese grape wine tickles your interest, the old winery Dragon Seal in Beijing is the place to go, and soon anyone wanting to find out about Chinese sauce and pickles will be able to do just that at the museum of Liubiju, the pickle maker that is more than 400 years old, also in Beijing. As traditional brands endeavor to respect their traditions but at the same time try to keep abreast of modern developments, they are also putting in a great deal of effort to educate customers about their culture and heritage. "Traditional culture, a way of life and nostalgia are the essence of time-honored brands," says Yin Jie, a member of a committee of experts charged with revitalizing time-honored brands. Such brands will be more recognizable in the marketplace if their owners adopt certain strategies and are willing to innovate, he says. Many that have done so are thriving, he says. For example, the pastry maker Daoxiangcun, 244 years long in the tooth, has added more than 10 flavors to its old-fashioned moon cake collection. Moreover, sugar alcohol was put in for the elderly, and flower and fruit were grounded together for the young. Sugar content in certain cakes was also generally reduced by 7 percent, which appeals particularly to the health conscious. "Chinese shoppers are gradually turning to traditional Chinese pastries that have better ingredients and that use a better production process," says Zhou Guangjun, the chairman of the Daoxiangcun board. "We have adjusted formulas in a timely way and put new products on the market to coincide with the trend toward healthier eating." The Juancheng Pixian Thick Broad-Bean Sauce company has also recently upgraded its cooking sauce recipe for sale in small packets for instant use. "We want those who don't cook to be able to enjoy our products, for example when they board an aircraft," says Wu Jialin, the company's e-commerce manager. The household name Yunnan Baiyao has applied its blood-stanching ingredients to adhesive bandage and toothpaste. The latter has become its star product since coming on the market 13 years ago. Giant pandas are some of the world's most vulnerable and rare creatures. The United States has the most giant pandas outside China. [Photo provided to China Daily] The bestowment of two giant pandas on the US in 1972 began the 'year of the panda' and a continuing fascination with the rare and vulnerable animals A green-hued April day, 19-month-old giant panda cub Bei Bei was climbing a tree at the National Zoo in Washington D.C., the United States, drawing laughter from the crowds. "I started coming here way back to the 1970s when China gifted two (giant) pandas to Washington," Stephanie Smith, gray hair with a panda hat pin, was overjoyed by every move of Bei Bei at the giant panda house. Smith is just one of the two million panda fans home and abroad coming to Washington to see giant pandas every year. "They are just part of Washington like our First Family," said Smith. "They are such peaceful, wise creatures." It was also an April day 45 years ago, when Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, carefully selected and given by the Chinese government as a gift to commemorate the groundbreaking handshakes between leaders from China and the United States that year, arrived at Washington, welcomed by around 8,000 Americans in the rain. It was the first time that the Chinese government gave giant pandas as a gift to a Western country. The New York Times put it as front page news, saying that "zoo directors are bringing every kind of pressure to get one of the furry clowns with the black-patched white bodies and the black-ringed eyes." The debut of Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing at the National Zoo attracted more than 20,000 people far and wide and the number of visitors for the first month was as many as 110,000, arousing not only Panda-mania across the country, but also interest in China among the American people. The year of 1972 was marked as "the year of the panda" in the United States with "panda diplomacy" bringing closer the peoples from both sides of the Pacific Ocean. For four decades since then, giant pandas have remained a symbol of friendship between the two countries. US-born giant panda Bao Bao met the public for the first time in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province on March 24, a month after the 3-year-old female flew back to her home country on a charter flight from Washington. US Charge d'affaires David H. Rank told Xinhua after watching Bao Bao settling in her home that he thought the day meant so much to the cooperation between the US and China, praising the cooperation between the two countries on scientific research and protection of endangered wildlife. During her 16-hour trip to Chengdu, Bao Bao was accompanied by her American keeper Marty Dearie and Dr Katharine Hope to ensure a smooth flight. She was greeted by Chinese experts immediately after landing at the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on Feb 22. "Upon arrival at the Dujiangyan panda base, Bao Bao walked into her new enclosure within one minute when her new keeper opened her travel crate door. She immediately started exploring and was very relaxed," Dearie wrote on the website of the US National Zoo. One of the most influential Australian media outlets has hyped up a hypothetical "China slowdown" while highlighting the severe economic consequences it could bring to Australia. An article, published by The Australian, one of the country's major newspapers, on Wednesday, begins with a widely circulated report by Deloitte Access Economics, which outlines a number of scenarios that are wildly hypothetical regarding China and Australia, and assesses the potential impact should any of them actually occur. The report presents three scenarios that the author believes are plausible: a downturn in China's economy which sends Australia into recession; Asian economies performing better than expected and the Australian government having the courage to carry out reform; and Australia getting better at being "cyber smart". Rather than covering all the three scenarios, the article focuses on the most controversial offering, a "China slowdown". The article is devoted to assessing the inner workings of the "China slowdown" scenario, ignoring any attempt to analyze the others, in what could best be described as an attempt to sensationalize an issue. Since the article is based on hypothetical modeling rather than data-based analytical assessments, it would only dampen business confidence between the two countries. The Deloitte modeling, says the article, indicates that "house prices (in Australia) would fall by 9 percent, stripping A$600 billion ($449.60 billion) from the wealth of families, while the share market would drop 17 percent, costing a further A$300 billion ($225 billion)", if China's growth fails to reach the 6.5 percent target this year and, instead, falls to less than 3 percent. In terms of actual data and analysis, Gerard Burg, Asia economist at National Australia Bank, told Xinhua that it was highly unlikely that China wouldn't reach its growth target, calling it a "very outside possibility". And Li Wei, Asia economist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, believes that China will exceed the growth target, reaching 6.8 percent in 2017. "The recent growth momentum is picking up, and especially the recovery in commodity prices and industry profit will support industry growth and industrial investment going forward," Li said. "China's export growth to the United States and the European Union has been strong, and will last for a while, so recovery in the export sector will also enable China to reach its growth target," Li said, stressing that the slowdown in China's housing market is much lower than experts anticipated, which adds to the widespread belief that the 6.5 percent growth target will be achieved, and possibly exceeded, in 2017. In a statement obtained by Xinhua, Cindy Hook, Deloitte Australia chief executive, said the modeling used in the report is just a scenario, one of three put forward, without it being indicative of any predictive assessment. The statement also indicated that, "none of these three scenarios is the 'most likely' outcome for Australia", while the report is full of "what if" scenarios akin to a science fiction novel about flying cars. She said it is not intended to stoke fear or harm investor confidence. While hypothetical scenarios do serve a purpose, selective appropriation of speculative data without a full assessment of all available contexts serves only to create panic rather than promote a shared and prosperous future for both China and Australia. Fair and balanced interaction is paramount to building an even stronger relationship between the two sides. The author is a writer with Xinhua News Agency. (China Daily 04/15/2017 page5) WASHINGTONAn ice-encrusted moon orbiting Saturn appears to have the conditions necessary for life, NASA has announced, unveiling new findings made by its unmanned Cassini spacecraft. Cassini has detected hydrogen molecules in vapor plumes emanating from cracks in the surface of Enceladus, a small ocean moon coated in a thick layer of ice, the US space agency said on Thursday. The plumes have led scientists to infer that hydrothermal chemical reactions between the moon's rocky core and its ocean-located under the iceare likely occurring on Enceladus. On Earth, those chemical reactions allow microbes to flourish in hot cracks in Earth's ocean floorsdepths sunlight cannot reach-meaning the moon could also nourish life. The plumes are 98 percent water, scientists said, with traces of molecules including ammonia, carbon dioxide and methane. Hydrogen had previously been "elusive", they said, but its detection shows the moon's life-supporting potential. "Now, Enceladus is high on the list in the solar system for showing habitable conditions," said Hunter Waite, one of the study's leading researchers. The new research, which was published on Thursday in the journal Science, "indicates there is chemical potential to support microbial systems", he said. Cassini is on what NASA has described as its "grand finale", since it is running low on fuel, soaring through a 2,400-kilometer-wide gap between Saturn and its rings. PYONGYANG -- The military of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday warned of "toughest counteraction" in response to what it called "reckless miliary provocation" by the Trump administration. In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, a spokesman for the Korean People's Army General Staff said the current situation in the Korean Peninsula is "extremely dangerous." "The Trump administration of the US began to disclose its brigandish nature timed to coincide with Key Resolve and Foal Eagle nuclear war games now under way across South Korea," said the spokesman. "All the brigandish provocative moves of the US in the political, economic and military fields ... will be thoroughly foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK," he said. The spokesman further said that the counteraction against "US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive." "Under the prevailing grave situation, the US has to come to its senses and make a proper option for the solution of the problem," he added. The United States has sent USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to waters near the Korean Peninsula in what it called a "reaction to provocations" by the DPRK with recent missile tests. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday warned that no one would win if there were war on the Korean Peninsula, advising against anything that could escalate the situation. MOSCOW -- Russia on Friday called on relevant countries to exercise restraint to cool down the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Moscow is watching the escalation of tensions with great concern and asks relevant countries to refrain from provocative actions, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He reiterated Russia's non-proliferation stance, adding that all crises should be settled with political and diplomatic methods. The United States has sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to waters near the Korean Peninsula in what it called a "reaction to provocations" by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with recent missile tests. Pyongyang on Friday warned the United States of "toughest counteraction" to its "reckless military provocation." SEOUL -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday showcased its military muscles by parading all of its most-advanced ballistic and tactic missiles, including a submarine-launched ballistic missile which could strike targets 1000 km away. The missiles were shown during the grand celebrations marking the 105th birth anniversary of DPRK founder Kim Il-sung, which was watched by DPRK supreme leader Kim Jong-un from a high review stand on the west side of the Kim Il-sung Square in central Pyongyang. The most updated version of "Lightning" long-range land-to-air ballistic missiles, which was test-fired a year ago with a striking distance of 100 km, and a new submarine-launched Polaris missile capable of hitting targets 1,000 km away, were displayed in what is believed to be the biggest military parade in DPRK history. Amid hails of "Ban Zai! (eternal life)" from soldiers of the Korean People's Army, Kim showed a wide smile and clapped his hands constantly while seeing the military strength of his country. This year's celebrations of the anniversary, known as "Festival of the Sun," came amid high tensions as Washington threatened to strike the East Asian country for its nuclear and missile tests. DPRK has promised to give a fit reply to any provocation by the United States, saying it is capable of hitting targets on US soil. Hundreds of thousands of Pyongyang citizens also joined the parade in front of hundreds of foreign guests, diplomatic corps here and all political and military leaders and officialdom in the three-hour ceremony. (Photo : USAF) U.S. Air Force F-16 fires a Sidewinder. Advertisement The U.S. Air Force has finally moved forward with its long-delayed plans to upgrade its General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighter so this iconic aircraft that first flew in the 1970s can soldier on until 2048. Some 300 F-16s will receive structural and avionics upgrades as part of a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). Structural improvements to the jet will add at least 4,000 operating hours to their original life cycle of 8,000 air-hours. The upgrade will start in 2018. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement More important, however, will be modernizing the Fighting Falcon's avionics to include an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar that allows simultaneous targeting of both air and ground targets. The radar deployed on the F-16C and D is a mechanically scanned array. "Following F-16 Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) structural modifications, the U.S. Air Force could safely operate (F-16C and D) Block 40-52 aircraft to 2048 and beyond," said Air Force officials in a statement. The fighter entered service with the air force in 1978 and over 4,500 of these agile fighters have been built. The fighter is also in service or has seen service in 25 other countries. Over the next four decades, the F-16 bore the brunt of the U.S. air campaigns in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, mainly in the ground attack role. It flew more than half of the 87,000 sorties flown against ISIS targets as of March. It gained fame as an air superiority fighter, however, in the hands of pilots of the Israeli Air Force and the Pakistan Air Force. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Israeli pilots flying the F-16 were credited with 44 air-to-air victories. Pakistani F-16 fighter jocks shot down eight Soviet aircraft flying from Afghanistan during the period 1986 to 1989 during the Soviet-Afghan War. The U.S. Air Force retains close to 1,200 F-16s in active service, or slightly more than half of the aircraft in its inventory. It was back in 2012 when the air force approved plans to upgrade and extend the life of the 300 F-16s to retain the air force's combat strength in case the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter experienced more delays in the course of its development, which it did. The plan called for upgrading the avionics with new radars and advanced software. Each F-16 was to receive AESA radar; a new Terma ALQ-213 electronic warfare system; an integrated broadcast system and a center display unit (CDU). Advertisement TagsU.S. Air Force, General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, Service Life Extension Program, SLEP, Israeli Air Force, Pakistan Air Force (Photo : Handout) The bank's employees are rendering overtime to count the coins. Advertisement A bank in Henan province received 50 boxes of change worth more than 200,000 yuan from a businessman. The depositor, Xiao Junqiang, drove to the rural credit cooperative with more than 50 boxes of Chinese banknotes and coins ranging from 50 cents to one yuan. The bank manager and its employees were stunned. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Xiao owns a restaurant in the countryside and did not deposit the huge amount of money due to spite, but because that was what one of his debtors paid him. The debtor works in public transport and saved the cash in one year. He paid Xiao with over 50 boxes worth between 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan. Xiao deposited a total of 229,300 yuan. The bank manager accepted the deposit but admitted that it will take a month to count the change. Unfortunately, the slow progress may lengthen the wait. Seven bank employees have been counting the deposited money during their free time and render one hour of overtime, but they only counted 80,000 yuan in one week. Their fingertips have turned black from holding the notes and coins. Advertisement TagsWeird News, weird bank deposits, coins, public transport, coins deposit, change deposit, yuan, debt, amount of money, money (Photo : Russian Aerospace Forces) PAK DA stealth strategic bomber concept. Advertisement Russia has again delayed the first flight of its already much delayed stealth strategic bomber, the Tupolev PAK DA. The Kremlin signed a contract for the aircraft's production on April 13 with United Aircraft-Building Corporation. It expects the first experimental prototype of its next-generation strategic bomber -- which threatens to become its most expensive weapons system -- to be delivered in the early 2020s, said state-run media reports. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The first flight for this flying wing stealth bomber, which is expected to be outwardly similar to the U.S. B-2 Spirit, is scheduled for 2025. Russia's defense industry partners completed research and development work for the project in 2016. Focus is now on the project's second stage: the development of design documentation and the manufacture of the aircraft's experimental prototypes. Russia initially planned to begin testing the bomber between 2019 and 2020, but serial production for the Tupolev Tu-160 "White Swan" supersonic strategic bomber reportedly delayed the program. Russia plans to buy at least 50 more of the planes, which will be upgraded to the Tu-160M2 configuration. The PAK DA project was almost cancelled in 2012, partly as a result of funding shortfalls. PAK DA, which will replace both the turboprop-powered Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" and the Tu-160, is being developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau. PAK DA stands for "Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Dal'ney Aviatsii" literally, "prospective aviation complex for long-range aviation." This next-generation strategic bomber is expected to enter service with the Russian Air Force from 2025 to 2030. PAK DA will fly at subsonic speeds but a hypersonic version might be developed. In its hypersonic version, PAK DA will be capable of launching nuclear weapons from space and can reach any part of the globe in one or two hours, said Colonel Alexei Solodovnikov, Representative of the Military Academy of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces. PAK DA will be equipped with advanced precision guided weapons, including hypersonic weapons. Advertisement TagsRussia, Tupolev PAK-DA, United Aircraft-Building Corporation, B-2 Spirit, Tupolev Tu-160 "White Swan" supersonic strategic bomber, Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" (Photo : GETTY IMAGES) A frontier soldier keeps guard beside mass seized methamphetamine on May 5, 2016 in Dongguan, Guangdong Province of China Advertisement A chemistry professor in Wuhan was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment for manufacturing illegal drugs and selling them overseas. Zhang, an associate chemistry professor, and his partner Yang founded a company in 2005 that fronts as a manufacturer of medical coating and solvent. But the company actually produces methylone, a psychotropic drug that can cause euphoria. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement There was strong demand of psychotropic drugs overseas, and at the time, the medicines were not regulated in China. But it was added to the list of controlled substance in 2014. The company could not create a substitute, so they continued producing methylone and distributing it internationally. They sent the products to clients under different names and they accepted Bitcoin for payment. Customs officials found hallucinogen in parcels in 2014. Zhang and Yang, along with two other suspects, were arrested in June 2015. The two reportedly made upwards of 4 million yuan annually from the illegal business. Yang received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, while Zhang was punished with lifetime imprisonment. Advertisement Tagsbreaking bad, Walter White, Walter White of China, professor, chemistry professor, university professor jailed, produce narcotics (Photo : GETTY IMAGES) China's Weibo CEO Charles Chao. Advertisement Beijing's administrative law enforcement fined Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, 30,000 yuan for spreading pornography. This is the latest move of the national campaign against production, sale, and distribution of illegal publications and online erotic content launched in February by the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Investigators found that Weibo began creating videos in February 2015 without a license, and the content includes obscene videos. They immediately required the social media giant to remove the unwanted content. Advertisement Tagsporn china, porn news, is porn allowed in china, china crackdown on porn, erotic content, weibo, Twitter in China (Photo : Getty Images) China claims that it has successfully tested an indigenous scramjet with speeds of Mach 7 and altitude of up to 30 km. Advertisement China is planning to test a prototype combined-cycle hypersonic engine later this year in a bid to pave the way for the first demonstration flight of a full scale-propulsion system by 2025. If the test is successful, it will become the world's first hypersonic-powered vehicle or the first stage of a two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane, according to Next Big Future. Hypersonic aircraft could significantly reduce the costs of space travel and boost China's renewed space race. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "We also developed a low-cost near-space science and technology flight test platform," Lihong Chen, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said. He noted that the first flight was launched successfully, with key issues of the scramjet demonstrated at Mach 3.5-7 and altitudes of 15-30 km. Chen also claimed that the flight test was part of a fundamental research under a program, which is similar to the Australian-US Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation. Combined-cycle systems have long been studied as a possible way to access to space and long-range hypersonic vehicles. According to Popular Science, the aircraft would take off like a normal plane, before a supersonic scramjet engine kicks in to lift it to nearly 100 km above sea level. Then, rocket boosters will give additional thrust, supplying it with enough power to escape the Earth's lower atmosphere. Meanwhile, Zhang Yong, an engineer from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said that China would be able to master spaceplane's technologies over the next three to five years. He also said that a full-scale spaceplane would enter service by 2030. Advertisement Tagsscramjet, hypersonic aircraft, aviation news, china, spaceplane (Photo : USAF) The Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea. Advertisement China will ensure Kim Jong-un remains in power in exchange for North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons program in its latest bid to avert a looming United States military attack on North Korea's nuclear facilities. An astonishing editorial in state-run Global Times, which is owned by the People's Daily (the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China), said China's support will allow North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons development program while at the same time ensuring Kim remains in power. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The editorial argues Kim is desperately seeking a way out of the current crisis that might lead to a Second Korean War if it spins out of control. It noted the north's maniacal obsession with developing its own nuclear weapons is driven by the perception only nuclear weapons prevent the U.S. overthrowing Kim's regime. "The foremost objective of the DPRK's development of nuclear weapons is to safeguard its security of political power," said the editorial. "Pyongyang is eager to make the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) eventually admit its legitimacy for possession of nuclear weapons, accept its nuclear deterrence and fundamentally change attitudes towards it." The editorial, however, chided North Korea for its bull-headed insistence that developing nuclear weapons will force the U.S. to go easy on it. It noted that "two decades of reality has proved that this path won't work, even if the DPRK holds on, launching several more nuclear tests and firing several more long- and medium-range missiles." It also pointed out this approach won't instill fear in the Americans, and that if North Korea continues its "outrageous nuclear missile tests, the likelihood of the U.S.' attacking the DPRK will surge. By that time, the survival of the Pyongyang regime may be a problem." Despite concluding North Korea's fearmongering strategy has failed, China seeks to assuage the north's feelings by pointing out that "reconciliation between the DPRK and the outside world is predestined." North Korea, however, should take the initiative to make the first step towards this reconciliation and it is here China can be of effective assistance. China reminded North Korea they used to be "signatories in blood" because of their alliance in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. That bond was frayed by the north's insistence on going its nuclear weapons program alone without China's support. "It is advised that Pyongyang observe China's advice of announcing the suspension of nuclear activities and gradually abandon nuclear weapons, and China will play a positive role in safeguarding the security of the DPRK's state and regime after the abandonment. This is the best choice for Pyongyang." China urged North Korea to act favorably on its suggestion now. "The earlier Pyongyang makes this choice, the earlier it will be accessible to brilliant prospects. The Chinese government and the Chinese mainstream society are willing to respect the friendly DPRK and build a beautiful future for both sides along the Yalu River." Advertisement Tagschina, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, nuclear weapons program, Global Times, United States (Photo : Getty images.) India has maintained that it will continue to seek a solution to the contagious border issue which will satisfy both the parties. Advertisement India on Friday clarified that there is no change in its stance on the vexed Tibetan issue, asserting that it considers the Himalayan region to be an integral part of the Republic of China. The clarification comes barely weeks after the Dalai Lama concluded his first visit to the disputed region of Arunachal Pradesh since 2009. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement However, India has maintained that it will continue to seek a solution to the contagious border issue which will satisfy both the parties. "Let me make it absolutely clear that there is no change whatsoever in the Government of India's policy towards the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said. "Similarly, our approach to seeking a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question remains unchanged." The contentious issues of Arunachal Pradesh and the Dalai Lama have come to the fore once again in recent weeks after the Indian government allowed the controversial spiritual leader to the visit the disputed region despite a stern warning from Beijing. The Chinese government categorically warned that the visit would seriously harm the bilateral relationship between both nations. However, New Delhi chose to invite Beijing's wrath by going ahead with the scheduled visit, including a planned trip to Tawang, which China specifically considers to be part of Southern Tibet. The Dalai Lama had tried to pacify China during the controversial visit by stating that he is merely fighting for autonomy and not independence for Tibet. But the olive branch did not help in softening China's position on the exile Buddhist leader, whom China considers a dangerous insurgent leader. The Dalai Lama eloped from China in 1959 after leading a failed uprising against the Chinese government over the Tibetan issue. Since then he has been living in political asylum in India's northern state of Dharamshala. Advertisement Tagschina, Tibet, Dalai Lama, India and China As a 22-year-old, Darrin Rankin said goodbye to his family at the New Orleans airport, about to board a plane to go to graduate school at Syracuse University in 1989. His father offered him four pieces of advice: be a man of absolute, uncompromising integrity; be bold and fearless in attaining aspirations; have an undeniable work ethic; always keep his shoes shined. Do those things, Rankin's father said, and success will follow. Almost 30 years later, Rankin stood before those in attendance at the Greater East Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Luncheon April 5 and asserted, "I have to tell you people, man, he was right on the money." Rankin is now the vice president of student success for Lone Star College-Kingwood, as well as a GEMCCC board member. He was invited to be the guest speaker at the GEMCCC's April luncheon to share his life story navigating the path to success. "He's got a really great story to tell," said Christian Shank, GEMCCC board chairman. "I think it can touch a lot of people in a lot of different ways." One of Rankin's favorite things to see in nature is an iceberg. "I love the natural beauty of an iceberg, but I also love the fact that in many ways, an iceberg is the perfect metaphor for life, because often most people just see the tip of the iceberg, never realizing that 95 percent of the iceberg you cannot see at all," Rankin said. "Each of us, very much like the iceberg, is made up of so much more than what people see." Rankin began his life in New Orleans, born into abject poverty. He attended forced integration schools and was designated as a special education student. "I was struggling with math, writing and with all sorts of academics. I just couldn't quite get it together, failing miserably at standardized tests," Rankin said. He still remembers when his guidance counselor told him he was not smart enough for college in seventh grade. However, it was his eighth-grade teacher who left the lasting impact on his life. "I'm 52 years old, and I still remember my eighth-grade teacher by name," Rankin said. "I can still see her face because she impacted my life in such a way, believed in me and encouraged me - notwithstanding what the guidance counselor said, notwithstanding what it may have looked like in terms of my ability to not do well on tests - she believed in me and she is the reason I am an educator today, and I am a very passionate educator who very much looks out for the underdog, just like she looked out for me." When Rankin applied to college, he scored a 13 out of 27 on the ACT. Again, his guidance counselor advised him that college was not in his future. And the first time he applied, he was rejected. "Well, right now, I have that rejection letter to college that I received as well as that ACT test," Rankin said. "It's framed and it's on my wall in my office right next to my Ph.D. I guess they were wrong about that. And I don't say that in a boastful way. I say that because the kids that we're dealing with, the people that you work with, the people that are working in your particular businesses, you never know what their potential is if you don't encourage it - if you don't help them to sometimes see their own potential. It's important as leaders that we do that. Leadership is about a lot more than a feather in your own cap; it's about getting the next person ready for the next level." During the luncheon, the chamber celebrated the graduating class of the 2017 GEMCCC Discovery Leadership class, which started in September 2016. The Discovery Leadership class is the Chamber's revamped leadership program to help grow community leaders. GEMCCC's Jon Unterreiner gave an overview of what the class entailed. "When we set out to do this, we had a few goals in mind," Unterreiner said. "First was we wanted to develop local leaders from the area and really teach them about the community, talk about current issues, introduce them to who the people in the community are that are involved in making decisions, and ultimately give them an idea about how to get involved when they're done, so that if they want to go make a difference in the community, they know the right people now and they know something about the issues." The 2017 class graduates are: Chad Patterson, Belinda Wallace, Cleave Pamphile, Creg Mixon, Eric Prado, Jim Carranza, Martin Zepeda, Michelle Dykstra, Sheila Hebert, Sheila Unterreiner, Taylor Jones, Tracy Mahan, Vern Reichert, Michael Keyes and Christine Pechayco. The class had seven sessions covering topics which ranged from team building, to public safety, government, education, economic development, healthcare and infrastructure. "We also wanted to have a leadership focus, and that's something we didn't do so much in the past," Unterreiner said. "Going forward, we want to continue to have the leadership play a big role in what we're doing. We are planning to keep this class rolling, building on the momentum from this year and do it next year bigger and better." Rankin congratulated the graduates in their success. "(Celebrations) provide strong reminders of the struggles of life, the satisfaction of accomplishment and the inevitability of progress," Rankin said. "Celebrations help us understand the context in which we work and live. So, congratulations to this class. You have no doubt, with this accomplishment and many others, overcome that incredible obstacle of self-doubt and fear." Just as Rankin provides encouragement to his students at LSC-Kingwood, he left the community members at the GEMCCC luncheon with words of advice to all: "Dream big and dream often." For more information about the Greater East Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, visit http://www.gemcchamber.com/. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Hundreds of sign-wielding Houston taxpayers congregated outside City Hall Saturday as part of a nationwide appeal to President Donald Trump to release his tax returns. Tax March Houston kicked off at 10:30 a.m. with dozens of green-shirted anti-Trump protestors co-mingling at 901 Bagby. Houston area critics of the president planned the march in January in response to his post-election statement that Americans "don't care" about seeing his tax returns. "The only ones that care about my tax returns are the reporters," Trump said during a Jan. 11 press conference, enraging his critics to mobilize in several marches taking place across the country on Tax Day 2017. Trump is the first president since Nixon to refuse to release his tax returns in office. TAX TIME: These celebrities have worse tax troubles than you do A lineup of political activists spoke before the Houston march around downtown started on Smith Street. "The anti-Trump resistance is strong. We must keep this resistance going," Brian Harrison, of Socialist Alternative, told the crowd. "If you want to fight back against Trump and fight for socialist policies, please join us." Signs that read "Chicken Don - Where's your money?," "Hide Eggs, Not Taxes" waved about the growing crowd as young families, elderly couples and millennials fell in line for the march. Pet owners brought their dogs with anti-fascist signs hung from their collars. Participants poured out onto the streets of downtown as organizers chanted into megaphones. Gabriella Nissen and Paige Moore held their signs high in the crowd as they waited for the march to keep moving. "This isn't fair. We're all taking part in our duty to pay taxes and he hasn't proven that he's taking part in his," Moore said. "Just look at the disparity in the wealth that he's generated for himself and refuses to share with the country versus the money that we're working for and contributing to society with." Both women participated in the Jan. 21 Women's March in Washington in protest of Trump's election. "I've been upset from the beginning," Nissen said. "It seems like everything he's doing is hurting the citizens of the United States." An inflatable Trump-looking chicken float was carted alongside the march, which took place on the sidewalks of McKinney, Travis and Capitol before returning to the plaza at City Hall. Event organizer and co-director Elle Church said she had never planned a march before. After having a hip replacement, the responsibilities of spearheading Tax March Houston grew to be "exceptionally exhausting." Even while enduring hip pain throughout the activities, she said she was amazed by the turnout. "I wouldn't have it any other way," Church said. "I don't know how powerful our impact is going to be, but I'm more than pleased with how it turned out." "Even if 200 people showed up, I would've been thrilled." Protestors waved signs at policemen on horseback as children as young as 5 chanted in the streets. Passersby walked alongside the march to take photos and ask activists Trump-related questions, to which they chanted "What do we want? Tax Returns. When do we want them? Now." "He's not divulging his connections," said participant Greg Broyles. "There's a strong suspicion that he's interconnected to Vladimir Putin and Putin has blown up Chechens, he's a murderer. Trump is connected." ACLU of Texas Legal Observer volunteers directed participants toward Sen. Ted Cruz's office, where the march briefly stopped. Marchers also carried signs with portraits of Cruz that read "Hateful Ted." "Cruz is not representing the citizens of Texas. He needs to go," said first-time marcher Theresa San Miguel. "I was disappointed when he went to the Republican convention and did not endorse Trump, but then he switched his endorsement and said he did." U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, arrived at the end of the march to voice her support of Tax March Houston. Protesters formed a crowd around the City Hall steps as she removed her "signature" scarf due to the heat of the morning, to a raucous applause. "We will not be run and ruled by kings," she said. Scroll through the above gallery to see images from the Tax Day protests in Houston and around the country This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Kids playing in a vacant East Texas building made a ghoulish discovery. Police in Tyler said the kids were playing in what appears to have been a funeral home, but that is now out of business. Inside the building, amid empty bottles, mattresses and miscellaneous debris, the kids found a mummified body. COLD CASES: Sheriff turning to retired detectives to help with unsolved mysteries Tyler Police Department Public Information Officer Don Martin told KXAS-TV no one knows how long the body has been in the building and it is unclear whether it is a man or a woman. Martin said the body will be sent off for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. "If they are transient it may be a long time before they are missed, Martin told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. The challenge is identifying the person. Scroll through the gallery to see other cases of unidentified remains and cold cases in Texas Hiking up Mount Cristo Rey just west of El Paso, Texas, is a religious endeavor undertaken each Easter by many. It is generally considered a peaceful pilgrimage to make on the holiday weekend. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In a political time when terrorism and illegal aliens are huge talking points, the federal government has taken multiple steps to tackle both issues. In recent years, wiretaps, search warrants, beefed up border patrols and even wars have been fought in the name of one or the other. And, way back in 1996, under then-President Bill Clinton, the federal government created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, with the mandate to decide whether aliens (non-citizens) should be deported from the United States on the grounds that they are terrorists. LISTENING IN: FISA court approved warrant to monitor Donald Trump adviser The court, made up of five member of the federal bench appointed by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was modeled on the much better known Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The FISA court, in the news lately for approving a warrant to listen in on one of Donald Trump's advisers during the 2016 campaign, is highly secretive and tackles search and wiretap warrants (among other items) dealing with national security. But, while the Alien Terrorist Removal Court shares a few judges and a general purpose with the FISA court - to keep the country safe - there's one big difference. FULL DISCLOSURE: Texas rep files bill to make FISA warrants public The Alien Terrorist Removal Court has never been used. Not once have the judges sat to hear a case. The court has no website and it isn't clear why it hasn't been called to action. But, it exist, at least on paper, ready to swing into action should the need ever arise. Scroll through the gallery to see which federal judges sit on the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, then keep scrolling to see which judges are currently on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court 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. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- What's the biggest danger that President Donald Trump faces? Is it North Korea? Confronting Vladimir Putin over Syria? The FBI investigation into Trump campaign connections with Russia? Or is it retribution from the Alt-Right and Steve Bannon, if Trump fires him? The Bannon banishment watch has begun since Trump removed him from the National Security Council and made dismissive remarks about Bannon during interviews with the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal. "I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late." Trump told the Post. "I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn't know Steve. I'm my own strategist and it wasn't like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary" Trump described Bannon to the Wall Street Journal just as "a guy who works for me." With comments like that, the question is just how long will Bannon continue to work for him. It's not Trump's usual management style to publicly rebuke one of his subordinates. Trump is said to have grown tired of the infighting between Bannon and the centrist faction of his staff, led by son-in-law Jared Kushner. "Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will." Trump told the New York Post. Reportedly, Trump has told people close to him that Bannon is not a team player White House colleagues of Bannon described him to The Washington Post as a "stubborn recluse who had failed to build a reservoir of goodwill within the West Wing." Bannon's fingerprints have been all over the Trump administrations biggest failures and mistakes. Those include the two failed travel bans, the National Security Council change and the Obamacare replacement push. Trump corrected the National Security Council error when he removed Bannon from it and restored the Joint Chiefs Chairman and added the director of the CIA, UN Ambassador and Secretary of Energy, who oversees the nation's nuclear arsenal. Bannon was behind the original order that placed himself on the NSC and removed the Joint Chiefs chairman. Trump was reportedly furious that he had not been properly briefed at the time and considered reversing the change the week it was made. He held off because he thought an immediate reversal would feed the controversy over the change. Bannon is not just at odds with Jared Kushner. He's at odds with Ivanka Trump, economic advisor Gary Cohn, National Security Adviser Lt. Gen McMaster, Defense Secretary Mattis and Secretary of State Tillerson, among others. If it's a choice between Bannon and both his blood family and Wall Street family in the White House, Trump is always going to side with Ivanka, Jared and the Wall Street executives he has in his administration. In any other situation, the blatant nepotism in the White House would be even more controversial than it is. However, in this case, Ivanka Trump's and Jared Kushner's presence on the staff is tolerable because they are a moderating force of reason against the extremist Bannon. Alt-Right leaders are threatening all out war against Trump and Republicans running for re-election if Bannon is fired. Alt-Right Provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos said he would even manage a Bannon for President Campaign in 2020. Trump's grass roots base didn't vote for Bannon for president, they voted for Trump. If Trump hadn't named Bannon his Chief White House strategist, it's unlikely there would have been any real hue and cry from the grass roots for him to do so. Before the election, Bannon was only a known quantity to conservatives and the Alt-Right. Now he's known nationally, but as a bloated, blotched wing-nut caricature who is depicted as the grim reaper on Saturday Night Live. Trump has changed his campaign positions on Syria, China and NATO. Bannon opposes all those changes. But Trump also said during the campaign that he's flexible, open minded and listens. His position changes on Syria, China, NATO and Bannon prove that to be true. And those changes are for the better. As president, Trump appears to have now gotten a reality check and accepted it. Bannon and his Alt-Right minions haven't yet. Either firing Bannon, or marginalizing his White House role, would be good for the Trump presidency and the country, because he shouldn't have been hired to begin with. Cleveland.com is a partner of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Every dollar buys four meals for the hungry. Click here to donate. PARMA, Ohio -- The Cleveland FBI and Parma police are looking for a man accused of robbing a Citizens Bank. The robbery happened just before 2 p.m. Friday at the Ridge Road branch south of Snow Road, FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said. The man entered the bank, approached the teller counter and passed a demand note along with a white plastic bag, she said. The note indicated a bank robbery and a threat if the teller didn't comply. The teller complied with the demand for cash, Anderson said. He left the bank with an undisclosed amount of money and walked eastbound on Hampstead Avenue. Tips on the robbery can be given to the Parma Police Department at 440-887-7300, the Cleveland FBI at 216-522-1400 or Crimestoppers at 216-252-7463. Reward money is available to those with information leading to the arrest of the man. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section. cleveland.com is a partner of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Every dollar buys four meals for the hungry. Click here to donate. westlake police cruiser Westlake police respond to Detroit Road business regarding claims a former employee made threats. (Patrick Cooley, cleveland.com) Aggravated menacing, Detroit Road: A 38-year-old North Ridgeville man reacted badly April 10 to his firing from a Detroit Road business two days earlier. After stewing for two days, he called and threatened to kill everyone. He denied saying that when contacted by the investigating officer. Warrants for aggravated menacing and telephone harassment have been issued. Tax Fraud, West Avalon Drive: A man had a phony federal tax return filed under his name. He reported it on April 7. Theft, Crossings Parkway: A man had the rear plate stolen off his 1998 Honda Civic sometime April 3-7. Theft, Market Street: The lock was removed April 7 from a Westlake man's locker at a Crocker Park business. His clothes, keys and a wallet, including credit cards, were taken. Theft, Crocker Road: A paycheck squabble at a Crocker Road business resulted in the theft of a 21-year-old male employee's cell phone. Another employee, a 20-year-old Cleveland woman, and her unidentified boyfriend demanded her check. In the course of explaining why that was not possible, the victim allowed the boyfriend to speak to his superior on the victim's phone. The boyfriend then kept it for ransom until the female was paid. A warrant for complicity to theft was issued for the female. Theft, Main Street: Property worth $1,000 was stolen April 8 from a Main Street store. Prior to the theft, a male and a female suspect had been recognized by staff at another store and told to leave. They departed the premises in a white Honda Civic with a temporary tag. Theft, First Street: A $700 iPhone was stolen April 9 from a Chagrin Falls woman while she was at a First Street business. She was unable to access her account when she received a replacement, as the owner information had been changed. Theft, Detroit Road: A business owner found two unauthorized withdrawals from his bank account. He suspects a contractor he hired is behind both of them. The contractor returned $1,000 from the first instance, saying it was a bank error. After noticing the second $698 transaction, he reported it April 10. Theft, Columbia Road: A Westlake woman's 2013 Honda CRV had the front passenger window broken April 11 while parked outside a business. Her purse was stolen. It contained U.S. and South Korean currency and credit cards. Criminal damaging, Clemens Road: Police arrested a 22-year-old Lakewood woman April 12 for criminal damaging at her ex-boyfriend's home. He had let her in to pick up her belongings, then left. Meanwhile, she poured beer on his bed, cut up clothing items and poured bleach on them, and dunked his electronics in beer. Total loss is estimated at $1,753. A 22-year-old Parma Heights woman she brought along for moral support was cited for possession of marijuana. . Fraud: Someone used a Farmington Turn man's identity to open a credit card account. He notified the bank of the fraud and the account was closed. The matter was reported on April 12. Theft: Purchases worth $3,328 were made on the internet with a Bordeaux Way woman's credit card. They were to be shipped to Georgia but she canceled them and the card, and she reported the theft April 13. Disorderly conduct, Westford Circle: A 57-year-old Westford Circle man was so intoxicated April 14 that he could not walk from his ride service car to his home. He was arrested for disorderly conduct while intoxicated. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comment page. "cleveland.com is a partner of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Every dollar buys four meals for the hungry. Click here to donate." In the rush to get through airport security checkpoints, it is not uncommon for distracted travelers to leave laptops, cellphones, jewelry and other valuable items in the plastic bins needed to scan their belongings. As it happens, they also leave behind lots of accumulated cash. For its fiscal year 2016, the Transportation Security Administration reported that passengers left behind more than $867, 812.39 in coins and currency in the plastic bowls and bins at various U.S. airport checkpoints. That's about $102,000 more than the amount left behind in 2015, and the more than $484,000 left behind in 2008. Over the years, the amount of change left behind by travelers at airports has been steadily climbingjumping from about $489,000 in 2011 to almost $675,000 in 2014, and hitting $766,000 in 2015. "There is no real way for TSA to know why this happens," spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein told CNBC. "It makes sense to point to an increase in the number of travelers as one likely reason, but other than that, we have no theories." Last year, passengers at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were the most forgetful (or generous, perhaps): Travelers there left behind $70,615 in unintentional 'tips' for TSA. Also on the top ten list for fiscal year 2016: Los Angeles International Airport, where travelers left behind almost $45,000; and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, where more than $42,000 in cash and currency was abandoned. Billionaire Chris Sacca absolutely shredded the pitch of an entrepreneur duo on "Shark Tank" Friday. The founders withheld critical information about their business until the very end of the pitch, and the Silicon Valley investor was having none of it. Savannah Cowley and Samuel Agboola went on the reality television show seeking $375,000, in exchange for a 5 percent investment in their photo printing service, Flag. The entrepreneurs presented Flag as "the world's first truly free photo printing app." Customers would be able to order up to 20 free prints per month with no shipping charge and no subscription fee. A customer would not need to enter credit card information to receive free prints with the app, they said. To pay for the service, Flag charges advertisers to put their message on the back of the photos sent to customers. In the three months prior to pitching on the show, Flag had made $150,000 in revenue from selling advertising to companies, including credit card giant Visa. Investor Kevin O'Leary expressed concern early on in the pitch. "There's nothing proprietary about this," he said. Competitors could replicate the Flag offering pretty easily. Cowley and Agboola continued on. They eventually reveal they have already raised $1.6 million and that they are currently seeking a total raise of $3 million. The $375,000 they were looking for from the sharks was only a small portion of the total raise they were in the midst of. At that point, billionaire tech investor Mark Cuban expressed his frustration at not being told right at the start of the pitch the total funding round the team was seeking. "Oh! You didn't think you should tell us that?" he asked. O'Leary piled on, frustrated that Flag didn't have enough data yet to show that the advertisers would come back to the table. "I feel like I have to come over and spank you with a ruler because you are on the cusp of the darkness, the abyss, the evil of going to freaking zero with a bullet," he added. Somebody call a doctor because this pitch needs CPR right now. Chris Sacca billionaire investor Almost all the sharks had declined to invest when Agboola revealed that the business model isn't entirely dependent on advertising. "I want to make sure that one thing is clear. This is a freemium model," Agboola said, referring to a pricing structure where only one tier is free, but users pay a premium to get more functionality or access to different features. "We don't anticipate that all of our revenue is going to come from advertising," he added. Hundreds of protesters streamed onto the Capitol lawn Saturday carrying signs demanding that President Trump release his tax returns in one of more than 150 Tax Day rallies and marches planned nationwide. Protesters in the nation's capital came from as far away as North Carolina and New York. Most carried signs and some wore the signature pink hats from the Jan. 21 Women's March that drew millions and helped spawn the Tax Day protest. Others carried plastic chickens and a few wore Russian-themed hats. "My message for the president is short enough to tweet. Today across America we are taking the gloves off," said Sen. Ron Wyden, of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and a keynote speaker. "It's time to knock off the tax rip offs. No more Cayman Island accounts for the insiders. No more tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas. No more special breaks for Wall Street." More from USA Today: President Trump, RNC get jump on 2020 race Arkansas judge blocks state from using lethal drug 94 ISIS fighters killed by MOAB, Afghan official says Wyden then tore into Trump's failure to release his tax returns, highlighting legislation he's sponsoring to require any U.S. president to release his returns annually. "President Trump has tossed this great American tradition in the trash can like a teenager trying to hide a lousy report card," he said. Trump is the first U.S. president in modern history not to release his returns every president since Richard Nixon has done so. Recent polling shows 74% of Americans want to see Trump's returns. "Knock off the secrecy, Mr. President, and publicly release your own tax returns," Wyden said. "Disclosing tax returns is the very lowest ethical bar for a president and we are going to insist that he clear it." Ezra Levin, executive director of Indivisible, among the major protest groups that's formed in the past few months, said the Tax Day protest was about more than just seeing someone's 1040s. "It's about whether or not the president of the United States is acting in the interest of the American people or whether he's lining his own pockets or serving another master," Levin said. "Congress has the power to find out and they've used it before," including on Nixon. A number of marchers drew parallels between Trump's recent bomb strikes in Syria and against ISIS in Afghanistan. One protester carried a sign reading "1 Airstrike Doesn't Erase Trump's Lies and Russia Ties." "There's a lot of dots connecting him to Putin, and I think his taxes would reveal the final dot," said Leslie Thiel, 58, who drove from Jackson Springs, N.C. "It's wag the dog all over again. It's just trying to divert attention." With Tax March, Democrats become party of revolt amid rising inequality Rallies were also scheduled in nearly 150 cities, including New York, Boston, Sacramento, Calif., and San Francisco. Activists in West Palm Beach, Fla., will hold the "March a Lago" near the resort where Trump is spending the Easter weekend. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., attended at a rally in Chicago. "What you saw beginning the day after the inauguration has not let up," Schakowsky said. "We're talking about intensity. The only question any of us get now is: What can I do?" The idea for the march grew out of the success of a women's march on Washington that drew millions of people. Jennifer Taub, who teaches law at Vermont Law School, got the ball rolling with a tweet calling for a #showusyourtaxes protest. Taub has testified before Congress and written a book about the 2008 financial crisis. "I'm just a law professor who sent out a tweet," said Taub, according to the Associated Press. "I'm psyched, and I think lots of people are psyched about this. We shall see." "I'm all about 'follow the money,'" Taub said. "It tells us the story about people's priorities." Through the march, the Democratic Party and progressives are attempting to reroute the grassroots energy that helped derail Trump's bid to overhaul the Affordable Care Act toward their next goal: forcing a release of his tax returns and drawing the battle lines for the upcoming debate over U.S. tax reform. More broadly, the coalition of almost 70 progressive groups is trying to take ownership of an issue taxes which Republicans have championed for the past 25 years, culminating in the formation of the conservative Tea Party. In fact, Saturday is also the eighth anniversary of hundreds of Tax Day protests that marked the emergence of the Republican-aligned Tea Party. Although the Tea Party gathered steam around opposition to Obamacare, its roots are in a backlash to former President Obama's $787 billion stimulus program. In a Facebook page for the Tax Day marches, organizers said the events focus on government transparency, conflicts of interest and an unfair tax system. They called on supporters to "show Donald Trump that he owes us transparency." "We're marching on Washington, D.C., and around the country to ask Donald Trump: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?" the organizers said on their website. "We need a president who works for all Americans, and a tax system that does, too. Release your tax returns and commit to a fair tax system for the American people." As a candidate, Trump said he would not release his taxes while they were being audited. After the election, he said that only the news media cared about seeing the documents. "I won," he said. Sean Spicer said Tuesday: "We filed our financial disclosure forms the other day in a way that allows everyone to understand." While April 15 is normally deemed Tax Day, this year it is Tuesday, April 18, because it falls on the weekend and there a holiday in Washington, D.C., on Monday. The Dragon of Wisdom chases a pearl on the reverse of the 2017 2-ounce silver $2 coin being issued by the Perth Mint in Australia in the name of Tuvalu. The Perth Mint celebrates the mythical dragon with a 2017 silver coin from Tuvalu. The 2-ounce .999 fine silver $2 coin features an Antique Finish, was struck to piedfort (double-thick) size, and has a low mintage. The reverse of the 2017 $2 coin depicts the mythical Dragon of Wisdom chasing a flaming pearl of wisdom (inscribed with the Chinese character for dragon), his mouth open. This side is without further legend, to enhance the design and heighten the drama of the dragon vignette. Connect with Coin World: Sign up for our free eNewsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Perth Mint artist Ing Ing Jong designed the reverse. The obverse carries the standard Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. Another botched release from the United States Mint: Inside Coin World: The release of the Congratulations set adds to the narrative that the U.S. Mint needs to overhaul its approach to limited-edition releases. The coin weighs 62.27 grams, measures 40.5 millimeters thick and has a mintage limit of 1,000 pieces. Distributor Talisman Coins offers the coin for $148.88. To order the coin, visit the firms website. Missouri football: Drinkwitz praises Brady Cook before UT game Eli Drinkwitz has heard the criticisms of his starting quarterback. Still, he feels Brady Cook gives Missouri football the best chance to win. Tiffany Marteau, owner of Saco Valley Gymnastics Training Center in Conway, sometimes slept at the gym while going through a divorce with her husband whom she accused of raping her in 2011. Marteau coaches her competitive gymnastics team in this March photo. ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff Tiffany Marteau coaches her competitive gymnastics team at Saco Valley Gymnastics Training Center in Conway on March 25, 2017. Marteau sometimes slept at the gym, which she owns, while going through a divorce with her husband whom she accused of raping her in 2011. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff) Tiffany Marteau laughs with her competitive gymnastics team during a break at Saco Valley Gymnastics Training Center in Conway on March 25, 2017. Marteau sometimes slept at the gym, which she owns, while going through a divorce with her husband whom she accused of raping her in 2011. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff) Tiffany Marteau and her 9-year-old daughter take home succulent plants they selected together at a store in North Conway on March 25, 2017. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff) Without looking through the doorway, Tiffany Marteau picks up her daughter from the Conway Police Department on March 25, 2017. Marteau shares custody of her daughter, now 9, with her ex-husband whom she accused of raping her in 2011. The no-contact custody transfer occurs twice a week. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff) Tiffany Marteau stands outside the Carroll County District Attorney's Office in Ossipee on Sunday, March 19, 2017. The sexual assault case against Marteau's ex-husband was mishandled by the office and ultimately did not proceed to trial. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff) Tiffany Marteau and her daughter hug at their North Conway home in March. Custody is split with her ex-husband. ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff Related stories Tiffany Marteau always equated silence with safety. Silence would allow her marriage to come to a swift and amicable end. Silence would allow her to move forward with her life. Silence would bury the memories of Feb. 19, 2011, the night she says she was raped by her husband. In time, though, she realized that by choosing to stay silent, she had not yet faced her past head on and made a conscious decision about how to move forward. She remained a victim unable to heal. Then, in March 2015, just over a year after she filed a rape report with Conway police, prosecutors with the Carroll County Attorneys Office told her they were dropping the charges. For most of the 48 hours that followed, she sat emotionally paralyzed on her closet floor. Prosecutors outlined six reasons why they could not move forward. But Marteau said she knew there were broader issues at play than her delayed disclosure to Conway police, her decision not to immediately move out of the family home after that February night, and the complexities that had arisen in the family court. What she came to realize, like so many victims of crime, is that her credibility was front and center and it had been all along. From the time police referred the case to the county attorneys office, her motives were under attack, including by prosecutors who had never before tried a sexual assault case. She decided to speak openly about her experience and shed her silence in hopes of helping others and spurring reform in the criminal justice system. In the process, she says she ceased to be a victim and became a survivor. I wish none of this ever happened, but since it did and I am still standing but remember the pain, it feels only human to turn around and try to help the woman who may find herself in similar shoes next, Marteau, 33, of North Conway said in an interview in March. There are pieces of the system that can get better but people have to help. They have to know the issues matter and warrant attention. She said she would be lying to herself if she didnt acknowledge that the psychological trauma still lingers, but she doesnt let it stop her from pursuing her goal or let it define her as a person. I hope that someday many of the barriers that keep women from taking that step will be less ominous. A big part of that relates to destigmatizing sexual assault. Part of it relates to improving the experience of victims when they encounter the criminal justice system. That will be a very long road but Im willing to put a paver down whenever I can. In spite of everything, Marteau said she feels fortunate that she was able to open her heart again. Later this month, she will remarry before nearly 200 guests during a ceremony in Maine. The case In the days that followed county prosecutors decision not to move forward with the sexual assault case, Marteau drafted a letter to the New Hampshire Attorney Generals office asking top officials to take a second look. I have spent the past year investing energy, reliving the trauma, granting access to my personal information and fully cooperating with the police and prosecutors, Marteau wrote. My expectation was that ultimately a jury would hear about what happened to me that night and that the decision related to a verdict would be theirs to make. The case against Anthony Soriente had been passed around the county attorneys office due to significant turnover a situation that, in time, became so severe that two state prosecutors had to step in to stabilize the department. One of those prosecutors was Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward, who took over the case. Ward told the judge the case merited additional investigation, and withdrew a plea deal first proposed by the county attorneys office in early 2015. That deal stipulated that Soriente would plead guilty to violating a protective order, a misdemeanor, and, in turn, prosecutors would drop all other indictments, including two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. Marteau said the proposed resolution painted an inaccurate portrayal of what she had endured as a victim, including on the night of Feb. 19, 2011. Marteau told police that she and Soriente had separated but still lived in the same home. His father had died that morning and she had let him sleep next to her for comfort. She told him no when he touched her, but he pulled her close and forced himself on her, according to police reports. The attorney generals review of the case only delayed its resolution. Months after rescinding the plea deal, Ward put it back on the table unchanged. He told the court the state could not prove the felony sex assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt. We never stopped believing Tiffany throughout this case, but what I believe and what I can prove are two different things, Ward told the Monitor. This victims case was mishandled by the county attorneys office, and it was done without any regard to the ramifications it would have on the case, and it did cause problems. Ward explained during the plea and sentencing hearing on the protective order violation in November 2015 that there were some personnel at the county attorneys office who believed Marteau and others who did not. That disagreement led to damaging blows to the victims credibility, he told the court, adding there was finger-pointing and blame between co-workers. Ward said former county personnel entrusted to protect victims had, instead, waged an office battle of their own at Marteaus expense. Just last month, the county attorneys office provided Marteau with the personnel memos that Ward had identified as damaging to her credibility and, ultimately, the prosecutions case. The memos, which were excluded from her earlier right-to-know request, reveal former employees misconceptions about the case at hand and a lack of understanding about the complexities of sexual assault prosecutions. Further, emails the office had previously provided to Marteau show county attorneys limited knowledge of New Hampshires rape shield law and the protections it affords sexual assault victims. Sorientes attorney, Jim Rosenberg, wrote in an email to the Monitor on April 10 that there is no proof that Soriente sexually assaulted Marteau, who he argued lacked credibility entirely. He added, The facts, themselves, make clear that this case should never have been indicted and it would have been a miscarriage of justice for the case to continue. Filing a report The first time Marteau disclosed in court the allegations of sexual assault against Soriente was in a domestic violence petition, filed on March 29, 2013. Conway family court Judge Pamela Albee signed a temporary order of protection that same day. The divorce proceedings had just entered their third year. The tipping point for Marteau had come two days earlier, when Soriente trespassed on her property, court records show. She said she filed the domestic violence petition out of necessity, to protect herself and her daughter. When Marteau filed for divorce in March 2011, she cited irreconcilable differences. The case was before the Conway family court for three and a half years before there was a final divorce decree and approved parenting plan for shared custody of their young daughter, now 9. The proceedings were fraught with complications and setbacks for Marteau, whose actions were criticized at every turn by a guardian ad litem who Judge Albee had appointed at Sorientes request. Her attorney, William Boc, objected to the appointment, alleging the guardian wasnt acting as a neutral third party with the daughters best interests in mind. But Albee overlooked the objection, which was supported by letters from health and family professionals who said the guardian had misquoted and misrepresented them in court. Even with the restraining order in place, the family court prioritized co-parenting strategies that forced regular communication and interaction between Marteau and Soriente the exact thing Marteau was trying to limit. Years later, she wonders how the family court case might have unfolded differently if she could have spoken up for herself at the outset and filed a sexual assault report with police sooner. Boc had advised her during their first meeting in December 2012, to amend the divorce petition and file on fault grounds to include sexual assault. She never did. If you ask anyone who I spoke with directly after the assault they would tell you that I was initially adamantly opposed to reporting the assault, Marteau wrote in her letter to the attorney generals office. All I cared about was finding a way to move forward for my family. There were a million reasons not to report to police, she said. First and foremost, she was humiliated and blamed herself for failing as a wife. She also feared that no one would believe her. From a legal standpoint, the crime of rape between married partners wasnt even spelled out in New Hampshire law until the early 1980s. I told the people I needed to tell at the time to get myself through that situation, she said, noting that in addition to close friends, she disclosed to her attorney, victim advocates and health professionals before ever telling law enforcement. No regrets Conway police records show Marteau spoke with a detective for the first time on the evening of Dec. 6, 2013. She had built a rapport with the agency in the eight months since the restraining order had gone into effect, and she trusted they would treat her professionally following the disclosure. Having someone take the time to listen fully and then investigate was a gift, she said. Being believed once that happened made all of the difference. Marteau had seen two psychiatrists during the court proceedings, including W. Kieran Cunningham, who began seeing her in the month before she filed the police report. In a letter to Conway police Detective Ryan Wallace, Cunningham discusses his efforts to empower Marteau to stand up for herself and lodge a complaint. Marteau referenced her work with Cunningham in an interview last month, and remarked on how important his advice was to her recovery and her decision to come forward. I ended up in counseling where I was encouraged to make a report to the police. At some point that became a viable option for me. All of the reasons for not reporting lost their value over time and as circumstances shifted, she said. To this day, Marteau said she doesnt regret her decision to go to police; she views it as a necessary step in her healing process, even though the criminal case did not proceed to trial. She said she hopes that by speaking candidly about her experience as a victim in the criminal justice system that others will be spared from a similar nightmare. What she wrestles with most is not being able to provide a healthier co-parenting situation for her daughter. While Marteau and Soriente remain in full contact with their daughter, they are completely disengaged from one another. Since the divorce, they have had limited direct contact, including at the Conway Police Department where there is a custody transfer twice a week. It isnt even co-parenting, but rather parallel parenting, and that is the best I am able to do, Marteau said. My daughter needs the healthiest version of her mom, fully present in her life. For me, no contact with him is essential to that happening. (Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319, adandrea@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @_ADandrea.) CLICK HERE for Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying Results Valtteri Bottas scored his maiden pole position in Formula 1 during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday night, edging out Lewis Hamilton in the final Q3 battle. Bottas trailed Hamilton in both Q1 and Q2, but was able to get within half a tenth of his three-time champion team-mate following their first runs in Q3. Bottas improved with his final effort, turning in a lap of 1:28.769 to go 0.023 seconds faster than Hamilton's benchmark. As the Briton made a mistake on his final lap and failed to improve, Bottas was able to celebrate his first pole in F1 in just his third appearance for Mercedes. Ferrari failed to put up a fight to Mercedes at the front of the pack, with Sebastian Vettel finishing almost half a second off pole in third place. Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth for Red Bull ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, with Max Verstappen following in sixth place. Nico Hulkenberg led Renault's charge in seventh on an impressive day for the French marque as both its drivers made the top 10. Jolyon Palmer will start Sunday's race from P10 behind Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean. Daniil Kvyat was left ruing a mistake on his final Q2 lap as he narrowly missed out on a place in the top 10, qualifying 11th after running wide in the final sector. Lance Stroll was also unable to make it through, his lap good enough for P12 in the Williams. Pascal Wehrlein's first qualifying appearance in Sauber colours was an impressive one as he finished 13th, proving he is back to fitness after missing the opening two rounds of the year. Esteban Ocon wound up 14th for Force India, citing a lack of grip on his final Q2 lap as he finished two seconds off the pace. Fernando Alonso led McLaren's charge once again in qualifying, making it through to Q2 despite the deficiencies with the Honda power unit. The Spaniard ultimately qualified 15th, failing to post a time in Q2 after an issue with his engine that may result in a grid penalty. Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne was eliminated in Q1 for the third race in a row, finishing 17th. ANALYSIS: Why Fernando Alonso's Indy 500 bid leaves motorsport as the biggest winner Carlos Sainz Jr. was a surprise knock-out in Q1 after a loss of power on his final lap meant he finished 16th. Sergio Perez was another name not expected to feature in the lower reaches of the classification, with the Force India driver finishing 18th after yellow flags stopped him getting in a late lap. Sauber's Marcus Ericsson was P19, with Kevin Magnussen propping up the order for Haas in P20, having also lost the chance to complete a final run. Latest Tweets from Crash.net & GPF1rst This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It was April 12, 1861 -- almost 157 years ago -- when Confederate forces began shelling Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Washington Territory was not yet eight years old, and Seattle was but a village on Elliott Bay. Walla Walla, with 722 inhabitants, was the most populous "city" in the territory. An unknown number of territorial residents headed east to enlist, mostly for the Union, but some for the Confederacy, according to historylink.org. The war would eventually envelope nearly 3 million Americans, see 620,000 soldiers killed, and leave a scar across the American landscape that can still be seen today. In Washington Territory, the issue of slavery was, to some extent, a moot point, but racism was alive and well. RELATED: Photos: Boeing's war machines through the years And, despite the territory's inability to participate in federal elections, there were opinions aplenty. Historylink.org reported more than a few here: "What was of significance to all was the threat that the slavery battle posed to the cohesiveness of the nation. Even before the election of 1860, the Pioneer and Democrat [printed in Olympia] warned: 'It is the firm settled conviction of the public mind that we are approaching, nay, have reached a crisis in political affairs, compared with which all former ones were as gentle gales to the destroying whirlwind" ("The Present Position of the Parties"). But the newspaper left no doubt where its sentiment lay on the core issue: 'no force of argument can dislodge the simple but powerful fact, that the abolition of slavery, except by the lapse of time and the direct destiny of man, could confer no blessings on the white or colored race in American" ("The Present Position of the Parties").'" On the matter of secession, most Washingtonians wanted no part, historylink.org wrote of the era. Residents of the region hoped for eventual statehood (not to come until 1889), and they wanted it as part of an undivided nation. RELATED: Photos: The hell that was the Eastern Front of WWII Over the course of the developing war, Washingtonians, despite mixed feelings on the issue of slavery, generally got behind the Union cause. Washington Territory residents forced into service joined the First Washington Volunteer Infantry (volunteer being maybe a misnomer there), a unit that never saw battle, aside from something referred to as a massacre of Shoshone Indians, according to historylink.org. For the most part, the war between the states was a far-off thing that didn't tangibly affect most Washingtonians at the time. Russia donates 1.5 million USD to Cuba to palliate effects of Hurricane Mathew Submitted by: Juana Guantanamo Politics and Government 04 / 15 / 2017 The Russian Federation made official the donation of 1.5 million dollars to alleviate the consequences of Hurricane Mathew in the Cuban easternmost province of Guantanamo. At the Russian embassy in Havana, a Memorandum was signed between that country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Agreement between the MAE and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). On the Russian side, the documents were initialed by Ambassador Mikhail Kamynin, while by the UNDP stamped her signature Myrta Kaulard, its representative on the island and UNICEF's Maria Machicado Teran. This clearly shows that Russia wants to build and not destroy human values, as some do using the UN for their dubious objectives, Kamynin said shortly after the signing. As soon as the hurricane stroke, the top leadership of the country made the decision to make this donation, because Cuba is a strategic ally and a friend of many years. Russia is always willing to help her friends, he said. Based on the programs carried out in Santiago de Cuba following the passage of Hurricane Sandy in 2014, Russia is again moving its solidarity through the same international agencies, said the diplomat. We recently visited Santiago and recorded on-site how the program works. I was surprised to see the results in the recovery of damaged homes and in raising their standard of living, Kamynin explained to the guests and the press. For his part, Kaulard thanked the Russian Federation for its contribution that makes possible the reconstruction of about two thousand homes in Guantanamo and benefits six thousand people in the province. The donation also contributes to the creation of jobs, the transfer of know-how and the creation of 180 mini-industries, said Kaulard, who also exalted the leadership of the Cuban authorities and local institutions. For her part, the UNICEF representative stressed the importance of ensuring water quality, as it avoids the onset of illness and improves the quality of life of the premises. The projects are carried out with the support of the National Institute of Water Resources (INRH), with the aid of MINED and MINSAP, responsible for the selection of the schools where they are applied, explained Machicado. The ceremony was attended by officials from MINREX, MINCEX and representatives of UN agencies, accredited in Cuba, along with Russian diplomats. UN Rights expert acknowledges Cuban fight against trafficking Submitted by: Juana Havana Politics and Government 04 / 15 / 2017 Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Victims of Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, recognized the political will and strengths of Cuba to prevent this global scourge. During a press conference in this capital, the independent researcher of the UN Human Rights Council weighed up government action and perceived good practices, with a preventive approach, to combat trafficking in persons. In this regard, Giammarinaro praised the National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Confrontation of Human Trafficking (2017-2020), while recommending to pay attention to its operation, and to delve into legal aspects and issues related to the identification of victims of that scourge. The expert acknowledged that the existence of a universal and free education and health system, coupled with a successful mechanism of social security in Cuba, reduce the vulnerabilities that can trigger trafficking events. She called, in that sense, not to discard other situations of weakness that can generate it, "because no country is immune to this phenomenon," she said. Giammarinaro mentioned among the island's strongholds the existence of multiple agreements of international cooperation that include this subject, "something very important since there are cross-border cases". She added among the good practices identified the participation of women in economic and social life, in addition to the work of institutions such as the National Center for Sex Education, CENESEX. The Special Rapporteur mentioned that during her visit Cuba, she nevertheless examined situations that could lead to trafficking in persons. She pointed out that the areas of concern correspond to the need to identify facts about child abuse in the family context, as well as people who use all their resources to migrate and are stranded in third countries. She also called attention to cases of young professionals who get a temporary employment contract abroad, and when they reach their destination are forced to prostitute or do other work different from that went to do in the first place. She also referred to other issues such as the decriminalization of prostitution, the relevance of strengthening the legal system and constant monitoring of situations that could be exploited by traffickers. Giammarinaro was pleased with her stay on the island, and mentioned that she expects this to be a starting point to lead a more profitable dialogue with all elements related to the human rights system. She said that the results of the meeting will be included in a document, "which will be attached in my next thematic report to the Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly." As part of its activities in Cuba, the Special Rapporteur met with members of civil society organizations, as well as with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez; President of the Parliament, Esteban Lazo, and the Minister of Justice, Maria Esther Reus. Ever since the start of the terrible Syrian conflict almost six years ago, the British government has wanted Western military intervention to help get rid of President Assad. But this policy seemed to have failed. Assad appeared close to winning the war, as Trump acknowledged last week when his press secretary said that Asad staying was a 'political reality that we have to accept.' But then came Tuesday's dreadful chemical attack on the village of Khan Shaikhoun in northern Syria. Tuesday's dreadful chemical attack was on the village of Khan Shaikhoun in northern Syria (pictured a Syrian military airbase afterwards) Instantly, the British and American governments blamed Assad for the horror, and within 72 hours the U.S. launched a revenge missile assault on the airbase from which the chemical attack was believed to have been launched. The exultation in Whitehall at this turnaround of events is all the greater because it marks such a extraordinary volte face by Donald Trump. For it is less than three months since he took office and pledged non-intervention in Syria. In order to counsel his White House team about the folly of this course, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson went to Washington to lobby them. That attempt may have been fruitless at the time but Trump has now, it seems, been converted to supporting the need for military intervention. Unfortunately, I cannot share the British government's exultation which evokes the mood in No. 10 on the eve of the Iraq war in 2003 - with Theresa May now at risk of copying the poodle-like subservience Tony Blair showed to the then US President George W Bush. Yesterday's air-strikes by America will embolden Assad's domestic enemies. It will extend terribly a war which had appeared to be coming to an end, Peter Oborne writes Back then, Blair took us to war on the assurances that it was being done with the noble motive of getting rid of the evil dictator Saddam Hussein who posed a threat to world peace. We were told that western intelligence services (including MI6) had irrefutable evidence that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction, which he was ready to use against his own people and the rest of the world. Similarly, today, we are told with cast-iron certainty that Assad ordered this week's chemical attack and that he is an evil man in the Saddam mould. Naturally, Assad denies using chemical weapons and his claim is backed by his Russian allies. Indeed, considering that Assad has been in a stronger position than at any point in the last five years, what would be the point in inviting widespread censure for ordering such an illegal and horrific attack. The truth is that he has all but won the war. It is only a few days until a major international conference in Paris is due to discuss the Syrian situation. Meanwhile, it is important to remember that his beleaguered opponents have never shown a scintilla of concern about slaughtering innocent people and had every reason to orchestrate such an atrocity themselves - and blame Assad - in the hope of triggering Western military intervention which would change the course of the war. The truth is that, at present, no-one can prove what actually happened during Tuesday's village attack. All we know for sure is that Trump ordered an attack on a Syrian airbase in revenge. This brings me to the collusion of the British government. The truth is that, at present, no-one can prove what actually happened during Tuesday's village attack (pictured, a Syrian child receiving treatment after the attack) All we know for sure is that Trump ordered an attack on a Syrian airbase in revenge This Syrian conflagration has from the start had the dreadful potential to extend into a third world war because bloodshed can spill into neighbouring states and then drag in the superpowers Why was Theresa May happy to welcome Trump's intervention - which Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov swiftly pointed out was an illegal assault on a foreign country? I believe that Mrs May's only responsible course of action should have been to wait until Britain's intelligence services could gather the evidence and ascertain the truth about the village attack. The failure to do this means that, as in Iraq, MI6 risks being used as part of the propaganda arm of government to make the case for war rather than do its real job of reporting soberly on events. If so, we haven't learnt any of the lessons from the Iraq disaster. I am convinced that one man in particular is to blame. He is Matthew Rycroft, Britain's ambassador at the United Nations and a worryingly gung-ho supporter of US military action. Indeed, he was loudly demanding it before yesterday's US missile attack. Unfortunately, Rycroft has form as a hawk. He played a key role behind the scenes as a Downing Street official on the eve of the Iraq War. He was the author of the notorious 'Downing Street memo' which showed that Blair believed that war with Saddam was 'inevitable' eight months before the invasion began and that the Labour PM was committed to support US plans for 'regime change' in Iraq. Today, we are told with cast-iron certainty that Assad ordered this week's chemical attack and that he is an evil man in the Saddam mould. Naturally, Assad denies using chemical weapons and his claim is backed by his Russian allies Why was Theresa May happy to welcome Trump's intervention - which Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov swiftly pointed out was an illegal assault on a foreign country? I believe that Mrs May's only responsible course of action should have been to wait until Britain's intelligence services could gather the evidence and ascertain the truth about the village attack Most cynically in that memo, Rycroft recorded that 'the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy.' This shameful document dictated the tone for the subsequent fabricated dossier on weapons of mass destruction which falsely set out the basis for going to war with Iraq. Sadly, this wretched episode did no harm to Rycroft's career, seeing him rise to his current post which is Britain's most important diplomatic job on the world stage. It is, therefore, no surprise that the man who played a central role in the damnable conspiracy which took Britain to war with Iraq is at it again - banging the drum and demanding military action in Syria. So what of the future? I have travelled very widely through the Middle East and Syria as a journalist over the last five years and I have to record that these developments chill me to the bone. This Syrian conflagration has from the start had the dreadful potential to extend into a third world war because bloodshed can spill into neighbouring states and then drag in the superpowers. Yesterday's air-strikes by America makes that more likely. They will embolden Assad's domestic enemies. Russia and Iran will become enmeshed deeper in the crisis. It will extend terribly a war which had appeared to be coming to an end. Millions more refugees will flee to Europe. It will do nothing at all to help the children such as those killed last Tuesday. On the contrary, thousands more will die. Will we never learn? Remoaners stepped up their mockery of Theresa May last week. They ridiculed suggestions that she approved plans for the post-Brexit return of blue British passports of the type we used before the introduction of the widely-hated red European Union passports. Such sneers may make those on the liberal Left feel smugly better about themselves but they prove how out of touch they are with the lives of most British people. Remoaners stepped up their mockery of Theresa May last week. They ridiculed suggestions that she approved plans for the post-Brexit return of blue British passports of the type we used before the introduction of the widely-hated red European Union passports Of course, blue passports may have no tangible significance but they symbolise such fundamental issues as national identity and history. The failure of Remoaners to understand why such things matter explains a lot why they lost the referendum last June. Justice Secretary Liz Truss should ignore her small-minded critics. Indeed, I believe she is one of the Cabinet's most capable members. She is well-equipped to see off her enemies who complain about her lack of legal training and whinge that she failed to defend the legal establishment after it was criticised by the media when the High Court ruled against the Government on Brexit. Like her predecessor Chris Grayling, she's a victim of the calamitous constitutional tinkering done by the Blair government. It downgraded the position of Lord Chancellor formerly occupied by grandees such as Lord Hailsham - to a low-ranking Cabinet post, making the job more difficult. This administration should reverse the damage and give this ancient post back the dignity it deserves. Pray for calm heads in this Easter of turmoil AS two billion Christians celebrate the most significant festival in their calendar, this ought to be a weekend to reflect on Easters message of rebirth and hope. Yet this Holy Saturday, the Mail cannot avoid commenting on this terrifying week perhaps the darkest and most dangerous since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. Over the past nine days, weve seen Donald Trump demonstrating Americas vast firepower across the globe obliterating a Syrian airbase, sending a mighty naval force to North Korea and now exploding the mother of all bombs in Afghanistan Over the past nine days, weve seen Donald Trump demonstrating Americas vast firepower across the globe obliterating a Syrian airbase, sending a mighty naval force to North Korea and now exploding the mother of all bombs in Afghanistan. In the process, he has brought about the total breakdown of relations between the US and Russia, whose leader he so recently courted, while sending out deeply confusing signals about who America backs in Syria (where each side embraces elements as morally repulsive as the other). For good measure, he has inflamed the Chinese by publicly humiliating them with threats of trade reprisals if they fail to help him solve the problem of the unhinged North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un. Indeed, this paper finds it hard to recall a time when the rhetoric from world capitals was so intemperate. Washington sprays insults at foreign leaders, Moscow responds in kind, Beijing warns of conflict at any moment and Pyongyang says we are on the brink of thermo-nuclear war. Where is the calm, level-headed diplomacy for which the world is crying out? In Mr Trumps defence, it must be admitted he inherited problems allowed to fester under his predecessor, whose foreign policy was frankly a catastrophe. Though highly praised for his soaring oratory, Barack Obama did nothing when chemical weapons were deployed in Syria in 2013, just months after hed laid down a red line against their use. In the process, he has brought about the total breakdown of relations between the US and Russia, whose leader he so recently courted, while sending out deeply confusing signals about who America backs in Syria (where each side embraces elements as morally repulsive as the other) Giving further cheer to the Wests enemies, he withdrew US troops from Iraq, leaving a vacuum Islamic State was quick to fill. In his eight years in the White House, he failed even to keep his promise to close down Guantanamo Bay perhaps the worlds most effective recruiting sergeant for Islamist terrorism (though the new presidents mega-bombs may prove equally successful at inspiring terrorists). Certainly, by attacking Syrias Shayrat airfield, Mr Trump has proved he wont tolerate chemical weaponry. But why unleash those 59 Cruise missiles before any firm evidence that Bashar al-Assad was behind the sarin attack? And how can it be wise to alienate Russia, at the very moment Vladimir Putin was winning grudging plaudits for starting to bring order to Syria? Wont the airfield attack only prolong this hellish war? Has Mr Trump learned nothing from the bloodshed and misery left by Western interventions in Iraq and Libya? Has Mr Trump learned nothing from the bloodshed and misery left by Western interventions in Iraq and Libya? As for North Korea, yes, he may fairly argue he couldnt stand by while a deranged dictator developed nuclear missiles to threaten the US. But why did he also feel it necessary to insult the Chinese? Wouldnt quiet diplomacy have secured their help far more effectively than any brash tweet? Its a lesson Boris Johnson should have learned before swaggering to the G7, demanding sanctions against Russia. True, its in our national interest to support America. But when others rejected Mr Johnsons sanctions, he left the UK isolated and the West vulnerably divided. And how bitterly ironic that, in the week Mr Trump changed his mind (yet again), saying he believed in Nato, EU countries thought more about their dependence on Russian gas than loyalty to their allies. What the worlds politicians need is a crash course in diplomacy, calmness and common sense. As for the rest of us, all we can do this Easter is pray for great leadership something worryingly lacking over these tense days. In the past, women would have turned their houses upside down to make sure it was perfect for Easter (stock photo) While there's nothing so joyful as spring sunshine streaming in through your windows, it can make a home look, well, just a bit grubby, with every fingerprint and mark suddenly depressingly obvious. Once, women across Britain would have spent the first mild, sunny fortnight each year fighting back turning their houses upside down and cleaning from top to bottom so everything was perfect for a family Easter. But with more women in full-time work and our busy modern lives leaving less and less time for household maintenance, the annual spring clean has all but vanished. And now we're paying the price. This month, English Heritage warned that all our homes ours, as well as their historic ones are falling prey to infestations of moths as a result of slipping cleaning standards. Several species of common clothes moths are involved and it's not just garments they are damaging but carpets, curtains and other soft furnishings. The moths are both small only 5-8 mm long and voracious. Typically, they shun light and hide in dark areas and crevices, such as underneath beds, around skirting boards and in cupboards and drawers, laying batches of eggs on wool, fur, feathers and skins. When the larvae hatch, they begin to eat the fibres in the material, causing bare patches in carpets and holes in clothes. Last year, English Heritage caught 40 times as many moths in sticky traps at its historic properties as it did a decade ago. Amber Xavier-Rowe, the charity's head of collections conservation, said: 'In every property, we tend to see the numbers rising. We suspect the problem is that we don't clean like we used to in the old days.' Well, nobody could spring clean like my mum, Joan. The two weeks in April that she devoted to the task were a whirlwind of activity for her, and purgatory for our dad Tommy, a blacksmith, my three sisters and me. Every bedstead was upended and scoured; rugs were beaten, pillows and blankets washed, curtains dry-cleaned, pelmets dusted and rooms given a fresh lick of paint. The task was gargantuan, and Mum set about it with grim determination, sweeping about with her bristle broom and carpet beater. Back then, vacuum cleaners were practically unheard of, and only the fanciest homes had Ewbank carpet sweepers. By the end of the fortnight, every drawer in the house had been emptied, re-lined with wallpaper and its contents cleaned. Aggie MacKenzie (left, with Kim Woodburn on their TV show, How Clean Is Your House) has given some simple tips about cleaning properties The frenzy infected every house in Rothiemurchus, in the Scottish Highlands, where we lived. Nothing was wasted. Old clothes were torn into rags for cleaning or woven into rag rugs; old jumpers were painstakingly unravelled and the wool carefully preserved for later use. It was a matter of honour to each housewife that her home was spick and span, and those who fell short were censured. But our home was literally spotless. Of course, there was a practical reason for this. In the Fifties and Sixties, we relied on coal fires to heat our homes, which pumped out black dust all winter. So at the first hint of sunshine, the spring clean began. We'd come home from school and find our bedroom furniture in the hallway and Mum furiously beating a mattress or rug. We were all dragooned in to help, and my task was to ensure no speck of dust lurked in the crevices of our carved dining chairs or the corners of cupboards. While a two-week spring clean is now out of the question for most families, I don't believe we should abandon the annual ritual entirely. And thanks to clever products and some good old-fashioned household hints you can achieve a startling amount in a single day. I have a mantra: a home needs to be clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy. So I'm passing on a valuable lesson from my Mum: you may not have two weeks, but once a year you could devote a day to giving your whole home a proper clean. I promise you can get it all done in that time. That's why I've teamed up with Femail to produce this invaluable guide, with top tips from other experts to help you plan your day and precisely what to do in every room. Here's my great Spring Cleaning guide . . . TOP TOOLS TO TACKLE THE JOB Before you start, gather your cleaning materials in a bucket so they're easy to transport. You need rubber gloves, microfibre and other cleaning cloths, a feather duster, multi-surface cleaner, floor cleaner, a pumice stone, clear vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, bleach, paper towels, a lint roller, black bin bags, a toothbrush and a pair of old socks (for dusting blinds). With a mop and a vacuum cleaner handy, you're ready to start. You need rubber gloves, microfibre and other cleaning cloths, a feather duster (pictured), multi-surface cleaner and floor cleaner AND BEFORE YOU GET STUCK IN Work from 'top-to-bottom'. Start upstairs and work your way down. In each room, clean the ceiling and light fittings first with a feather duster, and vacuum carpets last. This way, any dirt you dislodge gets swept up later on. Open windows wide to allow fumes to escape. Enlist some help. Get family members to clean the outside of windows and take duvets to the launderette. 9AM: LAUNDRY ROUND UP Start by gathering up everything to go in the washing machine. Bed linen, towels, mattress toppers, bath mats, cushion covers and cuddly toys can all be washed and then dried outside. Use lavender-fragranced detergent the scent repels moths. 9.15AM: BLITZ BATHROOMS Tackle bathrooms first. You'll be using the harshest chemical cleaners here, so it needs time to air after you're finished. Start in the medicine cabinet you'll be amazed at the out-of-date items lurking there! Take everything out, wipe the shelves and return only what you'll use. Spritz the sink, bath and shower with multi-purpose cleaner and leave to soak. Dust and wipe walls, then clean the toilet. Spritz with multi-purpose spray and wipe with a disposable cloth, doing the handle first and the seat last to prevent germs spreading. TV cleaning guru Aggie MacKenzie has advised that homeowners should tackle their bathrooms first Bin the used cloth, then squirt toilet cleaner around the bowl and leave to soak. Next, wipe down all the surfaces you sprayed a few minutes ago. Scrub the shower head, taps and plug-holes with a toothbrush, then rinse thoroughly. Buff shower doors and taps dry with a micro-fibre cloth or kitchen towel to remove water marks. Once you've rinsed off the cleaning spray, if tile grouting still looks grotty, mix 50:50 bleach and water, then brush it on with an old toothbrush. And if your taps are tarnished with limescale? Cover them with kitchen roll drenched in vinegar. Leave a few hours, then rinse down. For enamel sinks, baths and loos, take a dampened pumice stone and rub, rub, rub the limescale (the pumice won't scratch the surface). Clean mirrors and windows with a splash of clear vinegar and a clean microfibre cloth. Finally, scrub the toilet again and flush. 10.30AM: CONQUER PESKY MOTHS Start by decluttering and dusting the bedrooms, not forgetting the tops of doors and windows. Take down pictures and mirrors, clean with vinegar and re-hang. Get rid of any clothes you've not worn all year. Take them to a charity shop, or recycle if they're tatty. Store winter clothes in space-saving vacuum bags. Then tackle moths. They're a huge problem, and the best way to keep them away is to stay on top of cleaning. A dry duster is no use: try a just-damp cloth and you'll be amazed at what you'll pick up. If you have clothes moths, take out every piece of natural clothing, including cotton and linen, and wash or dry clean. Then vacuum every corner of cupboards, where moths lay their eggs. Do the mattress, too. Empty the vacuum into your outside bin in case of lurking grubs. Most pillows and duvets can be washed and tumble-dried. Check the labels first, and use a third of the usual amount of detergent to prevent a bubbly mess. Lastly vacuum thoroughly, moving furniture as you go. Then have a well-deserved lunch break. 1PM: WORK YOUR WAY DOWN STAIRS Your break over, it's time for the landing and stairs. Dust from top to bottom and wipe paintwork, doors and radiators. Tackle marks on walls with a damp microfibre cloth, sprinkling on baking powder to cut through stubborn grime. Vacuum carpets, using the crevice attachment in corners. If you don't already ban shoes indoors, make it a rule now. Dust from top to bottom and wipe paintwork, doors and radiators and use a vacuum cleaner on the carpet, advises Aggie 1.30PM: GET TOUGH ON LIVING AREAS Your living room is probably the most heavily used room in the house, so give it extra attention. Pull furniture away from the walls, and take rugs and sofa cushions outside to give them a good beating with a clean broom. Vacuum the underneath and tops of rugs, and leave them to air outside. Wash the windows with warm water plus a drop of washing up liquid, and dry with a microfibre cloth. With the glass sparkling clean, dirt inside will be that bit more visible so prepare to be horrified. For general dustiness, use a damp, soapy terry cloth old towels are ideal. Clean fabric lampshades with a lint roller. Wipe ornaments and lamp bases with a damp cloth. Vacuum chairs, sofas and curtains with the upholstery attachment. For Venetian blinds, rinse an old sock in warm soapy water, put it over your hand and run your fingers over the slats. A damp white cloth can be used to scrub away marks on soft furnishings, but always test on an area that doesn't show first. Vacuum behind the furniture, then replace. Unplug and dust the TV, then wipe with a tumble-dryer sheet to reduce static. This will stop the screen gathering dust again too quickly. Vacuum, mop hard floors, and break for a cup of tea! 3.30PM: COOK UP A KITCHEN SPARKLE In the kitchen, dust may be welded on with a layer of cooking grease. Cut through it with a solution of warm water and washing soda, using up to a cup of soda per 500ml of warm water. Then empty one shelf or cupboard at a time, working from top to bottom. Throw out any out-of-date flour or nuts. Wipe shelves with a damp cloth, getting right into corners, and buff dry. To clean the microwave, put two lemon slices and two teaspoons of vinegar in a bowl of water. Microwave for two minutes, then leave the door closed for 15 minutes. Wipe smaller kitchen appliances with warm, soapy water, then wipe out and dry the microwave. If your regular oven needs a deep clean, use a commercial oven cleaning product or coat the inside with a thick paste of baking soda and water. (Both methods need to be left overnight.) To clean your dishwasher, use a special cleaning product or run it, empty, with a cup of clear vinegar in the soap drawer. Now spritz the hob with multipurpose spray. Unplug the fridge, empty the contents into a cool bag and wash the shelves in warm soapy water. Wipe the interior and door seals, then dry with a clean cloth. Pull out the fridge, vacuum the cooling elements (the coils) with the upholstery attachment, then wipe with a damp soapy cloth. Put an old, dry sock over a broom handle, secure with a rubber band, then use it to dust under the fridge. Push the fridge back into position, refill and switch on. Wipe kitchen surfaces and clean the cooker hood. Dry stainless steel surfaces with kitchen towel. Clean your sink including ceramic ones with clear vinegar. Use a toothbrush to scrub taps. Run your washing machine, empty, on the hottest wash with a cup of clear vinegar in the drum. Wipe a cloth dipped in diluted bleach around the door seal. 5.30PM: ON TO THE FINAL STRAIGHT Dust, wipe and vacuum your hallway, and clean your front door. Reward yourself with a takeaway and a well-deserved gin and tonic! When it comes to make-up, most women dream of achieving a natural, flawless look. In reality, applying it can be messy with sponges and brushes getting clogged up and dirty. It can also be wasteful because make-up soaks into them. MakeupDrop (pictured) is a two-and-a-half inch applicator made of silicone But a tool that solves these problems, hailed a game-changer by US make-up artists, has just arrived on the British High Street. MakeupDrop is a two-and-a-half inch applicator made of silicone. It is used for blending foundation, creams and powder and is said to be particularly handy under the eyes with its ergonomic teardrop shape. And unlike sponges, which are porous, the MakeupDrop doesnt absorb liquid, meaning there is little waste. As British women are said to spend around 9,000 on foundation alone over a lifetime, it could save a considerable sum of money. It can be cleaned easily with a rinse under the tap, making it more hygienic than brushes or sponges, which can harbour bacteria that causes spots, manufacturers say. More than 100,000 were bought in the US in just three days after it was used by the make-up artist of Hollywood actress Natalie Portman for the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January. Costing 14, it went on sale in Boots in the UK on Wednesday. While similar cheaper versions may be available online, this one has Hollywoods approval. Make-up artist Julia Carta, who has worked with A-list stars such as Keira Knightley, said it is the next generation tool of the industry. She said: Fashion designers and beauty bloggers are all taking a lead from Korea they are exponents of a modern, fresh, dewy, natural, no make-up look. This MakeupDrop is the perfect tool to achieve it. Unlike brushes, which tend to leave a heavier, cake-ier, slightly old fashioned finish, the state-of-the-art silicone teardrop mimics how make-up is applied with the fingers. Its shape means that you can apply a foundation cream on one side, then flip it over to put on a blusher cream or use the tip to apply a lip colour. British women are said to spend around 9,000 on foundation alone over a lifetime The only downside is make-up can take a bit longer to apply using it but its still fantastic. Natalie Portmans make-up artist, Pati Dubroff, described it as a game changer. She said: What happens with traditional sponges is that they get muddy when more than one product is being applied. I am able to use either side with the same or different shades and it does not disturb the integrity of the colours. Everything is very clean and concise when applying and blending anything from foundation to creamy cheek colour or highlighter.Also, the clarity of the silicone applicator gives you a little window to what you are doing underneath.The shape is very intuitive because it fits the contours on the sides of the nose and the under eye area. Layla Smith, 40, of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, is a fan of the tool. She said: I am seriously in love with this product. I used to waste so much foundation using foam applicators or my fingers but now I dont waste any. Lauren Nina, 35, from London, also approved. She said: It applies makeup so evenly and the small tip perfectly gets concealer into the corner of my eye. It was, it seemed, astonishingly good news: EastEnders actress June Brown had been saved from blindness thanks to 'miracle eye surgery'. The 90-year-old, who plays Dot Cotton, recently voted Britain's best-loved soap character, revealed in a front-page newspaper report that, thanks to a 60-second implant procedure, 'I can see people's faces and recognise my children again. I can read again'. It will no doubt have given hope to the millions of Britons who, like June, suffer from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which robs sufferers of their vision. But a Mail on Sunday investigation has uncovered evidence that the heavily promoted procedure, which involves an artificial lens being inserted into the eye, left scores of elderly patients with little or no improvement in their sight and significantly out of pocket after paying up to 25,000 for the treatment, which is not available on the NHS. Although June's operation was an apparent success, and hundreds of patients have reported positive results, experts have expressed serious concerns about the procedure, pioneered by ophthalmologist Bobby Qureshi at his Harley Street clinic, the London Eye Hospital (LEH). EastEnders actress June Brown (pictured) revealed that she had been saved from blindness thanks to 'miracle eye surgery' Leading vision charity The Macular Society is now warning patients to speak to their NHS specialist before signing up for the procedure after dozens contacted them with complaints. Other shocking findings uncovered by this newspaper include: Patients claiming they were treated like 'guinea pigs' after thousands were given the lens implants which are still said by experts to be experimental; Leading NHS eye doctors raised concern over the ethical practices at the clinic and 'hard-sell' tactics targeting vulnerable, elderly and partially sighted patients; Furious patients most in their 70s and 80s complaining the treatment left them with no improvement in their vision or of poor care; Patients claiming they were not adequately warned of the risks that it might not work, or that they could need glasses after the operation; Complaints on social media from patients and their families furious to have paid up-front then left to wait months for surgery, with one saying they eventually needed a 'white stick'. Few could be less satisfied with the outcome of the procedure than Malcolm Marrett, 67, from Exmouth, Devon, who now needs three different pairs of glasses after paying 15,000 to the London Eye Hospital in May last year. He said: 'I'm furious. It was like being mugged. The anger and frustration has had a massive effect on my health. I really thought the surgery would buy me more time before my vision slipped away.' AMD affects about four million people and occurs when the macula the part of the eye responsible for central vision deteriorates. There is no cure, and the lenses developed by Mr Qureshi are designed to delay the progression of the disease by magnifying the vision and redirecting light rays to healthier parts of the macula. The first, iolAMD, which used two lenses, was introduced in 2014 at a cost of 6,000 per eye, and the second, EyeMax Mono, which used a single, curved lens, appeared the following year for 9,000 per eye. Both involve a ten-minute procedure under local anaesthetic at the clinic's upmarket address. They have been so popular that the latest accounts filed for the hospital show shareholder funds of 124 million while London Eye Hospital Pharma, which owns the lens technology, has assets of nearly 1 billion. But patients we have spoken to have described conditions inside the clinic, with elderly and infirm patients waiting for hours in packed waiting rooms where there was 'standing room only'. During an initial 350 consultation, which includes an eye test and then a meeting with Mr Qureshi, which some report lasted just ten minutes, all were told the lenses could improve their vision by up to 30 per cent. None recall being told of any risks, or that it might not work. Several claim they felt pressured into making the decision to go ahead immediately, and were met by a man with a credit-card machine outside the consulting room door. Experts have expressed serious concerns about the procedure, pioneered by ophthalmologist Bobby Qureshi (pictured) at his Harley Street clinic One patient, who did not want to be named, said: 'It was all too rushed. We should have come home and thought about it. People have been used as guinea pigs. He [Qureshi] must have made millions.' Mr Qureshi behaved 'like a double-glazing salesman', according to Mr Marrett, who was promised a 'special introductory rate' for the EyeMax Mono lens if he signed up for surgery on the same day. After parting with their cash, patients interviewed by the MoS report calling the clinic dozens of times and waiting six months for a surgical appointment. But the problems really began after the operations. Patients claim their vision was unimproved after the procedure, and that their complaints were largely dismissed by the clinic. Most never saw Mr Qureshi again. As their AMD progresses, some can no longer drive or read, while others struggle to recognise faces. All feel they have seen no benefit as a result of the costly procedure. Most patients say repeated calls to the clinic were not returned. In several cases, the clinic agreed to replace iolAMD lenses with EyeMax Mono the same implant June Brown had, as reported the Sunday Express but when it did not work, most patients we spoke to were told by the clinic their AMD had worsened, rather than that the procedure had failed. This newspaper understands that, in some other cases, patients signed confidentiality agreements with the clinic in exchange for compensation or additional treatment. Louisa Codd, 70, from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, paid 15,000 for EyeMax lenses in March 2016, hoping for more independence and to read again. So when Mr Qureshi told her he could improve her vision by 30 per cent, she agreed without hesitation. June Brown plays Dot Cotton and was recently voted Britain's best-loved soap character Neither she nor her husband, retired finance director David, 78, recall being told of any risk that it might not work. She had the operation that September but has been left with 'hazy' vision and is now more reliant on her husband than ever. An LEH optometrist has told her: 'Your AMD is so far advanced there was never any possibility of reading a book or newspaper.' Mr Qureshi has claimed repeatedly that 96 per cent of patients who have the EyeMax procedure experience 'improvements in vision'. During follow-up consultations, patients claim other doctors at the clinic acknowledged the failure rate for EyeMax was 'one in 20' and that they 'didn't know why'. The London Eye Hospital insists all patients are made aware of the risks and are given paperwork which states this clearly at several key points before surgery takes place, including by post to their home address. The consent form, signed by patients before surgery, says 'the results of surgery cannot be guaranteed'. It also says: 'As the eye heals, visual power may be different from what was predicted by preoperative testing. You may need to wear glasses or contact lenses after surgery to obtain your best vision.' We asked LEH for the data which supports what it claims about its success rate, but the clinic declined to provide it. Mrs Codd's daughter, Claire, commented: 'In my opinion, they're preying on vulnerable, generally elderly people who are desperate to regain any amount of vision they can because it's such a debilitating thing. If this was happening on the NHS, there would be outcry.' NHS eye experts are in fact having to deal with the fallout. One leading NHS ophthalmologist, Winfried Amoaku, a former vice-president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said: 'The general view among the medical community is that the case for the lenses used by the London Eye Hospital is not yet proven and that more research is required before they can be used more widely. 'The only data published on either lens is a pilot study of 12 patients from the clinic given iolAMD, which amounts to proof of concept only, and among those patients, some experienced no vision improvement at all.' Another leading eye specialist said: 'Qureshi is, by all accounts, a very skilled surgeon. But surgery's more than just what you do in the operating room; it's how you practise ethically. This surgery is not a cure. The idea with telescopic lenses is you're just putting that telescope inside the eye. So it's not going to do anything better than massive magnification.' 'SUAVE QURESHI GAVE ME HOPE... I BELIEVED HIM' CASE ONE: Joe Guerin, 79, a retired accounts manager from Dublin, was told by specialists at the renowned Massachusetts Eye Hospital in Boston that there was no hope for his failing vision when he visited them in 2012. His AMD was too advanced for even pioneering stem cell treatment. So he was 'surprised' in August 2015 when Mr Qureshi told him he could improve vision in his good eye by 40 per cent by implanting iolAMD lenses. But after paying 11,000 per eye, and after six visits to the clinic, he feels his vision is no better than before the procedure. Mr Guerin cannot use his phone or iPad, and relies on voice activation. He says: 'I fell hook, line and sinker. He was very suave, very convincing. I was full of hope. It has become very debilitating and I'm out of pocket.' Astrid Bergmann, 71, (pictured) thought she had found 'heaven' after reading about LEH in a magazine CASE TWO: Danish pensioner Astrid Bergmann, 71, thought she had found 'heaven' after reading about LEH in a magazine. In spite of her specialist in Copenhagen warning the procedure was 'experimental', she borrowed 22,000 from her retirement savings, flew to London and had iolAMD lenses implanted in October 2015. Despite Mr Qureshi saying that her vision could improve 'by 30 per cent, and possibly more' based on the 500 implants he said he had already carried out, her vision has continued to deteriorate. She says: 'I can't see, I can't read. I need my husband's help to do anything. It's really bad.' In December 2015, Mr Qureshi offered to exchange the lenses for the newer EyeMax implants. The operation took place five months later, and it still did not work. Mrs Bergmann is now almost completely blind. 'In the last meeting I was asked, 'Why are you here? We can't help you. But you're welcome to see another doctor elsewhere.' I am not rich. We may have to take out a second mortgage on our home.' CASE THREE: Retired psychiatric nurse Malcolm Marrett was one of the first patients to receive the EyeMax lens, for which he paid 7,500 per eye, a 'special discount' rate for signing up for surgery on the same day, in November 2015. Mr Marrett, 67, from Exmouth, Devon, had very limited vision in his left eye and deteriorating vision in his right. He now needs glasses 'like never before' and uses three different strengths just to go to the supermarket. He says: 'When you think you're going blind, it's absolutely terrifying. 'I would have paid anything to be able to see but I've spent 15,000, and that's very upsetting. I can't recognise faces. I ignore people I know, I say hello to people I haven't met before. I can't tell you how many sleepless nights I've had over this.' CASE FOUR: Former Mayor of Westminster Harvey Marshall went to see Mr Qureshi in 2015 and was told he could have '40 per cent better vision' with a lens implant. Speaking to Radio 4's You And Yours programme last year, Mr Marshall, a chartered surveyor, said he took a 'deep gulp' and paid 25,000 for the operation 'because eyesight is precious'. But the lens slipped in one eye, and affected his vision in the other. The hospital admitted it had only one size of lens, which were too small. Mr Marshall, 76, said the hospital offered him 8,000 compensation 'provided you don't speak to people'. He initially rejected this but when the MoS tried to contact Mr Marshall by email, his wife Hazel replied: 'He is not able to talk to you owing to a confidentiality agreement.' Advertisement Mr Qureshi, 47, studied medicine at St Andrews University before finishing his training at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. He founded LEH in 2004, and now enjoys a lavish lifestyle in Monaco and the UAE, where, he claims to friends, he mixes with Sir Philip Green. He owns a 1 million flat near Harrods in Knightsbridge and two luxury cars, a Range Rover and a Mercedes, employing two full-time chauffeurs to drive them. In a 2015 interview, Mr Qureshi admitted the market for his lenses was 'phenomenal' and worth 'billions'. He said his confidence in the procedure allowed him 'to take calculated risks'. In March 2016, an advert for the clinic was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over its claims that the lenses could improve vision for 'both wet and dry macular degeneration'. Wet AMD is the name given for rapidly advancing, severe disease. The ASA concluded this was 'not supported by adequate evidence'. An inspection report by the Care Quality Commission, published last week, revealed a hospital study that found only 54 per cent of patients would recommend it to family and friends. The hospital acknowledged it had to be better at highlighting possible risks, and be 'realistic' about results. The Macular Society said it was investigating about 50 calls to its helpline from patients raising 'serious matters' relating to their implants or care at LEH. Chief executive Cathy Yelf said the society 'strongly recommended' all patients spoke to their NHS specialist before making an appointment with the LEH. The charity also called for all patients to be presented with a tailored written summary of the risks and benefits before giving consent for the operations. The LEH told The Mail on Sunday it had invested in new systems and training to reduce waiting times and improve customer care. It said that data to be presented at upcoming conferences showed improvement in 96 per cent of a group of 600 patients. In a statement, it said: 'How much that improvement will be depends on the amount of healthy macula that remains and each individual's characteristics. 'This is all very clearly outlined in the terms and conditions and again in consent forms the patients retain for the entirety of their surgical journey with us. We do not give, and indeed have never given, guarantees. 'In the vast majority of patients, their vision after the procedure, with glasses, is objectively better than it was. We can unequivocally state that all AMD patients are told they will need glasses and, crucially, all are told that the implant cannot halt the progression of their AMD. It can, however, give them more time with the eyesight they have left.' Professor Sally Sheldon (pictured) has concluded that the 1967 Abortion Act has been misinterpreted Midwives may soon be carrying out surgical abortions for the first time following a major taxpayer-funded review of legislation led by a controversial law professor. MPs and pro-life campaigners have reacted with fury after Sally Sheldon concluded that the 1967 Abortion Act has been misinterpreted in saying that only doctors could perform suction and other surgical tasks in terminations. But she was backed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which said the valuable findings should prompt a wider review. Prof Sheldon an advocate for the lifting of the ban on abortions past 24 weeks was given a 500,000 government grant to fundamentally re-evaluate the 50-year-old law. She said the move to allow midwives and nurses to carry out surgical abortions would speed up services and save the NHS money. More than half of all abortions in the UK are carried out with drugs that expel the embryo from the uterus, and nurses and midwives are allowed to administer these. Around 40 per cent of cases, however, involve a surgical technique in which suction is used to remove the foetus, a procedure which is carried out by a doctor. Critics said Prof Sheldons findings were extremely concerning and part of a broader campaign to weaken abortion laws. Tory MP Maria Caulfield, a former nurse, said she would raise the issue with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. She added: Midwives are desperately worried that there is a drive to make abortion easier and they will be called upon to carry out these surgical procedures. They are feeling very pressured. One minute they are being asked to save lives, the next to carry out abortions. Crossbench peer Lord Alton said: Women placed into the care of a midwife may have their confidence undermined if they know the midwife is also involved in ending life. Lucy Lovell, 43, a midwife from Gloucestershire, said: I wouldnt be happy to do procedures like that and I do not think it should be part of a midwifes role. Prof Sheldons review comes amid growing controversy over abortion laws, as reported by The Mail on Sunday in recent months. The British Medical Association was last month accused of fuelling a crusade to end the 24-week limit on abortions after it published a discussion document called Decriminalising Abortion, though it said the document was neutral. Prof Sheldon said the move to allow midwives and nurses to carry out surgical abortions would speed up services and save the NHS money (file photo) At the same time, Labour MP Diana Johnson introduced a Bill into Parliament to decriminalise abortion. One of its architects was Prof Sheldon, a trustee of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the countrys largest provider of abortions to the NHS. Prof Sheldon, writing in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, said the assumption that doctors alone could conduct abortions was unfounded. The Kent University professor said: On the contrary, it would be lawful for appropriately trained nurses or midwives, acting as part of a multi-disciplinary team, to carry out vacuum aspiration procedures. The Royal College of Midwives declined to comment, as did the Royal College of Nursing. The Department of Health said any law changes would be made by Parliament, not the Government. Renault Twingo GT Rating: ( ...and a half!) So I have finally finished Sapiens, the book that confirms how nuts we humans are, even though and probably because we have never been more intelligent. It doesnt end well. The word is that we may succeed in becoming amortal ie, never dying (at least of natural causes) but we will most likely already have been taken over by Artificial Intelligence by the time that happens. The same AI that we invented and that can already think faster than us. Yikes. Yuval Noah Hararis follow-up book, Homo Deus, is out now, which I have bought but am too scared to read at the moment. Instead, I have dived into Alec Baldwins deliciously honest and self-deprecating biography, Nevertheless, which I highly recommend. In other news this week, I was ordered by my boys to accept a job offer to be a judge on a television programme. Not a role I ever thought I would fulfil. Not that I had much say in the matter... The proportions, the paint job, the twin exhausts and the electrical furniture are all stunning She is rather quick, much quicker than I thought she was going to be. A rapid little number indeed Dad, you have to do it, you just have to, its not even a discussion. Why? Because its for a new show on Channel 4 called Masters Of Lego, a quest to find the nations best Lego modellers. Dad, it will be so sick. Which apparently is a good thing. Badass even. Incredibly, the maker of this design classic, basic, honest, old-fashioned toy was on the verge of extinction just over a decade ago. Yet now its thriving with an estimated 75 Lego bricks for every human being currently on the planet. Thats approximately 550 billion, half of which are sprawled across our living room carpet at any given moment. Not that I mind. I heart Lego and am happy to admit to being one of the 250,000 self-confessed Afols (Adult Fans Of Lego). Watch this space for more Lego news. They are PR geniuses and I have fallen headfirst into their trap. By the way, there is already an actual full-size Lego car that actually works and can be driven. Every component is made of Lego, even the engine. I wonder if they might lend it to us to review one week? That would cause a right fuss on the school run. No school run for this weeks car, alas, with the ankle-biters not back until Tuesday. Which was a real shame, as I think the new Twingo GT might have been a real head-turner with some of the funkier mums in the school car pool. Why doesnt Fiat make a 500 that comes with rear doors? asked my wife rather presciently the day before the Twingo rolled off the trailer. An excellent question and, yes, sure theres the 500X, but it looks completely different! A standard 500 with two additional rear doors would not only appeal more to parents and therefore create millions more buyers overnight it would also perhaps mean smaller front doors, as opposed to the heavy, cumbersome whoppers it currently sports. The problem for Fiat, however, is that Renault seems to have beaten them to it. This car looks almost more like the original Sixties Cinquecento than Fiats own hugely successful modern take on it. It is absolutely gorgeous. The proportions, the paint job, the twin exhausts and the electrical furniture are all stunning. Cute and cow-eyed headlamps woo from the front, with cool and chic blacked-out tailgate glass wowing at the back. Renault has absolutely aced the exterior. Though theres plenty of leg and head room up front, the steering wheel is pretty much in your face. Well, it was for me. At 6ft 2in, I really could have done with moving it away from me a little Shell sit very happily on the larger carriageways of the UK at 70mph, with plenty more twinGO under your right foot if required Inside is almost as good, where again sportiness rules, with racing stripes and cloth finishes ticking all the right boxes. Being hyper-critical, I found it a touch too dark in there by no means joyless, just a tad too cool for school. Luggage space is tight and the back seats are more kid-friendly than they are for grown-ups. There is, however, bags of smaller storage space behind every nook and cranny. Under the rear seats there are handy nets to keep things in place, all the doors have deep troughs for drinks etc, again with elastic retaining straps. The centre console offers yet more additional storage for both front and rear. With climate control, auto wipers and lots of other nice features coming as standard, its perfectly set up as a day car for the short-haul town dweller or city commuter. Now, it might be wise for all Renault fans to skip the next two paras as it all goes un petit peu Pierre Tong momentarily. Though theres plenty of leg and head room up front, the steering wheel is pretty much in your face. Well, it was for me. At 6ft 2in, I really could have done with moving it away from me a little, but I couldnt because Renault forgot to fit that bit. Up and down no problem, but the innie/outie lever is nowhere to be seen. Following main engine start, the rear-mounted, 898cc three-cylinder engine is a little bit lollipop sticks in the spokes, but it soon quietens down with a bit more warmth flowing through the pipes. It also lurches unpleasantly forward and backwards on acceleration and braking, and from side to side when cornering at any discernible pace. Oh, and it can be bumpy enough on rough surfaces to make all within sound like Daleks when they talk. Back to the good news. She is rather quick, much quicker than I thought she was going to be. A rapid little number indeed. This new Twingo benefits from modified engine mapping, increasing power to 110hp with a gross torque figure of 170Nm. Considering its kerb weight of just over a ton, the power-to-weight ratio is therefore impressively sparky, which helps mitigate the other more negative aspects of the driving experience. As does long, straight, comfortable cruising (via cruise control if you like again, included as standard). Shell sit very happily on the larger carriageways of the UK at 70mph, with plenty more twinGO under your right foot if required. Fuel economy gives yet another reason to smile, with 54.3mpg combined in Eco mode. TECH SPECH Price 15,200 Engine 900cc petrol Gearbox Five-speed automatic Power 110hp 0-60mph 9.6 seconds Top speed 113mph Fuel economy 54.3mpg Annual road tax 140 Advertisement Brakes? Well, whatevers French for ahem, lets move on. Discs on the front but only drums on the back mon dieu! Overall, the cars looks over-promise what the Twingo can deliver. That said, many owners of such funmobiles never go over 60mph anyway, let alone attempt some apex-hopping down their favourite run of country s-bends on a Sunday afternoon. All they care about is economy, the sound system, the touch screen (which works beautifully), the colour scheme and the price. Which are all tickety-boo. Oh, except maybe not the price. Sure, the standard Twingo starts at a highly reasonable 9,875, but this GT costs 13,755 and ours, with its handful of options, saw the invoice creep up to 15,200. Not so good. Bring on The Legomobile. University Challenge Monday, BBC2 Rating: Bucket Thursday, BBC4 Rating: Eric Monkman has been the talk of TV this week. Hes the Cambridge student (Wolfson College, economics) whose University Challenge appearances had set social media on fire #Monkmania and, come Mondays final, there was no restraining the blaze. I love him more than my children, said one viewer. This is not true in my case. I do not love Monkman more than my son except in those instances when my son comes in at 4am, slams the front door, trips over the dog, swears, then clomps upstairs as if wearing lead boots. Then I do. Monkman is beloved for so much. Monkman is beloved for his fringe which, latterly, came to resemble the bristles of a decorators brush. Monkman is beloved for his intensity and enthusiasm. Monkman is beloved for that face he does, that teeth-gnashing face. Monkman is beloved for his astonishing knowledge and for being, in effect, a human Google. And Monkman is beloved for knowing the answers before anyone else even knows the questions: Eric Monkman is beloved for his fringe which, latterly, came to resemble the bristles of a decorators brush Paxman: Lying roughly along the 38th parallel Monkman: the demilitarized zone! Paxman: A Sanskrit term for void or Monkman: zero! He has since been hounded to his hometown in Ontario, Canada, has appeared on talk shows and has been the subject of a Radio 4 profile which interviewed friends and family as a child, his sister disclosed, he was eager to converse in Latin and also revealed he has a long-term girlfriend, a law professor. I do wonder what living with Monkman might be like: Eric, can you pass the salt! Eric, did you empty the ...dishwasher! Eric, can you take out the bins! Eric, why are you scratching between my toes! Athletes foot! It could prove a little trying just as, say, living with Chris Chibnall, the creator of Broadchurch, might prove a little trying. If someone bit the cheese and put it back in the fridge, as can happen, would every family member be treated as a suspect for at least ten weeks? But back to University Challenge, which youd think would have gone the way of Ask The Family by now still miss Ask The Family, BTW but has hung on in there, quite healthily. We do, it seems, like experts after all. We may even relish them, as a counterpoint to the Kardashians who, from what Ive seen, just throw money at everything. (If Monkman could somehow guest star in Keeping Up With The Kardashians, I think I would truly die happy.) At this point it should be noted that Monkmans team did, in fact, lose but it wasnt his fault! He was a one-man band, essentially, while the other team (Oxfords Balliol) had a greater spread. Anyway, it doesnt matter that he didnt win. Our love is stronger than that. Theres no shortage of decent comedy about, which is weird, as you just get so used to decrying the lack of it, which you cant do if there is no lack. So instead Ill decry the surfeit of decent comedy which, alas, hasnt done Bucket any favours. First, the surfeit. So theres Steve Coogan and Rob Brydons The Trip To Spain, which is so rivetingly close to the bone it may be the actual bone. Also, the last-ever series of Girls, which is showing the utmost respect for its characters, and is as affecting as it is funny. Plus, Peter Kay is back with Peter Kays Car Share and while it isnt our favourite Peter Kay (see Phoenix Nights) it bravely takes us to the brink of being quite boring and banal, then snaps it right back. And now Bucket. This is written by Frog Stone, who also stars as Fran, a reserved history teacher who is forced to take a road trip with her mother, Mim (Miriam Margolyes), who is madcap and a free spirit and all that. The dynamic is quite familiar in that the responsible parent is the child and vice versa, as in Ab Fab, but this is playing it for pathos as well as laughs, sometimes successfully. The opening episode, Miniworld, had some funny-sad moments and sometimes not so successfully. It doesnt quite fly, and Im still trying to work out why. (Bear with; it probably wont be worth it, but you never know.) Partly, it may be to do with being rather repetitive. Mim will say something obscene, Fran will flinch. We saw that over and over. But it may just be that, because of its broadly drawn characters, it feels dated. All the above named comedies have moved us on in this respect, as did Fleabag and Catastrophe, and theyve moved us along in terms of performance, too. But here, Miriam Margolyes is simply playing Miriam Margolyes although, if you want someone to play her, you might as well get her to. I do get that. Lastly, Line of Duty. We saw Huntley come back from the dead and we saw Mark Latimer come back from the dead so Steve? Might he come back from the dead? Or is he, you know gone? Who? With roles in two of this years must-watch TV series, 30-year-old actress Wunmi is proving shes the best of British. Whats the story? Wunmi was 18 months old when she came from Nigeria to Manchester, where her mum was studying for a PhD. She drew on this experience for 2016s BBC drama Damilola, Our Loved Boy, in which she played Gloria Taylor, the mother of the murdered schoolboy. I didnt have to imagine much, she says. I just talked to my mum and saw it through her eyes. Wunmi Mosaku was 18 months old when she came from Nigeria to Manchester, where her mum was studying for a PhD Big break As a teen, Wunmi had no idea how to break into acting. I Googled every actor from my favourite film Annie. Albert Finney was also from Manchester and he went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art so I auditioned there, too. After graduating, she worked in theatre for a year before being cast in BBC crime drama Moses Jones in 2009 alongside Matt Smith, just as he was announced as the new Doctor in Doctor Who. It was perfect timing, because loads of people watched it! Bit parts in blockbusters (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), on the BBC (Dancing on the Edge) and Netflix (Black Mirror) followed. Primetime Catch Wunmi as informant Kenya in 1970s black-activist drama Guerrilla, alongside Idris Elba (the epitome of suave), and then as senior police officer Olivia in ITVs legal thriller Fearless later this year, opposite Helen McCrory (a gem). Its an honour, she says. Im allowed to be among the giants! All episodes of Guerrilla are available to watch now on Sky Atlantic and Now TV They may have argued endlessly when they had to share a bathroom, but siblings leaving the family home can be more unsettling for the ones left behind than you might expect. Anna Moore investigates The empty-nest syndrome is not exclusive to parents Milly still recalls vividly the only time she saw her father cry. It was last October and hed just delivered her elder sister Ella to university more than 150 miles away. He was quite matter-of-fact about it when he got back, but then he went into Ellas bedroom to straighten it out, says 16-year-old Milly. Shed packed up what she wanted to take and left everything else in a huge mess. I saw Dad bent over her desk, hands full of her stuff, silently sobbing. It was so unlike him that it made me more upset that shed gone. For the next few weeks, it felt like we were all grieving. But while her parents were contemplating the end of family life as theyd known it, Milly, their only remaining child at home, was experiencing her own upheaval. My sister had gone away to start a new life without me, and that felt horrible Ella and I are quite different: we dont like the same music, share clothes or go out together, so I was surprised by how much I missed her, says Milly. Part of it was the feeling that, as usual, she got to do everything first and now shed gone to have a cool time in Manchester while I was stuck at home. But there was also an emptiness. There were times of the day that we had always spent together, such as after school, while Mum and Dad were still at work, when we would sit in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting; after shed gone, I would get home and sit on my own. On Sunday mornings wed often watch Netflix together in our pyjamas. Now the person who I could talk to about things I couldnt tell my parents had gone away to start a new life without me, and that felt horrible. And Milly is not alone. Last year the brief disappearance of Devon teenager Arthur Heeler-Frood served as a stark reminder that empty-nest syndrome is not exclusive to parents. Arthur, 15, was the youngest of three siblings. His brother Reuben, 20, had already gone to university and his sister Hester, 18, was about to go, too. On 6 September, Arthur ran away from home, taking 350 and explaining in a letter to his parents that he was bored of [his] life. In press appeals, his distraught mother described Arthurs close relationship with his siblings and his anxiety over being left behind. We think he wanted his own adventure, she said. Hester was leaving for university and Arthur was going to be the last one at home. I think he wasnt looking forward to being left alone with us. Fortunately, Arthur was reunited with his parents two months later. How to help the child left in the nest Be Mindful They may have rowed constantly with their siblings or claimed they couldnt wait to be rid of them, but just because your remaining child says that he or she is fine, dont assume there arent feelings bubbling below the surface. Be Open Make it easy for your child to voice their feelings. Talk about your own sadness, but dont let your grief be so visible that they feel inadequate. Keep the subject open but casual. Fill the gaps Try to identify any times when your child feels the absence of their siblings the most, such as after school or at weekends. Find ways to compensate and initiate new routines. Make the most of it Enjoy one-on-one time with your youngest child (probably something youve never had much of before). Create new interests that connect you, such as cooking foods you both enjoy, but dont stifle them. Look forward Help your child realise that it isnt the end of family life. Their siblings will be back for holidays, though there will be a different dynamic. Life moves on, but there are exciting things around the corner for them, too. Advertisement Suzie Hayman, counsellor and author of How to Have a Happy Family Life, confirms that its something many parents overlook. Everybody thinks empty-nest syndrome is about the parents and that it happens when all the children have gone, she says. In fact, it starts kicking in when the first child goes and it can profoundly affect everyone left behind, including siblings. Its a real shake-up, Hayman continues. The children who were the youngest become the eldest. One of two or three may suddenly feel like an only child; an equal balance of two parents and two children can feel like two against the one left behind. A younger sibling loses that role model, that ally or that enemy. They may have spent a lot of time arguing, but they were probably understanding or defining each other in the fighting; its still a form of connection. When the house starts emptying, for a sibling it can feel like the end of family as theyve known it the end of the only life theyve ever experienced. While much research has explored the impact of the empty nest on parents mental health, marriage, family finances and careers, Dr Diane Zosky, director of social work at Illinois State University, is one of the few to have asked how it affects siblings. Our relationship with our siblings is probably the most enduring one we have, says Zosky. Siblings are our contemporaries. Our parents usually predecease us, but we can maintain a close relationship with siblings for 80 or 90 years. Zosky questioned more than 100 young people and found that the youngest siblings ie, the last to leave felt a far greater sadness as the house emptied than their older siblings. Their brothers and sisters provided valued emotional support, a role-model function, says Zosky. The most common response they described was a longing, aching experience when someone theyd been attached to since birth was no longer there. Celia Dodd, journalist and author of The Empty Nest: How to Survive and Stay Close to Your Adult Child, remembers those feelings all too well. My sister and two brothers were much older than me and had all left home by the time I was 11, she says. It does have a huge effect. Its partly because you absorb your parents sadness, but for me, the whole house felt different. There was a real sense of loss, she continues. For my first ten years, wed been a big, bustling family. The house had always had lots of laughter, fighting, jollity, piano playing and now it was so silent. My parents felt elderly and it seemed like it was just me and them. I remember counting down the days until my siblings came home for holidays and if they were late Id be upset. Then, when I was 15, my sister and one of my brothers emigrated to Canada and I remember sobbing and sobbing. It felt like the end of family life. Sometimes, quite unwittingly, parents can contribute to this winding down of family life as they begin to fill the gaps with work, new interests or rediscovering each other. This was the case for Danny, now 22, whose two brothers are six and eight years older. Youngest siblings feel a far greater sadness than their older siblings, according to research by Dr Diane Zosky When my brothers left, my parents were sad and wanted new goals. My mum decided to walk the South West Coast Path, so she started disappearing with the dogs at weekends. Then she began volunteering as well as doing her normal job. I was 14 and there seemed to be fewer family meals, fewer activities planned, less going on at home. They werent bad parents; they just had a lot more time and energy for new things. In a way, it was good to slip under the radar, but I definitely noticed a difference. So what can parents do to ease the transition for their remaining children? First, it helps to be aware of it, says Dodd. Family emotions are so intertwined, she says. Just because your partner or your children say theyre OK it doesnt mean its true. If youre struggling with your own sense of loss, be aware of how that can impact your child. Even realising that it isnt just about you can help you cope better, says Dodd. Acknowledge that youre feeling sad and that its good to talk about it, but dont get so lost in grief that your remaining child feels inadequate or as though theyre second best. Cry in the bedroom, not the kitchen. Dodd also has practical tips. Think about the times of day your child might feel the absence of the missing sibling the most, she says. A lot of the time in fact, most of the time they may be busy, distracted and immersed in their own world. But there are probably certain spaces in the routine that used to be filled by brothers and sisters. The house had always had lots of laughter, fighting, jollity and now it was silent It can help to change the routine and carve out something new together. When I was writing my book, I spoke to one mother and her daughter, who was the youngest of three. They got into the routine of watching an episode of The West Wing together when the mum got home from work. And on the days when the mum wasnt working and her daughter had no lessons, theyd go out for sushi. The older sisters thought the youngest was being spoilt, but their mother simply had more time with the younger one, so they found things to do together. In fact, there is great opportunity here. Unlike the eldest, the youngest sibling may never have had the benefit of time alone with their parents and often has to fit in with the family. Older siblings leaving the house is an opportunity to redress the balance. That can range from doing more things together treats such as going to the theatre become much more affordable when its just two or three of you to the meals you eat at home as, inevitably, there will have been dishes one child liked but another didnt. And there are other benefits such as the remaining child not having to share a bedroom, or moving into a bigger one vacated by a sibling. At the same time, though, parents need to be wary of stifling the last child. Its a double-edged sword, Dodds cautions. Too much focus and parental attention may not be welcome. Parents need to be careful and try to find the right balance. Older siblings forging ahead can provide valuable guidance. Ella has been able to give Milly a taste of what university life could be like, and Milly is planning to stay with her for a weekend. Research shows that as children leave home to start their adult life, distance can allow siblings to reconnect on a different level and to value each other in a way they didnt when they were sharing a bathroom or fighting for parental attention. Siblings start to forge an adult relationship that is separate from their relationship with their parents, says Dodd. In fact, social media often allows them to follow their lives and stay in more constant touch than their parents do. The key, says Suzie Hayman, is to appreciate that the nest emptying affects everyone. Be aware of it and never assume its just you whos struggling, she says. All change, even when you can see a lot of good things in it, is hard. Its the end of an era for everyone. Households can now compare how their telecoms provider is doing, using a new tool launched by Ofcom. It compares data on call waiting times, handling complaints and the reliability of the service of the six main providers and the regulator says it will work as an incentive for customers to shop around and save money. The tool should also nudge providers into performing better and fixing recurring problems. 86 per cent said they were satisfied with the reliability of their broadband service The new tool allows consumers to compare providers based on the following factors; overall satisfaction, provider complaints, ease of contact, complaints to Ofcom and setting up the service. The regulator used its own complaints data, industry figures and surveys and discussions with more than 15,000 consumers to create the tool and also published its first annual service quality report about the UK's telecoms providers. Overall the results of the report were positive with 92 per cent of mobile customers, 89 per cent of landline telephone customers and 87 per cent of broadband customers saying they were satisfied with the service they received. However, the report revealed that landline and broadband customers had to wait more than twice as long as mobile customers when trying to get through to a customer service agent while calls to technical support teams took two and a half minutes longer on average to answer than sales calls. Those with Plusnet were kept waiting the longest, an average of seven minutes and 27 seconds, when calling up about broadband with 21 per cent hanging up before getting through. Customer satisfaction with landline providers was positive at 89 per cent on average A spokesperson from Plusnet commented: 'We're really disappointed with our performance. We know we've not been as good as we need to be so we've made a number of changes including recruiting 120 extra staff to our call centres and multi-skilling advisors. 'There has already been a marked improvement which we're confident will continue and show in the next report.' On the other end of the scale, TalkTalk was quickest at answering its landline and broadband calls from customers, taking an average of 47 seconds to answer the phone. Vodafone received the highest number of complaints in 2016 while EE had the least For mobile customers, those with O2 were kept waiting the longest, with an average time of two minutes three seconds before the phone was answered while those with Tesco Mobile had to wait just 30 seconds on average before talking to someone. The report also looked into how satisfied customers were when they complained about their telecoms provider. Of those who had complained to their provider in the last six months, 56 per cent of broadband and 57 per cent of mobile customers were satisfied with the process while for landline customers it was 62 per cent. Callers to Plusnet had the longest delays to talk to someone of just over seven minutes For broadband, Sky customers said they had the highest levels of satisfaction after making a complaint with 61 per cent saying they were happy with the process while TalkTalk had the lowest levels at 51 per cent. For mobile, Tesco Mobile had the highest level of satisfied customers with a rating of 74 per cent while Vodafone had the least, with just 51 per cent of customers saying they were happy after making a complaint. Consumers were also asked about the reliability and performance of their telecoms provider. The results were largely positive with 86 per cent saying they were satisfied with the reliability of their broadband service and 83 per cent saying they were satisfied with their online speeds. It takes an average of seven minutes for customers to get through to Plusnet on the phone Virgin Media was awarded the top spot for reliability and speeds with a score of 91 per cent for customer satisfaction with BT and TalkTalk at the lower end of the scale with 80 per cent and 71 per cent respectively. It was a similar story for mobile reception, with 86 per cent saying they were satisfied with their reception. When looking at switching to a new provider, the report revealed that it took an average of 13 days in 2016 to get a new broadband service up and running, 16 for a new landline service or a landline and broadband service combined. Ofcom also released data about the performance of 19 popular broadband packages from seven providers. It found that the average UK broadband download speed was 36.2Mbit/s in November 2016, a 7.3Mbit/s annual increase. Sharon White, Ofcom chief executive, said: 'We're determined to help bring about a service revolution in the telecoms sector, where consistency and excellence become the norm, and customers always come first. 'Today we want to shine a light on how different providers perform, and are challenging the industry to up its game on customer service. We'll be monitoring closely to ensure industry service standards are raised.' Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home services, said: 'Nearly everyone owns a mobile phone and uses the Internet to stay connected. 'These services have become essential but in recent years we've seen worryingly low levels of trust and customer satisfaction, often among some of the biggest broadband and mobile providers. 'This new report from Ofcom should push providers to raise their game and improve their service. It should also help people to look beyond the headline price to find the companies that are investing in providing a high quality service as well as a good price.' Ofcom asked 2,576 consumers their thoughts for the overall satisfaction data, 6,733 for complaints handling satisfaction and 6,000 about the reasons they might complain about their telecoms provider. Companies who employ workers on zero-hours contracts could be forced to pay a premium rate for short-notice work, the Government's employment practice adviser has said. Matthew Taylor, the former head of Tony Blairs policy unit appointed by Theresa May last October to lead a review into labour rights, said the proposal could stop lazy employers from shifting all risks onto workers. In an interview with the Financial Times, Taylor said that employers would be incentivised to guarantee more hours of work in advance if they had to pay workers a higher minimum wage for work that had not been agreed in advance. Zero-hour contracts: Firms could be forced to pay a premium rate for short-notice work 'Weve been hearing ... about people in the social care sector who are told, "Be ready to leave the house at seven in the morning", then a phone call [comes to say] "No we havent any work for you today",' Taylor said. He added: I think we can encourage employers to be a bit less lazy about transferring risk. Even if it means (an employer) offers 15 hours a week rather than one hour, at least that's 15 hours that I can know I'm going to be able to pay my mortgage. Taylors proposal comes as zero-hour contracts, under which staff are not guaranteed work and often receive short notice of whatever hours they get, have proliferated in recent years. The number of people employed on zero-hours contracts has grown by 101,000 to hit 910,000 over the past year, now representing 2.8 per cent of all people in employment, according to the latest available figures from the Office for National Statistics. Taylor, who is also the chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, said his proposal could be an answer to the one-sided flexibility that employers demand from workers. But he added that his proposal was still up for debate and that one of the drawbacks could be to create different minimum wages, making it more confusing for workers. Under the spotlight: Companies like Uber and Deliveroo have been involved in legal battles Taylor has been brought in to review employment practices in the light of mounting concerns that workers, especially those of the so-called gig economy a term coined to describe new kinds of casual work are increasingly taking on more risks which were once shouldered by businesses. Under the gig economy system, workers are paid for the specific jobs - 'gigs' - they undertake rather than the hours that they work. These tasks could be anything from transport or delivery to odd jobs or beauty treatments. This way of working is uncharted territory in terms of employment rights. Companies like Uber and Deliveroo, which have been involved in legal battles recently, are accused of circumventing the law by classifying their workers as self-employed independent contractors. These 'self-employment' models have been criticised as a means of avoiding employment rights. This is because self-employed contractors do not have the same protections and basic rights as company employee, for example in terms of holiday pay, sick pay and the national minimum wage. Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) general secretary Jason Moyer-Lee said: 'The overwhelming problem of employment rights in the so-called gig economy is the lack of enforcement of existing law. 'If the Taylor Review wants to crack down on unlawful behaviour in the sector it needs to recommend that government enforce the law and needs to make it easier for claimants to take their employers to tribunal by eliminating tribunal fees. 'The Review should also recommend increasing the rights associated with worker status.' Two Manchester University graduates who began brewing beer in a bucket are now selling 50,000 pints per month. Paul Delamere and George Grant met on their first day at university in 2009 and sold their beer, which cost them 60p a pint to make, at house parties for 2 a pint. Now their firm, ShinDigger Brewing Co, sells to 130 bars in Manchester and to more than 60 stockists in England and Scotland. Paul Delamere and George Grant met on their first day at university in 2009 Delamere, 27, studied management and then completed a masters in enterprise in 2013. He said turning the hobby into a business was 'a daunting challenge', but that the course helped him. He said: 'When we started home brewing, it was just a bit of fun for cheap beer, really. But we put time into the recipes, bringing styles from around the world into our kitchen in Manchester. 'We tried some American styles. We were brewing from the grain, reading brewers' blogs and coming up with recipes through trial and error. 'We would take plastic kegs to house parties and make a bit of money. 'One good thing about playing around at university was this bubble with other students meant we had the perfect opportunity to see people's reactions.' The friends spent a 'couple of hundred' pounds of Christmas money on their first homebrew kit, and Delamere said 'it was always a side project. To start a brewery after university was a pipe dream.' But eventually they decided they should try to brew on a commercial basis and 'see what happens'. 'The revalued rates hit firms at the same time as many other costs He said: 'We went to the bank for a 60,000-70,000 loan, but being two graduates saying, 'Can I have some money for a brewery?' didn't get us anything. We got 10,000 from the StartUp Loans Company for branding, the kegs and to keep things ticking. It was on a shoestring. 'We have learned so much about the supply chain and are looking to grow more nationwide now. We were profitable this year and last.' Grant, 26, who studied international business, finance and economics, said: 'Through a network of breweries we do shadow brewing we brew on their spare capacity. 'It is a less risky model and we get to use super-high-tech kit. We can be agile and scale quickly in a capital intensive industry.' For someone who warns of a 'perfect storm' in retailing, John Timpson seems remarkably unfazed: perhaps because his Timpson Group, now opening in China after generations on British high streets, has just posted record profits and paid him a handsome dividend. The group, founded by his great-grandfather in 1865 and which is 100 per cent family-owned, has just revealed profits of 20 million on sales of 205 million both records for the company and a 12.1 million dividend. However, last year's 33 per cent jump in pre-tax profits is unlikely to be repeated this year, he warns. 'I will be surprised if we are able to increase profits during the coming year,' he says. In the family: John Timpson has just posted record profits and was a handsome dividend A combination of a lower pound and a big increase in payroll costs due to the apprentice levy which he calls a 'travesty' that is set to cost him 400,000 a year changes to holiday pay calculations and the national living wage are all combining to increase costs for retailers, particularly one which places such a huge emphasis on its staff, or 'colleagues' as does Timpson. 'The materials we use are a small percent of the business,' says Timpson, 'but a large slice of the cost of what we do is the people. I've always said that if we have great people, we have a good business.' Aside from rising costs, the future is looking bright. The group has expanded beyond its original shoe-repair and key-cutting shops. Now there are 1,850 outlets offering dry cleaning, photo processing, engraving and watch and phone repairs. Timpson's opened its first shop in China earlier this year, has acquired the Morrisons and Johnson Cleaners dry-cleaning businesses and even boasts the world's first 'identity shop' (of which more later). Far east: Timpson's opened its first outlet in China earlier this year So what's his secret? 'Most businesses do the complete opposite of what we do,' says Timpson. 'We're not a typical retailer, thank God. In every business we've ever bought and people think we're crazy we've ripped out the electronic point of sale tills and thrown them away, leaving just an adding machine and a cash drawer. Anything more is just a waste of time. Those tills take the freedom away from the shops to do what they want. I don't want head office to run the business but the people in the shops. 'We have only two rules that our people look the part and put money in the till. Other than that they can do whatever they think is right for the business. We don't do market research, we don't have a marketing department, we don't employ a PR company.' A big driver of company growth is Timpson's tie-ups with supermarket chains such as Tesco What Timpson Group does have is 3,774 'colleagues' who benefit from having a day off on their birthdays, weekly bonuses and free use of the company holiday cottages. Timpson recently took 150 of them on holiday to Malta to celebrate the company's 150th birthday 'It was sheer enjoyment,' he recalls. Four years ago he set up his Dreams Come True initiative, which treats staff to anything from IVF, dental treatment, stair-lifts, trips abroad to see long-lost relatives and even a wedding in Las Vegas. 'We're going to spend more than 100,000 on Dreams Come True this year,' says Timpson. 'It's absolutely fantastic and really makes a huge difference to people. People don't realise that business leaders have an opportunity to influence other people's lives for good or bad more than anyone else. Timpson's son James not only looks after the day-to-day running of the group, but is also the chairman of the Prison Reform Trust 'I've discovered that the right way to run a business is through kindness if you're good to people then it's good for business.' Timpson Group has been at the forefront of working with offenders for years now, running workshops in prisons and employing people when they come out of prison ex-offenders make up 10 per cent of the workforce. Timpson's son James not only looks after the day-to-day running of the group, but is also the chairman of the Prison Reform Trust. 'It's in our DNA,' says Timpson. A big driver of company growth is Timpson's tie-ups with supermarket chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose and Asda, where it has pop-up shops or even pods in car parks. Photo processing, including its Max Spielmann business, is the biggest part of the group it also has the Snappy Snaps franchise and the passport photo business is booming. This led to Timpson's experimental foray into 'digital identity', opening the world's first ID shop, called ArkHive, in Henley. 'A substantial part of our business is in passport photos and we want to protect that business in the future,' explains Timpson. 'One thing that we can bring to the party is that we can prove that you are you, because we meet you. So it's face-to-face identity-proofing.' Visitors to the ArkHive shop can open an account where they can store scanned and verified versions of their driving licence, passport and other documents as well as carrying out employee screening services, passport application and background checks on tenants. The plan is to enable customers to use the information to carry out transactions online, such as proving identities to open a new bank account, for example. His new venture, though, is set against a difficult backdrop: retail's 'perfect storm'. Timpson says that the combination of the recent overhaul of business rates, the introduction of the living wage, rising salaries and changes to holiday pay add up to 5 per cent on the cost of employing staff. But Timpson is confident he can manage. The currency swings won't have much of an impact on a business that does not depend on imports and the controversial changes to business rates are actually going to lower his bill. 'We're going to be slightly better off, which means we've been paying too much for the last five years,' he says. Timpson, who declines to say how he voted in the referendum, is equally unfazed by Brexit. 'I think things will be fine if we look back in 20 years' time it won't be seen as a particularly big deal. But I think there's a danger that we're going to fail to take the opportunities which are there. 'It's a great opportunity for business leaders to disagree with the advice they get from lawyers and accountants and insurance companies and to do things that are right. 'Whether people take advantage of it or not is another matter but we're in a much stronger position now than people in Europe they're the ones who have the problem from our leaving. And I can't see the ability of good people coming to work here will be changed.' Timpson is in his 70s but is showing no sign of slowing down. He's just written his ninth business book, Keys To Success, visited 500 of his shops in the past six months, is currently researching the history of the business and is also spending time helping schools deal with 'looked-after children'. Timpson and his late wife Alex fostered 90 children and had five children of their own, of which two were adopted, and the subject is very close to his heart. He's setting up the Alex Timpson Trust to help children and families and is currently funding research 'to make sure that what we're doing is the right thing'. His son, Tory MP Edward Timpson, was appointed Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families last year. Alex was a keen racing fan and Timpson still has eight racehorses, one of which ran last week at Haydock. Last month, Timpson was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Retail award. 'I got the old bugger's award this year,' he says, 'which was nice for a little cobbler who does things a bit differently.' Extraordinary letter: Kirsty Dayment penned a list of the setbacks and achievements she has faced for a Sydney judge to consider A disgraced socialite asked a judge to consider her hard work on 'very popular' social media pages - which have more than 10,000 followers - before sentencing her for drug dealing. Bikini model Kirsty Dayment, 34, from Sydney's eastern suburbs, faces prison when she is sentenced for supplying cocaine and ecstasy from her beachfront apartment this week. And in a revealing, typo-ridden letter to District Court Judge Sarah Huggett, Dayment asked the court to consider a lengthy bullet point list of the setbacks she has suffered and achievements made since she was released on bail. In the letter, the disgraced glamour model complained she wasn't even allowed to work as Santa's Little Helper over Christmas, had to shut her retail store and 'work for a lower hourly rate through other agencies'. Her business name had been tarnished, she has been too scared of her modelling photos being leaked to the media to pose up and suffers anxiety and depression. And, she admitted, she 'may melt down'. But Dayment touted how she had finished two personal training certificates, worked in weekend market stalls and '(continued) social media work pages which are very popular' - with more than 10,000 followers - since leaving prison on bail. Ms Dayment (pictured) business name was tarnished, she has been too scared of her modelling photos being leaked to the media to pose up and she 'may melt down' In the letter, the model (left and right) said she had not posed up for modelling photographs out of fear the media would get a hold of them 'To your honour, to the prestigious judge of the district court, I would like you to know that on behalf of the community that I am extremely sorry for getting involved in the supply of drugs,' she wrote. 'Normally I have been able to run my life as a fit, active and motivated person. 'However I allowed myself to fall into an abusive relationship and stayed in that relationship despite my family and friend telling me it was destroying me.' A former staple of city's social scene with her fellow socialite-turned-drug-dealer friend Lisa Stockbridge, Dayment pleaded guilty last year to supplying 85 grams of cocaine and knowingly taking part in the supply of 1.36kg of MDMA. KIRSTY DAYMENT'S LIST OF SETBACKS... Tarnished business name Loss of clients Embarrassment Start life and business from scratch Closure of model/promo agency Large income loss Work for lower hourly rate through other agencies Curfew has been a big restriction, therefore missed out on a lot of jobs. Reporting Daily has been hard with fly in/fly out meetings interstate to stock stores Closed my retail clothing store Was taken off all nanny agency books Suffering with depression and anxiety May melt down Cannot do star light foundation charity work. Cannot do santa's little helper promotional work which is 2 months of work over Christmas Have not been taking modelling work as scared media would get a hold of it Stress of relying on family when am I use t be being independent Loss a 3 month contract over easter with the RAS with great salary, future work with a large company. They found out I was on bail with charges and lost my contract.' Advertisement AND HER LIST OF ACHIEVEMENTS Did not give up on trying to survive my media damaged company Rebranded my fashion agency. Continued social media work pages which are very popular (more then over 10k followers) Promotional work through other companies Happilty worked in the field again although for 10years have the boss/co-ordintaor Stocking fashion in 5 stores around Sydney Completed Certificate 3 and 4 in personal training Personal training job lined up in 2 different venues plus start teaching a group outdoor boot camp Have helped build and open an agency for a friend Have helped build a removal company through my contacts, marketing skills Worked successfully a 3 month contract to help re-build/restore/revamp a bankrupt business Volunteer work Work development order Weekend Market Stalls Healthy and fit lifestyle with no drugs or alcohol Sole care of my god daughter 4/days per week Advertisement Dayment could face a lengthy prison sentence depending upon next Thursday's decision Dressed for Oktoberfest in this picture, Ms Dayment was a staple of the Sydney's social scene On July 31, 2015, police swooped on the beachfront apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Nicholas Riganias, and arrested them both over drugs matters. Both face a maximum penalty of life in prison. In the letter to the court obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia, Dayment said her business was failing at the time, she had just fled an abusive relationship and turned to the 'wrong people to fill my life'. 'The lessons I have (learned) as a result of being a criminal will stay with me forever,' she said. KIRSTY DAYMENT'S LETTER TO THE COURT IN FULL Ms Dayment, pictured outside court a week ago 'To your honour, to the prestigious judge of the district court, I would like you to know that on behalf of the community that I am extremely sorry for getting involved for the supply of drugs. ' I take full responsibility for that involvement 'Normally I have been able to run my life as a fit, active and motivated person. 'However I allowed myself to fall into an abusive relationship and stayed in that relationship despite my family and friend telling me it was destroying me. 'When I finally escaped I was probably at my lowest. My business was failing; I had let many of my friends down and I looked for other people who turned out to be the wrong people to fill my life. 'The mistakes I made in not being stronger and looking for easy solutions to my mental and physical break down will never happen again. 'I will never put the community, my family or my self at risk. 'And I promise that I am on the road to being the productive member of our society that I once was. 'The lessons I had (learned) as A result allowing myself (to be) a criminal will stay with me forever. 'My case has received media attention and that has been difficult. 'Not with standing this I had tried my (hardest) to do better and really feel like I am achieving something. 'Since being released from jail. I have had set backs and achievements. I have attached them for you consideration' Edited for clarity Advertisement Ms Dayment blew a kiss and handed over her Louis Vutton handbag to relatives when Judge Sarah Huggett revoked her bail this week In character references shown to the court, family and friends recalled how she had been abused by a previous boyfriend. Her father recalled how one man had left his daughter 'black and blue'. Ms Dayment (file photo) suffered a miscarriage ahead of her last sentencing hearing Another friend detailed how one of Dayment's ex-partners, who she has a current AVO against, allegedly threatened to kill her, 'pulled her hair out and choked her in public'. 'There have been times where her depression was so overwhelming she has spent several days in bed unable to get up,' the friend said. Last Tuesday morning, Dayment blew a kiss and handed over her Louis Vutton handbag to a relative as her bail was revoked. That came days after the court heard she had lost a baby to a miscarriage. When Dayment's lawyers told the court in March she was three months pregnant, Judge Huggett replied: 'She will give birth in custody'. Dayment and Riganias, who has served two years in custody, are expected to be sentenced together this Thursday. Advertisement With ISIS expelled, Iraqi Christians are trickling back to the ransacked town of Qaraqosh, beset by anxiety for their security and yet hopeful they can live in friendship with Muslims of all persuasions. The town, about 20 km (12 miles) from the battlefront with Islamic militants in the northern city of Mosul, shows why Christians have mixed feelings about the future of their ancient community. In the desecrated churches of Qaraqosh, Christians are busy removing graffiti daubed by the Sunni Muslim militants during two and a half years of control - only for new slogans to have appeared, scrawled by Shi'ite members of the Iraqi forces fighting street to street with the jihadists in Mosul. A woman walks past a big cross at the entrance of the town of Qaraqosh, south of Mosul An Iraqi solider stands by a flag with a cross at a check point in the town The empty ransacked streets. Up to 10 Christian families have returned to Qaraqosh A damaged statue of Jesus Christ is seen inside a church But nearby a shopkeeper is doing a brisk trade selling Dutch beer, Greek ouzo and several whisky brands to Christians, Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds alike, with this kind of commerce perhaps offering a glimpse of how Iraq's fractured communities could again live together peacefully. Encouraged by security checkpoints and patrols by a volunteer force, up to 10 Christian families have returned to what used to be the minority's biggest community in Iraq until ISIS seized it in 2014. Iraqi forces pushed the group out of Qaraqosh in October, part of a six-month offensive to retake Mosul. But residents are worried that the Shi'ite slogans signal a new kind of sectarian division. 'Oh Hussein' is daubed in red on the wall of a church torched earlier by ISIS, praising the hero of Shi'ite Muslims who was martyred 1,300 years ago. 'We are afraid of this, of tensions,' said Girgis Youssif, a church worker. 'We want to live in peace and demand security,' said Youssif, who returned after fleeing to Erbil, about 60 km away in Iraqi Kurdistan. Shi'ites in the Iraqi government forces and paramilitary groups, mostly from further south in the country, have scribbled such slogans on buildings all over Mosul too. People stand by a big cross in the town. Those families who have returned are trying to revive Christian life dating back two millennia An altar of a damaged church. Numbers of Christians in Iraq have fallen from 1.5 million to a few hundred thousand since 2003 A damaged religious statue is seen inside a church. Army and police have tried to ease fears by stationing soldiers in front of churches Soldiers have also hoisted the flag of Ali in the city and on their on military vehicles. Shi'ites regard Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, and the prophet's grandson Hussein as his true successors. Two Shi'ite flags also fly over Qaraqosh. Most Sunnis, who are the dominant community in Mosul, have shrugged off the Shi'ite slogans as the work of a handful of religious zealots but Christians take them as a signal that their future remains uncertain. 'Of course we are afraid of such signs,' said Matti Yashou Hatti, a photographer who still lives in Erbil with his family. 'We need international protection.' Those families who have returned to Qaraqosh - once home to 50,000 people - are trying to revive Christian life dating back two millennia. However, most stay only two or three days at a time to refurbish their looted and burnt homes. 'We want to come back but there is no water and power,' said Mazam Nesin, a Christian who works for a volunteer force based in Qaraqosh but has left his family behind in Erbil. Most families stay only two or three days at a time to refurbish their looted and burnt homes A picture of Pope Francis lies on a chair inside a church A damaged beheaded statue. With the arrival of ISIS, residents abandoned their homes with some applying for asylum in Europe By contrast, displaced Muslims have been flocking back to markets in eastern Mosul since ISIS ejection from that part of the city, despite the battle raging in the Old City across the Tigris river which is the militants' last stronghold. Numbers of Christians in Iraq have fallen from 1.5 million to a few hundred thousand since the violence which followed the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein. Many Baghdad residents who could not afford to go abroad went to Qaraqosh and other northern towns where security used to be better than in the capital, rocked by sectarian warfare after the U.S.-led invasion. But with the arrival of ISIS, residents abandoned their homes with some applying for asylum in Europe. Germany alone took in 130,000 Iraqis, among them many Christians, in 2015 and 2016. But most ended up in Erbil with relatives or in homes paid for by aid agencies. Supermarkets and restaurants remain closed in Qaraqosh, with windows smashed and burnt furniture strewn across floors. One of the few businesses to have reopened is Steve Ibrahim's alcohol shop in the town centre; in the absence of cafes it has become a meeting point for local people. 'Business has been good so far. Everybody comes here to stock up,' said Ibrahim, who has just reopened the store with his father. One of the few businesses to have reopened is Steve Ibrahim's alcohol shop in the town centre A wall damaged by bullets fired by ISIS militants in a church yard Chemicals used by ISIS militants to produce bombs are seen inside a warehouse They lost everything when ISIS, known by its enemies as Daesh, wrecked their business. Now they have invested about $400 to refurbish the shop - new tiles shine on the walls - and customers are coming from beyond the town and from across the communities. 'I sell drinks to Christians and Muslims alike,' he said. 'Many people come from Mosul or other towns.' Many of Ibrahim's customers ignore Islam's forbidding of alcohol consumption. While he was talking, a Sunni Muslim from eastern Mosul drove up to buy a bottle of whisky and four cans of beer, packed in a black plastic bag to hide his purchase from the eyes of more religiously observant Muslims. 'You couldn't drink during Daesh. I am glad this shop is open again,' said the man who gave his name only as Mohammed, shaking hands with Christians enjoying an afternoon beer. 'I still only drink at home.' Later a Shi'ite from a village south of Mosul arrived to pick up drinks. 'I come here twice a week. It's the only shop in the area,' he said, asking not to be named, before driving off. Local Christians have mixed feelings about the future of their ancient community Sabri, a restaurant owner, poses for a picture as he cleans his burnt-out restaurant A religious book left on a pew in a Christian church Even Ibrahim comes every day from Erbil, bringing by car supplies and fuel for the generator to power the fridges filled with cold beer. Then he drives back at night. Whether more Christians can live permanently in Qaraqosh depends on whether the security forces win their trust. Army and police have tried to ease fears by stationing soldiers in front of churches, and even helping Christian volunteers to set up a massive cross at the town's entrance. On Palm Sunday last weekend, soldiers escorted a procession in preparation for Easter, Christianity's most important festival, and provided chairs for worshippers during Mass. Some Christian policemen joined in, singing 'Hallelujah' with civilians. But walking along rows of burnt out homes and supermarkets, others were still afraid. 'The security measures are not sufficient,' said Hatti, the photographer. 'We want security to surround the town.' Whether more Christians can live permanently in Qaraqosh depends on whether the security forces win their trust Advertisement With an 'ear-splitting blast' heard miles away, the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat left a crater more than 980ft wide after it was dropped by the US on Islamic State terrorists in Afghanistan. As the repercussions of the Trump administration's latest show of force were felt around the world, details of the huge bomb's formidable force emerged yesterday. Locals in villages miles away along the war-ravaged nation's borders said they 'felt like the heavens were falling' as the bomb sent a huge fireball into the sky and made the ground shake. The 21,600lb weapon nicknamed the 'mother of all bombs' set fire to the air around it as it exploded and vaporised anyone in the vicinity. The Pentagon yesterday released aerial footage of Thursday's attack, showing the 30ft bomb a GBU-43B Massive Ordnance Air Blast or MOAB, the acronym that also gives it its nickname speeding through the air before the huge explosion in a remote mountainous area of Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border. The Afghan ministry of defence said at least 36 IS terrorists hiding in underground tunnels were killed as the bomb released the equivalent of 11 tons of TNT at 7.32pm local time, and that the death toll could rise. Ammunition caches were also destroyed. Pakistanis living near the Afghan border said the explosion was so loud they thought a bomb had been dropped on their own village by US planes. Shah Wali, 46, who lives in Goor Gari, nine miles from the border with Nangarhar, said: 'I was sleeping when we heard a loud explosion. It was an ear-splitting blast. 'I jumped from my bed and came out of my home to see what has gone wrong in our village.' Mufti Khan, a resident of Achin in Nangarhar, said: 'The whole house was shaking. When I came out of my house I saw a large fire and the whole area was burning.' Another Achin resident, Mohammad Hakim, said: 'We are very happy and these kinds of bombs should be used in future as well, so Daesh is rooted out from here.' Daesh is the Arabic name for IS. Mr Hakim added: 'They killed our women, youths and elders sitting them on mines. We also ask the Kabul government to use even stronger weapons against them.' Mohammad Shahzadah, who was in another a nearby village, told the Guardian: 'The earth felt like a boat in a storm. I thought my house was being bombed. Last year a drone strike targeted a house next to mine, but this time it felt like the heavens were falling. 'The children and women were very scared.' The MOAB is a 'thermobaric' weapon, setting the air on fire as it explodes 6ft above the ground and sucking in all the surrounding oxygen. It released such a huge blast wave, with a one-mile radius, it would have destroyed anything up to 200ft underground and set off small earthquakes. General Daulat Waziri, a defence ministry spokesman, said the bombing was necessary because IS's tunnel complex was extremely hard to penetrate, with some as deep as 130ft. He said: 'It was a strong position and four times we had operations attacking the site but it was not possible to advance.' He added that the road leading to the complex 'was full of mines'. Inamullah Meyakhil, spokesman for the central hospital in eastern Nangarhar province, said it had received no dead or wounded. District governor Ismail Shinwari said there was no civilian property near the strike. The office of president Ashraf Ghani said they were careful to prevent civilian casualties. The dropping of the bomb marked the fulfilment of an election promise by Donald Trump, who had said he 'would bomb the s*** out of' IS if he became president. Mr Trump called Thursday's operation a 'very, very successful mission'. POWERFUL: New Pentagon video shows the explosive power of the MOAB dropped in Afghanistan US SENT JETS TO EUROPE IN SHOW OF FORCE The US Air Force will deploy a number of F-35 fighter jets to Europe this weekend for several weeks of training in another display of strength, the Pentagon said last night. They will be there with other US and NATO military aircraft. It did not name the countries where the aircraft would be deployed to but said the purpose was to further demonstrate the operational capabilities of the stealth fighter jet. The F-35 Lightning II is a fifth generation fighter jet, combining advanced stealth with speed and agility. They are used by the US Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, and by Australia, Britain, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Israel. Japan took delivery of its first jet in December. The deployment to Europe will be as part of the European Reassurance Initiative, a programme initiated in 2014 by the White House to increase US presence in Europe for security purposes. America is also sending around 40 regular troops to Somalia to help train the countrys army as it battles extremist group al-Shabaab. The US pulled out of Somalia, which has suffered decades of conflict, after 1993, when two helicopters were shot down and Americans bodies were dragged through the streets. Advertisement On the evening of the bombing, the president arrived at his lavish Florida resort Mar-a-Lago, where he was greeted from the plane by flag-waving fans. He gave them a thumbs up as he left the aircraft. He is expected to remain at Mar-a-Lago for Easter. President Trump was also at the resort when US missile strikes were carried out on a Syrian airbase last week, as a warning to the country's leader Bashar al-Assad following a chemical attack on civilians. Mr Trump was having an official dinner with Chinese president Xi Jinping as the missiles hit their target. He then conferred with top aides in a specially designed conference room before giving a speech announcing the strikes. North Korea, led by dictator Kim Jong-un, vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military, which is carrying out drills on the Korean peninsula The president also had to carry out an impromptu strategy session on Mar-a-Lago's dining patio earlier this year during a visit by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe after North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles. Experts have warned Afghanistan is the most rapidly deteriorating conflict in the world, after UK and US troops pulled out in 2014 following a 13-year war. There have been heavy clashes between Afghan forces and IS fighters in the Nangarhar region. US General John Nicholson, Nato commander in Afghanistan, said the bombing was purely tactical and part of a mission to destroy IS in the country by the end of the year. He said the 'entire world' should be focused on Afghanistan because terrorism there was of a 'grave concern'. He added: 'This is the right weapon for the right target.' Despite many celebrating the bombing, some were outraged, saying Afghanistan should not be a 'testing ground'. The Site Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist groups, reported a statement from the Afghan Taliban condemning the US for its 'terrorist' attack. The statement said it is the responsibility of Afghans, not the US, to remove IS from the country. The US has been carrying out operations in the Korean peninsula alongside Japanese allies to enhance combat readiness Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned the weapon's use on Twitter. He wrote: 'I vehemently condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear bomb, on Afghanistan by US military. 'This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons.' IS's news agency Amaq denied that the strike caused any IS deaths or injuries in a one-line statement put out on its social media channels. Chewing gum manufacturers were last night facing fresh demands to help pay the multi-million pound bill for scraping it off pavements. Councils are furious that firms such as Wrigley refuse to contribute to the cost of removing discarded gum from the streets. Chewing gum is one of the toughest items of waste to remove. It gets trodden into pavements and roads, making it difficult and expensive for cleaners to get rid of the unsightly mess. Councils are demanding chewing gum firms pay the bill to remove it from pavements. It costs 1.50 to clean a square metre of payment, but it costs 3p to buy a piece of gum (file photo) A piece of gum costs on average about 3p to buy, but the bill to clear a square metre of pavement is 1.50 50 times more. Now the Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils, is demanding gum manufacturers step up to assist in tackling the scourge. According to the organisation, chewing gum leaves taxpayers with a 60million-a-year problem in England and Wales. The town hall in South Tyneside alone spends 104,000 a year scraping up chewed gum. Because most gum currently sold is not biodegradable, once trodden into a surface it needs specialised equipment to remove. The call comes after campaign group Keep Britain Tidy found 99 per cent of main shopping streets and 64 per cent of all roads and pavements were stained by gum. If manufacturers chipped in it would free up extra money for hard-pressed councils to deal with more pressing priorities such as easing the social care crisis or filling in more than a million potholes. Councillor Judith Blake, the LGAs environment spokesman, said: At a time when councils face considerable ongoing funding pressures, this is a growing cost pressure they could do without. It is therefore reasonable to expect chewing gum manufacturers to help more, both by switching to biodegradable gum and by contributing to the cost of clearing it up. 99 per cent of main shopping streets and 64 per cent of all roads and pavements were stained by gum (file photo) Clive Betts, Labour chairman of the Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee, said: Chewing gum is a significant cost because of the difficulties of getting it off the pavement. There is definitely a case to be made for the manufacturers to contribute to the clean-up costs. They have done precious little to contribute to the costs they impose on the public purse. They should accept they have some responsibility. Two years ago, the cross-party committee said that a tax of up to 5p on a packet of chewing gum was necessary to pay to clear up litter linked to the product. But in 2015, industry evidence to MPs suggested that a chewing gum tax would actually increase litter. Wrigleys senior corporate affairs manager Alex West argued that a tax would not address the root cause of the problem. She said a small financial levy would mean that people would think the clean-up is being paid for and therefore incentivise people further to drop it because they think it is OK to do that. A growing number of state schools are charging pupils to eat their own packed lunch in the canteen, teachers warn (file photo) A growing number of state schools are charging pupils to eat their own packed lunch in the canteen, teachers warn. The so-called sandwich tax costs parents up to 2 a day which supposedly goes towards cleaning and supervision in dining halls. School leaders said it was a sign of the hard financial times their institutions face. But yesterday the Department for Education slammed the practice as unacceptable and urged families to complain to the schools involved. The NASUWT teaching union quizzed families about the hidden costs of state education. Twenty-six out of 2,211 (1.18 per cent) parents who answered a question about school food said their child had to pay to bring in a lunch box this year with around half charged between 1.50 and 2 a day. This was up from 14 (0.95 per cent) who said there were fees when 1,472 parents responded to a similar survey last year. Speaking ahead of the unions annual conference in Manchester this weekend, Dr Patrick Roach, deputy general secretary of the NASUWT, said: For many parents who are, in the words of the Prime Minister, just about managing, their children may not qualify for a free school lunch. Parents are saying I cant afford the price of a school lunch, Ill send my child in with sandwiches, only to find theyre paying between 1 and 2 a day just for right of the child to sit in the cafeteria. Quite honestly, that defies common sense and reasonableness from our point of view. Dr Roach said the Education Act 2011 opened the door to this practice by enabling schools to charge for optional extras. He said: Its outrageous that the Government has allowed schools to be able to charge for this. When you have 1 or 2 per cent of schools that are choosing to apply such practice as a sandwich tax, thats too many. We allow that to take root, and suddenly it becomes the norm and every school across the system is doing this on the pretext that it helps schools to make ends meet. The so-called sandwich tax costs parents up to 2 a day which supposedly goes towards cleaning and supervision in dining halls Margaret Morrissey, from family pressure group, Parents Outloud, said: This is outrageous. Its a sandwich tax on parents. You pay taxes to the Government for your childs school indirectly, you pay council tax to the local authority. It is absolutely incredible that weve reached the stage in schools where if you want to take in something to eat youve got to pay for it. In total, 3,934 parents were questioned by the NASUWT about the overall costs of state schooling. Almost one in five (18 per cent) have been asked to make a regular financial contribution to their childs school via direct debit or standing order. A fifth of these said they paid between 51 and 100 annually. Some 6 per cent paid 400 or more a year. Around one in eight said they were expected to make regular donations by cash or cheque, with 6 per cent paying over 100 annually using this method. Over half (51 per cent) said the school had asked for money to enhance resources, while 23 per cent said demands were due to budget constraints. Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: Schools are obliged to provide for sandwich pupils the perfect place for them to eat and water to drink. We would not expect schools to be charging in any way to provide this for pupils with lunch boxes. He added: All of these things about charging for anything are just a symptom of the hard financial times that schools are finding themselves in but this is not something we expect to see. A Department for Education spokesman said yesterday: It is unacceptable for schools to charge pupils to eat their own packed lunches in canteens. Parents should raise any concerns about this directly with the school. Janet Mejia was reported missing after she failed to show up at work at the Nordstrom department store in Roseville, California The search continues for a Sacramento woman who went missing on Tuesday while she was on the way to a doctor's appointment. Janet Mejia was reported missing after she failed to show up at work at the Nordstrom department store in Roseville, California. Her car, a blue 2011 four-door Honda was found Wednesday afternoon in the Arden-Arcade area, which is about a 15-minute drive from her apartment. The sheriff's department has issued a statement about her disappearance, and has asked for anyone with information to come forward to help uncover the truth. The 28-year-old's roommate told police that she was last seen that morning leaving their apartment as she headed to a doctor's appointment, reported the Huffington Post. 'We want Janet to come home, we love you (and) we miss you,' her sister, Daisy, told Sacramento's CBS 13. 'I'm praying to God that you're OK'. She also said in an interview with Sacramento's Fox 40 that the police found her sister's credit card in the department store parking lot, but that they do now know if it is related. Her car, a blue 2011 four-door Honda (similar to what is pictured) was found Wednesday afternoon in the Arden-Arcade area, which is about a 15-minute drive from her apartment 'We hope for the best and pray she is OK. Her dream is to become an interpreter for the deaf and I just want to ask help from anyone and everyone to help her achieve that dream,' Daisy Mejia said. Mejia grew up in Stockton and graduated from California State University at Sacramento last year with a degree in American Sign Language and deaf studies, reported the Sacramento Bee. The sheriff's department released a statement Wednesday, saying: 'Her disappearance is out of the ordinary. She is usually in constant contact with her family.' Mejia grew up in Stockton and graduated from California State University at Sacramento last year with a degree in American Sign Language and deaf studies They also said that she has no known connection to the area where her car was found. Mejia is described as Hispanic, approximately 5 feet tall and 120 to 125 pounds, with long black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a sweatshirt with the word 'PINK' on the front, and is fluent in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the sheriff's department. A nationwide lamb shortage has seen the price of the Easter favourite skyrocket by up to 30 per cent. A reduced lamb and sheep availability has sent prices soaring over the past year as farmers spare more animals from the slaughterhouse to re-build their herds. Tasman Market Fresh Meats chief Matt Swindells told The Age the price surge was unexpected and has resulted in a substantial drop in sales. A nation-wide lamb shortage has seen the price of the Easter favourite skyrocket up to 30 per cent (stock image) 'If you told me a year ago that we would be selling lamb at $7.99 a kilo up from $6.99 a year ago, I would not have believed you,' Mr Swindells said. 'It used to be that beef prices were an issue but now it's the whole red meat category.' Meat and Livestock Australia predicts the number of lambs sent to the slaughterhouse this year will be about 22 million head. This is nearly three million lower than last year. The number of lambs slaughtered this year is expected to drop by nearly three million (stock) Meanwhile, it seems consumers are turning to cheaper products this Easter, including fish. On Good Friday, around 500 tonnes of seafood lured huge crowds to Sydney Fish Market. 'I am trying to recall a time when I have seen the halls this full,' Sydney Fish Market tour guide Alex Stollznow told AAP. On Good Friday, around 500 tonnes of seafood lured huge crowds to Sydney Fish Market Sydney Fish Market general manager Bryan Skepper said: 'It's fantastic... we're tracking ahead of last year.' Sydney fishmongers were benefiting from a 'silver-lining' of heavy rains with a good haul for the market, he said. 'You tend to get a lift in catches and we've had really good supplies into the market all week.' Homeowners who have taken out loans to buy cars are being penalised by lenders when they apply for a mortgage. Research by Money Mail found that in some cases banks are slashing the amount they will lend by as much as 35,000 for customers who already have a car loan. More than 6,300 people a day are borrowing to buy a car, sparking fears of a new credit bubble as drivers have taken on 31.9billion of debt in the past year, up 10 per cent on the year before. Scroll down for video Homeowners who have taken out loans to buy cars are being penalised by lenders when they apply for a mortgage Now experts are warning that motorists may be signing up to car finance without realising it will damage their chances of getting a mortgage. Aaron Strutt, of mortgage broker Trinity Financial, said: Most people will have no idea that even a modest car loan can have a huge effect on the size of mortgage you can get. 'If youve got two or three cars on finance it can knock tens of thousands of pounds off the offer the lender will make. And if youve got car loans and other debts hanging over your head then you might even be rejected by banks. Alistair Hargreaves, of mortgage broker John Charcol, said: Having lots of debt whether thats credit cards or car loans also affects your credit rating and lenders take that into account. Research by Money Mail found that in some cases banks are slashing the amount they will lend by as much as 35,000 for customers who already have a car loan Fears that car loans are being handing out too freely has put the Bank of England and City watchdogs on alert. The boom is being driven by Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) plans, which now account for more than eight in ten sales where the driver buys on credit. The buyer pays a cheaper monthly payment than traditional car loans and can choose between paying a lump sum to purchase the vehicle after three to five years or giving it back to the dealer and getting another deal on a new car. But getting into these types of arrangements is hurting their ability to borrow on a house. A couple with a combined income of 60,000 can borrow up to 300,000 on a mortgage with major high street banks. But if they were each paying 250 towards a car, their mortgage would fall by as much as 35,000, according to calculations by broker John Charcol. This is because banks are now required to take into account a borrowers monthly outgoings, including debt repayments, when they work out how much to lend. Advertisement New York photographer Terri Gold says she wants to find 'the grace notes' of humanity. She has vivid memories of spinning an old-fashioned globe as a child, and as an adult, she dreams of faraway places and the secrets they keep hidden. In her ongoing photography project, 'Still Points in a Turning World', Gold sought to track down tribes around the globe that appear to stand still while time rushes forward. The pictures have been taken over the course of a decades-long career and ripe for a discussion about the globalizing forces that threaten indigenous cultures. 'My earliest memories are of spinning a globe. I was always drawn to the last mysterious corners of the Earth. I wanted to visit with people who have not forgotten the old ways, who feel their past in the wind,' Gold tells DailyMail.com. 'The names of far off lands called to me Samarkand, Lhasa, and Timbuktu. I dreamed of traveling with a caravan across the Himalayas, of finding hidden kingdoms. As soon as I was old enough, I stepped into my dreams with three cameras around my neck and my lifes journey began...' The Hamar in Ethiopia, a semi-nomadic tribe of cattle herders, have a set of unique rituals surrounding the use of butter as a beauty product. Here, the women apply a mixture of butter and red ochre to their hair Namibia. A Himba woman by the firelight In Niger, the Wodaabe men adorn themselves in cloth tightly wrapped from the waist down which accentuates their height, as well as colorful beaded and embroidered belts and headdresses with tall feathers Niger: When the rains are good, an extraordinary beauty contest called the Gerewol takes place, where its the men who are on display. The men perform a dance called the yaake In Niger, legendary herders and caravaners of the Sahel desert, the Wodaabe are among the last nomads on Earth 'Known for my poetic infrared imagery from the remote corners of the globe, my lifelong series Still Points in a Turning World explores our universal cross-cultural truths: the importance of family, community, ritual and the amazing diversity of its expression,' Gold tells DailyMail.com. 'I love the still quality of a photograph that captures a fleeting moment in time. We are still and still moving. I am looking for the grace notes, for the sense of wonder in our world and in our connections to each other. 'Though separated by continents, miles of mountains and plains, grasslands, forests and desert, many indigenous cultures share a commonality in the fervent preservation of their ways of living. Her project has taken her to Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, India, and China Gold has devoted much of her life to visiting the Indigenous tribal communities on the planet. Ethiopias Omo Valley is thought of as the birthplace of humankind, and is home to a variety of indigenous tribes Maasai men build a fire Ethiopia: More than merely surviving in this sunbaked landscape, each tribe has stamped in the area a richly unique identity A Suri boy in the cattle camp Young Suri boys in Ethiopia bring home freshly caught fish According to Ms. Gold, 'traditional knowledge of indigenous societies has the power to contribute to the planet's modern vision of technology, science and medicine and sustainable living. 'Though we may not see our own customs and traditions in these images, it is my hope that we recognize our common humanity. If we share our stories and appreciate the mysteries of every realm, we may yet gain a deeper understanding of that which lies both behind and ahead of us,' Gold says. 'Indigenous cultures that follow their traditional ways of life are rapidly disappearing. At risk is a vast archive of knowledge and expertise. Yet change itself does not destroy a culture. All societies are continually evolving. Diverse cultures survive when they honor the customs of their past and have a say in their future so they can maintain their spirit and essence in face of the forces of globalization.' Kenya: Maasai women Maasai men survey the land with Mount Kilimanjaro behind them In Kenya, the Samburu men, their faces painted red with crimson ochre and impressive sets of brightly colored feathers swaying atop their heads Daily life at the Gerewol festival The San Bushmen of Namibia are said to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest peoples in the world, passing their rich history down from generation to generation Namibia: A Himba father and son Suri boys pose in the Ethiopian forest Beautification and scarification practices are encouraged for individuals to establish their identity within the community Living in harmony with nature, the Suri daily adorn their bodies with materials from the world around them, using plants, animal hides, clay, and colorfully paint their bodies with these natural pigments A truck driver who was allegedly pulled over with $24 million in his trailer has refused to explain to police where the money came from or where it was going. Adrian Miller, 41, was allegedly found with the cash when the driver, from Deer Park, was pulled over for a routine inspection in Merbein South, in Victoria's north-west, on April 5. Drugs were also allegedly found in Miller's trailer, the Herald Sun reported. Adrian Miller, 41, (pictured) from Deer Park was allegedly found with the cash when he was pulled over for a routine inspection in Merbein South on April 5 Miller refused to cooperate with the police or reveal any details about the operation. He has been charged with possessing heroin and dealing with the proceeds of crime. When Miller was pulled over on the Sturt Highway last Wednesday, police learned he was already wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant. The $24 million in cash and small amount of drugs were seized and Mr Miller was arrested. When Miller (pictured) was pulled over on the Sturt Highway last Wednesday, police learned he was already wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant Mr Miller (pictured) was taken to Mildura Base Hospital under police guard, where police will allege he tried to escape It reportedly took Mildura police officers hours to count the cash. Miller was taken to Mildura Base Hospital under police guard, where police will allege he tried to escape. Police allege guards were forced to tackle Miller when he tried to escape through the hospital's entrance. The truck's ultimate destination was unknown but Mildura, where it was intercepted, has long held links to organised crime. The Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang, the Calabrian mafia and the Comancheros are all believed to operate in the town. Mr Miller (pictured) is alleged to be a drug addict who is suffering from withdrawals following his arrest When Miller (pictured) appeared in Mildura Magistrates Court police alleged he failed an oral fluid drug test When Mr Miller appeared in Mildura Magistrates Court police alleged he failed an oral fluid drug test. The court heard Mr Miller was a drug addict and he would be suffering withdrawals. Police also said Mr Miller was wanted on outstanding arrest warrants related to driving. Duty lawyer Gavan Tellefson told the court his client also suffered from a head injury and was 'not well'. Miller (pictured) did not apply for bail and will serve his remand period in Melbourne 'He tells me that he's not well, I understand there was some scuffle,' he said. 'He's clearly exhibiting some head injuries.' Miller did not apply for bail and will serve his remand period in Melbourne. The case will return to court on May 18 and again in June. Boots Opticians is under investigation over allegations it misled customers buying glasses into paying extra for protection against gadget glare. The chain could face warnings and fines as a result of an inquiry by the General Optical Council. Boots Opticians and others sold glasses using lenses with a blue light filter to thousands of people at an extra cost, on the basis they would protect their eyesight. Boots Opticians and other British opticians sold glasses using lenses with a blue light filter to thousands of people at an extra cost, on the basis they would protect their eyesight The lenses are said to block the supposedly harmful glare given off by smartphones, tablets, computers and LED TVs. However, academics argue that the amount of blue light given off by screens is tiny compared to ordinary sunlight and the lenses only filter out a very small amount of the light, about 20 per cent. Hard-sell tactics have been used to push the blue light protection lenses, which cost 70 a pair. Customers have been given frightening warnings that this blue light could reach the retina and damage their eyesight over time. The General Optical Council (GOC), the watchdog for opticians, alleges that Boots Opticians: n Failed to obtain sufficient evidence to justify claims of a direct link between harmful blue light and retinal damage; n Failed to obtain sufficient evidence to justify claims its Boots Protect Plus Blue Lenses filtered out a meaningful amount of harmful blue light; n Failed to ensure claims for the marketing of the blue light protection had been approved by a suitably qualified person. The GOC investigation stems from an Advertising Standards Authority inquiry in 2015. The ASA investigated a Boots advertisement with the wording: Many modern gadgets, whether its a fancy LED TV or your smartphone, as well as sunlight and energy-saving light bulbs, give off a certain kind of blue light that can cause your retinal cells to deteriorate over time. Boots said it could help customers protect themselves. The ASA took advice from experts, who rejected the claims, and banned the advertisement. A leading authority on blue light, Professor John Marshall of UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, believes mobile devices are not a real threat. He said: There are no blue light hazard concerns about mobile phones, or tablets. The emission levels are just too low and the spectral emission levels in the blue are even lower. While Chris Hammond, ophthalmology professor at Kings College London, said blue light from screens is extremely small compared to that from daylight, even on a grey day outside. But he does admit there is some evidence that exposure to blue light late at night can disturb sleeping patterns. The case against Boots Opticians will be heard by the GOCs Fitness to Practise committee in London on May 24. Possible sanctions include warnings and a fine of up to 50,000. Boots Opticians said: Since [2015] we have worked with trading standards and reviewed and changed all in store materials, changed our training material to align to the trading standards guidance and we have not issued any further advertising relating to the blue lens outside of practices. Sean Spicer returned to the Pentagon on Friday to fulfill his duties with the Naval Reserves, suited up in full uniform - he's seen here with wife Rebecca in 2010 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer wears many hats under the Trump administration, and today, that was a Naval cap. Spicer returned to the Pentagon on Friday to fulfill his duties with the Naval Reserve, suited up in full uniform. His current reserve station is with with the Joint Chiefs of Staff offices in Washington D.C. with the public affairs office. The former Republican National Committee official joined the Reserve in 1999, and holds the position of commander, just one ranking below captain. Spicer joined the Reserve while still actively pursuing his career as a Republican media strategist and operative, CBS News reported. He also obtained a masters degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War college in 2012. His Pentagon sighting comes in the wake of his 'apology tour' this week after he shocked a briefing room by saying that Adolf Hitler was a lesser evil than Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. His Pentagon sighting comes in the wake of his 'apology tour' this week after he shocked a briefing room by saying that Adolf Hitler was a lesser evil than Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad Spicer said: 'I screwed up.' 'From a professional level, I think it's disappointing because I think I let the president down.' He later added: 'It was not a very good day in my history.' Fourth District Court Judge Thomas Low reportedly held back tears as he condemned a rapist he characterized as an 'extraordinarily good man' to prison this week A Utah judge reportedly held back tears as he condemned a rapist he characterized as an 'extraordinarily good man' to prison this week. Julia Kirby, the victim and sister-in-law of Keith Vallejo, was in the courtroom as the judge tasked with delivering her justice praised her attacker. Vallejo, a former Mormon priest, was convicted of first-degree felony of object rape and 10 second-degree felonies of forcible sexual abuse in the cases of Kirby and another one of her female relatives. 'The court had no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man,' Fourth District Court Judge Thomas Low told the courtroom on Wednesday, according to the Huffington Post. 'But great men, sometimes do bad things,' he continued. Kirby, who was 19 when her brother-in-law sexually assaulted her, called Low's statement 'unacceptable and unprofessional.' Judge Low also drew criticism in February when he convicted Vallejo of his horrific sexual offenses, but allowed him his freedom until his sentencing this week. Vallejo, a former Mormon priest, was convicted of first-degree felony of object rape and 10 second-degree felonies of forcible sexual abuse in the cases involving two of his female relatives Vallejo, 43, maintained his innocence throughout the trial and during his sentencing. He called the justice system 'funny' and said that the process circulates around 'bullying' people to plead guilty. Ryan McBride, the prosecutor on the case, said Low's comments were inappropriate but that they may have come in response to more than 50 character letters about Vallejo, most of them detailing the good things he has done. The defendant's brother spoke at the hearing and compared Vallejo to Jesus in making the argument that he was wrongly convicted The defendant's brother spoke at the hearing and compared Vallejo to Jesus in making the argument that he was wrongly convicted, McBride said. "I don't think it's wrong to acknowledge the good things that someone has done in their lives," the prosecutor said. "But I think whenever you do that in a case like this, you've also got to say, 'But it doesn't excuse what you've done.' " Low declined comment through a court spokesman. Kristen Houser, the Chief Public Affairs officer for the National Sexual Violence Research Center said that Low's words contribute to an overarching problem in the perception of rapists. She said: 'A blanket statement that 'you're a wonderful person' is not appropriate for somebody whose being sentenced for sexually assaulting two girls. 'These are things that people consider when they're wondering whether or not it's worth it to report [their assault] to the police.' Sexual assault is one of the most under reported crimes, with more than a third of rapes going unreported, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Video Courtesy KUTV Advertisement North Korea unveiled 'game-changer' ballistic missiles during a display of the country's military might as Kim Jong-Un warned of an 'annihilating strike' if the US attacks. The intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which Pyongyang claim could travel thousands of miles, increased concerns that the secretive state is preparing for a possible attack on Washington after they were paraded during the country's Day of the Sun celebrations. A gleeful Kim, wearing a Western-style suit at Kim Il-sung Square, saluted formations of soldiers who yelled out 'long live' to celebrate the 105th anniversary of his grandfather's birth. The two new kinds of ICBM were enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of transporter erector launcher trucks as they were paraded in front of crowds during today's festivities. Pyongyang has yet to formally announce it has an operational ICBM but experts believe they the new rockets could be liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, or an early prototype. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles were also among the military hardware on show for the first time, indicating an improving technological capability that could help it evade anti-missile systems. Kim has accused President Donald Trump of provoking his nation towards armed conflict with a series of increasingly aggressive moves, including sending the USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula. One of Kim's top officials, Choe Ryong Hae, today vowed North Korea would 'beat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice'. He told the packed-out square: 'If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare.' Scroll down for video Crowds cheered as a missile was driven past the stand where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials looked on An unidentified rocket is displayed during today's parade, with experts voicing fears that it could have a range of 9,000 miles Arrival: Military vehicles carrying the KN-11 missile - which can be launched from a submarine - and potentially gives the country a limited nuclear second strike capability Smiling dictator: Kim Jung-un was noticeably relaxed and appeared happy as he attended the 'Day of the Sun' military parade in Kim Il Sung square - which celebrates his grandfather - the founder of North Korea Thousands of North Korean troops armed with rifles took part in the show of force, which saw North Korea flaunt sophisticated new military hardware North Koreans carry flags in front of statues of the country's founder Kim Il Sung (left) and late leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang today Men beat drums as they parade through Kim Il Sung Square during military drills to mark the landmark date North Korean soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade at the 'Day of the Sun' to mark the country's founder's birth anniversary Tanks rolled through the capital city of the secretive state, which was marking the 105th birthday of Kim Jong-un's late grandfather North Korean soldiers carry flags as they pass an image of Kim Il Sung as they take part in a parade in capital Pyongyang Thousands of troops took part in the parade on a day to mark what would have been the 105th birthday of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung Thousands of troops from the Korean People's Army (KPA) took part in the parade to mark Day of the Sun in Pyongyang North Korea has warned that Donald Trump's 'troublemaking' and 'aggressive' tweets have pushed the world to the brink of thermo-nuclear war Commandoes wearing camouflage gear were on parade as soldiers yelled out 'long live' to celebrate the 105th anniversary of Kim Jong-un's grandfather's birthday Rows of North Korean soldiers marched through Kim Il-Sung Square today on the national holiday, which marks the 105th anniversary of the nation's founder's birth A total of 56 missiles of 10 different types were displayed, culminating in enormous rockets on articulated trailers and on 16-wheeler vehicles. Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead. However, Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, said that Pyongyang's parade did not mean that a missile attack was imminent. She said: 'North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them. It is still early days for these missile designs.' If the Korean missiles actually work they could have a similar range to a DF-41 Chinese missile, which can fly 9,000 miles, and could hit the continental US. But it's very unlikely that North Korea has that technology at this stage. Chad O'Carroll, managing director of specialist service at NK News, said the long-range missiles would be 'a big game-changer once it is deployed in service'. However, he added there would be a long testing schedule ahead before a trial launch of the missile itself. Liquid-fuel missiles also 'take hours to fuel up and if there is intelligence that they were doing that it would be quite easy to stop it before it was launched'. The display of patriotism came on a day which US experts fear could be used to carry out further missile testing in North Korea Soldiers march through Pyongyang as officials look on at the celebration event, a national holiday in North Korea The celebrations culminated in a mass dance in the heart of North Korean capital Pyongyang, after a display of the nation's military might Women wearing traditional outfits looked jubilant as they passed by despot leader Kim Jong-un at the parade in Pyongyang In his annual New Year's address, Kim said North Korea's preparations for an ICBM launch had 'reached the final stage'. Recent satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. Solid fuel ICBMs are a 'much more difficult threat to prevent', O'Carroll said, adding that risk was still 'many many years' away. Also on show for the first time was the North's submarine launch ballistic missiles (SLBM). Tensions have been mounting in recent weeks, and North Korea has issued several warnings threatening to 'pulverize' US troops and retaliate in response to any military action. Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the canisters and trucks suggested that the North was developing technology to 'cold launch' ICBMs, ejecting them from the canisters before they ignite. This would allow North Korea to prevent its limited number of ICBM-capable launcher trucks from being damaged during launches and also make the missiles harder to detect after they're fired, he said. Cold launches would also allow the missiles to be fired from silos. Kim said that the North is also likely developing solid-fuel ICBMs, and that some of the rockets paraded inside canisters on Saturday might be prototypes. Unlike previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be a senior Chinese official in attendance at today's celebrations. North Korean men and women performed a mass dance during the Day of the Sun, the biggest national holiday in the secretive state Thousands of soldiers marched during the parade today, on a day of heightened tensions between North Korea and the US Soldiers marched and shouted slogans in a patriotic display to mark the anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth US officials feared Kim Jong-un would mark the national holiday by launching its sixth nuclear weapons test, since the country has used previous holidays to showcase its military prowess Performers play the drums at the parade today, where North Korea gave a show of its military might in Pyongyang China is North Korea's lone major ally, but has spoken out against its missile and nuclear tests and has supported UN sanctions. China yesterday again called for talks to defuse the escalation in tensions. Some detachments carried assault rifles or rocket-propelled grenades, others were equipped with night-vision goggles and daubed in face paint. One troupe was made up of sword-wielding women. The nuclear-armed North is under United Nations sanctions over its weapons programmes, and has ambitions to build a rocket capable of delivering a warhead to the US mainland - something Trump has vowed 'won't happen'. Tensions between the US and North Korea have been mounting in recent weeks, and yesterday Pyongyang issued a series of menacing threats to 'ravage' US troops and 'go to war if they choose'. China warned the region could go to war 'at any moment'. US President Donald Trump is monitoring the emerging crisis from his Mar-a-Lago resort this weekend without the company of his top advisers. North Korean state television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a black limousine. He saluted his honor guard before walking down a red carpet to a podium and clapped with senior government officials to address the massive crowd taking part in the parade. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square as tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons waited to parade. Kim, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011, emphasizes nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy. The country under his watch has been aggressively pursuing a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. Like a celebrity: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves during his military parade on Saturday in Pyongyang 'DAY OF THE SUN': CEREMONY THAT ENFORCES CULT STATUS OF THE KIM PARTY RULING NORTH KOREA Hundreds of thousands of jubilant North Koreans today lined the streets of capital Pyongyang hoping to get a glimpse of despot leader Kim Jong-un. The country held its annual Day of the Sun celebration, an annual holiday to mark the birthday of the nation's founder - and Kim's grandfather - Kim Il Sung. Crowds waved flags and flowers in a colourful display of patriotism captured on camera in front of the world's media - a rare public display by leaders in the secretive state. Smiling North Koreans watch the parade in capital Pyongyang today, on a day which reinforces the cult of personality around the Kim family North Korean men waving pom poms at the parade in the nation's capital today, at a celebration to mark the 105th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth A North Korean woman cries as she looks towards her country's leader Kim Jong-un during a military parade today Kim did not address the rally himself on Saturday, instead waving and smiling as ecstatic crowds - men in suits, women in traditional hanbok dresses - filed past him behind the military display. 'Long live!' they chanted, some in tears. Such pageantry reinforces the cult of personality around the Kim family, three of whom have ruled North Korea with a vice-like grip. When foreign journalists visit North Korea, their movements are closely managed and they are usually restricted to Pyongyang. Conversations with people are monitored by government 'minders', who also provide translations into English. Near the birthplace of Kim Il Sung, a pilgrimage spot for North Koreans, commuters yesterday moved briskly on and off the subway, young women holding umbrellas walked by, clasping arms, while two children in blue school uniforms shuffled down the street holding a flower basket almost their own size. Large groups of women joined in the show of patriotism today in Pyongyang in a display during which the country flaunted its military might Crowds waved flags and flowers at a parade overseen by despot leader Kim Jong-un in the North Korean capital today Large crowds waving flags, banners and flowers lined the streets as the parade was held in Pyongyang in front of a gleeful Kim Jong-un this morning Unlike at some previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be any a senior Chinese official in attendance - which did not appear to bother him one bit 'If the enemies want to wage war with our leaders, we have nothing to fear because we will win,' said Jon Myon Sop, who works at a bus station. 'I know about how tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula and how the U.S. and its puppet countries have brought their military assets to the region.' Cho Hyon Ran, a tour guide at the site, said: 'We don't want war but we are not afraid of war because we have strong power, our country is the strongest one in the world now. 'You can see all people are laughing, all people are singing, all people are celebrating the Sun's day,' she said in English. 'We are not afraid of anything.' Dancers carried sheets in the colour of North Korea's national flag during the military parade in Pyongyang The colourful parade was held in the North Korean capital to mark the 105th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth Tens of thousands of North Koreans lined the streets of Pyongyang to watch the parade and get a sight of despot leader Kim Jong-un The day of celebrations culminated in a mass dance, accompanied by fireworks, in Pyongyang as the country marked the Day of the Sun Jubilant lines of North Koreans danced into the night during the celebrations, which come at a time of international tensions Fireworks explode as North Koreans take part in a mass dance to mark the annual Day of the Sun in honour of the nation's late founder, Kim Il-Sung Advertisement North Korea soldiers marched through Pyongyang, 24 hours after China warned the region could go to war 'at any moment' Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang Soldiers shouted patriotic slogans during the parade, which was held in the North Korean capital today Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square as tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons waited to parade Military vehicles carry missiles during a military parade in North Korean capital Pyongyang today Korean soldiers marched past colourful rows of spectators in King Il-Sung Square in front of a gleeful-looking Kim Jong-un Suited North Korean men wave flowers above their heads in a colourful celebration in Pyongyang today North Korea's state news agency said the Trump administration's 'serious military hysteria' had reached a 'dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked'. The United States has warned that a policy of 'strategic patience' with North Korea is over. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China, North Korea's sole major ally and neighbor which nevertheless opposes its weapons program, on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. 'We call on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage,' Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing. North Korea on Friday denounced the United States for bringing 'huge nuclear strategic assets' to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer, and said it stood ready to strike back. 'The Trump administration, which made a surprise guided cruise-missile strike on Syria on April 6, has entered the path of open threat and blackmail,' KCNA quoted the military as saying in a statement. 'The army and people of the DPRK will as ever courageously counter those who encroach upon the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and will always mercilessly ravage all provocative options of the U.S. with Korean-style toughest counteraction.' North Korean soldiers on mobile missile launchers as they are paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during today's military parade Power play: The festivities, celebrating the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather, took place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a significant rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM China, North Korea's sole major ally and neighbor which nevertheless opposes its weapons program, on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. Pictured, preparations ahead of the parade CHINA CALLS ON RUSSIA TO HELP EASE TENSION China is seeking Russia's help to cool surging tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, the country's foreign minister has told his Moscow counterpart, after Beijing warned of possible conflict over North Korea. China - the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline - yesterday warned that war over North Korea could break out 'at any moment'. In a call with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi said the common goal of the two nations was to 'bring all the parties back to the negotiating table', according to a statement on China's Foreign Ministry website. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday warned that war could break out 'at any moment' amid heightened tensions over North Korea 'China is ready to coordinate closely with Russia to help cool down as quickly as possible the situation on the peninsula and encourage the parties concerned to resume dialogue,' Wang told Lavrov, referring to the stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear programme that includes Russia, China and the United States. 'Preventing war and chaos on the peninsula meets common interests,' he added. Beijing has long opposed dramatic action against the North, fearing the regime's collapse would send a flood of refugees across its borders and leave the US military on its doorstep. Trump insists that China must exert more leverage on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions or suffer the consequences. Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart, on the phone yesterday about the North Korean crisis Advertisement Pictured, a North Korean soldier sits on a fence near Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong. China warned the region could go to war 'at any moment' North Korea launched a missile test last Tuesday, and satellite images taken earlier this week showed continued activity at the Punggye-ri Nuclear site. The US deployed USS Carl Vinson to the region in response, and Trump tweeted about the 'menace' of North Korea while military exercises were conducted in South Korea. The US and North Korea traded increasingly bitter words this week, and another warning of retaliation came on Saturday from the regime's KCNA news agency. 'All the brigandish provocative moves of the U.S. in the political, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK will thoroughly be foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK,' KCNA said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. DPRK stands for the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 'Our toughest counteraction against the U.S. and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive.' Lines of uniformed female soldiers joined in the flamboyant display of patriotism in the heart of the North Korean capital Crowds chanted patriotic slogans in honour of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung at an event which marked 105 since he was born The secretive state vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military The United States has warned that a policy of 'strategic patience' with North Korea is over. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia US TANKS CARRY OUT EXERCISES CLOSE TO NORTH KOREAN BORDER AMID HEIGHTENED TENSIONS US tanks were today pictured close to the border with North Korea as they continue to carry out military exercises will allies in South Korea. Pyongyang has repeatedly objected to the US presence on the Korean peninsula, and yesterday vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military. Pictures taken today show US forces taking part in joint exercises in Paju, alongside South Korean troops. A US Army of solider working on an M1A2 tank during a joint military exercise close to the border with North Korea today, as Pyongyang flaunted its own military might South Korean and US Army tanks take positions during a joint military exercise in Paju today North Korea has accused the US of acting aggressively in the Korean peninsula at a time of heightened tensions A statement issued yesterday by the Korean People's Army boasted that US military bases in the South 'as well as the headquarters of evils such as the (South Korean presidential) Blue House would be pulverized within a few minutes'. North Korean vice foreign minister Han Song Ryol yesterday blamed Trump and the US for rising tensions. Han cited US-South Korean wargames, the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the peninsula last weekend, as well as Trump's recent tweets on Tuesday that the North is 'looking for trouble'. A US Army soldiers ride an M1A2 tank during a joint military exercise in South Korea today North Korean vice foreign minister Han Song Ryol yesterday blamed Trump and the US for rising tensions American troops have been taking part in training drills today alongside South Korean forces close to the border with North Korea The statements were criticised by South Korea's Foreign Ministry, which said Han's remarks revealed the 'true colours of North Korea's government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations'. It said North Korea will face strong punishment it will find hard to withstand if it makes a significant provocation, such as another nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. China immediately responded, saying anyone provoking conflict will 'pay the price'. China's foreign minister Wang Yi said today there would be 'no winner' in any war, as tensions mount with the US. Advertisement The secretive state also vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military. The rhetoric comes after North Korea warned that Trump's 'troublemaking' and 'aggressive' tweets have pushed the world to the brink of thermo-nuclear war. Pyongyang's Vice Minister Han Song Ryol accused Trump of building up a 'vicious cycle' of tensions and warned the US against provoking North Korea militarily. He added the country would continue developing its nuclear program and conduct its next nuclear test whenever its leaders see fit. In the past week Trump has shown his willingness to launch military strikes, with US missiles deployed in Syria and Afghanistan. The U.S. military also dropped the 'Mother of All Bombs' on an ISIS tunnel network in Afghanistan In unison: The huge and choreographed crowd moved together to display messages in support of Kim Jung-un in the hazy spring sunshine, as they watched tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and other weapons parade past The rhetoric comes after North Korea warned President Donald Trump's 'troublemaking' and 'aggressive' tweets have pushed the world to the brink of thermo-nuclear war. Pictured, US Army tanks conducting a military exercise in South Korea President Donald Trump went to his Palm Beach resort without his chief of staff or other top advisers, as they spent time away for the Easter and Passover holidays About 200 foreign journalists were allowed in North Korea for Saturday's parade. But they are closely managed by government 'minders', and saw nothing out of the ordinary in Pyongyang on Friday despite the talk of war. Near the birthplace of Kim Il Sung, a pilgrimage spot for North Koreans, commuters moved briskly on and off the subway on Friday. 'If the enemies want to wage war with our leaders, we have nothing to fear because we will win,' said Jon Myon Sop, who works at a bus station. 'I know about how tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula and how the U.S. and its puppet countries have brought their military assets to the region.' Cho Hyon Ran, a tour guide at the site, said: 'We don't want war but we are not afraid of war because we have strong power, our country is the strongest one in the world now. 'You can see all people are laughing, all people are singing, all people are celebrating the Sun's day,' she said in English. 'We are not afraid of anything.' A soldier salutes atop an armoured vehicle as it drives past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un today North Korean soldiers wait to march onto Kim Il Sung Square during today's military parade to mark the 105th anniversary of the country's founder's birth Soldiers look out of a military vehicle as they are paraded on the Kim Il Sung Square during today's festivities in Pyongyang Special forces raid, missile strike, cyber warfare, or MORE negotiations: Trump's choices for dealing with Kim Jung-Un -but experts say there are no good options Donald Trump has said that 'all options are on the table' when it comes to North Korea - but what exactly does that mean? The President has a vast range of possible ways of dealing with the secretive Communist nation ranging from cyber warfare to a missile strike - and even a nuclear attack of his own. DailyMail.com spoke to three military experts to describe what each of those options means - and the pitfalls of each. They described the President as having 'no good options' with North Korea and said that it will require impressive statecraft to deal with Pyongyang. Our experts were: J.D. Williams, a Senior Defense Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation Harry Krejsa, a Research Associate at the Center for a New American Security working in the Asia-Pacific Security Program Jeff McCausland, a professor at Dickinson College, retired Army colonel, former dean of the Army War College and a CBS consultant. Soldiers in tanks are paraded on the Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade at a time of increased tensions with North Korea THE GENERAL PICTURE McCausland: Hope is not a method and we've been hoping since Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan that this problem would solve itself, that one day the people of North Korea wake up and decide this wasn't working any more. That hasn't happened and it seems less likely it will happen. We seem to have this foregone belief we can work with the Chinese, that was the strategy of strategic patience. They have their own interests...Somebody once described North as the land of bad choices. When you deal with a problem like North Korea which has gone on for the last three or four administrations there are no good choices. Krejsa: The Trump administration has made a rhetorical effort to say that they are considering military action but that was never off the table. Military action has always been a back burner because the options on that side are very bad. Seoul, which is home to 20 per cent of the entire population of South Korea, is within conventional artillery range of North Korea and there are thought to be a tremendous number of North Korean military units within range of Seoul. Seoul would be very much at risk for large scale civilian casualties and military casualties.All the options we have are bad and the options we have are not effective. We need really creative statecraft on the part of the United States and its allies and I worry we don't necessarily have all the human capital in place to pursue that. Kim kicked off the national Day of the Sun on Saturday with a military parade consisting of thousands of perfectly-choreographed troops amid rising tensions with the United States Supporters line the street as the motorcase of US President Donald Trump drives to Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach on Thursday Military experts Jeff McCausland (left), Harry Krejsa (center) and J.D. Williams (right) discussed the complicated issues associated with American military action against North Korea MORE NEGOTIATIONS McCausland: Broadly you only really have three options. One, you accept the fact North Korea is a nuclear power and you decide you're going to live with it. That's what we did in Pakistan and India and Israel. Two, you can negotiate with North Korea or around North Korea. They would like it to be a bilateral negotiation because it enhances their positions but that's impossible for the US to do because of our close ties to the Japanese and the South Koreans. You can negotiate around the North Koreans and I think that's what the President will try to do, negotiate more directly with the Chinese and put pressure on Kim Jong-un so he does change his path...A deal with North Korea would be a complete revolutionary change from 60 years of American foreign policy. The solution is the Iranian deal on steroids. It's (the Iran deal) an ugly baby it's a far more attractive baby than doing nothing, it's more attractive than the alternatives' MORE SANCTIONS Krejsa: A lot of the focus has been put towards secondary sanctions which I think are the next frontier - sanctions on companies which do business with the North Korean government but skirt restrictions. The tricky thing about them is that they would go after the sources of currency and goods and luxury items that still make their way into North Korea but fall into Chinese companies and cause problems with the Chinese relationship. Video broadcast by North Korean broadcaster KRT showed soldiers in a parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang CYBER WARFARE Williams: Theoretically it would be about getting access to systems that could disable or disrupt something in the operational chain of the North Korean military or specifically missile activity. Theoretically it's a very elegant way to achieve an effect without what the military likes to call kinetic operations, or firing guns and dropping bombs. If you have that in your kit bag it's something you would want to consider using. But there are likely uncertainties about the effectiveness of that. Once you use them, you only get one shot because you reveal the capability and the adversary initiates protection measures. McCausland: Using Cyber to go after the North Korean nuclear capability would be not unlike the effort against Iran using the Stuxnet virus. That being said going after North Korea is frankly more difficult simply because you're talking about a country that's hermetically sealed. It doesn't have the connections to the global information systems, the Internet etcetera like a country like Iran. The portals where you can get into their systems are far more complicated. Secondarily any effort to try to do that through a human capability where you get a human inside their system who physically infects their computers is also very very difficult to do basic on how hermetically sealed this place is. South Koreans watched a North Korean special news translation of a parade to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung THE NAVAL TASK FORCE President Trump has dispatched Nimitz-class Carl Vinson with three cruisers and destroyers to the Korean Peninsula as show of force. Williams: Sending a carrier strike group into anybody's neighborhood has long been an important signal, politically both to adversaries and to your friends. Secondly the group was not sent as a rapid surge sort of deployment, it was already in the Pacific. It was scheduled to do something else and they've been turned around to hang out off North Korea. It's a different thing to move a carrier around when it's forward deployed than one or more ships being sent from the West coast. There's a magnitude of what the signal is sent here. From a military perspective the carrier group gives you offensive and defensive options. On defense the ships have missile defense capability. If you're concerned there might be a missile attack or a missile test that might go astray and you want to protect Japan or South Korea, having that capability gives you some options. On the offensive you have striking power. You can attack land targets with manned aircraft and cruise missiles. Depending on what political circumstances are, all those things, you have some more options with the carrier strike group. People walk past a television screen broadcasting live footage of a parade to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung A MISSILE STRIKE ON NORTH KOREA McCausland: You're talking about a pretty massive strike far beyond what we saw in Syria with 59 cruise missiles. The simple reason is you want a very high probability with a single strike you have been pretty successful in taking them down. Obviously you have to convince the South Koreans and the Japanese you can do this in a fashion that the possibility of them retaliating against Seoul or Tokyo or some other major target has been removed or dramatically reduced. The problem is that if our intelligence about Iraq was such we thought they had nuclear weapons and they didn't...as one North Korea expert put it to me, we know far more about black holes than what goes on in North Korea. If you think we have absolute assurance that we know everywhere that they have stored medium range missiles with conventional warheads, let alone nuclear warheads, that's still somewhat problematical. Any type of decapitating strike would have to address multiple locations, many (missiles) stored inside a mountain and being able to assure the Japanese and South Koreans of the high probability of success and realising even a limited response (from North Korea) could still do massive damage to those two countries. Williams: It's going to make it a much more difficult problem if you have to hit multiple targets in the same time frame. It's going to be much more difficult than hitting an airfield where a chemical weapons attack came from like in Syria. There's probabilities of success which has to be weighed at the political level about how to use force and the potential reaction. The size of the campaign would depend on how many nuclear weapons the North Koreans have and how concentrated they are. If you have nuclear weapons you're probably not going to disperse them widely. You probably want to maintain control of them. That makes the problem a little easier, you would expect some concentration of the nuclear arsenal but at the same time North Korea will have an awareness of the threat and they will do some dispersals. The difference in trying to do a campaign to eliminate somebody's nuclear capability is your margin of error is zero. If you don't get them all you have a big problem. Krejsa: The issue is if they make the decision to go down this path the downsides are going to be tremendous. I'm sure there's discussion as to what red lines could prompt military action but I don't think we're anywhere near that right now just because any sort of pre-preemptive attack would bring tremendous downsides. North Korea increasingly sees its nuclear weapons as totally central to their regime's legitimacy and the continued survival of their regime. Any effort to take that away by force would probably be seen as an act of war and an attempt at regime change. Missiles were paraded in Kim Il Sung Square Saturday in honor of the North Korea founder OTHER ASSETS IN THE REGION Williams: What the US can do with assets out of bases and Japan is subject to some constraints and the agreements with the host nation. You don't have to worry about those things on an aircraft carrier. If the South Korean government and Japanese felt the threat was directed against them they would cooperate on a collaborative response. If it wasn't they would probably some political hesitation and rightly so. SPECIAL FORCES / ASSASSINATION Krejsa: In recent years we've turned to Special Forces as a catch all that can have a light footprint and a narrow mission and get it done quickly and with great skill, but those kind of things are probably not practical for North Korea. North Korea is an intelligence black hole. Not many people believe we have great human intelligence inside North Korea and we don't have enough understanding of how things work and where everything is to be able to do have any sort of convincing potential for success. Williams: Special Operations are very good for doing very precise types of military action on 'point targets', as they are called, like if you have something that you want to do to a particular place on the ground and for whatever reason you don't want to use a weapon like an air strike. The more recent uses have been to recover hostages, you've seen examples of that in Syria and Yemen. The second reason would be if you want to get intelligence out of a site like the recent raid in Yemen. Against that are risks; getting access, the possibility of something going wrong, the potential for casualties with manned aircraft. Your risk calculation goes up significantly. Operations of this nature require very very good and precise intelligence. The choice to use it in a situation like this would be evaluated at the very highest levels of government. My view would be: if there was very very good intelligence and part of it was that there was very strong potential for an imminent use of nuclear weapon those two things could tip the calculus to make a President strongly consider the use of Special Operations. But short of that or a decision to embark upon a campaign involving a series of military actions, I think that's on the very low end of the probability scale. The three experts all said the President had 'no good options' regarding a specific action against North Korea A LARGER ATTACK BY THE US McCausland: We're talking about military capabilities far beyond one task force. I would hesitate to say, long range strike aircrafts such as B-52s. You're looking for shock and awe, you're talking large numbers carrier based aircraft, large numbers of long range aircraft coming from the United States, large numbers of cruise missiles, perhaps strategic strikes using conventional warheads. Williams: If North Korea has the low end of the number of weapons you end up with a relatively small number of things you're trying to get rid of. If you have good intelligence it might not be that big of a strike. It really depends on your judgments and assessments of what you have to take care of. NUCLEAR WEAPONS McCausland: I think it's very unlikely if not impossible to believe that the United States would use a nuclear weapon preemptively. I think that would be way off the scales. Experts estimate North Korea is at least five years away from being capable of firing a nuclear missile that could reach the Unite States .AND CAN AMERICA DEFEND ITSELF IN THE EVENT OF A STRIKE BY NORTH KOREA? Assuming that North Korea can fire a nuclear missile that can reach the US - though experts say it may be 5-10 years from doing this - it would reach mainland America in around 30 minutes, The missile would likely be a Taepo Dong which is thought to have a range of between 6,200 and 8,000 miles, enough to hit the US East coast. But despite having the most powerful military in the world, America may not be able to defend itself against an attack from the Communist nation. The Pentagon has spent $40 billion on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD) which is designed to stop a nuclear warhead in space. Each GMD interceptor is 60ft tall and has a 150lbs 'kill vehicle' at its tip. During a nuclear attack the interceptors would be fired out of underground silos in Alaska and California and would travel through the air at four miles per second. They would destroy the nuclear missile by crashing into it, though there are no explosives on board the interceptors. However it is not clear if the system would work and tests have yet to be successful despite decades of similar programs and at least $84 billion being spent on missile defense over the past decade. The Government Accountability Office said in 2015 that the GMD system 'has not demonstrated through flight testing that it can defend the US homeland against the current missile defense threat', which includes North Korea. Williams: Ballistic missile defense is a very difficult problem, probably one of the most difficult problems that we have now. Our defense community is saying that we have some capability and it's being designed and optimized to deal with the kind of threat you would get from a North Korean style attack. It's still a hard problem, there's been some success and failures. Krejsa: Missile defense has improved a lot since the Star Wars era but it is no sure thing. Our capabilities are pretty good under ideal conditions but wartime is not ideal conditions. It's extremely unlikely we would be able to use military force to prevent a nuclear strike from happening. A simple trip from Gold Coast to Queenstown turned into a 23-hour ordeal for an Australian bride travelling to New Zealand to get married. Olivia Wardrop and 11 members of her bridal party - which included her fiancee and one-year-old daughter - endured a nightmare journey following a series of complications by their aircraft carrier, Jetstar. Problems initially started when the group's direct flight from the Gold Coast to Queenstown, which is a three hour flight time, was delayed by four hours on March 18. A simple trip from Gold Coast to Queenstown turned into a 23-hour nightmare for Olivia Wardrop Olivia Wardrop, her partner Callum and her one-year-old daughter endured a painful set of events following Jetstar flight issues Mrs Wardrop felt a sense of relief when the plane finally took off at 10am but it was short-lived. As they were about to land, it was revealed by the captain they would be diverted to Christchurch - almost 500km away from Queenstown - because of faulty landing equipment. Shockingly the group were notified over the intercom they would not be getting a connecting flight to the original destination - but that they would be completing the rest of the trip 'on land' from Christchurch. Passengers began to talk among themselves and it was soon realised they would be going by bus. Mrs Wardrop immediately began to worry about her one-year-old daughter Akira who had been discharged from the hospital with bronchitis the day before. As a registered nurse she had felt comfortable taking her on the flight as Akira had been cleared by the doctors for the trip. The beautiful bride and her wedding party took over 23 hours to get to Queenstown when it was supposed to take just three The 'trip from hell' included a four hour flight delay and a nine hour bus ride Mrs Wardrop's one-year-old daughter Akira had been discharged from the hospital with bronchitis just the day before When the plane disembarked the buses and vans were ready waiting, the bride-to-be felt like there was no other choice. 'They were very clear when telling us that Jetstar had organised the buses for us and that if we wanted to fly to Queenstown from Christchurch we would have to purchase the tickets without any reimbursement from Jetstar,' she said. 'It didn't feel like we had an option, we felt like we just had to get on the bus.' Half of the bridal party traveled by van and half by bus. Problems initially started when the group's direct flight from the Gold Coast to Queenstown was delayed by four hours on March 18 As the plane went descended it was announced that the flight had been rerouted to Christchurch Passengers were left with no option but to make the 500km journey via designated buses and vans On the bus ride Akira would not settle as it was full, and Mrs Wardrop was forced to stand in the isle to attempt to rock her daughter to sleep. Akira reacted horribly to the rocky bus ride and a blue fluorescent light that stopped her from sleeping and began to scream. As a result, her breathing became more rapid and her daughter's health took a turn for the worst. By the time they arrived in Queenstown, it was 3am and the car rental where they were to collect their cars was closed. The group taxied to their hotel where they got some rest before waking up to do errands they had expected to do the prior day, along with the rehearsal. When they arrived in Queenstown it was 3am and the car rental where they were to collect their cars was closed The next morning the group rearranged their plans and were able to finally enjoy their special occasion She said the experience made the wedding a 'mad rush' and caused a lot of rearranging. Mrs Wardrop was eventually married to her partner Callum in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by her family. 'To say it was the worst flight ever would be an understatement,' Mrs Wardrop told 9News. She said she had experienced delays previously with the but following this incident she will never use them again. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Jetstar said: 'Safety is Jetstar's top priority and it is sometimes unavoidable that a flight is diverted due to engineering requirements. 'We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to our customers as a result, and we do our best to get them to their destinations as safely and as quickly as possible without any compromise on safety. 'We sincerely apologise to Ms Wardrop for the difficult start to her wedding celebration.' The doctor dragged off a United plane in scenes which created global outrage was further insulted when the airline withheld his luggage, sending it on a convoluted path home. Dr David Dao was accused of refusing to give up his seat on Sunday's United Express flight UA3411 flight from Chicago to Louisville for the airline's staff. Cell phone footage then shows the moment when he was forcibly and violently removed from the airline by heavy-handed Chicago Aviation Security police officers. Now, it has been revealed that on top of being forced out of their seats and off the plane, the airline did not take the time to release their luggage to Dr Dao and his wife, instead sending it back to Kentucky and leaving them with nothing. Scroll down for video Beaten and bloodied: Dr Dao is pictured bleeding from the mouth after he was body slammed by cops and dragged off the overbooked United flight at Chicago O'Hare Distressing: Children were crying in distress as the three officers manhandled the man out of his seat. Passengers had been offered $800 to take a flight the next day but none volunteered Dr David Dao has been revealed as the man who was dragged from a United flight in Chicago on Sunday. He is pictured with his wife, Teresa, and their grandchildren. It was his wife who alerted authorities to his inappropriate relationship with a patient 'The airline didn't even have the courtesy to give the Daos their luggage after Dr Dao was dragged off their flight and transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital,' attorney Thomas Demetrio told the Chicago Sun Times. 'Instead, the airline flew their luggage to Louisville, Kentucky. And instead of delivering it to their home, they sent it to their medical practice office,' he noted. Demitrio explained that the couple were not happy about it, as they had nothing with them, and none of their stuff. The couple's luggage went from Chicago, to Louisville, to their medical practice in Elizabethtown, before finally landing at their home Screaming: The man who had refused to to give up his seat on the overbooked United flight from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday night was dragged off the plane by three cops Dao has now been released by the hospital with a concussion and two missing front teeth, and is planning to sue the airline in a case. It is unclear where the couple are now residing, but the couple has not yet returned to Kentucky and are staying within reach of family members who live nearby. Dao's wife is not being treated for trauma, and is helping to rehabilitate her husband, who is undergoing medical evaluations and consultations. The doctor has memory of being dragged off of the plane, but none of rushing back on. He is still missing his two front teeth, which were knocked out by his forcible removal. Demitrio said: 'This was assault and battery, taking rudeness to the extreme for a paying passenger'. Thomas Demetrio, is a partner at Corby & Demetrio, which tells potential clients that it has achieved total compensation payments of more than $1 billion for those it represents. His specialist area is the aviation industry. The lawyers' hiring suggests that Dr Dao will pursue United not just for its treatment of him but the procedures which lay behind him being told he could not fly, to make way for United's own crew - one of the factors which has fueled the outrage over his case. Meet the team: Dr. David Dao has hired Stephen Golan (left) a corporate law specialist, and Thomas Demetrio (right), a personal injury specialist, in a sign of United facing a major lawsuit This information comes after the United Airline's pilots union released a statement Thursday regarding the Sunday night incident. The union contended that the Chicago Department of Aviation's 'grossly inappropriate response' was to blame for the events that transpired, according to the United Master Executive Council's statement. The United Master Executive Council represents the airline's 12,500 pilots. The statement also pointed out that the plane from which Dr. Dao was ejected was one of which that was separately owned and operated by Republic Airlines. 'This occurred on one of our contracted Express carriers, separately owned and operated by Republic Airline, and was ultimately caused by the grossly inappropriate response by the Chicago Department of Aviation,' the pilots wrote according to Business Insider. 'The safety and well-being of our passengers is the highest priority for United pilots, and this should not have escalated into a violent encounter,' the union's written statement read. 'United pilots are infuriated by this event.' The child was said to be visiting with his family from Charlotte, North Carolina, and they stopped to have lunch at the Sun Dial Restaurant located on the 72nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel A five-year-old boy tragically died on Friday afternoon when he got his head stuck at the rotating restaurant of a popular tourist location in Atlanta. The child was said to be visiting with his family from Charlotte, North Carolina, and they stopped to have lunch at the Sun Dial Restaurant located on the 72nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. The restaurant spins to offer 360 degree views of the city's skyline, and the boy reportedly became lodged between the wall and a rotating table. The family were the last customers in the restaurant when the boy wandered away from his parents to see the views,WSBTV reported. The hotel's security staff and employees scrambled to pull the boy out after realizing he was stuck, and were eventually able to dislodge him. The moving floor immediately turned off, but unfortunately it was too late. The child had already suffered severe head trauma. The family were reportedly the last customers in the restaurant when the boy wandered away from his parents to see the view of the Atlanta skyline He was taken to Grady Hospital after the incident around 3:30pm, and was later pronounced dead. 'There was a tragic accident at the hotel involving a young boy,' Westin Peachtree Plaza Manager George Reed said in a statement obtained by the AJC. 'Words cannot express the depths of our sorrow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.' The restaurant spins to offer 360 degree views of the city's skyline, and the boy reportedly became lodged between the wall and a rotating table The Sun Dial is said to be closed until further notice, and an investigation is being conducted by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. The boy's death comes just a year after a kitchen employee at the same hotel died after getting accidentally locked in a freezer overnight. The 61-year-old woman, Carolyn Robinson, had worked with at the Westin hotel for more than 35 years. Less than a month after that, ten-year-old Stephen Akinlabi died at the hotel's pool after he fell in at a birthday party. A mentally ill man who drove his car through a crowded shopping strip told police he wanted people to think it was 'terrorism' and prove the Bourke Street tragedy in Melbourne 'was fake'. John Caddle, 42, drove his green Hyundai Accent at a low speed into Crown Street Mall during the popular Eat Street food markets before being stopped by Wollongong council security officers on February 16. He told the officers he 'wanted to prove Melbourne was a fake', referring to the Bourke Street tragedy on January 20 where a car drove into crowds, killing six people and injuring more than 30, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. John Caddle, 42, (right) drove his car through a crowded shopping strip and told police he wanted people to think it was 'terrorism' and prove the Bourke Street tragedy in Melbourne 'was fake' Caddle said he wanted to check the response times of the police and hadn't intended to hurt anyone when he drove through Crown Street mall in Wollongong (pictured) 'I wanted to scare people, get them to film it and put it on Facebook. I wanted to show everyone that Melbourne was a fake. No one was killed there,' Caddle told authorities. 'It was all fake where are the cameras?' He claimed the tragedy never took place and those involved were actors. He added he wore a Muslim prayer cap as he slowly drove down the crowded strip to lead people to believe they were 'under attack by ISIS' but also to keep his head warm. When questioned of his intentions for the Thursday evening Caddle said he wanted to check the response times of the police and had not intended to hurt anyone, according to the Illawarra Times. Caddle told the officers that he 'wanted to prove Melbourne was a fake', referring to the Bourke Street tragedy on January 20 (pictured) Woman lays flowers on the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Street after a man went on a rampage in a car through busy Bourke St mall Psychologists say Caddle was in the manic stage of a bipolar disorder episode at the time of the incident. He was charged with menacing driving and intimidation, but his defence attempted to have them dismissed under mental health legislation at Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday. While Magistrate Michael Stoddart accepted the 42-year-old was mentally ill, he said the serious nature of Caddle's wrong-doing meant matters would be dealt with under criminal law. Caddle was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond on the condition he continue with his treatment. A woman who was fired from her job as a bar manager after fracturing her ankle at her brother's funeral has been awarded nearly $11,000 in compensation. Patricia Jesson had her employment at the Judea Tavern in Tauranga, south-east of Auckland, terminated in October 2015. Ms Jesson claimed she was unjustifiably dismissed from her employment with the tavern and filed a complaint with the Employment Relations Authority, according to Stuff. Patricia Jesson had her employment at the Judea Tavern in Tauranga (above), south-east of Auckland, terminated in October of 2015 Court notes reveal Ms Jesson had been employed at the tavern for a number of months leading up to the dismissal and informed her manager, Frank Wade, via email she had suffered the fracture, which required her to be in a cast in August 2015. The fracture meant Ms Jesson was unable to put any weight on her foot for at least five weeks and as a result would be unavailable for work commitments. Ms Jesson continued to update Mr Wade on her condition and her continued absence was supported at all times by medical certificates. In late October, Ms Jesson's ACC case manager contacted Mr Wade to discuss her return to work. She was fired from her job as a bar manager after fracturing her ankle at her brother's funeral has been awarded nearly $11,000 in compensation (pictured is a stock image) The case manager was advised by Mr Wade Ms Jesson's employment had been terminated when she had her injury and there were no shifts for her to return to. Ms Jesson also received a letter from Mr Wade advising her her employment had been terminated for medical incapacity. Mr Wade advised Ms Jesson that when she was able to return to work she could contact him and he would consider either part time or full time work at one of his other establishments but not in her management position at Judea Tavern. ERA member Vicki Campbell said Ms Jesson 'suffered emotional distress as a result of her personal grievance' and awarded her $5,000 for emotional distress. She was also awarded $5,985 in lost wages. The New Zealand Police have received a hilarious message to their Facebook page presumably sent by mistake. The private message reads 'Oi bro when are we gonna get blazed with all your weed?' An automatic response was prompted alerting the sender to the error. New Zealand Police were mistakenly messaged an inappropriate question They then messaged again saying 'Whoops wrong person'. Police officials saw the lighter side of the mix-up and posted the amusing conversation to get out an important safety message. A screenshot of the interaction was posted to the New Zealand Police Facebook page on Good Friday urging people to be safe over the Easter weekend. The post included the hashtag, 'when you accidentally message NZ Police', and reminded everyone to watch their speed over the long weekend but not to watch their social media while driving. Whether the post was sent as a joke is yet to be uncovered but social media users found the post entertaining with more than 1,500 likes since it went live. A police spokeswoman told Stuff: 'It's just an opportunity to get a good message out there.' A couple's weekend retreat turned into a nightmare when they were told they had to give up one of their plane seats to make way for a crew member. Peter and Beth Chapman, from Auckland, were travelling to Queenstown for a wedding and a family reunion on an Air New Zealand flight in February. As they fastened their seatbelts and prepared for take-off, the captain announced there was one too many passengers on board. 'They came down the aisle and walked straight up to my wife and told her she had to leave the plane,' Mr Chapman, 58, told Daily Mail Australia. Peter and Beth Chapman (pictured) boarded a flight to Queenstown for a wedding and a family reunion when they were told one of them had to get off the plane to make way for a crew member The couple's weekend retreat turned into a nightmare when they were told they had to give up one of their plane seats 'My wife said "I'm not leaving".' Mr Chapman could see his wife, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer just two hours earlier, was becoming anxious. 'At that point I stood up and said, "my wife is staying - I'll get off the plane", and they escorted me off. 'I left the plane and an Air New Zealand crew member sat next to my wife. So you can imagine the conversation there.' Ms Chapman, who said she was treated 'appallingly', described the moment a staff member sat in what was supposed to be her husband's seat. 'I just looked at him and said, "I hope your reason for going to Queenstown is urgent because you've put my husband off this plane",' she told Daily Mail Australia. The pair boarded an Air New Zealand flight and fastened their seatbelts before the captain announced there was one too many passengers on board. Pictured, an Air New Zealand plane at Queenstown airport Mr Chapman (right) could see his wife (left), who had been diagnosed with breast cancer just two hours earlier, was becoming anxious 'He said he was just following orders. It was a bit awkward for him but I didn't make the journey unpleasant - I know it's not his fault. 'I just let him know that I wasn't happy about the whole situation. The whole thing was just very poorly handled. It wasn't a nice experience.' Mr Chapman was moved to the next flight and given a $200 voucher for future travel as compensation. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Air New Zealand for comment. A spokesperson for Air New Zealand said extra staff had to be flown to Queenstown because of weather disruptions (stock image) A spokesperson told the New Zealand Herald extra staff had to be flown to Queenstown because of weather disruptions. 'We acknowledge that ideally this decision would have been reached before the flight was boarded,' she said. 'However, given the widespread weather disruptions across our network that day a number of inter-related decisions were being made simultaneously in order to achieve the best result for the greatest number of passengers. 'Just to be clear, Mr Chapman was not offloaded, he offered to disembark so that his wife could fly.' Advertisement Punters packed out Randwick Racecourse on Saturday for the grand finale of the Sydney Carnival. Racegoers were dressed to impress, with many taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. Many of the ladies stepped out in playsuits and pretty summery dresses with flirty hemlines. But while some felt the sting of their big day out early on with painful heels taking a toll, some punters were thrilled to be there. One woman at Randwick Racecourse on Saturday appeared thrilled to be there as she strutted through the crowd with two friends Her facial expressions could only be described as dynamic, though one of her friends looked less than impressed Dressed in white and beige, three women were seen strutting through the races arm in arm. One woman in the middle, dressed in a fitted white playsuit, appeared to be very excited as she walked with her friends. Another woman had had enough of her high heels, and ditched them as relaxed at a bench with friends. One woman was pictured ditching her heels Many groups of men and women seen celebrating the day with some dancing. Some chose a more intimate style of dance, with one man seen spinning his female companion in a red playsuit with flared sleeves in the middle of the crowd. A woman in red was seen spinning under the arm of her male companion Others danced in large groups, with photos showing a large group of women throwing their hands in the air. As the women became swept up in the rhythm, their dance moves became more adventurous - which didn't end well for one after she appeared to fall over. A group of women were seen passionately breaking it down as a group on Saturday The group appeared jubilant as they moved to the beat while others watched on As the group became more excited in their dancing, they got a bit more adventurous with their moves, which appeared not to work out for one member of the impromptu dance troupe One girl appeared to fall on her ankle and afterwards was seen on hands and knees with a look of pain on her face While the dancing clearly did not work out for everyone, one woman in a bright fitted dress appeared to have scored herself a dance partner A lady in a black lace outfit was seen dashing away from her friends towards an empty patch of grass. Pictures show the woman extending an arm before appearing to spin around joyfully. While those around her appear confused by her actions, the blonde woman does not seem to have a care in the world. One woman was seen heading determinedly towards an empty patch of grass at Randwick Racecourse on Saturday afternoon Pictures show the woman immediately utilising her space, extending an arm before appearing to spin around joyfully But while most racegoers appeared excited to be at the races, some were seen struggling to have a good time. Many were seen taking a moment on the sidelines of the action, some choosing to sit on the gutter while others squatted in the grass. One woman was pictured squatting on the ground on the outskirts of the racetrack on Saturday As she struggled with her bag her friends were seen smoking around her Two women, dressed in black, stopped to rest their feet and have a cigarette A group of women were seen on the outskirts of the racecourse holding alcoholic drinks and cans of lemonade One woman was pictured squatting on the ground and appearing to struggle with her bag, as her friends smoked around her. The group of well-dressed women were seen on the outskirts of the racecourse, taking a moment's break before rejoining the festivities. They were not alone in their decision, as another group of women holding champagne glasses and cans of lemonade also decided to take some time out. While most were happy with the day's drink selection, some women appeared less than pleased with their champagne One woman holding a champagne glass was seen holding her hand up to her mouth with an unhappy look on her face While the drinks on offer appeared to satisfy most of the day's punters, some women did not appear delighted with the taste of their drinks. One woman, holding a glass of champagne and walking arm in arm with a man, appeared to cringe, with her face twisting into a grimace and her fingers extending, as she walked through the course. Another, also holding a champagne glass, held a similar look on her face as she raised a hand up towards her mouth. A group of young women were in high spirits as they walked arm-in-arm around the racecourse Women took advantage of the warm and sunny weather and donned bright, summery dresses Swarms of well-dressed women were pictured throughout the day in eye-catching ensembles - from stunning colours to unique patterns. A group of young women were in high spirits as they walked arm-in-arm around the back of the racecourse. Another group of women were pictured as they huddled together to cheer on a race. The three girls, dressed in a white, black and green frock, were just three of thousands to descend on the inner-city race course on Saturday to see out the end of the Sydney Carnival. Three women in a white, black and green fock huddle together as they watch the races trackside Two women sport almost matching black fascinators as they make their way around the racecourse There were no jackets in sight on Saturday, as the clouds parted and made way for a beautiful sunny day in Sydney Despite its promotion as an all-ages family event, many women appeared to have scheduled a ladies day for themselves. Women were seen moving throughout the racecourse in groups large and small, often stopping to flash their pearly whites for a group pictures. Meanwhile, the men were often seen standing or walking alone. Colour and loud patterns appeared to be the look of the day for women at the Randwick Racecourse This man is seen taking some time out from the action as he chats on the phone track side at the Randwick Racecourse on Saturday Red was a favourite among racegoers looking to attract attention, with many choosing the vibrant colour for their fascinator. One woman paired her white dress with a plunging netted neckline with a bright red flower, creating a summery look. Another matched her red hat with black netting to her bright red stilettos, and tied the outfit together with a colourful floral frock. One woman rocked an all-white ensemble with an eye-catching red fascinator at the racecourse on Saturday Red appeared to be the colour of the day, with many women incorporating the bold shade into their outfits A terminally ill woman has been denied access to technology that will allow her to continue to communicate with her family in her final days. Kirsten Harley lives with motor neurone disease (MND), and is gradually losing the ability to control movement in her body and speak. The Sydney woman applied to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for technology that would allow her to continue to communicate with her family using eye movement. Dr Harley's request was denied by the NDIS last Wednesday. Kirsten Harley lives with motor neurone disease (MND), and is gradually losing the ability to control movement in her body and speak 'It's pretty upsetting because it obviously affects me but it also affects my 11-year-old daughter and my husband and family and friends around me,' she told the ABC. 'That's a bit of a blow really, the idea that ongoing communication isn't considered something that's necessary to be funded under the NDIS.' Without the technology, Dr Harley will eventually be unable to communicate with her loved ones. Dr Harley said her condition worsened with each day and the prospect of losing the ability to communicate was frightening. Dr Harley (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday the NDIS were generally supportive and had increased her carer hours. For that she said she was hugely grateful Dr Harley (pictured) said it wasn't just her she needed to think about as her condition worsened, but her husband and young daughter as well She said the point of the NDIS was to promote independence for people with significant disability and felt she was neglected by the system. 'My impression of what [the NDIS planner] was saying is that the disease is likely to progress rapidly and therefore it's not worth spending the money,' she said. Dr Harley said she planned to appeal against the decision. While she was unhappy with the NDIS refusal for the technology, Dr Harley said the scheme generally treated her well and she supported the provider. She told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday the NDIS increased her carer hours and for that she was hugely grateful. The NDIS told Daily Mail Australia it could not comment on Dr Harley's situation. 'Due to privacy legislation we are not able to comment on her individual case,' a spokeswoman said. She said Dr Harley was welcome to an appeal, as was anyone relying on the NDIS. 'Any person directly affected by an NDIS decision on their individual plan can request a review,' she said. '25 years of love, support, puns and adventures,' Dr Harley wrote alongside this photo of her and husband Densil on their wedding day Dr Harley was told she had MND four years ago and has documented her journey of gradually losing control of her body. 'Mobility losses have become more subtle, the slipping away of straightenable fingers pain as joints lose supporting tissue, the disappearance of residual arm strength and any capacity to move my legs, so that I need help for pretty much everything,' she said on Facebook this year. 'My swallowing and breathing muscles have weakened, so that I can only manage some foods and need Masky McMaskface at night to oxygenate my blood.' Dr Harley, who is also on the New South Wales Motor Neurone Disease Association board, said the most awful part was losing friends to the disease. 'And worse, part of this bittersweet journey, having to bid goodbye to more friends this year, several diagnosed after me, two for whom pregress had been much slower,' she said. Dr Harley said her husband Densil and her 11-year-old daughter, Kimi, were her inspiration to stay positive. '[They are] enriching my life with love and jokes and achievments and music and dancing and photos,' she said. Dr Harley also shared the sobering reality that her family were also left with all the jobs she could no longer do. 'Feeding, scratching, positioning, driving, nose wiping, wee-bag emptying and problem solving with generosity,' she said. North Korea unveiled what appeared to be new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) at its Day of the Sun parade, amid increasing fears its trying to develop a model that could hit the United States. North Korea showed two new kinds of ICBM enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of transporter erector launcher trucks, or TELs. The larger missile was similar in appearance to the Chinese DF-41, which can fly 9,000 miles. Scroll down for video Mystery device: The missile appeared similar in size to Russian and Chinese weapons large enough to strike the continental United States as far as Chicago if the missile was viable North Korean state television showed what appeared to be several KN-08 (above) ICBMs on Saturday - which are theoretically capable of striking the continental United States West Coast and Alaska If the Korean missiles actually work, and have a similar range to the Chinese missile, they could hit the continental US Thousands of North Korean troops took part in today's show of force in the capital Pyongyang If the Korean missiles actually work, and have a similar range to the Chinese missile, they could hit the continental US. But it's very unlikely that North Korea has that technology at this stage. Also on show for the first time was the North's submarine launch ballistic missiles (SLBM). Kim Jong Un kicked off the parade commemorating the 105th anniversary of his late grandfather's birthday and rolled out a military arsenal that also included submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), which also made their debut on Saturday. Tensions have been mounting in recent weeks, and North Korea has issued several warnings threatening to 'pulverize' US troops and retaliate in response to any military action. North Korean state television showed what appeared to be several KN-08 (above) ICBMs on Saturday - which are theoretically capable of striking the continental United States West Coast and Alaska Kim, who took power in late 2011, emphasizes nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy The new prototypes suggests Pyongyang is working towards a 'new concept' of ICBM, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the U.S.-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. 'However, North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them,' Hanham said. 'It is still early days for these missile designs'. Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the canisters and trucks suggested that the North was developing technology to 'cold launch' ICBMs, ejecting them from the canisters before they ignite. This would allow North Korea to prevent its limited number of ICBM-capable launcher trucks from being damaged during launches and also make the missiles harder to detect after they're fired, he said. Cold launches would also allow the missiles to be fired from silos. Kim said that the North is also likely developing solid-fuel ICBMs, and that some of the rockets paraded inside canisters on Saturday might be prototypes. On Saturday, North Korea also displayed SLBMs for the first time ever, after the missile was successfully tested in 2016. They have a range of over 600 miles Soldiers in tanks are paraded on the Kim Il Sung Square during the annual Day of the Sun celebrations in Pyongyang North Korean state television also showed what appeared to be several KN-08 and KN-14 ICBMs. Kim, who took power in late 2011, emphasizes nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy. And the arsenal showcased on Saturday suggest the country has been plowing ahead with its goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM that can strike the US, although the North has yet to flight test them. In his annual New Year's address, Kim said that North Korea's preparations for an ICBM launch have 'reached the final stage.' And U.S. satellite imagery suggests the country could also conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. North Korea conducted two such tests last year alone, which analysts say would have taken the country a step forward in gaining the knowledge to make nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. The North also launched a long-range rocket last year that put a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology. On Saturday, North Korea also displayed SLBMs for the first time ever, after the missile was successfully tested in 2016. They have a range of over 600 miles On Saturday, North Korea also displayed SLBMs for the first time ever, after the missile was successfully tested in 2016. They have a range of over 600 miles. SLBMs could help North Korea evade an anti-missile system and serve as a backup if its land-based arsenals are destroyed. Displaying more than one of the SLBM missiles indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base a missile on a submarine, which are hard to detect, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review. 'It suggests a commitment to this program,' said Pollack. 'Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the program'. Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery guns, as well as a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines. Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery guns, as well as a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines North Korea also possesses a powerful midrange missile, which outside analysts call 'Musudan'. It can potentially reach U.S. air bases in Guam. Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim, addressed the packed square and reiterated a warning to the United States. 'If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare,' he said. North Korea on Friday denounced the US for bringing 'huge nuclear strategic assets' to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer to the peninsula. A U.S. Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month raised questions about U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. and unilateral sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. Two Mississippi police officers have been fired after bragging on Facebook Live about giving a** whoopins' and shooting a dog while they were on patrol. Yazoo Police Chief Andre Loyd told MS News Now that two of the city's officers were fired after the videos, which were taken while they were on the job, were uncovered. The videos were sent into the police by The Free Thought Project, and start out harmless, showing the two officers standing by a lake and chatting. However, the conversations quickly turn dark, with one of the officer joking about shooting a barking dog, and then bragging about his 'a** whoopin' gloves' that he uses to pound people. Scroll down for video The videos were sent into the police by The Free Thought Project , and start out harmless, showing the two officers standing by a lake and chatting 'Man we shot the s*** out of somebody's dog. It ran to him, ruff ruff ruff, pow pow pow pow pow, like d***, Shots fired! Shots fired!' the cop brags in the video. They even filmed the moment that they decided who they were going to target their next motorist, saying 'I wanna pull somebody over!' Later on in the video, the cop asks his viewers for more 'hearts,' telling them that if they stop liking the video, he would turn it off. Not long after the video ends. Lloyd was asked to watch the video and confirm that it involved his officers, but he declined. However, the conversations quickly turn dark, with one of the officer joking about shooting a barking dog, and then bragging about his 'a** whoopin' gloves' that he uses to pound people They even filmed the moment that they decided who they were going to target their next motorist, saying 'I wanna pull somebody over! 'I haven't seen the video yet. right now, we're investigating it through my internal affairs. As soon as they come through with their findings we'll take care of that situation,' he told MS News Now. In 2015 the Mississippi Legislature passed House Bill 389, which bans texting and posting to social media while driving. Both of the unnamed officers have been fired, it was confirmed. Yazoo City residents saw the video, which has since been removed from Facebook, and were surprised by the activities given that they were being paid with taxpayer dollars. On Facebook, many people left comments that the video was 'disgusting,' with one person calling for them to be sacked, saying: 'they both need to be fired, if they haven't already'. Donald Trump has said that all options are on the table when it comes to North Korea - but what exactly does that mean? The President has a vast range of possible ways of dealing with the secretive Communist nation ranging from cyber warfare to a missile strike - and even a nuclear attack of his own. DailyMail.com spoke to three military experts to describe what each of those options means - and the pitfalls of each. They described the President as having no good options with North Korea and said that it will require impressive statecraft to deal with Pyongyang. Our experts were: J.D. Williams, a Senior Defense Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation Harry Krejsa, a Research Associate at the Center for a New American Security working in the Asia-Pacific Security Program Jeff McCausland, a professor at Dickinson College, retired Army colonel, former dean of the Army War College and a CBS consultant. President Donald Trump went to his Palm Beach resort without his chief of staff or other top advisers, as they spent time away for the Easter and Passover holidays North Korea's state news agency said the Trump administration's 'serious military hysteria' had reached a 'dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked' THE GENERAL PICTURE McCausland: Hope is not a method and weve been hoping since Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan that this problem would solve itself, that one day the people of North Korea wake up and decide this wasnt working any more. That hasnt happened and it seems less likely it will happen. We seem to have this foregone belief we can work with the Chinese, that was the strategy of strategic patience. They have their own interests...Somebody once described North as the land of bad choices. When you deal with a problem like North Korea which has gone on for the last three or four administrations there are no good choices. Krejsa: The Trump administration has made a rhetorical effort to say that they are considering military action but that was never off the table. Military action has always been a back burner because the options on that side are very bad. Seoul, which is home to 20 per cent of the entire population of South Korea, is within conventional artillery range of North Korea and there are thought to be a tremendous number of North Korean military units within range of Seoul. Seoul would be very much at risk for large scale civilian casualties and military casualties.All the options we have are bad and the options we have are not effective. We need really creative statecraft on the part of the United States and its allies and I worry we dont necessarily have all the human capital in place to pursue that. Kim kicked off the national Day of the Sun on Saturday with a military parade consisting of thousands of perfectly-choreographed troops amid rising tensions with the United States Supporters line the street as the motorcase of US President Donald Trump drives to Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach on Thursday Military experts Jeff McCausland (left), Harry Krejsa (center) and J.D. Williams (right) discussed the complicated issues associated with American military action against North Korea MORE NEGOTIATIONS McCausland: Broadly you only really have three options. One, you accept the fact North Korea is a nuclear power and you decide youre going to live with it. Thats what we did in Pakistan and India and Israel. Two, you can negotiate with North Korea or around North Korea. They would like it to be a bilateral negotiation because it enhances their positions but thats impossible for the US to do because of our close ties to the Japanese and the South Koreans. You can negotiate around the North Koreans and I think thats what the President will try to do, negotiate more directly with the Chinese and put pressure on Kim Jong-un so he does change his path...A deal with North Korea would be a complete revolutionary change from 60 years of American foreign policy. The solution is the Iranian deal on steroids. Its (the Iran deal) an ugly baby its a far more attractive baby than doing nothing, its more attractive than the alternatives MORE SANCTIONS Krejsa: A lot of the focus has been put towards secondary sanctions which I think are the next frontier - sanctions on companies which do business with the North Korean government but skirt restrictions. The tricky thing about them is that they would go after the sources of currency and goods and luxury items that still make their way into North Korea but fall into Chinese companies and cause problems with the Chinese relationship. Video broadcast by North Korean broadcaster KRT showed soldiers in a parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang CYBER WARFARE Williams: Theoretically it would be about getting access to systems that could disable or disrupt something in the operational chain of the North Korean military or specifically missile activity. Theoretically its a very elegant way to achieve an effect without what the military likes to call kinetic operations, or firing guns and dropping bombs. If you have that in your kit bag its something you would want to consider using. But there are likely uncertainties about the effectiveness of that. Once you use them, you only get one shot because you reveal the capability and the adversary initiates protection measures. McCausland: Using Cyber to go after the North Korean nuclear capability would be not unlike the effort against Iran using the Stuxnet virus. That being said going after North Korea is frankly more difficult simply because youre talking about a country thats hermetically sealed. It doesnt have the connections to the global information systems, the Internet etcetera like a country like Iran. The portals where you can get into their systems are far more complicated. Secondarily any effort to try to do that through a human capability where you get a human inside their system who physically infects their computers is also very very difficult to do basic on how hermetically sealed this place is. South Koreans watched a North Korean special news translation of a parade to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung THE NAVAL TASK FORCE President Trump has dispatched Nimitz-class Carl Vinson with three cruisers and destroyers to the Korean Peninsula as show of force. Williams: Sending a carrier strike group into anybodys neighborhood has long been an important signal, politically both to adversaries and to your friends. Secondly the group was not sent as a rapid surge sort of deployment, it was already in the Pacific. It was scheduled to do something else and theyve been turned around to hang out off North Korea. Its a different thing to move a carrier around when its forward deployed than one or more ships being sent from the West coast. Theres a magnitude of what the signal is sent here. From a military perspective the carrier group gives you offensive and defensive options. On defense the ships have missile defense capability. If youre concerned there might be a missile attack or a missile test that might go astray and you want to protect Japan or South Korea, having that capability gives you some options. On the offensive you have striking power. You can attack land targets with manned aircraft and cruise missiles. Depending on what political circumstances are, all those things, you have some more options with the carrier strike group. People walk past a television screen broadcasting live footage of a parade to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung A MISSILE STRIKE ON NORTH KOREA McCausland: Youre talking about a pretty massive strike far beyond what we saw in Syria with 59 cruise missiles. The simple reason is you want a very high probability with a single strike you have been pretty successful in taking them down. Obviously you have to convince the South Koreans and the Japanese you can do this in a fashion that the possibility of them retaliating against Seoul or Tokyo or some other major target has been removed or dramatically reduced. The problem is that if our intelligence about Iraq was such we thought they had nuclear weapons and they didnt...as one North Korea expert put it to me, we know far more about black holes than what goes on in North Korea. If you think we have absolute assurance that we know everywhere that they have stored medium range missiles with conventional warheads, let alone nuclear warheads, thats still somewhat problematical. Any type of decapitating strike would have to address multiple locations, many (missiles) stored inside a mountain and being able to assure the Japanese and South Koreans of the high probability of success and realising even a limited response (from North Korea) could still do massive damage to those two countries. Williams: Its going to make it a much more difficult problem if you have to hit multiple targets in the same time frame. Its going to be much more difficult than hitting an airfield where a chemical weapons attack came from like in Syria. Theres probabilities of success which has to be weighed at the political level about how to use force and the potential reaction. The size of the campaign would depend on how many nuclear weapons the North Koreans have and how concentrated they are. If you have nuclear weapons youre probably not going to disperse them widely. You probably want to maintain control of them. That makes the problem a little easier, you would expect some concentration of the nuclear arsenal but at the same time North Korea will have an awareness of the threat and they will do some dispersals. The difference in trying to do a campaign to eliminate somebodys nuclear capability is your margin of error is zero. If you dont get them all you have a big problem. Krejsa: The issue is if they make the decision to go down this path the downsides are going to be tremendous. Im sure theres discussion as to what red lines could prompt military action but I dont think were anywhere near that right now just because any sort of pre-preemptive attack would bring tremendous downsides. North Korea increasingly sees its nuclear weapons as totally central to their regimes legitimacy and the continued survival of their regime. Any effort to take that away by force would probably be seen as an act of war and an attempt at regime change. Missiles were paraded in Kim Il Sung Square Saturday in honor of the North Korea founder OTHER ASSETS IN THE REGION Williams: What the US can do with assets out of bases and Japan is subject to some constraints and the agreements with the host nation. You dont have to worry about those things on an aircraft carrier. If the South Korean government and Japanese felt the threat was directed against them they would cooperate on a collaborative response. If it wasnt they would probably some political hesitation and rightly so. SPECIAL FORCES / ASSASSINATION Krejsa: In recent years weve turned to Special Forces as a catch all that can have a light footprint and a narrow mission and get it done quickly and with great skill, but those kind of things are probably not practical for North Korea. North Korea is an intelligence black hole. Not many people believe we have great human intelligence inside North Korea and we dont have enough understanding of how things work and where everything is to be able to do have any sort of convincing potential for success. Williams: Special Operations are very good for doing very precise types of military action on point targets, as they are called, like if you have something that you want to do to a particular place on the ground and for whatever reason you dont want to use a weapon like an air strike. The more recent uses have been to recover hostages, youve seen examples of that in Syria and Yemen. The second reason would be if you want to get intelligence out of a site like the recent raid in Yemen. Against that are risks; getting access, the possibility of something going wrong, the potential for casualties with manned aircraft. Your risk calculation goes up significantly. Operations of this nature require very very good and precise intelligence. The choice to use it in a situation like this would be evaluated at the very highest levels of government. My view would be: if there was very very good intelligence and part of it was that there was very strong potential for an imminent use of nuclear weapon those two things could tip the calculus to make a President strongly consider the use of Special Operations. But short of that or a decision to embark upon a campaign involving a series of military actions, I think thats on the very low end of the probability scale. The three experts all said the President had no good options regarding a specific action against North Korea A LARGER ATTACK BY THE US McCausland: Were talking about military capabilities far beyond one task force. I would hesitate to say, long range strike aircrafts such as B-52s. Youre looking for shock and awe, youre talking large numbers carrier based aircraft, large numbers of long range aircraft coming from the United States, large numbers of cruise missiles, perhaps strategic strikes using conventional warheads. Williams: If North Korea has the low end of the number of weapons you end up with a relatively small number of things youre trying to get rid of. If you have good intelligence it might not be that big of a strike. It really depends on your judgments and assessments of what you have to take care of. NUCLEAR WEAPONS McCausland: I think its very unlikely if not impossible to believe that the United States would use a nuclear weapon preemptively. I think that would be way off the scales. Experts estimate North Korea is at least five years away from being capable of firing a nuclear missile that could reach the Unite States .AND CAN AMERICA DEFEND ITSELF IN THE EVENT OF A STRIKE BY NORTH KOREA? Assuming that North Korea can fire a nuclear missile that can reach the US - though experts say it may be 5-10 years from doing this - it would reach mainland America in around 30 minutes, The missile would likely be a Taepo Dong which is thought to have a range of between 6,200 and 8,000 miles, enough to hit the US East coast. But despite having the most powerful military in the world, America may not be able to defend itself against an attack from the Communist nation. The Pentagon has spent $40 billion on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD) which is designed to stop a nuclear warhead in space. Each GMD interceptor is 60ft tall and has a 150lbs kill vehicle at its tip. During a nuclear attack the interceptors would be fired out of underground silos in Alaska and California and would travel through the air at four miles per second. They would destroy the nuclear missile by crashing into it, though there are no explosives on board the interceptors. However it is not clear if the system would work and tests have yet to be successful despite decades of similar programs and at least $84 billion being spent on missile defense over the past decade. The Government Accountability Office said in 2015 that the GMD system has not demonstrated through flight testing that it can defend the US homeland against the current missile defense threat, which includes North Korea. Williams: Ballistic missile defense is a very difficult problem, probably one of the most difficult problems that we have now. Our defense community is saying that we have some capability and its being designed and optimized to deal with the kind of threat you would get from a North Korean style attack. Its still a hard problem, theres been some success and failures. Krejsa: Missile defense has improved a lot since the Star Wars era but it is no sure thing. Our capabilities are pretty good under ideal conditions but wartime is not ideal conditions. Its extremely unlikely we would be able to use military force to prevent a nuclear strike from happening. 58-year-old Lynn Rowe has been charged with intentional child abuse A woman from Omaha, who ran a daycare center has been caught on camera violently shaking a little girl whom she was supposed to be looking after, has been arrested. The footage from the daycare center saw the 58-year-old woman arrested on charges of child abuse. In the clip, the carer who is seen sitting across the table from a little girl suddenly loses her temper and hits the girl on the head several times. 'Quit messing with your hair,' the worker says before punching girl on her arm. The youngster begins to cry telling the woman that the slap hurt her. 'Good, I hope it hurt you!' the worker responds before shaking her violently. 'Do what you're supposed to do!' she continued. Video courtesy of KMTV Rowe was caught on camera abusing a four-year-old girl. She was seen hitting the girl Later in the video, Rowe was seen violently shaking the little girl who then began to cry and complained that she had been hurt Police have named the carer as Lynn Rowe. She was arrested on Thursday night in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Police are now seeking to extradite her back to Nebraska. The incident was captured on camera at the end of last month and the video was then send to the child's mother on April 2, officials told NBC News. 'We are eternally grateful for Detective Flynn and the Omaha Police Department and all those involved in finding her,' said Kelley Meyers, the mother of the four-year-old victim in a statement Friday. 'And we are happy that she will have to take responsibility for her actions now.' The little girl's parents were shocked at the footage that was presented to them The parents expressed surprised at what they had witnessed as their daughter had been going to the daycare center since she was just a few months old. 'She blamed our daughter,' Kelley Meyers, told KETV. 'She said, you know she's not the easiest child. She can be difficult.' That's when the Meyers turned over the case to Omaha Police. 'I hope if there are other victims that they come forward,' said Kelley. The family had also sent their now seven-year-old son to the same daycare in years prior and knew Rowe particularly well. When he saw the video, he confirmed that the same thing had happened to him but was told not to say anything about it. 'It's hard to put the emotions into words and really convey, dad Al Meyers to NBC. 'Obviously there's a lot of anger. They were about as close as family as you can be.' The child's mother, Kelley Meyers, is pleased that the carer has been caught and will now have to answer for her actions Mr Meyers said that Rowe refused to admit to her mistakes when they initially confronted her and attempted to minimize the incident by blaming their daughter for being difficult. 'When we presented her with the video, then the real emotions came up,' he said. 'She couldn't watch even three seconds of it and asked us to turn it off. She started to cry and ask us for forgiveness.' Rowe blamed her behavior on higher levels of stress during that week. Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera took to his self-titled podcast on Friday to address rapper Kendrick Lamar's references to him on the artist's newly released album 'DAMN'. Rivera said the two have engaged in a 'polite and respectful disagreement' that stemmed from his criticism of Kendrick Lamar's 2015 BET Awards performance in which he performed his hit song 'Alright'. Rivera began by saying that Kendrick is 'aside from Drake, probably one of the best hip-hop artists out there today,' and said that he has 'no beef' with the Grammy winner. Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera took to his self-titled podcast on Friday to address his mentions on rapper Kendrick Lamar's newest album 'I didn't particularly care for the way he mentioned me,' he continued, before playing the third track from Kendrick's newest album 'DAMN.' which is titled 'YAH'. In a line that Rivera called 'relatively benign,' the rapper addresses him by name and network, which the Fox correspondent discusses in the video posted to his Facebook page. Lamar raps: 'Fox News wanna use my name for percentage... Somebody tell Geraldo this n***a got some ambition.' When Kendrick Lamar performed at the 2015 BET Awards, he took to the stage bound with chains and stood atop a police car with an American flag behind him while he sang the politically charged billboard-topping song. Rivera was quick to respond at the time, stating that shows like Kendrick's are what make him believe that 'hip-hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism'. Rivera doesn't mention in the 18-minute video on Friday that an audio clip of him making that statement is also featured on the end of the second track on 'DAMN.', titled 'DNA'. The album's first song 'BLOOD' also features another audio clip from the same Fox News segment discussing his performance. 'I didn't particularly care for the way he mentioned me,' Rivera said, before playing the second track from Kendrick's newest album 'DAMN.' which is titled 'YAH' In an interview with TMZ following his BET Awards performance, Kendrick discussed Rivera's reaction and criticism. 'How can you take a song about hope and turn it into hatred?' he said. 'The problem isn't me standing on the cop car. [Rivera's] attempt is really diluting the real problem - the senseless acts of killing these young boys out here. For the most part, it's avoiding the truth. This is reality, this is my world... me being on the cop car, that's the performance piece after these senseless acts. Of course I'm gonna speak on it.' He continued: 'Hip-hop is not the problem, our reality is the problem of the situation. This is our music. This is us expressing ourselves. Instead of going out there and murdering, I want to express myself in a positive light. 'Hoping these kids can find some type of influence on it in a positive manner. [Rivera]'s again avoiding the problem, the oppression of having guns and drugs in these streets.' The Fox News correspondent said the two have engaged in a 'polite and respectful disagreement' that stemmed from his criticism of Kendrick Lamar's 2015 BET Awards performance in which he performed his hit song 'Alright' When Kendrick Lamar performed at the 2015 BET Awards, he took to the stage bound with chains and stood atop a police car with an American flag behind him while he sang the politically charged billboard-topping song On Friday, Rivera said that he regretted his previous statements in response to Kendrick's 2015 performance because they were 'too general'. He refuted claims while speaking to his viewers on Facebook that he doesn't understand the plight of oppressed people, because he himself came from a 'very, very modest' background. He said: 'I'm from Avenue C - I know. Nobody is more street than me. Nobody has seen more violence - no big time reporter has ever seen more violence - urban violence than me. 'I came from a very very modest background and fought my way up with my fists and more. I know that the real danger to young black men and young brown men is that their role models will rap about cops being killers and the system being stacked, and there's no chance of advancement and all the rest of it.' On Friday, Rivera said that he regretted his previous statements in response to Kendrick's 2015 performance because they were 'too general' Rivera continued that his primary issue with Kendrick and the influence he has on young people is that he believes the artist portrays an attitude of complacency and negativity, rather than motivation and inspiration. He also disagreed with the artist's perceived portrayal of police as the enemy. During the time of Kendrick's BET performance, the nation was reeling from the deaths of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown. Black Lives Matter protests had begun to pick up steam in response to many of the high profile deaths due to police brutality. 'In my view, that kind of performance is irresponsible,' Rivera said in 2015. 'This is exactly the wrong message.' At the time that Kendrick performed his controversial BET show, the nation was rocked by the deaths of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown. Black Lives Matter protests had begun to pick up steam in response to many of the high profile police brutality deaths On Friday, he elaborated on his comments, and his sentiments towards hip-hop as a whole. He said: 'Too much of hip-hop, too much of rap in the last couple of decades has really portrayed the cops as the enemy, as the occupying army in the ghetto, in the inner city, in the urban centers. 'This very popular powerful art form, this poetry, is really being used to set young people, young minorities, black and Latino principally, against the officers who are sworn to protect them. 'It makes kids, in my opinion, grow up and feel as if the world is against them. Feel that no matter what they do, they're gonna be persecuted and prosecuted and savaged by the cops.' He went on to claim that the highest body counts come from crime propagated by 'black on black, brown on brown and even white on white'. Both Kendrick and Rivera's arguments against each other appear to be of a primary philosophical difference - especially when it comes to police brutality. Rivera said that Kendrick's music 'avoids the central reality, just as Black Lives Matter avoids the central reality.' The former television host said that rappers promoting the idea of police as the 'enemy' is used because it's popular and can sell more records. '[Hip-hop is] the worst role model, worst example, most negative possible message,' he said. However, he repeatedly said that Kendrick is a 'great' artist, but that he's not projecting a 'helpful' mindset for minority youths. 'If you don't have a positive attitude, you're dooming yourself to a life that you profess to despise,' he concluded. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are claiming success with the first in a new series of test flights involving an upgraded version of a nuclear bomb that has been part of the U.S. arsenal for decades. Work on the B61-12 has been ongoing for years, and government officials say the latest tests using mock versions of the bomb will be vital to the refurbishing effort. An F-16 from Nellis Air Force Base dropped an inert version of the weapon over the Nevada desert last month to test its non-nuclear functions as well as the plane's ability to carry the bomb. With a mere puff of dust, the mock bomb landed in a dry lake bed at the Tonopah Test Range. An F-16C from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada releases a mock nuclear weapon for a March test at Tonopah Test Range. The test is the first in a series planned over the next three years 'It's great to see things all come together: the weapon design, the test preparation, the aircraft, the range and the people who made it happen,' Anna Schauer, director of Sandia's Stockpile Resource Center, said in a statement. Scientists are planning to spend months analyzing the data gathered from the test. Tracking telescopes, remote cameras and other instruments at the test range recorded information on the reliability, accuracy and performance of the weapon under conditions that were meant to replicate real-world operations. More test flights are planned over the next three years, and officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration said the first production unit of the B61-12 - developed under what is called the Life Extension Program - is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The B61-12 consolidates and replaces four older versions in the nation's nuclear arsenal. It's outfitted with a new tail-kit assembly and other hardware. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories (pictured) are claiming success with the first in a new series of test flights involving an upgraded version of a nuclear bomb that has been part of the U.S. arsenal for decades The weapon is much different than the non-nuclear 'mother of all bombs' used in Afghanistan this week to attack an Islamic State stronghold near the Pakistani border. The Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, isn't designed to penetrate like the B61-12 but rather create a large blast over the surface and it has to be ferried by a much larger plane given its size. In Nevada, it took two passes before the pilot could drop the mock B61-12. A herd of wild horses had to be chased away on the first go-around. With the run commencing, people gathered on balconies at the range despite knowing they would see only dust rising from the target miles away. A video feed showed the test bomb fall through the air after being released by the F-16. Officials said it left behind a rather neat hole. Crews were able to dig the mock weapon out of the dirt so it could be packed up and returned to Albuquerque for further study. Thousands of users of a parking payment app have potentially had their details shared with other customers in what is suspected to be a huge data breach. Following an app update, hundreds of customers using the RingGo parking tool found other people's details when they logged into their own accounts. Others reported being kicked out of the app even though their details were correct, or being forced to change their password. The company has now told the MailOnline that the issue was resolved, with as many as 2000 people affected. Some users said they were still logging in and seeing other people's details this morning. Scroll down for video App users tweeted the company to complain that the data breach meant other customers had seen their mobile numbers, payment and car details Chris Jeffrey, an IT consultant from Kettering, told the MailOnline: 'I was working from home on Thursday and had just logged in to check my payment for the week. 'After logging in and it refreshing, I could see somebody else's details, just an email address as she hadn't filled in her name. I could see the registration of her car, the make, model and colour and where she had been parking. 'I tried logging out and in, but then it was showing my car but her payment details. 'It was weird, I assumed it was just a glitch.' Mr Jeffrey, 34, explained that users have to re-enter their security code on their card each time they pay to park, so he would not have been able to use her card with his cars. Mr Jeffrey said having seen the problem first start on Thursday morning, it was resolved when he was sent a text asking him to reset his password as a 'security precaution'. Another customer, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the MailOnline he was still seeing other people's details when he logged in on Saturday morning. He said: 'I can't delete my payment details as a security measure because I can't see them. I have to decide whether to go through the hassle and inconvenience of stopping my cards and changing my phone number.' The customer said he had alerted RingGo to the problem on multiple occasions, and had been told it was fixed with the 'relevant authorities alerted', but the issues continued after this email. On Twitter, app users complained of seeing people personal payment details, as well as the cars they had registered with the company. One customer was called by another who had seen his phone number on the screen when he logged in with his details. Users left poor reviews on the app's page in the Apple store, complaining of security and privacy compromises The problem appeared to be spread across the country, with users as far spread as Hampshire and Edinburgh reporting issues Apple users also left poor reviews on the app's page in the store to vent their frustrations after the problems. RingGo said the problem affected a maximum of 2,000 people of the 18,000 who downloaded the new app on Tuesday, or updated it. Users in Edinburgh, Bedford, Hampshire, Northampton and Stratford were among those complaining of errors when the app update launched. It also appears the company used a designer who had never built an commercial app before to update their system. Designer Phil Boulton tweeted 'My first iOS app went live yesterday! Check out the new @RingGo_parking app' on April 12. RingGo has since clarified that Mr Boulton only worked on the user side, and the technical details were the responsibility of 'an in-house team with many years' experience'. The problem first happened after an update on April 12 and 13, and most customers should see issues resolved by this evening. On the app's iStore, an update reads: 'Fixed critical issue causing iOS 8.x users to experience difficulty using the app. 'Fixed issue where some permit zones would not find a session cost.' The parking app allows drivers to register several cars and pay to park them in hundreds of locations across the country using their phone. Each parking meter has a unique number which the motorist must book the car into. A RingGo spokesman said: 'RingGo cashless parking released a new version of our iPhone app late on Tuesday 11 April. 'This all appeared to be working fine on Wednesday but on Thursday, during the peak rush hour, a glitch in the way the new app addressed the database meant that a small number of drivers were able to see high level details of other peoples accounts. As soon as the issue came to our attention we ran a fix and by 0930 no additional motorists info could be viewed. 'We believe the actual number of people who have been directly impacted is around 600. We are in the process of clearing all personal details from the 600 accounts and asking them to resubmit their info. Until this process is complete some users may still see the wrong details. This error is totally unacceptable and we apologise sincerely to those affected. 'There were 1400 other accounts potentially affected as they were parking at the time the incident began. As a precaution we have disabled their passwords and contacted them with a new PIN so they can reset their passwords. 'We can assure customers that no useable payment card information was displayed only the last 4 digits are shown. Some personal data could have been visible, such as name, email, mobile, car registration, parking history and address (although for a large number of our users we do not hold any address information). It would not be possible to use anothers account to pay for a parking session. 'We take the security of our customers data extremely seriously and a full investigation into the root cause is taking place so that this issue will not happen again. 'We followed standard data incident procedures and have already submitted a report covering this data issue to the ICO. We have also contacted, by email, phone and SMS, those affected.' Advertisement Afghan locals and children were left surveying the devastating aftermath caused by the 'Mother of all Bombs' in the village of Shadal bazar on Saturday, two days after America dropped the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military. The death toll of the attack on Afghanistan rose to 94 ISIS members icluding four terrorist leaders, an Afghan official said. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier and that no civilians were reported dead in the bombing. A Ministry of Defense official said on Friday that the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. Devastating aftermath: Afghan boys are seen walking with a donkey amid the rubble of shops in Shadal bazar in Achin district of Nangarhar province An Afghan security official surveys the damage in Shadal bazar after the US military dropped a GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb in Achin district of Nangarhar on Thursday Destruction: Parts of the Achin district of Nangarhar province was left in shambles after bombing that killed at least 94 A Ministry of Defense official said on Friday that the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district The sheer power of the weapon produced a blast that can be felt miles away, largely because of its construction 'Fortunately, there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack,' Mr Khogyani said. But the increased death toll in Nangarhar was announced as officials in southern Helmand province reported that at least 11 civilians were killed and one wounded in two roadside bomb blasts overnight. The US attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Mr Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing. The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, known as the Mother Of All Bombs, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains which Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks during fierce fighting in Nangarhar province. On Saturday, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai criticized both the Afghan and US governments for the attack. Addressing a gathering in the capital, Kabul, Mr Karzai said that allowing the US to carry out the bombing was 'a national treason' and an insult to Afghanistan. Current President Ashraf Ghani's office said on Friday that there was 'close co-ordination' between the US military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties. President Donald Trump called it a 'very, very successful mission' and some Afghan residents have welcomed the blast and even called for more. Security police walks at the destroyed house after an operation in Asad Khil near the site of a U.S. bombing in the Achin district of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan An Afghan security official holds a gun as he stands on top of piles of debris surveying the area An Afghan woman is seen holding a flower as she walks over rubble left behind after the attack The attack is the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the American military. The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar President Ashraf Ghani's (right) office said on Friday that there was 'close coordination' between the US military and Afghan government on the operation however former President Karzai criticized the bombings Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan General John Nicholson said the strike was, 'designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities.' The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. America has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The US has more than 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counter-terrorism operations. The U.S. fast-tracked the MOAB in 2003 for use in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the Defense Department later decided that the enemy provided too little resistance to justify its deployment. It was available to the Obama administration throughout the former president's entire two terms, but he never deployed it in combat. Yobs accused of starting stampedes at a Good Friday procession sparked panic among people by shouting 'Allah is Great', it emerged today. Eight people were arrested over the incidents in the Spanish city of Seville which left 17 people needing hospital treatment. Local authorities said at least two of the people arrested shouted out 'Ala es grande' - 'Allah is Great' in English - and others slogans in support of Basque terrorist organisation ETA. Spanish police are investigating scenes of carnage at a Good Friday procession in Seville Participants in the parade looked distressed following this morning's incident in Seville Eight people are still in hospital, including a 60-year-old man who suffered head injuries. His condition was described as serious. Around 100 people required medical treatment, mostly at the scene. Seven locals aged between 19 and 47 were held along with a Senegalese national. Some have been described as well-known criminals. Emergency services stressed that the eight people arrested are not of Arabic origin. And police have ruled out any link between the suspects and terrorist groups and say they tried to cause problems in acts of 'pure vandalism'. Three of the suspects - caught carrying metal bars which they are believed to have used to bang against street furniture to cause the chaos - have been remanded in prison after appearing before a judge in a private court hearing. The trio, aged in their forties, have been described as career criminals. Eight people remain in hospital including one 60-year-old man with serious head injuries The other five suspects have been released on bail pending an ongoing investigation. Ricardo Gil-Toresano, a central government spokesman for Spain's Andalucia region, said two of the suspects had shouted: 'Allah is Great.' He said: 'They're not going to do away with Easter however much they insist on games like these. 'The full weight of the law should come down on them. Today is a sad day.' Victims were running for their lives as rumours spread through the crowd earlier this morning Police are analysing social media for any evidence the suspects, who were arrested at different times in the early hours of yesterday morning/Friday morning, coordinated their actions. A video on Twitter showed the disturbing scenes as people ran for safety. It is believed there could have been four different incidents which somehow led to mass panic and a stampede in which people were knocked to the ground and trodden on. A similar incident happened in the year 2000. The incident in Seville follows a similar scare in Marbella where a fight is believed to have led to a terrorist scare during the religious celebrations. Holy Week in Seville attracts hundreds of thousands of people, including tourists from around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people attend religious festivals in Spain during Easter week The Easter processions began at midnight but the disturbances first broke out near a bridge at around 4am today. Police believe it could have been an orchestrated attempt to maliciously provoke a stampede. As in the Marbella incident, many people thought it was a terrorist attack with a lorry aiming at the crowds which was not the case. However, the rumours, together with shouting, public disorder and threats, caused the crowd to run away and create a major problem for organisers who tried to calm the situation. One witness told Spanish newspaper El Mundo: 'Everything started with a very loud noise, it's the same thing that happened in 2000. It's as if many animals were on a stampede. One side to another without a fixed course. Some ran in one direction and others in the opposite. ' Police in Seville, Spain are investigating the cause of a stampede at a religious parade At least a dozen people were injured and eight people were arrested during the disturbances Another said: 'It was like an earthquake.' A police spokesman last night said they were looking at images of the parade but at this stage felt there was no connection between the 'isolated' four incidents. 'It is believed to be hooliganism and vandalism,' said a spokesman. The National Police have asked spectators who took videos on their phones to hand them in as evidence, with anonymity guaranteed. A number of musical groups were unable to continue in the parade because of injuries received and damages to their instruments. Police have said none of those who were arrested were of Arab origin despite online rumours Yesterday morning, the Seville emergency services issued a statement which said: 'From the outset, the police and health care system focused on trying to spread calm and control the situation while trying to identify the causes of what happened,' they said. 'The investigations are still open and during the morning four police raids have been carried out with a total of eight people arrested who will be brought to justice for public disorder. These are isolated facts and without apparent connection and correspond with cases of vandalism and hooliganism.' This woman was forced to vault a small fence to avoid the rampaging crowds Pilgrims ran for safety away from the stampede which was caused by several miscreants 'Three of the detainees who were shouting and beating are common criminals. One of them has had 36 arrests. 'It is believed the isolated incidents caused a domino effect and caused panic in various parts of the city. Data is now being collected from the various health services in order to be able to report the number of people affected.' The local council has praised the emergency services for its good work during the night in bringing calm back to the city and avoiding a tragedy. This is the moment police arrive at the scene where an alleged drink driver ploughed into a seafood store to find her tucking into a pack of fish and chips. Customers narrowly avoided being crushed by the Subaru Forester when it hurtled into a seafood restaurant on the Gold Coast about midday on Good Friday. When police eventually pried the 51-year-old woman away from her meal, she allegedly blew a blood-alcohol level of 0.277 - more than five times over the limit. Police arrive to the scene where an alleged drink driver ploughed into a seafood store to find her tucking into a pack of fish and chips Footage shows stunned officers arriving to find the car still inside the store, which sustained major structural damage. 'How did you wind up driving through the shop window?' one officer asks. The woman rambles something irritably before reaching for another handful of hot chips. 'Excuse me, don't eat those Hang on a second.' She then appears to lose her temper at a passenger for telling the camera he was inside the car during the crash. A Queensland Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia no charges have yet been laid against the woman. Footage shows Dennis Coggin, 74, leap out of the path of the car as it crashes into store before the lunchtime rush at 11.40am. When police eventually pried the 51-year-old woman away from her meal, she allegedly blew a blood-alcohol level of 0.277 Dennis Coggin leapt out of the path of the Subaru Forester as it hurtles into the seafood restaurant on the Gold Coast Store employee Jacob Barrow told 7 News said the crash could have been much worse if it were half an hour later. 'Had it happened half and hour later, there would have been a lot of people,' he said. 'It could have been a lot worse. Staff had just walked on the line where the car went five seconds earlier.' Staff and customers have narrowly avoided being crushed by a car after an alleged drink driver ploughed into a fish and chips shop The man, 29, stabbed to death at a service station in a possible ISIS-inspired attack was the sole provider of his family in Pakistan. Loved ones and strangers have been generously donating to the parents family, who are remembering Zeeshan Akbar as 'a responsible, charming and generous son'. Mr Akbar, 29, was allegedly attacked by two radicalised teenage boys, aged 15 and 16, while working a night shift at a Caltex service station in Queanbeyan on April 6. His family had been relying on his income to cover medical fees to care for his sick father, after their other son drowned when he was 21, reported Canberra Times. Scroll down for video Zeeshan Akbar (pictured), who was stabbed to death at a service station near Canberra in April, has been remembered as 'a responsible, charming and generous son' Mr Akbar (pictured) was attacked by two radicalised teenage boys aged 15 and 16-years-old while working a night shift at a Caltex service station in Queanbeyan on April 6 The family has now reportedly been left with no income to support the surviving family. Born in Karachi, Mr Akbar moved to Melbourne on a student visa in 2009 and gained a diploma of automative technology, before moving to Queanbeyan in 2015 on a skilled regional visa. He was killed just days after he had applied for his permanent residency in Australia. After Mr Akbar's death, his mother was admitted to hospital - the combination of an existing medical condition and her grief over the news of his death. Mr Akbar was the sole earner for his Pakistan-based family, who were relying on his income to cover medical fees after their other son drowned when he was 21. Pictured is the Caltex service station where the incident took place Mr Akbar was found by colleague Adnan Amjid, who arrived for his shift at the 24-hour store (pictured) shortly before midnight on Thursday The mother had reportedly recently arranged a bride for him. Close friend and colleague Hamid Mehmood said Mr Akbar was looking forward to settling down and getting married. His body was found by colleague Adnan Amjid, who arrived for his shift at the 24-hour store shortly before midnight on Thursday. Only days after the attack Mr Amjid told Daily Mail Australia: 'Words can't describe what happened... it was terrible - I will never forget.' Colleagues and friends of Mr Akbar have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Mr Akbar's family, some of which live in the Queanbeyan community. After Mr Akbar's death his mother was admitted to hospital and his father has reportedly been left without an income to support the family's remaining children. Pictured is the crime scene at the Caltex service station Born in Karachi, Mr Akbar (pictured) moved to Melbourne on a student visa in 2009 and got a diploma of automative technology. He moved to Queanbeyan in 2015 on a skilled regional visa Friends and colleagues have remembered Mr Akbar as a hard worker and friendly and genuine to customers at his workplace. Pictured are flowers left near the Caltex service station Pictured is the town of Queanbeyan, where floral tributes were left to remember Mr Akbar. His cousin Qaisar Shazhad said: 'He was so young and happy, and now he is gone. This is not bearable for any of us. We want justice.' A nine-year-old girl has woken up to a 2.5 metre python wrapped around her arm while on a camping trip with her father. Gabby Pettigrew was frozen with shock and only managed to get out a plea of 'help me' when she woke at a Moreton Island, Queensland, campsite. 'I just remember waking up and being in shock with the snake on my arm,' Gabby Pettigrew told 9News. Scroll down for video Gabby Pettigrew and her father Simon were bitten by a snake on Moreton Island Gabby Pettigrew was frozen with shock and was able to let out a plea of 'help me' when she woke in Moreton Island campsite to the large python wrapped around her arm 'It was squeezing my arm and it was heavy. It didn't really hurt until it bit me.' Her father Simon Pettigrew said the python was so heavy it was weighing down on his daughter so she was unable to wriggle free, Courier Mail reported. He wrenched the snake's jaws open in an attempt to save his daughter, and both were bitten. 'The more we tried to release it the more it constricted. It sunk its teeth into her arm,' Mr Pettigrew said. The 2.5 metre snake that was found attached to Gabby's arm The campsite where Gabby woke to find a python around her arm 'I was unsure of what to do so I just grabbed it by the mouth and pulled its jaws apart.' The coastguard took Gabby and her father to Redcliffe Hospital where the nine-year-old is recovering. A Gold Coast couple are facing a huge fine of up to $6,000 after council ordered them to rip up their fake lawn, because it poses a safety hazard. Hayden and Kirsty Pohe said they spent $12,000 laying down the AstroTurf in their spare time on weekends and nights for six months at their Nerang home. Less than two weeks after landscaping was completed, the Pohe family received a compliance notice from Gold Coast City Council demanding its removal by Tuesday. A Gold Coast couple are facing a huge fine after council ordered them to rip up their fake lawn, which took $12,000 and six months to install Kirsty Pohe (pictured) received a compliance notice from Gold Coast City Council demanding the removal of the AstroTurf by Tuesday 'It took months of work, after work and on weekends. Now they will come and remove it,' Mrs Pohe told Gold Coast Bulletin. Mrs Pohe said the couple checked the council website and found nothing that said they couldn't have artificial turf, according to 9 News. 'We Googled what was required on the nature strip and there was nothing that said we couldn't have artificial turf,' she said. 'All it said was that the people, the occupiers of the home or owners of the home, were liable for the maintenance.' The Pohe family installed the fake lawn themselves on weekends and nights, but face a $6,095 fine if it isn't removed A council worker spoke to the couple after the front-yard was completed, notifying them that a complaint was received and the turf had to be removed. Gold Coast City Council said in a statement that artificial turf is a 'safety issue', as it's also a pathway for pedestrians. '[Artificial turf] has the potential to create trip hazards when it becomes damaged, dilapidated or vandalised, and result in potential liability exposure for the City,' the statement said. The Pohe family can receive a $609 on-the-spot fine or a court-imposed penalty of $6,095 if they don't remove the AstroTurf. Advertisement A 12-year-old girl was pictured after she took part in her tribes scarification process by photographer Eric Lafforgue. He said that she was silent and 'showed no pain' through the 10 minute cutting process in the Omo valley in Ethiopia A 12-year-old girl was photographed being sliced in her community's traditional scarification ceremony in Ethiopia. 'Blood running, flies going into the wounds, under a hard sun,' was how photographer Eric Lafforgue described the process which he witnessed with the Surma tribe from the Omo valley. Young girls are being cut with knives and razor blades to create prominent scars considered beautiful in tribal societies in Ethiopia. Mr Lafforgue said that the young girl maintained a stoic silence while her mother stretched her daughter's skin and cut it with a razor for 10 minutes. '[She] did not say any word during the ten minute ceremony, and did not show any pain,' Mr Lafforgue said. 'I asked her if it was not too hard to have her skin cut with a razor blade, and she answered that she was close to collapse!' The photographer said that children are told not to practice scarification any more, but men in the tribes say bare skin is 'ugly'. A girl's eagerness to tolerate pain is also seen as an indication of her emotional maturity and willingness to bear children, Mr Lafforgue said after spending time with the tribe. 'The kid chooses to do it, nobody obliged her. Scarifications are a beauty sign in the tribes. This is the tradition in Surma tribe,' he said. 'It was incredible as she did not show any sign of pain on her face. It would be a shame for the family she confessed,' he said. Scarification focuses on designing specific patterns on person's body and differs from the extremely damaging and barbaric practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). A young girl is sliced and scarred by her mother in the Omo Valley in Ethiopia as part of her Suma tribe's tradition. Scarification is considered to be beautiful and a form of art in the area and people volunteer to undergo the practice Scary Scarification: Flies flock to the fresh blood drawn from a 12-year-old girl as she underwent her tribe's scarification process which is considered beautiful in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia and a sign of a girl's maturity Young girls are being cut with knives and razor blades to create prominent scars considered beautiful in tribal societies in Ethiopia. 'The kid chooses to do it, nobody obliged her,' photographer Eric Lafforgue who witnessed the process said Scarring is considered beautiful in the Ethiopian Surma tribe but health concerns have been raised that shared blades could spread devastating diseases like hepatitis and aids. Men consider the practice beautiful which allows it to perpetuate It is intended to create patterns and designs which are considered beautiful and desirable in their culture, the Mirror reports. People often purposefully agitate the wounds to make the scarring more prominent. Once the wound is open, people sometimes rub plant juices or pigments like charcoal or tree matter to further enhance the scar. Girls as young as 12 are cut to produce scars which are considered beautiful in many African tribal societies. Once the wound is open, people sometimes rub plant juices or pigments like charcoal or tree matter to further enhance the scar Scarification is considered a form of art and a desirable method of decorating the body in certain African tribes, including the Surma tribe in Ethiopia. The open wounds are agitated to produce prominent scarring which protrudes from the skin More scars can be added to a person's body throughout their lives to mark life events or symbolise specific messages. The open flesh can be agitated by rubbing plant juices or pigments into the wounds to produce more prominent scars This process can cause infection, which can result in the scar protruding noticeably once it has healed. Scarification is believed locally to be a form of art. Across Ethiopia other tribes also practice scarification, with Bodi women using metal to scar their bodies, often producing coil patterns around their shoulders. The Karrayyu tribe in Ethiopia typically scar their cheeks to resemble cats. Scarring is considered beautiful in some African societies in which people volunteer to be cut and scarred at various junctures in their lives Various African tribes practice scarring as a form of body art, symbolism and beauty. In the Karrayyu tribe in Ethiopia, people typically scar their cheeks to resemble cats. Red ochre and white chalk are sometimes used to create intricate designs Scarring can symbolise certain qualities or messages and it is considered beautiful in some tribal African societies In the Karo Tribe in Ethiopia, both men and women purposely scar their bodies - men scar their chests to represent killing enemies and women scar their torsos and chest because it is considered beautiful and sexually desirable. Women use stones to gauge their skins, leaving deep, discoloured scars in the Menit tribe. The Karrayyu tribe typically scar their cheeks to resemble cats, and Dassanech women from Omorate village scar their shoulders. In the Mursi tribe, scars were seen as a symbol of strength. The practice is also found in other countries in the region. Scarring is produced by cutting a person's skin with a blade or sharp object to produce specific design on a person's face or body. In the Surmac tribe in Ethiopia, girls as young as 12 undergo the process Both men and women scar as a way to be more visually appealing and attractive, while looking intimidating to rivals in certain African tribes. Scarring has also been gaining popularity in the West as tattoos have become increasingly mainstream Girls as young as 12 are cut with blades to produce intricate, symbolic scarring patterns across their bodies and sometimes faces. People often purposefully agitate the open wounds after they have been cut to make the scarring more prominent In south Sudan Toposa women create geometric scars on their stomach when they marry. And the Toposa men scar their chests, with the entire area covered only when they have killed an enemy. Sudanese men from the Nuer tribe creates parallel lines on their chest, and women from the Datoga tribe, in Tanzania, scar the skin around their eyes for beauty. The scarring process can be long and painful, and more scars can be added to the intricate designs throughout a person's lifetime. Scars can symbolise beauty, strength, maturity or other specific messages Scarring is considered beautiful in certain African tribal societies and it is also believed to intimidate rival tribe members Scarification is viewed in some societies as a symbol of strength or of beauty. Scars can be cut across a person's face or body to form specific designs and patterns particular to their region But health risks have recently become associated with the practice as sharing knives has led to the spread of Hepatitis and in some cases aids. Some people are turning away from the practice for a variety of reasons, including religion, identification, judgement from others and negative connotations. Scarification and body modification has also been growing in popularity in the West, with many tattoo parlors in the UK now also offering the practice. But health risks have recently become associated with the scarring practice as sharing knives has led to the spread of diseases, including hepatitis and in some cases aids Some people from tribal societies are turning away from the practice for a variety of reasons, including religion, identification, judgement from others and negative connotations Hannah Bladon, 20, (pictured) was stabbed to death on a Jerusalem train The family of the British tourist who was killed during a knife attack in Israel have said they have been devastated by the loss of their 'talented' daughter. Hannah Bladon, 20, was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen with a kitchen knife on a tram close to the Old City, where thousands of Christians had gathered on Good Friday. Her family have described her as a caring woman who was an enthusiastic rugby player and serving member of her church. In a statement, the Bladons said: 'Hannah was the most caring, sensitive and compassionate daughter you could ever wish for. She was a talented student and was studying at Birmingham University for a degree in Religion, Theology and Archaeology. 'At the time of her death she was part of a student exchange programme and was studying at the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She had been taking part in an archaeological dig that morning. 'Hannah was a talented musician, part of a serving team at her local church and a member of her local archaeological group. She was an enthusiastic rugby player and a keen Derby County supporter. 'She was driven and passionate and her death leaves so much promise unfulfilled. 'Our family are devastated by this senseless and tragic attack.' Police have arrested Jamil Tamimi, 57, a Palestinian man from East Jerusalem who was described as mentally unstable, after onlookers wrestled him to the ground. Ms Bladon, who was a student at the University of Birmingham, travelled to Israel to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Medics performed CPR on the young woman at the scene before she was taken to hospital in critical condition, where she later died. In a Facebook post earlier this year she wrote she was 'OK' after a wave of terror attacks in the country. She said: 'Thanks guys. I'm ok thanks! Security is really tight on campus so no worries at mo (sic)! 'Managed to see a lot of sites before starting my classes today so defo (sic) having a great time! Xx'. Mark Regev, Israel's ambassador to the UK, said: 'My thoughts are with the family and friends of UK student Hannah Bladon, who was murdered in a senseless act of terror in Jerusalem today.' Hannah Bladon, 20, believed to be a student visiting Israel as a tourist, has been killed during a knife attack near Jerusalem's Old City During the shocking attack, an off-duty policeman pulled an emergency brake and tried to intervene. He told the Israeli Police Spokesmanship: 'I was on the Jerusalem Light Rail with my family and during the journey I heard shouts of 'attack, attack'. 'I immediately pulled on the manual emergency break of the train, ran to the scene of the attack and charged at the attacker, neutralising him so that he cannot continue to harm innocent people.' Police say they arrested Jamil Tamimi, 57, a Palestinian man from East Jerusalem who is 'mentally unstable' and tried to commit suicide earlier this year Hannah was given CPR at the scene before being taken to hospital with multiple stab wounds where she later died (murder weapon, pictured) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem said: 'The Hebrew University and the Rothberg International School express our deep sorrow over the murder of a British student, Hannah Bladon, in today's attack. 'We extend our deepest condolences to her family and we share in their sorrow. 'The university condemns such acts of terror that harm innocent people, and especially a student who came to Jerusalem to study and widen her academic horizons. 'The university administration and staff will provide all necessary support to students, faculty members and their families in Israel and around the world. 'Hannah Bladon came to the Hebrew University as part of a student exchange from the University of Birmingham. 'Hannah began her studies here at the end of January 2017 and was supposed to continue her studies until the end of the current semester.' Arye Jaffe, paramedic from United Hatzalah medical organisation, told Mail Online: 'There was a lot of blood. It was a big mess. 'There was a bunch of policemen already there and there were police medical and civilians treating her. Video from the scene shows police and members of the public dragging the man from the tram by his arms and legs before he is arrested The British woman was taken to hospital in critical condition with multiple stab wounds to her abdomen, but later died from her injuries 'I tried to get near her head where it was possible to manage the other medics and to manage the victim's breathing. 'After stopping the blood I took steps to reduce the pressure on he chest and put a tube in to her to help her to breathe. 'I saw that the pulse had stopped and tried to stimulate her heart mechanically and then with medicine. 'She had extreme injuries in her upper abdomen and her extremities and as I was treating her, she lost her pulse. 'We tried CPR and when ambulance arrived to take her to the ICU I went with them, assisting them to the hospital, where doctors attempted open hear surgery to save her, but it was unsuccessful.' The Foreign Office confirmed a Briton's death, saying it is supporting her family. The University of Birmingham said it was 'deeply saddened' over Ms Bladon's death and said it would be supporting any students affected. It was reported that Hannah took courses on Bible Studies, archaeology and religion at the university's Rothberg International School. She had been studying religion at the University of Birmingham since 2015. Officers said the attacker got on the tram and rode one stop before launching his knife attack. A police spokesman said the suspected attacker had tried to commit suicide earlier this year. Miriam Levy, 32-year-old medic with Magen David Adom, added: 'There was a lot of blood everywhere and a young woman on the ground of the train. 'We tried CPR and evacuated her to the hospital as soon as possible. The attack happened on a tram near the Old City, which was packed with thousands of Christians celebrating Good Friday A pregnant woman in her 30s hurt her stomach after the train stopped suddenly, while a man in his 50s injured his leg trying to get away from the attacker 'There was a lot of noise when we got there, there was a lot people trying to treat her and help her. We had to ask the police to get all the people who couldn't help to move away. 'She was stabbed all over the upper part of her body -- chest, abdomen, limbs. it was a very serious stabbing. 'I've not seen this kind of severity apart from in hospitals -- it was my first time seeing it out in the field. 'I felt pity for this woman, she was so young, and on the other hand I needed to try to stay focused. 'It's so awful that a British woman came here to visit and this happened -- it makes me sad. Israel is more than this, but it's this kind of thing that leaves the hardest marks.' A pregnant woman in her early 30s injured her stomach after the tram came to a sudden stop and a man in his early 50s hurt his leg trying to escape the attacker. Israel's President Reuven Rivlin said: 'I am filled with sadness, as I received the terrible news of the murder of a young girl in the terror attack in Jerusalem. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim, and we wish all the injured a swift and full recovery. 'This week thousands have come through the ancient gates of Jerusalem, to celebrate the feasts of Passover and Easter throughout the city - while the security forces work to ensure the safety of the dear residents and visitors to the city. And so we will continue to do. 'Terror can never overcome us. Terror will never destroy our lives here.' Hundreds of police were on the streets of Jerusalem in order to safeguard crowds of pilgrims who travel from all over the world for Easter celebrations and Passover While religiously-motivated stabbing attacks in Jerusalem not uncommon, there has been a significant drop in violence over recent months The area was cordoned off following the attack, which happened during Good Friday commemorations in the city A UK Foreign Office Spokeswoman said: 'We are in touch with local authorities following an incident in Jerusalem on 14 April.' Police had been on high alert for Passover when tens of thousands of Jews pray at the Western Wall inside the Old City and some visit the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound above it. The compound, which is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site to Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount, is the source of constant tensions. Jews are allowed to visit but not pray at the site. Palestinian fears that Israel will seek to change those rules have been the source of repeated violence. A wave of unrest which erupted in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 260 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, the Israeli authorities say. Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. The violence has greatly subsided in recent months. An out-of-control monster truck has ploughed into the path of families during a demonstration at a showground. One woman was treated for shock after the 500 horsepower vehicle veered off course, knocking down a fence protecting crowds at Sydney's Penrith Showground. Footage shows horrified spectators scrambling away on foot after narrowly avoiding being crushed on Saturday afternoon. Witnesses told Daily Mail Australia the victim was a woman in a leg brace who struggled to escape the careering vehicle. A monster truck ploughs into the path of spectators in Sydney's Penrith 'She appeared to re-injure herself trying to escape the truck,' Tomislav Marakovic told Daily Mail Australia. 'Eventually support came but it wasn't the quickest of responses and she looked to be in pain and discomfort.' The woman, who is recovering from knee reconstruction, was treated at the scene for shock. There were no injuries. 'It would have been frightening for the people impacted, especially for the small kids and the poor girl that couldn't get out of the way quick enough.' Event organiser Scott Anderson said a full report will be conducted into the incident, according to Daily Telegraph. 'The truck didn't make contact with any of the spectators,' Mr Anderson said. One woman was treated for shock after the 500 horsepower vehicle veered off course, knocking down a fence Footage shows horrified revellers dispersing on foot after narrowly avoiding being crushing on Saturday afternoon 'We have very strict protocols in place and trucks can be turned off remotely if they need to be.' But witnesses disputed Mr Anderson's claim the event was safe, taking to social media to voice their concerns. 'In 20 years of motor sport experience I have never seen such disrespect for safety,' wrote one Facebook commenter. 'I was shocked to hear the people say over the pa hold on to your kids while the utes are driving around the full track which half the track had no fencing around it at all', wrote another. The event, called Monster Slam, involved Australian Monster Truck drivers competing against Americans. 'Fans will be kept on the edge of their seats with Monster Trucks reaching new heights with massive airtime, gigantic jumps and electrifying freestyle,' reads the online description. A clip has been released showing the moment an ISIS bomb-laden tank was reportedly blown up as it headed toward the war-torn Iraqi town of Mosul. The religious fanatics were seconds away from unleashing an assault when the Popular Mobilisation Unit militia group blew up the armoured vehicle. In the video, which has not yet been independently verified, the tank can be seen sustaining shots from the Iraqi paramilitary group. The video uploader wrote: 'ISIS was trying to attack our positions but was defeated heavily.' After a period of gunfire, the militia use heavier weapons to blow up the enemy vehicles, according to the Express. The PMU, or Al-Hashd Al-Sha'abi, is a paramilitary group founded in 2014 to combat the rise of ISIS. In December 2016, the group was officially incorporated into the Iraqi military. A clip has been released showing the moment an ISIS bomb-laden tank was reportedly blown up as it headed toward the war-torn Iraqi town of Mosul Around 320,000 civilians have been displaced by the six-month-old battle for Iraq's second largest city. US-backed government forces are still struggling to wrest back Mosul from Islamic State jihadists who seized it in 2014. On Wednesday, US Army Major General Joseph Martin said Iraqi forces are making progress in their offensive to expel Islamic State from the city but face a 'very complicated' urban battle as the militants hide in mosques, homes and hospitals. Three sick baby koalas who were stolen from the home of a wildlife carer on Thursday night will die if they are not returned, their carer says. Samantha Longman from Ormiston, Brisbane, woke up to find her 'three friendliest' orphans had been stolen from their rehabilitation pen. 'I am scared for them because they're going to be petrified,' she told 7 News on Saturday. Scroll down for video Samantha Longman from Ormiston, Brisbane, woke up to find her 'three friendliest' orphans had been stolen from their rehabilitation pen Three koala joeys have been stolen from a wildlife carer's home in Brisbane. One of the babies, a small female called Pascal, pictured, needs medicine to survive 'They are going to be hungry and they are in a different environment with people they don't know I am just petrified.' The teary carer spoke to Daily Mail Australia on Friday just hours after she found the 14-month-old koala joeys Pascal, Fynn and Spencer missing. She said the joeys will die if they aren't returned to her care soon. 'They are still milk fed babies,' she said. It has now been two days and the woman is beside herself - as she waits in hope for them to be returned to her or police. 'Two of them are sick at the moment and need medicine, I don't know how long they will survive without it.' Samantha Longman told Daily Mail Australia the baby koalas will die if they aren't returned to her care soon Two males were also stolen, the joeys' carer claims the friendly koalas would have 'walked right up to the people who stole them, Spencer is pictured here The koala carer has been looking after orphan joeys for 14 years - raising them from just days old until they are ready to be released into the wild. 'These babies are nowhere near ready to be let back into the wild. 'And the stress of being taken will trigger sickness in them - I am so worried.' The koalas were in an enclosure in the woman's backyard with other jouveniles. 'They took the three friendliest ones, they just would have walked right up to them. 'They would have thought it was me going in there to feed them again, now they are gone.' Ms Longman doesn't want to know who took them or why, she just wants them returned to her. It has now been two days and the woman is beside herself - as she waits in hope for them to be returned to her or police 'I have tied two koala cages to my letter box and turned the security light off, I just want them back so I can look after them. 'If they have been released into the wild I need someone to tell me where so I can go get them, even if they leave a note in the mailbox.' One of the joeys is female, the other two are males. They weigh between two and a half kilograms and three kilograms and each have noticeable features. 'The little girl has no fur on her sides,' Ms Longman said. The devastated carer says she has 'been crying non-stop' since finding the babies missing this morning and has contacted the police 'One of the boys has a lesion on his head, and the other is a really, really dark charcoal grey colour.' The devastated carer says she has 'been crying non-stop' since finding the babies missing this morning and has contacted the police. Queensland police are asking anyone in possession of the joeys hand them in to their local police station or call the RSPCA for assistance. The joeys are too young to fend for themselves and will likely die if they are released into the wild, police said. Angry customers have accused Cadbury's US owners of changing the taste of mini eggs. Fans of the snack have claimed the chocolate inside now tastes 'cheap'. Cadbury was taken over by American firm Kraft in 2010 which led to the production of mini eggs to be moved from Somerset to Poland. Outrage: Suspicious chocolate fans have accused Kraft of tampering with the recipe of Mini Eggs Chocolate lovers were outraged when Kraft's spin-off company Mondelez changed the recipe of Creme Eggs two years ago. The move reportedly lost 6million in sales. One suspicious customer said of the Mini Eggs: 'The chocolate and candy coating taste bland, like a cheap knock-off.' While another said: 'The shell has lost its crunch. It best not be another recipe change.' Chocolate expert Angus Kennedy told The Sun that the change in taste could be down to rising cocoa prices. He said: 'Many chocolate products taste suspiciously sweeter than they used to. Because the price of cocoa has been soaring to record highs, producers have been forced to make products with more sugar (less expensive) and less cocoa.' Chocolate expert Angus Kennedy said high cocoa prices have caused producers to use more sugar instead A spokesman for Kraft said the fundamentals of mini eggs remain. Cadbury's owners also caused controversy in 2013 when they changed the shape and weight of the iconic Dairy Milk bar after more than a century. The American company introduced round edges to the bar while also reducing its weight by 4g. A retired vicar who left the church after coming out as gay has announced plans to marry a man 54 years younger than him, amid comparisons with Judas. Reverend Philip Clements said he repressed his sexuality for years through his career because of the church's view, but at 78-years-old, is preparing to wed. However, his impending nuptials have not been met with congratulations from all fronts, as one vicar likened him to Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. The Rev Philip Clements, 78 with Romanian boyfriend, Florin Marin, 24 who he met on a dating site around two years ago. They are set to wed Mr Clements previously said he was being snubbed by the church after making the decision to propose to his 24-year-old boyfriend Mr Clements has called on the Church of England to change its policy on same-sex marriage ahead of his marriage to Florin Marin, 24. Clergy are currently barred from same sex marriage but are allowed a civil partnership - providing it is a celibate one. The former rector and vicar of Eastry, Kent, came out publicly in 2007 after years of keeping his sexuality a secret. He has urged the church to change its view on same sex marriage but other reverends have said he should be ignored Reg Scarborough of Sandwich, Kent said that Mr Clements' views drew an interesting parallel with Judas Iscariot Mr Clements says he could only 'be myself' after retiring from the church aged 60 and began his first serious relationship two years ago when he met Romanian boyfriend, Florin, on a dating site. Reg Scarborough of Sandwich, Kent, wrote a letter to the local paper on Mr Clements' views and interpretation of the Bible. He said the story was, 'an interesting parallel, rather appropriately, leading up to Easter, between Judas Iscariot, who was with Jesus for the three years of his earthly ministry and yet misunderstood him so much'. He added: 'We now have the ex-vicar of Eastry, who has spent even more time in Christian service without understanding the Bible or Christianity, now trying to force the Church into his views about marrying gay clergy. 'I cannot see why the Church should also take any notice of him, especially as he can these days get a (secular) civil ceremony.' Mr Clements has used his forthcoming wedding to argue the church should change its view on gay marriage but another reverend has said he should be ignored Mr Scarborough believes a church ceremony is for committed Christians and 'not for some unholy parody'. He added: 'If he wishes to have the civil ceremony and go his own way, that is a matter for his own conscience, but he should stop trying to force other committed Christians to deny their faith.' But he has now responded to his comments, labelling them 'over the top'. Mr Clements said: 'I think it's a bit of an exaggeration. I'm still a Christian, and loyal and faithful to Jesus and his teaching. 'Jesus taught us to love our neighbours and not to judge. Jesus never once commented on this particular topic. 'It was certainly around in his time. The Romans knew about it and the Greeks before them. 'Judas did a terrible thing. I've never betrayed Jesus and I would never encourage people to do that. 'I'm just asking people to think seriously about this topic and to try and understand the position of people like ourselves. 'I know that evangelical fundamentalists will say that this sort of thing. 'I think the Church needs to move on to understand life for many in the 21st century.' Mr Clements, who grew up in Deal and attended Dover Grammar for Boys school, said he has experienced very few negative responses regarding his sexuality. Mr Clements said he is still a Christian and still faithful to Jesus' teachings and that his friends have been more accepting of his new life He said: 'I've only had one baptist put her head down and walk past me but she might have done that anyway. 'My friends have accepted it and have sent us messages of support and good wishes for our new life in Romania. 'Those who feel negative about it, we haven't heard from them. 'I'm sad when people are offended and when they misunderstand, but it isn't my problem.' Philip and Florin moved to Romania on Wednesday but they will return to England to marry at Ramsgate Registry Office on April 25. A lesbian couple desperate for children are celebrating their 'complete' family after giving birth within three weeks of each other. Alison Castree and Catherine Barlow accidentally got pregnant at the same time after paying 10 to find a sperm donor. As Catherine, 27, struggled to conceive for several months, they decided Alison would also try artificial insemination. Alison Castree with her son Vinnie Castree-Barlow, left, and right Catherine Barlow with her daughter Lacey Castree-Barlow. They got pregnant at the same time with artificial insemination They were stunned when they discovered they had both fallen pregnant, with their due dates just weeks apart. Alison birth to 6lbs 9oz Lacey Castree-Barlow on October 1 following a 13-hour labour. Three weeks later the couple returned to the Royal Stoke University Hospital for Catherine to have 8lbs 14oz Vinnie Castree-Barlow via caesarean section on October 22. The couple, from Clayton, Staffordshire, are now enjoying their maternity leave with their two little bundles of joy. Palliative care worker Alison said: 'We have always wanted children and last year we felt it was the right time. 'A lot of people have donors but I've never known it where both women in a couple have been pregnant at the same time.' When Catherine had problems getting pregnant, Alison tried too. They then found out they were both expecting Vinnie and Lacey were born just three weeks apart in October last year, so the couple can enjoy maternity leave together as they get used to life as a family The couple - who have been together for four years and engaged for two - found a sperm donor on the website prideangel.com after ruling out pricey IVF. Alison added: 'You can just go on a website and pick your sperm donor. 'We found one straight away and then about three to four months before we met him in person and went through the process. 'We chose him because of his background. He is a university teacher so he is very clever. Looks as well were very important. He sprang out at us. 'Because they have the same father, the babies are blood-related to each other. 'We have our donor's contact details and send him photos every now and then along with updates. 'When the children are old enough, they can track him down. It will be up to them whether they want to know. They say they will tell Lacey and Vinnie about the sperm donor and they can look for him if they choose to. As they used the same donor, they are blood related 'Obviously when they go to school I know some children can be cruel, but in this day and age, it's a lot different. 'We will have to face that when we come to it.' Alison and Catherine supported each other through their pregnancies, including going to each other's scans and experiencing the same cravings. Alison added: 'I thought it would be quite hard us being pregnant at the same time but the beginning was actually the worst. We both craved apples and crisps like beef Hula Hoops. 'Catherine actually had a bit of bleeding at the beginning but everything was okay after that. 'I then got gestational diabetes. Alison and Catherine supported each other through their pregnancies and even got the same cravings at similar points in their pregnancies Although they didn't mean to get pregnant at the same time, they are enjoying life as a new family 'I also had to be induced as they were concerned my baby wasn't growing but it was all fine. It's wonderful that our babies will grow up together.' New Look warehouse worker Catherine said it had never been their intention to fall pregnant at the same time. She said: 'I'd been trying for quite a few months but with no luck. We decided to alternate to see if Alison had any joy and for the one month we both went through the process to give us a better chance. 'It was a bit of a shock when we both got pregnant though. It was like all the babies had come along at once. 'It's nice have shared this experience, being on maternity together, and neither of us missed anything. 'Everything is great with the babies - our little family is complete.' British tourists were caught in travel chaos today with passengers fainting as increased security checks by Spanish officials at Majorca's Palma airport caused queues of up to 1,000 people. Footage shows a sea of holidaymakers forced to wait in endless lines snaking through the terminal causing fears for people's health. Passengers were told the delays were down to 'increased security checks'. Scroll down for video Footage shows a sea of holidaymakers forced to wait in endless lines snaking through the terminal Paramedics were on stand-by at the terminal in case people fainted Paramedics were put on standby to give medical assistance to anyone who was taken ill during the chaos. The delays come amid frosty relations between Britain and Spain over the issue of Gibraltar's sovereignty. One passenger, Olli Astley, wrote on Twitter: 'People passing out and huge problems at Palma Airport, staff have no clue what's happening.' Another, Ann Marie Mallon, said: 'What is happening at Palma airport? Medics even on stand by as people were fainting.' And Keith Palmer wrote: 'Passenger chaos this morning at Palma airport... No idea what went on but it took us 90 minutes to get through Passport control.' A Foreign Office spokeswoman told the Mirror there was 'no evidence' the security checks were related to the Gibraltar dispute and said the queues were down to the busy Easter weekend. Passengers were told the delays were down to 'increased security checks' Tensions have risen over the past month after Spain was given a veto by the EU over any Brexit deal involving the Rock. Spanish ships have had to be escorted out of Gibraltar's waters by Royal Navy vessels. On Thursday disgruntled passengers took to social media to vent their frustrations after delays caused huge queues at Heathrow. Holidaymakers complained of 'shocking service' and waits of up to 45 minutes as the country's largest airport expected to accommodate around 868,000 people over the weekend. North Korean soldiers are facing the death penalty after spreading a joke comparing Kim Jong-un to a kindergartner. Officers and soldiers from the second army corps have been placed under arrest for mocking the North Korean leader, and are under investigation, a source has told Radio Free Asia. The source said: 'News of cadres of the second army corps slandering Kim Jong-un reached all the way to the People's Army's General Political Bureau, and the arrested cadres are to be severely punished.' Scroll down for video Kim Jong-un has threatened nuclear justice during the Day of the Sun parades in North Korea Those who made the jokes about the North Korean leader are under arrest and are said to be 'severely punished' which could see them face the death penalty According to UPI, other soldiers have referred to him as a mentally ill patient. It comes as Kim Jong-un threatened nuclear justice during the Day of the Sun parades in the secretive state. Kim, wearing a Western-style suit at Kim Il-sung Square, saluted formations of soldiers who yelled out 'long live' to celebrate the 105th anniversary of his grandfather's birth. The dictator has accused President Donald Trump of provoking his nation towards armed conflict with a series of increasingly aggressive moves, including sending the USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula. It has emerged that soldiers who shared a joke about Kim Jong-un being 'like a kindergartner' have been arrested Kim is said to be losing popularity with North Koreans, and is already unpopular with the country's soldiers US officials feared Kim Jong-un would mark the national holiday by launching North Korea's sixth nuclear weapons test, since the country has used previous holidays to showcase its military prowess. The despot, who did not speak during the annual parade, flaunted prototypes of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which experts fear could one day be capable of striking mainland America. One of Kim's top officials, Choe Ryong Hae, today vowed North Korea would 'beat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice'. He told the packed-out square: 'If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare.' A New York City chef's powerful rebuff of an interview request for Ivanka Trump's lifestyle website has gone viral. Angela Dimayuga, the executive chef at Danny Bowien's Mission Chinese Food in Manhattan, received an interview request from a freelancer for IvankaTrump.com The writer, Adi Heyman, described herself as a 'long time fan of your pioneering work in culinary field' and Trump's website as a 'non-political platform of empowerment' in an April 5 message. Heyman wrote: 'I would love to conduct an interview (via telephone/email) with you spotlighting your work as a strong female entrepreneur.' Angela Dimayuga, a chef at Mission Chinese Food in Manhattan, received an interview request from a freelancer for Ivanka Trump's lifestyle magazine. Citing objections to what she feels is the politicized meaning of the Trump name, she declined Dimayuga, 31, received the request from Adi Heyman (pictured right). Heyman described IvankaTrump.com as a 'non-political platform of empowerment.' In her rebuff, Dimayuga wrote: 'I'm for women who actually empower other women' Dimayuga, 31, wrote back on April 10 and posted on Instagram: 'Had this message slide in my DM last week which had me screaming. 'Sent her this response today. #resist #f***trump #dragher @dear_ivanka.' In her response to Heyman that she drafted with activist Shakirah Simley, Dimayuga wrote: 'Thank you for thinking of me. I'm glad you are a fan of my work so much that you want to provide more visibility for my career to inspire "other working women." 'However, I'm for women who actually empower other women.' Dimayuga continued: 'I don't see anything empowering about defunding Planned Parenthood, barring asylum from women refugees, rolling back safeguards for equal pay, and treating POC/LGBT and the communities that support these groups like second class citizens. 'As a queer person of color and daughter of immigrant parents I am not interested in being profiled as an aspirational figure for those that support a brand and a President that slyly disparages female empowerment. 'Sharing my story with a brand and family that silences our same voices is futile.' Dimayuga, named a 2017 Rising Star Chef, said in her response to Heyman that 'Sharing my story with a brand and family that silences our same voices is futile.' Heyman wrote back a couple days later: 'Thank you for the feedback. All the best' Dimayuga, the executive chef at Danny Bowien's Mission Chinese Food (pictured), said: 'I'm not interested in a catfight. I just found an opportunity to speak and share my narrative and my truth to vocalize my values and my own integrity' Dimayuga, named a 2017 Rising Star Chef, said Hayden responded a couple days later: 'Thank you for the feedback. All the best.' Ivanka Trump also proceeded to follow Dimayuga on Instagram. Dimayuga's response received affirmations from the likes of chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain and musician Questlove. Bourdain responded to her Instagram post: 'My Hero!' Questlove wrote: I'm late to the party, but I'm here for this 100 percent fold.' Dimayuga told the Huffington Post: 'I'm not interested in a catfight. I just found an opportunity to speak and share my narrative and my truth to vocalize my values and my own integrity.' She added to the New York Daily News: 'I didn't set out to change anyone's mind. My goal was to just share who I am.' A violent brawl between four men has been captured by a passenger on a train in Melbourne. The footage shows a group of men arguing on a Sunbury line train, before three men appear to attack one man who is left slumped on the floor, reported 7 News. A witness who spoke to 7 News however, said there was more to the scenario than it appeared. Scroll down for video A violent brawl between four men has been captured by a passenger on a train in Melbourne The witness said the man on the ground who was being attacked was the one who initiated the fight. 'He was bleeding from his lip because he suffered a lot of punches. And he deserved it too,' the witness said. He explained the altercation began with insults between the three Arabic men and the African man. 'He (the African man) said ''Go back to where you came from'' and ''All immigrants are a problem to this country and you bring all the crime here'',' the witness said. The witness (pictured) who was not identified, said the African man, who was left slumped on the floor after being attacked by three other men, was the one who started the fight After this, the insults turned to terrorism. The witness said the African man told the three other men that all Arabic people were part of ISIS, and that's when the physical fight began. He said: 'They just wanted to beat she s*** out of him and they did.' Other passengers sought help from transit guards when the train pulled into Tottenham station. The witness said the African man told the three other men that all Arabic people were part of ISIS, and that's when the physical fight began. Transit officers boarded the train (pictured) when it stopped at Tottenham station One man was seen getting off the train and yelling 'Look here, they're fighting on the train. There's one down on the ground now. They seem to be affected by alcohol.' Transit guards are then seen rushing into the carriage. According to 7 News police and transit guards spoke to the four men but none of them wanted to press charges or take the incident further, with each group blaming each other for the violence. The witness to the incident said he thinks public transport needs more security. A man, 28, has been charged with drug offences after police searched his rural property, allegedly finding several barrels filled with cannabis. Police searched the property in Watsonville, near Cairns in north Queensland, at 3pm on Easter Saturday where they allegedly located the drug. Officers found 218 plants growing at the property, as well as plants hanging out to dry in a large shed, it's alleged. A 28-year-old man has been charged with drug offences after police searched his rural property, allegedly finding several barrels filled with cannabis Police will alleged they found more than 200 plants growing at the property They also claim to have found several barrels of dried cannabis - weighing more than 34 kilograms. Police also allegedly found a bong at the property. The man was charged with one count each of producing dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs and possessing a thing (a bong) that had been used. The man is due to appear in Atherton Magistrates Court on May 16. They will allege there was cannabis drying inside the property as well as more stored in barrels Advertisement The United States is flexing its military muscle in South Korea amid growing tensions with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after the dictator vowed to launch an 'annihilating strike' if Washington attacks, during the country's Day of the Sun parade. President Trump sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean Peninsula as US officials feared the dictator would mark the national holiday by launching its sixth nuclear weapons test, since the country has used previous holidays to showcase its military prowess. The socialist state celebrated the 105th anniversary of its founder Kim Il-Sung's birth, where Jong-un threatened to defeat enemies with 'nuclear justice.' U.S. Army troops and Air Force conducted military exercises on Saturday near the border between the two countries in Paju. On Wednesday the United States launched a surprise military exercise at the Kadena Air Base in Japan, with HH-60 Pave Hawks, F-15 Eagles, E-3 Sentries and KC-135 Stratotankers, Fox News reported. US soldiers prepare for a military exercise near the border between South and North Korea on April 15 in Paju, South Korea US Army soldiers with M1A2 tanks participate in a defence exercise conducted to simulate a response to a possible attack from North Korea at the Mugeon-ri drill field Tensions between the US and North Korea have been mounting in recent weeks, and yesterday Pyongyang issued a series of menacing threats to 'ravage' US troops and 'go to war if they choose' President Trump sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean Peninsula as US officials feared the Kim Jong-un would mark its national holiday by launching its sixth nuclear weapons test North Korea has showed off its strength by testing two nuclear bombs and multiple missile tests in the last year. On Saturday he told the packed-out square: 'If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare.' Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also among the sophisticated military hardware on show for the first time, indicating an improving technological capability that could help it evade anti-missile systems. A total of 56 missiles of 10 different types were displayed, culminating in enormous rockets on articulated trailers and on 16-wheeler vehicles. Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead. Unlike previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be a senior Chinese official in attendance, Reuters observed. Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week to put pressure on the leader to help ease tensions with North Korea or else the U.S. will take action alone. China is North Korea's lone major ally, but has spoken out against its missile and nuclear tests and has supported UN sanctions. China yesterday again called for talks to defuse the escalation in tensions. Tensions between the US and North Korea have been mounting in recent weeks, and yesterday Pyongyang issued a series of menacing threats to 'ravage' US troops and 'go to war if they choose'. China warned the region could go to war 'at any moment'. US President Donald Trump is monitoring the emerging crisis from his Mar-a-Lago resort this weekend without the company of his top advisers. North Korean state television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a black limousine. He saluted his honor guard before walking down a red carpet to a podium and clapped with senior government officials to address the massive crowd taking part in the parade. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square as tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons waited to parade. Kim, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011, emphasizes nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy. The country under his watch has been aggressively pursuing a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. The U.S. is reportedly prepared to take action if North Korea attacks. On April 15, thousands of North Korean troops armed with rifles took part in the show of force, which saw North Korea flaunt sophisticated new military hardware North Korea has warned that Donald Trump's 'troublemaking' and 'aggressive' tweets have pushed the world to the brink of thermo-nuclear war US intelligence sources claim President Donald Trump is prepared to strike if North Korea attacks U.S. Air Force 44th and 67th Fighter Squadron F-15 Eagles and 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron E-3 Sentries taxi down the runway at the Kadena Air Base Tanks rolled through the capital city of the secretive state, which was marking the 105th birthday of Kim Jong-un's late grandfather US officials feared Kim Jong-un would mark the national holiday by launching its sixth nuclear weapons test, since the country has used previous holidays to showcase its military prowess Smiling dictator: Kim Jung-un was noticeably relaxed and appeared happy as he attended the 'Day of the Sun' military parade in Kim Il Sung square - which celebrates his grandfather - the founder of North Korea A flight bound for Las Vegas has been forced to turn around and ground in Manchester airport after an apparent fuel leak. Thomas Cook flight MT2718 departed Manchester for the Nevadan city this morning, but turned back within 20 minutes after dumping fuel over the Irish sea. Fire crews were at the airport before the aircraft, carrying 283 passengers, returned at 11am. The Thomas Cook flight was bound for Las Vegas when it was forced to turn around because of a technical fault The aircraft was carrying 283 passengers, who had taken off from Manchester airport this morning, and barely spent 30 minutes in the air Firefighters inspected the aircraft, shortly after the airbus A330-200 spooled up and taxiied to a remote stand. There is no confirmation as to the cause of the emergency however sources suggest a possible fuel leak or a 'technical fault'. The aircraft is still on the ground at Manchester and a replacement flight is also said to be taking place later today. The plane was met by fire crews on its return to the northern airport, and passengers were transferred to a new plane The plane had to dump some of its fuel over the Irish sea in order to lighten its load to land, but the problem was not a fuel leak There were no injuries reported from passengers or crew. A spokesman for Manchester Airport confirmed the plane had returned to the airport and had landed safely. The spokesman said they were met by the airport's team on landing. A spokesperson for Thomas Cook Airlines said: 'Flight MT2718 from Manchester (MAN) to Las Vegas (LAS) has returned to Manchester after a suspected technical fault with the aircraft. There were no injuries reported on board from either passengers or flight crew or pilots Passengers were transferred to another flight which departed Manchester shortly after 1pm 'The Airbus A330-200, with 283 customers on board, landed safely after circling to reduce its weight. All customers and their bags are being transferred on to another aircraft so they can restart their flight as soon as possible. 'We're extremely sorry for the delay but are sure our customers will understand that safety always comes first.' The spokesman added that passengers have been moved to another flight which has now departed, shortly after 1pm. The entire Burgundy wine region is to be protected by a high-tech chemical hailstone shield to stop crops being wiped out. In two months, the region, which is listed a UNESCO world heritage site, will have a network of 125 ground generators that will cause silver iodide or copper acetylacetone particles to rise into the sky and prevent hailstones from forming. The move comes after the several French wine regions were hit with bouts of hail, causing some vine-growers to lose 100 per cent of their crops. Above shows several vineyards in Burgundy, France. A total of 125 generators will be placed around the the area by June to protect crops from hailstones Thiebault Huber, president of ARELFA, said the decision to install the generators comes after years of lost crops from the weather. Above shows damaged vines in Chablis two years ago Thiebault Huber, president of ARELFA, an organisation in Burgundy which researches and combats atmospheric issues, said that after the increase in hail storms, vine-growers felt it was necessary to do something. He said: Since 2001, it has been terrible. When it hails, sometimes 90 to 100 percent of the crop is lost, and it's becoming more common. The organisation announced it was seeking funding for the technology in 2014 and originally planned to have anti-hail rockets. These however were deemed to be too expensive, dangerous and did not fit in with the UNESCO guidelines. The generator consists of a cylinder of compressed air, a tank and a combustion chamber surmounted by a cylinder. It has been designed to vaporize billions of molecules of the solution, which will help reduce the size of the hailstones. French winemaker Louis Moreau is seen inspecting his vines after the storms in 2015 Mr Huber told the Telegraph: The idea is to kill the storm before it arrives and avoid hail forming. We are placing a generator every 10 kilometres to protect the entire region. But we are also planting them up to 50 kilometres before the vineyards. There are some drawbacks to the system however. One is that is it will only reduce the damage to the crops by half and three volunteers must monitor it and start it in case of bad weather. Growers also looked into the possible health risks of the particles, but found they were minimal. Mr Huber added: There is no way I would use this technique if I thought it harmful. Bill O'Reilly's behavior and comments may have added fire to the flame when he brushed off Megyn Kelly's claims of being sexually harassed by disgraced former chief of Fox News Roger Ailes. 'Look, it's open season,' O'Reilly said, when asked about Kelly's recently published book that gives an account of the incidents, according to the New York Times. 'Let's whack the Fox News Channel. I've had enough of it. It's a good place to work. All right?' O'Reilly's comments prompted a frustrated Kelly to send an email to Fox News executives complaining about his behavior, four sources told the Times. And despite Kelly's complaint and a plea from a producer, O'Reilly, who is facing an internal investigation into sexual harassment claims, made similar remarks in response to Kelly's email on his show, The O'Reilly Factor, in November 2016. Scroll down for video Bill O'Reilly's behavior and comments may have added fire to the flame when he brushed off Megyn Kelly's claims of being sexually harassed by disgraced former head of Fox News Roger Ailes And despite Kelly's complaint and a plea from a producer, O'Reilly, who is facing an internal investigation into sexual harassment claims, made similar remarks in response to Kelly's email on his show, The O'Reilly Factor, in November 2016 'If you don't like what's happening in the workplace, go to human resources or leave,' O'Reilly said in a live broadcast (pictured) last November 'If you don't like what's happening in the workplace, go to human resources or leave,' he said. Sources told the times that Kelly's experience with O'Reilly was a factor in her decision to leave Fox News for a new role at NBC News. O'Reilly's lawyer, Marc E Kasowitz, told the Times in a statement: 'Mr. OReilly cannot comment on what Megyn Kelly thought, or did or did not do, except to say she never raised any such issue with him, nor did anyone else. 'At this time, it is apparent to any objective observer that Mr. OReilly is being subjected to a malicious campaign intent on harming his reputation and family through speculation and innuendo.' O'Reilly and Ailes have both denied the allegations against them. On Wednesday, O'Reilly announced his two-week vacation, his longest time-off in a decade. Fox would not discuss whether network executives influenced the duration or timing of O'Reilly's break, as the host faces an internal investigation into sexual harassment claims against him. But his vacation announcement immediately set off speculation about whether cable television's most popular host will return at all. O'Reilly, who left for the two-week trip to Italy, was also replaced by guest host Dana Perino on The O'Reilly Factor Wednesday night. He claimed that he booked the time off months ago and often likes to go on vacation at this time of year. 'I grab some vacation, because it's spring and Easter time,' O'Reilly said Tuesday. 'Last fall, I booked a trip that should be terrific.' Dozens of advertisers announced they would not run commercials on his show following a New York Times story on April 2 that five women were paid a total of $13 million in settlements. O'Reilly (right) was replaced by guest host Dana Perino (left) on The O'Reilly Factor as the embattled Fox News host began his 'vacation' - his longest time off in a decade - last week O'Reilly and 21st Century Fox reportedly paid a sum of $13 million to Rachel Bernstein, Andrea Mackris, Rebecca Diamond, Laurie Dhue and Juliet Huddy - all of whom either worked with him or appeared on his show. Four of the cases involved sexual harassment, while Bernstein received a settlement for verbal abuse. The amount of ad time by paying customers on his show has since been cut by more than half, an analysis by Kantar Media revealed. The National Organization for Women and Workplace Fairness have also called for the network to fire him. Since last weekend, Fox's parent 21st Century Fox said it has asked the same law firm that investigated harassment charges against Ailes last year to look into another woman's claim that spurning O'Reilly's sexual advances slowed her career. Dozens of advertisers announced they would not run commercials on O'Reilly's show following the New York Times story on April 2 that five women were paid a total of $13 million in settlements New York magazine reported anonymous sources suggesting some division among the Murdoch family that runs 21st Century Fox. The magazine said that while family patriarch Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan, wanted to keep O'Reilly, son James would like to see him taken off the air. The company declined to comment Wednesday. An internal investigation has been launched at Fox News over the sexual harassment allegations against Bill O'Reilly, a lawyer said. Attorney Lisa Bloom appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources last week and said parent company 21st Century Fox is now investigating the news network over allegations that she says '[are] not blowing over'. Bloom is representing Wendy Walsh, a former guest on The O'Reilly Factor, who claims her career took a hit after she rebuffed the TV host's invitation back to his hotel suite after dinner. Walsh, who filmed herself lodging a formal complaint through Fox's hotline on Wednesday, was not among the five women who received verbal abuse and sexual harassment settlements. The accusations surrounding O'Reilly, which date back 15 years, include claims of dirty phone calls, unwanted kisses and hotel room invites. In addition to the five women, Walsh, along with Andrea Tantaros, a former Fox News host, also accused the 67-year-old of inappropriate behavior. They did not receive pay outs, and Tantaros is currently in a legal battle with Fox News and former Ailes, who was forced to resign in July 2016. 'Idiot' Just Stop Oil protesters shut down the M25 again today causing more pain for the 100,000-plus people on the road each day including broadcaster James Whale who missed a cancer check up. Nurses were also unable to get to hospital for work - or get home after a night shift - after eco-zealots climbed gantries at 11 junctions of Britain's busiest motorway this morning. It was the second day of M25 protests by Just Stop Oil, whose members blamed 'rich men's profit' for climate change. Junction 30 close to Lakeside in Essex remains closed because of the protests, with drivers facing diversions and five miles of queues. The continued protests are deeply embarrassing for police, who were dodged again by men and women able to climb motorway gantries to shut the road - despite choosing the same time, locations and the exact same method as yesterday - with growing fears that drivers might take matters into their own hands. The Met arrested eight alleged ringleaders on Sunday night who are due in court today - but dozens of their supporters have headed to the M25 undeterred. Talk TV host James Whale said the protests had disrupted a cancer check for him at hospital. He said: 'I was supposed to be going to the hospital for one of my checkups for my cancer today, because of the f******* blocking traffic on the M25 I won't be able to get there.' One nurse tweeted: 'Been on a 12 hour night shift in A&E haven't slept in 16 hours and now having to wait on the M25 because of @JustStop_Oil, the more fuel I waste sitting here is causing a problem. Will you also take responsibility if I crash from exhaustion? Speaking from the top of a gantry protester earlier Charlotte Kirin, 53, a social worker from Bury St Edmunds said: 'In order to survive, we need to take action to stop new oil and gas'. A Gold Coast man who twice called police to report domestic violence was both times told officers were 'too busy'. A man, only identified as Marcus, had been walking along Surf Parade just after midnight earlier this month when he saw a man and woman fighting. Footage taken on his phone and shared with 7 News showed the man push the woman down, and grab her handbag when she didn't get up. Scroll down for video A Gold Coast man identified only as Marcus says he called police twice after watching a man hit a woman to the ground, but both times was told officers were 'too busy' to attend He says he made two phone calls to police - one at 12.32am and one at 12.49am, each lasting about two minutes. Each time, he says he was told officers could not immediately attend as they were busy. 'To get the reply that I got was just beyond belief,' he said. The video also shows Marcus approach the woman and ask if she is okay. 'Yeah I'm okay, please just keep walking, please,' she responded. A man was filmed hitting a woman to the ground (pictured) in Surfers Paradise earlier this month 'I could tell that she was scared that her life might have been in danger,' Marcus told the broadcaster. 'I waited a further 20 minutes and no police arrived.' A spokesperson for Queensland Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia no officers were available on the night to attend the scene immediately. When she did not get up immediately, he took her handbag and threw it on to the street 'Police were tasked to several other urgent jobs, and a primary response unit was not immediately available,' they said. 'A crew was tasked at 1.58am and patrolled the area shortly afterwards.' John-Paul Langbroek, the Member for Parliament for Surfers Paradise, told 7 News it was an issue that required an investigation. 'No-one should ever be told when you ring 000 we're too busy to help you,' he said. A dramatic video has been released of a speeding truck being ripped to pieces after crashing into a set of anti-terrorism bollards. The HT2-Matador 3 sliding bollards are made by British firm Heald in Hornsea. In the test video, a 7.2 tonne vehicle can be seen hurtling towards the movable barriers. Suddenly it crashes head on into the bollards causing massive damage to the front of the truck. In fact the whole front carriage of the vehicle flies off after the collision. The company behind the device has most recently installed the barriers outside a new 580 million cultural venue in Athens. Heald's managing director Debbie Heald said: 'We were proud to be chosen to assist in the security of this prestigious site,' according to the Hull Daily Mail. A dramatic video has been released of a speeding truck being ripped to pieces after crashing into a set of anti-terrorism bollards The HT2-Matador 3 sliding bollards are made by British firm Heald in Hornsea She added: 'Our offering of shallow and surface mount technology is unique, giving the customer ease of installation and peace of mind when it comes to security and product longevity.' The terrorist threat posed by large rampaging trucks and lorries has increased in recent years with devastating vehicle attacks in Nice, Stockholm and London. In March, 52-year-old Khalid Masood killed five people when he drove into crowds on Westminster Bridge then stabbed a policeman to death, before being shot dead himself. Prisons are now so 'soft' on offenders that career criminals no longer fear them, the Prison Officers Association has warned. The Government recently excluded any mention of punishment from the first legal definition of the purpose of prisons which has drawn criticism from the Prison Officers Association. Steve Gillan, general secretary of the association said that most reasonable people would expect prisons to be about punishment. "If you take away the discipline and punishment side from the prison service, then people don't fear it as much. It just seems to be an occupational hazard,' Mr Gillan told The Daily Telegraph. But the Justice Ministry has said that depriving people of their liberty is punishment for crime so no further punishment is needed after incarceration. Liz Truss, the Justice Secretary, is putting into law for the first time a prisons mission statement to 'make sure that it is crystal clear what the prison system exists to deliver' Liz Truss, the Justice Secretary, is putting a prisons mission statement into law that will 'make sure that it is crystal clear what the prison system exists to deliver'. But the legislation that is due to gain royal assent later this month does not include any mention of an obligation on prisons to punish inmates. The move comes despite mounting concerns that jails are 'soft' on offenders. At Britain's biggest and newest prison, HMP Berwyn, which opened last month, the 2,100 inmates get phones and laptops in their 'rooms', which are not even called cells Last year pictures emerged of convicts at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset (pictured) enjoying steak, alcohol and drugs inside their cells Last year pictures emerged of convicts at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset enjoying steak, alcohol and drugs inside their cells. Prisoners are routinely allowed televisions and games consoles as a reward for good behaviour. There is also significant concern that tens of thousands of mobile phones are being smuggled into prisons every year. At Britain's biggest and newest prison, HMP Berwyn, which opened last month, the 2,100 inmates get phones and laptops in their 'rooms', which are not even called cells. In a White Paper published last year, ministers claimed it was necessary 'to go back to the beginning and make sure that it is crystal clear what the prison system exists to deliver, both to everyone who works in and with it and to society beyond'. However, the resulting statutory purpose of prisons set out in the Prisons and Courts Bill, currently before Parliament, makes no mention of punishment. Instead, it says: 'Prisons must aim to protect the public, reform and rehabilitate offenders, prepare prisoners for a life outside prison, and maintain an environment that is safe and secure.' An inmate posted this picture of thick cuts of steak given to prisoners in the Category C jail at HMP Guys Marsh A picture taken from inside HMP Guys Marsh by inmate Richard Parsons of takeaway burgers and fish and chips, which were smuggled into the jail In this picture taken by Parsons he boasts of his 'en suite' room at prison, which contains a television. A prisoner was also pictured playing on an Xbox at HMP Guys Marsh, in Dorset Critics last night said the new legal definition risked the adoption of an even softer regime when conditions at Britain's prisons already appeared to be so lax. Paul Nuttall, the Ukip leader, said: 'Punishment for wrong-doing and deterring other potential offenders are two absolute bedrock purposes of the prison system. 'For Liz Truss to come up with a mission statement that leaves out both beggars belief and suggests she has had the wool pulled over her eyes by so-called "progressive" penal policy pressure groups. 'By not specifically referencing "punishment" in the statement, it could allow governors further to soften regimes in prisons so that they become more like holiday camps rather than serious corrective institutions.' The Government last night argued that the 'punishment' for offenders is in depriving them of their liberty, not prison itself. A briefing paper prepared for MPs by the House of Commons library suggested this reflected the view criminals 'come to prison as punishment and not for punishment'. Paul Nuttall, the Ukip leader, criticised Truss's new legal definition, saying it could allow governors to 'further soften regimes in prisons' Miss Truss said earlier this year: 'The Prisons and Courts Bill is clear that prisons are there to deliver the sentences of the court depriving people of their liberty to punish them for their crimes.' A Ministry of Justice spokesman last night said: 'Legislation is already explicit that the purpose of a prison sentence is punishment by the deprivation of liberty. 'What the bill is about is making sure prisons are places of discipline, self-improvement and hard work. 'This includes getting offenders into training and jobs when they leave prison so crime and misery to society is reduced.' But Philip Davies, a Tory MP, said: 'The purpose of prisons first and foremost should be punishment. The Government should recognise that. 'Leftie liberals think that people having their freedom taken away is a punishment in itself, but to many people it is not. 'All these prisons inspectors come from their seven-bedroom mansions and say 'oh it is pretty dreadful in here'.' A man has been taken to hospital after six young thugs allegedly stormed into his home armed with machetes and an axe. The 35-year old alleged victim suffered slash wounds to his face and hands during the terrifying home invasion in Melbourne's southeast on Saturday afternoon. Up to six armed offenders allegedly broke into a house in Oakleigh South and stole cash and wallets on Saturday afternoon before fleeing, police say. A man has been taken to hospital after six young thugs armed with machetes and an axe stormed his home in Melbourne's south east Police attended the scene after six young men, some African some Caucasion, stormed the home Blood at the scene belonged to a 35-year-old man who was at the home when it was hit The man's head was bandaged by paramedics before he was taken to hospital. Nine News reports the 35-year-old man was cut with a machete during the attack. The offenders stormed though the home demanding cash and wallets from the terrified victims. Witnesses claim some of the young men were African and some were Caucasion in appearance. They fled from the scene on foot and were almost hit by a car. Police are calling for other witnesses to come forward to assist them with their investigation. The man was cut with a machete and had wounds to his hands and head An arrest has been made in connection to the death of Vanessa Marcotte. State police detained Angelo Colon-Ortiz, 31, early on Saturday morning in connection with the slaying of the 27-year-old Google executive . The Boston University graduate's naked body was found near her mom's Princeton, Massachusetts, home on August 7, 2016. Her hands, feet and head were burned. The New Yorker, who was visiting her mother at the time, was found dead after she didn't return to their home from a run. Colon-Ortiz is being held in at the state police barracks in Millbury on a $1million bail. At a press conference on Saturday to announce the arrest, Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr said: 'We got him'. Residents from the community gathered and applauded when he confirmed the news. Early said the obtained Colon-Ortiz's DNA from Marcotte's hand. He thanked the murder victim because they wouldn't have got the sample if she hadn't fought back. Scroll down for video An arrest has been made in connection to the death of Vanessa Marcotte (left and right), according to reports At a press conference on Saturday to announce the arrest, Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr (above) said: 'We got him' Early Jr said that a Massachusetts State Trooper saw a dark SUV in Worcester, similar to the one that was seen driving from the scene. The man driving fitted a description of the suspect. The trooper then went to the man's home, and eventually got a buckle swab DNA sample. Test results which came in on Friday, the sample matched to DNA found on Marcotte's body. Ortiz was then arrested. He is set to make his first appearance in court on Tuesday. There was little information on the Ortiz. Early Jr said he was working near where Marcotte was killed on the day of her brutal death. He has not formally been charged with her murder, but Early Jr said he expected it to come soon. Ortiz has no criminal history. The DA was unsure whether he is a U.S. citizen. In February, Early Jr said they had made a DNA breakthrough in the case. He revealed they were looking for an average height Hispanic man. He also likely had scratches or cuts on his face, neck, hands and arms that day, police said. They added that they believe him to be the same man seen driving a dark colored SUV in the area around the time that the young jogger was killed. Her body was found near her mom's (above) Massachusetts home on August 7, 2016. Her hands, feet and head were burned Investigators search the wooded area where Marcotte's body was found last year Police have not revealed how they acquired the DNA, saying only that they got it during the course of their investigation. It is also not clear exactly how the DNA was used to build the profile. Marcotte vanished on an afternoon run while on a visit to the home her mom Rosanna, lived in off Brooks Station Road. Marcotte lived in New York. Her naked body was found at around 8.20pm in woodlands near the home. She had been sexually assaulted, and her hands, feet and part of her head were burned. It's believed she was killed some time between 1pm, when she left her mom's home, and 4pm. Marcotte's shocking murder left her family shattered, they said in towards the end of last year. Her uncle, Steven Therrien, read an emotional statement at a church in the town on December 31, asking for help finding the young woman's killer. Marcotte vanished on an afternoon run while on a visit to the home her mom Rosanna. Investigators are seen combing through the scene State police say they have received over 1,000 tips in connection with the case Her body was found not far from this house in Princeton, Massachusetts. She was on a run when she was killed 'It has been more than four months since Vanessa was tragically taken from us,' Therrien said. 'Not a day goes by that we don't reflect on the enormity of our loss. She had already achieved much but we know she had much more to do. 'She was a loving caring intelligent young women who had her whole life ahead of her.' Marcotte's shocking murder left her family shattered Marcotte's parents, Rossana and John Marcotte, stood silent next to Therrien at the news conference holding back the tears. Her father held a banner that read 'Justice for Vanessa.' And at Marcotte's funeral, her best friend, Leah Abrahams, have a moving eulogy to the girl that so many people loved. 'She was so perfect, it was otherworldly,' she said. 'Something about Vanessa always reminded me of the ocean so breathlessly beautiful, quiet and peaceful.' She later said: 'You epitomize grace, light, humility, and absolute magic.' Marcotte was killed just weeks after Queens jogger Karina Vetrano was brutally raped and murdered while she was out for a run. A suspect has recently been charged in connection with her death. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court on Saturday Arkansas's attorney general is asking the state's highest court to vacate a circuit judge's ruling that blocks the state from using one of its lethal injection drugs. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge also wants to remove Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen from the case after he participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration the day he issued his decision. Rutledge on Saturday filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court after Griffen granted a temporary restraining order blocking the drug's use. A supplier of the drug accused Arkansas of misleadingly obtaining the product, saying it wasn't sold to be used for executions. Rutledge's office noted Griffen's attendance at an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the Governor's Mansion the same day he issued the order. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen granted a temporary restraining order blocking the lethal injection drug's use on Friday The judge was also spotted at an anti-death penalty protest the same day Photos and video showed Griffen strapped to a cot, appearing to mimic a death row inmate on a gurney. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on Saturday granted a preliminary injunction requested by the inmates to block the executions. Arkansas was set to execute the first inmate by lethal injection on Monday night. Protesters gathered outside the state Capitol building on Friday in Little Rock to voice their opposition to Arkansas' seven upcoming executions Arkansas hasn't executed since 2005 due to drug shortages and legal challenges The state originally planned to execute eight inmates, but two had previously been blocked by state and federal courts. A state judge earlier Friday blocked the state from using a lethal injection drug, a move that could also halt the executions altogether. Governor Asa Hutchinson had scheduled the executions to take place before the state's supply of one of its lethal injection drugs expires at the end of the month. Arkansas hasn't executed an inmate since 2005 because of drug shortages and legal challenges. Julian Assange released a statement that fired back at the CIA boss after the director said Wikileaks was a hostile intelligence service. The publication tweeted from its Twitter account on Friday and said CIA Director Mike Pompeo sought to threaten Assange and Wikileaks with his 'absurd' Thursday comments. Pompeo blasted the website and its founder from the podium of a Washington think tank and said: 'It's time to call out Wikileaks for what it really is, a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.' In response, Assange charged that the intelligence director was attempting to stifle Wikileaks's First Amendment rights and was toeing on violating the essence of free speech and press. Scroll down for video Julian Assange (right) released a statement on Friday that fired back at CIA Director Mike Pompeo (left) after the intelligence boss said Wikileaks was a hostile intelligence service on Thursday From the publication's Twitter account, Assange wrote in a statement that Pompeo's 'absurd' comments were in attempt to stifle Wikileaks's First Amendment right (pictured) A portion of the statement read: 'History shows the danger of allowing the CIA or any intelligence agency, whose very modus operandi includes misdirection and lying, to be the sole arbiter of what is true or what is prudent. Otherwise every day might see a repeat of the many foolish CIA actions which have led to death, displacement, dictatorship and terrorism. 'Director Pompeo's statement sought not only to threaten Mr. Assange and Wikileaks, but to definitively subvert the First Amendment and fundamental notions that are intrinsic to American democracy. The First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting free speech and the press; it is not only a right for the publisher. 'It is a limitation on the executive designed to check authoritarianism and guarantee the public knowledge and debate which is necessary to preserve the democratic ideals on which the idea of America was built.' Although Donald Trump previously said he 'loved' Wikileaks during his campaign for airing out Hillary Clinton's secrets, the president's CIA Director obviously did not share the sentiment. Pompeo also pointed a finger at NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden as he said Assange and Snowden leaked American government documents for selfish reasons. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CIA Director Mike Pompeo (right) went off on Wikileaks, suggesting Julian Assange was doing it for selfish reasons Pictured: Wikileak's statement in response to Pompeo's comments in full 'As long as they make a splash they care nothing about the lives that they put at risk or the damage they cause to national security,' Pompeo said of the duo. The CIA was targeted by Wikileaks last month, as Assange and company published thousands of documents, which detailed the agency's hacking abilities, turning everyday items like phones and smart TVs into devices that can snoop on targeted individuals. During his remarks, Pompeo noted how Wikileaks was encouraging its 'followers' to work for the CIA, in order to steal secrets. He also pointed out the link between the GRU, Russian military intelligence, and Wikileaks, explaining how the latter published information given from the former, stolen from 'U.S. victims' at the Democratic National Committee. Pompeo also noted that 'Russia's primary propaganda outlet,' Russia Today, had 'actively collaborated' with Wikileaks in the dissemination of American secrets. 'Wikileaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service,' he said. Pompeo was particularly annoyed by an Assange editorial that ran in the Washington Post Tuesday, in which the Wikileaks founder likened himself to Thomas Jefferson, Dwight D. Eisenhower and legitimate journalists from the New York Times and the Post. 'He knows nothing of our third president whose clarion call for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness continues to inspire us and the world,' Pompeo said of Jefferson. 'And he knows nothing of our 34th president, a hero, from my very own Kansas, who helped liberate Europe from fascists and helped guide America through the early years of the Cold War,' Pompeo continued, this time referencing Eisenhower. 'No, I am quite confident that had Assange been around in the 30s and the 40s and the 50s, he would have found himself on the wrong side of history,' the CIA director said. Pompeo said this was evidence by the fact that 'Assange and his ilk make common cause with dictators today.' 'Yes, they try unsuccessfully to cloak themselves and their actions in the language of liberty and privacy, but in reality they champion nothing, but their own celebrity,' Pompeo charged. 'Their currency is click-bate, their moral compass non-existent, their mission personal self aggrandizement through the destruction of Western values,' he continued. Pompeo said if Assange and Wikileaks' allies truly wanted to walk their talk, they would target autocratic regimes, instead of democratic ones like the United States. 'Instead they choose to exploit the legitimate secrets of democratic governments, which has, so far, proved a much safer approach than provoking a tyrant,' Pompeo noted. Wade Bovey and friends enjoy cruising on a motorised picnic bench in New Zealand before being arrested for drink driving A man was arrested for drink-driving a motorised picnic table as he returned home from the pub in New Zealand. Wade Bryce Bovey, 21, was fined $750 (approximately 420) and banned from driving for six months in the Dunedin District Court. Video footage on Newshub shows Mr Bovey and friends drinking and smoking as they cruise the streets of Dunedin sitting together on the motorised picnic table. Dunedin Police pulled the inventive motorist over in January as he pushed the table up a hill on his way home from the pub, as its engine wasn't powerful enough to propel it up. Mr Bovey initially believed that the police had stopped to help him push the vehicle but unfortunately for him they had other intentions. Police then breathalysed Mr Bovey and recorded his breath alcohol level as 678mcg per litre of breath, which exceeded the legal limit of 400mcg. Bovey said in his defence that he was not driving the table at the time, he was pushing it up the hill. There was a box of beer sitting on the picnic table at the time. Scroll down for video Wade Bovey's group of friends travelling and drinking aboard a motorised picnic bench in New Zealand before Mr Bovey was arrested and charged with drink driving the 'vehicle' Mr Bovey has since sold the motorised picnic bench, and told the Otago Daily Times that buying it had been a bad idea and he 'had his fun, got in trouble, sold it.' Motorised picnic tables have become something of a phenomenon down under, becoming particularly popular in Perth, western Australia where the novel 'vehicles' have even appeared for sale on the online marketplace Gumtree for as much as $2,000. In 2015, a group were caught driving motorised picnic tables along the roads of the Scarborough Beach area in western Australia. Photos and video footage of their escapades went viral on social media and police requested help from the public via Facebook to identify those involved citing serious safety concerns with the 'vehicle'. The video below shows a group of friends caught on video as they drive a motorised picnic table in Australia. A New York woman was denied shared custody of her ex-partner's adopted son, despite suing under a landmark ruling written by the late Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam last year. In August, Abdus-Salaam, who died earlier this month of an apparent suicide, wrote the decision in the Brooke S.B. versus Elizabeth A. case. Kelly Gunn sued her ex-girlfriend, Circe Hamilton, last year when Hamilton tried to move to London with the seven-year-old child. Kelly Gunn (second from right) was denied shared custody of her ex-partner, Circe Hamilton's (second from left) adopted son, despite suing under a landmark ruling written by the late Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam last year Gunn, who became the first to sue under the Brooke ruling, claimed that she had a right to share time with the child, whom Hamilton adopted from Ethiopia after she and Gunn broke up in 2011, according to the New York Post. Under the Brooke ruling, non-adoptive and non-biological parents can still sue for custody. 'Where a partner shows by clear and convincing evidence that the parties agreed to conceive and to raise the child together, the non-biological, non-adoptive partner has standing to seek visitation,' Abdus-Salaam wrote. The Brooke case was hailed as a major victory by the LGBT community last year and was Abdus-Salaam's most famous case. But on Friday, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Frank Nervo ruled that Gunn didn't have an 'unabated plan' to adopt and raise a child with Hamilton, according to the Post. The judge said even though the women discussed adopting the child together, by the time Hamilton went through the process, the pair had already broken up, according to the Post. Gunn stated 'on numerous occasions that she did not want to be a parent', according to Nervo. Gunn's attorney is looking to appeal the ruling. A video has emerged appearing to show a statue of the Virgin Mary mysteriously weeping tears of blood. It is being hailed as a miracle by worshippers who are travelling in their hundreds to the town of Los Naranjos in Argentina to see it firsthand. The Virgin Inmaculada Concepcion de Maria began shedding red tears during lent. The religious figure has become a shrine to amazed worshippers with hundreds of Catholics flocking to the town of Los Naranjos in Argentina to see the statue themselves The owner of the statue noticed it in March and said Mary had visited him in a dream. The statue has since been transferred to the local Catholic Church to allow more devotees to visit it. Priest Ricardo Quiroga explained: 'A lot of people come here to pray and light several candles devoted to the Virgin.' He added: 'The first impression is that it is blood on the face of the Virgin, from the left eye. 'Also the dress she is wearing is also totally stained this same red colour.' Frias Mendoza family, who own the statue, live in the city of San Jose de MetanSan and released the story through a local radio station. Mr Frias Mendoza said: 'It was the first time something like this has happened and I was very scared. I thought it was some kind of punishment.' Now an investigation has been launched to find out whether the phenomenon is a hoax or can be announced as a miracle Church officials spoke of their excitement after the statue was first pictured weeping tear of blood in March. Father Ricardo said at the time: 'If she cries again, we need to do something at a high level in the church.' He said he believed the tears carried an important message. He said: 'The Virgin is asking us to change the way we live now for Lent.' Now an investigation has been launched to find out whether the phenomenon is a hoax or can be announced as a miracle. But priest Julio Raul Mendez urging people to not jump to conclusions. He said an investigation would look for a scientific or natural explanation before considering anything else. Mr Mendez told The Mirror: 'The first thing the church does is to do a scientific analysis to see if there is a natural explanation. Only then, the possibility of a supernatural phenomenon is considered. There have been numerous reports of religious statues weeping over many years although only one has been certified by those in authority in the Catholic church, while most others have been proven to be hoaxes. Advertisement Tens of thousands of people are taking to the streets across the United States and beyond on Saturday to press President Donald Trump to release his tax returns and to dispute his claim that the public does not care about the issue. Organizers of 'Tax March' have planned events in more than 150 cities, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles, as well as cities in Europe, Japan and New Zealand. They are also demonstrating right on the doorstep of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending a long Easter weekend. The demonstrations, organized by a loose coalition of labor and left-leaning groups with various economic agendas, are intended to focus on Trump's refusal to disclose his tax-paying history. His predecessors in the White House going back more than 40 years had done so. Scroll down for video A Tax March protester in New York City dressed as Donald Trump, complete with a golf club and junk food, marches. Events were planned in more than 150 cities across the United States and abroad A woman holds up a sign that says: 'What are you hiding?' at a protest in Washington DC. The demonstrations are being held on what is historically known as Tax Day, the tax-filing deadline Protesters walk by the Trump Hotel in Washington DC and hold up signs including one that parodies a chant heard at Trump rallies in reference to Hillary Clinton An inflatable chicken dressed as Donald Trump and a clown with Nazi imagery reflect some of the playful mockery on display in Philadelphia during Tax March rallies across the country Protesters in Palm Beach, Florida meanwhile demonstrated on Trump's doorstep. He is spending a long Easter weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort Penelope Trayes, 1, joins demonstrators at the Tax march in Philadelphia. Trump has repeatedly refused to release returns and advisor Kellyanne Conway claimed 'people don't care' about them Demonstrators march with a cat puppet and a sign saying 'Please don't touch this pussy,' a reference to Donald Trump's comments towards women that emerged during the 2016 election, in Philadelphia Mike Mannshardt, a 70-year-old teacher from North Carolina, attends a Tax march held in the state's capital, Raleigh Organizers said they stuck with the traditional April 15 Tax Day, the deadline for filing taxes, for the marches because as a Saturday it would draw more attendance. This year's income tax filing deadline was pushed back to Tuesday, April 18. 'When we check in with our members, this is something they care about deeply,' said Ben Wikler, Washington director of MoveOn.org, a progressive political group. Oregon senator Ron Wyden, 67, told USA Today: 'Today across America we are taking the gloves off.' He added: "It's time to knock off the tax rip offs.' Critics have raised questions about what Trump's tax returns say about his net worth and about his various business ties. On a website dedicated to the Tax march, organizers wrote: 'Were marching on Washington and in communities across the country to send a clear message to Donald Trump. 'You work for us, and we demand answers.' Jerry Lambert, a pro-Trump demonstrator in Philadelphia, participates in a counter-protest of the Tax March Protesters in Mar-a-Lago hold up signs demanding that Donald Trump release his tax returns. On a website dedicated to the Tax march, organizers wrote: 'Were marching on Washington and in communities across the country to send a clear message to Donald Trump. You work for us, and we demand answers' Comedian Sarah Silverman gives a speech at the New York City rally for Donald Trump to release his tax returns. Pictured left is one of the inflatable chickens in his likeness One demonstrator in Philadelphia appears to suggest that Trump might be hiding financial connections to Russia and its President, Vladimir Putin Protesters in Washington DC gathered in front of the United States Capitol to demand Trump release his tax returns. Pictured at right is one of the inflatable chickens Two people embrace in Philadelphia during the Tax march demanding that Trump release his tax returns. One protester made a poster board for the event 'Golfer-In-Chief': Protesters near Mar-a-Lago, where Trump is spending a long Easter weekend, call out the amount of time he has spent at his 'Winter White House' since his inauguration Demonstrators in Philadelphia demand that Donald Trump release his tax returns on Saturday, April 15 Meanwhile pro- and anti-Trump protesters clashed in Berkeley, California at a 'Patriot's Day' rally held Saturday morning, the Los Angeles Times reported. It is not clear whether the rally, organized by pro-Trump group Liberty Revival Alliance, was meant as a counterpoint to the Tax Marches. As a candidate and as president, Trump has steadfastly refused to release his tax returns, citing an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service. In September, he told ABC News, 'I don't think anybody cares, except some members of the press.' The IRS has said that Trump can release his tax returns even while under audit. Trump has bucked a longstanding tradition by keeping his Form 1040 filings secret and claims his lawyers have advised him to sit on them pending a series of routine IRS audits that might change their outcomes. A protester in New York City evokes Harry Potter's primary antagonist in JK Rowling's book series, Lord Voldemort, to appeal to Trump to release his returns A protester near Mar-a-Lago, meanwhile, appeals to Ivanka Trump, Donald's daughter who was recently lampooned by Saturday Night Live as being 'complicity' in her father's presidency People in New York City march to demand Trump's tax returns. Trump's predecessors in the White House going back more than 40 years had done so. Sadie, 7, and Miles Huffman, 5, join protesters in Philadelphia. Critics have raised questions about what Trump's tax returns say about his net worth and about his various business ties A woman in Washington DC holds up a sign that says 'Transparency and accountability now' during the Tax March in the nation's capital Protesters demonstrate in New York City. The tax marches were launched, it is believed, by tweets after the women's march on Washington on January 21. Both comedy writer Frank Lesser and law professor Jennifer Taub had tweeted about holding a march The Trump tax marches were launched by a single tweet, organizers said. A day after the massive January 21 women's march in Washington and other cities, comedy writer Frank Lesser tapped out on Twitter, 'Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong.' It has been retweeted more than 21,000 times. Three hours earlier, law professor Jennifer Taub also tweeted: 'Let's plan a nationwide #DivestDonald and #showusyourtaxes protest for Saturday, April 15.' Her post was retweeted more than 1,000 times. Joe Dinkin, spokesman for the Working Families Party, which is also planning the marches, said ongoing investigations into the Trump campaign's connections with Russia underscore the need to disclose his returns. 'Without seeing his taxes we'll never really know who he's working for,' said Dinkin, who expects the marches to draw at least 100,000 protesters. Signs in New York City included one that played on the acronym for the 'mother of all bombs' that Trump dropped on Afghanistan last week Protesters in Palm Beach, Florida demonstrated near Mar-a-Lago. One demonstrator made a cheeky sign suggesting a marriage between Trump and Putin Demonstrators in Philadelphia strike a more playful tone with a sign that says 'If you show me yours I'll show you mine' Two demonstrators hold hands while praying as one derisively compares the current president to former president Barack Obama A woman holds an American flag across her face while demonstrating against Donald Trump near Mar-a-Lago as police monitor the scene Protesters take inspiration from pop culture - including The Chainsmokers song 'Selfie' - and also suggest a Russian connection - the Rubles sign - in New York City There have been some glimpses into Trump's tax history. Last month, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow released two pages of Trump's 2005 return that were obtained by investigative reporter David Cay Johnston. They showed Trump paid $38m in taxes on more than $150m in income. Two days after Maddow's broadcast, the White House pushed back against the idea that future tax filings from the First Family could be made public. And last October, The New York Times reported that Trump had declared a $916m loss on his 1995 federal tax return, citing three pages of documents from the return. In a Quinnipiac University poll released on April 4, more than two-thirds of the respondents said Trump should publicly release his tax returns. Other recent polls had similar results. Protesters hold signs in New York City including one that suggests that Trump's pants are on fire due to lying and another suggesting he is like Pinocchio One protester in New York City evokes Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall - perhaps a reference to Donald Trump and his plan to build a 'big, beautiful wall' along the US border with Mexico. In the nursery rhyme, the egg-shaped character proceeds to have 'a great fall' One woman holds up a sign for Trump to release his returns while one of the ubiquitous inflatable chickens can be seen at right Protesters are seen in Bryant Park, New York City during the march for Donald Trump to release his tax returns The protester wearing a Humpty Dumpty hat is seen in focus while out of focus to the right a sign can be seen mocking Sarah Palin's years-ago gaffe in which she implied that she could see Russia from her house Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, on Friday posted an online video urging Congress to force Trump to release the returns. In January, White House spokesperson Kellyanne ConwayBut told ABC's George Stepanopoulos that the White House's response to a petition asking the president to release his tax returns was that it wasn't going to happen. 'The White House response is that he's not going to release his tax returns,' Conway said during an appearance on This Week. 'We litigated this all through the election. People don't care. They voted for him.' Meanwhile, the Electronic Privacy Information Center sued the IRS on Saturday over its failure to release Trump's tax returns, Politico reported. The advocacy group filed a Freedom of Information Act request on March 29. And lawmakers in a majority of U.S. states are trying to effect laws requiring presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns. Trump is monitoring the emerging North Korea crisis from Mar-a-Lago without some of the top advisors he usually drags along. A dog named 'Lula' wears a sign joining demonstrators in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 15 Marine Le Pen's general election hopes could be in peril after it was revealed 500,000 voters outside of France were sent duplicate polling cards - giving a traditionally non-right wing electorate the chance to vote twice. Because Le Pen's Front National party appeals to a conservative, domestic community the computer error could potentially see the politicians first round vote overshadowed by pro-EU double-voters. French authorities confirmed they would not be investigating the potential electoral fraud until after the election, when retrospective prosecution may take place. Marine Le Pen's general election hopes could be in doubt after a computer error meant 500,000 duplicate polling cards were sent to overseas voters - many of whom oppose the Front National French authorities confirmed they would not be investigating the potential electoral fraud until after the election, when retrospective prosecution may take place By which time Le Pen's hopes for a Front National victory could already be extinguished. London has such a vast French community it would constitute France's sixth largest city. Some 300,000 French people live in London, many of whom appear to support centrist politician Emmanuel Macron. An Ipsos-Sopra Sterna poll indicate Macron and Le Pen are tied for the lead on 22 percent each meaning a swing of 500,000 votes against the Front National leader could swing the election entirely. Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon on 20 and 19 percent respectively. Jean-Luc Melenchon, who has surged in the polls could also benefit from this catastrophic error. She said: 'This year, this is the first time I have asked myself the question, would I take advantage of this anomaly to vote twice? My candidate was low enough in the polls.' Fears among Le Pen supporters have grown because the glitch could give a traditionally non-right wing electorate the chance to vote twice. Some 300,000 French people live in London, many of whom appear to support centrist politician Emmanuel Macron The punishment for voter fraud can be up to two years in prison and a fine of about 13,500. However police would only only be able to find out if they run checks on individuals through the computer systems. Despite the glitch, it remains unlikely that the polling cards would be used in significant enough numbers to alter the outcome adversely. Frances Interior Ministry has confirmed he will not be invalidating the election. The two highest scorers in the first round on April 23 will go through to contest a run-off on May 7. The race has been tightening for weeks, even though centrist Emmanuel Macron remains favourite. Attorneys for President Donald Trump say he did nothing wrong as a candidate when three protesters said they were roughed up by his supporters at a campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2016. Trump's team responded Friday to their lawsuit in federal court, saying the protesters waived their right to sue by buying tickets to the event. Trump's response also says he's immune as president from such suits. Scroll down for video Attorneys for President Trump say he did nothing wrong as a candidate when protesters said they were roughed up by his supporters at a campaign rally in Louisville last year. Trump is shown on Thursday Kashiya Nwanguma (in green) was shoved by Trump supporters at the Louisville rally last year Trump's team also denies that he was urging the crowd to take action against the protesters when he repeatedly said 'get them out of here'. That defense contradicts the argument of a co-defendant, a Trump supporter accused of shoving a young black woman at the March 1, 2016, rally. WDRB-TV reported that Alvin Bamberger, 75, has filed a counter-claim against Trump, and says he was only following Trump's directions when he helped remove Kashiya Nwanguma. Alvin Bamberger says he was only following Trump's directions when he helped remove her His counter-claim, a copy of which was obtained by Politico, alleges that during the Louisville rally 'Trump and/or the Trump Campaign urged people attending the rally to remove the protesters'. The document claims: 'Bamberger had no prior intention to act as he did. 'Bamberger would not have acted as he did without Trump and/or the Trump Campaign's specific urging and inspiration.' It goes on to allege: 'If Bamberger is adjudged liable to Ngwanguma for his actions, Trump and/or the Trump Campaign should be adjudged liable to Bamberger in an equal sum, because Trump and/or the Trump Campaign urged and inspired Bamberger to act as he did.' The counter-claim also says that Bamberger 'admits only that he touched a woman' and 'denies that he assaulted that woman'. A federal judge ruled earlier this month that Trump incited violence when he yelled 'get 'em out of here' at the group of protesters. Trump's lawyers had sought to dismiss the lawsuit from the three protesters who say they were roughed up by his supporters at the March 2016 rally in Louisville. They had argued that Trump didn't intend for his supporters to use force and used free speech as a defense. Two women and a man say they were shoved and punched by audience members at Trump's command. Much of it was captured on video and widely broadcast during the campaign, showing Trump pointing at the protesters and repeating 'get them out'. On the third occasion Trump yelled 'get out' at the protesters, he clarified 'don't hurt them' to his supporters. Judge David J. Hale in Louisville ruled April 1 that the suit can proceed. Hale found ample facts supporting allegations that the protesters' injuries were a 'direct and proximate result' of Trump's actions, and noted that the Supreme Court has ruled out constitutional protections for speech that incites violence. Then presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Louisville and yells at his supporters to 'get em out of here' in reference to the protesters 'It is plausible that Trump's direction to "get 'em out of here" advocated the use of force,' the judge wrote. ''It was an order, an instruction, a command.' Plaintiffs Kashiya Nwanguma, Molly Shah and Henry Brousseau allege that they were physically attacked by several members of the audience, including Matthew Heimbach, Alvin Bamberger and an unnamed defendant they have yet to be able to identify. Footage from WLKY shows the moment Nwanguma is shoved by Trump supporters after the candidate yelled to remove her from the crowd. Bamberger later apologized to the Korean War Veterans Association, whose uniform he wore at the rally. He wrote that he 'physically pushed a young woman down the aisle toward the exit' after 'Trump kept saying "get them out, get them out,"' according to the lawsuit. Henry Brousseau (left), Kashiya Nwanguma (right) and Molly Shah allege they were attacked by several Trump supporters after Trump commanded to 'get 'em out of here' Henry Brousseau, Kashiya Nwanguma and Molly Shah (pictured) said a leader of a white nationalist group was one of the people who attacked them Heimbach is a leader of the white supremacist group Traditional Youth Network according to the Courier-Journal. He sought to dismiss the lawsuit's discussion of his association with a white nationalist group and of statements he made about how Trump could advance the group's interests. The judge declined, saying such information could be important context when determining punitive damages. The judge also declined to remove allegations that Nwanguma, an African-American, was the victim of racial, ethnic and sexist slurs from the crowd at the rally. This context may support the plaintiffs' claims of negligence and incitement by Trump and his campaign, the judge said. Bamberger is pictured at the March 2016 rally behind Kashiya Nwanguma Nwanguma, Shah and Brousseau allege that they were physically attacked by several members of the audience, including Matthew Heimbach, Alvin Bamberger and an unnamed defendant 'While the words themselves are repulsive, they are relevant to show the atmosphere in which the alleged events occurred,' Hale wrote. Lawyers for Trump and his campaign had also argued that they cannot be held liable because they had no duty to the plaintiffs, who assumed the risk of injury when they decided to protest at the rally. The judge countered that under the law, every person has a duty to every other person to use care to prevent foreseeable injury. 'In sum, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have adequately alleged that their harm was foreseeable and that the Trump Defendants had a duty to prevent it,' the judge ruled, referring the case to a federal magistrate, Judge H. Brent Brennenstuhl, to handle preliminary litigation, discovery and settlement efforts. The former president of Iran declared that he does not see the United States as a threat, even after the military's show of strength in the Syrian missile strikes. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday he does not view recent U.S. missile strikes on ally Syria as a message for Iran, which he called a 'powerful country' that the U.S. cannot harm. The controversial former president made the comments in his office in northern Tehran, three days after he stunned Iranians by registering to run for president again. His surprise candidacy must still be approved by authorities but has already upended a race that was widely expected to be won by incumbent moderate Hassan Rouhani. Ahmadinejad dismissed suggestions that the U.S. strike on Syria might also be a warning for his country. 'I do not think it has a message for Iran. Iran is a powerful country and people like Mr. Trump or the United States administration cannot hurt Iran,' he said. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (left) said Saturday he does not view recent U.S. missile strikes on Syria as a message for his country. He added that Iran was powerful and that 'people like Mr. Trump or the United States administration cannot hurt Iran' Iran views Syria as an ally but didn't think America's show of force on the country warranted to feel threatened by Trump and his administration. On April 7, US military fired missiles at a Syrian airbase (pictured) President Donald Trump's administration earlier this year announced it was putting Iran 'on notice' in part over its ballistic missile tests, and last week pounded a Syrian air base with cruise missiles in response to a chemical weapons attack. Iran is the main regional backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is involved militarily on the ground in that country's civil war. Ahmadinejad struck a mostly conciliatory tone during the interview, taking care to not stir up controversy that could alienate voters or clerical authorities. He avoided repeating inflammatory statements that made him infamous in the West, such as those predicting Israel's demise or questioning the scale of the Holocaust. He dodged questions about issues such as Iran's missile program and the possible reaction by the U.S. and Israel to another Ahmadinejad presidency. Like all candidates, the 60-year-old must be vetted and approved by a powerful constitutional watchdog known as the Guardian Council before he can ultimately run. It will announce its list of approved candidates by April 27. The council, which is made up of clerics and Islamic jurists, normally disqualifies dissidents, women, and many reformists. The controversial former president (pictured in 2015) made the comments in his office in northern Tehran, three days after he stunned Iranians by registering to run for president again Trump's administration announced it was putting Iran 'on notice' in part over its ballistic missile tests, and last week pounded a Syrian air base with cruise missiles (pictured) in response to a chemical weapons attack Ahmadinejad said the strike on Syria could have happened even if Hillary Clinton had won the U.S. election. He added that the decision to attack Syria was made by people behind the scenes in the U.S., strongly implying that the U.S. presidency is decided behind closed doors. 'Those who are the directors must give the role (of president) to a person who can pull it off best. A woman cannot put up a good war face,' he said. 'A man can do that better. They need to come up with a figure and say he is very dangerous.' Ahmadinejad also dismissed the Trump administration's aggressive talk toward Tehran as political posturing, suggesting that a businessman with such varied international interests would rather avoid war. 'If he were dangerous, he would not have $70billion of assets. However he has no choice but to play such a role,' he said. It was unclear how he arrived at that dollar figure. Ahmadinejad also voiced reluctant support for Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with the U.S. and other world powers, which saw Iran accept curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions. Washington blamed the Syrian chemical weapon attack on President Bashar al-Assad's regime and launched cruise missiles at a Syrian air base Iran has managed to sign a string of multibillion-dollar civilian aircraft deals since sanctions were lifted, but many ordinary Iranians are still waiting on hoped-for economic benefits of the nuclear agreement to trickle down. 'The nuclear deal is a legal document and a pact. In the Islamic Republic, the officials and the supreme leader have approved of it and declared their commitment to it,' he said. 'The problem about the nuclear deal is how they advertised it. Both parties have represented it in such a way as if it can solve all the issues of human history. It was incorrect. It later turned out to be untrue,' he continued. Ahmadinejad's candidacy has left many inside Iran scratching their heads. He registered to run on the same day as did his former Vice President Hamid Baghaei, saying at the time his decision was meant to support his political ally. The move has fueled speculation that Ahmadinejad registered knowing that the Guardian Council would be reluctant to risk angering his conservative base by disqualifying both him and Baghaei. His candidacy runs in opposition to a recommendation Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he not run because it would create a 'polarized situation' that would be 'harmful for the county.' Ahmadinejad had ruled out running in the wake of Khamenei's comments in September, but after reversing course this week he called the supreme leader's comments 'just advice' that does not prevent him from running. Advertisement A 'revolutionary' fashion show aimed at empowering Muslim women returned to London this year as stunning models strutted down the catwalk in carves, hijabs and loose-fitting maxi dresses. More than 25 designers from around the world showcased their lines during Modest Fashion Week in Olympia, Kensington, today. The event, which is being hosted by organisers Modanisa, aims to give a platform to brands that cater for religious women and those who prefer to dress modestly. MFW features shopping, runway shows, talks and workshops, as well as networking and trade discussions. Franka Soeria of Think Fashion, the co-creators of Modest Fashion Week, said: 'In Modanisa London Modest Fashion Week we saw how diverse style in modest fashion is. 'The clothes of some designers were heavily defined by cultural influences, while others fused East-West elements, producing modern daywear and glamorous evening dresses that adhere to Islamic principles, yet appeal far beyond.' More than 25 designers showcased their lines during Modest Fashion Week in Olympia, Kensington, west London Modest Fashion Week aims to give a platform to brands catering for religious women and those who prefer to dress modestly MFW features shopping, runway shows, talks and workshops, as well as networking and trade discussions London's second Modest Fashion Week was hosted by organisers Modanisa, but a similar event was held by Haute Elan at the Saatchi Gallery in February Hijabi blogger Dina Tokio, who has more than 1 million Instagram followers, described last year's show as 'revolutionary' Pictured: Ornately decorated jackets catch the eye as models strut down the catwalk at London's second Modest Fashion week Left, a khaki duster coat is adorned with a graphic slogan reading 'There are no rules', while, left, a flowing white trouser suit with a russet hued head scarf A California woman who went missing on Tuesday has been found shot dead off a local roadway, police say. The body of Janet Mejia, 28, was discovered near Watt Avenue and Dyer Lane in Roseville, California just before 7pm on Thursday. One of her roommates is now being held as a person of interest as he was found in possession of a gun. The man, who is in his mid-20s, has been arrested on unrelated weapon charges, Fox 40 reported. Mejia vanished on Tuesday while she was on her way to a doctor's appointment. Janet Mejia, 28, had been missing since Tuesday but was dead on Thursday evening Her body was found off a local roadway near Watt Avenue and Dyer Lane in Placer County She was reported missing after she failed to show up to work at the Nordstrom department store in Westfield Galleria Mall. Her car, a blue 2011 four-door Honda was found Wednesday afternoon in the Arden-Arcade area, which is about a 15-minute drive from her apartment. The sheriff's department has issued a statement about her disappearance, and has asked for anyone with information to come forward to help uncover the truth. The 28-year-old's roommate told police that she was last seen that morning leaving their apartment as she headed to a doctor's appointment. 'We want Janet to come home, we love you (and) we miss you,' her sister, Daisy, told Sacramento's CBS 13. 'I'm praying to God that you're OK'. She also said in an interview with Sacramento's Fox 40 that the police found her sister's credit card in the department store parking lot, but that they do now know if it is related. Mejia grew up in Stockton and graduated from California State University at Sacramento last year with a degree in American Sign Language and deaf studies Mejia was reported missing Tuesday when she did not show up for work. Her car was found Wednesday afternoon in the Arden-Arcade area 'We hope for the best and pray she is OK. Her dream is to become an interpreter for the deaf and I just want to ask help from anyone and everyone to help her achieve that dream,' Daisy Mejia said. Mejia grew up in Stockton and graduated from California State University at Sacramento last year with a degree in American Sign Language and deaf studies, reported the Sacramento Bee. The sheriff's department released a statement Wednesday, saying: 'Her disappearance is out of the ordinary. She is usually in constant contact with her family.' They also said that she has no known connection to the area where her car was found. A GoFundMe page has been launched to raise money for the woman's funeral. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the sheriff's department. More people are keeping an eye on the actions of United Airlines after a disturbing video of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly and violently removed from a plane went viral. Most recently, several people took to Twitter to post statistical information from the Department of Transportation that showed more pets died while being transported by United than any other major airline in 2016. The data, which surfaced on Monday, showed that United reported 9 pet deaths and 14 injuries for last year alone. Some of the pet deaths include a Yorkshire Terrier named Diamond, a Belgian Malinois named Bakry and an American Staffordshire Terrier named Winston. Most of the animal deaths appeared to be dogs, with the exception of a Sphynx cat. Scroll down for video Several people took to Twitter to post statistical information from the Department of Transportation that showed more pets died while being transported by United than any other major airline in 2016. Pet carriers are pictured preparing to be loaded onto a United flight The data, which surfaced on Monday, showed that United reported 9 pet deaths and 14 injuries for last year alone. Pictured is a pet carrier preparing to be loaded onto a United flight One Twitter user tweeted at United asking the company 'why' they have the highest amount of pet deaths Other major airlines, such as Delta reported five pet deaths and five injuries, while American Airlines reported four deaths and one injury. Alaska and SkyWest Airlines both reported two pet deaths and 1 injury respectively, while Hawaiian Airlines had three pet deaths and ExpressJet reported one pet death. The data also showed that United has transported 109,149 pets compared to Delta's 81,070. According to Business Insider, those numbers break down into percentages of .02 per cent for United and .01 per cent for Delta, which means the airlines have a similar, and low, percentage of pet incidences. 'We have some of the best facilities for taking care of customer pets,' a United spokesperson told Business Insider. 'We keep customers informed and consider pets customers as well because we understand pets are part of our customers' family,' the spokesperson added. The most recent pet death from United came in February when Michigan resident, Kathleen Considine, blamed the carrier for the death of her 'healthy' Golden Retriever, according to Fox News. United recently faced a whirlwind of a week after a video of passenger, Dr David Dao, being dragged off a United aircraft went viral. Dr David Dao (left) is seen bleeding from the mouth after he was body slammed by cops. United Airlines released four official statements in response to the backlash against the company. The first three were from the parent company's CEO, Oscar Munoz (right) Dr Dao was dragged off the plane by three cops after he refused to give up his seat on the overbooked United flight from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday night Dr Dao was accused of refusing to give up his seat on Sunday's United Express flight UA3411 flight from Chicago to Louisville for the airline's staff. Cell phone footage then shows the moment when he was forcibly and violently removed from the airline by heavy-handed Chicago Aviation Security police officers. On Friday, it was revealed that on top of being forced out of their seats and off the plane, the airline did not take the time to release their luggage to Dr Dao and his wife, instead sending it back to Kentucky and leaving them with nothing. 'The airline didn't even have the courtesy to give the Daos their luggage after Dr Dao was dragged off their flight and transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital,' attorney Thomas Demetrio told the Chicago Sun Times. Dao was released by the hospital with a concussion and two missing front teeth. He is planning to sue the airline in a case. It is unclear where the couple are now residing, but the couple has not yet returned to Kentucky and are staying within reach of family members who live nearby. Dao's wife is not being treated for trauma, and is helping to rehabilitate her husband, who is undergoing medical evaluations and consultations. The doctor has memory of being dragged off of the plane, but none of rushing back on. Demitrio said: 'This was assault and battery, taking rudeness to the extreme for a paying passenger'. Dr Dao's lawyers suggest he sue United not just for its treatment of him but the procedures which lay behind him being told he could not fly, to make way for United's own crew - one of the factors which has fueled the outrage over his case. Distressing: Children were crying in distress as the three officers manhandled the man out of his seat. Passengers had been offered $800 to take a flight the next day but none volunteered Dr Dao was dragged from a United flight in Chicago on Sunday. He is pictured with his wife, Teresa, and their grandchildren. It was his wife who alerted authorities to his inappropriate relationship with a patient This information comes after the United Airline's pilots union released a statement Thursday regarding the Sunday night incident. The union contended that the Chicago Department of Aviation's 'grossly inappropriate response' was to blame for the events that transpired, according to the United Master Executive Council's statement. The Council represents the airline's 12,500 pilots. The statement also pointed out that the plane from which Dr Dao was ejected was one of which that was separately owned and operated by Republic Airlines. 'This occurred on one of our contracted Express carriers, separately owned and operated by Republic Airlines, and was ultimately caused by the grossly inappropriate response by the Chicago Department of Aviation,' the pilots wrote according to Business Insider. 'The safety and well-being of our passengers is the highest priority for United pilots, and this should not have escalated into a violent encounter,' the union's written statement read. 'United pilots are infuriated by this event.' Donald Trump has come under fire from far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen for his volte-face on Nato. The Front National leader Le Pen criticised the US president for what she perceived as hypocrisy following his sudden embrace of the military alliance. In an interview with France Info radio, Le Pen said: 'Undeniably he is in contradiction with the commitments he had made. Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen criticised President Donald Trump Friday for his sudden embrace of Nato. Trump claimed Nato was 'no longer obsolete.' 'I am coherent, I don't change my mind in a few days. He had said he would not be the policeman of the world, that he would be the president of the United States and would not be the policeman of the world, but it seems today that he has changed his mind.' The attack comes shortly after Trump hosted Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg at the White House declaring that, counter to his views expressed during his election campaign, the alliance was 'no longer obsolete.' Le Pen added that she would stick to her France first approach, despite Trump's apparent fluctuation from his original policy. She continued: 'Will he persist, or is it a political coup which facilitates his domestic policy, I have absolutely no idea. But I am coherent in my analyses. When something favors France I say so, when it doesn't I say so too.' In the run up to the US election in 2016, Trump and Le Pen were seen as natural allies. Both share similarly nationalistic policies on immigration and globalisation. The French politician had even said that Trump's presidential win 'shows that people are taking their future back,' according to CNN. The criticisms come amid other nationalist politicians taking umbrage at Trump's changed approach. The attack comes shortly after Trump hosted Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg at the White House declaring that, counter to his views expressed during his election campaign, the alliance was 'no longer obsolete.' Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said he was 'very surprised' at Trump's decision to strike a Syrian airbase - in retaliation for the regime's alleged chemical weapons attack against civilians. A fundamental pillar of Le Pen's campaign has been her staunch adversary toward Nato. She remains on track to make it through to the run-off election on May 7 although has seen her momentum slowed. 'I consider that France does not have to submit to the calendar of the United States, so I want France to leave the integrated command of NATO,' she said. Sophie Baxter was separated from her daughter Talia, four, for two months. Social worker June Barney, 41, (pictured) decided Talia's behaviour was 'over mature' Like many single mothers, teacher Sophie Baxter has sometimes found bringing up her four-year-old daughter Talia a struggle without a network of relatives nearby. Nevertheless, she impressed those who knew her with her devotion to her daughters wellbeing and development, taking the time to teach Talia to play the piano and ensuring she had a wide vocabulary. But when she came into contact with a resentful social worker in 2012, Sophie felt she was being targeted precisely because of those middle-class values and was devastated when her daughter was suddenly taken away from her based on false evidence. In a Kafkaesque case to terrify any parent, innocent facts were twisted and exaggerated, while everyday aspects of Sophie and Talias family life became, in the hands of social worker June Barney, 41, another weapon in a misguided campaign to wrest a child from her mother. Telling her story for the first time since being awarded a five-figure sum for being separated from her child, Sophie reveals how she was accused of being an overly pushy parent with an alcohol problem who had threatened to kill herself and her daughter. But none of this was true. In fact she was a dedicated, if anxious, mother who simply wanted to do the best for her only child. Among the evidence of emotional abuse, says Sophie, was the fact that her little girl had a wide vocabulary which the social worker decided was a sign of over mature behaviour. Sophie and Talia were awarded 34,000 for the huge distress caused by their two-month separation, and the Health and Care Professions Council found Mrs Barney guilty of misconduct (stock image) Her attempt to personally teach Talia to play the piano was also frowned upon, Sophie claims, with Mrs Barney citing this as an indication she was putting her daughter under pressure to be perfect. And Sophies occasional evening glass of wine was characterised as a dangerous problem with booze. She got her daughter back only after numerous people, including Talias teacher, attested that she was a caring and competent mother. I could feel the utter resentment the social worker had towards me. You could even read it in the court documents, says Sophie. I believe I was targeted because of my background. Im a middle-class person from an academic background living in a working-class area. The thing about my daughters piano lessons and her vocabulary were all tied up in that overall perception. Im sure it affected how I was treated. Sophie and Talia were awarded 34,000 for the huge distress caused by their two-month separation, and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) found Mrs Barney guilty of misconduct though she kept her job. The award includes 9,000 for Talia herself, who was left suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after her separation from her mother. The regulator concluded that a court statement Mrs Barney had given, which led to Talia being taken into care, was distorted because of her gross negligence in failing to check information, and her exaggeration of the facts. Last night, Sophie said: For a child to be taken away is one of the most agonising things that can ever happen to a mother. When it happened, I couldnt sleep. I would howl with pain at the loss of my child. June Barney fabricated a case against me making me out to be a dangerous and unstable pushy parent. But even though I knew it was a pack of lies, I feared I would never get Talia back. Her attempt to personally teach Talia to play the piano was also frowned upon, Sophie claims, with Mrs Barney citing this as an indication she was putting her daughter under pressure to be perfect (file photo) At the time, Sophie was utterly baffled as to why she became the object of Mrs Barneys campaign. In the time since, she has reached the view that some kind of class-based resentment was at work. It sounds awful but they saw me as a pest who could string long words together. And because I was capable of standing up for myself, I became a nuisance, she recalls. The social workers I dealt with were predominantly working-class and they looked on me as someone who was middle-class with a privileged upbringing. Someone different from their perception of normal. Without a shred of doubt, June Barney thought that I was a novel case. She made extraordinary personal attacks on me. Even the council, when it investigated my complaint, was shocked. I was told they were not used to seeing reports that had become so personal. June Barney kept stressing that I had made a barrage of complaints. She disliked me and she thought I was one of those people yes, middle-class people who cause trouble. Sophies ordeal began in spring 2012 shortly after she referred herself to Devon social services for help. Sophies occasional evening glass of wine was characterised as a dangerous problem with booze (file photo) A single mother with no family support for miles around, she admitted she was struggling to balance the demands of her job as an A-level teacher with parenthood. Knowing that she suffered from anxiety attacks and stress, she asked for assistance looking after Talia, in the form of occasional respite care. That April, she was assigned June Barney, who befriended her. But Sophie believes the social worker filed away her unguarded remarks and actions to use against her. Three months later, after a number of confrontational exchanges, Mrs Barney organised a secret strategy meeting to discuss Talias future. The social workers notes stated: Outcome; mother self-harming, mental health problems. Mothers [sic] threat to take her own life and Talias life. Talia suffering emotional abuse. Unsurprisingly, given such an alarming list, council solicitors agreed that Talia should be kept with a foster family under an interim care order, pending a full court hearing. Among the social workers claims was that Sophie had a serious alcohol problem, leading to the meeting minutes stating she was unable to supervise/keep Talia safe. Perhaps naively, Sophie had told the social worker she sometimes unwound at the end of a busy day with a glass of wine. The council investigators found there was no evidence that Sophie was drinking excessively and that Mrs Barneys repetition of the doctors inaccurate and misleading information was highly damaging (file photo) But Mrs Barney found a two- year-old doctors note which claimed Sophie was drinking two bottles of wine a day. In fact, Sophie had told the Sudanese doctor that the medication she was taking made her feel as though she had drunk two bottles of wine. Despite Sophie informing Mrs Barney of the error, the social worker included it in her court statement. Furthermore, she wrote that Sophie was self-medicating with alcohol to deal with stress, so placing Talia at risk of significant physical harm. Sophie later told a Devon County Council inquiry that was set up to examine the blunder: I think it is pretty normal for stressed, busy mums to look forward to a couple of glasses of wine when their kid has gone to bed. The council investigators found there was no evidence that Sophie was drinking excessively and that Mrs Barneys repetition of the doctors inaccurate and misleading information was highly damaging. So too was Mrs Barneys claim that Sophie was self-harming in front of her daughter: she wrote the mother was so stressed that she actually had red patches on her scalp from pulling out her hair, and her skin was irritated, red and bleeding from excessive scratching. But mental health workers said Sophies hair-tugging was no more serious than nail-biting, while she scratched her skin due to eczema. Mrs Barney also warned that Sophie could kill herself and Talia, telling police that she had threatened to harm her daughter. This possibility was raised when social workers and the councils mental health team discussed how Sophie might react when told Talia was being put into care. After Talia was returned, her mothers GP said Sophie had been beside herself with fear at losing her daughter (file photo) The mental health team wrote that such a shock could be so upsetting that Sophie might abscond with her daughter and potentially include her in suicidal plans. But they added that Sophie had never expressed feelings of wishing to harm Talia and there are not currently any concerns about physical harm to Talia. Mrs Barney tried to get them to remove this important qualifier; they refused. Nonetheless, she warned the possibility cannot be ruled out. But council investigators found: All witnesses agree that no threat has ever been made to Talia by Sophie. They described Talia as a delightful child who is happy, articulate and bright for her age and pointed out that nursery staff never had any concerns about her. Mrs Barney presented evidence negatively rather than objectively, they said, leading to a sense of manipulation of the facts. They concluded that a combination of inexperience, overconfidence [and] an inappropriate determination to get Talia into care were among the factors that led to very damaging events and decisions. Supervision from managers was thin and patchy and there was an unsubstantiated claim that Mrs Barney had been under pressure to take the girl into care. After Talia was returned, her mothers GP said Sophie had been beside herself with fear at losing her daughter. He says: It was awful to see the effect on her. The situation had seemed like a Kafka novel; stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare with no logical way out. The HCPC said Mrs Barney believed throughout that she was acting in the best interests of Talia and had an otherwise unblemished record. But it concluded that her conduct was sufficiently serious to constitute misconduct and gave her a three-year caution. Last night, Sophie said: I dont know what motivated this woman. What chance does any parent have if a social worker, supposedly there to help families, behaves like this? The case against me was prepared during meetings I didnt even know were happening. I couldnt challenge anything. And the way the whole thing escalated was truly terrifying. Invited to comment, Mrs Barney, from Bridgwater in Somerset, referred The Mail on Sunday to Devon County Council, saying: I am not allowed to talk. A council spokesman said: Social workers have a difficult and often thankless job and are supported to make tough decisions about complex situations every day. These decisions often deeply affect peoples lives but are always made in what is believed at the time to be the best interests of the child or vulnerable adult who we have a legal duty to protect. lThe names of the mother and daughter have been changed for legal reasons. Additional reporting: Nick Constable A man celebrated his 80th birthday by receiving his older brother's long-lost Purple Heart medal, making it the exact day he learned his sibling died in the Korean War, 66 years ago. Raymond Coulombe turned 80 on Saturday, marking the end of a journey from celebration to sadness to celebration again. The California man received his late brother's Purple Heart medal in Bethel, Maine, exactly 66 years from the day Coulombe learned of the death on his 14th birthday. U.S. Army Sgt. Joseph Maurice Coulombe was killed in action on March 31, 1951, in South Korea while fighting in the Korean War. Raymond Coulombe celebrated his 80th birthday by receiving his older brother's long-lost Purple Heart medal (file photo pictured) in Bethel, Maine, on Saturday 'I was 14 years old celebrating my birthday with my grandparents and that's when we got the news that my brother was killed, so it's like coming around full-circle,' Raymond Coulombe said. The man added: 'He was my love, my life. I idolized him dearly. To bring this all back after this many years, right now I feel like I'm in another world.' The medal of valor for the solider was awarded posthumously and sent to his wife, but Coulombe's family never knew he had married at age 17 while in boot camp. When his widow recently died, her daughter turned to an organization called Purple Hearts Reunited to help locate the family. U.S. Army Sgt. Joseph Maurice Coulombe was killed in action on March 31, 1951, in South Korea while fighting in the Korean War. Pictured: File photo of American soldiers fighting in Korean War in 1950 The nonprofit foundation arranged for Raymond Coulombe to fly from Los Angeles to Maine, where the brothers grew up. On Saturday, he placed a flag on his brother's grave in Berlin, New Hampshire, and planned to receive the Purple Heart and celebrate his birthday later at the American Legion post in Bethel. 'What they're doing for me, what they've opened to me after 66 years, I feel like an incredible person,' Coulombe said. 'I feel so blessed.' Purple Hearts Reunited, based in Georgia, Vermont, has returned medals and other artifacts to more than 300 families and museums. They paid millions of pounds for luxury apartments on Londons trendy South Bank, only to find thousands of strangers peering through their windows. But now wealthy residents are suing the Tate Modern art gallery over a new viewing platform that has been described as a voyeurs dream. Complaining that Tate visitors are using binoculars and cameras with zoom lenses to snoop on them and take intrusive photos, the residents of Neo Bankside where homes cost up to 19 million claim it is like living in a goldfish bowl. Wealthy residents of Neo Bankside are suing the Tate Modern art gallery over a new viewing platform that has been described as a voyeurs dream To add to their fury, they say videos and photos taken while they relax in their glass-fronted homes are frequently uploaded on social media and they accuse Tate Modern of turning them into a public exhibit for the benefit of those using the viewing platform, according to a writ filed in the High Court. The five claimants say that being subject to visual scrutiny is a breach of their human rights and want the Tate to put up a screen and pay their legal costs. The rich residents have become one of the most popular features of Tate Modern since the tenth-floor viewing platform opened in June last year as part of a 260 million extension. The gallery attracts up to 10,000 visitors every day. Reviewers on TripAdvisor have described it as a voyeurs dream, with others saying: The viewing gallery is great, giving perfect views into the flats next door! Images posted on the internet show residents sprawling on sofas, working at home and chatting on the phone. In one picture, a pet cat is clearly seen gazing out of a window. The row escalated when one resident placed cardboard cut-outs of outgoing Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota and his family in their underwear in the window of an apartment directly opposite the platform Last year, The Mail on Sunday revealed that residents were considering legal action if the gallery failed to take action. They even called in child protection officers from Southwark Council over concerns that tourists were taking pictures of young children in the apartments. The row escalated when one resident placed cardboard cut-outs of outgoing Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota and his family in their underwear in the window of an apartment directly opposite the platform. Last night a Tate spokesman said: The design of the building has always included a high-level terrace for the benefit of the public but we cannot comment further given the conditions of the legal process. Advertisement When Doris the 20-ton humpback whale breached the water not once but 25 times earlier this week, her spectacular display delighted the watching audience. Yet the wonder of it all was not just the performance, but the rather surprising location. For while humpbacks tend to be associated with more exotic parts of the world, this took place just off the coast of Cornwall near Falmouth. And Doris, it seems, is not the only unlikely creature to be found here. WHALE OF A SIGHT AT 50FT: Nicknamed Doris by locals, this humpback put on a spectacular breaching show off the Cornish coast near Falmouth last week. Easily identified from their distinctive tails, knobbly head and long flippers, the species can measure up to 50ft in length. They can be seen in British waters in the summer months, off the west coast of Ireland and northern Scotland. There have also been sightings in Liverpool Bay as well as between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall, and off the coast of Norfolk WHEN WALLS MIGHT STING: Two years ago, thousands of venomous yellow-tailed scorpions took up home in the walls of Sheerness Docks on the Isle of Sheppey, apparently having arrived on inbound ships. Its since been spotted in Dorset, Hampshire and London. It seeks out holes in walls where the mortar has crumbled. Fortunately, the venom is mild PORKERS ON THE CHARGE: The tusked Eurasian wild pig the largest of all the wild boars was said to have been wiped out here in the 17th Century, but has staged a remarkable comeback. It roams most counties, but is commonly seen in East Sussex, Kent and the Forest of Dean, where their population is said to be doubling every year From wallabies to hoopoes, giant snakes and parakeets, Britain is increasingly host to all manner of wildlife commonly associated with more distant, and frequently sunnier climes. The explanation for this surprising phenomenon would appear to be a mix of mischance and mans stupidity. When 30 non-venomous Aesculapian snakes set up home next to Londons Regents Canal a couple of years ago, for instance, it was assumed that the colony resulted from a clutch of escapees from nearby London Zoo. It was then revealed that another colony had taken up residence in North Wales, refugees from the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay. WELL I'LL BE DAMMED: A few centuries ago beavers were plentiful in Britain, but that was before they were hunted to near extinction. Today, since their reintroduction they are thriving. The best chance of seeing them is in Argyll, Scotland and Devon, where they were introduced in 2009 and 2011 respectively. They spend their time relentlessly gnawing on willow trees BANDITS HIDING OUT ACROSS EUROPE: With their distinctive dark bandit masks, pointed muzzles and large ears, raccoons have grey-brown fur with a bushy tail with four to six black rings. In April 2016, wildlife experts launched an urgent search to recapture an escaped raccoon caught on camera in the Scottish Highlands, amid fears the animal could lead to an infestation in Britain. Since then, raccoons native to North America have been spotted as far afield as London, Dublin and Northern Ireland, with two sightings in Wales. Deliberately introduced to Germany in the 1930s, there are now more than one million raccoons on the rampage on the European mainland though experts hope they are not truly established in the UK GIANT TABBY IS THE CAT'S WHISKERS: Reports of pumas and leopards on the loose should be taken with a pinch of salt. But there is one big cat at large in the UK the Scottish wildcat. Resembling an oversized tabby its been caught on night cameras at two National Trust for Scotland sites in Aberdeenshire recently Ironically, it is the adder Britains only indigenous poisonous snake that almost cost the life recently of builder Josh Rose when it slithered under his young sons buggy on Hounslow Heath, West London, and bit his finger. Mr Rose went into anaphylactic shock and suffered temporary paralysis. In the early 1990s, when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were all the rage, demand increased for small terrapins with colourful markings. When it became clear these reptiles quickly grew to the size of medium-size dinner plates, they were released into ponds in parks. SQUIRRELS GET THEIR STRIPES: In the 1970s, several Siberian chipmunks were released by pet owners in the UK. Since then the wild population has grown to about 1,000, mostly in the South East. The smallest members of the squirrel family, the stripey rodents live mainly in underground burrows. They are remarkable little survivors able to exist in temperatures as low as -30c though being shy, the chances of spotting them in KEEPING COUNTRY ON THE HOP: They may be more at home in the Aussie outback, but wallabies have been thriving rather closer to home. They have been at wild in the Isle of Man ever since a pair escaped in the 1970s from a wildlife park. There have been sightings, too, in Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent VISITOR WITH A MAGIC MOHICAN: Is it a punk? No, just an exotic hoopoe bird which has a long, down-curved bill and a striking pinkish-brown crest which it raises when excited. It doesnt breed here but as many as 100 have been turning up in spring when they migrate to Europe from Africa. Best chance of seeing them is on the South Coast in April and May On Hampstead Heath, the terrapin population expanded so rapidly that the Environment Agency was called in to deal with the epidemic. So what other creatures not traditionally associated with this green and pleasant land can nonetheless be found here and where? On this Bank Holiday weekend, you may be nearer than you think to beavers, boars and the distinctly less lovable scorpion. Welcome to the really, really wild show. First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron will be moving into the White House this summer, a White House official said. While President Donald Trump moved to Washington DC upon his inauguration, Melania and Barron stayed behind in New York City so the 11-year-old could finish out the school year at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School. Melania, who has flown to Washington DC and Palm Beach to join her husband for important occasions, has begun assembling her team in preparation for the big move. First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron will be moving into the White House this summer, a White House official said Melania has flown to Washington DC and Palm Beach to join her husband since January. Pictured, the first family in DC on March 17 before they spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago The First Lady has tapped interior decorator Tham Kannalikham to spruce up the White House The First Lady's decision to stay behind in New York was a divisive one that broke with tradition. While some lauded her for being a good mother who was keen to protect her son from the limelight, others pointed to the mounting cost of having Secret Service agents stationed in New York. Melania has largely kept to her penthouse apartment at Trump Tower, with some speculating her low-profile suggested an unwillingness to assume the role of first lady. It was reported in February that Melania was considering staying in New York full time, but the White House denied the rumors. Her senior adviser Stephanie Wolkoff confirmed the move was going ahead, adding: 'Mrs. Trump is honored to serve this country and is taking the role and responsibilities of the First Lady very seriously.' The first lady's decision to stay behind in New York was a divisive one that broke with tradition In recent months, Melania has supported her husband and flown to the White House as well as Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to welcome the leaders of Japan, Israel, Jordan, and China. But the use of government aircraft, which she used to join her husband for a long Easter weekend at Mar-a-Lago, for example, cost $15,846 an hour, contributing to her husband's growing taxpayer-paid travel tab. Melania has been slow to fill out her team, but a chief of staff and communications director have been appointed, while interior decorator Tham Kannalikham is working to spruce up the White House. She said: 'I am honored by the opportunity to be working with the First Lady to make the White House feel like home.' It remains unclear what school Barron will attend in DC. He will be the first boy to live at the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr. Thousands of callous motorists caught fraudulently using disabled parking permits are being named and shamed by councils. Under the nationwide scheme, the disabled qualify for a blue pass that allows them to park on yellow lines and in specific bays placed closer to shops. However, growing numbers of cheats are masquerading as disabled relatives by placing the 'gold dust' badges on their dashboard so they can park for free. Ganett Phiri pleaded guilty to using one of the blue badges to park in special bays Many offenders are eminent members of the community, including doctors and lawyers, councils say. Last week, Wandsworth Council emailed borough residents in South-West London the faces of six fraudsters convicted of using relatives' passes including two bank employees and a hospital worker as a deterrent. Ganett Phiri, 40, who works for London Underground, pleaded guilty to using a friend's badge, and was told to pay 1,230 on top of the 165 cost to get his car back. Bank employee Jashree Parmar was found to have been using her mother's badge. The 61-year-old pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay 1,230 in fines and court costs, as well as a 165 tow fee. Barrington Fairman-Campbell, 58, also pleaded guilty to using his wife's badge to park while he was at work at St George's Hospital. He was made to pay fines and costs totalling 1,230, plus the 165 tow charge. In one of the most brazen examples, a 37-year-old woman was caught using her father's badge despite him living in Northern Ireland. Angeli McDowall pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay 630 in fines and court costs. Barrington Fairman-Campbell pleaded guilty to using one of the blue badges to park in special bays Jashree Parmar pleaded guilty to using one of the blue badges to park in special bays Last night, councils demanded severer penalties to crack down on the abuse. A Wandsworth Council spokesman said: 'We would very much welcome an increase to reflect the severity of the crime. Whether it should be 5,000, 4,000 or 3,000, it's difficult to say. But this is serious fraud. 'This is happening on an industrial scale. These blue badges are like gold dust because they allow you to park anywhere, from hospital parking bays to yellow lines. 'What's particularly saddening is a lot of the culprits are doctors and lawyers, the kind of people who should be examples of honesty.' Last night, the Department for Transport, which manages the scheme, said: 'There are already robust rules in place to ensure that blue badges are not misused, and they benefit those who need them.' Boris Johnson launched a fightback yesterday after claims that he had made a mess of handling the Wests response to the gas attack on Syrian civilians and his failed bid to impose sanctions on Russia. The Foreign Secretary urged the international community to go further in punishing those responsible for the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun. In a joint plea with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault, Mr Johnson demanded action against the perpetrators. Boris Johnson launched a fightback yesterday after claims that he had made a mess of handling the Wests response to the gas attack on Syrian civilians and his failed bid to impose sanctions on Russia The Foreign Secretary urged the international community to go further in punishing those responsible for the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun and branded Syrian President Bashir al Assad a liar Mr Ayrault led the move at last weeks G7 economic summit in Italy, where Mr Johnsons sanctions plan was summarily thrown out. Tellingly, there was no mention of Mr Johnsons demand for new sanctions against Vladimir Putin in the Anglo-French initiative. Furthermore, while branding Syrian President Bashir al Assad a liar, the two Foreign Ministers acknowledged that Assads guilt over the chemical weapons attack could not yet be proved, saying only he was highly likely to be guilty. Regime denials should impress no one, they said. Assad said it was the terrorists. But he claims not to have barrel bombs, not to bomb civilians, not to torture. We have been through this already this shameless production of lies. The two Foreign Ministers acknowledged that Assads guilt over the chemical weapons attack could not yet be proved, saying only he was highly likely to be guilty (pictured, children being treated after the attack) A Russian cartoon took aim at Boris Johnson for his handling of the gas attack 'We cant any more. When children are gassed, we can take no more abject lies. The deaths and injuries caused by the attack were too grim to describe, they said. Painful, indiscriminate and long-lasting agony for babies, women and the elderly. It brings shame on the Syrian regime and its supporters. They added: It is highly likely that attack was carried out by the Assad regime. Russian claims that opposition stockpiles were struck do not fit the facts. The international community had a moral duty to go further, the two Ministers said. North Korea attempted to fire a missile it introduced at a massive military parade - but it was an embarrassing failure when the weapon blew up four or five seconds after being launched. It is thought to be one of the country's new 'game-changer' intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) which was revealed to the world in a display of military might yesterday. The South Korean defence ministry said it had detected a failed launch from Sinpo - where North Korea's biggest submarine base is located. According to a military official the weapon is 'presumed to be a new ICBM' as it is longer than the existing KN-08 or KN-14 missiles. US defence secretary James Mattis said Donald Trump is 'aware' of the launch and has no further comment as Vice President landed in South Korea ahead of a 10-day Asia tour. The South Korean defence ministry said in a statement: 'North Korea attempted to test an unidentified type of missile from Sinpo area in the South Hamkyong Province this morning, but we suspect the launch has failed.' North Korea's ballistic missiles being displayed during a military parade in Pyongyang marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of late North Korean leader and the nation's founder Kim Il-Sung Two of the missiles thought to be dubbed North Korea's 'game changing' weapons are paraded through Kim Il-Sung square Korean People's Army (KPA) soldiers marching through Kim Il-Sung square during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea Thousands of heavily-armed soldiers march as part of the Easter weekend celebrations in North Korea Korean People's Polaris missiles being displayed in front of a grandstand adorning portraits of the country's leaders of thousands of spectators Earlier North Korea unveiled 'game-changer' ballistic missiles during a display of the country's military might The display of military might in the North Korean capital Pyongyang was held as Kim Jong-Un warned of an 'annihilating strike' if the US attacks An unidentified rocket is displayed during today's parade, with experts voicing fears that it could have a range of 9,000 miles US Vice President Mike Pence (centre) is welcomed upon his arrival at the US Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaeck on April 16, 2017 This map shows the approximate location of Donald Trump's armada which he has sent to the Korean Peninsula - the location of the missile launch in the Sinpo area of the South Hamkyong Province is also shown In a statement, the US military said: 'U.S. Pacific Command detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 11:21 a.m. Hawaii time April 15. 'The launch of the ballistic missile occurred near Sinpo. 'The missile blew up almost immediately. The type of missile is still being assessed. 'U.S. Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our allies in the Republic of Korea and in Japan to maintain security.' The Foreign Office has said it is 'concerned by reports of a missile test by North Korea' and is 'monitoring the situation closely'. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has warned North Korea to comply with the United Nations after its failed missile launch, adding: 'They must stop these belligerent acts and comply with UN resolutions.' Military vehicles carrying the KN-11 missile - which can be launched from a submarine - and potentially gives the country a limited nuclear second strike capability Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang Mike Pence waves to the crowds as he lands in South Korea (left) and is greeted upon his arrival (right) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence burns incense in front of his wife Karen Pence, right, at the Seoul National Cemetery in Seoul, South Korea U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, second right in front, pays a silent tribute with his wife Karen Pence, second from left, at the Seoul National Cemetery in Seoul, South Korea, at the beginning of his 10-day tour of Asia It comes just hours after North Korea unveiled new weapons during a display of the country's military might in the country's capital Pyongyang as Kim Jong-Un warned of an 'annihilating strike' if the US attacks. It has left President Donald Trump juggling North Korea, China and Russia after a string of threats and promises he made from Washington. Before meeting Chinese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the beginning of the month, he said if China did not intervene in North Korea, the US would 'take care of it'. Then when Russia refused to condemn Syria's chemical attack in Idlib a week later, Trump came out to say relations were at an all time low having praised Russian President Vladimir Putin during his election campaign. It appeared as though The Oval Office was focused on Moscow and its relationship with Syrian President Bashar Assad, but after the failed missile launch and with Mike Pence's tour of Asia starting today, the emphasis may have shifted again to the North and China. Meanwhile Pyongyang threatened 'catastrophic consequences' when Trump sent an armada of warships to the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, China has moved 150,000 troops to its border to deal with a possible influx of North Korean refugees amid fears Trump may strike Kim following the surprise US missile attack on Syria last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin lights candle during the Easter Service in the Christ The Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia The festivities, celebrating the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather, took place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a significant rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM North Korean soldiers on mobile missile launchers as they are paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during today's military parade The intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which Pyongyang claim could travel thousands of miles, have increased concerns that the secretive state is preparing for a possible attack on Washington after they were paraded during the country's Day of the Sun celebrations. US Vice President Mike Pence has arrived in South Korea at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia that comes amid the turmoil over North Korea's threats to advance its growing nuclear and defence capabilities. He is joined by his wife and two adult daughters and will lay a wreath at the Seoul National Cemetery and join US and South Korean troops for Easter Sunday church services and a dinner. Pence is the son of a Korean War veteran and displays his late father's Bronze Star in his office. Just hours before Pence landed in the South, a gleeful Kim, wearing a Western-style suit at Kim Il-sung Square, saluted formations of soldiers who yelled out 'long live' to celebrate the 105th anniversary of his grandfather's birth. Addressing South Koreans in a speech, Pence said: 'This morning's provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face every day in the defence of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defence of America in this part of the world. 'Your willingness to step forward, to serve, to stand firm without fear inspires our nation and inspires the world.' The two new kinds of ICBM were enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of transporter erector launcher trucks as they were paraded in front of crowds during today's festivities. Pyongyang has yet to formally announce it has an operational ICBM but experts believe they the new rockets could be liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, or an early prototype. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles were also among the military hardware on show for the first time. It indicates an improving technological capability that could help it evade anti-missile systems. Kim has accused President Donald Trump of provoking his nation towards armed conflict with a series of increasingly aggressive moves, including sending the USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula. Kim Jong-un was noticeably relaxed and appeared happy as he attended the 'Day of the Sun' military parade in Kim Il Sung square - which celebrates his grandfather - the founder of North Korea Thousands of North Korean troops armed with rifles took part in the show of force earlier, which saw North Korea flaunt sophisticated new military hardware Suited North Korean men wave flowers above their heads in a colourful celebration in Pyongyang One of Kim's top officials, Choe Ryong Hae, today vowed North Korea would 'beat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice'. He told the packed-out square: 'If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare.' In his annual New Year's address, Kim said North Korea's preparations for an ICBM launch had 'reached the final stage'. Recent satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. Reports of the launch from the country's east coast came after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told the rogue state it must adhere to UN resolutions in order to secure peace. As international tension heightened over the country's nuclear weapons programme in the face of fierce American criticism of the Pyongyang regime, Mr Johnson said the situation needed to be looked at carefully. 'We have been here before but continue to monitor the situation carefully. He added: 'We stand alongside our international partners in making clear that North Korea must adhere to UN resolutions designed to secure peace and stability in the region and stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons.' As concern about the situation mounted, there were reports that President Trump's military advisers have assured the UK that America has the capability to neutralise North Korea's nuclear programme using conventional weapons. It could come in the form of a pre-emptive strike with US national security adviser General HR McMaster apparently telling British security chiefs and military top brass that Washington has the intelligence to target key sites in the nuclear programme. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has been briefed by his US equivalent General James Mattis on American options for dealing with North Korea in recent weeks, The Sunday Times said. The Ministry of Defence said it never comments on private conversations between Sir Michael and his international counterparts. Solar panel installations have fallen by 80 per cent, following a massive cut in Government subsidies. Families across the country have turned their back on solar energy, which saw thousands a week install panels on their roofs to cut their energy bills and sell power back to the National Grid. It comes after the Conservative government cut the tariffs providing cashback for households by 65 per cent last year. Solar panel installations have fallen by 80 per cent, following cuts in Government subsidies. It comes after the Tories cut the tariffs providing cashback for households by 65 per cent last year Solar power had been hailed by Energy Secretary Greg Clark for creating mini power-stations in family homes and businesses. But now the cut to the feed-in tariff, coupled with a massive hike in business rates, is claimed to have slashed the number of installations by 81 per cent compared to the 2016 average. The Solar Trade Association, which produced the figures from government statistics, says the number of people putting solar panels on their homes is now at a six-year low. The industry organisations chief executive, Paul Barwell, told the Independent: At a time when we need more generation, the Government is hindering market competition against the best interests of consumers by suppressing the tremendous potential of solar power in the UK. Solar is being needlessly impeded in the UK by shock taxes, red tape and by a serious failure in the only remaining supportive policy. We urge Government to act now to stabilise the industry. Of particular concern is a 65 per cent drop in the number of large-scale solar schemes on hospitals, factories and other large buildings, which backers of solar power say may well have been caused by the business rate increase. The figures equate to just one large factory roof having solar panels fitted every month in the whole of the country. In total, between January and March, there were about 650 rooftop deployments a week a fall of more than 75 per cent on the long-term average of 2,700 a week since 2010. It follows the controversial decision to slash payments to households for their solar energy from 12 pence per kilowatt hour last January to just 4.39 pence. But now the cut to the feed-in tariff, coupled with a massive hike in business rates, is claimed to have slashed the number of installations by 81 per cent compared to the 2016 average The Government was accused of huge, misguided cuts to clean energy following the move, which it said was necessary to curb rising costs of green energy on consumer bills. Mr Barwell said he did not want new rooftop subsidies, but added: What we are asking for, and urgently, is fair tax treatment, fixes to a failing policy, less red tape and just a level playing field. It makes no sense to shut the most popular and cheapest clean power out of the energy market. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has defended the fall in solar panel installations among homes and businesses. A spokesman said: This Government wants Britain to be one of the best places in the world to invest in clean, flexible energy. Solar power is a great success, with over 11 GW of capacity installed in the last five years - thats enough to power more than 2.6 million homes with clean electricity. My son Edward has learned how to row and its his favourite thing already. This time, he has his favourite aunt for company. One minute, hes wielding his oar with a flourish, and the next hes standing up and waving at me on the shoreline. What happens next is like a scene out of Kenneth Grahames childrens classic The Wind In The Willows. The boat goes wibble wobble before capsizing with an exuberant splash. Its OK, mummy, Edward says, emerging from the lake with sodden clothes and squelching shoes. It was an accident. Messing about in boats: Edward, Alice and Toby enjoying a summer break in Finland on Lake Saimaa Sadly, Auntie Lettys phone is a write-off but Edward is only disappointed that we cant hang it on the washing line to dry. We had swapped the Mediterranean for a summer trip to Lake Saimaa in south-eastern Finland a three-hour drive from Helsinki. The appeal of Finland lies in the vastness of the landscape. Confetti-blue skies wrap around us while the flat countryside stretches out for miles. Dirt tracks lead to red farmhouses nestled among fields of potato, barley and yellow rapeseed. Further ahead, fields turn into woods, and woods into forests, while road signs caution against moose straying into our path. Were staying in a lakeside log cabin (mokki) in Anttolanhovi, with its own private wood-fired sauna, jetty and rowing boat. Here, Alvar Aalto furniture reigns among reindeer-skin rugs, Iittala glassware and Marimekko flowery linens. Its a contemporary twist on the traditional summer cottage. Splashing out: Alice and her family stayed in a lakeside log cabin (mokki) in Anttolanhovi, with its own private wood-fired sauna, jetty and rowing boat Traditional mokki come with a sauna but no running water and no electricity, and they have outdoor toilets, where soil is dispensed by the scoopful instead of water. Hot saunas, followed by skinny-dipping in a moonlit lake, underpin the Finnish way of life. The surrounding walking trails are enchanting. Buckets in hand, we set off in our wellies to pick mustikka wild bilberries to bake a pie. In our family, mustikkapiirakka is all the rage. Where are you going? asks mummo, Edwards Finnish grandmother. Were going on a bear hunt, Edward declares. Silver-barked birch, pine and spruce trees grow like the woods in a fairytale illustration Silver-barked birch, pine and spruce trees grow like the woods in a fairytale illustration. This is where my husband Toby spent his childhood summers but he has yet to meet a bear, so Edward may be disappointed. The boat excursion from Anttolanhovi to see rock paintings makes for a delightful afternoon. Edward is excited about the prospect of catching a glimpse of the endangered Saimaa ringed seal, native only to this lake, until the lull of the boats engine puts him to sleep. The prehistoric rock paintings may require a little imagination but their remote lakeside location make the scenic journey worthwhile. Cave Baby! exclaims Edward, referring to Julia Donaldsons picture book of an artistic baby doodling on cave walls in prehistoric times. Mummy, enough writing, shouts Edward. Come on, Ill take you rowing! Im tempted to say Im too busy, but then The Wind In The Willows springs to mind again. After all, as Rat would say: Theres nothing absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. When I let slip that I was going to Thailand, there was a lot of nudge-nudging and wink-winking. Oh, we know what you will be looking for, said all my male friends of a certain age. Whatever are you suggesting, I replied indignantly. You know, they replied. Youll be on the lookout for a Thai bride. Poor Thailand. The whole world seems to snigger at its very name, convinced it only has one attraction for tourists. But I knew, without knowing it, that it could not possibly be true. It is a fairly big, relatively rich country, 95 per cent Buddhist, and with a population similar to that of the UK. Dreamy landscapes: A traditional longboat sails around Phang Nga Bay It cant all be massage parlours or naked women playing bizarre games with ping-pong balls. A know-all friend told me about that, although under cross-examination he admitted he had never seen it. No one truly believes the whole of Majorca is like Magaluf. Most people know that Ibiza Town is not like, er, Ibiza, or that Glasgow is not full of razor gangs, or that Soho is not all strip clubs. Yet places acquire images that get passed on. It was a ten-hour flight from Heathrow to Bangkok on Thai Airways, a journey I was dreading, but it passed comfortably and quickly. (Coming back, it took 12 hours. Isnt it weird how much the wind matters?) Then there was a second flight of one hour to Phuket. At last, I thought, I will find out how to pronounce Phuket. Something to crow about: Hunter Davies at a shop in Phuket Old Town I had got it all wrong anyway. I never realised Phuket is a province, some 60 miles long, a long island with a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The dodgy, racy tourist traps are in the south, centred around Patong. I was in the north, which was as green as the Lake District but with slightly hotter weather. I stayed in a resort called Trisara, which turned out to be the classiest, most attractive and tasteful resort I have ever visited. The owners are a Thai family who have made their money in banking, so its not part of a large hotel group. Privately owned places usually manage to retain their personality and character, I find. Trisara is on a large estate, on a hillside overlooking the sea. Its a tropical paradise with trees and flowers, terraces and steps, and little lakes full of waterlilies. Walking down to the beach each day, I never seemed to see anyone. It was like having my own private estate. Secluded: Some of the villas at the Trisara resort in the province of Phuket There are just 39 holiday villas dotted about, plus a further 30 that are privately owned by families from all over the world. Each detached villa has its own pool a proper pool in which you can swim, not one of those titchy ones about the size of my desk. None of the properties is overlooked, so naturally I swam naked each morning and evening. Oh my goodness, I hope no one saw me. I dont want to ruin the ever-so-tasteful image of the real Phuket. I was in the north, which was as green as the Lake District but with slightly hotter weather And it was so quiet, my dears. Ive never been in a hotel in the tropics in which I could not hear, or even see, the air-conditioning. There was no music in either of the restaurants or the vast reception areas. I do hate music in hotels. I want to sit peacefully and enjoy the furnishings, the art, decor, ornaments, plants, flowers and the views and, of course, the lovely staff. There were so many about 300 constantly smiling and bowing. They greet you with hands clasped, as if in prayer. It took me a while to realise some subtle differences. When greeting an elderly gentleman, they have their hands at a slightly higher position, nearer their chin. I think I got that right. I did take quite a few snaps of them. Oh no, I hope they did not think I was looking for a Thai bride Pastel pretty: One of the streets in Phuket Old Town filled one with colonial-style houses, temples, shops and the odd massage parlour The food was amazing very imaginative, not too hot or spicy and almost all of it organic, and much of it grown on their own farm. I visited the farm, on a separate estate covering 200 acres, with seven little lakes, where the fruit and vegetables are grown. I didnt recognise many of the varieties. There were also chickens and ducks roaming free. Posh hotels the world over are obsessed by using organic produce, promising that their food is sensitively sourced. It has taken over from state-of-the-art spas, which all luxury hotels for the past ten years became convinced they had to have. But by visiting their farm, the lack of chemicals or pesticides was clear. So, jolly well done. And yes, of course, they do have a luxury spa. It was rather wasted on me, Im afraid. I find all spas the same: soppy music and pointless pummelling, although you do smell nice afterwards. The food was amazing very imaginative, not too hot or spicy and almost all of it organic I did an outing to Phuket Old Town filled with colonial-style houses, temples, shops and, yes, the odd massage parlour. I stuffed myself with street food from stalls beside the largest temple, which was crowded with children from a nearby school. They were all stuffing their faces, like children out of school anywhere in the world. I also did an expedition by boat up the coast, travelling to an area called Phang Nga Bay, which is a series of dramatic limestone rocky islets jutting out of the emerald-green sea. One is known as James Bond Island, as it featured in the 1974 movie The Man With The Golden Gun. There were loads of tourists from other resorts on Phuket, mostly arriving in traditional Thai longboats, which are highly decorated and very pretty. And when the tourists landed, to traipse around the sites and visit the national park, there was no alcohol available and decent clothing had to be worn. I should think so, too. After all, I now know that Thailand should really be known worldwide for its good taste, charming manners, impeccable behaviour, and lovely people. I first arrived in Port Stanley after a rough five-day crossing from Montevideo, on RMS Darwin, a 2,000-ton mail ship which carried 30 passengers as well as monthly supplies. It was July 1960. My second arrival in the capital of the Falkland Islands was in February this year, travelling in a six-seater Islander twin-engine plane flying from the Sea Lion Lodge on East Falkland, which is billed as the most southerly British hotel in the world. We flew over the house my family had lived in back in the 1960s and, apart from the fact that it was now surrounded by other houses, it looked much the same. On the march: After landing at Port Stanley on the Falklands you can visit Volunteer Point, where king penguins congregate in their hundreds Almost 60 years ago, very few people knew where the Falklands were. Now they are firmly on the world map and I must admit that on taking off from Punta Arenas in Chile at the start of this momentous nostalgia trip, I suffered from cold feet. Ice-cold feet. The population of the place has doubled since my day, most of them Armed Forces personnel; its suffered an invasion; theyve found oil; theres now a bustling economy; theyve built roads, a new school, a swimming pool; it attracts tourists. My memories were of roaming a car-free, crime-free expanse of natural playground on foot, on horseback, by Land Rover, or in one of the two six-seater Beaver seaplanes. It was too late now to remember those wise words: Never go back Ninety minutes later we landed in Mount Pleasant, the military airfield that serves the islands. There is tight security here, albeit in a somewhat chaotic, low-tech fashion, and the immigration and baggage retrieval took a while, although no longer than at many other international airports. Little changed: The waterfront and church at Port Stanley, which is the capital of the Falkland Islands and located on the island of East Falkland Our journey onwards from Mount Pleasant was to be in an Islander and there was a disconcerting moment when not just our baggage but our bodies were subject to the indignities of the scales. I closed my eyes and crossed my fingers after all, we had eaten well in Chile! But we were soon on our way and as we banked over the base and headed north-west, my earlier worries began to fade. This landscape was the one I remembered: great expanses of hilly wilderness, with rocky outcrops and the stone rivers left by ancient glaciers. Apart from one or two tiny settlements, it was deserted. What was so special was that we were alone with the wildlife and they were unafraid. The only other humans we saw were a mother and daughter moving their sheep. Then we crossed Falkland Sound, which divides East Falkland from West, and before long were touching down on a short stretch of flattened grass marked by a tiny hut and a windsock: the airstrip at Pebble Island. Rikki and Monty met us in a big 4x4 and drove us down the hill to Pebble Island Lodge, formerly the farm managers home but now a charming guest house. Eight of us sat down that evening for a delicious three-course meal: chicken salad, locally caught mullet, and a Chilean pudding, all home-cooked and served by Veronica, the Chilean housekeeper; self-serve drinks were from an honesty bar. The following day we set off with Monty in the 4x4 to see the sights of Pebble Island. Off-road (there isnt one) the whole way, this was a birdwatchers paradise. Three sorts of penguins: rockhoppers, gentoos and magellanic (known locally as jackasses because of the extraordinary braying sound they make); giant petrels, turkey vultures, Upland geese (they are everywhere!) a hawk, another hawk attacking Upland geese, and many more species besides. Beach life: Sea Lion Island, a nature reserve that was formerly a sheep farm, is now a haven for birds, seals, elephant seals (pictured) and sea lions What was so special was that we were alone with the wildlife and they were unafraid. The only other humans we saw were a mother and daughter moving their sheep. In Pebble Island there are also some echoes of the 1982 Argentine invasion. A memorial for HMS Coventry, which sank just off the coast; pieces of a shot-down Argentine Dagger jet; a cairn to honour the SAS who mounted the first land-based offensive of the conflict here. All now an intrinsic part of the landscape. After Pebble Island, we flew to the other extremity of the archipelago, Sea Lion Island, which is far smaller (2,236 acres) but even richer in wildlife, a nature reserve that was formerly a sheep farm but is now a haven for birds and seals. King penguins congregate in their hundreds. They waddle down to the white sandy beach and plunge into the waves with an enviable disregard for the tourists Its most famous for its elephant seals but is also home (in the breeding season) to southern sea lions as well as gentoo, magellanic and rockhoppers. We even saw a lost king penguin. There are orcas, imperial cormorants, skua, albatross, grebe, shearwater, all sorts of goose, duck and teal; caracara, tern, snipe and, unique to the Falkland Islands, the Cobbs wren. We saw them all and more, many of them almost close enough to touch. As on Pebble Island, the lodge at Sea Lion is comfortable and friendly, with a lovely atmosphere and tasty home-cooked food. From the windows you can see two penguin colonies and, as long as you dont try going through the tussac grass (we did!), its a 15-minute walk to a beach where elephant seals bask. The orcas can, potentially, be seen from any point on the island. We were lucky enough to catch them off an even closer beach (five minutes away) and we watched for 20 minutes while a pod of six showed off their stunning moves. The last stop during our week stay was Port Stanley, a thriving, bustling little city which in some ways has changed enormously over the years and yet remains essentially the same. Echoes from the past: The HMS Coventry memorial on Pebble Island I had no difficulty finding my way around and, despite development, many buildings and views are instantly recognisable. The museum was fascinating, with some evocative pictures and artefacts and a perfect reconstructed smithy and printing works. From Stanley you can visit Volunteer Point (largely another roller-coaster off-road trip), where king penguins congregate in their hundreds. They waddle down to the white sandy beach and plunge into the waves with an enviable disregard for the tourists perhaps because, unlike so many wildlife trips and safaris, the birds far outnumber their visitors, at a rough guess by three or four hundred to one. Another day trip from the capital is Darwin, Goose Green and San Carlos, where much of the conflict took place in 1982 and where the war cemeteries are. Our guide, nine when the Argentines invaded, had many moving stories from those 74 days of occupation as well as tales of veterans from both sides who visit. Perhaps the most poignant moment came during a meal at the Waterfront Hotel. A group of former Paras were enjoying a reunion dinner, while at another table sat some locals. As the residents stood up to leave, one moved to the Paras table and shook each one by the hand, thanking them for all they had done for him and his fellow islanders. He had been a boy on Pebble Island at the time. She's not one to shy away from flaunting her curvaceous figure. And Coco Austin put her curves on full display on Friday as she posed in a colorful maxi dress for her 2.8 million Instagram followers. The 38-year-old star also thanked her daughter Chanel, one, for her post-baby body as she captioned the pic: 'Holy Boobies...Thx @babychanelnicole for my post-baby body I'm more conscious of being healthier than ever.' Scroll down for video Work it! Coco Austin modeled for her 2.8 million Instagram followers on Friday posing in a colorful maxi dress The wife of Ice-T directed her fans to the clothing company Fashion Nova where the dress is from, and even gifted them with a promo code for 15 percent off. Coco knew how to wear the dress well as the plunging neckline highlighted her ample cleavage and the fitted material hugged her hips and derriere. Posting a shot of the back of the dress, the blonde bombshell captioned the snap: 'This dress from @fashionnova has a cool back. Reminds me of a mermaid.' Like a mermaid: The 38-year-old model showed off the back of her dress, which she wrote reminded her of a mermaid 'Holy Boobies': The mom-of-one thanked her daughter Chanel, one, for her 'post-baby body' and making her more conscious of being 'healthier than ever' The lingerie model wore her locks loose and wavy as she donned dark aqua eyeliner, matching that of her dress, and bright pink lipstick. She added complementary blue hoops for accessories. Meanwhile, Coco has launched her third lingerie collection under her company, CocoLicious Lingerie. A natural: The lingerie model launched her third collection under her company, CocoLicious And while the model is a natural in posing, her little daughter may not be far off from following in her mother's footsteps. The tot already has her own Instagram with over 400k followers and landed the front cover of Vintage New York City Magazine earlier this month. Chanel made her runway debut in February for Rookie USA's New York Fashion Week show alongside her mom and dad. 'When I start doing a little mini photoshoot at home, she starts to liven up,' Austin previously told People. 'Shes a ham shell pose and move, and Im like, "[If] youre like that [at 1 year] old, [I wonder] in another year what youll be like."' Ryan Reynolds might be looking to add a photographer credit to his already impressive resume. On Friday is wife Blake Lively shared three photos of herself on Instagram, crediting them to her 40-year-old husband. One shot was a very tight close up of his wife's chest, displaying her white lace bikini top and over $3,000 worth of jewelry. Tropical: Blake Lively wore a lei in this photo she posted to Instagram on Friday, taken by her husband Ryan Reynolds The actress used the camera emoji and Ryan's Instagram handle in the caption, adding the palm tree and flower emojis. 29-year-old Blake can be seen wearing a lei as it appears they are on a tropical vacation, they were last spotted in New York City at the end of March. She wore a white lace mullet skirt that matched her beachwear top. Stealing focus: Her necklace, body chain and earrings were worth over $3,000, but fans may have been looking at something else in the close-up photo of her chest Over her white outfit she wore a shiny baby blue jacket as she roamed barefoot on the beach. The Gossip Girl star has been Mrs. Reynolds since 2012 and they have two daughters together, Ines and James. But in a new viral video for Glamour Magazine with designer Michael Kors Blake revealed that she had a crush on David Letterman as a child. Blur: Perhaps Ryan should stick to being in front of the camera Revealed: Blake tells Michael Kors her childhood crush was David Letterman in a new video for Glamour magazine 'I had a crush on David Letterman,' she told a shocked Kors as they played a game of Fact Or Fiction. 'He had my dad's sense of humor, that like, really dry sense of humor. I really liked it!' During her first appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman in 2008, she revealed her crush to the late night host who had a laugh about the confession. She's a comedian and radio personality known for her outspoken ways. But in Saturday's The Daily Telegraph, Em Rusciano showed her vulnerable side in a candid interview about mental health. Speaking of her experience with post-natal depression after the birth of second daughter Odette, the 38-year-old revealed: 'It's real and it's not fun.' 'It's real and not fun': Em Rusciano, 38, got candid about post-natal depression after the birth of her second daughter Odette, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph 'I think generally, as a society, we are more accepting of mental illness, but I think when you drill down, and for post-natal depression in particular, a lot of mothers feel ashamed and guilty,' Em told The Daily Telegraph's BW Magazine. 'I had it the second time around (with daughter Odette, now 10) and was in denial, I just went into survival mode and was functioning on adrenaline until the adrenaline ran out. Admitting first hand that 'it's real and it's not fun,' Em also opened up about her ongoing struggle with anxiety. 'I still get really bad anxiety and walk around in a mild state of panic for no reason, I've always had ups and downs in terms of depression.' Family unit: Em is married to Scott Barrow, the couple sharing two precious daughters, Marcella, 15, and Odette, 10 Em is married to Scott Barrow, the couple sharing two precious daughters, Marcella, 15, and Odette, 10. Despite numerous happy family snaps shared to the brunette's Instagram, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. In July last year, Em wrote a very candid post for news.com.au on how she repaired her marriage. Detailing a couple's retreat, Em shared how important the trip was after having separated from Scott for the second time, six months prior. 'A very tough few months': In July last year, Em wrote a very candid post for news.com.au on how she repaired her marriage. Detailing a couple's retreat, Em shared how important the trip was after having separated from Scott for the second time, six months prior 'He moved into the spare room, we went about raising our daughters together and attempted to keep our relationship going on a functional level,' the writer shared of the challenging time. 'It was a very tough few months, pretending you're OK when your insides are caving in from a heartbreak is tricky work,' she continued of maintaining a work/life balance. 'Slowly we came back together. We went away and worked on ourselves and started to relate to each other in a new way. Scott called this a third way of viewing our relationship and making things easier and better.' After 15 years on the stage, she's no stranger to fame. And Penny McNamee, 34, has revealed her excitement after being nominated for her first Logie award in the Best New Talent category this year. As Summer Bay's newest star, Penny is one of the most experienced actors to ever be nominated in the category. Up for a gong! 34-year-old Penny McNamee is nominated for her first Logie in the Best New Talent category Speaking with The Daily Telegraph, Penny said that despite her decade long career on the stage, it was Home & Away that made her a household name. She said: 'Its amazing, as an actor you can have an entire career and people not really know your name.' 'I just never landed a big role that put me on the map.' Tough industry to crack: Penny said: 'Its amazing, as an actor you can have an entire career and people not really know your name' Older and wiser: 'Its sweeter now. If I got a Logie nomination at 20 I wouldnt have understood the gravity of the award' Penny has had a long and successful career including a Green Room award for her role as Nessarose in the stage production of Wicked. She's also made guest appearances on Australian TV dramas such as All Saints and Satisfaction, as well as various NY TV roles. Penny said that now she's older, she appreciates the nomination more than she would when she was a newcomer. On-screen lovebirds: Jessica was snapped filming Home & Away last week with co-star George Mason She said: 'Its sweeter now. If I got a Logie nomination at 20 I wouldnt have understood the gravity of the award.' Penny is also known for being the older sister of Packed To The Rafters star Jessica McNamee, who also starred in Home & Away in 2007. Penny came to Summer Bay in May 2016 as a doctor named Tori Morgan and has become a fan favourite since she arrived. He moved into a lavish $80,000 beach-front pad back in October - proving his hard work over in the States to have paid off. But James Corden appears to already be moving on to his next property, after he was seen viewing a house under construction with his wife Julia in LA on Friday. And arriving in style, the 38-year-old was spotted exiting his flash convertible while donning a pair of shades as he pulled up outside his potential new pad. Scroll down for video Cool ride: James Corden was seen arriving to view a house under construction in his flash sports convertible in LA on Friday James cut a casual appearance for his house viewing and stepped out in jeans and a navy polo top that he teamed with a pair of trainers. However, his outing soon became more dramatic than planned, as The Late Late Show host was almost run over by a nearby truck when he left the establishment. James appeared in his own world as he made his way back to his plush ride, after viewing the house. Although his apparent distraction almost got him into trouble only seconds later, as he closely avoided being a hit by a blue truck parked outside. New move? The TV host was spotted arriving at the property with his wife Julia Carey and a couple of others Lucky brake! James's house viewing in LA became more dramatic than planned on Friday, after he was almost run over by a truck outside the property Close call: The 38-year-old was almost run over by a nearby truck when he left the establishment, after viewing it with his wife Julia The former Gavin and Stacey star swiftly ran around the vehicle to avoid further bother and James seemed more than happy to be leaving the awkward encounter. Brushing off the near miss, James appeared to be fine as he made his way back to his car. He and his wife of four years Julia appear to be house-hunting again, after swapping their five-bedroom villa in Brentwood for a five-storey beachfront home worth $24million in October. Chilling: The former Gavin and Stacey star appeared in his own world after viewing the new abode, as he made his way back to his car Whoops: However his apparent distraction almost got him into trouble only seconds later, as he closely avoided being a hit by a blue truck parked outside Off we go: Swiftly running round the vehicle to avoid further bother, the Late Late Show host seemed more than happy to be leaving the awkward encounter Moving on: He then headed off to his car to continue with the rest of his day house-hunting The pad boasted six bedrooms and seven bathrooms as well as its own infinity pool, private gym and outdoor fireplace - proving James to have hit the big-time since relocating to the States. The One Man Two Guvnors lead took over as host of the Late Late Show from Craig Ferguson last March, and has found huge success with the series, especially with his Carpool Karaoke segment. Not only singing behind the wheel, the chat show host also often partakes in a number of musical parodies - including a rap song with Niall Horan, and even a traffic-stopping performance of a Beauty and the Beast parody on the streets of LA last month. Back on the market: James and Julia appear to be house-hunting again, after swapping their Brentwood villa for a five-storey beachfront home worth $24million in October Most recently, the skit has been turned into its own spin-off series for Apple Music, and is set to feature appearances from the likes of Will Smith, Alicia Keys, John Legend and Seth McFarlane. However it has since been announced that after receiving such a positive reception in the US, Corden will now bring the chat show to the UK. It was confirmed last month that he will film three episodes of the show in London to give it a British twist - which will air exclusively on Sky 1 and NOW TV in June. Speaking about his forthcoming trip home, Corden said: 'To bring The Late Late Show to the UK is a dream come true for me. I'm incredibly proud of the show and we're going to do our best to make this week in London memorable.' She was overwhelmed after being unveiled as the first openly gay companion to star on long-running BBC hit drama Doctor Who. And the first images of Pearl Mackie, who plays the tomboyish Bill alongside current Doctor Peter Capaldi, have been released ahead of the hotly anticipated new season premiere on Saturday night. Earlier this week the 29-year-old rising star admitted to Good Morning Britain that she thinks it was 'about time' the show starred a gay assistant. Scroll down for video Long-awaited: New images have been released ahead of Pearl Mackie's anticipated debut as Peter Capaldi's assistant on the new series of hit BBC show Doctor Who on Saturday night The series will be Peter Capaldi's last as the planet-hopping Time Lord as he is set to leave at Christmas. But there is plenty of adventure in store for the actor and his new, intrepid companion, as the latest series trailer teased fans with shots of classic enemies, including daleks and cybermen. Newly released images of the new pair show them standing in the Doctor's preferred transport mode, the Tardis, setting off to explore a purple-hued planet. Adventure time: Newly released images of the new pair show them standing in the Doctor's preferred transport mode, the Tardis, setting off to explore a purple-hued planet Enemies await: There is plenty of adventure in store for the actor and his new, intrepid companion, as the latest series trailer teased fans with shots of classic enemies, including daleks and cybermen The debut is not only a big moment for the London-born rising star, but for a whole generation of viewers. And Pearl, who only had a single credit on daytime soap Doctors before being cast in the highly coveted role, believes a gay character is long overdue for the show. Speaking to the ITV programme last week, Pearl explained: The terminology, the official companion is why shes the first gay companion. Its the terminology of that thats actually the first for Doctor Who. I mean, its about time isnt it? About time: Pearl, who plays the tomboyish Bill, believes its acknowledgement of gay characters is long overdue But it has not been easy to deal with the sudden attention that comes with the role of being the Doctor's assistant - a role played previously by stars including Billie Piper and Jenna Coleman. And Pearl admits has taken time for her to adjust to her instant fame. It has been insane, she said. That first day when I was first announced I got some friends round and then loads more people saw it, my friends were texting me, people calling, my Twitter count was going up. I was really grateful when my phone died actually. I was like, that is too much for me to deal with right now, Im just going to put that away. Looking ahead: Pearl was speaking to Good Morning Britain as she prepares for her debut on the hugely popular BBC show Candid opinion: The terminology, the official companion is why shes the first gay companion. Its the terminology of that thats actually the first for Doctor Who. I mean, its about time isnt it? she said While viewers anticipate her introduction to thew show, Pearl ruffled a few fan feathers on Wednesday by admitting admitted she didn't know the answer to a question about the infamous TARDIS. Appearing on The One Show, the actress was asked by Angela Scanlon about what type of fuel powers the TARDIS' engine. Clearly not expecting such a question, Pearl slickly batted off the question by saying: 'It's space engine oil None of that congestion charge or pollution either. It's all good!' Fuel fury! Doctor Who fans are left raging with new star Pearl after she made a TARDIS gaffe on The One Show This set tempers ranging with some viewers at home who furiously took to Twitter to correct the star on her unforgivable mistake. 'It's not space engine oil, it's actually the energy from the rift is what powers the TARDIS but whatever! [sic]' kicked off the first obsessed fan. A second screamed into their Twitter upload: 'PEARL IT'S ARTRON ENERGY COME OOON!' Caught off guard: Appearing on The One Show, the 29-year-old actress was asked by Angela Scanlon about what type of fuel powers the TARDIS' engine Next question please: Clearly not expecting such a question, Pearl slickly batted off the question by saying - 'It's space engine oil None of that congestion charge or pollution either. It's all good' An equally vocal user wrote: 'UM SCUZ ME TARDIS RUNS ON ARTRON ENERGY GAWD!' 'Every single #DoctorWho fan screams the TARDIS is powered by rift energy,' a fourth typed. In stark contrast, another tweeter posted: 'Who are these people bitching Pearl Mackie over TARDIS fuelling! Get a life!' Pearl's defense for not knowing the answer is a solid one: show boss Steven Moffat told her not to go back over the Doctor Who back-catalogue and not to over-familiarise herself with the show's universe in advance. Ignorance is bliss: Pearl's defense for not knowing the answer is a solid one: show boss Steven Moffat told her not to go back over the Doctor Who back-catalogue and not to over-familiarise herself with the show's universe in advance She can't do it all: Given it been on screen for more than 50 years and has a devoted horde of fans across the globe, it's safe to say that anybody taking on a role on Doctor Who or his sidekick has a lot to live up to On the promo trail: Pearl has been busy teasing the new series of Doctor Who all week 'I initially planned to watch all of [Peter Capaldi's] stuff with Jenna [Coleman], so I could see what he was like as a Doctor, and they were like, "Don't watch it, because she doesn't know anything about that, and actually what you're bringing to it is a really nice kind of freshness. What you're doing is working",' she said. Given it been on screen for more than 50 years and has a devoted horde of fans across the globe, it's safe to say that anybody taking on a role on Doctor Who or his sidekick has a lot to live up to. And when Pearl was shortlisted for the role of Bill Potts, the actress admits that she was so nervous about the prospect of meeting star Peter Capaldi that she considered running away. In an interview with the Radio Times, she said of her first meeting with departing star Peter: 'I rocked up in my Afro and bright yellow trainers and a baggy T-shirt, into this big glossy octagon foyer and they told me to wait in a room till they were ready for me. I almost ran away.' In the hot seat: The actress later oversaw an Easter Egg race on the show Runaway success: Pearl has admitted that she considered running away when she first met with Peter Capaldi ahead of taking on her new role in Doctor Who Peter, who joined Pearl for the interview asked his new co-star: 'Did you not feel at home?,' before adding: 'I think you looked very cool there. You looked great.' Brixton native Pearl responded: 'Well thank you. I must have been outwardly confident. But then when you and I read together and you said, "Shall we stand up?", I panicked. At TV auditions I just sit still and try not to move my face too much.' With the new season being Peter's final round of intergalactic travels, he also spoke about his decision to leave the role that has attracted a new set of fans. On the promotional trail: The pair recently teamed up for a photoshoot with co-star Matt Lucas 'Ive never done anything for any length of time,' he said of the role he has occupied since 2013. 'Even The Thick of It was only 20 episodes over four years. 'Ill have done 40 episodes of Doctor Who. I dont think if I stayed on Id be able to think of another way to say, "This could be the end of civilisation as we know it." 'Ive always gone from one job to the other and seen what was around the corner and I want to get back to that.' Coming to an end: The upcoming season will vibe Peter's last turn as the popular Doctor Who During the interview, Peter spoke with Pearl about the new level of recognition her role on the show will afford her. 'I think the biggest difference is people recognise you much more,' he told her. 'It happens almost immediately. Millions will be watching and a lot of them will be where you live or on your bus at least, itll feel like that.' Pearl said in response: 'Its already happening. A French guy tried to take my picture the other day. People like seeing the Doctor going for coffee.' Linger: In his interview with the Radio Times, he said he hasn't ever occupied a role for too long She was announced as the new companion back in April 2016 and has likened her appointment in the role to being 'welcomed into a family'. The actress told the BBC: 'My Twitter follower count went from 400-and-something to 16,500 in about two hours, so that was pretty mental. 'But it's been really nice, everyone seems to be really excited. It's sort of like being welcomed into a family and all the fans have been really welcoming.' Bosses have decided that Peter's exit offers an opportunity to recast the show and Pearl will not make the cut, according to The Sun. The decision is believed to have been made by the BBC and Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall, who replaces current showrunner Steven Moffat after this series. A source told the paper: 'Bosses have decided to have a completely fresh start. It's yet to be formally decided but it makes sense to give Chris his own choice of actor to play the doctor and his companion.' Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Saturday Advertisement She's no stranger to sparking controversy thanks to her fiery interactions on Foxtel's Real Housewives Of Sydney. And it seems not even home-buyers are seeing eye-to-eye with Krissy Marsh. The 45-year-old moved back into her lavish six-bedroom Dover Heights this month, after it failed to fetch its $8 million asking price at auction. Not buying it! Real Housewives Of Sydney's Krissy Marsh has moved back into her six-bedroom Dover Heights home after it failed to sell at auction recently According to realestate.com.au, the return was made possible when the Double Bay apartment she used as her home base for the reality series managed to secure tenants willing to fork-out it's reported $2,700 per-week asking price. The star's palatial Dover Heights pad wasn't as fortunate, having been vacant since Krissy declined a $7.7 million offer in February. It is believed the model's three-kids Billy, Nicco and Milano will spend their second weekend this year unpacking boxes. Bondi and Bronte - the personality's two poodles - will get a reprieve from helping out on account of their lack of opposable thumbs. Vacant: The multi-story waterside pad had been vacant since Krissy declined a $7.7 million offer in February Softened: In the kitchen, a stunning marbled bench-top stretches the entirety of the bright rectangle kitchen Lighten up! Light floods into the waterside property via floor to ceiling windows set in mahogany frames The crippling blow of house-buyer rejection will likely be softened by the sheer luxury of their multi-story surrounds. In the kitchen, a stunning marbled bench-top stretches the entirety of the bright rectangle kitchen. Light floods into the waterside property via floor to ceiling windows set in mahogany frames. A distinct flare for industrial design permeates the adjacent dining room, as striking black metal lamps bear down on a rustic wooden table. Industrial: A distinct flare for industrial design permeates the adjacent dining room, as striking black metal lamps bear down on a rustic wooden table Vintage: Exposed brick on the neighbouring walls stretches into a living room highlighted by a vintage, faded turkish rug Bathroom: In the bathroom, lighter wood tones are matched with a stunning free-standing sand-coloured ceramic bath Seeing double: Provided images show a pair of cozy bedrooms, with one featuring two double beds resting against a wall covered with a world-map print Exposed brick on the neighbouring walls stretches into a living room highlighted by a vintage, faded turkish rug. Silver and brown tones are introduced into the minimalist colour palette via two large couches and two plush arm-chairs. In the bathroom, lighter wood tones are matched with a stunning free-standing sand-coloured ceramic bath. Provided images show a pair of cozy bedrooms, with one featuring two double beds resting against a wall covered with a world-map print. Krissy bought the block of land in 2003 with husband developer John for a reported $1.9 million. Profits! Krissy bought the block of land in 2003 with husband developer John for a reported $1.9 million Ruby Rose recently made headlines after revealing she identifies as gender fluid. But it seems that online surveys have yet to catch up her gender identification. On Friday, the 31-year-old took to Instagram to bemoan an online survey which failed to take into account gender neutrality. Scroll down for video Gender fluid: Actress Ruby Rose took to Instagram story after she was stuck on a question that asked her what gender she identified with In the short clip, Ruby appears to have gone on to personality test website keirsey.com to find out what personality type she belonged to. After answering 70 probing questions, she had to answer a question asking which gender she identified with. 'When answer all the tough questions and then you get to the hardest question of all...' she said. 'The hardest question of all': After revealing she was gender fluid last year, Ruby found it difficult to answer the final question of what appears to be a personality quiz But it seems Ruby is done with answering their survey's in depth questions, ready to head off to bed she concludes saying: 'Good night Ruby.' 'I am very gender fluid and feel more like I wake up every day sort of gender neutral,' she said in a previous report by news.com.au. 'I cop a fair bit of flack for going from 'such a babe to such a boy'. I wanted to share (that) story.' Ruby is believed to be in Los Angeles with girlfriend Jessica Origliasso, who is also recording a track with twin sister Lisa. Loved up: Once reaching the final question, Ruby seemed to be done with the quiz calling it a night Getting serious: The Orange Is The New Black actress was spotted with musician Jessica Origliasso after they were spotted house hunting in Los Angeles Jessica recently took to Instagram to share a steamy mirror selfie of herself in a high cut black leotard. Things also appear to be getting more serious between lovebirds after they were also spotted house hunting around Los Angeles. The Orange Is The New Black actress was recently in Atlanta, Georgia filming scenes for the highly anticipated third instalment of Pitch Perfect. Ruby and Jessica first dated in 2008 but broke it off, they rekindled their romance while filming the raunchy music video for On Your Side by The Veronicas, that saw the two dress in black lingerie and bath in a bubble bath together. The first glimpse of Carrie Fisher in The Last Jedi has been unveiled. During a tribute to the late actress at Star Wars Celebration in Orlando on Saturday, images of her in character as General Leia were briefly revealed to the excited crowd. In one shot, she can be seen receiving direction from Rian Johnson, with several members of the crew busy behind them. FIRST LOOK: The first glimpse of Carrie Fisher in The Last Jedi has been unveiled at Star Wars Celebration She is dressed in heavy, dark ceremonial-looking robes, giving slight nods to one of the outfits worn by her mother Padme, as well as the only outfit worn by her father, Darth Vader. Her hair, tinged with grey, is done up in a classic elaborate style traditional among the Skywalker ladies. In the second pic, which appears to be between takes, Fisher and Johnson share a laugh as she thoughtfully sips a drink. The first trailer for Episode VIII also debuted on Friday, in which only the briefest glimpse of General Leia was seen. Nod: Her hair, tinged with grey, is done up in a classic elaborate style traditional among the Skywalker ladies The single shot, from behind, shows her standing at a console with a holographic star map displayed in front of her quite possibly the reverse of the shot of her with Rian Johnson and crew. From that angle, the silhouette is even more Vader-esque. As images flashed up on screen behind her surviving co-stars, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, said: 'Carrie is remarkable in the movie... you guys are going to find it an amazing tribute to her talent' Spotted: The first trailer for Episode VIII also debuted on Friday, in which only the briefest glimpse of General Leia was seen Daddy issues: the silhouette was reminiscent of her father Darth Vader Snap: She is dressed in heavy, dark ceremonial-looking robes, giving slight nods to one of the outfits worn by her mother Padme Earlier on Friday, Kennedy confirmed that The Last Jedi will be Carrie's last Star Wars film. Excitement grew among fans last week when the late actress's brother Todd indicated she would appear in the final Episode IX. He claimed Disney had discussed with him and his niece Billie Lourd the option of using existing footage, rather than the 'CGI enhanced other actress' method employed in Rogue One. The end: Earlier on Friday, Kennedy confirmed that The Last Jedi will be Carrie's last Star Wars film Pretty dark: Disney also unveiled the new poster of Friday However Kennedy told ABC News: 'Sadly, Carrie will not be in (Episode) Nine. We'll see a lot of her in VII, which is great,' she added. Fisher died of cardiac arrest on December 27, 2016, at age 60, four days after a medical emergency during a transatlantic flight from London to Los Angeles. She had, at that stage, finished filming all her scenes for The Last Jedi. Her co-star, friend and on-screen brother Mark Hamill revealed the day before at the 40th anniversary Celebration that he's still grieving over her death, but sharing memories with fans is 'part of the process that I need to move on.' Grieving: Her co-star, friend and on-screen brother Mark Hamill revealed the day before at the 40th anniversary Celebration that he's still grieving over her death, but sharing memories with fans is 'part of the process that I need to move on.' Remembered: Hamill led an hour-long tribute to Fisher on Friday evening at the event 'Space twin': 'I'm trying to use you as therapy to get through this together,' the actor said. He called Fisher 'my beloved space twin' and said they were also great friends off-screen Hamill led an hour-long tribute to Fisher on Friday evening at the event. 'I'm trying to use you as therapy to get through this together,' the actor said. He called Fisher 'my beloved space twin' and said they were also great friends off-screen. They even shared a steamy make-out session once, he said. 'As attracted as I was to her, I thought I couldn't handle her as a girlfriend. She's too much,' Hamill said. 'Part of me did fall in love with her. I think every guy... She had you under her spell.' Missing Carrie: Hamill and Harrison Ford hugged Fisher's daughter Bille Lourd at the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando on Thursday night Aww: Hamill tweeted it was 'like cuddling our princess again' Co-stars: The montage of clips included behind the scenes footage like this of Carrie with Billie on set Hamill told stories of visiting with Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, in New York and attending incredible parties at their homes in Los Angeles. He also introduced video clips of George Lucas and 'The Last Jedi' director Rian Johnson in which they share anecdotes about working with Fisher. 'Wait until you see her in 'The Last Jedi,' ' Hamill added. 'You're going to love her.' His voice cracked as he read a letter he had written shortly after Fisher died in December. He spoke of how he admired her intellect, attitude and sense of humor. Hamill said his personal and professional life would have been diminished had she not been part of them. He said that while he's still in mourning, he's focusing on her legacy. 'When I think of her, she's looking down from the celestial stratosphere with those big brown eyes, that sly smile on her face, as she lovingly extends me the middle finger,' Hamill said. 'And that's how I want you to think of her. That was Carrie.' Candice Swanepoel is clearly hopping mad about being a new mom. The 28-year-old Victoria's Secret stunner shared a series of adorable photos of her six-month-old son, Anaca Nicoli, on Instagram on Friday to celebrate Easter. In the candid black and white photos, the cute baby boy is seen playing on what appears to be a bed, while wearing a knit beanie with bunny ears. Happy Easter: Candice Swanepoel shared a series of adorable photos of her six-month-old son, Anaca Nicoli, in a bunny beanie And while his mom may be a pro in front of the camera, little Anaca appeared more interested in the pom-poms attached to his hat than he was in focusing on the lens in front of him. In one photo, the adorable baby can be seen carefully studying one of the pom-poms while holding it in his tiny hands. Another photo shows him sucking on it, while a third shows him tugging it across his face. Proud mama: The 28-year-old Victoria's Secret stunner has spoken openly about her love for motherhood and her son Easily distracted: While Candice was trying to snap photos of her son, Anaca appeared to be more fascinated by the pom-pom at the end of his beanie Stretching it out... At one stage, the adorable six-month-old pulled one of the pom-poms across his face Dressed in just a diaper and a white T-shirt, Anaca appeared to have been having a great time hamming it up for his famous mom. He also wore a beaded teething necklace around his neck. Anaca is the first child for the South African-born blonde beauty. She shares him with her partner of 12 years, Brazilian-born model Hermann Nicoli, 34. Baby face: Anaca is the first child for the South African-born blonde beauty and her longtime partner, Hermann Nicoli All smiles... Anaca appeared to have been having a great time playing on a bed while wearing a bunny beanie On April 5, Candice took to Instagram to celebrate her son's six-month birthday. '6 months ago this treasure came into my life, and brings me so much joy everyday I could just pop!' she wrote. 'So grateful to be his mommy.' Pia Miller is fresh from being unveiled as the face - and hair - of GHD's latest campaign. And the Home And Away actress she taken to Instagram to flaunt her luscious mane and fabulous figure in a cheeky bedroom snap. The 33-year-old actress flaunted her toned figure while she lay in bed as her photographer boyfriend Tyson Mullane hover over her to get the perfect shot. 'Oh hey Bonds': Actress Pia Miller has posted a sultry snap online of her laying in bed while covering her face and modelling the latest Bonds underwear The Home & Away actress wore a baggy white V-neck T-shirt that was crumpled and pulled up to expose her toned stomach. She teamed this with a pair of high-cut black Bonds briefs and captioned the photo with 'Oh hey new @bondsaus #comfytails'. Her luscious locks were the picture of perfect messy bed hair as they laid sprawled across the white pillows. Pia covered her eyes with her hands and smirked slightly for the camera. The 33-year-old actress posed while her boyfriend Tyson Mullane captured the perfect shot Pia was recently spotted having a tense conversation on set of Home And Away in Sydney's Palm Beach with co-star James Stewart. While filming a scene for Channel Seven's soap on Tuesday, Pia confronted James while in character as Katarina 'Kat' Chapman. James, who plays bad boy Justin Morgan, seemed to be trying to explain himself to Pia, who was wearing a police officer's uniform. He fought the law... but who won? Pia Miller and James Stewart have been pictured having a tense conversation on set of Home And Away in Sydney's Palm Beach Wait and see! Home And Away is filmed several months before it is broadcast in Australia and the United Kingdom Before shooting the scene, she showed off her enviable muscle tone while jogging across Palm Beach. Wearing black shorts with blue piping, the actress was working her calves and toned thighs to the limit. Her lilac top, under which she appeared to don swimwear, revealed a glimpse of her lean, muscular arms. The mother of two wore a white Nike hat under which she tucked her long ponytail. He's known for his penchant for sharing shirtless snaps on Instagram. But on Saturday Rhys Chilton, 30, took to social media to express his disbelief of God over the Easter weekend. The ex-Bachelorette star posted a controversial meme on Instagram on Saturday along with his own opinion on the matter. Scroll down for video 'This one time...': Rhys Chilton, 30, posted a meme to Instagram expressing his disbelief in God over the Easter weekend The hen's party entertainer's meme depicted the famous Sermon On The Mount with words: 'This one time, I got so hammered... I woke up 3 days later in some cave'. Rhys shared this with his own caption that said: 'If you believe any other version.... You're an idiot. Sorry not sorry #gullible #itsallalie #theresnogod'. While this statement may have been meant to be taken in a light-hearted manner, many of Rhys's followers were not happy with the post. 'That's pretty rude man...': Some of Rhys' followers commented underneath the eyebrow-raising post to slam him for being 'disrespectful' Fans flocked to the photo to have their say on the matter, with many slamming him for being 'disrespectful' towards other people's religious views over the Easter weekend. One fan wrote: 'Jesus is alive. The only true saviour. The way the truth and the life.' Another simply settled for: 'That's pretty rude man...' which prompted a long-winded response from Rhys. He replied: 'Churches not paying taxes is pretty rude too... My account, I post what I want.' 'I post what I want': Rhys didn't care if people were offended over his own personal views Popular: Rhys is no stranger to Instagram as he regularly posts shirtless photos to his 19k followers Another more passionate user wrote: 'I totally believe that you can post whatever you want but I don't think you should put something like this that says something about someone's religion or beliefs', which again provoked Rhys to reply. He said: 'I believe in science, something that can be proven. When you want to show me proof that god exists I'll respect your view.' Rhys continued: 'Until then you're in the same basket as grown ups who still believe in Santa Clause and the Easter bunny, tooth fairy, unicorns.... Should I continue?' 'I don't care if everyone unfollows me': Rhys has nearly 19k followers on Instagram 'WTF?': Rhys named and shamed his religious commentor on his Instagram story One final commentor posted a huge comment about her religious upbringing and the significance of posting the blasphemous picture one day before Easter Sunday and Rhys chose to respond on his public Instagram story. He screenshotted the comment and added: 'Wtf haha... You can't see air (so) yup that's proof God exists right there' before adding emojis of an unimpressed face with a gun. He also added: 'I don't care if everyone unfollows me... My "beliefs" aren't beliefs... They're proven facts. I won't appease gullible religious (people) by pretending they're not insane'. Easter is still two days away, but already the Kardashian household is brimming with excitement. And on Friday, Kim Kardashian shared with fans two adorable Easter baskets that she received from Chrissy Teigen and John Legend's daughter Luna, who was also celebrating her first birthday. The reality star, 36, couldn't stop gushing about the cute confections as she admired the baskets complete with chocolate bunnies which were made for her children, North, three, and Saint, one. Scroll down for video Hop to it! The Kardashian household is brimming with excitement for the upcoming Easter holiday 'Is this not the cutest Easter baskets made out of chocolate bunnies inside from little Luna? Thank you Luna, we love you,' the reality star said in the video. She can also be heard wishing the youngster a happy birthday just before the video cut out. The gift should come as no surprise to Kim, who is actually good pals with Chrissy. From starting book clubs to double dates with their husbands, Kim and Chrissy are firm friends. 'Thank you Luna, we love you': Kim showed off the gorgeous Easter baskets given to her children from Chrissy Teigen and John Legend's daughter, Luna Gifts galore! Chrissy also shared a snap of the gifts given to her daughter Luna, who turned one over the weekend, from Kris Jenner Lavished with gifts: Khloe Kardashian showed off the baskets, which were filled-to-the-brim with goodies Last year Chrissy even said she would be a surrogate for Kim without a second thought. 'I would be her surrogate in a second,' she told Access Hollywood. 'I really enjoyed the pregnancy process - I loved it. Yes. In a heartbeat.' Kim and her husband Kanye West welcomed baby son saint in late 2015, two years after the birth of their first child, North. Dino-mite present! Kardashian showed her nephew Reign's basket, which was complete with a toy dinosaur Aww: The baskets were stuffed with treats And by the looks of things, the Kardashian children are going to be lavished with gifts this Easter. Aside from the two Easter baskets they received from Luna, they will also be getting their own treats from their immediate family. Kim showed off a row of baskets filled to the brim with treats, all for the children in their family. 'Reign, Northie, P, Mason, Saint,' she said as she showed off the bundled up packages. Her little birthday girl: Chrissy enjoyed some time out in the sunshine alongside her baby girl, Luna Just the girls: Kim cuddled her eldest daughter North The battle was on between 'Mama' June Shannon and her ex Mike 'Sugar Bear' Thompson on Friday's episode of From Not to Hot, The Confrontation. Enraged Sugar Bear told June that he was filing paperwork to enforce visitation with his daughter, 11-year-old daughter Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson. 'I've got a lawyer on the case and I tell you what, you're going to get the paperwork,' raged the 45-year-old Georgia resident, before storming out and punching a door. 'F**k you June Shannon you stupid b***h,' he screamed. 'You stupid b***h': Mike 'Sugar Bear' Thompson and 'Mama' June Shannon had a showdown on Friday's episode of From Not to Hot, The Confrontation June's 17-year-old daughter, Lauryn 'Pumpkin' Shannon steamed in to defend her mother but Sugar Bear told her to 'shut the hell up.' 'F**k you, you dumb s**t that's why you're a piece of s**t father,' wailed Pumpkin as Sugar Bear tore his shirt open in fury. 'Come on b***h,' threatened Pumpkin, who was being restrained by the family's body guard. 'I'm going to kill you!' she yelled. Sugar Bear appeared on the show with June's nemesis, his new bride Jennifer Lamb, also 45. 'I've got a law going to case': The 45-year-old Georgia resident told June that he was filing paperwork to enforce visitation with his daughter, 11-year-old daughter Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson Legal woes: Jennifer later explained that Sugar Bear was seeking legal advice for a 'legitimation' with Alana Jennifer later explained that Sugar Bear was seeking legal advice for a 'legitimation' with Alana. 'I can guarantee that he will never get custody or regular visitation of Alana as long as I'm motherf***ing alive,' snapped June. After Sugar Bear's outburst, Pumpkin was furious. 'I'm not going to let him talk to my momma like that I don't know what his problem is with ripping his freaking shirt open,' she mused in a side confessional. Don't mess with Mama! June snapped, saying, 'I can guarantee that he will never get custody or regular visitation of Alana as long as I'm motherf***ing alive' Caught in between: The exes fought over their daughter Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson She added: 'Everybody needed to see that side of him because nobody believed us.' 'He's going to get violent,' fretted June, who sent Alana away from the filming to protect her. 'He can't face the fact that he's a piece of s**t dad,' she sighed. In his dressing room Sugar Bear turned over a table and threw the food on the floor. He then sobbed to his wife. Furious: Lauryn 'Pumpkin' Shannon steamed in to defend her mother but Sugar Bear told her to 'shut the hell up' 'You're a piece of s**t father': After Sugar Bears outburst, Pumpkin was furious, saying, 'I'm not going to let him talk to my momma like that' 'Don't let her win she's not worth it,' said Jennifer. June told Jennifer she'd call the police if Sugar Bear flared up again: 'For him to go after a f***ing child if he were to put a hand on her you would have been getting him out of Atlanta PD right now, because I'm telling you I would have pressed charges.' Earlier in the show, Sugar Bear accused June of preventing him from seeing Alana. 'He's talked to Alana one time since the wedding,' protested June, who said he rarely calls or texts. 'He doesnt even know his own child,' she shrugged. 'F**k you June Shannon': Sugar Bear raged at June before storming out and punching a door 'He's going to get violent': As June heard Sugar Bear and Pumpkin in a heated argument, June ran to ensure her daughter's safety The women hadn't been in the same room since Sugar Bear and Jennifer's wedding. Jennifer and Sugar Bear - who tied the knot in late January - claimed to be 'in love.' Mama June proclaimed that she was thoroughly over Sugar Bear and his 'cheating ways.' 'I've never hated anybody as much as I hate him,' huffed the 37-year-old reality star. 'He can't keep his d*ck in his pants for two seconds, the only reason he's been faithful to her for this long is because he can't do anything without her up his a**.' Jennifer admitted snooping on Sugar Bear's phone, so that he will 'never' be able to get away with cheating. Outraged: After ripping his shirt off in a fit of rage, Sugar Bear turned over a table in his dressing room and threw the food on the floor True tears? He then sobbed to his new wife of two months 'If you's cheating on me I'll know before you get home (sic),' she told him sternly. Jennifer also said she wasn't concerned about Sugar Bear becoming violent around her own son Joseph, who is 6ft 2in and weighs 300 pounds. 'I'm not going to worry about that because, being honest, my child will break him in two,' she laughed. Judge Lynn Toler of Divorce Court acted as referee for the whole showdown. Meanwhile, little Alana confessed that her father has a frightening temper. 'Don't let her win': Jennifer consoled her husband as he cried to her 'He puts on this face for TV, to make it seem like he's the perfect guy but when he's off camera and stuff he's really not,' said Alana who suggested he go to 'argument management.' She claimed that he'd made little effort to contact her, since meeting his new wife. 'He found Jennifer and he didnt come and see me anymore he was just gone he would text once every three weeks maybe,' she said. 'I think the reason Mike don't see Alana is because me and June cannot get along,' disagreed Jennifer. 'I'll know before you get home': Meanwhile, Jennifer admitted snooping on Sugar Bear's phone, so that he will 'never' able to get away with cheating 'I hate him': Mama June proclaimed that she was thoroughly over Sugar Bear and his 'cheating ways' 'I took the man that she wanted back,' speculated the corpulent woman, who said she wished she'd trapped June's red dress in her door, after her wedding to Sugar Bear. 'I wish I would have caught her dress she would have fell down the stairs. She's got this small body, big head, I'd like to thump it, see it fling like a bobble head. That's what I need to do, thump it,' she said aggressively. The drama will continue in the next installment of From Not to Hot, The Confrontation on WE tv. 'He was just gone': Honey Boo Boo claimed that he'd made little effort to contact her, since meeting his new wife He's currently in Australia for a series of car rallies in support of his late brother Paul Walker's disaster relief charity. And Cody Walker was proud to be following his sibling's legacy as he judged a show in Sydney's Warriewood on Saturday. The 28-year-old posed for a pictures with fans at a #Drive4Paul fundraiser event. Noble act! Paul Walker's brother Cody, 28, judged a car show in Sydney's Warriewood on Saturday, supporting the late actor's disaster relief charity Cody cut a smart casual figure for the event. He wore a black polo with the hash tag #Drive4Paul emblazoned on the front, beige trousers and tan dress shoes. Sporting a small amount of stubble and short fair locks, Cody looked remarkably similar to his late brother. Looking the part: Cody wore a black polo with the hash tag #Drive4Paul emblazoned on the front, beige trousers and tan dress shoes In the genes: Sporting a small amount of stubble and short fair locks, Cody looked remarkably similar to his late brother Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, Cody said: 'It's nice to see some blue skies, I can't believe it's been two years since I was last here. 'I love Australia, It's great to be here again. The amount of support and the loyalty of the fans to Paul, the franchise and Reach Out Worldwide is so great.' Cody, who is embarking on a #Drive4Paul fundraising road trip, thanked the Australian fans for throwing support behind an event close to his heart. Enthusiastic: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, Cody said: 'It's nice to see some blue skies, I can't believe it's been two years since I was last here 'I love Australia': Cody, who is embarking on a #Drive4Paul fundraising road trip, thanked the Australian fans for throwing support behind an event close to his heart 'It never ceases to amaze me how much love there is for the franchise and for Paul, it just makes me really happy,' he said. Cody continued: 'He was a huge example for me and we were really close and it's just so awesome. 'Paul had the biggest heart in the world,' he added. Thankful: 'It never ceases to amaze me how much love there is for the franchise and for Paul, it just makes me really happy,' Cody said Family affair: Cody's wife Felicia Knox (pictured) was also in attendance at the fundraiser event Taking over the reigns: Following Paul's passing in November 2013, Cody took over the charity his late brother had been running Following Paul's passing in November 2013 due to a single-vehicle collision, Cody took over the charity his late brother had been running. 'He wasn't looking for recognition for anything, people didn't know about his organisation until he passed away,' he explained. 'It was about him wanting to legitimately reach out and help people. It was something he funded 100 per cent on his own, from his pocketbook. 'How amazing is that? It doesn't get any cooler than that, it just doesn't.' She's known for living the modelling dream in LA. But for the Easter long weekend, Elyse Knowles has travelled to the Victorian border town Torrumbarry. The Australian beauty, 24, shared a bikini snap on Instagram on Saturday during her fun-filled camping trip. 'Easter up the river!' For the Easter long weekend, model Elyse Knowles has travelled to the Victorian border town Torrumbarry Showing off her slender figure, Elyse looked flawless in a bright orange two-piece. She captioned the post: 'Easter up the River! Can't get much better than that'. Elyse recently modelled the new looks of Emu Australia's spring range. Rising star! The 24-year-old beauty is known for living the modelling dream in LA She offered a glimpse of the photo shoot on Instagram, posing in a revealing green number and some fancy footwear. Elyse showed off her toned and tanned physique in the one-piece, smiling for the camera next to a make-up artist. The Billabong model recently enjoyed a beach holiday, living it up at White Haven Beach and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. Model life: Elyse recently modelled the new looks of Emu Australia's spring range, sharing a glimpse of the photo shoot on Instagram Holiday vibes! The Billabong model recently enjoyed a beach getaway, living it up at White Haven Beach and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef Meanwhile, Elyse stepped out at Glamour on the Grid in Melbourne last month, wearing an edgy metallic number. Showing off her fabulous figure, she accessorised with a small crystal-studded clutch and silver-strapped shoes. She styled her hair loosely and finished off her daring style with a dusty pink lipstick, thick eyeliner and silver highlights. He was previously romancing her pal Lottie Moss. And Georgia Toffolo looked loved-up as she stepped out with her new beau Sam Prince while enjoying a night at Kensington's Bodo's Schloss on Friday. The Made in Chelsea star, 22 - better known as 'Toff' - flaunted her slim frame in a strapless grey mini-dress, as she held hands with the hunky model. Scroll down for video Date night: Georgia Toffolo looked loved-up as she stepped out with her new beau Sam Prince while enjoying a night at Kensington's Bodo's Schloss on Friday It's not difficult to see why Georgia has caught the eye of Sam, as she flaunted her enviable long legs in the tiny number, which boasted a flirty hemline. The former politics undergraduate held onto her metallic gold leather jacket as she tottered along in matching grey heels - all while holding hands with the West London socialite. Her suitor looked good in a white shirt and black denims as he hopped into an awaiting taxi with Georgia. The blonde bombshell, who works as Event Manager for thinktank Parliament Street, was unable to peel her eyes away from him as they chatted away in the back of the car. Smitten: The Made in Chelsea star, 22 - better known as 'Toff' - was unable to peel her eyes away from him as they chatted away in the back of the car Sexy display: It's not difficult to see why Georgia has caught the eye of Sam, as she flaunted her enviable long legs in the tiny number, which boasted a flirty hemline While she put on a cosy display with Sam, Georgia's new romance with Sam might cause things to be a bit awkward with her pal Lottie, who dated him last year. According to The Sun, the half-sister of Kate Moss rekindled her romance with Sam - after the pair broke things off two years ago when he supposedly strayed away. A source told the newspaper: 'Lottie and Sam have history but it's not overly positive. 'They dated two years ago but Sam wasn't faithful. They have recently rekindled their relationship and although it's early days, Lottie's hoping Sam will behave himself.' Former flame: While she put on a cosy display with Sam, Georgia's new romance with Sam might cause things to be a bit awkward with her pal Lottie Moss, who dated him last year New man: Lottie quickly moved onto MIC's Alex Mytton - with who she was spotted having an explosive argument with few weeks ago However, Lottie quickly moved onto MIC's Alex Mytton - with who she was spotted having an explosive argument with few weeks ago. The blonde beauty has been linked to several suitors in the past - having enjoyed lunch in June with pop star Conor Maynard, and flirted with Geordie Shore star Ricci Guarnaccio on Twitter. Meanwhile, Georgia candidly discussed her love life last year following her heartbreak when Francis Boulle picked co-star Olivia Bentley over her. 'I really struggled': Meanwhile, Georgia candidly discussed her love life last year following her heartbreak when Francis Boulle picked co-star Olivia Bentley over her Georgia told OK! Online that she 'struggled' because of the drama and found it hard to watch back. 'It was really hard actually, I really struggled. It was like the worst series Ive ever had, it was emotionally very hard.' The reality TV star never finished her Undergraduate Degree but expressed an interest in political writing and commentating in May 2016, saying she has high hopes to return to her studies. They welcomed twins Tom and Darcy in September last year. And it seems Rebecca and Chris Judd are introducing their six-month-old twins to commercial flying, taking the boys on a business class flight to Perth on Saturday. In a video shared to her Instagram Story, both parents looked slightly nervous ahead of the four-hour journey to the former model's hometown. Scroll down for video Baby's first business class flight! Rebecca and Chris Judd looked nervous taking six-month-old twins Tom and Darcy on a four-hour flight to Perth on Saturday Rebecca was dressed casually for the flight, wearing her brunette hair in a simple updo while filming the selfie video. She cradled one of the twins in a baby sling across her chest, while husband Chris carried the other in a seat opposite. Rebecca made a nervous expression, suggesting she was less than thrilled by the prospect of flying for four hours straight with two babies. Tom and Darcy take flight! Rebecca cradled one of the twins in a baby sling across her chest, while husband Chris (pictured) carried the other in a seat opposite On a holiday? Rebecca and Chris were travelling to Perth, possibly to visit her family as the former Channel Nine weather presenter grew up in Western Australia Rebecca and Chris were travelling to Perth, possibly to visit her family as the former Channel Nine weather presenter grew up in Western Australia. Upon arriving in Perth, she shared several Instagram posts as they checked into their five-star accommodation at Crown Towers, where rooms retail at more than $300 a night. The business class fight and luxury hotel stay comes after Rebecca reminisced about the humble holidays of her childhood. 'We never had any money': The business class fight and luxury hotel stay comes after Rebecca reminisced about the humble holidays of her childhood Speaking on KIIS FM's 3PM Pickup this week, the AFL WAG explained camping was still her all-time favourite holiday. 'I grew up camping,' Rebecca said. 'We never had any money, so we could never go on big, fancy holidays. 'We always just went to the local caravan park and pitched a tent - they were the best holidays ever.' They married two weeks ago in a lavish ceremony in Kangaroo Valley. And it seems Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic are still enjoying their newlywed bliss after returning from their honeymoon in Fiji. The newlyweds looked in happy spirits while arriving at Sydney airport on Saturday. Wedded bliss: Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic were spotted at Sydney Airport on Saturday after returning from their luxury honeymoon in Fiji The Channel Nine hosts had just enjoyed a 10-day romantic getaway but travelled light with just two suitcases. Sylvia looked radiant in a black lace frock, which buttoned up the front and featured an intricate pattern and hemline. She also wore a stylish leather-look jacket over the top, rounding off her chic ensemble with black sandals. Homebound! The Channel Nine hosts had just enjoyed a 10-day romantic getaway but travelled light with just two suitcases Glowing! Sylvia looked radiant in a black lace frock, which buttoned up the front and featured an intricate pattern and hemline Chic! She also wore a stylish leather-look jacket, rounding off her ensemble with black sandals She styled her shoulder-length hair loosely and let her natural beauty shine with minimal make-up. Beaming as she strolled with her husband, the Today star clutched her passport in one hand, while pulling her luggage with the other. Meanwhile, husband Peter cut a casual figure in blue jeans and a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves. Happy husband: Peter cut a casual figure in blue jeans and a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves Play it again, Pete! The TV journalist also slung his guitar case over his shoulder The TV journalist complemented his trendy outfit with a pair of blue shoes and a brown newsboy cap. Peter also slung his guitar case over his shoulder and carried a parcel tube while making his way through arrivals. On Saturday, the couple shared a glimpse of their $18,000-a-night Kokomo Private Island resort on Instagram. Keeping casual: Peter complemented his outfit with blue shoes and a brown newsboy cap Joy! Beaming as she strolled with her husband, Sylvia clutched her passport in one hand, while pulling her luggage with the other Luxury honeymoon: On Saturday, the couple shared a glimpse of their $18,000-a-night Kokomo Private Island resort on Instagram Peter's Instagram snap showed him walking through the Fijian water, alongside the caption: 'Island time is the best time'. Sylvia's social media photo captured the picturesque views from the couple's villa, writing in the caption: 'Honeymoon postcards from Fiji'. The couple tied the knot at Ooralba Estate in Kangaroo Valley on April 1 in front of their close friends and family. What a view! Sylvia's shared an Instagram photo which captured the picturesque views from the couple's villa, writing in the caption: 'Honeymoon postcards from Fiji' She's a former Victoria's Secret model who's become a regular fixture in the fashion world. And Karlie Kloss looked effortlessly chic as ever as she stepped out in New York to do a spot of shopping on Friday. The 24-year-old showed off her statuesque figure in a pair of grey wide-leg trousers while enjoying some downtime in the city. Downtime: Karlie Kloss looked effortlessly chic as ever as she stepped out in New York to do a spot of shopping on Friday Opting for a simple white T-shirt on top, she finished the casual ensemble with a pair of white trainers and a black rucksack slung over her shoulder. Karlie accessorised the look with an elegant gold necklace, adding a couple of gold bangles to finish. Wearing her honey-coloured locks down over her shoulders, she went for a minimal make-up look, displaying her flawless complexion. Chic: The 24-year-old showed off her statuesque figure in a pair of grey wide-leg trousers Effortless: Opting for a simple white T-shirt on top, she finished the casual ensemble with a pair of white trainers and a black rucksack slung over her shoulder Karlie is one of the most in-demand models in the industry, but recently turned her talents behind the camera as she promoted her new Express clothing line with a striking shoot. Her collection includes 17 pieces ranging from her tees and blazers, to maxi dresses and embellished bombers. It was also announced recently that her successful Kode With Klossy program is expanding to provide 300 scholarships to teen girls - up from 80 in 2016. Natural beauty: Wearing her honey-coloured locks down over her shoulders, she went for a minimal make-up look, displaying her flawless complexion The two-week program - which strives to teach young women and girls about software engineering and app development - will include 15 summer camps in 10 US cities. The catwalk queen recently spoke about her four-year relationship with millionaire investor Joshua Kushner, the brother-in-law of Ivanka Trump. Speaking to OK! Magazine in Australia, she said: I was definitely not planning on falling in love. But I think that's the thing about it, you can't anticipate or plan it.' Kicking back: Karlie took to Instagram to share a snap of the beautiful location of a photoshoot last Wednesday, captioning the photo '#Karlie4Express' She recently showed off her incredible physique while on holiday in Crete, after working hard to slim down. And Frankie Essex definitely looked to be body confident as she enjoyed a night out in Mayfair on Friday. The TOWIE star, 28, displayed her svelte figure in a leather mini dress, which featured a colourful motif at the front. Rock chic: Frankie Essex showed off her svelte figure in a leather mini dress as she enjoyed a night out in Mayfair on Friday The reality star threw on a leather jacket over her shoulders, perfectly complementing the rock chic-inspired dress. She accessorised the ensemble with a black leather tote, before boosting her height with pair of heeled ankle boots. Wearing a section of her blonde tresses pulled up into a top knot, she accentuated her lips with a bold berry lipstick, adding lashings of mascara to finish. Looking good: The reality star threw on a leather jacket over her shoulders, adding a pair of black ankle boots to complete the ensemble Frankie, who recently released a fitness DVD, lost over two stone in seven months after her weight ballooned to 12st 8lbs when she turned to food in the wake of a painful love split. Posting a snap of her body transformation on Instagram earlier this month, she wrote: 'Changes [through] time and hard work can't believe it's only been a year I have faced my fears and changed my life thank you.' Speaking recently about her lowest point, Frankie told MailOnline: 'I've had a year and a half of being sad and depressed and not even wanting to leave the house at times.' Bliss: Frankie recently showed off her incredible physique while on holiday in Crete The reality star previously blamed a bad boyfriend for 'the worst year of her life' in which she contemplated suicide. Joey and Frankie lost their mother to suicide during their teenage years and Frankie said she feared she might 'fall into the same hole'. She said: 'I want to show everyone that being sad is all in your head and you need to believe in yourself and that you can do it.' She's set to resume her critically acclaimed role of Daenerys Targaryen in the highly anticipated seventh series of Game Of Thrones. And Emilia Clarke looked like she was absolutely loving life as she prepared to jet off to New York from London on Friday. The 30-year-old British actress was pretty in pink as she made a sartorial statement in a pink turtleneck and funky matching jacket. Scroll down for video Airport chic: Emilia Clarke looked pretty in pink as she made a sartorial statement in a pink turtleneck and funky matching jacket as she prepared to jet off to New York from London on Friday Emilia proved hard to miss as she manoeuvred her way through the terminal in the striking outerwear, which featured an array of clashing patterns. Balancing out the look, she opted for a pair of ankle-grazing black jeans and strutted along in a pair of metallic silver heels. The beauty carried her essentials for the transatlantic flight in a slouchy brown handbag and despite being indoors, wore a pair of cool shades. The Berkshire born star was clearly in high spirits as she couldn't wipe the smile from her pretty face. Pretty in pink! The 30-year-old British actress proved hard to miss as she manoeuvred her way through the terminal in the striking outerwear, which featured an array of clashing patterns Meanwhile, fans of GOT would be delighted to know that the fantasy drama will be hitting screens again in July. HBO whetted viewers appetite for the upcoming series by releasing an ominous new teaser showing the rivals for the Iron Throne taking their seats as they prepare for war in Westeros on Thursday. Lena Headey as the scheming Cersei Lannister in seen in the Red Keep before taking her place on the Iron Throne - a position she will fight to keep. Emilia Clarke's fierce mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, walks around the throne room of Dragonstone. Dark and brooding: Kit Harington as a grim Jon Snow is seen in what looks like the Great Hall of Winterfell in the new teaser HBO released Thursday for Game Of Thrones The long walk: Lena Headey as the scheming Cersei Lannister in seen in the Red Keep And Kit Harington as a grim Jon Snow is seen in what looks like the Great Hall of Winterfell. Their enemy, the Night King, appears in close up at the end of the all-too-brief 92-second teaser. And although no-one speaks, pop star James track Sit Down plays throughout with the lyrics flashed underneath giving a fairly good idea of what's going through the protagonists' minds. As Cersei walks, James sings, 'Those who feel the touch of madness' - an accurate description of the character's tortuous, bloody battle to the top. Snatch for power: She tries out the Iron Throne - a position she will have to fight to keep Staking her claim: Emilia's fierce mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, walks towards the throne room of a previously unseen castle The lyrics also include the prophetic line, 'In love, in fear, in hate, in tears.' Game Of Thrones will return to HBO on July 16, later than the previous seasons that usually hit the screen in April. Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss explained: 'We're starting a bit later because at the end of this season, "Winter is here" and that means that sunny weather doesn't really serve our purposes anymore. 'So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot.' Game Of Thrones is based on author George R. R. Martin bestselling saga A Song Of Fire And Ice. Roxy Jacenko has hit back at a report alleging she has been 'keeping company' with Jodhi Meares' rumoured ex Nick Tsindos. The Sunday Telegraph claimed the 36-year-old PR queen has been spending time with the 29-year-old photographer, who is alleged to have become estranged from Jodhi in March after 14 months of marriage. But Roxy denied the claims, telling Daily Mail Australia: 'I must be a very busy girl - who knew I had so much time to be juggling such a multitude of people, daily.' 'Who next, Justin Bieber?' Roxy Jacenko (left) slammed a Sunday Telegraph report alleging she has been 'keeping company' with Jodhi Meares' rumoured ex Nick Tsindos (right) The Sweaty Betty PR founder said she has never met Nick, who News Corp claims could be in touch with Roxy for a 'business opportunity' or 'social' reasons. 'No, I have not met with, spoken to or even been introduced to (Nick) so it would prove challenging to be interested in him on any level,' Roxy continued. 'In fact, it's now becoming comical, who next - Justin Bieber?' Nick and Jodhi - the ex-wife of billionaire businessman James Packer - married in December 2015 and reportedly split in March this year. Separated? Nick and Jodhi - the ex-wife of billionaire businessman James Packer - married in December 2015 and reportedly split in March this year Reports: In unconfirmed claims, friends of Roxy's husband Oliver Curtis (left) told Daily Mail Australia in March the married couple had split before he was sent to jail in June last year On Saturday, The Sydney Morning Herald alleged Roxy's ex-boyfriend, property developer Nabil Gazal, has been 'spending much time' with her lately. The publication claimed he gifted Roxy a $50,000 diamond ring around Christmas, after her husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for insider trading in June. On the AE Design jewellery website, the '2 Hearts' eternity ring Nabil allegedly bought Roxy is classified under 'ladies' wedding bands'. Reports: On Saturday, The Sydney Morning Herald alleged Roxy's ex-boyfriend, property developer Nabil Gazal (left), has been 'spending much time' with her lately A present? The publication claimed Nabil gifted Roxy a $50,000 diamond ring around Christmas, months after her husband Oliver was jailed for insider trading Roxy denied Nabil had bought her any jewels and declined to comment on the ring. Nabil has been described as one of Roxy's 'more serious' former boyfriends, but little is known after their past romantic relationship. In October, they were photographed having coffee in Sydney, and Roxy was notably not wearing her wedding ring. Previously dated: Nabil has been described as one of Roxy's 'more serious' former boyfriends, but little is known after their past romantic relationship In recent months, the PR maven has denied rumours she quietly split from her husband last year. In unconfirmed claims, friends of Oliver told Daily Mail Australia in March the married couple had split before he was sent to jail in June last year, but kept a family facade for the sake of their two children - Pixie, five, and Hunter, two. But Roxy told The Morning Show last month she was 'still married' to her jailed husband. She rang in the New Year in style by lapping up the sun in St Barts. And Victoria Silvstedt, 42, returned to the picturesque Caribbean island as she put on a sizzling beach babe display while frolicking in the water on Friday. Despite the sweltering heat, the Swedish model, 42, still managed to send temperatures soaring as she flaunted her eye-popping assets in a minuscule white bikini. Scroll down for video White hot! Victoria Silvstedt, 42, send temperatures soaring as she flaunted her eye-popping assets in a minuscule white bikini while lapping up the sun in St. Barts The blonde bombshell, who is currently in a relationship with businessman Maurice Dabbah, looked incredible in the skimpy two-piece which gave way to her busty cleavage and toned stomach. The halterneck detailing was securely fastened and tamed her assets in place as she cooled off in the waters, while piling her blonde locks atop her head. Victoria, who represented her country in the Miss World pageant in 1993, donned matching bottoms, which rested high on her hips - giving way to her long, lean legs. She looked summer chic as she opted for a pair of shades on her stunning face, which sported only the slightest slick of make-up. Beach babe: The Swedish model, who's in a relationship with businessman Maurice Dabbah, looked incredible in the skimpy two-piece which gave way to her busty cleavage and toned stomach Sizzling display: The halterneck detailing was securely fastened and tamed her assets in place as she cooled off in the waters Victoria - who was previously married to news anchor Chris Wragge - ensured to document the early days of her sun-drenched trip on Instagram. In once titillating snap, she coquettishly looked at the floor while a towel was wrapped around her toned frame. 'Ready for the sun and the heat ,' she captioned the saucy snap. In another she looked sartorially savvy as she stood in front of a plane, captioning it: 'Flight mode .. 9 hour ahead #airfrance.' 'Ready for the sun': In once titillating Instagram snap, she coquettishly looked at the floor while a towel was wrapped around her toned frame 'Flight mode': In another she looked sartorially savvy as she stood in front of a plane In another, she provoked jealousy as she dressed her sensational frame in a bright red dress, while posing in front of the sparkling waters. The image was titled: 'Happy Easter weekend ..kisses from my favourite island #stbarthslife Dress @azzedinealaiaofficial.' After her pageantry success, Victoria has enjoyed a lengthy stint in the spotlight by modelling for some of the world's most prestigious fashion houses, including Chanel, Dior and Valentino. 'Kissing from my favourite island': In another, she provoked jealousy as she dressed her sensational frame in a bright red dress, while posing in front of the sparkling waters Speaking to Female First, she said: I started very young to model in Paris when I was 18. 'I remember like starving myself to fit into the clothes and it was an amazing experience but you know I did shows for Valentino, Chanel, so it was really prestigious. But it never felt like it was my thing, I'm not like a runway skinny model, I'm more curvy. It was torture, I put myself through starvation, you know torturing myself.' Photogenic star: After her pageantry success, Victoria has enjoyed a lengthy stint in the spotlight by modelling for some of the world's most prestigious fashion houses, including Chanel, Dior and Valentino He has impressed fans with his performances in recent months, despite the show's troubled ratings since Jeremy Clarkson's departure. And Top Gear host Matt Le Blanc celebrated his good work on Friday evening as he headed to the crew end of series wrap party in Soho, London. The 49-year-old former Friends star held a protective arm around his rumoured BBC producer girlfriend Aurora Mulligan, 32, as he headed into Union Club. Scroll down for video Cute: Matt Le Blanc, 49, held a protective arm around his rumoured BBC producer girlfriend Aurora Mulligan, 32, as the Top Gear crew enjoyed a series wrap party night in Soho, London on Friday A well deserved break: Matt's Top Gear co-host Rory Reid was also getting into the party spirit Matt, who was previously married to British model Melissa McKnight, is thought to have been dating the politics graduate for around a year. And the Massachusetts native looked as besotted as ever as he held a guiding hand on the stunning brunette's back as the pair arrived at the venue. The couple both opted for casual chic dress for their night on the town in bustling Soho over the Easter weekend. Long lasting: Matt, who was previously married to British model Melissa McKnight, is thought to have been dating the politics graduate for around a year Casual chic: The couple both opted for an informal but sexy dress code for their night on the town in bustling Soho over the Easter weekend Aurora, who met Matt while helping produce the first new series of Top Gear last year alongside Chris Evans, looked put-together in a flowing white shirt. The northern Irish producer teamed her top with skinny jeans and accessorised with a small, designer leather shoulder bag which matched Matt's jacket. Matt opted for the suave leather number to ward off the chilly London night air with his dark blue denim jeans and a casual shirt. Party time: Matt and Aurora, who have been spotted together around the British capital, left the cast and crew night out relatively early, at around 2am Night on the town: While their Top Gear colleagues decided to make a full night of it, heading for nearby Club 49 after having drinks in Greek Street Matt and Aurora, who are regularly spotted looking loved-up around the British capital, left the cast and crew night out relatively early, at around 2am. While their colleagues decided to make a full night of it, heading for nearby Club 49 after having drinks in Greek Street. It has been a turbulent year or so for the Top Gear team, with falling ratings and cast departures. Since Chris Evans left, the legendary British vehicle-focused show is now presented by an appealing line-up of Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid. But the new series debut brought in a disappointing 2.8million viewers, compared to the initial reboot debut last year - which featured the radio presenter and garnered 4.4 million viewers. Recently figures for the programme fell to an all-time low of just 2.4million viewers. She's clearly Daddy's little girl. And Nick Cannon happily showed off a darling selfie of he and daughter Monroe on Instagram on Friday. The 36-year-old actor and his young lady wore matching glasses in the pic which the ex of Mariah Carey captioned saying, 'I hope she never takes them off!!' Family style: Nick Cannon showed off his daughter's cool glasses in a father-daughter selfie on Instagram Friday where he called five-year-old Monroe 'a sophisticated intellectual' The San Diego native captioned the moment excitedly, writing 'Twins!!! Miss Monroe loves her glasses and I hope she never takes them off!!' Nick told followers how he hopes 'grimy ruffneck kindergarteners' stay away from his little 'intellectual.' 'A sophisticated intellectual is what I'm trying to raise here and these glasses keep them little grimy ruffneck kindergarteners away from my baby!! LOL.' Family fun: His ex Mariah shared this adorable family photo as they dyed Easter eggs together And the father-of-three added a playful - albeit scary - warning for those who think they can mess with the soon-to-be six-year-old. He added, 'FYI My Shotgun is registered!!' just to let everyone know what waiting for them if they cross Nick's little girl. In the picture the Drumline star is dressed sharply, sporting a white shirt and tie below wire frame glasses and a stylish turban. Little Monroe looked sweet in her dark, round frames. She wore a girly pink top while her curly locks were reminiscent of mom Mariah's nineties ringlets. Protective papa: In Nick's caption, he told followers how 'ruffneck kindergarteners' better stay away from his girl. Above you can see the actor and his amicable ex Mariah Carey taking their twins (Moroccan, left; Monroe, right) to the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards in March 2017 Nick's children are his pride and joy. The America's Got Talent host shares twins Moroccan and Monroe, both five, with diva Mariah Carey. The pair were married for five years and divorced in 2014, but still remain close friends. On February 21 2017, Nick and partner Britanny Bell welcomed little boy Golden 'Sagon' Cannon into the world. Nick announced his son's birth on Instagram, sharing the Pslam 'Weeping may endure for a night, but Joy cometh in the morning!' with the tags '#TrueHappiness' and '#Awakened.' Meghan Markle has abruptly quit her lucrative role as Reitmans brand ambassador As the high-profile face of Canadian fashion store Reitmans, Meghan Markle has given her name to a range of sexy, skin-tight clothing she has modelled in a variety of sultry poses. But now Ms Markle has abruptly quit her lucrative role as Reitmans brand ambassador, prompting more fevered speculation that she is realigning her public life in preparation for an engagement to Prince Harry. Her decision even appears to have caught Reitmans on the hop. Sources say she was offered a large sum in December to renew her contract but surprised Reitmans by refusing to sign it. The store continued to promote her involvement with the company but last month her team asked them to stop associating the brand with her. As well as modelling for the company, Meghan, 35, has designed two eponymous collections, a Spring range released last April and a 'vegan leather' collection, only released in November and on sale until recently. It included skin-tight leather trousers, a sexy faux-leather pencil skirt and a 'boyfriend shirt'. And although the company's vice-president of marketing, Monique Brosseau, said in January that another Meghan project was 'in the works', all imagery of her was suddenly removed from its website in early March and replaced with a banner which reads: 'This collection is no longer available.' Her decision has prompted more fevered speculation that she is realigning her public life in preparation for an engagement to Prince Harry A source close to Ms Markle said: 'The promotion in 2017 was done by Reitmans outside of the deal. Once they realised they did not have the right to use her in promotion and sale, they took it down.' Royal watchers are now wondering if Meghan who last week also gave up her lucrative lifestyle blog The Tig has quit the project she once described as an 'honour' because it does not fit with the image she might want to project as a future member of the Royal Family. The news has prompted more fevered speculation that she is realigning her public life in preparation for an engagement to Prince Harry (pictured) George Clooney may be Hollywood royalty but he and his wife Amal want their twins due to be born in June to be true Brits. I met the A-list couple at a Soho Hotel screening of The Promise, a new film about the Ottoman Empire starring Christian Bale, where I learned that they are planning a London birth. Theyll have quite a dash to the labour room their Berkshire home is 35 miles from the capital. Hollywood actor George Clooney and his wife Amal (pictured) want their twins due to be born in June to be true Brits Acting veterans Christopher Timothy, 76, and Maggie Steed, 70, are the a new couple 'with a past' set to arrive in Albert Square. And the duo were spotted filming their first ever scenes for the hit BBC soap on set during the Easter weekend. The pair will play Tim and Joyce Murray who move to Walford after being rehomed, apparently against their will, from a nearby estate. Scroll down for video Newbies: The first pictures of veteran actors Christopher Timothy and Maggie Steed filming their initial EastEnders scenes have been released ahead of their imminent arrival on Albert Square The couple promise to be 'fascinating characters' as they take to the set, as EastEnders' bosses have revealed they have a 'past' which will inevitably catch up with them. So far we know that they are friends with Dot (June Brown), but not much more is known about the new arrivals, who will fill in some of the big personality gap left by Danny Dyer's Mick Carter, as the star takes a brief break from the show. All Creatures Great And Small star Christopher said in a statement when their casting was announced: 'The most exciting thing about joining EastEnders is not only that Ill be back on the television, but Ill also be working with Maggie. Intriguing: So far we know that they are friends with Dot (June Brown), but not much more is known about the new arrivals, who will fill in some of the big personality gap left by Danny Dyer's Mick Carter, as the star takes a brief break from the show 'Filming not just our first scenes but our first episode together will be like first night in the theatre very exciting indeed.' Snapped filming their very first scenes, both Maggie and Christopher looked excited to get to work as they walked onto set clutching scripts. Maggie looked youthful in a colourful, loose jacket and trendy, white-rimmed shades. While Christopher looked every inch an EastEnders man as he sported a shaven head and furrowed brow. Getting to work! Snapped filming their very first scenes, both Maggie and Christopher looked excited to get to work as they walked onto set clutching scripts Spry couple: Maggie looked youthful in a colourful, loose jacket and trendy, white-rimmed shades Veteran actors: All Creatures Great And Small star Christopher said in a statement when their casting was announced: 'The most exciting thing about joining EastEnders is not only that Ill be back on the television, but Ill also be working with Maggie Executive Sean O'Connor revealed to the Belfast Telegraph: 'The Murrays are a breath of fresh air to Walford, having achieved a long-standing marriage. 'But it's not long before echoes of the past catch up with them. 'I'm very excited to see what these wonderful performers - and these fascinating characters - bring to Albert Square.' The highly-anticipated new series of Doctor Who finally made its debut on the BBC on Saturday night. And it seems the pilot episode went down a storm with fans, who immediately took to Twitter to praise the time lord's new openly gay sidekick, Bill Potts. Avid followers of the show showered actress Pearl Mackie with compliments on the social media site after making her debut as a 'great, relatable character' - with some even calling her the 'best companion ever'. Scroll down for video Back with a bang: The highly-anticipated new series of Doctor Who made its debut on the BBC on Saturday night - with fans praising the new assistant Bill Potts (R) She's a hit: Viewers showered actress Pearl Mackie with compliments on Twitter after making her debut as a 'relatable character' - with some even calling her the 'best companion ever' After sixteen months since its last series, starring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, the beloved sci-fi show made its return to television on Saturday night. However despite the episode receiving high praise all round, it was his new assistant Bill Potts who seemed to capture the hearts of fans - replacing Victoria actress Jenna Coleman in the last series. Fans took to Twitter in their hundreds to praise not only the actress and the character, but also the presentation of an assistant with same-sex romantic interest. New girl in town: New openly gay assistant Bill Potts seemed to capture the hearts of fans on the first episode of the twelfth series High praise: Fans took to Twitter in their hundreds to praise not only the actress and the character, but also the presentation of an assistant with same-sex romantic interest One fan kicked off the praise by writing: 'I already like bill 100 times more than rose & amy combined,' as another added: 'I was dreading not liking Bill but she is a great, relatable character - well done @Pearlie_mack' Another particularly enthusiastic fan joined the fray by commenting: 'BILL POTTS IS MY IDOL AND SPIRIT ANIMAL,' as another simply agreed: 'I approve of the new series and Bill.' Clearly taken by the 29-year-old actress however, many even claimed she was the most likeable assistant of any series, writing: 'Bill is the best companion EVER.' Others then showed their more playful sides by creating a selection of funny memes to commemorate the fact that Moffat had 'fianlly' got the assistant character right - with one featuring an image of actress Emma Stone weeping with joy. Witty: Others then showed their more playful sides by creating a selection of funny memes to commemorate the fact that Moffat had 'fianlly' got the assistant character right (above) Top dog: Clearly taken by the 29-year-old actress however, many even claimed she was the most likeable assistant of any series, writing: 'Bill is the best companion EVER' Meanwhile others were quick to compliment both the character and the episode itself - which followed the Doctor as a university lecturer, who finds himself battling a shape-shifting water woman. One wrote: 'New #DoctorWho then. Already love Bill. The shiny new trio work brilliantly. Looking forward to more!' While further fans penned: 'Bloody loved the first episode! Can't wait to see how the series unfolds!!!' and 'Great season opener for #DoctorWho. Peter Capaldi brilliant. Shame he's leaving. Pearl Mackie very good.' Pearl has garnered more attention than past assistants ahead of her first appearance, due to the fact her character Bill is the first openly gay sidekick to the timelord - a concept fans also praised on the site. Back to its best: Others were quick to compliment both the character and the episode itself - which followed the Doctor as a university lecturer battling a shape-shifting water woman Impressed: One fan penned: 'Great season opener for #DoctorWho. Peter Capaldi brilliant. Shame he's leaving. Pearl Mackie very good' Many expressed their delight with show runner Steven Moffatt, who will bow out after series 12 along with Capaldi, writing in a gay character. One tweeted: 'Handling a gay woman respectfully? what is this? is it real? i'm in shock,' while another added: 'There's literally tears streaming down my face over this gay representation right now.' A further viewer chimed in: 'Excellent first episode of the new series. Pearl Mackie's Bill adding a welcome new dimension to a format that was growing tired.' Meanwhile another affirmed it was the strongest part of the episode, writing: 'Bill Potts' sexuality was displayed exactly like a straight character and this is the thing I'm happiest about from that first ep #DoctorWho' Doing it right: Many expressed their delight with show runner Steven Moffatt, who will bow out after series 12 along with Capaldi, writing in a gay character Modern: Moffatt was very open about Bill's sexuality from the beginning - featuring a scene of her discussing what she likes in women While the episode still focused on the usual time-and-space-hopping escapades of the Doctor, Moffatt was very open about Bill's sexuality from the beginning. One early scene in the episode saw the sidekick discuss what she likes most in women - and describing a former object of her affection in the university canteen. She told him honestly in the scene: 'There was this girl student, beautiful... eye contact - perversion. I gave her extra chips every time, extra chips like a reward for all the perversion.' 'About time': Earlier this week the 29-year-old rising star admitted to Good Morning Britain that she thinks it was 'about time' the show starred a gay assistant Popular: She also admitted the sudden attention from the new role has 'been insane', and that she was 'grateful' when her phone died LGBT characters have featured in the popular series before, including John Barrowman's Captain Jack and River Song, but Bill is the programme's first openly gay permanent companion. Mackie alongside Moffat spoke about the show's return in a Youtube interview for Doctor Who: The Fan Show - admitting her casting was important to show diversity to audiences. She said: 'I think it's crucial to have that kind of representation in mainstream TV, on shows that are aimed at children as well as adults. 'I think it's important for younger children to see someone like them or who may be experiencing similar feelings to them on TV, so they can see themselves within it.' Doing her bit: Mackie spoke about the show's return in a Youtube interview for Doctor Who: The Fan Show - admitting her casting was important to show diversity to audiences However, Peal added that actors could not be expected to represent minorities in their entirety, stating: 'I'm just here to play one character. My job is to play Bill, as truthfully as I can in all situations. 'And to think that I am representing all ethnic minorities or all gay people in the world is ridiculous. I don't think I should be expected to do that.' Earlier this week the 29-year-old rising star admitted to Good Morning Britain that she thinks it was 'about time' the show starred a gay assistant. She explained: 'The terminology, 'the official companion' is why she's the first gay companion. It's the terminology of that that's actually the first for Doctor Who. I mean, it's about time isn't it?' Farewell: The series marks the final one for Peter Capaldi - who is set to pass on the famous baton at Christmas New kid in town: Meanwhile Pearl replaces Victoria actress Jenna Coleman as the sidekick in the new series However she went on to admit it had not been easy to deal with the sudden attention that comes with being the Doctor's assistant - a role played previously by the likes of Billie Piper and Jenna Coleman. 'It has been insane,' she said. 'That first day when I was first announced I got some friends round and then loads more people saw it, my friends were texting me, people calling, my Twitter count was going up. 'I was really grateful when my phone died actually. I was like, that is too much for me to deal with right now, I'm just going to put that away.' A trailer for next week's episode showed that John Simm would make his return as the Time Lord's arch-nemesis The Master. Simon Le Bon has whisked his wife Yasmin, 52, away for a luxury Easter break in the Bahamas. The trip comes in the wake of the Duran Duran star being pictured giving a female friend a shoulder rub on a Miami beach. Simon, 58, maintains his innocence and a pal says: 'He saw someone was taking photos and he deliberately rubbed her shoulder. He is like a mischievous schoolboy.' The trip comes in the wake of the Duran Duran star being pictured giving a female friend a shoulder rub on a Miami beach Simon Le Bon has whisked his wife Yasmin, 52, away for a luxury Easter break in the Bahamas Sam Riley's starring role in BBC1 drama SS-GB has caught the attention of James Bond producers who have called him in for a meeting about becoming the next 007, I can reveal. According to bookmakers, Sam, is one of a number of runners to replace current Bond Daniel Craig (he's presently 20-1). But if I were a bookie, I'd drop those odds sharpish after my spies spotted Yorkshire-born Riley, 37, at the London head office of Eon Films. Riley was no doubt being grilled by Bond boss Barbara Broccoli, who first considered him for the part a decade ago. Sam was criticised for mumbling in SS-GB, so he'd better work on his diction or the barman will never know if he wants that martini shaken or stirred. Peter Capaldi announced he was leaving Doctor Who last month - leaving fans to speculate who would be his replacement. However it has now been claimed that British actor Kris Marshall is set to take his place, and has already joined the cast on the new series, which made its debut on Saturday. The reports, which claim the Doctor will 'regenerate' in July, come just weeks after the Death In Paradise actor, 44, became the bookies' top choice for the role. Scroll down for video New man on the case: It has been claimed that British actor Kris Marshall is set to take Peter Capaldi's place as Doctor Who, and has already joined the cast on the new series Sources told the Mirror on Friday that Kris, who made his fame as Nick on My Family, has already been selected as the new Doctor, and will begin filming imminently. The insider said: 'Kris Marshall has already joined the cast and will regenerate at the end of this series, not in the Christmas special.' Kris had first sparked rumours he was taking on the famous sci-fi role after quitting crime comedy Death In Paradise earlier this year, causing him to rise in the betting odds. End of an era: Sources told the Mirror that Kris has already been selected as the new Doctor to replace Capaldi (above), admitting they wanted a 'David Tennant type' replacement However while a number of other fans predicted the new Doctor to be female, the source continued that BBC producers are keen to keep a taste of the older, more popular time lords in the new casting. The insider added: 'They won't risk a woman Doctor. They want a David Tennant type.' MailOnline has contacted representatives of Kris, but a spokesperson for the BBC said: 'No casting decisions have yet been made on Series 11.' New project: Kris had first sparked rumours he was taking on the famous sci-fi role after quitting Death In Paradise earlier this year (above) Since Peter Capaldi, 59, announced last month that he was stepping down as the current Doctor Who, the rumour mill has been spinning about who will fill his shoes. Despite initial titterings that it would be a female replacement - namely Tilda Swinton and Olivia Colman - the Death In Paradise star soon overtook the ladies in the betting stakes last month. In fact, so convinced were those placing their bets last month, that Ladbrokes have had to close the book. All bets are off! Bookies were forced to halt punters betting on Kris taking over from Peter Capaldi as the next Doctor Who last month, thanks to the huge number of people backing him Alex Donohue, of the betting organisation, said: 'A surge of punters have backed Marshall so we've had no choice but to close the book.' He added, with a jaunty nod to the sci-fi series: 'If he does get the gig, the bookies will be exterminated first.' Marshall said that he is leaving his long-running series Death In Paradise after four years on the BBC show, so that he can spend less time away from his family. Time to go: Peter Capaldi announced his decision to quit as the twelfth Doctor on Monday night However avid BBC viewers seemed to immediately conclude that Marshall is transferring his skills as a Detective to a Doctor - and is in the running to play Doctor Who in the wake of Capaldi. 'Maybe a coincidence but since Doctor Who needs a new lead, interesting that that Kris Marshall has now quit Death in Paradise. New doctor?' came a theory from one fan on Twitter. Another typed 'Kris marshall should play doctor who...' as a further tweeter concurred: 'Kris Marshall will be the 13th Doctor. Calling it. He'd be perfect. #doctorwho!' The theory proved popular as the news spread that Marshall is leaving the role of Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman. Speculation: Avid BBC viewers seem to be under the impression that Marshall is transferring his skills as a Detective to a Doctor - and is in the running to play Doctor Who in the wake of Peter Capaldi's decision to leave 'So Kris Marshall leaves #DeathInParadise, just as they're starting to look for a new #DoctorWho... #Coincidence...?? ;-)' a fourth person theorised. 'Huh so Kris Marshall leaves Death in Paradise around the same time Peter Capaldi leaves Doctor Who. Hmm, interesting...' a fifth wrote. Some didn't seem too keen on the idea, writing: 'If Kris Marshall is the new #DoctorWho they might as well cast a toilet brush. Dull.' The actor had revealed on Good Morning Britain last month that the decision was made in order to spend more time with his family - after his daughter was born last year, leaving him 'bereft' while away filming in the Caribbean. Pastures Who? Kris said of the decision to quit - 'I've loved it. It's time to move on and give someone else some sun. I'm still thinking whether I've made the right decision' It has been confirmed that after he departs the show, he will be replaced by Father Ted funnyman Ardal O'Hanlan, who will play Detective Inspector Jack Mooney, a role he debuts in Thursday night's episode of the show. Kris said of the decision to quit: 'I've loved it. It's time to move on and give someone else some sun. I'm still thinking whether I've made the right decision. 'It is amazing and I've been filming in London since and there's a moment when you stand in the cold and think why am I not in flips flops in the Caribbean?' He admitted he struggled being away from his family for filming, saying: 'For the last few years I have been able to take them with me but we had a daughter and this last series I did on my own. Skyping leaves me bereft.' She's the favourite: Olivia Colman has become a hot bet among punters hoping to predict the new Doctor And while playing The Doctor would certainly keep him closer to home, he's not the only name floating around for the role. Olivia Colman, who recently received an Emmy award nomination for her role in The Night Manager, has even been tipped for the job by her Broadchurch co-star David Tennant who played the tenth Doctor. 'Olivia would clearly be a magnificent choice. If you have the right people telling the right stories then it's absolutely a possibility,' he said. Other favourites with punters include Broadchurch actor Andrew Buchan, Game Of Thrones star Iwan Rheon, James Bond's Q Ben Whishaw and and The IT Crowd's Richard Ayoade. Capaldi himself joined in the name-dropping for the next Time Lord - and is giving his backing to Rising Damp veteran Frances de la Tour. Bizarrely, she was considered to be the first female Doctor in the 1980s, when producers were desperate to change the sex of the time-travelling alien in a bid to keep it on the air - but it was cancelled, only to return again in 2005. Rising dame? Exiting Doctor Who Peter Capaldi has joined in the name-dropping for the next Time Lord - and he wants a woman to take over from him, Rising Damp star Frances de la Tour Announcing his decision to step down from his Time Lord role, Peter said: 'This'll be the end for me. I feel sad. I love Doctor Who. It's a fantastic programme to work on.' 'It's been a huge pleasure to work with... a family. I can't praise the people I work with more highly. 'I've never worked the same job for three years, and I feel like now is the right time to move on. I'll still be the Doctor for a while.' Twelve actors have played the time-travelling Doctor since William Hartnell first adopted the role in 1963, and so far all of them have been men. Billie Piper, who played the Doctor's assistant when the show was brought back in 2005, tweeted that it would be a 'welcome turn' for a woman to take the role. Fans of violinist Nicola Benedetti are used to dramatic moments in her virtuoso performances. But few were expecting one as the British star answered questions about her romance with cellist Leonard Elschenbroich until she revealed it was all over. The excruciating moment came in a live broadcast after the pair had played a duet in New York. Violinist Nicola Benedetti revealed that she had broken up with her cellist Leonard Elschenbroich Miss Benedetti was taking questions from fans which were being relayed by a screen. The 29-year-old read aloud the question: What is it like playing and touring together when you are in a relationship? Miss Benedetti found fame after winning the BBCs Young Musician of the Year contest in 2004, signing a multi-million-pound recording deal While German-born Elschenbroich looked stony-faced, a flushed Miss Bendetti explained: Er, well we are no longer in a relationship, but as you can see very good friends, and very close still and do a lot of concerts together. The pair had met as pupils at the Yehudi Menuhin School for music in Surrey. They lost touch after leaving school, but got back together when, aged 19, the violinist contacted her former classmate to see if he wanted to play music with her, and soon after they began a relationship. Miss Benedetti found fame after winning the BBCs Young Musician of the Year contest in 2004, signing a multi-million-pound recording deal. The two musicians are still performing together and are currently on an international tour. But after a series of tempestuous rows, Elschenbroich, 32, has moved out of the London home they shared for a new life in Berlin. Miss Benedetti told The Violin Channel that arguments often spilled over into practice sessions with pianist Alexei Grynyuk, with whom they frequently play. He had to deal with a Twitter backlash earlier in the year when he hosted the freshman week of ITV's new series The Nightly Show. And David Walliams has once again come under fire by television viewers for 'frivolously pimping homosexuality' on the first new episode of Britain's Got Talent. The comedian, 45, who is notorious for poking fun at his sexual orientation by flirting with any buff male who appears on the series, was at it again on Saturday night's instalment when dancing policeman Dan Graham, 33, appeared before him. Scroll down for video 'It's starting to wear very thin!' David Walliams got over excited about a gyrating policeman on Britain's Got Talent... but offends viewers for his 'demeaning faux-gay theatrics' The officer strolled on to the stage in full authoritative get-up, instantly catching David's eye from his place on the judging desk. Before even opening his mouth, David rose and said 'it's a yes from me' before reaching over for the golden buzzer and pretending to press it. The cop, from Kingston Police, took off his hat and placed it on David's head while he broke into a body-popping dance routine. 'Its wonderful to see you in uniform,' David said. 'Dont be afraid to take it off.' Eager beaver: Before even opening his mouth, David rose and said 'it's a yes from me' before reaching over for the golden buzzer and pretending to press it Hats off: The cop, from Kingston Police, burst took off his hat and placed it on David's head while he broke into a body-popping dance routine He later chased the PC off the stage, following the routine, which saw him sent through to the next round. Some viewers were far from impressed, accusing David's behaviour as offensive to gay people. 'Walliams pimps homosexuality so frivolously. Why does everyone accept it?!' came one disgruntled LGBT advocate. 'More of the same faux gay stereotype s**t from that d**k Walliams then!' a second tweeter posted. Eye candy: The officer strolled on to the stage in full authoritative get-up, instantly catching David's eye from his place on the judging desk Come back: He later chased the PC off the stage, following the routine, which saw him sent through to the next round Enamoured: The comedian, 45, who is notorious for poking fun at his sexual orientation (he's heterosexual) by flirting with any buff male who appears on the series, was at it again on Saturday night's instalment when dancing policeman Dan Graham, 33, appeared before him A third wrote: 'Genuinely very rude how David walliams is like HAHA BEING GAY IS HILARIOUS, kind of like demeaning!' A fourth echoed: 'David Walliams overly camp theatrics are wearing thin on #bgt!' 'Walliams gaypropriating again,' came another viewer's curt tweet, followed by someone else posting: 'Another year where Walliams is gay for pay!' 'So bored with David Walliams playing "camp". Is that all he has...?' asked someone else. I don't think I'll ever tire of David Walliams pretending to be gay, it is so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so funny #BGT pic.twitter.com/KXHc5tpaRA Gavalaaaaa (@gavla2505) April 15, 2017 Joining in: Ant & Dec happily took part in the police-themed routine You can leave your hat on: Someone else posted, with their tongue firmly in their cheek - 'I don't think I'll ever tire of David Walliams pretending to be gay, it is so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so funny!' Someone else posted, with their tongue firmly in their cheek: 'I don't think I'll ever tire of David Walliams pretending to be gay, it is so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so funny!' Elsewhere, one tweeter defended the comedy star: 'To those ridiculing David Walliams over his sexuality, 1st, don't assume to know someones sexuality. 2nd, IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!' Others were loving the former Little Britain star: 'I say it every year but David Walliams is the best addition to this show I swear!' Backlash: Some viewers were far from impressed, accusing David's behaviour as offensive to gay people 'David Walliams is my spirit animal,' came another post, with a heart emoji thrown in for good measure. The policeman himself is in fact a YouTube sensation, from last year. In May 2016 more than 1.5 million people watched a clip of him in uniform, dancing by a police van. He featured in a video made by Met officers taking part in the 'running man challenge' craze that went viral globally, seeing police forces worldwide dancing to the music of 1996 Ghost Town DJs song My Boo. The IRS has drained the bank accounts of Tori Spelling and her husband Dean McDermott. The reality star couple - who welcomed their fifth child a few weeks back - owe tens of thousands of dollars to a series of creditors. Now the U.S. government has taken action to recover funds from the pair, reports Page Six. Oh baby! The IRS has 'drained Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott's bank accounts'... weeks after she welcomes their fifth child; the family are pictured in November It is not known how much the couple owe in unpaid taxes. However it emerged last year that they had been issued with a lien for $707,487.30 in unpaid federal taxes for their 2014 bill alone. Former 90210 star Tori is also known to owe over $87,000 in unpaid credit card debt to American Express. City National Bank is also claiming Tori and Dean defaulted on half of a 2012 $400,000 loan, and wants reimbursement of Tori's $17,000 overdraft. On top of this Dean's ex-wife Mary Jo Eustace is chasing more than $100,000 in back child support for their son Jack. Baby number five: Perhaps they are relying on Tori's mother, Candy Spelling, to bail them out Indeed Dean only narrowly avoided jail last month, after paying her an installment of $2,500, while telling the court he had 'fallen on hard times'. Despite their debts the couple don't appear to have curtailed their spending, with Dean showing off a brand new $15,000 motorcycle last month. And Tori seemed oblivious to any financial pressure this week, as she told People magazine she was thinking of having another baby. 'All my kids have their little pair, so I would be open to one more,' said the 43-year-old. Oblivious: Seemingly unconcerned by money troubles, Tori spent Saturday posting an Easter blog post about a family brunch Perhaps they are relying on Tori's mother, Candy Spelling, to bail them out. Candy, the widow of famed producer TV mogul father Aaron Spelling, was left the bulk of his $600 million fortune when he passed away in 2006 aged 83. She is thought to be currently footing the bill for many of the family's expenses. Last year Candy, 71, revealed she was paying Tori and Dean's $9,500 a month rent, private school tuition for the children, and grocery bills. Tori, 43, and Dean have five children, Liam, 10, Stella, 8, Hattie, 5, Finn, 4, and now baby son Beau. Stephen Belafonte falsely accused Mel B of having an affair with Simon Cowell in a huge row ahead of the X Factor final in 2014, new sources claim. According to The Sun on Sunday, the former Spice Girl, 41, endured a fierce spat with the film producer after he claimed she had enjoyed a tryst with the music mogul, in a 'jealous' rage. The row is thought to have occurred before her famous bruised appearance on the ITV reality show - having been forced to miss the Saturday night final the previous evening, due to being admitted to hospital. Scroll down for video Fraught: Stephen Belafonte reportedly accused Mel B of having an affair with Simon Cowell in a huge row ahead of the X Factor final in 2014, new sources claim Mel famously made an appearance at the X Factor final during her stint as judge in 2014 covered in bruises, after a mystery hospital stay - which had sparked rumours of abuse by her husband Stephen. However The Sun on Sunday now reports that Mel and Stephen had become involved in a tense spat ahead of the show, which saw the American producer wrongly accuse her of cheating on him with the Syco owner, 57. A source told the paper: 'Stephens jealousy at that point was causing massive problems in the marriage and he was convinced something was going on between her and Simon. Third wheel? A source said: 'Stephens jealousy at that point was causing massive problems in the marriage and he was convinced something was going on between her and Simon' 'He did not like the fact Mel obviously looked up to him and spoke about him a lot.' The insider continued that Stephen, 41, often became envious when Mel mingled with people he was not familiar with, and it caused tension in their relationship. 'He just couldnt control his jealousy and anger when she was appearing on such a high-profile show with successful people that he didnt know,' the source added. There is no evidence to suggest Mel and Simon embarked on an affair, and an X Factor source further revealed to the paper there had been no truth in his claims. Mystery illness: The row is thought to have occurred before her bruised appearance on the X Factor - having been forced to miss the final the previous evening due to a hospital visit Belafonte has previously called allegations of domestic abuse 'outrageous' and 'unfounded.' MailOnline has contacted representatives of Mel for comment. It has been claimed previously that Mel's fellow X Factor judges at the time had been aware of Stephen's reported abuse. Earlier this month, a source told MailOnline that a concerned Simon had already tried to help her leave Stephen three years ago. Support system: It has been claimed previously that Mel's fellow X Factor judges at the time (above) had been aware of Stephen's reported abuse Helping hand: Earlier this month, a source told MailOnline that a concerned Simon had already tried to help her leave Stephen three years ago The insider explained that the ITV judge had been horrified by Stephen's alleged control over Mel's finances - leaving her without access to her own cash during the X Factor finale in 2014 - and tried to intervene with legal advice and the offer of a hotel room. A source stated: 'Although no one was sure what was going on, Simon and the team at Syco really became concerned at The X Factor finale in 2014. In the days afterwards, following her release from hospital, they were tried to help her leave Belafonte. 'They arranged for her to stay in a hotel, visited her there and tried to help her get a handle on her finances it seemed as if he controlled virtually everything financially. Candid: Sharon Osbourne then went on to speak about Mel's bruised appearance for the first time on US chat show The Talk 'She never divulged to anyone that he was beating her up, but had told them she wanted to leave him and and they introduced her to divorce lawyers to help her to go through with it. 'Unfortunately, he had already then gone back to the US with one of the children and returned to LA because she feared he would stop her ever seeing her children.' Sharon Osbourne then went on to speak about Mel's bruised appearance for the first time on US chat show The Talk. The redhead honestly discussed the fraught finale three years ago, when Mel B missed a day of filming after she was hospitalised. Hurt: 'She came back for the final day and she had a black eye and bruising everywhere, but she made the final,' Sharon revealed Difficult: Speaking about Mel, who filed for divorce last month, Sharon explained: 'In the situation that she's been in for 10 years, it's not just physical, it's mental abuse too' Speaking about Mel, who filed for divorce from her husband of ten years last month, Sharon explained: 'In the situation that she's been in for 10 years, it's not just physical, it's mental abuse too. 'Three years ago, in the final two days of X Factor, she didn't make the first day and she was in the hospital. 'And it was reported in all the papers that said 'allegedly' she's been beaten by her husband. And she came back for the final day and she had a black eye and bruising everywhere, but she made the final.' Not true: Belafonte previously called allegations of domestic abuse 'outrageous' and 'unfounded' Showing her support for the fellow Brit, Sharon added: 'This has been brewing and people talking for a very, very long time.' However, it has since been reported that Simon has now upped her security on the new series of America's Got Talent in order to protect her amid the messy divorce battle. The former Spice Girl filed for divorce from the film producer in March, and has since been granted a temporary restraining order in light of numerous abuse claims. She has also allegedly cut off Belafonte's access to her bank accounts and fortune, believed to be in excess of 40 million. Israeli security forces gather at the site of a stabbing in Jerusalem on April 14, 2017 A Palestinian man stabbed a British woman to death on Friday near Jerusalem's Old City, where thousands of Jewish and Christian pilgrims were gathered for religious holidays. The 23-year-old student was rushed to hospital with serious wounds but later died, according to the emergency services. The attack took place on a tram close to the Old City, where thousands of Christians from around the world marked Good Friday as Jews marked the week-long Passover holiday. Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevy described the attacker, who was arrested, as "very mentally disturbed". Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet named him as Jamil Tamimi, a 57-year-old Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed "Islamic terrorism" for the killing of the woman, whom he described as a student, in "cold blood". He said security forces had thwarted "several attempted attacks in recent days", without giving details. According to police, the assailant pulled a knife out of a bag and stabbed the woman several times in the chest. Israeli security forces cordon off the site where a Palestinian stabbed a British woman in Jerusalem on April 14, 2017 An off-duty policeman travelling in the tram overpowered the attacker with the help of another passenger, the authorities said. "I was travelling with my family when I heard the cries of 'attack, attack'," the officer said. "I sounded the alarm then rushed to the scene of the attack. We overpowered him." The Hebrew University released a statement identifying the victim as Hannah Bladon, an exchange student from Britain's University of Birmingham. It said she had only started studying in Jerusalem in January and had been due to complete a single semester. A British foreign office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the tragic death of a British national in Jerusalem. We are providing support to her family at this difficult time and are in touch with local authorities." Attacks targeting tourists are rare in Jerusalem and top Israeli officials voiced their dismay. "I am filled with sadness, as I received the terrible news of the murder of a young girl in the terror attack in Jerusalem," Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said. - High alert - "This week thousands have come through the ancient gates of Jerusalem, to celebrate the feasts of Passover and Easter throughout the city -- while the security forces work to ensure the safety of the dear residents and visitors to the city. And so we will continue to do. "Terror can never overcome us. Terror will never destroy our lives here." Police had been on high alert for Passover, when tens of thousands of Jews pray at the Western Wall inside the Old City and some visit the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound above it. The compound, which is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site to Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount, is the source of constant tensions. Jews are allowed to visit but not pray at the site. Palestinian fears that Israel will seek to change those rules have been the source of repeated violence. A wave of unrest which erupted in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 260 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, the Israeli authorities say. Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. The violence has greatly subsided in recent months. Bribery and corruption have been rife in Egypt, where a traffic policeman can look past a violation if a crumpled bill finds its way into his pocket When Egyptian real estate developer Hassan tried building an apartment block without paying bribes, officials stalled the project, going so far as to suggest there were ancient relics beneath the lot. Hassan buckled and found a middleman to disperse the bribes. Bribery and corruption have been rife in Egypt, where a traffic policeman can look past a violation if a crumpled bill finds its way into his pocket. The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has decided to crack down, with each month bringing news of stings ensnaring a corrupt official. Corruption "breaks people's morale, and gives them a feeling that there is no hope," Sisi has said. It was one of the main causes of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. But critics say that despite the crackdown, more work has to be done to fight corruption. "The only thing that changed is the faces" said Hassan, a pseudonym. Since 2015, the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) has prosecuted several high-profile cases, including an agriculture minister forced to resign and later sentenced to 10 years for taking bribes. In January, a senior judge hanged himself in custody a day after his arrest for alleged corruption. - Crossing the line - "The ACA's efforts were very fruitful and there is a noticeable decline in corruption incidents" reported in the media and in government statements, said Walaa Gad al-Karim, Partners for Transparency's general manager. The ACA declined several interview requests. Analysts including Gad al-Karim say high profile stings alone cannot end corruption. A legal overhaul is needed, they say, including guarantees of freedom of information, protections for whistle blowers and autonomy for agencies tasked with battling corruption. "There is a very strong anti-corruption political discourse as the president is always talking about fighting corruption, but we need this to be translated into legislation faster," said Gad al-Karim. Egypt scored 34 on Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perception Index, dropping two points from the previous year. A score of zero is highly corrupt while 100 is very clean. The decline was partly because of "restrictions on civil society and public scrutiny over corruption," said Kinda Hattar, TI's regional advisor for the Middle East and North Africa. Hisham Geneina, the former head of the Central Auditing Authority (CAA), has become a cautionary tale for officials who are too outspoken on corruption. He was fired and then sentenced to jail after publicising a study based on 2012-2015 reports that calculated the cost of corruption at about 600 billion pounds (about $33 billion). It was reduced to a suspended sentence on appeal. "Geneina crossed an important red line, which stipulates that the independence provided to the CAA has always been conditional on the confidentiality of their data," said Osama Diab, an anti-corruption researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). A July 2015 decree in which Sisi gave himself the right to sack oversight institutions' heads and members, "adds to their direct subordination to the executive authority," the EIPR said in a 2016 report. - Cost of corruption - Corruption costs the country a lot of money, and occasionally lives. Losses to state coffers from selling state land at below-market prices translate into losses in state services, said Gad al-Karim. "Egypt is known for buildings that collapse on its residents where buildings weren't done in accordance with proper specifications," said Hattar. The low salaries of civil servants and policemen contribute to the phenomenon. Many of Egypt's civil servants make 1,200 pounds monthly, the public sector's minimum wage. The average low ranking policeman, the sort Egyptians are more likely to interact with on a daily basis, makes less than 3,000 pounds, an officer told AFP, although Egyptian media has reported higher salaries for them. "Three quarters of my colleagues have problems in their homes because their wives believe the media," said the officer, who requested anonymity. When Danya, also a pseudonym, was pulled over with an expired driving licence, and paid a 500-pound fine, a police officer told her: "If you had paid the policeman back there 50 pounds you wouldn't have had to pay the 500". Hassan said he would pay higher fees to compensate underpaid officials, "if this money will actually go to the government." Egyptian former interior minister Habib al-Adly (C) walks outside the court room after his retrial at Cairo's police academy on February 24, 2015 An Egyptian court sentenced former interior minister Habib al-Adly to seven years in prison for corruption Saturday, in one of the last cases against Hosni Mubarak-era officials following his 2011 overthrow. Adly, who was seen as a brutal enforcer for the ousted strongman Mubarak, can appeal the verdict. The sentencing came less than a month after Mubarak himself was freed from detention, following his acquittal over charges of involvement in protester deaths during the 18-day revolt that unseated him. Adly and other police commanders had also been acquitted of those charges. But the court on Saturday found him and 10 other interior ministry officials guilty of embezzling more than two billion pounds (about $110 million) while Adly was interior minister. Two other defendants also received seven-years sentences, while the court sentenced six others to six years in prison each and two to three years. Adly had been placed under house arrest since November. Activists shout slogans during a protest in Karachi on April 14, 2017, against the killing of student Mashal Khan by his classmates Eight Pakistanis involved in the mob lynching of a fellow university student over his liberal views were charged with murder and terrorism on Saturday, court officials said, as condemnation grew. Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel at the Abdul Wali Khan university in the conservative northwestern town of Mardan on Thursday by a large mob. So far a total of 12 people have been arrested over the incident and police are hunting for more suspects. "Eight students were presented before an anti-terrorism court in Mardan over murder and challenging the writ of the state," public prosecutor Rafiullah Khan told AFP. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Saturday that he was "shocked and saddened", his first statement on Thursday's killing. "Let it be known to the perpetrators of this act that the state shall not tolerate citizens taking the law in their own hands," Sharif said. "The nation should stand united to condemn this crime and to promote tolerance and rule of law in society," he added. Mushtaq Ghani, Information Minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the government had also requested Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident. Graphic video footage from the crime scene showed dozens of men outside the hostel kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground. Rights activists and civil society organisations held small protests in several Pakistani cities Saturday condemning the murder, and the UN in Pakistan released a statement. "We urge the authorities to take firm action and bring the perpetuators to speedy justice," said Neil Buhne, United Nations resident coordinator in Pakistan. "Pakistan has strong legal institutions and it is unacceptable for anyone to take the law into their own hands," he added. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has urged that all those involved in the lynching be brought to justice. "The states abject failure to protect Mashal Khans right to life has created great panic and horror among students and academia. Unless all those who played any part in Mashals brutal murder are brought to justice, such barbarity will only spread," it said. However, at Khan's funeral Friday a local mosque Imam who was also Khan's primary school teacher, refused to lead the prayer, Mashal's father Iqbal Shayir told AFP. Shayir said he hoped his son's murder would "evoke realisation among people that killing an innocent is a sin". Students had previously complained to university authorities about Khan's alleged secular and liberal views and Khan had been in a heated debate during a class the day he was killed. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in conservative Muslim Pakistan, and can carry the death penalty. Even unproven allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence. At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990. Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers investigate a suicide car bomb attack in Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province on February 11, 2017 At least 11 civilians were killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their vehicle in the restive southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials said Saturday. The blast occurred when the passengers were travelling from remote Nawa district to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah on Friday, government spokesman Omar Zhwak told AFP. "The blast was powerful and all those on board the van were killed," Zhwak said, adding that officials were trying to determine whether any women or children were among the victims. Helmand police chief Agha Noor Kentoz blamed the Taliban for the blast, saying the road had been mined to target Afghan security forces who frequently use it. The Taliban were not immediately reachable for comment, but roadside bombs have been the militants' weapon of choice in their war against foreign and Afghan security forces. The bombs also increasingly kill and wound civilians. Most of Helmand, the biggest poppy-growing province, 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. Around 11,500 civilians -- one third of them children -- were killed or wounded in Afghanistan in 2016, according to the United Nations, the highest recorded by the world body. Christian Orthodox worshippers hold up candles during the Holy Fire ceremony at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre on April 15, 2017, a rite celebrated in the same way for eleven centuries Tens of thousands of Orthodox pilgrims gathered at Christianity's most holy site under heavy police guard Saturday for the traditional "holy fire" ceremony to mark Easter. Clutching candles, the faithful packed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, built on the site where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. Thousands of pilgrims from Eastern Europe thronged the church alongside Arab members of the local Orthodox community. Thousands more, unable to enter the building, waited in the square outside to receive the flame, passed from candle to candle in a symbol of eternity, peace and renewal. A Christian Orthodox worshipper holds a candle during the "Holy Fire" ceremony, marked by the appearance of "sacred fire" in cavities either side of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the rest of the Old City lies in east Jerusalem, occupied and later annexed by Israel following the Six Day War of 1967. The ornate shrine surrounding what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus was reopened last month at a ceremony that followed months of delicate restoration work. Following a $3.7-million (3.4-million-euro) renovation led by the church's three main Christian denominations, the shrine has been painstakingly restored to its former glory -- including a warm reddish-yellow colouring. The Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations share custody of the church, but disputes between the three had led to renovations being delayed for decades. Christians made up more than 18 percent of the population of the Holy Land when Israel was founded in 1948, but now form less than two percent, mostly Orthodox. A Christian Orthodox worshipper holds candles during the "Holy Fire" ceremony on April 15, 2017 as part of Easter celebrations This year, extra police were deployed in Jerusalem to prevent attacks during Easter and the Jewish festival of Passover. That did not prevent a Palestinian man, described by police as "very mentally disturbed", stabbing to death a British woman on Friday in a tram passing near the walls of the Old City. The United States is deploying "a few dozen" troops to Somalia to assist the national army and conduct unspecified security operations, a US military spokeswoman said Saturday. The soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, a light infantry unit trained for air assaults, will mainly train and equip Somalia's army "to better fight Al-Shabab," an Al-Qaeda linked extremist group, the spokeswoman for the US Africa Command based in Germany, Samantha Reho, told AFP. They will also conduct "security force assistance," she said, confirming a report by Voice of America. "For operational security issues, we will not discuss specifics of military efforts nor speculate on potential future activities or operations," she said, declining to say precisely how many troops were being sent. Somalia's fragile central government is still propped up by the international community and a 22,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force after nearly three decades of civil war and anarchy. While Shabab militants have lost large swaths of territory and were forced out of Mogadishu by African Union troops in 2011, they continue to strike in the capital and countryside. They have threatened a "merciless" war against the new administration of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a dual US-Somali citizen who goes by the nickname Farmajo. He took office in February. The 101st Airborne Division has been extensively used in US-led military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States' most notorious military operation in Somalia was in 1993, when an ill-fated attempt to snatch militia leaders led to two Black Hawk helicopters being shot down in Mogadishu. A chaotic rescue was mounted, resulting in hundreds of deaths, including those of 18 US soldiers. The incident was made famous in the book and the movie "Black Hawk Down." The US military spokeswoman noted that US forces have been in Somalia since 1993, helping the Somali government on security concerns. Sudanese soldiers patrol west of the Yemeni coastal port town of Mokha, on April 12, 2017 At least 25 soldiers and rebels have died in clashes around a key military base near Yemen's west coast, military and medical sources said Saturday. Loyalist forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition launched an assault to seize the Khaled Ibn Al-Walid base from Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies who had controlled it for over two years, military sources said. After seizing a mountain overlooking the camp in recent days, forces loyal to internationally recognised president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had advanced on the camp from two directions, they said. The camp, one of the biggest in Yemen, is 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the government-held Red Sea town of Mokha which pro-government forces retook in February. It sits on a key road linking Mokha to the Huthi-controlled port city of Hodeida and third city Taez, which is under rebel siege. Nine rebels were killed and two others wounded in twin coalition air strikes targeting three vehicles bringing reinforcements to the camp, military and medical sources said. They added that a further 12 rebels and four soldiers were killed in fighting overnight. Loyalist forces launched a major offensive on January 7 to retake Yemen's 450-kilometre (280-mile) coastline as far as Midi, close to the Saudi border. The Huthis, supported by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, control parts of northern and western Yemen and the capital Sanaa, which they overran in September 2014. Yemen's long-running conflict escalated in March 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition began bombing raids against the Huthis who had stormed the capital and taken swathes of central and northern territory. Around 7,400 people have died in air strikes and clashes since then, the UN says. Aid agencies have warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in the Arab world's poorest nation. The main contenders for Iran's upcoming presidential elections: (top L-R) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hamid Baghaie, Eshaq Jahangiri (bottom L-R) Ebrahim Raisi, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Hassan Rouhani Registration to run in Iran's election on May 19 closed on Saturday, with more than 1,600 hopefuls throwing their hats in the ring. The conservative-controlled Guardian Council will whittle that number down over the next fortnight -- normally to around half a dozen -- with the campaign set to start on April 28. More than 130 women have registered though none have ever been allowed to stand. Iranian elections are full of surprises, with dark horses often emerging at the very last moment to become president, but here are the main contenders as things stand: President Hassan Rouhani Every president since the early 1980s has won a second term, and Rouhani has done much to maintain his alliance of moderates and reformists -- stabilising the economy and signing a landmark nuclear deal with world powers that ended many sanctions and promised a fresh start with the international community. But many Iranians feel the promised windfall of the nuclear deal has not materialised, while conservatives argue that Rouhani, a 68-year-old cleric who has been at the heart of the revolutionary establishment for decades, was duped by the West -- a charge bolstered by fresh sanctions coming from Washington under US President Donald Trump. Rouhani says much has improved and more time will allow him to produce an economic turnaround. Ebrahim Raisi The 56-year-old hardline judge and cleric is a close ally of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who appointed him to run the powerful Astan Qods Razavi charitable foundation last year. Raisi has little political experience, but has spent decades in powerful judicial and backroom positions, including as Iran's prosecutor-general. Many wonder why he would risk a run for the presidency if, as speculated, he is being considered as a possible future supreme leader. The presidency would be a stepping-stone to the top, but losing an election could damage his standing. For now, he is presenting himself as a humble servant of the poor at a time of economic stagnation. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad The former hardline president (2005-2013) shocked everyone by registering for the election against the advice of the supreme leader, who said it would polarise the nation. Conservatives say it was political suicide, but analysts say the 61-year-old may simply be trying to put pressure on the Guardian Council to approve his ally Hamid Baghaie. Ahmadinejad's cash hand-outs and incendiary rhetoric built him a powerful constituency among the poor, but his tenure was marked by mass protests, plummeting relations with the West and financial mismanagement that took Iran to the brink of ruin. Many Iranians joke they have already experienced their version of Donald Trump. Hamid Baghaie Seen as a proxy for Ahmadinejad after the former president was told not to stand by the supreme leader. Baghaie, 48, was vice-president for executive affairs and headed the tourism board under Ahmadinejad. He was imprisoned for seven months in 2015 for reasons that were never made public, though he was previously investigated for irregularities during his time in office. He said he would run as an "independent" and described himself as a "soldier" of Iran. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf There's been a lot of will-he-won't-he about the 55-year-old Tehran mayor this year, but he finally registered on Saturday for his third run at the presidency. A war veteran, former Revolutionary Guards commander and police chief, he is a staunch conservative. He was runner-up to Rouhani last time, having lost momentum after boasting of beating students with a stick during protests in 1999. Some say his campaign will be damaged by an ongoing real estate scandal in his municipality, but he has experience and powerful backers. He has vowed to create five million jobs and more than double Iran's revenues. Eshaq Jahangiri Rouhani's first vice-president and confidante was a surprise entry at the last minute. It is assumed he is running to offer an alternative for the moderates and reformists in case Rouhani is disqualified by the Guardian Council and said he stood "side-by-side" with the president. Alternatively, the 60-year-old reformist could be trying to raise his profile ahead of his own bid in 2021. Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who twice escaped prison in Mexico, is being detained in the United States after being extradited in January The head bodyguard of the sons of captured Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been killed by soldiers while on the run following a jail break last month, officials said Saturday. Francisco Javier Zazueta Rosales died in a gunfight with Mexican marines on Friday near the northwestern town of San Cayetano in Sinaloa, the state that was El Chapo's stronghold, according to a statement by local prosecutors. Zazueta had been locked up in February but escaped through the front gates of his jail on March 16 with four other detainees, including the son of another cartel chief associated with Guzman. The prison's head of security disappeared soon afterward. Guzman, who twice escaped prison in Mexico, is being detained in the United States after being extradited in January. He has pleaded not guilty to a 17-count indictment filed by US authorities including the charge of leading the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. No trial date has been set. ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's military says security forces have raided a militant hideout in central Pakistan, triggering an intense shootout in which three soldiers and 10 militants were killed. In a statement, it said two soldiers were also wounded in Friday's raid in the Dera Ghazi Khan district. Local militant commanders were among the 10 insurgents who were killed, the statement said. The paramilitary Rangers were still carrying out a search operation in the region to arrest more suspects, according to the military. The shootout comes days after Pakistani police killed a key facilitator of a recent suicide attack in which 13 people were killed in the eastern city of Lahore. Pakistan has carried out scores of operations against militants, killing thousands of them. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - A suspect has been arrested in connection with the deaths of an American and a Swedish investigator for the United Nations and their interpreter, but another suspect has escaped, a Congolese military official said Friday. Maj. Gen. Joseph Ponde Isambwa said four police officers who held the suspects have been brought in for questioning. The bodies of American Michael Sharp, Swedish national Zaida Catalan and interpreter Betu Tshintela were found late last month in a shallow grave in Congo's Central Kasai province. They had been looking into alleged human rights violations by the Congolese army and local militia groups. Three other local members of their team remain missing. Their deaths raised an outcry, with Sweden opening a murder investigation and Congo's President Joseph Kabila vowing punishment for those responsible. It was the first recorded disappearance of international workers in the once-calm Kasai provinces, where at least 400 civilians have been killed since August amid a rebellion loyal to former traditional leader Kamwina Nsapu. The United Nations has said 23 mass graves have been found in the region, and at least 434,000 people have been displaced. "Anyone who has information in connection with the serious acts committed in the greater Kasai is asked to come forward with it," said Ponde, adding that everything is being done to protect those who might be in danger. The prosecutor of the International Criminal court has said the killing of the U.N. investigators and other violence in Congo could be crimes under her court's jurisdiction. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - President Donald Trump plans to nominate a vocal critic of the U.S. Export-Import Bank to serve as its president. The White House announced late Friday that Trump plans to nominate Scott Garrett, a former Republican congressman from New Jersey, to serve as president of the credit agency, which helps overseas buyers get financing to purchase U.S. exports. Trump will also nominate Spencer T. Bachus III of Alabama, another former House member, to serve as a member of the bank's board of directors. Garrett voted against renewing the bank's charter while he was in Congress, denouncing it as "corporate welfare." "I opposed the House's vote to reauthorize the corporate welfare program known as the Ex-Im Bank. #CronyCapitalism," he tweeted in 2015. It's a view he used to share with Trump - at least until this week. During his campaign, Trump criticized the credit agency as an unnecessary giveaway to politicians and certain companies. "I don't like it because I don't think it's necessary," he told Bloomberg, describing it as "sort of a featherbedding for politicians" and "a few companies." "And these are companies that can do very well without it. So I don't like it. I think it's a lot of excess baggage," he added. But this week Trump announced he'd changed his mind, telling The Wall Street Journal in an interview that he now supports it. "It turns out that, first of all lots of small companies will really be helped, the vendor companies, but also maybe more importantly, other countries give it," he said. "And when other countries give it, we lose a tremendous amount of business." "So instinctively," he added, "you would say it's a ridiculous thing but actually it's a very good thing and it actually makes money. You know, it actually could make a lot of money." The bank has been hobbled in recent years without enough board members to produce a quorum, blocking it from approving transactions exceeding $10 million. Much of the bank's financing benefits large corporation such as The Boeing Company, General Electric and Caterpillar Inc. Many moderate, business-minded Republican groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support the bank. But vocal opponents, including many tea party Republicans and outside groups like the Heritage Foundation, have said it practices crony capitalism, awarding most of its financing to well-connected corporations. Trump's reversal on the subject is just one of several he's made in recent days as he approaches his 100th day in office. __ Follow Colvin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/colvinj BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - New trends are joining old traditions in Romania this Easter. In the predominantly Christian Orthodox country of 19 million, age-old crafts such as intricate egg decorating and painted religious icons are a major feature of the Holy Week run-up to Easter Sunday. But a more commercial flavor has slowly crept into the celebrations. At an Easter fair outside the Bucharest palace built by the late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu, entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads. Huge models of colored eggs in baskets dotted the displays. An oversized hen pulled a cart while a plastic rabbit sat in the back with a model of large painted egg, scenes that could have been inspired by "Alice in Wonderland." In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture artisan Nicu Poenariu turns Easter eggs on sale at a fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Painted religious symbols, a major feature of Christian Orthodox observances, also were on display and for sale at the fair and the patriarchy, the seat of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Tradition flourished elsewhere in the Romanian capital. Craftsmen such as Nicu Poenaru skillfully embellished hen, ostrich and goose eggs by hollowing out the contents and carefully piercing tiny holes in the shells, creating objects of artistic and religious value. Prices range from 15 lei to 150 lei ($3.50 to $35) depending on the size and intricacy of the design. While humans in rabbit costumes were all the rage at the fair, one child got to see a real rabbit close up, crouching down by the animal's cage with wonder. In this Saturday, April 8, 2017, picture a Romanian Catholic picks up a wooden cross from a tree before the start of a procession ahead of Palm Sunday in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Saturday, April 8, 2017, picture a Romanian Orthodox priest's son looks up along with his mother during a service ahead of Palm Sunday in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture entertainers wearing rabbit costumes speak at a fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture artisan Nicu Poenariu demonstrates his technique on an Easter egg on sale at a fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture entertainers wearing rabbit costumes strike a pose backdropped by the communist era built House of the People, currently the Romanian parliament, at a fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Saturday, April 8, 2017, picture a Romanian Catholic holds a wooden cross during a procession ahead of Palm Sunday in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture Easter eggs decorated with religious themes by artisan Nicu Poenariu are on sale at a fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Saturday, April 8, 2017, picture a woman touches a large icon carried by Romanian Orthodox priests after a service ahead of Palm Sunday in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Saturday, April 8, 2017, picture Romanian Orthodox priests attend a service ahead of Palm Sunday in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Sunday, April 9, 2017, picture a gendarme with a flowers attached to his uniform walks next to Catholic children taking part in a Palm Sunday procession in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture artisan Nicu Poenariu displays for a photograph an Easter egg on sale at a fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture a child hugs an entertainers wearing a rabbit costume at an Easter fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this Thursday, April 13, 2017, picture a child tries to interact with a rabbit on display at a fair in Bucharest, Romania. Ahead of Easter, celebrated by both Orthodox and Catholic believers on April 16 processions of priests clad in golden robes carrying foliage on Palm Sunday in a recreation of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem, mixed with more commercial flavored celebrations like an Easter fair outside the giant palace built by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu where entertainers strutted around wearing giant rabbit heads.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Food aid will be cut for more than a million hungry Nigerians affected by Boko Haram's insurgency if promised funding from the international community doesn't arrive, according to a United Nations official. Peter Lundberg, the deputy U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, wrote in the French newspaper Le Monde that just 15 percent of the U.N. aid appeal for one of the world's worst humanitarian crises has been received. Over the next six months, $242 million is needed to help 1.8 million people, he said. "Without sufficient financing, the World Food Program will have to reduce its vital support," he wrote Friday. A half-million children in northeast Nigeria are suffering from severe malnutrition, Lundberg said. "Without treatment, one in five will die," he said. WFP's Nigeria office did not respond to a request for more details on what aid would be cut and when. Nigeria is part of what the U.N. has called the largest humanitarian crisis since the world body was founded in 1945, with more than 20 million people in four countries facing possible famine. The other nations are South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Lundberg said the U.N. has appealed for $1 billion in aid this year for Nigeria, where an estimated 4.7 million people in the northeast are in urgent need of food aid. Nigeria's military has been fighting to win back areas that have been under the control of the Boko Haram extremist group. The years-long Islamic insurgency in the vast northeast has disrupted both markets and farming, creating the hunger crisis. MILFORD, Pa. (AP) - He decided to attack a state police barracks only a few days before squeezing the trigger. He was surprised the manhunt for him wasn't more aggressive. He feared he'd be shot by police but figured he had it coming. Eric Frein's videotaped statement to police, recorded on the night of his 2014 capture and aired publicly for the first time during his capital murder trial last week, offered new details into what the suspect was thinking and doing before, during and after the deadly ambush that killed one trooper and left a second with devastating injuries. While chain-smoking cigarettes given to him by police, Frein answered many of the investigators' questions with a nod or shake of the head - and, in the process, implicated himself over and over. His attorney, Michael Weinstein, told reporters after the video was played in court that "it's not for us to decide if it's a confession." But he added the video showed Frein displayed "legitimate remorse." The 33-year-old college dropout, who eluded capture for nearly seven weeks after the ambush, faces a potential death sentence if he's convicted in the attack that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson. He's pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have said they could rest their case this week. Some things we learned about Frein from the video and from other evidence presented at his trial: PLAN DEVELOPED QUICKLY Frein told police he began plotting the ambush the first weekend of September, only a few days before the Sept. 12, 2014, attack. He used Google Earth to scope out state police barracks near his home in Canadensis, picking the Blooming Grove station because it was surrounded by woods and offered good cover. He said he didn't visit the area ahead of time and knew no one at the barracks. ___ HIDE AND SEEK Frein wasn't exactly on the run during a large portion of the manhunt. He told police he spent most of his time as one of America's most wanted men living in an airplane hangar attached to a defunct and abandoned Poconos resort more than 20 miles from the shooting scene. It was stocked with everything he needed to live in relative comfort, though he did say he burglarized a home a few days before his capture to steal food. He called it "scary" and "a little bit disconcerting" to be the target of a manhunt but added he didn't care if he got caught. ___ RELUCTANT TO OFFER MOTIVE Faced repeatedly with questions about why he did it, Frein demurred. "I don't know," he said at one point. At another, Frein seemed to suggest he was dissatisfied with his life as a 31-year-old man who lived with his parents and had few job prospects. Finally, toward the end, he agreed with the investigators' suggestions that he shot Dickson and Trooper Alex Douglass to "wake people up" and force a change in government. He complained there was no one worth voting for. Another key piece of evidence - a letter to his parents - lends credence to the idea that Frein was a wannabe revolutionary. He wrote that only another revolution can "get us back the liberties we once had." ___ CLAIMS TO BE RELIGIOUS Asked if he considered himself a man of faith, Frein nodded his head yes. He talked about Old Testament prophesy and the New Testament book of Luke. He made the sign of the cross when an investigator said "thank God" nobody got seriously hurt during the manhunt. He spoke of his soul and said "there's already enough to answer for." And, in a handwritten journal recovered from the hangar, he asked Jesus Christ for mercy. Frein did not square his professions and displays of piety with the sniper who plotted, laid in wait and chose his victims at random. CAIRO (AP) - A court has sentenced Habib al-Adly, Hosni Mubarak's last minister of interior, to seven years in prison for embezzlement of public funds. The ruling against Adly and 12 other former ministry officials on Saturday for embezzlement of over LE2 billion ($110.3 million) of the ministry's funds will land the man synonymous with the worst excesses of Mubarak's security forces back in jail. Adly was released in 2015 after serving three years in prison for using police conscripts as free labor in his private properties. He was acquitted of charges over ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended Mubarak's reign, as well as financial corruption charges. He did not attend Saturday's verdict and is expected to be taken into custody. MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - Republicans in Georgia's conservative 6th district don't agree which of their party's 11 candidates should represent the area in Congress. They're united on one thing: it won't be the Democrat trying for a massive upset fueled by anti-Trump sentiment and millions of dollars from around the country. "I don't care what party you're from," said Marty Aftewicz, a 66-year-old Republican voter from Marietta. "If the money's coming from outside the district, it's dirty." Democrats in the area, though, see the flood of donations as a sign they're not alone in opposing the president. This March 27, 2017 photo shows Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff with supporters outside of the East Roswell Branch Library in Roswell, Ga. Five Democrats will appear on the ballot, but Ossoff is considered the greatest threat to the GOP. Two independent candidates also are running. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz) "It gives me some hope, even though Georgia is a heavily red state," said Barbara Oakley, a 65-year-old retired pharmacist. "I think Democrats got surprised by Trump in November and they're ready to work." Approaching Tuesday's primary, Republicans are trying to prevent victory by a previously unknown former congressional staffer, 30-year-old Jon Ossoff. His bid to replace Health Secretary Tom Price in Congress carries implications beyond the northern suburbs of Atlanta as both major parties position themselves for the 2018 midterm elections. Five Democrats will appear on the ballot, but Ossoff is considered the greatest threat to the GOP. Two independent candidates also are running. The 18-candidate "jungle primary" comes a week after Republicans sweated out a single-digit special congressional victory in Kansas. Republican winner Ron Estes had previously coasted to easy statewide victories as state treasurer, but won a House seat based in Wichita by just 7 percentage points, with little outside investment from national Democrats. In Georgia, by contrast, both parties have dispatched paid field staffers, and a Republican political action committee backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan has spent more than $2 million pounding Ossoff. President Donald Trump underperformed other Republicans in the suburban district, making it a soft target for Democrats. "Jon is being bankrolled by the most extreme liberals," said Republican candidate Karen Handel, referring to Ossoff's fundraising haul that exceeds $8 million, most of it from outside the district. "No one is naive enough to think that he will not be beholden to those who are bankrolling him." The message sank in for Aftewicz, who cast an early ballot for Republican candidate Dan Moody. Unprompted, Aftewicz echoed the barrage of campaign ads attempting to tie Ossoff to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "Anyone raising that much outside money can't represent me," Aftewicz said. For his part, Ossoff pledges to be an "independent voice" in Congress, and he defends his campaign as a grassroots success powered by small and medium donors. Republicans essentially concede Ossoff will lead the voting Tuesday. That leaves 11 Republican candidates hoping the investigative filmmaker fails to reach a majority. If he doesn't, Ossoff and the top GOP vote-getter would meet in a June 20 runoff. The Republican leaders appear to be Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state; technology executive Bob Gray; and two former state senators, Moody and Judson Hill - all of whom national Republicans say could defeat Ossoff in a second round. From the outset, Trump has loomed large in the contest. Ossoff has used the anti-Trump windfall to blanket the expensive television market with advertising that tries to stoke liberal angst but also woo disaffected Republicans in a district Trump barely won in November. Oakley, who cast an early ballot for Ossoff, moved to Georgia about six years ago and often feels "like a fish out of water" as a staunch Democrat in the red state. She considers her vote a small indicator of her disapproval toward Trump. "The environment, women's rights, even the forest service are going to be affected by Trump's actions," Oakley said. "Pretty much everything he's done worries me." Ossoff pledges to fight Trump when he "embarrasses" the country. But he tells voters in one ad, "I'll work with anybody in Washington who respects your tax dollars." For her part, Handel said in a recent interview that she will work with Trump "on issues where we agree, but my job is to be a voice for people of the 6th district." That's a far cry from Gray, the businessman who calls himself a "willing partner" for the president. Gray offered particular praise for Trump's recent address to a joint session of Congress. "There was not a single proposal in that speech that I don't agree with," Gray told The Associated Press. Tom Goodwin, a business owner from Roswell, voted early for Hill on Thursday and said the large number of candidates in the race made him feel "my vote really matters." "I'm a little overwhelmed by how much people are talking about this race," Goodwin, 52, said. "I think it's a sign of how divided our country is right now." JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Going without health insurance is a risk. Going without it in Alaska can be a gamble of a much higher order, for this is a place unlike anywhere else in the U.S., a land of pitiless cold, vast expanses and dangerous, back-breaking work such as pulling fishing nets from the water or hauling animal carcasses out of the woods. And yet many people on the Last Frontier do not carry insurance. For them, the Affordable Care Act just isn't working. For reasons that have a lot to do with its sheer size, sparse population and harsh environment, Alaska has some of the highest health care costs in the nation; the most expensive insurance premiums, according to one key measure; and just one insurer in the whole state writing individual policies. In this March 15, 2017 photo, Bonnin Jarvill, who fishes with her husband and young daughter, shovels snow from the boat that doubles as home and workplace in Juneau, Alaska. Jarvill says health care costs are a constant concern for her. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer) Michael Hutton, who makes a living selling high-performance dog food used by dog sledders, some of whom compete in the grueling Iditarod race, looked at the potential $700-a-month cost of coverage under Obamacare and decided he would rather take his chances and hope he doesn't get seriously hurt or ill. "In my age group, it hasn't been much of an issue," the 45-year-old Hutton said. But he confessed, "The older you get, the more important it's going to be." Many people in Alaska are frustrated with the cost of required health coverage under President Barack Obama's signature law and anxious about what the future holds, with President Donald Trump so far unable to deliver on his promise to repeal and replace it with something better. Income-based subsidies are available under the Affordable Care Act to help many Alaskans buy insurance. But not everyone qualifies, and so some choose to go without. As of 2015, 13 percent of Alaska residents were uninsured and potentially subject to fines under Obamacare, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, citing the most recent figures available. Five states in all were at 13 percent. Only Georgia (14 percent) and Texas (16 percent) were higher. Hutton, who lives in the fishing village of Kasilof, has so far managed to avoid any serious health problems and said the amount he has paid out of his own pocket for medical care, plus an Obamacare tax penalty of $700 for not having insurance, are far less than the premiums he would have faced. Many people in Alaska hold down rugged jobs or enjoy outdoor pastimes that can lead to serious injuries and chronic ailments, such as bad backs and knees. At the same time, Alaska has some of the nation's highest rates of tuberculosis, chlamydia and suicide. Alcohol and drug abuse is a major problem, too. With many places in the state accessible only by air or water, some people who suddenly get very sick have to be flown to Anchorage or Seattle. A medical evacuation can cost $50,000 to $150,000. Even ordinary visits to the doctor can be problematic, in part because of shortages of primary-care physicians. Alaska's biggest cities - Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau - rank at or near the top among the nation's metro areas in the cost of a doctor's visit, with Juneau the most expensive in the country at nearly $189, just above Boston, according to the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness. The attitude toward Obamacare appears to reflect something essential about Alaskans: They can be a stubborn, skeptical bunch with a libertarian streak. While Trump won the state with 51 percent to Hillary Clinton's 37 percent, the biggest voting bloc is independents, who outnumber registered Republicans nearly 2-to-1. Alaskans often take great pride in their toughness and resourcefulness and have been known to bandage their own wounds or use a staple gun to close a leg gash. "There's no use in going to pay a thousand dollars for someone to wrap up your ribs in a bandage," said Bryce Reimer, a 25-year-old audio and lighting technician from Wasilla who wrapped his own ribs after a car accident because he doesn't have health insurance. The health plan that is often used as a benchmark for comparing coverage from state to state, for a 40-year-old nonsmoker, costs $927 a month before any subsidies in Alaska, or 2 times the national average, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. While nearly every Alaskan receives an annual check of typically more than $1,000 as their share of the state's oil wealth, that doesn't necessarily go very far in a place where the late-winter unemployment rate in some communities is around 20 percent and where the difficulties of delivering goods and services contribute to a cost of living so staggering that a gallon of milk can cost $10 in some rural outposts. Also, many Alaskans work jobs where the amount they earn can fluctuate wildly, depending on such factors as the weather or the size of a salmon run. Because of that, some people cannot be sure whether they qualify for subsidies from one year to the next, or whether they will be able to afford coverage once they have signed up. Juneau resident Bonnin Jarvill, who fishes for a living, said her family's Obamacare-subsidized policy of $360 a month is affordable, but the family deductible is a daunting $14,000. That's worrisome because their income can vary depending on how many salmon and halibut they catch, they are still paying off bills from last year's fishing season, and they are trying to set up a plan to pay off her husband's recent hernia surgery. They live on their boat with their 4-year-old daughter. Jarvill, 30, said she and her husband plan to see if they qualify for Medicaid. If not, they may have to ask their parents for help. "We feel like at this point in our lives we should be able to take care of our family," she said. "It's frustrating to receive help." Nearly a quarter of Alaska's 740,000 residents are covered by Medicaid, which Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, expanded as part of the Affordable Care Act to include more lower-income people. Only about 19,000 Alaskans get insurance on the individual market, resulting in a tiny pool across which insurers can spread costs. The number of insurance companies writing individual policies in Alaska dropped from five in 2015. Last month's dead-on-arrival GOP health care proposal would have jacked up premiums on Alaskans even higher. Rep. Don Young and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans, had raised serious objections, saying they wanted to see something that would reduce costs, increase access to care and protect Medicaid recipients from cutbacks. In the meantime, many of those who gained coverage under the law or have affordable plans are fearful about losing their lifeline. Public relations photographer Lisa Seifert, 55, of Anchorage, qualified for expanded Medicaid last fall after going without insurance for years because it became too expensive. Car accidents and years of lugging around camera equipment have taken a toll on her body. "I just hope it doesn't go away," she said of her Medicaid coverage, her voice faltering. "Where would I be?" ___ D'Oro reported from Anchorage, Alaska. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The death toll in flash floods triggered by heavy rains in Iran's northwest province of eastern Azarbaijan rose to 30 as rescue teams deployed, state TV reported Saturday. The report said that there are seven people missing in the cities of Ajab Shir and Azarshahr, and that rescue teams are trying to find them. It added five injured people have been hospitalized. East Azarbaijan Governor's Office of Crisis Management said that 16 bodies were found in Ajabshir city and 14 in city of Azarshahr. Director General of Crisis Management in East Azarbaijan province Khalil Saei said that Red Crescent workers, air ambulances, as well as police and army forces have been deployed from the early hours of the morning to provide aid. In September, at least 10 people were killed in flash floods across the Tehran and Hormozgan provinces. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - While the world watched the latest round of saber-rattling between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea staged a massive rally and military parade Saturday to mark the 105th anniversary of its national founder, Kim Il Sung. There weren't any nuclear tests or ballistic missile launches to mark the day. But concerns the rising tensions could lead to a real conflict were on the minds of many Koreans on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. The Associated Press talked to residents in Pyongyang and Seoul to get a feel for how the people at the center of the storm see the situation. Of course, not all interviews are equal. In this combination of images made from video, from left to right: North Koreans An Yong Ae and O Song Rim; and South Koreans Kwon Soon-yong and Hong Dong-wan; are interviewed by the Associated Press in Pyongyang and Seoul on Saturday, April 15, 2017. As tensions rise on the Korean peninsula, the voices of Koreans North and South seem a world apart. Amid the latest saber-rattling between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea has staged a massive parade on the 105th anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung's birthday. Concerns about a possible conflict are shared on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. (AP Photo)I In Pyongyang, residents are careful to choose their words when speaking with the media, especially foreign media. Keeping on message with the government's official line is expected. In Seoul, residents are accustomed to a media that can be both cantankerous and crucial to the survival of their democratic leaders. Put them together and this is the contrast: ___ IN PYONGYANG, North Korea An Yong Ae, a Pyongyang resident who marched in Saturday's parade: "We don't care whether the situation is tense or not, we'll definitely win because we've got our Marshal (Kim Jong UN). Our situation, our country's situation, doesn't depend on the regional situation. We'll win because we've got our Marshal. That's the kind of spirit I have when taking part in today's big event." O Song Rim, who also took part in the North Korean parade: "We follow the direction set by our Marshal, under the leadership of our party, and all our people and army will always stick to our own way - that's what we showed the world with today's big event. So in future too, whatever the situation is, whichever way the wind blows, whatever sanctions or pressure there are, we will stick to our way." ___ IN SEOUL, South Korea Company employee, Kwon Soon-yong, 55: "We are in a situation where the South and North are confronting each other all the time ... I served in the military a long time ago, but I am always tense. But our ultimate hope is that all these issues are resolved and the peninsula becomes unified by all means." College student Hong Dong-wan, 27: "I believe we have to strongly respond to North Korea's provocation. I think South Koreans do not seriously think about these kinds of provocations. We are in a state of crisis, but I believe that we have to act resolutely so that North Korea doesn't provoke again." ___ AP writer Jung-yoon Kim in Seoul contributed to this report. In this image made from video, Hong Dong-wan, 27, is interviewed by the Associated Press in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 15, 2017. As tensions rise on the Korean peninsula, the voices of Koreans North and South seem a world apart. Amid the latest saber-rattling between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea has staged a massive parade on the 105th anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung's birthday. Concerns about a possible conflict are shared on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. (AP Photo) In this image made from video, Kwon Soon-yong, 55, is interviewed by the Associated Press in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 15, 2017. As tensions rise on the Korean peninsula, the voices of Koreans North and South seem a world apart. Amid the latest saber-rattling between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea has staged a massive parade on the 105th anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung's birthday. Concerns about a possible conflict are shared on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. (AP Photo) In this image made from video, O Song Rim is interviewed by the Associated Press in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, April 15, 2017. As tensions rise on the Korean peninsula, the voices of Koreans North and South seem a world apart. Amid the latest saber-rattling between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea has staged a massive parade on the 105th anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung's birthday. Concerns about a possible conflict are shared on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. (AP Photo) TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Albania's governing left-wing coalition says it will ask Europe's center-right parties, of which the country's opposition is a member, to convince the opposition to sit down to talks and take part in Albania's parliamentary election. Prime Minister Edi Rama of the main governing Socialist Party and Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta of the Socialist Movement for Integration on Saturday said they would ask for help from the European People's Party and European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn. Meta said after meeting with Rama that "an official commitment of a formal EPP representative would be the best way to start the dialogue soonest and unblock the situation." Seven years ago, when the Socialists, then in opposition, were holding a similar protest, it was representatives from Europe's center-right and center-left groups and the enlargement commissioner who resolved the crisis after a long dinner in Strasbourg, France. In post-communist Albania, since 1990, the country's political parties always have resolved their crises with the intervention of the international community. The Democratic Party-led opposition says they will boycott Albania's June 18 parliamentary election unless a caretaker government takes the country to the polls. They say the Cabinet will manipulate the vote with drug money, and have declined to negotiate. Since mid-February, its supporters have blocked the main boulevard in the capital, Tirana, with a tent in front of Rama's office. Responding to the EPP's mediation effort, Lulzim Basha, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said that was not the way to resolve the situation. "There will be no election in Albania without a technical (caretaker) government," he said at the tent. "There won't be any other way." WASHINGTON (AP) - A decade ago, he was a young Army soldier training Iraqi troops when he noticed their primitive filing system: handwritten notes threaded with different colors of yarn, stacked in piles. For organization's sake, he built them a simple computer database. Now an Army reservist, the major is taking a break from his civilian high-tech job to help America's technological fight against Islamic State group. He's part of a growing force of experts the Pentagon has assembled to defeat the extremists. "The ability to participate in some way in a real mission, that is actually something that's rare, that you can't find in private sector," said the 38-year-old Nebraska native who is working at U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland. "You're part of a larger team putting your skills to use, not just optimizing clicks for a digital ad, but optimizing the ability to counter ISIS or contribute to the security of our nation." FILE - This June 6, 2013, file photo, shows the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md., where the U.S. Cyber Command is located. The American military services are looking for new ways to bring in more civilians with high-tech skills who can help fight Islamic State militants and prepare for the new range of technological threats the U.S. will face. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) Last year, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter expressed frustration that the United States was losing the cyberwar against the militants. He pushed the Cyber Command to be more aggressive. In response, the Pentagon undertook an effort to incorporate cyber technology into its daily military fight, including new ways to disrupt the enemy's communications, recruiting, fundraising and propaganda. To speak with someone at the front lines of this campaign, The Associated Press agreed to withhold the major's name. The military says he could be threatened or targeted by the militants if he is identified publicly. The major and other officials wouldn't provide precise details on the highly classified work he is doing. But Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command, said the major is bringing new expertise for identifying enemy networks, pinpointing system administrators or developers, and potentially monitoring how IS' online traffic moves. He "has the ability to bring an analytic focus of what the threat is doing, coupled with a really deep understanding of how networks run," Nakasone said, describing such contributions as "really helpful for us." He outlined a key question for the military: "How do you impact an adversary that's using cyberspace against us?" The military is looking for new ways to bring in more civilians with high-tech skills who can help against IS and prepare for the new range of technological threats the nation will face. Nakasone said that means getting Guard and Reserve members with technical expertise in digital forensics, math crypto-analysis and writing computer code. The challenge is how to find them. "I would like to say it's this great database that we have, that we've been able to plug in and say, 'Show me the best tool developers and analysts that you have out there,'" Nakasone said. "We don't have that yet. We are going to have one, though, by June." The Army Reserve is starting a pilot program cataloging soldiers' talents. Among 190,000 Army reservists, Nakasone said there might be up to 15,000 with some type of cyber-related skills. But there are legal and privacy hurdles, and any database hinges on reservists voluntarily and accurately providing information on their capabilities. Normally, Nakasone said a reservist's record includes background, training, assignments and schools attended. "I would like to know every single person that has been trained as a certified ethical hacker," he said. The Army has been steadily building cyber mission teams, as part of a broader Defense Department undertaking. Of the 41 Army teams, just over half come from the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. Nakasone said officials were still working out costs. "The money will come," he said, because building a ready cyber force is necessary. The Army major said others in the civilian high-tech industry are interested in helping. Many would like to participate "in something bigger than themselves, something that has intrinsic value for the nation," he said. The major said he has signed up for a second one-year tour in his cyber job. He is looking at options for staying longer. "I find what I'm doing very satisfying, because I have an opportunity to implement things, to get things done and see them work and see tangible results," he said. "I'm not making as much as I was on the civilian side. But the satisfaction is that strong, and is that valuable, that it's worth it." SAO PAULO (AP) - Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht helped finance the campaign of Peru's former President Ollanta Humala, company's former CEO has said. In testimony this week to prosecutors, Marcelo Odebrecht said the company contributed $3 million to Humala, who was elected in 2011.The Odebrecht construction company is at the center the biggest corruption probe in Brazil's history. The investigation, known as Operation Car Wash, has already unveiled billions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes paid to politicians by Brazilian companies. A former Odebrecht executive also testified this week that the company donated $1.5 million to the campaign of El Salvador's Mauricio Funes, who was president of that Central American country from 2009 to 2014. Also this week, another former Odebrecht executive told prosecutors that between 2006 and 2014 the company paid $3.4 billion in bribes. JERUSALEM (AP) - Thousands of Christians have gathered in Jerusalem for an ancient fire ceremony that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. In a ritual dating back at least 1,200 years, they crowded Saturday into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. During the annual ceremony, top Eastern Orthodox clerics enter the Edicule, the small chamber marking the site of Jesus' tomb. Christian pilgrims light candles during the Holy Fire ceremony in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the burial site of Jesus Christ, Saturday, April 15, 2017, in Jerusalem. Thousands of Christians have gathered in Jerusalem for the ancient fire ceremony that celebrates Jesus' resurrection. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov) They then emerge to reveal candles said to be miraculously lit with "holy fire" as a message to the faithful from heaven. The details of the flame's source are a closely guarded secret. Christians will celebrate Easter on Sunday. MEXICO CITY (AP) - A Mexican state prosecutor's office says marines have killed a man linked to a deadly attack on a military convoy. Sinaloa state officials say Francisco Javier Zazueta Rosales died in a clash with marines Friday in the northwestern state's capital of Culiacan. A state official says Zazueta Rosales was a bodyguard for Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, a son of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is now awaiting trial in the United States. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to discuss the case. He says Zazueta Rosales is suspected to have been involved in a Sept. 30 attack on a military convoy in which five soldiers died and 10 were injured. Zazueta Rosales was among five men who fled a state prison in March. BERLIN (AP) - Two trains collided at a station in Vienna on Saturday, leaving nine people with largely light injuries, authorities said. The accident happened at Meidling station, near the center of the Austrian capital, on Saturday afternoon. A Railjet intercity train headed for Villach in southern Austria with 30 people on board hit an empty regional train. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the accident, which resulted in part of the Railjet train derailing and tipping over. Nine people were hurt, though the most severe injury was a hand fracture, the Austria Press Agency reported. Roman Hahslinger, a spokesman for railway company OeBB, said that a technical problem and human error were both possible causes. Investigators planned to question both train drivers, neither of whom was injured, as well as dispatchers. Actor Clifton James, best known for his indelible portrayal of a southern sheriff in two James Bond films, has died at the age of 96. His daughter, Lynn James, said he died Saturday at another daughter's home in Gladstone, Oregon, due to complications from diabetes. 'He was the most outgoing person, beloved by everybody,' Lynn James said. 'I don't think the man had an enemy. We were incredibly blessed to have had him in our lives.' The actor Clifton James, best known for his indelible portrayal of a southern sheriff in two James Bond films, has died at the age of 96 James often played a convincing southerner but loved working on the stage in New York during the prime of his career. One of his first significant roles playing a southerner was as a cigar-chomping, prison floor-walker in the 1967 classic 'Cool Hand Luke.' His long list of roles also includes swaggering, tobacco-spitting Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper in the Bond films. His portrayal of the redneck sheriff in 'Live and Let Die' in 1973 more than held its own with sophisticated English actor Roger Moore's portrayal of Bond. James was such a hit that writers carved a role for him in the next Bond film, 'The Man with the Golden Gun,' in 1974. James, this time playing the same sheriff on vacation in Thailand as the epitome of the ugly American abroad, gets pushed into the water by a baby elephant. 'He wasn't supposed to actually go in,' said his daughter. 'They gave him sugar in his pocket to feed the elephant. But he wasn't giving it to the elephant fast enough.' His portrayal of the redneck sheriff in 'Live and Let Die' in 1973 more than held its own with sophisticated English actor Roger Moore's portrayal of Bond James was such a hit that writers carved a role for him in the next Bond film, 'The Man with the Golden Gun,' in 1974 She said her father met with real southern sheriffs to prepare for his role as Pepper. Of his hundreds of roles, it was the Louisiana sheriff that people most often recognized and approached him about. His daughter noted that her father sometimes said actors get remembered for one particular role out of hundreds. 'His is the sheriff's, but he said he would have never picked that one,' she said. George Clifton James was born May 29, 1920, in Spokane, Washington, the oldest of five siblings and the only boy. The family lost all its money at the start of the Great Depression and moved to Gladstone, just outside Portland, Oregon, where James' maternal grandparents lived. In the 1930s, James got work with the Civilian Conservation Corps and then entered World War II in 1942 as a soldier with the U.S. Army in the South Pacific, receiving two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star. Lynn James said one of the Purple Hearts came when a bullet pierced his helmet and zipped around the inside to come out and split his nose. The second Purple Heart, she said, came from shrapnel that knocked out many of his teeth. She said her father rarely spoke about the war and never described events leading to his receiving the Silver Star. 'He lost too many friends,' she said. George Clifton James was born May 29, 1920, in Spokane, Washington, the oldest of five siblings and the only boy. He served in WWII before he moved to New York to start acting After the war, James took classes at the University of Oregon and acted in plays. Inspired, he moved to New York and launched his acting career. Later in life, he spent the fall and spring of each year in New York. In the winter, he lived in a condo in Delray Beach, Florida. During the summer he lived in Oregon. James' wife, Laurie, died in 2015. He is survived by two sisters, five children, 14 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Lynn James said a celebration of her father's life will be held in Gladstone in August, but there are no other plans so far. She said some of his ashes will likely be spread in the Clackamas River in Oregon, in which he swam as a boy, and in New York Harbor, where some of his wife's ashes were spread. Teachers from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds are being given projects rooted in stereotypes rather than reflecting their personal strengths, a survey of BME (black and minority ethnic) staff has found. Evidence from more than 1,000 teachers in England found additional workloads included black teachers being asked to lead their schools Black History Month activities, instead of being put in charge of intellectual teacher and learning responsibility (TLR) roles. Some also claimed the bosses relied on stereotypes as an excuse to hand BME teachers classes with the most challenging behaviour. A school teacher next to piles of classroom books (PA) 2/3rds of BME teachers feel unsupported at school, 1/3rd never apply for a promotion - Runnymede & @NUTonline #BMEteachers survey out today pic.twitter.com/hi18XJVcWZ Runnymede Trust (@RunnymedeTrust) April 14, 2017 The survey, for the National Union of Teachers (NUT) by race equality think tank Runnymede Trust, found 32% of male and 27% of female teachers did not feel staff were comfortable talking about race or sexism. Respondents said structural barriers such as racism including assumptions about capability based on racial and ethnic stereotypes were everyday experiences for BME teachers. In particular, BME teachers spoke about an invisible glass ceiling and a widespread perception among senior leadership teams (SLT) that BME teachers have a certain level and dont go beyond it. One primary school teacher of Caribbean origin said: You can bring experiences of your own culture, get children to ask questions about culture, to lead on faith and Black History month. 7% of teachers from BME background. 28% of secondary & 31% of primary kids are BME. Runnymede & @NUTonline #BMEteachers survey out today pic.twitter.com/7AbFDV7shM Runnymede Trust (@RunnymedeTrust) April 14, 2017 (But) having to deal with difficult conversations, you become the mentor for BME, given classes with the most challenging behaviour. Its the result of stereotypical assumptions. Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, said: Racism is not discussed enough in schools, even at a time when intolerance is increasing within society. These findings remind us that it is a defining feature of BME teachers lives and deeply affects the experience of young black people. It is urgent we open up conversations about racism in staff rooms, in classrooms and in the curriculum. Children come to school in a world that is not equal. BME teachers and pupils face racism in the streets, in popular culture and in employment. Strategies to better use the potential of schools and colleges to reduce racism are urgently needed. The NUT will be using the good practice identified in schools via this research to develop practical tools for schools to challenge the effects of racism. Dr Zubaida Haque, research associate at the Runnymede Trust, said: Government and school leaders should be concerned that over 60% of black and ethnic minority teachers are thinking of leaving the teaching profession. Our survey found that BME teachers were not only overwhelmed with the mountain of paperwork but they are also beaten down by the everyday micro-aggressions in the staff room and the low expectations and support by senior staff in their schools. This has led to BME teachers feeling undervalued, isolated and disillusioned with their careers. Facebook has targeted 30,000 fake accounts linked to France ahead of the countrys presidential election, as part of a worldwide effort against misinformation. The company said it is trying to reduce the spread of material generated through inauthentic activity, including spam, misinformation, or other deceptive content that is often shared by creators of fake accounts. The Facebook logo (PA) It said its efforts enabled us to take action against the French accounts and that it is removing sites with the highest traffic. Facebook and French media are also running fact-checking programs in France to combat misleading information, especially around the campaign for the two-round April 23-May 7 presidential election. European authorities have also pressured Facebook and Twitter to remove extremist propaganda or other postings that violate European hate speech or other laws. A military veterans rally and counter-demonstration by hardline republicans have passed off peacefully in Belfast. There was a sizeable security presence outside City Hall as the opposing events played out only yards apart amid a tense atmosphere. At times, participants traded insults across a police line but the opposing demonstrations otherwise concluded without incident. The pro-military rally was organised by Justice For Northern Ireland Veterans (JFNIV) to highlight what it alleges is a legal witch-hunt against former security members who served during the Troubles. Protesters at a military veterans' rally at City Hall, Belfast. (Brian Lawless/PA) The campaign group, which formed in response to a number of recent prosecutions of former soldiers in relation to incidents during the regions sectarian conflict, held similar rallies in London and Glasgow. In Belfast, pro-dissident republican group Saoradh gathered for its own counter-rally. The group, whose name means liberation in Irish, was formed in 2016 with the backing of dissident republican prisoners on both sides of the border. Republicans hold a counter demonstration. (Brian Lawless/PA) Around 200 participants stood on one side of the police line flying Irish tricolours and holding placards accusing soldiers of committing murder during the Troubles. On the other side, outside City Hall, a crowd of around 500 gathered to hear speakers call for an end to what they alleged was unfair treatment of ex-security force members. A number of Union flags were waved in the air. The Parades Commission, the panel that adjudicates on contentious marches in Northern Ireland, ruled that Saoradh could not enter the area directly in front of City Hall. Republicans voice their anger. (Brian Lawless/PA) The group instead held its protest on the other side of the police line around 30 yards from the veterans event. Participants included high profile republicans Colin Duffy and Dee Fennell. Saoradh chairman David Jordan told the crowd: Todays co-called veterans rally, or imperialist murderers rally, is the extension of the imperialist agenda to carefully foster divisions in this country. After a number of speeches, many of the republicans assembled directly in front of police land rovers and sang anti-British songs. Crowds gather at the rally. (Lauren Hurley/PA ) The JFNIV event in London took place at Horse Guards Parade, while George Square was the focus of the Glasgow demonstration. Last year, two former soldiers were told they will be prosecuted for murder over the 1972 death of official IRA commander Joe McCann. Another prominent case involves retired soldier Dennis Hutchings. The 75-year-old, from Torpoint in Cornwall, is to face trial accused of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm in relation to a fatal shooting in 1974. The family of British student Hannah Bladon, who was stabbed to death in Jerusalem on Good Friday, said they are devastated by the senseless and tragic attack. They said the 20-year-old had been taking part in an archaeological dig that morning and described her as a talented musician and enthusiastic rugby player. She was attacked while travelling on a light rail train near the Old City, which was packed as Christians marked Good Friday and Jews celebrated Passover. In a statement issued through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office they said: Hannah was the most caring, sensitive and compassionate daughter you could ever wish for. Ms Bladon, a student at the University of Birmingham, had been on an exchange programme with the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since January. Emergency services at the scene of the attack. (AP/Mahmoud Illean) She was attacked by a Palestinian man who pulled a knife from his bag and repeatedly stabbed her as the tram neared Jerusalems City Hall. Her family said she was a talented student and that she had been taking part in an archaeological dig that morning. Hannah was a talented musician, part of a serving team at her local church and a member of her local archaeological group, the family statement added. She was an enthusiastic rugby player and a keen Derby County supporter. She was driven and passionate and her death leaves so much promise unfulfilled. Our family are devastated by this senseless and tragic attack. Deeply saddened by the tragic death of a UK national in Jerusalem. I send my condolences to the victims family and friends. Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) April 14, 2017 Paramedics treated Ms Bladon at the scene and rushed her to hospital, but she later died. A pregnant woman and a 50-year-old man were also injured when the tram came to a sudden stop and in the aftermath of the attack. Police detained a 57-year-old man at the scene, and Israeli Police Superintendent Micky Rosenfeld said the attack was carried out by an Arab terrorist from Rasel Amud, in east Jerusalem. Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet said the attacker had a history of mental illness, that he recently tried to commit suicide in hospital by swallowing a razor blade and that he was convicted of sexually abusing his daughter in 2011. We are deeply saddened to hear about the death of Hannah Bladon. Our thoughts are with her family and friends. https://t.co/GlBp72wqtY Uni of Birmingham (@unibirmingham) April 14, 2017 Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said he was filled with sadness and that his countrys thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. He said: This week thousands have come through the ancient gates of Jerusalem, to celebrate the feasts of Passover and Easter throughout the city while the security forces work to ensure the safety of the dear residents and visitors to the city. And so we will continue to do. Terror can never overcome us. Terror will never destroy our lives here. Premier League leaders Chelsea travel to Old Trafford on Sunday to take on Manchester United and their two-time former manager Jose Mourinho. Here, we pick out the key numbers behind the story. The two teams will battle again on Sunday (John Walton/Empics) 50 this will be the 50th time the sides have met in the Premier League, Chelsea winning 17 and United 13 with 19 draws. 12 number of matches since United have won the fixture, in all competitions, dating back to October 2012. 56.25 percentage of matches United have drawn at home in the Premier League (nine from 16). Jose Mourinho's side are struggling at home (PA Graphics) 68.75 percentage of away matches Chelsea have won in the Premier League (11 from 16). 19 difference between Chelseas goals scored this term (65) and Uniteds (46). 17 the tally of the top scorers from each team, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Diego Costa. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been a regular goalscorer ( Richard Sellers/Empics) 13 clean sheets by Chelsea, just one more than the Red Devils. 18 Chelseas points cushion over United in the table. 16 Uniteds points cushion over Chelsea at the end of last season. Fabio Borini came off the bench to grab a Premier League lifeline as Sunderland rescued a point in dramatic fashion. The Italian snatched a 2-2 draw with 10-man West Ham moments after being introduced as an 88th-minute replacement for the injured Billy Jones, who was carried from the pitch on a stretcher while being given oxygen. It may prove to be too little, too late for the Black Cats and manager David Moyes but opposite number Slaven Bilic was left fuming after seeing his side twice pegged back after taking the lead through Andre Ayew and James Collins in front of a crowd of 40,168 at the Stadium of Light. I thought we played well today. From the start, we tried to get after them right away. Unfortunately we went a goal down quite early, which was poor, but great credit to the lads for fighting back in the first half and the second half. We were disappointed with both goals, but not disappointed generally with the play. There is no pointing fingers. We are a team. We are playing as a team, we are winning as a team, we are drawing as a team, we are losing as a team and we are conceding goals as a team. Thats it. Of course you are disappointed when you are leading twice and then you concede this late. If we are talking about the goalkeeper for that goal, its very hard for a goalkeeper. The ball was not very high in the air so he could [not] have seen it all the way along. Tweet of the match 82 mins: Borini comes on 90 mins: Borini scores David Moyes #SAFC pic.twitter.com/U27KHwNf7P PA Dugout (@PAdugout) April 15, 2017 Star man Wahbi Khazri | Big hugs from big Vic for goal scorer Khazri pic.twitter.com/0Q6dikb2Pp Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) April 15, 2017 Has had to wait patiently to remind the Sunderland faithful of what he can do and the fact that he produced a man-of-the-match display having been ignored for so long by Moyes did not go unnoticed by the fans. It was he who kept the home side ticking even when they were in arrears and he was rewarded with a remarkable goal. Moment of the match Khazri's corner travels straight into the net for @SunderlandAFC to equalise - it's still 1-1 (39 mins) #SUNWHU pic.twitter.com/irgnAwHmCu Premier League (@premierleague) April 15, 2017 When you have not scored in 11 hours and 41 minutes of Premier League football, any goal is welcome and it was fitting that Sunderlands first arrived in bizarre style. West Ham keeper Darren Randolph may want to avoid Match of the Day after seeing Khazris corner sail over his head and inside the far post. Redfaced Randolf West Ham United goalkeeper Darren Randolph fails to stop Sunderland's Wahbi Khazri scoring Randolphs day on Wearside went from bad to worse. Having already allowed Khazris corner to clear him and drop inside his far post, he then fumbled a high ball and punched it straight to Borini to hand him a second equaliser on a plate. Player ratings Jordan Pickford, Billy Jones, Jason Denayer, John OShea (Capt), Javier Manquillo, Lee Cattermole, Didier Ndong, Wahbi Khazri, Victor Anichebe, Jermain DefoeAdnan Januzaj (for Cattermole, 76 mins),Fabio Borini (for Jones, 87 mins), Lamine Kone (for Manquillo, 89 mins) Darren Randolph, Sam Byram, Jose Fonte, James Collins, Arthur Masuaku, Robert Snodgrass, Edimilson Fernandes, Cheikhou Kouyate, Manuel Lanzini, Andre Ayew, Andy Carroll (Capt)Havard Nordtveit (for Snodgrass, 81 mins), Jonathan Calleri (for Ayew, 90 mins) Whos up next? BORO FLASHBACK | #OnThisDay in 1905, #Boro signed Alf Common from Sunderland for 1,000 - the world's first four-figure transfer fee #UTB pic.twitter.com/ePJKOAZaEE Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) February 16, 2017 Middlesbrough v Sunderland (Premier League, Wednesday, April 26) West Ham v Everton (Premier League, Saturday, April 22) Two Russian warships will be escorted by a Royal Navy ship as they pass through the English Channel. HMS Sutherland will monitor Steregushchiy-class corvettes Soobrazitelny and Boiky as well as a Russian support tanker and ocean-going tug as they sail close to UK territorial waters on Saturday. The boats were located by the Plymouth-based Type 23 frigate as they sailed through the North Sea towards the Dover Straits on Friday morning. HMS Sutherland (MoD/PA) HMS Sutherland is today escorting two Russian warships expected to sail through the English Channel tonight. https://t.co/0UDY0qIAEq pic.twitter.com/eAQe0rlS2N Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) April 15, 2017 Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: HMS Sutherland is carefully marking these Russian ships as they pass close to UK waters. The Royal Navy maintains a vigilant watch and is always ready to keep Britain safe. It comes at a time of heightened-tension with Russia, with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, criticising the country for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on Syria. They accused Moscow and Tehran of covering up details of Bashar Assads chemical weapons use. .@RoyalNavy frigate HMS Sutherland is escorting two Russian warships past the UK coastline: https://t.co/IT2Twim0Oc pic.twitter.com/ATSCHNelIA Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) April 15, 2017 Commander Andrew Canale, Commanding Officer of HMS Sutherland, said: It is vitally important the Royal Navy demonstrates its presence and commitment to the integrity of UK territorial waters as we work around the clock to secure the seas of our island nation. The Royal Navy frigate was designed to deal with the Soviet submarine threat, but now acts as a high-readiness unit and can be called upon for escort duties, marine search and rescue, or to conduct counter-terrorism operations. In January, HMS St Albans escorted Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, battlecruiser Petr Velikiy and a tug as they passed close to UK territorial waters. The RAF and Navy were also scrambled several times last year to escort Russian aircraft and ships near the UK. April the giraffe has given birth at a New York zoo as more than a million people around the world watched live. The birth ended weeks of proverbial pacing by animal lovers in a virtual worldwide waiting room. The 15-year-old giraffe delivered her calf shortly before 10am EST in an enclosed pen at the Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, a rural village about 130 miles north-west of New York City. A giraffe named April licks her new calf (Animal Adventure Park via AP) Up and moving ! pic.twitter.com/RtAc8SBG6G April The Giraffe (@AprilTheGiraffe) April 15, 2017 She tenderly licked her baby as it began to slowly pick its head up from the floor of the pen, with at least 1.2 million people watching the zoos YouTube streaming of the event . The calf is Aprils fourth, but the first born at the park. The proud father, a five-year-old named Oliver, watched from an adjacent pen. The privately owned zoo began livestreaming from Aprils enclosure in February and people around the world have been tuning in daily. April has her own website and even a clothing line. A GoFundMe fundraising page which initially set a goal of 50,000 US dollars sat at more than 125,000 US dollars on Saturday morning. The money will be used for the care of the animals. A competition will be held to decide on a name for the calf. No immediate details on the calf were announced, but they usually weigh around 150lb (68kg) and are about 6ft (1.8m) tall at birth. Giraffes are pregnant for 15 months on average. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has told North Korea it must adhere to UN resolutions in order to secure peace. As international tension heightened over the countrys nuclear weapons programme in the face of fierce American criticism of the Pyongyang regime, Mr Johnson said the situation needed to be looked at carefully. We have been here before but continue to monitor the situation carefully. We stand alongside our international partners in making clear that North Korea must adhere to UN resolutions designed to secure peace and stability in the region and stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons, he said. Ballistic missiles are paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in North Korea (Wong Maye-E/AP) The comments came after North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un put on a massive show of strength with a military parade in the countrys capital which highlighted the rogue states intercontinental ballistic missiles on Saturday. The display, which celebrated the 105th anniversary of the birth of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, saw the regime intensify its rhetoric against the US. Choe Ryong Hae, widely regarded as the secretive states number two leading official, accused US President Donald Trump of creating a war situation on the Korean Peninsula by sending American forces to the region. He said: We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack. Women in uniform march across Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang (Wong Maye-E/AP) The parade came amid growing international concern that North Korea could be preparing for a sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch, possibly its first flight test of an ICBM capable of reaching America. China has expressed fears that conflict could break out at any moment, and that such a situation would bring no winners. As concern about the situation mounted, The Sunday Times reported that President Trumps military advisers have assured the UK that America has the capability to neutralise North Koreas nuclear programme using conventional weapons. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has been briefed by US Defence Secretary James Mattis (Victoria Jones/PA) The newspaper said this could come in the form of a pre-emptive strike as it reported that US national security adviser General HR McMaster has told British security chiefs and military top brass that Washington has the intelligence to target key sites in the nuclear programme. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has been briefed by his US equivalent General James Mattis on American options for dealing with North Korea in recent weeks, The Sunday Times said. The Ministry of Defence told the Press Association it never comments on private conversations between Sir Michael and his international counterparts. Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona saw off Real Sociedad 3-2 at the Nou Camp to keep up the pressure on LaLiga leaders Real Madrid ahead of El Classico. With Madrid having earlier beaten Sporting Gijon after a late goal from Isco, the tension was firmly back on Luis Enriques side who had lost their last two matches. Messi drilled in the opening goal from 25 yards after 17 minutes and then added a somewhat fortunate second when the ball bounced in off his leg from a rebound. FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring (Manu Fernandez/AP) Sociedad reduced the deficit through an own goal by Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti only for Paco Alcacer to quickly restore the hosts advantage. However, a neat finish by Xabi Prieto in first-half stoppage time set up a tense second period, as Enriques men eventually got themselves back to winning ways as they prepare for two matches which could well define their campaign in Europe and at home. Barcelona were looking to recover from the 3-0 Champions League defeat by Juventus which came on the back of last weekends unexpected loss at Malaga, where Brazil forward Neymar was sent off and handed a three-match domestic ban. It's as you were at the top after Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atleti all registered important wins on Matchday 32. #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/lnLMwJzMVk LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) April 15, 2017 The hosts nearly found themselves trailing inside the first few minutes when Mikel Oyarzabals goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Gerard Pique. Barcelona were soon on the offensive, with Luis Suarez stumbling in the penalty area as he tried to get on the end of a low cross from Jordi Alba. Sociedad keeper Geronimo Rulli was quick off his line to make two important saves, first as Alcacer got into the right side of the penalty area and then when Sergi Roberto latched onto the rebound. Messi, though, gave Rulli little chance when he drilled in the opening goal. The visitors looked to regroup, but found themselves further behind on 37 minutes as Messi knocked in one of the most fortunate goals he is likely to score as he closes in on 500 for Barcelona. Rulli saved Suarezs angled shot at the near post, with the rebound falling into Messis path and the ball hooked off his trailing leg into an empty net. Sociedad, aiming to close up on the European places, reduced the deficit in the 42nd minute. Inigo Martinez pounced on a loose ball, which he pulled across goal and it cannoned in off defender Samuel Umtiti. The home side quickly restored their two-goal cushion when Alcacer was played into the left side of the Sociedad penalty area by Messi and drilled an angled shot past Rulli. However, Barcelona paid for another lapse in concentration in first-half stoppage time as Prieto dispatched a cool sidefoot finish into the bottom corner. In stoppage time, Rulli denied Suarez in a one-on-one as Barcelona put themselves back into a winning mindset ahead of next weeks key matches. Barcelona manager Luis Enrique insists his players will fight until the end in both their LaLiga and Champions League campaigns: We go into the Champions League and El Clasico alive. I have seen my players prepared for any situation and we put in a huge effort. We were able to get a result against a really tough opponent who were perfectly organised. I take away the irreproachable attitude of my team. We have deserved the win even though it was difficult for us. Robbie Barrett captured the British Lightweight title from Scott Cardle with a majority points victory at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. Previously unbeaten Cardle was looking for the win to secure the Lonsdale Belt outright and it looked like he was on his way when the Yorkshireman took two counts of eight. However, a cut opened up at the side of Cardles eye in the fifth round which appeared to turn the fight in Barretts favour. The cut opened over Scott Cardle's eye (Jeff Holmes/PA) At the end of 12 thrilling rounds, one judge called it a 114-114 draw but the other two scored it 114-112 and 115-113 to Barrett. Cardle, 27, looked impressive in the early rounds and when his opponent took a standing count in the second round it looked ominous. The Lytham St Annes fighter was quicker and more accurate in the clinches and in the fifth round Barrett again had to take a count after going down. Cardle, however, ended the round with cut over his left eye as Barrett revealed evidence of his own craft. Barrett after the points decision (Jeff Holmes/PA) The 25-year-old grew in confidence, encouraged by the blood which flowed from his opponent, whose fans had grown quiet in their anxiety. Cardle was taking as many shots as he was delivering and as the fight entered the final rounds, the two fighters slugged it out, leaving themselves exhausted by the end, but with Barrett and his corner jubilant. Earlier, Charlie Flynns first professional title fight against Ryan Collins was declared a technical draw after he sustained a cut in a clash of heads. Flynn looked fine in the first couple of rounds of the Celtic Lightweight title fight but reeled when he collided with Collins head and the nasty cut was considered too severe for him to continue. The Gorbals Joe Ham won the Scottish Super-Bantamweight title with a 99-92 points win over Scott McCormack. Charlie Edwards won his British super-flyweight fight against Iain Butcher on all three judges scorecards. Butcher, from Motherwell, had apologised after he had failed to make the weight for contest and consequently, only the Englishman was fighting for the vacant title. Ricky Burns hinted that he would continue boxing after losing his WBA super-lightweight belt to Julius Indongo in a unification clash at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. The 34-year-old was outclassed in a unanimous points decision one of the judges awarded Indongo all 12 rounds but Scotlands first three-weight world champion suggested post-fight that a tough night against the awkward and rangy southpaw from Namibia would not be his last in the ring. The better man won, no excuses; he was so, so awkward, Burns said. He was a lot better than we thought he was going to be. He can hit as well he caught me a few times in there. Ill go again, Im going to have all the doubters saying Oh, Rickys finished, but well sit down with Eddie (Hearn, his promoter) and work out whats next. "I think I've still got a few years left in me with some big fights left. I'm not finished yet!" - @ricksterko #BurnsIndongo pic.twitter.com/TwUbTaG9Gm Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) April 15, 2017 But Ill come again. We wanted to feel his power we wanted to take the sting out of him. I just couldnt get over his height and reach advantage. The impressive Indongo extended his own record to 22-0 and now holds the IBF, IBO and WBA titles. Indongo had made a cut-throat sign to Burns at the weigh-in on Friday afternoon at the St Enoch centre in Glasgow, but there appeared to be little real niggle between the two fighters in the build-up to the encounter. Burns was on the back foot from the first bell as Indongo came in swinging, marking the cheek of the Coatbridge fighter in the first round, albeit it may have come from a clash of heads. The African connected with a couple of fine left hooks in the second and kept Burns on the retreat, although the home fighters defence was solid enough. The local fighter showcased more of his talent in the next couple of rounds and the fans came alive in the sixth when a thumping right hand found its way through but Indongos reach advantage continued to pose problems. (Jeff Holmes/PA) The man from Namibia looked to be running out of steam which made it easier for Burns to connect and the seventh was his best round with a couple of good combinations no doubt impressing the judges. The fans sensed the contest might be turning towards their man but Indongo responded in the eighth with some powerful rights and once again Burns was on the defensive and looking ill at ease. In the final round Burns fell to the floor. It was deemed a slip but a sense of foreboding enveloped the arena, confirmed by the judges scorecards. (Jeff Holmes/PA) I feel very proud to take the titles back to Namibia, he said. Its so amazing, its for all of Africa, Im so happy. Im very happy for the fans that came in numbers. By Peter Gosnell SYDNEY, April 15 (Reuters) - Violence has flared at an Australian asylum-seeker detention centre in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and shots were fired when local people tried to break into the centre after an argument got out of hand, media and a rights group reported on Saturday. There were no reports of serious injuries at the centre on Manus island but the trouble is likely to add to pressure on Australia from rights groups and the United Nations to close it and another centre in Nauru, criticised over poor conditions. Australia's ABC broadcaster said a large number of PNG men tried to break into the detention facility on Friday evening and police fired shots to disperse them. The men came back with guns and fired up to 100 rounds into the facility's accommodation wing, ABC reported. Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection confirmed in a statement that there had been trouble. "There was an incident at the Manus RPC overnight involving residents and PNG military personnel," the department said, referring to the so-called regional processing centre. "PNG military personnel discharged a weapon into the air during the incident. The incident was quickly resolved." One inmate was reportedly hit in the head by a rock thrown over the fence and was getting treatment, a department spokeswoman said. She declined to comment on a report two guards had been injured or that shots were fired into the complex. She referred questions to PNG authorities. PNG officials were not immediately available for comment. Images posted on social media appeared to show bullet holes in the walls of the camp accommodation wing. The incident was believed to have been sparked by an altercation between asylum seekers and a PNG resident, the rights group Amnesty International said. Australia has a strict policy of not allowing anyone who tries to reach the country by boat to settle there, instead detaining them in the Pacific camps, where asylum claims processing can take years. Even if people are found to be genuine refugees, they are barred from Australia. The policy has drawn criticism from the United Nations and rights organisations amid a global debate on how to manage people displaced by conflict. Many of the people trying to reach Australia have been from the Middle East and Afghanistan. Attempts in recent years to resettle some of them in Cambodia and Malaysia collapsed. The PNG Supreme Court last year ruled that the detention of asylum seekers on Manus breached the constitution and ordered that the camp be closed. (Reporting by Peter Gosnell; Editing by Robert Birsel) BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - Asian countries escaped the currency manipulator label in the latest U.S. Treasury report, but remain wary of possible trade friction as President Donald Trump maintains his administration will seek to address trade imbalances. Trump has said some U.S. trading partners, particularly China, manipulated their currency, but has since backed off that claim and acknowledged that China had not weakened the yuan to make its exports cheaper. China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan remained on a list for special monitoring of currency practices, China by virtue of a massive trade surplus with the United States. "Fixing trade imbalances will be an issue for the U.S. in its dialogues with China and Japan, while the manipulator threat has been put on the backburner," a Japanese government official told Reuters. The semi-annual U.S. Treasury currency report released on Friday did not name any major trading partner as a currency manipulator, although it seemed to leave open the option for action in the future. Trump has softened his rhetoric against China's trade practices as Beijing has intervened in foreign exchange markets to prop up the value of its yuan, and as he looks to China for help dealing with rising tension on the Korean peninsula. "I think the United States decided to forego (labeling China a currency manipulator) this time because it wants China's cooperation on North Korea," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo. "Depending on how the North Korean situation develops, we don't know what will happen in half a year (when the next currency report is due to be published)." NEW LANGUAGE New language in the Treasury report citing a history of currency intervention in China, South Korea and Taiwan is in line with what experts say could be eventual changes to the criteria aimed at deterring future manipulation. With Washington pushing a trade agenda aimed at reducing deficits, experts say the most logical option is to lengthen the time period for reviewing currency market interventions from 12 months to several years. "One thing we noticed was the report touched on the previous history of (currency manipulation). They're telling us not to do so in the future and we have no intention of doing so," a senior South Korean finance official said. "SCRUTINIZING" CHINA The report showed the high priority the administration puts on addressing trade imbalances and said it would be "scrutinizing China's trade and currency practices very closely". The report came after China data showed its surplus with the United States was nearly unchanged in the first quarter compared to a year earlier at $49.6 billion, and cited China's market protection as an impediment to a balanced trade relationship. While Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week agreed to 100-day trade talks, U.S. business leaders in China have expressed concern about a lack of progress in gaining further access to the Chinese market despite years of negotiations. JAPAN The Treasury report's language on Japan was similar to past reports, and focused on the need for structural reforms to improve domestic demand, analysts said. "The basic message is that Japan needs to expand its domestic demand and one can read this as them telling Japan to import more American goods," said Minami of the Norinchukin Research Institute. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will visit Japan next week for a bilateral economic dialogue, with U.S. officials signalling they would press Japan to remove non-tarrif trade barriers and buy more U.S. products. "The report won't have an impact on the upcoming Japan-U.S. economic dialogue next week. But the U.S. administrations focus on the trade deficit is something to keep an eye on," said Nobuyasu Atago, chief economist at Okasan Securities in Tokyo. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto, Minami Funakoshi and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo, and Christine Kim in Seoul; Writing by Elias Glenn; Editing by Stephen Coates) JOHANNESBURG, April 15 (Reuters) - Zambian President Edgar Lungu will not intervene in the treason case against opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, he told a public rally late on Friday. Hichilema was taken into police custody this week for allegedly refusing to give way to Lungu's motorcade as it passed through Mongo, 500 km (300 miles) west of the capital Lusaka, last Saturday. His party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), has denied any wrongdoing and said a hearing was due next Tuesday to determine if Hichilema's detention is legal. "Some people are saying President Lungu has the power to intervene in the criminal justice here in Zambia. I am a lawyer myself and understand my job. Yes, I have the power to pardon convicts and not suspects," Lungu said at a public rally broadcast on state television late on Friday. "How many of my own cadres are before the courts of law today? How many have been convicted? Have you ever heard that President Lungu picked up a phone to call any police officer to drop an investigation or prosecution? - so what is so special about the current one?" Tensions between the government and opposition have escalated since August, when Lungu's Patriotic Front (PF) party narrowly beat the UPND in a vote the opposition says was rigged. Under Zambia's penal code, treason carries a death sentence and is non-bailable. The European Union has called for calm. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Louise Ireland) Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai accused his successor Ashraf Ghani of committing treason by allowing the US military to drop the 'Mother of all Bombs' in an attack against the Islamic State. Karzai condemned the attack and vowed to 'stand against America' in what may signal a broader political backlash that may endanger the US military mission in Afghanistan. President Ghani said the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast strike in the province of Nangarhar on Thursday was a joint operation between Afghan and US forces. While US President Donald Trump lauded the strike, which killed nearly 100 suspected militants as a 'very, very successful mission', the response within Afghanistan has been mixed. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai (left) accused his successor Ashraf Ghani (right) of committing treason by allowing the US military to drop the 'Mother of all Bombs' on Thursday The bomb killed nearly 100 suspected militants, and destroyed weapons, ammunition and underground tunnels. Trump lauded the strike as a 'very, very successful mission' Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar said the 21,600-pound GBU-43 killed 94 members of ISIS. A Ministry of Defense official said on Friday that the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. The strike also destroyed weapons, ammunition and three underground tunnels. No civilians were reported dead in the bombing. Karzai took to Twitter and wrote: 'I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon.' He added: 'This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. 'It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the US.' The 21,600-pound GBU-43 left a crater believed to be more than 300 feet wide after it exploded just six feet above the ground During a public event in Kabul, Karzai further undermined Ghani by asking: 'How could you permit Americans to bomb your country with a device equal to an atom bomb?' 'If the government has permitted them to do this, that was wrong and it has committed a national treason.' While the bomb has been described as one of the largest non-nuclear devices ever used, its destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT. Ghani's office said the strike had been closely coordinated between Afghan and U.S. forces and replied to Karzai's charges with a statement saying: 'Every Afghan has the right to speak their mind. This is a country of free speech.' US forces in Afghanistan on Thursday struck an Islamic State tunnel complex. Pictured, an Afghan security police officer walking amidst the rubble Public reaction to Thursday's strike has been mixed, with some residents near the blast praising Afghan and US troops for pushing back the Islamic State militants Public reaction to Thursday's strike has been mixed, with some residents near the blast praising Afghan and US troops for pushing back the Islamic State militants. During Karzai's tenure as president, his opposition to airstrikes by foreign military forces helped to sour his relationship with the US and other Western nations. As the Kabul government, split between Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah under a US-brokered power-sharing deal, remains fragile, Karzai's political interventions draw close attention. Ghani has failed to build the kind of domestic following that Karzai still has despite stepping down in 2014. Karzai said he planned to 'stand against America', a stance he compared to decisions earlier in his life to fight against the Soviets and later the Taliban regime. 'I decided to get America off my soil,' he said. 'This bomb wasn't only a violation of our sovereignty and a disrespect to our soil and environment, but will have bad effects for years.' While Karzai did not elaborate on how he would oppose the United States, his stance may pose problems for Ghani's administration, which is heavily reliant on the United States and other foreign donors for aid and military support. On Friday, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, defended the strike, saying the decision to use the bomb was based on military needs, not political reasons. Afghan troops, backed by US warplanes and special forces, have been battling militants linked to Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan for years. The most recent operation began in March and continued until troops hit Islamic State fighters entrenched in booby-trapped tunnels in a remote mountain region, leading commanders to call for the use of the GBU-43 bomb. By Gina Cherelus NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - At long last, April the giraffe gave birth on Saturday to a long-overdue calf, to the delight of hundreds of thousands of people who have been monitoring a live cam feed from her pen in a New York zoo in anticipation of the grand event. April, who was due to give birth in January or February at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, in western New York, was pregnant for at least 16 months, compared with the typical gestation period of 15 months, according to zoo officials. April's celebrity and the public fascination with her unborn calf blossomed when the zoo began providing a live YouTube stream in February. Hundreds of thousands of viewers have watched the 15-year-old April since then, and more than a million people witnessed the birth on the livestream. The YouTube page on Saturday showed April going into labor and the hooves of the baby first emerging from the standing mother. Afterwards, the spindly 6-foot-tall (1.83-meter) calf, estimated to weigh as much as 150 pounds (68 kg), was seen standing at its mother's side. Zoo officials have yet to announce the calf's gender. They plan to hold a contest to name the baby. Classed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species in 2016, giraffes are the world's tallest mammals. The species is usually found in dry savanna zones south of Africa's Sahara desert. (Reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York; Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler) The government today said that no more garbage will be dumped at the Meethotamulla site, where at least 17 persons were killed following the collapse of a part of the garbage mountain yesterday. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva said that the government has identified two temporary sites to dump garbage. No more garbage will be dumped at this site and two temporary sites were identified this morning, Dr. Silva said in a facebook status. He also revealed that the State will bear all funeral expenses of the people who lost their lives and immediately begin evacuations of those who are under any threat. It's ironic that it was only a few weeks back that agreements were signed to begin waste to energy projects to finally deal with this perennial issue, he said. However, he said that it's unfortunate that even though payments had been made for those families under risk of landslides to move out, some had not done so. They had even been advised to leave as recently as two days ago. On the instructions of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a coordination committee to management of the situation was established this morning. Ministers Susil Premjayantha, Patali Champika Ranawaka, A H M Fowzie, Dr Harsha de Silva, Sagala Ratnayake, Mohan Lal Grero, MPs S M Marikar and Mujibur Rahman, Army Commander and the IGP and all relevant government officials were present at a meeting held today in this regard. Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe has been appointed as in charge of search and rescue operations. An area of about 150m by 75m is being carefully cleared up during operations. Already, about a hundred people have been shifted into temporarily holding locations such as schools. Others will also be shifted as well. The Prime Minister has ordered the release of all necessary funds from the Treasury to deal with all financial requirements, Dr. Silva added. Sri Lanka is one of the most religious countries in the world as 99 percent of Sri Lankans who were questioned in a survey had said they feel religious, the Telegraph reported today. The Telegraph UK had utilized the results of three Gallup polls taken in 2008, 2009 and 2015. Each asked respondents whether or not they felt religious; for each country they've included the most recent figures available. According to the surveys, five countries tie for the title of most religious. In each of Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger and Yemen, 99 per cent of those questioned answered "yes". Burundi, Djibouti, Mauritania and Somalia saw 98 per cent reply in saying yes to being religious. The survey results showed faith is important to many southern European countries too, with 74 per cent of Italians and 71 per cent of Greek claiming to feel religious. Poland stands out against the rest of Europe, with 86 per cent answering "yes" to the poll; Paraguay would appear to be South America's most religious country. Around three in 10 Britons feel religious, it suggests, compared to 56 per cent of Americans. The least religious country was China with only seven per cent, followed by Japan, Estonia, Sweden, Norway and the Czech Republic. Agriculture contributes 15.11 per cent of GDP in India and there has been a considerable decline in the contribution from this sector to the economy. The crux of the problem is the huge dependency on it. Agriculture is the only sector which accommodates rural workforce in the country. This could be considered as disguised unemployment or underemployment, yet it offers bare minimum living conditions to millions. It is quite doubtful whether the central or state governments have any proper data regarding the nature of dependency of rural India on agriculture. Also, no political party in the country is willing to offer effective support to the sector. The Uttar Pradesh government's decision to waive off farm credit attracts much criticism than appreciation. The Reserve Bank of India, NABARD and Union ministry of agriculture have expressed dissatisfaction with the decision taken by the state government. RBI governor Urjit Patels main opposition is that the decision to waive off loans undermines the credit system of the country. Theoretically, he is right when he says that such waivers affect the income generation of the banking sector. Such decisions do hit the institutional capability of banking systems. The government has to find alternative sources of capital to replace the lending agency's loss. And of course, this is not a long-term solution to rural distress. Patel's concern needs to be discussed with reference to RBI's own incapability to control surging non-performing assets (NPA) of banks. It is important to ask how NPAs affect the lending system of the country. The UP government's decision to waive off agriculture loans is not the national level policy of the BJP, neither of any other party. It is a state government decision in response to electoral politics and it helps divert public attention from other issues, such as those of cow vigilantism. The state government cannot carry forward such populist policies in the years to come. But while the bureaucracy and legislation are against such decisions, the public is all for it. Farmers want such support systems. This is evident in the recent Tamil Nadu farmers' protest in Delhi. The protest march has attracted media attention but been ignored by the government. It is true that the central government is not duty bound to respond to their concerns. Also, there is currently no political pressure on the central and state government to listen to them. If at all the government gets involved, it would be in the form of charity and not credit support. This is the reason why the nature of protest broke conventional methods. The farmers are trying to tell the government that they are victims of development policies and increasing rural distress in the country. However, state agencies often consider distress farmers a burden on the public exchequer and attribute their problems to their individual issues. This is the reason why even farmers suicides are getting sidelined in mainstream discourse. The National Crime Records Bureau noted that the major reason behind suicides is mental health problems of farmers rather than rural distress and debt. Recent academic research also speaks the same. This shows the shift in government and policies towards rural distress and farming. The blame is finally on the farmers themselves! What the UP government did is part of the ongoing policy towards the agricultural sector. Other state governments were forced to announce such loan waivers before. The government offer does not ensure any additional capital flow to the primary sector. It helps the farmers to not pay huge debt for the time being and for further capital investment they have to opt for additional debt. This is the most important challenge ahead for them. For further capital, they have no other option but to approach the lending system, and there are difficulties in getting further credit. So the crisis continues. This is quite evident in the case of Vidharbha region in Maharashtra. Loan waivers could not stop farmers from committing suicide in the region. The problem is still there and has even lost news value. One-time loan waivers as a political strategy need to be revisited and questioned. Allowing such promises by power-hungry politicians would gradually undermine the capabilities of institutions of lending in the country. Strengthening lending structure and policies is more important for the country. Famers access to institutions should be improved and rural distress should be considered as a development failure. Thursday evening at 7.32pm local time, the US used the most powerful non-nuclear bomb used in combat, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, nicknamed the mother of all bombs. Contrary to what has been widely reported, it isnt the most powerful non-nuclear bomb. It is just the most powerful non-nuclear bomb used in combat, in Afghanistan. Correction to what's apparently consensus (or lazy reporting). MOAB isn't the world's biggest non-nuke. It's the biggest non-nuke ever used Sune Engel Rasmussen (@SuneEngel) April 14, 2017 The bombing was coordinated with the Afghan government. Statements from the Afghan Presidents Office and the joint press conference by NATO Resolute Support-Afghan Defence Ministry stated that utmost care had been taken to avoid civilian casualties. The bombing to eliminate ISIS terrorists came just a day prior to the Moscow meet on Afghanistan. The particular area of Tangi Assadkhel in Achin district of Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan, where the bomb was dropped, is sparsely populated; no confirmed reports of civilian casualties have come yet. We might have to wait for a few days to know more. However, the question is have civilians been affected? Contradictory statements on the night of the bombing created confusion. While a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar told the media that we had no prior information about this bomb, the governor of Achin district told reporters that bombs (were) dropped on caves in mountainous area where there are no civilians nearby. Achin District governor tells us bombs dropped on caves in mountainous area where there are no civilians nearby #Afghanistan #bigbombafg VOA Afghanistan (@VOAPashto) April 13, 2017 Some Afghan elite reacted with confusion and some angrily over the bombing on social media and former president Hamid Karzai took to condemning the US over the strike. Some sections also lauded the bombing and called for more such decisive strikes. All sections however asked for sanctuaries of the Taliban in Pakistan to be targeted. Now the question is, what does the bombing hope to achieve? I think a message is being sent out through the bombing and it has three aspects: 1) The US is still a serious player and will be for the foreseeable future in Afghanistan in spite of massive loss of territory to Taliban last year. 2) Russia, Iran and China better shape up and accommodate concerns and interests of the US, even though the US boycotted talks on Afghanistan in Moscow on Friday, a day after the bombing. 3) The epicentre of the bombing being close to the Pakistan border is a subtle warning to Pakistan to extend full support to American efforts towards stabilising Afghanistan. This could be a reason behind targeting the ISIS in east Afghanistan close to Pakistan instead of Taliban-held areas in interior Afghanistan. US president Donald Trump, who had constantly criticised former president Barack Obama on the stagnation in the Afghan theatre, has upped the ante with his move of bombing the Achin complex. The Achin complex of caves had been constructed by the CIA during the heyday of the mujahideen war against the Soviets. The bombing came a day ahead of the Moscow talks on Afghanistan on Friday, April 14. Hosted by Russia, the participants included China, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The US had been invited but it boycotted the meet and had indicated the same days back. This is the second such meet, the earlier one being in February that included Afghanistan and India. The summit had been enlarged to include Afghanistan and India after both had vehemently protested against the Russia-China-Pakistan trilateral on Afghanistan in December that didnt have Afghanistan as a stakeholder. India has maintained that there can be no talks without the involvement of the Afghan government. Meanwhile, at the Moscow meet, Afghanistan urged the international community to help them in their fight against terrorism and called on the Taliban to give up arms and join peace talks. To save our people and defend our country, the Afghan government seriously fights against regional and international terrorism and welcomes all those attempts and assistance to beat terrorists, Shah Sultan Akifi, a diplomat responsible for press relations in the embassy, said. With the visit of US NSA Lt-Gen HR McMaster due in the south Asian region and the appointment of Lisa Curtis as senior director for South Asia to the NSC, the approach to Pakistan might not be the same in the new US administration. The US has on previous occasions expressed a desire to see Indian troops on the ground in Afghanistan. The forthcoming visit of the US NSA could see a renewed push for Indian troops. India raised a hue and cry once news of the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav was announced over a year ago. Apart from regularly issuing demands for consular access, India remained quiet, watching and waiting. This silence and Pakistans attempts to gain international mileage on the arrest failing, it was compelled to up the ante. Once news of his death sentence was announced, India was suddenly awake. Threats of action, counter measures and further distancing in relations has been the result. For once, all political parties joined hands to support the government. Officially, India is unaware of either his location or physical condition. Simultaneously, there have been reports emanating in the Pakistani media about one of their former officers (Lt Col Habib) missing in Nepal. Pakistan claims he is retired and ventured into Nepal seeking better employment. The leadership claims foreign intelligence agencies (read Indian) lured him into Nepal and have him in their custody. News reports in India on the other hand link this officer to the luring and arrest of Jadav. While the Pakistani story has many loopholes which have even been questioned in their media, this double spy game has raised the stakes. India has neither acknowledged nor denied Pakistan's claims, maintaining a studied silence, letting the neighbouring country do the guess work and draw its own conclusions. The worry in Pakistan is serious, as its missing officer has been and possibly remains an ISI agent. Pakistan claims his last reported location was Lumbini, a town close to the Indo-Nepal border. The Nepal police, whom Pakistan approached to locate the officer, state that the individual never boarded a flight for Lumbini and CCTV footage confirms he went missing from Kathmandu itself. Pakistan, concerned about him being in Indian custody and India likely to seek a prisoner swap, hurriedly awarded Jadhav a death sentence, thus adding a collection of spokes to the case, including legal, to deny any possibility of repatriation in the immediate future. In case Habib is in our custody, then it is a bonanza for us as it would enable the NIA to identify contacts and operatives working out of Nepal. A possible reason for any senior ISI operative suddenly being despatched to Nepal would be to restore links which were broken by the arrest and deportation of Shamsul Huda from Dubai. Huda was an ISI agent and the mastermind behind the Kanpur train tragedy. His arrest and the breaking down of his organisation have adversely impacted ISIs Nepal links. Pakistan realised that if India openly flaunts Habib, their so-called retired officer, an ISI agent in Indias perception, it would affect their credibility. They are more than just worried about his disappearance. By announcing the death sentence and proactively reporting the missing officer, Pakistan has indicated the importance of the mission entrusted to Habib. They are also fearful of India making an announcement, which would reduce the importance they continue to give to the arrest of Jadhav and would openly announce the "spy-verses-spy" game. India is in no hurry to bring the arrest of Habib into the limelight, even if it has him in custody. If it doesnt hold him, then it needs to tap its sources in Nepal for locating him. It would need to extract the maximum that it can from him and convey a silent message to Pakistan on his presence. There is no requirement for India to make any international announcement, as Pakistani involvement in anti-India activities is known the world over. Neither do we need to put him on trial as a tit-for-tat case. He can remain behind bars for eternity as an undertrial, or till Pakistan realises and accepts an exchange. For the Pakistani army to announce the death sentence, rather than the government of the country, implies two facts. Firstly, the army has proved that it is still the power behind the throne and hence can act unilaterally, and secondly, the ISI was rattled by the disappearance of Habib. The Pakistani government was left to justify the armys actions. Even providing consular access to Jadhav will only be with the armys approval. The conduct of the trial by a military court was a hurried affair. Obtaining confessions under duress is always possible and even the strongest would break under some form of pressure. Pakistans military courts have dispensed justice based on such confessions, without any legal sanctity, a major reason why it took the prodding of the army chief to push the opposition to support its revival. Even the Pakistan Supreme Court has maintained a studied silence, as challenging the army would never be in its favour. Inadvertently, Pakistans announcement of the death sentence came amid increasing attacks on security forces by stone-throwers in Kashmir, especially the incident, viral on social media, where a CRPF jawan was manhandled but maintained his composure during the Srinagar by-polls. While the Kashmir situation was increasing nationalism and simultaneously sidelining critics, including politicians, the Jadhav incident has only increased resolve within the nation against Pakistan. Anti-Pakistan sentiment has risen, hence those seeking resumption of talks have been pushed aside and ignored. Social media is flooded with comments against universities where anti-national protests were earlier held, questioning their silence on the death sentence. The awarding of the sentence has brought even the worst critics of the government on the same page, thus providing support to the government on its Pakistan and possible future Kashmir policy. While the battle for Jadhavs release would continue with the government exploring multiple options, Pakistan would remain concerned about the whereabouts of Habib and the information he would have shared, provided he is in Indian custody. Pakistan would not be in a hurry to carry out the sentence as many of its arrested nationals would face the same fate. However, India has united as never before, supporting the governments policies on Pakistan and Kashmir. Cabot Corporation operates as a specialty chemicals and performance materials company. It operates through three segments: Reinforcement Materials, Performance Chemicals, and Purification Solutions. The company offers reinforcing carbons used in tires as a rubber reinforcing agent and performance additive, as well as in industrial products, such as hoses, belts, extruded profiles, and molded goods; and engineered elastomer composites. It also provides specialty carbons used in inks, coatings, plastics, adhesives, toners, batteries, and displays applications; masterbatch and conductive compound products for use in automotive, industrial, packaging, infrastructure, agriculture, consumer products, and electronics industries; inkjet colorants used in the inkjet printing applications; fumed silica used in adhesives, sealants, cosmetics, batteries, inks, toners, silicone elastomers, coatings, polishing slurries, and pharmaceuticals; fumed alumina used in various products, including inkjet media, lighting, coatings, cosmetics, and polishing slurries; and aerogel, a hydrophobic, silica-based particle for use in various thermal insulation and specialty chemical applications. In addition, the company offers activated carbon products used for the purification of water, air, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, and other liquids and gases; and activated carbon solutions for activated carbon injection in coal-fired utilities, mobile water filter units, and carbon reactivation services. The company sells its products through distributors and sales representatives in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Cabot Corporation was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic and capital markets advisory, restructuring and special situations, and shareholder advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also advises private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; and strategic investor relations; environmental, social, and governance matters; and other investor-related matters. In addition, it provides advisory services related to debt and acquisition financings; structured product offerings; public equity raises, including initial public offering and SPAC offerings; and private capital raises for early and later stage companies, as well as other capital structure related matters. Further, the company offers advisory services in restructurings and recapitalizations; and serving a range of companies, creditors, and financial sponsors on liability management and related capital raise transactions, including exchanges, recapitalizations, reorganizations, debt repurchases, and distressed mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, it provides private fund advisory and fundraising services for a range of investment strategies; and advisory services to GPs and LPs on liquidity and other structured solutions in the secondary market. The company was formerly known as Blackstone Advisory Inc. and changed its name to PJT Partners Inc. in March 2015. PJT Partners Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Core Laboratories N.V. provides reservoir description and production enhancement services and products to the oil and gas industry in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Reservoir Description and Production Enhancement segments. The Reservoir Description segment includes the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock, reservoir fluid, and gas samples to enhance production and improve recovery of oil and gas from its clients' reservoirs. It offers laboratory-based analytical and field services to characterize properties of crude oil and oil delivered products; and proprietary and joint industry studies. The Production Enhancement segment provides services and products relating to reservoir well completions, perforations, stimulations, and production. It offers integrated diagnostic services to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of well completions and to develop solutions to improve the effectiveness of enhanced oil recovery projects. In addition, the company markets and sells its products through a combination of sales representatives, technical seminars, trade shows, and print advertising, as well as through distributors. It operates approximately in 50 countries. The company was founded in 1936 and is based in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. Please join us April 20th from 5:30-7 p.m. for Business After Hours hosted by the Ledgestone Hotel and The American Cancer Society. It will be at the Ledgestone Hotel at 2585 E. Jennings Way in Elko. The Ledgestone Hotel is a brand renowned for luxurious amenities and the best in customer service. Featuring stunning decor and everything guests need for extended stays. Enjoy earning Alaska Air Miles with every booking. The Ledgestone Hotel is the place to stay in Elko, complete with dreamy pillow top mattresses, down comforters and linens with the highest of thread counts to guarantee your best nights sleep. Hotel and room tours will be available if you or your business is interested in learning more about the accommodations that The Ledgestone Hotel has to offer. The American Cancer Society is a renowned nonprofit who is on a mission to free the world from cancer. Until we do, well be funding and conducting research, sharing expert information, supporting patients, and spreading the word about prevention. All so you can live longer and better. Information about the programs and services that they offer will be available. Please join us for food, beverages and drawings. The Ledgestone Hotel and American Cancer Society will be holding an additional special raffle for the best crazy socks. So, wear you craziest socks and you could win a free nights stay at the Ledgestone Hotel. This month the Chamber will be offering additional drawings as incentives for new community members to attend Business After Hours, as well as business owners. If this will be your first time attending Business After Hours you may enter a raffle to win a gift card to Cowboy Joe Coffee. If you are the business owner and attend this months Business After Hours, you may enter the raffle to win a gift card to Blind Onion Pizza. This event is free and open to the public. Its a great place to make community and business connections. Please contact the Chamber at 738-7135 with any questions. ELKO Great Basin College is hosting a Holocaust Exhibit during the month of April at the campus library. The month-long event is open to the public and admission is free. The exhibit features Holocaust-related books and several displays including World War II era artifacts, a collection of films, and poetry. An opening reception on April 19 will be highlighted by presentations from Elko County students who will also be available to answer questions about the various Holocaust displays. The exhibit has been curated by Elko County School District Librarian Hadley Noren, and GBC library staff. Noren is the only rural Holocaust Educator in Nevada. She has started a permanent collection of Holocaust literature at the Elko County Library, teaches Intro to Holocaust classes for teachers, and travels with students yearly to Holocaust education classes in Reno. I teach the Holocaust classes for the governors council. I also do it for the writing project, also do it for Elko County. Everything I do is kind of intertwined, but I kind of work for a few different people, said Noren. The Holocaust has been widely taught in school for years, but Noren brings a more tangible experience to the subject through her exhibit at GBC and as a Holocaust-specific educator. According to Elko County Superintendent of Schools Jeff Zander, Noren is respected and recognized for her work throughout the state and nationwide. He feels its a valuable opportunity for local students. I think that Holocaust education is very important for all of our kids. The district has been very supportive of Hadley, of that education network, said Zander. We are lucky to have educators like Hadley in our community. Like many, Noren remembers her first encounter with the Holocaust: noticing a tattoo on the arm of her best friends mom growing up. On the path to becoming a Holocaust educator she has participated in Holocaust education classes in Reno, Las Vegas and Colombia University. She notes that the Holocaust is unique to past and present genocides. The Holocaust, it was so premeditated. It was so planned and its so documented. They didnt have time to destroy it all, said Noren. In addition to the exhibit at GBC, Noren and other Elko County School District educators will travel with seven local students to the Holocaust Education Conference in Reno later this month. The event is hosted by Washoe County School District and the Governors Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust. It is attended yearly by local students. Noren will also attend the Jewish Community Day in Carson City, April 26 at the capital. The event celebrates Jewish Community Day in Nevada. The college library hopes this exhibit is one of many in the future that will bring a greater variety of people to the library than just students. Were hoping that this event can bring awareness to the library and to the community. Were hoping this will be a good starting point for future events, said Library Technician Christina Park. Im excited about this. I hope that the community will come and wander through, whether its at our reception or, you know, anytime, said Noren. The exhibit will remain in the library the entire month of April. Library hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. They are open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and closed weekends. No one knew the value of water better than turn-of-the-century farmers and ranchers in the Dayton Valley. There were 25 to 30 ranches in the 1890s and early 1900s owned or operated by Italian immigrant families between Dayton and Fort Churchill. These ranches existed on the very edge of the Great American Desert. They relied entirely on irrigation water from the Carson River for their success. Much of the hay, grain, livestock and vegetable crops produced by these farms and ranches was shipped to the Comstock communities of Silver City, Gold Hill, Sutro and Virginia City. One of these enterprising ranchers was my great grandfather, Pietro Cassinelli. He had acquired the old Fish Ranch across the river south of downtown Dayton. (This is where the Ricci Ranch is now located.) Pietro and his family, including some of his 12 children, developed the property and constructed the Cassinelli Dam and ditch for irrigation purposes. The dam was constructed of boulders set across the river to divert water into a large canal, or ditch, that served to irrigate not only the Cassinelli ranch, but several other ranches located downstream. There was a series of diversion dams set into the ditch to regulate the amount of water that was allowed to go to each ranch. The amount allowed was determined by the complicated system of water rights. The oldest properties had the first rights to the water from the river. A water master was assigned to assure the water rights were observed. On a good year when there was plenty of water flowing down the river, the system worked pretty well. On a dry year, the system failed simply because there was not enough water flowing to serve even the oldest holders of water rights. The problem was compounded by the upstream use of water in Carson Valley, Carson City and the many silver mills located along the Carson River Canyon. It was during one of those dry years when all the ranchers were struggling to get enough water to irrigate their crops. Many bitter disputes broke out over water rights and how to divide the limited resource fairly. Downstream from the Cassinelli Ranch, Lorenzo and Carmelinda Venturi were operating another ranch that was fed from the same ditch. In their desperation to get enough water, they suspected Pietro was taking more than his share of water from the ditch. Lorenzo told his wife that he would talk to Mr. Cassinelli about the dispute. Carmelinda was not satisfied with merely discussing the issue with the neighbors, so she decided to take care of the matter her own way. The irate Carmelinda hid near the diversion dams and waited to see if she could catch her neighbor in the act of stealing water by taking boards out of the diversion dam. When Pietro came by to check the water flow and to do some work on the dam outlet, Mrs. Venturi shot him in the back with a shotgun. Apparently, the wound was not life-threatening, but the shot went deep into the mans back. Mrs. Venturi was arrested for attempted murder and taken to jail in Dayton. Rather than taking her to the county jail, the sheriff put her in a makeshift jail upstairs in Daytons Odeon Hall. This was because she was nursing an infant son named Charlie. She was allowed to keep her nursing son with her during her confinement. She was released after a few days and the matter was considered closed. I remember Pietro when I was a young boy in the 1940s and 50s when we would visit him at his ranch in Reno or when he came to visit at the ranch on Glendale Road where I lived. I still can remember him walking around stoop-shouldered from the injury he had received from that shotgun blast. He said he could still feel fragments of shot in his back more than 40 years after the incident. He died in 1954 at the age of 88. At the time of his death, he owned a ranch where the spaghetti-bowl freeway intersection is now located. (Information for this article came from personal interviews with family members and from an article by Laura Tennant in the 1991 issue of Lyon County Reflections.) Three years ago this month, the American people were rightly outraged to learn of the horrific mistreatment of our nations veterans at the VA hospital in Phoenix. But after all this time, next to nothing has changed. In fact, the VA health care systems in Reno and Las Vegas received just two out of five stars a year after the scandal was revealed. Congress is currently considering the VA Accountability First Act of 2017, which would fundamentally reform the way our nations heroes are treated, and improve the health care they desperately need. The U.S. House of Representatives already passed the legislation last month on a bipartisan vote. Now, in the Senate, Nevadas U.S. Sen. Dean Heller should work to turn this legislation into law. No one can deny the VA sorely needs accountability. Thanks to bureaucratic red tape, its still all but impossible to fire bad VA employees. Less than 10 people implicated in the national wait-list scandal have lost their jobs, despite veterans having lost their lives. The VA Accountability First Act would help prevent future abuses by giving the VA secretary more oversight and flexibility to discipline department employees through removal, demotion, or suspension. The bill would also eliminate paid leave for fired employees who appeal their terminations. Consider that two of the executives involved in the Phoenix VA scandal were on paid leave for almost two years. They raked in hundreds of thousands of tax dollars even after they were found to have engaged in egregious misconduct. Thats just not right. The bill would also bring much-needed accountability to employee compensation. Under the legislation, the VA secretary would be able to recoup bonuses given to employees who commit wrongdoing. This reform is critical. The chief of staff of the Phoenix VA, for instance, received a $5,000 bonus almost a year after the secret wait-list scandal began and just four months before he was finally terminated. The executive director of the VAs Office of Construction and Facilities Management who was being investigated for severely mismanaging construction of the VA hospital in Aurora, Colo., also escaped with fat bonuses. Under her watch, costs skyrocketed. Nonetheless, between 2015 and 2016, the VA paid her more than $18,000 in taxpayer-funded bonuses. The lack of accountability across all levels of the VA bureaucracy does tremendous harm to patient care. It creates a culture where the interests of VA employees are put ahead of the needs of veterans seeking health care. Some say the solution is to simply spend more money to fix a broken system. Weve already tried that and it hasnt worked. The VAs budget has nearly doubled since 2009. Its the second largest federal agency with over 360,000 employees. These issues arise because of the departments bureaucratic culture, where there is no meaningful accountability for employee misconduct. This bill is the most important civil service reform in decades and has the full support of VA Secretary David Shulkin. It also has the support of most major veteran service organizations. The only group standing in the way is the American Federation of Government Employees the federal governments main labor union. They oppose reforms that would shake up the status quo and introduce accountability into the federal governments vast bureaucracy. Thats unacceptable and Sen. Dean Heller shouldnt stand for it. As a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, he has said he is committed to making sure that Americas brave heroes receive the benefits and care they have earned and deserve. Supporting passage of the VA Accountability First Act would be a perfect way to put those words into action. With hopes of addressing school building capacity and making sure these spaces accommodate the needs of all students in Albemarle County, the Albemarle County School Board and Planning Commission hope to communicate more often and work with one another to address the issues together. The two groups met on Tuesday to discuss changing demographics in the county and their effect on school enrollments now and in the near future. We've never had a joint meeting, not since I've been on the School Board, and I think it's long overdue, said Kate Acuff, School Board chairwoman. The county school division has been taxed in recent years by growing enrollment numbers, particularly by a rise in the number of students who require special or additional services in the countys urban ring schools. Increases in particular demographics such as economically disadvantaged students and English-language learners have cost the county more money. In addition, the growth in these demographics is not evenly distributed across the county. The school division has addressed some of these issues with an upcoming high school capacity study, a rethinking of high school curriculum standards and a $1.28 million initiative to address achievement gaps and poverty in urban ring schools. At the same time, the countys Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission have been discussing future plans to possibly expand economic development in the urban ring of the county, which may have an effect on the school division. Their business is for us to have the best possible schools that we can have and our business is to have the best possible planning and growth plan, growth management for the county, said Tim Keller, at-large member of the Planning Commission. And if both are doing their job well, then the supervisors get to make the hard decisions about those things. * * * The number of students entering the school division overall has increased by an average of nearly 144 students each year from the 2011-12 academic year to the 2015-16 school year, according to school division data. Officials expect enrollment to continue to grow, but the percentage of school division students in the overall county population is decreasing because older populations are growing faster, according to a report from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. The countys increasing enrollment is in contrast to what the rest of Virginia is experiencing. According to the same Weldon Cooper study, some localities saw increases in student enrollment from 2000 to 2006, but a majority saw little change or a decrease from 2010 to 2016. Central Virginia has followed the statewide trend for the most part, but the city of Charlottesville and Greene and Louisa counties also have grown, according to the study. Overall student enrollment growth in Albemarle Countys schools has been most significant in two spots: the urban ring and in the Crozet area. The largest populations of English-language learners and economically disadvantaged students defined as those who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches are highest in the urban ring, particularly at elementary schools of Agnor-Hurt, Cale, Greer and Woodbrook. The number of economically disadvantaged students across the school division has increased from 21 to 29 percent in the last 10 years or by 1,338 students according to county school data. Projections from the Weldon Cooper study suggest that that number will increase from 3,766 students in the current school year to 4,128 students by the 2026-27 school year. Schools with the highest concentrations of economically disadvantaged students in the county continue to increase at a faster rate than those schools with the lowest, according to county schools data. The gap between schools is growing, said Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer of the county school division. The number of English-language-learning students is not expected to grow significantly in the next few years, but these students are disproportionately spread into the urban ring schools, as well. The school division already has been working to address several of these concerns. High School 2022, an initiative to incorporate community- and work-based learning into the curriculum, could free up space in the high schools by sending more students to do work outside of the school building. But that could make transportation an issue for both the division and the Planning Commission. We need to talk about transportation, and maybe its not school buses; maybe its a combination of the county and the schools working together to figure that one out, Acuff said. Its a real challenge. The school division is seeking an outside consultant to study its high school capacity issues. Recommendations from the study could include operational changes or building a new high school in the northern feeder pattern. Equity and Access is a new, $1.28-million initiative in the School Boards funding request that would address some of the needs of economically disadvantaged students in the urban rings elementary schools. One of the efforts in this program includes a Social-Emotional-Academic Development, or SEAD, team that would provide support and services to at-risk students. Matt Haas, deputy superintendent, said that, as these conversations continue in the schools and with the county, it is important to point out that the students who are a part of these demographics are not causing problems for the school division. We want to make that clear. They are not the problem, he said. Its the capacity that we need to build in our schools around the concentration of these students [that] is the problem we're trying to work on. * * * The county has been studying a small-area plan around the intersection of Rio Road and U.S. 29 that could lead to more economic development in the area. Theres some concern about what that could mean for the urban rings schools and housing. The median home price in Albemarle County is among the highest in Virginia, and its especially high compared to the rest of Central Virginia. The Weldon Cooper study shows that the median home price in the county is $300,000, which is more comparable to localities in Northern Virginia than to localities surrounding Albemarle. School Board and Planning Commission members said they would like to find ways to make housing more affordable not just for the families of students who attend schools in the county, but for the individuals who work for the county schools, as well. We have 2,400 employees with the schools, many of whom arent making the kind of income to afford the average, the median house in the county, Acuff said. And I think if there are opportunities for more affordable housing and making it available, it will benefit everybody in the community, so I think that's great. The two groups agreed to meet again in October and have planned to share meeting agendas with each other. The Charlottesville City Council on Monday will decide how it wants to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from its eponymous downtown park. A community panel last fall suggested that the statue be moved to McIntire Park, but the council on Monday also will discuss whether it wants to sell the statue or donate it. Two councilors said Friday theyre disinclined to support moving the statue to McIntire. We dont want to put it there, Councilor Wes Bellamy said. If we can sell it or auction it off, that would be my preference. Its not that Im opposed to it being there; I just dont think it would be appropriate, Councilor Bob Fenwick said about moving the statue to McIntire. Earlier this year, the council voted 3-2 to move the statue. Mayor Mike Signer and Councilor Kathy Galvin voted against the measure. After directing city management staff in February to return to the council within 60 days with a range of options for the statues removal, city officials will present the report to the council and the public Monday. The council also will decide Monday whether to initiate the process to rename both Lee and Jackson parks. The city is expected to leave its statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson undisturbed, but is planning to build a new memorial to the citys enslaved population in Jackson Park. Last November, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces recommended, among other options, that the Lee statue be moved to McIntire Park. The council convened the panel last spring to study the controversy around the statue and provide a list of possible solutions. A majority of the commissioners agreed that moving the Lee statue to McIntire would retain the public monument, while removing it from a prominent public square downtown a gesture that some of the Blue Ribbon Commission members said would deemphasize a perception that the city endorses the Souths history of white supremacy through Jim Crow laws and chattel slavery. Council did not include this option in the resolution it passed in February, the staff report on the matter says. However, staff believes it is important to explain what procurement steps would need to take place in order to move the statue within the city limits. City officials are recommending that a contractor be hired if the City Council chooses that option. If an experienced contractor is hired, risk of personal injury and property damage in the moving process can be both minimized and financial responsibility can be shifted to the contractor and its forces, the report says. Alternatively, the report says the council could decide to either auction off the statue or advertise that its for sale with certain conditions, such as requiring the buyer to pay for the removal of the statue. Donating the statue to a nonprofit organization or any American government entity is another consideration city staff is presenting. The report includes guidance on how the city or a buyer could retain the statues place on the National Register of Historic Places. The council in December decided to allocate $500,000 to implement the recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission. The funding was drawn from a nearly $6 million surplus at the end of the 2016 fiscal year. In February, when the council voted to remove the statue, it also agreed unanimously to earmark up to $1 million for the development, design and implementation of a new master plan for the Historic North Downtown and Court Square districts, where the Lee and Jackson statues are located, respectively. Staff proposes that the city engage the public over a 45-day period to draw recommendations for new names for the park. Once the names are collected, the staff would work with the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to narrow the suggestions down to 5 to 10 for further consideration, the report says. The council would then decide to choose one of those names or continue public deliberation. Although the City Council will discuss the options Monday, a coalition of Lee statue supporters and the Virginia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans are suing the council for voting to remove the statue. The suit alleges that the city would violate a state law protecting memorials to war veterans if it moves the statue. Aside from seeking punitive damages against the city councilors at least $100,000 from each of them the litigants are seeking an injunction so that the suit can be settled before the city does anything with the statue. At a Democratic candidate forum Saturday hosted by the Charlottesville Democratic Party, two candidates for the Charlottesville City Council opined on Mayor Mike Signers rejected proposal to decrease the citys real-estate tax rate by 2 cents. Amy Laufer, a former chairwoman of the city School Board who is looking to end her second term on the board early to become a city councilor, said she supported the mayors proposal. Heather Hill, president of the North Downtown Residents Association, disagreed with him. The forum on Saturday included the three Democratic candidates for City Council, including council incumbent Bob Fenwick. The two candidates running for commonwealths attorney attorney Jeff Fogel and Joe Platania, the current assistant commonwealths attorney also met with constituents at the event. In the McIntire Room of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Librarys Central Branch, the five candidates mingled with visitors Saturday in an informal setting where people were able to personally meet the candidates after each made a brief statement at the beginning of the event. This is the opportunity for people to stand up and speak with a candidate as close to one-on-one as possible, said Ivy Hinton, co-chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee. Weve done this before and thought it worked really well, she said about the format of Saturdays forum. In separate interviews, candidates Laufer and Hill shared differing opinions about the mayors proposal to cut the tax rate a measure that the other four councilors shot down last month. The council last week unanimously adopted a $171.6 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The adopted budget is a $9.6 million increase over the current years budget. Signers proposal was estimated to cut tax revenues by about $1.4 million. Signer proposed the tax cut, arguing that the 30 percent average increase for commercial property assessments in the city would hurt local businesses and residents. I did agree with Mike Signer, said Laufer. I think the assessments have gone up so much that the rate then has to decrease, especially for our commercial businesses. Hill said she would have agreed with the other councilors in opposing a tax cut. She added that she wants the city to focus more of its resources on infrastructure, public safety and schools. I think its good to have those funds its just important that if were going to have those excess funds that were putting it into what the community values most, she said. Regarding public fiscal matters, Fenwick said he would like the council to hire fewer public consultants. He said he would like the council to put more faith in neighborhood planning staff to create and manage development plans for the city. I think we can do a lot better job of letting the staff do everything they can do with the tasks we give them, and then hire someone to help us if we need to do that, Fenwick said. Right now, the default position is, at the very beginning, is to have a consultant come in to tell us what to do. And thats a recipe for disaster. Its a waste of money, he added. The two candidates for commonwealths attorney said they would like to promote a progressive agenda in the local criminal justice system. Platania, a former public defender, said he would like for the city and Albemarle County to establish a mental-health treatment court to help divert nonviolent criminals from the criminal justice system and into treatment facilities. Weve got a successful drug treatment court thats been around for 20 years, he said. People are very interested in alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders. Fogel, a vocal critic of the national criminal justice system, said he would like to ease sentencing for drug offenders and nonviolent criminals. It seems we may be hurting more people than making them safer, he said. We are contributing to mass incarceration and racial inequity just as much as any other community. He said he wants his campaign to serve as an educational experience for the community and to raise awareness about issues that he said are plaguing the criminal justice system both locally and nationally. I come into this race with a notion of wanting to focus on three things: mass incarceration, racial inequity and involving the community in the criminal justice system, he said. Jim Nix, a Democratic representative on the city electoral board, predicted that the Democratic primary election in June will have an extraordinarily large turnout locally because of Tom Perriello, a Democratic candidate for governor who grew up in the Charlottesville area. Thats going to really increase voter enthusiasm on June 13, he said. That will have an impact on local candidates. BLACKSBURGEach morning, they move the flowers. They move the bouquets. They move the cards. Its a group of four men on this Tuesday morning, keeping the shrubbery trimmed and the crushed white gravel at Virginia Techs April 16 memorial neat and tidy. There are 32 polished Hokie Stones, arranged in a semicircle, each engraved with a name of one of the 32 victims of the shooting massacre that took place here 10 years ago. Relatives, survivors and visitors come here often and place remembrances on the stones. And with a finesse and care befitting the spot, the groundskeepers at Tech gently lift each item and move it aside, as a hot sun beats down on an unusually warm April day. When they finish their work, they put each tribute back, carefully, next to the stone where it had been placed. The stones werent always so polished, but theyve always been powerful. Within four hours of the end of the shooting rampage that left 32 people dead and 17 others wounded on Virginia Techs campus on April 16, 2007, grief-stricken students had begun assembling on the campus Drillfield. By the next morning, students had laid stones in an arcone for each person who died on the schools Southwest Virginia campus. In those painful first days, the stones were Hokie Stone, taken from campus construction sites. Hokie Stone is the familiar limestone used on the buildings that surround the Drillfield. Its mined from a quarry near Blacksburg thats owned by the university. When it came time to create a permanent memorial, there wasnt much debate. The schools groundskeepers essentially re-created the impromptu memorial that sprung up that night. The stones have seen Virginia Tech continue, student Scott Cheatham said at the memorials dedication Aug. 19, 2007. The stones have seen Virginia Tech prevail. That is why these stones were the inspiration behind the design for the memorial before us today. The permanent memorial includes polished Hokie Stones etched with the names of the victims, laid out in an arc on a bed of crushed gravel. It includes walking paths to and around the stones. A few feet away sit a pair of benches to honor the survivors of the attack. Cheatham was part of a group called Hokies United, a volunteer student organization widely credited with maintaining the emerging memorial in the week after the massacre. It was hours after the shooting that the students started to do this, said Dr. James Hawdon, director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech, housed in Norris Hall, where most of the shootings occurred. That was powerful, and that was part of the entire public display of grief and solidarity. The silence is what Angie DeSoto remembers most from the days immediately after the shootings. DeSoto, now director of sustainability at Virginia Tech, was a junior in the spring of 2007. She wasnt on campus April 16. She watched the horrifying news unfold on television in her apartment. A day later, she rode a bus to campus, got off at the first stop and walked across the Drillfield, on her way to the convocation being held that day in Cassell Coliseum. It was such a surreal experience to get on the bus and everyone was wearing maroon and orange and everyone was just silent, DeSoto said. No one knew what to say. We didnt know what to say to each other. We didnt know what to say to our parents or our friends. You could see your friends, or even strangers, and all you had to do was look at them and you knew that they were feeling the exact same way that you were. You didnt have to say anything. But students did find a way to express themselves. They did it when they chanted Lets go, Hokies, at the conclusion of the evenings convocation. Normally the rallying cry of Virginia Tech fans at sporting events, it took on a deeper meaning when it echoed through Cassell after Nikki Giovannis reading of her now-famous We Are Virginia Tech poem. And, perhaps most visibly, students expressed their feelings at the makeshift memorial. It was how they communicated with the rest of Blacksburg and the world. My first glimpses of the memorial was when it was still, it wasnt polished. It was still that first iteration, said Uma Loganathan, whose father worked as a professor at Virginia Tech and was killed during the massacre. I think thats what really resonated with the community at the time. Its certainly what resonated with the students, since they were the ones who made it. I think that was a way to channel their feelings and create something visual. Loganathan said she doesnt visit the memorial often. She said its difficult being so close to where her father died and so close to his office, where he proudly displayed his childrens artwork and where she spent countless hours arranging his collection of books. Its painful for me to go to the memorial, Loganathan said. Its not an easy place to be. Its difficult for me to be on the Drillfield. But for others, such as DeSoto, the memorial remains a place for reflection, a place to mourn and to appreciate Virginia Tech. It just wouldnt feel the same if it wasnt what that original idea was, she said. It connects me back to that first experience. And Im glad they tried to capture that and make it permanent. The words socialism and socialist have been prevalent in the news for years now, yet not many people realize what they mean. Socialism is defined as a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole or a way of organizing a society in which major, if not all, industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies. In a less rigid form, socialism means the government stepping in and forcing companies, through legislation, to adhere to the principles of government rules and regulations whether or not they are beneficial to the populace. Some believe that the unrestricted final consequence of socialism is a dictatorship established after the failure of a true democracy (not a Republic as America) which first led to socialism. Some believe socialism leads to an enormous welfare system that, while well meaning, degrades humans, taking away incentives, punishing workers and rewarding those who it subsidizes. It produces people who are not paid for what they produce or invent, and they receive a static wage or paycheck. This leads to self-centered people not making any effort to be better workers and citizens. On the other hand, some believe both socialism and capitalism can function side by side. It would be good to see a country that employs a moderately socialist form of government that uses tax money to benefit the people in need, and a capitalist form of economy, with regulations to protect the people. The problem is these two proponents would be at each other throats trying to grab a bigger piece of the pie. Two professors in the 1960s, Cloward and Piven, felt that socialism needed to be more defined and presented a strategy to overload the present welfare system so that it could be replaced by a nation-wide program of a guaranteed income, a form of redistribution of wealth, thereby totally eliminating poverty. The idea was to educate the poor to apply for more and more benefits that would lead to an increase in the welfare rolls creating a crisis for an already overburdened bureaucracy. Saul Alinsky, who wrote Rules for Radicals, took it several steps further in the 70s. Due to space restraints here, I will paraphrase eight levels of control that must be obtained before a social state is created. The first is the most important. 1) HealthcareControl healthcare, and you control the people 2) PovertyIncrease the poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live. 3) DebtIncrease the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty. 4) Gun ControlRemove the ability to defend themselves from their government. That way you are able to create a police state. 5) WelfareTake control of every aspect of their lives, hood, housing and income. 6) EducationTake control of what people read and listen to; take control of what children learn in school. 7) ReligionRemove the belief in the God from the government and schools 8) Class WarfareDivide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take from or tax the wealthy with the support of the poor. Does any of this sound like what has happened in the United States for the last few decades? Alinsky essentially simplified Lenins original scheme for world conquest by communism. Stalin described his converts as Useful Idiots who essentially have allowed increased poverty, established a rich elite, and ultimately destroyed every nation in which they have been able to control. I and many others presently believe it has been happening at an alarming rate in the U.S. for a while now. Some think it may be too late to stop this decline. Can the new administration reverse this movement? We will see if it and this Congress have the ability to do so with the present socialist forces continuing to battle for such flawed principles. Armenia: EU and Armenia Hold annual Dialogue on Human Rights Todays Shushi, Occupied and Cleared of Armenians, is a Real Example of Turkish-Azerbaijani Policy of Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh Ookla, the the global leader in internet testing and analysis has awarded Ucom Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union Google Ad 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 Google Ad There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully 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 LONDON - England - Our Supreme Comrade and unelected Commander, Gordon Brown, declares his unending Non-Election for the good of the nation in the New Vision of Change. From Brown to Yellow Yesterday our Supreme Comrade Gordon Brown hailed the Vision of Change that is sweeping our great nation. The supreme leaders speech was broadcast from the Ministry of Informations broadcasting headquarters in Whitehall. The speech began with the Supreme Comrade awarding every Prole in Britain an increase of sugar rations consisting of two lumps per month, commencing from January 2008. Comrade Browns Speech Comrades, I have presented my considerations to you. I repeat that it is in the interest of the UK, the workers homeland, that we do not venture into Capitalist territory with frivolities such as Free Democratic Elections. It is essential for us/Everything should be done so that my supreme Comradeship drags out as long as possible with the goal of permanent Unelected rule. For this reason, it is imperative that we agree to conclude the One-Party System proposed by my Supreme leadership, and then work in such a way that this One-Party System, once it is declared, will be prolonged maximally. We must strengthen our economic/propaganda work in the controlled media, in order to be in supreme power and control for as long as the New Vision of Change declares. After the momentous speech was delivered, 25 traitors were led away by the Politburo for questioning. The rest of the assembled Prole crowd applauded our supreme leader and showered his podium with empty vote slips. Let the Bottle commence The new directives applied by Supreme Comrade Brown will involve unelected leadership until 2009 when the European Union will take over full control of the UK, and there will be no need for unelections ever again. The election of the now discredited Comrade Blair in 1997 were the last elections Britain will ever have. All party officials and Politburo members who adhere to the Supreme leaders Ideology of Change will remain in office. Revisionists and subversives in our society who propose failed systems like Democracy will be despatched to gulags in Northern Britain. Comrade Brown voting in the non-election one-party Vision of Change In the past we had no fatherland, nor could we have one. But now that we have overthrown capitalism/democracy and power is in our hands, in the hands of the people, we have a fatherland, and we will defend our dictatorship state. Do you want our socialist fatherland to be beaten and to lose to Democracy? If you do not want this you must put an end to its backwardness in the shortest possible time and develop genuine Bolshevik tempo in building up its socialist system. There is no other way but for the Proles to give me, Supreme Comrade Brown, full control over every aspect of your worker bee lives. Notice: B64374 INGSOCK Long Live the Gordo! Invisible sides of Armenian and Azerbaijani spiritual leaders meeting (video) Current spiritual leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet for already the 6th time. The meeting of His Holiness Garegin II and Allahshukur Pashazadeh is planned in Moscow with the initiative of Patriarch Kirill. I think this meeting is necessary for Russians, says Levon Shirinyan. The main topic of the meeting will be Artsakh issue. Similar meeting was held on April 26, 2010 in Baku. After World Summit of Religious Leaders, Garegin II met with Ilham Aliyev, which was preceded by the meeting of religious leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia on Artsakh issue. After the meeting Garegin II said in Baku, Peace is our route, our way. War is not only evil for humanity, but is also evil before God. All over the world religious leaders often try to contribute to the resolution of conflicts using their reputation. Pope uses every chance to make calls for stopping war in Syria. Levon Shirinyan says, In the politics church has no role, I mean Artsakh issue. Vice versa, there is an inner need to raise the spirit of the people, arrange the state. The political expert is surprised by the participation of Armenian church in the political processes. That participation was welcome only when Armenians didnt have an independent state. Levon Shirinyan says, Now when we have a state, what is Catholicos supposed to do? Supreme Patriarch had better deal with problems of the people, which he doesnt do. Whether it is spiritual leaders meeting or resumption of negotiations on presidents level, Artsakh issue resolution isnt close. It is another matter that any meeting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis serves concrete purpose. Political expert Sergey Minasyan says, Even when you know that the adversary is going to resume military activities at any time, [meetings] are meaningful, because if there are no meetings, the possibility of different level military escalation, starting from diversion to large-scale war, is increasing. Religious leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet at the permission of presidents. Armenia: EU and Armenia Hold annual Dialogue on Human Rights Todays Shushi, Occupied and Cleared of Armenians, is a Real Example of Turkish-Azerbaijani Policy of Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh Ookla, the the global leader in internet testing and analysis has awarded Ucom Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union 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 Google Ad There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully 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 New Delhi: Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today invited Japanese companies to explore investment opportunities in India and highlighted the Centre's various reform initiatives to boost infrastructure landscape in the country. Sitharaman in her keynote address acknowledged the experience and contribution of Japanese companies in India. The Minister talked about investment opportunities available in India with the goal to increase contribution of manufacturing sector to 25 per cent of GDP by 2025. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who addressed a gathering of about 250 participants at the India Investment Seminar organised by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Tokyo today about investment opportunities available in India, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement. She also spoke on the various reform initiatives like National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) for enhancing infrastructure financing, Digital India programme to connect 250,000 villages with optical fiber and Jan Dhan scheme. The Indian delegation led by Sitharaman met Hiroshige Seko, Japan's Minister for Trade Economy and Industry (METI) and several business leaders. DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek in a panel discussion on 'Make in India' threw light on the massive investment potential of India. By 2025, India will be the world's youngest nation with average age of 29 years and have a GDP of USD 20 trillion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. The 'Make in India' programme is driving the change in the mindset to cater to this huge potential. He gave examples of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAC) on which states are being ranked on ease of doing business (EODB) and upgradation of Intellectual Property Regime. It was discussed that the electric vehicles, renewable energy, medical devices are the sectors of the future providing diversification opportunities to Japanese investors. During the seminar, Hiroyuki Ishige, Chairman & CEO, JETRO, spoke on the enormous interest of Japanese companies to diversify beyond automotive sector. Indian ambassador to Japan Sujan R Chinoy mentioned that Sitharaman's visit would further strengthen India's existing strategic relationship with Japan. Shaurya Doval, Director India Foundation, stressed that the Indian government has increasingly turned business friendly and considers businesses as equal partners in the country's growth. During the bilateral meeting with the METI Minister, issues inter alia including progress on Japanese Industrial Townships, bilateral trade, diversification of investment sectors and resolution of difficulties faced by Indian Pharmaceutical and IT companies in Japan were discussed. Sitharaman also met top business leaders of leading Japanese companies in automotive, healthcare, internet and energy sector and discussed opportunities and their plans for India. Mumbai: Recently a leaked look test of Fatima Sana Shaikh for Aamir Khan's 'Thugs of Hinduston' caught our eyes. The actress looks extremely different from her 'Dangal' look, and stands out as a warrior. It has come as a shock on several accounts, because Fatima is auditioning for the female lead in 'Thugs of Hindostan,' when she had played the role of his daughter in 'Dangal.' Aamir has been known for not repeating his heroine at all. However, in all technicalities, the actor will not be repeating his female lead in 'Thugs of Hinodstan' as well incase Fatima bags the lead, as he was paired opposite Sakshi Tanwar in 'Dangal.' Mumbai: Tiger Shroff is not worried about being compared to his actor father Jackie as he believes in creating his own legacy. The young star says he and his father are two different people with different personalities. "I want to create my own legacy, my own space. The first time I ever performed on a show, the judges were Farah Khan and Annu Malik. "They said 'You should be Hrithik's brother or Govinda's son the way you dance'. But I have an identity of my own. My father and I are very different people with different personalities," Tiger told PTI when asked if he ever bothers to outdo his father's legacy. The Baaghi actor says despite his vast experience in Bollywood, Jackie never interferes in his career. "It does help having someone like him around but he has never involved himself in my career, not at all. He never does that nor ever will. But because I am his son, I think I got recognition from a very early age, that 'He is Jackie's son'." The actor says he enjoys outings with his father as they get equal attention by their fans. "The best feeling is when we go out for lunch, and the crowd doesn't know where to go. To him or to me. It is either 50-50 or 60-40. "Either way, it feels fantastic. I am so proud to be his son. My father is such a cool person. He has such goodwill. I don't know one person who talks negatively about him." Tiger has been appointed as the brand ambassador for the recently launched kids channel Sony YAY. Sanjay has skipped two court cases in this matter earlier. Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Saturday issued a bailable warrant against Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt over him allegedly threatening filmmaker Shakil Noorani. In April 2002, Noorani alleged that Dutt had promised a film with him but at the last minute cancelled doing it. He also claimed to have received death threats from underworld goons on behalf of the actor. Sanjay has skipped two court cases in this matter earlier. Now as compensation, Noorani wants Dutt to repay him Rs. 50 lakh signing amount and Rs 2 crore for the loss. The actor has filed a review petition against Supreme Court's decision. Mumbai: Superstar Rajinikanth starred in Bharathiraja's directorial debut film 16 Vayadhinile but he says the veteran filmmaker never accepted him as an actor. "I like Bharathiraja very much. He likes me, but in his old interviews, when journalists used to ask him his opinion on me as an actor, he would say, 'He is a good human being.' "He never accepted me as a good actor. I could always read his mind voice, 'How do people accept him as an actor?'," Rajinikanth told reporters here at the inauguration of Bharathiraja's BIIC (Bharathiraja International Institute of Cinema). Rajinikanth, 66, says Bharathiraja asked for his 'time' only on two occasions in his four-decade-long career. "First was the call sheet for '16 Vayadhinile'. The second is to attend this function. I too was a film institute student. Although I learned more from my mentor late K Balachander on sets, I know how studying in a film school could be helpful and hone your skills," the Kabali actor said. Bharathiraja, 75, said he was happy that he has played a minuscule role in Rajinikanth's incredible career. "I saw Rajinikanth as a simple guy when he played the villain in '16 Vayadhinile'. Now, he has reached unattainable heights in his career. I'm happy that I've played a minuscule role in it. I would never say I played an important role in his career growth. He's a self-made man." Actor Kamal Haasan, who has collaborated with Bharathiraja on films such as 16 Vayadhinile, Sigappu Rojakkal, Tik Tik Tik and Oru Kaidhiyin Diary, said the director contributed a lot to his career in the industry. "Bharathiraja is a 'Samana Munivar.' Back in the time, I used to scold youngsters who would come to Chennai to become the next 'Bharathiraja.' Cinema is a democratic art put together by a group of 200 people or more. A lot of mistakes are bound to happen in a project. That's why we call a director the 'Captain' of the ship. Bharathiraja learned everything as a creator properly and crossed a lot of hurdles effortlessly. He is a great hurdler." Asked about the nepotism controversy surrounding the National Film Awards, Haasan said the jury comprises of 12 members and that both good and bad things are bound to happen. Popular TV anchor and actress, Anasuya Bharadwaj, is all set for a lengthy role in the upcoming Sukumar and Ram Charans film. According to a source close to the unit, the actress is playing a key role in the film. She is not playing a cameo or appearing in a song, as her role is important, and she will surprise everyone with her performance in this film, says the source. Anasuya will join the unit within a few days. The shooting is going on near Polavaram, Andhra Pradesh, as the director wants to shoot in those villages. Anasuya made her debut with Kshanam, where she played a negative role, after which she appeared in special songs in two films. Though she does get a lot of offers from Telugu and Tamil, she signs it only if the script excites her. The actress is also busy with several television shows. Meanwhile, Samantha is playing the female lead opposite Ram Charan in the film. Once the infection develops, it exists there for a long time and develops into a full blown one only later. Hence the bacteria are slowly accumulating and growing in number. (Photo: Pixabay/Representational Image) Hyderabad: Tiny particulate matter and carbon in the air are making worsening respiratory infections like pneumonia, acute respiratory distress and acute viral infections which is the prime reason for the patients showing resistance to antibiotic treatment, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Environment and Microbiology. The study has found that the bacteria is able to tolerate the pollution both indoors and outdoors. It was found that more the pollution, more is the risk of the infection getting stronger.The places where bacteria are found to thrive the most is kitchen where the sponge that is used to clean utensils can harbour more than 2 lakh different bacteria. Studies show that more germs are in the kitchen than on the toilet seat. Dr Geeta Naidu, senior general physician, said, Bacteria need food to survive and there is food readily available in the kitchen. Left over pieces if they are not cleaned properly allow the growth of bacteria. Mobile phones were also found to harbour bacteria as they are used in the kitchen, washroom and carried around the homes. As the surface of the mobile phones, the touch screen and also its constant contact with skin allows the growth and also transferring of bacteria from the hand, ears and even mouth. Dr P.N. Reddy, senior pulmonologist, said, The phone allows bacteria to grow because of the heat that it provides. Transfer of bacteria from the phone to the human body is also being seen and that raises the concern that these indoor pollutants have to be controlled.While outdoor pollution is from vehicles, construction sites and industries, exposure within homes is equally toxic with mosquito coils and incense sticks. Dr K. Subhakar explained, These are kept at a very close distance and within a confined place in the home where the individual breathes it on a regular interval. Hence the exposure is not only to those who go outside but also to those who are living within. Once the infection develops, it exists there for a long time and develops into a full blown one only later. Hence the bacteria are slowly accumulating and growing in number. Senior microbiologist Dr R. Rajeshwari said, Laboratory tests and recent experiments have shown that in the first line of antibiotic treatments during the first time, the bacteria are killed in good number. But there are still some of them who are hiding and they slowly grow in number. What was the reason for their growth? What was the agent for them to get stronger again? These questions were often asked but slowly they are being decoded. Experts state that the black carbon which is in the air alters the antibiotic tolerance and increases the resistance of bacteria which makes the medicine ineffective. The study in published in the Journal of Environment and Microbiology. found that bacteria alter themselves and form new communities and protect themselves. Household items that hold danger The impact on the spine increases at higher flexed postures and bending backward or forward could cause an issue for most youngsters today. (Photo: Pixabay) Spine surgeons are noticing an increase in patients with neck and upper back pain, likely related to poor posture during prolonged smartphone use, according to a recent report. Some patients, particularly young patients who shouldnt yet have back and neck issues, are reporting disk hernias and alignment problems, the study authors write in The Spine Journal.In an X-ray, the neck typically curves backward, and what were seeing is that the curve is being reversed as people look down at their phones for hours each day, said study coauthor Dr. Todd Lanman, a spinal neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. By the time patients get to me, theyre already in bad pain and have disc issues, he told Reuters Health. The real concern is that we dont know what this means down the road for kids today who use phones all day. Lanman and co-author Dr. Jason Cuellar, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, write that people often look down when using their smartphones, particularly when texting as compared to browsing online or watching videos. Previous studies have also found that people hold their necks at around 45 degrees, and it becomes even worse as they sit, versus standing, the study team writes. The impact on the spine increases at higher flexed postures, they add. While in a neutral position looking forward, the head weighs about 10 to 12 pounds. At a 15-degree flex, it feels like 27 pounds. The stress on the spine increases by degree, and at 60 degrees, its 60 pounds.For todays users, will an 8-year-old need surgery at age 28? Lanman said. In kids who have spines that are still growing and not developed, were not sure what to expect or if this could change normal anatomies, he told Reuters Health. Lanman and Cuellar suggest simple lifestyle changes to relieve the stress from the text neck posture. They recommend holding cell phones in front of the face, or near eye level, while texting. They also suggest using two hands and two thumbs to create a more symmetrical and comfortable position for the spine. Beyond smartphone use, the spinal surgeons recommend that people who work at computers or on tablets use an elevated monitor stand so it sits at a natural horizontal eye level. With laptops, they recommend a similar adaptation by using a separate keyboard and mouse so the laptop can be at eye level and still create a good ergonomic position while typing. It is difficult to recommend a proper posture for smartphone users. If we raise the phone at eye level to avoid the look-down posture, it will add new concerns for the shoulder due to the elevated arm posture, said Gwanseob Shin of the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology Ergonomics Lab in South Korea, who wasnt involved with the study.A more practical recommendation would be frequent rest breaks or some physical exercise that can strengthen the neck and shoulder muscles, Shin told Reuters Health by email. Some apps can give alarming signals to users to avoid prolonged looking-down posture. Lanman recommends stretches and basic exercises that focus on posture as well. He tells patients to lie on their beds and hang their heads over the edge, extending the neck backward to restore the normal arc in the neck. While sitting, he recommends aligning the neck and spine by checking that the ears are over the shoulders and the shoulders are over the hips. Ask your friend to take a photo of your upper body when youre texting, then use the picture as the background image on your phone, Shin said. That will remind you to take breaks frequently. Even a short break of a few seconds - called a micro-break - can help our tissues recover. In an attempt to stop female foeticide and increase the female sex ratio across Maharashtra, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recommended that the state government makes prenatal sex determination compulsory for all women. The PAC has also said that regular monitoring of pregnant women, who have conceived female child, will also be done to prevent female foeticide. This isnt the first time a recommendation like this has been made. Last year in February, Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi suggested mandatory sex-determination tests and tracking of women carrying female foetuses. While this recommendation has garnered backlash, it also violates the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act acts that are fundamental rights of women. We talk to feminists, social and health activists to seek their reaction on the probable implementation of this idea, the danger it will pose to women and if they think there are better ways to monitor sex ratios and female foeticide. The threats to the female foetus exist in the minds of people: Shashi Deshpande, Award winning Indian author I dont know how theyre going to do it its completely impractical! The threats to the female foetus exist in the minds of people, including parents in society because they dont want a girl child. So, unless we move away from that kind of thought, the threat will remain. And these threats keep coming from different directions. It just doesnt make sense at all. Now that they know the sex of the baby, they could so easily just abort the child. How are you going to keep a constant check? Are you going to keep a spy? Its like controlling a woman and I just dont see how it would help. No woman is going to be benefited by this move: Dr Sabu M. George, Member of National Inspection and Monitoring Committee of the PCPNDT Act This attempt is against the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. If the government isnt capable of monitoring a few number of pre-natal diagnostic clinics, then how are they going to check on over three billion pregnancies? Sex selection was introduced in India as a method of population growth control. By allowing this the governments main aim is to control population and help doctors who are a black mark on the entire medical profession. No woman is going to be benefited by this move. Instead, women will go through severe physiological impact on them. India is not ready for pre-natal sex determination: Varija Bajaj, fashion designer and social activist India is still not ready for pre-natal sex determination. Having a child is mostly not a womans decision (in India), but the whole family is involved and has a strong opinion about the same. Indians have their ways to get things around. If they dont want a female child they will have a fool proof planning to dupe to monitoring authorities. I completely oppose pre-natal sex determination both in the safety of the woman and the unborn child. And this stands true for all classes. It has nothing to do with the financial background of the woman or the family. Allowing people to take prenatal sex determination will increase the problem: Dr Shobha Raghuveera, Consultant Gynecologist Allowing people to take prenatal sex determination will increase the problem and not solve it. Government should not go ahead with the implementation. The only way we can guarantee increase in female sex ratio is to continue with the ongoing practice of not doing a prenatal test with a much stricter law. If we can stop female infanticide, only then the ratio will increase and not the other way round. This takes away the autonomy women have on their bodies: Flavia Agnes, legal scholar, feminist activist and director of Majlis Bombay This takes away the autonomy women have on their bodies and puts them under unnecessary surveillance. The womans body is reduced to being properties of the state. The way this recommendation sounds is that they arent bothered about the health of the woman at all instead they only care only womb. What bothers me is that how are they really going to monitor this and carry out all this surveillance? And to be fair, Maharashtra has shown enough development in terms of sex ratio. Do we really need this sort of a move? There must be complete transparency in the procedure: Dr Deepa Ganesh, Consultant Cosmetic Gynecologist In one way, I think that it is a good move. Because female foeticide is still a sad reality in many parts of the country. But there must be complete transparency in the procedure. The officials have to let both the parents and their whole family know about the sex of the baby, and that they will be monitored throughout. If they skip check-ups they can be inquired, or if at all they abort the foetus, an investigation can be done to find out which doctor or quack carried out the abortion. This will definitely be a step towards preventing foeticide and also increase the female sex ratio. Additionally, they must make the sex determination scan only after 20 weeks of pregnancy that way, it will be harmful for the mother to carry out an abortion, and the doctors will also hesitate to do it. Although, in the longer run, only education, more empowerment for girls would change the mindset of the people towards the issue. Friday, April 14 marks the New Year for five major communities in India Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bengal, Odisha and Assam. On this auspicious weekend, DC looks at the origins and legacy of one of Bengaluru's oldest communities - the Tamilians, whose presence in what is now modern-day Karnataka dates back over a 1000 years, to the reign of Rajendra Chola 1. This integration took place in three major waves the 10th century when the Cholas invaded Bengaluru, the second during the Vijayanagara period and then in the 18th century when a large number of Tamilians followed the British army to Bengaluru. Quaint Bazaar Street in Ulsoor "The history of the Tamilian community goes back back to the reign of Raja Raja Chola I and his son, Rajendra Chola, who expanded his empire to Bengaluru, said architect and urban expert Naresh Narasimhan. His northernmost outpost in this region was Ilaipakka Naadu, what we call Yelahanka today. The Chokkanathaswamy Temple, he explained, the oldest in Bengaluru, is a 10th-century Chola monument, located in Domlur. The biggest move happened during the British rule - a large number of Tamilians followed the army to Bengaluru and settled in the Civil and Military Station, which became Cantonment in 1882. They flourished in the 1920s and 30s, becoming some of the richest people in the city. Mining baron Manikyavelu Mudaliar built, in the early 1900s, the largest residence after the Raj Bhavan. The house, which is on Palace Road, was handed over to the Ministry of Culture in 2001, after which Narasimhan transformed the 3.5 acre property into the National Gallery of Modern Art. By the 1920s, members of the community were among the wealthiest in Bengaluru. There was another wave of migration post-Independence as well, as the PSU boom happened, he added. In 1938, the Valliappa family founded Sree Valliappa Textiles Limited, which would become one of the largest textile units in the country, here on Millers Road. We set up our first mill in 1966, said Mr C Valliappa, founder and Managing Director of the Sona Valliappa Group and a second generation Bengalurean. Over the next decade, the group had established five mills. In 1982, they built the Sona Towers on Millers Road, which went on to play a pivotal role in Bengalurus growth as a global IT hub. Software giants Texas Instruments, who moved to India in 1984, the first MNC to do so, set up their office at Sona Towers. Incidentally, BSNLs first satellite dish was also put up on our building in 1982, he explained. His son, Thyagu Valliappa is currently the president of Bangalore Chambers of Industry and Commerce. Srirampuram, where iron foundries now abound, is home to Sunrise Industrials, one of the largest manufacturers of textile machinery. My father, C. Arunachalam, visited Bengaluru when he was seven years old, to see the famous Bangalore Karaga, said A. Narasimhan, Managing partner, The Sunrise Industrials, who ... He stayed back here, living at his aunt's house near Sangam Theatre, Majestic. Our forefathers are an agricultural community and my father only studied up to the seventh standard as well, he said. He found himself a day job in Binny Mills, working his way through every department of the factory before beginning his own machine shop. He was the first man to manufacture lathes for mills in South India and received a gold medal at the Dussehra exhibition in 1958, when he started Sunrise Industrials. Working out of a small piece of land in Srirampuram, which eventually expanded to about two acres, Mr Arunachalam revolutionised the agrarian community in Erode, near Coimbatore, offering the farmers there power looms that they could pay for in installments. People were given incentives to set up their own mills, and agriculturists built a booming industry in the area, he explained. The Sunrise company also produced India's indigenous car, a three-wheeled, four-door model called Badal. It wasn't a success but it was taken over by Sipani Automobiles. Renault had approached us for a collaboration but times were very different then and it was turned down by the Central government. With influences from the Madras Presidency in the South, the Bombay Presidency in the North and the Nizam's rule in the north-east, only old Mysuru, concluded Naresh Narasimhan, identifies with Karnataka culture. Perhaps that's why we have always had such a troubled identity as a state. The journey is, like all others, marked by highs and lows and our variegated influences have, for better or for worse, shaped the course of the Bengaluru's history, transforming it into the city we know today. Varanasi: Four persons, including three of a family, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the loot of jewellery worth crores of rupees from a shop in the busy Thatheri Bazar here last week, said police. UP STF and a Crime Branch team on Friday arrested Shivam Sharma, his father Sudhir Nath Sharma and mother Vinita, and Zeeshan, all residents of Varanasi, SSP Nitin Tiwari said. While Shivam was among the seven robbers who carried out loot in the jewellery shop on April 8, his father and mother were arrested for allegedly hiding the looted jewellery in their house, he said. So far nearly 300 gms of jewellery was recovered from Shivam's house. A country made gun, two live cartridges and two mobile phones were also seized, Tiwari said. Two brothers, Prahalad and Sanjay Agarwal, had lodged a police complaint that nearly 12 kg of gold jewellery worth Rs three crore was looted from their shop, the officer said. The incident took place when two persons, posing as customers visited the shop. Thereafter, five more persons armed with guns and knives entered the shop, held the workers hostage, snatched their mobile phones, broke the CCTV cameras and looted the jewellery, police said. During interrogation, the accused revealed the name of Aman Kumar Soni, Faizan, Pappu, Azad, Manoj and two others, who helped in executing the robbery. Shivam and Faizan were the masterminds of the loot, Tiwari claimed. A manhunt has been launched to nab the other accused, he said. Hyderabad: A software engineer from Bhongir committed suicide at his house in Seattle in the United States. The exact reason for the death has not been confirmed, but relatives said the 37-year-old Madhukar Reddy Gudur was troubled by marital disputes. Madhukar had recently bought a house in Seattle and had moved in. A BITS Pilani alumni, Madhukar had been working for an MNC and was living in the US since seven years. His wife, Swathi, is also a software engineer in Seattle. According to Madhukars relatives they received news about his death on Tuesday morning. Madhukar reportedly send a message to his parents apologising to them. He was financially well off and had bought a house four months back. He was troubled by marital disputes. But we cannot confirm what the exact reason for the suicide was, said his relative Durga Reddy. Madhukar and Swati got married four years ago. After their marriage, he never came to India to visit his parents as his wife did not like him going to his village, relatives said. He had come to India many times before his marriage. His parents had been asking him to come to India and solve his marital issues here, said another relative. His parents, Bal Reddy and Sugunamma, live in Bhongir. Madhukar had told his cousins that he wanted to come to India and find a job in Hyderabad. After marriage, his intention was to stay in the US only for a year. He wanted to come back to India with his family and find a job here. But, apparently he and his wife could not figure out the plan well, said Durga Reddy. His relatives said that Madhukars brother-in-law, the brother of Swathi, had committed suicide two years ago in Seattle. Arrangements are being made to bring Madhukars body to India. Jaipur: Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh has said that there should be no holidays on birth anniversaries of great personalities instead students should be taught about them on these days. Speaking at a state-level function at Mundwa village near here on the 126th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar on Friday, he said the holidays on birth anniversaries of great personalities should be abolished and seminars should be held in schools and colleges to make students aware of their life journey. The Governor said that no society can progress unless social harmony is strengthened and discrimination ends. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has echoed the same views on Friday as he paid tributes to the chief architect of Indian Constitution at a function in Lucknow. "There should be no holidays in schools on birth anniversaries of great personalities. Instead, special two-hour programme should be held to teach students about them", Adityanath said. Kolkata : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that the BJP does not want to run the country on the basis of caste or religion, but of humanity and justice. He made the comment when reporters asked for his view on the claim that the Hindu population in West Bengal was showing a declining graph. "I normally don't reply to any question on caste, creed and religion. I think our BJP does not want to run the country on the basis of caste, creed and religion. We want to run the country on the basis of humanity and justice," he said. According to him, there was no place for violence in a healthy democracy. "There is no place for confrontation in a healthy democracy. We need everybody's cooperation to take the nation forward. We need to understand the reality that political clash or political violence can in no way encroach upon the space of good governance and development," Singh said. On violence allegedly perpetrated against BJP workers, he reiterated that violence had no place in a healthy democracy. Much to the dismay of his party's state unit, Singh didn't utter a word against the Mamata Banerjee government in the state. He also chose to keep mum on a resolution passed by the RSS in which it accused the TMC of harbouring "jihadi elements". "Being a home minister, I can't comment on many issues publicly," he said. Singh also did not approve of a BJP youth leader's announcement of a bounty on Mamata Banerjee's head, saying this cannot be condoned. When asked to comment on the law-and-order situation of the state, he merely said, "Law and order is a state subject." Taking note of the rise in the BJP's vote share in West Bengal, Singh expressed confidence that the party would form the next government in the state. The TMC leadership, however, mocked at Singh's claim by saying that the party was "not aware of ground realities in Bengal and was only daydreaming". The home minister dodged a direct reply to a question on why the pace of the CBI investigation into the Narada, Saradha and Rose valley scams had slowed down, saying, "Law will take its own course. We are not like other parties who interfere in the CBI investigation." Panaji: The tourists coming to Goa create"nuisance" after consuming liquor and "spoil" Goan culture, said the state's Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar. The minister added that liquor has been part of Goa's culture and locals knew "how to handle it." "Drinking liquor has been a tradition in Goa and it cannot be stopped overnight. We can say liquor has been part of our Goanness. Even if one has stomach pain warm liquor is consumed as medicine," Ajgaonkar told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Panaji. "Goans know how to handle their drink but those who come as tourist from outside create nuisance after getting drunk and spoil our culture. That should be stopped," he said. On late night parties in Goa, the tourism minister said the government can permit such parties, if the Supreme Court lifts the ban on it. "The late night parties are not allowed in the state as part of the Supreme Court directives. There is ban on playing loud music after 10 PM," said the minister. "If the apex court lifts the ban and if locals are not disturbed, we don't mind allowing late night parties," he added. The minister said that he supports electronic dance music festivals like Sunburn in the State which boosts tourism. Srinagar: Twenty persons were on Saturday injured in a clash between protesters and security forces in Pulwama town in south Kashmir. A group of youth started shouting slogans and hurling stones at security forces near Degree College, Pulwama, on Saturday afternoon, a police official said. He said the security forces resorted to baton charge and fired several tear smoke shells to disperse the protestors. There were unconfirmed reports of security forces firing a few warning shots in the air. At least, five persons were hurt during the clash, the official said. A student, injured during a clash between protesters and security forces at Degree College in Pulwama, being treated at SMHS Hospital in Srinagar on Saturday. (Photo: PTI) Srinagar: Over fifty students were injured in clashes with security forces in Jammu and Kashmirs southern town of Pulwama on Saturday, as security forces fired tear gas and pellets to disperse angry students. The students were protesting against alleged highhandedness of security forces outside government-run degree college in Pulwama. They also alleged that the security forces not only harassed them but also barged into the college premises where they were forced them to chant slogans denouncing separatists, militants and freedom cause. When they protested against it the latter resorted to brute force against them. However, the police denied the charges and said that a normal naka was established around 200 meters away from the college premises. As class work ended some miscreants started pelting stones at the naka party. To handle the stone pelting reinforcement was rushed to the spot, it said in a statement here. It added, The mob swelled as more students joined and pelted stones on the forces. In this incident some miscreants and police personnel were injured. One was referred to Srinagar hospital where his condition is stable. The police also said that it wants to clarify that no raids were conducted and the video being shared on social networking sites is not from Pulwama. The doctors at the Pulwama district hospital said that they had till 4 pm received treated 54 students including females who had been hit by teargas shells and pellets and that three critically injured were referred to Srinagar for advanced treatment. The youth tied to the jeep has been identified as Farooq Ahmed Dar, a resident of Chhil Brass of Budgam. Srinagar: A video showing a Kashmiri youth being used as a human shield by the Army against stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmirs central district of Budgam has caused outrage in the state and beyond. The youth, seen tied to a moving jeep with an audio warning to stone-pelters against the background, has been identified as Farooq Dar, while the Army unit involved in the act was 53 Rashtriya Rifles, preliminary investigations have revealed. Officials investigating the matter on the instructions of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said Mr Dar is a resident of Chhil Brass in Budgam. Mr Dar told investigators that he was out to cast vote and later visit his sisters house after a relatives death when he was picked up and paraded through 10 to 12 villages, officials said. Sources in the Army, which has promised a probe, claimed that he was picked up from a trouble spot, Gundipora, and was tied up for barely 100 metres before being released. The contents of the video are being verified and investigated, said defence spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia here. The warning in the video, Those who throw stones will meet the same fate can be heard. Human shield Video shocking, says Omar Abdullah The video surfaced two days after a series of amateur videos showing CRPF jawans being heckled, hit and kicked by a mob during the bypoll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat went viral on social media evoking a nationwide outrage. Locals and police sources said as the youth was being paraded, a crowd assembled outside a school where a polling station had been set up, and subsequently attacked the jeep with stones. Three protesters were injured when security forces opened fire, they said. Soon violence spread to other areas. Former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah expressed shock over the incident. He wrote on Twitter, This young man was TIED to the front of an Army jeep to make sure no stones were thrown at the jeep? This is just so shock-ing!!!!!#Kashmir. Guna (Madhya Pradesh): A team has been sent to Tarpur village for investigating a Panchayat which fixed marriage of a five-year-old girl with an eight-year-old boy. Guna ADM Nizam Khan has assured that strict action would be taken against the culprits. "We are sending a probe team to this village, strict action will be taken against the culprits," Khan said. Read: MP child marriage: Constitution doesn't allow such incidents, says Panchayat Minister The marriage was fixed as the villagers felt that nothing auspicious had happened in the village since the girls father, Jagdish Banjara, killed a calf three years back. Banjara had hit a calf with a stone while it was feeding in his field, due to which the calf died. Following this, he and his family were boycotted by the villagers. He was also asked to take bath in the Ganges and distribute food in village. According to the Panchayat, since the death of the calf nothing auspicious has happened in the village. Thus, as a mark of repentance, the Panchayat had arranged for Jagdish's five-year-old daughter's to be married to an eight-year-old boy. Raising voice against the injustice, the girl's mother filed a complaint with SDM Neeraj Sharma. The officials had already given a warning to the Panchayat to not go forward with such a thing but the Panchayat was adamant on doing it. Former Union Minister and Congress-National Conference joint candidate Farooq Abdullah shows victory sign as his son and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah looks on outside a polling station during voting for Srinagar parliamentary seat. (Photo: PTI) Srinagar: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah registered an easy win over People Democratic Party's Nazim Khan, in the bypoll that happened for the Srinagar Lok sabha constituency for which results were announced on Saturday. He also demanded imposition of Governor's rule in J&K. Abdullah, whose only electoral defeat has come in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is locked in a direct contest with ruling PDP's Nazir Ahmad Khan. The counting of votes began at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) at 8.00 am. The bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha seat was held on April 9, with the constituency recording its lowest voter turnout of 7.13 per cent. The polling day was also marred by violence which left eight persons dead and scores of others, including security personnel, injured in clashes with stone-pelting protesters. The Election Commission conducted a repoll on Thursday on 38 polling stations which were worst hit by the poll day violence. The repoll saw an abysmal turnout of two per cent. State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shantmanu said besides the presence of observers, the entire counting will be video-graphed. The CEO inspected the counting halls established for each of the assembly segment, and was briefed about the security arrangements inside and outside the venue. During his visit to the media centre, the CEO also directed the officials to provide full assistance to media fraternity in disseminating the news. New Delhi: A woman Congress worker quit the party on Friday to join the AAP and accused Ajay Maken and other senior leaders of mental harassment and criminal intimidation. Rachna Sachdeva, who was the Babarpur president of the Mahila Congress, in her complaint at Tughlak Road Police Station, accused Delhi Congress chief Maken, Mahila Congress president Shobha Oza and party leader Netta D'Souza of mental harassment and criminal intimidation, police said. She also claimed that Maken has threatened her and she has been receiving threat calls from unknown numbers. "We have received the complaint and are looking into it. All the allegations made by her are non-cognisable in nature. As of now, no FIR has been lodged," a senior police officer said. Maken was not available for comment. Welcoming Sachdeva into the party fold, AAP's Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey said, this (allegation of mental harassment and criminal intimidation) reflects the Congress' "anti-women and anti-Dalit stand." Apart from Sachdeva, some 13 local-level leaders from both the Congress and the BJP also joined the AAP. Srinagar: A youth was killed when security forces -allegedly Border Security Force (BSF)-opened fire in Srinagars Batamalloo area on Saturday evening. A report said that another person was injured in the shooting but the authorities are yet to confirm it. The witnesses said that two BSF vehicles were passing through SD Colony of the Srinagar suburb when someone hurled a stone at it which apparently prompted the men on board to open fire. A youth identified as Sajjad Hussain Sheikh alias Waza, a resident of Chandoosa, Tangmarg in Baramulla district, who lived in the area as a tenant was hit in the head and died instantly, they said. The J&K police officials said that they are verifying the circumstances in which the BSF opened fire. There was no deployment (of a security force) in the area. Were told it was the BSF. Were trying to verify it and to know as to why it opened fire, said a senior police official. He added that whichever the uniformed force it was it had taken a route which is usually not permitted for the security forces. A statement issued by the zonal police headquarters here added, The police is collecting the details and is looking into the circumstances under which a person identified as Sajjad Hussain Sheikh of Chandoosa Baramulla at present SD Colony Srinagar got killed. The District Police administration Srinagar has informed that there was no deployment in the area. The matter is being investigated. Following the incidents, clashes have erupted in some parts of Srinagar and the police has used teargas to disperse the surging crowds in Batamallo and some neighbourhood areas. Earlier during the day, over fifty students were injured in clashes with security forces in Jammu and Kashmirs southern town of Pulwama on Saturday. Late Saturday evening, unidentified gunmen shot and critically wounded two persons in Pulwama's Qasbayar village. One of them identified as Bashir Ahmed Dar succumbed soon after being shifted to a nearby medical facility. The authorities have blamed the incident on separatist militants. Bengaluru: A day after raiding the house of former BBMP corporator and rowdy V. Nagaraj alias Bomb Naga in Srirampura, the police on Saturday detained three members of his gang to know his whereabouts. Naga managed to escape from the terrace of his house, even as the police struggled to get into his fortress-like, five-storeyed house. The police conducted the raid after Umesh filed a complaint of abduction against him. The police found Rs 14.80 crore in scrapped currency notes in his house along with property documents worth crores and lethal weapons. The police on Saturday detained Appi, Mani and another gang member, but could not get any details from them on Nagas whereabouts. On Friday, the police raided four places and retrieved documents, which are being scrutinised. Nagarajs two sons Gandhi and Shastry are also accused in the case and are absconding. The police teams, which have been formed to investigate the case, searched for him in his farmhouse in Hesarghatta in Nelamangala but did not get any leads. The search operation has been further intensified. The police are in the process of sharing the information with Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate. The police are also thinking of invoking sections of the stringent Karnataka Control of Organized Crimes Act. New Delhi: With the BJP and the RSS unleashing the Hindutva card in Bengal, its trouble time for Trinamul supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been branded by the saffronites as the queen of minority politics. The rapid consolidation of the Hindu votebank by BJP became evident when the party stunned all by coming second in the Kanthi (south) Assembly by-poll and grabbing nearly 30 per cent of the vote share. While Trinamul won the elections, CPI(M) and Congress candidates lost their deposits. Also, for the first time Bengal witnessed massive rallies across the state during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti. Nearly 200 rallies with participants wielding swords, brandishing lathis were held across the state. A section of the Trinamul Congress leaders feel that Ms Banerjees politics of minority appeasement is helping the BJP become an alternative among the Hindus, which include the so-called Bengali bharalok. Last month, in Coimbatore, the RSS in its National Council meet spoke of the alarming situation in West Bengal, and accused the ruling Trinamul Congress for the rise of jihadi elements and the decline of the Hindu population in Bengal. The RSS had also organised Makar Sankranti functions in Kolkata. Pushing its Hindutva agenda in Bengal, the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, launched a scathing attack on Ms Banerjee, claiming that her blatant and brazen appeasement of Muslims in West Bengal has created a volatile situation, unprecedented in the states history. Students of the college assemble after eight of their fellow students drown in the Arabian sea off the Vayri coast in Sindhudurg on Saturday. (Photo: PTI) Bengaluru: Eight students from an engineering college in Belagavi drowned in Malvan beach in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra on Saturday noon as they had gone on a picnic along with 35 other students of the college. Three other students, who were rescued, are undergoing treatment at a hospital. More than 40 students from Maratha Mandal Engineering College near Kakati in Belagavi had told their parents that they were going on a study tour to Pune and had left on Wednesday. On Saturday afternoon, they went to the beach and around 30 of them ventured into the sea. As they entered the deep waters, the sea started to rise as it was high tide. Some of them started drowning, even as their friends rushed in to save them, but in vain. Only 20 could swim back to safety. The police, alerted about the incident, rushed to the spot and fished out all the bodies with the help of professional swimmers. Three students were brought to the shore in an unconscious state and they were immediately rushed to hospital. One is in a critical condition, while the other two are recovering, the police said. The deceased have been identified as Mazammil Hanikar, Kiran Khandekar, Aarti Chavan, Avdhoot Tahshildar, Nitin Mutnadkar, Karuna Berde, Maya Kolhe and Mahesh Kujdarkar. Sanket Gadvi, Anita Hanali and Akansha Ghatge are in the hospital. It is learnt that the local residents warned the students not to venture into the sea as there was a strong current, but they reportedly ignored the warnings. Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government is worried about the emerging threat from WhatsApp news agencies mushrooming all over the state and posing a serious threat to genuine news. These WhatsApp news groups are putting out unverified news every now and then and in an attempt to outdo the rivals, TV channels pick them up without verifying the same. The most recent example was that of the fake news related to abolition of reservation in private medical and dental colleges by the Yogi government. The news came from one such WhatsApp group and was instantly picked up by a news channel. Within an hour, the news went viral and TV channels even started debating on the subject. It took us almost four hours to realise that this was a fake news, apparently planted to malign the government and finally a denial was issued but the damage had already been done, said a senior police official. Another instance was that the Yogi government planning to train child labourers and make them employment ready. Child labour is banned and it was absurd to suggest that the government would train them. No rules to regulate WhatsApp groups WhatsApp agencies have also been announcing transfers and termination of officials even when none gas taken place. Reports of minor clashes are turned into riots by these groups. At least two groups announced the demise of a yesteryear actor after which hundreds of people offered their condolences on the messenger service. These groups create confusion because most of their news instantly becomes breaking news on channels. The problem is that there are no rules to regulate the messenger service and its content, a police officer said. Hyderabad: Residents of Kausalya Colony, Bachupally, were taken by surprise when minister K.T. Rama Rao made a surprise visit to the industrial area along with other ministers. Mr Rao dropped in after receiving several complaints from colony residents about the increasing industrial pollution. The minister visited industrial plants and ordered the PCB officials to take strong action against industries dumping waste illegally. He also urged the industries to co-ordinate with the GHMC officials and plan a sewerage treatment plant (STP) in the industrial area. The minister visited the open nalas to check the garbage being dumped there illegally. He instructed the GHMC and PCB officials to work hand-in-hand and nab those who are polluting the environment. Mr Nandkishore, a resident of Bachupally, commented, The deadline set by GHMC for garbage burning was March 31. We are facing severe problems due to the industrial pollution and garbage burning and we hope that the ministers visit will solve our problems. Inance Ministr Arun Jaitley, PM Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and veteran leader LK Advani on the stage at the party national executive meet. (Photo: Twitter) Bhubaneswar: BJP president Amit Shah urged party leaders on Saturday to work hard and make the lotus bloom across India from panchayats to Parliament. In his inaugural address at the partys two-day national executive meeting at Bhubaneswar, he set the state elections in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat (both 2017) and Karnataka (2018) as immediate goals. He also urged the party to defeat Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in 2019 when state elections will be held in Odisha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who reached Bhubaneswar on Saturday and led a roadshow, mingling with crowds at several places breaking security protocol will address party leaders in his Sundays speech. Mr Shah, however, cautioned party leaders against any complacency over recent electoral successes in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Manipur and Goa. In an apparent message to Odisha Chief Minister, the party president cited the BJPs victory in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and said the mandate proved the regional parties were no longer invincible and could be defeated if their failures in governance were exposed. The BJPs stunning performance in the recently-concluded local body elections has rattled Odishas ruling dispensation, which has been ruling the state for the last 17 years. Hyderabad: Ahead of the crucial one-day session of the State Legislature convened on Sunday for passage of the enhanced reservation quota for Muslims and STs, the TD and BJP accusing the government of lacking sincerity in bringing the Bill while the Congress welcomed the move but sought to know how the obstacles in its implementations would be overcome. Interestingly, the government was not able to send copies of the Bill to the Opposition during the Business Advisory Committee Meeting chaired by the Assembly Speaker and Legislative Council Chairman on Saturday evening. This gave BJP leader Kishan Reddy an opportunity to ask the Chief Minister how and what they can talk about when the legislators were not even able to see the copies of the Bills even a few hours before commencement of the session. He also wanted the government to release the Bills along with copies of the Sudheer Commission and BC Commission reports for the Members to study. Speaking to the media after the BAC meeting, Mr Kishan Reddy expressed serious concern over the proposal and demanded the government to explain why it had put both the Muslim and ST quota hike in one Bill. He said that there was every possibility of STs losing both enhanced and existing reservation quota in case the Bill is struck down by the courts. We demand enhanced reservations to SCs and STs based on their increased population as this is permitted by the Constitution but not Muslim reservation as it was already struck down by High Court twice earlier. By clubbing Muslim and ST quota in one Bill, the TRS governments intention is to politicise the issue and does not reflect its sincerity, Mr Kishan Reddy said. Meanwhile, TD legislators and senior leaders held a meeting after which they warned the government against hiking Muslim reservations without doing the same for BCs. TD working president A. Revanth Reddy said in case government decides to hike the Muslim quota as per the communitys population in the state, the TD wants BC quota hiked from the existing 25 per cent to 52 per cent, based on their population. If the CM is sincere in implementing quota for all backward communities, let it hike Muslim and ST quota to 12 per cent each as promised and another 27 per cent to BCs so that we will have no objection in approving total reservations, he said. Mr Revanth Reddy said that the TD will take up mass agitation if BC quota increase is denied. He also said that there is every danger to the enhanced Muslim quota as courts had objected to such a move earlier and struck it down. Incidentally, TD MLAs will not be able to attend Sundays session in view of their suspension from the House during Budget session. Since the one-day session is an extension of the Budget session that has not been prorogued by the government yet, the suspension of the TD MLAs for the rest of session will be in force. When Speaker S. Madhusudana Chary convened the Business Advisory Committee meeting on Saturday evening, Legislature Affairs Minister T. Harish Rao objected to the presence of TD MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah in the meeting and told him that since he was suspended along with other TD Members for the entire Budget session he cannot attend either the BAC or House. Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Shabbir Ali slammed the BJP for describing minorities quota as a religious reservation. He said when BJP has given 10 per cent quota to the Patel community in Gujarat and another 15 per cent to Gujjars and Jats in Rajasthan, why was it not religious reservation. Criticising Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidus comments on Muslim quota, Mr Shabbir Ali said the words were of a RSS leader and not a Union Minister. He said that the Congress welcomed the increase in reservations for STs and backward Muslims, but said that he would ask the government how it plans to overcome the legal and Constitutional hurdles in this regard. Visakhapatnam: With the imminent celebration of World Heritage Day on April 18, the demand for historical locations in Andhra Pradesh to be deemed Unesco World Heritage Sites has come to the fore again. However, not a single heritage structure from the state has made it to Indias tentative list of sites. The tentative list is an inventory of sites proposed by the state party to Unesco. The World Heritage Committee considers for nomination to the World Heritage list, those sites that have been included in the tentative lists of state parties. So far, 44 properties have been included in Indias tentative list. The Hyderabad Chapter of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been asked by K. Lour-dusamy, the ASI director of World Heritage, to prepare an exhaustive proposal for four heritage sites Lepakshi, Salihundam, Sankaram and Nagarjunakonda, to che-ck if they can be included in the tentative list. The Ministry for Culture and Tourism turned do-wn requests of the AP government to include Borra Caves, Gandikota For-t, Chandragiri Fort, Gunt-upalli Caves and Amaravati Maha Stupa in the Unesco Heritage List, and said that they were not a part of the tentative list. Edward Paul, a renowned historian and a member of Intach, said, The proposed sites have a hi-gh potential to get the Un-esco tag; it will help put the sites on the world map. But the state government has to comply with the stringent guidelines first. One of the major criteria is that no development works can be taken up around the site. D. Kanna Babu, the de-puty superintendent archaeologist of the Hydera-bad Chapter of the ASI, said, The proposed heritage sites in undivided Andhra Pradesh did not make it to the tentative list because of the hum-an habitations around them, and because of the lack of facilities for visitors. Lepakshi, Salihundam, Sankaram are highly eligible to gain recognition. We have already assigned the documentation work for Lepakshi to a private architecture fi-rm. However, the people residing around that area need to be shifted to some other place and given proper rehabilitation. Sanka-ram and Salihundam alr-eady meet the required cr-iteria. I hope that Lepak-shi from AP will make it to the tentative list within a year. Some heritage activists believe that recognition does not guarantee more funds for the sites, but it ensures more footfall; and the Union Government needs to start taking measures to protect the sites. Vijayawada: Raising a voice of dissent against the TD high command, party leader and Chittoor MP Dr. N. Shivaprasad has stated that it is ignoring SC/ST interests. His criticism, on the day of Dr. B.R. Ambedkars birth anniversary, has led to a discussion among TD seniors. Dr. Shivaprasad alleged that the TD government has not accommodated SCs in Cabinet as per the population ratio. The Chitoor MPs revolt against party high command was reportedly to register his protest for not recommending his name for the ministerial berth in the Union Cabinet. The CMs intention might be that SCs should not raise their voice, Shivaprasad said. Chandrababu Naidu often claims to be the true follower of Sri Krishna Deva Raya and Chanakya. If it is true, he has to find out the feelings and emotions of the people under his rule, which he has been conveniently avoiding, Dr. Shivaprasad observed. In Andhra Pradesh, SC and ST population is around 25 per cent, and in that case, around five berths are to be reserved for them in the Cabinet, he said and added that the CM had taken only two into the Council of Ministers. Same is the case in Union Cabinet. When the TD is offered two positions in the Union Cabinet, the two were given to OCs, and in AP also, the Deputy CM position was given to BCs, he said and added that perhaps the CM does not want the SCs to occupy esteemed positions. This is not my dissent note, Dr. Shivaprasad said and added that this was the voice of voiceless SCs and STs in the TD party. Dr. Shivaprasad had anticipated a berth in Union Cabinet, being a senior among the existing TD MPs, but his name was even not considered last time. He anticipates the berth this time also, but was reportedly sent signal that in case of any possibility for the TD to have another berth, that will go to BCs. Chennai: Ever since the promotion of the former Dean of Madras Medical College (MMC), Dr R. Vimala, as the Director of Medical Education (DME) in early 2016, the College has seen the appointment of two Deans and two Deans-in-charge. The Government states that it has now filled all Dean positions in all medical colleges across the state. However, the posts of DME and Director of Health Services (DMS) are still lying vacant. After Dr Vimalas promotion, the government brought in Dr. Isaac Christian Moses, Dean, Stanley Medical College and Hospital, to serve as dean in-charge in MMC as well, as a stop-gap arrangement. Dr Muralidharan was then transferred as Dean from Trichy Medical College to the same post at MMC, said Dr K.Senthil, President, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA). However, as he was due to retire in January, Medical Superintendent Dr Narayanasamy was made Dean in-charge until a regular Dean was brought in. Dr. Narayana Babu, former Dean, Kilpauk Medical College (KMC), was transferred as Dean of MMC, with the responsibility of DME in-charge alongside, added the doctor. Stating that appointing a Dean-in-charge instead of a regular dean is not acceptable, especially in such a premier institute like MMC, Dr Senthil said that the TNGDA has given its representation to the government to give the Deans, wherever they are posted, sufficient time in service. It has also pleaded with the government to ensure it does not keep any post vacant and manage it with in-charge officers, as they will not have the authority or interest to carry out the responsibilities with immense dedication with the knowledge that they will soon be replaced by a permanent dean. When a Dean retires, whoever is senior most, and qualified, will be appointed. As a doctor and Dean at the hospital, I am available at all hours for service. Also, I ensure that my responsibilities as DME in-charge are also carried out smoothly and that I attend to all calls and requirements, said Dr Babu. Stating that a Deans post is a crucial post where the seniority of those deserving it cannot be overlooked, an official said, The present lot of Deans appointed to medical colleges across the state, all have sufficient tenure. The panel with regard to the DME is also in an advanced stage of finalisation. However, for the DMS post, there isnt anyone with adequate experience and we are hoping that the post is filled soon. When a trader converts his outfit, on his tax consultants advice, into a limited company, he does not acquire the culture of corporate governance. Likewise, emulating the Westminster model, with all its trappings, does not ensure that the conventions of the parliamentary system will be respected and the norms of public office observed. India was treated to a revolting example of this on March 23. Shiv Sena member of Parliament, Ravindra Gaikwad, slapped a 60-year-old Air India ground staffer in Delhi 25 times with his slippers. He had boarded a Pune-Delhi flight with a business class ticket, only to find that it was an all-economy flight. The next day, he appeared on TV boasting, I hit him with slippers. Thats what Balasaheb (Bal Thackeray, founder of Shiv Sena) has taught us: whoever does any mischief, you should hit them hard below the ear. The reaction to this despicable behaviour says a lot about todays political culture. Five airlines rightly decided to blacklist him unless he apologised. He refused to do so. The issue was raised in both Houses of Parliament. Speaker of the Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan questioned the ban and urged that the matter be resolved amicably. The civil aviation minister, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, a man of class, came out in flying colours. He told Parliament, I never in my wildest dreams thought an MP will get caught in such an incident. Violence of any kind can be disastrous. He was concerned with propriety as well as flight safety. However, support for the MP came from diverse parties and a protest was held in his constituency. Such behaviour is fairly common. One MP brandished a gun to intimidate a toll booth employee. As Union minister, George Fernandes, a former trade unionist, refused to allow himself to be frisked at airports. He was a minister and, therefore, above the law. A notorious incident from half a century ago reveals the deep-rootedness of the ministers arrogant assum-ption that the law is for the people to follow, not them. Two ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government intenti-onally violated a prohibitory order under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on December 12, 1967 in Delhi. They willingly admitted this to the Union home minister, Y.B. Chavan, when he met them later. Not content with this deliberate violation, they proceeded to propound and act upon a doctrine that is subversive of the very fundamentals of the rule of law. No government should treat political leaders and ministers like this. The next day in court, it was the same story; one insisted on being given a chair. You probably know we are ministers, he told the magistrate, who very properly replied, You are here as an accused. These arguments run counter to the very concept of the rule of law, which the great jurist Dicey propounded in classic terms. Not only that with us no man is above the law, but (what is a different thing) that here every man, whatever be his rank or condition, is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable to the jurisdiction of ordinary tribunals. Unfortunately, the UP government, far from dissociating itself from these ministers actions, chose to defend them. Half a century later, that trait still persists. Speaking in Parliament on December 15, 1967, Chavan said, The time has come when we must have some sort of conventions as to what ministers should or should not do. Conventions take time to form and are a tricky affair. Why not pass an ordinary law under Articles 102(1) and 191(1e) of the Constitution, disqualifying persons convic-ted of any such offence from membership of Parliament and the state legislatures? But legislation is an imperfect remedy. It is the political culture of the rulers superiority that is at the heart of the problem. Only last month in Punjab, ministers voiced their resentment at being asked to discard the red beacons atop their cars. Chavans plea for a code of conduct was a typically distracting manoeuvre. The ministers had violated a law, not a convention. The time has come to formulate a code of conduct for ministers and legislators not only for their edification, but also for public authorities to read the riot act to them in the event of transgressions and for their masters, the people, to hold them to account. On April 7, Ravindra Gaikwad expressed his regret in a letter to the civil aviation minister, not, as he pointedly emphasised, to his victim. The minister directed Air India to lift the ban, which it did. Shiv Sena is a member of the coalition led by the BJP. The writer is an author and lawyer based in Mumbai By arrangement with Dawn In July last year, a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of Justices Madan B. Lokur and U.U. Lalit practically produced a manifesto of citizens rights for areas where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is in operation, as it ordered investigations into extra-judicial killings of some 1,500 persons in Manipur over the past decade. In the case of custodial deaths, the Bench held that there must be a FIR instituted against security personnel and CrPC may be attracted even in areas where AFSPA was in force. This, it said, was within the purview of the CrPC as well as the Army Act. The point at issue is whether the security forces can have a carte blanche in AFSPA areas and kill civilians at their sweet will, using excessive or disproportionate force, unmindful of the circumstances. The top court says they absolutely cannot, and seeks to make a distinction between deaths in action and those in custody or in cold blood. This is not palatable to the Union government. Last Wednesday, attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi argued for a dilution of the apex courts earlier judgment. The State said if that order is not changed, it may, one day, be well-nigh impossible to maintain peace and security. This is plainly absurd unless it can be argued that democratic states must give their soldiers and police the licence to kill and become police or military states in areas suffering from internal disturbances. The governments top law officer forgets that disproportionate force against non-combatants is not permitted even in conditions of war. Indeed, that is why the category of war crimes exists. The experience of Kashmir shows that aberrations notwithstanding, the conduct of the security forces has been wholly civilised. The Army, in many instances, has suo motu tried its own personnel. On the whole, other Central forces have also behaved well, although human rights violations have occurred. Just the other day, in Budgam, a CRPF personnel was attacked and dragged by mobs, but the courageous man did not use his weapon to fire on his attackers. He could have. The A-G argued that the Army has to take quick action and these must not be subjected to judicial review as ordinary murders can be. Use of force in the line of duty is not what we are talking about here, but the leeway to practice murder. The Union government seems to be trying to appear muscular in the nationalist cause and giving democratic decencies and rights a burial. A change of guard in Uttar Pradesh has always been followed by mass transfers, primarily to install the chosen officials to key posts and important government departments. The incoming usually dispensation likes to bring its favourite bureaucrats for significant posts, including those of chief secretary, director-general of police (DGP), principal secretaries and secretaries in departments, directorates, etc. In chief minister Yogi Adityanaths first reshuffle, 20 senior IAS officers, including principal secretary (information) Navneet Sehgal were transferred. Mr Sehgal, who wielded considerable influence in the Akhilesh Yadav government, has been put on the waiting list. IAS officer Mritunjay Kumar Narayan has been made secretary of CM Yogi. It is widely felt that the CM will be receiving a lot of help from the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) in running the state. And more so in the area of babu placement. It is said that the PMO has identified about 50 upright and hardworking officers for the Yogi government. Some UP-cadre officers are likely to be sent back to Lucknow to be posted at key positions. Among the early changes would of course be the appointment of a new chief secretary, DGP and principal secretary home. Watch this space for updates. Bihars babu crisis Facing an alarming number of vacant IAS slots, the Bihar government now hopes to fill these vacancies by promoting state administration officers. Sources say that 47 Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) officers are likely to be promoted as IAS officers and bring relief to their overburdened IAS brethren in the state. A list of 67 eligible officers has been finalised and will be sent to the Union Public Service Commission for approval by April end. Bihar has a sanctioned strength of 342 IAS officers and the lack of sufficient number of officers has forced the state government to assign the charge of more than one department to several IAS officers. For example, home department principal secretary Amir Subhani is holding additional charge as secretary, minority welfare department, and principal secretary, prohibition, excise and registration department. Out of the total sanctioned strength of 342 IAS officers, the state can post 238 directly recruited IAS officers and the remaining 104 posts have to be filled up through promotions. But only 251 IAS officers are serving currently. Further, 42 IAS officers have been given Central assignments and five others are on inter-state deputation. How long will Bihar be served by an understaffed bureaucracy is anybodys guess? An abrupt exit The surprising ouster of Kerala vigilance director Jacob Thomas has created a piquant situation for chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had until now shown great reluctance to remove the IPS officer despite pressure from senior IAS officers and Opposition parties in the state. But with the Kerala high court also criticising Mr Thomas and his style of functioning, Mr Vijayan had little choice but to ask the man to go on leave. It was apparent that Mr Thomas pursuit of cases against top bureaucrats of the state, including finance secretary K.M. Abraham, additional chief secretary and Kerala IAS association president Tom Jose and industries secretary Paul Antony too did not go down well with the powers that be. The power struggle between the vigilance director and the top brass of the bureaucracy had split the bureaucracy. But with Mr Thomas gone, Mr Vijayan is facing questions from the Opposition who claim the Left government has gone weak on corruption. For now, DGP Loknath Behera is in charge of the vigilance directorate. The Supreme Court has recently intervened in cases where women have sought abortion because the foetus is deformed, triggering demands to allow women to determine the course of their pregnancies. India was one of the 15 countries that passed a liberal abortion law in 1971. Today, the government must bring it in line with international standards and reflect both medical advances and the rights of women over their own bodies. It is estimated that 11.5 million abortions take place in India every year, a significant proportion of the global annual figure of 56 million. In India, unsafe abortion is the third biggest cause of maternal deaths. This is a matter of concern in modern times, when, as the WHO states, When performed by a skilled provider using correct medical techniques and drugs, and under hygienic conditions, induced abortion is a very safe medical procedure. There is an urgent need to identify gaps in ensuring availability of comprehensive abortion care (CAC) services for women and preventing deaths and disabilities. Chief among these is the lack of access to safe abortion services, apart from a general lack of awareness among women, particularly those in rural and remote areas of the country. Abortion has been legal in India by virtue of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, passed in 1971, which allows for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of gestation for a broad range of conditions including when continuation of pregnancy is a risk to her physical or mental health, if pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, foetal abnormality, or failure of contraceptive method used by a married woman or her husband. Under Section 5 of the law, upper gestation limit of 20 weeks does not apply when it is necessary to conduct terminations any time during the pregnancy to save the womans life. When this law was passed over four decades ago, the only available technology for termination of pregnancies was dilatation and curettage (D&C) now an outdated invasive medical procedure that required the use of anaesthesia for removing products of conception using a metal curette. The safety provisions in the law, including provider definition, training requirement, opinion etc, were defined keeping womens safety in light of this technology. The then progressive law has today lost its relevance in light of recent technological advancements. Newer and safer technologies that make abortion a very safe out-patient medical procedure that can be completed using manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) or a combination of prescription drugs (medical abortion) are considered to be the gold standard today. These technologies do not require services of specialist doctors, and world over there is a trend now towards task-shifting for safe abortion to other cadres of healthcare providers. Another critical factor to be aware of is the significant improvement in diagnostic techniques for determining foetal abnormalities incompatible with life. Read: Indias abortion wars The proposed amendments to the MTP Act in 2014 included, one, a proposal to expand the provider base and allow AYUSH providers, nurses and ANMs to conduct early terminations after training, and, two, increasing the gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for vulnerable categories of women further to a recommendation from the National Commission for Women. This proposal underscored additional challenges faced by some categories of women like survivors of rape and incest, very young women, women with disabilities etc. Recent court cases reiterate the need for increasing the gestation limit to 24 weeks for such and more vulnerable categories of women. Another significant feature of the proposed amendments is that no upper gestation limit for termination of pregnancy would apply in case of diagnosed foetal abnormalities incompatible with life. This is in line with international standards and global recommendations. The proposed amendments also make provisions for contraceptive failure to apply to all women and men, removing the marriage criterion that is otherwise not applicable to any other condition for termination under law. If we look at abortion laws in the rest of the world, 60 countries have laws prescribing gestational limits. 52 per cent, including inter alia France, the UK, Austria, Ethiopia, Italy, Spain, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and even our neighbouring country Nepal, allow for termination beyond 20 weeks on diagnosis of foetal abnormalities. Laws in 23 countries, including countries as diverse as Canada, Germany, Vietnam, Denmark, Ghana and Zambia etc., are truly liberal, allowing for abortion any time during the pregnancy on request of the woman for social reasons and foetal abnormalities. Recent cases in the Supreme Court have brought out the debate on diagnosis of foetal abnormalities and womens agency to exercise their reproductive rights for termination of pregnancy. Womens groups have strongly argued for reducing regulation of pregnancy outcomes for women and allowing women to be the judge for the course of their pregnancy. The decision to continue a pregnancy (or not) is very personal and women have their reasons for the same. Women are owners of their bodies as well as caretakers of their families. The decision about when to have children, the number of children and how to care for them, is theirs and theirs alone. While arguing very strongly for provisions for managing pregnancies with confirmed foetal abnormalities incompatible with life, it needs to be understood that less than two per cent of women experience such a situation in their pregnancy. India was one of the 15 countries that passed a liberal abortion law in 1971. Today, it must amend the law and bring it in line with international standards and global recommendations. But, women of this country are still waiting for the legislature to take a decision, making it a reality. There is a need to also focus on strengthening programme implementation strategies and community level action on abortion. Research shows that even today, less than 20 per cent of women are aware that abortion is legal in India. The stigma around abortion takes precedence over the law and becomes a compelling factor leading women to choose unsafe pathways for termination of pregnancy when they should have access to the same, free-of-cost, from public health facilities. We need to address these social barriers and strengthen womens access to safe abortion services, and hold ourselves accountable for the needless deaths and disabilities faced by women in a liberal legal environment. Unsafe abortion is the third biggest cause of maternal deaths in India 20% women are aware that abortion is legal in India. India: 11.5 mn abortions take place every year. Globally: 56 mn abortions are done every year. Case studies March 2017: The Supreme Court rejected a plea made by a 37-year-old woman from Maharashtra to terminate her 26-week-old foetus on the ground that it suffered from Downs syndrome after a medical board advised it. The Supreme Court held that Downs Syndrome is not a life-threatening condition, and that there is no physical risk to the mother from the pregnancy. July 2009: The Supreme Court allowed a mentally-challenged rape victim who doctors said had a maximum IQ of a nine-year-old to give birth to her baby, saying nature will take care of the orphan mother and child. In 2008, the Bombay HC denied a woman, whose foetus had been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, permission to abort her 26-week foetus. The court held that abortion of the foetus was only permissible within 20 weeks. As there was no risk to the life of the pregnant woman, the court denied the petitioners the right to abort the foetus. (The author is executive director of Ipas Development Foundation, an NGO that has been working closely with the government at the national and state levels for over a decade to increase womens access to comprehensive abortion care with the purpose of reducing deaths and disabilities faced by women. For more information visit www.ipasdevelopmentfoundation.org) There was a pious, young priest; who lived almost fully on yeast; for, he said, it is plain; we must all rise again; and I want to get started at least. This is but a limerick about some pious priest subsisting solely on yeast. However, today, as we celebrate the greatest of all Christian feasts, Easter, each of us could strive to be the yeast of Easter: people who proclaim new life and never-ending joy to our world. Easter celebrations must be seen in the light of the Jewish Passover Greek, Pascha commemorating the Exodus passing over from Egyptian slavery to freedom, darkness to light, death to new life. Every year, this peak event was celebrated in Jewish households with a memorial meal comprising of a sacrificial lamb, unleavened bread (i.e., bread without yeast) and herbs. It was also customary to destroy every trace of yeast (chametz or leaven) as a sign that the old was overcome to usher in the new. When Jesus celebrated his Last Supper, he heralded a New Passover where, instead of a paschal lamb, he offered his life on the Cross freely and unconditionally given out of love for his friends, and as the price he paid for his fight against untruth, injustice and adharma. However, before his death, he foretold that he would rise again. And, rise he did! That is what Christians celebrate today: new life as foretaste of eternal life to come. When the Crucified-Risen Christ meets his shocked disciples Peter, John, Mary Magdalene, Thomas and others three things happen: (a) Their fear and sorrow is turned to joy; (b) They begin to firmly believe that selfless sacrifice is the sure pathway to new life; and (c) They become messengers of Easter, proclaiming: Jesus lives! In his Parable of the Yeast Jesus teaches us that a very small quantity of yeast can cause the whole mass of dough to rise. You and I are like yeast: small and insignificant; yet, with an amazing capacity to enliven, enlighten and enthuse others. This is what Easter challenges us to do. Last Sunday, during worship, many Egyptian Christians were wounded or killed in two bomb blasts. Yet, this Sunday, they worship the Crucified-Risen Christ with the firm faith that love, not hatred; forgiveness, not vengeance; and life, not death; is the triumphant terminus of our lives. We are an Easter people! Pope John Paul II said many years ago. He meant that despite evil, hatred, violence and death all around us, believers in Easter courageously continue with their works of love, service and self-sacrifice. Rather than the limerick-priest subsisting solely on yeast, let us be yeast so that we celebrate Easter not just today, but everyday. It will show you how you can use that particular clothing with your existing wardrobe or what else do you need to add to your collection. Google has added a new feature called style ideas to its popular Image search. The style ideas functionality will be available for the mobile version of Google as well as for the Google app. Google feels that this functionality can assist a user in knowing about the latest fashion trends. If you are confused that what kind of a trouser will suit with your denim jacket, you can simply head to the image search and find it out for yourself. For example, if you have purchased a handbag from a renowned brand, you simple search for it on the Google image search and you will be shown certain attires and hairstyles as well, which can go well with the bag. The functionality works like the related items function. However, instead of showing similar items, it will show you how you can use that particular clothing with your existing wardrobe or what else do you need to add to your collection. As per Google, With style ideas, you can see real-life options of what bag and jeans look stellar with those red high heels youve been eyeing. Or if running gear is more your speed, no sweat workout ensemble ideas are just a tap away. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Microsoft Corp. has already built defenses against nine of the 12 tools disclosed by TheShadowBrokers Up-to-date Microsoft customers are safe from the purported National Security Agency spying tools dumped online, the software company said Saturday, tamping down fears that the digital arsenal was poised to wreak havoc across the internet. In a blog post, Microsoft Corp. security manager Phillip Misner said that the software giant had already built defenses against nine of the 12 tools disclosed by TheShadowBrokers, a mysterious group that has repeatedly published NSA code. The three others affected old, unsupported products. "Most of the exploits are already patched," Misner said. The post tamped down fears expressed by some researchers that the digital espionage toolkit made public by TheShadowBrokers took advantage of undisclosed vulnerabilities in Microsoft's code. That would have been a potentially damaging development because such tools could swiftly be re-purposed to strike across the company's massive customer base. Those fears appear to have been prompted by experts using even slightly out-of-date versions of Windows in their labs. One of Microsoft's fixes, also called a patch, was only released last month. "I missed the patch," said British security architect Kevin Beaumont, jokingly adding, "I'm thinking about going to live in the woods now." Beaumont wasn't alone. Matthew Hickey, of cyber-security firm Hacker House, also ran the code against earlier versions of Windows on Friday. But he noted that many organizations put patches off, meaning "many servers will still be affected by these flaws." Everyone involved recommended keeping up with software updates. "We encourage customers to ensure their computers are up-to-date," Misner said. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Mr Bell flicked the scorpion on to the floor and a flight attendant covered it with a cup before throwing it away in the bathroom.(Representational image) A Canadian man was reportedly stung by a scorpion on board a United Airlines flight.The US-based airlines faced a backlash this week after a passenger was violently dragged off one of its overbooked flights on Sunday. The incident had sparked outrage. On the same day of the incident, Richard Bell was reportedly bitten by a scorpion that fell from the overhead bin and onto his head during a trip from Houston, Texas to Calgary in Canada, the BBC reported. The airlines has offered compensation. Mr Bell flicked the scorpion on to the floor and a flight attendant covered it with a cup before throwing it away in the bathroom.A nurse who happened to be on board gave him a painkiller as a precaution, he said. When the plane landed in Calgary he was taken to a hospital, and later released after being cleared of any medical issue.Mr Bell said that he did not plan to launch a lawsuit against the airlines. United Airlines has offered Mr Bell and his wife flying credit as compensation, according to the CBC. Milwaukee: Fearing a mass shooting, authorities chased nearly 800 leads in search of a Wisconsin man they believed had a cache of stolen firearms and had written of his desire to commit violent acts against the government. But it wasn't until Thursday evening that a retired school counselor provided the break in the case, alerting investigators to a man he'd found camping on his property about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of Janesville, Wisconsin. That's where a manhunt for Joseph Jakubowski, 32, began after authorities said he broke into a gun store April 4 and sent a threatening 161-page manifesto to the White House. "Make no mistake, what could've happened here was a mass shooting. That was our concern," said Janesville Police Chief David Moore. Law enforcement officers arrested Jakubowski at 6 a.m. Friday after setting a perimeter around him overnight. Milwaukee-based FBI special agent Justin Tolomeo said officers recovered five guns, multiple boxes of ammunition, a sword and containers of flammable liquid, as well as a protective vest and helmet. Jakubowski looked disheveled and sleep-deprived and didn't put up a fight when officers arrested him, said Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden. "I can tell you that he surrendered without incident. There was no use of force," Spoden said. "It ended up being a very Good Friday." Jakubowski's capture settled fears among residents and authorities over what he might do with his stockpile of weapons and ammunition. In his manifesto, Jakubowski detailed a long list of grievances against the government and law enforcement, and threatened unspecified attacks. Jakubowski made his first court appearance in Madison on Friday afternoon. He faces local and federal weapons charges for allegedly stealing 18 firearms from a Janesville gun store. The FBI said it was considering additional charges with federal prosecutors. Jeffrey A. Gorn, the property owner who called authorities, told The Associated Press he was driving his four-wheeler on his property late Thursday night and checking his deer stands when he spotted a blue tarp and discovered a man camping on his land. Gorn said he didn't realize it was Jakubowski, the target of an intense manhunt by at least 150 federal, state and local law enforcement officers. Gorn approached the tent fashioned from the tarp and asked if anyone was inside. Jakubowski came out. "He said he was off the grid," Gorn said. "And I told him you're not too far off the grid. You're on my grid." Gorn, 58, a former high school guidance counselor, said he talked with Jakubowski for an hour. "He seemed angry at the way he views society, how he believes money is controlling society," Gorn said, adding that the man was "extremely cordial." "He never raised his voice, never showed any sign of doing anything inappropriate. I shook his hand twice," Gorn said. "He wanted me to see his points of view. He wanted me to see what he had written to various people." Gorn said Jakubowski asked for food and asked if he had to leave the field. Gorn told him he could stay the night. When he returned to his house, Gorn said he felt a bit uneasy with the campsite and called the Vernon County Sheriff's Office. Law enforcement officers began to descend on the property in the dark and set up a perimeter around the camp. Gorn estimated 100 officers arrived and sat down with him to look over maps of the property. A thermal imaging camera showed Jakubowski was in the tent, he said. News of Jakubowski's capture brought relief to residents of Janesville. "With the kind of weaponry he had, he could've done extensive damage," said Richard Erdman, owner of The Coin Shop, a pawn shop downtown. He said his wife had been avoiding the mall, fearing it could be the target of an attack. "These kinds of things keep people on the edge," said Fabian Gonzalez, the general manager of the Milwaukee Grill. "A little bit stressful." Provo, Utah: A woman says she is shocked by a Utah judge's comments in which he called a former Mormon bishop convicted of sexually assaulting her a "good man" during his sentence hearing. Julia Kirby said on Friday that Judge Thomas Low appeared to care more for her attacker than he did about her. "He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable," said the 23-year-old Kirby, who has given The Associated Press permission to publish her name. Low sentenced Keith Robert Vallejo to up to life in prison this week after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape. Kirby said she was 19 when Vallejo, a relative, groped her multiple times when she stayed at his house while attending Brigham Young University in 2013. Kirby plans to file an official complaint against Low in the hopes of getting him removed as a judge. Low is facing a deluge of complaints after saying "The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man.... But great men sometimes do bad things." The criticism began around the time Low freed Vallejo from custody after a jury convicted him, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. But Yim said most of the roughly 40 emails, six voicemails and some Facebook messages received since late March came after Low sentenced Vallejo this week and seemed to get emotional during the hearing. Ryan McBride, the prosecutor on the case, said Low's comments were inappropriate and said it may have come in response to more than 50 character letters about Vallejo, most of them detailing the good things he has done. The defendant's brother spoke at the hearing and compared Vallejo to Jesus in making the argument that he was wrongly convicted, McBride said. "I don't think it's wrong to acknowledge the good things that someone has done in their lives," the prosecutor said. "But I think whenever you do that in a case like this, you've also got to say, 'But it doesn't excuse what you've done.' "Low declined comment through a court spokesman. "I maintain my innocence," Vallejo said during the hearing after a brief comment on how the justice system bullies people into confessing. The abuse occurred in Provo, a Mormon stronghold that is home to Brigham Young University. Low attended the school, where almost all students are Mormon, but it is not clear whether he is a member of the faith. There was no indication that the judge had any prior relationship with Vallejo, McBride said. Low would have to disclose something like that, he said. In the faith, bishops are regular church members who lead their congregations for four to five years. The position is unpaid and part of the religion's lay clergy structure that makes it different from many other religions. Low's comments also sparked outrage Friday from advocates for sexual assault victims. "The signal that it sends to sexual violence survivors is that if you choose to disclose, that we're still going to treat your perpetrator as if they're a good person," Turner Bitton, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Los Angeles: A US judge on Friday heard arguments from lawyers representing two so-called sanctuary cities that are challenging President Donald Trump's executive order stripping such jurisdictions of federal funds. The outcome of the high-profile case in US District Court in San Francisco could impact more than 300 cities and counties across the United States that have denounced as unconstitutional Trump's order to withhold funds from cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents. The federal judge in the case, William Orrick, said he would issue his decision "as soon as I can" after he heard arguments from lawyers representing San Francisco and Santa Clara County. Both jurisdictions have sued the administration and are seeking an injunction against Trump's order which calls for money to be taken away from local governments that refuse to share information with federal authorities about undocumented immigrants. The case bears similarities to the court challenges faced by the Trump administration over its two travel bans targeting Muslim-majority countries. Santa Clara officials say the county stands to lose nearly $1.7 billion in federal funds because of the executive order aimed at sanctuary jurisdictions. San Francisco receives up to $2 billion a year in federal funding. Lawyers for the Trump administration told the judge on Friday that neither jurisdiction was at immediate risk of losing the federal funding, adding that the order was simply aimed at coercing them to comply with immigration laws. 'Don't mess with us' "There's been no action threatened or taken against the cities," acting assistant attorney general Chad Readler told the judge. He said Trump's order was "narrow" and would affect a limited number of grants from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security. However attorneys representing Santa Clara and San Francisco in their landmark lawsuits urged Orrick to block the order nationwide on grounds it is unconstitutional. They also said the judge in making his decision should take into account comments made by Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions against sanctuary jurisdictions. Dave Cortese, president of the Board of Supervisors for Santa Clara County, told AFP that it was clear Trump's order was "hastily" put together and was unlikely to stand up in court. "He (Trump) has got two choices -- he can just continue to be a bull in a china shop and continue to put forward executive orders and other initiatives that don't pass constitutional muster and that are refuted by the courts or he can get better advice and be more thoughtful in what he's doing," Cortese said. He added that local governments across the country would dig in their heels should the administration push forward with any decisions that adversely affect them. "The message we are trying to send to them is -- and I hope he gets this -- we have a very large governmental operation here... and we have some of the best attorneys in the country," Cortese said. "Don't mess with us unless you've got the legal standing to do so because you're gonna have a fight on your hands. "They need to know in the West Wing of the White House that we have the capability of defending ourselves." Julia Kirby said Friday that Judge Thomas Low appeared to care more for her attacker than he did about her. (Representational Image) Provo (Utah): A woman says she is shocked by a Utah judge's comments in which he called a former Mormon bishop convicted of sexually assaulting her a "good man" during his sentencing hearing. Julia Kirby said Friday that Judge Thomas Low appeared to care more for her attacker than he did about her. "He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable," said the 23-year-old Kirby, who has given The Associated Press permission to publish her name Low sentenced Keith Robert Vallejo to up to life in prison this week after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape. Kirby said she was 19 when Vallejo, a relative, groped her multiple times when she stayed at his house while attending Brigham Young University in 2013. Kirby plans to file an official complaint against Low in the hopes of getting him removed as a judge. Low is facing a deluge of complaints after saying "The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man.... But great men sometimes do bad things." The criticism began around the time Low freed Vallejo from custody after a jury convicted him, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. But Yim said most of the roughly 40 emails, six voicemails and some Facebook messages received since late March came after Low sentenced Vallejo this week and seemed to get emotional during the hearing. Ryan McBride, the prosecutor on the case, said Low's comments were inappropriate and said it may have come in response to more than 50 character letters about Vallejo, most of them detailing the good things he has done. The defendant's brother spoke at the hearing and compared Vallejo to Jesus in making the argument that he was wrongly convicted, McBride said. "I don't think it's wrong to acknowledge the good things that someone has done in their lives," the prosecutor said. "But I think whenever you do that in a case like this, you've also got to say, 'But it doesn't excuse what you've done.' " Low declined comment through a court spokesman. "I maintain my innocence," Vallejo said during the hearing after a brief comment on how the justice system bullies people into confessing. The abuse occurred in Provo, a Mormon stronghold that is home to Brigham Young University. Low attended the school, where almost all students are Mormon, but it is not clear whether he is a member of the faith. There was no indication that the judge had any prior relationship with Vallejo, McBride said. Low would have to disclose something like that, he said. In the faith, bishops are regular church members who lead their congregations for four to five years. The position is unpaid and part of the religion's lay clergy structure that makes it different from many other religions. Low's comments also sparked outrage Friday from advocates for sexual assault victims. "The signal that it sends to sexual violence survivors is that if you choose to disclose, that we're still going to treat your perpetrator as if they're a good person," Turner Bitton, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Syria had handed over its entire chemical arsenal to the UNs Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in 2014 after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack in Damascus. However, it has been revealed that President Bashar al-Assad deceived the UN and may still has hundreds of tonnes of chemical stockpile. Syrias former chemical weapons research chief Brigadier-General Zaher al-Sakat told The Telegraph Mr Assad did not declare large amounts of sarin precursor chemicals and other toxic materials. In 2014 the Obama administration had declared that chemical weapons stockpile had been 100 per cent eliminated. But after a suspected chemical attack last week attack in Syrias Khan Sheikhoun that left 86 dead there are suspicions that Mr Assad may have held some back. They [the regime] admitted only to 1,300 tonnes, but we knew in reality they had nearly double that, Brig Gen Sakat, who was one of the most senior figures in the countrys chemical programme, told the British newspaper. They had at least 2,000 tonnes. Gen Sakat, who defected in 2013, said weeks and months before OPCW inspectors arrived the regime was busy moving its hoard. He believes that Syria may still have several hundred tonnes of sarin agent as well as precursor chemicals, aerial bombs that could be filled with chemical agents and chemical warheads for Scud missiles. He said tonnes of the chemicals were transported to the heavily fortified mountains outside Homs and to the coastal city of Jableh, where the Syrians and Russians have their largest military base. The Circuit had raised concerns over the spiritual and mystical element of yoga. A US Catholic university has banned yoga classes over spiritual and cultural concerns.The Benedictine College in Kansas fears has planned to rename its yoga course after fears that the practice has some potential for eastern mysticism. The recreational yoga courses will be reworked to ensure they are solely focused on physical exercises, said Steve Johnson, director of marketing and communications. We are changing the name so its a class without spiritually and culturally sensitive content, he said. Yoga classes will now be called Lifestyle Fitness, the Independent reported.According to The Wichita Eagle, an article in the universitys student newspaper The Circuit had raised concerns over the spiritual and mystical element of yoga. The college president, Stephen Minnis, told the campus newspaper : Yoga as created has some potential for eastern mysticism which has caused concern among members of the Catholic Church. He said he was unsure if the spiritual harm of yoga would affect the Benedictine College campus but it was better to be safe than sorry.Yoga is commonly practised for its health and mental benefits. But its roots in eastern religions has concerned local Catholic leaders. Chancellor for the Archdiocese of Kansas City Rev. John Riley told the local newspaper that yoga was more than just exercises, breathing and meditation. It is a mind and body practice developed under Hinduism, the goal of which is spiritual purification that will lead to a higher level of understanding and eventually union with the divine, Riley said. It is for these reasons that Catholics are alerted to the dangers of the practice of yoga and are encouraged to look for other exercise alternatives that do not incorporate a spiritual dimension. If Catholics want a spiritual alternative to yoga, they should look for something like Pietra Fitness, Riley told the local newspaper. The practice uses Christian prayer and meditation.Prominent Hindu cleric Rajan Zed has urged the college not to abolish yoga. The suspects have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act, police said. Islamabad: Police in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have claimed that they have arrested three suspected R&AW agents for their alleged involvement in anti-state activities, according to a media report on Friday. The masked suspects were produced before the media during a briefing in Rawalkot, Dawn newspaper reported. The three were residents of Taroti village in Abbaspur in PoK, according to the report. Sajid Imran, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Poonch, said the main suspect Khalil had visited Kashmir in November 2014, where he came in contact with Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officials. Imran said the three suspects were involved in a bomb blast outside a police station in Abbaspur in September. They allegedly planted the planted an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The DSP claimed Khalil was offered Rs 500,000 for the task. The police were alerted to their involvement in the blast after an individual said he spotted the trio in Abbaspur on the night of September 26 with a shopping bag in their possession, the report said. The suspects have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act, Imran said. Islamabad: The ransacked university hostel room of slain Pakistani student Mashal Khan has posters of Karl Marx and Che Guevara still hanging on the walls, along with scribbled quotes including one that reads: "Be curious, crazy and mad." The day before, a heated debate over religion with fellow students broke out at the dorm and led to people accusing Khan of blasphemy against Islam. That attracted a crowd that grew to several hundred people, according to witnesses. The mob kicked in the door, dragged Khan from his room and beat him to death, witnesses and police said. The death in the northwestern city of Mardan is the latest violence linked to accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan. Those who knew Khan described him as an intellectually curious student who openly professed devotion to Islam but asked many questions. "Whatever he had to say, he would say it openly, but he didn't understand the environment he was living in," said one of Khan's teachers at Abdul Wali Khan University, who declined to be named for fear of retribution. Aziz ur Rehman, a caretaker at the hostel who witnessed Khan's debate with his fellow students, said he brought up arcane subjects such as whether the offspring of Adam and Eve - the original humans in Islamic texts as well as Judeo-Christian ones - would have married each other, raising the issue of incest. Crimes related to blasphemy are a serious offence in Muslim-majority Pakistan, and penalties range from small fines to the death sentence. At least 65 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to figures from a Center for Research and Security Studies report and local media, and dozens more convicted of the crime are currently on death row in Pakistani jails. The Pakistani government has yet to comment publicly on Khan's killing. In March, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued an order for the removal of blasphemous content online, and said anyone who posted such content should face "strict punishment under the law". Police say they have arrested 20 suspects involved in Khan's murder and have found no evidence to substantiate blasphemy allegations. Imam refuses last rites Rehman, the caretaker, said Khan was alive when the police arrived, but that they did not approach the hostel until it was too late. "They could have easily saved his life but they stood away from the mob ... I heard one officer say it's good that they sent this non-believer to hell," he said. Mardan police chief Mohammad Alam Shinwari denied the allegation that officers did not do enough to save Khan. "When we entered the campus, he had already been killed and the mob was trying to burn his body," he said. In Khan's home town of Swabi, around 60 km south of Mardan, his father, Iqbal Shaer, said the accusations of blasphemy were unfounded. "First they killed my son and now they are adding salt to our wounds," he told Reuters. Shaer, who runs a small business selling biscuits and chocolates to local retailers, said he had always been a lover of poetry and literature and encouraged his children to express themselves and appreciate the arts. He added: "My wife told me this morning that she spent her life taking care of her son, but those who killed him have wasted that long struggle." At Khan's funeral, the imam at the local mosque refused to read the last rites, according to Swabi resident Salman Ahmed. A technician who was asked to do so in the cleric's place was confronted by several people afterwards. Khan has since been buried. Kabul: The number of militants killed in an attack by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military has risen to 94, an Afghan official said Saturday. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier. A Ministry of Defense official had said Friday the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. "Fortunately there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack," Khogyani said. The US attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing. The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains that Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks in fierce fighting in Nangarhar province. The office of President Ashraf Ghani said Friday there was "close coordination" between the U.S. military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties. The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The US has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The US has more than 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations. Also on Saturday, Khogyani said a district leader and three others were wounded when their vehicle was targeted by a bomb. One of the wounded was Ghalib Mujahid, Bati Kot district chief, he said. "The district chief and others are out of danger and are not in life-threatening condition," he said. Last November, Mujahid was attacked by a sticky bomb attached to the vehicle and he was wounded and his driver was killed. Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said that the role of foreign intelligence agencies cannot be ruled out in the disappearance of the former army officer. (Representational Photo/AP) Rawalpindi (Pakistan): Pakistan has decided to send a police team to Nepal to investigate the disappearance of Lt. Col. (Retired) Habib Zahir, who went missing earlier this month from Lumbini. The son of the missing retired officer, Muhammad Saad Habib, has suspected the involvement of anti-state elements in the kidnapping and lodged an FIR with Rawat police on April 8, reports the Dawn. After the case was registered, a Rawalpindi police officer wrote a letter to acting Inspector General of Punjab, Capt. (Retd.) Usman Khattak, seeking permission from the ministries concerned for sending a team to Lumbini, near the Indian border, where the retired army officer had gone for a job interview. Lt.Col. Zahir, who retired from the army in 2014, went missing on April 6 from Lumbini, where he arrived after somebody by the name of Mark Thompson had contacted him via email and telephone for a job interview in Nepal. Earlier this week, Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said that the role of foreign intelligence agencies cannot be ruled out in the disappearance of the former army officer. Lahore: Pakistan has prepared a new dossier to be submitted to the United Nations, with more 'evidence' against alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is set to be executed on the charges of espionage and sabotage. The new dossier is based on the early video confessional statement and also statements given in front of the court by Jadhav for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in Karachi and Balochistan, reported Pakistan media. The attested report of Court Martial General will also be included in the dossier. The dossier will also reportedly include the timeline of Jadhav's militant activities and also the court proceedings. Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale on Friday asked Pakistan to provide a copy of the chargesheet filed and the judgment given against Jadhav. The Indian side also conveyed that it will appeal the order and is studying the Pakistan Army Act for the same. In a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, the Indian envoy sought consular access to Jadhav for the 14th time. However, Janjua said since it is a case of espionage, consular access can't be granted, contrary to the Indian High Commission's claim that the same must be granted under international law. A military court in Pakistan earlier this week found Jadhav guilty on two counts of espionage and sentenced him to death. Jadhav was arrested in March last year, "for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan," according to a statement released by the Pakistan armed forces. India has strongly objected to the sentencing, saying consular officials were denied access to Jadhav during his trial. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier this week issued a stern warning to Pakistan, saying that Islamabad should be wary of taking such an extreme step as it could result in damaging the bilateral relations between the already hostile neighbours and vowed to go "out of the way" to save Jadhav amid an outrage in India. Peshawar: Eight Pakistanis involved in the mob lynching of a fellow university student over his liberal views were charged with murder and terrorism on Saturday, court officials said, as condemnation grew. Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel at the Abdul Wali Khan university in the conservative northwestern town of Mardan on Thursday by a large mob. So far a total of 12 people have been arrested over the incident and police are hunting for more suspects. Read: Sharif condemns Mardan lynching, orders action against culprits "Eight students were presented before an anti-terrorism court in Mardan over murder and challenging the writ of the state," public prosecutor Rafiullah Khan said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Saturday that he was "shocked and saddened", his first statement on Thursday's killing. "Let it be known to the perpetrators of this act that the state shall not tolerate citizens taking the law in their own hands," Sharif said. "The nation should stand united to condemn this crime and to promote tolerance and rule of law in society," he added. Mushtaq Ghani, Information Minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the government had also requested Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident. Graphic video footage from the crime scene showed dozens of men outside the hostel kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground. Rights activists and civil society organisations held small protests in several Pakistani cities Saturday condemning the murder, and the UN in Pakistan released a statement. "We urge the authorities to take firm action and bring the perpetuators to speedy justice," said Neil Buhne, United Nations resident coordinator in Pakistan. "Pakistan has strong legal institutions and it is unacceptable for anyone to take the law into their own hands," he added. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has urged that all those involved in the lynching be brought to justice. "The state's abject failure to protect Mashal Khan's right to life has created great panic and horror among students and academia. Unless all those who played any part in Mashal's brutal murder are brought to justice, such barbarity will only spread," it said. However, at Khan's funeral Friday a local mosque Imam who was also Khan's primary school teacher, refused to lead the prayer, Mashal's father Iqbal Shayir said. Shayir said he hoped his son's murder would "evoke realisation among people that killing an innocent is a sin". Students had previously complained to university authorities about Khan's alleged secular and liberal views and Khan had been in a heated debate during a class the day he was killed. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in conservative Muslim Pakistan, and can carry the death penalty. Even unproven allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence. At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990. A part of the garbage dump that had been used in recent years to dump the waste from capital Colombo collapsed destroying houses, according to local media reports. (Photo: AP) Colombo: At least 19 people, including four children, were killed when a 91-metre open garbage pile came crashing down on homes following a fire near Sri Lanka's capital, with the Prime Minister apologising Saturday for the delay in relocating the dump. Over 100 houses were completely destroyed and more than 600 people fled in the aftermath of the fire and the collapse of the dump in Meetotamulla area in Kolonnawa, near here, police said. 19 people, including four children, were killed and 14 others injured in the incident that happened Friday, officials said. More people were feared to be trapped as the military struggled to clear the rubble and rescue people or recover bodies. On President Maithripala Sirisena's directive, hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to rescue the slum dwellers adjacent to the 300-foot (91-metre) garbage dump. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe issued an apology on behalf of the government to the victims. "We had all plans in place to relocate the garbage dump at Meetotamulla. But the tragedy struck before we could put them into action. We apologise for the government's inability to complete the task before the disaster," he said. The residents near the dump had been protesting for months, demanding that the garbage mound be relocated. The authorities, however, claim that they had given enough warning to the slum dwellers to relocate themselves. "We had even paid compensation to them to relocate," Harsha de Silva, the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said. He said the state will bear the funeral expenses of those dead. The minister said it was only a few weeks back that agreements had been signed to begin waste to energy projects at the dumping site. The mountain of garbage caught fire and collapsed on dozens of homes as the residents were celebrating the traditional New Year. Police said the true scale of the damage remained unclear. Sri Lanka's Parliament was recently warned that 23 million tonnes of garbage at Kolonnawa dump was a serious health hazard. About 800 tonnes of garbage is being added to the dump on a daily basis. "This is not a natural disaster but man made due to the sheer negligence by the authorities concerned," M S Marikkar, the ruling party local member of parliament, said. The US attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing. The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains that Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks in fierce fighting in Nangarhar province. The office of President Ashraf Ghani said Friday there was "close coordination" between the U.S. military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties. The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The US has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The US has more than 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations. Also on Saturday, Khogyani said a district leader and three others were wounded when their vehicle was targeted by a bomb. One of the wounded was Ghalib Mujahid, Bati Kot district chief, he said. "The district chief and others are out of danger and are not in life-threatening condition," he said. Last November, Mujahid was attacked by a sticky bomb attached to the vehicle and he was wounded and his driver was killed. The number of militants killed in an attack by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military has risen to 94, an Afghan official said today. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier.A Ministry of Defence official had said yesterday the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. "Fortunately there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack," Khogyani said. The two-day BJP national executive meeting begins here today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah expected to underline strategy for a big saffron push in states like Odisha where it has traditionally been weak. A meeting of BJP office-bearers has started to finalise the agenda of the executive meeting, expected to begin after Modi reaches here later in the afternoon. The executive meets against the backdrop of the partys stunning win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand besides maiden conquest in Manipur. It will focus on expanding the party in politically important states like West Bengal and Odisha, which are key to Shahs 2019 Lok Sabha poll strategy. The choice of Odisha as the national executive venue highlights Shah's focus on the state as he believes that the party can boost its prospects here due to anti-incumbency against BJD chief and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who has been in power since 2000, and declining fortunes of the Congress. An impressive show by the BJP in recent local body polls in the state, and internal fights in the BJD have boosted its morale. Modi will be accorded a warm welcome when he arrives in the city with the party planning receptions for him at several places on his way from airport to the Raj Bhawan, where he will stay tonight. Shah was also presented with a garland of 74 lotus, a reference to the majority mark in the 147-seat Odisha assembly. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan called Odisha a "laboratory" for the pro-poor policies of the Modi government as he hit out at the state government a day before the executive begins. Modi will also felicitate the members of 16 families associated with an 1817 rebellion in Odisha against the British rule. Continuing with the BJP's dalit outreach, the party has named the venue of its executive meet after noted Odia poet and reformer Bhima Bhoi. The Dalits constitute over 17 per cent of the state's electorate and have never been traditional voters of the saffron party, which is now wooing them aggressively. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are claiming success with the first in a new series of test flights involving an upgraded version of a nuclear bomb that has been part of the US arsenal for decades. Work on the B61-12 has been ongoing for years, and government officials say the latest tests using mock versions of the bomb will be vital to the refurbishing effort. An F-16 from Nellis Air Force Base dropped an inert version of the weapon over the Nevada desert last month to test its non-nuclear functions as well as the plane's ability to carry the bomb. With a mere puff of dust, the mock bomb landed in a dry lake bed at the Tonopah Test Range. "It's great to see things all come together: the weapon design, the test preparation, the aircraft, the range and the people who made it happen," Anna Schauer, director of Sandia's Stockpile Resource Center, said in a statement. Scientists are planning to spend months analyzing the data gathered from the test. Tracking telescopes, remote cameras and other instruments at the test range recorded information on the reliability, accuracy and performance of the weapon under conditions that were meant to replicate real-world operations. More test flights are planned over the next three years, and officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration said the first production unit of the B61-12 developed under what is called the Life Extension Program is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The B61-12 consolidates and replaces four older versions in the nation's nuclear arsenal. It's outfitted with a new tail-kit assembly and other hardware. The weapon is much different than the non-nuclear "mother of all bombs" used in Afghanistan this week to attack an Islamic State stronghold near the Pakistani border. The Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, isn't designed to penetrate like the B61-12 but rather create a large blast over the surface and it has to be ferried by a much larger plane given its size. In Nevada, it took two passes before the pilot could drop the mock B61-12. A herd of wild horses had to be chased away on the first go-around. With the run commencing, people gathered on balconies at the range despite knowing they would see only dust rising from the target miles away. A video feed showed the test bomb fall through the air after being released by the F-16. Officials said it left behind a rather neat hole. Crews were able to dig the mock weapon out of the dirt so it could be packed up and returned to Albuquerque for further study. An awareness programme for girl students conducted by police has resulted in saving of three innocent minor girls from getting married against their wishes. Girl students who have attended the awareness programme on child marriages at the Kasturba Gandhi girls High School in Rampur under Rachakonda Police Commissionerate on 11 April, have met the organizers after the programme and informed about the proposed forceful marriages of their classmates leading to successful raids. The women specific police force called 'SHE Team' has stopped three child marriages on a single day on 12 April. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Choutuppal office, a team rushed to Rampur Tanda of Bhongir and collected age proof of the would be bride and wedding card. After confirming that the girl was just 16 years old the information was passed on to the CWC member Bhongir. The parents were given counseling and were binded over before the executive Magistrate. Based on information given by an Anganwadi teacher of Puligirla village who attended the programme, SHE Team, visited the house of the 16 year old girl all set for marriage with a 22 year boy from Warangal. The parents were then produced before the Choutuppal ACP. The child marriage was cancelled. In yet another case, SHE Team which got wind of yet another child marriage in Sunkishala of Valigonda in the district reached the village and stopped the marriage. A 16 year old was scheduled to get married to a 23 year old maternal uncle. Parents on both sides were binded over before Magistrate. Performing marriage below the stipulated age is a crime, said Mahesh M Bhagawat, Commissioner of Police Rachakonda said in a statement. He warned that priests, wedding card printers, elders and supporters of such child marriages will be held responsible. Organizing a child marriage attracts two years of imprisonment and fine up to Rs 10,000. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a rousing welcome by the people here today during his 9 -km roadshow that he held soon after arriving at the city airport to attend the BJP national executive meet. He was welcomed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport by senior party leaders, state Chief Secretary A P Padhi and Director General of Police K B Singh on behalf of the Odisha government after he boarded off the IAF's 'Raj Hans' aircraft. Governor S C Jamir and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were not seen at the airport to welcome the Prime Minister as his visit was "non-official" and political in nature, said the government sources. Clad in an all white, Modi stood on the foot rest of his Range Rover, beamed and waved at the people who had gathered on both sides of the road with lotus flowers in their hands to greet him. Defying the security cordon, Modi even got off his vehicle a couple of times, walked to the people waiting for him for hours in the summer sun, greeted them and even shook hands with some of them. He also paid floral tributes to the freedom fighters and illustrious sons of the soil on his way to the Raj Bhavan. As the Prime Minister's 9 km-long roadshow passed through the main road connecting the airport and the Raj Bhavan, the chants of 'Modi .. Modi,' 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Bande Mataram' rent the air. The state BJP also organised folk dance, songs and folk music at different places along the route taken by the Prime Minister. The members of the BJP's Mahila Morcha felicitated the prime minister in front of the Raj Bhavan, giving him lotus flowers. After a 20-minute halt at Raj Bhavan, Modi resumed his roadshow. He got off the vehicle and walked for about half-a- km near Jaidev Vihar, mingling freely with the people before arriving at Janata Maidan, the venue of the two-day national executive. Dozens of students of a government college in south Kashmirs volatile Pulwama town were injured on Thursday during clashes between protesters and security forces. Witnesses told Deccan Herald that two police vehicles stopped at the entrance of Degree College Pulwama in the morning which provoked the students. The students apprehended that the police had come to arrest their colleagues and resisted the entrance of cops into the college. Police then baton charged and fired several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the protesting students. The police also fired some warning shots in the air as well, they said. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Pulwama, Rayees Bhat said that three students were injured due to pellets and teargas shells while more than two dozen received minor injuries. The students pelted stones on police and CRPF, who were there on a routine patrol nearly 200 metres away from the College, he told Deccan Herald. The SSP said that they were investigating upon the reasons of attack on security forces. May be it was pre-planned to create a situation in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections, he said. Medical Superintendent of District Hospital Pulwama, Dr Abdul Rashid Parra said that 54 injured students were treated in the hospital. Most of the injured were girl students, who had fainted or received bruises during the violence. Three of the critically injured students were referred to SMHS and SKIMS hospitals in Srinagar for specialised treatment, he said. The year was 1945. Europe was on the verge of peace and Stalin was trying to woo Churchill at the Yalta conference, where important post-war decisions were being made. Knowing the British prime ministers love for the good things in life, he handed him a glass of Ararat brandy. After quaffing the rich honey-coloured liquor, Churchill immediately ordered 400 bottles to be delivered per year, for the rest of his life. Once when he was drinking from a bottle, Churchill declared that something was wrong and complained to Stalin. Stalin immediately investigated the situation and learnt that the head technologist of Ararats brandy production had been sent into political exile in Siberia. Within days of this discovery, the technologist was brought back to Armenia and reinstated in his role; Churchill was happy and all was well in the world! Favourite indeed Im in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and visiting the famous Ararat brandy factory. The history of the brandy goes back to 1887, when an industrialist named Nerses Tairiants opened a factory for the production of wine and spirits in Yerevan. He relied on French expertise to create high-quality brandy, and used a distillation technique developed in France. In 1899, his factory was acquired by a large Russian alcohol distributor, Shustov. Shustov marketed Armenian brandy throughout the Russian Empire. The result was a love affair between the Russian people and Armenian brandy that has lasted for more than a century. Even today, some 85% of Ararat brandy is exported to Russia. In 1900, the brandy won the Grand-Prix at the International Exhibition in Paris and gained the legal right to use the term cognac. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the conflict with Azerbaijan sent the industry on a downward spiral, until Pernod Ricard purchased the Yerevan Brandy Company in 1998. Pernod replaced its ageing equipment, launched an aggressive marketing campaign, and introduced measures to discourage piracy. I take a guided tour of the brandy factory, which also includes a brandy-tasting session at the end. Its housed in an imposing-looking brick building on a hill overlooking the city. The guide explains that all stages of producing the brandy take place in Armenia, starting from picking up the grapes and ending with bottling. The stages are: grapes, grape juice, fermentation, white wine, brandy spirits, ageing, blending, and bottling. The Ararat Valley is the most fertile valley in all of Caucasus where Noah planted the first grapes, says our guide. Armenias topography and climate make it favourable for its production since the country sees an abundance of sunshine. Using Armenian white grapes and Armenian spring water, the Ararat factory makes its brandy the French way, with double distillation. Each batch is separated into three parts. The head, heart and tail the heart is aged in Krasnodar barrels for nine months, and later transferred to old barrels. The head and tail are collected separately and re-distilled. We visit the barrel rooms where all the brandy kegs are kept. The guide explains how the brandy is aged and blended, and tells us that all the barrels are made out of Russian oak. The barrel imparts unique aromas to the liquor, which helps to create flavours capturing chocolate, vanilla and dried fruits. There is a heady alcoholic smell in the barrel room caused by the alcohol evaporating through the barrels. This smell is called Angels share, and it makes us feel drunk just wandering around the room! The guide says its responsible for making Ararats workers happy all the time and keeping them free of sickness! Rich resources In the French brandy-making production, distilled water is used; however, because of the mountainous terrain in Armenia, spring water is used, which is an added benefit to the traditional brandy production. Most Armenian brandy is made in the agricultural heart of the Republic of Armenia, the Arax Valley, which Armenia shares with its neighbours Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan. Displayed in a glass case is the oldest brandy, which dates from 1902 we are not offered a taste, but unlike wine, brandy does not improve with age, in the bottle. The museum shows how the barrels are made and also houses various historical artefacts and old bottles. It also has a Peace Barrel of brandy that will be opened when the contentious Azerbaijan issue is resolved. Visitors are invited to add their own calls for peace to the barrel and the surrounding walls. Usually, it is better for the brandy to be aged. But this barrel is the only one we would like to open early, quips our guide. We walk down Charles Aznavour Alley, stocked with Presidents Barrels that had been dedicated to presidents of various countries who had visited the factory, and that were being aged until the president called for them. Finally, we sit down at the tables that are laid out neatly, with brandy glasses and chocolates for our degustation. We are given glasses of a three-year-old and a 10-year-old brandy, along with small chocolates and a glass of water. Armenian tradition says you should hold the glass in your left hand as it is nearer to your heart, says our guide with a smile. Warm it slightly in your hand and then examine it, considering the viscosity, transparency and clarity. Our guide explains how to pour a measure, and tells us about the legs of the brandy, used to determine its age and quality. Legs (tears or church windows) is the name given to that part of the brandy that clings to the glass after a sip. Its a test of quality: the longer the legs hold, the higher the quality. When asked what he attributed his longevity to, Churchill is said to have replied: Cigars, Armenian brandy, and no sports. Maybe he had a point there! The Motor Vehicle Act of 1988 the principal law for regulating all activities related to motor vehicles in the country had not kept pace with the change of dynamics of road transport and information technology. After the Lok Sabha approved amendments to the law in the just concluded Budget Session of Parliament, it now awaits the Rajya Sabhas approval, which is likely to happen during the Monsoon Session. Since the transport sector is in the domain of the state governments, the level of success of the amended law rests with them. In fact, the states, too, have their own concerns over the increasing number of vehicles as well as road accidents. When a panel headed by Rajasthan Transport Minister Yoonus Khan and comprising transport ministers of various states as members was constituted to deliberate issues in the transport sector, the states overwhelmingly argued for the need to overhaul the system to meet the challenges. The changes, which were proposed after extensive consultations with all the stakeholders, received wide appreciation from several members in the Lok Sabha when the bill came up for discussion. The amended law is not just about imposing hefty fines. Instead, the main emphasis is on bringing radical changes in the transport department and fixing accountability on service providers as the Centre vowed to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2020 from the existing over 5 lakh a year. For example, under the proposed system, everyone will have to go to the licence issuing authorities under a uniform procedure and if the licence is not issued in three days, then the RTO will face action. But, the state governments have to gear up and make changes in the administrative set-up in the transport department as per the amended law. These changes include issuing learning licences online, electronic service delivery with set deadlines, switching to automated driving test from the present manual testing etc. Some states have started such centres. As elimination of corruption is one of the key reforms proposed by the motor vehicle bill, the states have to start working on adopting the technology, like providing latest portable cameras to traffic and transport officials or install CCTVs at various locations. This will help reduce human intervention and assist the states to redeploy traffic police at important junctions, says K K Kapila, chairman of International Road Federation, a Geneva-based global body working for better and safer roads worldwide. While the amended law proposes to increase penalty for overloading in commercial vehicles, the state governments should set-up more checkpoints with weighing facilities on key highways. If there is no facility for it, then what is the use of imposing a hefty fine? Kapila asks. Though digitisation of vehicles and drivers documents will have to be done by October 2018, many states have to pull up their socks in expediting the task. Even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, headed by Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy, expressed doubts over the states preparedness in implementing many features of the law. Though the Ministry of Road Transport wanted the automated testing stations for issuing vehicle fitness certificates to be implemented from October 1, 2018, the panel said the Centre should take states into confidence before fixing dates as many states have sought more time. Fine wont solve problem Road safety is a complex issue comprising road construction technology, motor vehicle technology and the upgradation of skills of road users - both vehicle drivers and pedestrians. Mere enhancement of penalties will not solve the problem, the standing committee has stated. Unless there is least human interference in enforcement of the law, it will not achieve the desired results. As the amended law proposes a hefty fine, the state should think that higher fine is just to deter the traffic offenders not to increase their revenue from the transport sector, says S P Singh of Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, a think tank. However, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is confident on taking the states on board. Since the changes proposed were based on the suggestions by the states, I am hopeful that they will enforce the law properly. The Centre will give the required funds for modernising the system, says Gadkari. Though the existing law has several features to regulate motor vehicles, many were not implemented by the states. They will have to act now with more responsibility. Carlson Rezidor, one of the worlds largest hotel groups, is looking at a bigger play for its mid-scale brands in the country as part of the companys expansion strategy. The demand in India is now leaning more and more towards mid-scale and that is why we see a huge potential for our mid-scale brands in the country. Our strategy would be to look at more mid-scale hotels in the country going forward, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group South Asia chief executive officer Raj Rana told DH. Right now, 60% of our portfolio in India is upscale while 40% is mid-scale. We see that ratio changing to atleast 50:50 over the next three to five years or so, Rana added. Carlson Rezidor currently has seven brands globally out of which six operate in India. The mid-scale brands for the group in India currently include Radisson RED, Country Inn and Suites and Park Inn. The other brands of Carlson Rezidor, which currently operate in the country include Radisson Blu, Radisson and Park Plaza. The company is also considering bringing the Quorvus Collection in India and is currently scouting locations for it. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Groups India portfolio comprises of 140 hotels in operation and under development across 60 cities in India, including 16 state capitals. According to Rana, the company could alter its expansion plans if it finds a good portfolio acquisition. Mergers and acquisitions have been happening in the industry and it will certainly gain momentum. Our main approach is to grow organically and to consolidate in our own way. However, if we find a right opportunity in terms of a portfolio acquisition, we will certainly look at it in order to ensure our leadership position, Rana said. At the current rate, we will have 170 properties by 2020. But it can certainly change if there is a portfolio acquisition, Rana added. When asked specifically as to whether the group would be keen to bid for Taj Mansingh Hotel in Delhi, Rana said, We are yet to get any details about the auction. If it makes sense for us financially, we are certainly not averse to bidding for the property. President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said Bengalurus residents should come up with solutions to growing problems of the city due to rapid urbanisation. Speaking after inaugurating the Kempegowda Rashtriya Utsava here, he said like any other city, Bengaluru too was facing problems due to urbanisation. Visionary founder of Bengaluru, Kempegowda, had taken steps to build Bengaluru as a better city including providing drinking water by digging several lakes in and around the city, he said. The chirping house sparrows and migratory birds are vanishing due to lack of water sources. Birds are also dying due to heat and lack of water across the city. Hundreds of sparrows, pigeons and parakeets which used to flock to Cubbon Park are rarely seen today. This is due to lack of water sources and drop in the water level at the lone pond located opposite Bal Bhavan. Pavithra V N, a frequent visitor to Cubbon Park, said: "The number of birds coming to the green lung space has reduced. Also, a number of birds like pigeons and sparrows were found dead recently." Cubbon Park Walkers Association (CPWA) president S Umesh said there were more than 1,000 parakeets a month ago here and now the number has reduced to 500. Similarly, migratory birds like the black-crowned night heron, kingfisher and Rufous babbler used to quench their thirst at the pond. This time, there is not enough water and their visits here are also rare."Vijay Nishanth, an urban conservationist, said harsh weather and dehydration killed a baby kite in Jayanagar recently. He said: "A few days ago, I visited the Kanakapura Road stretch which has 10 lakes with around 20 water bird species frequenting them. All these water bodies are parched. Why will birds come when there is no water? The heat is more severe this time compared to last year." Jagadeesh Giri, joint secretary, Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA) and a resident of Yelahanka New Town, said the number of birds coming to Ramagondahalli lake, Arakere lake and Vidyaranyapura lake has reduced. He added: Pelicans and other bird species are no longer visiting the Puttenahalli lake on Doddaballapur Road due to sewage inflow. Drop in migratory birds M B Krishna, a well-known ornithologist, told DH that there has been a 20% decrease in the migratory bird population in the city and 98% decline in land birds in the city over the past 20-30 years. He added: "This is due to urbanisation, mismanagement of parks, depleting greenery and water bodies. I request citizens to keep a bowl of water at their homes for birds." The dreams of a daily wager lay shattered as the news came of his sons death at a beach in Maharashtra on Saturday. Nitin Mutnalkar, a sixth semester electronics and communication engineering student, was among the eight students who lost their lives at Vayari beach across the border. His father Bhima Mutnalkar works under a contractor at an aluminium factory. The family was hopeful Nitin would lift it out of poverty. On learning of the tragedy from TV news channels, Bhima rushed to the college, 10 km from Kakati, where the family lives. The college was locked. Bhima and a group of relatives waited for the college authorities to turn up, but no help or information was forthcoming. Even the jurisdictional police, who visited the college, had to return as no one was around to give them details. A heartbroken Bhima said Nitin had left home at 8.30 pm on Wednesday, and called his mother on Friday evening. Nitins phone had remained unreachable since Saturday morning. Eight students are dead and three critical, yet the authorities are not at the college, Bhima said. A college employee said members of the management had rushed to the accident spot in Maharashtra following the incident. V Nagaraj, the former corporater who escaped from his Srirampuram house when police raided it in the early hours of Friday, could be booked under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA). A senior police officer, who would not be quoted, said there were enough grounds to book Nagaraj under the stringent law as he had continued his questionable activities. Police had opened a history sheet against him as he was suspected in more than 45 crimes, including murder and armed robbery. But the history sheet was closed following a court order. Nagaraj went back to his old ways. He kept extorting money from businessmen and industrialists. He was mediating in real estate disputes on the outskirts of Bengaluru. He remains a threat to society, the officer said. A person booked under the KCOCA is unlikely to get bail. Meanwhile, police are reviewing documents pertaining to Rs 200 crore worth of immovable properties seized from Nagarajs house during the raid. There are also documents about jewellery and disputed properties. Police are also looking for documents about Rs 14.8 crore worth of demonetised notes seized during the raid. This apart, four special teams have been formed to track Nagaraj down. Two teams are looking for him in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, where he is suspected to be hiding. Another team is hunting for his two sons Gandhi and Shastri who also ran away during the police raid. Police have information that a few politicians had been in constant touch with Nagaraj since December 2016 to legalise the scrapped banknotes. Some politicians are even said to be pressuring the police to let him off scot-free. They argue that he would easily get bail if police put him behind bars. Another senior officer, also speaking anonymously, said Nagaraj had contacted an officer and offered to surrender before April 20. The officer asked him not to change his hideout and keep the promise. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Saturday to apprise her of the partys victory in the bypolls, has ruled out the possibility of the Congress forging an alliance with the JD(S) for the Assembly polls next year. He told reporters, Though the JD(S) decision not to field candidates in the byelections helped our candidates, we dont plan to have an alliance or tactical understanding with JD(S) in the next elections. Siddaramaiah said, Before the bypolls, I had spoken to Deve Gowda and requested him to advise his workers to work for the Congress candidates. Many local JD(S) leaders have helped us. I will meet Gowda and thank him personally. He said the state leaders requested the high command to announce the names of Congress candidates for next years elections at the earliest. They have agreed to our suggestion. On the appointment of a new president for KPCC, he said the decision was left to the central leaders as we have already conveyed our opinion. Siddaramaiah also requested the AICC chief to approve the list of three names submitted for nomination to the legislative council. K P Nanjundi, Kondajji Mohan and C M Lingappa are said to have been recommended for the nominations. On the question of filling two vacant berths in the council of ministers, the chief minister said the matter was not discussed with the party leaders. Dismissing reports that newly elected MLA Geetha Mahadev Prasad would be made minister, he said, I am yet to decide on whom to induct. Maybe, during my next visit to Delhi, I will discuss with party leaders on this issue. He said the party would win more seats in the next polls on its own than its current strength in the Assembly. Siddaramaiah was accompanied by KPCC president G Parameshwara, working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, Bengaluru Development Minister K J George when he called on Sonia, party vice president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders. Allegations of cheating against a few Africans might have unfairly cast a shadow over the entire community. But many African students who come to India for studies are cheated as well, and in big numbers. Here are a few cases that are key to understanding how widespread is the problem: After completing one year of my course at a nursing college here and when I was about to sit for exams, my college authorities tell me that I am not eligible for pursuing General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) course here, says Lawal Racheal Oluwatimilehin, a student from Nigeria. The principal of the same college had told him during admission that he was eligible for the course. He had collected $3,500 as tuition fee before taking my original school certificates to give me a seat. One year of my stay here in Bengaluru had gone waste as I had to again start from scratch," rued Lawal, who came to Bengaluru in 2014 and is overstaying here since November last year. Lawal eventually managed to get admission in a different college. But once again she felt cheated on learning that the institution was not recognised according to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). She is now desperately trying to extend her visa for completing her education here after finally finding a genuine college. But Lawal is not the only victim. Eight of 10 Africans who come to Bengaluru for education end up getting cheated by one college or the other, says Emmanuel, a student leader. There are a lucky few who get admission to reputed colleges, but a majority of them are lured by colleges that are non-recognised and whose bonafides are unacceptable for FRRO. Emmanuel elaborates: When an African back home expresses interest in studying in Bengaluru, agents there show websites of several colleges in east, north and northeast Bengaluru, showing off their infrastructure, reputation, recognition and other facilities. But when the student lands here, they discover these colleges either function from a couple of floors at some commercial complex or 3-4 bedroom houses. Some colleges even claim that they have hostel facilities for students. But in reality, these are rooms rented out by house-owners living nearby, he adds. A reputable nursing college in Kumaraswamy Layout harassed a Nigerian student by forcing her to study in the college. This, despite she writing to them that her sponsor for her education had died. She had sought a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to get back to her country as she would be unable to pursue with her studies. But the college was adamant that she continue her course and is refusing to give her her original certificates and the NOC. She had already paid $4,000 as fee for a year, and now the college is forcing her to pay the entire course fee to relieve her. Besides seeking good education, young students from Africa come here in the hope of having an international experience, learning about a new country, its culture and people. Unfortunately, most of them end up being cheated by agents and even the local experience is unlike what they expect. The agent said India would be a good place to study, so I came here, even though I didnt know anyone. They told us that we would get part-time jobs here, like students do in the US but there are no jobs for us, a student from Nigeria, who wished to remain anonymous, said. She says she does not feel safe in the city. People pass comments at us. They dont see us as human beings, they treat us like animals, she said. She said that African students are charged more for everything, from bus tickets to apartment rents. Though her experience with locals has not been good, classmates are more accepting, she said. I had lots of friends in my first college who were from different parts of India. But in my new college, my classmates usually speak Hindi because they dont know English very well. So I have not been able to make friends. She is not the only one who feels this way. Another student from Togo, echoed her experience. He has also been cheated by an agent who promised a college of global standards when actually it was not even accredited. I left that college after a semester and have joined a better college. Life here has been hard but I dont want to go back empty-handed, without a degree, he said. He said that, as an African student, finding accommodation is difficult and often, they have to deal with bullying owners. He pointed out, There are lots of Indians living in Africa. We are welcoming and we respect them. Even the laws in my country to protect foreigners are strong. We expected the same kind of treatment when we came here, but we are disappointed, he said. Locals view them suspiciously and make them feel alien, students say. People here are racist. They dont even want to sit with us in an autorickshaw because they dont want to touch us, said 20-year-old John Jerry, from Mali. He does not feel safe in the city because he fears he will be attacked, even if he does not do anything wrong. There are colleges in my country too, but I came here because I wanted the experience of being in a different country. I am disappointed. If anyone I know back home is planning to come here, I tell them to be careful, he said. Musab Hassan, a young entrepreneur, said that colleges with international students should take extra measures to create an atmosphere that encourages cultural exchange. Cultural awareness can foster friendships. Often international students tend to be in a close-knit group with others from their own country and that leaves less room for interaction with local students. Colleges should encourage interaction by assigning a student guide or conducting team-building activities, he suggested. In his college, Musab had classmates from different parts of the world. He recalled that it was a rewarding experience. We shouldnt say no to having students from other countries because there is a lot we can learn from them, we can gain perspective and understand other cultures, he said. Trapped in the cross-fire of cultural divisions, are African students in Bengaluru getting stereotyped? Are local communities who complain about the misdeeds of a few students unfairly branded as racist? Or is there a genuine chance for consensus, reconciliation and better understanding? The police, community leaders and the general public are unanimous that these tricky issues cannot be resolved in a hurry. Cordial relationships as a process is slow, yet achievable, as attempts by a few concerned officials in the law and order machinery indicate. Having spearheaded that intervention in the recent past, the city's former Additional Commissioner of Police (East), P Harishekharan should know better. The issue, he says, should be approached from three perspectives, the African students, the local community and the police department. Eighty per cent of these students are settling in the East and South East parts of the city, in areas on the outer side of the Outer Ring Road between Hebbal junction and K R Puram, he points out. Socio-cultural pressure Educational institutions catering to them have sprung up in big numbers in the area. So have flats and independent houses servicing their living needs. Consequently, a socio, cultural and economic pressure has been building up in these localities between the students and the locals. Differences in dressing, behaviour and lifestyles have only compounded the cultural conflicts and amplified the stereotypes. For the police, the problems are related more to cases of over-staying visa conditions, drugs and immoral trafficking and traffic violations. But should the deeds of a minority of these students be allowed to show the entire community in a poor light? Shouldn't the system be more empathetic to the genuine concerns of the African students about the way they are treated, even cheated here? Faced with allegations that they were being harassed by 'uncaring' policemen who would refuse to even register First Information Reports (FIRs), Harishekharan had devised a mechanism to address their issues. I interacted peacefully with them and learnt that it was a problem of communication, he recalls. Lower level staff at the police stations would simply not understand their English accent. Our policemen would ask them to just wait. They would wait for hours and go away without their grievances being heard or addressed. Coordination committee The solution was the creation of a unique forum, the Police-African Students Coordination Committee with a clear mandate to address the pending problems. Student leaders from each of the African nations were made members. Over 1,000 students were called and their problems heard at length. Representatives from the police, Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) and the education departments were also called for the meetings. Constituted in January 2016, this panel has already addressed several key issues linked to African students in Bengaluru. Yet, problems persist. The issue of over-staying has not been fully addressed, and as cases of cheating that surface now and then indicate, is not fully understood as well. Here's a glimpse of the cheating cases the African students have had to endure: Anyanwu Dorathy, a 42-year-old Nigerian woman had landed in Bengaluru in November 2014 to study animation. After eight months into the course, she learnt that the college was not affiliated to any university. Ordeals of cheating Although Dorathy got her money back, her ordeal continued when she joined another animation college in Jayanagar. This institution had claimed that it had the necessary affiliations. But Dorathy was shocked to learn that the FRRO did not accept the bonafide given by her new college. She had already wasted two years and is finding it difficult to extend her education visa. Is there a way out of this persistent problem? Yes, but as senior police officials say, it is not a problem for the police alone. The education department should launch a special cell to educate African students about the rules here. The department should prepare a manual to be sent to all colleges listing these. Ideally, one or two classes should be conducted to introduce India and Karnataka to these students to build relationships, says Harishekharan. There may be a few black sheep who indulge in drug-trafficking and immoral activities. But over 90% of the students, according to the police, are genuine, hard-working students. The interests of these students would be served well if a proper system is in place to weed out the bad elements. But paucity of reliable data on overstaying students and those indulging in crime have been a challenge. The time is just ripe to address these concerns and foster better understanding of Bengaluru's Africans. Janata theatres to be set up in the state will screen Kannada art films along with commercial flicks, said Karnataka Chalanchitra Academy (KCA) Chairman S V Rajendra Singh Babu on Saturday. Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony organised by KCA to felicitate the winners of 64th National Film Awards, Babu said, At present, Kannada movies that have won national and international acclaim are being screened at Chamundeshwari Studio in Bengaluru. Steps will be taken to ensure they reach the public in other districts of our state. National film awardee Nikhil Manju said that art films were putting Karnataka on the global map and play a pivotal role in showcasing Kannada culture, history and language. But, he added that theatres were not coming forward to screen art films and producers were not willing into invest in such ventures. It is, however, a proud moment for us that out of 125 films selected for the 64th National Film Awards, around 60 were Kannada movies. Actor Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, who was felicitated on the occasion, said that her late husband Vishnuvardhan should have got the Padma Shri and not her. She added, I accepted the Padma Shri award as he is with me even now. The chief executive officer (CEO) of a Kannada news channel was arrested by the police for blackmailing a city-based businessman and extorting money from him, for not airing derogatory programmes against him. Based on a complaint by the victim, the Koramangala police arrested Lakshmiprasad Vajapai (42), CEO of Janasri channel, while accepting the first instalment of the pay-off at his office on Friday. The premises of the channel was raided when the complainant had handed over the first instalment, which was seized. The accused Vajapai and Mithun, who received money, were arrested, said Hemant Nimbalkar, Additional Commissioner of Police (East), adding Vajapai had demanded a total of Rs 10 crore and had even aired a brief episode to threaten the businessman. According to police, Vajapai is a repeat offender. They said he would first select a businessman or a jeweller and initially, air brief negative news about him. Vajapai would then contact the businessman/jeweller and tell him that he had more records and information about him that he would air on his channel. He would then place his demand for pay-off, the police said. A similar case was registered against Vajapai and his associates at the Commercial Street police station earlier this year, for extorting Rs 10 crore and jewellery worth Rs 30 lakh from a businessman. Vajapai had received Rs 10 crore as pay-off through bank transfer in the name of various entities. The total pay-off demand was made for Rs 15 crore, police said. There is another FIR pending against Vajapai at Mahalakshmi Layout police station over extorting money from a businessman using the same modus operandi, police said. Vajapais four gunmen from Uttar Pradesh have also been arrested. The police are verifying whether these men had valid licences for their firearms. M B Boralingaiah, deputy commissioner of police (south east division), said the police were probing Vajapais antecedents and whether he was involved in any other extortion case earlier. Vajapai was produced before the jurisdictional magistrate, who remanded him in police custody for five days. Mithun was remanded in judicial custody. The police have booked Vajapai under Arms Act as his gunmen had brandished a revolver at the victim. All first-year undergraduate students in government colleges will get free laptops from July onwards, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy said here on Saturday. Speaking at the 67th annual convocation of Karnatak University, he said the state government had allocated funds in the 2017-18 budget for distributing laptops to all students irrespective of their course of study (BA, BSc, BCom, BE, MBBS, etc) and caste, creed or religion. The minister also highlighted other steps taken by the government to improve the quality of education and infrastructure in the state. The government will open 10 new residential colleges across Karnataka to impart skill-based learning to students. The construction of these colleges will begin in July, he said. The government will also introduce a new comprehensive law on universities by June that would bring about administrative transparency and welfare of the students. Rayareddy compared the loss of moral values, plague of corruption and caste divisions in the higher education system to the degradation in the political system. In an explosive accusation, he said everyone in the university set-up from governor to minister, and vice-chancellor to other office-bearers had become corrupt. Rayareddy rued that all the 17 state universities in Karnataka had one blot or the other on them. We have to take it upon ourselves to clean the education system, he said. The minister also made a reference to a recent survey conducted by the Department of Higher Education which found that at least 375 out of the 412 government colleges in the state were without permanent principals. As many as 3,000 out of 7,000-odd posts of lecturers are vacant and it was only recently that 2,160 guest lecturers were appointed, he said. 147 PhDs awarded At the convocation, 147 PhD and 23,000 graduation and masters degrees were awarded. Supreme Court judge Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar delivered the convocation address. Vice-chancellor Pramod B Gai was present. The universitys convocation was postponed twice this year, including once following opposition from students to the invitation to JNU vice-chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar. BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday dispelled overenthusiasm among leaders and workers over victories in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Uttarakhand as he insisted that the party was yet to peak for achieving its golden period. At the same time, Shah outlined the medium and long-term goals on the opening day of the BJP national executive meet through his call to cadres for a resolve to win the next round of elections in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka decisively. Briefing reporters on Shahs inaugural address, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party president recalled what he had said at the Allahabad conclave. He quoted the BJP chief as having said that he had requested the party to go all out for a big victory in Assembly elections to five states of UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. And that happened in UP and Uttarakhand. When we won in 2014, they said the BJP has reached its peak. The same was said in 2017. People say that this is the BJPs golden period but I believe that the golden period will come when we win West Bengal, Kerala and Odisha, Prasad quoted Shah as saying. Shah is not content with 13 BJP chief ministers and four NDA chief ministers and wants to paint every state saffron, ruling from panchayat to Parliament, the Union minister stated. He has also asked the national executive members to spend 15 days at the booth level. Just over a month after BJP's encouraging performance in Odisha panchayat elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched down at Biju Patnaik Airport here on a warm Saturday afternoon and braved the heat to connect with people on his 4-km long road show. In preparation for Odisha Assembly polls, which will coincide with the 2019 general elections, Modi is treating the state as a laboratory for his government's pro-poor policies. The political objective behind this strategy is that it will have an overbearing impact on the anti-incumbency sentiment against Naveen Patnaiks 17-year rule. BJP leaders said the road show was a repeat of Modis Varanasi exercise. At least 12 Indian prisoners held in Pakistani jails died in four years after the killing of Sarabjit Singh in 2013. The bilateral Judicial Committee on Prisoners has not been allowed to visit any prison in Pakistan in the past four years. This fuelled New Delhis fears that Islamabad was trying to cover up how Indian citizens were being ill-treated in the jails in Pakistan. The information collated by the Centre revealed that at least two more Indians died in the jails of Pakistan in 2013 after the killing of Sarabjit by fellow inmates at the Central Jail of Lahore in May. Though the killing of Sarabjit, who hailed from Punjab in India, renewed the focus on hostility that Indian citizens experienced in Pakistani jails and the poor conditions under which they were held captive, nothing changed in the following years. New Delhi learnt that five Indians died in Pakistani jails in 2014, two in 2015 and three in 2016. Islamabad claimed that all of them died due to natural causes. New Delhi, however, has its doubts in several cases as Islamabad never provided an opportunity to verify its claim. Most of the Indian prisoners, who died in the jails in Pakistan, are fishermen who crossed the maritime border while fishing in the waters between the two nations. The death of Indians were reported mostly from Central Jail in Lahore and District Jail at Malir in Karachi. On Friday, April 7, The Patricia & Christopher Weil Family Foundation was honored as the Philanthropists of the Year at the Center for Community Solutions 18th Annual Tea & Tonic. The Center for Community Solutions saluted the Weil family for their longstanding support and for lifting the lives of women, children, and families who have been affected by domestic violence and sexual assault. In 1999, Chris and Pat Weil, along with their three adult children Matthew, Kit-Victoria, and Caitlin (all family members are residents of Del Mar/Carmel Valley) formed the Patricia & Christopher Weil Family Foundation with the primary aim of promoting educational opportunities for children living in San Diegos underserved communities. Chris and Pat were the first in their families to graduate from college, and the transformative effect college had on their lives inspired their family to devote time and philanthropic resources to ongoing sponsorship and management of a college scholarship program for students at San Diego-based institutions: The Preuss School UCSD, Gompers Preparatory Academy, Barrio Logan College Institute, and Borrego Springs High School. To complement their scholarship work, the Weils seek out and support other organizations working to improve the lives of children in San Diego. Among those is Center for Community Solutions. Center for Community Solutions holds the Tea & Tonic each year during April in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The event honors survivors of relationship and sexual violence. 1 in 4 women will be a victim of sexual assault in their lifetime. Ending sexual violence requires a village and CCS works tirelessly with its supporters on one goal to end the cycle of violence. Visit www.weilfamilyfoundation.org and www.ccssd.org. 13 April 2017 (Radboud University) Hunting is a major threat to wildlife particularly in tropical regions, but a systematic large-scale estimate of hunting-induced declines of animal numbers was lacking so far. A study published in Science on April 14 fills this gap. An international team of ecologists and environmental scientists found that bird populations declined on average by 58 percent and mammal populations by 83 within 7 and 40 km of hunters access points, such as roads and settlements. Additionally, the team found that commercial hunting had a higher impact than hunting for family food, and that hunting pressure was higher in areas with better accessibility to major towns where wild meat could be traded. The impact of hunting was found to be larger than the team expected. Thanks to this study, we know that only 17 percent of the original mammal abundance and 42 percent of the birds remain in hunted areas. The researchers synthesised 176 studies to quantify hunting-induced declines of mammal and bird populations across the tropics of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. The study was led by Ana Benitez-Lopez, who works at the department of Environmental Science at Radboud University in Nijmegen. She cooperated with researchers from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), the universities of Wageningen and Utrecht in the Netherlands and a colleague from the School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex. Higher hunting pressure around villages and roads There are several drivers of animal decline in tropical landscapes: habitat destruction, overhunting, fragmentation, et cetera. While deforestation and habitat loss can be monitored using remote sensing, hunting can only be tracked on the ground. We wanted to find a systematic and consistent way to estimate the impact of hunting across the tropics. As a starting point, we used the hypothesis that humans gather resources in a circle around their village and in the proximity of roads. As such, hunting pressure is higher in the proximity of villages and other access points. From there the densities of species increase up to a distance where no effect of hunting is observed. We called this species depletion distances which we quantified in our analysis. This will allow us to map hunting-induced declines across the tropics for the first time, Benitez-Lopez explains. Not only the big cuddly species The main novelty of the current study is that it combined the evidence across many local studies, thus for the first time providing an overarching picture of the magnitude of the impact across a large number of species. The study takes all animals into account not only the big cuddly species, but birds and rodents as well. Benitez-Lopez explains the difference in impact between birds and mammals: Mammals are more sought after because theyre bigger and provide more food. They are worth a longer trip. The bigger the mammal, the further a hunter would walk to catch it. With increasing wild meat demand for rural and urban supply, hunters have harvested the larger species almost to extinction in the proximity of the villages and they must travel further distances to hunt. Besides, for commercially interesting species such as elephants and gorillas, hunting distances are much larger because the returns are higher. Protected areas are no safe haven Another interesting finding of this study is that mammal populations have also been reduced by hunting even within protected areas. Strategies to sustainably manage wild meat hunting in both protected and unprotected tropical ecosystems are urgently needed to avoid further defaunation, she says. This includes monitoring hunting activities by increasing anti-poaching patrols and controlling overexploitation via law enforcement. Benitez-Lopez e.a. The impact of hunting on tropical mammal and bird populations. Science, April 14 2017 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaj1891 Contact By Nathan Siegel 14 April 2017 (Mongabay) Every morning, Abdu Hajy, 65, takes his canoe out into the murky waters of the Tana River Delta to fish. Hes been following the same routine, in his hometown of Kipini on the Kenyan coast, for the last four decades. But he is not sure how much longer the river can support his livelihood. Just five years ago, Hajy says he could catch almost 90 pounds of fish a day. These days, hes lucky to get 20 pounds. Some days, he gets nothing. On a recent morning he and his fishing partner, Michael Mwangona, 50, pulled out just three small catfish from their nets. Its a big worry that we wont be able to survive here, Hajy said. Hajy and Mwangona arent the only ones dependent on the Tana who fear for their future. Dozens of farmers and pastoralists interviewed during a recent trip to the area said that they have noted decreasing water levels and increased sediment, and their crops and pastureland have suffered as a result. However, no official studies have been done to corroborate locals experience. Meanwhile, the extensive mangrove forests that abound in the Tana Delta which were declared part of a protected site under the RAMSAR convention (an intergovernmental treaty on wetlands) in 2012 are under threat from drought, decreasing water levels ,and pastoralists who graze their cattle in the forests. Ramsar notes that it is the second most important estuarine and deltaic ecosystem in Eastern Africa. Local and international non-governmental organizations say that upstream development on the Tana River, including numerous hydroelectric dams, massive irrigation schemes and pipelines to Nairobi, Kenyas capital, have strained resources in the delta. An ongoing drought is compounding the problem. The Red Cross estimates 2.7 million people now need urgent food assistance overall in Kenya due to drought, which has been particularly harsh in coastal regions like Tana Delta. The 620-mile Tana River is Kenyas longest river and most important waterway. Including tributaries, it provides approximately half of the countrys electricity and 80 percent of Nairobis water. But many say that the Tana Delta has been excluded from conversations about development on the river and how the infrastructure projects will affect downstream populations. Those developing the river dont care about us in the delta, said Awadh Mubarak, chairman of the Kipini Community Conservation Management Forum, which manages and protects the mangrove forests along the delta and is supported by Wetlands International. We didnt find out about the new dam and irrigation scheme until they were already under way. [more] Tag reductions for deer, pronghorn in parts of eastern Oregon due to high winter mortality Baker, northern Malheur, and Union County hunts to see 25-50% reduction Tweet April 14, 2017 Mule deer on winter range in the Keating Unit in late December 2016. The snow came early, lasted long and never stopped accumulating in Baker County, causing high mule deer fawn mortality. - ODFW photo - SALEM, Ore.Temperatures never reached freezing for 28 consecutive days and hit as low as -23 in Baker County this past winter. The snow depth exceeded 18 inches throughout the county. District Wildlife Biologist Brian Ratliff compared this years winter to 1993-94. It came early, it lasted long and the snow kept accumulating, he said. We have had winters like this historically but not in the last 10 years. Early spring flight surveys of mule deer showed the winter took a toll on mule deer. Usually, surveys count fawn ratios (fawns per 100 adults) in the mid-30s. This year, 11 fawns per 100 adults on average were counted across the county with some units being as low as 8 per 100 adults. While the average winter loss of adult radio-collared does being studied in the Blue Mountains is around 8 percent, Baker County lost 32 percent. The regions Rocky Mountain elk fared better due to their larger size, so there are no reductions in elk tags. We saw some elk mortality, as we always do, but it was not significant, Ratliff explained. Due to their size, elk can generate more body heat at less energetic cost and they can get thru crustier snow easier than smaller ungulates like deer and pronghorn. ODFW is reducing pronghorn and mule deer controlled tags in the units effected to conserve wildlife populations. Hunters in these units should expect to see fewer yearling animals (spikes and 2-points) this fall. (These age classes made up about 33 percent of Baker Countys harvest last year.) Baker County pronghorn and buck tags will be reduced by 50 percent, and two doe hunts on agricultural lands will be cancelled. Union County tags will be reduced 35 percent. Malheur County tags will be reduced by 40 percent in the Beulah Unit and 25 percent in the Owyhee Unit. See the table below for the full list of hunts reduced and final tag numbers. (The Tag #s Now Available figures will replace what is currently printed in the 2017 Oregon Big Game Regulations.) Landowner Preference tags will also be reduced. Hunters who have already applied for one of the controlled hunts effected may change their hunt choices free of charge until June 1, 2017. Use the Controlled Hunt Application Change Request form found online and mail, fax or hand it in to an ODFW office (hunt choices cannot be changed through the online sales system). While surveying big game herds in early spring, Ratliff even saw pronghorn on the frozen Snake River, a sight hes never witnessed during 12 years as a wildlife biologist in the region. The deer went as low as they could possibly go, he said, referring to deers annual migration to lower-elevation winter range to survive the winter. I saw them in places Id never seen them before. But there was no forage for them that wasnt covered by snow and it was just really tough on fawns. Ratliff says it may take a few years of good fawn production to bring back the population. The above-average snowpack and improved range conditions from all the water this year will help with fawn production and should benefit mule deer and other wildlife populations in the long term. 2017 Emergency Tag Reductions Hunt # Hunt Name % Tag Reduction Tag #s Now Available 100 Series Buck Deer 151 Sumpter Unit -50% 825 152A Starkey -35% 537 153 Catherine Cr Unit -35% 273 154A E. Mt. Emily -35% 137 162 Pine Creek Unit -50% 193 163 Keating Unit -50% 270 164 Lookout Mtn Unit -50% 159 165 Beulah Unit -40% 1,188 165A SE Beulah -40% 297 166 Malheur River Unit -35% 1,210 167 Owyhee Unit -25% 327 167A NE Owyhee -25% 103 600 Series Antlerless Deer 651T Baker No.1 Youth -50% 17 651A Sumpter-Unity Ag -100% No Tags 663A Keating Ag -100% No Tags 400 Series, Pronghorn 451b South Sumpter -52% 13 463 Keating Unit -50% 6 464 Lookout Mtn Unit -53% 8 464R Lookout Mtn Unit Bow -50% 11 465 Beulah Unit -40% 54 467 Owyhee Unit -25% 61 467R Owyhee Unit Bow -25% 54 ### Chevron explores sale of $2.5-bn stake in Athabasca Oil Sands project US oil giant Chevron Corp is exploring the sale of its 20-per cent stake worth about $2.5 billion in Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands project, Reuters yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Chevron has discussed with investment banks the idea of selling the stake in the western Canadian oil sands project, the report said. The move comes a month after European energy giant Royal Dutch Shell struck a deal to sell most of its Canadian oil sands assets to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd for $8.5 billion (See: Shell to divest most Canadaian oil sands assets to Canadian Natural for $8.5 bn) California-based Chevron does not find the oil sands business appealing in the current market scenario as low oil prices make it more challenging for global producers to generate profits, the report added. Chevron holds a 20-per cent non-operated working interest in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Oil sand is mined from both the Muskeg River and the Jackpine mines and transported by pipeline to the Scotford Upgrader near Edmonton, Alberta, where it is upgraded into synthetic oil using hydro-processing technology. In 2016, average net daily synthetic oil production in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project was 50,000 barrels. Late last year Chevron had said it planned to sell assets worth about $10 billion by 2017, in an effort to weather a global slump in energy prices. Chevron, the largest oil producer in the US after Exxon Mobil, is restructuring by selling assets, cutting jobs and delaying drilling projects after oil prices last year fell to the lowest level in more than a decade. Last year, it sold its Indonesian and Philippines geothermal assets to Star Energy Consortium, part of Philippine property-to-banking conglomerate Ayala Corp, for a reported $3 billion, and last month agreed to sell its 75-per cent stake in its South African assets and its subsidiary in Botswana to China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) for nearly $1 billion. In February, China's state-run Zhenhua Oil signed a preliminary deal to buy Chevron's natural gas fields in Bangladesh that are worth about $2 billion. North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, today, as a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region. Missiles appeared to be the main theme of the giant parade, with Kim's grandson and current national leader leader Kim Jong-un taking time to greet the commander of the Strategic Forces, the branch of the military that oversees the missile arsenal. A recent US Navy attack on a Syrian airfield with Tomahawk missiles raised questions about US President Donald Trump's plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. Kim Jong-un, looking relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw the festivities on the "Day of the Sun" at Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung Square. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square, next to the Taedonggang River that flows through Pyongyang, in the hazy spring sunshine, followed by tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and other weapons, Reuters reports. Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead. Unlike at some previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be a senior Chinese official in attendance. China is North Korea's lone major ally but has spoken out against its missile and nuclear tests and has supported UN sanctions. China on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. Weapons analysts said they believed some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). The North has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering all the necessary technology. North Korea showed two new kinds of ICBM enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of trucks, suggesting Pyongyang was working towards a "new concept" of ICBM, Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, told Reuters. "However, North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them," Hanham said. "It is still early days for these missile designs." The Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also on parade. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade. Submarine plans? Displaying more than one of the missiles indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base a missile on a submarine, which is hard to detect, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review. "It suggests a commitment to this programme," said Pollack. "Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the programme." North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan. Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim Jong-un, addressed the packed square with a characteristically bellicose warning to the United States. "If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare," he said. The United States has warned that a policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea is over. US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China not happy China has also stepped up economic pressure on North Korea. It banned all imports of North Korean coal on 26 February under UN sanctions, cutting off the North's most important export product. China's Global Times newspaper, which is published by the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official paper, said North Korea must have felt the shockwave from the 11-ton "mother of all bombs" dropped by US forces on ISIS-linked fighters in Afghanistan on Thursday. "It would be nice if the bomb could frighten Pyongyang, but its actual impact may just be the opposite," it said in an editorial. North Korea on Friday denounced the United States for bringing "huge nuclear strategic assets" to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer. In Dandong, China's main border post with North Korea, hundreds of North Koreans gathered at a cultural centre carrying floral displays. With the men wearing pins adorned with photos of Kim Il Sung, and the women in brightly coloured traditional dress, crowds lined up to bow to portraits of their state founder before touring an exhibition of photos and North Korean paintings. Police in Manchester investigating the suspicious death of a young Donegal man have released an image of a man they are keen to speak to. Dylan Crawford, 20, of Dromore, Killygordon was found collapsed at the junction in the Northern Quarter, and was later pronounced dead in the early hours of Wednesday morning a Manchester Royal Infirmary. Detective Inspector Rebecca Boyce of GMPs City of Manchester team said: ''Our investigation into Dylan's death continues and we have now released an image of a man we want to speak to. If you recognise him or the clothes he is wearing, please get in touch.'' She added:''We are also looking for anyone who was around the Spear Street, Back Piccadilly Street and Oldham Street area between 11.30pm on Tuesday and 12.30am on Wednesday to come forward. "Even at this time of night, the area would be fairly busy so it is possible that somebody may have seen something. No piece of information is too small," she added. Two men were been arrested on suspicion of theft and supplying prohibited drugs. A vigil at the gates of Letterkenny University Hospital on Friday evening heard of the importance of the community standing together to support all campaigns for health services. "Its very important that the community starts standing together, Gina Grant of the advocacy group Our Childrens Voice, told the vigil. Our Childrens Voice is a group of Donegal parents advocating for the medical needs of children with complex needs and life-limiting conditions, and Gina said these children are getting sicker as they wait to get on waiting lists for the treatments they need. "Communities are only stronger if we stand together," Gina said. The vigil was organised by the Still Waiting campaign, one of 16 vigils the campaign held on Friday at hospitals around the country. This is the second set of vigils the campaign has held this year to highlight medical waiting lists, hospital overcrowding and postponed medical procedures. Representatives of Donegal Action for Cancer Care and the Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland also addressed the vigil. Don McGuinness, Donegal spokesperson for Still Waiting, said the campaign is building toward a national protest that they hope to hold in Dublin in May. He said they were encouraging smaller campaigning health groups to join and stand together. See Monday's Donegal Democrat and Donegal People's Press for more. A 46 year old man who was arrested by the PSNI after he drove dangerously dangerously on the M1 motorway in Louth and escaped into the North while being pursued by gardai, has been given suspended sentences at Dundalk District Court. Paul Finglas who previously lived in Drogheda but has an address at Orior Park, Bessbrook, County Armagh also admitted driving without insurance on April 26th last year. The court heard Gardai came upon the defendant driving at 165 kilometres on the M1. They followed and he exited at the Charleville junction and without stopping for traffic on the roundabout, undertook a vehicle and drove back on to the northbound carriage of the motorway. The Mercedes undertook a number of other vehicles, passing them out on the hard shoulder and continued northbound, driving dangerously while the volume of traffic was heavy. He undertook other motorists at Feede and crossed into Northern Ireland, where the PSNI stopped him in relation to offences in the North. Paul Finglas was banned from driving at the time and could not have been insured. The court heard he had 50 previous convictions. A letter from his employer was handed into court and the Defence solicitor stressed that no damage was done. He added that it's over five years since his client's last conviction and as set out in the letter he said the accused clearly had a very difficult life, but he is now engaged to be married and is very sorry for what he did. Paul Finglas told the court the gets the bus to work in Newry and is off drink for a year, and is drug-free. Judge Flann Brennan told him "I can't ignore your awful record" but he said he was impressed by the faith his employer has in him and the guilty pleas entered saying "You haven't tried to dodge this in any way". He imposed three month suspended sentences and a three year driving ban and told him "I'll say to you what I've probably said to you many times before - if you drink you'll get into trouble, if you don't you won't". Three years ago, I was fortunate enough to join nearly 400,000 people in New York City for what has been called the largest climate-change demonstration in history. I was in NYC with water warrior, Monica Lewis Patrick of We the People of Detroit to attend the climate march and facilitate a workshop on water at the Church Center for the United Nations for International Day of Peace. We were also there to pay our respects to Ancestor Ruby Dee and attend her memorial on behalf of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, particularly her longtime friend Grace Lee Boggs. The memorial was fittingly a star-studded affair held at the historic Riverside Church in Manhattan. I dont think I had a dry eye during the entire affair. I can only hope that I can do half the things Mama Ruby did to advance the cause for human rights. The experience talking about environmental injustices and grassroots visionary resistance with organizers from Chile, Malaysia, and Appalachia at the UN convening was transformative. Monica was there to represent Detroit, and that she did. She made such an impression, that subsequent speakers referenced her in their presentations. It was difficult for me to hold my composure as I listened to the stories of water injustices that spanned the globe. Part of my role was to listen with Water and Sanitation Expert Leanne Burney from UN DESA and to help synthesize what we heard to the public. There was also a moment where I was able to participate in role-play as Mother Earth. The events of that day forever changed how I view and interact with the earth. By the time Monica and I made it to the Peoples Climate March the following day we were emotionally full and a bit overwhelmed. As we headed towards the end of the enormous line of hundreds of thousands of people, organizers recognized our We The People of Detroit t-shirts and we were escorted respectfully to the head of the line. We were acknowledged as front line community members facing and struggling against tremendous environmental injustices. It was rewarding to see Detroit acknowledged in such a way. When we arrived at the front of the line we were united with our comrades from the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC), an organization consistently spearheading environmental justice organizing in Detroit. It was a tough time for all of us to be in New York, as EMEAC, Detroit and people all over the world had just lost our beloved Charity Hicks to a hit and run accident there a few months earlier. Charity was what I have lovingly called, the Rosa Parks of water. Seeing people from various cities and countries in tears at the mention of Charitys name during Monicas water demonstration at the UN a day earlier made clear her global impact. Chile even mentioned to us that they would be honoring her work. It was soul growing to participate in the Peoples Climate March and to share space with hundreds of thousands of people struggling for a better society and a healthier planet. So, when I was asked to join the organizing team for the Detroit Peoples Climate March, I leaped at the opportunity. Detroiters have suffered significant health challenges because of a myriad of environmental injustices. The Detroit Peoples Climate March provides an opportunity to shine a brighter light on those injustices, as well as to lift up the work of residents, organizers and environmental justice activists who have been on the frontlines of the struggle. The march also provides an opportunity for those Detroiters who cannot make the trek to DC for the Peoples Climate March. The Detroit Peoples Climate March programming will begin in the auditorium of the Charles H. Wright Museum 315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit, MI 48201 at 12pm and will be followed by a march outside of the museum at 12:45pm. Following the march, we will end with The Future of Detroit is NOW celebration at nearby Peck Park from 2-4pm. There are also some exciting ways to support leading up to the march. You can join us for the 2nd Detroit Peoples Climate Art Build on April 24, 2017 from 3pm at Cass Corridor Commons 4605 Cass Ave., Detroit, MI 48201. We are hoping to make two 5x3ft banners and 50 -100 signs. Donations of supplies are being accepted. Check out this video if you need a little more inspiration. We hope to see you at the march on April 29th! #DetroitClimateMarch #PeoplesClimateMarch #PeoplesClimate By Matt Blois More than 20 feet below the surface of the water, on the sandy sea floor between Cancun and Isla Mujeres in Mexico, a lobster takes refuge beneath a miniature concrete house. Scuba divers watch as the lobster slinks underneath the foundation. Farther on, hundreds of statues stand in tight circles. A little girl holds a purse close to her chest. A man looks straight ahead with a broom in hand. A thin layer of algae, sponges and coral covers the statues from head to toe. The statues, the house and the lobster are all part of the Underwater Museum of Art, a project intended to divert scuba divers from the overused reefs in the national park Costa Occidental Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun y Punta Nizuc. The park is near Cancun and Isla Mujeres, an island 13 kilometers off the Cancun coast. Inexperienced divers can harm the reef by accidentally breaking corals. But some scientists are skeptical of the museums conservation value. And though its not hurting the reef, they fear the museum may distract from more important threats to reef health such as coastal development and inadequate water treatment. Its a good business, Roberto Iglesias Prieto, a reef researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology just outside of Cancun, said. The problem is that its sold as a conservation measure. In the years leading up to the creation of the museum, several powerful hurricanes damaged the reefs in the national park. Mexicos National Commission of Protected Areas considered closing the reefs to tourism to allow them to recover. That sounded like bad news to the dive operators in the area. Closing the reefs would hurt business, so divers and park managers worked together to find a compromise. In 2009, the diving community and the protected areas commission decided to create an underwater museum. It seemed like the perfect solution: Divers would find the site interesting, it would take pressure off the nearby coral reefs and it would provide habitat for sea life. Theres just one issue: Iglesias Prieto doesnt believe tourists are to blame for the deterioration of the reef. They invented a problem and then solved it, he said, adding that the real threat is water pollution. Coral reefs grow in places where the water is very transparent. And what we have here are discharges of very dirty water. Susana Enriquez, another reef researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology, agreed, pointing to the influence of the hotel industry in the decision-making process. As long as the private sector has priority in nearly all decision making and as long as the sustainability of this natural heritage and the value of this natural heritage doesnt have a stronger position, its just maintaining the appearance of doing something while complying with the interests of investors that use natural resources for private benefit. The wastewater from the city of Cancun gets treated, but its still high in nitrogen and phosphorous when it leaves the treatment plant. The treated water flows into Nichupte, the salty lagoon that separates the city of Cancun from the hotel zone and eventually makes its way to the ocean. In the low-nutrient waters of the Caribbean, the nitrogen and phosphorous act like fertilizer for fleshy algae. The algae, which wouldnt grow in nutrient poor water, starts to take over the reefs, eventually outcompeting the coral. Fleshy algae is now widespread throughout the Mesoamerican reef system, which stretches from the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to Honduras. And its becoming more prevalent. The Healthy Reefs Initiative, an international effort to track the health of the Mesoamerican reef, found that fleshy algal cover increased from 13 percent in 2006 to 23 percent in 2014. Wastewater high in nitrogen and phosphorous is spurring algae growth in the region and algae is competing with corals for space on the statutes. Photo credit: Marc Dicklin The algae is taking over the museum as well. The museum provides a habitat for new coral coloniescoral polyps can attach to the hard surface of the statutesbut at the same time, fleshy algae has moved in to the noses, ears and mouths of the statues. The algae competes for space with the coral and can block incoming sunlight by growing right on top of the coral. Jaime Gonzalez Cano, former director of the national park where the museum is located and one of its founders, acknowledged the threat of water pollution, but said scientists underestimate the impact scuba divers have on the reef. The Cairns planning areaone of the most visited areas of the Great Barrier Reef in Australiacovers about 7,700 square miles and receives close to a million visits each year. In comparison, the Costa Occidental Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun y Punta Nizuc national park in Cancun covers about 33 square milesless than one percent of the size of the Cairns planning area on the Great Barrier Reefand receives about 750,000 people per year. Thats a lot of visitors in a relatively small area. Gonzalez Cano estimated that the museum kept roughly 200,000 visitors off the natural reefs in 2015. He doesnt have the hard data to prove it, but said he can see an improvement in reef health when he goes diving. Gonzalez Cano recently left the park to become a researcher at the National Institute of Fisheries, but as park director, he kept a severed head made of concrete behind a filing cabinet in his office to demonstrate his point. An inexperienced diver knocked it clean off one of the statues in the underwater museum. If that happens with one of these things, which are pretty hard, imagine what it would do to the coral, he said. He isnt the only one who thinks divers have a negative impact on coral reefs. Diving tourism does have strongly negative effects on coral reefs where its intensive, said Nanette Chadwick, a researcher at the University of Auburn who has studied the impact of diving on reefs in the Red Sea, Florida and the Caribbean. But it should not detract government and public interest away from the other serious issues affecting reefs. She listed climate change, overfishing and nutrient pollution as the three biggest problems facing reefs globally. She said theres good evidence that artificial reefs in the Red Sea can reduce the impact of divers. If you remove and reduce the impact of diving tourism, it helps the reef to be more resilient to these other impacts, she said. Part of the problem in Cancun is that managers of protected areas dont have the power or resources to tackle the most important threats to the reef. Back at the office of the protected areas commission, when he was still serving as director of the park, Gonzalez Cano pointed out the window. Look at the boats. I dont have any captains, he said, referring to the patrol boats tied up to the docks just outside. They even cut the phone line to the office. Gonzalez Cano said he didnt have the power to change public policy regarding wastewater treatment. In the midst of budget cuts, he had to wrangle scuba divers, politicians, hotel owners, scientists and tourists. Its a combination of everything, he said. Pollution, climate change, overfishing and tourism all present threats to the reef. For now, at least, the park is focused on controlling the divers. Reposted with permission from our media associate Earth Island Journal. (Photo: Peter Williams)Christian Orthodox pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem's Old City on Good Friday, April 2, 2010. In Jerusalem Good Friday was not only busy for Christians. Muslims and Jews thronged Jerusalem's Old City on Friday with them, navigating police barricades in the narrow alleyways clogged with procession worshippers. Christian pilgrims commemorated Jesus' crucifixion retracing his last steps along the Via Dolorosa, or the "Way of Sorrow" in Jerusalem. They also held services and in churches throughout the world. In Jerusalem the thousands of pilgrims sang hymns and reading from the Gospel along the 14 Stations of the Cross with some worshippers bearing their own large wooden crosses on their shoulders, dpa reported. The turnout was especially big this year because the Eastern Orthodox and Western churches, which use different Roman calendars, are observing Good Friday and Easter at the same time. Muslims made their way to the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayer while thousands of Christian pilgrims along the Via Dolorosa held up Jews heading to the Western Wall in crowded Jerusalem. During Holy Week Jews celebrate Passover or Pesach as it's also known, a festival celebrating the freeing of the Israelites by Moses from slavery in Egypt and lasts for eight days until April 18. In Alexandria, Egypt members of Egypt's Christian minority flocked to church on Good Friday but two church bomb attacks on Palm Sunday that killed 45 people have left many in a somber mood over Easter, Reuters News Agency reported. Worshippers from the nearly 2 000-year-old Coptic Christian community attended church services, but church official said Good Friday was being observed in subdued fashion. The Egyptian government needs to do more to protect Coptic Christians from a "wave of persecution" the following bombings said Bishop Macarius, head of the Coptic diocese in Minya, south of Cairo. He was skeptical that a state of emergency imposed after the Islamist attacks on Palm Sunday was adequate security and said the church wanted further guarantees, Middle East Monitor reported April 14. Copts account for some 10 per cent of the 92-million population of mostly Muslim Egypt and are the region's largest Christian group, having a nearly 2,000-year-old history in the country. Good Friday commemorations were marred after the stabbing of a 21 year-old University of Birmingham student on a tram near Jerusalem's Old City. A 57-yeard-old Palestinian man was detained for stabbing to death British exchange student Hannah Bladon on a tram at Tzahal Square. UK EXCHANGE STUDENT She was on an exchange at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, taking classes in bible studies, archaeology, and Hebrew at the Rothberg International School. Police say the suspect, a resident of Ras al-Amud in east Jerusalem, was recently released from a psychiatric hospital and Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevy told AFP that the man was "very mentally disturbed," according to the BBC. An off-duty policeman travelling on the tram pulled an emergency brake and then tackled the attacker, with the help of another passenger. He told AFP: "I was travelling with my family when I heard the cries of 'attack, attack'. I sounded the alarm then rushed to the scene of the attack. We overpowered him." In Rome Pope Francis presided over the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday, asking Jesus' forgiveness for the ways we may have fallen short, and imploring the grace to do better in the future, Catholic News Agency reported. "O Christ our only Savior, we come back to you again this year with eyes downcast with shame and with a heart full of hope," the Pope prayed April 14. "We ask you to break the chains that hold us prisoners in our selfishness, in our voluntary blindness and in the futility of our worldly calculations." Francis recalled the different reasons we may have for bringing our shame before Christ on the cross, such as the bloodshed of women, children, and immigrants, or the persecution of people based on race, ethnicity, or religion. At a working session with provincial officials on April 14, he applauded the provinces efforts to brave difficulties to develop. Kon Tum shares more than 280km of borderline with Laos and Cambodia. More than 53 percent of the local population are ethnic minority people while 42 percent are religious followers. Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong meets residents in Kon Ro Bang 2 hamlet of Vinh Quang commune, Kon Tum city, on April 13th (Photo: VNA) In 2016, its gross domestic product exceeded VND11 trillion (USD485.1 million), up 8.06 percent from the previous year. While annual per capita income reached VND32 million (over USD1,400), more than VND1.9 trillion (nearly USD83.8 million) was collected for the State budget last year. Kon Tum has set up Mang Den a 150-hectare agricultural area using high technology along with some zones specialising in industrial trees (such as rubber, coffee) and herbal plants (such as Ngoc Linh ginseng). Industrial production value increased by 14 percent while export revenue hit USD113 million in 2016. In the first quarter of 2017 alone, the province earned USD57 million from exports, shooting up more than 300 percent from a year earlier. Poverty reduction has been stepped up, reducing the household poverty rate from 26.11 percent in 2015 to 23.03 percent in 2016 according to the multidimensional poverty measurement. The Party leader, who is touring the Central Highlands, lauded Kon Tums performance in ensuring defence, security, social order and safety, fighting crimes, and strictly handling deforestation cases. However, it remains a poor province with untapped development potential, modest economic growth and per capita income, limited human resources quality, and underdeveloped infrastructure, he noted. Suggesting several fields that Kon Tum should pay heed to, General Secretary Trong said the province should invest more in high-quality and large scale agriculture. He took Ngoc Linh ginseng as an example, saying that Kon Tum should expand the cultivation and processing of this indigenous species while applying technology in processing and surveying the market to ensure the sale of ginseng products. Clean vegetable and sugar canes are also suitable for farming here, he added. He told local officials to boost border gate economic activities to capitalise on the provinces location, which is favourable for trade with Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. It is also necessary to protect forests and optimise forest advantages to improve local living standards and conserve the environment, the leader said, stressing the must for keeping political security and social order and safety, doing a good job of external activities, and maintaining peace and stability for development. On April 13th, the Party chief visited Kon Ro Bang 2 hamlet of Vinh Quang commune and the Kon Tum Sugar Joint Stock Company in Kon Tum city./. Actor Bill Cosby has lost his latest appeal in the Pennsylvania sexual assault case ensuring that the comedian will face trial in June. According to Reuters, Cosby's lawyers had argued that the Montgomery County prosecutors have violated his rights. The said violation happened since they refused to call his accuser, Andrea Constand, as a witness at his initial hearing way back in May 2016. The decision to introduce her accusations through police detectives who took her statement in 2005 deprived Cosby of his right to investigate on Constand, the attorneys of the 79-year-old comedian stated. Nevertheless, Steven O'Neill who was the judge to preside over the trial administered the case could move forward. This decision that O'Neill made has been supported by a mid-level appeals court. It was on Wednesday when the Pennsylvania high court has declined to hear Cosby's last-minute plea. Ebony has also noted that earlier this month O'Neill has stated that the trial for the criminal sexual assault against Cosby is expected to last no more than two weeks. It has also been mentioned that there were more than 50 women who accused Cosby of allegedly drugging and sexually abusing them but then, the comedian has denied these claims. Conversely, in the case concerning Constand, who is a Temple University employee; the accuser has stated that she was molested at his home at Philadelphia suburb. Cosby will be facing 10 years of imprisonment if condemned on the felony assault charges. As of this moment, he is currently free on $1 million bail but he will head to trial in Montgomery County on June 5. Meanwhile, the jury selection is slated to begin next month. It has also been mentioned by the news outlet that the jurors in Cosby's case will come from the Pittsburgh area and will be requisitioned approximately 300 miles away in Norristown. Imperialisms moral cloak has always been humanitarianism. So even a United States (US) President who has been openly espousing militarism, racism and jingoism was able to garner bipartisan consensus when he fell back upon the time-tested tactic of drawing US imperialisms moral red line. Never mind the use of Agent Orange by the US military as part of Operation Ranch Hand during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. All the US presidential administration had to do is establish almost instantlywithout waiting for the United Nations Security Council and an impartial investigationthat the Syrian government had engaged in a chemical weapons attack, and then, with the verdict broadcast widely by corporate media, carry out the sentence as soon as possible. On 4 April, in the ongoing six-year-old civil war in Syria, there was a chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province. Almost immediately the White House condemned the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad for the attack. The mass media and practically the entire political establishment denounced the Syrian government as the culprit. The next day, US President Donald Trump expressed horror at the images of innocent children, innocent babies choked to death by the poisonous gas and declared that an unacceptable line has been crossed. He convened a meeting of the National Security Council to consider the possible military options, and the following day two US warships in the Mediterranean fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian air base at Shayrat, close to the city of Homs. President Tran Dai Quang (R) and GE Chairman Jeffrey R. Immelt (Source: VNA) Meeting with GE Chairman Jeffrey R. Immelt in Hanoi on April 14th, the President praised the GEs operation in Vietnam, saying that the group has made practical contribution to the Vietnam-US economic, trade and investment cooperation, thus boosting the bilateral comprehensive partnership. He stressed that Vietnam is focusing efforts on reforming all sectors and changing its growth model in order to create a new impetus for socio-economic development and international economic integration, and facilitate foreign investors, including those from the US. President Quang expressed his belief that the economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and the US will drive bilateral relations forward. Vietnam always wishes to promote win-win cooperation with the US in a practical, comprehensive, stable and long-term manner on the basis of mutual respect for each others political institutions, the President reiterated. He mentioned President Donald Trumps letter, which affirmed that he will work to boost cooperation on economics-trade and security with Vietnam and coordinate to seek solutions to regional and international issues while considering attending the 25th APEC Summit in Vietnam. The APEC 2017 presents opportunities for the two nations Governments and enterprises to strengthen cooperation, President Quang said, suggesting that GE and other US firms continue investing in Vietnam and pushing the US Government to strengthen the win-win economic-trade relations. He also called on US businesses to support Vietnam in hosting APEC 2017, including funding the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC 2017). He appreciated the letter that GE sent to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to call on him and the US President to attend the APEC Vietnam 2017. For his part, GE Chairman Jeffrey R. Immelt informed his host that GE has invested in a factory producing wind and steam turbines generators to supply to the groups subsidiaries in Vietnam and across the world. He said the GE highly valued Vietnamese workers creativity and diligence, saying that they contribute to the success of the group. He also pledged to do his utmost to call on US President Donald Trump to attend the APEC Vietnam 2017./. Cybersecurity may never be called a simple discipline that is easy to manage, but when it comes to cybersecurity analytics, the complexity can go off the charts. With that in mind, eSecurity Planet headed to the SAS Global Forum in Orlando earlier this month. What did the market leader in analytics and business intelligence have to say about how to take the pain out of security analytics and its implementation? First, some data. The company sponsored a survey by the Ponemon Institute, which found that 61% of respondents consider security analytics critical to their organizations cyber defenses. Thats why 71% expect to expand its use over the next 12 months. That said, the survey unearthed factors that show that security analytics often struggles to live up the hype. Key findings include: Deployment is not for the faint of heart. 56% of respondents characterized their initial solution deployments as difficult or very difficult. Detecting the key threats: Respondents report gaps between threats they want their solutions to detect and those theyre actually finding. Data is a big obstacle. 51% cited data issues as deployment challenges. Even post-deployment, 65% pointed to data difficulties, chief among them: data quality, data integration and data volume. Perfect IT security impossible It fell to Alex Anglin, senior technical consultant at SAS, to address the cybersecurity data problem. He began by acknowledging that perfect information security is impossible due to economic, technological and psychological factors. On the economic side, it costs very little to attack, and the potential gain is high. And on the other side of that attack, it is very expensive to set up and run the necessary defenses. This loads the dice heavily in favor of the bad guys. The volume of data to review in order to understand your security posture is immense, said Anglin. Defenders need to be perfect and attackers just need to get through once. And once inside, it can take weeks or even months to detect them. On the technology front, the simple fact is that no software vendor guarantees perfect security. They may promise the world, but the small print in the contract absolves them of guilt in the event of a breach. Anglins advice is to apply hotfixes quickly. Psychologically, the cybercriminal is ably assisted by the gullibility of people. As the weak link in most security defenses, people are prone to be tricked by the same old social engineering tricks time after time. Analytics offers a security edge Analytics can help even the odds to some degree. The fact is that there is too much information coming at IT on an ongoing basis. Its a rare person in IT who could boast of a complete grasp of every system, every piece of hardware, ever device, application and network layer. Analytics is a tool that can crunch through mountains of data and make life easier for a security professional. It achieves this by recognizing potential threats and responding to them. But success depends upon the right approach to data management. The approach used by SAS Cybersecurity is heavily based on the analysis of streaming data, although some batch processes are also used. For streaming data, NetFlow is heavily relied on. The NetFlow network protocol collects IP traffic information and monitors network traffic. It is a handy way to view what is happening with network traffic flow and to unearth anomalies. But with NetFlow, there are billions of records every day. To sort through that much big data, rapid analysis is called for. Many security tools look at the host level, but it is computationally easier to move up the stack from the network layer to the host layer than it is to move down, said Anglin. Holistic analysis lower in the communication stack at the packet level isnt really feasible at this time outside of certain military use cases or when focused on high-value assets or points of interest. To be successful, however, security analytics must incorporate more than just NetFlow. It also brings in meta data, authentication event logs and web proxy data. In other words, you have to understand the network and its subnets, the users and the organizational structure and tie this into the analytics. Another useful source of analysis data is IT assets running on the network. The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) can supply this information. Finally, threat intelligence data should be ported in phishing sites, file hashes associated with malware, etc. You have to do all that if you want to find incidents that cant be detected by other security systems, said Anglin. However, analytics does not replace other security tools, it augments them. When analytics is added to the security arsenal, Anglin lets the system run for a week or two to establish what is normal network traffic. Such systems utilize unsupervised machine learning techniques to categorize behavior and user types. The end result is a clear understanding of the organization and its traffic. This is a vital step in avoiding false positives or generating too many alerts. The SAS approach is to detect suspicious device behavior on a network. Each device is assigned a risk score from one to 99 based on factors such as analytical measures of device activity and of the entity when compared to its peer group. Say, for example, a device was communicating with too many external IP addresses compared to its peer group, or too much data in versus data out. The risk score is calculated based on assessed severity and an alert is generated for the device. In the event that many hosts are potentially compromised, Anglin urged organizations to adopt a sensible approach. Doing forensics on compromised hosts is expensive so focus on a few hosts those most likely to have been compromised, he said. If you find an actual compromise, find out what other assets and credentials are linked to it in case they have been infected. Underutilized data sources key to security Anglin emphasized underutilized data sources, and Stu Bradley, vice president of Cybersecurity Solutions at SAS, continued that theme. He described SAS Cybersecurity as behavioral analytical detection that looks at data sources underutilized in security. We enrich NetFlow with a more robust data set and run detection models to detect threats, he said. While the SAS show included plenty of enhancements to existing analytics products, none were specific to security. Bradley said a year-end release of SAS Cybersecurity would expand its full security analytics platform scaled for large enterprises. The companys strategy has been to focus on scale first to handle the volumes of security data. With that achieved, it is now broadening its portfolio. The big problem in cybersecurity is being able to scale well enough to deal with hundreds of thousands of events per second, said Bradley. As a result, SAS started with a few data sources, especially NetFlow, doing network traffic, identity, user and entity behavior and data exfiltration analytics. Now that the company is happy with performance based on those parameters, it is ready to roll out more. Look, therefore, for the addition of more data sources and greater analytical capabilities. Bradley mentioned more application data, end point data, DNS information and integration with other security databases and apps as some of the new features coming later in the year, as well as more analytical routines. We are also opening up the platform to customers to be able to add the data sources they want and develop their own analytic capabilities, said Bradley. xiangmoc said: Anyone cancelling a student visa successfully get a new one? Please share Click to expand... I know my reply is late but hopefully will help someone who has the same question.It depends on where you reside at the moment of voluntary cancellation.If were still on shore while the visa is voluntarily cancelled , if you haven't applied and granted a bridging visa then there is a chance that you might be an illegal resident even for a couple of days then this might affect future visasIf you went off shore and cancel your student visa voluntarily then this won't affect your future visas much but it's best to mention that you cancelled your visa voluntarily and provide a brief explanation in your future visas.I cancelled my student visa voluntarily while off shore in order to apply for a 489 visa. I received the same letter as you've mentioned here. When i was applying for the 489 in application where it asked about previous cancellations and rejections i ticked yes and stated that I requested to voluntarily cancel my student visa in order to apply for the 489 visa , I had no trouble obtaining the 489 visa. But I believe that if you are going to apply for another student visa you might have to explain them in detail why you stopped studying the previous time. I went on JL's recommendation that things had changed @ The Swagman.It probably was better the last time he visited,but maybe the cockroaches have returned since his last visit.Nothing he could do about that.The service was actually better than previous visits,and I found that part to be a big plus.Hard to wrangle all that luggage by myself. In any event,I am now back in the US,and doing well. Best to you and Bengie Steve.Hope to see you folks again. As it turns out,the trip to the airport was a snap.Less than 20 mins in duration,and very little traffic.If only there were a policy in place to make sure that $5 burger you ordered at the restaurant doesn't make you sick. When we got to the room there was no sign of cockroaches.When we awoke in the am,we saw a few scurry into the shadows when we turned on the lights.I saw several more during the next 2 hours as we prepared to leave. It is my experience,that if you have a few cockroaches,then pretty soon,you have LOTS of cockroaches. As far as food goes,I have eaten in a lot of establishments without issue.It only took 1 overpriced hamburger at the Swagman to make my trip home a really uncomfortable proposition. I don't know at this point about a return trip to the PI,but I can't imagine it including another stay at the Swagman. SMM After two years of stalled plans, electric car maker Tesla Motors is about a week away from finally opening San Antonios first Tesla showroom and service center. But you still wont be able to buy any of the companys vehicles there. Instead, the showroom, tentatively set to open Friday on the Northwest Side, will serve as an educational hub for potential customers to test drive and learn about the electric vehicles functions, according to a company spokeswoman who asked not to be identified. Tesla is not allowed by law to sell its vehicles directly in Texas. The automaker has been working since 2013 to get the law changed, but Texas auto dealerships have stiffly resisted legislation that would allow direct sales. The dealers successfully defeated attempts to change the law in 2013 and 2015. But Tesla hasnt given up the battle. New legislation has been introduced for this years legislative session. In the meantime, Tesla has been opening showrooms in the state. Although its already opened eight sites in Texas, none of those are in San Antonio. The closest showroom and service center for San Antonians has been one in Austin. But Tesla is wrapping up a $250,000 renovation to turn the 13,000-square-foot building at 23011 Interstate 10 West into the states newest gallery and service center. The building, which is across from The Dominion, used to serve as the San Antonio headquarters of cybersecurity company E-Watch. The opening of the showroom comes after two previous attempts to move into the San Antonio market. The first was a February 2015 request to build a two-story, 24,475-square-foot showroom east of U.S. 281 at Loop 1604 that fizzled out. The second attempt, a proposal for a site near The Shops at La Cantera, was rejected by the Zoning Commission due to concerns over contamination risks to the Edwards Aquifer posed by the storage of lithium-ion car batteries stored on site. 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. While Tesla has struggled to open a showroom in San Antonio, it has built some of the needed infrastructure. Five charging stations are located at downtown hotels, while a sixth is at a Northwest Side hotel. But those chargers are reserved for hotel patrons. The closest Supercharger stations which can recharge a Model S sedan or Model X SUV in roughly 30 minutes are located in San Marcos and Three Rivers. A third is located in Victoria. rdruzin@express-news.net @druz_journo Consumers who just shelled out an estimated $2.4 billion for chocolate bunnies and pastel-hued candy may find it hard to believe that a trade dispute between the U.S. and Mexico has put the sweet stuff in short supply. In short, Mexico is accused of undercutting U.S. refineries by sending processed instead of raw cane sugar into the U.S. market in violation of a 2014 trade agreement designed to protect the industry and its 142,000 jobs. It didnt help that Mexico last month canceled sugar shipments to the U.S., saying it feared exceeding quota restrictions and triggering steep tariff penalties for dumping sugar stockpiles north of the border. American refineries like Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, Georgia, say a federal plan to prop up U.S. prices by restricting the supply of unprocessed sugar from Mexico has backfired. This all comes at a time when U.S. sugar prices are near 5-year highs and are close to 50 percent more than the rest of the world. The trade dispute is pitting candymakers, which want more sugar at cheaper prices, against the growers and refineries that want less imports from Mexico. We want to maintain competition in the U.S. market, but why should the government be in the business of restricting supplies? asked Rick Pasco, president of the Sweetener Users Association, which represent candymakers and other food companies. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has met with his counterpart, Mexican Commerce Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, to try to work something out by May 1, making sugar the substance of one of the Trump administrations first trade battles. Food processors say they should be able to buy the cheaper sugar and that U.S. consumers are paying more than they should for candy and ice cream thanks to an agricultural program backed by the deep-pocketed U.S. sugar lobby. Pasco said food companies just want an adequate supply of sugar at reasonable prices. And so far we have neither, he said. Were paying at least 30 percent higher than the world price, he said. For them to turn around and put the blame on Mexico, when they crafted the farm bill, the sugar program, is something else. Growers of cane sugar in Florida, Louisiana and Texas' Rio Grande Valley where harvest just wrapped up say they can't compete with their heavily subsidized foreign competitors. Its a problem President Donald Trump inherited from the Obama administration. The Commerce Department ruled in September 2015 that Mexico was illegally subsidizing its sugar producers and dumping too much cheap cane and refined sugar on the U.S. market. With only three U.S. states with the climate to produce sugar, the U.S. cant produce enough to meet its demand and has to import from Mexico and other countries. We will seek a mutually beneficial, long-term, sustainable solution as our two governments closely consult over the next month and a half to address the issues that have been raised by the various stakeholders, Ross said at a joint March 10 press conference with Guajardo. The trade dispute, meanwhile, is being felt in the Rio Grande Valley, home of a cooperative sugar mill that is now the only sugar processing facility in Texas. During peak season, the mill in Santa Rosa employs about 500 workers, a big number for a town of less than 3,000 people. The mill grinds sugar from about 40,000 acres of cane owned by 112 farmers, to be shipped throughout the year on barge trains carrying 10,000 tons per load up the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from the Port of Harlingen to Chalmette, Louisiana. As long as water is plentiful and prices are good, its a competitive crop, said Sean Brashear, CEO and president of the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, Inc. Futures prices for the March harvest could have been higher at about 27 cents per pound, he said, but they were a lot better than two years ago when prices dropped below 11 cent per pound amid the dumping claims. The sugar program helped prevent some of the uncertainty, he said, allowing sugar to remain an important part of the Rio Grande Valleys economy. The thing about sugar cane is it takes a significant investment as it is a perennial crop. So in order for them to invest in planting 100 acres of this crop they have to feel good about the stability of the price, Brashear said. Its planted in August, September, October and its not harvested for another 15, 16 months. Valley sugar growers are planning a trip to Washington, D.C. the first week of May to remind lawmakers that the Mexican sugar industry violated U.S. trade laws by dumping subsidized sugar on our market and injuring our industry, Ryan Weston, a lobbyist for the growers, said in an email. Luis Ribera, an economist at Texas A&M University who spent several years working with Valley sugar growers, said that because the U.S. price trends so much higher than the world price, there is strong incentive to both produce in the U.S. and import to America. Sugar soared in 2011, when futures prices reached 33.97 cents a pound. But by 2014, the prices had dropped to 23.98 cents a pound in the U.S. verses 15.14 cents a pound for the rest of the world. When I did some work in the Valley the world price would be like 9 cents, and the U.S. price would be about 20, 21 cents, he said. Sugar is complicated, Ribera said. Theres a lot of politics. Like other agricultural issues involving the U.S. and Mexico, the sugar issue is tied into the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump first threatened to abandon and now seems more likely to tweak. Sugar had a 14-year exemption under the 1994 pact, and when that ended, the U.S. allowed Mexican sugar to enter the country free of tariffs. In return, Mexico allowed high-fructose corn syrup a sweetener used heavily for soft drinks into its country tax-free. But by 2013, things had soured. Vincent Smith, an agricultural economist with Montana State University, said it was a simple case of a bumper global crop causing prices to fall. In September 2013, near-record domestic production of sugar cane coupled with record imports from Mexico had halved U.S. sugar prices from 2011, and futures were down 23 percent from the year before. Between 2009 and 2013, he said, U.S. sugar growers were unfazed by the sugar coming in from Mexico under NAFTA because prices were high. When they fell, federal agricultural aid programs kicked in. It ended up costing U.S. taxpayers roughly $300 million in 2013 as the U.S. Department of Agriculture was forced to sell some 217,000 tons of sugar at a loss. The sugar ended up being processed into ethanol. At that point the industry said, Oh, now were concerned about exports of sugar from Mexico into the United States, because, in large part, the USDA actually had to spend taxpayer money buying surplus sugar off of the market, Smith 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. Smith, whos located in a state with a large sugar beet industry, said he makes no pretense of thinking the sugar program made sense. It provided loans to sugar processors, which can give the USDA excess sugar in lieu of repaying a loan if prices crash. The extra stockpiles were processed into ethanol instead of being dumped on the market at a reduced price. Conservative-leaning think tanks often cite a March 2015 Congressional Budget Office report putting the cost of the current sugar program at $115 million a year. Thats on top of the $3.5 billion a year (roughly $10 per person) U.S. consumers pay in higher food costs due to subsidies that prop up the price, according to groups like the American Enterprise Institute and Americans for Tax Reform. The American Sugar Alliance, which represents sugar growers and processors, sees things differently, saying that the U.S. sugar program ran without cost to taxpayers for 10 years until Mexico started accelerating exports to the U.S. In April 2014, a coalition of U.S. sugar producers filed petitions with the International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce, saying Mexicos dumping of highly subsidized, low-priced sugar, was costing the sugar industry about $1 billion a year in losses. When you combine these low prices with higher costs of doing business, whether thats transportation or labor, regulatory hurdles that puts a lot of pressure on us. And our price is low for one main reason and that is Mexico, American Sugar Alliance spokesman Phillip Hayes said. The U.S. producers won their 2014 case. To avoid retaliatory tariffs of up to 70 percent, Mexico agreed to limit exports to what the U.S. industry needed after consuming domestic supplies, establish floor prices for their exports and limit imports of refined sugar to 53 percent of Mexicos exports. But U.S. growers and processors now say the settlement isnt working out. They have caused a significant wealth transfer to Mexico from the U.S. industry, Imperial Sugar Co. CEO Michael Gorrell wrote in a Nov. 7 letter to then-Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. Each day that these Agreements remain in place causes a larger displacement of U.S. sugar by Mexican refined sugar, which the relevant agencies already have found to be unfairly traded. Gorrell followed up four weeks later with another letter saying that from the sugar industrys observation of the negotiations, our worst fears are coming true. U.S. corn producers have a lot at stake too since Mexico is the largest buyer of U.S. corn and high fructose corn syrup. Mexican officials have already raised the possibility of blocking U.S. corn syrup should the U.S. impose tariffs on their sugar. Mexico is a large, very sophisticated trading partner of the United States, said John Bode, CEO of the Corn Refiners Association. The federal government should, as it negotiates these agreements, recognize that there are broader implications as well and that we need sugar imports from somewhere. lbrezosky@express-news.net Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) meets with Sri Lankas Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the sideline of the World Economic Forum's 47th annual meeting in Davos in January 2017 (Photo: VNA) The visit looks to ratchet up cooperative fields of Sri Lankas interest, including trade, investment, telecommunications, fish farming, machinery manufacturing, and the production of building materials. The two sides leaders will discuss international and regional issues of shared concern. Vietnam and Sri Lanka set up their diplomatic ties in 1970 and they have developed a sound friendship and multi-dimensional cooperation through the exchange of high-level visits and the establishment of friendship associations and bilateral cooperation mechanisms. In recent years, trade between the two countries has grown significantly, reaching USD192 million in 2015 and USD325.6 million in 2016. The two sides established a sub-committee on joint trade within the framework of their joint committee in August, 2014, and agreed on the early negotiation and signing of a preferential trade agreement, with the aim of accelerating commercial activities. The countries have identified investment promotion areas, with Vietnams garment and textile, rubber, electricity-electronics, farm produce processing, foodstuff, and gem stone and jewelry making and Sri Lankas telecommunications, agriculture machinery manufacturing, aquaculture, oil and gas production, and plastics and construction materials making. By the end of 2016, Sri Lanka had 15 operating investment projects capitalized at USD83.77 million in Vietnam, ranking 48th among foreign investors. The countries have enjoyed productive collaboration in agriculture and fisheries with Vietnam helping Sri Lanka with techniques, personnel training and plan design in aquaculture. Sri Lanka has favoured Vietnam in oil and gas production. Sri Lanka has a rich pool of experience in judicial matters and international law and is willing to assist Vietnam, especially in the application of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. The countries signed agreements on education and justice cooperation. The two countries have coordinated efficiently at regional and international forums. Sri Lanka has recognized Vietnam as a full market economy and affirmed support for Vietnams candidacy for a seat in the UN Security Council (2020-2021) and the UN Economic and Social Council (2016-2018). PYONGYANG, North Korea North Korea's parliament convened Tuesday amid heightened tensions on the divided peninsula, with the United States and South Korea conducting their biggest-ever military exercises and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier heading to the area in a show of American strength. North Korea vowed a tough response to any military moves that might follow the U.S. decision to send the carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula. "We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions," a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. The statement followed an assertion by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack carry a message for any nation operating outside of international norms. He didn't specify North Korea, but the context was clear enough. "If you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken," Tillerson told ABC's "This Week." Pyongyang is always extremely sensitive to the annual U.S.-South Korea war games, which it sees as an invasion rehearsal, and justifies its nuclear weapons as defensive in nature. It has significantly turned up the volume of its rhetoric that war could be on the horizon if it sees any signs of aggression from south of the Demilitarized Zone. "This goes to prove that the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario," the North's statement said, referring to the country by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In Washington, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump has been very clear that it's "not tolerable" for North Korea to have nuclear-armed missiles. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Its 9 p.m. on a Thursday, and Janie Villarreal stands at the intersection of Commercial Avenue and Crystal, where four years ago her 35-year-old son Anthony was shot to death. Above her, a white cross hangs on a telephone pole adorned with purple flowers and a gold foil streamer. A photo of Anthony is stapled to the pole. Suspects sought in 2013 slaying, it reads. Villarreal was born and raised in this near Southwest Side neighborhood, and its where she stayed, working as a home health nurse and single-handedly raising her five children: Veronica, Louis, Anthony, Leonard and Vanessa. But now the neighborhood is marred by the memories of her son and his killing, which happened just a few blocks from her home. He was slain in broad daylight, as churchgoers attended Mass across the street. I miss him, Villarreal said through tears. I miss him so much. Four years later, San Antonio police still have not solved Anthony Villarreals killing. Detectives told the Villarreal family they identified two suspects or persons of interest last year, but the neither was indicted. That year, police solved about 75 percent of homicides, a rate that had been gradually increasing annually until last year, when it dropped to 68 percent. 2016 turned out to be the deadliest year in San Antonio since 1995. The number of homicide victims 149 was astonishing even to police officials. (The San Antonio Express-News previously reported 151 homicides in 2016 based on preliminary data that was later revised by San Antonio police.) As killings skyrocketed, the clearance rate for homicides fell to the lowest since 2006, when it was only 52 percent. The clearance rate is the percentage of homicides solved through arrest or exceptional means, like the death or suicide of a suspect. However, it does not mean anyone was convicted or sentenced. Additionally, the annual clearance rate includes any homicides that were solved in that calendar year, regardless of when the crime occurred. Sgt. Jesse Salame, a police spokesman and former homicide detective, said the clearance rate alone is not the sole indicator of the departments performance. I think the detectives did an incredible job, especially considering the increase (in homicides) that we werent expecting, he said. Even as the rate fell, the department solved 101 homicides in 2016, more than it had in 17 years if not longer. Clearance data available from the Texas Department of Public Safety dates to 1999. Nationwide, experts cite a number of reasons detectives have a hard time solving crimes, including internal considerations like staffing and the availability of overtime, and external ones, such as lack of evidence and little witness cooperation. Like everything in life, there are a bunch of factors police can control and there are a bunch of factors police cant control, said William King, a professor at Sam Houston University who studies clearance rates. Any one of those things can increase or decrease the homicide clearance rate. In San Antonio, Salame said the lack of witness cooperation is the No. 1 deterrent to solving homicides. Witnesses dont come forward because they fear for their safety or abide by a street code. When Anthony Villarreal was killed, police told reporters there were several witnesses, but the Villarreal family said some didnt come forward or werent cooperative. Janie Villarreal said thats one of her biggest frustrations: That the neighborhood where she has lived for 63 years, where her son went to school and made countless friends, isnt willing to stand up and do the right thing. Nobody is talking. Nobody is saying anything, said Veronica Torres, Anthonys older sister. And he grew up with these people. Factors of crime-solving The national rate at which law enforcement agencies have solved homicides has dropped from 90 percent in 1960 to 61 percent in 2006, according to a 2007 study from the FBI. Criminologists dont know the reason for the significant decline, and they disagree on the best practices for crime-solving. In that regard, the clearance rate has something in common with the homicide rate. Experts often struggle to pinpoint why homicides increase and decrease from year to year, which is normal to a degree. Some experts say internal variables, like staffing, the proper allocation of police resources and internal investigative practices, affect the clearance rate the most. A report from the Justice Research and Statistics Association found that four factors can improve the chance of solving a case by 96 percent. They include: Three or more detectives assigned to a case, a detective arrives at the scene within 30 minutes, the detective describes the scene thoroughly in notes, and the detective follows up on all witness information. Another report from the FBI suggested detectives should attend the autopsy of a homicide victim so the medical examiner can ask critical questions of the detectives and vice versa. That can decrease the chance of a communication breakdown that would affect the outcome of any trial later. That working relationship is also important between police and prosecutors, the report states. Another factor that can affect the outcome of a case is the availability of overtime. The FBI report says having no restrictions on overtime, including having to ask a supervisor for approval, increases the odds of solving a case by 9 percent. But to King, the Sam Houston University professor, external circumstances, like the cooperation of witnesses, are more influential. If communities stop talking to police, it makes it almost impossible to solve homicides, he said. In recent years, a national spate of police killings of black men, sometimes unarmed, has eroded some groups trust in law enforcement agencies. That, too, can hurt witness cooperation. Community trust is really important, said Pete Blair, a professor at Texas State University who studies police investigations. When you look at investigations, we think its like a CSI investigation, and often there is some forensic evidence. But more often than not, its witness information thats most important. Other external circumstances include the type of weapon used and the motive of the criminal. Studies show its harder for police to solve homicides committed with handguns. The same is true of homicides involving gangs or drug deals because often they are more random. Chief William McManus said in December that about four in 10 local killings in 2016 were related to drugs, families or acquaintances. A higher-than-usual number of killings 26 percent seem to be inexplicable. Salame, the police spokesman, said the clearance rate at SAPD is affected more by the external factors like witness cooperation and motive rather than internal factors. At the department, there are 14 detectives in the Homicide Unit who specifically investigate homicides, attempted homicides, suicides, overdoses and apparent sudden deaths. With 149 homicides last year, that means detectives are assigned roughly one case a month. The detectives have varying levels of experience, from four years to 18 years, according to Salame. The investigators who are there are the more seasoned and skilled investigators, he said. When a homicide occurs, its assigned to a lead detective on a rotating basis, unless a detective is on a vacation or out of the office for another reason. Other detectives are assigned to the case to help. Salame said detectives are allowed to work overtime without getting supervisory permission. The department doesnt believe there is a period of time that is most important in solving homicides contrary to the television series 48 Hours, which suggests homicides have a higher probability of being solved in the first two days but Salame said the sooner the crime is solved, the better. There are some cases that are really complex there are 50 witnesses and none of them saw it, he said. Ive solved some murders in days and others in months or years. Moving forward Earlier this year, McManus announced a new task force aimed at combating the increase in violent crime and homicides through more cooperation between departments and agencies local and federal and an approach of targeting suspects, not crime hot spots. Salame said the new approach would not only help prevent crime, but solve cases as well. Its intelligence-driven, he said. Were not just looking at the drug house on the corner, were involving federal partners. Were executing well-timed tactical responses, whether its in the form of a search warrant or an arrest warrant. Salame said the new task force has already yielded results. Early in the year, police arrested several people on the East Side in connection with a killing. They also seized nearly a dozen guns and a stash of drugs. Recently, officials announced at a news conference that the Violent Crimes Task Force had arrested 977 people, 104 of them gang members, and seized more than 61,000 grams of drugs. Of the 977 arrests, 349 were made by SAPD officers, said Jim Kopp, with the city attorneys office. In the meantime, the Villarreal family reminisces about the good times they had with Anthony, including celebrating his 35th birthday just a few months before his death. They describe Anthony as a bubbly and outgoing family man who helped raise his girlfriends son. They concede he had a few run-ins with the law, but they insist he never brought any wrongdoing into the home. He was always the one who we would go to if we were in trouble, said his younger sister, Vanessa Moreno, who was pregnant and had an 8-month-old daughter when he was killed. After he died, I didnt know who to go to. Janie Villarreal, a devout Catholic, says her sons spirit visits her occasionally. She says sometimes she can smell cigarette smoke in her home, even if no one in or outside the house is smoking. Anthony was a habitual smoker. One day, Janie Villarreal was lying in bed when she swears her son lay down next to her. She could feel the bed move next to her, though no one was in the house. She turned on her side and looked at him. Como estas, mijo? she asked him. How are you, son? Anthonys face lit up with the biggest smile. Estoy bien, he said. Im OK. Im good. That memory brings her comfort until the day police catch Anthonys killer, rendering a little more closure. eeaton@express-news.net Twitter: @emilieeaton AUSTIN Entering the fray over where transgender Texans can use public bathrooms, a far-reaching bill that a powerful House committee is scheduled to hear next week would rescind several local ordinances aimed at protecting LGBT people from discrimination. The one-page proposal, House Bill 2899, would prohibit cities and counties from passing non-discrimination ordinances and would not allow them to add or subtract to the classes of people already protected under state law. Authored by Republican Rep. Ron Simmons of Carrollton, the bill also would nullify all local non-discrimination measures across Texas that do not conform to the states standards. Current Texas law includes only race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin and age as protected classes. Jeff Coyle, San Antonios director of government and public affairs, said the bill, as written currently, would gut the non-discrimination ordinance that City Council members approved in 2013. We oppose HB 2899, Coyle said in a statement. We have not seen the revised bill the sponsor plans to substitute, but we are opposed to any legislation that harms our economic competitiveness or pre-empts our locally-adopted ordinances. Simmons chief of staff said Thursday that the lawmaker was not available to discuss his bill because he had already left Austin for the Easter holiday. His legislation is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in the House State Affairs Committee. In March, the Senate approved a so-called bathroom bill that would force transgender Texans to use restrooms and other facilities at public colleges and government buildings that match their biological sex as designated on their birth certificate. The bill, dubbed the Texas Privacy Act by its supporters, sailed through the Senate on a nearly party-line, but House leaders, including Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, have expressed no interest in bringing the bill to a vote in that chamber. With less than 50 days left in the legislative session , the measure, Senate Bill 6, has not been sent to a House committee. While Simmons bill does not mention bathrooms, it would replace non-discrimination criteria approved by city officials with those approved by state lawmakers. In effect, localities no longer could allow transgender people to use public bathrooms that match their gender identity in government-owned buildings because they would not be considered a protected class under state statute. The initial bill, which Simmons told The Dallas Morning News he intended to amend before Wednesdays hearing, drew sharp rebukes from big-city officials, LGBT rights organizations, and the states largest business group. They have staunchly opposed attempts by some Republican lawmakers to restrict local elected officials authority to pass their own measures against discrimination, which often include provisions to protect members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Dallas adopted an ordinance in 2002 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which the city defined to include gender identity. It was amended in 2015 to separately define sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, covering all three areas. After Houston voters defeated a 2015 referendum on its equal rights ordinance which offered expansive protections to more classes than state or federal law does the city was left without a non-discrimination policy. Chris Wallace, president of the Texas Association of Business, also hinted at the groups opposition. We remain focused on stopping discriminatory legislation and keeping Texas open for business and inviting for all, he told the Morning News, adding that the association was still looking at Simmons bill. Through a spokesman, Straus office declined to comment on the bill. An Austin resident declared that a Texas Senate panel randomly called witnesses to testify at a crucial hearing no matter how early people turned in requests to do so. School librarian Sara Stevenson, whom weve fact-checked before, said in a letter to the editor in the Austin American-Statesman that about 8 a.m. on March 21, she was the fifth person to submit a required paper form requesting to testify at that days Senate Education Committee hearing on legislation to enable public school students to attend private schools using government aid. We recently confirmed that no school voucher plan has passed into Texas law despite decades of attempts. But by the end of March, Sen. Larry Taylors Senate Bill 3 cleared the Education Committee, which he chairs, and the Senate. Still, prospects for his proposal to launch state-funded educational savings accounts for students remains uncertain. Texas House members voted 103-44 during action on the 2018-19 state budget to bar state aid from paying for students to attend nonpublic schools. In her letter, Stevenson said that after signing up to testify, she went to work and then returned to the hearing at 2 p.m. My name had still not been called, she wrote. I waited six more hours until my name was finally called after 8 p.m. Because the order is random, Stevenson wrote, signing up to speak becomes a game of chicken or stakeout. Who can outlast whom? A random roll call suits lobbyists just fine, but not your average citizen. Did Taylors committee summon witnesses at random? Asked to elaborate, Stevenson said that when she returned to the hearing, others in the audience told her she had to wait to hear her name, no telling when, which led her to conclude the order was random. Theres got to be a better way of organizing testimony, Stevenson said by phone, even if Im wrong. Other witnesses comment We turned first to Patsy Spaw, the Senate secretary, who said committee chairs control how hearings proceed. She said people seeking to speak at the March 21 hearing submitted paper witness registration cards to committee staff; there was no option to sign up on an electronic kiosk. Our subsequent review of more than 120 witness registration cards submitted for the hearing enabled us to phone a few witnesses to elicit their experiences. Arif Panju, an Austin lawyer who testified for SB 3, told us he attended the full hearing. To him, the order of witnesses called to testify seemed fair. Similarly, Robin Lennon, a Kingwood supporter of the measure, said she didnt see anything random in the witness order. She said she spoke late after turning in her witness card after midday. Others echoed Stevensons claim. An SB 3 opponent, Ginger Russell of Magnolia, told us she was the first person to turn in a witness card that morning yet ended up speaking about 2:30 p.m. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason about the order of witnesses, Russell said, adding that shes sure people who signed up to speak after shed submitted her card were called before she had her turn. Summer Wise, an Austin mother in favor of the legislation, told us she asked a committee aide if there was a particular order to the speakers and was told there was not. It appeared to be kind of random, Wise said. Felicia Miyakawa of Round Rock told us she left the committee her written testimony against SB 3 before leaving to pick up her son that afternoon. Miyakawa said before that, the first witnesses were mostly proponents and that when she asked a committee aide if there was a way for her name to be moved up, she was told that Taylor was setting the order. Senator unavailable for interview We reviewed those witness cards. Each card had a space for staff to record the time it was submitted. But no times were inked in. So we were unable to independently confirm what time Stevenson submitted her postcard-sized witness card where she wrote that she wished to testify against SB 3 on behalf of herself plus all 5 million TX public school children. We asked Taylor, R-Friendswood, to speak to us about how he organized the witnesses, but we didnt win the opportunity. Instead, Matt Welch, an Austin consultant to Taylor, responded partly by pointing out Senate rules demonstrating that there isnt a mandate that any committee hear from witnesses in order. In the Senates adopted rules for the 2017 legislative session, Rule 11.18 states that a committee or subcommittee chair shall afford reasonable opportunity to interested parties to appear and testify at the hearing. Another part says, By majority vote, a committee may fix the order of appearance and time allotted for each witness at a public hearing. However, Welch said by email that on Taylors watch, the committee hasnt voted to fix any order of appearance. Welch noted, too, that the panels rules, which he shared, do not stipulate an order of witnesses, nor is there a requirement that witnesses testify in the order of their witness card submission. The rules are indeed silent on when witnesses should be called to speak; a rule says only that the chairman may limit testimony and discussion. Out of curiosity, we also inquired into how House committees handle witnesses. By email, Jason Embry, spokesman for House Speaker Joe Straus, said: The chairs of House committees have the discretion to decide the order of witnesses. Many House chairmen choose to call upon witnesses in the order in which they sign up. The SB 3 hearing, Welch told us, was largely overseen by the panels vice chairman, Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, because Taylor was the author of the proposal under review. Welch said a few invited experts led off the hearing. They were followed, he said, by witnesses called in the order theyd signed up in panels of four consisting of pairs supporting or opposing SB 3. Welch said: I dont think its correct to say the whole hearing was randomized, in that the experts were not. Part of it was randomized, part of it was not. Watching the hearing Seeking clues, we watched much of the Senate-posted hearing video, which showed up front Taylor announcing that each witness would have two minutes. The lead witnesses, we found, included advocates such as a former Wisconsin gubernatorial aide and delegates from the conservative Heritage Foundation and Charles Koch and Goldwater institutes. Also, all but one of eight initial witnesses backed SB 3; Donna Corbin of Lubbock, president of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, expressed opposition. And how did Corbin land that spotlight? By phone, the associations Lonnie Hollingsworth said Corbin wasnt an invited expert. Rather, he said, the association had alerted a committee clerk that Corbin had to catch a flight. Back to the video: In eight-plus hours of testimony after senators returned from a midday recess, people were called to testify mostly in groups of four. And by our count, before Stevenson was called to speak, followed by 25-plus others, the people who testified included 45 individuals speaking in support of Taylors measure, 29 opposed and a few speaking on his proposal. All told, according to the committees alphabetized list of individuals who testified, 67 witnesses ended up speaking in favor of SB 3, 40 expressed opposition and 12 testified without registering a position. In contrast, among 154 people who registered a position without testifying, 38 were in favor, 110 were against and six took no position, the list indicates. A little after 8 p.m., Lucio called Stevensons name. She won, Taylor then said from the committee dais. Lucio: Youve been here all day. Stevenson: Ive been patient. Our ruling Stevenson wrote that witnesses who signed up to testify before a Senate panel were called randomly regardless of when each person had submitted a card requesting to speak. She has a point. We confirmed witnesses were not called in the order they signed up and whatever method was used wasnt made clear. From the standpoint of someone spending all day expecting to testify, random is a fair description. We rate the claim True. Two San Antonio police officers and a sheriffs deputy were arrested on drunken driving charges in a span of about four hours Thursday night and Friday morning. Gena Rodriguez, an 11-year veteran assigned to West Patrol, is facing the most serious charge. Police said Rodriguez had her three children in the car when she hit another vehicle at 10:16 p.m. Thursday. The others arrested were SAPD Officer Harold Thomaston, a 20-year veteran assigned to Central Patrol, and Bexar County Sheriffs Deputy Sabrina Moreno, who had just been with the department about eight months. Rodriguez faces a charge of drunken driving with a child under the age of 15 in the car, a state felony. She remains in the Bexar County Jail on an $8,000 bond. Thomaston faces a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was in the Bexar County Jail on a $1,200 bond. Moreno also faces a misdemanor charge of drunken driving and also was at the jail on a $1,200 bond. DWI is so preventable; I'm disappointed that these two officers would put public lives at risk by getting behind the wheel after consuming too much alcohol, said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus in a written statement. Both have been placed on administrative leave pending a full internal and criminal investigation. As for Moreno, she was placed on probation and termination procedures have been initiated, a statement from the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said. According to police, Rodriguez rear-ended a 2011 Ford F150 around 10:16 p.m. near Loop 1604 and Culebra Road. Three children were in her car at the time of the accident. Emergency responders arrived at the scene, but Rodriguez refused to allow them to treat her children, despite one of the children having a bump on his left arm that he said was caused by the accident, officials said. The officer could smell intoxicants on Rodriguezs breath, a statement from the department says. He also observed that her speech was slurred and that she was unsteady on her feet. A DWI officer evaluated Rodriguez and placed her under arrest. Later, around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Thomaston was stopped by an officer near Wurzbach Road and Fernglen Drive after he allegedly began to crowd the on-duty officer's lane and ran a red light in front of the on-duty officer, the statement says. The officer pulled him over and made the arrest. Thomaston was booked into jail on a drunken driving charge. Moreno, 24, was arrested for drunken driving around 2:20 a.m. near Interstate 10 and USAA Boulevard, less than a mile away from the location where Thomaston was arrested. All three were still in custody Friday evening in lieu of bail. cdowns@mysa.com HOUSTON A week after a foster teen here was fatally struck by a van after leaving a state office where she had slept overnight, embattled Child Protective Services released a new plan to address foster care capacity issues, including looking for help in neighboring states. The plan comes as the number of unplaced children who slept more than two nights in a row in a state office, motel or shelter rose sharply in March to 65, the highest number in the past seven months, the agency reported Friday. The numbers are disappointing, as Gov. (Greg) Abbott has given clear direction to us that it is unacceptable for foster children to live in CPS offices, Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said in a statement released Friday. The death of the 15-year-old girl April 2 marked the first time a child has died while sleeping in a CPS office because of a lack of available foster care placements. The states plan to address the problem is driven in part by a federal judges order that mandated sweeping reforms in 2015, including prohibiting foster children from being placed in group homes without 24-hour, awake supervision. Last December, the judge said the state incorrectly interpreted her directive for a year by applying the rules to new foster children and allowing those already in group housing to remain there. New information released Friday by the department showed that children have stayed hundreds of times since Sept. 1 in government buildings, motels, shelters and placements outside of foster homes because caseworkers couldnt find placements. In response, the state has hired a capacity building specialist and will continue working to nurture partnerships with faith-based organizations to provide emergency housing, according to the report released Friday. Talks have also started with out-of-state residential treatment providers in Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico that could build facilities in Texas. Agency officials reported an increasing number of foster children who have been subjected to sex trafficking and who require unique treatment and supervision to ensure their safety and healing. One partner organization is building a 50-acre ranch near Austin to provide rescued girls with comprehensive treatment services, according to the report. The mix of foster children has changed in recent years, with more high-needs minors who are harder to place, officials said last week after the girls death. An agency assessment released in January said the state urgently needs more foster homes for children with serious medical, emotional, psychological and behavioral challenges in or near each childs home county. In Harris County, more than 400 children lacked foster care placement in the past two years about 10 percent of the total children served though the area had more than enough residential treatment beds. We are continuing to work closely with providers, practically on a daily basis, to come up with additional strategies to open up placements for high-need children, Crimmins said. Our work with faith-based providers is also a key component to the drive to build capacity. These partnerships are crucial, because CPS cannot increase capacity on its own. DeJuana Jernigan, director of child welfare and residential treatment services at Depelchin Childrens Center in Houston, said her agency continues to develop ways to recruit and train foster families. The organizations case load includes about 950 youngsters; about 30 percent of them are considered high-needs. Foster parents must receive special training to understand minors who have endured tough circumstances. There are a lot of children who arent able to find placement quickly, Jernigan said. Its going to take someone who is invested in developing a relationship based on trust with a child, someone who is very patient and someone who understands that this child is responding to the trauma. They are not disobedient just for the sake of being disobedient. Children land in CPS care because they have been abused or neglected. Foster parents must be able to help those children heal and shift their expectations as caregivers, Jernigan said. To sustain and increase capacity, Depelchin buoys its foster parents with resources such as a day-and-a half per month of respite from caregiving. The child killed this month was Daphne Jackson, a Houston teen who had been included on local and national missing child alerts after disappearing in August. Houston police said she repeatedly ran away after she was located in October. Daphne and another girl left a CPS facility where they were bunking overnight, and they eventually met up with other teens. Around 3 a.m., the group was walking in an area without when Jackson strayed into the road. The driver of a van saw the teens but slammed into Daphne as she edged into the road, according to the Harris County Sheriffs Office. She died in a nearby parking lot. The other teen girl, whose name has not been released, suffered an arm injury. She was treated at a nearby hospital and returned to CPS care. The van driver was questioned and released without charges. At the time, both girls were considered children without placement and had ended up supervised by caseworkers in a state office. For anyone hoping to distinguish between council candidates who care about policy and those who cater to politics, theres no better acid test than Senate Bill 2, currently pending in the Texas House. And in San Antonio, no district is arguably less inclined to forgive opponents of the misguided bill than District 10. For these reasons alone, attorney Ezra Johnson ought to win in the district but is waging an uphill battle to the dais. In a display of reason, Johnson opposes the legislation, which purports to cut property taxes but actually would hamstring cities while doing little to help homeowners. Senate Bill 2 would trigger an automatic election if city and county officials propose a 4 percent increase in property tax revenues. (Revenue growth is currently capped at 8 percent.) Had a 4 percent revenue cap been state law for the past decade, it would have cost the city nearly $300 million and saved the average resident only about $4 a month. The legislation also would erode local control. Both myself and my opponents have said we support things like the Northeast Corridor and tax increment reinvestment zones along Austin Highway and along the Naco-Perrin corridor, Johnson told me. My understanding of tax increment reinvestment zones suggests that SB 2 would have a negative impact on the way those are intended to work. He continued, If you basically force the city to artificially bring down its tax rate in order to avoid a rollback election, then by definition you are leveling off the amount of economic investment that is available for businesses in the tax increment reinvestment zone. And its a fig leaf in terms of actual property tax reform. Thats an informed opinion. But District 10 tends to reward fiscal conservatism, no matter how knee-jerk. Its voters, for instance, twice elected former Councilman Carlton Soules, who was loath to spend on nearly anything, whether increased utility rates or benefits for domestic partners of city employees. And as deputy chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party, Johnson is a card-carrying Democrat. That didnt stop former Councilman Chip Haass in 2003, but the affiliation is more of an albatross in the district than a goose. Johnsons most formidable opponents, meanwhile, are either cagey or uncritical on the question of Senate Bill 2. At a recent San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board meeting, retired Air Force engineer Clayton Perry refused to take a position on the legislation. Im all for reducing taxes, keeping taxes low, he said. I think that theres a balance somewhere that needs to be agreed upon, and thats being worked up at the Legislature as we speak. I think whatever they come up with, we will be able to manage here in San Antonio. Firearms dealer Jonathan Delmer gave a generic response. Yes on the tax rollback, he said. Any time we can drop taxes down from peoples homes, Im all for it. School psychologist Diana Kenny said she supported the bill, if only to stay in the good graces of the voters. If the voters support that, then I support what the voters want, she said. Johnson, on the other hand, has taken an unpopular yet thoughtful stand, and not just because hes a Democrat. One rung up from him, mayoral contender and chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party Manual Medina supports Senate Bill 2. (Medina has also allied himself with Soules, but thats a different, more bizarre story.) Johnson just isnt the politically expedient type. The most superficial sign of this is a bushy beard: suitable, perhaps, for an adjunct professor at St. Marys School of Law but less so for a District 10 candidate. And, yes, his staff has urged him to shave. Multiple times, he said. All the time. In half-joke, since Patty Mills let his beard grow out this season, I made an open plea to Patty Mills to please endorse my candidacy so that my staff would stop bothering about the beard. No word yet from Mills. Theres no doubt, though, that it would help. bchasnoff@express-news.net I have a favorite Ray Lopez story. In 2005, Lopez and Delicia Herrera were engaged in a tight runoff battle in District 6. Every vote counted and there was no time to spare. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and Herrera was out block-walking when she unwittingly came up to Lopezs house and knocked on the door. She found her opponent cold-chilling at home. That casual relationship with time has always been part of Lopezs laid-back essence. You cant put a time limit on him once he gets talking about a favorite subject, and he never gives you the feeling that hes in a hurry to wrap up a conversation. Lopez lost that 2005 runoff to Herrera, but he made it to the council four years later, and now, at the age of 67, hes preparing to leave office as the first council member to get term-limited out under the relaxed term limits approved by voters in 2008. He has served with 25 council colleagues over the past eight years. He also has affirmed the premise that drove then-Mayor Phil Hardberger to push for those term-limit extensions nine years ago. Hardberger argued that the council, under its old two-terms-and-youre-out system, couldnt build enough institutional knowledge to adequately tackle big issues. Lopez is a walking monument to institutional knowledge. But beyond his penchant for verbosity and his mane of gray hair, it wasnt always easy to define Lopezs niche on the council. Phil Cortez, in the early years, was the loyal lieutenant for then-Mayor Julian Castro. Carlton Soules and Elisa Chan were the conservative voices of opposition. Diego Bernal and Rey Saldana were the young social-justice reformers. What about Lopez? I got to see him in two administrations, with Julian and with Ivy (Taylor), Saldana said. And hes the preeminent team player. Lopezs team mentality, his consensus-building skills and his avuncular presence were all celebrated Friday at a farewell breakfast thrown by the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce at El Tropicano Hotel. A crowd of 300 packed the room, including council colleagues such as Taylor, Saldana, Rebecca Viagran, Shirley Gonzales, Ron Nirenberg and Cris Medina. In a video tribute, District 9 Councilman Joe Krier called Lopez a mentor and Nirenberg saluted him as a valuable collaborator. The most telling moments came from Taylor, who sat next to Lopez during the breakfast and introduced him with a short speech. Its important to remember that in July 2014, Lopez came within a couple of votes of ascending to the mayors office, when the council needed to appoint a successor to Castro, who had resigned to become the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. After two rounds of voting, Taylor had five votes and Lopez had three. With neither claiming a majority, the process was destined to continue, but Lopez spared everyone a protracted stalemate and conceded the contest to Taylor. Taylor acknowledged that fact Friday, saying, I can certainly say that I wouldnt be standing here if it werent for his graciousness and love for our city. As Saldana told me after the breakfast, Lopez could have easily come away from that heartbreakingly close mayoral vote and decided that he was going to be an uncooperative contrarian. But he never did. Nonetheless, Lopez lifted his voice against the majority when it counted. He spoke out against a 2014 dog-and-pony budget show from City Manager Sheryl Sculley, designed to create the illusion that public-safety benefits costs were forcing the city to slash nearly $9 million in street-maintenance funding. (In fact, the city never had that $9 million, and Sculley had merely created an illusion during the annual budget process by using a phony placeholder figure for public-safety costs.) Lopez also stood up against city staffs obstinate opposition to an offer from the San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund whose board he served on which could have saved the city $4.3 million a year and $225 million over 30 years. Lopez lost both of those battles, but he was right in both cases. As chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, he also became a reliable authority on transportation issues for a young council that experienced considerable turnover in recent years. On Friday, Lopez did what he always does. He walked up to the stage with a prepared speech, and over the course of 19 endearingly rambling minutes, barely touched upon the speech hed prepared. In 2017, as in 2005, you dont rush Uncle Ray. ggarcia@express-news.net Twitter: @gilgamesh470 In 1979, he was one of the first pupils sent to study high school in Thua Thien-Hue by the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Savannakhet province, Laos. Doctor Tran Kim Lan is examining a patient (Photo: vov.vn) During his years as a medical student in Hue, Mr. Tran Kim Lan constantly suffered from malaria and poor health. Luckily, he was successfully treated with Oriental medicine by physicians. In this time, Mr. Kim Lan learnt how to cure diseases by the Oriental medicine. With diligence and hard work, after several years of study, Mr. Tran Kim Lan earned a diploma as a Western medical doctor and gained a better understanding of oriental medicine. After graduating from university, since 1990, Dr. Tran Kim Lan returned to Savannakhet province to open a private clinic, combining Eastern and Western medicine treatments. Dr. Kim Lan (Quang Trach district, Central Quang Binh province-origin) has worked with the motto "simple, effective", and offers moderate prices so that poor patients can be treated for a long time. His greatest pleasure is that he can treat some difficult diseases such as malaria, chronic liver, cirrhosis, and women undergoing difficult childbirth. Seeing his patients overcoming dangers and recovering from their diseases thanks his treatments, Dr. Kim Lan feels more motivated and advises himself to take more responsibility for his work. Preserving and promoting Vietnamese by writing dictionary Not only a doctor wholeheartedly for his patients, Mr. Tran Kim Lan is also known as an overseas Vietnamese who has undertaken many efforts to preserve and promote the Vietnamese language in the Vietnamese community living and working in Laos.When his children were small, in addition to medical treatment, Mr. Kim Lan was also responsible for teaching his children. His children understand Vietnamese, but only simple words in daily communication. Worries about Vietnamese descendants born in Laos no longer speaking their mother-tongue made him sleepless. Recognizing the diversified and imaginative Vietnamese language, and wanting descendants not to forget their mother tongue, Dr. Tran Kim Lan has decided to write Vietnamese-Lao dictionaries. In fact, he started writing dictionaries while studying at the medical university, but because of limited time, economic difficulties, and few reference books, he had to quit. In 1997, after collecting money to buy a computer to use for the archives, the doctor decided to do something to make the study of Vietnamese language more effective. This time, he was determined to systematically compile Lao - Vietnamese and Vietnamese - Lao dictionaries. He said that dictionary compiling brought various difficulties, and he has faced criticisms that made him frustrated. But he has overcome them and written again. During the compilation, Mr. Kim Lan has consulted how to write a dictionary of some authors and publishers. From reading a lot of books and newspapers, accumulating experience looking for word-classes, in 2003, he completed two sets of Lao-Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Lao dictionaries, and books of Lao-Vietnamese, Vietnamese-Lao proverbs and Lao-Vietnamese synonyms. All of these books have publishing licenses in Laos, but so far, the publisher has just published the Lao-Vietnamese dictionary. Until 2006, there was a cooperation program between the two Ministries of Education and Training of the two countries, Dr. Tran Kim Lan was officially invited to write the Vietnamese-Lao dictionary. The invitation seemed to add more enthusiasm for him to give his whole mind to research, preserve and promote Vietnamese language among overseas Vietnamese in Laos. It is expected that by the end of 2017, Dr. Tran Kim Lan will complete the Vietnamese-Lao dictionary with about 2,000 copies, as well as edit the Lao-Vietnamese dictionary. This is a very useful resource for overseas Vietnamese to study and research in Laos, as well as Lao people want to study and learn about Vietnam./. SALEM, Ohio Dairy farmers in New York and Wisconsin are days away from losing part of their market share into Canada, a blow that could put some of those farmers out of business, and impact the dairy industry across the U.S. In Wisconsin, as many as 74 dairy farmers who had supplied milk to Grassland Dairy, for the production of ultrafiltered milk, received letters that their milk would no longer be accepted beginning May 1, because of Canadian milk policy designed to protect its markets. Ultrafiltered milk is protein liquid concentrate used to make cheese. Canadas newly created National Ingredients Strategy and Class 7 milk pricing program disadvantages U.S. exports, while making domestic milk more affordable. Significant impact Dan Smith, an administrator with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, said at least 800,000 pounds of milk a day in Wisconsin could be affected. This is a heart-wrenching situation. Its almost like the impact of a natural disaster in the area, he said. And even though the bulk of the milk is coming from Wisconsin and New York, the issue has the potential to affect the market for all producers, including those in Ohio. It could also set a bad precedent for the future of U.S. exports. In a congressional letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, lawmakers point out that the U.S. exported about 15 percent of its milk production in 2016, valued at about $5 billion. Taking away even part of that market can affect the rest. Trade affects all of us, said Scott Higgins, chief executive officer of the Ohio Dairy Producers Association. Every state is impacted by it. Higgins has been encouraging lawmakers to sign a letter calling for market access and holding Canada accountable. Smith said the Wisconsin ag department is working with state and federal agencies, and with other milk processors, to try and find a market. In the worst case, he said it is possible that some U.S. farms could go out of business. Im working as hard as I can so that doesnt happen, but its a very serious concern, Smith said. But the battle will not be easy. Trade loophole Andrew Novakovic, professor of ag economics at Cornell University, said U.S. processors had been supplying Canada with milk through a loophole in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Canada caught on, and enacted policy to protect its own industry. U.S. manufacturers discovered that they could sell ultrafiltration milk to Canadian cheese makers through a loophole in our trade agreeement, said Novakovic. Canada and its provinces quickly reacted to defend their border and producers. According to Novakovic, the back and forth of protectionist policies between the two nations has continued for decades. He said Canadas current action amounts to neutralizing the advantage that the U.S. had. He expects U.S. dairy producers to appeal the action through NAFTA, and possibly the World Trade Organization, but hes not sure either action will bring relief. However, U.S. milk producers and processors are hopeful. Protectionist policies Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who is now the CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, said in a released statement, the U.S. cannot abide by Canadas disregard for its trade commitment to the United States and its intentional decision to pursue policies that are choking off sales of American-made milk to the detriment of U.S. dairy farmers. Jim Mulhern, president of the National Milk Producers Federation, said Canadas protectionist policies are having precisely the effect Canada intended despite long-standing contracts with American companies. This export access has suddenly disappeared, not because the market is gone, but because the Canadian government has reneged on its commitments. Canadian milk The Canadian dairy industry said its just looking out for its own markets, and has done nothing wrong. Its so unfortunate that this is happening to these farmers, but it is not our fault, said Therese Beaulieu, assistant director of communications and policy for Dairy Farmers of Canada. Every processor has a right to choose who they get their milk from. She said Wisconsin has more dairy cows (1.2 million) than all of Canada, and that Canada is just looking out for its own industry. In an article in Milwaukees Journal Sentinal newspaper, Isabelle Bouchard, director of government relations for Dairy Farmers of Canada, said, We dont feel good about U.S. farms going out of business. But you know what? Its not our responsibility. Its your own responsibility, as a country, to manage your production. George and Amal Clooney want to have their children in London. Amal and George Clooney The 'Monuments Men' star and the human rights lawyer are reportedly hoping Amal will give birth to the couple's twins in the British capital, with the family spending the next few years of their life at their home in Sonning, Berkshire, E! News reports. Meanwhile, George previously revealed he and Amal have yet to choose names for their new arrivals. He said: "No we haven't picked out any names and I'll tell you why ... Because I've had friends pick out names around their parents and then it becomes ... "Whatever name you pick they're like, 'Oh, I don't like that. That guy's a prime minister' 'Can't name her Susan. You remember your Aunt Susan?' "[But] can you believe it?! Yeah, [I'm] even happier [than before]. I didn't know that we'd have kids. I was very happy that we were going to get married and then [a pregnancy] seemed like the next step." And the 55-year-old actor and the 39-year-old barrister have "decided to be much more responsible" after finding out about the impending twins. He said: "We decided to be much more responsible, to avoid the danger. I will not go to South Sudan anymore and in the Congo, Amal will no longer go to Iraq and she will avoid places where she knows she is not welcome. "Before, I did not care, I would even say that there was a pretty exciting side to going where no reporter had ever been. We have the chance to live between three countries: Italy, America and England. "When they go to school, we'll] choose where to settle. In the meantime, we will continue to move according to our respective schedules. People think we're never together, but we have not been separated for more than a week." THE CENTRAL ORGAN OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF VIETNAM The Voice of the party, State and Vietnamese people on the internet Notify: The requested content was not found or the content is invalid! Wissam Al Mana penned an emotional message to his wife Janet Jackson amidst claims they have separated. Janet Jackson The 42-year-old business magnate took to his official website to post a sweet message for his estranged wife, who he wed in 2012. Alongside a black and white photo of the pop star, he wrote: "To the most beautiful person in the world, thank you for your divine love, your eternal support and for being my best friend. I love you so much, inshallah we will be together in the Great Forever x (sic)" It comes after Janet took to her website on Saturday (15.04.17) to share the first picture of her three-month-old son Eissa Al Mana. She captioned it: "My baby and me after nap time." Meanwhile, it was recently reported that Janet is focusing all her attention on Eissa following the split. A source said: "Janet is ecstatic. She's so happy with her baby and that's all she is focused on." The pair are said to be commited to co-parenting their son despite going their separate ways. An insider shared at the time: "Sadly, Janet and Wissam have decided that it wasn't working and to go their separate ways. "They're both busy people but determined to be good parents, even if they're apart. It's amicable and Eissa will stay with his mother, who is basing herself in London." Janet has also only been allowing "a select few" people to see her baby so soon after the birth. The source shared: "Janet and her baby are doing well. She has hired help at home and her husband been with her through it all. It was a difficult pregnancy but she is very blessed and has a healthy baby. She has great doctors. A select few have seen her baby. She is so excited to be a mom ... "She is totally in love. She is taking time to just be with her baby at this time and that's all she really wants. Working out will come, but she is taking it easy at this time." Landmark Group's apparel value retail format Easybuy, has targeted to open 100 stores in India by 2020. Easybuy currently operates 20 stores in South India, which will reach 50 by the end of the current fiscal. The retailer's main objective is to reach the middle income market in tier II and tier III towns and cities as they offer huge potential.This was revealed by Easybuy business head Anand Aiyer on the sidelines of launch of its fourth store in Tamil Nadu. Landmark Group's apparel value retail format Easybuy, has targeted to open 100 stores in India by 2020. Easybuy currently operates 20 stores in South India, which will reach 50 by the end of the current fiscal. The retailer's main objective is to reach the middle income market in tier II and tier III towns and cities as they offer huge potential.# Aiyer also added that Easybuy was growing at a rate of 30-40 per cent per year and that expansion was done mainly through the franchisee model and also that the company expects to touch revenue of Rs 600 crore by 2020. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India For the six months period ended February 28, 2017, operating profit at owner of the Uniqlo brand Fast Retailing, soared 31.5 per cent year on year to 130.6 billion. Profit attributable to owners of the parent jumped 106.7 per cent to 97.2 billion, as a result of, reporting of a 15.4 billion foreign exchange gain under finance income and costs.In the first half of fiscal 2017, revenue however grew slower at just 0.6 per cent over a fiscal ago period to 1.0175 trillion. For the six months period ended February 28, 2017, operating profit at owner of the Uniqlo brand Fast Retailing, soared 31.5 per cent year on year to 130.6 billion. Profit attributable to owners of the parent jumped 106.7 per cent to 97.2 billion, as a result of, reporting of a 15.4 billion foreign exchange gain under finance income and costs.# Revenue at the Uniqlo brand grew more slowly at 0.3 per cent to 455.1 billion, but operating profit increased 7.3 per cent to 68.7 billion. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India India's JD International Design School has started collaboration with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, to expand art and design education in the country. The initiative will help in integration of global perspectives and best practices into art and design education in India. India's JD International Design School has started collaboration with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, to expand art and design education in the country. The initiative will help in integration of global perspectives and best practices into art and design education in India.# The MoU was signed by Nealesh Dalal, managing trustee, JD Educational Trust and Antonio lo Presti, academic director of the Italian school. India's JD International Design School has started collaboration with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, to expand art and design education in the country. The initiative will help in integration of global perspectives and best practices into art and design education in India.# Under the collaboration, the two institutions will encourage exchange of students and information, adoption of cutting-edge techniques and cultivating styles to match the changing dynamics of the global market. JDIDS will develop collaborative projects, including one-month international module as part of the one-year international diploma in haute couture and luxury management, with Koefia. India's JD International Design School has started collaboration with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, to expand art and design education in the country. The initiative will help in integration of global perspectives and best practices into art and design education in India.# A faculty exchange programme has already been initiated by Koefia as part of the collaboration. Sergio Milioni, top fashion designer and director at Koefia, conducted a basic session on techniques of haute couture, during his week-long stay in Bangalore, a release from JD Educational Trust said. India's JD International Design School has started collaboration with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, to expand art and design education in the country. The initiative will help in integration of global perspectives and best practices into art and design education in India.# Dalal said, "This experience will enrich our students and give them a glimpse of international design. During the tour, our students will have the opportunity to experience historical and contemporary architectures. Guided visits to museums and design exhibitions will expand their knowledge in the field of art and design." India's JD International Design School has started collaboration with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, to expand art and design education in the country. The initiative will help in integration of global perspectives and best practices into art and design education in India.# "We have bridged the gap between international methodologies and trends in our industry by integrating and collaborating with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia for haute couture and luxury tailoring. The students, who are part of JD International Design School, are learning the haute couture patented Moulage technique at Koefia. The aim is to introduce more and more global institutions to India and disseminate global education to students," Dalal said. India's JD International Design School has started collaboration with Accademia Internazionale D'Alta Moda E D'Arte Del Costume Koefia, one of Italy's oldest fashion schools, to expand art and design education in the country. The initiative will help in integration of global perspectives and best practices into art and design education in India.# The designers have completed an intensive course of haute couture at Koefia for three weeks. The designers ideated and created ensembles with Indian fabrics and moulage technique. (SV) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The Indian synthetic fibre industry could grow at a CAGR of 5-6 per cent over a period of five years, said Rajen Udeshi, president, Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry (ASFI). The industry went from 43 million tonnes (MT) in 2002 to 32 MT in 2017. The textile industry estimated at $130 million is likely to grow to $300 million in the next few years. The fibre industry of the country also needs to grow along with the textile industry as cotton supply here is limited, said Udeshi while speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of the 11th Asian Chemical Fibre Industries Federation (AICIF) conference. He said that states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are giving incentives for setting up synthetic fibre units. The Indian synthetic fibre industry could grow at a CAGR of 5-6 per cent over a period of five years, said Rajen Udeshi, president, Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry (ASFI). The industry went from 43 million tonnes (MT) in 2002 to 32 MT in 2017. The textile industry estimated at $130 million is likely to grow to $300 million in the next few years.# Udeshi also said that high quality fabric is what India needs. The government should also support the industry to accelerate its growth by removing exemption in value chain, ensuring fibre neutrality and providing a uniform duty structure. The AICIF conference was a two-day event highlighting sustainable strategies for the chemical fibre sector. It was attended by representatives from Indonesia, China, Korea, Japan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Chinese Taipei. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# The project was sponsored by the Gielen-Leyendecker Foundation. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# In the early Christian church, relics were widespread. The religiously revered legacies of the saints also include textiles. Valuable silk garments in Milan are attributed to Saint Ambrose. The patron saint of the city lived in the fourth century, and his remains rest there in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, which bears his name. As bishop of the imperial residence of Milan, Ambrose pushed for the veneration of relics, and the Ambrosian chants also date back to his time. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# "The silk garments that are venerated as relics of the saint also include an exquisitely beautiful tunic," says Prof Sabine Schrenk from the department of Christian Archeology at the University of Bonn. The ravages of time have taken a toll on the valuable textile, but it was not possible to perform preservation work because the silk tunic was stored in Milan for many years under a heavy glass pane weighing around 80 kilos. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# "The glass was intended to protect the relic. However, the silk textile created waves underneath, and the great weight of the glass pane thus damaged the centuries-old fibres," reports Schrenk. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# Preserving the garment was challenge because for it the glass had to be removed from the silk cloth without it breaking or it tearing the fibres that have adhered to it. Schrenk and Colgne-based textile restorer Ulrike Reichert made a plan with those in charge at Sant'Ambrogio, Abate Erminio de Scalzi and Monsignore Biaggio Pizzi, as well as with the curators of monuments from the diocese and city, Dr. Carlo Capponi and Dr. Antonella Ranaldi. The art transporting company APICE from Milan played an important role in this. Well accustomed to shipping heavy paintings and sculptures, its experts led by Fabiano Panzironi took on the task of transporting and lifting the glass pane installation. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# The silk tunic measuring about 170 x 280 centimeters was stored in a drawer cabinet in the gallery of Sant'Ambrogio. However, this room was unsuitable for the preservation work. The transporters thus packed the glass panes with the valuable cargo between two large wooden boards, and the huge artwork was then carried vertically along the narrowest, winding corridors into the basilica's archive, which was transformed into a workshop for a month. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# "This transportation was highly risky. In some places, the art transporters had to proceed millimeter by millimeter to ensure the transit was ultimately successful," reports the restorer Ulrike Reichert. Experts led by the University of Bonn are restoring a relic, centuries-old silk tunic attributed to Saint Ambrose. Until now, a heavy glass pane weighing about 80 kilos has prevented the restoration work in Milan. With a team of restorers and art transporters, an archeologist from the university has managed to free the tunic from its heavy load.# Once they arrived in the workshop, the six art transporters heaved the glass, silk tunic and wood sandwich onto a large table. While the art transporters lifted the glass pane very slightly using suction handles, Ulrike Reichert used a flat stick to very carefully separate adhering parts of the silk tunic from the glass pane square centimeter by square centimeter. Very carefully, the specialists then lifted the heavy pane centimeter by centimeter using the suction handles. This made the valuable fabric accessible for preservation. The fine silk fibres have been carefully freed from dust and the tunic has been protected against environmental influences with a lightweight acrylic glass. (SV) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India TheWaveVR, an Austin, Texas-based social VR music startup, raised $4m in funding. The round was led by Upfront Ventures with participation from RRE Ventures, KPCB Edge, Greycroft VR Gaming Tracker Fund, and The VR Fund. The company is using the funds to continue to expand its tech platform after having released the beta version on the Steam Early Access on the PC. Led by CEO Adam Arrigo, TheWaveVR is advancing a platform for people who love music, enabling them to view, host, and socialize in shows worldwide, anytime, anywhere. Music creators can customize how their audience experiences the music with VR fans enjoying their favorite DJs, musicians or festivals while socializing in new ways alongside their friends. FinSMEs 14/04/2017 Before they face the grueling heat of qualifying later today, F1 drivers cooled off with the fans earlier today, with smiles, selfies and autographs. Formula 1 appears to be enjoying a boost of popularity with no effort spared by new owners Liberty Media to get everyone closer to the action and interact. So race fans turned out in droves and were more than happy to get close to those they support for their own little moment of joy. "Not my child," insisted Lewis Hamilton to a woman seeking to immortalize the precious moment. Selfie stick and team kit are part of a Red Bull Racing fan's toolkit If Fernando Alonso's thinks he's a popular figure in F1, wait until he gets mobbed by the fans at Indy! Anything that's orange in F1 usually has 'Max Verstappen' written all over it Felipe Massa admitted last week on the Chinese GP grid that he's happy to say hello and hug anybody who comes his way! Carlos Sainz's popularity is ramping up big time. A sign of things to come... These three 'Nans' look a bit out of place and out of style, but as gracious as usual Valtteri delivers his best smile A Russian supporter gives Dany Kvyat the thumbs up. He may need two this weekend... Pink always attracts a crowd, add in the Force India factor and you've got some 'hot suff'! GALLERY: All the pictures from Friday in Bahrain Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter At an event which was part of the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF), Shah Rukh Khan spoke about how he wants to look after victims of acid attacks. The actor said that he would like to work towards the rehabilitation of these survivors, find them jobs and ensure that they become independent so that they can sustain themselves. "The acid attack victims are the most mistreated. I want to look after them," said Khan, adding that he thinks of them as the most beautiful women. The actor asserted that he would like his daughter Suhana to take this legacy forward. The SFIFF paid a tribute to Shah Rukh Khan for his contribution to cinema. His film My Name is Khan, directed by Karan Johar, will be screened at the festival. At this event, he shared the stage with Hollywood director and producer Brett Ratner. During their interaction, Khan spoke about his love for Hindi cinema and his passion for acting, among other subjects. The conversation about acid attack survivors started when Ratner asked him about the one cause he believes in. Ratner, who is best known as the director of the Rush Hour series, said that he would like to cast Khan in a sequel of Rush Hour which he would like to make in India. The actor also taught Ratner the signature 'Lungi Dance' step. Shah Rukh Khan was last seen in Rahul Dholakia's Raees. His upcoming projects include an untitled film directed by Aanand L Rai and a romantic film by Imtiaz Ali, where he stars opposite Anushka Sharma. With inputs from IANS. When you take one glance at the three lead characters of Aparna Sen's film Sonata, you can tell that they have starkly different dispositions. And yet, they seem completely at home when they spend time together, to the extent of even revealing some dark truths to each other. The film explores exactly this the interactions and states of mind of three unmarried women. Shabana Azmi's Dolon Sen is a successful banker who is extremely vivacious and expressive, while Aparna Sen's Aruna Chaturvedi is more reserved and conservative, which makes her seem a prude. They live together comfortably in the same apartment but their lives are largely unexciting. The duo is visited often by Lilette Dubey's Subhadra Patel, a journalist, who lives life to its fullest, or rather pretends to do so. Each of the lead characters looks at love and desire in different ways. Subhadra finds it difficult to live without a man, and continues to be in an abusive relationship. Aruna, the character played by Sen herself, has shut her mind to love and desire after one failed relationship, even though she continues nurture that love secretly in her heart. "I feel that Dolon (Shabana Azmi) has the most balanced attitude towards love and desire. She has turned down a marriage proposal from an IT professional ostensibly because she would have to go and settle in Seattle, but it could also be because she couldnt bear to live without Aruna with whom she has made a home in her apartment in Mumbai," Sen explains. However, she maintains that Dolon she is very attracted to men in a healthy, robust kind of way. At the heart of this film are female friendships. The bond shared by the three women in the film is one that has been built over decades. "Sonata explores various aspects of the feminine and shows how women can be a source of strength for one another in spite of the differences that may exist among them. They [the characters] never give up on their friends in spite of those differences," she explains. The characters say that they are not feminists in the trailer. What do Sonata's characters think of women's rights and gender equality? Sen says that in the play, as in the film, the women are responsible professionals whose work is very important to them. "So they live out their lives as independent women who are equal to men, even though they may not be vocal about womens rights and gender equality," she explains. The trailer of the film opens with a line about how everyone in the city is "living in boxes". Sen says that this sentiment stems from the fact that they live in apartments. This means that they can look in on their neighbours and reflect on how they are growing old along with them. "Also, Dolon comments on the quality of Arunas short stories because the latter lacks exposure to the outside world," she explains. Sonata is based on a play of the same name written by Mahesh Elkunchwar. Sen says that she enjoyed the experience of converting the play into a film, adding that this is the second time she has used a play as the base for a script. The first time was when she made Saari Raat based on the classic of by Badal Sarkar. When asked if any of the essence of the play is lost in the process or if she had to fill in gaps or add details, Sen said, "I dont think that the essential flavour of the original is lost. The few changes that were made, were done with the consent of the playwright. This is always the case whether a film is based on a novel or short story or a play." Sen's film, which is centered on three middle-aged women and their desires, will be released at a time when the censorship of films is a contentious issue in India and "women-oriented" films have faced certification-related issues. Was this a concern in her mind at all, while making the film? Sen says that when she started filming Sonata, the problem of certification with regard to Lipstick Under My Burkha had not yet happened. "But, even if it had, I think I would have gone right ahead. All the more so! It is ridiculous that a film should be refused certification because it is women-oriented. All of us need to protest against this and go on making films about women and their desires," she asserts. Letters which are part of a correspondence written in the aftermath of the bitter marriage of well-known poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes have surfaced. The letters are part of an archive put together by feminist scholar Harriet Rosenstein seven years after Plath died, as a part of research for a biography that remained unfinished. In these letters, Sylvia Plath talks about how her husband wanted her dead, how he beat her two days before she had a miscarriage, and that he had cheated on her. The letters are addressed to Dr Ruth Barnhouse, who served as the model for the character of Dr Nolan in The Bell Jar by Plath. Dr Barnhouse treated Plath after her first documented attempt to kill herself. This correspondence is understood as the only surviving uncensored works from her last few months, when she produced her most powerful poetry. Nine letters, written after Plath discovered that Hughes had cheated on her with their friend Assia Wevill, have been discovered after a book seller put them up for sale. Apart from adultery, the letters also speak of the alleged physical abuse Plath suffered at the hands of Hughes shortly before the miscarriage of their second child in 1961. She mentions this in a letter dated 22 September 1962, which is the same month when the couple separated. In another letter dated 21 October 1962, Plath claims that Hughes told her that he wished she was dead. These unseen letters were written at a time when Plath was agitated by her mental state. The letters describe a time period from Plath's life which had hitherto remained elusive to readers because there was no record of it. After her death, Hughes claimed that the journals she had maintained through her life had been lost, including the last volume which he had destroyed, because he wanted to protect his children from them. Hughes and Plath met when they were students at Cambridge University in 1956. Yorkshire-born Hughes was already a known poet then, and Fulbright scholar Plath went to a party that year with the intention of meeting Hughes. Within four months, they got married and their partnership is believed to have been integral to both their literary careers. During the period when they were married, Plath wrote her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar and Hughes produced the Hawk in the Rain collection. The trouble that is slowly brewing again in the Valley is fast taking away slippery ground beneath the mainstream politicians. There is a threat of a social boycott, although, it may be a temporary phase and might not last for long. But the unfolding events in recent months have only exposed the bitter underlying truth about how difficult it is to be part of mainstream politics in the Valley. Politicians, who are supposed to represent the people, are not just living far from people but also have been disengaged from the very people whom they are supposed to represent. Elements of violence, says ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) General Secretary Nizamuddin Bhat, from both sides have closed doors for dialogue. The mainstream had no communication with separatists. Today, they are part of society and we are away from the society. Both sides have become intolerant of each other. Separatists have surrendered space to a section of the society whose strategy is violence," Bhat told Firstpost. "They dont use the political platforms for redressal of their grievances or accomplishment of their political ideology. The politics of engagement has almost gone missing. Meetings with political workers, even for electoral campaigning, are happening behind close doors. Days ahead of these meetings, policemen are deployed in plain clothes to monitor the movement of the people. So much has the gap increased between political class and their supposed representatives that even talking on phone with political leaders is considered a threat to life these days. It is really sad and government is responsible for this. Mehbooba (Mufti) used to say it is five percent of the population, but it has been proved to be other way around. The space is shrinking, not just for the ruling coalition but for everyone around, Nasir Sogami, Kashmir Provincial President, National Conference, told Firstpost. He says that unless some corrective measures are taken, anger and hatred against the ruling alliance and mainstream politics is not going to subside down. And the arrogance of New Delhi to realise the political nature of the problem has also brought us where we are today, he points out. On the other hand, the insurgency and the militants are enjoying an all-time high credibility among people. After attacking a convoy recently, it was surprising to know that people had opened gates, for the militants might come to their house, a senior police officer told Firstpost recently. The younger generation of Valley, which had not seen the worst years of the Valley and was making peace with the status quo, is now on the streets ready to fight a never ending battle. Youth are choosing death over life under the status quo. Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the state Congress chief and Congress-NC candidate from Anantnag parliamentary constituency, says that this is anger against the ruling government for their betrayal and for getting RSS into Kashmir. This government was not for road macdamization but for the peaceful dialogue with all stakeholders. That is what they had promised after being elected. Now, has anything been delivered from these things on the ground? Instead, they have killed people like ants and done destruction at a large scale. Now, do you think people will love or hate us? They will obviously hate us, he says. The lowest electoral turnout ever in the recently held Srinagar Parliamentary Lok Sabha also has were the mainstream politics stand today in Kashmir. Mohammad Yusuf Taragmi, CPM leader and MLA Kulgam in south Kashmir, said that we are living in worst times, worse than 1990s. "If some miracle doesnt happen, I think we might soon see a time when mainstream politics would go missing from the Valley like it did during the early years of the militancy," he said. Tarigami adds that in 2014 elections, enthusiastic youth were in long queues to vote but because of what happened in less than three years, youth got irritated and turned violent with the name of elections. He suggests that the central and state governments need to introspect about how what went wrong between then and now has alienated the youth of Kashmir from election process. Violence is no answer to any issue. Non-seriousness of Indo-Pak to resolve the Kashmir issue is the main reason for the present mess Kashmir is in, remarks Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) president and MLA Khansahib Hakim Mohammad Yasin. There is plenty of commotion about the alleged stone-pelter Farooq Ahmad Dar tied atop the bonnet of an army quick reaction team (QRT) jeep. Of course, he claims he is innocent, and that he is not a ringleader of stone-pelters. He even claims that he was beaten up at an army camp without any reason and that he saw women being beaten up. It is surprising that his allegation of women being dragged and beaten is without photographic evidence how did the ISI slip on this one? Incidentally, such unconventional methods have also been used by the Israel army in the past. One should also read this article in The Telegraph and see how Israeli army deals with stone-pelters. Do the so-called pro stone-pelters want Indian Army to adopt these methods? Israel also has a law of two-20 year imprisonment for stone-pelters. And here we have the media hollering that "The army is caught in a tight spot" because of this? Actually, it is the ISI and terrorists who find themselves in a tight spot, for should this becomes standard procedure, how would they progress the stone pelting campaign? Surprisingly, many who objected to how Dar was treated have absolutely nothing to say about the security personnel getting mobbed, kicked and slapped by droves of terrorist-supporters-cum-stone-pelters. They also have little to say about the death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court. There is no doubt the ISI would try to reap maximum benefit from the Dar episode. What is appalling is the way some military veterans are treating this whole incident with one former soldier even going to the extent of recommending the officer responsible be made to face a court martial. These guys through their military service have preached to fight a guerilla, one must become a guerilla, but when it comes to dealing with terrorists, they want ethics of Mahabharata? The question for them is between certificates of sainthood for the army and saving lives on both sides (army and civil), what is their choice? If it is the former, then there is nothing more to discuss. But what actually has been done to Dar? Was he crucified, aimed or disabled for life? The fact is that the officer responsible used this unconventional method to save a very ugly situation without loss of lives and property, which needs to be commended at the highest level. The incident relates to the police booth at Budgam which was attacked on 9 April, by a mob of stone-pelters, chucking rocks at the ITBP and Jammu and Kashmir Police to prevent voters from casting their votes. The ITBP personnel on duty realised that they would not be able to get out alive and called for army help. When the 17-strong army QRT arrived, they too realised they were outnumbered. The commander of the QRT decided it would be bad to open fire and escalate tensions, despite the fact that rescuing the men inside was important. He caught the alleged stone-pelter Dar, tied him on to the jeep and drove past the mob of 900, saving the ITBP and J&K Police personnel and his own boys. What we fail to acknowledge is that the turmoil in the Kashmir Valley is no ordinary Pakistan assisted insurgency. It has transformed into a vicious hybrid war backed by the China-Pakistan unholy anti-India nexus. While we were fixated with Burhan Wani, we failed to notice that the level of violence has gone up exponentially since Chinas strategic lodgment in Gilgit-Baltistan. It is not a coincidence that Chinese flags surfaced in Kashmir Valley. Connect the dots of Chinese support to Naga and ULFA insurgencies and you can realise what is systematically creeping upon us. China remains in the background with China-Pakistan together exploiting our fault-lines assisted by the enemy within India. Chinas concept of 'unrestricted warfare' includes means of biochemical, guerilla, terrorism, psychological, smuggling, drugs, virtual, media, ideological, besides others. Pakistan abides by the Quranic Concept of War scripted by Brig SK Malik in 1979, which explicitly justifies the use of terrorism. That there are no rules and no regulations in hybrid warfare needs no emphasis. In 1986, Islamist terrorists kidnapped four Soviet diplomats in Beirut and demanded Moscows support for pro-Syrian fighters in Lebanon. With no Soviet response, terrorists killed one of the kidnapped diplomats. So the KGB kidnapped a family member of the Hezbollah leader, castrated and killed him, and sent his body parts in a package to the Hezbollah leader with a note saying that his other family members will meet the same fate. The three remaining diplomats were released immediately. Then there is a narrative of General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing who captured 50 terrorists in the Philippines, had 49 shot with bullets dipped in pig blood and freed the 50th to narrate the horror, resulting in no terrorist attacks for next 25 years. Why President Donald Trump mentioned and denied this incident in a pre-election rally was perhaps for vote-banks. In early 2000s Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani, passing close to a divisional headquarters in Kashmir Valley requested to meet the divisional commander (name withheld). Since it was lunchtime the General asked him to join him for lunch. After lunch, Geelani was explained the jurisdiction of the division with the General quietly telling him that if during his tenure there were any IED blasts or terrorist attacks in his area, what would happen to Geelani or his family members could hardly be predicted. Needless to mention the General enjoyed his quiet command. It is a different story that later this ISI stooge was buttressed by both India and Pakistan and given a free hand to radicalise the youth, adverse results of which we see today. Finally, how we treat the alleged stone-pelter Dar episode could well be a turning point for Indias response to hybrid warfare. Hope better sense will prevail. The author is veteran Lt Gen of Indian Army. Setting a target of 150 Assembly seats for the Gujarat unit of BJP, party president Amit Shah may have set the pitch for the forthcoming Assembly elections. But how the BJP will achieve this target amidst conditions that are not too favourable for them remains to be seen. To begin with, the BJP is well aware that the powerful Patels are against them in demand for reservation. So, it is not only the party president, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi too, who is trying to reach out to the community. On Sunday, when the PM will be in Surat, he will not only inaugurate a charitable hospital by the Paatidars, but will take out a road show in the city which was the epicenter of the agitation a year ago. Hardik Patel was in Surat jail before he was sent out of the state for six months. The agitated Patel community has been protesting under the aegis of Paatidaar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and a large part of the movement had gained momentum in Surat itself. Many diamond polishing units in Surat are owned by Patels primarily from the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Through the roadshow and inauguration of a Rs 400 crore hospital, the PM is trying to reach out to the powerful community which has been with the BJP since it drifted away from the Congress in 1985, when Madhavsinh Solanki floated the KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) and deserted the Patels. But this time, the ruling BJP and the PM realises it is not a cakewalk as far as appeasing the Patels is concerned. The Patels are demanding reservations in government schools and jobs. The BJP has given no indication of giving into their demands. Dalits and the other backward classes also seem to be upset with the ruling party, with allegations of atrocities and vigilantes. Amidst all the uprising, the BJP, including party president Amit Shah and the PM, need to ensure that the party not only retains the state but comes back with a thumping majority. "Achieving a target of 150 seats is definitely an uphill task for the state unit of BJP which is going to fight the elections in the name of Modi, said political analyst Vishnu Pandya. He said that both Modi and Shah realise the difficulties that lie ahead of the party in the state. To achieve the given target, the party is working toward increasing its strength in central and south Gujarat. "In the last couple of months, the PM has visited Vadodara to inaugurate the international airport, then to Bharuch to inaugurate the Narmada Bridge that connects to Surat. The Surat visit will also be an attempt to reach out to the tribals of south Gujarat, said Pandya. And the itinerary of the PM also shows the partys intent to shift its focus from Saurashtra to central and south Gujarat. After the inauguration of the hospital, the PM would then head to Bajipura village in the neighbouring Tapi district to inaugurate a cattle feed plant and an ice-cream plant of Surat District Co-operative Milk Producers Union, popularly known as Sumul Dairy. He will also address a gathering at Bajipura where a large number of women are expected to greet him. The PM had performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the project in 2014 during his tenure as the Gujarat CM. "PM Modi will ensure that all the work that he had started as the CM of Gujarat is completed. This is his home state and the focus will continue to remain here. After all, the story of the success of 'Gujarat Model' began here, pointed out Pandya. A video surfaced on the web on Saturday, purportedly showing a pornographic clip being played on a LED screen at city's busy Rajiv Chowk Metro Station in Delhi, prompting DMRC to launch a probe into the matter. The 30-second-long amateur video has been circulating on social media. The clip could be seen playing on one of the screens of a giant video wall, a grid of 12 LED screens. While some commuters passed by it without noticing, some of them filmed the video on mobile phones. However, when presented with the clip, Delhi Metro refused to acknowledge the bungle and said the screen was under commissioning with a private contractor. "The DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) is not aware of this clip. However, this LED screen was under commissioning and testing by a private contractor and the same is still under commissioning. The work is still not completed," Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal said in a statement. Commuter made video of porn being played at a screen in Rajiv Chowk metro station, which became viral. DMRC constituted committee for probe. ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 Video was made on 9 April. As per DMRC, the screen at Rajiv Chowk metro station on which porn was played is reserved for commercials #Delhi ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 "We will check all the details of the testing and commissioning process of the contractor to establish whether any such clip was played on the LED screen at Rajiv Chowk station and take adequate safeguards and action," the statement said. A senior official said once the veracity of the video, shot on 9 April, is ascertained, action will be taken against those responsible for it. Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, located at Connaught Place in central Delhi, falls on the busy intersection of Blue Line and Yellow Line of the metro network and receives a heavy footfall daily. With inputs from agencies Sindhudurg: Eight engineering students, including two girls, from Belgaum in Karnataka drowned in the sea off Malvan, Sindhudurg on Saturday afternoon, police said. Another three students were rescued by local fisher folk. One of the students is in serious condition and undergoing treatment at Malvan hospital, said Sindhudurg Police Control official Ravindra Ghirkar. #FLASH Maharashtra: 8 students dead after drowning in the sea at Wairi beach in Sindhudurg district. The students were on a college tour. ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 The 8 students were a part of a students' group of 40 from Maratha Engineering College in Karnataka's Belgaum. ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 The victims were part of a 50-strong group of picknickers from a private engineering college who arrived early on Saturday in a private bus from Belgaum and had gone to the picturesque Wayri Beach. Shortly after reaching here, the students, allegedly ignoring warnings by locals of strong currents, ventured into the sea and were soon washed away into deep waters. Fisher folk managed to rescue three of them. They later retrieved the bodies of the other eight, including the two girls. Top police and district officials have arrived at the scene of the tragedy from Sindhudurg, around 35 km away. There is a soul-sapping sameness in India-Pakistan affairs; a sky bleaker than Oran in Albert Camus's The Plague. A monolithic hostility is punctuated only by 'Land of the Pure's' periodic descension into madness. This is the point. Much like its hostility rooted in the ideology of an Islamic State locked in an eternal jihad against 'Hindustan' Pakistan's lunacy too is "pure". While dealing with Kulbhushan Jadhav, its military rulers have displayed such an absolute lack of reason and mounted to borrow from Shashi Tharoor such a vicious assault on international laws and conventions that any rational exchange of dialogue has been precluded and diplomatic actions have been put in severe jeopardy. If that was not enough, Pakistan has answered India's outrage with habitual belligerence. It has escalated the charges against Jadhav, painting him retrospectively as some sort of a superhuman intelligence asset in stark contradiction with the provisions of its own laws under which he was purportedly 'convicted' and 'sentenced'. It almost as if after condemning the Indian national to death in an act of unhinged lunacy, Pakistan now feels a moral need to justify its actions and is proceeding to do so by slapping outrageous charges. In his new avatar, Jadhav, against whom Pakistan had precious little evidence until late December, is suddenly Arnold Schwarzenegger. After 'trying' him in a secret military court, Pakistan army had claimed in a release that "Jadhav was an Indian intelligence official who aided and financed (emphasis mine) terrorist activities in the southwestern Balochistan province and the southern port city of Karachi" and had apparently "confessed before a magistrate and court" that Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had asked him to "plan, coordinate and organise espionage and sabotage activities". On Friday, Pakistan shifted from portraying Jadhav as a perpetrator to protagonist. Sartaz Aziz, Pakistan's de facto foreign minister, appeared before the media and fished out a 'dossier'. He added layers of folklore on Jadhav. The Indian apparently spied on Pakistan's sensitive assets, carried out acts of subversion and sabotage and single-handedly planted bombs, blew up railway lines and pipelines apart from planning and executing numerous terrorist attacks on Pakistan soil including the one against Shia community in Quetta. Some spy! What isn't clear is why would this superhuman spy who according to Pakistan had "connections with India's highest security and intelligence establishment" wander into enemy territory bearing his own passport. A far more credible theory is that Jadhav, assuming he was gathering intelligence on Pakistan's strategic assets, was careful to stay in the Iranian side of Balochistan before he was kidnapped and sold to Pakistan authorities in exchange for pecuniary gains. In his column for The Asian Age, Congress leader Manish Tewari writes that circumstances of his arrest and Pakistan's subsequent actions make it clear that Jadhav wasn't "arrested from Mashkel Balochistan as was claimed by Pakistan." He says that "Jadhavs abduction is somehow linked to the action taken by the Indian Coast Guard against a Pakistani boat on the night of 31 December, 2014." The boat, he says, is believed to be the property of a "notorious Pakistani smuggler who in retaliation for the gutting of his boat by the Indian Coast Guard kidnapped Jadhav and handed Jadhav over to the ISI for monetary or other considerations." Incidentally, Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, under which Jadhav was sentenced to death by a secret military court in Pakistan, deals only with espionage rather than violent crimes, as a report in The Indian Express points out. This would indicate that Pakistan slapped retrospective charges on Jadhav when it became clear that its justification of sending the Indian to the gallows merely on charges of espionage was falling flat. There are other Freudian slips in Aziz's Friday's news conference. After claiming in December that they have nothing but "mere statements" against Jadhav and "insufficient evidence", the Pakistan foreign office adviser told media that Jadhav has been tried "according to the law of the land, in a fully transparent manner while preserving his rights, as per the Constitution of Pakistan" and that is "sentence is based on credible, specific evidence proving his involvement in espionage and terrorist activities in Pakistan." If that is the case, what was the need to try Jadhav in a military court where the judges are not even trained officers of law? Why did Pakistan not try him in civilian courts if the evidence against him was so "credible and specific"? And why did it refuse consular access to India 13 times which may have paved the way for India to provide competent legal assistance to Jadhav? Faced by threats from India, Pakistan is further escalating the situation. Reports in Pakistan media indicate that police in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir have arrested three "RAW agents" who were apparently "spying" on China Pakistan Economy Corridor. The three individuals, named Khalil, Imtiaz and Rashid have been slapped with numerous charges and were paraded before the media in masks. Pakistan has also claimed that a Karachi-based underworld don was assisting Jadhav in his espionage. The picture is clear. Pakistan feels it has a strategic hold over India through the capture of its national. It is committing a series of outrageous acts out of a belief that it has the strategic space to do so. It might be feeling emboldened by China's backing and banks on the fact that having sunk billions of dollars in building military-strategic assets inside Pakistan, Beijing won't let any attack on Islamabad go unanswered. What are India's options at this point? Honestly, very little. A state restricted by its own and international laws is always at a disadvantage against a military state driven by resentment during asymmetric war when one side does not believe in upholding obligations. The collective outrage in Parliament and government's vows of bringing him back notwithstanding more frustration and bravado than certitude New Delhi knows that it won't be easy. There are parameters of dealing with a lunatic. How do you deal with the psychotic rulers of a military state? India has already done what it could. Latest reports indicate that it has suspended all bilateral engagements including talks and meetings and has refused to release some Pakistani prisoners. India has also demanded certified copies of Jadhav's chargesheet and placed request for consular access for the 14th time. There are indications that all official and diplomatic options would be exhausted and India may even rope in mutual friends. News18 reported that India is likely to raise the issue with US National Security Advisor H R McMaster who is visiting New Delhi and Islamabad next week. These are incidentals. There is no reason to think that having taken such an adversarial stand on Jadhav, Pakistan will cave in to India's diplomatic pressure. It is also debatable whether the US will push Pakistan beyond a point where it runs into friction with China. India is therefore on its own. It must first figure out Pakistan's real motivation behind Pakistan's bizarre set of actions. It must also remember during negotiations that Jadhav is important to Pakistan so long as he is alive. Killing him will place Pakistan at a strategic disadvantage. India must not pay heed to Pakistan's scaremongering. As India's ties with Pakistan worsen due to the death sentence given to retired Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, the country has decided to put all bilateral exchanges with Pakistan on hold. The Times of India reported that the government on Friday cancelled the talks on maritime security between the two countries scheduled for 17 April. India officially told Pakistan that it was not prepared to host a delegation of Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA). Meanwhile, IANS reported that at least three persons, said to be agents of the Research and Analysis Wing by Pakistan police, have been arrested in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Mohammad Khalil, Imtiaz, and Rashid, all from Taroti village in Abbaspur, were in the custody of police in Rawalakot, the headquarters of Poonch division. According to Poonch Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sajid Imran, Khalil is the "main suspect." He said the three were involved in anti-state activities, including the bombing of a police station, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Khalil, according to the police, had reportedly visited Kashmir in November 2014 to see his relatives in Bandi Chechian village. There he came in contact with RAW which "lured him to work for them." Khalil had an intra-Kashmir travel permit. Later, he is said to have recruited Imtiaz and Rashid to work with him "for handsome returns". During preliminary investigations, according to the police, Khalil told investigators that he had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) about 14 or 15 times from different parts in Abbaspur sector. The DSP said the arrested persons had planted an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) outside a police station in Abbaspur on 27 September last year. "We tracked their movements and phone calls with the help of intelligence agencies and finally arrested them two days ago (Tuesday)," he said. They have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act. India to appeal against Jadhav's death sentence On Friday, Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale told Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua that India will appeal against the death sentence to Jadhav and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the chargesheet as well as the army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. "We would definitely go to appeal against the judgment but we cannot do it unless we have the details of charges and the copy of verdict. So, my first demand was to provide us the details of the charge-sheet and copy of the verdict," he said. Expressing disappointment over Pakistan turning down India's request for consular access to Jadhav, the Indian envoy said, "They have denied our request for consular access 13 times (in the last one year). I have forcefully asked for consular access on the basis of international law and on humanitarian grounds as he is an Indian national." Apart from diplomatic options, India is also exploring legal remedies permitted under Pakistan's legal system. Bambawale also said that he has no information about former Pakistani army officer Mohammad Habib who reportedly went missing from Nepal. Pakistani officials suspect that Indian spy agencies were behind his disappearance. With inputs from agencies A woman, along with her male accomplice, heavily drugs a man, robs him of his money, and leaves him for dead. The man regains consciousness and approaches the cops, who nab the culprits. Should the woman, who is the mother of three children, two of whom are mentally challenged, be shown leniency while sentencing? If yes, what are the factors on which the lower sentence is to be based, and what should be the extent of mercy shown? While upholding the lower sentence given by the trial court, was the Supreme Court driven by extra-legal and paternalistic considerations? These questions come to the fore because of the Supreme Courts 10 April ruling in the case of State of Himachal Pradesh v Nirmala Devi. The crimes she committed warranted a maximum punishment of 10 years rigorous imprisonment and fine. The trial court awarded her two years in jail and a fine of Rs 12,000. On appeal, the high court did away with the sentence of imprisonment, but enhanced the fine amount to Rs 30,000. The apex court found fault with the high courts cancellation of the prison sentence because it was impermissible by law, and ordered that the trial courts ruling was to be adhered to. The apex courts ruling was authored by Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan. It is Justices Sikris judgment which attracts attention, because it relied on a gendered approach to sentencing. Justice Sikri referred to criminologist Eugene McLaughlins work on justice and female criminal offenders to hold that: predominant thinking is that paper justice would demand giving similar penalty for similar offences. However, when it comes to doing real justice, element of taking the consequences of a penalty cannot be ignored. Here, while doing real justice consequences of awarding punishment to a female offender are to be seen." "real justice would consider the likelihood that a child might suffer more from a mothers imprisonment than that of his fathers. He also went on to state that: I may observe that in many countries of the world, gender is not a mitigating factor. Some jurists also stress that in this world of gender equality, women should be treated at par with men even as regards equal offences committed by them. Women are competing men in the criminal world; they are emulating them in all the crimes; and even surpassing men at times It is clear from Justice Sikris reasoning that he upheld the lower courts ruling on the basis of Nirmala Devi being the mother of children who needed her love and attention. His decision is not based on any discussion on female criminality, or the feminist theories which underpin why there is a structured imbalance in sentencing of female offenders. In fact, it only demonstrates the truth in criminal sociologists Candace Kruttschnitt and Jukka Savolainens research, who demonstrated how sentencing in American courts reinforced gendered identities of motherhood and parenting. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Criminal Justice, From Initial Appearance to Sentencing: Do Female Defendants Experience Disparate Treatment?, takes a broader look at gender disparities within the criminal justice system. The four researchers Natalie Goulette of the University of West Florida and John Wooldredge, James Frank and Lawrence Travis III of the University of Cincinnati explored outcomes at two key stages of the criminal justice process. They examined decisions that judges made at a defendants first appearance hearing and during sentencing. The authors of the study based their hypothesis on the fact that judges might treat female defendants more leniently when they conform to the traditional gender roles of housewife and mother. Goulette and her colleagues found support for the evil woman theory, which suggests that this chivalry is reserved for certain groups of women who appear to be docile and in need of protection. The authors suggested that future research should explore the idea that, in some cases, some judges may treat female defendants more harshly if they believe it is in the defendants best interest or if the tougher sentence will serve to protect the women in the future. The researchers also suggest that policymakers consider ways to standardise the judicial process, which could reduce disparities by constraining judges discretion. Would the Supreme Court have gone by the high courts reasoning and waived off the imprisonment period if Nirmala Devi was not a mother of children or a woman who defied the stereotype of the adarsh Bharatiya nari? And what does Justice Sikri mean by the allusion to female offenders in some cases surpassing the calibre of their male counterparts? And why would women, many of whom are drawn into terrorism because of multifarious social and economic factors all of which have a gender angle and a gendered background not receive leniency in sentencing? In effect, the Supreme Courts ruling, instead of being a progressive one, is rooted in gender stereotypes, and leaves many questions unanswered. Ten days ahead of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) elections, the new political party led by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan Swaraj India armed with its manifesto has given a big push to its poll campaigning by using colour power and environment as strong weapons to combat its opponents. The upcoming MCD polls are going to be a litmus test for Swaraj India: the new party in the block. After winning the first round of battle by getting the Whistle as the common symbol to contest Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) elections, Swaraj Indiathe party formed out of Swaraj Abhiyan, a socio-political movement which emerged as a splinter group of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)wants voters across 272 seats in Delhi to identify themselves with the party colour: 'Basanti' colour, which is being used for party flags and head gear. Anupam, chief spokesperson and leader of Swaraj India speaking to Firstpost. Basanti colour, which is close to mustard seed colour, is also the colour of the Basanti flower which one can see with the onset of Basant season in India. It brings joy, happiness and a new energy. By adopting this colour, we also want to communicate to the people of Delhi that we aim at bringing happiness in their lives by making the city pollution-free and environment-friendly. Focusing on clean environment, epidemic-free, garbage-free and pollution-free Delhi, Swaraj India on Friday released it manifesto for MCD polls. Swaraj India is not presenting a long list of promises for the sake of getting elected. Swaraj India makes only one promise: To serve Delhi with a clean heart and to make Delhi a clean city. Our aim is saaf dil, saaf Dilli. Its not a mere claim, rather the party has a concrete action-plan to make Delhi a truly clean city, said Swaraj Indias national president Yogendra Yadav. This is for the first time that any political party has made environment its central theme in electoral politics. We believe in it. In Delhi, which is a global city, pollution is a burning issue. It has given a bad name to India. No political party is bothered about it. Its not even treated as a secondary issue, added Anupam. What does Swaraj Indias manifesto promise? Pollution-free Delhi: Main streets and lanes will be swept at night and washed so that it is not dusty during the day; restrictions will be imposed on builders from creating construction-related dust pollution; strict restrictions will be imposed on burning plastic and leaves anywhere in the city. Epidemic-free Delhi: MCD will run Mission Dengue so that mosquito breeding is prevented round the year and prompt diagnosis and free treatment of dengue, malaria and chikungunya is possible. A control room will be set up for rainwater drainage in the city. Clean Delhi: All public places shall have toilets. Beautification of public parks. Regular licenses will be issued for pushcart vendors with fixed places of operation to avoid bribing inspectors and policemen, and clogging of streets. Licensed food carts will be under special surveillance for hygiene. Swaraj in Delhi: In all decisions related to keeping a locality clean, views of Residents Welfare Association (RWA) and Basti Sabha (slum body) will be taken. All RWAs will receive a consolidated grant for local maintenance and upkeep. Liquor vends in residential areas will be shut down if women oppose it. Schools and hospitals: Opinion of parents of students will be taken while running MCD schools. Vacant posts in schools will be filled. Demand will be made to Delhi Government to either run MCD schools or provide grant for meeting all expenses for the schools. MCD hospital will be handed over to Delhi government, if the latter wants it. Condition of small dispensaries will be improved. Clean Delhi Mission: All citizens and especially school children will be involved in Clean Delhi Mission for cleaner environment. At a time when the political parties responsible for the present deplorable state of MCD are again making appeals for votes, Swaraj India has emerged as a true alternative. BJP, which has ruled MCD for the last ten years, is directly responsible for the filth and corruption that MCD is marred with. While, Congress is at the root of every problem and scam of Delhi, AAP has only betrayed the public in the last two years, Yadav said. Haridwar: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Saturday asked US President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to put a ban on entry of refugees from some countries saying all hearts, doors and borders should be open for children everywhere in the world. "I have seen the condition of children in refugee camps in Germany, Turkey and Austria. Children are made refugees by the socio-political circumstances prevailing in their countries in which they have no role. They are helpless victims of their circumstances and deserve compassionate treatment," Satyarthi told PTI in an interview. "I have always believed that all hearts, doors and borders should be open for children all over the world and there should be no discrimination. I had said this while addressing Austrian Parliament when it had decided to shut its doors on refugees and I repeat this for the Trump administration," he said. Also expressing concern over Trump administration's decision to widen the net of deportations for illegal immigrants, Satyarthi said it may create many complications for the children of illegal immigrants born in foreign lands in settling anywhere. He demanded that the Trump administration should draw up a holistic plan for the protection of the rights of children of the so-called illegal immigrants so that they don't suffer. Satyarthi who was in Haridwar to address the fifth convocation of Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya (DSVV) said the number of child labourers had declined substantially all over the world from 26 crores in 2000 as per a UN data to 16.8 crores at present. "That means a movement like the Bachpan Bachao Andolan started by me in 1980 is on way to achieving its objective of total elimination of child labour from the face of the earth," the child rights activist said. "The declining trend is what makes me optimistic. It has to be a gradual process but it will finally happen with children all over the world breaking free from exploitation of all kinds," he said. Speaking of his unique global initiative named '100 Million For 100 Million' which will provide young people all over the world a forum to do their bit to end violation of child rights making optimum use of the social media, he said launched in December last year by President Pranab Mukherjee, thousands of people across the world were associating themselves with the campaign on a daily basis. "This unique initiative is a step towards globalisation of compassion. Economic globalisation may have been a western concept accepted by the east but the path to globalisation of compassion goes from East to West," he said. The victory of Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar's Lok Sabha seat will rejuvenate the political career of the National Conference patron, who used every card from separatism to a soft pro-Pakistan line ahead of elections. But the lower voter turnout and the number of killings on the election day dampened the otherwise festive atmosphere for the National Conference and its workers in its party headquarters in Srinagar. For seven percent turnout, 8 people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed in firing by forces. Do you think they will celebrate? Anees Ahmad, a shopkeeper outside the party headquarters Nawa-i-Subh Complex near Zero Bridge in Srinagar, asked Firstpost. The mood in and around the National Conference office in Srinagar was sombre. A few party workers gathered around to celebrate the victory of their leader, but National Conference leaders soon stopped the supporters from raising slogans and women from singing and dancing. Inside, Farooq Abdullah appealed to the President of India to impose Governor's rule in the state, following the civilian killings and violence in different parts of the Valley. The state government has completely failed to conduct the elections in a peaceful manner. They have killed youth and put the lives of the people in danger, Abdullah said, at a press conference. Abdullah, the three-time Jammu and Kashmir CM, won the Srinagar parliamentary seat by a comfortable margin: He was over 10,000 votes ahead of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan. Although nine candidates were in fray, the main battle was between the NC patron and Khan. Before Dr Farooq Abdullah starts celebrating his 'victory' in Srinagar by-elections, he ought to remember that it is neither NC's victory nor PDP's defeat. The historic poll boycott is a statement, a strong message sent by the people of Kashmir against the State and status quo on Kashmir. Rest is a political theatre! political commentator Gowhar Geelani said. The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the sitting MP Tariq Hameed Karra resigned after differences with the party over its alliance with the BJP, and the failure of the state government to contain violence and the killings during the 2016 unrest. Karra later joined the Congress party. Abdullah lost the seat to Karra in 2014. The polling for Srinagar was marred by widespread violence. Eight people were shot dead by paramilitary troopers and police and over 150 were injured in clashes between people and forces on polling day (9 April), which saw a mere seven percent voter turnout. On Thursday, re-polling was held for 38 booths which saw violence, but only 702 people turned up; in many booths, not a single vote was cast. Idrees Lone, a resident of Srinagar, wrote on Facebook: If Farooq Abdullah wins and wants to become a hero in Kashmir, he should resign on moral grounds. Six percent people have voted. The rest stayed away. That should give him the hint. The victory of Abdullah from the Srinagar seat, considering his poll campaign, in which he expressed sympathy with stone-pelters and appealed to the Jamaat-e-Islami to come out and vote against the fascist forces, only reflects the defeat of the mainstream politics in the Valley. I met Mohammed Shaik Hussain Ali in that quintessential San Francisco meeting space an airy industrial coffee shop busy, crowded, in fact, for a Sunday morning. He arrived, dressed in a blue shirt and black vest, and we sat down at one end of a large communal table to talk about what it meant to him to be queer and Muslim two apparently polar identities that he seems to navigate with ease. Never feeling an internal conflict between these two identities or the need to choose one over the other, Ali rejects the mainstream Islamic idea that the Quran outrightly forbids homosexuality. I learnt Arabic to read the Quran because I didnt want to rely on anyone elses translation. And what I read buttressed the idea that there was no sin in this and me being gay does not affect my following any of the other tenets of the religion like prayer, fasting or zakat, he explains. I knew I liked men before I ever heard the word gay but until 2000, I thought I was the only person in the world who felt that way, says the software engineer who moved to the United States about a decade ago. It was a matter of time before Ali, thanks to internet chat rooms, discovered more people who shared his feelings and created a small group of friends who continue to support each other to this day. Today, Ali is a published author and chairperson of Trikone, a non-profit organisation for anyone who identifies as South Asian and queer and part of a growing population of Muslims who maintain ties to their religion while also accepting their identity as queer. Alis story, while relatable to most queer Muslims, especially those who grow up in smaller towns or conservative households, is an exception. Being Muslim and being queer are still largely perceived as mutually exclusive. This is more pronounced in India where the social stigma attached to homosexuality is still intensely prevalent. Most people have to choose. Sadia Sharif, a bisexual woman who grew up reading the Quran and offering namaz, culturally identifies as a Muslim; she no longer practices Islam in the way that she was taught. Saad, an engineer based in Delhi, identifies as bisexual and has dated both men and women. From an extremely conservative family that would be livid if they found out he was dating a woman, let alone a man, he gave up his faith as a child, although he keeps this fact and his sexuality hidden from his family. For Ahmad Fawaz, a Delhi-based student, efforts to understand the Quran better and discuss the subject with scholars and theologists led to a realisation. I understood that this requires me to walk out of the frame of structured religion itself. However, the identity of Muslim is almost impossible to let go of and I don't wish to either. It's part of everything I am. Moreover, wearing my religion on my sleeve has not only been a theological necessity, but now in our times, a political necessity as well for me. Hence, I hold on to this identity for more reasons than one, he explains. That the majority of India continues to be culturally conservative about matters regarding gender, sex and sexuality means that queer individuals struggle for acceptance and approval from their families and communities, irrespective of their faith. Queer Muslims face the same kind of stigma and cultural homophobia. But as someone who is raised to think that there is a contradiction between your faith (Islam) and homosexuality, it can be very disturbing, explains Rafiul, an activist and researcher who is very interested in studying how LGBTQ+ Muslims are negotiating and navigating their queer and Muslim identities especially with the climate of the right-wing dispensation at the Centre. Given that not a lot of Muslims are active within the LGBTQ+ community, it can be very difficult to find someone who has a shared experience. This is also because religion and faith hardly ever comes up as a topic of discussion. I attend community gatherings and events regularly, and while other intersectionalities such as physical disability, and Dalits have found a strong voice for themselves within the movement, Muslim voices remain unheard, informs Alim, a 25 year old based in Delhi. I don't think many in these collectives comprehend the contemporary issues and realities of Muslim lives as there are hardly any practicing lower middle class Muslims who are part of these, says Ahmad, who is a part of four queer collectives in Delhi. I say 'practicing lower middle class' because I see the non-practicing middle to upper middle class as too assimilationist and hence lacking in 'political approach," he says. A growing LGBTQ+ movement and the cluster of organisations that have been actively fighting for LGBTQ+ inclusivity and offering support to individuals means that Muslims like Ahmad and Alim certainly have more spaces to turn to, than Ali did over 15 years ago, at least in big cities. While the long legal battle for the decriminalisation of homosexual intercourse is the leading issue that unites the community, the movement has been criticised for its lack of diversity and inclusivity. The last couple of years has seen a long overdue debate and discussion regarding matters of caste and class, led by Dalit-queer activists. But religions other than Hinduism, which is crucial to the caste discourse, continues to be subjects best left un-discussed. While LGBTQ+ spaces are welcoming of Muslims, Rafiul discovered that they are more about being queer than being Muslim and one can be stigmatised for bringing up matters relating to religion. This stigma often translates into casual Islamophobic jokes, being asked to apologise for homophobia in mainstream Islam, or justify why they are practicing a religion that is so unkind to the community. One can argue that if Islam in the form of Sharia has institutionalised homophobia, that LGBTIQ groups owe nothing to Islam either. But Islam is not the only religion which has institutionalised homophobia. So why then ask questions only to Muslims, one wonders, if not as a larger plan of other-ing Muslims? says Ahmad. While studying in Austin, my friends and I could attend Friday prayers and then go to a gay party after. Here, they link faith with conservatism and radicalisation, says Rafiul. I remember, I once made a poster saying Hated for being Muslim, hated more for being gay, but even while making it, I knew I was lying, says Alim, who comes from an economically privileged household. Speaking from personal experience, I faced Islamophobia quite early in life, and in comparison, I have not been a victim of homophobia. I am expected to make my Muslim identity invisible in social circles while being gay is something that I am expected to flaunt, he adds. Comparing the LGBTQ communities in Mumbai and Delhi, Ahmad says, Mumbai was always right of centre and there are elements to this day which are sympathetic to an anti-Islam and Hindu Rashtra-ian idea of India, but in Delhi the voices have been more inclusive. Of late , however, the voices from the right have been more vocal as well, particularly with Narendra Modi at the helm." Increasingly, queer Muslims are feeling the need to carve out a space where they can engage with issues pertaining to their faith and identity, and provide support to others like themselves. But this is harder than it appears. To organise and come together, we need a certain kind of consciousness that comes from conversations and discussions. Not a lot of queer Muslims are active within the community and there is a lack of Muslim leadership so that doesnt exist, says Rafiul. In some cities in North America, another place where Muslims and Islamic identity are under threat, a growing community of queer Muslims are making sure their voices are heard among the LBGTQ+ community and outside. Every Friday, for a few hours, a church in Chicago sees a different kind of congregation. Muslims, of diverse sects, sexual orientation and genders, gather there to offer the Jummah prayers organised by Masjid Al Rabia, a women centered, LGBTQIA+ affirming, sect diverse organisation based in the windy city. Founded by a small group of people including Mahdia Lynn, a white Muslim woman of trans experience and Zaynab Shahar, a queer black Muslim, Masjid al-Rabia offers a safe space for queer Muslims to come together, socialise, pray and support each other through their respective experiences. More recently in the West Coast, a group of young women came together for a weekend of conversation, prayer and sharing at an intimate retreat for queer Muslim women. Organised by Laila, a South Asian queer Muslim woman, the retreat was the first time some of its attendees were in a space where they felt safe to be completely themselves. On a larger scale, MASGD or the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity hosts a yearly retreat for LGBTQ+ Muslims and their partners. MASGD, launched in 2013, is an organisation that works towards increasing awareness and acceptance of gender and sexual diversity in the Muslim community, while also promoting a more progressive understanding of Islam that is built on the principles of justice and equality. A rising sentiment of wariness among Muslims, makes groups like this all the more important as being Muslims and queer often means you are doubly marginalised in both the Muslim and the LGBTQ+ community, though in the latter it takes on more subtle forms. I personally have faced quite a bit of Islamophobia within the (LGBTQ+) community, recalls Laila, I wear the hijab so someone would say 'Why are you wearing that? Dont feel like you are oppressed out here.' And I would have to explain that Im not oppressed and that it was my decision. So Ive had to do quite a bit of education and things have really changed as a result of that. These communities also offer a safe space for Muslims to work through internal conflicts, such as those like Ahmad battle. Mainstream Islamic thought forbids homosexuality outright and though this view is being challenged within the ambit of Islamic scholarship by the likes of Amina Wadud and Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle, queer Muslims often struggle with feelings of guilt and isolation when it comes to their gender and sexual identities. I had girls there who said they had distanced themselves from religion after being shamed for being gay or being forced to follow it. But the way things were presented to them in our environment, it felt like they had other people that they could relate to and support and understand them. The retreat left them feeling closer to Islam and prouder Muslims, recalls Laila. Back home in India, there are stirrings of a similar movement. Muslims folks in the groups like me have only recently started realising their religious identity over their gendered and sexual ones as thats whats under the hammer now, says Ahmad, who Alim describes as one lone crusader who takes it upon himself to speak about Muslim queers. But Ahmad wont be alone for long. Things are far from bleak. Last week, Lucknows LGBTQ+ community organised Uttar Pradeshs first pride parade, an event which proved that the movement, previously concentrated in large urban centres is beginning to reach smaller cities. The most memorable photograph from the parade was that of a young Muslim man holding a placard which read Im A Queer Muslim Babes, Get Over It!. A week ago, Rafiul Rahman launched a Facebook page titled The Queer Muslim Project, which he hopes will grow into a movement that will empower LGBTQ-identified Muslims as well as address homophobia within the Muslim community. It is very important that we have community awareness, we are so community oriented here in India and so attached to our families and that is how we are as a system. So the argument that we should ignore the community because it is inherently oppressive doesnt hold. I think its important that we have more progressive conversations in mosques... it may not start within a day but we can make it happen. To begin with, we need to make available literature in Indian languages that gives a more progressive interpretation of what we have learnt so far. It requires a multi -pronged strategy where we have Islamic theologists who are voicing new and interesting ideas about gender and sexuality within the ambit of Islam and of course, we need Muslims activists to work with the LGBTQ+ community as well, he says. I am hopeful and optimistic. To LGBTQ+ Muslims, I would say, 'Yes, there is stigma on one end, and social and political pressure on the other. But one does not have to give up'. New Delhi: Having reclaimed power in Uttar Pradesh after 15 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will now turn its focus to the states where it has been traditionally weak but which are critical to determine its fortune in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as its national executive meet begins in Odisha today (Saturday). Gaining strength in the eastern states, including West Bengal, is on the top of BJP president Amit Shah's to-do list now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides Shah himself are likely to give a call for pushing the party's expansion in the new territories. After arriving in Bhubaneshwar on Friday, Shah paid tributes to Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar on his birth anniversary and later joined his state party colleagues in celebrating the Odia new year. The BJP organised a motorcycle rally to welcome him. He was also presented with a garland of 74 "victory flowers", a reference to the majority mark in the 147-seat Odisha assembly. The BJP has also planned a virtual road show for Modi when he arrives here tomorrow. He is likely to be greeted at several places on his road travel from airport to Raj Bhawan, where he will stay. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan called Odisha a "laboratory" of the pro-poor policies of the Modi government as he hit out at the state government a day before the executive begins. Modi will also felicitate the members of 16 families associated with an 1817 rebellion in Odisha against the British rule. Continuing with the BJP's dalit outreach, the party has named the venue of its executive meet after noted Odia poet and reformer Bhima Bhoi. Dalits constitute over 17 per cent of the state's electorate and have never been traditional voters of the saffron party, which is now wooing them aggressively. Internal squabbles in the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD and continued decline of the Congress have presented the saffron party with an opportunity for growth in the state and its top leadership is likely to to pull out all stops to woo the voters. Coming against the backdrop of a massive saffron sweep in UP besides a decent show in recent bypolls, the meeting of party leaders from across the country is set to fete Modi and Shahs leadership, and project the victories as a popular endorsement of the central government, sources said. On Tamil New Year day on Friday, a dozen senior MLAs of the ruling AIADMK including some ministers met TTV Dinakaran at his residence. Emerging after the meeting, Dinakaran said they had merely come to wish him on the occasion. The meeting, it emerges, was anything but a cordial exchange of greetings. Sources reveal that Dinakaran was asked to step down as deputy general secretary of the party and facilitate the comeback of O Panneerselvam, a version he dismisses as rumour-mongering. Dinakaran was reportedly told that the impression that the Mannargudi family is controlling the AIADMK, is doing a lot of harm to its public image. The advice apparently did not go down well. It had come on the back of tension that has been brewing between Dinakaran and Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami over the continuation of Health Minister C Vijayabaskar in the cabinet. Vijayabaskar's residence and 34 other properties, most of them related to him, had been raided by the Income Tax department in different parts of Tamil Nadu on last week. The seizure of documents that suggested that Vijayabaskar was the pivot around who the attempt to bribe the voters of RK Nagar revolved, had embarrassed the EPS regime. Other documents also suggested huge corruption under his watch in the health ministry, with meticulous records of bribes paid by medical college managements, maintained by Vijayabaskar's accountant. The chief minister wanted Vijayabaskar dropped as he felt his government was being tainted by his presence in the cabinet. Dinakaran would have none of it as he felt the health minister was part of his campaign team in RK Nagar, where the 12 April election was rescinded after the raids. Sacking him, Dinakaran feels, would give the impression that Vijayabhaskar is guilty and would reflect poorly on him as well. Sources also indicate that the decision to bell Dinakaran is an indication that backchannel talks between the OPS and EPS camps that have been on for a week now are proceeding well. Representatives of the two camps had also met a top-ranking leader of the ruling party in Delhi this week where it was conveyed that the AIADMK leaders of both camps should get together, keeping the Sasikala clan out. But that is easier said than done because of the Sasikala faction, despite her status as a prisoner in Bengaluru jail till 2021, still, commands the personal loyalty of between 20 and 25 legislators. Some of them in that group are MLAs who will not like to work under the leadership of either EPS or OPS. If that number indeed holds out, it would make an OPS + EPS arrangement a minority government. Ruling party lawmakers who have reached out to OPS in the last one week have conveyed to him that they do not wish to face an election at any cost in 2017 or even 2018 for that matter. They will, therefore, go with whichever side that promises political stability. The Sasikala camp has asked the Election Commission for eight weeks time to submit more affidavits to buttress its claim to get the frozen two leaves symbol. The OPS camp is also likely to file a similar request. But at the same time, on Monday, it will ask the EC to decide at the earliest on the legality on Sasikala continuing as general secretary. If Sasikala's election is declared null and void, that will automatically render Dinakaran also an illegal entity in the AIADMK. Those seeking a merger believe that it could just be the trigger to make everyone fall in line. Another move that could set the cat among the pigeons could be action against Vijayabaskar, including possible arrest. If the numbers are arranged, there are two possible leadership arrangements being worked out. One is to continue with EPS as chief minister and appointing OPS as the new AIADMK general secretary. The other possibility is to elect OPS as chief minister and also general secretary with EPS taking over as deputy chief minister. Either way, it will keep the two communities of Thevars and Gounders on its side, as OPS and EPS belong to these two politically dominant communities. With the possibility that local body elections will be delayed as well, it gives time to the two AIADMK factions to get their act together. If the Golden Resort episode in February is anything to go by, Dinakaran is hardly likely to go down without a fight. Given the suspense thrillers with all its twists and turns AIADMK politics have become, predicting the climax is fraught with risk. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, speaking at a press conference on the BJP national executive meeting on Saturday, said that party president Amit Shah would embark on a 95-day tour of the country. "BJP rules most of the states in the country. But there are many states where we need to do well. Amit Shah said that we need to work toward this. The BJP working committee members will devote 15 days for this purpose. They will meet party workers," Prasad said. He added that the BJP chief condemned violence against party workers in Kerala and West Bengal and that Shah would spend 3 days in Kerala. "Because of his connect with the people and the trust people have on him, Amit Shah said that Narendra Modi is the most popular leader since Independence," Prasad said. "BJP chief said we must work toward fulfilling the PM's idea of new India and work for development. We discussed the various issues plaguing Odisha." "When we won in 2014, they said BJP has reached its peak. In 2017, they said the BJP has appeared to have reached its peak. But Amit Shah said that the party is yet to hit its peak." According to Prasad, Shah said that the BJP's golden time would come when it won in Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal. "Now when we are in the land of Lord Jagannath, we firmly believe that BJP will win here too," Prasad said. "We have 13 chief ministers in the country. We want every state to have a BJP chief minister. We want PM Modi to win a second term in 2019. Amit Shah said that the dream is to make BJP a pan India party: From panchayat to Parliament," he added. Reflecting on the BJP's victory in Uttar Pradesh, Prasad said the BJP changed the definition of a big win and demolished regional satraps. "Winning 325 of the 403 seats proves that the people of UP are with the BJP. The UP result is a rejection of the politics of casteism and nepotism. The people have trusted the politics of development," Prasad said. According to Prasad, Amit Shah said that opposition parties were looking for excuses for their defeat and questioning electronic voting machines was disrespectful and defaming the Election Commission. "Opposition leaders find an excuse for their defeat. In 2004 and 2009, when the UPA won, there was no issue with electronic voting machines When BSP and SP won in UP, there was no issue with electronic voting machines. When Akali-BJP coalition lost in Punjab and AAP won in Delhi, there was no issue with electronic voting machines," Prasad said. Speaking on the party chief's vision, Prasad said: "We must do this with the love and affection of the people. The golden age is not just for the BJP, but for India. Let us resolve to make India a truly great power in the comity of nations," he said. The two-day BJP national executive meet, which began on Saturday, is expected to underline strategy for a big saffron push in states like Odisha where the BJP has traditionally been weak. The executive meets against the backdrop of the partys stunning win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand besides maiden conquest in Manipur. It will focus on expanding the party in politically important states like West Bengal and Odisha, which are key to Shahs 2019 Lok Sabha poll strategy. The choice of Odisha as the national executive venue highlights Shah's focus on the state as he believes that the party can boost its prospects due to anti-incumbency against BJD chief and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who has been in power since 2000, and declining fortunes of the Congress. An impressive show by the BJP in recent local body polls in the state and internal fights in the BJD have boosted its morale. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a rousing welcome by the people on Saturday during his 9-kilometre roadshow that he held soon after arriving at the city airport to attend the BJP national executive meet. He was welcomed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport by senior party leaders, state chief secretary A P Padhi and Director General of Police K B Singh on behalf of the Odisha government after he boarded off the IAF's 'Raj Hans' aircraft. Governor SC Jamir and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were not seen at the airport to welcome the prime minister as his visit was "non-official" and political in nature, said the government sources. Clad in an all-white, Modi stood on the footrest of his Range Rover, beamed and waved at the people who had gathered on both sides of the road with lotus flowers in their hands to greet him. Defying the security cordon, Modi even got off his vehicle a couple of times, walked to the people waiting for him for hours in the summer sun, greeted them and even shook hands with some of them. He also paid floral tributes to the freedom fighters and illustrious sons of the soil on his way to the Raj Bhavan. As the prime minister's 9 kilometre-long roadshow passed through the main road connecting the airport and the Raj Bhavan, the chants of 'Modi .. Modi,' 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Bande Mataram' rent the air. The state BJP also organised folk dance, songs and folk music at different places along the route taken by the prime minister. The members of the BJP's Mahila Morcha felicitated the prime minister in front of the Raj Bhavan, giving him lotus flowers. After a 20-minute halt at Raj Bhavan, Modi resumed his roadshow. He got off the vehicle and walked for about half-a-kilometre near Jaidev Vihar, mingling freely with the people before arriving at Janata Maidan, the venue of the two-day national executive. Bhubaneswar: BJP president Amit Shah was accorded an enthusiastic welcome by his partymen in Bhubaneshwar on Friday and was offered two lotus garlands one with 21 flowers apparently representing the Lok Sabha seats in the state and another with 147 blooms marking the assembly seats. Shah arrived to attend the BJP national executive beginning Saturday and was offered the larger lotus garland by state party president Basant Panda and the other by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. When asked, party insiders said that the garlands represented the number of Lok Sabha (21) seats and assembly seats (147) in Odisha. "The state leadership in a manner requested Shah to help it in winning all the 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats in the state," said a senior leader. Incidently, the BJP has only one Lok Sabha seat out the total 21 in the state and 10 out of the 147 assembly seats. Shah reached Biju Patnaik International Airport at around 1.30 pm and was warmly received by several BJP leaders. Shah is scheduled to join Odia new year celebration programme at BJP state headquarters this evening, party sources said. Having cleared the Uttar Pradesh test with historic marks, it appears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started preparing to take on an united opposition ahead of 2019. This may sound a little funny considering the fact that the opposition has hardly moved an inch on its strategy. But back-to-back statements from leaders of many opposition parties such the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Left parties (both CPI, CPM), Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav have been heard more than once since the Uttar Pradesh verdict. Only the Samajwadi Party leadership has not spoken very clearly on it. How, when and how much of this opposition unity will take tangible shape is anybodys guess. But Modi would rather not wait for them to decide. He has, therefore, started putting things in place for future political consolidation along with tightening the screws in the government. On the last Monday of the Budget Session, the Prime Minister, who is also the chairman of the National Democratic Alliance, invited leaders of all the alliance parties over dinner. At least 32 parties were represented in the gathering. The meeting was meant to showcase the pan-India nature of the NDA, its recent spread in the North East (under NEDA banner), BJPs eagerness to care for the concerns of its old friends and making new ones. A section of the media speculated that the meet was about discussing the President and Vice President polls due in a few months but that was only a small part of the entire exercise. In a read out issued after the meet, the NDA partners expressed confidence in the robust governance and pro-poor policies of Narendra Modi and reiterated that 2019 would be fought together under the latters able leadership. While the BJP is strengthening its alliance pillars, it is also scouting for new ones in uncharted territory such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It made some humble beginnings by aligning with a few small parties having limited influence such as the BDJS in Kerala and MKMK and IJK in Tamil Nadu. Though there was no reason to rejoice, the rise in its vote share in both states has given the BJP hope to scout for bigger partners. All this however, will not be at the cost of Amit Shahs plans to strengthen the organisation BJP in weak or unconquered states. It is more likely to be a mix and match of infusing new energy among the cadres, aggressive membership drives and inviting influential dissidents to make up for its handicap. That West Bengal is one of its priorities has already been made amply clear by the party leadership. Bengal politics was hardly conducive for BJP but with Mamata Banerjee beating all previous records of minority appeasement, the Hindus of the state have suddenly started veering towards the Sangh Parivar. It will not be long before this attraction for the Sangh starts translating into votes for the BJP. In the Northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken his job of expanding the NEDA pretty seriously with full support from the party top brass. Even as the party is working on a long-term strategy for its geographical expansion, the growth of its social base has also touched new heights. After becoming the worlds largest political outfit in terms of members, it managed to break the Mandal stronghold in Uttar Pradesh to get a three-fourth majority. Indeed, both Akhilesh-Mulayam and Mayawati have a lot of rethinking to do if they want to retain their relevance in the crucial state. In Assam, Haryana, Maharashtra and most recently Odisha, the party won the trust of the poor and deprived sections in large numbers. The party already boasts of the biggest number of Scheduled Caste MPs. Its support among the backward castes is also steadily increasing in various states and not just the Hindi heartland. However, not everything is quite rosy. Delving into the data of last two Assembly elections in various states, we found that the BJP may have gained substantially in votes and vote share in many states, but the picture changes if the voter share of its rivals is put together. Among all the states which went to elections post 2014, only in one, Jharkhand, the BJP has a slight (nearly 1 percent) edge over the combined vote share of the opposition. This coupled with the fact that it has touched a saturation point in many north Indian states poses a new kind of challenge for the party. Assuming that the opposition does manage to put its act together in most states, Narendra Modi has to draw the bigger line. Apart from the expansion of the party, the strongest weapon for the Modi army could be its various pro-poor programmes aimed at creating the New India about which the PM recently spoke with great passion. Ujjawalaa, Stand Up India, MUDRA, Affordable Housing (both rural and urban) Skill India are some of the ambitious programmes which can defeat any caste or community based campaign by a mile. While most such schemes in the past degenerated into black holes of corruption, Modi can ensure corruption-free implementation and transparency. His stress on giving samaan avsar (equal opportunity), infusing new confidence by making young men and women job-creators and thrust on empowerment of the weak has already started showing results. With demonetisation, Modi has also made it clear that he would not shy away from taking drastic, unprecedented measures if it comes to that. With a paradigm shift in policies and programmes, conquering new social and geographical boundaries, winning the trust of the minorities remains his next big challenge. Here too, a beginning has already been made with the govts unambiguous stance of Triple Talaq. It is quite clear that the centre will not cow down to regressive elements on the issue. With the Muslim women coming out openly against the discriminatory practice, Modi has already become the topic of conversation. Expect more firm steps in this direction sooner than later. A good senapati, however, does not prepare for battles only on his own strengths. Working on the weaknesses of the enemy is an essential tool in battle craft. Factoring the inner contradictions of the major opposition parties and their leaders, one can expect Narendra Modi to start working on a couple of these opposition faces soon to prevent a larger conglomerate in future. Nitish Kumar, K Chandrashekhar Rao, Naveen Patnaik, Sharad Pawar could all be possible faces in that league. Srinagar: National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll, defeating the ruling PDP candidate, Nazir Khan, by a margin of over 10,700 votes. Abdullah polled around 48,554 votes against Khan, who got 37,779 votes, officials said. The polling for the seat was held on 9 April amid large-scale violence that left eight persons dead and several dozen others injured. The constituency had recorded an abysmal 7.13 percent voter turnout, the lowest ever in its history. The Election Commission had ordered repolling in 38 polling stations in violence-hit areas on 13 April. This will be the third term as Lok Sabha member for Abdullah, whose victory is being seen as a major setback for the ruling PDP. He was earlier elected to the House of People in 1980 and 2009. Although there were seven other candidates in the fray, it was Nota that bagged the second runner-up spot with over 930 voters choosing this option. National Conference workers did not celebrate the win of their party president as a mark of respect to the eight youths killed in firing by security forces on 9 April. The bypoll to the seat was necessitated after the then PDP leader Tariq Hamid Karra resigned from the Lower House of Parliament in protest against the "atrocities" inflicted upon the people during the unrest triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani last year. The rift between the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), which leads the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), and the Communist party of India (CPI), the second-largest constituent of the front, has widened after it has come to power in Kerala 11 months ago. Even though the bickering between the two parties has been quite common with the CPI charging the CPM with big brotherly attitude, this time, it is all over the functioning of the government headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The differences of opinion between the two parties that cropped up after the killing of two Maoists in the Nilambur forests in Malappuram district in November last year have now become more acute with the CPI coming out openly against the state governments stand on key issues. The party has been most critical about the handling of the police by the chief minister, who controls the home portfolio. The party trained its guns against Vijayan after he consistently justified alleged police excesses. He had backed the police in the Maoist killing case by endorsing police chief Loknath Beheras version that the Thunderbolt men had fired at the Left rebels Kuppuswamy Devaraj and Ajitha after they had attacked his men during an encounter. The CPI, which refused to buy the argument, however, stopped pursuing the case after the state government ordered a magisterial inquiry into it. However, the party raked up the case after the government termed Naxal Varghese, who was killed in police custody 40 years ago, as a hardcore criminal and dacoit. The home department took this stand in an affidavit filed in the high court in response to a petition filed by the relatives of Varghese seeking compensation for his murder in the wake of the conviction of the police officer responsible for the murder. CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran viewed the affidavit as contrary to the position taken by the Left in the sensational case. But what has dismayed Kanam was a series of instances, in which home department departed from the Lefts stated positions. They include the arrest of several people, including writers and social activists, under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in various cases. The CPI leader wondered how the Left government could use this law which they had described as draconian while they were in the opposition. The police action against the family of engineering college student Vishnu Pranoy, who died in suspicious circumstances in his college hostel on 5 January, and the subsequent arrest of four social activists, angered the CPI further. The CPI secretary, who took the initiative to end the fast launched by the mother and sister of the deceased student in the wake of the police action at the police headquarters, has viewed the action as one of the most glaring instances of the governments departure from the Left's positions. The party has seen this deviation not only in the handling of the police but also in several other issues, which include the governments refusal to reveal information under the Rights to Information Act (RTI) and the move to revive various projects opposed by the LDF while in opposition on environmental grounds. Rajendran felt that the judicial intervention sought by the government to back its decision not to reveal certain Cabinet decisions was contrary to the Left stand on the RTI Act. He felt that the step would erode Lefts credibility as it had worked tirelessly to get the Act passed. The CPI is also unhappy with the lack of support from home department to the drive launched by the revenue ministry headed by a party minister against encroachments in the states tourist hotspot of Munnar. The issue reached the boiling point on Wednesday when the local CPM activists physically blocked Revenue officials from evicting the encroachers, that too in front of police officials. Though the Revenue department launched the drive as per a collective decision of the LDF, the Idukki leadership of the CPM opposed it, saying that it could affect the poor, who were given land in the picturesque hill town to build houses. Though Revenue Minister E Chandrashekharan clarified that the action was against the resort mafia, who have grabbed huge tracts of land and erected multi-storey buildings in violation of the rules, the CPM continued to obstruct the drive. Curiously, the police remained a mute spectator when activists manhandled the Revenue officials who tried to demolish a shed built on an encroached land in the heart of the town. Though sub-collector Sreeram Venkatarman directed the police to stop the activists, the police acted only after he asked them to give in writing if they did not wish to act. The CPI plea to the chief minister to take action against the police officials and to restrain the party men from obstructing the anti-encroachment drive has fell on deaf years. The CPI is apparently unhappy with the silence maintained by Vijayan. On the contrary, the CPM has tried to put the CPI in the dock. While CPM former general secretary and politburo member Prakash Karat accused the CPI of behaving like an opposition, senior leaders of the party in Idukki, including Power Minister MM Mani have been firing barbs at the Revenue Minister and the CPI secretary. While Mani asked the party not to take the revenue department as their fiefdom, local MLA S Rajendran threatened the officials involved in the anti-encroachment drive. The officials should not remain under the impression that they would be able to continue with the drive by targeting the common man. Dont blame the government if people start dealing with you directly, he warned. Rajendran also attacked the Revenue Minister saying that he was intervening in needless issues. He has asked the minister to restrain the sub-collector, who, he said, was trying to become a hero with the help of media. The CPI state executive that met at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday came down heavily on the CPM for the attack on the party. Party secretary Kanam Rajendran pointed out that the CPI has been pointing out the wrong-doings of the government in order to strengthen the LDF and the government. We have been speaking as a Left entity and not as a party in the opposition. We have only stated the positions taken by the LDF at the national level on various issues. Any attempt to deviate from these positions will weaken the government, he said. He said that his partys attempt was to thwart attempts by certain quarters to weaken the government. However, political analysts feel that the open spat between the two parties would affect governance, which is already hit by a standoff between the IAS and IPS lobby. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati has eventually come back to the path tread by all other major political parties in the state as well as rest of India. Having started off on the promise of providing a viable and muscular alternative to the downtrodden and the excluded classes of society in the early 1990s, Mayawati has joined the bandwagon of those parties whose sole reason for survival (and political business) is to save democracy from another big party. It was widely expected that in her latest show on Dr BR Ambedkars birth anniversary in Lucknow on 14 April, Mayawati would make some major announcement to mark the presence of her party. At present, the political space in UP is occupied by the Bharatiya Janata Party with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hogging the national headlines for nearly three weeks at a stretch. The ousted chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his fractured Samajwadi Party is trying hard to remain in the limelight by giving out calls for unity and resolve which the other SP heavyweight Shivpal Yadav is apparently ignoring. Amid all this, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav has been relegated to the background, much as the Congress which recorded an extremely poor show in the recent Assembly election. In the run-up to the election, the BSP was widely perceived to be a strong contender to return to power, firstly in view of the traditional alternation of the SP and BSP in UP since the late 1990s, and secondly in the context of the fissures within the SP that put paid to Akhileshs chances of retaining power. However, the steady defections of heavyweight leaders from the BSP, and their repeated allegations that money was demanded in lieu of election tickets, damaged the partys image. The gambit by Mayawati to field nearly 100 Muslim candidates also did not go down well with the people. As a result, the party strength has been reduced to 19 in a house comprising 403 MLAs. Faced with the grim prospect of falling off the peoples perception, Mayawati has been making loud noises about rigging in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and her party has decided to observe 11th of every month (a reminder that the election results were announced on 11 March) as a statewide protest day. At the 14 April event in Lucknow, she made some significant points in her address. First, she named her brother Anand Kumar as partys vice-president. This goes against her constant criticism of promoting family members and nepotism. In fact, this was a major reason why her erstwhile confidant Swami Prasad Maurya left the party: He'd reportedly sought tickets for his family members. She had even specifically prohibited her party leaders and workers to come to her with requests to promote their family members. Although she later clarified that Anand Kumar will not hold a public office and also will not contest elections, the message is clear. Incidentally, Anand Kumar emerged as a power centre whenever Mayawati was in power. He has also been involved in many controversies regarding his financial assets and is also being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. By naming him as second in-command, Mayawati is looking to provide him with political protection. Any action against him could well be termed as an attack on the Dalits and their party. Second, she said she was ready to join hands with any party (and that includes Samajwadi Party) in order to save democracy apparently from the clutches of the BJP. The BSP seems resigned to the fact that it remains merely one of those parties for whom the sole reason for existence is to oppose the BJP. Having started off on a promising premise of Dalit empowerment, the BSP in its heyday looked almost invincible with its Dalit support base. The party was in and out of alliances with the SP and the BJP followed by a deep distrust of both. The BSP having been in power four times made Dalits rethink whether this experiment was in their best interests. Now, with its keenness to ally with the Congress, SP and other parties, BSP is no longer a Dalits-first outfit. Third, she said she had a problem with speaking out aloud and that is why she always read out prepared speeches. She said, One of the two glands in my throat was removed by doctors in an operation and so I cannot stress my throat too much, adding that she had to work very hard, first writing her speech and then reading it. She said she was doing it on medical advice by doctors. It is remarkable that she has been reading out from prepared texts for the last many decades, whether she spoke at election rallies, press conferences or other occasions. Even though it caused some curiosity among onlookers and the audience, she never offered an explanation. Now, as she and her party face a severe crisis, she has come out with a reason that could well be an attempt to seek her supporters sympathy. Fourth, Mayawati alleged that most of the huge monuments constructed during her previous administrations were in bad shape. She said their roofs were leaking, their plaster had peeled off, many fittings and doors had been ripped off and plundered, and no maintenance work was being done. She said she would submit a report in this regard to the UP government and seek proper upkeep of the monuments, which were symbols of Dalit pride. And lastly, she also referred to the recent reports that the Yogi Adityanath government had ordered inquiry into the sale of sugar mills and construction of memorials under her government. She said the order on sugar mills had been issued by her minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui but the decision was taken by the Cabinet. With her conciliatory approach towards other parties, Mayawati would expect those parties to support her cause in order to maintain her relevance in state politics, since a foray into national politics seems all but lost for the time being. Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that terrorism is one of the gravest threats to religious freedom around the world and hoped for a "better tomorrow" when people of all faiths, including Hindus, can worship according to their conscience. In his weekly radio and web address, he said the US has cherished the freedom of worship "from the very beginning". "That is the promise the first settlers saw in our vast continent and it is the promise that our bravest warriors have protected for all of our citizens in centuries since, a long time ago," he said on Friday. "Sadly, many around the globe do not enjoy this freedom and one of the gravest threats to religious freedom remains the threat of terror," he said. On Palm Sunday, as Christians around the world celebrated the beginning of the Holy Week, IS killed 45 people and injured over 100 at two Christian churches in Egypt, he said. "We condemn this barbaric attack. We mourn for those who lost loved ones. And we pray for the strength and wisdom to achieve a better tomorrow one where good people of all faiths, Christians and Muslims and Jewish and Hindu, can follow their hearts and worship according to their conscience," Trump said. "With god's grace, life always triumphs over death, freedom overcomes oppression, and faith extinguishes fear. This is the source of our hope and our confidence in the future," he said. He also had a special message for the struggling Americans who have felt for too long the bitter taste of hardship. "I want you to know: this White House is fighting for you," he said. "We are fighting for every American who has been left behind. We are fighting for the right of all citizens to enjoy safety and peace and to work and live with the dignity that all children of god are entitled to know," he said. India-China relations have a major impact on the region. There is a perception that China has been moving very strongly into Indias neighbourhood with her dollar diplomacy. The South Asian region is in dire need of support for its growth and development. India was not able to help her neighbours because of three reasons: One, her own financial requirements for uplifting the population was enormous. Second, her delivery mechanisms for the promises made by Indias leaders leave much to be desired. Third, there is also a suspicion in the minds of smaller countries regarding Indias intentions. China has started showing interest in Afghanistan. She sent her first consignment of weapons and equipment in July 2016. Recently, there have been reports that Chinese PLA and Afghan troops have carried out coordinated patrolling. China has also facilitated talks with the Taliban. She was also part of the Russia-China-Pakistan trilateral talks on Afghanistan in 2016. She is increasing her investments in that country. China Nepal relations have seen the maximum growth in the recent times. China has been investing in road construction, hydroelectric projects, dry ports, World Peace City in Lumbini, creation of China Study Centres, an airport in Pokhara, optical fibre cable connectivity from Kathmandu to Chinese border and a railway line connecting Lhasa and Nepal. In 2014, for the first time, her investments in Nepal were more than that of India. The first China-Nepal joint military exercise is about to take place from 16 April, 2017. Maoist insurgency in Nepal, though that movement had no link to Mao or China, brought China closer to Nepal. China is Myanmars largest trading partner with an annual trade of US $ 13.05 billion. Pipelines from Kyaukphyu to Kunming were completed in 2015. A copper mine in Letpadaung, Kyaukphyu Deep Sea Port and Special Economic Zone project, an oil refinery in Dawei and supply of military equipment during the period when Myanmar was under sanctions marked cooperation between China and Myanmar. China also assists Myanmar in handling the ethnic strife in Myanmars north east. China is also Bangladeshs largest trade partner. Xi Jinping, during his visit to Bangladesh in October 2016, signed a number of agreements and memorandum of understanding for infrastructure construction, energy, power, transportation, communication and establishment of economic and industrial zones worth approximately $25 billion. China is also developing Sonadia Port. 80 percent of Bangladesh armed forces equipment comes from China. In Sri Lanka, China is involved in major infrastructure projects: The construction of Hambantota port, a SEZ and refinery near that port, Colombo South Harbour and Port City projects, Norochcholai thermal power plant, a number of roads, railway lines, Mattala airport. Chinas military supplied Sri Lanka arms worth $ 1.2 billion, at a discounted 'friendship' rate. China also provided weapons and equipment to Sri Lanka during her war against LTTE. China is assisting Maldives with infrastructure projects: Developing Laamu Atoll, construction of Male-Hulumale bridge, upgrading Male airport, tourism resorts and housing projects. Chinese tourists make up 30 percent of visitors to Maldives. Thus, India feels concerned about Chinas forays into her neighbourhood. China, for its part, has done nothing to help improve her relationship with India. She has stood in the way of India getting permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council on the premise that India has joined hands with Japan, who has a frosty relationship with China. China has also been an impediment in India getting a membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group on procedural issues. But she has also indicated that she will support Pakistans induction into the group. One is not sure how that will overcome the procedural impediments, in addition to the fact that Pakistans nuclear proliferation record is far from satisfactory. China also repeatedly placed on technical hold and then vetoed India and other countries application to proscribe some leaders from Pakistan as terrorists. The organisations that these individuals lead have already been placed on the proscribed list by the United Nation's 1267 Sanctions Committee. Because of these issues, the countries in the region are unsure of the relationship that they need to pursue with India and China. Some countries try to play India and China against each other to their own benefit. Sub-regional groupings like Saarc have not been effective due to India-Pakistan relations and Chinas support to Pakistan. The relations between countries in the Indo-Pacific, as the region covering Indian and Pacific Oceans have come to be known in recent times, is dominated to some extent by India-China relations. India-China relations also have an impact in the Central Asian Republics, Mongolia, North and South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and ASEAN. Connectivity projects in the region are affected adversely by this bilateral relationship. Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor which preceded Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has been included by China as part of the BRI. While India supports the corridor, including it in the BRI has not gone down well with her. Bhutan-Bangladesh-India-Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement was signed in June 2015 to have seamless connectivity between these countries and facilitate multi modal transportation. While Bangladesh, Nepal and India have ratified it, Bhutan is yet to ratify it due to environmental concerns. Any discussion on Chinas influence in the region will not be complete without discussing her relations with Pakistan. It appears that China has taken it upon herself to assist Pakistan out of her financial quagmire. In addition to the assistance China provides to Pakistan diplomatically and militarily, the economic angle of the relationship is gaining momentum with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The project that started with just $46 billion has gone up to approximately $55 billion with various projects getting added to it. On 12 April, 2017 Dr Farookh Saleem in his column in The International News of Pakistan questioned as to how the eight power plants that are being constructed in Pakistan will raise a surplus of $ 2.4 billion as payment to China in the first year of their operations. It seems Chinese assistance does not offer free lunches to the recipients. India has started reaching out to her neighbours. During the recent visit of Sheikh Hasina, overlooking protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received her at the airport. A $5 Billion credit line has been extended to Bangladesh, the highest amount given by India to any country. Twenty-two agreements were signed during the visit. Even though the Teesta Water issue remained unresolved, the very fact that Mamata Banerjee took part in the visit held out hopes that the issue may get resolved sooner or later. This visit was a correct example of how India should maintain good relations with her neighbours. One sincerely hopes that this visit is a harbinger of things to come. Islamabad: Protests led by civil society organisations were held in different parts of Pakistan to condemn the killing of university student Mashal Khan for allegedly "publishing blasphemous content online". Demonstrations took place in Zaida village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday as Mashal Khan was laid to rest, The News International said. The 23-year-old journalism student from Abdul Wali Khan University was stripped, shot, thrown from the second floor of the hostel and brutally beaten to death by a mob on Thursday. At least 20 persons were arrested in connection with the incident. In Peshawar, demonstrators chanted slogans against the university administration and police. According to the protesters in Lahore, it was an unprecedented incident in the history of Pakhtuns. They demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident that drew condemnation from across the country. Mashal Khan's family insisted that he was innocent. "I want justice as my son was innocent. I cannot even imagine that he will have committed blasphemy," said Muhammad Iqbal, his father. About 1,000 people, mostly relatives, friends and co-villagers attended his funeral prayer at the main Eidgah in the village. However, none of his fellow students or university officials attended the funeral. His sister told the media that it was a "conspiracy against my brother and it must be unearthed". Meanwhile, Awami National Party (ANP) Mardan President Himayatullah Mayar urged his party members not to comment on the killing until the issue was probed. Mayar met the university students to learn more about the issue. The students said negligence on the part of the university administration led to the incident. The mob stormed the university's Journalism and Mass Communication Department in search of Mashal Khan, Zubair Khan and Abdullah, became violent and shot him while critically injuring another. The police have registered a FIR against 20 persons including students, employees and outsiders. The university has also formed a six-member committee to probe the incident. The university administration had earlier rusticated Mashal Khan, Abdullah Khan and Zubair Khan over the complaint of committing blasphemy. Mashal Khan had earlier said that his Facebook account was hacked and was being misused. A message on the wall of his room said: "Allah is the greatest and Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God." Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Parvez Khattak said the reports had no evidence that he committed blasphemy. He said nobody should be allowed to take the law into their hands. PTI chairman Imran Khan tweeted: "I am in touch with the inspector general since last night (Thursday) on condemnable lynching of a student in Mardan." Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits. Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai lamented that some Pakistanis had forgotten the message of peace given by Islam. "No one is maligning the name of your country or religion... we ourselves are bringing a bad name to our country and religion," she said. Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Mohammad Yousaf said blasphemy cannot be condoned but no one will be allowed to take the law into their hands. DUBAI Iran will ask "no one's permission" to build up its missile capability, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, in what appeared to be a defiant response to U.S. efforts to hamper the Iranian military.Facing an election in May where he hopes to secure a second four-year term, Rouhani has had to defend himself from opponents who say he has been too eager to appease the West, after agreeing to curb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised the nuclear deal and said during his election campaign he would stop Iran's missile programme. After Iran test-fired a new ballistic missile in January, Trump tweeted that it was "playing with fire".Addressing an event showcasing some locally built military hardware, broadcast on state TV, Rouhani said: "The strengthening of the capability of the Iranian armed forces ... is only for defending the country and we will ask no one's permission to build up the armed forces, and to build missiles and aircraft." He said Iran has never had "aggressive aims, but peace is not a one-way road and if we decide to be peaceful the other party ... may not. So there is a need for vigilance." A bill to impose new sanctions on Iran over ballistic missile launches and other non-nuclear activities has been delayed in the U.S. Senate due to concerns about the presidential election.Iran says its missile tests are not covered by the nuclear deal. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Colombo: At least 16 persons died after a rubbish dump collapsed and buried their homes under tonnes of garbage outside the Sri Lankan capital, officials said. "Sixteen people died and seven were injured after the collapse of the Meethotamulla rubbish dump, a worker at the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre (DMC) told Efe news. The 300-feet-high pile had shifted after floods and a fire, and subsequently collapsed on Friday evening onto homes located around the dump, where some 600 people lived, the official said. Rescue and emergency services were still working in the area. According to reports, over 60 houses were damaged, with some witnesses saying more than 100 homes were destroyed. Several others were admitted to hospital for treatment and over 180 people have been displaced, officials said. Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the Disaster Management Centre to provide assistance to the affected families. The residents of the area have been protesting over the past several months urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location. Damascus: The Al Qaeda-linked rebel groups on Saturday prevented the evacuated Shias from reaching their destination in Syria's Aleppo city, hindering a deal with the government, a source said. Around 5,000 pro-government Shias evacuated the besieged towns of Kafraya and Foa on Friday and headed towards Aleppo under a deal between the government and rebels that should also see the evacuation of rebels and their families from rebel-held areas, Xinhua news agency reported. The convoy of the Shias made a planned stop at the rebel-held town of Rashidien as around 2,300 rebels and their families left Madaya town towards Idlib province and also stopped at the government-controlled Ramouseh area in Aleppo. Ramouseh and Rashidien are the places for the swap between both parties, but the rebels of the Front for Liberating the Levant, previously known as the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, prevented the buses from Kafraya and Foa from proceeding towards Aleppo. The government in return kept the rebels and their families from Madaya town from proceeding towards Idlib. According to the source, the rebels had last minute demands and changes to the original deal. He said the deal was brokered by Iran on the government side and Turkey and Qatar on behalf of the rebels. The rebels' backers have apparently backed down on their pledges to see the abidance by the deal from the rebel side, he said. Efforts were being made to see the deal through in the next hours, as there were other Shia batches from Zabadani town, he said. "Around 500 rebels, mainly commanders from Zabadani near Madaya and 2,000 people from Kafraya and Foa are still in their places and were supposed to evacuate once the first batches arrive to their respective destinations," the source said. The deal from Kafraya and Foa on one side and Madaya and Zabadani on the rebel side is considered the largest ever in Syria as the entire population of the Shia towns will leave. Some of the Madaya people refused to leave with the rebels and their families and chose to remain in their area with some rebels who accepted a reconciliation with the government forces. Now as Madaya is clear of the rebels, the Syrian Army entered the area after two years of laying siege to it. In Zabadani, 500 rebel commanders are set to leave in the second batch. This will largely contribute in expanding the security range around Damascus, particularly as Madaya and Zabadani are both close to the Lebanese borders and were conduits for the smuggling of weapons and radical fighters. Still, opposition activists slammed the deal as another attempt for "demographic cleansing". The deal's first step started on Wednesday with a detainee swap between the rebels and the pro-government fighters in Idlib. Washington: A shooting at a crowded restaurant in an Arizona state mall has left two dead, authorities said. The incident happened at the Firebirds restaurant inside the La Encantada mall in north Tucson during an altercation between three people who knew each other. The fight led to the shooting at about 7:30 pm on Friday, said officials. The shooting was confined to the restaurant, said Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman Cody Gress, reported CNN on Saturday. One woman was injured with a gunshot to the leg and is being treated at a local hospital, Gress said. "All three individuals were known to each other, but the specifics of the relationship are unknown," he said. Authorities said it's unclear how the situation escalated into a shooting. "It looked like two gentlemen were fighting, it was hard to tell," witness Laura Harder told CNN affiliate KGUN-TV in Tucson. "I saw a gun come out and he just shot him in the head right in front of us." Harder said the restaurant was full when she noticed something was happening at a nearby table. After the shooting, she saw how the gunman grabbed the other man's companion by the arm and pushed her down a hallway. Harder heard two more gunshots while crawling on the ground for an exit. "I assumed he had shot her," she said. As gunshots erupted, patrons began screaming and running out of the restaurant. "There were probably about 10 shots. It was pretty harrowing," said another witness. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law setting up a unified state register of persons liable for military service. According to the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the president signed this law on April 14, 2017. According to the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, the state register will be a unified automated information and telecommunications system for storage of information about all military conscripts. The register will contain personal and official data of citizens liable for military service from the age of 17 to 60, in particular, information about the date of departure from Ukraine and the date of return to the territory of Ukraine. Information from the Central Election Commission, the State Border Guard Service, the Ministry of Education, migration and fiscal services will be included in the register. The register will also be replenished with the data of conscripts from registration cards and personal files of military enlistment offices. The owner of all information will be the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, while the manager will be the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration declined to name any major trading partner as a currency manipulator in a highly-anticipated report on Friday, confirming a decision to back away from a key Trump campaign promise to slap such a label on China. The semi-annual U.S. Treasury currency report did, however, keep China on a currency "monitoring list" despite a lower global current account surplus, citing China's unusually large, bilateral trade surplus with the United States. Five other trading partners who were on last October's monitoring list - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland - also remain on the list, ensuring that the Treasury would apply extra scrutiny to their foreign exchange and economic policies. The Treasury report recognized what many analysts have said over the past year, namely that China has recently intervened in foreign exchange markets to prop up the value of its yuan currency, not push it lower to make Chinese exports cheaper. Foreign exchange experts told Reuters last week that a manipulator label was unlikely for Beijing. Trump, who on the campaign trail blamed China for "stealing" U.S. jobs and prosperity by cheapening its currency, repeatedly promised to label the country as a currency manipulator on "day one" of a Trump administration - a move that would require special negotiations and could lead to punitive duties and other action. But he said on Wednesday that he would refrain from that label, partly because he was working with China to rein in North Korea's threatening actions. The report did call out China for past efforts to hold down the yuan's value, saying this created a long-term "distortion" in the global trading system that "imposed significant and long-lasting hardship on American workers and companies." The Treasury also warned that it will scrutinize China's trade and currency practices very closely. "China will need to demonstrate that its lack of intervention to resist appreciation over the last three years represents a durable policy shift by letting the RMB (yuan) rise with market forces once appreciation pressures resume," the report said. The Treasury did not alter its three major thresholds for identifying currency manipulation put in place last year by the Obama administration: a bilateral trade surplus with the United States of $20 billion or more; a global current account surplus of more than 3 percent of gross domestic product, and persistent foreign exchange purchases equal to 2 percent of GDP over 12 months. No countries were determined to have met all three of these criteria, but Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland all met two of them. (Reporting by David Lawder; editing by Bill Rigby, G Crosse) U.S. President Donald Trump's administration declined to name any major trading partner as a currency manipulator in a highly-anticipated report on Friday, confirming a decision to back away from a key Trump campaign promise to slap such a label on China. The semi-annual U.S. Treasury currency report did, however, keep China on a currency "monitoring list" despite a lower global current account surplus, citing China's unusually large, bilateral trade surplus with the United States. Five other trading partners who were on last October's monitoring list - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland - also remain on the list, ensuring that the Treasury would apply extra scrutiny to their foreign exchange and economic policies. The Treasury report recognized what many analysts have said over the past year, namely that China has recently intervened in foreign exchange markets to prop up the value of its yuan currency, not push it lower to make Chinese exports cheaper. Foreign exchange experts told Reuters last week that a manipulator label was unlikely for Beijing. Trump, who on the campaign trail blamed China for "stealing" U.S. jobs and prosperity by cheapening its currency, repeatedly promised to label the country as a currency manipulator on "day one" of a Trump administration - a move that would require special negotiations and could lead to punitive duties and other action. But he said on Wednesday that he would refrain from that label, partly because he was working with China to rein in North Korea's threatening actions. The report did call out China for past efforts to hold down the yuan's value, saying this created a long-term "distortion" in the global trading system that "imposed significant and long-lasting hardship on American workers and companies." The Treasury also warned that it will scrutinize China's trade and currency practices very closely. "China will need to demonstrate that its lack of intervention to resist appreciation over the last three years represents a durable policy shift by letting the RMB (yuan) rise with market forces once appreciation pressures resume," the report said. The Treasury did not alter its three major thresholds for identifying currency manipulation put in place last year by the Obama administration: a bilateral trade surplus with the United States of $20 billion or more; a global current account surplus of more than 3 percent of gross domestic product, and persistent foreign exchange purchases equal to 2 percent of GDP over 12 months. No countries were determined to have met all three of these criteria, but Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland all met two of them. (Reporting by David Lawder; editing by Bill Rigby, G Crosse) PARIS (AP) Up-to-date Microsoft customers are safe from the purported National Security Agency spying tools dumped online, the software company said Saturday, tamping down fears that the digital arsenal was poised to wreak havoc across the internet. In a blog post , Microsoft Corp. security manager Phillip Misner said that the software giant had already built defenses against nine of the 12 tools disclosed by TheShadowBrokers, a mysterious group that has repeatedly published NSA code . The three others affected old, unsupported products. "Most of the exploits are already patched," Misner said. The post tamped down fears expressed by some researchers that the digital espionage toolkit made public by TheShadowBrokers took advantage of undisclosed vulnerabilities in Microsoft's code. That would have been a potentially damaging development because such tools could swiftly be repurposed to strike across the company's massive customer base. Those fears appear to have been prompted by experts using even slightly out-of-date versions of Windows in their labs. One of Microsoft's fixes, also called a patch, was only released last month. "I missed the patch," said British security architect Kevin Beaumont, jokingly adding, "I'm thinking about going to live in the woods now." Beaumont wasn't alone. Matthew Hickey, of cybersecurity firm Hacker House, also ran the code against earlier versions of Windows on Friday. But he noted that many organizations put patches off, meaning "many servers will still be affected by these flaws." Everyone involved recommended keeping up with software updates. "We encourage customers to ensure their computers are up-to-date," Misner said. While advances in automation threaten job opportunities across the globe, former Morgan Stanley chairman & CEO John Mack explained why he is optimistic about the technology sector. Technology, as we can tell, continues to accelerate and change our lives to see the creativity is what really turns me on. Do I want to make money? Absolutely. But just as important is to see how people are thinking and how technology is going to change our world, he told FOX Business Maria Bartiromo. Even though Mack is confident about future growth in the technology sector, he is still concerned about the potential threat technology poses to job creation. Im concerned about jobs, not jobs growth creating jobs. Technology is going to continue to erode our people and the opportunity to work More and more banking is going to be done online and as that happens, where are the jobs? Are we going to be eliminating jobs? Mack also elaborated on why he is invested in financial technology. Financial technology clearly is moving very quickly and is changing the way we invest, the way we save, the way we get our information and also where we get our advice on what we should be doing. So I do it because I love fintech but I love the financial markets even more. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The recent news that the U.S. economy added only 98,000 net new jobs in March, far below the 219,000 expected by Wall Street, illustrates the importance of creating new jobs and preparing Americans to fill them. In a recent Fox News poll that asked people what they most wanted President Trump to get done, creating jobs was far and away the most popular choice. Trump recognized the power of this issue long ago, promising throughout his campaign that he would create new American jobs to replace manufacturing jobs that have disappeared. The most effective way to achieve the presidents goal would be to help more low- and moderate-income people prepare for and receive a challenging college education. By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school, according a Georgetown University study. In 1973, workers with postsecondary education held only 28 percent of the jobs. More dramatically, another Georgetown University study found that 11.5 million U.S. jobs created between January 2010 and January 2016 were filled by workers with at least some college education including 8.4 million with bachelors degrees. But only 80,000 of the jobs created during the period less than 1 percent of the total went to workers with a high school diploma or less. And this came after 5.6 million such jobs were lost during the recession. Fortunately, both President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have pledged their support for enabling more Americans to get a better education. Both the president and I believe that providing an equal opportunity for a quality education is an imperative that all students deserve, DeVos said Feb. 23 at the Conservative Political Action Conference. But sadly, far too often today a young persons educational attainment is unfairly limited not by academic ability, but by parental income. The enormity of the educational opportunity gap between the wealthy and those of modest means is illustrated by a White House report that states: While half of all people from high-income families have a bachelors degree by age 25, just 1 in 10 people from low-income families do. Many experts have written about the actions we need to take to help a greater number of academically qualified low- and moderate-income students go from high school to college. These include sharply increasing financial aid, changing admissions policies to recognize the special challenges these students face, and establishing mentorship and internship programs to help students succeed in finding suitable work. But long before students reach 12th grade, schools need to do more to prepare them to continue their education. An important step that would benefit all K-12 students particularly moderate- and low-income ones would be to make the school year longer, because disadvantaged students are more likely to fall further behind academically during a long summer break. The closure of schools for most of summer is driven by school budgetary concerns (keeping schools open longer is costly) and not academic ones. A three-week summer vacation would be ample. When I ran a program for three summers for 300,000 students while I was New York City schools chancellor we were able to raise reading and math scores by two grade levels remarkable progress that benefitted our students. The lesson was that more time-on-task works. We dont have another program thats as effective. In addition, schools need to use the newest education technology (edtech) in a smart way. Edtech has the potential to transform the way we teach. Students can proceed at their own pace and can be provided with gameified memory tasks. Edtech monitors a students progress, alerts teachers when a student is having difficulties and keeps parents posted on their childs progress. Edtech frees up teachers to spend less time on routine tasks and more time providing individualized instruction that is tailored to each students academic needs. Finally, schools need better teachers. When I was schools chancellor I worked with the teachers union head at the time, Randi Weingarten (today the head of the American Federation of Teachers), to rid the New York City schools of individuals teaching on emergency credentials. These people had little training and were hired just to fill empty slots. Students everywhere deserve better. Together, we created the NYC Teaching Fellows program in 2000, and it continues operating to this day with over 9,000 fellows in 80 percent of the citys 1,800 public schools. Over 30 other cities have adopted the program. The program invites professionals from other fields to become teachers and simultaneously complete a tuition-subsidized masters degree in teaching. More programs like it are needed. While there are many wonderful teachers and all of us have memories of the teacher who made a critical difference in our lives we need to do more to get the best in the classroom. Education is the most powerful job creation tool our nation has. As robots and automation continue wiping out manual labor jobs, we have an obligation to all our young people regardless of family income to prepare them for college and the jobs of tomorrow. It was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be a turning point. Following 16 years of Chavismo dominance, in December 2015 the democratic opposition in Venezuela had turned the tables; democratically. Democracy and Venezuela arent two words often heard side by side in a positive statement. But The Democratic Unity Roundtable (the opposition coalition, MUD as its known in Spanish) won the last round of elections with overwhelming results: 14 million Venezuelans elected 112 candidates as opposition deputies out of 167, a clear super-majority. Some (perhaps naive) freedom loving Venezuelans sensed real change. Constitutionally, the opposition led parliament now had the numbers to legislate real change, remove members of the corrupt and pro-government Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) and National Electoral Council (CNE), as well as to veto ministers and even the vice-president. The National Assembly held its official opening by swearing in all deputies, both pro and anti-government. The previous parliament, in line with the Chavismo ways, had been hostile to the free press. This parliament invited them all back in. The old guard, however, was not going to leave quietly. And Venezuela quickly learned that lame ducks can still bite. In its desperation, the outgoing Chavismo-majority National Assembly, that was still in place for a few more days, named 13 new justices and 21 replacements for the TSJ, violating all appointment rules and established protocol. Over half of the new justices lacked the legal qualifications and experience to serve on the courts. And is if to mock all judiciary logic and moral coherence, just a couple of months ago, they placed Maikel Moreno as president of the Supreme Court, a convicted felon for murder. You cant make this stuff up. Likewise, the National Electoral Council (CNE) the supposed bastion of democracy decided not to confirm the opposition's 112 democratically elected deputies. The new aforementioned judges, following the lead of the CNE, agreed that there had been irregularities in the voting process in several states and that the TSJ would accept the claims for fraud" in Amazonas state; How to Destroy Democracy 101. The newly-elected National Assembly of course refused to accept these trumped up politically motivated claims, cue stalemate, cue mayhem. Clearly the authorities were getting a taste for this totalitarian business. Next up was the constitution. The CNEs decision to suspend a constitutionally legal recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro, under the same fraud mechanism, ignoring 2.5 million signatures collected by the opposition, was yet another nail in the coffin of Venezuelan democracy. Meanwhile the TSJ continues to claim that due to the fraud claim in the Amazonas state, any laws passed (which they dont like) by this National Assembly can be annulled. Using this argument, the high court has annulled over 30 pieces of legislation, and the majority of resolutions taken by the legislative branch since it began its functions almost a year and a half ago. These laws include the Amnesty Law which ordered the release of all political prisoners who have been arrested at protests, or for such heinous crimes as expressing an opposing political opinion. Over 100 Venezuelans, mostly students, still rot in regime dungeons just for expressing the wrong political view. Last week, Maduros cronies attempted to seal the coffin. The TSJ decided to strip the National Assembly from all of its legislative powers, and eliminated parliamentary impunity. This would allow the court to accuse deputies of treason against the homeland and prosecute them. For once, the uproar from the opposition was echoed in the international community. Julio Borges, President of the National Assembly, together with a large number of legislators, denounced the decision as trash. The international community followed suit with the brave and outspoken Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro notably calling it a self-inflicted coup detat perpetrated by the Venezuelan regime against the National Assembly, the last branch of government to be legitimized by the will of the people of Venezuela. Even Venezuelas Attorney General, who is aligned with the socialist government, said the decision by TSJ had gone too far and was a "rupture of the constitutional order". Maduro, having led this move, now panicked. He quickly asked the high court to review and revert the ruling, which it did. No one has seen the new ruling, and the National Assembly is still paralyzed. But several things are now patently clear to all of those who thought there were any crumbs of democracy left in Venezuela. First, the TSJ stole the legislative powers a long time ago, the last weeks shenanigans were just a means to formalize it. Reverting the official ruling does not save the judges from their crimes. They should be prosecuted and removed from their posts right away. Second, Maduros request to review the sentence does not save him from the coup he perpetrated. He and his corrupt cronies continue to get rich while the masses starve, while imposing his disgraceful authoritarian stamp across the various branches of government. And third, Venezuelas regime is antithetical to democracy and needs to go. As this recent episode has proven, real international pressure works. Strong voices backed up by strong actions from the US Administration and Congress, combined with the immediate application of the OAS Inter-American Democratic Charter, will provide a tail wind to the brave liberty loving Venezuelans who still believe that they too deserve democracy and freedom. Students at the University of California, Davis proved you don't need a Bic lighter to desecrate Old Glory -- you just need a majority vote. The UC Davis Student Senate passed legislation revoking a long-standing rule that required the American flag "stand visibly" at every senate meeting. CLICK HERE TO LEARN TO FIGHT BACK AND RECLAIM AMERICA! GET TODD'S NEW BOOK! "It shall not be compulsory for the flag of the United State (sic) of America to be displayed at the ASUCD Senate meetings," the new legislation declares. Ironically, the author of the anti-American bill is a student who recently became a naturalized citizen. "The concept of the United States of America and patriotism is different for every individual," Itmar Waksman told the CBS affiliate in Sacramento. Under the new rules, any senator who wants to display Old Glory must file a petition. "It will then be at the discretion of the Senate Pro Tempore whether to approve, reject or set the decision to a vote of the Senate," the bill states. Click here to read the full story on ToddStarnes.com. After painful November 2016 losses, Washington Democrats still appear committed to devoting resources to strongholds like California, instead of responding to party pleas to put time and money into Middle America to reconnect with disaffected voters. The contrast came into full view when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee earlier this month started moving senior staffers to deep-blue California, then provided essentially no help to its candidate in the Kansas special election, who on Tuesday nearly pulled off a huge upset. Washington Democrats hailed candidate James Thompsons narrow loss as a moral victory, considering Republicans have held the seat since 1995. But Thompson made clear that the DCCC and the Democrat National Committee could have done more, considering Washington Republicans including President Trump, Vice President Pence and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz invested time and money to save the seat. The DCCC and the DNC need to be doing a 50-state strategy, said Thompson, after coming within 6 percentage points of winning Kansas GOP Rep. Mike Pompeos open House seat. (Pompeo won reelection there last year with roughly 60 percent of the vote before becoming the CIA director in January.) GOPS WIN IN CLOSE SPECIAL ELECTION IN KANSAS Thompson also pointed out that his campaign was largely financed by individual, small-dollar donations, saying 99 percent of the money came through average-$20 contributions. The state Democrat party disputes a report that it gave Thompson just $3,000 late in the race but has failed to provide documentation showing the group in fact backed the first-time candidates campaign from the start. The DNC contributed no last-minute money to counter the GOP infusion, with newly-installed Chairmen Tom Perez telling The Washington Post: There are thousands of elections every year, though. Can we invest in all of them? That would require a major increase in funds. DNC Communications Director Xochtil Hinojosa told Fox News on Wednesday that the outcome of the Kansas race -- in a district Trump won in November by 27 percentage points -- proves voters resounding frustration with the presidents agenda and that Washington Democrats are committed to organizing in every zip code. Meanwhile, the DCCC, which declined to comment for this story, is already sending staffers to Southern California to establish a base camp for 2018 House races in the state and in Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Moving out West is one of the improvements that were making at the DCCC in order to maximize gains in the midterms, says group Chairman Rep. Ben Ray Lujan. The New Mexico congressman also vowed that he and fellow Democrats are on offense across the map -- including in districts that have not seen a serious challenge in a long time. To be sure, the DCCC has sent dozens of paid staffers and hundreds of volunteers to Georgia for the special election Tuesday for the open seat of former GOP Rep. Tom Price, in a district Trump barely defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. (Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff has raised more than $8 million in that race.) But whether the plan is enough to satisfy rank-and-file Democrats after November 2016 remains to be seen. Before last year, Republicans had already controlled both chambers of Congress as well as the majority of state houses and governors offices. And losses in Democratic strongholds like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida in 2016 that led to Trumps upset victory over Clinton -- and nixed the partys chances to retake the Senate -- only reinforced the notion that the Midwestern, blue collar vote has been neglected. We have to talk to those people who take a shower after work, not those who just take a shower before work, Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan said after the losses and amid his subsequent, failed effort to replace California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House minority leader. He also joined fellow party members in saying Democratic leaders had become too focus on liberal bastions like California, New York and neighbor East Coast states. Despite Democrats last year winning a handful of House seats, Republicans will still have a daunting, roughly 44-seat majority going into the midterms and a 52-48 seat edge in the Senate. In California, Democrats are targeting seven incumbent House Republicans -- including high-profile Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Darrell Issa and three others in Southern California. Ben Tulchin, a San Francisco-based Democratic pollster and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders pollster in the 2016 Democratic primaries -- supports the partys California strategy. He says such grassroots efforts in places like Los Angeles and Orange counties make sense because voter-registration drives can reach a large number of unregistered Latinos, Asian-Americans and others who frequently vote Democrat. Theres an untapped pool of Democratic voters that just doesnt exist in place like Iowa, he said. Tulchin also argued that reaching voters by TV in the greater-Los Angeles market is too expensive and that voters in largely-conservative Orange County, particularly along the coast, are becoming more socially liberal or at least more moderate. Theyre almost all pro-environment, Tulchin said. President Trumps wife and their young son will officially be moving into the White House this summer, following the end of the school year, a senior White House official tells Fox News. The move is in line with what senior Trump transitions officials told Fox News in December about first lady Melania Trump and son Barron Trumps timeline for moving from Trump Tower in Manhattan to Washington. Since his January 20 inauguration, President Trump has lived at the White House while his wife and their 11-year-old son have stayed in New York City. A senior White House aide says the first lady has been directly involved in arranging the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the summertime move. The former model, born in Slovenia, appears to be taking an increasing role as first lady in her husbands early presidency and frequently joins him at their South Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago. Barron will be the first boy to live at the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr., who was a toddler, in 1963. "Mrs. Trump said on the campaign trail that she wanted to be a traditional first lady like Michelle Obama or Pat Nixon," Andrew Och, a White House historian and author known as The First Ladies' Man, said in a recent interview. "Melania Trump bringing and unifying her family under one roof of the White House is a very smart move, and a very traditional move," he also said. "The fact she was protecting (Barron) before this, by letting him finish out his school year, is not unprecedented. It is just a little bit unusual that they didn't move into the White House immediately after the inauguration." U.S. military commanders are stepping up their fight against Islamist extremism as President Donald Trumps administration urges them to make more battlefield decisions on their own. As the White House works on a broad strategy, Americas top military commanders are implementing the vision articulated by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: Decimate Islamic States Middle East strongholds and ensure that the militants dont establish new beachheads in places such as Afghanistan. Theres nothing formal, but it is beginning to take shape, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday. There is a sense among these commanders that they are able to do a bit moreand so they are. While military commanders complained about White House micromanagement under former President Barack Obama, they are now being told they have more freedom to make decisions without consulting Mr. Trump. Military commanders around the world are being encouraged to stretch the limits of their existing authorities when needed, but to think seriously about the consequences of their decisions. The more muscular military approach is expanding as the Trump administration debates a comprehensive new strategy to defeat Islamic State. Mr. Mattis has sketched out such a global plan, but the administration has yet to agree on it. While the political debate continues, the military is being encouraged to take more aggressive steps against Islamic extremists around the world. The firmer military stance has fueled growing concerns among State Department officials working on Middle East policy that the Trump administration is giving short shrift to the diplomatic tools the Obama administration favored. Removing the carrot from the traditional carrot-and-stick approach, some State Department officials warn, could hamper the pursuit of long-term strategies needed to prevent volatile conflicts from reigniting once the shooting stops. The new approach was on display this week in Afghanistan, where Gen. John Nicholson, head of the U.S.-led coalition there, decided to use one of the militarys biggest nonnuclear bombsa Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOABto hit a remote Islamic State underground network of tunnels and caves. A senior administration official said Mr. Trump didnt know about the weapons use until it had been dropped. Mr. Mattis is telling them, Its not the same as it was, you dont have to ask us before you drop a MOAB, the senior defense official said. Technically theres no piece of paper that says you have to ask the president to drop a MOAB. But last year this time, the way [things were] meant, Im going to drop a MOAB, better let the White House know. The more aggressive military approach comes as the long slog against Islamic State is bearing fruit. The group is on the back foot in its Iraqi stronghold, Mosul, and is facing a hard battle to defend its de facto Syrian capital, Raqqa. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. Im exhausted. Mentally and physically spent. I like to think I have a pretty good motor when it comes to reporting on Capitol Hill. I can fully function on just a couple of hours of sleep a night. Im 48 years old and make it a point to exercise every day. I have run a mile in as little as 6 minutes and 3 seconds in the past several months. But Im worn out. Not from exercise. But from Congress. In November, it was clear 2017 could be the most tumultuous year on Capitol Hill since 1995. Thats when Republicans seized control of the House for the first time in 40 years and then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., rolled out an aggressive legislative agenda to do things differently in Washington. Gingrich pushed the House through his 10-point Contract with America, repeatedly challenging President Bill Clinton. As the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., said at the time, it wasnt the first 100 days which were killing members. It was the first 100 nights. Theres truth to that this time around. Since the beginning of the year, the Senate has stayed in session around the clock four times. That included a 57 hour and 5 minute stretch in February as Democrats required the body burn off time on various Cabinet nominations. Just last week, the Senate remained in session for a day-and-a-half as Sen. Jeff Merkley, D0-Oregon, commandeered the floor for 15 hours and 28 minutes to contest the nomination of now confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. The GOP-majority Senate twice this year met at 6:30 a.m. Once was for a vote to halt debate on the nomination of now Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Both parties are to blame for the hectic schedule. Notably, Democrats deployed all parliamentary options available on many of President Trumps Cabinet nominations. That forced the Senate to consume inordinate chunks of time afforded the minority party under the rules. The Senate voted to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price just after 2 a.m. ET one morning, then held an additional procedural vote on the nomination of Steve Mnuchin to become Treasury secretary. The wild pace started even before the 115th Congress convened on January 3. On the night of January 2, House Republicans approved a rules change to de-fang the quasi-governmental Office of Congressional Ethics. By morning, House Republicans realized they had a public relations disaster on their hands worthy of United Airlines. The body was just hours away from taking one of the first votes of the Congress to undercut an ethics watchdog. Ten minutes before the new Congress gaveled to order, leader of the GOP-controlled House convened an emergency conference meeting to abandon the effort to deaden the ethics office. Inauguration Day is always a crazy one in Washington. Many who toil on Capitol Hill arrive well before dawn for work. But by dark on this Inauguration Day, the Senate was in the middle of roll call votes to confirm Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis. A brouhaha erupted over Democrats demanding debate on the nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Vice President Pence visits the Capitol continuously to meet with Republicans -- mostly about trying to solve the puzzle of repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Many of Pences meetings come at night. Two of them last week didnt start until after 8:30 p.m. ET. Pence had to vote to break a tie to confirm DeVos, marking the first time that a vice president did such to confirm a Cabinet secretary. Two weeks ago, Pence broke two ties in one day on an abortion-related measure. No vice president had broken two ties in a single day since Alben Barkley on Oct. 4, 1949. So, three tie-breaking votes for Pence in less than three months in office. Prior to the DeVos vote, Vice President Dick Cheney broke the last Senate tie, on March 13, 2008, on a budget package. Vice President Joe Biden never cast a ballot to break a tie. Congressional Republicans dont have a lot to show for their efforts so far this year. Perhaps the only major achievement they scored was the Gorsuch confirmation. Still, Democrats filibustered the nomination -- a first for a Supreme Court nominee. In turn, Senate Republicans were forced to deploy the nuclear option, a striking change in Senate precedent to lower the threshold to break a filibuster on a high court nominees. Offstage, theres political wrestling over health care. Republicans in late March yanked a plan off the floor engineered by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. They first pushed back the vote by a day, eliciting an evening convocation at the Capitol (of course) between House Republicans and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, top White House adviser Steve Bannon and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. The evening huddle with House Republicans naturally produced a 7 a.m. meeting the next day of the House Rules Committee to prepare the health care legislation for the floor. By mid-afternoon, the legislation was toast and the effort was all for naught. Congress last week abandoned Washington for an 18-day recess. But there was chatter the House could reconvene on an emergency notice if they thought they were close on a health care deal. A senior House GOP leadership source told Fox before the break that wouldnt happen until the end of the recess -- and only if they were confident they had the votes. Then House Republicans announced they would hold a conference call next Saturday with rank-and-file members. Ryan left Washington for a bipartisan trip to Europe to meet with NATO allies, though it was said the speaker was prepared to return if they had a deal. Trump long ago said he was dropping health care and turning to tax reform. But, thats not the case now. I think we're doing very well on health care, Trump said in an interview with Fox Business. It's been very much misreported that we failed with health care. We haven't failed. We're negotiating, and we continue to negotiate. And we will save perhaps $900 billion. The whiplash Of course, it would only be par for the course if Congress cuts short the recess. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution enables presidents to summon Congress back to session for extraordinary circumstances. No president has used that authority since Truman in 1948. Among the issues then? Debate on a national health care system. Obviously that didnt go over too well Among the other bizarre things that unfolded on Capitol Hill this year? A routine car chase that devolved into an incident in which U.S. Capitol Police shot at the suspect to stop as she sped past the Rayburn House Office Building. There was the contretemps over Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during the debate on whether then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., should become attorney general. Warren quoted the words of Coretta Scott King during her speech opposing Sessions. Warren read from a document that was inserted into the Congressional Record in the 1980s. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, found Warrens words to be a violation of Rule XIX of the Standing Rules of the Senate to impute another senator, or senators conduct or motive unbecoming a senator. The Senate then voted to mute Warren for the rest of the debate on Sessions nomination. The Senate hadnt stifled a senator since it sanctioned Sen. William Benton, D-Conn., for his language in the chamber on February 1, 1951. We havent even addressed the Russia intelligence probe. Thats to say nothing of the controversial move by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to clandestinely head to the White House to view certain classified materials regarding Trump. Nunes stepped aside from the Russia probe on the last day of the session. GOP Reps. Michael Conaway, Texas; Tom Rooney, Florida, and Trey Gowdy, South Carolina, will now lead the investigation. Of course that all unfolded the same day as the nuclear option for Gorsuch. But by dinner time, neither Nunes nor the nuclear option was much news. Thats because Trump ordered airstrikes against Syria. Now theres a debate as to whether Congress should approve an authorization for U.S. military action in Syria. Theres bipartisan support for such a resolution in both chambers. Expect the Syria issue to be front and center when Congress returns to session the week after next. That is, after the House continues work on health care. And then, another sprint through the week to try to avoid a government shutdown by April 28. That debate usually goes swimmingly No wonder everyones exhausted. Sheriff's deputies say two men are dead and a woman is wounded after a shooting inside a busy restaurant in an upscale Tucson shopping mall. Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman Cody Gress said the three victims of the Friday night shooting knew each other but had no information on their relationships. Police said multiple gunshots were fired from the same handgun. Gress said the woman was shot in the leg and is expected to recover. He said investigators were trying to sort out what happened and provided little other information about the shooting inside the Firebirds Restaurant at La Encantada, a mall in north Tucson. Gress said detectives were interviewing "quite a few" people who were in the restaurant at the time. French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen blasted President Trump Friday for changing his mind about NATO after saying during his presidential campaign that the body was obsolete. Le Pen said in a radio interview with France Info that Trump may have been swayed by his administration to change his mind. Trump made his comments at the White House in a press conference after a meeting with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. Undeniably he is in contradiction with the commitments he had made, Le Pen said. I am coherent, I dont change my mind in a few days. He had said he would not be the policeman of the world, that he would be the president of the United States and would not be the policeman of the world, but it seems today that he has changed his mind. The far-right French candidate has made terrorism and immigration key parts of her campaign and wants France to quit NATO despite calling for a big coalition of countries which fight Muslim fundamentalism in which there will be of course the U.S., Russia, countries like Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Chad. Le Pen is believed to be on track to make it to the next round in the France presidential election. Click for more from Bloomberg. North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles on Saturday in a massive military display in central Pyongyang amid rising tensions across the region. Kim Jong-Un did not speak during the parade, the annual highlight of North Korea's most important holiday, which celebrates the 1912 birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the countrys founding ruler. One of Kims top officials warned that North Korea would stand up to any threat posed by the United States. Choe Ryong Hae said President Donald Trump was guilty of "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching U.S. forces to the region. Outside analysts consider Choe to be North Korea's number two official. "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," Choe said. The parade came amid growing international worries that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM capable of reaching U.S. shores. But if the parade signaled a readiness for war, North Korea has long insisted that its goal is peace and its own survival with its growing arsenal a way to ensure that the government in Pyongyang is not easily overthrown. North Korea saw the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya neither of whom had nuclear weapons as proof of the weapons' power. "It will be the largest of miscalculations if the United States treats us like Iraq and Libya, which are living out miserable fates as victims of aggression, and Syria, which didn't respond immediately even after it was attacked," said a Friday statement by the general staff of the North Korean army, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. U.S. retaliatory strikes against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, coupled with Trump dispatching what he called an "armada" of ships to the region in a show of force, touched off fears in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action against the North. Pyongyang has also expressed anger over the ongoing annual spring military exercises the U.S. holds with South Korea, which it considers a rehearsal for invasion. U.S. officials said on Friday that Trumps advisers weighed a range of ideas for how to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the administration had settled on a policy that will emphasize increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's regime. A U.S. military official, who spoke on anonymity, said the U.S. doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Kim was greeted Saturday with thunderous applause as he stepped into view on a large podium, clapping to acknowledge the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade at Kim Il Sung Square. A series of what appeared to be KN-08 missiles were among the weaponry rolled out on trucks. Military analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, although North Korea has yet to flight test them. The parade also included large rockets covered by canisters in two different types of transporter erector launcher trucks, or TELs. Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery, as well as a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines. Also on display was a powerful midrange missile that outside analysts call a "Musudan," and which can potentially reach U.S. air bases in Guam, as well as a new solid-fuel midrange missile that can be fired from land mobile launchers, making them harder to detect before launch. Kim emphasizes nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy. During his New Year's address, Kim said the countrys preparations for an ICBM launch had "reached the final stage." Satellite imagery suggests North Korea could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. The country conducted two nuclear tests last year. North Korea also launched a long-range rocket last year that put a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology. The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Donald Trump has labeled North Korea a "problem" country and says it will be dealt with through a broad -- and vague -- set of options. It may be up to his vice president, Mike Pence, to fill in the details when he arrives in Asia. Pence will be diving into a tense standoff along the Korean Peninsula with visits to South Korea and Japan beginning Sunday. His travels to the Asia-Pacific region come amid indications that North Korea is potentially preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade or a significant missile launch, such as its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Trump, who has proven to be unpredictable on foreign policy, has responded to the recent concerns over North Korea with a swagger that suggests a new, tougher stance. Asked about North Korea this week, he told reporters: "North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of." He has repeatedly declared that if China, North Korea's dominant trading partner, isn't willing to do more to squeeze the North, the U.S. might take the matter into its own hands. The remarks came with a show of military might, as an aircraft carrier head to waters off the Korean Peninsula. However, military officials have said the U.S. doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Tough rhetoric aside, Trump's advisers have chosen a policy that appears to hew to that of the Obama administration. US AIR FORCE SENDS MESSAGE TO NORTH KOREA WITH DISPLAY OF AIR POWER After a two-month policy review, officials settled on a policy dubbed "maximum pressure and engagement," U.S. officials said Friday. The administration's immediate emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of Beijing. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity. Pence is tasked with explaining the policy in meetings with leaders in South Korea and Japan at the start of a 10-day tour that will include stops in Indonesia and Australia. Part of his mission will be to reassure allies in South Korea and Japan that the U.S. will defend them against North Korean aggression without acting in a way that might tip the region into open conflict. "The message, I think, is going to be about vigilance and deterrence," said Victor Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said Pence will try to balance reassurance with a willingness to respond if North Korea acts. "The United States wants to project a more muscular image when it comes to the policy so some unpredictability serves that cause." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pointed to nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy and has openly sought a nuclear weapon that could strike the continental U.S. Analysts have said commercial satellite images from recent weeks indicate increased activity around the nuclear test site in northern North Korea. North Korea has a history of marking significant dates with a show of military force, and Pence's arrival will come a day after the country celebrates its most important holiday on Saturday, the 105th birth anniversary of the country's late founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of its current leader. NORTH KOREAN OFFICIAL BLAMES TRUMP FOR RISING TENSIONS ON KOREAN PENINSULA The U.S., which last week acted unilaterally in ordering a cruise missile strike on Syria, has recently dispatched what Trump called an "armada," including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula. Thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry were also deployed last month in their biggest-ever joint military exercises, which prompted North Korea to issue routine threats of attacks on its rival if they show signs of aggression. Ahead of Pence's arrival, North Korea's vice foreign minister told The Associated Press in an interview that Trump was the culprit of escalating tensions through his tweets and expansion of military exercises, arguing that the U.S. was becoming "more vicious and more aggressive" under Trump compared to his predecessor. While in South Korea, Pence will meet with South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the country's acting head of state in place of ousted President Park Geun-hye, who was recently arrested over a corruption scandal. Pence will also participate in a session with local business leaders. Pence plans to depart South Korea on Tuesday for Japan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and hold economic discussions with top Japanese officials. Dawn Nappers resume highlights her work as a teacher who helps her Spotsylvania County first-graders feel safe and able to take chances. But some county leaders emphasized Nappers other role, Spotsylvania Education Association vice president, during a recent debate over appointing her to a group that offers feedback on the countys budget. Board of Supervisors Chairman David Ross referred to her as a member of the teachers union in an executive position. Supervisors Greg Benton and Timothy McLaughlin also called her a union executive and union member, respectively. Then, after about 20 minutes of discussion last week, supervisors voted 43 against Nappers appointment to the Citizen Budget Review Committee, reflecting tension between the education association and the more tax-averse supervisors. But they did not close the door entirely on Napper, who had walked to the meeting from her job at nearby Robert E. Lee Elementary School. Board members took a second vote to reconsider her appointment later this month, which passed. Supervisors Chris Yakabouski, Gary Skinner and Greg Cebulaall of whom supported Nappers placement on the groupvoted against the delay. The mission statement of the committee at issue says it should review budget proposals from the county administrator and schools superintendent and make recommendations to supervisors on spending money wisely and efficiently. Napper has been openly critical of some supervisors, writing last year in a letter to the editor of The Free LanceStar that Ross has never been a supporter of or a believer in public education. She said in an interview that she thinks her public criticism may have influenced the vote. I wanted to help, and this is how they treat me, she said. She said its misleading to call her a union member because Virginia is a right-to-work state that prohibits collective bargaining for public employees. But Ross said the vote centered on policy, not politics. He said he proposed holding off on the appointment so that supervisors could review the committees bylaws for possible changes. The bylaws say committee members may not be a current employee of the county administration or the school system. That language, however, does not legally prohibit a county or schools employee from joining the committee, according to the County Attorneys Office. In fact, supervisors recently voted to name a sheriffs deputy to the group over no objections. Still, Ross said the county already planned to review its policies, and he wanted to avoid the embarrassment of naming someone to the committee and having to remove the person later. He cited the budget groups charter, which states committee members should be citizens with prior expertise in public or private sector budgeting who are not current employees with Spotsylvania County or Spotsylvania Public Schools. If it turns out that this board wants to have county employees and teachers and fire chiefs and you name it on the [committee], then thats the way we go, Ross said. And if its not, its not. He also called it a bit ironic that the three supervisors opposing the delay had voted against a nominee to another committee in 2014. First Sgt. Timothy Bryners appointment to the budget review panel in February did not appear to raise any eyebrows, despite his employment with the Sheriffs Office. Cebula explained at the time that he nominated the officer with little notice because he was waiting for the county attorney to make sure Mr. Bryners capacity as a deputy would not interfere with the appointment. Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Bryner with no discussion. Benton said he would have objected to Bryners appointment, but kept quiet because he did not think any supervisors would back him up. These are supposed to be unbiased citizens not affiliated with the county, Benton said. Yakabouski, who nominated Napper, replied that the review panel has far less influence than a county employee on the Board of Supervisorsan arrangement that, he noted, is legal. Benton is a Spotsylvania firefighter, though he recently announced he is retiring from that job. I really dont think we should be prejudging peoples motives simply because of what organization they belong to, Yakabouski said. The budget groups influence is questionable, though some of its members have butted heads with school officials. The School Board, for instance, has taken issue with public comments from the committees chairman, Jeremiah Hansen. During a public presentation in February, Hansenalso a second vice chairman of the Spotsylvania Republican Committeesaid the school system had odd accounts-payable entries that could indicate lax bookkeeping skills. Napper, who worked for a federal contractor in the 1990s and volunteered with the Massaponax High School Band Parents Association for nearly 10 years, said her experience would be beneficial to the committee. But she said she thinks supervisors will change the groups bylaws to keep her out because I do speak my mind. Stafford County Fire and Rescue hopes to soon roll out an app with the potential to save lives that may otherwise be lost to cardiac arrest. But the department needs the communitys help. A contest is now underway asking the public to identify the location of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, in public areasincluding schools, churches, parks and office buildingsacross the county. The PulsePoint app sends out an alert triggered by a 9-1-1 call to those within a quarter of a mile of the cardiac arrest victim. When users receive an alert from PulsePoint Respond, the application tells them the location of the cardiac arrest victim and where they can find the nearest AED. Residents can then provide assistance until first responders arrive at the scene. Before the department activates the app, there is still one missing piece of the puzzlethe location of the AEDs. In order to be the most effective, the department wants to make sure each AED in the county is added to the database. We know these machines are out there and what they are capable of doing and that people will step up and use them if they know they are needed, said Stafford County Fire Chief Mark Lockhart. Lockhart explained that fire marshals conducting inspections note on their reports the location of AEDs, but there are still many missing from the database. The contest not only assists the department in documenting more locations, it also familiarizes residents with what an AED looks like and where they can find it. Its about raising community awareness, Lockhart said. We knew folks would be out and about and it would be helpful if they knew where to look for an AED and what one looks like. To participate in the contest, residents need to download the PulsePoint AED app and then look for AEDs in public places. When they spot one, users simply describe the location and snap a picture. The information is verified, and the AED location data is later made available to anyone using the app. Points are awarded for each AED located during the contest period, which runs to April 24. The American Heart Association defines cardiac arrest as the abrupt loss of heart function in a person who may or may not have diagnosed heart disease. Each year, more than 350,000 emergency medical services-assessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States. When responding to cardiac arrest, minutes can mean the difference between life and death, according to the AHA. If treated immediately, however, cardiac arrest is reversible in most victims. Mark Lockhart said Deputy Chief Lori Knowles became aware of the PulsePoint app several years ago, but the project was delayed due to limited funding. The possibility of implementing the app in Stafford became a reality through a donation from the Stafford Hospital Foundation. The Stafford Board of Supervisors and Gwyneths Gift Foundation also helped. Stafford residents Joel and Jennifer Griffin created the Gwyneths Gift Foundation after their daughter, Gwyneth Griffin, died just shy of her 13th birthday due to complications suffered during a cardiac arrest while at school. Gwyneth wasnt given CPR for at least 10 minutes. The tragedy led Stafford County Fire and Rescue and others in the county to begin exploring ways to make members of the community more aware of what they can do to help. Lockhart said the department is not far off from launching the app. The original goal date was June 1, but he now expects to roll it out before then. The exact date will be announced shortly. We are just checking to make sure the calls are coming through and it is doing what it supposed to do, he said. The top prizes for the contest winners were sponsored by Stafford County Fire and Rescue Association and include a 42-inch TV, a Samsung Galaxy tablet and a bluetooth speaker. Contest winners will be announced on April 27. (Xinhua) 10:02, April 15, 2017 BEIJING, April 14 -- The U.S. military on Thursday dropped a GBU-43, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, on an Islamic State (IS) cave complex in Afghanistan, killing at least 36 suspected IS militants and producing a mushroom cloud visible from 32 km away. It was the first time that the U.S. military has used in combat such a bomb, dubbed the "Mother of All Bombs," a smart re-interpretation of the initials MOAB. The bomb weighs about 9.5 tons, with 8.2 tons of explosives filled. Its destructive power depends on the formula of the explosives, and it can be eight times as powerful when filled with specific explosives. Experts say that the bomb's munition is not ordinary one, but high-energy fuel which is more effective when used to hit hideouts like caves and tunnels. Meanwhile, the bomb can consume a large quantity of oxygen in the air when it explodes, thus suffocating personnel nearby to death, they say. The bomb is designed to hit soft targets such as surface facilities, tunnel entrances and troop concentrations. It is dropped by aircraft, guided to its target by Global Positioning System and slowed by a parachute. MOAB was first tested in March 2003 at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Since 2003, such bombs have been manufactured in the southern state of Oklahoma. Kira Siddall was shocked earlier this week to discover the dog-like creature she spotted in her South Richmond yard was a coyote. Our dog has been weird all week, Siddall said. Shes been growling at the fence, at the woods. Later, neighbors in her Westlake Hills neighborhood saw the animal snacking on a deer in an abandoned lot across from her home. Last summer, a small dog was attacked and killed by two coyotes across from James River Park near Riverside Drive, according to its owners. Siddall worries her dogs could be next. She called Animal Control, and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. But neither agency could do, well, anything. Coyotes, which migrated here from the Midwest, have adapted well to city life and can be found in every city and county in Virginia, according to the state department. They are still considered nuisance creatures and can be hunted year-round, but there are restrictions against firing a gun in the city and killing animals on others property. What do you do? Siddall said. Anne Wright, assistant professor of biology at Virginia Commonwealth University, said there is not much that can, or should, be done. They really provide good function for us in an urban setting, Wright said. We have too many Canada geese, deer and rats, all of which coyotes eat. Plus, she said, if they are captured and relocated, or killed, more coyotes would move into the neighborhood and quickly repopulate the area. Its kind of like a whack-a-mole sort of thing, Wright said. Last summer, officials at the James River Park confirmed that a pair of coyotes were living in the roughly 600-acre park that encompasses areas on both sides of the river. Wright spearheaded the Science in the Park program, which installed cameras throughout the park to capture all kinds of urban wildlife, including coyotes. The cameras mostly capture the coyotes moving through the park, Wright said. Its more likely that they live on the fringes of neighborhoods, like storm drains or abandoned properties, she said. A video captured by one of Siddalls neighbors showed the animal, a black, shaggy creature, trotting through a yard. Wright said it didnt appear to be a full-blooded coyote which are typically lighter in color, shaggier and smaller in size than a dog or wolf but could be a coyote-dog hybrid, often called coy dogs. If you cross paths with one of the animals: Stand your ground and make a lot of noise, Wright said. They are not generally looking for a fight. Humans often create a problem for themselves, Wright said, by leaving food, water or garbage out. Thats inviting the animal in, she said. Its for humans to change their habits and learn to live with the animals, Wright said. We need to make the change. Theyre wild. The same goes for any wildlife deer, raccoons no one wants them either. If a coyote becomes a problem, though, Wright added, it should be eliminated. THE world is agog at Donald Trumps head-snapping foreign policy reversal. He runs on a platform of America First. He renounces the role of world policeman. He excoriates parasitic foreigners that (I paraphrase) suck dry our precious bodily fluidsand these are allies! On April 4, Trump declared: I dont want to be the president of the world. Im the president of the United States. And from now on, its going to be America First. A week earlier, both his secretary of state and U.N. ambassador had said that the regime of Bashar Assad is a reality and that changing it is no longer an American priority. Then last week, Assad drops chemical weapons on rebel-held territory and Trump launches 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria. This was, in part, an emotional reaction to images of children dying of sarin poisoning. And, in part, seizing the opportunity to redeem Barack Obamas unenforced red line on chemical weapons. Whatever the reason, moral or strategic, Trump acted. And effectively reset his entire foreign policy. True, in and of itself, the raid will not decisively alter the course of Syrias civil war. Assad and his Iranian, Russian and Hezbollah co-combatants still have the upper hand but no longer a free hand. After six years of U.S. passivity, there are limits now and America will enforce them. Nor was the raid the beginning of a campaign for regime change. It was, however, a reassertion of an American stake in both the conduct and the outcome of the war. Americas abdication is over. Be warned. Moreover, the very swiftness of the response carried a message to the wider world. Obama is gone. No more elaborate forensic investigations. No agonized presidential handwringing over the moral dilemmas of a fallen world. It took Obama 10 months to decide what to do in Afghanistan. It took Trump 63 hours to make Assad pay for his chemical-weapons duplicity. America demonstrated its capacity for swift, decisive action. And in defense, mind you, of an abstract international norma rationale that dramatically overrides the constraints of America First. Trumps inaugural address had boldly rejected the 70-year American consensus to bear the burdens of world leadership. Less than three months later, the Syrian raid abruptly changed that course with a renewed interventionismnot, to be sure, in the service of a crusade for democracy, but in the service of concrete strategic objectives, broadly defined and extending far beyond our shores. To the North Pacific, for example. The Syria strike sent a message to both China and North Korea that Trumps threats of unilateral action against Pyongyangs nukes and missiles are serious. A pre-emptive strike against those facilities is still unlikely but today conceivable. Even more conceivableperhaps even probableis a shootdown of a North Korean missile in flight. The message to Russia was equally clear. Dont push too far in Syria and, by extension, in Europe. Were not seeking a fight, but you dont set the rules. Syria shared the Sharyat base with Russian troops. Russian barracks were left untouched, but we were clearly not deterred by their proximity. The larger lesson is this: In the end, national interest prevails. Populist isolationism sounds great, rouses crowds and may even win elections. But contra White House adviser Steve Bannon, its not a governing foreign policy for the United States. Bannon may have written the come-home-America inaugural address. But it was the old hands, Trumps traditionally internationalist foreign policy team led by Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who rewrote the script with the Syria strike. Assad violated the international taboo on chemical weapons. Who would enforce it, if not us? Candidate Trump would have replied: None of our business. President Trump brought out the Tomahawks. His foreign policy has gone from mere homeland protection to defending certain interests, values and strategic assets abroad. These endure over time. Hence the fundamental continuity of our post-World War II engagement abroad. With apologies to Lord Palmerston, we dont have permanent enthusiasms, but we do have permanent interests. And they have a way of asserting themselves. Which is why Bannonism is in eclipse. This is not to say that things could not change tomorrow. Weve just witnessed one about-face. With a president who counts unpredictability as a virtue, he could well reverse course again. For now, however, the traditionalists are in the saddle. U.S. policy has been normalized. The world is on notice: Eight years of sleepwalking is over. America is back. Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group. His email address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com. AN encounter in Stafford demonstrates how the Vietnam War echoes powerfully for millions, decades after its end. The conflict in Southeast Asia divided many Americans then, and still does today. Was it worth the cost in U.S. blood and treasure? Thats a debate for books, historians, panels of participants, and TV documentaries. Rightfully, that controversy didnt surface Tuesday when Spotsylvania resident Janet Harris met Paul Galanti, a former Vietnam prisoner of war. It means the world to me, to meet you, Harris, 66, told Galanti, whos 78. For three years, shed worn a copper POW bracelet to honor the Navy pilot shot down on June 17, 1966, and imprisoned by the North Vietnamese. She hung onto it ever since. Galanti, who lives in Richmond, was gracious when they met at a gathering of the Veterans Breakfast Club of Fredericksburg, expressing surprise shed kept the relic of another era. Thats understandable. Yet when Lt. Cmdr. Galanti was freed and came home in 1973, he and his wife, Phyllis, were on the cover of Newsweek. The Navy pilot endured seven years in hellish captivity. The flier was blindfolded, handcuffed and paraded through the streets of Hanoi before winding up in a camp that came to be called the Hanoi Hilton. John McCain was a prisoner there; both were tortured. Galanti was among the first POWs brought back to the states. Phyllis Galanti, who died in 2014, campaigned to get word about her husband and to secure his return, later chairing the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia. The POW and MIA wives effort of which she was such an integral part will be the subject of a book by Richmond native Heath Lee, titled The Reluctant Sorority: A True Story of Survival and Rescue from the Homefront. When Galanti was shot down on his 97th combat mission, Harris was 19 and didnt support the war. But as the daughter of a military family, she appreciated service members sacrifices. You believed in America, she told The Free LanceStar. I supported everybody, whether they signed up or were drafted, because they went there to protect our freedom. All these years later, its heartwarming that Janet Harris regard for this hero still burns bright. More thoughts on presidential taxes I read a letter to the editor, Trumps return demonstrates need for tax reform [April 5]. The writer was complaining that the rich are not paying enough taxes and they should be forced to pay 50 percent of their income, but not her or her neighbors. She claimed if she had to pay 50 percent, she would not be allowed to live a middle class life. Do you have any idea how many folks would love to have that problem? I have no idea how many folks live a middle class life, but I can assure readers that there are many folks who do not have $2,000 per month left to spend after taxes. Next time you see someone living on Social Security, or worse, someone who is homeless, ask yourself how much of your $2,000 after taxes will you give them so they can eat. I complained when I had no shoes, until I met someone that had no feet, wrote Persian poet Sadi. I have not seen Donald Trumps tax returns and do not intend to, because they are none of my business. I do not need to know how much heor anyoneearns, spends, is taxed or gives to charity. Sounds as if the author of the letter was suggesting we should be a socialist country. The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money, Margaret Thatcher said. Roy Strawhun Locust Grove (Xinhua) 10:05, April 15, 2017 BEIJING, April 14 -- Over 3,100 officials were held accountable for poor environmental protection in the latest round of state environmental protection inspections. Central government inspection teams met with over 4,600 people during its inspections of Beijing, Chongqing, Gansu, Guangdong, Hubei, Shaanxi and Shanghai last November and December, detaining 265 of them for irregularities. The teams received about 4,350 complaints from Guangdong Province, the most among the seven regions while Shaanxi Province has the most officials being held accountable. Lack of awareness of environmental protection was found to be a common problem and water pollution a universal challenge. Local governments still have to improve infrastructure such as domestic waste treatment facilities, according to the inspection teams. The seven municipalities and provinces have been asked to make rectification plans to be submitted to the State Council and made public. The central government environmental protection inspection promotes green development and began in 2015 in Hebei Province. The whole country is to be inspected this year and a new round of inspections will start as soon as late April. (Xinhua) 10:10, April 15, 2017 XI'AN, April 14 -- At least 10 percent of the dialect spoken by the Hui ethnic group in Xi'an City, northwestern China, has its roots in Persian or Arabic,illustrating the cultural blending along the ancient Silk Road. Ding Xu, a Hui language scholar, recorded 4,500 Hui words over the past three decades, hundreds of which he found had derived from Silk Road regions. The word leg, or "chuogang" in Hui, sounds exactly like the word for walking stick in Persian, said Ding. "Walking sticks are just like legs for people with walking difficulties. Centuries later, the word is used for leg in Xi'an," he said. Two thousand years ago, Zhang Qian, a diplomat, was dispatched as envoy to the Western Regions, today's central and west Asia. Caravans along the Silk Road carried China-made silk, tea and porcelain westward, and brought back pepper, carrots and horses. "Many Persians married and settled in the city, adding their own words to the dialect," said Ding. Ding said introduction of goods from Silk Road regions also led to new words, such as the Hui dialect "bage," meaning parrot, which is derived from the Arabic word "bahgha." Ding has compiled a book with his findings. The Hui are the largest Muslim ethnic group in China, with the majority of the population in the country's northwestern regions, such as Ningxia, Qinghai and Shaanxi. Hui does not have a written form. Spring has finally sprung and according to the fruit team, who are on blossom watch, we are at a similar stage to the spring of 2014, if that is of any help to anybody! As of yet we have not sown a seed, but hopefully by the time you read this we will have made a dent in our spring drilling campaign. Our soil is only just becoming dry enough to do anything and in places, on the heavier types, it is still wet at depth. See also: Read more from our Arable Farmer Focus writers Our spring beans are planned to go in soon, after the low disturbance subsoiler has been through the over-winter cover crop. This is doing a good job of removing a pan at nine inches while not heaving it all up. The beans will then be drilled straight into this. After some well-known software training, I have been having a go at creating my own soil type maps using aerial imagery, our own knowledge and the My Soil app. This is hopefully the start of variable rate seeding that I am convinced will be beneficial to our varying soil types. This will allow me to try out the technique without having to pay for the privilege. This will identify whether its worth pursuing with and maybe to a greater degree of accuracy. Fertiliser application The final application of nitrogen has been made to the malting barley and the oilseed rape. The rape is just coming into flower and is definitely ahead of last year. With such a high green area index before stem extension, I have reduced the total planned nitrogen slightly. This time last year I wrote how our first lambs that we sold averaged 50p a head more than a tonne of wheat on the day. Roll on 12 months and things are different again, just highlighting what variable times we are in. Lambing is now complete and condensing it has definitely improved the efficiency and justification for additional labour, but I think there is still room for improvement. Finally I was lucky enough to be invited by our local John Deere Dealer, TAG of Leominster, on a John Deere Factory visit in mid-March. The trip was brilliant, well organised, with great company and very interesting especially in the product development, both machines and AMS. Jack Hopkins is the assistant farm manager on a 730ha estate in north Herefordshire on predominantly silty clay loam soils. Cropping includes wheat, barley, oilseed rape, spring oats and peas, plus grassland that supports a flock of 1,000 ewes and 25 pedigree Hereford cattle. Lawyer Thomas Demetrio, who is representing David Dao, the passenger who was violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight, speaks during a press conference in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, on April 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ping) WASHINGTON, April 14 -- Some U.S. lawmakers and an Asian-American rights group are demanding answers from United Airlines after its violent removal of an Asian-American passenger from a flight on Sunday night. Earlier this week saw a video going viral of David Dao on social media. The 69-year-old Asian-American physician was violently removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight by security officers to make room for crew members at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago after refusing to give up his seat as requested. The video of the incident posted online has been viewed millions of times worldwide, and caused a global uproar and grabbed headlines in multiple countries. Many people in the United States, Vietnam, China and a number of other countries have expressed outrage at the mistreatment of Dao, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s. "It remains to be seen if Dr. Dao was racially profiled for removal from the United flight, but we believe a full and transparent investigation is necessary to determine if there were racial biases at work," John C. Yang, president and executive director of Washington-based rights group Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said in a statement sent to Xinhua. The use of force in this situation was "inappropriate," Yang said. "The incident is also indicative of the continued concerns that vulnerable communities, including African Americans and Latinos, have raised for a long time regarding use of excessive police force," he said. Asian Americans have faced the same discriminatory challenges for over 100 years, and have seen a renewed surge in hate and discrimination against them, Yang said. "It is easy to understand why some would question the motives of the airline, airport security, and law enforcement personnel as targeting an Asian American, a community of people often falsely viewed as the least likely to speak out against situations like this one," Yang said. "The fact that the victim is Asian American and from a distinguished profession should only further prove to Asian Americans that we all have to be part of this broader coalition against hate, police brutality, and disparate treatment of communities color and other marginalized communities," he added. Members of the U.S. Congress have also expressed concern, as U.S. House Representative Judy Chu, a Chinese American, has written both to the United Airlines and to the U.S. Department of Transportation demanding answers. Chu, chair of the U.S. Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), said she is extremely "disturbed" over the violent treatment of Dao. "It is unacceptable to treat any human being in this manner, and the United Airlines has to change its policy," Chu told Xinhua in a phone interview on Wednesday from her home state of California. A bipartisan group of senators also sent a pair of letters earlier this week to United, demanding a "full accounting" of what happened, and are demanding a response by next week. The letters were signed by Senators John Thune, the Senate's third highest ranking Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat representing Florida, Roy Blunt, a Republican representing Missouri, and Maria Cantwell, a Democrat representing Washington State. In a separate letter to United Airlines, Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono joined a group of senators earlier this week to demand answers from the airline. "Consumer trust and confidence are critical to ensure this industry continues to thrive, and we hope United Airlines will work diligently to immediately address this incident and make necessary improvements to ensure it does not occur again," the letter said. While United CEO Oscar Munoz has apologized, lawmakers argue that United's response seemed not to understand the level of outrage worldwide over the incident. In response to the United incident, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen is drafting a bill to make it illegal to forcibly remove passengers from commercial airlines, and is now seeking co-sponsors for the legislation, according to local media. New York residents are permitted to place bets on the TwinSpires websites as the state typically embraces horse betting. TwinSpires does require a social security number and reports your winnings. You will also be responsible for paying federal and state taxes on winnings. New York State is especially friendly towards the horse racing community, with Off Track Betting (OTB) especially popular with residents here. New York State currently features both Thoroughbred and Standardbred horse racing where pari-mutuel wagering takes place. Top tracks include Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga to name a few. There are four Thoroughbred tracks and seven Standardbred (harness) tracks in the state. Additionally, bettors may wager on races remotely through any of the states five off-track betting corporations. The tracks and off-track betting locations also feature simulcasting of races taking place within and beyond New Yorks borders. New York State also legalized mobile sports betting in 2021. - Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com NORTHAMPTON With various appointments by President Donald Trump still not made and continued reversals and flip flops in the administrations objectives, a sense of chaos and drama exists in the nations capital that Massachusetts congressmen Richard Neal and Jim McGovern say provides an opening for Democrats to be an effective opposition party. In wide-ranging interviews with the Gazettes editorial board on Friday, Reps. Neal, D-Springfield, and McGovern, D-Worcester, who represent the cities and towns in western Massachusetts, laid out a vision that includes increased infrastructure spending, protecting the environment and preventing climate change, pursuing meaningful tax reform and affordable education, and ensuring that the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obamas signature achievement, remains intact. These are very challenging times and we have a president who behaves in a very erratic way, McGovern said. Its difficult to know what he thinks or believes. He changes his mind every two minutes. Both congressmen view the defeat of Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare as the first major victory of this new era, ensuring 24 million Americans will keep their coverage. Our role needs to be one of resistance in the face of policies we strongly disagree with, McGovern said. Common ground Neal said it can be difficult to escape the chaotic atmosphere that prevails in Washington, but he is confident there can be common ground with the White House, particularly on large-scale infrastructure projects. My argument is we havent done a big infrastructure plan in America for a long time, said Neal, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. Im game for a trillion bucks, Neal added. Neal said he would prioritize continued rail extensions, especially east-west connections, as a way to get people to commute to jobs and expand the number places they can live. This would follow the tax cuts and stimulus under Obama that got north-south rail improvements completed and are benefiting the region. McGovern, too, said rail is essential and he would love to see a way to connect the Pioneer Valley to Worcester. He added that he is committed to having the best railroads in the world. Even though Trump campaigned on infrastructure spending, McGovern said he has not seen any plan yet. Massachusetts is an old state, we have bridges older than most other states in the country, McGovern said. But the congressmen bring disparate views on building new pipelines to carry natural gas. McGovern said he is opposed to pipelines because they are not a 50-year solution for energy demands. We need a national energy policy, and here in Massahcusdetts we ought to take the lead on it, McGovern said. The brainpower in the state can provide the research to move away from fossil fuels. I think we could be a model for the rest of the country, McGovern said. McGovern observes that the state has to lead since Trump and his Cabinet dont believe in climate change. Theres a serious assault on science and fact that is really frightening to me, McGovern said. Neal, though, said enhancing natural gas capacity is the bridgeable path to greater reliance on renewables like wind and solar, which only account for 8 to 10 percent of power generation sources. This is an important solution to the communities in Franklin and Berkshire counties, the only regions of the state with declining populations. Part of that is loss of economic activity, Neal said, observing he has spoken to farmers and Berkshire paper mills that are seeking a consistent, inexpensive source of energy. Neal agrees with McGovern that the Kinder Morgan pipeline was not the solution, that it was badly done and an inept proposal whose developers attempted to take a sledgehammer to those who opposed it. Rebuilding the Democratic Party, which doesnt control any branches of the federal government, remains an objective as the congressmen deal with Trump. Neal said he is concerned that one-third of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives hail from Massachusetts, California and New York, and that the party has lost working-class voters and didnt meet their needs. One of the things Ive tried to get back to is for the Democratic Party to talk about aspirations, Neal said. He sees community colleges and apprentice programs as ways to support some of the unfilled 650,000 tech jobs that exist nationally, expressed worry about the number of people not going back to work in the aftermath of the Great Recession and the need to rebuild trust with those in labor unions. Theres a huge challenge here for all of us as it relates to organized labor, Neal said. McGovern said he has also met with constituents who voted for Trump, and called his political philosophy one that promotes economic security. For Democrats, I think we need to bring back some of the people we lost, McGovern said. More chaos predicted As much as Neal said he would like to see stability instead of chaos, hes not sure it will happen, with many mid-level appointments by Trump still unfilled. Neal said he recently met with Gary Cohn, Trumps chief economic adviser, and planned for his committee to move onto tax reform. But then, less than two days later, Trump was saying health care overhaul would be tried one more time. Tax reform in Trumps vision, Neal said, may depend on an estimated $839 billion cut to Medicaid. Neal said he would seek tax reform that would improve lives for all families, not the President George W. Bush-style tax cuts that overwhelmingly favored high-income earners. We havent done anything with it since 1986, except to gum it up more, Neal said. He would support closing loopholes at the top, providing middle-class tax relief, allowing tuition expenditures to be written off and capping deductions for second homes. Both Neal and McGovern said they are worried about a looming crisis in retirement savings, with Neal suggesting the government use the tax code to incentivize these savings for young people. McGovern said he would also look at innovative ways to have people put money away when working and provide a government match, which is better investment of public money than military. McGovern said he is concerned that Trump may cut programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, which combats hunger and provide education in developing nations. I think when people are grateful, they dont want to blow you up, McGovern said. Foreign policy On foreign policy, Neal said he supports Trumps recent airstrikes in Syria, using 59 tomahawk missiles, and the decision to drop the weapon dubbed the Mother of All Bombs this week in Afghanistan. I think hes trying to make a statement. Military strikes over the last few days have clearly indicated that, Neal said. McGovern, though, said he is worried about the price tag, that the government spent close to $100 million, and Congress should be involved in the authorization of this use of force. Allowing the wars to go forward and expand and proliferate and no congressional involvement is a dereliction of our duty, McGovern said. He wouldnt support the bombings because Trump has no evidence of a policy, and he worries that the United States will be drawn into a long-term war with North Korea and its president, Kim Jong-un. Just because there is a nut running North Korea doesnt mean we have to act nuts here, McGovern said. McGovern is circulating a bipartisan letter he hopes to deliver to House Speaker Paul Ryan asking that Congress be allowed to do its job and bring in experts on foreign policy before making any decisions related to foreign entanglements. Even though Neal said he endorsed Trumps limited military forays, he continues to appreciate Obamas thinking. But Neal said he worries about continued changes to Trumps political philosophy, from the need for foreign intervention, allegations of Chinese currency manipulation and opposition to NAFTA, which hed planned to take a chainsaw to. It looks like hes going to take a butter knife to NAFTA, Neal said. The Trump doctrine, he said, will be created by diplomacy and military action. Neal said any escalations will need Congressional actions and a transparent public debate. I think part of it is making it up as they go, Neal said. Its certainly more aggressive. Neal hopes the Arab League and United Nations will do their part. I do think multilateral action there would help all of us, Neal said. McGovern, too, said something has to be done, agreeing with the president that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is a monster. We need a political settlement to that conflict, McGovern said. Erratic behavior of Trump is a continued cause for alarm for McGovern, and he worries that the president will continue to use a macho reality TV approach to policy. A sign calling for climate justice is shown during a rally at Mount Holyoke College April 14, 2017 against the decision by the college's trustees not to divest from fossil fuels. GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY Mount Holyoke College professor Alexi Arango speaks during a campus rally April 14, 2017 against the decision by the college's trustees not to divest from fossil fuels. GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY Mount Holyoke College junior Marissa Patterson holds a sign during a rally on campus April 14, 2017 against the decision by the college's trustees not to divest from fossil fuels. GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY Mount Holyoke College junior Ivana Klipa, front, participates in a "die-in" on campus April 14, 2017 to protest a decision by the college's trustees not to divest from fossil fuels. GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY Mount Holyoke College junior Marissa Patterson speaks during a campus rally April 14, 2017 against the decision by the college's trustees not to divest from fossil fuels. GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY Mount Holyoke College junior Emma Dolan participates in a die-in on campus Friday to protest a decision by the colleges trustees not to divest from fossil fuels. GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY Mount Holyoke College sophomores Melissa Curran, left, and Elizabeth Beaton rally on campus Friday against a decision by the colleges trustees not to divest from fossil fuels. GAZETTE STAFF/SARAH CROSBY SOUTH HADLEY Dozens of Mount Holyoke College students and their allies gathered on campus Friday to protest a unanimous vote by the universitys trustees not to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. Holding signs with slogans like MHC is in bed with the fossil fuel industry, organizers from the Mount Holyoke College Climate Justice Coalition gave speeches behind Mary Lyon Hall, then more than 35 people staged a die-in a protest in which demonstrators simulate being dead. Ultimately, Mount Holyoke College Climate Justice Coalition, faculty and students reject the boards decision, junior Emily Chang, 21, said into a bullhorn. Junior Marissa Patterson, 20, a member of the organization, said during her speech said that 88 percent of students voted for divestment in a 2014 referendum, and 92 percent of faculty voted for divestment in 2016. In a statement Thursday, however, the trustees said their ultimate responsibility is to protect the universitys endowment, and that divesting from the fossil fuel industry would reduce investment returns. That, they said, would imperil direct scholarship assistance, which nearly 80 percent of students receive. Twenty-year-old sophomore Shannon Seigal said most of Mount Holyoke College Climate Justice Coalitions members received financial aid from the college, and that they took issue with the trustees claim. It scares us by saying if we divest, well lose our financial aid, she said. But she said that they had presented the board with multiple studies that suggested divesting would not harm returns. We would not be advocating for divestment if we thought it would hurt our financial aid. Despite the previous days setback, however, the mood at the protest was cheerful, and participants said they were committed to continue fighting for divestment. I think weve made a lot of progress, 22-year-old senior Julia Worcester told the Gazette. She said she has been a member of Mount Holyoke College Climate Justice Coalition for four of the groups 4.5-year existence, and pointed to increased transparency and accountability from the trustees as a result of its work. Given what we know about the make-up of the Board of Trustees and their political views, this doesnt come as a surprise, she said. In their statement Thursday, the trustees stated that because the endowment is comingled, meaning the college has no direct holdings,they would have to sell around $337 million, or half of the endowment, in order to divest. Trustees said Mount Holyoke has no direct investments in any publicly traded fossil fuel companies. However, it does have about $7 million invested in such companies as part of its comingled strategy, amounting to 1 percent of the colleges total endowment, trustees said. We applaud the advocacy and passionate engagement of members of our community in peacefully demonstrating on behalf of this cause, the board of trustees said in a statement on Friday about the protest. And yet we respectfully disagree on the means by which to bring about positive environmental change. After the speeches were done, the protesters lay down on the ground and had chalk outlines drawn around their bodies. They then got up, and vowed to continue fighting for divestment. Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com. On a quiet Thursday afternoon on Northwest Monroe Avenue in Corvallis, two young men entered Clodfelters Public House. Watch my guy, said general manager Gary Evans of his bartender, Justin Teeter. Hes sure to ID them ooh, they are already reaching for their wallets. Thats a good sign. The timing was good. Evans was being asked about his participation in a new alcohol responsibility program, a joint effort of the Benton County Health Department, Oregon State University, the city of Corvallis and other partners. The county and OSU were one of six town-and-gown communities selected to participate in the pilot program, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. The program was developed by the Responsible Retailing Forum, which is providing technical assistance to local partners. The goal is to reduce the level of underage drinking and serving of intoxicated persons. Here is how the program works: Participating businesses will be visited by young, legal-aged mystery shoppers who will provide feedback on staff ID checking. Each quarter, randomly selected businesses with alcohol licenses will receive a visit and real-time feedback. Results will be shared only with the retailer, but community-wide numbers will be shared. Additionally, actors exhibiting obvious signs of intoxication will visit bars and stores where liquor is sold to test business responses. Our hope is to see the number of retailers passing minor compliance checks go up, said Kelly Locey of the Benton County Health Department, who added that another goal is for retailers and staff to feel more confident about properly verifying age using ID. The age-verification game is a serious one at Clodfelters. Evans bartenders and servers are trained annually, and the pub uses high-tech ID scanners and black lights to ferret out fake IDs. Another tool is a state-by-state guidebook published by Miller and Coors that advises retailers on what to look for. Its especially valuable at an outlet like Clodfelters, which serves OSU students who can come from anywhere in the United States as well as a slew of foreign countries. Were very proactive in this, said Evans, who has run Clodfelters since 2000. We want to be responsible servers, and we want everybody to be safe. And its very important to us because of our location across the street from the university and its 24,500 students. The program checks will result in retailers receiving either a red or green card depending on how they score, with red reflecting poor performance. This is a great educational opportunity, said Evans. Ultimately wed love to get the green card. It would mean our staff is doing things correctly. Evans said his servers are trained to enforce the same ID standards, whether its a quiet Thursday or last Halloween night, when more than 30 people were standing in line outside the pub amid a chaotic throng at the corner of 15th Street and Monroe. Clodfelters checks IDs of all customers who look younger than 40. Evans noted that his outlet faces different ID challenges than others because of the age of his customers. He went to see a band recently at a Salem pub in which they carded two out of 50 people. We might be carding 48 out of 50. We take ID-ing very seriously, but were also human, Evans said, and when you make a mistake they are costly. A first violation of Oregon Liquor Control Commission age-serving rules results in a fine of $1,500, with a second costing nearly $5,000. Evans said that one of the keys to successful ID analysis is how the document feels in the hand. Does the license feel right? Is it too flimsy? Is the lamination in good shape? And you also have to make sure that the person in the picture matches the person standing in front of you. Evans said Clodfelters rejects IDs at a rate of roughly three to five times per week. OSU and city officials welcomed the new program, which is scheduled to run through the fall. The alcohol responsibility program is another step in the effort of Corvallis and Oregon State University to address issues of underage drinking and alcohol abuse in our community, said Jonathan Stoll, OSUs community relations director. Corvallis Police Department officials emphasized that the program will not include direct department involvement nor will any information gathered be used in any future enforcement. It is simply a mechanism to help retailers become more proficient in checking the ID of customers, said Lt. Dan Duncan. The results will be discussed in advisory group meetings to help us understand what, if any, issues we can address from a prevention perspective. Israeli officals inspect the site of the attack near East Jerusalem' Old City, on April 14, 2017. A British student was killed and two Israelis were injured in a "terror" attack carried out by a knife-wielding Palestinian in Jerusalem's light rail on Friday noon, Israeli officials said. (Xinhua/Guo Yu) JERUSALEM, April 14 -- Israeli authorities named the British victim of a knife attack in Jerusalem on Friday as Hanna Bladon, a 21-year-old student. At noon Friday, Bladon was stabbed on light rail by a Palestinian passenger, who was described by the police as a "mentally disturbed man," before dying of her wounds about an hour later in a hospital. Bladon, a student of Birmingham University in England, commenced her studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in January 2017 in a student exchange program. She was expected to complete the program in September. The Hebrew University offered its condolences to Bladon's family, saying in an official statement that "the university condemns such acts of terror and murder that hurt innocents who have come to Jerusalem to enrich their knowledge." According to police spokeswoman Luba Samri, an initial investigation indicated the assailant as a passenger on the light rail. When the rail reached the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Square stop near East Jerusalem, he pulled out a knife from a shopping bag and stabbed Bladon. The police first said the assailant was shot, but a later statement said an off-duty policeman on the rail witnessed the incident and arrested the stabber without shooting. The suspect has been taken into custody, Samri said. According to Samri, the attacker, who holds an Israeli ID, was released from a psychiatric hospital in northern Israel shortly before the incident. He was on his way home in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem. However, a statement released by Israel Security Agency Shin Bet called the suspect a "terrorist," saying he might have carried out the attack in an attempt to get killed by the police. "He recently tried to commit suicide, in a hospital in northern Israel, by swallowing a razor blade," the statement read. "In 2011, he was convicted of sexually abusing his daughter," it added. A man and a pregnant woman, who apparently sustained light injuries when the rail went into an emergency brake, also needed hospital care, according to a spokesman for the MDA, an Israeli emergency medical service company. The rail service in the city was temporarily halted, said a statement by Citipass, the company that operates the rail. The attack came amid the Jewish holiday of Passover. The police in the city have been on high alert as tens of thousands of Jews arrive for prayers in the Western Wall inside East Jerusalem's Old City, and some even go to visit the flashpoint al-Aqsa compound, a hilltop site above the Western Wall regarded as sacred by both Muslims and Jews. It is not the first time that a Palestinian suffering from personal, mental or moral distress has chosen to commit a terrorist attack in order to escape their problems, according to Shin Bet. The incident also came amid a spate of violence that broke out in September 2015. Since the beginning of the unrest, Palestinians have killed 41 Israelis and two U.S. nationals, while Israeli forces and civilians killed at least 241 Palestinians, a Jordanian and two African asylum seekers, most of them alleged attackers, according to Israel. Israel accuses the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest. The Palestinians say it is the result of 50 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, home to more than 5 million Palestinians. The League of Women Voters of Corvallis is hosting a pair of election forums next week at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 NW Monroe Ave. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, the 11 candidates for five Corvallis School Board positions will be featured. At 7 p.m. Thursday, the two measures on the ballot, Measure 2-108 in Corvallis and the countywide Measure 2-106, will be discussed. Ward 1 Councilor Penny York and Kent Daniels of People for Parks will debate Measure 2-108, which would restrict sales of city parks and natural areas. League members also will discuss the implications of voting yes or no on Measure 2-106, which would create a special taxing district for Oregon State University Extension programs. If passed, the measure would increase the property taxes of county residents by 8 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. A home valued at $300,000 would see its property taxes increased by $24 per year. In other public meetings: Monday The Corvallis City Council meets at 6 p.m. at the downtown fire station, 400 NW Harrison Blvd. Note that the council has moved the start time from 6:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. On the agenda is a 7:30 p.m. limited public hearing on the Brooklane Heights development (see Mondays Gazette-Times for a preview story). Tuesday The Benton County Board of Commissioners will hold a work session and meeting beginning at 9 a.m. at the county boardrooms, 205 NW Fifth St. Agenda items will include presentations on the Willamette 2100 and veterans transportation projects and the second reading of a zone change from urban residential to urban commercial for properties at 5800 and 5820 NW Highway 99W. The Philomath committee working on a safety and streetscape project meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 980 Applegate St. The Benton County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. in the Sunset Building, 4077 SW Research Way, on a request by McDougal Bros. Investments for a property line adjustment involving two residential lots totaling 25 acres off Bellfountain Road near Alpine. Wednesday The Corvallis Housing and Community Development Advisory Board meets at 11:30 a.m. at the downtown fire station. The Corvallis Arts and Culture Advisory Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at the Parks and Recreation Department, 1310 SW Avery Park Drive. The Corvallis Planning Commission meets at 7 p.m. at the downtown fire station and will hold a public hearing on a proposal to remove a planned development overlay, change the zoning and adjust the property line on a 3.25-acre parcel on the east side of Southwest Brooklane Drive. The changes would make it easier for the developer to build on the piece of the property zoned for residential uses. Please note that this hearing is not connected to the Brooklane Heights development that the City Council is considering Monday night. Thursday The quarterly meeting of the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition is at noon at the library. The event will include presentations from Catherine Fisher of Town & Country Realty, Bettina Schempf of the Old Mill Center and Tarah Campi of Cascades West Rideshare. Molly Monroe will discuss projects of the coalitions natural areas action team. The Corvallis City Council meets in a 4 p.m. work session to discuss the buildable lands inventory. The meeting includes a community comments section. Residents wishing to offer comments in advance can do so at www.corvallisoregon.gov/publicinput. The Corvallis Parks, Natural Areas and Recreation Advisory Board meets at 6:30 p.m. at the downtown fire station. The Philomath City Budget Committee meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall to hear the budget message for this fiscal cycle. Friday The Corvallis City Legislative Committee meets at 10 a.m. at City Hall, 501 SW Madison Ave. April 22 State Rep. Dan Rayfield and Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates are hosting a community coffee event to talk about health care in Oregon. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 10:30 at the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Ave. Following nearly five hours of deliberation, a 12-member jury on Friday found Roberta Samard guilty of murdering her husband, Kenneth Arlen Samard, 57. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Samard, 62, huddled in a black cardigan and sobbed quietly as Judge Daniel Murphy read the unanimous verdict from the eight men and four women. The trial, which started April 6, centered on the shooting death of Samard's husband early in the morning of Nov. 16, 2015, at the Samard home in Millersburg. Roberta Samard originally was charged with manslaughter after she allegedly told investigators she had been threatening to kill herself when the gun she was holding discharged, striking and killing her husband. Manslaughter is characterized by reckless actions under conditions manifesting extreme disregard for the value of a human life. Prosecutors later decided to change Samard's charge to murder, which is characterized by intent. The mandatory sentence is 25 years in prison, while manslaughter carries a 10-year sentence. During closing arguments Friday, prosecutor Ani Yardumian argued Samard intended to kill her husband, while defense attorney Laura Fine Moro insisted Samard had been intending to kill only herself. The two sides agree on several aspects of the case, Yardumian told the jury: that the defendant was under significant stress because the home was in foreclosure and the couple were to be moving out that day, that Roberta Samard had loaded a gun and that she pulled the trigger. "We disagree on one word: 'intentional,'" Yardumian said. "Did she mean to kill Ken Samard?" Yardumian maintained the death was intentional, saying Roberta Samard's actions after the gun discharged don't indicate the mindset of someone who hurt a person accidentally. Samard did intend to pull the trigger, Fine Moro countered, but she didn't intend her husband to be the target. Bonn swimming pools : Locals vote in referendum: 70,000 ballot cards returned Yellow envelopes wherever you look: Kimberly-Juliet Lausch, Jennifer Semglaty and Corinna Krzoe have a lot to do this week in the foyer of the town hall - they are sorting the returned ballots for the local referendum Kurfurstenbad bleibt (Kurfursten swimming pool stays). Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Bonn residents can cast their votes until midnight on Friday 21 April on whether the pool in Bad Godesberger should remain. The yellow envelopes contain a ballot paper which will counted on Saturday 22 April. So far, around 70,000 votes have been returned. But that is only an estimate as we have not counted them yet, says vice spokesman for the city Marc Hoffmann. In total, around 248,000 Bonn residents have been called upon to vote in the first local referendum to be held in Bonn. The preliminary results will be published after the count-up on Saturday. Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS Terrorists in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 14, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting 14 strikes consisting of 64 engagements against ISIS targets yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. U.S. Central Command continues to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria In Syria, coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets: -- Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes damaged three ISIS supply routes. -- Near Raqqa, four strikes engaged nine ISIS tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions. -- Near Tabqah, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units, destroyed a fighting position and damaged a supply route. Strikes in Iraq In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of 54 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed four fighting positions, a vehicle bomb, a command-and-control node and a tunnel; and damaged five fighting positions and four ISIS supply routes. 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 Future USS Gerald R. Ford completes successful builder's sea trials, begins preparations for acceptance trials Navy News Service Story Number: NNS170414-20 Release Date: 4/14/2017 1:41:00 PM From Naval Sea Systems Command Public Affairs WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) returned from Builder's Sea Trials to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia on April 14 after seven days at sea. During this initial at-sea period, Ford's crew, representatives from Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding, the Navy's CVN 78 Program Office, the Navy's Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair and various technical subject matter experts demonstrated many of the ship's capabilities including tracking aircraft using the Dual Band Radar, conducting "no load" cycles using the new electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) and small boat operations. As is typical with sea trials, the Navy and shipbuilder learned a great deal about the ship's performance during the extensive testing. Analysis continues, and any identified corrective actions will be addressed. CVN 78 remains on track to conduct acceptance trials and delivery to the Navy this spring. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Makin Island Conducts Night Vision Flight Operations, Maintains Readiness in 7th Fleet Navy News Service Story Number: NNS170414-05 Release Date: 4/14/2017 8:50:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dennis Grube, USS Makin Island Public Affairs SOUTH CHINA SEA (NNS) -- Sailors and Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) conducted night vision device flight operations, April 12, to maintain pilot and crew qualifications and ensure readiness to support contingencies in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Using night vision devices (NVD), pilots and aircrew conducted takeoffs and recoveries of Navy MH-60S Sea Hawks, assigned to the "Blackjacks" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, and Marine Corps MV-22B Ospreys, AV-8B Harriers and CH-53E Super Stallions, assigned to the "Ridge Runners" of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 163 (Reinforced). Each aircraft brings a unique set of nighttime capabilities to the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). VMM 163's AV-8B detachment officer-in-charge, Maj. Jay Hanson, highlighted the importance of keeping qualifications current and said the multi-mission Harrier is well-equipped to operate at night. "Maintaining our night vision device qualifications ensures our pilots can leverage all the advantages of flying at night," said Hanson, "which means the ARG/MEU is better prepared to meet a range of missions, from armed reconnaissance to close air support and power projection." Hanson explained nighttime often presents more favorable conditions for pilots, including decreased air traffic, calmer air, and less radio activity. Yet even with NVDs, the darkness brings challenges that pilots and aircrew members do not have to deal with during daytime flight operations. "The main challenges are restricted view," said Lt. Kevin Holland, an MH-60S pilot with HSC-21. "During the day you have all your peripherals at your disposal, whereas you lose that when using the NVDs. At night, your approaches, launches, recoveries and all other maneuvers that you normally take for granted, require a lot more effort, but I like the challenge." Holland explained that pilots have to rely heavily on their aircrew in the limited visibility of night. "You're seeing a small piece of the pie and they are in the back, constantly moving to give you the bigger picture. That's why we practice now, so we're ready and more comfortable operating at night when we get the call." Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) 1st Class Daniel Lloyd said nighttime operations can present the need for additional precautions on the flight deck as well. "We always bring our 'A' game, but everyone up there pays especially close attention at night," said Lloyd. "NVDs are critical in maintaining a safe flight deck. Working under NVD conditions brings out the best in people." Makin Island is the flagship of the Makin Island ARG, and with the embarked 11th MEU and Amphibious Squadron 5, is currently conducting maritime security operations and supporting theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. The 7th Fleet area of operations includes more than 48 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, running from the international dateline to the eastern coast of Africa, and from the Antarctic to the Kuril Islands, Northeast of Japan. While in 7th Fleet, the Makin Island ARG and 11th MEU will be assigned to Commander, Amphibious Force U.S. 7th Fleet, the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious force, headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Stethem Operates in South China Sea Navy News Service Story Number: NNS170414-04 Release Date: 4/14/2017 8:45:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan Harper, USS Stethem (DDG 63) Public Affairs SOUTH CHINA SEA (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class, guided-missile destroyer USS STETHEM (DDG 63) forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea. While in the area, Stethem completed a refueling at sea with Her Majesty's New Zealand Ship (HMNZS) Endeavour (A 11). Command Senior Chief William Palmer IV said the replenishment allowed Stethem to remain mission ready. "Conducting these types of operations with our allies builds proficiency and sustains our ability to maintain a persistent presence throughout the 7th Fleet area of operations," Palmer said. During operations, Stethem has regularly communicated with naval vessels from the People's Republic of China. Nations utilize the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) to communicate navigational intentions to ensure safe maneuvering. Fire Controlman Senior Chief Robert Kline, a Tactical Actions Officer, said the experience working with foreign navies increases the responsiveness and effectiveness of the crew. "As forward deployed naval forces you are constantly operating around ships from other navies," Kline said. "This provides vital operational experience that increases our proficiency in mission critical areas." The United States is committed to the security of the Indo-Asia- Pacific. The U.S. Navy routinely conducts naval operations in oceans and seas worldwide. Our allies and partners value enduring U.S. Navy presence throughout the Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) area of operations. Since departing Japan earlier this year, Stethem has operated extensively in the Western Pacific. In addition to the current operations in the South China Sea, the ship and its crew operated in the waters off the Korean Peninsula alongside the Carl Vinson Strike Group and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy during the 2017 Foal Eagle exercise. In conjunction with Foal Eagle, Stethem conducted routine port visits in the Republic of Korea, including the island of Jeju-do, where Stethem was the first foreign warship to visit the new Jeju Joint Civil-Military Complex. Stethem, assigned to Commander, Destroyer Squadron 15, and is on patrol in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Karzai strongly condemns US dropping of huge bomb in Afghanistan Iran Press TV Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:6AM Afghanistan's former President Hamid Karzai has blasted the US for dropping its largest non-nuclear bomb in the Asian country, saying Washington is using his country as a "testing ground" for its new weapons. "I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear #bomb, on Afghanistan by US military," Karzai wrote on Twitter on Thursday, referring to the strike that was carried out earlier in the day. Karzai, who became Afghanistan's first president under an agreement largely negotiated by Western countries after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, further called on his country to "stop" the US. "This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the #USA." Earlier on Thursday, the US military said it had conducted a strike on a Daesh tunnel complex in Achin district in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province. A military statement said a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb had been dropped from a US aircraft in the strike. It claimed that US forces had taken every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike, without elaborating. Afghan officials said on Friday that the US strike had killed at least 36 suspected Daesh terrorists, smashing a deep tunnel complex in the area. They said no civilian casualties had been caused. "As a result of the bombing, key Daesh hideouts and a deep tunnel complex were destroyed and 36 fighters were killed," Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said in a statement. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, described the bombing as "very, very successful." Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari said the bomb landed in the Momand Dara area of Achin district. "The explosion was the biggest I have ever seen. Towering flames engulfed the area." The huge bomb delivered via an MC-130 transport plane has a blast yield equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, and been designed to intimidate the enemy as well as to clear broad areas, according to the US military. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Poland officially welcomes NATO battalion Iran Press TV Fri Apr 14, 2017 6:25AM Poland has officially welcomed a NATO battalion deployed to the Eastern European country to join a multinational force aimed at countering alleged future aggression from Russia. "I am very pleased to be with you on this historic day for my country," a clearly fascinated Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the welcoming ceremony in the northeastern town of Orzysz on Thursday. "Generations of Poles have waited for this moment since the end of World War II, generations that dreamed of being part of the just, united, democratic, and truly free West," he said. Duda said the deployment of the battalion, comprising American soldiers, would help prevent what he called foreign invasion on the country. Earlier, Duda met with General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, who is in charge of the US European Command and is the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The Polish president awarded him a medal for his efforts at the Western military alliance. Also speaking at the Thursday ceremony, Scaparrotti called the deployment "a clear demonstration of NATO's unity and resolve and sends a clear message to any potential aggressor." "You now form NATO's eastern flank," he told the troops. The American contingent of 900 troops, which arrived in Poland in March, will serve along with 150 British and 120 Romanian soldiers on a rotational basis. Their base of operation, Orzysz, lies 60 kilometers from the border with Kaliningrad, a Russian territory on the Baltic Sea separated from the Russian mainland. The US and its allies have been at odds with Moscow since the strategic Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, then controlled by Ukraine, joined Russia following a referendum in March 2014. Western countries have said Russia "annexed" Crimea by force and have been fearful of a repeat of that scenario in other countries, stepping up their military presence in Eastern Europe. They have also imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia. NATO has suspended all practical cooperation with Moscow and started deploying troops and weaponry to the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia near Russia since then. Moscow has long been critical of any NATO expansion toward its borders, saying the West seeks to encircle Russia. In response, Moscow has deployed the S-400 air missile defense system together with nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced last year that Russia would also deploy two new divisions in the west and one in the south to counterbalance NATO's increased military presence near Russian borders. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Zhang Jun's I, Hamlet includes Chinese views on life and death, as well as other aspects of Chinese philosophy. [Photo provided to China Daily] Thanks in part to Zhang Jun's persistence over the decades, Kunqu Opera, once labeled as a traditional performance that is too boring to watch, is now experiencing a revival in modern times When he was a student at the folk opera school at Shanghai Culture Square, Zhang Jun often snuck out of classes to watch films at the New Shanghai Theater across street. Twenty years later, the renowned Kunqu artist and founder of the Zhang Jun Kunqu Opera Art Center will host a contemporary Kunqu art week at the very same cinema that was recently reopened after undergoing refurbishment. The historic 70-year-old New Shanghai Theater now features cutting-edge design fashioned by the award-winning architecture studio Neri &Hu and is managed by staff from the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center. It has also been hailed as a venue that will attract younger crowds to the traditional performance art of Kunqu Opera. Zhang said that the New Shanghai Theater is a "perfect" space for Kunqu Opera performances, as the cozy 300-seat theater allows artists to interact intimately with the audience. The Future Contemporary Kunqu Art Week, which takeS place from April 6 to 16, consists of four gala Kunqu concerts performed by artists from several opera troupes from Beijing, Jiangsu and Hunan provinces, two lectures on the traditional art form, as well as five performances of I, Hamlet, a contemporary Kunqu adaptation of William Shakespeare's great tragedy, from April 12 to 16. In the one-man show I, Hamlet, which is created by Zhang, the Danish prince from the original tale is replaced by a Chinese noble from an ancient dynasty. Last year, Zhang presented the play in London and New York, winning praise among overseas audiences. While the Chinese adaptation arrived rather late at the Lincoln Center of New York last year where a series of celebratory events took place to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare, American audiences still found the performance refreshing. Zhang said that he was touched when an audience member approached him to say how I, Hamlet made him "see the story in a different light". "In the story, we included Chinese views on life and death, as well as other aspects of Chinese philosophy. It was an interpretation from a different perspective, and a dialogue between two cultures," said Zhang. While I, Hamlet represents the latest development of Kunqu Opera in the contemporary world, Zhang believes it is just as important not to lose sight of the traditional. Russia Hosts Afghanistan Meeting Boycotted By Washington RFE/RL April 14, 2017 Russia opened meetings with top diplomats from Afghanistan, China, and several Central Asian countries in talks that are aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan but are being boycotted by the United States. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement April 14 that India, Iran, and Pakistan were also attending the Moscow talks. The statement urged the Taliban to stop fighting and engage in a direct dialogue with the Afghan government. Russia had invited Washington to join the consultations but it refused, saying the goal was unclear. The purpose "seemed to be a unilateral Russian attempt to assert influence in the region," acting U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on the eve of the talks. "We do generally support regional efforts that work with the Afghan government to build support for a peaceful outcome in Afghanistan, and I think we -- going forward, we do plan to work with Russia and other key regional stakeholders to enhance dialogue on Afghanistan," Toner said. Moscow hosted similar consultations in December between diplomats from Russia, Pakistan, and China to discuss the start of a national reconciliation process. The format was expanded in mid-February to involve Afghanistan, Iran, and India. With reporting by TASS and AP Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-hosts-afghan- meeting-us-boycotts/28431362.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 U.S. General Says Huge Bomb Used In Afghanistan 'Right Weapon For Right Target' RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan April 14, 2017 KABUL -- The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said his decision to use one of the U.S. military's largest nonnuclear bombs in an attack that reportedly killed 36 Islamic State (IS) militants was done in communication with officials in Washington. General John Nicholson said April 14 at a news conference in Kabul that the attack was purely "tactical." "This was the right weapon for the right target," he told reporters. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said 36 IS fighters were killed in the blast which hit an IS tunnel and command center on April 13. He said no civilians were harmed. The death toll could not be independently confirmed. U.S. and Afghan security forces swarmed over the target site and did not allow reporters or local residents to approach the area April 14. "We have U.S. forces at the site and we see no evidence of civilian casualties nor have there been reports," Nicholson said. "Let me be clear -- we will not relent in our mission to destroy [IS in Afghanistan].... There will be no sanctuary for terrorists in Afghanistan." Media reports also said senior IS commander Siddiq Yar was among those killed. IS issued a statement through its affiliated Amaq news agency denying "any dead or wounded from yesterday's American strike in Nangarhar." The Pentagon said it was the first-ever combat use of the GBU-43/B bomb. The 9,797-kilogram bomb was dropped from an MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar bordering Pakistan. It targeted a complex of tunnels that Afghan and U.S. officials said was being used by militants linked to IS. Afghanistan's presidency said the bomb was dropped in coordination with the government, adding that "the air strike was designed to support the efforts of the ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) and U.S. forces" conducting an operation in the area. A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani told Radio Free Afghanistan the decision to deploy the massive bomb in the area was made after repeated air strikes by the Afghan Air Force and the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission's air force had failed to destroy the IS hideout. The tunnel network included the IS regional command center and weapons depots dug underground at depths that reached 300 meters in some areas, Dawakhan Meenapal, Ghani's deputy spokesman, said. "Therefore, in consultation with the Afghan government, the final decision to hit that area was finalized in the presence of the Afghan military leadership and officials who were visiting Nangarhar Province yesterday (April 13)." Meenapal also stressed that the final decision was made "knowing that there were no civilians in the area." Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive officer of Afghanistan, confirmed the attack had been carried out in coordination with the government and that "great care had been taken to avoid civilian harm." Officials hope the bombing will diminish IS's capabilities in Afghanistan and to also send a warning to the much larger Taliban militant group ahead of their annual spring offensive. The Taliban issued a statement denouncing the bombing. "Using this massive bomb cannot be justified and will leave a material and psychological impact on our people," the Taliban, who compete with IS in the country, said in a statement. However, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the use of the bomb on Afghan soil. "This is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons," he said on Twitter. A day after the attack, residents of surrounding villages told Radio Free Afghanistan the targeted region had housed many IS fighters and that the blast shook the ground around their homes in the remote mountainous area. "It was a very powerful and horrific bomb," one resident, who declined to give his name, told RFE/RL. "It shook the whole area, including Asadkhel village." "The place where the bomb exploded was the center of Islamic State," another resident said. "There is a big tunnel over there, which they used for hiding and for holding prisoners and weapons." He added that when IS militants had arrived in the area, they took over their homes and "looted everything.... Now their own families live there." The strike came as U.S. President Donald Trump dispatched his first high-level delegation to Kabul, amid uncertainty about his plans for the some 8,400 American troops stationed in Afghanistan. It also follows last week's death of a U.S. special forces soldier fighting IS militants in Nangarhar Province. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), known as "the mother of all bombs," unleashes 11 tons of explosives. Trump has told reporters that the bombing was "another very, very successful mission." He did not answer directly when asked if he had authorized the use of the bomb. "Everyone knows exactly what happened. What I do is authorize my military. We have given them total authorization," Trump said. The GBU-43/B bomb was developed for use in the Iraq war -- at a reported cost of $16 million each -- and was first tested in 2003, but never used in action until April 13. The MOAB is the U.S. military's most powerful nonnuclear bomb. However, it is not the heaviest. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, is an even bigger bunker-buster bomb which weighs a colossal 13,600 kilograms. With additional reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/us-drops-largest- nonnuclear-bomb-afghanistan/28428242.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 Afghan Embassy Welcomes Any Help in Anti-Terror Fight Amid US MOAB Strike Sputnik News 19:26 14.04.2017(updated 19:27 14.04.2017) The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan welcomes any assistance in the fight against international and regional terrorists, a spokesman for the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Moscow told Sputnik Friday, commenting on the recent US bomb strike on terrorists in Afghanistan. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Thursday, the 22,000-pound GBU-43, or MOAB bomb, nicknamed the "Mother of All Bombs," which is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US military arsenal, was dropped from a C-130 military airlift aircraft, targeting an underground complex and tunnels in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province believed to be used by Daesh terrorist group. "To save our people and defend our country, the Afghan government seriously fights against regional and international terrorism and welcomes all those attempts and assistance to beat terrorists," Shah Sultan Akifi, a diplomat responsible for press relations in the Embassy, said. Earlier in the day, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesperson said that at least 36 Daesh militants had been killed in the US MOAB bomb attack which was done in coordination with the Afghan authorities. Akifi stressed Afghanistan's readiness to use all available resources to combat terrorism in cooperation with international allies. "Afghan defense and security forces, with its international friend's forces are ready to utilize all military equipment, technologies and ammunition to fight against each terrorist group effectively," Akifi added. Akifi called on the international community to fight terrorism that threatens security and stability worldwide. Afghanistan has been suffering from a military conflict against the Taliban terror organization (outlawed in Russia), which seeks to establish strict Sharia law in the country, as well as with Daesh terrorists, who have expanded their activities in the country. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Japan Opposes Presence of Chinese Ships in Disputed Senkaku Islands Waters Sputnik News 10:11 14.04.2017 Japan's Foreign Ministry expressed their objections over a phone call to China's Ambassador Cheng Yonghua to the entrance of the country's ship in the waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands, media reported Friday. TOKYO (Sputnik) According to the NHK broadcaster, four Chinese coast guard vessels approached the zone located near Japan's claimed exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East China Sea. This move mark's China's 10th time entering the area this year, with the last passage on Monday prompting strong criticism, as it considers these islands its territory. China, in turn, insists that its ships lawfully entered the waters, as they belong to the Chinese territory, the broadcaster suggested. Japan's protest to China said, as quoted by the media outlet, that Senkaku Islands were the integral part of Japanese territory and entering their water area violates the sovereignty and is absolutely unacceptable. The eight uninhabited Senkaku Islands are both oil-rich and located near key international shipping routes. After World War II, their territory had been administered by the United States until 1972, when the islands were put under Japanese control by way of a bilateral US-Japanese agreement. The islands, referred to Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyudao in China, are currently disputed between Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan. Both China and Taiwan claim that the archipelago is part of Taiwan despite the internal disputes between the two countries. Japan refuses to recognize these claims and considers Senkaku as its territory, but the country's authorities do not allow the administration of the nearby Okinawa Prefecture to develop the islands. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghan Government Says 36 IS Members Killed in MOAB Bombing By VOA News April 14, 2017 Afghanistan says a massive bomb dropped Thursday by a U.S. warplane killed 36 members of Islamic State group and destroyed a large cache of weapons. A statement released by the Afghan defense ministry Friday said there were no civilian casualties in this attack. The 10,000-kilogram GBU-43 bomb, known as "the mother of all bombs" (MOAB), was dropped on an Islamic State bunker complex in northeastern Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan Thursday. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said the operation took place in coordination with the Afghan Security and Defense Forces. It added that the Afghan forces are also collaborating with NATO's Resolute Support mission to fight against other terrorist groups. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the use of the MOAB on Afghan soil. "I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear #bomb, on Afghanistan by US military," Karzai said in a Twitter post. "This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the #USA," Karzai said. 'Right weapon' for target General John Nicholson, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said on Friday his decision to deploy the MOAB was done in communication with officials in Washington and was a purely tactical decision. "This was the right weapon for the right target," Nicholson told a news conference Friday. Nicholson said Islamic State extremists in Afghanistan have been increasing their use of tunnels and underground bunkers to "thicken their defense," and added: "This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive." The Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, developed more than a decade ago, has never before been used in combat. Trump approves From Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump indicated the military strike against IS extremists had his full approval. He dodged a question about the mission's goal, but hinted it may also have been intended to send a forceful message to North Korea, which is rumored to be planning another nuclear weapons test shortly. "I don't know if this sends a message [to North Korea]. It doesn't make any difference if it does or not," Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House. "North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of." The Pentagon said in a statement that a GBU-43 bomb was dropped earlier in the day on an IS tunnel complex in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, near the border with Pakistan. Trump said the airstrike in Afghanistan was "another successful event," and noted, "We are so proud of our military." A short time earlier, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters the mission against the IS complex was necessary because the U.S. and its allies "must deny them operational space, which we did." North Korea References to North Korea that arose in connection with the Afghan bombing were due to increasing tensions in the area around the reclusive communist state, since there have been signs Pyongyang is preparing to mark an important national anniversary in the coming days - possibly with a long-rumored sixth test of one of its nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops and heavy weaponry have been mobilized for their largest-ever joint military exercise. North Korea has threatened war if it sees signs of "aggression" south of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas. Trump has warned the United States will no longer tolerate any provocative activity by Pyongyang - presumably by imposing even tougher economic sanctions. But comments by the president and other senior officials have left open the possibility of more direct confrontation. China, North Korea's only staunch ally, has said tension in the region cannot be de-escalated militarily and has urged Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program in exchange for Chinese protection. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Massive Bomb Strike Divides Afghan Opinion with Critics Questioning Motives By Ayesha Tanzeem April 14, 2017 U.S. use of a massive bomb against Islamic State extemists in Afghanistan has proven divisive in the region, winning support from political and military authorities in Kabul but strong condemnations from former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan. In a series of three tweets, Karzai said, "I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear #bomb, on Afghanistan by U.S. military. This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the #USA. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, tweeted, "I find the use of the largest non-nuclear bomb, the so-called "mother of all bombs," on our soil reprehensible & counterproductive. If big bombs were the solution we would be the most secure place on earth today." U.S. forces dropped the GBU-43 Massive Ordinance Air Blast, an almost 30-foot giant weighing approximately 10 tons, on the Achin district of Nangarhar province Thursday night. The strike was described as part of a campaign to destroy the Islamic State Khorasan Province group, the local chapter of IS. General John Nicholson, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, said Friday that his forces had coordinated the attack with the Afghan government, "just as we have since we started these operations in early March." A statement issued earlier by President Ashraf Ghani stressed the same point. Nicholson said circumstances on the ground justified the use of the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever used by the United States military. "This munition, this weapon, was the right weapon against this target," he said. "The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels, and extensive minefields and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive into southern Nangarhar." U.S. President Donald Trump was asked Thursday whether the attack was intended to send a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is reportedly poised to conduct a new nuclear weapons test as early as this weekend. But Nicholson insisted the decision was based solely on the analysis of conditions in Nangarhar. "It was the right time to use it tactically, against the right target on the battlefield," he said. Nicholson said U.S. and Afghan forces were on the ground after the strike and had not seen any evidence of civilian casualties. Some local elders said most of the civilians in that area had already fled due to the presence of IS as well as extended fighting between IS and government forces. However, they expressed concern over the fate of people whom they said IS had held hostage. Meanwhile, the Afghan Taliban issued a statement condemning the use of the weapon and said there was no presence of IS in Afghanistan. "Using such a heavy weapon in the name of IS is using our territory for experimentation," the statement said. Nicholson said the operation against IS in Nangahar has liberated more than 400 square kilometers since its inception. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address OPLAN 5030 - Rollback In late May 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed military commanders to develop a new approach for conflict with North Korea, Operations Plan 5030. The fact of the existence of OPLAN 5030 as well as details of this plan were first revealed in the 21 July 2003 edition of US News and World Report , in an article by Bruce B. Auster and Kevin Whitelaw. Critics of the plans provisions claim that it blurs the line between war and peace. Under the draft plan, US Forces Korea would conduct pre-conflict maneuvers to draw down North Korea's limited military resources. This might place such stress on the North's military that it might provoke a military coup against the country's leader, Kim Jong Il. According to Auster and Whitelaw, options available under OPLAN 5030 include flying RC-135 surveillance aircraft closer to North Korean airspace, provoking the DPRK to wear out scrambled interceptor aircraft and burn up jet fuel. Under another gambit, US commanders might stage a surprise or short-notice military exercises, provoking North Korean forces to disperse to [or from] bunkers. This could disclose details of DPRK war plans, and deplete reserse of food, water, and other materiel. The initial draft of 5030 included a variety of operations not included in traditional operational war plans, such as disrupting financial networks and strategic disinformation activities. Indeed, the entire OPLAN 5030 story might be part of such offensive information operations, creating a bewildering wilderness of mirrors for the historically paranoid North. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey - 2017 Referendum On Sunday 16 April 2017, Turks voted in a referendum on transforming Turkey from the current parliamentary system into an 'executive presidency'. National polls showed the "Yes" and "No" votes were nearly tied and as the referendum approached. The "Yes" votes stood at 51.3 percent after 98 percent of ballots had been opened for counting, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. International election monitors criticized the referendum, saying the campaign was conducted on an "unlevel playing field" and that the vote count was marred by late procedural changes. Observers from the OSCE and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said in a joint statement on April 17 that the legal framework for the referendum "remained inadequate for the holding of a genuinely democratic referendum." Cezar Florin Preda, the head of a PACE monitoring delegation, said "late changes in counting procedures removed an important safeguard and were contested by the opposition," referring to a move by election officials to allow ballots that did not have an official stamp to be counted. The decision on April 16 by the Supreme Electoral Council to count unstamped ballot papers had created possibilities for widespread fraud in the ballot count. But the head of Turkeys electoral commission, Sadi Guven, rejected the claims of foul play and the criticism from international monitors. The controversial decision to allow the use of ballots that did not have an official stamp was also criticized. The Supreme Election Board issued instructions late in the day, that significantly changed, the validity criteria, undermining an important safeguard and contradicting the law, observed Cezar Florin Preda of the monitoring group at the Ankara press conference. Under Turkeys 2010 electoral law, all ballots require an official stamp as a measure aimed at preventing vote stuffing. The main opposition CHP alleges that as many as one-and-a-half million unstamped ballots could have been used, more than the winning margin in the referendum. The 18 articles of the constitutional reform package created one of the most powerful elected presidencies in the world. Supporters argued it was essential to meet unprecedented threats facing the country. Detractors warned the measures will turn Turkey into an autocracy, and tranform the president into a Sultan. Recep Tayyip Erodgan, who came to power as prime minister in 2003, before assuming the presidency in 2014, could end up serving as president through 2029 of the "Yes vote prevailed. Turkeys electoral map displaying the results of Sundays vote has some parallels in the Turkish context with its US equivalent after Trumps electoral college victory. The red and blue zones in this transcontinental nation straddling Europe and Asia are noteworthy. Turkeys western coastal regions, as well as its urban centres, voted firmly against Erdogan expanding his presidential powers. The Kurdish southeast also overwhelmingly voted No to the raft of 18 article amendments changing the countrys parliamentary system to a presidential one. The central Anatolian heartland predictably backed Erdogan, as they have since he came to power as prime minister in 2003. Until Mustafa Kemal Ataturks death, a de facto presidential system was in place. The president had also held the leadership of a political party. This principle was repealed (or abolished) after 1960 coup. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) argued that a strong executive branch is necessary for making decisions more quickly and for taking the necessary steps for the countrys economic and democratic development. A presidential system will clear up the confusion over the jurisdiction for which the president and the prime minister are responsible in the parliamentary system. The AKP argues that the parliamentary system produces coalitions that have had negative implications for both justices in representation and stability in administration, which have been inversely correlated. The proposed presidential system was said to be more in line with Turkish political culture compared to the parliamentary system. The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) argues that the draft destroys the separation of powers and increases the executive branchs powers extraordinarily. The draft is a step towards a systemic change rather than being a mere constitutional revision. If passed, the new changes lead the way to an authoritarian Turkey. There are no checks and balances in the proposed system. The presidents jurisdiction is extended without restrictions. In the national news coverage of the referendum, the "Yes" vote supporters had significantly more airtime than their counterparts. A study of TRT Haber, the publicly-owned and financed national broadcaster, found that President Erdogan and the AKP had been given 4,113 minutes of coverage in the first three weeks of March 2017. During the same period, opposition advocates with Republican People's Party were on air for 216 minutes while the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) had just one minute of coverage. The Turkish parliament's constitutional commission approved the draft of a controversial constitutional reform championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party AKP on 30 December 2016. The proposed reform would transform Turkey from a parliamentary system into a presidential system, shifting executive power from parliament and prime minister to the presidency. Under the current constitution, the president officially served a largely ceremonial role, but Erdogan had already used his popularity to expand his influence on Turkish politics. In November 2013 the parliamentary commission set up to draft a new constitution for Turkey failed and was dissolved. Drafting a new constitution was among Erdogan's election pledges in 2011 and the commission, including the social democratic CHP, pro-Kurdish BHP and nationalist MHP opposition parties, had been working on a new law for two years. Despite numerous revisions, the current constitution dates from the 1980 coup, and still bears the stamp of military tutelage. The 2016 constitutional amendment proposal that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) brought to the parliament with the support from only the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) drew attention with its "one-chamber parliament" premise. In the new model, there would be no prime minister, and the president would have all the executive power within a unitary structure. The parliament would no longer have the authority to audit the cabinet and its ministers or have the cabinet issue decrees. "Subjects dealing with state activity" would be excluded from the scope of general meetings in parliament, meaning, ministers would not be members of parliament. The age of political candidacy would be reduced to 18. The number of seats in the parliament would rise to 600 from 550. The parliament would not have any authority to call for a vote of confidence or set up inquiry commissions. The proposed amendment would give the president the power to make legislation as well as the power to veto. When the president sends a proposed bill back to parliament and a two-thirds majority votes to accept the legislation, the president would, once again, have the power to veto. The president would have the power to issue decrees, which is a power that even the US president doesn't have. While the US president needs the confirmation of the senate for each cabinet member, the Turkish president would be able to appoint anyone he wishes. He would also have the power to appoint all senior civil servants, declare a state of emergency and call for renewal of elections. According to the proposed member selection system for the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), the president would appoint half of the members, while the parliament vl appoint the other half. The proposal called for the presidential and parliament elections to be held on the same day. The proposal called for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on November 3, 2019. At that date local elections are also expected to be held. This way, the president can enter the election as head of his party and lead them to victory. In that way, parliament members would always stay loyal to the president. There will be no monitoring the president, parliament members will be allied to the president and he will have complete judicial control. Turkey said it may hold a referendum in the coming months on adopting a presidential system instead of the current parliamentary one as well as other amendments to the constitution. "If the parliament puts the issue on its agenda and makes a quick decision, the referendum will be brought to the people quickly, even before the spring," Bekir Bozdag told the Kanal 24 television station Oct 14, 2016. The announcement came a few days after Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim signaled that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is poised to push ahead with his plans to overhaul the constitution and strengthen his own power. "Turkey must give the de facto situation a legal status," said Yildirim. "We will at once take steps in this direction and will let either parliament or the people decide." Erdogan had long been campaigning for a presidential system based on the claim that the country cannot be run by two strongmen. On December 30, 2016, the Commission on the Constitution in Turkeys Grand National Assembly (GNA, the parliament) approved several draft amendments to the countrys Constitution that would, among other measures, augment the powers of the president and change the government to a presidential system from the current prime minister-led system. Of an initial package of 21 amendments, the number was whittled down to 18 by the Commission. Discussions on a constitutional reform package began in January 2016. Proposed changes affecting the presidency and the election system include: abolition of the prime ministry; ability of an elected president to maintain ties with his/her own party; election of the president by popular vote, from among persons who have attained 40 years of age, have completed higher education and have the right to be elected deputies and are born Turkish nationals, for up to two five-year terms, with the next general and presidential elections to be held on Nov. 3, 2019; authority of the president to make decisions by decree on the establishment and closing of ministries and organizations and to appoint senior public officials ; authority of the president to declare a state of emergency; holding of parliamentary and presidential elections every five years, on the same day; authority of Parliament to establish an investigative commission and launch impeachment proceedings against the president, with the signatures of 301 MPs needed to propose an investigation, 360 MPs (i.e., three-fifths) needed for the establishment of a commission, and a secret ballot of 401 MPs in favor needed for the proposed impeachment to be referred to the Supreme Court; and an increase in the number of MPs from 550 to 600, given the growing population; and a reduction in the minimum age for candidacy, in line with European practice, from 25 years of age to 18. Other amendments would: decrease the size of the National Security Council (Milli Guvenlik Kurulu, MGK); remove the gendarmerie forces from the control of the MGK; abolish the military high courts, in an effort to remove differing practices between the military and civil courts, thereby reducing the number of members on the Constitution Court to 15 because of the removal of the two members from the military courts; authorize Parliament and the president to select members of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (Hakimler ve Savcilar Yuksek Kurulu, HSYK) in order, according to one news source, to remove members of the Gulenist Terror Group (FETO) from within the judiciary; change the structure of the HSYK, reducing it from a 22-member to a 13-member body, seven elected by parliamentary vote and the remaining six selected by the president, and reducing the number of its chambers from three to two; place the Turkish Armed Forces (Turk Silahli Kuvvetleri, TSK) under civilian oversight through the State Supervisory Council (Devlet Denetleme Kurulu), which is led by the presidency; and authorize the president, who is also the commander-in-chief, to appoint the TSKs chief of general staff. The HSYK, under article 159 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey has been responsible for recruiting, appointing, transferring, authorising, promoting, disciplinary issues and removal of judges and prosecutors. The proposed package of amendments, once presented to the GNA, will be discussed and voted upon article by article before put to a vote as a whole by the parliament, where a minimum of 330 votes will be needed for it to pass. Given that agreement had been reached on the proposal in committee between the ruling Justice and Development Party, which has 316 seats, and the Nationalist Movement Party, which has 39 seats, it is expected that the amendments will pass, perhaps before the end of January. Upon passage of the proposed measures, a referendum on them was expected to take place in the spring of 2017. The entire parliament was expected to debate the bill in January 2017. Experts predicted that the parliament would approve the constitutional reform, which required at least 330 votes from the 550 members of parliament. The ultra-conservative MHP supported the reform along with the AKP. Together, both parties had 356 votes in the parliament. A referendum would be held by spring. On 21 January 2017 Turkey's parliament approved the controversial constitutional reform package, which aimed to empower the office of the presidency. The parliamentary approval paved the way for a referendum on the measures. The 550-seat parliament approved the new 18-article constitution in a final vote with 339 in favor and 142 against, while five cast empty ballots and two of the votes were ruled invalid. The measure required at least 330 votes to be approved and be put forward to a referendum, which is planned for as early as April. On 15 February 2017 Erdogan signed into law constitutional amendments aimed at giving him sweeping new powers under an executive presidency. The reforms were deeply divisive, with supporters saying they will strengthen democracy, while critics warn of dictatorship. Turks would decide in the referendum set for April 16. Doubts over its fairness were growing among opponents of the reforms, who claim a crackdown against them already has started. Opinion polls indicated the outcome remains too close to call. That gave the no campaign hope, but the expectation of further crackdowns on their activities deepened the country's political divide. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pence to Discuss North Korean Aggression on Asia-Pacific Trip By Cheryl Pellerin DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, April 14, 2017 Vice President Mike Pence begins his first official trip to the Asia-Pacific region tomorrow to, among other things, reinforce the Trump administration's full commitment to U.S. security alliances there, senior administration officials said yesterday. Pence will visit top officials in Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Sydney for discussions on economic engagement and evolving security challenges. "You've seen the nuclear threat of North Korea," a senior official said in a background phone call with reporters, "and we'll reinforce those security alliances." Pence and President Donald J. Trump are working closely with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps General Joe Dunford, National Security Advisor Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and the rest of the National Security Council to develop a military strategy for South Korea and the region as it relates to the entire national security strategy, an officials said in the call. Discussions have had "particular emphasis on the belligerency of North Korea, [and] absolutely, we'll be discussing that with our allies and partners at every stop," the official added. Military Options The National Security Council already is assessing military options, the official added, "but we'll work that as we sit down in discussions with [Army Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, United Nations Command and Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command]." An official on the media call said the topic of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile defense system probably would come up in discussions with officials in Seoul, "[and] we're prepared to address that as well. It's a critical point for the defense of South Korea in recognizing it's not an offensive weapon. It's there to prevent rockets slamming from the North Koreans." The two nations agreed in July on a plan to have a THAAD system on the Korean Peninsula, and the United States began shipping parts of it to South Korea last month.. China is opposed to the THAAD deployment, which it considers a threat to its own security interests, according to media reports. The officials declined to comment on specifics of the strategy for stopping North Korea from launching ballistic missiles and testing nuclear weapons, although they said sanctions were one of the tools being considered. "In our commitment to the Republic of Korea, we consult with them as well," an official said. "Those discussions [are] part of the broader assessment with the National Security Council, so we wouldn't get into the weeds in the military setting. That is the purview of the secretary of defense." Overriding Message In the broad national security discussions, an official said they'd welcome the dialogue between Pence and South Korean leaders "as a continuation of dialogue that's already been in place." The overriding national security message the vice president will be taking to South Korea "is that our long alliance between the United States and South Korea is the linchpin of peace and prosperity," an official on the call said. "The president takes national security as a top priority," the official added, and we have an ironclad commitment to all of our allies in the Asia-Pacific. We take their defense very seriously, and that is unwavering." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea vows retaliation, 'taste of real war' if US takes military action People's Daily Online (People's Daily Online) 11:22, April 14, 2017 North Korea condemned the U.S. on April 13, warning of retaliation if the latter acts rashly, media reported. According to the Xinhua News Agency, a North Korean official with the country's foreign ministry said in a statement on April 13 that North Korea would retaliate to cast "nuclear thunder and punishment lightning" on hostile forces, giving them a "taste of real war." The U.S. is reportedly ready to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea if Pyongyang moves forward with its sixth nuclear test, reported NBC News, citing unidentified intelligence officials. The spokesperson for North Korea's Institute for Disarmament and Peace issued a statement condemning the U.S. for launching military attacks on a sovereign state while "crying out for 'peace by strength.'" The spokesperson cited the U.S. attack on Syria, arguing that it constitutes "a blatant violation of international law and an insolent and barbarous act of aggression," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The statement went on to say that the U.S. is disturbing global peace and stability, despite the country's insistence that its action was "decisive, just and appropriate." "The U.S. is introducing huge nuclear strategic assets into the Korean peninsula ... seriously threatening the peace and security of the peninsula and pushing the situation there to the brink of a war," KCNA reported, citing the statement. The report continued, "This has created a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment on the peninsula and pose a serious threat to world peace and security." The statement also criticized the U.S. for test-firing a ballistic missile with a range of 800 kilometers in South Korea, which could act as a strategic asset for "removing the headquarters in the north." "This situation reinforces the historical truth that peace is not offered by others, but has to be defended with one's own strength. It reaffirms the choice made by the DPRK when it decided to drastically bolster its nuclear force while tightening its belt. Nothing would be more childish and foolish than for the U.S. to dream of 'bringing down the social system' in the DPRK through 'cooperation' with someone else," KCNA reported. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Photo showing a man is stuck between a high-speed train and the gap of a platform at the Nanjing South Railway Station in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province, March 26, 2017. [Photo: ifeng.com] Family of the man who was crushed to death by a high-speed train after a failed attempt to cross the tracks at the Nanjing South Railway Station, is filing suit against the Shanghai Railway Bureau and the Nanjing Railway Station, demanding over 800,000 yuan (over 110,000 USD) in compensation. A lawyer for the family argues the rail companies are legally obligated to assume 80% of the responsibility, thus covering more than 800,000 yuan (over 110,000 USD) of the one million yuan (over 140,000 USD) in losses the family has suffered. The Nanjing Railway Station has previously stated that the man violated laws and regulations, and as such, is completely at fault. The station has offered 70,000 yuan (over 10,000 USD) in compensation for humanitarian concerns. The case has been accepted by the Nanjing Railway Transportation Court. Quoting a statement released by the Nanjing South Railway Station, at 15:43, March 26, 2017, the D3026/7 bullet train coming from the Shanghai Hongqiao Station and bound for Hankou in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, was arriving at the Nanjing station to stop at platform No. 21. A man suddenly jumped off the platform No. 22, trying to cross the track to reach the platform No.21, but was caught between the high-speed train and the station platform. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. DPRK supreme leader inspects army's special operation forces amid tension with U.S. People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 15:20, April 14, 2017 PYONGYANG, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Repulic of Korea (DPRK), has lately highlighted the role of special forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in combating enemy forces of the United States and South Korea. Local official media said Thursday that Kim, who is Supreme Commander of the KPA, has recently inspected several units of KPA special forces in the army, navy and air force, saying he was satisfied with their full preparedness for war. When guiding the "Dropping and Target-striking Contest of KPA Special Operation Forces - 2017", Kim listened to a report on the program of the contest and issued an order for start at the observation post, said Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Seeing light transport planes made zero-feet flights in the sky dropping combatants, Kim was pleased that "the commanding officers of those task forces and pilots of the transport planes properly fixed the dropping place, the flight altitude and the dropping moment in a coordinated operation and they seemed to have made a deep study of the reconnaissance data about the enemy targets." The contest was held at a time when tension is increasing between the DPRK and the United States over Washington's threat to stage military strikes against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile tests. The DPRK military has vowed to make its own preemptive strike at a time it considers appropriate. With about 100,000 or 10 percent of the KPA personnel, the special forces are an elite force known for several infiltration operations in South Korea and abroad, notably the attack upon the Chong Wa Dae presidential palace in Seoul in 1968 and a submarine infiltration on the western coast of South Korea in 1996. In January 1968, 31 KPA special force fighters attacked the Chong Wa Dae presidential palace, two of whom escaped back home alive while 29 were killed. In September 1996, a submarine of the KPA was grounded off the western coast of South Korea and 26 special force fighters infiltrated the inner land for nearly two months. Most of them were killed in fighting with South Korean and U.S. forces. As tension with the United States upsurges, the DPRK has again reminded its antagonists of its feared special forces which could strike with precision enemy targets in a non-conventional, guerrilla-style warfare. "Those combatants carrying out their duties independently and proactively were reminiscent of fierce tigers crossing the mountain ranges in the southern half," Kim was quoted as saying during the recent drill. "After watching an automatic rifle live bullet firing of combatants of the special operation battalion under the direct control of KPA Unit 525, he said that the bullets seemed to have their eyes and they were crack shots that never miss targets," said the KCNA report. Kim said the contest, successfully conducted "in the significant time marking the 105th birth anniversary of former president Kim Il Sung, is like a gift of loyalty presented by the powerful revolutionary Paektusan army to the president who had worked heart and soul to round off the KPA's combat preparations, urging its service personnel to intensify trainings with national reunification in their minds at all times." Kim Il Sung, founder of the DPRK, was a guerrilla fighter against Japanese army during World War II at the Paektusan mountain region on the border between China and Korea. His birthday falls on Saturday, April 15, which is celebrated here as "Festival of the Sun." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia calls for restraint amid North Korea-US crisis Iran Press TV Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:3PM Russia has urged all sides involved in the crisis in the Korean Peninsula to show "restraint", warning of any "provocative steps" amid reports of potential military confrontation between North Korea and the United States. "Moscow is watching with great concern the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday. "We call for restraint from all countries and warn countries not to pursue actions that could consist of any provocative steps." Tensions between North Korea and the United States have increased over the past weeks. Washington has been concerned by North Korea's nuclear tests, which Pyongyang believes act as deterrence against a potential invasion by the US or South Korea. The United States has deployed a strike group, including a large aircraft carrier, to the Korean Peninsula, and North Korea has said it is ready for war. US President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday that North Korea was a problem that "will be taken care of." Senior US intelligence officials said the US military was ready to attack North Korea with conventional weapons if the country reached for a nuclear trigger. North Korea has announced that a "big event" is coming, and, according to US officials, Pyongyang could test a nuclear weapon as early as this weekend. Russian ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said Pyongyang could carry out new ballistic missile launches or conduct nuclear tests in the near future, expressing concern that Trump could take a fateful decision without any North Korea experts on his team. "If Mr. Trump would listen to a Russian Korea expert with 40 years of experience, I would advise him not to do it," he told RIA-Novosti of a potential US strike. "Right now we all must stop at the edge of the abyss and not take this fateful step," he said. Also on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that "conflict could break out at any moment" on the Korean Peninsula. The Chinese minister also said there would be "no winner" in a potential war, and that the party that triggered conflict would "pay the price." Pyongyang warns of "ruthless" counter attack if US strikes N. Korea The North Korean military said it would "ruthlessly ravage" the US in response to any American attack on the Asian country. "Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive," North Korea's official KCNA news agency quoted its military as saying in a statement on Friday. Meanwhile, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol warned that Pyongyang is ready to launch a pre-emptive strike against the US should it show any sign of carrying out "reckless" military aggression against the North. He also said that North Korea believes that US President Donald Trump is "more vicious and more aggressive" than Barack Obama, adding that the North is ready to go to war if that is what Washington is seeking. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US ready to launch preemptive strike on North Korea: NBC News Iran Press TV Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:24AM The United States is prepared to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea should American officials become convinced that Pyongyang is going ahead with a nuclear weapons test, a report says. Citing several senior US intelligence officials, NBC News reported on Thursday that the US military is ready to attack North Korea with conventional weapons if the country reaches for a nuclear trigger. North Korea has announced that a "big event" is coming, and, according to US officials, Pyongyang could test a nuclear weapon as early as this weekend. The officials told NBC News that the United States has deployed two destroyers capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles in the region. According to the network, one of the destroyers is located 300 miles (about 483 kilometers) from the North Korean nuclear test site. There are also US heavy bombers located in Guam. It was reported previously that the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group would be operating in the western Pacific Ocean close to the Korean Peninsula instead of partaking in a series of previously planned Australian port visits. In a statement on Thursday, North Korea blamed the US for "driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war" by deploying warships to the Korean Peninsula. "By relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean Peninsula, the US is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war," the statement noted. In an earlier statement, North Korea said that it was ready for "war" after the US deployed the strike group to the Korean Peninsula. The North Korean state media announced that the country was "watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the US invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the US mainland." On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump accused North Korea of "looking for trouble," and said, "If China decides to help, that would be greatIf not, we will solve the problem without them." Trump: North Korea will be taken care of On Thursday, Trump reiterated that he has "great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea." "If they are unable to do so, the US, with its allies, will! USA," the US president tweeted. At the end of a White House event on Thursday afternoon, Trump said, "North Korea is a problem, the problem will be taken care of." "I think China has really been working very hard. I've really gotten to like and respect, as you know, President Xi, terrific person, spent a lot of time together in Florida, he's a very special man," he added. On April 5, North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan just days after it warned the global community of retaliation over sanctions. In February, North Korea also simultaneously launched four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which landed close to Japan. In August, it also successfully tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile some 500 kilometers off the coast of Japan, in a move which the North's leader Kim Jong-un hailed as the "greatest success." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese FM Says 'No Winners' In War Over North Korea April 14, 2017 There can be no winners in an armed conflict between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said April 14, offering China's support for dialogue between the two sides. Wang's comments come after President Donald Trump said the North Korea problem "will be taken care of," as speculation mounts that the reclusive communist state could be preparing another nuclear or missile test. "Lately, tensions have risen...and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment," Wang said. "If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner." Whichever side provoked a conflict "must assume the historic responsibility and pay the corresponding price," he said in a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault. Trump has sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. military on April 13 dropped one of the most powerful nonnuclear bombs it possesses on Afghanistan, targeting a complex used by the Islamic State group. Trump also flexed U.S. military muscle last week by ordering cruise-missile strikes on a Syrian air base the United States believed was the origin of a chemical weapons attack on civilians in a northern Syrian town. China is North Korea's sole important ally, and any potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula is likely to draw in Bejing, which has repeatedly expressed concerns about a wave of refugees and the possible presence of U.S. and South Korean troops on its border. Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/chinese-fm-says-no- winners-in-nkorea-war/28429546.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 Air China Airline to Cease Flights to North Korea From Apr. 17 Amid Tensions Sputnik News 18:32 14.04.2017(updated 18:33 14.04.2017) The Chinese airline company Air China will suspend flights to Pyongyang starting April 17 amid the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, local media reported Friday. BEIJING (Sputnik) Air China was the only international airline company that was operating flights to North Korea, the CCTV broadcaster reported. However the air traffic between the countries will continue as the North Korean state airline Air Koryo operates regular flights to the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shenyang and a charter flight to Shanghai. In March, Air Koryo also launched the first regular flight between Pyongyang and the Chinese city of Dandong, located near the border with North Korea. Since the beginning of 2016, North Korea carried out a number of missile launches and nuclear tests, prompting worldwide criticism, including from Beijing. As a result, the UN Security Council tightened the sanctions regime for North Korea in an attempt to force Pyongyang to stop ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests, including imposing a measure intended to effect the country's trade, export of natural resources, arms trade and banking sectors. US officials announced on Saturday that an aircraft carrier strike group was sent to the Korean peninsula amid rising tensions. Last year's joint US-South Korean drills practiced taking out North Korea's leadership, military facilities and intercepting incoming North Korean planes in the event of war on the Korean peninsula. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea Vows to Launch 'Preemptive Strike' in Case of Any US 'Provocation' Sputnik News 15:14 14.04.2017(updated 17:51 14.04.2017) A representative of the North Korean General Staff said that Pyongyang will launch a "preemptive strike" in case of any US' "political, economic or military provocation." "All political, economic and military provocational schemes will be decisively disrupted by a superpowerful response from our army and people," the statement cited by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. According to the DPRK, Pyongyang's response will inclide preemptive strikes from sea, air and land. The North Korean General Staff vowed to target US military bases in Japan, South Korea and the residence of the South Korean president in Seoul in case of US aggression. The US military bases in Osan, Kunsan and Pyeongtaek, as well as the South Korean presidential residence were named as possible targets that may be "turned into ashes in a matter of minutes." Also, the representative of the North Korean General Staff called for not forgetting that the DPRK missiles are aimed at US bases in Japan, as well as in the US itself. Moreover, the DPRK General Staff said it is ready to strike a US aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson. "The closer large targets approach [North Korea], including the US nuclear aircraft carrier, the more effective the annihilating strike will be," the General Staff said. Earlier in the day, US officials said that Washington is prepared to use conventional weapons against North Korea if they feel that Pyongyang is about to pull the trigger on its sixth nuclear weapons test. On Thursday, the DPRK released another warning, saying, "By relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula, the US is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war." On April 5, North Korea reportedly launched a ballistic missile from Sinpho, South Hamgyong province, in the direction of the Sea of Japan. US officials announced on Saturday that an aircraft carrier strike group was sent to the Korean peninsula amid rising tensions. On Sunday, US National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Herbert McMaster said that President Donald Trump had ordered preparation of all possible options in order to protect the United States and its partners from the threat emanating from North Korea. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kremlin Warns Against Escalation on Korean Peninsula, 'Provocative Steps' Sputnik News 12:47 14.04.2017(updated 12:51 14.04.2017) The Kremlin is watching with concern the escalation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Moscow warns other countries against provocative steps in the region, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On April 5, North Korea reportedly launched a ballistic missile from Sinpho, South Hamgyong province, in the direction of the Sea of Japan. US officials announced on Saturday that an aircraft carrier strike group was sent to the Korean peninsula amid rising tensions. "Moscow is watching with great concern the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, we are calling on all countries to show restraint, warn countries against any actions that could mean some provocative steps," Peskov told reporters. On Sunday, US National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Herbert McMaster said that President Donald Trump had ordered preparation of all possible options in order to protect the United States and its partners from the threat emanating from North Korea. North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005. The United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as Russia and China, took part in talks with Pyongyang between 2003 and 2009 on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, but North Korea withdrew from the talks. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, China Seek to Avoid Chaos in North Korea With New Sanctions - Envoy Sputnik News 12:30 14.04.2017(updated 12:52 14.04.2017) Russia and China do not task themselves with causing social and economic chaos in North Korea with new sanctions mulled by the United States, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora told Sputnik. PYONGYANG (Sputnik) On Thursday, the US State Department spokesman said that Washington is expecting that Beijing will use its "economic leverage" over North Korea to persuade Pyongyang abandon its nuclear aspirations. "We must resolve the main task related to the prevention of nuclear missile programs, but we do not have the task of blowing up the economic situation or cause socioeconomic chaos. there is no such task for us or for China," Matsegora said. "The sanctions adopted by individual countries the United States, Japan, South Korea, the European Union we believe that these sanctions are illegitimate and we do not support them. We consider unacceptable the US promises to impose secondary sanctions," he said. The UN Security Council is not discussing anti-North Korea sanctions yet, he said. "So far, no sanctions have been discussed in the UN Security Council. Perhaps they will be discussed if there is a new test or launch," Matsegora said, noting that "more than enough sanctions" have been adopted against Pyongyang. Russia is working with the United States and North Korea on relaunching six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, Matsegora told Sputnik. "Naturally, we are making efforts to resume negotiations. We are working with our Korean colleagues, with US partners," Matsegora said. He said that the "one step forward, two steps back" efforts make it impossible to determine when the six countries would sit at the negotiating table, "but it will happen for sure." On April 5, North Korea reportedly launched a ballistic missile from Sinpho, South Hamgyong province, in the direction of the Sea of Japan. US officials announced on Saturday that an aircraft carrier strike group was sent to the Korean peninsula amid rising tensions. On Sunday, US National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Herbert McMaster said that President Donald Trump had ordered preparation of all possible options in order to protect the United States and its partners from the threat emanating from North Korea. North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005. The United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as Russia and China, took part in talks with Pyongyang between 2003 and 2009 on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, but North Korea withdrew from the talks. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pyongyang Vows 'Toughest Action' as US Naval Strike Group Heads to Korean Waters By Steve Herman April 14, 2017 North Korea's military on Friday directly responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's renewed threats to take "care of" Pyongyang's nuclear threat amid expectations of a new nuclear test that could come at any time. "Our toughest counteraction against the United States and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive," according to an unnamed spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. "Under the prevailing grave situation, the United States has to come to its senses and make a proper option for the solution of the problem," continued the statement, which was initially carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency and later broadcast by Pyongyang's central radio station. VOA queried the White House press office and National Security Council regarding the latest comments from North Korea, but received no response. A day earlier, Trump had responded to reports that North Korea was poised to detonate an underground nuclear device as early as Saturday to mark the anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung. "North Korea is a problem," Trump said at the White House. "The problem will be taken care of." The North Korean military statement, issued late Friday in Pyongyang, said the "Trump administration's serious military hysteria has reached a dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked." The statement emphasized that any encroachment of North Korea's dignity or sovereignty by provocative actions by the United States would be mercilessly foiled with "Korean-style toughest counteraction." It did not elaborate, but previous warnings have included threats to attack Seoul and U.S. military bases in South Korea, the Pacific and even the mainland United States. Such rhetoric from North Korea is fairly common, but statements emanating from the military command are taken more seriously by intelligence and defense analysts than those that come from government ministries or frequent commentaries in the state media. China's efforts While Trump's remark was taken as a threat of military action against the North, the president added that China "is working very hard" to defuse the international tension over North Korea, and that he was hopeful Beijing's diplomacy would be effective. In a separate comment earlier Thursday, however, Trump said the United States was prepared to tackle the North Korean crisis without China, if necessary. China's foreign ministry on Friday described the current situation on the Korean Peninsula as "complex and sensitive." "We have appealed to relevant various parties multiple times to keep calm and exercise restraint, not make moves that may heighten tensions of the peninsula. All the similar acts are irresponsible and also are dangerous," spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing. An American aircraft carrier and other warships have been steaming toward the Korean Peninsula in a show of force, although there has been no specific U.S. threat of retaliatory action if Pyongyang conducts another nuclear test or launches more missiles in defiance of U.N. sanctions. China is North Korea's sole major ally, but it opposes Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, along with all other neighbor states. At the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Washington was "working with international partners in order to defuse the situation, but the bottom line is, North Korea has got to change its behavior." Device in tunnel at nuclear test site Amid the rhetoric from all sides, no information has emerged to challenge the news reports from earlier this week: North Korea appears to have placed a device in a tunnel at its nuclear test site that could be detonated Saturday or even sooner. VOA's report, quoting U.S. government and other sources with that story Wednesday, was updated Thursday by a source within the U.S. intelligence community: "U.S. intelligence is always on the alert for a possible North Korean weapons test. Kim Jong Un wants his country to be validated as a nuclear power, and a test would further that goal." Scores of foreign journalists are in Pyongyang this week for North Korea's biggest national holiday, the "Day of the Sun" Saturday, marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder and the grandfather of the current ruler. Five years ago, the late Kim Il Sung's centenary was marked by a failed attempt to launch a North Korean space satellite, and last year Pyongyang tested a newly developed intermediate range missile also a failure. Although South Korean and American troops are preparing for a round of joint military exercises a regular event that Pyongyang has denounced as preparations for an invasion that would justify a massive counterattack a spokesman for the South Korean joint chiefs of staff said Thursday that Seoul had seen no indications any military action by the North was imminent. Pompeo on North Korea CIA Director Mike Pompeo told a security forum in Washington that North Korea's military development had progressed to a point where Pyongyang was now closer than ever to being able to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental missile. That, in turn, has reduced U.S. defense officials' options about how to respond to the North Korean threat, Pompeo added during remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He indicated that a worst-case scenario would force the U.S. to act against the North, and that would be "a tough day for the leader of North Korea." Discussion this week about possible U.S. military action against the North has referred to the cruise missile strike against a Syrian airbase that Trump ordered last week, and the mammoth single bomb airstrike an American warplane carried out Thursday against an Islamic State bunker complex in northeastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. News that the U.S. had dropped the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal, a 10,000-kilogram explosive that headline writers called "the mother of all bombs," was taken as a message directed at Kim Jong Un. Trump brushed off questions about whether the bombing was a message for Pyongyang, but he stressed his feeling that North Korea was "a problem that will be taken care of." VOA's Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb and national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this story. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Raeisi joins mix for 12th Iran presidential election Iran Press TV Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:34PM Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi, the current custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (PBUH) in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, throws his hat in the ring for the forthcoming presidential contest. Raeisi arrived at the Interior Ministry building on Friday and registered for the 12th presidential election, scheduled to be held on May 19. He has served as Attorney General from 2014 to 2016, and Deputy Judiciary Chief from 2004 to 2014. He was also Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran in 1980s and 1990s. Raeisi is also a member of the Assembly of Experts from South Khorasan Province, being elected for the first time in 2006 election. On 6 April 2017, Raeisi officially announced his plans to run for the upcoming presidential election. Earlier in April, the national assembly of the Popular Front of the Islamic Revolution Forces named their five final candidates for the May presidential poll through voting. The shortlist included Hojjatoleslam Raeisi, who garnered 2,147 votes, followed by Alireza Zakani, a former lawmaker, with 1,546 votes, Mehrdad Bazrpash, also a former lawmaker, with 1,404 votes, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is the current mayor of Tehran, with 1,373 votes, and Parviz Fattah, the current head of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, with 994 votes. The five were elected from a total of ten candidates, who had been chosen in the first meeting of the assembly, which was held at the same venue on February 23. 'Votes will decide Iran's fate' Addressing the media after registering for the presidential election, Raeisi said people's vote forms the basis of the Islamic establishment in Iran. "People's votes determine the country's fate," he added. The cleric said that all Iranian administrations have taken good steps for the country's progress. Raeisi said the status quo in the country can be changed for the better and added that national economy must be insulated from fluctuations in the global economy. Raeisi said he has decided to take part in the presidential race as a candidate for all the Iranian people. He added that he has chosen "labor and dignity" as the slogan of his administration if elected. Raeisi said the Islamic Republic must have various forms of interaction with the entire world, including in the cultural and economic sector. He emphasized that citizenship rights must be observed in practice and earnest, rather than merely being drafted in a charter. "We will continue with interaction with all countries but not the occupying Zionist regime (Israel) and of course such relations will be based on dignity," Raeisi said. He also pointed to the five-year crisis in Syria and added that as repeatedly announced, Iran's foreign policy principles stipulate that the "Syrian issue must be solved by the Syrians themselves and the presence of foreign states will definitely add to the problems." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address (Xinhua) 13:50, April 15, 2017 SHIJIAZHUANG, April 15 -- Another human H7N9 bird flu case was confirmed in north China's Hebei, local health authorities reported Saturday. The patient, a 69-year-old male surnamed Liu, lives in a village in Dacheng County, Langfang City. He had been in contact with live poultry before he fell ill, officials with the county health department said. Liu is in hospital and none of the people who had close contact with him have shown any symptoms, the officials added. The county health department ordered a quarantine area to be set up around where Liu lived, inspections will occur at poultry markets and people have been advised to go to hospital straight away if they develop breathing issues. It is the second human bird flu case reported in the region this week. Tianjin confirmed Friday that a 58-year-old female was infected. H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in China in March 2013. Infections are most likely to occur in winter and spring. Disease control and prevention experts have agreed that the H7N9 virus is not transmitted from person to person. Experts recommend that people avoid contact with poultry, and only buy certified poultry. Analysis: Ahmadinejad, Iran's Greatest Foil, Is Back In The Spotlight David Patrikarakos April 14, 2017 He's back. The white polyester shirt that glistens in the light; the salesman's shark-toothed grin; the restless arms, always waving and throwing victory signs: Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Iran's combative and polarizing former president, has reentered the political spotlight. His decision to register to run in the presidential election slated for May 19 followed weeks of speculation over what the former president was doing behind the scenes -- and still came as a complete surprise. Following his controversy-marred presidency -- he served two terms, from 2005 to 2013 -- Ahmadinejad had fallen from favor with the clerical establishment, lost his role as a mouthpiece for fiery hard-line rhetoric, and retreated into obscurity. He was not expected to enter frontline politics again. His second election victory, in 2009, was widely thought to have resulted from vote rigging and sparked the largest demonstrations in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Tehran and other cities to protest the result, and to show support for defeated candidate Mir Hossein Musavi and his opposition Green Movement. The protests were stifled after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly backed Ahmadinejad, ushering in a harsh crackdown on demonstrators and the opposition. But the establishment had been rocked at home, embarrassed abroad. And Khamenei's support for Ahmadinejad didn't even serve to secure his loyalty. Ahmadinejad was determined not to be a lame-duck, second-term president and toward the end of his final term openly clashed with the supreme leader. Not one to forget a slight, and seeing the narrow opening for Ahmadinejad to reemerge once he had sat out a term, Khamenei warned his former ally not to think of running for president again. Such a move, he advised Ahmadinejad in 2016, would not be "in his interest or that of the country." Predictably, election officials were "stunned" when Ahmadinejad showed up to submit the requisite paperwork for consideration as a candidate, BBC cited AP journalists as saying http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39576057. Addressing the whispers -- that he had done the unthinkable in defying an order from the supreme leader -- Ahmadinejad told reporters that Khamenei's injunction was "just advice." It's no given that he will, indeed, run for a third term. As it stands his name will be just one among hundreds of registrants until the list is trimmed down to the dozen or so officially approved by the Guardians Council, whose allegiance to the supreme leader is unquestioned. But Ahmadinejad has announced his intention to do what he does best: courting controversy, making headlines -- and, above all, pushing himself to the forefront of Iranian public life. Questions remain, however: Why is he doing this? Can he make things uncomfortable enough that his candidacy is actually accepted? And, if he really wants to be president again, can he win? His story is a complex one and, in part because of the various warring factions within the Islamic Republic's political fabric, he is hard to pin down. He was once allied with the Osul-Garayan, or principlists -- a faction of hard-core conservatives dedicated to the ideals and values espoused by the father of the Islamic Revolution -- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The principlists dominate the central organs of the Iranian body politic; if such a thing as a "deep state" exists within the Islamic Republic, they are it. But as he fell out of favor with Khamenei during his last stint in office, Ahmadinejad split from the principlists as well. Now, as well as directly contravening the "advice" of the supreme leader, he has defiantly ignored calls by his old principlist allies to realign with them by supporting a unified candidate. As Ahmadinejad strikes out on his own, regardless of his popularity with the common man, it is difficult to see a path to victory for him. And that is assuming he can clear the first hurdle: vetting by the 12-member Guardians Council, which typically rejects vast numbers of registrants. There is precedent even for a big name like Ahmadinejad to be denied. In the 2013 presidential elections another former president -- the late Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- was barred from running after falling out with Khamenei. If the pragmatist Rafsanjani could be banned, then so too could Ahmadinejad. According to Clement Therme, a research fellow for Iran at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Ahmadinejad may be playing a slightly more complex game. One of the likely candidates for election is his former vice president, Hamid Baghaei, who was sent to prison in 2015 on unnamed charges (and likely as a signal to Ahmadinejad, whose presidency has been painted as corrupt by his adversaries). The two men are known to be close and Ahmadinejad may be running to protect his old friend. "Ahmadinejad is now standing as a right-wing populist," Therme says. "The primary reason he participated in the registration of the candidates is likely to be first and foremost to protect his former vice president, Baghaei." In entering the race, Therme argues, Ahmadinejad is pressuring the system. "The message is: 'If you try to disqualify Baghaei, I will stand as a candidate seeking a third term.'" Therme explains that, since the beginning of his political career, Ahmadinejad has sought to transcend the divide within the clerical establishment between reformists and conservatives. But this divide, so often mentioned in the Western press, is not accurate when it comes to economic issues -- here the divide would be between advocates of state-oriented economic policies and liberal ones. "Musavi, for instance, [who] was often labeled as a reformist, was a supporter of state-oriented economy," Therme says. Current President Hassan Rohani -- who as of April 13 had yet to register to run for a second term and who has earned the moniker of relative moderate due to his willingness to deal with the West -- "is a supporter of neoliberal approach in terms of his economic policies." Therme speaks to something that is central to Ahmadinejad's appeal. Whatever label you affix to him -- principlist, conservative, or pragmatist -- he is one thing above all else: a populist. His support comes mainly from Iran's lower classes -- he looks like them; he dresses like them; he even speaks like them. During his time in power he gave them interest-free loans, cheap housing, and was seen as taking on systemic corruption. Even after his eventual split from the supreme leader he retained the support of the people. To them, he represents a new type of hard-liner that people identify with, free from the corruption of Khamenei and his ilk (though this image was slightly sullied by allegations of corruption stemming from his second term). In politics, in rhetoric, and even in strategy he is a singular phenomenon. Therme's words bear scrutiny: "Ahmadinejad has made a career out of pretending to be antisystem while serving the system. What is important here is his discourse toward the "oppressed" -- both reformist-minded and conservative-minded political citizens. His political clientele can be found amongst the rural areas and southern Tehran [the poorer section of the capital]. His first election was perceived as a political revenge of the popular classes against the reformist-oriented upper-class segments of Iranian society. This divide is at the center of his political discourse." First to be determined is whether Ahmadinejad will be approved as a candidate or face the same fate as Rafsanjani. As much as Khamenei and his coterie would love to bar him (and indeed may well do that) he presents a problem that lies at the heart of the Islamic Republic's political system. Iran is an elective autocracy. The supreme leader holds the real power and a special body elects him -- not the people. The people choose from a heavily vetted field to elect the president, whose powers are limited. Nevertheless, it is their primary opportunity to influence the direction of their country. What this means is that the system needs not merely the right winner, but a high turnout. Participation is key for the success of a presidential election in an elective autocracy because it gives the people the illusion that they can shape events (even if the reality is not quite so simple). And if there is one thing Ahmadinejad can do it is to get people to the polls. If he were to be disqualified there is a high chance it would lessen interest in the elections. As Therme concludes: "It's when things are unpredictable that you can make people think their vote matters -- this is critical to maintaining the facade of the Iranian elections. Take that away and people might start to see the whole process for what it really is -- and that is something the regime wants to avoid at all costs." (The views expressed in this analysis do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.) David Patrikarakos is a contributing editor at The Daily Beast and the author of Nuclear Iran: The Birth Of An Atomic State. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Guardian, Politico, Foreign Policy, The Spectator, The New Republic, The New Statesman, and many others. Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/analysis- ahmadinejad-irans-greatest-foil-back- in-spotlight/28429672.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 Iran's Incumbent President Registers To Run In May Elections RFE/RL April 14, 2017 Iran's incumbent president has registered to run in next month's national election, a vote that is shaping up to be a referendum on the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers. News reports said Hassan Rohani, 68, submitted the necessary paperwork on April 14, the fourth day of the registration period. Several high-profile candidates are hoping to challenge Rohani in the May 19 election, including former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his close ally Hamid Baghaei, both of whom filed to run earlier in the week. But many observers consider Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to be Rohani's main rival. Raisi has promised to run a campaign aimed at fighting poverty and corruption in the country. Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, is best known as a fierce and outspoken conservative whose views on Israel generated international criticism while he was president. He left office in 2013 amid rumors of a falling-out with Khamenei and with the opposition still simmering over mass arrests and violence in a crackdown following protests over alleged irregularities in Ahmadinejad's reelection in 2009. Despite the notoriety and popularity of some of Rohani's main challengers, It is unclear whether the Guardians Council -- the agency that vets all candidates before they can appear on the ballot -- will approve the bids. The council routinely disqualifies those it regards as a threat to the clerical establishment, including unelected officials. In 2013 the council prevented ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died earlier this year, from running again for the same office. A final list of the candidates cleared to run is due to be released by April 27. The 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by the Rohani administration lifted crippling economic sanctions in return for Tehran's curbing of its nuclear ambitions. Since the deal went into effect, Iran has resumed selling oil and signed deals worth billions of dollars to replace its aging commercial airline inventory. Critics have complained that economic benefits have yet to trickle down to average Iranians. Based on reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/rohani-registers-to- run-for-reelection/28431199.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 Daesh 'grand mufti' slain in Iraqi army missile strikes Iran Press TV Fri Apr 14, 2017 4:22PM The highest so-called official of religious law of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has been killed in a missile attack carried out by the Iraqi Air Force military aircraft in Mosul as government forces, backed by allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, are battling to retake the country's second largest city from the extremists. Commander of Federal Police Forces Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said on Friday that Abdullah Younis al-Badrani, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Ayoub al-Attar, and two of his close aides were killed as security forces lobbed a barrage of missiles at a militant position in western Mosul. Jawdat identified one of the slain aides as Abdulqader Mahmoud al-Hamdouni al-Saji, noting that he was a member of the so-called Daesh oversight council for militant bases. The high-ranking Iraqi security official further noted that federal police forces had fired a number of missiles into Daesh General Security Directorate building, and destroyed it. Iraqi forces also destroyed an anti-aircraft gun belonging to Daesh Takfiris as they struck militant-held al-Zanjili school in the western flank of Mosul. The developments came a day after commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, announced that soldiers from the 9th Armored Division had reclaimed the village of Halila and established control over an entrance into western Mosul. The media bureau of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) also stated on Wednesday that Iraqi government forces had retaken the villages of Shawitah, Tal al-Asfour and al-Sabouniyah from Daesh terrorists. The statement added that Iraqi forces hoisted the national flag over several buildings in the liberated villages. Meanwhile, members of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) could free Mosul's western neighborhood of al-Abar after inflicting heavy losses on Daesh ranks and destroying their military hardware. Iraqi army soldiers and pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha'abi, have made sweeping gains against the Takfiri elements since launching the operation to retake Mosul last October. The 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 China delivers third maritime patrol ship to Pakistan People's Daily Online By Li Yan (Xinhua) 14:32, April 14, 2017 On April 11, China officially handed a 600-ton patrol ship over to Pakistan's maritime safety authority in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. Among other things, the ship will be used to safeguard Pakistan's maritime interests. The new ship, just the third of its kind, was built by China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd. (CSTC) and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Xijiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Its two predecessors have already demonstrated their reliability and excellent performance during visits and exchanges, joint drills, maritime rescue and other missions in Pakistan. Pakistan's maritime safety authority expressed great appreciation for the quality of the ships and for sound cooperation with Chinese ship manufactures, who have promised to provide after-sale services. The ships are key to consolidating China-Pakistan relations, protecting Pakistan's sea transportation and pushing forward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Belt and Road Initiative. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia's Policy in Syria, Afghanistan Clashing with US By Daniel Schearf April 14, 2017 Multi-nation talks on the prospects for Afghan security and national reconciliation, the third such round since December, began Friday in Moscow. Eleven countries are taking part in discussions, including Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan and India. Former Soviet Central Asian states have been invited to attend for the first time. The United States was also invited to the Moscow talks but Washington didn't attend, saying it was not informed of the agenda beforehand and was unclear of the meeting's motives. Just days after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's frosty reception by the Kremlin, which refused to stop support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the two countries are also at odds on how to fight the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Russia's increasingly assertive foreign policy in Syria and Afghanistan is clashing with U.S. goals, but analysts say both countries are needed for a negotiated peace. "I think it's clear to, even to [the] Trump administration, that without cooperation and collaboration of Russia, it's impossible to move forward or to achieve any meaningful result be it on Syria or be it in Afghanistan," Victor Mizin, of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, told VOA. But others have stressed that this collaboration is possible even if the U.S. and Russia remain firm on some of their respective positions. "There is certainly always room for cooperation both in Syria and Afghanistan," Dmitry Verkhoturov, of the Center on Modern Afghanistan Research, told VOA. "But from my viewpoint, the key factor of this cooperation is that both sides, Russia and the U.S., should mutually recognize the right for an independent opinion, independent position, and an independent policy." Charles Kupchan, former senior director for European Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council in the Obama administration, says the Trump White House is still finding it's footing in regard to Russian relations. "I don't think that there is a single point of view in the White House in fact, one senses they are still finding their way through the woods. And whether it is on Russia or Syria or Arab-Israeli issues, different days bring different policy statements," he told VOA's Russian Service. "On the Russia account, I do think there has been a sobering up, in the sense that as a candidate and as an early president, I think [President Donald] Trump had a somewhat naive view about how easy it would be to reset the relationship with Russia. That he felt he could go in there as a businessman and sit down shoulder-to-shoulder with President [Vladimir] Putin and resolve everything." Having spent three years as a special assistant to the former U.S. president, Kupchan said stabilizing Russian ties is a notoriously difficult undertaking. "Having worked with Russians on Ukraine and other issues, it's tough going, and I think what the Trump administration is finding is simply that: It's tough to find common ground with the Kremlin, and that the road ahead is likely to be one of differences of opinion rather than a reset that leads to a lasting rapprochement." Thursday, the U.S. dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on a reported Islamic State militant complex in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. Misha Gutkin of VOA's Russian Service contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lavrov: Iran, Russia, Syria urge careful investigation into Khan Shayhkun chemical incident IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Moscow, April 14, IRNA -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that the three countries of Russia, Iran, and Syria are keen on launching a deep probe into chemical incident in Khan Shaykhun but it is not clear why the US and the West are opposing the idea. Talking to reporters after a trilateral meeting with his Iranian and Syrian counterparts Mohammad Javad Zarif and Walid al-Muallem in Moscow, he underlined the need for an impartial and independent investigation into the event occurred in Syria, saying that it is not known why certain countries oppose Tehran and Moscow's call for establishment of a professional and impartial mission to look into the case. Referring to the US' missile attack on Al-Shayrat Airfield in Syria, he said that unilateral moves are unacceptable. 'US invasions are a threat to the global community,' he said, calling for a precise probe into Khan Shaykhun incident. It is a public knowledge that US moves contravene international laws and blocks UN Security Council's resolution on diplomatic settlement of the Syrian crisis, he said. Noting that certain efforts to deflect political settlement of Syrian crisis with the aim of changing Syrian government have been defeated, Lavrov said, 'We are insisting on full implementation of UN Security Council's resolutions.' Security Council's resolution proclaims that Syrian nation should decide their own fate, he said. Referring to positive achievements of holding several rounds of talks in Astana on the initiative of Iran, Russia and Syria, Russian foreign minister said that the move has given an impetus to the dialogue on Syria in Geneva. 'We will continue humanitarian cooperation with Syria to help establish peace and security in the country,' he said. 8072**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Zarif: Donators of chemical arms to Saddam now accusing Syria of using them IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Moscow, April 14, IRNA -- Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Fridya said that providers of chemical weapons to the Iraqi deposed dictator Saddam Hussein during the imposed war against Iran are now accusing Syria of suing the weapons. He made the remarks on Friday at the end of the news conference with his Russian and Syrian counterparts Sergey Lavrov and Walid al-Muallem in reaction to West's claims about the alleged deployment of chemical weapons by the Syrian government Noting that foreign ministers of the three countries underlined the need for undertaking independent and impartial investigations on the chemical blast in Khan Shaykhun without any prejudgments, Zarif said that the global community deems unilateral moves as unacceptable because it has suffered from it, therefore, it condemns such moves. 'They provided Saddam with weapons and now we, as a victim of chemical arms in the past decades, announce that Khan Shaykhun disaster should be investigated but unfortunately, the US attacked the country in a unilateral move,' he said. US Last Friday's onslaught on the Syrian airbase reveals that it sought to take advantage of the bitter event of Khan Shaykhun, Zarif said. 'We urge precise examination of the chemical blast at the point it occurred as well as al-Shayrat Airfield because no evidence to that effect will be found outside the sites. We welcome Syria's agreement to allow in inspectors to study the case,' Zarif said. Iran as a country whose nationals in large numbers have fallen victim to chemical weapons provided by the West to Saddam wants the issue of Khan Shaykhun to be clarified soon, he said. Underlining the need for political settlement of Syria crisis as the common stance of Iran, Russia and Syria, Iranian minister said that terrorism takes toll not only on Syria but also on St. Petersburg, Germany and other countries. Zarif arrived in Moscow on Friday morning to attend tripartite talks with his counterparts from Russia and Syria to review recent developments in Syria. The visit took place upon an invitation by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 8072**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia 'skeptical' of OPCW probe in Syria Iran Press TV Fri Apr 14, 2017 10:40AM A Russian deputy foreign minister has said Moscow is "skeptical" of the work being carried out by an international organization to probe an alleged chemical attack in Syria, saying Iran, Brazil, and India should be included in any investigation of the purported attack. A fact-finding mission has been set up by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and has been sent to Syria to interview survivors and gather bio-metric samples from the site of the alleged chemical attack on April 4. At least 86 people died in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Syria in the incident. The opponents of the Syrian government say it was a chemical attack conducted by Damascus. The Syrian government denies the accusation, saying that a chemical weapons depot held by militants opposed to the government had been hit in a conventional Syrian airstrike, causing the leak of the chemicals and the deaths. Russia has confirmed that account. Referring to the OPCW mission, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday that, "Moscow believes that the conclusions formulated by the fact-finding mission in Syria are politically motivated, biased and requiring further clarification." "We are very skeptical over the way they have worked," he said. "The trust for their activity continues to dwindle as they ignore obvious facts," the Russian deputy foreign minister said. "They later impose these conclusions on the entire international community as the ultimate truth." "The mission should include representatives of those countries that can objectively assess the situation rather than follow the guidelines dictated by their governments," the Russian deputy foreign minister added. The OPCW mission sent to Syria is headed by Ahmeet Uzumcu, a national of Turkey, whose government is vehemently opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ryabkov said that all permanent United Nations Security Council members should be included in the international watchdog's probe, too. Last Friday, the US conducted a missile strike against a Syrian base that it says was used to launch the chemical attack. Reiterating Moscow's interest in finding out the truth about the April 4 incident, Ryabkov said, "The logic is clear. If the United States is right and planes at the Shayrat base were loaded with chemical ammunition, then the respective equipment and traces are to be found there." "We are very much interested in establishing the truth and are not interested at all in the gambling the United States, Britain, France, and other countries continue for the sake of attaining their geopolitical aims," he said. The Syrian government, too, has said it would only allow an impartial probe into the incident. The OPCW team has apparently not coordinated with Damascus to enter Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian Army Repels Militant Attack on Western Damascus Sputnik News 22:25 14.04.2017(updated 22:46 14.04.2017) The Syrian Armed Forces thwarted an attack on western districts of Damascus by the militants of Jabhat al-Nusra, a terrorist organization banned in Russia, local media reported on Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The altercation resulted in deaths of several terrorists, while the rest of them fled, leaving behind weapons and equipment, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported, citing a military source. According to the outlet, the army also carried out operations against Jabhat al-Nusra north of the western city of Hama, killing and injuring many terrorists as well as destroying armored vehicles equipped with machine guns. Another clash with terrorists occurred in the northern province of Daraa. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kremlin Sets Condition for Russia's Restoration of Memo With US on Syria Flights Sputnik News 14:40 14.04.2017(updated 15:10 14.04.2017) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow is ready to restore the memorandum on the safety of flights over Syria if Washington's "unpredictable actions" don't repeat. "On the condition of understanding that such [US] unpredictable actions don't repeat," the Kremlin spokesman said answering a question what could be the condition for Russia's restoration of the decondfliction channel with the US on the flights in Syria. He classified the US' unpredictability "in the sense that an alleged Syrian army involvement in a chemical attack was declared as the reason for the [April 7 missile attack on Sha'irat airfield in Syria] action." "This charge was laid without any grounds, conducting a probe and without even attempting to conduct this investigation," Peskov said. He said that the US did not provide any proof on the reported Idlib chemical attack during the talks between Russian President Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The Kremlin spokesman emphasized that Moscow is not attempting to advocate any party over the Idlib incident, but opposes accusations lacking proof. He said that Russia has information from the military concerning the Idlib incident, but doesn't urge to believe it as calls for an thorough investigation. "We have information possessed by our military. They have far more developed infrastructure and presence in Syria than other states. They [Russian military officials] have their own point of view they had already voiced. We don't call for taking it on trust. We say that it is needed to conduct a thorough investigation any way," Peskov said. Western partners claim that they possess some data on the Idlib chemical attack, but don't present it, Peskov added. The United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha'irat near Homs late Thursday. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on Damascus. Russia called the attack an "agression act against a sovereign state." Following US missile attack on the Syrian airbase, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow has suspended its memorandum of understanding on air safety over Syria with the United States. The Pentagon said later that the US still wants to keep dialogue with Russia via the deconfliction channnel. The Russia-US deconfliction mechanism aimed to avoid aerial incidents over Syria was suspended from April 8. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address (Xinhua) 14:30, April 15, 2017 BEIJING, April 15 -- China has new 32 universities introducing undergraduate big data programs this year to address talent shortage, according to the Ministry of Education. In 2016, Peking University, University of International Business and Economics and Central South University became the first three to recruit undergraduates to majors concerning data science and big data technology. China encouraged universities to set up new degree programs to cater to social and economic development needs. According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, by 2018, the United Statesalone could be short of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills, as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts capable of using the analysis of big data in decision making. Russia, Iran, Syria Issue Warning Against Another Syria Strike By VOA News April 14, 2017 Russia, Syria and Iran have warned the United States against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international investigation into the chemical weapons attack in Syria. The foreign ministers from Russia, Syria and Iran, meeting Friday in Moscow, said any further unilateral action by the U.S. in Syria would be met with "grave consequences" and pose a danger to the entire world. The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria's al-Shayrat air base last week in response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria days earlier. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the circumstances surrounding the chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 people were still not clear. He criticized the world's chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, for not sending experts to the site of the attack to investigate. "We consider it unacceptable to analyze events from a distance," he said. Lavrov said the investigation should also be widened to include experts from many nations. Russia has rejected accusations from Western countries that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the attack. Russia has alleged that the victims were killed when Syrian warplanes hit a rebel chemical arsenal. The U.S. accuses Assad of deliberately launching the attack. "The use of chemical weapons as a pretext for violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state a member of the United Nations is a very dangerous activity," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. "It is essential to prevent such acts as the events in Khan Sheikhoun in [the] future." Lavrov said the U.S. missile strike on Syria was Washington seeking "excuses for regime change." He added, "These attempts will not succeed, this will not happen." Lavrov met Friday with his counterparts from Syria and Iran after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Moscow earlier this week. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday's meeting sent a "strong message" to Washington. Russia and Iran are strong allies of Assad's government and have backed the president during Syria's six-year civil war. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address State of emergency should not overshadow rights protection, UN experts stress ahead of Turkey referendum 13 April 2017 Ahead of this Sunday's plebiscite on proposed constitutional amendments in Turkey that would, among other things, empower the President alone to declare states of emergency and determine the measures to be taken, a group of United Nations human rights experts have reiterated that even under such circumstances, protection of human rights must not be compromised. In a news release today, the UN Special Rapporteurs on extreme poverty and human rights; the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and the right to education also voiced concern over closure of some 200 media outlets in the country and said that the move not only caused thousands of journalists to lose their jobs and livelihoods, it also undermined the possibility of an informed debate over the referendum proposals. Moreover, around 1,000 schools and 15 universities are estimated to have been closed by emergency decrees issued since July 2016, the release added. Underlining that even under a state of emergency, economic, social and cultural rights can only be limited in ways that respect the basic rights themselves and are "solely for the purpose of promoting the general welfare in a democratic society," the experts said, adding that "there has been no attempt to show that these blanket measures, which have destroyed the careers and livelihoods of tens of thousands of persons, satisfy such criteria in each case." "The dismissal of up to 134,000 public servants, without due process, compensation, or access to a proper remedy, for alleged links with organizations that the Government has chosen to proscribe, cannot be justified by reference to Turkey's longstanding international human rights obligations," they added. The experts also said that given the arbitrary and sweeping nature of the emergency decrees since July last year, "there is serious concern that such powers might be used in ways that exacerbate the existing major violations of economic, social and cultural rights." In the release, the UN Special Rapporteurs also noted that they are in contact with the Turkish Government over the issues. Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish PM Vows to Resign if Turks Vote for Extending Erdogan's Powers Sputnik News 14:34 14.04.2017(updated 14:35 14.04.2017) Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday that he would step down if the country decided to change its government from its current parliamentary form to the federal one following the nation's referendum this weekend. ANKARA (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, who was key to making the upcoming referendum on constitutional changes possible by backing it along with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) early this year, called on the government to make public assurances that the proposed constitutional changes would not shift Turkey to a state-based federal system. "Those, who can invent nothing, say now that Turkey will reject the unitary system. In other words, there would be a central government and many small governments How can it be? If such [federal] system emerges, I will immediately step down as the party's head and prime minister," Yildirim said at a meeting with non-governmental organizations in Ankara. He pointed out that a federal system would be a sensitive option for Turkey, given that the country has faced separatist movements in its southeastern regions. The federalism row came after one of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's advisers published an article earlier this month arguing for local administrative reform to get rid of the double system of elected mayors and appointed governors. The article was interpreted as a call for federalism by the media. This stirred the right-wing MHP, which said its supporters would likely vote "no" if Sunday's referendum led to a disintegration of the unitary Turkish state. On January 21, the Turkish parliament approved constitutional amendments that would strengthen the presidential powers over the legislature and the judiciary. If approved by the referendum, the president will also be able to remain the head of the political party he represents, which is not allowed by the current legislation. The Turkish referendum on constitutional changes is scheduled for April 16. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish Referendum Has Expats in Europe on Edge By Marthe van der Wolf April 14, 2017 Turkish expatriates in Europe are on edge ahead of Sunday's referendum in their homeland, troubled by diplomatic tensions and wide-ranging threats against "no" vote campaigners. A "yes" vote in the constitutional balloting would give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan broad new powers, which supporters argue are needed to carry forward his program to develop Turkey. But opponents argue he is trying to establish a modern dictatorship in which he could retain power until at least 2029. Tensions over the contest, which has evenly split Turkey's population, have spilled over to affect the millions of Turks living elsewhere in Europe. Many of them are eligible to vote and have already done so, with turnouts ranging from about 40 percent in Germany to roughly 60 percent in Belgium. Murvet Ozturk is an independent politician of Turkish descent with a seat in the regional parliament of Hessen. Of the 6 million people living in the German state, about 350,000 have Turkish roots. Threats received Ozturk said she received numerous threats after assuming an active role in the "no" campaign, fearing the extended powers sought by Erdogan would undermine democratic institutions in Turkey. "We got online messages with some threats," she said. "But another threat came from a newspaper, Sabah, which is close to the ruling party. They wrote that people shouldn't talk to us and that we are traitors and that we are an enemy of the country. We started our campaign on the 15th of February and they published that on the 16th." Ozturk, who has been active in the German-Turkish community for years, said the tensions were nothing new but that they had been exposed because of the polarizing campaign. Similar anxiety has been felt in the Dutch-Turkish community, leading a local politician in Rotterdam to temporarily step back because of the many threats he was receiving. Diplomatic friction The campaign has also fueled diplomatic tensions, with several countries seeking to restrict Turkish politicians from campaigning for the referendum on their soil. Dutch authorities in one case expelled a Turkish minister, worried that the campaigning would create unrest. The move angered Erdogan, who called the Dutch government "Nazi remnants." He also accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of using Nazi tactics, saying at one point, "If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets." Even before the referendum, fears were running high in Europe among supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the exiled Turkish spiritual leader accused by Erdogan of being behind a failed coup that led to a purge against thousands of judges, civil servants and journalists. In the Netherlands, Saniye Calkin, an open sympathizer with the Gulen-inspired Hizmet movement, said Turkish pressure on Hizmet followers began months before the failed coup and that the threats intensified afterward. "Freedom and safety has gotten a new meaning to me since the failed coup," she said. "I can't really be free anymore because I can't put my loved ones in danger. I am a second-generation Dutch-Turk, but they are also going after my parents and my own kids. It's not just about the democracy in Turkey, but also the democracy here in Europe. " Calkin said she thought it was important to still be visible and be a voice for Hizmet sympathizers, despite the risks. "I haven't been back to Turkey for three years out of safety concerns," she said. "Turkish passports have been revoked of the people who can't come back to the Netherlands. And they were not even that actively involved with Hizmet." Asylum in Belgium In Belgium, authorities report a 120 percent increase in the number of asylum requests from Turks in the past eight months. Some of those people are represented by Walter van Steenbrugge, a Belgian lawyer who has filed numerous claims at the European Court of Human Rights. "Financial rewards of up to 400,000 euros for some of my clients are promised if you arrest them and take them back to Turkey," he said. "With the upcoming referendum, when the presidential power can take over the power of the parliament and the death penalty might be reintroduced, these people are in danger. One of my clients even has permanent private security." Van Steenbrugge is also representing Turkish companies, many of which have been deemed disloyal to the Turkish government and cannot access their funds in Turkey. An arbitration complaint has been filed with the World Bank in Washington with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." Winston Churchill Missiles - Overview On 09 May 2019 North Korea fired what appears to be two short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea's military said Thursday. It was the second time Pyongyang fired missiles in less than a week. On 03 May 2019 North Korea test-fired a short-range missile, in Pyongyangs latest small-scale provocation following the breakdown of nuclear talks. Trump tweeted 25 May 2019 that Kim's military merely "fired off some small weapons." That's not true, international observers say: at least three short-range ballistic missiles were launched in "direct contravention of U.N. Security Council resolutions". Trump's own National Security Advisor contradicted him. John Bolton told reporters that "The UN Security Council resolution prohibits the launch of any ballistic missiles and there is no doubt that North Korea has violated the resolution." So did Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "On May 9th, North Korea launched short-range ballistic missiles, and that's a violation of the U.N. Security Council's resolution, so, as I have been saying, this is quite a regrettable act," Abe told reporters. But to Trump, it literally "doesn't matter." Speaking to reporters 27 May 2019, he said, "My people think it could have been a violation, as you know. I view it differently. I view it as a man perhaps he wants to get attention, and perhaps not. Who knows? It doesn't matter." Trump was fixated on something else entirely with regard to North Korea: potential real estate deals. "Kim Jong Un understands the unbelievable economic potential that country has. It's located between Russia and China, on one side, and South Korea on the other. And it's all waterfront property. It's a great location, as we used to say in the real estate business. And I think he sees that." The regime launched more than 20 ballistic missiles in 2015, but never an ICBM test, definitely a threatening factor for the international community. What's interesting to note is that nukes or missiles are some of key words that haven't been mentioned by Kim Jong-un in his New Year speeches since he started delivering them in 2012. North Korea conducted at least 25 launches in the first 11 months of 2016, using ballistic missile technology, including launches of satellite, submarine-based ballistic missiles, and medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The Taep'o dong-1 missile was test-fired in August 1998. In 1999 North Korea agreed to suspend tests of long-range missiles, and Pyongyang has extended that moratorium through 2003. In late 2000 the Clinton proposed an agreement under which North Korea would halt the production and testing of medium- and long-range missiles, as well as the export of missile technology. The US also accepted a North Korean proposal to provide two or three launches for North Korean satellites annually. By mid-2001 the new Bush Administration had returned to this general framework, though proposing new challenge inspections for number of sites in North Korea at short notice. For many years, there has been a lack of understanding of the origins of North Korean strategic ballistic missile program. Equally absent from public the discussion about Missile Technology Control Regime is the assistance that Iran has provided to the North Koran strategic ballistic missile program and North Korea's contribution to Iran's strategic ballistic missile program. Understanding the historical context of the relationship between Iran and North Korea will enhance the understanding of this potential strategic threat to the world. Understanding the impact of the Gorbachev era Soviet missile technology transfer to North Korea because of strategic arms reductions and its meaning to the Missile Technology Control regime (MTCR) and its impact globally can not be understated. This understanding is essential because of its implications in strategic arms control. In order to understand the true strategic threat requires a reasonable technical understanding of strategic systems and their historical and technical heritage. What follows is a discussion of what can be gleamed from the public intelligence on these various strategic issues. In October 2003 a report released by the South Korean defense ministry estimated that North Korea had shipped over 400 SCUD-class ballistic missiles to the Middle East since the 1980s. The biggest buyers were Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, but also include Egypt and Libya. North Korea is generally estimated to have about 500 Scuds in inventory The Korea Herald 08 May 2004]. But South Korea's defense ministry estimates that North Korea has about 600 Scuds and about 100 No dong-A missiles, Agency France-Presse reported on 07 May 2004. The [DPRK] North Korea was in 2008 credited by South Korea to have 800 deployed missiles but in March 2010 they were credited with 1,000 missiles deployed. That is 100-150 Scud-B's 300 Scud-C's, 350 Scud-ER's and 200 No-dong-A's equaling 1,000 deployed and perhaps 20 No-dong-B's in a single division identified. North Korea is also credited with having enough weapons grade plutonium to have created 6-8 nuclear device weapons that they will eventually be able to place inside a already perfected missile born re-entry vehicle to make a nuclear warhead according to South Korean government analysis. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un around February 2018 ordered the mass production of vehicles used for transporting and launching missiles including intercontinental ballistic missiles, Tomotaro Inoue of Kyodo News reported 23 December 2019. To cover the expense of acquiring parts for around 70 so-called transporter-erector-launchers from countries including China, tens of millions of dollars were allocated to trading entities under the ruling party's munitions department, according to a source familiar with China-North Korea relations. The disclosure indicates that North Korea is working on strengthening its nuclear and missile capabilities while engaging in negotiations with the United States, casting doubt on its willingness to abandon its nuclear program. U.S. intelligence officials who have acquired the same intelligence appear to be working to find out how many of the 70 TELs are intended for carrying ICBMs and how far their assembly has progressed. North Korean/ Iranian Unha-2, Taep'o-dong-2B Evolutionary Development Family. North Korean/ Iranian Launch vehicle Evolutionary Development Family through 2013 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Photo taken on April 14, 2017 shows a pair of long feet snipes at Dongshi Township of Jinjiang City, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Mei Yongcun) A Danville Circuit Court jury spent about three and a half hours Friday deliberating whether or not Karseem Mareese Wilson should be convicted for the May 7 homicide of Donte Lecedric Simpson. Meanwhile, Wilsons attorney, Joseph Schenk Jr., and Danville Commonwealths Attorney Michael Newman began having discussions about a possible resolution. Wilson, 40, entered a plea agreement with the commonwealth. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and a firearm charge was dismissed. He was originally facing first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony charges. Wilson was sentenced to 20 years with 15 years suspended, for an active sentence of five years. Ronte Simpson, Dontes twin brother, didnt understand how the jury couldnt convict Wilson for the crime. He was present at the scene of the crime and is an accomplice to the murder, Ronte said after the trial. No justice, he said. Danville Circuit Court Judge James Reynolds told the jury about the guilty plea, the plea agreement and the five years to serve. At least two jurors nodded their head in agreement. The jury had spent two days listening to evidence about Simpson being killed on Chatham Avenue on Mothers Day weekend last year. The accused shooter was Kareem Dove, Wilsons brother, who was indicted but hasnt been arrested by authorities. Dove, 34, and Simpson, 27, already had tension due to their connection through Jalisia Crawley, according to testimony. Crawley and Simpson had a child together. Crawley was dating Dove at the time of the homicide. Dove and Simpson were hollering at each other, because Dove was upset about Simpson buying gifts for Crawley for Mothers Day, according to testimony. Wilson testified he was with his pregnant fiancee and his young child when he got a call from Dove. Before he answered the phone, he knew it was drama, he said. Arguments between Crawley and Dove were a normal occurrence, Wilson testified. Still, Wilson went to the Chatham Avenue apartment near Cardinal Village, with Simpson nowhere to be seen. He told Dove to calm down it wasnt that serious. It would be a beautiful thing for [Doves] daughter to see her father give Crawley a Mothers Day gift, Wilson said. Wilson said he came there hoping I could bring peace to the situation. However, Dove was ready to fight. He doesnt want to fight you, Wilson said he told Dove. You probably scared him off. Shakiyla Glass, Crawleys neighbor and friend, and others were outside watching the men talk, finding the whole thing to be a joke, Wilson testified. It got serious when Simpson pulled up again in his blue Chrysler 300. Wilson told the spectators to go inside because I was afraid. After a tense altercation, a person usually comes back in a violent manner, Wilson said. Wilson said he convinced Dove to leave it alone only for Dove to say he wanted to stay to talk to Crawley. Wilson testified he was at his rental car when he heard the shots. It donned on me that Dove had walked in the direction where the shots came from, Wilson said. He grew nervous. Dove came out running toward Wilsons car, jumping in the passenger seat and told Wilson to drive, he testified. As Wilson drove to Raleigh, North Carolina, We basically argued the whole time, he said. Wilson hadnt seen Dove since, he said. Accessory after the fact is labeled a misdemeanor in Virginia law, unless the offense is a homicide, Newman explained after the trial. The only exception is when the accessory is a family member, he said. The law, Virginia code 18.2-19, states However, no person in the relation of husband or wife, parent or grandparent, child or grandchild, brother or sister to the murder suspect shall be deemed an accessory after the fact. Much of what [Wilson] did was after the shooting, Reynolds said. After hours of deliberating, the jury notified Danville Circuit Court James Reynolds they all couldnt agree on a verdict. While the jury deliberated in a room in courtroom 1, the plea agreement hearing was made in courtroom 2. Wilson wanted to give his sincerest apologies to the Simpson family for the homicide. The Simpson family sat in court through the entire two-day trial. If there was anything he couldve done to stop it, Wilson said he would have. To the editor: I hold Virginia Republicans accountable for failing to expand Medicaid and give 400,000 vulnerable neighbors health care coverage. With a single vote, Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly could have delivered health care coverage to so many through Medicaid expansion that Gov. Terry McAuliffe put on the table. Countless of lives and communities could have changed for the better, but Republicans said no. They put blind, partisan politics ahead of what is clearly the best for Virginias families and the economy. Its past time to expand Medicaid. Its preventing us from creating tens of thousands of jobs, and its costing our state billions of dollars. Virginia Republicans are letting pure partisanship blind them, and its hurting people that most need help. Medicaid expansion under Obamacare would unlock tens of millions of federal dollars that would help Virginias hospitals desperate for this money. Virginias hospitals did come up with a plan tax us on our revenue and earmark those new funds, rather than other tax-supported general revenue, to trigger federal dollars for Medicaid expansion. That would have extended health insurance to so many, bailed out struggling hospitals and not cost the states residents who have already paid for Medicaid expansion through their federal taxes already paid return at no additional money. Republicans said no. Shameful. This proposal would yield federal funding that would substitute for state spending on Medicaid, amounting to $156 million over two years. Virginia receives tens of billions of dollars in other federal funding each year. Yet the GOP doesnt reject those funds. Wonder why? I think I know why their hatred for the ACA is terrible. Republicans claim they dont trust the federal government to pay the 90 percent. I would gladly pay a little more in state taxes to pay the 10 percent required by each state to help my fellow man. Im so glad for my parents to have raised me to care. Nineteen states have rejected Medicaid expansion and are governed by Republicans. The GOP claims they have a better plan. Where is it? In one of the nations wealthiest states, hundreds of thousands of people have no health insurance. Its disgraceful and has to stop. ROBERT HAYDEN Blairs Afghan army soldiers stand near a checkpoint, 2 km from the explosion core area in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, April 14, 2017. At least 36 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed after the U.S. forces in Afghanistan struck their position with a large bomb in eastern Nangarhar province, the Afghan Defense Ministry said on Friday morning. (Xinhua/Rahman Safi) JALALABAD, Afghanistan, April 15 -- The death toll of Islamic State (IS) militants killed by a massive bomb in eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar reached 94, the provincial government said on Saturday. On Thursday evening, the U.S. military dropped a GBU-43 or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb, on an IS complex in Achin district of the mountainous province bordering Pakistan. "The latest reports found 94 militants were killed following Thursday's airstrike in Mohmand Dara village, Asadkhil area of Achin district," the local government said in a statement. Among the killed militants were four key local IS commanders named Amza Abubakir, Hamid, Mohammad Ebrani and Walkin, brother of deceased IS leader Hafiz Saeed as well as several foreign militants, the statement added. The raid also destroyed a big IS hideout along with several bunkers, 300-meter-long tunnels as well as a huge weapon and ammunition depot. No civilian casualties were reported as of Saturday morning, according to the statement. The province, with Jalalabad city as its capital, 120 km east of Kabul, has been the scene of heavy clashes between security forces, Taliban militants and IS fighters over the past years. More than 1,900 IS militants, several Afghan security forces and two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Achin and neighboring districts since early 2015 when IS emerged there, according to Afghan military officials. A U.S. Special Forces member was killed in Achin over the weekend. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 15 Trend: A delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking Countries (TURKPA) is now in Ankara to observe the referendum on constitutional amendments, to be held in Turkey on Apr. 16, said a TURKPA message. The TURKPA delegation headed by Ahliman Amiraslanov, chairman of Azerbaijans parliamentary health committee, held a series of meetings on the eve of the nationwide referendum. The delegation also comprises Azerbaijani MP Aghalar Valiyev, Secretary General of TURKPA Jandos Asanov, as well as Kazakh and Kyrgyz parliamentarians. The delegation members met with Sadi Guven, head of the Turkish Supreme Electoral Council, who said that preparations for the referendum have been completed. The referendum on constitutional amendments in Turkey will provide for introduction of presidential system in the country. Amendments to Turkeys Constitution got more than 330 votes in the Parliament, which is the minimum number of votes needed for holding a referendum. According to the amendments, the number of seats in the Turkish Parliament will increase from 550 to 600. It is also suggested that Turkish citizens can run for the MP seats from the age of 18. Currently, the lowest age limit is 25. It is offered to hold parliamentary elections every 5 years. Currently, the parliamentary elections are held every 4 years. A Turkish citizen no younger than 40 can become a president, according to the amendments. The Turkish president will have the power to appoint ministers and replace them. The president-elect will not be obliged to be a non-party nominee any more. A new survey of local governments confirms their firm embrace of digital communication, a relationship likely to become closer and more informal in the next five years, and highlights differing priorities between the city and county agencies surveyed.The online survey, Whats Next in Digital Communications for County Governments conducted by El Segundo, Calif.-based Vision, was distributed in December 2016 to 3,696 agencies and was particularly revealing of where cities and counties are on their digital journeys, how their missions vary, and how their relationships with residents differ, according to Ashley Fruechting, Visions senior director of marketing.The survey had an 11.8 percent response rate, yielded answers from 290 municipalities and 146 counties, and has a 4 percent margin of error.Cities ranked websites, labeled the hub in the wheel of digital government in the survey, higher in importance than counties did though both types of agencies rated them highly. Ninety percent of counties said their websites were essential or important to overall strategies for communications and public service, compared with 96 percent of cities.Email dramatically outranked the website in popularity among counties, in a comparison of highly effective communications channels today versus in five years. Just 24 percent of counties rated their agencys website as a highly effective channel of communication today but nearly half, or 49 percent, of counties felt that way about email.The hypothesis I have just by looking at the data and comparing it, and conversations, is perhaps the services that cities are delivering are just more easily put on the Web, Fruechting told. Residents are more likely to know the services that are being provided by the cities, so maybe theyre coming more naturally to the website.Though they may offer economic development and infrastructure programs, and manage justice and public safety systems, counties are different, the surveys authors wrote.It was a finding those surveyed confirmed in ranking the topics they thought their residents cared most about. Job opportunities ranked first, but county respondents ranked information on planning and zoning issues second, and emergency notifications third. Municipalities ranked special events information second; and parks and recreation news third.The reality, Fruechting said, is that cities provide services that are just closer to home to residents.I think counties have had the challenge of getting [residents] to understand services there, the challenge of getting them to follow them, she said, describing residents as more likely to identify themselves with their city and follow it on social media.In the survey, Carver County, Minn., IT Developer Joseph Satre pointed out that counties tend to have more static content on social media because they typically dont offer as many events and promotions.He toldthat much of the content on his county's website, which was redesigned by Vision in December 2015, is either cyclical or aimed at connecting people to services.In the survey, counties overall said online communication channels should grow exponentially in importance within five years, at which time 71 percent of county agencies said their website will be their most effective communication channel. And for Carver County, Satre said that's already true."In five years, I think it will stay that way," he added. "I think we'll increase what we have available by social media, but I think the website will stay important."Kevin Tunell, communications director for Yuma County, Ariz., said in the survey that his county's website is like its calling card one that's increasingly easy to read.When Yuma County worked with Vision to update its website last year, Tunell said it realized roughly 85 percent of visitors were focusing on just 10 to 15 percent of their content. Its solution was adding links on the mainpage to popular sub-pages plus an online help center staffed by employees during business hours."I have a lot more confidence in the way it was built, that we're reaching out to the citizens ... but also making sure it's a two-way street and residents are able to find things on our website," Tunell toldOther counties also emphasized the role of social media. Sixty percent of those surveyed ranked it second only to the website as the most effective communication channel in five years. Only 28 percent said it was currently their most effective communication channel.Email was expected to remain important in five years, with more than half the counties surveyed ranking it the third most effective channel of communication.But the role of press releases currently considered the second most effective method of communication by 44 percent of those surveyed didnt even rate in five years, effectively replaced with engagement platforms, rated by 43 percent of counties.Fruechting said the absence of releases, coupled with the rise in significance of social media, suggests agencies are seeking more informal communication channels and that social media and websites may replace the press release as a way to effectively disseminate information.County and municipal leaders werent overly bullish on how well their websites served residents. Fewer than one in 10 said their websites were outstanding, while three-quarters of those who responded said their websites were average to good.And city and county agencies agreed on the three biggest issues confronting their current websites. Limited citizen engagement ranked first for both types of agencies, followed by a lack of mobile-ready design, and difficulty of navigation for counties. Municipal agencies reversed the last two, ranking navigation second and design third.More than 97 percent of county respondents said yes when asked if their governments were obligated to keep up with changing technologies.But the 290 cities that responded also outpaced the 146 responding counties in two other key metrics: their projected annual investment needed to follow technology, and in prioritizing the need to expand citizen engagement.County tech investment forecasts varied from 0 to 100 percent, with 41 percent of respondents predicting theyd need annual increases ranging from 10 to 19 percent. But overall, counties forecast slightly lower investment than municipalities, the surveys authors wrote.Counties also lagged more than 10 percentage points behind cities on boosting citizen engagement. Generally, the issue ranked first out of five digital priorities, but municipalities found the issue far more pressing, with 80 percent ranking it at the top compared to 63 percent of counties.Website upgrades ranked as the No. 2 digital priority, likely signaling their key role in successful engagement strategies, the authors noted but, Fruechting said, possibly also reflecting that counties may be still thinking through their digital strategy as a whole.Social media rated as the third most important digital priority, followed by data and analytics work in fourth place, and disaster recovery and continuity in fifth. Fruechting said the low ranking of data and analytics could present an unwitting challenge for agencies.I find it interesting that engagement consistently comes up as a goal but at its core, engagement is related to being data-driven, she said. I think that if they are going to achieve the goal of engagement, they almost have to start by being data-driven, to understand where they are and how residents are interacting.County respondents did rate higher on tracking and analyzing their own website metrics; 66 percent said they do so, with 29 percent doing so monthly or quarterly and 52 percent doing so sometimes.Nearly one-quarter of respondents, or 24 percent, said they never looked at those metrics but virtually identical segments, or 18 and 19 percent, said they scrutinize those analytics daily or weekly and annually, respectively.The results, Fruechting said, may reflect a larger shift in city and county thinking about serving residents one in which cities are leading but counties are starting to fall in line.In 2018, survey authors said, agencies will face another likely hurdle: new rules for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) website compliance and the increased enforcement of existing guidelines.City and county officials are aware that it is a thing, Fruechting said, but loosely.Nearly all, or 98 percent, of respondents believed Web accessibility would have a significant impact on local government by 2020 but on the county side, 60 percent of agencies said they had moderate, weak or no knowledge of federal Web accessibility requirements.One-third of county officials who responded reported no knowledge of the accessibility requirements. Their municipal counterparts had similar answers. Many officials, Fruechting said, will have to change how they think about agency websites and scrutinize content, from links to the captions on videos.But, she said, if the Department of Justices enforcement follows precedent, it may simply consider websites as part of a bigger picture of accessibility, with audits and warnings a possibility. Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed he will also attend the next round on the F1 schedule, in Russia. The former F1 supremo revealed the news in Bahrain, where he caused a stir by appearing at his first grand prix since being ousted by Liberty Media. "I didn't leave," the Journal de Montreal quotes him as saying. "It's good to be back, but I only missed two races. And I wouldn't have gone to them anyway." Ecclestone, 86, is still an honorary chairman, but he said he has almost nothing to do with his successors Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches. "I haven't met Sean Bratches, and although I have known Ross Brawn for a long time, this year we've spoken for about 10 minutes," international media reports quote the Briton as saying. Ecclestone said he caught up with his direct successor Carey in Bahrain, but the new guard has asked him for "basically nothing -- thank God". So why is he in Bahrain, and why will he travel to Russia in a fortnight? Germany's Auto Bild said one reason could be that Ecclestone wrote into the original race contracts that only he can lead negotiations. "I have no idea if that's true," he said mischievously when asked. Ecclestone did say he has been keeping "busy" in his post-F1 life, but played down rumours he is poised to buy the Brazilian grand prix circuit at Interlagos. "Everything is possible, but I doubt it," he said. In the end, Ecclestone caused a stir in Bahrain, as did McLaren with news that Jenson Button will be back on the grid in Monaco to replace Fernando Alonso. But F1 veteran David Coulthard said it is all just a distraction from the main event. "Sport is about winners and exceptional performances," he wrote in the Telegraph. "Bernie Ecclestone returning was very exciting, but it will not be big news tomorrow, and come Sunday he'll just be another person in the paddock. And that will be the same for Jenson in Monaco." (GMM) A former F1 driver has defended Kimi Raikkonen, following criticism from Ferrari's bosses in China. After a lacklustre race for the Finn in Shanghai, team president and boss Sergio Marchionne and Maurizio Arrivabene respectively hit out at Raikkonen, saying they would speak with him. Asked if that conversation took place, Raikkonen gave a terse "no" in Bahrain. But former F1 driver turned pundit Marc Surer thinks Ferrari's criticism was unjustified. "I don't think it's fair that they do that to him," the Swiss told the German broadcaster Sky. "We heard what his problems were -- that his engine did not deliver the right power. And he complained about missing grip in the front, which I see as a setup issue that the team has to solve," Surer added. "If you criticise a driver, first you should check if everything was working technically." More generally, Ferrari is impressing with its pace in 2017, but some ill-feeling towards the great Italian team has been caused by its self-imposed 'media blackout' this year. Luigi Perna, a top journalist for the authoritative La Gazzetta dello Sport, slammed Ferrari for not giving the media much access to the team so far in 2017. "After a winter of silence, there was tremendous media and Tifosi interest in Ferrari, but this was met with silence too," he said in Bahrain. "It is understandable that president Marchionne wanted quiet after his statements of a year ago, but this is too much." (GMM) Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 15 Trend: Under instructions of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the construction of a residential building in Ovchular Evi area on Metbuat Avenue, Yasamal District, has been halted because the building company illegally cut down 54 trees and completely destroyed a green space at the site. According to a placard installed in the construction site, Boyuk Plaza residential and shopping center was being constructed there. But the building company violated the existing laws and illegally cut down trees in the area using machinery. This caused serious concern of the people living in adjacent buildings. These violations of law and the cutting down of trees in the construction site provoked a sharp reaction from President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who ordered to immediately halt the construction work and investigate the issue. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources inspected the area on the Metbuat Avenue, Yasamal District, and drew up a report on the cutting down of trees. A 130,000 manat fine was levied against the company, and an investigation was launched into the case. Destruction of the existing green spaces and the illegal cutting down of trees despite the measures being taken to create green areas and improve the ecological situation and ongoing tree-planting campaigns is absolutely unacceptable. President Ilham Aliyev stressed unacceptability of the illegal cutting down of trees, and emphasized the importance of taking serious measures against these violations and holding those who do this accountable. President Ilham Aliyev said: We pay constant attention to the issues relating to ecological situation. But what concerns the public and myself is the cutting down of trees. This should be stopped. I think that we should apply a more serious accountability here. The cutting down of trees should be completely stopped. Only in exceptional cases and only on the basis of a conclusion of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources can a tree be cut down or transplanted somewhere. This is why I have repeatedly expressed my opinion on these issues. I can say that the situation is relatively more positive in comparison with the previous years. But we have not fully achieved what we want. People come at night, illegally cut down trees and level a place in order to build a house. This is dishonesty, this is a disgrace, this is a crime. Therefore, appropriate authorities should make proposals, we should take more serious action against those who cut down trees. They should be held accountable. Once again I reiterate that not a single tree in the city can be cut down without permission, conclusion of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. This is my final warning. (Excerpt from the closing speech of President of Ilham Aliyev made on 13 April 2014 at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of the first quarter of the year and future tasks.) The biggest banks remain bullish on oil prices, expecting moderate price gains by the end of the year, even after last month WTI prices dropped below $50 for a couple of weeks. In recent years, U.S. shale has thrown in another unknown in the mix of factors driving the price of oil. This year, shale output forecasts combine with OPECs production cuts, geopolitical factors, and unexpected outages to further complicate supply/demand and oil price forecasts by Wall Streets major investment banks. But analyst projections about oil global supply and demand are increasingly diverging, because expectations of the combined effects of OPECs cuts, U.S. shale production, new oil discoveries, and new project start-ups also differ a lot. Goldman Sachs, for example, expects a material oversupply in 2018-2019, due to the increase in mega projects production in 2017-19 as a result of the record spending in those projects between 2011 and 2013. Short-cycle shale output will also add to the glut, says Goldman, projecting an additional 1 million bpd to global supply by 2018-2019 coming from the mega projects sanctioned before the oil price crash and from U.S. shale output. Morgan Stanley, however, begs to differ, and has recently said that by 2020, we estimate that [around] 1.5 million bpd of demand will need to come from projects that have not been sanctioned yet, but that have break-even oil prices of $70-75 a barrel. UBS, for its part, expects a 4-million-bpd supply gap by 2020. Beyond 2017, the impact of a collapse in longer-cycle conventional investment over 2014-16 begins to be felt. 2015 saw just six major upstream projects totaling [some] 0.6 million bpd ... versus the 3-4 million bpd average, and 2016 has seen just one major liquids project sanctioned, UBS strategist Jon Rigby told Reuters. Analysts and industry bodies warn of a supply crunch, especially after 2020, when the effect of the significantly lowered investments in conventional projects during the downturn will show. The International Energy Agency (IEA) sees a shortage in oil supply after 2020, unless new projects are approved soon. According to the IEA, supply could lag demand in a few years, which could lead to a surge in oil prices. In the next few years, oil supply is growing in the United States, Canada, Brazil and elsewhere but this growth could stall by 2020 if the record two-year investment slump of 2015 and 2016 is not reversed. While investments in the US shale play are picking up strongly, early indications of global spending for 2017 are not encouraging, the IEA said in a report last month. According to Wood Mackenzie, although projects around the world slated for final investment decisions (FIDs) will double this year compared with 2016, and prospects for 2017 are largely looking good, the longer-term deepwater pipeline is more challenged. The oil price slump has not only deferred some investment decisions, it has also forced companies to scale back exploration spending for conventional oil. Last year, total global discovered volumes of oil and gas combined hit their lowest since the 1940s, according to Rystad Energy. The Oslo-based consultancy sees exploration activity slowly picking up from 2018. Although last years low discovery volumes wont have an immediate effect on global supply, they could influence supply a decade or so into the future because of the long lead-time in sanctioning conventional oil developments and actual production start-ups. Meanwhile, short-cycle U.S. shale is now more flexible in scaling back or resuming production, depending on the price of oil and well economics. This adds another conundrum for investment banks in predicting oil priceshow fast U.S. supply could grow and how many barrels it could add on the global oil market. Link to original article: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Supply-Crunch-Or-Oil-Glut-Investment-Banks-Cant-Agree.html Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 15 Trend: Azerbaijan and Iran plan to discuss the bilateral military cooperation and regional security, said press service of Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Apr. 15. The talks will be held during the official visit of Azerbaijani defense minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov to Iran. He is expected to meet with the political and military leadership of Iran. Zakir Hasanovs visit takes place at the invitation of the Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehgan. Apple Inc has secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, which allows it to conduct test drives in three vehicles with six drivers, the state Department of Motor Vehicles said on Friday, Reuters reported. Although it has never openly acknowledged it is looking into building an electric car, Apple has recruited dozens of auto experts. The vehicles are all 2015 Lexus RX540h, according to the DMV. "This does confirm what's long been rumored: that Apple is at least toying with the idea of getting into the autonomous game in some capacity," said Chris Theodore, President of consultancy Theodore & Associates, and a former Vice President at Ford Motor Company and Chrysler. The permit does not necessarily mean Apple is building a car. "This is not necessarily automobiles as initially rumored, but software or possibly hardware associated with autonomous technology," Theodore said. An Apple spokesman declined to comment directly on the filing, pointing back to a statement when the company submitted its comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration late last year. After a five-page letter last November from Steve Kenner, Apple's director of product integrity, to NHTSA, the company was under increased speculation that they would enter into the competitive self-driving space. "The company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation," Kenner wrote. At that time Apple said it had provided comments to NHTSA "because Apple is investing heavily in machine learning and autonomous systems. There are many potential applications for these technologies, including the future of transportation, so we want to work with NHTSA to help define the best practices for the industry." Apple executives have been coy about their interest in cars. Chief Executive Tim Cook has suggested that Apple wants to move beyond integration of Apple smartphones into vehicle infotainment systems. Apple joins a growing list of traditional carmakers, technology companies, and small start ups to test drive cars in California - all vying to be the first to bring self-driving cars to the masses. Companies that have been issued permits also include Alphabet Inc's Google unit, Ford Motor Co, Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG, Tesla Motors Inc and General Motors Co. Many companies have said the first cars will launch in 2020 but some experts believe it may take much longer due to regulatory challenges. Racketeering is a word often associated with mobsters and mayhem. For 47 years, the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act commonly known as RICO has been used to prosecute organized-crime figures and gang leaders. RICO cases have taken down members of the Gambino crime family and the Chicago Outfit. The Catholic Church was sued under RICO for allegedly allowing priests to molest children. Now, two men on the side of the law both district attorneys are dealing with their own RICO case. And theyre not alone. Their wives and several court employees find themselves the defendants in a civil RICO lawsuit filed in Wake County by a former colleague. On Feb. 21, Debra Halbrook filed a lawsuit in which she alleges that she was fired for reporting to the State Bureau of Investigation that the district attorneys in Person, Caswell and Rockingham counties Wallace Bradsher and Craig Blitzer were scheming to place each others wives on their payrolls to collect more than $100,000 combined in annual and unearned salaries. Halbrooks report also launched an SBI investigation. The crux of Halbrooks lawsuit focuses on the ramifications of coming forward to the SBI and reporting the alleged scheme. However, Halbrook is suing each person named in their individual capacities under the states RICO act, stating that she was an injured victim who lost wages because of a criminal scheme. RICO cases are rare in North Carolina. Federal records show 171 civil and criminal cases combined in the states history. In the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, which includes federal cases in Rockingham, Person and Caswell counties, there have been 28 civil RICO cases filed. Chief Assistant District Attorney Howard Neumann said he cannot recall a civil RICO case in Guilford County. Criminal charges are reserved for the federal court system, and since 1970 in the U.S. Middle District Court, there have been three RICO cases filed. Its unclear what happened in two of those instances. Court documents have been sealed. The other case involved eight members of the Latin Kings, including their leader, Jorge Peter Cornell, who is serving 28 years in federal prison. The RICO statute became law on Oct. 15, 1970, during the Nixon administration. Its intent was to eliminate organized crime, such as the Mafia, but its wording was broad enough to capture other criminals. There are 27 federal crimes and eight state crimes a person can commit that fall under the RICO act bribery, embezzlement of union funds, money laundering, mail fraud, wire fraud, extortion, prostitution and murder. Racketeering North Carolina lawmakers in 1985 created their own Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law that allows an innocent person to sue for three times the damage incurred from racketeering. The law provides legal remedies for citizens such as Halbrook, who believe they personally were damaged as an innocent party because of their proximity to a RICO violation. The purpose of North Carolinas civil RICO law is simple: to protect innocent people who are harmed as the result of criminal or fraudulent schemes, said Drew Erteschik, an attorney in Raleigh representing Halbrook. None of the attorneys representing defendants in the lawsuit returned a request from the News & Record seeking comment. This law defines a racketeering activity as a means to commit, to attempt to commit, or to solicit, coerce, or intimidate another person to commit an act or acts that fall under the federal RICO law. To do so, the plaintiff must prove a pattern in which at least two instances of racketeering occurred. In Halbrooks case, she alleges that she was coerced, intimidated, extorted and retaliated against as a means to commit and then cover up a financial scheme to collect taxpayers money. The allegations Halbrook had worked as a victim-witness legal assistant in the Caswell County District Attorneys office for nearly 20 years when she was fired. She believes her boss, Bradsher, learned she reported him and Blitzer to the SBI for what the lawsuit calls the Bradsher-Blitzer Hire My Wife scheme. Initially, both wives worked for their husbands, making more than $45,000 each. In 2015, when the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts learned about the wives employment, officials notified the district attorneys that hiring their spouses violated state law. Emails obtained through a public records request state that both men and AOC officials worked together to have the wives swap jobs and salaries. Cindy Blitzer went from a legal assistant of 12 days to an investigator, making $48,000. Pamela Bradsher was demoted from investigator to legal assistant, making $46,900. The lawsuit states that Halbrook noticed neither wife was working very often in her new role. Each county records data from cardswipe access points around the courthouse, showing when a card-holding employee entered the building. Those records indicate that Pamela Bradsher was in the Rockingham County Courthouse 36 out of the 156 days business days in which she was employed there. Cindy Blitzer never was granted keycard access to enter the courthouse in Wallace Bradshers district, which means if she came to work, she would have had to stand in a security line with the general public. Halbrook alleges that Blitzer worked fewer than five days per year. Cindy Blitzer continued working under Wallace Bradsher until Oct. 25, 2016, just days before the news broke about the SBI investigation. Halbrook alleges in the lawsuit that Wallace Bradsher fired Cindy Blitzer after he feigned discovery that she was not working full-time. Pamela Bradsher worked less than a year under Craig Blitzer, resigning on Aug. 18, 2015. Halbrook said in her suit that the resignation came quickly after she questioned her boss about Cindy Blitzers employment, and she believes it was a means to cover up any criminal activity. Halbrook also stated in a sworn affidavit that she approached her supervisors Administrative Assistant Gayle Peed, former Chief Assistant District Attorney and current District Court Judge John J. Stultz and Wallace Bradsher and asked why Cindy Blitzer was on the payroll. She was met with various forms of dont worry about it. Halbrook said she became sufficiently concerned to go to authorities when she spotted Stultzs accessing the states payroll system, a privilege only granted to Peed in that office. Halbrook said she first reported what she saw to Peed and then confronted Stultz, who told her not to worry about Cindy Blitzer, whose name had not been mentioned in the conversation. Thats when, she said, she began to suspect a criminal conspiracy. Software sell Halbrook went to authorities in June 2016, and the following month Superior Court Judge Joe Crosswhite ordered an investigation. Two months later, Bradsher moved Halbrook out of Yanceyville, the Caswell County office where she had spent almost 20 years, to his Roxboro office in Person County about 22 miles away. The lawsuit states that Bradsher told Halbrook if she wanted to return to Caswell, she needed to convince her husband, Caswell County Chief Deputy Sheriff Scott Halbrook, to have Sheriff Michael Welch adopt a digitally cataloged discovery system that was being used in Rockingham County. Halbrook stated she believed Bradsher wanted to begin using the software in Caswell County as a means to cover up the crimes. It would help explain why some of the shared employees werent working in the proper courthouses. Tyler Henderson, a then-former and later rehired legal assistant for Wallace Bradsher, had gone to work for Craig Blitzer in August 2015 after Pamela Bradsher resigned.This happened shortly after Halbrook first questioned Wallace Bradsher about Cindy Blitzers employment. Wallace Bradsher told his staff that Henderson was working in Rockingham to learn about the software and then to train other employees. County records show Henderson also did not possess a keycard to the Rockingham County Courthouse. But instead of coercing her husband into using this new software, Halbrook told her husband her suspicions. Things began getting out of hand in November 2016, the lawsuit states. Attitudes Court documents accuse Wallace Bradsher of calling Halbrook into a conference room with Assistant District Attorney Hollie McAdams and Senior Assistant District Attorney LuAnn Martin. The lawsuit states that Bradsher was breathing heavily and irate. He accused Halbrook of being disloyal and said he knew she had met with Yanceyville-based attorney Lee Farmer, who also is representing Halbrook in her lawsuit. The lawsuit stated Bradsher and Martin demanded to know what she and Farmer discussed. Halbrook said in her affidavit that she knew discussing the conversation would reveal she had gone to the SBI, so she refused to answer. She did confirm that Farmer was her attorney. That knowledge, court records state, made the district attorney angrier. Members of the SBI had met with Bradshers staff in the summer of 2016, and Bradsher allegedly wanted to know more about Halbrooks conversation with the agents. Halbrook states that Bradsher then informed her she was the only member of his staff not to reveal the conversation she had with the SBI. The next day, Bradsher relocated Halbrook to a new workplace: a desk in a storage space between two filing cabinets, court records state. In December, Wallace Bradshers attitude towards Halbrook changed. He became kind. He gave her an unspecified merit bonus that only is awarded to one employee a year. Halbrook stated that she didnt trust Bradshers about face. That didnt last long, either. No deal, no job On Jan. 11, Halbrook said she noticed Bradshers taking a call in the conference room and looking increasingly upset. Sheriff Welch had called and rejected Bradshers request to adopt the new software. Minutes later, Bradsher, shaking and red-faced, called Halbrook into Peeds office and fired her. Halbrook, 54, was months shy of 20 years as a judicial employee, which would have entitled her to a pension and lifelong health care. As a result of the RICO defendants conduct, Ms. Halbrook lost her job, her ability to earn a living, and her retirement, health and other benefits, the lawsuit states. Stating the case The Bradshers and Blitzers and Stultz, Peed and Martin are being sued in their individual capacities under the RICO act. The lawsuit asserts a serious connection between the district attorneys alleged attempt to steal the states money and a cover up to avoid giving the money back or losing their jobs. Under federal laws, the lawsuit alleges RICO violations that include retaliating against an employee who provides evidence of fraud to a government agency, conspiring to retaliate against employees who provide evidence of fraud to a government agency, obstruction of justice, obstruction of criminal investigations, obstruction of state or local law enforcement, tampering with a witness or informant, bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, retaliating against a witness or informant and racketeering. Under state laws, the lawsuit alleges RICO violations that include obtaining property by false pretense, embezzlement of funds by public officers, blackmailing, extortion, false reports to law enforcement agencies or officers, intimidating or interfering with witnesses, buying or selling offices, willfully failing to discharge duties, failing to make reports and discharge of duties relating to public officers or employees benefiting from public contracts, communicating threats, influencing agents and servants in violating duties owed employees, subornation of perjury, and altering, destroying or stealing evidence of criminal conduct. Halbrook filed her lawsuit despite the ongoing investigation, and after she did, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman adopted the SBIs case from Crosswhite. The investigation is ongoing. A judge granted Freemans office permission to execute search warrants in late March and on April 6 to gather more evidence for the case. The search warrants are sealed by a judge, but they focus on bank records and an electronic device, according to the motion to seal the warrants. Craig Blitzer resigned as district attorney on March 10, just two days after the SBI raided his office in search for evidence, including a computer in the district attorneys possession. Civil RICO lawsuits are often filed before a prosecutor brings charges in a criminal case, Erteschik said. Sometimes, they are even the catalyst for a criminal prosecution. Here, the SBI collected evidence in June of 2016, but eight months later, no one in Caswell, Person, or Rockingham counties had been indicted or removed from public office. Within 48 hours of Debbies lawsuit, however, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman to her great credit took over the SBIs investigation and exercised jurisdiction to prosecute the case here in Wake County. Its not clear if the people named in the lawsuit will face criminal racketeering charges, which would need prior approval from the U.S. Department of Justice. The lawsuit alleges that the FBI has an active investigation into the two district attorneys offices, but FBI officials said they couldnt confirm or deny an investigation. GREENSBORO Ten envelopes hidden in 10 spots downtown today. Each worth $100. Clues, posted on social media, that will lead players to the envelopes. Thats the plan of UNCG student Magloire Lubika, founder of Smell the Roses, a new nonprofit incorporated in February to support his random acts of kindness in Greensboro. Hes done free hugs, free cookies and free coats. In his Just for a Day program hes taken a few people experiencing homelessness out for a haircut, a shopping trip and a restaurant meal. All thats just in the past few months. But it was enough to inspire one anonymous donor to give $1,000. The donor pointed to a message on Lubikas website: For $5, 1 person can smile, For $20 4 people can smile, for $100 a group can smile, for $1000+ a community can smile. So they challenged Lubika to come up with a single event that could make a community smile. And thats when Lubika thought of the Easter egg hunt. We felt like if we did a treasure hunt or something fun, that can definitely bring people together, he said. Hes really hiding envelopes, not eggs, but it is Easter weekend, hence the egg-hunt theme. He plans to start releasing clues via Smell the Roses Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts about noon. One clue per envelope, so the hunt may go fast. Each envelope will include a prize voucher and instructions to find him at a downtown restaurant to celebrate the victory and claim prize money. Hell make an announcement on social media when he learns an envelope has been found. The hiding places, Lubika says, each reflect something about the mission and vision of his nonprofit. So hes hoping that as well as being fun, the hunt helps people learn about Smell the Roses. His website www.smelltherosesnp.org instructs participants to follow Smell the Roses on social media. The site also shows screenshots of how to enable notifications on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, so players with smartphones can get updates as they hunt. The hiding places spring from a familiarity with downtown that hes developed as hes worked on his random acts and spent time talking with people experiencing homelessness and consulting with some local nonprofit leaders. His bond with the city is a little surprising because when he first transferred to UNCG and moved to town last year, he figured hed mostly stick to the dorm. But Lubika, an information systems major from Charlotte, grew up learning the value of service to the community from his father, who owns a convenience store. Over the past few years, his dad has kept insisting his son ought to think about starting his own nonprofit, given his passion. Finally, Lubika said, his father convinced him. So he started back in October coordinating visits to nursing homes. In January, he switched to the idea of random acts of kindness. Hes excited, even a little frightened, at how far hes come since then: getting a tax ID and 501c3 status, bringing on other students to a board of directors, building real relationships among people experiencing homelessness and nonprofits that serve them, along with other nonprofit, business and government leaders. Hes grateful for the help of mentors like Parker White, founder and director of BackPack Beginnings, a local nonprofit distributing food to children. Lubika, who expects to graduate next year, plans on sticking around Greensboro, hopefully continuing to grow Smell the Roses. Through his efforts, hes found a sense of belonging to a community some people hunt for all their lives. I feel like this is much more my home than Charlotte has ever been, he said. Just the bond that I have with the people. Its just weird; its just crazy, how I feel like this is my home. Its changed me a lot. Its a change that you can only really feel inside. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Apr. 15 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Turkmenistans President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov will pay a visit to Kazakhstan on Apr. 18-19, the Turkmen government has said. The visit was mulled in a meeting of the Turkmen Cabinet of Ministers, where Berdimuhamedov noted that the upcoming summit with his Kazakh counterpart will give an effective momentum to the development of bilateral cooperation. Diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan date back to 1992. Ashgabat and Astana have been discussing the prospects of trade and economic partnership, cooperation in the gas sector, agriculture, the development of trans-boundary mineral deposits, transportation, environment and fishery. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH With much fanfare, the League of Women Voters of Greenwich in 2016 unveiled a series of recommendations designed to create a more effective, inclusive and efficient Representative Town Meeting, Greenwichs somewhat unwieldy 230-seat body of citizen legislators. The proposals included term limits on leadership positions, greater transparency for communications among members, reasonable but firm time limits for speakers at long-winded RTM meetings and freeing the body from having to consider smaller gifts and grants to the town. The plan followed a year-long study by the league that included a survey of RTM members and interviews with town officials. But more than a year after the recommendations were released, no changes have been made. We dont put a lot of work into something and then just let it sit, league member Jara Burnett said this week. So the league is adopting a new strategy to prompt change, an anonymous online survey of all RTM members, in cooperation with the RTMs Legislative and Rules Committee, to see which of the leagues 14 recommendations have the greatest support. This is a way to actually effect change, league member Cyndy Anderson said. We can educate voters and engage citizens but we also want to improve our community too and this is a mechanism to do that. The survey is expected to go out next month. Legislative and Rules Committee Chairman Doug Wells said the survey will provide the best reflection of the views of the current membership. I think the league has done a good job in addressing their concerns about how the RTM can perhaps operate better, Wells said. RTM Moderator Tom Byrne did not publicly embrace the leagues report last year. In an interview this week, he said he is open to reforms, but indicated they should come from within the RTM. The pattern within the RTM over the past 30 years is that the RTM undertakes an interview review of its organization every 10 years or so, Byrne said. We last did so in 2007-08. I announced earlier this year that I intend to appoint a special committee to begin such a review this year. I am waiting until after we adopt a budget as that is our primary focus now. Byrne said he plans to appoint longtime RTM member Alan Small to chair the group. He added he suspects the study group would refer to the leagues report as a resource but that he would ask the group to come up with its own recommendations and analysis for the RTM to consider. I do not want to influence the direction the group will take and therefore have no comment on any recommendations made by the league, Byrne said. Burnett said there are several league recommendations that should be implemented without much debate. They include having RTM members use town email addresses, and publicly listing them. Few people in Greenwich know how to get in touch with their representatives, she said. Presently not all RTM members make their email addresses known at the bodys website at www.rtm.greenwich.org. However, the league has acknowledged some items including term limits and redrawing RTM districts to equalize representation remain tough sells. Burnett added, If you look at the 14 recommendations, you will see plenty that will benefit the smooth running of the RTM, Burnett said. One topic the league report does not address is creating a mechanism to remove wayward RTM members, an issue that has risen this year with two high-profile arrests on the body. District 1s Christopher Sandys was charged with one count of possession of child pornography in January. He has since resigned from the RTM. Also in January, District 8 leader Christopher von Keyserling, one of the most visible RTM members, was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault after allegedly touching a town employee inappropriately. Von Keyserling has not resigned from the RTM but has temporarily stepped away from his leadership position. The two arrests revealed there is no way to remove an RTM member from office. Anderson and Barnett this week said they were reluctant to get the league involved in that issue without a thorough study and discussion by membership. We did not deal with it because RTM is not alone in not having this, Burnett said. None of the other boards have any mechanism to remove a member who is not performing. There is no such thing on the BET or the Board of Education. Ultimately, they said the leagues goal has been to get people more engaged with the RTM. So few residents of this town know what the RTM is all about, Burnett said. Its essentially an unknown. Its the most democratic board in town and yet it is probably the one people know the least about. By way of educating people about whats out there, we want them to make an impact. A copy of the full league report, including the recommendations, is online at http://bit.ly/2og9bfO. Anderson urged people to read it and make up their own minds. If it inspires them to want to see change, she said, people can then get in touch with their RTM district members and push them to act. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Backcountry An April 20 community meeting has been set to discuss the planned 2019 renovation of the heavily traveled Lake Avenue bridge over the Merritt Parkway. The meeting, which is being put together by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, will take place at 7 p.m. in the Cone Room on the second floor of Town Hall. The project, which does not have an official start date, will take about 2 weeks to complete. Estimated cost is $4 million paid for with a mix of federal and state funds. The public information meeting is being held to afford a full opportunity for public participation and to allow open discussion of any views and comments the community may have concerning this proposed project, the state said in a press release. The 100-foot long bridge was built in 1940. According to the state, approximately 3,000 vehicles per day drive over it. The plan, calls for replacing the bridges reinforced concrete deck and steel frame superstructure. The historic railing and decorative metal panels will be disassembled and restored off-site and then returned to be a part of the new structure. Additionally, the existing metal guiderail will be replaced with a new rail system. The masonry wingwalls will be repaired, bearings replaced and work will be done on the concrete bearing pedestals. The state has pledged the structural steel and decorative panels on the bridge will be painted to replicate the original, historic colors. The state has said detours would use about eight miles of town roads with minimal impact on the Merritts traffic. The towns Board of Selectmen will have to approve any traffic detours. The states DOT said temporary traffic barriers will be installed near the bridge supports and there will be temporary travel lane shifts. The DOT has made a commitment to communicate all local construction projects with the communities that will be impacted, said state Rep. Livvy Floren. We are grateful for this outreach and encourage residents to attend the informational meeting and to see the plans and timeframe and to have any and all questions answered. Downtown The annual Greenwich International Film Festival is scheduled for June 1 through 4 with Oscar winning actress Renee Zellweger and supermodel Christy Turlington Burns in line for Changemaker awards. Jenna Bush Hager will serve as master of ceremonies for the gala. Flo Rida will perform at the event that is also scheduled to feature Sophia Bush, star of NBCs Chicago P.D. The films that will be part of the festival will be announced May 4 at a special 6 p.m. party at the Tesla Gallery, 340 Greenwich Ave. It is so hard to keep our line-up of films under wraps because it is so great this year, festival co-founder and Director of Programming Colleen deVeer said. We have a very cohesive program that shares the diverse stories of our domestic and international filmmakers. We are proud to have films from three first-time female feature film directors as well as a stellar lineup of narrative and documentary shorts and features with 13 countries represented. Im proud of this program and I think our audience is really going to love it. Open submissions and films from Sundance and South by Southwest festivals were considered for inclusion. It wasnt too difficult to select films for our audience that will entertain our festival goers, deVeer said. Over the last three years, weve gotten a good grasp of the taste of our audience. We also have an excellent team of pre-screeners who help us rate and review the films that come in, and although we watch hundreds of them, its what we all love to do. DeVeer said the lineup will be a really wonderful balance of different genres and voices and that the films would be fresh, creative, exciting and smart, just like the festivals audience. The excitement for the third annual festival is undeniable, festival COO and Executive Director Ginger Stickel said. Our team has worked to raise the bar, and feel we have an incredible line up of films, panels and events planned. Tickets for the festival are on sale at www.greenwichfilm.org/boxoffice. Byram The town will be removing the bleachers from the William Street field to discourage use while the field is closed for reconditioning and possible use as a staging area for construction of a new New Lebanon School. The William Street field, which had contaminated soil removed, remains out of commission because it is an uneven surface considered unsafe for children. Repairs to even the field out were put off because the field improvements were expected to be part of the school construction project. A new New Lebanon School has been approved by the town, although state reimbursement remains unclear. If state funding is approved, building is expected to get under way in June. The intention is to replace them with new bleachers, Audit Committee Chairman Art Norton. The committee will coordinate with the Board of Education and towns Department of Parks and Recreation on the actual removal of the bleachers. Downtown The Greenwich Tree Conservancys annual Tree Party and 10th anniversary fest will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Arbor Day, April 28, at McArdles Greenhouse on Arch Street. During its first decade, the Conservancy has seen more than 2,500 trees planted on town public and private lands through a partnership with Greenwichs Tree Department. The Conservancys mission is to stop the disappearance of trees in town and provide information on trees through lectures, workshops and tree walks through Greenwichs lands. Happiness Is will cater the event. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online at www.greenwichtreeconservancy.org . The party serves as the conservancys annual fundraiser. Conservancy Executive Director JoAnn Messina said the goal of 2017 is to raise money to support the newly begun arboretum established in Bruce Park and to move onto other parks in town. Weve been able to accomplish so much in 10 years all because of our annual fundraiser and were very excited to continue our good work, Messina said. The narrative is a familiar one: Large corporations leverage their size and threaten to outsource jobs to get out of paying taxes. Case in point: Carrier Corporation, a furnace manufacturer with a plant in Indianapolis, is receiving $5 million in tax credits over the next decade for agreeing to keep more than 1,000 jobs at its domestic plant instead of moving production to Mexico, The Indianapolis Star reports. At its surface, this deal appears solid. After all, 89 percent of top economists believe outsourcing harms the economy, according to a report by Statistic Brain. But its not a sustainable solution. Rather, its a message to large corporations that the U.S. is willing to offer substantial tax breaks to prevent them from moving operations abroad, putting negotiating power in the hands of big business. The real victim of this corporate hostage crisis is the middle class. The Pew Research Center points out that from 1999 to 2014, median household income in the U.S. fell by 8 percent. In addition, a 2016 Gallup study conducted with the U.S. Council on Competitiveness determined that since 2007, U.S. GDP per capita has grown by just 1 percent. The Great Recession may be over, but America is virtually running on empty. If large corporations cant be counted on to inject life into the middle class, what (or who) will? Entrepreneurs, the time has come to save the day. Counteracting erosion with entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs play a vital role in the American economy -- in fact, the U.S. Small Business Administration says businesses with fewer than 100 employees currently employ more than one-third of the working age population. To ward off economic stagnation, its up to a nation of innovative thinkers and small business owners to take steps that provide paths of upward mobility. Related: 7 Things Startups Should Know About Outsourcing Development The most obvious way an entrepreneur can aid the economy is through expanding his or her workforce. Although hiring employees can seem like an unnecessary expense for entrepreneurs who think they can go it alone, the truth is that having others on board allows for collaboration that can more than double your creative output. In addition, competition between entrepreneurs breeds innovation, which contributes to economic development. Its a positive feedback loop that benefits all: Innovative entrepreneurs spur positive change as they create products or services designed to erase systemic inefficiencies in healthcare, agriculture and other inefficiencies that weigh down the economy. In the areas of autonomy and artificial intelligence, entrepreneurs play a vital role in helping the U.S. economy remain at the forefront of advancing new technology -- both will not only be at the forefront of big changes to the global economy, but theyll also help upgrade and enhance the lifestyle of consumers and the operational efficiencies of businesses. When the economy wins, entrepreneurs win. Beyond opening up opportunities for job growth, there are several strategies entrepreneurs can implement in their own businesses to combat the effects of outsourcing: 1. Work to create innovation zones. Entrepreneurs across the country should strive to replicate what Silicon Valley offers: a concentrated network of resources, innovation and top performers that work to create new products and services. Individuals can help create innovation zones by accelerating business models and networking with peers in their areas through attending cross-industry meetups or joining shared workspaces. Of course, beyond helping create a strong local or regional network of innovation and entrepreneurship, these activities also benefit business leaders: Connections lead to opportunities, which lead to more sales or brand exposure. And when you work together with other business owners to create a strong network, it has an accumulative effect, attracting more and more businesses to your area (which means more jobs and an even greater push for innovation). Boulder, Colorado, for instance, has seen the effects of fostering an innovation zone. The city -- home to investor Brad Feld and startups like Spyder, SurveyGizmo and Simple Energy -- has the highest density of tech startups in the country, according to a recent New Engine/Kauffman Foundation research report. Related: In-House or Outsourced? How Do You Decide? 2. Become an involved citizen. If small businesses and startups are collectively the backbone of the American economy, its your duty as a business owner to advocate for measures that foster entrepreneurship and make it easier for American businesses to find success. One example of legislation that benefits small business owners is the PATH Act of 2015. This act made research and development eligible for tax credits, benefiting all businesses that commercially sell software, as well as those with engineers, scientists or product developers on staff. While no state government has been able to artificially recreate a true Silicon Valley environment, they are starting to realize that providing incentives and possibly even funding for new business ventures can help keep them competitive in the national economy. As a business owner, get out and vote in your own favor! Follow the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee for regular updates on relevant measures; to learn when voting will occur; and for guidance concerning which Congress members to engage with. Another great resource to consult is the Financial Policy Council, an organization in which I serve as a board co-chair. The FPC seeks to educate entrepreneurs on how to ensure policymakers hear their opinions. 3. Give your workforce the tools to succeed in the future. No matter the industry, its important to stay on top of skills that might be needed in the future. Designing a plan to continue employee education is vital, whether it means setting aside funds for classes or certifications; connecting with other business leaders to organize regular workshops; or discussing future industry changes with customers and industry leaders. These actions are mutually beneficial for your employees and your business -- your employees will be poised to succeed in the evolving economy, and your company will be able to better identify and respond to new needs in the marketplace. On a broader scale, by ensuring your employees remain on the cutting edge when it comes to their skill sets, you'll be doing a small part to ensure the American workforce remains a valuable entity in the years to come. Related: Focus on Education and Training to Retain Your Workforce Of course, the skills needed in the future vary by industry. But technological advances in artificial intelligence mean its a pretty safe bet that future employers will need skills like quality assurance and monitoring, as well as cognitive decision-making. After all, of the 5.5 million job openings in the U.S., half a million are in tech, according to a CNBC source. Large corporations may employ huge numbers, but the reality is that small businesses collectively have a lot of power. By banding together and working to create strong networks of innovation and competition, entrepreneurs can positively impact the American economy, making large strides toward combating outsourcing and other harmful strategies pursued by big business. Entrepreneurs, are you up for the challenge? Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Apr. 15 By Demir Azizov Trend: Uzbekistan had warned its Western partners about illegal activities of the terrorist detained in Stockholm, said Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov at a meeting with reporters. Uzbekistan earlier gave information about Rakhmat Akilov, who committed the terrorist attack in Stockholm, to one of the Western partners to be passed on to Sweden, said Kamilov. He noted that law enforcement agencies of Uzbekistan were aware of Akilovs illegal activity. After departing for Stockholm in 2014, Akilov was recruited by the Islamic State (aka IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group. While abroad, he used social networks to call his compatriots in Uzbekistan to illegal anti-state activities, spoke out against law enforcement bodies of the country, and also called on Uzbeks to leave for Syria to participate in military operations on the IS side. Akilov was detained on Apr. 7 in a northern Stockholm suburb hours after police say he hijacked a truck and plowed through a pedestrian shopping street in central Stockholm, killing four and injuring 15. Microsoft has recently launched the Creators Update for Windows 10 for computers, and now the company is working on finishing that release for smartphones. So today it's published the official list of handsets that will be getting the Windows 10 Creators Update. And the list only contains 13 models. Here they are: HP Elite x3 Microsoft Lumia 550 Microsoft Lumia 640 Microsoft Lumia 640 XL Microsoft Lumia 650 Microsoft Lumia 950 Microsoft Lumia 950 XL alcatel Idol 4s alcatel Fierce XL SoftBank 503LV VAIO Phone Biz MouseComputer MADOSMA Q601 NuAns Neo That's it. If you have another Windows phone, it's time to get to grips with the fact that it will never be updated to the latest release of Windows 10. To preemptively counteract the inevitable criticism regarding this decision, here's what Microsoft's Dona Sarkar, Windows Insider chief, had to say: We recognize that many Insiders will be disappointed to see their device is no longer supported. We looked at feedback from our Windows Insiders and realized that we were not providing the best possible experience for our customers on many older devices. That helped us determine which devices we support for the Windows 10 Creators Update. We are continually listening to your feedback to provide the best experience for ALL of our customers. The Windows 10 Creators Update for smartphones will become available for the aforementioned supported devices on April 25. 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Over 69 percent of the equipments used in the development phase of the gas field are Iranian-made, he added. So far seven million barrels of gas condensates has been produced in the Phase 19, of that about 6.7 million barrels have been exported to target markets. Iran started gas condensate export from the phase in June 2016. Phase 19 of South Pars gas field has injected 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas into the national gas grid so far. Phase 19 development of South Pars is set to produce 56 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas, 80,000 b/d of gas condensate, 400 tons a day of sulfur, 1.05 million tons a year of liquefied petroleum gas and one million tons a year of ethane. According to statistics, each standard phase of the gas field will produce around 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year, valued at $2 billion. South Pars, located in southern region, is divided into 24 development phases, and contains 40 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are in Qatar's territorial waters. Published on 2017/04/15 | Source Japanese actress Mina Fujii is proud to be starring in "Death Note: Light up the New World", the latest installment of the manga-based movie franchise that was recently released in Korea. Advertisement "Just appearing in the film was an honor and important to me because I've liked the series since I debuted", she told the Chosun Ilbo. Fuji has appeared in several Korean dramas and films. "When I saw "Winter Sonata" I dreamed of working in Korea someday", she said. The megahit soap starring Bae Yong-joon started what became known as the Korean Wave. "I made my debut in Japan when I was 17. Studying and working at the same time was hard, but I managed because it was the life I chose", she said. She became known here for her role in the Korean TV series "King of the Drama" in 2012. "I was lucky. Many people recognized me, and I appeared in several variety shows after that. I don't speak Korean very well, but I guess I appealed to viewers because I was a foreigner here", she said. Fuji is also fluent in English and recently finished filming a Japanese-Taiwanese co-production, which is scheduled to be released this year. Discussing her goals this year, she said, "I want to work on more projects, so everybody recognizes me as an actress rather than a TV personality". Copyright Chosunilbo & Chosun.com Published on 2017/04/14 | Source Added new stills for the upcoming Korean movie "My Little Baby, Jaya" (2017) Advertisement Directed by Yoon Hak-ryul With Kim Jung-kyoon, Oh Ye-seol, Hwang Do-won, Kim Jong-won, Lee Cheol-hee, Kim Saet-byeol,... Synopsis My daughter Jaya! Sorry I couldn't protect you! Won-seul (Kim Jung-kyoon) who suffers from cerebral palsy has a daughter named Ja-ya (Oh Ye-seol). She was the victim of school violence, bullying as well as rape, and she chose death. Won-seul struggles to reveal the truth about her death but he feels helpless at the truth of our society today. Won-seul decides to take revenge on society... Release date in Korea : 2017/04/20 More Published on 2017/04/15 | Source Added episode 10 captures for the Korean drama "Radiant Office" (2017) Advertisement Directed by Jeong Ji-in, Park Sang-hoon-III Written by Jeong Hee-hyeon Network : MBC With Go Ah-sung, Ha Seok-jin, Lee Dong-hwi, Kim Dong-wook, Lee Ho-won, Kim Byung-choon,... 16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00 Synopsis An abrasive marketing director and a female temporary contract worker at the same furniture company. She faces repeat rejection in her job search until despair drives her to attempt suicide. At the hospital, she learns she has a terminal condition, but then, finally succeeds in getting hired. With nothing to lose, she tackles her job and her life with a perspective. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/03/15 More Weekly Recap From Hawaii Family Forum, April 14, 2017 Today, may you find Good Friday, rest! There is one place we can go to find rest for our souls... at the foot of the Cross. Happy Good Friday from the board and staff of Hawaii Family Forum! Upcoming Legislative Dates: 04/17/17 SECOND LATERAL FOR SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS - All Senate concurrent resolutions with multiple referrals must move to their final House committee by this date. 04/21/17 DEADLINE FOR FINAL FORM OF BILLS PROPOSING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS - A proposed amendment's final form must be provided by written notice to the Governor at least 10 days prior to passing final reading by a 2/3 vote in each chamber. Once adopted by the Legislature, the proposed amendment is submitted to the voters, in the form of a 'yes or no' question on the ballot, for ultimate decision. 04/24/17 SECOND CROSSOVER FOR CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS - Deadline for passing amended concurrent resolutions in the non-originating chamber in order to "cross back" to the originating chamber. APR 27 FINAL DECKING OF NON-FISCAL BILLS - Deadline for submitting non-fiscal bills for final reading by both chambers. 04/28/17 FINAL DECKING OF FISCAL BILLS - Deadline for submitting fiscal bills for final reading by both chambers. Fiscal bills include appropriation or spending bills, tax credits, etc. that emerge from the fiscal committee (House Finance, Senate Ways and Means) of their respective originating chamber. 05/04/17 ADJOURNMENT SINE DIE - In Latin, "sine die" means "without a day specified for future meeting." Adjournment sine die occurs on the 60th legislative day of a regular session, and indicates a suspension of the business of the legislature indefinitely. From this point, the Legislature will certify bills whose form both chambers have agreed to, and will transmit or "enroll" those bills to the Governor. Contact PAR for information regarding the Governor's deadlines. (Public Access Room (PAR): phone 808/587-0478 ; email ) House Passes "Bully Bill" On Tuesday, April 11, 2017, the House passed SB 501 HD2. We appreciate the support of the 10 Representatives who voted NO: Representative(s) Cachola, DeCoite, Har, Kong, McDermott, Oshiro, Say, Tokioka, Tupola, and Ward. One member, Representative Lauren Matsumoto voted YES with reservations, while the rest of the 40 members voted YES. You can click this link for a full list of House members with their vote and their phone numbers if you would like to make a call. The Senate has already sent a notice that they disagree with the House changes and a conference committee will be set. Keep in mind that only members that have voted yes on the bill can be put on the conference committee. Public input will no longer be accepted at hearings (testimony) but the meetings are open to the public. Once conference committee members are assigned and meetings are scheduled we will let you know. Suicide Prevention Bill Killed! HB 696 (introduced by Representative(s) MIZUNO, AQUINO, BELATTI, BROWER, CACHOLA, CULLEN, EVANS, C. LEE, LOPRESTI, MORIKAWA, NAKASHIMA, NISHIMOTO, OHNO, OSHIRO, SAIKI, SAN BUENAVENTURA, SAY, TAKAYAMA, THIELEN, TODD, WOODSON, DeCoite) was a great bill that designated the month of September of each year as Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. We strongly supported the bill and were very pleased when it passed the House almost unanimously (Representatives Ichiyama and McDermott were excused). Therein ends the good news. In a shocking move, The Senate Committee on Consumer Protection and Health GUTTED AND REPLACED (this procedure is common but it doesn't make it right) the contents of the bill changing it into a bill that "changes the name of the board of dental examiners to the board of dentistry and dental hygiene." The decision to gut and replace was made by the Senate CPH committee . 2nd Crossover & Disagreement Thursday, April 13, 2017 was the SECOND CROSSOVER (BILLS). This is the deadline for bills to pass third reading in their non-originating chamber in order to "cross back" to the originating chamber. It was also the LAST DAY FOR THE ORIGINATING BODY TO DISAGREE WITH BILL AMENDMENTS which means that the originating chamber has to disagree with changes made to its bills by the other chamber. When the Senate and House disagree on a bill, members from each chamber can meet in a "conference" committee to reconcile their differences. What happens in Conference Committee? Excerpted From the Public Access Room Newsletter What's next for a bill that has survived its committee referrals and the required three votes in each chamber? The exact wording of the bill needs to be agreed on by the House and Senate. So, there's often some work left to do... However, in most cases, a bill does get changed while it is in the non-originating chamber (that is, a House bill gets a Senate Draft or a Senate bill gets a House Draft). It is then sent back to its originating chamber. If the originating chamber decides to agree with the changes made, the bill is brought forward for a final reading vote in the originating chamber and then sent to the Governor for approval. But, more often than not, the originating chamber will decide to disagree with the changes the non-originating chamber has made. Then,the bill moves into the conference committee process. Click to read the full article. What's Coming Up? Aloha United Way Campaign The Aloha United Way Campaign has begun, which supports many good organizations in our community. You can make a contribution specifically to Hawaii Family Forum by using our designation number #75140 on the Donor Designation Form (or the online version). If you already give donations through AUW, this is a great way to help support the ongoing work of Hawaii Family Forum in the community! May is National Foster Care Month Free Speech Crackdown on Hawaii Pregnancy Centers Passes House by Jay Hobbs, www.PregnancyHelpNews.com, April 14, 2017 All five pro-life pregnancy help organizations on the Hawaiian islands are the stroke of a pen away from being forced by law to advertise abortions, following a vote by Hawaii's house of representatives Tuesday in Honolulu. With only 10 of Hawaii's 51 state representatives voting against SB 510, the measure will now go back to the state senate for a review of amendments before landing on the desk of Democratic Gov. David Ige. Backed by Planned Parenthood Northwest and Hawaii, the edict mirrors a 2015 California law that is likely on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court because, as pro-lifers argue, it forces them to choose between denying conscience by posting pro-abortion signage and defying the government by refusing to comply with the law. If the law were to take effect, all community-funded pregnancy centers offering free services such as ultrasounds would be forced at the threat of a $500 first-time fine and a $1,000 subsequent fine to post and distribute to clients the following statement: Hawaii has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services, including, but not limited to, all FDA-approved methods of contraception and pregnancy-related services for eligible women. To apply online for medical insurance coverage, that will cover the full range of family planning and prenatal care services, go to mybenefits.hawaii.gov. Only ultrasounds performed by qualified healthcare professionals and read by licensed clinicians should be considered medically accurate. While supporters of the bill, including state Rep. Chris Lee, argued that its intent is to provide "basic transparency," opponents to the law argued that it was not likely to pass constitutional muster on First Amendment grounds, and pointed out that the state should use its own resources to advertise its own taxpayer-funded programs. One lawmaker, Reb. Bob McDermott, was far more direct in his criticism of the law. "Ultimately, what was the whole point of this whole thing? Where did it come from? Why is it even before us? It's before us because there's Christian centers that offer alternatives to abortion," McDermott said. "They don't believe in abortion. So, a woman comes in there and they're encouraging, they offer alternatives but they don't do abortions. And that's what this is about. "These pregnancy centers offer the ultrasound ... the young lady will not have the abortion she won't and Planned Parenthood loses money." Trampling on Free Speech Arguing that the law is a threat to free speech, Hawaiian pro-lifers have seen their rights evaporate even while the bill has made its march through the state legislature. Their testimony opposing the bill has been held back from relevant committees, an issue the state's attorney general has said is a violation of First Amendment rights. At issue in the censorship was testimony from a former client at one center, A Place for Women in Waipio an outreach of Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor who now works with Planned Parenthood. The woman had testified to the senate's Ways and Means Committee that her experience at the center had left her feeling like "the only thing they cared about was the baby." While that testimony even if true has nothing to do with the law, A Place For Women in Waipio submitted rebuttal testimony citing a voluntary exit survey the woman had filled out while she was a client, prompting the senate president to squelch the testimony before it was passed onto committee members. That action, the attorney general asserted in a March 29 letter, infringed on the pregnancy help center's First Amendment right to petition the government. "The fact that we did not have a voice and that a decision is very concerning," Joy Wright, executive director at Malama Pregnancy Center, said. "Even if they're for the bill, it's very important that we have a voice. We are abiding by the process put together by the state legislature, and so if it's not followed through on the other side, then we have a problem that needs to be addressed." Legislation by Anecdote Testifying in favor of the bill prior to Tuesday's vote, Lee relayed an anecdotal example of a woman he claimed to know who went to a pregnancy center though he didn't specify which center, or if it was even in Hawaii and wasn't able to access the morning-after pill at the center. Plan B One-Step, commonly called the morning-after pill, has been available for sale over the counter since 2013, and pregnancy centers do not refer for abortions or abortifacient drugs such as the morning-after pill. At a hearing before the state's House Committee on Health on March 16, one supporter of the bill, Michael Golojuch, Jr., chair of the state's LGBT Caucus, testified that pregnancy centers are dangerous for women based on his own third-hand account of the sister of one of his friends. Without providing any substantiating details or even establishing that the pregnancy center had made a mistake of any kind, Golojuch's testimony was markedly similar to the sweeping claims often made by abortion lobby groups and one "undercover reporter" whose vague allegations formed the backbone of California's 2015 law. "We don't make policy based on anecdotal stories," McDermott said. "The biggest thing that these centers do is the ones that have it provide an ultrasound opportunity for the young lady to see the child. Once the young lady sees the child, the abortion option is almost always off the table, because they see this living, breathing human being." Past attempts by local authorities to compel pro-life pregnancy centers to post signage either declaring the services they do not offer or referring patients even indirectly to abortion providers have been struck down in New York City, Austin (TX), Baltimore (MD) and Montgomery County (MD), the latter of which cost taxpayers $330,000 in attorneys fees. Meanwhile, another law in Illinois forcing pro-life medical professionals to refer for abortions is facing similar challenges in court. As one pro-abortion lawmaker, Joy San Buenaventura, said Tuesday, the potential redirecting of federal taxpayer dollars away from Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health centers makes cracking down on pregnancy help centers a must for the abortion industry. "In this federal climate that we have here, where the defunding of Planned Parenthood seems to me highly likely, there's going to be a number of consumers who'll be flocking to these limited pregnancy centers," Buenaventura said. "What we have produced here is ... the best of all possible options." Tehran, Iran, April 15 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: Iran is going to inaugurate some major petrochemical projects February 16 which will add 2 million tons per year to the countrys petrochemical output, Mehdi Yusefi, CEO of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone said. Phases 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 of South Pars gas field will be accordingly inaugurated, Yusefi told Tasnim news agency April 15. This will lead also to the production of thousands of tons of polystyrene and a value of $2 billion to Irans petrochemical products per year, he noted. He also noted that over the past three years, Irans gas production at the shared field was doubled and the value of its exported products increased by 34 percent. South Pars, located in southern region, is divided into 24 development phases, and contains 40 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Irans territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are in Qatars territorial waters and is called the North Dome. The Islamic Republic is producing over 560,000 bcmpd of gas from South Pars, while the production level is projected to surpass 700 mcm/d by late 2018. Qatar in early April announced that it was lifting the moratorium on the North Dome after 12 years, aiming to increase the gas and gas condensate output by 10 percent (400,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent). Iran calls the field South Pars and plans to surpass Qatars output by May 2017, when its production capacity from the joint field reaches 540 million cubic per day (mcm/d). Industry-led coalition launched to prepare next generation of Hawaii workforce The Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) announced its Connect to Careers (C2C) coalition today alongside business and education partners including the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) and the Hawaii Carpenters Apprenticeship and Training Fund. The initiative is designed to collaboratively prepare students for success in high-skill, in-demand career pathways. "Preparing students to be ready for life after high school is an evolving target, and it is important that professionals from various industries and trades are involved to ensure we are providing the right skill sets and aptitudes in our schools," said Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. "We are thrilled to launch C2C and grow Hawaii's future workforce and economy, and thank our partners for supporting and investing in our students." The effort has three pillars: Business-led : Industry identifies needed entry-level skill sets and employability qualities, and collaborates on degrees and certifications that prepare students for these opportunities. Aligned curriculum and opportunities: The K-12 and post-secondary educational systems coordinate relevant and rigorous learning pathways that answer these needs. Tracking effectiveness: Industry identifies needed entry-level skill sets and employability qualities, and collaborates on degrees and certifications that prepare students for these opportunities. "When we have a strong workforce, it creates a healthy economy," stated Linda Chu Takayama, DLIR director. "By educating our middle and high school students about the practical application of their skills after they graduate, our kids not only have a shot at employment but also we put them on a path for their future careers." The announcement took place in Kapolei at the Hawaii Carpenters Apprenticeship and Training Fund site. "For our local construction industry, this is a valuable partnership," said Edmund Aczon, executive director, Hawaii Carpenters Apprenticeship and Training Fund. "Currently we have programs underway at Kahuku, Waianae and McKinley high schools. In addition to aligned curriculum, we have teacher support and coursework at community colleges." The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and the University of Hawaii are leading industry partners. "During our sessions we are able to determine what career pathways are needed most and discuss the changes that are taking place in our industry sectors," stated Sherry Menor-McNamara, president and chief executive officer, Chamber Commerce of Hawaii. "C2C is transformative work that we believe will put students on a path towards success and result in an innovative workforce." For more information about C2C, visit http://bit.ly/Connect2Careers. Ongoing Partner Investment The C2C coalition building and planning was first facilitated through the New Skills for Youth grant that was competitively awarded to HIDOE in 2016 from JPMorgan Chase in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers and Advance CTE. Hawaii was among 24 states and the District of Columbia to receive the New Skills for Youth grant. C2C industry partner Harold K. Castle Foundation recently approved up to $200,000 to be spent towards Career and Technical Education within C2C to improve, enhance and expand career academies. The following six schools were awarded funds for the following initiatives: Waipahu High School: $30,000 to expand quality and rigor to three more high school academies so that all five meet National Standards of Practice and achieve National Certification as model academies. Farrington High School : $29,600 for the Health Academy to meet National Standards of Practice and achieve National Certification as a model academy. Kapaa High School: $29,100 to create the Natural Resource Academy. Kapolei High School : $20,550 to improve overall governance, student voice and staff capacity as a wall-to-wall academy school that offers eight career academies. Waimea High School : $28,513 to expand the Engineering Academy and create the Natural Resource academy. Pearl City High School: $30,000 to help the school transition to wall-to-wall academies in school year 2018-19 as well as to improve the rigor of the existing SALT Academy. In total, $167,763 was awarded directly to selected high schools. The Castle Foundation also budgeted $12,500 for a mid-point gathering in October 2018 and $19,500 for the National Career Academy Coalition to conduct a Baseline Analysis in each participating high school at the end of the grant period as way to gauge progress and impact. "We understand the benefit of investing in areas that connect our students to career opportunities and these schools are committed to developing educational pathways for students," shared Alex Harris, senior program officer for education, Harold K. Castle Foundation. "We congratulate all of the schools and look forward to seeing the progress of the career academies." Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 15 Trend: Irans President Hassan Rouhani participated Saturday in an exhibition displaying the achievements of the Defense Ministry gained during the past two years, IRNA reported Apr. 15. Rouhani unveiled the domestic training jet Kosar, the tactical unmanned aerial vehicle Mohajer-6, the anti-ship cruise missile Nasir and the air-to-air missile Fakour. Also, the president attended a ceremony on preparation of the flight of the Qaher-313 fighter. Kosar is an indigenous training jet, which has been designed, built, tested and standardized inside Iran. Two gardai killed by a teenage joyrider in Donnybrook 15 years ago have been hailed for their pride and dedication to the job. Garda Tony Tighe and Garda Michael Padden, who were stationed at Donnybrook, died in a collision in the early hours of Sunday, April 14, 2002. The pair were just 45 minutes into their early morning shift when a stolen car - travelling at maximum speed - crashed into their patrol car at the White's Cross Junction near Leopardstown in Stillorgan. The two officers were trying to clear cars from the path of the stolen vehicle when it hit their stationary squad car at a speed of up to 190kmh. Speaking on the 15th anniversary of their deaths yesterday, Superintendent Gerry Delmar, of Donnybrook Garda Station, said both men remain in the thoughts of gardai at the station. "The thoughts and prayers of the Donnybrook district are today with the families of our late colleagues Garda Tony Tighe and Garda Mike Padden on the 15th anniversary of their tragic death in the line of their duty," said Supt Delmar. "Both Tony and Mick are fondly remembered by their colleagues and friends, and by the entire community of Donnybrook, where they served with pride and dedication." Gda Tighe, a married man with a family of four, was a stalwart of the force. He had 32 years of service under his belt and, having grown up in nearby Ranelagh, was based in Donnybrook for all of his career. Grief Gda Padden, from Belmullet in Co Mayo, was living in Dublin with three of his classmates from the Garda College in Templemore. Their deaths deeply shocked the nation and led to an outpouring of grief and demands for action against joyriders. Raymond Dowdall (30), who was aged just 16 at the time, was given an eight-year sentence and a 30-year road ban in 2003 for killing the two gardai. Jude Sweeney had his case struck out by the judge A South Dublin man kicked out at gardai and tried to bite them when they arrested him during a city centre disturbance. Jude Sweeney (24) had just been struck by another man and had lost a tooth when gardai arrived on the scene. He accepted that he had reacted badly. Judge Kathryn Hutton struck his case out, leaving him without a criminal record, when he made a charity donation. Sweeney, of Glenomena Grove, Blackrock, Dublin, pleaded guilty to public order offences. He admitted public intoxication and using threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour to cause a breach of the peace. Dublin District Court heard that the incident happened at Camden Street at 3am on March 14. Gardai went to the scene following an earlier call about a disturbance. They found Sweeney in a very agitated and drunken state, Garda Sergeant Niall Murphy told the court. Sweeney began "striking out" at gardai and had to be restrained. While gardai were restraining him, the defendant was kicking out and biting at them. Apologise However, he did not make contact with or bite any of the officers involved, Sgt Murphy said. Sweeney had no previous convictions of any kind, the court heard. He had phoned gardai since the incident to apologise to them, his lawyer said. Before they arrived, Sweeney had received a blow to the mouth from someone and lost a tooth, with two other displaced teeth. "That was what caused his agitation," his lawyer said. He added that Sweeney should not have reacted in the way he did but there was a reason behind what happened. He was apologetic for the offences and had not come to the attention of gardai since. Sweeney's lawyer asked the judge to be as lenient as she could in the circumstances and to deal with the case "by way of a poor box" contribution. The accused handed in 200, to be donated to the Merchant's Quay Project, which tackles homelessness and drugs problems in the inner city. Saying the accused had put forward a good defence, the judge struck the charges out. Tehran, Iran, April 15 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who used to be known as President Hassan Rouhanis number one rival in the 2013 presidential race, registered his name for candidacy yet this year. Qalibaf appeared at the Ministry of Interior in the final working hour of the registration office to submit his name, Trend correspondent reported April 15. Other noteworthy rivals of Rouhani this year are influential Iranian cleric Ebrahim Raisi, supported by the majority of Iranian conservatives, and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lying: Can we ever regain the sanctity of the truth? A blast in southern Aleppo on Saturday hit buses ferrying Syrian people evacuated from two besieged regime-held towns, a Turkish aid worker has confirmed, Anadolu reported. Tens of people were killed while hundreds were injured in the explosion which hit an evacuation convoy in Aleppos Ramuse district, Turkeys Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) field coordinator Mehmet Suayip Altun told Anadolu Agency. "The people were transferred to nearby hospitals by ambulances, pickups and all kinds of vehicles. Of course, the [population] exchange has stopped," Altun said. The exchange agreement, hammered out between the Bashar al-Assad regime and opposition forces on March 30, called for the evacuation of thousands of civilians and fighters from besieged parts of Syria. While casualty figures for Saturdays incident have not appeared, Turkish officials in the southern border province of Hatay said 19 injured people had been taken to hospitals in Turkey. The security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more ambulances were transferred to the Cilvegozu border gate in Hatay's Reyhanli district. One person was killed late Saturday when a campaign bus belonging to the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party was attacked by PKK terrorists, Anadolu reported. The attack in the Muradiye district of the eastern province of Van was carried out with long-barreled weapons against the motorcade of district head Ibrahim Vanli, according to the source who asked not to be named. Vanlis nephew and village guard, Adnan, who was following the motorcade was killed in the attack. A counterterrorism operation has been launched to capture the terrorists. More than 1,200 victims, including security personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign against the state in July 2015. CBRC Chairman Guo Shuqing (Photo : Getty Images) authorities are stepping up efforts to crack down on financial market malpractice such as insider trading, while the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) unveiled new measures aimed at addressing risks in the banking sector, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Advertisement CBRC said that it will intensify risk control measures on ten fields in traditional sectors such as real estate, credit, liquidity and local government debt, as well as in non-traditional areas that include Internet finance and cross-border financial deals. According to the report, the issuance of the CBRC policy guidelines came after China's top anti-graft authority announced on Sunday, April 9, that it is investigating Xiang Junbo, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, for suspected serious violations of the code of conduct of the Communist Party of China. Last year, Yao Zhenhua, chairman of Foresea Life Insurance, was barred from the insurance industry for 10 years by China's insurance regulator due to irregular market operations. Last month, Xian Yan, chairman of P2P Financial Information Service Co., was fined 3.47 billion yuan (about $503 million) for violations that included stock market manipulation and insider trading. "Small fines fail to pose as a deterrent to banks and investors engaged in malpractice, and regulators must take more punitive actions to strengthen their supervision," Zeng Gang, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said. "Preventing financial risk will be on the front burner, and regulators will slap harsh punishments on market violators to curb frequent misbehavior," Liu Fushou, director of the legal department of the CBRC, said. In the first quarter of this year alone, the CBRC imposed administrative penalties for 485 cases of irregularities in the sector with fines totaling 190 million yuan, equaling 70 percent of the total amount of fines issued last year. Analysts said that some investors take advantage of the loophole in the market regulation as the country's bond, stock, insurance, banking and other financial markets are only in their early stages. Guo Shuqing, chairman of the CBRC, said that this requires the government to keep abreast of the new changes and update its supervisory rules. The country's financial regulators also vowed to prioritize innovation in their supervisory powers to include better on-site surveillance and the use of big data to improve their performance. 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/ The Malappuram bypoll is the first electoral test for the LDF government since it came to power in Kerala last year. And the tragic death of an 18-year-old student shows all signs of affecting the poll outcome. On April 8th, the Kerala government put out a newspaper advertisement justifying the use of violence against the mother of the 18-year-old who had allegedly committed suicide. Apart from claiming no evidence of police high handedness, the ad also promised an efficient and impartial handling of the case. The mother Mahija from Kozhikode in north Kerala and her teenaged daughter had been fasting since April 5th demanding justice for their son and sibling Jishnu Pranoy who they allege was murdered. They then called off the fast four days later. Jishnu, a first-year engineering student, was found dead in his college under mysterious circumstances on January 6th. The family that has been protesting since then, travelled 450 km from their village to Thiruvananthapuram on April 5th to the DGPs office demanding justice. Mahija says she had exhausted all other options. I tried everything. My son did not kill himself; he was killed by someone. Eighty two days have passed without the police nabbing the culprits. I have written to the CM. What else do you expect a woman to do? At the time of filing this report all the accused had been arrested and subsequently let off on bail. But that an entire administration had to be pressurised into taking action because of a familys open dissent is significant. The only concrete action that the police took was on the grieving family itself. Mahija, her husband Ashokan and her brother Sreejith, were dragged through the road and bundled into a police van following their peaceful protest in front of the DGPs office. As the videos flashed across news channels in Kerala, all hell broke loose and trending topics on social media changed from #JusticeforJishnu to #JusticeforMahija. So where did it go wrong for CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his top brass in the state police? Or was it a concerted effort to look the other way in an attempt to protect some vested interests? The answer lies in unravelling the string of incidents that started with Jishnus death. The immediate reaction by the college management was what sparked off a revolt from the students in Nehru College of Engineering and Research, a private institution in Thrissur. The early allegations were that Jishnu was caught cheating in an exam he wrote on January 6th and was reprimanded by his teachers in the evening, and that Jishnu then hanged himself in shame. But a few classmates blew the lid off the colleges claim. Akhil Mohandas, who was close to Jishnu, was among the first to speak out. If what the college says is true, why did they not report the matter on the same day. How come nobody from the college helped us when we wanted to rush him to the hospital? Mohandas claims were substantiated on January 10th when the college failed to provide any proof of Jishnus malpractice to the fact-finding team sent by the Kerala Technical University (KTU) to probe the incident. Students across political affiliations in the college went on strike on January 10th and alleged that Jishnu had died because of torture and harassment. They did not believe that he committed suicide. Some even said that he was beaten up and hung. This allegation gained strength when the Principal AS Varadarajan gave a testimony before a team led by the local inspector that he wasnt sure whether Jishnu had copied, but it was the Vice-Principal Shakthivel and the Public Relations Officer SanjithViswanathan who claimed that he had. Both Shakthivel and Vishwanathan are now the co-accused for abetting Jishnus suicide, along with Praveen, the invigilator. Within a few days of Jishnus death, allegations against the college had turned into serious accusations when injury marks were found on his body, a claim later substantiated by the post mortem report on January 19th. It was then that Jishnus family began to suspect that he might have been murdered. From the moment I saw his body, I knew this wasnt a suicide. He had injury marks from his feet to neck. How will there be marks on a person who hanged himself, Jishnus uncle Sreejith told HT. It took the reluctant police 38 daysFebruary 13thto file an FIR against the authorities for abetment of suicide under Section 306. Why did the police wait for more than a month to file an FIR? There were testimonies of Jishnus classmates. Who were the police trying to protecct, asks Sreejith. It was only in mid-February when blood stains were recovered from the colleges board room, used mainly by Vishwanathan, that the police finally gathered their wits. There were no blood stains in the bathroom where Jishnu was found. A full month later, when it was learnt that the stains matched Jishnus blood group, a test that typically takes a few hours, the cops launched a hunt for Vishwanathan. But by then, Vishwanathan had gone underground and applied for anticipatory bail. The family claims that by delaying the arrest the police had deliberately given enough time for the accused to move bail, especially for the colleges all-powerful chairman and accused number one in the case, P Krishnadas, around whom the whole script now revolves. The final nail in the coffin was an audio clip of Jishnu on the phone, and a few WhatsApp messages, which clearly showed that the boys questioning of the management didnt sit well with the authorities. Both were recovered by the police from his phone after forensic analysis. Jishnu had called up SFI leaders to protest against the frequent shifting of exam dates. The college initially decided to conduct the last semester examination a day after Christmas, so students had gone home early. Suddenly, the college decided to change the date to December 13th at short notice, which made it difficult for some students. The students protested, and the protest was led by Jishnu. Jishnu, who comes from a middle-class family, was known to be an above average student and an activist. While doing so, he had run into trouble with the authorities, say classmates. Though political activity is banned in Keralas private colleges, Jishnu, a Student Federation of India (SFI) activist since school, wanted the union to interfere. Students allege that the college had become a den for torture in trivial matters where Jishnu had raised his voice against. Students say that Jishnu had been branded a troublemaker by the management and that calling the SFI could have been the trigger. Most private colleges in Kerala are run with an iron fist. There have been a number of reports over the last few months about strict measures on the campus. Nehru College students say there was a torture room where students who dont fall in line with policies were taken to task. It was the same board room where blood stains believed to be Jishnus were found. Jishnus family has attributed the initial police inaction to the nexus between the management and the top leadership of the ruling party. P Krishnadas, the chairman of the college, is a name synonymous with the private college sector in south India. Now the first accused, he runs a multi-crore business in the education sector. The Nehru Group of Institutions run by Krishnadas has 20 colleges, including engineering, medical, law, pharmacy, nursing and management. Nine of these are in Kerala, the rest in Tamil Nadu. Krishnadas clout with the LDF government has never been in doubt. His name was most prominent when the state government in 2016 was reworking its agreement in terms of student intake and management quota fees. This year, the colleges wanted 40 percent as the minimum qualifying mark since seats were vacant; but the government stood on 55 percent. Krishnadas brokered a deal where colleges could increase the fees while sticking to 55 percent. Krishnadas had leveraged his influence in the Kerala Self Financing Engineering College Managements Association regarding fee hike. Many say that while the Kerala government projected the MoU signing as taking control of the sector, the real deal involved alleged pay-offs to top politicians by Krishnadas. Most of us know that Krishnadas was the one who broke the stalemate between the government and the colleges. He extracted his pound of flesh now and the government turned a silent approver, says CR Neelakandan, a well-known civil rights activist in Kochi. At one point, when the heat was on Krishnadas, 120 self-financing colleges shut shop for a day because there were rumours that an FIR would be filed against him. Neelakandan also alleges that the political leadership in Kerala across parties is hand-in-glove with most private college managements. Some leaders take a cut from the management, and capitation fee. When you do all that, you have no option but to protect them when they are in trouble, adds Neelakandan. Others allege that Krishnadas holds sway across four districts in KeralaKozhikode, Thrissur, Wayanad, Palakkadby throwing in cash. When elections are near, he pays off every political party in these areas. That is the closeness he enjoys. Who will speak up against him? asks veteran journalist Roy Mathew. The other accused in the case (Sanjith Vishwanathan, Sakthivel, and Praveen) are nowhere to be seen and investigators didnt bother to trace them. Sakthivel was arrested only after the fast by Jishnus family. For the government, more allegations started to emergeabout AK Balan, a minister in the present government and his wife PK Jameela, a doctor who previously served as the directorof State Government Health Services (GHS). When the allegations surrounding Jishnus death surfaced, a retired Jameela was the director at the PK Das Institute of Medical Sciences, another college owned by Krishnadas. Though there wasnt enough evidence to suggest that she may have influenced the investigation in any way, Jameelas leave of absence from February 2017 raised eyebrows and prompted questions from prominent activists and the opposition about a conflict of interest. I dont think the Balans would have derailed the investigation. But then the commitment these politicians make to people like Krishnadas and even the top brass of the police is a story unto itself. So if family or friends close to Jishnu believe that there might have been some give and take, you cant rule that out completely, says Jayashanker, an advocate and a well-known political analyst. That Mahija had written three letters of plea to the CM to look into Jishnus case and did not even get a reply speaks volumes about the nexus. The Jishnu case is no longer just the tragedy of one family. Already, the opposition has employed it as a political tool in the Lok Sabha. There is no doubt the government was dancing to the tune of the college management. How do you explain the police giving so much time to the accused, Ramesh Chennithala, leader of the opposition told media in Malappuram. Even the BJP is not far behind. There seems to be police raj in Kerala. They will harass an innocent family and let the culprits free. There is a complete breakdown in law and order, BJP state chief Kummanam Rajasekaharan told HT. That the CPI(M) central leadership had to intervene to end the fast by Mahija has also hit Pinarayi Vijayans image. It now remains to be seen what effect this will have on the Malappuram bypoll result. Its a boost for the Muslim League and if the vote percentage goes up dramatically, Vijayan will have a lot of explaining to do to his party. (Published in arrangement with GRIST Media) Mexico-China Air Link (Photo : Getty Images) On Tuesday, China Southern Airlines launched a Mexico-China air link that connects Guangzhou with Mexico City, the airlines first route to the Latin America. Mexico is looking forward to a boost in its tourism with the new connection. Advertisement At the ceremony held at Mexico Citys international airport, Mexicos deputy minister of tourism Salvador Sanchez said With the inauguration of the flight, we hope to see an increase in the number of Chinese visitors traveling for leisure, but also for business, said Mexico's deputy minister of tourism Salvador Sanchez during the inaugural ceremony at Mexico Citys international airport. Mexico anticipates a 50 percent increase in the number of Chinese tourists through the new air link, according to Sanchez. China Southern Airlines is based in Guangzhou in the southern Guangdong province of China. It is the fourth largest airlines in the world based on the number of passengers carried per year. The flight is the outcome of the good relationship and ties of friendship between China and Mexico, said Carlos Alberto De Icaza, the deputy foreign affairs minister of Mexico. China's ambassador to Mexico Qiu Xiaoqi agreed with De Icaza saying China-Mexico ties have entered a new stage. Currently, China is Mexicos second-largest trade partner. According to Qiu, Mexico is a country that is strategic in the Latin American region. Qiu further said that China seeks to strengthen economic and tourism development between the two countries The new air link, which will be available thrice in a week, was mandated by both governments, the minister added. The route was acclaimed by China Southern Airlines President Wang Changshun as it assists in strengthening the carriers presence in the Latin American market. The airlines also plan to make further investments to provide diverse products to its newfound potential Mexican and Latin American customers, Wang added. Following a short stop at Vancouver, Canada, the 228-passenger Boeing 787 landed in Mexico City at 8:30 a.m. local time on Monday. A customary water cannon salute and a traditional mariachi band welcomed the carrier on the tarmac. Before the launch of the new connection, the sole Mexico-China air link was a flight connecting Mexico City to Shanghai. Aeromexico, Mexicos national airline, operates the said link. A total of 74,300 Chinese tourists visited Mexico last year. According to the tourism ministry of Mexico, the numbers grew by 33.5 percent compared to that of 2015. The new connection is expected to increase the numbers to 102,000. The Latin American country hopes to attract more Chinese tourists with the new Mexico-China air link. A large number of people wearing orange, pink, yellow and red turbans and stoles sitting heading towards an auditorium not to attend a cultural or traditional programme but a convocation ceremony of Laxmibai National University of Physical Education (LNIPE) held at Gwalior on Thursday. In the 8th convocation ceremony of LNIPE, mortarboard (black cap) and gown were replaced by turban and stole. The girl students wore white saree while boys students wore white kurta-pyjama. The red turbans and stoles were for Bachelor of Physical education students, yellow for Master in Physical Education students, orange for diploma students, pink for PhD students and purple for MPhil students. The idea behind introducing the traditional colourful dress code was to follow the Indian culture and tradition. LNIPE vice chancellor Dilip Dureh said, The decision of introducing new dress code was taken to boost the Indian culture and tradition. All the pious colours of our culture have been chosen for the dress code. Mortarboard and gowns reflected British culture but new dress code is purely Indian and students liked it. A PhD student Parul Shukla said, This was my second convocation of LNIPE as I did my post graduation, MPhil and PhD from this university only. But this year, it was totally a different experience as I was wearing pink turban and stole with white saree. I liked this colourful experiment. However, some students disapproves the new dress code as it gave feel of attending a marriage ceremony or cultural event. A MPEd students, who didnt wish to be named said, If they wanted to Indianise the dress for convocation, they should have introduced colourful jackets. The function was looking like a cultural event not an educational event. The Indian dress code has also been introduced at the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Medical (MGM), College, Indore on Tuesday. Students took hippocratic oath in white coat and colouful turbans. Eight SIMI activists managed to escape from the high-security Bhopal Jail late last year because the Special Armed Forces (SAF) personnel deployed to guard them were sleeping on the job, a preliminary report prepared by the prison department has stated. The document, which could become a major embarrassment for the Madhya Pradesh government, also stated that the CCTV cameras meant for keeping a watch on the escapees cell were not functioning. The SIMI activists had fled from prison in the wee hours of October 31, 2016. They were killed by police personnel in the outskirts of the city a few hours later, raising an outcry from rights activists as well as members of the Muslim community. A source said the SIMI activists killed a prison guard and escaped by scaling the boundary wall even as eight SAF personnel slept just 50 metres away. As they had been positioned in two groups with a clear view of the terror suspects cell, the escape could have been prevented with a shout or a single gunshot if they were awake, he added. Director general (jails) Sanjay Choudhary said it was surprising that no action has been taken against the personnel for dereliction of duty, considering that the report was submitted to the SAF some time ago. This was in stark contrast to the punitive action taken against all the jail officers present on the prison premises during the time of the escape. Security personnel from the seventh and 32nd battalions had been stationed at the jail. Jayadevan A the commandant in-charge of the seventh battalion said a departmental inquiry has been initiated on the basis of the preliminary report, and action will be taken once the probe is complete. BP Chandravangshi, the commandant of the 32nd battalion, could not be contacted because he was travelling. The eight SAF personnel named in the report are ASI Doli Singh and head constable Kanchedi Lal, besides constables Makhan Singh, Deenbandhu, Rakesh Sahu, Mukesh Chauhan, Himangshu Tomar and Rajesh Chouhan. Actor Amitabh Bachchan is currently in New Delhi to shoot a cameo for R. Balkis Padman, starring Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor. Akshay, Sonam and Balki have been shooting in the capital for the film on a real life man who made sanitary pads accessible to women of his village, but Big B joined them on Saturday. In a late night blog post on Friday, the veteran actor wrote: I work tomorrow... A shoot for R. Balki for the film he does with Akshay Kumar. A special appearance for a few minutes. A post shared by Akshay Kumar (@genie_luv_akki) on Apr 14, 2017 at 7:52am PDT Amitabh and Balki have worked together in films like Cheeni Kum, Paa, Shamitabh and he also featured in cameos for the directors other projects English Vinglish and Ki & Ka. Talking about the director, Amitabh wrote: Balki does carry his sincerity at every step of his creativity, and must have my presence in some form or another, and so here I am. Bachchan has been busy with projects -- including advertisements -- of late. He sported a heavily bearded look for an ad, and many on social media conjectured it may be his get up for Thugs of Hindostan. But he had later denied it. NO sir .. this is from an Ad., I worked in today .. !! NOT thugs .. hehehe https://t.co/JTeoiTH309 Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 13, 2017 It be for an advertisement that I worked on yesterday with the affable Imtiaz Ali, director of repute, for one of the products that I endorse, he posted, even sharing some photographs of two completely different looks that he has sported. Turning a bit philosophical, Big B said: And so goes the day and our life... Disguising our shapes and sizes... Hiding the real from the unreal... Never allowing the insides to reveal the outside... No matter what the confessions, the honest blurt outs, the compelling circumstances... there shall always be that inner that no one shall ever discover. And long may that last. Follow @htshowbiz for more The censor board of Pakistan has raised objection to the theme of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatts film Begum Jaan and banned it in the theatres there. Although Bhatt is still pursuing the release of the film, he is disappointed that the judgment was passed without watching the film. It was conveyed to my distributor in Pakistan that the film will not be imported because it deals with theme and time of Partition. Yes, it does take place in 1947, but the film is on how the people of that time dealt with the issue. It is not a film on Partition, it has no view on Partition, says Bhatt. Bhatt even spoke to the authorities across the border but couldnt bring the conversation to a concrete solution. I told them that if the law of the land does not allow the film to release, I would just bow down but dont pre - judge the film. It may seem on the surface, that the film is about partition but it is not. The concerned person told me that he would look into the matter, but then there was tone deaf silence. Later, the distributor told me that there was communication to the censor board from the government to not allow the release of the film, rues Bhatt. Bhatt is still hoping that his efforts will reap good results. They dont like to import movie, which spotlights the period that they call is from the time of partition. Whatever their reasons are, nothing has been informed to me in writing but then again, I dont see the film seeing the day of light. I will still try to pursue the matter, he says and adds, I am hoping that once the movie releases in India and the people there see it through different resources, then they will see that the film is not, what they thought it is. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has called actor Tiger Shroff a woman, a bikini babe and mocked him for posing like actor Urmila Matondkar. While Tigers mother Ayesha and sister Krishna had hit back at the filmmaker for his nasty rant , the actor has, so far, been silent on the issue. I havent confronted him. I am too soft-spoken to confront someone, and especially someone so senior in the industry and someone who has worked a couple of times with my father (actor Jackie Shroff). I dont want to shame my parents or disrespect anybody. I am still a newcomer and I want to focus only on my work, says Tiger, who was last seen in A Flying Jatt (2016). Instead of getting offended, the 27-year-old actor looks at the situation differently. The fact that people are noticing me or getting affected by me, means that I have made a mark, so I really have no complaints, he says. Varma had recently tweeted that there should be a martial arts match between Tiger and actor Vidyut Jammwal, who is also a trained martial artist. Among a series of tweets, RGV wrote that he was sure Vidyut would run away if Tiger challenged him to a hand to hand kick to kick fight in real. In response, Vidyut tweeted an audio clip of RGV taking digs at Tiger, after which the filmmaker apologised to the actors. I guess because Vidyut and I are action fans and maybe he (Ram Gopal Varma) saw some relative comparison, he decided to tweet. I have a lot of respect for both of them. I know how much it takes to do an action sequence or make a film, so as a fellow artist, I dont want to pin down if I am better or if he is better. I am still too young to say anything. It would be out of line if I said anything rude, says Tiger, who made his debut with Heropanti (2015). Sending out a strong message to his critics, the actor says, I would like to work in silence and let success do the talking. I believe in my actions speaking louder than words. Anyone can say whatever they want, I like to listen and then prove myself with my actions. That is the person I am. I believe that you should be so good and so different that you cant be ignored, says Tiger. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Himansh Kohli, who made his debut in filmmaker Divya Kumar Khoslas Yaariyan (2014), believes in pushing his limits and trying out new things. Although the actor is a big fan of adventure sports, he suffers from aquaphobia, fear of water. However, Himansh feels its time to face this fear and overcome it in the best way possible. I am still a kid [at heart] when it comes to adventure sports. I am always ready to face my fears and experience something new and thrilling. I have had a fear of water since some time now, and I am determined to overcome it, says Himansh. The actor will be flying to Florida in the last week of April, where he will be trying cave diving, underwater diving in water-filled caves. Himansh has signed up for a personalised development programme in Florida, where he will be learning cave diving. He will be undergoing rigorous training and will also get a certificate once he completes the course. Earlier, Himansh has done river rafting, mountain climbing and many other adventure sports, says a source, close to him. Follow @htshowbiz for more Dr BR Ambedkar invites and deflects biographical curiosity, both together. You have not cared to inquire into my past, he wrote in February 1948 to his fiancee Dr Sharda Kabir. But it will be available to you at any time in the pages of many Marathi magazines. Offering up his past as a matter of public record was a cheeky remark in the circumstances, but it did give precedence to the published report of his life over a more private sense of it. The popular account of his struggles and accomplishments is certainly momentous and varied enough to deliver a characterful portrait. Crowded with incident, it reflects his drive and intellect. We see the goals and adversities that shaped the scholar, teacher, lawyer, writer, politician, founder of colleges, newspapers and parties, flayer at large of Hinduism and the Congress, and prime mover in drafting Indias constitution. This is also a life that belongs no longer to itself but to the headlines, to masses of people and to history. Its dynamics infuse institutions and statuary, household shrines, personal and communal aspiration, music and campus politics with an urgency that has intensified over the decades since Ambedkars death, making him ever more vivid. Ambedkar: The Attendant Details This is entirely as it should be, for his personal and political lives did fuse together to a remarkable degree. It happened by his intent and also, not infrequently, because of societal prejudice. The rebuffs and slights never did cease, even at the height of his public eminence. In 1945, visiting Puri as the Labour Member of the Viceroys Council, he was refused admittance to the Jagannath temple, and, in Calcutta the same year, was boycotted by servants at a home to which he had been invited. The fusion of his public and private lives could also occur in some amazing ways: in another letter of February 1948, he complained to his intended brahmin bride of how the passage of the Hindu Law of Marriage Bill was held up by a packed legislative calendar. The delay grieved him the bridegroom-to-be, who would have loved to be married under its provisions, as much as the Law Minister in charge of steering the new Bill through parliament. Wearing both hats, he proceeded to guide her through the salient points of the Civil Marriage Act the fallback law that would apply to their case. Given this extraordinary level of coincidence, why seek another Ambedkar beyond the public account? When we look at a statue of him, say a plaster cast figure of cherubic aspect in an electric blue suit, it is both unmistakably him and recognizably not. The posture recalls the prophet Moses, clutching the law tablets of Gods command to his side, his free arm raised to wag a hectoring finger at his feckless charges, the Israelites. Does this allusion reinforce Ambedkars persona, or is something of him lost to a visual rhetoric that evokes Bronze Age Semitism? Would the stiff and suited figure relent to admit the historical Ambedkars love of the sherwani, kurta, lungi, and dhoti? Or his sudden paean one morning to elasticated underpants? This book is an attempt at intimacy with Ambedkar in his hours away from history and headlines. It seeks intimacy through the admirers and companions who have shared their memories of him and his impact upon their lives. If history is what survives the death of the subject, this book aims to recover the ephemera that attended Ambedkars life and died with him; such as his pleasure in his library and passion for book-collecting, his vein of gruff humour, the sensation of seeing him in the flesh for the first time, or of stepping out of a summer storm into his house and hearing him at practice on his violin. Here, we get to meet Ambedkar the ambidextrous writer, dog lover, proponent of sex education and contraception, anti-prohibitionist teetotaler, and occasional cook. We recognize the readerly solitude that made up the greatest part of his waking hours, and kept him awake till all hours. We also notice a strain of Maharashtrian pride, edging towards chauvinism, that surfaces in his pronouncements from time to time. Bombay, November 1951: Finding himself without a seat at a public function to welcome Ambedkar, Raobahadur SK Bole is invited to seat himself on the Chief Guest. In 1907, social reformer Bole had called a meeting to honour young Bhimrao upon his matriculation from Elphinstone High School. It was at this meeting that Krishnaji Arjun Keluskar gifted Ambedkar with a copy of his new book, Life of Gautama Buddha. (From the collection of Vijay Surwade) The book draws on ten published works for its material: five of them by companions and intimates of Ambedkars household (Nanak Chand Rattu, Devi Dayal, Shankranand Shastri, Bhagwan Das, and Namdeo Nimgade); two by Vasant Moon, his biographer and compiler of the first sixteen volumes of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches; the autobiographies of Urmila Pawar, Daya Pawar, Shantabai Krishnaji Kamble and Baby Kondiba Kamble; an interview between Ambedkar and the writer Mulk Raj Anand; and the reminiscences of a variety of people who had the chance to interact with him. Additionally, Waiting for a Visa, the only extended text of reminiscences Ambedkar published in his lifetime, is reprinted here. ... The extracts appear as fragments selected for their immediacy. Hence explanatory notes are kept to a minimum and we do not make a study of our raconteurs motives. It is to be assumed that the accounts are not disinterested. An extended reading of our principal sources will reveal a pronounced stylization of Ambedkars personality in keeping with the individual writers sympathies: Rattu and Shankranand Shastri, for instance, detail a frequently lachrymose man but recall little of the wit that we encounter elsewhere. The occasional overlap occurs when the same aspect of his life draws the attention of several figures. But the register of observation varies, just as some among them find it reassuring to intone the alliterative, mantra-like formulation: Bodhisat Bharat Ratna Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, followed by the full complement of his educational and professional credentials which serves them as a talisman of liberative promise. Others find that Babasaheb by itself captures their affection and reverence perfectly. Still others plump for a plain Ambedkar, while expressing a no less genuine warmth or engagement. New Delhi, 2 May 1950: Ambedkar attacking the concept of god and lauding Buddhism in a speech delivered on Buddha Jayanti. (From the collection of Vijay Surwade) In its shifting tones of respectful formality and candour, this collection shares the qualities of a photographic album: diffuse and discrete while appearing precise. Recording miscellany rather than proposing a concerted narrative, it captures its subject in the midst of workaday life. These verbal snapshots are the more necessary as Ambedkar was not photographed with the same zealous attention to minutiae paid to several of his prominent contemporaries. If the text is in part a visual aid, the photographs featured in this volume are not mere appendages to the text but sources or voices in their own right, drawing us into worlds often not anticipated by the writing. Even their assemblage and preservation, through the indefatigable efforts of Vijay Surwade, makes an epic story on its own... Read more: Palace on a dung heap! Waiting for a Visa is itself episodic and vivid in its recall, so the collection has a synergetic form. The different pieces are complementary also in being taken entirely from material composed towards publication, with private papers deliberately kept out of the ambit. The object here is to foreground the readily visible and available that yet remains neglected. By discovering the sea trade route to India, Vasco da Gama inadvertently laid the foundation of what would become the Raj, three centuries later. That this foundation was laid not on land but at sea exposes the lack of imagination of the mighty Mughals, who left the coast vulnerable to skirmishes among traders and pirates. In hindsight, a protected coastline could have delivered an altogether different nation-state to this landscape. But that was not to be. Popular history has painted Vasco da Gama as a noble seaman. In reality he only pursued Portuguese interests in ruling trade over half the world as divided by the Pope the western half for the Spanish and the eastern hemisphere for the Portuguese. Embedded within this directive was the command to establish contact with what were believed to be the Christian Empires of the east. Consequently, crew members proclaimed that Christians and spices brought them to the coast of India. With a long history of conflict with Islam, the newly-opened trade route was a conduit to establish Christian supremacy. With a powerful navy at their disposal, the Portuguese inflicted mass casualties on dissenters. Francis Xavier supervised mass conversions in Goa and converted over 10,000 villagers in south Malabar. Trade and conversion sailed in alliance. Author Roy Moxham transports readers back to the times when the Portuguese were engaged in fierce encounters with the Dutch, the English and the French, all of whom wanted to plunder India. Based on published memoirs and eyewitness accounts, The Theft of India highlights the terrible sufferings inflicted on Indians by Europeans during the tumultuous three centuries of coastal onslaught. Caught in the crossfire between invading traders, local rulers were trapped. Limited resistance by the Marathas and the Zamorins could only delay the inevitable to a point. Colonialism emerged from this opportunistic churning and resultant sharing of power between opposing forces. The Theft of India The question worth asking is whether it could have gone the other way. It could have, had the 10 month siege of Goa in 1570 been successful under the united Muslim rulers. Buoyed by their victory, the Portuguese fortified their factories, enforced a monopoly on the spice trade, and built large garrisons. But all this was set to change with the arrival of the Dutch and the British, who scrambled for the same resources. With deceit, corruption, forgery and brute force being the leitmotif, human nature was at its worst. The ongoing wars between the European nations influenced how they dealt with each other in India. Moxhams research shows how European traders created windows of opportunity through agreements with local traders and rulers, only to betray them at an opportune moment. After all, they had come to India to swindle its resources and not to build relationships. The Theft of India is loaded with anecdotal accounts of political intrigue, ruthless genocide and mindless plunder. It was typical of an era when life was nasty and brutish, and loyalties were traded for survival. The English were late to arrive on the scene but were quick to violate the decree that the East India Company would insist on trade and not attempt colonization or conquest. Robert Clive, who arrived as a company clerk in 1744 rewrote the script a decade later. Not only did he acquire large shares in the company, he capitalized on the political void created after the decline of both the Marathas and the Mughals. In the 13 years after the Battle of Plassey huge sums of money were transported to Britain. Shockingly, the first 13 years of British rule did more damage to the people of India than the depredations of all the other European invaders of the centuries before. The Bengal famine of 1770 was the worst manifestation of this plunder. Read more: Watch: Shashi Tharoor on Britains historical amnesia about colonial empire Moxham paints a dire picture of the organized loot. The pain it inflicted on the local population was immense. Several hundreds were put to sword, and millions starved to death. Life under the Mughals may not have been rosy, but at least Mughal spoils were generally retained in India. The rest, as Moxham concludes, is history. Dr Sudhirendar Sharma is an independent writer, researcher and academic Who invented ice cream? Was it the Americans who did more than any other nation to popularise it? Was it the Italians who act as though it was all their idea? Was it the Chinese as Marco Polo is said to have claimed? Or was it the French who have unearthed some of the worlds oldest ice cream recipes in their archives? Well, one thing is for certain; nobody is going to accuse the British of inventing ice cream. Within the ice cream industry globally, British ice cream is something of an insult. This is because the British have perfected the art of making ice cream without any cream without any milk at all. For decades, this has been the British ice cream industrys dirty little secret. Cream and milk can be expensive, but the flavour in ice cream clings to the molecules of dairy fat so its a price ice-cream makers have to pay. But the Brits devised an economical way of creating the fat that goes into their ice cream. They used vegetable oil; tel from the kitchen! Kulfi is still made in much the same sort of way today as the ancient Arab recipe books suggest (Getty Images) Yup. You read that right. Enormous quantities of British ice cream have no dairy fat at all. Instead, cheap vegetable fats (from palm oil, for instance) are added to the ice-cream mixture before it is frozen. The British public dont seem to mind and this disgusting practice has been exported to every corner of their former empire. (Yes, in India, too. You may have read about the recent case involving Amul and Kwality Walls.) The Arabs took sherbets to the West, where they became sorbets in France and granitas in Sicily (iStock) British laws are fairly lax about what constitutes real ice cream (even relatively expensive products made from real milk have vegetable oil added to them to increase the fat content). In any case, manufacturers now use the phrase frozen dessert, which in taste terms is one way of using 13 letters to describe a product when four would do. (Just call it crap.) So, who did invent ice cream? Well, it rather depends on what you call ice cream. If you use the term loosely, then the answer is clear, if a little surprising: Arabs. The earliest sweets made from ice were the sherbets of the Middle East. The Arabs took them to the West, where they became sorbets in France and granitas in Sicily. Zalabia (above) is an ancestor of our own jalebi (below) and made in roughly the same way, using maida, deep fried till crisp These early ices did not use any milk. They are still made all over the world to the same basic recipes, over a thousand years later. You could argue that they dont really count. After all, ice cream requires milk. But even with frozen milk, the Arabs were ahead of the rest of the world. Ancient Arab recipe books suggest that in the Middle East, they would sweeten milk, thicken and reduce it by boiling, and then pour it into small clay pots. These pots would be buried underground with ice. Later, when they were removed, this frozen milk would be served as a dessert. In 1921, Christian Nelson in Ohio invented the Choco Bar, and despite the idea taking on many shapes, it is still recognisably the product that Nelson created (iStock) This should sound familiar to us in India. We received the same recipes from visitors, traders and, lets be honest, invaders from the Middle East, and eventually made them our own. Kulfi is still made in much the same sort of way today, though technology has made it easier to freeze the reduced milk mixture. But is kulfi ice cream? According to me, it isnt. There are fairly technical definitions of ice cream (and kulfi does not meet any of those standards), but in laymans terms, the distinction is simple enough. Ice cream should be creamy. It should not be hard. But kulfi is always hard. Its consistency is nothing like ice cream. The difference lies in the churning. When you freeze milk, you dont get ice cream. Unless you keep churning the milk during the freezing process, you never get the right texture. And the Arabs never quite understood the importance of churning. But heres an odd little fact: the ice cream cone was invented by an Arab. And heres something odder still: the Arab in question invented it in America. In 1904, a massive Worlds Fair was held in St Louis, Missouri. One of the stalls at this fair was run by a Syrian immigrant called Abe Doumar. In that pre-Trump era, it was okay to have emigrated to America from Syria, so Doumar played up his ethnicity and dressed in Arab clothing. Each night, Doumar sold a Syrian snack called a zalabia, an ancestor of our own jalebi and made in roughly the same way, using maida, deep fried till crisp. Doumar had the bright idea of making a waffle-like zalabia and rolling it into a cone. He then ladled ice cream into the cone and invented what was described as a Syrian ice cream sandwich. Marilyn Powells book Ice Cream: The Delicious History says that Syrian brothers Nick and Albert Kabbaz claim to have invented the zalabia cone Doumars version is contested by others. As Marilyn Powell describes in her book, Ice Cream: The Delicious History, Syrian brothers Nick and Albert Kabbaz also claim to have invented the zalabia cone. In this version, the Kabbaz brothers made zalabias at a stand next to an ice-cream concession at the same Worlds Fair. When the ice-cream guy ran out of cups, the Kabbaz brothers made him a zalabia cone to put the ice cream into. I guess we will never know the truth. But some things are clear. One, the ice cream cone was invented at the St Louis Worlds Fair. Two, it did not taste like todays biscuity cone, but was actually made from jalebi (zalabia) batter. And three, it was generally regarded as an Arab-inspired dish. So even if the Arabs did not invent ice cream, they sure as hell invented the ice cream cone! As for the origins of the modern, churned, high-fat, frozen-milk dessert that we call ice cream, there are two real contenders: the French and the Italians. American companies like Ben & Jerrys have made ice cream hip The trouble with Italian claims is that there is, sadly enough, a long tradition of liars and humbugs starting with Marco Polo. One version is that Marco Polo brought ice cream back to Venice from the court of Kublai Khan in China. (He also brought spaghetti, according to legend). Unfortunately, the Chinese had never heard of ice cream till many centuries later and there is lots of evidence to suggest that Polo never even got to China and made up all his stories. (By the way, during his lifetime, he was regarded as a liar and his travelogue was nicknamed Il Milione, because of the million lies it told.) The Italians do make wonderful ice cream. But their gelato differs from modern ice cream because it is denser and less fatty. Italians like to claim that Catherine de Medici took the gelato recipe to France with her when she married the Duc dOrleans in 1533. It is a good story but ice cream/ gelato was unknown in Italy in 1533, so there was no recipe that Catherine could have taken with her. My money is on the French. The basis of all modern ice cream is what the French call a creme anglaise, which is basically a custard made from milk, eggs and sugar. If you churn and freeze a creme anglaise, you get ice cream. (That is why the old American name for ice cream was frozen custard.) All the evidence and the earliest recipes suggest that while the Arabs (and perhaps others) had frozen milk before, nobody had frozen a churned creme anglaise till the French began to do it. But the reason ice cream is so popular throughout the world has nothing to do with the French. Almost every ice cream innovation you can think of over the last century-and-a-half occurred in America. In 1902, as we have seen, the cone was invented in St Louis. In 1921, a man called Christian Nelson in Ohio invented what we now call the Choco Bar. He created a thin chocolate covering that would cling to ice cream and called it an Eskimo pie. Since then, that idea has taken on many shapes (one version is the Magnum), but it is still recognisably the product that Nelson created. American companies took ice cream to the Far East, they invented the gourmet ice cream (Haagen-Dazs was created in Manhattan in 1961), they perfected new flavours (cookies and cream, for instance) and they made ice cream hip (Ben & Jerrys). If there was no America, there would be no global ice cream market. But spare a thought for the Arabs. Even as the Middle East is convulsed by conflict today, lets reflect on an era when its people taught the world how ice and sugar could live happily ever after. And each time you bite into a cone, remember that it started life as a jalebi! From HT Brunch, April 16, 2017 Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Spiritual sojourn Bayon, Cambodia Standing in front of those colossal faces in Bayon was a completely different experience. It is said that the sculptures in Bayon bear the forms of Bodhisatwa Lokeshwara in the likeness of the king. The temple complex was filled with many international tourists, but I somehow found a spot to sit and sketch the face I wanted. Of people and places Cape Town, South Africa Soon after boarding the flight from Dubai, this woman came and sat next to me. Minutes later, she started snoring. We had a few major turbulences in the flight and were pretty scared. But I saw her sleeping peacefully through it all. I borrowed a pen from the passenger sitting ahead of me. I managed to finish this sketch before my co-passenger woke up, which was after the flight had landed in Cape Town. Face time Bangkok, Thailand I was waiting for my flight at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, and was seated behind two European couples. They were busy within themselves; reading, listening to music, the usual airport things. I started sketching one of the couples from their back and showed it to them. They really liked it and wrote their names on the picture. Just after that, the lady from the other couple stood up, took the seat in front of me and posed nicely. I started sketching her and after finishing the sketch, I lauded her effort for not moving a bit while sitting in a particular posture. She loved the sketch, clicked it on her phone and left. A room with a view Cape Town, South Africa I was in Cape Town for a fashion brands photo shoot and tried seeing the place as much as I could. The view from our hotel was quite nice and the Table Mountain didnt seem too far from there. Though I couldnt capture the Table Mountain on this sketch, I tried catching the view down from my hotel window. I was up early, so I sat beside the window and enjoyed my time sketching what I saw. No Food for thought Siem Reap , Cambodia In Cambodia, its very difficult to get good Indian food. It is either very expensive or extremely bland. But my travel partner liked Indian food and would always stick to it. On this day, we had travelled quite a distance and had gone to Pub Street to have food and chill a bit. We sat in one of the restaurants, and my friend was pretty clueless about the food everyone else was having. The waiter was also taking his time to get the menu. When it finally came, my friend took a look at it and simply refused to eat there. He waited the entire time I ate my food, after which we went looking for an Indian restaurant for him. And yes, the food was horrendous even there. Table talk Cape Town, South Africa While at work, one of the locations didnt turn out to be as good as we thought. So, we shifted our base to Val de Vie Polo Club, a spectacular pre-independence polo field. I reached early and saw these tables from the inside, through the huge glass windows. The light wasnt sufficient, but I somehow managed to finish the sketch before the rest of the crew arrived. Market value Soreng, Sikkim On the way to Barsey from our homestay in Soreng, we saw a small market in Sombaria called Sombarey. Its named so because its open only on Mondays. Heres where we picked up the food and water for our stay in Barsey. I liked this house in the market because of its colour. While my friends were busy shopping, I stood in front of this blue house and started sketching. Enthu cutlet Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu We had ordered chicken cutlets upon returning to the hotel from the days sightseeing in Kodai. The hot cutlets arrived just in time. After a couple of bites, I asked my friend to not eat for a while. I took out my sketchbook and started sketching the food. He had to wait for sometime until I finished the sketch. Kolkata-based Sayan Mukherjee is a freelance artist who has recently left his lucrative job as the art supervisor of a leading advertising agency to go solo. He loves to travel and carries his sketchbook wherever he goes. Hes worked on books such as The Gita for Children (Hachette), Moon Mountain (graphic novel by Penguin Random House), and Earthquake by Ruskin Bond (Penguin Random House). From HT Brunch, April 16, 2017 Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch A CNPC billboard (Photo : Getty Images) China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will establish its Middle East headquarters in Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) to support its expansion plans in the UAE and wider Middle East. Advertisement The deal was signed by Zhu Junfeng, CEO of CNPC Middle East and Mohammed Al Muallem, CEO of Jafza and senior vice president and managing director of DP World. Zhu Junfeng said the headquarters would enable them to provide operational support throughout the Middle East and to grow their portfolio while increasing demand for their services. He added that CNPC, China's largest integrated energy company, is one of the world's leader in energy and has become synonymous with innovation and excellence due to their knowledge of regional markets and the growth of their operations. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the chairman and CEO of DP World and chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, noted that CNPC's headquarters in Dubai reinforces its role as a key player in the Middle East energy sector. The new headquarters will be housed in a land area of 55,000 square meters with 10,000-square-meter allocated for office space. It will also have a warehouse facility for storing, maintaining and repairing oil and gas equipment. The plan follows CNPC's agreement in February to acquire an 8 percent stake in the 40-year onshore oil concession of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for $1.77 billion. CNPC chairman Wang Yilin, said that the deal would open up more opportunities for CNPC to participate in the UAE's energy sector. JAFZA, which allows 100 percent foreign ownership, is UAE's flagship hub for trade and logistics for the Middle East and Africa and hosts over 850 oil, gas and petrochemical firms. It has a strategic proximity to air, sea and land routes and is backed DP World, which has 77 marine and inland terminals in 40 countries. In a significant move, the Captain Amarinder Singh government on Saturday constituted an expert group to assess the quantum of agricultural debt on farmers in Punjab and suggest way and means for its waiver. A government spokesperson said Dr T Haque, former chairman, commission for agricultural costs and prices, has been appointed chairman of the group, which has been asked to submit its report within 60 days. The two other members of the group are Dr Pramod Kumar Joshi, director (South Asia), International Food Policy Research Institute; and Dr BS Dhillon, vice-chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. An official notification issued by additional chief secretary (development) said the expert group would be assisted by the officers of the state government, including additional chief secretary-cum-financial commissioner (development) and principal secretary finance. Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, commissioner and director, agriculture, Punjab, will assist the group as convener. He will convene the meetings of the group, which may associate officers from the banking sector, including chief general manager, NABARD, Chandigarh and convener, State Level Bankers Committee, Punjab, Chandigarh. Besides assessing the total amount of credit, both institutional and non-institutional, availed by different categories of farmers, the group will work out the quantum of bad loans or debt and suggest the methodology for remission of debt. It will also suggest ways and means to raise resources for the debt waiver, according to the notification. They say to err is human to forgive divine but conveniently skip over the critical intervening stage of the need to apologise. No doubt this is because saying sorry isnt easy. Its an admission of a mistake. More importantly, it would suggest contrition. An apology is, therefore, a humbling experience that few are capable of. Two recent events prove my point. One concerns an MP, a member of a category that considers itself very important. The other concerns the government. Ravindra Gaikwad, the Shiv Sena MP who boasted of beating an Air India manager with his slippers, couldnt bring himself to apologise. The best he could manage was to convey his regrets, but to the civil aviation minister and not the victim of his assault. Even this expression of regret was hypocritical if not, actually, illogical. Speaking in Parliament Mr Gaikwad claimed he had only pushed the official and only after he himself had been pushed around. He also claimed the Air India official had taunted him. In other words he had been provoked. This account of what happened doesnt suggest regret but an attempt to whitewash the incident and escape blame. To be honest, Mr Gaikwads regret was a ploy to get his travel-ban lifted. Its a shame it was. In his case he didnt admit to erring, refused to apologise but was, nonetheless, forgiven! I guess this is why the need to apologise isnt necessary to link erring with forgiveness. The incident connected with the government is worse. It concerns the despicable attack on Africans in Greater Noida. Not once but repeatedly and at multiple levels the government refused to accept the attack was racist. Understandably that stand riled the African ambassadors. How different their response would have been if, instead, the government had said: Whilst were investigating the incident we apologise for what happened. That this should have happened to our African guests at the hands of their Indian hosts shames us. This simple apology would have defused the situation immediately. Worse, the spokesman of the external affairs ministry called the attack a criminal act triggered following the untimely death of a young student under suspicious circumstances. First, that suggested a link between the two and an explanation for the attack on the Africans. Far from apologising this was placing-in-context and, perhaps, justifying why it happened. Even more bizarrely, the spokesman failed to mention that the five Nigerian students initially arrested in connection with the Indian students death were released within 24 hours because the police found no evidence to link them to the alleged crime. He also suppressed the fact Abhinandan Singh, additional superintendent of police in Greater Noida, had said (see the New York Times of 29/3/2017) there is no evidence that any Africans were involved in the students death or, even, that he died of a drug overdose. The spokesmans intention was to put the best gloss on what happened rather than express contrition leave aside apologise. He knew India had erred but couldnt admit it. He wanted forgiveness but was too proud to say sorry. My conclusion may be whimsical but seems irresistible: Important people and powerful governments are just too big to say sorry. When they err they expect forgiveness and, sadly, often get it. Its the small folk who say sorry. Thats people like you and me. The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The unparalleled popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw even lacklustre candidates win in these recent assembly elections. It was a common refrain that the vote was for Narendra Modi whose popularity remains largely undiminished. After the astounding mandate specifically in UP, the issue of the 2019 elections seems all but done and dusted. And with this, expectations from the Modi government have skyrocketed. I dont quite buy the theory that it was communal polarisation that played a major role in the BJPs spectacular victory. No doubt, it played some role, but I feel that many people, cutting across religion and caste, voted for the promise of development and, with it, economic progress. The answer from many young people when asked what they wanted was `naukri, not mandir or masjid. But, while I dont doubt the intentions of the government, the fringe Hindutva elements seem to be pulling in another, dangerous direction. Which is why I felt that there was a disconnect between what home minister Rajnath Singh recently said in Parliament about how India cannot discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, religion or colour and what is really happening on the ground. Either he doesnt follow the news, which is alarming given his portfolio, or he thinks that what is happening around us is not discrimination. It is no use railing against the media for highlighting what are becoming very worrying trends of exclusion and violence in the name of culture and tradition, caste and religion. There has been a steady erosion of personal freedoms from teachers being told what to wear in schools in UP, to people being set upon by hooligans for not standing up for the national anthem, to couples being targeted for moral turpitude. The discourse in politics has also become far more incendiary and scary. We get elected representatives today speaking of beheading chief ministers and putting a bounty on their heads. We hear of MLAs who prescribe beheading for those who oppose the Ram mandir. The latest is the food minister talking of restricting portions in hotels and restaurants to stop wastage of food, blithely overlooking the colossal mismanagement and rot in the public distribution system. The focus on cow protection has now reached alarming proportions and each act of violence in its name is being watched with horror by many Indians and the world. Acerbic reports and analyses have appeared in the foreign media about this lawlessness in the name of protecting the cow. It is clear from the plight of millions of cows in India that this concern is motivated not out of reverence for the animal but by the desire to oppress other castes and religions. The sight of lawless hordes wandering about beating up people is bound to scare off investors. This is something the government must take seriously. Those roaming the streets looking for people to vent their anger on (Pehlu Khan was one of those unfortunate enough to fall into their hands) seem to do so under the assumption that this is their government and, therefore, they have the licence to act on its behalf. This cannot be allowed by any government and the BJP must be seen to act against them and distance itself from them. The government has taken measures to wipe out corruption, it has tried to build on what the previous government did to enlarge and strength the social safety net. But all this good work may not get the credit that is due because of the actions of the senas and militias which are today telling us how to behave, what to eat, how to dress and what to watch. The government must pause and consider the extent of goodwill it enjoys as was evident when even the huge hardships people faced due to demonetisation were forgotten. In fact, many people saw this as a blow against corruption. So why is the government prepared to fritter away all this on account of the hooligans who are have become the new age cultural commissars? Why does it hesitate to rein in its MPs and MLAs when they make threats against elected chief ministers and speak of unleashing violence on those who are different. It must take on these elements and force them to retreat into the shadows where they belong. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Dehradun: The Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) has successfully completed the fourth phase of the annual tiger monitoring exercise, a methodology developed by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to estimate numbers of both the big cats and their prey. The CTR, as per All India Tiger Estimation 2014, had nearly 215 tigers. The reserve authorities had failed to take up the annual exercise last year. This year, under the fourth phase of monitoring, 600 camera traps were put in place and were regularly monitored by a team for 45 days. We have completed the Phase-IV monitoring and are now analysing the results. The report will be submitted to the NTCA and the chief wildlife warden, Surendra Mehra, director Corbett told Hindustan Times. Under Phase 1, field data collection at the beat-level was carried out, the second phase analysed the habitat status of tiger forests using satellite data while in the third phase, camera trapping was carried out to identify individual tigers from their unique stripe patterns. Apart from the highest number of tigers, Corbett also has the highest density of the big cats. The national estimation had put the number of tigers in Bandipur at 120 followed by 103 at Kaziranga, and 101 at Nagarhole. The tourist inflow at the Corbett is also increasing at an average rate of 30% per year. The reserve, which opens for public on November 15 and shuts down for monsoon on June 15, received over 2.83 lakh tourists in 2015-16. There has also been an increase in the number of foreign tourists to the reserve. Corbett acts as a source population of tigers and also enriches adjoining forest divisions with sink population Ramnagar, Terai East, Terai West, Terai central, Haldwani and Lansdowne. The management is now gearing up for next tiger estimation, which will start from October this year. Footfall pushes revenue 2013-14 Total tourists: 211675 Indian: 206413 Foreigners: 5262 Revenue: 7.48 crore 2014-15 Total tourists: 245873 Indian: 239681 Foreigners: 6192 Revenue: 8.30 crore 2015-16 Total tourists: 283308 Indian: 276356 Foreigners: 6952 Revenue: 8.90 crore Tusker carcass found, poaching ruled out Dehradun: Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) staff Saturday recovered the carcass of fully grown male elephant in Bijrani range. The carcass was about a week old and infested with maggots. Amit Verma, deputy director Corbett, ruled out poaching. The hind legs of the elephant were half eaten. The body has partially decomposed. The tusks and other parts, however, are intact. Post-mortem is being conducted to ascertain the actual reason of death. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in Delhi work on the ground for the municipal election on April 23, 18 young technology enthusiasts manage the back-end at the partys headquarters on Pandit Pant Marg. In one go, they reach out to about 1.5 lakh booth and block-level workers through social media and WhatsApp groups to keep them informed about the issues in different wards. They are part of the social media team of the state unit of the party that works for over 12 hours every day. Apart from creating digital campaigns and putting live updates of rallies or political events online, the team has the responsibility to identify issues in every ward and inform party candidates about them. The feedback and suggestions received through them are later included in the partys campaign strategy. Our social media volunteers are students, engineers, graphic designers, and people with social media expertise. The team, which sits at the party headquarters, remains in touch with more than 350 workers in all 272 wards, said Delhi BJPs IT cell convener, Sumit Bhasin. The cell has appointed heads in each ward and one coordinator for five assembly constituencies, who run campaigns, initiated by it though 500 WhatApp groups. Bhasin said the party has synchronised its online campaign with offline mode for the first time for the municipal elections. They took the campaign further and try to connect with maximum number of people. They go to parks, markets, playgrounds, and households, where they talk to senior citizens, shopkeepers, housewives, and students. They show them graphics, video-audio clips, or messages received through social media. They also enquire about their problems and issues and send their feedbacks to us, which are incorporated in our candidates canvassing plans, Bhasin said. Members of BJPs IT cell at the partys headquarters on Pandit Pant Marg. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO) The volunteers are equipped with an app, VMS (volunteer management system), which has all the details such as streets and residential units in all 272 municipal wards. Through this system, which uses Google Maps, the party can track areas being covered by the volunteers and candidates. In the last 25 days, 22 hashtags prepared by the team were trending nationally. Earlier, it used to take a lot of time but we have developed such a network that our hashtags start trending within half an hour. They remain on top of the chart for 10-12 hours, said Kunal Kapur, a member of the Delhi BJP social media team. Unlike, BJP, the social media campaign of its rival Delhi Congress is not centralised. It functions from three locations in south and west Delhi round-the-clock. Around 15-20 volunteers work in three shifts. Aniruddh Sharma, who heads the IT cell of Delhi Congress, earlier said that the entire system was centralised at party headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg but it has been decentralised for effective functioning. The preparations had begun around 18 months ago when Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken appointed about 150 volunteers for it, said Sharma. We have a dedicated team of 50-60 graphic designers and video editors and 80 volunteers, who work on research and push content on Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The cell is more active during prime time which starts around 5pm, said Sharma. The party has officially appointed a convener for all seven parliamentary constituencies who look after its campaign at booth level. We dont indulge in abusive and fake posts. It is a clear direction from Maken and head of communication Sharmishtha Mukherjee not to create any derogatory or sham content. All creatives are positive contents, he added. According to him, they manage to reach out to about 10 lakh people in a week using various social media platforms such Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi lodged a police complaint against Delhi chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal at Parliament Street Police Station and also with the State Election Commissioner on Saturday for calling Election Commission Dhritarashtra, the blind king in the epic Mahabharata and BJP, its son Duryodhana. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said the complaint was filed by the partys legal committee in which it had raised objection to the statement made by Kejriwal on April 10. Dhritarashtra helped his son Duryodhana grab power, the Election Commission is similarly helping the BJP by using all means possible (Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener had said. Seeking appropriate action against Kejriwal, we have also raised objection to misleading charges against BJP by him. Kejriwal is telling people of Delhi that if BJP comes to power, it will hike power and water tariff. I had asked our legal cell to examine the issue and file a police complaint, Tiwari said. Meanwhile, Harish Khurana, spokesperson of Delhi BJP, said with the municipal election campaign of the party entering its final leg, Tiwari will start holding public meetings across the city from Monday with star campaigners. Tiwari started roadshows around a week ago. He was holding roadshows in each parliamentary constituency along with the member of Parliament from the area. This will come to an end on Sunday. And from Monday onwards, he along with star campaigners will go to each assembly segments and address six to 10 meetings every day, said he. Another party leader said BJPs president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath may attend public meetings on April 19-20. Though the plan has not been finalised yet but both leaders may come to Delhi. They are likely to participate in four rallies, he said. On Saturday, the party expelled 21 members for six years for indulging in anti-party activities. The prominent names are Sandhaya Verma and Kishan Gehlot, both sitting councillors, who are contesting election as independent candidates. Earlier, partys national vice president Shyam Jaju had said if rebels do not withdraw their nominations, they will be forced out. Two students of Jamia Millia Islamia were found dead in the Upper Ganga Canal in Masuri area of Ghaziabad on Saturday in what police suspect is a case of an affair turned sour. The deceased, Babar, 19, and Saddam, 20, had gone missing on the afternoon of April 10 after leaving their house in Meeruts Jasola village. Police said the prime accused in the case was Haidar, who too had a relationship with the 20-year-old woman. According to police, Babar was initially in a relationship with the 20-year-old woman. The woman, however, later got involved with one Haidar, who too hailed from Jasola village in Meerut. After getting to know about Haidar, Babar approached one Ayyub a teacher at a small madarsa in Chijarsi, Noida. Ayyub promised to give Babar a tabeez which would help his girlfriend come back to him, said Ajab Singh, station house officer, Mundali police station. Somehow, Haidar came to know about the tabeez and got infuriated. He then offered Ayyub Rs 2 lakh and a piece of land if he informed him about the date and time when Babar came to collect the tabeez, Singh said. Police said Babar and Saddam came to collect the tabeez on April 10 and were fed a cold drink laced with sedatives. After the duo became unconscious, Ayyub and Haidar strangulated them to death. They later wrapped the bodies in a bed sheet The bodies were later transported in an auto owned by Haidar that he ran between Lal Kuan and Dasna and dumped in the Upper Ganga Canal in Ghaziabad. On April 11, both Ayyub and Haidar made three to four calls to the families of the two victims and demanded Rs 80 lakh as ransom. However, for making the calls they used the mobile phones of the two victims which led us to Noida. Ayyub was arrested while Haidar is still on the run, Singh added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Commuters at the busy Rajiv Chowk Metro station in central Delhis Connaught Place were left shocked when a pornographic clip played on an LED screen for around 10 minutes. The screen, that was installed on April 9 and is meant to display advertisements, started playing a porn video all of a sudden, eyewitnesses said. The video continued for several minutes and was stopped only after some commuters brought it to the attention of DMRC officials at the station. The incident was recorded by several commuters on their mobile phones and has been shared multiple times on various social media platforms, forcing the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to initiate an inquiry. DMRC said three unidentified men may have played the clip on the big screen as the system is not secure. Anuj Dayal, the DMRC spokesperson, said after preliminary investigations, it has been established that the incident took place around 5pm on April 9. The LED TV system was being commissioned and its Wi-Fi port was accessible. Prima facie, as per CCTV footage, three men played the porn clip through their mobile (phone) on this TV at Rajiv Chowk station. Attempts are being made to identify these men. CCTV footage is under examination to identify the culprits, said Dayal. This sort of interference with the system will not be possible in the future once the software is programmed and centrally controlled. In the interim, during the commissioning process, the contractor will be advised to ensure password protection, Dayal added. A video of the area, recorded by a commuter, showed most people walk past the screen either clueless or unbothered. A few others, however, stopped by to record the unusual activity on their mobile phones. A few of them then alerted the DMRC officials who rushed into action to turn off the broadcast. Delhi Police, meanwhile, said they have not received any complaint from the DMRC in this connection. If the DMRC approaches us after completing their internal probe, we will go ahead with the legal proceedings, said a senior police officer. The objective of the LED screens is to disseminate information to passengers through various multimedia tools, said another DMRC spokesperson. A similar incident had been reported from Wayanad district in Kerala in 2015. Hundreds of passengers waiting at a bus stand in Kalpetta then had seen a porn video playing on a television installed to broadcast advertisements. A witness had later shared the video of the spot on social media. The user reported that the clip had played for 30 minutes . Some passengers then had tried covering the TV set with a cloth while women and children chose to walk away from the spot. The Delhi Police have registered an FIR against the publisher of a text book for indecent depiction of women and misrepresenting the syllabus prescribed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for class 12 physical education course. The book had suggested 36-24-36 figure as the best body shape for females. According to a statement issued by the CBSE an FIR was registered in Preet Vihar, Police Station in east Delhi on Friday under Section 6 (indecent representation of women (Prohibition) Act 1986). There were several complaints reported on through various sources including media that said Class XII CBSE Physical Education textbook says/certifies/claims 36-24-36 is the best figure for females. The board had not prescribed the controversial book, said a spokesperson. ThIs CBSE book - the Health and Physical Education by Dr. VK Sharma for12th standard says "36-24-36 shape of females is considered the best" pic.twitter.com/l4iIvBKj2j Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) April 12, 2017 The class 12 textbook titled Health and Physical Education by Dr. V.K. Sharma is published by New Saraswati House (India) Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. Read More: Book says 36-24-36 ideal female figure: Action will be taken against publisher, says HRD minister The board had set up a committee of experts to review the contents of the said book and it was found that the shape, size, figure have been inappropriately described which are not in consonance with the spirit of the syllabus. The author has written out of context, the textbook is not strictly as per the syllabus as being claimed by the publisher/author. The publisher and the author have committed criminal misconduct by publishing and selling these books to the students in connivance with some schools. In the process, the publisher has caused wrongful loss of reputation, goodwill and credibility of CBSE, said a CBSE spokesperson. The CBSE further said that it does not recommend books by any private publishers to the affiliate schools. The book, authored by Dr VK Sharma and published by Delhi-based New Saraswati House, also reasoned that even Miss World and Miss Universe beauty pageants take the 36-24-36 body shape into consideration while judging the contestants. An image of the section of the textbook was initially posted on social media by a Twitter user Anuj Khurana. The book that was being used in a CBSE-affiliated school has not been recommended by the education board. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi Universitys Shri Ram College Of Commerce (SRCC) came in for praise by human resource and development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar for its top grading of A-plus by the NAAC and third best college position in India in his ministrys National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings . In his keynote address as chief guest at SRCCs 91st annual day, Javadekar, apart from praising SRCCs NAAC rating and NIRF ranking, said there was a real need to move research from theoretical topics to live projects. Only hard work and determination would help students achieve their targets, he advised. SRCCs Annual Day was celebrated on Thursday April 13 ,2017. Journalist and SRCC alumnus Rajat Sharma was also a guest of honour. On the occasion, besides release of research journals, students were awarded medals, prizes and certificates of appreciation for their academic achievements and work done in extra curricular activities and sports. Distinguished alumni from various walks of life were also felicitated for excellence. Speaking on the occasion, Ajay Shriram, chairman of the college governing body, said the NAAC and NIRF inputs had given an opportunity to SRCC for introspection. The challenge was how the teaching and learning process and student-oriented facilities could be improved further. Recalling activities of the college during 2016-17, principal R P Rustagi noted that besides an international conference at Kigali (Rwanda), college students had organised an international conference at Dubai in March 2017 which was attended by 200 student delegates from 17 countries. In his speech, guest of honour Sharma said that in view of increasing competition, extracurricular activities had an important role to play in career making. China's Chief Climate Negotiator Xie Zhenhua (Photo : Getty Images) On Tuesday, Special Representative for Climate Change of China Xie Zhenhua said at a press conference that the BASIC countries, composed of Brazil, South Africa, India and China, have made "important contributions" to the Paris Agreement. Advertisement The statement was given at the closing of the 24th BASIC Ministerial Meeting. The two-day event which was held in Beijing was hosted by Chinas chief climate negotiator. Among those who attended the meeting were officials from India, Brazil and South Africa. Delegates from Ecuador, Fiji and Egypt were also in attendance. The cooperation between the BASIC countries, founded in 2009, played a great part in boosting internal communications within the Group of 77, according to Xie. The alliance was also successful in winning the support of developing countries. Xie said that a joint statement was released at the close of the event. The statement was directed on proceeding negotiations after the signing of the Paris Agreement, realistic cooperation and means to increase action before 2020. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in alleviation movements of developed and developing countries was restated by the attendees. The Paris Agreement was deemed to be a prized attainment in the global climate governance campaign. The movement has paved the way for a new stage of global efforts in pursuing green and low-carbon development. China, being a responsible developing country, will persist in its efforts in dealing with climate change and will be firm in carrying out its duties, said Xie. The BASIC countries use channels, including South-South cooperation, to assist developing countries in advancing global climate change responses, Xie added. The alliance also encouraged developed countries to increase their financial support to achieve their goal of raising $100 billion annually by 2020. According to Xie, an estimated $1.5 trillion dollar investment in renewable energy and new energy is needed to meet climate change goals by 2030. By that time, investment on infrastructure alone should have reached $90 trillion. That would open doors of opportunities to global green and low-carbon industries, he added. Those in attendance have also come to an agreement to advance the cooperation and unity among the BASIC countries. They also accentuated international cooperation in improving global actions. The BASIC countries continue to lead in efforts in fulfilling the goals of the Paris Agreement. Two-days after a three-month-old boy died at the Gurgaon civil hospital, the Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Saturday took cognizance of the incident and said that he will conduct a special investigation into the matter. The infant, Abel, died on Thursday at the civil hospital as the ambulance supposed to take him to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi was out of fuel. Hospital sources said he was admitted to the civil hospital at 9:30am and immediately referred to Safdarjung Hospital. He died at 11:30am at the civil hospital, waiting for the ambulance. Even as the hospital is probing the incident, the health minister promised to conduct another thorough investigation into the incident. We will conduct an investigation (into the baby death at Gurgaon civil hospital) and strong action will be taken against anyone found guilty. Recently, Suresh Prabhu, railway minister, gave 17 ambulances to the Gurgaon (health administration). We will find out if there was any negligence and if so, why. We are fully equipped to provide advanced medical care to our people, Vij said. Read I Gurgaon civil hospital to probe death of three-month-old boy due to ambulance delay The minister also said that such incidents will be taken seriously and those guilty of negligence will be dealt with as per law. I am aware that a three-month-old girl had died at the civil hospital last month. We will conduct an independent inquiry and get to the bottom of these cases, he said. Earlier, on March 8, a three-month-old girl, suffering from a heart ailment, died at the civil hospital. The death was blamed on the negligence of the hospital staff. Her parents alleged that she had died waiting for treatment, as no doctors attended on her in the OPD. Doctors had said that she had a hole in her heart. The girl, from Nuthupur village, was brought by her parents on March 8 around 11.30am, with acute breathing problems. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hollywood star Angelina Jolie may be planning to retire from Hollywood amid her ongoing divorce and custody battle against actor Brad Pitt, reports suggest. Maleficent 2 is about Maleficents daughter Malevolent who has a love affair with the son of Auora. The Maleficent actress is done making movies and wants to focus on her six children, reports aceshowbiz.com. Angie is over starring in films. She wants to write and direct but as far as acting is concerned, she has retired. The next chapter of her life will focus on her children and all the important causes she supports. She finds acting shallow and wants to focus on the stuff in life that really matters, the source told Naughty Gossip magazine. Maleficent 2 might be Jolies last film. She finished working on the foreign language feature film - First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, which will be released on video-streaming app Netflix. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Canadian actor will play John Paul Getty, an oil magnate whose grandson was kidnapped in the 1970s, in the first season of Trust, an anthology developed by filmmaker Danny Boyle. The show is expected to screen in 2018 on US TV network FX. Money, power, dynasty, oil and mafia -- the story of the Getty family has all the ingredients of a thrilling TV drama. In 1973, when living in Italy, the clan experienced a dramatic and tragic event. John Paul Getty III, the grandson of billionaire John Paul Getty, was kidnapped by a gang linked to the Ndrangheta, a mafia-type organisation in Calabria. To free his 16-year-old grandson, John Paul Getty was asked to pay a ransom of $17 million (Rs 110 crore approx) to the kidnappers. At first, Getty refused to pay, but the grandfather changed his mind a few months later when an envelope containing a lock of the childs hair and his severed ear was delivered to an Italian newspaper with a threat of further mutilation. After paying $3 million (Rs 19.3 crore approx), the young victim was found alive at a filling station. The effects of this dramatic event stayed with him forever. Trust is a 10-episode anthology due to start filming from June 2017 in London. For his latest small-screen production, Danny Boyle -- who is also expected to direct the first episode -- will join forces with the producer and the screenwriter of his Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. Donald Sutherland (Hunger Games) is the first cast member to be named. The series is due to screen in January 2018 on US cable channel FX. Follow @htshowbiz for more A 13-year-old boy was killed and a minor girl injured on Saturday when an improvised explosive device (IED), suspected to have been laid by Maoists, went off in a village in Chhattisgarhs Kanker district, the police said. The incident took place this morning when the children were playing in an open area at Kadaikhodra village under Antagarh police station limits, Kanker superintendent of police ML Kotwani said. The deceased was identified as Sumrit and the injured girl as Kavita (9), the SP said. As per preliminary information, the children were playing in an open ground area in the outskirts of the village, located around 7km from Antagarh, when the explosion took place, resulting in the death of Sumrit on the spot, he said. When villagers were informed about the incident, a police team was rushed there and the injured Kavita was taken to Antagarh hospital, he said. A Border Security Force (BSF) camp is located around 800 metres from the spot in the same village and prima facie, it seems the explosive was planted to target security forces during their patrolling in the region, the SP said. The nature of bomb is yet to be ascertained and a Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) is examining the spot, he added. Maoists on many occasions have planted IEDs at several places, targeting security forces deployed in Bastar region, killing personnel besides villagers. On January 18 this year, two women and a minor girl were killed while four others injured in a pressure landmine explosion, triggered by Maoists, in the regions Narayanpur district. On January 23, a 56-year-old man and his son were injured in a pressure bomb blast in Sukma district. The outcome of by-elections on two seats in Karnataka and one in Jharkhand this week contains an important political message that the BJP can be triumphed only if Opposition votes do not get scattered. In Karnataka, chief minister Siddaramaiah worked out a deal with the Janata Dal (Secular) to ensure that his former party did not field candidates against the Congress on Gundlupet and Nanjangud constituencies. The BJP lost both the seats. Siddaramaiah had learnt his lessons from the defeat in the previous by-poll held in February last year when the Congress lost two of the three seats to the BJP, mainly due to the division of votes. While the Congress managed to win Bidar, the BJP won Hebbal and Deodurg seats. The JD(S) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda had stood third on all the seats. The by-poll victory is a big morale booster for Siddaramaiah who had been under fire in the past months from the opposition as well as his own party over his authoritarian style of functioning ahead of state elections next year. Similarly in Jharkhand, the Congress decided to not to put up a candidate at Littipara and extended its support to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The ruling BJP faced defeat. In its bid to avenge the debacle in Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) pledged its support to the Congress against the ruling BJP from Ater seat in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress won, though by a thin margin. Sensing an opportunity, non-BJP parties have now stepped up efforts to firm up pre-poll alliances ahead of the 2019 general elections. It is clear that the BJP has registered electoral gains because of the scattering of secular votes. We have initiated talks to bring together an alliance of like-minded and secular parties, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar said. In the recent assembly elections in UP, the combined vote share of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was 4% higher than that of the BJP. Following the UP debacle, realisation appears to be dawning on satraps of regional parties that they need to unite and join forces with the Congress to fight the common threat from the BJP. At the launch of the Hindi version of his autobiography this week, NCP leader Sharad Pawar said the Congress was left with no option but to stitch alliances with regional forces to halt the BJPs electoral juggernaut. Earlier, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had not ruled out the possibility of a tie-up with the BSP sometime in future. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has spoken about the possibility of an understanding with the Left parties on issues of common concern. Ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections later this year, Patidar leader Hardik Patel has joined the Shiv Sena, while the NCP has firmed a tie-up with the Janata Dal (United). The countrys political forces are being reconfigured. The process is expected to gain pace in coming months, a senior JD (U) leader said. Amid deteriorating law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir, army chief General Bipin Rawat met governor NN Vohra at the Raj Bhavan here on Saturday and discussed the prevailing security scenario in the state. During their hour-long meeting, the governor and the army chief discussed the external security environment and issues relating to effective internal security management, said a Raj Bhawan spokesperson. The two also discussed opportunities that need to be provided to the youth in the state for assuring them a stable and bright future, he added. An army source said General Rawat arrived at 3:15pm and returned to Delhi at 5:15pm. It was an unscheduled visit by the army chief to the state. Northern command chief Lt Gen Devraj Anbu was not present at the meeting, the source added. General Rawats meeting with the governor comes at a time when security situation in Kashmir has become a cause of concern for the Mehbooba Mufti-led state government. The Assam government will install closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) inside examination halls to keep a check on rampant cheating in board exams. The state has a pass percentage of 62.79% against the national 79.21%. The lower percentage was flagged by the Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry in a recent meeting held in February this year under the centrally-sponsored Scheme of the Integrated Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. It was observed that pass percentage of the state is 62.79% against the national pass percentage of 79.21%, which is quite low. The state said due to a curb on malpractices in examinations, the pass percentage has dropped. This year it planned to install CCTVs in examination halls which may further reduce the percentage, state the minutes of the meeting. Several states have faced embarrassment over widespread cheating scandals during examinations. After pictures of cheating went viral during the Bihar board examinations in 2015, the Bihar school examination board decided to introduce video recording, but the exercise is mainly done carried out by videographers. According to officials, the board has also issued tenders for nine multi-storey examination halls in nine divisions with CCTVs, to conduct various examinations. Cheating has been a political issue in Uttar Pradesh for a long time. In 1992, the then BJP government in the state enacted an anti-copying act making it a cognisable offence. The BJP had to pay a political price later. Mulayam Singh Yadav government repealed it two years later. UP Board had asked all 11,400 exam centres spread across the state to take necessary steps, including use of CCTV cameras, to ensure clean exams. However, UP Board officials concede that a mere handful of such centres have CCTV cameras installed in their campuses. Use of CCTV cameras was recommended by us this year in our detailed guidelines issued to all centres before the start of the board exams. We are aware that just a few centres have installed them. We now plan to use CCTV cameras to check copying on a wider scale from next year and instructions would be issued well in advance, said Shail Yadav, secretary, UP Board. (With inputs from Arun Kumar from Patna, K Sandeep Kumar from Allahabad) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Seven policemen and a hardcore Maoist were killed when a prison van dashed into a truck in Bihars Sitamarhi district on Saturday. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Town), Ashish Anand told PTI the accident occurred near Gaighat village under the jurisdiction of Runnisaidpur police station around 5 AM. The van was carrying two hardcore Maoists from Bhagalpur to Sitamarhi court, he said. 12 policemen were also in the van. One Maoist and seven policemen died after the accident, he said, adding another ultra and five other policemen were admitted to Sri Krishna Memorial College and Hospital. The van driver, Munna Singh, was among the dead. The DSP said while four policemen died on the spot, the Maoist and three other policemen died on the way to the hospital. The DSP said all injured policemen and the seriously injured Maoist were later shifted to a private hospital. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the death of eight persons in the accident. Kumar announced Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia for family of the each deceased police personnel, an official statement said in Patna. The CM also directed officials to ensure proper treatment of the injured. PATNA: In a major relief to students who had appeared for the Class 10 and Class 12 examinations conducted by Bihar School of Education Board (BSEB), teachers entrusted with the task of evaluating their answer sheets, called off their strike on Saturday. The teachers agreed to join evaluation work after education minister Ashok Choudhary assured them most of their demands would be considered. The assurance was given by the minister during talks with office-bearers of the Bihar Secondary Teachers Association and other associations here. The secondary and intermediate (Class 12) teachers, working on contract basis, had been boycotting the evaluation work since April 1, to press their demand for pay parity with regular government teachers. The protesting teachers were claiming that the government had backtracked on an agreement reached with them on May 12, 2015, to implement the principle of equal pay for equal work. Further, the government lodged FIRs against the teachers who were peacefully protesting and boycotting the evaluation process, they said. Thousands of teachers in institutions getting financial aid from the government, were also staying away from evaluation work since March 17 in protest against delay in release of salary grant for them. In Bihar, there are around 22,000 fixed-pay and 7,000 regular secondary teachers, who draw pay scales, besides around 15,000 teachers in aided secondary schools. As per norms, those with at least three years experience alone are eligible for evaluation work, while head examiners required five years experience. The strike had put in jeopardy the careers of about 17.5 lakh students wrote their Class 10 examinations and about 13.5 lakh students who took their Class 12 papers. The Class 10 and 12 examinations were held in February-March this year. Choudhary said the government had agreed to implement the teachers service conditions by May 15. The performance-based grant for inter teachers, pending since 2008, would be paid in instalments. The first part of the payment, for three years since 2008, would be cleared by May 30, he said. The remaining amount would be paid by March 2018, he added. He also assured the teachers the government would look into their demand for withdrawal of FIRs registered against a number of them. The minister, however, did not give any assurance on the protestors main demand of pay parity with regular teachers, saying the matter was sub judice and under consideration of the Supreme Court and the Patna high court. As for deficit grants, he said, a policy decision was yet to be taken in the matter. A panic stricken BSEB had earlier asked the district magistrate of Patna to provide protection to evaluators drawn from private schools. However, the BSEBs attempt to rope in evaluators from private schools yielded no result with the CISCE and CBSE boards had turned down the request on the plea that their fresh sessions had already commenced. Any delay in evaluation would have deprived Bihar students from applying for admission to institutions outside the state. This time, the BSEB has claimed it had adopted strict measures to sanitize the examinations, the sanctity of which had been hit following reports of mass cheating in 2015 and the intermediate examination toppers scam last year. QUOTE Govt has agreed to implement teachers service conditions by May 15. Performance-based grant for inter teachers, pending since 2008, will be paid in instalments, with first part to be cleared by May 30 Ashok Choudhary, education minister BLURB The strike had put in jeopardy the careers of about 17.5 lakh students who wrote their Class 10 exams and about 13.5 lakh students who took their Class 12 papers SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The BJPs golden era will begin only when it has chief ministers in every state and holds power from panchayat to Parliament, party president Amit Shah said on Saturday in an ominous warning to political rivals desperate to stop the saffron surge. Shahs comments, at the partys national executive at Bhubaneswar, come weeks after the ruling party at the Centre stamped its domination of the countrys political landscape by securing an unprecedented and overwhelming mandate in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP is now aiming to grab power in Odisha where the Biju Janata Dal is in its forth consecutive term. That the BJPs desire for expansion remains unsatiated despite ruling 13 states and sharing power in four others was evident from Prime Minister Narendra Modis road show on his way to the national executive meeting. He fought sweltering heat to hold a 40-minute-long show on the streets of capital Bhubaneswar in the afternoon, waving and smiling to an enthusiastic crowd on both sides of the road. There were clear indications that the BJP was looking to upstage regional parties from their strongholds, an ambitious plan like its vow of a Congress-mukt Bharat. Just three years into power, Shah declared Modi the most popular leader of independent India who has an extraordinary connect with the people. This is not our peak...We should have our chief minister in every state. We have to rule from panchayat to Parliament. It is only then it will be called golden era for the BJP, Shah said. Dont be complacent. Lets become a true pan-India party to showcase not only the BJPs success, but make India great in the committee of nations, he told party leaders. Shah, seen as the chief architect of the partys poll victories, also trashed opposition claim about tampering with electronic voting machines (EVMs). Nobody spoke of it when the BJP lost the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections and the 2015 assembly polls in Bihar and Delhi, he added. Modis party won Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand with three-fourths majority, retained Goa and snatched Manipur from the Congress. It will face polls in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka over the next one year, before the bells finally ring for the 2019 election. Shah is already in election mode. He asked every member of the BJPs national executive team, including Union ministers, to spare 15 days for organisational works. Shah will also spend 95 days till September, travelling across the country to meet workers at the booth level. His target area includes states such as Kerala and Odisha, where the BJP has weak presence but high hopes. The list also includes West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the Northeast, where recent polls point towards a growing BJP presence. Over the past one year, around 3.78 lakh workers enrolled for a programme through which they will be sent outside their home state for organisation works. Shah mocked political observers who questioned the BJPs ability to defeat regional parties and cited the rout of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party to buttress his argument. Earlier, a two-thirds majority was called a big victory. We changed that narrative by winning UP and Uttarakhand with a three-fourths margin, Shah added. Modi will address the conclave on Sunday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Japan is beefing up its self-defense systems in response to increasing Chinese presence over the East China Sea. (Photo : Getty Images) Japanese self-defense forces are increasing and even more so in the last year. There is a total of 295 more jets in 2017, according to Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, Japan's chief of staff. The increase in acquisition of Japanese jets is due to the increased activity of Chinese military aircraft flying over Okinawa and other parts of the chain of islands. Advertisement In a press briefing, Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano said, "Recently, we have seen Chinese military aircraft operating further south and that is bringing them closer to the main Okinawa island and other parts of the island chain." The number of flights launched by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces increased to 1,168 occasions. The majority of these flights, or 73 percent, was in response to counter Chinese aircraft which are flying into Japan's exclusive military airspace. There were 301 flights launched in response to Russian aircraft and long-range bombers. The number of flights launched totaled to 301 or 4.5 percent of all flights. The admiral said, "Activities of Chinese jets are on the rise in terms of their frequency, area, and duration. Considering the modernizing trend of the Chinese military, we expect this to continue." The response to Soviet aviation is more now than in 1984 where the highest number of counter-enemy launches were recorded. Both China and Japan are in a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands, an inhabited set of islands in the East China Sea. These islands are rich in marine resources. The Japanese self-defense authority also reported that there were 13 bombers and jets seen flying between Japan's southern islands of Okinawa and Miyako. Eisuke Tanabe, a senior policy coordinator in the joint staff councilor's office at the Japanese Ministry of Defense, said, "They've routinized their intrusions into our territorial sea space." He added, "We send our fighters, and that makes the situation possibly very dangerous when fighters and fighters come close." The lotus is blossoming in Odisha, a coastal state that has a saffron hue for the partys national executive meet beginning on Saturday. A garland of 74 lotuses was offered to the BJP president Amit Shah, when he landed at the Biju Patnaik international airport on Friday. It is a message. The flower is the BJPs election symbol and 74 is the majority mark in 147-member state assembly of Odisha. More than a kilometre-long cavalcade of motorbikers escorted Shah from the airport to his hotel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be given a grander reception when he lands in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. BJP leaders are non-committal to call it a road show, but the prime minister is expected to travel from the airport to the Raj Bhawan, where he will be staying, in an open-roof SUV. Hundreds of BJP workers will be standing on two sides of the road when Modi takes that route. It will a reception that no other leader would have received in Bhubaneswar, BJP general secretary Arun Singh said. The BJPs latest poster boy, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, too, will reach on Saturday. Odisha has never seen such BJP charge. The symbolism showcases its confidence to wrest power from Naveen Patnaik, the son of legendary Biju Patnaik and the chief minister for 17 years now. The BJP has a reason to have such faith. The BJP came a close second to the Biju Janata Dal, and relegated the Congress to a distant third position in the recent election for panchayat bodies. This is BJPs best ever performance in Odisha, where it has been largely considered as a party with limited appeal in the tribal areas on the western border of the state. Odisha accounts for 21 Lok Sabha seats and votes simultaneously for the national and assembly election. Election is just two years away and Naveen Patnaiks fortress could be under a threat this time. With Modi as the prime minister and supreme leader of the BJP, the party is wooing the underprivileged sections of the society like never before. Tribals account for about 23 % of Odishas population and the Scheduled Castes are over 17%. BJP posters across the city showcase Modis welfare schemes for the poor and marginalised sections of the society. Odisha is the laboratory of Modis welfare measures. No other state has benefited as Odisha has under the present government, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Senior BJP leader and Union minister Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said that the party, which had done well in the recent rural elections in Odisha, would try to come to power in the state in the next election. We will try to come to power in Odisha in 2019 (when assembly poll is due), Naidu, who is here to attend the BJP national executive meeting, told reporters. In the recent panchayat elections in Odisha, the BJP had secured 297 zilla parishad seats while the Congress, the main opposition party, had won just 60 zilla parishad seats. The ruling BJD had, however, maintained its supremacy capturing 473 zilla parishad seats. Naidu was also upbeat on the partys performance in West Bengal. Referring to the recent by-election in Kanthi Dakshin Assembly seat, he said, The BJP has come to the second position in Bengal while CPM has been pushed to the third. The party is growing under the leadership of Narendra Modi and results of recent elections in several states had gone in our favour. Naidu said the focus of the BJP national executive meeting would be on welfare schemes and policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People want Modi as their prime minister in 2019 also. The people across the country have faith in the Modi government for its pro-poor schemes and policies ... All efforts were being made to reach benefits to the people across the country, he said. The Opposition has no agenda, leadership, unity and clarity, he added. The Congress on Saturday said it stood with the government on Kulbhushan Jadhavs sentencing by Pakistan and there can be no politics on it as the judicial process adopted by the neighbouring country lacks credibility. We all are on the same page as the judicial process that Pakistan has adopted for sentencing Mr Jadhav lacks any credibility, lacks any legitimacy. This is something on which there can be no political brownie point-scoring, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said. He said the fact that India has demanded consular access 14 times and it has been rejected as many times indicated that the procedure adopted by Pakistan lacked credibility and legitimacy. It has been said in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha that in the matter of Kulbhushan Jadhav there can be no politics. We believe that the whole judicial proceedings under which he has been sentenced in Pakistan do not inspire any confidence, do not have any credibility. Consular access has been denied 14 times, he said. The Congress leader said India stood together on the issue. A Pakistani military tribunal had on April 10 sentenced Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, to death in a secret trial for alleged involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in restive Balochistan and Karachi. According to the Vienna Convention, the state which detains a national of another country must allow consular officers of the other country to access the detainee. India had yesterday said it would appeal against the death sentence and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the charge-sheet as well as the army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. The Haryana governments move to fix the minimum education qualification for those contesting panchayat elections may have shut the doors for many aspirants in the rural areas, but the move set to ensure a bright future for children in these villages. The education bar has led to selection of highly educated panchayats, which are now working in their respective villages to upgrade the quality of education in government schools. SAVES SCHOOL FROM BEING DEFUNCT Sarpanch name: Mukesh Devi Highest qualification: MA (Political Science) Village: Iqbalpur Nangal, Mahendragarh Had it not been for this sarpanch, the government primary school in the village would soon have become defunct with only two students left to study. However, with Devis efforts, the school saw 105 new admissions this year. The sarpanch said she constituted a 21-member committee of retired employees and teachers in the village, who, besides promoting the government school also identified poor children who were not going to any school. We started by requesting the well respected people of village to shift their children to government schools. Soon, more followed the suit, she said. Mahendragarh district education officer Mukesh Kumar Lawania said she actively takes part in school cleaning activities as well. WAR AGAINST PRIVATE SCHOOLS Sarpanch name: Manju Tongar Highest qualification: MA (history) Village: Gujar Ghatal, Rewari Through her door-to-door campaign, Manju has been able to ensure over 200 new admissions in the Government Senior Secondary School in her village this year. The villagers said her campaign has become so successful that private schools in the area have started troubling students by delaying their school leaving certificates. As new students are coming from private schools, she has now written to the government to switch the village school to English medium. If we are asking people to shift to government schools, we will also have to ensure equally good facilities. Besides starting free bus service for girls, the panchayat has introduced incentives for students topping in classes, she said. Appreciating Manjus efforts, Rewari district education officer Dharamvir Baldodia said she is helping the school improve infrastructure as well. EDUCATION AND SAFETY TOPS HIS PRIORITY Sarpanch name: Ram Niwas Joon Highest qualification: Class 12 Village: Khungai, Jhajjar As most government schools in his village were facing a staff crunch, Ram Niwas engaged private schools teachers to teach in government schools by giving them salary from panchayat funds. From 57 students last year, the Government High School in the village now has a strength of more than 150 students due to the modern facilities. Besides 16 CCTV cameras, the school has a special school dress, a park with swings and free pick-up facility for children from neighbouring villages. Private schools only care about fees and not students safety. By introducing these facilities, we want to assure parents that their children will be safe in government schools as well, he said. School principal Satya Narayan Yadav said they get all the support from the village panchayat. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Haryana women and child development minister Kavita Jain said on Saturday that as a woman she feels that prohibition should be imposed in the state. She added that such a move would not work if there was no such ban in the neighbouring states. She was talking to reporters in Sonepat on the sidelines of a function. Prohibition had been imposed in Haryana in 1996 by the Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government but it was lifted by the same regime in 1998. Haryana women and child development minister Kavita Jain (HT File Photo) Jain said that she felt that the attempt had failed as liquor was available in the neighbouring states. There were instances when people brought liquor (into the state) in buses and through other means, she said. Jain said that those who are habitual drinkers, when they dont get liquor, turn violent in their homes and are ready to spend any amount to procure it. Then the situation turns more explosive, she said while going into the demerits of prohibition if people can procure liquor from neighbouring states. She said the Supreme Court order banning liquor sale along highways was a very good thing. Drinking liquor is a social evil, any addiction is a habit, she said, adding that the government wants to save people of the country from bad habits and addiction. Controversial hoardings asking the people to chant the name of chief minister Adityanath Yogi if they want to live in Uttar Pradesh, put up allegedly by the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), came up in various parts of the city. While the district administration has now removed the hoardings, the office-bearers of the Hindu Yuva Vahini termed it a conspiracy to malign their image. Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the hoardings also had the pictures of Meerut district president of HYV Neeraj Sharma Panchali. Terming it a conspiracy to defame HYV, regional president Nagendra Tomar said Neeraj Sharma had been expelled from the organisation last month on charges of corruption. He said HYV had nothing to do with the hoardings and clarified that Yogi had issued directives that they should maintain discipline and work responsibly. City unit president of the BJP Karunesh Nandan Garg said HYV was an independent organisation and had nothing to do with the party. Everyone should exercise restraint, Garg said. Clad in pink saris and armed with wooden batons, a group of women, locally known as Gulabi gang, is creating terror among those selling illicit alcohol in the villages of Bundelkhands Sagar district these days. The anti-liquor Gulabi gang was set up in the villages under Rehli assembly area of Sagar district over a fortnight ago. Besides agitating against illegal alcohol sale, the group is also creating awareness for prohibition and urging villagers to work with them to nake their areas alcohol free. The Gulabi gang was set up by one Jyoti Patel, a native of Patna Bujurgh village. Jyoti (25), who is also a district panchayat member, is unmarried and is pursuing M Tech. For a long time I felt that setting up of a womens group was much needed to fight the social evils like alcoholism because it affects women the most. Since last one month throughout state and especially in Bundelkhand, we are witnessing large-scale anti-liquor protests. This inspired me to set up this group which we call anti liquor women squad. Our aim is to work for liquor prohibition by persuasion, stop sale of illegal liquor that is rampant here, shifting of license liquor shops from public places especially the ones near temples, schools, markets and so on, Jyoti told HT. The Gulabi Gang checks out an illicit alcohol outlet in a village in Sagar district. (HT PHOTO) Jyoti said while forming the group, she took inspiration from Sampat Bais Gulabi Gang from Uttar Pradesh. So far our group has covered three villages Raun, Semra and Kadta which were facing problems due to rampant alcoholism and its illegal sale. Around 100 women from these villages have joined our group and are now our active members. We normally go to village in a group of 15 to 20 women wearing pink saris or salwars and carry our wooden batons with us. First of all we hold a meeting with the villagers and tell them about the evil effects of liquor and persuade them to quit drinking. Depending on their response, we decide our future course of action, she said. Jyoti said their group then knocks on doors of those selling illegal liquor and requests them to stop it or be ready to face consequences. Few days ago our group was in Semra Gond village. When we saw an illegal liquor seller, he fled leaving some empty bottles behind. When we leave the village, our local unit informs us if anyone again started selling liquor illegally, she said. Read more: Sale of illicit liquor leads to law and order problem, admits MP home minister Feran Singh of Semra Gond village told HT that it was a very good initiative. We are supporting them as alcohol had disturbed the peace and harmony in the villages. People who sell or drink liquor now fear seeing so many women in pink and what they can do, he said. Except for Jyoti, most of the womenfolk associated with group are illiterate. They joined the group to free a family member or members from alcoholism. Premrani Gond who is from Kadta village, is one of the leading members of the group. She recalls that her husband was a habitual drinker. Since our movement started, my husband quit drinking and no one is selling illegal liquor in our area now. Our members here take rounds of the village and report to me about those trying to sell liquor illegally, she said. The next target of the group is to shift a Sahpur (Rehli assembly area) license liquor shop which has been opened near a temple and school, despite local protest. Interestingly Rehli assembly is headed by cabinet minister Gopal Bhargav. Few days ago his son Abhishek expressed his support through a Facebook post for those agitating against liquor shops. He even criticized the state administrations role and termed it as Kumbhakaran, saying that it was not waking up from its slumber despite anti-liquor protests across the state . New Delhi India called off the forthcoming maritime security dialogue with Pakistan as tension between the two countries continues to grow over the death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav. A delegation led by Pakistans Maritime Security Agency was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on April 16 for four days for a dialogie with their Indian coast guard counterparts. The dialogue is a routine exercise between the two agencies since 2005 and the two sides discuss issues related to exchange of information and strategy to combat marine pollution and trafficking. The meeting stands called off after the defence ministry denied permission for the event, said a source. The move comes a day after Pakistan denied consular access to Jadhav for the 14th time. New Delhi had sought a copy of the chargesheet filed against Jadhav and the death sentence handed out to him on Friday. A Pakistani military court handed death sentence to Jadhav on charges of espionage and sabotage, but New Delhi maintains its national is innocent and was kidnapped and framed. Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court Bar Association on Friday said it would take action against any lawyer who offered to defended Jadhav. The association has unanimously decided to cancel the membership of any lawyer who offers his services to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, the organisations secretary general Amer Saeed Raan said. India called off maritime security dialogue with Pakistan, scheduled for early next week, amid tensions over death sentence being awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav on charges of spying. A delegation led by Pakistans Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi from April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. Coast guard sources said the ministry of defence has not given clearance for the delegations visit. The development comes amid tension between the two countries over Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, being awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court. India has said if Jadhav were to be executed, it will be considered as a premeditated murder. Over 50 students were wounded on Saturday after security forces fired tear gas shells and pellets outside a degree college at Pulwama in south Kashmir to disperse stone-pelting protestors. Locals said students started hurling stones at security forces protesting laying of a check-point (Naka) near the college. A pellet victim, who was rushed to Srinagars SMHS hospital, said that the security forces also barged into the college, escalating the situation. The clashes were going on outside and we were in the class thinking we are safe. But then the government forces climbed a gate of the college from stadium side and fired pellets, he said, not wishing to be named. Police control room Pulwama said protesters pelted stones near the college and senior police officers are on the spot to assess the situation. Health officials said that the number of injured might increased. We have so far treated at least 54 persons who were hit by pellets and tear gas shells. Three critically injured persons have been referred to Srinagar. The injured are still coming, said chief medical officer, Pulwama, Dr Talat Jabeen. She said some female students were also brought to the hospital who fainted after inhaling teargas fired by security forces. Shanghai Pollution (Photo : Getty Images) On Wednesday, Chinese authorities condemned the city government for failing to resolve the problem of Shanghai pollution. Chinas business hub was accused of sluggish efforts to improve the environment and of imposing fines too light to daunt polluters, hundreds of which have ignored closure orders. Advertisement According to the official website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), an inspection team, after conducting a month-long investigation late 2016, discovered that the standards imposed in Shanghai have lowered and some of the citys environmental projects had grown slack. The ministry added that the unfinished environmental protection work could hinder the citys development. Shanghai's environmental protection work has had obvious successes but environmental quality remains a prominent weak point affecting the city's overall development, the ministry said. Further, 88 of the 259 water samples tested were found unsuitable even for farm and industrial use, getting a categorization below the grade V. Since 2013, the overall quality of water in some districts has noticeably degraded. The ministry pointed out Shanghais decision to delay from 2016 until 2020 a target of setting higher standards for urban waste water treatment. The citys plan to upgrade urban sewage and waste treatment had also missed target schedules. The pollutants from the old landfills are still leaking into Shanghais water supply. Trash continues to be illegally dumped, the ministry added. The investigating team also found that the Shanghai law enforcement levy fines that are not heavy enough to deter relentless polluters. 800 enterprises with closure orders issued since 2013 were still conducting normal operations. Chinas local governments are substantial battlegrounds in the countrys war on pollution. However, many of them are accused of neglecting environmental violations in order to protect valuable revenue and employment sources. Since last year, environmental inspection teams have been dispersed across the country. These teams are authorized to conduct surprise inspections and hold local officials responsible. Based on reports released by the teams last November, despite the developments in addressing air pollution, there has been a significant decline in the quality of water in several regions. The national government puts pressure on the city government, forcing it to exert more effort in curbing Shanghai pollution. Pakistan on Friday listed the options available to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to appeal against the death sentence given to him by a military court on charges of espionage. Sartaj Aziz, the foreign affairs adviser to the prime minister, told a news briefing that the former Indian Navy officer was allegedly responsible for espionage, sabotage and terrorism and had been tried according to the law of the land. Aziz, who read from a statement and did not take questions from the media, then listed the options available to Jadhav under Pakistani law. He has the right to appeal within 40 days to an appellate court. He may lodge a mercy petition to the (army chief) within 60 days of the decision by the appellate court, Aziz said. He may lodge a mercy petition to the President of Pakistan within 90 days after the decision of (the army chief) on the mercy petition. India has strongly criticised Pakistan for not sharing Jadhavs whereabouts and details of his condition. It also criticised Pakistan for not adhering to the international norm of providing consular access to a prisoner despite the two countries having an agreement on the issue. New Delhi has also said that if Islamabad goes ahead with the execution of Jadhav, it would be tantamount to premeditated murder. Jadhav was reportedly captured in Balochistan in March last year. He was tried by a field general court martial or an army court under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act. Aziz said Jhadav was provided with legal counsel in accordance with provisions of our law and that he reportedly confessed before a magistrate and the army court that he was tasked by Indian intelligence to plan, coordinate and organise espionage and sabotage activities. Aziz said all political parties of Pakistan were unanimous that the death sentence given to Jadhav was the correct decision and the whole nation is solidly united against any threat to Pakistans security. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The two-day BJP national executive meet gets underway in Bhubaneshwar on Saturday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah set their sights on unconquered territories ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The meet follows the BJPs stunning election victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, besides securing enough support to form the governments in Manipur and Goa. The choice of Odisha as the venue highlights Amit Shahs belief that the party can build its prospects in the state due to anti-incumbency against BJD chief and chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who has been in power since 2000. An impressive show by the BJP in recent local body polls in the state, and infighting within the BJD have boosted its morale. Follow live updates here: 7.30 pm: Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad takes a jibe at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal: A chief minister of a state call himself a hacking expert. He also targets Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan. Prasad says Vijayan should know that BJP is not scared of politics of murder. We will win Odisha, like we won Assam and Manipur, says Prasad. He also says that it is not necessary that the Ram Temple is brought up during every national executive meet. He adds that it is BJPs commitment. The UP results is a firm rejection of the politics of casteism, naked family promotion and also appeasement politics. People has placed their trust in the politics of performance. 7.15 pm: BJP has changed the meaning of victory after winning Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand with a three-fourths majority, says Amit Shah at the national executive meet. Questioning EVM is akin to showing disrespect towards election commission: @AmitShah at #BJPNationalExecutiveMeet. @htTweets kumar uttam (@meetuttam) April 15, 2017 He also attacks the opposition for questioning EVMs, asks them to accept defeat gracefully. Heres what else he said: Amit Shah asks BJPs executive members to spend 25 days at the booth-level, meeting party workers. Shah says he too will be travelling for 95 days till September to places including Kerala and the Andamans. BJP is yet to reach its peak. The party should have a chief minister in every state. Amit Shah brings up political violence. He says BJP and RSS workers are being attacked in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal. These attacks will be opposed peacefully, lotus will bloom. Uttar Pradesh has proved political observers wrong. BJP can defeat regional parties. 5.30 pm: The PM Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley and LK Advani have taken their place on stage. Mediapersons have been asked to leave as the party begins their meeting. 5.20 pm: PM Modi arrives at the meets venue and lights the lamp along with Amit Shah, finance minister Arun Jaitley and senior leader LK Advani. Vande Mataram is played to mark the start of the national executive meet. 5.00 pm: PM Modi gets down at the gate of the Raj Bhawan to greet onlookers and a few women leaders of the BJP. He shook hands with many before getting into the car again t o drive into the Odisha governors home. 4.50 pm: PM Modi tweets: Landed in Odisha to a memorable welcome. Gratitude to the people for the warmth and enthusiasm. 4.00 pm: Supporters throng the streets of Bhubaneshwar as Prime Minister Modi makes his way to the venue of the party meet from the airport. He leans out of his vehicle to wave and greet party workers, supporters. Grand traditional welcome of PM @narendramodi on his arrival at Bhubaneswar Airport. #OdishaWelcomesModi pic.twitter.com/GVwq2ECfxW BJP Odisha (@BJP4Odisha) April 15, 2017 3.45 pm: PTI reports that life-size cutouts of BJP president Amit Shah were found torn at Power House Chhak area. It is an unfortunate incident. We condemn it as such an act is against the culture and tradition of Odisha, senior BJP leader Suresh Pujari said. He accused ruling BJD activists of being behind the incident and said that the partys leaders were worried about BJPs surge in Odisha. Rejecting the allegations, BJD spokesperson Dibya Shankar Mishra said, BJD does not believe in such vandalism. 3.30 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Bhubaneshwar. 2.00 pm: Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh who is attending the meet in Bhubaneshwar says that the welfare of the people in Odisha will be kept in mind during the meet. I am noticing zeal and vigour in the BJP workers of Odisha. This meeting can prove to be a milestone in the upcoming elections of Odisha, he told ANI. 12.00 pm: BJPs national party secretary Ram Madhav tells ANI that the meet is significant as decisions related to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the upcoming assembly elections will be made here. 11.30 am: BJPs national executive meet begins in Bhubaneshwar. Around 350 people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah, union ministers, chief ministers of 13 BJP-ruled states such as UPs Yogi Adityanath, will attend the meeting. (With inputs from agencies) The month-old BJP-led coalition government in Manipur was rocked with senior minister L Jayentakumar -- in charge of health and three other important portfolios - tendering his resignation in protest against uncalled for interference by chief minister N Biren Singh. The chief minister has rushed to Delhi to firefight the political threat, it is learnt. Jayentakumar submitted his resignation personally to Biren on Friday evening. Biren in his capacity as the minister in charge of the department of personnel had suspended Okram Ibomcha, the health director, without consulting Jayentakumar. There was no specific charge against Ibomcha. The suspension order said that it was to take disciplinary actions against him. Ibomcha is a close relative of previous Congress chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Jayentakumar is one of the four MLAs of the National Peoples Party (NPP) who was sworn in on March 15 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government was formed. The resignation letter says that he is thankful to the chief minister for inducting him in the ministry. But he was not able to fulfil his vision due to the interference. Some other NPP MLAs have reasons to be unhappy with some of their portfolios, sources said. Y Joykumar, NPP MLA from Uripok, who is a former director general of police had reportedly wanted the Home portfolio, which is important in insurgency-hit Manipur. However, Biren kept it with him. Joykumar is the deputy chief minister. The coalition ministry was sworn in on March 15. Nine MLAs of BJP, NPP, Naga Peoples Front, LJP and Congress (who changed loyalty) were inducted. Three more ministers and 12 Parliamentary secretaries were sworn in on March 23. Suspected Maosits shot dead a driver of JCB payloader and set on fire five trucks and motorcycle in Lakhisarai district of south central Bihar in the wee hours of Saturday. Police said the incident took place at Gangatia ghat on the bank of Kiul river at Badaspur village, in Chanan police station area, where sand mafia had been dumping their stock. The Maoists, donning police uniform, attacked the hub of the illegal sand trade early Saturday morning and fired 15 to 20 rounds, killing the driver of a JCB payloader, the police said. The extremists also set on fire five trucks, parked there for lifting the illegally mined sand and a motorcycle before fleeing from there, the police added. READ:Maoists attack RJD leaders construction firm in Bihar The victim had been identified as Rajesh Kumar, who had been operating the JCB payloader at a monthly salary of Rs 7,000, the police said. Rajesh Kumar, who had been operating the JCB payloader, was killed in the attack by suspected Maoists. (HT photo) Lakhisarai superintendent of police (SP) Ashok Kumar confirmed the incident and said the Maoists had apparently demanded levy from the sand mafia for carrying out their illegal activity. It is apprehended that non-payment of the amount could be behind the attack, the SP said. READ:Maoist confined, but still active in Bihar pockets Ashok Kumar said it was probably the first time that suspected Maoists had targeted the sand mafia. Inspector general (operations) Kundan Krishnan told HT in Patna that the Lakhisarai SP had been directed to investigate if the incident was a result of rivalry between two groups involved in illegal sand business. Usually Maoists leave behind pamphlets after carrying out their operations. No such pamphlet was found at the site of the incident on Saturday, Krishnan added. Lakhisarai district, about 101 km southeast of Patna, has been Maoist-infested due to its geographical layout and difficult hilly terrains. A magisterial court in Mumbai on Saturday issued an arrest warrant against Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt for not appearing before it to answer a complaint of criminal intimidation filed by producer Shakill Noorani. This case has been going on since a long time and the present situation has arisen because of the communication lapse between our lawyers and us. We respect the urgency shown by the honourable court regarding our attendance/representation and we would take immediate measure to rectify the situation, Dutts spokesperson said in a statement. The actors lawyer was unavailable for comment. Nooranis complaint dates back to 2013 when the producer alleged he had received threatening calls from underworld gangsters on behalf of Dutt to settle a dispute regarding a film which the actor allegedly did not complete. Nooranis lawyers Niraj Gupta and Nisha Arora claimed that the Andheri court where the case is filed, had issued several summons to the actor but he failed to appear. When the complaint was filed in 2013 he had ignored and even that time the warrant was issued. However, Dutt had obtained a bail that time. After this he had to undergo his imprisonment in connection with the 1993 bomb blast case. Hence, the case could not proceed, Gupta said. Gupta said that the case had not proceeded ever since then as presence of the accused is required before recording the evidence. After filing the complaint, the court had issued summons to the other party and the court was to record statement of Noorani. However, in absence of Dutt the case cannot progress. Hence, time and again summons were issued, Gupta added. As the actor failed to answer the summons, the court has on Saturday evening issued an arrest warrant against him. According to the case filed by Noorani, Dutt had promised to do his film Jaan ki Bazi. Noorani alleged that Dutt had also taken around Rs 40 lakh from him. He also alleged that since the complaint was for the return of funds, he started receiving threatening calls to withdraw the complaint. The calls were allegedly made by gangsters on behalf of Dutt. The producers complaint is still at a preliminary stage. Hinting that the issue of implementing caste-based reservation in private sector is likely to remain undecided, Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot on Saturday said the stakeholders involved were yet to reach a consensus on the contentious topic. A committee set up by the government is asking the private companies to create an atmosphere for extending reservation to the private sector. It will be done only if there is consensus, the minister for social justice and empowerment (SJE) said while addressing a press conference to highlight the achievements of his ministry ahead of the third anniversary of Modi governments tenure. The issue of extending caste-based reservation to the private sector has been hanging fire for over a decade. A high-level coordination committee was constituted in October 2006 with an aim to carry forward the dialogue with the industry on affirmative action, including reservation in private sector. The minister added that the central government had not received any proposal from the Telangana government to increase reservations for Muslims and Scheduled Tribe (ST) members in educational institutions and workplaces in the state. The 68-year-old BJP leader also ruled out the possibility of state governments having the power to expand the reservation list to include more castes in the OBC, SC and ST lists without getting a go-ahead from Parliament. He said a well laid out process needs to be followed for inclusion of new castes in the list of quota beneficiaries. When a state sends a proposal, we send it to the Registrar General of India (RGI), if they give consent to include the caste in the beneficiaries list, it is then sent to the respective commissions (SC or ST) from there for cabinet approval and finally to Parliament for its consent, the minister said. Minister of state for SJE, Ramdas Athawale, specified that there are several Muslim castes that have already been included in the list of OBC beneficiaries based on the Mandal report. Gehlot said any decision to expand the OBC list, as has been demanded by the Jats in Haryana and Patidars in Gujarat, has been put off until the new National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) is set up. The government introduced a bill for giving constitutional status to the NCBC, which was passed by Lok Sabha, but has been sent to a select committee after it failed to get support in the Rajya Sabha. If the NCBC gets off the ground, then the Parliament will have the right to include or delete castes from the OBC list. Jashodaben Modi, wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made a quiet and surprise visit to some temples in Telangana, without security or protocol, in the last two days. Accompanied by her brother Ashok Modi and his wife Unjha, 65-year old Jashodaben, who prefers to maintain a very low profile, landed in Hyderabad on Thursday evening and drove to Vikarabad town, about 100 km away from the state capital. She was provided accommodation by Baradi Ramesh, a former Bharatiya Janata Party councillor of Vikarabad town. There was no information about her visit, even with the local police. She did not even have the security cover around her. She was so simple, Venkata Ramana, a local journalist in Vikarabad, told Hindustan Times. Modi was married to Jashodaben at the age of 18. They lived together for a few months, after which Modi left home to work with the RSS and virtually severed all ties with her. According to Ramana, the local BJP leader had some connections in Gujarat through which he and his family members met Jashodaben some time ago and asked her to visit the famous Naga Devatha temple in the town of which Ramesh was a trustee. She promised to come one day and suddenly, she landed here on Thursday night, he said. Early Friday morning, Jashodaben went to the temple and offered prayers. She also visited other local temples of Lord Shiva and Goddess Santoshimata and worshipped the deities. She offered fodder to cows on the temple premises and participated in the anna danam (feeding the poor). Surprisingly, the temple also had a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar and since Friday happened to be his birth anniversary, Jashodaben garlanded his statue. We installed the statue of Ambedkar in the temple, because we treat him like a God, Ramesh said. In her brief interaction with the local media, Jashodaben said she had heard about the Vikarabad temple some time back and was planning to visit the temple for quite some time. I am happy that I could come here on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanthi, she said. When asked about the regime of Narendra Modi, she said it was excellent. I am confident it would be much better rule in the coming years, she said. On Saturday morning, Jashodaben had a darshan of Goddess Lakshmi at the famed Bhagyalaxmi temple abutting historic Charminar in Hyderabad. After offering her prayers at the temple, she had a brief interaction with the priests and temple committee members, who later felicitated her. She left later on Saturday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former defence minister Manohar Parrikar said Pakistan was playing a dangerous game in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death in the neighbouring country on charges of spying. Pakistan should understand that if India starts retaliating then it does not have the power to fight back, whatever they may project themselves to be, the Goa chief minister told the Doordarshan in an interview. But, we want peace. We do not want provocation. So they should send Jadhav back, he said. First of all, they have abducted him. He was not in Pakistan. He was in Iran. Iran has said that the Taliban kidnapped him and took him to Pakistan. Pakistan has a habit of doing something or other. ....(external affairs minister) Sushma Swaraj has given an apt reply - we will not keep quiet (if Pakistan executes Jadhav). The country will do what is required. We can take care of Pakistan if it tries to do anything ill-advised, he added. A military court in Pakistan has sentenced Indian naval staff Jadhav to death for alleged espionage. The Indian government reacted strongly to the development saying if the sentence were to be carried out it would be considered as pre-meditated murder. Over the past four days, India and Pakistan have traded punches over the death sentence handed out to Jadhav, an Indian citizen who Pakistan accuses of being a spy for the Research and Development Wing (RAW), an allegation he, his family, and the Indian government have all denied. Jadhav has been working out of Iran since 2003 and was accused of espionage in the Pakistani state of Balochistan in March 2013. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his two-day Gujarat visit by holding a roadshow in Surat after arriving there on Sunday evening, an official said. The PM is scheduled to land at the Surat airport at 6:45 pm. From there, he will embark on a roadshow over an 11-kilometre stretch between the airport and Circuit House, Surat collector MS Patel told PTI. At Circuit House, the PM will meet BJP leaders and stay there for the night. On Monday, the PM will inaugurate Rs 400-crore Kiran Multi Super Specialty Hospital and Research Centre, built by a trust, Patel said. Modi will then go to Hira Bourse SEZ at Icchapur village in the district to inaugurate a diamond polishing unit of Hari Krishna Export Private Limited. From there, the Prime Minister will go to Bijapur village of Tapi district to inaugurate a cattle feed plant and ice- cream plant of Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, popularly known as Sumul Dairy, and remotely lay foundation stones for dairy products plant at Nava Pardi. He will also address a gathering there, Sumul Dairy officials said. Modi will then visit Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli where he will also address a gathering apart from inaugurating new projects and distributing assistance to beneficiaries. Around 21,000 beneficiaries of different schemes of the Centre will be distributed help kits there. Modi will then head to Botad in Saurashtra to inaugurate phase-1 of Sauni project for Botad and surrounding districts. He will also lay foundation stone for phase-2 of the project. In August last year, Modi had inaugurated the first phase of ambitious Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (Sauni) Project from Jamnagar. Under this project, which is divided in four phases, the Gujarat government plans to fill 115 dams of Saurashtra region with excess overflowing water of Sardar Sarovar Dam across river Narmada through a web of pipeline network. This is Modis second visit to his home state this year. He had earlier visited Gandhinagar on March 8 to address women sarpanchs from across the country on International Womens Day. Finance minister Arun Jaitleys electoral bond scheme will up-end how corporate India routes donations to political parties, with profound implications for democracy; yet the Opposition and the Election Commission the primary check on executive overreach are yet to muster a response. In Finance Bill 2017, ratified by Parliament in this budget session, the government lifted a long-standing cap on the amount of money a single company can contribute; removed provisions that required companies to disclose the recipients of their political donations, and introduced electoral bonds - a new financial instrument, issued by the Reserve Bank of India, which can be bought and deposited in the account of a beneficiary political party without disclosing the donors identity. The government then asked parties to submit suggestions on how to implement the scheme, yet none have responded thus far. HT spoke to the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India (CPI) to find out their position on the matter. No, said a former Congress minister when HT asked him if the party had discussed the proposed changes in political funding rules. Interactive | Electoral Trusts: How some of Indias biggest companies route money to political parties We are totally opposed to corporate funding. What we need is state funding of elections, CPIs D Raja said, adding poll bonds sounded ad hoc and the government was not clear on them. Regional players such as the Trinamool and the Biju Janata Dal, too, favour state funding. We are in favour of clean and transparent system but we cannot overlook the fact that a donor would want to remain anonymous for various reasons primarily because they dont want the government or the opposition to arm twist them, said a senior BJP leader on why government was still allowing cash donations. Representatives of other major parties said they were yet to consider the matter. In March, chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi told HT that the proposed bonds are a good initiative, but the commission has not received any formal communication from the government. The EC did not respond to concerns the new scheme might give corporations and rich individuals undue influence over the democratic process. We will be able to comment only when we receive the scheme, said a senior EC official on the condition of anonymity. But former chief election commissioner SY Qureshi was critical of the government move. The removal of the cap on donation has serious implications. The more money companies put into politics, the more they will play politics. This is detrimental to democracy, Qureshi said. Let companies donate to a national electoral fund that will disburse money as per a transparent formula. With the bill ratified by Parliament, Qureshi said, the only hope was that opposition parties would push the government to implement the scheme in a transparent matter. Yet, past precedent suggests his hope is misplaced. In 2013, for instance, the 20th law commission sought suggestions from citizens, the EC and political parties on issues such as de-criminalising politics, state funding of elections and political donations. The Congress and the little-known Welfare Party of India were the only political parties to respond. Streamlining the funding will need political will, former chief election commissioner HS Brahma said, adding norms should be laid out for collection and spending of money. Jagdeep Chhokar of the Association for Democratic Reforms agreed with Brahma. He said the lack of a cohesive stand was in sharp contrast to the unity political parties had shown in demanding a rollback of electronic voting machines. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Workers Manufacture Cars at Dongfeng Nissan (Photo : Getty Images News) Dongfeng Nissan opened a two-month exhibit from April 10, 2017, at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport that featured its latest products and where people can try out the Nissan cutting-edge automotive driving system. Visitors can learn about Nissan's advanced vehicle control and safety technologies with cutting-edge artificial intelligence and about the Nissan Intelligent Mobility by wearing a virtual reality headset. Advertisement The pavilion is in a "Space-Time Tunnel," which opened to the public on Oct. 21, 2016, connects the airport terminal to the nearest subway. The pavilion is more than 200 meters in length and covers an area of more than 2,500 square meters. According to Liu Zongxin, general manager of the Sales and Marketing Department of Dongfeng Nissan, the company also provide people with the same sci-fi-like experience in its 50 Dongfeng Nissan franchise stores nationwide. Nissan also showcased its IDS Concept, an example of the company's vision of "Zero emissions, Zero fatalities," which is designed to enhance the "relationship between car and driver." Dongfeng Nissan is a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Ltd. and manufactures Nissan brand passenger cars. A few months back, Nissan was found to be among five car companies who violated the terms of China's hybrid car development program in order to get government funding. The amount misappropriated totaled to roughly 1 billion yuan. Nissan did not release any comment. A couple of years ago, 17 dealers of Dongfeng Nissan was fined a total of 19.1 million yuan by China after it was discovered to have made price fixing agreements with its dealers. Dongfeng Nissan said on its Weibo microblog that it accepts the fine and has determined a series of corrective measures. The fine is part of a government crackdown on what it has called anti-trust behavior by foreign automakers and dealers that targeted firms like Audi AG, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp. Protests greeted Luo Zhaohui, Chinas ambassador to India, when he visited a Chinese war cemetery in eastern Assams Tinsukia district on Saturday. Luo, on a two-day official visit to Assam, was accompanied by his wife, a Xinhua reporter and five members of the Chinese mission in Delhi. Officials in Tinsukia district said local organisations staged silent protests as Luo and his team visited the World War II cemetery at Lekhapani. As the diplomatic team was offering prayers in memory of Chinese soldiers buried in the cemetery, members of some NGOs protested the construction of big dams (on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in China), Tinsukia superintendent of police, Mugdhajyoti Mahanta said. Yarlung Tsangpo is one of three rivers that form the Brahmaputra in Assam. Mahanta said the team would leave for Delhi from Dibrugarh on Sunday after spending the night in Tinsukia. Chinese general Chiang Kai-shek had during 1942-45 placed many of his soldiers under American General Joseph Stilwell who oversaw the carving out of a 1,736 km road from Ledo in Assam to Kunming in Yunnan province of China. The road, used only once during the war, was built to transport supplies and reinforcements to China for battling the Japanese army. A Guwahati-based NGO had earlier alleged that the Chinese diplomats had planned the tour on the advice of Paresh Baruah, the elusive military chief of United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent believed to be operating from the China-Myanmar border The motive of the team was to study the Brahmaputra following Delhis decision to dredge the 841km-stretch of the river across Assam. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Eight persons seven policemen and a Maoist undertrial prisoner were killed in a road accident in Sitamarhi district in north Bihar early Saturday morning. Seven policemen and another undertrial Maoist were also injured when a prisoners van rammed into a stationary truck on national highway (NH)-77 near Gaighat villager in Runnisaidpur police station area, 25 km south of Sitamarhi. The injured are undergoing treatment at a private nursing home at Muzaffarpur, 62 km from here. Police said the accident took place when the ill-fated van, carrying 14 policemen and two Maoist prisoners from Bhagalpur in eastern Bihar, hit a stone chips laden truck on Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur stretch of NH 77. The policemen were escorting the two hardcore Maoists, who were being shifted from Bhagalpur special central prison to Sitamarhi divisional jail, said Runnisaidpur station house officer (SHO) Shiv Narayan Ram. Prima facie, it appears that the van was moving at a high speed. The driver could not assess whether the truck was standing or moving due to darkness. It may also be possible that the driver could have briefly dosed off. We are trying to ascertain the real reason behind the mishap, Ram said. Sitamarhi superintendent of police (SP) Hari Prasath S confirmed the death of eight persons in the accident. The victims include seven policemen and a hardcore Maoist, he said. All the victim policemen were from Sitamarhi, the SP added. The victims have been identified as Munna Singh (driver), Kuleshwar Chaudhury, Sanjay Kumar, Krishna Singh, Madan Sah, Umesh Mishra and Chumun Singh (all constables) and Hemant Kumar (prisoner). The injured are Pawan Rai, Rajdeo Ram, Pramod Singh, Surendra Paswan, Bipin Kumar, Awadesh Singh and Shiv Shankar Rai (all constables) and Suhag Paswan (prisoner). The SP said Paswan and Hemant Kumar were arrested last year from Vaishali district and initially lodged in Sitamarhi jail. They were among eight Maoists who were shifted to Bhagalpur from Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur about six months back, he said, adding that Paswan had been self styled Vaishali zone commander of CPI (Maoist). National Conferences Farooq Abdullah beat PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan in the bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha seat that recorded mere 7.13% polling, including the 2% turnout at 38 polling stations where re-polling was ordered following clashes between security forces and locals leading to death of eight people. The turnout was the lowest percentage in the states history, election officials said. Here are the highlights of the counting day: 3.40pm: National Conference president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the bypoll to the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seat, beating his PDP rival Nazir Ahmad Khan. 3.30pm: Farooq Abdullah takes an unassailable lead of 10,208 votes. Official announcement expected soon. 3pm: Farooq Abdullah was leading by 9,633 votes over his nearest rival after the 17th round of counting. 2.25pm: Abdullah polls 35539 against Nazirs 24931. Nota has received 667 of the total 63026 votes counted so far. 1.50pm: With 31930 votes in kitty so far, Farooq Abdullah maintains lead of 10,000 against PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan (22302). 12.05pm: PDPs Farooq Abdullah (29839) extends his lead by 9700 votes against Nazir Ahmad (20134). 11.30am: Abdullah (24111) is far ahead of PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan (18582) as the counting for bypolls is underway. 10.45am: National Conferences Farooq Abdullah (18970) widens lead margin over PDP candidate (13899). 10.20am: Of the votes counted so far, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference (13648) leading PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan (11617). 9.47am: Total votes counted so far is 13798; Farooq Abdullah gets 7,478 while Nazir Ahmad Khan gets 5,086. 9.45am: The lead margin of National Conferences Farooq Abdullah increases to 2,000 over PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan. 9.35am:Journalists are not allowed to enter the counting hall. Authorities are not sharing info with journalists waiting at the counting centre. 9.15am: National Conferences Farooq Abdullah leading by 986 votes over PDPs Nazir Khan. 9.09am: Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference has polled 3,990 while PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan has got 2,857 so far. Total votes counted so far is 7,272. 8am: Counting begins for the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll. People gather at a counting centre in Srinagar. (ANI) 7.51am: Election Commission is all set begin counting of votes in the violence-hit Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll. Violence in polls On Sunday, eight people were killed and over 100 security personnel were injured after mobs took to the streets at different places across the Lok Sabha constituency straddling Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts. The mobs even set ablaze a polling station and attempting to set afire two others. Alarmed by the unprecedented violence, the Election Commission decided to defer the south Kashmir Anantnag Parliamentary seat by-poll to May 25. Voting in the constituency was otherwise scheduled for April 12. (With agency inputs) Instead of crying foul over the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Samajwadi Party should realise that people of Uttar Pradesh have rejected it, the BJP said on Saturday, retorting to SP chief Akhilesh Yadavs demand for going back to ballot papers for holding elections. The BJP, which decimated opposition to secure a thumping majority in UP assembly polls recently, said it seemed that the former chief minister does not have any faith either in the EVMs or the mandate of the states voters. It seems that Akhilesh Yadav does not have any faith in the EVMs (electronic voting machines), the mandate of the people of UP, his father (SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav) or his uncle (former Shivpal Singh Yadav), BJPs UP unit spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told PTI. He said that instead of crying foul over the EVMs, the SP should try to come to terms with the reality that the people of the state have rejected it. The results of this UP assembly elections was a Tsunami, which simply annihilated all the possible caste equations. This is a grim reminder to regional satraps that days of politics of caste and religion are over, Tripathi said. The BJP spokesperson also coined a new slogan -- Akhilesh, Maya, Kejriwal| ek sur, ek taal -- on the prevailing situation vis-a-vis the row over EVMs. Yadav earlier today said EVMs cannot be relied upon and demanded that all future elections be conducted through ballot papers. When will EVMs develop a snag no one can tell ... When will the software fail ... Machines cannot be relied upon. We do not have faith in EVMs, he told reporters here. We have 100 per cent faith in our ballot papers and it is our demand that future elections are held using them ... We do not want to go into whether EVMs are good or bad, the former UP chief minister said. Yadav said people feel that they have been misled (by the BJP) for forming the government. The entire election was fought by spreading hatred in the name of caste and religion ... The votes were taken by promising benefits in the name of caste and religion, he said. More women are taking lead in anti-liquor campaigns in various villages with shops now moving to residential localities after the Supreme Court ordered removal of liquor vends from within 500 meters of highways. At Kancheepuram village, a group of women got together and pulled down a structure that was supposed to house a liquor store of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac). The men, too, joined the protest. Village panchayat vice-president M Dilli Babu said that a few days ago, a former employee at a Tasmac shop on the highway came and scouted for a spot in the village. The villagers then met the collector, who assured them that the shop would not come up. However, according to the villagers, construction of a building started taking place where the liquor shop was to come up. Therefore, they pulled it down on Thursday afternoon. The owner of the land, Venkadesan, insisted that it was not supposed to house liquor shop, but the villagers didnt pay heed to him. Whether it is Chinnayapalem village near Coimbatore or Samalapuram town near Tirupur, or for that matter in Tiruchirapalli or Vellore, the story is the same. Women are protesting opening of Tasmac in agricultural fields closer to residential clusters in villages as the apex court banned serving liquor close to highways. Sumalata, one of the protesters at Chinnayapalem, said, Once the liquor shop comes up here, there will be no security for women as all kinds of people would visit the place. There will be an increase in incidents of eve teasing too. It would be difficult for people to walk on this path because of the drunkards in the area. There are 79 houses in Chinnayapalem and all of them have hoisted black flags as a mark of protest against the administration for its plan to open liquor shop in the village. A memorandum has also been submitted to the collector protesting this decision. At Ranganathapuram colony, women find it difficult to fetch water or go for errands as they are targets of verbal abuse and rude comments from drunkards in the area. Similar is the situation at many villages where women are in the forefront of the agitation to stop liquor shops from moving into residential areas. At a shop in Kattur near Tiruchirapalli, the shop is legal but residents protest that it opens well before the prescribed time and operates even after the official closing time. At a village in Vellore, protests by women entered the fifth day on Friday. The protests began on April 10 when Tasmac officials came to inspect a spot in village for their shop. Despite objections by villagers, who have pitched a tent opposite the proposed shop, Tasmac officials are going ahead with their plans to open the outlet. Tasmac, a TN government body, has sole monopoly over sale and distribution of liquor in the state and has a revenue of close to Rs 30,000 crore, which will suffer a huge blow because of the Supreme Court order. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The law-enforcement authorities of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), known as Azad Kashmir in the neighbouring country, claimed to have arrested three Indian intelligence agents for alleged anti-state activities on Friday. Pakistani daily Dawn reported that the charges levelled against the three Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) recruits included bombing a police station in the region. PoK police identified the suspects as Mohammad Khalil, Imtiaz and Rashid, all residents of Taroti village in Abbaspur. The trio was produced before mediapersons at a briefing by senior police officers in Rawalkot, their faces covered with masks. Poonch deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Sajid Imran was quoted as saying that Khalil, the main suspect, had come into contact with RAW officials while visiting his relatives at Bandi Chechian village in India-held Kashmir in November 2014. Upon his return, Khalil allegedly recruited fellow villagers Imtiaz and Rashid to work with him for handsome returns. According to Imran, Khalil confessed to crossing the LoC nearly 15 times over the last two years. His accomplices, on the other hand, admitted to going over to the other side on at least six occasions. Khalil would take cigarettes and cellphone memory cards with him, besides pictures of bridges, mosques and security installations, the DSP said, adding that the suspect had given at least two active SIM cards to Indian officials. Upon his return, Khalil used to bring money as well as Indian liquor that would then be sold to people in the area. Imran claimed that Khalil was tasked by RAW with carrying out a bomb blast at any Pakistani security installation, for which they offered him Rs 5 lakh. Imtiaz and Rashid were supposed to get Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 50,000 from that amount respectively. On September 27 last year, they chose a police station in Abbaspur as a soft target. There were no casualties, even though the building was damaged, the DSP said, adding that the improvised explosive device used for the purpose was brought from across the LoC. However, Indian officials refused to release the pledged money to the three because they were unable to provide a newspaper report as proof of their action, the police officer said. Imran said police finally caught wind of the suspects activities when somebody reported seeing them with a suspicious-looking shopping bag in Abbaspur on the night of September 26. We tracked their movements and phone calls, and finally got hold of them with the help of intelligence agencies two days ago, he added. The three have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act, reported Dawn. This incident comes days after a Pakistani army court sentenced Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, to death for espionage and anti-state activities. Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan plunged following Jadhavs conviction, with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj warning Islamabad of consequences if Jadhavs death sentence was carried out. Jadhav was reportedly captured in Balochistan in March last year. He was tried by a field general court martial under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act. Jadhav can appeal the death sentence to Pakistans Supreme Court within 60 days. 1) Quit as defence minister due to pressure of key issues such as Kashmir: Manohar Parrikar Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday said the pressure of some key issues, like Kashmir, was one of the reasons why he opted to quit as the defence minister and return to the coastal state. The pressure of the issues like Kashmir while working as defence minister in Delhi was one of the reasons why I chose to come back to Goa, Parrikar said while addressing a gathering on the I chose to come back to Goa when I got an opportunity to do so. When you are in the Centre, you have to tackle issues like Kashmir and others... Delhi is not my area of operations (and) that is why I used to feel under pressure, he said speaking on the occasion of the 126th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar. Read the full story here. 2) It was do-or-die: Army official on video of Kashmiri man tied to jeep A video purportedly showing a Kashmiri man strapped to the front of an army jeep may have triggered outrage in Kashmir but army officials say it was a do or die situation during an attack by local residents in Budgam. Army sources said a five-vehicle convoy led by a major was carrying 12 poll officials when they came under heavy stone-pelting by locals, including women, who showered the cars with stones from rooftops in Budgam area on the outskirts of Srinagar. The stone attack sent things spinning out of controlit was do or die, said the official. Read the full story here. 3) Ahead of BJPs national executive meet in Bhubaneswar, all eyes are on Yogi As the two-day BJP national executive meet starts in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, all eyes are on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath who has created a buzz in the temple city. An indication to his ascension in the party hierarchy came from the choice of posters inside the venue one on the dais showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and senior leader LK Advani and another on the opposite side of the hall showing Adityanath surrounded by leaders at his swearing in ceremony. Read the full story here. 4) Defer Delhi MCD polls until EVMs are equipped with paper trails: Kejriwal to state election commission chief The Election Commission (EC) should defer the Delhi civic polls by a month or two if it cannot equip all electronic voting machines (EVM) with paper trails, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief also told reporters that the poll panel was using redundant EVMs in the Delhi Municipal elections that could be hacked even by a child. I am an engineer from IIT, I can tell you 10 ways to tamper with EVMs, he told news channel NDTV in a separate interview. Read the full story here. 5) India to appeal against Jadhavs death sentence, seeks charge-sheet: Envoy India on Friday sought copies of the charge-sheet and the death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav even as it reiterated its demand for consular access to the former Indian Navy officer arrested in Balochistan more than a year ago. Indian high commissioner Gautam Bambawale demanded the charge-sheet and the judgement of the Pakistani military court that sentenced Jadhav to death when he met foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua. Bambawale also sought consular access for the 14th time, said a brief statement from the Indian mission. Read the full story here. 6) School under RSS skips holiday on Ambedkar birth anniversary in Punjab, faces action After receiving a complaint, officials of the Mansa district education department visited the Sarvahitkari Vidya Mandir, in Dulowal village and found it to be open on Ambedkar Jayanti. This, among other violations, is part of a report sent to higher officials about the school, which, according to its principal, comes under the RSS. The officials also found some books with literature glorifying a particular religion that were mandatory course material for students. Some literature material has been seized from the school premises and we have also taken notice of the fact that this school remained open on a national holiday. It was also found that in violation of laws, the school has been issuing books from private publishers, said a deputy district education officer. Read the full story here. 7) Congress launches website on works, life of Dr Ambedkar The Congress launched a digital platform on the life and works of Dalit icon and main architect of the Indian Constitution Dr BR Ambedkar on his 126th birth anniversary on Friday. The website Quest For Equity (www.questforequity.org) contains pictures of his achievements and a copy of the original Constitution of India. It also has more than 300 archival pictures of Ambedkar, 97 scans of his correspondence and the full transcripts of the Constituent Assembly debates. Read the full story here. 8) Hackers release files indicating NSA monitored global bank transfers Hackers released documents and files on Friday that cybersecurity experts said indicated the US National Security Agency had accessed the SWIFT interbank messaging system, allowing it to monitor money flows among some Middle Eastern and Latin American banks. The release included computer code that could be adapted by criminals to break into SWIFT servers and monitor messaging activity, said Shane Shook, a cyber security consultant who has helped banks investigate breaches of their SWIFT systems. Read the full story here. 9) Irans president Hassan Rouhani registers to run in May elections Irans President Hassan Rouhani registered Friday to run in the upcoming presidential elections in May, saying he will continue to preserve a landmark nuclear deal that his country reached with world powers in 2015. Journalists watched as Rouhani, 68, registered on the fourth day of the allocated period which ends on Saturday evening. The upcoming vote will be seen, among other things, as a referendum on the nuclear agreement with world powers, under which Iran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. Read the full story here. 10) IPL 2017: Andrew Tyes hat-trick powers Gujarat Lions to big win v Rising Pune Supergiant Andrew Tyes brilliant spell of 5/17, including a hat-trick, helped Gujarat Lions to a seven-wicket win over Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017 Indian Premier League. This was GLs first win this season. Suresh Rainas bowlers restricted Rising Pune Supergiant to 171 for eight in 20 overs with Aussie pacer Andrew Tyes brilliant show on his IPL debut. Raina then remained unbeaten on 35 to steer his team to a seven-wicket win after openers Dwayne Smith (47 off 30 balls) and Brendon McCullum (32-ball 49) had an explosive 94-run partnership. Read the full story here. Moments after Gujarat Lions picked up their first victory of the 2017 Indian Premier League, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo took to Twitter to congratulate his team besides stating he couldnt wait to be a part of the side. (IPL 2017 full coverage) Besides being one of the most successful players in the Indian Premier League, Bravo is a specialist in the T20 format and an asset for any side. However, the Caribbean has had to miss a couple of games this year because of the hamstring injury he had suffered during Big Bash League last year. He underwent a surgery last month and has been working on his fitness constantly to make a comeback. Well done @TheGujaratLions Can't wait to get back on the field with my team. Almost time to roar! #RoadToRecovery Dwayne DJ Bravo (@DJBravo47) April 14, 2017 Gujarat Lions missed the services of both Bravo and India international Ravindra Jadeja in their first two games, both of which they lost, before picking up the victory last night. Jadeja had injured his spinning finger and was advised by the BCCI to rest for a few games after the 13-match Test season at home. Lions had a terrific outing last season, topping the table with nine victories during the group stages but had a forgettable start to their campaign with a 10-wicket loss against former champions Kolkata Knight Riders. Bravo played an instrumental role with the ball as well, picking up 17 wickets from 15 matches besides scoring 99 runs coming lower down the order. The Lions will next take on Mumbai Indians, who currently lead the table with three victories from four games, at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Members of Dalit community gathered here on Saturday to protest BJP MLA Vijay Bansals comment that BR Ambedkar was not a architect of Indian constitution. They shouted slogans against the Bharatpur MLA during their protest outside the district collectorate. The protestors also demand legal action against Bansal and urged assembly speaker to terminate Bansals membership. District president of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Puran Singh Parnami approached Mathura Gate police station to register a complaint against the MLA under the SC\ST Act. Jatav Mahasabha district president Raj Kumar Pappa criticised the MLA to hurt sentiments of Dalits. Devendra Pal Singh, a lawyer from Dalit community, filed a complaint against Bansal in a SC\ST court. He submitted all media news coverage before the court. Rajendra Sona, a former district president of BSP, appealed his community to boycott Bansal in the 2018 assembly election. The community members will hand over a memorandum to the governor through district collector Narendra Kumar Gupta on Monday. They will give two days to the state government for taking action against Bansal. Bansal, who is MLA from Bharatpur third time in a row, was speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration of a school in Bharatpurs Krishna Nagar Colony on Friday. When HT reached out to Bansal, he said he didnt make a comment on politics of votes. The state government plans to shift the management of the Haathi Gaon (elephant village) in Jaipur from the tourism to the forest department to give the tourism project a facelift, officials said. The government hired a consultant to prepare an 8-crore action plan to improve the condition of the elephant village. Indias first elephant village, launched in 2010 to attract tourists, is in a sorry state now. The project for more than 100 elephants and their mahouts aimed at providing a natural park-like shelter for jumbos with plantations and creating attractions for tourists. Earlier the village was managed by the Amber Development and Management Authority (ADMA); the tourism department was later given the responsibility, a senior forest department official said on condition of anonymity. With the tourism department lacking in experience and expertise to handle the village, it is being considered to transfer the management to the forest department. Though elephants are paraded to the Amber fort for the tourists, they live in a pitiable state at the Haathi Gaon. The forest department will manage Haathi Gaon like a zoo, on the lines of Nahargarh Biological Park, the official said. We will develop it; an action plan has been prepared through a consultant under which development works will be carried out with 8 crore. The works will be executed by the Jaipur Development Authority, he said. The works will include landscaping, plantation, deepening of water bodies, and adding more sheds for elephants, the official said. Overall, the effort is to improve the habitat. An office-bearer of Haathi Malik Vikas Samiti said, It seems that after launching the project in 2010, the government forgot it. From ADMA, the elephant village was transferred to the tourism department in 2014; thereafter the situation here started deteriorating. He said water scarcity hit plantations. There is no one to take care of the project. He said 116 elephants and 51 families stay in the village. We charge a tourist 1100 for a ride, of which we get 850 and the rest is deducted as tax including 60 for development of village and 30 for welfare fund. The tax is charged but there is no development works or maintenance, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Protests rise demanding for compensation for the Asian passenger dragged out of his seat in a United Airlines flight. (Photo : Getty Images) Donnie Yen and many other celebrities slammed United Airlines after a video of a passenger that was dragged from his seat went viral online. The airline needed to clear four seats to accommodate crew members who needed to fly from Chicago to Louisville. The airline lost $1 billion in value and turned off many Chinese passengers. China is one of the largest sources of the airline's travelers. Advertisement The star of "Ip Man" and "Rogue One" posted on Facebook that he'd never fly with United Airlines after his son saw the viral video. He posted, "How do you teach your children of such uncivilized, injustice, discriminated, publicly and proudly assaulted a 69-year-old man, treating him like trash. No one should be treated this way." There is also speculation that the passenger was seen as a Chinese-American and was the main motivation for the abuse and escalating consumer's dismay on the United Airlines scandal. The video is the most trending topic this week as it received 1 billion views and 360,000 comments. Many Chinese users cut up their membership cards and posted pictures of it on Weibo. There was a petition named #ChineseLivesMatter, which was signed by 200,000 individuals who are demanding a federal investigation of the incident. United Airlines received a lot of criticism in mainstream media and online because of the incident. Like Donnie Yen, many celebrities are calling for a boycott. Joe Wong, a Chinese-born comedian who has performed multiple times on the "Late Show with David Letterman," posted on Weibo, "Many Chinese people feel they've been subject to discrimination." He added, "They stay silent because they fear losing face. That's why the Western mainstream media and the public don't take discrimination against Asians seriously." United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz has issued a public apology for overbooking and "for having to re-accommodate" customers. The lack of sympathy was evident and made the situation even worse, according to Ed Zitron, a PR expert. He said that the incident "was a classic case of a company too afraid to make a categorical statement of compassion for fear of a lawsuit." "Had United shown compassion and intent to make things right, they could have come out of this at the very least looking like an airline that cares. Instead, they've just made it even worse," Zitron added. Tourists visiting Darjeeling hills in West Bengal can feel safer as police have got more eyes to monitor crimes against women, hit and run cases and theft. The blueprint is to install the cameras in such a way that no vehicle can enter, or leave, the hill town without being recorded by some of these remote eyes. Darjeeling district police have installed 65 cameras in strategic locations in Darjeeling town including approach roads. The important locations of the entire district will come under video surveillance by the end of the month. Read: Darjeeling discovers a new kind of tourist Darjeeling is one of the most popular hill stations in the country with more than 6.20 lakh domestic and about 50,000 foreign tourists visiting it in 2016. With about 6.2 lakh domestic and 50,000 foreign tourists visiting in 2016, Darjeeling is one of the most popular hill destinations in the country. (HT Photo) The installation of cameras would make the place safer for tourists. The cameras will also help in controlling crime again women, said Darjeeling district police super Amit P Javalgi. Vehicles fleeing after accidents cant escape surveillance. However, the district police boss added that Darjeeling is not a crime prone area. There have been few records of crime against tourists in many years, Javalgi told Hindustan Times. But the police are trying to take proactive steps to make the tourists feel abundantly safe. Theft of vehicles is a problem in the town and its surroundings. Read: Exclusive park for mountain bikers in Darjeeling Samrat Sanyal the president of Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators Association (EHTTOA) said Though Darjeeling has always been safe for tourists the video surveillance will reassure their confidence. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, which is on the world heritage list, is a big tourist attraction. (HT Photo) Javalgi said that policing would be made better through technology intervention. The cameras are of high quality with zooming facilities. Some of them will be able to capture visuals at 360 degree angles. A sum of Rs 40 lakh provided by West Bengal transport department has already been spent for the purpose. Proposal for more cameras has been sent. We will put up signs in various places to make the public aware that they are under video surveillance, said Javalgi. The move is not to scare people, not to infringe in their privacy but to enhance and tighten the security of public, he said. Read: In Christmas you cant miss this Aussie couple in Darjeeling Gopal Lama the secretary of tourism department of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) said, Darjeeling has always been safe for the tourists and the CCTV cameras will act an additional deterrence. This is the first time in West Bengal that the entire town visited by tourists is fitted with CCTV cameras. The installation of CCTV cameras at 40 points in and around Darjeeling town comes just before the hill station goes to municipal polls in mid May. April and May is considered the peak tourist season in these hills. The video surveillance in Darjeeling started from Friday while CCTVs have also been installed in some places of Mirik, Kalimpong and Kurseong and in Kharibari, Naxalbari and Phansidewa in the plains, that are under that are under the jurisdiction of Darjeeling Police. The cameras will be able to record for at least 15 days at a stretch. All approach roads to Darjeeling town from Ghoom and Singamari have also been kept under video surveillance to keep a tab of vehicles entering Darjeeling town. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The illegal poppy menace took three lives Malda district of West Bengal on Thursday night when they descended in a well to retrieve illegally hoarded poppy and poppy seed pods. The well was full of toxic gas that they inhaled leading to the death of two of them at the spot, while one later died in at Malda Medical College and Hospital. Two others are admitted to another hospital. The incident happened late on Thursday night in Mominpara village under Kaliachak police station. Incidentally, Kaliachak and Baishnabnagar are infamous for illegal poppy cultivation, apart from being the countrys hub for fake currency notes. Both these areas are close to the border with Bangladesh. Read: Malda administration to hire drones to identify poppy producing areas Those killed were identified as Anarul Sheikh (32), Kausar Momin and Rabi Momin (20). Those who are undergoing treatment in a hospital are Muklesur Momin (24) and Based Sheikh (27). A senior doctor of Malda Medical College and Hospital said, The symptoms indicate that the three inhaled some poisonous gas. But we can be certain only after the autopsy. The administration has taken strict steps to curb illegal poppy cultivation in the district including deployment of drones for aerial survey of the fields. (HT Photo) A senior officer of Kaliachak police station said, We have asked people not to go inside the well. We are trying to find out who came to purchase the poppy and the flowers peel. Significantly, in 2016 the excise department destroyed illegal poppy plants on more than 12,200 bigha land in Malda district. But none has any clear idea about the exact quantity of illegal poppy production in Malda last year. However, there was almost no production this year thanks to strong administrative action this year. Unable to sell a large quantity of last years produce, the traders hoarded poppy and other related items such as opium, poppy flowers petals. The prices of these commodities have also gone up. Read: Maldas dirty money: How Bengal district became Indias fake notes capital Local sources said on Thursday night some persons came to Kausar Momins house to buy poppy seeds, opium and other items. It is believed last year, Momin had a bumper crop and he hid it in a well so that none could find it. Lured at the prospect of sale, Momin descended into the well with his brother Rabi to fetch the bags. When the two brothers didnt emerge, Kausar Momins wife sought the help of some villagers to rescue them. Neighbours Anarul Sheikh (32), Muklesur Momin (24) and Based Sheikh (27) climbed down the well to rescue them. In January 2016 some narcotics traders vandalised the Kaliachak police station and burnt important documents against the smugglers. But we didnt have the idea that some of them concealed the production in wells too, said a senior police officer of the district. Rahamat Miyan, a villager said, When Kausar and Rabi didnt emerge from the well, we thought a genie devoured them. Villagers found several bags inside the well which were full with poppy and poppy flowers peel. Eleven out of 150 advance life support (ALS) ambulances, which were launched on Thursday, had to be sent back to the workshop after the equipment installed in these vehicles developed snag. As soon as these ambulances were flagged off by the chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the staff complained of some noise in the vehicles. This was due to fitting issues in 11 vehicles, said Jitendra Walia, operation head, GVK EMRI that runs the ambulances. PROBLEM FIXED There was some noise in the oxygen door, attendant seat (that was shaking), wood cabinet and window sheet. We got them repaired and by Saturday morning they will reach their respective districts, said Jitendra Walia, operation head, GVK EMRI. These 11 ambulances were to be sent to Auraiyya, Baghpat, Hathras, JP Nagar, Barabanki, Chandauli, Shahjahanpur, Siddharthnagar, Firozabad, Pratapgarh and Kasganj districts. The noise was in the oxygen door, attendant seat (that was shaking), wood cabinet and window sheet. We got them repaired and by Saturday morning they will reach their respective districts, he said. These 11 ambulances were to be sent to Auraiyya, Baghpat, Hathras, JP Nagar, Barabanki, Chandauli, Shahjahanpur, Siddharthnagar, Firozabad, Pratapgarh and Kasganj districts. Meanwhile, the other 139 ambulances reached their respective districts on Friday. During the day, GVK EMRI call centre received 27 inquiries for ALS ambulances. The services are not affected as one ALS ambulance has reached each of the districts and the second one will also reach latest by morning, stated Walia. Taking action, the GVK EMRI has blacklisted the firm that had been given the task of fabrication (fitting equipment). Apart from the existing basic life support ambulances running in the state, 150 ALS ambulances were flagged off on Thursday. Each district will get two ambulances equipped with life-saving technologies. The Mayawatis decision of appointing her younger brother Anand Kumar as national vice-president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is likely to lead to rebellion in the party. Some senior party leaders and workers loyal to party founder Kanshi Ram have decided to register their protest in the meeting called by Mayawati in the state unit office on Sunday. The meeting has been called to seek the endorsement of office-bearers on the appointment of Anand to the top post and also to discuss the change in the party organisation. Talking to HT, a senior party leader, who does not wished to be named, said, Bhimrao Ambedkar as well as Kanshi Ram opposed dynasty. Apart from being a political party, BSP is a movement launched for the empowerment of the Dalit community. Kanshi Ram renunciated his family and did not allow any family member to grab position in the party. Rather he promoted committed party workers in the organisation, he said while accusing Mayawati of trying to establish her family hegemony over the party. The rebellion of senior leaders before assembly election has already shaken the base of the party, he said. Another party leader said Anand was facing serious corruption charges and the move was aimed at protecting him. He is under the scanner of the Income Tax, Enforcement Directorate as well as Central Bureau of Investigation. He is managing the ill-gotten property of the BSP chief, he said. Earlier, Mayawati had appointed Rajya Sabha MP Raja Ram on the post of national vice-president. She had announced that BSP worker belonging to Jatav community will be appointed her successor. But the sudden U-turn have left the party workers surprised and antagonized. The announcement that Anand will not claim MP, MLA or chief ministers post has failed to calm down the workers. Various Dalit organisations have also condemned the BSP chief for appointing her brother as national vice-president. CB Rahul, a senior member of All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF), said Mayawati has dumped the ideology of Ambedkar as well as Kanshi Ram. After taking party reins in her hand, she has changed the ideals of the party by opening the door to the people who have exploited the Dalits for ages, he said. Chief executive officer of National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), Ashok Bharti, said that by appointing her brother as national vice president, Mayawati has proved that she has nothing to do with the ideology of Ambedkar and KanshiRam. Dr Nirmal of Ambedkar Mahasabha said Anands appointment will only harm the BSP. Ganga Ram Ambedkar, a former Mayawati aide, said appointment of Anand will prove to be the last nail in BSPs coffin. My organisation will provide alternative to the Dalit community who wish to part ways with Mayawati, he said. Read more: Ready to be part of larger anti-BJP front: Mayawati SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After Salma Ansari, the wife of Vice-President Hamid Ansari, another woman member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Rukhsana Nikhat Lari has denounced the practice of triple talaq in one go. We find one or two instances of triple talaq during the times of caliph Hazrat Umar but those were under exceptional circumstances. Uttering talaq thrice in one sitting finds no mention in Quran, Lari told HT on the eve of the two-day executive committee meeting of AIMPLB at prominent Islamic seminary Nadwat-ul-Ulema in Lucknow. Though Rukhsana is not on the executive panel of the board, her stance on triple divorce has isolated her in the male-dominated religious body. If something is wrong, let us admit it and not live in denial simply because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said it is wrong, she said. I am not saying this to please anyone. One has to put the record straight in the light of Quran, said Rukhsana, who has been a member of the Board since 1990s. On April 13, the AIMPLB submitted over 48 million signatures along with a petition to the Law Commission, objecting to a uniform civil code. The petition demanded there should be no interference in the Shariat (Islamic laws) including those pertaining to divorce and polygamy even as the practice of triple divorce has come under the scanner of the Supreme Court. The Board claims that of the 48,347,596 signatures it gathered, more than half (27,356,934) were of women. Lari, however, said she did not sign any document in support of the AIMPLB campaign. They know my position on the issue. Probably that is why they do not involve me in such campaigns anymore. I was last invited to AIMPLBs session in Kolkata in November last year but was not allowed to speak. Perhaps they (Muslim Board) may have cancelled my membership but I have not received any official communication about it so far, she said. Lari first locked horns with the clergy on triple divorce at a seminar in Lucknow in June 2016. She was subsequently not allowed to speak at the press conference after the event. Divorce is deemed as the most deplorable thing in Islam. It is to be resorted to only when all attempts at reconciliation fail. The Quran provides three months time for this. Unfortunately, it is being misused now, she said. Read more: Two Muslim women take part in hawan to end triple talaq SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said he was willing to be a part of any national coalition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The statement comes a day after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said she was open to alliance with any party. Yadav had also met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee four days ago. The SP will play an important role in the formation of such an alliance. I have met all the party nominees who contested the UP assembly elections. My assessment is that the BJP managed to polarise voters on religious and caste lines and won the election by making false promises, he said. Akhilesh was talking to media persons at the launch of the partys three-month long membership drive at the SP headquarters in Lucknow in which he, along with wife Dimple Yadav, took the membership of the party. Criticising the ruling BJP government in the state for indulging in politics in the name of religion, he said: Perhaps, the BJP thinks I am not a Hindu anymore. The situation is such that I have to now tweet a photo every time I visit a temple. Yadav said he never believed in the politics of appeasement, caste of religion and added his wife also came from a different caste. On the partys poor showing at the hustings, he said, Some of our voters are still trying to figure out how the BJP won even though they voted for the SP. It is for the Election Commission (EC) to explain complaints against faulty EVMs, he said. Reiterating the partys demand to go back to the old system of ballot papers, Yadav said he was with all non-BJP parties which met the EC on the issue. Read more: Why PM Narendra Modi would love to see a united Opposition in 2019 | Opinion People have lost trust in EVMs. Even the EC has admitted that some machines were not properly calibrated and there was a fault in their software. The commission should reveal the names of the companies that programmed and supplied EVMs, he said. Attacking the BJP government for its anti-Romeo drive, Yadav said innocent people were being beaten up and insulted by the squads. Romeo ke chakkar mein kitne pit rahe hain, kitne apmaanit ho rahein hain. Inko pata bhi hai Romeo kaun tha? (Many people are getting beaten up and insulted by the anti-Romeo squad. Do they (BJP) even know who Romeo was?), he asked. On meat ban, the former CM dared the BJP to reveal the names of the owners of all big meat processing houses in the country. They showed the pictures of only some Muslim owners of slaughter houses, who had come to meet the CM. Let the BJP reveal the names of non-Muslims in meat business, he said. Yadav accused the BJP of adopting double standards on the issue in Goa, Karnataka and other north-east states where there was no ban on meat. The SP has 1.44 lakh active members, whose three-year membership expires on June 30. The party has now extended the membership tenure to five years and Akhilesh, who took over as the national president on January 1 this year, said elections to the post of party chief would be held before September 2017. Read more: Rattled by 2017 poll rout, Mayawati opens BSP horizons to alliance options SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tension prevailed in Teliarganj area of Allahabad after a devotee found the severed head of a calf on the premises of a Shiva temple on Saturday, police said. According to report, a devotee spotted a calfs head at Akhileshwar Mahadev Temple and informed the priest. As the news spread, activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal staged a protest and demanded action against the accused. Teams from various police stations and personnel of PAC and RAF were deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident. A company of army personnel from Cantonment also reached the spot. Force deployed near the temple. (HT Photo) ASP Ganesh Saha pacified the activists and assured them of strict action against the culprits. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Shalabh Mathur said an FIR had been lodged against unidentified people on the complaint of temple priest Akhilesh. He said the Gangster Act and the National Security Act would also be imposed on the culprits. The police will take the help of the footage of CCTV cameras installed in a nearby school to identify the culprits. Force has been deployed in the area as a precautionary measure, the SSP said. In view of the tension, the authorities of Maharshi Patanjali School opposite the temple suspended the classes and asked the parents to take their children back home. The BJP government has included triple talaq in its 100-day plan and will seek the opinion of Muslim women and organisations which will be placed before the Supreme Court. Talaq on petty issues like delay in serving food by wife are being reported these days. This is sheer victimisation of women and it is the responsibility of the government to safeguard their rights, said minister of state for Muslim Waqf and Haj Mohsin Raza. The government will form a high-level committee including ministers, representatives of Muslim womens organisations and women who have been given talaq. The government wants to support women but do not want to interfere in Shariat (Islamic law). Life of women should not be ruined in the name of religion, said Raza. Once the issue comes under the purview of the Constitution, women will have the right to speak against victimisation, he said. Raza said the committee would take shape soon and Muslim women would be invited to share their problems and concerns. Women from all background will be brought on one platform. Any decision taken in a fit of anger is not accepted. Often talaq is the result of a bout of anger. Triple talaq is not uttering the word thrice in one go. It is a three-month progression aimed at avoiding talaq, the minister said. For scholars too, triple talaq is more than just divorce. They said it should be understood that triple talaq had been made a three-month process to keep the couple united even till the last day of this period. President of the All-India Muslim Women Personal Law Board Shaista Amber said, The process involves elders of the family and scholars who try to sort out differences between the couple. Some people are misusing triple talaq to exploit women. If you meet the women who have been victims of this pronouncement you will understand how their lives shatter in a minute. They only have a dark future ahead, she said. Read more| The girls should get justice: Triple talaq victims parents may meet PM Modi, CM Adityanath SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The city has seen an average of 18 cases of mangrove destruction on private land every month this year. In the past four years, the city has witnessed an average of eight cases per month in private areas. A preliminary report on mangrove destruction on private land revealed a total of 115 cases between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017, of which 74 cases were recorded between January and April this year and 21 cases were filed. However, not a single person has been arrested or convicted in any of the cases. This revelation is out just five days after the suburban collector initiated a survey to check mangrove destruction at private mangrove forests in Mumbai. The report also states that since 2013, the city has seen 354 cases of mangrove destruction with 131 first-information-reports (FIRs) being filed, but no arrests or convictions in any of the cases. Officials from the suburban collectors office said the reports were being collated before action begins. Maximum cases are in the citys suburbs Charkop, Andheri, Dahisar, Erangal, Kandivli, Borivli, Malad-Marwe and Gorai. The violations were identified using satellite maps from 2005 to 2017 from the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Applications Centre (MRSAC), Nagpur. Over the next 12 days, our revenue and circle officers will be visiting the sites to check the extent of damage and initiate investigation in each case, said Deependra Singh Kushwa, Mumbai suburban collector. The local police will assist our teams and we will ensure that violators are punished. The results will be reflected in the near future. The destruction of mangrove forests across the state and construction within 50m of mangrove areas was banned by the Bombay high court in 2005, after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by the NGO Bombay Environment Action Group. Additionally, mangrove destruction is an offence under The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which declares a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) in which debris dumping, land reclamation and bunding are restricted in order to protect the coastal environment. Mangroves are included in the most ecologically sensitive category. Environmentalists said mangroves in Mumbai are the most sought after area for real-estate development. The apathy of the government over the past decade has only emboldened the violators. The state machinery has fully colluded with the land mafia and everyone is making money at the cost of our coastal environment, said Stalin D, director, NGO Vanashakti. Read: How many mangroves on private land in Mumbai have been hacked in past 12 years? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON This weekend Mumbaiites can buy alcohol along highways in the city as 80% of restaurants, bars, pubs and liquor shops along the highways in Mumbai and Thane started selling alcohol from Saturday. They were shut down for a fortnight following Supreme Court order banning the sale of liquor within 500m of highways. The state excise department has started to renew liquor licenses which helped around 80% of our members to start their operations. The rest will start serving alcohol as soon as they get licenses, said Adarsh Shetty, Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) president. But we are hoping for a better weekend for our members, he added. This became possible after the state government on Friday issued a notification denotifying both Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and Western Express Highway (WEH) and handed them over for repair and maintenance to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for five years. Denotifying the highway means they will officially be treated as city roads. This will enable restaurants and shops to sell alcohol within 500m of them without disobeying the Supreme Courts directive. Following the apex courts order, the state government had cancelled liquor licenses of around 500 establishments in Mumbai on March 31. Opposition parties have, however, criticised the state governments move. This government is more concerned about liquor shops then those who die in road accidents caused by drunk driving, said Congress leader Sachin Sawant. The state government is using all the means to save them and unfortunately chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is leading the movement from front, he alleged. Also read: Liquor ban: MMRDA to take over highways to allow bars in Mumbai to function SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Asians Outraged and Accuse United Airlines of Racism for Flight Overbooking, Lack of Sympathy Asians hold protests at the O'Hare Airport Terminal when a Vietnamese doctor was dragged off a United Airlines flight. (Photo : Getty Images) Dennis Dao was videod being dragged down the aisle of a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville. The video went viral and many Asians are upset with the news. The reaction not only came from angry Chinese but from many Asians around the world. The doctor is not Chinese but is Vietnamese-American. Advertisement Many netizens were angry about the incident. A Vietnamese named Anh Trang Khuya posted on Facebook, "Watching this makes my blood boil, I'll never fly United Airlines." Another Facebook user, Nguyen Khac Huy, wrote, "Boycott United!!! This is excessive!" The incident is coined as the worst PR catastrophe for United Airlines. By next year, there will be 23 million Chinese who will travel to the U.S. and it is predicted that United will have a small share due to the incident. A representative from Japan Airlines said, "We would never drag our customers off our planes. That is unimaginable." "We ask passengers to voluntarily give up their seats. If nobody does, then we just keep asking until we find one," he added. Aside from being a PR disaster, stocks of United plummeted by $1 billion. Analysts predict that United's 20 percent control of flights to China, particularly Beijing, Chengdu and Xian, will be lost to other airlines. United Airlines' lack of sympathy was also highly criticized. The airline's CEO, Oscar Munoz, publicly apologized and stated, "This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers." However, United Airlines' handling of the situation is in accordance to the boarding priority policy of the airline. These policies are compliant with the bill of rights of passengers and sanctified by the U.S. Supreme Court. United Airlines' boarding priorities policy state, "If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily in accordance with UA's boarding priority." India is facing a serious environmental crisis with rampant illegal sand mining fetching Rs1,611 crore in profits every year, a documentary by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) claimed. The United Nations had stated that illegal sand mining is a major environmental concern which may threaten the existence of over 70% of the worlds beaches. It contributes to land erosion, compromising water security, affecting climate and many more fatal calamities. The 20-minute documentary Line in the Sand was screened in Mumbai by Awaaz Foundation on Saturday that highlights the illegal sand mining trade, the mafia involved and identified areas such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, where regular sand excavation using machines is carried out. Sand mining contributes to land erosion, compromising water security, affecting climate and many more fatal calamities. (HT photo) We came across life-threatening situations while shooting the documentary as majority of sand is excavated during the night, said Savitri Chaudhury, one of the directors of the documentary. While there is hardly any data on the amount of sand already excavated from India, we arrived at the $250 million (Rs1,611-crore) figure after speaking to various central and state government bodies. Three activists, Sumaira Abdulali from Awaaz Foundation in Mumbai, Aakash Chauhan and Brijmohan Yadav, both from Uttar Pradesh have been featured in the film. While Abdulali and Yadav were attacked during their crackdown on sand mining excavation operations at Mahad and Bundelkhand, Chauhan alleged that his father and brother were murdered by the sand mafia. My father and brother had both spent their lives trying to expose the sand mafia operating at areas close to Noida. The police refused to help me because they too are involved with them, said Chauhan. My life is now dedicated to tracking the sand mafia operating out of UP, and I will not rest until they are behind bars. Yadavs petition is currently pending at the Allahabad high court after he was mercilessly beaten up by eight persons involved in the trade. While the accused were booked, no one was arrested. About 1,000 trucks leave the Bundelkhand region daily carrying sand worth Rs35,000 each. While the police and the politicians get their share, we are the ones attacked because we speak the truth, he said. Saturdays screening was followed by a panel discussion where alternatives of sand mining were discussed with members of the state environment department, state pollution control board, documentary film makers and activists. Abdulali, who was attacked by a mob in 2010 near Bankot Creek in Raigad during a site visit to check sand mining, said that the government must take steps to stop the menace endangering environment and livelihood of lakhs of people. Mining of sand is considered a necessity under current situation where there are few alternatives available. However, little effort is made to find and implement such alternatives, she said. No efforts to map available sand stocks and match them with requirements for building purposes are being done by the state or the centre. In a bid to safeguard the environment, the audience, comprising students and senior academics, activists and concerned citizens signed a memorandum to the Prime Minister to create alternatives to sand for construction in the country. AUTHORITIES SPEAK Praveen Gedam, transport commissioner and former district collector at Solapur who developed the sand mining approval and tracking system adopted across India as the National Sustainable Sand Mining guidelines addressed Saturdays panel by stating that Maharashtra was the only state in India to have specialised mechanism to tackle sand mining with the help of geologists in every district. The idea is to cordon off an area where sand mining is rampant and only provide one entry and exit. CCTVs need to be installed at these sites to monitor the movement of trucks. Squads under the district collector then need to be deployed at the site with the police to take down violators, said Gedam. His whose efforts led to the district administration filing 425 first information reports (FIRs) against the sand mafia cartel in 2013. The district earned revenue in the form of fines at Rs78 crore in 2013 as compared to Rs22 crore in 2012. Also read: Illegal sand mining spreads to Mumbai, 72 cases reported but no arrests yet SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Powai police recently arrested a 27-year-old police aspirant for duping police recruiters by sticking a carom striker to his head to increase his height. The aspirant, Aniket Rauji, is an Amravati resident. The incident took place at Marol training camp on Saturday at 9pm. The police manual mandates that aspirants must be 165-cm-tall to be considered. However, as Rauji was 164cm, one centimetre short, he decided to stick the striker to his head with chewing gum and hide it under the hair. Rauji had cleared all the other sections of the test. He realised he was a centimetre short of the height requirements prior to the recruitment drive. So he resorted to cheating, said a Powai police officer, who did not wish to be identified. While constable Kiran Taide was measuring Raujis height, he touched his head and realised what he had done. Rauji was sent to the Powai police station, accompanied by police staff. We registered a case, naming constable Taide as the complainant, he added. The accused was booked under sections 417 (punishment for cheating) and 428 (mischief by killing or maiming animal of the value of ten rupees) of the Indian Penal Code. He will be produced in a court in Bandra on Sunday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Officials from the cyber police station investigating the online fraud case, in which 310 SIM cards were used to dupe people by luring them to websites offering sex, have found that documents used to obtain SIM cards were stolen from the internet. The SIM cards were used by the five accused to open Paytm accounts (e-wallet accounts), where their clients were made to pay Rs999 as a one-time registration fee. After collecting the money, they would close the account and open a new one. They opened several such accounts, duping 2,000 people in just a few months. The cyber police have appealed to people to not upload identity documents such as Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, and election IDs to the internet. The accused simply typed words such as Election ID on Google, and got their hands on samples as well as genuine documents, which were later used to obtain the SIM cards used in the crime. Deputy commissioner of police, cyber, Akhileshkumar Singh told HT, We found out that the accused lifted documents from the internet and used them to obtain SIM cards. We are analysing how many documents they managed to obtain in this manner. The five accused were running this racket under the guise of a private firm. The documents of the people who worked for this firm were also used to obtain SIM cards. The SIM cards were from various mobile network service providers, and all of them were issued from Mumbai. The cyber police refused to divulge further details, saying that the probe is at a nascent stage. The accused also convinced people to give their documents on the pretext of finding them jobs. These documents were also misused to obtain the SIM cards, said Singh. How they take a swipe at your savings Three people died and three were hurt as their car veered off the road and fell 10 feet after hitting a divider near Charoti toll plaza on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway early on Saturday. The group of six was returning to Surat from Mumbai after attending a business conference. The driver was speeding and could not control the car at a sharp turn. It hit a divider and toppled 10 feet, said assistant police inspector Jayprakash Gute of Kasa police station. The deceased have been identified as Kunal Sab, 35; Vishal Dodhia, 30; and Sukwinder Singh Gujral, 37. Ravi Reddy, 34; Kiran Venkataman, 32; and Vijay Jadhav, 35, suffered serious injuries. The three injured passengers were initially admitted to a primary health centre in Kasa, he said. They were later shifted to Hariya Hospital in Vapi when their condition deteriorated, he added. The police said Jadhav was driving when the incident occurred. We have registered a case against Jadhav for causing death by negligence, said Gute. We are waiting for him to be discharged from the hospital. We will arrest him then, added Gute. The police are awaiting the post-mortem reports of the victims to ascertain if they had been drinking at the time of the accident. Gute said the group originally consisted of 18 members who had come to Mumbai. Of these, 12 decided to take a train to Surat, while the rest planned to drive. Read Tanker-truck collision leaves two dead, three injured in Palghar 3 killed in crash on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway The enforcement directorate (ED) on Saturday filed a charge sheet against Aamir Gazdar, a close confidante of Dr Zakir Naik, and Harmony Media Limited a company floated by Naik for allegedly laundering money on behalf of the controversial televangelist. The EDs 1,000-page charge sheet lists Naik as an accused in the case. The charge sheet includes the statements of witnesses and several documents, which establish the trail of laundered money. Read: Non-bailable warrant against Zakir Naik, but can agencies bring him back from abroad? A senior ED officer, who did not wish to be identified, said Gazdar handled Naiks finances. Gazdar managed Naiks money. He illegally accepted funds and diverted them. Harmony Media played the role of fund receiver. The company also made CDs of Naiks speeches, he said. The ED had alleged that Gazdar was aware of Naiks illegal activities and was in touch with him constantly. The agency said Naik had established dummy companies in the country and abroad to divert funds. Read: Money laundering: Zakir Naik responds to summons, offers to be quizzed on Skype It added that these dummy firms were used to camouflage the diversion of funds Naik received for making provocative speeches. The central agency said Gazdar was the director of at least six companies established by Naik, two of which are in England Universal Broadcasting Corporation Ltd and Lords production Inc Ltd. The rest are based in Mumbai Harmony Media Pvt Ltd, Long-lost constructions Pvt Ltd, Majestic Perfumes Pvt Ltd and Alpha Lubricants Pvt Ltd. Naik loaned Rs2.35 crore to Harmony Media Pvt Ltd, and was subsequently paid back. He also loaned Rs41.50 lakh to another firm, which also paid him back. Neither party entered into a formal agreement before these transactions, said ED officials. Dr Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) will build start-up centres in Greater Noida in order to promote entrepreneurship among students. The university administration took this decision in a meet held at Lucknow campus on Monday. AKTU is planning to open start-up centres in Lucknow and Greater Noida to promote entrepreneurship. Every start-up centre will receive Rs50 lakh as one time grant, said Dr Vinay Pathak, vice-chancellor, AKTU. A total of 900 colleges are affiliated with AKTU across the state, of which 168 are located in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad. These colleges offer professional courses in engineering, management, medical and computer science. The university administration has also decided to open innovation and incubation centres which will exist under the startup centres. AKTU had earlier emphasised on creating innovation and incubation centres across UP so that students can work for the betterment of rural areas and find solutions for their problems. We will be setting up innovation and incubation centres in these startup centres. Excellence centres will be set up to accelerate the growth of already existing innovation centres, said Pathak. The university has also decided to grant the revenue generated from entrance examination to its affiliated colleges. The revenue which we get from Uttar Pradesh State Entrance Examination (UPSEE) will now be given to the affiliated institutions for their development. Also, the money will be utilised to open new centres in the state, said Pathak. The university usually earns Rs50-60 crore as net revenue every year from UPSEE. The fund was earlier used by associated colleges and university administration. Earlier, when the state government had decided to merge the UPSEE with our university, it was decided that the revenue will be given to associated colleges only. However, in the past few years, we had associated and affiliated colleges as classification. The net revenue generated from the entrance will now be given to both associated and affiliated colleges, said Aashish Mishra, spokesperson, AKTU. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Silence prevails in the general ward of Prakash Hospital where 50-year-old Rupa Devi feeds her son through a nasogastric feeding tube, with teary eyes. For the last three years, Devi has spent all her time in the hospital, taking care of her 26-year-old son Jitender Kumar Sharma, who suffered a serious head injury in a Naxal attack three years ago. Sharma, the sole breadwinner of the family, was among the seven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who were injured in the bomb blast of an ambulance at Kamanar village in Chattisgarh on April 12, 2014. The attack left five dead, while Sharma and another soldier were injured. Sharma, who belonged to 80th battalion, received serious head injuries and has been lying comatose at Prakash Hospital in Sector 33. His parents want him shifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi for a speedy recovery. On Saturday, Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, the chairman of All India Anti-Terrorist Front, visited Sharma at the hospital and interacted with his family and the doctors attending to him. He said, Through reports, I got to know that this soldier is comatose. I will raise this issue (of shifting him to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital or AIIMS) with the Central government. It is disheartening to know he is not in a prestigious hospital and being treated by a team of experts. Three years means a lot and the family has been living every day wearing their heart on the sleeve. He said that the doctors tried their best, but resources and attention are significant factors in such serious cases. Devi said, Its been three years and he has not regained consciousness. The doctors have been trying their best, but there is no change. There are experts at AIIMS who can attend to him. She said that his condition was critical after the attack and he was initially admitted to Ramakrishna Hospital in Raipur. It was on January 14, 2016, that the jawan was shifted to Prakash Hospital. CRPF personnel are on duty with him for assistance. To take care of Sharma, the family has split into two Sharmas mother and father, Ram Suhawan Sharma, stay in the hospital, while Sharmas brother Pintu Kumar Sharma and sister Pooja stay home in Drubha village of Bihar. Sharma had joined the CRPF only a year before the attack and the family was dependent on him for their livelihood. Now, the salary is used to pay for travel expenses and looking after him. The attack has not only affected Sharmas life, it has also hampered the education of his younger brother, who was pursuing a bachelors degree. We dont have any agricultural land and my husband would work in fields as a labourer. After Babu (Sharma) got a job, we were living a peaceful life, said Devi. It is time for my daughter to get married, but I dont see any hope. My son (Sharma) received his bachelor of arts degree and always asked his siblings to work hard. Those dreams are now dead. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ghaziabad The families members of victims who were killed in the Audi car accident in Ghaziabad have decided to approach Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath for justice. Four people, including a woman techie were killed in Indirapuram, when a speeding Audi rammed head-on into an autorickshaw they were travelling in on January 27. The kin of the deceased said that the probe in the case was progressing at a snails pace and they had been offered money and pressurised to settle the case. The Audi car, owned by doctor Manish Rawat, had collided with the auto near Hindon Canal on January 27 killing Vishal Singh, 25, his cousin Yajuvendra Singh, 40, their family friend and HCL techie Rinku Yadav, 38 and auto driver Sanjeev Kumar. The case, which was transferred to the Ghaziabad police crime branch, took a strange turn when an impostor, Syed Imtiyaz Qadri, claiming to be the Audi driver appeared before a court and secured bail. Two days ago, I got a call from a retired police officer and a lawyer. The retired officer tried to pursue me emotionally to settle the case while the lawyer offered me rs 2 lakh for each of the dead for a settlement. They also offered to help expedite the case, said Sunita Sengar, mother of victim Yajuvendra Sengar. Sunita added that a lot of people with high contacts were involved in the case. I told them that they cannot put a price on our dead children. We have been struggling to push the case through as the people involved have high contacts and the police probe is progressing at a slow pace. Even our previous application to additional director general (law and order) was buried, she added. Sujata added that she, along with the others, will soon seekan audience with the UP chief minister. We are under severe pressure despite having lost three children. The family of the auto driver also was shattered, she added. The carowner, Manish Rawat, has claimed before the police that he was present inside the Audi during the accident but it was being driven by his driver Ishaq Ahmad. The said Ishaq Ahmad from Bareilly surrendered before a Ghaziabad court and obtained bail on January 31. However, it later turned out that the man who posed as Ahmad was actually Syed Imtiyaz Qadri, who allegedly misused the driving-license of his former co-tenant, Ishaq Ahmad a truck driver. Qadri, who fled Bareilly, was arrested in Maharashtra for snatching and robberies two days ago. He allegedly told Maharashtra police that he was paid Rs 7000 by three men to appear to pose as the Audi driver. Truck driver Ishaq Ahmed too said that he was getting threat calls. The caller is asking me to go meet Qadri in Maharashtra.They have been following me everywhere, Ishaq said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Ghaziabad police late Friday evening arrested two persons, including a dental course student from Meerut, on charges of armed robbery, for their alleged role in five chain snatching incidents in Ghaziabad in the last one and half months. The officials said that the duo came from Meerut to Ghaziabad and made their way back after snatching. The police arrested Shaukat and Pawan Raj, who are from Muzaffarnagar and Meerut districts, respectively. The latter is a student at a private university in Meerut and is pursuing his bachelors degree course in dental mechanics. We recovered five robbed chains and a Pulsar bike from their possession. The modus operandi they employed was to take off the SIM card of their mobiles while coming to Ghaziabad and avoid using their phones, to evade electronic surveillance by police. Before they were arrested, they also opened fire on the police, Salmantaj Patil, superintendent of police (city), said. The duo is suspected to be involved in several incidents of snatching in areas such as Kavi Nagar, Raj Nagar District Centre and Raj Nagar. I am still pursuing my dental course but had to drop three months due to an accident. I was pursued by Shaukat for taking part in such incidents and he also asked me to use my bike, Pawan said. Officials said that Shaukat and his friends, identified as Ashok and Ravinder, rope in youngsters who own bikes for use in such crimes. According to crime records, Shaukat has previously been to jail thrice arrested at Incholi, Kankarkhera and Civil Lines police stations in Meerut in three different instances of snatching. The duo was arrested following a plan by the police to check snatching after so many incidents took place in the city areas. We have roped in police personnel in plainclothes and also placed informers to provide us information about suspected snatchers. Picketing has been strengthened in places where chain snatchers struck the most, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The court of additional district and sessions judge JS Sidhu granted bail to 48 of 68 accused in the matter pertaining to violent protest on Panjab University (PU) campus against fee hike. Despite police opposition in arguments that lasted for more than half an hour, the students were granted bail on a surety bond of Rs 25,000 each. DEFENCE PLEADS FOR PERSONAL BOND During argument, the prosecution stated that protesting students had even beaten up cops. The investigating officer presented photographs to depict the magnitude of the protest. The counsel of the accused, however, claimed during crossexamination that photographs did not constitute evidence on whether these students were the same who engaged in stone-pelting. He said the students were seen just standing in the pictures and their identify was not verified through this device. The defence also requested that the accused be released on personal bonds since it might be difficult for all of them most being outstation bonds. The police stated that the accused didnt deserve to be granted bail for injuring 26 cops, causing damage to public property and creating an atmosphere of lawlessness that did not bode well for the future. FIVE TO SPEND TWO MORE NIGHTS IN JAIL After the court granted bail, confusion prevailed over the number of students that were granted bail. Despite the respective counsels of the students having applied bail for 53 persons, bail was granted to 48 accused as the name of the remaining five were not in the FIR due to a technical glitch. The bail application stated the names of the accused as listed in the FIR. These five students were also in custody, but their name was not in the FIR. The judge sought clarification from the defence counsel in this regard. However, bail was finally granted to 48 people. The court has now issued notice for bail of the remaining five which will now come for hearing on Monday. Family of Meharpreet, who were also present outside court, was very perturbed at the development. Sector-11 station house officer Lakhbir Singh said, The list of the accused includes 68 names in total in the FIR and there were few unnamed as well. One of the advocates forming part of the defence team Tarminder Singh said, The list of arrested accused was demanded and despite court asking the investigation officer to provide the same, it wasnt done. ACCUSED NOT NEEDED FOR INVESTIGATION AT THIS STAGE The court observed both sides were blaming each other for the incident adding that the injured (cops) had been discharged from the hospital. It will be established during trial by way of evidence that which particular person is required for causing particular injuries and at this stage no specific conclusion can be made regarding attribution of specific injury. The court observed that the production of challan would take time and that the accused were not required for investigation at this stage. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Disneynature With The Cinema Society Host The Premiere Of 'Born In China' (Photo : Getty Images) A new Disneynature movie, Born in China, gives another side of the Asian giant beyond the images of Beijing and other landmarks China has been known for. Dame Jane Goodall, the ambassador of Disneynature, said the more than one-hour documentary took three years to shoot. The movie, the seventh theatrical release, is scheduled to show on April 21, one day before Earth Day. Advertisement Capturing the Animals Characters It took the photographers a long time to shoot the documentary because they had to wait year in and year out to capture the animals characters, she said. Among the images that viewers would see are a snow leopard hunting in a terrain not fit for most mammals, a mother giant panda and her cub, and golden monkeys causing tree branches to crash to the ground while chasing and playing with one another in trees, East Oreganian reported. Goodall said part of the proceeds of "Born in China," directed by Lu Chuan, a Chinese filmmaker, would go to the World Wildlife Fund. The 83-year-old, who had observed chimpanzees for 55 years in Tanzanias Gombe Stream National Park and worked on animal welfare issues and conservation for decades, said that China deserves to be commended for protecting snow leopards and pandas. Tanzanian Chimpanzees Meanwhile, Goodall discussed her life and career studying the behavior of wild Tanzanian chimpanzees as a doctoral student in the 1960s. The avid international conservationist and animal advocate shared her experience as part of her Birthday Tour. To secure the survival of the chimpanzees and other wild species, she founded in 1977 the Jane Goodall Institute and in 1994 the Jane Goodall Institute in Canada. The institute also provides training and support for environmental and humanitarian education and action, Vancouver Sun reported. The institutes Roots & Shoots program is now in 98 countries and active across Canada. It encourages young people to create sustainable solutions within their communities. One person was killed and four others seriously injured in a blast at a scrap dealers shop at Barnala village, 3 km from here, on Saturday afternoon. The deceased was identified as Harpreet alias Happy (32) of Daburi village and he died on the spot.The injured included shop owner Vijay Masih, his son Victor Masih (12), nephew Sajan Masih (10), all residents of Barnala village, and Tarsem Masih of Daburi village. Firemen at the shop where the blast took place near Gurdaspur. (HT Photo) Senior medical officer at Gurdaspur Civil Hospital, Vijay Bains, said after giving them first aid, all the injured were referred to the Government Hospital, Amritsar. Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police Bhupinderjeet Singh Virk and other senior police officers visited the spot. The SSP has sent a request for forensic experts to examine the blast site. Education minister Aruna Chaudhary also visited the Gurdaspur civil hospital and enquired about the well-being of the injured. On June 16 this year, the governor of South Australia will be hosting a historic reception to mark the death centenary of a decorated Australian soldier, Private Sarn Singh. A member of the Australian Imperial Force, Pte Sarn Singh was killed in action in Belgium on June 10, 1917, while serving in the 43rd Infantry Battalion. He is one of 19 Sikhs who enlisted in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ( ANZACs) during World War 1. But, he is the only known casualty in the line of duty. All others returned home to Australia after the war ended, but very little is known about the descendants of most of these pioneering Sikh Australian soldiers As historian Prof Peter Stanley from University of New South Wales, Canberra, says, Sarn Singh, and the Indian-born Anzacs who served with him in the Australian Imperial Force, represented a remarkable phenomenon. They were remarkable because they were among the few non-white members of a force that was legally only supposed to include Europeans, an extraordinary exception to the prevailing racist policy of White Australia. Now the Australian Sikh Heritage Association (ASHA) is seeking to find any of Sarn Singhs living descendants in India, who could possibly attend the landmark commemoration on June 16 in Adelaide, to mark the centenary of his ultimate sacrifice. A ceremony of this kind has never taken place in Australia ever before. Records say a lot Pte Sarn Singhs military records reveal quite a lot about his background. He belonged to village Chhokran, and his postal address was Post office Moron (possibly Moran), tehsil Phillaur, district Jullundur (now Jalandhar). His fathers name was Kishan Singh Zaildar (also named as Mayor Kishan Singh in some records), his brothers name was Charan Singh (who lived in Jandiala) and his wifes name was Partap Kaur. The record of which medals Sarn Singh won and a note indicating that his name is included at the Messines Ridge British cemetery memorial in Belgium. (National Archives of Australia) A thumb impression of Partap Kaur to acknowledge that shes received the medals granted to her husband posthumously. (National Archives of Australia) There are records of Partap Kaurs thumb impression on a delivery slip dated June 12, 1922, where she acknowledged receiving the British War Medal and the Victory Medal that were awarded posthumously to her husband Sarn Singh. In fact, she was in touch with Australian authorities repeatedly, desperately seeking a pension after the death of her husband, to alleviate the pitiable condition she was living in India. She states, My father in law and the real brother of my husband are no more ready to support me for my lifetime and it would have been much better if I might have died before my husband. Although the communication to and from Partap Kaur is recorded for posterity by the National Archives of Australia, it is unclear if she actually went on to receive any pension from the AIF. The first page of Sarn Singhs enlistment form, filled in May 1916. (National Archives of Australia) Harjit Singh from ASHA says, Although all of Australia will be marking this day with great fervour, one family deserves to be there much more than any other the family of Sarn Singh who never saw their great-grandfather return home after fighting a war for Australia, in some faraway land. If anyone knows of any descendant of Sarn Singh, please let us know immediately, because wed like them to attend the commemoration in Adelaide. The family must know that all of Australia salutes Sarn Singhs valour. What will says In his will, Sarn Singh had appointed Amon Bux (of Waikerie, SA) as the executor, who was asked to remit any savings to his brother Charan Singh (of Jandiala, Punjab), in case he died in war. After being informed of his sons death in the line of duty, father Kishan Singh wrote a letter in September 1917 asking, I beg you to be good enough and inform me the details, whether he died of wounds in any hospital , or was killed in the front and whether or not his body was found, going on to query about any monies that may be owing to the family. AIF records reveal that Sarn Singhs body was buried by G Huthnance on August 13, 1917, two months after he was killed. Slight build, tall valour Military records indicate that Sarn Singh was a man of slight build he was 5 ft 3 inches tall, weighed 136 lbs and his chest measured up to 34.36 inches. He joined the Australian Imperial Force on May 15, 1916, at Waikerie (SA), declaring he was 33 years old at the time, was a farmer by profession and was born in Jullundur (Jalandhar), India. He sailed from Adelaide on August 12, 1916, on board the ship Ballarat, landing in Devonport (England) a month and a half later. He served in France for a few months and was then deployed to Belgium, where he was killed on the battlefield in Messines, after completing one year of active service for the Australian Imperial Force. His name is included in the list of fallen soldiers, inscribed on a special collective cross at the Messines Ridge British cemetery in Belgium. As Stanley says, Sarn Singh is now commemorated equally in death alongside his overwhelmingly white comrades on memorials in Belgium, in South Australia and in Canberra. (Courtesy: SBS Punjabi | Click here read more) Amid speculation that outsiders were responsible for violence on Panjab University campus on April 11, police have written to the varsity to identify students on the list of the 68 people they have arrested and named in the First-Information Report (FIR). Only 29 on the list have been confirmed as students, police sources said. However, the extended weekend in the varsity with four holidays from April 13-16 has hampered progress, with the varsity yet to respond to the police communique, though it is holding a meeting scheduled on Saturday. Fifty-three people were arrested on April 11 during protests seeking roll back of the fee hike that runs up to 1,000% for some courses. More arrests were made subsequently. Police sources claim that initial investigation had revealed that the majority of the students arrested are outsiders. Most of the arrested protesters claim they are college students. We had written to the PU authorities, providing them the list of those arrested along with their addresses. We are waiting for a reply, said Lakhbir Singh, Sector-11 SHO. Also read | Meeting on violent protest: Governor intervenes, PU panels crucial meet today Sources claim that the varsity had failed to check the entry of outsiders on April 11, even after having prior information of the planned protest. UT SSP Eish Singhal said, We are verifying the credentials of the students. PHD, THOSE PREPARING FOR COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION HELD Among those named as accused in the FIR is Kunal, preparing for civil services exam. He has repeatedly claimed that he had nothing to do with the protest. Gurpreet, a student of MA-1 public administration, was picked up from the department, though he was not part of the protest, his friends claimed. GIRLS LED THE PROTEST Three girls arrested were the ones leading the protest. Of them, one is pursuing an MPhil in history and had topped the entrance examination. The second is an MSc in Chemistry and the third is a student of music department. NO FRESH INJURIES FOUND IN MEDICAL A medical examination of 18 students who had alleged torture by the police in custody was conducted. The medical examination pointed out that there are no fresh injuries on students. The injuries found were the one inflicted during lathi-charge, said Sector-11 SHO Lakhbir Singh. Differences between Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu and party leader Sarbjeet Singh Makkar came to the fore when they had a tiff during a function to mark the 126th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar at Nakodar Chowk here on Friday. Eyewitnesses said Tinu was going to pay floral tributes at the statue of Ambedkar when Makkars supporters blocked his way and pushed him aside. Later, the two leaders had an argument and their supporters shouted slogans against each other. Akali leaders Ajit Singh Kohar and Baldev Singh Khaira, who were also present on the occasion, intervened in the matter and pacified them. Later, all of them posed together for the media to project a united face of the party. When contacted, Makkar denied any arguments with Tinu and claimed that only the party workers were excited. Tinu was not available for his comments despite HTs repeated attempts. Punjab-origin Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan, 46, is courting controversy even before he sets foot on Indian soil on April 17 with Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh dubbing him a Khalistani sympathiser and refusing to meet him. Here is a brief profile of the man and the key milestones in his journey to becoming a minister in the Justin Trudeau cabinet. POLITICAL CAREER Sajjan of Canadas Liberal Party was sworn in minister of national defence in the federal cabinet of Justin Trudeau in 2015. He represents the riding of Vancouver South. He defeated Conservative incumbent MP Wai Young. EXTREMIST LINK? A large contingent of Sikh liberals in British Columbia quit in 2014 in the run-up to the elections, saying Trudeau was being manipulated by Sikhs under the banner of the World Sikh Organisation (WSO) when the Liberals selected him as a star candidate over former Liberal MP Barj Dhahan. Though Sajjan denied he was a member of the WSO, his father Kundan Singh was a WSO board member and led fundamentalist Sikhs in a losing battle with moderates over the control of the Ross Street Temple in South Vancouver. Dhahan was a moderate ally of Ujjal Dosanjh, the previous Liberal MP. DECORATED SOLDIER A retired lieutenant colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces, Sajjan is a combat veteran who served in Bosnia-Herzegovina and was deployed to Kandahar in Afghanistan three times. He received several military honours, including the Meritorious Service Medal in 2013, for reducing the Talibans influence in Kandahar. He also served as an aide-de-camp (ADC) to the lieutenant governor of British Columbia. POLICE OFFICER Sajjan was a police officer with the Vancouver Police Department for 11 years. He completed his last assignment as a detective-constable with the gang crime unit specialising in organised crime. Harjit is also a human security specialist and has lectured to a wide audience in both Canada and the United States. EARLY YEARS Sajjan studied at Charles Tupper Secondary School in central Vancouver and his classmates included Bindi Johal, who went on to become a dreaded gangster. Sajjan was born at Bombeli village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. He emigrated to Canada in 1976 when he was five. He was raised in Vancouver South. Priced at $1,000 (approximately Rs 65,000) per serving, the Golden Opulence Sundae comes with a big dollop of Amedei Porcelana, 24-carat edible gold, and dessert caviar smeared generously over its creamy surface. It is the costliest frozen dessert known to man. Or not. Ch Malla Reddy, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP from Malkajgiri constituency, bought a cup of ice cream from state information minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) for a whopping sum of Rs 5 lakh at an event in Hyderabad on Friday evening. There were no gold trimmings, though. Just plain ol vanilla ice cream, splashed with chocolate sauce. Next, it was orange juice guaranteed to burn a hole in your pocket! (HT Photo) KTR, the only son of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, virtually turned ice cream vendor as part of the Gulabi Coolie Vaarotsvalu (Pink Labourers Week), being held from April 14 to 20. The objective of the event is to raise funds for the upcoming TRS plenary at Kompally on April 21, and a public meeting to mark the partys foundation day at Warangal on April 27. Accompanied by a host of party leaders, KTR went to the Rockstone ice-cream parlour at the Las Vegas Diners restaurant near Kompalli and turned coolie for a while. Sporting a toque blanche, he personally served ice cream to surprised customers at prices that would set even the sturdiest hearts racing. Malla Reddy, who was elected on a Telugu Desam Party ticket in the 2014 elections but later defected to the TRS, bought the cone with a smile on his face. Next in queue was another TRS leader, Kolanu Srinivas Reddy, who shelled out Rs 1 lakh for a cup. But KTR wasnt done playing coolie yet. He proceeded to the juice vending machine to prepare the worlds most expensive glass of orange juice, which was handed to Las Vegas Diners owner K Sankeerth Reddy for Rs 1.30 lakh. By the end of the hour, the party cash counter had rung in a handsome sum of Rs 7.30 lakh for the upcoming events. The Telangana chief minister had asked all TRS leaders and supporters to participate in the Gulabi Coolie Vaarotsavaalu, and mobilise funds for the plenary and public meeting. Next, KCR plans to turn coolie again at Torrur village in Warangals Palakurthi constituency sometime in the coming week. He said party workers could take up any job of their choice, be it agricultural work or manual labour, the proceeds of which would be used for travel and food expenses. The chief minister is expected to take some time off from his busy schedule to attend the event for a couple of days during the week. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Ssharad Malhotraa, who is dating aspiring actor Pooja Bisht, says that although the two are taking it slow now, in case they decide to get married, his family would love to meet Pooja. My family hasnt met Pooja as yet. But if things materialise and we take the next step in our relationship, I am sure my mother would love to sit down and talk to Pooja. But we are in no rush and neither are my parents. They have never forced me for anything, says Ssharad, who started dating Pooja last year. Talking about Pooja, Ssharad, who is part of show Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki , says that the two are getting to know each other right now. As of now, we are trying to understand each other. I am an actor and have mood swings. I am not an easy person to be with, but I feel she handles me pretty well. Lets see if things work out, says Ssharad, adding, Although we barely get time, when we do, Pooja and I go out for dinner. We are both movie buffs and watching movies are a great stress buster for us. Dhoom tana Dhoom tana #wonderful #place A post shared by Pooja Bisht (@bishtpooja) on Mar 14, 2017 at 6:51am PDT The actor, who was in a relationship with actor Divyanka Tripathi for seven years, says that his mindset towards marriage has changed. I wasnt ready for marriage a couple of years back. I feel you need to condition your mind for marriage. Also, you need to be in a good space financially to take care of someone else. I want to settle down, but when I am completely ready for it, I will let my fans know. But eventually I will settle down. I come from a joint family and I stay alone in Bombay with my pet dog. It will be great to have someone else too. Solitude can get depressing, says Ssharad. Follow @htshowbiz for more Popular in South Korea, actor Baek Jin-hee is renowned for her role of a rebellious girl, who befriends a Bangladeshi migrant worker in an Indie film, Bandhobi (2009). Baek may not be fluent in English, but ask her about Indian films and shes quick to say, My favourite actor is Shah Rukh Khan. On her debut tour to India, the South Korean actor has been relishing butter chicken curry and cant stop praising the Taj Mahal. This is my first trip to India and I visited the Taj Mahal, and it was an amazing experience. The Taj Mahal is one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world and I have been longing to see it. Hence, soon after I reached Delhi, I visited this beautiful monument, says Baek, who is working with the NGO Plan India, for development of children around the world. When I was young, I watched a documentary about a girl who works in the firework industry because of poverty. The documentary was very touching and helped me understand the situation faced by Indian girls. She has been travelling to empower youth and says that the social cause has been close to her since childhood. When I was young, I watched a documentary about a girl who works in the firework industry because of poverty. The documentary was very touching and helped me understand the situation faced by Indian girls. And then few years later, I got to know about a campaign, which is a global initiative promoting girls rights, empowerment and end to injustice, she adds. Her portrayal of characters in films such as Triangle (2009), Foxy Festival (2010) and Pride and Prejudice (2014) has been much appreciated. I choose the character, if only it and the script appeals to me, says Baek who is excited to be in the land of Shah Rukh Khan. The conversation, without much effort, goes back to the Indian star and Baek says, I have had the opportunity to watch few Bollywood films. Although I dont know the language, I think, the artists are very talented as far as acting, singing and dancing are concerned. And Chak de! India is my favourite Hindi film. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON At least 19 people were killed and more than 600 others fled their homes after a massive mound of garbage collapsed on part of a poor neighbourhood near Sri Lankas capital during festivities to mark the local new year, officials said Saturday. Four people were rescued from underneath the mound, but it was unclear whether any others were buried, said military spokesman Roshan Seneviratne. Soldiers were searching the site. Seneviratne said 625 people whose homes were either destroyed or under threat were being housed in nearby schools. The Disaster Management Center said at least 12 other people were injured in the incident, which happened Friday night in Meetotamulla, near Colombo. The site had been used to dump Colombos garbage for the past few years as authorities sought to give a face-lift to the capital. However, residents living in tiny homes in the area had been protesting against waste being dumped there because of health hazards. Nollywood Movies (Photo : Nollywood RealnollyTV/YouTube) Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed renewed a request for China to show Nigerian movies, known as Nollywood. He reiterated the request to Zhou Pingjian, the Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, during Zhous courtesy visit to Alhaji on Thursday in Abuja. Nigeria-China Cultural Center Advertisement The minister said if China would show Nollywood films, it would reciprocate Nigerias showing of Chinese movies. The move would help in forging better understanding between the two countries and to create a market in China for movies made in Nigeria, The Nigerian Tribune reported. To further promote cultural ties between the two nations, Alhaji proposed to Zhou the construction of a Nigeria-China Cultural Center in Nigeria. Meanwhile, Information Nigeria reported that the Nollywood Ambassadors Award would debut in Abuja to pay tribute to relevant stakeholders who contributed to the growth of Nigerian cinema. Sunny-Ken Awoji, president of the Nollywood Ambassadors International Initiative, announced the creation of the awards ceremony on Friday in Abuja. Nollywood Ambassadors Award The ceremony would honor individuals, government functionaries, and organizations that have helped in different ways to shape Nollywood. Awoji said these people and groups deserve to receive accolades. He claims that Nollywood is now a global brand. Now is the time to celebrate the brand ambassadors for their big contribution to the brands growth which created work for many jobless Nigerians. The award ceremony would be held on Sept. 29 at the Sheraton Hotel. It would be different from other awards because it would recognize the contributors and stakeholders, not actors, producers and directors of Nollywood which other awards-giving bodies bestow awards. Basically, the industry is used to giving awards to ourselves, so it is time to look beyond self and acknowledge those who have helped us this far, Awoji added. Among the awards to be given are Humanitarian Man/Woman of the Year, Most Supportive Organization of the Year, Most Supportive Foreign Organization of the Year and Most Supportive Government Organization. Delta is letting employees offer customers nearly $10,000 in compensation to give up seats on overbooked flights, hoping to avoid an uproar like the one that erupted at United after a passenger was dragged off a jet. United is taking steps too. It will require employees seeking a seat on a plane to book it at least an hour before departure, a policy that might have prevented last Sundays confrontation. Those and other changes show airlines are scrambling to respond to a public-relations nightmare the video showing airport officers violently yanking and dragging 69-year-old David Dao from his seat on a sold-out United Express flight. Dao and three others were ordered off the plane after four airline employees showed up at the last minute and demanded seats so they could be in place to operate a flight the next day in Louisville, Kentucky. On Friday, a United spokeswoman said the airline changed its policy to require traveling employees to book a flight at least 60 minutes before departure. Had the rule been in place last Sunday, United Express Flight 3411 still would have been overbooked by four seats, but United employees could have dealt with the situation in the gate area instead of on the plane. Delta Air Lines is moving to make it easier to find customers willing to give up their seats. In an internal memo obtained Friday by The Associated Press, Delta said gate agents can offer up to $2,000, up from a previous maximum of $800, and supervisors can offer up to $9,950, up from $1,350. United said it is reviewing its compensation policies. The airline would not disclose its current payment limit. Other airlines said they were examining their policies. American Airlines updated its rules to say that no passenger who has boarded the plane will be removed to give the seat to someone else. None would describe their limits on paying passengers. When there arent enough seats, airlines usually ask for volunteers by offering travel vouchers, gift cards or cash. Last year Delta got more passengers to give up their seats than any other US airline, partly by paying more than most of the others. As a result, it had the lowest rate among the largest US airlines of bumping people off flights against their will something that is legal but alienates customers and requires the airline to pay compensation of up to $1,350 per person. Overselling flights is a fact of life in the airline business. Industry officials say that it is necessary because some passengers dont show up, and that overbooking keeps fares down by reducing the number of empty seats. The practice has been questioned, however, since video of the United Express incident went viral. United Continental CEO Oscar Munozs initial attempts to apologize were roundly criticized. On Friday, company Chairman Robert Milton said the board supported Munoz. We need to use this regrettable event as a defining moment and pivot off it to craft friendly policies, Milton said in a note to employees. The dragging has turned into a public-relations nightmare for the entire industry, not just United, and led to calls from politicians and consumer advocates to suspend or ban overbooking. Ben Schlappig, a travel blogger who first wrote about the Delta compensation increase, said it shows Delta is trying to reduce forced bumping. He said he couldnt imagine many situations in which people wouldnt jump at nearly $10,000. Delta no doubt hopes that gate agents and their supervisors wont need to make maximum offers, and the financial cost to the airline is likely to be limited. If Delta paid $9,950 to every person it bumped involuntarily last year, that would total $12 million. Delta earned nearly $4.4 billion. Raising the limits lets them solve some PR problems and might head off U.S. Transportation Department regulations to curb overbooking, said another travel blogger, Gary Leff. They can say, Look, were already solving the problem. An AP analysis of government data shows that in 2015 and 2016, Delta paid an average of $1,118 in compensation for every passenger that it denied a seat. Southwest Airlines paid $758, United $565, and American Airlines $554. After the incident in Chicago, critics questioned why United didnt offer more when no passengers accepted the airlines $800 offer for volunteers to give up their seats. If you offer enough money, even the guy going to a funeral will sell his seat, said Ross Aimer, a retired United pilot. A suicide car bomb attack on buses carrying Syrians evacuated from two besieged government-held towns killed 43 people on Saturday, as US-backed fighters advanced in their push towards the Islamic State groups Raqa stronghold. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast targeted buses carrying residents evacuated from the northern towns of Fuaa and Kafraya under a deal reached between the regime and rebels. The suicide bomber was driving a van supposedly carrying aid supplies and detonated near the buses, the monitoring group said. It said most of the dead in the explosion in rebel-held Rashidin, west of Aleppo, were evacuees, but the blast also killed several rebels who had been guarding the buses. Thousands of evacuees had been stuck on the road because of a disagreement over the number of rebels allowed to leave two other towns included in the deal. The evacuation process resumed following the blast, the Observatory said. AFPs reporter at the scene saw several bodies, body parts and blood scattered on the ground. The wounded including several children received treatment at a hospital in the government-held part of Aleppo. The bombing took place as thousands of evacuees from Fuaa and Kafraya waited to continue their journey to regime-controlled Aleppo, the coastal province of Latakia, or Damascus. The rebel group Ahrar al-Sham condemned the bombing. We reject any accusations levelled at opposition for this heinous crime, a senior official tweeted. Our role was to secure civilians not kill them. More than 5,000 people who had lived under crippling siege for more than two years left the two towns, along with 2,200 evacuated from rebel-held Madaya and Zabadani, on Friday. Syrias war has left more than 320,000 people dead since erupting in 2011, with more than half the population forced from their homes and hundreds of thousands trapped under siege. It has sucked in regional and international powers and allowed jihadist groups to seize vast areas of the country. SDF advances US-backed fighters reached the outskirts of a key jihadist-held town in northern Syria on Saturday as part of an offensive aimed at the IS bastion of Raqa. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurdish alliance supported by a US-led coalition, surrounded Tabqa in early April and have cut its main supply routes. The town and a nearby dam are key prizes in the broader offensive for Raqa, the jihadists de facto Syrian capital about 55 kilometres (35 miles) to the east. An SDF military source said Saturday that clashes were fierce and that the alliances forces were trying to penetrate the town from the east and west. SDF fighters are within a few hundred metres (yards) of Tabqa and engaged in heavy fighting as IS counter-attacked, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. The SDF launched a campaign for Raqa in November, backed by US-led coalition air strikes, advisers and artillery. It has since captured most of the surrounding province. Tabqa sits on a key supply route into Raqa and served as an important IS command base, housing the groups main prison. Evacuation in balance Backed by Russia and local militias, pro-government forces have made a string of recent gains. The government and rebels have brokered a series of deals to evacuate people from besieged areas, which Damascus touts as the best way to end the violence. Rebels say they are forced out by siege and bombardment. The deal involving the evacuees targeted on Saturday has been beset by delays, and the 5,000 Fuaa and Kafraya residents had waited in Rashidin for more than a day without moving before the bomb went off, an AFP correspondent said. Around 2,220 evacuees from Madaya and Zabadani were similarly blocked at a transit point in government-held territory, one of them told AFP by telephone. State television said the car bombing had been carried out by terrorist groups, a term the regime applies to all armed opposition groups. The main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) condemned the bombing, saying that terrorism shall end if a political transition takes place. Many residents had earlier expressed regret over not knowing when, if ever, they would be able to return to their homes. Its terrible to be uprooted like this, to go and live in a place that is not ours, said Jama Nayef, a vet from Fuaa. A bomb blast hit a bus convoy waiting to enter Aleppo on Saturday, killing and wounding dozens of people after an evacuation deal between Syrias warring sides halted and stranded thousands at two transit points on the city outskirts. Pro-Damascus media outlets said a suicide attacker had detonated a car bomb and killed at least 22 people. Images posted by the outlets showed bodies lying next to charred buses with their windows blown out, and flaming vehicles belching out thick black smoke. British-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counted 24 dead and dozens more wounded. The blast hit buses in the Rashidin area on Aleppos outskirts, which had been waiting to cross from rebel-held territory into the government-controlled city itself, carrying people evacuated from two Shiite villages on Friday. The residents, alongside hundreds of pro-government fighters, had left the two rebel-besieged villages in northwest Idlib province under a deal where in exchange, hundreds of Sunni insurgents and their families moved out of a government-besieged area near Damascus. But a delay in the agreement had left all those evacuated stuck at two transit points on Aleppos outskirts since late on Friday. Residents of al-Foua and Kefraya, the Shia villages, were waiting in the Rashidin area. The rebels and residents of Madaya near Damascus were waiting at the government-held Ramousah bus garage, a few miles away. They were to be transported to Idlib province, which the armed opposition controls. The agreement is one of several over recent months that has seen President Bashar al-Assads government take back control of areas long besieged by his forces and their allies. The Observatory said the delay was caused by the fact that rebels from Zabadani, another town near Damascus included in the deal, had not yet been granted safe passage out. A pro-opposition activist said insurgents blamed the delay partly on the fact that a smaller number of pro-government fighters had left the Shiite villages than was agreed. Earlier on Saturday, at the transit point where the buses from al-Foua and Kefraya were waiting, one resident said he was not yet sure where he would live. After Aleppo Ill see what the rest of the group is doing, if there are any preparations. My house, land and belongings are all in al-Foua, Mehdi Tahhan said. We had no choice A Madaya resident, speaking from the bus garage inside Aleppo, said people had been waiting there since late on Friday, and were not being allowed to leave. Theres no drinking water or food. The bus garage is small so theres not much space to move around, Ahmed, 24, said. Were sad and angry about what has happened, he said. Many people felt that they had been forced to leave, he said. There was no other choice in the end - we were besieged inside a small area in Madaya. Syrias opposition says the evacuation deals, which include areas of Aleppo and a district in the city of Homs, amount to forced displacement of Assads opponents from Syrias main urban centres in the west of the country. The agreements are also causing demographic changes, they say, because those who are displaced are mostly Sunni Muslims. Syrias population is mostly Sunni. Assad is from the Alawite religious minority, often considered an offshoot of Shia Islam. He has been backed militarily by Russia, and by Shiite fighters from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group in Syrias six-year-old conflict. Assad has the military advantage over rebels in the west thanks to Russias intervention in 2015, although the insurgents are still fighting back and have made gains in some areas. China has handed over to Pakistan a 600-tonne patrol ship, the third of its kind, to safeguard the countrys maritime interests at a time when both nations are pushing forward with the CPEC project. The ship which was handed over to Pakistans maritime safety authority in Guangzhou, Guangdong province is the third of its kind, was built by China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd (CSTC) and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Xijiang Shipbuilding Co Ltd. Previous two ships have already demonstrated their reliability and excellent performance during visits and exchanges, joint drills, maritime rescue and other missions in Pakistan, state-run Peoples Daily reported. Pakistans maritime safety authority expressed great appreciation for the quality of the ships and for sound cooperation with Chinese ship manufactures, who have promised to provide after-sale services, it said. The ships are key to consolidating close relations between China-Pakistan, protecting Pakistans sea transportation and pushing forward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Belt and Road Initiative, it said. The CPEC project will link the Pakistani city of Gwadar to Chinas Xinjiang via a vast network of highways and railways. The project was launched in 2015 with $46 billion but later the investment increased to $55 billion. China is seeking Russias help to cool surging tensions over Pyongyangs nuclear ambitions, the countrys foreign minister has told his Moscow counterpart, after Beijing warned of possible conflict over North Korea. Fears over the Norths rogue weapons programme have soared in recent days, with a US naval strike force deployed near the Korean peninsula, while President Donald Trump has warned the threat will be taken care of and Pyongyang has vowed a merciless response to any provocation. China -- the Norths sole major ally and economic lifeline -- on Friday warned that war over North Korea could break out at any moment. In a call with Sergei Lavrov later Friday, Wang Yi said the common goal of the two nations was to bring all the parties back to the negotiating table, according to a statement on Chinas foreign ministry website. China is ready to coordinate closely with Russia to help cool down as quickly as possible the situation on the peninsula and encourage the parties concerned to resume dialogue, Wang told Lavrov, referring to the stalled six-party talks on the Norths nuclear programme that includes Russia, China and the United States. Preventing war and chaos on the peninsula meets common interests, he added. Beijing has long opposed dramatic action against the North, fearing the regimes collapse would send a flood of refugees across its borders and leave the US military on its doorstep. Trump insists that China must exert more leverage on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions or suffer the consequences. Pyongyang is already under several sets of UN sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes. Eight Pakistanis involved in the mob lynching of a fellow university student over his liberal views were charged with murder and terrorism on Saturday, court officials said, as condemnation grew. Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel at the Abdul Wali Khan university in the conservative northwestern town of Mardan on Thursday by a large mob. So far a total of 12 people have been arrested over the incident and police are hunting for more suspects. Eight students were presented before an anti-terrorism court in Mardan over murder and challenging the writ of the state, public prosecutor Rafiullah Khan told AFP. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Saturday that he was shocked and saddened, his first statement on Thursdays killing. Let it be known to the perpetrators of this act that the state shall not tolerate citizens taking the law in their own hands, Sharif said. The nation should stand united to condemn this crime and to promote tolerance and rule of law in society, he added. Read more | Pakistan university closes after journalism student lynched for blasphemy Mushtaq Ghani, Information Minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the government had also requested Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident. Graphic video footage from the crime scene showed dozens of men outside the hostel kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground. Rights activists and civil society organisations held small protests in several Pakistani cities Saturday condemning the murder, and the UN in Pakistan released a statement. We urge the authorities to take firm action and bring the perpetuators to speedy justice, said Neil Buhne, United Nations resident coordinator in Pakistan. Pakistan has strong legal institutions and it is unacceptable for anyone to take the law into their own hands, he added. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has urged that all those involved in the lynching be brought to justice. The states abject failure to protect Mashal Khans right to life has created great panic and horror among students and academia. Unless all those who played any part in Mashals brutal murder are brought to justice, such barbarity will only spread, it said. However, at Khans funeral Friday a local mosque Imam who was also Khans primary school teacher, refused to lead the prayer, Mashals father Iqbal Shayir told AFP. Shayir said he hoped his sons murder would evoke realisation among people that killing an innocent is a sin. Students had previously complained to university authorities about Khans alleged secular and liberal views and Khan had been in a heated debate during a class the day he was killed. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in conservative Muslim Pakistan, and can carry the death penalty. Even unproven allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence. At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990. Leading Karachi gangster and former head of the banned People's Aman Committee Uzair Baloch told a magistrate in Pakistan last year that he had been in contact with Kulbhushan Jadhav and the Iranian spy agency, a media report said on Wednesday. According to The News, a national English daily, Baloch said in a confessional statement that he had contact with former Indian naval officer Jadhav. He also said he knew an Iranian spy, who arranged a meeting for Baloch with the Iranian secret agency. Baloch confessed to having shared information on the Pakistani armed forces in Karachi with the Iranian spy. Tensions rose this week between India and Pakistan after Islamabad said on Monday a military court had sentenced Jadhav to death for allegedly spying and stoking violence in Balochistan, drawing an angry response from New Delhi which said it will be a premeditated murder if carried out. Baloch, who has close ties to Benazir Bhuttos Pakistan Peoples Party, was taken into military custody on Tuesday on charges of espionage. He was arrested by the paramilitary Rangers from the outskirts of Karachi last year. The Lyari gang leader has confessed his involvement in killings of rival group members, including of workers of Pakistans Muttahida Qaumi Movement as well as police officials. North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, on Saturday, as a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region. Missiles appeared to be the main theme of the giant parade, with Kims grandson, leader Kim Jong Un, taking time to greet the commander of the Strategic Forces, the branch of the military that oversees the missile arsenal. A US Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month with Tomahawk missiles raised questions about US President Donald Trumps plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. Kim Jong Un, looking relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw the festivities on the Day of the Sun at Pyongyangs main Kim Il Sung Square. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square, next to the Taedonggang River that flows through Pyongyang, in the hazy spring sunshine, followed by tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and other weapons. Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead. North Koreas Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site is seen in commercial satellite imagery. (Airbus Defence - Space/38 North) Unlike at some previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be a senior Chinese official in attendance. China is North Koreas lone major ally but has spoken out against its missile and nuclear tests and has supported UN sanctions. China on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. Weapons analysts said they believed some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). The North has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering all the necessary technology. EARLY DAYS North Korea showed two new kinds of ICBM enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of trucks, suggesting Pyongyang was working towards a new concept of ICBM, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. However, North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them, Hanham said. It is still early days for these missile designs. The Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also on parade. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade. Displaying more than one of the missiles indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base a missile on a submarine, which are hard to detect, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review. It suggests a commitment to this programme, said Pollack. Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the programme. North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan. US Army soldiers ride an M1A2 tank during a joint military exercise between the US and South Korea in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea. (AP Photo) Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim Jong Un, addressed the packed square with a characteristically bellicose warning to the United States. If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare, he said. PENCE TO VISIT SOUTH State news agency KCNA said the Trump administrations serious military hysteria had reached a dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked. The United States has warned that a policy of strategic patience with North Korea is over. US vice president Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China has also stepped up economic pressure on North Korea. It banned all imports of North Korean coal on February 26 under UN sanctions, cutting off the Norths most important export product. Chinas national airline, Air China, weeks ago cancelled some flights to Pyongyang due to poor demand but it has not suspended all flights there, it said on Friday, denying a report by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that all flights run by the airline between the two cities were to be suspended. Chinas Global Times newspaper, which is published by the Peoples Daily, the Communist Partys official paper, said North Korea must have felt the shockwave from the 11-ton mother of all bombs dropped by US forces on IS-linked fighters in Afghanistan on Thursday. It would be nice if the bomb could frighten Pyongyang, but its actual impact may just be the opposite, it said in an editorial. A North Korean soldier uses his binoculars on the banks of the Yalu river near Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong. (AFP Photo) North Korea on Friday denounced the United States for bringing huge nuclear strategic assets to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer. In Dandong, Chinas main border post with North Korea, hundreds of North Koreans gathered at a cultural centre carrying floral displays. With the men wearing pins adorned with photos of Kim Il Sung, and the women in brightly coloured traditional dress, crowds lined up to bow to portraits of their state founder before touring an exhibition of photos and North Korean paintings. North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles in a massive military display in central Pyongyang on Saturday, with ruler Kim Jong Un looking on with delight as his nation flaunted its increasingly sophisticated military hardware amid rising regional tensions. Kim did not speak during the annual parade, which celebrates the 1912 birthday of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, North Koreas founding ruler, but a top official warned that the North would stand up to any threat posed by the United States. The parade, the annual highlight of North Koreas most important holiday, came amid growing international worries that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM capable of reaching US shores. This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 14, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting the "Dropping and Target-striking Contest of KPA Special Operation Forces - 2017" at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (AFP Photo) But if the parade signalled a readiness for war, North Korea has long insisted that its goal is peace and survival with the growing arsenal a way to ensure that the government in Pyongyang is not easily overthrown. A North Korean KN-08 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICMB) is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on Saturday. (AP Photo) Kim, wearing a suit and tie, was greeted Saturday with thunderous and extensively practiced applause as he stepped into view on a large podium, clapping to acknowledge the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade at Kim Il Sung Square. North Korean soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Reuters) The parade, an elaborate display of the states immense power, involves tens of thousands of participants, from goose-stepping soldiers to crowds of civilians who have spent weeks perfecting their ability to wave plastic flowers in unison. North Korean soldiers attend a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. (Reuters) For outside military analysts, though, the highlight is the weaponry that the North puts on display. A series of what appeared to be KN-08 missiles were among the weapons rolled out on trucks. Analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, although North Korea has yet to flight test them. North Korean women wave and cheer as they look toward their leader Kim Jong Un during a military parade Saturday. (AP Photo) The parade also included large rockets covered by canisters in two different types of transporter erector launcher trucks, or TELs. An official from South Koreas defence ministry couldnt immediately confirm whether any of the rockets represented a new type of ICBM. Soldiers march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade Saturday. (AP Photo) Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Seouls Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the canisters and trucks suggested that the North was developing technology to cold launch ICBMs, ejecting them from the canisters before they ignite. This would allow North Korea to prevent its limited number of ICBM-capable launcher trucks from being damaged during launches and also make the missiles harder to detect after theyre fired, he said. Cold launches would also allow the missiles to be fired from silos. North Korean soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. (Reuters) Kim, the analyst, said its likely that North Korea is also developing solid-fuel ICBMs, and that some of the rockets inside the canisters on Saturday might have been prototypes. US army soldiers ride an M1A2 tank during a joint military exercise between the US and South Korea in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Saturday. (AP Photo) Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery, as well as a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines. Also on display was a powerful midrange missile that outside analysts call a Musudan, and which can potentially reach U.S. air bases in Guam, as well as a new solid-fuel midrange missile that can be fired from land mobile launchers, making them harder to detect before launch. US army M1A2 tanks conduct a joint military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea in Paju, near the border with North Korea, South Korea, Saturday. (AP Photo) Kim Jong Un, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, emphasises nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defence strategy. Under his watch, North Korea has aggressively pursued a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. The number of Islamic State fighters killed by a massive US bomb in eastern Afghanistan has nearly tripled to at least 90, Afghan officials said Saturday. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb -- dubbed the Mother Of All Bombs -- was unleashed in combat for the first time, hitting IS positions in eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday. The bomb smashed their mountain hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in towering flames. At least 92 Daesh (IS) fighters were killed in the bombing, Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP on Saturday. Nangarhar provincial spokesperson Attaullah Khogyani gave a toll of 90. A #MOAB bomb strikes #ISIS cave & tunnel systems in eastern #Afghanistan. The strike was designed to minimize risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces pic.twitter.com/7pfBYQzk5F U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) April 14, 2017 Afghan officials had earlier said the bombing had killed 36 IS fighters. Shinwari insisted there were no military and civilian casualties at all. Security experts say IS had built their redoubts close to civilian homes, but the government said thousands of local families had already fled the area in recent months of fighting. The massive bomb was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area. An American special forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations. President Ashraf Ghani threw his support behind the bombardment. But some officials close to him condemned the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that controls only a tiny sliver of territory and is not considered a huge threat. Still image taken from a video released by the US Department of Defense shows the moment MOAB struck the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar. (Reuters Photo) IS, notorious for its reign of terror in Syria and Iraq, has made inroads into Afghanistan in recent years, attracting disaffected members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban as well as Uzbek Islamists. But the group has been steadily losing ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. China-Palestine Relations (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday that the creation of a Palestinian state must be permitted. The comment came following his meeting with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, who urged China to increase its efforts in the Middle East peace process. Israel and Palestinian territories are occasionally visited by Chinese representatives. Notwithstanding its dependence on the region for oil, China traditionally did little efforts with regard to the Middle East conflicts or diplomacy. Advertisement In a joint press conference with Maliki, Wang said that Palestinians are still kept from having their own independent nation despite the fact that 70 years had already passed since the approval of the U.N. resolution on a plan for a Jewish state. This is unfair. This kind of historical injustice must be corrected. It cannot continue, the Chinese foreign minister said, adding that this is the time to overcome inertia and start Israeli-Palestinian peace talks again. Maliki expressed gratitude to China, saying that the countrys efforts in the peace process are deeply appreciated and accepted by his people. And we do encourage China to do more of this kind of approach, in order to see peace ultimately achieved in our region, he said. The relationship between China and Palestine has traditionally been in good terms. However, the Middle East is laden with risk for China. Beijing is not so familiar with handling religious and political tensions that the region frequently experiences. A peaceful Israel-Palestine coexistence, preferred by the international community, would be beneficial to both sides and the region, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Beijing in March. As China becomes an advocate for the building of a Palestinian state, it is also expected to do more in the Middle East peace process. Anguished by the lynching of a Pakistani student for alleged blasphemy, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai on Saturday said Pakistanis themselves are responsible for tarnishing the image of Islam and the country. Mashal Khan, who studied journalism at the Abdukl Wali Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was mercilessly beaten and then shot dead by a vigilante mob of students from the same varsity, suspecting him of publishing blasphemous content online and promoting the Ahmadi faith, police said. The 19-year-old UK-based Pakistani education activist, in a video message said, Today I got the news of Mashal Khans death. This incident is full of terror and violence. I have spoken to his father who gave the message of peace and patience. I appreciate and salute his message of patience and peace. Read more | Pakistan university closes after journalism student lynched for blasphemy We complain that there is Islamophobia, countries are tarnishing the name of our country. No one is diminishing Pakistan and Islam, we ourselves are tarnishing the name of Pakistan and Islam. We ourselves are responsible for tarnishing the image of Pakistan, Malala said. This was not only the funeral of Mashal Khan but it was also the funeral of the teachings of our religion. We have forgotten the teachings of Islam which teach us about peace and patience, she said. Malala, who shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Indias child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi said, it is the right of every Pakistani to be safe and lead a normal life. If we continue to kill one another in such a manner, no one will be safe, she said, referring to the lynching of Khan who, after being assaulted by a large group of students, appeared to have succumbed to a gunshot wound. Read more | Eight charged over Pakistani liberal students lynching So my message to everyone is, please know your religion, culture, values which have always taught us to be patient and preach peace. In the end, I would request all the political parties, leaders and government to stand for peace and justice. Stand for the justice to Mashal Khans family and do not be silent, Malala added. Protests led by civil society organisations were held in different parts of Pakistan to condemn the killing of university student Mashal Khan for allegedly publishing blasphemous content online. Demonstrations took place in Zaida village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday as Mashal Khan was laid to rest, The News International said. The 23-year-old journalism student from Abdul Wali Khan University was stripped, shot, thrown from the second floor of the hostel and brutally beaten to death by a mob on Thursday. At least 20 persons were arrested in connection with the incident. In Peshawar, demonstrators chanted slogans against the university administration and police. According to the protesters in Lahore, it was an unprecedented incident in the history of Pakhtuns. They demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident that drew condemnation from across the country. Mashal Khans family insisted that he was innocent. I want justice as my son was innocent. I cannot even imagine that he will have committed blasphemy, said Muhammad Iqbal, his father. About 1,000 people, mostly relatives, friends and co-villagers attended his funeral prayer at the main Eidgah in the village. However, none of his fellow students or university officials attended the funeral. His sister told the media that it was a conspiracy against my brother and it must be unearthed. Meanwhile, Awami National Party (ANP) Mardan President Himayatullah Mayar urged his party members not to comment on the killing until the issue was probed. Mayar met the university students to learn more about the issue. The students said negligence on the part of the university administration led to the incident. The mob stormed the universitys Journalism and Mass Communication Department in search of Mashal Khan, Zubair Khan and Abdullah, became violent and shot him while critically injuring another. The police have registered a FIR against 20 persons including students, employees and outsiders. The university has also formed a six-member committee to probe the incident. The university administration had earlier rusticated Mashal Khan, Abdullah Khan and Zubair Khan over the complaint of committing blasphemy. Mashal Khan had earlier said that his Facebook account was hacked and was being misused. A message on the wall of his room said: Allah is the greatest and Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Parvez Khattak said the reports had no evidence that he committed blasphemy. He said nobody should be allowed to take the law into their hands. Am in touch with KP IG since last night on condemnable lynching of student in Mardan. Firm action necessary. Law of the jungle can't prevail Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 14, 2017 Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits. Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai lamented that some Pakistanis had forgotten the message of peace given by Islam. No one is maligning the name of your country or religion... we ourselves are bringing a bad name to our country and religion, she said. Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Mohammad Yousaf said blasphemy cannot be condoned but no one will be allowed to take the law into their hands. Appalled by the widespread ignorance of Sikhism that sparks hate crimes, a Sikh organisation has launched a $1.5 million TV campaign to educate Americans about the faith and how the religions values of tolerance and equality reflect that of the nation, according to its promoters. The TV commercials from the National Sikh Campaign (NSC) that debuted on Friday on Baisakhi, are backed by research into Americans perceptions of Sikhism and religion and take on an original approach with a positive spin presenting Sikhs as integral members of the US society, whether it is politics or popular culture. Also read | US lawmakers greet Sikhs on Baisakhi, laud their contribution We needed to go beyond the narrative about hate crime and discrimination, Rajwant Singh, a co-founder of the NSC told IANS. We needed to focus our energy in telling the people who we are and what we stand for, what our religion and what our turban is, so people have a better understanding. Right now the turban is considered a symbol of terrorism, or something anti-American. While Sikh leaders have been meeting Presidents and top elected leaders and were warmly received, Singh said, it was realised that it was important to reach out to the common American because the ignorance at that level drives hate crimes against Sikhs. The ads running on national news channels CNN and Fox News, and on local stations in Fresno, the California city with the highest number of Sikhs, shows the community as American neighbours going about their daily lives, professing patriotism and national values - but also a shared love for the TV series, Game of Thrones and the childrens show, Sponge Bob Square Pants. The campaign draws on a broad base of support. Singh said that it was really an amazing, heartwarming experience to have non-Sikhs, Indians of various communities and Hindus backing it. One of the largest donors to the effort is a Hindu community in Las Vegas that raised a substantial contribution, he added. Two political strategy and messaging companies, one specialising in Democratic Party candidates and the other in Republican and conservative causes were involved in the production of the ads - so far three 30-second spots have been created - and their marketing. Singh, who is a dentist in a Washington suburb in Maryland, said that their studies showed that 60 per cent of Americans had not even heard of Sikhism and, therefore, the first task is to make the masses aware of the religion. When the clothing chain Gap featured Sikh actor Waris Alhuwalia in their ad, Singh said that 100 customers at the company store were surveyed and about 85 thought he was a Muslim, four that he was a Hindu and four said he was a Coptic Christian. Can you imagine? he asked with a rueful laugh. Sikhs have been targeted for hate crimes due to popular ignorance of the religion and its adherents being mistaken for Muslims or Arabs because of their turbans even during Barack Obamas presidency. Three days after the September 2001 attacks, Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed in Arizona in a hate attack and in 2012 six Sikhs were shot dead and four injured in an attack on a gurdwara in Wisconsin. In the latest attack, a Sikh was shot in the arm in Washington state last month. The NSC plans for a national campaign began long before the election of President Donald Trump. Our process started way back in 2014, and it was really prompted by the attack on the Gurdwara, Singh said. That was when they found that all their efforts of more than a decade since 9/11 had not moved the needle, Singh said, and it called for a fresh approach. They turned to highly regarded professionals. Hart Research Associates, which had worked in Hillary Clintons campaign, conducted studies and ran focus groups in New Jersey and Chicago to understand how the average American thinks about a man with a turban, Singh said. After the groups were told about the Sikh religious values and its commitment to tolerance, equality and service to others, their perceptions changed, he said. Based on that study and what they found about what the participants liked about Sikhs, the ad were prepared by AKPD Message and Media, which had worked in Obamas campaigns. The ads were tested with about 700 Americans to make sure they would be well received, Singh said. In the final step making it a bipartisan endeavour, Singh said that for marketing the ads they hired FP1 Strategies, which is a more conservative and Republican-leaning strategies and marketing company that had worked in former President George W. Bushs campaigns. President Tayyip Erdogan appealed for support from Turkish voters in final campaign rallies on Saturday, the eve of a referendum which could tighten his grip over a country bridging the European Union and a conflict-strewn Middle East. Opinion polls have given a narrow lead for a Yes vote in Sundays referendum to replace Turkeys parliamentary democracy with an all-powerful presidency, a move Erdogan says is needed to confront the security and political challenges Turkey faces. Opponents say it is a step towards greater authoritarianism in a country where 40,000 people were arrested and 120,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs in a crackdown following a failed coup attempt against Erdogan last July. Western countries have criticised that tough response, and relations with the EU - which Turkey has been negotiating to join for a decade - hit a low during the campaign when Erdogan accused European leaders of acting like Nazis for banning referendum rallies in their countries on security grounds. He has also said Turkey could review a deal under which it limits the flow of migrants - many of them refugees fleeing war in neighbouring Syria and Iraq - into the European Union unless the bloc implements plans to grant Turks visa-free travel. At a rally in Istanbul, one of four he held in the last hours before Sundays vote, Erdogan described the constitutional proposals as the biggest change in Turkey since the country was established nearly a century ago, and the culmination of the response to Julys abortive putsch. Sunday will be a turning point in the fight against terrorist organisations. We will finish what we started on July 15 this April 16, he told a crowd in Istanbuls Tuzla district, decked with Turkish flags and giant pictures of the president. Erdogans Islamist-rooted AK Party has enjoyed a disproportionate share of media coverage in the buildup to the vote, but the result may be close. A narrow majority of Turks will vote Yes, two opinion polls suggested on Thursday, putting his support at only a little over 51 percent. Tomorrow is very important, you must absolutely go to the polls, Erdogan urged the crowd. Dont forget that the vote is our honour. TURKEY AT CROSSROADS Some 55 million people are eligible to vote at 167,140 polling stations across the nation, which open at 7.00 am (0400 GMT) in the east of the country and close at 5 pm (1400 GMT). Turkish voters abroad have already cast their ballots. The package of 18 amendments would abolish the office of prime minister and give the president authority to draft the budget, declare a state of emergency and issue decrees overseeing ministries without parliamentary approval. Proponents of the reform argue that it would end the current two-headed system in which both the president and parliament are directly elected, a situation they argue could lead to deadlock. Until 2014, presidents were chosen by parliament. They also argue that the current constitution, written by the generals who ruled Turkey in the years following a 1980 coup, still bears the stamp of its military authors and, despite numerous revisions, must be overhauled. The presidential system we are bringing with this constitutional change is necessary for the development, growth and stability of our nation, Erdogan said. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), said Turkey was at a crossroads between a democratic parliamentary system and a one-man regime. A Yes vote would put the country in danger, he said. We will put 80 million people onto a bus ... we dont know where it is headed, he told an opposition rally in the capital Ankara. We are putting 80 million on a bus with no brakes. Also opposing the proposed changes, the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) held a rally on Saturday in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, which was addressed by its jailed co-leader Selahattin Demirtas. This campaign was not carried out fairly and equally, Demirtas, who was arrested last November on terrorism charges, said in a joint letter with other detained HDP members which was read out at the rally. The reason behind our arrests was to prevent us from calling to our nation. The entire resources of the state were at disposal to support the Yes campaign of the AK Party. Erdogan views the HDP as the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in the southeast and claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a police compound in Diyarbakir on Wednesday. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. Led by the House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, US lawmakers from both the Republican and the Democratic parties greeted Sikhs across the world on Baisakhi and praised their contribution in countrys development. Wishing our Sikh American neighbors and friends a happy Vaisakhi! Ryan said in a tweet on Friday when Sikhs across the globe observed the annual festival celebrating the spring harvest season. Senator John Cornyn, co-chair of the Senate India Caucus extended his greetings in a tweet. Wishing our Sikh American neighbors and friends a happy Vaisakhi! Cornyn said. On this historically significant day for Sikhs, Im wishing our Sikh American friends and neighbors a happy Vaisakhi, said Senator Gary Peters from Michigan. Wishing our Sikh American neighbors, classmates, and colleagues a happy Vaisakhi! tweeted Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. Noting the historical relevance of the day, Senator Maria Cantwell said in a tweet, Today Im wishing our Sikh American friends a Happy Vaisakhi! A historic day of celebration for Sikhs around the world! On this historically significant day for Sikhs, Im wishing all of our Sikh American friends a very happy Vaisakhi! greeted Senator Ben Cardin, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Happy Vaisakhi to Rhode Islands Sikh community & to our friends celebrating around the world! tweeted Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Senators Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley, Marco Rubio and Martin Heinrich also issued the Vaisakhi greetings. Today and everyday, lets honor the many contributions the #Sikh community has made to promote justice & equality in country & around the world, said Congressman Joe Crowley. Wishing our Sikh American neighbors, friends & colleagues a happy Vaisakhi, tweeted Congressman Eliot Engel. Congressmen Brad Sherman, Doris Matsui, Suzan DelBene, Jim Costa, Jerry McNerney also joined their Congressional colleagues in greeting Sikhs on the occasion. On this historically significant day for Sikhs, Im wishing our Sikh American friends a happy Vaisakhi, tweeted Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Happy Vaisakhi/National Sikh Day/Creation of Khalsa Day to Hoosier Sikhs and the 30 million Sikhs across the world, Congressman Luke Messer said. The minority Sikh community from across the country are having parades and cultural events to celebrate the occasion. Several Governors and State Assemblies also issued proclamations and statements to celebrate the occasion. Happy Vaisakhi to Hoosier Sikhs & the 30 million Sikhs around the world! said Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. Delaware Assembly is observing April as Sikh Awareness Month. A resolution in the US House of Representatives recognising the historic, cultural and religious significance of Vaisakhi has now more than a dozen co-sponsors. In a statement, American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee welcomed greetings by the United Nations on Vaisakhi. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are claiming success with the first in a new series of test flights involving an upgraded version of a nuclear bomb that has been part of the US arsenal for decades. Work on the B61-12 has been ongoing for years, and government officials say the latest tests using mock versions of the bomb will be vital to the refurbishing effort. An F-16 from Nellis Air Force Base dropped an inert version of the weapon over the Nevada desert last month to test its non-nuclear functions as well as the planes ability to carry the bomb. With a mere puff of dust, the mock bomb landed in a dry lake bed at the Tonopah Test Range. Its great to see things all come together: the weapon design, the test preparation, the aircraft, the range and the people who made it happen, Anna Schauer, director of Sandias Stockpile Resource Center, said in a statement. Scientists are planning to spend months analysing the data gathered from the test. Tracking telescopes, remote cameras and other instruments at the test range recorded information on the reliability, accuracy and performance of the weapon under conditions that were meant to replicate real-world operations. More test flights are planned over the next three years, and officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration said the first production unit of the B61-12 developed under what is called the Life Extension Program is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The B61-12 consolidates and replaces four older versions in the nations nuclear arsenal. Its outfitted with a new tail-kit assembly and other hardware. The weapon is much more different than the non-nuclear mother of all bombs used in Afghanistan this week to attack an Islamic State stronghold near the Pakistani border. The Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, isnt designed to penetrate like the B61-12 but rather create a large blast over the surface and it has to be ferried by a much larger plane given its size. In Nevada, it took two passes before the pilot could drop the mock B61-12. A herd of wild horses had to be chased away on the first go-around. With the run commencing, people gathered on balconies at the range despite knowing they would see only dust rising from the target miles away. A video feed showed the test bomb fall through the air after being released by the F-16. Officials said it left behind a rather neat hole. Crews were able to dig the mock weapon out of the dirt so it could be packed up and returned to Albuquerque for further study. W hen Clare and Patrick Michells little daughter thought jungle meant a clump of trees in the nearby park, they realised it was time for a rethink. Living in a Victorian house theyd extended in Hackney, the couple had both trained as architects, though Clare is now an architectural adviser. But they both grew up in the country and wanted their children to know real countryside as well as London, where Patrick works and where the family lives during the week. What it cost Plot in 2012: 330,000 330,000 Total build (excluding fees): 600,000 600,000 Value now (estimate): 1.15 million They have just finished building the solution a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on stilts in the Norfolk Broads, for weekends and holidays. Made of timber with timber shingles and huge sliding windows looking out on to a lagoon and other waterways all round, this house is quite something. BIRD WATCHING FROM THE BATH Swans honk in mating season like monkeys, heron float overhead like prehistoric gliders and dragonflies flash among the flag iris. And when daughter, Rae, four, and her sister Margo, two, have their bath under the eaves, they can watch wild ducks through the huge windows, sporting among the waterlilies. Our ideal: Clare and Patrick Michell wanted their daughters to know real countryside / Tony Cunningham Their project decided, the couples search for the right spot began in Kent then pushed out to Norfolk. It had to be within a two-hour drive of London, so that Patrick, 39, could commute when necessary, and the couple hoped for something near water. They also looked for oddities other people didnt want. A SITE WITH POTENTIAL They spotted two plots close together in the Norfolk Broads, though one was inaccessible, which ruled it out. The other plot held what looked like a rotting scout hut. But, reached down country lanes, the decrepit house was surrounded by water and flanked by a magical private lagoon with the Broads visible beyond, full of yacht sails in summer. And on our first visit, a pair of otter were playing, says Clare, 38. They bought it, knowing that the presence of a house, especially a grotty, decaying one, meant theyd be permitted to build something to replace it. Even so, Patrick verified that was the case before exchanging. THE VENICE OF NORFOLK Their structural engineer chillingly described the peat bog the house stood on as reinforced water. All the local houses are built on piles driven through the peat, which can be more than 30 feet deep, till they hit limestone. In essence, its like Venice, but with modern piles hollow steel tubes filled with concrete. Other difficulties piled up, too. The roads are also piled, so no trucks and definitely no cranes go down them just a Transit van. And there are no mains drains, so the couple would have to purify their own well water and arrange the propertys sewage treatment. None of that put them off, but it slowed things down. The house took two years to build. Patrick created a contemporary design with strong vernacular links, which would also be light. This meant a timber frame hung with red-cedar shingles, a shingled roof, and lots of big sliding windows with views in all directions, all surrounded by decking like a wide pontoon. Floating fantasy: the Norfolk Broads house, on 52 piles driven 30ft through peat / Alan Williams Pale-skinned Clare wanted an 11ft-wide overhang above the deck so she could be outside without getting sunburned. A triple-roof design has steep pitches that recall the style of local boathouses. The cladding of light brown shingles resembles the feathered breast of a mallard hen preening amid the mix of alder, birch and willow trees. Meanwhile, the couples engineer worked out a clever piling system. No fewer than 52 steel piles were sunk to hold up the steel raft on which the light timber house sits. Its all bespoke, so testing, surveying and testing the piles again took six months. But once everyone was happy with the steel foundation, the timber frame went up fast. We used local builders, Patrick explains, real old-school. There was a lot of swearing, but they were great. A MODERN ECO-HOME They raised the frame by hand, then clad it. Inside this charming exterior, to which no locals objected, the house is super-modern. First, its very hi-tech, with underfloor heating, mechanical ventilation with heat-recovery, top-notch water purification, a wood-burning stove, double- and triple-glazed windows, and massive insulation. And it looks modern: the three interior sections are emphasised by big sliding pocket doors. Bespoke pieces: furnishings for the dining area, with its view of the lagoon, are topped off with oversize pendant lights / Alan Williams All the floors are done in whitened oak, and a bold steel corkscrew stair leads up to the master bedroom. Which caused more swearing, as it came in bits, to be welded on site. From the spacious black-and-white kitchen looking across the dining area to the lagoon, to the master bedroom with its spellbinding picture window facing in the same direction, this is a special place. Furnished with a lot of bespoke pieces its topped off by striking oversize pendant lights that inhabit and enhance the soaring pitches. London may only be two hours away, but surrounded by sweeps of water and sky reflecting endlessly, this is a place to dream in. GET THE LOOK T he spring house hunting season has begun. Many vendors and developers wait until April to market properties, hoping decent weather, bulbs in bloom and a few days off work will put buyers in the mood to spend. Whether you are looking for a new flat or a period house, the best price-rise potential will invariably be found in areas where regeneration money is starting to pour in, and where transport links are improving. So get ready to explore the different compass points of London. NORTH LONDON: Wood Green Haringey council only last month agreed to a 2 billion land deal which will see Elephant and Castle developer Lendlease create 5,000 new homes and a new town centre for this down-at-heel but well-connected outpost of north London. Tenants of estates earmarked for demolition under the proposals fear they will be priced out of new Wood Green. But tatty, unpretty, and in parts unwelcoming, this area could really benefit from regeneration. Its plus sides include a Zone 3 station, on the Piccadilly line, and streets of good Victorian and Edwardian stock for relatively affordable prices. A three-bedroom house will cost about 650,000, and a two-bedroom flat 400,000-430,000. The top prices are on the Crouch End borders. Downsides include very variable schools, an ugly post-war shopping centre and an undeniable undercurrent of gangs and violence. Met Police figures show the crime rate of 14.56 incidents per 1,000 people is higher than average for this section of north London, though in fairness rates are always higher around shopping centres where bag snatchers and shoplifters are about. West Kilburn This area has also struggled to throw off a slightly grimy reputation, but buying agent Jo Eccles, managing director of Sourcing Property, believes its location between two much more expensive areas means prices will rise. There is still an approximate 20 per cent price difference between West Kilburns price per square foot values versus neighbouring Queens Park to the north and Maida Vale to the south. 530,000: this two-bedroom flat on Ashmore Road, West Kilburn Four years ago, when we first started buying there for clients, that price gap was closer to 40 per cent. You can buy a two-bedroom flat for about 550,000 but we expect the price gap to close completely over the next three to five years. Eccles already sees key gentrification hallmarks in West Kilburn, with new coffee shops in Shirland Road and skips outside houses. SOUTH LONDON: Kingston upon Thames Theres nothing wrong with this outpost of south-west London but compared with other on Thames rivals, such as Richmond and Walton, it has always lacked va-va-voom. Neither pretty nor villagey, Kingston does have good shops, trains to Waterloo in just over half an hour, and some of the countrys best state schools, with oustanding Tiffin School the particular prize. From 470,000: one-bedroom flats in Queenshurst, Kingston The riverside, and some pockets of the town centre, are charming, and a 400 million plan to revamp the Sixties-built Eden Walk Shopping centre is set to bring new shops, restaurants, a cinema and 400 flats. Work is due to start in 2019. In the meantime, property ranges from huge modern trophy homes on the Coombe Estate to modest starter flats. A three- bedroom period semi would cost 700,000-750,000, and a two-bedroom flat from 500,000- 600,000. At swish Queenshurst, being built by Berkeley Homes on the site of an old gasworks, one-bedroom flats start at 470,000 with two-bedroom flats from 610,000 (queenshurst.co.uk). Catford South of the river, Graham Lawes, a director at JLL, believes Catford is ripe for price rises: With genuine hype about the regeneration and infrastructure change in Lewisham, it is inevitable that the ripple of change will be felt in surrounding postcodes. Catford borders Lewisham to the south and is, by and large, made up of long, tree-lined avenues of late-Victorian homes of all shapes and sizes. Significantly cheaper (10 to 15 per cent) than similar properties in Lewisham, my prediction for 2017 and beyond is that we will see a spike in activity in the SE6 postcode. EAST LONDON: Fish Island A small outpost south of Hackney Wick, this isnt strictly speaking an island. But with the Hertford Canal to the north, the River Lea to the west and the A12 cutting off its western frontier, it feels like one. The name is more romantic than the place but its location is terrific. With the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on one side and Victoria Park a quarter of a mile away, it is almost surrounded by green, with Hackney Wick trains to Liverpool Street from 20 minutes, and all the facilities of Stratford within an easy walk. From 581,500: two-bedroom homes in Carpenters Wharf, Fish Island Throw in Hackney Wicks bars and restaurants, and youve got an area ripe to explode. Right now theres not a lot in Fish Island other than big box trade stores, but the appearance of The Lighthouse gastropub in Wick Lane is a tip to the direction this area is going in. Developers Peabody and Hill certainly think so, teaming up to build almost 600 new homes plus a centre for start-up companies at Fish Island Village (fishislandvillage.co.uk). Prices have not been announced as yet, but expressions of interest are being taken and the homes will go on sale in late spring. The first residents should be moving in next year. Fish Islands industrial past means there arent a lot of homes to buy at the moment enterprising artists really ought to be scouring its streets for small disused garages and outbuildings, just like the Young British Artists did in Shoreditch two decades ago. However, some small developments have sprung up. CBRE is selling flats at Carpenters Wharf, which youll find in Roach Road among several Fish Island streets named after fish with prices starting at 581,500 for two-bedroom homes. Help to Buy is available, meaning a five per cent deposit. WEST LONDON: White City Just west of pukka Prime Central London, White Citys ugly acres of estates, factories and warehouses, criss-crossed by railway lines and busy roads, have been ignored for years. But regeneration is hurtling in. From 750,000: flats in Television Centre, White City Redevelopment includes the BBCs famous doughnut building at Television Centre, which is being converted into luxury flats complete with an outpost of Soho House. Berkeley Homes is developing a site across the road with 1,500 new homes. The already huge Westfield London is spreading to become Europes biggest shopping centre with a new John Lewis flagship store opening next year, as well as more than 1,000 new homes. And Imperial College is building a new research campus in the area. Hammersmith & Fulham council has just granted permission for the railway arches along Wood Lane to be turned into shops, restaurants, cafes and bars, which will provide a nice human-scale touch and a contrast to Westfield. White City seems to have more cranes and bulldozers than people just now, but its plus points are its Zone 2 station, on the Central line, and proximity to Wormwood Scrubs park. The latest tranche of Television Centre flats start at 750,000 and the priciest penthouse is 7 million. The areas Victorian mansion flats sell for about 500,000 for a two-bedroom home. Ex-council flats on the Art Deco and rather nice White City Estate are better value at about 400,000 for a two-bedroom home. China Advised US, Russia to Avoid Conflict on Crisis in Syria Russia on Syrian Crisis (Photo : Getty Images) On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China has advised all parties, specifically the United States and Russia, to improve communication and coordination and to avoid conflicts in handling the crisis in Syria. Advertisement The statement was given subsequent to Russias decision to veto a U.N. resolution regarding the Syrian conflict. The resolution, drafted by the United Kingdom, France and the U.S., orders a prompt investigation of the suspected chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria on April 4. The U.S., along with other Western authorities, held the Syrian government responsible for the attack. As a response to the attack, the U.S. fired 59 cruise missiles at the Shariat military base located in central Syria. The draft presumed the Syrian government to be accountable for the attack, Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vladimir Safronkov said as quoted by the media. A political solution is the only [way] to deal with the Syria issue, Wang said at a press conference following his meeting with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki in Beijing. China appeals to the international community to sustain unity and to keep on supporting the U.N. as the chief means of arbitration, Wang said. The foreign minister has also verified reports that Xie Xiaoyan, Chinas special envoy to Syria, will visit countries concerned for a thorough exchange of views. He also reiterated that China condemns and is strictly against the use of chemical weapons. China supports an independent and comprehensive investigation into reported chemical weapon use in Syria, said Wang. He added that responses to the attack must be within the U.N. framework and should be consistent with the U.N. Charter and basic norms of international relations. China will work till the last minute to seek common ground through consultation in the Security Council, the foreign minister said. According to Wang, Syrias sovereignty and territorial integrity should be honored and that the Syrian people must primarily resolve the issues. China continues to support the U.N. in resolving the crisis in Syria, encouraging other countries to avoid conflict and remain united. LOS CABOS, MEXICO Set along the dramatic coastline of San Jose del Cabo with panoramic views of the Sea of Cortez, Zadun, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve will make its debut in early 2018. This much anticipated opening marks the fourth extraordinary resort in the prestigious Ritz-Carlton Reserve portfolio, and the second in the Caribbean and Mexico region. "We are extremely excited to add the exquisite Zadun to the evolving and expanding portfolio of Ritz-Carlton Reserve, an elevated standard of luxury set in remarkable locations. We are particularly excited by the growth this opening represents for our beautiful and diverse region," said Tim Sheldon, President, Caribbean and Latin America, Marriott International. The name Zadun is inspired by the unique topography and dunes of the region dunas in Spanish and meant to evoke the transformative, pure experiences guests have at Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties around the globe. Set in some of the world's most prized destinations, these rare estates draw inspiration from their locale and native cultures and offer a highly personal connection between guests and the location. The striking design of Zadun, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve will celebrate the desert and the sea. Evoking a true sense of San Jose del Cabo, the resort's buildings are placed gently along the steppes of the land, as if they are one with the landscape, rising out of the earth to create the ultimate desert luxury. Zadun, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve will feature 115 elegantly appointed suites and villas, many with their own private plunge pools. The Reserve also features a collection of Ritz-Carlton Reserve Residences. "Guests will be enchanted from the moment they arrive. The property celebrates one of the most captivating locations in the world, and the deeply attentive, caring Ladies and Gentlemen of Ritz-Carlton Reserve will bring Zadun to life," Sheldon said. Zadun, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve joins Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico; Phulay Bay in Thailand; and Mandapa in Bali, Indonesia in offering a serene and transformative escape to the world's most discerning travelers. Each Reserve is entirely unique, a rare place set aside for those who appreciate a personalized experience and the most meaningful local immersion. More information about Zadun, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve and reservations are available at www.zadunreserve.com. About Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of more than 8,100 properties under 30 leading brands spanning 139 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company offers Marriott Bonvoy, its highly awarded travel program. For more information, please visit our website, and for the latest company news, visit Marriott News Center. In addition, connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on Twitter and Instagram. Jordan Brand has plans to release a couple of sueded Air Jordans this Summer including an all-red Air Jordan 5 reminiscent of the beloved Toro Bravo joints, and this royal Air Jordan 5 which is reportedly on tap for July. Both the red and blue sueded Air Jordan 5s are already being billed as a Fire & Ice Pack, though its unclear if Jordan Brand will be releasing these two kicks at the same time. The only form of contrast on this upcoming monochromatic Air Jordan 5 is the black which appears on the midsole and inner lining, and the reflective 3M tongue. Take a closer look in the gallery above and be on the lookout for release information in the near future. Blue Suede 5s This morning, in the wake of a new album from Kendrick Lamar that is already being dubbed as an instant classic around these internets, a far-reaching fan theory emerged. The internet conspired, as it tends to do, to allege that K. Dot will be releasing a second album on Easter Sunday as a follow-up and sister album of sorts to DAMN. The purported evidence for this conspiracy was listed in bullet form, and quickly went viral. Sounwave, a TDE in-house producer, was dragged into the theory thanks to a couple of tweets he fired off last night shortly after the Kendrick leak surfaced. Sounwave hopped on twitter this afternoon to clarify that his tweets were indeed referring to the early leak, and thus he basically dismissed the fan theory in one foul swoop. The unofficial version I was referring to was the leaked version thats missing important interludes and vocal pieces, Sounwave writes. Check out his two tweets on the matter below. Only time will tell. Sounwave Oil production is set to increase worldwide this year despite OPEC's efforts to reduce output and drain global supplies, according to the International Energy Agency. In its monthly report, the IEA said oil production could rise by 485,000 barrels a day around the world this year even as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other major producers cut output. That's compared with a global production drop of 790,000 barrels a day last year. "Although the oil market will likely tighten throughout the year, overall non-OPEC production, not just in the U.S., will soon be on the rise again," the IEA said. The Paris-based group, which advises oil importing countries, expects U.S. output to climb by 680,000 barrels a day this year, higher than its previous forecast. Meanwhile, it said, OPEC's oil production fell by 365,000 barrels a day in March as Nigeria and Libya suffered outages. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is also considering extending its production cuts into the second half of the year. The IEA also warned global energy demand growth could weaken this year as the economies of Russia, India, South Korea, the U.S. and some Middle Eastern countries slow. It projected oil demand of 1.3 million barrels a day this year, down by 100,000 barrels a day from its previous forecast. In the first quarter, global oil demand growth came in 20 percent lower than it had expected. Still, the IEA said, global oil supply and demand appear to be rebalancing after more than two years of oversupply. Oil inventories in some developing nations dropped by 300,000 barrels in the first quarter, though in industrialized countries, stocks increased by 400,000 barrels. "It can be argued confidently that the market is already very close to balance," the IEA said. "We have an interesting second half to come." The Trump administration has chosen not to brand China a currency manipulator in an official report, reversing one of the president's most prominent campaign promises on trade. In a semiannual report on America's major trading partners published late Friday, the Treasury Department declined to label any country a currency manipulator, though it kept China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland on a "watch list" of countries that merit close attention for their currency practices. During the campaign, Donald Trump often claimed that China was manipulating the value of its currency to boost its exports, a policy that cost the United States manufacturing jobs. He promised to label the country a currency manipulator on day one of his presidency. But 83 days into his presidency, Trump struck a dif-ferent chord. "They're not currency manipulators," Trump told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, adding that China hasn't been manipulating its currency for months and that labeling China a manipulator could discourage the country from helping the United States with North Korea. Economists agree that China doesn't currently merit the label of currency manipulator, and has not engaged in the practice for several years. The value of a currency is determined by supply and demand, and currency manipulation occurs when a country buys or sell large amounts of its own currency on global markets in order to change the price. But U.S. policy is really directed at countries that sell large volumes of their own currency to lower its price - a practice that has the effect of making a country's exports relatively cheap on global markets and hurting American exporters. "When our trading partners engage in currency manipulation, they impose significant and often long-lasting hardship on American workers and businesses," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a news release that accompanied the report. "Expanding trade in a way that is freer and fairer for all Americans requires that other economies avoid unfair currency practices, and we will continue to monitor this carefully." China held down the value of its currency, called the renminbi, RMB or yuan, to help its exporters for roughly a decade, a practice that critics say helped to decimate the American manufacturing industry. But recently, China's behavior has been different. For the past several years, the country has been doing the opposite, propping up the value of its currency, which helps American manufacturers. The Treasury report acknowledged as much. The report is the latest sign of a dramatic shift in economic policy for Trump, who won the support of many voters by promising to get tough on the country's biggest trading partners, especially China and Mexico. Trump signed a presidential memo on Jan. 23 to officially withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Obama-era trade deal that Trump had heavily criticized. He signed two more executive orders in April directing government officials to investigate the unfair practices of trading partners. But other prominent promises Trump made on the campaign trail, including renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and hammering out better terms of trade with China, have yet to materialize. Some supporters say this is only natural. Congress has yet to confirm one of the administration's top negotiators, U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer. But as the days run on, Trump's supporters may be losing patience. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate On the morning of March 28, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that gutted the U.S. Clean Power Plan, eliminating restrictions on fossil fuel production and promising to reinvigorate the energy industry. That very morning, on a lush oil business campus along the Energy Corridor here in Houston, several dozen oil and gas leaders met in private to discuss quite the opposite: how they could help their companies and the industry create a lower-carbon "cleaner energy" future, despite the rhetoric of the new administration. Multinational oil giant Royal Dutch Shell called the meeting. Several large oil and gas companies sent representatives, including Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp., both based in the Houston area, and the Swiss oil services technology provider ABB. Shell called it an "exclusive, invitation-only event." The goal: First, to build the "economic and environmental case for natural gas as the essential pathway to lower carbon energy systems," according to the meeting's agenda. Second, to raise a coalition of companies able to develop, advocate and implement the strategy. There are two camps emerging in the energy industry, attendees said. One is giddy with each cut to environmental regulation, hopeful that Trump will usher in a low-regulation era for fossil fuels. But the second camp worries about that philosophy, believing instead that world is already walking a path to a low-carbon future; electric cars, solar panels and windmills will keep coming, despite any change in U.S. regulations. And that group thinks the industry could ruin something it calls its "social license to operate," said Ben Ratner, director of the Environmental Defense Fund's business unit, one of the only environmental agencies invited to the meeting. This is a step beyond believing in climate change, he explained. It's the companies acknowledging their individual roles in global warming, and taking active steps to self-regulate and prevent air pollution, water contamination and other undesirables. It's in their own best interest, several told me. Technology has revolutionized drilling and opened up vast, hidden oil fields in the U.S. But will citizens allow oil companies to operate in increasingly close proximity to their cities, parks and homes? "This is not an industry that can continue to take a stiff-arm approach to regulations," Ratner told me. The meeting was an extension of a film series funded by Shell, called the Rational Middle Energy Series, which showed documentaries on key energy topics and then engaged the audience in a discussion. Film producer Gregory Kallenberg said he's spent five years trying to get environmentalists, industry executives and academics to have civil dialogue on such issues. It's finally working, he said. He used to watch people cross their arms and lean back, disengaged. Not last month, he said. Everybody leaned in. "It's kind of become a movement," said Kallenberg, who attended the March meeting. "It's bringing together the right players to have the right discussions." Derek Samora/HONS ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Divers have placed a clamp over a hole in an underwater Alaska pipeline, stopping the flow of millions of cubic feet of natural gas into Cook Inlet, home to endangered beluga whales. Hilcorp Alaska, a subsidiary of Houston-based Hilcorp, announced Friday that divers Thursday night covered a gash at the bottom of the 8-inch diameter line in 80 feet of water. They measured the hole at less than 0.5 square inches. A favorite founding myth of Texas barbecue is that it originated in the meat markets of Central Texas in the late 1800s when butchers cooked unsold, soon-to-spoil meat at the end of the week. Locals, ranch hands and laborers would gather for a Sunday dinner of barbecued meats. Certainly, there is some truth to this history, especially as it relates to the founding of Central Texas-style barbecue. But what about the rest of Texas? There's a deeper history as the tale of Texans' love affair with barbecue can be traced to political and community gatherings starting in the mid-1800s. What's the connection between politics and Texas barbecue? One definition of politics is the ability to influence large groups of people so that they come around to a point of view and eventually vote for a candidate. In the mid-1800s, one of the best ways to achieve this was to feed and entertain people. In the early days of Texas politics, the "political barbecue" was a favorite way for political parties to attract large groups of people to a rally where candidates would espouse their platform and beliefs while agreeable voters dined on smoked meats and partook of the occasional flask of moonshine. Barbecue was the chosen cuisine because it was the best way to feed large groups of people, often thousands at a time. Trenches were dug in the ground, filled with hot coals, covered with a grate, and then whole sides of butchered meats - usually beef (referred to as "beeves" at the time), mutton and pork - would be grilled for the masses. One of the earliest references to a political barbecue in Texas comes from May 10, 1856, in the Dallas Daily Herald, which reprinted a report from the Houston Telegraph newspaper describing the 20th anniversary festivities of the Battle of San Jacinto. Held on the battleground site, the event featured speeches by local politicians, a procession of military guards and a barbecue "got up in the very best style, there being enough and to spare for 'all hands and the cook.' " Notably, it was at this event that the idea for a monument to the battle was conceived, with all of $25 collected for the San Jacinto Monument that exists today. Community gatherings of a less political nature also introduced Texans to the traditions and techniques of barbecue. In a remarkable photograph from 1919, the "Old Settlers Reunion" - a kind of homecoming party for small towns - shows a barbecue trench several hundred feet long with adjacent long tables and hundreds of citizens eating the barbecue. In the 1920s, political barbecues took on a more sinister tone when white nationalist organizations co-opted the technique to gain followers. The Ku Klux Klan, at the time a more mainstream but still extremist political group, advertised in the Houston Post on May 15, 1924, for a "Big Barbecue Today" in which its candidate for Texas governor would speak and a "large class of men" would be "naturalized" - i.e., welcomed into the movement. The irony of white nationalists adopting community barbecue techniques lay in the fact that cooks for such events were almost always black, some freed slaves. The technique of trenches filled with coals used to cook meat can be traced to slave traditions of the Southern U.S. These tensions came to a head at a Klan meeting in Bonham, as reported in the Port Arthur News on Aug. 12, 1922. The article is headlined "K.K.K. Barbecue Is Near Fizzle When Negro Chef Balks." According to the report, the gathering "had some difficulty in getting the trenches dug to cook the meat for their barbecue" because the black cooks balked at working with such an organization. By the 1940s, Texas politicians combined the political barbecue with new mass media techniques to call Texans to huge gatherings featuring smoked meats. W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel gained fame and the governor's office through his famous radio program and associated barbecue parties. One of O'Daniel's early political nemeses, Lyndon Johnson, would take the tradition of the political barbecues to a new level by hosting visiting heads of state to barbecue parties at his ranch in Johnson City during his presidency. EL PASO - An Austin friend of mine in town last weekend for a gathering of the Texas literati enjoyed the poetry readings and the writerly conversation, but what really left a lasting impression was a visit to the Whoopee Bowl, a sprawling antique/vintage emporium in Canutillo, west of the city. As he and his wife wandered the aisles past clothes, old stoves, metal art, wagon wheels and bizarre "what in the world is that?" items, they happened to notice on a wall behind the cash register what may have been the most bizarre item of all: a framed, full-color portrait of Adolf Hitler in Nazi uniform. Price: $3,400. It was obviously the work of an artist with talent, but who painted it and how it ended up at the Whoopee Bowl in Canutillo, Texas, my friend was reluctant to ask. ("Uhh, yes ma'am, I'm interested in your Hitler up there on the wall.") The provenance remains a mystery, but El Paso writer and historian David Durado Romo can tell you about another El Paso-Nazi connection, one that's more insidious than a portrait of Der Fuhrer at the Whoopee Bowl. Although the El Paso role was inadvertent, the connection had its origins on the border dividing two deeply connected cities. As Romo notes in his book, "Ringside Seat to a Revolution," the U.S.-Mexican border was pretty much open until 1917, when the Great War prompted fears that Germany would launch bombing raids from across the river. For the first time, Mexican nationals needed a passport to enter the U.S. "From that point on," Romo writes, "El Paso and Juarez became two separate communities." More Information A new edition of David Romo's "Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juarez: 1893-1923" will be published in May. Contact Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso for information at info@cincopuntos.com or 1-800-566-9072. See More Collapse 'The gas chambers' Allegedly to protect the nation from the threat of typhus, U.S. customs agents also began the mandatory delousing of Mexican border-crossers. Typhus was no more of a problem in El Paso than in other American cities - three cases in 1917 - but all immigrants from the Mexican interior and those deemed "second-class" residents of Juarez were required to strip so they could be fumigated. They also had to hand over their clothes to be sterilized in a steam dryer. A public health inspector examined their naked bodies. Anyone found to have lice would be required to shave all hair with clippers and bathe with a concoction of kerosene and vinegar. At the completion of the "sterilization" process - in an area called "the gas chambers" - the Mexican visitor would receive a ticket certifying them.. "It was extremely draconian. It wasn't necessary," Romo, a third-generation El Pasoan, told me a few days ago. Romo's great-aunt, Adela Dorado, crossed the bridge daily to clean houses in El Paso. She told him over dinner years ago how it felt to be treated as a "dirty Mexican." Once, she said, an inspector ran her clothes and shoes through the secadora (steam dryer), and her shoes melted. Regular visitors were "deloused" every eight days. Originally it was daily, until 17-year-old Carmelita Torres got fed up. The "auburn-haired Amazon" - the El Paso Times description - also crossed the Santa Fe International Bridge to clean houses and experienced the same daily humiliation, until, like Rosa Parks decades later, she said no. On the morning of Jan. 28, 1917, she refused to exit the trolley and be subjected to the procedure. She also persuaded 30 other women to resist. By 8:30, more than 200 Mexican women had joined them, blocking traffic into El Paso. By noon, the Times estimated their number as "several thousand." The protesters lobbed rocks, bottles and insults at immigration and public health officers and jeered at soldiers called out from nearby Fort Bliss to quell the riot. They lay across the tracks, took control of a trolley and pummeled the motorman when he tried to flee. Mexican cavalrymen from the notorious "esquadron de la muerte" galloped up with sabers drawn. As Romo tells the tale, the women jeered, hooted and attacked the soldiers. Nazi connection If the Carmelita Torres story were a movie, we'd see befuddled soldiers retreating, exultant women demolishing the hated baths while stirring background music swells. Alas, it's not. The protesters couldn't get the humiliating procedure abolished, although after the "Bath Riots" it was no longer daily. The border disinfections would continue into the mid-1930s. Romo, a resident scholar at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, considers himself a "micro-historian," one who pays attention not only to scholarly sources but also to "forgotten ancestors, lost photographs and music I had never heard of before." (He's also a classically trained guitarist.) He came across the El Paso-Nazi connection at the National Archives. On Jan. 29, 1929, the medical officer in charge of the El Paso delousing station put in a requisition for ZyklonB as the fumigation agent of choice. A commercial form of hydrocyanic acid, ZyklonB was used primarily as a pesticide to fumigate agricultural shipments from Mexico. It's extremely poisonous to humans when inhaled and fatal when absorbed through the skin. In 1937, a German scientist named Gerhard Peters wrote an article for a science journal touting the effectiveness of ZyklonB as an agent for killing unwanted pests. Accompanying the article were two photographs of the El Paso delousing chambers. Peters became the managing director of Degesch, one of two German firms that acquired the patent to mass-produce the chemical in 1940. In his patent application for a new "exterminating" agent he noted, "My invention relates to the extermination of animal pest-life of the most varied kinds, for instance, warm-blooded obnoxious animals and insects." Peters' company, Degesch, would become the major supplier of ZyklonB to Nazi concentration camps. As Romo points out, "the Germans used ZyklonB in concentrated doses in the gas chambers to exterminate millions of human beings whom they considered 'pests' and 'parasites.' " Border panic of 1917 Romo, whose degree from Stanford University is in Judaic Studies and who studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, knows to take extreme care when drawing Hitler parallels. (Ask the White House press secretary.) He's also quick to make the obvious point that the Nazis were using ZyklonB to commit mass murder, while border authorities in El Paso certainly were not. "There were some subtle and not-so-subtle connections between the immigration policies and practices at the U.S.-Mexican border during WWI and some of the historical processes which led to Nazi Germany," he writes. He mentions an El Paso mayor in 1916 complaining to Washington about "dirty lousey (sic) destitute Mexicans," an eugenicist warning about threats that bastard races from south of the border posed to the nation's "Aryan stock," the medical bureaucrats whose job it was "to protect America from the dirty, the dumb, the destitute and the defective." A century beyond the border panic of 1917, Romo detects worrisome signs of history repeating itself. He speaks of fear, hatred, racial animus and a wall that's like "a barbed-wire fence right down the middle of everybody's mind." China-Pakistan Trade (Photo : Getty Images) China is now the largest direct foreign investor in Pakistan, which is taking advantage of the billions of dollars poured to infrastructure overhaul brought about by China's "On Belt, One Road" initiative, the Straits Times reported. Advertisement With China overtaking the U.S., Pakistan has strengthened its ties with its neighboring country while its relationship with the U.S. is in tatters. China has been strengthening its relations with Pakistan after it pledged to fund the $55 billion development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an initiative that is expected to bring progress to a country of about 200 million people. From July 2013 to January this year, China's direct investment in Pakistan has reached $1.82 billion, compared to the U.S. with $505 million, according to central bank data. "As the U.S. looks inward, China is reaching out," Bilal Khan, a senior economist at Standard Chartered in Karachi, said. "Against this backdrop, the U.S. could steadily lose its share in FDI (foreign direct investment) to Pakistan as China rises." According to the report, improving its ties with China is part of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's plan to boost economic growth to the country. On the other hand, China wants to implement its Silk Road plan to enhance trade across Central Asia and Europe by revitalizing the ancient route with a network of railways, highways and ports. A record number of 77 Chinese companies have registered in Pakistan in the last three years, showing China's rising corporate presence in the country, the report said. U.S. investments Meanwhile, U.S. investments in Pakistan have reportedly been reinvestments from companies that were already based in the country. Last year, Philip Morris International injected $105 million to improve its facilities and install new machinery for its manufacturing operation in the country. The report said that U.S. investments were not as big although large multinational firms such Procter & Gamble and General Electric have been operating in Pakistan. In January, General Electric turned over seven locomotives to Pakistan Railways as part of a $400-million deal for the purchase of 55 train units over the period of ten years. "We are not on their radar. They tend to stay away when it comes to Pakistan," Abdul Aleem, chief executive of the Karachi-based Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representing 195 foreign firms, including 31 from the U.S., said of American investors. Chinese investment According to Chen Fengying, an expert on global economy with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, the CPEC is located "right at the crossroad" of two major networks China is building. She added that investments between the two countries grew rapidly because they have built up trust over the years. "Pakistan is the only country being called an 'all-weather strategic partner' by the Chinese government, signaling a sense of unwavering support under all conditions," Chen said. Analysts, however, said that the slowdown in U.S. investment in Pakistan was due to reasons, other than simple economics. Shaista Tabassum, chairman of the University of Karachi's international relations department, noted that Pakistan and the U.S. relations are moving farther apart. "It is moving slowly down," she said. "CPEC has many economic benefits coming, which Pakistan expected the U.S. should have given to it." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Chris Maurer has never dressed up as a penis. While some of his fellow activists have, on occasion, dressed up as the body part they're trying to protect, Maurer prefers more conventional approaches to his anti-circumcision activism - or "intactivism," as it's often called. The Houston lawyer recently snagged national recognition for his public speaking and open financial support for the sometimes-controversial movement against infant circumcision. But although he's dedicated to a unusual cause, the December Intactivist of the Month looks like a normal guy. And that's exactly what he and his fellow activists want you to know: They're not a fringe movement, and they have tens of thousands of supporters who believe that it's wrong to circumcise children. "It's hard work," said Georganne Chapin, Intact America founder. "We very much want people to know it's not a kook issue." The movement against circumcision has long faced charges of anti-Semitism - especially in light of controversial literature like "Foreskin Man," a 2011 comic series in which an Aryan-looking superhero rescues boys from the clutches of a grinning Semitic caricature known as "Monster Mohel," a reference to the Jewish mohels who perform circumcisions as part of a religious rite. But local intactivists make it clear that's not what they're about - although each activist's specific attraction to the movement is a little different. Camellia May, a 54-year-old midwife in southeast Houston, has vocally opposed circumcision ever since she witnessed a baby bleeding profusely after what she believes was a botched procedure. "Even one child being harmed from this surgery is one child too many," she said. For Maurer, it's about choice and consent. "If an adult male wants to do whatever he wants, I don't have a problem with that - but when it's nonessential, irreversible surgery on a nonconsenting infant, I don't think that's right," he said. As a pro-life Catholic, Maurer sees circumcision as a violation of the "right to physical integrity that begins at conception." He has concerns about the way the procedure is carried out - and whether it's morally acceptable. "I don't think tying down a baby by wrists and ankles and cutting his penis is right or humane or decent," he said. 'Mother of movement' Anti-circumcision activism took shape as a movement when a California nurse named Marilyn Milos led the charge to organize, founding the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers - also known as NOCIRC - in 1986. "She was kind of a mother of the movement," Chapin said. "Since then, over the decades, many, many people have joined." It's hard to measure exact numbers nationwide, but Chapin said Intact America alone now has a 25,000 person mailing list. "When I first started, you could probably have counted all the activists in one place - there were maybe 100 or 200," she said. "Now, it's literally tens of thousands of people." And, though they all oppose circumcision, their specific goals can vary. Some, like NOCIRC members, simply focus on educating new parents, while others work to eliminate Medicaid funding for the procedure. Last year, Intact America lobbied the American Association of Pediatrics to come out against circumcision and, more controversially, one group in San Francisco had an ill-fated 2011 bid to have the procedure made illegal. Although California has been a hotbed of intactivist activity, the Lone Star State has served as a launching pad for some of the influential anti-circumcision groups active today. "Texas is super important," Chapin said. "It's a state where there's a lot of activism and a lot of smart intactivists." Chapin is currently based in New York's Westchester County, but her organization traces its roots back to north Texas. "Dallas was ground zero for Intact America," she said. The group's first major donor and its first organizing meeting were both in Texas, and today, there are members scattered throughout the state. Another group, Your Whole Baby, traces its roots back to Austin, and a filmmaker based in the capital city is behind the forthcoming intactivist documentary "American Circumcision," which is slated for a release late this year. But in addition to the more traditional intactivist groups stationed in Texas, occasionally their purposely shocking counterparts - the ones who could be mistaken for "kooks" - sweep through. Just last month, one of the nation's most easily recognizable intactivist groups, the Bloodstained Men, set up shop near Discovery Green for three days of vociferous Super Bowl demonstrations in their trademark white clothing with blood-splattered crotches. Despite their outlandish appearance and handmade "Stop Cutting Baby Penis" signs, the small gaggle of demonstrators calmly handed out literature to passers-by - until they got swallowed up by a much more raucous pro-immigration march. Necessary discussion Although the American Academy of Pediatrics has variously been in favor of and neutral toward circumcision, since 2012 the AAP's official position has been that the procedure's benefits outweigh the risks. Dr. Douglas Diekema, a Seattle Children's Hospital pediatrician who was on the AAP task force that issued the 2012 statement, was quick to qualify that. "From a personal perspective I would say better terminology is 'The benefits justify the risks,' " he said during an interview. "But different people weigh the risks differently." The benefits are mostly preventive, such as decreased risk of HIV and HPV transmission - although some intactivists dispute that data. The main risks of circumcision include infection and bleeding, although death and amputation have been reported. "In the hands of an experienced provider using sterile technique and good anesthesia, the risks of this procedure are quite low - but not zero," he said. Yet despite the AAP's evolving support for the procedure, the Centers for Disease Control reports that hospital circumcisions dropped 10 percent nationwide between 1979 and 2010. Although intactivism could have played a role in that shift, Diekema said that changing racial demographics, shorter hospital stays and changes in Medicaid coverage could all contribute as well. Whether or not intactivists are behind the dropping numbers, they're sparking a much-needed discussion about the costs, risks and reasons for the procedure, Diekema said. And the idea that there should be more conversation around circumcision is one thing - maybe the only thing - that both sides agree on. "Parents spend a lot of time thinking about how to decorate the baby's room and what clothes to buy and all that's great but they don't spend a lot of time thinking about whether they should circumcise their son or not," Maurer said. "The big thing is for parents to really look into this." The Houston ISD will pay $300,000 to an organization best known for crafting standardized tests to conduct an audit of the school district's troubled special education department. American Institutes for Research, or AIR, was selected from 14 companies and nonprofits to audit services after a Houston Chronicle investigation revealed that Texas systematically denied special education services to thousands of eligible students. HISD's special education director resigned following allegations that the state's largest school system embraced a controversial policy that effectively capped the percentage of students allowed to receive services at 8.5 percent. HISD slashed hundreds of positions from its special education department, dissuaded evaluators from diagnosing disabilities until second grade and created a list of "exclusionary factors" that disqualify students from getting services, among other tactics. As a result, only 7.3 percent of HISD students now receive special education services - compared with the national average of 13 percent. "We're not waiting to address issues of identification and to get students the services that they need," said HISD trustee Anne Sung, who is chairing an ad hoc committee on special education. "We're working to make sure we have right resources, systems and processes in place so families don't encounter roadblocks and that we give them the right information and right support." Concerned parents are invited to connect with district staff at upcoming town hall meetings April 19 and May 17, she added. Sung, who has been a vocal proponent of reducing schools' reliance on standardized testing, said she had concerns about AIR's emphasis on testing. The company edged out Boston-based Public Consulting Group in the bid process that considered relevance, cost, reputation and quality. She was reassured by HISD leadership that they will control the scope of the work. "What has been laid out has nothing to do with testing," Sung said Friday. "There is a long list of project goals and objectives, and we wouldn't expect for them to take a left turn and focus on tests. Nothing in this project shows they would encourage us to adopt testing tools or their testing tools." Expanded its scope AIR will look at how the district identifies and serves students, as well as how it manages its budget and resources, among other considerations. While AIR is best known for providing statewide standardized testing services in Ohio, Florida and other states, the company expanded its scope in the last two decades to include consulting for special education, adult education and other specialty programs. Allison Gandhi, a managing researcher at AIR and director of the special education practice area, said the nonprofit's research and professional consulting services are separate from the group's assessments branch. "I would say we're widely known within the special education community but maybe not more broadly known," Gandhi said. Much of AIR's work in special education has been providing technical assistance, teacher training, research and recommendations to districts and states, Gandhi said. They've worked on audits with school districts in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to shore up practices and create guidelines for better serving students with disabilities. 'A good reputation' Although AIR has not been contacted by HISD or officially awarded the contract, the first step would be aligning goals and indicators with HISD's needs and requests, she said. "Then we typically look at data, demographics, identification rates, trends, documents, manuals and policies," Ghandi said. "In the past we have done reviews of redacted Individualized Education Programs to see how schools are providing appropriate services, and sometimes we do classroom observations or intensive interviews and focus groups with faculty and parents. But it really depends on the scope (of the project) and how many schools are involved." Laura Kaloi, a national consultant with the McKeon Group, which focuses on special education services, said AIR has become more prominent in special education circles in the past seven or so years and has produced meaningful studies and teacher training programs. "From my experience as special education advocate and with policy, they have a good reputation. They have always brought in solid people both from U.S. Department of Education and people around the country who are experts," Kaloi said. "They're really trying to help show how special education needs fit into schools and how to train teachers. Their Comprehensive Centers Network and publications they've put out have been very helpful to point to better teacher services." TOKYO -- China issued a stern warning Friday to both the United States and North Korea, urging them not to push their recriminations to a point of no return and allow war to break out on the Korean Peninsula. In comments carried by China's official Xinhua news agency, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "storm clouds" were gathering, an apparent reference to North Korean preparations to conduct a new nuclear test and the United States' deployment of a naval strike force to the waters off the peninsula. In addition, the U.S. military has been conducting large-scale military exercises with South Korean forces, drills that the North considers provocative. "The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent," Wang said after a meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Xinhua reported. "We urge all sides to no longer engage in mutual provocation and threats, whether through words or deeds." He also called on them not to push matters to a point from which they "cannot be turned around." If they allow war to break out on the peninsula, they must bear the historical responsibility and "pay the corresponding price," Wang warned. Earlier Friday, North Korea accused President Donald Trump of "making trouble" with his "aggressive" tweets, amid concerns that tensions between the two countries could escalate into military action. And the North Korean army threatened to annihilate U.S. military bases in South Korea and the presidential palace in Seoul in response to what it called Trump's "maniacal military provocations." Tensions have been steadily mounting in recent weeks, as North Korea prepares for what it is calling a "big" event to mark the anniversary of the founder's birthday Saturday, while the Trump administration warns that all options are on the table. Expectations for a nuclear test or missile launch in the lead-up to Saturday's celebrations in Pyongyang have not come to pass. Instead, there are signs that the regime is getting ready to hold a huge parade this weekend, perhaps showing off new missiles - something that would qualify as the "big" event it had heralded. The United States has sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the Korean Peninsula region, and Trump has repeatedly tweeted that if China will not use its leverage to rein in North Korea, the United States will act. Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Seoul on Sunday on the first leg of an Asia tour, and he will doubtless underscore Washington's strong alliances with South Korea and Japan and their determination to stop North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But North Korea's vice foreign minister said Trump was "becoming more vicious and more aggressive" than previous presidents, which was only making matters worse. "Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words," Han Song Ryol told the Associated Press in an interview in Pyongyang. "So that's why. It's not the DPRK but the U.S. and Trump that makes trouble," he said, using the abbreviation for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as North Korea is officially known. Han also repeated the regime's common refrain that North Korea is ready to act to defend itself. "We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a U.S. preemptive strike," Han told the AP. As for when the next nuclear test would take place, "that is something that our headquarters decides," he said. His message chimed with a statement Friday from North Korea's Institute for Disarmament and Peace that it was the United States pushing the Korean Peninsula, "the world's biggest hotspot," to the brink of war by bringing back a naval strike group. "This has created a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out any moment on the peninsula and pose a serious threat to the world's peace and security," the statement said. North Korea has a habit of fueling tensions to increase the rewards it might extract from the outside world if it desists. Previously, North Korea has agreed to return to denuclearization talks in return for aid or the easing of sanctions. Trump is tearing up that old playbook, analysts said. "This approach to North Korea is relatively new," said James Kim of the Asan Institute of Policy Studies in Seoul. "The approach in the past has been very calculated." That has gone out the window with talk about military options, he said. "We always knew all these options were there, but no one was bold enough to go down that path. It's a new approach." Some in Beijing are noting the difference, too. "It should be noted that there is a personality difference between Trump and Obama," the Global Times newspaper wrote Friday. The paper does not speak for the Chinese government on policy but often reflects a strain of thinking within the Communist Party. "Trump is also willing to show he is different. Bombing Syria helps him to show that," it continued, while noting that he was far from "revolutionary" because he dispatched only missiles, not troops. But North Korea could prove different if it calls Trump's bluff and conducts another nuclear test, the paper said. "Trump just took the office; if he loses to Pyongyang, he would feel like he had lost some prestige." Right now, Trump has some cards to play, said Kim of the Asan Institute. "He might say: 'If you want one less battleship in the region, what are you going to give me?'" he said, in a reversal from the usual situation in which North Korea asks what it can get from its adversaries in return for changing its behavior. Amid these tensions, reports of impending military action have been swirling. NBC News, citing intelligence officials, reported Thursday that the United States was ready to launch a preemptive strike if North Korea appeared to be about to conduct a nuclear test. But a defense official said this was "speculative," and analysts said they highly doubted that Washington would take such action, describing a situation in which tougher sanctions and more rigorous implementation remained the best remedy. Trump's tweets and his conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping seem designed to push Beijing to crack down on North Korea, and there have been some indications that China is getting tougher on its errant neighbor. China banned coal imports from North Korea in mid-February - potentially cutting off an economic lifeline - and Chinese customs data released Thursday showed a 52 percent drop in imports in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year. Chinese state media reported that the government also will suspend Air China flights between Beijing and Pyongyang beginning Monday. It gave no other details on how long the suspension could last. Meanwhile, the Japanese government is taking precautions of its own. Its National Security Council has discussed how to evacuate the roughly 60,000 Japanese nationals living in South Korea and how to deal with a potential influx of North Koreans, according to multiple local reports. These plans include sifting out spies or soldiers who might be among the refugees. The North Korean situation is getting more serious, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday. "We cannot turn away from this reality. The security environment surrounding Japan is getting tougher." President Donald Trump's top environment official called for an "exit" from the historic Paris agreement Thursday in what appeared to be the first time such a high-ranking official has so explicitly disavowed the agreement endorsed by nearly 200 countries to fight climate change. Speaking with "Fox & Friends," Pruitt commented, "Paris is something that we need to really look at closely. It's something we need to exit in my opinion." "It's a bad deal for America," Pruitt continued. "It was an America second, third, or fourth kind of approach. China and India had no obligations under the agreement until 2030. We front-loaded all of our costs." Pruitt's claim about China and India having "no obligations" until 2030 is incorrect - while these countries do indeed have 2030 targets, they are already acting now to reduce their emissions by investing in renewable energy and other initiatives. The Trump administration has previously said it is currently reviewing its position on climate change and energy policy and remains noncommittal, for now, on whether it will follow through on the president's campaign pledge to "cancel" the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Trump's recent executive order on energy policy, which set in motion the rollback of Obama's domestic Clean Power Plan, was silent on the matter of Paris. White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said that the administration will resolve its view on the Paris accord "by the time of the G7 Summit, late May-ish, if not sooner." Hard-liners vs. moderates Amid this uncertainty, the statement aligns Pruitt with a more hard-line approach held by some in the Trump administration, such as chief strategist Stephen Bannon, rather than the more moderate take of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who had said in his confirmation hearing that the U.S. should have a "seat at the table" in the Paris negotiations. Tillerson's former company, the oil giant ExxonMobil, has also supported the Paris accord, and in late March wrote a letter to the White House reiterating its view that "the United States is well positioned to compete within the framework of the Paris agreement, with abundant low-carbon resources such as natural gas, and innovative private industries, including the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors." If the Trump administration wants to take a more moderate approach to the Paris deal, it could consider modifying the United States' current pledge to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, rather than seeking to exit altogether. The Obama administration had promised the world that the United States would reduce its emissions by 26 to 28 percent below its 2005 levels by the year 2025. The Trump administration could simply revise that pledge and make it less ambitious, and easier to attain. In the energy sector, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have already declined by 14 percent from 2005 to 2016, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The reason is more burning of natural gas rather than coal and a growing profusion of renewables. "It is looking like we may see them announce that they're going to stay in Paris and also announce simultaneously that they're going to revise the U.S. target under Paris to 2025," Andrew Light, a senior fellow in the global climate program at the World Resources Institute, noted in an interview earlier this week. But as he added, "look, these guys are unpredictable, and I don't think we can know." It is far from clear how the U.S. could actually "exit" the Paris agreement, assuming that the Pruitt line wins and the administration determines that it wants to. Now that the agreement has entered into force, it takes three years under its terms for a party to withdraw, followed by a one-year waiting period - a length roughly equal to Trump's first term in office. China, India move forward While the Trump administration has backed away from the global leadership on climate change that President Barack Obama pursued, other countries have embraced that role. "The Paris Agreement is a hard-won achievement which is in keeping with the underlying trend of global development," Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the World Economic Forum earlier this year. "All signatories should stick to it instead of walking away from it as this is a responsibility we must assume for future generations." As for India - which is on course to greatly increase its energy demand in coming years as electrification expands - it, too, is moving to address climate change. It has, for instance, a plan to install 100 gigawatts of solar energy capacity by the year 2020 - more than double the amount that the U.S. currently has, notes Anjali Jaiswal, director of the India initiative at the Natural Resources Defense Council. AUSTIN -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested over the weekend that he supports an effort to increase funding, training and transparency in special education, including by permanently ending the state's de facto cap on the percentage of students who can receive services. "Texas will fix flaws in special education beginning this week," Abbott wrote Saturday on Twitter along with a link to a story about the effort and a hearing on the legislation scheduled for Tuesday. "We'll get this done this session." The tweet, while brief, was one of Abbott's most extensive comments about special education since the Houston Chronicle revealed the state's de facto cap last September and reported that it had denied services to tens of thousands of students with disabilities. The Texas Education Agency policy, which was not based on any research and not publicly discussed or announced when it was enacted in 2004, punished Texas school districts for giving special education services to more than 8.5 percent of students. In the decade after its enactment, the percentage of Texas students receiving services fell from near the longtime national average of 13 percent down to exactly 8.5 percent. If Texas had remained at the national average, as many as 250,000 more students with dyslexia, autism, speech impairments and many other disabilities would be receiving services such as tutoring, therapy and counseling. The Chronicle's series sparked a bipartisan chorus of outrage, a still-ongoing federal investigation and a Texas Education Agency decision to suspend and eventually eliminate the policy. Abbott largely has stayed out of the public conversation, however. Previously, his only major public comment came in December, when he responded to a question about the state policy from a reporter by predicting that it soon would be eliminated and then pivoting to a pitch for a voucher system that would give parents some money to seek out private schools that could cater to their needs. Nearly four months later, the Texas Legislature is preparing for a major debate about how to fix special education. Lawmakers have filed 51 bills related to the issue -- nearly twice as many as during the last legislative session. At least 16 of those pieces of legislation were filed directly in response to the Chronicle's reporting. The most prominent of the proposals would permanently bar the state from ever again capping special education enrollments. That bill is set to be heard Tuesday as part of the first legislative committee meeting on special education. Does Gov. Greg Abbott believe that Ann Richards was an election cheat? Perhaps Mark White stuffed the ballot box and Bob Bullock only won because he had thousands of Texans lining up to vote twice, or three or ten times. Is there any politician peering from the portraits that line our state Capitol who served without an illegitimate ascension? Listening to the governor's rhetoric, you would think that our state has never witnessed a single election that wasn't drowned in a deluge of illegal votes. After all, the only thing standing between a fair democracy and fraud, according to our governor and his political allies, is our state's restrictive voter identification law. And the Texas giants who once strode Austin's Pink Dome won their races before Senate Bill 14 was passed in 2011. That law was struck down - for a second time - last week by a federal judge for intentional racial discrimination. The conservative Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had found that the law had a discriminatorily disproportionate impact on Hispanic voters and other minorities, but remanded it back to U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos to reconsider her findings of intentional discrimination. It is hard to imagine any other purpose served by SB 14. If the bill's supporters had evidence of widespread criminality that the new law would finally prevent, they certainly didn't bring it up at trial. The only instance of a non-citizen voting they could muster was a Norwegian fellow who honestly filled out an application form and indicated he was not a citizen. Texas accidentally mailed him a registration card anyway. Only two cases of in-person voter impersonation fraud led to a conviction in the 10 years preceding the voter ID bill - two out of 20 million votes cast. Three elections held under the ID law didn't see any change in the rate of voter fraud referrals or the rate of convictions. That's because the myth of widespread voter fraud isn't based on facts or evidence - bigotry always relies on more devious backing. The myth lives in a legacy of racism that still thrives in the structures of our nation. The myth of voter fraud lives in the everlasting fear of losing political power to a rising minority population. It is a myth expressed in a single thesis - non-white voters are inherently illegitimate. This idea can be traced back to the days of Reconstruction, when African-Americans were first granted the right to vote in Texas elections. Houston's own Weekly Telegraph spent those days railing against the obvious fraud responsible for the election of African-Americans to our city's municipal government. No, the editor of the paper had no evidence to back up this claim. And no, the editor could find no flaws in the registration and election process. The only fact the editor needed was the presence of newly emancipated Houstonians who threatened Anglo control of city government. That demographic phenomenon was repeated more than a century later, in the years preceding Senate Bill 14. The 2010 census showed that the state of Texas had grown by more than 4 million people over the past decade, nearly 90 percent of them minority. In the eyes of our Texas Legislature, those new non-white voters were justification enough for an emergency voter ID bill. No one is claiming that Abbott or Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick or the bulk of the bill's supporters spend their days dropping racial slurs or scheming to reinstate Jim Crow. That's not how discrimination works. They simply have to care more about the consolidation of political power than the guarantee of justice or equality. That's why Texas implemented an unconstitutional gerrymandering scheme. That's why the Legislature refuses to simply guarantee legal identification for each voter. That's why our state, yet again, needs to be brought back under the Voting Rights Act's mechanism for federal supervision. Politics is about power. In 2011, the Texas Legislature used its power to make it more difficult for Hispanics and African-Americans to elect their representatives. The Legislature is not going to stop pursuing this goal until one of two things changes - its values or its members. Chinese nannies are now in demand in families in the United States. (Photo : Gettty Images) More families in the United States--may they be American or Chinese immigrants--are hiring Chinese nannies, a report from Chinese online news outlet Red Star News stated. Mandarin-speaking nannies are a good choice for Chinese immigrant families as they can use traditional childcare techniques. They can also aid in passing on China's cultural heritage. Advertisement Meanwhile, U.S. parents hope that a Chinese nanny can give their kids a head start in life as they can help expose their children to Mandarin at an early age. Mandarin is one of the widest spoken languages in the world. The article noted that the many American parents now request for nannies who are fluent not just in English. They particularly favor Chinese-speaking caregivers. In the recent period, there has been a sharp increase in the demand for this kind of nannies in various areas, including San Francisco and New York. In the latter, nannies could even command a salary of $20,000 higher than the average. According to childcare service agency Lifestyle Resources, a Chinese nanny was able to secure an annual salary of $70,000 after two families outbid her. Arabella Kushner, the 5-year-old granddaughter of U.S. leader Donald Trump, is one of the many children in America who has received assistance from Chinese nannies. When Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Trump, she, together with her younger brother Joseph, sang "Jasmine Flower," a traditional Chinese song, and recited the Three Character Classic. Nonetheless, having Chinese nannies is not the only way to learn Mandarin. Different community-based missionary schools and immersion elementary language institutions in the U.S. have been offering Mandarin classes. Veteran Chinese teacher Yang Yanli told Red Star News that middle schools and colleges have already included optional foreign language courses in their curricula. She added that families can also hire a Chinese home tutor for their children. "Students in many U.S. cities start to learn a foreign language--which is usually Spanish and French--in their seventh school year," Yang shared. "Because of China's development in recent years, many schools have begun offering Chinese classes, too. The number of students taking up optional Chinese classes is increasing in colleges, compared with years ago." "Please Sir, I want some more." With those brave words, Oliver Twist dared to ask for a second helping of gruel in Charles Dickens' famous novel named after this character. In response, the master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle and pinioned him in his arms. Children won't find such cruelty in the school lunch line today, but for some, parental neglect still causes them to suffer. Lunch shaming, highlighted by Chronicle reporter Emily Foxhall ("The price of serving alternative meals" Page A1, Wednesday), is one example. When parents fall behind in paying for school lunches, children across Texas and the country are denied food, given alternative meals or in an extreme case, stamped with "I Need Lunch Money." Immediate solutions do not necessarily involve spending much money. Schools should ramp up policies encouraging enrollment in federal free lunch programs. Some parents whose income qualifies their kids for free meals under federal programs do not bother or care to fill out the paperwork. While most schools send paperwork home with their students, it's time for a tiered approach that includes direct contact with families. Regardless, there will always be delinquent parents who aren't eligible. As for these cases, schools should develop sensible policies that minimize attention to students. For instance, surely there are better options than for a cafeteria worker to throw a student's lunch in the trash at check-out. Lunch shaming is just one facet of a much larger problem. The majority of children in urban public schools are disadvantaged; some come to school with their basic needs unmet. In addition to being hungry, they may lack vision or medical care. As a result, teachers, principals, cafeteria workers and community donors often pay for hungry children's meals and other needs out of their own pockets. But these needs are vast. To effectively educate these kids, many of our schools desperately require more social service support. Of course, children are their parents' responsibility, but just as in Victorian times, some parents are not going to come through. The work of nonprofits like Communities in Schools and ProUnitas bring social services into school settings, leaving educators to focus on their principal jobs of educating the young. But the groups lack the funds to expand even though their services are needed at all high-poverty schools. The justification for punishing children for their parents' shortcoming is the same as it was in Victorian times: Parents and family members should take responsibility for feeding their children. If they can pay, they should; and if they are eligible for aid, they should apply. But the underlying truth of Oliver Twist should prevail: A child shouldn't go hungry for his parents' failure or inability to provide for him. One little radio station in a small Texas town can make a big difference. And our lawmakers in Washington need to know that. On a Saturday afternoon six years ago this month, an electrical spark flashed inside an abandoned rock shop alongside Highway 90 about a mile-and-a-half outside of Marfa. The flames that engulfed the small building might have stopped there if not for the high winds whipping through the dusty West Texas landscape. That small building blaze triggered the greatest grassland fire in our state's history, a fast-moving inferno that rampaged across West Texas and burned more than 300,000 acres during the course of 28 hellish days. As the sky turned orange and black that weekend, as propane tanks exploded and flames cut off routes of escape, the only radio station broadcasting in Marfa aired evacuation orders and advised people which way to flee as they literally ran for their lives. Today, if you ask the good folks who live in Big Bend country about that disaster, somebody's bound to tell you a story about listening to the dramatic coverage on Marfa Public Radio. Joe Nick Patoski, a KRTS volunteer host better known for his books about Texas music and sports, has no doubt some people in West Texas would be dead today if it weren't for what he calls "the little station that could." "So it chaps me to no end when I hear people say that this isn't necessary," Patoski says. About a third of the money that keeps that life-saving little radio station running on its shoestring budget comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, whose $445 million annual appropriation the Trump Administration wants to eliminate. That's about one-hundredth of one percent of the $4 trillion federal budget, but this idea isn't about money as much as it's about politics. Public broadcasting has long been a political pinata for conservative lawmakers, who've bashed it as a bastion of liberal bias and an inappropriate use of taxpayer money. Most recently, a 2005 effort to cut funding for PBS, National Public Radio and hundreds of public broadcasting stations triggered such a loud outcry the GOP-controlled Congress dropped the idea. Now it seems Big Bird's neck is back on the chopping block, but don't get the wrong idea: What's at stake here involves way more than the future of "Sesame Street." Here in Houston, CPB's federal funds account for about 10 percent of the budget - $2.3-million last year - for KUHT-TV and KUHF-FM, the University of Houston stations affiliated with PBS and NPR. Losing that money would hurt badly, but a generous base of corporate and individual donors in the nation's fourth largest city would almost certainly keep Houston Public Media on the air. Unfortunately, a lot of smaller public stations serving remote stretches of America's backroads would probably vanish from the airwaves. A study conducted for CPB five years ago concluded 54 public television stations and 76 public radio stations would probably shut down without federal funds. Most of those stations transmit in rural areas, and some of those radio outlets serve isolated communities with no other radio or TV stations - public or commercial - where people can tune-in for local emergency news and weather broadcasts. Ultimately, even public stations in big cities like Houston would feel an impact that's hard to predict. As broadcasters in smaller towns either go off the air or cut back on spending, fewer public stations would subscribe to network programs. Stations like KUHT and KUHF would have to pay more for those network shows, so there's no telling how deeply the cutbacks would carve away at what Houstonians are accustomed to seeing and hearing. We taxpayers give CPB a piddling amount of money, a little more than a dime a month from each of us. It's well worth it, and we should all let our lawmakers know it. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting needs to stay in the federal budget, if only to make sure little stations like Marfa Public Radio stay on the air for emergencies in isolated towns across America. (Thumbs up) San Antonio City Council next month votes whether to give "conceptual approval" to a seven-year, $450 million plan to completely refurbish the Alamo and a large area abutting it. The design and funding mechanism is the brainchild of the Texas General Land Office and George P. Bush, the grandson of the most famous living Houstonian. Bush smartly took control of the site from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas shortly after his election in 2014. Thanks to inaction by Gov. Abbott and the Legislature, many Texas shrines are in jeopardy. Close to here, the San Jacinto Monument crumbles and the Battleship Texas slowly sinks. What's the fix? Give them - or the Governor's Mansion - to Bush. (Thumbs up) We've criticized John Culberson over the years for meddling with Metro, spending more time in D.C. than inside 610 and holding public office for 30 years and having little to show for it. But let's give credit when credit is due. He recently told the editorial board there might be alien life on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. And guess what? He's right. In an announcement dubbed as "big," NASA Thursday said its researchers believe that the conditions are right to sustain life on Europa as well as on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. (Thumbs up) In other news of politicians doing good, Donald Trump did the right thing by flip-flopping on the Export- Import Bank. It's Saturday and for the moment the president is "for" preserving the entity that helps fund the international purchase of American goods from jetliners to Texas cattle. (Thumbs twiddled) The Greater Houston area spends a billion-plus on law enforcement in what is often a duplicative and uncoordinated effort. When your house is burglarized, good luck getting any cop on the phone. It wasn't a surprise, but it was a disappointment, when Gov. Abbott showed up at a Monday press conference to announce the state would spend a half-million more to assign agents to fight gangs in Houston. The problem is that there was no Houston mayor, cop or Harris County official at the event. There's been an explosion of armed robberies in the area so any little bit helps. But if he really cared about taking down the bad guys, Abbott could have been more politically savvy and the city could have been more receptive to help. (Thumbs down) If only Steve Radack, Jack Cagle and Ed Emmett could spend a night in jail. That's how they might understand that the system they're trying to defend is indefensible. Callousness, unfortunately, isn't a misdemeanor. In Tweet-length summary, Harris County has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on lawyers to oppose a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of keeping nonviolent, low-risk defendants in jail because they can't afford small bail payments. This week the commissioners (with only Rodney Ellis voting no), approved hiring appellate lawyers before a federal judge even issued a verdict. There is history in this county of doing the wrong thing even when elected officials knew it was bad. Think segregation or even slavery. Here's an idea, albeit a tough one to stomach for those who run for office: admit error and settle the case. (Thumbs down) Our unhappiness with United Airlines this week is not only because of the preposterous treatment of Dr. David Dao. The airline snubbed us by announcing it was pulling state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliners and their pilots out of Houston. We get 35-year-old 767s instead. Our take on these fiascos begins with leadership and ends with anti-trust laws. Airlines are about the men and women at the top. Mechanic-turned-CEO Gordon Bethune was an every-man who earned respect throughout the organization, the industry, the country. Neither incident would have happened with him in the pilot's seat nor would the disastrous melding of United and Continental, where the new company adopted the tactics and ethos of the worst player. History, we believe, will show that the Department of Justice has done us all a disservice by not scrutinizing deals that ultimately resulted in four airlines controlling 85 percent of domestic flights. At least there's one airline that loves Houston. The problem is that its headquarters are in Dallas. School start dates Regarding "Counterpoint: Earlier beginning would offer children more prep, instruction" by William F. Pilkington, president of the Klein Independent School District Board of Trustees: (Page A19, Wednesday), we challenge the writer's main claim: "When we as a school system start earlier, we finish earlier." Compare the 2017-18 school calendars for Klein ISD and Houston ISD. Klein's first day of school for student is Aug. 21 and its last day is May 31. Houston's first day of school for students is a week later, Aug. 28, and its last day is June 1, a day later than Klein's last day. What happened to the "we finish earlier?" The truth is Klein and many of the ISDs pursuing earlier school start dates don't finish earlier. They burn off extra days during the school year. Klein has more days off for Christmas-New Year and more teacher-only service or preparation days between the start and end of classroom instruction. We know parents in many affluent districts expect long holiday vacations. For middle- and low-income families, vacation comes only in the summer, and often during the peak Texas travel month of August. Starting school no earlier than the fourth Monday in August serves all Texas families. David Teel, president and CEO,Texas Travel Industry Association Diversity of foods, people Regarding "Anthony Bourdain takes offense with Houston writer's criticism of his Bayou City visit" (Chron.com, Wednesday), I thought Anthony Bourdain did a great job with it. It's called "Parts Unknown," and I have to admit that most of them [the restaurants] were unknown to me, except the piece about Lee High School, which was my high school. I also wanted to mention that the diversity of our city is its strength. Together, we are stronger. We are all one, whether we realize it or not. John Coulter, posted via Facebook Helping the homeless Regarding "'Good Samaritan' sues Houston for city ban on feeding homeless" (Chron.com, Friday), being a compassionate human being should never be considered a criminal act. We need more compassion and understanding in our society. Heather Dye, posted via Facebook The human misery that last week seemed to move President Trump to authorize a missile strike on Syria is of a depth most in this country will never see. But it is one we all should know about, if only to underscore that when our political leaders make foreign policy decisions, real lives are at stake. I saw the devastation up close earlier this year, when I took part in a scheduled relief mission in Jordan to assist in the care of Syrian refugees. In just five days, 17 medical professionals made up of internists, pediatricians and family practice physicians from the United States and Canada were able to see more than 2,600 refugees. We worked out of two urban refugee camps in Amman and two rural camps located less than five miles from the Syrian border. With the help of translators from a local linguistics school, we were able to provide much-needed primary care, prescribe antibiotics and refill medications for people who otherwise would have nothing. Our patients' stories are never far from my mind, most especially since the chemical-weapon assault in Syria's Idlib Province last week. One, an elder, told us he had been living in this particular camp in the Jordanian desert for the past five years. Wrinkles, chiseled into his darkened face, danced like symbols carved into ancient limestone as he recounted his journey across the border from Syria into Jordan. Brandishing the identification card that he was issued from the Jordanian government which classified him as a refugee from Syria, he wept, "I can never go back, even if I wanted to. There's nothing left for me there." Jordan is one of the region's countries that has taken on the increasing numbers of refugees from Syria since the conflict began six years ago. According to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), over 600,000 Syrian refugees currently live in Jordan, 93 percent of whom are living below the poverty line and 78 percent of which are women and children. I heard firsthand the heartbreaking stories of so many families who bravely left everything that they knew in exchange for safety. Many of these families were receiving optimum health care prior to the crisis and are now struggling to find ways to refill medications for many treatable chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and peptic ulcer disease. One of the most tragic patients I came across was a 10-year old girl with Type I diabetes who had one vial of insulin left, her parents unsure of where they would be able to find any more. While many of the children I saw presented with common complaints like viral upper respiratory infections and constipation, many also suffered from diseases of poverty that disproportionately afflict migrants such as intestinal parasites, lice, malnutrition, and vitamin deficiencies. This is undeniably due to poor living conditions and lack of access to routine health care. In addition, I saw diseases that can be a direct result of their traumatic experiences. Such children developed enuresis (bedwetting), alopecia (hair loss), insomnia and behavior problems like delayed speech and stranger anxiety. In an interview with ATTN, a millennial news and issues site, Dr. Mohammad K. Hamza, a neuropsychologist with the Syrian-American Medical Society, coined the term "Human Devastation Syndrome," to describe some of the children's extreme war trauma. I am reminded of a piece by the poet, Khalil Gibran, titled "On Giving," in which he states: "You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give." This mission was a personal one for me. Years ago, my father, too, was a refugee. And so, I saw his struggle in many of the patients I took care of. I saw his face in the infant with pneumonia. I saw him in the toddler with bowed legs, limping from malnutrition. I saw him in the child whose hair was falling out from intestinal parasites. I saw him in the crowd of men, women and children with scars and wounds that won't heal both physically and mentally, and it brought me to tears. For all of us involved, our presence epitomizes the true nature of what it means to give. Volunteers took time away from their family and friends to pursue this noble cause when it could have been spent doing anything else. Some traveled thousands of miles across oceans to be there. I do hope the United States returns to a policy where we accept the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, rather than abandoning them to their tragic fate. Jaber is an Academic General Pediatrics Fellow at Texas Children's Hospital - Baylor College of Medicine. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! 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Fast Retailing Chairman and CEO Tadashi Yanai Attends an Earnings News Conference (Photo : Getty Images) Fast Retailing, the company that runs the popular casual clothing chain Uniqlo, takes pleasure in its rapid growth with China and Southeast Asia as its key drivers. The Japanese firm declared a 97.23 billion yen ($890 million) profit from September last year up to February of the current year. The numbers are almost double from the 47.04 billion yen year-on-year. The companys fiscal year begins in September. Advertisement The major drivers of growth for Fast retailing were its stores outside its home base. A 66 percent increase to 48.77 billion yen operating profit was recorded for its Uniqlo outlets abroad. On the other hand, the revenue from its Japanese stores grew by 7 percent to 68.78 billion yen. Profits in China and Southeast Asia significantly contributed, Fast Retailing Chairman, President and CEO Tadashi Yanai said at a press conference in Tokyo. The company said that Chinese customers were drawn to Uniqlo stores with promotions related to Chinas national holidays. Its Chinese business also benefited from the expansion of e-commerce. For the Southeast Asia outlets, regional items such as summer wear and hijabs, the head coverings used by Muslim women, were highly marketable. On the contrary, Uniqlo stores in the United States experienced a great loss, with a 300 million yen loss on the closure of one outlet. Fast Retailing had 832 Uniqlo stores in Japan, 514 in China, 25 in Singapore, 37 in Malaysia, 34 in Thailand, 35 in the Philippines and 10 in Indonesia as of Feb. 28, 2017. Fifty-one stores were added to the total number of outlets during the six-month period. Speaking about its Japanese market, Yanai emphasized that the company is not considering raising prices at all, explaining that the wage levels in Japan have not been raised enough. Yanai said that the company will keep its usual everyday reasonable price strategy instead. Fast Retailing continues to expand and benefit from the economic growth of China and Southeast Asia. Russian President Vladimir Putin Meets Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (Photo : Getty Images) On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he is more than willing to join the Belt and Road Forum for international cooperation. The forum is scheduled for May 14-15 in Beijing. Advertisement Putin confirmed his attendance during his meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. Zhang visited Moscow for the fourth meeting of the China-Russia Investment Cooperation Committee and for the meeting with the Russian head of the China-Russia Energy Cooperation Committee. In 2013, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative, aiming to create a trade and infrastructure network linking Asia with Europe and Africa through the trade routes of the ancient Silk Road. Speaking to Putin, Zhang said that Russia is deemed by China to be a significant partner among the Belt and Road countries, adding that Beijing will prepare well for the Russian Presidents attendance. The integration of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative and Russias Eurasian Economic Union is a strategic agreement reached by the presidents of the two countries, Zhang said. According to the vice premier, China has placed great importance on the Russian initiative and related ministries from both countries are planning a specific course of action to advance the integration. Zhang appealed to both parties to hasten the building of major energy projects, boost two-way investment and finance cooperation so as to support common development. Putin lauded the rapid increase in the two-way trade volume since 2016, mentioning the development in the bilateral trade structure. The Russia-China cooperation on major energy projects has progressed well, he said, stating the smooth advancement of the east-route gas pipeline project and Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project and the continuing negotiations for the west-route gas pipeline projects. According to the Russian President, his country is open to the active participation of investors from China into its economic growth. Putin has also asked the two sides to discover new areas of cooperation so as to increase the momentum of the strategic partnership of comprehensive coordination. Included in Zhangs three-day visit in Moscow were meetings with Russian oil company Rosnefts chief Igor Sechin and with Russian natural gas company Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller. The two parties discussed on how to boost cooperation. Putins commitment to join the Belt and Road Forum has strengthened the China-Russia relations. Both countries are looking forward to an increased cooperation following the forum. What to know before you vote today North Adams to Pursue Mass Historic Grant For Library The trustees were updated Wednesday on the library activities. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The city has applied for a Massachusetts Historical Commission grant to make structural repairs to the library. Library Director Mindy Hackner told the trustees Wednesday that Building Inspector William Meranti and architect Thomas Bartels visited the library again on Feb. 21 and the city sent out the application March 24. "I spoke with them briefly and I gave them some archival information," Hackner said. "I havent heard anything back from the city yet." Last year, Hackner informed the city that there are structural issues with the library that were never addressed in the renovation done a dozen years ago. Earlier this year, Mayor Richard Alcombright committed to start looking at the repairs needed as well as other deferred maintenance issues. Hackner said the city also met another one of her requests and the Department of Public Works was out a few days ago replacing lights in the parking lot. In other business, Hackner thanked the Friends of the Library for the thousands of dollars' worth of purchases it agreed to make for the library. "The Friends met and they were incredibly gracious," she said. "It is hard to ask for some of these things but it really ups the perception of the library." This includes money for four concerts, reading programming, a volunteer dinner, museum passes, workshops, funds to continue employees' education, new computer chairs and money to help develop an app. "It won't be very fancy ... but it will have all of the activity of our website but with the press of a finger," Hackner said of the app. She also submitted a budget of $330,000 to the city and the auditor came back with a budget of $335,000. "So we are in good shape and as it comes up with the Finance Committee, I will let the trustees know," she said. "Our circulation is up, our door count is up and things are happening." To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry. Disclaimer Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. Habib El-Adly served as Mubarak's minister of interior from 1997 until 2011 A Cairo criminal court sentenced Saturday Mubarak-era interior minister Habib El-Adly to seven years in prison for illicit gains of EGP 2 billion from the interior ministry from the years 2000 to 2011. El-Adly was being tried along with 12 other former interior ministry officials, who received between seven, five or three years in prison. Charges were dropped against two defendants who had died during the period of the trial. The charged were also ordered to restore a combined sum of EGP 195 million illegally obtained from the ministry as well as pay a similar amount as a fine. El-Adly, along with nine others, were also ordered to restore EGP 529 million they illicitly obtained. The sentence can still be appealed in front of the appeals court. El-Adly served as Mubarak's minister of interior from 1997 until 2011. El-Adly was released from detention in March 2015 after being acquitted on charges of using his political influence to acquire illicit gains amounting to LE181 million. In 2014, he was acquitted along with six of his aides and former president Hosni Mubarak on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the January 2011 uprising. In a separate case in 2011, El-Adly received a 12-year sentence and EGP 15 million worth of fines over charges of corruption and money laundering but both were dropped in 2014. Search Keywords: Short link: The explosion took place at the start of Road 90, the main thoroughfare and entryway to New Cairo Egypts Civil Protection Authority is attempting to put out a fire that erupted after a gas pipeline exploded in the upscale satellite Cairo neighbourhood of New Cairo on Saturday, with one person dead and 10 injured. Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told Egyptian satellite TV channel Extra News that the deceased sustained heavy burns to his body and died at the scene before being transported to hospital. Megahed added that those injured in the explosion suffered burns of varying degrees. The explosion took place at the start of Road 90, the main thoroughfare and entryway to New Cairo. Interior minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar has visited the explosion site with the head of Cairos security directorate and other senior security officials. General Tarek Attia, a communication aide to the interior minister, told the TV channel that a loader operator working at a construction site in the area accidentally broke the pipe. The loader driver and some others suspected of being responsible for the breach are currently in police custody, Attia added. Head of the Civil Protection Authority Magdy El-Shalaqany told state news agency MENA that the gas has been cut off from other pipes in the area to ensure that no more fires erupt. Security forces have closed all roads leading to New Cairo until the situation is contained. The explosion and subsequent closure of roads has led to major traffic jams on the Ring Road, a highway that connects New Cairo with the rest of the capital. Search Keywords: Short link: Follow Us Princeton, NJ (Apr 14th 2017): Great India Films is proud to share that Bahubali-2 The Conclusion is going to have a Mammoth release in North America. Telugu, Tamil and Hindi will be released in over 1050 screens. USA will have about 900 screens and Canada is going to have over 150 screens. In USA Alone, Baahubali-2 Telugu is releasing in about 400+ screens in about 300 locations, Tamil is releasing in about 200+ screens in about 180 locations, Hindi is releasing in about 300+ screens in about 250 locations. In Canada, Baahubali-2 will have around 150+ screens in about 80+ locations for Hindi, Telugu & Tamil. Complete theater list will be available on www.greatindiafilmsusa.com and all movie portals in couple of days. Great India Films happy to share that Baahubali-2 Telugu & Hindi will release original IMAX format in about 40 to 45 major locations in each territory. Also, Cinemark, Regal and AMC will have their high-end specialty screens like XD, RPX, and Dolby in about 70 to 80 screens across USA. Even all other regular theaters will be screening 4K content for best viewing pleasure. Bahubali-2, The Conclusion is all set to premiere on Thursday 4/27 from 3 PM EST in USA and Canada. Great India Films is meticulously planning to have online tickets opened from Fri 4/21. We are awed by the response Bahubali-2 is getting from all over the world including the Hollywood. Watch this space for more information on Bahubali-2 The Conclusion North America News. 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 }} Love is many things: butterflies and giggles, happiness and comfort, commitment and best friendship. But love, alas, is not easy to find. How and why do two people click? We dug into years of psychological research to find some answers. And in the process, we busted some myths and learned that certain cliches turn out to be actually true. If you play hard to get A 2014 study found that men in a speed-dating experiment wanted a woman more when she played hard-to-get by acting disinterested in the men's questions. But these findings only applied in certain situations. Specifically, the men had to feel "committed" to the woman, which in this study meant that they'd chosen her as their partner, instead of being assigned to her. It's also worth noting that, even though the men wanted the woman more when she played hard to get, they liked her less. Alas, love is complicated. If you display the right facial expression (Geber86 / iStock (Geber86 / iStock) Happiness is generally attractive on women but not so much on men. In 2011, researchers conducted experiments on more than 1,000 people, showing them photographs of members of the opposite sex and asking them how attractive the people in the photos were. Results showed that men rated women most attractive when they looked happy and least attractive when they displayed pride. Women, on the other hand, rated men most attractive when they displayed pride and least attractive when they looked happy. Interestingly, shame was pretty attractive in both men and women. If you look similar enough to their current or last partner We may all have a "type" but women are more likely to adhere to it than men are. In one 2011 study, researchers found that both men and women rated opposite-sex faces more attractive when they closely resembled their current or most recent partners. Men, however, were less attracted to faces that looked similar to their current partner than women were. If you use a lot of hand gestures Looking for love? Put yourself out there. Literally fill up the physical space around you with hand gestures and an expansive posture. In one 2016 study, researchers observed men and women in speed-dating sessions. Results showed that people were twice as likely to say that they wanted to see their partners again when those partners moved their hands and arms, compared to when their partners sat still. For the same study, researchers set up profiles for men and women on a GPS-based dating app, showing them in both expansive and contractive postures. Sure enough, people were selected more often when they were pictured in expansive postures. If you're really, really similar to them Decades of studies have shown that the cliche that "opposites attract" is totally off. "Partners who are similar in broad dispositions, like personality, are more likely to feel the same way in their day-to-day lives," said Gian Gonzaga, lead author of a study of couples who met on eHarmony. "This may make it easier for partners to understand each other." If you stare into each other's eyes for two minutes University of Massachusetts psychologist Joan Kellerman asked 72 unacquainted undergrads to pair off and stare into each other's eyes for two minutes. "They later reported they had increased feelings of passionate love and affection towards the other person," Scientific American reports. "This suggests that long periods of eye contact can connect you to someone and even ignite feelings of love inside you for that person you have never previously met." If you respond to their 'bids' for attention and they do the same for you Starting and growing a relationship seems to largely depend on how people attend to one another. Over 40 years of studying couples, psychologist John Gottman says it's a matter of "bids." For example, if a bird-loving wife points out to her husband that a goldfinch just flew landed in a nearby tree, he can "turn away" from her by dismissing the remark or "turn toward" her by sharing her enthusiasm. As Emily Esfahani Smith reported in the Atlantic, the results of the "bids" are staggering: in one of Gottman's studies of marriage, couples who divorced after six years had the "turn toward" reply 33% of the time, and the couples that were still together had the "turn toward" 87% of the time. If you smell right (ViewApart / iStock) A University of Southern California study of women who were ovulating suggested that some prefer the smell of t-shirts worn by men with high levels of testosterone. This matched with other hormone-based instincts: Some women also preferred men with a strong jaw line when they were ovulating. If you look like their opposite-sex parent University of St. Andrews psychologist David Perrett and his colleagues found that some people are attracted to folks with the same hair and eye color of their opposite-sex parents, as well as the age range they saw at birth. "We found that women born to 'old' parents (over 30) were less impressed by youth, and more attracted to age cues in male faces than women with 'young' parents (under 30)," the authors wrote. "For men, preferences for female faces were influenced by their mother's age and not their father's age, but only for long-term relationships." If you take care of a dog (fotografixx / iStock ) (fotografixx) In a 2014 experiment, 100 Israeli women read vignettes about men. Whenever the story featured a man who owned a dog, women rated that man as a more suitable long-term partner than a cad who didn't own a dog. The researchers concluded that owning a pet signals that you're nurturing and capable of making long-term commitments. It can also help you appear more relaxed, approachable, and happy. Not into pet ownership? The good news is simply being seen with a dog can make you seem more dateable. In one 2008 study, a 20-year-old man approached hundreds of women and asked for their phone numbers. When he had a dog with him, he was much more likely to score their digits. If you are equally or less good-looking compared to them In a 1996 study, each participant was rated on physical attractiveness and then randomly assigned to date another participant. Then, participants were asked to rate their satisfaction with their dates. The participants who were more attractive were harsher in their judgments even if they were both equally attractive. The better looking someone was, the less satisfied they were likely to be. But this only applies to the really attractive people. For the rest of us, according to the matching hypothesis, we are more likely to love those who are equally as attractive as we are. How to make your marriage last Men reveal the biggest changes they made to be better at dating 11 things people think are terrible for your diet that actually aren't Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. 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 }} Clifton James, best known for his portrayal of a southern sheriff in two James Bond films, but who was most proud of his work on the stage, has died aged 96. His daughter, Lynn James, said he died Saturday at another daughter's home in Gladstone, Oregon, due to complications from diabetes. James grew up in Washington state and Oregon. He fought with the US Army in the South Pacific in the Second World War and received two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star. After the war he started acting in plays in college at the University of Oregon then moved to New York to launch his career. One of his first significant roles was as a prison floor-walker in the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke. Product placement in James Bond films Show all 6 1 /6 Product placement in James Bond films Product placement in James Bond films Sony Vaio in Casino Royale Bond was besotted with his Sony Vaio in Casino Royale. Product placement in James Bond films Heineken In Skyfall, Daniel Craig's Bond controversially had a Heineken. The deal is estimated to have cost the beer producers $45 million. Product placement in James Bond films American Motors In The Man With The Golden Gun, Bond exclusively drove American Motors as part of a $5 million deal which saw the AMC Hornet jump over a broken bridge Eon Productions Product placement in James Bond films Omega Bond has nearly always worn an Omega watch. The one featured in Tomorrow Never Dies was eventually sold at Christies. Product placement in James Bond films Red Stripe Instead of sipping from a Martini, in Dr. No Bond decided to neck a Red Stripe. Product placement in James Bond films Aston Martin The Astin Martin: Bond's main choice of car since the beginning. A new one was made especially for Spectre. His long list of roles includes the swaggering, tobacco-spitting Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper in the James Bond films. His daughter said he was surprised that people remembered him most for that role. AP. Egyptian Copts, who are still mourning the death of 46 on last week's Palm Sunday, are observing Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday this week Security has been tightened nationwide to secure Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, less than a week after two church bombings left dozens dead and injured, state news agency MENA reported Saturday. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghafar held a number of meetings with aides to review and reassess security plans, including the securing of churches and vital institutions across the country, a security source told MENA. The security plans, according to the security source, include a routine combing of churches for explosive devices until the end of the Easter celebrations. They also include creating 400-metre zone near churches free of cars and motorbikes. On Palm Sunday last week, two suicide bombings hit St George's Cathedral in Tanta and St Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria, killing 46 and injuring dozens in the deadliest attack on Copts in the country's recent memory. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, naming the Alexandria suicide bomber as Aba Isaac Al-Masry and the Tanta suicide bomber as Aba Al-Baraa Al-Masry. A three-month state of emergency was declared later on Sunday by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. The cabinet approved the state of emergency Monday, and parliament approved the decision unanimously Tuesday. Copts, who make up about one tenth of Egypt's population of more than 92 million, have been targeted by several terrorist attacks in recent months. In December, a suicide bombing claimed by IS killed 29 worshippers at a Cairo church. Search Keywords: Short link: 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 UK Foreign Office was targeted by a group of determined and well-funded hackers over several months last year. Research published by cybersecurity firm F-Secure suggested the attack was a spear-phishing campaign in which people are sent targeted emails with a link to a false login page to trick users into giving up their username and password. The hackers created websites that looked like legitimate Foreign Office websites, including those for accessing an internal email account online. The scam is believed to have been perpetrated by hackers who call themselves the Callisto Group. F-Secure said it did not know whether the attack was successful and the National Cyber Security Centre did not say whether data had been stolen. A spokesman told The Independent: The first duty of Government is to safeguard the nation and as the technical authority on cyber security, the NCSC is delivering ground breaking innovations to make the UK the toughest online target in the world. He said it was trialling a new government-wide, Active Cyber Defence (ACD) programme to block phishing emails like this before they reach civil service inboxes. F-Secure told the BBC the attack was part of a wider attempt by the Callisto Group to attack several targets, primarily in Eastern Europe, including military personnel, government officials, think tanks and journalists. It added that there was some evidence the hackers were linked to a nation state but did not specify which one. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA 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 The company observed that some of the Callisto Groups infrastructure had links to entities in China, Russia and Ukraine. It follows the revelation that there was an attempt to disrupt the UK general election by Russian-backed hackers posing as Isis militants. GCHQ uncovered a plot to target every Whitehall server and force every major TV broadcaster, including the BBC, Sky News and Channel 4, off the air on the day of the election. It was discovered after the spy agency analysed a successful attack on the French broadcaster TV5Monde in 2015. The group forced the channels scheduled programming off air for 18 hours and replaced them with a screen showing the terror groups flag. The inference with the UKs government follows on from an ongoing probe into the Kremlins influence on the US elections last year. Hacking groups such as DC Leaks, Fancy Bears and Guccifer 2.0 who were responsible for the leaking of damaging information about the Democrat party. The most significant attack, the leaking of thousands of private emails between senior members of the DNC to Wikileaks by Fancy Bears, lead to the resignation of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. 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 family of British student Hannah Bladon, who was stabbed to death in Jerusalem on Friday, has said they are devastated by the senseless and tragic attack. They said their 20-year-old daughter had been taking part in an archaeological dig the morning she was killed. Ms Bladon, a University of Birmingham student, had been on an exchange programme with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since January. Recommended British woman stabbed to death in Jerusalem named She was stabbed several times in the chest while travelling on a tram near the Old City and died shortly after the attack in hospital. In a statement issued throughout the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ms Bladons family said: Hannah was the most caring, sensitive and compassionate daughter you could ever wish for. Hannah was a talented musician, part of a serving team at her local church and a member of her local archaeological group, the statement continued. She was an enthusiastic rugby player and a keen Derby County supporter. She was driven and passionate and her death leaves so much promise unfulfilled. Our family is devastated by this senseless and tragic attack. The British student was fatally stabbed on a tram by a man believed to suffer from mental illness (Alamy) Witnesses say they saw Ms Bladons attacker pull a knife out of his bag and stag Ms Bladon several times in the upper part of her body as the tram was approaching City Hall. An off-duty policeman who was on the tram with his family pulled the emergency brake and charged at the Palestinian man. A 30-year-old pregnant woman and a 50-year-old man were also injured in the attack. A 57-year-old man was arrested at the scene. Police believe he suffers from mental illness. The University of Birmingham released a statement saying it was deeply saddened over Ms Bladons death. It said it would be offering support to any students affected. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem also expressed deep sorrow over the loss. The school said in a statement: We extend our deepest condolences to her family and we share in their sorrow. The university condemns such acts of terror that harm innocent people, and especially a student who came to Jerusalem to study and widen her academic horizons. The university department that Ms Bladon studied with said she was taking Bible studies, archaeology and Hebrew courses during her exchange programme. 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 Rothberg International School said Ms Bladons friends described her as an inquisitive and adventurous student who made the most of her opportunity to learn and experience life in Israel. Israel President Reuven Rivlin said he was filled with sadness over the attack and that his countrys thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. He said: This week thousands have come through the ancient gates of Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts of Passover and Easter throughout the city while the security forces work to ensure the safety of the dear residents and visitors to the city. And so we will continue to do. Terror can never overcome us. Terror will never destroy our lives here. A crowd formed at the scene of the attack. The Old City was packed with people as Jews marked Passover and Christians celebrated Easter (Getty) Jerusalem has been on high alert during Holy Week after an increase in knife attacks by Palestinians. Palestinians have killed 42 Israelis and two visiting Americans, mainly in stabbings, car ramming assaults and shooting attacks since September 2015. Israeli forces have killed at least 243 Palestinians during that time, most of them identified as attackers by Israeli authorities. Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A collection of golliwog dolls could be removed from the UKs oldest childrens museum after complaints from tourists. The dolls, which are based on a black fictional character that appeared in childrens books in the late 19th century, have been on display at the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh since it opened in 1955. A disclaimer notice has been put up next to the dolls acknowledging that many visitors will find their presence offensive, according to The Times. We recognise that some visitors may feel the golliwogs on display in the museum represent negative racial stereotypes, the sign states. We do not uphold such stereotypes and do not wish to cause any offence but believe that it is right to display these toys because they were such a significant part of British childhood from the 1890s to the 1950s. As soon as we have the opportunity to upgrade the museums displays we will consider alternative ways of interpreting these toys and reflecting the changes in attitudes towards them in more recent years. The museum, which attracts more than 250,000 people every year, is said to be preparing to close for refurbishment. Edinburgh city council, which owns the exhibition, was unable to confirm whether or not the exhibition of golliwogs widely seen as an embodiment of racist stereotyping will remain in place when it reopens next year. 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 Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights said the exhibition as it stands is offensive, and that if it remains there must be fuller context and information as to how the toys came about and the historically racist connotations they have. If displayed there needs to be a fuller exploration of how these toys came about, the racism behind them and how they allowed, and still allow, racism to flourish, Jatin Haria, the charitys executive director, told The Times. Otherwise we, and many others, will find the Museum of Childhood offensive. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} British public opinion is split over Donald Trumps decision to launch a barrage of missiles on a Syrian airbase following a chemical weapons attack on civilians, according to a new poll. The poll by ComRes for The Independent found that 38 per cent of respondents believed that the US President was right to launch the offensive a change in tactics from the previous administration while 35 per cent disagreed. Over 20 per cent registered a dont know response. The unpredictable US President ordered the firing of 59 Tomahawk Cruise missiles from the USS Porter and USS Ross into the Sharyat airfield in western Homs in retaliation to the use of chemical weapons on civilians, allegedly by Bashar al-Assads dictatorial regime. In what was described as a heinous act, dozens of residents in the Idlib province of the war-ravaged region were killed after being exposed to a toxic gas, which reports have suggested was dropped from warplanes belonging to the Syrian regime. President Assad, however, has dismissed claims his forces were responsible for the attack as a 100% fabrication. The poll also found that British adults are more likely to say that the UK Government should not take military action against President Assad 42 per cent disagree versus 25 per cent who agree but a third of respondents were unsure. Respondents were also split when they were asked whether they agreed with the statement: The situation in Syria would be better now if Britain and other Western allies had used military force in 2013. The poll found 31 per cent agreed with the statement, while 27 per cent disagreed. Asked about Boris Johnsons capabilities at the helm of the Foreign Office and whether he is a hindrance to the Governments foreign policy objectives, the public are also split: 37 per cent agreed while 32 per cent disagreed. It comes after Mr Johnson was left humiliated earlier this week as other members of the G7 rejected his public plea to place further sanctions on Russia for its ongoing support, both politically and militarily, to the Syrian regime. As tensions on the Korean peninsula mounted, raising fears of a nuclear war in the region, those who responded to the poll also believed North Korea was a bigger threat to world peace than the current crisis in Syria by 46 per cent to 22 per cent who disagreed. Just over 30 per cent replied dont know. Thousands of civilians gathered in the countrys capital, Pyongyang, on Saturday to recognise the Annual Day of the Sun, which marks the birth of Kim II-sung, who founded the countrys totalitarian system and the Juche ideology now enforced by his grandson. ComRes interviewed 2,029 GB adults online between 11th and 13th April 2017. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults. Data were also weighted by past vote recall. Voting intention figures are calculated using the ComRes Voter Turnout Model. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ministers are reportedly preparing to scrap the European Unions green energy targets after Britains exit from the bloc. Government sources told The Daily Telegraph the target under the EUs Renewable Energy Directive is likely to be binned after Brexit. It requires the EU to fulfil at least 20 per cent of its total energy needs with renewables by the end of the decade through the attainment of individual national targets. All EU countries must also ensure that at least 10 per cent of their transport fuels come from renewable sources by 2020, the EU commission adds. The targets in individual nations range from a low of 10 per cent in Malta to 49 per cent in Sweden. Britains target is 15 per cent, including three sub-targets of 30 per cent in electricity, 12 per cent in heat and 10 per cent in transport. Last year MPs on the now-defunct Energy and Climate Change Committee warned that the UK, on its current course, will fail to achieve its 2020 renewable energy targets. While the so-called Great Repeal Bill, introduced to the Commons before the parliamentary recess, will convert all EU law and directives onto the UKs statue book in an extensive copy-and-paste exercise, ministers and future governments could technically seek to scrap individual pieces of legislation if they so desired. Former Environment Secretary and Tory MP Owen Paterson told The Daily Telegraph he would be very happy to see the back of the green energy directive. He added: It's distorting the whole energy market. It's like the Sheriff of Nottingham it transfers money from my poorest constituents to my wealthiest constituents who are putting up pointless wind turbines heavily subsidised. But the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy declined to comment on the reports, and instead reaffirmed the UKs commitment to tackling climate change. Recommended Climate change to make it harder for polar bears to sniff out seals In a statement they added: The UK is an international leader in tackling climate change and played a major role when the world came together in Paris to reach the ambitious deal to reduce global CO2 emissions. Under the UK Climate Change Act, we set our own ambitious target of at least 80 per cent emissions reduction by 2050 and have already made good progress with emissions 38 per cent lower today than in 1990. The report also comes after civil service documents were photographed on a train last week, detailing plans to put more efforts into international trade rather than the tackling climate change a likely result of the demands from Britains exit from the EU. Trade and growth are now priorities for all posts you will all need to prioritise developing capability in this area, the note said, adding: Some economic security-related work like climate change and illegal wildlife trade will be scaled down. BEIS insisted these notes were unclassified and based on a conference which took place several months ago. In a statement, the department added that the UK is a global leader in tackling illegal wildlife trade and a key part of worldwide efforts on climate change including implementing commitments made under the historic Paris Agreement. Our commitment to both issues is strong as ever, it 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 }} Several of Jeremy Corbyns policies for a future Labour government have the support of the majority of the British public, according to a new poll analysing past pledges and a recent policy blitz by the left-wing leader. Alongside members of his shadow Cabinet the Labour leader has used the two-week parliamentary recess to announce a raft of policies, which are expected to feature in the partys general election manifesto. They include free school meals for primary school children, forcing big businesses to publish their tax returns, and a 10-an-hour minimum wage. According to a poll by ComRes for The Independent, some of the policies have considerable support among the public, notably the raising of the minimum wage and of the top rate of tax to 50p from 45p 71 per cent and 62 per cent of respondents agreed with the policies respectively. Support for raising the minimum wage to 10 an hour by 2020 has cross-party support, with majorities of voters of each of the main parties agreeing with the policy. Responding to the polls, the Labour leader told The Independent: Our policies are popular because to most people its common sense that our government should act in the interests of the overwhelming majority and that will mean taking on the powerful. The people in Britain have been held back too long but we have the ideas and the will to change the country for the better. Theres so much more to come and as the party comes together to campaign for these popular polices, we are convinced our support in the polls will increase. The partys pledge to extend free schools meals to all primary school children funded by charging VAT on private school fees also has the support of 53 per cent of the public, according to the poll. While 35 per cent disagreed a further 12 per cent responded dont know. Announcing the policy at the beginning of April the shadow Education Secretary, Angela Rayner, said it would remove the stigma attached to the meals and improve the health and attainment of all children. In January, a separate poll for The Independent revealed that Mr Corbyns plans to introduce a cap on executive wages at firms with government contracts was backed by 57 per cent of the public, suggesting a great deal of appetite in Britain for similar policies. However, more than two in five British adults, or 44 per cent, said they dont know whether they agree or disagree with setting up a 500bn national investment bank using 350bn of Government money, compared to 13 per cent or less for the other policies tested. This appears to suggest a lack of knowledge or clarity surrounding the policy among a significant proportion of Britons. The polls add that Mr Corbyn being associated with a policy is less toxic than some observers have predicted, claiming that association with the Labour leader has little impact on the publics perceptions of the partys policy agenda. For example, 71 per cent of adults agree with the minimum wage policy attributed to Labour, compared to 68 per cent who agree with the policy attributed to Jeremy Corbyn. It is expected that more pledges will follow in the coming weeks as the Labour leader and his team continue to set out their vision for socialism of the 21st century. ComRes interviewed 2,029 GB adults online between 11 and 13 April 2017. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults. Data were also weighted by past vote recall. Voting intention figures are calculated using the ComRes Voter Turnout Model. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. 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 should be looking forward to the beginning of May with some trepidation. Instead it is Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Nuttall who have most to fear. The cause of their concern? This years round of local elections. On May 4 much of England and all of Scotland and Wales go to the polls. Normally, whoever is in power at Westminster takes a beating in these town hall contests. Yet there is little sign that the Conservatives will suffer such a fate this year. Instead, it is Labour and Ukip who appear most at risk of losing ground. In England the principal focus of attention is on elections for 33 county councils (including half a dozen that also double up as district councils, and not only run schools and social care but also empty the bins and decide local planning applications). These councils are predominantly in shire England outside of the big cities, and thus are in the heartland of Conservatism. Even though the Conservatives were in power when these county councils were last fought in 2013, the party still managed to win 1,100 or not far short of half all the 2,300 seats at stake. Labour, in contrast, won just over 500 and overall control of just three councils, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Durham. This imbalance, though, was not the most remarkable feature of the results. Rather it was the success of Ukip. The party astounded everyone by winning a fifth of all votes cast, even though it only fought three-quarters of the wards up for grabs. That is why this years local elections are potentially so difficult for Paul Nuttall. His party is defending a high watermark that it has never managed to emulate in any set of local elections since. As a result, even though the party is seemingly still hanging on to most of the 13 per cent of the vote that it won in the 2015 general election, it could still lose most of the 130 seats it will be trying to defend. High watermarks are not, however, Labours problem. Its 2013 local election performance was distinctly modest the party was almost outpolled by Ukip. Yet at least it stood in the national opinion polls at the time at an average of 39 per cent. Now it stands at just per cent. Conversely, the Conservatives are currently on 42 per cent, up 11 points on the position four years ago, and potentially enough to give Theresa May an overall majority of 80 if there were to be an early general election. The swing against Labour since four years ago is unlikely to be as big in the local ballot boxes as it is in the national polls Labour as well as the Conservatives should profit from the anticipated collapse in the Ukip vote, while Labours vote is already so low in much of shire England that it does not have 12 per cent left to lose. Nevertheless, in the handful of comparable county council by-elections held since the Brexit referendum, there has on average been a two-point swing from Labour to Conservative. Even a swing as low as that could be enough to cost the party its control of Nottinghamshire. However, the most eye-catching contests in England are not the county council elections, but rather those for six new posts directly-elected city region Mayors, an innovation on which George Osborne insisted as Chancellor in return for handing out cash and powers to combinations of (often Labour) local councils that cover some of the countrys larger provincial cities and the surrounding hinterland. Labour MPs, Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham, should succeed in their attempts to be elected in Liverpool City and Greater Manchester respectively. Labour are also favourites in Tees Valley, although the Conservatives are expected to take Cambridgeshire together with the West of England region centred on Bristol. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Show all 11 1 /11 The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He called Hezbollah and Hamas friends True. In a speech made to the Stop the War Coalition in 2009, Mr Corbyn called representatives from both groups friends after inviting them to Parliament. He later told Channel 4 he wanted both groups, who have factions designated as international terror organisations, to be part of the debate for the Middle East peace process. I use (the word friends) in a collective way, saying our friends are prepared to talk, he added. Does it mean I agree with Hamas and what it does? No. Does it mean I agree with Hezbollah and what they do? No. Reuters The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn thinks the death of Osama bin Laden was a tragedy Partly false. David Cameron used this as a line of attack at the Conservative Party conference but appears to have left out all context from Mr Corbyns original remarks. In an 2011 interview on Iranian television, the then-backbencher said the fact the al-Qaeda leader was not put on trial was the tragedy, continuing: The World Trade Center was a tragedy, the attack on Afghanistan was a tragedy, the war in Iraq was a tragedy. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He is haunted by the legacy of his evil great-great-grandfather False. A Daily Express expose revealed that the Labour leaders ancestor, James Sargent, was the despotic master of a Victorian workhouse. Addressing the report at the Labour conference, Mr Corbyn said he had never heard of him before, adding: I want to take this opportunity to apologise for not doing the decent thing and going back in time and having a chat with him about his appalling behaviour. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn raised a motion about pigeon bombs in Parliament This one is true. On 21 May 2004, Mr Corbyn raised an early day motion entitled pigeon bombs, proposing that the House register being appalled but barely surprised that MI5 reportedly proposed to load pigeons with explosives as a weapon. The motion continued: The House believes that humans represent the most obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal species ever to inhabit the planet and looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the earth and wipes them out thus giving nature the opportunity to start again. It was not carried. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He rides a Communist bicycle False. A report in The Times referred to Mr Corbyn, known for his cycling, riding a Chairman Mao-style bicycle earlier this year. Less thorough journalists might have referred to it as just a bicycle, but no, so we have to conclude that whenever we see somebody on a bicycle from now on, there goes another supporter of Chairman Mao, he later joked. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn 'Jeremy Corbyn will appoint a special minister for Jews' False so far. The Sun report in December was allegedly based on a rumour passed to the paper by a Daily Express columnist who has written pieces critical of the Labour leader in the past. The minister did not materialise in his shadow cabinet. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn wishes Britain would abolish its Army False. Another gem from The Sun took comments made at a Hiroshima remembrance parade in August 2012 where Mr Corbyn supported Costa Ricas move to abolish it armed forces. Wouldnt it be wonderful if every politician around the worldabolished the army and took pride in the fact that they dont have an army, he added. The caveat that every politician must take the step suggests Mr Corbyn does not support UK disarmament just yet. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn stole sandwiches meant for veterans False. The Guido Fawkes blog claimed that the Labour leader took sandwiches meant for veterans at at Battle of Britain memorial service in September but a photo later emerged showing him being handed one by Costa volunteers, who later confirmed they were given to all guests. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He missed the induction into the Queens privy council True. After much speculation about Mr Corbyns republican views and willingness to bow to the monarch, his office confirmed that he did not attend the official induction to the privy council because of a prior engagement, but did not rule out joining the body. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn refuses to sing the national anthem. Partly true. The Labour leader was filmed standing in silence as God Save the Queen was sung at a Battle of Britain remembrance service but will reportedly sing it in future. Mr Corbyn was elusive on the issue in an interview, saying he would show memorials respect in the proper way, but sources said he would sing the anthem at future occasions. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cheese True. The group lists its purpose as the following: To increase awareness of issues surrounding the dairy industry and focus on economic issues affecting the dairy industry and producers. However, the position is far from clear in the West Midlands where Labour MEP Sion Simon is being challenged for the Conservatives by former John Lewis CEO, Andy Street. Although Labour was nine points ahead across the region in the 2015 general election, the latest national polls imply there has been a four-point swing from Labour to Conservative since then. If that swing was to be replicated in the West Midlands mayoral contest, the outcome would be left on a knife-edge, settled perhaps by the second preferences that the supporters of the smaller parties most notably UKIP are able to cast under the Supplementary Vote system being used to elect the new posts. Defeat for Mr Simon would be a decidedly difficult result indeed for Jeremy Corbyn. While Englands county councils are for the most part relatively barren territory for Labour at the best of times, the same cannot be said for Wales. When the seats up for grabs there were (mostly) last contested Sion in 2012 Labour was on a high. It stood at nearly 50 per cent in the Welsh polls and enjoyed a nine-point increase in support in the local elections. As a result, the party will be defending as many seats in Wales (more than 550) as it will in the whole of England. But, like elsewhere, Labour is no longer on a high in Wales. The most recent Welsh poll credits the party with just a third of the vote, well down on the 50 per cent it enjoyed five years ago. Both Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives could well profit from Labours misfortune. Less than a three-point swing to the Conservatives is all that would be needed to deprive Labour of the biggest prize of all, its overall control of Cardiff. However, Labours prospects look worst of all in Scotland. By the standards of other elections north of the border, the party performed relatively well in the last local elections five years ago. The party won 31 per cent of the Scotland-wide vote, just a point less than the SNP. Despite the use of a proportional representation system, the party retained control of Glasgow as well as three other councils. But since then the partys vote has collapsed in the wake of an independence referendum that saw one in three of its former supporters back leaving the UK and switching to the SNP, and, more recently, a Conservative revival rooted in a more robust defence of the Union than Labour has felt able to muster. Scottish polls put support for the party these days at just 15 per cent, while its vote has fallen on average by 10 points in local by-elections held during the last 12 months. As a result, there seems little chance of the party retaining control of Glasgow or, indeed, of anywhere else. Not only could it be well behind the SNP, who hope to add dominance of Scottish local government to their existing grip of the Edinburgh parliament and of Scottish representation at Westminster, but also the Conservatives. And without Scotland, Labours chances of winning another overall majority in the Commons will remain remote even if the party was to turn the corner in England and Wales. But what of the Liberal Democrats? Local government elections used to be their forte, until many of the partys supporters took a dim view of their performance in the 2010-15 Coalition. North of the border the party looks as though it will struggle to add much to the dismal tally of 71 seats it won in 2012. Neither the polls in Scotland nor recent local by-elections give much reason to anticipate a revival of the partys fortunes there. Key Faces of UKIP Show all 11 1 /11 Key Faces of UKIP Key Faces of UKIP Nigel Farage Getty Key Faces of UKIP United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Migration spokesman Steven Woolfe addresses supporters and media personnel in central London Getty Key Faces of UKIP Robert Kilroy-Silk, former television presenter and newly elected member of the European Parliament for the UK Independence Party (UKIP), shows a placard against the European Constitution in front of the Houses of Parliament Getty Key Faces of UKIP Mark Reckless, Director of Policy Development addresses party members during the UK Independence Party annual conference at Doncaster Racecourse Getty Key Faces of UKIP Gerard Batten MEP poses with protesters outside parliament Creative Commons Key Faces of UKIP Diane James gives an address at the UKIP Autumn Conference in Bournemouth Getty Key Faces of UKIP Douglas Carswell MP speaks to party members and supporters during the UK Independence Party annual conference Getty Key Faces of UKIP Suzanne Evans, Deputy Party Chairman of UK Independence Party (UKIP) speaks during the launch of UKIP's election manifesto Getty Key Faces of UKIP Peter Whittle, the UK Independence Party Member of the London Assembly, is interviewed in central London Getty Key Faces of UKIP MEP Mike Hookem during a visit to Concept Metal Products & Co Ltd Getty Key Faces of UKIP Paul Nuttall, Deputy Leader of the UK Independence Party speaks at a Say NO, Believe in Britain debate at Carn Brea Leisure Centre in Pool near Redruthon Getty But in England, and perhaps too in Wales, the position could well be different. Although to date there has been no more than a modest two-point recovery in the partys position in the opinion polls as compared with the 2015 election, since last summer it has scored some spectacular successes in local by-elections, on average enjoying as much as a 14-point increase in support. The record has been patchy; in some instances the party has come from nowhere to claim a seat, while elsewhere it has done no more than tread water. If next month the Liberal Democrats succeed in repeating some of their more spectacular by-election advances, that might enable the party to begin to rebuild the local government base that five years of coalition managed to destroy. And any sign that its potential competitor on the centre left of British politics is finally enjoying something of a revival could be the worst news of all for Jeremy Corbyn. John Curtice is professor of politics at Strathclyde University 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 Labour government would force large corporations to publish full tax returns under plans to expose sweetheart deals and tackle avoidance, shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has announced. Continuing the partys policy blitz in recent weeks, Mr McDonnell, said the policy would pour the disinfectant of sunlight on firms with more than 250 employees in an effort to close down loopholes and the scams that the tax dodgers rely on. HM Revenue & Customs estimates the tax gap the shortfall between tax collected and what might be expected at 36bn, with 9.5bn attributed to large companies. Labour also highlighted the estimated 13 trillion worldwide hidden in tax havens and claimed that if the Exchequer could receive a fraction of this amount it would end austerity. Even a fraction of this amount paid as the fair taxes that are due would end austerity, party sources added. Tax avoidance is a scourge on society that company secrecy laws help facilitate, and the Tories have done nothing to tackle, Mr McDonnell said. Labour will pour the disinfectant of sunlight on large company accounts, helping close down the loopholes and the scams that the tax dodgers rely on. The Tories are running a rigged economy for the super-rich and giant corporate tax dodgers. Only Labour will stand up for workers and small businesses to make our tax system fair and our public services like education and the NHS are protected. When Parliament returns after the Easter recess on Tuesday, Labour will also push to strengthen measures to tackle tax avoidance in the Finance Bill. Labour backs Tory income tax cut for top 15 per cent of earners Shadow Chief Secretary Peter Dowd said: The measures in the Finance Bill claiming to close tax loopholes do not go far enough and have gaping omissions, another Tory conjuring trick to hide their inaction in making sure that everyone, including the rich, pays their fair share of society's upkeep. There is nothing in the Government's proposals to address the chronic lack of enforcement in the context of the wider regulatory problems. As usual, the Tories are playing rhetorically to the gallery." It comes after the shadow Chancellor announced on Friday the party would also overhaul banking laws to prevent banks closing high street banks. The Government introduced its own Access to Banking Protocol to prevent closures, but figures form the Consumers Association suggest 1,046 local bank branches closed in the UK between December 2015 and January 2017, with another 486 already scheduled for closure this year. The Tories claimed to have "led the way" on tackling tax evasion and avoidance. Responding to Labours announcement, Conservative Party Vice-Chairman Stuart Andrew MP, said: This Government has a simple message for those who avoid tax: you must pay what you owe and we will make sure you do." 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 Mays Conservatives are 21 points ahead of Labour in a new poll, giving the party their greatest lead while in government since 1983, shortly before Margaret Thatchers second victory at the ballot box. The poll, conducted by ComRes for The Independent, gives the Tories 46 per cent of the vote share, 25 per cent for Labour, 11 per cent for Tim Farrons pro-EU Liberal Democrats and 9 per cent for the embattled Ukip under Paul Nuttalls leadership. According to historic data on the UK Polling Report, it is the highest lead for any party since May 2009, when three polls gave David Cameron a 22-point lead. That was the greatest lead for a party in government since July 2001, when Labour had a 21-point lead under Tony Blair, who enjoyed three consecutive victories at the ballot box. It is the biggest lead for a Conservative party in government since 1983. The historic lead will undoubtedly come as a fresh blow to Jeremy Corbyns party, which has been languishing in the polls since Ms May entered Downing Street last summer and the overwhelming vote of no confidence in his leadership by his own parliamentary colleagues. Rarely has the party been fewer than 10 points behind their Conservative rivals in this period. But it also comes as further polling showed Mr Corbyns policy blitz during the parliamentary recess including free school meals for all children by forcing private schools to pay VAT is supported by the majority of the British public. The poll also suggests that association with the leader has little, if any, impact on the publics perceptions of the Labour partys current policy agenda. Responding to the polls, the Labour leader told The Independent: Our policies are popular because to most people its common sense that our Government should act in the interests of the overwhelming majority and that will mean taking on the powerful. The people of Britain have been held back too long, but we have the ideas and the will to change the country for the better. Theres so much more to come and as the party comes together to campaign for these popular polices, we are convinced out support in the polls will increase. Recommended Labour loses council seat in Middlesbrough to the Conservatives It also comes after Diane Abbott, the shadow Home Secretary, suggested most of the partys support is down to Mr Corbyn, her long-time ally in Westminster, and that if his critics attempted to replace him, Labour could fall below 10 per cent in the national polls. One of their [Mr Corbyns critics] current arguments is that Labours difficulties in the polls are all attributable to him and that if only we had a new leader, almost any leader, then this would resolve our problems, she wrote in article for the blog Labour List. This is completely untrue. While Labours support in the latest poll has not changed since ComRes last asked respondents for their voting intention, it is clear the Conservatives are gaining traction from the smaller parties in Westminster. The poll suggests three in 10 of those who voted for Ukip at the 2015 general election would now vote for the Tories a likely reflection of the Prime Ministers hard Brexit rhetoric. A crucial test for Mr Corbyns party will also come on 4 May, when voters will head to the polls in a series of local elections in England, Wales and Scotland. A party hoping to win power at Westminster should aim to gain significant ground in these contests. But in an article for The Independent, John Curtice, a professor of politics at Strathclyde University who is considered one of Britains top polling experts, said Labour and Ukip, not the Conservatives, appear most at risk of losing ground. Mr Curtice wrote: If next month the Liberal Democrats succeed in repeating some of their more spectacular by-election advances, that might enable the party to begin to rebuild the local government base that five years of coalition managed to destroy. And any sign that its potential competitor on the centre-left of British politics is finally enjoying something of a revival could be the worst news of all for Jeremy Corbyn. The ComRes poll also discovered significant support for a new political party in Britain. Two in five of British adults, or 41 per cent, agree that there is space for a centre-ground party. The majority of Liberal Democrat voters (58 per cent) agree as do more than two in five Labour voters (43 per cent), half of Ukip voters (47 per cent) and more than one-third of Conservatives (35 per cent). ComRes interviewed 2,029 GB adults online between 11 and 13 April 2017. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults. Data were also weighted by past vote recall. Voting intention figures are calculated using the ComRes Voter Turnout Model. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules 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 is facing a damaging Commons revolt next week by Conservative MPs who are pressing her to remove foreign students from the immigration figures. Rebel Tories claim they have enough support to inflict a humiliating defeat on Ms May, who is also under pressure from several cabinet ministers to stop counting overseas students as long-term migrants. The issue will come to a head on Wednesday when MPs debate an amendment to the Higher Education and Research Bill passed by the House of Lords last month. By 313 votes to 219, peers agreed that no student should be treated for public policy purposes as a long-term migrant to the UK for the duration of their studies. Tory whips are trying to contain the revolt, pleading with the partys MPs not to rock the boat now and urging them to defeat the Lords amendment. But rebels claim they can overturn the Governments majority of 17, which would require nine Tories to defy Ms May if all opposition party MPs join forces with them. They hope the real prospect of defeat will force the Prime Minister to compromise. The backbench revolt leaves Ms May increasingly isolated on the issue. Downing Street has slapped down ministers who have called publicly for foreign students to be removed from the immigration statistics. Amid claims that they feel unwelcome, the number dropped by 41,000 in the year to September. There are fears that, if the trend continues, universities would have to raise tuition fees above the 9,250-a-year ceiling taking effect this autumn. Critics claim Ms May wants to drive down the number of overseas students to help her hit the Governments target to reduce net migration below 100,000 a year. Excluding the students would make that easier to achieve. Some 134,000 foreigners came to Britain to study in the 12 months to last September, during which net migration totalled 273,000. The Independent and the campaigning group Open Britain, the successor to the Remain camp in the EU referendum, have launched a Drop the Target campaign urging the Government to abandon its aim. Ben Howlett, Tory MP for Bath and a leading supporter of Open Britain, said: International students should not be counted in the immigration statistics. Yvette Cooper interrogates Theresa May over immigration policy The Government has the chance to remove them when amendments to the Higher Education Bill come before the Commons next week. It is a chance ministers should seize with both hands. Rebels claim their ranks include MPs who voted Leave as well as those who backed Remain in the referendum, and several select committee chairs. Neil Carmichael, Tory chair of the Education Select Committee, which took evidence from universities on the issue, said: Higher education is an export industry for Britain which generates great value from international students, and no government should seek to make it harder for them to operate. "The sector has serious concerns about any possible restrictions on the ability of international students to come to the UK. I look forward to a healthy debate when this amendment comes to the Commons. Anna Soubry, Conservative MP and a former business minister, said: International students are of huge benefit to our universities and colleges and to our economy. "When they have completed their studies and return home, their goodwill towards our country often results in business deals as well as improved international relations and understanding. "The Government is showing welcome signs of pragmatism and common sense on immigration. I very much hope it will take international students out of the immigration figures. Even if the Government staves off defeat in the Commons, it would still have a battle on its hands. Peers say the Lords would refuse to back down when the bill returns to the second chamber. There could then be a prolonged period of ping pong between the two Houses, delaying the Bill's passage beyond the current parliamentary session due to end next month. The measure would encourage completion in higher education by making it easier for new providers to start up, award degrees and win university status. Ministers pressing for a change on foreign students include Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and universities minister Jo Johnson. 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 A Whitehall source said: The ministers and many Tory MPs have made their position clear. Now its decision time for the PM. Ms May believes that including the students in the immigration figures increases the pressure on universities to stamp out bogus applications. Allies say she wants to bring down net migration by reducing the number of overseas students, particularly at less prestigious universities, rather than changing the way the figures are compiled. One said: She thinks it would look like another fix and fiddle at a time when the public are cynical about politicians. She believes its important to regain trust. The Department for Education has said the Lords amendment would potentially prevent basic visa checks, or conditions being imposed on a student visa. The United Nations defines international students as long-term migrants. Mattis' visit is part of a tour of African and Middle eastern countries aimed at reaffirming key US military alliances US defence secretary Jim Mattis will visit Egypt on Wednesday 19 April to discuss regional security issues and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Cairo's Unknown Soldier Memorial in honour of fallen Egyptian soldiers, according to a statement published on the Pentagon's official website on Friday. Mattis' visit is part of a tour of African and Middle eastern countries aimed at reaffirming key US military alliances, engaging with strategic partners in the region, and discussing cooperative efforts to counter destabilising activities and defeat extremist terror organisations, according to the Pentagon statement. On 18 April, Mattis will be visiting Saudi Arabia, where he will have "a series of meetings with key international counterparts to strengthen commitments to the US-Saudi security partnership." Mattis will also visit Israel on 20 April to meet Israeli President Reuben Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Avigdor Lieberman. On 22 April, Mattis will visit Qatar to meet with "key international leadership and continue efforts to strengthen regional security architectures." Mattis will end his tour on 23 April with a trip to Djibouti to meet with President Ismail Omar Guelleh to discuss promoting regional stability. A US Congressional delegation visited Cairo last week where they met with Egyptian defence minister Sedki Sobhi, expressing the US administration's full support of Egypt's war against terrorism and extremism. American President Donald Trump has said that the US "strongly condemns the terrorist attack" in Egypt on 9 April where two churches in Alexandria and Tanta were hit by suicide bombers. The deadly blasts at Tanta's Mar Girgis Church and Alexandria's St Mark's Cathedral, where Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II was leading a service, killed at least 47 people and injured more than 100 in the deadliest attack targeting Copts in years. Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi visited Washington earlier this month in his first official trip to the US as head of state, where Trump said that he was "very much behind" El-Sisi, who he said has a great friend and ally in the United States. Search Keywords: Short link: 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 }} On the eve of a major constitutional referendum, Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into 17 US politicians, bureaucrats and academics in connection with the attempted coup that rocked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government last year. Included in the investigation are former CIA Director John Brennan, former CIA Deputy Director David Cohen, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. The officials are accused of collaborating with Turkish resistance groups to overthrow President Erdogan, a Turkish state-run news service reported on Saturday. Also named in the inquiry are Preet Bharara, former US attorney for the Southern District of New York and Henri Barkey, director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. The Chief Public Prosecutors Office in Istanbul plans to investigate the individuals entry to Turkey, their meetings while there, and any ties to Turkish expatriate Fethullah Gulen and the Gulenist movement he founded. Turkey experienced its bloodiest coup attempt in recorded history on 15 July, 2016, when a subset of the Turkish military drove tanks into the streets and dropped bombs on Istanbul and Ankara. The coup was eventually quelled by President Erdogan's loyalists, but 241 people were killed and 2,194 injured. The Turkish government blames the attempted coup on Fethullah Gulen, a former supporter of Mr Erdogan who has lived in exile in the United States since 1990. Mr Gulen is a moderate Muslim cleric who engaged in a battle for power with the more conservative Mr Erdogan in 2013. The 17 officials on the list are now suspected of working with Mr Gulen to orchestrate the coup from abroad. In a telephone interview with The Independent, Mr Barkey denied anyone on the list had contacted Mr Gulen in years. Turkish officials, he claimed, launched the investigation to stir up anti-Western sentiment ahead of the countys constitutional referendum on Sunday. To have a big indictment of the former head of the CIA, the former US prosecutor from New York, this is one more little reminder to the public that these nasty foreigners are the ones who organised the coup attempt, Mr Barkey said. Sundays referendum could shift the Turkish system of government from parliamentary to presidential, expanding Mr Erdogans power over national security, the judicial system, and more. Critics claim the change would strengthen Mr Erdogans increasingly autocratic grip on the country. Mr Erdogan has fallen out of favour with the west in recent years for jailing journalists and labelling opposition parties as terrorist organisations. Now, voters who seek to curtail the president's powers say they have received death threats ahead of Sunday's referendum. Surveys from polling company Konda showed a 51 per cent chance of a yes vote on Saturday. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police have launched an investigation after several editions of the Koran were found in toilets on a university campus. The holy books were discovered by a student using the bathroom facilities in the student union at the University of Texas at Dallas. The school's authorities said the incident was shocking and unusual and that the university prided itself on its diversity and inclusivity. Woman records furious Islamophobic rant in a London shop The news was broken by the campus newspaper, which is how many students found out about the incident. "It's definitely saddening and a little disturbing as well," Mohammad Syed, president of the universitys Muslim Association, told NBC 5. "It's something that we do not expect to happen, especially at this campus." He added: "UT Dallas is a very welcoming environment and I have nothing but good things to say about it." The student who discovered the books, Jonathan Schuler, said he was appalled. "It made a lot of the hate I had been hearing and seeing on national news real, and very present," Mr Schuler said. 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 Campus police are reviewing surveillance video from the day but "don't have too many leads, according to Chief Larry Zacharias, the Texas Tribune reported. But he said it appeared to be a one-time, stupid incident, a feeling reportedly mirrored by many students on campus. Concerns have been expressed over a rising number of hate crimes in the US since Donald Trump won the election. Mr Trump's campaign was criticised for being Islamophobic and researchers said his victory had "energised" the far right. 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 voted to eliminate US Internet privacy rules has come under fire after saying Nobodys got to use the Internet when asked why ISPs should be able to use and share their customers' data. Rep Jim Sensenbrenner told constituents it was up to them to decide whether they want to use the Internet at a town hall meeting with voters in Wisconsin's 5th congressional district. An attendee at the meeting had questioned the lawmaker on the US governments recent decision to eliminate Obama-era broadband privacy rules, which critics have called a blow to user privacy. Recommended Porn websites increase privacy protection after Congress web vote The decision gives ISP companies the green light to sell browser histories and other information on its customers to advertising and marketing firms. Well, you know... nobodys got to use the Internet, Mr Sensenbrenner replied. And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet. He continued: Internet companies have invested an awful lot of money, you know, in having almost universal service now and, you know, the fact is, I dont think its my job to tell you that you cannot get advertising through your information being sold. My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it and then you take it upon yourself to make the choice. Thats what the law has been and I think we ought to have more choices, rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our every day lives, Mr Sensenbrenner added. Video of the town hall meeting captured the Republicans response and was shared on social media by American Bridge, a research and communications organisation that says its aim is to hold Republicans accountable, sparking outrage among Twitter users. After Twitter users accused Mr Sensenbrenner of telling constituents not to use the internet if they dont want their information to be sold to advertisers, the Republicans Press Office team fired off a clarification, saying: Actually, he said that nobody has to use the internet. They have a choice. Big difference. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin hit out at the Republican, writing: ICYMI. The out-of-touch, D.C. lifer Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is at it again. The Independent has contacted Mr Sensenbrenners Press Office for comment. US President Donald Trump signed a repeal of privacy rules brought into effect by his predecessor Barack Obama on 3 April. Republicans narrowly passed the repeal of the privacy rules in Congress, with no Democratic support and in the midst of strong objections from privacy advocates. The bill is a victory for telecommunications giants AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc. 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 It repealed regulations that were adopted in October by the Federal Communications Commission under the Obama administration, requiring Internet service providers to do more to protect customer privacy than websites like Google or Facebook. The rules had not yet taken effect, but they would have forced Internet providers to obtain consumer consent before accessing and sharing data including their geolocation and financial, health and children's information, as well as web browsing history, to advertising and marketing firms. All three telecommunication companies said earlier this month that they would voluntarily refrain from selling customers individual Internet browsing information, but they did not say anything about other personal data. 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 }} Protesters took to the streets in cities all over America today to call on President Trump to release his federal tax returns. In the United States, 15 April is colloquially known as Tax Day, as it's usually the day on which individual tax returns are due. This year, The Tax March movement is using the day to send a clear message to Donald Trump: You work for us, and we demand answers. Organisers hope that the Tax Day events will be the biggest mass march since Januarys Womens March, which many believe was the biggest demonstration in US history. Protests have been organised in 150 cities around the country. "We need to see Trump's tax returns as a matter of transparency," Wes Shockley, one of the organisers of the New York City march, told NBC News. If we're going into a tax reform debate, we need know if what Trump wants to do is going to benefit himself. He tends to do things that help him and not necessarily others." Recent polling shows 74 per cent of Americans want the President to release his tax returns. Every president since Richard Nixon has made theirs publicly available, but Mr Trump has repeatedly refused to do so. The Tax March also want to use the protests to force a public debate about reforming the US tax system. Ronald Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, who will speak at the Washington demonstration, told USA Today the American tax system was a broken dysfunctional mess If youre a cop or a nurse, its compulsory. It comes right out of your check. 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 "If youre one of the fortunate few, you can do the Cayman Islands thing and decide what youre going to pay and how youre going to pay it." On the campaign trail, Mr Trump promised far-reaching tax cuts, including a proposal to slash corporation tax rate to 15 per cent from its current 35 per cent level. For individuals, the President has proposed replacing the current system of seven tax brackets with a more streamlined system of three, where the rates are 12 per cent, 25 per cent and 33 per cent respectively. The Trump administration originally intended to publish its tax reform plan by August, but recently indicated this date might be pushed back. 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 has announced they will not release White House visitor logs, reversing a policy set by former President Barack Obama in 2009. The visitor logs, which are maintained by the Secret Service, are a record of everyone who enters the White House. Watchdog groups claim publication of the logs are crucial to government transparency. On Friday however, White House Communications Director Mike Dubke announced that the White House would not publish the records, citing to grave national security risks and privacy concerns. The Washington DC Court of Appeals exempted the White House logs from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in 2012. A watchdog group sued the Obama White House for full release of the logs, but the court ruled they were presidential records, and thus not subject to the disclosure law. Congress made clear that it did not want documents like the appointment calendars of the President and his close advisers to be subject to disclosure, Merrick Garland, chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, wrote at the time. The Obama White House still elected to publish some 6 million records online, marking a departure from the Bush administration's more secretive policy. They were occasionally criticised for circumventing the policy, however; staging sensitive meetings at nearby coffee shops and categorising meetings with celebrities and top donors as personal events. Mr Trump echoed this criticism at the time, tweeting: Why is @BarackObama spending millions to try and hide his records? He is the least transparent President ever and he ran on transparency." Now, however, the President seems to have changed his tune. Officials from Mr Trumps White House tell Time that the logs create more of a facade of transparency rather than complete transparency. Open.gov, the Obama-era site that published the logs, has gone dark since Mr Trump took office. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for failing to release the records on April 10. The group claims the records are crucial to public knowledge, but experts expect a similar outcome to the 2012 suit. The logs will be available for request by public, press and scholars five years after Mr Trump leaves office. Logs for the Office of Management and Budget, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy are still available via FOIA request. 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 US has defended the use of the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat, saying the decision was based on tactical considerations. The MOAB mother of all bombs is claimed by the US military to have killed 36 Isis supporters. Army Gen John W Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said in a written statement: "This is the right munition to ... maintain the momentum of our offensive." Pentagon officials said also said Gen Nicholson didn't need and didn't request President Donald Trump's approval before using MOAB. Details about the raid came as video footage emerged of the moment the 21,000lb warhead was dropped. It was the first time the MOAB weapon was used in combat operations. It is the militarys largest non-nuclear weapon and was used to strike the Achin area in the Nangarhar province on the border with Pakistan. The blast could reportedly be seen nearly 20 miles away, but the blast radius is approximately one mile. According to Reuters, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said in a statement that the strike was part of a joint operation between Afghan and international troops. Retired US General Mark Hertling told the broadcaster the Air Force must have had a good target...normally smaller artillery could have been used. It has been confirmed that Donald Trump did not give an explicit order to drop the bomb in the Achin district of Nangarhar. It was US command in Afghanistan and Gen. Nicholson who made the decision. A Pentagon spokesperson also told The Independent that the strike was required to be authorised by US Central Command leader General Joseph Votel due to the fact that the bomb had to moved through different theatres of war. Mr Trump earlier said he had given my military...total authorisation". A Pentagon spokesperson told The Independent that Mr Nicholson received authorities in January 2017. But, it has not been made clear whether that came from an outgoing President Obama or the new Trump administration Supporters of Mr Trump have said this carte blanche authorisation for the US military is a new approach to using military power. President Obama was seen by his critics, like former President Reagans National Security Adviser General Oliver North, as micromanaging US generals. Mr Trump also mentioned his new approach compared to the previous Obama administration in his comments. He said there is a tremendous difference between the last eight weeks and [compared] to really what's happened over the last eight years. However, Mr Obama was no dove when it came to military operations, making extensive use of drones to drop missiles in areas of conflict including Iraq and Syria. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the MOAB was used to target tunnels and caves Isis fighters used to move around freely. He referred to the GBU-43 MOAB has a large, powerful and accurately-delivered weapon. The MOAB was actually developed using the parts of existing bombs by the US Air Force back in 2002 and what it does is basically suck out all of the oxygen and lights the air on fire, said Bill Roggio of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies think tank, to the Air Force Times. Tested in 2003 at a base in Florida, the MOAB was moved to Iraq in the early years of the war there, however it was never deployed. The bomb is so large that it is dropped by a parachute from a cargo plane, the C-130 Hercules. The Pentagon said the plane used in this particular mission was already located in Afghanistan ahead of the strike. PJ Crowley, the assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration, said the purpose of the bomb was to create a minor earthquake that would collapse tunnels and caves and cause shockwaves in the immediate area. Though Mr Crowley said the MOAB would have a profound effect what impact it will have on operations of IS Khorosan remains to be seen. The Isis fighters in the area say they are affiliates of the larger Isis terror group, referring to themselves as IS Khorosan - which is the historical name for a region that includes parts of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. A source told The Independent that affiliations of such terror groups in the area do change periodically. Mr Nicholson said in a statement that this particular group has been using bunkers, tunnels, and improvised explosive devices to defend themselves. The Trump administration has also been sending signals in the Pacific to a nuclear-armed North Korea recently. Mr Trump said the use of the MOAB was not necessarily done to send a message to North Korea, but that It doesnt make any difference if it does or not North Korea is a problem, the problem will be taken care of". The Afghanistan bombing also comes on the heels of a US missile strike in Syria which was in response to a chemical attack believed by the administration to be carried out by the Syrian President Bashar al Assad's regime. 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 }} If Jon Ossoff pulls it off in Tuesdays special election to Congress and steals Georgias Sixth District from the Republicans, who have held the seat since local boy Jimmy Carter was president, he will have an army of women to thank. (And two boys, Baxter and Emmett, in a little red wagon). A slightly giddy insurgency has sprung up around Mr Ossoff, a beanpole 30-year-old and CEO of a documentary film-making company based in Harrow, northwest London, who has never before run for office. Its an April uprising pushing against the barricades of Republican hegemony in Georgia, if not quite the whole country. For weeks, bands of volunteers have been saturating its dogwood cul-de-sacs and manicured shopping malls urging voters to go Democrat in a special election set for 18 April. These are the Ossoff women and, yes, a few men many of whom have never been involved in politics until now. Theyve found themselves swept up by a tide of shared astonishment: that they are not the only Democrats in their neighbourhoods, as they had always imagined, and that they have a unique chance to rebuke Donald Trump just as he nears the end of his first one hundred days. Recommended A Republican tried to compare Trump to Martin Luther King Not quite unique. Last week, voters in one Kansas district were also called to the polls because their representative in Congress, Mike Pompeo, had been collared by Mr Trump to serve as CIA director. Here they are voting to replace Tom Price, whose new job is Health Secretary. Before the Sixth District was his it belonged to Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House. In Kansas, the Republican runner eked out a single-digit win over his Democrat challenger, but only after a last-minute rush by the national party to buoy him. That the Democrat there, James Thompson, also a first-time candidate, came so close in a district that Mr Trump won by 27 percentage points last November is giving Democrats in Georgia new hope that victory for Mr Ossoff is within reach. Mr Trumps margin in Georgias Sixth was a mere 1.5 points. Two very young canvassers going being pulled door to door in support of Jon Ossoff (David Usborne) Hopefully well pull it off, ventured Ruth Hartman, 47, who showed up for a small Ossoff rally her first ever for any politician at a busy road junction in Johns Creek, one of the many suburbs in this mostly prosperous district northeast of Atlanta that also includes the cities of Marietta and Alpharetta. But, like others, she concedes that Ossoffs momentum comes as a bit of a surprise. Its been tough to figure out because if you are a liberal around here it has to be very hush-hush, you have to kind of go under the radar. Its Bible belt and hard to be different, she went on. For her too, it has been a political coming out. Now we are showing up. We are like, Oh, I didnt know you were a Democrat. Oh, I didnt know you would be here! So its kind of neat. Several things have helped Mr Ossoff, including the scattered field of 11 different Republicans among whom three former state senator Dan Moody, former Georgia Secretary State Karen Handel and Johns Creek Councilman Bob Gray are splitting most of the Republican support. He has also raised a thumping $8.3m (6.6m), mostly from Democrat groups outside the state, an unheard-of sum for a special election to Congress and far more than any of his rivals have mustered. Yet he knows to be cautious. He needs at least 50 per cent of the vote on Tuesday most polls now have him in the mid-40s or hell be forced into a June run-off against whomever comes first among the Republicans. Running against a sole Republican would be a much tougher deal. He clearly has the Republicans anxious, though, as evidenced by a blitz of attack ads against him, some faulting him for having Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news outlet, as a customer of his documentary film company company, Insight TWI, and others attempting to shackle him to Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House who is reviled by most conservatives. Fred Davis, a veteran Republican strategist advising the Moody camp, wondered if the Pelosi ads had backfired by further galvanising women to come out for Ossoff, a candidate he otherwise sees as lacking. The guy himself just seems really weak to me, he said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. He looks and sounds like a contestant on American Idol or something. He conceded the seat is in jeopardy and losing it would hurt Mr Trump and gin up Democrats. They tried to make Kansas an example of anti-Trump fervour and they failed barely. Now theyll try to do the same thing in Georgia. Obviously, Ossoff is going to win and win big, but whether or not he gets to 50 I dont know. If he does, that will be a big kick in Trumps butt. Which is why, in part, his volunteers are working so hard, as if to make amends for not doing enough to keep Mr Trump from winning the White House in the first place. Trumps win woke a lot of people up who should have been awake before, but they werent, said Jen Cox who used Facebook to found a women-only group of activists to help Mr Ossoff get elected. Called Pave It Blue, it now has 1,300 members. They are taking responsibility for that now, she added. Among her crew are Luisa Wakeman and Alexandra Hartley-Leonard who together spent part of a recent evening knocking on doors in a woodsy residential corner of Marietta hoping to find like-minded voters. Ms Hartley-Leonards offspring, Baxter, five, and Emmett, three, rode along in their little red wagon dubbed the Ossoffmobile for the night and festooned with the candidates campaign signs scoffing goldfish treats and occasionally alighting to ring doorbells. It wasnt unreasonable to hope the boys would disarm any unfriendly Republicans. Of those, as it happened, there was only one, who made it clear from behind a glass pane that she would be voting Republican. But almost as if it were prearranged for the reporter tagging along, one after another, women opened their doors to declare their gleeful support for Mr Ossoff and, just as quickly, to insist incorrectly that they were the only Democrat for miles around. Youve got me already, Marcia Harman fairly gushed before her door was even half open, asserting her love for Mr Ossoff before spotting the boys and suggesting she fetch them chocolates. Go and talk to somebody else, who I dont think you will find in my neighbourhood. That at least two other homeowners close by had just declared themselves Democrats too amazed her. For years, she said, she never felt able to talk politics. I wouldnt dare. Someone did tell me... dont share your views in this neghbourhoood. A lot of us are coming out of the woodwork, Ms Wakeman agreed. We have been quiet for a long time because of our political beliefs, because we didnt want to offend anybody it was just a conversation that wouldnt go anywhere as people were staunchly Republican and didnt want to talk to anybody about anything else. That, thanks to this campaign, has now all changed. There are a lot of people that I know who are a lot more political now than they were even six months ago, explained Kimberly Doster, another who opened her door to Baxter and Emmett only to insist she also was sold on Ossoff already. The way the election turned out everyone thought it was going to be hunky dory, you know, and after the election we were just snowballed by the fact that Trump had slid in there. As it happens, Mr Ossoffs mother, an Australian immigrant, is a management consultant who co-founded an organisation dedicated to getting women into elected office in Georgia. Now it seems that it is women who might help her son make that leap. In an interview at the rally in Johns Creek, Ossoff conceded how critical they have been to getting him even this far, whatever happens on voting day. I think women in this community are really leading much of the political organising and engagement and in many ways I am taking my cues from them, he said. I am honoured to have the support of so many strong and determined women. 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 may have backed himself into a corner by threatening North Korea with military action over its weapons tests, experts have warned. Kim Jong-un watched what appeared to be new inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) roll through Pyongyang as part of a huge show of force on Saturday, just two days after the US President vowed to properly deal with his government. There was no sign of a sixth nuclear test on the symbolic Day of the Sun, which marks his grandfathers birthday, but analysts believe a major new launch could be imminent. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves during a military parade on 15 April 2017 (AP) China is among the countries urging both North Korea and the US to de-escalate the situation as an American strike group headed by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier heads towards the region. John Nilsson-Wright, a senior research fellow for North East Asia at Chatham House, said the deployment put Mr Trump in a difficult position. He told The Independent the President may have boxed himself into a corner by vowing not to tolerate any more violations from North Korea when the country has so far been undeterred by the international community. If it does carry out more testing, how does he spin this to his own people? Dr Nilsson-Wright asked, saying Mr Trump may have been made overconfident by support for high profile strikes in Afghanistan and Syria. A show of force has to be credible and the situation is so precarious on the Korean Peninsula that its hard for that to happen. The US President has made a series of threats towards the DPRK, which was the main topic of talks with Chinese leaders earlier this month, writing on Twitter that the US would properly deal with North Korea if Beijing was unable to rein in its ally. Mr Trump later announced the deployment of an "armada" to the region in an apparent attempt to deter North Korea's repeated violations of UN sanctions. North Korea shows new missiles in huge parade amid nuclear fears Chinas foreign minister urged both the US and North Korea to deescalate the situation before it gets to an irreversible and unmanageable stage on Friday, calling on both sides to refrain from provoking and threatening each other. Pyongyang has intensified its rhetoric in the wake of large deployments to its enemies in South Korea and military exercises while continuing its weapons programme. A senior official addressing crowds at a military parade on Saturday vowed that Mr Trumps reckless provocation could be met with an annihilating strike using nuclear weapons. Experts have dismissed the countrys claims of developing a nuclear missile that could strike the mainland US but the appearance of inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched missiles at the parade suggested development is continuing. South Korea responds to North Korea's failed missile launch Analysts said what appeared to be two new kinds of ICBM, enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of lorries, were shown, as were Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which have a range of more than 600 miles. Dr Nilsson-Wright, who is also a senior lecturer at Cambridge University, said North Korea had made clear any new launch will happen at the time and place of their choosing in spite of increasing shows of force by Mr Trump. In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Show all 16 1 /16 In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean women soldiers take part in a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AFP/Getty Images In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A huge military parade in Pyongyang marks the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves during a military parade on 15 April 2017 AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean soldiers carry flags and a photo of Kim Il-sung during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Soldiers march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun What military experts say appears to be a North Korean KN-08 inter-continental ballistic missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Women wearing traditional Korean dress wave flowers and shout slogans as they pass Kim Jong-Un during a parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AFP/Getty Images In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean female soldiers march during a parade for the 'Day of the Sun' festival on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on 15 April EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang on 15 April 2017 EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Attendees carry sheets in the colours of North Korea's national flag during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A soldier salutes from atop an armoured vehicle during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A North Korean woman cries as she looks towards Kim Jong-un during a parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun University students carry the national flag and two bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Missiles are driven past Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the Day of the Sun in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves from a balcony during a parade for the 'Day of the Sun' festival in Pyongyang on 15 April 2017 EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Missiles are driven past Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the Day of the Sun in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters He said that although North Korea would not have missed the military might on show in Afghanistan, Kim may be incentivised to push forward with weapons testing to thumb his nose at the US President. Mr Trump may have overreached here - you still need diplomacy, you still need an effective State Department ideally staffed with officials who know what theyre doing, Dr Nilsson-Wright added. Trying to channel his inner Nixon is probably not the most effective way of dealing with North Korea. Despite the Presidents fiery rhetoric, US officials told the Associated Press that the Trump administration had settled on a policy emphasising on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's regime. A military official said the US does not intend to use force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Shannon Kile, a nuclear specialist at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said both were possible as development efforts aiming to miniaturise nuclear weapons and launch long-range and solid fuel missiles continue. What military experts say appears to be a North Korean KN-08 inter-continental ballistic missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on 15 April (AP) Mr Kile said Saturdays show of force in Pyongyang appeared to show some technical progress towards systems that could be easier to transport and hide ahead of any potential attack. The North Korean government is spinning this as a slap in the face for Mr Trump, he told The Independent. They have a long-term programme in place that has been continuing for decades. Kims government is still holding the door open for direct dialogue with the US, Mr Kile said, but tensions are worsening. North Korea appears to be moving nuclear weapons from being an existential deterrent to taking on an operational war fighting role, he added. The risk here is that there could be inadvertent escalation based on an accident or miscalculation. Growing international concerns have left British voters viewing North Korea as a bigger threat to world peace than the crisis in Syria. A ComRes survey for The Independent found that 46 per cent of adults are more concerned about the secretive state than the Syrian civil war, which Isis has exploited to expand and use as a launch pad for global terror attacks. 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 iconic Pennsylvania Avenue was evacuated by security officials following the discovery of a "suspicious package" near the White House. The item, believed to be a black bag, was found near the north fence, according to CBS News. Members of the White House Press corps were reportedly moved from the North Lawn, and nearby tourists were also cleared from the area by officers. "I was coming up to Pennsylvania Avenue, when I saw three to four members of the Secret Service keeping people from coming onto the street," Giles Gibson, a British journalist based in Washington, told The Independent. "There weren't any sirens or anything, it was fairly calm." A CNN journalist later tweeted the package had been removed by the Secret Service and the street was reopened. Donald Trump is not at his Washington DC residence but in his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Last month, the Secret Service admitted it took over 15 minutes for an intruder to be captured by officers. 2016 in pictures from the White House Show all 26 1 /26 2016 in pictures from the White House 2016 in pictures from the White House Feb. 18, 2016: 'President Obama watches the First Lady dance with 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin in the Blue Room of the White House prior to a reception celebrating African American History Month.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Feb. 16, 2016: 'President Obama reacts as his putt falls just short during an impromptu hole of golf with staffers Joe Paulsen, left, and Marvin Nicholson after the U.S.-ASEAN Summit at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House March 10, 2016: 'What an honor to watch these girls grow up. Malia, foreground, and Sasha were both invited guests for the State Dinner in honor of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and Mrs. Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau. Following the actual sit-down dinner in the East Room, they made their way down the Great Hall to the State Dining Room for the musical entertainment.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House March 23, 2016: 'Two renowned tango dancersMora Godoy and Jose Lugonewere the featured entertainers at a state dinner hosted by President Mauricio Macri and Juliana Awada of Argentina in Buenos Aires. The dancers then summoned the President and First Lady to join them for a dance.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House April 14, 2016: 'The President is always asking staff to bring their babies and young kids by for a visit. Here, during a break between meetings one afternoon, the President crawled around in the Oval Office with Communications Director Jen Psakis daughter Vivi.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House April 22, 2016: 'Originally it was unclear whether I would be permitted to photograph the President meeting Prince George. But the night before, our advance team called and said they had gotten word from Kensington Palace that they would allow me access to make candid photographs during their visit. Afterwards, this photograph garnered the most attention but at the time all I could think was how the table at right was hindering my ability to be at the optimum angle for this moment.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House March 16, 2016: 'It just happened spontaneously one afternoon as the President began dancing in the Outer Oval with Personal Aide Ferial Govashiri. As I recall, he was helping her practice for her upcoming wedding.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House June 4, 2016: 'The Vice President chases children and members of the press with a super soaker during the 2016 Biden Beach Boardwalk Bash held at the Naval Observatory Residence in Washington, D.C.' Official White House Photo by David Lienemann 2016 in pictures from the White House June 21, 2016: 'For eight years, President Obama has visited wounded warriors on a regular basis at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Here he participates in an agility drill (top) and box jump with Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Jae Terry.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House June 22, 2016: 'The great thing about children is you just dont know what they will do in the presence of the President. So when David Axelrod stopped by the Oval Office with one of his sons family, Axes granddaughter, Maelin, crawled onto the Vice Presidents seat while the President continued his conversation with the adults. Then at one point, Maelin glanced over just as the President was looking back at her.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House July 9, 2016: 'German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts when she thought they were somehow going to squeeze the entire press corps into a small hallway in Warsaw, Poland, to do a group photo with all of the European leaders. Instead, they were just being lined up in the order that they were supposed to walk into the room where the press was already prepositioned.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House July 25, 2016: 'Armanil Chisholm, 3, reacts as the President greets him in the Cross Hall of the White House. Armanil was with his grandmother, Tameca Brown, after the President had taken a group photo with wounded warriors and their families.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Aug. 4, 2016: 'With some staff watching in the background, President Obama blows out candles after the Vice President surprised him with some birthday cupcakes.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Aug. 5, 2016: 'When Stevie Wonder stopped by for a visit, the President described many of the items in the Oval Office including the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Aug. 24, 2016: 'President Obama watches a virtual reality film captured during his trip to Yosemite National Park earlier this summer as Personal Aide Ferial Govashiri continues working at her computer.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Sept. 5, 2016: 'President Obama talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia following their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Sept. 7, 2016: 'The President sips from a coconut during his visit in Luang Prabang, Laos. This was just after it was chopped open, splattering pieces of coconut on his shirt.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Sept. 12, 2016: 'After a meeting with actor and human rights activist George Clooney, the President invited him and three of his colleagues to shoot hoops on the White House basketball court. This photo garnered a lot of attention when it was hung on the walls of the West Wing.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Sept. 12, 2016: 'The First Lady goes shopping at a CVS Pharmacy in preparation for life after the White House during a segment taping for the Ellen DeGeneres Show in Burbank, Calif.' Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson 2016 in pictures from the White House Sept. 24, 2016: 'The First Lady hugs former President George W. Bush as she and President Obama take the stage during the opening ceremony of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.' Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy 2016 in pictures from the White House Oct. 31, 2016: 'The President was about to welcome local children for Halloween trick-or-treating when he ran into Superman Walker Earnest, son of Press Secretary Josh Earnest, in the Ground Floor Corridor of the White House. Flex those muscles, he said to Walker.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Nov. 8, 2016: 'The President had just walked in from the dining room and sitting on the floor in the Oval Office was Evelyn Evie Cushman, daughter of Chase Cushman, Director of Scheduling and Advance. He immediately dropped down to his hands and knees and began tossing a ball back and forth with her.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Nov. 9, 2016: 'It was the morning after the election and the President wanted to speak to Press Secretary Josh Earnest about how to characterize his thoughts to the press. When he heard Josh was meeting with his team, the President sent word to bring the team with him, thinking it was just a few others. But it turned out that Josh had the entire communications, speechwriting and research team in his office and they all filtered in to the Oval, some for the first time.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Oct. 3, 2016: 'The White House was hosting South by South Lawn, an event based on the infamous South by Southwest event in Austin, Texas. Just before lunch that day, the President was checking out the setup from a window in the Oval Office before the gates were opened. Hey Pete, he said to me, lets go take a picture with the LEGO men. And so we did.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Oct. 14, 2016: 'There was almost no light remaining at the end of the day when the President and First Lady walked out to the South Lawn for a Fourth Quarter toast to White House staff.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 2016 in pictures from the White House Dec. 27, 2016: 'President Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan toss flowers at the wishing well after laying a wreath at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.' Official White House Photo by Pete Souza Despite a massive security presence at the property, Jonathan Tran, 26, was able to jump several fences and even knock on a door. Two officers were later sacked over the incident. 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 }} At least 94 Isis militants have been killed in an attack that saw the US military drop the largest non-nuclear weapon it has ever used in combat, Afghan officials say. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, where the bomb fell, said the number of Isis members dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier. Fortunately, there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack, Mr Khogyani said. The US dropped the GBU-43 massive ordnance air blast, also known as the mother of all bombs or MOAB, for short on an area of eastern Afghanistan known to be populated by Isis militants. The Pentagon said the strike was the first time the 21,000lb weapon had been used in combat operations. Still image from a video released by the US Department of Defence shows the moment the mother of all bombs struck in Nangarhar (Reuters) The ordnance was aimed at a tunnel complex in the remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border, where it is believed to have killed at least four Isis leaders, Mr Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was still under way. Yesterday, the US commander in Afghanistan said the bomb had "achieved its intended purpose". "This weapon was used against Isis-K and their sanctuary inside Afghanistan," General John Nicholson, commander of Nato forces, told reporters. "The purpose of this operation was to eliminate their sanctuary inside Southern Nangarhar... The weapon achieved its intended purpose." Isis released a statement on Friday denying that any of its fighters were killed or injured by the massive bomb. The MOAB is a GPS-guided munition that had not been used in combat since its first test in 2003, when its blast created a mushroom cloud that could be seen from 20 miles (32km) away. 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 bombs power is equivalent to 11 tonnes of explosives which can be compared to the 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT packed into the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of the Second World War. The office of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said on Friday there was close coordination between the US military and the Afghan government on the MOAB operation and that they worked carefully to prevent any civilian casualties. The US government estimates there are at least 600 to 800 Isis fighters in Afghanistan and that most are in Nangarhar. Smoke rises after the MOAB bomb drop, which unleashed power equivalent to 11 tonnes of explosives (Getty) The US has concentrated on fighting them, while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The MOAB strike came as US President Donald Trump gets ready to dispatch his first high-level delegation to Kabul, amid uncertainty around his future plans for American troops stationed in Afghanistan. More than 8,000 US troops are still in the country training local forces and conducting counter-terrorism operations. Additional reporting by AP Alaa Salaam, the secretary-general of the Egyptian parliament's Environment and Energy Committee, said in a statement on Saturday that Egypt and Russia are close to signing the final contract on the construction of Dabaa nuclear power plant northwest of Cairo. "I can't give a specific date as to when this contract will be signed, but I hope it will be signed this summer," said Salaam. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi oversaw the initial agreement that was signed by Egypt and Russia over the nuclear power plant in November 2015. Salaam's statement came after an Egyptian delegation of 16 MPs, headed by the chairman of parliament's Environment and Energy Committee Talaat El-Sewedi, visited Russia last week. Salaam said the four-day visit came upon the invitation of Russia's state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, which is due to construct Egypt's first nuclear power station at Dabaa, 130km northwest of Cairo. According to Salaam's statement, the Egyptian delegation visited a nuclear power plant at the northern Russian city of Saint Petersburg. "The visit showed that although this [Russian] plant is 60 years old, it is still operating at 100 percent capacity and with the highest level of safety," said Salaam, adding that the plant is completely automated to guarantee the highest level of risk-free operation. "The Egyptian delegation also made sure that the reactor is an environment-friendly plant that does not produce any pollutants," said Salaam. Salaam said the parliamentary delegation's visits to a number of nuclear power reactors in Russia involved inspections to see how all safety standards are observed to guarantee hazard-free operations at these stations. Salaam said Egypt chose Russia's Rosatom energy giant due to the company's extensive experience in undertaking a large number of nuclear power projects in various countries. "We also chose Rosatom because of the good financial terms of the contracts with this company," said Salaam. Salaam said Egypt's Dabaa reactor will be able to withstand earthquakes up to 9 degree on a Richter scale, and the crash of a 400-tonne aeroplane. Salaam added that Dabaa is an ideal place for Egypt's first nuclear power plant because it is "far from any earthquake-active regions, not to mention that it is also far from densely populated places in Egypt." Salaam said the plant will create over 50,000 job opportunities. "This reactor, which will be composed of four nuclear power units with an electric generation capacity of 4,800 megawatts, will be built over a period of eight years," said Salaam. "In addition to the fact that the Dabaa reactor will give Egypt a clean source of energy, it will also help the country obtain the nuclear technology necessary for Egypt become a pioneer in this field in the long-run." Salaam added that the nuclear waste generated by the plant will be handled by an international company that is an expert in this field. "Nuclear power reactors like the one in El-Dabaa do not emit any gas pollutants or cause any greenhouse effect," said Salaam. "After this visit to Russia, let me say that on behalf of my colleagues, I want to send a message to the Egyptian people that the building of the Dabaa nuclear reactor at the hands of the Russian Rosatom company will be a very progressive step for Egypt in the area of nuclear technology and electricity generation," said Salaam. El-Sayed Hegazy, another MP and a member of the delegation, said two weeks ago that the contract on Rosatom's construction of Egypt's first nuclear power plant could be signed in May. "So far, it seems like the signing of the contracts on the Dabba Nuclear Power Plant will take place in May," Hegazy said, adding that "it is necessary for Egypt to switch to nuclear power and other renewable energy sources which are friendly to the environment and help overcome any electricity shortage." 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 unveiled what appeared to be new inter-continental ballistic missiles in huge military parade watched by Kim Jong-un, amid fears mounting tensions could spark a nuclear war. A close aide to the dictator told thousands of soldiers, performers and civilians gathered in Pyongyang that Donald Trumps reckless provocation could be met with an annihilating strike using nuclear weapons. Choe Ryong-hae was speaking to crowds celebrating the annual Day of the Sun, which marks the birth of Kim Il-sung, who founded North Koreas totalitarian system and the Juche ideology now enforced by his grandson. In celebration of the 105th anniversary of his birth, what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-launched missiles were rolled through Pyongyang alongside tanks and rocket systems as planes flew in formation overhead. Goose-stepping soldiers, marching bands and dancers filled Kim Il-sung square for the festivities on Saturday, which came as group of nuclear-powered American warships steamed towards the region. Kim, dressed in a suit, watched the show of military force from a balcony surrounded by aides before greeting the commander of North Koreas missile forces. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves from a balcony during a parade for the 'Day of the Sun' festival in Pyongyang on Saturday (EPA) He did not make a speech during the parade to honour his grandfather, but one of his top officials told delegates Mr Trump was guilty of creating a war situation by dispatching US forces to the area, including the USS Carl Vinson strike group. If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare, Choe said. State news agency KCNA said the Trump administration's serious military hysteria had reached a dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked. The US President has made a series of threats towards the DPRK, which was the main topic of talks with Chinese leaders earlier this month, writing on Twitter that he would properly deal with North Korea if Beijing was unable to rein in its ally. Chinas foreign minister urged both the US and North Korea to de-escalate the situation before it gets to an irreversible and unmanageable stage on Friday, calling on both sides to refrain from provoking and threatening each other. If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner, Wang Yi warned amid growing fears that Pyongyang may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch. In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Show all 16 1 /16 In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean women soldiers take part in a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AFP/Getty Images In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A huge military parade in Pyongyang marks the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves during a military parade on 15 April 2017 AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean soldiers carry flags and a photo of Kim Il-sung during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Soldiers march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun What military experts say appears to be a North Korean KN-08 inter-continental ballistic missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Women wearing traditional Korean dress wave flowers and shout slogans as they pass Kim Jong-Un during a parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AFP/Getty Images In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean female soldiers march during a parade for the 'Day of the Sun' festival on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on 15 April EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang on 15 April 2017 EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Attendees carry sheets in the colours of North Korea's national flag during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A soldier salutes from atop an armoured vehicle during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A North Korean woman cries as she looks towards Kim Jong-un during a parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun University students carry the national flag and two bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Missiles are driven past Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the Day of the Sun in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves from a balcony during a parade for the 'Day of the Sun' festival in Pyongyang on 15 April 2017 EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Missiles are driven past Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the Day of the Sun in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters Unlike at some previous parades attended by Kim, no senior Chinese officials appeared to be in attendance for the Day of the Sun, indicating that North Koreas largest ally may have fallen out of favour for speaking out against its weapons tests, supporting UN sanctions and calling for talks. Experts have dismissed the countrys claims of developing a nuclear missile that could strike the mainland US but the appearance of inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched missiles at the parade suggested development is continuing. Analysts said what appeared to be two new kinds of ICBM, enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of lorries, were shown, as were Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which have a range of more than 600 miles. Shannon Kile, a nuclear specialist at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said North Korea had previously deployed mock-ups of missiles at its parades and it was difficult to verify the weapons on show. He told The Independent what appeared to be the KN-08 ICBM was rolled out, although it has not yet been flight tested, as well as large canisters indicating the possible development of a cold launch long-range missile. It could be launched more quickly, it would be more difficult to detect it and the launcher could be re-used, Mr Kile said, adding that progress in solid-fuel missile technology was previously seen with the KN-15s test launch in February. Whereas liquid-fuelled weapons rely on conspicuous convoys of military vehicles to launch, solid fuels allow the use of road-mobile missile launchers that can move quickly, hide and take an enemy by surprise. What military experts say appears to be a North Korean KN-08 inter-continental ballistic missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on Saturday (AP) The Day of the Sun parade also included what were believed to be KN-11 submarine-launched missiles and multiple rocket launchers aiming to launch salvo attacks that bypass defences. Mr Kile said there was no indication that North Korea had succeeded in miniaturising a nuclear warhead able to be fired on a long-range missile, but that work was continuing to move nuclear weapons from an existential deterrent to an operational war fighting role. North Korea frequently uses symbolic occasions to increase threats, and has previously paraded weapons before they are tested, while conducting key launches to coincide with political events. John Nilsson-Wright, a senior research fellow for North East Asia at Chatham House, said a test could occur in the coming days to mark either the 85th anniversary of the Korean Peoples Army on 25 April or the US Vice Presidents visit to South Korea. The regime wants to emphasise its military strength and show a defiant face to the outside world, he told The Independent. They can use the display of military hardware to make a statement to their own people and keep as a reserve the possibility of a test within the next few days. Dr Nilsson-Wright, who is also a senior lecturer at Cambridge University, said North Korea had made clear any new launch will happen at the time and place of their choosing in spite of increasing shows of force by Mr Trump. Missiles are driven past Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the Day of the Sun in Pyongyang on Saturday (Reuters) International efforts to stop its nuclear programme have so far failed and the US missile attack on a Syrian government airbase and bombing of an Isis stronghold in Afghanistan raised questions over how Mr Trump could follow up on his fiery rhetoric against Pyongyang. The US President described the US naval group heading towards the region as an armada last week, while his deputy Mike Pence warned that a policy of strategic patience with North Korea is over. Mr Pence will arrive in South Korea, which is technically still at war with the North, on Sunday as part of a 10-day trip to Asia following the biggest-ever joint military exercises conducted by the two countries. Dr Nilsson-Wright said Mr Trump may have boxed himself into a corner by vowing not to tolerate any violations by North Korea and sending the aircraft carrier even as White House statements back away from a military strike. A show of force has to be credible and the situation is so precarious that its hard for that to happen, he added. I havent seen any evidence that North Korea is truly spooked. He said that although North Korea would not have missed the military might on show in Afghanistan, Kim Jong-un may be incentivised to push forward with weapons testing to thumb his nose at the US President. Mr Trump may have overreached here. Trying to channel his inner Nixon is probably not the most effective way of dealing with North Korea, Dr Nilsson-Wright added. We come back to the basic problem, which is what can you do to really deter this country? Additional reporting by agencies 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 }} British voters view North Korea as a bigger threat to world peace than the crisis in Syria, a poll has found amid fears of a new nuclear test. A ComRes survey for The Independent found that 46 per cent of adults are more concerned about Kim Jong-uns secretive state than the Syrian civil war, which Isis has exploited to expand and use as a launch pad for global terror attacks. Only 22 per cent of respondents said Syria was a greater threat, with 32 per cent saying they did not know. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves during a military parade on 15 April 2017 (AP) Over-35s were more likely to see North Korea as the biggest menace, while younger voters said they worried more about Syrias impact on the world. The survey came amid an increase in tensions over both regions. Recommended North Korea shows new missiles in huge parade amid nuclear fears North Korea showed off what appeared to be new inter-continental ballistic missiles at a huge military parade to mark its founders birthday on Saturday. A senior official told thousands of soldiers and civilians that Pyongyang was ready to launch a nuclear attack, warning that that Donald Trumps reckless provocation could be met with an annihilating strike. The US President has made a series of threats towards the DPRK, writing on Twitter that he would properly deal with North Korea if Beijing was unable to rein in its ally and sending an armada of nuclear-powered warships towards the region. Chinas foreign minister urged both the US and North Korea to de-escalate the situation before it gets to an irreversible and unmanageable stage on Friday, calling on both sides to refrain from provoking and threatening each other. In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Show all 16 1 /16 In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean women soldiers take part in a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AFP/Getty Images In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A huge military parade in Pyongyang marks the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves during a military parade on 15 April 2017 AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean soldiers carry flags and a photo of Kim Il-sung during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Soldiers march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun What military experts say appears to be a North Korean KN-08 inter-continental ballistic missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Women wearing traditional Korean dress wave flowers and shout slogans as they pass Kim Jong-Un during a parade in Pyongyang on 15 April AFP/Getty Images In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean female soldiers march during a parade for the 'Day of the Sun' festival on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on 15 April EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Military vehicles carry missiles with characters reading 'Pukkuksong' during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang on 15 April 2017 EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Attendees carry sheets in the colours of North Korea's national flag during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A soldier salutes from atop an armoured vehicle during a military parade in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun A North Korean woman cries as she looks towards Kim Jong-un during a parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun University students carry the national flag and two bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il during a military parade on 15 April AP In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Missiles are driven past Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the Day of the Sun in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves from a balcony during a parade for the 'Day of the Sun' festival in Pyongyang on 15 April 2017 EPA In pictures: North Korea marks the Day of the Sun Missiles are driven past Kim Jong-un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the Day of the Sun in Pyongyang on 15 April Reuters If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner, Wang Yi warned amid growing fears that Pyongyang may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch. International efforts to stop its nuclear programme have so far failed and the US MOAB bombing at an Isis stronghold in Afghanistan raised questions over how Mr Trump could follow up on his fiery rhetoric against North Korea. Meanwhile in Syria, the civil war shows no sign of slowing after entering its seventh year as bloody competition for territory continues between Bashar al-Assads government, extremists and rebels backed by multiple foreign powers including Turkey. Isis has been driven out of swathes of territory by the government and Kurdish-led forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes, but the group retains its de-facto capital of Raqqa and has continued to inspire terror attacks around the world. Isis and groups affiliated with al-Qaeda are not part of parallel sets of peace talks in Geneva and Astana, while successive attempts to broker a truce between rebels and the regime have failed. A deal aimed to free starving civilians from two government-controlled and two opposition-controlled towns was in jeopardy on Saturday after dozens of evacuated men, women and children waiting on buses were killed in a car bombing. It came little over a week after the US conducted its first direct military strike against the Assad regime by launching air strikes on an airbase used to launch an alleged sarin attack on a rebel-held town. Boris Johnson: Syria chemical attack offers Russia a 'choice' Mr Trumps decision to launch the strike risked military escalation with Russia, which previously had planes at the base as part of its mission supporting the Syrian government. Vladimir Putins forces are supporting Assad alongside troops from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, while Britain is among countries in the US-led coalition backing vetted opposition groups to fight Isis. The involvement of dozens of countries on the ground and air in Syria have raised the prospect of clashes between international forces. The bloodshed has left more than 400,000 people dead and forced more than 5 million refugees to flee the country, partly driving the ongoing crisis in the Mediterranean. Despite efforts to stop treacherous boat crossings, more people are dying than ever before attempting to reach Europes shores as the political will to give survivors a home wanes across the continent. ComRes interviewed 2,029 British adults online between 11 and 13 April 2017. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all British adults and by past vote recall. Voting intention figures are calculated using the ComRes Voter Turnout Model. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. 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 }} More than 2,000 migrants trying to reach Europe were rescued from the Mediterranean on Friday, while at least one person was found dead, the Italian coastguard confirmed. A spokesperson for the service said 19 rescue operations by coastguards or non-governmental organisations had saved a total of 2,074 migrants on 16 rubber dinghies and three small wooden boats. The coastguard also confirmed that one person had died when the boats sank, but gave no details. The rescues come just days after a boat sank off the coast of Libya on Thursday. Ninety-seven refugees are missing, presumed drowned. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), nearly 32,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year. More than 650 have died or are missing. The number of migrants increased to a high of 5,079 for 2016, according the the IOM - despite a huge decline in numbers of migrant arrivals since 2014. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a medical charity which has carried out hundreds of rescue operations in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the migrant crisis, has criticised Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard agency, who operate official EU patrols on migration routes. MSF said in a series of tweets that NGOs were being forced to fill gaps in service provision left by the EU coastguard. Frontex Director says its a paradox that a third of rescues are done by NGOs. We agree. Where are Frontex boats in a day like this? MSF tweeted. Many more people could have died in a day like this if we arrived a few hours later. We are where were needed, whats the EU doing meanwhile?" Fridays rescue operations were performed entirely by NGOs. Mary Jo Frawley, a nurse who was involved in MSF's patrols this week, said: "Efforts by the European Union and its border agency FRONTEX to prevent loss of life at sea through strengthened border control, increasing militarisation and a focus on disrupting smuggling networks has only resulted in more people drowning not fewer and has had little impact on the flows of arrivals. "This, combined with the lack of adequate EU search, and rescue operations has meant that MSF and other humanitarian organisations have in an unprecedented move been forced to step in to avoid further loss of life. "People do not undertake this journey lightly, people do not risk their own lives and at times the lives of their children if there are easier options available to them. "Whether people are allowed to stay in Europe or not, humane treatment and safe disembarkation is the least Europe should offer them." The launch of Operation Triton in 2014 shifted the focus of EU efforts in the Southern Mediterranean from Search and Rescue (SAR) to border control. Frontex has limited the majority of its patrols to within just 30 miles off Italys coast, while NGOs venture much further, towards Libya. The Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri recently suggested in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt that NGOs rescue missions were supporting criminal networks of smugglers and traffickers. Mr Leggeri has previously said saving migrants lives should not be a priority for the border agency. Frontex has been contacted for comment. 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 }} Belgin Aksoy has always been deeply interested in politics and should have been actively involved in the referendum campaign. But all her time is now devoted to working for the release of her husband, arrested in the crackdown that followed last summers attempted coup, facing up to 45 years in prison on charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation. The shadow of Turkeys recent past turbulent, violent, divisive the putsch blamed on the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen (who denies all involvement), the mass detention, the war with the Kurds and the Isis bombings, casts a dark shadow on Sundays vote by which Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to formalise his overwhelming grip on power. Under the proposed changes to the constitution the office of president, currently a ceremonial one, will dominate the levers of government, abolish the post of prime minister and curtail the right of parliament to scrutinise legislation and the actions of the head of state. You could say that there is a new kind of politics and has become very personal for many of us, says 31-year-old Mrs Aksoy at her home in Istanbul. We now have to live with the effect of it every day. In my case it is going to see my husband in jail one day a week and working on other days on his case. And then we have to cope with our lives. I have to look after our three children by myself, instead of two of us doing it. Of course the referendum is important and in the past I would have been going to rallies, helping with leaflets. But now I have to focus on personal problems. Of course I shall vote and I shall vote No. I think it is dangerous to change the law to give one man, especially this man, even more control than he has already. In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Pierre Crom/Twitter In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Murad Sezer/Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters Belgins husband Demir used to work as a civil servant before being accused of being a Gulenist sleeper and detained last October when police smashed into their apartment at night. He has not been disenfranchised: a ballot box will be provided for him and other inmates. The judge who was investigating him will have the same opportunity at another prison he was arrested for allegedly being a Gulenist in December. Around 120,000 were held after the attempted coup of whom more than 60,000 remain in custody. The government announced that 175 new prisons needed to be built this year. Zeynep Marangoz, a neighbour of the Aksoys in the Emirgan district, has been involved in the No campaign from the start. It has been tough going. Everything has been done to favour the other side," says the 23-year-old student. All the publicity, the TV programmes, the newspapers have to support the President. We are finding it very difficult to get access and even getting things like halls to rent for our rallies. So I think that we are doing quite well under the circumstances. We think a lot of people are nervous about telling opinion polls that they will be voting No. The latest opinion polls point toward a Yes victory. One, by the Konda company, indicates the turnout is expected be nearly 90 per cent, of which 51.5 per cent voting Yes and 48.5 per cent No. Another, by Gezici, gives Yes 51.3 per cent and No 48.7 per cent. But, after misleading results in a number of recent polls internationally from Brexit to Donald Trumps victory both pollsters point out margins of error should be taken into consideration before reaching conclusions on the result. Hundreds of pro-Turkey protesters clash with police in Rotterdam There have been repeated complaints from opponents of President Erdogan about imbalance in media coverage. After the referendum was called, his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) issued a decree suspending the normal rules during the election that candidates must be given equal airtime. An example of what followed was the experience of the general chairman of the opposition CHP party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who had his interview with the state-funded TRT television delayed while the channel carried live coverage of an Erdogan rally. The difference in the levels of publicity is also glaringly reflected in the streets of cities like Istanbul and Ankara, where huge posters of Mr Erdogan and, to a lesser extent, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim look down from public buildings. Opposition posters, of a young girl with a rising sun in the background and the slogan Vote No for our future, are few and far between, and often stuck on down on pavements rather than walls. The No campaign charges that the government is trying to undermine it by detaining its leaders. They include Sera Kadigil, of the secularist party CHP and Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag of the Kurdish HDP. There are also complaints of harassment. Meral Aksener, who is challenging the referendum from a nationalist stance, had one rally attacked by a mob; another, at a hotel, was disrupted when the management switched off electricity. Despite difficulties, opposition rallies have continued to be held with the message that a victory for Mr Erdogan will further fracture the country. It makes no sense to aggravate the polarisation of a country, he is already performing his current duties without recognising the law," says Sukru Yalcin at a march in Istanbuls Eminonu Square. We are saying that it does not suit 80 million to be governed by one mans thinking. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waving to supporters during a 'Vote Yes' rally in Istanbul, Turkey (EPA) The ruling party and the Yes campaign, unsurprisingly, reject the claims, and point towards a foreign hand, a familiar spectre raised in response to criticism. Focusing on objections made in Germany, Mr Erdogan declared at public meeting in Reze, the heartland of his support: We will defy the grandchildren of Nazis. A few fascists will never destroy Turkeys honour. Mr Yildarim warned: We do not want interference in our vote, they should not interfere in our democratic process. Outsiders should mind their own business. Europe should mind its own business. The Yes campaign had put great stress on the theme of Turkey standing up to Western powers, and the polls found this has had resonance among voters, including some who were not previously Erdogan supporters. Selim Abdulhamid, a 43-year-old building contractor from Anatolia, says: My family comes from a conservative area, but I did not care much for Erdogan and the AKP in the past. But then I saw that many in Europe and America supported the coup. The man who planned it, Gulen, is safe in America. I began to realise that all this Western talk of democracy is a sham. So Turkey needs someone who is strong and stands up for us. And he needs to deal with those of the Kurdish who are terrorists and Daesh [Isis] as well. We need a strong leader. Metin Kaya, who lives in the same Istanbul district where Mr Erdogan was born, has no doubt: He has a lion heart; we know he will defend Turkey as no one has done before him. Europe is afraid of us since the Ottoman Empire and that past, which makes us proud, is repeated today. We need to have a new relationship with the West. That relationship will range across issues from what the Erdogan government does next in Syria; what it will do with the tens of thousands of refugees who had used the country as a gateway to Europe as well as to the rule of law and civil rights within the country. Turkeys referendum will have a widespread effect a long way past its borders. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Syrias president Bashar al-Assad deceived United Nations inspectors and still has hundreds of tonnes of lethal chemicals stockpiled, the countrys former weapons research chief has said. In 2014, Syria said it had handed over all of its chemical weapons to the UNs Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). At the time, Barack Obama said the stockpile had been 100 per cent eliminated. But Brigadier-General Zaher al-Sakat has told The Telegraph that Assads regime did not declare large amounts of sarin and other toxic weapons. They [the regime] admitted only to 1,300 tonnes, but we knew in reality they had nearly double that, said General Sakat, who had been one of the most senior figures in the countrys chemical weapons programme. They had at least 2,000 tonnes. At least. General Sakat said he believes the remaining stockpile in Syria could include several hundred tonnes of sarin, along with other chemicals, aerial bombs that can be filled with chemicals, and also chemical warheads for Scud missiles. A former commander of the British militarys chemical weapons unit, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, who now advises Syrian NGOs on chemical weapons, described General Sakats claims as plausible. Assads government has been blamed for a suspected sarin gas attack in Idlib province last week in which killed almost 90 people. The attack prompted a retaliatory attack by the US against a Syrian air base, which has sparked heightened tensions between Syrias Russian backers and the US. But Assad has said the allegation that his government was responsible for the attack was 100 per cent fabrication, and this week said once again that his government was not in possession of any chemical weapons. We gave up our arsenal three years ago, Assad said in an interview this week. Even if we have them we wouldnt use them. We have never used our chemical arsenal in our history. The United States is hand in glove with the terrorists, he added. Turkish and British scientists have both said they have found positive results in tests for the nerve agent sarin, a toxin that rebel groups in Syria are not known to possess. Kenneth Ward, the US ambassador to OPWC, has also insisted Syria was hiding stocks of chemical weapons abetted by Russias continuing efforts to bury the truth. General Sakat said he doesnt believe Assad will give up any remaining chemical weapons. He will not let go of the chemical weapons while he is leader of Syria. If he is forced to leave, he might confess to where some of it is hidden only so it doesnt end up in the wrong hands. 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 car bomb has hit a convoy of buses carrying civilians evacuated from besieged towns in Syria, killing dozens of people as they waited to be taken to safety. Volunteer rescue workers from the White Helmets said they recovered at least 100 bodies from the scene. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group later put the death toll at 112. The blast hit the Rashidin area on the outskirts of Aleppo, where dozens of buses carrying mostly Shia Muslim families from pro-government villages were waiting to enter the city. Photos that were too graphic to publish showed a huge fire raging next to bodies, including those of children, scattered on the ground next to charred buses with blown-out windows. People evacuated from the two villages of Kefraya and Foua were left stranded in al-Rashideen, Aleppo province, on 15 April (Reuters) There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, with Shias targeted predominantly by Isis and, to a lesser extent, al-Qaeda in the past. Reports by Syrian state media that the car bomb had infiltrated the area after being loaded with food supplies for children could not be confirmed. The victims are believed to be from the pro-government villages of Foua and Kefraya, who had been starving under a siege by Islamist rebels. They were being guarded by fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, whose members were also killed in the blast. They were allowed to leave the area in the four towns deal struck between rebels and Bashar al-Assads government, which allowed thousands of people to leave the pro-rebel areas of Madaya and Zabadani, where residents had also been starving. The United Nations described the situation as catastrophic, saying more than 64,000 civilians were trapped in a cycle of daily violence and deprivation. Aid reaches starved Madaya and other besieged Syria towns Dozens of buses carrying civilians from opposing sides of the six-year civil war left as planned on Friday but were held at depots overnight, parked up in separate districts on the outskirts of Aleppo city. They were waiting near the checkpoint where the handover was due to take place when the bomb went off at around 3.30pm local time (1.30pm BST) on Saturday. There were fears of revenge attacks or punishment for civilians from rebel-held areas in the wake of the bombing, with international organisations urged to keep the peace as Russian troops were reportedly deployed to prevent retaliation. Gareth Bayley, the UKs special representative for Syria, condemned yet another atrocity on Syrian civilians, urging protection for all others at risk. Syrian state television had blamed rebels for obstructing the deal, while Syrian Red Crescent teams distributed meals for families stranded more than 30 hours after they left their homes. Residents from Kefraya and Foua were to be transferred to government-controlled Jibrin, while those from Madaya and Zabadani were heading towards the rebel-held Idlib province. The people are restless and the situation is disastrous, said Ahmed Afandar, a resident evacuated from his hometown near Madaya. In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: Children play underground in Syria In pictures: Children play underground in Syria A child plays in the ball pit at the 'Land of Childhood,' an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Abdulaziz, 10, plays in the 'Land of Childhood' underground playground in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Boys look through a show window inside the tunnel that provides a safe passage for children between the two basements that form the 'Land of Childhood' in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children play at the underground 'Land of Childhood' in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Two girls play at the 'Land of Childhood' underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children on the ride on a ferris wheel at the 'Land of Childhood', an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Seven-year-old Massa at the "Land of Childhood" underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef In pictures: Children play underground in Syria Children wait in line to buy sweets at the 'Land of Childhood,' an underground playground in a besieged town in Syria Unicef All these thousands of people are stuck in less than half a kilometre. We are not moving forward or backward. Mr Afandar said people had not been pressured to remain on buses amid reported disagreements between regime and rebel negotiators over the evacuation of fighters. An opposition representative, Ali Diab, told Al-Arabiya television that fewer armed men than had been agreed were evacuated from the pro-government areas, violating the terms of the agreement. A resident of Zabadani, Amer Burhan, said no evacuation had taken place. Syrian opposition groups have characterised the deal as forced displacement because of the removal of Assads opponents from urban centres including Aleppo and Homs. The countrys population is mostly Sunni, while the President is from the Alawite minority sometimes considered as an offshoot of Shia Islam. Assad has been backed by Shia militias including Iraqi groups and fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, while Isis, al-Qaeda and Islamist rebel groups are Sunni. Additional reporting by agencies 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 }} I am guessing that when Jimmy Carter glimpses his Nobel Peace Prize on the bedroom mantle, he smiles with pride. Barack Obama should wince when he thinks of his, especially in light of the past few days, but I am guessing he doesnt. Humility has never been his middle name. The brand new President had barely filled his underwear drawer in the White House when his gong from Oslo landed. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award in October 2009, citing his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. They particularly liked his commitment to nuclear non-proliferation. Some asked at the time why they hadnt waited until after Obama was done being President before assessing his contribution to world tranquillity. Carter only got his prize in 2002, in recognition less for his achievements as Commander-in-Chief from 1977-1981 and more for all that he did afterwards. In Atlanta this week, I am again reminded of how much better the follow-up act has been for Americas 39th President and former Georgia peanut farmer and Governor now 92 years old and in remission from cancer. His legacy has been a virtual negative image of his single term in the Oval Office when his approval rating dipped as low as 29 per cent. Partly this is because of the humanitarian, disease prevention and deconfliction work of the Carter Centre in Atlanta that he founded with his wife Rosalynn two years after leaving office. Also, history tends to be kinder to US presidents when theyre retired. The most recent retrospective survey by Gallup shows Carter with a 56 per cent approval number, compared with 34 per cent when he left office. Even Nixons numbers trended up eventually. Recommended Obama to visit Merkel in Berlin on same day Trump due in Brussels Most impressive is Carters sheer staying power. He was the first ex-president to say he would be attending the inauguration of Donald Trump. Just hours before Trump fired his Tomahawks at Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Carter was to be found decrying the Presidents record to students of Emory University in Atlanta on everything from his treatment of women to his discounting Americas responsibility for defending human rights worldwide including those of blacks in America. I dont see any glimmer of hope within the administration itself, he added. The reputation of Obama, barely out of office, is now in peril thanks precisely to that attack on Syria, ordered by Trump in response to the alleged use of chemical agents against his people, notably a gas attack that killed 80 innocent civilians including babies. What Assad had seemingly perpetrated in an instant shredded Obamas claim that his deployment of diplomacy did more to preserve world peace than the use of military power could ever have done. Even some of his loyalists were dismayed when Obama warned the regime in Damascus that using chemical weapons in its civil war was his red line for military intervention, only to back off and do nothing when in 2013 it was actually crossed. His excuse was that he didnt have the votes for a military strike in Congress. A former senior aide to the Democratic leadership in the Senate at that time tells me that Obama was being disingenuous and that had he taken the decision to launch a strike without congressional approval, we would have had his back. In any event, Obama, helped by Secretary of State John Kerry, moved to rescue himself by recruiting Moscow to force Assad to give up his entire chemical arsenal. That, we were duly told, is exactly what happened. The entire arsenal. We got 100 per cent of the chemical weapons out, Kerry would say later. The deal, Obama claimed, meant the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons in a transparent, expeditious, and verifiable manner. Talking to Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic in 2013, Obama was smug. The overwhelming weight of conventional wisdom and the machinery of our national-security apparatus had gone fairly far [towards military action] ... the fact that I was able to pull back from the immediate pressures and think through in my own mind what was in Americas interest ... was as tough a decision as Ive made and I believe ultimately it was the right decision to make. Former President Jimmy Carter being greeted by Barack Obama at the Trump inauguration this January (Getty) We now know better. Did the Obama administration really imagine that the regime in Damascus would surrendered every ounce of sarin gas it had or that Russia would really work so diligently to make sure that it would be the case? Were they that naive or prone to wishful thinking? Or was it simply glossing over the truth to repair the Commander-in-Chiefs reputation? Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Obama, seemed perturbed in an interview on PBS after the Trump strike. What has been a little surprising to me, anyway is to find out through media that there actually have been several chemical attacks recently," he attempted. "Now, with some belief on my part, and I think a lot of people, that we thought we got rid of the chemical weapons with the regime that President Obama and President Putin put in place. The exposure of this miscalculation, or whatever it was, has unsurprisingly triggered a new round of scepticism about that other deal Obama liked to boast about, the one giving Iran sanctions relief in return for its agreement to pause its alleged pursuit of a nuclear capability and to submit itself to international monitoring. Again, Obama called it a deal that was verifiable. To which we are surely now entitled to ask, is that so? Hardly was the ink dry on that pact before word leaked of the administration secretly paying Tehran $400m in exchange for the release of US hostages. How may other side deals were agreed we still dont know about? In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: US missile strike against Syria In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The United States military launched at least 50 tomahawk cruise missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria, in response to the Syrian military's alleged use of chemical weapons in an airstrike in a rebel held area in Idlib province EPA In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Shayrat airfield in Syria Getty Images In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., after the US fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Syria's President Bashar al-Assad Reuters Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University argued in the National Review this week that Obama is starting to resemble Stanley Baldwin, who led a period of peace as British Prime Minister from 1935 to 1937 that quickly turned out to be a false peace. Both seemed to believe that war breaks out only because of misunderstandings that reflect honest differences, Hanson writes. Therefore, tensions between aggressors and their targets can be remedied by more talk, international agreements, goodwill and concessions. Ideas such as strategic deterrence were apparently considered by both Baldwin and Obama to be Neanderthal, judging from Baldwins naive efforts to ask Hitler not to rearm or annex territory, and Obamas lead from behind foreign policy and his pledge never to do stupid s*** abroad. In the short term, Obama now has a huge hole in the memoir he is must now write to try to put his legacy off on the right footing. Its possible he can still convince himself that he did the right thing back in 2013 but its hard to see how. By not punishing Assad for using chemical weapons and forging an illusory deal to get them out of his hands, he left the way open for the chemical-weapons atrocities that have happened since. He will lose another whole chapter if it emerges that the Iran deal which, by the way, applies for 10 years only begins to fray. Obamas wider legacy as the first African-American president may not be undone because of events surrounding two countries in the Middle East. But it could be seriously damaged by them. In that event, his best bet would be to do as Carter did: surpass the achievements of his years in office with the achievements of those in retirement. He is still relatively young, after all. If youre asking, two other US presidents won the Nobel Peace Prize. They were Theodore Roosevelt for helping to resolve the Russo-Japanese war in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919 for helping create the League of Nations. Both men were serving in the Oval Office when they received them. How their legacies later matched up is a discussion for another time. 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 Labour Party is in a disastrous position. The Conservative 21-point lead in our ComRes opinion poll today is the greatest enjoyed by the party in government since the eve of the 1983 general election, when Margaret Thatcher won a 144-seat majority against Michael Foots Labour Party. What cold comfort there might be for Jeremy Corbyn in our poll is no consolation at all. Labours support has not fallen this month, remaining unchanged at 25 per cent. Theresa May has gained ground mainly at the expense of Ukip since the EU referendum. But it is the opposition that should be winning over floating voters, including from the governing party. Our poll also suggests that several Labour policies are popular. Recent proposals of free school meals for all primary-school children and of raising the minimum wage to 10 in three years both have majority support, as does Labours longstanding policy of raising the top rate of income tax from 45p in the pound back to 50p. What is more, the poll fails to provide evidence that Mr Corbyn himself is as voter-repellent as many opponents in his own party believe. Whether policies are associated with him personally or with Labour generally seems to make no consistent difference to public support. If this is evidence of voters indifference towards Mr Corbyn, however, this is hardly a great endorsement of his leadership. The best that might be said for Mr Corbyn is that Labours problems go deeper than the shortcomings of its leader. None of the candidates who offered themselves as alternatives to Mr Corbyn in 2015 or in 2016 could be sure of presenting themselves as particularly credible rivals to Ms May for the office of prime minister. The party has been winded by the EU referendum vote, unsure whether to oppose it wholeheartedly a position quickly seized by Tim Farron for the Liberal Democrats or to play the longer game of constructive opposition. And part of Labours problem is that Ms May has proved surprisingly adept at presenting herself as the tribune of ordinary working-class families that Labour used to regard as its own, while also claiming the mantle of national unity, bringing together a nation divided by Brexit. The Independent remains sceptical of both poses, but we cannot deny that they have been well received by the voters so far. The early consequence is that Labour will probably do very badly in the local elections next month, as Professor John Curtice writes for us today. Let us hope that this prompts some productive thinking inside and outside the Labour Party. We say outside because there is a feeling in the air that the party as presently constituted is not up to the task of providing an effective opposition on its own. One of the most striking findings of our ComRes poll is that 41 per cent of the public agree that there is a need for a new centre-ground political party in Britain including 43 per cent of Labour voters. Of course, the centre ground means different things to different people, and there are all manner of well-rehearsed problems with trying to assemble cross-party and non-party coalitions. There are even more difficulties in trying to import French movements such as Emmanuel Macrons pro-EU and centrist En Marche! But there does seem to be a space in British politics, stretching from the radicalism of some of Mr Corbyns supporters to the One Nation pro-EU Toryism of someone such as Kenneth Clarke. It is a space waiting to be filled, and the sooner a serious attempt can be made to do so, the better for the sake of a healthy democracy in this country, which requires an opposition that makes the Government nervous. 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 }} For all the breathless Is Emmanuel Macron the new Tony Blair?, it turns out that this is another of my Questions To Which The Answer Is No. For a start, Macron is nothing like as popular. Having enjoyed a meteoric adulation, he has now fallen back into the pack of four candidates, all within a few points of each other in the opinion polls. (Amol Rajan, our former editor who is now at the BBC, always objected to a meteoric rise, because meteors blaze briefly before falling to earth: this time the metaphor may be apt.) A week before the first round of voting in the French presidential election, I am not foolish enough to try to predict the outcome. Yet the polls suggest that Macron is still the most likely of the four to win. If he makes it through to the second round on 7 May, the polls give him a big lead over any one of the other three. Let us hope they are roughly right, because they suggest that Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National, would lose by a large margin to any of her possible second-round opponents. You can see why Macron has been compared to the early Blair. He is 39; Blair was 43 when he became Prime Minister. Macron is a technocratic advocate of closer EU integration. He says he is neither right nor left, asserting that the real divide in our country ... is between progressives and conservatives. That sounds like the left-right divide to me, but Blair could be pretty vacuous too. Above all, Macron has put himself outside and above his party, the Socialist Party. He is running for the presidency as an independent, leading a non-party movement called En Marche! (Lets go, with an exclamation mark, like the Volkswagen Up!) He expects his former party to rally to him in the second round. This is the sort of thing that cannot happen in the British parliamentary system although it has happened in British mayoral politics. Ken Livingstone ran as an independent in 2000 after he was fixed out of the Labour selection contest, and won, before being readmitted to Labour for his second term. French Presidential Debate: Le Pen and Macron clash over immigration and burkini policy Although Blair was Labour leader, he appeared to be from outside the partys history. Rubbish, of course, as he was a street fighter in London Labour politics on the soft left (although he was really on the partys right) who stayed when the SDP broke away. But he used the party as a foil to present himself as the champion of Middle England. And, as Alastair Campbell said at Kings College, London, the other day, Tony always had a very clear view and if you look at the Labour Party today hes not wrong: if you allow the Labour Party to indulge itself, it doesnt win. If you think about it, the anti-party model has been followed by Donald Trump, too. He ran against the Republican Party establishment, using its fierce hostility towards him to dramatise the primaries and to define himself as an outsider in the general election. The opposite approach, the pro-party model, has been followed by Theresa May and her opponent, Jeremy Corbyn, and by Angela Merkel and her opponent, Martin Schulz. Corbyns model is slightly different because he, in effect, recruited a new party to outvote members of the old one. He and Manuel Valls, the former French Prime Minister, are both good examples of when the pro-party model fails. Valls, who was Frances next Tony Blair before Macron stole the title, tried to become the Socialist Partys candidate for the presidency. But he was beaten by Benoit Hamon, the left-winger, in the primary election in January. Hamon won 1.2 million votes in the open primary, four times Jeremy Corbyns 313,000 votes in last years Labour leadership election, and a fat lot of good those mandates did either of them. Hamon has now drifted to a distant fifth place in the polls, and is more or less out of the race. That leaves Macron and Jean-Luc Melenchon to compete for the left-of-centre vote. Melenchon, an anti-EU leftist, is also a non-party candidate, having left the Socialist Party to co-lead the Left Party in 2008, but who is now running as a candidate of a movement called La France insoumise, usually translated as Unsubmissive France, which I assume doesnt sound so terrible in French. Like Le Pen although her view is now a bit unclear he is opposed to the EU and advocates a referendum on Frances membership. In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris Members of French anti-terrorist force RAID at Orly airport, near Paris, France EPA In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris A person has been shot by Operation Sentinelle anti-terror patrol soldiers at Orly Airport after trying to snatch a soldier's weapon EPA In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris Anti-terrorist police forces take position at Orly airport, near Paris, France EPA In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris French Interior Minister Bruno le Roux and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, answer reporters at Orly airport, south of Paris AP In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris French Red Cross workers stand by as travellers are evacuated from Paris' Orly airport following the shooting of a man by French security forces Getty Images In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris French Red Cross workers arrive at Paris' Orly airport following the shooting of a man by French security forces Getty Images In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris Passengers being evacuated from Orly airport, near Paris, France EPA In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris French Police RAID unit officers secure the grounds at Paris' Orly airport following the shooting of a man by French security forces Getty In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris Passengers pass emergency vehicles at Orly airport southern terminal after a shooting incident near Paris, France Reuters In pictures: Orly airport shooting, Paris Passengers wait at Orly airport southern terminal after a shooting incident near Paris, France Reuters Melenchons surge in the polls has come at just the right time, and a big question about the polls over the next seven days is whether it continues. A second question is whether the wounded Francois Fillon, the centre-right candidate beset by financial scandal, continues his modest recovery. (The publication of election polls used to be banned in France in the week before elections, but sense has prevailed: French legislators realised this meant financial traders would commission private polls and keep the results to themselves. Polls are now banned only on election day and the day before.) Even if Macron loses, however, I doubt that this would mean the centre-left is in crisis worldwide. That seems like a grand theory built on special cases and near misses. Yes, the Labour Party is in a desperate state in Britain, but Hillary Clinton nearly won in the US (and won three million more votes than Trump, after all); Schulz for the German Social Democrats is competitive in this autumns contest against Merkel; and Macron, whatever his weaknesses, is still the favourite in France. But I would feel more comfortable about my theory that centre-left politics is alive and well if Macron makes it through to the final two next Sunday. The Greek coastguard said Saturday it was escorting a vessel carrying around 50 migrants towards the island of Cephalonia in the Ionian sea after answering two mayday calls. A spokesman said it could not confirm the nationalities or exact number of migrants aboard but added that they seemed "to be in good health." An Italian sea rescue helicopter joined three Greek patrol boats in an operation coordinated by EU border control agency Frontex to locate the vessel after receiving the distress calls. Italy has become the prime European entry point for tens of thousands of migrants since last year's EU-Turkish agreement to stem the flow across the Aegean Sea and since the closure of the Balkan route, also last year. The accord with Ankara came after 2015 saw more than 800,000 refugees, mainly Syrians, reach Greece from Turkey. Spanish police and maritime rescue authorities meanwhile said they had rescued around 200 people off Spain's southern and eastern seaboard since Wednesday. According to the International Organization for Migration around 1,000 people reached Spain by sea between January 1 and April 11 with 47 more drowning. That compares with 27,000 arrivals and 603 deaths in Italy and 4,107 arrivals and 14 fatalities in Greece, according to IOM data. Spanish authorities said they picked up 62 North Africans, including 18 minors, at Barbate, near the Strait of Gibraltar and 52 more sub-Saharan Africans at Motril in the deep south, likewise opposite the Moroccan coast. A rescue services spokesman said all were in good health. Those rescues followed others throughout the week around Spain's south coast and off the Balearic Islands. A man, a women and a young girl were reported to have drowned after one barely seaworthy vessel was found off the island of Alboran, off Motril, in midweek. Search Keywords: Short link: Three weeks into her new role at the IFA, a then 28-year-old Rowena Dwyer was faced with the momentous task of explaining the financial crash and bailout to farmers nationwide. Without warning, the late Brian Lenihan, then finance minister, announced a 34m cut in the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme as part of the first emergency budget in October 2008. It was only the tip of the iceberg as to what lay ahead. Phones were hopping mad at IFA branches across the country, with farmers desperately seeking information and asking "should I take my money out of the banks?". Farmers wanted answers, IFA officers needed direction, the organisation needed a firm position, and it all landed at the then newly appointed chief economist's door. Ms Dwyer, guided by former IFA chief economist, Con Lucey, calmly sat down to write a briefing note to be distributed to IFA regional branches and into the political sphere. "I had to make a judgment call. My strong feeling was that we are part of the EU, and no matter how difficult the situation, Ireland will not be allowed to descend into chaos. "I wanted to give people the clearest information on what was going on to try and allay panic because things were awful and frankly we had to avoid a situation where you could see a run on the banks because people thought their money would disappear. "It was my responsibility to give people reassurance," she said. Although it was a time when she felt she "aged overnight," she also describes this period, and the ensuing years of "fire-fighting for farmers against collapsing public finances", among her proudest moments in her nine years at IFA headquarters in Bluebell, Dublin. Born in Boherlahan-Dualla, Co Tipperary, Ms Dwyer says she grew up in a very progressive household where farming, education and a strong sense of community were central pillars to her development. Her father, Willie, was a lecturer at Rockwell Agricultural College, now closed, and a part-time beef farmer. Her mother, Eleanor, was a speech and drama teacher. They also both held prominent positions on IFA committees. "As a three-year-old I still have memories of coming up on the train with my Mam when she was going to meetings in the Farm Centre. My grandparents lived in Chapelizod and used to mind me for the day," she said, recalling a fond memory of getting a lift home to the Premier County with former IFA president, and family friend, Joe Rea, when she was six years old. Although she had a keen interest in agriculture, politics and current affairs, at school she became captivated by economics and its impact on public policy, leading her to Trinity College Dublin. She says Alan Matthews, Professor of European Agricultural Policy at TCD, sparked her interest in agri economics.However, Irish agriculture was extremely quiet in the late 1990s and early noughties. "Ireland was going through a different period of growth altogether. "We were heading into five years of credit-fuelled growth, agriculture in particular didn't have a high profile," she said. Ms Dwyer continued her studies at York University where she did her thesis on CAP reform 2002. Her father suggested she speak to veteran IFA economist Con Lucey. Little did she know six years later she would be taking over his role in the IFA. In the meantime, Ms Dwyer developed her skills in various roles at the Higher Education Authority and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She also spent two years working in Ghana, west Africa in their ministry of education. "It was two of the most colourful years of my life. We secured huge funding towards the enrolment of young girls and removing fees from education," she said. Although she loved working on the development side of economics, agriculture was calling. In early 2008, the IFA advertised for the role of chief economist - Mr Lucey was stepping down after 30 years. "I thought it was a huge and unique opportunity to provide the skills and experience I had up to that point to an organisation that I absolutely, even from a young age, believed so strongly in," she said. Although she thought her age, just 28, might be a factor, she said she "never saw being a woman as an obstacle". "Growing up in my household it was taken as a given that we would do our very best, girls and boys, in whatever area of life that we chose to pursue. I was very lucky, my parents were incredibly equal, a real partnership." "I was more conscious of my age and more conscious of being a female economist than being a female in agriculture," she said. Roots She landed the job during the dramatic economic downturn, but always had a clear vision that agriculture could provide a beacon of hope. "It was our role to make the strongest possible argument to minimise cuts to farmers and give a credible argument to government that economic growth will arise out of this," she said. Despite her high-powered position Ms Dwyer, wife to Conor and mother of Ben (3) and Rory (1), who now lives in Clontarf, Dublin, will never forget her roots. "After getting the role I remember being at Mass at home with my Mam. Our neighbours were coming up wishing me well, they were so delighted that one of their own was in such an important role," she said. However, she admits the IFA salary scandal in 2015 was a difficult period. "Personally and professionally it has been difficult. But because of my family background and the parish I come from I've seen the absolute desire at ground level for IFA to be strong. There is a trust and belief that the organisation will work its way through this," she said. Ms Dwyer, who regularly gives talks on women in agriculture and economics, wants more females in both sectors. "We have some trailblazers in the IFA in Catherine Lascurettes and Elaine Farrell but we're only at the starting line. Those of us who are in the mix, it's up to us to bring girls along and help them if they are interested," she said. 'CAP cuts post-Brexit won't be accepted' The CAP budget cannot be subjected to a linear cut because of Brexit, IFA chief economist Rowena Dwyer has warned. Such a move would not be fair or acceptable for farmers, she said. She also strongly believes there is potential for the UK and the EU to arrive at a mutually positive outcome. The CAP budget cannot just be cut by the UK exiting. It is not fair or acceptable for farmers who have had nothing whatsoever to do with this that they would just be presented with that fait accompli. Were not going to allow it to go unnoticed and we will oppose any move to do so, said Ms Dwyer who will address farmers at the IFAs upcoming Brexit conference on April 24, at Goffs, in Dublin. Ms Dwyer also urges Irish, UK and EU politicians not to play fast and loose with farming livelihoods for political reasons. Im very pro-EU but I dont think mutual destruction has to be the outcome here. A Road Safety Authority (RSA) proposal to bring in a NCT-like test for "fast" tractors with speeds of over 40kph has been described as "nanny state-ism at its best by Sligo Councillor Keith Henry. Councillors Keith Henry and Joe Queenan both put forward motions on the contentious issue at this month's Sligo County Council meeting. The RSA maintains that the EU directive governing the legislation (2014/45/EU) is targeted solely at tractors used for commercial road haulage purposes. Cllr Henry called on the Council to ask Transport Minister Shane Ross to oppose the proposal. Cllr Queenan also called on the Minister to use the opt-out clause with the EU regarding the NCT for tractors. "Tractors are included in very few accidents," said Cllr Henry. "I don't see why there needs to be a Directive implemented. MEPs have a lot of questions to answer in they voted on this issue. I contacted the RSE about this and as usual there seems to be confusion - what defines 'haulage'?" he asked. "It's over-regulation. The considerations as to how much it's going to cost should be made," he added. "My fear is that this is only the thin end of the wedge," said Cllr Queenan. "The amount of paperwork now involved to get a few pound, you'd need a full time secretary. We may as well be writing to Russia as write to the Minister," he said. Cllr Dara Mulvey said there were certain farmers for whom their tractor was their only mode of transport. Cllr Margaret Gormley described the proposal as "a money-making racket." "It'd be more on Minister Ross' line to repair the roads and not be enforcing this. Once they get this in, every tractor will have to be NCT'd," she said. "I hope that the farming community will come to the assistance of farmers in rural areas," she added. Cllr Michael Clarke disagreed, saying some of those 'fast' tractors could weigh up to 50 tonne and he'd be wary of this Council to make it policy to be against NCTs. "These heavy tractors that pull heavy machinery should be NCT'd. It's worth having some checks and balances," he said. Cathaoirleach Cllr Hubert Keaney agreed. The motion was amended to ask the Minister to oppose NCTs for tractors less than 125 horse power. It was passed by nine votes for, with six abstentions. The factory in Co Roscommon was sold to Belgian cigar maker J Cortes last September A rural cigar plant is to close with the loss of 38 jobs just four months after the business was sold to an international buyer. The jobs losses are at the ECMI plant which is located in Ballaghaderreen in Co Roscommon. The plant has operated since 1978, exporting from Ireland to European markets. Viability is undestood to have come under strain due to the competitive environment in the cigar industry globally. The cigar factory was founded by local businessman Gerry O Dowd, who sold the company to Belgian cigar maker J Cortes last December. ECMI said that the small scale of the Irish plant put it at a competitive disadvantage. ECMI informed staff and the Ballaghaderreen Chamber of Commerce of the decision to cease operations on Thursday. Local councillors grilled the Belgian representatives on their reasons for purchasing the plant only to close it within months. Unemployment in the Ballaghaderreen area is four times the national average and the town has a population of just 3,000. Local councillor Pat Towen said there was considerable anger among the local community, adding that the plant closure would have "a devastating effect" on local businesses. Cllr Towen claimed that the community had been left behind by central Government. "This is a huge blow for the area," the Independent TD for the area, Michael Fitzmaurice, said. "I will be looking to meet with management to see if we can get these jobs back because we just can't keep haemorrhaging jobs in the west of Ireland." Kian Griffin is not convinced that insurers are challenging enough dodgy motor claims. The Kerry man, who campaigns for a drop in motor insurance premiums, says he continues to come across lots of cases where motorists have a small prang and the next they know they get a letter from their insurer telling them thousands of euro have been paid out on their policy. "I keep getting messages from people who are being told by their insurance company that the likes of 30,000 has been paid out on their insurance when they did not even know there was a claim. "There may have been a minor accident but the driver did not even get to give their side of it before the insurance company paid out," he said. Mr Griffin (25) runs the website and Facebook page Ireland-underground.com which has become a sounding board for complaints about sky-high premiums, particularly for younger drivers. He addressed the Oireachtas Finance Committee last October on the cost of cover. Read More The young driver believes he has a monthly reach of 50,000 from his website, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram accounts dealing with motoring issues. Like most drivers, Mr Griffin is the victim of inflated premiums. He turns 26 in July, an event he thought would mean his premium would come down. It was 980 last year, but despite the fact that he is a year older it has actually gone up this year. "My premium has gone up to 1,160," he said. He thinks he has a loading on his policy because his car is more than 15 years old. Drivers in their 20s who have older cars are hit too hard by insurers, he said. Mr Griffin, who lives in Killorglin, Co Kerry, but works as a travel agent in Tralee, has to spend a lot on motoring just to get to work. "It costs me near 100 a month for insurance alone, and that is before tax, and diesel. It all adds up," he said. INVESTORS who use RaboDirect services have just days to sell their funds. If they do not sell up by April 24, the funds will be transferred to Cantor Fitzgerald for administration. RaboDirect said last November it was shutting its investment service here. The move comes after Nationwide UK said it was closing its deposit-taking operation in Ireland. Customers of RaboDirect got a letter this week telling them they have until April 24 next to sell their funds. The Dutch financial services group said funds that have not been sold will be transferred to Cantor Fitzgerald for administration. Last November Rabo said it was withdrawing from the investment services market in this country. At the time it said the decision stemmed from moves by the Rabobank Group to simplify its business model internationally. This led to the decision to withdraw the managed funds offering here, it said. Rabo had more than 90,000 customers when it said it was ending its service. They were attracted to use its services due to low fees. Last week Rabo withdrew the option of purchasing funds on its website. RaboDirect had no comment. Officials in northern France say an operation to shelter more than 1,000 migrants has ended, five days after the camp they were staying in outside the port city of Dunkirk burned down. The prefecture for the Nord said a total of 1,061 migrants were given new shelter as of Saturday, most sent to migrant centers around France. About 30 others were arrested by border police for alleged links to people smugglers or for disturbing public order. The migrants, most looking to cross the English Channel to Britain, were without shelter after a fire ravaged the wooden shelters of the Grande-Synthe camp, opened last year by Doctors Without Borders. French authorities dismantled a far larger migrant camp in nearby Calais last October. Search Keywords: Short link: "We can be so judgemental and hurtful towards those whom we decide have failed and those who drift outside our self-made ideas of respectability," he told hundreds of people who took part in the Good Friday walk to the papal cross in the Phoenix Park. He questioned how a Church and its institutions could have been so judgmental and "treated broken people who were entrusted to its care with such harshness". "How could we have tried to use the teaching and the merciful way of dealing with sinners to justify or accept harsh exclusion?" he said. The Archbishop said there were so many groupings who were misjudged: single mothers who wanted to keep a baby they loved, gay and lesbian people, and orphans. He prayed that the Catholic Church would be cleansed of judgmentalism and realise the power of mercy. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin hit out in stark language at the "evil attempts" by criminal gangs to maintain control of the drugs trade, which he warned was a "super-lucrative traffic of death", in his 'Way of the Cross' reflection for a pilgrimage in Dublin's Phoenix Park. His condemnation came a day after the brutal killing of young father Stephen Lynch by a gang who savagely beat him before he was deliberately run over with a car in Tallaght, Dublin. Dr Martin also condemned terrorism which has killed innocent people "simply going along streets about their everyday business" as well as the suffering of children in Syria. Closer to home, he had harsh words for members of his own Church, blaming the scandals within Catholicism, as well as "judgmentalism" by some in the Church for causing people to reject faith. A crew member of doomed Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 spotted the looming bulk of Black Rock island in Co Mayo through an infra red camera just 13 seconds before its tail rotor impacted an outbuilding near the lighthouse on the island, sealing the fate of the one woman and three men on board. The 39-page Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) preliminary report into the crash of R116 at 00.46 hrs on March 14 in Blacksod Bay by investigator-in-charge Paul Farrell is laid out in a standard format for such inquiries. Crisp, professional, highly technical, not apportioning blame, it records factual findings and tries to ascertain what happened to the 10-year-old US-made Sikorsky S-92A helicopter that night. But it makes for chilling reading, particularly the appendix setting out the final conversations between the crew on the aircraft - and the realisation that the helicopter was within seconds of avoiding Black Rock and the tragedy which followed. When it impacted the island, the nose was pitching up rapidly, possibly indicating the pilots were desperately trying to climb to avoid the obstacle. The helicopter commander, Capt Dara Fitzpatrick (45) was recovered from the sea, but she died later. The body of co-pilot, Captain Mark Duffy (51), was recovered later from the underwater wreckage. The search goes on for the other missing crew, winch operator Paul Ormsby (53) and winchman Ciaran Smith (38). Expand Close The operators route guide for Blacksod, which the Crew of R116 was using at the time of the accident. The route guide includes an associated separate page of text setting out waypoint designations and coordinates, hazards and obstacles and other general comments. This page identified a lighthouse at Black Rock with an associated height of 310 ft. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The operators route guide for Blacksod, which the Crew of R116 was using at the time of the accident. The route guide includes an associated separate page of text setting out waypoint designations and coordinates, hazards and obstacles and other general comments. This page identified a lighthouse at Black Rock with an associated height of 310 ft. Read More Once the final AAIU report is released, the tragedy of Rescue 116 may ultimately lead to a new direction for search-and-rescue services in Ireland. Currently, CHC Ireland, a private company, provides the helicopter service to the Coast Guard under a 10-year, 500m contract which runs until 2022. Rescue 116 had flown from Dublin to act as "top cover" for another Coast Guard helicopter, R118 from Sligo, which was flying out into the Atlantic to medically evacuate an injured man from a fishing vessel. R116 was planning to re-fuel at the heli-pad at Blacksod Bay before continuing on its mission. R118 had already done so and the report says the crew of R116 made "extensive efforts" to establish direct radio communications with R118 and two-way communication was "briefly established" on VHF radio while R118 was in the vicinity of Blacksod for refuelling. A massive search operation led to the recovery of the multi-purpose flight recorder. Audio recordings show that during the flight across Ireland, Capt Fitzpatrick commented to the other crew members that it had been a substantial period of time since she had landed in Blacksod and co-pilot Mark Duffy told her he also hadn't been there recently. Just 26 seconds before the initial impact, a radio altimeter aural warning, sounded, saying "Altitude, Altitude," and Capt Fitzpatrick identified it as a small island below the helicopter. Flight data showed the helicopter was in the vicinity of two outcrops of rock, Carrickduff and Carrickdad, .65 nautical miles to the west of Black Rock at the time. Just 13 seconds before the helicopter's tail hit the island, a crew member identified the island, probably through the electro-optical/infra-red camera, telling the pilots to go 20 degrees right, later, increasing in intensity: "Come right, come right, COME RIGHT." Expand Close Two of the crew of Rescue 116: (left to right) Dara Fitzpatrick and Ciaran Smith / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Two of the crew of Rescue 116: (left to right) Dara Fitzpatrick and Ciaran Smith The helicopter's nose was pitching up at the impact, it continued to climb briefly before falling into the sea. The last words in the cockpit from Capt Duffy were: "We're gone." The investigation found that the database of the helicopter's sophisticated terrain avoidance system, the EGPWS, the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, did not have details on it of Black Rock island or its lighthouse. The crew of R116 were relying on a programmed navigational route to Blacksod which should have helped them in their approach and should have warned them of Black Rock island. The AAIU report makes two safety recommendations: that CHC Ireland should review and re-evaluate all route guides. It also makes a recommendation relating to the location in the lifejackets of locator beacons and the GPS antennae that operates them. The beacons in the lifejackets of the crew of R116 were worn in the same pouches as the GPS. The manufacturers' manual says the two pieces of kit should be 30cm apart. It recommends that the lifejacket makers, RFD Beaufort Ltd, should review the installation provisions and instructions. The Air Corps had been due to receive five Sikorsky S-92 helicopters but the Government later decided to outsource the search-and-rescue function to a private company, in common with other countries. Prior to that, the Air Corps had provided Ireland's search-and-rescue capability. In the UK, another private firm now performs search-and-rescue duties. But in Ireland, at least, that may be about to change. It's understood there was a conversation in Government circles about a 50/50 tasking between the Coast Guard and Air Corps before the contract was awarded to CHC Ireland, but that the Air Corps would have needed at least three years at the time to work up to it. Since then, Air Corps shortages in experienced staff affected the service. The Government says 28 young pilots are in training but one ex-Air Corps officer has pointed out it can take six to eight years to train. Losing experienced personnel to commercial airlines is an issue, but pilots should get incentives to stay in the force, critics say. The agreement with CHC Ireland runs out in 2022, but it can be extended for up to three years, which may give the Government some leeway if it wants to give the Air Corps a greater role. Protestant bishops warn that plans to restrict the role of religion in school admissions will damage their communities. In a strongly worded Holy Week statement, they said that proposals from Education Minister Richard Bruton would radically undermine the legal protections that support the provision of faith-based education by religious minorities in Ireland. Church of Ireland leaders are concerned that there is no interference with the rights of their schools to prioritise entry for students from their faith tradition. "The rights of a minority denomination should not be trampled on in a race towards a populist understanding of pluralism," they said. According to the bishops, more than 100 of the 277 Church of Ireland schools have made submissions to a consultation process, launched by Mr Bruton in January, expressing "alarm" at the minister's proposals. The bishops, in their role as patrons of Church of Ireland primary schools, say that "this is a very strong voice from the members of our community, which must be heard and recognised." The statement was issued in the name of the Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Richard Clarke, the Primate of Ireland Dr Samuel Jackson, and Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson and the eight other bishops. Mr Bruton has presented four options for removing, or limiting the role of religion in school admissions, in a bid to address problems that can arise for parents in a system where 90pc of primary schools are under Catholic control. Where such schools are oversubscribed, applications are prioritised on the basis of whether or not a child has been baptised into the Catholic faith, presenting what is commonly referred to as a "baptism barrier". The Government is debarred from tackling issues around school entry on a Catholic-only basis, and , while minority religions do enjoy certain constitutional protections, the bishops' reading of the proposals has raised strong concerns. They state that "changing the admissions rules, as proposed, will do nothing to increase resources in specific areas. Instead, the change will merely create a new cohort of children who are excluded from education within their own faith. Splintering "To prevent a Church of Ireland school from prioritising children from that community will lead to a splintering and a diminishing of that link causing hurt, confusion and disillusionment. "The rights of a minority denomination should not be trampled on in a race towards a populist understanding of pluralism." They say that there are other administrative approaches the minister could take to address the challenges "in very limited areas where oversubscription and lack of capacity are creating difficulties." They describe their schools as important components of Church of Ireland communities and other Christian minority communities throughout the country, providing an invaluable focal point for a faith community that is usually widely dispersed geographically. "Church of Ireland schools enjoy a strong link with their community and there exists a strong interdependence socially, spiritually and very often practically," the statement adds. A Navy vessel off Black Rock lighthouse, where the search for Rescue 116 was concentrated Picture: Collins An Irish Coast Guard Helicopter lands at Blacksod Pier as the search continues for Rescue 116. Picture: Steve Humphreys Two of the crew of Rescue 116: (left to right) Dara Fitzpatrick and Ciaran Smith An internal review is being carried out by the company which supplied the Rescue 116 helicopter after investigators raised concerns over the aircraft's on-board system used to identify hazardous obstacles. A preliminary report found the route guide for the Sikorsky S-92A helicopter did not have information displaying Black Rock, the 232ft-tall island which the aircraft hit before crashing into the sea 12km off the Co Mayo coast. The interim investigation also raised concerns over the locator beacons worn by the four crew members, which did not emit any signals upon its crash. The bodies of two of the crew - Captain Dara Fitzpatrick (45) and Captain Mark Duffy (51) have since been recovered. Their two colleagues, winch operator Ciaran Smith (38) and winchman Paul Ormsby (53) are still missing. The Irish Coast Guard issued an emotional statement a month on from losing four of its colleagues, saying: "We will not leave you. You are not alone. Help is on its way. Hold hope." Niamh Fitzpatrick, the sister of pilot Dara, said: "As a family, we are devastated and distressed for all the families involved." She added the family did not wish to comment on the Air Accident Investigation Unit report. The families of the crew members were briefed on the report before it was released. A spend of 3,602 on return flights for the Taoiseach's wife Fionnuala to Washington to allow her to join her husband for his St Patrick's Day swan song at the White House was part of a 101,000 Government global travel bill for the national holiday. New figures provided by the Taoiseach's department show that the cost to the taxpayer of flying Enda Kenny, his wife, and his staff to the US for St Patrick's Day events, which included meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, totalled 33,555. An entry in the Taoiseach's Foreign Travel Report for March shows that it cost the taxpayer 3,602 for return flights between Dublin and Washington for Mrs Kenny for St Patrick's Day events that included her husband meeting Mr Trump at the White House. Mrs Kenny had travelled to the White House with her husband on previous St Patrick's Days to meet the Obamas. It cost the taxpayer 6,842 to fly Mr Kenny for St Patrick's Day events in the US this year and this included flights from Dublin-Philadelphia-Boston-Washington-New York-Dublin from March 11 to March 17. The Taoiseach's private secretary and chief of staff flew in similar comfort to the Taoiseach with their flights also costing 6,842 each. However, the same flight itinerary for the Taoiseach's special adviser cost a much cheaper 1,627, while the same flights for the Government press secretary cost the taxpayer 1,587. The 33,555 spend by the Taoiseach's department accounted for one-third of the Government's worldwide travel bill of 101,476. In a series of Dail written replies to questions by Sinn Fein Deputy John Brady, Government ministers have revealed their cumulative St Patrick's Day travel spend totalled 67,921 - and the final bill will be higher with a number of invoices yet to be processed. Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar had the cheapest travel bill at 196, though the overall bill has yet to be finalised. Kevin Donovan from Cork ran as part of his 32 County Challenge. More at Kevin32County2017 on Facebook A Cork man who is aiming to run in each of Ireland's 32 counties to raise funds and awareness for deafness services in his native Cork was one of the more than 860 runners who took part in the hugely successful Patsy Kelly 5K at the weekend, and achieved a personal best. Kevin Donovan told the Argus in January that he wanted to take part in the Patsy Kelly 5K and on Saturday, he fulfilled his ambition. He heaped praised on the event organisers too. Kevin said: 'This was a race that I was looking forward to running as we use to live in Dundalk for a year so it was familiar ground. It was great to catch up with a few friends while in the area as well. 'It was sunny, cool evening for the race. It was a case of picking the right spot to start in as I wanted to be comfortable in a decent pace, especially in a field of over 800 runners. 'I probably set off a bit fast, more down to passing people rather dragged into other people pace. I got a constant going after the first kilometre and just let it settled down, bearing in mind I had another race the next day. 'It was nice and flat, no rises to worry about so just tipped along a good pace. I got around in 24 minutes which was a personal best (PB) by 20 seconds, which surprised me a lot. 'It was a very well drilled organised race by North East Runners Patsy Kelly 5k, a course that would be ideal to push hard for a PB. 'The challenge is going very well at the moment, with 14 races completed now, which is better than what I expected. On the fundraising side, there has been over 1700 raised so far. The event was won by William McKee of Mourne Runners, with Breege Connolly the first female home. For all results, check out Patsy Kelly 5k on Facebook. It is 20 years since the Local Employment Service Network (LESN) programme started in Ireland and the providers recently came together at a national event in Dublin to celebrate its success. Louth Leader Partnership has delivered the service in Dundalk since 1996. The Dundalk LESN provides a career guidance and recruitment service to both job seekers and employers. All Local Employment Service Networks are funded by the Department of Social Protection. Dundalk LESN has played a major part in helping unemployed people in the area to find work. In 2016, 235 clients secured employment. A further 250 were supported by LESN to return to education and training. As the number of jobseekers continues to decline, the LESN is focusing on delivering a more intensive career guidance and job placement service to those who are longer term unemployed. 'Our career guidance service is free to job seekers and supports access to training, education, government employment schemes and employment opportunities. We also assist with job searching, including CV preparation and interview skills. The service is also free to employers seeking information on government schemes or interested in recruiting job seekers', said Siobhan Rankin of Dundalk Local Employment Service. Ciaran Reid, CEO of Louth Leader Partnership who delivers the LESN in Louth on behalf of the Department attributes the success to the commitment of the staff to the service and to their clients. If you are a job seeker or employer in Dundalk contact the Local Employment Service, Partnership Court at 042 9328897. Dundalk artist Michelle Rogers recently presented one of her paintings to Pope Francis during a Papal Audience in The Vatican. The artist, who divides her time between Rome, New York and Ireland, attended the Papal Audience with her friend Patrick Gallagher earlier in the year. 'We were invited to the meet and greet section,' recalls Michelle. 'Patrick told me about only a few days before hand so it was a wonderful surprise.' 'As an Environmental Artist I would say that Pope Francis would be a hero for me. His work on the Environment with his 'Laudato Si' Encyclical has been incredible,' says Michele, who attended the launch of the Encyclical in The Vatican in 2015. 'It has placed saving our environment as one of the main priorities of the Catholic Church.' 'In fact when I was talking to the Pope for a few minutes, all the teenagers behind me were singing about Laudato Si which was so lovely.' Having spoken with The Holy Father, Michelle says that 'the Pope is an incredibly warm person and seemed very happy and in great health.' Michelle says she presented the Pope with painting she made in Dundalk over Christmas, at which point she had no idea that it would end up in The Vatican. Later this year she will be exhibiting in the0 2017 Venice Biennale, a contemporary visual art exhibition held every other year in the Italian city. However, in the meantime, she is holding a mid career retrospective, entitled 'Thread Lightling in Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin, opening on June 16. The exhibition is organized by OPW and The Paul Kane Gallery and runs till August 18. Fianna Fail TD for Louth Declan Breathnach says a new Bill he has introduced in the Dail will help tackle the scourge of illegal smuggling in border communities. The 'Sale of Illicit Goods Bill 2017' provides for the introduction of a series of new measures which are directed at tackling the trade in illegal alcohol, tobacco and solid fuel. Deputy Breathnach said: 'Illicit trading in Ireland is estimated to have cost the Irish State around 2.4bn in 2015. There has been a noticeable increase in smuggling along the border in recent years and the criminality associated with this activity is having an adverse impact on communities in Louth. There are real fears that the problem could grow in the years ahead unless action is taken, particularly in light of Brexit. 'The sale of illicit goods is harming local businesses that simply cannot compete with the prices on offer by smugglers. Small shops are the lifeblood of local communities in towns and villages and we need to do more to help protect them from the knock on-effect of smuggling. The Bill I have introduced aims to increase awareness of the consequences of buying illicit goods. The Bill will make it an offence for a person to buy illicit alcohol, tobacco or solid fuel. Those that do willingly purchase such illicit goods will be subject to a 100 on-the-spot fine. 'An Garda Siochana and the Revenue Commissioners undoubtedly need more resources to tackle smuggling in border communities. However we need to recognise that smuggling is inevitable so long as there is a demand for illicit goods. The Bill I have introduced aims to diminish this demand by educating people of the adverse impact that smuggling has on border communities. 'Smuggling activity and purchasing goods from known illegal traders does nothing but endanger jobs while funding criminal gangs. If people were more conscious of the consequences of such activity, they would think twice. This Bill will act as a deterrent to making such illegal purchases which will help tackle smuggling in the long run'. People waiting for a Council house through the Choice Based Letting (CBL) scheme must select the house they want on line or they will lose out. That was the message which emerged as members of Louth County Council heard that Louth is to become one of a few local authorities rolling out an on-line only system of Choice Based Lettings. Chairman Cllr Paul Bell voiced his grave reservations about the system which he said discriminates against those who have difficulty using computers or are illiterate. Director of Service Mr Joe McGuinness said that the system was 'a significant change in how houses are allocated' and that it was hoped that it would reduce the number of people refusing houses that they are offered. It was Government policy to encourage local authorities to implement choice based lettings and it had proven very successful where it has been rolled out in places like Cork and Dublin, Louth had piloted the scheme in Ardee and hard to let houses in Dundalk and Drogheda and were now going to a web based system. Advertisements will be placed in local papers advising people that the system will be going live from May onwards. Councillors heard that the system was easy to use, with a list of available houses going live every Tuesday morning. Housing applicants would have to log on to the website and could then view the houses and select the ones they were interested in, similar to any shopping site. Customer service will be key to the success of the system, and applicants will be able to use computers in the public offices as well as libraries around the county. People can also acces the site on smart phones. The scheme will apply for all social housing except for certain cases such as housing for older people and Travellers. Applicants who refuse a house that they have applied for won't be able to apply for another year unless there are exceptional circumstances. The news that the choice based lettings scheme, which had been piloted in Ardee and hard to let houses in Dundalk and Drogheda, was being extended to the whole county, was welcomed by a number of councillors. 'It's going to get people into houses they want to live in quicker' said Cllr Marianne Butler. Cllr Pearse McGeough wanted to know if public representatives could make representations on behalf of constituents who are experiencing difficulty. Mr McGuinness explained that it's only the person looking for the house which can make the application but that staff will be available to explain the system to them. The allocation scheme hasn't changed as regards how applicants are prioritised but people will have to keep applying or they could lose out. Cllr Peter Savage was concerned that people living in areas with poor network coverage would lose out and Cllr Liam Reilly noted that there were blackspots in the county where people don't have internet coverage. They were told that people can use public computers in council offices and libraries throughout the county. 'I am absolutely opposed to this,' declared chairman, Cllr Paul Bell.'Housing is a human right.' He felt that the 'glaring problem' with the scheme was that literacy and computer literacy was issues which had not been addressed. 'There are people out there, they may be an minority, who are going to be disadvantaged.' He felt it was bad enough that someone could be on the housing list for nine or ten years, but to lose out to someone else because they couldn't use a computer. Mr McGuinness said that this hadn't emerged as an issue at focus groups held to see whether people could use the system, where language barriers had emerged as an issue rather than I.T. skills. Cllr Bell countered that no one was going to go to a public meeting and say they have a problem with literacy. Cllr Kevin Meenan felt it was very important that they review how the system is working and see what problems emerge. Louth will probably be the third county to introduce the system, said Mr McGuinness. It was up and running in Dublin and Cork and they were very happy with how it was working and no issues had arisen. Efforts to establish the 'twinning' arrangement between Dundalk and the US city of Pikeville were advanced during the recent trip to New York for the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, Louth County Councillors heard at their monthly meeting. CEO Joan Martin told members that prior to travelling a Skype conference was held between officials and management of the two local authorities. They accepted an invitation to join the team during the St. Patrick's day New York visit, where they advanced the 'Sister City' action plan for 2017/2018. 'As a result an economic development group from Pikeville are to visit Dundalk in July to coincide with the grand opening of the Pearse Lyons Distillery in Dublin. A community trip to Dundalk is also proposed by Pikeville for the last week in September,' said the CEO. She explained that the Sister city agreement came about because of Dr.Pearse Lyons connection to Dundalk. Sean Canney TD Minister for State at Office of Public Works and Flood Relief in Blackrock, with Peter Fitzpatrick TD, Cllr. Maria Doyle, Joe Bailey and Larry Magnier, Blackrock Tidy Towns, Brian McQuillan, along with Paul Costello and Aidan Harney, OPW The impact of flooding on local homes, shops and communities was raised during a visit by Minister Sean Canny to Louth last week. The Minister for State at the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Flood Relief met with local residents and businesspeople in Dundalk, Blackrock and Carlingford to see where flooding has previously occurred, and areas where flooding fears have been raised. Louth County Councillor, Maria Doyle, explained: 'When Taoiseach Enda Kenny visited north Louth last November on the invitation of Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick, I raised with him the serious flooding that has occurred in part of Blackrock and Dundalk in recent years.' 'I'm glad that on foot of this, Deputy Fitzpatrick arranged for Minister Canney to meet with some of those people in our locality who have been affected by the flooding. He met with residents of Mounthamilton on the Ardee Road, some of whom had their homes flooded on several occasions.' From there, the Minister travelled to meet some business owners in Blackrock who have experienced extensive flooding of their premises, as well as members of the community including Blackrock Tidy Towns. 'I hope that by meeting those people that have been affected by flooding in our locality, the Minister will be reminded that it is not just the Shannon region and Cork that have suffered due to flooding,' said Cllr. Doyle. 'While I welcome the Cfram project which will eventually see the Government carry out large scale flood prevention works, it is still a very long way off and interim works may be necessary to prevent homes and businesses being damaged by flooding.' Cllr. Dolye also raised her concerns regarding 'the slow progress being made by Louth County Council on constructing a pipe under Hill Street Bridge to drain Balmers Bog and the importance of the maintenance of the sea walls at Blackrock.' Cancer patients and their families and carers are facing added stress due to the high cost of parking in Our Lady of Lourdes car parks. And Louth County Council have said they will now write to the hospital asking for free parking for all 'frequent treatment users'. 'Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital raised almost 500,000 from parking charges in 2015 and 2016. Patients facing a four hour stay in the short term car park at Our Lady of Lourdes will pay 15, while at the Crosslane Car Park, patients face a charge of 9 for the same period. 'I have spoken to cancer patients in the past two weeks and they have outlined to me the additional stress that parking charges places on individuals and families who are already dealing with a traumatic diagnosis. 'The HSE needs to issue guidelines to hospitals so that all people undergoing cancer treatment receive free car parking. One cancer patient outlined to me that his family had spent 1,200 on car parking charges while he was in hospital. The Lourdes Hospital charges are one of the highest in the country,' Cllr Pio Smith stated. He says it is within the remit of management within the Lourdes hospital to offer multi - passes to cancer patients that allow people to come and go within the same day without incurring higher charges than the daily maximum rate, or offer a reduced weekly rate to families who are visiting a patient who is facing a longer stay in hospital. Cllr Smith welcomed the fact that reductions are offered to patients in Drogheda who are facing financial hardship, but said that "this needs to be extended to all cancer patients who are already facing huge increases in day-to-day living costs. Anybody undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy should be allowed to park free as is the case in other HSE hospitals such as St Luke's in Dublin". Raising the issue at last week's council meeting, he got overwhelming support, with Cllr Richie Culhane saying that the elderly should also be considered while Cllr Kenneth Flood said all frequent treatment users should be included, which was accepted. Cllr Tommy Byrne is also to bring it up at health board level. A 33-year-old man was terrified in his own home during an early morning raid at his house when two masked men burst in the downstairs window and made threats to him. Dundalk Gardai are investigating the incident, which happened around 4.25am on Monday at a house in the Castletown Road area. Two masked men entered the house through a downstairs window and damaged a number of items in the house before threatening the man inside in front of a number of other people. They left through the window they had entered. Gardai are also investigating the theft of a set of keys for a BMW which happened on Sunday. A house at the Rock Road in Blackrock was broken into between midnight and 7.30am and the keys were stolen, but not the car. A number of other items were also stolen. And there was an attempted burglary at a house at Avondale in the early hours of Monday morning. The female homeowner heard loud banging on a back window at around 12.10am and the window was damaged, but no entry was gained. A 17-year-old girl has alleged she was assaulted by another young woman at a shopping centre in Dundalk last week. The teenager alleges she was in a dispute with the young woman before being assaulted at around 5pm on Saturday. And an 18-year-old was questioned about having a Swiss Army knife along with a can of what Gardai suspect is pepper spray when he was stopped, along with another young man, at Clanbrassil Street on Wednesday last. He has been charged and is due to appear in court shortly. Gardai also reported that three people were arrested on suspicion of drink driving over the past seven days and six were arrested on suspicion of committing public order offences. In total, Gardai in the Dundalk District dealt with 362 different incidents in the past seven days. Dundalk Chamber of Commerce hosted a major Tourism Conference in the Four Seasons Hotel Carlingford. The event brought expert speakers together from various tourism projects from around Ireland, who are leaders in their field of tourism provision, to give an overview of their own success stories, and to give advice on creating a format to revitalise tourism businesses. A spokeswoman for Dundalk chamber said: 'The event gave practical tips to delegates on how to improve their tourism business so that they could increase their sales and boost attendance figures at their attraction!' Key speakers at the event included John Teeling of the Great Northern Distillery, who will discussed the potential of whiskey tourism and what visitors are looking for, and John McGrane of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce mentioned how his Chamber can help create cross border links. Daragh Anglim Failte Ireland informed delegates of how by using Irelands Ancient East brand can help grow your business, while Allan Hamilton of Brilliant Trails spoke about what is working in Community Tourism. Also speaking was Google's Lucy Molan, who discussed capturing the moments that matter for today's traveller! Raymond Coyle of Tayto Park also told his fascinating story to delegates. Michael Gaynor President of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce told delegates that tourism has a critical role in contributing to Louth's economic development. 'Louth has a strong value proposition, and our challenge as a county is to further expand the reach of its existing tourism product.' A woman who had been involved in a spiral of criminality during her addiction to street pills, has been given a ten month suspended sentence after her solicitor told Dundalk District Court that she is getting counselling and making positive decisions in her life. Nora McDonagh formerly with an address at Afton Drive, Greenacres, appeared before Judge Flann Brennan charged with a series of thefts and was summonsed for road traffic offences in 2015 and 2016. The court heard of a further incident, where a wallet was taken from a bag in a car and failed attempts were made to use a bank card at Woodies, Dundalk Retail Park, where the accused was identified on CCTV at the till. Last November, solicitor Dermot Monahan told the court McDonagh was seeking help for her addiction to medication and was willing to work with the Probation Service if she was given a chance. The case had been adjourned to last week for a Probation report and Mr Monahan said the fact that Judge Brennan had kept McDonagh under supervision has ensured she had taken up counselling for her addiction and stuck with it. He said his client is currently living in a women's refuge and is 'making positive decisions in her life, reforming from criminality which will only have a positive effect on her and the community. He suggested that the court consider placing her on probation to allow the defendant 'continue counselling and to see the light' but Judge Brennan noted McDonagh had previously committed crimes while on probation. Judge Brennan said: 'I'm going to leave it up to her. There is no point in a probation bond as far as I'm concerned that would be a waste.' He imposed a ten month sentence, but suspended it for a year. It was multicultural day for the children of Greystones Educate Together recently. The boys and girls celebrated the globe, in a colourful and fun day at their school. Each class in the school represented a country of the world. They learned all about those countries, and presented their new-found knowledge to their parents. All 18 classes took part. Taiwanese Ambassador Simon S K tu paid a visit to the school to help the children celebrate the different cultures that share the world. In a report by HIQA on a Sunbeam House facility on Vevay Road, the centre was found to be 'majorly non-compliant' in the areas of 'safeguarding and safety', and 'governance and management'. The report following an unannounced inspection found that significant improvements were required in the management of restrictions in place, and the management of displays of behaviours. There was also a lack of effective governance and management systems within the centre. Seven residents resided in the centre at the time of the inspection. The centre provides residential accommodation for adults with intellectual disabilities. The centre includes eight individual apartments surrounded by a courtyard. The report was published by HIQA last week. Eleven items were found to be moderately non-compliant, and two substantially compliant. As part of the inspection, inspectors visited the centre, met with five residents and spoke with the person in charge and three staff members. Inspectors viewed documentation such as, care plans, person centred support plans, recording logs, policies and procedures. Over the course of this inspection residents communicated in their own preferred manner with inspectors. Residents allowed inspectors to visit their individual apartments and to observe their daily life in the designated centre. All proposals outlined and plans agreed will be verified at the next inspection. A man who hit his partner across the head with a stick burned the stick in the fire and mopped up the blood was sentenced at Wicklow Circuit Court last week. David Hackett (44), formerly of 4 River Lodge Apartments, Riverwalk, Arklow, received a three years sentence with the final 12 months suspended. The sentence was backdated to June 25, when he went into custody in the UK on a European arrest warrant. State prosecutor Paul Murray told the court that the injured party, Linda Kinsella, is a widow of some seven years. She lives in Rathdrum with her daughter and grandchildren and was in a relationship with Hackett at the time of the assault. On March 17, 2014, she and Hackett went for drinks in a bar in Arklow. Mr Murray said that she doesn't remember leaving the bar. At Hackett's flat, she remembers waking up crying, and seeing blood on the floor. She later recalled him burning a stick in the fire after beating her. Garda Ceara Dillane told the court that she responded to a call to the flat. She said that Ms Kinsella was in a laneway nearby and told Garda Dillane that she had pretended to be unconscious during the attack before leaving the flat. Garda Dillane said that Ms Kinsella's head was cut and bleeding, and her hair was matted with blood. Arrangements were made for Ms Kinsella to stay with a friend. She said she did not want medical attention at that time. Garda Dillane went into the apartment for her personal effects. She said that the fire was lighting in the stove and logs burning. She said that the floor was wet and a full mop bucket and mop in the corner. Hackett had blood on his top. Ms Kinsella suffered a contusion to the head and laceration to the scalp. Some hours later that morning she suffered a heart attack. Hackett was arrested and questioned in June and the following day, before being charged, he left the country and went to England. He was arrested in the UK on June 25, 2016, and at Dublin airport on July 6. A barrister acting for Hackett put it to Garda Dillane that two barmen from the pub said that he was never aggressive, and the incident wouldn't be consistent with the man they knew. 'It wouldn't be consistent with the man they knew in public,' said Garda Dillane. The court heard that Hackett had said the couple had a row in the pub and argued on the way home. He said that she physically assaulted him but also that he had not meant to hurt her. He could not recall events clearly. In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Murray, Ms Kinsella said that she has been unable to work. She said that she had been a happy-go-lucky, carefree person who enjoyed socialising and mixing with people. She loved her job and buying new clothes, but now has to force herself to go outside and feels isolated. 'I don't feel safe, I just want to blend into the wall,' her statement said. 'I did everything for Davey,' she continued. 'I fed him, cleaned up after him when he had fits. If he was drunk I stayed awake all night to make sure he didn't choke on his vomit.' 'I cleaned up his vomit and cleaned up after him when he soiled the bed.' 'I can't believe he ran away. He blamed my brothers for having to leave. He had not one iota of remorse for what he did. He tried to blame me, saying it was self defence,' Ms Kinsella said her her statement. Hackett has displayed signs of drink dependency and has been abstinent for the past 18 months, the court heard. After the incident, he felt animosity from relatives of Ms Kinsella and felt he was at risk. While he did go to England, he lived openly and was not 'on the run', his solicitor said. 'He hadn't been formally charged when he went to England so he wasn't in breach of bail and didn't act illegally,' said Judge Michael O'Shea. He said that what happened to Ms Kinsella was shocking. 'She was in a hopeless situation. He was in a dominant situation as a male, and armed with a stick. This was a vicious, violent, brutal attack. He subjected her to a horrific ordeal.' He noted that the defendant had entered a plea of guilty, appeared to have remorse, and has been abstemious regarding alcohol. A man in his 80s has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexually abusing a young girl 50 years ago. Jack Donoghue (82), Holdenstown, Baltinglass, County Wicklow, appeared in Wicklow Circuit Court last Friday for sentencing after previously entering a plea of guilty. The court heard that the victim was eight years old at the time of the offences. The woman, who is now in her 50s, described the assault to gardai in a statement. She said that the man would pull her in between his legs in the sitting room or in the yard. 'He always did it to me when nobody else was there,' she told gardai. She said that he would touch her genitals, and force her to touch his. The woman said that she recalled her mother coming into the sitting room the last time it happened, and she seemed shocked. 'What he did to me has been troubling me all my life,' the woman said. State prosecutor Paul Murray told the court that the woman went to counselling a few years ago. 'When I see him I feel so hurt that he's got away with what he's done,' she said in her statement. She was worried that if she spoke to her parents about what had happened, their health would suffer and her siblings would blame her. Her mother told gardai that she did recall an incident. She said she saw bruises on the girl's neck and the child had told her mother that Jack Donoghue had sucked her on the neck. The mother told her husband, and they confronted the defendant. Mr Murray read out a victim impact statement to the court. In it, the victim said that the assaults have left a deep impact on her. She won't let her grandchildren out of her sight if they are in her care. Her parents had been very supportive, she said, despite her fears regarding their health. 'Only people who have been abused would know what I've gone through,' she said in her statement. 'I pray every day for all the children in the world, that they don't get abused.' Donoghue attended Baltinglass Garda Station voluntarily in 2015. He admitted what had happened and said he felt it went on for about a year and a half. 'I really regret it,' he said. 'I told her mother and father I was sorry.' Judge Michael O'Shea said that the girl was a vulnerable, innocent, young child and the defendant had been in a position of trust. 'He took her innocence and he robbed her of her childhood,' he said. 'She should have been entitled to grow up in a carefree manner and he interfered with that.' Judge O'Shea sentenced Donoghue to two years in prison, with six months suspended. An Bord Pleanala will hold an oral hearing as part of its deliberations into the planned upgrade of the Vartry Water Treatment Plant. Irish Water secured planning permission for the upgrade from Wicklow County Council in 2016. However, that decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanala. 'We are pleased to respond to a request from An Bord Pleanala to participate in an oral hearing into the planned upgrade of the Vartry Water Treatment Plant,' said Geoff O'Sullivan, Project Manager with Irish Water. 'The upgrade of the 150-year old Vartry Water Supply Scheme is a priority project for Irish Water, given its importance to so many people in Wicklow and south Dublin. 'As part of the project, Irish Water have committed to a number of significant measures to protect the ecology of the River Vartry, particularly during drought periods.' Cllr Jennifer Whitmore also welcomes the oral hearing. Earlier in the year, she wrote to An Bord Pleanala to outline her concerns regarding the upgrade of the reservoir. She has a background in fisheries and aquaculture and also requested that an oral hearing should be conducted as part of the appeal process. 'I am very pleased that An Bord Pleanala has called for an oral hearing. Now we can have the opportunity to have a full discussion and examination of the potential impact of the upgrade. 'It's a chance for people to get involved who might not have realised the size of Irish Water's plans. Now it will be a completely transparent process,' said Cllr Whitmore. 'Irish Water were not required to carry out an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposal and I think an EIS would be a great help. There are a lot of people who aren't aware of how big the project will be and the potential impact it could have on the Vartry River. 'I still think there is an opportunity for a compromise. I know upgrade works are badly needed and I think all parties and stakeholders can work together and find a solution,' said Cllr Whitmore. Irish Water maintains that no additional water will be abstracted from the Vartry Reservoirs or from the catchment of the River Vartry. A commitment has also been made to provide flows of five million litres per day that will replace water that releases from the present water treatment plant on a variable basis. Plans are also under way to extend the catchment area for the Vartry Water Supply Scheme to secure the water supply to areas of mid-Wicklow, including Rathdrum, Aughrim, Annacurra, Avoca, Ballinaclash, Roundwood, Laragh, Annamoe, Redcross, Conary and Glenealy. These areas are currently served by vulnerable water sources which have been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as being at risk of failure to meet the current drinking water regulations for trihalomethanes (THMs) and cryptosporidium. A man who slapped a woman in the face and stole her bag has received a two-year suspended sentence. Jonathan McCarthy (21), Kilmantin Hill, Wicklow town, appeared in Wicklow Circuit Court last Wednesday. He had previously pleaded guilty to the robbery, which occurred at around 11.20 p.m. on August 30, 2015, after the victim had gotten off a bus in Wicklow. The woman had come home from Dublin on the bus when McCarthy followed her. He ran towards her, slapped her face and pushed her to the ground. He wrestled the bag from her and got all of her belongings except her phone before running away. The woman was shaken and shocked and she was sick outside her house before she went in and called gardai. The gardai drove around with the woman and ultimately identified McCarthy. Two weeks later she encountered McCarthy in a nightclub and confronted him about the incident. He apologised to her for what he had done. Judge Michael O'Shea said that it was a spontaneous and opportunistic robbery. 'It's shocking that a young lady can't walk home safely at night in Wicklow without being attacked and robbed,' said Judge O'Shea. 'On the night on which I was thrown to the ground and robbed I got physically sick a number of times,' said the injured party in a victim impact statement read to the court by state prosecutor Paul Murray. 'I was distressed and scared to think that I could be assaulted so close to my home on my way from the bus stop.' She said that she is now afraid walking home from the bus stop and family will collect her when possible. 'I am afraid going out by myself and get really anxious and suspicious of strangers. I stiffen up if I meet the perpetrator anywhere.' His Excellency Dr Yue Xiaoyong, Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, spoke of the bonds forged between Ireland and China as he visited Wicklow as part of a delegation from People's Republic of China. Ambassador Yue and his colleagues, Pan Xiongwen, Head of the Political and Press Section of the Embassy, and Xiao Qi, Second Secretary from the Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office, were welcomed to a meeting of Wicklow County Council by the Cathaoirleach, Cllr Pat Fitzgerald, and Bryan Doyle, Chief Executive. Earlier in the day the delegation were brought on a tour of Wicklow County Campus in Rathnew. Cllr Gerry Walsh spoke of the warmth of the people of Wicklow and their interest in embracing new cultures saying he hoped the delegation's best memories of the day would be of the people they met. Fred Verdier of Wicklow County Tourism displayed images of the county, including Glendalough, Powerscourt Estate and the Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk. Annette Rowsome of the Wicklow Local Enterprise Office described the diverse range of companies operating in the county and explained that it was an important objective of Wicklow County Council to help 'grow and sustain jobs for the future within the county.' Joe O'Connell of Ashford Studios gave an account of his first experiences of visiting China in the 1970s and of doing business there in the intervening time. He welcomed the business relationship between China and Ireland and stressed its importance. He also talked about future plans for expansion at Ashford Studios. While greeting the delegation in the council chamber, Cllr Fitzgerald said: 'I am delighted to have the opportunity to 'further develop and enrich the friendship between China and its people and the people of County Wicklow" and described to the delegation the beauty of Wicklow and the endless opportunities it presented to those who live, work and visit the county.' Addressing the meeting, Ambassador Yue said he was greatly honoured to visit County Wicklow. He outlined China's tremendous achievements in its economic and social development and confirmed that China will continue to be a major driver for the global economy. He quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping who has called upon all members of the international community to join hands in building 'a community of common future for mankind...to make the process of economic globalization more invigorated, more inclusive and more sustainable.' Ambassador Yue stated that since China and Ireland had established diplomatic relations in 1979 a 'deep and strong friendship has been forged between our two countries and peoples.' China has become the third largest export market for Irish food and beverages and the second for Irish dairy and pork products. A number of other Councillors also welcomed Ambassador Yue and his delegation to Wicklow. Cllr Brendan Thornhill impressed all and sundry by attempting a few words of Chinese in order to welcome his Excellency. Cllr Steven Matthews, in his role as Cathaoirleach of Bray Municipal District, invited the Ambassador to visit Bray. Bryan Doyle and Cllr Fitzgerald then presented Ambassador Yue with a print by photographer Fran Byrne showing the Round Tower at Glendalough. Born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she spent most of her adulthood and died at the age of 55 in 1886 from Bright's disease, poet Emily Dickinson evaded the grubby fingers of fame in her reclusive lifetime. A heavily edited first collection of her poetry emerged four years after her death and it was a further 65 years before her complete works were published, solidifying her status as one of the most important American writers of the 19th century. Liverpudlian writer-director Terence Davies clearly feels a deep affinity with Dickinson and his labour of love, A Quiet Passion, paints a richly detailed portrait of a misunderstood woman. His script appropriates some of Emily's own words, but is a subjective fictional account that captures both his subject's solemnity and her caustic wit, like her throwaway barb about hypocrisy - 'In America, we cherish it' - or her withering assessment of her chances of finding a husband: 'I am a kangaroo among the beauties. Let us hope the man who courts me will have an interest in zoology.' The film follows young Emily (Emma Bell) from her time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary to her later years (now played by Cynthia Nixon), when she writes her poetry late at night with the blessing of her pious father, Edward (Keith Carradine). In early scenes, Emily's reluctance to slavishly follow teachings - her soul is her own, not God's - prickle her educators. 'You are alone in your rebellion,' warns a teacher. She returns home less than a year into her studies and repeatedly clashes with her father, a prominent politician, who stridently imposes his will on his children. He does agree, however, that Emily can write verse behind closed doors in the dead of night and she is published anonymously in the Springfield Republican. Supported by her doting sister Vinnie (Jennifer Ehle) and frequently visited by their friend Vryling Buffam (Catherine Bailey), Emily settles into an almost hermetic existence at the family home, where she observes the minutiae of society life and passes judgement on the work of the Brontes. 'If they wanted to be wholesome, I imagine they would crochet,' quips Emily. While her brother Austin (Duncan Duff) embarks on an adulterous affair with Mabel Todd (Noemie Schellens), Emily remains alone and aloof, untouched by Cupid's arrow. A Quiet Passion is a dense and exceedingly wordy tribute to a trailblazer at odds with the prevailing moods of the era. Nixon's mannered, yet emotionally layered performance is among her best work, embracing all of her subject's foibles and flaws as she pours herself onto the page. Ehle brings warmth and boundless optimism to her sibling, who appreciates the goodness and compassion in Emily even when the writer cannot see it herself. To mark the first nationwide 'Cruinniu na Casca' (a celebration at Easter) on Easter Monday, Millstreet is supporting the national celebration of our Irish heritage, art and our overall national pride and many great attributes as a nation. The free festival aims to celebrate culture and creativity in Irish society, with a special focus on events for families and children. Easter Monday promises to be occasion to dwell on the past and celebrate, the schedule is: 2pm to 4pm: Millstreet Museum presents an illustrated account of its many treasures and historic items at the museum centre in Carnegie Hall; 4pm to 5.15pm: A guided tour of Millstreet town where the focus will be placed on its many significant locations; 5.15pm to 6.00pm: Visiting Drishane estate where an international event will be taking place with emphasis on a family fun afternoon. All the events are free and everyone is most welcome. It promises to be a special and unique day within the Millstreet community. Meanwhile, the annual Easter commemoration will take place at the monument situated in the Town Square on Easter Sunday following 11.30am. This is the 90th anniversary of the commemoration with the Millstreet National Monument Committee co-ordinating the staging. Organisers extend a welcome to the public to assemble at the West End of the town and Millstreet Pipe Band lead a parade to the Town Square. Guest speaker is Ryle Dwyer, celebrated author, journalist and historian. Special guests at the commemoration will be the Cobh Animation Team (Cumann na mBan ladies). Presiding chairman Jerry Lehane welcomes the support of the public to the ceremony. "When the Irish national teams are playing anywhere in the world, the green jersey and the national flag are to be seen. Alas, when we honour our patriots without whom we would not have a flag, green is seldom seen. Let's show what the wearing of the green really means on Easter Sunday", he said. Easter Church ceremonies Easter-Holy Week Ceremonies: Holy Thursday, Millstreet: Mass of the Last Supper (8pm); Confessions: After Mass. Cullen: Mass of the Last Supper (6.30pm); Good Friday, Millstreet: Ceremonies of the Lord's Passion(3pm); Stations of the Cross: Millstreeet, 8pm; Ballydaly, 8pm. Confessions: After liturgy of the word; Cullen: Celebration of the Lord's Passion (6.30pm); Holy Saturday, Millstreet: Easter Vigil (9pm); Confessions:12.30-1pm, Polish Community, Blessing of Food 2pm; Team Millstreet Clean Up coming Millstreet Tidy Town Association extend an invitation towards their annual 'Team Millstreet Clean Up' on Saturday, April 22. This is an initiative that commenced last year based on an idea from a similar venture by Limerick City and County Council every Good Friday. The basic idea is to get our community out and about to help clean up the community. Millstreet TTA were thrilled with last year's campaign and would appreciate support on Saturday, April 22. The Irish Cancer Society has welcomed news that the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital are to introduce a new daily rate of 5 for cancer patients. The news comes in light of recent reports that cancer patients are paying up to 63 per week in parking charges. The Irish Cancer Society has been campaigning to 'Park the Charges' for cancer patients and have said that this is the first step in reducing excessive financial burdens placed on sick people in Ireland. Their campaign received strong public support, with over 3,000 people signing an online petition calling on hospitals to end the charges, which also received support from a number of councillors across Cork County and City Councils. Donal Buggy, Head of Services and Advocacy for the society, said "This is a good example of the compassion required at hospitals right across the country, and means that cancer patients having treatment in Cork won't have to pay more than 5 a day for parking." Mr. Buggy expressed hope that "Cork sets the trend for other big urban areas where car parking costs are especially high. He also thanked Cork politicians for their support in the issue, saying "It's very positive to see politicians of all shades coming together to support a policy that will make a real difference in the day to day lives of cancer patients," Other Cork hospitals such as Mallow and Bantry have a free parking policy. For more information on the 'Park the Charges' campaign, go to www.cancer.ie/parkthecharges Here's a very interesting walk being undertaken by a group of hardy trekkers shortly. Co Meath filmmaker Siun O'Connor is going to film a walk by a group of friends from Mornington to Moher and included in the line up of walkers is Munich Reilly. It will be an on and off-road adventure from coast to coast and they'l start off at the mouth of the Boyne in Mornington on Ireland's Ancient East, and follow the river for fours days nearly to its source before meeting the Grand canal at Edenderry. Then it's off into the west! Transport and film costs will be a challenge, but it's planned that the final film will be shown at the Lighthouse in September. More details on Coast to Coast 2017 on Facebook and how you can help. It was a much awaited gathering at Barlow House. Word was, a vote could take place on whether Laurence's Gate would stay open to traffic or be closed for good, so allowing tourists from all over the planet to take a picture of the monument - without the risk of ending up in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. But council meetings are notorious for scuppering big headlines - and last Monday was no different. The proposed closure didn't make the agenda due to 'unforeseen circumstances' and it could well be summer before it raises its head again. And even then, it's highly likely that it will go to a special public meeting, so start reserving a seat in the Barbican centre. Last week's meeting did give the 'Close' campaign a chance to address the members and Ann McVeigh - as ever - didn't disappoint. There is a great passion in her voice, one born from a love of her town and its people. If the gate closed tomorrow, she'd be the first up it and it might be a job to get her down. Ann epitimised what the gate is all about and what it means to the town. It's a symbol of everything Drogheda, adopted as a logo by clubs and organisations for decades, a real focal point. She said back in 1958, the Buttergate was dismantled and almost completely destroyed. In 2016, Laurence's Gate was struck again and again, horrific images of traffic wedged in it - images that went around the world. 'In 50 years time how will the papers report it. Were we the generation to step up to the mark?,' she asked. Like most of those in the room, she was too aware of the 'elephant in the room' - where will the hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year that use the gate go if it's closed? Councillors, for the most part, came out in full support, saying the gate did need to be closed. One of the images shown by the group was of the area between Laurence's gate and the Chord Road without the gate in the image - as if it disappeared. 'Drogheda without the gate would be like Romeo without Juliet,' Cllr Richie Culhane was moved to say. 'We can't mess up on this,' he added. Ann McVeigh continued that back in 2006, as part of a walled plan for the town, they were told Drogheda had 'no vision' - yet she felt the gate was 'the jewel in the crown'. 'We have to be brave, make an historic and courageous decision and allow the 400,000 people who come to the Fleadh walk the battlements,' she enthused. She was warmly congratulated on the presentation - if ever a gauntlet was thrown down, this was it. But harsh reality is threatening to spoil this party. The bigger picture is that the opening of the Northern Cross Route is the key to traffic issues in that part of the town and it could be a decade away, unless a major campaign gets underway. Cllr Tommy Byrne has been pretty vocal on the matter, blasting authorities for 'wasting millons' on a proposal for a Narrow Water Bridge at Omeath, while the main objective should be the cross route, freeing up entry to the port and Ballymakenny areas and taking traffic away from the town centre. 'The traffic plan is key and we must consider the people who live near the gate. People can't even get down the Dublin Road as it is. 'We need the northern cross route and then a bridge over the Boyne,' he added. The lack of detail in the traffic plan with the present proposal is obvious, making part of Francis Street two-way and reversing the flow on some streets off the Chord Road, the height of it. A previous plan in 2012 was much wider, taking in Shop Street, Dyer St and Peter Street in a bid to even out the flow. Cllr Pio Smith said that is something that must be considered again. Cllr Kevin Callan has been a long time campaigner to see the structure closed and it remains his goal. Cllr Godfrey said 'Cromwell himself didn't do as much damage to the gate' as was being inflicted by modern day traffic. He said the lorry strikes were like 'an invasion of the Russians'. But he described Scarlet Street as 'lethal' and said there were issues with the Francis Street proposal. Paul Bell urged that a special public meeting be held to address the issues. He also remarked that the biggest issue with the Northern Cross Route was a tunnel that would have to go over the railway line or under it. In expressing his wish to see the gate close, he added 'we can't please everyone.' Cllr Joanna Byrne praised the Close The Gate group for the profile they had created for the town and she felt it helped the town secure the Fleadh Cheoil for next year. Her Sinn Fein party colleague Kenneth Flood said the gate was a 'heritage treasure'. Mayor Oliver Tully said the closure depended on a traffic plan that must work. 'Create the Great in You is a newly formed social enterprise which aims to focus on young people in transition year and leaving certificate applied in schools. The tailor made 6 week programme includes comedy, archaeology, poetry and magic workshops. Using mentoring workshops and peer-based conversations "Create the Great in You" aims to provide young people with a space to explore how communication, collaboration and creativity can be applied to develop both community and relationships. They also have a tailor-made programme called "men and masculinity in modern Ireland" which focuses on young men in Ireland and looks at issues such as careers and relationship, gender, violence, justice, sexuality. Participants will be both challenged and facilitated to openly explore and express their passion, identity and potential. Individuals can expect to grow in confidence, enhance their interpersonal skills and be more empathetic toward their peers. On April 3rd in the Comhaltas Centre Dundalk, Ardee man Mark Mc Cormack the founder of "Create the Great in You" and his team presented transition year students from O' Fiaich Institute of Further Education with their certificates for successfully completing the Create the Great in You (CGY) Mentoring Programme. In attendance to endorse the newly formed enterprise was former governor of Mountjoy Prison John Lonergan who gave an impressive speech to the young people and spoke about Mark Mc Cormack's determination and drive. Other patrons Dr Kevin Howard, Dr Bernadette Brereton (DKIT), Donal McCormack (Tulsa) and Dr Alison Lennon, Cecilia Sherry (Youth Worker), Dundalk FC centre back Patrick Barrett was also there to show their support, as was Ardee Councillor Dolores Minogue & Independent Maeve Yore, Audrey Flood (TY), Doreen Mc Nulty (TY), Martina Reilly (O' Fiaich) and last but not least the newly appointed deputy principal for O' Fiaich College Margaret Deegan. Mark Mc Cormack the founder of Create the Great in You started this endeavour in 2015 after graduating from Dundalk Institute of Technology where he received a Level 8 Hons Degree in Social Care Work. Mark was awarded a Presidents Prize for his contribution to community and college life and has since co-authored a paper alongside Dr Bernadette Brereton which was represented in Milan September 2016 at the (ESA) European Sociological Education Conference. Entitled Education and Empowerment: Theories and Practices, the theme of the conference centred on the changing values of education in an era of increased diversity and access. Mark and his team are Shane Cunningham (Comedy) John Hayden (Poetry) Alison Lennon (Archaeology & Heritage) Dr Bernadette Brereton & Dr Kevin Howard and newly recruited Simon Ryan (Magician) . For further information check out www.createthegreatinyou.com sales contact mark@createthegreatinyou.com or call 087 1194839. Cancer patients and their families and carers are facing added stress due to the high cost of parking in Our Lady of Lourdes car parks. And Louth County Council have said they will now write to the hospital asking for free parking for all 'frequent treatment users'. 'Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital raised almost 500,000 from parking charges in 2015 and 2016. Patients facing a four hour stay in the short term car park at Our Lady of Lourdes will pay 15, while at the Crosslane Car Park, patients face a charge of 9 for the same period. 'I have spoken to cancer patients in the past two weeks and they have outlined to me the additional stress that parking charges places on individuals and families who are already dealing with a traumatic diagnosis. 'The HSE needs to issue guidelines to hospitals so that all people undergoing cancer treatment receive free car parking. One cancer patient outlined to me that his family had spent 1,200 on car parking charges while he was in hospital. The Lourdes Hospital charges are one of the highest in the country,' Cllr Pio Smith stated. He says it is within the remit of management within the Lourdes hospital to offer multi - passes to cancer patients that allow people to come and go within the same day without incurring higher charges than the daily maximum rate, or offer a reduced weekly rate to families who are visiting a patient who is facing a longer stay in hospital. Cllr Smith welcomed the fact that reductions are offered to patients in Drogheda who are facing financial hardship, but said that "this needs to be extended to all cancer patients who are already facing huge increases in day-to-day living costs. Anybody undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy should be allowed to park free as is the case in other HSE hospitals such as St Luke's in Dublin". Raising the issue at last week's council meeting, he got overwhelming support, with Cllr Richie Culhane saying that the elderly should also be considered while Cllr Kenneth Flood said all frequent treatment users should be included, which was accepted. Cllr Tommy Byrne is also to bring it up at health board level. The same issue was raised at the Ardee Area meeting with Cllr Jim Tenanty stating there was already an area for cancer patients to park for free. He said there were 30 spaces close to the old mortuary building. Senator Ged Nash will be selected by the Labour Party in Louth to win back the Dail seat he lost 14 months ago at the local party's selection convention which will take place this Wednesday night in Drogheda. The former Employment Minister is the sole candidate before the convention having been endorsed unanimously by the Party membership in Louth and East Meath. Labour Leader Brendan Howlin will address the convention. Senator Nash said, "I have been knocking on doors in Drogheda, Mid-Louth and East Meath for the last few months and I have been very encouraged by the response I have received. "The Dail seat was lost in the equivalent of a sudden death penalty shootout over a year ago, and I am looking forward to an early replay. "I am proud of my track record of delivery for Drogheda which can be seen for example with the recent jobs announcements, new school developments, the new LMETB HQ and the new courthouse building. "I am also proud of what I achieved in the field of workers' rights, increasing the minimum wage and getting people back to work. "During my term of office, Ireland was the only country in the developed world to improve and enhance collective bargaining laws and introduce new wage setting mechanisms to help vulnerable workers. This is a matter of fact. "Drogheda needs a strong and respected voice back in the Dail who knows how to get things done and I am looking forward to the next election which I am confident will take place sooner rather than later." The Gorey Youth Needs centre on the Mary Ward lane in Gorey was a hive of activity last Wednesday evening as the new Gorey Trans Support Group was launched. The group will hold its meetings on a monthly basis at the Gorey Family Resource Centre at Charlotte Row. Its next meeting is on Monday, April 24, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 'Our facilitators are Laurena Nally, Joyce Kelly and myself,' said Alexandra Day, explaining that the group was instigated by Sam Blanckensee, the national development officer for the Transgender Equality Network of Ireland, and Hendrik Potgieter, a Wexford-based clinical psychologist with the HSE. Alexandra said the group was formed in the wake of marriage equality and gender recognition legislation being passed, and an increase in young trans people coming out in the local area. It is hoped to develop the group into an essential asset for the area and to provide support and a community for transgender and gender non-conforming people in the Wexford area. Children attending Clonroche NS are at risk of being knocked down and killed unless traffic calming measures are put in place urgently. At a recent meeting held in the village, parents spoke of their experiences of dropping off and collecting children at the school, which is located near a 60 km/h speed zone, and which sees hundreds of large vehicles pass its gates every day. A packed audience listened to speakers outline the dangerous situation which exists outside the school. A recent speed survey found that 80 per cent of vehicles speed passed the school. Clonroche NS Principal Norma Doyle said the school has been fighting for traffic management controls for five years. This week a letter outlining issues raised by parents at the meeting and requests for actions by Transport Infrastructure Ireland and Wexford County Council, was sent to the local authority. Ms Doyle said: 'While an electronic speed sign has been erected, more needs to be done. It was suggested at the meeting that large electronic signs alerting drivers to the school could be erected. Our school is in an exceptional position as we are located on a main national road just inside the village boundary.' Cllr John Fleming and Cllr Michael Sheehan attended the meeting, and there were apologies from councillors, Deputy Paul Kehoe and New Ross District Director Sinead Casey. Inspector Syl Hipwell was in attendance for the gardai. Clonroche NS has 96 pupils, down around 20 from 2015 due to emigration and other factors. The school's board of management has had to spend thousands of euros making the area in front of the school as safe as possible in recent years. 'We took a large section of the playground for staff cars. It was all paid for by us.' Ms Doyle said parents complain on a weekly basis about how dangerous the road is. 'A couple of years ago there was a crash out there. 'People are angry as they fear that something is going to happen. Wexford County Council have said on a few occasions that we are the same as Camolin, but they are not on the top of a hill at the entrance to a village. We are exceptional so we can't understand why there aren't exceptional measures for us. I know there are space and logistical issues but they have never even been looked into.' Ms Doyle said articulated lorries don't have time to slow down as they enter the village. 'It's 60 km/h as you approach the village so by the time they are at the school they are still a good bit away from 50 km/h.' She said the local authority has large electronic signs alerting drivers to car parking spaces in Wexford town and yet will not pay for signs to protect children's lives in Clonroche. 'It's something you're on the watch out every day and every day you're hoping it won't be that day. A couple of years ago there was a crash on that road and the TII won't act unless there is another one. If anything happens out there you feel you have tried your best to prevent one.' Will the "Jasmine Revolutions" of the Middle East sweep through China and North Korea? Hopes are rising as accounts emerge from the North about pockets of resistance in the cities of Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon in North Pyongan Province on Feb. 14, two days before North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's birthday. No concerted anti-government protests have broken out in North Korea, but there have been continuous small protests by people demanding food. In early 2008, when North Korean authorities banned women under 50 from selling goods in open-air markets, groups of women in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province apparently staged a protest in front of the regional market management office and demanded either food rations or a reversal of the decree. City officials ended up scrapping the ban, according to a defector from Chongjin. After the botched currency reform in late 2009, North Koreans started to voice their complaints more explicitly. North Korean defectors say people in Hamhung burned the worthless old currency in protest. There are also accounts of hungry soldiers staging mass protests. North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, a group of defectors, said soldiers with a unit that mines uranium rejected orders handed down the chain of command on Jan. 17 because they were hungry. Even food rations for soldiers are apparently being handed out irregularly, despite the country's "military-first" doctrine. The South Korean government is keeping watch on developments in the North as its economy deteriorates. An intelligence officer pointed out that the protests in the Middle East were triggered above all by difficult living conditions. But the intelligence agencies here believe the chances of a Jasmine Revolution in North Korea are slim for now. Unlike people in the Middle East, North Koreans have virtually no access to the Internet, and they have no experience staging organized protests. "The only political experience North Koreans have is the Chosun Dynasty, Japanese colonial occupation and the Kim dynasty dictatorship," a defector said. "They just dont have a lot of awareness about democratization or regime change." Also, the military remains fiercely loyal to Kim Jong-il. In Egypt, the Hosni Mubarak regime collapsed when the military turned its back on it. And compared with oil-producing Libya with its per-capita GNI of US$18,400 (as of 2009), North Korea's GNI is only $960, which means that there is practically no middle class that could orchestrate public discontent. The North Korean military is nonetheless on high alert, concerned about the spread of the small outbursts of discontent, as China is also seeing signs of public uprisings including a protest in the Wangfujing district downtown Beijing. Quoting sources in Onsong, North Hamgyong Province, the DailyNK said Friday that news of the protests in Egypt are spreading in North Korea via Chinese TV channels or phone calls with defectors. "Officials are having a tough time trying to keep the rumors from spreading," it said. Japan's Kyodo News reported on Monday that North Korean authorities have stopped renting mobile phones to visiting foreigners, and an editorial in the North's official Rodong Shinmun daily stressed "unity." "Calls for democracy have reached China, so North Korea will deploy the security forces to crack down on its people," a defector said. It's Holy Week which means the annual debate over Good Friday drinking laws is brewing again. Efforts to water down the 90-year old law are well progressed with Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to ask the cabinet not to oppose the private members bill tabled by Billy Lawless. Mr Lawless is the Taoiseach's nominee to the Seanad and is a former president of the Vintners Federation of Ireland. The law is one of the last vestiges of Catholic ritual to survive the wave of secularism and 'freedom of will' which has evolved in recent years. However, it is now under severe pressure by those who feel a 24-hour prohibition has no place in a modern society where individuals - and not a hierarchy - should decide whether or not they'd like to consume alcohol on Good Friday. Many of our social circumstances seem to support such a change, as a fast-paced 21st Century lifestyle merges with fading religious observance. Add in an increased reliance on tourism, with visitors regularly expressing dismay at finding themselves unable to enjoy a glass or two on the Friday evening of their Easter vacation, and the result is a cocktail for change. The latest Census reveals a serious decline in the number of Catholics declared in the State with a six per cent drop in terms of overall population. Meanwhile, citizens who describe themselves as having no religion are on the rise - from six per cent to 10 per cent - all of which would seem to strengthen support for the Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017 which has targeted Good Friday, 2018, as the date for change. But the other side of the debate is equally as strong. It suggests that temperance should always be based on respect for what is arguably the most significant date in the Christian calendar. Many people in Ireland would have grown up with the feeling that it's just one day and that it wouldn't harm people to stay out of the pub, a sentiment similar to the move to keep The Angelus on the State broadcaster. Others too would point out that levels of alcohol abuse continue to rise nationally and so the Good Friday ban is a perfect opportunity to promote sobriety. But these views are under attack like never before from what many practising Catholics call 'trendy atheism', made popular by the advent of a diverse social media. Each view has its merits but, perhaps, herein also lies the solution. We all make decisions based on free choice and therefore any consequences arising from decisions are the individual's own responsibility. Is it so outlandish to assume that in 21st Ireland both sides of this argument can be easily accommodated? The answer is surely 'each to their own' as one person's right to have a drink on Good Friday should be equal to someone's right not to and vice versa. In short, let's remove the law's obligation from the collective and place it with the individual. How a person chooses to spend Good Friday should be down to themselves alone. In essence, whether or not alcohol should be sold on Good Friday isn't the question - but having the freedom of choice is. The Friends of Autism and ADHD have added a third charity shop to their network of stores around north Fingal with the official opening of their brand new outlet at Millfield Shopping Centre. The honour of cutting the ribbon on the new store went to Rebecca Grimes, famous for playing Hayley Collins, a recurring character on RTE soap, Fair City. Rebecca was joined by representatives from Friends of Autism and ADHD and Neail Vago from the Balbriggan Chamber of Commerce, who attended to lend the support of the chamber to the new venture. Friends of Autism and ADHD Ltd now have three stores and a training centre in operation a far cry from the tiny shop they started off with in 2009. Along with the charity directors, Niamh, Cathy, Bev and Natalie, staff members, volunteers and their wonderfully loyal customers, the 'Friends' celebrated another historic day for the growing charity. Friends of Autism and ADHD now provide a much needed advocacy service for the whole of Fingal and surround areas. The charity also lends a hand to other good causes in the community by distributing some of the cash it raises through the stores to other local worthy charities and community organisations. The charity and its shops have become an integral part of community life in north Fingal and the new store marks its ever-growing presence in the region and opens up new opportunities for the charity to expand its revenue, and therefore expand the vital services it provides. As well as the advocacy service, the charity is constantly running events to support, educate and assist families affected by autism and ADHD and its work is vital for a growing number of families across the region. The Friends provide a much needed Advocacy Service for the whole of North County Dublin and surrounding areas. The charity's advocacy worker, Bernie can be contacted on 01 8495670 Monday to Thursday from 10am to 4pm for assistance or email Bernie at bernie@adhd.ie. If you wish to donate any large items or furniture to the shop, phone the Clonard Street Shop on 087 7085366. The children at Naul National School got to lean a little more about the work of the European Parliament when an Irish MEP and the vice president of that parliament, visited the Fingal school. Mairead McGuinness MEP is the vice-president of the European Parliament and recently visited the naul school to discuss the school's involvement in the 'Blue Star Programme'. The Blue Star Programme aims to foster a greater understanding of the European Union among primary school children. The project allows the schoolchildren to explore the foundation and development of the European Union, the cultural and linguistic diversity of Europe as well as how the EU works and affects the lives of European citizens. Speaking about her visit to the school, Ms McGuinness said: 'This is a very challenging period for the EU and its place in a world full of misinformation and anxiety. 'It's a period when while technology is presenting us with massive advances in healthcare it is also throwing disruptive challenges to politicians in terms of security and our ambitions for employment for all. 'The pupils at Naul National School showed a sense of understanding and curiosity about the workings of the EU and the role MEPs play on behalf of citizens,' The MEP added: 'They asked very interesting questions including many about Brexit and the implications for Ireland and the EU. We talked about the history of the EU, about peace and how the EU was founded to make sure that peace is sustained by countries working together as we do in the European Parliament. They deserve great credit for the enthusiasm with which they've approached this whole project, as does Principal, Martina Arthurs, Blue Star coordinator and teacher, Amanda Moore and all the staff of the school.' The enormously successful 'Adopt-a-Patch' scheme that helped Skerries secure the title of Ireland's Tidiest Town, has been relaunched as Skerries Tidy Towns embarks on its bid to defend the title. The Adopt-a-Patch scheme sees locals in the town take responsibility for their own little 'patch' of the town and together, the network of well looked after patches creates a tidier town. This year's scheme was recently launched with by Skerries Tidy Towns in association with Fingal County Council and Supervalu. Skerries Tidy Towns says it is looking forward to seeing the scheme progress this year and welcoming both new and existing volunteers onto the scheme who want to take charge of a piece of open space, a laneway or pedestrian area and make sure it is kept clean and litter-free. Fingal County Council supports the scheme by providing bags and collecting filled bags from convenient points around the town and the local Supervalu in Skerries acts as a depot for bags, gloves and other equipment used by the scheme's volunteers. A spokesperson for Skerries Tidy Towns thanked local volunteers and said: 'Your help has been vital to Skerries' achievements in recent years, leading up to the accolade of winning the overall prize in 2016. 'We hope to keep our high place in the National Tidy Towns competition and look forward to catching up with our loyal volunteers and welcoming some new people too.' The 2016 competition turned out to be a glorious one for Skerries and its hoped the town can maintain its high standards again, this year. A Health Service worker who claimed he had been drinking alcohol when he exposed himself to a postman making a delivery to a Swords caravan park has been sentenced to two months in prison. Romanian national Daniel Lascovici (28) asked the postman 'Have you a letter for me?' as he stood at the entrance to the caravan park with his trousers open and his penis erect. He also whistled to the postman as the An Post worker left the scene, Swords District Court heard. A Probation Report was ordered to assess if the defendant is suitable to undertake 120 hours community service work in lieu of a prison sentence. However, after the report was handed into court, it deemed him unsuitable. Judge Dermot Dempsey imposed the default order of two months in prison, and the defendant immediately lodged an appeal. Sergeant Bob Kavanagh said at 10am while the postman was delivering post to the area, Lascovici exposed his penis to the postman at the entrance to the caravan park. Later, the postman observed Lascovici standing at the gate of the caravan park with his trousers open, again exposing his penis. The postman left the scene and reported the incident to gardai. Lascovici admitted the offence to gardai and co-operated fully, the court heard. Lascovici, of Seaview Bungalow, Seatown West in Swords pleaded guilty to being intoxicated in a public place on February 10 last year at the Rathbeale Road in Swords. Defence solicitor Morgan Redmond said the 28-year-old, who is a qualified care assistant and nurse in Romania, is due to qualify in a similar field here. 'He is extremely embarrassed,' said Mr Redmond. 'He said on the day he had consumed alcohol and isn't used to drinking. The consequence of this resulted in his situation on the day. He accepts culpability and understands the affects on all concerned.' As the incident happened at 10am Judge Dermot Dempsey said he believes 'there was more than drink involved.' Mr Redmond said the defendant has offered an apology to the postman but was told by gardai it would not be required and he was warned not to approach the postman. 'It was completely out of character,' said Mr Redmond. Judge Dempsey remarked: 'A health service worker carrying on like this? How can I not consider leaving him without a conviction?' Calls have been made on the Children's Minister to outline where juveniles are to be held following her announcement that the detention of young offenders in adult prisons will no longer continue. Local senator and FF spokesperson on Justice, Children and Youth Affairs Lorraine Clifford Lee also called on Minister Katherine Zappone to publish a review of the Oberstown Children's Detention Campus in Lusk, which was ordered last year. 'An adult prison setting is not an appropriate setting for a teenager, and I am pleased that Minister Zappone is introducing a Ministerial Order to end this practice.' 'However, I have grave concerns about the number of youth detention places available in Ireland. The Oberstown facility, which is the main youth detention centre in the State, is not fit for purpose and is currently struggling to effectively operate while over capacity.' She said there had been ongoing issues at the centre for some time and staff continued to face serious challenges including violent incidents, attacks on staff and industrial relations issues, and a dangerous lack of problems resources. 'It is simply not feasible to place additional youths in the unit at this point in time. 'Minister Zappone ordered a review of operations at Oberstown last September but to date there has been no interim report or update on its progress. This is highly unsatisfactory, especially for the staff employed at the facility.' The parents of a teenager who has been absent from school for 78% of the school year have been given a month's prison sentence which has been suspended. The parents, who appeared before Balbriggan District Court, claim they have been walking the teenager to the school door and 'don't know how he hasn't been to school.' 'We have told him we'll be going to jail if he doesn't go to school but I don't think he believes us,' the father told Judge Dermot Dempsey. The court heard there has been no explanations given in regards to the teenager's absence from school. The parents said they make sure he gets up at 7am and gets dressed for school. 'We can't understand it,' the teen's mother said. 'He told his teachers he didn't like coming into school.' Solicitor Fiona D'Arcy, acting on behalf of the parents, suggested the teenager be brought to court for the judge to explain to him his parents face jail if he doesn't attend school. The teen's mother said she finds it 'very stressful as a parent' that he won't attend school. 'I don't think he fully realises the seriousness and I agree he should come before the court.' However, Judge Dermot Dempsey said he thinks the teen's parents don't realise the seriousness of the situation. 'It's up to the parents to make sure he goes to school,' said Judge Dempsey and imposed a one month's sentence on both parents. He suspended the prison sentence on condition the teen attends school from now on. 'If he doesn't attend you both are going to prison,' he warned. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the circumstances surrounding the chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 people were still not clear. The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria's al-Shayrat air base last week in response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria days earlier. The foreign ministers from Russia, Syria and Iran, meeting Friday in Moscow, said any further unilateral action by the U.S. in Syria would be met with "grave consequences" and pose a danger to the entire world. Russia, Syria and Iran have warned the United States against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international investigation into the chemical weapons attack in Syria. He criticized the world's chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, for not sending experts to the site of the attack to investigate. "We consider it unacceptable to analyze events from a distance," he said. Lavrov said the investigation should also be widened to include experts from many nations. Russia has rejected accusations from Western countries that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the attack. Russia has alleged that the victims were killed when Syrian warplanes hit a rebel chemical arsenal. The U.S. accuses Assad of deliberately launching the attack. "The use of chemical weapons as a pretext for violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state -- a member of the United Nations -- is a very dangerous activity," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. "It is essential to prevent such acts as the events in Khan Sheikhoun in [the] future." Lavrov said the U.S. missile strike on Syria was Washington seeking "excuses for regime change." He added, "These attempts will not succeed, this will not happen." Lavrov met Friday with his counterparts from Syria and Iran after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Moscow earlier this week. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday's meeting sent a "strong message" to Washington. Russia and Iran are strong allies of Assad's government and have backed the president during Syria's six-year civil war. Desperate Swords parents seeking a school place for their children this September have gone as far as petitioning the Archbishop of Dublin on the issue and are now seeking to engage the Minister for Education on the crisis. Recently, the Fingal Independent has reported extensively on a school place crisis at primary school level in Swords and the school under the most intense pressure at the centre of this crisis is Holy Family JNS in River Valley. The school's catchment area has exploded in population and it finds itself over-subscribed by more than 100 pupils, this year who cannot gain access to the school, this September. Among that number are 27 children who are in particular difficulty, born in November and December of 2012, they will be almost five-years old when the new school year begins this Autumn and face being caught in limbo, unable to gain a school place at their local school or access a further year of free early childcare education. The parents of these children, 14 of whom have siblings at the local school, and other parents on the waiting list are now ramping up their campaign to have the Department of Education and the Archdiocese patrons of the school, address the situation as a matter of urgency. The parents' spokesperson, Ashley Gill handed in a letter to the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin last week, where he pleaded for the Archbishop to intervene in the crisis. He said: 'Our children deserve to be part of the solution, not part of an annual statistic. Ignoring the issue or using worn out paper to cover over the cracks, won't make it go away, it will only return again next year. Families have had enough of this annual circus and the lack of support involved.' Separately, the parents met with Deputy Clare Daly at the weekend in River Valley. Deputy Daly has said she backs their campaign and has committed to raising the issue with the Minister for Education before Easter and with the Children's Ombudsman. Mr Gill has also met with the school principal, Mark Cunningham and said he 'respects' the school's reluctance to expand class sizes further to accommodate more children from the waiting list, a measure the school took previously when faced with a similar crisis. However, Mr Gill said that so far, the school's board of management have not met with the parents to discuss the issue and he appealed for that meeting to take place. The parents recognise that ultimately, the solution must be a new school servicing this expanding part of Swords but in the meantime, there is an immediate crisis that needs to be addressed which they say highlights 'the obvious deficiencies in the Department of Education's approach to somewhere like the capital of Fingal and its expanding population. Mr Gill said: 'They need to realise that this approach is a mockery of ensuring that a child's entry into our educational system is a seamless one.' A nation was moved by the words of the sister of lost Coast Guard Ciaran Smith who went on television last week to appeal for help in the search for her missing brother whose loss is being felt across Fingal. Orla Smith, described the continuing agonising search for her brother as a 'living nightmare for all of us, for all of my family and for Paul Ormsby's family - it is a living nightmare'. She told reporters: 'We are doing our best to keep going and to stay as strong as possible and as positive as we possibly can but it is tough, it is really, really tough. 'We need those boys home now, we really do. My parents need him home, my sister-in-law needs him home, my nieces need him home. They have to come home now, you know, we need to find them.' She appealed for fishing vessels the length of the north western coastline to aid in the search and more than 120 boats responded as the largest co-ordinated search for the missing crewmen of Rescue Helicopter 116 got underway on Saturday. Communities in Oldtown, Swords and Donabate have deep connections with the Smith family and thoughts of home were not far from the family's mind as Orla made her heart-felt appeal for help. She said: 'We have such gratitude towards everyone who had done something to help in any way at all. You can look behind me here, there are cards here from Swords where Ciaran was from and from my school, Loreto College who have sent food and sent parcels and sent prayers and thoughts and everything - it has helped my family get through this incredibly difficult time. 'That's where we are drawing our strength from at the moment, from the people who are sending prayers and thoughts and sending food and sending everything - that's where we are drawing our strength from.' Orla was referencing a package sent by Loreto College Swords to Blacksod in Mayo containing food and good wishes for those involved in the search for Ciaran Smith and Paul Ormsby. The thoughtful gesture was also acknowledged by Captain Ed Shivnen, from Dublin Search and Rescue Base R116, who took time to write to the school amid the search for his lost colleages. He wrote: 'On behalf of the Blacksod Community Centre in Mayo, we would like to thank you for the very generous food donations, they are gratefully received.' He added: 'All the volunteers and the emergency services were very touched by your kindness and your thoughtful and caring messages.' A cancer survivor from Ballycullane has urged people suffering from the illness to reach out for help to get them through the dark days of treatment. Denise Atkinson said she always wanted to do something for the Irish Cancer Society and for Daffodil Centre in Waterford because of the tremendous support she received from both organisations when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. The Daffodil Centre was launched at University Hospital Waterford in 2014. The centre, which is run by an Irish Cancer Society Cancer Information Service Nurse and more than 20 trained volunteers, is an information service on-site in the hospital where people affected by or concerned about cancer can receive information and support. Denise was diagnosed with stage four Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer that affects the blood. 'I had it in my lungs, liver, diaphragm, pelvis and I had a large tumour growing from my spine to my stomach,' she said. She started treatment in University Hospital Waterford in September 2013 with a gruelling regime of chemotherapy including spinal chemo. 'In 2013 I had a lot of trips to the doctors as my immune system started breaking down. I went to my GP in New Ross as I had never been ill before and I said something wasn't right. I got a chest infection I couldn't get rid of. Eventually I got so ill I couldn't sleep laying down and my son Tom said I needed to go to hospital.' Denise attended Wexford General Hospital and one and a half litres of fluid was found on her lungs. Tests confirmed that she had cancer. 'I thought straight away that was it but my consultant told me that it was treatable. I just tried to stay positive and I received fabulous treatment in Waterford over six months.' Describing the chemotherapy as 'dreadful', especially the metallic taste in her mouth, Denise said she arrived one morning for chemotherapy only to be told that there was no sign of any illness in her body. Thankfully after her treatment Denise went into remission and she has been cancer free for three years. Denise found great support in the Daffodil Centre in Waterford. 'During my treatment the nurses said that a positive attitude helps. I really needed someone to talk to and when I went to the Daffodil Centre I met an extraordinary nurse who gave me a lot of help and tips. It can be lonely but it does get easier. I am three years in remission now.' The family of a man who died of natural causes were highly critical at his inquest last week, of the delay in locating his home by the responding ambulance. Thirty-seven year-old Declan Jordan, collapsed at his home at 16 Berryfields, Ferns, on October 8, 2015. He was determined to have died of natural causes and a death certificated was already issued. However, after the family raised concerns, it was decided to open an inquest. Sgt Colm Matthews told the Coroner's Court that Wexford Garda Station received a call at 7.40 p.m. requesting an ambulance to go to Kildallo, Ferns. Declan Jordan had been on the phone to his employer when he collapsed. The address on file at his work was Kildallo. The area was searched by a patrol car, but they were unable to locate the house, and couldn't contact the caller. An ambulance was dispatched at 8.15 p.m. after a change in shift, but was stood down at 8.55 p.m. At 9.15 p.m. the address at Berryfields was located by gardai, but an ambulance was already at the house. Niamh Leacy from the ambulance service presented a record of the evening, and explained that after a fruitless search, they got directions at the pub in Tombrack for Declan's father's house, who then directed them to Berryfields. She recommended employers keep up-to-date records of employees' addresses, and an Eircode. She said there was no evidence to suggest that if they got there earlier, the outcome would have been different. Mr Jordan's family were angry that the ambulance drove around for half an hour without stopping at a shop or pub to seek directions. Dr Nixon told the family they were entitled to bring a complaint about the ambulance service. He said it was important for the ambulance to have the exact address, preferably a postal code, and that employers keep up to date information on employees, as Declan had only just moved to a new house. 'We don't know if he could have been saved if they got there earlier. The first ten minutes is vital,' said a family member. 'An ambulance going to a rural area wouldn't get there in ten minutes,' replied Dr Nixon. 'That's not good enough,' she replied. Ms Leacy said the opportunity is still there for the family to visit the ambulance service and go through the details. 'You have a lot of questions and we will try as best we can to try and answer them,' she said. Dr Nixon said he would make recommendations to try to improve the communication aspects of this type of situation, and recommended a verdict of death by natural causes. Sympathies were expressed to the family on their tragic loss. The community of Ferns is rallying behind a local woman who has two sons with a life threatening condition. Lynda Martin who is originally from Carnew Road in Ferns is now living in Rathnew, Co Wicklow, with husband Les and their three children, Cathal, Ciaran and Holly. Lynda is the daughter of Mylie and Mary Jordan and sister to John and Myles. Three-year-old Cathal and one-year-old Ciaran Martin both have a life threatening condition called Leukodystrophy. Lynda and Les are currently in Milan, Italy where little Ciaran is undergoing urgent lifesaving treatment. This will involve them remaining in Milan for a period of six months while Ciaran undergoes his treatment. The family recently appeared on TV3 on the AM morning show. In the interview it was outlined that the funds required would be in the region of 250,000. Mary Jordan said that they have been overwhelmed by the support they have received. 'Lynda is our youngest child. I was talking to her in Italy and she said that Ciaran is doing really well but he will be going into isolation for three months which will be very tough. 'Linda, Cathal and Holly are over there at the moment with Les and Ciaran but the children will be coming back soon with Les and Lynda will stay over there with Les' sister Aoife. People have been so good, even strangers. This whole thing is a nightmare, a bloody nightmare. 'It's so hard to see a little child suffer. You'd rather that it would be happening to you rather than them.' Lynda, who went to school in Ferns and later the FCJ in Bunclody, is well known to many in Ferns and the entire Jordan family are held in very high regard. Mary said that despite the intensive treatment Ciaran is in very good form.' He's in brilliant form all things considering. Cathal was a little bit tired after the flight over but he is in good form too.' In a bit to help raise the 250,000 needed a fundraising committee has been established in Ferns and there will be a massive fundraising concert in the Ashdown Hotel, Gorey, on Easter Sunday night. This event will be kicked off by the Deirdre Furlong School of Dance at 8.30 pm. This will be followed by the Ferns band The Heartbeats and concluded by Paddy's Disco. The committee will be selling tickets shortly costing 10. There is also a bank account being set up where people are invited to make donations directly, which will be available shortly. The finest of Wexford food produce attracted a steady stream of visitors to the first Taste of Wexford farmers' market at The Ashdown Park Hotel on Sunday. 'It went way beyond our expectations,' said a spokesperson for the hotel. 'The traders were delighted. All of them sold their average or above average normal sales. We were really pleased with it overall.' Many of the products will be sold in the hotel, and will feature on the Taste of Wexford menu in the restaurant. The stalls were set up in the courtyard of the hotel, which was a very quiet operation as the bedrooms were above. Later, once the market got going, music by 'From Venus to Mars' lifted the atmosphere as people sat in the dining area and enjoyed the day. The market will run on the second Sunday of every month until October, and the next one will be held on Sunday, May 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. An additional ten local food producers are coming on board, and children's activities such as face painting will also feature. A visually-impaired Wexford man who won a landmark High Court court action over his right to a secret ballot says it's the most significant voting case in the history of the State. Robert Sinnott, a father of two from Sigginstown, Tacumshane, a member of the Blind Legal Alliance, told the court that the State had failed to provide a method enabling those with sight difficulties to vote by secret ballot and he had to ask polling station presiding officers in order to vote. The court agreed with his contention and said the Minister should outline plans to allow people to mark ballots without assistance 'This is the most significant voting case in the history of the state and it's symbolically important for the five per cent of the population who are blind or visually impaired and we're delighted to have such a basic human right within reach at least,' Mr Sinnott told this newspaper. The National Council for the Blind said the ruling was very important. 'We've had voting in the State since its foundation, so it's in the 20s, and for that whole length of time we've had no access to equal rights for people for sight loss to vote,' said CEO of the NCBI, Chris White. 'We rely on the "trusted friend method" in Ireland, where other European countries have technology which allows people to vote in private and fully participate in the democracy which people value so much." Mr Sinnott had taken proceedings against the Minister for the Environment and the State. He was supported by the Free Legal Advice Centres. In his judgment, Mr Justice Tony O'Connor said Mr Sinnott has 'an inspiring desire to learn and to participate'. He shared Mr Sinnott's concerns about the Department of the Environment's delay over years in introducing the relevant tactile voting systems, and about the lack of information made publicly available about them. The evidence was that the cost of providing templates for referendums was estimated at about 42,000, 'quite insignificant compared to the multi-million euro budget for a referendum'. The cost would be higher in general elections. The judge shared Mr Sinnott's concerns that the Minister did not afford sufficient or reasonable recognition of the duty imposed on him by the Oireachtas and the Constitution to assure a secret ballot as soon as reasonably practicable, the Irish Times reports. He said the court could not ignore delays over years until 2016, after Mr Sinnott had taken his case, in introducing regulations allowing for the use of templates to assist visually impaired persons when voting in referendums. He said the Minister acted in 2016 on his 20-year-old power to introduce regulations allowing for use of templates in referendums. The introduction of those underscored the acceptance that tactile voting devices 'could have been made available for multiple referenda since 2009'. The judge empathised with Mr Sinnott's complaint about the lack of information emanating from the Department relating to the actual steps taken, or to be taken, to emulate the use of voting devices available in Northern Ireland. Mr Sinnott, the judge held, was entitled to a declaration the State has a duty to provide arrangements allowing visually impaired persons to vote privately and without assistance in elections and referendums, where that is reasonably practicable and economically effective. He said the court could not require the Minister to adopt any particular arrangement but could make a declaration to guide the Minister about the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 1992. He was prepared to declare that the Minister has a duty to outline - in public - details of planned studies and regulations for the provision of arrangements to facilitate visually impaired voters to mark their ballot papers without assistance, as envisaged by the 1992 Act. Mr Sinnott, who was born with severe visual impairment, expects to be unable to see at all within four years. With assistance of an educational support worker, a specially-developed computer software package and a strong visual magnifier, he is pursuing a PhD in Irish at Trinity College, having previously obtained other degrees. Mr Sinnott claimed he must ask the polling station presiding officer to complete his ballot paper, which effectively means he is being deprived of his right to a secret ballot. Mr Justice O'Connor ruled Mr Sinnott was entitled to the two declarations concerning the State's duty, but there was no need to award damages because Mr Sinnott's main grievance had been addressed. French Ambassador Jean Pierre Thebault visited Boolavogue NS to view the school's Blue Star programme on France. He is pictured with 5th and 6th class pupils, teacher and newly-crowned Wexford Rose Julie Sinnott and school principal Seamus Dempsey It was tres bien in Boolavogue National School last Wednesday as the French Ambassador to Ireland visited the school. The visit which was requested by the Ambassador, Jean Pierre Thebault, who was very impressed to hear that the students from Boolavogue NS were studying France and all things French as part of the Blue Star programme. The Blue Star programme is an education initiative for primary school students in Ireland. The idea of the programme is simple: to foster better understanding and knowledge of the European Union and how it affects the lives of Irish citizens among Irish primary pupils through classroom projects and activities. Teacher Julie Sinnott who is the newly crowned Rose of Wexford id the Blue Star coordinator at Boolavogue NS. She said that the visit by the Ambassador had fantastic. 'This year as part of the Blue Star programme we are focusing on France. The Ambassador heard this and his team were in contact with us wondering if he could come visit. It's a source of great pride at the school that he requested a visit with us. 'When he arrived all the children in the school performed poems, songs and musical pieces in Irish and French and then a number of children, two parents and the principal spoke in French to the crowd and the Ambassador. 'Ambassador Thebault then spoke to the crowd about his work as Ambassador to Ireland and what it involves. He then answered a number of questions from the children on a wide range of subjects and also dealt with connections between France and Ireland.' Every year Europe Day is celebrated and this year's event is due to take place on May 9. However as the students of Boolavogue NS will be busy preparing for communion around then they decided to celebrate it last Wednesday. As part of the celebrations the students, staff, parents and Ambassador Thebault all stood in a large circle and shook hands as the handshake for Europe. 'Afterwards we all enjoyed refreshments with a French flavour which were prepared by the parents. The Ambassador was so nice and really gave the children his full attention.' He was presented with a handcrafted clock from Wexford. A terrific week of theatre finished at St Brigid's Hall, Carnew, recently as the South Wicklow Drama Festival drew to a close. Tension was high in the auditorium as adjudicator Michael Poynor considered all nine plays seen by packed houses during the festival. A win for one of two of the groups, Bunclody Kilmyshall, and Kilrush, would have helped them secure a place in the All Ireland final. In the end, it was Bunlody Kilmyshall's night, as they also won in a festival in Newry on the same night, and went through to the finals. Festival chairman Eamon Doran paid tribute to all the groups, and said the audiences were the main winners, such was the standard of the performances. Thanks went to all who helped and supported the festival, and the accompanying art exhibition in the former service station shop next door. Preparations have already begun for Carnew's hosting of the All Ireland confined finals next year. The results were as follows: Confined: 1, Sillan Players, 'The Trappe Family'; 2, Take 5, 'The Telephone Exchange'; 3, Lislea Drama Group, 'Juno and the Paycock'. Best supporting actress, Deirdre Coulter, Lislea; best supporting actor, John Campbell, Lislea; best actress, Anne Garvey, Lislea; best actor, David Clarke, Sillan; best director, Paddy Donnelly, Sillan. Open: 1, Bunclody Kilmyshall Drama Group, 'Agnes of God'; 2, Bridge Drama, 'An Inspector Calls'; 3, Kilrush, 'Hedda Gabler.' Best supporting actress, Anne Sheridan, Kilrush; best supporting actor, Matt Furlong, Kilmuckridge; best actress, Kate Power, Bunclody Kilmyshall; best actor, Paul Tobin, Bridge Drama; best director, Kieran Tyrrell, Bunclody, Kilmyshall. Best comedy performance, Brendan Farrelly, Sillan; magic moment of theatre, the 'liar' scene, Bunclody Kilmyshall; Audience Cup, Bunclody Kilmyshall; best presentation, Bridge Drama. Adjudicator awards: Gorey Little Theatre Group, Most challenging play in the open section for 'Tribes'; Take 5 Drama Group for most challenging play in the confined section for 'The Telephone Exchange'; and Eddie O'Brien of Gorey Little Theatre Group for best lighting. Rose of Tralee, Maggie McEldowney and Rose Escort of the Year John Slowey, along with their fellow 2016 Roses and Escorts are to release a charity single in aid of Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin. John's little cousin, James McGowan (5), went through chemotherapy in Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin to treat an aggressive malignant "Ewings" sarcoma growing in his shoulder. James's first course of chemo would last over four months and in February 2016 he went through surgery which saw the removal of his shoulder blade. There was welcome news for the family in September 2016 - after Jame's had gone through another six months of chemo when CT and MRI scans showed no sign of sarcoma. To thank the team at Crumlin for their efforts John Slowey recruited all 169 of the Roses and escorts who took part in last year's festival to help him record a charity single to raise money for the hospital. That single "It's Time" is set to be officially launched in Dublin next Thursday and it will be available to download from iTunes from April 21 with pre-orders available from this Friday, April 14. Mayor of Killarney Brendan Cronin walked out of a meeting of the municipal authority moments after accusing a colleague of 'showmanship' at a previous debate, as a fractious exchange around a previous crunch debate on the town's new graveyard site became increasingly bitter. The bust-up occurred at last Wednesday's meeting of Killarney Municipal Authority in the Town Hall, sparked by Fianna Fail Councillor John Joe Culloty's request to 'discuss best practice on part 8 planning' governing the construction of public projects by local authorities. In this case, Cllr Culloty was referring to a previous meeting of the Killarney Municipality where councillors voted five to three to provide a new graveyard at a site in Knockeenduff, just outside the town. It was a vote taken after years of serious concerns - among the council and public - about the rate at which the existing cemetery in Aghadoe was approaching capacity. The council is now entering into negotiations on the compulsory purchase of the lands. Cllr Culloty said he felt 'a bit insulted' when documents were passed around the chamber during the vote meeting - handed to engineers. The Kerryman understands the documents included an engineers' report commissioned by residents which raised questions about the suitability of the site. He said that 'members giving out papers when the meeting is going on' was unacceptable, asking why they couldn't have been given out before. "The graveyard is a third of a kilometre closer to Killarney than the existing one, it's in the parish, there are no environmental issues...where this graveyard is being put is the only place suitable...it is the ideal site," Cllr Culloty said. Mayor of Killarney Brendan Cronin, chairing the meeting, concurred with Cllr Culloty: "Some of what went down at that meeting included documents being bandied about, I was thrown documents at that meeting, I understand where Cllr Culloty is coming from. That is not how we do business." He said he was not about to let the elected council discuss it again as the vote had been taken and the CPO process was in train. Culloty's Fianna Fail colleague Cllr Niall Kelleher identified himself as the councillor who had passed around the documents, saying quite emphatically: 'forgive me for having done my duty'. "Don't start shouting at me. You were doing the showman," Mayor Cronin retorted. "I did the showman? I'm very sorry if I did my job and found the documents that were publicly available." "You walked around the table and produced documents and gave them to the engineers," Cllr Culloty accused his party colleague. "You should have asked for one," Cllr Kelleher replied sharply. Cllr Donal Grady entered the fray as the Mayor threated to adjourn the meeting, accusing the Mayor of being the one to have started 'shouting'. 'You're not prepared to listen', O'Grady shouted as the Mayor walked out, adjourning the meeting. Transport Minister Shane Ross has given a virtual guarantee that the state subsidy for flights between Kerry and Dublin will continue after the current deal ends early next year. The current Public Service Obligation contract - which sees Stobart Air operate two daily return flights between Kerry Airport and Dublin under the Aer Lingus Regional banner- is due to conclude on January 31 2018. Quizzed on his plans for the two PSO routes linking Kerry and Donegal with Dublin, Minister Ross indicated that subsidies will likely remain in place on both routes when the current PSO contracts expire. Minister Ross said a review of both PSO services is required under EU law before a new contract can be put out to tender. While these reviews will examine the 'justification" for continuing the PSO contracts Minister Ross said his Department's aim is to ensure continuity of the services between Kerry and Donegal and Dublin in 2018. Minister Ross said staff at the Department of Transport hope to have the review complete by mid 2017 with the tendering process expected to get underway in the second half of the year. Minister Ross added that there are no plans to introduce PSO contracts on any other regional routes. The current PSO contract with Stobart Air on the Kerry Dublin route is worth approximately 7.6 million a year. Under the terms of the contract 80 per cent of seats on the route must be available for a total fare not exceeding 80. Fares on the remaining seats can be set at the carrier's discretion. Last year 46,340 passengers travelled on the route an increase of almost 2,000 on 2015. The number of Catholics in Kerry has plunged since 2011 with a corresponding surge in the number of atheists and non-religious in the county according to the first tranche of results from last year's census. According to the figures - which were published late last week and are likely to be a cause of concern for the church - the number of Kerry people who described themselves as Catholics fell by 4,123 to 123,514between 2011 and 2016, a drop of over three per cent. Protestant churches also saw a sharp fall in Kerry with numbers falling by 133 to 3,134 - a drop of over four per cent. This steep decline in the numbers of the main Christian congregations in Kerry is mirrored by a massive rise in the number of atheists and non religious in the county. Between 2011 and 2016 the number of people who recorded themselves as having 'no religion' surged upwards by 3,530 to 10,414, an enormous increase of just over 50 per cent. Among statisticians there is a belief that the number of non religious could actually be even higher as it is thought that many respondents likely recorded their religion as Catholic though they do not practice their religion or attend church with any regularity. The number of Muslims in the county also appears to have increased dramatically since 2011. Unfortunately - due to an historic quirk in how religions are recorded in the census - the number of Muslims is not provided on a county by county basis. This is due to the fact that the initial census' results on religious practices in each county are presented in a form that dates back to 1891 and which does not include options - like Islam - that were not seen as 'dominant' religions in Ireland at that time. Nationally there was an increase of 29 per cent in the number of Muslims and this is expected to be reflected in Kerry which has one of the largest Islamic populations outside the major cities. The final results from the 2011 Census showed there were 1,501 Muslims in Kerry with the vast majority in Tralee (833) and Killarney (492). If the 29 per cent national increase was reflected in Kerry it would equate to an increase of around 435 in the county's Muslim population. While exact figures on the Islamic population will not be available until October other 2016 census figures do provide some guidance. According to the Census the number of people living in Kerry whose first languages are Arabic, Urdu, Turkish or other dialects mainly spoken in primarily Islamic nations increased by about 20 per cent between 2011 and 2016. While many of these people may not be Muslim the figures would seem to indicate a growth in the local Muslim population broadly in line with the national trend. Meanwhile, the figures show there are 363 Presbyterians; 224 Methodists and Wesleyans and 58 Jews in Kerry. 3,998 people did not record their religion on the census form. Census casts shadow over Gaeltachtai The Irish language finds itself at a crossroads in Kerry, after the 2016 census results on Irish language released this week showed Kerry's Gaeltacht areas shed almost 500 daily speakers between 2011 and 2016. While Ireland's Gaeltacht areas combined lost over 11 per cent of their daily speakers in that time, the drop in Kerry was especially steep. The number of people who use Irish daily outside of the education system in the Kerry regions plummeted by over 18 per cent, with only Mayo's Gaeltachtai experiencing a sharper fall. Conradh na Gaeilge Membership and Education Executive Edel Ni Bhraonain, originally from Ballinskelligs, hit out at what she called the disinterest shown by the Government towards the language in recent years, but she admitted to having been taken aback at the results as a whole. "The number of daily Irish speakers across the country had been increasing for ten years, and I expected that to continue," she said. "Disappointingly, that wasn't the case [it dropped by over 3,000]." "I think the results from Kerry show we face challenges here. There hasn't been enough state backing - Udaras na Gaeltachta's Capital budget was cut by more than half between 2008 and 2015, which is a good example of what I'm talking about. "We won't have statistics for the whole county until November so we don't have the complete picture yet, but I think it's quite clear that funding and economic issues have hit the Gaeltacht communities hard. "Also, unless my personal experience is unique, I would think emigration has affected the Kerry figures. Of the 120 people that were in my class going to school, about 40 are at home right now. That has to have had an effect." Figures on Irish usage across Kerry as a whole will not be issued by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) until November, but a detailed breakdown on frequency of usage for Kerry's Gaeltachtai has been made available. The total of people who can speak Irish in Kerry's two regions - located in the Corca Dhuibhne and Iveragh peninsulas respectively - has dropped by 5 per cent to just under 6,000. There was also a 13 per cent dive in the number of people in Kerry who use Irish on a weekly basis outside of the education system, while just over 275 people in the regions say they never speak Irish, an increase of over 17 per cent. Fine Gael Councillor and Udaras na Gaeltachta board member Seamus Cosai Mac Gearailt said he was not taken aback at the negative results for Kerry's Gaeltachtai. "As someone who lives in the Gaeltacht, I can't honestly say I'm surprised. The language is always under pressure from external factors," he said "If people who don't have Irish come into the locality, the locals might switch to English. Our young people are growing up with English-language television and media all around them, so the language is under pressure all the time." He did however say that regardless of funding, it is ultimately up to people themselves to speak the language. "I think blaming the government is only kicking the can down the road. The language has been under pressure for decades, under several governments. Funding can only do so much, and, at the end of the day, it's up to people themselves to speak Irish," he said "Today's government has done a lot of good work too that we must acknowledge. They've initiated a 20-year 2010-2030 strategy that needs to be given time, and last week Udaras received funding of 735,000 for its language-planning process, which will be unfolding in Corca Dhuibhne and Uibh Rathach over the next seven years. Back in 2015 we received a wonderful language centre in Ballyferriter, and that's an example of one of many positive developments. "Now, it's time to see how the language planning process unfolds in Kerry and in other Gaeltachtai and how the national strategy develops in the years ahead." Ms Ni Bhraonain did sound some positive notes for the future also, pointing to examples from elsewhere in the country that she feels Kerry can follow, and a few of the census's more positive results. "Kerry's Irish speaking community was much smaller than other regions anyway, so I think that has made the percentages from Kerry look more severe," Ms Ni Bhraonain said. "There are a few positives there; the number of speakers in the Waterford Gaeltacht increased once again, and in my time with Conradh na Gaeilge I've seen great work being done by groups in Kerry and elsewhere who are taking responsibility for the language's future, so there's no shortage of good examples out there for us to follow. "But alongside the public's initiative in taking responsibility for Irish's future, the language needs meaningful State backing, and we need the Government to keep a door open to us. State support for the language planning process in the county's two Gaeltacht regions is important," she said. Slight increase in Travellers The number of Travellers living in Kerry has increased by exactly 100 between the 2011 and 2016 censuses. According to the preliminary results of the 2016 Census there are now 960 members of the Travelling community living in Kerry. That equates to just under seven per cent of the county's total population. Of the 960 Travellers now living in Kerry, 450 are men and 510 are women. The Traveller community in Kerry is divided among 947 households - up from 836 in 2011 - with the vast majority of Kerry Traveller households (843) living in permanent private housing located around the county. In all 67 Traveller households are living in temporary accommodation while 37 of the households did not give and answer as to their exact living arrangements. While figures for Kerry were not available national statistics show that an average of one in three Travellers is married with about four per cent of Traveller men and women either separated or divorced and about two per cent widowed. The Irish Travelling Community was officially recognised as a distinct ethnic group in the Dail on March 1 last. The first flights on the Kerry Berlin route, which was recently announced by Ryanair, will start on Thursday November 2 and seats can be booked now. The service will operate every Thursday and Saturday until March 24 2018 with incoming flights departing Berlin's Schonefeld airport at 3pm and landing in Kerry at 4.35pm. The outbound flight from Kerry will depart at 5pm, arriving in Berlin at 8.35pm. "The announcement of the new Kerry-Berlin service from November 2017 has underlined the importance of Kerry as a destination and gateway for the German tourist market and will ensure increased visitor numbers to the region," said Kerry Airport Financial Controller Basil Sheerin. "Berlin is home to 3.5 million people and a number of high tech firms in the pharmaceutical, biomedical engineering, electronics and media corporations sectors. We will work closely with all sectors in Kerry over the coming months to promote the county as a great tourist destination and a top location in which to do business," Mr Sheerin said. Local Fireman, Tom McGuinness has recently retired from the Tubbercurry Fire Brigade. Tom joined the service over 30 years ago and was always on hand over the years for various incidents. "You really have to be in the job to understand it. With all the bad calls you get, it is about helping out any bit you can and the good moments outweigh the bad" said Tom. From a young age it was a dream for Tom to join the Fire service, while working in the family bar in Tubbercurry Square on January first 1997 his dream came true. "Getting to drive as an official was as far as I wanted to get and I did so it has been a great career" he said. The Fire Service in Tubbercurry is made up of part-time officers also known as 'Retained Officers' who work other jobs but are always on call. Retained Fire fighters make up 70 percent of the Fire Service in Ireland and have to drop tools and rush to the emergency scene when the alarm is signalled. Their role is often vital in saving lives and property and sometimes under appreciated. Tom said that the relationship between the station officers and the crew are vital when working together as a lot of snap decisions are made. "We were lucky to work with a great team and our crew, well I couldn't praise them enough" said Tom. Baileys Nursing home Tubbercurry are lucky enough to have Tom as a career assistant, a whole new career that he is looking forward to learning. Well done and a big thank you to Tom McGuinness and indeed all his colleagues. Tom would like to give a special thanks to station officer Michael Henry and all the Tubbercurry crew and wish them all the best for the future. "I'd join it all over again if I had too" said Tom. We're getting older, more of us are separated or divorced, more of us have broadband and we typically live in households of 2 people in a detached house - that's the picture of Sligo taken by the Census on April 24th 2016. In the first of a series of 13 reports that are due to be published this year, it reveals Sligo's population has grown marginally by 0.2% to 65,535 since Census 2011. The population of Ireland now stands at 4,761,865, an increase of 173,613 people (3.8%) over the past five years. Our average age in Sligo rose over five years from 37.9 years in April 2011 to 39.2 years in April 2016. Nationally, the average age of the population was 37.4, up from 36.1 in April 2011. The number of men aged 65 and over increased by 22% to 296,837, while the number of women aged 65 and over increased by 16.7% to 340,730. There were 805 more women than men in Sligo at 33,170 compared to 32,365 men. There were 53,009 more women than men in the State in April 2016, giving an overall sex ratio of 97.8 men for every 100 women, a slight decline on the 2011 ratio of 98.1. More people are separating or getting divorced but no more than the rest of the country - 3,088 people were divorced/separated in Sligo, a rate of 4.7%, the same as the national rate of 4.7%. The number of divorced people in Ireland has increased to 103,895 (18%) since 2011.The number of separated people increased slightly to 118,178 (from 116,194 in 2011). Many of us are still speaking Irish, with 608 people in Sligo speaking our native tongue daily outside of school and 1,438 speaking it weekly. That's out of 25,196 people in Sligo who stated that they could speak Irish. Nationally, 1,761,420 people stated that they were able to speak Irish, with 73,803 speaking Irish daily outside of school and 111,473 doing so weekly. There are over 7% fewer members of the Traveller Community living in Sligo since 2011 - 386 Travellers resided in Sligo in April 2016. Nationally, the number of people enumerated as Irish Travellers increased by 5.1% to 30,987. More households here have access to Broadband - 16,267 homes in Sligo had broadband in April 2016, an increase of 13.7% since April 2011. 2,256 dwellings had non-broadband internet access, an increase of 14.1 %, while the number of dwellings with no internet access fell by 25.4% to 5,566. The percentage of our population who were non-Irish nationals in Sligo last April stood at 9.3 per cent. OUt of 24,831 households, the most common type was detached with an average of 2.6 residents. Consultant gynaecologist Dr Andrea Hermann (53) who was based in Sligo has been struck off the medical register by the High Court. It follows findings by an Irish Medical Council fitness to practice committee (FtPC) that she was guilty of professional misconduct and poor professional performance. The misconduct included her failure to inform Sligo General Hospital of conditions on her registration from previous misconduct findings against her. Last December, the FtPC found her guilty of poor professional performance on a number of counts relating to the treatment of new mothers at the hospital where she worked as an obstetric and gynaecology registrar. Those related to the care provided to six mothers who attended the hospital between August 2013 and February 2014. The professional misconduct related to her failure to disclose to Sligo General conditions imposed on her by the Medical Council as a result of a previous disciplinary hearing. These conditions included a requirement to undergo retraining and supervision. In 2010, she lost a High Court appeal over a Medical Council decision suspending her for a year and imposing conditions on her return to work. That had followed another inquiry in which she was found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to her treatment of three patients while working at the Galway Clinic. Those patients included the late Saundra O'Connor (39) from Claregalway, Co Galway, who developed septic shock after a procedure carried out by Dr Hermann in 2005. Ms O'Connor subsequently spent almost three years in a vegetative state before she died in February 2008. Dr Hermann was not in court and was not represented. She was represented briefly at the beginning of last year's FtPC inquiry by a solicitor who ceased to represent her after reading a statement on her behalf. She said in it: "It feels to me you are disappointed that I'm still alive." Dr Hermann admitted to the clinical allegations against her but did not admit to the allegations in relation to not disclosing the conditions attached to her registration to Sligo General. Among the findings of last year's inquiry were that she failed to perform an elective caesarean section with due skill, making an abnormal wound incision on one mother in December 2013.She failed to obtain informed consent from another patient prior to carry out a membrane sweep during an ante-natal visit. The inquiry also found she failed to display adequate surgical skill while closing up the uterus after a C-section on another patient. Following the FtPC findings, the Medical Council decided her name should be cancelled on the specialist division of the Irish Medical Register. The matter came before High Court president, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, who said that having regard to the gravity of the findings, he was satisfied the Medical Council's decision to have her name erased was correct in the interest of protecting of the public. It was like a dream come true according to Sligo jockey Derek Fox who's on top of the World this week after winning the most famous jump race, the Aintree Grand National. But his participation in the race was in doubt in the lead up. He broke his wrist and dislocated his collarbone on March 9 but he was given every chance to get fit and that faith in the 24-year-old duly paid off and he was on the receiving end of much praise following his charge to victory on the 14-1shot. He was declared fit for the race with just three days to spare. Fox told Press Association Sport: "I still can't believe it, to be honest. I'm over the moon. "I stayed in Aintree on Saturday with the owners and had a great night. "I went back home Sunday morning, but I was late enough getting up, so I missed most of the press day back in the yard. "I had a bit of a sore head and because I had to do 10st at Kelso, I couldn't even have much to eat." "I kind of had an idea going out that we'd be far enough back," added the jockey, who was out of luck from four rides on his return to action at Kelso on Monday. "He's the type of horse that warms into a race - that's just his style of running - so I was half prepared for it. "I couldn't believe how fast the first circuit went in my head. We seemed to get round so quick and then when we jumped the water we were rolling. "His jumping was second to none on the day. I was making lengths at every fence and once we started to pass one or two he was really enjoying it. "It was a bit of a surreal feeling. It felt like we were accelerating, which you couldn't believe at the end of a four-mile race. "I was starting to get excited at that stage, but you have to try and keep a level head and stay cool, which isn't as easy as it sounds. "He jumped a shade to the left at the second-last and we had a bit of a collision with Blacklion, so that was a brief scare, but it didn't slow him down and he's done it very well in the end. "I think he showed a lot of class on the day as we were worried enough whether he'd have enough pace on the drying ground." One For Arthur struggled to go the strong pace for the first mile but he finished like a train. At one stage he was 20 lengths back behind the pace-setting Rogue Angel but he steadily crept into the contest helped by some superb jumping. Fox sent One For Arthur to the front a few strides out from the last. There, another superb leap gave him just the head start he wanted over Cause of Causes, ridden by the outstanding Irish amateur jockey Jamie Codd. From there on up the two furlong run-in One For Arthur, driven out by Fox, never looked like surrendering his lead and he came home to collect the 560,000 first prize four and a half lengths ahead of Cause of Causes to become only the second ever Scottish winner of the race. The first was Rubstic in 1979. Water charges protesters from Sligo and across the State marched in Dublin on Saturday, in what has been described as the "final push" to have the charges abolished. Councillor Declan Bree told The Sligo Champion:"We are on the verge of one of the most historic decisions to be taken by an Irish Parliament since the foundation of the state. "Thanks to the sustained pressure exerted by the people through the Right2Water campaign, last years general election resulted in almost 70% of the electorate voting for parties and candidates opposed to water charges. "Last week the Oireachtas Committee on Water in its draft Final Report recommended the abolition of water charges, the end of the metering programme, refunds for all who have paid and it also provides for a referendum to keep our water resource in public ownership. "However the Fine Gael leadership is still reluctant to concede defeat and accept the will of the people. "Saturday's demonstration served as a reminder that we won the argument when over 90 anti-water charges T.D.'s were elected and when the Oireachtas Committee agreed with us. "If Fine Gael thinks it can now subvert democracy and ignore the will of the people it will do so at its peril," said Cllr Bree. "The Government has no option but to respect the democratic view of the people," he added. A soldier has been acquitted of the possession and sale or supply of 543 worth of cocaine by a jury following a direction from the trial Judge Keenan Johnson. Anthony Clarke (35) of Oaklawn, Pearse Road, Sligo pleaded not guilty to the possession of cocaine and having it for sale or supply on August 24th 2014. The not guilty verdict came on the second day of the trial following legal argument in the absence of the jury on the opening day surrounding the accused's arrest at what was called a crime checkpoint at Castlebaldwin on Sunday, August 20th 2014. When the accused's car was searched subsequently at Sligo Garda Station, seven grammes of cocaine was found concealed in the vehicle, the Circuit Court trial before a jury of seven woman and five men were told. In the jury's absence on the first of the two day trial Clarke's defence counsel, Mr Michael Bowman SC with Mr Keith O'Grady BL, instructed by Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor had argued that Gardai had not proper authority under which to set up the checkpoint and that it had been administered in an arbitrary fashion in that there was no defined protocol as a basis for stopping any vehicle and undertaking a search of it and its occupants. The trial was briefly opened by Ms Dara Foynes BL (prosecuting) with State Solicitor Mr Hugh Sheridan before Judge Johnson acceded to the defence application which he had earlier ruled upon in the jury's absence. Ms Foynes outlined how the crime checkpoint was set up on a traffic island at Castlebaldwin at 10am by Garda Eamon McDonnell and Detective Garda Lisa Sewell and Detective Garda Peter Cawley. The accused's car was stopped and Garda McDonnell became suspicious and formed the opinion the driver may be in control of illegal substances. A search took place of the car and an item was found. The defendant and the car were brought to Sligo Garda Station. A search of the accused proved negative and he was released. The car was then searched and 7gms of cocaine was found concealed which had a street value of 543. Garda McDonnell told the court he was a member of the Drugs Unit based in Sligo and was using an unmarked Garda car which had its blue lights on when the checkpoint was being operated. The Gardai were in plainclothes but were wearing clothing which identified themselves as Gardai. One of the cars which Garda McDonnell stopped was a red 1998 Leitrim registered Ford Fiesta. The driver was wearing an army uniform and Garda McDonnell spoke with him. The Garda agreed he became suspicious. At this point, the trial was halted with Judge Keenan Johnson informing the jury he was directing them to find the accused not guilty by direction. He outlined how he believed that the Gardai did not have a valid basis to stop someone at the crime checkpoint. The right by Gardai to stop and search someone had to be exercised in a careful fashion and proper protocol hadn't been used in this case, he said. Earlier, in his eight page ruling on the matter in the absence of the jury, Judge Johnson stated Ms Foynes made the point that Gardai had a common law power to stop vehicles in order to detect and prevent crime and that Garda McDonnell was using this power when he stopped the accused. She stated that Garda McDonnell had observed a smell in the car and saw that he was nervous and Det Garda Sewell had told him the accused was shuffling with his left hand in the footwell prior to being stopped and these were reasonable grounds for undertaking the search. Garda McDonnell found anabolic steroids in the accused's rucksack which was on the back seat of the car. The Judge ruled that Garda McDonnell on the basis of the smell from the car and what he was told by Garda Sewell was sufficient to give reasonable cause to carry out a search and to make a further request that the accused got to the Garda Station for a full body search and also that of the car. This did now however address the objections raised by Mr Bowman to the setting up of the checkpoint said Judge Johnson. He noted Garda McDonnell did not set up the checkpoint pursuant to the road traffic acts and his belief was that in operating the crime detection checkpoint his power to stop and search arose under Section 19 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. Under re-examination by Ms Foynes the Garda eventually averted to his inherent common law power to stop and search. "It is abundantly clear to me that in establishing this crime prevention checkpoint, Garda McDonnell operated under the misapprehension that his entitlement to stop and search arose under Section 19 of the Road Traffic Act as opposed to common law," said Judge Johnson. This was important as the act gives Gardai specific powers to stop and search for the purposes of enforcing road traffic legislation. "However, in the normal course of policing duties the rationale for the establishment of any crime checkpoint or drugs checkpoint should be clearly set out and documented. Such a system would prevent any abuse or perceived abuse of checkpoints and as such will strengthen public confidence and protect the Gardai from charges of capriciousness or arbitrariness," said Judge Johnson. He said it would appear that in the setting up of checkpoints for crime prevention no written authorisation is required from a senior office. He believed such should be the case setting out the location of the checkpoint, its duration and purpose. He stated it was arguable this was necessary in order to ensure the protection of citizen rights in respect of privacy, bodily integrity and movement. Judge Johnson said he was satisfied that Garda McDonnell set up the checkpoint for the bona fide reasons of detection and prevention of crime but MrBowman strongly contended it was operated in an arbitrary fashion in that vehicles were stopped on a random basis without any proper criteria being in place to justify the stopping of the vehicles or their occupants. Under cross examination, Garda McDonnell accepted the checkpoint was exercised in an arbitrary manner and contingent on whatever view he had when he decided to stop a person. "He (Garda) went on to say that he stopped the accused because he was intrigued by his army uniform.....On his own admission Garda McDonnell had no reason or system in place on the date which justified the stopping of the accused," said the Judge. He said he was clear the power to stop at the checkpoint was exercised in an arbitrary fashion. It therefore followed that the subsequent search of the accused and his vehicle was illegal and the results thereof were inadmissable. Judge Johnson said when the Garda set up the checkpoint he should have had a criteria set out on foot of which he would stop people. This criteria has to be justified on the basis that it is fair, reasonable and proportionate. The Garda could have determined that in order to prevent and detect crime, he was going to stop every car that travelled from Dublin that day or he could have stopped all persons under the age of 40 as these were more likely to be involved in the peddling or drugs or the perpetration of crime. He said there should be a protocol in place which authorises the setting up of checkpoints their location, purpose and duration. Judge Johnson added his comments refer exclusively to crime checkpoints and not those under the road traffic acts. Scoil Chonglais students on stage during their production ofGrease in Fatima Hall Roisin Phelan (assistant director), Karen Meehan (director), Cillian Brophy (assistant director), Orla Greaves (assistant musical director) and Saoirse OMoore (choreographer) at the production of Grease by students of Scoil Chonglais in Fatima Hall The students of Scoil Chonglais performed their version of the well-known love story between Danny and Sandy as they took to the stage over two nights for their musical production of Grease. It was the Baltinglass school's first-ever musical so the students deserve congratulations for the success of their production. During the build up to the show, students were eagerly preparing for show-time by dancing, singing and acting their socks off, constantly supported by coordinators Karen Meehan and Orla Greaves, along with sixth year students Roisin Phelan, Saoirse O'Moore and Cillian Brophy. The High School classic prove a real hit with audiences who packed out Fatima Hall over both nights. This production highlighted the abundance of talented students attending Scoil Chonglais and the quality on show was undoubtedly of the highest standard. Meanwhile, transition year students and a small number of fifth year students visited Bilbao in Spain during a weekend school tour. The students visited a number of museums and the world famous Guggenheim in the cultural city of Bilbao while also engaging in leisure activities such as bowling, swimming and shopping. They also visited the tourist resort of San Sebastian. Gerry and Jacinta Connolly with their daughter Christine and grandchildren Brogan, Alannah and Cathal The career of a popular local Garda Inspector was celebrated at his retirement function in Germaine's on Friday. Inspector Gerry Connolly retired from An Garda Siochana earlier this month and colleagues, friends and relatives gathered to wish him well. He was joined by his wife Jacinta, daughter Christine and grandchildren Alannah, Cathal and Brogan. Gerry was predeceased by his son JJ at the age of 22 in 2014, but said that he son would have been proud to be there on the night. A member of the force since 1978, Gerry was first stationed in Harcourt Terrace and Pearse Street before his promotion to Sergeant where he served in Tullow. He then spent a year in Bosnia with the UN and later returned to Tullow for a year in 2007 to the rank of Inspector before moving to Baltinglass Garda Station where he achieved almost a decade of service. Presentations were made to Gerry by Commissioner Fintan Fanning, Liam Horgan on behalf of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and also by the Garda District Committee. A native of Monaghan, Gerry is one of six out of 10 siblings who joined An Garda Siochana and the final one to retire. He thanked his colleagues and family for a wonderful evening and also the people of his home town in Tullow for their kind support over many years. A fundraising treasure hunt will be held for the Martin family of Rathnew on Easter Sunday, April 16, in Clara Vale between 1pm and 5.30pm. Both Leslie and Lynda Martin's sons, Cathal and Ciaran, have the rare condition metachromatic leukodystrophy and 250,000 needs to be raised to help with treatment one-year-old Ciaran is receiving over in Italy. An afternoon of fun and activities will take place with a treasure hunt through the picturesque Clara Vale Wood as the main event. The wood is being transformed with magical lands and creatures for this special day. Those attending will follow a glittery trail to find Dilly the Dragon. They will explore various areas in the wood such as Dilly's Den, the Land of Lollipops and Fairyland. The children from Laragh school have done an amazing job on painting props and many other volunteers have made this very special fundraising event possible. Tea, coffee and refreshments and various raffles and activities will be help back in the Old School in Clara Vale afterwards. Registration for the treasure hunt is 5 per person or 20 per family. Bag collections will take place at Tesco Wicklow from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 21 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 22. Healy's Mini-Mart have organised a coffee morning for Friday, April 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.. A 'Get Moving for the Martins' 5k run and walk fundraiser takes place at Avondale Forest Park on Sunday, May 7, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.. Convicted Arklow paedophile Michael Byrne has been released from prison after serving three years of an four-year sentence. Byrne was convicted of the sexual abuse of Cormac Walsh in April 2014 and had the final four years of the sentence suspended. He was released from Arbour Hill Prison on Friday morning. A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service outlined that all prisoners, with the exception of those serving a life sentence are statutorily entitled to 25 per cent remission on their sentence. Victim Cormac Walsh who was abused by Byrne between the ages of 11 and 15 for a period from 1975 has described the early release as 'ridiculous'. He also expressed grave concerns if his abuser was to return to live at his home in Templerainey in Arklow. 'I do not believe that he is subject to any post-release supervision and that he is free to come and go as he pleases once he has supplied an address to the Gardai. I have phoned the school in Templerainey near where his house is to inform them of his release,' Mr Walsh said. The authorities would not confirm where Byrne intends to reside now that he is released. Meanwhile, Mr Walsh said that while his abuser is now free to live his life, his 'sentence will last a lifetime'. 'My sentence goes on a lot longer than three years,' he said. Mr Walsh who runs an accountancy firm in Arklow, also confirmed that he has yet to receive the 200,000 settlement awarded to him in the High Court. It is understood that court proceedings are ongoing in this matter, and therefore Mr Walsh said he could not comment further. Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley as the comedian has said he slipped down the pecking order with wife after the arrival of their baby Comedian Patrick Kielty (L) and tv personality Cat Deeley attends the Burberry "London in Los Angeles" event at Griffith Observatory on April 16, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Buchan/Getty Images) Comedian Patrick Kielty (L) and TV personality Cat Deeley arrive at the 7th Annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic at Will Rogers State Historic Park on October 15, 2016 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images) Cat Deeley is seen with her husband Patrick Kielty and son Milo in Los Angeles. Picture: Fame Flynet Comedian Patrick Kielty (L) and tv personality Cat Deeley attend the Burberry "London in Los Angeles" event at Griffith Observatory on April 16, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Burberry) (L-R) Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley attend the Children in Need Gala Lunch at The Savoy Hotel on October 27, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images) Television personalities Patrick Kielty (L) and Cat Deeley attend the Fox Broadcasting Company, Twentieth Century Fox Television and FX celebration of their 2013 EMMY nominees at Soleto on September 22, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for FOX) LOTV personality Cat Deeley (R) and husband Patrick Kielty attend the Governors Ball during the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on September 22, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) Comedian Patrick Kielty (L) and tv personality Cat Deeley attend the Burberry "London in Los Angeles" event at Griffith Observatory on April 16, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chris Weeks/Getty Images for Burberry) Comedian Patrick Kielty has said the dog is more important than him in his household. The Irish broadcaster (46), from Dundrum, Co Down, has been married to British tv presenter Cat Deeley (40) for five years and he joked that he ranks last when it comes to the family pecking order. The couple welcomed their first child - a baby boy Milo - in January 2016. "You get married: you are number one. You have a child: you are number two. You have a dog: you are number three. So, basically, you just spend your life going down the pecking order and doing what you are told," he told Lorraine on ITV. Expand Close Cat Deeley is seen with her husband Patrick Kielty and son Milo in Los Angeles. Picture: Fame Flynet / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cat Deeley is seen with her husband Patrick Kielty and son Milo in Los Angeles. Picture: Fame Flynet "Milo, he runs the house. We call him the Fresh Prince of Bel Air because whatever he wants, he gets." Kielty said the flexibility of their work means they can spend long chunks of time on this side of the Atlantic away from their adopted home of Los Angeles, where Deeley hosts So You Think You Can Dance. Little Milo made his first trip to Ireland last year, with the proud father telling Independent.ie,: "It was great. When you land back into Dundrum, it's brilliant because you get the joy of the whole thing all over again because there's so many family meeting him for the first time. It was just brilliant." While based in LA, the jet-setting family often visit Ireland and London, both for work and for pleasure. Expand Close LOTV personality Cat Deeley (R) and husband Patrick Kielty attend the Governors Ball during the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on September 22, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp LOTV personality Cat Deeley (R) and husband Patrick Kielty attend the Governors Ball during the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on September 22, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) "Life's good in LA. It's nice. We're very very lucky now that we've got the best of both worlds because we're back and forward a lot. We just spent two and a half, three months here, we had a month before Christmas, we got to see family. "Then I was working in January and Cat was doing some stuff in February and then we were able to go back to LA. So we're really really lucky that we get the best of there and we get the best of here." Video of the Day As for what's next, he has a rather laid-back approach, saying: "If someone had said to me five years ago that I'd be living in LA, I wouldn't have believed them. If somebody says to me, 'In five years time, where will you be living?' who knows. Take it as it comes." US forces struck an Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan with 'the mother of all bombs' (AP) The number of militants killed in an attack with the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military has risen to 94, an Afghan official has said. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier. A Ministry of Defence official said on Friday that the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. "Fortunately there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack," Mr Khogyani said. The increased death toll in Nangarhar was announced as officials in southern Helmand province reported that at least 11 civilians were killed and one wounded in two roadside bomb blasts overnight. The US attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Mr Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing. The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, known as the Mother Of All Bombs, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains which Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks during fierce fighting in Nangarhar province. On Saturday, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai criticised both the Afghan and US governments for the attack. Addressing a gathering in the capital, Kabul, Mr Karzai said that allowing the USto carry out the bombing was "a national treason" and an insult to Afghanistan. Current President Ashraf Ghani's office said on Friday that there was "close co-ordination" between the US military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties. The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. America has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The US has more than 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counter-terrorism operations. In Helmand province, at least 11 civilians were killed and one injured in two roadside bomb blasts late on Friday evening, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor. "All victims of the attack were innocent civilians including women and children," he said. The 11 died in a blast in Nawa district when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Another person was wounded when a second bomb exploded in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, he said. Also on Saturday, Mr Khogyani said a district leader and three others were injured when their vehicle was targeted by a bomb. One of the wounded was Bati Kot district chief Ghalib Mujahid, he said. "The district chief and others are out of danger and are not in life-threatening condition," he said. Last November, Mr Mujahid was attacked by a sticky bomb attached to the vehicle. He was wounded and his driver was killed. AP In order to do so, he has to match the most retweeted tweet of all time An 18-year-old from Wisconsin has shared an amusing exchange with the university he hopes to go to, where he offers up retweets in exchange for a full scholarship. Thomas Schrauth slid into the University of Wisconsin-Madisons DMs at 11.30pm on Friday after finishing a shift at his part-time job. He asked: How many RTs for a full ride to your medical school? By full ride, Thomas told us he meant a full scholarship, not an automatic place: What kind of med student would that make me? he said. His current GPA is 4.0, so he has the brains to get in just not the cash to pay for it. Shockingly, the university Twitter account replied at 1am, sparking an amusing exchange which ended in them telling Thomas: If were talking numbers Match Ellens #Oscars selfie RTs and well talk. Thomas told us he couldnt stop laughing when he saw the message and duly screengrabbed the conversation and put out an appeal for those all-important retweets. Ellens selfie achieved 3.2 million making it the most retweeted ever so hes got a way to go. Hes made a fantastic start though, with 84,000 retweets in under 24 hours, including Ellen herself, and more than 92,000 at the time of writing. UW Madison is a great school and I have toured there before, so I hope if I do make the retweets, they hold up their end of the deal, Thomas said. Japan's National Security Council (NSC) has discussed measures it would take to evacuate its 57,000 citizens from South Korea. Stock photo: PA Japan's National Security Council (NSC) has discussed measures it would take to evacuate its 57,000 citizens from South Korea. The talks were held yesterday as tension continued to escalate over a possible nuclear test by North Korea and a US Navy aircraft carrier group steamed into the region. Tokyo would seek approval from Seoul to send military aircraft and warships, along with civilian transport, if it became necessary to remove its citizens, reports said. The possibility of large numbers of seaborne refugees from North Korea, among them possible spies, was also discussed by Japanese ministers. Japan's chief secretary to the cabinet Yoshihide Suga told a news conference it was always collecting and analysing information about North Korea's moves but would not discuss details. "At present, we are in close contact with the United States and South Korea and in addition to urging [the North] to refrain from provocative actions and observe relevant UN Security Council resolutions, we will take all necessary steps to protect our people's lives and assets," he said. Japan began working on plans to respond to a potential crisis on the Korean peninsula in February, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met US President Donald Trump, the Kyodo news agency said. At that time, the NSC called for preparations for a humanitarian response to any refugee crisis in the Sea of Japan along with tightened security, given the possibility that North Korean soldiers could seek to enter Japan by pretending to be refugees, Kyodo said, quoting government sources. USsoldiers prepare for a military exercise near the border between South and North Korea yesterday in Paju, South Korea. Photo: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images. The United States has drawn up plans for a pre-emptive military strike against North Korea should it become convinced the rogue state is about to carry out a nuclear test. It would be a conventional strike, potentially using Tomahawk cruise missiles, to hit North Korea's nuclear test site, launched from US forces that have been massing in the area. Kim Jong-un has vowed a "big event" today to mark the "Day of the Sun", the 105th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder, his grandfather Kim Il-sung. There was speculation that event could be North Korea's sixth underground nuclear test. The US has two Navy destroyers, capable of firing Tomahawks, nearby and one of them is only 480km from the nuclear site. US Air Force bombers based in Guam could also be used. Earlier this week an aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, was sent to the area with its strike group, which US President Donald Trump called an "armada". The US could also deploy cyber attacks. US special forces, including Navy Seals, Delta Force and Green Berets, are already in South Korea for the annual Foal Eagle military exercise. Expand Close A guide speaks to military officers visiting the birthplace of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, a day before the 105th anniversary of his birth, in Mangyongdae, just outside Pyongyang. Photo: Reuters / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A guide speaks to military officers visiting the birthplace of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, a day before the 105th anniversary of his birth, in Mangyongdae, just outside Pyongyang. Photo: Reuters Senior US defence officials have previously denied reports that Seal Team Six, which killed Osama bin Laden, was there rehearsing for a possible "decapitation strike" against Kim Jong-un. North Korea vowed a "merciless" response to any US provocation. In a statement, the North Korean People's Army said the Trump administration had "entered the path of open threat and blackmail". It said: "The closer such big targets as nuclear powered aircraft carriers come, the greater would be the effect of merciless strikes." North Korea said US military bases in South Korea, and South Korea's presidential Blue House, would be "pulverised within a few minutes". Any military strike by the US in North Korea could spark an all-out attack by the hermit state on South Korea. US officials indicated any action taken by America would have to be cleared first with its South Korean ally. Expand Close North Koreas Kim Jong-un. Photo: AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp North Koreas Kim Jong-un. Photo: AP Mike Pence, the US vice president, was due to arrive in South Korea tomorrow as part of a 10-day trip to Asia. Aides to Mr Pence said he would reinforce the US commitment to its ally. US officials said there was a "new resolve" to deal with North Korea since Mr Trump took office. They indicated that drawing up a pre-emptive strike option was intended to send a message that the new administration was going to be tougher than the last. It was the third signal to North Korea, following Mr Trump's decision to fire 59 Tomahawks at a Syrian air base and America dropping the largest conventional bomb it has ever used in combat in Afghanistan this week. Mr Trump was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and was being kept informed of developments. The Chinese and Russian foreign ministers, Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov, discussed the situation by phone yesterday, with both countries urging restraint. Mr Wang said: "Once a war really happens the result will be nothing but multiple loss. No one can become a winner." Meanwhile, the director of the CIA has warned that rogue states should "take note" of Mr Trump's forthright military decisions in Syria and Afghanistan. In his first public comments since his appointment in January, Mike Pompeo said the White House was now "prepared to engage in activities that are different from what America has been doing these past few years". He indicated that the potential development of long-range nuclear weapons in North Korea would soon have to be dealt with and warned of the growing and unacceptable threat posed by Iran. Mr Pompeo said several US governments had been trying to deal with the threat of North Korea "putting a nuclear warhead into the United States, and we're simply closer now than we have ever been at any time in North Korea's history". He also warned that Iran was "on the march" and its "transgressions" had increased dramatically since a 2015 deal was signed to halt its nuclear weapons programme. ( Daily Telegraph London) Protesters gather outside in Little Rock to voice their opposition to the executions planned by Arkansas (AP Photo/Kelly P Kissel) Arkansas' plan to execute eight men by the end of the month has fallen apart, with a judge banning the use of a lethal injection drug. And t he state's highest court blocked the execution of one of the first inmates who had been scheduled to die. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order stopping Arkansas from using its supply of vecuronium bromide after a company said it had sold the drug to the state for medical purposes, not capital punishment. He ordered a hearing for Tuesday, the day after the first execution was scheduled. Mr Griffen's order effectively halts the executions, which had dropped to six after Friday's state Supreme Court order blocking one execution, unless it is reversed or Arkansas finds a new supply of the drug. A judge had halted another execution last week. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office said she planned to file an emergency request with the state Supreme Court to overturn the order, saying Mr Griffen should not handle the case. Local media outlets had tweeted photos of Mr Griffen at a demonstration held by execution opponents outside the Governor's Mansion earlier on Friday. "As a public opponent of capital punishment, Judge Griffen should have recused himself from this case," Ms Rutledge's spokesman Judd Deere said. The order came on the day justices issued a stay for Bruce Ward, who was scheduled to be put to death on Monday night for the 1989 murder of a woman found strangled at the Little Rock convenience store where she worked. Lawyers asked for the stay after a Jefferson County judge said she did nor have the authority to halt Ward's execution. Ward's lawyers have argued he is a diagnosed schizophrenic with no rational understanding of his impending execution. "We are grateful that the Arkansas Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for Bruce Ward so that they may consider the serious questions presented about his sanity," said Scott Braden, an assistant public defender representing Ward. US District Judge Kristine Baker is also considering the inmates' arguments that such a compressed schedule could lead to undue pain and suffering. Arkansas scheduled the executions to take place before its supply of midazolam expires at the end of the month. McKesson said it had requested Arkansas return its supply of vecuronium bromide after the San Francisco-based company learned it would be used in executions. The firm said the state had assured it would return the drug and the company had even issued a refund, but it never was. Ms Baker is also considering a request from two pharmaceutical companies that their products not be used for capital punishment. Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals filed a court brief on Thursday asking the court to prohibit Arkansas from using their drugs. Arkansas, which has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of drug shortages and legal challenges, had initially planned to execute eight before the end of April, when its supply of midazolam expires. That plan, if carried out, would have marked the most inmates executed by a state in such a short period since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The timeline drew condemnation from hundreds of death penalty opponents who rallied at the Capitol waving signs including a large banner that read: "We remember the victims ... But not with more killing." The rally was attended by actor Johnny Depp and by Damien Echols, who spent nearly 18 years on Arkansas' death row. He and two other men, known as the West Memphis Three, were freed in 2011 in a plea deal in which they maintained their innocence. Mr Echols, who now lives in New York, said: "I didn't want to come back, but when I heard about the conveyor belt of death that the politicians were trying to set in motion, I guess I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't come back and try to do something." AP The "entire staff" of a major Russian newspaper are at risk of reprisals after it disclosed the alleged abuse and killing of gay men in Chechnya. 'Novaya Gazeta', which has won plaudits for its independence from the Kremlin, warned that "religious fanatics" were being encouraged to "massacre journalists". Earlier this month, the paper reported that police in the Russian republic have rounded up more than 100 men suspected of homosexuality, leaving at least three dead. The newspaper's website briefly crashed on Thursday night, shortly after editors published a statement detailing the threat the paper faced, leading journalists to suspect it had fallen victim to a cyber attack. According to the statement, 15,000 people attended a meeting in the Chechen capital, Grozny, adopting a resolution vowing "retribution" against the "true instigators" of the story. The paper claimed that Adam Shakhidov, an adviser to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen ruler, accused its staff of libel at the meeting and described them as "enemies of our faith and our homeland". Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] More than 20 people from disruptive stag parties were removed from a plane in Manchester, delaying the flight by more than two hours. Police had to attend the Jet2 flight to Prague after calls for help from cabin crew. The plane, due to take off at 3.15pm yesterday, was forced to return to its parking stand and did not take off until 5.57pm. The typical flight time to Prague from Manchester is around three hours. In total, 23 passengers were removed by police and three were issued with public order offences, according to The i. Lauren Sian, who tweeted a picture of the unruly suspects being escorted from the flight, said they had been "damaging property, swearing and being disruptive" before staff intervened and police were called. Another passenger, Dave Illingworth, tweeted: "Stuck on the tarmac at Manchester airport as some idiot stags and their luggage are removed. Don't envy the Jet2 staff at times like this." A Jet2 spokesman said: "Flight LS887 from Manchester to Prague had to return to the parking stand today after our crew called for police assistance. "Police attended the aircraft to support the removal of some customers one of whom has subsequently been arrested and two others have been issued with public order offences. "We would like to thank Greater Manchester Police for their assistance this afternoon and will be fully supporting the investigation and where required will prosecute if that is deemed necessary. "We apologise to all other customers for the inconvenience that this has caused at the start of their Bank Holiday weekend, however as a family friendly airline we will not let the behaviour of a disruptive few spoil the flight for everyone else." Pope Francis lies as he prays during the Celebration of the Lords Passion in St Peters Basilica in Rome yesterday. Photo: Reuters Pope Francis prostrated himself in prayer during a solemn Good Friday service in St Peter's Basilica yesterday. The 80-year-old pope lay for several minutes before the central altar. He wore crimson-coloured vestments for the day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus. Several times during the service, Pope Francis bowed his head in silent reflection. Papal preacher the Reverend Raniero Cantalamessa told the faithful they were recalling the "violent death" of Jesus 2,000 years ago. He said they marked it, even when most days bring news of violent deaths, because his crucifixion "changed forever the very face of death". Rev Cantalamessa said the cross was the definitive "'No' of God to violence, injustice, hate, lies". Pope Francis was due to give his own homily last night at the traditional Way of the Cross procession in the ancient Colosseum in Rome. On Thursday, he washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a maximum security prison. During the pre-Easter ritual meant to show his willingness to serve society's most marginal, Pope Francis urged the prisoners to help one another and similarly "be the servant of others". Pope Francis travelled to the Paliano detention centre, south of Rome, to celebrate Maundy Thursday Mass at the only Italian prison dedicated to housing Mafia turncoats. These "collaborators of justice" can reduce their sentences by co-operating with anti-Mafia prosecutors. Many of the inmates are serving lengthy terms: Two of the 12 inmates who participated in the foot-washing ceremony are serving life terms. The remaining 10 are due to be released between 2019 and 2073. Pope Francis also visited two other inmates currently in solitary confinement. In his homily, Pope Francis reminded the inmates that his gesture of washing their feet re-enacted the gesture of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples before he was crucified, essentially doing the work of a slave out of love. "If you can do something, a service for your companions in prison, do it," he urged. "This is love. This is like washing feet: to be the servant of others." The world's oldest person, Emma Morano, has died at her home in northern Italy aged 117, her doctor said. Ms Morano is also believed to have been the last surviving person born in the 1800s. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Emma Morano, 117 years old, blows candles on the day of her birthday in Verbania, Italy (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) Emma Morano sits in her home on the day of her 117th birthday in Verbania, Italy (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emma Morano, 117 years old, blows candles on the day of her birthday in Verbania, Italy (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) Dr Carlo Bava told The Associated Press that Ms Morano's carer had called him to say she had died on Saturday while sitting in an armchair at her home in Verbania, a town on Italy's Lake Maggiore. Dr Bava said he had last seen his patient on Friday when "she thanked me and held my hand", as she did every time he called on her. While she had been spending more time sleeping and less time speaking in recent weeks, she had eaten her daily raw egg and biscuits that day, he said. Dr Bava also lives in Verbania and had been her doctor for nearly a quarter of a century. Ms Morano, born on November 29 1899, had been living in a one-room apartment, where she was kept company by her carer and two elderly nieces. "She didn't suffer. I'm happy she didn't suffer but passed away that way, tranquilly," Dr Bava said. He said she had been her usual chatterbox self until a few weeks ago. "She was slowly fading away," he said. Dr Bava has previously said that Ms Morano lost a son to cot death when he was six months old and left her husband in the first half of the last century after he beat her. She "abandoned the husband in the fascist era, when women were supposed to be very submissive", Dr Bava said in a 2015 interview. "She was always very decisive." She went on to support herself by working in a factory making jute bags, then at a hotel, working way beyond the usual retirement age. She also defied health advice, Dr Bava said on Saturday. Some doctors had warned her against eating three eggs daily, which she did for years, but she ignored their advice. A woman in Jamaica, Violet Brown, who was born on the Caribbean island on March 10 1900, is now considered the oldest known person in the world, according to a list kept by the Gerontology Research Group. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness tweeted his congratulations to her. Yes and No campaigners addressed flag-waving supporters in Istanbul and Ankara on Saturday, the last day before Turkey's crucial referendum on whether to expand the president's power. At stake is the future of Turkey's political system, with supporters saying the constitutional changes will herald a period of stability and prosperity, and detractors warning the reforms could lead to an autocratic one-man rule by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Opinion polls indicate a tight race, and fierce campaigning took place Saturday right up to a 6pm ban. Mr Erdogan has long championed the idea of changing Turkey's system of government from parliamentary to presidential. He is calling on his countrymen to vote Sunday to approve 18 constitutional changes that would, among other things, abolish the office of the prime minister, handing all executive power to the president. "The new constitution will bring stability and trust that is needed for our county to develop and grow," Mr Erdogan told supporters on Saturday in Istanbul's Tuzla district. He also appealed to voters of other parties to approve the changes so "Turkey can leap into the future". "Is it a 'yes' for one nation? Is it a 'yes' for one flag? Is it a 'yes' for one homeland? Is it a 'yes' for one state? Yes, yes, yes," he said. Mr Erdogan said the proposed reforms could help counter a series of threats, including a failed military coup last year and a string of deadly bombings, some attributed to the Islamic State group. Fighting also resumed in 2015 between security forces and Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country. But critics argue that Mr Erdogan, who has been at the helm of Turkish government as prime minister or president since 2003, will simply cement his hold on power with even fewer checks and balances if the Yes side wins. "Turkey is at a junction. Do we want a democratic parliamentary system or do we want a one-man regime?" Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party, asked supporters in the capital, Ankara. In Istanbul on Saturday, thousands of No supporters waving Turkish flags marched along the Bosphorus. The opposition has complained of a lopsided campaign, with Mr Erdogan using the full resources of the state and the governing party to dominate the airwaves and blanket the country with Yes campaign posters. No campaigners say they have recorded more than 100 incidents of intimidation, beatings and arbitrary detentions. The referendum comes as Turkey is still under a state of emergency declared after the failed coup. Some 100,000 people, including judges, lawyers, teachers, journalists and police, have been dismissed from their jobs. More than 40,000 people, including opposition pro-Kurdish legislators, have been arrested. Hundreds of news outlets and non-governmental organisations have been shut down. On Saturday, Turkey's official Anadolu news agency said 49 people, including 41 foreigners, were detained on suspicion of planning attacks during the vote. AP Young British tourist Hannah Bladon who was stabbed to death in Jerusalem on Good Friday. Photo: FCO/PA Wire The family of British student Hannah Bladon, who was stabbed to death in Jerusalem on Good Friday, said they are "devastated" by the "senseless and tragic attack". They said the 20-year-old had been taking part in an archaeological dig that morning and described her as a "talented musician" and "enthusiastic rugby player". She was attacked while travelling on a light rail train near the Old City, which was packed as Christians marked Good Friday and Jews celebrated Passover. In a statement issued through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office they said: "Hannah was the most caring, sensitive and compassionate daughter you could ever wish for." Ms Bladon, a student at the University of Birmingham, had been on an exchange programme with the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since January. She was attacked by a Palestinian man who pulled a knife from his bag and repeatedly stabbed her as the tram neared Jerusalem's City Hall. Her family said she was a "talented student" and that she had been "taking part in an archaeological dig that morning". "Hannah was a talented musician, part of a serving team at her local church and a member of her local archaeological group," the family statement added. "She was an enthusiastic rugby player and a keen Derby County supporter. "She was driven and passionate and her death leaves so much promise unfulfilled. "Our family are devastated by this senseless and tragic attack." Paramedics treated Ms Bladon at the scene and rushed her to hospital, but she later died. A pregnant woman and a 50-year-old man were also injured when the tram came to a sudden stop and in the aftermath of the attack. Police detained a 57-year-old man at the scene, and Israeli Police Superintendent Micky Rosenfeld said the attack was carried out by an "Arab terrorist" from Rasel Amud, in east Jerusalem. Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet said the attacker had a history of mental illness, that he recently tried to commit suicide in hospital by swallowing a razor blade and that he was convicted of sexually abusing his daughter in 2011. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said he was "filled with sadness" and that his country's "thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim". He said: "This week thousands have come through the ancient gates of Jerusalem, to celebrate the feasts of Passover and Easter throughout the city - while the security forces work to ensure the safety of the dear residents and visitors to the city. "And so we will continue to do. Terror can never overcome us. Terror will never destroy our lives here." Police officers stand in front of Dortmund's damaged team bus after explosions which injured two people (AP) German investigators are examining a third possible claim of responsibility for the attack on Borussia Dortmund's team bus - this one containing far-right rhetoric. Berlin's Tagesspiegel daily reported that it received an email on Thursday evening in which the anonymous author mentions Adolf Hitler, rails against "multiculturalism" and says the Dortmund attack was a "final warning". Federal prosecutors confirmed that they received the mail from the newspaper. Three explosions shattered a window on Dortmund's bus on Tuesday ahead of the team's Champions League match against Monaco. One of Dortmund's players, the defender Marc Bartra, and a police officer were wounded. Three copies of a note containing Islamic extremist rhetoric were found at the scene, but officials have raised the possibility it might be a red herring. Prosecutors have questioned the credibility of another claim posted online, suggesting a left-wing extremist motive. Former Mormon bishop Keith Vallejo was described by a judge as an extraordinarily good man, as he he sentenced him to up to life in prison (Utah County Sheriff's Office/AP) A Utah judge is facing a deluge of complaints after calling a former Mormon bishop convicted of rape an "extraordinarily good man" who did something wrong. The criticism began last month when Judge Thomas Low let Keith Vallejo out of custody after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. But she said most of the roughly 40 emails, six voicemails and some Facebook messages came after Judge Low sentenced Vallejo to up to life in prison on Wednesday and seemed to get emotional during the hearing. "The court has no doubt that Mr Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man," he said during the sentencing. "But great men sometimes do bad things." Julia Kirby, 23, one of Vallejo's victims, said she was shocked by the judge's sympathy. "That judge didn't care about me," she said on Friday. "He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable." She agreed to have her name published to show the judge that she will not let him get away with these comments. Ms Kirby said she was 19 when Vallejo, a relative, groped her multiple times when she stayed at his house while attending Brigham Young University in 2013. Judge Low's comments sparked outrage from advocates for sexual assault victims. "The signal that it sends to sexual violence survivors is that if you choose to disclose, that we're still going to treat your perpetrator as if they're a good person," said Turner Bitton, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Ryan McBride, the prosecutor on the case, said Judge Low's comments were inappropriate and that they may have come in response to more than 50 character letters about Vallejo, most of them detailing the good things he has done. The defendant's brother spoke at the hearing and compared Vallejo to Jesus in making the argument that he was wrongly convicted, Mr McBride said. "I don't think it's wrong to acknowledge the good things that someone has done in their lives," the prosecutor said. "But I think whenever you do that in a case like this, you've also got to say, 'But it doesn't excuse what you've done'. " Jude Low declined to comment. "I maintain my innocence," Vallejo said during the hearing after a brief comment on how the justice system bullies people into confessing. The abuse occurred in Provo, a Mormon stronghold that is home to Brigham Young University. Judge Low attended the school, where almost all students are Mormon, but it is not clear whether he is a member of the faith. There was no indication that the judge had any prior relationship with Vallejo, Mr McBride said. Judge Low would have to disclose something like that, he said. In the faith, bishops are regular church members who lead their congregations for four to five years. The position is unpaid and part of the religion's lay clergy structure that makes it different from many other religions. AP The UN said four countries including Nigeria are facing a humanitarian crisis Food aid will be cut for more than a million Nigerians affected by Boko Haram's insurgency if promised funding from the international community does not arrive, according to a United Nations official. Peter Lundberg, the deputy UN humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, wrote in the French newspaper Le Monde that just 15% of the UN aid appeal for one of the world's worst humanitarian crises has been received. Over the next six months, 242 million dollars (193 million) is needed to help 1.8 million people, he said. "Without sufficient financing, the World Food Program (WFP) will have to reduce its vital support," he wrote. Half a million children in north-east Nigeria are suffering from severe malnutrition, Mr Lundberg warned. "Without treatment, one in five will die." WFP's Nigeria office did not respond to a request for more details on what aid would be cut and when. Nigeria is part of what the UN has called the largest humanitarian crisis since the world body was founded in 1945, with more than 20 million people in four countries facing possible famine. The other nations are South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Mr Lundberg said the UN has appealed for one billion dollars (780 million) in aid this year for Nigeria, where an estimated 4.7 million people in the north-east are in urgent need of food aid. Nigeria's military has been fighting to win back areas that have been under the control of the Boko Haram extremist group. The Islamic insurgency in the vast north-east has disrupted both markets and farming, creating the hunger crisis. Afghan commandos in Pandola village near the site of a US bombing in the Achin district of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Photo: PA It had been untouched for 14 years, but when the "Mother Of All Bombs" made its world debut in a remote corner of Afghanistan on Thursday night, its nickname proved more than mere hyperbole. Shah Wali, a 46-year-old Pakistani, was asleep when the American plane dropped its giant payload. Even though he was 16km away across the border, in the Pakistani village of Goor Gari, he immediately woke. "It was an earsplitting blast," he said. "I jumped from my bed." A few kilometres away, Mufti Khan was getting ready for the weekend in the Afghan village of Achin when he heard the bang. "The whole house was shaking," he said. "When I came out of my house I saw a large fire and the whole area was burning." Yesterday, the scale of the devastation unleashed by the explosion was becoming clear. Footage released by the American military showed crosshairs hovering over a spot at the foot of a mountain range before a deceptively small-looking object hurtled to the ground. Smashing into the earth, it threw up a thick cloud of smoke as rubble flew threw the air. Local officials corroborated American claims that the strike did not injure any civilians, who had been warned to leave the area. The same could not be said for the Isil militants hiding out in a complex of caves and tunnels who were the target of the strike. At least 36 of them were killed, according to Afghanistan's defence ministry, although soldiers on the ground said the final toll could be as high as 82. As many as 100 militants are thought to have been in the area at the time. One Afghan soldier who was sent to the scene of the explosion yesterday said he had come across the bodies of two suspected Isil soldiers who were mutilated beyond recognition. "Their faces were black, unrecognisable," said the 20-year-old, who declined to give his name. The 21,600lb (9,800kg) bomb fell at 7.32pm near the small village of Asadkhel, which is nestled among verdant mountains at the end of an unpaved road a two-hour drive from the provincial capital, Jalalabad. Yesterday, Afghan security officials kept the public, as well as reporters, about 10km back from the village, which was obscured by hills. Esmael Shinwari, the district governor, said the bombing was a joyous occasion for his people, "who have been suffering under the brutality of [Isil] for too long now". Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Kolkata, Apr 15 (IBNS): Lal Dighi, or the heritage water body in the heart of Kolkata's business district, will be the venue of a cultural and food festival on Saturday as part of the Bengali New Year celebration, according to media reports. On Saturday, Bengalis all over the world are celebrating the the first day of their New Year. According to some, this was the day when Emperor Akbar introduced a new calendar for collection of agricultural tax. Along the rural belt of Bengal, farming families observe various rituals, including worshipping the cow, on the first day of the year while in urban areas, most shops and establishments inaugurate their new book of accounts. Wearing new clothes and feasting are two of the biggest attractions of this day. The New Year is the time when most restaurants in and around Kolkata craft special menus highlighting typical Bengali food. On Saturday morning, a carnival-style procession called Mongol Shobhyatra was taken out in downtown Kolkata where Bengal's folk crafts and song were the main attractions. Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) has organised a series of cultural programmes in the Eco Park in the eastern part of the city and a special programme on Bengali cinema at the Nazrul Tirtha in Rajarhat. Neighbouring Bangladesh observed its New Year on Friday. New Delhi, Apr 15 (IBNS) : Amid fresh tension in bilateral relationship over former navy officer Kulbhushan Jhadav's death sentence, India launched a diplomatic onslaught by cancelling the maritime talks with Pakistan, which was scheduled to be held in early next week, reports said. A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi during April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. According to reports, the Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegation's visit. The development comes in the wake of the death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan Jhadav in Pakistan on the charge of spying. Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan, Pakistan, over charges of terrorism and spying for India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). Describing the sentence awarded to Jhadav as a 'premeditated murder', External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had told Parliament that it will have a serious impact on the India-Pakistan relationship. "I would caution the Pakistan government to consider the consequences for our bilateral relationship if they proceed on this matter," Swaraj had said while speaking in the Rajya Sabha. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Kulbhushan Jadhav. This is an act of premeditated murder, Swaraj had said while vowing to go all out to save the former navy officer. Kabul, Apr 14 (IBNS): Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzaia on Friday condemned the US move to drop non-nuclear bomb in the nation. "I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear #bomb, on Afghanistan by US," the former President tweeted. He said :"Military. This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous." The ex-President said: "weapons. It is upon us,Afghans, to stop the #USA." Thirty-six suspected Islamic State militants were killed in Afghanistan after the US dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat, The Guardian quoted the Afghan defence ministry as saying on Friday. The US on Thursday for the first time used what the military calls the mother of all bombs, the GBU-43/B to target IS militants hiding in a maze of caves in Afghantistan's hilly terrains. Designed for destroying underground targets but not itself a deep-earth penetrator weapon, the GBU-43/B has the explosive yield of more than 11 tons of TNT, The Guardian said. The massive bomb is dropped from air force planes and detonates before reaching the ground, resulting in an enormous air blast over a huge radius. Army Gen John W Nicholson, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement that the GBU-43/B was the right munition to use against the Islamic State in Khorosan, or Isis-K. As Isis-Ks losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense. This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against Isis-K, Nicholson said. Image: Hamid Karzai Twitter 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 Cabin crew is not paid to just smile at you and bring you meals. Apart from pouring your drinks, the flight attendants have a bigger role to play than you can imagine. They are literally the most important safety feature inside an aircraft. They are trained in strict protocols because when the crisis comes, they are ready to save your life from accidents, illness, or acts of terrorism. Following are the inspirational stories of these real-life heroes: 1. The one with the baby Aboard a Turkish Airlines plane, flight attendants promptly responded to a distress call where a 28-week pregnant woman started experiencing contractions. As soon as she went into labour, the cabin crew rushed to her aid and helped deliver her baby girl mid-flight. turkish airlines The extraordinary birth took place at a height of 40,000 feet in the air and it's remarkable how with their efforts, the cabin crew assisted a mother and her newborn child on the journey. 2. The one with the teenage girl In 2017, heroic flight attendant, Shelia Fedrick saved a teenage girl from a human trafficker by leaving the girl a note in the plane's bathroom. facebook Fedrick succeeded in saving an innocent life when the girl wrote back on the note saying she needed help. Fedrick knew something didn't add up the moment she saw the girl with her travelling companion, a man whose defensive behaviour sent red flags flying for the stewardess. After Fedrick's incredible plan to leave a note in the washroom worked, the man was arrested at the airport and the girl was saved from a life of misery. 3. The one with the arsonist Flight attendants are always quick to respond to their surroundings. The responsiveness of one such cabin crew was precisely what saved the lives of passengers aboard the Etihad flight 460 after an arsonist set off five lavatory fires. getty images The arsonist's antics led to the emergency landing of the plane but not before the smoke alarms rang prompting the cabin crew to stand guard outside the washrooms and monitor passenger access. 4. The one with the heart attack patient Aboard a plane that was flying 37,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, Karen Cornelius was saving a life. forbes In 2013, Cornelius rushed to the rescue of Stephen Clarke who was experiencing chest pains during a flight from Chicago to Manchester. She immediately contacted doctors in Arizona via MedLink (a satellite link that connects cabin crew to on-ground doctors) and followed their advice word-to-word which helped her perform an ECG on the patient. With her determination and focus, Cornelius kept the victim out of harm's way till the plane landed, after which he was taken to a hospital. Cornelius was later awarded for her remarkable service. 5. The one with the crash victims When in 2013, the Asiana Airlines' Boeing 777 flight crash-landed and caught fire on its final approach into the San Francisco International Airport, three flight attendants were thrown on the runway from the aircraft's tail section while the rest risked their lives to rescue the passengers. wikipedia They freed the passengers by cutting off their seat belts with knives. Among them was flight attendant Lee Yoon Hye who carried out the passengers from the burning plane on her back. 6. The one with the hijackers Cabin crew members, Santizo Arriola and Nicole Foren, became national heroes after they saved the lives of all 159 passengers aboard the CanJet Flight 918 that was hijacked in 2009. US Air Force Their presence of mind and bravery led to the release of all their passengers after Arriola convinced the hijackers to keep the crew and a security contractor as hostages. After the police arrived and marched into aircraft, Foren bravely seized the gun from the hijacker that he was holding to her head. 7. The one with the crash victims (part II) In 2009, the US Airways flight 1549 was ditched by the pilot after both its engines lost thrust. Ditching is a term used for crash-landing of an aircraft into the water for which it is not specifically designed. The aircraft flew down to the Hudson River at a survivable sink rate. After the crash, the flight attendants moved quickly to save the passengers. reuters Attendant Doreen Walsh became everyone's saviour after she began evacuating the passengers. Walsh remained so focused at rescuing the passengers that she didn't notice a large wound on her leg until she managed to escape herself. So, next time, before you argue with your flight attendant over an upgrade or a cup of water, remember that they are capable of doing much more and respect them for that. Kangana Ranaut stirred the nepotism debate, thanks to her Koffee With Karan stint. While many came out and spoke about the whole nepotism debate, Kangana has always put forth her unabashed and unapologetic views forward. If you look back and trace Kangana's Bollywood journey, she has indeed made it big without any Bollywood godfather. From Gangster to Rangoon, Kangana's career graph boasts of stellar performances and some hits and misses. However, on the personal front, she has always been the center of several controversies. Pinterest In a recent interview with PTI, Kangana Ranaut revealed how she was constantly judged in the initial days of her Bollywood Journey. Considering that she came from a small town in Himachal, people were brutal and always judged her for the way she dressed up. In a candid interview, she revealed that she took the criticism in her stride and gradually overcame it by grooming herself. She said that a lot depends on how one is launched in the industry, which determines how their journey shapes. A PTI report quoted the Queen actress saying, A post shared by Kangana Ranaut (@kanganaranaut) on Mar 10, 2017 at 7:06am PST "When I started out, in the beginning, I was judged for my fashion sense. I was from the mountains, so I dressed differently. If you are not launched in a certain manner, if you are not groomed in a certain way, then your journey is a bit different from others." Stretching further at the whole concept of being presentable, which is one of the most important aspects of the film industry, she said that she had to educate herself with regards to fashion. She added, A post shared by Kangana Ranaut (@kanganaranaut) on Feb 21, 2017 at 8:26am PST "Initially, I did feel like I was a bit off. I myself felt that. But then you educate yourself. Grooming is an important aspect so you see people around. In the film business, how you present yourself, express yourself is one of the most important aspects. Being an actor, you not only have to do research about the characters but people, the body language. There is a lot of study which goes into it and ultimately you find your space. I did the same." She concluded the chat saying that she is not a very fashion conscious person but she surely likes to be well-dressed. She added, A post shared by Kangana Ranaut (@kanganaranaut) on Jan 8, 2017 at 3:08am PST "There are days when you are just not into it and then there are days when it is your priority. I want to present the best version of myself but I am not at all fashion conscious. I just love expressing myself through my dressing sense. If it makes a strong point, then great, if it doesn't then I don't fuss over it." The government is planning to recruit IPS officers, personnel of the Army, paramilitary forces and state police who have retired from service for raising an exclusive Ganga Volunteer Force. bccl/representational image Tasked with assisting local authorities to implement ongoing Ganga rejuvenation programmes and enforce relevant laws, it is expected to prevent wanton pollution and desecration of the holy river. Also Read: Ganga Ghats Are Getting Cleaner But Water Is Still Very Polluted! The proposed central force will police the entire stretch of the Ganga (2,525km) in five states Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal which are on the main stem of the river. bccl/representational image "The justice (retired) Girdhar Malviya committee has suggested setting up such a force under central government and made provisions for its recruitment, tenure, powers and composition in the proposed draft law on Ganga. The government is favourably inclined to set up the force," said a senior official of the Union water resources ministry. He said, "We will soon start the process of consulting the states for setting up this force which will draw its functional powers from the proposed law on the river Ganga". Also Read: As 2018 Deadline Is Likely To Be Missed, Now Govt Gives Rs 1050 Crore To Private Companies For Cleaning Ganga Justice (retired) Malviya had submitted the proposed draft law, National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Bill, 2017, to the Union water resources and Ganga rejuvenation minister Uma Bharti on Wednesday. bccl/representational image The draft legislation fixes a five-year term for members of the force which will be headed in a district or group of contiguous districts (zone along the river) by a serving magistrate-level officers at zonal directorate. The magistrate-level officer will be on deputation to the GVF from the respective states. Also Read: Rivers Ganga And Yamuna Are Now Living Entities With Legal Rights, Here's What It Means According to the proposal, every zonal directorate will be assigned a team of the force with adequate number as deemed fit by the National River Ganga Basin Management Corporation a new proposed body with its head office in Delhi which will be the custodian of the river Ganga for its "protection, management and rejuvenation". bccl/representational image Once the corporation is set up, the existing National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) will be dissolved. At present, the NMCG is the key implementing agency of the entire Ganga rejuvenation programme of the Centre under 'Namami Gange'. Also Read: After Crores Spent In Three Years, Ganga Is Still So Dirty That PM Modi Himself Takes Charge To Clean It The corporation will be headed by a director general of the rank of additional secretary and above. The DG, having a tenure of five years, will be appointed by the central government under the new proposed architecture. Now, this is a piece of news for Snapchat users in India. Snapchat CEO, Evan Spiegel, feels that you are too poor to use his "rich people's app". According to a report by Variety, Spiegel allegedly made the comment during a meeting to discuss the growth of the apps user base in 2015. TechCrunch When an employee raised concern about the apps slow growth in a market like India, which has a growing mobile penetration, Spiegel cut the employee mid-sentence reportedly saying, This app is only for rich people." Variety quoted the employees revelation about Spiegel's reply: I dont want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain. According to unverified reports, Snapchat had close to 4 million users in India last year. While though the exact user base is not available, this number is expected to have grown since then. TL G1: Uninstall Snapchat G2: Insulted India DM G2: Sach me? Itne followers wapas nahi aayenge G1: Ruk abhi wo sorry bol dega fir sab thik Akash Shah (@PhoenixPhantoms) April 15, 2017 Dear @evanspiegel India is not poor, but your mentality is. Wish you speedy recovery get well soon @Snapchat #BoycottSnapchat pic.twitter.com/4hxr4CV6xo Sir Bumraaah! (@Ibleed_sarcasm) April 15, 2017 So Acc to Snapchat CEO My India is a Poor Country. Now Mr Evan Spiegel You will turn into Millionaire from Billionaire #uninstallsnapchat Anmol Katiyar (@Anmol_77) April 15, 2017 Okay I'm offended by 'India is a poor country!' by Snapchat's CEO. Now I'll take pictures from Snapchat & upload on my Instagram story. Reva (@BrushUrTeeth_03) April 15, 2017 *Snapchat's CEO calls India a poor country* Indians: "HOW DARE HE! we are so rich in our culture of misogyny,xenophobia & intolerance" Soutrik (@SoutrikDebnath) April 15, 2017 Following the controversy and massive outrage online Snapchat said employe who made the claim, Anthony Pompliano was "fired for poor performance," three weeks ago and has been involved in in a lawsuit with the company. "This is ridiculous. Obviously Snapchat is for everyone! It's available worldwide to download for free," an international spokesperson of Snap said in a statement. "Those words were written by a disgruntled former employee. We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world," the statement added. The Pakistan government discovered the verdict on Kulbhushan Jadhav at the same time Indians did - at 2 pm on April 10. With foreign minister Sushma Swaraj ratcheting up the diplomatic rhetoric, ties with Pakistan just went down several notches. bccl The progress of the secret military trial against Jadhav was obviously kept out of view of even the civilian government. It was only a statement read out by Sartaj Aziz, Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif's adviser on foreign affairs, that gave any details at all. It was also clear that Aziz was merely the messenger being used by the army. Also Read: Pakistan Should Release Kulbhushan Jadhav, Says India After Islamabad Failed To Prove That He Was A Spy Diplomatic ties between the neighbours have dipped significantly since Pakistan snubbed India on the Pathankot attack. A summer of violence in J&K, sponsored by Pakistan, followed by the Uri attack and then the surgical strikes took ties even lower. reuters With a new army chief in place in Rawalpindi, India believed things might get easier. In recent weeks, prisoners have been exchanged and it looked like a new operating balance could be achieved. Then, things went south again when ISI operatives abducted two elderly clerics of Delhi's Nizamuddin dargah, who were only released after a lot of noise by India. The Jadhav verdict came out of the blue, leaving questions about the timing, intent and direction of India-Pakistan relations. Also Read: Pakistan Just Sentenced Captured Former Indian Navy Officer Kulbhushan Jadhav To Death Without Proof The prospect of "nailing" an Indian "spy" is always alluring to the Pakistan army. Never mind the inconsistencies in the case - why would a spy be travelling with his original papers and passport from his home country? Any half-decent intelligence service would be able to plan better. Indian officials said they were certain he had been abducted from Iran and passed on to the ISI. One thing is certain: there is almost no prospect of India-Pakistan relations normalising any time soon. There is also little reason to engage the civilian administration - India has long believed in the fiction that it should only engage the civilians in Pakistan. bccl Even though Sharif and his government are nominally in charge, the army has taken over control in much more subtle ways, leaving only a thin veneer of civilian government in place. In any case, Sharif will be seeking re-election in 2018 and the Modi government will go to the polls in 2019, leaving little opportunity for any sustained engagement. The Modi government took a lot of flak on its early outreach to Pakistan and the subsequent flipflops. Also Read: Curious Case Of Kulbhushan Jadhav: Everything To Know About Former Indian Navy Officer Who's In A Pakistani Jail But post-Uri, the government appears to have decided on a course of calling out Pakistan on terrorism at every forum - bilateral and multilateral. It's the only issue on which India is prepared to talk to Pakistan. Separately, India is pushing forward on making the Indus Waters Treaty work better for itself, which might add to Pakistan's anger. Why did Pakistan put the Jadhav verdict out now? There remains speculation that India has in its custody a former ISI officer reportedly picked up in Nepal, who, it is suspected, had a role in Jadhav's abduction from Iran last year. Speculation is rife that this may have prompted pre-emptive action from Pakistan army. bccl Pakistan is also keen to turn the terrorism narrative against India. In addition, Islamabad would want to reinforce to China that India is the real obstacle to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Then, there is the old trick of drawing the country together in the face of Indian "aggression". Also, a hope that the Trump administration can start off seeing India in a different light. Also Read: Kulbhushan Jadhav Isn't The First, Here Are 5 Indians Who Were Arrested By Pakistan For 'Spying' India is the last country the Pakistan army wants to talk to. Which leaves New Delhi with very few options, especially if they actually execute Jadhav. Former defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, it seems, is not able to decide the reason for stepping down from his post and take up the job of Goa chief minister. After being quoted by PTI yesterday for saying that "pressure of issues like Kashmir" made him step down, Parrikar said today denied that he opted for Goa because of that. ap Parrikar was defence minister from November 2014 until last month. He acknowledged yesterday that the job was stressful. "Pressure of issues like Kashmir while working as Defence Minister one of the reasons why I chose to come back to Goa," said the Goa CM. afp/representational image However, in a damage control mode, he was quick to send a clarification through the official channel. "This is to clarify that hon(ourable) chief minister of Goa Manohar Parrikarji has never given any such statements that he had the pressure of any sort working as Defence minister," said a statement from the BJP's press cell. The union minister has hailed the former prime minister for giving India a new direction. The Telangana Chief Minister somehow always manages to stay in the news but this time, it's his son who's making headlines. So after K Chandrasekhar Rao asked his party members to take up the role of a "coolie" for two days to raise money for a party convention, his son and IT Minister KT Rama Rao took the took the challenge upon himself and showed up at an ice-cream parlour to well, make ice-cream. deccan chronicle According to reports, Rama Rao was out of the parlour located on the Hyderabad-Nagpur National Highway in less than an hour but not before he made a whopping 7.5 lakh rupees in the ice-cream making process. It was more than the parlour itself makes in a month. Okay, wow! He made five ice-creams and sold them successfully before serving juice at T Planet on the same premises. ani Well, Rama Rao's customers were super rich who literally shelled out 5 lakh rupees. And since it's no secret that politicians in Telangana are some of the richest in the country, this incident doesn't really stand out from several others - remember when KCR took 5 lakh of taxpayers' money and donated it to Tirumala temple? Yes, that. Even as Indo-Pak relations are on the boil over the death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav, Pakistan yesterday said it arrested three suspected Indian spies who were allegedly targeting "Chinese engineers, sensitive installations and (the) China-Pakistan Economic Corridor", The Express Tribune reported. "We have arrested three terrorists - Khalil, Imtiaz, and Rashid. All three individuals were paid agents of the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)," police told another Pakistani news outlet. Read more 1. Govt Bans BBC For 5 Years From All National Parks For Making 'Malicious' Film On Kaziranga The government has decided to ban BBC from all National Parks and Sanctuaries for portraying a negative, malicious and sensational image of Indias conservation success story. The documentary called dark secrets talks about the menace of poaching for the wildlife and has shown a flooded grassland of Kaziranga National Park in Assam. Read more 2. Imam Refuses To Lead Last Rites Of Pak Student Lynched At University For Alleged Blasphemy The hatred that led to the brutal killing of Mashal Khan a journalism student at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, it seems hasn't died down even after his death. A local resident in his native town of Swabi told Reuters that the local Imam refused to lead Khan's last rites on Friday. Even a technician who was asked to do so in the cleric's place was confronted by several people afterwards. Read more 3. I Have Never Pelted Stones, Says Kashmiri Man Who Was Paraded For 25 Km As 'Shield' Farooq Ahmed Dar, a 26-year-old resident of Sitaharan village in Budgam district has been identified as the youth who was seen in a viral video as tied in front of an army jeep. The short video which appeared to show that the army unit in question, the Rashtriya Rifles had used Dar as a human shield against stone pelting on the day of the bypolls in the state. Read more 4. Another Twist In Ghaziabad Audi Hit And Run Case: Accused Says He Was Paid Rs 7K To Pose As 'Driver' The mystery behind the driver of an SUV which crashed into an auto in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, in January seems to be depending. This comes after Syed Imtiyaz Qadri, the man who surrendered before the court, said he was paid Rs 7,000 (in three Rs 2,000 and two Rs 500 notes) for a false deposition in court. On On February 2, Qadri who identified as Ishak Ahmad "surrendered" before a Ghaziabad court and walked out on bail. Later investigation proved that Ahmad was a truck driver and wasn't any way connected to the Audi crash. Read more 5. In The Biggest Seizure Since Demonetisation, Rs 14.8 Crore In Old Notes Recovered From Bengaluru Politician In one biggest crackdowns on black money since the demonetisation Police in Bengaluru have recovered old currency worth crores from V Nagaraj, aka 'Bomb Nagaraj a criminal-turned-politician in the city. The 50-member police team raided the house of Nagaraj on Friday in connection with a kidnap complaint filed by a businessman. Read more The destruction and results of the US attack on ISIS using 'Mother of All Bombs' (MOAB) are coming to the fore now. According to reports, at least 90 alleged ISIS fighters have been killed in the attack that took place on Thursday. afp According to AFP, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb dubbed the "Mother Of All Bombs" was unleashed in combat for the first time, hitting IS positions in eastern Nangarhar province. The bomb smashed their mountain hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in towering flames. Also Read: Dropping 'Mother Of All Bombs' In Afghanistan Is Trump's Loud And Clear Message To Terrorists "At least 92 Daesh (IS) fighters were killed in the bombing," Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP on Saturday. Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani gave a toll of 90. reuters Afghan officials had earlier said the bombing had killed 36 IS fighters. Shinwari insisted there were "no military and civilian casualties at all". Security experts say IS had built their redoubts close to civilian homes, but the government said thousands of local families had already fled the area in recent months of fighting. The massive bomb was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area. An American special forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations. afp President Ashraf Ghani supported the bombardment by the US. The Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar in Dubai has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for serving breakfast to the maximum number of people from diverse nationalities. Gulf News Thursday's event which was a part of Sikh New Year Baisakhi, titled "Breakfast for Diversity" was attended by 600 persons from 101 countries. According to The Khaleej Times, Indian Ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri was the chief guest of the event with participants ranging from schoolchildren, government officials and diplomats from Australia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, India, Mexico, Philippines, Serbia, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Peru, Vietnam, Romania and Kenya. Gulf News The previous record was 55 nationalities sharing a continental breakfast, organised by Nutella at the Milan Expo in Italy in 2015. Gulf News "Sikhism has always embraced diversity as it has been part of our faith and belief, that we are all human beings to be treated with respect," Surender Kandhari, chairman of the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar temple, told Khaleej Times. Gulf News "The Gurudwara serves approximately 1,000 meals on weekdays and 10,000 meals on weekends or holidays. It has served free meals to over 4 million people since its inception. This has been part of the Gurudwara's service to the community and their way of embracing diversity," Kandhari added. Gurudwara Dubai Talal Omar, Guinness World Records MENA manager, said: "We are proud to support the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar in breaking a fantastic record that brings together people of multi-faiths. We encourage record breaking activities that encourage all human efforts, particularly those that bring people together". A Government of Morons By Paul Craig Roberts April 15/16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - It has become embarrassing to be an American. Our country has had four war criminal presidents in succession. Clinton twice launched military attacks on Serbia, ordering NATO to bomb the former Yugoslavia twice, both in 1995 and in 1999, so that gives Bill two war crimes. George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and attacked provinces of Pakistan and Yemen from the air. That comes to four war crimes for Bush. Obama used NATO to destroy Libya and sent mercenaries to destroy Syria, thereby commiting two war crimes. Trump attacked Syria with US forces, thereby becoming a war criminal early in his regime. To the extent that the UN participated in these war crimes along with Washingtons European, Canadian and Australian vassals, all are guilty of war crimes. Perhaps the UN itself should be arraigned before the War Crimes Tribunal along with the EU, US, Australia and Canada. Quite a record. Western Civilization, if civilization it is, is the greatest committer of war crimes in human history. And there are other crimesSomalia, and Obamas coups against Honduras and Ukraine and Washingtons ongoing attempts to overthrow the governments of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Washington wants to overthrow Ecuador in order to grab and torture Julian Assange, the worlds leading democrat. These war crimes committed by four US presidents caused millions of civilian deaths and injuries and dispossessed and dislocated millions of peoples, who have now arrived as refugees in Europe, UK, US, Canada, and Australia, bringing their problems with them, some of which become problerms for Europeans, such as gang rapes. What is the reason for all the death and destruction and the flooding of the West with refugees from the Wests naked violence? We dont know. We are told lies: Saddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction, which the US government knew for an absolute fact did not exist. Assads use of chemical weapons, an obvious, blatant lie. Iranian nukes, another blatant lie. The lies about Gaddafi in Libya are so absurd that it is pointless to repeat them. What were the lies used to justify bombing tribesmen in Pakistan, to bomb a new government in Yemen? No American knows or cares. Why the US violence against Somalia? Again, no Americans knows or cares. Or the morons saw a movie. Violence for its own sake. That is what America has become. Indeed, violence is what America is. There is nothing else there. Violence is the heart of America. Consider not only the bombings and destruction of countries, but also the endless gratuitous, outrageous police violence against US citizens. If anyone should be disarmed, it is the US police. The police commit more gun violence than anyone else, and unlike drug gangs fighting one another for territory, police violence has no other reason than the love of committing violence against other humans. The American police even shoot down 12-year old American kids prior to asking any question, especially if they are black. Violence is America. America is violence. The moronic liberals blame it on gun owners, but it is always the government that is the source of violence. That is the reason our Founding Fathers gave us the Second Amendment. It is not gun owners who have destroyed in whole or part eight countries. It is the armed-at-taxpayer-expence US government that commits the violence. Americas lust for violence is now bringing the Washington morons up against people who can commit violence back: the Russians and Chinese, Iran and North Korea. Beginning with the Clinton moron every US government has broken or withdrawn from agreements with Russia, agreements that were made in order to reduce tensions and the risk of thermo-nuclear war. Washington initially covered its aggressive steps toward Russia with lies, such as ABM missile sites on Russias border are there to protect Europe from (non-existent) Iranian nuclear ICBMs. The Obama regime still told lies but escalated to false charges against Russia and Russias president in order to build tensions between nuclear powers, the antithesis of Ronald Reagans policy. Yet moronic liberals love Obama and hate Reagan. Did you know that Russia is so powerful and the NSA and CIA so weak and helpless that Russia can determine the outcome of US elections? You must know this, because this is all you have heard from the utterly corrupt Democratic Party, the CIA, the FBI, the Amerian whore media, and the morons who listen to CNN, MSNBC, NPR or read the New York Times and Washington Post. Surely you have heard at least one thousand times that Russia invaded Ukraine; yet Washingtons puppet still sits in Kiev. One doesnt have to have an IQ above 90 to understand that if Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine would not still be there. Did you know that the president of Russia, which world polls show is the most respected leader in the world, is, according to Hillary Clinton the new Hitler? Did you know that the most respected leader in the world, Vladimir Putin, is a Mafia don, a thug, a tarantula at the center of a spy web, according to members of the US government who are so stupid that they cannot even spell their own names? Did you know that Putin, who has refrained from responding aggressively to US provocations, not out of fear, but out of respect for human life, is said to be hellbent on reconstructing the Soviet Empire? Yet, when Putin sent a Russian force against the US and Israeli trained and supplied Georgian army that Washington sent to attack South Ossetia, the Russian Army conquered Georgia in five hours; yet withdrew after teaching the morons the lesson. If Putin wanted to reconstruct the Russian Empire, why didnt he keep Georgia, a Russian province for 300 years prior to Washingtons breakup of the Russian Empire when the Soviet Union collapsed? Washington was powerless to do anything had Putin declared Georgia to be again part of Russia. And now we have the embarrassment of Trumps CIA director, Mike Pompeo, possibly the most stupid person in America. Here we have a moron of the lowest grade. I am not sure there is any IQ there at all. Possibly it reads zero. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter This moron, if he qualifies to that level, which I doubt, has accused Julian Assange, the worlds Premier Journalist, the person who more than anyone represents the First Amendment of the US Constitution, of being a demon who sides with dictators and endangers the security of American hegemony with the help of Russia. All because Wilileaks publishes material from official sources revealing the criminal behavior of the US government. Wikileaks doesnt steal the documents. The documents are leaked to Wikileaks by whistleblowers who cannot tolerate the immorality and lies of the US government. Anyone who tells the truth is by definition against the United States of America. And the moron Pompeo intends to get them. When I first read Pompeos accusation against Assange, I thought it had to be a joke. The CIA director wants to revoke the First Amendment. But the moron Pompeo actually said it. https://www.rt.com/usa/384667-cia-assange-wikileaks-critisize/ What are we to do, what is the world to do, when we have utter morons as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, as President of the US, as National Security Adviser, as Secretary of Defence, as Secretary of State, as US Ambassador to the UN, as editors of the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NPR, MSNBC? How can there be any intelligence when only morons are in charge? Stupid is as stupid does. The Chinese government has said that the moronic Americans could attack North Korea at any moment. A large US fleet is heading to North Korea. North Korea apparently now has nuclear weapons. One North Korean nuclear weapon can wipe out the entirety of the US fleet. Why is Washington inviting this outcome? The only possible answer is moronic stupidity. North Korea is not bothering anyone. Why is Washington picking on North Korea? Does Washington want war with China? In which case, is Washinton kissing off the West Coast of the US? Why does the West Coast support policies that imply the demise of the West Coast of the US? Do the morons on the West Coast think that the US can initiate war with China, or North Korea, without any consequesnces to the West Coast? Are even Amerians this utterly stupid? China or Russia individually can wipe out the US. Together they can make North American uninhabitalbe until the end of time. Why are the Washington morons provoking powerful nuclear powers? Do the Washington morons think Russia and China will submit to threats? The answer is: Washington is a collection of morons, people stupid below the meaning of stupid. People so far outside of reality that they imagine that their hubris and arrogance elevates them above reality. When the first Satan 2 hits Washington, the greatest collection of morons in the world will cease to exist. The world will breathe a huge sigh of relief. Bring it on! Come on morons, eliminate yourselves! The rest of us cannot wait. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order . World Held Hostage by American Military Madness By Finian Cunningham April 15/16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Sputnik "- Whether a nuclear war breaks out within the next few days or not the despicable fact remains, that the entire world is being held hostage by American military madness. It seems only a matter of time before the US finally triggers a war with any number of foreign states that it designates as "enemies" North Korea, Syria, Iran, Russia or China. Or any other state whom Washington deems to be a "threat" in its paranoid hegemonic view of the world. The common denominator here is US military aggression. And what makes US military power so dangerous is that the people who run that country are, to be blunt, so stupid full of their own delusion self-righteousness and ignorance. US news outlet NBC is reporting that the Trump administration is ready to launch pre-emptive military strikes on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Meanwhile, North Korea says that it is prepared to pre-empt any US strikes with a nuclear attack on America or its allies in response to what Pyongyang says is provocative aggression. This weekend marks a major anniversary for North Korea, the 105th birth date of its founder Kim Il Sung. His grandson, Kim Jong Un, the current leader, may be tempted to carry out a sixth underground nuclear weapon test to "celebrate" the occasion, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Let's keep in mind, however, that such action by North Korea is only a "test" not an act of war. But what is undeniable is that the amassing of nuclear forces an "armada" as US President Donald Trump calls it off the Korean Peninsula by Washington is bound to be seen as an aggression by the North Korean leadership. It is arguable that the US is the one that is carrying out an act of war by sailing its forces towards North Korea. The Trump's administration's launching of 59 cruise missiles on Syria last week, in what was a flagrant violation of international law, was no doubt a calculated signal from Washington that it is willing to use massive military force whenever and wherever it deems, regardless of legalities. Then in the past few days, the dropping by the US of the biggest non-nuclear bomb the MOAB or so-called Mother of all Bombs in Afghanistan is another calculated step towards obliterating any legal restraint on Washington, as well as again sending a signal to North Korea and others that it is prepared to act unilaterally and preemptively. All major powers in the Pacific region including Russia and China are calling for a negotiated solution to the tinderbox tensions over the Korean Peninsula. But the only power that is refusing to open dialogue is Washington. US secretary of state Rex Tillerson in Moscow this week said there would be no talks to resolve the Korean crisis for the foreseeable future. Why not? Who is the US to dictate that? Trump has said he will solve the "North Korea problem" alone and with military force. Such a mentality begs the question: who is the rogue state here? What is even more perplexing than US military force and its arsenal of 4,700 actionable nukes (Russia has 4,500, according to the Arms Control Association) is the foolishness of the American rulers. The NBC report cited above says that the White House is ready to order strikes on Pyongyang "should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test." That's hardly a proportionate response to a "test." Nevertheless, the truly disturbing phrase here is "should US officials become convinced." Given Trump's trigger-happy disregard for international law and the abject standard of US intelligence, a preemptive US strike on North Korea is therefore highly probable. Trump's recent aggression in Syria is testament to the unstable, reckless nature of politicians and military chiefs in Washington. Media reports show that Trump made up his mind to attack Syria with Tomahawk missiles based on his watching of Fox News footage of the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria on April 4. In addition, the US president reportedly made his decision to launch those strikes at the urging of his daughter Ivanka's emotional reaction to seeing children dying in the alleged chemical incident. There is good reason to believe that the Syrian chemical weapons incident was a false flag perpetrated by Western-backed terrorist jihadists. Yet based on the most superficial allegations that the Syrian government carried out the chemical weapons attack, the Trump administration went ahead with a murderous assault on that country. Trump's volatile ego is added into the explosive mix. For weeks now he has been asserting to "take care of the North Korea problem." The assembling of US nuclear strike forces off the Korean Peninsula, in conjunction with faulty US intelligence and a fatuous, egotistical Commander-in-Chief surrounded by gung-ho advisors, are driving the logic for war. On the other side, the North Korean leadership has taken note of Trump's latest aggression in Syria. It is warning that it might take preemptive action. Seoul, the capital of Americas South Korean ally, is well within the range of North Korea's firepower. With a population of over 20 million, an attack on Seoul would be catastrophic. Once the missiles start flying, the world will likely to be plunged into a global war, dragging in China and Russia in a nuclear confrontation with the US. This dire prognosis is not inevitable. Dialogue and a negotiated political settlement to the Korean crisis is entirely possible. The two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the United States could solve the recurring problem if all sides committed to a peaceful resolution of decades-old military tensions. But the burden of responsibility lies with the US to commit to such talks. It refuses to do so, insisting instead on a military showdown. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter What makes the problem so precarious is Washington's bull-headed, arrogant stupidity. Trump is just the latest manifestation of Washington's hubris, with a recklessness that goes beyond previous administrations. Trump's readiness to use unilateral military aggression as seen in Syria last week and in his outrageous deployment this week of weapons of mass destruction in Afghanistan are alarming. But more than this, what is even more alarming is the delusional nature of US "intelligence" and American political "leadership." If the US can launch cruise missiles on Syria based on highly suspect claims over chemical weapons, plus a president who is so gullible and suggestible, then the world is truly being pushed to an abysmal precipice. Far more dangerous than American nuclear weapons is the incorrigible unscrupulousness of American rulers. These are the same kind of people whose self-righteousness and criminal disregard for humanity led them to launch atomic weapons on Japan 72 years ago. A monstrous act of genocide which they still justify as "being right". It is an abomination that the world is being held hostage by American military madness. And has been for more than seven decades ever since the Second World War. The question is: can this American madness be defused safely, and brought to a peaceful end? Now Only Rational Thinking Can Save the World! By Andre Vltchek April 15/16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Scenario ONE: Imagine that you are on board a ship, which is slowly sinking. There is no land in sight, and your radio transmitter is not functioning properly. There are several people on board and you care for them, deeply. You dont want this to be the end of everything. What do you do? A) You fix for yourself a nice portion of fried rice with prawns B) You turn on the TV set, which is still somehow miraculously working, and watch the news about the future Scottish referendum or on BREXIT C) You jump into the water immediately, try to identify the damage, and then attempt to do something unthinkable with your simple tools and capabilities: to save the ship Imagine another scenario: SCENARIO TWO: By mistake, your wife eats two full tubes of sleeping pills, supposedly confusing them with anew line of candies. As you find her on the floor, she appears to be unconscious and her face looks rather bluish. What would your course of action be? A) After you realize that her high heels do not match the color of her pantyhose, you run to the closet in search of a much better pair of shoes to achieve the balance B) You carry her without delay to the bathroom, pump out her stomach, and try to resuscitate her while calling the ambulance using the speakerphone function C) You recall how you first met, get nostalgic, and rush to your living room library in order to find a book of love sonnets by Pablo Neruda, which you then recite to her kneeling on the carpet Now brace yourself for a great surprise. Unless you choose C) for scenario one, and B) for scenario two, you can actually consider yourself absolutely normal by most North American and European standards. However, if you opt for C) or B) respectively, you could easily pass off for an extremist, a radical and ideological left-wing fanatic. * The West has brought the world to the brink of total collapse, but its citizens, even its intellectuals, are stubbornly refusing to grasp the urgency. Like ostriches, many are hiding their heads in the sand. Others are behaving like a surgeon who opts for treating a small cut on a finger of his patient who is actually dying from a terrible gunshot wound. There seems to be an acute lack of rational thinking, and especially of peoples ability to grasp the proportions of global occurrences and events. For years I have been arguing that destroying the ability to compare and to see things from the universal perspective has been one of the most successful endeavors of the Western indoctrination drive (dispersed through education, media/disinformation and culture). It has effectively influenced and pacified both, the people in the West itself, and those living in its present and former colonies (particularly the local elitesand their offspring). There seems to be no capacity to compare and consistently analyze, for instance, those certainly unsavory but mainly defensive actions taken by the revolutionary governments and countries, with the most horrid and appalling crimes committed by the colonialist regimes of the West all over Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa,which took place in approximately the same historical era. It is not only history that is seen in the West through totally crooked and out of focus lenses, it is also the present, which has been perceived and analyzed in an out of context way and without applying hardly any rational comparisons. Rebellious and independent-minded countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East (most of them have been actually forced to defend themselves against the extremely brutal attacks and subversion campaigns administered by the West) have been slammed, even in the so-called progressive circles of the West, with much tougher standards than those that are being applied towards both Europe and North America, two parts of the world that have been continuously spreading terror, destruction and unimaginable suffering among the people inhabiting all corners of the globe. Most crimes committed by the left-wing revolutions were in direct response to invasions, subversions, provocations and other attacks coming from the West. Almost all the most terrible crimes committed by the West were committed abroad, and were directed against enslaved, exploited, thoroughly plunderedand defenseless people in almost all parts of the world. Now, according to many, the endgame is approaching. Rising oceans are swallowing entire countries, as I witnessed in several parts of Oceania. It is a horrid, indescribable sight! People in numerous countries governed by pro-Western regimes are shedding millions of their inhabitants, while some nations are basically ceasing to exist, like Papua or Kashmir, to give just two obvious examples. The environment is thoroughly ruined where the lungs of the world used to work hard, just a few decades ago, making our planet healthy. Tens of millions of people are now on the move, their countries thoroughly ruined by Western geopolitical games. Instead of influencing and helping to guide humanity, such great cultures as those of Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are now forced to disgorge millions of desperate refugees. They are barely surviving, humiliated and hardly relevant. Extremist religious groups (of all faiths, and definitely not only belonging to the Muslim religion) are being groomed by the Western Machiavellian ideologues and strategists, then dispersed to all corners of the globe: South Asia, the Middle East, China, Latin America, Africa, and even Oceania. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter It is a total disgrace what imperialism has managed to reduce our humanity to. Most of the world is actually trying to function normally, democratically, following its natural instincts, which are based on simple humanism. But it is being constantly derailed, attacked and tormented by the brutal monstrous and merciless hydra the Western expansionism and its culture or nihilism, greed, cynicism and slavery. It is so obvious where we are going as a human race. We want to fly, we want freedom and optimism and beauty to govern our lives. We want to dream and to create something deep, meaningful, happy and kind. But there are those horrible weights hanging from our feet. There are chains restraining our actions. There is constant fear, which is making us betray all our ideals, as well as each other, again and again; fear that makes us, humans,act like shameless cowards and egoists. As a result we are not flying, we are only crawling, and not even forward, but in bizarre, irrational ellipses and circles. Still, I do not believe that the endgame is inevitable! * For many years I have been sending warnings, I have been writing and showing and presenting thousands of terrible images of destruction, of the irreversible collapse, of barbarity. I have generally kept nothing to myself. I have recycled my work, my films and books, into new journeys into the darkest abysses of our world. I have received hardly any support from the outside world. But I couldnt stop: what I have been witnessing, the danger to the planet and total devastation, have forced me to never give up the struggle. If necessary and most of the time, I have done it alone. I spent too much time in Latin America; I could not give up. I learned too much from Cuba and so many other wonderful places; I felt I had no right to surrender. Whenever the horrors from which our planet is suffering would overwhelm me, Id collapse, as I did last year. Then Id bury myself somewhere for a short period of time, collect myself together, get up and continue with my work and my struggle. I have never ceased to trust people. Some would come full of initial enthusiasm, offering much, then betray me, and leave. Still, I have never lost faith in human beings. This year, instead of slowing down, I adopted one more place,which is in agony Afghanistan. My only request, my only demand has been, that the world listens, that it sees, that it tries to comprehend, before it is too late. This request of mine has proven to be, I realize now, too demanding, and too radical. Sometimes I ask: have I achieved much? Have I opened many eyes? Have I managed to build many bridges between the different struggling parts of the world? As an internationalist I have to question my own actions, my effectiveness. I have to admit, honestly: I dont know the answers to my own questions. But I keep working and struggling. * The world looks different if observed and analyzed from a pub in Europe or North America, or if you are actually standing on one of those atolls in the middle of the South Pacific (Oceania) that are under the constant assault of tidal waves, dotted with dead stumps of palm trees pointing accusatively towards the sky. These islets are at the forefront of the battle for the survival of our planet, and they are obviously losing. Everything also appears to be much more urgent but also real, when observed from the black and desolate plains of the hopelessly logged out Indonesian islands of Borneo/Kalimantan and Sumatra. I used to recount in my essays, just for my readers to know, what the villages somewhere like Gomain the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), look and feel like, after the murderous assaults by the pro-Rwandese, and therefore pro-Western, militias. It was important for me to explain how things are right in the middle of it, on the ground. I used to write about mass rapes and mutilations, about the burning flesh, terrible torture I stopped some time ago. You at least once witness all this or you simply didnt. If you did then you know what it all looks like, what it feels like and smells like or you could never imagine it, no matter how many books and reports you read, no matter how many images you consume. I have been trying to speak about all this to the people in the West, at conferences, universities, or even through my films and books. They do listen, mostly respectfully. They do show politely how outraged and horrified they are (it is expected of them). Some say: I want to do something. Most of them do absolutely nothing, but even if they decide to take action, it is usually for themselves,just to feel good, to feel better, to convince their own conscience that they have actually done at least something for the humanity. I used to blame them. I dont, anymore. This is how the world is arranged. However, I have sharply reduced my work-visits to both North America and Europe. I dont feel that I click with the people in those places. We dont think the same way, we dont feel the same, and even our logic and rationale are diametrically different. My recent three-week stay in Europe clearly revealed to me, how little there is in common between the Wests state of mind and the reality in which the great majority of the world has been living. * In the past, before the Western empires and the soleEmpire took most of determination and enthusiasm away from the people, the most talented of human beings used to make no distinction between their personal lives, their creativity and their relentless work and duty towards humanity. In several places including Cuba, it is how many people still live. In the West, everyone and everything is now fragmented and life itself became objectively meaningless: there is distinct time to work (satisfying ones personal career, guaranteeing survival, advancing prestige and ego), there is time to play, and for family life and there is occasionally time to think about humanity or, very rarely, about the survival of our planet. Needless to say, this selfish approach has failed in helping to advance the world. It has also squarely failed when it comes to stopping at least some of the monstrosities committed by Western imperialism. When I go to the opera house or some great classical music concert, it is in order to get some deep inspiration, to get fired up about my work, to recycle the beauty that Im expressing in my novels and films, theatre plays and even political reports. I never go to get simply entertained. It is never for my own needs only. It is also essential for me to work closely with the people that I love, including my own mother who is already 82 years old. It is because I know there is absolutely no time to waste. And also because everything is and should be intertwined in life: love, work, duty, and the struggle for the survival and progress of our world. * I may be labeled as a fanatic, but I am decisively choosing those C) and B) options from the dilemmas I depicted above. I am choosing rationality, now that the US armada packed with the nuclear weapons is sailing towards both China and North Korea, now that the Tomahawk missiles have rained down on Syria, now that the West will be sending thousands more mercenaries to one of the most devastated countries on Earth Afghanistan. Survival and then the advancement of the world should be our greatest goal. I believe it and I stand by it. In time of absolute crises, which we are experiencing right now, it is irresponsible, almost grotesque, to simply continue to live our daily lives. Imperialism has to be stopped, once and for all, by all means. At the moment when the survival of humanity is at stake, the end justifies all means. Or as the motto of Chile goes: By Reason Or By Force. Of course, if those who know do not act, if they are cowardly and opportunistically do nothing, from a universal perspective, nothing much will happen: one small planet in one of the so many galaxies will simply cease to exist.Most likely there are many inhabited planets in the universe, many civilizations. However, I happen to love this world and this particular Planet. I know it well, from the Southernmost tip all the way to the north. I know its deserts and valleys, mountains and oceans, its marvelous and touching creatures, its great cities as well as god-forsaken villages. I know its people. They have many faults; and much that could be condemned in them, and much that should be improved. But I still believe that there is more that could be admired in them than denounced. Now it is time to think, rationally and quickly, and then to act. No small patches will do, no feel good actions. Only a total reset, overhaul. Call it the Revolution if you will, or simply C) and B). No matter how you define it, it would have to come rapidly, very rapidly, or there soon will be nothing to love, to defend, and to work for, anymore. Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are revolutionary novel Aurora and two bestselling works of political non-fiction: Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism . View his other books here . Andre is making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen. Watch Rwanda Gambit , his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo. After having lived in Latin America, Africa and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter . Did Al Qaeda Fool the White House Again? Despite evidence that Al Qaeda and its allies have staged fake chemical attacks in Syria before, Official Washington asserts with high confidence that its not being fooled again. By Robert Parry April 15/16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Consortium News "- In Official Washington, words rarely mean what they say. For instance, if a U.S. government official voices high confidence in a supposed intelligence assessment, that usually means we dont have any real evidence, but we figure that if we say high confidence enough that no one will dare challenge us. Its also true that after a U.S. President or another senior official jumps to a conclusion that is not supported by evidence, the ranks of government careerists will close around him or her, making any serious or objective investigation almost impossible. Plus, if the dubious allegations are directed at some enemy state, then the mainstream media also will suppress skepticism. Prestigious news outlets will run fact checks filled with words in capital letters: MISLEADING; FALSE; or maybe FAKE NEWS. Which is where things stand regarding President Trumps rush to judgment within hours about an apparent chemical weapons incident in Syrias Idlib province on April 4. Despite the fact that much of the information was coming from Al Qaeda and its propaganda-savvy allies, the mainstream U.S. media rushed emotional images onto what Trump calls the shows upon which he says he bases his foreign policy judgments and he blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the scores of deaths, including beautiful little babies, as Trump declared. Given the neocon/liberal-interventionist domination of Official Washingtons foreign policy and the professional Western propaganda shops working for Assads overthrow there was virtually no pushback against the quick formulation of this new groupthink. All the predictable players played their predictable parts, from The New York Times to CNN to the Atlantic Council-related Bellingcat and its citizen journalists. All the Important People who appeared on the TV shows or who were quoted in the mainstream media trusted the images provided by Al Qaeda-related propagandists and ignored documented prior cases in which the Syrian rebels staged chemical weapons incidents to implicate the Assad government. We All Know One smug CNN commentator pontificated, we all know what happened in 2013, a reference to the enduring conventional wisdom that an Aug. 21, 2013 sarin attack outside Damascus was carried out by the Assad government and that President Obama then failed to enforce his red line against chemical weapons use. This beloved groupthink survives even though evidence later showed the operation was carried out by rebels, most likely by Al Qaedas Nusra Front with help from Turkish intelligence, as investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported and brave Turkish officials later confirmed . But Official Washingtons resistance to reality was perhaps best demonstrated one year ago when The Atlantics Jeffrey Goldberg published a detailed article about Obamas foreign policy that repeated the groupthink about Obama shrinking from his red line but included the disclosure that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had informed the President that U.S. intelligence lacked any slam dunk evidence that Assads military was guilty. One might normally think that such a warning from DNI Clapper would have spared Obama from the medias judgment that he had chickened out, especially given the later evidence pointing the finger of blame at the rebels. After all, why should Obama have attacked the Syrian military and killed large numbers of soldiers and possibly civilians in retaliation for a crime that they had nothing to do with and indeed an offense for which the Assad government was being framed? But Official Washingtons propaganda bubble is impervious to inconvenient reality. Nor does anyone seem to know that a United Nations report disclosed testimonies from eyewitnesses about how rebels and their allied rescue workers had staged one chlorine attack so it would be blamed on the Assad government. Besides these Syrians coming forward to expose the fraud, the evidence that had been advanced to prove Assads guilt included bizarre claims from the rebels and their friends that they could tell that chlorine was inside a barrel bomb because of the special sound that it made while it was descending. Despite the exposure of that one frame-up, the U.N. investigators under intense pressure from Western governments to give them something to pin on the Assad regime accepted rebel claims about two other alleged chlorine attacks, an implausible finding that is now repeatedly cited by the Western media even as it ignores the case of the debunked chlorine attack. Again, one might think that proof of two staged chemical weapons attacks one involving sarin and the other chlorine would inject some skepticism about the April 4 case, but apparently not. All that was left was for President Trump to act presidential and fire off 59 Tomahawk missiles at some Syrian airbase on April 6, reportedly killing several Syrian soldiers and nine civilians, including four children, collateral damage that the mainstream U.S. media knows not to mention in its hosannas of praise for Trumps decisiveness. Home-Free Groupthink There might be some pockets of resistance to the groupthink among professional analysts at the CIA, but their findings if they contradict what the President has already done will be locked away probably for generations if not forever. In other words, the new Assad-did-it groupthink appeared to be home free, a certainty that The New York Times could now publish without having to add annoying words like alleged or possibly, simply stating Assads guilt as flat-fact. Thomas L. Friedman, the Times star foreign policy columnist, did that and then extrapolated from his certainty to propose that the U.S. should ally itself with the jihadists fighting to overthrow Assad, a position long favored by U.S. allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Why should our goal right now be to defeat the Islamic State in Syria? Friedman asked before proposing outright support for the jihadists: We could dramatically increase our military aid to anti-Assad rebels, giving them sufficient anti-tank and antiaircraft missiles to threaten Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah and Syrian helicopters and fighter jets and make them bleed, maybe enough to want to open negotiations. Fine with me. So, not only have the mainstream U.S. media stars decided that they know what happen on April 4 in a remote Al Qaeda-controlled section of Idlib province (without seeing any real evidence) but they are now building off their groupthink to propose that the Trump administration hand out antiaircraft missiles to the anti-Assad rebels who, in reality, are under the command of Al Qaeda and/or the Islamic State. In other words, Friedman and other deep thinkers are advocating material support for terrorists who would get sophisticated American ground-to-air missiles that could shoot down Russian planes thus exacerbating already dangerous U.S.-Russian tensions or take down some civilian airliner as Al Qaeda has done in the past. If someone named Abdul had made such a suggestion, he could expect a knock on his door from the FBI. Expert Skepticism Yet, before President Trump takes Friedmans advice arming up Al Qaeda and entering into a de facto alliance with Islamic State we might want to make sure that we arent being taken in again by a clever Al Qaeda psychological operation, another staged chemical weapons attack. With the U.S. intelligence community effectively silenced by the fact that the President has already acted, Theodore Postol, a technology and national security expert at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, undertook his own review of the supposed evidence cited by Trumps White House in issuing a four-page intelligence assessment on April 11 asserting with high confidence that Assads military delivered a bomb filled with sarin on the town of Khan Sheikdoun on the morning of April 4. Postol, whose analytical work helped debunk Official Washingtons groupthink regarding the 2013 sarin attack outside Damascus, expressed new shock at the shoddiness of the latest White House report (or WHR). Postol produced a quick turnaround assessment of the April 11 report that night and went into greater detail in an addendum on April 13, writing: No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter This addendum provides data that unambiguously shows that the assumption in the WHR that there was no tampering with the alleged site of the sarin release is not correct. This egregious error raises questions about every other claim in the WHR. The implication of this observation is clear the WHR was not reviewed and released by any competent intelligence expert unless they were motivated by factors other than concerns about the accuracy of the report. The WHR also makes claims about communications intercepts which supposedly provide high confidence that the Syrian government was the source of the attack. There is no reason to believe that the veracity of this claim is any different from the now verified false claim that there was unambiguous evidence of a sarin release at the cited crater. The evidence that unambiguously shows that the assumption that the sarin release crater was tampered with is contained in six photographs at the end of this document. Postol notes that one key photo shows a man standing in the alleged sarin-release crater. He is wearing a honeycomb facemask that is designed to filter small particles from the air. Other apparel on him is an open necked cloth shirt and what appear to be medical exam gloves. Two other men are standing in front of him (on the left in the photograph) also wearing honeycomb facemasks and medical exam gloves. If there were any sarin present at this location when this photograph was taken everybody in the photograph would have received a lethal or debilitating dose of sarin. The fact that these people were dressed so inadequately either suggests a complete ignorance of the basic measures needed to protect an individual from sarin poisoning, or that they knew that the site was not seriously contaminated. This is the crater that is the centerpiece evidence provided in the WHR for a sarin attack delivered by a Syrian aircraft. No Competent Analyst After reviewing other discrepancies in photos of the crater, Postol wrote: It is hard for me to believe that anybody competent could have been involved in producing the WHR report and the implications of such an obviously predetermined result strongly suggests that this report was not motivated by a serious analysis of any kind. This finding is disturbing. It indicates that the WHR was probably a report purely aimed at justifying actions that were not supported by any legitimate intelligence. This is not a unique situation. President George W. Bush has argued that he was misinformed about unambiguous evidence that Iraq was hiding a substantial amount of weapons of mass destruction. This false intelligence led to a US attack on Iraq that started a process that ultimately led to a political disintegration in the Middle East, which through a series of unpredicted events then led to the rise of the Islamic State. Postol continued: On August 30, 2013, the White House [under President Obama] produced a similarly false report about the nerve agent attack on August 21, 2013 in Damascus. This report also contained numerous intelligence claims that could not be true. An interview with President Obama published in The Atlantic in April 2016 indicates that Obama was initially told that there was solid intelligence that the Syrian government was responsible for the nerve agent attack of August 21, 2013 in Ghouta, Syria. Obama reported that he was later told that the intelligence was not solid by the then Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper. Equally serious questions are raised about the abuse of intelligence findings by the incident in 2013. Questions that have not been answered about that incident is how the White House produced a false intelligence report with false claims that could obviously be identified by experts outside the White House and without access to classified information. There also needs to be an explanation of why this 2013 false report was not corrected. It is now obvious that a second incident similar to what happened in the Obama administration has now occurred in the Trump administration. In this case, the president, supported by his staff, made a decision to launch 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. This action was accompanied by serious risks of creating a confrontation with Russia, and also undermining cooperative efforts to win the war against the Islamic State. I therefore conclude that there needs to be a comprehensive investigation of these events that have either misled people in the White House, or worse yet, been perpetrated by people seeking to force decisions that were not justified by the cited intelligence. This is a serious matter and should not be allowed to continue. While Postols appeal for urgent attention to this pattern of the White House making false intelligence claims now implicating three successive administrations makes sense, the likelihood of such an undertaking is virtually nil. The embarrassment and loss of credibility for not only the U.S. political leadership but the major U.S. news outlets would be so severe, especially in the wake of the WMD fiasco in Iraq, that no establishment figure or organization would undertake such a review. Instead, Official Washingtons propaganda bubble will stay firmly in place allowing its inhabitants to go happily about their business believing that they are the caretakers of truth. Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, Americas Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com ). The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. See also The Fog of War Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara Errol Morris's Oscar-winning 2003 documentary This brilliant work by director Morris is the stuff of life. And death. It arouses the most basic moral and immoral questions of being human through an enormously complex and yet simple man, Robert Strange McNamara. It seems no coincidence, his middle name, as we get to know him in all his cleverness and contradictions. Morris subtly illuminates, literally through McNamara's eyes, what it means to have power over life and death. 05/10/06 Click Play To View - 1 Hour 46 Minutes This video is available to purchase here You may need to update / download Free Real Player to view this video. Click on this link to download. http://snipurl.com/a75b From Publishers Weekly When Robert Strange McNamara ran the Vietnam War as secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968, he let it be known that he had all the answers, and that those who didn't agree with him were not as smart nor as well informed as he was. After being forced to resign in 1968, McNamara refused to discuss the Vietnam War until his book, In Retrospect, was published in 1995. In that controversial apologia, he allowed that he "made mistakes" in Vietnam, but stressed that every other top official in Washington did as well and that he based his policies on incorrect information supplied by the military. Please read our Comment Policy before posting - We ask readers to play a proactive role and click the "Report link [at the base of each comment] when in your opinion, comments cross the line and become purely offensive, racist or disrespectful to others. (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) A business man identifed as Ben Kpaduwa who was kidnapped in Anara Community, Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of the state has been rescued by the anti-kidnap unit of Imo State Police Command. According to the state Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike while briefing newsmen said that his men who rescued Kpaduwa on April 4, 2017 engaged in a shoot-out with the kidnappers resulting in one of them, Chinedu Imo of Ndiawa Arondizugo, sustaining serious injuries. According to Ezike, the injured lmo later died at a hospital where he was taken to, for treatment. The CP equally disclosed that one Mr. Chika Ihemena was arrested with the victims black Toyota Corolla car. Meanwhile, Ezike has also promised to fight cultism, kidnapping, car snatching, those who run baby factories, impersonation and other criminal activities to a standstill in the state. He informed that he intends to explore experiences of the past to bring about good policing to the people of the state. He added that he came to Imo with tremendous goodwill, open-mind and willingness to work with security agencies, the media, market people and all Imo residents to ensure that the state is secure. While assuring the restoration of discipline among his officers and men, the CP equally stated that all police mobile force personnel and conventional policemen deployed to unauthorised persons and without approval from the Inspector- General of Police shall be withdrawn immediately. He also noted that Area Commanders / Divisional Police Officers have been directed to reduce office deployment by 4O per cent so as to enhance operational services. He maintained that monitoring department was established to checkmate the activities of police at check point. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) A team of expert doctors from the United States of America will be arriving the country this weekend for a medical mission at Ile Ife, Osun State. The 20-man collaborative team of physicians, surgeons and medical support staff is made up mostly of alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, formally University of Ife. Among other things, the week-long activities for the medical mission include free medical clinics at the Oonis palace; and a full day of Campus clinics, health fair, preventive/public health activities, including screenings for diabetes, hypertension and some communicable diseases. According to the schedule, while the physicians are running the clinics, there will be simultaneous surgeries at designated centres within the University teaching hospital by the US-based surgeons and their Ife counterparts on cataract patients and laparoscopic procedures using top-notch, state of the art and cutting edge technology equipment brought from the US. According to the team, all surgeries will be conducted for free. Also members of the team interested in teaching and giving lectures will be provided the opportunity to do so at the university. The team led by Dr Olabisi Jagun, who describes her role as a fortunate one is sponsored by the Mercysaidno Foundation (an Atlanta-based Nigerian Philanthropic organization), Ifemed Alumni Association (USA), member physicians, Friends of Ifemed Physicians and Ife Ooye North America Association (IONA). Our team is very excited and ready to go, and we are grateful for the wonderful opportunity to give back, says Jagun. She explains that all our physicians and surgeons are brilliant and distinguished in their field of expertise; a few of them are leading world experts; they have all been vetted and their licenses are current. It is estimated that during the mission, the team will see between 5,000 to 10,000 patients and hand out over $150,000 worth of free medications and prescriptions. Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the university, who is planning many initiatives for the institution, says the medical mission is a great thing to happen to the university and Ile-Ife city. It fills me with joy to see distinguished physicians and surgeons in the United States remember home for this kind gesture. The Council and the entire university are proud of this wonderful support. The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a leading federal government owned and operated Nigerian university at the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State. It was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, and was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University on 12 May 1987 in honour of Chief Obafemi Awolowo , first premier of the Western Region of Nigeria, whose brainchild the university was. Source: ( PM News ) Former Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN), has cried out to the public saying the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is planning to raid his country home in Okenne, Kogi State, with the purpose of planting huge sums of money in order to indict him. This Statement was reported by his nedia aide Victor Akhidenor. The EFCC had on Tuesday raided Adokes home in Kano as part of investigations into the $1.3bn Malabu scam. Adoke said having found nothing in his Kano home, the EFCC had become desperate to nail him at all cost. The statement read in part, We gathered that the swoop on the country home of the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice will happen any moment from now as part of EFCCs sustained campaign to soil the good name of Mr. Adoke in the guise of seeking evidence to indict him. We put Nigerians on notice that with the desperation shown by the EFCC, it is not unlikely that they may want to plant incriminating document or cash in the Okenne home of Adoke and claim that same were found in the premises. The world is watching. The former minister, who has been charged for alleged fraud albeit in absentia, said the EFCC had no evidence against him and that was why operatives were still searching for evidence over four months after charging him. The statement added, It would be recalled that earlier this week, the EFCC invaded Adokes residence in Kano State, breaking doors, upturning chairs and tables, and generally disturbing the peace of the neighbourhood. They claimed they were looking for documents with which to substantiate their wild allegations of corruption against Mr. Adoke. They did not find anything incriminating as there was no such document. That action alone has established one fact the EFCC has no shred of evidence on which they had charged Mr. Adoke to court. It was after charging him that they started hunting around for evidence. Is this justice? Adoke maintained that the $1.3bn Malabu deal was transparent, adding that it was done with the approval of former President Jonathan. The former minister, who has been in Holland since 2015, said if the EFCC continued to harass members of his family and search his properties, he would be forced to sue the commission for harassment. He said he would also put the United Nations and other international human rights agencies on notice. The statement concluded, However, for whatever reasons, the EFCC appears to have a different opinion on the Malabu issue and has made the harassment of Mr. Adoke, his family and associates their pastime, without providing any proof of wrongdoing. We wish to warn that Mr. Adoke would no longer take these harassments of his family and serial invasions of his homes lying low and will now seek all legal means to enforce his rights, including asking for damages. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) Amnesty International has stated that Boko Haram insurgents are still abducting more Nigerian women and girls. The group said much works needed to be done to prevent the sect members from further kidnapping of Nigerians. In a statement on Friday, Makmid Kamara, interim country director of Amnesty International, said it was sad that much abduction have gone behind the camera. While showing solidarity with #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) movement on the third anniversary of Chibok abductions, Kamara called on the federal government to ensure that all abductees are accounted for and their families given update. Boko Haram continues to abduct women, girls and young men who are often then subjected to horrific abuses, including rape, beatings and being forced into suicide bombing missions. Sadly, many such abductions go unnoticed and unreported by the media. This has left many parents and relatives without any hope of being reunited with their loved ones These appalling abductions and other attacks, some of which constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, are carried out by Boko Haram on an almost daily basis. They must stop. Today we remember and lend solidarity to the families of the Chibok girls as well as the thousands of other women, girls and men abducted, killed or displaced by Boko Haram. The Nigerian government is making progress in recapturing territory held by Boko Haram but more needs to be done to prevent further abductions, bomb attacks and provide proper support to all those who have already been rescued or escaped Boko Haram captivity. This bloody Boko Haram insurgency and the security forces efforts to end it, has displaced more than two million people across the north-east and brought many to the brink of starvation. It is vital for the Nigerian people that those responsible for atrocities in the conflict are brought to justice. Recall that on April 14, 2014, 276 girls were whisked away from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state. While 57 of the girls have escaped, three have been found, 21 released and 195 are still missing. Source: Dailypost Nigerias Muhammadu Buhari must stand for re-election in 2019 in the best interest of the country, one of his allies and governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has said. Sworn in as the countrys leader less than two years ago after ousting the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan at the polls, Buhari was heralded into the office like a messiah of a sort. His campaign promises included stamping out corruption through and ushering in a new democratic era free from bitter partisanship. A biting economic recession accompanied by rising cost of living and a not-so-successful war on graft have, however, watered down his popularity among the people who now see his change agenda as only a tired campaign slogan. Those problems and his ill-health and notwithstanding, El-Rufai said Buhari has done well enough to be given a second term. My prayer is that the president gets wellgets back to full health and run again because I still believe his being presidentthe stability that he brings to the office is in the best interest of Nigeria, El-Rufai said on Friday. Should Buhari chooses not to stand for re-election, the Kaduna state governor said he would expect him to have a say in who the ruling All Progressives Congress nominates as its candidate. El-Rufai spoke against the backdrop of controversies generated after his 30-page memo to Buhari was leaked to the media. And the governor, who claimed he was not aware Buhari was sick when he authored the report, has firmly blamed unnamed presidential aide as the persons behind the leak. I know who leaked the memo, he said refraining from mentioning the aides name. On Friday, he was at the Presidential Villa to observe Jumaat Prayer with Buhari. He declared that though he was aware that some aides on Buharis team disliked him, that would never prevent him from visiting the president. Within the Villa, there are people that like me and there are those who dont and it is normal. My relationship with the President has never been strained in any way, he explained. The governor insisted there was no sinister intention behind his authoring the memo, noting that the now famous memo was, in fact, in a series of memos he had sent to the president. It is not the fist, it is not the tenth. It is probably close to the twentieth memo I have written, he said. I have been working closely with Mr President for about seven years, from the time we were in the opposition in the CPC, through the merger into the APC. Anytime I see fundamental issues that require to be addressed by him, I discuss with him. When discussdebate, and I get his thoughts, I would always tell, I will go back and articulate a memo and action plan for you.' Source: Guardian The Catholic Diocese of Yola on Friday paid fines of 25 inmates from the Prison, as part of activities to mark the Easter celebration. Speaking at the ceremony, Bishop Stephen Mamza said the church paid the fine amount and got them released. The church also presented foodstuff to the remaining inmates. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Mamza urged Christians to demonstrate love through sharing with the needy and underprivileged such as prisoners and internally displaced persons during such festive periods. According to him, the role of the Church as body of Christ was to put smile in the lives of the hopeless one in the society. In his remarks at the occasion, the officer in charge of the prison, Mr. Idi Abubakar lauded the church for the gesture and its continued assistance to the inmates during such festive periods. Abubakar tasked those released to reciprocate the gesture by being responsible members of the society. The church delegation also visited IDPs settlements where they distributed food items to the IDPs. Source: Thisday The senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, on Saturday escaped assassination attempt as unknown gunmen attacked his residence in Ayetoro-Gbede, Ijumu local government area of the state. According to The Nigerian Tribune, the assailants invaded the residence at about 12am shooting sporadically into the building. The shooting lasted for over an hour as two vehicles parked within the premises were damaged, while part of the building was also destroyed. Narrating his ordeal to newsmen, the senator who said his home was invaded at about 12 midnight accused the chairman of the local government, Taofiq Isa, of being behind the attack because of his criticism of the state government. I got a rousy welcome from Kabba to my hometown yesterday (Friday) and I know it angered the power that be in the state which mobilised for this assassination attempt on my life. At about midnight we started hearing gunshots. They fired more than 200 rounds of bullet into the house. This attempt to kill me will not stop me from speaking the truth. This attempt is being championed by the chairman of my local government. He had said it many times that he will do everything to stop me from coming home. Besides, those assailants when leaving were chanting We will know if its Taofiq that owns the land or you.If I speak the truth I will die, if I lie I will die. Me, Ive decided to speak the truth and die. Im not afraid of death. I only respect men I dont fear them. I am championing an administrative course. I will continue to speak and be voice to the voiceless. Im not deterred, I remain resolute to make Kogi better. Nothing will stop me from coming home. Melaye lamented that the Police division of Aiyetoro Gbede only arrived his house three hours after the assailants had left despite being a stone thrown from his house. The DPO did not come to my house until three hours later. Even the area command in Kabba was not notified until I called the CP. I suspect a satanic collabo between Taofiq and the police in Aiyetoro because the duo had a meeting two days ago. Only God will protect us in this country but definitely not the police. However, the local government chairman has denied having any hand in the alleged attack on the senator. Isa, who challenged Melaye to prove his allegation against him said, Ive never been a violent man. My running battle with Dino if any is because I have asked him to stop vilifying the state governor, Yahaya Bello. Let him (Dino) prove it. I lost my uncle a week ago, Im still attending to my sick wife and busy supervising the APC re-registration programs. Im a democrat and law abiding. I challenge Dino to prove his case. Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), William Aya, said the command had already commenced investigation into the issue. YBNL boss, Olamide Adedeji, aka badoo, has said that he fears God, adding that nothing could be greater than making heaven. The rapper, who is known for profanity in his lyrics and music videos, leading to some of his songs being banned from airplay by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, considers money, fame and material things as nothing but vanity. The multiple award winner told Vanguard that the biggest achievement he craves is heaven. The biggest achievement in this world is seeing my people grow, everybody living good; everyone living fine, living their dreams and making heaven. Nothing is more important than making heaven; everything in this life is just jonzing, they dont last long, nothing lasts forever, he said. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai has urged his troops of the Nigerian Army to remain loyal, alert, vigilant and professional. Buratai, who made the charge in his Easter message, solicited for prayers from all Nigerians to the success of soldiers engaged in the fight against insurgency and other theatres at home and abroad. Lets join hands to pray that the Commander-In-Chief and all our leaders to succeed in their efforts to deliver to the people a safe and prosperous country we all can be proud of. I wish to use this opportunity to felicitate with all as we celebrate the Easter Season this year. I indeed felicitate with all troops under command for successfully witnessing this sacred period of Easter. This alongside the preceding Lenten period reminds us of personal sacrifices for the common good, care for the less privileged, protection of the vulnerable and love for fellow citizens. These are virtues that our profession as soldiers extol. It is thus an opportunity to renew our faith, re-dedicate our commitment to service and unite in our collective resolve to defend our country, Buratai said. Source : ( PM News ) Dr Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has questioned the reasoning of Governor Nyesom Wike after claiming that the $45m found at a residence in Ikoyi, Lagos State belong to Rivers State Government. Dr Peterside, who spoke with newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport, rubbished insinuations by Governor Wike that the money found in Lagos were part of proceeds Rivers State Government realised from the sale of gas turbines by the Amaechi administration. Wike was also quoted to have claimed that the house in question belongs to Amaechi, who has since issued a statement denying ownership of the said building. He accused the Rivers State governor of turning governance to a circus show and lacking in sense of dignity by constantly being in the news for all the wrong reasons. Not too long ago, Wike apparently suffering from an overdose of self-delusion said he had awarded road projects in far away Benue State and had mobilised contractors to site. The same Wike has also accused the Inspector General of Police of plotting to assassinate him through the new CP in Rivers State. We thought these were jokes taken too far. But the clownish governor has surprised himself with another tales by moonlight in trying to link his former boss and benefactor to the unclaimed money. I think we need to check the sanity and mental status of Governor Wike. Time and time again, he is bringing ridicule to the office he occupies and embarrassing the people of Rivers State who are known to be intelligent, responsible and decent in upbringing, he stressed. He explained that Amaechi had since denied owning the said house in Lagos and challenged the Rivers State Government to provide evidence to the contrary. Peterside, who was commissioner for works under Amaechi, noted that the money realised from the sale of gas turbines were paid into the account of Rivers state and the money used for projects. While Wike can never come near the record of Amaechi, the current governor is doing everything to reverse the unmatchable records of his predecessor. As at today, no one has seen copies of 2016 and 2017 budgets of Rivers State. Schools and health centres are shutting down with thousands of school-age children out of school. Rivers children on scholarship abroad have been withdrawn. The same governor has wasted Rivers money to host two failed conventions of a sinking PDP. His party chairman has accused him of using $6m to influence judicial officers. Wike has the unenviable record of governing a state having the most state-linked killings in Rivers history. He rose to become the governor of Rivers State on the blood of innocent people. It is people like Wike who have made Nigerians to call to question the issue of immunity in the Constitution. He is taking immunity as shield to abuse the dignity of the office of Governor. The governor can still retrace his steps and follow the path of dignity, decorum and respect the office he occupies for he holds it in trust on behalf of Rivers people, he summed up. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) Nigerias former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said she had high hopes for the country, while she was growing up. The former World Bank director stated this on a panel at the Mo Ibrahim Forum in Morocco. When I was 18, the world seemed open, prospects from my country seemed good; we had come out of a war, we were united and rebuilding so it seemed like a place where there was a lot of opportunities because we were reconstructing the country, there were a lot of jobs. I had very high expectations of a country where it would have what it needed infrastructure wise and people could go up and down the ladder anywhere they pleased, she said. Okonjo-Iweala also singled out unemployment as one of the greatest challenges Nigeria was battling with. When we think about creating jobs, which is the biggest problem our economy is faced with, we want to get very practical to talk about what we should be doing rather than the theory, she said. One thing is important, you can not create these jobs unless you have a conducive environment in the economy that enables and encourages your domestic private sector to invest as well as the foreign private sector so that is where it begins, she added. Source: Dailypost The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) of Sokoto State has arrested two armed robbery suspects and an impersonator. This was disclosed by the State Commandant of the Corps, Mr Babangida Abdullahi, at a news briefing in Sokoto on Friday. Babangida said: The two armed robbery suspects were arrested on Thursday night, at the Bado area, an outskirts of Sokoto metropolis. They were arrested by our personnel sequel to a distress call put to us by the victim. They were lucky to have seized N50,000, from the victim, but were unlucky as they had been apprehended. Their accomplices were now at large, with two AK 47 rifles, but we are trailing them. Abdullahi further said that the suspects believed to be between the ages of 26 and 27, hailed from the area. In a related development, the commandant said the command also arrested a 35-year-old man, Aliyu Umar, who had been parading himself as an Assistant Commandant of the corps. Abdullahi said the suspect was apprehended on Thursday when he went to the commands anti-vandalism unit at Bado and introduced himself as an Assistant Commandant. He said the suspect was an unregistered volunteer of the corps until his arrest. The commandant averred that all the suspects were being interrogated at the corps headquarters in Sokoto. He added that they will soon be arraigned after the conduct of thorough investigations. Source: ( PM News ) Top Yoruba actor, Odunlade Adekola recently took to Instagram to celebrate his one million followers on Instagram. Adekola wrote; From my heart, I say a big thank you to all my fans in Nigeria and abroad. It is not quite long that i joined Instagram, you followed and showed me love till i have 1million followers. It is not by my might, but the grace of God and your support. 1million followers is a proof of love, care and undying support from my fans, I say a big thank you There was a bit of protest in Abuja between the parents of missing Chibok girls and the Policemen at the State House, Abuja,as the parents of the missing children insisted to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. The women, who moved to the presidential villa from Transcorp Hotel, shortly after the first Annual Chibok Girls Lecture, had demanded to see the President to inquire about the whereabouts of their daughters, but they were prevented from accessing Aso Villa by the policemen. One of the protesting parents, Mrs. Esther Yakubu, told the policemen that she would only go back home if her missing daughter, Dorcas, was given to her. If you give me my daughter now, I will go back, she insisted, and after a police officer urged her to be patient, she was annoyed. Which patience do you want me to exercise? He (Buhari) is celebrating the graduation of his own children; I also want to celebrate the graduation of my daughter. When a similar incident happened in Lagos, they rescued them because they are the children of rich men. I want to talk to the President myself as a mother. My daughter is still in captivity, I cant leave without seeing the President today. The Personal Assistant to the President on Protocol, John Oyegun, persuaded the protesting women to shelve their demand, saying the President could not see them because he was indisposed. The women then demanded to see the Presidents wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, or Osibanjo, but Oyegun refused to grant the request, saying the latter was not available. =The parents subsequently left the place after venting their anger and disappointment on the government. =Meanwhile, some Chibok parents have called on the Federal Government to fast-track negotiations with Boko Haram and bring back their daughters. They said they were unhappy with the way the rescue of the girls had dragged on for three years in spite of several promises by Buhari. Lawan Zannah, whose daughter, Margaret, was among the hostages, said he would have dragged the government to court if he was rich, noting that the Federal Government had failed the parents. The retired Assistant Superintendent of Police said he had been unable to farm since his daughter was abducted on account of his failing health. He said, The government is just lying to us, I am not happy at all. Due to the abduction of my daughter, I can no longer farm on account of my failing health. For three years, I could not farm. I believe they are just playing politics with the rescue of the girls. The Federal and Borno state governments have been assuring us that the girls would be rescued, but nothing has happened in the past three years of their abduction. Another parent, Kabu Yakubu, said he missed his daughter, Dorcas, noting that he was in the dark about government plans for her rescue. He said the schoolgirls would have been rescued if they were children of prominent or rich parents. They said they are negotiating with Boko Haram, but we dont know what is going on. If the government was serious, it would have long rescued the girls, he said. Another parent, Yama Pogu, also appealed to the government to conclude negotiations with the sect to rescue his daughter, Aisha, and her colleagues in captivity. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) President Muhammadu Buhari in his Easter message to Nigerians has again urged the citizens to keep faith with his governments ability to change the Nigerian story. The president said on Saturday, the president said his administration was ddetermined as never before to continue with the fight against terrorism and insurgency; sustain the peace in the Niger Delta; and restore peace and stability in other parts of the country. I enjoin all Nigerians to keep faith in the determination and ability of this administration to change the Nigerian story for the good of all, Mr. Buhari said in a statement he signed. Read his full statement: I congratulate our Christian brothers and sisters on the celebration of this years Easter. I rejoice with you on this historic occasion signifying the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, redemption over condemnation, and hope over despair. The commemoration of this special season in Christianity, is always preceded by fasting, piety, humility, penance and prayers of intercession in the build up to the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, an event which reunited man with his Creator. The message of Easter is filled with themes of love, faith, sacrifice, dedication, commitment, fulfilment of prophecy, hope, expectation and victory, as espoused in the Scriptures and the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus Christ. As we celebrate yet another Easter, I urge all Nigerians to live peacefully with one another and do their utmost to make Nigeria a beautiful place to reside. In the almost two years of this administration, we have worked hard to meet the expectations of Nigerians by improving security, especially in the North-East, sustaining the campaign against corruption and have taken steps to revitalize the economy. We are determined as never before to continue with the fight against terrorism and insurgency; sustain the peace in the Niger Delta through engagements with stakeholders; and restore peace and stability in other parts of the country. It is in our collective interest to live in peace because without peace, no meaningful and sustainable development can take place. Lack of peace in one part affects in one way or the other, all parts of the country. Our people must rediscover the values of peaceful co-existence, social justice, religious tolerance, dignity of labour and patriotism. I enjoin all Nigerians to keep faith in the determination and ability of this administration to change the Nigerian story for the good of all. I wish all Nigerians happy Easter celebrations. MUHAMMADU BUHARI Minister of Transportation and immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has debunked the ownership of the $43m found by the EFCC in Ikoyi, Lagos. The former governor of Rivers State also denied any link with the house as well. He said he has no business, link or connection to the money or property and that he does not know who owns the money or the apartment. He also dismissed the claims by his successor, Mr. Nyesom Wike that the money belongs to him (Amaechi). Wike had alleged at a press conference on Friday night, that the money in question belongs to the former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. He also insinuated that the houses in Ikoyi equally belong to the former governor Amaechi. In a statement released by his Media Office in Abuja on Saturday, Amaechi described the claims as malicious, frivolous and another failed attempt by Wike to divert attention from the mess he has created in Rivers State. According to the statement, Wike has stolen Rivers State dry. Wike and his gang have frittered billions of naira of Rivers people money away. Rivers State is perpetually in crisis, the state in a mess as Wike has made a total mess of governance in the State. That child who sits there as governor is confused, he doesnt know what to do. Wikes only solution is to attack Amaechi. Since he became governor, Wike sleeps and wakes up every day, with a sole, one-point agenda to attack and denigrate Rotimi Amaechi, no matter how ridiculous and silly he sounds. Everyday in Rivers State, there is one frivolous, false story of what Amaechi did or didnt do. Same pattern, the same blatant lies with no proof, same old concocted stories of corruption allegations against Amaechi told with different flavours. At this rate, if Wike is unable to perform his spousal duties, he will blame it on Amaechi. Yes, thats how despicably low he can go in his consuming fixation to throw mud at Amaechi. This latest outburst by Wike is typical of him. We are aware that Wike first tried to float the fake news of Amaechis ownership of the recovered $43million and the Ikoyi house in the social media using his minions and lackeys, spending huge sums of Rivers money on the failed project. His minions and lackeys were calling journalists, bloggers and media organisations to run the fake story with promises of almost irresistible mouth-watering compensation for using the fake story. When that failed and the story didnt gain traction that was when Wike decided to hurriedly hold the press conference Friday night, to rant and spew his outright lies, yet again without providing any proof of Amaechis ownership of both the property and the money. For clarity and emphasis, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is not the owner of the $43million and the Ikoyi apartment in which the money was recovered from. Amaechi has no business, link or connection to the money or property. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi does not know who owns the money or Ikoyi apartment. Amaechi described Wikes malicious allegation of corruption against Amaechi in the sale of the Gas Turbines as not new. He said that the false claim had been punctured repeatedly with facts and evidence of the transfer payments for the power plants into Rivers State government accounts by Sahara Energy. He said, The records of how the funds were spent and what it was spent on are in the records of the State government. Amaechi has absolutely no business or any interest whatsoever in Sahara Energy. The company was already a thriving business concern before Amaechis emergence as governor of Rivers State in 2007. We urge all right-thinking members of the public to completely disregard all the false, politically motivated no-proof claims by Nyesom Wike and his minions as it concerns Amaechi and the $43million and Ikoyi property. The false accusations by Wike is purely diversionary, a political smear campaign against Amaechi by Wike, while he steals Rivers State blind. The fake claims is a figment of the imagination of Wike, an ignoble fellow whos so reckless, irresponsible, and disgraceful, and has debased the high office he holds in trust for the people. Wike is a rabble-rouser and should not be taken seriously. He has made several false claims like this in the recent past and never went the whole length to prove it because he had no proof. Many would recall how Wike was screaming all over national television stations just before the Rivers State legislative Rerun elections that he had an explosive video, containing earth-shaking revelations and he would show the video on national TV. Till date, no video, just talk and talk, telling more and more lies. He challenged Wike to charge him to court if he has any shred of evidence that the money belongs to Rivers State and was kept in the Ikoyi apartment by him. But like his numerous frivolous accusations in the past, we know he wont go to court. He has nothing to substantiate his blatant lies. This Wikes recent tale like his previous ones is a big sham, a disgraceful political drama, and a campaign of calumny to defame and destroy the sterling reputation of Rotimi Amaechi. This is now Wikes sole life ambition, he added. He urged Nigerians to note that Wikes reckless, irresponsible and fictitious tirade against the President Buhari administration at his media briefing of Friday was a declaration of war against the Federal Government. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has nabbed a syndicate that specializes in adulteration of engine oil for sale to unsuspecting members of the public. The Director general, SON said that the arrest took place at tipper garage, in the Jahi area of Abuja, with SON operation team sealing the premises where the illicit activity was being carried on. Aboloma who was represented by Mr Felix Nyado, director operation, SON during the operation said that investigations shows that the men were used to picking spent containers of genuine engine oil with which they package their own fake brands and then sale to unsuspecting members of the public. The director general said that strong intelligence network led to their arrest. Aboloma urged consumers to be wary of the kind of engine oil they buy and also appealed to the members of the public to dent or destroy packaging materials or containers before disposing it as a way of checkmating the activities of the counterfeiters. In his own words, destroy the package after use will go a long way in curbing fake and substandard products in the market. Those empties are ought to be recycled and not to be picked at waste dumps and supplied to counterfeiters, he said. He equally advised Nigerians to continue to support the SON in its bid to sanitize Nigeria of substandard products. Meanwhile, the DG on Friday advised Nigerians to patronize only certified products to enable them get value for their money. He made the call at the SON special day at the ongoing 2017 Enugu International Trade fair, appealing to entrepreneurs to subscribe to subscribe to the SON mandatory conformity assessment programme scheme for the growth of their enterprises as well as their market share. On export drive, he said the agency had been working hard to ensure that Made Nigeria Products specially, farm produces meet prescribed international standards and calibration. The issue of rejection of our products and produces anywhere in the world is gradually becoming a thing of the past as SON is poised to make Nigerian products and farm outputs the number one preferred in terms of quality and quantity specification, he said. Also speaking, the chairman of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Rev Ugochukwu Chime, thanked the SON DG for participating in the trade fair and for stimulating economic growth through its activities. He said the agency had by its activities lent tremendous support to the economic development of the nation generally, and entrepreneurs particularly. Source: NTA A Nigerian named Bankole Oni Ogunnowo based in United Kingdom, and his Nigerian based ex-partner, Mercy Adetokunbo Oluwaseyifunmi have appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris , to stop further harassment and intimidation on their lives by policemen. Ogunowo, known for his show-biz, organizing beauty pageants and other entertaining events in Nigeria, accused operatives of the Force Criminal Investigations Department , FCID Annex, Alagbon and those of the INTERPOL of constantly intimidating him and his lover over a matter he said had been decided in a United Kingdom Court. He further urged Idris to restrain the INTERPOL and FCID Alagbon from further intimidation until the matter which he said was also before a Federal High Court with the suit No FHC /L/CS/210/17,is determined. Below is Bankoles full story: My name is Bankole Oni Ogunnowo, I am an artist promoter in Nigeria and a beauty pageant producer. I am contacting you regarding the harassment my family and relatives have been subjected to by some Nigeria police that were been paid by my ex-wife, Eileen Adetokunbo Odumosu and her mother Winifred Odumosu. Since I joined my ex-wife in the UK through an invitation, she and her mother have been demanding money from me for the invite, which I refused paying for such an invitation letter. Miss Odumosu and her mother then made threats that they would make sure I get jailed in the UK and have me deported to Nigeria. They went on to carry out their threat, as she got me kicked out of our family home with the support of the police. See documents after cut Tokunbo Odumosu went further to lie to the authority that I practice Voodoo, linking me with OPC in Nigeria, alleging that OPC does Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) sacrifice and that I had intention to kidnap the daughter she had for me to Nigeria so as to carry out the sacrifice. This matter was investigated by the court in the UK; listed for fact findings in the court, and I won. The court doubted Tokunbo Odumosu credibility, she went for appeal, but I won (Evidence attached). In View of this my ex partner who had a daughter and they leave in Nigeria swore an affidavit in Nigeria court to confirm that the daughter she had for me was not subject to FGM and FGM is no more in practice in Nigeria as its now against the law. Tokunbo Odumosu got access to this document and she noticed that she sheared one name as my ex-partner. To our surprise Odumosu sponsor one Akinsola Oyebo to go to the same court where Mercy sworn the affidavit and sworn a counter Affidavit saying that Mercys address does not exist and the name on her Affidavit was a fabricated. Without verifying the identity of the Akinsola, Ondo Police interact this into diary, then send over to the Authority in UK (Evidence attached). Since her address exists, Mercy challenged the Ondo police and they verified her address, which they apologised for error. Mercy demanded that the Akinsola who sworn the false Affidavit be provided. The Police visited the address she provided, but the said address, Oyebo in Akungba Akoko in Ondo State, does not exist. To cover up for the Perjury that Akinsola have committed, then Tokunbo Odumosu paid one ASP Atinuke Williams from CID Alagbon close to intimidate, illegaly detain, Harass Mercy and my relatives. Their allegation is Mercy Adetokunbo Oluwaseyifunmi added Adetokunbo to her name. They said she did this so as to bring the child she had for me. One wonders how Mercy Adetokunbo Oluwaseyifunmi is the same as Eileen Adetokunbo Omolara Odumosu that now involved Nigeria Police in Abuja and interpol. They have detained her and made me pay over N150,000 and now making plans to re-arrest her again! I am aware that the principal of the school where I did my SSCE is also a target because he refused to implicate me, as he was detained at Alagbon for days, where he was asked if I attended the Secondary school. One wonders why this has become a criminal matter that is now been transferred to Abuja. A petition was sent to the IG through my solicitor and the harassment continues. Then we had no choice than to go to the Federal High Court to challenge the activities of Nigeria Police Force and an injunction was put in place that Police and their subordinate should stop harassing, inviting and intimidating me, my family and relatives. It is now a surprise at the rational behind the duplication of the same case between operatives of the INTERPOL and FCID , Alagbon, despite an on going legal tussle, which refrain them from further action. After this Eleen Adetokunbo Odumosu went further to Nigeria Interpol Under CP Olusola K. Subair, claiming that they are investigating Forgery, Identity Theft, impersonation, false statement, false pretense and conspiracy for the purpose of obtaining a British passport, lodged and Visa. One wonders what Nigeria Interpol got to do with family/civil matter. This matter has been presented over here in the UK and it was thrown out as a baseless matter. From source I hear that the petitioner has a connection with the IG. Days after the Economic and Financial Crime and Commission ( EFCC ) discoverd N13bn ($43.4m, N23m and 27,000) in Ikoyi, there have been a lot of drama concerning the money. The controversy surrounding the ownership of the found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission took a dramatic turn on Friday evening when Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the National Intelligence Agency claimed ownership of the money. The National Intelligence Agency on Friday said the money belonged to it. A national daily had earlier reported that the money belonged to the NIA. Sources at the agency confirmed to one our correspondents late Friday that the money belonged to the agency and that it had written a formal letter to President Muhammadu Buhari to claim ownership of the money. Saturday PUNCH learnt that the NIA, which is Nigerias foreign intelligence service, explained that the money, which was found on the seventh floor of the building, was approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan for covert operations and security projects covering a period of years. The money was said to have been released in bits during the tenure of a former NIA director-general. A source said that the cash was approved before the advent of the Treasury Single Account. He stated that the Director-General of the NIA, Amb. Ayo Oke; the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu; and the National Security Adviser, Babagana Moguno, had met over the issue. A Presidency source also confirmed the meeting to one of our correspondents. The NIA source explained that when EFCC operatives stormed the Ikoyi property on Wednesday, they were informed that the said apartment was a safe house of the NIA from which discreet operations were carried out. The EFCC boss, however, rejected all entreaties from the NIA and entered the building, breaking the fireproof safes and taking the money. The source, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak with the media, said, The money belongs to the NIA. It is for covert operations and security projects covering a period of years.The DG has met with the President, he has explained everything to him. The President asked him to put everything into writing and he has done so. The entire chain of events was a big misunderstanding. That place was an NIA safe house and you have to understand that the NIA carries out discreet investigation in conjunction with many agencies across the world. On the day the EFCC men gathered around the house, the NIA reached out to Magu to explain to him that the money was the property of the Federal Government and the place was an NIA safe house. Unfortunately, the EFCC still went ahead to break down the doors. But Wike, who described the claim that the cash belonged to the NIA as balderdash, alleged that the immediate past governor of the state and the current Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, kept the money in the apartment. As such, the Rivers State governor gave the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to return the money to the state government or be ready to face legal action. Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Friday night, Wike said the $43m was part of the proceeds from the sale of a gas turbine by the immediate past administration, adding that the gas turbine was initially built by the Peter Odili administration. The governor further challenged the Federal Government to set up a commission of inquiry to probe the source of the huge money found in the flat, insisting that the funds belonged to Rivers people and should be returned to the owners within seven days. He said, All these things they are saying that the $43m belong to the Nigerian Intelligence Agency is balderdash. When did the NIA begin to keep money in houses? As I speak to you now, the Federal Government is so embarrassed. I want the President to set up a commission of inquiry. We dont want to fight anybody; they should set up a commission of inquiry or return our money within seven days. If they dont, we will take all necessary legal actions and NIA will come and prove where they got the money from. The $43m is the proceeds of the sale of the gas turbine sold by the immediate past administration. The gas turbine was built by the (Peter) Odili administration. It (gas turbine) was sold to Sahara Energy. The turbine was sold for $319m. But as of May 2015, what was in the account was $204,000. We will avail ourselves and we will be present at the commission of inquiry expected to be set up by the Federal Government. If we are invited, we will come. There is no contradiction in this at all, but I know they (FG) will not agree. Wike maintained that he would complete the monorail project if the Federal Government returned the $43m to Rivers State, adding that it would be projects galore in the state should the money be returned back to its original owner. Part of the money from the sale of the gas turbine was used to fund the All Progressives Congress campaign. We are telling the world that the money belongs to us. If they (FG) give us the money, I will complete the monorail project, he said. When contacted, the media aide to Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Mr. David Iyofor, said he would react to Wikes claim on Saturday (today). The money has since been deposited into the account of the Central Bank of Nigeria following an interim forfeiture order granted by a Federal High Court in Lagos. The court had also ruled that if the owner of the money did not show up within 30 days, it would be forfeited to the federal Government permanently. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) Senate President, Bukola Saraki has vowed that Nigeria will not stop its search for the abducted Chibok school girls until they return home. Saraki stated this on the third anniversary of the abduction. He also called for concerted efforts to rescue the over 200 school girls. I speak on behalf of all Nigerians who truly care, mothers and fathers especially, who cannot imagine the pain of not knowing whether ones abducted child is alive or not. I know that this government is continuing to explore all options to secure the release of the remaining girls. We will continue to support the administrations efforts in every way that we can, a statement by the Media Office of Senate President quoted Saraki as saying. He assured Nigerians and the international community, that Nigeria would not stop looking for its missing school girls. They are our daughters. We will not stop looking for them. We will not give up the fight until they return back home to us. Until that day, we will all continue to watch and pray for their safe return, he said. Source: Dailypost Microsoft this week began blocking Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs equipped with the very newest processors from receiving security updates, making good on a policy it announced but did not implement last year. But the company also refused to provide security fixes to Windows 7 systems that were powered by AMD's "Carrizo" CPUs, an architecture that was supposed to continue receiving patches. The decree that led to the update bans, whether allowable or not under Microsoft's new policy, was revealed in January 2016, when the company said making Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 run on the latest processors was "challenging." Microsoft then ruled that Windows 10 would be the only supported edition on seventh-generation and later CPUs and simultaneously dictated a substantial shortening of support of both editions. The biggest impact was on Windows 7, because it had become the standard in enterprises -- Microsoft's most valued customers -- with deployment shares far north of 50%. According to Microsoft, Windows 7 was to be fully supported on sixth-generation processors -- Intel's were dubbed "Skylake," AMD's included Carrizo -- until July 17, 2017. At that point, some Skylake-equipped PCs would continue to receive some security updates; other such PCs would get nothing. Microsoft later walked back the cut-off, first by extending the end-of-support date to July 2018, then by repudiating the sixth-generation proclamation for those systems on a we'll-support-them list. The last move -- which took place in August -- meant that in most instances only seventh-generation and later processors from AMD and Intel were on Windows 7's and 8.1's no-go catalog. Even so, Microsoft on Wednesday acknowledged that it had blocked updates from reaching machines equipped with AMD's Carrizo processor, then promised to correct the snafu. "Microsoft intends to continue to support Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 with this processor and plans to address the issue causing the message in a future update," said Edison Pus, identified as a Microsoft representative, on the company's support forum. Pus did not specify when the update to the update would appear. A shorter version of that message was also added to the "Known issues" section of the Windows 7 and 8.1 monthly roll-up and security-only updates. Because the update ban cannot be reversed by users, they must wait until Microsoft issues a correction. During the interim, their PCs will be vulnerable to exploitation of the vulnerabilities Microsoft patched on Tuesday. Other users also encountered the update injunction, but in those cases the messages were deliberate. "Windows 7 keeps giving a warning that my Intel Core i7 (7700k) processor is not supported," reported someone tagged as DenverBraganaza, in a message posted Tuesday to Microsoft's support forum. That CPU is one from Intel's seventh-generation architecture, codenamed "Kaby Lake," and thus is on Microsoft's no-no list for Windows 7 and 8.1. Others, however, said that their PCs had been barred from this month's updates -- and future updates -- even though the processors are not seventh-generation, raising the issue of false positives from whatever test or diagnostic Microsoft used to determine whether to block the machine. One false positive report came from a user whose machine ran an Intel processor introduced around the same time as Windows 7, and had been refused April's update for the OS. That report, along with at least one other, were posted on AskWoody.com, a site operated by Woody Leonard, a Windows patch expert who writes for Infoworld. (Like Computerworld, Infoworld is an IDG publication.) Microsoft did not immediately reply to a request for confirmation that it has officially begun enforcing the stop-support policy. Microsoft This is the 'no-patches-for-you' pop-up that some users of Windows 7 and 8.1 have seen this week as Microsoft denied them security updates because their PCs were powered by the newest processors. This story, "Microsoft begins denying updates to some Windows 7 users" was originally published by Computerworld . U-Haul International Inc., which operates more than 1,300 self-storage locations across North America, announced CEO Edward J. "Joe" Shoen will be awarded the 2017 Executive of the Year Award by the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University (ASU). The award honors business leaders whove created and sustained superior organization performance, and whose presence exemplifies a model for future business leaders, according to a press release. Shoen is the 34th Executive of the Year chosen by the schools dean council, a national group of executives who advise the W. P. Carey School of Business. Hell be honored at a luncheon on April 19 at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa in Paradise Valley, Ariz. The 11:30 a.m. event is hosted by the Economic Club of Phoenix, which includes city business leaders. "In his three decades as the chief executive at U-Haul, Joe has demonstrated the sort of vision and leadership that this award was designed to recognize," said Amy Hillman, dean of the W. P. Carey School. "He's overseen not just growth but also diversification, helping to grow and enrich the U-Haul brand along the way. And, of course, as an ASU alum leading a prominent Phoenix-based business, we couldn't be more proud to honor Joe this year." Shoen is also president, chairman and CEO of AMERCO, U-Hauls parent company. Hes a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Harvard Business School and ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. Shoen, 68, grew up in the U-Haul organization and became president in 1987. His parents founded the company in 1945, and his sons, Sam and Stuart, are the third generation actively managing U-Haul as a family business. In 1987, Shoen set out to refocus U-Haul on its core business to serve the do-it-yourself moving and self-storage customer. At that time, U-Haul had 4,600 rental outlets. Today, it has more than 21,000 locations across North America, with a fleet of 285,000 trucks, trailers and towing devices, the release stated. Established in 1945, U-Haul has more than 44 million square feet of storage space at its owned facilities throughout North America. The W. P. Carey School of Business is internationally regarded for its research productivity and its faculty members, including a Nobel Prize winner. Students hail from more than 100 countries and include more than 50 National Merit Scholars. A third of the value of fines imposed by the courts over the last six years has not been recovered, as yet, writes Stephen Rogers. Some 462,000 fines were handed down, worth almost 147m, between January 2011 and December 2016. A total of 197,000 fines were not paid with 48.5m still outstanding, according to the data recorded on the Courts Service Case Tracking System (CCTS). Jim OCallaghan, Fianna Fail justice spokesman to whom the figures were released, said failure to collect fines had a detrimental impact on the criminal justice system. The effectiveness of that system will be undermined if people believe that court fines need not be paid, he said. It is essential that all fines imposed by courts are pursued. The law at present is strong enough to ensure collection and there is no legitimate excuse for non-collection. The State has still not recouped almost 21,000 fines worth more than 7.5m which were imposed in 2011. And just 6.7m of the 23m in penalties imposed by the courts in 2016 was recovered. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the treatment of fines falls into two categories those imposed prior to the commencement of the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014 in January 2016, and fines imposed thereafter. In relation to fines imposed prior to the commencement of the act, warrants for the enforcement of fines imposed in 2013 and 2014 have been issued to An Garda Siochana, she said. The issue of fines warrants for unpaid fines, in respect of fines imposed in 2015, commenced from mid-2015 and continued on a monthly basis as fines became due for payment. Where a warrant for the enforcement of fines due is issued to An Garda Siochana, the fine may be collected and paid to the Courts Service. In some instances, the person fined may have been lodged in prison in default of payment of fine or the fines warrant may have been cancelled following an application to the court. She said in relation to those in prison in default of paying their fines, the Prison Service provides details which are updated to CCTS. Currently in excess of 15,000 warrants with a total value of over 5m await update to the CCTS, she said. In relation to fines imposed in 2016, the vast majority fell for enforcement under the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014, she added. The Courts Service has undertaken an extensive ICT development programme to enhance the CCTS to provide for the payment of fines by instalment and, additionally, to provide for the enforcement provisions provided for in the act. The Courts Service is now in a position to commence issuing notices to persons to attend court for imposition of appropriate sanctions in default of payment. This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner. Supermacs has asked the EU regulator to cancel the use of the Big Mac and other trademarks registered by McDonald's. It is the first substantial move made by the Irish fast food chain after suffering a blow in the international trademark war with the multinational food giant. Legislation has come into effect allowing gardai to carry out mandatory roadside drug testing on motorists for cannabis, cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines. The Garda National Roads Policing Bureau is in consultation with the Garda College and Continuous Professional Development Trainers nationwide in respect of the rollout of training in the use of these devices. A small number of personnel (72) both instructors and operational personnel have already received training in the use of these devices. Devices have been allocated to 86 Garda stations, a spokesman for the Garda Siochana told the Irish Examiner. Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn said that mandatory impairment checkpoints will be in place around Ireland this Easter Bank Holiday Weekend: Well have checkpoints in every district throughout the country this weekend, I can assure you. These drug-testing devices are installed in 86 Garda stations nationwide and there are 50 mobile units available to gardai. They work by placing a swab stick in the mouth of a motorist to gather saliva. This stick is then placed in a small machine and after about eight minutes it will determine if it has tested either positive or negative for the four drug types. If it tests positive and the motorist is considered to be impaired they are arrested and a blood sample will be taken and analysed by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety. Assistant Commissioner Finn said that training was focused on the traffic corps for now. It is initially focused on the traffic corps because theyre the ones who are supposed to be using most of it and the rest of the organisation will be trained. We will have over 2,000 people trained in impairment testing to go along with that, he said. However, it will be several months before the entire force has been trained in how to use the new devices. Only personnel who have received this training will utilise the devices at this time. Training will be provided to all personnel who require same over the coming months. It is anticipated that the majority of Traffic Corps personnel will have received this training by the end of this month with the initial phase of training to be completed by the end of May for all other personnel, the garda spokesman said. There are no figures available on how many tests have been carried out since the underpinning legislation came into effect last Thursday. Furthermore, for operational reasons, the garda spokesman could not detail the number of checkpoints planned for this weekend. The assistant commissioner was also asked if he could give an assurance that the testing would be accurate following the breathalyser results scandal. We now actually record the device, which has been supplied to by the Medical Burea of Road Safety and the readings, so that we can give you actually the statistics that we can stand over ourselves. Im confident we will be able to stand over those statistics, the assistant commissioner said. Editorial: 16 Some 462,000 fines were handed down, worth almost 147m, between January 2011 and December 2016. A total of 197,000 fines were not paid with 48.5m still outstanding, according to the data recorded on the Courts Service Case Tracking System (CCTS). Jim OCallaghan, Fianna Fail justice spokesman to whom the figures were released, said failure to collect fines had a detrimental impact on the criminal justice system. The effectiveness of that system will be undermined if people believe that court fines need not be paid, he said. It is essential that all fines imposed by courts are pursued. The law at present is strong enough to ensure collection and there is no legitimate excuse for non-collection. The State has still not recouped almost 21,000 fines worth more than 7.5m which were imposed in 2011. And just 6.7m of the 23m in penalties imposed by the courts in 2016 was recovered. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the treatment of fines falls into two categories those imposed prior to the commencement of the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014 in January 2016, and fines imposed thereafter. In relation to fines imposed prior to the commencement of the act, warrants for the enforcement of fines imposed in 2013 and 2014 have been issued to An Garda Siochana, she said. The issue of fines warrants for unpaid fines, in respect of fines imposed in 2015, commenced from mid-2015 and continued on a monthly basis as fines became due for payment. Where a warrant for the enforcement of fines due is issued to An Garda Siochana, the fine may be collected and paid to the Courts Service. In some instances, the person fined may have been lodged in prison in default of payment of fine or the fines warrant may have been cancelled following an application to the court. She said in relation to those in prison in default of paying their fines, the Prison Service provides details which are updated to CCTS. Currently in excess of 15,000 warrants with a total value of over 5m await update to the CCTS, she said. In relation to fines imposed in 2016, the vast majority fell for enforcement under the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014, she added. The Courts Service has undertaken an extensive ICT development programme to enhance the CCTS to provide for the payment of fines by instalment and, additionally, to provide for the enforcement provisions provided for in the act. The Courts Service is now in a position to commence issuing notices to persons to attend court for imposition of appropriate sanctions in default of payment. The authors of a report on barriers to dental attendance say it is vital older people are educated on the importance of visiting the dentist and given better access. The study, published in the Irish Medical Journal, is based on a questionnaire completed by 105 patients, aged over 65, attending the geriatric medical outpatient clinic at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin over three months last year. Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that police in the predominantly Muslim federal republic rounded up more than 100 men suspected of homosexuality and that at least three of them have been killed. Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman said the Kremlin has no confirmed information about the reported detention and killing of gay men in Chechnya. Chechen authorities have denied the reports, but the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and prominent international organisations have urged the Russian government to investigate the reported abuse. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov denied the accusations, but the New York Times quoted his spokesman as saying that such targeting cannot take place as LGBT people do not exist in Chechnya. You cannot arrest or repress people who just dont exist in the republic, spokesman, Alvi Karimov, reportedly said. If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them, as their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return, Mr Karimov said. Tuesdays protest is being organised by The Cork Pride Festival, in association with The Cork Gay Project, LinC, and Amnesty International. For the past few weeks, a brutal campaign purging LGBT people has been sweeping through the southern Russian Republic of Chechnya. Last week, over 100 men ranging in age from 15 to 50 were abducted and tortured. At least three have been murdered by Chechen authorities, a statement from the groups read. Their alleged crime? The suspicion by Chechen authorities that they may be gay. These men are being forcibly detained in what is effectively the first gay concentration camp since Hitlers camps were established in 1930s Germany. The world watched on from the sidelines then too and should have learnt its lesson; apathy may have enabled so-called ethnic cleansing then, but history can never again be allowed to repeat itself. The Cork demonstration in from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. New accounts show that the Church of Scientology Mission of Dublin Ltd recorded a profit of 48,803 and this followed the Church firm recording a loss of 19 in 2015. The global church counts movie stars, Tom Cruise and John Travolta as some of its best-known members and the Irish church was previously bailed out to the tune of 326,875 when a loan provided to the Church of Scientology here was forgiven by Churches of Scientology overseas. The churchs accumulated loss from over the years at the end of April last stood at 152,716 and the churchs long-standing deficit is understood to relate to a long-running High Court action from 2003 taken against the church by former member, Mary Johnston. The case was settled out of court on undisclosed terms after 31 days of evidence. In the 12 months to the end of April 30 last, the Church of Scientology Mission of Dublin Ltd revenues decreased by 7% going from 86,716 to 80,390. The revenue was made up of scientology and dianetics services The churchs revenues however, remain a long way off from the 484,070 of 2008. A note attached to the accounts states that there is no significant uncertainty as to whether the company will be able to discharge its current liabilities as they fall due in the future and that it was appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting. Auditors for the Church, Kilcoyne and Co Accountants state that you consider that the Church of Scientology Mission of Dublin Ltd is exempt from the statutory audit requirement for the year. They state that they have not been instructed to carry out an audit or a review of the financial statements of Church of Scientology Mission of Dublin Ltd. The directors of the company are listed as the non-executive director of the Church of Scientology Mission of Dublin, Gerard Ryan and Siobhan Ryan. The Irish branch is part of a global movement established by deceased US author, L Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology states that its purpose is to transform individual lives and the world, postulating that every person is a Thetan an immortal spiritual being that lives through countless lifetimes. Scientologists believe that Hubbard discovered the fundamental truths of existence and they revere him as the source of the religion. The Deise Refugee Response Group held a public meeting where people suggested ways that Syrian families, who have been relocated here due to war, can feel a sense of inclusiveness. These families efforts to overcome the many obstacles and hurdles put in their way (through no fault of their own) deserves, at the very least, our compassion, patience and kindness but most of all action to help, read a statement by the group. The group was set up by locals in Waterford in response to seeing the image of three-year-old Alan Kurdis body washed up on a Turkish beach in September 2015. Since then, the group has been working to help Syrian people who have been relocated here, in particular helping refugees who arrive at the reception and orientation centre, formerly the Clonea Strand Hotel outside Dungarvan. This was set up under the Irish Refugee Resettlement Programme. The work over the last year and a half has led to Syrian refugees, formerly resident at a west Waterford reception and orientation centre, raising funds for their compatriots following in their footsteps. Some actions that have taken place include group meals. Some Syrians who were formerly resident at the centre recently cooked a giant meal from Arab and Syrian recipes in order to raise funds. The Waterford group collects food, toys and supplies for Syrian families in need of help. Dolls, clothes and cots for dolls, as well as colouring pencils are collected for the young child refugees also. Ballinroad Soccer Club has also invited all of the families in the Clonea centre to use their facilities and soccer boots are also now being collected for the children. After the meeting last Friday a statement was released on behalf of the Deise Refugee Response Group: To all the families at Clonea past, present and future. Thank you for welcoming us into your lives and connecting with us with your open hearts and minds and teaching us that. All any of us ever have is the present moment. We are one. Housam Ziad, who lives in Ireland, spoke about his experiences of what life was like before the war in Syria and having to leave under extremely difficult conditions in the midst of hostilities, leaving behind family members and friends. The purpose of the meeting was to come up with events that would give the Syrians in Waterford a sense of belonging again. Ireland has pledged to take 4,000 refugees from various areas of conflict by the end of 2017. Waterford hosted 90 refugees in 2015; and a further 40 in 2016. Stephen Lynch died when he was hit by a car at Brookview Close, Tallaght at about 7pm on Thursday, and gardai believe he was deliberately targeted. It is believed Mr Lynch became involved in an altercation with a number of men who were in a silver Ford Focus, which was then driven at him. The driver of the car left the scene on foot. Mr Lynch died at the scene. It is believed that some of those involved in the incident may have fled the scene in a red Volkswagen Polo which was later found abandoned in Crumlin. Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, gardai said Mr Lynch was not involved in any criminal activity. Mr Lynch was on the road and there was a collision or an impact with a vehicle, and it was as a result of the impact that he died, said Superintendent Peter Duff, from Tallaght Garda Station. The circumstances surrounding that are what were investigating at the moment, he said. If anyone saw any altercation, were appealing to them to come forward to us. We are appealing for anyone who was in the Brookview area between 6.30pm and 8pm to contact us at Tallaght Garda Station. Stephen Lynch We are also appealing for anyone who saw the movements of a silver Ford Focus hatchback, registration 10 WW 1812, or a red-wine coloured Volkswagen Polo which is 01 D 9539. Were appealing to anyone who saw those cars in the Tallaght or the Crumlin area to contact us, said Supt Duff. The silver Ford Focus remained here at the scene, but the Red Volkswagen Polo was found abandoned in the Crumlin area, so anyone who was between here and the general Crumlin area who may have seen the car last night, may have passed the car, contact us please, he said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Tallaght Garda Station 01 666 6000 the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda station. According to figures released by Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone, there were 25,189 open child welfare and protection cases nationwide at the end of January. Of those, 80% or 20,173 had an allocated social worker. Of the remaining 5,016, 1,287 were classed low priority, 2,886 medium priority and 843 high priority. Ms Zappone, in answer to a parliamentary question from Sinn Feins Donnchadh O Laoghaire, said that of the 843 high priority cases awaiting allocation, 271 are waiting less than a month, 194 one to three months, and 378 in excess of three months. The responses from 1,427 students from 10 secondary schools in Munster, alongside the views of 77 teachers, shows that while the majority of those questioned believe science is an important subject in general, getting people to engage with it as a subject continues to be a challenge. The research, conducted by Beulah McManus and submitted to the University of Limerick, suggests that various factors play a role in whether or not a student engages with science as a subject from the role of teachers and parents, to whether or not any introduction to science at primary level has primed children for the subject at second level. It also said: Teachers and students agree that the junior cycle science course is so outdated, with a high proportion of comments from students and teachers referring to the science course as lacking relevance to [students] everyday lives. According to the research: It appears that, in the main, students do find science at school interesting but do not necessarily look forward to science class or want to study as much science as possible in school. It appears that students generally have an extreme view on it, either loving it or hating it. It also suggested that many of the students who reported enjoying science stated that they have done so ever since they were a child. While 83.5% of students surveyed agreed science is important for helping us to understand the world, the responses showed that this did not translate into the number of people wanting to continue studying it. According to the study: The perception of science in school as a difficult subject was ubiquitous in the data. Despite students general belief that science is a difficult subject, the majority of those surveyed (58.4%) would like to study a science subject for their Leaving Certificate, with just less than a quarter (22.0%) stating that they would not like to further their studies of science for the Leaving Certificate. However, very few students would like to become a scientist or would like to work with people who make discoveries in science, even though many believed science has opened their eyes to new and exciting jobs. While two-thirds of third years agreed that science in school is interesting, 76.4% claimed they dont understand the point of studying science in school. The study also noted how transcripts from students focus groups indicated that science is not done or studied to a great extent in primary school, despite its introduction in the primary school curriculum in 2003. Teachers also suggested the primary school introduction to science and open days may lead to false expectations. One teacher referred to pressure to put on flash/bang magic shows and students think all classes will be like this. The studys recommendations include looking at the interactions between students and science teachers as students progress through junior cycle. THERES a joke doing the rounds about a visiting student who thought the proper response when somebody admired your clothes was to say, Thanks, Penneys! Its testament to the popularity of the ubiquitous Irish, and now international, retailer churning out affordable fashion season upon season and it equally applies to its homeware brand, which sees a design overhaul twice a year. Heading up this process is Sinead McDonagh, a woman whose career started as an assistant designer for Sanimi, a London-based luxury womenswear brand which counted the then Kate Middleton among its clients. The Ibiza Wanderlust look speaks of never ending holidays in sunny places, sleeping on beaches and absorbing the local culture and party spirit of this Mediterranean island. Duvet cover, from 15, embroidered statement cushion, 10, tassel cushion 12, circular cushion 6, yellow cushion 6. There followed a period with another high street stalwart, Marks and Spencer, before a brief stint at Penneys as a junior lingerie buyer before Sinead moved onto cosmetic brand, Clarins. Three years ago she returned to Penneys as a designer and trend forecaster. She has responsibility for producing 15 looks each year, six for spring/summer, six for autumn/winter, with three more for Christmas, so shes constantly on the lookout for inspiration and travel not always to trade shows informs what makes its way into the collections and ultimately, our homes. India is always fantastic for colour inspiration, she says, as well as beautiful embellishment and embroidered textiles. Scandinavia, on the other hand, is great for a cleaner minimal look. I also look to what is trending in fashion as this often motivates new trends. The Cuban Zen look by Penneys for home interiors this spring includes the flamingo light 14, mug 2.50, mirror wall hanging 5, rug, 7, Cuban leaf embossed throw 9, zen duvet from 11. Last years travels have inspired two key trends for spring and summer this year Cuban Zen and Ibiza Wanderlust. The first conjures the laid-back Caribbean vibe of this island paradise with its sugar-white beaches and tobacco fields. Airy pale pinks and greens feature in leafy patterned duvets, rugs and cushions, like an homage to the pastel painted houses of Old Havana. Sharpening up this essentially feminine look, Sinead has added robust pineapple candle holders, prints of exotic toucans, and ornamental flamingos, adding tropical elements so we can pretend its 30 degrees outside. Closer to home, a hip holiday destination for the party crowd has informed Sineads inspiration for Ibiza Wanderlust a casual, laid back and breezy look. Soft pastels are highlighted with bright neons, staying true to the traditional textiles of the party island, she explains. Cuban Zen offers the elephant pillow cushion 8, bubble glass votive 5, geo potted plant 6, aloha plaque 2, faux cactus 3.50, printed throw 5, Cuban tassel pillow 10. Its a youthful look, and with Cuban Zen, its testament to the broad age group of the Penneys shopper. I constantly have the customers needs in mind, she says. We have many different customers who shop our collections and we try to cater for all, whether youre a student furnishing your new flat share, a couple wanting on-trend home decor or a parent updating a childs room. Both looks take a dip-in-dip-out approach which allows the home interiors enthusiast to introduce many elements for a brand new room look, or to select one or two elements to brighten up a tired bed or sofa. As the antitheses of the typical Irish summer, they create images of intense balmy heat and aspirational holiday destinations with the addition of some witty styling layers Fun is the main theme in this selection for Pennys Ibiza Wanderlust look and includes a flamingo inflatable 12, the watermelon towel 20 and velour towel 5. Theyre also a departure from the 2016 collection when inspiration drew on the Nordic countries cooler climes to feature soft whites and cool blues in traditional patterns, which informed the Laundered & Humble look, warmed slightly by the lightest lavender hue and the softness of round and heart-shaped cushions, before journeying south to North Africa for a vibrant orange-based look featuring detailed prints and blue detailing. So whats bubbling for Sinead now that the spring summer looks have hit the shelves and the autumn winter season looms in the not too distant future? While we work a year in advance when developing our collections, we still allow ourselves scope to react throughout a season, she says. Im always on the lookout for the next street-trend bubbling up. One of the newest trends happening in interiors at the moment and continuing into autumn, is the need to live our lives at a slower pace, emerging as a backlash to the always-on tech culture we now live in, so we are seeing a shift towards decluttering your mind and home. Youll see this trend reflected in our autumn winter Minimalux and our comforting hygge story launching in September. Smile? You must be joking. Like the six in ten people who this week told pollsters they found it hard to smile, I, too, am inclined to skip the grin and just bear it. Healthcare retailers Superdrug found that 66% of people were too stressed to smile. And yes, theres a lot to be solemn about, but the reason Im afraid to open my mouth, these days, is not stress but fear Ill out myself as an unreconstructed female; one who hasnt quite cottoned on to the fact that dazzling white teeth are the new, oh I dont know, all-over spray tan/shoes/must-have accessory. Though, new is probably pushing it because, for quite some time now, youre the odd one out if you dont have American film-star teeth; big, white and straight like the newly painted lines of a zebra crossing. And its getting worse or maybe I should say better. I passed a woman on the street the other day who had teeth so glaringly white they looked like they might have come off a colour-palette test card for paint. In fact, its a wonder dental whitening clinics dont include the kind of poetic names used by the manufacturers of paint along with their promise of cosmetic transformation. Didnt you always want a white dove smile? No? Then perhaps a different shade of white: slipper satin, cotton ball, cloud white, bone white, man-on-the-moon white, pocket-watch white, great-white-shark white?* I made up only one of those, though it might be hard to tell which one. In dental terms, the convention when teeth-whitening, I understand, is to match your newly whitened teeth to the white of your eye. If that is so, then the whites of our smiling Irish eyes have never been more glistening, more glaring, more incandescently glowing. It is, surely, a sign of progress. Theres no harm in it except to your pocket if you heed the Irish Dental Association and get the procedure down safely and professionally. The EU has already put guidelines in place banning products that contain more than 6% of the whitening chemical, hydrogen peroxide. On a little aside, Ive just come across an article on the amazing benefits of hydrogen peroxide as well as being an excellent tooth-whitener, its good for foot fungus, mite infections and wound care. That little piece of information along with the thought of having to listen to the terrifying snap of the dentists rubber glove when its not a matter of excruciating toothache, will wipe the smile off this particular face for some time to come. In any case, where does it all end? Whats the good of having a white smile if it is a crooked smile? White is no good without straight, is it? Before you know it, you and your white teeth have disappeared down the rabbit hole into the world of invisible braces and orthodontics. I miss the days when dental advice was a simple exhortation to brush twice a day. Now, youre not down with the celebs unless you strengthen, straighten and whiten. Though, we cant lay this on the celebs. Or at least not on all of them. Cynthia Nixon, who plays poet Emily Dickenson in A Quiet Passion, tells the revealing story of a photographer who, during a shoot, told her to keep smiling: Yes, he said, thats lovely, amazing, brilliant. Then he added: I love your teeth. Dont get them fixed. Mind you, her teeth look pretty fixed to me, but then my eyes whites and all are clearly not properly adjusted to what constitutes grooming, 21st century-style. Im stuck in a past that looked upon a slightly crooked eye tooth as a thing of charm; a small individual idiosyncrasy that set its owner apart from the herd. In family albums, youll still find people whose teeth are untouched and obviously their own the cigarette-stained smile of a loved one here; the misaligned front teeth of a granduncle there; their dental formations as much a part of their personality as their facial features. In years to come, there will be no such variations; just rows and rows of porcelain perfection. Any talk of teeth always reminds of a dentist acquaintance who said he was very bad on names but extremely good with teeth. When he met a person, he didnt know who was in front of him until they opened their mouth. Then he had it in a split second; their smile opening up before him like an address book with name and mobile number. That poor man will be lost now, but I cant help thinking weve all lost something with the rush to mass produce the perfect smile. Its not that Im against good dental care or, indeed, progress. Thank heavens for advances in dentistry, which have brought with them an ease to the pain and agony that must have afflicted so many of our ancestors. If you want horror stories, you dont have to look much further than the history of dentistry. If you needed false teeth in the 19th century, for instance, you might have been offered a set that had been harvested from the corpses on the battlefield after Waterloo. The desire to have the pearliest of pearly whites is not even new, though the recent stampede surely is. In 1939, toothpaste enriched with a certain type of Milk of Magnesia promised to turn the dingiest teeth to snowy white. Strangely enough, the desire for that dazzling smile hasnt done much for toothbrush sales. The Irish Dental Association website has a fascinating section called Trivia. One of its items informs us that even in these white-teeth obsessed days, only 46% of Irish households buy toothbrushes. How can we interpret that? Does it mean that 54% get them second-hand, or dont even bother at all? Now theres something to take the smile off your face. *Great-white-shark white is a complete fabrication, but of course you knew that. It was a tough and trying time for those with cystic fibrosis (CF) and their families. As the drug that had been shown to change lives won awards around Europe, it remained beyond the reach of CF sufferers on these shores. Even as a country with the highest incidence of the disease in the world (per head of population), and three times the rate of the US and the rest of the EU, Irish patients could only look helplessly on as other countries reached pricing and reimbursement deals with the makers of Orkambi, the wonder drug recognised as providing considerable additional benefit to people with CF who have two copies of the F508del gene mutation. At Christmas, Germany paved the way for its patients after reaching a deal with manufacturer Vertex, joining Austria, France, and the US. By then, Vertex and Orkambi had won both the prestigious French Prix Galien for the most promising rare disease medicine in 2016 and the Drug Discovery of the Year courtesy of the British Pharmacological Society. Yet despite glowing and growing proof of efficacy, efforts to reach a deal here dragged on and on forcing CF patients, family and friends to take to the streets, shout from the rooftops and march on the Dail, sensing that their shot at securing Orkambi was in the last chance saloon. For some, that chance, when it did come, came too late. Grainne Golden, from Cartron Point, Sligo, succumbed to CF in February 2016, at just 21 years of age. There were three things she asked us to do before she died, recalls her mother, Terri. Literally, with her dying breath, she asked that we continue to campaign for Orkambi, that we fight for better lives for those who live with CF, and that we campaign for opt-out [instead of the current opt-in system] of organ donation. And so, in memory of Grainne, known to her friends as GG, Terri took up her beloved daughters campaign and took to the streets with other members of the CF community calling for the Government to fund the drug that could throw patients a lifeline. Aisling Golden from Sligo, holding a poster of her sister Grainne at a protest at Leinster House, Dublin, last month. Perhaps the most public face of that campaign was Jillian McNulty, aged 41, who had the benefit of Orkambi as part of a clinical trial in Ireland. It transformed her life. The year before I went on it, I was in sharp decline, says Jillian. It was really scary. Friends were dying, average age 28/29. I had severely reduced lung function, no energy. I had to sit down to shower. I felt death was imminent. She got on an Orkambi trial in St Vincents University Hospital. It was, she says, like winning the Lotto. But she couldnt tell anyone. When you are on the trial, you are not allowed to speak about it publicly, she says. Its part of the contract with Vertex. But everyone in the CF community had heard of the wonder drug. GG, who was a friend of Jillians, guessed she was on it. Shed noticed I was spending less and less time in hospital, Jillian says. Everyone knew the drug was there in a trial setting but people didnt know who was on it. As soon as the 18-month trial ended, Jillian was cleared to speak out. She started speaking out two-and-a-half years ago and hasnt stopped since. It was never her intention to become the poster girl of the Orkambi campaign but that is essentially what happened. With every setback, she took to social media and to the airwaves, she contacted radio stations and newspapers, and, as time went on, she organised Dail protests. I wanted to tell people about Orkambi. I wanted the CF community to see that there was hope and sometimes hope is all we have, says Jillian. It wasnt all plain sailing. Some parents of CF children questioned her motivation. I was accused of wanting to be pictured with TDs, of wanting to get my picture in the paper, says Jillian. I was bullied and criticised. But it was a small minority. And when you put yourself out there, there are always going to be critics But I know why Im doing it and I dont care what others think. She was fast off the blocks when the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) recommended in June last year that Orkambi not be funded at the submitted price of 160,000 per patient per annum, although it recognised the health benefits of the drugs. Cystic Fibrosis Ireland (CFI) expressed its dismay but opted not to put the boot in as it sought to give breathing space to the Government to negotiate with Vertex. That goodwill evaporated in November amid reports that the HSEs drugs advisory committee was set to endorse the NCPEs position. The clamour started for intervention and Health Minister Simon Harris was forced into the debate. Jillian says they had tried to get former health minister Leo Varadkar to back their campaign. He seemed supportive, but he did nothing, she says. Cystic fibrosis campaigner Jillian McNulty. I wanted the community to see that there was hope. Mr Harris, she says, was a different ballgame. He appeared to have compassion. The campaigners upped the ante. There were TV appearances. Dail protests. At one stage in March, Mr Harris asked Jillian to call off a planned protest because negotiations with Vertex were at a delicate stage. The request got out and caused outrage. Campaigners were running out of patience. The negotiations had dragged on too long. People were losing heart and for others, time was simply running out. And then the improbable happened. At a price rumoured to be 100,000 per patient per annum, the State struck a deal in principle with Vertex. And not only for the reimbursement of Orkambi, which could benefit 550 patients, but also for the extension of a second Vertex wonder drug, Kalydeco, to children aged 2-5, previously available to those aged six and over. And, crucially, looking to the future, the agreement will cover what are known as pipeline drug therapies in other words, drugs currently in development that may outshine existing therapies or that may throw a lifeline to the 30% of the CF population that still has no drug to treat the underlying cause of the condition in Ireland. News of the breakthrough with Vertex came in a good week for CF campaigners. It came on Wednesday so that, instead of leading a planned protest outside Leinster House, an ecstatic Jillian could be seen hugging Mr Harris on Kildare St. It came on the eve of CFs annual fundraiser, 65 Roses Day. CFI was jubilant. Thanks to the minister were heartfelt. Marisa Reidy, from Abbeydorney, Co Kerry, celebrated at the Munster Rugby open training session at Musgrave Park with her Munster-mad daughter Hanna OConnell, almost seven years old, who has CF. Munster Rugby players Billy Holland and Simon Zebo with cystic fibrosis sufferer Hanna OConnell from Abbeydorney, Co Kerry. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision We were involved in the campaign in Kerry and even though Hanna wont get Orkambi until she is 12, her future is looking brighter, Marisa says. Terri Golden is celebrating too, although the victory is bitter-sweet. It brings a lot of emotions to the fore but I am looking forward to hearing good stories about CF patients instead of all the bad stories we normally hear, she says. So many others have died and gone before Grainne. GGs uncle, Declan Meaney, has organised a Easter Sunday Family Fun Day in Cree, Kilrush, Co Clare, and Terri says it will be a time to celebrate rather than mourn. Jillian is hopeful that having access to Orkambi will spare her parents further mourning and the trauma of burying a third child. My brother Derek, who had CF, died in the 1970s when there were very few options for CF patients,she says. He was five-and-a-half. A second brother, Gary, who had special needs, also died. My Mam and Dad have had it tough and now they dont need to worry about burying a third child. Next week, Jillian heads to New York and Boston for a well-deserved holiday. She will visit Vertex HQ in Boston as part of the trip, undertaken at her own expense. Previously, she provided testimony in Washington on the benefits of Orkambi to the Food and Drug Administration, the US body that regulates the drug market. She was part of an FDA advisory committee, the only person from outside the USA invited to testify. She even met the creator of Orkambi, Fred Van Goor. What makes Dr Van Goors drug special is that it slows the progression of CF and significantly reduces exacerbations or sudden worsening of the condition that leads to hospitalisation. Terri Golden hopes that, one day, instead of treating an incurable disease, a cure will be found. Then we change what the letters CF stand for. Instead of cystic fibrosis, they will stand for Cure Found. "One Piece' Chapter 863 spoilers reveal that Luffy will continue to deploy his plan to assassinate Big Mom. In the previous chapter, the Yonkou was not successful in her attempt to assassinate the Vinsmoke clan. The previous chapter featured several clones of Luffy attacking Big Mom simultaneously. There are also some leaks saying that the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates will meet Monkey D. Dragon. Could This Be Big Mom's End? It seems that Katakuri, the second son of Big Mom, has met his match in Luffy. The pirate has so many things going on that it became difficult for the short-term 'prophet' to use his Haki to see the immediate future. In "One Piece" Chapter 862, Luffy has unleashed many of his clones and attack Big Mom. With so many Luffys attacking her at the same time, does Big Mom stand a chance? Monkey D. Dragon Will Appear Other "One Piece' Chapter 863 spoilers indicate that Luffy will meet Monkey D. Dragon. Fans will recall that this character has saved Luffy in the past. In the upcoming chapter, this mysterious but powerful character will reveal things to Luffy that the pirate never knew before. It appears that their meeting will happen after the pirate's assault against the Yonkou. Many fans believe that Monkey D. Dragon is a very powerful being that can command the weather. This character also possesses a powerful thing called the Devil Fruit. He also plans to take down the world government using his amazing powers. In some spoilers of "One Piece" Chapter 863, he will tell Luffy the reason why he left the pirate, and perhaps convince Luffy to join his cause. Luffy Will Learn His Mother's Backstory However, other "One Piece' Chapter 863 spoilers reveal that Luffy might reject Monkey D. Dragon's invitation since he wants to pursue his own dreams. There are also some leaks suggesting that this powerful being will inform Luffy what happened to his mother. This could mean the manga will have a new arc that will feature the back story of Luffy's mother. Today Windy with a mix of clouds and sun. High around 80F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low 59F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tomorrow Sun and a few passing clouds. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 69F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. THIS is the photo snowboarder Rhys Peaceys friends and family never thought they would see. Just two months ago, the popular 22 year old, of Northwood, was hovering between life and death in a French hospital after suffering terrible head injuries in a hit-and-run accident. Now, Rhys is well on the way to an odds-defying recovery from the accident, which nearly cost him his life. As previously reported, Rhys was the victim of a hit-and-run incident in the town of Chamonix in the French Alps in early February, which left him in a coma. However, just weeks after his parents were being told by doctors to prepare for the worst, Rhys is back on the Island and is undergoing rehabilitation at St Marys Hospital. Every day, Rhyss parents and many friends see huge improvements in his condition and they are hopeful he will make a full recovery. Now, they want to thank Rhyss friends on the Island as well as staff at St Marys rehabilitation unit who have supported him. Rhyss mother, Suzanne, who has been by her sons side almost constantly since the accident, said: His recovery is nothing short of miraculous. The French surgeon turned round and said Rhys was his miracle. He could not believe Rhys had woken up. Rhyss father, Adam, 56, said he had been totally out of his mind with worry but since Rhys had returned to the IW, he had witnessed an amazing improvement in his sons condition. Suzanne added: It makes you realise how precious life is and how quickly your life can be devastated. Every single person in my family has been fantastic. One of Rhyss best friends, Dan Davies, 22, said: We have noticed a huge improvement. Every couple of days, you get an improvement. Another friend, Connie Williamson, also 22, added: He is very determined. It has been an amazing recovery so far. Caroline Bird, clinical lead physiotherapist in rehabilitation at St Marys, said: Rhys has been participating well in therapy and working hard towards his rehabilitation goals since returning to St Marys Hospital. Rhys has demonstrated good potential and will continue to work within the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team towards optimising his recovery. The chief financial officer of Hanesbrands Inc., Richard Moss, is retiring at years end, the company said this week. Moss, 59, has been a top-five executive with Hanesbrands since its 2006 spin-off from Sara Lee, taking over as chief financial officer in October 2011. The company plans an internal and external search for his successor. Moss was paid $575,000 in salary, incentive pay of $763,485 and total compensation of $3.26 million for fiscal 2016. Moss played a key role in helping Hanesbrands significantly reduce the debt it took on as part of the spin-off as well as developing a strong balance sheet that enabled the company to grow through international expansion, acquisitions and internal capital investments. The Winston-Salem company also issued early first-quarter earnings projections in which it expects to meet analysts adjusted earnings-per-share forecasts. Hanes projects first-quarter net sales of $1.38 billion, as well as a range of diluted earnings of 19 to 20 cents, down from the previous forecast of 21 to 24 cents. Hanesbrands said it would take between $35 million and $40 million in pretax acquisition-related integration charges related to Hanes Europe Innerwear, Hanes Australasia, Knights Apparel and Champion Europe businesses. Adjusted earnings are projected at 28 to 29 cents, compared with guidance of 27 to 29 cents earlier. The average forecast is 28 cents by eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Analysts typically do not include one-time gains and charges in their forecasts. Hanesbrands releases its first-quarter report after the market closes May 2. Moss retirement is the third major management shift for the Winston-Salem company in the past six months. Richard Noll transitioned from chief executive and chairman to executive chairman in October, being replaced by Gerald Evens as chief executive. Rick has been an invaluable leader in our organization, Evans said in a statement. I know Rick has been looking forward to retirement, and I am grateful that he committed to staying on through my transition as chief executive. Moss said that this is an opportune time for me and the company to plan my retirement. Hanesbrands is a very successful company that is well-positioned to continue creating strong shareholder value for many years. Stifel analyst Jim Duffy said that the new Hanesbrands chief financial officer will face challenging acquisition integrations and accounting complexities. The Hanesbrands CFO position will not be an easy role to inherit, Duffy said. The first-quarter earnings and sales guidance comes at a time when Hanesbrands share price has been on a roller coaster ride much of the past 12 months. Following a sizable fourth-quarter earnings miss, the share price plunged below $19 for the first time since April 2014. The share price closed Thursday up 15 cents to $21.26, but still down 30 percent from its 52-week high of $30.42 on April 28. Were off to a strong start in 2017, and we are diligently focused on daily execution and performance, Evans said. This year is an important transition as we set the foundation of another decade of success. The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2017 guidance of sales in a range of $6.45 billion to $6.55 billion and adjusted earnings in a range of $1.93 to $2.03. Duffy said Hanesbrands appears to be executing to plan amidst North American retail challenges that continue to impede organic growth. Evans said the retail climate was likely to remain choppy through the first quarter. Evans said about 1,200 U.S. retail stores closed in 2016, some of which were affected by more consumers shopping online for apparel. We anticipate some more store closings, as well as some inventory pruning, Evans said. But thats really the great thing about our multifaceted business is while weve planned that flat (for innerwear sales), weve got a lot of other levers to pull in and were certainly going to continue to drive our online growth very hard. Duffy said he remains comfortable with a hold rating while we search for indications that the organic business has stabilized. Bowman Gray IV, a local independent stock broker, said the twin earnings announcements were reassuring to the markets given that they were either at or above some analyst expectations. Gray praised Moss for doing a commendable job given all Hanesbrands has been through over the last few years in navigating many acquisitions and executive changes. Assuming the financial guidance holds and there are no surprises on the earnings call, investors should continue to exercise patience, as I suspect given some time, they will be rewarded. SAM is on vacation, so we are running some classic answers this week. Please keep sending your questions in to asksam @wsjournal.com so we can keep him busy when he gets back. Q: How did the Easter Bunny get the name Peter Cottontail? I mean, I know why a rabbit would be referred to as having a cotton tail, but how did that specific name come about? R.B. Answer: The name actually derives from a 1914 childrens book, The Adventures of Peter Cottontail by childrens story author Thornton Burgess. The characters actual name was Peter Rabbit, and he had originated with writer Beatrix Potter, who named the character after her childhood pet rabbit Peter Piper. Burgess tried briefly to call his rabbit Peter Cottontail, according to a 1944 article in Life Magazine. But he went back to Peter Rabbit for, as Peter himself said, Theres nothing like the old name after all. He continued to write about the character as Peter Rabbit, but the temporary nickname took off separately, perhaps helped along in 1949 by a popular Easter song, Here Comes Peter Cottontail, written by Jack Rollins and Steven Nelson, the same duo who later wrote Frosty the Snowman. Q: Where did the tradition of the Easter Bunny come from? J.H. Answer: In his book Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, author Charles Panati traces the origins to pre-Christian customs celebrating the goddess Eastre, who was worshiped by Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the hare. Eastre was the goddess of springtime, and rabbits were often associated with fertility. Second-century Christian missionaries learned of the celebrations in honor of her when they were trying to convert the Teutonic tribes north of Rome. Whenever possible, the missionaries did not interfere too strongly with entrenched customs, according to Panati. Rather, quietly and often ingeniously they attempted to transform pagan practices into ceremonies that harmonized with Christian doctrine. If converts took part in a Christian ceremony on a day when no other people were celebrating, they could become targets for persecution. But if a Christian rite took place on the same day as a similar custom, it was less obvious. Also, having similar customs would make it easier to convince people to adopt new ways and, perhaps, convert to Christianity. Over time, more and more people converted to Christianity. The rabbits came along for the ride, and the Easter Bunny eventually became the egg-delivering scamp we know today, eggs also being a traditional symbol of fertility and the renewal of life. Q: What is the story behind the Easter lily? R.B. Answer: Lilies are mentioned several times in the Bible, including Jesus reference in Matthew 6:28: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. Some religious traditions say that white lilies sprang up from drops of Jesus sweat during his crucifixion, or that lilies were found in Marys tomb three days after her death. Church paintings of Mary and the baby Jesus often featured lilies as symbols of purity. Easter lilies gained widespread popularity (and, presumably, their name) because they bloom around Easter time. 04/14/2017 Chemist Jan Gryko Classic lecture does not need to be boring, said Dr. Jan Gryko, JSU professor of chemistry, and this is a motto that he puts into practice in his classroom. Gryko finished his masters in chemistry at Warsaw University in Poland in 1973, and six years later, earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Gryko specializes in materials science, crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance. He has completed research in the field of open framework materials and thermoelectrics, application of density functional methods to study new materials, and educational use of quantum mechanics. This year marks the 20th anniversary since Gryko arrived at JSU. What does the Polish chemist think makes JSU special? We provide unique one-on-one interaction between faculty and students because our classes are smaller than those in big research universities, he said. In chemistry, we provide full access for students to all instruments, including the very expensive NMR, SEM, and GCMS. When asked what he enjoys most about teaching, Gryko responded, To see that smile on a face of a student who just learned something new and very important that she/he did not expect at all. While many students might fear a chemistry class, Gryko believes in making his courses engaging. He includes numerous demonstrations, especially in General Chemistry classes, and displays outline materials in the classroom and online. I also include at least one or two commercials to break the lecture and tell students something related to the lecture, he said. For example, I use historical remarks or acceptable stories from biographies of great chemists or physics. An example from todays organic chemistry lecture I had to talk about chemistry and safety, and then I mentioned tattoo ink and what goes into it. Believe me, I got the attention of all students in the class! As an incentive, Gryko provides challenging problems with very generous credit, and the research he offers can help build students CVs. To further prepare students for a career in chemistry, he makes sure that his chemistry labs teach essential skills that students will need in their future work, including the use of modern instrumentation. Regarding advice he would give his students, Gryko stated, Lectures and labs are your working place. You are coming to learn as much as possible during lecture or lab. Make sure that you understand everything and ask, ask, and ask. Your instructor is there for you and she/he must answer all your questions. Start doing research in your freshman or sophomore year and make your CV stronger. JSU is lucky to have Jan Gryko engaging and preparing students for their career paths! The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] on Friday dropped a federal lawsuit against the state of North Carolina over a bill requiring transgender people to use the public bathroom associated with their birth gender. The DOJ originally filed [press release] the lawsuit against the state in May 2016. The Justice Department decided to drop the lawsuit due to North Carolinas repeal of the bill last month. The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal have stated that they will continue their lawsuit [Washington Post report] against the state. The repeal of House Bill 142, [text, PDF] included a provision that no new law regarding private employment practices or regulating public accommodations may be enacted before December 1, 2020. Critics of the bill state that this provision prevents the state from passing new laws to protect LGBT individuals. House Bill 2 has triggered a series of legal actions since its passage last year. North Carolina repealed [JURIST report] House Bill 2 last month with the passage of House Bill 142. In February, six Democrats in the North Carolina House of Representatives filed a bill [JURIST report] to repeal HB2. Last May, former governor Pat McCrory filed a complaint for declaratory judgment asking the federal court to weigh in on the legality of the bill, but withdrew [JURIST reports] from the lawsuit in September. In March 2016 North Carolina individuals and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against McCrory, claiming that the bill was unconstitutional and discriminatory. Earlier that month McCrory signed the bill into law [JURIST report], preventing local governments from enacting their own nondiscrimination ordinances and making them unable to pass laws allowing transgender people to use the public restroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity. Physician Jumana Nagarwala, was charged [DOJ press release] Thursday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website] for performing female genital mutilation (FGM) on minors out of a medical office in Livonia, Michigan. According to the complaint [text, PDF], the girls were as young as six to eight years of age and were transported from out of state by their parents or other family members secretly to the facility to perform the procedure. Federal authorities learned of Nagarwalas actions based on a tip from an unidentified source and interviews conducted of two minor victims from Minnesota who were taken by their parents to the Livonia facility to have the FGM done. This procedure has been banned in the US by 18 U.S.C. 116 [text, PDF], and any violation of this law is punishable by up to five years imprisonment. This is believed to be the first case to be prosecuted under this law in the US. Nagarwala has also been charged under 18 U.S.C. 2423 (a) and (e) for Transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and conspiracy, and under 18 U.S.C. 1001 [texts, PDFs] for making false statements to a federal officer. The first of these charges carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, while the latter can result in imprisonment of up to five years. Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco, together with other federal officials including the FBI Special Agent in Charge David Gelios, stated of these charges: The Department of Justice is committed to stopping female genital mutilation in this country, and will use the full power of the law to ensure that no girls suffer such physical and emotional abuse The FBI, along with its law enforcement partners, are committed to doing whatever necessary to bring an end to this barbaric practice and to ensure no additional children fall victim to this procedure The allegations against the defendant in this investigation are made even more deplorable, given the defendants position as a trusted medical professional in the community. .The UN, together with many human rights organizations across the world have been urging countries for several years to end the practice of FGM [WHO backgrounder]. In February 2016 former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] urged [JURIST report] all concerned countries to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM) by 2030, calling it a violent practice scarring girls for life [UN news report], endangering their health, depriving them of their rights, and denying them the chance to reach their full potential. In January 2016, former Gambia President Yahya Jammeh [BBC profile] signed a bill [JURIST report] banning FGM and condemning the practice as not commanded in the Quran. The UN has consistently campaigned for an end to FGM, labeling the practice, among other things, gender-based discrimination, torture, an affront to human dignity and an irreparable, irreversible abuse of the human rights of women and girls. In July 2014 former UK Prime Minister David Cameron [Britannica profile] announced [JURIST report] plans to enact new laws that will protect girls from the practice. In July 2013 noting the continued pervasiveness of FGM, UNICEF reported [JURIST report] a world-wide decline in the practice due to multiple campaigns intended to educate parents on the emotional and physical health risks associated with the procedure and its aftermath. In December 2009 Uganda outlawed [JURIST report] FGM. [JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] voted [UN report] Thursday to end a 13-year-long peacekeeping operation in Haiti. The council will slowly downgrade the UNs presence in Haiti to a small policing force over the next six months. Following the recommendations [text, PDF] of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres [official profile] the Council also agreed to establish the new United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH): an operation dedicated predominantly to aiding the Haitian government in strengthening its own legal institutions. MINUJUSTH is also authorized to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, within its capabilities and areas of deployment, as needed. The Council has stated that the implementation of MINUJUSTH and the general reduction of UN presence in Haiti will enable the Haitian government to become more independent and lead to a new chapter in [Haitian] history as the Mission transitions. The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti was established [UN backgrounder] in 2004 following an armed conflict which ousted then-President Bertrand Aristide. Following the Haitian earthquake [Britannica backgrounder] in 2010, the UN decided to increase its presence to aid recovery, reconstruction, and stabilization efforts. The mission also took steps to aid Haitians effected by the 2010 cholera outbreak [UN backgrounder]. However, Haiti is still recovering [BBC report] from Hurricane Matthew, which killed approximately 1,000 people in October. Along with decimating infrastructure and leaving thousands internally displaced, Hurricane Matthew threatened to interfere with the general election scheduled for November of that year. The election was scheduled after the 2015 election was met with widespread allegations of fraud. Despite the hurricane, the elections went forward, and Jovenel Moise [Al Jazeera report] was elected the nations new president. Critics are challenging his election after only 21 percentof eligible voters where able to reach the polls on election day. Many believe this is due to the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. MINUJUSTH will now be the agency to help Moise politically stabilize the nation. [JURIST] The US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) [official website] announced [press release] Thursday sanction against the Iranian prison company Tehran Prisons Organization and one of its senior officials, Sohrab Soleimani, for human rights abuses at its Evin Prison. According to the release, Former prisoners of Evin Prison have reported harsh interrogations, forced confessions, psychological and physical torture, and denial of access to medical care. The sanctions are partly a reaction to an incident in April 2014 when prison officials beat political prisoners, injuring over 30 prisoners. The Treasury Department invoked Executive Order 13553 [text, PDF], which allows it to sanction Iranian officials who commit human rights abuses. OFAC Director John E. Smith said Todays designations highlight our continued support for the Iranian people and demonstrate our commitment to hold the Government of Iran responsible for its continued repression of its own citizens. We will continue to identify, call out, and sanction those who are responsible for serious human rights abuses in Iran. Iran has already faced sanctions from the US over its nuclear weapons. In March Iran imposed [JURIST report] reciprocal sanctions on 15 US companies after the US sanctioned nations that aided Irans nuclear program. A bill renewing US sanctions against Iran for another 10 years became law [JURIST report] last December. In response to renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accused the US of breaching the nuclear agreement and has ordered the head of Irans Atomic Energy Organisation to plan the development of nuclear-powered ships. The US House had approved the extension of sanctions [JURIST report] last November. In July 2015 the US entered into the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran where the county agreed not to create a nuclear bomb in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The agreement was reached [JURIST report] after 20 months of negotiations. #Moon-NK dogs Moon returns to state two dogs gifted by N. Korea's Kim Former President Moon Jae-in returned to the state a pair of dogs that he had been in custody of since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave them as a gift in 2018, Moon's side and ... #taxi Seoul to increase late-night taxi service amid shortage The Seoul city government said Tuesday it will expand the operation of late-night taxis to cope with the growing demand for taxi service during late hours. Currently, an average... ELWOOD Ten Pride of the Prairie 4-H Club members from Gosper County, their leader Becky Chaney and volunteer mom LeahAnn Brell had the rare experience March 31-April 1 of being thankful and thanked at the same time. They took cattle feed to Ashland, Kan., just north of the Kansas-Oklahoma state line, and worked for most of two days at two of the many Clark County ranches devastated by a March 6 wildfire. The entire trip was a humbling experience, LeahAnn Brell said, because it was a tragedy also possible in Gosper County and surrounding areas. ... These ranchers whove spent their lives taking care of their livestock had just spent the last couple of weeks burying cattle and putting down ones that were suffering. As a ranchers wife, that is one very depressing scenario I hope to never experience first hand. The 461,000 acres burned are approximately 75 percent of Clark County, which is almost equal in size to Buffalo County. The Kansas wildfire carried by winds of up to 70 mph destroyed approximately 30 homes and many ranch buildings, and killed or injured thousands of cattle. Becky Chaney said she cried while watching Facebook posts about the wildfire with her twin daughters Sheridan and Rianna, 13. The 4-H club previously had donated money to help wildfire-damaged ranchers in Montana and the Dakotas. But there was an opportunity to do more at Ashland, a 4-hour drive from Elwood. The service trip plan became a God thing as the pieces came together, Becky Chaney said. There were no March 31 classes at Elwood because the school hosted a track meet. A Help for Wildfire Victims in Kansas flier she circulated less than a week before the trip resulted in a huge outpouring of donations from the Elwood community and surrounding areas. That included Theron and Katie Andrews of Andrews Feed in Elwood, who made a donation and accepted others that funded three pallets of milk replacer for orphaned calves and grain worth $3,500; Nic Niemeier, who loaned his La Crosse Seed trailer to haul supplies to Ashland; $100 in gas cards; $100 for food; and fencing pliers and leather gloves donated by the Orscheln store in Lexington and Aurora Co-op in Elwood. Becky Chaney said a $1,000 check ($850 collected and the difference from the 4-H club) was presented to Ashland Feed & Seed for creep feed (grain for orphaned calves) and $825 in checks were given to the Ashland Community Foundation. On the road She drove a van with six 4-Hers and Brell had four kids in her Suburban, which was used to pull the supply trailer. They left at 5:30 a.m. March 31 from Elwood and started home from Ashland after noon on April 1. All volunteers coming to Ashland stay at a church camp that provides bunk beds, breakfast and supper. The Elwood group brought their own food for lunches and snacks. When Ashland saw that rural America wanted to help with this crisis, they got organized, Becky Chaney said, by designating coordinators for fencing supplies, food and water, and volunteers. When the Elwood group checked in at the church camp, she got a big hug and thank you from a woman she thought was the volunteer coordinator. She later learned the greeting was from one of the local ranchers they would help for two days (Becky and five 4-Hers on day one and the entire group on day two). Tom and Susan Betschart lost all the grass and fencing on their 320-acre Limousin cattle ranch, but no cattle. The cows miraculously survived in a pasture. Tom saved 39 bulls by cutting fences and getting them to safety in downtown Ashland. We had to roll up fence ... It was three miles worth, said 4-Her Conner Schutz, 14, explaining that burned barbed wire is more difficult to roll than new wire. Any remaining wood or steel fence posts were piled out of the way of whoever will build new fences. We had someone who would clip all the wire off the fence, someone to pull the wire off and others to roll up the barbed wire, Rianna Chaney said about the system developed by the Elwood group. Ty Smith, 16, said he was surprised by how much green grass was coming up as a result of rains that followed the fire. But you could still tell it had been black, he added. It was kind of sad because the lady we were working for said the grass had been knee-high and green, but it was all burned, Sheridan Chaney said. Susan Betschart also told her the bare ground and fine blowing dirt after the fire made her think of the 1930s Dust Bowl years. LeahAnn Brell and five 4-Hers spent their first day at the 2,000-acre Max and Marge Meuli ranch where the fire burned everything but the cement house. They moved dead trees and branches from a windbreak to a pile for later burning. All we had to work with was a four-wheeler to pull out the ones (trees) we couldnt pull out by hand, said Kennedy Brell, 14, who confirmed that the fire had burned right up to the elderly couples home. In a thank-you note, Max Meuli wrote, You really are the Pride of the Prairie 4-H Club. Coming home LeahAnn Brell said the 4-Hers saw examples of how quickly life can change and how much hope can be given by simply lending a hand. It kind of made me feel important that someone needed my help, Sheridan Chaney said. When you think about it, were all ag people. Its not about the state. Were all neighbors, Kennedy Brell added. We would hope they would help us out if we needed it. Ty Smith said the Kansas ranchers are accepting any help they can get and they appreciate it. They have to start over and build new fences and raise new cattle, he said. When asked what he brought home from the experience, Conner Schutz said, All the pictures in my head ... I told my mom that the lady (Susan Betschart) said to close my eyes. Thats how dark and smoky it was when she was trying to evacuate. The Betscharts and Meulis talked about neighbors who lost homes and all or most of their cattle. The ranchers cut fences and bulldozed around them hoping the cattle would run, but many (animals) just didnt know what to do, Becky Chaney said. Susan Betschart described watching the approaching fire from a pasture ridge. She and the Meulis both saw their vehicles nearly engulfed in fast-moving flames as they drove away from their ranches. When she (Betschart) tells the story, she still cries, Becky Chaney said. It was just humbling helping others who needed it, Rianna Chaney said. Her sister said they all wanted to stay longer and her mom said she would like to take another volunteer group to Ashland. At a supper stop in WaKenney, Kan., on the way home, the Pride of the Prairie group visited with a judge and his wife about their work in work in Ashland. The judge said it renewed his faith in young people, Becky Chaney said. When I went to pay the bill, the (restaurant) manager told me the couple had paid our entire bill. I was overwhelmed with their kindness. And what a gesture to end our trip. FRANKLIN Many helping hands have reached from rural Nebraska into southern Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle to provide aid to ranchers who lost cattle, more than 700,000 acres of grasslands, fences, homes and other buildings in a massive early March wildfire. Among the early providers of hay and other help were south-central Nebraska donors participating in a project organized by Scott and Rhonda Herrick of Franklin. Scott said hes a dealer for MasterHand Milling in Lexington, which processes distillers grain cubes. The corporate headquarters are in southwest Kansas near the wildfire area. His district manager told him MasterHand Milling would provide trucks to pick up and deliver hay if the Herricks could get the word out about needing donations. Scott said the first of 15 semitrailer loads of hay, each estimated at 12-18 tons, donated by south-central Nebraska and north-central Kansas farmers and ranchers was on its way within a week. He said some people who didnt have hay donated pallets of distillers cubes. The feed deliveries were made over 2 to three weeks. Scott said the first few loads went to Gate, Okla., and the second half were delivered around Ashland, Kan. FFA, 4-Hers get involved Rhonda, a Franklin County Extension educator, said the Franklin FFA Chapter was one of the distillers cube donors and some 4-H groups provided bags of milk replacer for calves orphaned in the fire area. Other Franklin County 4-H clubs didnt have the resources for those kinds of donations, so they made baked goods instead. It was a way for even the little kids to help, she said. It was kind of fun, Scott said. We would be loading a semi with hay and a car would pull up and someone would put a box of baked goods on the truck seat ... We called in the cookie campaign. The Herricks said the need for hay and other help will be ongoing in wildfire-damaged areas that will have limited, if any, pastures to graze this summer. So there may be other supply trips planned in the coming months. Buffalo County fund-raiser Buffalo County Extension Educator Brent Plugge said another immediate need is for cash donations to pay for veterinary care and medicines for animals hurt in the wildfires. The Buffalo County 4-H Council is encouraging 4-H families to donate and will provide matching funds of up to $1,000. Checks should be made payable to the Nebraska 4-H Foundation and donations should be dropped off at Extension office in Kearney by May 1. For more information, call 308-236-1235. KEARNEY Adults and youths may apply to Leadership Kearney classes that will begin in August. The one-year Youth Leadership Kearney program is for students attending Kearney High School, Kearney Catholic High School or home-schooled in this area and runs from August through April. Applications must be submitted during the spring of their sophomore year for program participation as juniors. The sessions will be held on the second Wednesday of each month during the school day and should not interfere with after-school activities, except for State Government Day in March. There is no cost to the youth participants, but each participant in responsible for securing their program sponsorship of $250 per person. The Adult Leadership Kearney class is a two-year program that runs from August through May for each year, and includes one day-long session most months, generally held on the second Wednesday of the month. There is a two-day overnight session required in September. Participants must live or work in the Kearney area, commit to the full 2-year program and desire to use leadership skills. Since some absence from work will be required, employers must give written permission for the program. Tuition is $450 for the Adult program and is due in full by August 1st. Financial assistance may be available based on need and request. Completed youth applications must be submitted electronically online by 5 p.m. on May 15th. Completed adult applications must be submitted electronically online by 5 p.m. on May 31st. Applicants will be selected based solely on responses to the application requirements. The applications for both programs are available online at www.leadershipkearney.com Nominations are also being accepted by sending the name and address of a colleague or business associate to the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce. A nomination is not required to apply for the program. Contact Shanna Schulte with the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce at 308-237-4671 or email sschulte@kearneycoc.org with questions. Leonard and Young each have over 20 years of mortgage lending experience. As a team they have been recognized as a top NIFA loan producer from 2009 2014. In 2015 and 2016 Leonard was named the top rural NIFA lender in Nebraska and Young was in the top 10. Top producer awards are given to the top ten loan officers who originate the most NIFA loans for first-time home buyers in Nebraska every year. KEARNEY Central Community College has announced the sale of its former building for $1.5 million to a Kearney-based business. The Kearney campus is being relocated from the current location, a converted bowling alley at 3519 Second Ave., to a new 63,000-square-foot campus at 11th Street and 30th Avenue. CCC President Greg Smith signed the purchase agreement this week after a multiple-bid process, which took less than a month, according to a news release from the college. The college must give possession of the building to the new owners by Aug. 31. CCC representatives declined to name the business purchasing the building. Central Community College is pleased that we have reached agreement on the sale of the property so quickly, Smith said. While further planning and discussions are needed, CCC is committed to keeping the proceeds of the sale in Kearney to meet community needs perhaps through development of a small business incubator. The new CCC Kearney Learning Center is expected to be completed in July with CCC moving in on Aug. 1. The focus will be on offering programs in technical sciences and skilled workforce programs. The new building will have a dedicated allied health care wing with top-of-the-line equipment, a veterans center, and high-end technical capabilities to allow for the expansion of CCCs distance-learning program. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Kearney Center will be at 11 a.m. Aug. 17. An open house that day will include tours of the new facility. KEARNEY A Kearney man has admitted to starting a fire at a womans basement apartment in January. Clifford Sellers, 31, pleaded guilty to felony first-degree arson in March in Buffalo County District Court. In exchange for his plea, a charge of felony attempted burglary was dismissed by the Buffalo County Attorneys Office. Judge John Marsh accepted Sellers plea and ordered the state probation department to conduct a presentence investigation report, including a psychological evaluation. Those reports detail a defendants background, including family and criminal history, employment, and any psychological or chemical dependency. The report will be provided to Marsh to help him issue an appropriate sentence. Sentencing will be in May. Around 6 p.m. Jan. 22, a neighbor reported seeing smoke and hearing alarms from the apartment in the 2800 block of Avenue K. As members of the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department arrived, they saw smoke and fire coming from the rear of the house. The tenant wasnt home, and the fire, which was in front of the womans basement apartment door at the bottom of the steps, was extinguished. Court records say Sellers was upset and went to the womans apartment to talk with her. The investigation revealed Sellers tried to pry open the apartment door with a knife but was unsuccessful. He then threw papers and trash in front of the apartment door and started them on fire, then ran from the scene. A knife was located in the fire debris after the fire was extinguished. Sellers was interviewed and arrested. He faces one to 50 years in prison. @HubChic KEARNEY Two New York City-based music ensembles will be performing at the University of Nebraska at Kearney as part of the New Music Series performances. Longleash, a piano trio, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Fine Arts Recital Hall of the Fine Arts Building at 2506 12th Ave. on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus. The trio extends a love of classical chamber musicianship to the interpretation of contemporary music. According the trios website, the group takes its name from a recently declassified CIA project called Operation Long Leash. The CIA hoped to promote the work of American avant-garde artists in Europe during the Cold War and subvert the Soviet system of artistic sanctions and government censorship by promoting America as a beacon of cultural enlightenment and intellectual freedom for experimental artists. Longleash will perform works by Kaija Saariaho, a contemporary composer based in Paris; Scott Wollschleger, a New York City-based composer and co-founder of the new music ensemble Red Light New Music; and Anthony, Donofrio, assistant professor of composition and theory at UNK. The Mivos Quartet, founded in 2008, will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 22, also in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. Noted as one of Americas most daring and ferocious new-music ensembles by the Chicago Reader, the Mivos Quartet has performed and closely collaborated with international composers. The quartet will perform Helmut Lachenmanns String Quartet No. 3 Grido, which is one of the most difficult works in string quartet literature. Admission to both performances is free. For more information, call Anthony Donofrio at 865-8632 or visit www.unk.edu. SHELTON Its the start of a new era for Shelton Clipper Publishing as the weekly Shelton Clipper, Gibbon Reporter and Wood River Sunbeam newspapers consolidate. The merger was bittersweet, but necessary in this always-changing business, Publisher Steve Glenn said. The Clipper Publishing staff had already been reporting news in Shelton, Gibbon and Wood River and printing the news in separate newspapers, according to an article printed in the March 16 Shelton Clipper. The newspapers were merged on April 6. As families have become more mobile, Glenn said, the makeup of communities is immensely changing. Subscriptions have gradually decreased in the past 10 years, however, Glenn appreciates the 1,400 subscribers and weekly single paper sales in Gibbon, Shelton, Wood River, Cairo and Alda. Our most loyal subscribers are the staple of our communities, Glenn said. The consolidation had more to do with news coverage and product design, Glenn said. Shelton Clipper Publishing redesigned its product and added more editorial content, allowing the staff to be more creative and add more color. Likewise, the subscribers will be able to keep up on activities and events going on in a larger area. Whether its grandkids or friends, Glenn said, readers will stay connected and know whats happening in surrounding towns. Feedback from the communities has been tremendously positive, Glenn said of the consolidation. Readers are very happy with the added news coverage, redesign and use of color. It may take more than one cup of coffee to read the new Clipper slogan has a whole new meaning now that the paper is filled with three times the news. I received a thank you note in the mail last week from Violet W. who said Thank you for the new and improved newspaper. The Clipper did require a large cup of coffee, congratulations! Needless to say, that did make my day that someone would take the time to send a thank you note, Glenn said. Town and school coverage have remained the same for the Shelton Clipper. Its territory includes the Gibbon, Shelton, Wood River and Cairo districts. Schools have so many programs offered for our youths and we love celebrating their successes, Glenn said. Readers are still charged the same subscription rates as before, Glenn said. The newspaper also is offered through email delivery, with no change to that rate. The advertising rates did change. Advertisers that used all three newspapers in the past get a reduced rate. The newspaper website is updated weekly with photos and teasers for upcoming articles and local events. In its 138 years, the Shelton Clipper takes pride in its history and will continue to document it through the Clipper. In addition, the Gibbon Reporter and the Wood River Sunbeam have each been published well over 100 years. Much of history has been documented in the pages of the newspapers and will continue through the Clipper, Glenn said. Glenn expressed his gratitude to the many Shelton Clipper contributors. Being a community newspaper, we are not too concerned about what happens in Washington, D.C., Chicago or even Omaha. We leave that up to the bigger newspapers. We concentrate on the news that affects our area, our people, he said. Our motto of Our Towns ... Our People lives through each page week after week, he said. It is not governments role to pick and choose which businesses succeed and which do not, yet Nebraskas current sales tax laws are favoring some businesses over others and should be updated to reflect the times. Nebraska statute ought to require online retailers to collect sales taxes and send the revenue to the state. Thats what brick-and-mortar businesses have been doing since Nebraskas state sales tax was instituted in the 1960s. Now it is time for state government to stop playing favorites and level the field by requiring online retailers to collect sales tax just as the rest of the businesses in our state are doing. Not requiring online retailers to collect sales tax affords them a price advantage and places brick-and-mortar retailers at a disadvantage. We wholeheartedly endorse passage of LB44, the solution for our sales tax dilemma. Rather than relying on an honor system in which online shoppers voluntarily report their purchases who does that? LB44 would clarify things by requiring online retailers to collect taxes on their transactions and remit the revenues to the state. Some in the Nebraska Legislature, perhaps spooked by Gov. Pete Ricketts concerns about the constitutionality of LB44, have expressed reservations over its passage. They fear a costly legal battle such as South Dakota is waging over its online sales tax law. We can appreciate those concerns. A legal battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court could consume millions of dollars in state resources and stymie Nebraskas quest for months or years to level the field for brick-and-mortar retailers. No Nebraskan wants to see state government in a legal quagmire. Fortunately, state Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse was aware of South Dakotas problems and patterned his LB44 after Colorados online sales tax law. The Colorado version has already survived court challenges, meaning Nebraska will be shielded by Colorados case history. Ricketts wants no part of legal battles and threatens to veto LB44, then wait until federal courts have addressed all questions. The governor cant be faulted for his prudence, except that theres no telling how long other states sales tax questions might be entangled in court. In the meantime, the brick-and-mortar businesses that have always collected sales taxes will continue operating at a disadvantage. Thats an unfair scenario that Nebraska lawmakers can rectify by passing LB44. Saving for higher education expenses is a major financial goal for many families. Remember it is always cheaper to save now rather than borrowing later. In most cases the Nebraska 529 plan is the best way for residents to save for the cost of higher education. A 529 Plan is named after part of the tax code that allows states to set up a tax deferred savings plan. You can use the savings and earnings within the 529 to pay for qualified educational expenses. This includes college, community college, graduate school or trade schools including on-line courses. As of last year you can also use the money for certain technology items like computers and printers. Each state has one or more 529 plans. Nebraska happens to have a great direct 529 plan. Go to www.nest529direct.com. If you just go to your local broker or financial advisor you might get their canned plan that they sell and it will probably be with another state. You should use a Nebraska 529 plan because Nebraska is one of the states that have up to a $10,000 state tax deduction. But only if you are a resident of the state, use Nebraskas 529 plan and are the owner of the account. It doesnt matter what 529 plan you use, the money can be used anywhere for qualified educational expenses. If you roll another states 529 plan into the Nebraska plan you are eligible to receive the tax benefit. The person who sets up the 529 account is the owner and they control the account and name a beneficiary. The beneficiary can be a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, friend or even yourself as long as the money is to be used for higher education. You name a successor owner when you set up the account and you can change the beneficiary later if you wish. When the beneficiary gets closer to college age this may become important because federal student aid eligibility depends on who owns income and the assets. To get federal student aid you must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form commonly known as the FAFSA and renew it each year. This form is to determine the students expected family contribution (EFC) toward higher education. Each year 50 percent of a students income and up to 20 percent of their assets are counted as available to pay educational expenses. 47 percent of the parents income and 5.64 percent of their assets are also counted. So assets in the students name like UTMA/UGMA accounts are not as good for federal student aid purposes as a 529 in their parents or grandparents name would be. You cannot convert a UTMA/UGMA account to a 529 without first paying the taxes on any gains in the account, but it may make sense in certain situations. If the parent owns the 529 only 5.64 percent of the account is counted for EFC purposes. If a grandparent owns the account any distributions from the account for the grandchild is counted as income for the student for next years EFC calculation. So it takes some planning and at some point if the 529 is in a grandparents name you might want to switch owners from grandparent to parent depending on your situation. If you have multiple children or grandchildren do you set up one account for everyone or separate accounts? Unless you have beneficiaries that are not ever going to be using money at the same time set up separate 529s. The Nebraska 529 plan makes it easy for family and friends to contribute to a childs 529 account. The account owner gets a code they can give out in person, by phone, by email or even on social media. The donor goes to the Nebraska 529 website with the code where they can make a contribution to the beneficiary by check or online. They can also print out a gift certificate or a special card to give the recipient. What happens if no one uses the money in the 529 or if the beneficiary gets scholarships? The worst case is that if you dont use the money for qualified educational expenses you can cash out the account and pay a 10-percent penalty and taxes on any earnings in the account. But you have a lot of other options. You can change beneficiaries, or be creative and use it yourself. You can also just keep it going and create a legacy for grandchildren or greatgrandchildren who havent even been born yet. If the beneficiary gets scholarships or is appointed to a military academy you can take penalty free withdrawals up to the amount of the scholarship but any earnings are taxable. Bill Oldfather is a fee-only financial planner and investment adviser. Oldfather Financial Services is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor based in Kearney. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark, second left, poses for a selfie with a member of a Sikh motorcycle club during a Vaisakhi event at the Khalsa Diwan Society Sikh Temple in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday, April 15, 2017. A provincial election will be held on May 9. Vaisakhi is a significant holiday on the Sikh calendar, commemorating the establishment of the Khalsa in 1699 and marking the beginning of the Punjabi harvest year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck In this March, 2017, photo supplied by Sandia National Laboratories, an F-16C from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada releases a mock nuclear weapon for a test at Tonopah Test Range near Tonopah, Nev. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are claiming success with the first in a new series of test flights that are part of an effort to upgrade one of the nuclear weapons that has been in the U.S. arsenal for decades. (James Galli/Sandia National Laboratories via AP) 98 Shares Share Are you a medical resident or fellow? Do you have a family to provide for? Do you feel that your biweekly paycheck is not quite enough to justify the hard work you put in? Luckily for you, your program offers the great benefit of moonlighting. Should you take advantage? Here are some of my thoughts on the matter. What is moonlighting? Like so many other things we take for granted in medicine, the term moonlighting actually came from rather devious origins. According to Encyclopedia.com: Moonlighting came from the perpetration by night of violence against the persons or property of tenants who had incurred the hostility of the Land League in 19th century Ireland. Or rather commit crimes by night. Of course, these days we simply use the term to mean working a second job. Generally speaking, there are two types of moonlighting for medical trainees: Internal moonlighting extra pay for extra work within your training institution. Many training programs even highlight internal moonlighting as a benefit when interviewing applicants. External moonlighting extra pay for work outside of your training institution. Often you will have to find your own malpractice insurance. Pros Moonlightings biggest pro is the obvious one: extra $$$. From my personal conversations, its not uncommon to hear residents doubling their salary with moonlighting income. On rarer occasions, Ive heard of residents tripling their income. If you are the main breadwinner in the family, that extra income can mean a big difference in lifestyle. Extra clinical experience depending on your moonlighting setup, you can gain valuable clinical experience. In a 2008 article written for the Canadian Family Physician, Dr. Haque mentioned more than 60 percent of the critical care procedures I performed during my year of emergency medicine training (central lines, chest tubes, intubations, and so on) were done while moonlighting. Cons Lets address the elephant in the room first: the quality of care issue. Patients expect (within reason) to be treated by a board licensed physician rather than a trainee without supervision. While legally residents can act as providers, the ethical side of this is much less clear. For example, many residents moonlight in community emergency rooms and urgent care centers, settings in which the patient often will not have the luxury of choosing a physician given the acuity of illness. All other cons such as fatigue, legal liability, hassle of finding extra malpractice insurance coverage are comparatively less important in my mind since our first responsibility as health care providers is to the patient. Moonlighting in radiology My experience with moonlighting is limited to the specialty of radiology; I thought Id share a little. There are generally two types of moonlighting opportunities available to radiology residents: Coverage for IV contrast administration. Medicare requires a physician to be on site when IV contrast is given. When imaging centers want to scan patients late into the night/weekend but dont want to pay a full-fledged radiologist for coverage, a resident or fellow can step up and make some extra money in the process. Coverage for image interpretation. This is usually reserved for senior residents/fellows. You actually get to do what radiologists are trained to do: interpret medical imaging. Depending on the setup, you may be responsible for a preliminary read or a final read. Typically these arrangements pay more but as you can imagine, is accompanied by a higher risk of legal liability. The Future Proof MD perspective I am a resident, so I sympathize with residents everywhere. While you get paid a decent wage the median starting salary for a PGY-1 resident is now $53,580 you likely work much longer hours and have a lot more debt than other people who earns the same income. Any extra income helps. How do I get around the ethical dilemma of providing care as a doctor-in-training? Well, to date I have yet to meet two attending physicians who have the exact same level of medical knowledge and competency. Sure theyve passed their board exams, but do they really remember every single piece of knowledge thats prescribed by the Board? It may be a common joke, but perhaps the reason why we refer to the practice of medicine is because you really are constantly learning. So moonlighting, even as the primary provider, can be viewed as simply another situation where you hone your skills at lifelong learning. Of course, you dont know what you dont know. So if you ever find yourself in a situation where the patient is crashing, and you have no clue whats happening, I hope you have good help close by. Future Proof, MD is a radiology resident who blogs at Future Proof M.D. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Claire Trevett writes: The reason is it very quiet is because this all looks suspiciously like Nationals Cabinet Clubs. At least, they used to be called Cabinet Clubs but underwent hasty name changes after controversy over them in 2014 and are now known as Anything But Cabinet Clubs. National said the Cabinet Clubs (which also existed when the party was in Opposition) were harmless groups of supporters run by individual electorates who would pay to go and hear MPs, ministers or sometimes even the Prime Minister bang on for a while at a party fundraiser. It was standard fundraising fare, they said. However, Labour was very critical deriding them as cash for access. Haworth claims the distinction between the Cabinet Clubs and his Presidents Club is that the Presidents Club is run by the party and donors are not paying to attend events with MPs at them. However, sometimes MPs might happen to stumble upon the same events as Presidents Club members. Just by coincidence, you know. It is, after all, hard to have a policy announcement without an MP to announce it. Haworth has also claimed since Labour is in Opposition no ministers are not involved, unlike National. That is ridiculous. The whole point of the Presidents Club is to set up a long-term framework for funding the party from regular donations. Labour presumably expects to be in Government at some point in the future, at which point it will have ministers and they will likely do what all ministers do make policy announcements and help to fundraise. What Labour is trying to say is that donor is only a dirty word when it is a National Party donor. The Washington Post reports: The Facebook event invitation left little doubt about the protesters feelings toward pro-police speaker Heather Mac Donald. They accused her of neglecting the state sponsored genocide committed against black people and said she represented white supremacist and fascist ideologies. And just in case people didnt get the point, organizers photo-shopped devil horns onto her picture. The last words on the invite, which has since been deleted, offered instructions to like-minded Claremont McKenna College students and others: Show up wearing black and bring your comrades, because were shutting this down. They were true to their word. On Thursday evening, about 250 protesters chanted black lives matter and other, more choice phrases at the entrance to the Athenaeum, a campus building where Mac Donald was slated to speak, according to a YouTube video of the demonstration. (Warning, it contains strong language.) Blocking buildings on the California campus is an arrest-able offense, but seeing the sizable crowd, campus officials decided not to force the issue and instead live-streamed Mac Donalds event. We jointly concluded that any forced interventions or arrests would have created unsafe conditions for students, faculty, staff, and guests, Claremont McKenna College President Hiram E. Chodosh said Friday in a statement. I take full responsibility for the decision to err on the side of these overriding safety considerations. The demonstration was the second time this year that a large-scale protest has targeted a conservative speaker on a college campus. The Herald reports: An Auckland Councillor has laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission over a sign in the window of an Avondale shop banning people wearing burkas from entering. The sign on the door of Coffee and Gems 2 Go says the shop has a No Burkas, No Hoodies, No Sunglasses, No Helmets policy. According to the Companies Office, the store sells coffee and second hand jewellery. Sounds perfectly reasonable. They are saying customers have to show their faces. A very reasonable protection measure. Cathy Casey, who represents the Albert-Eden-Roskill ward, told the Herald when a local woman sent her a photo of the sign on Thursday she thought thats not right and believed it may be discriminatory and illegal to stop someone from entering a shop because they are wearing a burka. It looks as though the business is basically flouting the Human Rights Act. Ive checked the Act and it says you cant discriminate on the grounds of religion and the grounds of sex. Theyre not. First of all the burka is not a religious requirement. A tiny tiny proportion of Islamic women wear them. Secondly the burka is not being singled out. The sign clearly lists other dress elements that block visual identification. If they listed other forms of hijab such as headscarves then that might be discrimination. But it is absolutely fine to say we need to see your face for you to enter this store, and list what isnt allowed. After forwarding the photo to the Councils compliance team Casey contacted the Human Rights Commission about the sign. So it is a politician complaining, not an actual customer. Im not questioning the motives of the business owner. Im just saying that it doesnt feel right that you should be discriminating [against] that particular group of women. Ive never met the owner of the shop so its not really about them. Its about the issue. The issue is: is any shop owner above the law which says you cant discriminate in this way? It is not discrimination. If a religious group claimed that their religion requires them to wear balaclavas, that would not mean you can enter a store with a balaclava. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Police say alcohol may be to blame for a crash that injured two people on a motorcycle. The motorcycle and a truck were both headed east on Hancock Expressway just before 2:45 Saturday morning when the motorcycle slowed down to make a left turn on Claredon Drive. Police say the truck rear-ended the motorcycle, seriously injuring both on the bike. The driver of the truck was evaluated for DUI. The CSPD Major Accident Unit is now investigating. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. North Korea's state TV broadcaster airs Saturday the state leader Kim Jong-un, center, watching a military parade that celebrates the 105th birthday of the state's founder Kim Il-sung. / Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwan North Korea staged a military parade Saturday to celebrate the 105th birthday of Kim Il-sung, the state founder and grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong-un. It came amid growing tensions between North and South Korea and on global powerhouses such as the U.S., China and Japan over the North's nuclear and missile programs. North Korea's state TV aired leader Kim Jong-un watching the parade at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. "The most powerful and cutting-edge defense and strike force on display in the parade shows that we can put an end to the military supremacy claimed by the imperialists," it reported.The Day of the Sun, North Korea's biggest holiday, came amid growing speculation that Pyongyang could conduct its sixth nuclear test or launch missiles in April. Military units and soldiers parade Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, Saturday. / Yonhap Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula rose amid concerns over the U.S.'s possible pre-emptive strike against the North. American President Donald Trump sent the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and its strike group to waters near the region. North Korea's last parade was held in October 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea. In 2012, the state staged another parade to celebrate the centennial of Kim Il-sung's birth. The country unveiled an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) known as the KN-08 for the first time at that parade. North Korea is upholding its "Byongjin policy," which seeks to improve nuclear weapons and economic growth together. North Korea reportedly invited about 200 foreign journalists so the latest parade and the rest of the country's key national holiday could be covered. Pyongyang opened a new residential district on Thursday, including skyscrapers, called Ryomyong Street. Experts said it is North Korea's bid to show the world that it remains unscathed by international sanctions. "Ryomyong Street is an accomplishment that the North wants to promote on the economic front," a unification ministry official in South Korea said, according to Yonhap News Agency. "The North may also hope to show something to display its nuclear and missile capabilities." Malaysian authorities are warning fans against the proliferation of a K-pop syndicate online. Authorities have so far arrested several masterminds of the scams but still want the public to become careful lest they become victims of unscrupulous entities online. According to a report by Malaysian Digest, the K-pop syndicate preys on fans by sending them private messages through the official Facebook posting of concerts, making it appear that the messages are from official representatives of the label or the promoter. One the victims was a student who said that she was approached by a certain individual named Wong Mei Kei about a mini album event of K-pop idol group Red Velvet. The victim said that Wong claimed to be affiliated with Ticket Charge and had tickets available. After sending RM 180 for her ticket, she was messaged by the account holder that she would need to deposit yet another RM 360 to purchase two more tickets before her first ticket would be released. The account holder named Tan You Shen reportedly claimed that another buyer named Amy will return her money to her but the victim refused, sensing that there was something wrong with the transaction. Her hunch was further strengthened when Tan and the alleged buyer kept harassing her to deposit the money, prompting her to report the incident to the police. Malaysian authorities warned the public about similar scams since the recent incident was not an isolated incident. They said that five scams with a similar modus operandi were reported last year where two women were scammed for RM 2,241 to purchase concert tickets. Malaysian Commercial Crimes Investigation Department Director Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, in an interview with Malay Mail, disclosed that the police has so far solved 43 cases of online scamming amounting to RM 950,000. For its part, Universal Music Malaysia, the label in charge of the Red Velvet event, advised vis official post that fans should not transact with third parties and only purchase tickets through official channels announced by the company. Is Park Hyung Sik and Park Bo Young Dating in real life a possibility? Fans of hit fantasy rom com Strong Woman Do Bong Soon certainly hope so especially after JTBC released behind the scenes footage of the cute couple's sweetness in between takes. As a means to address fans' demands to see more sweetness from Park Hyung Sik and Park Bo Young, JTBC released a BTS reel of the couple as they prepared for scenes, hugging, holding hands and staring deeply into each others' eyes. However, shippers think that Park Hyung Sik and Park Bo Young dating could be a very real thing given their strong on screen chemistry and their natural vibe while filming their romantic scenes. According to Koreaboo, one scene in particular strengthened the fans belief of Park Hyung Sik and Park Bo Young dating. In one of the scenes where Hyung Sik's character Ahn Min Hyuk was supposed to hug Park Bo Young's Do Bong Soon character tightly, the couple were shown to be hugging even after the director yelled that the scene was over. Fans also believe that the videos of the two staring lovingly into each other's eyes was not just pure acting. JTBC also revealed a behind the scenes look at Park Hyung Sik and Park Bo Young's first kissing scene by the seaside which happened in Episode 12. The video showed the challenges that the two actors had to deal with while shooting the perfect kiss and it was mainly because of the height difference between the cute on screen couple. While fans of the show are still trying to get their heads wrapped around the idea that the show will finally end this week, a producer of the show has given hints about how the show will end. According to the producer, there may be plenty more sweet scenes between Park Hyung Sik and Park Bo Young in the last two episodes even as their characters deal with getting the psychotic kidnapper behind bars once and for all, Soompi reported. Earlier this year, rumors have spread about actor Joo Won enlisting in the military this May. Rumors however, were proven true Joo Won's agency Huayi Brothers confirmed may to be his Enlistment month. "It is true that Joo Won will be enlisting in active duty on May 16," said Huayi Brothers. "We received the enlistment letter yesterday and have confirmed it." According to Koreaboo, Huayi Brothers initially denied the reports of Joo Won enlisting on May 16. Joo Won apparently did not receive his enlistment letter yet. However, Joo Won himself confirmed that he will be enlisting on May 16. He revealed the information during his rainy V Live broadcast. According to All Kpop, Joo Won was visiting "Joo Won Forest". The forest was planted by his fans as their anniversary gift for the actor's 6th year in the industry since his debut. "I will be enlisting on May 16. I don't know if I'll be able to greet you again before then... but it's okay. I will be going to the army, where all men born in South Korea must go," said Joo Won during the V Live broadcast. The actor added that he will return after 2 years in the military service. Joo Won also added that he will put his best effort during his military service. The actor also stated that he did the live broadcast not just to visit the forest, but to personally let his fans know of his enlistment date. Joo Won also recently finished filming for SBS' drama "My Sassy Girl". SBS will hold a press conference a day prior to the actor's enlistment date on May 15. There is currently no specific date for the airing of "My Sassy Girl" but it is reported to be aired in May. Joo Won will be inside the military "boot camp" for 5 weeks before performing regular duties. Joo Won is expected to be discharged in February 2019. A Greene County judge on Friday found a man from Springfield not guilty of trafficking in stolen identities. The judge said he wasn't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Ryan Moore, and not his girlfriend, was using stolen documents. Prosecutors in 2015 charged Ryan Moore, 37, with possessing 20 forms of identification belonging to 10 people. When a Greene County sheriffs deputy stopped the car driven by Moore, a search of the car found a container with more than four dozen documents belonging to 27 people. The documents were organized and included credit cards, debit cards, Social Security cards, drivers licenses, birth certificates, a concealed weapons permit, health insurance cards, and checks. Deputies found numerous electronics including 23 hard drives, 13 cell phones, dozens of SIM and memory cards and ledgers listing items for sale along with Moores email address and password and a list inventorying the forms of identification in his car. The Missouri trafficking in stolen identities law is designed to protect victims of identity theft and provides that: Possession of five or more means of identification of the same person or possession of means of identification of five or more separate persons shall be evidence that the identities are possessed with intent to manufacture, sell, or transfer means of identification for the purpose of committing identity theft. The Greene County Prosecuting Attorneys Office will continue to aggressively prosecute these cases. The public should remember to exercise care not to leave their personal items in vehicles as thefts of and from vehicles and the fraudulent use of identifications and credit cards from those thefts remain a serious problem in Greene County. Three victims testified in the three-day trial that their identifications were stolen either from their vehicles or with their vehicle. Moore told Greene County Sheriffs detectives that he was always with his car and no one else had access to it without him, before changing his story during trial by blaming his girlfriend for putting the identifications in his car. Moore had previously told detectives that he was with the girlfriend 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Under Missouri law Moore could have been found guilty of either possessing the forms of identification by himself or if Moore possessed them together with his girlfriend. When announcing the verdict, Judge Jones highlighted the burden of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt and said that he strongly suspected Moore was working with his girlfriend to traffic the stolen forms of identification. Zhang Jun's I, Hamlet includes Chinese views on life and death, as well as other aspects of Chinese philosophy. [Photo provided to China Daily] Thanks in part to Zhang Jun's persistence over the decades, Kunqu Opera, once labeled as a traditional performance that is too boring to watch, is now experiencing a revival in modern times When he was a student at the folk opera school at Shanghai Culture Square, Zhang Jun often snuck out of classes to watch films at the New Shanghai Theater across street. Twenty years later, the renowned Kunqu artist and founder of the Zhang Jun Kunqu Opera Art Center will host a contemporary Kunqu art week at the very same cinema that was recently reopened after undergoing refurbishment. The historic 70-year-old New Shanghai Theater now features cutting-edge design fashioned by the award-winning architecture studio Neri & Hu and is managed by staff from the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center. It has also been hailed as a venue that will attract younger crowds to the traditional performance art of Kunqu Opera. Zhang said that the New Shanghai Theater is a "perfect" space for Kunqu Opera performances, as the cozy 300-seat theater allows artists to interact intimately with the audience. The Future Contemporary Kunqu Art Week, which takeS place from April 6 to 16, consists of four gala Kunqu concerts performed by artists from several opera troupes from Beijing, Jiangsu and Hunan provinces, two lectures on the traditional art form, as well as five performances of I, Hamlet, a contemporary Kunqu adaptation of William Shakespeare's great tragedy, from April 12 to 16. In the one-man show I, Hamlet, which is created by Zhang, the Danish prince from the original tale is replaced by a Chinese noble from an ancient dynasty. Last year, Zhang presented the play in London and New York, winning praise among overseas audiences. While the Chinese adaptation arrived rather late at the Lincoln Center of New York last year where a series of celebratory events took place to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare, American audiences still found the performance refreshing. Zhang said that he was touched when an audience member approached him to say how I, Hamlet made him "see the story in a different light". "In the story, we included Chinese views on life and death, as well as other aspects of Chinese philosophy. It was an interpretation from a different perspective, and a dialogue between two cultures," said Zhang. While I, Hamlet represents the latest development of Kunqu Opera in the contemporary world, Zhang believes it is just as important not to lose sight of the traditional. PRESS RELEASE Assad, Lavrov: The Chemical Weapon Incident Was Staged To Push Regime Change April 14, 2017 (EIRNS)In a 40-minute interview with Agence France Presse, his first since the April 4 chemical weapon incident, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad categorically denied that Syria had carried out the attack. "Definitely, 100% for us, its a fabrication," he stated. All of the so-called "evidence" presented, including videos of dying children, is fake. "We dont know whether those dead children were killed in Khan Sheikhoun. Were they dead at all?" Assad added: "Our impression is that the West, mainly the U.S., is hand-in-glove with the terrorists. They fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack." He urged that an impartial international investigation be conducted, warning: "We can only allow any investigation when its impartial, when we make sure that unbiased countries will participate in this delegation in order to make sure that they wont use it for politicized purposes." American statesman Lyndon LaRouche concurred that Assads evaluation is "highly plausible." Similarly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a press conference after meeting with his Syrian and Iranian counterparts today. "There is growing evidence that this [the American attack] was staged," he stated. "There are too many inconsistencies, discrepancies in the version used to justify the April 7 aggressive action." Lavrov said this was an attemt at regime-change in Syria, and reported that since Russia presented evidence to the OPCW [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] that the anti-Assad opposition in Syria had used chemical weapons in Aleppo, "no reaction has been recevied from the [OPCW] secretariat." A day earlier, after a meeting in Moscow with Syrias foreign minister, Lavrov had stated: "I want to emphasize the extremely provocative role of the U.S. missile strike at the Shayrat airfield. The U.S. Secretary of State and I thoroughly discussed the situation, and agreed that this should not happen again." Lavrov added pointedly that progress had been achieved on a negotiated solution in the Astana format, but PRESS RELEASE U.S. Troops Arrive in Poland for NATO Battalion April 14, 2017 (EIRNS)Nine hundred U.S. troops which will form the corps of the NATO battalion to be stationed in Poland, were welcomed to their base in Orzysz, about 57 kilometers south of Kaliningrad, yesterday. They are being joined by 150 British troops and 120 Romanians. "Deploying of these troops to Poland is a clear demonstration of NATOs unity and resolve, and sends a clear message to any potential aggressor," NATO Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti declared at the welcoming ceremony. For the Poles, at least for the leadership of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), this is the fulfillment of a promise made but not kept in 1939, and it came on the day commemorating the Katyn Forest massacre and other massacres of Poles in 1940 by the Soviets. "The Polish army was not able to face two enemies, because allies did not help," Polish president Andrzej Duda said. "The presence of general [Scaparrotti] and U.S. forces, the worlds largest army..., in our country today, is a vocal testimony that the world is changing, and this has created a strong chance that the dramas of our past, such as those of 1939 and 1940, will never be repeated." Reuters notes, however, that even as the NATO battalion is setting up, theres concern in NATO about the Polish army under the current government. Nearly 30 of its top generals and more than 200 colonelsa quarter and a sixth, respectively, of the armys totalhave resigned over the last year, citing, in part, disagreements with the russophobic Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz over personnel and other decisions. NATO has refused to comment, but Daniel Keohane, a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH university in Zurich, said Polands relations within the alliance could suffer. "While this should not in principle weaken Polands position within NATO, if these generals are resigning for political reasons, and a perception of an ongoing politicization of the Polish army emerges, this could cause worry in other NATO capitals," he said. Robin Wasserman is no stranger to teenagers in trouble. Many of the prolific authors novels for young adults have dealt with adolescents making morally questionable decisions, or being forced to survive in inhospitable landscapes. Girls on Fire, the first adult novel from the Brooklyn-based writer, tackles similar themes, but its definitely not a book for kids. The novel follows two teenage girls, Dex and Lacey, who live in a small Pennsylvania town in the early 1990s. Dex is lonely and a bit of a square; Lacey is a brash bad girl with an undying love for the music of Kurt Cobain. After the suicide of a popular schoolmates boyfriend causes the town to plunge into a moral panic, Dex and Laceys friendship begins to take a decidedly dark turn. Wasserman, who was educated at Harvard and UCLA, spoke to The Times via telephone from her home in Brooklyn. Advertisement See Wasserman at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on the panel Fiction: Girls with Dangerous Friends on April 22 at 12:30 p.m. This book felt so contemporary, even though its set in 1991. How did you decide on that year? I originally really wanted to write something that was shaped by the Satanic panic, this moment in time when people in this country started to go kind of wild with panic about what their teenagers were getting up to. The Satanic panic in the 80s was fixed on discussion of what was being done to the children, and entangled with the day care centers, and this idea that women were going back to work and children were being left to the forces of evil. And at the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, those concerns shifted toward discussion of what was happening to the teenagers, and this big concern about music and video games warping young minds. Once I started thinking of that time period, I started thinking about grunge and Nirvana and my own teen years. The plot and the theme all dovetailed together and became inextricably linked with that early 90s moment. I realized that a lot of what I want to write about had to do with this idea of building a persona for yourself, wearing a mask and stripping away the mask, and questions about authenticity, what it meant to be your authentic self. And grunge ended up being this perfect metaphor for exploring that, this idea that were going to strip away all artifice and just be our true selves. That moment in the early 90s as [Nirvanas album] Nevermind comes out, its a pivotal moment shifting from an obsession with authenticity to an act of authenticity. I really loved this idea of these two big forces coming together, this rise of adolescent rage and determination of expression of adolescent stuff at the same moment that the country is sucked up in this question of what are the adolescents becoming. Do you see any parallels between the early 90s and the present day? Oh, yeah, completely. Both in terms of general politics, and specifically the politics of young women, I do think there are a ton of unexpected resonances. Ive been reading old Bill Clinton stump speeches, and its remarkable how similar the rhetoric is to the rhetoric from this most recent election. Theres actually a speech where Bill Clinton talks about making America great again. He was traveling the Rust Belt, promising them he was going to stop outsourcing and bring their jobs home. The economic messaging of the time is way more similar than Id realized because I was spending those years watching sitcoms. But I think its also true that 1991, 92 was a moment that, much like our present moment, paired both female empowerment with a backlash against female empowerment. 1992 was deemed by Time magazine as the year of the woman, because so many women were elected to Congress, but at the same time, its the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings and the original rise of the war against Hillary Clinton. This was the moment that the conversation about date rape becomes very prominent in the media, but its also the moment that you see this huge backlash against the idea that date rape is something we should have a problem with. It felt to me like a moment where society was really consumed with this question of what to do about the teenage girl. The book Reviving Ophelia [by the psychologist Mary Pipher] came out right around then. There was this idea that young women were victims and were vulnerable and were a problem to be solved. And thats a framing that I have a lot of problems with, and one that you see a lot of today as well. I think that all the concerns that we have now about Are adolescent women being too sexualized? Are they too much at risk? is a lot of the same conversation people were having in the early 90s. Its a conversation thats really important to have, because there are real dangers, and young women are really vulnerable and victimized in ways that enrage me. But I think one of the reasons I wrote this book is that I think its equally important to talk about the power that young women have, and allow them to be at the center of their own stories, making their own choices. The friendship between Lacey and Dex is at the heart of the novel, and it feels really true to life. What do you think people tend to get wrong about friendships between young women? Ive certainly been taken with and inspired by a ton of female friendships as depicted in pop culture and literature. What Im not sure there was, out there, representation that felt true to me and my experience of friendship, which I guess is the whole reason to write ones own story. If I had to explain what I thought was missing, or what I thought didnt quite feel true to my own experience, I think it might be the relevance of men to the friendship. For me, teenage friendship was this very female-centric space where we were not performing our friendship for boys, we were not juggling our friendship with our relationships with boys, we were just not emotionally engaged with the question of boys and love and romance and sex in the way that we were engaged with each other. And I think that probably thats not true for most teenage girls, probably because the question of sex and questions of romance are more relevant for most teenage girls, I think the majority of fictional relationships of friendships allow that in. Whereas I really wanted to write a female friendship where that friendship was the biggest and really only priority in these girls lives, where the question of guys was there, but basically irrelevant. Are there any authors who you feel get young womens friendships right? One of the narratives that most inspired this book is the movie Heavenly Creatures, which I think does a remarkable and terrifying job of depicting that intensely claustrophobic relationship between two girls. I have read recently two books that tackle the same kind of idea: Innocence and Others, by Dana Spiotta, and The Animators [by Kayla Rae Whitaker]. Both of them are about adult friendships for the most part, but they both take on a similar dynamic that you find in Girls on Fire, where you have the loud girl and the quiet girl. Both of them do a really remarkable job of trying to answer the same question that I was trying to answer for myself in this book, which is what do two women like this get out of each other? How much of that friendship is built on taking something from the other and using the other, how much of friendship is knowing the other person versus imagining the other person into this perfect self that you need them to be, and what is the gap between that fantasy and the reality? Music obviously plays a huge role in the book, especially Kurt Cobain. Was that an important part of your life in high school? Oh, God, no. [Laughs.] I had kind of infamously bad taste in music. I listened almost exclusively to Broadway musicals and Billy Joel when I was in my teen years. The most accurate to myself musical taste in Girls on Fire is the moment that Dex admits that she enjoys R.E.M. because it is pretty, but she secretly finds Nirvana to be nothing but noise. Part of the challenge for me with this book was not just figuring out what music a person might be listening to and why, but trying to figure out what it would mean to be a fan, a true capital-f fan. That surprises me! [Laughs.] No compliment pleases me more about this book than when people think I must have been a huge Nirvana fan. I think of myself as kind of the younger sister of Generation X. I watched Reality Bites and Singles, and I thought, This is what it means to be a grown-up. This is the world that must exist beyond my suburb. Somewhere, people are being cool. But I didnt live that, I just watched that on television. I dressed exactly like Angela on My So-Called Life but not because there was some deep, essential part of me that listened to Kurt Cobain and needed, for soul-nurturing purposes, to wear flannel shirts. I got really excited about exploring this idea of these two teenagers who were isolated in the middle of nowhere, just trying to figure out what it even meant to be a fan of this music. And the very fact that grunge had traveled from there all the way to their tiny little Pennsylvania town suggested that it was already over. Theres a line I had to take out because it was just extraneous, but that sort of compared the whole thing to a supernova, that by the time the light gets to you, the star has been dead for a really long time. What I really wanted to do with this book was try to replicate the experience of growing up in the early 90s, surrounded by the commercial vision of the early 90s, that feeling like you were coming of age at a moment where the world was really eager to tell you what it meant to come of age and what that should look like for you. Was the writing process for this different from the YA novels you wrote? With this one, a couple chapters in, I had decided that I wasnt sure what this novel was going to be and I would let it be whatever it wanted to. But the first draft that emerged wasnt markedly different from anything else I had ever written. It became in some ways a repository for all the feelings and thoughts I had about adolescence from having dwelt in it for the last decade. I have spent so many years thinking about teen narratives and thinking about the role of the teen narratives in our culture and all of these things. And as I revised and wrote subsequent drafts, it became more evidently a book that was going to be marketed for adults. It gave me the freedom to step backward from the teen experience and really think about adolescence from a distance. Its like I took this gigantic step back and I suddenly saw exponentially more than I had been seeing before, and for me thats why the book feels different, is that it just has this much wider perspective than I had ever written. In the future, do you think youre going to write both YA and adult novels? I would say never say never, but for the moment, I am so excited to write about adults. The new thing Im working on now is about adults. I really do feel like I took everything I could possibly think and feel about teenage girls and I put every last shred of it into this book. Its like I hollowed that part of myself out. Im sure there will be someday more where that came from, but right now I am looking forward to writing a novel that is about adults. As somebody whos been an adult myself now for an unthinkable number of years, I think I have a lot to say on it. [Laughs] Schaub is a writer in Texas. The high cost of housing in California, especially along the coast, is a pressing issue increasingly debated among residents, businesses and politicians in Sacramento. And the reaction to a recent Times article underscored the intensity of the debate. Early Friday morning, the Times published an article online about a recent upswing in moves out of Los Angeles and Orange counties, something many economists attribute to rising rents and home prices during the economic recovery. The story drew heavy reader response on The Times website and through Facebook. By 4 p.m., readers left more than 930 comments on a Times Facebook post that included the article and asked readers to share their stories about why they left California. Advertisement Many said they did so in search of cheaper housing and a quieter life. Rebecca Neff wrote she moved to North Carolina last year after spending 26 years in the Golden State. She said she worried she wouldnt be able to retire if she stayed, given high housing costs, weak middle-class wage growth and other factors. Just couldnt take it anymore, she wrote, add in the high cost of gas, terrible traffic, water shortages and high water bills, had to leave. Jennifer Banash wrote on Facebook that she moved to Maine last month, after selling her home in L.A. for almost double what she paid four years ago. I miss LA, but mostly friends, she wrote. I dont pine for it as a state. Others were excited to get out soon, including one reader who said shes moving to Florida. I want to enjoy my life with my family, wrote Angela Pro. Not spend it working my butt off to pay a ridiculously high mortgage payment, only to see my kids and husband a couple hours at night. And after a hotly contested presidential election, some readers couched their comments in partisan terms. [High income taxes] and cost of living, and liberal single party politics all led to our decision to leave, wrote one reader. I will never leave California, especially for one of those backward, uneducated red states, wrote another. Not everyone is moving, of course. The population of California, as well as Los Angeles and Orange counties in particular, is still growing largely the result of births and immigration from other countries. And moves out of L.A. and Orange counties also remain far below levels seen during last decades housing bubble. But the story pointed out that after slowing down in the aftermath of the Great Recession, which devastated the housing market, out-migration is picking up as prices climb steadily higher, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Since they bottomed out in 2012, prices have climbed nearly 60% across L.A. and Orange counties, according to the closely followed Case-Shiller index. Some readers said they had no plans to leave given the weather and beaches, while others had left only to return. Yes, it is expensive, Kirsten Stohn wrote on Facebook, but after living in the midwest, a stint in the south, and AZ.....I do not mind the expense. For our family, it is well worth it. Facebook user Abe Lincoln identified himself as a native Californian: Moved away 5 years ago. Travelled [sic] the country and then last month we moved back. Its expensive here, no one can argue that. But its worth every penny! Reader Nancy Ryan, who identified herself as a former San Fernando Valley resident, said shed like to return from Nevada, but wont be doing so. Would move back in a minute, but your housing costs have just gotten worse and worse and worse, as have your taxes, she wrote. Its impossible. andrew.khouri@latimes.com Follow me @khouriandrew on Twitter In the midst of the bleakness and despair that flavored much of 2008s Slumdog Millionaire, Freida Pinto stood out. The film, which won several Oscars, including best picture, marked Pintos breakthrough, and the lingering shot of her character Latika smiling radiantly from a train platform at her childhood friend and love of her life Jamal (Dev Patel) was one of the dramas most memorable images. But smiles do not come easily for Jas Mitra, the radical activist portrayed by the Indian actress in Showtimes new limited series Guerrilla, which premieres Sunday. In the fictional drama, which takes place in 1971 London against the backdrop of the British urban guerrilla movement, Jas is fueled by a fierceness that has little tolerance for those who do not share her all-consuming quest for justice. Advertisement Accompanied by her less impulsive black boyfriend Marcus Hill (Babou Ceesay), Jas becomes even more uncompromising and violent as the couple head down a dangerous path. Ive never been able to play somebody like this Ive never been given the chance, Pinto said recently in a Pasadena hotel during a promotional stop for the six-episode drama created by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave). This is the kind of role that actors live for, she added. You can play characters that are good but dont always show your range. Ive always known that if you give me the chance, Ill show you what I can do. I am so blessed that John saw in me the passion and the drive I have. Guerrilla is likely to be a revelation for those who know Pinto mostly for Slumdog Millionaire or as the glamorous face of cosmetics ads. The role has also provoked some controversy. With a deliberate candor, Pinto was animated as she addressed the double-edged sword of her post-Slumdog Millionaire career. Slumdog was a film that Im oh-so grateful for, but it also came with a stereotype, Oh, shes a sunshine girl, she never does anything wrong, shes flawless, Pinto said. Labels associated with beauty were getting assigned to me, and that gets stifling. When that becomes the public and industry perception, thats all you get. And God knows it gets so damn boring, particularly when you dont resonate with those kinds of labels. It was so frustrating, and I knew I was capable of doing more, so I made an active decision to go slow, deciding I was not going to do work that reinforced that stereotype, that I would only work with people who could see the different me. John Ridley was definitely the first in many, many years to see that. In a phone interview, Ridley said he was immediately impressed when he first met with Pinto about the role. Along with her identification with the character, Ridley said he was moved by Pintos off-camera charity work. In addition to being a very talented person, Freida is also very passionate, Ridley said. I knew she had spent time working with activist causes and working with underprivileged children all over the world. She had a way of speaking with passion, but without anger. Shes a great actress and a great partner. He said he also understood how Pinto had been limited in her career options. Said Ridley, Slumdog Millionaire was a phenomenal first film, and it was a role based on her emotion and her God-given good looks. For actors of color, particularly female actors of color, it can be hard to move on to the next thing. I was lucky to have a very solid role, and she was available. Pinto said she felt a kinship with Jas despite the characters fiery nature, which leads her to make rash decisions. I connect with her, I felt protected by her, she said. Jas has her passion in the right place, as well as this hunger to put everything that is within her out in the world. But she lacks strategy and direction. I come from a very authentic, but not harmful place, but I am also driven by extreme passion. Pintos performance in Guerrilla has already drawn accolades (Pinto is exceptional, writes Sonia Saraiya of Variety). But the character of Jas and Pintos casting has also provoked a bit of a stir. At the premiere of the series in London in early April, some audience members questioned why an Asian character was the focal point of a project that centers on what was known as the British Black Power Movement. One attendee reportedly said to Ridley: My parents were a part of that movement. I want to understand why you decided [to make] an Asian woman the main protagonist. Another audience member asked why there were no major black female characters shown as being part of the struggle. The concerns momentarily caught the filmmakers off-guard, but Pinto and Ridley have both seized on the concerns by noting the historical facts about the movement, which did involve several races, including Asians. First of all, I am completely unapologetic about playing Jas, Pinto declared in a telephone interview this week. But at the same time, I dont want to disrespect other peoples opinions. However, even though this is a what if? story, people like Marcus and Jas really existed within the core groups of activists. John really did his research, she added. It was called a black power movement, but it was 3,000 members composed of Africans, people from the Caribbean and Asians as well. Were talking here about what matters, which is the humanity of it all. Ridley was more pointed in his assessment of the criticism. Im never surprised by peoples lack of awareness of history, because there were so many things I didnt know, he said. But to say there were no Asians in the struggle is just wrong. I know that these people exist. Ridley pointed out how he has always placed a priority on creating complex and award-winning roles for black actresses, including Oscar winner Lupita Nyongo (12 Years a Slave), Emmy winner Regina King (American Crime) and Ruth Negga (Jimi: All Is By My Side). Said Ridley, If theres anyone who doesnt approve of my work, they dont need someone elses approval to write those stories and those characters that reflect the world you want to see. All you need is encouragement. Consider yourself encouraged. Pinto said she sees an upside to the controversy, and that she hopes it will bring even more attention to Guerrilla. Its starting a conversation, and really its a conversation that needs to happen because were dealing with a very sensitive subject matter, she said. Im glad its happening. greg.braxton@latimes.com Twitter:@GeBraxton Good morning. Im Paul Thornton, the Los Angeles Times letters writer, and it is Saturday, April 15, 2017. Dont panic tax day falls on April 18 this year. Until then, join me in procrastination by taking a look back at the week in Opinion. Since 2001, United Airlines has gone through a three-year bankruptcy process, stayed near the bottom among U.S. carriers in customer-service rankings, and endured a tumultuous mega-merger with a rival airline. So its latest blunder the reaccommodation of a ticketed and already seated passenger whose bloodied face and thuggish mistreatment aboard a United regional flight sparked a major public backlash ought to have the airline worried for its survival, right? Not really and we can thank Washington, writes libertarian pundit Matt Welch. He explains why in a Times op-ed article: Foreign companies and individuals think Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic Airways are forbidden by U.S. law from owning more than 25% of a domestic airline. Thats why Virgin America could be sold last year to Alaska Airlines over the express wishes of Virgins famous founder: He just didnt have enough votes. The differently headquartered are banned outright from servicing routes between two American cities, a practice with the sinister-sounding name of cabotage. And carriers from Singapore to the Gulf States are not only barred from competition, but subject to sneering taunts by American legacies from behind the protectionist firewall, such as when United CEO Oscar Munoz this March said that companies, including the well-regarded Emirates, arent real airlines..... The irony of Americas lagging air travel quality including the abject lousiness of its airports, which President Trump is absolutely correct about is that we once led the world in airline innovation. When the domestic industry was deregulated in the mid-1970s, thanks to then-Sen. Ted Kennedy, future Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer , liberal economist Alfred Kahn, and President Carter (yes, you read all that right), our trading partners scrambled to become more like us. Then they surpassed us. It took a couple of decades, but eventually the European Union dismantled subsidies for national carriers, privatized a number of airports (something unheard of here), and let literally hundreds of low-cost airlines run riot. It even allowed some foreign-airline cabotage, on a case-by-case basis. The result is those annoying Instagram pics from friends who live in London, showing off that people in Europe fly everywhere for dirt cheap. Yes, airlines on the continent come and go faster than New York restaurants. But thats precisely the point: With real competition comes real failure, hopefully followed by bankruptcy and even liquidation, instead of American-style too-big-to-fail bailouts. How many customers must United pummel before they can Gershwin us no more? >> Click here to read more Another thing United needs to work on: keeping animals alive. Among U.S. airlines, notes editorial writer Carla Hall, United has the worst record for transporting pets safely on airplanes, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Still, an individual pet owners chance of having an animal companion die or become injured flying on United is very remote, Hall writes, but that hasnt stopped complaints from human passengers about the airline mishandling their pets. L.A. Times Inside the Trump bubble, Sean Spicers Holocaust centers gaffe might make sense. Noah Berlatsky writes in a Times op-ed article that the White House press secretarys undeniably false comment comparing Bashar Assad s use of chemical weapons to Adolf Hitlers alleged non-use is just one offense among many statements that show the Trump White House sees itself as the leader of white America. L.A. Times Behold the national fascination with wet, rainy, green California. With the northern part of the state officially in its wettest season on record, the obligatory before-and-after photos of Californias rivers and reservoirs are popping up throughout the Web. Weve seen these before only now, instead of showing how bad it was after years of drought, they show a state that can barely contain the rain falling on it. The Atlantic Shocked by the San Bernardino school shooting? Then you havent been paying attention. Acts of domestic violence and senseless gun deaths happen everyday in America, and the shock over an incident at a San Bernardino school that involved both should wake us up to that sad reality. Its disturbing to think that if [Cedric Anderson] hadnt killed his wife in such a public and dramatic way, the crime would have barely rippled beyond the grief of their families and friends, writes The Times Editorial Board. L.A. Times She knows firsthand of the dangers women face daily in Afghanistan. Najia Karimi, who runs an emergency womens shelter in Kabul, writes of the teenagers forced into marriages who are raped and neglected by their captors, the women horrifically injured by men who accuse them of threatening their honor, and those who struggle daily just to attend school. A solution? We need a new, wholistic approach to peace, one which meaningfully includes women in government positions and in active decision-making on the countrys future and one which acknowledges the connection between violence inside and outside of the home, Karimi writes. Until that happens, Ill need to keep the shelter running. L.A. Times Reach me: paul.thornton@latimes.com Archbishop Jose H. Gomez will preside over the annual Blessing of the Animals in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon in anticipation of Easter vigil Mass. The ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the plaza on Olvera Street. The archbishop will bless animals which in the past have included dogs, cats, sheep, cows, horses, birds and pigs and their owners as they pass before him. Over the years, the blessing has become a highly coveted photo op for pet-owning shutterbugs. Advertisement The event, organized by the Olvera Street Merchants Assn., has taken place every year in the Olvera Street plaza since 1930. The practice dates to the fourth century, when saints began to bless animals for the services they provide to humans. An Easter vigil Mass will follow at 8 p.m. at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St. The mass will be streamed live on Facebook. Father David Gallardo, pastor of the Cathedral, will celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at 10 a.m. Archbishop Gomez will preside over a special Spanish-language service scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday. Easter is a great day filled with hope and joy for us, the Archbishop said in a statement. Christ is risen and we know we will rise with him! Easter tells us that Gods love is stronger than death. For more information about Holy Week and a schedule of Masses at the cathedral, visit www.olacathedral.org. carlos.lozano@latimes.com In 1994, the United States was on the brink of war with North Korea. The Clinton administration had intelligence that North Korea was about to move fuel rods from its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, to a reprocessing center the first step in making a nuclear weapon. The Pentagon drew up plans to destroy the facility with cruise missiles and F-117 Stealth fighters. William J. Perry, who as Defense secretary had drawn up the plan, ultimately decided not to proceed. Although he believed the Pentagon could safely destroy the plant without spreading radiation, he also thought that North Korea would retaliate against South Korea, and that the hostilities could engulf the region in a cataclysmic war. The Clinton administration instead struck a deal to provide North Korea with energy assistance in exchange for a nuclear freeze. That deal fell apart in 2002 amid evidence that North Korea was cheating. Perry, now an 88-year-old professor emeritus at Stanford University, remains convinced that the Clinton administration did the right thing in averting military action, although North Koreas nuclear program has continued to expand. Advertisement In an interview from Palo Alto, he explained his reasoning back then and his fears for the future. With the Trump administration reportedly considering military action to stop North Koreas nuclear program, we are in a similar situation. Do you feel like this is Groundhog Day, the same dilemmas repeating themselves? The situation is different in many respects today than it was then, but I think the answer is still the same. Which is its not yet time to conduct strikes against North Korea. That time might come, but I think there is still room for creative and constructive diplomacy. The reason I feel so strongly about that is the consequences of a strike. This is not like the Syrian operation where we conducted a strike which we think was relatively cost-free to us militarily. In the case of North Korea, for whatever benefits we might accrue from the strike, and they might be substantial benefits, there is a very significant downside. Chapter one in this book could be a happy story: chapter two is what we have to worry about. So what would happen after the U.S. conducts an airstrike against North Korea? I think with high confidence, there is going to be a military reaction from North Korea. Not a nuclear attack as theyve threatened, rather a conventional but still quite destructive attack against South Korea. We have to care about South Koreans as much as we worry about U.S. citizens; they are our allies and they count. There will be significant military consequence for South Korea. Thats chapter two and its not a very happy story, but chapter three could be catastrophic. How could it get worse? Arent U.S. and South Korean forces combined much stronger than North Korea? Our troops are in South Korea. If North Korea attacks, we do respond to it. It could start as a relatively minor conflict, but it is all too likely to escalate into a bigger war and ultimately into a nuclear war. I have no doubt that in a war with North Korea, the U.S. and South Korea have quite superior forces and we would win. But lets raise the question what North Koreas objectives are. Because I believe this is not a crazy regime; it is an evil regime, it is a reckless regime, but its not crazy. They are oriented almost entirely around regime survival and therefore they are not going to undertake an unprovoked nuclear attack against South Korea anyway. Thats bluster. They are not suicidal. They recognize if they do that their leaders will be killed and their country devastated. They know there will be a nuclear response against them. But if we get into a conventional war and they start losing it, and they see the regime falling anyway, then they might take some last, desperate Armageddon approach. From all of my experience with them, and I worked with the North Korean problem now for several decades and Ive met with North Korean leaders many times, I think this is a sobering and a worrisome forecast of what could happen. Are you opposed to military action in North Korea under any circumstance? I am not opposed to military action forever. I think it is something we always ought to hold as an option. But I think it premature. I think we still have significant diplomatic steps, but it must be in conjunction with China. If you put the incentive and disincentive package together, and we add China to the mix, we have enough. Weve never been able to get them to cooperate in the past, but now might be the time. First of all, I think North Korea is taking us seriously, fearing that we might conduct military action. Secondly, and more importantly even, China is now concerned. If we make the right proposal and they join forces with us, it will be a very powerful diplomatic approach. The opportunity is there; I hope we dont muff it. barbara.demick@latimes.com Twitter: @BarbaraDemick ALSO Trump administration faces few good military options in North Korea China urges calm after North Korea pledges to ruthlessly ravage the U.S. in the event of a military strike Heres why North Korea is a potential train wreck in motion An Arkansas judge issued a temporary restraining order late Friday effectively halting the state from executing six men it had planned to put to death this month. The state was prepared to execute the men in an 11-day span starting Monday, a move that drew strong criticism from opponents of the death penalty who said it was cruel and unusual punishment and increased the likelihood of a botched execution. The state had initially been prepared to execute eight convicted murderers this month, but recent legal rulings had already halted two executions. Advertisement Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen on Friday issued the restraining order preventing Arkansas from using its supply of vecuronium bromide, a drug used in the states lethal injection cocktail. Griffens ruling was in response to a request from a pharmaceutical company, McKesson Medical-Surgical, which argued that its public image would suffer if the state used its drugs in executions. Arkansas Atty. Gen. Leslie Rutledges office said it intends to file an emergency request with the state Supreme Court to vacate the order as soon as possible. As a public opponent of capital punishment, Judge Griffen should have recused himself from this case, Judd Deere, a spokesman for Rutledge, said Friday night. The executions had been slated to begin Monday, followed by more on April 20, 24 and 27, with two men to die each day. No state had executed that many individuals in such a short time frame. Gov. Asa Hutchinson set the execution dates in February after Rutledge determined that the eight men had exhausted their legal challenges. Hutchinson said the state had to act before the end of April, when the states supply of midazolam, an anesthetic, expired. Last week, a federal judge ruled that the execution of Jason McGehee should be put on hold for 30 days after the Arkansas Parole Board suggested to Hutchinson that McGehees sentence should be commuted to life in prison. On Friday, hours before Griffens order, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a stay of execution to Bruce Ward, who was to be put to death Monday. This week a pair of drug manufacturers Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp. asked a federal court to block Arkansas from using its drugs for executions, claiming that doing so would violate contractual supply-chain controls the companies have in place. Fresenius Kabi USA produces potassium chloride, while West-Ward produces midazolam. In a friend of the court brief filed this week, appended to a lawsuit by the inmates aimed at halting the executions, the companies say that they sell the drugs to wholesale distributors who agree to distribute only to hospitals and medical facilities. In the brief, the companies say that their contracts with distributors specifically note that the drugs are not to be provided to correctional facilities. The Rev. Stephen Copley, chairman of the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said he was surprised by Fridays ruling but also approached it with a measure of caution. A member of the United Methodist Church, Copley has been an outspoken critic of the death penalty and had just come back from a rally at the Arkansas Capitol when he learned about Griffens ruling. It isnt over yet, Copley said. That probably wont be the last ruling on it. I have hope, but they still have the state Supreme Court, and it has overruled Judge Griffen before. kurtis.lee@latimes.com Twitter: @kurtisalee Staff Writer David Montero contributed to this report. ALSO Arkansas prepares to execute 8 men in 11 days: Justice, or an assembly line of death? Here are the 8 men who are set to be executed in 11 days in Arkansas Two companies ask judge to block Arkansas from using its lethal injection drugs UPDATES: 7:10 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional details about the judges ruling and comments from Judd Deere and Stephen Copley. This article was originally published at 5:35 p.m. And baby makes glee. Before an online audience of more than a million viewers, April the giraffe gave birth to a calf Saturday at a New York zoo, ending weeks of proverbial pacing by animal lovers in a virtual worldwide waiting room. The 15-year-old giraffe delivered her calf shortly before 10 a.m. EST in an enclosed pen at the zoo in Harpursville, a rural upstate village about 130 miles northwest of New York City. The mama giraffe tenderly licked her calf, which began to slowly pick its head up from the floor of the pen. At least 1.2 million people watched the Adventure Parks YouTube streaming of the event . Advertisement This is Aprils fourth calf, but Animal Adventure Parks first giraffe calf. The proud papa, a 5-year-old giraffe named Oliver, watched from an adjacent pen. This is his first offspring. The privately owned zoo began livestreaming from Aprils enclosure in February. People around the world have been tuning in daily. April has her own website and even an apparel line. A GoFundMe fundraiser page that initially set a goal of $50,000 sat at more than $125,000 on Saturday morning. The money will be used for the care of the animals. A contest will be held to decide on a name for the calf. The parks livestream was briefly interrupted in February when YouTube pulled the feed after someone reported the images contained explicit material and nudity. Jordan Patch, owner of the Animal Adventure Park, blamed a handful of extremists and animal rights activists for the interruption. The wait for the giraffe became an anxiety-ridden experience for some. A Farmington, N.H., songwriter even posted a music video on YouTube called, Im Going Crazy Waiting (For A Giraffe). No immediate details on the calf were announced, but they usually weigh around 150 pounds and are about 6 feet tall at birth. Giraffes are pregnant for 15 months on average. ALSO Will grizzly bears again roam the North Cascades? A deadly fungus thats killed millions of bats in the Northeast has spread to Texas Softball-sized spider species discovered in Baja California caves Happy Easter weekend. Depending on your family traditions, you may be spending the weekend furiously coloring eggs or tempering chocolate, or cooking a brunch spread. However you observe the holiday, its a splendid time to visit your local farmers market. Artichokes are in season, and we have recipes for kuku sabzi, which is a lovely thing to serve for breakfast or brunch. Then theres dinner, which could be in the form of a Sichuan tasting menu. It was for Jonathan Gold, whose new review is of Chengdu Impression in Arcadia, where he found not only a pretty good house-special pork belly, but panda dumplings. In other news, we have stories on the wines from Georgia, a $60,000 bottle of whiskey, a gorgeous citrus salad recipe from Lucques and how they celebrate Grilled Cheese Month at Clementine. Amy Scattergood Panda dumplings Advertisement Assorted appetizers are the second course in the tasting menu at Chengdu Impression. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) This week, Jonathan heads to Arcadia and a new Sichuan restaurant called Chengdu Impression, where he finds an elaborate tasting menu, crunchy Chengdu beef jerky, oddly delicate mapo tofu and dumplings that look like pandas. If ever there was an Instagram-worthy dish, it is this. 16 years of grilled cheese sandwiches Owner Annie Miler takes a break from grilled cheese experimentation at Clementine Bakery. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) Annie Miler loves grilled cheese. So much so that every year in April which is National Grilled Cheese Month she celebrates the sandwich at Clementine, her bakery and cafe, for the entire month. What does this mean? Test Kitchen director Noelle Carter finds out. What to cook for Easter brunch The Persian green frittata (kuku sabzi) from Momed in Atwater Village. (Glenn Koenig/ Los Angeles Times) This Sunday is Easter, a time for church services and chocolate eggs and brunch. If youre a bit tired of the customary ham and eggs Benedict, how about making kuku sabzi? The Persian frittata is a great way to use eggs and herbs from the farmers market, and thus weve got recipes. Or if youd rather have someone else make it for you, food writer Margy Rochlin also has a roundup of places that make excellent versions. Georgia on the mind, in the glass Wine writer Patrick Comiskey talks to Taylor Parsons about the wines of Georgia the country, not the state and why Parsons is so excited about them. These are unusual wines, owing to the winemakers use of large clay vessels called qvevri in their production. And Parsons also recommends where to find them locally. The Los Angeles Times Food Bowl: Want to spend 31 days exploring the food of this city through a Night Market, forums, dinners, films, pop-ups and more dining and drinking? A month-long food festival is coming to L.A. in May. The full program guide is online at lafoodbowl.com. The Daily Meal, the food and drink website under the editorial direction of Colman Andrews, is now one of our partners. Check out their 101 best pizzas in America and other stories, recipes and videos. Jonathan Golds 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2016 Best Restaurants. If you didnt get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here. Check us out on Instagram @latimesfood Check out the thousands of recipes in our Recipe Database. Feedback? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com. The Trump administration has embarked on a stepped-up campaign to capture and deport immigrants living in the United States illegally, even if theyve been here for a long time, have deep roots in the community and have been law-abiding and productive members of American society. Its a mean-spirited, costly and unnecessary approach to illegal immigration that will divide families and destabilize communities at enormous cost to taxpayers, while providing little or no public benefit. California legislators are right to object, and to insist that state and local resources not be spent on helping the federal government in this misguided policy. On the other hand, it is entirely reasonable and in the public interest for the federal government to deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who have committed serious or violent crimes. While state and local governments also should not be involved in enforcing that its not their job they shouldnt obstruct it either. Advertisement Those are the sticky issues that have surrounded the drafting of SB 54, which some people call the sanctuary state bill. When first offered by Senate Pro-Tem Kevin de Leon, the bill put too many obstacles in the way of the federal governments ability to do its job properly. With a series of recent amendments, however, the bill has been improved and, with a couple more small changes, should be supported. In their sweaty fervor to oust those here illegally, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly seem perfectly happy to ignore the Constitution. One of the big questions as the bill moved through the Senate (its been approved there and is now before the Assembly) has been whether local jails and state prisons should have to honor administrative detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These detainers ask jails and prisons to hold immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally beyond the end of their sentences, until ICE agents arrive to pick them up. But a detainer request does not have the force of law behind it, and to continue to hold inmates without a court order, even though they are eligible for release, likely would violate their 4th Amendment rights, leaving local governments on the hook for civil damages. Federal authorities know this well a federal magistrate in Oregon told them so in a 2014 decision. Yet, in their sweaty fervor to oust those here illegally, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly seem perfectly happy to ignore the Constitution. SB 54 orders local jurisdictions not to comply with these detainer requests. But would resistance to the presidents agenda come at too high a cost? Trump already has threatened to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that do not cooperate with his roundups. Luckily for California, there are court decisions that limit such coercive punitive steps, and any such move by Trump undoubtedly would land the policy in court. The state already is prepared for such fights it pays the law firm of former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder $25,000 a month just for such contingencies. The amended SB 54 hews a pragmatic line by precluding local agencies from schools to health agencies from volunteering information to ICE about clients, students and others with whom they interact. It also would keep school and other local government databases, including health services agencies, out of reach of immigration agents. Children, regardless of status, have a right to attend school, and the ill and injured should feel safe seeking medical treatment without having to calculate the odds of deportation. But the law does allow criminal justice agencies to continue to submit names of people arrested to federal databases and to notify ICE of the pending release of people who previously have been deported for a violent felony. It also requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to inform ICE of the release times of all prisoners convicted of violent or serious felonies. That provision should be broadened; the bill should be amended to allow prisons, jails and other criminal justice agencies to release reasonable amounts of information to ICE about all inmates. As currently drafted, state or local officials would, in essence, be determining what is a deportable offense, something that is outside their responsibility. This bill is a stopgap measure. In the longer term, Congress needs to come up with a comprehensive reform plan that allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws at the borders while offering a path to legal status for immigrants who have been living responsibly, but illegally, in the U.S. for years. Otherwise, we are heading pell-mell toward disrupted and fearful communities, further erosion of faith in public institutions such as the police and courts, and destabilized labor markets in immigrant-heavy industries such as agriculture, construction and food services. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook To the editor: Assimilation is a complex balancing act for immigrants, reads the subheadline for this article in the print edition. But perhaps assimilation is not as complex as it seems. (Trump wants immigrants to share our values. They say assimilation is much more complex, April 11) Alex Espinoza, brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a 2-year-old, still carries a Mexican passport but appears to be professionally well established and settled in California. Mexicans in his native country pegged him as an American. Karen, a 24-year-old student at Cal State Fullerton, is confused by what Hispanics and Americans tell her about where she is in her transformation from Mexican to American. She is told, You are way too American, or, You are too Hispanic. She says that if she were to go back to Mexico, I wouldnt have anything back there. Advertisement Jim Chang says, I realize that we dont plan to return to live in Korea. We belong in California now. It seems that Alex, Karen and Jim will spend the rest of their lives in America. Their qualities of life are tied to the fortunes of the United States, and what happens in Mexico or Korea will not materially affect their lives in the United States favorably or adversely. To simplify this matter of assimilation, Ill repeat the old saying, Home is where your heart is. So I ask Alex, Karen and Jim: Where is your heart? Rogelio Pena, Montebello .. To the editor: About 60 years ago I married into an immigrant family. My husbands relatives had no trouble feeling part of the American fabric while maintaining their ethnic roots. My children married into Italian, Greek and Mexican families, and my grandchildren are closely connected to their ethnic roots. I have never felt so Mexican in my life, and now I need to remind myself that I am fully American. Raul Solis, Upland Reading this article on assimilation, I wondered what the difference is between now and then. I suggest that instead of small clusters of same-origin immigrants, we now have huge communities with ever increasing populations. Assimilating is the hard task of the first generation. The reality is that speaking with an accent identifies someone ethnically; those who do it may be judged. To expect it to be different is to deny the reality of human nature. But most of us, while noticing the difference, look beyond the accent to the whole person. Marty Wilson, Whittier .. To the editor: My story differs from those of the three people in this article because I was born in the United States. I graduated high school and college here, attended graduate school and am a military veteran. Given my background, I have always felt like a fully contributing member of American society, which includes adding a Chicano twist to my interactions and experiences over the years. Thus, while President Trump has focused on the undocumented, his administrations approach to immigration has impacted me. I have never felt so Mexican in my life, and now I need to remind myself that I am fully American. Raul Solis, Upland .. To the editor: Stop using assimilation, which means abandoning ones root culture to adopt a new country of residence, a racist subordination of newcomers. The term acculturation is more appropriate for someone who retains the root culture while adapting to a new one. Michael Haas, Los Angeles Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook In this era of Donald Trump with its mass protests and historically bad approval ratings for the president during his traditional post-inaugural honeymoon the language of resistance hasnt remained confined to politics. This week, it found another target: United Airlines. The thuggish treatment of a passenger who wanted to keep his seat on a United regional plane in Chicago on Sunday would have sparked outrage with any political environment as a backdrop. But among The Times letter writers, there are some people speaking about Uniteds re-accommodation scandal as if they were revolutionaries opposing Orwellian overlords. People today, especially newspaper readers, are already mad. United made them madder than hell. Advertisement Curtis Panasuk compares the roughed-up United passenger to past revolutionaries: The United passenger is a hero because his sacrifice puts a spotlight on the outrageous policy of forcing customers off flights. What has happened to America, the land of the free and home of the brave, where the rule of the bully has replaced the rule of law? Roger Lowell, Santa Clarita This is an example of civil disobedience popularized by Gandhi, who borrowed the idea from Henry David Thoreau. If a rule is unjust, who among us will be brave enough to break the rule until we are released from its shackles? This is how Martin Luther King Jr. broke down the rules of segregation. Some would argue that the airlines have a right to make an overbooking rule in the name of profits. In fact, this rule led to United losing $750 million in capitalization on Tuesday. The problem with United and other corporations is that in their vast collection of rules, they are missing the most fundamental one: Do the right thing. Costa Mesa resident Jon Rowe lists multiple grievances against the airlines: The latest outrage perpetrated against a United passenger should be the last straw for the flying public against all airlines. For starters, passengers should demand the following: No more overbooking. No more bumping. No more charges for checked bags. No more squeezing of ever-more seats into the cabins. Restore the practice of crediting frequent flier points based on miles flown, not the amount paid for a ticket. Otherwise, where will the corporate greed end? Roger Lowell of Santa Clarita wonders about the state of our union: I have been a United frequent flier club member for more than 35 years. I will end that membership this month. As of this writing, I will never fly United again. It is appalling that a ticketed passenger was hit and dragged off an airplane to make room for an employee. Could my daughter or wife or I be next if we fly United? What has happened to America, the land of the free and home of the brave, where the rule of the bully has replaced the rule of law? It is my hope that other frequent flier club members of United will also take a stand against this abhorrent action. El Segundo resident Ken Hense mentions another ongoing PR crisis: Now Im wondering if in a fit of rage Trump will send missiles to take out a United hub airport. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook California made no secret of its ambitions when it enacted a landmark law on global warming just over a decade ago. Progress here on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the law said, would have far-reaching effects by encouraging other states, the federal government and other countries to act. Now the goal has become more critical than ever as President Trump rolls back national environmental regulations. No matter how hard California pushes, the country will fall short of its obligations under the Paris agreement on climate change unless more states try to keep pace. So far, experts say, not enough is being done. A dozen states are emulating Californias rules on tailpipe emissions, and even more are setting benchmarks for increasing renewable energy. But persuading them to adopt other, more ambitious policies, such as requiring polluters to pay fees through a cap-and-trade system, remains elusive despite years of efforts. Advertisement Im not giving up hope, Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview. But it has been difficult. The gap in environmental policies between California and other states has quickly morphed into a source of international concern. The United States must slash emissions by at least 26% below 2005 levels by 2025 to hit its target in the Paris agreement. If other countries such as India dont see the worlds largest economy upholding its end of the deal, the entire framework for averting the worst effects of global warming could collapse. On Thursday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt called for an exit to the climate agreement. You could begin to see an unraveling of this coalition, said Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program. Meeting the Paris target was always going to be difficult all of former President Obamas policies combined would not have been enough to sufficiently slash emissions by the deadline, according to research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. However, Trump is targeting regulations on power plants and vehicles, knocking the country further off the trajectory toward its international obligations. Were not close, said Kate Larsen, an Oakland-based director at the Rhodium Group, which tracks climate policies. There still needs to be a lot more from many other states to hold off the damage from the Trump administration. The lack of pressure from the White House could have a ripple effect that makes states less likely to take politically difficult steps to cut emissions and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. But Brown and environmental advocates are hoping for a political backlash against Trump that helps persuade local leaders to fill the void created at the federal level on climate change. I do believe that science and peer-reviewed research and essentially the truth about the world will ultimately prevail, Brown said. The only question is if it will be too late. California is responsible for less than 1% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions, and Brown has pledged to keep looking for allies. That effort has advanced in fits and starts ever since his predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed Assembly Bill 32 in 2006. The law became the foundation for Californias cap-and-trade program, which requires companies to buy permits to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. California and some of its neighbors launched the Western Climate Initiative to support similar policies in the region. But the recession made politicians wary of anything that could increase costs on businesses, and then legislation for a national cap-and-trade program died in Congress. Meanwhile, Democrats lost campaigns in states including Arizona and New Mexico. When those [states] went Republican, we lost them, said Terry Tamminen, who led the California Environmental Protection Agency under Schwarzenegger. In 2013, California signed a new agreement with Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to create a West Coast alliance. However, progress has been difficult, even in the otherwise liberal Pacific Northwest. Oregon, which has one of the only statehouses completely controlled by Democrats, is debating a cap-and-trade program that could link with California, creating new avenues for ratcheting down emissions. But the states budget problems may push climate change onto the back burner in the Legislature. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (Don Ryan / Associated Press) Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and California Gov. Jerry Brown listen to a speaker in San Francisco before signing an agreement to collectively combat climate change in 2013. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press) When you have schools and roads on the docket, it doesnt take priority, said Kristin Eberhard, a Portland-based senior researcher at the Sightline Institute. There are other hurdles in Washington, where Republicans have often been able to block climate programs. Lawmakers are considering a tax on carbon emissions rather than requiring polluters to obtain permits through a cap-and-trade system, an idea that previously died in the state Legislature. This is the hardest thing to do, said Vlad Gutman-Britten, the Washington director at Climate Solutions, an advocacy group. The state is definitely acting on climate. Its a matter of seeing what the suite of policies are. Domestic political obstacles mean it can be easier for California to find partners outside the country. The Canadian province of Quebec has linked with California on cap and trade to collectively auction pollution permits, expanding the programs economic footprint, and Ontario is expected to take a similar step. China has worked with California to develop its own system, which is scheduled to launch this year. Environmental advocates say changing the landscape will mean increasing their pressure in statehouses, which are mostly controlled by Republicans. The same political forces and money that are behind the retreat away from climate action in Washington are also present in states around the nation, said Jeremy Symons, associate vice president for climate political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund. Its going to take the inevitable public backlash that we expect, and are already starting to see, to turn things around. He pointed to progress in some states led by Republicans, who see potential for new jobs and lower prices in renewable energy. Since Trump won election, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation boosting solar and wind power in their states. More recently, Ohio Gov. John Kasich vetoed a measure to eliminate similar policies that was pushed by members of his own party. California is the only state with the power to set vehicle rules that are tougher than federal standards, which has given it more clout on climate change. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) There are other areas where California is prepared to anchor the battle against climate change. Its the only state in the country allowed to set tougher rules on tailpipe pollution than federal standards, and regulators here are pushing forward on cutting emissions despite potential opposition from Trump. The decision could affect nearly half of the countrys vehicle market because a dozen states have adopted Californias policies as their own. Just go to an auto show, said Bonnie Reiss, who worked on climate legislation for Schwarzenegger and now manages the former governors institute at the University of Southern California. Every single car manufacturer has cool hybrids or electric cars. Brown has also emphasized his partnership with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Combined, their two states represent one-fifth of the countrys economy, and theyve set similar targets for reducing emissions. When Trump announced his decision to roll back Obamas Clean Power Plan last month, Brown and Cuomo pledged to keep fighting climate change with or without Washington. Its the kind of message that environmental advocates want to see more often in the coming months. If states like California and New York are out there and showing the world that were pushing forward, Larsen said, that will send a huge signal to the international community. chris.megerian@latimes.com Twitter: @chrismegerian ALSO: Californias vow to reduce auto pollution may be setting up a full-out war with Trump As the White House changes course on climate change, California stubbornly presses forward Updates on California politics Updates from the campaign trail Records show ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manaforts firm received payout from Ukraine ledger under investgation Last August, a handwritten ledger surfaced in Ukraine with dollar amounts and dates next to the name of Paul Manafort, who was then chairman of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Ukrainian investigators called it evidence of off-the-books payments from a pro-Russian political party and part of a larger pattern of corruption under the countrys former president. Manafort, who worked for the party as an international political consultant, has publicly questioned the ledgers authenticity. Now, financial records newly obtained by the Associated Press confirm that at least $1.2 million in payments listed in the ledger next to Manaforts name were actually received by his consulting firm in the United States. They include payments in 2007 and 2009, providing the first evidence that Manaforts firm received at least some money listed in the so-called Black Ledger. The two payments came years before Manafort became involved in Trumps campaign, but for the first time bolster the credibility of the ledger. They also put the ledger in a new light, as federal prosecutors in the U.S. have been investigating Manaforts work in Eastern Europe as part of a larger anti-corruption probe. Separately, Manafort is also under scrutiny as part of congressional and FBI investigations into possible contacts between Trump associates and Russias government under President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. The payments detailed in the ledger and confirmed by the documents obtained by the AP are unrelated to the 2016 presidential campaign and came years before Manafort worked as Trumps unpaid campaign chairman. In a statement to the AP, Manafort did not deny that his firm received the money but said any wire transactions received by my company are legitimate payments for political consulting work that was provided. I invoiced my clients and they paid via wire transfer, which I received through a U.S. bank. Manafort noted that he agreed to be paid according to his clients preferred financial institutions and instructions. Previously, Manafort and his spokesman, Jason Maloni, have maintained that the ledger was fabricated and said no public evidence existed that Manafort or others received payments recorded in it. The AP, however, identified in the records two payments received by Manafort that aligned with the ledger: one for $750,000 that a Ukrainian lawmaker said last month was part of a money-laundering effort that should be investigated by U.S. authorities. The other was $455,249 and also matched a ledger entry. The newly obtained records also expand the global scope of Manaforts financial activities related to his Ukrainian political consulting, because both payments came from companies once registered in the Central American country of Belize. Last month, the AP reported that the U.S. government has examined Manaforts financial transactions in the Mediterranean country of Cyprus as part of its probe. Federal prosecutors have been looking into Manaforts work for years as part of an effort to recover Ukrainian assets stolen after the 2014 ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, who fled to Russia. No charges have been filed as part of the investigation. Manafort, a longtime Republican political operative, led the presidential campaign from March until August last year when Trump asked him to resign. The resignation came after a tumultuous week in which the New York Times revealed that Manaforts name appeared in the Ukraine ledger although the newspaper said at the time that officials were unsure whether Manafort actually received the money and after the AP separately reported that he had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraines pro-Russian Party of Regions. Officials with the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which is investigating corruption under Yanukovich, have said they believe the ledger is genuine. But they have previously noted that they have no way of knowing whether Manafort received the money listed next to his name. The bureau said it is not investigating Manafort because he is not a Ukrainian citizen. Still, Manaforts work continues to draw attention in Ukrainian politics. Last month, Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Leshchenko revealed an invoice bearing the letterhead of Manaforts namesake company, Davis Manafort, that Leshchenko said was crafted to conceal a payment to Manafort as a purchase of 501 computers. The AP provided to Manafort the amounts of the payments, dates and number of the bank account where they were received. Manafort told the AP that he was unable to review his own banking records showing receipt of the payments because his bank destroyed the records after a standard seven-year retention period. He said Tuesday the computer sales contract is a fraud. The signature is not mine, and I didnt sell computers, he said in a statement. What is clear, however, is individuals with political motivations are taking disparate pieces of information and distorting their significance through a campaign of smear and innuendo. Leshchenko said last month the 2009 invoice was one of about 50 pages of documents, including private paperwork and copies of employee-issued debit cards, that were found in Manaforts former Kiev office by a new tenant. The amount of the invoice $750,000 and the payment date of Oct. 14, 2009, matches one entry on the ledger indicating payments to Manafort from the Party of Regions. The invoice was addressed to Neocom Systems Ltd., a company formerly registered in Belize, and included the account and routing numbers and postal address for Manaforts account at a branch of Wachovia National Bank in Alexandria, Va. The AP had previously been unable to independently verify the $750,000 payment went to a Manafort company, but the newly obtained financial records reflect Manaforts receipt of that payment. The records show that Davis Manafort received the amount from Neocom Systems the day after the date of the invoice. Leshchenko contended to AP that Yanukovich, as Ukraines leader, paid Manafort money that came from his governments budget and was stolen from Ukrainian citizens. He said: Money received by Manafort has to be returned to the Ukrainian people. Leshchenko said U.S. authorities should investigate what he described as corrupt deals between Manafort and Yanukovich. Its about a U.S. citizen and money was transferred to a U.S. bank account, he said. A $455,249 payment in November 2007 also matches the amount in the ledger. It came from Graten Alliance Ltd., a company that had also been registered in Belize. It is now inactive. The AP reported last month that federal prosecutors are looking into Manaforts financial transactions in Cyprus, an island nation once known as a favored locale for money laundering. Among those transactions was a $1-million payment in October 2009 routed through the Bank of Cyprus. The money was deposited into an account controlled by a Manafort-linked company, then left the account on the same day, broken into two disbursements of $500,000, according to documents obtained by the AP. The records of Manaforts Cypriot transactions were requested by the U.S. Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which works internationally with agencies to track money laundering and the movement of illicit funds around the globe. Dozens of Ukrainian political figures mentioned in the Black Ledger are under investigation in Ukraine. The anti-corruption bureau, which has been looking into the Black Ledger, publicly confirmed the authenticity of the signature of one top official mentioned there. In December, the bureau accused Mykhaylo Okhendovsky of receiving more than $160,000 from Party of Regions officials in 2012, when he was Ukraines main election official. The bureau said it would identify more suspects in the coming months. As a cold rain pelted the Mexican border town of Nogales, a young Honduran man and his two companions gathered outside a Catholic charity kitchen with other marooned deportees and would-be border-jumpers. The mood was generally disconsolate, and with good reason: Most were broke, cold and hungry, and, more significantly, had little hope of rejoining loved ones and friends on the other side. Just across the way stood the imposing metal fence blocking off Arizona, USA. But amid this aura of gloom was the irrepressible Besser Geovanny Zelaya Ortiz, a repository of teenage idealism in the face of hard knocks at the end of his latest three-month rail odyssey north. Anuncio The slim, fast-talking 19-year-old Honduran, wearing a wool scarf emblazoned with Notre Dame, confidently conveyed counsel to dejected fellow migrants, like a baby-faced street preacher keen to lift the spirits of his bedraggled flock. They didnt seem that impressed, but Zelaya was undeterred. We plan to make it to Gilroy, California, he said, referring to the self-proclaimed Garlic Capital of the World. A companero of ours is there. This was his third trip on La Bestia (The Beast), the sprawling network of freight trains that transports cargo and U.S.-bound Central American migrants from deep in Mexico to the northern borderlands. His earlier expeditions ended in deportation back to Honduras last year, once from the United States in April, and once from Mexico in October. Still, Zelaya seemed to embody a facet of the migrant trek the sense of adventure and possibility that is inevitably lost in the polemics and sense of desperation surrounding illegal immigration. Anyone who is an immigrant or refugee, or a child of one, absorbs the significance this momentous journey, of leaving ones homeland for another life. Besser Geovanny Zelaya Ortiz, in a rail yard about 100 miles south of Nogales, Mexico, hoping to reach Gilroy, Calif. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) Immigrants, legal or not, tend to be risk-takers, opportunity-seekers. Zelaya traveled with two companions his older brother, Jose Fernando, 22, and a new friend from Mexico, Juan de Dios Cervantes, 18. Zelaya and his brother rock n roll devotees who are among seven children of a widow who works at a chicken-processing factory in the ranching hub of Juticalpa, Honduras lack functioning phones, but occasionally find an Internet connection to fire back home a simple message: Were alive. That they were headed to a country where migrants like them are reviled by many as interlopers to be jailed and deported didnt especially faze him. I understand how someone who has never experienced poverty would never understand me, and would think I was an evildoer and a vagrant, Zelaya said. I understand certain points that Donald Trump makes, though I dont agree with him. A wall wont stop anyone. Yes, there will be more deportations, but more people will try to get in. It will be the same. Bestia-hoppers making their way through Mexico face a Dickensian gantlet of gang enforcers, extortion-minded cops, immigration checkpoints and occasionally crazed and drugged-out fellow travelers. The Zelaya brothers recounted disturbing episodes from their separate journeys, like the day a fellow Honduran was thrown to the tracks from a train when it braked suddenly, resulting in a severed arm. He was already dead when he arrived at the hospital, recalled Zelaya, who was sleeping in a boxcar when the locomotive jolted. We continued on the train. But Zelaya also recalled moments of kindness and sacrifice during his railroad journeys. Nogales police officers often respond to incidents along the fence 10 miles east of downtown Nogales, Mexico. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) Honduran bandits manning the railroad tracks in southern Mexico stopped and searched Zelaya and another traveler, but when the bandits discovered Zelaya had only 4 pesos, the equivalent of 20 U.S. cents, the tattooed heavies turned into unlikely good Samaritans: They handed Zelaya a bag with roasted chicken and tortillas grub recently purloined from other migrants. We were very hungry, but too afraid to eat there, Zelaya recalled, so we kept walking along the tracks and eating on the go. Despite the discomforts and dangers, a sense of comradeship prevails among the Bestia regulars, many of whom know one another from previous rail voyages and interludes in jails, shelters and flophouse hotels, and bump into one another anew along the convoluted route. We are very unified, very loyal to each other, Zelaya said of fellow train riders, many of who are christened with colorful monikers. In Veracruz, Zelaya hooked up with some friends, including a fellow Honduran he had met at a U.S. immigration detention center in Arizona; hes known as El Platano (The Banana) for his blond, curly hair, tied up in a pony tail. Juan de Dios Cervantes, right, Jose Fernando Zelaya Ortiz and Besser Geovanny Zelaya Ortiz wait for the train early one morning about 100 miles south of Nogales, Mexico. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) Another traveling companion El Chapin, the ubiquitous designation for Guatemalans was robbed at knife-point by Mexican cops while buying food at a shop, Zelaya said; he had to turn over his savings of 700 pesos, the equivalent about 35 U.S. dollars. But he told his captors he was traveling alone, so they would not seek out Zelaya and other rail-riding comrades, who hid beside the railroad tracks in swamps with water above their knees, using plastic bags for camouflage. Zelaya later spent a month in the western city of Guadalajara, saving up some cash while working as a welder, painter and in other laboring jobs. His aim was to find his brother, Jose Fernando, who had left Honduras earlier. He finally met up with his brother in the coastal city of Puerto Penasco, after an unexpected beach interval in the resort town of Mazatlan where a train unexpectedly deposited him and others. We took some well-deserved vacation on the beach, taking in the sights, he said. He and his brother made their way to Nogales, and were promptly arrested by police as undocumented vagrants and placed in custody for a day and a half, with little food, Zelaya said. On the rainy day outside the Catholic charity, they plotted their way north. Besser Geovanny Zelaya Ortiz, left, with brother Jose Fernando Zelaya Ortiz, 22, right, and friend Juan de Dios Cervantes, 18, hope to hop a train early one morning after an all-night wait. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) Unable to afford the $4,000-per-head smuggling fees, the three had devised a dubious strategy: They would use a compass to traverse the California desert from the Mexican border city of Mexicali, where, they had heard, it was easier to cross without paid guides. I dont want to be stuck in the desert with mafiosos, said Zelaya, referring to the smuggling syndicates that sometimes abandon their charges in arid expanses. At a shelter here in Nogales, the brothers had befriended Cervantes, who was keen to find work in the United States and help his large family in Mexicos Sonora state. The Hondurans seemed reliable, and experienced, colleagues. These guys seemed like good traveling companions, they knew the route, said Cervantes, a relative novice. Indeed, Zelaya had provided Cervantes some Bestia tips the urgency to run as fast as possible alongside the rolling stock before lunging for the rail cars metal ladder; how to exit semi-safely, thrusting oneself forward and hitting the ground at a sprint, the better not to lose equilibrium and tumble to the ground. Besser Geovanny Zelaya Ortiz shows his brother and a friend how to run for a train more safely. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) The trio left Nogales as they had arrived, via a cargo train. This time they hopped a train headed to a railroad junction town with the unusual name of Benjamin Hill. Its about 100 miles south of Nogales, but its where a rail line splits off for Mexicali. Word of the changing politics in the north has of course filtered down to the train hoppers. Zelaya attributes to President Trump, apparently erroneously, a comment that Central Americans flee their homelands because of incompetent and corrupt governments at home a sentiment he is completely on board with, however apocryphal the attribution to Trump. If we didnt have such bad governments, we wouldnt be so screwed and we could work in our own countries, that is for sure, he said. Im a free soul, declared Zelaya, who hopes to attend university someday and become an engineer. He was optimistic that his third attempt to enter the north would not result in a quick deportation. The truth is, I dont give up. They had a train to catch that afternoon, a meandering iron beast rumbling toward a land that, while unwelcoming, still offered the allure of opportunity to these indefatigable riders of the rails. patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com Special correspondent Liliana Nieto del Rio and Cecilia Sanchez of The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report. ALSO Islamic State has fewer than 1,000 fighters in Afghanistan. So why did Trump drop the mother of all bombs? Mexican tourists once flocked to the U.S. during Easter week. This year theyre elsewhere and they blame Trump Mexican authorities arrest suspect in killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent Gay-rights activist and labor organizer Cleve Jones will speak at Costa Mesas Fairview Community Church next weekend. Jones will appear at the churchs 10 a.m. service April 23 during a panel-style conversation open to all community members. Its such an honor to have a living legend in our presence, said the Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson-Cano, the churchs senior pastor. As an opening, welcoming and affirming congregation, we are thrilled to welcome him, to hear more about his story and to be inspired as we seek to rise together to support one another. Jones, 62, is an activist, author and lecturer who was at the forefront of San Franciscos gay liberation movement in the 1970s alongside pioneer activist Harvey Milk. Jones worked as a student intern in Milks office in City Hall and was there when Milk was assassinated in 1978. A few years later, Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and launched the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, a global arts project dedicated to people who died of AIDS-related causes. Jones memoir, When We Rise: My Life in the Movement, tells the story of the fight for LGBTQ rights in 1970s San Francisco and living with the specter of AIDS during the early years of the epidemic. The book helped inspire the recent ABC-TV miniseries When We Rise. Actor Emile Hirsch portrayed Jones in the 2008 film Milk, for which Jones was a historical consultant. In 2009, Jones led the National March for Equality in Washington, D.C. Jones, who says he has been HIV-positive since the late 1970s, lives in San Francisco, organizing for the hospitality labor union UNITE HERE. We are looking forward to hearing Cleve tell his inspirational story, Halverson-Cano said. Anyone who has watched the miniseries or read his book knows that his journey was not easy, but that in learning to love and accept himself for who he is, he was able to make a difference in hundreds, and now thousands, of lives. Fairview Community Church has been outspoken about LGBTQ and marriage equality and participates each year in the AIDS Walk, Halverson-Cano said. We proudly fly the rainbow flag and intentionally invite lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to join us this Sunday and all Sundays, she said. After Jones shares his story at Fairview, he will sign books. The church is at 2525 Fairview Road. ALLYSON ESCOBAR is a contributor to Times Community News. Laguna Beachs Design Review Board had its say on proposed rule changes to the citys treatment of historic properties. On Wednesday the Planning Commission will provide its feedback. The complex process of revising Lagunas historic preservation ordinance began four years ago when the City Council approved hiring historical consultant Jan Ostashay to survey 852 pre-1940 homes and update a 1981 inventory of historic properties. In the process, which included multiple public meetings, some homeowners said they were unaware their homes were included in the inventory until they applied for a permit to remodel or make other changes to their properties. Other residents did not want to be included in the inventory and requested a codified process to reevaluate their houses. Some speakers suggested eliminating the inventory. One of the main discussion topics has been treatment of what Laguna calls C-rated properties. Laguna classifies structures into one of three categories based on historical significance. Properties with an E, the highest rating, and K embody the distinctive characteristics of a time period, region, construction method or represent work of an important creative individual, according to the draft ordinance. C-rated structures contribute to overall character and history of a neighborhood, but may not be architecturally significant. The city and Ostashay said C-rated structures are not historic resources under the California Environmental Quality Act , and therefore, should be exempt from added work, such as preparing environmental impact reports, according to a city staff report. But after hearing from multiple speakers at a September meeting, the Heritage Committee, on a 4-3 vote, determined C-rated structures bear historic qualities and should be protected. Speakers said certain changes to a houses exterior could lead to the home clashing with the surrounding neighborhood. Under current law, a project is exempt from CEQA if, for example, the maintenance, restoration and repair adhere to the Secretary of the Interiors Standards. Changes that could trigger a CEQA review include removing character-defining features, such as replacing doors and windows, or altering roofing materials, according to city documents. But the Secretary of the Interiors Standards allow for minimal alterations, which the city said is fine for buildings with key architectural features, but create a conundrum for properties that are not individually historic, but contribute to the neighborhood, the staff report said. The proposed ordinance includes a process for homeowners to have their propertys rating reexamined. The Heritage Committee would hold a public hearing and recommend one of the three ratings, or no rating. The committee could also request that the city pay for a historic assessment to provide more information. The city created the 1981 inventory as a way to both preserve Lagunas village character and offer incentives to homeowners who applied for and gained approval for their houses to be part of the citys historic register. Incentives include reduced parking requirements and waived building and permit fees. In January the Design Review Board recommended approval of the proposed ordinance, with a few added suggestions. For more information and to read the draft ordinance, visit lagunabeachcity.net. Wednesdays meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall at 505 Forest Ave. bryce.alderton@latimes.com Twitter: @AldertonBryce Gov. Jerry Brown and two top Assembly Democratic leaders will visit the proposed veterans cemetery site at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine within the next several weeks, Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva said. The City Councils April 4 vote to put $38 million toward turning part of the former base into a cemetery sends a strong message to Sacramento about how serious Irvine is on the issue, Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) said, adding an additional $10 million in federal funds is available for the El Toro site. I think were in a good place right now, said Quirk-Silva. Although there is no specific date yet for the governors trip, the assemblywoman said he will be accompanied by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) and Assembly Budget Committee Chair Phil Ting (D-San Francisco.) According to Irvine Councilman Jeff Lalloway, the cemetery will cost about $77 million. The Legislature would have to provide the remaining $29 million. The council also voted to explore an alternate cemetery site near the interchange of the 5 and 405 freeways. That land is owned by developer FivePoint Communities, which has said it is willing help build a cemetery there. In exchange for its freeway site, it would get the El Toro land, which now is part of Irvines Great Park. Quirk-Silva said the possibility of an alternate site shouldnt hurt the chances of securing funding for the old El Toro base. However, she said if the alternative freeway site is chosen, the proposal would have to go back through the Legislature and would need approval from the federal government. We would have to start over, she said. Neither the Governors Office or FivePoint Communities returned calls seeking comment. Veterans have asked for a cemetery in Orange County for decades. Currently, the closest veteran cemeteries are in Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. This story was reported by Voice of OC, a nonprofit investigative newsroom, as part of a publishing agreement with TimesOC. Spencer Custodio can be reached at spencercustodio@gmail.com. Military veterans will get a cemetery in Orange County, but the Irvine City Council is divided over where to put it. One side favors a 125-acre site on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station while the other wants to let a developer build it near the intersection of the 5 and 405 freeways. And still unknown is whether the state will pay the roughly $40 million needed to complete the El Toro site or exactly how the developer who owns the freeway site would create that cemetery. The two cemetery proposals at a recent council meeting pitted Councilwoman Christina Shea, who favors the freeway location, against Councilman Jeff Lalloway, who supports the former El Toro base, now the Great Park. This (the freeway plan) is an effort by a developer to get additional homes built within the Great Park, said Lalloway. Lets just say it for what it is thats what it is. Im not going to die on my sword on this, Shea said of the debate over where to put the cemetery. I hope to move forward because I want to see that cemetery built and we know it can be built in the next year and a half. Lalloways 125-acre plan calls for Irvine to put up $38 million to develop the cemetery on the Great Park site with another roughly $40 million coming from the state Legislature and governor. The state is basically broke, so what youre asking people to do is stick with your proposal and that were going to wait another how many years before we ever get any money from the state of California, said Shea, adding that Gov. Jerry Brown has said he supports the cemetery, but theres no state funding for it. Sheas plan proposes a land swap with the development firm FivePoints Communities getting the citys Great Park cemetery site in exchange for land FivePoints owns near the 405 and 5 interchange. The City Council shot down that plan last year and voted to keep the cemetery at the Great Park site. But this year, Councilwoman Melissa Fox proposed combining the two proposals. The city would put up $38 million toward construction and state funds can be sought for the Great Park site at the same time staff is reviewing how the freeway land could be turned into a cemetery. Her plan eventually passed on a 3-2 vote, with Councilwoman Lynn Schott and Lalloway dissenting. For decades, no elected officials tried to get a local cemetery for Orange County veterans. Currently, the closest veteran cemeteries are in Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. But nearly three years ago, Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) got the Legislature and Brown to buy the El Toro site for a cemetery. After she lost her seat to former Assemblywoman Young Kim (R-Fullerton), all progress on the cemetery stopped. Quirk-Silva won the seat back in November. Developer FivePoint Communities has opposed putting the cemetery in the Great Park, near homes and a school. When the issue was before the council last year, the room was packed with Chinese residents who opposed locating the cemetery in the Great Park because it would create bad feng shui in the neighborhoods that surround it. Chinese are Irvines largest Asian majority, making up about 12% of the citys population. This year, military veterans crowded the council meeting. I am one veteran who did not find welcome when I came home, said Jack Fanchar, a U.S. Army draftee in the Vietnam War. Now, nearly 50 years later, Im again made to feel unwelcome by those who say the veterans cemetery proposal is not welcome at the (Great Park) site. I suspect it violates someones marketing plan. I consider these (former military base) acres hallow grounds, Army veteran Ed Pope told the City Council. When Im buried, I really dont want the freeway close, said U.S. Air Force veteran Angelo Vassos What has the developer done for Irvine? But other veterans support Sheas land-swap proposal or said they dont mind where it is. They just want it built quickly. Where you place the cemetery will say a lot about your city. It makes a strong statement to the world that you care about veterans if you place it in a prominent site (near the freeway), U.S. Army veteran Robert Breton said. (The freeway) site is a better site and it will, in the end, take less time and less money. The next steps are up to Quirk-Silva and FivePoint Communities Chairman Emile Haddad. I will continue to push the state to do its part on the project, Quirk-Silva said in a statement published on her website. Haddad has told the council hes ready to begin discussing funding for the first phase of the cemetery, but no details have been provided. This story was reported by Voice of OC, a nonprofit investigative newsroom, as part of a publishing agreement with TimesOC. Spencer Custodio can be reached at spencercustodio@gmail.com. Glendale Adventist Medical Center on Friday brought community leaders and physicians together to introduce an official name and brand change coming this summer. Starting at the end of July, the Glendale hospital will be known as Adventist Health Glendale. It is part of a larger 21-hospital ministry system known as Adventist Health, which will change its name to One Adventist Health. The rebranding is part of an effort to better align all of the hospitals under a more uniform mission, hospital officials said. The changes are not the result of a sale or merger. In an earlier statement announcing the plans, Glendale Adventist officials said everyday operations at the medical center will remain essentially unchanged. However, there will be new signage and logos throughout the hospital. Join the conversation on Facebook At the Friday event, Kevin Roberts, chief executive of Glendale Adventist, addressed the upcoming transition to a small room full of city leaders and hospital staff that included Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge), Glendale Mayor Paula Devine and other members of City Council. Roberts said the hospitals mission will now be more aligned with the One Adventist Health vision, where coming together under one strategy will lead to benefits such as better clarity, efficiency and accountability. Our health system is now focusing on being more aligned, more consistent and more reliable in terms of all the different ministries and how they function, Roberts said. He added that the new name already fits because community members often refer to the hospital as simply Adventist anyway. Before the close of the event, Portantino presented the hospital with a congratulatory award for the unveiling of the new brand on behalf of the state Senate. This isnt the first name change for the 112-year-old medical center. When it first opened in 1905, it was known as Glendale Sanitarium. It was later called Glendale Hospital and Sanitarium until 1977, when it adopted its current name after joining the Adventist Health system of hospitals. jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda On Tuesday, the Glendale City Council approved funding the citys first-ever CicLAvia a large-scale, open-street event that replaces motor vehicles on about 3 miles of streets with human-powered transport such as biking, skating and walking. City Council members gave their unanimous approval to appropriate $301,420 toward the open-street event, with $179,520 contributed by a grant from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority, known as Metro. The citys Economic Development Department will cover an additional $45,000, leaving $76,900 as the only newly allocated funds from the city. Im very happy that staff has [worked on CicLAvia] and that council has expressed an interest in this for several years, Councilman Ara Najarian said. Im happy to support it. The proposed event, called Glendale Meets Atwater, will be planned and managed by the nonprofit group CicLAvia, which has previously staged more than 20 open-street events in L.A. County during the last four years. Join the conversation on Facebook The CicLAvia route will connect Glendales Brand Boulevard at Doran Street to Atwater Village on Glendale Boulevard to the south. Although the various streets will be closed to motor vehicles, all major intersections will be open for traffic and controlled by the Glendale Police Department. The car-free route is meant to encourage the use of more sustainable means of transportation, promote public health and allow residents to explore neighborhoods at a different pace, according to Jacqueline Bartlow, economic development coordinator with the city. Bartlow said that officials with the Brand Boulevard of Cars, Glendale Galleria, Americana at Brand and the Downtown Glendale Assn. each expressed some concerns about the potential loss of customers because of street closures. Glendale city staff and CicLAvia officials met with those stakeholders to choose routes with the least-impactful option that still retain the programs civic-engagement goals, Bartlow said. A UCLA study found that a June 2013 CicLAvia event along Wilshire Boulevard boosted local business sales by 10% on the day of the event when compared to a non-CicLAvia Sunday earlier that month. Glendale will join neighboring Burbank and other cities in inaugural open-street events, according to a $4-million Metro grant program designed to help stage 17 car-free experiences in L.A. County. According to Burbank spokesman Drew Sugars, Metro has offered a grant for Burbank to hold an open-street event in March 2018, but the proposal has yet to be considered by the City Council. To me, its more than just an event that opens up streets to people and families, said Romel Pascual, executive director of CicLAvia. Its really an opportunity for us, not only as a city but as a region, to come together as a community. The CicLAvia event in Glendale is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m on June 11. There is no start or end point along the route; participants will be allowed to enter the designated streets anywhere they please. jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda Officers from the Glendale Police Department handed out Easter-themed goodie bags to more than 900 students at R.D. White Elementary School Thursday morning. However, before students received their bags, the dozen or so Glendale officers and volunteers who were at the school shared tips with the children about various safety topics including wearing a helmet when riding a bike and always looking both ways when crossing a street. In one first-grade class, Officer Ed Malouf and Sgt. Rafael Quintero reminded students that its only safe to cross the street when the traffic light indicates its OK to do so. Its unsafe to cross when the light shows a hand or even when its counting down. If youre on the corner and, if its blinking, even if its 20 or 15 seconds, dont starting crossing, Malouf said. Join the conversation on Facebook The officers also reminded the students to always wear their seat belt when riding in a car and to wear it correctly over the lap and across the shoulder, never under the shoulder. One student pointed out that, if you dont wear a seat belt, maybe youll hit your nose and break it. The event was sponsored by the Glendale Police Officers Assn.s Cops for Kids program. In addition to teaching students about safety, it was also a way for the children to become more familiar with police officers and not be afraid of them. Its been really good being able to have some interaction with the children and that they can know to rely on police in a time of need, Sgt. Ben Bateman said. Long before heading to the school, volunteers were packing the roughly 900 bags with Easter eggs, chocolates, stickers, pencils and erasers. Bateman said the police union has been doing these kinds of visits for more than 10 years, rotating to different schools annually. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc Sleep health experts took part in a town meeting Thursday where most in attendance were in favor of a state bill introduced by state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge) that would push back school start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. We have to be good role models for our children, said Dr. Terry Cralle, a clinical sleep educator who participated in the event held at Pasadena City College. Cralle and other experts at the meeting cited studies dating back to the 1990s that highlight a correlation between increased academic and extracurricular pressures at middle and high schools and increased stress, problems falling asleep, increased potential for depression, greater likelihood to become overweight and increased chances of using risky substances to stay awake or deal with a lack of sleep. Its a clash of very strong forces, said Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom, lecturer and senior research fellow at the University of Minnesota. Its the biological demand of the teen brain to be asleep from 10:45 p.m. to 8 a.m., and high schools historically starting early. Join the conversation on Facebook She noted that at three high schools in the Minneapolis area that initiated a later start time, students reported statistically significant less depression and better grades. Also, a principal noted fewer discipline referrals. In Jackson Hole, Wyo., where Wahlstrom studied a school district that implemented a later school start time, she found there were 70% fewer traffic crashes involving teenagers. She said the main times of accidents were in the morning hours when students were driving to school and they were drowsy because their brains were still transitioning out of sleep mode. Portantino said hes been having ground-level discussions around his Senate district since he introduced SB 328 in February, but the meeting on Thursday was the first public event. He said hes received two letters in opposition, with each writer preferring that districts retain local control to determine how best to adjust the change if the bill passes into law. This is a public-health issue [that] has an academic and socioeconomic benefit, Portantino said. Students are more efficient in using their time [with improved sleep]. Their habits get better and become more efficient to do better. Patty Scripter, a La Crescenta resident who is vice president for education with the state PTA, suggested an outreach campaign be developed. We will have some unhappy members of the PTA because change is hard, she said. This is an opportunity to have better attendance and less discipline problems. Its good for [the students] mental health and good for their safety. Scripter said Davis Joint Unified School District in Northern California has already implemented a later high school start time. At first, it faced considerable opposition from parents, she said. Due to outreach and education, parents are now in favor of the later school start time and hope to shift the campaign to the districts middle-school level. In L.A. County, school start times are all over the map and have proven to be unhealthy, several panelists said, such as Santa Clarita beginning at 7 a.m. In both the Glendale and Burbank unified school districts, most middle and high school students begin classes at 8 a.m., but some students enrolled in a zero-period schedule, where there is an additional period at the beginning of the day, can start as early as 6:55 or 7 a.m. But there are occasional banking days, when students start school an hour later. In La Canada Unified, students in seventh through 12th grades start at 7:45 a.m. every day except Tuesdays, when they have a later start, with the first period beginning at 8:40 a.m. Sandy Russell and Lourdes Wang, both of La Canada, attended the town hall meeting and were supportive of Portantinos bill. Their families reside in the Sagebrush area, and they send their children to Glendale Unified. Russells son and Wangs daughter, both sophomores, said they enjoy the banking days. That extra hour of sleep is very significant, and he notices it, Russell said. He wakes up happier. Matt Sanderson is a Times Community News contributing writer. The use of robotics can be important in the education of children and teens particularly in learning how to solve problems according to co-founder of Rolling Robots, where students of various skill levels build robots. Former Boeing engineer Bing Jiang spoke to a couple dozen people at the Glendale Central Library during the citys latest Tech on Tap event on Wednesday. Rolling Robots has a Glendale location and two other sites in the L.A. area. Jiang said shes learned a lot from working with students as they build robotic creations during after-school programs, winter or summer camps or birthday parties. Some students go on to compete in robotics competitions. The youngest students involved are 4 years old, and they learn simple stuff, Jiang said, such as building electrical circuits. Older students have built and programmed a Lego robot to solve a Rubiks cube, among other robots that solve complex tasks. Join the conversation on Facebook Speaking about some of the students shes met, Jiang learned several of their parents had previously tried to push them into playing a sport but were unsuccessful. Most of them are not exactly into sports, Jiang said. Some of them also needed to learn how to work with other students, or theyre shy and unsure about which aspect of the robot they should work on, whether building, programming or another component. Some students only learn how to work together after confronting each other during arguments. Sometimes its physical, Jiang said, jokingly. We have to get that out of the way. However, once the students are part of a team, they often excel, even if they endure huge setbacks, such as a motor stopping dead during a high-stakes competition. Although youre messing up, you can always pick up from where you are, Jiang said. kelly.corrigan@latimes.com Twitter: @kellymcorrigan This photo, by staff photographer Paul Calvert, was one of six Easter-related images published the next morning on The Los Angeles Times page three. On the Hollywood Bowl service, the Times reported: More colorful than any of the preceding Easter services at Hollywood Bowl was the program presented there yesterday and attended by an audience estimated at more than 25,000 worshipers. Hours before the chimes began to ring at 5:30 a.m. thousands had found comfortable seats on the sloping tiers of benches or among the green trees that line the hills. Youth was the theme of the service, and hundreds of boys and girls took part in the program and assisted in seating the visitors. Hundreds of war veterans were taken to the service by Red Cross Motor Corps caravans, and after the service were treated to breakfast by Red Cross volunteers. Advertisement Standing beneath a rugged wooden cross on the north hillside, eight white-robed young women trumpeters hailed the rising sun with the inspiring Gloria Patri." The ancient Sanskrit poem, Salutation of the Dawn, has been read at every Bowl sunrise for the last 20 years, but never has it been recited with such feeling and enthusiasm as it was read yesterday by Elizabeth Taylor. This post was originally published on April 22, 2011. See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here It was a day of spectacle: Jets soared overhead, flying in formation to form the number 105, the number of years since the birth of Kim Il Sung, who forged an isolated workers state on the northern Korean Peninsula. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of citizens the men dressed in suits, the women in traditional Korean dresses marched through central Pyongyang, clutching pink artificial flowers and national flags. They clustered around floats adorned with political slogans. Long live the socialist medical system, said one, which was surrounded by doctors. Another, depicting a new residential development in Pyongyang, read: We are the happiest in the world. Advertisement The marchers turned their heads upward to North Koreas current leader, Kim Jong Un, who surveyed the massive show of military might and public adulation from a high rostrum. Some wept. The colorful show of pageantry and power Saturday offered a rare glimpse of one of the worlds most secretive societies. It also provided an opportunity for North Korea striving to become the worlds next nuclear power to stage a provocative display of the military hardware it continues to develop in defiance of international sanctions. The government did not test a nuclear weapon to mark the anniversary, as many analysts had expected. A missile launch was attempted early Sunday, according to U.S. and South Korean officials, but it fizzled. In a speech, Choe Ryong Hae, the vice chairman of North Koreas ruling Workers Party of Korea widely believed to be the countrys second-most powerful man warned that Pyongyang would not hesitate to deploy nuclear weapons against the U.S. Now the U.S. imperialists have struck a sovereign country, he said, referring to President Trumps recent airstrike on a Syrian airbase in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack. Now, they are dispatching nuclear forces in the territory of the Korean peninsula. If the U.S. government preemptively strikes our country, we are ready to counter strongly. Trump diverted a naval strike group toward the peninsula last week, led by the USS Carl Vinson, a large aircraft supercarrier accompanied by destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser. It is not known to carry nuclear weapons. The North Korea-U.S. showdown has placed northeast Asia in a state of heightened anxiety. Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Seoul this weekend to discuss North Koreas nuclear ambitions and affirm support for U.S. allies. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed Friday that North Korea may be able to arm its missiles with sarin nerve agent, and the countrys national security council reportedly has discussed how to evacuate its nearly 60,000 citizens from South Korea in the event of a North Korean attack. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that a military conflict between North Korea and the U.S. could break out at any moment and urged the two powers to avoid the irreversible route of war. The parade featured a seemingly endless procession of tanks, missile-bearing trucks and soldiers who goose-stepped in such perfect unison that the ground shook. North Korea presented several new pieces of military hardware, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported, including a type of inter-continental ballistic missile, or ICBM. North Korea is trying to develop a nuclear-tipped ICBM that could reach the continental United States; some analysts believe it could acquire that capability within a decade. Other new weapons on display included Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which North Korea tested last year and are harder to detect than land-launched ICBMs. Yet the show of force left unanswered questions about the equipments reliability. The parade didnt go off seamlessly; a North Korean live broadcast of the event showed one tank begin to billow smoke, then turn away before the column continued through Kim Il Sung Square. Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert and international relations expert at Troy University in Seoul, said the North Korean government probably wanted to signal its move toward developing solid-fuel missiles, which can be deployed much more quickly than liquid-fuel missiles in the event of a military conflict. I think its becoming clearer that North Korea has what we call an asymmetric escalation nuclear posture, Pinkston said. Its suggesting that if were getting overrun [in conventional combat], we reserve the right to use nuclear weapons first. Thats what North Korea is doing, and thats really dangerous. Trump has pressured China to rein in North Koreas nuclear program, threatening on Twitter that if it doesnt, the U.S. could act on its own. China has taken steps to defuse the situation. On Friday, Wang, the foreign minister, pledged to try to renew talks with North Korea in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, according to Chinas foreign ministry. China also has temporarily halted its coal imports from North Korea a measure that Trump praised this week in a news conference. But its unclear how much farther China the reclusive nations biggest benefactor is willing to go. Beijing fears that a regime collapse in Pyongyang would send refugees across the two countries shared border and destroy the buffer between itself and South Korea, a staunch U.S. ally. Trade between China and North Korea has actually increased in the first quarter of 2017, rising 37.4% from the same period last year, according to Chinese government figures. China buys garments and minerals such as iron ore from North Korea, while North Korea relies on the larger communist country for just about everything else including most of its food and energy supplies. John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, said that the recent round of tensions calls to mind episodes in 2010, when North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire, and in 2015, when Kim ordered front-line troops onto war footing. That was driven by South-North stuff, and the U.S. was there, kind of posturing, he said. This time, Trump is egging it on. But Kim Jong Un has showed that hes ready to be this go to the edge of the cliff and not blink kind of leader. Hes doing that again now. Experts say that the U.S. has no good options on the peninsula. A preemptive strike could provoke North Korea to attack Seoul, one of Asias most developed and cosmopolitan cities, potentially killing hundreds of thousands of people. There are just a lot of constraints on attacking North Korea, said Robert Kelly, a professor of political science at Pusan National University in Seoul. South Korea isnt configured very well to absorb North Korean counterfire: 55% of its population lives within 75 miles of North Korea. Its insane. Its like facing a fencing partner without any armor over your chest. Throughout the parade, which lasted for about two hours, Kim stood above the crowd, wearing a black suit and white tie. He clapped, waved and saluted for more than two hours, as hundreds of thousands of North Koreans streamed by, howling, Long live, their faces contorted with emotion. Afterward, as municipal workers swept artificial flower petals from the square, Youn Dok-kin, a 47-year-old doctor, said that North Koreas nuclear weapons program made him proud. Our country has always been threatened by the nuclear weapons of the U.S. imperialists, he said. Now, we have our own nuclear force, and our country can defend our national security, and our peace. jonathan.kaiman@latimes.com For more news from Asia, follow @JRKaiman on Twitter Special correspondent Jessica Meyers in Beijing contributed to this report. ALSO Were in North Korea. Want to know what its like here? Send us your questions North Korea says its ready for war, but Pyongyang remains a city of orderly calm Why a North Korean leader called a gleaming new neighborhood more powerful than 100 nuclear warheads UPDATES: 4:50 p.m.: This article was updated with news of an attempted missile launch by North Korea. This article was originally published at 8:50 a.m. As Turks prepare to vote in a referendum that would greatly expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the advocates of the change are brimming with confidence while opponents say they dont know how to prevent the advent of one-man rule. The package of 18 constitutional amendments up for a vote Sunday would replace parliamentary democracy with a presidential government that puts most of the levers of power in Erdogans hands. Lawmakers would have little influence on key decisions, and the judiciary would be even more subservient than it is currently. And Erdogan, already in power for 15 years, would be able to run for two more five-year terms when his current term ends in 2019. Advertisement Eskisehir, an industrial city of 800,000, is located in central Anatolia, the heartland for Erdogans ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), but its controlled by the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP). Theres been a spirited, yet civil, debate here, judging from the booths set up by yes and no backers in the city center, some next to each other. But in a cafe near the university, the mood was somber this week as opponents of the changes explained why they were sitting around tables playing Rummikub, a Turkish board game, rather than campaigning door-to-door for their cause. A lot has to do with the fact Erdogan scheduled the referendum during a state of emergency dating from last Julys abortive military coup that Erdogan blames on a Muslim cleric in U.S. exile. There is a psychological problem. People believe no matter whether they vote yes or no, that yes will win. Utko Cakirozer, parliament member Everyone is scared, said a student who asked to be identified only as Ismet, 23. If we went out on the streets, wed wind up in prison. He said he cant even post his views on Facebook, fearing the authorities would come down hard on his family. But he also blamed the opposition organizers. Even among referendum opponents, Erdogan is seen as a real leader compared to Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the CHP leader. We are talking to the yes people and trying to persuade them, said Yunus, 33, who also feared reprisal if he gave his full name. But he added that CHP leadership should be much more active, much more effective. The two men and two young women, all medical students, agreed that Turkey is on the eve of a dictatorship, with no checks and balances on executive power. They said it could be like Germany in 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power, but they said they didnt know what they could do about it. Utko Cakirozer, a former editor of the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, whos now one of six parliament members from Eskisehir, had gone to the In Heavy Demand coffee house to cheer on the no campaign. (Cakirozer was a Daniel Pearl fellow at the Los Angeles Times in 2008.) There is a psychological problem, he said in an interview. People believe no matter whether they vote yes or no, that yes will win. He said he tries to counter that resignation by saying that the government wont be able to steal the vote if observers and the public keep a close watch on the ballot boxes. But theres nothing he can do about the wide sense of intimidation that followed the governments firing of more than 110,000 civil servants and the jailing of more than 50,000 for allegedly supporting the putsch. The opponents also had no way to counter Erdogans severe clampdown on the news media, the arrests of journalists and the closing of dozens of news outlets following the coup attempt. The no backers had no way to stop Erdogan from taking full advantage of the state apparatus as he campaigned for the amendments, invariably receiving more TV news coverage than Kilicdaroglu and other no campaigners. Nor could they match Erdogans skill in capitalizing on the countrys woes, which include a revival of the insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers Party separatists in southeastern Turkey and the threat Islamic State extremists based in neighboring Syria. Yet whatever complaints the CHP may have about the government using the state of emergency to block access to the media and the general public, it pales in comparison to Erdogans crackdown on the mainly Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, whose parliamentary leadership have been detained on charges of supporting the Kurdish separatists, widely known as the PKK. City and town officials belonging to the Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party have been ousted from their positions and hundreds of its local leaders have been detained, the party said April 7. Rallies have been banned, the party cannot put up posters showing its leaders now in jail and it cannot even play its campaign song, party officials said. In a day packed with appearances and interviews to rally support for the no vote, Cakirozer also made a low-key visit to a textile factory, where he greeted workers in the cafeteria. I am afraid if [Erdogan] wins there will be a dictatorship, said Nurten Gunes, 24, a recent graduate in international relations, whos working on the production line pending her admission to a graduate degree program. She said her friends felt they were under pressure to vote yes in order to keep their jobs. Other employees seemed well aware of what was at stake in the referendum and that the eyes of the world are now on Turkey. All the world wants no to win, so the people around me say that we have to say yes, said Nebahat Toraman, 43, another worker. The vote is indeed being watched closely from abroad. Turkey, a country of some 80 million that connects Europe with Asia and a critical U.S. ally in NATO, borders some of the worlds most unstable places, starting with Syria and Iraq. Nearly every Western partner has expressed deep reservations about the proposed constitutional changes, but most have stayed silent so as not to provide a foil for Erdogans yes campaign. The Trump administration, which has allied with the PKKs Syrian affiliate in the battle against Islamic State extremists in Syria, has delayed its decision on a military plan to capture Raqqa, the self-declared Islamic State capital, until after the referendum. The outcome Sunday is unclear, with some polls showing the country divided, and the main uncertainty is whether voters are telling the pollsters their true intentions Sunday or whether theyve made up their minds. Gutman is a special correspondent. ALSO Take Ahmed and let me die: Victims of U.S. airstrike in Mosul recount a day of horror Mother of all bombs kills 36 Islamic State militants in Afghanistan, sparks mix of anger and praise on the ground Islamic State has fewer than 1,000 fighters in Afghanistan. So why did Trump drop the mother of all bombs? An Iraqi military officer says Islamic State militants have launched a gas attack in a newly liberated area in western Mosul. The officer with the anti-terrorism forces said Saturday that the attack occurred the night before in the Abar neighborhood, when the Islamic State fired a rocket loaded with chlorine. He said seven soldiers suffered breathing problems and were treated in a nearby field clinic. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release information. Advertisement U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are battling Islamic State militants in the more densely populated western half of Mosul. Iraqi officials say more than half of western Mosul has been retaken. The extremists were driven out of the eastern half of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, in January. ALSO Nearly 300 died in Mosul airstrike, making it one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in recent memory Take Ahmed and let me die: Victims of U.S. airstrike in Mosul recount a day of horror U.S. airstrike was responsible for civilian deaths in Mosul, Iraqi officials say Since North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, the United States, South Korea, China and other nations have tried to stop Pyongyang from becoming a fully armed nuclear state. Yet despite its abject poverty and isolation, North Korea has made remarkable technical progress putting together a workable nuclear weapon. The tests have been conducted in the northeast sector of North Korea, an isolated and heavily forested area about 6,000 feet in elevation. The nearest city or town is 14 miles away. Experts outside North Korea typically analyze the seismic signature of each explosion and attempt to collect atmospheric samples by "sniffer" spy planes. Here is a look at the four tests conducted by North Korea and the international response to them. Do not worsen the situation Nearly four years after dropping out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon. The explosion measured 4.2 in magnitude. Small by nuclear standards, it was considered a failure. But the U.N. Security Council swiftly denounced the North Korean action and began work on a U.S.-sponsored resolution aimed at punishing the country for violating a moratorium on nuclear testing. World leaders urged the North's leader, Kim Jong Il , to give up the country's nuclear program and return to negotiations. China, which rarely spoke out publicly against its neighbor, did so this time, strongly urging the North Korean side to abide by its pledges on denuclearization and to stop any action that would worsen the situation." A satellite image obtained by France shows the administrative area of North Koreas nuclear testing site. (AFP/Getty Images) (HO / AFP/Getty Images) Proud nuclear power North Korea announced it had conducted its second nuclear test. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 4.7 tremor in the northeast. The test followed months of tension during which North Korea had repeatedly rejected international pleas to abandon its burgeoning nuclear program. Analysts also believed that Pyongyang was irate over criticism by the U.S., Japan and South Korea of its rocket launch weeks earlier and had grown impatient at the lack of attention from the Obama administration. Some also saw it as Kim's strategy to boost his position at home. "Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea's isolation. It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery," President Obama said. During his first term, the White House played down North Korean threats and avoided visible reaction to provocations. Weeks later, North Korea, calling itself a "proud nuclear power," vowed to forge ahead with its nuclear program in defiance of the U.N. A North Korean soldier looks across the banks of the Yalu river into China. (Johannes Eisele / AFP/Getty Images) (JOHANNES EISELE / AFP/Getty Images) Bombs over electricity This was the first nuclear test carried out under Kim Jong Un . In addition to the nuclear test, North Korea unnerved the international community by orchestrating an escalating campaign of bombast, including threats to fire nuclear missiles at the U.S. and Seoul. Three weeks later, the United Nations ordered additional sanctions. "Perhaps the greatest impact of this nuclear test is that it will signal that the Kim Jong Un regime, like its predecessors, has chosen bombs over electricity," said one expert. The Obama White House, now in its second term, staged a series of military moves, highlighting them with public announcements. Meanwhile, the Pentagon bolstered missile defense forces in Alaska with 14 interceptors in response to North Korea's threats of attacks. Young North Korean musicians perform against a backdrop image of leader Kim Jong Un. (Wong Maye-E / Associated Press) (Wong Maye-E / AP) A first using fusion technology The blast of what North Korea called a "miniature" hydrogen bomb registered around 5.1 in magnitude, and the success of it was questioned by scientists and the White House. This would mark the countrys first test using fusion technology; the three previous nuclear tests are all believed to have used plutonium-based, or possibly uranium-based, atomic weapons. South Korean President Park Guen-hye stepped up an already unusually strong push to condemn North Korea, telling Parliament that Pyongyangs insistence on developing nuclear weapons would lead to the regimes demise. Aides to President Obama said that military options remained on the table but that the president was focused on diplomatic responses. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said in a statement, We do not and will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, and actions such as this latest test only strengthen our resolve. Further condemnation came from South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, along with various arms control organizations. Apr 14, 2017, 5:10pm ET Uber lawyers considered Waymo lawsuit before acquiring Otto Waymo\'s lawyers point out that Uber lawyers discussed the matter just days after Anthony Levandowski resigned from Google, months before any acquisition. Uber lawyers discussed potential legal issues surrounding the controversial acquisition of Otto, the startup founded by the former head of Google's autonomous car division, Anthony Levandowski, according to lawsuit filings spotted by USA Today. The internal correspondence between Uber lawyers was reportedly included in 700 pages of documents submitted for the company's ongoing legal battle with Waymo, the Alphabet spinoff that started as Google's self-driving car project. "So we have this incredible situation where days after Mr. Levandowski leaves Google, and months and months before any acquisition, it's being discussed in email," said an attorney representing Waymo in the lawsuit. Waymo has accused Levandowski of downloading 14,000 proprietary design files before leaving Google, then forming a startup, Otto, that was allegedly created with the intent of an immediate acquisition by Uber. Once at Uber, Levandowski allegedly used the stolen design files to replicate Waymo's critical LiDAR sensor system for his new employer. US District Court Judge William Alsup appears to have voiced frustration with Uber's resistance to locating the allegedly stolen files, which serve as the basis for allegations of stolen intellectual property. The case could have a significant impact in the highly competitive world of autonomous car development, as startups and Silicon Valley giants race alongside established automakers to build the first fully-autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing services, cargo transportation, public transit and consumers. A 31-year-old Fountain Hill man who was critically injured when he was struck by a drunk driver while walking in 2015 has died, according to the Lehigh County Coroner's Office. Jeremy Magditch was hailed as a hero after the Sept. 26, 2015, incident on South Side Bethlehem, in which he pushed his girlfriend to safety before he himself was struck by a speeding pickup truck driver. Magditch was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m. Friday at his home in the 800 block of Seneca Street, Coroner Scott Grim said Saturday. Following an autopsy Saturday morning, the cause and manner of death remained pending forensic testing results, Grim said. The death was not considered to be suspicious, and there was no sign of foul play, Grim said. Magditch was forced to move back home with his parents following the pedestrian crash. He and his then-girlfriend, Samantha Anthony, were crossing West Fourth Street in Bethlehem after dinner when Kendell Ritz, driving drunk and speeding, struck Magditch. Magditch was "a knight in shining armor" to Anthony's father for saving his daughter that night. Ritz was sentenced April 8, 2016, to between 3 1/2 and 6 1/2 years in prison. Now 32, he remains incarcerated in Pennsylvania's Fayette state prison in La Belle, Fayette County. Magditch was a well-regarded chef at Corked Wine Bar in Bethlehem, but all that changed after Ritz struck him. He suffered a broken skull, back and ankle and a liver injury. His condition put him in a medically induced coma for two weeks. His death follows that of his brother, Travis Magditch, who was found dead Jan. 5, 2012, inside a cell at Lehigh County Jail. He was being held on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and theft. The Magditch family sued the county, alleging he was not given an inhaler even though a prison health screening identified him as asthmatic. A Lehigh County jury in March 2015 found the medical care in the prison was not to blame for his death, The Morning Call reports. Jeremy Magditch was being remembered Friday night and Saturday on social media, with friends recalling his smile and compassion. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Valerie Reese was headed to the hospital Friday afternoon to have her baby when the little girl decided it was time. "'She's coming now, she's coming now!'" Reese exclaimed to her boyfriend, Stuart Ridgeway, the proud father recalled. "So she's like, 'You got to stop the car.'" Ridgeway wheeled the Pontiac Grand Am into the parking lot of McDonald's at 2610 Easton Ave. in Bethlehem and ran around to Reese in the passenger seat. He got one sneaker off and one pant leg down. "Our daughter's head was already out," he said. "I grabbed our daughter by the head a little bit and I pulled and she just shot out like a rocket. There was no kind of pressure, she just came right out. "She started crying and everything is great, thank God." A Bethlehem paramedic holds the newborn baby of Valerie Reese and Stuart Ridgeway, both of Bethlehem, moments after Reese gave birth to a baby girl about 3 p.m. Friday, April 14, 2017, outside McDonald's at 2610 Easton Ave. in the city. (Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com) It was about 3 p.m. A woman in the next parking spot over spoke to a city 911 dispatcher on Ridgeway's phone, and Bethlehem Emergency Medical Services, the fire department and police were on scene within moments. McDonald's staff brought Reese a cold drink in a to-go cup and something to wrap the baby in. "To be honest with you, McDonald's, their workers, didn't hesitate, they helped out tremendously," said Ridgeway, who like Reese lives in Bethlehem. "It's good when you have a community that helps each other. It is a good thing." "I'm just stopping from trembling from just the quick, intensive, massive shock of here she is now. Foof!" he said moments after city paramedics took Reese to an area hospital with their new daughter. The Grand Am was still idling. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Marijuana enforcement laws were softened in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. So why not decriminalize weed across the state? That's the message Lehigh Valley NORML wants to send with an upcoming rally in Easton. "I think it's an important issue in Pennsylvania," said Jeff Riedy, a 45-year marijuana smoker and the director of the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The rally is set for 4:20 p.m. on April 20 in Easton's Centre Square. 4/20 is a slang term for marijuana users referencing the plant they enjoy ingesting. Riedy, 59, of Bethlehem, took control of the two-year-old chapter after interest had ebbed. He has long been a proponent of recreational marijuana use but has learned more and more about its medicinal benefits. The state is in the process of making the drug available for medical use. Riedy said it would be great if Easton could follow Philadelphia's lead. Recreational users found with less than 30 grams of the drug in Philadelphia face a $25 fine and no criminal conviction, according to a report on phillymag.com. Possession of a small amount is a civil offense, not a criminal one. Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said Easton's status as a third-class city prevents its council from enacting similar rules. "If the state decriminalizes it, we can do that. We can't do it on our own," he said. Pittsburgh and Harrisburg have lowered possession of a small amount of marijuana from misdemeanors to summary offenses, according to reports from post-gazette.com and pennlive.com. Most offenders are young men in their 20s, Riedy said. A conviction for possession follows them for the rest of their lives. And decriminalizing marijuana will save communities the cost of enforcement. "It's an ugly situation and it's a big expense to enforce," Riedy said. Marijuana possession is still illegal under federal law. LV NORML drew 30 to its most recent meeting after about a year of no activity. The group has about 1,300 "likes" on its Facebook page. Riedy cleared the rally with local police and the mayor's office of special events. He didn't need a permit because he doesn't anticipate an overwhelming crowd. About a dozen people came for the last rally. "It's circulating around the Internet. We have some people from Philadelphia interested in coming up," Riedy said. "I'm hoping for a large crowd." Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. TROPHIES We shouldn't have to make a big deal about members of Congress returning to their districts to hold town hall meetings, hosting what were once routine Q&A sessions with constituents. In the Donald Trump era, however, town halls have become raucous events with angry citizens accosting elected officials. Republican incumbents, especially, are feeling the blowback, so it's noteworthy that Rep. of Hunterdon County, who represents New Jersey's 7th District, has held three town halls in 2017. U.S. Reps. Charlie Dent and Matt Cartwright have also held town halls this year. Other House members and senators are choosing to hold "virtual" town halls, using telephone hookups or social media platforms. The old adage, "If you can't stand the heat ..." comes to mind. For many years have been the on-air voice of Italian-American culture in the Easton area. Their influence travels well beyond their hometown through their weekly radio show, Tempo Italiano. On April 29 the Wilson Borough couple will be honored by the Italian-American Heritage Club of Hunterdon County at a gala at the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse. The event supports scholarships for high school students of Italian descent and other charitable causes, such as Hunterdon Meals on Wheels and Briteside Adult Day Care Center. The Richettas are celebrating 20 years of "Tempo," originally on WEEX 1230 AM in Easton and now on WSAN 1470 AM and iHeartRadio. Moravian College's new health sciences building is an attention-getter as well as an educational trend setter. The facade of the Center for Health Sciences incorporates aspects of the college's 275-year history, including a 500-pound, 8-feet-tall, glass Moravian star in a glass tower atop the third floor. The soon-to-be-completed center will house the Lehigh Valley's first virtual cadaver lab; a 12-bed mock hospital ward with mannequins, on which students will practice; a two-bed simulation lab with robots that mimic real-life symptoms; and a labor/pediatrics simulation lab with a robot that delivers a baby. The center is named for Miksiewicz, a former Moravian trustee and CEO of East Penn Manufacturing, who was killed while jogging in 2014 by an impaired driver. A "no-shoe" lounge on the third floor, under the Moravian Star, will memorialize her fondness for kicking back and going barefoot, college President Bryon Grigsby said. TURKEYS Pennsylvania apologized Wednesday to the state troopers who provide security and transportation to him and his wife, but didn't say what exactly actions or behavior he regrets. He acknowledged reports about mistreatment of the state police detail assigned to him. "Any person who goes through life and gets stressed, I think, will say things that they don't mean and they say things out of anger, and I'm no exception," said Stack, a Democrat and former state senator from Philadelphia. He denied doing anything abusive, but didn't deny reports that he leaned on state troopers to use sirens and flashing lights when driving him. Stack's comments were triggered by an investigation into the allegations by Inspector General Bruce Beemer's office. Gov. Tom Wolf has refused to comment on the issue. Stack and his wife Tonya live in a state-owned house at the state National Guard headquarters in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa. Decorated Vietnam War veteran Joseph M. Belardo Sr. is bringing his story to a historic tavern in Phillipsburg. Open to the public, Belardo's presentation is scheduled 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Steve's Cafe, 766 S. Main St., said owner Maryann Ignatz. Belardo is the author of "Dusterman: Story of the Last Great Gunfighters." It covers his time as a U.S. Army sergeant attached to the Third Marine Division in 1967 and 1968 along the demilitarized zone between South and North Vietnam. "Dusters" was what Belardo's mobile combat team and body recovery unit was known as. He was in the country during the Tet Offensive in early 1968 that showed the staying power of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, and he and his crew were the last to leave the besieged Khe Sanh Combat Base once it was finally abandoned. The late journalist Michael Herr, in his book "Dispatches," summed up Tet like this: "Vietnam was a dark room full of deadly objects, the VC were everywhere all at once like a spider cancer, and instead of losing the war in little pieces over years we lost it fast in under a week. After that, we were like the character in pop grunt mythology, dead but too dumb to lie down. Our worst dread of yellow peril became realized; we saw them now dying by the thousands all over the country, yet they didn't seem depleted, let alone exhausted, as the Mission was claiming by the first day. We took space back quickly, expensively, with total panic and close to maximum brutality. Our machine was devastating. And versatile. It could do everything but stop. As one American major said, in a successful attempt at attaining history, 'We had to destroy Ben Tre in order to save it.' That's how most of the country came back under what we called control, and how it remained essentially occupied by the Viet Cong and the North until the day years later when there were none of us left there." Belardo served during the bloodiest period of the Vietnam War for United States troops. Of 58,220 Americans who died during the war, 16,899 were killed in 1968 alone -- the highest total of any year. The years 1969 and 1967 saw the next highest death tolls, of 11,780 and 11,363, respectively, according to the National Archives. Belardo, who lives in South Plainfield, N.J., graduated from South Plainfield High School before joining the Army. Medals he earned during his time in the service include the Bronze Star with Valor, Purple Hearts and numerous Marine Corps and Army citations, according to his website, dusterman6768.com. Steve's Cafe at 766 S. Main St. in Phillipsburg is shown ahead of its 100th anniversary May 20, 2015. (Lehighvalleylive.com file photo) Ignatz, owner of Steve's Cafe, said she's honored to host Belardo for his presentation on the 50th anniversary of his time in Vietnam. Steve's was established by her great-grandfather and marked its 100th anniversary in 2015. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A new book will be launched on Thursday night (April 20) at Newbridge Silverware that aims to gather a collection of all the incidents that saw Irish peacekeeping forces come under fire. INTO ACTION - Irish Peacekeepers Under Fire, 19602014 by Dan Harvey, presents what the publisher believes is the far less familiar hard edge of Irish Peacekeeping, bringing readers into a world of conflict, fears to be faced, conflicts to contain, and engagements that must be won. The recent cinema and Netflix release of The Siege of Jadotville brought into focus once again the difficult and dangerous role of the Irish Army in their work as UN peacekeepers. While their actions in the Congo are perhaps most widely known and reported, the Irish Defence Forces have come under fire in Lebanon, Kosovo, Chad, and most recently Syria. And now, for the first time, former Lieutenant Colonel Dan Harvey has gathered together the fascinating details of these dramatic events, across some of the most protracted and complex international conflicts. The professionalism, courage and determination of the Irish personnel throughout is the constant unifying strand running through six decades of keeping the peace where others could not, say publishers Merrion Press. Dan Harvey served on operations at home and abroad for 35 years to date. He is the author of Soldiers of the Short Grass: A History of the Curragh Camp and has previously written about major incidents involving Irish Defence Forces members on active overseas peacekeeping services, including Peace Enforcers: The EU Intervention in Chad and Peacekeepers: Irish Soldiers in the Lebanon. The Irish Times had an interesting story yesterday, quoting one of the Irish Brexit officials as saying that British Ministers realise that Brexit is a huge mistake. The British government is slowly realising Brexit is an act of great self-harm and that upcoming EU-UK negotiations must seek to limit the damage, the States top Brexit official has said. The official, John Callinan, said on Thursday: I see signs in the contacts that were having, both at EU level and with the UK, of a gradual realisation that Brexit in many ways is an act of great self-harm, and that the focus now is on minimising that self-harm. Mr Callinan also highlighted the existence of internal divisions on the British side just weeks out from the start of formal withdrawal negotiations with the EU, saying it was clear there was no single, settled position on Brexit in London. Even within the British government, there are very different views, he said. Responding to this report, Tim Farron said: These reports confirm what many of us have suspected. The Liberal Democrats have warned from the get go that Brexit is a monumental act of self-harm. The Chancellor is clearly terrified as he wonders how on earth he can possibly fill an estimated 200bn Brexit black hole in the UK economy over the next 15 years. The scandal is why Theresa May is still blindly pursuing a hard Brexit when she knows the evidence is now overwhelming that you cant have a hard Brexit and a successful economy, or the decent public services that rely on wealth creation. The question now is whether Theresa May is prepared to do the right thing and face down the Brexit ultras in her cabinet. That is the only way she can keep Britain open, tolerant and united. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings A LITHUANIAN man who was with another man that was shot in the head by armed gardai in West Limerick last year is a member of a sophisticated gang which operates with almost military precision, gardai have revealed for the first time. Details of the gangs modus operandi emerged during the sentencing hearing of Aurimas Petraska who has pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to offences in three different counties on dates during 2015 and 2016. The only offence which happened in Limerick was the theft of stock, with a retail value of 240,000 from Isobels, Main Street, Adare, on June 21, 2016. The other offences occurred at locations in Cahir, County Tipperary, and at three separate locations in County Cork. Detective Garda Michael Brosnan said a major garda investigation was launched into the activities of the gang early last year following a number of similar crimes during which large quantities of goods were taken. It was a very heavily resourced investigation, said the detective who confirmed that district, divisional and national units were all utilised during the investigation. Inquiries were also made through Interpol and Europol as part of the painstaking investigation. The gang operated with military precision, he said, explaining that CCTV footage obtained by gardai shows they wore black fatigues, gloves and head lights. Members of the gang, he said, can also be seen on the footage checking their watches at regular intervals as they timed each burglary to perfection. They were highly sophisticated, (they were) in and out in six minutes, he told Michael Collins BL, prosecuting. Following his arrest near Shanagolden last June, Petraska admitted buying cheap estate cars from websites such as Done Deal which were then modified to enable them to ram into the front of premises which had been identified. Untraceable burn phones were also used by members of the gang in an attempt to avoid detection. The 32-year-old defendant who lived in Rathkeale for a short time in 2005, told gardai he was paid between 2,000 and 3,000 for each job and that the stolen property was normally shipped out of the country within days of each burglary. While he admitted his own involvement in the offences, the defendant did not reveal any information relating to other members of the gang. Detective Garda Brosnan said makeshift battering rams were attached to the front of the cars which also had their rear seats removed and windows spray-painted. The vehicles were abandoned following each break-in by the culprits who used rental cars to get away. Judge Tom ODonnell was told an operation was put in place last June after gardai were alerted to a car acting highly suspiciously in Foynes near a garage premises in Foynes. The car left the village at around 2.30am and was stopped near Shanagoldedn shortly before 3am. During interview, Petreska who has previous convictions in Norway, the Netherlands, and Lithuania admitted he had travelled to Foynes with the intention of stealing a computer which is used for cars. However, Mr Collins said he was not able to gain access to the premises on the night. Michael Hourigan BL said his client, who has a young child, cooperated with gardai following his arrest and he wishes to return to Lithuania when released from prison. He asked the judge to note that there was a degree of opportunism to the offences and that none of the businesses were occupied when they were targeted. Petraska will be sentenced early next month. THERE were lights, cameras and screens. Even the carpet was red. And when Philomena Lee stepped on to the stage at Newcastle West library, she got the full-blown five-star treatment worthy of any star. In a spontaneous gesture of admiration and respect, the huge crowd rose as one and welcomed home one of their own. Emotion shimmered in the air. It was a moment to hold and remember. Flanked by Jane Libberton, her daughter, on one side, and by Seamus Hennessy, her interviewer on the other, Philomena beamed out at the crowd. She was home. She knew it. And she loved it. Since the film Philomena was released in 2013, the Newcastle West native has told her story in public many times: the story of a young, unmarried Irish girl giving birth to a son in a mother-and-baby home in the early 1950s, rearing him there until he was three and a half and then being forced to give him up for adoption to an American family. But this telling was different. Different because nearly everyone in the tightly-packed audience knew the places she grew up, knew the brother Tossie who was such a support to her even while she kept her sons birth secret from other family and even her other children. Different because they recognised and were familiar with the world that had demanded such a sacrifice. For 50 years, Philomena said, holding her hand to her heart, I had to keep it in here. But now as the story came spilling out, as heartfelt as on its first telling, Philomenas character also stood revealed: she was warm, feisty, funny and devastatingly honest. He just wiped me out of his life, she said of her father. I gave up religion, she said, explaining what happened after she lost Anthony to adoption. But I still prayed in here. She spoke of her anguish in the weeks, months and years after that tearing loss. But she recalled too the effort she made to build a new life for herself in England, where she became a psychiatric nurse, met and married her first husband and had two more children, Kevin and Jane. I never forgot about Anthony, she said, time and time again. All down the years, she kept in touch with the mother-and-baby home in Roscrea. Nor did he forget. Now known by the name Michael Hess, with a prestigious career in political circles in Washington DC, he came to Ireland and to Roscrea looking for her. Philomena too, broke a lifetimes secrecy in 2002 and told her other children, an event which was to set in train an international search for her lost son. In the hush of Thursday night, Philomena recalled, she got a message from a nun in Cork saying she had information for her. I thought I had found him, Philomena said. But instead: Sr Sarto said she had information for me. She said I am sorry to tell you your son is dead. The starkness of it sent little shock waves through the audience. This was real. And far more telling and searing than any film treatment. But there were moments of great humour too as when Philomena recalled her visit to the Vatican and meeting Pope Francis. I thought if only the nuns could see me now, she declared with mischief gleaming in her eye. And the audience loved it. What stood out perhaps more than anything was her lack of anger and bitterness at what had happened. She had learned, she said, to never return anger with anger. It never does any good. Pictures page 22 A LOCAL orthopaedic surgeon will be one of a team of around 50 who will travel to Vietnam on April 29 to perform life-changing surgeries. Professor Eric Masterson of Croom Orthopaedic Hospital is participating in Operation Walk to Vietnam, where he and the team will perform around 70 hip and knee replacements over the course of one week, as well as teaching local surgeons how to better perform the surgeries. My job has been very good to me, so its nice to get a chance to give something back, said Dr Masterson. The surgeon, who works for four days a week in Croom and one day a week at University Hospital Limerick, said that everyone who is going has made a donation, and fundraising events have helped to make up the 250,000 cost for the trip. The whole point is to do somewhere in the region of seventy hip and knee replacements in the week. Its a military hospital in Ho Chi Minh city, I think there are two or three operating tables per operating room, so its not quite what we are used to, said Dr Masterson. The patients that are being prioritised are those between the ages of 30 and 60, who need to work to support their families, and who cant do so because of their bad hip or their bad knee. Theres no social welfare system there, and they have a population of 93 million - they do fewer joint replacements than we do in Croom. They do about 700 joint replacements a year in Vietnam, and we do somewhat more than that in Croom, he added. The average wages are so low there, that the price of a hip or knee replacement would be a number of years of a salary. This year is the second that Irish surgeons have embarked on the journey, but the first under the newly-established Irish branch of Operation Walk. It is also Prof Mastersons first time on the trip. Its a charity thats been running since 1996, and it was founded by a very well-known American orthopaedic surgeon called Larry Dorr. He set up a number of chapters within the United States, where groups of American orthopaedic surgeons would travel for a period of time to poorer parts of the world, and offer their services for a time, explained Dr Masterson. My colleague, Derek Bennis in Castlebar, became acquainted with Larry Dorr, and suggested that a few Irish orthopaedic surgeons might join the Chicago chapter in Vietnam, which was last year. A few of my colleagues went, and by all accounts it was a very positive experience, so we went a step further this year, and we set up our own Irish chapter. We are doing everything ourselves; we are providing the surgeons, the nurses, the physiotherapists, we have arranged for the implants to be provided, and it will be an all-Irish affair. In total there are around 50 people travelling, he said. The surgeons have had to beg, borrow and scrounge for surgical equipment from anywhere possible, to try and make up spare kits to bring with them. Two medical device companies have provided the implants, while the surgeons will travel with their own equipment. THERE HAS been widespread sadness throughout Limerick following the death of esteemed academic and Mary Immaculate College president, Prof Michael A Hayes. Prof Hayes, aged 59, sadly passed away on Saturday morning following a short illness. The respected Limerickman and priest, who attended St Munchins College and St Patricks Pontifical College in Maynooth, was appointed president and chief executive of the South Circular Road institution in October 2011. Before serving as MIC president for six years, Prof Hayes lived and worked in the United Kingdom for more than 30 years. He was a priest of the Archdiocese of Southwark in South East England. Following his appointment at MIC, he was nominated by the colleges of education in Ireland to the Teaching Council of Ireland in April 2012. A qualified psychotherapist, having studied at London Institute of Psychosynthesis, Prof Hayes was internationally-renowned for his academic expertise in pastoral theology. In May 2013, the late academic was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane letter from De Sales University, Pennsylvania. He also served as editor of the international journal, The Pastoral Review, published in London. Prof Hayes accomplished a number of initiatives during his six years as a prosperous president of one of Irelands oldest colleges. In recent years, Prof Hayes vision included the expansion of the college, both on- and off-campus, particularly in relation to its footprint expansion to OConnell Avenue, and the construction of a new 21m library and education centre. The Limerickman helped maximise MICs cultural presence in the city, with particular involvement in the Easter 1916 Rising centenary and the National City of Culture designation in 2014. He was also instrumental in delivering one of the Mid-Wests most modern theatre venues, the Lime Tree Theatre in 2012. In 2016, Prof Hayes was able to secure an additional 5.4m from the HEA in order to introduce more programmes to incentivise a growth in student numbers. Also a motivator for many young academics, Prof Hayes notably delivered an inspiring speech to graduates in November 2014, saying that they should never give up on their dreams and ambitions. Prior to his appointment at MIC, he taught in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Roehampton University, and was latterly Vice-Principal and Professor of Catholic Pastoral Studies at St Marys University College, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, where he had also been Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, and the founding Head of the School of Theology, Philosophy, and History. He was a visiting professor at St Marys University College, London. Funeral details have yet to be announced. A BUNCH of gifted young classical musicians will band together for a new Rising Stars show in the University Concert Hall. The concert, part of the UCHs growing Education and Outreach programme, saw the venue invite a group of exceptional young artists to become its 2017 Rising Stars and perform on the stage on April 21. The aim of the concert is to bring gifted, young Irish classical artists to new audiences, to showcase their considerable talents through musical programmes of their own choosing and to provide them with a platform to progress further into their musical careers, the UCH said. Eight artists were selected two duets and four solo performances by a panel comprised of Sinead Hope, Director of UCH, Lorcan Murray, RTE Lyric Fm, and renowned tenor Owen Gilhooly. They are Eugene Alves and Gary Beecher on cello and piano, Amy Ni Fhearraigh and Adam McDonagh, soprano and piano, Christopher Moriarty on clarinet, baritone David Howes, pianist Jordan Bagot and soprano Roisin Walsh. The UCH said it was delighted to welcome Dearbhla Collins as accompanist. Regarded as one of Irelands finest and most versatile musicians, the award-winning solo pianist has a distinguished performing career both nationally and internationally in her own right. Meanwhile, the UCH also announced this week that author Joseph OConnor the Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at UL will discuss Writing and Music, Music and Writing in conversation with Eoin Devereux on May 9 at 2.30pm. See www.uch.ie for more information and to book tickets. Four Flags coil stamps latest issue to be counterfeited; one bogus version more convincing than its competitor May 3, 2021, 1 AM Two counterfeits of one of the three versions of the 2012 United States Four Flags coil stamps one quite crude, left, and the other very convincing, middle began appearing on the marketplace in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Both have significant diffre As with all other modern United States counterfeit stamps, the two types of bogus nondenominated (45) Four Flags coil stamps are not tagged. When seen under shortwave ultraviolet light, the high-bright paper of the poor-quality counterfeit, top, glows bl When viewed under high magnification, the background of the crude Four Flags counterfeit coils, left, reveals a loose pattern of blue, red, and yellow dots. This causes the background to have a grayish cast when viewed normally. The background is clear on By Charles Snee One of the three versions of the quartet of United States nondenominated (45) Four Flags coil stamps issued in 2012 has fallen victim to counterfeiting. Specifically, Linns Stamp News has learned of two bogus versions of the Four Flags coils printed by Banknote Corporation of America for Sennett Security products (Scott 4637-4640). Connect with Linns Stamp News: Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Counterfeits are a special type of forgery, which is a completely fraudulent reproduction of a postage stamp. Forgeries are of two types: counterfeits, which are intended to defraud postal authorities of revenue; and bogus issues, which are intended to fool collectors. Here, the terms counterfeit and bogus are used interchangeably. Like their genuine counterparts, both types of bogus Four Flags coil stamps were printed using offset lithography, an indirect printing method easily susceptible to counterfeiting because the technology is readily available and affordable. That yet another counterfeit of a U.S. stamp came to light should not come as a surprise. An active supply chain, operating out of China or Taiwan (or both, perhaps), has been funneling bogus U.S. stamps into the country for at least the past decade or so. Of the two counterfeit versions of the Sennett-produced Four Flags coil stamps, one is a crude, easily spotted mimic of the genuine issue, while the other is a dead-on lookalike that would fool many collectors. Robert Thompson, a student of U.S. coil stamps and president of the Plate Number Coil Collectors Club, told Linns he first encountered the crude Four Flags coil counterfeits on eBay in early 2014. I bought the first counterfeit roll of 100 on eBay Feb. 24, 2014, Thompson said. There were two rolls in the lot. When I got them, one was real and one fake. [The seller] had a listing for two more rolls that I bought. Again, one was real and one fake. I have not seen any other rolls from him. Thompson said the eBay seller, who operated using the moniker rmeador, has not been active on the mammoth Internet auction site in over a year. Reproduced from a very coarse screen shot of genuine stamps, the U.S. flag and inscriptions of the poor-quality counterfeit Four Flags coils exhibit a noticeably grainy appearance, even when viewed without magnification. Thompson told Linns he acquired two rolls of the high-quality counterfeit Four Flags coils from a stamp dealer in October 2015. Rolls of both counterfeit types, according to Thompson, were both rolled and wrapped in a manner similar to genuine rolls from Sennett Security Products. Both bogus issues come in rolls of 100, but Thompson noted a significant difference. Rolls of the crude counterfeit coils are assembled from strips of eight stamps joined together with tape affixed to the backing paper, whereas the high-quality counterfeits come in a continuous roll of 100 stamps. Thompson describes rolls of the low-quality bogus stamps as poorly done. It looks like there was extra tape here and there. I dont know why. Taking a closer look at both bogus issues, Linns discerned other key characteristics that allow the observant collector to separate the fake from the real. 1. The grayish background of the poor-quality counterfeits, when viewed under 60x magnification, shows a loose pattern of blue, red, and yellow dots. This gray background is the easiest way to separate the bad counterfeits from the real stamps. The background is clear on genuine stamps and on the better counterfeits. 2. The die-cut peaks on the crude counterfeits are much shorter than the peaks on both the better-quality counterfeits and genuine stamps. 3. When viewed under shortwave ultraviolet light, the high-bright paper of the crude counterfeits glows blue; the more convincing counterfeits do not glow because they are not printed on high-bright paper. Genuine stamps show the typical yellow-green glow from the prephosphored (tagged) paper. 4. Under shortwave UV light, the reactivity of the backing paper is reversed: dead for the poor bogus stamps, and blue for the high-quality counterfeits. 5. The red stripes of the U.S. Flag on both counterfeit types are thinner than those on genuine stamps. 6. The lithographed dot pattern of the flag is very coarse on the bad counterfeits and somewhat coarse on the better counterfeits. Genuine Four Flags coils have a tight dot pattern that yields a clear, crisp image, particularly in the shading lines on the flag stripes. When compared side-by-side, the high-quality counterfeits look like an exact match with the real stamps. When magnified 60 times, however, the coarse dot pattern of the flag on the bogus stamps is readily distinguishable from the pattern on genuine stamps. 7. Both counterfeit types lack the clear, legible microprinted USPS that appears just above and to the far right of the flags bottom red stripe on genuine stamps. On both counterfeits, the microprinting is indistinct. The counterfeiters did get one thing right with both bogus issues: They are perforated gauge 11 like their genuine counterparts. In addition, the better-quality counterfeit Four Flag coils have the slanted, straight-line die cut at top and bottom on both sides, what Thompson refers to as a separator die cut. This separator marks the location where, during the finishing process, the die-cutting mats apply the top and bottom straightedge cuts between the rows of stamps on the printed web (continuous roll) of stamp paper. Of the two Four Flags counterfeits, the better-quality bogus stamps are much more likely to fool both collectors and postal customers. Thompson described the crude counterfeits as being of very poor quality, executed by counterfeiters who do not show any sophistication. Doug Iams, a specialist of U.S. booklet, coil, and test stamps, also alerted Linns about the bogus Four Flags coils. He dismissed the poor-quality fakes as a total amateur-hour job. The better-quality bogus Four Flags coils, in contrast, are the product of a more sophisticated operation. It took someone with some skills for the quality of the printing, the continuous paper (full roll) and the die cutting, Thompson said. The die cutting was smooth, clean and regular. At present, it appears that both counterfeit types have not seen extensive use. Thompson told Linns that he has found just two on-piece examples of the crude counterfeits, and two on-cover examples of the high-quality bogus stamps. One cover is dated 10/23/15 and the other is dated 4/22/16, Thompson said. Both are from the same stamp dealer and both used a fake stamp as postage. The dealer that these covers are from is not the same dealer that I bought my rolls from. Linns ongoing investigation into the murky origins of the Four Flags and other recent counterfeits, which began in early February, suggests that the problem is larger than initially thought. However, the powers that be in the Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service seemingly dont have the time or inclination to dig more deeply. This, in turn, puts the onus on collectors and dealers to make the discoveries and get the word out. Thus far this year, Linns has reported the discovery of counterfeits of four recent U.S. issues: 2015 Love stamps (Scott 4955-4956; Feb. 27, page 1), 2014 Flag and Fireworks coil (4868; March 13, page 1), 2016 Diwali (5142; April 3, page 1), and the 2012 Four Flags coil stamps discussed in this report. Linns welcomes reports of the appearance of counterfeit stamps in the online marketplace, as well as examples of postal use. Please send information to Linns managing editor Charles Snee via email, or write to him at Box 4129, Sidney, OH 45365-4129. The two remaining defendants charged in the Dec. 16, 2015, robbery and murder of a Cleveland convenience store clerk were sentenced to prison Thursday in the 253rd State District Court in Liberty. Last month, Frank Hernandez and Michael Richardson, both 19 and from Cleveland, accepted plea bargains from the Liberty County District Attorney's Office to reduce the charges against them from capital murder to murder. In exchange for their pleas, the two men cooperated with law enforcement to provide full accounts of the incident that claimed the life of 40-year-old Conbino Crasto at the Exxon store located at 1030 FM 2025 in Cleveland. Hernandez and Richardson's plea agreements also required them to testify against each other and two other defendants, Roberto Alvarado Jr. 23, and a juvenile, 16. Hernandez, who was 17 at the time of the crime and the admitted shooter, was given a life sentence but could be eligible for parole in 30 years. His hearing was held before 253rd State District Judge Chap Cain an hour after Richardson's four-day trial ended Thursday afternoon. Richardson, unsatisfied with the 50-year sentence he originally was offered by the DA's office, opted for the jury to determine his fate. The roll of the dice worked in his favor as he was given a 28-year sentence and could be eligible for parole in 14 years. When his sentence was announced, Richardson was noticeably relieved. His attorney, Keaton Kirkwood, said afterward he is pleased for his client and there are no plans to appeal. Liberty County District Attorney Logan Pickett, frustrated by the light sentence for Richardson, said he respects the jury's decision but had hoped for a harsher punishment. "As a prosecutor, we make difficult decisions every day. In this case I reduced Richardson's charge from capital murder to a murder, and let the jury decide his punishment," Pickett said. "Sometimes we see things much different than juries but that is part of what makes the jury system so great. I will continue to do my very best to make sure murderers like Michael Richardson are punished for their crimes and I look forward to presenting many more cases to the great citizens of Liberty County. TWO OTHERS SENTENCED On March 16, 2017, Alvarado, the getaway driver who had planned the robbery, was sentenced to 65 years in prison by a Liberty County jury. During his trial, it was proven that Alvarado provided the handgun, clothing, masks and gloves that his three accomplices used during the commission of the crime. The juvenile defendant received a 10-year sentence with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. During Richardson's trial, the juvenile was subpoenaed by the defense to appear in court but he declined to testify on the advice of his attorney, Michelle Merendino. Donald Trump Alex Conant took a long pause to consider the question. Which seemingly unthinkable shift undertaken in recent days by President Donald Trump stood out to him as the most surprising? "There's been so many," Conant, communications director for Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign, told Business Insider. After some thought, he settled on Trump's change in posture toward Russia. "He was very consistent on the campaign trail about wanting to have a good relationship with Vladimir Putin. He knew that bombing Assad was going to hurt that relationship, and yet he went ahead with it," Conant said of Trump's decision to launch Tomahawk missiles at Syrian government targets last week. "What seemed like a big priority for him on the campaign trail became less of a priority once he was in office," he added. That statement could be made about a laundry list of issues on which Trump has altered his stance many of which just within the past 10 days. The shifts have come at a dizzying pace. Trump bombed an airfield in Syria as retribution for a brutal chemical weapons attack launched by Assad on Syrian civilians, a split from his promises to only go after ISIS. As a result, as Conant said, Trump angered Putin, who has tied himself closely to the Assad regime. Also in the last week, Trump made a hard turn on China, saying the country was not manipulating its currency less than two weeks after calling them the "world champions" of the practice. A hallmark of his campaign, Trump had promised to label China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency, but a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping helped to change his mind, as Trump saw an option to negotiate with the Chinese leader over North Korea. NATO, the transatlantic alliance that Trump famously said was "obsolete" was suddenly "no longer obsolete" on Wednesday, after a meeting with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The US Export-Import Bank, which Trump railed against in the campaign as "unnecessary," became "a very good thing." And Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whom he criticized in the campaign, was now, in Trump's opinion, doing a good job. Story continues Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, takes part in a strategic and policy CEO discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Eisenhower Execution Office Building in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts The moves have coincided with a shakeout in the power structure at the White House. Elevated is the centrist, Wall Street wing, headed by National Economic Council Chair Gary Cohn, son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter who recently took on a White House job as an assistant to her father. Losing out in this battle have been conservative nationalists, such as chief strategist Steve Bannon. As Mike Allen wrote in Axios, Wednesday was the day "Operation Normal achieved supremacy," and Thursday marked "a new phase of Trump's presidency." Advisers like Cohn and even informal ones like Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman have the president's ear, while Bannon's standing has fallen so far that one source close to the strategist likened him to a terminally ill family member in hospice care, according to The Washington Post. The change in approach led Trump to a modest bump in the polls, moving from a dreadful 35% approval rating in late March to 41% on Wednesday in Gallup's daily presidential tracking poll. "It's maybe taken three months but he realizes the gravity of what it actually means to be leader of the free world," Reed Galen, deputy campaign manager for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 reelection bid, told Business Insider. Galen, now the owner of Jedburgh's, a political consultancy firm, said Trump may also be realizing that "managing a $14 trillion economy and however many people work for the federal government is not like running the family construction business." "It's a totally different animal," he continued. "The United States is not an 8 million person banana republic. It's 320 million people and the leader of the world, the liberal order of the world, and a lot of those things just don't fit with Steve Bannon's burn-it-to-the-ground kind of thing." U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., April 9, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria Conant said the changes are not necessarily the result of the fallout of palace intrigue, but rather of a man who had no governing experience prior to last November's election now dealing with information to which he may have never thought he'd have the keys. "So with new information, it's obviously changed the way he thinks about some issues," said Conant, who added he was "a big fan" of how Trump has handled foreign policy in the past week. He compared the shift to one made by President George W. Bush after taking office. "Don't forget, when Bush ran for president in 2000, he said that he didn't think the US should be the world's policemen and that we shouldn't be involved in nation building," he said. "Obviously, once he was in office, events led him to change his mind. I think we're seeing a similar phenomenon." Trump has received praise from a wide array of sources for some of these moves. There was a sense of bipartisan approval of his strike in Syria, and Republican senators such as Lindsey Graham and Ben Sasse two of his chief critics within the party praised him for his flips on the Export-Import Bank and NATO. The moves even led Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez to issue a statement countering the notion that Trump was "re-inventing" himself to be "less extreme," a signal that any Democratic support for Trump will be hard-pressed over at least the next 18 months. "Donald Trumps latest 'pivot' is another farce designed by Trump to divert your attention," Perez said. "This time, hes distracting from his reckless and extreme agenda that has hurt, not helped, countless hardworking Americans. The only plays Trump can execute are lies and fearmongering look no further than the nationwide deportation force Trump has charged forth to create. Trump is as likely to moderate as my Buffalo Bills are to win the Super Bowl next season. It aint happening." And during Thursday's press briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer left the room after being peppered with questions about whether Trump's decisions related to NATO and Chinese currency manipulation were signs that his agenda was being tossed out the door. "I think thats a very, very complex issue and I think the president Im going to leave it to the president to specifically answer that," Spicer, the top spokesman for the president, said when pressed specifically on currency manipulation. Donald Trump Xi Jinping Trump seemed to take note of the chatter, tweeting Wednesday evening: "One by one we are keeping our promises - on the border, on energy, on jobs, on regulations. Big changes are happening!" Speaking to MSNBC Thursday, Trump confidant and ex-political adviser Roger Stone said he wasn't "seeing the flip flops" when asked by host Chuck Todd. But if Trump decided to send boots on the ground into Syria, Stone said "that would be a violation of Trumpism." Trumpism's most ardent followers were already dismayed by the move to bomb Syria in the first place, and Thursday brought news that the US had dropped the "mother of all bombs" on Afghanistan and is considering sending ground troops into Syria. Conservative author and firebrand Ann Coulter seemed to speak for many of Trump's non-interventionist fans over the past week, tweeting, "Media THRILLED that Trump is destroying his presidency," after he ordered the missile strikes in Syria. She added: "Meddling in the Middle East has destroyed every president whos ever tried it." "I expected to spend this part of the Trump presidency tweeting that it's legal to deport anchor babies not arguing agst another Mid East war," Coulter wrote. The author expressed disappointment with a number of Trump's nominations tied to foreign policy, the infiltration of Goldman Sachs executives in his administration, and a failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. As Galen said, the massive swings in his outlook are the product of being the "business guy" president who is not necessarily ideological but looking "for the best deal." It's also a result of his not having "a lot of firm positions on anything." There was also a misguided idea, he said, that Trump could enter Washington, DC, and "change it all." "The inertia of the federal system and the US government and the country as a whole is a very powerful force," Galen said. "And to suddenly think you're going to go one day and, 'I'm going to change it all!' Like, you can do that on the margins probably, but it's like turning an aircraft carrier. You can't turn an aircraft carrier like you turn a PT boat." The most surprising shift, for Galen, is what he perceived as an overall transition from being "America First" on national security to what he described as a "soft neocon" stance. "Where he's at as opposed to where he was nine days ago with full-throated 'America First' stuff that's a pretty shocking transition," he said. "We're not talking degrees of difference. We're talking a full 180 degrees to a much more 'soft neocon' perspective on the world from where he was. I say 'soft neocon' because I don't think he's going to do nation building or anything like that. At least not yet." Still, the administration is missing a strategic vision for where Trump wants the country to go, Galen said. "'Make America Great Again' is not a strategic plan, it is a slogan on a red hat," he said. "Firing 59 missiles into Syria or dropping the 'MOAB' on Afghanistan is not a national security doctrine, those are tactical responses to something that happened. That's not a strategy." Donald Trump Friday marked the 85th day of the Trump presidency which feels as if it's been going on for three months or three years, depending on whom you ask. The swings in positions signal that Trump may end up moving to the center before his first year is even half over. But as anyone who watched the nearly two-year-long campaign, the tumultuous transition period, or any of those first 85 days in office will attest to, it's too soon to make any such judgments. "I think it's far too soon to tell," Conant said. "We're not even at the 100-day marker yet. I think he has shown that he will not sit idly by and let foreign events happen around him without any sort of response. I think that is an important lesson in the early days of his presidency, which could end up defining it depending on how the world responds." For Galen, the biggest lesson is simple: "Every day is going to be different." "One day he could believe this and the next day he could believe that and what does it all boil down to? That instability is still the order of the day," he said. "You just don't know what you're going to get from one day to the next." NOW WATCH: People on Twitter are mocking Trump for pretending to drive a big rig truck More From Business Insider Tornadoes were spotted on the ground in North Texas starting about 6 p.m. Friday, according to preliminary storm reports available from the National Weather Service. Storm spotters saw tornadoes near Lazbuddie and west of Dimmitt between 6 and 7 p.m. Sentences may vary based on previous offenses committed by the defendant. Some sentences include other fees imposed by the state. Unless otherwise noted, defendants are from Midland. The following people were sentenced recently in Midland Countys 42nd Circuit Court by Judge Michael J. Beale or Judge Stephen P. Carras: Karen Renee Grein, 35, East Chippewa River Road, was sentenced for prisoner in possession of contraband, marijuana possession and second- or subsequent-offense driving while license suspended. The offenses occurred on Sept. 22 in Midland. Carras sentenced Grein to nine days in jail with credit for time served, $1,250 fines and costs, and one year probation. Carras also granted a one year sentence delay; if completed successfully, the first count will be dismissed. Tony Jay Nichols, 28, Coleman, was sentenced for failing to register as a sex offender. The offense occurred on Aug. 6 in Warren Township. Carras sentenced Nichols to 10 months in jail with credit for 161 days, to be served at the same time as a sentencing in Gladwin County. Richard Michael Ososki-VanHorn, 29, Fournie Street, was sentenced for failing to register as a sex offender. The offense occurred on July 9 in Midland. Beale sentenced Ososki-VanHorn to $250 costs. Peter Ernie Pfau, 45, Beaverton, was sentenced for three counts of attempted felonious assault, second- or subsequent-offense driving while license suspended, use of a controlled substance and forged, altered or false driver license. The offenses occurred on April 13, 2016, in Jerome Township, and on June 19 in Midland when Pfau possessed morphine. Beale sentenced Pfau to one year in jail with credit for 285 days, $750 costs, five years probation and left restitution open. Stephanie Reading, 22, Abbott Road, was sentenced for two counts of domestic violence and one count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing police. The offenses occurred on Nov. 17 in Midland. Carras sentenced Reading to 92 days in jail with credit for time served, $1,350 fines and costs, and two years probation. Michael Thomas Smalley, 30, West North Union Street, was sentenced for larceny in a building. The offense occurred on June 3 in Larkin Township. Beale sentenced Smalley to four weekends in jail, $1,250 fines and costs, $2,120 restitution and two years probation. Smalley also must truthfully testify against the codefendants in the case. Walter Carl Wallace, 34, Carolina Street, was sentenced for assaulting, resisting or obstructing police. The offense occurred on March 5, 2016, in Midland. Beale sentenced Wallace to five days in jail with credit for time served, $250 costs, $ 500 fine which is suspended, and one year probation. Beale also granted a one year sentence delay. Keyondray Lamont Walker, 19, Pontiac, was sentenced to possession of a controlled substance. The offense occurred on Oct. 19 in Lee Township when Walker possessed alprazolam. Beale sentenced Walker to one day in jail with credit for time served, $750 costs, a $500 fine which is suspended, three years probation and driver license sanctions by the state. Pending legislation that purports to make Texas voter ID law conform to federal court rulings against it does nothing of the sort. It remains a transparent attempt by a GOP-controlled Legislature to suppress minority and Democratic votes. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled that the Legislature intended to discriminate based on race when it passed its voter ID law in 2011. And there is nothing in the voter ID legislation currently being considered that should persuade anyone that this intention is not still there. In any case, Gonzales Ramos had ruled that what the state does now has no bearing on what the Legislature intended in 2011. Her finding of discriminatory intent could lead to the state requiring federal preapproval of changes to voting law a measure reserved for states, such as Texas, with a history of discrimination at the ballot box. The judges ruling on intent follows another from her that found discriminatory effect in the law. But now its official: That effect was what the state intended. In the day, there was a word for that: racism. The judges previous order forced Texas to accept forms of identification such as utility bills and bank statements other than the seven it required under the stringent voter ID law. This was in effect for November elections. Voters without the ID signed affidavits attesting that they had reasonable impediments to obtaining the required documents. Voting officials were not allowed to contest their claim of reasonableness. The state should simply abandon efforts to craft another voter ID bill, though it is likely to appeal this latest ruling on intent. We agree with state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, who heads the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which challenged the law, that if the Legislature were serious about voter impersonation the type of fraud this bill purports to address the affidavit process would simply have voters attest that they are indeed the person named in the alternative form of identification. The bill now being considered Senate Bill 5 would include the affidavit process but adds a troublesome wrinkle. It would establish criminal penalties for those who sign the affidavit but who are later found to have one of the required forms of identification. It would still bar voting officials from judging whether an impediment to obtaining one of the required forms of ID was reasonable. The intent to discriminate in this is still evident. Those who will be required to go through the affidavit process will still largely be minority an estimated 600,000 Texans without IDs and young. Tellingly, student IDs are not among the required forms of identification. The Latino population in particular is very young compared to other demographic groups of Texans. Moreover, voters who have simply forgotten their drivers license might misread the affidavit and believe they can vote anyway and then be subject to criminal penalties. The bill proposes that voting under these circumstances be a third-degree felony, which carries penalties of two to 10 years in prison. But there will be potential for a chilling effect on voting by even those without the ID. They might reasonably fear their right to vote will be challenged and then forgo the civic responsibility to avoid the hassle. Hassle is one of the biggest flaws in this bill, in any case. It requires a separate process to vote when none is necessary for some but not all Texans. And the fraud that voter ID is supposed to address voter impersonation is exceedingly rare. More than 16,000 Texas voters used the affidavit process to cast ballots in November. Texas and other states got along just fine without photo ID requirements before. A separate process for largely minority and young voters adds an obstacle when the state should be incentivizing voting by making it easier. Reject Senate Bill 5. 1 Iraq attack: An Iraqi military officer told the Associated Press on Saturday that Islamic State militants launched a gas attack in a newly-liberated area in western Mosul. The officer with the antiterrorism forces said the attack occurred late Thursday in the al-Abar neighborhood, when militants fired a rocket loaded with chlorine. The officer said seven soldiers suffered breathing problems and were treated at a field clinic. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are currently battling militants in the more densely-populated western half of Mosul. The extremists were driven out of the eastern half of Mosul in January. 2 Garbage collapse: A massive mound of garbage collapsed in Sri Lanka, killing 19 people, injuring 13 and forcing more than 600 others to flee their homes, officials said Saturday. Soldiers searched the site in Meetotamulla, a town near the capital of Colombo. Four people were rescued from underneath the mound, but it was unclear whether any others were buried, said military spokesman Roshan Seneviratne. Police are investigating whether the collapse Friday night was a natural disaster or a deliberate act of sabotage. The site has been used to dump Colombos garbage for the past few years as authorities sought to give the capital a facelift. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Saturday that the government would soon remove the garbage dump from the area. Longford County Council will have to cover the costs of restoring public sector pay from its own resources. It comes after the Government confirmed it would not be reimbursing local authorities for additional payroll costs they face after the pay restoration timeline was brought forward by five months. Its unclear how much those increases are likely to have on the Councils balance sheet going forward but its already led to scathing criticism from councillors locally. Fianna Fails Seamus Butler admitted the current impasse could force smaller local authorities to effectively rewrite its income and expenditure capacities overnight. You would have to look at everything, he cautioned. Everything would be on the table. Only last month, Longford County Council officials announced plans to embark on an ambitious 43m capital investment plan over the next three years. Cllr Butler said by forcing councils to foot any pay restoration bill there was every chance some projects might have to be temporarily shelved or even downsized. The Fianna Fail group leader said even the contentious issue of commercial rates might have to be reassessed should government chiefs fail to grasp the precarious financial plight certain councils would find themselves in. Everything would be in the mix but I tell you if its a choice between building a new corporate headquarters or looking at rates, we will forego the new corporate headquarters, he said. The reality is businesses out there are still struggling. The recession has not by any manner of means reached out to provincial towns like Longford. Central government, which sits in Dublin would really want to get out and see for itself the impact this will have if they are serious about sanctioning increases like this while expecting struggling local economies to pay for it. Public pay was one of many areas of government spending which came in for reductions during the economic downturn. As Irelands fiscal fortunes recovered however, unions secured pay restoration agreements under the 2015 Lansdowne Road deal. Cllr Butler said they, together with some ancillary costs, looks set to throw up plenty of financially challenging decisions for councils such as Longford. Its not just the wage bill. We are carrying all the pensions that go with that and that has to be found. This thing of a guaranteed pension has to be found out of current expenditure every year which is a ludicrous situation, he contended. The Chairperson of the ICMSAs Farm and Rural Affairs Committee, Pat Rohan said Longford farmers on designated land, including Hen Harrier areas, are being treated with contempt by the Government and its agencies. Mr Rohan pointed out that the State was shifting responsibility from one department to another and land had effectively been sterilised and made useless as a result. Speaking after last weeks meeting of the Designated Areas Monitoring Committee, Mr Rohan said the Government and its agencies had settled on a policy that involved designating land while totally ignoring the rights of the individual landowner. The Government has failed miserably to properly compensate the landowners for the losses resulting from the severe restrictions that they, the Government, have put in place, he fumed. Thousands of farmers in every county in Ireland have found their farms designated for a variety of reasons that could include birds, raised bogs and pearl mussels. They have been subjected to a series of ongoing broken promises and empty assurances from the National Parks and Wildlife Services and government ministers. The farmers concerned are being treated with contempt and there is no other word for it. As the ancient Greek author Homer revealed in some of his works, most notably the Odyssey, a sailing journey across the Mediterranean and throughout the Greek islands can often produce memorableand in some cases life-alteringstories. In September 2016, a group of Robb Report VIPs set out on a 10-day sailing adventure along the coast of Greece. With nights spent in grand resorts and hotels as well as aboard lavishly appointed sailing yachts, and with stops at many of the countrys most popular and luxurious islands, the itinerary set the stage for a trip that would yield epic stories of its own. The journey began in the town of Elounda, a quaint fishing village on the northern coast of Crete. Over 3 nights at the Elounda Beach Hotel, a splendid resort spanning 40 acres and set on a perch overlooking Mirabello Bay, the trips participants enjoyed guided tours of Spinalonga island, boat trips to the village of Mochlos (a secluded and picturesque fishing hamlet), and an afternoon of pampering at the propertys spa. Meals were as varied as the daily activities and included dinners that spotlighted Peruvian fusion cuisine at the resorts Blue Lagoon by Mistura; modernist fare at Dionysos, a restaurant named after the hedonistic god of wine; and local Cretan flavors and delicacies at the relaxed and romantic seafront Thalassa restaurant. After their thorough exploration of Crete, Robb Reports esteemed guests took a quick flight to Athens and boarded their chartered sailboats for a 7-day regatta throughout the Greek isles with Yacht Legend. Their first port of call was Syros, an island that is known for its many superlative beaches and for being the home of Ermoupoli (the city of Hermes), a capital city that emerged during the 19th century as a popular trade center between Greece and the rest of Western civilization. Then it was on to Mykonos, where guests checked into the Belvedere Hotel for 3 nights and enjoyed dinners at Nobu and at Interni Restaurant, an establishment that serves such fresh seafood dishes as cuttlefish-ink tagliatelle and spicy king-crab tagliolini. During their stay on Greeces chic, cosmopolitan, and arguably most popular island, Robb Report VIPs enjoyed a private tour of Delos, a nearby island that is known as the mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and a significant Greek isle for history and archaeology. On the final leg of this leisurely paced regatta, travelers sailed to the island of Kythnos, which is famous for its thermal springs, though it remains one of the least visitedand most sparsely inhabitedisles in the Cyclades. Upon arrival, guests had the opportunity to explore and enjoy one of the islands many thermal springs. The last day of the journey brought Robb Reports guests back to Athens for a night at the Hotel Grande Bretagne and a farewell dinner at Spondi Restaurant, a Greek institution that has become famous for signature dishes that include langoustine and milk-fed lamb. As they boarded their planes to return home the next morningtheir thoughts undoubtedly focused on the experiences of their journeyparticipants in this exclusive sailing adventure knew they had experienced the Mediterranean and Greeces most revered islands in a unique and memorable way. More From Robbreport.com Bentleys Racing Program Takes to the Track in Search of GT3 Gold Audis R8 LMS GT4 Racer Gives Customers a Sporting Chance at the Checkered Flag Inside Oberois Stunning New Himalayan Resort The New Mercedes-Benz S-Class Sedan Debuts in Shanghai This New Ulysse Nardin Diver Le Locle Packs Cutting Edge Tech into Vintage-Inspired Design Callaways Corvette AeroWagen Shooting Brake: Party in Front, Business in Back Pope Francis deplored the suffering of migrants, victims of racism and persecuted Christians as some 20,000 worshippers gathered at Rome's Colosseum to hear his Good Friday prayer. "Christ, our only saviour, we turn towards you this year with eyes lowered in shame," the pope yesterday told the crowds outside the former gladiators' battleground, their faces lit by candlelight. Shame for all the images of devastation, destruction and shipwrecks which have become ordinary in our lives," Francis said in an apparent reference to Mediterranean migrant disasters that have left at least 590 people feared people dead this year. The pope also spoke of the child abuse scandals that have rocked Catholicism in recent years, expressing "shame for all the times when bishops, priests and the religious have scandalised and hurt" the Church. Shame for the innocent blood, spilt daily, of women, children, migrants, people persecuted for the colour of their skin or for their social or ethnic group -- or for their faith in you," he said. The Easter holy week commemorating the last days of Jesus's life had a bloody beginning last Sunday with attacks claimed by the Islamic State group on two Coptic churches in Egypt that left 45 people dead. Egyptian Copts observed a solemn Good Friday with prayers and fasting, as the community reeled from the bombings. Despite concerns over security, Francis is planning to go ahead with a visit to the country later this month. In Rome, security was tight for the night-time ceremony, with road blocks and metal detectors in place as worshippers gathered to hear the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics. Three thousand officers were deployed to protect the Colosseum. This year an Egyptian couple and their three young daughters carried a large cross for part of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession, descending through the Colosseum and then outside into the crowd. Worshippers from Portugal and Colombia -- two countries the pontiff is set to visit in May and September respectively -- also took part in the procession, taking turns to carry the cross along with two Chinese Christians. A small group of believers carry a cross between 14 "stations" evoking the hours in the run-up to Jesus's crucifixion during the Via Crucis procession. Francis, 80, sat under his traditional red canopy next to a large cross lit with torchlight for the ceremony, which for the first time included a meditation written by a secular woman, French professor Anne-Marie Pelletier. Good Friday is the second of four important days in the Christian calendar beginning with Maundy Thursday and culminating in Easter Sunday, which commemorates Christ's resurrection. Today, the pontiff will take part in an evening Easter vigil in St Peter's Basilica, before celebrating Easter mass Tomorrow and pronouncing the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" blessing to Rome and the world.PTI Quel spectacle! What a show we had yesterday as the exit polls indicated that Macron had won the presidential elections. He walked through the streets of Paris hand in hand with his wife, and accompanied by a group of young people, apparently an indication of the generations that will support him in the future. And in his speech, he announced that he was no longer le candidat but the President of all the French. How hollow all this must sound to the huge majority of French workers and youth who did not vote for him and hate him with a passion. On Sunday, Turkey's electorate will vote in a referendum on a new draft constitution which, if implemented, would concentrate enormous powers in the hands of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the wake of his civil war against the Kurds of Turkey, and emboldened by the defeat of the military coup last July, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is going for an open power grab. Because of rising instability, Erdogan is no longer able to rule in the same way as when he first came to power, but must increasingly lean on the repressive power of the state to impose his rule. The system which is being proposed in the referendum will turn Turkey's form of government from parliamentary into presidential. Major legislative and executive powers would be concentrated in the hands of the president, who would be given powers to rule by decree on major political issues. More importantly, Erdogan would be able to establish and/or abolish ministries, appoint ministers and other senior officials, all of whom would be accountable to the president alone. The president would effectively also gain almost complete control over the judiciary, with exclusive selection prerogatives over 18 of its top 28 members. The new constitution would represent the partial realisation of Erdogans neo-Ottoman revival, which the Anatolian based bourgeoisie behind him has always aspired to. Erdogan has never tried to hide the fact that his own personal goal has always been to become a modern day Sultan. It is ironic that Erdogan, who came to power on a programme allegedly of expanding Turkish democracy and against the arbitrary and unsupervised rule of the Kemalist military and state bureaucracy, is trying to impose those same measures, only now they would be to his benefit. Over the past few years, however, the ruling clique has been gradually chipping away at democratic rights, while concentrating increasing powers in the hands of Erdogan himself. The Gezi Park movement in 2013, involving hundreds of thousands of dissatisfied workers and youth, was the first mass opposition movement to Erdogan and his imperialist and neo-Ottoman ambitions. That movement was defeated, but later found a political expression in the form of the Kurdish based leftist People's Democratic Party (HDP), which was swept into parliament in 2015 with a surprising 13.1 percent of the vote, receiving the support not only of the Kurds, but also of sections of the Turkish workers and the left. Realising the dangerous threat to his rule represented by a working class based party in parliament, Erdogan embarked on a bloody civil war against the Kurdish movement and in effect, the Kurdish population. The main aim of that campaign is and was to cut through the rising class struggle and divide the working class along national lines. In this bloody campaign, whole towns such as Silopi and Cizre have been practically razed to the ground, and never ending sieges have been imposed throughout the Kurdish areas in the South East. Thousands of people have been killed or injured, while hundreds of thousands have had their homes destroyed as punishment for voting for the wrong party. In November, Erdogan arrested 29 of the HDP's 59 MPs. Fourteen of these, with the popular co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag as the most prominent ones, remain in prison on trumped up charges. The purpose of this, apart from adding to the Turkish nationalist and anti-Kurdish hysteria, was clearly to keep the most effective anti-Erdogan agitators from participating in the campaign. According to the party itself, up to 3,000 organisers have been arrested. Meanwhile, the crisis within the Turkish ruling class led to a failed coup attempt last July. The coup came just as dissatisfaction with the regime was on the rise, even within the usually firm AKP core ranks. But Erdogan opportunistically and demagogically used the coup, which he probably had prior knowledge about, to reassert his position and carry out a massive purge of the state apparatus. More than 135,000 people, the majority of whom were teachers and other public sector workers, have been fired, while 40,000 people have been arrested. 5,000 university lecturers have also been dismissed. All of these presumably because they are regarded as followers of the neo-Islamist Fethullah Gulen, accused of being behind the coup attempt. Of course while Gulen's, liberal Islamist movement has been targeted, it is clear that the purge has been also, if not mainly, aimed at Kurds, trade union activists and others who would have otherwise been critical of the regime or stood in the way of its stooges. The stagnating economy, the rising instability in the Middle East - to a large degree caused by Erdogans actions - and the rising class struggle weakened the AK Party rule. Erdogan can no longer rule via normal democratic channels as he used to and is increasingly forced to lean on the state apparatus to defend his position and that of the layers he represents. The draft constitution does not reflect a strong and stable regime, but a regime which is gradually losing its base in society. That is why Erdogan is resorting to ever more authoritarian measures to shore up his position. Following the coup, Erdogan has also proceeded to jail at least 144 journalists, while seizing control of more than 150 media companies. All of this means that he now enjoys almost complete control over the media, while the few remaining independent media are under the constant threat of being seized if they do not tow the line. The result has been a huge difference in coverage of the different campaigns in the run up to the referendum. From 1st to 10th March alone, Erdogan, campaigning for a "YES", was allocated 169 hours of the total 301.5 live hours on the major state-run and private TV channels. The CHP was allocated 45.5 hours, while the HDP, campaigning for a "NO", received no time at all. On the news, the AKP was allocated 136.5 hours while the HDP received 33 minutes! In these conditions, there can be no talk of a democratic referendum. Erdogan is the standard bearer of reaction inside Turkey as well as to a large degree in the wider Middle East. It is no surprise that a large part of the workers and youth of Turkey are determined to fight against any attempt to strengthen his rule. Hue and Cry of the West In the western media there has been no shortage of articles explaining their dismay at Erdogans plans. The Economist carried an article with the title Turkey is sliding into dictatorship. It warns of the the dangers behind the new system and objects to the state of emergency which, it says, demonstrates how cruelly power can be abused. Nevertheless, the journal has to admit that when it comes to it, the western ruling class should not give up on Turkey, but be patient. It continues honestly admitting that, Partly, this is self-interest. As a NATO member and a regional power, Turkey is too important to cut adrift. As The Economists cynical attitude shows, it is hard to take the moralising of western democrats seriously. In Europe, Turkey is being criticised for clamping down on democratic rights, meanwhile many EU countries themselves have banned mass gatherings of the Turkish and Kurdish communities in the run up to the referendum. While criticising the ongoing state of emergency in Turkey, they forget that a state of emergency has been in place in France for more than a year and it has just been extended to 15 July. As long as the class interests of the western bourgeois are maintained, the lack of democracy in Turkey is not even an afterthought for them. One only has to go back to November 2015 when Angela Merkel went to Turkey to support Erdogan in the elections, which were taking place at the same time as a bloody war was being carried out against the Kurds. This was then followed by the EU-Turkey deal on immigration, which effectively paid Erdogan for preventing desperate Syrian refugees to escape to safety in Europe. The opposition Inside Turkey the position of the liberal opposition is not more convincing. The main opposition party, the Kemalist, Republican People's Party (CHP), has not put forward any real opposition to Erdogan at all. The main line of the CHP in the referendum has been to reduce the question to a technical and legalistic matter. Of course the introduction of a presidential system has been the aim of every Turkish party when in power. Admitting this, the CHP has reduced its main argument against the new constitution to be technical and formal in content. These legalistic objections sound even more hollow when confronted with the fact that Erdogan has in effect been ruling very much as described in the constitutional amendments for the whole of the past period, only with minor objections by the Kemalists. Far from putting the plight of the working masses on the agenda, the CHP has de facto accepted Erdogans political premise by solely competing with him on nationalistic matters. That is, insofar as the party has even mentioned political matters. While the CHP has steered leftwards several times in its history, its leadership has been acting as the voice of the Kemalist secular big bourgeoisie, as opposed to the Anatolian represented by Erdogans party. Having seen the revolutionary movements of the 1970s, these ladies and gentlemen would rather work behind the scenes to make deals with Erdogan, than risk setting off a mass movement which they cannot control. The CHP has also completely ignored the civil war against the Kurds and the persecution of left-wing and Kurdish activists. Throughout the campaign against the HDP, the CHP has played a treacherous role of loyal opposition to the AK Party. In fact, insofar as they have brought up political issues, they have tried to avoid clashing with the AKP on major topics, such as the Kurdish question or Turkeys imperialist intervention in Syria. The party has not put forward any perspectives for the referendum and has in fact proudly proclaimed its loyalty by declaring that even if the "NO" vote wins the election, it would not call for early elections. Why would there be any snap elections? the party leader, Kemal Klcdaroglu, said, I would not find it right to go to snap elections at a time when Turkey has too many problems at hand. The fact that Klcdaroglu does not see the reason to launch an open struggle against the AK Party proves that, however much he might disagree with Erdogan on how to carry out his policies, in the final analysis he serves the same class interests as Erdogan. A working class, revolutionary NO The HDP and the leftist trade unions have correctly refused to join the CHPs campaign. The HDP has been massively hampered by the crackdown on the partys activities. Nevertheless, they have campaigned widely for a NO vote. Their campaign material correctly emphasises democracy, national equality and labour rights. The popular MP Surreya Onder said at a recent rally in Diyarbakir that a NO vote, inasmuch as it would be a blow to the regime, is a first step towards peace in the Kurdish areas. This is correct. A NO vote would be a blow to the AK Party and all their reactionary projects. But however much Erdogan really wants to change the constitution, the current one has not prevented him from doing what he wants to until now. The murderous campaigns at home and abroad and the many crimes he and his cronies carry out everyday are carried out under the present constitution. In the final analysis, the problem of democracy is not linked to whatever law is written down on paper, but which class rules society, and what its interests are. The dire conditions of the Turkish working class, the civil war on the Kurds, the imperialist war in Syria and the support for Islamic fundamentalists, in Turkey as well as abroad, were all there before the referendum and they will be there after as well. The vote in itself will not resolve Erdogans problems either. He is promoting himself as the guarantor of stability. But under capitalism in crisis, there can be no stability in Turkey. That is the reason why he has had to resort to so many conflicts and so much repression to carry through his programme. In the next period his rule will see a much deeper crisis. As the economy collapses, the present ebb of the movement will give way to a violent explosion of the class struggle. The only way to effect real change is to prepare for a struggle against the Turkish capitalist class which is behind all the exploitation, nationalism and imperialism, that is, not merely to vote NO, but at the same time to prepare a movement of workers and youth across all nations within Turkey, to fight for the overthrow of all sections of the capitalist class and build a real democratic society, that is, a socialist society. Adam McQuaid,Jay Beagle Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid passes the puck away from Washington Capitals' Jay Beagle during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Boston Saturday, April 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson) (Winslow Townson) After leaving in the first period, Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid is done for Game 2 against the Ottawa Senators. The team tweeted that the time of his return had yet to be determined. The Bruins have already called up Charlie McAvoy and Joe Morrow to deal with injuries to Torey Krug, Brandon Carlo and Colin Miller this week. McAvoy is 19 - if extremely talented and acquitting himself very well so far - and Morrow hasn't played in a game since the end of February. The Bruins will play the rest of Game 2 with just five defensemen. Visiting a Friendly's restaurant a week or so ago, Friendly's co-founder Curtis L. Blake was about to order his usual meal, buffalo chicken strips. But Blake's friend wanted a Big Beef, the signature beef patty and melted cheese on toast entree Curtis and his brother created decades ago by marrying the hamburger and the grilled cheese sandwich. Now sold as the "Original" Big Beef, generations of Friendly's patrons would think of ordering nothing else. Suddenly, a Big Beef sounded like it would hit the spot. "I hadn't had one for years," Blake said by phone earlier this week. "I have to tell you, it was delicious." Blake is in a position to take delight in a lot of things these days. The businessman and philanthropist celebrates his 100th birthday on Saturday. He'll have a small gathering of friends in Florida to celebrate. "Just think of 1917," Blake said. "Think of the changes that I have seen. Technology of course is just beyond belief. I look at an iPhone and what you can do with an iPhone is just so amazing." When Blake was born, the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane was the state of aviation. "Compare that to the airplanes of today," he said. Blake is in generally good health, although he's dealt with some balance issues of late. His hearing has changed and he sometimes has trouble distinguishing conversations in large groups. But other than that, he said he considers himself very lucky. He speaks often with his brother, S. Prestley "Pres" Blake, who is 102. Curtis Blake said they are on friendly terms. "We had a period of eight or 10 years where we weren't (on good terms)," he said. The disagreements stemmed from differences in temperament and opinions on how Friendly's was run after the brothers sold their controlling interest. Blake said he wrote his brother a letter when Pres turned 95. One of the things he told Pres was that he did an excellent job as CEO of their restaurants for all those years. "We was definitely CEO of the first 30 or 35 years," Curtis said. "He did a super job as treasurer." Blake pointed out that he was, and is, two and a half years younger than his brother. "It was ridiculous to think I would be CEO," he said. Blake handled personnel, construction and production of the ice cream. Today he still compares different brands of ice cream with what he gets from Friendly's, describing who goes wrong in texture and wondering why some brands add so many nuts and candy as mix-ins. "You are eating a frozen candy bar, not ice cream," he said. Starting a business The brothers were 18 and 20 years old in the summer of 1935. The Depression was on and jobs were hard to come by. They needed to create their own way of making a living. The concept of an ice cream shop, one where the ice cream was made in a storefront and double-dip cones sold for a nickle, was new, Blake said. Drug store soda fountains in those days sold single-dip cones for 5 cents and double dips for 10 cents. They visited such an ice cream shop on North Main Street in Springfield and got the idea. Six weeks later they opened their own Friendly Ice Cream shop in the Pine Point neighborhood at 161 Boston Road. "Six weeks, think of that. Today it takes two years to get a permit. It's just so much harder to start," he said. They opened at 7 p.m. to a line about 100 feet long. People lined up for 5 cent double scoops despite a drug store on the block with no line. But remember, the drug store only gave one scoop for that nickel. "Our customers didn't have any money and neither did we," Blake said. The were open until midnight. The take was $27.60. That was 552 double-scoop ice cream cones in five hours. Blake said he and his brother spent $40 on a Model A Ford. The brothers could share a car because they rarely had time off and almost never at the same time. At least one of them was in the shop all night making ice cream for the following day. A 2.5-gallon batch took 15 minutes. They needed about 30 gallons a day. Soon they replaced the Model A with a new '36 Ford Phaeton touring car with a heater, a radio and whitewall tires for $620. Blake said he and his brother had one other problem that first summer of 1935. What would they sell in the fall when the weather got cool and fewer folks wanted ice cream? They thought about something unique and special. Clam chowder? Ultimately they decided to let their customers decide. They left an empty pint ice cream container on the counter with slips of paper. Write a suggestion and stick it in the box. The verdict was hamburgers and coffee. But then the brothers noticed that they didn't sell many hamburgers on Fridays. An acquaintance clued them in that they were in a Catholic neighborhood. "So we added grilled cheese," Blake said. Over time, they added more stores, but closed during World War II. Curtis Blake spent four years in the Army Air Forces, more than two of those years in England. Pres Blake worked in a war industry. After the war the company grew as the economy improved and the baby boom meant there were lots of families looking for a night out. The Blakes sold Friendly to Hershey foods in 1979; Heshey added the apostrophe s. Last summer, Friendly's current ownership sold off its ice cream production and wholesale supermarket distribution business to Dean Foods. A separate company, Sun Capital Partners, owns the restaurant business. Blake said he's happy to see Friendly's adding new restaurants again. The chain today has 121 company-owned restaurants and 133 franchised restaurants for a total of 254. Plans call for four new restaurants a year in 2017 and 2018. "I'm optimistic," Blake said. ANDOVER An Andover man was arrested Friday morning after an investigation by Andover Police and the Massachusetts State Police High-Risk Victim Unit, HRVU, found that he enticed a woman to come to Massachusetts from the Mid-West, and once here began using her for prostitution. Joshua Toney, 34, was arrested in Boston municipal Court where he was attending an unrelated hearing. According to investigators, Toney set up the woman with a place and had her sold on the internet for sex. He collected all the money she and another woman made from their "dates." Toney was arraigned in Lawrence District Court on two counts of deriving support from earnings of a prostitute, and single counts of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude and procuring a person to practice or enter a place of prostitution. He was ordered held without the right to bail pending a dangerousness hearing Friday, April 21. The commercial space industry is dominated by Western heavyweights, such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos ' Blue Origin. But players in Asia say they aren't worried about that competition. As corporate spending eclipses government activity throughout the global space sector, Japan 's PD Aerospace and China 's Kuang-Chi Science are among Asia's homegrown private firms planning to offer spaceflight services to civilians. Shuji Ogawa, CEO of PD Aerospace, acknowledges that it's unlikely Asian companies can rival SpaceX , Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin , but he said there's more than enough demand to go around. "When we have reached their present stage, they will have advanced further," he said. "Space tourism is a universal dream, not only for Japanese but for all people. It is important for us to view the Earth from space." His Nagoya-based company is currently developing a reusable sub-orbital space plane featuring a propulsion system that alternates between jet and rocket mode. It's expected to carry eight people two pilots and six passengers over 100 kilometers above the Earth. The Karman line, which lies 100 km above sea level, is the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. PD Aerospace says it intends to conduct its first trial in 2020, with the hope of commencing tourism operations in 2023. Because Japan is small, securing testing areas has been a challenge, Ogawa said. The initial price tag for a trip is set at 14 million yen ($126,639) but Ogawa intends to eventually lower the cost to 398,000 yen ($3,600). "We want to offer space tours to ordinary people." In comparison, Virgin Galactic charges $250,000 for a voyage designed to exceed 100 km in altitude, according the company's website. Meanwhile, a trip to Mars 54.6 million kilometers from Earth could cost $200,000 with SpaceX. Blue Origin has yet to reveal pricing details. Story continues Those figures would mark a significant reduction from previous spaceflight costs. In 2011, the world's first space tourist, American Dennis Tito, paid $20 million to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), which typically orbits 350 km above the Earth. In 2008, England-born Richard Garriott de Cayeux paid $30 million to spend 12 days on the ISS. More recently, SpaceX announced it will fly two individuals to the moon next year but didn't reveal how much the duo would be forking out. In December, PD Aerospace received 20.4 million yen from ANA Holdings, Japan's largest airline group, and 30 million yen from one of the country's leading travel agencies H.I.S. for a 7 and 10.3 percent stake, respectively. Ogawa said more funding was in the pipeline but couldn't reveal any details. Near space travel "There is one very realistic factor that makes Asia the perfect market for space tourism: Asia is a heavily populated continent and in most cities, traffic gridlock is a headache," Liu Ruopeng, chairman of Kuang-Chi Science, told CNBC. The Shenzhen-based firm has built a capsule attached to a giant helium balloon that's capable of taking six passengers anywhere from 20 to 100 km above Earth an area known as near space. "Near space is a highly undeveloped area and has great potential. Here, passengers don't need to be trained like astronauts to be physically qualified to travel. Everyone can go," said 34-year-old Liu. Called the "Traveler," the platform can also collect meteorological and agricultural data, deliver high-speed wireless network coverage and conduct high-precision ground monitoring. Ticket prices have yet to be decided, but Liu said the initial cost would be much lower than current prices. The Traveler has already undergone two unmanned test runs since 2015 the second of which housed a live turtle and a third is scheduled for later this year, according to the company. It hopes to complete a trial with humans on board by 2020. Like Ogawa, Liu doesn't view other spaceflight players as rivals he calls them "complementary companies." A Duke University graduate, Liu was especially confident on demand from his home country. "People in China have witnessed great changes in their life in recent years. More and more Chinese travel abroad and one day, they will travel to space...Consumers are looking forward to this." Space is just one of the many sectors in Kuang-Chi Science's portfolio. Aside from the Traveler, the firm has also manufactured jetpacks for personal transportation, emergency rescue and military use. It also boasts a clean energy powered vehicle designed to transport goods to remote areas, with more flexibility than airplanes and a payload of 30 tons. These ambitions have earned Liu the nickname "Elon Musk of China." "Musk and I actually focus on different areas, but we are both innovators trying to expand possibilities for humans," he said. Elsewhere in Asia Outside of North Asia however, private space tourism has yet to take off. Companies in India, Asia's third-largest economy , lack the long-term vision for space tourism, according to Ajay Lele, senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, and author of "Asian Space Race: Rhetoric or Reality?" "Indian private industry is too profit driven and not yet capable of putting big ideas in reality like SpaceX." Malaysia's Independence-X , meanwhile, is the sole private space company in Southeast Asia. It's currently participating in the Google Lunar XPrize, a global competition for firms seeking to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon by end-2017. If more Asian countries wish to develop a space tourism market, they should look to their respective private sectors for help, Lele warned. "There is a requirement for governments to do some hand-holding. But there is also a need for the private industry to be bold and make its own investments too." More From CNBC After months of anticipation for one pregnant giraffe and hundreds of thousands of obsessed viewers, April just made good. "It's happening!" Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch yelled into a camera from his car about 7:30 Saturday morning. "We are in labor 100 percent!" There had been false starts before, but not far away in a pen in upstate New York, two hooves were peeking out of April's backside. Then a head. Then at 9:55 a.m . . . an apparently healthy giraffe baby hit the floor in a shower of amniotic fluid and catharsis, as more than 1 million people watched live. Half an hour later, the not-so-tiny infant took its first wobbly steps across a pen that's been live-streamed 24 hours a day for nearly two months. Then it flopped delightfully back to the floor and submitted to a tongue bath from its mother. We say "it," not yet knowing if the baby is a he or she, and because it has yet to be named. If you paid to sign up for Animal Adventure's text alert system, you can expect to find out the calf's sex a few seconds before the rest of the world. And the park plans to hold a baby-naming contest shortly after birth, according to Hollywood Life. Then we'll find out if the baby turns out to be more or less popular than its mom - an admittedly tough act to follow. This is April's fourth pregnancy, and it was not much different from the previous three until February, when someone reported her live feed to YouTube for "sexually explicit" content. YouTube briefly took the feed down. It became ultra-popular after being restored, with people tuning in for hours at a time to avoid any chance of missing a birth that was expected first in March, then early April. With the fans came some hand-wringing, as an NPR writer felt compelled to explain why the 24-hour camera wasn't invading a giraffe's privacy. The phenomenon was a mystery to some, as April spent most of this time doing very little. And yet, as one viewer wrote on Facebook: "I'm malnourished and dehydrated . . . my dog is turning fat because I just can't stop watching and he's being neglected . . . Please April for my own sanity have this baby soon." The sensation took a weird turn when park staff prematurely said they expected a birth on the weekend of April 1. This led first to a rash of April Fools' Day-themed conspiracy theories and jokes. And then, when the weekend passed with no baby, it led to yet more waiting. And then it was over. April shook up her routine in her final hours of labor watch - occasionally licking the camera lens that made her famous. She wandered around her pen with an extra set of hooves for more than an hour. But once the tip of her baby's nose emerged, the birth was over quickly. Now, for the rest of a life. (c) 2017, The Washington Post. Avi Selk and Lindsey Bever wrote this story. delta.JPG Delta Air Lines is moving to make it easier to find customers willing to give up their seats. In an internal memo obtained Friday by The Associated Press, Delta said gate agents can offer up to $2,000, up from a previous maximum of $800, and supervisors can offer up to $9,950, up from $1,350. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [file]) By DAVID KOENIG and DAMIAN TROISE | AP Business Writers Delta is letting employees offer customers nearly $10,000 in compensation to give up seats on overbooked flights, hoping to avoid an uproar like the one that erupted at United after a passenger was dragged off a jet. United is taking steps too. It will require employees seeking a seat on a plane to book it at least an hour before departure, a policy that might have prevented last Sunday's confrontation. Those and other changes show airlines are scrambling to respond to a public-relations nightmare -- the video showing airport officers violently yanking and dragging 69-year-old David Dao from his seat on a sold-out United Express flight. Dao and three others were ordered off the plane after four airline employees showed up at the last minute and demanded seats so they could be in place to operate a flight the next day in Louisville, Kentucky. On Friday, a United spokeswoman said the airline changed its policy to require traveling employees to book a flight at least 60 minutes before departure. Had the rule been in place last Sunday, United Express Flight 3411 still would have been overbooked by four seats, but United employees could have dealt with the situation in the gate area instead of on the plane. Delta Air Lines is moving to make it easier to find customers willing to give up their seats. In an internal memo obtained Friday by The Associated Press, Delta said gate agents can offer up to $2,000, up from a previous maximum of $800, and supervisors can offer up to $9,950, up from $1,350. United said it is reviewing its compensation policies. The airline would not disclose its current payment limit. Other airlines said they were examining their policies. American Airlines updated its rules to say that no passenger who has boarded the plane will be removed to give the seat to someone else. None would describe their limits on paying passengers. When there aren't enough seats, airlines usually ask for volunteers by offering travel vouchers, gift cards or cash. Last year Delta got more passengers to give up their seats than any other U.S. airline, partly by paying more than most of the others. As a result, it had the lowest rate among the largest U.S. airlines of bumping people off flights against their will -- something that is legal but alienates customers and requires the airline to pay compensation of up to $1,350 per person. Overselling flights is a fact of life in the airline business. Industry officials say that it is necessary because some passengers don't show up, and that overbooking keeps fares down by reducing the number of empty seats. The practice has been questioned, however, since video of the United Express incident went viral. United Continental CEO Oscar Munoz's initial attempts to apologize were roundly criticized. On Friday, company Chairman Robert Milton said the board supported Munoz. "We need to use this regrettable event as a defining moment and pivot off it to craft friendly policies," Milton said in a note to employees. The dragging has turned into a public-relations nightmare for the entire industry, not just United, and led to calls from politicians and consumer advocates to suspend or ban overbooking. Ben Schlappig, a travel blogger who first wrote about the Delta compensation increase, said it shows Delta is trying to reduce forced bumping. He said he couldn't imagine many situations in which people wouldn't jump at nearly $10,000. Delta no doubt hopes that gate agents and their supervisors won't need to make maximum offers, and the financial cost to the airline is likely to be limited. If Delta paid $9,950 to every person it bumped involuntarily last year, that would total $12 million. Delta earned nearly $4.4 billion. Raising the limits "lets them solve some PR problems" and might head off U.S. Transportation Department regulations to curb overbooking, said another travel blogger, Gary Leff. "They can say, 'Look, we're already solving the problem.'" An AP analysis of government data shows that in 2015 and 2016, Delta paid an average of $1,118 in compensation for every passenger that it denied a seat. Southwest Airlines paid $758, United $565, and American Airlines $554. After the incident in Chicago, critics questioned why United didn't offer more when no passengers accepted the airline's $800 offer for volunteers to give up their seats. "If you offer enough money, even the guy going to a funeral will sell his seat," said Ross Aimer, a retired United pilot. HOLYOKE -- A Holyoke man arrested in a major drug crackdown Thursday is being held on $100,000 bail after police allegedly found more than 20,000 packets of heroin on his back porch and $100,000 in cash hidden in his ceiling. The bail imposed on Kivanny Sanchez, 22, was the highest among 20 defendants rounded up in a multi-agency raid in Holyoke's Churchill and Elmwood neighborhoods. City, state and federal agents seized heroin, cash, guns, bulletproof vests and three luxury automobiles during early morning raids. At the request of Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Shapiro, Sanchez's bail was set at $100,000 during his arraignment Friday. He pleaded not guilty to trafficking heroin over 200 grams and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Two others, Stalin Marte Castillo, 28, and Carmen Mattei, 42, denied trafficking heroin between 36 and 100 grams, conspiracy to violate drug laws and related charges. Judge Maureen Walsh imposed $5,000 cash bail for each defendant. None of the three trafficking suspects have previous drug convictions, according to available court records. When investigators raided Sanchez's second floor apartment at 14 Laurel St. around 6:20 a.m. Thursday, they found 24,500 packets of heroin on his back porch and bag containing about $100,000 in cash hidden in a drop ceiling, according to the arrest report. Questioned by investigators, Sanchez "assumed ownership and responsibility" for the heroin and cash and "gave a voluntary statement against his penal interest," the report states. The home is owned by Deputy City Treasurer Kayla Rodriguez, who has been placed on leave from her city job pending further investigation, city officials said. During a raid at 304 Chestnut St., agents found 1,300 packets of heroin in Marte Castillo's bedroom bureau and $13,000 in cash in his clothes hamper, the report said. A third raid, targeting 39 O'Connor St., yielded no arrests, no drugs and no cash, the report said. Details of other cases were not immediately available due to the number of defendants arraigned Thursday and Friday and the volume of related paperwork. The crackdown followed a four-month heroin trafficking investigation by the Holyoke Police Department's narcotics bureau and detectives with the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Hampden district attorney's office. The raids were conduced by Holyoke, Springfield and Chicopee police, state police and officials with multiple state, local and federal agencies, including the Hampden County Sheriff's Department, FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Western Mass. Gang Task Force, state police gang unit, Special Tactics and Operations (STOP) unit, and Violent Fugitive Apprehension Unit, and the federal Department of Homeland Security Investigation. BOSTON - 40-year-old Joseph Debrum, of Taunton, pleaded guilty to numerous child enticement and child pornography charges in federal court in Boston on Friday, admitting to an illegal, multi-state scheme in which he assumed fake online identities to coerce underage girls into sending him sexually explicit pictures. Debrum's crimes took place over a one-year period, from May 2014 to March 2015, during which time he would alternately pretend to be a 21-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl--using these fake online personas to encourage seven underage girls living in six different states to engage in sexual acts and to send him pictures of the acts. The girls, which ranged in age from 14 to 16-years-old, sent Debrum pictures of their sexual activity, or let him view their activities through a live online feed, which he would photograph with his cell phone. Later, Debrum coerced them by threatening to show the pictures to people. He also shared the pictures, sending pictures of one victim to the victim's parent. In April 2015, Debrum was interviewed by authorities and admitted to them that he had used fake online identities to speak to his victims, as well as to asking them to engage in sexual acts and take take sexual pictures. In court Friday, Debrum pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual exploitation of children, seven counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, and two counts of distribution of child pornography. Debrum could be looking at significant prison time, with all of his crimes having attached mandatory minimum sentences. Sexual exploitation charges ask for a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, while coercion and enticement of a minor provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. Child pornography distribution charges ask for a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18. AMHERST - Renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky gave a sprawling, often grim, but ultimately hopeful speech at UMass Amherst's Mullins Center on Thursday night, outlining his vision for what he believes are humanity's "prospects for survival." Noam Chomsky. Though his talk was often bleak, Chomsky's appearance Thursday night was actually part celebration. Organized and sponsored by the UMass Amherst Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), his talk was meant to help commemorate the inaugural opening of the newly constructed Crotty Hall, the new home of the UMass Amherst Department of Economics. Chomsky, who is professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT), has, since the 1960s, been a vociferous social and political critic, and was one of the first and most well-known opponents of the Vietnam War--penning the essay collection American Power and the New Mandarins in 1969 that criticized what he described as the U.S.'s "brutal" foreign policy in East Asia. Since then, Chomsky has written hundreds of books and essays on a range of issues including U.S. foreign policy, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, American interventionism in the Third World, the abuses of corporate power, the effects of environmental degradation, and many other topics. At 88-years-old, Chomsky has become one of the most well-known left intellectuals and activists in the world. Sagan versus Mayr That renown may have explained the full auditorium Thursday night. Mullins, usually reserved for sporting and musical events, was packed with hundreds of people--all of whom broke into a roar of applause as Chomsky took the stage. Chomsky's speech turned on an anecdote involving a decades old debate between popular scientific figure Carl Sagan and biologist Ernst Mayr concerning the likelihood of finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Sagan believed that, due to the size of the universe, it was very likely that planets amenable to intelligent life existed elsewhere in the cosmos, Chomsky explained. Therefore, Sagan argued, it was likely that humans might, at some point, encounter other intelligent life. Mayr, however, disagreed. By using life on Earth as an example, Mayr argued that the most successful species over long periods of time are those that mutate quickly like bacteria, or those that stay in a fixed ecological niche, such as beetles. The long-term survival rate drops off as you go up the scale of intelligence, he said. Because of this, Mayr ultimately asserted that the history of life on Earth disputes the belief that it is better to be smart than stupid. Chomsky's lecture, in turn, centered around this central question--whether, in terms of survival, it is better to be smart or stupid. Destructive human behavior over the past century has perhaps proven Ernst more correct than Sagan, Chomsky said. Threats to survival: climate change and nuclear war Two threats--that of global annihilation through direct nuclear conflict, and the potentially species-killing challenges posed by climate change--were the primary concerns of Chomsky's discussion Thursday night. "As we all should be well aware, these are the two existential challenges that overshadow everything else," Chomsky said. Chomsky's talk was peppered with historical examples of nearly catastrophic nuclear confrontation between Russia and the U.S., most of which were drawn from the Cold War period. However, Chomsky mentioned he was well aware of the contemporary relevance of these examples--drawing parallels between Cold War conflicts and the present, tenuous relationship between the world's two nuclear superpowers. The conflict in Syria--which some have called a "proxy war" between the U.S. and Russia--and the resultant diplomatic troubles between the two superpowers has posed a serious problem, Chomsky argued. Conflict between the two countries would likely result in the annihilation of all life on earth, he said. Dominance Over Security The discussion of the U.S.'s relationship with Russia was part of a larger point Chomsky sought to make Thursday night, which was that while the U.S. has consistently justified its aggressive foreign policy as a means of keeping Americans safe, these policies often, ironically, have the opposite effect. Chomsky argued that the real goal of U.S. foreign policy is the maintenance of global power, even at the risk of the annihilation of its own population. As evidence, Chomsky cited multiple historical examples in which American officials ignored diplomatic means of conflict resolution, turning instead to more risky and aggressive avenues of engagement with the Soviet Union. The Cuban missile crisis--infamously remembered as one of the most dangerous moments in human history--was partially the result of President Kennedy's refusal to use diplomatic means when dealing with Russia rather than outright aggression, Chomsky argued. "For planners, the security of the population is a very marginal concern," he said. "Even security from utter destruction," he said. Hope for the future Though Chomsky's talk was often grim and full of examples of brutal historical violence, he ultimately ended on a hopeful note--directing his audience's attention to the shift in political attitudes in the U.S. Chomsky pointed to the popularity of Bernie Sanders as a political candidate in the U.S. as a sign that new generations were becoming more aware of the various economic, ecological, and international crises and struggles that lay ahead. As to the original conceit surrounding the debate between Sagan and Mayr, Chomsky left that to his audience to decide whether being the most intelligent creatures on earth would end up being a blessing or a curse. "It's a question for you to ponder, and like it or not, for you to answer," Chomsky said, in conclusion. "And not without too much of a delay." PITTSFIELD A 17-year-old youth was transported to the Berkshire Medical Center after he was found Thursday suffering from a gunshot wound, the Berkshire Eagle reported. Police said the city's newly installed ShotSpotter gunfire location system activated just before 8 p.m. indicating shots fired in the area of Wahconah and Canal streets. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the wounded youth. Police said they believed his injuries to be non-live threatening. The shooting comes in the wake of two other shootings in the past month. On March 20 a high school student was arrested after police allege he left school and went to a home on Danforth Street shot a man in the hand then returned to school. He was arrested at the high school with a firearm in his backpack. Two days later a male subject was wounded in the leg inside a Second Street residence. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Pittsfield Police Detective Bureau at 413-448-9705. Anonymous tips can be called into the drug tips hotline at 413-448-9708 or can be texted to TIP411 then "PITTIP" and your message. SPRINGFIELD -- A Springfield man was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison after admitting to the robbery of a Cumberland Farms store in West Springfield. Robert T. Roy, 32, pleaded guilty to robbery while armed with a handgun for the June 26, 2016, robbery of the store at 22 Park St. Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page sentenced Roy to six years, more than the four to five years recommended by the prosecutor and defense lawyer. Page sentenced Roy to concurrent terms on two probation violations from past cases. Assistant District Attorney James M. Forsyth said at about 4:50 p.m., Roy handed a note on a paper napkin to the clerk at the store. Although no gun was shown, the note said, "This is a robbery, I've got a gun." Robert Roy Roy fled with $285, but the clerk was able to get what he thought was a plate number. That number didn't return any plates, but police then ran a partial plate. A total of 30 cars were returned with the inquiry of the partial plate, Forsyth said. Only one person was local, so police went to the Chicopee home of the owner. The car was registered to Roy's mother, but he was the one who used the car, Forsyth said. A warrant was issued for Roy who was arrested in Poughkeepsie, New York. Defense lawyer Nicholas J. Raring submitted a report from Roy's social worker to Page. Page said the report reflected a dysfunctional childhood, which many defendants have endured. Page said her concern was the seriousness of the crime for which Roy was on probation. Page said she sentenced Roy to three to five years in state prison in 2011 in a case involving a beating of an 85-year-old man during a housebreak. The circus brought smiles to children's faces and energy to Worcester on Friday night during one of the last ever Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus shows. Circus XTREME arrived at the DCU Center with a show that featured classic circus acts and new, modern twists. It was a cacophony of lights, music and antics as performers of all kinds ran from side to side of the stage, entertaining the crowd. Ringmaster Kristen Michelle Wilson, the first-ever woman to lead the show, welcomed the guests with the national anthem and then broke out into song. Six camels ran around the stage as performers contorted their bodies into different positions on top of the moving animals. There was something for the eyes to see at every corner of the stage, from dancers to trapezists gliding on wires, to performers riding bicycles and horses. In January, Ringling announced that this year would be the last for the circus after 146 years in business. This weekend is the last set of shows in Massachusetts. The final show is at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on May 21. "We got him," Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said to reporters and Princeton residents on Saturday as he announced the arrest of a suspect in the killing of Vanessa Marcotte. Angelo Colon-Ortiz was arrested in Worcester early Saturday morning after DNA from a cheek swab test that he consented to matched DNA collected from Vanessa Marcotte's hands during her autopsy. Marcotte was out for a jog on Aug. 7 while visiting her mother's home on Brooks Station Road in Princeton. She never came home, and her body was discovered less than a mile away on Brooks Station Road. Colon-Ortiz is facing charges of aggravated assault, aggravated assault and battery, and assault with intent to rape. Marcotte, 27, was a Google accounts manager who lived in New York. "There's also one other person I'd like to thank in this case, and that would be Vanessa Marcotte," Early said. "It was through her determined fight and her efforts that we obtained the DNA of her killer." BOSTON - David Price tossed his third bullpen on Saturday in Boston as he continues to make progress toward joining the Red Sox rotation. Price was scheduled to toss 45 pitches. "He went through his bullpen as we designed, to have a couple of ups and downs inside that to simulate some innings," manager John Farrell said. "And as we've done with each of the bullpens and and throwing sessions, we'll see how he responds to that workload. He's had a full volume this week compared to the previous four or five weeks that rehab has gone through." The plan is to re-evaluate Price on Saturday and, if there are no setbacks physically he'll travel with the club to Toronto and toss his first simulated game next week. Price stuck mostly to his fastball in the Saturday session but has tossed his breaking ball while throwing on flat ground "The one thing that we're trying to do is not throw a number of variables in at the same time so there's a progression," Farrell said. "You go from the long toss to the flat ground to spinning a breaking ball. Then incorporate the angle of the mound. Incorporate some ups and downs, and then also at that point, start to add in a full assortment of pitches. So there's a little bit more of a systematic approach toward the addition of each variable going forward." Price, who is expecting his first child with his wife Tiffany in a few weeks, was encouraged but his steady progress. Price said the biggest test in simulating the innings is not necessarily the number of pitches he throws in a row, but the up and down between innings. "It's throwing pitches and then taking that break and then getting back up and doing it again. That's always one of the tougher parts in spring training, that's kind of what I'm going through right now," he said. As far as his velocity, Price isn't concerned. "I don't see any dropoff or anything like that," Price said. "We've put in the work and I expect to be myself whenever I come back." Follow MassLive.com Red Sox beat reporter @jcmccaffrey on Twitter. She can be reached by email at jmccaffr@masslive.com. uss carl Tension was rising between the US and North Korea on Thursday as the North appeared to be gearing up for another nuclear test. Intelligence officials told NBC News that the US was prepared to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea with conventional weapons if it was certain the reclusive nation was going to perform another nuclear-weapons test, according to an NBC News report. The officials reportedly said the US had two destroyers capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles into North Korea the same type of weapon used to strike a Syrian airfield last week. Voice of America's Washington bureau chief, Steve Herman, cited sources disputing the notion that the US was readying a preemptive strike, saying instead that retaliation was "likely" if North Korea conducted another nuclear test. Other sources also came forward to challenge NBC News' report. Fox News' national security correspondent, Jennifer Griffin, tweeted: "Multiple sr defense officials say this report is 'wildly wrong' 'crazy.' Pentagon pushing back on NBC report, call it 'extremely dangerous.'" Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump said, "North Korea is a problem the problem will be taken care of," during remarks he gave after the US dropped a massive 21,000-pound bomb on an Islamic State complex of tunnels in Afghanistan. Trump said, however, that the Afghanistan operation was not meant to be a warning to North Korea. Still, NBC News noted that US bombers were available in Guam to strike the Hermit Kingdom. Additional forces, including the USS Carl Vinson aircraft-carrier strike group and a US Air Force WC-135 "nuke-sniffer" were being relocated into the area of operations during the past week. North Korean officials mirrored the US statement on Wednesday, saying they would use a nuclear weapon to "hit the US first" if there were indications of a strike from the US. "By relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean Peninsula, the US is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war," a North Korean statement said, according to NBC News. Story continues Punggye-ri 3 Regardless of whether the US is prepared to launch a preemptive strike, recent evidence suggests that North Korea may be gearing up for its sixth nuclear test underground. Recent satellite images from 38 North, a research group from the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, indicates "unusually high levels of activity" at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, the same location where four of the past tests were conducted. This latest satellite imagery also comes amid another VOA report that cited US officials saying a device at a nuclear test site "could be detonated Saturday or even sooner." Saturday marks 105 years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founder. The nation has in the past conducted other extravagant military displays on special dates in April 2012, the country fired a long-range rocket before the 100th anniversary of his birth. That mission failed. Officials from China, North Korea's main ally, delivered a warning against continued provocations. "Military force cannot resolve the issue," China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, said in a Reuters report on Thursday. "Amid tensions we will also find a kind of opportunity to return to talks." "Whoever provokes the situation, whoever continues to make trouble in this place, they will have to assume historical responsibility," Wang said. NOW WATCH: This animated map shows how World War I changed Europe's borders More From Business Insider As Inimmune http://www.inimmune.com http://www.matr.net/article-73976.html workers settled into their new partnership with UM and worked more closely with the Universitys research enterprise, it became clear that many campus scientists had great ideas but needed assistance moving them forward. The folks at Inimmune, on the other hand, had years of experience translating research from the lab bench to Phase I clinical trials. So Jay Evans of Inimmune and Scott Whittenburg, UMs research vice president, hatched a plan: Use the teams experience as the foundation for a new Center for Translational Medicine . The center will help faculty, staff and students across the Montana University System move their research ideas from bench to bedside and provide new medicines for improving the lives of people. The center also will seek to increase funding at UM through new research collaborations and licensing. The center will link resources and expertise across diverse disciplines and departments. "The people at Inimmune are very interested in helping others generate startup companies," Whittenburg says. "They have good connections to major pharmaceutical companies, so we see a lot of potential for the new center. Its all about trying to create more economic development for our region." At the end of last year, about 30 UM faculty members already had started attending center meetings. Most are from major research units, but some are from sectors such as computer science, mathematics and business. And partners from other Montana campuses also are welcome. Evans says the new center, in conjunction with UMs Office of Technology Transfer, can answer a lot of questions: How do I move an idea or research finding to a clinical trial to help people? How do I approach a pharmaceutical company with my idea? How do I patent my idea and then license it to generate revenue for UM? How do I document and archive my research correctly to protect my intellectual property? How do I write a small-business research grant? Evans says a pitch to a pharmaceutical company structured like an academic research proposal or presentation likely is dead on arrival. The new center can improve proposals with a market analysis, product profile and information on target populations, medical need, safety, manufacturing and scalability. Researchers may apply for external grants using the center, and a portion of that money from successful applications will be banked to nurture great ideas among those who cant land outside funding. Evans says many of the best translational research ideas arent great basic academic science that federal funding agencies will support such as developing a drug but the idea may result in viable licensing revenue or a new biotech company in Missoula. So the center will help address this funding gap by providing money for preliminary data that might attract assistance from an outside company or a small-business grant. "The more biotech companies that locate in Montana, the better it will be for everybody," Evans says. "Because if one company falls on hard times and those employees need jobs, then there are other companies to go to. Its good to have a cluster where employees can move back and forth and share ideas." https://www.umt.edu/urelations/pubs/Vision%20magazine/Vision%202017/Vision%202017.pdf If you want to know how difficult it is to get a water contaminant regulated in the U.S., take a look at the Golden State. By Joseph Erbentraut Full Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/drinking-water-pesticides-california_us_58efe05de4b0bb9638e299ee?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063 *** Clean water technology from Missoulas Clearas Water Recovery could have global impact http://www.matr.net/article-73910.html Missoula-based Clearas Water Recovery Closes $4MM Series B Funding Round http://www.matr.net/article-73801.html The Super School Project set out an open call for America to reimagine high school with meaningful, measurable solutions and thousands of educators, community leaders, parents and students answered that call with mind-blowing, ground-breaking ideas aimed at making high school more efficient, effective, and accountable for every student, everywhere. https://xqsuperschool.org/ The survey was conducted in late 2016 in conjunction with UMs Bureau of Business and Economic Research and Montana State Universitys Montana Manufacturing Extension Center. Of 250 establishments contacted for the survey, 172 or 69 percent responded. Most respondents said 2017 would be better than 2016, expressing optimism for all economic indicators and among the manufacturing categories. The least optimistic firms were food and beverage manufacturers. Survey respondents reported that the two most significant challenges facing manufacturers in 2016 were health insurance costs (73 percent) and the availability of qualified workers (66 percent). Full Report: http://bit.ly/2nB4Qse A new study finds a link between the common hot flashes experienced by most women around the time of their menopause, and vascular health. The study suggests that hot flashes may indicate a higher risk of heart disease. Share on Pinterest New research suggests that hot flashes may signal heart disease in younger women. As many as 70 percent of women experience hot flashes, and around a third of these women say that the hot flashes are frequent or severe. Recent research suggests that hot flashes actually occur earlier than previously believed. It is now thought that they may begin to occur during the late reproductive years and not necessarily in the perimenopausal period. Some studies have also shown that hot flashes can persist for over a decade. The new research, published in the journal Menopause, examines the link between hot flashes and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). More specifically, it looks at the association between hot flashes and endothelial function. The endothelium is a layer of cells that line the inside of the blood vessels. The assessment of endothelial function is considered a key factor in predicting atherosclerosis a form of CVD that affects the blood vessels ability to dilate and contract. If left untreated, atherosclerosis can lead to more serious cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack, stroke, or heart failure. If simply the thought of a spider makes your skin crawl, read on. A team of researchers from the United Kingdom suggests a new strategy that may help people to overcome their fear of the eight-legged critters. Share on Pinterest Researchers suggest that having control over spider exposure may benefit patients with arachnophobia. The strategy is based on a model of behavior called perceptual control theory (PCT), which focuses on encouraging an individual to be in control of their own experiences in order to deal with perceived threats. In the new study, researchers asked participants with a strong fear of spiders to engage in a PCT-based intervention, in which they were in control of their exposure to a variety of spider images, as opposed to being told to face their fear. The research team including Dr. Warren Mansell of the University of Manchester in the U.K. found that these participants were less likely to avoid spiders in their day-to-day lives following the intervention. Dr. Mansell and colleagues recently reported their findings in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders. A fear of spiders, or arachnophobia, is the third most common phobia in the United States, affecting more than 30 percent of the population. Few of us can say that we like spiders, but for people with arachnophobia, being near them can trigger feelings of intense anxiety. In the most severe cases, individuals may avoid leaving the house out of fear of coming into contact with a spider. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most common treatments for arachnophobia, which focuses on addressing the thought patterns that might be fueling the phobia. CBT for arachnophobia may also involve directing the patient to face their fear and initiate contact with spiders, though the new research from Dr. Mansell and colleagues suggests that a PCT-based approach might be more effective. Perceptual control theory predicts that it is vital for a client to have control over their experience of important elements of the environment like the sources of threat, because control itself is pivotal for health and well-being, says Dr. Mansell. Effective Vaccine for HIV The safety and effectiveness of a potential vaccine for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been enhanced by engineering an on/off switch into a weakened form of HIV. The virus has been responsible for approximately 35 million deaths during the past 35 years. The recent study by University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers, demonstrated that flipping the switch allows weakened HIV to replicate at a level likely to generate immunity in a host. This replication can be switched off at will. A Gurudwara in Dubai just broke a world record for serving breakfast to the maximum number of people from diverse nationalities, and has entered the Guinness Book of World Records. For Sikh New Year, Baisakhi, Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar held an event called "Breakfast for Diversity", which was attended by 600 people from 101 countries. Gurudwara Dubai The Indian Ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri was the chief guest of the event, according to The Khaleej Times. The gathering saw participants ranging from schoolchildren, government officials and diplomats from Australia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, India, Mexico, Philippines, Serbia, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Peru, Vietnam, Romania and Kenya. Twitter Surender Kandhari, chairman of the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar temple said, "Sikhism has always embraced diversity as it has been part of our faith and belief, that we are all human beings to be treated with respect," while talking to The Khaleej Times. Gulf News "The Gurudwara serves approximately 1,000 meals on weekdays and 10,000 meals on weekends or holidays. It has served free meals to over 4 million people since its inception. This has been part of the Gurudwara's service to the community and their way of embracing diversity," Kandhari added. Gulf News The previous record was held by an event organised by Nutella at the Milan Expo in Italy in 2015, where 55 nationalities shared a continental breakfast together, but this Gurudwara has broken this by a mile and a half. Twitter Talal Omar, Guinness World Records MENA manager, said, "We are proud to support the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar in breaking a fantastic record that brings together people of multi-faiths. We encourage record breaking activities that encourage all human efforts, particularly those that bring people together". Samsung is apparently working on a dual-screen smartphone that might just enable the company to start selling flip phones again. The prototype in question will have two displays connected to each other with a hinge in the middle. In other reports, it was suggested that screen would be a single screen that could be folded like in the picture below. It will allow the device to fold up to 180 degrees according to the South Korean outlet, The Investor. The Investor The report also suggests that the company is looking to produce between 2,000 to 3,000 prototypes as the company has started placing orders for the components. The company plans to release these prototypes by the first half of the year. An unnamed source told The Investor, Samsung seems to be testing the waters with the dual-screen device to gather ideas about its upcoming foldable phone. The Investor further adds that Samsung has been investing a lot of time and have amped up their effort to research new display ideas in order to release foldable handsets later this year. LG Display The device has been given the codename Galaxy X and Samsung has yet to showcase any of the functions on the foldable phone. It is also worth noting that LG has already touted their rollable screen and this reaffirms that the notion that flexible panels will be a reality sooner than we think. Who do you think is going to win the race? LG or Samsung? Source: The Investor Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. Reflections FROM MOTUS: THE MIRROR OF THE UNITED STATES By Bill Diller For the Tribune POLAND In only its fifth year, Bad Axe Destination Imagination has proven to be an interesting and educational experience for those involved. They've even gone international. Two teams from the Bad Axe team recently took part in an invitational competition in Poland. Eight kids, along with their chaperons, left on March 15 and returned on March 25. The teams consisted of Nicholas Clarent, Hayden Miles, Logan Miles, Alex Castle, Claire Castle, Alexis King, Makayla Stambaugh and Matthew Kubacki. During their time in Poland, the team members spent the better part of four days competing in a variety of challenges. They were required to solve problems using simple props provided to them, often in a matter of a few minutes. One challenge lasted 24 hours. Some of the challenges required them to work closely with a "Buddy Team," a Destination Imagination team from Poland. In all, there were hundreds of teams, including teams from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Albania, China, and Hungary. "My favorite thing about the trip was the different types of languages," Stambaugh said. "The language wasn't much of a problem, but it was hard sometimes to understand them, because of their accents. Our 'Buddy Team' had a translator." "They have English classes, so they speak some English," added Logan Miles. Parent volunteer and leader of the Bad Axe team's trip to Poland was Heather Miles. She has been involved in the program since its inception. Miles was extremely proud of how the teams conducted themselves during the trip, including learning some words in Polish. "All the kids learned enough to be polite," Miles said. "Everybody learned good morning or good day, thank you, hi, and you're welcome enough to be able to put a little effort into the conversation." Visiting a foreign country as a youngster was thrilling for the team members and memorable. "I remember how helpful everyone was," said Clarent. "In America, everything is basically new, but over there everything is cobblestone. I think it was in Warsaw, everything was leveled, but the city has been rebuilt using the actual bricks that were destroyed." The historical aspect of visiting a country devastated by a war that ended long before they were born will have a lasting impact. The rebirth of that country was also interesting. "I liked the history, but I also liked the culture, their language and the back story," said Alexis King. "I liked the salt mines, because most of their walls were actually made out of salt. There were nine levels, we only went to three. There were also statues that the miners made that depicted some of their culture. There were statues to show what they did when they were mining. Salt used to be really big for Poland. I believe it was used as currency." "We did a lot of research," added Logan Miles. "In the salt mines, they made whole churches. Super detailed carvings of people, it was super cool to see how they actually did that, to make super detailed carvings out of just salt. It surprised me." Another historical aspect that profoundly affected the team members was a visit to concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau. "I liked seeing Auschwitz, but I didn't like thinking about it," Logan Miles said. "If I saw it and didn't know much about it, it would be really cool seeing all the old buildings." They also visited Wawel Castel in Krakow. "There was a lot of history in the castle," said Hayden Miles. "Some of the tapestries were ancient, and were made with gold thread. In one of the rooms, the ceiling was covered with carved heads. No one in the castle knew the story of the heads. It was just something they did back then. Outside the castle, there was a statue of a dragon. You could send the dragon a text message and out of the dragon's mouth would shoot fire. The castle was amazing, super detailed, and big." The teams also visited the school of their Polish 'Buddy Team.' It was a thoroughly modern school approximately the same size as their home school in Bad Axe. They toured the school and had the privilege of sharing lunch with the Polish students. "We started off with a bowl of soup, then had a chicken fillet with two different types of salad and mashed potatoes," Logan Miles said. "Then we had brownies or apple pie." "The called the apple pie, American cake," Hayden Miles added. Although the tourist-type things the group saw and did were interesting, most of their time was taken up with the actual competition. "There were three parts," Heather Miles said. "One of the competitions was a 24-hour challenge. They only had a few breaks here and there. They also had a 'Buddy Team' challenge. During that time, they were completely immersed with their project." The Bad Axe squads were split into two teams, a boy's team called Flavor Station and a girl's team called Solar Dragons. Each team was given supplies for their challenge and "money" redeemable at an on-premises "store." The teams then completed the challenge using the materials supplied and purchased. "Usually, when you're here, you can go buy stuff at a thrift store, costumes and things to help you do better in your project," Logan Miles said. "Over there, you could buy stuff you needed at their store, and then you had to make a skit. If you wanted to, you could make costumes and a backdrop out of the stuff you were given or bought." One of the challenges required the Bad Axe DI team to combine an American legend, such as Paul Bunyon or Red Riding Hood with a Polish legend. "They give you a packet of papers with different legends," Logan Miles said. This challenge allowed some time for preparation. Others did not. "For the instant challenge you only have a short amount of time to make something, build something, or create something," Logan Miles said. "We got one piece of tin foil, three cups, four straws, four marbles, three sticky labels, and you had to make a boat that would float on water with those materials. It had to be tall, not just make a boat, because that would be easy. All you'd have to do is place a piece of foil on the water. So, you had to make a tower on it." They also had to do a challenge while working with their Polish 'Buddy Team.' "It was a writing/drawing challenge, with a language barrier," Heather Miles said. "We were given a challenge with robots," King said. "We had to come up with a name for its special power, explain why it came to earth, and what it was good at. We had to communicate with our Buddy Team, kind of get to know them better while making this robot. There was about a half hour time frame." These thought-provoking challenges are team building experiences, and doing them with like-minded kids from other countries is certain to have a lasting effect. The kids from Bad Axe Destination Imagination are already looking forward to their next competition. By Bradley Massman Tribune Staff Writer BAD AXE With eight drug-related deaths reported in the county dating back to last year many local officials and residents are fed up and saying, "Enough is enough." County commissioners, local health officials, law enforcement and the county's prosecutor, circuit court judge and sheriff packed inside the Huron Intermediate School District's conference room for a monthly recovery roundtable meeting. The topic of discussion: The rise in opioid use and how to stop it. Opioids, including prescription pills and heroin, killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly half of all opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid and 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. In an effort to raise awareness, Huron County is looking to bring a Families Against Narcotics (FAN) chapter to the area. FAN is a community-based program for those seeking recovery, family members affected by addiction and community supporters. In order to create a chapter, the county must setup a general board, Shelly Warczinsky-O'Henley told the audience. "The main purpose of FAN is what's called a family forum," O'Henley said. "FAN can't get off the ground without our family forum scheduled." "(Officials would) talk about what's going on in their world related to narcotics," she explained the forum purpose. O'Henley, substance abuse prevention educator with the Huron County Health Department, said the forum would be held once a month for an hour or two and someone would talk to the community about their given field's expertise. A board must have a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer to take life. The board can have up to 30 members on it. The startup cost is around $1,000, however, DTE Energy has donated those funds to get started. Every year moving forward, the county's FAN chapter would be required to pay a $500 renewal fee. "When it comes to FAN, it has a plan to help families who are either suffering or have a family member who's suffering," O'Henley said. "... What do our community members need to know to beat this battle?" Following O'Henley's comments, officials began to weigh in on the opiate-related issue. Huron County Circuit Judge Gerald M. Prill shared a story of another Michigan judge whose daughter got involved with heroin. "It's not just Huron, Tuscola and Sanilac counties it's nationwide," Prill said of the heroin epidemic. "It's only going to get worse if we don't do something now," Prill added, noting the problem will peak in the four to five years before it goes down. Roughly five years ago, the county ran into a "designer drug" issue better known as bath salts, according to Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson. "Five years ago, we had a similar meeting like this down at dispatch and we made a major accomplishment by the years end," Hanson said. "We finally took control of the whole situation and almost eradicated it," Hanson added. "... I'd like to believe the (Huron County) commissioners are going to support towards this effort. It's got to start somewhere." Educating the public on the heroin/opiate issue should be looked at by a three-prong approach, Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski said at the meeting. "It is not only law enforcement's effort, but it should also entail beefing up our recovery programs and our treatment programs as well education," Rutkowski said. "People that have drug issues come from all walks of life," he added. Although an official FAN chapter was not created Thursday morning, county officials all agreed its something that is needed for the area. They will now move forward by handling the proper procedures to bring the chapter to life. Another recovery roundtable meeting is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. May 11, in the Huron Intermediate School District Administration building. Officials are expected to select board members as well as set dates and times for family forums at the meeting. By Seth Stapleton Tribune Staff Writer BAD AXE National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week was created to raise public awareness about the hard work and dedication of public safety telecommunicators. Every year during the second week of April, the telecommunications personnel in the public safety community are honored by the event that was initially set up in 1981 by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office in California. In Huron County, the week is treated quite casually. But the importance of those working at Huron County Emergency Services does not go unrecognized. "Our staff as a whole does a very good job for our county, in my opinion," said emergency services director Randy Miller. "They try to do more than their job descriptions are written up as. They're not self-centered it's all about providing the best they can for everybody." A total of eight full-time and six part-time dispatchers work at the center, along with supervisor Mary Krohn. With dispatchers being available 24 hours a day, the career choice can be a demanding one. Dispatchers handle calls for every law enforcement agency, fire department and ambulance in the county, along with calls from individuals in distress. "Everything and everything," Miller said. "We take all sorts of stuff." He said one of the more challenging aspects of the job is handling calls that deal with multiple agencies that are depending on them to know exactly what's happening on-scene. "They have to do multiple things at one time and do them all correctly," Miller said. He said many times individuals will call in with everyday questions they could probably find out themselves. Even in those situations, dispatchers will still lend a hand. "We provide a lot of day-to-day information for people," Miller said. "As long as they're calling on the non-emergency line and they understand if we get a priority call we may have to put them on hold, we try to accommodate everybody as best as we can." Added Miller: "We've got a pretty exceptional bunch. They take care of each other just as much as they take care of the public." 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... Africa's Child -- a thrift store located on Plainfield Avenue near Four Mile Road that benefits mission work in Zambia -- has reopened months after the Sept. 8, 2016 fire that gutted neighboring Ken's Fruit Market. Due to "severe smoke" damage, the store "lost everything," said Cori Scholtens, executive director of Africa's Child. The store accepts donations and sells assorted household goods, including furniture and personal items such as clothing. The landlord, H and H Properties, had to completely gut the building in which the business is located, but also donated a nearby storefront so the business could continue to collect items for its future, according to Scholtens. "We are a second-hand shop and we sell used items; we couldn't just go out and purchase new product when it was time to reopen," she said. The donated space allowed Africa's Child to continue to receive donated items. In addition, Servpro of Northeast Grand Rapids, the company H and H hired for restoration services, "realized how much these items meant to us" and hosted an event to encourage new donations. "We were overwhelmed with the support we got from the landlord, Servpro and our community," she said. The donation drive yielded two huge storage containers of items. The donated space allowed the staff and volunteers to sort, label and prepare items for the store's reopening. Africa's Child was founded in 2009, when the first thrift store opened in Holland. The idea was that the store "would generate resources to further work in Zambia, but also that local customers and volunteers would be connected to God's heart for Zambia," according to the store's website. Eventually the specifics of the mission outreach changed, but still 100 percent of the profits from the two stores - 415 E. Lakewood Blvd. in Holland and 3482 Plainfield Ave. in the Northtown Shopping Center -- are sent to five ministry partners that serve those in need in Zambia. A "grand re-opening" of the Grand Rapids Africa's Child was scheduled for Thursday, April 13, and ran through that weekend, but mostly it was time for those who work or volunteer there to reflect and pray, according to Scholtens. Store hours at the Grand Rapids Township location are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Wyoming voters will decide May 2 if the city can direct money collected through a dedicated library maintenance millage to park improvements. The goal of the ballot initiative is to bring greater flexibility in funding for dollars already collected through the library millage, said Mayor Jack Poll. The city currently collects .37 mills and is authorized to collect up to .39 mills for library maintenance and capital improvements. "This request is not an increase in the amount of tax collected and will not cost taxpayers an extra penny," he said. Poll said the city has spent more than $650,000 in the last two years on upgrades and other improvements to the Wyoming branch of the Kent District Library, located at 3350 Michael Ave. SW. He said those enhancements mean the library shouldn't need significant capital investments in the next 10 years. Branch manager Lori Holland said, while she can't weigh in on a ballot issue because she is a library staff member, she can say that city leaders have "always done an excellent job of maintaining the library." Recent improvements include a new community room, resurfacing the parking lot, new carpet in high-traffic areas, new chairs and new after-hours pickup lockers. She said the library also is currently in the process of upgrading its 15-year-old audio-visual equipment. Poll said now city leaders want to direct some of that funding for much-needed improvements to city's parks. He said about $23 million is required in capital improvements "in order to maintain the quality, caliber and safety of the Wyoming parks' system." Four parks - Ferrand, Gezon, Ideal and Jackson - will undergo upgrades if voters approve the change to the millage, Poll said. Voters approved collecting the library maintenance millage of .39 mills in 1975. That millage captures more than $722,000 annually for the library. The city currently collects 1.5 mills for parks and recreation, which goes toward programs, services and basic maintenance. Officials said that millage, approved in 1994, has not increased in the last 20 years and doesn't supply enough money for major park capital improvements. Bennys_Family_Dining.JPG A sign encourages customers to seat themselves at Benny's Family Dining at 1952 S. Industrial Highway in Ann Arbor. (File photo | The Ann Arbor News) ANN ARBOR, MI - Washtenaw County Public Health is warning local residents about possible exposure to measles at two Ann Arbor restaurants. The includes Mark's Midtown Coney Island at 3586 Plymouth Road and Benny's Family Dining at 1952 S. Industrial Highway. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on Friday, April 14, confirmed the second measles case of 2017 in Michigan. "This case is an adult and the direct result of an exposure to the state's first case of the year in late March," DHHS stated in a news release. "The two individuals, who are not members of the same family or otherwise related, were both passengers on the same flight when the first individual was contagious." As a precaution, Washtenaw County Public Health is advising anyone who visited Mark's Midtown Coney Island on Plymouth Road between noon and 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 6, or Benny's Family Dining from noon to 3 p.m. Friday, April 7, to monitor themselves for rash with fever or other symptoms consistent with measles for 21 days. If you suspect measles, health department officials advise seeking medical treatment as soon as possible. The health department notes this is not a matter of food safety or restaurant sanitation. Rather, the person with measles was a customer at the two restaurants while contagious. Since the health department can't contact other customers individually to alert them, it is sharing information publicly. "When cases of infectious disease are reported, part of what we do at local public health is to identify others that may be exposed and work to prevent additional cases," said Susan Cerniglia, a spokeswoman for WCPH. "In this situation, the individual reported eating at these two establishments just prior to becoming ill." Measles is a highly contagious, airborne disease spread through the air, and people are contagious four days before and four days after the rash appears, Cerniglia said, so other patrons and employees could have been exposed to measles at the two restaurants last week. Both restaurants are working with WCPH to help notify employees and members of the public about the potential exposure. Donny Pichineru, a manager at Mark's Midtown Coney Island, said the health department informed the restaurant about the situation on Friday, April 14. "It was a surprise to us to hear this," he said. He said it's concerning, but as far as the restaurant knows, none of its other customers have gotten sick and none of its employees are showing any symptoms. Pichineru said they're monitoring the situation. "Hopefully none of the people who have been potentially exposed to this would catch the measles," he said. He said the restaurant does not know the identity or even the gender of the customer with measles. "If they were sick, we did not know," he said. A worker at Benny's Family Dining said no owner or manager was available to talk about the situation on Friday. "This is the second case of measles in Michigan this year," said Jessie Kimbrough Marshall, medical director for WCPH. "This underscores the need for all eligible individuals to vaccinate against measles. The measles vaccine is effective and safe." Measles case found in Washtenaw County Having two doses of MMR vaccine at least 28 days apart is fully protective, according to WCPH. "Having only one dose of MMR vaccine is approximately 93 percent protective," WCPH stated in a news release. "The first dose is routinely given to children after their first birthday. Vaccination is not necessary if an individual has a prior history of measles illness. Individuals born before 1957 are assumed to have natural immunity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." The MMR vaccine is available through primary health care providers and at some local pharmacies. People should contact their health care provider for advice. Measles, also known in medical terms as rubeola, is an extremely contagious disease caused by the measles virus. It can cause complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). It also can cause miscarriages or premature delivery in pregnant women. The illness starts with a runny nose, red eyes, cough, fever and sore throat. Tiny white spots may appear in the mouth. A raised, red rash appears on the third to fifth day of illness, and the rash typically starts on the face and spreads down the body and out to the arms and legs. The rash usually lasts four to seven days. Symptoms start seven to 14 days after being exposed to measles, and last one to two weeks. Droplets from the nose or mouth, through sneezing, coughing or speaking, spread measles. In Michigan, there was one case of measles identified in 2016, one in 2015, and five in 2014. From 2001 to 2012, the average number of measles cases in the Unites States per year was about 60, but there have been more cases in recent years, which is of great concern to public health authorities. In 2014, there were 667 cases in the U.S., including the five cases in Michigan. The majority of people who got measles were unvaccinated. "Measles is still common in many parts of the world, including some countries in Europe, Asia the Pacific and Africa," WCPH notes. "Measles can spread when it reaches a community in the U.S. where groups of people are unvaccinated." You can find a fact sheet about measles on the WCPH website, and more information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. According to the CDC, about one in four people in the United States who get measles will be hospitalized, one out of every 1,000 people with measles will develop brain swelling, which could lead to brain damage, and one or two out of 1,000 people with measles will die, even with the best care. "Some people think of measles as just a little rash and fever that clears up in a few days, but measles can cause serious health complications, especially in children younger than 5 years of age," the CDC states on its website, adding there is no way to tell in advance the severity of symptoms a child will experience. "Personally, I believe people should get vaccinated, especially now when there is so much travel between different countries and continents," Pichineru said. "This is the kind of disease that can be easily spread, and it can be easily stopped by the use of vaccines, so people should do it." HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, MI -- Dispose of your unwanted, unused or expired prescription medications from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at Walgreens, 2901 Center Ave. Walgreens is working with the Hampton Township Police to safely dispose of medications. Additionally, the Hampton Township Police are offering fingerprinting and photo IDs. Kids can also check out a fire truck from the Hampton Fire Department. ROYAL OAK TWP., MI - A 55-year-old pedestrian died Thursday night when he was hit by two vehicles on Eight Mile Road north of Detroit. The man was attempting to cross the westbound lanes about 10:45 p.m. April 13 from the parking lot of the Royal Inn, 10900 W. Eight Mile Road in Royal Oak Township. One vehicle in the center lane of the three-lane thoroughfare hit him, knocking him to the ground, and then a second vehicle in the same lane struck him, according to the Michigan State Police. He died at the scene. Both drivers stopped and cooperated with the investigation. The area is not well-lit and it is common for pedestrians, instead of using the crosswalk, to cross the busy road from the motel to businesses on the other side, according to a statement from the state police. Police believe neither driver saw the man before the vehicles hit him. Alcohol is not a factor and an autopsy was pending. Troopers were continuing their inquiry. Kent County Health Department (File | MLive.com) GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- In recognition of National STD Awareness Month, the Kent County Health Department will offer free walk-in urine testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia during the week of April 17-21. The two diseases are among the five most common sexually-transmitted diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate about 820,000 new gonococcal infections and about 2.9 million new chlamydia infections occur in the United States each year. The free tests are available at the Kent County Health Department Fuller Clinic, 700 Fuller NE in Grand Rapids, during the week of Monday, April 17, through Friday, April 21. The tests will be offered during morning (8:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.) and afternoon (1:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.) hours on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Testing will only be offered during the afternoon hours on Thursday, April 20. No appointment is necessary. Looking at sexually transmitted infections as a whole, the CDC estimates nearly 20 million new infections occur each year in the United States. Nearly half of all sexually-active youth will contract an STD by the age of 25, their statistics show. That data is part of the reason the county health department is choosing to offer a week of free testing services. "Only when individuals know their own status can they begin to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases," Administrative Health Officer Adam London said. "That knowledge is the key for getting medical treatment and taking steps to ensure against the spread of infection." The health department will also offer free HIV testing for those at risk of the virus, and also offers referrals to clients for tests not available at the county clinic. Abstaining from sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and consistently and correctly using condoms are all effective prevention strategies, according to health officials. Safe, effective vaccines are also available to prevent hepatitis B and some types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Health officials recommend routine testing for at-risk individuals, since STD screening and early diagnosis are essential in preventing the spread and the long-term consequences of the diseases. More information on the topic of STDs is available on www.cdc.gov/std. SAUGATUCK TOWNSHIP, MI -- Police want the public's help to identify a man who robbed the Lakeshore Convenience Store a week ago. The robbery happened about 10:10 p.m. April 7 at 155 South Bluestar Highway. Saugatuck-Douglas Police say the man indicated he was armed and then demanded cash. He left the store with money and left the area headed south in a red full-size pickup. A woman with blonde hair was in the passenger seat. Police releases surveillance images of the man late this week. Police say the man is about five-foot-six-inches tall and appeared to bve in his 20s. Anyone with information about him can cal the Saugatuck-Douglas Police Department at 269-857-4339, Allegan County Central Dispatch 269-673-3899 or Silent Observer 800-554-3633. JACKSON, MI - The Michigan Credit Union League has awarded CP Federal Credit Union President/CEO John Crist its 2017 Distinguished Service Award. During the last decade, Crist has built a culture at the credit union that is dedicated to service, teamwork, respect and fun, MCUL said in a press release. The work he puts into the credit union makes a difference to not only his coworkers, but to CP's members, it said. Crist will receive the award at a breakfast event during the MCUL/CU Solutions Group annual convention and exposition June 7-10. Crist is a member of the Jackson College Board of Trustees and is active in several Jackson County civic organizations. 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. JACKSON, MI - An imprisoned racketeer once sought by Duane "Dog" Chapman has nearly exhausted his appeals. The U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit in Ohio last month rejected Ricky Wheeldon's claims, further reducing his chances of relief. Wheeldon, 58, could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but finding an ear there is hardly above impossible, said Jackson County Chief Appellate Attorney Jerrold Schrotenboer. Wheeldon, is serving 29 to 50 years for conducting a criminal enterprise and theft, firearm and drug charges. In November 2010, police seized hundreds of items, including construction tools, motorcycles and more than 80 guns from properties connected to Wheeldon in Leoni and Henrietta Townships. Authorities also found cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine. Wheeldon was accused of profiting from the acquisition of stolen goods and would pay thieves in drugs and money to fetch items, according to trial testimony. Jurors in May 2012 found Wheeldon guilty, but Wheeldon, who had been free on a $500,000 bond, was not in court to hear the verdict. On the seventh day of his trial, he did not return from a lunch break and Wilson issued a bench warrant for his arrest. Reality TV bounty hunter Chapman and his wife, Beth, came to Jackson to help in the search for Wheeldon, who evaded authorities for nearly six months until Michigan State Police arrested him Oct. 24, 2012 in the Leslie area. At his sentencing in November 2012, he was argumentative, angry and ranting about perceived injustices. On appeal, Wheeldon argued, among other points, that state appellate court findings, which did not go in his favor, were "erroneous" and improperly became the basis for an earlier federal decision. Further, he contended there was insufficient evidence to convict him of racketeering and possessing drugs with the intent to deliver. In a five-page opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals found no credence in these arguments. Wheeldon presently is housed at the Carson City Correctional Facility north of Lansing. KALAMAZOO, MI -- The developers of the long-awaited Exchange Building say construction of the building will start in earnest this coming week in downtown Kalamazoo. Work on the $52.7 million, 15-story commercial and residential structure -- a version of which was first announced in the spring of 2011 -- is to get underway on the southeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Rose Street. The 340,000-square-foot, mixed-use development will include space for retail, office and residential uses as well as indoor parking for more than 300 vehicles. Construction of a smaller version was originally supposed to begin in the fall of 2011. The completed project was to change the skyline of downtown Kalamazoo by late 2012 or early 2013. But work was repeatedly pushed back. "We have been working steadily with our colleagues at PlazaCorp and many others to refine this project and look forward to the construction phase so the community can enjoy the realization of what we have been planning for several years," said Greg Taylor, principal of Phoenix Properties LLC. Taylor said that during the past week Phoenix and partner developer PlazaCorp Realty Advisors Inc. closed off the project site with barriers and fencing, closed off adjacent sidewalks and curb lanes of traffic along Michigan and Rose, and terminated utility services on the site, which has been a public parking lot for many years. That will allow the project to safely bring in heavy equipment, he said. "This coming week we will start physically excavating and things like that," he said. In a prepared statement, Andy Wenzel, director of acquisitions and development with PlazaCorp Realty Advisors, said, "The Exchange will convert the use of this site from a long-standing surface parking lot into a high-density, modern hub of activity right in the heart of downtown Kalamazoo. It will fit in perfectly with all the other exciting improvements underway in and around our community." In a press release, the developers said the building "will feature several ground floor retail spaces, a two-story banking center, multiple levels of enclosed tenant parking, two floors of Class 'A' office space, a penthouse space on the 15th floor and seven floors of one-, two- and three-bedroom upscale apartments." The project is about twice as large and twice as expensive as planned when it was announced in May of 2011, Taylor said. It was to be a 205,000-square-foot development, and was once valued at $24.5 million. He has said the project was initially forestalled after a major investor backed away. Since then, Taylor said he has worked hard to secure necessary funding. It project gained momentum last year as PlazaCorp became involved. It will work with Phoenix Properties to attract tenants. The Exchange Building will be owned by a combination of individuals involved with PlazaCorp LLC and Phoenix Properties LLC. Taylor said the building is much larger than envisioned seven years ago in order to more fully utilize the site. Commercial tenants will use the ground floor and a portion of the second floor. They will also use the entire seventh and 15th floors. There will be multiple levels of parking inside the building that will be accessed and exited via Michigan Avenue. Parking will be on a portion of the second floor and all of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors. Apartments will be developed on floors 8 through 14. Asked who the developers expect to attract as tenants, and mentioning students and facility from the nearby Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine,Taylor said the project will be attractive to all users. "We're not targeting any specific user group," he said. "This will not be exclusively students. This will not be exclusively families. This will not be exclusively anything." He said there we be a lot of one-bedroom apartments but their size and that of other units has not yet been determined, nor have leasing rates. Amtrak 05 October 2011 Amtrak train 353, the Wolverine, heads west through Galesburg. Scott Harmsen / Kalamazoo Gazette (Scott Harmsen) SAGINAW, MI -- Memorial services were held Saturday morning for a Saginaw woman who died after she was trapped beneath an Amtrak train. Sue Watrous died in a hospital Monday, April 10, from injuries she suffered at the Amtrak station in East Lansing, said Michigan State University Police Capt. Doug Monette. Watrous was 66 years old and is survived by her husband and three children, according to her obituary. Memorial services for her were held Saturday morning at the Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Saginaw. It's not clear exactly how the incident unfolded, but at this time police believe it was accidental, Monette said. Monette said Watrous got off the train on April 5, then it started to move and she became trapped beneath it. Emergency workers freed Watrous and took her to an area hospital, where she died five days later, Monette said. An autopsy was conducted the following day and police are still awaiting results of the toxicology report, Monette said. The Michigan State University Police Amtrak is investigating the incident in conjunction with the Canadian National Railway, Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak. Watrous graduated from Saginaw's Arthur Hill High School in 1969, according to the obituary. She earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Michigan and was employed as a financial officer for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. "Sue was beloved by many and famous for her cinnamon rolls and cupcakes," the obituary reads. "She will be dearly missed by her family and friends." KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The number of militants killed in an attack by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military has risen to 94, an Afghan official said Saturday. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier. A Ministry of Defense official had said Friday the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. "Fortunately there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack," Khogyani said. The increased death toll in Nangarhar was announced as officials in southern Helmand province reported at least 11 civilians were killed and one wounded in two roadside bomb blasts overnight. The U.S. attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing. The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains that Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks in fierce fighting in Nangarhar province. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday criticized both the Afghan and U.S. governments for the attack in Nangarhar. Addressing a gathering in capital Kabul, Karzai said that allowing the U.S. to carry out the bombing was "treason" and an insult to Afghanistan. Current President Ashraf Ghani's office said Friday there was "close coordination" between the U.S. military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles in a massive military display in central Pyongyang on Saturday, with ruler Kim Jong Un looking on with delight as his nation flaunted its increasingly sophisticated military hardware amid rising regional tensions. Kim did not speak during the annual parade, which celebrates the 1912 birthday of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founding ruler, but a top official warned that the North would stand up to any threat posed by the United States. Choe Ryong Hae said President Donald Trump was guilty of "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching U.S. forces to the region. "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," said Choe, widely seen by analysts as North Korea's No. 2 official. The parade, the annual highlight of North Korea's most important holiday, came amid growing international worries that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM capable of reaching U.S. shores. The next time you see someone behind a bar counter juggling bottles with clockwork, machine-like precision or making that perfect single malt, the chances are you would be staring at a robot instead of the regular bartender. This off-beat project is one of several that Tata Group company TAL Manufacturing, a 100 percent subsidiary of Mumbai-based Tata Motors is working on. You can tell the machine what you would like to have, swipe your card and pay for it on the machine itself and enjoy your drink. Thats the kind of proposal we have sent to a customer who said he was interested in a robot who can do the job of a bartender, said a senior executive of TAL Manufacturing. TAL, which has a facility in Pune that can make 3,000 robots a year, recently launched Brabo, a highly indigenized robot priced in the range of Rs 5-7 lakh. Brabo, which is 30-40 percent cheaper than a foreign counterpart, weighs 68-95 kg with a payload capacity of 2-10 kg. After an investment of Rs 10 crore and three years spent in development the Brabo is used in small foundaries, for machining, by auto comp vendors, for sealant application, packing and end-of-line inspection. At least 25 Brabos are operational in automotive and non-automotive sectors requiring chamfering, testing and validation, assembly and vision-based inspection and a further 30 are installed as samples. TAL though is far from settling down. Brabo is a dumb robot. We are working on an intelligent robot, for which we are inducting software engineers who could write programmes for the machine and make it intelligent. So we are finding ways where we can control the robot through a mobile phone which need not be even close to it, said RS Thakur, Non-executive Chairman, TAL Manufacturing said. TAL is also keen to tie up with overseas companies, which can complement its own work in the area of robotics. While the launch of the Brabo is restricted to India for the time being an advanced version of the product will be taken to export markets of Europe in the coming period. Technological breakthroughs in a variety of fields are allowing greater use of robots than previously imagined.at a hotels front desk or floor-cleaning machines are all forms of a robot which are operational as of today. In China several dozen little machines, which are no bigger than the size of a shoebox, are used is a warehouse for sorting 200,000 delivery packages per day. These intelligent, self-charging robots scans the code on the parcel, nullifying sorting and dispatch errors. (Watch below). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8UpM_aG_JY These tiny orange machines have, however, replaced numerous, low-paying and menial jobs, stoking further fear of robots eating into jobs globally even as demand for automation increases by the day. In Shimoga, Karnataka, for instance, a buyer has placed an order with TAL for 100 Brabos to be used in a factory that makes turbo chargers and auto parts. About 75 percent of the produce is exported by the manufacturer thereby demanding a high degree of end quality which may not be possible with manual labour in a non-industrialised area like Shimoga, according to Thakur. China has gone from zero robots per 10,000 workers to today 49 robots per 10000 workers and they have better employment than what they had earlier. What robots can do is replace dirty and dangerous jobs that humans have to perform. (However) robots cannot take over every job of the industry because nobody can replicate the dexterity of humans. Robots will save employment, added Thakur. If you are not competitive then closure of industry will take away jobs anyway. But if you becoming competitive by using a robot you are surviving, added Thakur. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Infosys decision to appoint Ravi Venkatesan as Co-Chairman is a move in the wrong direction, feels IiAS. In fact, the Bangalore-based software major has been using up its energy in responding to questions raised on its governance. Infosys is fighting the wrong battle, IiAS said in its note. While promoters of Infosys, most notably Narayana Murthy, have voiced concerns over the above-normal payout given to its top executives, Infosys performance in Q4 of last fiscal year was uninspiring. The software services exporter reported a 2.8 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) fall, but 6.4 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated net profit of profit to Rs 3,603 crore for January-March quarter, which was higher than CNBC-TV18 estimates of Rs 3,570 crore. The IiAS report further goes on to add that with increasing criticism from Narayana Murthy on Seshayees ability to lead the board, Infosys board seems to have caved in and added another layer of leadership at the board level. While this may have been done to appease Narayana Murthy, IiAS believes this decision was unnecessary. The appointment of a Co-Chairman also changes the power balance at the board. While it may not undermine Vishal Sikkas position it will, in effect, add a layer of complexity to his influencing ability. Functioning could be eased if the Board clearly articulates the roles and responsibilities of the Co-Chairs. Infosys transparency and disclosure levels for long have been better than most but current lapses in disclosures relating to Vishal Sikkas remuneration and his contract have given detractors a reason for outcry. Tata Trusts and Brick Eagle Foundation have partnered to design a pilot affordable housing project at Karjat, on the outskirts of Mumbai. Tata Trusts has offered a grant to Brick Eagle Foundation for extensive research on customer needs, industry best practices and scalable and sustainable construction technologies, a statement said. The project is expected to be completed in two years. "This project will provide a critical perspective to understand the housing needs of the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Lower Income Group (LIG) population," said Shikha Srivastava, Lead, Urban Poverty Alleviation and Livelihoods portfolio, Tata Trusts. Kirti Timmanagoudar, founder of Brick Eagle Foundation, said, "Our association with Tata Trusts began about a year ago. Tata Trusts focus on Habitat is a welcome move as it supports the governments Housing for All objective". Housing shortage is one of the acute issues with an estimated shortage of 20 million in the LIG/EWS segment in the country. Education Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu. Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu. Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events: International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu. EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu. Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets June Homecoming: Participant $18 per person; Sustainer $25 per person; Benefactor $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events: SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available for information call 610-275-1960 Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above) SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. 4 p.m. computers are available during those hours. Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m. Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863. Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376. Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com. The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes: Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020. CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313. The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events: Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m. Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m. Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30. Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m. The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301. For Kids & Families The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443. Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950. Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required. The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950. Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus. Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage. Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun. Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train. Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world! Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class. Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org. Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583. Community Events at the Ambler Y: -YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register. Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org. Health Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot. The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information. Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245. Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net. Spring Aquatic Programs UDHS Pool: -Summer is just around the corner Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required. Shallow Water Aerobics Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR. Adult Swim Instructions Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR -Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21. -Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m. -Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons. -Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates. Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994. SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com. Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org. Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs: FITNESS CLASSES Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month. Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30 9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly. SUPPORT GROUPS Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000. Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30 7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047. New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m. 12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30 4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931. Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325. Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes. Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com. Librarytalk Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744 www.upperdublinlibrary.org APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS: Storytimes: Please register in the library. o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m. o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m. o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6. APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS: North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS: NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org. One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register contact info above. Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744. o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register. Meetings: Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m. Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m. Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org. For children and teens at Blue Bell: * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m. * May 14 Despicable Me * June 11 Alpha and Omega * Special Events * April watch for date of spring/Easter events * April 14 at 4:30 p.m. Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children. * April 14 at 7 p.m. Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided. * April 16 at 1 p.m. Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King. * April 16 at 1:30 p.m. Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes? * April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button. * April 30 through May 3 Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults. * May sign up for Science in the Summer * June sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children * June sign up for Summer Reading, all ages For adults at Blue Bell: * Daytime Book Discussion Group fourth Tuesday, Jan April at 1:30 p.m. * April 26 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Night-time Book Discussion Group third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. o April 19 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked? *Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs * Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class. * Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class. * Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m. * Giant Book Sale, April 29 May 3 o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults! o Held during library hours. o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m. o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join. * Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series o May 11 at 1 p.m. Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society * Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room. * Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read. * Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome. * Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome. *Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older. * Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours * Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours * Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday! Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library. * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * For adults: * Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn. * Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net * Special Events: * April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. * April 19 at 7 p.m. Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m. * April 21 at 7 p.m. Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades. *May 2 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. *May 10 Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *May 12 at 1:30p.m. Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. *May 17 Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *June 13 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. Meetings and Lectures The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833. The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313. Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200. The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/. LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings. Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org. Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org) -Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them. The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter. For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps. Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin. Special Events The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County. The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065. Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members. Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex. The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com. The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348. The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org. Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163. The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu. The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com. The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net. Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages. 13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries. Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family. The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler. JPRN Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike. Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies. Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately. Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways. Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table. Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374 Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall: -Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store. Music and Theater The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html. Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free. The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org Religious News The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276. Reunions St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net. Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572. Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779. Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411. Support New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149. PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931. The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296. Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656. Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group every other Wednesday, 7 8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information. CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7 8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich, Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity April 15, 2017 Open Thread 2017-15 News & views ... Posted by b on April 15, 2017 at 17:25 UTC | Permalink Comments next page A wrong-way wreck on an Arizona interstate Friday claimed the lives of two Mooresville sisters, a Phoenix television station reports. The sisters, Karli and Kelsey Richardson, were victims of a wrong-way driver on Interstate 17 in north Phoenix, according to ABC-15 in Phoenix. The accident happened about 2 a.m. The wrong-way driver was killed along with the sisters. Karli Richardson, 20, and the other driver, whose name was not released, were students at nearby Grand Canyon University. Kelsey Richardson, 18, was in town visiting her sister, their mother told ABC-15. "They wanted to do things first, together, as sisters," their mother, Cathy Hocking, said. "They wanted to drive to the Grand Canyon and be there when the sun came up." Phoenix Fire Captain Reda Bigler told the TV station two vehicles were involved in the crash with Karli and Kelsey in one vehicle and a 22-year-old driver in the other vehicle. All three were pronounced dead at the scene. This story will be updated as more information is received. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A federal judge on Thursday declared a mentally ill man fit for trial on a terrorism charge 10 months after the man started getting forcible injections with drugs that made him competent to defend himself in court. But a defense attorney for the North Carolina man accused of trying to join al-Qaida-linked fighters in Syria said he will ask the U.S. government to drop a terrorism charge and allow the man to receive care from his family. Basit Sheikh, 33, has schizophrenia. Dismissing a charge of providing material support to a terrorist group would allow him to be released to his family in suburban Raleigh, which could report to probation officers if he refused to take anti-psychotic medications, said Robert Waters, a federal public defender. Sheikh has been held since late 2013, when he was arrested in an FBI sting. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle declared Sheikh mentally competent to stand trial. But Boyle asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Kellhofer whether considering his serious and possibly permanent mental illness Sheikh should still be tried after nearly 3 years of confinement. "The mitigating factor is that he's crazy," Boyle said. "So from a humanitarian standpoint, what are we going to do?" Kellhofer replied that the while Sheikh could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors would consider a request for his conditional discharge from the federal prison hospital where he's being held. Kellhofer told Boyle during a 2015 hearing when a shackled Sheikh shouted incoherently for several minutes before being carried from the courtroom by federal marshals that prosecuting and convicting Sheikh was important in order to deter other would-be American radicals. Sheikh was an early target in an FBI effort to find and arrest Americans before they could join terrorist groups fighting in Syria, and perhaps later return home battle-hardened and full of anti-American zeal. Sheikh was arrested before boarding an airliner in Raleigh for a trip to Lebanon. He had written online messages expressing a desire to fight with the Nusra group, which is battling against Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops, the FBI said. Sheikh said Thursday he hadn't planned on joining the fighting, but instead wanted to help refugees and marry the female nurse in Syria he thought he was in contact with on Facebook. That "nurse" was an FBI agent or informant. Sheikh represents one of the rare cases in which federal prosecutors persuaded courts to approve a forced medication order. There were only about 77 such cases in federal courts nationwide in the nine years after a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that restricted involuntary medication to certain serious criminal cases, according to a 2013 study by Georgetown University law professor Susan McMahon. On Thursday, Sheikh stood facing Boyle and shifted his weight rapidly from one foot to the other. That was one of the side effects of the anti-psychotic drugs, Waters said, along with eye and heart tremors and more generalized trembling. Sheikh initially resisted injections of the medications and had to be strapped down, Kellhofer said. Sheikh is no longer restrained for the injections every three weeks, Waters said. The suspect has even participated successfully in a mock trial inside the prison to test Sheikh's ability to understand what was happening and the roles of the opposing attorneys, Waters said. "Is he competent and sane now?" Boyle asked Waters. "Yes, your honor," Sheikh interjected quickly. "I've been getting better." Mount Pleasant, SC (29464) Today A mix of clouds and sun. High 76F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies. Low 52F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. We are collating signatures to petition ... GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Six people, including one man who Lake County deputies call a "high-level narcotics dealer," were arrested in two separate narcotics and weapons busts this week a week after the sheriff posted a viral Facebook video warning drug dealers that his deputies were coming for them. The first bust was on Tuesday. Deputies said they found street-level amounts of methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana at a house on South Dewey Street in Eustis. Five people, who either reside at the residence or were there visiting, were arrested. They are as follows: Kendra Williams, 23 Shannon Puckelwartz, 40 William Insco, 39 Troy Fechtler, 32 Joseph Williams, 30 Two days later, undercover narcotics detectives said they found cocaine, more than 500 ecstasy pills, marijuana and guns including one stolen out of a Citrus County Sheriff's Office's patrol vehicle at an apartment on Parkwood Street in Groveland near an elementary school. Two AR-15 rifles, both with fully loaded 30-round magazines, and more than $7,000 in cash was also found in the apartment. Perry G. Garrett III was arrested at the scene and is considered a high-level narcotics dealer, deputies said. Garrett is a convicted felon and is on inmate release status for sale of cocaine. His home is located within 1,000 feet of Groveland Elementary School, deputies said. A total street value of all narcotics and weapons seized would be about $30,000, deputies said. "Drugs are everywhere, and we see all different types of drugs in Lake County," ????? said. "But, what we are noticing is the heroin spike that's starting to become more and more of an issue than any other drug." Last Friday, Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell appeared with undercover drug agents in a Facebook video. The deputies were masked, and the video has more than 1 million views. The sheriff had a message in the video for heroin dealers. "Enjoy trying to sleep at night, wondering if tonight's the night our SWAT team blows your front door off the hinges," Grinnell said. "We are coming for you. Run." Division of Forestry firefighters are working to put out at least 17 brush fires in the Volusia/Flagler area. Cassadaga has only a couple of fire hydrants Without water in ponds and lakes, it raises the fire risk Because conditions are bone dry, one main resource to battle fires is drying up. A case in point is the town of Cassadaga. Lilian Carrol and her husband are watching their line of defense against a brush fire dry up. When I think about the fire threat, the only thing that we can do is be proactive, make sure that we have long enough hoses to go around every building that we can have, said Lillian Carroll, who lives into small spiritual community. Carrolls biggest fear is that a brush fire could break out near Cassadaga because the town has only a couple of fire hydrants. Firefighters need water to battle a fire, so when water sources are unavailable they turn to plucking water out of ponds and lakes to drop over flames. Getting water out of this lake is not an option. We need something close by that we can work out of. Or we just need rain, said Florida Fire Safety supervisor Michael Roberts. And its not just Cassadaga. Lack of rain is drying up lakes and ponds throughout Volusia and Flagler counties. If firefighters can not get water from lakes, choppers go to rivers to find water. But the turn around time for the helicopters will be longer," Roberts said. "Which puts our tractors at a greater risk, and makes it harder to stop the fire. Transporting water by trucking it in close to a fire is also more expensive. But that is what they would have to do in Cassadaga if a brush fire breaks out near the town. This is just probably one of the worst situations you can be in, said Carroll. Carroll adds, the only option for this spiritual community if a fire breaks out is to pray for rain. The Plainview/Hale County Crime Stoppers Committee will pay a reward of up to $350 to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the following crimes: --On April 8, someone entered 204 Ash and took a Sanyo 42-inch TV. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The mysterious power surges that vexed BART and many of its riders for several weeks last year may be back. BART shut down direct service Friday afternoon on the Pittsburg/Bay Point line, forcing riders to transfer to shuttle trains between the North Concord and Pittsburg/Bay Point stations. The disruption occurred after engineers were unable to fix a propulsion problem that surfaced late in the morning, knocking 22 railcars out of service. They closely mirror the power overload issues of early 2016, Jim Allison, a BART spokesman, told The Chronicle. Its too soon to say, but there are some similarities. Fridays problem occurred in the same area where power spikes knocked out more than 50 railcars and slowed service for weeks last March and April. Commuters were forced to take shuttle trains and, in some cases, bus bridges to get between the two stations. Oh no, not again. Its always something on this line, said Shamaila, a Pittsburg/Bay Point-bound passenger riding between the Powell and Montgomery stations Friday evening. She declined to give her last name. This is going to add 20 minutes to this trip, and I dont have an extra 20 minutes. It takes too long already. Theres always some problem on the Pittsburg train. BART officials said they expected the problems, and the shuttle trains, to last at least through the evening commute. Last years unexplained electrical surges, north of the North Concord/Martinez Station, started March 16 and seemed to vanish in early April as mysteriously as they appeared. The power spikes zapped trains, damaging parts of the propulsion systems and knocking the railcars out of service. Similar electrical problems vexed BART between the West Oakland Station and the Transbay Tube last year. A special team of experts, from inside and outside BART, searched for the cause of the problems, first looking at trackside equipment that provides power, then examining the cars themselves. While the problems eventually disappeared on their own, the experts believe that metallic particles, from rails ground by BART crews to reduce noise, may have been the cause. The particles, they think, clung to the underside of BART cars and caused electrical arcing. The issue seemed more likely to occur when the ground was wet and on the uphill climb between the two stations, when the trains are forced to use more power, Allison said. The agency has since started using vacuum trucks to suck up metallic particles created by rail grinding in the area, he said, as well as picking up debris along the tracks. BART described Fridays issues as trackside equipment problems, one of several generic terms it uses to explain causes of delays. But when asked by The Chronicle, Allison acknowledged the possible connection to last years power surge troubles. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan Violence broke out and at least 20 arrests were made in Berkeley on Saturday as supporters and opponents of President Trump clashed in a public display of the deep-seated tensions still roiling the country since the November elections. The dueling groups gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, where hundreds of people on each side were separated by a makeshift orange barrier. Several fights broke out even before the noon start of the pro-Trump rally, and multiple people fired pepper spray into the crowd. Berkeley police said they arrested 20 people on charges that included assault with a deadly weapon, several other felony assaults and two warrants stemming from investigations into violence that occurred at a similar rally last month. They confiscated items including a stun gun, Mace, knives, bear spray, an ax handle, pepper spray and a can filled with concrete. More arrests will be pursued as Berkeley Police review social media and video footage, department officials said in a statement. As the protest kicked off, most of the anti-Trump activists emptied onto Allston Way, bordering the park. The pro-Trump demonstrators stayed in the park, where people in the opposing groups threw soda cans, fruit, shoes, bottles and what appeared to be fireworks at each other. Minutes later, the makeshift barrier dividing the sides snapped, and a huge brawl broke out as both sides began punching and kicking each other. Soon the barrier was re-established and demonstrators once again shouted at each other from a distance. You go back to the 60s, shouted one man on the pro-Trump side in a live-stream video. You go back to the 1400s, retorted someone on the opposing side. Trump protesters and anarchists waving red-and-black flags, marched around the park, periodically stopping to clash with the Trump supporters. Dozens of officers in riot gear monitored the volatile demonstrators and occasionally lined up to block the protesters from moving in certain directions or into the streets. For the most part, however, they kept their distance an approach local departments have utilized recently to keep heated situations from exploding into riots. Injured people many holding ice packs to their faces or flushing pepper spray from their eyes with milk were ushered away from the crowd by activists who identified themselves as being there for medical support. At one point, hundreds of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators marched up Center Street toward Shattuck Avenue, leaving bloody and bruised participants in their wake. One man clutched his fingers and said he thought they had been broken. Another man, tears streaming down his face, said he had walked into a gas cloud that had been set off in the street and that his eyes were burning. Witnesses said they also had to help one stabbing victim. Ben Bergquam of Fresno emerged from the crowd with blood streaming down his face. He held a crumpled Stop Liberal Intolerance sign in his hand. I got hit in the back of the head with some sticks, he said as another activist wrapped gauze around his wound. I dont agree with everything Trump says, but I dont agree with violence. Nearby, others gathered around a man who was lying in the grass, blood flowing from his head. He knows his name, he knows what day it is, a protester said as another called for medical help. Lincoln Smith, a 45-year-old man who came to show solidarity against Trump, acknowledged that some of the attendees were overly intense, including a woman who had accused him of being a Trump supporter because he was wearing red shoelaces. Im here to support the message that hate speech is not free speech, Smith said. Police said 11 people were injured and treated by paramedics from the Berkeley Fire Department. Seven were taken to local hospitals. There appeared to be no injuries to people who were not involved in the event and no reports of damage to downtown businesses, police said. Somes businesses closed temporarily, and nearby banks boarded put their ATMs. BART closed the Downtown Berkeley Station about 1:20 p.m., citing a civil disturbance. It reopened at about 4:30 p.m. Inside the park, the pro-Trump rally continued around a makeshift stage where speakers addressed a crowd of dozens waving American flags and wearing red Make America Great Again hats. The rally follows violent eruptions at other recent conservative or pro-Trump events in Berkeley. In March, 10 people were arrested and many others bloodied and bruised as fistfights broke out between marchers and counterprotesters, including crowds of masked anarchists, at a rally supporting Trump at Civic Center Park. In February, a violent protest forced the cancellation of a speech at UC Berkeley by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. Concern that Saturdays rally could turn similarly bloody led to the cancellation of the weekly farmers market next to Civic Center Park, marking the first non-weather-related shutdown of the popular event in 30 years. The markets executive director, Martin Bourque, criticized the rally beforehand as likely to accomplish little more than shouting matches and bloodshed. The demonstration, billed as a peaceful, free-speech rally marking Patriots Day, was organized by a loose collective of conservative and pro-Trump groups. Speakers included Lauren Southern, a Canadian activist who has said rape affects men more than women, and AltRight.com writer Brittany Pettibone, who has said she believes in Pizzagate, a discredited conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton. At the Saturday rally, Southern told Berkeleyside, a local online news site, that people should stop supporting antifa, using a slang term for antifascist. You see them all over the media saying, Should we punch Nazis? Yes, we should punch Nazis, when their interpretation of Nazi is anyone to the right of Marx, she said, adding: I totally support progressive free speech 100 percent. Several liberal groups organized the counterprotest in the park, promising to shut down the pro-Trump event. Defend the Bay, a group that says it opposes the alt-right white nationalist movement, had suggested that protesters bring food to share, along with a mask or other covering to conceal their identity from police. Chronicle staff writer Jenna Lyons contributed to this report. Cynthia Dizikes is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cdizikes This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Distraught with two weeks of constant unrest in their country of origin that has claimed at least five lives, Venezuelans in Houston will protest Saturday simultaneously with other cities and countries around the world, calling for elections in Venezuela. Venezuela has erupted with protests in the capital of Caracas and other cities since the beginning of this month, sparked by a decision from the country's Supreme Court, which supports President Nicolas Maduro, that stripped the opposition-controlled legislature of its last vestige of power, as reported by Associated Press. In Houston, a peaceful protest will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road in the Galleria area. Similar manifestations are planned in at least 25 other cities in the U.S., like Austin, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami and Chicago. There will also be protests in countries such as Colombia, Argentina, Spain and Ireland, among others, according to Un Mundo Sin Mordaza (A World without Repression -Gag), an organization of Venezuelan opposition groups around the world. Your browser does not support the iframe HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later. The protests will be unified under the hashtag #NoMas Dictadura, Hambre, Violencia (#NoMore Dictatorship, Hunger, Violence). Protest and help in Houston When: Saturday, April 15. from 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Where: Galleria area at Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road. Help: If you would like to help with medicines, first aid supplies or money to pay for shipments, call Diana Mendt: (713) 478-4446. See More Collapse "We want to show the support of the Venezuelans around the world to the Venezuelans that are fighting in the street to rescue our democracy," says Diana Mendt, one of the Venezuelans organizing the protest in Houston. Mendt represents Los Independientes, one of the groups from the opposition operating in this city under the umbrella of Venezuelans in Defense of Democracy. The organizers say they are demanding international support to restore Venezuelan democracy based on four points: A call for new elections, the creation of a new national electoral council, a new Supreme Tribunal, and removing President Nicolas Maduro from power, according to Mendt. During the protest in Houston, Venezuelans are going to be collecting medical supplies to send to the opposition protesting in their country, they say, as well as money to pay for the transportation. Venezuelan authorities have confirmed five deaths during the latest protests. The public prosecutor's office said it will investigate the death of 36-year-old Miguel Colmenares, who was shot at a protest in the central city of Barquisimeto on Tuesday. Another person, Gruseny Calderon, 32, was killed during the same protest, injured by rubber bullets that pierced his lung and liver. The protests have also claimed the lives of two college students and a 13-year-old. According to a group of medical students and professionals providing first aid on the ground to the wounded in several Venezuelan cities, the total death toll is seven. They told the Houston Chronicle that beside Colmenares and Calderon, other fatalities include Jairo Ortiz, 19, Ricarda Gonzalez, 87, Daniel Queliz, 20, Bryan Principal, 14, and Jay Amaro, 37. One of the members said by phone from Caracas that they are seeing an unprecedented amount of people severely suffocated by tear-gas used by the government law enforcement against protestors. "We have also seen many people hurt by rubber bullets," said the young medical student who asked for anonymity, claiming a risk of being punished by the government. She says the group provides aid to anybody hurt in the confrontations, including soldiers, although the majority of the affected are from the opposition. The medical group works on the ground using masks to avoid being recognized. Venezuelan Carie Andrade says that there is a severe scarcity of all kind of products and not just of medicines in the South American country, from food to electricity and water, of which they see frequent shortages in some areas. "Are you on your days? [Do] You need pads? Well, there's none. You are welcome to use napkins instead," Andrade said. Maria Eugenia Gonzalez, a Venezuelan in Houston planning to be at the Saturday protest, believes that Maduro's government may be seeing its last year and the end of the "Chavismo," the populist movement initiated by former president Hugo Chavez. He was in power from 1999 until he died in 2013. But other Venezuelans like Ernesto Leon, an artist who lives in this city, doubt that such a change could be on the horizon for the near future. "People havent been able to overthrow Maduro because there is a sector in the country that supports him thanks to Chavez," Leon said. "The People in Venezuela have a symbiotic relation with Chavez, they either love him or hate him." Leon adds that Chavez "is still present in the heart of many Venezuelans. In confrontations that the recent ones, "Chavistas" (Chavez's followers) have shown that they know when to keep a low profile. And you can see now that the voltage is already low because everybody is going for vacation during Eastern holidays." Gonzales, on the other hand, is looking forward to a "gigantic march that that opposition is planning for April 19. That could be the tipping point," she said. The vast majority of Venezuelans in Houston opposed the Chavismo and Maduro's government. Only a very small fraction of voters from this city has cast the ballot for the government in elections where they have voted at the Consulate of Venezuela. Olivia.Tallet@chron.com Twitter: @oliviaptallet Everyone in the Capital Region knows about Henry Hudson's historic voyage. There is another, less-famous piece of history along the river that bears his name dealing with a church and its celebration of Easter that dates back to 1642. After Hudson returned to Holland, merchants and Frederick Henry, prince of Orange, looked to expand trade in New Netherland, the territory along what came to be called the Hudson River. Settlers were recruited for New Amsterdam, which would become New York City, and Fort Orange and Watervliet, site of the future cities of Albany and Watervliet. Opportunity abounded in the 17th century, and many Dutch colonists thrived. But they found they lacked spiritual well-being. They craved guidance from a minister and a place to worship. At Fort Orange, the citizens and prominent landowners, including the Schuylers and Van Rensselaers, petitioned Frederick Henry to allow the establishment of the First Church close to the actual fort and also the South Reform Church of Watervliet several miles upriver. In 1642, the Dutch ruler granted their request and directed that the new church in Watervliet carry out a mission to promote tolerance for all faiths and people. Frederick Henry selected Johannes Megapolensis, a Dutch Reformed Church minister, to lead the faithful. Shortly after his arrival, he accompanied Dutch traders from Fort Orange and successfully secured the return of French Jesuit missionary Isaac Jogues who had been taken captive while ministering among the Iroquois, Huron and other native populations. The Watervliet church has a long history of sponsoring Christian missionaries. It has also been a place of worship and holy communion for Dutch traders, English colonists and immigrants from around the world. Over the years, it hosted notables such as the British generals, Loudon, Abercrombie and Howe, during the French and Indian Wars, Revolutionary War Gen. Philip Schuyler and his prisoner, Gen. John Burgoyne, following the Battle of Saratoga, Alexander Hamilton and Albany-born wife Elizabeth, New York Gov. John Jay, Mother Ann Lee, U.S. Army Capt. Robert E. Lee (during a brief posting at the Watervliet Arsenal), Leland Stanford, the abolitionist Harriett Tubman, the fugitive slave Charles Nalley, President Chester A. Arthur and Olivia Slocum Sage, founder of Russell Sage College. The original church was replaced in 1814 with one just south of the Watervliet Arsenal wall. In 1873, church member James Jermain, founder of the State Bank of Albany, offered to build a new church if was dedicated in his father's memory and became Presbyterian. And so it became Jermain Memorial Presbyterian Church. That building stands to this day at 601 Fifth Ave. In 2009, the Albany Presbytery decided to close the church. The congregation challenged that decision and won, retaining its church in exchange for renouncing any affiliation the Presbyterian Church USA. That was when the word Ecumenical became part of its name. The congregation has since its inception served the community, country and the world as a supporter of worship, missions, art, culture and tolerance. On Sunday, Jermain Memorial Ecumenical Presbyterian Church will be conducting its Easter Sunday service for the 375th consecutive year. All are welcome to worship with us in the sanctuary at 10:30 a.m to proclaim "Jesus has Risen." Ed Dombroski is a ruling elder at Jermain Memorial Ecumenical Presbyterian Church. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Future of journalism forum planned DELMAR "Endangered Species? The Future of Journalism and the 1st Amendment" will be the topic of a forum from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Delmar Reformed Church, 386 Delaware Ave. Possible answers to the following questions will be discussed: How does social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, affect the news that voters need to receive in a functioning democracy? How do we distinguish "fake news" from the real news? Where does responsibility lie for the provision of authentic and credible news? Panelists will be Rex Smith, editor of the Times Union and host of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio's "The Media Project"; Rosemary Armao, director of the University at Albany journalism program and a panelist on WAMC's "The Roundtable"; and Robert Heverly, an associate professor at Albany Law School. Angela Ledford, professor of political science at The College of Saint Rose and professor in residence at the state Assembly, will moderate. A joint program of the League of Women Voters and the Women's Press Club of New York State, the event is free but donations are encouraged. Proceeds will go toward scholarships for young journalists. For more information, call 415-1296. Dog classes offered in Schaghticoke SCHAGHTICOKE Dog care classes will be offered starting at 6:30 p.m. April 26 and continuing seven Wednesday nights at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds, 69 Stillwater Bridge Road. The emphasis will be on obedience, agility and general dog care education. The classes, open to all community residents, cost $50 for the course, discounted rates for Rensselaer County 4-H members. Dogs must be vaccinated against rabies, parvovirus, distemper and adenovirus (Kennel Cough is strongly suggested). Participants should not bring their dogs the first night. There will be an overview and orientation the first night as well as checking paperwork for proof of vaccinations, registration and collecting fees. For more information, or to register, call the Cornell Cooperative Extension office of Rensselaer County, 272-4210. Autism Expo to be held on April 23 SARATOGA SPRINGS The sixth annual Autism Expo will be held from noon to 3 p.m. April 23, at the Saratoga Springs City Center, 522 Broadway. There will be recreational activities, therapeutic programs, camps, games, bounce house and a sensory room. Families can explore pre-K through college options and learn about employment. For more information, go to http://www.saratogabridges.org. Fundraiser kickball game needs teams COHOES Volunteers are sought to participate in Kicking Out Hunger, a fundraiser kickball tournament, taking place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 29 at the Colonie Mohawk River Park, 71 Schermerhorn Road. The Colonie Youth Advisory Board will provide middle school and high school teams. Adult teams are needed. Adult teams of 10 players pay $250, student teams pay $50. Proceeds will benefit the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. The event is a partnership of the Town of Colonie, the South Colonie High School ICARE Team, and the Colonie Youth Advisory Board. For more information or to sponsor the tournament, call Bethany Moxey, 786-3691, Ext. 231, or go to https://www.crowdrise.com/kickingouthunger. Mother of the Year nominations due ALBANY Nominations for the 19th annual Mother of the Year contest are due by April 24. Nominators must complete the nomination form and include an essay of 95 words or less to explain why the nominee would make an excellent choice. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan will greet the five finalists and crown one of them Mother of the Year at noon May 14 in Washington Park at the Tulip Festival. All finalists will receive a gift basket of prizes as well as flowers. For the online nomination form, go to http://www.motheroftheyearalbany.com. Azra Haqqie Vincent Colonno Background: Born and raised in the city of Albany, he started working for Albany County and rose through the ranks of the Department of Social Services and Aging before becoming CEO of Catholic Charities in 2011. He and his wife, Linda, live in Guilderland and are parishioners at All Saints Church in Albany. They have two grown children: daughter, Andrea, and son, Vinnie who is married to Dulce Colonno. Their two children are Vincent and Matteo. Linda, who worked for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, is retired, and as her husband puts it "is in full grandmother mode." I think it's safe to say you're as Albany as they come. My office at Catholic Charities is located at the Pastoral Center of the Albany Diocese on North Main Avenue, part of which used to be the Brady Maternity Hospital. And that's where I was born. I grew up not far away on Third Street in West Hill and attended Blessed Sacrament School a few blocks from home. I graduated from Cardinal McCloskey High School in Albany and went to Albany Junior College, which is now part of the Sage Colleges. I later graduated from Empire State College and got a master's degree in public administration from Russell Sage College. Before you began your career with the county, you helped build the Empire State Plaza. Back then in the early '70s, it was known as the South Mall. As a 19-year-old, I was lucky that there was so much construction work for kids like myself. I worked with seasoned carpenters and masons and met some interesting people, some of whom are still my very good friends to this day. I was in the Laborers Union, Local 190, working with the concrete crews, mainly down in the basements pouring the floors. But we also worked on the bridges from 787 leading into the plaza. You'd come home at night weighing two times more than when you started with all that concrete in your clothes. I worked on the Egg a bit and in the agency buildings. Now when I attend meetings there, I kiddingly forewarn the people I helped build the building. What was your first county job? I started out as a social welfare examiner doing benefits determination and then became a social services investigator in the DSS Legal Division, primarily assigned to welfare fraud cases and Child Protective Services. I worked my way up through the ranks to be deputy commissioner of Social Services. In 2000, after 15 years with DSS, County Executive Mike Breslin asked me to move over to head the Department for Aging. I did that for seven years and then came back to Social Services as commissioner. We got a lot done because we had a very good staff. Being a public servant has its challenges and rewards especially in the social services arena but I was lucky to work with some very good people who worked hard to get the job done each day. What was the transition like from the public sector to your second career? The common denominator is that I always wanted to help people. My parents taught me the importance of taking care of yourself but also taking care of others who need help, whether it was giving neighbors a hand with snow shoveling, running errands or whatever. My job at Catholic Charities is tailor-made for me. I'm doing now what I've been doing my whole life. It's just a new opportunity to help people. In some ways I'm busier now than I was than when I was DSS commissioner, but it's a good kind of busy. It's all good stuff. The biggest difference is that government solutions are prescribed. The not-for-profit side has a bit more latitude and flexibility to get creative and go the extra mile to help the people you're working with. Catholic Charities is the social services arm of the Catholic Church. Our mission is to serve the poor and the vulnerable with a full menu of social services in the 14 counties of the Albany Diocese. We don't just serve Catholics. Rather, we serve everyone because of our Catholic values. We have close to 900 employees and 1,000 dedicated volunteers. I like traveling around the counties and visiting with staff. We have a $42 million budget with funding from state and federal government, grants, and very generous donors. Government support is always a concern. You'd like to say it's predictable, but it's not. At the federal level, we're hoping cooler heads prevail in preparing the federal budget under the new administration. Otherwise many of the human service organizations like us are going to be making some tough decisions. I like to brag about the people I work with here. Turnover is not a major problem with us. The staff is here because they want to be here to carry out the mission of Catholic Charities. We have such a dedicated crew, whether they're working in one of our food pantries or soup kitchens, as a case manager in a domestic violence shelter, in housing services, serving people with chronic diseases, or direct care professionals helping people with disabilities. Our new Senior and Caregiver Support agency is expanding its footprint in the diocese providing those services that seniors deserve to enable them to remain independent in their homes. Catholic Charities is also involved with the New York state redesign of Medicaid, participating with community service providers and health service agencies including hospitals and care centers in response to the state's "triple aim" goal of improving the quality of care, improving health by addressing the root causes of poor health and reducing per capita costs. In light of this we are moving forward with plans for our services to work in partnership with community-based organizations so our clients can have the best possible outcomes. In terms of immigration, we provide services and assistance for people who already here. We don't currently have a resettlement program, though we operated a small program for years, but our ear is to the ground and we're looking to design a successful resettlement model like our Catholic Charities colleagues currently do in Syracuse, Buffalo, the North Country and New York City. You're the first lay person to head Catholic Charities. I succeeded Sister Charla Commins, who was interim CEO for a year after the death of longtime CEO Sister Maureen Joyce. Sister Maureen was quite a woman. She was well-respected and loved in the community and by her staff. She was unrelenting in serving our poor and vulnerable especially with her work caring for children infected with HIV. Her efforts were recognized nationally. Dealing with her as a county official was a pleasure. She always had a smile for me but you never took that smile for granted. She could be tough, especially when budget cuts were looming. However, she was someone you could rely on in times of need. She built terrific relationships with our elected officials and private businesses, and those continue to this day. She certainly was a very special lady who left me with a very big pair of shoes to fill. It's an honor to build on the vision that Sister Maureen and Bishop Hubbard had for Catholic Charities to provide caring and effective services to those in need, regardless of their background or lifestyle. I strive to carry on her good works, and I know she's keeping a close eye on me I actually find myself talking to her some days. Her legacy will live within all of us at Catholic Charities, and it will be our strength as we move forward to answer the ongoing challenges of serving our poor and vulnerable. One exciting thing for us at Catholic Charities in Albany is we're going to be 100 years old in May. Several internal committees are helping us commemorate the anniversary. Our signature event will be a celebration at the State Museum on June 22, where we'll be honoring Father John Bradley and the Albany association of the Ladies of Charity. There will also be a Mass on June 4 at the Cathedral. A liturgy committee is doing the planning for that. And there will be events throughout the counties. What are your thoughts on the meaning of Easter and your work in a world that seems to bounce from crisis to crisis? I think the message of the Easter season is one of hope and appreciation. No matter where you are, or what you're doing, there always seems to be some sort of crisis or emergency. I'm inspired by the faith the drives the mission of Catholic Charities to offer help and hope to those in need, and to be able to say, "Let's sit down and work this out together." Our services are not just a handout ; we really try to make them a hand-up. That's the message I get from Easter, that willingness to reach out, to see the common bonds we have no matter our situation and offer what a person needs with respect and dignity. So much of that gets lost these days when everything becomes polarized. I hope and pray that we have the strength and guidance so that everyone can take a step back, take a breath and appreciate the good things around us and look to help those who are not so fortunate, taking it one step at time. Rob Brill Albany Saturday's blustery conditions struck Emily Marynczak as a suitable metaphor. "These are the winds of change," Marynczak shouted to a crowd of hundreds outside of the state Capitol as Saturday's windy afternoon whooshed in the microphone and buffeted cheering protesters holding signs decrying President Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns. One of the organizers of the rally, Marynczak is part of Bethlehem Indivisible, a 120-member group formed in the wake of Trump's election. Initially devoted to hosting meetings and speakers to advance a progressive agenda, Bethlehem Indivisible's first large public effort was Saturday's rally and march. It was among approximately 150 such gatherings nationwide collectively called the Tax March, which stemmed from the women's marches that took place the day after Trump's inauguration. Around the country crowds totaling tens of thousands assembled on what is traditionally the deadline for filing tax returns. (This year, because of the weekend and a Washington, D.C., holiday on Monday, the deadline is Tuesday.) Trump is the first U.S. president and first major party nominee in more than 40 years to decline to release his full tax returns. "Had those taxes been released, there may have been a different result for the election," said Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, who was one of the rally's speakers. Fahy and fellow Assembly member Phil Steck, a Democrat from Colonie, are co-sponsors of pending legislation referred to as the Tax Returns Uniformly Made Public Act, also known as the T.R.U.M.P. Act, which would require candidates seeking to be on the ballot in New York to release the previous five years' returns. "We need a real movement for change in this country," Steck said at the protest, noting similar legislation has been introduced in 27 other states. "The first time I came to Albany I was protesting the Vietnam war," said Amy Vastola of Bethlehem. "I'm here now because I can't leave this world to my children. We need to do something about it." "So many of my friends are involved and aware and passionate about what's going on in this country," said Greg Jusino, a 16-year-old from Slingerlands who was among the rally's organizers. "We're reclaiming patriotism, saying we're Americans, too." sbarnes@timesunion.com 518-454-5489 @Tablehopping http://facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic EAST GREENBUSH Cameron Newman became the 1,700th Make-A-Wish Northeast New York grant recipient on Friday after the organization made it possible for him to join his Columbia High School classmates on a 10-day school trip to Europe. Cameron is nearing the end of treatment for a brain tumor. He wanted the ultimate trip with his friends. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A man recently landed behind bars for allegedly improperly recording a nude woman and her teenage daughter in her underwear as well as adults using the bathroom at his business in north Laredo, according to court documents. On April 6, Justo Penn Leyendecker, 52, was served with an arrest warrant charging him with invasive visual recording. The case unfolded Feb. 2. That day, a Laredo police officer responded to a sexual offense report in the 200 block of Del Mar Boulevard. A woman reported that she had found several memory cards two years ago in one of her vehicles. RELATED: Mugshots: La Vernia athletics hazing scandal arrests climb to 13 Several months later, she needed to buy a memory card for her cellphone and remembered she had the ones she found in the truck. She took them with her to a Verizon store to ask if she could use those instead of buying one. An employee then installed one of the memory cards in her cellphone. When she turned her cellphone on, several boxes appeared on her screen. She went back inside the store to ask the employee about it. The employee told her those were videos saved onto the memory card, according to police. She then stated she walked to her vehicle and clicked on one of the videos and found a video of herself naked, the criminal complaint filed by Laredo police states. READ MORE: Laredo man pleads guilty to killing 20-year-old man with hammer She allegedly found 174 other videos. Some of the recordings were taken in a bathroom at her house and others at Leyendeckers business in the 1800 block of Commerce Drive, the complaint states. She stated that her daughter also appears in the video recordings wearing (her) bra and underwear, the complaint states. (The woman) also expressed concern over some videos that were recorded in a bathroom at Mr. Leyendeckers place of business. Most videos appeared to be motion-sensor activated and record for approximately 1 minute per file. The visual recording also shows Mr. Leyendecker manipulating the recording device as he changes the recording angle. The complaint does not specify the relationship between the woman and Leyendecker. A phone number for Leyendecker could not be located. Click through the gallery above to see where sex offenders live in Laredo, as well as the most common crimes in Texas prisons. Katy Bar Association Area attorneys are invited to the Tuesday, April 25, lunch meeting of the Katy Bar Association at 11:30 a.m. at Hasta la Pasta, 1450 W. Grand Parkway South, Katy. Attorney Sarah Springer will talk about common ethical dilemmas facing the family law practitioner, attorney shopping, relatives involvement, third-party payors, co-respondents and language barriers. Missouri City will host its first Job Fair & Career Development Forum on Wednesday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the City Centre at Quail Valley, 2880 La Quinta Drive, in line with City Council and management initiatives to foster community business development and economic growth. "Show Me City" business and education partners will be on-site to host career booths and to host workshops and presentations. Staff will also discuss municipal career opportunities with guests. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A beloved longtime Conroe pastor, who dedicated his life to Christ, preached for 24 hours until he took his last breath Thursday night. Mims Baptist Church Reverend "Brother Gene" Kendrick died Thursday night at Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center surrounded by family. Memorial services will be open to the public. Visitation is set for 5-8 p.m. Monday at Mims Baptist Church in Conroe. Services will start at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the church, located at 1609 Porter Road. Kendrick, 76, surrendered his life to ministry when he started preaching at the age of 14. He had served at Mims Baptist Church since September 1986 and previously as a pastor at Midway Baptist Church in Lufkin and First Baptist Church in Alto. In September 2016, Brother Gene's heart began to fail. Despite his condition, he continued to lead services until two weeks ago. "He was not planning on taking a break," said his son Kevin Kendrick, who is the church's music director. "He was never planning on retiring. In fact, he said he wanted to die preaching." But the dedicated pastor did not anticipate pneumonia, according to his family, who witnessed their father preaching "nonstop" with strength as he faced death without fear. "As a family, we will never forget it," Kevin Kendrick said on Good Friday. "His last words were 'For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain' (Philippians 1:21). ... He loved to preach and he loved church. ... He laid a foundation, and the church will continue on strong." Around 1998, witnesses watched Brother Gene place a large Bible into the foundation of the church as the concrete poured, so that he stood exactly on The Word of God and below the cross during service. "The church is very distraught," said church member and Conroe Mayor Toby Powell, who watched Kendrick place the Bible buried under the pulpit. "He preached the word as it is written in the Bible. He was a Bible-preaching minister. He didn't change his views on anything. He was 100 percent dedicated to his belief. He always had time for whomever needed his help. He had a love for humanity and people. It showed in him as you talked to him -- you could see his love for you." Kendrick, a conservative evangelist, spread the Good News from his home in Conroe to his missions abroad, including in Israel, with a strong belief that Jesus Christ served as the sole path to Heaven. He focused on people as a "soul winner." While some churches incorporated trends into their services, he maintained a dedicated traditional approach and values. "He was what we call the preachers' preacher," said member Stanley Mims, whose grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Ira B. Mims donated the three acres of land for the church in 1944. "He was a stern man of God. His convictions were so conservative he wanted to do what was right and wanted everyone to follow that path. He was a leader, a good shepherd and a good friend." Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack described Kendrick as the "salt of the earth" who had a generational impact with members' grandchildren attending and the influence on others becoming pastors. "He is so respected as a leader of the faith-based community," Mack said. "... He was such a visionary when it came to church and reaching out to the entire community. ... Mims Baptist church is a church without walls because everybody is welcome there. He perfected the gift as a pastor of loving people." From the Conroe Area Bible Conference to Celebrate America, Kendrick's leadership attracted patriots, politicians, musicians, guest speakers and attendees from across the nation, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in 2015. "Pastor Kendrick was one of our state's great pastors," Patrick said in a statement to The Courier. "I got to know Gene on a personal basis when he invited me to speak with him on several July 4th occasions at the church. He will be greatly missed by his family and congregation, but they know they will see him again in Heaven." When the tragic news of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks hit, Brother Gene led a peaceful and quiet sermon with a focus on prayer to comfort his members in contrast to the music-filled service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., according to a previous Courier article. That day, Kendrick read Psalms 46, which states, "God is our strength and refuge we will not fear though the earth shake. He makes wars to cease be still and know that I am God." He then invited the 60 men and women to pray and said, "You find your place and spend as much time as you need." Also a guest speaker, Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson said he is deeply saddened. "Our community has suffered a great loss," Henderson said. "Not only as a spiritual leader but a true leader in our community who we all looked to in times of need. He was always there for us." And, his surviving children, Kevin, Paul Kendrick of San Antonio and Leighanne Hedges of Conroe, said he was always there for them and his surviving wife of 44 years and high school sweetheart Mavonee. The siblings had a chance to say goodbye to their father, who they informed was "the best dad ever" and have no regrets as recipients of his love and "the best life." "He was the sweetest, funniest person with a wonderful sense of humor," said Hedges, remembering his laugh. "We are just so proud he was our dad." In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Mims Baptist Church to help with Mavonee, who resides in an assisted-living facility for Alzheimer's patients. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN -- Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez spoke Friday about immigration enforcement and local policing, particularly bills in the Legislature that would punish so-called "sanctuary" cities and counties. "The lines of authority get confused and blurred when individuals don't know if now local law enforcement is operating as de facto immigration agents," Gonzalez said at a symposium on 21st-century policing at the University of Texas at Austin. He also expressed concern about possible racial profiling and discouraging reporting of crimes. "Lets be honest. It's going to disproportionately affect the Latino community people who look like me," said Gonzalez, who was elected sheriff last fall after serving as a Houston City Council member. "The Latino community are not all criminals. ... If I'm a crook, guess who I'm going to target. I'm going to target that community, because they're not going to report me." CUT TIES: Sheriff stops partnership with federal immigration authorities The sheriff emphasized Harris County's diversity and the fact that one in four residents was born outside the United States. He cited "stunning" Houston Police Department data recently announced by Chief Art Acevedo indicating a sharp drop in crime reporting by Latinos. Gonzalez told an anecdote of a woman who called police after her husband became violent, only to see him deported after his arrest. "I should have never called," Gonzalez said the woman later told her attorney. He offered that as an example of how immigrants in the country illegally might decide not to report crimes or decline to serve as a witness in a trial, leaving criminals at large. A Dallas Police Department deputy chief, Malik Aziz, predicted that if such a bill becomes law it would result in less cooperation. PRIVATE PRISON: Company plans to build 1000-bed deportation facility in Conroe "I think our jobs are going to get tougher," Aziz said, though he said the Dallas department had not seen a similar drop in reporting. The sheriff also said Harris County deputies still cooperate with federal agents requesting immigration detainers on inmates. Gonzalez, however, did withdrew from a controversial partnership with federal immigration authorities that trained a team of county deputies to determine the immigration status of jailed suspects and hold those selected for deportation. "We still cooperate with federal authorities," Gonzalez said. "Even here in Austin, the sheriff still cooperates with many detainers. ... (The Travis County sheriff) is more of an outlier. But I don't know of any county that doesn't cooperate." SAN ANTONIO In six months, a family of seven managed to completely renovate a 105-year-old farmhouse, transforming it into the home of their dreams. In the city of Buda, just south of Austin, the Hatmaker family transformed their new purchase into a modern- and country-styled haven -- all documented by HGTV. The show, "My Big Family Renovation," features the Hatmakers and their journey through the renovation of the 2,400-square-foot house, which they lived in during the six months. In her blog, Jen Hatmaker, writes that although the six months took a toll on her and her family's lives, it was worth it. She, an author, blogger and motivational speaker, adds that a year ago, when HGTV wanted to feature her family for the show, the family was "wobbly" because of the strains of her career. During the show, the family spent much-needed time together, and Jen's husband, Brandon, an author and pastor, said the show "saved" them. The two have three biological children and two adopted children. "It really did. Because we worked side-by-side together all day, every day," Jen Hatmaker writes. "We had a blast. We laughed and giggled and enjoyed each other to shreds." The family bought the house last year in downtown Buda. They wanted a house with an old, unique and charming twist, Jen Hatmaker told the Huffington Post. She adds that the house is a registered historical home in the city, and was built in 1908 by a developer who built other historical buildings in the city. The first occupant was a farmer, but it was later sold to the city's first Justice of the Peace. "It has been through numerous renovations and is nearly as old as the town," she told the newspaper. The family managed to transformed the "choppy" house from a two bedrooms to a six bedroom house. Though, the family had many challenges throughout the experience. Since the family stayed in the house during the renovations, they endured freezing temperatures during the winter, fast food every day, and even the company of dead rodents. "Looking back, we cannot believe how much work we did with our own hands and how beautiful the house turned out," Jen Hatmaker told the newspaper. "... And now every day, without fail, I look around the house and say to whoever is in the room, 'I can't believe we get to live here.' It is so lovely, so special. We are grateful beyond words." The show will air at 10 p.m. CST Thursday on HGTV. rsalinas@mysa.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A gray Nissan Xterra, its hazard lights blinking, stopped Saturday morning on a far Northwest Side neighborhood street, where a 16-year-old Boy Scout and his buddy jumped out, trotted to a front porch and quickly returned, toting a paper grocery sack packed with nonperishable food. They stacked the bag in the back of the vehicle, next to several others theyd already collected, as they made their rounds in the neighborhood as part of an annual service project aimed at helping people who are hungry. That scene played out time and time again, not only in Bandera Crossing, but across the greater San Antonio area, as countless Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts spent the morning collecting groceries for Scouting for Food, a drive for the San Antonio Food Bank. Youre a part of something that will affect a lot of other people, said Franz Cangco, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout. Its seeing people come together, working for a common cause. A week before, Scout troops delivered thousands of grocery sacks to doorsteps across the city. That was the hard part, said Ben Pena, one of the leaders of Troop 228, based out of Northwest Hills United Methodist Church. Hes been involved with Boy Scouts since his sons were active in the 1990s. Now, he has grandchildren in the Dallas area but remains active with the troop on the Northwest Side. His troop has been doing food drives for more than a decade. Last year, we filled up the trailer, double-stacked high, he said. This years haul yielded similar results. One quarter of the children in the San Antonio area are food insecure and a third of the people helped by the San Antonio Food Bank are children, Eric Cooper, president and CEO of the agency, said in a news release. Angie Salinas, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, said in the same release that service is part and parcel to the organization. This is what Girl Scouts do: We make the world a better place, she said. Girl Scouts has a long-standing tradition of helping our communities. Service projects like food drives teach our Girl Scouts that they can make a difference and in turn help girls just like them. On Saturday, boys from BSA Troop 228 gathered at their community swimming pool about 8:30 a.m., where they messed around in the parking lot, snacking on doughnuts and bottled water before setting out on the methodical mission of retracing their steps from the weekend prior, when they delivered more than 800 grocery bags in their neighborhoods. Jacob Hampton, a 16-year-old sophomore at Warren High School, explained how he kept a watchful eye for bags left on doorsteps. Often, the donations were set behind columns and werent easy to see. But he and his friend worked in unison to spot them, and Jacobs stepfather, Gilbert Lopez, would stop the Xterra so the boys could retrieve the food. I enjoy it. Its what service is all about, Jacob said. Do a good turn daily. jbaugh@express-news.net Twitter: @jbaugh San Antonio police have cleared a 15-year-old male, who was a person of interest, in a shooting that left one man dead and three others injured following a fight at a party on the South Side April 9. The individual was reportedly seen at the fatal shooting that took place at the 4000 block of Moss Spring on April 9, but is no longer considered a suspect, according to police. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Not long after last call at a nearby watering hole early Saturday morning, two San Antonio Police Department patrol officers critically wounded an armed suspect in a four-plex north of downtown. The officers were sent to the 400 block of West Magnolia near San Pedro Avenue at about 2:15 a.m., in answer to a call about a disturbance. At the house, which has been divided into four units, officers confronted a white male believed to be in his 50s, wielding a combat-style knife. "We're not quite sure exactly what happened," Police Chief William McManus said in an overnight news conference a the scene. "We have not pieced it all together yet. But what we do know is we got a call for a disturbance with a knife. Officers arrived on the scene; two officers entered the apartment. RELATED: Man shot by family member hospitalized following incident on far Northeast Side Saturday "There was an individual inside the apartment that had a combat knife and refused to drop it again, this is preliminary information the one officer pulled a Taser, and at some point, fired that Taser at the suspect. Shortly thereafter, the second officer fired his service weapon, struck the suspect multiple times in the upper torso." The man with the knife, whose name had not been released as of Saturday night, was taken to University Hospital where he remained in critical condition late Saturday. There was another man in the apartment at the time, who police said is the son of the woman who lives in the unit. McManus said the son, whose name was not released, may have been the one who called 911 to report the disturbance. A neighbor who talked with the son Saturday morning said the son told him the man was a stranger who had broken into the apartment and was ransacking it. The officer who shot the suspect is a recent graduate of the police academy, the chief said, and he has been placed on administrative duty, per policy in an officer-involved shooting. The officer's name had not been released as of Saturday night. At lunch time Saturday, there was little evidence of the confrontation save a 10-foot stretch of yellow tape across the apartment's driveway of the immense police presence from overnight, which blocked off the entire block and included several police cruisers and a command truck. One man, who'd been at the Wax Lounge around the corner until closing, was walking down the street to retrieve his truck that had been stuck behind the crime-scene tape. Officers prevented him from entering the block, he said, while the investigation was going on. He and a friend walked away, in search of a late-night meal, and returned around 4 a.m. but still couldn't get to the truck. The neighborhood is a diverse mixture of preserved and restored bungalows and crumbling mansions that have been subdivided into apartments. The four-plex where the shooting occurred lists a bit to the side and is pocked by white paint chipping from its clapboard siding. Cyclone fencing wraps around a yard with overgrown grass and weeds. Mail could be seen protruding from three of the four mailboxes tacked to the front of the house while brown and blue bins stood sentry by the driveway. Residents milling along the street Saturday afternoon said they didn't hear any commotion leading up to the shooting. "I heard what I thought was knocking at the door, which turned out to be the gunshots," said a Navy veteran who lives across the street. "It woke up both myself and my wife." RELATED: Austin man convicted of I-35 rock-throwing that left one person brain dead says it 'became a sport' It's not uncommon, the veteran said, to see "inebriated folks" returning to their cars late at night, and it's not the first time cops have been in the neighborhood. He said he looked out the window and saw a police cruiser, its lights flashing, and then several others arrive shortly after. Then an ambulance came. "It didn't seem like anybody was in a hurry," he said. "My wife and I are both nurses, and we assumed that someone had been killed." Will Kelly, a man in his 40s who lives next door, said he was in his bathroom when he heard the "tat-tat" of two rapid-fire gunshots, "that unmistakable sound." Smoking a cigarette on his porch, Kelly said he turned out the light and looked out the window and saw officers "swarming around" the four-plex. Kelly, who said he's lived there for about 15 years, recalled an incident involving a man with a high-powered rifle about a decade ago. In that case, the suspect apparently called an out-of-state police department to warn that "all hell was going to break loose," Kelly said. Police stayed on both ends of the block and called in the U.S. Army, apparently, because the suspect had also stockpiled grenades, Kelly said. Eventually, the man shot his dog and torched his house, Kelly said. "You can check your archives," he said. "It's there." Staff writer Chris Quinn contributed to this report. jbaugh@express-news.net Twitter: @jbaugh A man wanted for aggravated homicide was deported back to Mexico Wednesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a news release. Juan Garcia-Rendon, 38, was removed from a U.S. prison Tuesday and was handed over to Mexican immigration officials at the Nogales DeConcini Port of Entry along the Arizona-Mexico border south of Tucson. Miroslava Breach Velducea was the third journalist murdered in Mexico in March. According to Mexican press accounts, the 54-year-old Chihuahua City mother was gunned down in front of her home March 23 as she prepared to drive her son to school. Captured by security cameras, a photo of the suspected gunman is circulating in Mexican media. The Chihuahua correspondent for the national daily La Jornada since 1997 and a contributor to the Ciudad Juarez daily Norte, Breach was a widely respected journalist in Mexico and abroad. Mexican news sources report that Breach was threatened before her murder. Bearing the modus operandi of an early-morning killing at a family home when the kids were getting ready to leave for school, Breachs murder recalled the 2008 homicide of Diario de Juarez crime beat reporter Armando Rodriguez in Ciudad Juarez. Both crimes indicated prior surveillance and the goal of eliminating not only the targeted individual but traumatizing and terrorizing an entire family and society as well. Fed up with growing attacks on Mexican journalists, reporters demanding justice occupied the Chihuahua State Congress only hours after Breachs killing. Ya Basta! or Enough is Enough! proclaimed La Jornadas website. In an unprecedented action, Chihuahua Gov. Javier Corral, who once worked as a journalist, declared a three-day period of official mourning. Saying he met Breach back in the 1990s and considered her a friend, Corral called Breach a brave woman who was a must-read in the public sphere. He pledged that those behind Breachs murder would be apprehended, and invited journalists and others to form a plural commission established with the goal of monitoring the police investigations. At a March 24 memorial for Breach in the state capital of Chihuahua City, where her name was added to a longstanding cross of nails honoring female murder victims, attorney Lucha Castro, founder of the Womens Human Rights Center of Chihuahua City and adviser to Corral, described the veteran reporter as a dedicated professional who gave voice to the voiceless snared in shadowy dramas of land and water conflicts, feminicides, forced disappearances, and displacements of entire communities by organized crime. Breachs hard-hitting stories had international impact and were frequently a source of information for the now-suspended New Mexico State University news service Frontera NorteSur (I served as editor of Frontera NorteSur from 2005 to 2016). Press and human rights associations maintain varying numbers of Mexican journalists murdered during the past two decades, with the highest toll in the wake of the Breach killing 123 since 2000 credited to Mexicos official National Human Rights Commission; press reports indicate 20 additional journalists remain disappeared. In response to the gunning down of Miroslava Breach, dozens of Ciudad Juarez print, radio, television and digital journalists have posted a Spanish-language video on YouTube demanding justice for a colleague and security in their profession. Miroslava Breachs stories often offered a raw, firsthand look at the troubled Sierra Tarahumara region of Chihuahua, where overlapping dimensions of dope-growing, ecological devastation, political corruption, rampant human rights violations and criminal impunity make for a dangerous and deadly place. The region is violently disputed by underworld organizations seeking to control the production of opium poppies for the U.S. heroin market. Recently, Breach reported extensively on last Januarys murders of indigenous activists Isidro Baldenegro and Juan Ontiveros in the Sierra Tarahumara. In 2003, Baldenegro and a colleague, Hermenegildo Rivas, were arrested by Chihuahua state police and accused of illegal possession of drugs and weapons, charges supporters claimed amounted to a frame- up concocted for the purpose of undermining environmental activism. The two men were freed in 2004 after an international campaign organized by the Sierra Club and Mexican and international environmental and human rights exposed their case to the world. A second Sierra Tarahumara connection could be behind the Breach murder. The Chihuahua journalist was killed only five days after a fierce gun battle between rival drug gangs claimed eight or more lives near Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, the gateway to the Sierra Tarahumara. According to Mexican media reports, a narco-style message purportedly signed by El 80, one of the alleged protagonists in the Cuauhtemoc violence, was left at the scene of Breachs murder. Reportedly labeling Breach a gossip, the note warned that Gov. Corral, who took office last October, would be the next victim. A big question is whether El 80 is the true signatory of the note, or if its authorship belongs to another party out to create confusion and sow chaos. For La Jornada, other leads in the murder of their prized reporter include Breachs stories about and investigations of money laundering in the acquisition of high-tech irrigation systems and/or organized crimes control of municipal governments in the Sierra. Expanding on the organized crime angle in the Breach murder, Chihuahua State Prosecutor Cesar Peniche said another line of investigation would examine a possible intent at destabilizing the state government to detour pending corruption charges against ex-Gov. Cesar Duarte (2010-2016), who was elected on the ticket of President Enrique Pena Nietos PRI party. Corral is a member of the National Action Party, or PAN. Elected on a reform platform, Corrals administration has been hamstrung during its first months in office by spiraling violence, debts incurred by the Duarte government, and hostility in some quarters for the press. Citizen groups that backed Corrals campaign are growing impatient over dwindling prospects for change and becoming increasingly critical of administration responses to worsening bouts of violence. The political scene is heating up in the aftermath of the Breach murder. Speaking recently to business leaders in Toluca, federal Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, who is considered a possible PRI presidential candidate in 2018, said the Pena Nieto administration would not permit the further deterioration of Chihuahua and had been in conversations with Corral to enter Chihuahua for public safety purposes. An already tense and volatile atmosphere was further heightened that afternoon when Georgina Tapia, psychologist for the Chihuahua state judicial system, was shot by assailants outside her Chihuahua City home, possibly with the same caliber of pistol used to assassinate Miroslava Breach, according to El Diario de Chihuahua. Besides Miroslava Breach, two other Mexican journalists were murdered in March. On March 2, Cecilio Pineda was slain in a Guerrero murder the states attorney general pinned on organized crime. On March 19, in a slaying similar to Breachs, Ricardo Monlui Cabrera was gunned down in front of his family in the southern state of Veracruz. Like Chihuahua and Guerrero, Veracruz is submerged in narco-tainted hyper-violence and gross human rights violations. The March 19 edition of Proceso magazine featured a story on the narco-graves of Veracruz, where relatives have uncovered the remains of hundreds of missing people. In a separate piece, Proceso detailed other recent attacks on the press, including physical attacks on reporters covering protests in Puebla and Oaxaca; death and rape threats against a woman columnist for the Mexico City-based daily El Universal; the running down of a reporter by a government official in Guanajuato; the police detention and search of a reporter in Coahuila; and the offering of monetary rewards for the killing of any reporter covering the lucrative activities of huachicoleros, or gasoline thieves. Early March 24, Israel Hernandez, a 26-year-old Veracruz reporter and correspondent for Aristegui Noticias, was wounded by a bullet during a live transmission covering a violent internal union conflict that claimed the lives of two people and injured as many as 20 others. The same morning, Guadalajara reporters complained of aggressive behavior and threats by federal police upset by the presence of video cameras during a battle between cops and market vendors. La Jornada cited a survey of 377 Mexican journalists done between 2013 and 2015 by Mireya Marquez of Mexico Citys Universidad Iberoamericano and the University of Miamis Sallie Hughes. The study found that 40.4 percent of respondents reported being threatened. Of that number of respondents, three-quarters stated receiving threats more than twice. According to a list compiled by the International Federation of Journalists, Mexico was the third most deadly country for media workers in 2016, suffering 11 journalists murdered. Only Afghanistan (13) and Iraq (15) topped the Mexican Republic in the grim category. Outraged by Miroslava Breachs murder, journalists and students from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua have plastered posters across Chihuahua City that quote Mexican writer Francisco Zarco. The press is not only the strongest arm against tyranny; its also the most efficient and most active instrument of progress and civilization, the posters read. Kent Paterson is an independent journalist who covers issues in the U.S.-Mexico border region. A longer version of this article was first published in NMPolitics.net. Re: Republicans now realizing what theyve done, Michael Gerson, Other Views, April 4: The vitriol, animus and left-wing angst expressed by a Never Trumper like Gerson is a perfect example of undisguised hate speech. He accuses our president of being shallow, vindictive and undisciplined; he must have been looking in a mirror as he typed this incredibly biased hit piece. His conclusion that the president has appointed an incompetent staff is presented without corroboration. Apparently, he doesnt care that the nations electorate voted for Trump and his domestic agenda. Gerson denigrates all the cost-cutting efforts, intended to slow the hemorrhaging of our tax dollars, on programs producing little immediate benefit. The president continues emphasizing America first when it comes to protecting citizens, and promoting across-the-board employment opportunities and infrastructure refurbishment. Ron Jenkins Stop the grousing I didnt vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, so I really dont care. But people need to stop criticizing the president of the United States. The late-night show hosts are always making fun of him. Give him a chance. Lets see what he can do. If it doesnt work out, it doesnt work out. If it does, good. The last president who was effective was Franklin Roosevelt. John Gilbert Edge of the world I have the perfect solution for all the people who deny evolution and climate change: All we have to do is put them on a boat, let them row out to sea and wait till they fall off the disc. Luisa Anthony Purveyor of truth Re: A familiar voice with an all-too-familiar story, Ruben Navarrette, Other Views, April 7: Thank you for publishing this tribute to one of my favorite, most honest, thoughtful newscasters, Ray Suarez Jr. I have been missing his voice of truthful reporting over the last few years, and I am glad to know that, in the age of fake news, he is still reporting real news. But Im saddened to learn he is no longer in the mainstream of television and radio reporters. He was in San Antonio a few years ago, and I was privileged to hear him speak at my church, St. Marks Episcopal Church. He is a devoted Christian, loyal family man and, most importantly, a purveyor of the truth. We need many more like him, people we can trust to report fair news, without maligning others. I regret deeply that Suarez cannot seem to find the platform from which to report what our nation and the world face today. Amherst College is fortunate to have him on its faculty. As Navarrette says, And now, more than ever, when there is such public contempt for journalists, were all lucky that there are still a few out there like him. Sarah Joe LeMessurier Aiding the poor Re: Leave funding alone, Your Turn, April 6: School vouchers are not for rich Republicans. Rich people have far too much income to qualify. In fact, many middle-income families could not qualify for a private school voucher. The vouchers are for disadvantaged children to help them escape failing schools, be they white, black, Asian or Hispanic. Perhaps the letter writer will feel a little better about the Republican attempt to create school vouchers. Jim Parnella Future shock Re: Lets have a civil debate on Texas public pension plans, Paul Bettencourt, Other Views, April 5: Paul Bettencourt is correct when he says we have a serious pension liability issue developing in Texas. Just as we have a crisis with teacher health care, highways, Child Protective Services, Medicaid and Im sure many other issues. Why? How can a state with one of the fastest growing populations not collect enough revenue to finance its services or fund pensions? Maybe its the Republican ideology of reducing taxes. Lets be realistic about offering defined contribution plans and hybrid retirement plans. They are expensive and put the investing into the hands of teachers with no experience at this. Their returns using these instruments will be appalling. Im sure there are financial institutions lobbying this heavily. Bettencourt needs to stop reminding us that this does not affect current members and pension holders. Its as if future retirees will take the brunt of this. Well, Mr. Bettencourt, those future retirees are our sons and daughters. I would never wish this for my children. James Young Excuse for bullying Sometimes, you must talk to the right person to get a clear idea behind the reason for stupid political ideas. For me, that moment of understanding Texas Senate Bill 6 came when talking to my eldest son, a Navy veteran, who told me of an incident in California in the early 1980s. He was in an eating joint, the only guy there in uniform, when a woman came screaming out of the ladies room, complaining about a man in the ladies room. My son and another man were asked to check, so they went in and found what appeared to be a tall, blonde fashion model in slinky dress and high heels. It wasnt until the woman spoke that they realized she was male. They asked why he used the ladies room, and he asked them what they thought would happen if hed gone into the mens room in drag. He would have been abused by the other men in there. Considering that any transgendered person would run into bullying in any mens room, it occurred to me the real reason Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick & Co.want to slam the doors on folks using the wrong restroom. They would lose a great opportunity to bully those whose birth certificates dont match their public faces. Margaret Palermo, Uvalde Bouquets go to: -- Tri-Con, Inc. (doing business as Exxpress Mart stores) and owners Imad and Elias Sarkis, for donating $25,000 to the Gift of Life's health and educational programs. The funds were raised by 20 regional convenience stores during a holiday giving campaign, with an additional contribution from the Sarkis family in memory of their father, Samir. The donation will further the Gift of Life's mission to provide health care services for Southeast Texas men and women without access to health care or insurance. -- Kurt Luker of Cleveland, for landing the biggest largemouth bass ever caught at Belton Lake, a 13.97-pound monster caught at the Texas Team Trail tournament. Luker's record-breaking bass will be tracked by Texas Parks and Wildlife in hopes of creating other giant bass, as part of the ShareLunker program. It's also the first ShareLunker entry from Belton Lake. "Belton Lake is the best smallmouth bass fishery in Central Texas - nothing else even comes close," said John Tibbs, TPWD inland fisheries district supervisor. "But it's not typically known as a big bass lake or a trophy lake like Lake Fork. So it's impressive and somewhat unusual to see a fish of this quality come out of there." -- Lamar University softball senior pitcher Ciara Luna, for being named the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Luna went 2-1 with a 0.00 ERA in 24 innings and threw a three-hit shutout at Houston on Tuesday of last week and a two-hit shutout against Sam Houston State last Saturday. In her only loss, Luna allowed no runs in a 10-inning 1-0 loss to Sam Houston State. The only run scored on the extra-inning tiebreaker rule, where a runner is placed on second base to start the 10th inning and that run is charged to the team, not to a pitcher. This is the first time in her two-year Lamar career Luna has been named the Conference Pitcher of the Week -- Chris York, a Beaumont native and a sophomore double major in mathematics and computer science at Lamar University, for being selected as the fourth LU student to receive the distinguished Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. It confers the most prestigious undergraduate award given in the sciences. Congress established the scholarship in 1986 in honor of former senator and 1964 presidential candidate. York plans to earn his doctorate in mathematics and specialize in functional analysis and operator theory, then teach at a reputable university. Because physics makes heavy use of operator theory, he will also complete a minor in physics. His planned graduation is May 2018. The scholarship is awarded to about 300 college sophomores and juniors nationwide based on merit, and the funding is up to $7,500, based on financial need. The goal is to provide a continual source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding financial support to college students interested in careers in these fields. Brickbats go to: -- A man who stole cigarettes from a Hamshire store earlier this month and whose identity is being sought by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. The incident happened at 4:20 a.m. on April 9 at the Longhorn Drive Inn, 24802 Highway 124. The man broke through the store's front door and used a crowbar to pry open the cigarette storage area inside, where he took several cartons of Marlboro cigarettes. The man, who was caught on surveillance cameras, appears to be in his 30s and wore a white t-shirt, jeans, brown work boots and threw a white T-shirt over his head. He left the store in an older-model car. Anyone with information on him is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (409) 833-8477. Tips can be made anonymously. ------------------ If you have items for this column, email Bouquets and Brickbats to: Opinions@BeaumontEnterprise.com Or mail them to: The Enterprise, P.O. Box 3071, Beaumont, TX 77704 It's been said that you can't fight city hall, but apparently you can fight the state highway department. The Texas Department of Transportation has backed away from plans to close a boat ramp at Pine Island Bayou on U.S. 69. Why? Because boaters spoke up, and the department listened. That's encouraging. It doesn't happen a lot, and it's nice to know that government can be flexible. The issue arose with plans to widen U.S. 69, with state engineers thinking the boat ramp had to go. But after the protests, it will be replaced by a new ramp about 150 feet north of the current site. The existing ramp will still be closed for two years while road construction is going on. One boater summed up the situation well, saying, "If you have a nice, new bridge, you might as well update the ramp." He's right. Compromises like this aren't always possible - or affordable. Fortunately, this one was. ----------------------------------- This is our opinion; what is your's? Email us a letter to the editor at opinions@beaumontenterprise.com Make sure to include your name, mailing address and phone number so we can contact you to verify the letter, but only your name and city of residence will be published. You can also mail letters to The Enterprise, P.O. Box 3071, Beaumont, TX, 77704. The limit on letters is 200 words. To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, April 15 (CNA) A woman who once worked for Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. and her boyfriend will have to pay a total of NT$130,000 (US$4,278) for colluding to ensure the woman did not pay the full fare on two separate trips on the high speed rail from Taipei to Kaohsiung. Biotherm Life Plankton Essence Sample Giveaway Biotherm Malaysia is giving away FREE Life Plankton skin care sample. See and feel new born skin in just 8 days! Sign up now for a free 8-day sample of Life Plankton Essence and experience our miracle skin renewer for yourself. Terms and conditions apply. 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I hope knowledgeable readers (particularly lawyers) will pipe up in comments. Based on what happened in financial services and securities law, I would normally assume the Feds have the upper hand in dealing with the states. Pre-emption as in Federal pre-emption of state law, is widespread if not pervasive on that front. However, even if that advantage would normally be applicable here, the Trump Administration is notably thin in general (they havent even named appointees for a huge number of mid-range positions) and appears to be particularly undermanned on the legal front. That appears to be another symptom of Trumps outsider status, since the parts of the Federal government that arent run by the military-surveillance complex are run by lawyers. So I would normally assume that the Federal government would have the advantage, but the weaknesses of the Trump team may allow California to prevail. By Steven Rosenfeld, who covers national political issues for AlterNet, including Americas democracy and voting rights. He is the author of several books on elections and the co-author of Who Controls Our Schools: How Billionaire-Sponsored Privatization Is Destroying Democracy and the Charter School Industry (AlterNet eBook, 2016). Originally published at Alternet The federal government and bastions of opposition to President Trumps anti-immigrant police state are on a slow-motion collision course. An 18-page memo by the Department of Homeland Security describes how the DHS and the Department of Justice are anticipating arresting, holding, processing and deporting large numbers of immigrants lacking visas. However, the memo also details how Trumps coming crackdown is moving slowly, is poorly coordinated and barely fundedeven as it has taken high-profile first steps like soliciting construction bids to build a border wall and is planning to showcase demonstration sections by late July. On the other hand, in states like California, where one in three residents is foreign born and half the children have at least one immigrant parent, state and local governments are moving to thwart any massive new deportation effort. From the highest political circles in the legislature, to briefings by county agencies telling employees not to assist federal immigration police, to local cities declaring themselves sanctuaries, a colossal struggle is taking shape. It will likely take months or longer before threshold questionslike what the feds can and cant get away withare resolved. So far, it appears California officials are ahead of Trump, who issued his anti-immigration orders in late January. The California Senate just passed one bill telling local and state agencies not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, another to provide lawyers for immigrants facing deportation, and another barring public employees from disclosing a persons religion. Its legislative leaders have challenged Trump administration officials to stop making blank threats and specify what laws the state is violating. If the Trump administration resorts to attempting to enforce its order against California, the Legislature will use all available means to defend the rights, values and safety of California, the letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said, saying the administration has irresponsibly accused California of preventing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement from arresting peoplebut wouldnt cite specifics. The California Supreme Courts chief justice had written to both Sessions and Kelly, protesting that ICE was stalking courthouses to arrest for deportees. AG Sessions says that sanctuary policies make our cities and states LESS safe, but the facts show that the OPPOSITE is true, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on Facebook. In fact, on average, 35.5 fewer crimes are committed per 10,000 people in sanctuary counties, the median household annual income is $4,353 higher, the poverty rate is 2.3% lower, and unemployment is 1.1% lower. Before you take away our funds, I suggest you take a look at the facts, Mr. Attorney General. Across the state, more lines are being drawn. On Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity filed the first lawsuit to block a new border wall. Meanwhile, newspapers digging into police manuals have discovered that many departments have used the same text from a single publisher instructing cops to follow ICEs orders. The American Civil Liberties Union has demanded that the publisher retract and revise that language, because it encourages profiling and illegal detentions, and runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment. Meanwhile, small cities are declaring themselves sanctuaries and activists are planning to shelter migrants in their homes. Californias top-to-bottom response is not unique. On Wednesday, 100 local officials from across the country sent a letter to Trump defending sanctuary policies, noting they make communities safer when residents dont fear police, and noting arrests without legal warrants are unconstitutional. Moreover, forcing cities to spend local resources enforcing an unfunded federal policy agenda also violates the Tenth Amendment, which prevents the federal government from coercing state and local governments. While some red states are going in the opposite directionlike Indiana, which just passed a law barring its campuses from becoming sanctuariesthese pro-migrant stances are on a slow but sure collision course with the Trump administration. That becomes clear when reviewing DHSs 18-page memo describing the plan and progress to enlarge its deportation machinery. The memo, which DHS would not comment on except to say it was a draftpossibly to discount its slow startstill showed that the Trump administration was envisioning mass expulsions and a border wall, even as it repeatedly said that multi-millions, if not billions, were needed to fully implement Trumps order. The Washington Post first obtained the memo. The border wall progress report was typical. That will begin by building 34 miles of levees along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and 14 miles of wall outside San Diego, California, starting in mid-June. The San Diego section will be demonstration projects, each a quarter-mile long, to be finished by late July, when, after evaluation, finalists among the contractors will be chosen. The San Diego Union Tribunes coverage makes these prototypes seem like a public relations ploya showy first step while Trump and Congress wrestle over future funding. DHSs memo says this is the first step in building a more complex wall than now exists. The effort to ramp up arrests and deportations is also eye-opening. There are different federal immigration police. All are seeking to expand, but also are saying why that is not happening fast. The memo says that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service already created two temporary holding facilities for 500 people each along the Texas border at Tornillo and Donna. But as a result of recent downward trends in migration, meaning fewer people crossing the Mexican border, they havent been used. It then looks ahead and says CBP envisions holding up to 12,500 people in six undisclosed sites. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has added 1,100 beds, although the additional beds have not been used, the memo said. ICE has identified 27 potential locations capable of providing 21,000 additional bed spaces. But ICE said it could not use those facilities until funding has been identified. Immigration lawyers have said these locations are county jails or privately run prisons. The memo says CPB is looking to hire 500 more border police at a cost of $100 million. That 500-guard figure is a tenth of what Trumps executive order called for, which means it would cost $1 billion to hire the 5,000 new border police he wants. As of early February, the CPB had 19,602 agents, which was only 92 percent of the 21,370 positions it has, the memo said. To accelerate hiring, it suggested waiving a lie detector test, physical fitness requirement and Spanish proficiency, and embark on a digital and social media presence to lure recruits. As of March, DHS said it took an average of 300 days to hire a border guard, but hoped that could be cut to 160 days. The DHS memo also said it was working on a plan to have third country nationals remain in Mexico awaiting a U.S. hearing on their status, which Mexico has flatly rejected. DHS said that could allow immigration judges to hear cases by video-conferencing, which would take about 90 days to set up, and would only cost $50,000 instead of $400,000 to create temporary courtrooms in mobile trailers. While the DHS memo was filled with numerous administrative hurdleslike saying it would be very hard to build the wall in federal Wilderness Areas given legal restrictionsit did emphasize that it was moving ahead. It cited Sessions directive to federal prosecutors to prioritize immigration enforcement and said DHS was seeking to sign legal agreements with state and local agencies in addition to, rather than in place of, Federal performance of these duties. That last clause is telling. In the California legislators letter to Sessions and Kellysaying put up or shut up with accusations that the state was illegally blocking federal effortsit cited constitutional precedents saying states cannot be commandeered into being arms of the federal police. The letter from 100 local lawmakers around the country made the same point, citing the 10th Amendment. Thats why DHSs memo says, in addition to, rather than in place of, suggesting they are not crossing that legal line. You can expect that assertion will end up in court, along with other issues highlighted by DHSs memosuch as how the federal law creating Wilderness Areas wont allow construction of the wall, or the Center for Biological Diversitys lawsuit. On Friday, a Trump administration lawyer told a federal District Court judge in San Francisco that the presidents anti-sanctuary city executive order threatening the loss of federal funds was narrow and would not mean much for San Franciscoanother apparent setback for his threats and policies. The city had sued, seeking a national restraining order on the threatened funding cuts. We have always been unafraid to lead and in the last few months we have announced repeatedly, emphatically, that we are unafraid to fight, Newsom told the California Legislature before the governors 2017 state-of-the-state address. Because whats at stake isnt just about our policies, its about our people. Natasha Holmes, a talented Transition Year student from Presentation Secondary School in Clonmel, was awarded a prestigious journalism prize at the annual NewsBrands Ireland Press Pass Awards, which were presented in Dublins Convention Centre. The awards, which are now in their fifth year, seek to improve literacy and critical thinking skills while helping students to develop a deeper understanding of news media and how it communicates about the world around them. The national competition seeks original journalism entries in five categories - Features, Opinion, News, Sport and Photojournalism. 8,000 Transition Year students took part in this years initiative and 16 of those students were rewarded for their original journalism, created as part of the NewsBrands Ireland Newspapers-in-Education programme. Natasha was awarded third prize in the Features category for her article on Dementia entitled I am Still Me. Speaking about the article, the judging panel said: Natashas cleverly assembled piece used factual graphs to illustrate her point and, in our opinion, was spot on by not turning this into an interview-driven essay. The authors own experience working within the Le Chairde organisation was enough for her to get a grasp of how difficult it can be to both live with dementia or live with someone with dementia. She finished the article with a beautiful quote: They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel. Finian McGrath, Minister of State with special responsibility for Disabilities, attended the awards and presented students with their awards. Newspapers have a vital role to play in any free society", he said. "They are watchdogs, chroniclers and the eyes and ears that go where most cannot be. Press Pass is a wonderful initiative that promotes literacy and critical thinking skills by bringing newspapers into classrooms and encouraging students to study them in depth". A typical family visit mostly means catching up on the lives of all the family members, relatives, neighbours, etc. Don't get me wrong I love it, it's fun but, I cannot do that 24/7 on a holiday that is supposed to be relaxing. On one such occasion, I was visiting my maternal relatives in Aurangabad. After all the catching up was done, my cousin and I stepped out for a walk. Casually during our chat, he spoke about the Lonar Lake and how it has piqued the curiosity of NASA and Geological Survey of India. I was so intrigued that I begged him to take me there. The Crater Lake PC: Aditya Laghate About 52,000 years ago, a 2 million ton meteor that plummeted towards Earth, is believed to have hit at this spot in Lonar. The hyper-velocity impact created a 150-metre deep and 1.8-km wide bowl-shaped hole or crater. This is now the site where Lonar Lake, an unusually saline water body, is located. The Lonar Lake is Earth's largest and only salt water lake in basaltic rock. It is not just any meteorite crash site, it has triggered many questions that are beyond understanding - like why is the lake both saline and alkaline at the same time? Why doesn't the compass work here? What lies at its bottom?! Scientists across the world believe that the meteorite is still buried deep in the crater. The Less Explored Pithalkora Caves In Aurangabad This astronomical marvel with its dense jungle is home to rich flora and fauna. Post the monsoon season, the lake and its surrounding becomes a treat to the eyes. Numerous migratory birds flock at the lake during winter and it becomes one of the best places for bird watching. Getting There PC: Hrushikesh Kulkarni The Lonar Crater Lake is located in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra. It is around 140 km from Aurangabad, so we decided to drive up to the lake, it was a comfortable 3 hours drive. Aurangabad is well-connected by railway and roadway with major cities like Mumbai and Pune. The nearest airport is Aurangabad airport, which is 130 km away from the lake. Best Time To Visit PC: wikimedia.org The region gets heavy rainfall, so visiting the place in rainy season is best avoided. Summers get pretty hot, so if you are planning to go anytime between March to June, it is advisable to start early and return before the noon. Winter months of November through February are ideal to visit the lake and its surrounding. To The Mystical Crater Lake PC: Vivek Ganesan Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation or MTDC arranges guided tours to the crater lake and also provides accommodation facilities near it. These tours usually begin at 6:30 AM. We started ours at 8 AM. Geological Survey of India has put up a board on the rim of the crater, which reads, 'The only hyper-velocity natural impact crater in basaltic rock in the world'. We then took a narrow, dirt road that seemed to be well-trodden, to the lake. There are stone steps that lead from the rim of the crater to its base. I was amazed to see several temples in and around the crater. Most of them were in ruins with creepers growing around them, but they were spectacularly beautiful. Temples, Ruins And Legends PC: Rohanguj2 There are interesting stories and legends around these beautiful stone temples. It is said that a demon named Lonasur resided here and was slain by Lord Vishnu. There is a Daitya Sudan temple, which is dedicated to Lord Vishnu in this demon-slaying form. We visited a Shankar Ganesha temple next, which has an unconventional Shiva idol that is rectangular in shape. PC: Date.amod There are more than ten temples in and around the crater. Another interesting spot is the Dhara or Sita Nahani, which has a mysterious, perpetual freshwater stream. The stream feeds a lake situated at the temple, also known as Gomukh. Legend has it that this is the place where Goddess Sita bathed. Strange Magnetic Field In The Area All the temples were built with basaltic rocks and had beautiful carvings on the doors and walls. A few temples like the Lord Rama's temple is still maintained and visited by the villagers. While walking around the temple ruins, we came across beautiful peahens pecking around merrily. My cousin told me about the strange magnetic field in the area and how the compasses point to the opposite directions and, at certain places, the needle continuously swings around in circles. I was amazed at hearing that but cursed him for not carrying any compasses to show me the bizarre activity. PC: Date.amod When we finally climbed back up, I was thrilled from the visit. Soon, we started back for home, but several thoughts buzzed ceaselessly in my mind. The picturesque Lonar Crater Lake is indeed a mysterious spot hiding secrets which, who knows, will ever be unearthed or remain buried under the green waters. (Natural News) The idea of doing those complicated yoga poses during a class can be a scary thought. If youve witnessed seasoned yoga practitioners effortlessly pull off the elephants trunk or the scorpion, then you might even reconsider a new exercise regiment. Push those niggling doubts aside and just set down your yoga mat. Everyone has to start from somewhere, and you can start off with these beginner yoga poses recommended by the DailyBurn.com. Before attempting any of these poses, remember to do some stretches first. Preparing your muscles for whats coming ahead will keep them in good shape during your entire yoga workout. Dont risk pulling a hamstring by accident. Stretch beforehand. Tadasana (Mountain Pose) Stand tall with your feet together and arms at your sides. Ground your feet, straighten your legs, and tuck in your tailbone. Take a deep breath, elongate your torso, and raise your arms, reaching for the ceiling with your fingertips. Straighten your arms as your palms face each other. Exhale and gently lower your arms back to your sides. Balasana (Childs Pose) Assume a kneeling position, tucking your toes under you and sitting on your heels. Exhale and bring down your upper body, extending and stretching your arms forward. Your forehead should be resting on the mat and your stomach should be settled on your thighs. To come back up, lengthen your torso, then inhale and lift from your tailbone. Marjaryasana to Bitilasana (Cat/Cow Pose) Place your hands and knees on the floor, making sure that your spine is neutral, and that your abs are engaged. Inhale and, as you exhale, round up your spine and tuck your chin. As you inhale once again, relax your abs and arch your back, lifting your head and tailbone upwards. Adho Mukha Svanansana (Downward Facing Dog) Begin on all fours with your hands directly under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Spread your fingers and press your palms into the mat as you move your hands forward. Press your hips towards the ceiling and move your chest towards your legs, turning your body into an inverted V-shape. Remember to keep your feet hip-width apart Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I) From the mountain pose, exhale, and step your left foot back four feet so that youre in a lunging position. Raise your arms until theyre aligned with your ears and then turn your left foot 90 degrees towards the left wall. Breathe deeply and then slide down, keeping your hips square as you do so. Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II) Again, begin in the mountain pose and then move your left foot back as you exhale. Turn your back foot 90 degrees. Lift up both of your arms until theyre at the same height as your shoulders, keeping them parallel to the floor. Bend your front knee over your ankle and sink your hips. Line up your eyes with your front-facing arm and look forward. Shavsana (Corpse Pose) Lie down, bring legs apart and your arms to your sides while keeping your palms facing upwards. Relax your entire body, including your face. Breathe slowly and gently. If youre looking for an exercise that can help you shed pounds and relax you, then you cant go wrong with yoga. ArtofLiving.org says that doing yoga will allow you to enjoy a number of perks. From giving you a decent workout to boosting your metabolism to rejuvenating your mind, theres so much this exercise can do for you. All you need is some loose, comfortable clothing, a great yoga mat, and determination to make the most of yoga. Follow more news on the healing arts at HealingArts.news. Sources: DailyBurn.com ArtofLiving.org (Natural News) Exposure to leaded gasoline in childhood may have negatively impacted intelligence and job status across America, according to a recent study. Researchers examined blood samples from more than 500 participants who grew up in the era of leaded gasoline. Data show that participants with more than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood at age 11 had IQs that were 4.25 points lower than less-exposed individuals at age 38. The study also showed that each 5-microgram increase in blood lead levels coincide with up to 1.5 IQ point loss. This suggests at the very least that individuals dont fully recover from lead-related cognitive injuries received in childhood. It also suggests that lead exerts a downward pull on an individuals cognitive abilities over time regardless of where they start out in life, said lead study author Aaron Reuben, as reported in Reuters.com. The study also examined the differences in social status among participants and found that those who had more than 10 micrograms of lead in the blood obtained occupations that had lower socioeconomic status levels at age 38 compared with those who had less exposure. The downward social mobility we see mirrors the trend in IQ, the decline in occupational status is partially but significantly explained by the loss of IQ. If youre above the historic level of concern (for lead exposure), youre doing worse on both. The cognitive deficits associated with lead persisted for decades, and showed in the kinds of occupations people got, Reuben added. (RELATED: Find more news on lead and other heavy metals at HeavyMetals.news.) The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. More studies link lead exposure to loss of intelligence A large number of studies have previously found a correlation between lead exposure and reduced intelligence. A longitudinal study published in the journal Environmental Health found that lead exposure in childhood negatively impacts intelligence in adulthood. Researchers examined 43 adults, who were part of the original cohort followed-up for 20 years, and found that each increase in blood lead levels resulted in adult full-scale IQ deficit of about two IQ points. The researchers also found that lead exposure in children ages four to 10 years render them highly-susceptible to loss in IQ points in adulthood. (Related: Learn more about the negative effects of other toxins at Toxins.news). Another study revealed a correlation between lead exposure and lower IQ. An analysis of 172 children showed that children whose blood lead levels increased from one to 10 micrograms per deciliter suffered an IQ loss of 7.4 points. Data also showed that children whose blood lead levels increased from 10 to 30 micrograms per deciliter experienced an IQ loss of about two to three points. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. IN addition, a Taiwanese study showed that environmental exposure to lead may negatively impact a childs academic achievements. Researchers examined 934 children and found that those with high blood lead levels fared worse in language capacity and mathematical ability. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Research. However, phasing out lead gasoline resulted in significant health improvements, the U.N. News Center reports. According to the report, lead phase out resulted in a significant decline in the peoples blood lead levels by up to 90 percent or more, especially in cities. Data also showed that lead phase out spurred an IQ increase of about six points in American children. Removing lead gasoline was also associated with a marked reduction in premature deaths. Although this global effort has often flown below the radar of media and global leaders, it is clear that the elimination of leaded petrol is an immense achievement on par with the global elimination of major deadly diseases. This will go down in history as one of the major environmental achievements of the past few decades. It is a triumph of diplomacy and public-private collaboration, said U.N. Official Achim Steiner, as reported in UN.org. Sources: ScienceDaily.com Reuters.com EnvironmentalHealthNews.org ABCNews.com NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov UN.org NYTimes.com (Natural News) Pap smears may no longer be accurate in detecting cervical cancer. Experts in womens health are now suggesting that a combination of a Pap smear and an HPV test or a sole HPV test is better suited in catching this form of cancer. Cervical cancer is one of the most successfully treatable cancers, if found early. The rate of cervical cancer death has declined by half in the last 30 years in the United States because of early detection. This was believed to be because of the effectiveness of the Pap smear. Despite that, it is estimated that 4,210 women will still die from the disease this year alone. (RELATED: Cervical cancer is killing African-American women at twice the previously rate in spite of the HPV vaccine) Pap vs. HPV Around 70 percent of American women aged 18 years and older have had a Pap smear in the last three years. Within the American Cancer Societys Guidelines for the Prevention and Early Detection of Cervical Cancer, all women should begin their routine cervical cancer screening once they reach 21 years of age. Those who have abnormal screening results are encouraged to have a follow-up Pap smear within six months to a year to ensure proper health. Women who are 30 years old and older are recommended to have a Pap smear and HPV test every five years. However, two medical groups that regularly diagnose and treat cervical cancer have deviated from these guidelines. The Society of Gynecological Oncologists and the American Society of Colposcopists and Surgical Pathologists (ASCCP) say that HPV tests should replace Pap smears. In fact, they recommend HPV testing for women aged 25 to 29, regardless of what these womens Pap smears say. If a woman tests positive for two different strains of HPV (HPV 16 or 18), a colposcopy is suggested. This is a surgical procedure in which the vulva, uterine cervix, and vaginal walls are magnified and examined. In 2014, the FDA approved the Cobas HPV to test for cervical cancer as an alternative to the traditional Pap smear. FDA authorities say that they are not making any kind of judgment on the best way for women of any age to screen for potential cancer risk, only that HPV tests are an acceptable way to detect cancerous cells. False Positives These directives were made after it was found that sexually-transmitted disease most of which are caused by the HPV strain increases a womans risk of developing cancer, along with a variety of other reproductive health problems such as infertility and organ damage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 20 million cases of sexually transmitted infections occur annually in the United States. Gynecologists say that testing for HPV would prove to be more accurate in detecting potential cervical cancer risks. Or would there be just an increase of false positives? Most women who have had an HPV test often test positive, however not all strains of the virus are pre-cancerous. Merely testing positive for HPV may not give crucial data. Still, this could be preferable to Pap smears which experts say are not a reliable measure of risk. Around 10 percent of Pap smears show abnormal results, but only 0.1 percent of these actually are cancerous. Health professionals caution the public, admitting that no test is 100 percent accurate. Still, new tests and methods are being developed to limit the inaccuracy. There are computerized Pap smear systems that rescreen the original sample. However, these are still in their early stages and have not been studied for their efficiency or accuracy. There are also liquid-based tests that rinse the original cervical sample to thin the mucus and isolate abnormal cells. Again, these still require further research before becoming general practice. Sources: DailyMail.co.uk Cancer.gov StopCancerFund.org MedicineNet.com CDC.gov Healthline.com NYTimes.com Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Turtle Survival Alliance have stumbled upon the Easter eggs of a lifetime. They have discovered 44 eggs of the Burmese roofed turtle, one of the rarest reptiles in the world. According to a report from Seeker, the Burmese roofed turtle (Batagur trivittata) is so rare that in 2014, only one egg from the critically endangered species was found. Only five remaining Burmese roofed turtles are left in the wild. Steven Platt, a regional herpetologist at WCS Myanmar, said the major breakthrough doesn't end with the discovery of the rare turtle eggs, they still have to determine if they are fertile or not by observing signs of banding -- a chalky white stripe that appears on eggs, indicating that the turtle embryo has attached to the egg wall. Its a real nail biter, not knowing if the eggs will prove fertile or not. When we see the first sign of banding, its an overwhelming relief. Everything depends on finding that handful of fertile eggs," Platt said. The Turtle Survival Alliance explained that the slow extinction of the Burmese roofed turtle went unnoticed because of Myanmar's isolation to the world due to its oppresive military junta. Scientists thought that the Burmese roofed turtle has gone extinct. But in 2001, Platt and his team found a shell from a freshly killed female roofed turtle along the Dokhtawady River near Mandalay, proving that the species still exists. Scientists hope that the 44 recently discovered eggs will revamp the population of the Burmese roofed turtles. Villagers are monitoring the rare turtle eggs, which are currently in incubation in sand bars along the Chindwin River. The scientists believe that further educating the locals about the importance of Burmese roofed turtles will help boost their population. The villagers always left a few eggs to insure the next generation of turtles. Unfortunately they didn't leave enough and the population has long been in a downward spiral for probably well over 100 years," Platt said. Newly hatched Burmese roofed turtles will be moved to large outdoor pools located in Camp Batagur in Limpha Village. They will then be released to the wild after four to five years, when they are fully grown. United Airlines is really having a bad week. On the same day where a passenger doctor was violently dragged off his flight to make way for United crew members, another passenger was stung by a scorpion that fell off from an overhead bin. According to Huffington Post, the incident happened during a United Airlines flight from Houston to Calgary. Richard Bell, the stung passenger, said he was with his wife when the scorpion fell on his head. While I was eating, something fell in my hair from the overhead above me. So I dropped it on my plate and then I went to pick it up again, and thats when it stung me, Bell said, adding that the scorpion mostly bit his nail. United Airlines crew immediately contacted medical personnel, who met Bell and his wife upon arriving in Calgary. "Our flight attendants helped a customer who was stung by what appeared to be a scorpion on a flight last week. Our crew immediately consulted with a MedLink physician on the ground who provided guidance throughout the incident and assured our crew that it was not a life-threatening matter," United Airlines said in a statement via CNN. Linda Bell, the wife of the stung passenger, said that on Wednesday, United Airlines apologized to them and offered compensation for the surprising encounter. It's still unknown how the scorpion got on the flight. The same airplane flew from Costa Rica to Houston before Bell's flight. This follows a disturbing incident where a United Airlines passenger was kicked out of his flight to make space for United employees. Videos circulating online show the passenger screaming with his face covered in blood while airline security drag him out off his own flight. United Airlines initially said that they overbooked the flight, but as it turns out, they needed space for crew members who had to work the following day. The bloody incident has caused outrage and a boycott against United Airlines. Is there life on Saturn's moon Enceladus? New information from NASA's Cassini mission reveals that a form of chemical energy that could support alien life has been found on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The space agency is determined to protect the moon from contamination by destroying its Cassini spacecraft. According to a new study published in the journal Science, Saturn's moon Enceladus has molecular hydrogen which is produced by water vapor that shoots out of the moon's warm subsurface ocean. The new discovery adds to the probability that Enceladus could be a habitable zone despite it being covered in ice. The study notes that the plume that shoots out of the moon's ocean contains "chemical signatures of water-rock interacton between the ocean and rocky core." The scientists detected hydrogen in the plume via Cassini's Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer. NASA's Cassini flew directly through the plume back in October 2015. EarthSky notes that hydrothermal vents, just like the plumes on Saturn's moon Enceladus, are commonly found on Earth. These formations are usually home to different types of microbial life. "Although we cant detect life, weve found that theres a food source there for it. It would be like a candy store for microbes," said Hunter Waite, lead author of the study from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Despite the astounding discovery of the alien water world near Saturn, NASA announced that it will be destroying Cassini by September 15, 2017. The $3.26-billion NASA probe will have its "Grand Finale" via a collision course with Saturn. "That last 'kiss goodbye' will put Cassini into Saturn. This is a roller-coaster ride. We're going in, and we are not coming out -- it's a one-way trip," said Earl Maize, engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Maize said that Cassini's discovery of the active water world on Enceladus led to the probe's own demise. He added that NASA had to destroy Cassini to avoid contamination of the newly discovered "pristine body." "We cannot risk an inadvertent contact with that pristine body. Cassini has got to be put safely away. And since we wanted to stay at Saturn, the only choice was to destroy it in some controlled fashion," Maize said. According to IFL Science, NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn started in 1997 and has since sent back various information regarding the planet and its moons. Currently, the spacecraft is running low on resources and will fly between Saturn and its rings before it's destroyed. In Taiwan, it's now illegal to consume dog and cat meat. The Taiwanese government, via a new amendment to its Animal Protection Act, will implement hefty fines and jail time for those who will be caught doing the gruesome crime. The new ordinance will enforce a fine of $8,200 for those who are caught eating dog or cat meat. Meanwhile, a bigger fine of $65,000 and two years in prison will be given for deliberately harming cats and dogs, National Geographic reports. Repeat offenders will be fined up to $165,000 and will serve five years in jail. Focus Taiwan notes that the new amendment will also ban walking animals using motor vehicles such as having pet dogs on a leash while letting them run alongside their owners' scooters. The Animal Protection Act was sponsored by Kuomintang Legislator Wang Yu-Min. Taiwan is the first country in Asia to pass a legislation regarding eating cat and dog meat. The new amendment will take effect at the end of this month after Taiwan's Cabinet and Presidential Office sign it. Despite Taiwan's bold move to end a practice that's deeply embedded in tradition, other neighboring countries, such as China and South Korea, still continue to consume dog and cat meat. The Yulin festival in China has garnered public outrage as thousands of dogs are killed every year during the controversial practice, The Washington Post reports. Humane Society International says that in China alone, approximately 10 million dogs are slaughtered every year. Meanwhile, in South Korea, dog farms are legal. There are 17,000 dog farms in the country which are solely focused in producing dog meat for human consumption. In these facilities, dogs receive inhumane treatment and are killed via electrocution. Adam Parascandola, Director of Animal Protection and Crisis Response for Humane Society International, explained that Taiwan's new amendment is evidence that a cruel and outdated eating habit could be ended. He believes that the decision puts China and South Korea in the hot seat to do the same in the future. Activists in mainland China will say if Taiwan can do it, then mainland China has no reason not to," Parascandola said. What to Know Sources say Angelo Colon Ortiz, 31, was arrested Friday night in connection with the murder of Vanessa Marcotte. Marcotte, a 27-year-old former Google employee, was killed while jogging near her mother's house in Princeton on Aug. 7, 2016. Police said Marcotte's body was naked and partially burned. There were also signs that she had struggled with her attacker. An arrest has been made in connection with the case of murdered jogger Vanessa Marcotte after investigators matched the suspect's DNA to evidence found at the scene, authorities announced Saturday. Authorities confirmed Worcester resident Angelo Colon Ortiz, 31, was taken into police custody in connection with the case Friday night. He was charged with aggravated assault and battery and assault with attempt to rape. He is currently being held at Massachusetts State Police barracks in Millbury on $10 million bail. "We got him," Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said Saturday afternoon during authorities' official announcement. Sources confirmed the arrest earlier in the day. The DNA match linking Ortiz to the Marcotte case came back Friday afternoon. DA Early said an alert state trooper in Worcester saw a man and a car that matched the Marcotte murder suspect's description, and did a cheek DNA swab test that eventually led to Ortiz's arrest. Although Ortiz has not been formally charged with murder yet, Early said he anticipates a murder charge soon, and referenced Ortiz as Marcotte's "killer." He also said Ortiz worked in the area and "had been for some time." Marcotte, a 27-year-old former Google employee, was killed while jogging near her mother's house on Aug. 7, 2016. She lived in New York City but was in Princeton, Massachusetts, visiting her family for the weekend. She left her mother's home on Brooks Station Road to go for a run but never returned. Her body was found in a remote, wooded area a half mile away later that evening. Police said her body was naked and partially burned. There were also signs that she had struggled with her attacker. State police detectives and local police previously said they received more than 1,300 tips in the case. Meanwhile, Princeton residents said they're relieved to hear a suspect has been arrested in the case. "I think everyone just wants justice for her, so maybe that can start and a little bit of healing can start maybe," one woman said. The Marcotte family released the following statement after learning of Ortiz's arrest, "We'd like to thank DA Joseph Early and the Worcester District Attorney's Office, the Massachusetts State Police, the Princeton Police Department, and the entire community for their help that led to the arrest of the suspect in Vanessa's case. After eight long months, we're able to take the first step toward justice for Vanessa. She was a beautiful, intelligent, and generous young woman whose passion for giving back to the community will always be remembered. As we move forward, her spirit will live on through The Vanessa T. Marcotte Foundation that strives to empower women to live boldly and fearlessly." Ortiz is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday in Leominster District Court. More information on The Vanessa T. Marcotte Foundation can be found here. A valuable 19th century gold coin emblazoned with IN GOD WE TRUST will help an Indiana congregation secure a long-desired church building of their own as a critical financial deadline looms. The donor, a widow who wishes to remain anonymous, gave the coin to the GracePoint Church in Valparaiso earlier this year as seed money for the churchs construction, a news release from Texas-based Heritage Auctions says. The congregation was founded in 2009 and has been conducting Sunday morning services in an elementary school. The coin survived an attempted theft at the donors home four years ago, and recently was given to the GracePoint Church in Valparaiso where Pastor Ben Lamb described it as an incredible gift in Gods story, according to a news release from Heritage Auctions. The coin is one of only 10 known surviving Liberty Head double eagles from 1866 with the In God We Trust motto engraved in it, according to Sarah Miller, director of numismatics for Heritage Auctions. It is expected to sell for $300,000 or more in a public auction in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois and online, April 27, 2017, she said in the news release. This was the very first one he ever purchased. He passed away 14 years ago, and she held onto the coin. Four years ago she was attacked at home by four assailants who wanted to steal the coin, but she and the coin were saved by a neighbor. She told me that after the attempted theft it had been a thorn in her side, said, Ben Lamb, the churchs pastor. Lamb says Heritage wired GracePoint $150,000 as an advance payment toward the final price at auction for the coin. We were absolutely blown away! Honestly, we were completely stunned by the value of the coin, Lamb said. Lamb called the coin an incredible gift in Gods story. Although this gold piece brought grief to the widow for many years, ultimately it brought incredible joy, Lamb said. Its ironic that the last few hours before our financial deadline, the congregation had to do exactly what the coins motto said over a hundred years ago: trust God. Major renovations are underway at the North Haven Shopping Center on Washington Avenue after a new developer completed a multi-million dollar purchase of the property. This plaza is recognized as one of the oldest strip shopping centers in New England actually, said Larry Lazaroff, the vice president of Arnolds Jewelers. The shopping center has been the home for Lazaroffs family business for half a century. In the 80s and 90s when this plaza was full you couldnt find a parking spot out there," Lazaroff said. Over the decades, the condition of the shopping center has deteriorated, as the NBC Connecticut camera captured inside a vacant gym. We have to thank the Luciani family, theyve been wonderful corporate citizens here for years, but time goes on and things change, said North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda. Now big changes are coming after the Luciana family sold the plaza to Cheshire real estate developer Joseph Mourizzi. Re-doing the entire plaza from top to bottom, Lazaroff said. Bringing in new tenants which therefore provides jobs for the town, provides aesthetically beautiful plaza in the center of town. Fran Bartlett from North Haven has shopped here since the center was built sixty plus years ago. It was our first plaza, Bartlett said. It used to be really crowded, I mean it will be great to see new stores come in here. Wed like to see a food store obviously, Lazaroff said. Wed like to see something in clothing as well. Were looking for a good combination of bigger stores as well as smaller stores like myself. While there is 85,000 square feet of vacant space now, Freda said that wont be the case once renovations are complete sometime in the fall. Im convinced and Im very positive that this plaza will be fully populated, Freda said. Lazaroff, the longest tenured tenant in the plaza, cannot wait to meet the his business new neighbors. People were always saying why you staying? Why you staying? I said because I believe in this plaza, I love this location, and Im going to wait and its finally here, Lazaroff said. A so-called "100% accurate map of Texas" was recently posted on the BuzzFeed Austin Facebook page, and it's getting a lot of attention from people in North Texas. That's because neither Dallas or Fort Worth are included on the map. Denton got a shout-out with an image of men with beards. Six Flags Over Texas is also on there, but much closer to Texarkana. You may even notice that the Czech Stop is much closer to Louisiana now. Our media partners over at The Dallas Morning News reached out to BuzzFeed Austin on Twitter asking "do we have beef?" Buzzfeed responded saying "Haha guys! We know Texans take their geography seriously but the lil map was just for fun. FWIW, this branch is headed by a native!" [[419514603, C]] BuzzFeed Austin then went on inviting any Texan to draw an illustrated map of their favorite spots. They added "You may find you have to sacrifice geography for space!" [[419514663, C]] After tragedies struck two North Texas churches, their congregations are celebrating the rebirth of their houses of worship. Construction crews spent their Good Friday putting some sweat equity into the resurrection taking place at Harvest of Praise Ministry in Red Oak. In December 2015 the church was destroyed by a tornado that ripped through parts of Ellis County. Pastor Kevin Taylor was inside the church when the walls came tumbling down, now he's putting them back up. "We're doing good. God has been good to us, we're able to erect a building that's much larger a lot nicer," he said. The $1.7 million renovation includes several new classrooms, a commercial kitchen, and 500-person sanctuary. Pastor Taylor said the last 16 months have been a challenge for his congregation, but not a test of their faith. "I didn't challenge whether or not God was in it because I walked out of the tornado. I knew God was in the midst of it because he could have allowed that to take my life," Taylor said. "What it did do is it brought us closer together as a church family. For those that were doubting whether God was in this move, now you know that he is." Taylor said with a little more good fortune and plenty of prayers the church will reopen its doors this summer. "I teach the church that even when you can't trace God, trust him," he said. "God can resurrect anything out of the ashes." The pastor's words take on a literal meeting in Oak Cliff where the Iglesia de Cristo Camino de Santidad Church is rising from the ashes of a devastating fire in 2016. "To me it's a miracle," said Pastor Miguel Puga. "The fire destroyed everything and now we have this place to praise the Lord." Puga said designs for a new sanctuary should be complete by the end of the year. He said faith has kept him and the congregation he serves strong, proof that a church is more than the building, it's the people. "The resurrection is 'from nothing, build everything again,'" he said. "He lives forever and we are his church. We live too." A judge on Friday appointed the Los Angeles County public guardian to look after the individual and financial interests of a former Whittier man with dementia who was found disoriented and alone in England in 2015 and became the subject of a television documentary. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Barry said a general conservatorship was in the best interests of Earl Roger Curry, 76, who was returned to the U.S. last year by British authorities after a BBC show focused on how he was found so far away from his Southern California home. Curry, who appeared in court with an assistant who pushed him in a wheelchair, now lives in a Bellflower nursing home. However, his court-appointed attorney, Lorraine Tafoya, said she is hoping he can be placed in another facility where he can spend more time outdoors and be closer to relatives. Curry's sister, Bonnie Kirk of Riverside, told Barry she would like to eventually become her brother's conservator, but that she did not know if she or her brother had the assets. "I'm sorry, I don't know the process, but I would very much like to," Kirk told the judge. The judge said that in order for her to become her brother's conservator, she would have to file a petition to remove the public guardian and post a bond. Barry said the public guardian's office will marshal her brother's assets to determine what funds he has. Tafoya's court papers state that her client receives Social Security benefits. Deputy County Counsel William Sias, who took part in the hearing by speaker phone, said Curry's family members have shown little interest in looking after the elderly man's interests. He saved some of his sharpest criticism for Curry's wife, Mary Jo Curry, who also was in court. "Mary Jo Curry was one of those who took him out of the country and abandoned him in London," Sias said. Kirk said after the hearing that she was encouraged by today's developments and hopes she can eventually become his conservator. Asked her opinion of the alleged abandonment of her sibling by other relatives, she said, "All I want to do is what's best for my brother." The public guardian's court papers state that Mary Curry, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, and her son, Kevin, took him to England and left him in there in late 2015. Curry was wandering in the small village of Credenhill when he was found by a stranger in November 2015. He was hospitalized in Herford, England, where the staff reached out to agencies worldwide to try and identify him, according to the public guardian's court papers. He could only provide his named to authorities. "This is an unusual situation and we are desperately hoping that we can reunite Roger with his family, wherever they may be," West Mercia police said in a news release last March. After Curry was identified, he was flown back to Los Angeles last July and further investigation showed he was a retired registered nurse who once worked for Kaiser Permanente, according to the public guardian's court papers. For the third time in the last month, police say a wild turkey has collided with a vehicle in Indiana. Danville police said a woman was driving in the 1700 block of West US Highway 36 when an "unsuspecting guest" came through the front windshield of her 2007 Chevy Tahoe. The large turkey was trying to fly across the highway when it collided with the vehicle, which was traveling at about 55 mph. The driver was treated for minor injuries from flying glass and debris. The turkey did not survive. "We'd like to give you some tips on how to avoid something like this, but we've got nothing..." the department posted on Facebook. The collision is the latest in a series of similar incidents in Indiana. Indiana State Police reported another collision late last month after a state trooper had a turkey fly into her windshield. Close call for Trp. Tia Deaton as a turkey flew into her windshield last night. 'Thankfully' she was ok. pic.twitter.com/l62OEzTPnX Sgt. Stephen Wheeles (@ISPVersailles) March 30, 2017 Police were already warning drivers in northwest Indiana after a wild turkey had collided with a vehicle in LaPorte County just one day earlier. The LaPorte County Sheriffs office said the incident happened on US 20 near Wilhelm Road, where they found a large wild turkey lodged in the windshield of a 2016 GMC Yukon. The vehicle was being driven by a family who was visiting the University of Notre Dame following their teenage sons acceptance. They had just finished visiting Notre Dame and were in the process of driving back to OHare International Airport in their rental vehicle, police said in a release. The family suffered minor cuts from the glass and refused medical treatment at the scene. While vehicle versus deer crashes are common place, it is very rare to see a vehicle strike a turkey, police said in a statement. Authorities noted, however, that mating season has begun and, during this time, more turkeys are spotted close to roadways. The Florida Forest Service was battling a brush fire that broke out in Florida City Friday evening. Flames could be seen shooting in the air along Southwest 328th Street and 192nd Avenue. Photos and video provided by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue showed the fire burning several miles away from any structures. It appears the blaze is not threatening homes. No other information was released. Check back with NBC 6 for updates. It was the wildest day of fishing, according to one Florida man with an epic tale to tell. Elliot Sudal was fishing in waters off Sanibel Island on Wednesday when a tug on his line turned out to be a catch much larger and exciting than he anticipated. "I said, 'Guys, this isn't a beginner fish,'" Sudal recalled in an interview with WBBH. Sudal had to enlist the help of a stranger to assist him in reeling in his line, which lasted from dusk until dawn. Hours into his struggle, a crowd began to gather in awe with Sudals perseverance Vice President Mike Pence among the spectators. A few hours later [and] some secret service agents show up, search my bags and temporarily take my fillet knives... then Vice President Mike Pence shows up with his family and hangs out, Sudal recounted in a Facebook post. Just after the 11-hour mark, the struggle came to a close as three fins broked the water near the beach, and the fisherman reeled in a massive 14-foot sawfish weight hundreds of pounds. With hands covered in blisters and barely being able to walk, Sudal deemed this the most physically taxing experience of his life. No monster fish were harmed in this real-life tale. The sawfish swam off healthy and strong after it was quickly tagged and released. In what has become an eerily familiar scene in Berkeley, supporters and detractors of President Donald Trump on Saturday exchanged blows, burned flags, and set off fireworks at opposing rallies at which 20 people were arrested and 11 injured, police said. The political divisiveness reflected across the United States took the form of a makeshift barrier comprising net and traffic cones erected between the two equally impassioned factions. The barrier, however, failed to keep the skirmishes at bay. About 200 people gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park around 10 a.m. on Tax Day as did Berkeley police officers in riot gear. Police estimate that the crowd swelled to between 300 and 700 people before it dispersed around 4 p.m. Nearly two dozen people were arrested and roughly one dozen were injured following violent protests in Berkeley. Thom Jensen reports. Early in the day, though, attendees of the "Patriot's Day" rally and Antifa-organized counter protest exchanged heated words and several people started pushing each other. Police quickly arrested one man. Others were arrested as several fistfights broke out. Some of those arrested face charges related to assault and assault with a deadly weapon. Of those who were hurt amid the bedlam, one person was stabbed and seven were taken to nearby hospitals, according to Berkeley police. Social media posts indicated that Kyle Chapman aka Based StickMan or Alt-Knight was among those who got arrested. The 41-year-old from San Francisco was also taken into custody at a "March 4 Trump" last month for bashing an Antifa protester in the head with a stick. It's unclear what prompted his arrest Saturday. [BAY RM] Violence Erupts at Opposing Rallies in Berkeley Social media posts from the chaotic scenes in Berkeley described a "small blast," the use of tear gas and pepper spray, property damage and fireworks whizzing through crowds. Photographs showed a man covering his eyes as blood covered his hands and dripped down his face. Trump supporter John Beavers from Washington state got smacked in the face. "Were over there, shaking a hand, and a bomb went off and they want to hit me," he said. People were clad in "Make America Great Again" sweatshirts and flags, and others were dressed in black with their faces hidden behind helmets and masks, according to footage from the scene. Flags read "Anti-fascist anti-racist," "Defend America," "Free speech" and "Fascist scum your time is done." In what has become an eerily familiar scene in Berkeley, supporters and detractors of President Donald Trump on Saturday exchanged blows, burned flags, set off fireworks, and were arrested at heated opposing rallies. Christie Smith reports. "These Trump people are here because they want to start things," Jeff Vernon of Berkeley said. But Stephanie Edd, also of Berkeley, viewed the protest as an attempt "to co-opt the history of free speech." By midday, Allston Way between Milvia Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way was blocked, as protesters moved from the park to the streets, followed closely by officers. Police urged residents to avoid the area of Center and Miliva streets. Soon the warning extended to include Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. NBC Bay Area's SkyRanger captured people burning flags with one man posing for a selfie beside the torched cloth and others punching each other and using helmets and skateboards as weapons. Demonstrators were also seen tipping over a garbage can and igniting its contents. An investigation into Saturday's violence is ongoing. Police are asking the public to submit photos and video of the protests to help them identify additional suspects. Protesters pushed a trash bin back and forth during a fight that broke out during opposing rallies Saturday in Berkeley. At least 13 people were arrested. In order to prevent a bloody riot, city leaders on Friday had announced that pipes, bats, bricks, rocks, glass bottles, shields, pepper spray, sticks, and other potentially dangerous items were not allowed at the park during the rallies. Toward that end, police checked backpacks before allowing them into the park. Even so, they tweeted that officers had confiscated a knife, a stun gun, flagpoles, and other contraband. Berkeley police were forced to call in Alameda County sheriff's deputies for backup as rocks and bottles were launched at officers and many were assaulted, according to Twitter. The downtown Berkeley BART station was also closed. A weekly farmers market at the Berkeley park was called off amid the scheduled political protests, according to reports. Saturday's rallies follow a "March 4 Trump" rally and violent protests when controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulos came to the UC Berkeley campus. Editor's note: Berkeley police initially reported 15 arrests, but later updated that number to 13. Three women are facing 26 felony charges after police say they found loaded handguns, alcohol, daggers and other sharp objects inside a daycare in northwest Indiana. Authorities say Merrillville police officers and the Indiana Department of Children's Services made an unannounced check on a home daycare at 1730 W. 53rd Tuesday. When they arrived, officials encountered a mother who said she was there to check on her 4-year-old son who had suffered a head injury. She said the daycare alerted her but the owner would not open the door. Officers climbed through a window of the home and found the young boy on a bed surrounded by bloody napkins with an open wound on his forehead, police said. It was not immediately known how he was hurt. The boy was one of 15 children police discovered to be inside the home at the time. Three other children were missing from the daycare and later found in a different location, according to police. During a search of the home, authorities found two loaded handguns, two shotgun, daggers, and sharp blades to be within reach of the children, police said. Bottles of whiskey and vodka were strewn on the floor of the bedroom where the children were found, according to police. Tawana Cole, Roberta Sanders, and Adriana Johnson were each charged with one count of neglect of a dependant resulting in bodily injury and multiple counts of neglect of a dependent and criminal confinement. Cole has been arrested and police are searching for Sanders and Johnson. An attorney for Cole, who is on probation for battery with a deadly weapon, could not immediately be reached for comment. Police said the home daycare centers license had expired in March, and the daycare was only approved for a maximum capacity of 12 children. Police in Delaware are searching for a man believed to be connected to three separate harassment incidents that happened on the University of Delaware's campus Friday night. The first incident happened around 10 p.m., when a female student reported being followed by a male who grabbed her buttocks near Haines Street, according to police. A second student reported being grabbed by her buttocks in the Prospect Avenue area around 10:30 p.m. Around 11:25 p.m., two female students reported walking northbound on N. Chapel Street when a male began following them. The students say the male followed them onto Prospect Street while one of them called the police. Police responded to the scene but were unable to locate the suspect. Police are checking into whether this is connected to another investigation involving another student that was reported Wednesday. The suspect is described as a Hispanic or White male aged 20 to 30. The man stands around 5-foot, 7-inches tall, with a thin build and beard, police said. Anybody with information on the suspect or incidents is asked to contact Officer Vari at 302-266-7100 x3486 or at Andrew.Vari@cj.state.de.us. Police evacuated part of a Lehigh Valley hotel after they discovered a mysterious substance and a dead man inside a suite after another man turned up sick in a hallway. The Lehigh County Hazmat Team was called to the Staybridge Suites on Star Road in Upper Macungie Township, Pennsylvania Thursday night after a powdery was found in a suite where a man was also dead around 9:30. Police focused on the suite after another man staying in the same room was found sickened in the hallway, Upper Macungie Police Chief Edgardo Colon said. Medics quickly treated the man. "It's unknown if he was affected by the same chemical, the same substance there seems to be some level of intoxication he had to be decontaminated and he's being evaluated at the hospital," Colon told NBC10. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim identified the dead man as Emmanuel Ramirez of Maywood, California. A large contingent of firefighters, medics and police responded. As crews worked to find more clues, emergency responders cleared guests from some of the rooms. [NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More "It was a very slow, and deliberate, and safe process that they take whenever there is a suspicion of specific chemical compounds of this nature," Colon said. Guests returned to the their rooms overnight as investigators worked to find out what caused the mans death. Grim said Ramirez's cause of death was pending toxicology results. What to Know The Joker's Jinx stopped mid-ride, stranding 24 people 80 feet in the air, at an angle. Some riders initially thought it was a joke. Their parents waited on the ground, not knowing if their children were safe. Six Flags said the ride "did not complete its regular ride cycle, causing it to stop at a safe location on the track." Twenty-four people riding a roller coaster were stuck in midair for more than three hours when the ride froze Thursday evening at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, Maryland. The Joker's Jinx roller coaster stopped at the amusement park about 6 p.m., stranding riders as young as 6 years old at an angle, 80 feet in the air at a 30-degree angle. Firefighters used a hydraulic crane to remove passengers from the ride one by one, finishing the rescue in the dark after 9 p.m. When the ride stopped, some riders initially thought it was a joke. Helpless parents waiting on the ground for their children, not knowing if they were safe. Alarming video shot from Chopper4 showed a first responder standing on a rail of the roller coaster, harnessed for safety. All riders are OK, Prince Georges County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady said. Some riders waved to Chopper4 as it hovered over the area. Julia Valverde, 15, and her younger brother were on the ride when it froze. She hesitated about riding the coaster. To me, it's always seemed like the scariest ride, she said. I was kind of stalling it the whole day. I was like, Lets do something else beforehand, because it always terrified me. News4s Jim Handly shows how firefighters rescued dozens of people stuck 100 feet in the air on a roller coaster at Six Flags America in Prince Georges County, Maryland. When the roller coaster started to lose momentum, Julia and her brother thought it was a joke, fitting with the rides theme. We thought it was going to start shooting off again, she said. After a good 30 seconds, the realization hit that no, we were really stuck. The children's parents were on the ground waiting for their kids when they realized they were stuck in midair. Youre worried for them because you cant go save them, Javier Valverde said. If there was a ladder, I would have gone up the ladder if I could. Valverde said he felt "very, very thankful" when firefighters rescued his children. Other parents said the scare left them nervous. "My kids were just on that ride," Renee Clingerman said. "I thought that could have been me." Six Flags issued a statement Thursday evening, saying, "Jokers Jinx did not complete its regular ride cycle causing it to stop at a safe location on the track. The Prince George's County Fire Department is on site to assist in getting the riders safely off the ride. The safety of our guests is our highest priority and the ride will be closed for a thorough inspection before re-opening." The ride was last inspected on March 3 with no violations outstanding, a representative for the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said. The Joker's Jinx is the same ride on which two dozen people were trapped in August 2014. On that hot day, riders were given umbrellas by rescue crews to shade them from the sun during the rescue, which took four hours. Introduced in 1999, the Jokers Jinx accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in about 3 seconds, according to the theme parks website. Constructed in a spaghetti bowl design, the ride takes 1 minute 15 seconds to complete. The ride has this memorable tagline: The Joker is laughing with you, not at you. An estimated 1,500 people were hurt on amusement park rides in America in 2015, according to the National Safety Council. On Friday, April 21st day 69 LB 461 is scheduled to be on General File. This is the first time the full Legislature will debate and possibly vote on the tax proposal bill from the Revenue Committee. My column last week described this bill at length and the great importance of moving it forward. In a state where one in every four jobs is tied to agriculture, lowering valuations of agricultural land is key to growing our economy. Statewide needs and inequity in funding and taxes must be addressed, and LB 338, my agricultural valuation bill that was amended into LB 461, would help to address the inequity. Budget discussions are likely to dominate much of the remainder of the legislative session. According to legislative rules, the Appropriations Committee is required to report its budget recommendations to the Legislature no later than April 24th this year. I am anticipating that the budget recommendations will be presented this week, and that we will begin budget debates during the final week of April. Our budget discussions are shaping up to be some of the most contentious we have faced in recent times. A preliminary budget projection prepared by the Appropriations Committee earlier this session indicates that we started the session with a budget shortfall of $134 million. The fiscal status deteriorated even further when projections of state revenues over the next two years were revised downward in February. That revenue forecast added another $153 million to the imbalance. The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Board will provide a final revenue projection before the end of the month, and it is possible that the revenue projection that we will base the budget on will be revised downward again. It will be a difficult discussion, since to balance the budget it will be necessary to make actual cuts in general fund commitments to many ongoing programs while still meeting obligations in corrections, school funding, and other areas. I am also committed to leaving room in the budget for achieving much needed reform of the method of valuing agricultural land for property tax purposes. We do have the option of utilizing some of the states rainy day fund to help us balance the budget in the short term, but we will not be able to achieve long-term budget stability without reducing the states budget commitments and a return to more normal revenue growth in the years ahead. Last week the Legislature debated LB 44, which would require online retailers to collect and remit sales taxes for purchases made by Nebraskans over the internet. As online shopping grows in popularity, it is impacting state and local sales tax revenues as well as being unfair to retail businesses located in the state. While the concept of asking online retailers to collect sales tax is appealing, and by some estimates could result in $30$40 million additional state revenues annually, there are many problems surrounding LB 44. During floor discussion it was noted that, even if passed, LB 44 would likely be challenged and enjoined and therefore would not help us with our budget situation for the foreseeable future. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision barred states from requiring out-of-state businesses to remit sales taxes if that business lacked a substantial nexus with that state. That decision has not stopped states from continuing to pass legislation requiring out-of-state businesses to remit online sales taxes. The best solution would be for Congress to intervene, and there are bills in Congress to allow and assist states in collecting online sales tax. If you would like to follow the Legislature online you can visit http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/television/live-demand-state-government. Live broadcasting is also available on NET2. A former Massachusetts school administrator who previously had sex solicitation charges against him dropped is facing new charges of sexually assaulting a teenage boy. The Telegram & Gazette reports that 44-year-old Steven Bliss was charged earlier this month with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over. He faces arraignment on May 3. Police allege Bliss sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy sometime between Dec. 18, 2010 and Dec. 18, 2011 after driving the boy to Bliss' home. Bliss' lawyer declined comment Thursday. A message left at a number for Bliss was not returned. Prosecutors dropped the solicitation charges in September. Bliss has worked as a principal and superintendent in several Massachusetts school districts and most recently had been headmaster at a private school in Braintree. A doctor has been charged with sexually assaulting a patient during a visit to his office last month in Peabody, Massachusetts. Dr. Walter Levitsky, 84, of Topsfield, pleaded not guilty to the charge of indecent assault and battery Thursday. "He is a good doctor. He cares about his patients. He supports them," Dr. Levitsky's longtime office manager, Susie, said Friday. "I've never seen anything inappropriate." The office manager, who didn't want to give her last name, says she found out about the incident on Friday when a patient called the office. According to the Salem News, the woman said Levitsky began to pinch her all over her body, eventually reaching her chest, according to the police report. "Pretty disgusting," Beverly Orro said. "When I was in the hospital, he did visit me once. He didn't touch, he didn't exam me." "I think I would have pinched him right back," she added. According to the Board of Registration in Medicine, Levitsky resigned his medical license recently. His officer manager said he would be in the office next week to say goodbye to his former patients. He is due back in court next month. WASHINGTON We certainly are learning the power and necessity of saying, Im sorry. When United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz at first failed to apologize to the Kentucky doctor dragged, bloodily, off a flight for which he had paid and been seated, national outrage was immediate. Three passengers gave up their seats without incident when the airline told them to leave to accommodate four crew members; the doctor, David Dao, protested, saying he had patients he needed to see. Dao ended up being treated at a hospital in Chicago, not at his Kentucky office. Munoz infamously said Dao and the other passengers had been re-accommodated. What a word! I can hear precocious students mockingly noting that they dont want to be re-accommodated by their parents or teachers. When Uniteds stock price plummeted, Munoz began apologizing, oozing regret, promising such an unsettling scenario would never happen again. (Advice to the penny-wise and pound-foolish: If United had offered reasonable compensation to take a later flight, such as $1,350, there quickly would have been seats available, and United would not have had one of its worst weeks ever.) Then came Sean Spicer, beleaguered White House press secretary. Trying to justify the administrations limited attack on a Syrian airfield after Syria killed dozens of its citizens with nerve gas, Spicer said that Adolf Hitler did not sink to using chemical weapons. Since that is patently untrue millions of Jews and others were gassed under Hitlers demand Spicer agonized for four hours and then sincerely apologized, probably saving his job. He was especially remorseful that his remarks caused pain to Holocaust survivors during the solemn week of Passover and Easter. If only his boss, the president, would learn the refined and vital art of expressing sorrow for being wrong. Donald Trump has put the nations capital in chaos after falsely accusing former President Barack Obama of committing a felony by ordering a wiretap on Trump Tower. The FBI, the CIA and members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, are 100 percent certain thats untrue. But Trump does not know how to say, Im sorry. He thinks it would make him look weak. Really, though, it takes courage, backbone and character to make a heartfelt apology, admitting you said or did something wrong. Rarely a day goes by in this crazy administration that Trump does not say something that is not true. The other day he told a group of CEOs at the White House that consumer confidence had grown to 93 percent since he took office. First of all, its not in percentages, its an index. The index is 93. It was 113.7 the month before Trump was elected. And it has been steadily going up since the 2008 recession. At the same meeting, Trump said he had created 600,000 jobs since he took office on January 20. In actuality, 307,000 jobs have been created since hes been president. In a healthy economy, there should be at least 250,000 new jobs each month, and last month there were only 98,000. Also, presidents dont create jobs, although they all take credit when the news is good. All the regulations Trump insists he has cast aside have not yet had an impact, for good or ill. When Trump tweets or says something that is false, the truth never quite catches up. Winston Churchill said that a lie gets halfway around the world before truth has as a chance to put its pants on. Half a million Syrians are dead and millions have been displaced in a horrific, 6-year-long civil war. Trump is re-evaluating whether to intervene and punish Russia for aiding and abetting Syria. (Trump campaigned vociferously on not intervening and for making amends with Russia.) But when Trump ordered 23 Syrian planes destroyed, he was bombing both the Syrian government and Syrian rebels and angering Russia. If theres a strategy here, its incoherent. Also, North Korea is threatening to use its nuclear weapons, and the United States says it may act pre-emptively. This is one of the most dangerous, unpredictable periods since the Korean War armistice well over half a century ago. Trust in this White House is lagging, and that is worrisome. A (sincere) Trump apology for the pointless uproar over his lie about Obama wiretapping his campaign and a (sincere) commitment to truth would help. Sunitha natti By Express News Service MUMBAI: At least 10 out of the 22 public-sector banks might freeze branch expansion this fiscal and make higher provisioning for bad loans, while 16 lenders are unlikely to give dividends for the just concluded FY17. This is part of the mandatory actions that banks have to comply with under RBIs revised Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework announced on Thursday. If banks deploy prudence, discretionary measures like halt in hiring, branch rationalisation, sale of assets and reduced capital expenditure, too, could kick in. At 16 banks, net NPAs as a percentage of advances could exceed six per cent for FY17, breaching PCAs first risk threshold and may have to forego dividend payout. Ten banks may fall under the next bracket with net NPAs ranging between nine and 12 per cent and may have to self-impose restrictions on branch expansion besides others. Some of these include Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and IDBI. Typically, RBI invokes PCA on banks breaching limits, but this time, the central bank was explicit in its communication. These guidelines effective from April (based on FY17 data) will apply without exception to all banks breaching risk thresholds, it said in the notification. Revised after a gap of 15 years, the PCA framework assesses risk using four parameters capital, asset quality (NPAs), profitability and leverage categorised under three risk thresholds. For every trigger point, a set of mandatory and discretionary actions are laid down to pre-empt deterioration in the soundness of banks. If you take December 2016 data as a proxy, several banks could breach on the asset quality front, Karthik Srinivasan, senior vice-president and group head financial-sector ratings, ICRA told Express, adding that a few banks incurred losses in FY16 and will likely report negative returns in FY17. According to fresh norms, banks incurring losses for two years could attract RBI intervention. RBI may also impose PCA on any bank if circumstances so warrant, like it did in the case of IOB in October 2015, mandating branch rationalisation, and other strategy, capital and governance-related measures. Nevertheless, IOBs net NPAs hit a threshold and could attract severe action including restrictions on management compensation and directors fee. MUMBAI: At least 10 out of the 22 public-sector banks might freeze branch expansion this fiscal and make higher provisioning for bad loans, while 16 lenders are unlikely to give dividends for the just concluded FY17. This is part of the mandatory actions that banks have to comply with under RBIs revised Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework announced on Thursday. If banks deploy prudence, discretionary measures like halt in hiring, branch rationalisation, sale of assets and reduced capital expenditure, too, could kick in. At 16 banks, net NPAs as a percentage of advances could exceed six per cent for FY17, breaching PCAs first risk threshold and may have to forego dividend payout. Ten banks may fall under the next bracket with net NPAs ranging between nine and 12 per cent and may have to self-impose restrictions on branch expansion besides others. Some of these include Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and IDBI. Typically, RBI invokes PCA on banks breaching limits, but this time, the central bank was explicit in its communication. These guidelines effective from April (based on FY17 data) will apply without exception to all banks breaching risk thresholds, it said in the notification. Revised after a gap of 15 years, the PCA framework assesses risk using four parameters capital, asset quality (NPAs), profitability and leverage categorised under three risk thresholds. For every trigger point, a set of mandatory and discretionary actions are laid down to pre-empt deterioration in the soundness of banks. If you take December 2016 data as a proxy, several banks could breach on the asset quality front, Karthik Srinivasan, senior vice-president and group head financial-sector ratings, ICRA told Express, adding that a few banks incurred losses in FY16 and will likely report negative returns in FY17. According to fresh norms, banks incurring losses for two years could attract RBI intervention. RBI may also impose PCA on any bank if circumstances so warrant, like it did in the case of IOB in October 2015, mandating branch rationalisation, and other strategy, capital and governance-related measures. Nevertheless, IOBs net NPAs hit a threshold and could attract severe action including restrictions on management compensation and directors fee. Vidya Vijay By Express News Service BENGALURU: Travelling across seven continents would sound like a dream to most of us. Globetrotting duo Prasanna Veeraswamy and Sangeetha Ranganath have managed to accomplish this in less than 20 years. The couple began their expedition across the globe in the year 1999 from the United States. As a child, Sangeetha had widely travelled across India and her passion for travelling was stoked at an early age of four when she visited Taj Mahal and Kashmir on the same trip. Her husband Prasanna had applied for his passport only at the age of 24 for work purposes, and he says that there has been no turning back ever since then. He has visited 170 countries. Their first international holiday was to England and Scotland. Prasanna Veeraswamy and Sangeetha Forfeiting Material Possessions Their shared love for reading, history, food and drinks prompted them to go across the world to explore different cultures. When asked about how they managed to fund their trips, Sangeetha says, Prasanna and I were employed in the US for ten years at Microsoft and Amazon respectively, and that helped us manage our trips. We have never wanted to own a house or a car; we also did not have kids. We are passionately committed to travelling. She also says that their initial trips were possible because of good travel deals that were available in the US. Need to Adjust Being a vegetarian Sangeetha used to find it hard to explain her choice of food items abroad. However, she says that as they both learnt Spanish over the years, it was of immense help in South and Central American countries as well as a few European nations. Speaking about time management she says, We utilise every holiday we get, and most of our trips are intense. We would cross borders late at night and stay up to explore. Also, we used to take complete advantage of work from home opportunities in the US. Creating Memories One of the scariest experiences they faced was during their trip to Mayotte, an island near Madagascar in Africa, where they were stuck amidst political riots against the government for two days, without any means of transport. Reminiscing about s Both of them are currently working in India and the duo had recently spoken about their experiences at The Lime Diaries, which was held at The Humming Tree, Bengaluru. They have more exciting plans in store for their future. Their next goal is to visit all the African nations. Libya, Congo, Sudan and Algeria is on their minds for the next trip. BENGALURU: Travelling across seven continents would sound like a dream to most of us. Globetrotting duo Prasanna Veeraswamy and Sangeetha Ranganath have managed to accomplish this in less than 20 years. The couple began their expedition across the globe in the year 1999 from the United States. As a child, Sangeetha had widely travelled across India and her passion for travelling was stoked at an early age of four when she visited Taj Mahal and Kashmir on the same trip. Her husband Prasanna had applied for his passport only at the age of 24 for work purposes, and he says that there has been no turning back ever since then. He has visited 170 countries. Their first international holiday was to England and Scotland. Prasanna Veeraswamy and SangeethaForfeiting Material Possessions Their shared love for reading, history, food and drinks prompted them to go across the world to explore different cultures. When asked about how they managed to fund their trips, Sangeetha says, Prasanna and I were employed in the US for ten years at Microsoft and Amazon respectively, and that helped us manage our trips. We have never wanted to own a house or a car; we also did not have kids. We are passionately committed to travelling. She also says that their initial trips were possible because of good travel deals that were available in the US. Need to Adjust Being a vegetarian Sangeetha used to find it hard to explain her choice of food items abroad. However, she says that as they both learnt Spanish over the years, it was of immense help in South and Central American countries as well as a few European nations. Speaking about time management she says, We utilise every holiday we get, and most of our trips are intense. We would cross borders late at night and stay up to explore. Also, we used to take complete advantage of work from home opportunities in the US. Creating Memories One of the scariest experiences they faced was during their trip to Mayotte, an island near Madagascar in Africa, where they were stuck amidst political riots against the government for two days, without any means of transport. Reminiscing about s Both of them are currently working in India and the duo had recently spoken about their experiences at The Lime Diaries, which was held at The Humming Tree, Bengaluru. They have more exciting plans in store for their future. Their next goal is to visit all the African nations. Libya, Congo, Sudan and Algeria is on their minds for the next trip. Aditya Shrikrishna By Express News Service Film: Begum Jaan Director: Srijit Mukherji Cast: Vidya Balan, Rajit Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi, Gauhar Khan, Pallavi Sharda Begum Jaan is the remake of Srijit Mukherjis Rajkahini that reflects the Bengali films original locations of Debiganj and Haldibari as the Lahore-Amritsar area at the height of Partition. Vidya Balan, as Begum Jaan, runs a tight ship, and is a boss-mother figure to all the women working under her and a pitiless tyrant to the men who dare cross her path. The influence is clearly Shyam Benegals Mandi. It so happens that around her prime property, there are no bloodbaths or other forms of violence even as we keep hearing about these things from other characters outside of Begums house. These portions are when Mukherji does something experimental with his craft. Two government officers meet one Muslim and one Hindu (Rajit Kapoor as Ilias and Ashish Vidhyarthi as Harshvardhan), and we notice that theyve been family friends for long. There is a change in tone the first time they meet post the gruesome events and the atmosphere is palpable. Mukherji experiments with the way he frames or blocks his shots. He makes Ilias and Harshavardhan sit on rocks quite a distance apart and goes for a wide shot with the new partitioned land in front of them. Or when they speak about it, we see half their faces in one corner of the frame and the others half from the other corner. An unfortunate, poorly planned event has made the friends half the men they were. There is even a shot of them leaving Begum Jaans fort with their notice stuck to either side of the doors as the camera pans into the residents, still reeling from righteous anger. The situation in Begum Jaans fort is always just short of an explosion. Years and decades of subjugation, and dominance by men, have made sure that reason will never enter the fort of Begum Jaan, and Begum will go to any lengths to safeguard her people from men. She treats the fort like a diplomatic area that no country or authority can touch. In such a situation, the only question is, who pulls the trigger first. There is nothing even Vidya Balan can do to make things interesting here when that happens. And we never get to know enough about the characters to identify with their sense of loss and longing. Begum Jaan turns out to be as uneven as Cyril Radcliffes drawing of India and Pakistans borders. Film: Begum Jaan Director: Srijit Mukherji Cast: Vidya Balan, Rajit Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi, Gauhar Khan, Pallavi Sharda Begum Jaan is the remake of Srijit Mukherjis Rajkahini that reflects the Bengali films original locations of Debiganj and Haldibari as the Lahore-Amritsar area at the height of Partition. Vidya Balan, as Begum Jaan, runs a tight ship, and is a boss-mother figure to all the women working under her and a pitiless tyrant to the men who dare cross her path. The influence is clearly Shyam Benegals Mandi. It so happens that around her prime property, there are no bloodbaths or other forms of violence even as we keep hearing about these things from other characters outside of Begums house. These portions are when Mukherji does something experimental with his craft. Two government officers meet one Muslim and one Hindu (Rajit Kapoor as Ilias and Ashish Vidhyarthi as Harshvardhan), and we notice that theyve been family friends for long. There is a change in tone the first time they meet post the gruesome events and the atmosphere is palpable. Mukherji experiments with the way he frames or blocks his shots. He makes Ilias and Harshavardhan sit on rocks quite a distance apart and goes for a wide shot with the new partitioned land in front of them. Or when they speak about it, we see half their faces in one corner of the frame and the others half from the other corner. An unfortunate, poorly planned event has made the friends half the men they were. There is even a shot of them leaving Begum Jaans fort with their notice stuck to either side of the doors as the camera pans into the residents, still reeling from righteous anger. The situation in Begum Jaans fort is always just short of an explosion. Years and decades of subjugation, and dominance by men, have made sure that reason will never enter the fort of Begum Jaan, and Begum will go to any lengths to safeguard her people from men. She treats the fort like a diplomatic area that no country or authority can touch. In such a situation, the only question is, who pulls the trigger first. There is nothing even Vidya Balan can do to make things interesting here when that happens. And we never get to know enough about the characters to identify with their sense of loss and longing. Begum Jaan turns out to be as uneven as Cyril Radcliffes drawing of India and Pakistans borders. By Express News Service Mister is proof that Sreenu Vaitlas days of glory are long behind him. Its proof that the filmmaker has lost touch with the trends of the day, lost his grip on the recipe for successful films. A complete disregard for the story and characters is merely scraping the edge of all the problems of the film. How all the cast and crew deemed this film worthy of a release is something well never know. The film is about Chai (Varun Tej), a benevolent man who leaves no stone unturned in helping others. Living in Spain with his family, Chai falls in love with Meera (Hebah) on first sight, only to be told by her she is in love with somebody else. The man returns to India, where he meets Chandramukhi (Lavanya). The story then becomes about these three characters coming to terms with their feelings. It was thought that the film would show us a different Varun Tej, but it never gives him enough scope for performance. The characterisation of Hebah is superficial too. There are many other characters playing blink-and-miss roles. There are bizarre scenes that dont even make sense. At a run time of more than two-and-a-half hours, Mister is not just longer than it should be, but exists when it should not. Mister is proof that Sreenu Vaitlas days of glory are long behind him. Its proof that the filmmaker has lost touch with the trends of the day, lost his grip on the recipe for successful films. A complete disregard for the story and characters is merely scraping the edge of all the problems of the film. How all the cast and crew deemed this film worthy of a release is something well never know. The film is about Chai (Varun Tej), a benevolent man who leaves no stone unturned in helping others. Living in Spain with his family, Chai falls in love with Meera (Hebah) on first sight, only to be told by her she is in love with somebody else. The man returns to India, where he meets Chandramukhi (Lavanya). The story then becomes about these three characters coming to terms with their feelings. It was thought that the film would show us a different Varun Tej, but it never gives him enough scope for performance. The characterisation of Hebah is superficial too. There are many other characters playing blink-and-miss roles. There are bizarre scenes that dont even make sense. At a run time of more than two-and-a-half hours, Mister is not just longer than it should be, but exists when it should not. G Parthasarathy By While the Trump Administration has, since it assumed office, focused its attention primarily on ISIS, there is no clarity as yet on how it intends to deal with Afghanistan, where over 8,000 US troops are deployed. In the meantime, a bitter conflict rages between the Taliban, backed by Pakistan and the Afghan Army. Russia and China seem to be focusing on pleasing Pakistan, by seeking political accommodation with the Taliban, which still operates with the backing of Pakistan. While India was initially excluded; but belatedly invited to this diplomatic effort, it finds its role circumscribed by China-Russia-Pakistan combination. New Delhi, however, remains firm, by backing the diplomatically-cornered Afghan Government. While the Trump Administration has declined to participate in the talks brokered by Beijing and Moscow, it has remained silent in spelling out a clear policy on how it intends to proceed with the longest conflict ever, in which the US has been actively involved. While Trump has been critical of American interventions in Iraq, Syria and Libya, he has not offered any comment on the US role in Afghanistan. His military brass, particularly Defence Secretary General Mattis and the Commander of the US Central Command, General Joseph Votel, appear afflicted with the same beliefs that many American Commanders over the past two decades held and came to grief. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Mattis and Votel appear to believe that Pakistans Generals can be persuaded to fulfill commitments to stop aiding terrorist groups by sweet talk and encouragement. Like their predecessors, both Mattis and Votel will get a reality check sooner, rather than later. How then will the mercurial President Trump handle developments in Afghanistan? Given his oft-stated rhetoric about America First, Trump could act as a saviour of American lives and seek a face-saving withdrawal from Afghanistan. Such a development would inevitably lead to Pakistan-backed Taliban control of extensive parts of Afghanistan, which then as in the past, would become strategic depth for anti-Indian Jihadis to operate from. Pakistan, which now has forces to deploy heavily on its borders with Afghanistan, can then focus its entire attention on low intensity conflict against India. The alternative for Trump is to turn the screws further on Pakistan, while stepping up pressures through drone strikes on Taliban safe havens. Moreover, will the Trump Administration pick up courage to tell Russia and China that their present love fest with the Taliban is a road to nowhere, both diplomatically and militarily? In this complex diplomatic environment, Indias main strength is that it is on the same page as the Afghan Government and a vast majority of Afghans who loathe the Taliban. Pakistan seeks to make Afghanistan a client State. China appears to believe that it can insulate its Muslim majority Xinjiang Province bordering Afghanistan from Islamic radicalism by getting a Government dependent on its all-weather friend Pakistan installed in Kabul. Iran, which had serious differences with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and joined India in backing the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, today has links with the Taliban. Teheran would prefer to see American forces leave Afghanistan. And nobody appears to know the mind of President Donald Trump, on the future American role in Afghanistan. India needs to undertake a closely coordinated diplomatic effort with the Afghan Government to see that their mutual concerns about the Pakistan/Taliban/Haqqani nexus are taken note of and addressed. The writer is a former diplomat dadpartha@gmail.com While the Trump Administration has, since it assumed office, focused its attention primarily on ISIS, there is no clarity as yet on how it intends to deal with Afghanistan, where over 8,000 US troops are deployed. In the meantime, a bitter conflict rages between the Taliban, backed by Pakistan and the Afghan Army. Russia and China seem to be focusing on pleasing Pakistan, by seeking political accommodation with the Taliban, which still operates with the backing of Pakistan. While India was initially excluded; but belatedly invited to this diplomatic effort, it finds its role circumscribed by China-Russia-Pakistan combination. New Delhi, however, remains firm, by backing the diplomatically-cornered Afghan Government. While the Trump Administration has declined to participate in the talks brokered by Beijing and Moscow, it has remained silent in spelling out a clear policy on how it intends to proceed with the longest conflict ever, in which the US has been actively involved. While Trump has been critical of American interventions in Iraq, Syria and Libya, he has not offered any comment on the US role in Afghanistan. His military brass, particularly Defence Secretary General Mattis and the Commander of the US Central Command, General Joseph Votel, appear afflicted with the same beliefs that many American Commanders over the past two decades held and came to grief. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Mattis and Votel appear to believe that Pakistans Generals can be persuaded to fulfill commitments to stop aiding terrorist groups by sweet talk and encouragement. Like their predecessors, both Mattis and Votel will get a reality check sooner, rather than later. How then will the mercurial President Trump handle developments in Afghanistan? Given his oft-stated rhetoric about America First, Trump could act as a saviour of American lives and seek a face-saving withdrawal from Afghanistan. Such a development would inevitably lead to Pakistan-backed Taliban control of extensive parts of Afghanistan, which then as in the past, would become strategic depth for anti-Indian Jihadis to operate from. Pakistan, which now has forces to deploy heavily on its borders with Afghanistan, can then focus its entire attention on low intensity conflict against India. The alternative for Trump is to turn the screws further on Pakistan, while stepping up pressures through drone strikes on Taliban safe havens. Moreover, will the Trump Administration pick up courage to tell Russia and China that their present love fest with the Taliban is a road to nowhere, both diplomatically and militarily? In this complex diplomatic environment, Indias main strength is that it is on the same page as the Afghan Government and a vast majority of Afghans who loathe the Taliban. Pakistan seeks to make Afghanistan a client State. China appears to believe that it can insulate its Muslim majority Xinjiang Province bordering Afghanistan from Islamic radicalism by getting a Government dependent on its all-weather friend Pakistan installed in Kabul. Iran, which had serious differences with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and joined India in backing the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, today has links with the Taliban. Teheran would prefer to see American forces leave Afghanistan. And nobody appears to know the mind of President Donald Trump, on the future American role in Afghanistan. India needs to undertake a closely coordinated diplomatic effort with the Afghan Government to see that their mutual concerns about the Pakistan/Taliban/Haqqani nexus are taken note of and addressed. The writer is a former diplomat dadpartha@gmail.com Mohan Das Menon By Chinas absolutist diplomatic regime and Indian democracys transparent diplomacy have rarely witnessed any degree of convergence in recent years. And Beijing obviously prefers it that way to be able to project its hardline strategies to its neighbourhood and the world at large and essentially to its vast but restless domestic constituency shorn of genuine freedoms and human rights. One illustration that lends credence to this proposition is the fact that while China keeps all of its maritime and land border issues simmering over time and space, most of the outstanding border disputes within the European continent were resolved with finality on negotiating tables, essentially on the premise of the spirit of a transformational concord in the post-colonial era. These European countries without exception chose democracy as the mode of governance of the people, by the people and for the people. When India was pronounced a sovereign democratic republic by its constitution with effect from January 26, 1950, the Peoples Republic of China failed to duly take cognizance of the worlds largest democracy and its post-Independence borders. Even today, despite nearly 20 Sino-Indian Inter Special Representative level rounds of talks, the material issue of border demarcation is yet to be seriously or sincerely addressed by Beijing. Since the world at large is yet to hold China accountable for such dereliction, the evident conclusion is that only regimented governments can unconditionally defend their national interests, not the popular democracies meant to reflect peoples aspirations and their subliminal interests. Significantly, China has been conspicuously selective in solving border issues with Russia and North Korea decades ago. But it continues to diligently push its incremental claimed area propositions (CAP) in respect of the South China Seas and stubbornly reinforcing CAPs on its borders with India. Looking back into history, had New Delhi expressed reservations on Chinas annexation of Tibet in 1950 by highlighting that Mount Kailas, near Lake Mansorovar in the Kailash Range, or Gangdise Mountains form a part of Trans-Himalaya in Tibet and are a sacred arena for Hindus, Buddhists and the Jains alike, Indias case would have been stronger. But India did not adhere to CAPs as a strategic proposition for diplomatic exploitation. China does not dignify such largeness of mind, considering Beijings stubborn and illogical reaction to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lamas recent visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh bordering with China on the plea that it was part of the disputed territory.Such gargantuan claims are put forward by Beijing only to heighten its own branding within the UN Big Five and overawe and pressurize dissidence among Chinese people in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. Contrarily, Chinas blatantly protective armour over notorious Pakistans terror mandarins is part of its vicious campaign against India. To add to Indias discomfiture, as the worlds most empowered democracy, the USA, too, has so far failed to extend anything more than verbal support to India when China is in the process of creating the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through legitimate Indian territory. Now that US President Donald Trumps much-touted face-off with Chinese President Xi Jinping has ended in warm declarations of goodwill and mutual respect, experts are wondering if he will walk the talk, given that he had accused China of stealing American jobs and currency manipulation, fuelling speculations of conflict. However, Sebastian Rosato, Associate Professor of the University of Notre Dame, USA and international policy specialist, does not think so. In a recent interview he reiterated his theory that China and US were on a collision course. Asked about President Xi Jinpings assertion that the new model of great power relations emphasized no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect for each others core interests, and mutually beneficial cooperation, he said: My view is that statements such as these do little to reassure the United States about Chinas intentions. They could equally be interpreted as a Chinese attempt to create an international environment that will allow China to rise to great power status unopposed, at which point it will have the capability to push the United States and its allies around. Considering that President Trump met his Chinese counterpart on American soil, it remains to be seen whether the dialogue was confined to saving only the American democracy from the empowered clutches of China or the global democratic domain too. China has veritably annexed trading grounds of democracies like the US and permeated irreversibly the trade marts and outlets of countries like India. These are matters of global concern. Mohan Das Menon Former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat mdmenonconsulting@gmail.com Chinas absolutist diplomatic regime and Indian democracys transparent diplomacy have rarely witnessed any degree of convergence in recent years. And Beijing obviously prefers it that way to be able to project its hardline strategies to its neighbourhood and the world at large and essentially to its vast but restless domestic constituency shorn of genuine freedoms and human rights. One illustration that lends credence to this proposition is the fact that while China keeps all of its maritime and land border issues simmering over time and space, most of the outstanding border disputes within the European continent were resolved with finality on negotiating tables, essentially on the premise of the spirit of a transformational concord in the post-colonial era. These European countries without exception chose democracy as the mode of governance of the people, by the people and for the people. When India was pronounced a sovereign democratic republic by its constitution with effect from January 26, 1950, the Peoples Republic of China failed to duly take cognizance of the worlds largest democracy and its post-Independence borders. Even today, despite nearly 20 Sino-Indian Inter Special Representative level rounds of talks, the material issue of border demarcation is yet to be seriously or sincerely addressed by Beijing. Since the world at large is yet to hold China accountable for such dereliction, the evident conclusion is that only regimented governments can unconditionally defend their national interests, not the popular democracies meant to reflect peoples aspirations and their subliminal interests. Significantly, China has been conspicuously selective in solving border issues with Russia and North Korea decades ago. But it continues to diligently push its incremental claimed area propositions (CAP) in respect of the South China Seas and stubbornly reinforcing CAPs on its borders with India. Looking back into history, had New Delhi expressed reservations on Chinas annexation of Tibet in 1950 by highlighting that Mount Kailas, near Lake Mansorovar in the Kailash Range, or Gangdise Mountains form a part of Trans-Himalaya in Tibet and are a sacred arena for Hindus, Buddhists and the Jains alike, Indias case would have been stronger. But India did not adhere to CAPs as a strategic proposition for diplomatic exploitation. China does not dignify such largeness of mind, considering Beijings stubborn and illogical reaction to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lamas recent visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh bordering with China on the plea that it was part of the disputed territory.Such gargantuan claims are put forward by Beijing only to heighten its own branding within the UN Big Five and overawe and pressurize dissidence among Chinese people in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. Contrarily, Chinas blatantly protective armour over notorious Pakistans terror mandarins is part of its vicious campaign against India. To add to Indias discomfiture, as the worlds most empowered democracy, the USA, too, has so far failed to extend anything more than verbal support to India when China is in the process of creating the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through legitimate Indian territory. Now that US President Donald Trumps much-touted face-off with Chinese President Xi Jinping has ended in warm declarations of goodwill and mutual respect, experts are wondering if he will walk the talk, given that he had accused China of stealing American jobs and currency manipulation, fuelling speculations of conflict. However, Sebastian Rosato, Associate Professor of the University of Notre Dame, USA and international policy specialist, does not think so. In a recent interview he reiterated his theory that China and US were on a collision course. Asked about President Xi Jinpings assertion that the new model of great power relations emphasized no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect for each others core interests, and mutually beneficial cooperation, he said: My view is that statements such as these do little to reassure the United States about Chinas intentions. They could equally be interpreted as a Chinese attempt to create an international environment that will allow China to rise to great power status unopposed, at which point it will have the capability to push the United States and its allies around. Considering that President Trump met his Chinese counterpart on American soil, it remains to be seen whether the dialogue was confined to saving only the American democracy from the empowered clutches of China or the global democratic domain too. China has veritably annexed trading grounds of democracies like the US and permeated irreversibly the trade marts and outlets of countries like India. These are matters of global concern. Mohan Das Menon Former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat mdmenonconsulting@gmail.com Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: In a major setback to ruling PDP, opposition National Conference Working president and three-time Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the bypolls to Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, which had witnessed record low of only 7.13 percent voter turnout. After winning the seat, Farooq demanded that Governors rule should be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir and talks should be started with separatist Hurriyat Conference and neighbouring country Pakistan. Farooq defeated his nearest rival of ruling PDP Nazir Ahmad Khan by a margin on 10776 votes. Out of total 89883 votes polled, 88951 were found valid. Farooq polled 48555 votes while Nazir PDP got 37779 votes. 932 voters used the NOTA option. Farooqs win is seen as a major setback for PDP and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who had taken over reigns of the state on April 4, last year following death of her father and former CM Mufti Sayeed on January 7, 2016. The voting for bypolls to Srinagar LS seat spread over three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal was held on April 9. It was marred by violence and poll boycott. At least eight people were killedand over 100 injured in security forces firing on protestors during clashes on the poll day. Seven of the deaths had taken place in Budgam district. 100 security men also sustained injuries in the clashes. Only 7.14 percent polling was recorded in bypolls, which was lowest for the seat in over three decades. The poll percentage fell to 7.13 per cent after only 2% voter turnout in re-polling at 38 polling booths of the parliamentary seat on April 13. The bypolls was necessitated after Tariq Ahmad Karra resigned from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat and PDP in September last year to protest excesses committed by security forces on protestors during the unrest in the Valley triggered by killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. In 2014 parliamentary elections, Karra had defeated NCs Farooq Abdullah. It was the first and only electoral defeat of Farooq. Talking to reporters at his Gupkar residence in Srinagar after his win, Farooq demanded imposition of Governors rule in the State. Mehbooba Mufti should step down as Chief Minister immediately and the situation in State merits the imposition of Governors rule. There is absolutely no doubt about this. He also appealed president of India to dismiss the state government as it has failed to deliver. I also demand that election for bypolls to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat should be held under the Governor's rule. If it is not done then it is unlikely that people would get justice, the NC president said. The bypolls for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat has been deferred and would now be held on May 25. Farooq, who recently defended stone pelters and stated that they were fighting for nation, said eight people were martyred on poll day in central Kashmir on Sunday. Several others were in hospitals and jails, he said adding he had never seen such an election, where people were frightened. Farooq said he would seek a dialogue between India and Pakistan to try to honesty resolve the Kashmir Issue. I will also ask New Delhi to talk to all stakeholders in Kashmir including the Hurriyat leadership, he said adding Hurriyat is a stakeholder to the issue. The former CM said people of Kashmir cannot be expected to suffer endlessly. I will demand a dialogue between the two countries and also ask New Delhi to talk to Hurriyat leadership. There is no alternative to talk. You have to talk in an effort to find a solution. Expressing anguish over recent videos incidents of human rights violations including one one in which a youth from Budgam was tied by army to an army jeep, he said strictest possible action should be taken against those troops who are found guilty. On the low turnout in the, he said that the low voting does not make any difference. We have seen elections before also where hardly any percentage was there. It does not make any difference. Democracy has been there. What do you say to the people who have voted, he said The NC president said he would in all earnestness endeavor to be the voice of the alienated and isolated youth of the Valley, who have been cornered, stereotyped and pushed to the wall by the politics of arrogance and polarization. I would leave no stone unturned to strive for justice and peace and be the voice against injustice and oppression as an elected representative in the parliament, he added. SRINAGAR: In a major setback to ruling PDP, opposition National Conference Working president and three-time Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the bypolls to Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, which had witnessed record low of only 7.13 percent voter turnout. After winning the seat, Farooq demanded that Governors rule should be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir and talks should be started with separatist Hurriyat Conference and neighbouring country Pakistan. Farooq defeated his nearest rival of ruling PDP Nazir Ahmad Khan by a margin on 10776 votes. Out of total 89883 votes polled, 88951 were found valid. Farooq polled 48555 votes while Nazir PDP got 37779 votes. 932 voters used the NOTA option. Farooqs win is seen as a major setback for PDP and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who had taken over reigns of the state on April 4, last year following death of her father and former CM Mufti Sayeed on January 7, 2016. The voting for bypolls to Srinagar LS seat spread over three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal was held on April 9. It was marred by violence and poll boycott. At least eight people were killedand over 100 injured in security forces firing on protestors during clashes on the poll day. Seven of the deaths had taken place in Budgam district. 100 security men also sustained injuries in the clashes. Only 7.14 percent polling was recorded in bypolls, which was lowest for the seat in over three decades. The poll percentage fell to 7.13 per cent after only 2% voter turnout in re-polling at 38 polling booths of the parliamentary seat on April 13. The bypolls was necessitated after Tariq Ahmad Karra resigned from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat and PDP in September last year to protest excesses committed by security forces on protestors during the unrest in the Valley triggered by killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. In 2014 parliamentary elections, Karra had defeated NCs Farooq Abdullah. It was the first and only electoral defeat of Farooq. Talking to reporters at his Gupkar residence in Srinagar after his win, Farooq demanded imposition of Governors rule in the State. Mehbooba Mufti should step down as Chief Minister immediately and the situation in State merits the imposition of Governors rule. There is absolutely no doubt about this. He also appealed president of India to dismiss the state government as it has failed to deliver. I also demand that election for bypolls to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat should be held under the Governor's rule. If it is not done then it is unlikely that people would get justice, the NC president said. The bypolls for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat has been deferred and would now be held on May 25. Farooq, who recently defended stone pelters and stated that they were fighting for nation, said eight people were martyred on poll day in central Kashmir on Sunday. Several others were in hospitals and jails, he said adding he had never seen such an election, where people were frightened. Farooq said he would seek a dialogue between India and Pakistan to try to honesty resolve the Kashmir Issue. I will also ask New Delhi to talk to all stakeholders in Kashmir including the Hurriyat leadership, he said adding Hurriyat is a stakeholder to the issue. The former CM said people of Kashmir cannot be expected to suffer endlessly. I will demand a dialogue between the two countries and also ask New Delhi to talk to Hurriyat leadership. There is no alternative to talk. You have to talk in an effort to find a solution. Expressing anguish over recent videos incidents of human rights violations including one one in which a youth from Budgam was tied by army to an army jeep, he said strictest possible action should be taken against those troops who are found guilty. On the low turnout in the, he said that the low voting does not make any difference. We have seen elections before also where hardly any percentage was there. It does not make any difference. Democracy has been there. What do you say to the people who have voted, he said The NC president said he would in all earnestness endeavor to be the voice of the alienated and isolated youth of the Valley, who have been cornered, stereotyped and pushed to the wall by the politics of arrogance and polarization. I would leave no stone unturned to strive for justice and peace and be the voice against injustice and oppression as an elected representative in the parliament, he added. By PTI NEW DELHI: Police have arrested four members of the Irani gang, who used to rob elderly women of their jewellery by posing as Crime Branch or CBI officers. The miscreants were inspired by Akshay Kumar-starrer Bollywood film 'Special 26'. While posing as cops, two of them used to wear safari suits like police officers in 'mufti' (plain clothes), said DCP (West) Vijay Kumar. Two of the accused are wanted in two separate Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) cases by Mumbai Police's Crime Branch, he added. The gang members used to target elderly people, mostly women. One of them used to approach the victim posing as a cop and narrate a story about a murderer or a notorious robber or chain-snatcher being on the prowl in the area, police said. Another member of the gang would then arrive at the spot wearing a gold chain and he too would be cautioned by the fake cop against wearing gold. The person cautioned would then hand over his gold chain and watch to the fake cop. In most cases, the unsuspecting victim would follow suit and hand over all of her valuables to the fake cop, who would wrap them in a cover and return the same to the owner, said the officer. In reality, while talking to the victim, the accused would replace the jewellery with cheap imitations. By the time the victim would realise that she had been conned, the accused would disappear from the spot. On April 9, one Ramesh Kumari Verma (74) approached the police with a complaint, alleging that while she was going to some place with her husband, two fake policemen approached them and conned them following the modus operandi mentioned above. Several such incidents from west Delhi and adjoining areas subsequently came to the notice of the police and a team was formed under the supervision of ACP (Operations, West) Jagjit Sangwan. Yesterday, police received information that the gang members would assemble at Masjid Lane in Bhogal, from where four of them were arrested. With the arrest of the four -- Naasir Hafiz Khan, Asu Shahjman Saiyad, Barkat Ali and Zafar Abbas Amjad Seikh -- the police claim to have solved over 100 such cases reported from Delhi, Gurugram and other states. Naasir, the kingpin of the gang, and Zafar are wanted in MCOCA cases by the Mumbai Police. Naasir has told the cops that after MCOCA charges were slapped on him, he shifted to Delhi from Mumbai with the help of his in-laws. He used a fake identity of Sameer Ali in Delhi and formed the gang by inducting his associates from Mumbai, said the DCP. Zafar, a distant relative of Naasir, was also called to Delhi by him. Three fake Delhi Police identity cards and two fake Police Mitra identity cards issued in Maharashtra were seized from Naasir. A fake Aadhaar card and a fake PAN card in the name of Sameer Ali were also seized. The accused belong to the Irani Basti in Ambivali, Mumbai. "Their ancestors were brought from (erstwhile) Persia by the Golconda kings who appointed them as their personal bodyguards. "Over the years, they gained expertise in cheating people by posing as policemen. The Irani gang name was given by the police," said the officer. NEW DELHI: Police have arrested four members of the Irani gang, who used to rob elderly women of their jewellery by posing as Crime Branch or CBI officers. The miscreants were inspired by Akshay Kumar-starrer Bollywood film 'Special 26'. While posing as cops, two of them used to wear safari suits like police officers in 'mufti' (plain clothes), said DCP (West) Vijay Kumar. Two of the accused are wanted in two separate Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) cases by Mumbai Police's Crime Branch, he added. The gang members used to target elderly people, mostly women. One of them used to approach the victim posing as a cop and narrate a story about a murderer or a notorious robber or chain-snatcher being on the prowl in the area, police said. Another member of the gang would then arrive at the spot wearing a gold chain and he too would be cautioned by the fake cop against wearing gold. The person cautioned would then hand over his gold chain and watch to the fake cop. In most cases, the unsuspecting victim would follow suit and hand over all of her valuables to the fake cop, who would wrap them in a cover and return the same to the owner, said the officer. In reality, while talking to the victim, the accused would replace the jewellery with cheap imitations. By the time the victim would realise that she had been conned, the accused would disappear from the spot. On April 9, one Ramesh Kumari Verma (74) approached the police with a complaint, alleging that while she was going to some place with her husband, two fake policemen approached them and conned them following the modus operandi mentioned above. Several such incidents from west Delhi and adjoining areas subsequently came to the notice of the police and a team was formed under the supervision of ACP (Operations, West) Jagjit Sangwan. Yesterday, police received information that the gang members would assemble at Masjid Lane in Bhogal, from where four of them were arrested. With the arrest of the four -- Naasir Hafiz Khan, Asu Shahjman Saiyad, Barkat Ali and Zafar Abbas Amjad Seikh -- the police claim to have solved over 100 such cases reported from Delhi, Gurugram and other states. Naasir, the kingpin of the gang, and Zafar are wanted in MCOCA cases by the Mumbai Police. Naasir has told the cops that after MCOCA charges were slapped on him, he shifted to Delhi from Mumbai with the help of his in-laws. He used a fake identity of Sameer Ali in Delhi and formed the gang by inducting his associates from Mumbai, said the DCP. Zafar, a distant relative of Naasir, was also called to Delhi by him. Three fake Delhi Police identity cards and two fake Police Mitra identity cards issued in Maharashtra were seized from Naasir. A fake Aadhaar card and a fake PAN card in the name of Sameer Ali were also seized. The accused belong to the Irani Basti in Ambivali, Mumbai. "Their ancestors were brought from (erstwhile) Persia by the Golconda kings who appointed them as their personal bodyguards. "Over the years, they gained expertise in cheating people by posing as policemen. The Irani gang name was given by the police," said the officer. By Express News Service BHOPAL: A caste panchayat of the Banjara community in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh ordered a man to get his seven-year-old girl married to an eight-year-old boy as punishment for killing a calf three years ago. The man, Jagdish Banjara, had already been punished when the crime happened three years ago. He was ordered to bathe in the Ganga at Allahabad and host a grand non-vegetarian feast for the entire community in his village of Tarpur, 225 km from Bhopal. Also, Jagdish Banjara, his wife Geeta Bai and their daughter Phool Bai were oistracised in the village. The community elders barred them from drawing water from wells in the village. According to Jagdish Banjara, he was driving stray cattle from of his fields three years ago, when a stone thrown by him hit a calf. A few hours later, the calf died, and the panchayat of Banjara caste elders held Jagdish guilty. I fulfilled all their diktats. I bathed in the Ganga, prayed in several temples and hosted a non-vegetarian feast for the Banjara people of my village. But still my family and I were ostracised for three years, he said on Saturday. On Friday another meeting of the caste panchayat was held in Tarpur. Instead of putting an end to the ostracisation, the caste elders held us guilty again because people from other villages were not willing to marry into Tarpur. The panchayat then ordered us to marry our seven-year-old daughter to an eight-year-old boy from Vidisha district, said Jagdish. Helpless, Jagdish bowed to the diktat and started raising Rs 51,000 for the engagement. But his wife Geeta decided to fight it out, and rushed to the sub-divisional magistrate of Aron in Guna district and narrated entire incident. We sent a team of officials and police to the village and warned them that the marriage should not take place. We have made the caste elders sign bonds pledging not to take the law into their own hands, said magistrate Neeraj Sharma. Caste diktats This is not the first case of kangaroo courts delivering illegal verdicts in Madhya Pradesh. January 2015: A 25-year-old tribal woman was forced to breastfeed a neighbour (with whom she had allegedly eloped) following a tribal panchayat diktat in Alirajpur district. March 2016: A 35-year-old woman of the Pal caste hanged herself after a caste panchayat held her guilty of extra-marital relations with a Dalit man in Tikamgarh district. The panchayat had ordered the man to host a liquor and non-vegetarian party for the womans husband. The woman committed suicide while the party was on outside her house. December 26, 2016: A 70-year-old man died in Chhattarpur district after he was asked by caste elders to stand on one leg as a punishment for cows death. BHOPAL: A caste panchayat of the Banjara community in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh ordered a man to get his seven-year-old girl married to an eight-year-old boy as punishment for killing a calf three years ago. The man, Jagdish Banjara, had already been punished when the crime happened three years ago. He was ordered to bathe in the Ganga at Allahabad and host a grand non-vegetarian feast for the entire community in his village of Tarpur, 225 km from Bhopal. Also, Jagdish Banjara, his wife Geeta Bai and their daughter Phool Bai were oistracised in the village. The community elders barred them from drawing water from wells in the village. According to Jagdish Banjara, he was driving stray cattle from of his fields three years ago, when a stone thrown by him hit a calf. A few hours later, the calf died, and the panchayat of Banjara caste elders held Jagdish guilty. I fulfilled all their diktats. I bathed in the Ganga, prayed in several temples and hosted a non-vegetarian feast for the Banjara people of my village. But still my family and I were ostracised for three years, he said on Saturday. On Friday another meeting of the caste panchayat was held in Tarpur. Instead of putting an end to the ostracisation, the caste elders held us guilty again because people from other villages were not willing to marry into Tarpur. The panchayat then ordered us to marry our seven-year-old daughter to an eight-year-old boy from Vidisha district, said Jagdish. Helpless, Jagdish bowed to the diktat and started raising Rs 51,000 for the engagement. But his wife Geeta decided to fight it out, and rushed to the sub-divisional magistrate of Aron in Guna district and narrated entire incident. We sent a team of officials and police to the village and warned them that the marriage should not take place. We have made the caste elders sign bonds pledging not to take the law into their own hands, said magistrate Neeraj Sharma. Caste diktats This is not the first case of kangaroo courts delivering illegal verdicts in Madhya Pradesh. January 2015: A 25-year-old tribal woman was forced to breastfeed a neighbour (with whom she had allegedly eloped) following a tribal panchayat diktat in Alirajpur district. March 2016: A 35-year-old woman of the Pal caste hanged herself after a caste panchayat held her guilty of extra-marital relations with a Dalit man in Tikamgarh district. The panchayat had ordered the man to host a liquor and non-vegetarian party for the womans husband. The woman committed suicide while the party was on outside her house. December 26, 2016: A 70-year-old man died in Chhattarpur district after he was asked by caste elders to stand on one leg as a punishment for cows death. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Manipur is faced with its maiden coalition trouble after a minister from ally National Peoples Party (NPP), resigned on Saturday citing government interference in the ministry. The States health and family welfare minister L Jayantakumar Singh, who also holds three other important portfolios, was angry over undue interferences to my (Singhs) authority. Recently, the State government suspended the director of health and family welfare department allegedly without consulting Jayantakumar. He resigned reportedly in protest against the arbitrary action. In his resignation letter submitted to Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday, Jayantakumar wrote, With certain enthusiasm, I have been taking the pain of building up certain visions for the portfolios assigned to me. However, it is rueful to get myself acknowledge that I may not be able to get the visions materialised as expected since there have been so many interferences to my authority and image of being a minister. I am, therefore, taking this step to tender my resignation The minister, who attended an official programme in Imphal on Saturday, was not available for comments. Calls made to him went unanswered. The development, which came barely a month after the government formation, reportedly forced the CM rush to the national capital to seek guidance. However, a source close to the CM denied the reports and said he had left for Odisha to attend BJPs National Executive meeting. The CM is likely to take a call on the ministers resignation once he returns. The BJP had formed the government in Manipur last month with support from allies National Peoples Party (NPP), Naga Peoples Front (NPF), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) besides a Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA, an Independent and a Congress MLA who defected to the saffron party. In the March polls, Congress had emerged as the single largest party winning 28 seats, followed by BJP-21, NPP-four, NPF-four, LJP-one, TMC-one besides an Independent. The coalition government has the support of 33 MLAs in the 60-member House. Jayantakumar and the three other NPP MLAs were inducted into the ministry with one being appointed as deputy chief minister. GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Manipur is faced with its maiden coalition trouble after a minister from ally National Peoples Party (NPP), resigned on Saturday citing government interference in the ministry. The States health and family welfare minister L Jayantakumar Singh, who also holds three other important portfolios, was angry over undue interferences to my (Singhs) authority. Recently, the State government suspended the director of health and family welfare department allegedly without consulting Jayantakumar. He resigned reportedly in protest against the arbitrary action. In his resignation letter submitted to Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday, Jayantakumar wrote, With certain enthusiasm, I have been taking the pain of building up certain visions for the portfolios assigned to me. However, it is rueful to get myself acknowledge that I may not be able to get the visions materialised as expected since there have been so many interferences to my authority and image of being a minister. I am, therefore, taking this step to tender my resignation The minister, who attended an official programme in Imphal on Saturday, was not available for comments. Calls made to him went unanswered. The development, which came barely a month after the government formation, reportedly forced the CM rush to the national capital to seek guidance. However, a source close to the CM denied the reports and said he had left for Odisha to attend BJPs National Executive meeting. The CM is likely to take a call on the ministers resignation once he returns. The BJP had formed the government in Manipur last month with support from allies National Peoples Party (NPP), Naga Peoples Front (NPF), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) besides a Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA, an Independent and a Congress MLA who defected to the saffron party. In the March polls, Congress had emerged as the single largest party winning 28 seats, followed by BJP-21, NPP-four, NPF-four, LJP-one, TMC-one besides an Independent. The coalition government has the support of 33 MLAs in the 60-member House. Jayantakumar and the three other NPP MLAs were inducted into the ministry with one being appointed as deputy chief minister. Anand ST Das By Express News Service PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday took a dig at senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi by saying that Zyada bolne se gala jal jata hai. (Speaking too much damages the throat). The barb comes a day after Modi accused RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadavs family members of taking part in dubious land deals. BJP leaders have been demanding that Kumar should order a probe into the alleged acquisition of land and immediately drop Yadavs two minister sons from his cabinet. Yadavs younger son and deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav evaded journalists questions on Modis three back-to-back allegations about acquisition of prime land in Patna and Aurangabad. You (journalists) should show the explanations our leader Manoj Jha has offered. Whatever he has said is the same that I would say, said Tejaswi. Jha had accused Modi of facilitating acquisition of benami property by his family members. At a news conference in Patna on Friday, Jha had said: Instead of throwing baseless charges against the RJD chiefs family, Modi should disclose to whom does a palatial house in Patnas Rajendra Nagar belong to and who is travelling in BMW and Audi cars in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The real estate owned by Modis brother RK Modi on Gurgaons Sohna Road has links to benami properties. The BJP leader refuted the allegations and said he would soon send Jha a legal notice asking him to withdraw his allegations. Over the past ten days, Modi has made three allegations against Lalu Prasad Yadavs family. Modi said that a two-acre land in Patna was given to Yadavs family in return for two railway hotels. The BJP leader also alleged that a beverage firm was handed over to Yadavs family in return for help in setting up a beer factory near Patna. In the third allegation, Modi said Yadavs elder son and Bihars health and forest minister Tej Pratap Yadav bought 45.24 decimal land in Aurangabad in 2010 and concealed the property from Election Commission of India and the state government. PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday took a dig at senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi by saying that Zyada bolne se gala jal jata hai. (Speaking too much damages the throat). The barb comes a day after Modi accused RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadavs family members of taking part in dubious land deals. BJP leaders have been demanding that Kumar should order a probe into the alleged acquisition of land and immediately drop Yadavs two minister sons from his cabinet. Yadavs younger son and deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav evaded journalists questions on Modis three back-to-back allegations about acquisition of prime land in Patna and Aurangabad. You (journalists) should show the explanations our leader Manoj Jha has offered. Whatever he has said is the same that I would say, said Tejaswi. Jha had accused Modi of facilitating acquisition of benami property by his family members. At a news conference in Patna on Friday, Jha had said: Instead of throwing baseless charges against the RJD chiefs family, Modi should disclose to whom does a palatial house in Patnas Rajendra Nagar belong to and who is travelling in BMW and Audi cars in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The real estate owned by Modis brother RK Modi on Gurgaons Sohna Road has links to benami properties. The BJP leader refuted the allegations and said he would soon send Jha a legal notice asking him to withdraw his allegations. Over the past ten days, Modi has made three allegations against Lalu Prasad Yadavs family. Modi said that a two-acre land in Patna was given to Yadavs family in return for two railway hotels. The BJP leader also alleged that a beverage firm was handed over to Yadavs family in return for help in setting up a beer factory near Patna. In the third allegation, Modi said Yadavs elder son and Bihars health and forest minister Tej Pratap Yadav bought 45.24 decimal land in Aurangabad in 2010 and concealed the property from Election Commission of India and the state government. Santwana Bhattacharya By Murmurs for Murmu as President Theres some anticipation in the BJP that the PM will reveal his mind on the presidential candidate on the sidelines of the national executive in Bhubaneswar. Till now the only clue from him, shared with NDA allies, has been that he wants a consensus candidate. The Shiv Sena, which ditched the BJP in the last two presidential polls to back Pratibha Patel and Pranab Mukherjee, has pledged support this time only after the PM hinted at a consensus. But the real surprise may come from the Congress. Even as it confabulates with other opposition parties for a joint candidate against the BJP/NDA nominee, the GOP is keeping its options open. Its not averse to consensus provided someone like Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu is the candidate. A senior Congress leader admitted it would be very difficult for the party not to support the first tribal woman for the presidents post. Murmu is Santhal, a Scheduled Tribe with a sizable presence in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Shes one of the reasons why Naveen Patnaik too has refused to commit the BJD to the opposition camp. Murmu was a minister in his cabinet when he was in alliance with the BJP. The Odisha CM is also waiting for Narendra Modi's announcement before he takes the final call. Tharoor in MEA crosshairs Smooth-talking MP Shashi Tharoor has really got into the crosshairs of the MEA. A claim that he would assist Sushma Swaraj in drafting a parliamentary resolution on Pakistans death sentence on Kulbhushan Jadhav forced her to issue a late night denial and neither foreign secretary Jaishankar nor national security adviser Ajit Doval were amused by Tharoors attempt to inveigle himself into the action. The case is considered so sensitive that even Swaraj read from a prepared text in Parliament. Those in the know said Swaraj chose to speak in English and not Hindi because every word of her statement was carefully chosen and vetted at the top level. In the aftermath of her denial, Tharoor was left to issue a lame defence about his services always being available to the country. Spoiler brothers The older Yadavs of UP, Mulayam and Shivpal, are not willing to learn. Despite the wipeout in the Assembly polls, they are coming in the way of a grand alliance with the BSP. Though Mayawati has a good equation with Akhilesh Yadav, and is willing to get into an anti-BJP grand alliance, Mulayam and Shivpal are not ready to forget the past. Such is their animosity for Maya, the Congress feels a tie-up of anti-BJP parties is impossible as long as the brothers are in the SP. Papas connections Supriya Sule has clearly inherited her fathers famed talent for cross-party friendships. It was in full display at a recent dinner she helped Sharad Pawar host in Delhi. The power elite of Lutyens Delhi except for the Gandhis -- as well as top industrialists were in attendance. Being out of power and badly losing the recent local body polls in Maharashtra seem to have had little impact on his clout and connections. The highlight of the evening was a Hindi film music medley played by a Mumbai DJ, specially flown in. Three is better than two Ever since minister of state Balbul Supriyo chaperoned Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina during her New Delhi visit last week, hes been reeling out anecdotes. It seems, at one point, to impress the two PMs, Supriyo gushed about how Tagores poems serve as the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. Only to be corrected by Narendra Modi: No three -- Sri Lanka also. Murmurs for Murmu as President Theres some anticipation in the BJP that the PM will reveal his mind on the presidential candidate on the sidelines of the national executive in Bhubaneswar. Till now the only clue from him, shared with NDA allies, has been that he wants a consensus candidate. The Shiv Sena, which ditched the BJP in the last two presidential polls to back Pratibha Patel and Pranab Mukherjee, has pledged support this time only after the PM hinted at a consensus. But the real surprise may come from the Congress. Even as it confabulates with other opposition parties for a joint candidate against the BJP/NDA nominee, the GOP is keeping its options open. Its not averse to consensus provided someone like Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu is the candidate. A senior Congress leader admitted it would be very difficult for the party not to support the first tribal woman for the presidents post. Murmu is Santhal, a Scheduled Tribe with a sizable presence in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Shes one of the reasons why Naveen Patnaik too has refused to commit the BJD to the opposition camp. Murmu was a minister in his cabinet when he was in alliance with the BJP. The Odisha CM is also waiting for Narendra Modi's announcement before he takes the final call. Tharoor in MEA crosshairs Smooth-talking MP Shashi Tharoor has really got into the crosshairs of the MEA. A claim that he would assist Sushma Swaraj in drafting a parliamentary resolution on Pakistans death sentence on Kulbhushan Jadhav forced her to issue a late night denial and neither foreign secretary Jaishankar nor national security adviser Ajit Doval were amused by Tharoors attempt to inveigle himself into the action. The case is considered so sensitive that even Swaraj read from a prepared text in Parliament. Those in the know said Swaraj chose to speak in English and not Hindi because every word of her statement was carefully chosen and vetted at the top level. In the aftermath of her denial, Tharoor was left to issue a lame defence about his services always being available to the country. Spoiler brothers The older Yadavs of UP, Mulayam and Shivpal, are not willing to learn. Despite the wipeout in the Assembly polls, they are coming in the way of a grand alliance with the BSP. Though Mayawati has a good equation with Akhilesh Yadav, and is willing to get into an anti-BJP grand alliance, Mulayam and Shivpal are not ready to forget the past. Such is their animosity for Maya, the Congress feels a tie-up of anti-BJP parties is impossible as long as the brothers are in the SP. Papas connections Supriya Sule has clearly inherited her fathers famed talent for cross-party friendships. It was in full display at a recent dinner she helped Sharad Pawar host in Delhi. The power elite of Lutyens Delhi except for the Gandhis -- as well as top industrialists were in attendance. Being out of power and badly losing the recent local body polls in Maharashtra seem to have had little impact on his clout and connections. The highlight of the evening was a Hindi film music medley played by a Mumbai DJ, specially flown in. Three is better than two Ever since minister of state Balbul Supriyo chaperoned Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina during her New Delhi visit last week, hes been reeling out anecdotes. It seems, at one point, to impress the two PMs, Supriyo gushed about how Tagores poems serve as the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. Only to be corrected by Narendra Modi: No three -- Sri Lanka also. By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: The state government is now considering handing over the Ayesha Meera murder case to the CBI. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is reportedly veering towards the decision since reinvestigation of the case, if done by the state police is likely to raise doubts over credibility of the probe in the wake of the Hyderabad High Court making adverse comments on how the cops went about the case while acquitting P Satyam Babu of charges of rape and murder of the 17-year-old. Rights organisations such as the Human Rights Forum have already demanded that the government refer the case to the CBI since the police had failed to nail the actual culprits. According to sources, the intelligence department too is understood to have suggested to the CM that it would be better if the reinvestigation is done by the CBI. The department reportedly reminded the Chief Minister how the credibility of the police department had taken a beating after the High Court questioned it and the prosecution on several aspects of the investigation of the case and concluded that the police had framed Satyam Babu to let the actual culprits off the hook. The Chief Ministers office and the state intelligence department received inputs from various quarters which preferred CBI to state police for re-investigation of the case. Though the police department wanted to file an appeal, the CM wanted the case to be reopened by the CBI to send out the message that the government was keen on identifying and punishing the actual culprits in the case. When the police arrested Satyam Babu, Muslim Welfare Organisations, Peoples Organisations and senior advocates said they had no faith in the police anymore since it had framed an innocent person in the case instead of apprehending the actual culprits. After Vijayawada Mahila Court sentenced Sataym Babu to life imprisonment, senior advocate K Rammohana Rao and others challenged the verdict in the High Court. If the state government turns the case over to the CBI, it would be the most appropriate decision in the present circumstances. By doing so, the killers of Ayesha Meera would be brought to book. It is a case fit for the CBI since the Judiciary made comments on the police department, Human Rights Forum general secretary for AP and Telangana VS Krishna said. VIJAYAWADA: The state government is now considering handing over the Ayesha Meera murder case to the CBI. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is reportedly veering towards the decision since reinvestigation of the case, if done by the state police is likely to raise doubts over credibility of the probe in the wake of the Hyderabad High Court making adverse comments on how the cops went about the case while acquitting P Satyam Babu of charges of rape and murder of the 17-year-old. Rights organisations such as the Human Rights Forum have already demanded that the government refer the case to the CBI since the police had failed to nail the actual culprits. According to sources, the intelligence department too is understood to have suggested to the CM that it would be better if the reinvestigation is done by the CBI. The department reportedly reminded the Chief Minister how the credibility of the police department had taken a beating after the High Court questioned it and the prosecution on several aspects of the investigation of the case and concluded that the police had framed Satyam Babu to let the actual culprits off the hook. The Chief Ministers office and the state intelligence department received inputs from various quarters which preferred CBI to state police for re-investigation of the case. Though the police department wanted to file an appeal, the CM wanted the case to be reopened by the CBI to send out the message that the government was keen on identifying and punishing the actual culprits in the case. When the police arrested Satyam Babu, Muslim Welfare Organisations, Peoples Organisations and senior advocates said they had no faith in the police anymore since it had framed an innocent person in the case instead of apprehending the actual culprits. After Vijayawada Mahila Court sentenced Sataym Babu to life imprisonment, senior advocate K Rammohana Rao and others challenged the verdict in the High Court. If the state government turns the case over to the CBI, it would be the most appropriate decision in the present circumstances. By doing so, the killers of Ayesha Meera would be brought to book. It is a case fit for the CBI since the Judiciary made comments on the police department, Human Rights Forum general secretary for AP and Telangana VS Krishna said. By Express News Service KANNUR/KOCHI: In a soft but calculated retort to CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Saturday said no LDF ally should give ammunition to the Opposition to attack the CPM and the Left. In a 60-minute meeting with reporters in his home turf Kannur on Saturday, Kodiyeri categorically responded to all major issues raised by his counterpart recently. Taking a dig at the CPI for its alliance with the Congress in the past, Kodiyeri said the party is free to point out the lapses in governance as they have a better experience being part of both the LDF and UDF-led governments. Stating an open criticism would weaken the government, Kodiyeri mentioned the 'Chavara Sarasan episode' in the early 80s when the CPI joined hands with the CPM detractors against the then LDF Government. Kodiyeri said differences of opinion should be discussed within the LDF. Kodiyeri's retort to Kanam's remarks: 1. Jishnu case and action against his mother Mahija The protest in front of the DGP office was unwarranted. The office premise was declared a high-security zone by the A K Antony government in 2002. Media footage shows there was no attack against Jishnu's mother Mahija or any other family member. The issues raised by Mahija could have been addressed without protesting in front of the DGP office. If Jishnu's family members had an issue with the assurance given by the Chief Minister, they should have taken it up with him in person. It was the High Court which granted anticipatory bail to the accused in the Jishnu case. The Pinarayi Vijayan government took a strong stand against the self-financing colleges. No other government has dared to take such a step. 2. 'Capitalist' remark against Pinarayi Vijayan Kanam might have felt so because he was a trade union leader. (Pinarayi had earlier asked what Mahija and other family members of Jishnu gained from staging the protest in front of the DGP office. Kanam had responded to this saying Pinarayi's statement sounds like that of a capitalist.) 3. Munnar eviction and abuse on Sub-Collector The CPM, LDF and the state government are on the same page on the Munnar issue. Unnecessary controversies have been kicked up regarding the action against encroachments without checking the facts. In Munnar, the encroachments are being removed with the support of the CPM district leadership. But, distorted reports said the party tried to stop evictions. It became an issue after the Sub-Collector reached the place without informing the police. The LDF is against illegal encroachments in Munnar. All encroachments should be evicted. There are efforts from certain quarters to show the government in poor light. However, the government will not take any steps that will disappoint the people. 4. Advisor to CM on public policy There is no anomaly in appointing Raman Srivastava as advisor to the Chief Minister. He was DGP when I was the Home Minister. 5. Maoist Killings in Nilambur It was not a fake encounter and the Maoists were killed during the counter-attack by police. Fake encounters had taken place in Kerala under the UDF rule. There is no parallel to the 'encounter' of Naxal Varghese. The truth behind it was revealed later. 6. Affidavit on Naxal Varghese It was the affidavit prepared during the UDF regime--submitted without any checking--which led to such an issue. The CPM was the first to point out the affidavit was wrong. (The affidavit filed in the Kerala High Court had termed Varghese as a notorious criminal who tried to attack the police. In the affidavit, he was mentioned as the leader of a Naxalite gang involved in several murder and dacoity cases). 7. Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) The CPM is against UAPA from the beginning and all allegations being raised against the party in this regard are baseless. 8. Right To Information (RTI) The government is for effectively using the RTI Act. However, there is an ambiguity over providing information regarding Cabinet decisions. The orders of the Supreme Court and the High Court in this regard, too, are not clear. We have moved court to bring more clarity on the issue. 9. Social Media and party members If someone says something on social media, it cannot be termed as the party's stance. The party members should express only the party stance on social media, too. KANNUR/KOCHI: In a soft but calculated retort to CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Saturday said no LDF ally should give ammunition to the Opposition to attack the CPM and the Left. In a 60-minute meeting with reporters in his home turf Kannur on Saturday, Kodiyeri categorically responded to all major issues raised by his counterpart recently. Taking a dig at the CPI for its alliance with the Congress in the past, Kodiyeri said the party is free to point out the lapses in governance as they have a better experience being part of both the LDF and UDF-led governments. Stating an open criticism would weaken the government, Kodiyeri mentioned the 'Chavara Sarasan episode' in the early 80s when the CPI joined hands with the CPM detractors against the then LDF Government. Kodiyeri said differences of opinion should be discussed within the LDF. Kodiyeri's retort to Kanam's remarks: 1. Jishnu case and action against his mother Mahija The protest in front of the DGP office was unwarranted. The office premise was declared a high-security zone by the A K Antony government in 2002. Media footage shows there was no attack against Jishnu's mother Mahija or any other family member. The issues raised by Mahija could have been addressed without protesting in front of the DGP office. If Jishnu's family members had an issue with the assurance given by the Chief Minister, they should have taken it up with him in person. It was the High Court which granted anticipatory bail to the accused in the Jishnu case. The Pinarayi Vijayan government took a strong stand against the self-financing colleges. No other government has dared to take such a step. 2. 'Capitalist' remark against Pinarayi Vijayan Kanam might have felt so because he was a trade union leader. (Pinarayi had earlier asked what Mahija and other family members of Jishnu gained from staging the protest in front of the DGP office. Kanam had responded to this saying Pinarayi's statement sounds like that of a capitalist.) 3. Munnar eviction and abuse on Sub-Collector The CPM, LDF and the state government are on the same page on the Munnar issue. Unnecessary controversies have been kicked up regarding the action against encroachments without checking the facts. In Munnar, the encroachments are being removed with the support of the CPM district leadership. But, distorted reports said the party tried to stop evictions. It became an issue after the Sub-Collector reached the place without informing the police. The LDF is against illegal encroachments in Munnar. All encroachments should be evicted. There are efforts from certain quarters to show the government in poor light. However, the government will not take any steps that will disappoint the people. 4. Advisor to CM on public policy There is no anomaly in appointing Raman Srivastava as advisor to the Chief Minister. He was DGP when I was the Home Minister. 5. Maoist Killings in Nilambur It was not a fake encounter and the Maoists were killed during the counter-attack by police. Fake encounters had taken place in Kerala under the UDF rule. There is no parallel to the 'encounter' of Naxal Varghese. The truth behind it was revealed later. 6. Affidavit on Naxal Varghese It was the affidavit prepared during the UDF regime--submitted without any checking--which led to such an issue. The CPM was the first to point out the affidavit was wrong. (The affidavit filed in the Kerala High Court had termed Varghese as a notorious criminal who tried to attack the police. In the affidavit, he was mentioned as the leader of a Naxalite gang involved in several murder and dacoity cases). 7. Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) The CPM is against UAPA from the beginning and all allegations being raised against the party in this regard are baseless. 8. Right To Information (RTI) The government is for effectively using the RTI Act. However, there is an ambiguity over providing information regarding Cabinet decisions. The orders of the Supreme Court and the High Court in this regard, too, are not clear. We have moved court to bring more clarity on the issue. 9. Social Media and party members If someone says something on social media, it cannot be termed as the party's stance. The party members should express only the party stance on social media, too. By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Romanian national was arrested in Kenya for his alleged role in the sensational hi-tech ATM fraud case on Friday. Ionut Alexandru Marinoiu, the second Romanian involved in the case, was taken into custody by the Kenyan police at an airport following a red corner notice issued by the Interpol based on an alert from Kerala police. A police team led by Thiruvananthapuram range IG Manoj Abraham will soon be heading to Kenya for taking him into the custody. According to K E Baiju, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cantonment, the state police had started the proceedings to secure the custody of the accused by contacting the Interpol officers at New Delhi. We will go to Kenya after completing the proceedings. It will take some time to complete the formalities. We need to interrogate him to ascertain his role in the ATM fraud case, he said. According to the police, a six-member team from Romania arrived in India on June 25 and reached Kerala on July 8. Three persons arrived on tourist visas and took rooms in a hotel at Pazhavangady. They allegedly collected the ATM card details and PIN number of around 100 customers by installing a wi-fi router in the ATM at Althara near Vellayambalam. They later gained access to the accounts of the customers and withdrew money from their accounts through various ATMs in Mumbai. Over 60 people had lodged complaints with the city police at Peroorkada, Museum and Vattiyoorkavu police stations stating unknown persons had swindled money from their accounts. The police had arrested another Romanian - Gabriel Marian on August 10, 2016 from Mumbai in connection with the case. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Romanian national was arrested in Kenya for his alleged role in the sensational hi-tech ATM fraud case on Friday. Ionut Alexandru Marinoiu, the second Romanian involved in the case, was taken into custody by the Kenyan police at an airport following a red corner notice issued by the Interpol based on an alert from Kerala police. A police team led by Thiruvananthapuram range IG Manoj Abraham will soon be heading to Kenya for taking him into the custody. According to K E Baiju, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cantonment, the state police had started the proceedings to secure the custody of the accused by contacting the Interpol officers at New Delhi. We will go to Kenya after completing the proceedings. It will take some time to complete the formalities. We need to interrogate him to ascertain his role in the ATM fraud case, he said. According to the police, a six-member team from Romania arrived in India on June 25 and reached Kerala on July 8. Three persons arrived on tourist visas and took rooms in a hotel at Pazhavangady. They allegedly collected the ATM card details and PIN number of around 100 customers by installing a wi-fi router in the ATM at Althara near Vellayambalam. They later gained access to the accounts of the customers and withdrew money from their accounts through various ATMs in Mumbai. Over 60 people had lodged complaints with the city police at Peroorkada, Museum and Vattiyoorkavu police stations stating unknown persons had swindled money from their accounts. The police had arrested another Romanian - Gabriel Marian on August 10, 2016 from Mumbai in connection with the case. By Express News Service SAMBALPUR: Hanuman Jayanti celebration was marked by minor skirmishes between former minister Jayanarayan Mishra, his supporters and the police here on Friday before Mishras arrest. Sambalpur police, who had thrown a security blanket over the city from Thursday, arrested Mishra in the afternoon while he was on his way to Hanuman temple at SRIT Colony. Sambalpur SP Akhilesvar Singh said Sadar Sub-Collector had issued warrant against Mishra under Section 107 of CrPc apprehending But Mishra did not give up easily on his arrest. Police intercepted his vehicle near SRIT Colony entrance. Police had to face a harrowing time to convince Mishra to alight from his vehicle as he was protesting the arrest. Mishra also raised slogans against the police while he alighted from his vehicle after arguing with the cops for about an hour. Prior to this, police had gone to the BJP office along Kacheri Road here to arrest Mishra. But they failed to arrest him due to stiff resistance by his supporters. Reacting to his arrest, Mishra said it was unlawful as he was on his way to visit different localities in the city to witness Hanuman Jayanti celebration. Earlier in 2015, Mishra had wielded sword during Hanuman Jayanti procession despite ban on display of arms and wielding sword during religious function and procession. Subsequently, he was arrested by the police for defying the ban. A case had also been registered against Mishra in 2016 for wielding sword. The SP said Mishra will be produced before Sambalpur Sadar Sub- Collector after the end of the procession. Till reports last came in, the main procession, which began from Zilla School Chowk here, was moving ahead peacefully with no report of any untoward incident. SAMBALPUR: Hanuman Jayanti celebration was marked by minor skirmishes between former minister Jayanarayan Mishra, his supporters and the police here on Friday before Mishras arrest. Sambalpur police, who had thrown a security blanket over the city from Thursday, arrested Mishra in the afternoon while he was on his way to Hanuman temple at SRIT Colony. Sambalpur SP Akhilesvar Singh said Sadar Sub-Collector had issued warrant against Mishra under Section 107 of CrPc apprehending But Mishra did not give up easily on his arrest. Police intercepted his vehicle near SRIT Colony entrance. Police had to face a harrowing time to convince Mishra to alight from his vehicle as he was protesting the arrest. Mishra also raised slogans against the police while he alighted from his vehicle after arguing with the cops for about an hour. Prior to this, police had gone to the BJP office along Kacheri Road here to arrest Mishra. But they failed to arrest him due to stiff resistance by his supporters. Reacting to his arrest, Mishra said it was unlawful as he was on his way to visit different localities in the city to witness Hanuman Jayanti celebration. Earlier in 2015, Mishra had wielded sword during Hanuman Jayanti procession despite ban on display of arms and wielding sword during religious function and procession. Subsequently, he was arrested by the police for defying the ban. A case had also been registered against Mishra in 2016 for wielding sword. The SP said Mishra will be produced before Sambalpur Sadar Sub- Collector after the end of the procession. Till reports last came in, the main procession, which began from Zilla School Chowk here, was moving ahead peacefully with no report of any untoward incident. By Express News Service CHENNAI: A group of students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have begun a two-day hunger strike expressing solidarity with the Tamil Nadu farmers who are currently staging protests in New Delhi. The hunger strike began at 9 pm with about a dozen students on Saturday. The protest is voluntary and several IITians are expected to take part in the event being organised inside the campus near Himalaya Lawn. Sundar, a student leader, said the hunger strike is being carried out in support of Tamil Nadu farmers who have been protesting in the national capital for the past one-month demanding waiver of agricultural loans. Also, we are condemning the police crackdown on protesters who are opposing opening of TASMAC outlets in residential areas, he said. CHENNAI: A group of students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have begun a two-day hunger strike expressing solidarity with the Tamil Nadu farmers who are currently staging protests in New Delhi. The hunger strike began at 9 pm with about a dozen students on Saturday. The protest is voluntary and several IITians are expected to take part in the event being organised inside the campus near Himalaya Lawn. Sundar, a student leader, said the hunger strike is being carried out in support of Tamil Nadu farmers who have been protesting in the national capital for the past one-month demanding waiver of agricultural loans. Also, we are condemning the police crackdown on protesters who are opposing opening of TASMAC outlets in residential areas, he said. T Muruganandham By Express News Service CHENNAI: On a day when rumours flew thick and fast that some rapprochement moves were on between the warring factions of the ruling AIADMK, sources told Express that a section of leaders of the official faction have raised dissenting voices over the state of affairs, which was set off by the income tax raids at the residence and premises owned and linked to Health Minister C Vijaya Basker. Sources said there were heated exchanges during the meeting between many senior ministers and office bearers of the party. The meeting was called by deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran at his residence in Besant Nagar. While two senior ministers from the western belt demanded that Vijaya Basker should be dropped from the State Cabinet keeping in mind the interest of the party, Dhinakaran did not approve of it. The ministers also counselled Dhinakaran to keep away from the political scene to safeguard the party and government, pointing out that the Centre was targeting him next. However, another leader, a former minister from Kanyakumari, vehemently opposed this, which triggered heated exchanges between them. Sources also added that a group of senior ministers met Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at his residence to urge him to drop Vijaya Basker. However, answering queries mediapersons later, Dhinakaran denied reports about the rift. Asked about rumours that a section of ministers were of the view that he should stay away from the party to protect it and that they were ready to stage a fast to press it at Jayalalithaa memorial, Dhinakaran said, I have not received any such information. All ministers in Chennai have called on me today to convey Tamil New Year greetings. When asked about the I-T raids on Vijaya Baskers house and other places, Dhinakaran said the minister had clarified that he had not done anything wrong. Vijaya Basker was not present during the meeting during the day because he had gone to his native Pudukkottai to celebrate the new year, Dhinakaran maintained, adding that there was no plans for a reshuffle in the State Cabinet. Opposition parties have been demanding Vijaya Baskers ouster following the raids, which Dhinakaran termed as unfair. The documents produced by the I-T department is not sufficient for dismissal of the government, he insisted. Responding to a question as to whether he perceived the interference of Central government on the freezing of the Two Leaves symbol and the I-T raids, Dhinakaran said: As far as I know, the Central government has no role in these developments. The dispute over Two Leaves symbol originated from the complaint filed by our opponents and Centre has no role in it. CHENNAI: On a day when rumours flew thick and fast that some rapprochement moves were on between the warring factions of the ruling AIADMK, sources told Express that a section of leaders of the official faction have raised dissenting voices over the state of affairs, which was set off by the income tax raids at the residence and premises owned and linked to Health Minister C Vijaya Basker. Sources said there were heated exchanges during the meeting between many senior ministers and office bearers of the party. The meeting was called by deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran at his residence in Besant Nagar. While two senior ministers from the western belt demanded that Vijaya Basker should be dropped from the State Cabinet keeping in mind the interest of the party, Dhinakaran did not approve of it. The ministers also counselled Dhinakaran to keep away from the political scene to safeguard the party and government, pointing out that the Centre was targeting him next. However, another leader, a former minister from Kanyakumari, vehemently opposed this, which triggered heated exchanges between them. Sources also added that a group of senior ministers met Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at his residence to urge him to drop Vijaya Basker. However, answering queries mediapersons later, Dhinakaran denied reports about the rift. Asked about rumours that a section of ministers were of the view that he should stay away from the party to protect it and that they were ready to stage a fast to press it at Jayalalithaa memorial, Dhinakaran said, I have not received any such information. All ministers in Chennai have called on me today to convey Tamil New Year greetings. When asked about the I-T raids on Vijaya Baskers house and other places, Dhinakaran said the minister had clarified that he had not done anything wrong. Vijaya Basker was not present during the meeting during the day because he had gone to his native Pudukkottai to celebrate the new year, Dhinakaran maintained, adding that there was no plans for a reshuffle in the State Cabinet. Opposition parties have been demanding Vijaya Baskers ouster following the raids, which Dhinakaran termed as unfair. The documents produced by the I-T department is not sufficient for dismissal of the government, he insisted. Responding to a question as to whether he perceived the interference of Central government on the freezing of the Two Leaves symbol and the I-T raids, Dhinakaran said: As far as I know, the Central government has no role in these developments. The dispute over Two Leaves symbol originated from the complaint filed by our opponents and Centre has no role in it. By Express News Service COIMBATORE: A recent video doing the rounds on social media that of an Armed Reserve policeman confessing to breaking the window of a police vehicle at the site of a public protest against a Tasmac outlet in Samalapuram in Tirupur has landed them in trouble. The police had earlier blamed the protesters for damaging their vehicles and cited it as the reason for the lathi charge. On Tuesday, police personnel physically assaulted protesters, including women, when they were demanding the closure of a Tasmac shop. Tirupur Superintendent of Police (SP) E S Uma then defended the police action. Initially we spoke to the people asking them to disperse from the spot and we assured to resolve the issue. But the people did not hear us and continued to protest. They also pelted stones on the police vehicle, after which police lathi charged the protesters. However, in the video, a police personnel is seen showing injuries on his hand to a colleague and saying it happened while breaking a glass window. The colleague asks him again if he indeed broke the glass. He replies in affirmative. The video also shows the broken glass window of the police vehicle. Express could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. The protesters in Samalapuram alleged that the police personnel themselves broke the vehicle window panes to justify their lathi attack. Responding to the allegation, Tirupur Superintendent of Police said, I was informed that the glass was broken only after the people pelted stones on it. But we do not know whether the police broke it or not. We will investigate into it. COIMBATORE: A recent video doing the rounds on social media that of an Armed Reserve policeman confessing to breaking the window of a police vehicle at the site of a public protest against a Tasmac outlet in Samalapuram in Tirupur has landed them in trouble. The police had earlier blamed the protesters for damaging their vehicles and cited it as the reason for the lathi charge. On Tuesday, police personnel physically assaulted protesters, including women, when they were demanding the closure of a Tasmac shop. Tirupur Superintendent of Police (SP) E S Uma then defended the police action. Initially we spoke to the people asking them to disperse from the spot and we assured to resolve the issue. But the people did not hear us and continued to protest. They also pelted stones on the police vehicle, after which police lathi charged the protesters. However, in the video, a police personnel is seen showing injuries on his hand to a colleague and saying it happened while breaking a glass window. The colleague asks him again if he indeed broke the glass. He replies in affirmative. The video also shows the broken glass window of the police vehicle. Express could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. The protesters in Samalapuram alleged that the police personnel themselves broke the vehicle window panes to justify their lathi attack. Responding to the allegation, Tirupur Superintendent of Police said, I was informed that the glass was broken only after the people pelted stones on it. But we do not know whether the police broke it or not. We will investigate into it. Jayendra Chaitanya T By Express News Service HYDERABAD: In yet another incident of so-called revenge porn, morphed pictures of a 45-year-old academician were uploaded onto a gay website by unknown persons. The suspects also posted the mobile number of the professor inviting interested men to call for a relationship, police said. Ever since the professors profile was posted on the website, he started getting phone calls whether he likes top or bottom (dominant or submissive partner), police said. The incident was reported to Rachakonda cyber crime police about a week ago by the professor, who lives in LB Nagar. Police said the victim, who is married and has teenage kids, received calls from strangers in the first week of April . He was shocked on listening to the requests from the strangers proposing physical relationship, as all the callers were men. Initially, the professor did not understand what the strangers meant when they asked him if he was a top or bottom. When he questioned one of the callers as who had given his number, the professor came to know that the mobile number was put on a website inviting partners, said a cyber crime officer from Rachakonda. The professor lodged a complaint with the cyber crime police. The accused also uploaded morphed nude pictures of the professor on the website. It looked like it was raw morphing and was not done by a professional. As he is working in a college, chances are that any person who did not like him could have resorted to this or any former colleague might have been involved, police said. HYDERABAD: In yet another incident of so-called revenge porn, morphed pictures of a 45-year-old academician were uploaded onto a gay website by unknown persons. The suspects also posted the mobile number of the professor inviting interested men to call for a relationship, police said. Ever since the professors profile was posted on the website, he started getting phone calls whether he likes top or bottom (dominant or submissive partner), police said. The incident was reported to Rachakonda cyber crime police about a week ago by the professor, who lives in LB Nagar. Police said the victim, who is married and has teenage kids, received calls from strangers in the first week of April . He was shocked on listening to the requests from the strangers proposing physical relationship, as all the callers were men. Initially, the professor did not understand what the strangers meant when they asked him if he was a top or bottom. When he questioned one of the callers as who had given his number, the professor came to know that the mobile number was put on a website inviting partners, said a cyber crime officer from Rachakonda. The professor lodged a complaint with the cyber crime police. The accused also uploaded morphed nude pictures of the professor on the website. It looked like it was raw morphing and was not done by a professional. As he is working in a college, chances are that any person who did not like him could have resorted to this or any former colleague might have been involved, police said. By AFP COLOMBO: Sri Lankan soldiers dug through rubbish with their bare hands Saturday looking for survivors after a huge garbage mountain collapsed destroying 145 homes and killing at least 19 people. Four children were among the dead following Friday's incident at Kolonnawa on the northeastern edge of the capital, Colombo national hospital spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa said. The 300-foot (91-metre) high dump came crashing down on neighbouring homes Friday as the country marked the traditional new year. Military spokesman Brigadier Roshan Seneviratne said troops were keeping up a rescue operation 24 hours after disaster struck, but feared that chances of finding anyone alive were slim. Businessman Saman Wimalasiri was one of the first responders and said he helped to rescue several people trapped inside wrecked homes. "We used ropes and pulled out an elderly woman who was trapped under the debris of her own home," Wimalasiri told AFP. "It took us about four hours to get her to safety." He said some areas could not be reached because the garbage slide had made them unstable. The initial rescue was carried out by volunteers such as Wimalasiri before President Maithripala Sirisena ordered hundreds of troops to search for survivors through the night. Police said 145 homes were destroyed. - 'Moving mountain' - Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is currently visiting Japan, said arrangements had been made to remove the garbage dump, but it came crashing down before relocation work could begin. "Those who lost their homes and those who have to be relocated will be compensated," Wickremesinghe said in a statement. "we will deliver on our promise to remove the garbage dump." Guttila Silva, a former mayor and local politician, said residents were angry that the Colombo Municipality had continued to dump hundreds of tonnes of garbage at the site daily, despite safety concerns. About 800 tonnes of solid waste is added per day to the open dump. "People are naturally angry because their protests were ignored," Silva said. " I fear the death toll could go up because more than a dozen are still missing." Police said a total of 145 homes, mostly shacks, were destroyed when a side of the garbage mountain came crashing down on Friday following heavy rain the previous day and a fire hours earlier. More than 600 people were given temporary shelter at a government-run school in the area as authorities looked for alternative accommodation for those living near the dump. Many residents had evacuated their homes before the disaster because of the heavy rain. "The casualties would have been much higher if most people had not left their homes earlier in the day," a disaster management official told reporters at the site. Three homes in the area were destroyed in February last year following a minor garbage slide and the authorities had warned another 25 households to evacuate because of risks to them. Sri Lanka's parliament was warned recently that the 23 million tonnes of garbage rotting at Kolonnawa was a serious health hazard. Efforts are under way to generate electricity using solid waste as fuel. COLOMBO: Sri Lankan soldiers dug through rubbish with their bare hands Saturday looking for survivors after a huge garbage mountain collapsed destroying 145 homes and killing at least 19 people. Four children were among the dead following Friday's incident at Kolonnawa on the northeastern edge of the capital, Colombo national hospital spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa said. The 300-foot (91-metre) high dump came crashing down on neighbouring homes Friday as the country marked the traditional new year. Military spokesman Brigadier Roshan Seneviratne said troops were keeping up a rescue operation 24 hours after disaster struck, but feared that chances of finding anyone alive were slim. Businessman Saman Wimalasiri was one of the first responders and said he helped to rescue several people trapped inside wrecked homes. "We used ropes and pulled out an elderly woman who was trapped under the debris of her own home," Wimalasiri told AFP. "It took us about four hours to get her to safety." He said some areas could not be reached because the garbage slide had made them unstable. The initial rescue was carried out by volunteers such as Wimalasiri before President Maithripala Sirisena ordered hundreds of troops to search for survivors through the night. Police said 145 homes were destroyed. - 'Moving mountain' - Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is currently visiting Japan, said arrangements had been made to remove the garbage dump, but it came crashing down before relocation work could begin. "Those who lost their homes and those who have to be relocated will be compensated," Wickremesinghe said in a statement. "we will deliver on our promise to remove the garbage dump." Guttila Silva, a former mayor and local politician, said residents were angry that the Colombo Municipality had continued to dump hundreds of tonnes of garbage at the site daily, despite safety concerns. About 800 tonnes of solid waste is added per day to the open dump. "People are naturally angry because their protests were ignored," Silva said. " I fear the death toll could go up because more than a dozen are still missing." Police said a total of 145 homes, mostly shacks, were destroyed when a side of the garbage mountain came crashing down on Friday following heavy rain the previous day and a fire hours earlier. More than 600 people were given temporary shelter at a government-run school in the area as authorities looked for alternative accommodation for those living near the dump. Many residents had evacuated their homes before the disaster because of the heavy rain. "The casualties would have been much higher if most people had not left their homes earlier in the day," a disaster management official told reporters at the site. Three homes in the area were destroyed in February last year following a minor garbage slide and the authorities had warned another 25 households to evacuate because of risks to them. Sri Lanka's parliament was warned recently that the 23 million tonnes of garbage rotting at Kolonnawa was a serious health hazard. Efforts are under way to generate electricity using solid waste as fuel. By PTI CHICAGO: United Airlines and the city of Chicago may find themselves the target of lawsuits by the man who was dragged off a United plane in Chicago last week after refusing to give up his seat. One of Dr. David Dao's lawyers, Thomas Demetrio, said as much yesterday during a news conference in which he suggested that Dao could be "a poster child" for the mistreatment of passengers by the airline industry. "It took something like this to get a conversation going," attorney Demetrio said. Dao was forcibly removed from a fully-booked United Express flight out of O'Hare International Airport on Sunday to make room for crew members. Demetrio said the 69-year-old Kentucky physician and father of five lost two teeth and suffered a concussion and broken nose during the incident. He also indicated that Dao will be suing the airline and the city of Chicago, which employs the airport police who dragged Dao down the aisle, his face bloody. Demetrio said the video showed an extraordinary instance of something that happens too routinely: Airlines overbooking flights then bumping paying customers. It also exposed a corporate culture in which airlines and United in particular have long "bullied" passengers, he said. The situation could have been avoided if the airline, which offered USD 800 travel vouchers and a hotel stay for passengers to rebook on another flight, had simply upped their offer, Demetrio said. "I hope he becomes a poster child for all of us," he said. "Someone's got to." Dao, who didn't attend the news conference, was released from a local hospital late yesterday and will need reconstructive surgery, Demetrio said. He said his client was in a "secure location" because he has been hounded by media, but that he would speak at a future date. One of Dao's children, Crystal Pepper, said the family was "horrified, shocked and sickened" by what happened. Early on, United CEO Oscar Munoz added to what was already a public relations nightmare for the company when he apologised for the incident but accused Dao of being belligerent. Later, Munoz offered a more emphatic mea culpa, saying: "No one should ever be mistreated this way." CHICAGO: United Airlines and the city of Chicago may find themselves the target of lawsuits by the man who was dragged off a United plane in Chicago last week after refusing to give up his seat. One of Dr. David Dao's lawyers, Thomas Demetrio, said as much yesterday during a news conference in which he suggested that Dao could be "a poster child" for the mistreatment of passengers by the airline industry. "It took something like this to get a conversation going," attorney Demetrio said. Dao was forcibly removed from a fully-booked United Express flight out of O'Hare International Airport on Sunday to make room for crew members. Demetrio said the 69-year-old Kentucky physician and father of five lost two teeth and suffered a concussion and broken nose during the incident. He also indicated that Dao will be suing the airline and the city of Chicago, which employs the airport police who dragged Dao down the aisle, his face bloody. Demetrio said the video showed an extraordinary instance of something that happens too routinely: Airlines overbooking flights then bumping paying customers. It also exposed a corporate culture in which airlines and United in particular have long "bullied" passengers, he said. The situation could have been avoided if the airline, which offered USD 800 travel vouchers and a hotel stay for passengers to rebook on another flight, had simply upped their offer, Demetrio said. "I hope he becomes a poster child for all of us," he said. "Someone's got to." Dao, who didn't attend the news conference, was released from a local hospital late yesterday and will need reconstructive surgery, Demetrio said. He said his client was in a "secure location" because he has been hounded by media, but that he would speak at a future date. One of Dao's children, Crystal Pepper, said the family was "horrified, shocked and sickened" by what happened. Early on, United CEO Oscar Munoz added to what was already a public relations nightmare for the company when he apologised for the incident but accused Dao of being belligerent. Later, Munoz offered a more emphatic mea culpa, saying: "No one should ever be mistreated this way." By AFP CAIRO: Egyptian Copts will celebrate Easter mass on Saturday, marking one of Christianity's most joyous occasions just days after the deadliest attacks in living memory against the country's religious minority. The faithful will spend a large part of Easter eve going through arduous security checks outside places of worship after twin Palm Sunday bombings killed 45 people in two cities north of Cairo. The government has declared a state of emergency and called in the army to protect "vital" installations following the suicide bombings in Tanta and Alexandria, which were claimed by the Islamic State group. "Security has indeed improved so much as it seems the situation needed to be tightened up a lot," said Coptic Church spokesman Boulos Halim. Coptic Pope Tawadros II will lead Easter mass in Cairo's Saint Mark's Cathedral, while the church said celebrations this year would be scaled back. "Tanta and Alexandria created a big shock, for all of Egypt," Halim said. Easter, which along with Christmas is one of Christianity's most important events, marks the resurrection of Christ three days after followers believe he was crucified. In Egypt, Copts break a 55-day fast abstaining from all animal products following Saturday's mass. The Sunday bombings were the latest in a series of attacks against Egypt's Copts, which make up around 10 percent of the population. In December, an IS suicide bomber struck a Cairo church, killing 29 people. Halim said the church will forgo Sunday morning's traditional celebrations, and instead, members will visit the families of "martyrs" as well as those wounded in the blasts, including police officers. "Even if we are in pain over them parting their bodies... the happiness of resurrection helps us overcome feelings of pain," said Halim. IS, which has waged an insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula that has seen scores of attacks on security forces, has issued repeated calls for atrocities against Copts. One Copt who gave his name only as John said he will attend Easter mass despite the heightened security risk. He plans to go to a church in the relative safety of the capital, but admitted "if I were somewhere else outside of Cairo, like a village, I would not want my relatives to go and I would be worried about attending". In a village south of Cairo, some Christians were reportedly prevented from holding Good Friday prayers, and police deployed to prevent further unrest. Christians in Koum el-Loufy were attacked by Muslims after they tried to pray in an abandoned home on Thursday, after which a mob set fire to four homes nearby, according to police officials. While the village boasts several mosques, Christians there have been prevented from building a church, Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told AFP. "Probably they won't be able to pray on Saturday either," said Ibrahim. "There is a general climate where Copts are being persecuted and unfortunately the state just tries to stop violence from spreading, they don't solve the root cause of the problem." CAIRO: Egyptian Copts will celebrate Easter mass on Saturday, marking one of Christianity's most joyous occasions just days after the deadliest attacks in living memory against the country's religious minority. The faithful will spend a large part of Easter eve going through arduous security checks outside places of worship after twin Palm Sunday bombings killed 45 people in two cities north of Cairo. The government has declared a state of emergency and called in the army to protect "vital" installations following the suicide bombings in Tanta and Alexandria, which were claimed by the Islamic State group. "Security has indeed improved so much as it seems the situation needed to be tightened up a lot," said Coptic Church spokesman Boulos Halim. Coptic Pope Tawadros II will lead Easter mass in Cairo's Saint Mark's Cathedral, while the church said celebrations this year would be scaled back. "Tanta and Alexandria created a big shock, for all of Egypt," Halim said. Easter, which along with Christmas is one of Christianity's most important events, marks the resurrection of Christ three days after followers believe he was crucified. In Egypt, Copts break a 55-day fast abstaining from all animal products following Saturday's mass. The Sunday bombings were the latest in a series of attacks against Egypt's Copts, which make up around 10 percent of the population. In December, an IS suicide bomber struck a Cairo church, killing 29 people. Halim said the church will forgo Sunday morning's traditional celebrations, and instead, members will visit the families of "martyrs" as well as those wounded in the blasts, including police officers. "Even if we are in pain over them parting their bodies... the happiness of resurrection helps us overcome feelings of pain," said Halim. IS, which has waged an insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula that has seen scores of attacks on security forces, has issued repeated calls for atrocities against Copts. One Copt who gave his name only as John said he will attend Easter mass despite the heightened security risk. He plans to go to a church in the relative safety of the capital, but admitted "if I were somewhere else outside of Cairo, like a village, I would not want my relatives to go and I would be worried about attending". In a village south of Cairo, some Christians were reportedly prevented from holding Good Friday prayers, and police deployed to prevent further unrest. Christians in Koum el-Loufy were attacked by Muslims after they tried to pray in an abandoned home on Thursday, after which a mob set fire to four homes nearby, according to police officials. While the village boasts several mosques, Christians there have been prevented from building a church, Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told AFP. "Probably they won't be able to pray on Saturday either," said Ibrahim. "There is a general climate where Copts are being persecuted and unfortunately the state just tries to stop violence from spreading, they don't solve the root cause of the problem." By AFP MEXICO CITY: Gunmen shot dead a veteran crime reporter in northeastern Mexico on Friday, his employers said, becoming the fourth journalist to be murdered in the gang-plagued country in six weeks. Maximino Rodriguez Palacios "was shot and killed" outside a store as he arrived in his car at around noon (1700 GMT) with his wife who uses a wheelchair, the Colectivo Pericu news website said. His wife was unharmed. The state prosecutor's office confirmed the 71-year-old's murder "from gunshot wounds," adding that investigators have obtained shell casings that will be analysed in a lab. Unknown attackers appeared to have used high-powered rifles in the attack, the website said. According to early reports, the shooting occurred as Rodriguez was parking in a disabled parking spot and requested a wheelchair for his wife. "Colectivo Pericu rejects this attack against a comrade," said a statement on the website. "We demand that the authorities clarify this and many other crimes that continue to go unpunished and have left families shattered by pain." With its ruthless drug cartels, Mexico ranks third in the world for the number of journalists killed, after Syria and Afghanistan, according to media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). During his long career as a reporter and columnist, Rodriguez made "very strong, very critical" statements, RSF's Mexico representative Balbina Flores told AFP. Three other journalists covering organised crime in Mexico have been killed since March 3 -- in the states of Chihuahua, Guerrero and Veracruz, according to officials and media groups. MEXICO CITY: Gunmen shot dead a veteran crime reporter in northeastern Mexico on Friday, his employers said, becoming the fourth journalist to be murdered in the gang-plagued country in six weeks. Maximino Rodriguez Palacios "was shot and killed" outside a store as he arrived in his car at around noon (1700 GMT) with his wife who uses a wheelchair, the Colectivo Pericu news website said. His wife was unharmed. The state prosecutor's office confirmed the 71-year-old's murder "from gunshot wounds," adding that investigators have obtained shell casings that will be analysed in a lab. Unknown attackers appeared to have used high-powered rifles in the attack, the website said. According to early reports, the shooting occurred as Rodriguez was parking in a disabled parking spot and requested a wheelchair for his wife. "Colectivo Pericu rejects this attack against a comrade," said a statement on the website. "We demand that the authorities clarify this and many other crimes that continue to go unpunished and have left families shattered by pain." With its ruthless drug cartels, Mexico ranks third in the world for the number of journalists killed, after Syria and Afghanistan, according to media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). During his long career as a reporter and columnist, Rodriguez made "very strong, very critical" statements, RSF's Mexico representative Balbina Flores told AFP. Three other journalists covering organised crime in Mexico have been killed since March 3 -- in the states of Chihuahua, Guerrero and Veracruz, according to officials and media groups. By Associated Press PYONGYANG: North Korea rolled out intercontinental ballistic missiles and other military hardware at a massive parade on Saturday to celebrate the birthday of the country's late founder, as third-generation leader Kim Jong Un looked on in delight. State television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a limousine and saluting his honour guard before walking down a red carpet. He then stepped up to a podium and clapped with senior government officials to address the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, the capital. The festivities, celebrating the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather, took place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a significant rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM. State television showed what appeared to be several KN-08 and KN-14 missiles rolled out on trucks at the parade. Military analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, although the North has yet to flight test them. North Korean soldiers also rolled out what appeared to be another large rocket covered by a canister. An official from South Korea's Defense Ministry couldn't immediately confirm whether the rocket was a new ICBM. Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery guns, as well as a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines. Also on display was a powerful midrange missile that outside analysts call a "Musudan," and which can potentially reach U.S. air bases in Guam, as well as a new solid-fuel midrange missile that can be fired from land mobile launchers, making them harder to detect before launch. Military planes flew in formation, creating the number "105" above Kim Il Sung Square. Choe Ryong Hae, who some say is the second-most powerful official in North Korea, said in a speech that the country is ready to stand up to any threat posed by the United States. He criticised the new U.S. government under President Donald Trump for "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching strategic military assets to the region. "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," Choe said. Other senior officials joining Kim at the podium included Kim Won Hong, who the South Korean government had said earlier this year was fired from his job as state security minister, presumably over corruption. South Korea has a spotty record of tracking developments in North Korea, as information about the secretive, authoritarian state is often impossible to confirm. Kim Jong Un didn't speak before North Korean television ended the live broadcast. Kim, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011, emphasises nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defence strategy. The country under his watch has been aggressively pursuing a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. In his annual New Year's address, Kim said that North Korea's preparations for an ICBM launch have "reached the final stage." U.S. satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. North Korea conducted two such tests last year alone, which analysts say would have taken the country a step forward in gaining the knowledge to make nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. The North also last year launched a long-range rocket that put a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology. Amid the elevated tensions, the United States a few days ago dispatched what Trump called an "armada" of ships in a show of force, including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula. The move, coupled with the U.S. retaliatory strikes against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, touched off fear in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action on the North. However, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Friday that the Trump administration has settled on a policy that will emphasise on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's leadership. A U.S. military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said the United States doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Pyongyang has expressed anger over the annual spring military exercises the U.S. holds with South Korea, which it considers an invasion rehearsal. It has warned of a nuclear attack on the United States in retaliation for any sign of aggression, a threat that has been made numerous times in the past. PYONGYANG: North Korea rolled out intercontinental ballistic missiles and other military hardware at a massive parade on Saturday to celebrate the birthday of the country's late founder, as third-generation leader Kim Jong Un looked on in delight. State television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a limousine and saluting his honour guard before walking down a red carpet. He then stepped up to a podium and clapped with senior government officials to address the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, the capital. The festivities, celebrating the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather, took place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a significant rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM. State television showed what appeared to be several KN-08 and KN-14 missiles rolled out on trucks at the parade. Military analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, although the North has yet to flight test them. window.__ventunoplayer = window.__ventunoplayer||[]; window.__ventunoplayer.push({video_key: 'OTIxMjU4fHw4fHw2fHwxLDIsMQ==', holder_id: 'vt-video-player', player_type: 'vp', width:'100%', ratio:'4:3'}); North Korean soldiers also rolled out what appeared to be another large rocket covered by a canister. An official from South Korea's Defense Ministry couldn't immediately confirm whether the rocket was a new ICBM. Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery guns, as well as a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines. Also on display was a powerful midrange missile that outside analysts call a "Musudan," and which can potentially reach U.S. air bases in Guam, as well as a new solid-fuel midrange missile that can be fired from land mobile launchers, making them harder to detect before launch. Military planes flew in formation, creating the number "105" above Kim Il Sung Square. Choe Ryong Hae, who some say is the second-most powerful official in North Korea, said in a speech that the country is ready to stand up to any threat posed by the United States. He criticised the new U.S. government under President Donald Trump for "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching strategic military assets to the region. "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," Choe said. Other senior officials joining Kim at the podium included Kim Won Hong, who the South Korean government had said earlier this year was fired from his job as state security minister, presumably over corruption. South Korea has a spotty record of tracking developments in North Korea, as information about the secretive, authoritarian state is often impossible to confirm. Kim Jong Un didn't speak before North Korean television ended the live broadcast. Kim, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011, emphasises nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defence strategy. The country under his watch has been aggressively pursuing a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. In his annual New Year's address, Kim said that North Korea's preparations for an ICBM launch have "reached the final stage." U.S. satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. North Korea conducted two such tests last year alone, which analysts say would have taken the country a step forward in gaining the knowledge to make nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. The North also last year launched a long-range rocket that put a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology. Amid the elevated tensions, the United States a few days ago dispatched what Trump called an "armada" of ships in a show of force, including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula. The move, coupled with the U.S. retaliatory strikes against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, touched off fear in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action on the North. However, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Friday that the Trump administration has settled on a policy that will emphasise on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's leadership. A U.S. military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said the United States doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Pyongyang has expressed anger over the annual spring military exercises the U.S. holds with South Korea, which it considers an invasion rehearsal. It has warned of a nuclear attack on the United States in retaliation for any sign of aggression, a threat that has been made numerous times in the past. By AFP Hundreds of Pakistani students beat to death a classmate known for his liberal views on a university campus in the country's conservative northwest Thursday, police and witnesses said. Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel at the Abdul Wali Khan university in Mardan, sources at the university said. Graphic video footage from the scene shows dozens of men outside the hostel kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground. The killing comes as Pakistani authorities including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan have been increasingly vocal over blasphemy in recent weeks. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in the conservative Muslim country, and can carry the death penalty. Even unproven allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence. "The student has been brutally murdered by his fellow students," Niaz Saeed, a senior police official, told AFP. "He was badly tortured after being shot at a close range... He was beaten with sticks, bricks and hands," Saeed said, adding that hundreds of people had been involved in the attack. At least 11 students have been arrested so far, police said, and the university was closed indefinitely, with the campus largely deserted late Thursday evening. "We are investigating the case but at this stage we cannot say anything" about the motive for the attack, Saeed said However a police source told AFP that students had recently complained to university authorities about Khan's alleged secular views. The source said Khan and two friends had been in a debate with other students earlier Thursday about his religious views which became so heated that teachers had to lock him in a room for his safety. "But the enraged students grew to a mob and they attacked the room," the source said. A university official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed teachers had been forced to intervene in the debate "in a bid to save him and his two other friends, but the mob of students attacked the room and tortured and killed him". Khan was "disliked by other students for being liberal and secular and not following a religious code of life and not attending Friday prayers," the official said. Last month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered blasphemous content be removed from social media, and perpetrators punished. The Interior Ministry also threatened to block all social media websites with blasphemous content, and said Facebook was sending a delegation to Pakistan to discuss their concerns, although Facebook would not confirm that to AFP. Rights groups have long criticised Pakistan's colonial-era blasphemy legislation as a vehicle for personal vendettas. At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to recent think tank report issued before Thursday's killing. Activists have also accused religious conservatives of using blasphemy as a means of muzzling dissent. Hundreds of Pakistani students beat to death a classmate known for his liberal views on a university campus in the country's conservative northwest Thursday, police and witnesses said. Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel at the Abdul Wali Khan university in Mardan, sources at the university said. Graphic video footage from the scene shows dozens of men outside the hostel kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground. The killing comes as Pakistani authorities including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan have been increasingly vocal over blasphemy in recent weeks. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in the conservative Muslim country, and can carry the death penalty. Even unproven allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence. "The student has been brutally murdered by his fellow students," Niaz Saeed, a senior police official, told AFP. "He was badly tortured after being shot at a close range... He was beaten with sticks, bricks and hands," Saeed said, adding that hundreds of people had been involved in the attack. At least 11 students have been arrested so far, police said, and the university was closed indefinitely, with the campus largely deserted late Thursday evening. "We are investigating the case but at this stage we cannot say anything" about the motive for the attack, Saeed said However a police source told AFP that students had recently complained to university authorities about Khan's alleged secular views. The source said Khan and two friends had been in a debate with other students earlier Thursday about his religious views which became so heated that teachers had to lock him in a room for his safety. "But the enraged students grew to a mob and they attacked the room," the source said. A university official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed teachers had been forced to intervene in the debate "in a bid to save him and his two other friends, but the mob of students attacked the room and tortured and killed him". Khan was "disliked by other students for being liberal and secular and not following a religious code of life and not attending Friday prayers," the official said. Last month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered blasphemous content be removed from social media, and perpetrators punished. The Interior Ministry also threatened to block all social media websites with blasphemous content, and said Facebook was sending a delegation to Pakistan to discuss their concerns, although Facebook would not confirm that to AFP. Rights groups have long criticised Pakistan's colonial-era blasphemy legislation as a vehicle for personal vendettas. At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to recent think tank report issued before Thursday's killing. Activists have also accused religious conservatives of using blasphemy as a means of muzzling dissent. By PTI WASHINGTON: The international hotel and car rental costs for the Secret Service agents who protect the US president's two sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr have topped USD 190,000 since January 1, according to a media report today. The bills, paid by taxpayers, include Eric Trump's trip to the UK and Ireland this week, CBS News reported. Documents for Eric Trump's trip to Dublin show that USD 4,029.85 was spent on limousines for his visit and USD 11,261 to cover the hotel costs of the Secret Service agents. These purchase orders do not include airfare costs for Secret Service agents who traditionally conduct advance trips to the location in preparation for visits by protectees. It also does not include the cost of the salaries paid to the agents who protect members of the president's family. The report said that the Trump Organisation did not respond to a request for comment. Eric Trump's visit to the UK was his fifth international trip since the beginning of 2017. He went to Uruguay and the Dominican Republic on his own and accompanied his brother Donald Trump Jr on his trips to Dubai and Vancouver, Canada. The trips by the Trump sons are to promote Trump-branded properties in those countries. According to an analysis by the Economist magazine, the Trump Organisation's international deals account for less than 10 per cent of the firm's value. "The Trump family's frequent travel to international destinations purely to promote the Trump family business is burning through taxpayer dollars at an unprecedented rate and stretching the Secret Service increasingly thin," Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee told the network. President Trump's trips on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago have cost taxpayers an estimated USD 700,000 for each round trip. CBS News has estimated, based on a previous Government Accountability Office report, that each presidential trip to Mar-a-Lago costs about USD 3 million. WASHINGTON: The international hotel and car rental costs for the Secret Service agents who protect the US president's two sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr have topped USD 190,000 since January 1, according to a media report today. The bills, paid by taxpayers, include Eric Trump's trip to the UK and Ireland this week, CBS News reported. Documents for Eric Trump's trip to Dublin show that USD 4,029.85 was spent on limousines for his visit and USD 11,261 to cover the hotel costs of the Secret Service agents. These purchase orders do not include airfare costs for Secret Service agents who traditionally conduct advance trips to the location in preparation for visits by protectees. It also does not include the cost of the salaries paid to the agents who protect members of the president's family. The report said that the Trump Organisation did not respond to a request for comment. Eric Trump's visit to the UK was his fifth international trip since the beginning of 2017. He went to Uruguay and the Dominican Republic on his own and accompanied his brother Donald Trump Jr on his trips to Dubai and Vancouver, Canada. The trips by the Trump sons are to promote Trump-branded properties in those countries. According to an analysis by the Economist magazine, the Trump Organisation's international deals account for less than 10 per cent of the firm's value. "The Trump family's frequent travel to international destinations purely to promote the Trump family business is burning through taxpayer dollars at an unprecedented rate and stretching the Secret Service increasingly thin," Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee told the network. President Trump's trips on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago have cost taxpayers an estimated USD 700,000 for each round trip. CBS News has estimated, based on a previous Government Accountability Office report, that each presidential trip to Mar-a-Lago costs about USD 3 million. By IANS SEOUL: South Korean authorities on Saturday began the official registration of candidates contesting the upcoming presidential election. After the two-day registration, the official campaign period for the May 9 election will begin on Monday, according to the National Election Commission (NEC). A total of 26 potential candidates had registered with the NEC after preliminary registrations began on March 10, when former President Park Geun-hye was forced out of office by a Constitutional Court ruling, prompting the rare presidential by-election, Yonhap News Agency reported. As of Friday, 21 remained on the list after the rest withdrew their preliminary, mostly self-imposed candidacies, the NEC said. Currently, only two presidential hopefuls are seen able to garner support: Moon Jae-in of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea and Ahn Cheol-soo of the centre-left People's Party. Both enjoyed an approval rating of over 30 per cent each in polls on the upcoming election. SEOUL: South Korean authorities on Saturday began the official registration of candidates contesting the upcoming presidential election. After the two-day registration, the official campaign period for the May 9 election will begin on Monday, according to the National Election Commission (NEC). A total of 26 potential candidates had registered with the NEC after preliminary registrations began on March 10, when former President Park Geun-hye was forced out of office by a Constitutional Court ruling, prompting the rare presidential by-election, Yonhap News Agency reported. As of Friday, 21 remained on the list after the rest withdrew their preliminary, mostly self-imposed candidacies, the NEC said. Currently, only two presidential hopefuls are seen able to garner support: Moon Jae-in of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea and Ahn Cheol-soo of the centre-left People's Party. Both enjoyed an approval rating of over 30 per cent each in polls on the upcoming election. By PTI WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has placed six of its major trading partners including China and Japan on a "monitoring list" to keep a close watch on their currency practices. It has placed China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan in the monitoring list in its six-monthly report to the Congress. "Treasury finds that six major trading partners warrant being placed on the monitoring list for special attention: China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan," the report said. The US Department of Treasury yesterday concluded that no major trading partner of the US met the Congressional standards for currency manipulation in the second half of 2016. Additionally, US Department of the Treasury established a "monitoring list" of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices. "An essential component of this Administration's strategy is to ensure that American workers and companies face a level playing field when competing internationally," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "When our trading partners engage in currency manipulation, they impose significantly, and often a long-lasting hardship on American workers and businesses," he said. "Expanding trade in a way that is freer and fairer for all Americans requires that other economies avoid unfair currency practices, and we will continue to monitor this carefully," he said. In a statement, the Treasury said the findings and recommendations of the Report are intended to combat potentially unfair currency practices and support the growth of free and fair trade. "The United States cannot and will not bear the burden of an international trading system that unfairly disadvantages our exports and unfairly advantages the exports of our trading partners through artificially distorted exchange rates," it said. Treasury is committed to aggressively and vigilantly monitoring and combating unfair currency practices, it added. This lead to the Opposition Democratic party leaders slamming the Trump Administration for going back on its poll promise. "Unfortunately the President's failure to name China a currency manipulator is symptomatic of a lack of real, tough action on trade against China. China steals our intellectual property, doesn't let American companies compete in China, and has manipulated their currency causing the loss of millions of jobs," said Senate Minority Leader Charles E Schumer. "While they're not manipulating their currency at the moment because it doesn't suit their economic needs, make no mistake about it, as soon as the tide turns they will," he said. "When the President fails to label them a currency manipulator, he gives them a green light to steal our jobs and wealth time and time again," he said. "The best way to get China to cooperate with North Korea is to be tough on them with trade, which is the number one thing China's government cares about," he said. However, in its report, the Treasury alleged that China has a long track record of engaging in persistent, large- scale, one-way foreign exchange intervention, doing so for roughly a decade to resist renminbi (RMB) appreciation even as its trade and current account surpluses soared. China continues to pursue a wide array of policies that limit market access for imported goods and services, and maintains a restrictive investment regime which adversely affects foreign investors, it said. Treasury said it will be scrutinising China's trade and currency practices very closely, especially in light of the extremely sizable bilateral trade surplus that China has with the United States. "China will need to demonstrate that its lack of intervention to resist appreciation over the last three years represents a durable policy shift by letting the RMB rise with market forces once appreciation pressures resume," it said. "Treasury places significant importance on China adhering to its G-20 commitments to refrain from engaging in competitive devaluation and not to target China's exchange rate for competitive purposes. Treasury also places high importance on greater transparency of China's exchange rate and reserve management operations and goals," said the report. WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has placed six of its major trading partners including China and Japan on a "monitoring list" to keep a close watch on their currency practices. It has placed China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan in the monitoring list in its six-monthly report to the Congress. "Treasury finds that six major trading partners warrant being placed on the monitoring list for special attention: China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan," the report said. The US Department of Treasury yesterday concluded that no major trading partner of the US met the Congressional standards for currency manipulation in the second half of 2016. Additionally, US Department of the Treasury established a "monitoring list" of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices. "An essential component of this Administration's strategy is to ensure that American workers and companies face a level playing field when competing internationally," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "When our trading partners engage in currency manipulation, they impose significantly, and often a long-lasting hardship on American workers and businesses," he said. "Expanding trade in a way that is freer and fairer for all Americans requires that other economies avoid unfair currency practices, and we will continue to monitor this carefully," he said. In a statement, the Treasury said the findings and recommendations of the Report are intended to combat potentially unfair currency practices and support the growth of free and fair trade. "The United States cannot and will not bear the burden of an international trading system that unfairly disadvantages our exports and unfairly advantages the exports of our trading partners through artificially distorted exchange rates," it said. Treasury is committed to aggressively and vigilantly monitoring and combating unfair currency practices, it added. This lead to the Opposition Democratic party leaders slamming the Trump Administration for going back on its poll promise. "Unfortunately the President's failure to name China a currency manipulator is symptomatic of a lack of real, tough action on trade against China. China steals our intellectual property, doesn't let American companies compete in China, and has manipulated their currency causing the loss of millions of jobs," said Senate Minority Leader Charles E Schumer. "While they're not manipulating their currency at the moment because it doesn't suit their economic needs, make no mistake about it, as soon as the tide turns they will," he said. "When the President fails to label them a currency manipulator, he gives them a green light to steal our jobs and wealth time and time again," he said. "The best way to get China to cooperate with North Korea is to be tough on them with trade, which is the number one thing China's government cares about," he said. However, in its report, the Treasury alleged that China has a long track record of engaging in persistent, large- scale, one-way foreign exchange intervention, doing so for roughly a decade to resist renminbi (RMB) appreciation even as its trade and current account surpluses soared. China continues to pursue a wide array of policies that limit market access for imported goods and services, and maintains a restrictive investment regime which adversely affects foreign investors, it said. Treasury said it will be scrutinising China's trade and currency practices very closely, especially in light of the extremely sizable bilateral trade surplus that China has with the United States. "China will need to demonstrate that its lack of intervention to resist appreciation over the last three years represents a durable policy shift by letting the RMB rise with market forces once appreciation pressures resume," it said. "Treasury places significant importance on China adhering to its G-20 commitments to refrain from engaging in competitive devaluation and not to target China's exchange rate for competitive purposes. Treasury also places high importance on greater transparency of China's exchange rate and reserve management operations and goals," said the report. By AFP WASHINGTON: Thousands of protesters gathered on Saturday in cities across the United States to pressure President Donald Trump to release his tax returns, a move of transparency he has refused to make. "Until he does, we'll never know what he's hiding or who his policies are designed to benefit. We need a president who works for all Americans -- and a tax system that does, too," said the organisers of the "Tax March" demonstrations on its website. The protests were timed to coincide with the traditional April 15 deadline for US tax filings (though this year the deadline falls on April 18). In Washington, several thousand protesters of all ages gathered in front of the Capitol building housing Congress, holding up signs such as "What is he hiding?" and "Real men pay their taxes." A huge inflatable chicken, adorned to look like Trump, toured the area, apparently to suggest that the Republican president was afraid, or chicken, to publish his tax records. "If he's got nothing to hide, he should release his tax returns," said protester Liz Turner, 31. Asked what she suspected was in them, Turner replied: "Maybe something to do with Russia?" Ellen Lodwick, 67, a retired corporate researcher from Maryland who has participated in all the local anti-Trump demonstrations since his November 8 election, cast doubt on his business dealings. "There are probably many illegal or questionable investments in things that could affect how he looks at government and legislation, because he's too connected," Lodwick said. For decades, US presidents and presidential candidates have released their tax returns voluntarily -- there is no legal requirement to do so. US law requires only the publication of a financial statement that estimates assets, including debt and revenue, but does not give details on the amount of taxes paid. Trump, a billionaire property tycoon, released such a financial statement but has kept his tax returns private, both during the election campaign and since taking office in January. Trump has justified his refusal to publish his returns by noting they are being audited. Federal tax authorities say that does not bar him from releasing the returns. "Disclosing tax returns is the very lowest ethical bar for a president, and we are going to insist that he clear it," Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the crowd in Washington. Trump was not in the city during the demonstration; he is again spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. "Tax March" protesters demonstrated outside the exclusive property Saturday. And in New York, several thousand protesters assembled around Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan ahead of a march to the Trump International Hotel and Tower, where Trump lived before his election. WASHINGTON: Thousands of protesters gathered on Saturday in cities across the United States to pressure President Donald Trump to release his tax returns, a move of transparency he has refused to make. "Until he does, we'll never know what he's hiding or who his policies are designed to benefit. We need a president who works for all Americans -- and a tax system that does, too," said the organisers of the "Tax March" demonstrations on its website. The protests were timed to coincide with the traditional April 15 deadline for US tax filings (though this year the deadline falls on April 18). In Washington, several thousand protesters of all ages gathered in front of the Capitol building housing Congress, holding up signs such as "What is he hiding?" and "Real men pay their taxes." A huge inflatable chicken, adorned to look like Trump, toured the area, apparently to suggest that the Republican president was afraid, or chicken, to publish his tax records. "If he's got nothing to hide, he should release his tax returns," said protester Liz Turner, 31. Asked what she suspected was in them, Turner replied: "Maybe something to do with Russia?" Ellen Lodwick, 67, a retired corporate researcher from Maryland who has participated in all the local anti-Trump demonstrations since his November 8 election, cast doubt on his business dealings. "There are probably many illegal or questionable investments in things that could affect how he looks at government and legislation, because he's too connected," Lodwick said. For decades, US presidents and presidential candidates have released their tax returns voluntarily -- there is no legal requirement to do so. US law requires only the publication of a financial statement that estimates assets, including debt and revenue, but does not give details on the amount of taxes paid. Trump, a billionaire property tycoon, released such a financial statement but has kept his tax returns private, both during the election campaign and since taking office in January. Trump has justified his refusal to publish his returns by noting they are being audited. Federal tax authorities say that does not bar him from releasing the returns. "Disclosing tax returns is the very lowest ethical bar for a president, and we are going to insist that he clear it," Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the crowd in Washington. Trump was not in the city during the demonstration; he is again spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. "Tax March" protesters demonstrated outside the exclusive property Saturday. And in New York, several thousand protesters assembled around Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan ahead of a march to the Trump International Hotel and Tower, where Trump lived before his election. Penalty kicks the difference as Rogers heads to girls soccer championship Rogers keeper Katie Guinan made nine saves during regulation and then stopped three penalty kicks during the shootout to secure the win. Meerut: Hoardings declaring that people should chant "Yogi Yogi" if they wanted to live in Uttar Pradesh have been put up across the city purportedly by the district unit of the Hindu Yuva Vahini. The hoardings have also come up near the residences of senior administration and police officials, including the District Commissioner. They carry photographs of the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and Neeraj Sharma Panchali, who claims to be the district unit chief of the youth brigade founded by Yogi Adityanath. "Pradesh mein rehna hai to Yogi Yogi kehna hai (Chant Yogi Yogi if you want to live in the state)," reads one such hoarding. Senior Superintendent of Police J Ravindra Gaur told PTI that he has asked for a detailed report in the matter from the local intelligence unit. "Only after we get the report a case can be registered and action taken," he said. When contacted, Nagendra Pratap Singh, a member of the state unit of the Yuva Vahini, however, said Panchali was removed from the post of district unit chief a month ago and that "he was indulging in such acts to defame the organisation". New Delhi: A video going viral on social media shows porn being played on one of the advertisement boards at the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station as hundreds of commuters pass by. Social media chatter indicated it may have happened on April 9, though the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has said it was not aware of such an incident. The DMRC is not aware about the clip being played. However, this LED screen is under commissioning and testing by a private contractor; work on which is still not completed. We will investigate the testing and commissioning process of the contractor to check whether any such clip was played on the LED screen at Rajiv Chowk station and take adequate safeguards/ action, said an official statement. The DMRC however asked the private contractor to reply whether such an incident happened and , if so, whether it was deliberate. A reply is expected by Sunday morning. From the preliminary investigation, it is established that the incident occurred on April 9, 2017, at around 5 PM. As per the CCTV footage, three men are believed to have played porn clips through their mobile phones on this TV at Rajiv Chowk station, and the efforts are being made to identify these men. Rajiv Chowk is the busiest station in the Delhi Metro as it is the junction for the traffic-heavy blue and yellow lines. This isnt the first time the DMRC has faced an embarrassing situation like this. In 2013, CCTV footage from the Delhi Metro showing couples in intimate positions had found its way on international pornographic sites, causing an uproar from riders over privacy concerns. The LED screen is used for displaying advertisements. As of now, it remains switched off. New Delhi: The Indian government has decided to put all bilateral talks with Pakistan on hold over the death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav. The first casualty of the move has been talks between DGs of the Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency which were scheduled to start on April 17. Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar, DG of Pakistan Maritime Agency, was scheduled to visit New Delhi from April 16 to 19 for the meeting. Now, the meeting has been postponed . "Postponement of talks have been conveyed to the Pakistani side. No new dates decided as yet, a government source told CNN-News18. Sources said that water secretary level talks are also on hold as India did not communicate acceptance of dates proposed by the Pakistan side. Pakistan proposed talks in April-end. BJP leader Ram Madhav, reacting to the situation, said, Pakistans attitude towards Jadhav is condemnable. Consular access was denied to the India High Commission which is violation of human rights. We will try to serve justice to Jadhav. We will raise this on international forum and discuss with leaders of other nations. Meanwhile, Iran reacted to reports of allegations that arrested gangster Uzair Baloch was working with Iranian intelligence agencies. Baloch has also been linked to Jadhav. Pakistan army took custody Baloch for allegedly helping Jadhav spy against Pakistan. Iran has cautioned against a vilification campaign launched against it on the basis of allegations. A statement issued by the Iranian embassy in Islamabad on Friday said, Unfounded rumours being circulated in some media during recent days about linking the activities of some miscreants with some Iranian organisations. In December 1916, Mahatma Gandhi was approached by a man from Champaran with a request to fight British indigo planters there. Gandhi was not sure about the project. He did not know about the exploitative indigo cultivation. Nor had he even heard about the place. He eventually agreed to visit Champaran but only for two days. From April 15, 1917, over the next 179 days that Gandhi ended up spending in Champaran, he not only launched his first public movement against the British, he also discovered the most potent political weapon against the colonial rulers the non-violent civil disobedience, or Satyagraha. And so the seeds of non-violent Indian independence movement were sown. A resistance movement had shaped up in Champaran well before Gandhi arrived there. This movement had leaders in charge of building the organisation, of getting muscle power, of disseminating information about British excesses to the outside world, and of drawing attention of national leaders to the oppression in Champaran. Raj Kumar Shukla was responsible for reaching out to the national leaders. He had approached big leaders of the time like Madan Mohan Malaviya, but they refused to be drawn in. It was Shukla who followed Gandhi from Calcutta to Kanpur to Sabarmati and back to Calcutta, and convinced him to visit Champaran. Lomraj Singh was responsible for building the organization to lead the resistance. When Gandhi was picked up by police and presented before the local court for defying the British order to leave Champaran, it was Singh who mobilised 10,000 villagers outside the court within a few hours. So angry and agitated were the villagers, who did not even know what Gandhi looked like, that they began to attack the court. The magistrate then had to relent and request Gandhi to pacify the crowd. Militant support of this wing was provided by an upper class Muslim named Sheikh Gulab. He was responsible for instilling fear in the hearts of the British indigo planters through his ragtag militia. Pir Mohammed Moonis was the man responsible for writing about British excesses to highlight the plight of Champarans farmers to the outside world. He was perhaps the first campaign journalist, popular among the masses, of India if not the world. The biggest indigo planter of the region, one Mr Irwin, had once invited Gandhi to his bungalow. When the talks failed, Irwin asked his cook Battakh Miyan to poison Gandhis food. But Miyan couldnt convince himself of being part of a ploy to kill this saint-like figure. He went to Gandhi and told him about Irwins intentions. Miyan paid a heavy price for it. His family members were butchered, his house was destroyed, and he himself was jailed and tortured. But Miyan saved life of Gandhi much before he became famous as father of the nation. One also has to appreciate the fact that long before Gandhi shaped the struggle in Champaran, it already had a very secular and casteless face. For instance Raj Kumar Shukla was a Brahmin, Lomraj Singh was a Thakur, Moonis was a middle class educated Muslim, Sheikh was an upper class Muslim and Miyan was an uneducated cook. These resistance leaders used to meet secretively in tribal villages of Tharuhat region, far beyond the reach of British intelligence. The tribals used to take care of their resistance leaders knowing fully well the price they would have to pay if British got to know about the hideouts. Talking about the British intelligence, there are declassified British intel reports between 1915 and 1916 in which several alerts have been reported from local sources talking about Gandhis possible visit to Champaran. This begs the question, if Gandhi himself was told about Champaran only in 1917, then where did these reports come from? The answer is that these reports were being tapped from their sources in Arya Samaj. One Arya Samaj sadhu called Jamunanand was found to be going from village to village in Champaran, talking about a chamatkaari baba sent from heavens to rescue them from the British, whose name was Mahatma Gandhi. When the people eventually realised that the British couldnt drag Gandhi out of Champaran, couldnt beat him, couldnt jail him and even poison him, thanks to the local resistance, they devoted whatever they had, each and everything, to Gandhis cause. This is how Gandhi was able to create an impact in Champaran. This is how he was able to, with the help of Rajendra Prasad and a few other lawyers, get detailed, signed testimonials from 13,000 villagers about the illegal taxes levied on them. And getting so many oppressed farmers to speak openly against the British Raj was not really an easy task. Gandhi eventually was able to rid the local farmers from illegal taxes like abwab, harja, tawan, sharavesi, and had the infamous tinkathiya system in which farmers had to devote one-thirds of their farmland to cultivating indigo abolished. When Gandhi arrived from South Africa in 1915, a gentleman once asked him how much time would it take for him to start a peoples movement in India as he had done in South Africa? He is said to have thought over the question for an hour and the answer he gave was five years. It is due to the valour of hundreds of unnamed and forgotten heroes of Champaran that mass struggles and independence movement in India led by Gandhi were advanced by a full three years. And it is for this reason that when India gets together to celebrate a hundred years of the Champaran movement on April 15, it shouldnt forget the hundreds of other people, apart from Gandhi, who made it possible. Madhuker Upadhyay is a senior journalist and has authored several books on Gandhi (As told to Suhas Munshi) Bengaluru: The police has stumbled upon huge piles of demonetised Rs 500 and 1000 notes at the office and residence of a former corporator while conducting searches at his premises in a kidnapping case. The police said V Nagaraj popularly known as "Bomb Naga," formerly a history-sheeter, was not present either at his home or office at Srirampura during the searches and had reportedly escaped. It said the police personnel had to enter the former corporate's office by breaking open its window. The officials said they recovered a huge amount of cash, some documents and sharp weapons, and are investigating the case. "We have got old notes, land documents and sharp weapons. It is under investigation. Once the search operation and panchnama is completed, we will come back to you with details," Additional Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru East) Hemant Nimbalkar told reporters. He said they were investigating a kidnapping case and had got a search warrant from the court. Police said the currency notes were being counted with the help of a note counting machine. In 2004, Nagraj had contested the assembly elections from the Gandhinagar constituency in the city on JD(S) ticket against Dinesh Gundurao, now the working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. Bengaluru: National Aviators Guild (NAG), union of Jet Airways pilots, on Saturday asked its members not to fly with expat (foreign) pilots from May 1, 2017. In a mail to the airline management, NAG expressed its unhappiness over the alleged misbehaviour of an expat with a senior examiner, and also the instances of expats being rude to passengers. The directive said, The safety of our passengers and pilots is of prime importance and this kind of issues cannot be tolerated at all. Jet has around 100 expats working currently and around 1500 Indian pilots of which 850 are commanders. The union also stressed that the expats are a huge drain on the company and the nation finances their extravagant salaries, and the added cost of putting them up in five-star hotels. India has no dearth of talent when it comes to aviation. There are enough and many CPL holders sitting idle. We trust the management will understand the angst of our members in this matter and join us in ensuring that we can take pride in being a nationally conscious company. Keeping the safety of our passengers and members in mind, "The NAG committee, hereby, issues a directive to all trainers not to conduct training/checking any expats effective 16th April 2017, and line pilots not to fly with expats from May 1, 2017, onwards, National Aviators Guild mail said. Meanwhile, the airline issued a statement: "Jet Airways is an equal opportunities employer. It employs human capital which is diverse in race, gender, caste, creed or religion. We, today, employ a multi-cultural workforce of over 15000 people across the globe and are regarded as an employer of choice in the aviation sector. As an Indian airline operating internationally, Jet Airways has always focused on recruiting the brightest talent and today, has best-in-class cockpit crew from around the world, including a limited (marginal) percentage of expatriate pilots. As Indias Best Airline, Jet Airways is committed to offering equal opportunities to all pilots and follows a structured plan for their recruitment based on business outlook. Jet Airways has won the Best Indian Airline award in TripAdvisors Travellers Choice Award 2017." Hyderabad: The wife of 37-year-old techie, who ended his life in the United States on April 4, attempted suicide in Bengaluru on Friday. Her family members have alleged that she took the extreme step after her in-laws blamed her for their son's death. Swati consumed toilet cleaner at her house in Kuthapet area. Family members rushed her to a hospital, where her condition was critical. Madhukar Reddy Gudur was found hanging from a fan in his house in Seattle on April 4. Swati was also working as a software professional in the northwestern US city. The couple, who recently moved to their new home, have a four-year-old daughter. The body of 37-year-old techie was brought to his home town Bhongir in Telangana and cremated on April 11. However, his relatives attacked Swati, when she came to attend the funeral. Blaming her for his death, they asked her to go away. The next day, Swati had called a press conference to deny the allegations leveled by Madhukar's parents. She said that Madhukar committed suicide due to depression and work-related stress. Meanwhile, Swati's father Narasimha Reddy said that she was under mental pressure due to the treatment meted out to her by her in-laws at the funeral. He said that Swati took the extreme measure as she was facing threats and baseless allegations from Madhukar's parents. New Delhi: Maulana Azad National Urdu University is likely to get land for its Lucknow campus soon. Chancellor of the University, Zafar Sareshwala, met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last week and requested him to provide space for the campus. The CM is said to have responded positively. The premiere Central University has 11 campuses across the country, but none in UP. In his letter to the CM, Sareshwala wrote that the Lucknow campus will go a long way in empowering and bringing the Muslim youth to the mainstream. Sareshwala, whose firm is the only BMW dealer in Gujarat, is an ardent supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2015, he was appointed as the Chancellor of MANUU, an institution established in 1998 to promote Urdu. Modernization of madarsas and strengthening of Uttar Pradesh Madarsa Talimi Board were among the issues discussed with Adityanath, Sareshwala told CNN-News18. There are 48,000 madarsas in UP that receive financial assistance from government, but despite various efforts the ground reality hasnt changed much. As Adityanath attempts to recast his image from a rabble-rousing Muslim baiter to an administrator who works for all, this move may help him engage with the 19 per cent Muslim population of UP, most of whom are skeptical of his policies. In the last few weeks, the stories dominating the headlines in UP have been of Anti-Romeo Squads and ban on slaughter houses. Though Adityanath has tried to dispel fears, but the fringe group which he once led Hindu Yuva Vahini has almost become a law unto itself. Adityanath has also agreed to be the keynote speaker at Taalim-O-Tarbiyat, an event which Sareshwala has organized across the country to spread awareness on the need for education among the minorities. The event is likely to be held in the third week of May. Begum Jaan opens on a strong note. In present day Delhi, some thugs are ruthlessly violating a woman. But in one altering moment they are shamed instead. Writer-director SrijitMukherji makes a point about how women have had to harness the power of the female body to face up to bullies. In that, the films theme is quickly established. The movie then shifts decades into the past, when a closely-knit group of sex workers stand up against the tyranny of men and their politics. In the end, these women grab a choice with both hands even when it might look as if they dont have any.Its a shame then that the film nosedives into an abyss of hammy over-the-top acting and cliched writing. Begum Jaan is a remake of Mukherjis own 2015 Bengali film Rajkahini, and it tells the story of a madam in 1947 (VidyaBalan) who finds out that the partition line that will separate India and Pakistan neatly runs right through her sprawling brothel. Government officials try to convince Begum, the prostitutes working for her and their hotchpotch family to leave the brothel, but she digs her heels in, inviting violence from the disgruntled men.The film has an interesting premise and Vidya is commanding as the feared brothel owner who lords over her home. What lets it down is the shrill treatment. Virtually every character side players even are prone to loud outbursts, which means youll be searching for a quiet spa after the assault on your ears.It doesnt help that the narrative is routinely sidetracked by examples of Razia Sultan, the Rani of Jhansi, and Rani Padmavati of Mewar. Stories of their valor and bravado are passed down to a young child, with Vidya imagined in these roles, thereby suggesting that Begum is viewed as a savior by her girls, her faithful bodyguard (Sumit Nijhawan), a manservant (Pitobash Tripathi), and an elderly matriarch (Ila Arun). They stand up to the Congress and Muslim League officials (Rajit Kapur and Ashish Vidyarthi respectively) who want to send them packing. Unfortunately, however, Begum is also let down by trusted allies.Mukherji packs too much into this narrative with multiple secondary characters and their back-stories. The violent incidents and constant swearing come at you so often, you turn slightly numb. Vidya throws herself into the part, but plays Begum Jaan so many octaves above normal its a waste of her acting talent. Only Gauhar Khan as one of the girls in Begums inner circle, and Chunky Pandey in a slimy villain role, stand out in the sea of characters. The rest belong to the Highstrung Academy of Overactors.Im going with a generous two out of five for Begum Jaan. There is a strong feminist statement here, but unfortunately, its drowned out by all the noise.What's your reactionWrite Your Review Any excitement one might have about those proposed self-driving cars currently being developed in Silicon Valley is likely to be quickly quashed while watching Fast & Furious 8. Hundreds of cars, their programs hacked, take off without anyone at the wheel, wreaking havoc in the busy streets of New York City. Within minutes, its literally raining cars from a multi-storey parking facility in the films most audacious set piece. Rohit Shetty, eat your heart out.Vehicular carnage remains the big draw of this long-running franchise, but the makers of this eighth installment recognize that there are just so many ways you can blow up expensive cars before it starts to feel routine. The solution, according to the new film? Raise the emotional stakes.So Vin Diesels Dom Toretto, the spouter of all that bumper sticker dialogue about the importance of family, is seduced to the dark side, betraying everything he ever stood for and going up against the very friends that meant the world to him. On paper that sounds like a promising idea but Diesel, whose stony expressions seldom betray whats going on in his head, never fully convinces you that this is anything more than just a temporary plot twist.Director F Gary Gray lucks out by landing two Oscar winners in his cast. The always alluringCharlizeTheron shows up to play ruthless hacker Cipher whom Dom aligns with. And then theres Helen Mirren think about it, Dame Helen Mirren in a Fast & Furious movie! but Im going to let you discover for yourself what shes doing here.The rest of the cast is back too including Dwayne Johnson as Agent Hobbs, who spends a bulk of his screentime in orange overalls behind prison bars, and Jason Statham as former assassin Deckard Shaw, also cooling off in the slammer. Theyre recruited by returning spook Kurt Russell to join the original team in an effort to nix whatever nefarious plans Cipher and Dom are hatching.Theres not a lot of deviating from the trusted formula as the plot globe-hops constantly, finding newer ways to destroy cars at every stop. But it has to be said here that the franchise is definitely showing signs of running out of gas. The solution, for each time that the writers cant come up with anything clever, cannot merely be to go bigger. No wonder a set piece in Iceland involving a submarine of all things feels overlong and a tad underwhelming.Eight films over 16 years is a big achievement. And although Furious 7 is one of the highest grossing films of all time, dont forget much of that success had to do with the fact that it was the last time the fans would see Paul Walker on screen. If the franchise must continue theyve promised two more films before the curtains come down it would be wise to go back and remember why the first film, all the way back in 2001, was such an unexpected hit. Its because it had a scrappy, underdog quality to it, and a sincere heart. Both of those things are missing in Fast & Furious 8. And no amount of explosions and chases, however impressive, can make up for heart.Im going with two-and-a-half out of five.What's you reactionWrite your review Mumbai: Veteran actor Anil Kapoor says his daughter Sonam is very fortunate to have been chosen for a Special Mention at the 64th National Film Awards. And now the family is looking forward to the day when she will receive the honour from President Pranab Mukherjee next month. Anil was present at the IIFA voting weekend here on Friday when he was asked about his sentiments on Sonam getting a National Award for her performance in Neerja. He said: "I am very happy. I was discussing it with my family that she is so fortunate. In such a short span of time, at such a young age, with such a less number of films, she has got this recognition from the highest award in our country. Besides, the film has been loved by all. "All the departments of 'Neerja' were excellent. But Sonam was Neerja and Neerja was Sonam. I am very happy that not just the film, but even Sonam has received a National Award. I am looking forward to the May 3 event when Sonam will be on dais receiving an award from the President of this country." Neerja was named the Best Hindi Film for the 64th National Awards. Based on air hostess Neerja Bhanot, who displayed the utmost courage to deal with armed terrorists and sacrificed her life to save others, the film was appreciated for its performances by Sonam and Shabana Azmi, who played her mother on screen. Anil has himself received two National Awards - one in the Best Actor category for Pukar and a Special Jury award as producer of Gandhi, My Father. The actor was happy about being a part of the IIFA voting weekend, where film celebrities cast their vote for winners of the International Indian Film Academy Awards. This time, the gala will take place in New York. "As far as my involvement is there, IIFA is like family as I have associated with it for many years. Being in New York, it involves high expectations, more hard work, large-scale grandeur and much more." The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh also said that his party will play a crucial role in bringing opposition leaders together. "Aane wale samay mein desh mein jo bhi gathbandan banega, SP usme aham bhoomika nibhayegi (Samajwadi Party will play an important role in a coalition that will be formed in the country)," he said. The SP president went on to slam the 'anti-Romeo squads' deployed by the Yogi government. "Who knows how many people are being assaulted in the name of Romeo, and how many are being humiliated," said the former CM. Within 24 hours after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati proposed an alliance of anti-BJP parties, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has indicated that he is ready for a coalition to fight against 'BJPs propaganda'.Speaking to journalists on Saturday, Akhilesh Yadav said, "I am ready for an alliance against propaganda. I will duly perform my role in such an alliance."Politicians of all non-BJP parties have been calling for opposition unity ever since the BJP emerged as an unrivalled force in the recent Assembly polls, but this is the first time when top leaders of BSP and SP have spoken in the same voice.Akhilesh Yadav also joined Mayawati in accusing BJP of EVM tampering and said the Yogi Adityanath government was formed by "cheating the people of Uttar Pradesh"."Election Commission should answer and explain the cases of EVM tampering. We have a firm belief in ballot papers, and not in EVMs. I hope future elections will be held on ballot papers only," he said.Taking a jibe at the Yogi government's Hindutva agenda, Yadav said, "The BJP and RSS don't consider me a Hindu. I think I will have to tweet a photograph whenever I go to a temple."Replying to Yadav's allegations, UP Power Minister Shrikant Sharma said both Mayawati and Akhilesh were making excuses for their loss in the elections. "Bua aur Buaji ka Bhatija apni haar ka theekra EVM par phodna chaahte hain (Mayawati and her nephew Akhilesh are trying to blame EVMs for their poor performance)," Sharma said. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the face of BJP in Odisha, told News18 that Bhubaneswar was a natural choice for the April 15-16 meeting. The Prime Minister has been emphasising that unless Eastern India stands on its own, Indias growth story is incomplete, said Pradhan. BJP strategists said the East push was part of a larger strategy to reduce the partys dependence on Uttar Pradesh. In 2014, BJP won 71 out of 80 seats in UP. And the party has been able to repeat almost a similar success in the recent Assembly polls. The BJP wants to account for a possible anti-incumbency factor in UP by 2019, and cover the possible gap from the seats it couldnt win in 2014 across the nation. No wonder, a state where the party won only 1 of the 21 seats in 2014 is high on priority. 2019 numbers will come from districts along Coromandel Coast, a BJP source told News18, summing up the mood of the partys top leadership. Commenting on this, BJD MP Tathagata Satpathy said, It is interesting that the BJP wants to lock horns with the BJD. They have to remember that our Lord Jagannath is an epitome of tolerance. Let us wait and watch if the common Oriya is willing to deface the great tradition of our Lord. As the Bharatiya Janata Party's two-day national executive meet begins in Bhubaneswar, the Saffron juggernaut has clearly set its sights on the eastern state where it won only one of the 21 seats in 2014 general election, which saw Narendra Modi coming to power with a historic mandate. Buoyed by its stellar performance in the recent Assembly polls, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is now talking about making Odisha its Gateway to the East.The BJP is leaving nothing to chance and has started out early as both general and Assembly polls in Odisha are due in 2019. BJP has already become the primary opposition in Odisha after the local body polls in February, where it emerged as a close second after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal.The importance of Odisha in BJPs strategy for 2019 can be gauged from the fact that the party has started calling it the epicentre of eastern India politics.According to sources, BJP President Amit Shah has already prepared a blueprint to expand the partys base in areas along Coromandel Coast. And Odisha seems to be just the first stop. In the last three years, we have won Assam and Manipur. Our base has increased in West Bengal, Odisha and Kerala many fold. The idea is to strengthen at the grassroots level, said Pradhan, who has already made his mark as an able administrator in New Delhi.The BJP is aggressively cashing in on anti-incumbency in the state where Naveen Patnaik has been in power since 2000. Congress, the only other opposition, is yet to come out of the woods.The BJP is also wooing some of the key BJD leaders, to further strengthen its base in Odisha. When asked, Pradhan said, several BJD MPs, including Jay Panda, Tathagata Satpathy and Bhartruhari Mahtab, are his old friends. It remains to be seen if some of these opponents-turned-friends will become Pradhans fellow travellers.During his Bhubaneswar visit, Modi will honour the families of 16 martyrs who participated in the Paika Rebellion of 1817. Though 1857 is popularly seen as the first revolt for Independence, Odisha takes pride in the 1817 struggle wherin the traditional land militia had revolted against the East India Company.Emphasising that the sentiments of the Oriyas are being respected, the Union government has opened its coffers for the renewal of the Cult of Jagannath.While acknowledging the BJPs recent rise in the state, BJD leaders say Naveen Patnaik continues to be the most popular leader in Odisha and it wont be easy for the BJP to uproot a party which has a two-thirds majority in the 147-member Assembly.Keeping in mind the crucial tribal vote bank, once loyal to Congress, there are rumours in Delhi that the BJP may propose a leader from this community as the next President of India. A BJP source told News18 that such a move would help the party in consolidating the crucial tribal constituencies, mainly in South Bengal and North Odisha. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh is already pursuing its agenda of mainstreaming of tribals under the larger Hindutva umbrella through their Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams.Taking a belligerent line in West Bengal, the BJP has succeeded in occupying the opposition space. The state with 42 Lok Sabha seats is the new laboratory for Hindutva. With Mamata Banerjee converting the issue of demonetisation as a battle against Modi and the opposition in general desperately looking for someone to take on the PM, some have begun to talk about her as the PM candidate in 2019. However, the taints of Saradha and Narada scams could affect her national ambitions. Modi will have greater legitimacy in case it turns out to be a Modi Vs Mamata battle, said a BJP leader. Bhubaneswar: BJP's two-day national executive meeting began on Saturday with all the party bigwigs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, likely to join the deliberations. However, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is likely to skip the meet on health grounds, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said. "Sushmaji will not be able to attend the national executive meeting on health grounds. She has been advised rest by doctors," he said. Swaraj's presence and guidance would be felt at the meet, Pradhan told reporters while inaugurating the media centre on Friday. Union ministers, chief ministers of 13 BJP-ruled states and three deputy chief ministers will attend the meet, he added. Party veterans LK Advani and MM Joshi are also attending the conclave. Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Bhubaneswar by 3.30 PM. He will proceed to the Raj Bhavan before attending the national executive meet at Janata Maidan at 5 PM, Pradhan said. BJP president Amit Shah arrived on Friday and garlanded the statue of BR Ambedkar at AG Chhak, near the Secretariat. Shah is also attended a programme at the state BJP headquarters to celebrate the Odia New Year. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for 2009 general elections- LK Advani- was touring down south when one late evening he got an urgent message from Bhubaneswar. His close aide and point person for Odisha, Chandan Mitra, wanted to apprise Advani on the latest seat-sharing talks with Odisha CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik. The last offer from the long-standing NDA ally was humiliatingly low- Advani was told- five out of 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Patnaik it seemed had made up his mind to abandon BJP after the Kandhamal violence. Accusing BJD of "unilateral betrayal", BJP walked out of the alliance beseeching people of Odisha to grab a "remarkable opportunity", on the eve of simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha polls. That opportunity never really appeared on the horizon in that election- and even the one after that in 2014. When states in the north and west reeled under the Modi wave, Patnaik romped home to a comfortable majority in Odisha. The only real challenge he's faced has been from his one-time aide and RS MP, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra. The midnight rebellion, however, was crushed in a few hours with Patnaik dashing back to Bhubaneswar from his annual sojourn to London. That remarkable opportunity for the BJP has, however, presented itself now, almost a decade later. In the panchayat polls this year, for the first time in nearly two decades, electorate has shown signs of ennui and fatigue. BJP's performance in the local body polls has surprised one and all. Precisely the reason why the executive, which was earlier planned for Lucknow to mark the emphatic victory in UP, was shifted to Bhubaneswar in the last hour. Under Amit Shah, the BJP is in a perpetual election mode. Odisha along with neighbouring West Bengal are two provinces party would focus on in the next general elections to bridge any deficit arising out a near saturation limits achieved in other states. Preparations for that are on a full swing. Prime Minister Modi when he arrives in Bhubaneswar, will hold a road show from the airport to venue of the BJP national executive meeting. But then politics requires idols, both present and past. Especially if one were to challenge the legacy of a stalwart like Biju Patnaik. So seeking to fill that void and borrow from the past, BJP is going back centuries in time to invoke Bakshi Jagbandhu and Bhima Bhoi. Jagbandhu led the first armed rebellion against the British in 1817. Bhoi was the Dalit philosopher, saint and idol in the latter part of the same century. The main venue for the two-day meet has been named after Bhoi, who is known for commitment to social justice and equality. Telangana: The Telangana government on Saturday decided to increase the reservation for backward Muslims from 4% to 12% in BC-E category, while the Scheduled Tribe (ST) is set to get 10% from the present 6%. A special assembly session is scheduled to be held on Sunday to pass the revamped Telangana State Reservation Bill. The state chief minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, will table the bill in both the Legislative Assembly as well as Legislative Council. Having called it a communal based reservation, Telangana state BJP leadership is set to oppose the bill. The BJP has said that such religion based reservations are constitutionally invalid. Reacting strongly to the move and hinting at the Centre not letting the bill pass, Union minister Venkaiah Naidu in Hyderabad said implementation of reservation on the basis of religion may result in social unrest in the country and "lead to the creation of another Pakistan". "We are not opposing the bill because of KCR; we oppose the move as it will lead to the creation of another Pakistan. The BJP has an all-India policy. Communal reservations will divide people and will give rise to another partition, he said, adding that it will bring disunity among the people". If the new bill is implemented, the total reservation in the state would go up to 62%. Increased reservation to Muslims was one of the election promises of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). "If the Centre refuses to pass the bill, the state government may approach the Supreme Court. The Centre cannot differentiate between states. If Tamil Nadu can get a similar bill passed, why can't we? We are not begging, we are asking for our right. I am confident we will get it. The decision is based on the population of the state which is mostly backward, said CM K Chandrashekar Rao. With state Assembly elections scheduled in 2019, the issue has become critically important for all parties with the BJP alleging that the TRS is playing vote bank politics. Panaji: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday denied media reports that he quit as Defence Minister due to "pressure" over the Kashmir issue, but Opposition parties lashed out at the BJP leader, accusing him of being "anti-national" and a "bhagoda" (deserter). All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar said the only thing Parrikar had learnt from Pakistan, during his stint as Defence Minister, was staging coups, referring to the 'coup' staged by the BJP, which upstaged the Congress to come to power in Goa last month. "The Congress believes that securing the borders of the country are more important that becoming Chief Minister of Goa. Parrikar's return to Goa is an 'anti-national' act. He has clearly run away from the Defence Ministry. In fact, Parrikar was the worst Defence Minister India has ever had," Chodankar told reporters at a press conference in Panaji at the party's state headquarters. "The only thing Parrikar has learnt from Pakistan as Defence Minister is how to stage coups, which are popular in Pakistan, where the army dethrones popularly elected governments. No wonder Parrikar staged a coup in Goa, where he led the BJP to power using unfair means," Chodankar said. Reports in a section of the media on Friday quoted Parrikar as saying that he had quit his sensitive central ministry brief because of pressures generated by the Kashmir crisis, among other issues. Parrikar on Saturday took to Twitter to post a clarification, saying the news report was "factually incorrect". The BJP media cell in Goa said the Chief Minister had been misquoted. "This is to clarify that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has never given any such statement that he had pressure of any sort working as Defence Minister," a statement issued by the Goa BJP media cell stated, adding that the senior BJP leader was "willing to take on any challenge in Goa and also at the national level". The Aam Aadmi Party in a statement issued here called Parrikar a "self-admitted bhagoda". "Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's claim in public that it was the pressure of running the Defence Ministry, in particular the vexed Kashmir issue, that got to him and facilitated his grabbing the opportunity to return to Goa politics is a self-admission that he is a bhagoda," the AAP said in a statement. Bhubaneswar: Opposition parties blaming EVMs for their poll loss underlines their desperation and lack of issues against the BJP, its national president Amit Shah said on Saturday, noting that EVMs were never questioned when they won. Questioning the integrity of electronic voting machines (EVMs) amounted to openly disrespecting the Election Commission, he said in his inaugural address at the two-day national executive meet of the BJP. "Opposition parties are in desperation following our win. They have no issue against us. They are not admitting their defeat and instead blaming EVMs," he said. Shah wondered if the UPA had not won in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls when EVMs were used or if the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had swept the Delhi assembly polls in 2015 due to use of ballot papers. The BJP chief also referred to the Congress's victory in the Punjab assembly polls to make his point. Briefing reporters on Shah's speech, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Election Commission has already come out with an open hacking challenge and let people know if Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, who has alleged EVM tempering, was a "hacking expert". He said all elections since 1998 were held with the use of EVMs. Asked about a book written by BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao who had questioned the reliability of EVMs, Prasad said his book is not the official view of his party and it was written long back when the UPA was in power. Asked about BSP chief Mayawati's assertion that she would join hands with other parties to take on the BJP, Prasad said the country's politics has changed and even if all parties came together they would not be able to defeat the saffron party. "If you analyse the UP election, the BJP would have even if other parties were together," Prasad said. Shah in his address also referred to the Shunglu Committee report, which has indicted the Kejriwal government on alleged corruption charges, and said there cannot be a bigger example of lack of probity. He exhorted party leaders to work to realise the Modi government's dream of a 'New India'. The central government has also given Padma awards for the first time to many little-known people doing good work in different field and made selection process transparent, he said, while also lauding it for the passage of the GST bills. The chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur Yogi Adityanath, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Biren Singh, respectively attended their first national executive since assuming their new roles. They were congratulated by party leaders and workers for their new assignment, especially, Adityanatha, the fiery Hindutva mascot, for taking charge of the politically crucial and country's most populous state. Bharatiya Janata Party is set to enter Odisha in a big way. The partys national executive meet in Bhubaneswar this weekend is a clear sign of the things to come. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who has earned the image of an able administrator over the past three years, is the organiser of the event. In an exclusive interview with CNN-News18's Marya Shakil, Pradhan says his party has special plans for not only Odisha but all eastern states and any opposition leader who is ready to commit to the leadership of Narendra Modi is welcome to join BJP. Edited excerpts: Everyone is curious about the timing and location of the BJPs national executive meet. Why Bhubaneswar, and why now? Timing is very important. The Modi government is completing three years this May. After victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, this is the first executive meet. The Prime Minister has a development vision for the eastern parts of India. Bhubaneswar is the epicentre of politics in east India of West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and parts of Andhra. Amit Shah has always said that he wants to expand the base and strengthen the party in weaker areas like Coromandel Coast. PM has often said that unless eastern India stands on its own, India wont be able to grow. BJP already seems in campaign mode in Odisha and West Bengal. What are your plans ahead of 2019? We want to increase our numbers in these parts of the country. Not only in Odisha, but from Kerala to Assam to north-eastern parts. Traditionally the party was not so powerful in these areas, but in the last three years we won Assam and Manipur, and our base in Bengal, Odisha and Kerala has increased manyfold. The party is gaining traction in Tamil Nadu. In Andhra Pradesh, we have alliance and the government is doing well. In Telangana, the party is doing well. In these areas, the party has special plans of strengthening and expanding at grassroots level. Will we see a repeat of Uttarakhand strategy, wherein Congress leaders joined BJP? Will you reach out to leaders in Biju Janata Dal? We want to strengthen our party. Whoever is willing to commit to my party, our leadership, PM Modi, is welcome. Naveen Patnaik had supported the demonetisation drive. Dont you think that your expansion plans in Odisha will impact the upcoming Presidential elections? Presidential elections are a completely different ballgame. I am hopeful that we are a mature democracy and this will have no impact on Presidential elections. NDA can comfortably choose the next President. Some are saying the time has come for a President from tribal background. What is you take? This is not my area. The partys growth and expansion plans shouldnt be linked to the Presidential elections. Imphal: The month-old BJP-led coalition government in Manipur was rocked with senior Minister L. Jayentakumar - in charge of Health and three other important portfolios - tendering his resignation in protest against "uncalled for interference" by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. The Chief Minister has rushed to Delhi to firefight the political threat, it is learnt. Jayentakumar submitted his resignation personally to Biren on Friday evening. Biren in his capacity as the Minister in charge of the Department of Personnel had suspended Okram Ibomcha, the Health Director, without consulting Jayentakumar. There was no specific charge against Ibomcha. The suspension order said that it was to take 'disciplinary actions' against him. Ibomcha is a close relative of previous Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Jayentakumar is one of the four MLAs of the National People's Party (NPP) who was sworn in on March 15 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government was formed. The resignation letter says that he is thankful to the Chief Minister for inducting him in the ministry. But he was not able to fulfil his vision due to the "interference". Some other NPP MLAs have reasons to be unhappy with some of their portfolios, sources said. Y. Joykumar, NPP MLA from Uripok, who is a former Director General of Police had reportedly wanted the Home portfolio, which is important in insurgency-hit Manipur. However, Biren kept it with him. Joykumar is the Deputy Chief Minister. The coalition ministry was sworn in on March 15. Nine MLAs of BJP, NPP, Naga People's Front, LJP and Congress (who changed loyalty) were inducted. Three more Ministers and 12 Parliamentary secretaries were sworn in on March 23. Bhopal: Samajwadi Party MP Choudhary Munavvar Saleem has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a ban on cow slaughter in the country. Apparently, expressing disappointment over cow slaughter row, the Rajya Sabha MP from Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, has urged the government to identify those who sell and purchase ageing cows in cattle fairs. Seeking utmost respect for the cow in every household of the country, Saleem sought an absolute ban on the trade of cow organs and skin. In his letter written, the Samajwadi MP demanded gaushalas everywhere so that these animals could be sheltered and safeguarded. I hope you would be banning five-star hotels that serve beef and companies involved in beef export, he wrote. There is a sense of fear among a certain community, of late. The so-called gaurakshaks are spelling terror in the name of the cow which is absolutely wrong, Saleem, who is admitted to AIIMS, New Delhi told News18 over the phone. According to him, the cow did not belong to any particular community and was part of the diverse Indian culture. Right from first Mughal emperor Babar to the last one Bahadur Shah Zafar, all of them safeguarded cows with laws more stringent than the existing ones, he said. Tipu Sultan used to chop off hands of those who killed cows and even Aurangzeb who is scoffed by historians used to save cows, Saleem claimed. He added that it's painful to see that vested interests are fuelling enmity between Hindus and Muslims in the name of a cow which should be stopped at any cost. Thank people who supported.This was the bloodiest election ever. Results show that people are in favour of NC:F Abdullah on #SrinagarBypoll pic.twitter.com/v5cMh9MYik ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 National Conference President and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah won the Srinagar-Budgam Lok Sabha by-election with a landslide margin on Saturday.Abdullah polled 35,470 out of the total 62,905 votes while PDP rival Nazir Ahmad Khan polled 24,879 votes.The counting of votes began at 8 a.m. Voting was held on April 9, wherein only seven per cent voters turned out to exercise their franchise.State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Shantmanu who visited the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar on Friday, where the counting is scheduled, said counting of votes would begin simultaneously in Jammu, Udhampur and New Delhi where Kashmiri migrants had voted.Media was not allowed to enter the counting hall; authorities did not share info with journalists waiting at the counting centre.Voting in the by-election was held on April 9. Only seven percent voters turned out to exercise their franchise.Eight civilian protesters were killed in clashes with the security forces on April 9. Separatists had called for a boycott of these polls.(With IANS Inputs) Bhubaneshwar: BJP Pres Amit Shah receives PM Modi at BJP national Exec Meet venue; inside visuals of the meeting pic.twitter.com/qhS0jl76bV ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 Odisha: PM Narendra Modi and senior BJP Leader LK Advani at BJP's National Executive meet in Bhubaneshwar pic.twitter.com/66qM4ka6Xo ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 : BJP President Amit Shah has hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the most popular political leader in post-independence India. Shah made these comments in his inaugural address at the beginning of the two-day BJP National Executive in Bhubaneswar.This is the second time within a span of one week that BJP has used this phrase to describe Prime Minister and his public image in the backdrop of massive mandate received by the party in the recently concluded Assembly polls.The joint statement released by the NDA partners after a meeting in Delhi in the last week of the monsoon session of Parliament had also termed PM Modi as the ' most popular leader after Independence'.In May this year, NDA-led government at the Centre will complete three years of its five-year-term in office.A large number of people stood along the road as Modi stood on his Range Rover's foot rest with its door open acknowledging the cheering and slogan-chanting masses. (After the British left India, Congress at the helm of freedom movement dominated the national polity for many years. The party ruled at the Centre for more than five decades with both Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi serving as PM for more than a decade each.Interestingly, at meeting of NDA leaders last week, many allies also drew a parallel between PM Modi and Indira Gandhi, comparison between 'pro-poor' images of the two leaders.At the same time, the Party President in his speech sought party workers to shun any complacency despite having won power in more than a dozen states now."The golden era is yet to dawn," he said.The BJP now plans to further expand its footprint in Kerala, West Bengal and Orissa, the three big states where it did not do well in the last general elections. The idea, it seems, is to win seats here to fill in any deficit that is created in provinces where the party has already peaked in the last general elections - especially in North and Western provinces.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday led a roadshow and mingled with crowds at several places breaking security protocol as he arrived in Bhubaneswar to attend the two-day BJP national executive meeting with saffron expansion in Odisha being its key agenda. (All national executive members have been instructed to spend at least a fortnight at the grass roots and interact with booth level workers in the coming days."Party President Amit Shah will himself be touring for 75 days till September," senior party leader and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media.All this will dovetail with preparations for the next round of Assembly elections in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.More than 2500 volunteers have already enrolled to work full time with the party for the next one year, while more than 1500 have volunteered to devote six months for the party work. You might aspire to buy the next iPhone but will you ever try to create an exact iPhone for yourself assembling it? A geek, running his YouTube channel called Strange Parts has actually built himself a brand new iPhone 6S from scratch during his stay in China.What might seem impossible for mobile repair shops in India, building an iPhone from scratch appeared like a piece of cake for shop keepers in China, who barely can complete a sentence in English.When someone mentioned they wondered if you could build a working smartphone from parts in the markets, I jumped at the chance to really dive in and understand how everything works. Well, I sat on it for nine months, and then I dove in, he says.For someone who has visited Shenzhen in China, the sight of mobile factories based out of small shops in electronics malls is common. There are dedicated electronics malls spread across Shenzhen which sells almost each and every component of all devices, unlike the ones in India which only sell finished branded products. However, collecting all the parts together to build an iPhone still sounds difficult because there is a lot to assemble along with the added language barrier.The video showcased by Strange Parts doesnt reveal the total costs, not even the bill of materials. However, it reveals that if you are in Shenzhen, it is possible to build a new iPhone if you ready to invest around two months and sufficient cash.Starting right from the finding the metal frame and case for the iPhone 6s to assembling the backlit display, logic board, battery and camera components, this video by Strange Parts shares the journey. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, in a lawsuit filed by a former employee, has been accused of commenting that he has no intentions of expanding services into poor countries like India and Spain.As per reports , the lawsuit filed in LA district court on Monday by a former employee named Anthony Pompliano makes a range of claims about the company, including that Snap Inc shared inflated metrics during the time of its IPO.According to the lawsuit, Pompliano worked at the firm for three weeks before he was fired for uncovering massive internal systematic failure and reporting it to seniors. Snapchats legal team called Pompliano a disgruntled employee fired for poor performance.Pampliano alleges that the company recorded false user-data and presented inflated metrics to investors while declaring IPO back in March.According to him, Snap gained its user data metrics through two analytics system, Flurry and Blizzard which showed its number of Daily Active Users (DAU) as 95 million and 97 million respectively. Snapchat, however, claimed it to be 100 million. In a meeting in September 2015, Spiegel shrugged this as no big deal as per Pampliano.Pompliano also blamed Imran Khan, Snaps chief strategy officer for asking him to break a non-competent clause by giving a detailed organisational structure of Facebook. The move was aimed to poach more talent from the rival company.Snap declared a retention rate of 40 percent, which the former employee claims to be closer to 20 percent. Similarly, the number of users which completed the app registration process was less than 40 percent, instead of the 87 percent which Snap claimed.Upon Pamplianos idea of expanding into international markets like India and Spain, Evan Spiegel commented, This app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.As per John Pierce, the lawyer representing Pompliano, Snap did not proceed to seal his complaint as the company was aware that "it was flat wrong on the law and would lose its motion in court."Snaps attorneys wrote The simple fact is that he knows exactly nothing about Snaps current metrics. He and his lawyers are not to put too fine a point on matters just making things up.The interesting thing to note here is that Anthony Pompliano is an ex-Facebook employee. With the ever-lasting combat between Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Spiegel to reign social media, the topic is surely going to be taken up during the legal battle Beijing: China is seeking Russias help to cool surging tensions over Pyongyangs nuclear ambitions, the countrys foreign minister has told his Moscow counterpart, after Beijing warned of possible conflict over North Korea. Fears over the Norths rogue weapons programme have soared in recent days, with a US naval strike force deployed near the Korean peninsula, while President Donald Trump has warned the threat will be taken care of and Pyongyang has vowed a merciless response to any provocation. China -- the Norths sole major ally and economic lifeline -- on Friday warned that war over North Korea could break out at any moment. In a call with Sergei Lavrov later Friday, Wang Yi said the common goal of the two nations was to bring all the parties back to the negotiating table, according to a statement on Chinas foreign ministry website. China is ready to coordinate closely with Russia to help cool down as quickly as possible the situation on the peninsula and encourage the parties concerned to resume dialogue, Wang told Lavrov, referring to the stalled six-party talks on the Norths nuclear programme that includes Russia, China and the United States. Preventing war and chaos on the peninsula meets common interests, he added. Beijing has long opposed dramatic action against the North, fearing the regimes collapse would send a flood of refugees across its borders and leave the US military on its doorstep. Trump insists that China must exert more leverage on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions or suffer the consequences. Pyongyang is already under several sets of UN sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes. : The United States has dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan, killing dozens of Islamic State militants in a dramatic escalation that US President Donald Trump said had been "very, very successful".Here are five other views on the use of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb -- dubbed the "Mother Of All Bombs" -- for the first time in combat since it was developed in the early days of the Iraq war.General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, told a press conference in Kabul Friday that the bomb was the "right weapon against the right target"."The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in southern Nangarhar," he said, adding US and Afghan forces at the site had seen "no evidence of civilian casualties".Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani threw his support behind the bombardment, emphasising that "precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties".But other officials dissented, with several such as Omar Zakhilwal, the Afghan envoy to Pakistan, slamming the strike as "reprehensible" and "counterproductive"."If big bombs were the solution we would be the most secure place on earth today," he tweeted.As the dust settled analysts also began to question just how much the sound and fury of the strike signified, with some suggesting the decision may have been "disproportionate"."The Trump administration made a lot of noise with this bomb, but the general state of play on the ground remains the same: The Taliban continues to wage a formidable and ferocious insurgency. ISIS, by comparison, is a sideshow," Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington said, using an alternative acronym for IS."Still, from a strategic standpoint, there is an unsettling takeaway here: The US pulled off a huge shock and awe mission against an enemy that isn't even the top threat to the US in Afghanistan. The Taliban continues to sit pretty," he said.Civilians living in Achin district appeared to welcome the bombardment."Daesh (IS) fighters are active in this area and have overrun our houses," said Achin resident Khair Mohammad. "We don't care if our houses are destroyed, we want Daesh to be eliminated."Achin residents who spoke to AFP along the border with Pakistan, near the Torkham Gate crossing, appeared to shrug off early reports of the blast, however."I heard that there was some sort of bombing last night but it's nothing new, we are used to it," welder Arshad Ali told AFP."I talked to my family members over the phone last night and they said there had been shelling," said labourer Safdar Shinwari."Shelling and drone strikes are routine in that area and it's nothing unusual," he added.More than 20 hours after the blast, IS issued a statement denying it had suffered any casualties whatsoever."Security source to Amaq agency denies any dead or wounded from yesterday's American strike in Nangarhar using a GBU-43/B," the group's self-styled news agency said on social media accounts.IS rarely admits its losses after such attacks.For its part, the Taliban quickly condemned what it called "America's heavy use of weapons on Afghanistan". Achin: The top US military commander in Afghanistan said on Friday that the decision to deploy one of the largest conventional bombs ever used in combat was purely tactical, and made as part of the campaign against Islamic State-linked fighters. As many as 36 suspected Islamic State militants were killed in the strike on Thursday evening in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghan defence officials said, adding there were no civilian casualties. Amaq, the news agency affiliated with Islamic State in the Middle East, carried a statement denying that the group had suffered casualties in the attack, citing an unidentified source who had been in contact. The statements could not be independently verified, and on Friday Afghan and foreign troops in the vicinity were not allowing reporters or locals to approach the scene of the blast. The strike came as US President Donald Trump prepares to dispatch his first high-level delegation to Kabul, amid uncertainty about his plans for the nearly 9,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan. Nicknamed "the mother of all bombs," the weapon was dropped from an MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar, bordering Pakistan. Nicholson said he was in constant communication with officials in Washington, but the decision to use the 21,600-pound (9,797-kg) GBU-43 bomb was based on his assessment of military needs and not broader political considerations. "This was the first time that we encountered an extensive obstacle to our progress," he said of a joint Afghan-U.S. operation that has been targeting Islamic State since March. "It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield." Afghan and US forces were at the scene of the strike and reported that the "weapon achieved its intended purpose,", Nicholson said. Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the massive blast that targeted a network of caves and tunnels that had been heavily mined. "No civilian has been hurt and only the base, which Daesh used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed," Waziri said in a statement. He was using an Arabic term that refers to Islamic State, which has established a small stronghold in eastern Afghanistan and launched deadly attacks on the capital, Kabul. The GBU-43 is a GPS-guided munition that had never before been used in combat since its first test in 2003 when it produced a mushroom cloud visible from 20 miles (32 km) away. The bomb's destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War Two, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT. MIXED REACTIONS In Achin village, about 3 miles (5 km) from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, witnesses said the ground shook, but homes and shops appeared unaffected. Qari Mehrajuddin first saw "lightning like a thunderstorm" followed by the roar of an explosion, an all-to-familiar sound for residents of the war-torn area. "I thought there was a bombing just outside my home," he said. In reality, the blast was around three miles away, its massive impact bigger than any before seen in the region. Some locals welcomed the strike. "If you want to destroy and eliminate Daesh, then even if you destroy my home we won't complain, because they are not human beings, they are savages," said Mir Alam Shinwari, using an Arabic term for Islamic State. Away from Achin, reactions were mixed. "The fact is that America used their big bomb here to test its effectiveness," said Kabul resident Asadullah Khaksar. "If America wants to eliminate Daesh, it is very easy because they created this group." Residents of Achin said they had got used to seeing militants climbing up and down the mountain, making occasional visits to the village. "They were Arabs, Pakistanis, Chinese and local insurgents coming to buy from shops in the bazaar," said Raz Mohammad. "TESTING GROUND" On Friday, the village was swarming with Afghan and international troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said in a statement the attack was a part of a joint operation by Afghan and international troops. "Afghan and foreign troops closely coordinated this operation and were extra cautious to avoid any civilian casualties," it said. But former president Hamid Karzai condemned the use of the weapon on Afghan soil. The Taliban, the main security threat to Afghan and NATO forces trying to quell their stubborn insurgency, also denounced the bombing. "Using this massive bomb cannot be justified and will leave a material and psychological impact on our people," the Taliban, who compete with Islamic State in Afghanistan, said in a statement. American officials said the bomb had been positioned for possible use in Afghanistan for "some time" since the administration of former president Barack Obama. The United States has steadily intensified its air campaign against Islamic State and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, with the Air Force deploying nearly 500 weapons in the first three months of 2017, up from 300 in the corresponding 2016 period. Thursday's strike was not the first time Islamic State fighters have been targeted by heavy American bombardment in Nangarhar, where a U.S. special forces soldier was killed battling militants a week ago. Last year, B-52 bombers operating out of Qatar flew at least two missions in Afghanistan for the first time since 2006. Such aircraft can carry as much as 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg)of bombs, missiles, or other weapons on each mission. In March, U.S. forces conducted 79 "counterterror strikes" against Islamic State in Nangarhar, killing as many as 200 militants, according to the U.S. military command in Kabul. U.S. military officials estimate there are about 600 to 800 Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar, but also in the neighbouring province of Kunar. The United Nations has raised concerns that the American air campaign is swelling civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Last year, air strikes by international forces caused at least 127 civilian deaths and 108 injuries, up from 103 deaths and 67 injuries in 2015, the United Nations said. Moscow: Russia, Syria and Iran strongly warned the United States on Friday against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international investigation of the chemical weapons attack there that killed nearly 90 people. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts in Moscow, denounced the US missile strikes on Syria as a "flagrant violation" of international law. Additional such actions would entail "grave consequences not only for regional but global security," Lavrov said. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said the meeting sent a "strong message" to Washington. Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized that the participants agreed that unilateral actions by the US were unacceptable. The US accuses the Syrian government of deliberately launching the deadly chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. Russia has alleged that the victims were killed by toxic agents from a rebel chemical arsenal hit by Syrian war planes. Moscow has warned against putting the blame on Damascus until an independent inquiry is conducted and vetoed a proposed UN resolution on the attack, saying it failed to mention the need to inspect the affected area. Lavrov on Friday expressed skepticism about a preliminary investigation conducted by the UN's chemical weapons watchdog. He alleged that its experts failed to visit the site and said it was unclear to Russia where evidence was taken and how it was. In Russia's view, the probe conducted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should be widened to include experts from many nations, he said. "If our US colleagues and some European nations believe that their version is right, they have no reason to fear the creation of such an independent group," Lavrov added. "The investigation into this high-profile incident must be transparent and leave no doubt that someone is trying to hide something." Lavrov said the US strike on the Syrian base has undermined peace efforts in Syria and reflected Washington's focus on ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. "Such attempts won't succeed," he said. The three ministers also discussed the beefing up of US forces on Jordan's border with Syria, Moallem said. He added that Russia, Iran and Syria have "common procedures against any aggression," but wouldn't offer specifics. Lavrov said Moscow has asked Washington about the purpose of the buildup and received assurances that the US troops were deployed there to cut supply lines between the Islamic State group factions in Syria and Iraq. "We will keep monitoring the issue, since the only possible reason for using military force on the territory of Syria is to fight terrorism," Lavrov said. Jalalabad: The number of Islamic State fighters killed by a massive US bomb in eastern Afghanistan has nearly tripled to at least 90, Afghan officials said Saturday. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb - dubbed the "Mother Of All Bombs" - was unleashed in combat for the first time, hitting IS positions in eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday. The bomb smashed their mountain hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in towering flames. "At least 92 Daesh (IS) fighters were killed in the bombing," Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP on Saturday. Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani gave a toll of 90. Afghan officials had earlier said the bombing had killed 36 IS fighters. Shinwari insisted there were "no military and civilian casualties at all". Security experts say IS had built their redoubts close to civilian homes, but the government said thousands of local families had already fled the area in recent months of fighting. The massive bomb was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area. An American Special Forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations. President Ashraf Ghani threw his support behind the bombardment. But some officials close to him condemned the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that controls only a tiny sliver of territory and is not considered a huge threat. IS, notorious for its reign of terror in Syria and Iraq, has made inroads into Afghanistan in recent years, attracting disaffected members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban as well as Uzbek Islamists. But the group has been steadily losing ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. A man on board a United flight from Houston to Calgary, Alberta on Sunday, said a scorpion dropped on his head from an overhead storage bin and stung him under his fingernail, according the United and media reports. Bell said another passenger who was Mexican told him, "'Hey, that's a scorpion, they're dangerous,' ... That's when it stung." United Airlines found itself on the defensive again on Friday after a passenger complained that a scorpion stung him during a flight from Texas, capping off a bruising week for the public image of the one of the world's largest carriers."We were on the plane about an hour, having dinner, and then something fell on my head, so I grabbed it," passenger Richard Bell told CBS in a Skype interview on its website.United flight attendants helped the passenger after he was bitten "by what appeared to be a scorpion," airline spokeswoman Maddie King said in an email on Friday, adding that a physician on the ground assured the crew that "it was not a life-threatening matter."United is "reaching out to the customer to apologise and discuss the matter," she said.The airline spent the week scrambling to contain the fallout from a video that emerged on social media showing security officers dragging a bloodied passenger off an overbooked United Express flight in Chicago on Sunday as other travelers looked on in horror.Dr. David Dao, a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor, suffered a concussion and broken nose when dragged from the plane and will likely sue, his attorney said on Thursday.His lawyers have filed an emergency request with an Illinois court to require the carrier to preserve video recordings and other evidence related to the incident.After the incident triggered international outrage, United Chief Executive Oscar Munoz apologized to Dao, his family and its customers, saying the carrier would no longer use law enforcement officers to remove passengers from overbooked flights. When Dave Frey found out some of his closest neighbors were raising African antelope, he decided to create a wine and music festival to support their work. Right here in Nelson County, I was stunned, Frey said. I was just really impressed with what theyre doing, and theyre our neighbors. The April 29 Wine and Wildlife Festival will benefit the Wildlife Conservation Center, which engages in the breeding and propagation of endangered, threatened and vulnerable wildlife species to ensure future sustainable populations of genetic diversity that can be reintroduced into their native habitats. Frey, concert promoter and founder of Lockn in Arrington, now has a year-round venue for events, called Infinity Downs. He hopes to make some shows, including the Wine and Wildlife Festival, annual events. Frey also likes the idea of raising money for worthy causes, and has planned Community Day on June 17 to benefit the Giving Hope Foundation, which supports those battling cancer. For the inaugural Wine and Wildlife Festival, he asked Virginian Bruce Hornsby to headline. A native of Williamsburg, Hornsby plays piano and keyboard from classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Motown, gospel, rock, blues and jam band musical traditions. A Day At The Downs: An Evening With Bruce Hornsby will begin at noon with wine tasting and animal viewing. Hornsby will take the stage about 6 p.m. The afternoon will include Charlottesville-based rockers Erin Lunsford of Erin and The Wildfire, and the Michael Coleman Band. Festival goers will get up-close looks at eastern bongo and addax, two critically endangered African antelope species being raised at the Wildlife Conservation Center, as well as the endangered ring-tailed lemur, a red kangaroo and a sulcata tortoise on loan from a small zoo in North Carolina. Fifteen Virginia wineries and cideries will offer samples of their wares. Admission includes one free sampling at each winery, and wine also will be for sale by the glass and bottle. Food trucks will provide food at the festival, which ends at 8 p.m. ARRINGTON On a hidden hilltop in Nelson County, four female eastern bongos may soon give birth. While Arrington seems an unlikely place to raise critically-endangered species, the survival of several African antelope depends on work being done in the U.S. There are only about 90 bongos left in their native Kenya, where they were hunted to near extinction for food. Because there are so few left in the wild, breeding programs outside the country are providing the only long-term hope for the species. Some of that work is being done at the Wildlife Conservation Center in Arrington by Dave and Karen Holm. There are many, many endangered species, Dave said. He and his wife are hoping to save some of the less well-known antelope. They currently have eight bongos, including a calf born on their farm last fall. It is illegal to buy these animals from Africa so the Holms buy them from zoos and conservation centers in the U.S. Once they have 20 females, they will have enough genetic diversity to maintain their herd and start sending offspring back to Kenya. Despite their somewhat daunting long, curved horns, the white-striped caramel-colored bongos are gentle. Theyre a lot like cattle personality-wise, Dave said. The Holms are concentrating on three antelope species initially. They also have three addax, smaller white antelope originally from the Sahara Desert, and will soon add scimitar-horned oryx to their herd. The scimitar-horned oryx has gone extinct in the wild, and just this year some animals have been reintroduced into Chad, Dave said. Few people know that many African species are more numerous in this country, particularly in Texas, than they are on their native continent. That is true, thanks in part, to the American Species Survival Plan, or SSP program, that was developed in 1981 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of selected species. There are about 300 bongos in the U.S. registered under an SSP, Dave said, but getting good census numbers is difficult. Many African species are being raised on ranches in Texas, often funded by trophy hunting. According to a 2012 story on CBSs 60 Minutes, the iconic Texas longhorn now shares its range with more than a quarter of a million animals from Asia, Africa and Europe. Today, Texas has more exotic wildlife than any other place on Earth. The Texas phenomenon began more than half a century ago with surplus animals from zoos. What started as exotic hunting has evolved, somewhat paradoxically, into a major achievement in wildlife conservation. Texans have helped bring back the scimitar horned oryx, the addax and the dama gazelle. If all goes well, two of those three species will soon be breeding in Nelson County. Karen Holm is a veterinarian who got interested in conservation medicine soon after finishing vet school in 2000. She and Dave opened a veterinary clinic in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. At the same time, Karen was doing volunteer work at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, and at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. After five years, the couple was looking for a slower pace and saw that a practice in Lovingston had come open after the death of the veterinarian. That mans daughter was also in vet school and hoped to inherit the clinic so the Holms agreed to operate the clinic for five years. They werent sure what would come next, but as Dave said, We liked it so much here in Nelson County, we bought a tract of land. Their dream of helping ensure the survival of African species took root, and while Dave started putting in fencing and barns, Karen did volunteer work with cheetahs in Namibia, rhinoceroses in South Africa and tigers and elephants in India. The Holms hope to bring endangered Masai giraffe and white rhino to their farm in the next five years. A year ago, their first animals arrived. Buying and caring for these animals is tremendously expensive, and the Holms depend on grants, fundraisers and donations. At some point, they may be able to make some money selling excess males back to zoos, but in the short-term, there is no profit. Its a labor of love, Dave said. Its a lot of tears and sweat. Bedrock Community Church has outgrown its current location at Liberty High School and will be expanding into the former Bedford Bulletin building at 402 E. Main St. in town. Chris Dowd, executive elder at the church in Bedford, said the church has grown quickly, requiring the expansion of an outpost center where the community will gather and worship Sunday mornings. God has truly blessed our worship gatherings at Bedrock, and it seems that every time we get more than 500 people and push the limits of our capacity, we plant a new church, he said. God sends members out with these new churches and then fills us back up to do it all over again. We love being a church that plants churches that plants churches. Lead Pastor Jonge Tate said in 2008, five families began a new church in Bedford and since have been worshipping out of the Liberty High School auditorium. In October 2015, Tate said the church began thinking about the possibility of using the former Bedford Bulletin building to help the church serve more people. A building such as this would be a great tool for us to use in our desire to serve our community. As we continued to pray, our elders became unanimous that it was time for us to pursue its purchase. Tate said. The church closed on the building in early March. Tate said the church still may use Liberty High School occasionally for events in the future. He said in the 1890s, the property where the new church will be originally had a church on it. In the 1960s, it was sold, and a grocery store was built there, which is now the current building. He said the Bedford Bulletin purchased the building from the grocery store and moved out two years ago to its current location at 233 W. Depot St. in town. Now Tate said the property will return to its original use to serve as a church for the community. The building wont be demolished, but Tate said the inside will change significantly. He said the building will be called The Outpost as a symbol to a place where people come to get supplies needed for their journey as well as encouragement and instruction with life. We live in a broken world with real issues and problems, he said. Having a safe place to be equipped with truth for the journey that works is greatly needed for our lives. Since the launch of Bedrock Church in the town of Bedford, four other sister churches have opened in Roanoke; Lynchburg; Bozeman, Montana; and Somotillo in Nicaragua. The renovations for the church should be complete in late September this year. A Moneta church is helping rebuild a home lost to a tornado that tore through Appomattox County in February 2016. Community outreach always has been a goal of Bethlehem United Methodist Church, according to Pastor David Lord. The church assisted in rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina, funded construction of a church in the east African country of Mozambique and most recently assisted in repairing homes in Appomattox County. This is part of our DNA, Lord said of the outreach. It was during the church members time in Appomattox County that parishioner Rick Carroll heard of Christina Garretts difficulty in rebuilding. Garrett lived in a house on her fathers property, and because she was renting to own the home and did not own the land, she did not qualify for financial aid to rebuild it. Carroll met with Garrett earlier this year at Evergreen United Methodist Church in Appomattox County during a service observing the one-year anniversary of the tornado. Garrett lives in the Evergreen community and is a member of the church. Carroll said he took Garrett to lunch, visited her home site and discussed the difficulty she was having. He also learned she had lost her job and her car. After that meeting, Carroll said he was convinced God had called on Bethlehem United Methodist Church to help her. I thought this would be a good project for us to do. Carroll presented the idea to Lord and members of the churchs planning committee late last month. Lord said church leaders enthusiastically embraced the plan. On March 26, the project officially was presented to the congregation. The goal is to raise $70,000 to construct a 1,200-square-foot home by the end of the year. Carroll said the congregation has supported the effort fully. I am so impressed with the congregation, Carroll said. They have received donations in all amounts, including one from a young girl who gave $1.78. Other churches also have joined to help. Redwood United Methodist Church recently gave $1,000 and Main Street United Methodist Church in Bedford County recently donated $2,300. Lord said he is hoping other churches and members of the community will make donations toward the cause as they prepare to rebuild. Anyone willing to help can contact Bethlehem United Methodist Church at (540) 297-7957. In addition to donations, Lord said they are also in need of volunteers to help when construction begins May 1. Join in the Lyme disease fight NatCapLyme (the National Capital Lyme Disease Association) has been working tirelessly to help defeat an illness that affects so many in our community. Known for their work improving the living standard for those suffering from tick-borne illnesses, NatCapLyme has empowered and educated countless patients, families and the community at large about this disease. NatCapLyme has been working nationally for the past 20 years to further improve the lives of those suffering from tick-borne illnesses while also supporting ongoing efforts to find cures and advocate for patients. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, they have worked with Virginia legislators to permanently designate May as Lyme Disease Awareness Month in Virginia. The group also built a coalition of constituents across Virginia to help enact landmark legislation to help better diagnose Lyme disease by identifying potential shortcomings in testing methods utilized at that time. The 7th Annual Loudoun Lyme 5K/10K/1K and Virtual Races will help to drive awareness and raise money to help find a cure for Lyme disease, the number one tick-borne illness in the United States. JOSEPH LEBLANC Amherst Editors note: The writer is the director of Central Virginia Chapter of the National Capital Lyme Disease Association. Learn more at the groups website, www.natcaplyme.org. Whatve you got to lose? Candidate Donald Trump asked the African-American community to vote for him with a line so crass many of the rest of us found it unbelievable: Whatve you got to lose? We were certain our brethren wouldnt fall for that garbage, would be insulted and angered by the tone, as we were, and would turn away from him in droves. Alas, we were wrong, and we are now faced with President Trump who has answered that question for our minority citizens in a way too many of us are not surprised by, and far too many of us are. Whatve you got to lose? Well, apparently $8 billion out of the Housing and Urban Development budget, for starters. Plus beefing up our military in preparation for what everyone has to see is coming more wars and with no talk of a draft, who do we suppose will be the volunteers for that military? The young men and women coming out of our poor communities with nothing to lose who sign up so they can get an education ... if they live long enough. And about education if Betsy deVoss werent bad enough, how about cutting over $9 billion from the Education budget. Why teach em if youre just going to send them away to die anyway? And of course if no one is well-educated, then that just makes gutting the EPA that much easier to get away with, right? Its not like folks in urban areas, where a large percentage of our African-American brothers and sisters reside, really need to breath clean air or drink clean water, and really, I mean who needs those automobile emissions standards anyway? Health and Human Services cut by more than 15 percent, even more than the $8 billion HUD lost. Oh, and let us not forget the $1.4 billion initial infusion for our Mexican wall, with another $2.6 billion scheduled for next years budget sure glad were no t the ones paying for that ... oh, wait a minute ... Well, at least we know what we had to lose. Pretty much everything. LIB ELDER Pamplin Cinergy series closes with Miles Ahead This series started with the airing of All Oceans Blue on April 1, a documentary on famed TT sailor Harold La Borde, that was held at the TT Sailing Association, Chaguaramas, and a week later, at Lange Park Recreation Grounds in Chaguanas, the airing of The World of Goopi and Bagha, an animation film in Hindi. Johanna Thomas, public relations and marketing co-ordinator at the ttff said the ttff celebrates films from and about the Caribbean and its diaspora, as well as from world cinema, through an annual festival and year-round screenings. She said the ttff seeks to facilitate the growth of Caribbean cinema by offering a wide-ranging industry programme and networking opportunities. And with the upcoming Tobago Jazz Experience, Thomas told Newsday: For the first time ever we are going to be working with the THA (Tobago House of Assembly), and having a Tobago Jazz Film Festival from April 23 to 25. This inaugural festival is expected to be a celebration of music and Tobago through film, and will be held, as part of the Tobago Jazz Experience. Admission to all events is free. The lineup begins on April 23, with the Tobago-made short film Redman, about Jerry, a young man who is confused about what women want. It is made by Tobagonian screenwriter, film director and actor Jared Prima, co-founder of Triple Spades Studios Ltd. Dancehall Queen, the full length feature film from Jamaica, that follows Redman tells the story of Marcia, a single mom and street vendor barely scraping by even with financial assistance from Larry, a gun-toting strongman with a twisted desire for Marcias teenage daughter, Tanya, who he pursues. Both films will be shown at the Shade Nightclub in Bon Accord, from 7 pm, and will be followed by a dancehall after-party. On April 24, it will be Tobagos turn to take in the screening of Miles Ahead at Mount Irvine Bay Resort, However the evening begins with the short film, Glass Bottom Boat, a true story of Janet Wells, who came to Tobago on vacation with her sister and fell in love with local fisherman, Galla. The film was made by film-maker and photographer Kyle Walcott, who was born in Trinidad, raised in Tobago and attended Bishops High School. The festival ends on April 25, at Waves Restaurant and Bar with the evening airing of the Tobago-based short film, The Resort - a series of three vignettes shot in Tobago that follow a young man as he sells love for a living. Later, the animated film, Chico and Rita, set in 1950s Havana will conclude the festival. Annabelle Alcazar programme director, ttff told Newsday the first ttff was launched in 2006 for just one week and with one sponsor, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company. It was the same year that the BA in Film programme was started at UWI when film had been identified as one of the seven pillars of economic diversity in TT . Dr Bruce Paddington is the founder and festival director. Alcazar said: The festival has continued to expand over the years and in 2015 celebrated its tenth edition. That was a bumper year with over 130 guests and the launch of the Caribbean Film Database (an online database of Caribbean film from 2000 to 2014 translated into three languages) and the inaugural Caribbean film mart, which invited 15 projects from around the region to meet with international film industry professionals to pitch their projects with a view to acquiring funding, sales or distribution. In 2015 the ttff was also named the top Unmissable Event in the Caribbean by the lifestyle magazine, The Culture Trip, and was also voted one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World by the international film magazine MovieMaker. Uniformly excellent cinema... genuinely thoughtful, inspiring panels and moviemaker education events..., extending its coolness beyond borders, an article in the magazine said. Alcazar stated: That same year, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said In addition to providing a boost to the local film industry, the ttff serves to redefine the identity of Trinidad and Tobago as a hub for film making and festivals. which translates into an increase of its annual contribution to the economy from revenue generated. Last year, the festival was held for one week but screened films in two screens at MovieTowne as well as at UWI, COSTAATT , and other venues around the country, showing over 100 films features and shorts. Alcazar said: After 12 years in operation, the ttff is considered the most prestigious festival in the Anglophone Caribbean. Hundreds seek blessings from Supari Mai From 6 pm on Holy Thursday, the church opened its doors to accommodate the hundreds of pilgrims who had journeyed from all parts of the country to pay homage to the statue believed to be a manifestation of the Virgin Mary by Catholics and referred to as Supari Mai by Hindus. Devotions and offerings continued into Good Friday yesterday with long lines of people waiting to reach the statue to offer rice, flowers, money and olive oil. Munishree Seecharan from Barrackpore brought with her the double red hibiscus flower which is used to worship the Hindu goddess Durga. I have been coming here for many years now and I look at the Supari Mai as a Goddess who came to Siparia for the purpose of taking care of the people who worship her, Seecharan said. She said she wanted to pray for all the women in her family and all the women in Trinidad who may be suffering. Another devotee, Maltee Ramdass from Couva says she saw many miracles in her life since worshipping the Goddess. It is health related and each year I feel a sense of relief after I offer the olive oil and coins to this deity, she said. Husband and wife Kelvin and Marilyn Seunarine said that they do not always have the time to visit the statue on Good Friday but this year they made the time because they have been struggling. Roman Catholics believe that the La Divina Pastora statue is the manifestation of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. Hindus, meanwhile, believe that she is the embodiment of the goddess Kali or Mother Durga. A group from Venezuela was also among the hundreds of pilgrims who came to worship La Divina Pastora. Others went seeking blessings for wealth, health and also marital prosperity. Some women went in hopes to become fertile. Many of the pilgrims told Newsday the long wait to get their turn at the statutes feet was well worth it. They said they immediately the blessings of the Goddess. Outside, the street leading to the church was lined with vendors. There were also roadside barbers to cut the first hair of Hindu children which is believed to help them become strong and successful. Many destitute people also lined the courtyard of the church to receive alms from those who made the pilgrimage. There was also a heavy police presence and many of the side streets were blocked off to accommodate the thousands who visit to pay homage to the Goddess. The origin of La Divina Pastora dates back to the 18th Century. It is said that a Spanish priest brought the statue to Siparia from Venezuela. He claimed that the statue saved him and he wished to have her importance cemented in TT. The other version is that early Indentured Hindu settlers said that Supari Mai appeared at dawn as a child on the land on which the church is built and by nightfall she grew into an old woman disappearing as the sun set. Hindus have been doing worship to this idol for more than 100 years. Penal residents without water Newsday spoke to a resident, Roshni Rampersad, said that despite repeated calls to the Water and Sewage Authoritys (WASA) Call centre, there have been no improvements in the situation resulting in several households in the area going without water. I and other residents have tried calling the WASA call centre for them to look into the matter but they keep telling us that the officials cant see anything wrong with the pipes supplying us with water, but yet our taps are still dry. Weve also tried getting into contact with our Councillor, Ms Shanti Boodram but we havent gotten her as yet. Rampersad said that the situation has left residents feeling neglected adding that unless rectified, the consequences could be severe. There are a lot of elderly people and children that live on this street. I myself have a newborn baby, this is a serious health issue for everyone. Newsday attempted to contact Councillor, Shastri Boodram and Member of Parliament for the area, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, but was unsuccessful. Police seek help to find missing girls Semoy Ramdhanie of Mission Road, Freeport, was last seen leaving her home on Sunday. Her mother, Indira Ramdhanie reported her missing on the same day. Police described Ramdhanie as East Indian, slim built, 5 feet and 2 inches tall, and brown in complexion with shoulder length black hair. She was wearing a pair of blue short pants, a black top and sandals on the day she went missing. The police are also seeking the publics help in locating 16 year-old Shania Ali, of Rushworth Street, San Fernando, who was last seen leaving home at about 7.25 pm on April 12. She was reported missing by her aunt that same day. Shania is of African descent, 5 feet 9 inches tall, dark brown in complexion and has short black hair. She was last seen wearing a black jersey, a pair of short blue pants and a pair of gold and black sandals. Anyone with helpful information on either missing girl can call 800-TIPS or contact the police at 555, 999, 911, or any police station. Looks Like Wimbledon Rules on Underwear Are About to Shift For the first time since her father founded the party in 1972, Marine Le Pen has an actual shot at delivering the French presidency to the National Front, the Guardian reports in a profile of the far-right candidate. The profile touches on Le Pen expelling her Holocaust-denying father from the party, her political awakening at a young age, and the manor house above Paris where her family lives "watched over by dobermans." The Guardian says Le Pen is the "closest she has ever been to the French presidency," thanks in part to her efforts to move the party past its racist and anti-Semetic past. But those efforts may be just for show, the New York Times reports. Court documents and interviews with close associates of Le Pen accuse two of her closest friends and members of her inner circle of anti-Semitism and "Hitler nostalgia." Le Pen's former top foreign adviser says the men "are real Nazis" and "are at the heart of everything" for her campaign. Meanwhile, France's far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, may help the far-right candidate secure the presidency. According to Politico, 42% of Melenchon's supporters say they won't vote in the second round of the presidential election if Melenchon doesn't make it. That would be a huge boost to Le Pen. France's presidential election starts in less than two weeks. (Read more Marine Le Pen stories.) The US commander in Afghanistan who ordered use of the "mother of all bombs" to attack an ISIS stronghold near the Pakistani border didn't need and didn't request President Donald Trump's approval, Pentagon officials say. The officialswho weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymitytell the AP that even before Trump took office in January, Gen. John Nicholson had standing authority to use the bomb, which is officially called the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB. The bomb's use has attracted enormous attention, but its aim in Thursday's attack was relatively mundane by military standards: destroy a tunnel and cave complex used by ISIS fighters in a mountainous area. Nicholson had a secondary goal in mind, however, according to a Pentagon official who says the general wanted to demonstrate to leaders of the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan the seriousness of his determination to eliminate the group as a military threat. An Afghan official said Saturday that the death toll from the bomb, the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US, has risen to 94. The official says the death toll could rise further, but there is no sign of civilians having been killed. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday criticized both the Afghan and US governments for the attack, saying allowing the US to carry out the bombing was "a national treason" and an insult to Afghanistan. (Read more Afghanistan stories.) Arkansas' goal of executing seven inmates in 11 days before its supply of lethal injection drugs expires may be a dead plan walking after two court rulings Friday. In the first ruling, the state Supreme Court temporarily stayed the execution of convicted killer Bruce Earl Ward, NPR reports. Attorneys for Ward, who was due to be executed Monday night, argued that he is a diagnosed schizophrenic who doesn't understand the punishment or the reason why. A second ruling, from Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen, put the remaining six executions on hold by blocking the state's use of its supply of the execution drug vercomium bromide, the AP reports. The drug's maker, McKesson Medical Surgical, said it had been misled by the state. In its lawsuit, McKesson said Arkansas ordered the drug using a license that only allowed it to obtain drugs for legitimate medical purposes. The company said it asked for the drug back when it learned it would be used for executions, but though Arkansas agreed to return its supply and was granted a refund, it never returned the drug, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. The makers of the other two drugs in the state's three-drug lethal injection cocktail have also gone to court. On Friday, Johnny Depp joined former death row inmate Damien Echols in a rally against the executions at the Capitol in Little Rock, KTHV reports. Echols was freed in 2011 after spending 18 years on death row, (Read more Arkansas stories.) Judge Thomas Low called former Mormon bishop Keith Vallejo an "extraordinarily good man" when he sentenced him to up to life in prison on rape and sexual abuse charges this week, leaving open the question of what somebody would have to do for Low to consider them a bad person. Julia Kirby, who was 19 when she was groped on multiple occasions by Vallejo, her brother-in-law, tells the AP that she plans to file an official complaint against the Provo, Utah judge. "He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable," says Kirby, one of two victims that testified against Vallejo. Authorities say dozens of complaints about the judge have already been received. "The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man," Low said, becoming emotional while sentencing the father of eight, who had been found guilty on 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape. "But great men sometimes do bad things." Low received one-to-15 years sentences on the abuse charges and a five-years-to-life term for the rape, with the sentences to run concurrently. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Low was also criticized last month when he allowed Vallejo to remain free on bail after his conviction, despite the prosecutor's request to have him jailed until sentencing. The prosecutor says the judge's comments were inappropriate and may have been a response to the dozens of letters he received praising Vallejo's good character. (Read more Utah stories.) A 51-year-old woman who dressed as a witch named Nelda to "repeatedly torture" her 7-year-old granddaughter received three life sentences Thursday, the Oklahoman reports. Geneva Robinson of Oklahoma City pleaded guilty to five counts of felony child abuse. The assistant DA says Robinson's granddaughter spent months living in a "house of horrors" in 2014. Robinson would scratch the girl's neck, hit her with a rolling pin, cut her hair while she slept, whip her, burn her, use a dog leash to hang her from the ceiling by her arms, and imply she was going to eat her. She did all this while dressed up as a witch named Nelda. A cellphone video shows Nelda grabbing the girl while her crying siblings watch, KWTV reports. The girl begs Nelda for mercy. Robinson's boyfriend, 33-year-old Joshua Granger, says Nelda was meant to keep the children from misbehaving. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of felony child abuse for dressing up as a demon named Coogro and helping Robinson. Robinson was arrested in 2014 after bringing the malnourished girl to the hospital. Robinson's own children had also reportedly been abused by the witch, but the victim's father says he didn't think Robinson still did the "Nelda thing." The 7-year-old victim wrote a letter to Robinson forgiving her and saying she was a great grandmother. (Read more child abuse stories.) Syrian TV says at least 39 people were killed Saturday in an explosion that hit near buses carrying people evacuated from a besieged area of government loyalists. A war monitor puts the death toll at 24 in the area controlled by opposition fighters, the AP reports. The explosion Saturday was caused by a car bomb, according to Syrian TV and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, causing massive destruction. In footage aired on Syrian TV, bodies were strewn outside buses, including fighters. Some buses were charred and other gutted from the explosion as belongings hanged out of windows. The explosion hit an area where buses were carrying nearly 5,000 people from Foua and Kfraya, villages in northern Syria that have been besieged by rebels. They were evacuated Friday, along with more than 2,000 from Madaya, a town outside of Damascus which was besieged by government forces. (Read more Syria stories.) Protesters are taking to the streets across the country to demand that President Trump release his tax returns, the AP reports. The Washington, DC, march began Saturday with a rally at the US Capitol, where Democratic lawmakers called on Trump to stop the secrecy. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon says the people have "a basic right to know whether the president pays his fair share." Organizers say marches are taking place in about 150 cities. Trump is the first major party nominee in more than 40 years to not release his tax returns, saying it was because he was under audit. He later said that voters don't care. Tuesday is the deadline for taxpayers to file returns. (Read more Trump tax return stories.) Update: The killer of Google employee Vanessa Marcotte has received a life sentence in Massachusetts and won't be eligible for parole for 45 years, reports CNN. Angel Colon-Ortiz, 36, killed 27-year-old Marcotte in 2016 when she was out for a walk in Princeton while visiting her mother. Prosecutors say she fought back, and DNA on her hands proved crucial in the arrest of Colon-Ortiz. Our story from 2017 follows: Twenty-seven-year-old Vanessa Marcotte was murdered in the middle of the day while walking near her mother's house in Massachusetts last August. Late Friday, authorities arrested a suspect. "We got him," ABC News quotes Joseph Early Jr. as saying. The district attorney says they are "very confident" Angel Colon-Ortiz, 31, killed Marcotte and left her body in a wooded area about half a mile from her mother's house in Princeton. A state trooper stopped Colon-Ortiz on Friday because he and his vehicle matched the description of a person of interest in the case. According to the Boston Globe, a DNA sample voluntarily provided by Colon-Ortiz matched DNA found on Marcotte's hands. Authorities long believed Marcotte fought her attacker to the extent she likely caused injuries to him. They credit her resistance for Colon-Ortiz's arrest. It was through her determined fight and her efforts that we determined the DNA of her killer, Early says. Colon-Ortiz, who was reportedly working in the area when Marcotte was killed, has been charged with assault and intent to rape. A murder charge is likely forthcoming. He appears to have no prior criminal record. Marcotte was one of three women killed in the US while out running during a nine-day stretch in August, CNN reports. All three cases appear to be unrelated. (Read more Vanessa Marcotte stories.) Anywhere from nine to more than 15 people were arrested as a pro-Trump rally turned violent Saturday in Berkeley, California. Reuters reports the "Patriots Day" free speech rally was organized by conservative activists, andaccording to the Mercury Newsthat included members of the "alt-right," with some demonstrators being seen making Nazi salutes. Counter-demonstrators calling themselves "anti-fascists" also crowded the downtown park where the rally was being held. There were hundreds of people in the park, and police described a "large number of fights" breaking out. Protesters threw punches and bottles, and CNN reports some appeared to be hitting each other with flag poles. Multiple protesters were throwing fireworks into the crowd, and there were reports of pepper spray being used. A police spokesperson says a few people were hurt, but they appear to be minor injuries. Police used explosive devices in an attempt to separate the two sides. Further arrests are expected. (Read more protests stories.) Islamabad : At least three persons, said to be agents of the Research and Analysis Wing by police, have been arrested in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Mohammad Khalil, Imtiaz and Rashid, all from Taroti village in Abbaspur, were in the custody of police in Rawalakot, the headquarters of Poonch division, Dawn online reported. According to Poonch Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sajid Imran, Khalil is the "main suspect." He said the three were involved in anti-state activities, including the bombing of a police station, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Khalil, according to the police, had reportedly visited Indian Kashmir in November 2014 to see his relatives in Bandi Chechian village. There he came in contact with RAW which "lured him to work for them." Khalil had an intra-Kashmir travel permit. Later, he is said to have recruited Imtiaz and Rashid to work with him "for handsome returns". During preliminary investigations, according to the police, Khalil told investigators that he had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) about 14 or 15 times from different parts in Abbaspur sector. Imtiaz and Rashid had also "confessed to crossing the LoC five to six times," the paper said. "Khalil would take with him cigarettes and [mobile phone] memory cards, carrying pictures of bridges, mosques controlled by the Deobandi school of thought, and army and police installations," Imran said. According to him, he had given two active SIM cards registered in his name to Indian officials. The DSP said the arrested persons had planted an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) outside a police station in Abbaspur on September 27 last year. "We tracked their movements and phone calls with the help of intelligence agencies and finally arrested them two days ago (Tuesday)," he said. They have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act. The development follows the death sentence given to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav on April 10. Jadhav has been charged with espionage and waging war against Pakistan. India says Pakistan had abducted Jadhav from Iran. Sorry! This content is not available in your region Noida : Two robbery and two gangrape cases were reported at different police stations in Noida, police said on Friday. A woman, resident of Bhuda village, in her complaint at Sector 39 police station said that she was kidnapped and raped by seven persons, ASP Gaurav Grover said. She also alleged that they robbed her gold chain and gold ring too, the officer said, adding all the accused are absconding. In another case, a woman employee of a hotel has lodged a complaint at Sector 20 Police Station that she was raped by her brother-in-law and his son at her house in Ghaziabad, police said. Also Read: Module selling bank, credit card details and Facebook, WhatsApp data of 1 cr people busted in Delhi The widow claimed that she had fled from the house along with her daughter and is now living at Naya Bans in Noida. Here too her brother-in-law along with his son came and allegedly assaulted and raped her. Her brother-in-laws son also allegedly raped her 15-year-old daughter, they said adding the the incident reportedly took place in January. A social organisation came to know about the incident through the hotel staff and took her to police station and an FIR was lodged evening on the basis of her complaint, police said. Complaints about two robbery cases were also registered in Noida. Alpana Jha and Nikita Singh, working at a news channel, and residents of Sector 22, were returning home last evening from Sector 18, when two men, riding a motorbike, allegedly sprayed some powder on their face and robbed their purse containing Rs 8,000 cash and ATM cards, police said. Another persons, working at a media house, was allegedly robbed of his mobile phone. An FIR was lodged at Sector 20 Police Station on the basis of her complaint, they said. Mumbai: It is the person and his family, who are the "biggest casualty" in such circumstances, said Bollywood actress Richa Chadha while reacting to Pakistan military court's decision awarding death sentence to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav. "A person gets trapped in the politics between two governments. In such times, it's that person and his family who are the biggest casualty," Richa told reporters here in a response to a question on Kulbhushan Jadhav. The actress, who had played the role of Sarabjit's wife in the biopic "Sarbjit", was speaking on the sidelines of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Voting Weekend press meet here. "Sarbjit" was based on the life of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian, who was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1991 and who consequently spent 22 years in prison for alleged terrorism and spying. While in prison at Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore in April 2013, he was attacked by fellow inmates and died six days later at the Jinnah Hospital. A Pakistan military court recently awarded death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav after he was convicted of "espionage and sabotage activities". Meanwhile, on the allegations of molestation against "Queen" director Vikas Bahl, Richa said action should be taken based on the probe. "I am aware that there are no allegations against Phantom Films, but against Vikas Bahl. I have done a movie for Phantom Films. I am sure the other three partners will follow the due course. And the investigation will be carried out and action will be taken in a legal way," she said. Earlier this month, a woman employee of Phantom Films, co-owned by Vikas Bahl, had accused him of molestation. Bahl has denied the charges against him. IIFA Voting Weekend, being held in Mumbai from April 14 to 16 will see members of the Indian film industry showing their support to IIFA as they come forward to vote for their peers. The 18th edition will be hosted in New York this July at the MetLife Stadium. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Terming the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as the "Most Corrupt Department", the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday released a booklet mentioning instances of alleged graft in the BJP-ruled civic bodies. The purpose of the booklet, which is essentially a compilation of newspaper reports on corruption in the civic bodies, is to make people aware of the extent of the BJP's"mismanagement", Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said. The name of the booklet is "MCD, Most Corrupt Department". The AAP said that it was being "released in public interest". Addressing a press conference, Sisodia accused the BJP functionaries of the corporations of "diverting" funds meant for various schemes and projects and of "looting" the public exchequer. "Where has the money gone? The BJP talks of Digital India, but the websites of the corporations have been under construction for 13 years and Rs 12 crore has already been spent," he said. In its poll campaign, the AAP is laying a major thrust on a series of alleged acts of corruption in the MCDs reported over the last one decade, a period during which the BJP has been in control of all the three civic bodies. Also Read | Post Punjab and Goa defeat, Kejriwals party changes strategy: 'No Modi-bashing' The AAP is also planning to woo the safai karamcharis (sanitation workers) through its manifesto. Senior leaders of the party said it will include major demands including the one on regularisation of those working on contract basis. The municipal polls are scheduled for April 23. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Gurugram: A day after a toddler died when he could not be taken to a Delhi hospital in time as the civil hospital ambulance ferrying him ran out of fuel, authorities here have constituted a high-level committee to probe the incident. Gurgaon civil surgeon Pushpa Bishnoi constituted the probe. The matter is under investigation by a high-level committee and action will be taken after it submits its report, said Kanta Goyal, the principal medical officer of Gurgaon Civil Hospital. Three-month-old Avel was referred by the civil hospital for specialised treatment to Safdarjung hospital in South Delhi at 11 a.m. yesterday. He was on basic life support system but the ambulance ran out of fuel and developed some snag and he died on the way. ALSO READ | Resident doctors of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital call off strike after 5 days The Gurgaon health department has 16 ambulances for two civil hospitals catering to over 25 lakh population and all of them are old and have run more than 2 lakh KM. Goyal, however, said the servicing of ambulances take place in a time-bound manner. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Palghar: The district police have booked around 500 villagers for allegedly disposing off a youth's gunshot riddled body without informing the cops. An offence was registered against the locals of village Ganje yesterday, PSI AA Sonawane of Manor police station said on Saturday. "It was on April 13 that the police got a tip-off that one of the villager identified as Sharad alias Charan Ankush Parhad (32), who had gone into the jungle for hunting had died due to a gunshot. We were also told that the villagers had made all preparations to cremate him," said police. The police rushed to the crematorium but the villagers prevented the cops from reaching near the body, said police. They drove away the police party and completed the cremation, police said and added that the villagers told the police not to interfere in their affairs and let them do their work. Police said they are now confirming whether the deceased had died due to a gunshot and further the action would be taken against those responsible for his cremation without intimating them, said the official. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: India has called off maritime security dialogue with Pakistan, scheduled for early next week, amid tensions over death sentence being awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav on charges of spying. A delegation led by Pakistans Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. Coast Guard sources said the Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegations visit. ALSO READ | Pakistan arrests 3 Indian RAW 'agents' in Rawalkot PoK: Reports The development comes amid tension between the two countries over Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, being awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court. India has said if Jadhav were to be executed, it will be considered as a premeditated murder. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Panaji: Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said Pakistan is playing a dangerous game in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death in the neignbouring country on charges of spying. Pakistan is playing a dangerous game. Pakistan should understand that if India starts retaliating then it does not have the power to fight back, whatever they may project themselves to be, the Goa Chief Minister told the Doordarshan in an interview which was aired on Friday evening. But, we want peace. We do not want provocation. So they should send Jadhav back, he said. Read | Kulbhushan death sentence: India demands copy of charge-sheet, verdict in Jadhav's case from Pakistan First of all, they have abducted him. He was not in Pakistan. He was in Iran. Iran has said that the Taliban kidnapped him and took him to Pakistan. Pakistan has a habit of doing something or other, Parrikar said. ....(External Affairs Minister) Sushma Swaraj has given an apt replywe will not keep quiet (if Pakistan executes Jadhav). The country will do what is required. We can take care of Pakistan if it tries to do anything ill-advised, he said. A military court in Pakistan has sentenced Indian naval staff Jadhav to death for alleged espionage. The Indian government reacted strongly to the development saying if the sentence were to be carried out it would be considered as pre-meditated murder. Read | Jadhav death sentence issue: Pak military may not honour civilian agreements, says defence expert For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi/Srinagar: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll and demanded imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Counting of votes for the bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency began on Saturday. The counting of votes began at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar on Saturday at 8.00 AM. The bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha seat was held on April 9, with the constituency recording its lowest voter turnout of 7.13 per cent. The polling day was also marred by violence which left eight persons dead and scores of others, including security personnel, injured in clashes with stone-pelting protesters. HIGHLIGHTS: #4:00 PM: NC president Farooq Abdullah emerges winner, demands imposition of Governor's rule in J&K #11:59 AM: Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll: National Conference's Farooq Abdullah set to win, leads by 9,199 votes over PDP's Nazir Ahmad Khan #9:40 AM: National Conference's Faroq Abdullah leading by 2,000 votes over PDP's Nazir Ahmad Khan #9:15 AM: Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll: National Conference's Farooq Abdullah leading by 986 votes over PDP's Nazir Khan Counting for Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll underway, former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah in fray. pic.twitter.com/SiFNRjsIY0 ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 Also read: Srinagar repoll: Only 1% voters turned up to cast their vote in first 3 hrs The Election Commission conducted a repoll yesterday on 38 polling stations which were worst hit by the poll day violence. The repoll saw an abysmal turnout of two per cent. Also read: Srinagar LS bypoll: Amid tight security, repolling begins in 38 polling stations of Budgam For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Manipur: Manipur Health and Family Welfare Minister Langpoklakpam Jayentakumar Singh has resigned citing interference to his authority, a month after being sworn in as the minister. According to a copy of the resignation letter which was made available to the press tonight, Jayentakumar Singh, an NPP leader, resigned on Friday. Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh, however, told PTI that he neither received the health ministers resignation letter nor has any information about it. Nongthombam Biren Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur on March 15 along with eight other ministers, including Jayentakumar. ALSO READ | Assam Rifles recovers IED from Manipur CM N Biren Singhs travel route In the resignation letter to the Chief Minister, Jayentakumar said that he had been working with certain visions. However, he said, I may not be able to get (the) visions materialised as expected since there have been so many interference to my authority.... I am, therefore, taking the step to tender my resignation. Jayentakumar did not mention what kind of interference he had faced. He was also not available for comment. He was elected from Keishamthong constituency in Imphal West district. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Police in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have claimed that they have arrested three suspected R&AW agents for their alleged involvement in anti-state activities, according to a media report on Saturday. The masked suspects were produced before the media during a briefing in Rawalkot, Dawn newspaper reported. The three were residents of Taroti village in Abbaspur in PoK, according to the report. Sajid Imran, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Poonch, said the main suspect Khalil had visited Kashmir in November 2014, where he came in contact with Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officials. Imran said the three suspects were involved in a bomb blast outside a police station in Abbaspur in September. They allegedly planted an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The DSP claimed Khalil was offered Rs 500,000 for the task.The police were alerted to their involvement in the blast after an individual said he spotted the trio in Abbaspur on the night of September 26 with a shopping bag in their possession, the report said. The suspects have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act, Imran said. Read | Kulbhushan death sentence: India demands copy of charge-sheet, verdict in Jadhav's case from Pakistan For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Eight-month-old Chahat Kumar had completely normal weight when she was born, says her mother Reena Kumar. Chahat, now an obese Indian child from Punjab weights over 17 kgs at just eight months. Soon after she started putting on weight. Suraj Kumar says, When we took her to the doctor, he told us that they would first need to collect blood samples to start with any kind of treatment but it turned out to be difficult as her skin is abnormally hard. Dr Vasudev Sharma who has been working with Chahat since she was born says, Her weight is increasing excessively and it has to be controlled. She has to eat less. She eats like a 10-year-old kid. However excessive weight of this little kid has resulted to have breathing and sleeping problems. There are also reports that doctors who took care of Egyptian Eman Ahmed will be looking after this case. World's heaviest women who came to India for her weight reduction treatment at a local facility. The 36-year-old Eman Ahmed was under observation for a month before she she has undergone surgery. Also Read: What? Eman Ahmed will never be able to walk despite loosing 240 kgs Egyptian Eman Ahmed, suffers from a rare genetic defect that has made her abnormally obese, according to doctors treating her. She weighed 498 kgs before she went under the knife at a hospital in Mumbai. Eman was currently under the observation of a city-based bariatric surgeon Muffazal Lakdawala, and his team of doctors. Eman has mot moved out of her house for 25 years. Also Read: Avoid body stink this summer with these simple steps: Check here New Delhi: Eman Ahmed, the worlds heaviest woman with a weight of 500 kg, who has undergone a surgery was moved out of her specially built 1,000-sq ft room into a suite-class room in Saifee Hospital, Charni Road, on Friday night. According to the reports a crane was used to lift Eman's bed into the main hospital building. A crane was also used to lift Eman into the specially built enclosure on February 7. Eman Ahmed has lost 242kg in the two months after she was flown from Egypt for treatment last month in Mumbai from her Alexandria home in Egypt. Dr Aparna Govil said Eman was shifted out to a regular room in the hospital building around 9pm on Friday. "She will be closer to other services such as occupational and physiotherapy," said Dr Govil. "As promised, she has lost a substantial amount of weight. We have completed her obesity treatment, reducing the risk to her life by 60 per cent. The remaining problems are related to her neurology. Now, she can sit up and lean back and continue to be up; she can even sit on the edge of the bed. But she will never be able to walk as her legs didn't develop properly since her paralytic attack at the age of 11," said Dr Muffazal Lakdawala. Also Read: SHOCKING! Eight-month-old Chahat Kumar from punjab weights over 17 kgs "Medically, it is impossible to make her stand. I promised that she would go back to Egypt sitting up on her own, and that she will. "We had decided to keep her in a special room due to her weight. Then, it wasn't possible to move her to the main building. Now that she has lost weight, we decided to move her there." "We can't afford to send her back to Egypt due to lack of infrastructure there ( which is required for her treatment). There is no proper mechanism to take care of her health. So, until her neurological treatment gets over, we have to keep her here," said Dr Lakdawala. New Delhi: While Snapchat is a trending social media platform among Indians, Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat feels India is 'too poor' to consider expansion of its user base. According to the reports, an ex-employee of Snapchat, Anthony Pompliano, said that during a user growth meeting in 2015, Evan Spiegel put emphasis on acquiring only premium users. "This app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain," CEO Spiegel had said, according to the ex-employee. Snapchat - the video based social media platform - owned by parent company Snap Inc., responded to the report saying, "This is ridiculous. Obviously Snap is for everyone! It's available worldwide to download for free." Read more: Module selling bank, credit card details and Facebook, WhatsApp data of 1 cr people busted in Delhi The ex-employee is currently engaged in a lawsuit against Snapchat after he accused the company of presenting misleading inflated statistics of user data to its investors. According to the lawsuit, Pompliano worked at the firm for three weeks before he was fired for uncovering massive internal systematic failure and reporting it to seniors. Snapchats legal team called Pompliano a disgruntled employee fired for poor performance. "Mr. Spiegel was inexplicably enraged throughout the meeting and refused to listen to anything Mr. Pompliano said, constantly cutting him off and summarily dismissing his points", the lawsuit says. Read more: Qualcomm claims Apple made threats, lied to regulators to cover up inferior parts usage in smartphones India is a rapidly growing market with Internet penetration expected to grow 2,5 times by 2020, with mobile leading the race. It is these numbers that are driving tech giants like Amazon and Uber and investors like Masayoshi Son and Jack Ma to invest billions of dollars in the country. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Haridwar: US President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to put a ban on entry of refugees from some countries saying all hearts, doors, and borders should be open for children everywhere in the world, said Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Saturday. "I have seen the condition of children in refugee camps in Germany, Turkey and Austria. Children are made refugees by the socio-political circumstances prevailing in their countries in which they have no role. They are helpless victims of their circumstances and deserve compassionate treatment", Satyarthi told PTI in an interview. "I have always believed that all hearts, doors and borders should be open for children all over the world and there should be no discrimination. I had said this while addressing Austrian Parliament when it had decided to shut its doors on refugees and I repeat this for the Trump administration", he said. Read more: Terrorism one of gravest threats to religious freedom around world: Donald Trump Also expressing concern over Trump administration's decision to widen the net of deportations for illegal immigrants, Satyarthi said it may create many complications for the children of illegal immigrants born in foreign lands in settling anywhere. He demanded that the Trump administration should draw up a holistic plan for the protection of the rights of children of the so-called illegal immigrants so that they don't suffer. Satyarthi who was here to address the fifth convocation of Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya (DSVV) said the number of child labourers had declined substantially all over the world from 26 crores in 2000 as per a UN data to 16.8 crores at present. "That means a movement like the Bachpan Bachao andolan started by me in 1980 is on way to achieving its objective of total elimination of child labour from the face of the earth", the child rights activist said. "The declining trend is what makes me optimistic. It has to be a gradual process but it will finally happen with children all over the world breaking free from exploitation of all kinds", he said. Read more: US administration ramps up a crackdown on illegal immigrants Speaking of his unique global initiative named '100 Million For 100 Million' which will provide young people all over the world a forum to do their bit to end violation of child rights making optimum use of the social media, he said launched in December last year by President Pranab Mukherjee, thousands of people across the world were associating themselves with the campaign on a daily basis. "This unique initiative is a step towards globalisation of compassion. Economic globalisation may have been a western concept accepted by the east but the path to globalisation of compassion goes from East to West", he said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Peshawar: Mashal Khan, who studied journalism at the Abdukl WaliKhan University in Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was mercilessly beaten and then shot dead by a vigilante mob of students from the same varsity, supecting him of publishing blasphemous content online and promoting the Ahmadi faith, police said. A journalism student of a top university in Pakistan was assaulted by a large group of students andappears to have succumbed to a gunshot wound, the DIG wasquoted as saying in the Dawn newspaper. Another student, Abdullah, was injured in the clashes. The report said the two students were also believed to bepromoting the Ahmadi faith on Facebook by the mob. A mob of university students first surrounded Abdullah and forced him to recite verses from the Quran. Although repeatedly denied he was an Ahmadi, the students beat him nonetheless. The police, when alerted, reached the varsity and rescued Abdullah, after which the mob set its sights on Khan, who was in the hostel at the time, an eye witness told the newspaper. Khan was beaten and shot by the mob. A video footage of the incident showed Khan lying on the ground surrounded by men, who beat him mercilessly with sticks. A student requesting anonymity claimed that several leaders of the university's student bodies were part of the mob. University administration official Fayaz Ali Shah confirmed that the mob had accused Khan of blasphemy before killing him. He said an investigation is underway. Hostel warden Muhammad Ali claimed that: "Three to four thousand students were approaching. I was alerted that they were approaching, so I closed the gates but they broke in,found Mashal and fired at him and started beating him." At least 15 people were arrested in connection with the incident, which occurred within the university premises. The campus was shut down until further notice. The hostels were vacated and a search for the remaining culprits was ongoing,police said. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, which introduced the draconian laws in 1985 in a bidto appease rightwing parties. These laws have been often alleged to have been misused to settle personal scores. Punjab's liberal governor Salman Taseer was killed in 2011 when he termed the regulations "black law". And the minority Ahmadi community in Pakistan has been repeatedly targeted in sectarian violence in Pakistan for along time by Islamic extremists, who view them as heretics. On April 7, an Ahamdi doctor was shot dead by unidentified men in Punjab province. The incident happened 10 days after Malik Saleem Latif, an advocate from the Ahmadi community who was a cousin of Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, was shot dead by unidentified men in Nankana Sahib. Last year, at least six Ahmadis were killed because oftheir faith. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: On the occasion of Vaisakhi, the Indian harvest festival, wishes galore for India when US and Canada wished India a happy Baisakhi in their own ways. Where Trudeau was too sweet and fluent while wishing India in Punjabi, US led by the House of Representatives Speaker Pau Ryan, lawmakers from Republican and Democrats greeted Sikhs across the world on Vaisakhi. Not only this, they recognised their (Sikhs) contribution in the development of their country. Wishing our Sikh American neighbours and friends a happy Vaisakhi! Ryan said in a tweet yesterday when Sikhs across the globe observed the annual festival celebrating the spring harvest season. ALSO READ | Happy Baisakhi 2016: Here is why do we celebrate it Noting the historical relevance of the day, Senator Maria Cantwell said in a tweet, Today Im wishing our Sikh American friends a Happy Vaisakhi! A historic day of celebration for Sikhs around the world! While Justin Trudeau owing to the large Indian diaspora that Canada has, not only won the hearts of the Indian community living there but also earned after the 45-year-old leader wished Happy Baisakhi not just in English but fluent Punjabi! For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Beijing: At a time when both nations are pushing forward with the CPEC project, China has handed over to Pakistan a 600-tonne patrol ship, the third of its kind, to safeguard the country's maritime interests. The ship which was handed over to Pakistan's maritime safety authority in Guangzhou, Guangdong province is the third of its kind, was built by China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd (CSTC) and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Xijiang Shipbuilding Co Ltd. Previous two ships have already demonstrated their reliability and excellent performance during visits and exchanges, joint drills, maritime rescue and other missions in Pakistan, state-run People's Daily reported. Pakistan's maritime safety authority expressed great appreciation for the quality of the ships and for sound cooperation with Chinese ship manufactures, who have promised to provide after-sale services, it said. The ships are key to consolidating close relations between China-Pakistan, protecting Pakistans sea transportation and pushing forward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Belt and Road Initiative, it said. The CPEC project will link the Pakistani city of Gwadar to China's Xinjiang via a vast network of highways and railways. The project was launched in 2015 with USD 46 billion but later the investment increased to USD 55 billion. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. West Palm Beach: US President Donald Trump is set to nominate a vocal critic of the US Export-Import Bank to serve as its president. The White House announced late on Friday that Trump plans to nominate Scott Garrett, a former Republican congressman from New Jersey, to serve as president of the credit agency, which helps overseas buyers get financing to purchase US exports. He'll also nominate Spencer T Bachus III of Alabama, another former House member, to serve as a member of the bank's board of directors. Garrett voted against renewing the bank's charter while he was in Congress, denouncing it as "corporate welfare." Trump also used to be against it. But he's now changed his mind, telling The Wall Street Journal earlier this week that he believes it helps US companies gain business. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Moscow: Russia, Syria and Iran issued strong warnings to the United States on Friday against launching new strikes on Syria apart from asking for an international investigation into the chemical weapons attack there which killed nearly 90 people. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts in Moscow, denounced the US missile strikes on Syria as a "flagrant violation" of international law. Additional such actions would entail "grave consequences not only for regional but global security," Lavrov said. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said the meetingsent a "strong message" to Washington. Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized that the participants agreed that unilateral actions by the US were unacceptable. The US accuses the Syrian government of deliberately launching the deadly chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. Russia has alleged that the victims were killed by toxic agents from a rebel chemical arsenal hit by Syrian warplanes. Moscow has warned against putting the blame on Damascus until an independent inquiry is conducted and vetoed a proposed UN resolution on the attack, saying it failed to mention the need to inspect the affected area. Lavrov on Friday expressed skepticism about a preliminary investigation conducted by the UN's chemical weapons watchdog. He alleged that its experts failed to visit the site and said it was unclear to Russia where evidence was taken and how it was. In Russia's view, the probe conducted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should be widened to include experts from many nations, he said. "If our US colleagues and some European nations believe that their version is right, they have no reason to fear the creation of such an independent group," Lavrov added. "The investigation into this high-profile incident must be transparent and leave no doubt that someone is trying to hide something." Lavrov said the US strike on the Syrian base has undermined peace efforts in Syria and reflected Washington's focus on ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. "Such attempts won't succeed," he said. The three ministers also discussed the beefing up of US forces on Jordan's border with Syria, Moallem said. He added that Russia, Iran and Syria have "common procedures against any aggression," but wouldn't offer specifics. Lavrov said Moscow has asked Washington about the purpose of the buildup and received assurances that the US troops were deployed there to cut supply lines between the Islamic State group factions in Syria and Iraq. "We will keep monitoring the issue, since the only possible reason for using military force on the territory of Syria is to fight terrorism," Lavrov said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that terrorism is one of the gravest threats to religious freedom around the world and hoped for a better tomorrow when people of all faiths, including Hindus, can worship according to their conscience. In his weekly radio and web address, he said the US has cherished the freedom of worship from the very beginning. That is the promise the first settlers saw in our vast continent and it is the promise that our bravest warriors have protected for all of our citizens in centuries since, a long time ago, he said on Friday. Sadly, many around the globe do not enjoy this freedom and one of the gravest threats to religious freedom remains the threat of terror, he said. ALSO READ | US President Donald Trump: China not a currency manipulator On Palm Sunday, as Christians around the world celebrated the beginning of the Holy Week, IS killed 45 people and injured over 100 at two Christian churches in Egypt, he said. We condemn this barbaric attack. We mourn for those who lost loved ones. And we pray for the strength and wisdom to achieve a better tomorrow one where good people of all faiths, Christians and Muslims and Jewish and Hindu, can follow their hearts and worship according to their conscience, Trump said. With Gods grace, life always triumphs over death, freedom overcomes oppression, and faith extinguishes fear. This is the source of our hope and our confidence in the future, he said. ALSO READ | MOAB blast in Afghanistan: US lawmakers hail Trump for sending clear message to ISIS He also had a special message for the struggling Americans who have felt for too long the bitter taste of hardship. I want you to know: this White House is fighting for you, he said. We are fighting for every American who has been left behind. We are fighting for the right of all citizens to enjoy safety and peace and to work and live with the dignity that all Children of God are entitled to know, he said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Istanbul: Criminal investigation into 17 US-based individuals has been launched against Turkish prosecutors, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer, ex-attorney Preet Bharara and leading Turkey scholar Henri Barkey on suspicions of aiding a terror group, state-run media reported on Saturday. The action by the Istanbul prosecutor's office came after a group of Turkish lawyers filed a complaint against the individual. The lawyers accuse them of links to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen who, according to Ankara, orchestrated last year's failed coup, Anadolu news agency reported. The list of accused includes US citizens who have had involvement in Turkey issues and also Turkish citizens resident in the United States. Among them are Bharara, a former US attorney for New York who was fired by President Donald Trump last month; the former director of the CIA, John Brennan; former top CIA official Graham Fuller; Henri Barkey, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. ALSO READ: US air strikes in Syria: Russia calls for emergency UNSC meeting, Turkey announces no-fly zone Also probed are US-based Turkish citizens including Faruk Taban, president of the Turkic American Alliance (TAA), and Talha Sarac of the Turkish American Business Network, Anadolu reported. The individuals are accused of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order", "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government" and "membership in an armed terror group," it said. According to Anadolu, the suspects met twice around the time of July 15 failed putsch - once on an island off Istanbul on the day of the botched putsch and the other in a restaurant in Karakoy, an Istanbul neighbourhood, two days later. Turkey accuses the movement Gulen leads of being a "terror organisation" although the group insists it is a peaceful organisation promoting moderate Islam. Gulen has denied being behind the failed coup. The government has repeatedly asked the United States to extradite Gulen, who has been living in exile there since 1999. Some Turkish officials have repeatedly insinuated that the United States had a hand in the coup bid but this has been vehemently denied by Washington. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The United States has refused to label China a currency manipulator inspite of President Donald Trump's pledge during the election campaign that he would do so upon taking office. Instead, the first currency review of the Trump administration singled out China and five other countries asneeding to be monitored for their currency practices. The countries -- China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan and Switzerland -- were the same six named in the last currency report issued by the Obama administration in October. ALSO READ: US puts China, Japan and others on monitoring list for currency practices In an interview on Wednesday, Trump had indicated that he was backing away from his campaign pledge because he felt China hadn't been manipulating its currency in recent months and because labelling it as such now could jeopardise Beijing's cooperation in confronting North Korea. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The Trump administration has placed six of its major trading partners including China and Japan on a monitoring list to keep a close watch on their currency practices. It has placed China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan in the monitoring list in its six-monthly report to the Congress. Treasury finds that six major trading partners warrant being placed on the monitoring list for special attention: China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan, the report said. The US Department of Treasury on Friday concluded that no major trading partner of the US met the Congressional standards for currency manipulation in the second half of 2016. Additionally, US Department of the Treasury established a monitoring list of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices. An essential component of this Administrations strategy is to ensure that American workers and companies face a level playing field when competing internationally, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. When our trading partners engage in currency manipulation, they impose significant, and often long-lasting hardship on American workers and businesses, he said. Expanding trade in a way that is freer and fairer for all Americans requires that other economies avoid unfair currency practices, and we will continue to monitor this carefully, he said. In a statement, the Treasury said the findings and recommendations of the Report are intended to combat potentially unfair currency practices and support the growth of free and fair trade. The United States cannot and will not bear the burden of an international trading system that unfairly disadvantages our exports and unfairly advantages the exports of our trading partners through artificially distorted exchange rates, it said. Treasury is committed to aggressively and vigilantly monitoring and combating unfair currency practices, it added. The Opposition Democratic party leaders slammed Trump Administration for going back on its poll promise. Unfortunately the Presidents failure to name China a currency manipulator is symptomatic of a lack of real, tough action on trade against China. China steals our intellectual property, doesnt let American companies compete in China, and has manipulated their currency causing the loss of millions of jobs, said Senate Minority Leader Charles E Schumer. While theyre not manipulating their currency at the moment because it doesnt suit their economic needs, make no mistake about it, as soon as the tide turns they will, he said. When the President fails to label them a currency manipulator, he gives them a green light to steal our jobs and wealth time and time again, he said. The best way to get China to cooperate with North Korea, is to be tough on them with trade, which is the number one thing Chinas government cares about, he said. However, in its report the Treasury alleged that China has a long track record of engaging in persistent, large-scale, one-way foreign exchange intervention, doing so for roughly a decade to resist renminbi (RMB) appreciation even as its trade and current account surpluses soared. China continues to pursue a wide array of policies that limit market access for imported goods and services, and maintains a restrictive investment regime which adversely affects foreign investors, it said. Treasury said it will be scrutinising Chinas trade and currency practices very closely, especially in light of the extremely sizable bilateral trade surplus that China has with the United States. China will need to demonstrate that its lack of intervention to resist appreciation over the last three years represents a durable policy shift by letting the RMB rise with market forces once appreciation pressures resume, it said. Treasury places significant importance on China adhering to its G-20 commitments to refrain from engaging in competitive devaluation and not to target Chinas exchange rate for competitive purposes. Treasury also places high importance on greater transparency of Chinas exchange rate and reserve management operations and goals, said the report. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Tyler Sizemore / Tyler Sizemore Two men from North Carolina were arrested this week after officials discovered the pair stole hundreds of dollars in merchandise from Lowes Home Improvement, Danbury Police said. Xavier Armstrong, 24, of Nashville, N.C., and Adrian Hagans, 22, of Tarboro, N.C., were both arrested 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW MILFORD Cooper Lundstron, 5, of Danbury, leaned branches against a tree, resting piles of leaves on top to create a fort at the Pratt Nature Center. Im almost done, he said. I just have to get a few branches and leaves. I think its going to be really good. Around him, kids of all ages climbed rocks and helped gather materials for the makeshift shelter. They took advantage of the nice weather during their spring break by spending their days off at the center. Kids have been doing activities like this at Pratt Nature Center for 50 years, regardless of the weather. Snow days just mean sledding, hot weather translates to time in the river or pond and the other days are filled with adventures in the woods or meadows. Pratt Nature Center was created in 1967 by Trudie and Eliot Pratt after a group of children visited them from New York City and enjoyed experiencing the outdoors. The Pratts originally used the land as a working farm. Executive Director Diane Swanson said she is honored to be part of the 50th year. Only minor changes have been made over the years, including the addition of a greenhouse and a yurt, or portable dwelling, that is used as a classroom and shelter in hazardous weather. She said the centers mission of getting children outside is the same as when it started. Its preserving old-school childhood, she said. Haley Neddermann, the centers full-time educator, said enjoys the centers mission and working with the kids. I like the idea of kids being free range in nature and learning what I learned in a really hands-on way, she said. The kids that come here see the world differently. Things stand out more. Its a spot for kids to be kids. At the center, children are able to play in the mud, climb trees and explore nature at their own comfort level. It has a Lord of Flies feel to it, Swanson joked. She said the freedom outside helps the kids build confidence, gain independence and become problem solvers in a judgment-free zone. She added that spending time outside creates a strong foundation for peoples education and health, as well as makes them happier. Were not youre average nature center because were all about touching and touching respectfully, she said. An example is picking a dandelion in a field of dandelions, but leaving a solitary dandelion alone for others to appreciate. Jack Morrison and Timothy Peloso, both 12, of New Milford, said theyve enjoyed coming to the center for the past 10 years because they were able to be outside and make friends with kids from all over the area. They also like catching frogs in the pond, building shelters and learning about edible plants in the wild. Its fun, Jack said. We get to learn about nature. Maggie Morrison, 8, of New Milford, said she also enjoys playing in the Aspetuck River and with the centers sheep, goats and other animals. Scores of programs are offered at the center or created by center employees to share with schools, centers, scouts, businesses and seniors. Pratt Nature Center has a good relationship with area schools and hosts programs at the center, as well as within the schools. When the snow forced New Milford students to spend their recesses inside, the center began taking the students snowshoeing. Students also come to the center to experience the pioneer lifestyle with a live-action version of Oregon Trail, a popular video game that teaches kids about the Old West. The center spans 205 acres, including wooded trails, a pond, Native American caves, farmland, meadows, a river and a mountain purchased by Peter Pratt in 1956 after graduating from Harvard. It is overseen by a 13-member board of directors, which is largely made up of local business leaders. As a nonprofit organization, the center is funded with grants and donations. Swanson hopes to expand the centers services and create a preschool program. A sprout program for three-year olds is already offered. To expand, the center will need to build a building that could be used as the preschool. Its really important to get these kids outside, she said. kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345 The Canadian government will table legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in parliament on Thursday, setting down fairly strict provisions including plain, tobacco-style packaging of cannabis products. The legislation fulfills a promise by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government that marijuana would be made legal in Canada at or before July 1, 2018. July 1 is Canada Day. The legislation will appear a week before the annual 4/20 celebrations, at which thousands of young Canadians -- hundreds on the steps of the Vancouver Library -- have flaunted their country's drug laws. The bill is expected, however, to set a minimum age of 18 for purchase of pot, with provinces allowed to set a higher limit. Households in the Great White North will be allowed to grow up to four plants for personal use. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI.COM Show More Show Less 2 of 3 GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI.COM Show More Show Less 3 of 3 The country's provinces and territories would be able to set the price for pot, and set down conditions under which the previously illegal weed can be sold. One goal of the legislation, however, is to make acquisition of marijuana more difficult for those teenagers who show up to celebrate 4/20 each year. As well, in a country where the R.C.M.P. does regular traffic stops for drunk drivers, there will be penalties for driving while high. In its 2015 platform, the governing Liberal Party pledged to "create new, stronger laws to punish more severely those who provide it to minors, those who operate a motor vehicle under the influence, and those who sell it outside the new regulatory framework." The kind of recreational use to be allowed is what Trudeau confessed to before the last election. He and friends lit up a joint at home after a dinner party, once the kids had been put to bed. A trio of companies expecting to sell cannabis -- Canopy Growth Corp., CannTrust, Inc., and Tilray Canada, Inc. -- recently called on the government to allow marijuana to be packaged with logos and colorful lettering. "Packaging debates are often driven by public health concerns but in order to develop well-rounded public policy, rules surrounding packaging and in-store promotion must take into account the current status of the large, illegal cannabis black market and the harms it causes youth and society more generally," said their letter. "Therefore, there must be allowances for branding as well as for in-store advertising of cannabis products to ensure that consumers who have already self-selected to enter a legal cannabis retailer will be well-informed about the products they are purchasing." Or as the Globe and Mail put it bluntly: "A key argument for the licensed producers is that they have to create a product that can compete with the black market that sells illegally harvested marijuana." The legalization of marijuana in the Great White North is rooted in two considerations. Canada's criminal laws are massively flaunted. 4/20 is just one manifestation. "B.C. Bud" has become British Columbia's most profitable outside crop, outside the law. It has won international competitions in The Netherlands. The second is that organized crime has moved in. Growers are robbed. British Columbia has experienced gangland rubouts, one in the driveway of a popular Penticton resort. When grow operations are busted, their youthful minders show up in court with top-notch legal representation. Ex-attorney generals of British Columbia, representing the political spectrum, have signed letters calling for legalization, as a means of stripping organized crime of its profits. Former B.C. Premier (and Canadian health minister) Ujjal Dosanjh has signed one letter. Trudeau, as an opposition leader, created a stir when he picked the conservative city of Kelowna in 2013 to call for full legalization of pot. He was savagely attacked by the Conservative Party government of then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. When Canadians voted in October of 2015, however, the Liberals scored an upset victory for a House of Commons seat in Kelowna. Clear Lake, Mason City and the surrounding areas draw many tourists throughout the year. The Winter Dance Party at the Surf Ballroom is the largest event for Clear Lake in the winter. The event celebrates the music and lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Holly, Valens, Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake with pilot Roger Peterson on Feb. 3, 1959, after performing the Winter Dance Party at the Surf. The event later became known as The Day the Music Died. In the summer, thousands flock to the lake for the sun, boating, swimming and other water sports. Tourism is really looking strong, Clear Lake Director of Tourism Libbey Patton said. The last two years Clear Lake has been breaking records on hotel counts. Winters are also a lot stronger. Clear Lake generated $68 million in visitor spending in 2015. Visitors also enjoy the Fourth of July weekend celebration including fireworks over the lake. Tourism in Mason City generated $95.4 Million in 2015. The Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, including the Stockman House and the Historic Park Inn, brings in travelers from all over the world. Music Man Square and the Meredith Willson boyhood home are large attractions for visitors, as well as the MacNider Art Museum, Cannonball 457 and Kinney Pioneer Museum. Lime Creek Nature Center, East Park, Big Blue and Clear Lake are appealing to nature lovers. Affordable place to visit, Lindsey James, Executive Director of Visit Mason City, said. Small town charm, big-city amenities. Our tourism offerings are very unique. The North Iowa Band Festival, Great River City Fest and Up in Smoke BBQ Fest bring in thousands of tourists each year. The convenient location, centrally located between Des Moines and the Twin Cities with easy access to Interstate 35 and Avenue of the Saints, can make Clear Lake, Mason City and other North Iowa locations ideal stopping points for leisure and fun. In 2015, Cerro Gordo County ranked 11th in tourism expenditure levels compared to the other 98 counties in Iowa. Visitor spending in Cerro Gordo County in 2015 was $191 million. There are 1,500 tourism-related jobs in the county. Charles Citys whitewater course on the Cedar River brings in tourists every summer. Smaller towns have a lot to offer as well. Britt gets tourists every year for across the region and country for the annual Hobo Days and Britt Draft Horse Show. Diamond Jo Casino in Northwood draws a crowd. By GMM 15 April 2017 - 12:10 Fernando Alonso has played down criticism of his decision to skip Monaco next month to contest the Indy 500. The shock news has created a buzz in the motor racing world, but many fellow drivers said they would never skip a grand prix, while team bosses revealed they would not allow their own racers to do the same. "I think he needs to see a psychiatrist personally," said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. "Would we let our drivers do it? No." Alonso said in Bahrain that his former boss Ron Dennis would not have allowed it either, and former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone agreed. "I think its probably good for Alonso but if I could have persuaded McLaren not to go I would have done it," said the 86-year-old in Bahrain. "I would have said Wait until your contract finishes and then do what you like but you are in the middle of formula one." But there is not only criticism. 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve hailed Alonsos bravery for taking on the challenge of a race he himself won in 1995. "Fernando has this," said the Canadian, using his hands to symbolise balls. "I dont understand when its said that the risks are too high," Villeneuve told Brazils Globo in Bahrain. "Yes, but if youre a driver and so many other drivers are doing it, you cannot be afraid. "Are you a driver or not?" he added. Indeed, Villeneuve said it is the danger of Indianapolis that means the quality of the field is high. "Why are most of the drivers in the Indy 500 not paying drivers?" he asked rhetorically. "Because daddy is not going to give you money to race somewhere you can get hurt. "But what are the risks today in F1? Hardly anything. And what happens? Its full of paying drivers." When asked about the criticism of his and McLarens Indy 500 decision, Spaniard Alonso said in Bahrain that he expected it. "We spoke before the announcement that the drivers would say they would never miss a grand prix, and the bosses would say they would never let their drivers go to the Indy 500," Alonso told the Spanish broadcaster Movistar. "We said this reaction (in F1) would be normal because this weekend the media coverage is high because of Indy, the sponsors want to go, the TV wants to go, journalists want to go so I think its normal," he added. By GMM 15 April 2017 - 11:03 Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed he will also attend the next round on the F1 schedule, in Russia. The former F1 supremo revealed the news in Bahrain, where he caused a stir by appearing at his first grand prix since being ousted by Liberty Media. "I didnt leave," the Journal de Montreal quotes him as saying. "Its good to be back, but I only missed two races. And I wouldnt have gone to them anyway." Ecclestone, 86, is still an honorary chairman, but he said he has almost nothing to do with his successors Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches. "I havent met Sean Bratches, and although I have known Ross Brawn for a long time, this year weve spoken for about 10 minutes," international media reports quote the Briton as saying. Ecclestone said he caught up with his direct successor Carey in Bahrain, but the new guard has asked him for "basically nothing thank God". So why is he in Bahrain, and why will he travel to Russia in a fortnight? Germanys Auto Bild said one reason could be that Ecclestone wrote into the original race contracts that only he can lead negotiations. "I have no idea if thats true," he said mischievously when asked. Ecclestone did say he has been keeping "busy" in his post-F1 life, but played down rumours he is poised to buy the Brazilian grand prix circuit at Interlagos. "Everything is possible, but I doubt it," he said. In the end, Ecclestone caused a stir in Bahrain, as did McLaren with news that Jenson Button will be back on the grid in Monaco to replace Fernando Alonso. But F1 veteran David Coulthard said it is all just a distraction from the main event. "Sport is about winners and exceptional performances," he wrote in the Telegraph. "Bernie Ecclestone returning was very exciting, but it will not be big news tomorrow, and come Sunday hell just be another person in the paddock. And that will be the same for Jenson in Monaco." Businesses throughout the region are expanding. In April, Mason City Council approved a development agreement with Cargill Kitchen Solutions to assist with an expansion project, adding 44 jobs. Global Ag Inc. in Hampton is growing, as is LeMar Industries of rural Sheffield. Sukup Manufacturing has added a steel building component to their offerings, as the hog and chicken industries continue to expand in the state. In early 2016, All States Ag Parts moved into the essentially-empty Cummins plant and now they occupy more than 75 percent of the building in Lake Mills. In Hancock County, Stellar Industries, Original Saw, Michael Foods expanded, and Christensen Farms in Garner is under construction. In Cerro Gordo County many companies have located to or have expanded in the county over the past five years. The Nigerian senate has vowed to publish names of importers and banks found culpable in ongoing investigation into over N30 trillion alleged foreign exchange frauds perpetrated between 2006 and 2017. Hope Uzodinma, chairman, senate committee on customs, made this known on Thursday, April 13, 2017 which was the second day of meeting with representatives of all commercial banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and ministry of finance. He said the committee had given documents containing names of importers allegedly involved in the act and other details to the commercial banks to study. He said as soon as the committee gets reactions from the banks, it will proceed with further investigations on each of the importers. The senate is worried with the state of our economy and we have decided to investigate the dwindling value of our Naira as well as the state of forex that is affecting the economy negatively, he said. We will publish the names of importer and banks involved in this fraudulent act. The purpose of giving the banks these documents is for them to go and identify the importers that were their customers and work out ways of returning the un-utilised portion of the foreign exchange allocated to them. We have the names of the importers, how much was given to them and other details, which are contained in the documents handed over to the banks. The lawmaker decried that the release of Forex to fictitious importers had denied genuine importers access to Forex, thereby causing economic hardship. We profiled utilisation of Forex within the period and went further to establish that letters of credit for doing business were linked to companies abroad, he said. We did not stop there, we also went to customs and there was no evidence of import duty payment, payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) and other requirements. The lawmaker said the committee had given the banks up to May 3, to appear before it after studying and making submissions on the documents given to them. He said the reason they were given up to three weeks was to give ample time for them to adequately study the documents to avoid excuses. He added that the three weeks was also to give the managing directors of all the commercial banks the opportunity to be present at the meeting in view of its importance. He said the committee would not accept representation from any of the banks, adding that the matter ought to be taken seriously by all concerned. The chairman said the committee was working with the executive, security agents and other stakeholders in the investigation and should not be trivialised. Uzodinma said the committee with the mandate given to it by the senate would do everything to recover the money, block further leakages and ensure release of foreign exchange to genuine importers. At least six people were killed and 10 others injured in Sri Lankas capital Friday after a massive rubbish dump buried an estimated 40 homes during the traditional new year. A 12-year-old boy and two teenaged girls died at the Colombo National hospital where 10 others were being treated after they were rescued, hospital spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa told AFP.She said three other people who were pulled from the wreckage of homes were already dead by the time they arrived at the hospital on Friday night, raising the confirmed death toll to six.Police said hundreds of troops had joined the search for survivors after the disaster at Kolonnawa on the northeastern edge of the capital. President Maithripala Sirisena ordered troops and police to join firefighters in the rescue after the 300-foot (91-metre) high dump caught fire and collapsed, officials said.Police said the true scale of the damage remained unclear.A search for survivors is under way, the police said in a statement.Dozens of homes collapsed after heavy rains overnight caused the garbage mountain to shift, officials said. It became further destabilised after a fire broke out, triggering landslides that buried dwellings.Military spokesman Roshan Seneviratne said 100 soldiers were already digging through mounds of trash. Heavy earth moving equipment was also being deployed, he added.Local residents said many people had left the area after the nights heavy rain.We think about 40 homes have been destroyed, a disaster management official told reporters.Roughly 800 tonnes of solid waste is added daily to the open dump, angering residents who live nearby.Sri Lankas parliament was warned recently that the 23 million tonnes of garbage rotting at Kolonnawa was a serious health hazard.Efforts are underway to build an electricity plant that could transform the solid waste into fuel.Fridays fire broke out as the country marked its traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year and most people were in their homes celebrating. The Nigeria Union of Textile Garment Workers (NUTGW) has appealed to the Kaduna State Government to ensure the reopening of shut textile industries and payment of workers gratuity.Its Deputy Secretary-General Comrade Dele Ojo, urged the government to reopen the factories in the interest of the people.He said: People are suffering; those displaced when the factories were closed are still in trouble. Even though we do not have the statistics as to how many have lost their lives, we know the situation is such that everybody is concerned about the welfare of the people that were displaced as a result of the closure.Ojo said the union was always in touch with workers of the closed textile factories with a view to finding solutions to their plight.The union has been doing a lot in terms of advocacy to draw governments attention to the plight of the industry and our campaign has made it possible for UNTPL to be reopened because of the provisions of the Bank of Industry (BoI) with a current work force of about 1,500, he said.On Kaduna Textiles Limited (KTL), he said: We were told recently that the management has been able to woo some investors from Turkey, who were interested in making military uniforms. We were told that they have gotten to the stage where investors have shown interest and that they only needed the cooperation of the Ministries of Defence and Interior to give them the go ahead so that they can float a garment factory there.Ojo noted that these were reassuring information, which the union believed would help it get those factories to reopen. He said if this happened, some of the workers would be re-engaged and the issue of payment of their entitlement may also come to bear.On FINETEX and NOTEX, Ojo said there was an erroneous belief that their gratuity had not been paid, but because of all the unions efforts, it was able to convince the chairman of the company, Alhaji Dantata, who made available about N250million for the workers gratuity.He said this has been paid to the workers. It is not fair for anyone to claim that NOTEX and FINETEX gratuity had not been paid because it has been addressed, Ojo clarified.On Arewa Textile, he said, The major problem they have was with Union Bank. We were told that the bank has recovered so much from Arewa Textiles in terms of the debt owed them and we were thinking that the bank would be sympathetic to the workers in carrying out the burden of gratuity for the workers. Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), will continue to lose cases because the anti-graft agency arrests people without proper and thorough investigation.In a statement released by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose went on to condemn the continued detention of former Governors of Benue and Niger States, Gabriel Suswam and Babangida Aliyu.He said their detention showed the disrespect for the law by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).It is even more worrisome that former Governor Suswam has been in detention since February 26 this year and Austin Okai, who was arrested in Abuja last Sunday, was arraigned in Lokoja Magistrate Court on Thursday, granted bail and rearrested at the court premises by the same police that charged him to court.Arresting people without proper and thorough investigation is the reason EFCC continues lose its cases. How can you arrest someone, put him in detention and start looking for evidence to prosecute him?On Wednesday, the Department of State Services came up with the most ridiculous reason for keeping Suswam in detention since February. The service said it would not release the former governor because he has failed to cooperate with investigators. The question is; what cooperation does the DSS need from someone that will require him being kept in detention for close to two months without charging him to court?One may also ask: is the DSS also keeping the head of Nigerias Islamic Movement, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who has been in detention since late 2015 despite that the court ruled that he should be released?Are we back to the era of Decree 2 of 1984 when the National Security Organisation had powers to arrest and detain Nigerians indefinitely?Also, for what lawful reason would the Police charge Austin Okai to court and rearrest him at the court premises after he was granted bail? Isnt the brutish use of power by these APC elements getting too much?Fayose also insisted that the EFCC had no right to detain any Nigerian without trial.Most importantly, it is assumed that before anyone can be arrested for alleged corruption, the EFCC ought to have done its job by gathering necessary facts.This practice of EFCC arresting Nigerians, detaining them indefinitely so that they can give indicting evidences against themselves is alien to crime investigation in civilised world.Therefore, if EFCC has any evidence of corruption against Dr Babangida Aliyu, the commission should simply charge him to court and use the evidence(s) to prosecute him.In the absence of this, he should be released forthwith; else one will also believe the insinuation that the EFCC is holding him (Babangida) as part of the APC-led Federal Government clampdown on anyone that is perceived as having presidential ambition in 2019. During a concert held in Warri yesterday for the Ex-housemates, the One campaign ambassador , Bisola after being persuaded by the show host,... During a concert held in Warri yesterday for the Ex-housemates, the One campaign ambassador , Bisola after being persuaded by the show host, Helen Paul went on stage and made peace with her former love interest in the house, ThinTallTony. Bisola who found out that he was married during the grand finale of the show had said TTT betrayed their friendship which led to the actress refusal to hug him during their meet in Lagos . T he mother of one, got all of that behind her yesterday at the concert in Warri after been compelled by the show host, Helen Paul to forgive him and hug him, which she obliged, signaling a sign of forgiveness. Watch the video below: Nigerias first female vice-chancellor, Grace Alele-Williams has lambasted the Nigerian army for allegedly toying with the rest of the Chi... Nigerias first female vice-chancellor, Grace Alele-Williams has lambasted the Nigerian army for allegedly toying with the rest of the Chibok girls in Boko Haram's den.According to the former University of Benin VC, Boko Haram insurgents have sophisticated weapons than the Nigerian military.The story of the Chibok girls nowadays is now something that has become a game. We are more interested in other things, she said at the 3rd anniversary of the abduction on Friday.Our troops are not using correct arms. I am told that we have arms that are less powerful than those used by the insurgents.Many of our soldiers have gone to other parts of West Africa. We see that we have very good soldiers who can work out things in other places, but why are the less powerful ones sent to rescue Chibok girls?Why cant they send well-equipped soldiers to go out and bring back our girls and clean the hearts of their weeping mothers.She added that the army leadership are lazy.We have an army where directors and those who give orders sit back in Abuja and send less powerful ones who to the field, she said.We even make pacts with other African countries and say we are going to do this and that but we have not been able to do so, which makes us a laughing stock. The police and other security agencies have tightened security around all the foreign missions in the country with the deployment of mor... The police and other security agencies have tightened security around all the foreign missions in the country with the deployment of more regular and undercover operatives.This followed a plot by some Boko Haram elements to bomb the United States embassy, United Kingdom High Commission and other western interests in the Federal Capital Territory.The plot was foiled by the Department of State Services in March, 2017 and five suspects were also arrested in connection with the incident.Findings by our correspondent indicated that the police which had special diplomatic security unit for the foreign missions, had deployed additional men to protect the embassies and consulates across the country.A source explained that many undercover agents had also been embedded in the security units to strengthen the police teams in place.The source said, In addition to the regular personnel providing security for the missions, more operatives have been deployed to beef up the security and ensure that the embassies and consulates are impregnable.He added, The casual observer may not notice any change in the security architecture of the missions, but I can tell you that we have further fortified the embassies and other critical infrastructure to discourage attacks by criminal elements.The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, confirmed the development, but added that the security around the missions was heightened before the DSS foiled the alleged terror plot.Even before the DSS said it foiled the alleged plot, they (policemen) had been on red alert and we had done adequate and elaborate deployment, the security around the embassies had been beefed up throughout the country. The IG had directed the personnel and the commanding officer responsible for deployment of the men to ensure that adequate personnel were deployed and supervised, he explained.Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police has directed Assistant Inspectors -General of Police in charge of Zonal commands and Commissioners of Police nationwide to be on ground throughout the Easter celebration to supervise and implement the robust security arrangements.He also ordered a massive deployment of police personnel throughout the country for crime prevention and control during the celebration.Moshood in a statement said the personnel deployment would cover places of worship, recreation centres, and venues of celebration, other public places and private facilities.Consistent surveillance, intelligence gathering and continuous raid of criminal hideouts, black spots, flash/ vulnerable points are already ongoing and will be sustained throughout the period, he stated.The police said vehicular and foot patrols and adequate visibility policing would also be done to guarantee safety of lives and property throughout the period.The Force urged the public to cooperate with the personnel of the Police Highway patrol teams, the Special Anti-robbery Squads and other police units deployed to prevent crime on the highways and major roads across the country. Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari must stand for re-election in 2019, in the best interest... Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari must stand for re-election in 2019, in the best interest of Nigeria.Amid the economic downturn and other issues, he insisted Buhari deserves a second term.My prayer is that the president gets wellgets back to full health and run again because I still believe his being presidentthe stability that he brings to the office is in the best interest of Nigeria, El-Rufai said on Friday.The Governor also said if Buhari decides not to run, he expects him to have a say in who the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) puts forward as its candidate.El-Rufai, who observed Jumaat Prayer with the President yesterday, also admitted he is aware that some of Buharis aides dont like him .Within the Villa, there are people that like me and there are those who dont and it is normal. My relationship with the President has never been strained in any way, he explained. North Iowa is serviced by a regional airport, the Mason City Municipal Airport, with four flights daily to Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis. In 1927, the Mason City Chamber of Commerce and the Clausen-Worden Post-American Legion established Mason Citys first airport on the southwest corner of Taft Avenue and Highway 18. Charles Lindbergh, the first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, attended the dedication. In 1942, Mason City purchased 312 acres several miles west of the city for a new airport. Mason City Municipal Airport saw its first official landing in 1945. North Iowa Air Service has served the Mason City and Clear Lake Area since 2001. The airport offers air charter, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, aircraft management, aircraft sales, flight instruction and more. Most North Iowa communities are roughly two hours from either the Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport or the Des Moines International Airport. Constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, says the millions of Dollars, Pounds and Naira, found in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, among ot... Constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, says the millions of Dollars, Pounds and Naira, found in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, among other discoveries were meant to divert attention from the hunger, squalor, fear, disease, non-performance and cluelessness of APC government, adding a serving Minister owns the money.He added that the recent developments are ploy to making sure that Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, remains in charge of the agency.The human rights activist made the claim in a statement yesterday where he said that the farcical story that National Intelligence Agency NIA, Nigerias external secret Police has claimed ownership of the sum of $43.4m, 27, 800 and N23.2m is total hogwash, bunkum and balderdash.The discovery has generated controversy and finger-pointing, with former governor of Rivers State now Transport Minister being accused of owning the cash.Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has also weighed in, insisting that Amaechi come clean on the matter.Ozekhome, in his statement, said, Let this government and its minions credit Nigerians with some modicum of sense and capacity to reason, even with their valiant attempts to cow, browbeat and intimidate all opposition elements and critical voices in their so called corruption war.At least, not even the terror halo cast on our individual and collective psyche has dulled our analytical minds.The entire theatricality and Baba Salas Alawada Kerikeri buffoonery ought to be reserved for some circus show at the National Theatre or Trafalgar Square, where comedians and humour merchants entertain.The emergent facts do not show NIAs ownership of the money, but grand cover-up of a serving ministers ownership of the money.It is so, so sad that all these national diversions are simply geared towards highlighting and emphasizing the omnipotence and indispensability of just one man, Ibrahim Magu, as Executive Chairman of the EFCC. We should build strong institutions, not strong individuals.Before Ibrahim Magu, there was a Nuhu Ribadu; there was a Mrs Waziri: and there was an Ibrahim Lamorde. After Magu, there would still be another EFCC Executive Chairman.All these so-called humongous recoveries of orphaned monies are simply geared towards showcasing ineffable efficiency, effectiveness and matchless proficiency.It simply doesnt work that way. In the USA, wherefrom we borrowed our presidentialism, the equivalent agency works silently behind the scene, only seen, but never heard, except where it becomes absolutely necessary.But, here in Nigeria, the EFCC engages in grotesque media trial, hifalutin and shocking disclosures of orphaned monies whose destinations after the media hype are never known.Where are all the alleged recoveries of are vast sums, attached properties, etc, made by the EFCC, kept and how much are they?When asked this question by the Senate during screening, Magu told a shocked and bewildered Nation he did not know!We seem now fixated to name, shame and humiliate Nigerians with the paint brush of shame, odium, obloquy and denigration.How can about N15 billion be found in highbrow Osborne Road, Ikoyi, by no means a back squalid street?How can a foreign arm of the Nigerian secret Police, the equivalent of CIA, keep such hard currency in cash at an unguarded apartment, tucked away with many other apartments in a block of flats, not in a separate heavily fortified and fiercely guarded stand -alone building that has keep off carefully imprinted on it?What was it meant for and who approved it and in which budget?Who was the whistle blower that could identify that such money was hidden in the bedroom in flat 7A, leaving out flat 7B, yet not knowing who kept the money there or its ownership?Why was EFCC not pictured or videotaped going into the apartment, before we suddenly saw an arranged counting of money?Is there no CCTV in such a highbrow wealthy society members abode?Can we see the footages please? Only last week, N49m orphaned sum was arrested at Kaduna Airport!Then, suddenly another sum of orphaned N448m was discovered in an ownerless shop in Victoria Island.Who owned the plaza? Who sold there? Are there no CCTV there? Can we see them please?The truth is that all these simulated arrangee discoveries can only temporarily divert attention from the hunger, squalor, fear, disease, not performance and cluelessness of this government.But, unfortunately, even lies have their expiry date. Truth is inexorable, immutable and eternal.The chicken will finally come home to roost. There was a showdown between some parents of the missing Chibok girls and the policemen on Friday at the State House, Abuja, following t... There was a showdown between some parents of the missing Chibok girls and the policemen on Friday at the State House, Abuja, following the insistence of the former to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.The women, who moved to the presidential villa from Transcorp Hotel, shortly after the first Annual Chibok Girls Lecture, had demanded to see the President to inquire about the whereabouts of their daughters, but they were prevented from accessing Aso Villa by the policemen.One of the protesting parents, Mrs. Esther Yakubu, told the policemen that she would only go back home if her missing daughter, Dorcas, was given to her.If you give me my daughter now, I will go back, she insisted, and after a police officer urged her to be patient, she was annoyed.Which patience do you want me to exercise? He (Buhari) is celebrating the graduation of his own children; I also want to celebrate the graduation of my daughter.When a similar incident happened in Lagos, they rescued them because they are the children of rich men. I want to talk to the President myself as a mother. My daughter is still in captivity, I cant leave without seeing the President today.The Personal Assistant to the President on Protocol, John Oyegun, persuaded the protesting women to shelve their demand, saying the President could not see them because he was indisposed.The women then demanded to see the Presidents wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, or Osibanjo, but Oyegun refused to grant the request, saying the latter was not available.=The parents subsequently left the place after venting their anger and disappointment on the government.=Meanwhile, some Chibok parents have called on the Federal Government to fast-track negotiations with Boko Haram and bring back their daughters.They said they were unhappy with the way the rescue of the girls had dragged on for three years in spite of several promises by Buhari.Lawan Zannah, whose daughter, Margaret, was among the hostages, said he would have dragged the government to court if he was rich, noting that the Federal Government had failed the parents.The retired Assistant Superintendent of Police said he had been unable to farm since his daughter was abducted on account of his failing health.He said, The government is just lying to us, I am not happy at all. Due to the abduction of my daughter, I can no longer farm on account of my failing health. For three years, I could not farm.I believe they are just playing politics with the rescue of the girls. The Federal and Borno state governments have been assuring us that the girls would be rescued, but nothing has happened in the past three years of their abduction.Another parent, Kabu Yakubu, said he missed his daughter, Dorcas, noting that he was in the dark about government plans for her rescue. He said the schoolgirls would have been rescued if they were children of prominent or rich parents.They said they are negotiating with Boko Haram, but we dont know what is going on. If the government was serious, it would have long rescued the girls, he said.Another parent, Yama Pogu, also appealed to the government to conclude negotiations with the sect to rescue his daughter, Aisha, and her colleagues in captivity. The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has decried the indiscriminate arrest and continued detention of former Governors of Benue... The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has decried the indiscriminate arrest and continued detention of former Governors of Benue and Niger states, Mr. Gabriel Suswam and Dr. Babangida Aliyu.He said their detention with that of the National Coordinator of Peoples Democratic Partys National Youth Frontier, Austin Usman Okai, was a further demonstration of the All Progressives Congress government regime of vindictiveness and disrespect for the laws of Nigeria.The governor, in a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Friday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, stated that there was no law permitting security agents to detain Nigerians indefinitely.It is even more worrisome that former Governor Suswam has been in detention since February 26 this year and Austin Okai, who was arrested in Abuja last Sunday, was arraigned in Lokoja Magistrate Court on Thursday, granted bail and rearrested at the court premises by the same police that charged him to court.Fayose lamented that the APC-led Federal Government had become defiant to reasons.Arresting people without proper and thorough investigation is the reason EFCC continues to lose its cases. How can you arrest someone, put him in detention and start looking for evidence to prosecute him?On Wednesday, the Department of State Services came up with the most ridiculous reason for keeping Suswam in detention since February. The service said it would not release the former governor because he has failed to cooperate with investigators. The question is what cooperation does the DSS need from someone that will require him being kept in detention for close to two months without charging him to court?One may also ask, is the DSS also keeping the head of Nigerias Islamic Movement, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who has been in detention since late 2015 despite that the court ruled that he should be released because he refused to cooperate with investigators?Are we back to the era of Decree 2 of 1984 when the National Security Organisation had powers to arrest and detain Nigerians indefinitely?Also, for what lawful reason would the Police charge Austin Okai to court and rearrest him at the court premises after he was granted bail? Isnt the brutish use of power by these APC elements getting too much?On the continued detention of Aliyu, Fayose maintained that investigating allegations of corruption does not empower the EFCC or any security agency to detain any Nigeria indefinitely without trial.Most importantly, it is assumed that before anyone can be arrested for alleged corruption, the EFCC ought to have done its job by gathering necessary facts. This practice of EFCC arresting Nigerians, detaining them indefinitely so that they can give indicting evidences against themselves is alien to crime investigation in civilised world.Therefore, if EFCC has any evidence of corruption against Dr. Babangida Aliyu, the commission should simply charge him to court and use the evidence(s) to prosecute him. In the absence of this, he should be released forthwith; else one will also believe the insinuation that the EFCC is holding him (Babangida) as part of the APC-led Federal Government clampdown on anyone that is perceived as having presidential ambition in 2019. Dr. Doyin Okupe, former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, says he has never told a lie in his ent... Dr. Doyin Okupe, former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, says he has never told a lie in his entire life being a Christian.He said even while in office, he discharged his duties diligently and was never hypocritical about it.Speaking with Sun, the PDP chieftain said he had no reason to tell lies just to protect his job.He said, Lying and looking after the image of your principal are two different things. In the first instance, I have religious constraints; you know I am a Christian and we were told that lying is of the devil.I will not lie for any reason because it is the same mouth that I am going to lie with that I am going to pray with and they dont work together.Luckily for me, the first person I worked with was Obasanjo, he hated the word propaganda because he felt that propaganda was about lying, although that is not true.But, basically, you can still do a good job, even with the worst principal without lying but by emphasising and deliberately delving or over-indulging on the positive sides of your boss.So, If I get cornered by a journalist with lots of negativity, I always find an exit, with the positive side of any situation in which I am in and then, dwell on that. Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, says he has no problem with Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, whom he desc... Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, says he has no problem with Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, whom he described as his kid brother.Both men have been in the news since last week when el-Rufai challenged the national assembly to make its budget public.Dogara had dared governors to publish their security votes and funds allocated to local governments.Three days after this, el-Rufai accepted the challenge and released details of his expenditure, and Dogara also made public his pay slips for six months. The exchange between the politicians continued until Thursday.Speaking with state house correspondents on Friday, el-Rufai said he had nothing personal against the speaker of the lower chamber of the national assembly.He said every Nigerian had the right to tell the national assembly to open its budget and that he made the call in the interest of the country.I have no problem with the speaker, he is my kid brother. He respects me and I respect him, he said.It is in the national assemblys interest to actually publish its budget because there are rumours of bogus amounts of money that they are getting which I do not believe is true.I think that the best way to kill that rumour is to publish the details of their budget but some people took exception to that call for transparency and I have no apologies because as citizens we have the right to demand for transparency for how resources are being spent.This N100 billion or so budget of the national assembly is money belonging to the people of Nigeria and every Nigerian has the right to ask and I am exercising that right as a citizen not even as a governor.El-Rufai said his relationship with Senate President Bukola Saraki is also cordial, explaining that his call about transparency is in the interest of Nigerians.I have no problem with the senate president, we worked together in the past, and I am confident that we will work together in the future in the interest of Nigeria but demand for accountability is not a problem and should not be construed to be undermining or any such thing, he said.It is only someone who has something to hide that will do things like that and I dont believe that the national assembly have things to hide Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State says he was never banned from coming to the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State says he was never banned from coming to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.The governor, who stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after joining President Muhammadu Buhari to perform the two-rakaat Jumaat weekly prayer at State House Mosque, Abuja, on Friday,Reports on the social media said El-Rufai was banned from the Presidential Villa for allegedly leaking a memo he wrote to Buhari on Sept. 22, 2016.In the memo, El-Rufai alerted President Buhari that he was losing the vision and the momentum with which All Progressives Congress (APC) started its Change Agenda.The governor also in the memo, advised the President to effect changes in the leadership of some federal agencies and establishments, and to communicate constantly with Nigerians, so they will know the plans of his government.El-Rufai, however, told the State House correspondents that he was not stopped from coming to the Aso Rock, and that nobody can stop him from visiting the Villa.According to him, he stopped frequenting the villa because the President needs quality time to rest and also attends to challenges of governance.No one ever stopped me from coming to the villa and no one can stop me from coming to villa.As a governor I come here, I have blank cheques, no one checks me at the gate but I believe what the President needs is for those that love him to keep away from him and allow him to rest.The President needs quality time to rest because it is meeting too many people that strains leadership.I am a governor and I know that when I meet 10 people in a day I get really tired, it is not the paperwork, it is not really the memos approving them or asking questions that strain a leader, it is the stream of visitors.I do not want to contribute to the Presidents problem by coming here every day. I am in touch with him, he added.The governor, therefore, appealed to Nigerians to show more understanding and love to the president by allowing him to rest and also concentrate more on his private and official engagements, saying that visitors stress leaders.Let me appeal to all of us that love the President to please allow him some space so that he will recover.We need him and the country needs him, it is in our interest for the stability of the country, we should just let him be.It is absolutely necessary lets us leave him to do his work in the privacy of his room or his office without strings of visitors. Visitors stress leaders.El-Rufai also described his relationship with Buhari as cordial, saying that the relationship had never been strained in anyway.He, however, acknowledged that there were people within the presidency that like me and there are those who dont and it is normal.My relationship with the President has never been strained in anyway. I met with him lastnight,I did not talk about things like that but our relationship with him is like that of father and son and it is privilege for me.Meanwhile, Chief Imam of the State House Mosque, Sheik Abdulwaheed Sulaiman, has called on Muslims and Christians to unite as brothers and sisters given the common Abrahamic origin of their religions. The N13bn cash ($43,449,947, 27,800 and N23,218,000) found in a Lagos apartment which has generated a lot of buzz on social media was app... The N13bn cash ($43,449,947, 27,800 and N23,218,000) found in a Lagos apartment which has generated a lot of buzz on social media was approved by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, sources said according to Premium Times.The National Intelligence Agency, NIA, is laying claim to the money.According to presidency sources, Jonathan approved the money for NIA after its immediate past Director General, Olaniyi Oladeji, alerted him to the need for some crucial and covert security projects.The funds were released in cash directly from the CBN in order to make its spending an extremely secret affair.The projects are scattered across the country, but there is a major one in Lagos being funded with the cash warehoused in the Ikoyi building, one source said. The spending on the projects cannot be subjected to the usual expenditure process, and that is why the funds are held in cash. If you like, you can call it illegal projects in the national interest.Only relevant top government officials and of the NIA are aware of the projects, the source added.(Premium Times) The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Muazu, has clarified his position on the controversy surround... The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Muazu, has clarified his position on the controversy surrounding the ownership of a building where the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered about N12 billion during the week.Reports had said the former Bauchi governor is the owner of the building located at 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the EFCC, on Wednesday, discovered funds in various currencies.Muazu, in a statement, said he actually built the said property but later sold to buyers of individual flats in the building.He said, My attention has been drawn to the news making the rounds that I own the building on No.16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. I want to state clearly that I built the said property and sold to prospective buyers of individual flats.I have been a property developer since 1983 and I have developed and sold several properties all over the world, the property in question happens to be one of them. I acquired the land and jointly developed it using a bank loan, I obtained about nine years ago.However, all the flats have been sold to prospective buyers in order to pay back the loan. I do not own or occupy any of the apartments. I sold all the apartments through established estate agents as such I have no knowledge or interest in who purchases or rents any of the flats.I commend the efforts of the official of the EFCC and the governments drive at fighting corruption and also the media in informing the public on illicit and corrupt proceeds.My response is not intended to jeopardise or interfere with the ongoing investigation of the anti- graft and security agencies but to clear the misconception that the house in question belongs to me. I strongly believe that the efforts being made will surely unveil the real owner of such flat and the monies recovered. Elder Statesman, Tanko Yakasai, has claimed that things went bad after President Muhammadu Buhari returned from his medical vacation and t... Elder Statesman, Tanko Yakasai, has claimed that things went bad after President Muhammadu Buhari returned from his medical vacation and took over from Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who was acting in his stead.Yakasai recalled that while Buhari was away, things were going on smoothly; that Niger Delta militants stopped blowing pipelines and Nigerians were enjoying more than 8 hours of electricity.Speaking with Sun, Yakasai wished Buhari good luck if he wishes to seek for second term in office.Asked about his views on the 2019 election, he said, This is in the hands of God. If he (Buhari) is fit, good luck to him. He admitted that things went on fine when Osinbajo acted for him; the vice president is younger, while ill health and military background weaken the president.Things were better when the vice president acted because I was getting electricity for eight hours a day, and now since Buhari came back and took over, electricity supply dropped to two or three hours in a day.The same complaint in Lagos of people paying electricity bill that they didnt enjoy, it wasnt happening when Osinbajo was acting.During the short period that the VP acted, there was no blowing of pipelines anymore.If what happens in this country in the last two years didnt kill me, I dont think it will kill me in the next two years. The suffering was much, I suffer and you suffer.The other day I got a text message from somebody who complained how he has been suffering, as his pensions had not been paid for over one year, and his children are still in school, I told him, how I was also suffering.Everybody is suffering, but if we want to suffer, we can continue the suffering. The Hausa people say, Mutuwar yawa kaka (If death is going to take everybody, not me alone, let it come.)So, you can see, if Buhari says he is fit and wants to continue, I wish him good luck.Yakasai also came hard on the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, and others thinking of tearing Nigeria apart.He described Kanu and his supporters, as irritants annoying the government and other people.God forbid that Nigeria would have been divided; do you think that the Urhobo, Ika Igbo in Delta would have allowed the Ijaw and Itsekiri to go away with the oil in Niger Delta to their exclusion? Yakasai quipped. Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says the name Shekau may be fake. Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says the name Shekau may be fake.Abubakar Shekau is the leader of the Boko Haram sect. He has embarrassed the military on a number of occasions.Each time the army pronounces him dead, he resurfaces in audio or video messages.Last month, Mansur Dan-Ali, minister of defence, said Shekau had been disguising with masks to evade arrest.During an interview with Nation, Mohammed was asked to comment on the militant leader and he said: You know my understanding of Shekau? Shekau may not be a real name. If you kill one Shekau today, there are hundreds that come to that place.For me, Shekau as a person is a symbol of insurgency. Now, whether he is dead or not, I think it is a mute point. What is important, are we wining insurgency or not? The answer is yes.Mohammed also spoke on the plight of Chibok schoolgirls and the delay in securing their release.I think it is quite unfortunate that when people talk about the Boko Haram insurgency, the focus is always on the missing Chibok girls, and every effort of government in combatting this deadly insurgency is often measured against the return or otherwise of the Chibok girls, he said.The Boko Haram insurgency, unfortunately, is not just about the missing Chibok girls alone. Every day, our gallant soldiers risk their lives to ensure that a final closure is put on the Boko Haram insurgency. There is no doubt that the missing Chibok girls have captured the attention of the entire world, and we make no attempt to belittle or treat the issue of the missing girls with any disrespect or that it is only a small part of the big picture.That is not what we are saying. What we are saying is that the return of the Chibok girls is a part of a very comprehensive approach to putting behind us the Boko Haram insurgency. And it is not correct to say that the government has abandoned either the search for these missing girls or that we have abandoned the dialogue for their release.Evidence that we have not abandoned the search for them is the fact that only recently, you can see that the military conducted its firearm tournament in the dreaded Sambisa Forest. That is to show you what we have done to ensure that Boko Haram people have no stronghold at all. I remember that prior to our coming into office, a total of 14 local government areas out of 20 in Borno State were under the effective control of Boko Haram.And by this, we mean these were local government areas where they were not just present but they had their government there, they appointed tax officers and emirs. They had their own judiciary and they did similar things in parts of Adamawa and Yobe. Today, they do not have any foothold in any area in the North East. For us, we take this as very big achievement.Anybody who is familiar with insurgency will know that insurgency is not something that you finish overnight. Countries like Columbia and other parts of the world that had witnessed more than 40 to 50 years of insurgency will testify to this. But you continue to engage and at the same time you continue to improve your military capacity and you continue to reintegrate into the society people who had been held hostage. North Iowas low unemployment rate leaves many job opportunities throughout the region at all skill levels. Unemployment rates in February ranged from 2 to 4 percent in North Iowa, below the national 4.7 percent unemployment. Iowa's rate sat at 3.2 percent unemployment. According to the North Iowa Corridor, the region is attractive for its ample job opportunities, low cost of doing business and low cost of living. Average wages across the region range from about $38,900 to over $53,000. Franklin County had one of the highest wage averages at $53,043. Garner has one of the highest city wage averages at over $52,900. There are job openings across the region in a variety of fields, including manufacturing, agriculture, metal works, engineering, health care and more. Lake Mills businesses offer many opportunities to work in organizations ranging in sizes form small business to large corporation, providing positions for all education levels, Executive Director of the Lake Mills Chamber Development Corp. Cassie Johnson said. It is a great place to live because of its excellent school system, active parks and recreation program and high quality of life. Companies like POET and more are looking to recruit young engineers, professionals and many other skill levels to the region. This essay is about one of the most horrific events that has ever taken place in our history and one of the most graphic examples of ethn... This essay is about one of the most horrific events that has ever taken place in our history and one of the most graphic examples of ethnic cleansing that took place during our civil war.It is an event which mortified the civilised world and which brought our nation and Armed Forces opprobium, disdain, contempt and shame. It is an event that turned the earth red with blood and the sky black with death on the accursed day that it took place.It is also an event which successive governments have attempted to brush under the carpet, forgetting that we owe it to God and to the slaughtered innocents to establish the facts, set the record straight and let the truth prevail.Whether anyone likes it or not what happened in Asaba on October 7th 1967 will constantly be revisited and one day, when history is taught in our schools, it will be a reference point for all that is sordid, unclean and reprehensible about our turbulent and ugly past.One day it will remind us of the depth of the brutality and sheer callousness that often prevailed in the old Nigeria and hopefully we shall garnish that reality with the firm resolve that such a thing will NEVER happen again. The facts are as follows. The Commanding Officer of the Second Division of the Nigerian Army that retook Asaba from Biafra was Lt. Colonel Murtala Mohammed. He was to become Major-General Murtala Mohammed and our nations Head of State within the next eight years.One of his key officers and the man that actually led the soldiers into Asaba on that day was Lt. Colonel Ibrahim Haruna (better known as Lt. Col. IBM Haruna). He was the commanding officer whilst one Major Ibrahim Taiwo, who actually gave the orders for the massacre to commence, was his second in command. According to Wikipedia, the Federal troops entered Asaba around October 5 1967 and began ransacking houses and killing civilians claiming they were Biafran sympathisers. Leaders summoned the townspeople to assemble on the morning of October 7 hoping to end the violence through a show of support for One Nigeria. Hundreds of men, women, and children, many wearing the ceremonial akwa ocha (white) attire paraded along the main street, singing, dancing, and chanting One Nigeria. At a junction, men and teenage boys were separated from women and young children, and gathered in an open square at Ogbe-Osawa village.Federal troops revealed machine guns, and orders were given, reportedly by Major Ibrahim Taiwo, to open fire. It is estimated that more than 700 men and boys were killed, some as young as 12 years old, in addition to many more killed in the preceding days. The bodies of some victims were retrieved by family members and buried at home.But most were buried in many mass graves without appropriate ceremony. Many extended families lost dozens of men and boys. Federal troops occupied Asaba for many months, during which time most of the town was destroyed, many women and girls were raped or forcibly married, and large numbers of citizens fled, many not returning until the war ended in 1970.Permit me to give a more vivid account. When the Federal troops liberated the town of Asaba from the Biafran Army, they invited all the young boys and old men into the town- centre for a briefing. Most of the men that were of fighting age had fled the town and retreated into the east with the Biafran army. The people left behind were mostly women, children and the elderly.At Ogbe Asawa the old men and young boys were asked to come out and report in the town square. Consequently no less than 1000 boys, some of whom were as young as 10 years old and elderly men, some of whom were as old as 80, left their homes and proceeded to the town centre for what they believed would be a pep talk and a happy reunion with Nigerian soldiers.They neither carried nor possesed any weapons and they offered no protest or resistance. As a matter of fact history records that many of them went to the town centre with great hopes of reconciliation and big smiles on their faces believing that they would find favour with their Nigerian liberators.When they got there they were lined up in neat rows and, within the space of one hour, every single one of them was dead. Those that were not shot to death were hacked to pieces and bludgeoned to death with knives, cutlasses, cudgels, axes and bayonets. Some were beheaded whilst others had their organs and private parts cut off and were badly mutilated.Worse still many had their eyes removed. Rivers of blood flowed through the town square as swarms of flies and hordes of vultures nested and feasted on the bloated corpses of the slaughtered innocents. The stench of death and rotting flesh was compelling and overpowering whilst the entire community was stunnned with horror, frozen with fear and gripped with terror. Each and every one of them lost someone on that day and, as the bodies of both the young and old were thrown into mass graves, the entire town was thrown into weeks and months of weeping, wailing, mourning and gnashing of teeth.Other than the pre-meditated, cold-blooded and utterly callous murder by starvation policy of Gowons Federal Military Government which led to the death of over one million Biafran children, this event, which came to be known as the Asaba massacre, was undoubtedly the single most horrific and brutal act of genocide in the Nigerian civil war. Clearly those that were behind it forgot that the blood of the innocents and martyrs never goes to waste.They also forgot that the Lord of Hosts is a God of vengeance and the Ancient of Days always rewards and repays. 34 years later, in 2001, during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo and in front of the Justice Oputa-led Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Colonel IBM Haruna (who by that time had become a Major-General and was the Chairman and leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum), said the following words under cross examination in front of millions of Nigerians who watched the event on live television.He said, as commanding officer and leader of the troops that massacred 500 men in Asaba, I have no apology for those massacred in Asaba, Owerri and Ameke-Item. I acted as a soldier maintaining the peace and unity of Nigeria. He went further by saying: If General Yakubu Gowon apologised, he did it in his own capacity. As for me I have no apology.The fact that these were mostly defenceless little boys and elderly men who bore no arms, who carried no weapons, who offered no resistance and who were non-combatants during the war had no bearing or impact on the reasoning or thinking of this man. He expressed no remorse and no regrets for his reprehensible actions and he offered no compassion or sensitivity towards his harmless and trusting victims. And neither did he have any empathy with or sympathy for the families that they left behind. His mindset and attitude was sociopathic in nature.He refused to recognise or accept the fact that his actions were not only barbaric and utterly evil but also completely unnatural. This was a man who, under the administration of General Yakubu Gowon, was bestowed with the distinct honor and privilage of being appointed as Federal Commissioner of Information and Culture (the equivalent of Minister of Information and Culture) in our country, yet he openly expressed his pride and joy in slaughtering hundreds of innocent children, defenceless elderly men and helpless senior citizens in the name of keeping the peace and ensuring Nigerian unity. Such impunity and callousness has rarely been seen in the annals of world history.Not even Hitlers Nazis that gassed 6 million innocent Jews and Gypsies to death in concentration camps during the Second World War spoke with such pride and joy about their sheer barbarism and horrendous atrocities either at the Nuremberg Tribunals where they were put on trial or at any other time after the conclusion of the war.Worst still the open and public expression of this inhumane and utterly primitive attitude and sentiment by IBM Haruna proves more than any other that ever since the beginning and indeed right from the start southern Nigeria has been under the cruel yoke and bondage of the most inhuman form of subjugation, slavery and repression.We were (and still are) held together as a nation by nothing other than the fear of heartless and ruthless men like IBM Haruna and the force of arms.I sincerely hope that one day this wicked man who has no milk of human kindness flowing through his veins and who is incapable of harbouring any compassion faces jusice for his heinous crimes.That is the least we could do to appease the souls of those that were so cruelly and brutally murdered in Asaba and give them the justice that they are screaming for from their graves. Interestingly, Major Ibrahim Taiwo, the officer who actually ordered the soldiers to shoot the civilians and who reported directly to Lt. Colonel IBM Haruna on that fateful day, was himself murdered nine years and five months later on February 13th 1976.He was killed alongside General Murtala Mohammed, the then Head of State and the civil war Commander of the Second Division to which they all belonged, during an attempted coup by Colonel Bukar Dimka.What an irony and strange twist of fate this was. Surely there is a lesson to be learnt there. May the souls of those that were massacred in Asaba on October 7th 1967 continue to rest in peace and may the Lord continue to strengthen and comfort their families and loved ones.Happy Easter! Russias Supreme Court has heard the testimony of four former members of the Jehovahs Witnesses who said they were subjected to total co... Russias Supreme Court has heard the testimony of four former members of the Jehovahs Witnesses who said they were subjected to total control by the organisation and brainwashed against receiving higher education or starting a family.According to TASS, witness Natalia Koretskaya from St. Petersburg told the court she was a member of the organisation between 1995 and 2009, and had realised over this period that the organisations members were living under full and total control of the [Jehovahs Witnesses] Administrative Centre.The heads of the Jehovahs Witnesses formally watch canonical compliance with the norms but in real fact the talk is about total control of an individuals personal life his intimate life, education and work, Koretskaya said.In response to the courts request to give the facts of such control, Koretskaya said she had been expelled from the religious organisation and its members had been banned to communicate with her after she had started close but officially unregistered relationship with a man.Therefore, a person turns out to be expelled into the outer world, in which he has already forgotten how to live over the years of his stay in the organisation, Koretskaya said.The justice ministrys second witness, Pavel Zverev, told the court he became a member of the Jehovahs Witnesses at the age of 16 and had not received higher education on persuasion of the organisations heads.It is accepted in the organisation that receiving higher education is useless if this is not in the organisations interests, said Zverev who worked as a volunteer cook for two years in the organisations administrative centre.As a result of such persuasion, I remained without education and Im suffering from that in my life.The other two witnesses also said they had suffered from the religious organisations excessive control of their private life and from the ban to communicate with other members after quitting the organisation.Nina Petrova from Volgograd said on persuasion of her spiritual mentors, she did not marry and did not start a family.They convinced me that a family was not needed as the doomsday was close at hand. And when I realised that this was a delusion, it was late, Petrova said, adding that she had stayed in the organisation for 28 years.For their part, representatives of the Jehovahs Witnesses said the witnesses had been prepared in advance for their testimony in the court.We see that the witnesses are giving testimony based on written materials, repeating the arguments of the so-called sectological literature, a lawyer for the defendants said.Some of them are mentioned in public sources as activists of the movements that are struggling with the Jehovahs Witnesses.At its next hearing on April 19, the court is expected to study the written materials of the case and may hear the parties oral statements.In its lawsuit to outlaw the Jehovahs Witnesses, the justice ministry pointed to various violations in the organisations activities revealed during a surprise inspection, including breaches of the law on counteracting extremist activities.The ministry has asked the court to declare the organisation and its 395 local branches as extremists, ban their activity and seize property.For its part, the organisations press service told TASS that they were alarmed by the decision, since it could affect 175,000 active believers.Ivan Bilenko, Jehovahs Witnesses spokesman, said the organisation was prepared to press for its rights in any courts.The Jehovahs Witnesses is an international religious organisation that supports offbeat views on the essence of the Christian faith and provides special interpretations of many commonly accepted notions.In Russia, it had 21 local organisations but three of them were eliminated for extremism. Dakuku Peterside, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2015 governorship election in Rivers state, has questioned the ment... Dakuku Peterside, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2015 governorship election in Rivers state, has questioned the mental status of Nyesom Wike, governor of the state, after claiming that the $43m found at a residence in Ikoyi, Lagos state, belong to Rivers government.The money was discovered by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who raided the place on Thursday.All those who were linked to the money denied the allegation, but Wike told journalists late Friday that the money belongs to his state.The $43m is the proceeds of the sale of the gas turbine sold by the immediate past administration. The gas turbine was built by the (Peter) Odili administration, he had said.But Peterside, who addressed reporters this in Port Harcourt on Saturday, accused Wike of turning governance to a circus show.He said the governor had constantly been in the news for the wrong reasons.Not too long ago, Wike apparently suffering from overdose of self delusion said he had awarded road projects in far away Benue state and had mobilised contractors to site, he said.The same Wike has also accused the inspector-general of police of plotting to assassinate him through the new CP in Rivers state.We thought these were jokes taken too far. But the clownish governor has surprised himself with another tales by moonlight in trying to link his former boss and benefactor to the unclaimed money.I think we need to check the sanity and mental status of Governor Wike. Time and time again, he is bringing ridicule to the office he occupies and embarrassing the people of Rivers State who are known to be intelligent, responsible and decent in upbringing.He explained that Amaechi had since denied owning the said house in Lagos and challenged the Rivers state government to provide evidence to the contrary.Peterside, who was commissioner for works under Amaechi, noted that the money realised from sale of gas turbines were paid into the account of Rivers state and the money used for projects.While Wike can never come near the record of Amaechi, the current governor is doing everything to reverse the unmatchable records of his predecessor, he said.As of today, no one has seen copies of 2016 and 2017 budgets of Rivers state. Schools and health centres are shutting down with thousands of school age children out of school. Rivers children on scholarship abroad have been withdrawn. The same governor has wasted Rivers money to host two failed conventions of a sinking PDP. His party chairman has accused him of using $6m to influence judicial officers.Wike has the unenviable record of governing a state having the most state-linked killings in Rivers history.It is people like Wike who have made Nigerians to call to question the issue of immunity in the constitution. He is taking immunity as shield to abuse the dignity of the office of Governor.The governor can still retrace his steps and follow the path of dignity, decorum and respect the office he occupies for he holds it in trust on behalf of Rivers people.Peterside is currently the director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, the 3rd anniversary of the missing Chibok Girls, wrote an article about the abduction that rocked th... President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, the 3rd anniversary of the missing Chibok Girls, wrote an article about the abduction that rocked the world:On April 14, 2014, Nigeria suffered one of the worst crimes committed against its citizens - the abduction of schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by the vicious terrorist and insurgent group, Boko Haram.Upon the inception of this administration in May 2015, it will be recalled that this militant group occupied no fewer than 14 Local Government Areas in the North East of the country and posed a serious threat to other parts by unleashing fear and mayhem through the use of surprise and suicide bombing.The menace of this terrorist group was a great challenge to the resolve of our administration to implement the Change Agenda. We, therefore, pledged to reverse the situation, which constituted a threat to the sovereignty of the country. We were determined to secure the release of the Chibok girls and others forcefully abducted from their homes and communities and retake the occupied territories.Determined to secure the freedom of the abducted girls and recover lost territories, this administration gave the necessary political and logistical backing which energised gallant members of our armed forces and other security agencies to overrun the headquarters of Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest and scatter the terrorists from their strong base.Today, the group has been degraded and is no longer in a position to mount any serious, coordinated attack, other than sporadic suicide attacks on soft targets. Even at that, their reach is very much confined to a small segment of the North East where they had previously held sway unchecked. Nigeria and indeed the entire world, must however, recognise that terrorism has no borders and remains a growing concern which calls for collective efforts to curtail.I, therefore, call on all Nigerians and residents in the country, to remain extra vigilant and report any suspicious element or group to the security agencies. We cannot afford to let down our guards. Under my watch, no group will hold the country to ransom. On the Chibok girls, we have had reason to celebrate the return of twenty-four of them and thousands of other Nigerians who were forcibly abducted by the terrorists. As a parent, I am eternally grateful to God that some of the girls were found alive and have been reunited with their families. Government is doing all within its powers to reintegrate the freed girls to normal life.Furthermore, Government is in constant touch through negotiations, through local intelligence to secure the release of the remaining girls and other abducted persons unharmed. My special appreciation goes to the parents and families that have endured three years of agony and waiting for the return of their children. I feel what you feel. Your children are my children. On this solemn occasion, my appeal is that we must not lose hope on the return of our remaining schoolgirls.Our intelligence and security forces, who have aptly demonstrated their competence, are very much equal to the task and absolutely committed to the efforts to find and return the schoolgirls and others abducted by Boko Haram. I also thank Lake Chad Basin countries, friendly nations and international partners, who at various points in the last three years have offered their support for Nigeria.Like I have repeatedly said, the Federal Government is willing to bend over backwards to secure the release of the remaining Chibok girls. We have reached out to their captors, through local and international intermediaries, and we are ever ready to do everything within our means to ensure the safe release of ALL the girls. I wish to reassure the parents of the Chibok girls, all well-meaning Nigerians, organisations and the international community that as a government, we are unrelenting on the issue of the safe return of our children.I trust God that soon, our collective efforts will be rewarded with the safe return of our schoolgirls to their families, friends and their communities. The Peoples Democratic Party has said it was untrue that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and his Ekiti counterpart, Ayodele Fayose, s... The Peoples Democratic Party has said it was untrue that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and his Ekiti counterpart, Ayodele Fayose, sponsored the partys April 6 stakeholders meeting.The Publicity Secretary of the National Caretaker Committee of the party, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, stated this at a news conference on Friday in Abuja.Deputy National Chairman of the party, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, had, at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, alleged that the stakeholders meeting convened and chaired by former President Goodluck Jonathan was sponsored by both governors.Ojougboh, who claimed to be speaking for PDP National Chairman, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, alleged that Wike spent N50m to host the meeting.Adeyeye said the committee would have ignored the allegations since Ojougboh was not an officer of PDP, but stated that doing so might send wrong signals to unsuspecting members of the public.Adeyeye recalled that the decision to hold the meeting was reached at the residence of former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, in the presence of Sheriff, Prof. Wale Oladipo, and senators David Mark, Ahmed Makarfi and Ben Obi.In the light of the above, therefore, it is uncharitable for Ojougboh to allege that the stakeholders meeting was organised and sponsored by Wike and Fayose. Much of North Iowa has room to grow in many areas, including manufacturing, agriculture related business, renewable energy and more. Business expansion and job opportunities, Nate Lemmon, with the Britt Chamber, said, the city has plenty of room for growth and we welcome it. NIACC, the John Pappajohn Center and the USDA offices help provide support and assistance entrepreneurs need to start building business. Some of the regions opportunities exist in distribution, warehousing, ag production, advanced manufacturing and renewable energy, due to North Iowa's ideal location for transportation. Companies choose north-central Iowa because of our interstate locations, a workforce that really works, and one of the lowest costs of doing business in the nation, all resulting in savings to the company, Karen L. Mitchell, Executive Director of Franklin County Development, said. North Iowa has an abundant supply of raw materials for value-added processing in the food industries. The area also has opportunity for data centers, professional opportunities and advances technology. CLEAR LAKE | Clear Lake High School's French program is flourishing despite a series of reductions and threats of elimination in recent years. There are now 125 students enrolled in six sections of the four-year program, according to instructor Sara Gutierrez. Fourteen are in the most advanced level, French IV. Clear Lake is the only school in the area that offers French, she said, and it's uncommon for districts Clear Lake's size 1,200 this academic year to offer two languages. Most only teach Spanish, but a few also have German. "I think if students have some sort of say in what they're learning they take more responsibility for their learning," said Gutierrez, who has been teaching French in Clear Lake for 12 years. Gutierrez, who also teaches ExCEL and was shared with Mason City Schools for a time, said the French program has been on the chopping block several times due to budget issues. A $150,000 donation from the late Marcia Connell of Clear Lake ensured the program would continue in 2008-09 after being slated for reduction. Connell had asked for her gift to support programs that would be reduced or eliminated by budget cuts. Then French was scheduled to be phased out. Gutierrez only had 10 French IV students before French I resumed with 29 students in 2013-14. Senior Emily VanderPloeg was one of the 29 who began taking French that year. VanderPloeg said she took French because her older two siblings had taken Spanish. "I wanted to be different than them and say I knew a different language than them," she said. "Clear Lake doesn't have all those classes that stand out among other schools," said VanderPloeg, 17. "Having a French class is a factor that draws people to our school." Initially faced with more than a half million in budget cuts for 2015-16, the district mulled cutbacks to French again, but the program weathered reductions. Junior Bailey Goldberg had taken an exploratory class in the language as a seventh-grader and says she's since fallen in love with the language. "It kind of prepared us for French and gave us an interest in it," said Goldberg, 17. "If (cuts) had happened, I would have been really sad, because I wanted to finish my learning and would have been sad other people wouldn't have had the option for it. "It's an amazing language that is really fun to learn." She also had the opportunity to take a two-week trip to France with her class in March. Sophomores Sophia Willis and Bryan Hillyer said they think learning French is just as important as learning other languages. "People might argue that we probably need Spanish more, but I think the language is just as important, because English and French words are similar in origin," said Willis, 16. As for Gutierrez, the budget cuts during her time at Clear Lake have been "very stressful." "I keep adding more endorsements," she said. Gutierrez would have to leave the area to continue teaching French, which is also offered in Marshalltown and Cedar Falls. She took French throughout high school and planned to teach math, but switched to French, as she found teaching language more exciting. "I try to make it fun for students by giving them options to do projects, playing games and finding songs to keep them engaged," Gutierrez said. High-schoolers on their own time also practice impromptu speaking in conversations with her. CHARLES CITY | State prosecutors have asked the Iowa Supreme Court to reverse a Charles City man's 2016 conviction for sexual abuse of a teen boy. Doug Lindaman, a former attorney, defended himself against accusations he touched the genitals of two teen brothers in 2011 while they were working at his farm The problem with Lindaman's conviction occurred when he was allowed to represent himself at trial without knowingly waiving his right to have an attorney, Iowa Assistant Attorney General Genevieve Reinkoester said in a court motion. In it, Reinkoester said Judge Gregg Rosenblatt did not conduct the required questioning of Lindaman's decision to represent himself until midway through the trial. At that point, the state had already presented its evidence. "Because the district court failed 'to conduct an adequate inquiry to determine if (the defendant's) attempted waiver of his right to counsel satisfied constitutional requirements,' the district court committed reversible error," Reinkoester said. "Because defendant's sixth amendment right to counsel was violated, he is entitled to a new trial. The jury deliberated three and one-half hours before finding Lindaman guilty of felony third-degree sexual abuse. He was sentenced to serve up to 10 years in prison. An appeal filed by an attorney Lindaman hired after the conviction says Lindaman didn't have experience in criminal law and that he hadn't had a licensed to practice law since since 1989. The Iowa Attorney Generals Office does not often lobby for convictions to be reversed, perhaps requesting a few reversals a year, said Agency Spokesman Geoff Greenwood. Its very rare, but it does occur occasionally, he said. Lindaman's attorneys, State Appellate Defender Mark C. Smith and Stephan J. Japuntich, an assistant state appellate defender, did not immediately respond to a phone message left Friday seeking comment on the appeal and the state's request. The issue of whether Lindman knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived his right to counsel was one of the issues Smith and Japuntich raised in his appeal. In addition, they argued the court erred in not allowing jury instructions proposed by Lindaman and for letting the state call a forensic interviewer provide testimony. The request by the Iowa Attorney General's Office did not weigh in on the jury instructions or forensic interviewer, saying the alleged improprieties of the waiver to counsel were enough to reverse the conviction. If granted, the case would be sent back to Floyd County District Court to be retried or dismissed. WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all. For five consecutive years, the Lewis Central Community School District has been above the state average for its four-year graduation rates. Joel Beyenhof, principal at Lewis Central High School, said school officials have worked very hard to achieve a 92.8 percent graduation rate. The state average for the 2015-16 school year was 91.26 percent. One of our primary objectives in terms of measuring success is making sure kids meet our graduation standards, Beyenhof said. Graduation is a culmination of the work of the entire district and the work were doing not only at the high school level but in other grade levels as well, and its paying off. During the 2010-11 school year, the district reported a below-state-average graduation rate of 83.65 percent a 9.15 percent difference compared to this year. The state average at the time was 88.32 percent. During the 2011-12 school year, the district hired Jackie Bode-Steinke, an 11th- and 12th-grade guidance counselor, to help lead a graduation initiative called Fast Forward!, the goal of which is to have at least 95 percent of Lewis Central graduates have a specific plan to pursue additional education at two- or four-year colleges, technical or trade schools or enter the military. We knew that that graduation rate wasnt acceptable, Bode-Steinke said. So, weve really worked to change the culture from if Im going to graduate to I am going to graduate. Bode-Steinke said all students are exposed to the Fast Forward! initiative through advisory groups called Titan Time, which meets twice a week for 30 minutes each day. Thats where a lot of the Fast Forward discussions and opportunities and guest speakers take place, Bode-Steinke said. We start from the moment our ninth- and tenth-grade counselors meet with eighth-graders and their parents to discuss the initiative. This is also the first year the district has participated in the Pottawattamie Promise scholarship initiative. Offered through the Iowa West Foundation, the initiative addresses barriers to college access by offering students full-ride scholarships to Iowa Western Community College, including the funds students need to cover both tuition and housing. The Council Bluffs, Riverside and AHSTW Community school districts also participate in the program. Eligible students must be current sophomores and on track to graduate, have a 2.0 GPA or higher and provide evidence of financial need. After the L.C. school district joined initiative last fall, 35 students are eligible to pursue a post-secondary degree of their choice at Iowa Western. Pat Nepple, an alternative education teacher who is helping roll out the initiative, said he hopes the opportunity will push even more students to graduate. Im hoping, in future years, that some of the freshman and community eighth-graders will see what an opportunity this is and push for it, so they can have a chance at it, Nepple said. We want them striving for it early, which could boost graduation rates even further. While the district wasnt able to fill the 35 open seats this year, Nepple said the district now has more time to raise awareness of the program ahead of next year. Theres a lot of programs at Iowa Western, and they have jobs and careers waiting for students right after they finish, Nepple said. Theres a lot of trades and industries that are looking for help, and this will not only provide them with a degree or certificate but also place them in a career that makes good money right out of the gate. Beyenhof said the districts timeline to recruit students into the program this year was really condensed, but students at the freshman-level have already been exposed to the opportunity this year. We want to see that program be very competitive, Beyenhof said. Students competing for scholarship opportunities amongst their peers is a good thing, and we want to seek every opportunity to make sure theres monies available for them for when they graduate. When looking toward the future, Beyenhof said the district will continue to make graduation one of the districts many priorities. Its one thing to have a plan and Fast Forward! is really about having that plan to graduate, but Pottawattamie Promise and our work with scholarships help make those plans a reality, Beyenhof said. OMAHA A 58-year-old daycare/preschool owner has been arrested in connection with an alleged abuse case of a 4-year-old girl in Omaha. Police said Lynn Rowe, 58, of Lynns Learning Center at 3109 S. 112th St., was taken into custody Thursday night by the Harrison County Sheriffs Office at a Missouri Valley home. Omaha detectives are investigating whether other children were abused or neglected at Rowes center, police said. Authorities urged anyone who believes his or her child may have been a victim at Lynns Learning Center to call the Special Victims Unit at 402-444-5636 or Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP. Police said they received a complaint April 3 about alleged child abuse at Rowes center, with parents Allen, 43, and Kelley Meyers, 45, reporting that Rowe had abused their daughter on March 28. Wednesday, a felony arrest warrant was issued, police said. The matter came to light after a now former employee of Lynns Learning Center took video of allegedly abusive acts. That former employee also had children at the center, Kelley Meyers said. The video supports Kelley Meyers description of the abuse Rowe yelling, hitting the young girl in the head, striking the girls hands and arms, and slamming the girls hands onto a desk. And it wasnt just physical abuse, Kelley said. It was verbal abuse, too. Shes (Rowe) just lucky she wasnt home that night after we saw the video, Kelley said. Meyers said her daughter was not showing any lasting effects from the abuse. Kids are pretty resilient, she said. Shes doing OK. Leah Bucco-White, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said HHS was aware of the case and was working with law enforcement on the issue. MASON CITY | More than 15,000 passengers arrived and departed from Mason City Municipal Airport last year, due in large part to a federal subsidy to Air Choice One, the commercial airline that serves the airport. That subsidy is now in jeopardy. The money comes from a government program called Essential Air Service which provides funds to airlines so they can serve smaller airports like the one in Mason City. President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating the EAS program as a way of trimming $175 million from the federal budget. The EAS funding is the lifeblood of companies such as Air Choice One which received an average subsidy of $242 per passenger in the past 12 months. Mason City had 7,658 enplanements and 7,779 deplanements in 2016, a total of 15,437. Many of those were round-trip, so the number of passengers was about 7,500, according to Airport Manager Pam Osgood. That means the Essential Air Service subsidy for service to Mason City last year was about $1.8 million. "That money comes out of the federal government's transportation fund," said Osgood. "It is money that comes from transportation revenues and is designated for programs like EAS. It does not come out of the general fund." Shane Storz, chief executive officer of Air Choice One, said elimination of the federal funding would be a major blow to the airline, the airports it serves and the public. "The company has 56 subsidized flights a day with eight-seater turboprops carrying about 2,000 passengers a month to seven cities in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee and Arkansas," he said. "The federal program subsidizes 60 to 70 percent of the cost of Air Choice One's flights. "If the program's funding is reduced or eliminated, the airline would have to cut flights, forcing many passengers to drive two or more hours to an airport served by a major airline. We get a lot of elderly travelers who don't want to drive," he said. Storz said the Essential Air Service program was established in 1978 to ensure that small communities could maintain air transportation service after deregulation occurred and major airlines left the smaller markets. "Since that time, nearly 200 communities in the United States have come to rely on airline service through carriers such as Air Choice One," he said. Air Choice One operates flights out of Mason City to and from Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis. U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, has sent a letter in support of Essential Air Service to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, which is considering funding requests. Osgood said she has learned the same subcommittee received a letter of support signed by 21 U.S. senators. Iowa's two Republican senators, Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, did not sign the letter. "It seems like every year this program is on the chopping block," Osgood said. "We need to continue to fight the good fight to ensure air service is maintained at EAS communities throughout the United States." MASON CITY | The City Council on Tuesday will be asked to set dates for two public hearings related to Gatehouse Capital's proposed hotel and conference center. The hearings would be at the council's May 11 meeting. One hearing concerns amending the city's downtown revitalization urban renewal plan to include the proposed Gatehouse property. The other is on consideration of a predevelopment agreement with Gatehouse. Council votes on both are expected after the public hearings. The council meets at 7 p.m. in the Mason City Room of the public library. Development Director Steven VanSteenhuyse said the urban renewal plan was developed in 2016 for projects that were anticipated in the city's preapplication for state funds through the Iowa Reinvestment Act. That plan also included a downtown hotel, parking garage, mixed-use building, music pavilion and ice arena/multipurpose center. When G8 Development defaulted on its development agreement for a downtown hotel, the City Council sought new proposals and voted to pursue the Gatehouse plan, which includes building a hotel in the south parking lot of Southbridge Mall, connecting it to The Music Man Square with a skywalk, building a ballroom/conference center in The Music Man Square and relocating the museum on-site. City Administrator Brent Trout and other city officials will head for Des Moines later this month to discuss the proposed changes with Iowa Economic Development Authority officials, who are considering the city's request for state funding. The amended plan includes: Development and funding for the music pavilion. A predevelopment agreement on the hotel and conference center. Gatehouse has proposed the city pay $150,000 for market studies, econometric studies, project design and other predevelopment activities. If the project goes through, the $150,000 would be refunded. City funding for a "mezzanine loan," which fills the gap between the developer's equity and traditional financing.The loan would be made with general obligation bonds and would be an "interest forgivable" loan in which Gatehouse would repay the principal estimated to be $3.5 to $4.3 million over 20 years. The city would be responsible to pay the interest to retire the bonds. Renovations to The Music Man Square, museum and skywalk construction. A parking facility. Although the parking facility planned for the north portion of the City Hall parking lot is no longer anticipated as an Iowa Reinvestment Act project, staff is recommending keeping it and the mixed-use building in the urban renewal plan to serve possible future development. The new Downtown Revitalization Loan program. Allowing the city to enter into other development agreements consistent with the intent of the urban renewal plan. Everything that has been dormant comes alive again. The birds, the trees, the grass, the flowers ... everything comes back to life. That is what springtime is all about. Nothing ever disappears or comes to be nonexistent for ever. People living along seashores are not surprised when some of the small islands disappear all of a sudden. The older generation instructs its young ones that the once-vanished islands will be recreated somewhere else someday. That awareness brings in a sigh of hope. A person who goes missing in the deep sea is believed to be brought to the shore on the third day either alive or dead. The third day thus becomes a symbol of hope. Whatever is dead will come back to life on the third day. Easter is a reminder of such a survival over death. Logotherapy is a psychology of hope that was formed out of the very terrible, agonizing experiences of the concentration camps. The proponent of it is Viktor Frankl, who himself went through the horrible experience of being in the camp. Frankl opines that it is possible to compare our lives with seasons. Sometimes it is summer, other times its severe winter, occasionally it rains, and then spring is a sure thing. Frankl describes the experience of an anatomy professor who was in the concentration camp. Terrible depression moved him to decide on putting an end to his life. He knew which vein he had to cut in order to ensure his death. There was not enough light in the room. So he opened his window and one last time looked through it. Then he was so delighted to see the numerous flowers that had filled the earth. It was the beginning of springtime. He said to himself that life is a continuous cycle of seasons. Seasons come, seasons go. Today is severe winter. Tomorrow certainly there will be a spring. He decided to live. Viktor Frankl says that one of the few people who survived the agonizing pains of those concentration camps was that anatomy professor. Once a young pastor conducted a Good Friday service. He said to the congregation, Today our service is simple. When I say from the sanctuary, Today is Good Friday, you all must respond, On the third day there will be Easter. The priest started saying, Today is Good Friday, to which they responded in unison, On the third day there will be Easter. The louder the priest said it, even louder they responded to it. They forgot how long they immersed themselves in repeating it. Yes, Easter needs to be shown to the world as a festival of survival, of hope. There is one more flower to bloom. There is one more bird to chirp. There is one more poem to be sung. There is dinner awaiting you tonight. This is the message of Easter. In the famous movie The Bicycle Thief, the father tells the son who is contemplating suicide, Son, for every problem there is a solution except for the problem of death. Easter informs us that even for death there is a solution. Even death has an ultimate survival on the third day. Resurrection is perhaps one of the most beautiful terms that Christianity presented to the world. As disciples of Jesus, weve got to be catalysts of survival. If not today, someday we will rise again. One of the statements of Hemingway that has a lasting value is, You cannot defeat humans; you may be able to kill them. That is true. None can kill the desire of another. Survival presupposes sharpening of ones desire. Jesus repeatedly asks a single question to many people around him, at different occasions: Do you desire to be healed (to come out of it)? If we have desire, if we do will, Christ will stand with us to be out of our bondage and slavery. For him, no word is the last word at any time. A week of great significance has just passed us by. It began with Hosanna and ends now with Easter. Seven days! During those seven days we were journeying through the most significant events of a 33-year-old young man. But we will be missing the point if we consider it only as the story of Jesus Jesus entry to Jerusalem, Jesus being betrayed, Jesus being crucified, etc. We should remember that Jesus shadow has fallen on all of us. As Kazantzakis, the author of The Last Temptation of Christ, says, Even in every single leaf of a tree you can see his crucified image and the glory of his resurrection. Jesus Christ is the name of a huge shadow that has fallen on the entire universe. If that is true, whatever happened from Hosanna to Easter is not anything that happened outside of you. Its all your own possibilities. You are the one in the midst of shouts and yells of the crowd around you. Its your little victories, achievements and successes. The hike of your salary, your graduation ceremony, your newborn in your family its all your hosannas. Then losing your spouse, breaking your relationships, your aging and illness its all your agony, suffering and crucifixion. But on the third day, there surely will be resurrection. We humans cannot be defeated even if we may be killed. South Sydney forward Sam Burgess is facing a two-match suspension for a shoulder charge after he was cited by the NRL match review committee on Saturday. Burgess was slapped with a grade 1 shoulder charge on Greg Eastwood in the Rabbitohs 24-9 loss to the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium on Friday afternoon. Burgess will miss two matches unless he successfully fights the charge at the NRL judiciary. A dominant second half has helped the Canberra Raiders power home to defeat the Warriors 20-8 on Saturday night at GIO Stadium. Match Draw Widget [2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 7: Raiders vs Warriors Trailing 8-6 at half-time, the Raiders scored 14 unanswered points in the second period to clock up their third-consecutive Telstra Premiership victory, with Joseph Leilua scoring crucial four-pointers 20 minutes each side of half-time. A Shaun Johnson penalty was all that separated the teams at the end of the first 40 minutes, with some staunch goal-line defence from the Raiders cancelling out the Warriors' advantage in the possession battle. Ryan Hoffman had opened the scoring after he jumped up over Jack Wighton to claim a Kieran Foran bomb on five minutes, with Johnson's ensuing conversion giving the visitors a 6-0 lead. After surviving four-consecutive sets camped against their own line, the Raiders squared things up on 20 minutes after Leilua broke attempted tackles from Ken Maumalo and Solomone Kata to go over out wide, with captain Jarrod Croker adding the extras. It took just three minutes for the Warriors to reassume the lead though, after Blake Austin's fumble from the restart of play led to a penalty in front of the sticks which Johnson converted to take an 8-6 lead. The Warriors then blew a pair of chances to extend their lead in the final three minutes of the half, with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck denied a try by a miraculous tackle from Croker over the line, before the NRL Bunker found a knock on the in the lead up to Kata going over a minute later. Errors from the Warriors on their first two sets of the second half gave Canberra the early advantage, but after failing to find a way through they settled for a penalty which tied scores on 50 minutes. On the hour mark Maumalo dropped a towering bomb, with Canberra taking full advantage to score down the right via Leilua once again to go four in front. Another Warriors error coming out of yardage gifted the Raiders the chance to deliver the killer blow, with Josh Hodgson burrowing over from dummy-half for a converted try which made it 18-8. Another penalty from Croker with seven minutes to go stretched the lead out to the final margin of 20-8. Canberra Raiders 20 (Joseph Leilua 2, Josh Hodgson tries; Jarrod Croker 4 goals) def. New Zealand Warriors 8 (Ryan Hoffman try; Shaun Johnson 2 goals) at GIO Stadium. Half-time: 6-8. Crowd: 13,996 Ahead of meeting the most-lethal right edge in the NRL Telstra Premiership on Saturday night, the Warriors say they remain well aware of the danger which exists on the opposite side of the field for the Canberra Raiders as well. After the Green Machine's right side of Jordan Rapana, Joseph Leilua and Elliott Whitehead tore the Gold Coast Titans apart in last week's 46-16 victory, scoring five of the Raiders' eight tries and making a combined 26 tackle breaks, it comes as little surprise that they have dominated much of the pre-match discussion. But Warriors utility back Blake Ayshford, who will play his 150th career game in the Round 7 fixture at GIO Stadium, said Canberra's left combination of Josh Papalii, Jarrod Croker and Nick Cotric weren't to be underestimated. "Croker scored that many tries last year and he got around me a bit when we played down in Taranaki [last year]," Ayshford said. "Hopefully I get to mark up against him pretty good on the weekend. "I don't know too much about the winger [Cotric] except that he is big and powerful and real fast as well. "We can't really focus on the other edge, we trust the boys over there to handle that and I am still sure [Canberra] will come down our side and test us a bit." Match Draw Widget [2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 7: Raiders vs Warriors Down the left for the Raiders Papalii is averaging 151 run metres this year, while in his rookie season Cotric already has three tries and has run for over 100 metres on four occasions. With the Raiders having scored more tries than any team in the competition heading into Round 7, at an average of 4.8 per game, the Warriors dedicated extra time after training mid-week to try and iron out kinks in their edge defence. Veteran second-rower Ryan Hoffman said the key to containing Canberra, and the prolific right side in particular, was simple in theory. "Tackle very, very well, because they are very good at breaking tackles," Hoffman said. "They are big, they are fast, they are strong but we have got a good defensive edge there with 'Sol' [Solomone Kata] and 'Foz' [Kieran Foran], so we just need to be committed in our tackles. "If we go in sort of half-paced or half-hearted that is when they are going to start making line breaks." With both the Raiders and Warriors sitting on a 3-3 record, Saturday night's clash presents the chance for either side to jump clear of the logjam of teams on six competition points. Ayshford's seesaw journey to 150 Raiders v Warriors: Schick Preview Leilua itching for Origin opportunity The ultimatum that made Boyd a world-beater BANCROFT | Harold James Lampe, 96, died April 13, 2017, at the Hawkeye Care Center, Bancroft. A funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19, at St. Johns Catholic Church with Father Sunny Dominic officiating. Burial will be in St. Johns Catholic Cemetery with military honors conducted by the Bancroft American Legion and the Iowa Army National Guard. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Oakcrest Funeral Services of Bancroft. Oakcrest Funeral Services of Bancroft in charge of arrangements. Something had to give. Mattress stores had been opening left and right in Schererville in recent years. Eight mattress stores now occupy a 2.5-mile stretch of Indianapolis Boulevard, a concentration that even attracted the attention of the popular podcast Freakanomics and that probably was never sustainable. Now the culling has begun. Ashley Homestore announced that after 12 years it was closing its 50,000-square-foot store at 1516 US-41 Schererville and liquidating all the inventory in an ad in Saturday's Times. An employee said it should be closed by the end of April and that accessories were marked down by as much as 75 percent. The Schererville Ashley Furniture HomeStore was an outlet store that had employed 30 to 50 workers. It opened in 2005. The new Ashley Homestore at 1550 E Lincoln Highway in Merrillville, which opened last year, will remain open. BP slashed Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley's pay last year, after shareholder uproar over a $3.3 million raise in 2015 when the energy company lost a record $6.4 billion and laid off 5,000 workers. His total pay was cut by 40 percent to $11.6 million in 2016. Dudley had earned $19.4 million the previous year after getting a 20 percent raise at a time when the company was struggling with lower crude oil prices and BP employees across the globe were losing their jobs. "In reaching their final decisions, BPs remuneration committee considered results from the current remuneration policy alongside outcomes for shareholders, and exercised downward discretion," the company said in its annual report. "This use of discretion reduced Bob Dudleys 2016 remuneration by $2.2 million." The London-based company operates the BP Whiting Refinery, which employs more than 1,800 along Lake Michigan's south shore and supplies gasoline to much of the Midwest. BP came under fire after Dudley's raise last year amid steep cuts and the largest annual loss in the company's 109-year history. Activist investors accused the company of rewarding failure. The energy giant revised its remuneration policy as a result. Shareholders will vote on the proposal at BPs Annual General Meeting in May. "The proposed policy is designed to be simpler and more transparent, to more clearly link pay to shareholder outcomes and delivery of BPs strategy, and to lead to lower levels of reward," the company said. "The policy includes a lower on-target annual bonus, more challenging stretch targets to achieve maximum annual bonus, and material reductions in the maximum longer-term incentives available to executive directors." The new policy will reduce the total amount BP's Group Chief Executive can make by $3.7 million, and make earning the maximum "significantly more challenging." After a thorough review and extensive shareholder engagement, we believe the new policy is simpler, more transparent and has strategic focus," Remuneration Committee Chair Professor Dame Ann Dowling said. The committee has has lengthy and ongoing talks with major shareholders while crafting the new proposal. "We have listened and sought to respond to their concerns," Dowling said. "I would like to thank all those who took part in the process for their time and insight. It is clear that shareholders and other stakeholders would like our remuneration policy to be simpler, more transparent, and to lead to reduced levels of reward." PORTAGE Recent water samples detected no levels of a cancer-causing chemical at area beaches following Tuesday's toxic leak by U .S. Steel into a Lake Michigan tributary, but National Park Service staff said they remain concerned about potential impacts to beach users' health and long-term harm to wildlife and other park resources. Park service staff said they are working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on developing a long-term monitoring plan after hexavalent chromium, a byproduct of industrial processes, was discharged Tuesday into the Burns Waterway about 100 yards from Lake Michigan due to a U.S. Steel equipment failure. Periodic beach patrols are underway at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore looking for evidence of fish kills or other environmental damage, NPS said. "Lake currents and waves have the ability to move this hazardous material onto park beaches at a later date," the park service said in a news release. EPA water samples detected no levels of the chemical at the National Lakeshore's West Beach, Cowles Bog Beach, and the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk beach, but beach sand samples are pending, NPS said. Company planned Friday restart U.S. Steel on Friday announced plans to restart operations that same day, as government agencies continue "robust water and soil sampling" after the company's Midwest facility spilled an undetermined amount of hexavalent chromium into the Burns Waterway. Indiana American Waters nearby intake the nearest drinking water intake to the spill site remains closed until at least Monday and access to certain parks and beaches remains restricted, authorities have said. The restart was set to begin Friday with a line-by-line restart of operations that do not use chromium, and U. S. Steel will take samples from the facility every two hours, the company said. The company and participating government agencies will also conduct "vigorous visual inspections and water quality monitoring" at the outfall and surrounding areas, the company stated. "If elevated levels of chromium are detected, all operations will be immediately shutdown. If all non-chromium-involved lines restart successfully and sampling is acceptable, the lines that involve chromium would be restarted in the same controlled, phased, and highly monitored manner," the company said Friday. "Overnight and throughout the morning, U. S. Steel continued extensive testing on the repairs made at our Midwest Plant and continues to monitor environmental compliance with all of our systems. Recent sampling has indicated we are in compliance with our water permit limits," the company said. U.S. Steel detected the leak about 9 a.m. Tuesday, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was notified about 9:30 a.m., officials said. Since that time, the EPA has conducted sampling at the outfall from U.S. Steel's Midwest Plant, Indiana American's water intake, Lake Michigan beaches to the east and west of the waterway and Burns ditch, the agency said. Preliminary results of water samples collected by the EPA from Burns Waterway and Lake Michigan, including Indiana American Waters intake, on Wednesday, do not indicate hexavalent chromium impacts in either water body. All results were below EPAs method detection limit of 1 part per billion. The federal agency said it took about 100 samples Wednesday and another 100 Thursday following a discharge of wastewater containing hexavalent chromium, a byproduct of industrial processes, into the Burns Waterway. Four nearby beaches and Indiana American Water's intake at Ogden Dunes have been closed "out of an abundance of caution" in the wake of the spill, officials said. Drinking water standards Overnight levels from Tuesday to Wednesday at the outfall were as high as 2,231 parts per billion, according to the EPA. That's about 22 times higher than EPA's federal drinking water standard for total chromium, which includes both trivalent chromium and hexavalent chromium, is 100 parts per billion, according to the EPA's website. EPA has a national drinking water standard for total chromium of 100 parts per billion, the EPA said Friday. EPA does not have a separate hexavalent chromium standard. However, EPA is currently evaluating health effects data to determine if a hexavalent chromium maximum contaminant level is needed. Chicago conducted its own sampling this week near its water intake 1 mile from the spill site and detected a hexavalent chromium level of 2 parts per billion, EPA said. Normal levels for hexavalent chromium in Lake Michigan range between 0.14 to 0.15 parts per billion, according to Chicago's Water Management Department. "Water intake results initially showed hexavalent chromium levels slightly above the detection limit," EPA said. "A confirmation run on that same sample showed that it was at or below the detection limit, well below EPAs health-based standard for drinking water." Indiana American continues to operate its Borman Park facility, which is closer to the spill site than Chicago's intake. An Indiana American spokesman said the company is sampling at its Borman Park intake. The supply of water from the Borman Park facility is adequate to meet the needs of the company's customers in Northwest Indiana, he said. On Wednesday, EPA described levels found in the Burns ditch as low and said water sampling showed hexavalent chromium was not detected in Lake Michigan. U.S. Steel attributed the spill to an equipment failure from the Tin and Tin Free electroplating process at the Portage plant. Plant processes were shut down after the spill, officials said. ST. ANSGAR | William Bill K. Squier, 88, of St. Ansgar, died Thursday, April 13, 2017, at his home in St. Ansgar. Cremation has taken place. Memorial services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 18, 2017, at the United Methodist Church in St. Ansgar with the Rev. Dr. Rhoda Preston officiating. Inurnment will be in the St. Ansgar Cemetery with military honors at the grave by the Walter T. Enneberg American Legion Post 358 of St. Ansgar. There will be a time for lunch and the family will greet friends immediately following the inurnment, at the United Methodist Church. Champion-Bucheit Funeral Home, Osage. GRIFFITH With a unanimous vote, the School Board has rejected the open enrollment program for the 2017-2018 school year and said it will revisit the issue before the 2018-2019 school year. The board had previously ended the program for the current school year while a study was conducted on the determine the impact out-of-town students on the school system and the town. The voluntary program had been offered by the school system for the two years prior to the current one and allowed up to 10 transfer students for each grade level within the school town. Board President Gary Sutton thanked all the school officials and teachers who worked on the study, which was presented last month in a public forum. "I learned things that night," he said, noting the data was well presented by Director of Curriculum and Instruction Aaron Borowiak. First Vice president Leah Dumezich said that many residents made good points during the forum and acknowledged that students everywhere have a right to a good education. "But I was elected to represent my community," she said. "Classroom size is important" to both teachers and kids. Dumezich also noted the current open enrollment students are welcome to remain in the Griffith classrooms. Second Vice president Ray White said that he previously voted in favor of the program. "(But) I feel better for tabling it for one year," he said. White also cautioned that property tax cap and circuit breaker issues might affect the town in future years, which could cause budget cuts in the school system. The board has previously noted the school town receives $5,088 from the state for each student enrolled and that some other school systems use the program to generate needed revenue. Both White and Assistant Secretary Jennifer Dildine said they voted to drop the program for next year because the board will revisit the issue next year. On a positive note, Sutton said the School Town of Griffith, over the past two years, has experienced a small "growth spurt" of more Griffith children in school than in the past 20 years. EAST CHICAGO - A Lakeshore Railcar & Tanker Services employee was severely burned and a warehouse leveled after a propane rail car exploded Friday in an industrial complex near 145th Street and Euclid Avenue. A 46-year-old man who suffered severe burns was initially transported to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary, but later airlifted to Loyola in Chicago, said East Chicago Interim Fire Chief Anthony Serna. Shortly after the incident, he was reportedly in stable condition, he said. Residents reported hearing an explosion that reverberated through the entire city. Shamar Dove, 14, of East Chicago, said he was attending a parade in a nearby park when he and his friends heard a loud bang. "The boom scared everyone off," he said. Serna said he was fielding calls from friends and family in the neighborhood en route to the explosion. "Everybody felt like it was in their own backyards," Serna said. Serna said the boom could be felt within a 4-mile radius. He applauded his fire crew for responding quickly to a situation as dangerous as this, and getting the fire under control. "Entering into a situation like this, as I explained to the administrative assistant there, we're entering the unknown," Serna said. "And hearing that there was an explosion, especially in this facility ... it was a little hairy at first." East Chicago fire crews, with the help of Gary and Hammond fire departments, extinguished the propane fire quickly, he said. The explosion remains under investigation. "Right now, we're just trying to determine the cause, the (cleaning) process that the company uses there. Just trying to find out some details on what led up to the explosion," Serna said. Lakeshore Railcar & Tanker Services is a 34-acre, full-service, logistics support complex specializing in tank car and tank truck cleaning, according to the company's website. The complex includes a chemical tank wash facility that cleans both liquid and dry bulk trailers containing most non-food grade commodities, according to the website. DEARBORN, Mich. The next time the cops chase you down for speeding, they could be driving a fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrid. Ford Motor Co., which sells more police vehicles in the U.S. than any other automaker, says it will offer a police pursuit version of the hybrid Fusion midsize sedan, in response to requests from cities nationwide. The new car, with its 2-Liter four-cylinder engine and 1.4 kilowatt lithium-ion battery, is expected to get 38 miles per gallon of gas in combined city-highway driving. That's 20 mpg more than Ford's current police car, the Taurus police interceptor. The hybrids won't be as fast as the Taurus with a 3.7-Liter turbocharged V6, but Ford expects it to be quick enough to earn a pursuit rating when tested later this year by the Michigan State Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the first hybrid to earn that honor. To get a pursuit rating, cars have to perform well in acceleration, handling, braking, top speed and ergonomics and make the list of cars that the Michigan and Los Angeles agencies would buy. When the throttle is held down for five seconds, the car will go into pursuit mode, using both the electric motor and the gas engine for maximum performance, Ford said. The company also says the car will be durable for tough police duties. Police cars spend much of their days idling by the side of a road, and that's where the hybrid has a true advantage, Ford said. The gas engine will shut off at idle with the battery handling the electrical load for flashers, radios and other items. It will restart to recharge the battery. Ford said at $2.50 per gallon for gas, the hybrid would save a police department $3,877 per year in fuel costs per vehicle. The price of the hybrid, available in the summer of 2018, isn't being released just yet. Ford was to unveil the police car Monday with press conferences in New York and Los Angeles. One already has been outfitted to look like a Los Angeles police cruiser. While big-city departments might be most interested in the fuel savings, the cars might also be appealing to small departments. Thomas Korabik, chief of the 10-officer North Muskegon, Michigan, Police Department, said his city spends about $22,000 per year on gasoline for four cruisers and would be interested in cutting that in half. But he wonders if the Fusion is big enough inside to carry computers, radios and other equipment. Many departments have switched to SUVs to handle the equipment, said Korabik, who also is president of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. "Anytime you can save money it is good," he said. "I'd want to see the car first and see how it would hold up." Todd Soderquist, Ford's chief engineer for the Fusion Police Responder, conceded the car is smaller than other cruisers on the outside. "Internally, you'll be surprised at how comparable they are," he said. Two people helped pull a woman to safety after she was pushed onto the subway tracks at a Manhattan station Friday afternoon. The incident happened at the subway station at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan early Friday morning. The NYPD says the woman was pushed onto the tracks by a man who was initially touching her chest and groin area over her clothing on the platform. They say he pushed her after she told him to stop. Police did not identify the two people who helped pick the woman up. The victim was not struck by a train, but she did suffer a wrist injury. She was transported to the hospital in stable condition. Police are still searching for the suspect. He is said to be in his 20s and between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet tall. Police say he was last seen wearing an orange sweatshirt and dark jeans. Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com. NY1 VIDEO: A large rally was held in Bryant Park Saturday afternoon calling for President Trump to release his tax returns. NY1's Shannan Ferry has the details from the park. Thousands rallied near Bryant Park Saturday before marching uptown to Trump Tower. With Tax Day around the corner, organizers say it's the perfect time to get a point across. President Trump is not required to release his tax returns, but protesters feel he should especially considering the international business he ran prior to taking office. The President has consistently defended his actions, saying he does not want to release them under audit. Trump has released his 2005 tax returns. The White House said he made $150 million in income that year and paid $38 million in taxes. But protestors believe keeping other returns private is dishonest. Several politicians and celebrities also joined the rally, including Public Advocate Letitia James and comedian Sarah Silverman. Organizers say this march is one of more than 150 happening across the country on Saturday. They say they plan to hold protests like this one until they get what they're asking for. Captains, lieutenants and deputies took turns baking in the sun at their perches atop the Opelika and Auburn Krogers on Friday to raise money for the Lee County Special Olympics during the annual Cops on Top event. For the eighth year in Auburn and third in Opelika, local law enforcement agencies spent 12 hours taking a stand for those with intellectual disabilities and asking for the communitys help to raise money for the Lee County Special Olympics and Special Olympics Alabama. It helps to support our athletes for all their tournaments, said Dana Stewart, director of the Lee County Special Olympics. Equipment, traveling, any expense that we acquirethis helps to take that load off of any family. Officers and deputies of the Auburn Police Division, Lee County Sheriffs Office and Opelika Police Department stood on the entrance overhangs at both Krogers and greeted customers at the entrances throughout the day asking for donations. They were also selling 2017 Law Enforcement Torch Run t-shirts and awarding sticker badges to children entering to shop. At the Opelika Kroger, officers handed out Opelika Police red and black wristbands. The Auburn Kroger donated hotdogs, bratwursts, chips and drinks to sell for $3. Last year the event raised $10,000, and Stewart said this year theyre looking to raise $15,000. Its just a great community to do that with because the people that live here are just very generous whenever we ask for contributions for anything, said John Moore, store manager at the Auburn Kroger. For Capt. Bobby Kilgore with the Opelika Police Department, events like Cops on Top allow officers to interact and meet members of the public. We want to have interactions with the public in a positive way anytime we can because so often when we have to interact with the public, its in negative circumstances - somebodys had a traffic accident, somebodys had their house broken into - so to interact in a positive way is great and we love that, Kilgore said. The local Cops on Top event was one of a regional effort to raise funds and awareness for the Special Olympics. More than 85,000 officers dedicate their time to make the Special Olympics a success across the world, according to a release from the city of Auburn. For more information about the organization, visit www.auburnalabama.org/specialolympics. DETROIT (AP) President Donald Trumps relentless push for more manufacturing jobs has forced the auto industry into a delicate dance of contradictions in order to keep him happy, tell the truth and avoid alienating customers in both red and blue states. Toyota did the waltz with Mondays announcement that it would spend $1.33 billion to retool its gigantic factory in Georgetown, Kentucky, an investment in the heart of Trump country that has been planned for years. Trump wasnt included in a company statement sent the previous week in advance of the announcement, but Kentuckys governor and both of the states U.S. senators were quoted. In a paragraph added Sunday evening, Trump claimed credit for the investment, saying it is further evidence that manufacturers are now confident that the economic climate has greatly improved under my administration. The company said the Trump quote was added at the administrations request, but the White House said Toyota requested it and pointed to a poll of manufacturers showing record optimism. Later Monday, Toyota said that it had asked the White House for a Trump quote. Either way, an investment of that size takes years to plan, and Toyota confirmed that its been in the works for four or five years long before Trump was elected. The company is switching its midsize Camry sedan, long the top-selling car in America, to new underpinnings that make it more modern and fun to drive. Although the investment doesnt add jobs, it sustains 8,200 workers at the plant, which also manufactures the Toyota Avalon and Lexus ES 350 cars. The dealings with Toyota show how businesses especially automakers whose brands cater to both ends of the political spectrum must tread carefully when dealing with Trump or other politicians. Depending on their response, they run the risk of angering a president who has authority to regulate their industry or alienating customers who are on both sides of the political divide. Thats kind of the reality of the situation youre operating in, said Joseph Holt, a University of Notre Dame associate professor who specializes in business ethics and leadership. I think its a shame that they have to do this dance, but I understand why theyre doing it. All politicians play the same game as Trump, taking credit for accomplishments they had nothing to do with, said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan. What makes Trump unique, Gordon said, is that the demand for jobs announcements was done publicly rather than in private conversations. Many CEOs grudgingly supported President Barack Obamas health care plan even though they disagreed with it, Gordon said. With President Trump, the difference is the volume is up to 11 or 12 instead of at 10, he said. I dont find him to be that different in terms of what he wants credit for, and putting the arm on people to get on his program, other than he does it publicly. Detroit automakers are in the most precarious position, Gordon said, because they are perceived as more American. Take General Motors. Its Chevrolet brand, with the top-selling Silverado pickup truck, caters largely to Americas midsection, which largely voted for Trump. But GMs Cadillac luxury brand wanted so much to distance itself from the Midwest that it moved its offices to Manhattan, which supported Democrat Hillary Clinton. If GM either confronts Trump or is continually in his Twitter sights, that could upset the automakers lucrative customer base in the Midwest. If the company is too supportive, it could hurt GMs efforts to grow Cadillac sales on the mostly blue coasts. Thats why, with few exceptions, GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler have made jobs announcements that largely were in the works long ago, Gordon said. Because the country is so politically polarized, a social media-fueled PR mistake for or against an issue could touch off a boycott that can quickly hurt a company, Gordon said. Now the companies are really under the magnifying glass, he said. Many customers want to know who you are and what you stand for before they even think about your product. Holt and others say companies shouldnt allow such deception and would be better off in the long run by not playing politics. While the Trump administration was showing a commitment to manufacturing with the announcement, it may send a different message to government regulators such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, if there should be any problems with a factory, said Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. Do those agencies feel constrained from enforcing the law because the president has just associated himself with that company or investment? Weissman said. Its just on its face inappropriate. WASHINGTON (AP) Democratic lawmakers and activists plan to hit the streets today at Tax Day protests around the country and demand that President Donald Trump release his tax returns. Organizers hope the protests dubbed the Tax March will resonate with Americans who think the president should release his returns, as his recent predecessors have done. Rallies are scheduled in nearly 150 cities, including Washington, New York, Boston and San Francisco. Activists in West Palm Beach, Florida, will hold the March a Lago near the resort where Trump plans to spend the Easter weekend. Were marching on Washington, D.C., and around the country to ask Donald Trump: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING? the organizers say on their website. We need a president who works for all Americans, and a tax system that does, too. Release your tax returns and commit to a fair tax system for the American people. Law professor Jennifer Taub sparked the effort following her participation in Bostons womens march the day after Trumps inauguration. She concedes she isnt sure what to expect; organizers think thousands will show up at some locations, possibly only dozens at others. Im just a law professor who sent out a tweet, said Taub, who teaches at Vermont Law School. Im psyched, and I think lots of people are psyched about this. We shall see. Taubs tweet about planning a #showusyourtaxes protest stemmed from the womens march and her general interest in financial matters. She has testified before Congress and she wrote a book about the 2008 financial crisis. Im all about follow the money, Taub said. It tells us the story about peoples priorities. Liberal advocacy groups and unions have helped spread the word and organized speakers for the largest rallies. Democratic lawmakers gave organizers a shout-out before heading home for their longest break since Trump took the oath of office on Jan. 20. There will be a lot of activism about doing the right thing for our country, telling the truth, holding the president to a standard that every president and every nominee of a party has been held to, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Over the past 40 years presidents and major-party nominees have released some of their tax returns. The exception was Gerald Ford. Trumps break with precedent has raised questions about possible conflicts of interest. Trump cites an audit as the reason he wont release his tax returns. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday, We filed our financial disclosure forms the other day in a way that allows everyone to understand. Tax Day, normally April 15, this year is on April 18, because of the weekend and a Washington, D.C., holiday on Monday. After stumbling on their health care legislation, Republicans are focused on tax overhaul. In a conference call with reporters, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York sought to tie Trumps refusal to release his tax returns to prospects for a rewrite of the tax code. Its going to make tax reform much harder. Any time the president proposes something, the average Americans going to say Oh, hes not doing that because its good for me, hes doing it as good for him, Schumer said. So for his own good, he ought to make them public. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., are scheduled to speak at the march in Washington. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., is speaking in Chicago. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., will speak in Los Angeles. What you saw beginning the day after the inauguration has not let up, Schakowsky said. Were talking about intensity. The only question any of us get now is: What can I do? The House Ways and Means Committee has legal authority to obtain confidential tax records. The committee could then vote to make them public. So far, Republicans have handily defeated Democratic efforts to take that course of action. Now Democrats are pushing for a vote on a bill from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., that would require the president and all major-party nominees to publicly disclose their previous three years of tax returns with the Office of Government Ethics or the Federal Election Commission. The Democrats have initiated a petition process that would lead to a House vote if they can get a majority of lawmakers to sign it an unlikely prospect, but one that gives Democrats a chance to highlight which Republicans declined to help with their effort. Up or down: give it a vote. Few cases of legislative inaction would be more craven than denying the school equity bill a floor vote in the Iowa House. Not a single member should leave Des Moines until going on-record and owning their support or lack thereof for legislation that would end funding discrimination for hundreds of Iowa public schools. The school equity bill is turning green in the Iowa House Appropriations Committee. It's no surprise. Iowa's GOP-run government faces mounting revenue shortfalls, self-imposed wounds resulting from years of tax cuts that disproportionately favor the well off. Gov. Terry Branstad reacted by proposing deep cuts to important programs. Lawmakers responded Wednesday by driving the scalpel into bone. The Legislature's draft budget is almost $39 million short of Branstad's already draconian figure. And so, Senate File 455, which would finally right the systematic classism in state school funding, sits there turning stale. It's just as predicted by a slew of House members representing the Quad-Cities. It's precisely the kind of gutlessness and commitment to ideological dogma that got Iowa into this mess in the first place. Some House members blamed the state Senate, including Davenport Republican Roby Smith, for sending the 10-year, $204 million moral imperative to the House without a funding stream. Others said they support SF 455 in principle, but not in practice. Democrats have lampooned its 10-year roll-out, a recipe for repeal, they say. Everyone's looking for political cover. But thousands of students in places like Davenport and Maquoketa don't care about the rhetoric and finger pointing. Their sole interest is equal treatment under the law, one that now values their education less than neighboring districts. No doubt, there's significant political motivation for letting SF 455 rot in Appropriations. There it could languish without action. There it could die without much notice. There it could sit and no House member would have to vote against basic fairness. The legislative session is rocketing toward its scheduled April 18 end. Republicans, now in total control of Iowa, have wasted metric tons of oxygen on so-called "moral" issues. They've fast-tracked ideologically acceptable bills far more complicated than the school funding fix, such as the collective bargaining overhaul. And yet, they'd rather let student equity die on the vine out of political expedience. On Sunday, Davenport Community School District Superintendent Art Tate called for an up-or-down vote in an op-ed. Tate, the man who's put his career on the line for this cause, highlighted the widespread effects of 40-year-old policy that funds some schools around $170 more per-student than others. This editorial appeared in the April 7 edition of the Quad-City Times, another Lee Enterprises publication. The video of her 4-year-old daughter was so damning, an Omaha mother said, that she knew she had to share it with other parents of children at Lynns Learning Center. Lynn Rowe, 58, the owner of the day care/preschool, was arrested Thursday night in connection with the alleged abuse of the girl in Omaha. Police said Rowe, who runs the center at 3109 S. 112th St., was taken into custody by the Harrison County Sheriffs Office at a Missouri Valley, Iowa, home. On Friday night, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services issued an emergency order closing the day care. Police said they received a complaint April 3 about alleged child abuse at Rowes center, with parents Allen, 43, and Kelley Meyers, 45, reporting that Rowe had physically abused their daughter March 28. On Wednesday, a felony arrest warrant for child abuse was issued, police said. The matter came to light after a now-former employee of Lynns surreptitiously shot video of the allegedly abusive acts. That former employee, who gave a copy of the video to the Meyerses, also had children at the center, Kelley Meyers said. After we gave the video to the other parents, they all took their kids out of there, Meyers said of the 13 or 14 children pulled from the center. The video supports Kelley Meyers description of the abuse: Rowe yelling, hitting the girl in the head, striking the girls hands and arms and slamming the girls hands onto a desk. And it wasnt just physical abuse, Meyers said, it was verbal abuse, too. According to an affidavit filed as part of HHSs order closing the day care, Rowe told the girl Good, I hope that hurts you when the child said that the hitting and slapping were hurting. Meyers said her daughter was not showing any lasting effects from the abuse. She said her daughter attended the learning center five days a week, spending six hours a day at the facility on four days of the week. Kids are pretty resilient, she said. Shes doing OK. Meyers said she and her husband took some comfort in knowing that Rowe was arrested. Were just glad shes finally going to have to take some responsibility for her actions, Kelley Meyers said. She said a son attended Lynns Learning Center six years ago for a couple of years. Meyers said her son and daughter never reported any abuse problems with Rowe. Omaha detectives are investigating whether other children were abused or neglected at Rowes center, police said. Authorities urged anyone who believes his or her child may have been a victim at Lynns Learning Center to call the special victims unit at 402-444-5636 or Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP. Family and friends welcomed home one group of Nebraska National Guard members from a deployment and said goodbye to another on Saturday. Thirty-five members from Company G of the 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion were greeted with signs, balloons and cheers at their Lincoln headquarters Saturday afternoon. The soldiers, who operate UH-60 Black Hawk medical helicopters, have been conducting medevac support missions in Afghanistan since shortly after they were mobilized in June 2016. The welcome-home event in Lincoln followed a farewell ceremony in Omaha for more than 50 members of the 402nd Military Police Battalion who will be leaving shortly for a deployment of nearly a year to Guantanamo Naval Base, Cuba. The well-wishers included Gov. Pete Ricketts and Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse; each thanked the soldiers and their families for their sacrifice. The Nebraska soldiers will manage the controversial detention facility first opened in January 2002 to hold detainees rounded up in the war on terror. Nearly 800 prisoners have passed through Camp Delta, but only 41 are living there now. The military and civilian staff at the facility currently numbers about 1,750, according to the Miami Herald about 42 staff members for every prisoner. The Nebraskans wont be guarding the detainees, said Lt. Col. Eric Hunsberger, the unit battalion commander, but will manage the military police who do. They will relieve a Tennessee National Guard unit. Hunsberger said those deploying are mostly officers and senior noncommissioned officers. Its more top-heavy than your traditional deployment, he said. Hunsberger said about 60 percent of the Cuba-bound soldiers have deployed before. About 12 percent were part of the battalions last major deployment, which was to Afghanistan in 2010-11. Its the first time a Nebraska National Guard unit will deploy to Guantanamo, which has been home to a U.S. Navy coaling and naval station under the terms of a lease signed with the Cuban government in 1903. That lease has been a source of friction with Cubas Communist government since the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959. The base gained a higher profile after the administration of President George W. Bush decided to place detainees there following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Because the camp was not on U.S. soil, the detainees lacked many rights and were left in a kind of legal limbo that began to be resolved by a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions. President Barack Obama pledged at the beginning of his term in 2009 to close the detention facility, but that promise was thwarted because of bipartisan opposition in Congress to moving the remaining detainees to the United States. Hunsberger said unit leaders have known about the pending deployment for about two years. They will spend four to five weeks completing their training at Fort Bliss, Texas, before proceeding to Guantanamo. Were excited, he said. The soldiers are motivated to be mobilized and serve their communities. Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Fellman, 33, said he is grateful for the opportunity to serve on such an important mission. But this deployment will be harder than his previous service in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Fellman, of Elkhorn, Nebraska. Its the first time I have to leave her, he said, bouncing his 9-month-old daughter, Josephine, on his hip. Missing some of her milestones isnt something Im looking forward to, but its something we understand. Fellman and his wife, Sarah, said they appreciated the messages from Ricketts, Fischer and Sasse. It really means a lot that they came to show us that they support us and our families, he said. The mission in Guantanamo will be the first deployment for 21-year-old Sgt. Melissa Rahorst of Cortland, Nebraska. Looking around the send-off ceremony Saturday morning, Rahorst realized how many of her fellow soldiers were leaving young children and spouses behind. Its emotional for everyone, she said. But we all know that we are going there to do our job and to come home safe. Its really an honor. Its been a busy week of comings and goings for the Nebraska National Guard. Seven soldiers from the 195th Forward Support Company were welcomed home Wednesday in Omaha from a six-month Middle East mission supporting special forces units, and four soldiers from Company A of the 641st Aviation Regiment, based in Lincoln, were sent off Friday on a deployment to U.S. Africa Command. Between 100 and 200 troops out of a Nebraska National Guard force that numbers about 3,300 have been deployed at a time for the past couple of years, said Lt. Col. Kevin Hynes, a Guard spokesman. Thats down from a peak of about 1,000 deployed forces between 2010 and 2012. After smoke from agricultural burning in the Flint Hills of Kansas brought a haze to southeastern Nebraska this week, Gov. Pete Ricketts and Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler are asking Kansas officials for a better plan for such burns. The smoke prompted the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department to issue a health warning on Wednesday, advising people to stay indoors. Several schools in Lincoln and Omaha called off outdoor recess, and a Lincoln elementary school even rescheduled its field trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium because of poor air quality. Taylor Gage, Ricketts spokesman, said the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality is continuing to talk with counterparts in Kansas, who have been very positive about the conversations. Because of spring rain and high winds in March, the opportunity for burning in the Flint Hills was limited to early to mid-April, said Brian McManus, a spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. That led to really concentrated burning, which was more of a problem, McManus said. We need to find out what can be done to cooperatively spread out these burns over a longer period of time. McManus said the burns in Kansas are done to reduce the risk of wildfire, provide better forage for cattle and prevent invasive Eastern redcedar and sumac from spreading across the Kansas plains. We understand that burns are a necessary tool for land management, McManus said. Nebraska does controlled burning, too. But we need to have an ongoing discussion with Kansas about how best to do it. Beutlers office received more complaints about the smoke than in previous years, said Rick Hoppe, Beutlers chief of staff. Its clear that this is really impacting Lincoln citizens, he said. While Beutlers office is exploring all options, including legal action, Hoppe said the first step will be a letter to Kansas officials outlining the health risks of the lowered air quality in Nebraska and asking for a commitment to spread out the burning over a longer period of time. The office plans to send the letter early next week. Obviously its always best to do this in a cooperative way, Hoppe said. City kids, listen up: You can have a rewarding, stimulating career in modern agriculture whether its on the farm, in a laboratory, at an engineering facility or in an office focusing on economic data or weather patterns. The career opportunities in the 21st century cover an impressive range, including not only the traditional on-the-farm duties but also food science and technology, as well as plant and animal science. And dont forget ag-related mechanization, ag economics and ag-focused business and management. The growth in these jobs is strong the increase is almost 5 percent annually. Nearly 160,000 workers nationally in these ag-related categories are nearing retirement age, meaning robust job openings should lie ahead. Demand is especially strong for plant geneticists and plant breeders, climate analysts and food safety and security specialists, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. The worlds population is projected to increase from the current 7.5 billion to about 9.6 billion by 2050. That will boost global demand for food and require that the worlds agriculture become even more efficient and productive as well as environmentally sustainable. These circumstances are opening up major job opportunities for rural youths as well as urban ones, which is why the Greater Omaha Area Chamber of Commerce has made agribusiness an area of focus and why the biggest FFA chapter in Nebraska is at an urban high school Omaha Bryan. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon talked about these important job opportunities this week when he visited the urban agriculture program at the Omaha Home for Boys Cooper Memorial Farm on Mormon Bridge Road. He was accompanied by students from Bryans Urban Agriculture and Natural Resources Academy and by Ann Bartuska, acting undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fewer and fewer people are in touch with agriculture, Bacon told The World-Heralds Mara Klecker. I think its really important to train folks who arent living on farms to appreciate agriculture and what it does. The program at Cooper Memorial Farm is the result of a partnership between the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension and the Omaha Home for Boys. UNL highlighted the ongoing need for agricultural innovation and the resulting job opportunities last month when it hosted its annual World Food Prize Nebraska Youth Institute, attended by students from across the state. Since 2007, more than 500 high school students across Nebraska have participated in the event, interacting with ag-science experts and learning about global issues involving food production and food security. Some of those students attend the annual World Food Prize events in Des Moines, deepening their understanding of global ag issues. The World Food Prize organization annually awards internships at major ag research centers in the United States and overseas. Nebraska and Iowa youths are regularly included. Nebraska is right to support these young minds, urban and rural, in all these ways. Planting these seeds offers great promise for the future. Dalai Lama episode: A not-so-subtle signal to China Feature ians-IANS By Ians English India has to do no more than let the Dalai Lama be the Dalai Lama in order to rile China from time to time. As diplomatic provocation goes, the Dalai Lama's just-concluded visit to Arunachal Pradesh was quite like the six previous ones, the last one being in 2009. Yet, Beijing has chosen to respond to this visit with an outrage that feels discernibly sharper than in the past. Perhaps what has accentuated the Chinese anger was an accompaniment in the form of Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju. Beijing, which treats the Dalai Lama purely as a political animal even at the best of times, saw in Rijiju's presence a calculated political dimension. New Delhi, being justifiably crafty about it, dismissed the suggestion. The simple fact is that the Indian government is now more amenable to occasionally tapping into the Dalai Lama's obvious political consequence than before. The logic seems to be that since China treats all things Dalai Lama short of his breathing as political, India might as well make the most of it. The Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang, the town along the India-China border where the sixth Dalai Lama was born 334 years ago, has always had unnerving optics for Beijing. Quite apart from being a border town, it is also part of what China gratuitously calls South Tibet. Left to Beijing, Arunachal Pradesh being part of China is a no-contest claim. It is because India rejects that wholly and clearly regards Arunachal Pradesh as part of the Indian Union that it sees no controversy in the Dalai Lama visiting there. Of course, India's foreign policy establishment is acutely aware of such visits' potential for diplomatic provocation and approved of it not just irrespective of but precisely because of it. Although the Ministry of External Affairs insisted "no additional colour should be ascribed to the Dalai Lama's religious and spiritual activities", it knew well how it would be received in China. It was in a way aimed at riling Beijing by letting the Dalai Lama be the Dalai Lama. India-China relations have been going through a particularly rough patch, mainly because of a series of moves by Beijing in the past couple of years. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China has not been a particularly rewarding or uplifting experience despite the fact that early on in his tenure he effusively hosted President Xi Jinping in 2014 in Ahmedabad. The two sat on Gujarat's famous lacquer-work swing on the banks of the Sabarmati river whose front Modi had developed as the state's Chief Minister. In the intervening two-and-a-half years the Prime Minister finds the bilateral relationship not living up to its promise. From opposing India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to consistently thwarting New Delhi's efforts to have the United Nations Security Council put Masood Azhar, the head of the Pakistani terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, on its blacklist, Beijing has been remarkably unhelpful. This is notwithstanding that early on Modi allowed Chinese investment into ports and telecom, something which was out of bounds earlier. Add to that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that China is building through Pakistan-controlled Kashmir much to India's outrage, and an earlier incursion by its soldiers into Ladakh, and a pattern seems to form. A case can be made that China has flattered to deceive in its dealings with the Modi government, while making some polite noises. Even as the Modi government has taken care to describe China's latest fulminations over the Dalai Lama's Tawang visit as "artificial controversies", it has equally chosen to disregard its warnings of seriously damaging bilateral relations. Although officially New Delhi would not acknowledge flaunting the Dalai Lama recognisably more than before, it could not be unaware of its consequences. It is Delhi's way of letting Beijing know that the latter's machinations on issues that deeply matter to India internationally have not only been lost on the government but may even be prompting a not-so-subtle counter. The crux of Dalai Lama's visit was philosophical in terms of what he taught to thousands of Buddhists, but he did make it a point to say that the next Dalai Lama might also be a woman. On its part, of course, Beijing insists that the next Tibetan leader would be born in China. Its Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the next Dalai Lama will be chosen by drawing lots from a sacred urn in Lhasa. The Dalai Lama has dismissed the idea of Beijing choosing his incarnation as "nonsense". For New Delhi, the Dalai Lama remains significant leverage even though, at 81, time may not be on his side. IANS With Modi back, Pakistan will have no option but to change: Former R&AW official 3 R&AW agents arrested in PoK, claims Pakistan India oi-Vicky By Vicky Three agents of the Research and Analysis Wing have been arrested in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Pakistan has claimed. The arrests were carried out a few days ago, the country has indicated. Indian officials, when contacted, said that they had no such information. "We are still verifying it," an official in New Delhi told OneIndia. The claim by Pakistan comes in the wake of escalating tensions over the Kulbhushan Jadhav issue. Jadhav had been sentenced to death on charges of spying and India while claiming that he is innocent has urged Pakistan to reverse its verdict. Meanwhile, Pakistan has accused India of abducting one of its officers from Nepal. Lt Colonel Zahir who was on a mission in Nepal at the behest of the Inter-Services Intelligence has gone missing. His family claims that he was abducted by the Indian agencies, a charge that India has denied. OneIndia News NEW ORLEANS, April 14, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., reminds investors that they have until April 25, 2017 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Pearson plc (NYSE:PSO), if they purchased the Companys American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) between January 21, 2016 and January 17, 2017, inclusive (the Class Period). The action is pending in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. What You May Do If you purchased ADRs of Pearson and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com). If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by April 25, 2017. About the Lawsuit Pearson and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On January 18, 2017, Pearson announced that it no longer expected to achieve its operative profit guidance for 2018 as a result of [t]he North American higher education courseware market being much weaker than expected and that Pearson would rebase its dividend from 2017 onwards. On this news, the price of Pearsons ADRs plummeted. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. AAP urges EC to review Sasikala's position as AIADMK gen secy India pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 15: The Aam Aadmi Party's Tamil Nadu wing on Saturday urged the Election Commission to 'review' VK Sasikala's position as the interim general secretary of the AIADMK after her conviction in a disproportionate assets case. A delegation of the party submitted a memorandum to the EC, urging the poll watchdog to evaluate the constitutionality of Sasikala's position in the ruling party in Tamil Nadu by taking into consideration the Supreme Court ruling in the Lily Thomas case. "The Supreme Court, in Lily Thomas Vs Union of India, had ruled in 2013 that any MP or MLA convicted of a crime and awarded a minimum of two years of imprisonment will lose the membership of the House. We want the EC to evaluate Sasikala's position in the light of this ruling," AAP Tamil Nadu convenor SAN Vasigaran said in a statement. The general secretary is the head of the AIADMK and the current chief minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K Palaniswami as well as other ministers belong to Sasikala's camp. We would like the EC to see how a convict can hold such a position, the statement read. The delegation also questioned the constitutionality of leaders of various political parties continuing to occupy top positions even after their conviction in criminal cases. "It is not clear under which rule or section of the Representation of People Act or their own constitutions, political parties such as the AIADMK or the RJD can have convicted leaders in their ranks," Vasigaran said. PTI Akhilesh questions EC over EVM row; asks to bring back ballot paper system India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Lucknow, April 15: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday demanded an answer from the Election Commission over the controversy on tampering of electronic voting machines as alleged by several political parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh during a press meet said the EC should answer on cases of EVM tampering. Akhilesh added that the EC should bring back ballot paper system to end the controversy. On Friday, BSP chief Mayawati dragged the Bharatiya Janata Party into the ongoing debate over tampering of EVMs. The Dalit leader accused the ruling party of tampering EVMs during the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2017. "The BJP tampered EVMs in 250 seats out of 403. The tampering of the EVMs happened in constituencies where the BJP was very weak," Mayawati was quoted by ANI. Akhilesh said that in future, the Samajwadi Party would play an active role in any anti-BJP alliance. He also criticised the ruling BJP government in the state saying that the saffron party does not consider him as a Hindu. He added that the state government should explain on the alleged harassment meted on boys and men in the 'name' of anti-Romeo squad. The anti-Romeo squads were formed across Uttar Pradesh after CM Yogi Adityanath formed his government in the state. While many have welcomed the move to end eve-teasing and stalking, others allege that 'innocent' boys and men have been harassed in the name of women safety. OneIndia News COLUMN: BJPs Naye Chehre in MCD polls: A Bold Experiment India oi-Oneindia By Pranav Gupta & Nitin Mehta "Naye Chehre, Nayee Urja, Nayee Udaan, Dilli Mange KamalNishan" -- The Bharatiya Janata Party's slogan for the upcoming MCD election in Delhi, seen on posters and banners across the city, focusses on the party's decision of not re-nominating any sitting councillor (or their immediate family members). It seems odd when BJP leaders boast about this decision while they simultaneously list out the work done by the MCD over the last decade for the city. Naturally, leaders from opposition parties are asking -- why drop incumbent councillors if the MCD has done so well under the BJP? Numerous questions around this strategy remain unanswered. Will this decision spoil the BJP's chances of retaining control over three Municipal corporations due to internal resentment and rebellion? Or will it allow the party to successfully counter 10 years of anti-incumbency? On most occasions, parties refrain from denying tickets to incumbent legislators. Despite, high incumbent turnover rate, most incumbents are re-nominated by their respective parties. Parties are deterred by threats of rebellion as incumbents could easily cross over to other parties or play the role of a spoiler by contesting independently. Absence of organisational unity can be detrimental to the electoral prospects of a party. Unless, an incumbent is perceived to be a complete non-performer by the electorate, it is not easy for parties to deny tickets to incumbent legislators. In the Municipal elections, as women reservation is applicable on a rotational basis, most parties don't hesitate from giving tickets to female relatives of sitting councillors. Thus, it is evident that the BJP has played a big gamble by denying tickets to its sitting councillors. All three corporations would witness a multi-cornered contest and a few seats could prove to be thedifference between holding the mayor's position. What may have prompted the BJP to take this decision? There is little doubt that the BJP would be facing severe double anti-incumbency in many wards across the city. In many wards, there are leaders who have been councillors for the last 10 years. None of the three corporations have performed adequately well for the party to be confident about winning the election based on the performance. The AAP may be contesting the MCD election for the first time, but it is the principal force in Delhi politics presently. In this scenario, the BJP wouldn't have remained in contest by relying solely on its own performance. Also, fighting a municipal election bycompletely banking on high popularity and satisfaction ratings of the Prime Minister and his government would not have been an ideal call since poor showing then would have given a lot of ammunition to the opposition parties in state elections in coming months. By denying tickets to sitting councillors, the BJP seems to be consciously trying to position itself as the challenger rather than the incumbent in the election. In our opinion, the verdict of the election hinges on whether the BJP can position itself as the challenger in the minds of the voters. Almost paradoxically, despite being the incumbent the BJP is fighting the election with a promise of change from the status quo. The party seems to be hoping that voters would ignore 'mistakes' of the past and instill confidence in the fresh faces. If the Delhi experiment turns out to be successful, would the BJP try it in other states? In most elections till 2019, the BJP would be the incumbent party. The party would be wary of the fact that high anti-incumbency against its legislators could hamper its electoral prospects. Hence, this experiment shouldalso be looked as a strategy through which the BJP would attempt to counter the anti-incumbency. In a nutshell, the MCD election results should be keenly awaited for more than one reason, as this may influence the BJP's ticket distribution strategy in the subsequent elections. Pranav Gupta is an independent Researcher. Nitin Mehta is Managing Partner at Ranniti Consulting and Research. OneIndia News No more pellet guns, now sound will shoo away stone pelters in Kashmir Two Metro stations in Delhi closed after pro, anti CAA protesters pelt stones at each others Child stone pelters take centre stage in Kashmir conflict India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer These images taken by camerapersons of news agency, PTI, depict the depth of horrifying situation in Kashmir. Children out in the open, holding placards and stones, protest along with their elders against the security forces. In the last few years, stone pelters of Kashmir have become the biggest headache for the army personnel entrusted with maintaining law and order situation in the Valley. These stone pelters, the civilians of Kashmir, have injured many jawans, and at the same time many of them have been injured and killed by army men in retaliation. Initially, the stone pelters were seen mostly in protest rallies attacking the jawans, however, in recent times they are coming in the way of the security forces during their counter-terrorism operations, as civilians of Kashmir try to allegedly shield terrorists from army men. Here we bring you a few images from the protests that rocked the Valley on Friday and unfortunately a large number of the protesters were children... Minors as stone pelters In this image as stone pelters throw stones, a boy holds a placard and shouts slogans against the security forces in Srinagar on Friday. Picture credit: PTI Young lives lost in conflict More children join this young protester on a street of Srinagar on Friday. Picture credit: PTI Protest against death of civilians Leaders of Hurriyat Conference and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the killing of eight civilians on polling day in Srinagar on Friday. Picture credit: PTI Locals against security forces Local protesters try to disrupt an anti-terrorist operation at village Durbugh in Chadoora area of central Kashmir's Budgam district on March 28. One militant and three civilians were killed in the operation. Picture credit: PTI Jawans versus terrorists Jawans stand as guards as they keep vigil on protesters during an encounter at Nigeen Pora in Tral of Pulwama District of South Kashmir on March 5. Picture credit: PTI Ongoing conflict in Kashmir Protestors throw stones at the police during their protest at Nowhatta in Srinagar in February. Picture credit: PTI OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 8:33 [IST] Accession Day: Valley lights up on this day when J&K became part of India AAP "merely a party of UT Delhi", only Cong can challenge BJP in Gujarat, HP: Azad Farooq Abdullah demands Governor's rule in J&K India oi-Vikas By Vikas Soon after winning the Srinagar bypoll with a landslide margin, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Saturday demanded that Governor's rule be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir and fresh elections be held. Abdullah has been vocal about deteriorating law and order situation in the valley. "Request government of India and President to dismiss present government right away. Governor's rule to be imposed and elections to be conducted under Governor's rule," he told reporters in Srinagar. It may be noted that amid unrest, the Srinagar by poll saw a mere 7 per cent voter turnout. The number for the repolling that was conducted in 38 polling stations on Friday was an abysmal 2 per cent voter turnout. [Srinagar bypoll results: NC chief Farooq Abdullah wins] Farooq Abdullah had faced shocking defeat in the same constituency in 2014 and had taken up the by poll as a personal challenge. While thanking the people for the victory, Abdullah said that the PDP government in Jammu and Kashmir needs to go. The bypoll was marred with violence which killed eight people and dozens injured. Clashes were witnessed between the forces and stone-pelters in the region. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 16:36 [IST] Income tax raids cause fissures in Sasikala camp of AIADMK India oi-Anusha All is not well for the Sasikala Natarajan camp of the AIADMK following raids of its minister. The party's deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran is facing infighting in the party following raids at Health Minister Vijaya Bhaskar's properties. Demands for Bhaskar's ouster is growing by the day. Dinakaran is now torn between his loyalist and demands for his ouster. AIADMK Amma leaders including chief minister Edappadi Palanisamy have been holding talks with Dinakaran on Bhaskar's ouster. The raids that led to the recovery of documents from Bhaskar's residence has come as a cause of concern to the party. The Election Commission decided to countermand the much-awaited R K Nagar bypoll following the raids on Bhaskar's residence. As recently as Friday, leaders of the AIADMK Amma party met Dinakaran. While the deputy general secretary deemed in a courtesy visit, reports of infighting within the faction are only growing by the day with the bone of contention being the ouster of Vijaya Bhaskar. Dinakaran is now faced with a revolt within the faction with many leaders continuously meeting members of O Panneerselvam camp. While the frequent meetings suggested a patch up between the two factions, reports of a rift within the Dinakaran camp is now growing by the day. FIRs that were filed against three ministers by the Chennai police has only fuelled the anger of the cadres. Three ministers were booked following a complaint by the income tax department accusing them of trespassing and obstructing its officials during raids at Bhaskar and Sarathkumar's properties. OneIndia News Kannada news channel's CEO arrested for extortion India oi-Anusha The Bengaluru police on Friday arrested the CEO of a regional news channel over allegations of extortion. CEO of Janasri, a Kannada news and infotainment channel was caught red-handed on Friday night accepting money from a businessman. Laxmi Prasad Vajapaiye is said to have threatened and extorted money from managing directors of Injaz Group. Suhail Sheriff and Misbah Mukaram from the Injaz Group informed the Bengaluru police of the channel's CEO threatening to defame them through a program on his channel. The complaint stated that he asked the businessmen to pay an extortion ransom if they wanted the program shelved. Alarmed by the threat, the businessmen approached the cops who set a trap to nab the accused red-handed. At around 10 pm on Friday, the businessmen entered channel's office and met Vajapaiye. As they were handing over the ransom, the police walked in and arrested the CEO. He is currently in the Koramangala police station. The channel was founded by BJP leader Sriramulu and is reported to be a joint venture with ousted BJP leader and illegal mining accused Janardhana Reddy. OneIndia News Karnataka: No fear of party hoppers in Congress after bypoll results India oi-Anusha Senior leaders of the Karnataka Congress are breathing free. After their 'unexpected' massive victory in both assembly seat of Gundlupet and Nanjangud, the party is confident that its workers and leaders won't jump to other parties, at least for now. The results have come as a morale booster for the Congress that went into the bypoll as a divided house. Despite leaders leaving the party, despite workers divided into groups, the party refused to compromise on the campaign and the results were proof enough for its success. BJP, including state unit President B S Yeddyurappa, had said that many leaders and workers of the Congress would join the BJP after the bypoll. With the results favouring the Congress, the jump may not come immediately. The results have changed the status quo for many. OneIndia had earlier reported about how the bypoll was a fight for unity for the Congress. Karnataka bypolls: It's a fight for unity for Congress, prestige for BJP Tall leaders of the Congress such as S M Krishna, Jayaprakash Hegde, Srinivas Prasad jumped to the BJP ahead of the polls and there were reports of Mandya strongman Ambareesh also quitting the Congress. While the BJP, as well as the Congress, expected movement of leaders, the bypoll results have stopped party-hopping for now. The results while lifting up the mood of the Congress has dealt a blow to the morale of the BJP. The Congress' state leadership is Delhi is not only looking to appraise the central leadership of the victory in the bypolls but also to brief them about the mood of the state leaders and workers. While it is pre-mature to say that all is well in the Congress, the bypoll result has managed to bring the workers, leaders and party together on some fronts. Many issues need to be addressed and remain a concern. OneIndia News 'Kerala CPI-M prepared for talks with CPI' India ians-IANS By Ians English Kannur (Kerala), April 15: Two days after leaders of its ally CPI expressed unhappiness over the Kerala government's functioning, a senior CPI-M state leader on Saturday said his party is ready for discussions with the CPI on their grievances. The Communist Party of India is the second biggest ally in the ruling Left Democratic Front, which is led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist. The LDF government returned to power in Kerala in May 2016 and is headed by CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan. "We have no issues at all regarding a discussion with the CPI. Our only concern is that they could have raised their concerns in a LDF meeting, because airing the grievances in public provides ammunition to our political opponents to try and derive political mileage. This should not happen," state CPI-M secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the media here. On April 13, CPI leaders had expressed unhappiness over the state government's functioning during a party executive meeting here. State CPI Secretary Kanam Rajendran too had expressed his unhappiness during a media interaction after the party meeting. "The CPI, when it comes to governance, has more experience since they have been in the government along with both the Congress and the Left," Balakrishnan said. He said the CPI-M leadership felt that the CPI wants the LDF to be stronger. "... public airing of opinions and views won't help the matters. We should remember that in 1980, as part of the then Left government, the CPI had joined a chorus with the Congress in a particular case. In the next assembly elections, the Left (Front) lost power while the case turned out to be a false one," the CPI-M leader recalled. IANS Kulbhushan Jadhav row: India puts all bilateral talks with Pakistan on hold India oi-Anusha India has stepped up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan over the death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav. The Indian government has postponed bilateral talks with Pakistan including the secretary-level talks on the Indus Waters Treaty. A Maritime Security bilateral talks that were scheduled on Monday has also been called off. India's decision to put on hold all talks with Pakistan comes at a time when the Kulbushan Jadhav row has been the debating point in both countries. The decision to call off the Maritime security talks was taken on Friday. India conveyed to Pakistan that it was not prepared to host a delegation of Pakistan Maritime security agency that was scheduled to travel to India on Sunday. [Why Nawaz Sharif was kept in the dark on Jadhav's death sentence] India and Pakistan had approved dialogue between PMSA and Indian Coast Guard hinting that they were looking to break the stalemate caused by the Uri attack in 2016. However, the defence ministry decided that the time was not right for India to discuss security with Pakistan which has defied all international norms in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. The secretary-level talks on Indus Water treaty were also postponed. The bilateral talks were to be held next week in the United States. The world bank will now come up with a fresh set of dates for the talks meant to resolve differences of both countries over Kishenganga and Ratle power projects. OneIndia News Kulbhushan Jadhav row: Mumbai NGO appeals to Pakistani activists India ians-IANS By Ians English Mumbai, April 15: A leading Mumbai NGO Harmony Foundation on Saturday appealed to Pakistani peace activists to launch a campaign to save former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by that country's military court. Abraham Mathai, President of Harmony Foundation -- which awards the St. Mother Teresa Awards annually to prominent global citizens -- has written to Pakistani peace campaigner Saeeda Diep of Lahore for help in the Jadhav case. Following the appeal, Diep, who is Executive Director, Centre for Peace and Secular Studies, Lahore, has agreed to initiate a campaign in her country to ensure a proper trial for Jadhav, who hails from Mumbai, according to him. Mathai pointed out how Jadhav was not arrested on Pakistani territory but kidnapped by some militant outfits working in tandem with the current (Pakistan) regime, and that all the military courts were allegedly a sham which did not adhere to principles of natural justice. "Jadhav has been denied consular access in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. No copy of the chargesheet has been provided to him which is the fundamental right of any accused," Mathai said. He said the worst of terrorists, when caught anywhere in the world, were given a fair trial, including India, which demonstrated the principles of natural justice by giving a fair trial to hardcore terrorist Ajmal Kasab and upholding his human rights. "In Jadhav's case, all circumstantial evidences indicate that he was framed and accordingly, it is only fair that he be given a fair trial by a proper judicial court," Mathai urged Diep, a former recipient of the St. Mother Teresa Award. Last Monday, April 10, Pakistan announced that a Field General Court Martial had awarded the death sentence to Jadhav, who was reportedly arrested from Balochistan's Mashkel area on March 3, 2016. The Inter-Service Public Relations said that he was tried under Section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 and Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and found guilty of all charges including "involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan". IANS Manipur health minister resigns due to 'interference' India oi-IANS By Ians English Imphal, April 15: The month-old BJP-led coalition government in Manipur was rocked with senior Minister L Jayentakumar -- in charge of Health and three other important portfolios - tendering his resignation in protest against 'uncalled for interference' by Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The chief minister has rushed to Delhi to firefight the political threat, it is learnt. Jayentakumar submitted his resignation personally to Biren on Friday evening. Biren in his capacity as the minister in charge of the department of personnel had suspended Okram Ibomcha, the health director, without consulting Jayentakumar. There was no specific charge against Ibomcha. The suspension order said that it was to take 'disciplinary actions' against him. Ibomcha is a close relative of previous Congress chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Jayentakumar is one of the four MLAs of the National People's Party who was sworn in on March 15 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government was formed. The resignation letter says that he is thankful to the chief minister for inducting him in the ministry. But he was not able to fulfil his vision due to the 'interference'. Some other NPP MLAs have reasons to be unhappy with some of their portfolios, sources said. Y Joykumar, NPP MLA from Uripok, who is a former Director General of Police had reportedly wanted the Home portfolio, which is important in insurgency-hit Manipur. However, Biren kept it with him. Joykumar is the deputy chief minister. The coalition ministry was sworn in on March 15. Nine MLAs of BJP, NPP, Naga People's Front, LJP and Congress (who changed loyalty) were inducted. Three more Ministers and 12 Parliamentary secretaries were sworn in on March 23. IANS Tourists cautioned Thousands of tourists from within Rajasthan, the neighbouring Gujarat and other parts of the country visit the noted destination during summers and the incident has scared the tourist there. The tourists have been cautioned and asked to avoid going to sunset point and honeymoon point till the flames are doused fully. Other tourist points unaffected "The fire was not very far from sunset point and honeymoon point yesterday so both the places were evacuated. Besides these two, there are other tourist points in Mount Abu and they are unaffected," Circle Officer Mount Abu, Vijay Pal Singh said. Singh said that tourists have been asked to stay away from both the places and the decision will be reviewed in the evening. A reoccurrence phenomenon Besides, boating activity in Nakki Lake has been restricted as the helicopters are fetching water from the lake. The lake is located in the middle of the town, nestled between the hills. The Circle Officer said that the fire in forests is a reoccurrence phenomenon but it was massive one this time. Home to lakes "Reason of the fire is not clear but bamboo trees in the forest sometimes cause wildfire. Some locals ignite fire for fetching honey and it can also lead to the forest fire," Singh said. Located 1,722 meters above the sea level and situated amid the lush green hills on the highest point of the Aravali range, Mount Abu is home to lakes, waterfalls and green forests and many religious monuments. PTI UPSSSC PET 2022 results to be declared soon: Steps to check scorecard 2 dead, dozen injured in a bus-tanker collision in UP UP: 4 dead, 4 severely injured in road accident on Yamuna Expressway PM Modi likely to attend World Yoga Day celebrations in Lucknow India oi-IANS By Ians English Lucknow, April 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend World Yoga Day celebrations in Lucknow on June 21, an official said on Saturday. At a meeting, Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar said as many as 50,000 people are likely to take part in the event and asked all concerned departments to make proper arrangements. The Uttar Pradesh government is looking for a venue that could accommodate such a large crowd and also ensure fool proof security for the VVIP influx, an official told IANS. The secondary education department has been asked to ensure participation of at least 100 students. Preparations are also being made for the participation of senior citizens and 400-500 differently-abled children. Instructions have been issued to arrange for mineral water bottles, shoe bags, t-shirts and yoga mats. A rehearsal will also be held on June 18-19. IANS For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 9:55 [IST] Odisha, Bengal brace up as possible cyclone inches closer Odisha: Two killed as truck hits motorbike in Bhadrak Biryani feast during Solar Eclipse: Rationalist leader served legal notice, another gets threat call Modi's road show and day 1 of BJP's national executive meeting India oi-Vikas By Vikas The Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah expressed disappointment at opposition parties blaming EVMs for their defeat in polls and termed it as an insult to the Election Commission, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told media on Saturday at the BJP's national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar. Shah also said that instead of making excuses, the opposition should accept their defeat 'honestly'. He also expressed concerns over increasing violence in Kerala since LDF assumed power. A two-day BJP National Executive meeting began in Bhubaneswar on Saturday with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah. BJP National Executive members, party office-bearers and state unit chief will discuss the future strategy of the party at the meet, which began at 5 p.m. at Sant Kavi Bheem Bhoi Sabhagar at the Janata Maidan. Modi, who landed at the state capital in the afternoon, held a roadshow from the airport to the Raj Bhavan, covering a distance of around 8 km. Modi arrives in Bhubaheswar Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by party leaders upon his arrival at Biju Patnaik Airport, in Bhubaneswar. Modi greets crowd Narendra Modi acknowledges his supporters during a roadshow in Bhubaneswar. Modi shares dais with Advani at meeting Modi, L K Advani, Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley at party's national executive meet. Senior leaders light lamp Narendra Modi, L K Advani, Amit Shah and Arun Jeitley light a lamp at party's national executive meet in Bhubaneswar. (Images credit - PTI) The two-day meet would formally begin with the speech of Shah while on Sunday the concluding remarks will be delivered by Modi. OneIndia News Mumbais Lucky dog dies to save his master; owner demands justice India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Mumbai, April 15: This heart-wrenching story of a pet dog in Mumbai getting killed while trying to save his owner from a knife-wielding attacker proves once again why dogs are man's best friend. Lucky, the dog, was stabbed to death by an attacker, when he intervened to save his owner Sumiti Devendra (26) from getting hurt. "I need justice for him, I don't have parents; he was like a family member to me," Sumiti told ANI. Recalling the horrific episode, Sumiti, a resident of Mumbai's Antop Hill, told Hindustan Times, that the incident took place on April 9. Sumiti added that a commotion happened right outside her house between her neighbour and his girlfriend on the ill-fated day. When she stepped out to check what was happening, her neighbour tried to attack Sumiti and his girlfriend with a knife. Although the man's girlfriend managed to escape the scene, the attacker barged into Sumiti's house. After finding an intruder inside the house and trying to kill his master, Lucky charged at the man. Thereafter, the attacker, identified as Venkatesh, stabbed Lucky to death. "My dog barked and charged at him. Venkatesh stabbed him," Sumiti said. Lucky sustained severe injuries during the attack and died soon. Based on Sumiti's complaint, police had arrested Venkatesh. Lucky's owner is totally distraught after his death. The 13-month-old dog was staying with his master since he was a puppy. Sumiti adopted the dog from a neighbourhood street after she lost her mother. Sumiti was staying alone after her mother's death and Lucky helped her to cope with loss and loneliness. Now, after Lucky's death Sumiti is once again mourning. "I was battling loneliness after my mother's death when Lucky came into our lives... I named him Lucky as he was indeed very lucky for us. I have lost a family member... He was everything to me," she said. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 10:19 [IST] Mumbais first women auto-rickshaw drivers take to the street India oi-Gulam Rabbani Mumbai: The first batch of women auto-rickshaw drivers on Saturday took their vehicles on roads to begin work in Mumbai after the state government allocated five per cent of the licences to women. "I used to work as cook, don't have husband, mother-in-law supported me, completed my training in 15 days," said Susheela Mane, an autorickshaw driver in Mumbai. On January 1, 2017, state Transport Minister Diwakar Raote had said that the government will be re-issuing 60,000 new autorickshaw permits which include 5 per cent quota for women drivers. He said that the opportunity will form a new platform for women to earn their livelihood. He had also said that 97 women had applied for the reservation while the date of form submission was on January 12. Raote said that the government had publicised the quota in the non-metro areas of the state so that more women could make use of this chance. Mumbai: First batch of women auto rickshaw drivers start work after Maharashtra govt. reserved 5% of rickshaw permits for women pic.twitter.com/Uacn5TjrmQ ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 He had added that the transport department had undertaken an online lottery to allot the permits He had said that 35,000 new auto permits will be Mumbai and added that there is already 1.05 lakh auto-rickshaw are already operational in the city and 1.6 lakh in Mumbai metropolitan region. OneIndia News NIA moves Interpol to block Zakir Naik's moves India oi-Vicky By Vicky On Monday, the National Investigation Agency will seek out an Interpol notice against Dr Zakir Naik, the controversial Islamic preacher currently in Saudi Arabia. Naik has been given a deadline to appear before the NIA on Monday and if he fails to do so, then the NIA will seek out help from the Interpol. After NBW, can India really extradite Zakir Naik from Saudi Arabia? Earlier this week, a special court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Naik. The warrant was issued after Naik on repeated occasions failed to turn up for questioning. He had however offered to join the probe through video-conferencing, but the same was rejected by both the NIA and the Enforcement Directorate. While on one hand, India would seek through diplomatic channels the extradition of Naik, on the other hand an Interpol notice would come in handy to curb Naik's movements. Non-bailable warrant issued against Zakir Naik Indian agencies suspect that he may leave Saudi Arabia to another country which is not a friendly nation to India. In such an event it would become almost impossible to seek his extradition. In such a scenario an Interpol red corner notice would come in handy as Naik would not be able to leave Saudi Arabia. It may be recalled that the Indian agencies had issued a look-out circular against Naik. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 7:47 [IST] Arrest warrant issued against Chandrababu Naidu in connection with Babli project agitation Nirbhaya's killers to hang on 22nd January, 7 am SC stays death warrant issued by Guj court in rape and murder of 3 year old Murder of liquor merchants: Two sharp shooters from Lawrence Bishnoi gang to be quizzed Arrest warrants issued against Ekta Kapoor and mother for web series 'XXX' Non Bailable Warrant issued against Sanjay Dutt over alleged threats to Noorani India oi-Vikas By Vikas A Non Bailable Warrant was issued on Saturday against Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt over alleged threats to movie producer Shakil Noorani, said reports. Dutt and Noorani have a long pending dispute over a cheating case filed against the former by the movie producer. In 2013, an Andheri Metropolitan court had issued the warrant against Dutt after Noorani's complaint. Dutt was later granted bail. The film maker had then alleged that the actor had failed to complete his movie "Jaan Ki Baazi" in 2002 despite taking the signing amount of Rs. 50 lakh. Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association, acting on Noorani's complaint, had directed Dutt to pay up Rs.2 crore for losses incurred. According to reports, Noorani then approached the Bombay High Court seeking to execute an order passed by IMPPA against Dutt. Noorani later also reportedly claimed that he started getting threat calls which were traced to Dubai and Karachi. Dutt's lawyers, however, rubbished such claims. (OneIndia News with IANS inputs) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 19:02 [IST] Now Rajasthan governor opposes holidays on birth anniversaries India oi-PTI Jaipur, Apr 15: Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh has said that there should be no holidays on birth anniversaries of great personalities instead students should be taught about them on these days. Speaking at a state level function at Mundwa village in Jaipur on the 126th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar on Friday, he said the holidays on birth anniversaries of great personalities should be abolished and seminars should be held in schools and colleges to make students aware about their life journey. The governor said that no society can progress unless social harmony is strengthened and discrimination ends. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has echoed the same views on Friday as he paid tributes to the chief architect of Indian Constitution at a function in Lucknow. "There should be no holidays in schools on birth anniversaries of great personalities. Instead special two hour programme should be held to teach students about them," Adityanath said. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 12:30 [IST] Pak has no commitment towards human rights, BJP on death sentence to Jadhav India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, April 15: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday slammed the neighbouring country Pakistan for awarding death sentence to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav on charges of espionage and 'waging war' against Pakistan recently. Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said that Pakistan has no commitment towards human rights, as the neighbouring country wants to send Jadhav, an innocent person, to the gallows without giving him a trail. "Pakistan has no commitment towards human rights. India will do everything possible to ensure justice for Jadhav," Madhav was quoted as saying by ANI. While Pakistan has denied consular access to Jadhav once again, India has currently stalled all the ongoing diplomatic parleys with its neighbour. Although Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has stated several times that all possible measures would be taken by India for the safe release of Jadhav, who is currently lodged in a Pakistani jail, the Pakistani authorities stated that they would go ahead with Jadhav's execution. In the last few days, several Indians in different parts of the country staged protests against Pakistan for awarding death sentence to the 46-year-old former official of the Indian Navy on charges of espionage. The Indian government has vehemently denied the charges labelled against Jadhav. Jadhav was staying with his family in Mumbai before he left for a business-related trip to Iran from where he was allegedly kidnapped by the Pakistani authorities. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 12:20 [IST] Price of killing cow: MP Panchayat orders marriage of 5-year-old daughter of accused India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Bhopal, April 15: The leaders of Panchayat in Tarapur village in Madhya Pradesh definitely have a 'regressive' sense of justice. In order to punish a man, who allegedly killed a cow, the leaders of the Panchayat issued a bizarre diktat. The Panchayat has recently fixed Jagdish Banjara's five-year-old daughter's marriage with an eight-year-old boy as a mark of repentance. "Guna (Madhya Pradesh): Panchayat in Tarapur village orders marriage of five-year-old girl to an 8-year-old boy as a punishment for the girl's parents," reported ANI. After the girl's mother approached the local authorities, officials have ordered an investigation into the matter. "We are sending a probe team to this village, strict action will be taken against the culprits," Guna additional district magistrate Nizam Khan told ANI. Jagdish allegedly killed the cow three years ago, after it strayed into his field. In order to save his crop, Jagdish hit the cattle with a stone which led to the death of the cow. After the incident, Jagdish and his family were ostracised from the village. They were also asked by the village leaders to take bath in the Ganges and distribute food among the villagers to pay the price for his 'unholy' act. The Panchayat leaders say that since the death of the cow, nothing good has happened in the village even after the passage of three years of the incident. Now, as a mark of repentance, the Panchayat has asked Jagdish to marry off his minor daughter to a minor boy in the village. OneIndia News Revise refugee policy, Kailash Satyarthi asks Donald Trump India pti-PTI Haridwar, April 15: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Sunday asked US President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to put a ban on entry of refugees from some countries saying all hearts, doors and borders should be open for children everywhere in the world. "I have seen the condition of children in refugee camps in Germany, Turkey and Austria. Children are made refugees by the socio-political circumstances prevailing in their countries in which they have no role. They are helpless victims of their circumstances and deserve compassionate treatment," Satyarthi told a news agency in an interview. "I have always believed that all hearts, doors and borders should be open for children all over the world and there should be no discrimination. I had said this while addressing Austrian Parliament when it had decided to shut its doors on refugees and I repeat this for the Trump administration," he said. Also expressing concern over Trump administration's decision to widen the net of deportations for illegal immigrants, Satyarthi said it may create many complications for the children of illegal immigrants born in foreign lands in settling anywhere. He demanded that the Trump administration should draw up a holistic plan for the protection of the rights of children of the so-called illegal immigrants so that they don't suffer. Satyarthi who was here to address the fifth convocation of Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya (DSVV) said the number of child labourers had declined substantially all over the world from 26 crore in 2000 as per a UN data to 16.8 crore at present. "That means a movement like the Bachpan Bachao andolan started by me in 1980 is on way to achieving its objective of total elimination of child labour from the face of the earth," the child rights activist said. "The declining trend is what makes me optimistic. It has to be a gradual process but it will finally happen with children all over the world breaking free from exploitation of all kinds," he said. Speaking of his unique global initiative named '100 Million For 100 Million' which will provide young people all over the world a forum to do their bit to end violation of child rights making optimum use of the social media, he said launched in December last year by President Pranab Mukherjee, thousands of people across the world were associating themselves with the campaign on a daily basis. "This unique initiative is a step towards globalisation of compassion. Economic globalisation may have been a western concept accepted by the east but the path to globalisation of compassion goes from East to West," he said. PTI Jayalalithaa death probe: TN cabinet to decide on enquiry against Sasikala and others Sasikala Natarajan to seek parole to attend nephew's funeral India oi-Vicky By Vicky Sasikala Natarajan will move the Supreme Court seeking parole to attend a funeral. In her application, she will seek parole to attend the funeral of her nephew T V Mahadevan who died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday. The parole application will be moved in the Supreme Court of India, which had convicted her in the disproportionate assets case and sentenced her to four years imprisonment. The application will be moved through her advocates. Sasikala is currently lodged in the Bengaluru central jail and is serving a four-year term. Her nephew Mahadevan passed away due to cardiac arrest at 9 am on Saturday. The 47-year-old was the son of Sasikala's later brother Dr Vinodagan. He had gone to a temple in Thanjavur where he complained of chest pain. He was rushed to a private hospital, but was declared brought dead. OneIndia News I will break your legs: SFI issues threat to principal in presence of cops in Kerala 'If I have nominated even one person using authority, I'll resign': Kerala governor on VC row RSS leader blames LDF for violence in Kerala India pti-PTI New Delhi, April 15: A top RSS functionary on Saturday alleged a surge in political violence in Kerala under the LDF government and extended invitation to the communists for an "ideological dialogue" over the issue. Since the CPI(M)-led LDF government has come to power in Kerala, 19 persons, including 11 RSS workers, have been killed in the state, Krishna Gopal, joint general secretary of the RSS, alleged. "I call upon the communists to give up violence and come forward for an ideological dialogue and discussion over the issue," he said at a press conference. Describing the situation in Kerala as "very serious", he said the government needs to come up with a solution to restore normalcy in the state. Gopal denied RSS' involvement in violence in Kerala saying that the organisation believed in "Constitutional" ways and was focusing instead on raising awareness in the country on the "bloodshed" perpetrated by the communists in the state. "We do not believe in violence or counter-violence. We have been trying to tell the people about what is going on in Kerala and how the communists are eliminating anyone who has a different ideology," he said. Gopal claimed that of the 19 persons killed in Kerala in the last 8-10 months, four were Congress workers and four others had left the CPI(M) to join other outfits. "In the last six decades, over 400 RSS workers have been killed in political violence in Kerala by the communists," said Gopal, who is the number three man in the RSS hierarchy. Family members of some of the RSS workers killed in Kerala and others who bore the brunt of violence, allegedly perpetrated by CPI(M) workers, were also present at the press meet. Gopal reiterated the RSS' demand of a visit by an all- party delegation to Kerala to look into the issue of the decades-old violence between the Left and saffron cadres. The RSS has also complained to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) regarding eight cases of violence in Kerala, while the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights have also been approached with other such cases, he added. PTI TDP MP from Chittoor revolts against Chandrababu Naidu India ians-IANS By Ians English Vijayawada, April 15: TDP MP from Chittoor, N Shivaprasad, has raised the banner of revolt against the party leadership and said he could contest as the candidate of many other parties in the next elections. Considered close to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Shivaprasad targeted him for ignoring the interests of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. A day after the Member of Parliament's outburst, Naidu reacted sharply. The TDP chief held a tele-conference with the ministers and party leaders. According to TDP sources, Naidu said the MP was interested in a piece of land and when the same was not given to him, he started making baseless allegations. Naidu made it clear that he will not tolerate anybody pursuing a personal agenda. Shivaprasad denied the allegations levelled against him. The Lok Sabha member said personal allegations were being made against him, instead of doing justice to SCs and STs. He expressed displeasure over the attitude of Naidu towards him and said the TDP chief was not even giving him an appointment. Shivaprasad, who also acted in a few Telugu films and is known for his antics to highlight various issues, hails from Naidu's native district Chittoor. Kuppam, the assembly constituency represented by Naidu, is also part of Chittoor Lok Sabha constituency. The MP had said on Friday that Naidu has not accommodated SCs in his cabinet as per the population ratio. He pointed out that the SC and ST population in Andhra Pradesh is around 25 per cent, and they should get five berths in the cabinet but they were given only two berths. "Perhaps the CM does not want the SCs to occupy esteemed positions," he remarked. IANS Tour turns tragic, 8 Karnataka students drown in Wairi beach India oi-Anusha Eight students of an engineering college in Belagavi of Karnataka drowned in Wairi beach of Sindhudurg on Saturday. The students who drowned were part of a 50-member students group who were on a tour. All deceased were students of Maratha Engineering College in Belagavi. The college authorities claimed that it was not a college-sponsored tour and alleged that the students had gone on their own. The principal of the Engineering college that the students were studying in said that no permission had been given to the students to go on the tour. "They have not taken our permission. They had told us that they would go on an industrial visit to Pune but no permission was not given. They said that they would make their own arrangements and go. I had strictly intructed them that if they had made up their mind to go, they should visit Pune alone and return. But they seem to have diverted from there and this incident has taken place," said Dr V Udipi, the Principal of the College. He also added that he was leaving to Maharashtra immediately with ambulances. Eight students including three girls drowned while they had visited the Wairi beach in Sindhudurg district of neighbouring Maharashtra. The local police have registered a case and the bodies of the drowned students have been shifted to the local government hospital. Parents of the deceased students have been informed of the unfortunate incident. OneIndia News Trying everything to get access to Jadhav: VK Singh India oi-PTI New Delhi, Apr 15: Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh on Saturday said that the government was taking all measures to gain consular access to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav despite Pakistan denying it '13 times'. "Pakistan government has denied consular access to Jadhav despite India trying for 13 times. We are trying everything to get access to Jadhav," he said talking to reporters. Singh maintained that Jadhav was abducted from Iran. A Pakistan military court had on April 10 sentenced Jadhav to death in a secret trial for alleged involvement in 'espionage and sabotage activities' in restive Balochistan and Karachi. According to the Vienna Convention, the state which detains a national of another country must allow consular officers of the other country to access the detainee. India on Friday had said it would appeal against the death sentence and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the charge-sheet as well as the army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. Asked about a video of CRPF jawans being heckled by youths going viral on social media, the minister, who addressed a gathering of ex-servicemen on the second day of a convention on 'Nationalism and Patriotism', said, "Neither I watch such videos nor I comment on them without knowing the ground realities." "We all veterans will join hands and contribute to the development of the nation and teach people what we were taught our whole lives," Singh said at the convention organised by Veterans India, a group comprising all-India ex-servicemen. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 14:50 [IST] Two gang rapes reported in Noida India oi-PTI Noida, Apr 14: Two cases of robbery and two gang rapes were reported at different police stations in Noida, police said on Friday. A woman, resident of Bhuda village, in her complaint at Sector 39 police station said that she was kidnapped and raped by seven persons, ASP Gaurav Grover said. She also alleged that they robbed her gold chain and gold ring too, the officer said, adding all the accused are absconding. In another case, a woman employee of a hotel has lodged a complaint at Sector 20 Police Station that she was raped by her brother-in-law and his son at her house in Ghaziabad, police said. The widow claimed that she had fled from the house along with her daughter and is now living at Naya Bans in Noida. Her brother-in-law along with his son came and allegedly assaulted and raped her in the hotel. Her brother-in-law's son also allegedly raped her 15-year-old daughter, they said adding the the incident reportedly took place in January. A social organisation came to know about the incident through the hotel staff and took her to police station and an FIR was lodged evening on the basis of her complaint, police said. Complaints about two robbery cases were also registered here. Alpana Jha and Nikita Singh, working at a news channel, and residents of Sector 22, were returning home last evening from Sector 18, when two men, riding a motorbike, allegedly sprayed some powder on their face and robbed their purse containing Rs 8,000 cash and ATM cards, police said. Another persons, working at a media house, was allegedly robbed of his mobile phone. An FIR was lodged at Sector 20 Police Station on the basis of her complaint, they said. PTI Why BJP MLA, Limbavali is an instant hit on the social media India oi-Vicky By Vicky Aravind Limbavali continues to be one of the most popular leaders in Karnataka who has become quite a hit on the social media. The former health minister in the BJP's government in Karnataka gets a lot of hits on the social media as his response rate is considered to be very good. He said that this mode of communication has helped him connect with many people and also reach out to several segments of society. For Limbavali, the connecting to the people on the social media is the best way to address their problems, his supporters say. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his March 29th edition of Mann ki Baat had asked all BJP leaders and MPs to use the social media effectively and juciciously. He had however cautioned the MPs against losing touch with their constituency. He added that the social media must be used to promote the welfare schemes launched by the government apart from listening to the grievances of the public. Limbavalis followers have thronged his timeline with grievances and suggestions. At times grievances are also posted on behalf of others. There are several threads which have appreciated the leader for his quick response. The BJP is set to face the Karnataka assembly elections in 2018. The campaign would be a combine of both on the ground as well as on the social media. Limbavali who is an MLA from the Mahadevapura constituency in Bengaluru is also the general secretary of the party in Karnataka. He would be one of the key faces of the party in 2018 and would also lead the campaign for the party on the social media as well. OneIndia News Why none from Kerala may not have survived the MOAB India oi-Vicky By Vicky The family members of those from Kerala who joined the Islamic State in Afghanistan have no information about their well-being after the United States of America dropped the Mother of All Bombs or the MOAB on Thursday. The largest-most powerful non-nuclear bomb was dropped on an area where the IS operatives had set shop in tunnels and caves. Watch: How Trump bombed the IS with MOAB The US claims that several IS operatives were killed along with Pakistanis who were backing the outfit. On Friday, there were a lot of exchanges between some on the messaging application telegram confirming to relatives that some Keralites who had joined the IS had, in fact, died in the bombing. Indian officials say that the entire team of recruits from Kerala were in the vicinity of where the IS had set up its base in Nangarhar province. 500 Pakistanis including ISI officers blown up in mammoth Afghan bombing by US In a message sent out to the family members, a woman who had also joined the outfit in Afghanistan confirmed the death of at least two persons. Mughira informed Mohammad Haider, a resident of Kasargod in Kerala that his son and her husband Murshid had been killed. Murshid had flown to Iran from the UAE before making his entry into Afghanistan. Agencies do not have much information on Mughira, but say that she could have married Murshid in Afghanistan. She may be a recruiter, agency officials say. Today, the agencies are trying to ascertain the extent of damage the MOAB may have caused in Nangarhar. "We are trying to ascertain the fate of the rest of the recruits and prima facie it appears that the bomb may have hit them too," says the official. In all, 21 persons from Kerala joined the Afghan Khorasan of the IS. Agencies have confirmation about the death of three which includes Hafesuddin who had been killed in a drone strike in February. OneIndia News Biden vows to 'rebuild it all' in Puerto Rico after Fiona China does not manipulate its currency: US Treasury International ians-IANS By Ians English Washington, April 15: US Treasury Department on Friday declared that no major trading partner of the US, including China, met the standard of manipulating its currency, while six economies were listed on its Monitoring List to ensure extra scrutiny of their foreign exchange policies. In its Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies, the Treasury Department concluded that no major trading partner of the United States, including China, has manipulated their currencies over the past six months to keep them undervalued, Xinhua news agency reported. However, it put China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Switzerland on its monitoring list, saying their foreign exchange policies bear close monitoring. The report said China remained on the list because of its "disproportionate share of the overall US trade deficit", despite that China's current account surplus was only 1.8 per cent of GDP in 2016, sharply down from 2.8 per cent of GDP in 2015. US President Donald Trump this week said in an interview that China has not been manipulating its currency, RMB (yuan), for months, a sharp reversal from his campaign promise. IANS Why Nawaz Sharif was kept in the dark on Jadhav's death sentence International oi-Vicky By Vicky The Kulbhushan Jadhav verdict by a military court in Pakistan is a pointer to how things work in Pakistan. The all powerful Pakistan army went ahead and sentenced Jadhav to death and the Prime Minister of the country, Nawaz Sharif was totally unaware of it. Pakistan playing dangerous game in Jadhav's case, says Parrikar When officials in New Delhi following the developments in this case were asked about the same, they said that it is very much possible that Sharif was kept in the dark about Jadhav. It is a message for Sharif not to try and normalise ties with India. Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi had set the ball rolling with the latter paying a surprise visit to Pakistan. However a week later, the Pathankot attack followed and ties between the two nations derailed. However, both prime ministers did try and salvage the situation and Pakistan's civilian government did assure to give all assistance in the probe. India to issue travel advisory to Pakistan amid Jadhav row The ties between the two countries continued to stay normal with the national security advisors of both countries conversing with each other. However, the Kashmir unrest in July and the arrest of Jadhav completely derailed the situation and ties with Pakistan have never improved after that. Relations between the two countries are unlikely to improve anytime soon. The Jadhav issue continues to escalate tensions between the two countries. Pakistan's generals have made it very clear that there would be no compromise on this issue. India has said that if Jadhav is hanged then it would be treated as pre-meditated murder. In keeping Sharif in the dark, the message to Sharif is very clear. The army does not want him to even attempt normalising ties with India. It suits the generals if ties continue to dip and hit rock bottom. Sharif on his own has tried a couple of times speaking to the generals about Jadhav, but met with no luck. Sharif was told in clear words to stay away from the issue. OneIndia News 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. 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Anesthesia Vaporizers Market Research Report : : Value Chain Analysis and Forecast 2025 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/anesthesia-vaporizers-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22889 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global anesthesia vaporizers market can be segmented on the basis of product, agent specificity, and end-user. Based on product, it can be segmented into plenum vaporizers and drawover vaporizers. Based on agent specificity, the anesthesia vaporizers market can be segmented into agent-specific and multiple agents. Based on end-user, the market can be segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, clinics, and nursing homes. Rise in the number of hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, and nursing homes and the availability of advanced infrastructure are a few factors responsible for growth of the anesthesia vaporizers market. Additionally, presence of skilled personnel in hospitals has significantly fueled the anesthesia vaporizers market.Anesthesia is a medical term that means insensitivity to pain. Anesthesia is widely used during surgical procedures to bring unconsciousness to patients. Anesthesia vaporizers are devices that convert liquid inhalation agents into vapors. This vapor and oxygen are collectively delivered to the patient via inhalation route, primarily during pre-surgical procedures. An anesthesia delivery system typically consists of a machine that contains a breathing circuit. The necessity of these devices depends on the type of surgery performed. The concentration of dose differs in every case.With advancements in surgical procedures and technological improvements, the average life expectancy of individuals has increased significantly. Rise in the geriatric population worldwide is amongst the important drivers of the global anesthesia vaporizers market. The reasons behind them are, the geriatric population is highly prone to the degenerative diseases, infections and chronic illnesses which ultimately results in an increased in incidences of surgeries and therapeutics, as ageing peoples lacks immunity to fight against them.This requires continuous monitoring, which propels the global anesthesia vaporizers market. Newly developed anesthesia vaporizer devices come with an advanced decision-support system (DSS), which also supports the monitoring capabilities; for instance, end-tidal concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen, inhalation anesthetics, and transcutaneous oxygen saturation. These advancements provide data analysis to clinicians and surgeons, which can help them take decisions during surgical procedures or other therapeutic treatments. Consequently, a few of the side-effects involved such as cognitive disturbances and post-operative delirium related to anesthesia, primarily in elderly patients, act as restraints for the market. Rise in the cost of surgical procedures and instruments and poor reimbursement policies are also important factors likely to hamper the global anesthesia vaporizers market during the forecast period.Browse full report on Anesthesia Vaporizers Market Geographically, the global anesthesia vaporizers market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, Middle East & Africa. North America is a major market for anesthesia vaporizers, due to the rising number of surgeries in the region led by elevated awareness amongst surgeons about the benefits of anesthesia devices. Additionally, with widespread technological advancements and increasing competition in the market, demand for superior technological advancements for better results has been increasing. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness high growth during the forecast period, increased awareness about health care, unmet needs of the large population, rapidly developing health care network, rise in the disposable income, and favorable reimbursement policies in the region. These factors have also made the practice of advanced techniques in anesthesia monitoring easier in the region.Major players operating in the global anesthesia vaporizers market are Dragerwerk, GE Healthcare, Penlon, Meditec International England, Oricare, Spacelabs Healthcare, Beijing Siriusmed Medical Device, Baxter International, Inc., Intersurgical Limited, Medtronic, Inc., Mindray Medical International Limited, Nihon Kohden Corporation, Philips Healthcare, and Smiths Medical, Inc. New collaborative developments and new product techniques are some of the strategic initiatives taken by the companies to remain in the competition.Major players operating in the market are Biogen Idec, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene Corporation, ERYTECH Pharma, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Genzyme Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited, and Pfizer, Inc.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.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)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.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: Bile Duct Cancer Market Research Report : Forecast 2025 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/bile-duct-cancer-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22898 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Bile duct is a network of tube that connects the liver to the gall bladder. Bile duct carries a fluid called bile which is synthesize in the liver and stored in the gall bladder. The primary function of bile is breakdown of fats during digestion. Bile duct cancer is commonly known as cholangiocarcinoma. The particular cause of bile duct cancer is unknown but few factors that are responsible for developing bile duct cancer are long-term inflammation in the liver, biliary stones, abnormalities in bile duct such as cysts, infection with liver flukes parasite that causes infection in bile duct leading to cancer, and exposure to harmful chemicals and toxins. Major symptoms associated with bile duct cancer includes jaundice, weight loss, loss of appetite, discoloration of urine and stool, abdominal pain, itching, and fever.The global bile duct cancer market is driven by increase in prevalence of bile duct cancer patients across the globe, technological advancement in the health care sector, and rise in health care expenditure in developed countries. In addition, new research and development by pharmaceutical companies for availability of affordable treatment through extensive research is a major driver of the market. However, high cost associated with clinical trials and long duration in approvals of drugs acts as major barriers for the market growth.The global bile duct cancer market has been categorized based on treatment type, type of cancer, end-user, and region. Based on treatment type, the global market is segmented into surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Surgery treatment includes surgical removal of bile ducts, partial hepatectomy, and in severe cases Whipple procedure and liver transplantation. The chemotherapy segment can be sub-segmented into 5-fluorouracil, gemcitabine, capecitabine, oxaliplatin, cisplatin, and combined drug treatment. Factors such as availability of a wide range of chemotherapeutics agents for treatment of bile ducts cancer and ongoing innovative research work on improvement of chemotherapy by studying new drugs and new combination of drugs through clinical trials are anticipated to boost the market growth of the chemotherapy segment during the forecast period.Based on type of cancer, the market is segmented into intrahepatic bile duct cancer and extrahepatic bile duct cancer. The formation of cancer inside bile duct within liver is termed as intrahepatic bile duct cancer. Extrahepatic bile duct is made up of the hilum region and the distal region. Based on location, the extrahepatic bile duct cancer is sub-segmented into perihilar bile duct cancer and distal extrahepatic bile duct cancer. On the basis of end-user, the market is segmented into hospitals, clinics, and others.Browse full report on Bile Duct Cancer Market Geographically, the global market for bile duct cancer is distributed over North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in developed nations. North America holds a significant share of the bile duct cancer market, followed by Europe, due to advanced discoveries and innovations for treating cancer in early stages. Major factors driving the North America market are rise in incidence of bile duct cancer, ongoing research in the field of oncology, advance health care facilities, and improvement in government reimbursement policies. Asia Pacific and Middle East are lucrative markets owing to increase in incidence of bile duct cancer patients. Liver flukes infection in the bile duct is very common in developing countries. This is one of the leading causes for the increase in number of bile duct cancer patients in these regions.Major players operating in the global bile duct cancer market include Johnson & Johnson, Bayer AG, Celgene Corp, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Sanofi, Novartis AG, Merck & Co., Inc., ConMed Corporation, and Boston Scientific Corporation.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.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)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.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: Bipolar Disorder (BPD) Market Research Report : : Technologies, Markets and Players http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/bipolar-disorder-treatment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=20855 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Bipolar disorder, commonly known as manic depression, is a type of mental illness which is characterized by mood swings. Mood episodes are of two types: manic and depressive episodes. The changes in the mental state bring out sudden high or low moods in a person. An individual suffering from bipolar disorder can be happy, joyful, and energized at a particular moment and can also be sad, hopeless, and sluggish at the next moment. This mental illness is termed as bipolar disorder due to these different moods or two poles of mood. Through many research activities, it is observed that certain genes are responsible for the development of bipolar disorder. Individuals with a family history of bipolar disorder are most likely to develop the illness. These kind of mood episodes can hamper the image of an individual at a school or at a job or even in the society.Increase in awareness about diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder and unmet needs in the treatment of the disorder are the major drivers for the growth of the market. Increasing acceptance of society regarding mental illness is encouraging individuals to get treated. In addition, growth in technological advancement in identifying genetic disorders and increase in treatment options for genetic disorders are major drivers of the market growth. Government initiatives such as launch of Bipolar Disorder Phenome Database, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), provide complete information regarding signs and symptoms of the illness. This factor has further contributed to the growth of the market. However, factors such as stringent regulatory frameworks, side effects of anticonvulsants, and limited number of approved anticonvulsants hamper the growth of the market.The global bipolar disorder market is segmented based on types of bipolar disorder, drug class, mechanism of action, and geography. Based on types of bipolar disorder, the market is classified into bipolar I disorder, which is mania or mixed episode; bipolar II disorder, which is hypomania and depression; and cyclothymia, which is hypomania and mild depression. According to drug class, the market is segmented into mood stabilizers, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety drugs. In terms of mechanism of action, the market is segmented into selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, benzodiazepines, beta blockers, and others.Browse full report on Bipolar Disorder (BPD) Market Geographically, the global bipolar market is distributed over North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global bipolar disorder market due to increased awareness and larger availability of treatment options. In the region, the U.S. has a significant market share in terms of revenue, followed by Canada. Europe is the second leading region, contributing to the growth of the market in terms of revenue, with the U.K. and Germany having major share of the market. Asia Pacific is a highly potential market with emerging countries such as India and China. The market in the region is expected to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period. Increase in awareness about the disease in countries such as India is likely to boost the growth of the market. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are expected to contribute highly to the growth of the market due to improving economy and rising awareness about the mental illness.Key players operating in the global bipolar disorder market include Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca plc, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Merck & Co., Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc., Cephalon Inc., Gedeon Richter plc, H. Lundbeck A/S, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc., Repligen Corporation, and Validus Pharmaceuticals LLC.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.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)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.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: Rising Adoption of Cloud-based Services by SMBs Facilitating CASB Markets Growth at 16.7% CAGR http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=8833 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cloud-access-security-brokers-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research entitled Cloud Access Security Brokers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, the cloud access security brokers (CASB) market was worth US$ 3,371.4 Mn in 2015 and is expected to reach US$ 13,218.5 Mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 16.7% from 2016 to 2024. North America was the largest market for cloud access security brokers in 2015. The growth in this region is being driven by the presence of a large number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), start-ups, and large corporate enterprises.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @CASB services provide a security platform for cloud silos. A large number of SMBs and large corporates currently rely on cloud computing technologies to store their information and extract it whenever required. Security over the cloud is one of the major concerns facilitating the growth of cloud security solutions. CASB services play a significant role in providing solutions encompassing control & monitoring, risk & compliance management, tokenization, data leakage prevention, and cloud data encryption. These solutions are capable enough to provide complete cloud security, avoiding data leakage and the risk of security breaches at access points and nodes.The report provides cross-segment analysis of the CASB market, based on cloud deployment type and components comprising software and services. Segmentation on the basis of deployment type includes SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. IaaS platforms are expected to emerge as the fastest-growing platforms, owing to their augmented IT delivery capabilities, increased scalability, and flexibility. However, the SaaS platform held the dominant position in terms of CASB cloud deployment type in 2015.Browse Market Research Report @Software solutions that are particularly used for data leakage prevention and control & monitoring held the largest market shares in 2015. Furthermore, these segments are growing at a significant pace owing to rising threat of security breaches. Frequently changing cloud regulations by governing bodies are making it difficult for cloud storage vendors to ensure compliance. This has enabled cloud storage vendors to outsource the security platform to the CASB providers, empowering the CASB risk & management compliance market to expand at an expected CAGR of 18% from 2016 to 2024. However, cloud data encryption is expected to be the fastest-growing software solution segment, expected to advance at the rate of 20.2% over the forecast period from 2016 to 2024.Geographically, North America is the largest market for CASBs and the region is anticipated to dominate the global CASB market over the forecast period. In 2015, North America accounted for approximately 30% of the global CASB markets revenue. Key players in the market include NetSkope Inc., Skyhigh Networks, CloudLock Inc., Zscaler, Inc., Adallom, Inc., Bitglass, Inc., CipherCloud Inc., and Protegrity USA, Inc.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business Contact.Contact Us :Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Integration of Latest Technologies into Existent Offerings to Mark Growth Strategy of Micro Irrigation Systems Manufacturers http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=485 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/micro-irrigation-systems-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The presence of a large pool of participants characterizes the competitive landscape of the global micro irrigation systems market. As the market faces intense competition, major players are focusing on innovations as well as the integration of latest technologies into their existent offerings in order to retain their position, finds Transparency Market Research.In the recent times, a number of leading companies have introduced advanced micro irrigation systems. For instance, Netafim launched its next-generation low-flow drippers and Toro introduced Aqua-Traxx Flow Control drip tape in 0.13 GPH emitter flow rate. However, over the coming years, manufacturers will undertake strategic partnerships to expand their product portfolios as well as to increase their sales, notes TMR.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Water Scarcity Provides Ground for Growth to Micro Irrigation SystemsMicro irrigation systems are widely recognized as one of the fast-emerging segments in the worldwide agriculture industry. The immense rise in the adoption of these systems is mainly attributed to the encouragement by various governments across the world.With water scarcity being a looming concern, micro irrigation can prove beneficial as it is capable of saving 50 to 60% of the ground water compared to other conventional irrigation practices. Consequently, governments in Asian and African countries, where water scarcity is severe, are offering subsidies over the installation costs of micro irrigation systems, prompting farmers to adopt these systems. Besides, farmers are also preferring micro irrigation systems over traditional ones as the former allow them to water plants evenly and when required, optimizing crop yields and improving their quality.Considering these factors, the future of the global micro irrigation systems market looks teeming with opportunities. However, the high cost associated with the installation and maintenance of these irrigation systems may limit their application to large-scale and corporate farming in the coming years.Sprinklers to Remain Dominant among Micro Irrigation Products, Europe to Lose Ground to Asia PacificAnalysts at TMR estimate the global opportunity in micro irrigation systems, which stood at US$2.6 bn in 2014, to expand at a CAGR of 15.10% during the period from 2015 to 2023 and possibly worth US$9.1 bn by the end of the forecast period.Browse Market Research Report @Currently, sprinklers dominate the market with a majority share and are expected to remain dominant in the near future. However, drip irrigation systems are poised to report their adoption at the fastest rate over the forecast period. While the demand for pumping units is the highest in the sprinkler segment, filters draw the maximum demand in the drip irrigation systems segment.Regionally, Europe led the global market with a revenue share of 32% in 2014. The region, however, will lose its ground to Asia Pacific in the coming years, thanks to the increasing involvement of technology in agriculture in countries such as Australia, China, India, and Japan.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business Contact.Contact Us :Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: High Altitude Platforms Market to Rise at 8.7% CAGR from 2015 to 2023, National Security Concerns Drive Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1282 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/high-altitude-platforms-technologies.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com According to a new market study published by Transparency Market Research, the global high altitude platforms market was valued at US$2.30 bn in 2014. Expanding at a CAGR of 8.7% between 2015 and 2023, the said market will reach a valuation of US$4.77 bn by 2023. The title of this report is High Altitude Platforms Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023 and it is available for sale on the companys website.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @High altitude platforms (HAPs) are structures equipped with various payloads for varied applications such as environmental monitoring, communication, surveillance, and navigation. HAPs are designed to stay in the air for long periods at altitudes above 50,000 feet. These are positioned in the stratosphere, which is at a much higher altitude than the atmospheric layer where commercial aircraft operate.In 2014, North America accounted for the largest share in the global HAPs market. This is primarily due to the high adoption of advanced tethered aerostat systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), mainly in the U.S. The region is expected to maintain its dominant position until the end of the forecast period. Asia Pacific will emerge as the fastest-growing market for HAPs displaying a CAGR of 10.0% from 2015 to 2023. The increasing expenditures on HAP-surveillance systems in India, China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia to strengthen national security will aid the markets growth. The increasing Internet penetration and escalating demand for high-speed mobile telephony is another significant factor boosting the development of the HAPs market in this region.Browse Market Research Report @According to the report, the competitive advantage of HAPs over satellite systems is the most significant factor driving the HAPs market. HAPs are operable at much lower maintenance costs than satellite systems. Moreover, the ease of control and less installation time as compared to satellite systems are the other advantages of HAPs.The application segments of this market are government and defense, commercial, and others. The government and defense segment contributes the highest revenue to the global market. Thus, hefty investments on HAPs for national security by countries such as China, the U.S., India, and Israel will contribute to the growth of the HAP market.On the basis of platform, tethered aerostat systems, UAV aircraft, and airships are the segments of this market. In 2014, UAVs held a share of more than 71% in the global market in terms of revenue. Price-wise, UAVs are the costliest HAPs and offer the largest coverage areas. Countries such as the U.S., Russia, France, China, Israel, and Turkey have deployed UAVs. Despite their high cost, these aircraft witness strong demand from the aforementioned countries thus will remain dominant until the end of the forecast period.By payload, communication, EO/IR imaging systems, surveillance systems, and navigation systems are the segments of the global HAPs market. Communication systems held a share of close to 38% in the global market in 2014.The global high altitude platforms market comprises several players. Some of them are: TCOM L.P., Raytheon Company, Lindstrand Technologies Ltd., Israel Aviation Industries Ltd., Worldwide Aeros Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Aerostar International Inc., ILC Dover LP., AeroVironment Inc., and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business Contact.Contact Us :Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) to Gain Ground Through Greater Bandwidth Leasing by MNOs http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=3261 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/mobile-virtual-network-operator-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Tier I mobile virtual network operators in the world in 2015 were Virgin, AT&T, and Verizon. Each of these top tier companies has had their share of mergers and acquisitions on a global scale.As stated by Transparency Market Research in its recent publication on MVNOs, a large number of vendors are looking towards solidifying their standing in the global market through mutual agreements and partnerships. Key vendors have been at the forefront of adopting cutting-edge technologies at competitive pricing.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @The global market for mobile virtual network operators is expected to reach US$75.25 bn by 2023. This is possible through a consistent projection of the markets CAGR at 7.4% from 2015 to 2023, on the basis of revenue. This revenue is projected to achieve a revenue of US$45.86 bn by the end of 2016.Full MVNO operational models are expected to be not only the leading segment till 2023, but also the segment with the leading CAGR from 2015 to 2023. By the end of 2023, this operational segment is expected to reach US$48.62 bn in revenue.Consumer-based subscribers are expected to retain their lead over business subscribers till 2023. By the end of 2023, consumer subscribers are expected to generate US$66.62 bn of the total market revenue. Meanwhile, owing to the implementation of low cost and large-scale professional applications and communication portals, business subscribers are leading in terms of growth rate between 2015 and 2023.Europe to Retain Leading Regional Share in MVNOsBy the end of 2023, Europe is expected to generate a revenue of US$28.90 bn in the global mobile virtual network operator market. This is attributed to the high level of support shown by governments and concerned regional bodies such as the European Commission. They have enabled many large-scale implementations of MVNOs, and MNO and MVNO mergers.Browse Market Research Report @Meanwhile, Latin America is showing a massive CAGR of 10.4% from 2015 to 2023 owing to a very high demand for mobile virtual networks in the region. North America is expected to continue being in the second place in terms of MVNO demand, but shows a very open ground for large-scale implementation on high-speed networks.MNOs Leasing Network to MVNOs at a Greater Scale GloballyAt the moment, mobile virtual network operators hold a great advantage that comes from the mobile network operators themselves. MNOs can rent parts of their bandwidth to MVNOs that are otherwise unused, especially in 3G networks across developed economies. This allows MVNOs to provide cost-effective services to their virtual customers, and MNOs get a large usage volume and profit through the MVNOs, states a TMR analyst. This is expected to drive the global market for mobile virtual network operators over the immediate future, but provide a lesser impetus in the long term.ARPU May Reduce as Competition IntensifiesThe average revenue per user that MVNOs are earning has a good chance of reducing over time, as a greater number of mobile virtual network operators enter the market and competition grows stronger. Over the recent past, MVNOs have only been prominent in about one-third of the globe, in developed economies. These regions are already saturated with MVNOs and their market penetration was equally high. But the incoming number of new entrants could create pricing complications for all existing players in a market where service differentiations is already a challenge. For instance, the ARPU among MVNOs in Europe had already fallen by 7% per year from 2011 to 2014.To make the most of the booming demand for MVNs, operators can set shop in the largely untapped regions in Latin America and Asia Pacific. Latin America, especially, shows a strong promise of demand in the coming years, and players can certainly achieve progress by penetrating these regions, adds the analyst.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business Contact.Contact Us :Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Notes from The Oregonian/OregonLive's books desk. Henrietta Lacks: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," a compelling, startling must-read that delves into the intersections of science, medicine, race and class, gets the HBO treatment in a new movie starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne. It portrays how author Rebecca Skloot, who grew up in Portland and is the daughter of Portland author Floyd Skloot, worked with Lacks' family to uncover the full story of how white scientists had taken the African American woman's cancerous cells without her consent and turned them into HeLa, an immortal cell line that's since been widely used for scientific research. (Vancouver's health and biosciences high school is named after Lacks.) HBO premieres the movie Saturday, April 22. "City of Weird": The 2016 short story collection in which Portland authors pay tribute to our quirky city, edited by Gigi Little and published by Portland-based Forest Avenue Press, is expanding into a new medium: radio. Sam A. Mowry and Cynthia McGean have adapted several of the stories for presentation at two Willamette Radio Workshop shows. The first is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, at the Kiggins Theatre, 1011 Main St., Vancouver; admission is a suggested $5 donation. The second is at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 20, during the McMenamins annual UFO Festival in McMinnville, at McMenamins Hotel Oregon, 310 N.E. Evans St.; admission is free. Says Forest Avenue publisher Laura Stanfill, "I love the idea of our art form -- printed words -- being transformed into their art form -- radio/live performance -- all with local people." The Guttery: Portland is home to numerous writing groups, but the group that calls itself The Guttery is on a real tear: Four of its members published books in 2016. They'll gather for a group reading at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, at Another Read Through, 3932 N. Mississippi Ave. They are Mo Daviau, author of "Every Anxious Wave," Jamie Duclos-Yourdon, author of "Froelich's Ladder," Tracy Manaster, author of "The Done Thing," and Susan DeFreitas, author of "Hot Season." DeFreitas will also read from her book at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at Annie Bloom's Books, 7834 S.W. Capitol Highway. Jamie Duclos-Yourdon: Portland author riffs on relationships in an Oregon Territory tall tale For the kids: We'd call "Tolly" (Overcup Press, 32 pages, $16.99) a picture book, but the images here are more than pictures. Portland author and artist Maryanna Hoggatt created hand-painted sculptures to illustrate her story of a raccoon named Tolly who takes a job as a dragon protector in hopes of achieving his goal of being "the bravest of the brave." Tolly was developed from Hoggatt's Animal Battle series of paintings and sculptures; she also has created art for Doernbecher Children's Hospital. She'll introduce Tolly at a kids' storytime at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 22, at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St. Congratulations: Southern Oregon author Midge Raymond is among seven finalists for the 2017 Creative Writing Awards from the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment. Her 2016 novel, "My Last Continent," is a love story with Antarctica at its heart. The association will announce its book award winners in June. "Pirate Women": Cosmopolitan's list of "10 Books You Need to Read in 2017" starts with "Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas" (Chicago Review Press, 264 pages, $26.99). Author Laura Sook Duncombe will be in Portland to read from her book at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at Mother Foucault's Bookshop, 523 S.E. Morrison St. Her reading follows the monthly reading by faculty and students from Portland State University's Master of Fine Arts program. Lidia Yuknavitch.The Book of Joan.jpg Lidia Yuknavitch says of her new science fiction novel, "Science fiction is a place where you can open all the questions back up." (Author photo: Andrew Kovalev; book cover image, Harper) If you haven't yet heard of Lidia Yuknavitch, pay attention. If there's any fairness, the Portland author should hit it really big with her latest novel, "The Book of Joan" (Harper, 288 pages, $26.99). Yuknavitch's name is already familiar to followers of the Portland literary scene. In 2016, she won two Oregon Book Awards for her astonishing novel about war, love, art and sex, "The Small Backs of Children." Her no-holds-barred memoir, "The Chronology of Water," also won an Oregon Book Award. Her TED talk on the beauty of being a misfit has had nearly 2 million views and is being adapted into a book. "The Book of Joan," publishing Tuesday, April 18, made numerous "most anticipated books of 2017" lists, and Yuknavitch does not disappoint with this mesmerizing, mind-expanding read. In the near future, Earth has been ecologically devastated, "reduced to a dirt clod, floating in space." The elite have fled to a space station, where they remotely extract the remaining planetary resources for their survival. But in their bleak, authoritarian world, survival is about all they can aspire to. As the novel opens, an artist named Christine marks her 49th birthday knowing each orbiting human is allotted only 50 years. She decides to foment resistance through her art and the story that's sustained her: the legend of Joan of Arc, recast as an eco-guerrilla who so alarmed Earth's leaders that they burned her at the stake. Then Christine is told, "Your dead icon? She's alive." Yuknavitch launches "The Book of Joan" at 7:30 p.m. April 18 at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St. (Update: Yuknavitch will also read from the book at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 22, at Broadway Books, 1714 N.E. Broadway.) She spoke recently with The Oregonian/OregonLive about the novel; here are excerpts from the conversation. On her inspiration for a dystopic science fiction novel featuring Joan of Arc: "I was raised Catholic and so I met the figure of Joan of Arc pretty early as a kid. ... I didn't completely understand the complexities of her life, but this image of a warrior girl who was burned, that's the piece I took on into my head and heart. "Then when I was older, more like in college, and learning about her in a more serious and scholarly way, she again seemed to me like a figure that had both risen historically and was important, but was a feminist figure that had been also buried inside another story, of fighting for God and king. "Retrieving her or dislocating her from history, and trying to relocate her in some other kind of narrative, is where the feelings about her came from in the writing." On the book's topical, current feel: "I was writing these things two-and-a-half, first ideas, almost three years ago. What's played out today politically was not something that I had any idea was coming. "In some ways I'm as surprised as anybody except that ... sometimes I think writers and artists, and journalists, too, are kind of writing within the zeitgeist of their time. To greater and lesser degrees, writers are pulling threads coming from, what are people worried about right now? What are people dreaming and desiring about right now? What are people angry about right now? So maybe there was something in the fabric already, socially, a few years ago that these tensions were coming to the surface and then boom!" On her depiction of humans as non-reproductive, post-racial beings: "In terms of gender and sexuality, the arguments are so tired out and they tend to settle out in binary ways, and I was looking for a way to get outside of or at least shake up the binaries. One way to approach that would be to take the terms of division out, like male-female or reproductive sexuality, and that very much interested me, particularly in our time period. "And what I've done with diversity is, all diversity available is left on Earth in terms of plants and animals and people, and what we used to think of, for example, as race and class positions have been obliterated. "The skin colors of the elite class, they have no pigmentation, and in fact they're so white they're more like the white of a piece of paper or a canvas. "I was dancing with or flirting with or fighting with my own questions about the construct of whiteness and how whiteness as a construct has ravaged human history." On her refiguring of Joan of Arc: "She's no feminine object to anyone's story. She's nobody's love object, she's nobody's soldier. She's a kind of autonomous female figure who's making her way on her own terms. "She very much loves the planet or has a relationship with the planet in terms we usually talk about feeling for one another." On what she hopes readers take from the novel: "One of the things I was trying so very hard to raise to the surface is an idea that we might have to reinvent what we mean by hope. When I'm fiddling with the trope of the love story or fiddling with the God story, I'm also trying to say, what if hope doesn't always come from looking up or waiting for a savior? What if hope has to be given a different story in which we look at our relationships with each other as well as our relationships to the planet completely differently? "I would like to see us recommit ourselves to our relationship to this planet that we're living on and move away from ideas about owning and winning and even an idea in our country, in America, of an American excellence that rewards some people and condemns others. I would like to see us reinvent the kinds of relationships we have with each other and what we mean when we say a word like love, to include an understanding of the global community. "That's not a new idea, clearly, but what I've been thinking about lately is we've got to reimagine ourselves, we've got to reinvent ourselves. Like I'm doing in this book, we've got to wrench ourselves out of old narratives that are going to keep us in perpetual war with one another." The Cowlitz Indian Tribe will open the long-awaited Ilani Casino Resort on April 24, officials announced Friday afternoon. The $510 million gaming complex in Clark County includes a gaming area, performance venue and 15 restaurants, bars and retail stores, according to a news release. The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear a challenge to the development filed by card room owners in nearby La Center. "We are extremely pleased to open the doors to Ilani and provide the local community with a source for economic growth," Cowlitz Tribe Chairman Bill Iyall said in the news release. "Our destination is expected to attract over 4.5 million visitors a year, and we feel certain that local businesses will benefit from increased visitation to the area." The tribe sees the Ilani -- which means "sing" in the Cowlitz language -- as the key to reversing the fortunes of its 4,100 members, who are mostly scattered across western Washington. The 368,000-square-foot complex is projected to draw at least $200 million a year away from nearby card rooms, other tribal casinos and the Oregon Lottery. Iyall has said the casino will bring 1,200 new jobs to the region. He also said that 2 percent of the facility's net revenues will be returned to the community through arts and education programs. Visitors will find 2,500 slot machines and 75 table games at the casino, located just west of I-5 at exit 16 in Washington. Tony Hernandez thernandez@oregonian.com 503-294-5928 @tonyhreports Horizon Air and its pilots union have reached an agreement in a contract dispute that spilled into the courts earlier this year. Alaska Air Group, Horizon's parent company, announced the agreement Friday, saying it would increase pilots' salaries and bonuses once voted on and ratified by Horizon pilots. APA Teamsters Local 1224 sued the company in January, saying staffing shortage brought on by low pay had forced the airline to cancel flights, many of which were flown instead by Horizon's corporate sibling, Alaska Airlines. The union represents 675 pilots for a regional carrier that brought 2.9 million passengers through Portland International Airport last year, making it the airport's third-biggest airline. It also threatened a strike that could have put immense strain on Alaska, the Portland airport's biggest carrier, by cutting off its feeder routes. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, the union said the carrier stepped out of bounds when it started offering signing bonuses to address the shortage. The bonus offers began while Horizon was in contract negotiations with the union, which the union said violates federal labor laws. The lawsuit remained open Friday, and it was not immediately clear if the agreement would also resolve the court case. Horizon is based in SeaTac, Washington, but flight operations and much of its management team are based in Portland. Its role for Portland passengers is expected to grow as Horizon upgrades its fleet to include Embraer E175 jets, which can fly longer routes than its current fleet of Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes. The new planes could unlock new routes between smaller markets. -- Elliot Njus enjus@oregonian.com 503-294-5034 @enjus Richard Cordray Richard Cordray, who leads the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, was an early target of the Trump administration. Though he continues serving his five-year term, which expires in July 2018, House Republicans are exploring changes that would allow the White House to replace him without cause. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images) WASHINGTON -- Republicans are working on a new plan for weakening the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by stripping the agency of its independence and severely limiting its ability to go after corporations. House Republicans would de-fang the consumer protection agency and make it more susceptible to political shifts by granting more control and oversight to the White House and Congress. One key change would convert the CFPB into an executive agency with a director who can be removed by the president at will. Currently, the director of the independent agency can only be fired for cause. The plan would also scale back the agency's enforcement powers and prevent the agency from publishing its consumer complaint database, according to a memo from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, that was shared with lawmakers this week. The revised strategy is more aggressive than Hensarling's initial plan, which would have replaced the director with a bipartisan commission but allowed the CFPB to remain an independent agency. The new approach may not match the wishes of some members of the financial industry, who say that heading the agency with a bipartisan commission can lead to more stability in the long run. "We are looking 10 and 20 years ahead and need a balanced long-term approach," said Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association, a trade group that represents the retail banking industry, in an email to The Washington Post. "A commission would help bring consistency and certainty to the industry." Hensarling will lay out the changes as part of a new version of his Financial CHOICE act, which is set to be released at the end of the month. The bill will focus on scaling back financial regulations enacted by the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB. Hensarling, other Republicans and some in the financial industry have long tried to unseat CFPB director Richard Cordray before his term ends in July 2018. Critics of the agency want to rein in its ability to make rules and take enforcement actions. At a hearing last week on Capitol Hill, Hensarling was not shy about his views on Cordray or the agency. "Richard Cordray should be dismissed by our president," Hensarling said during the hearing. "Not only must Mr. Cordray go, but this CFPB must go as well." As part of Hensarling's plan, the CFPB would be renamed as the Consumer Financial Opportunity Agency. The president would also be able to appoint and remove the agency's deputy director. In addition to the leadership changes, Hensarling's bill would strip the agency of its power to enforce a law that bans companies from using "unfair" or "deceptive" practices. That would bar the agency from being able to take enforcement actions against some financial companies. The bill would also block the CFPB from publishing its consumer complaint database, an online hub where consumers can write in about issues they face with in dealing with financial companies, such as banks, debt collectors and credit card firms. Some critics of the database, which is sometimes used as a resource for prosecutors and attorneys, have said that the complaints should be verified before they are published. As he did with his original financial reform bill, Hensarling would make the CFPB subject to the annual budget process, which would give Congress more oversight. Consumer advocates worry that change - which differs from the current structure of receiving funding directly from the independent Federal Reserve - could leave the agency with fewer resources to investigate companies and stand up for consumers. "I'm concerned that this will overly politicize financial law enforcement," said Rohit Chopra, a former CFPB executive and a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit that advocates for consumers. "It also looks like a backdoor trick to starving the agency of its dedicated funding." In a meeting with chief executives on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said his administration would still be looking to revise financial regulations. "We're doing a major elimination of the horrendous Dodd-Frank regulations, keeping some obviously, but getting rid of many," he told the business group, according to CNBC. "Chairman Hensarling looks forward to working with the President and his administration to eliminate Dodd-Frank and replace it with the Financial CHOICE Act," said Sarah Rozier, a spokeswoman for Hensarling, in a statement. "Our plan, which will be released in the next few weeks, is a bold and visionary plan that protects consumers by holding Wall Street and Washington accountable, ends bailouts, and unleashes America's economic potential." -- The Washington Post Lynk & Co Lynk & Co's planned entry into the U.S. market in early 2019 would present another challenge to the franchise dealer system that has been in effect for more than 100 years. (Lynk & Co) If millennials prefer to make most purchases online, why not let them buy cars online? And if they're used to getting a new phone every year or two, why not give them the option to get a new car that often? That is the approach to selling cars that a fledgling brand called Lynk & Co plans to take when it launches in China in 2018 and in the U.S. and Europe in early 2019. Lynk is owned by Geely Automobile, the Chinese multinational that also owns Volvo, and it will sell cars online and through company-owned stores, like Tesla, instead of through franchised dealers like other manufacturers. Lynk's entry in the U.S. would present another challenge to the franchise dealer system that has been in effect for more than 100 years, following Tesla's lead. In addition, short-term car rental services such as Maven and Zipcar are giving consumers alternatives to owning a vehicle, and companies such as Carvana are selling used cars online directly to consumers. "We don't think the other model is wrong. We believe that if you come out with a new car brand, just bringing another really great car is not good enough, so we want to offer a totally different customer promise and a different business model," Lynk Senior Vice President Alain Visser said. The company's approach will depart from traditional automotive retailing in several ways: Lynk will adopt a fixed, one-price only policy globally. Lynk will offer fewer than 10 trim levels of each model, with no individual options or packages available. Instead of sprawling suburban dealerships, the company will set up small stores in malls or pop-up stores in major cities such as Chicago, Boston and San Francisco. The company expects to have 70 to 80 U.S. sales points within about three years. Customers will be able to buy or lease cars, but the company will focus on "subscriptions" for one, two or three years. Visser said subscriptions would be similar to leases, and customers would be able to exchange their cars for new models at the end of their terms. Vehicles will be delivered to customers (or they can pick them up), and they will receive a walk-around explaining the car features. Lynk also will pick up and deliver cars for service. Lynk will not own its service centers. It is negotiating with Volvo dealers to provide service. The vehicles will have a standard "sharing button" and embedded technology that will allow owners to rent their cars to others when they aren't using them. Millennials will be the primary target because they are most likely to embrace this new approach and "they are the biggest customer group in all major regions globally," Visser said in a telephone interview from Gothenburg, Sweden, where Lynk and Volvo are based but have separate headquarters. "Those customers who do not see the advantage of going to a dealer and negotiating a price can come to us. Does that mean the dealer model is wrong? Not necessarily, but we believe there is enough customers out there who are ready for something else," Visser said. Initially, the brand will offer one model in the U.S., a compact SUV based on the Volvo XC40 called the 01, which Visser said will be a "premium product" but priced against SUVs from volume brands. Other models will be added (and also have numerical names), though Visser didn't give details. Lynk's blueprint borrows from Tesla, the electric car company that used a similar approach to sell expensive battery-powered cars to well-heeled buyers without relying on franchised dealers. Auto industry analyst Maryann Keller, though, thinks that because Lynk will compete with volume brands such as Ford and Toyota, what worked for Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, won't work as well for it. Musk "got a billion dollars' worth of free publicity because of the novelty of the car and who he is, a brilliant entrepreneur, wealthy, very charismatic, a great speaker. And it was a phenomenal car," Keller said in a telephone interview. "I think (Lynk executives) have this strange notion that who comes to them is going to be able to click online, pick the color, pick the interior, pick whatever style and please send it. They don't understand that the car-buying process for 90 percent of Americans is more complicated," she said. Many buyers, especially younger ones, have credit issues that make it hard for them to get a loan or approval for a lease, she said. In addition, Lynk will have to set up a means to take and dispose of trade-ins, and it may also have to get into the used-car business. Lynk, she argues, would be better off setting up a network of franchised dealers who are experienced in all aspects of the car business. "They would be able to be up and running across the country faster, and they would do it without having to put their own capital to work. They can set whatever standards (for dealers) they want," said Keller, a former Wall Street analyst who now runs her own firm, Maryann Keller & Associates. In 2014, Keller wrote a report for the National Automobile Dealers Association that extolled the benefits of the franchise system for consumers. Visser said Lynk is aware that car dealers are equipped to handle all aspects of the retail side of the business, but he argues that a growing number of consumers are ready for a different approach to buying a car. "There is a different way, and maybe a better way, to run this business. This is not against dealers. This is showing that we have alternatives to the existing model," he said. University of Michigan law professor Daniel Crane argues that car manufacturers should be able to choose what they see as the most efficient distribution system. "The way markets should work is that the government doesn't pick winners, doesn't pick a single way of doing things. It should let everyone take their own risk, and different people will succeed with different strategies and different people will fail with different strategies," Crane said. Lynk will have to fight the same battles with franchise dealers that Tesla did to open its own stores and sell directly to consumers. Mark Scarpelli, a Chicago-area dealer and NADA chairman, would not say whether NADA will actively oppose Lynk, but said, "That's a state issue that each state has the flexibility to say yes or no." Each state has laws that require vehicle manufacturers to sell through franchised dealers or restrict sales through company stores, and Tesla encountered strong opposition from dealer groups in every state where it tried to set up shop. Visser said Lynk is prepared to wage those battles. "That's why we will start in the U.S. in 2019, so we have time to prepare. As far as Tesla, we have already learned from it," Visser said, adding that Lynk will attempt to follow Tesla into some of the same major cities. Crane sees it as the natural evolution of the car shopping experience. "People will learn, people will adapt, people will have choices, and that's how market economies are supposed to work. The only way to find out if they're right is to test it in the market, and that's what the laws are not allowing to happen." -- Chicago Tribune SALEM - Oregon's educational goals are inspiring. The state's officially adopted target is 40 percent of its population having at least a four-year college degree, for another 40 percent having a two-year degree or a professional credential, and every Oregonian having at least a high school diploma. It's an ambitious goal, especially for a state with one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country and which bumps along toward the bottom of higher education spending. But it makes sense for the 21st century, when the job market is about to be invaded by self-driving cars, none of which require payment sufficient to support a family. Fortunately, Oregon's goals are resting on its Quality Educational Model, a meticulously calculated design of how much the state needs to spend on its K-12 system, producing qualified students who could flow seamlessly into the 40-40-20 model. This actually gives the state two guiding principles on education: One is 40-40-20, and the other is "Pay no attention to those numbers behind the curtain" - the numbers showing what we're actually spending. For years now, Oregon political and higher education leaders, when asked about the contrast between the state goals and the state effort, have sought to look spiritual and explain that the goals were "aspirational" - meaning, wouldn't it be nice... It's as if President Kennedy's plan to reach the moon in a decade was realized by looking up to the sky and wishing really hard. In this legislative session, Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, offered a bill to abandon 40-40-20 on the grounds that we had no plans or expectations to reach it, a clear-eyed calculation that would itself be a new standard for Oregon. His goal, he said, was "to have a conversation about how our aspirations have not been linked to our funding plans." Evans, with a background in the Air Force and the Oregon Air National Guard running to both Iraq and Afghanistan, brought his own perspective to the challenge. "I go back to my military background," he explained. "I don't expect 100 percent capability from a fighter squadron that's at 70 percent capability." After the point in the legislative calendar when unwanted legislation gets abandoned, Evans' bill has ended up in what he calls "a very shallow grave." He's now working on a bill creating a task force to try to bring aspirations and policies within hailing distance of each other. He'd want to take into account the new realities and expectations of schools in the two decades since the Quality Education Model emerged, and believes it is possible to close the gap: "I think people would be willing to invest in education if they had a clear idea about what they're going to buy." A goal of 40 percent of Oregonians having four-year degrees also requires, of course, strong and growing universities to give out the degrees. The previous legislature actually made a small dent in Oregon's historic underfunding of its higher education system. "When the last budget passed, I felt strange," recalls Portland State president Wim Wievel, in his ninth and final year on the job, "because I didn't have to cut our budget." This year will likely be different. With proposed spending for the universities flat from the last legislature, and costs increased, Wiewel sees a $20 million shortfall in the PSU budget. His plan is to fill it with $9 million in cuts - larger classes, fewer choices for students, fewer counselors - and $11 million in tuition increases, part of a pattern set other universities, including the University of Oregon's proposed 10.8-percent tuition increase. Double-digit increases, worked out by institutional boards of trustees, have drawn the concern of Gov. Kate Brown, although her alternative seems to be for the universities to find ways to cut more deeply. Coming off of PSU's recent day at the Capitol - a regular practice of the universities, with administrators, students, alumni and now trustees coming to make their case to legislators - Wiewel received, as usual, "a lot of verbal support." He explains that sometimes the interest in higher education can actually be overpowering: "In the absence of money, there can be micromanaging, telling you what to do with the money they're not giving you." The Legislature clearly faces major financial problems, with a state budget shortfall estimated at $1.6 billion - driven by rising Medicaid and PERS costs - before dealing with any of the shortcomings in Oregon's elevated aspirations. Few proposals for new revenue, all politically challenging in themselves, even cover the existing hole in the budget. Monday is expected to bring a proposed no-new-revenue, all-cuts budget that one legislator forecast would be "hair-raising." But Oregon's grim fiscal realities, and its limited interest in overcoming them, have not been set against our soaring aspirations. Oregonians have declined once more to confront the contradiction, but it's not about to go away. Wiewel strongly supports the goal of 40-40-20 but is uncertain about the strategy. "Forty-forty-twenty has been a vision without a plan," he says. "A vision without a plan is a daydream." Although Oregon has preferred to say "aspiration." David Sarasohn's column appears on the first and third Sundays of the month. He blogs at davidsarasohn.com. 1korea.JPG In this file photo taken on Dec. 10, 2015, U.S. and South Korean army soldiers pose on a floating bridge on the Hantan river during a joint military exercise against a possible attack from North Korea, in Yeoncheon, South Korea (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) By Doug Bandow Asia contains the world's two most populous nations, the country with the largest Muslim population, the two largest economies after America, and the next superpower and peer competitor to the United States. But when U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited the continent recently, small, impoverished North Korea nearly monopolized his attention. Why is the United States, which dominates the globe militarily, politically, and economically, fixated on this poor, isolated, and distant nation? Because America has gotten entangled where it does not belong. Washington has been deeply involved in the Korean Peninsula since the end of World War II. Subsequently, the Cold War gave a zero-sum quality to international relations, with Washington's loss being the Soviet Union's gain. Having invested some 37,000 lives to save South Korea during the Korean War, America's credibility was also at stake. And with the "loss" of China to communism fresh on Americans' minds, nobody was willing to see another Asian nation go red. But that world disappeared long ago. The Korean Peninsula has lost its geopolitical significance, South Korea its helplessness, and America's Korea commitment its purpose. While there is much to criticize in the approach of Donald Trump's administration to the rest of the world, the president correctly sees the need for a foreign policy that more effectively protects America's interests. A good place to start shifting course is the region home to the world's newest and least responsible nuclear power. The Koreas are no longer a proxy battleground between superpowers. There was a time when U.S. withdrawal from a confrontation with a Soviet ally in Asia would have, analysts believed, signaled weakness a continent away in Europe. But the Soviets are long gone and the cause for American commitment with them. An inter-Korean war would be tragic and the body count enormous, but absent American involvement the fighting would largely be confined to the peninsula. The continued presence of U.S. forces, by contrast, virtually guarantees the spread of conflict. South Korea's defense no longer requires Washington's presence. The South's economy began racing past its northern antagonist during the 1960s. Democracy arrived in the late 1980s. By the 1990s, when mass starvation stalked Pyongyang as Seoul's economy boomed, the gap between the two Koreas was already huge and growing. The South's military potential is correspondingly great though as yet unrealized - in part because dependence on the U.S. presence has affected strategic choices. Yet America's military presence has remained sacrosanct. Jimmy Carter's plan to bring home U.S. troops was opposed even by his own appointees. Ronald Reagan pushed a more muscular confrontation with the Soviet Union and other communist states. With the end of the Cold War, his successors expanded alliance commitments, particularly in Europe, but also in Asia. Today, 28,500 troops remain in South Korea, backed up by U.S. forces in Okinawa and other Asian-Pacific bases, and highlighted by periodic decisions to overfly the North with bombers or send aircraft carriers to nearby waters whenever Washington wants to demonstrate "resolve" to Pyongyang. So why is America still there? One argument, advanced by analyst Robert E. McCoy, is moral, "since it was American ignorance that facilitated the division of the Korean Peninsula in the concluding days of World War II." Some Koreans malign America for this division. But this is the wisdom of hindsight; in the chaotic aftermath of global conflict, no U.S. official wanted to push the Soviets over a faraway peninsula. The alternative was pure inaction, which would have resulted in South Koreans joining their northern neighbors in the Kim dynasty's new Dark Age. Perhaps inadvertently, Washington did a very good deed. For that it deserves praise, not criticism and claims that it must forever police the peninsula. More practical is the contention of analysts such as the Heritage Foundation's Bruce Klingner that U.S. backing is "necessary to defend" the South. Yet, in contrast to 1950, there is no reason the South cannot protect itself - if properly motivated to do so by the departure of U.S. conventional forces. With a bigger economy, larger population, and significant technological edge, as well as greater international support, Seoul could construct armed forces capable of deterring and defeating the North. Doing so would be expensive and take serious effort, but so what? The South Korean government's most important duty is to protect its people. Taking on that responsibility also would force Seoul to treat Pyongyang more consistently. The "Sunshine Policy" begun under former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung resulted in the transfer of some $10 billion in cash and assistance to the North, even as the latter was developing missiles and nuclear weapons. That approach was viable only because Washington provided a military backstop (and if the new South Korean president, to be elected in May, revives the Sunshine Policy, as some have suggested, there's no telling if the Trump administration would be so forgiving). The South needs to bear both the costs and benefits of whatever approach it takes. But even if South Korea couldn't defend itself, the argument would still fall short. American soldiers shouldn't be treated as defenders of the earth, deployed here, there and everywhere. The United States should go to war only when its most important interests are at stake. South Korea's prosperity is not one of those vital interests, at least in security terms. A renewed conflict confined to the two Koreas would be horrific, but the consequences for the United States would be primarily humanitarian and economic, not security. The cost would be high but fall primarily on the region. In contrast, direct U.S. involvement in another Korean War would be much more expensive than the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts, which have cost America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Of course, the North's possession of what we assume to be a growing and at some point deliverable nuclear arsenal skews the peninsula's balance of power. However, this doesn't create a need for a conventional American military presence on the peninsula. Washington could still guarantee massive retaliation against any North Korean use of nuclear weapons, providing a deterrent against the North's threats. But it is worth contemplating whether it would be better to allow South Korea to construct its own deterrent. In the late 1970s, South Korean President Park Chung-hee worried about Washington's reliability and began work on a Korean bomb - only to stop under U.S. pressure. Since then, support for reviving such work has periodically surfaced in South Korea. Encouraging such efforts might actually be in the best interests of the United States, even if America has to maintain its nuclear umbrella while the Korean bomb is developed. Yes, encouraging nuclear proliferation is a risky path. But the United States would gain from staying out of Northeast Asia's nuclear quarrels. China, fearful that Japan would join the nuclear parade, might take tougher action against Pyongyang in an attempt to forestall Seoul's efforts. The South could feel confident in its own defense, rather than remaining reliant upon U.S. willingness to act. A potpourri of broader claims is also made for maintaining U.S. forces. America's presence supposedly constrains China, promotes regional stability and deters an arms race. Let's consider those claims in order. What sort of constraint is allegedly being posed to China? If the idea is to coerce it into assuming responsibility for North Korea in the event of its collapse, Beijing has shown no interest in attempting to swallow a Korean population likely to prove indigestible. And if the calculation is rather that Washington can persuade South Korea to pressure China on non-Korean matters, it's easy to predict the unfriendly response Seoul's Blue House would give if invited by the White House to join it in warring against China to, say, save an independent Taiwan, counter Chinese moves in the South China Sea - or, horror of horrors, defend Japan. Indeed, absent U.S. protection, South Korea and Japan might feel greater pressure to finally settle historical disputes so often misused by their nationalist politicians. As for the idea that the U.S. presence deters a regional arms race, building weapons so others don't have to is not the sort of charity America should engage in. Alliances can deter. But, as dramatically demonstrated by World War I, they also can act as transmission belts of war. Moreover, small nations often act irresponsibly - such as underinvesting in defense - when protected by big powers. The U.S. security presence in South Korea is an expensive and dangerous commitment that America can no longer afford. Nor has it ever brought the United States much popularity in the country, where U.S. soldiers are a constant irritant to nationalists. The South is no longer a poor nation in need of protection from the specter of global communism but one more than capable of standing on its own two feet. (c) 2017, Foreign Policy Gov. Kate Brown The author calls on Gov. Kate Brown and other state lawmakers to "step up and take on the role of a statesman in the molds of Tom McCall, Mark Hatfield, Wayne Morse," leaders who had to make some unpopular choices. (Stephanie Yao Long) Doug Olson As the Oregon Legislature nears the halfway mark, there are few signs of progress in solving the state's current budget dilemma. More and more talk, but nothing much to debate, both in Salem and around the state. And that's what is most troubling to those of us who follow the turmoil in Salem. The Joint Ways and Means Committee earned high marks for its early listening tour of seven Oregon cities. However, if all were like the one in Tillamook, it was mostly folks speaking up to protect their pet programs. Little or no conversation was heard about the other side of the budget. And that's the fundamental issue for many of us. Every budget has two equal parts. Revenue and expenditures. In Oregon, the two parts must balance every biennium. Oregon is currently about $1.6 billion short, even with about $1.3 billion additional funds over the current two-year cycle. The issues are clear. PERS, health care expansion, voter-approved programs, rising costs, a pressing need for a transportation solution and much more. But it's a spending priority problem every bit as much as a revenue problem. It's past time for Gov. Kate Brown and some legislative leaders to step up and take on the role of a statesman in the molds of Tom McCall, Mark Hatfield, Wayne Morse, Edith Green, Bob Straub, and many others over Oregon's nearly 160-year history, all of whom made some unpopular choices. It's time to tell the unions that they will have to wait. Time to tell the environmental community "Not this year." Time to tell state employees and contractors that we'll try to hold the line, but no guarantees. Our legislators need to remember that upon taking the oath of office, they immediately represent all Oregonians, not just those who supported their election effort. That includes those who can't name a single legislator and who have no interest in politics. They need to look across the broad horizon of Oregon and see the entire state. They need to do the right thing at their considerable political peril, understanding they may get taken out in the next primary election. But that's the difference between a statesman and just another elected official. Our elected officials need to work both sides of the budget with equal vigor. When serious attempts are made to reduce spending by $700 million or more, an equal amount in new revenue may not be such a bitter pill. Of course, if businesses are asked to pay their fair share, it follows that someone in Salem will need to screw up his courage and say just what a fair share is. Share your opinion Submit your essay of 500 words or less to commentary@oregonlive.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification. Most Oregonians purchase an automobile every few years. Some can afford a new luxury model, others settle for a five-year-old Chevy. And so it must be with our governor and legislature. We are not Massachusetts or Connecticut. Oregon is not a Cadillac or Tesla state. We're a Ford, Chevy and Subaru state. We simply cannot be all things to all people. The good folks in Salem need to remember that the farm worker in Tillamook has equal standing to the professor at OHSU. Doug Olson is retired business owner and chair of the Tillamook County budget committee. He lives in Pacific City. 1legislature.JPG The Oregon House chambers are shown here in this 2013 file photo. (Thomas Boyd/Staff) It might seem odd to say that Oregon, which is expecting more tax money from Oregonians than ever before, has a revenue problem. Certainly, the booming economy, record low unemployment and strong forecasts suggest that generating money for Oregon's coffers is not a problem. Even the state's projected $1.6 billion deficit for the 2017-2019 budget can't be blamed on disappointing revenue. Rather, that mindboggling gap stems from the state's chronic spending problem. Not only have lawmakers expanded programs without a plan to fund them, but they have failed to tame health and pension benefits that are thoroughly baked into state contracts and threaten to claim a larger and larger share of taxpayer dollars for years to come. Such structural spending problems remain the primary threat facing Oregon. But the state does indeed have a revenue problem that needs attention as well. Our tax policies park too much of the burden on individuals while letting businesses pay less than they should thanks to property tax limits enacted decades ago. The state's reliance on personal-income taxes for more than 80 percent of the state's general fund translates into wild swings in revenue, robbing public services of the stability needed for real momentum and progress. And fixing Oregon's structural spending problems alone won't set the state up for success - particularly in the event of an economic downturn that's bound to hit. Editorial Agenda 2017 Boost student success Get Oregon's financial house in order Help our homeless Honor our diverse values Make Portland a city that works Expand access to public records ________________________ . In fact, even the business community knows it needs to pony up more money, something Oregon Business Plan Chairman Patrick Criteser acknowledged at the December 2016 summit of political, business and community leaders. And business representatives last year explicitly promised to help craft tax legislation if voters would reject Measure 97, a union-backed measure that threatened to levy a supersized tax on Oregon's largest corporations. "The day after the election," Portland Business Alliance Sandra McDonough said, as quoted in The Portland Tribune, "we will be at the table." Apparently, we all should have clarified which table they would be at. They're not at the one headed by Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, who is developing the most promising corporate tax revenue proposal in the state Legislature. While some prominent companies including Nike, Intel and Columbia Sportswear are engaging with Hass on tax proposals, McDonough and Oregon Business Council President Duncan Wyse are giving short shrift to the effort. At a recent meeting with The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board, McDonough and Wyse instead insisted that the Legislature must reform its structural spending problems first before talking with them about new taxes. They have a point in one respect: More money alone fixes nothing. Even with the record amount of money pouring into the state, school districts are planning teacher layoffs, universities are announcing 9 and 10 percent tuition hikes and other programs are steeling for severe cuts later this year. It cannot be more obvious it is simply unsustainable for public employers to continue devoting millions of dollars to generous benefits as opposed to actual services for Oregonians. Oregonian editorials Editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom. Members of the editorial board are Laura Gunderson, Helen Jung, Mark Katches, John Maher and Len Reed. To respond to this editorial: Post your comment below, submit , or . If you have questions about the opinion section, contact Laura Gunderson, editorial and commentary editor, at 503-221-8378 or lgunderson@oregonian.com. But the critical need to fix those defects does not excuse the no-show by some business leaders on revenue reform, which must take place on a parallel track. Hass' proposal would more fairly tax businesses, add some stability to help smooth out Oregon's revenue ups and downs and provide modest relief to individuals on the income tax rates they pay. Instead, McDonough and Wyse brushed aside Hass' proposal because it taps the same underlying mechanism as Measure 97 of basing a tax bill on overall sales. A separate, secretive business group, Priority Oregon, is taking it one step further, with a misleading ad campaign that paints Hass' proposal as a Measure 97 retread and aims to derail its chances. Oregonians shouldn't fall for such reductive reasoning. The merit of any tax proposal should be evaluated not just on the mechanism but by such measures as whom it targets, the rates levied, the fairness of the tax, and whether policymakers can mitigate unintended consequences. Hass' proposal takes into consideration all of those whereas Measure 97 fell short across the board. If anything, Hass' proposal shows exactly why tax policy should be crafted at the legislative level - where policymakers can address such concerns and fine tune adjustments in the tax architecture - rather than pushed through at the ballot box by an initiative as nuanced as a bumper sticker. Citizenship carries certain responsibilities. It means that we all share the burden of dealing with the reality that we live in. Our reality is that we face an urgent deadline to address monumentally challenging issues this legislative session or face dismal cuts that hurt students, seniors, low-income families and the public at large. This will take immense political courage and leadership from Oregon's elected officials. It will take cooperation from unions and businesses. And it will take sustained public pressure to get legislators to do the hard work of fixing both spending and revenue. But if anything, the threat of a $1.6 billion deficit clarifies just what's at stake: Sit back and let budget disaster unfold or seize this opportunity to change government as usual and set this state on a trajectory out of perpetual dysfunction. - The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board 1estes.JPG In this April 1, 2017 file photo, Republican GOP congressional candidate in the 4th district Ron Estes votes with his wife Susan Estes at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kan. Republicans escaped a special House election in Kansas with a single-digit victory in a district where they have romped in the past, an early warning sign for the GOP at the start of Donald Trump's presidency. (Jaime Green/The Wichita Eagle via AP) By Jennifer Rubin WASHINGTON - The close special election in the Kansas 4th congressional district, which should have been a slam dunk for Republicans, and wariness about next week's special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district reflect Republicans' lack of enthusiasm after less than three months of the Trump presidency. Anecdotal evidence indicates nerves are frayed and the mood glum. "Republicans have grown fearful that these voters are recoiling from what they see as lamentable conditions in Washington: a government entirely in Republican hands that has failed to deliver on fundamental goals like overhauling the health care system, The New York Times recently reported. "Early missteps by President Trump and congressional leaders have weighed heavily on voters from the party's more affluent wing, anchored in right-of-center suburbs around major cities in the South and Midwest. Never beloved in these precincts, Mr. Trump appears to be struggling to maintain support from certain voters who backed him last year mainly as a way of defeating Hillary Clinton." A combination of frustration over lack of legislative accomplishments, dismay at the three-ring personnel circus at the White House, disquieting evidence of synchronization if not outright collaboration with Russian election meddling, Trump's obnoxious and angry demeanor and the absence of a Democratic bogeywoman to whom to compare Trump make it hard for Republicans, even in the aftermath of Justice Neil Gorsuch's confirmation, to bask in the glory of one-party government. Party operatives and leaders must cringe when they hear the Senate majority leader acknowledge that Trump is trying to learn on the job. "I think President Trump is learning the job and some of the things that were said during the campaign I think he now knows that's simply not the way things ought to be," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. When exactly will he be up to speed? Even traditionally popular GOP policies don't seem to excite the party faithful. A PRRI poll shows, "More than seven in ten Americans favor (31 percent) or strongly favor (41 percent) increasing the tax rate on those earning more than $250,000 a year, while less than three in ten oppose (19 percent) or strongly oppose (8 percent) the measure. A move to raise taxes on the rich sees bipartisan support, even among Republicans. Majorities of Democrats (83 percent), independents (73 percent), and Republicans (58 percent) express support." That may mean a decided lack of GOP enthusiasm for a supply-side kind of tax plan that delivers disproportionate cuts to the rich. In addition Republicans have shown little inclination to defend Trump's financial secrecy. The Hill reports, "Sixty-four percent of Republicans think that President Trump should publicly release his tax returns, according to a survey conducted by Global Strategy Group." Trump doesn't help himself by running up gigantic travel expenses trooping back and forth to Mar-A-Lago and refusing to eliminate conflicts of interest, including apparent violations of the emoluments clause. Trump's dash toward the political mainstream, including Wednesday's relatively "normal" press conference with the NATO secretary general, may indicate some recognition that Trump's whirlwind has exhausted rather cheered dependable Republicans. The chattering class remains obsessed with Trump's hold on white, working-class voters, but without the GOP regulars, who donate, walk precincts and vote in off-year elections, the Republican Party is in deep trouble. We've seen how one Republican after another has faced an angry horde of voters at town halls. Without turnout and enthusiasm to match those antagonists, middle-of-the-road Republicans in upscale and middle-class suburbs could be swept from office. Should the voters who in past years cast votes for Bush 43, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Mitt Romney -- and then took a leap of faith on Trump -- decide they've made a terrible miscalculation, Democrats will have a decent shot at taking back at least the House. Rubin is a Washington Post columnist. 1bannon.JPG White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon listens at right as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on cyber security in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) By Rich Lowry Can someone reacquaint President Donald Trump with Steve Bannon, his ideologist whom the president now professes barely to know? Trump's jaw-dropping public distancing from Bannon is the latest twist in a struggle that is astonishing even by the standards of a White House that deserves its own Chris Buckley novel. For Bannon, the internal fight with the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner is going about as well as could be expected, which is to say it couldn't be going much worse. No one can know for sure how this ends. Perhaps it's all papered over, or maybe Bannon keeps his head down to fight another day. But it's hard to see how Kushner doesn't prevail in one form or other, together with the faction including his wife, Ivanka Trump; the influential economic adviser and former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn; and deputy national security adviser Dina Powell. Who says bipartisanship is dead? With the exception of Dina Powell -- a nonideological Republican -- this group is all Democrats who have marinated for decades in the financial and social elite of Manhattan. Their ascendancy would potentially represent Trumpism's Thermidor. If Jared and Ivanka end up running the joint, it'd be hard to overstate the turnabout from last year's campaign. A candidacy whose supporters reviled so-called RINOs may produce a White House run by people who aren't even RINOs. A populist revolt that disdained people who allegedly spend too much time at Georgetown cocktail parties may result in a White House run by people who have spent too much time at New York cocktail parties. The biggest middle finger the mainstream media has received in modern American politics may empower people who care deeply about what's written about them in The New Yorker and Vogue. For his part, Gary Cohn could have been the totem of everything Donald Trump was running against in 2016. To put it in Jacksonian terms, it would be like Andrew Jackson inveighing against the Second Bank of the United States and then handing his domestic-policy portfolio over to its president, Nicholas Biddle. How did we get here? Bannon is saddled with the failed first travel ban, and (fairly or not) the rocky first several months that have seen Trump's numbers sink while the Republican Congress spins its wheels. Bannon hasn't sought out self-glorifying media when presumably gobs of it were on offer, yet he has been hurt by the narrative, driven by the press and used against him by internal enemies, that he is Trump's Svengali. None of this is endearing to President Trump. He doesn't like attention-hounds besides himself, and wants victories and popularity. As for Jared and Ivanka, they must worry that the family patriarch is being ill-served in ways that may hobble his presidency and damage their brand. So a shake-up looms. If Bannon goes, it could be a sign that everything is up for grabs. President Trump could begin to react to political pressures from the world of Jared and Ivanka that so far haven't affected him. Trump's views on immigration, climate change, abortion and policing are socially embarrassing, sometimes even in Republican elite circles, let alone in liberal ones. All of them would potentially be subject to softening or reversal in a White House that cares too much about "polite opinion." The weakness of Trumpism in Washington is that it doesn't have a congressional wing and it represents only a faction within the White House, and apparently not even the dominant one. Perhaps Trump's genuine, if inchoate, populism and Vice President Mike Pence's conservatism would be enough for the administration's basic orientation to survive any constellation of White House aides. Certainly, there are all sorts of ways to try to moderate Trump's image while still staying true to a tempered version of his populism. But a sensible recalibration would seem out of character, and it's not the next chapter Buckley would write. Rich Lowry can be reached via e-mail: comments.lowry@nationalreview.com (c) 2017 by King Features Syndicate From Great Britain to Little England? . ZURICH British Prime Minister Theresa May blinked more than once as she prepared to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon and initiate Britains exit from the European Union. According to May, Brexit will transform the United Kingdom into what she calls Global Britain. But what lies ahead is really anyones guess. The UK has long been shorn of its empire; now it will be shorn of Europe, too. Singapore, Switzerland, and Norway are often mentioned as models for the UK to follow as it pursues its own trade policies outside of the EU. This is ironic (or perhaps fitting), given that all three are small countries that do not share Great Britains sense of self-importance in world affairs. The experience of small states is instructive for the UK. From the view of New Zealand or Singapore, it is fanciful to think that concluding new free-trade agreements with large emerging markets such as China and India will come easily for the UK. The gestation period for FTAs is long even under favorable conditions; and today a protectionist cloud hangs over the United States and potentially other countries. Signing a new FTA with the America First Trump administration will not be the cakewalk that UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and others have promised. It is telling that the same small economies that know the most about global engagement are consistently pessimistic about Brexit. Economic policymakers from the Nordics and the Netherlands to New Zealand and Singapore understand that regional integration matters, and that Brexit will have large negative effects. In the coming months, the worlds small, open economies will function as canaries in the coal mine for the global trade system. Small countries on the periphery of the EU, such as Norway and Switzerland, have learned that benefiting from EU integration requires limiting the scope for independent domestic policymaking. Given these countries experience, the Brexiteers should rein in their expectations for how much control they can realistically take back. Mays government has made various announcements indicating the types of post-Brexit policy changes it will pursue. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, for example, has talked about a low-tax, light-regulation model. But this models success in city-state settings such as Singapore, Hong Kong, or Dubai is no guarantee that it will work for a G20 economy. Meanwhile, May has suggested that the UK will, once again, embrace industrial policy, though it remains unclear what she means by this. The UK has always had a high degree of autonomy to shape its own economic strategy, but Brexit will probably force policymakers to craft a comprehensive agenda that makes the countrys priorities explicit. As they do, they should learn from successful small economies. For starters, small countries invest heavily in knowledge and human capital at all levels, from compulsory, vocational, and university education to lifelong-learning programs. These investments enable more people to take advantage of the opportunities that globalization provides, while also increasing productivity and wages. Second, small countries have growth policies specifically geared toward boosting their competitive strength in the global economy. These measures can take a variety of forms, from investment in high-quality infrastructure and human capital, to sectoral policies that assist certain industries. But all are meant to ensure the countrys position near the productivity frontier, and within key international economic clusters. Third, because small countries are highly exposed to external shocks, they have a range of measures in place to manage economic risks and ensure resilience. These include well-developed social insurance, flexible labor markets, active labor-market policies, and the fiscal space to pursue countercyclical stimulus policies (small economies tend to be fiscally conservative, partly for this reason). The upcoming Brexit negotiations will pose a generational challenge for the UK. But, beyond handling those talks well, the UK also needs to develop policies that will enable it to navigate an ever more challenging international environment. This will require it to do things very differently than it has in past decades. In fact, the UKs survival could depend on it. Brexit, and UK policymakers failure to develop a coherent, robust economic strategy has breathed new life into the Scottish independence movement. Many are confident that the small-economy model would work well for an independent Scotland. To be sure, Scotland has significant economic exposures that it needs to address, and it might need the security of a larger economic unit. But it is not obvious that the UK provides such security, especially now that it is on a path to leave the EUs single market and customs union. Independence would allow Scotland to develop policies that are more in line with other successful small economies not least by retaining EU membership. As Scotland confronts the strategic challenges of Brexit, it will also have an opportunity to develop policies that are better suited to it. Britain chose to leave the EU because it had an outsized opinion of itself. But it will soon have to follow a small-country model, like that of Switzerland or Norway. Forty years after leaving New Zealand in the lurch to join the European Economic Community, the UK might soon have less access to the European market than New Zealand does. Its journey from Great Britain to Little England may well be complete. 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. We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today BLOOMINGTON The local Coldwell Banker franchise has been sold, but little is expected to change for the 54-year-old Bloomington-Normal real estate operation. It's the same agents, the same management, the same staff and the same location, said Larry Hundman, president of the renamed Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group, formerly Coldwell Banker Heart of America Realtors Ltd. Joilet-based Honig Realty Inc. purchased CBHOA. The transition, completed in January, was announced this week. After more than 50 years of company heritage in the Bloomington-Normal area, the time was right to ensure office continuity for future generations, said Hundman in a statement. I have had a long-term professional relationship and friendship with Ed Prodehl, who began Honig Realty in the 1970s. There has been a desire to add our area to their company. They have a presence in all Central Illinois communities and Bloomington-Normal was the hole in their doughnut. Honig Realty owns and operates more than 50 Coldwell Banker offices in Illinois and Wisconsin under the Coldwell Banker Honig-Bell and Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group names. All offices will now use Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group and a new internet domain, www.coldwellhomes.com. The commercial division of the former CBHOA will have its own domain, www.cbcregroup.com. Hundman, who founded the local company in 1963, and Brent Wilder will continue to head the local office as managing brokers. That was the only reason I sold because I was able to negotiate a contract with Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group for both myself and Brent Wilder to continue to manage the operation, said Hundman. I've got a lot of loyal, longtime brokers and employees, and I just didn't want to turn it over to somebody who wouldn't know anything about them. So I have a contract as long as I want to stay here and manage, he said. The Bloomington-Normal franchise has 85 brokers and employs five employees, said Hundman. In April 2016, the firm moved to 304 N. Hershey Road, which was a former State Farm claims center. Its state-of-the-art remodeling won rave reviews from our agents and their clients, he added. The building has been purchased by Prodehl Family Partnership. Since our office has been successful for so long, there will be a seamless transition and they have committed to and have a need for our continued management, said Hundman. The sale provides additional benefits for clients from both a referral standpoint and having the power of being part of a large organization, said Hundman. Being part of their company makes available unrivaled additional tools and exposure which our agents will be able to provide to their clients, he said. There will be tremendous economies of scale from being associated with the No. 1 Coldwell Banker franchise affiliate in the United States." "We've been the No. 1 real estate company in Bloomington-Normal probably for 47 of the 53 years," said Hundman, who attributes that success to the "very good quality of agents and I think the continuity of myself being here for that number of years NORMAL Responding to a rise in Central Illinois children with cognitive and learning disorders, The Baby Fold wants to expand Hammitt School by spending nearly $3 million to reconfigure space at 612 Oglesby Ave. Hammitt School serves special education children with intensive needs that cannot be handled in traditional special education programs in public schools, said Aimee Beam, Baby Fold vice president of development and public relations. "There has been a real increase," including students on the autism spectrum, Beam said Friday. "We're bursting at the seams," she said. "But we don't want these kids to be on waiting lists." The Baby Fold wants to increase its number of Hammitt School classrooms from 21 to 26 and its number of students from 150 to between 180 and 190, she said. Students come to Hammitt School from a service area with a 60-mile radius. "We will add to staff but we're not sure of the number yet," she said. The Baby Fold plans to accomplish the school expansion by reconfiguring and remodeling office space into classrooms at its 612 Oglesby Ave. building, Beam said. Offices there will be relocated to 318 Susan Drive and to a portion of 614 Oglesby where The Baby Fold has its Residential Treatment Program. That program was reduced in size in 2015. Hammitt Elementary School will remain at 108 E. Willow St., Normal, Beam said. The Oglesby building will be for Hammitt Junior-Senior High School students. Hammitt Junior-Senior High now is at 1500 Fort Jesse Road, Normal, and plans are to move from that leased location to the expanded space on Oglesby, she said. Reconfiguring the Oglesby building into classroom space will be relatively easy because the building, many years ago, was the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School, Beam said. Renovation will cost nearly $3 million. "We will use donor dollars to complete this project," Beam said. The Normal City Council must approve an amended development plan for the property to accommodate the building's conversion to a school. The council is expected to take up the matter Monday night, and the town's staff has recommended approval. "We hope to begin remodeling in June and occupy the new space by August 2018 for the start of the 2018-2019 school year," she said. Each Hammitt School classroom has at least two teachers and a typical class size is eight students, Beam said. "Each student gets individualized, focused attention," she said. "We understand the problem," Beam said, referred to the increased need. "We're working hard to partner with the school districts so these children can be their best selves. When that happens, it benefits their families and communities." The Baby Fold is a Normal-based human services agency with several programs for vulnerable children and families. NORMAL A top Chicago newspaper editor who got his start on Illinois State University's campus paper will be part of a panel on Monday celebrating COM Week. Jim Kirk has been at the Chicago Sun-Times since 1995 and has been its editor-in-chief since 2015. Kirk, former editor-in-chief of The Vidette, ISU's student newspaper, will share his more than 30 years of journalism experience in a panel discussion at 10 a.m. Monday in Room 162 of Fell Hall. Joining Kirk on the panel will be Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth photojournalist Shauna Jackson, Chicago Athlete magazine editor-in-chief Holly Petrovitch, Pantagraph education reporter Julia Evelsizer and Erin Fleming, Media Tracks Communications director of operations. All except Fleming began their journalism careers working for campus media as students in what is now the ISU School of Communication. The panel discussion is free and open to the public. We are fortunate to have a group of outstanding journalists with us for this event, both seasoned veterans and those who more recently took on the challenge, said John Huxford, associate professor, journalism program coordinator and panel moderator. Whether you are aiming for a career in the news industry or simply a news consumer who wants to know how to separate truth from fiction, this is one panel you should plan to attend, he said. The theme for this year's COM Week is Reach New Heights. Other panels during the week will cover topics such as intercultural communication, event planning, women in the workplace and effective speech writing. BLOOMINGTON Public meetings are the forum for conducting taxpayers' business and when questions arise, the county prosecutors office is sometimes asked to settle disputes related to government transparency. With almost 200 public bodies in McLean County required to follow the Illinois Open Meetings Act and 1,000 officials serving on those boards, commissions and councils, the task of making certain meetings are conducted properly generates work for a legion of lawyers. The civil division of the McLean County States Attorneys office fields questions ranging from the sufficiency of agendas posted by small townships to the legality of closed sessions by the Bloomington City Council. Our involvement is sometimes driven by complaints. What were looking at is that level of intent, what is the harm that may have been done to the public by alleged violations of the state law, said States Attorney Jason Chambers. Open meetings issues also may come up as part of routine reviews by Chambers' office of agreements between the county and private organizations who receive public dollars for their work. In a recent case, his office ruled that the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is a public body under the Open Meetings Act. In a March 31 letter, First Assistant States Attorney for the Civil Division, Don Knapp, told the organization that it is subject to state open meetings rules. As part of its 2002 agreement with the county board, and the Bloomington and Normal city councils, the CVB agreed to adhere to the Open Meetings Act. Knapp points out that since 2014, the CVB has received more than 80 percent of its funding from public sources, including state grants and local government funding. In fiscal 2014-15, the CVB received $230,000 from Normal, $500,000 from Bloomington and $330,000 from the state. The 2015-16 CVB budget included $218,000 from Normal, $475,000 from the city and $320,300 from the state, according to Knapps analysis. The heavy public financing coupled with the fact that six of the bureaus nine board members are elected officials, makes the agency subject to rules that include publicly posting of an agenda 48 hours before a meeting and limiting closed sessions to legal exemptions, said Knapp. Visitors Bureau Director Crystal Howard did not return a call for comment on the ruling. The bureau posts its bi-monthly meeting schedule on its website, but not an agenda something that will change if the agency is deemed to be covered under the Open Meetings Act. The CVB has a right to challenge the state's opinion with Madigan's office. When a citizen has an open meetings question, Knapp often consults with the attorney who represents the public body. With more than 60 municipal clients, Mackinaw attorney Mark McGrath, is likely to receive such a call. McGrath said being careful that the agenda addresses the issue on which they wish to take action is one of areas he covers with public bodies. Most small units of government have a good understanding of the law, said McGrath, adding that all regulations increase costs and put burdens on small government bodies. There is boundary that exists for prosecutors, said Chambers, between responding to complaints and investigating violations of the Open Meetings Act that carry a penalty of up to 30 days in jail as a Class C misdemeanor. A review of documents by Chambers in an Open Meetings dispute can be akin to asking a suspect to turn over incriminating records that later lead to charges by the state's attorney. When a potential conflict of interest is identified, Chambers asks Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office to review the alleged violations. In May 2016, Chambers asked Madigan's Public Integrity Unit to examine whether three members of the McLean County Board of Health secretly conducted public business by meeting repeatedly with former health department Administrator Walt Howe. According to more than 4,000 pages of e-mails, former health board president Becky Powell and current members Cory Tello and Jane Turley consulted with Howe on a wide range of public issues in undisclosed meetings and in online discussions. Attorney General spokesperson Annie Thompson said this week that review is still pending. In March, Chambers asked Madigan's office to look into the legality of several closed sessions by the Bloomington City Council where discussions were held on the cancellation of the Metro Zone agreement with Normal. The revenue-sharing deal was terminated in late February after the council held three closed meeting on Nov. 14, 2016 and Feb. 13 and Feb. 20, 2017 for "pending litigation." The question for the attorney general is whether the closes meetings were legal given the absence of pending or imminent litigation against the city related to the Metro Zone. Mayor Tari Renner has defended the meetings, saying Normal Mayor Chris Koos threatened a lawsuit in 2014 if the city cancelled the agreement, a claim Koos has denied. That review is also pending. A married couple trying to conceive via IVF learned a horrific truth after a routine DNA testing at a fertility clinic. They were told they were actually fraternal twins and further prodding revealed they were separated in foster care. The unnamed couple from Jackson, Mississippi went to a fertility clinic to address their problems of trying to get pregnant. The facility looked into their genetic backgrounds as SOP and their DNA result dumbfounded the lab technicians. The fertility doctor initially thought the couple could be first cousins. "Looking closer at the samples, I noticed there were way too many similarities," he said, as per Mississippi Herald. "With this in mind, I was convinced that both patients were fraternal twins." The couple first laughed when the doctor told them they're fraternal twins. They said people told them plenty of times of how similar they were. After the reality sunk in, however, the truth was no longer a laughing matter. Mississippi law prohibits marriage between siblings, whether biological or adopted. It's under the 2013 Mississippi Code 97-29-27 as a crime against public morals. Violators can be sent to prison for 10 years with a $500 fine. The couple's case, however, was distinct as it appeared they had no knowledge they had a twin. The husband and wife met in college and bonded over their similar experiences. Their parents died in a car crash when they were infants and they were taken into foster care. Unfortunately, a filing error omitted the fact they were twins and their adoptive families were presumed unaware of this as well. The foster care system received some 427,910 children as of 2015, as per the Child Welfare. Over the years, this system constantly underwent through problems as facilities were undermanned and the stack of papers remained unfiled or improperly recorded. The fertility doctor said the couple is mulling over their relationship's future. "I really hope they can work something out," he said. "This is the first time in my career that I've been glad I haven't succeeded [helping couples conceive a child]." Here's another reason for parents to limit their children's screen time. A new study says younger children lose over 30 minutes of sleep because of their constant use of iPads or other touchscreen gadgets. Experts from the University of London conducted the study among 715 children from ages six months to 3-years-old. Seventy percent of these kids' parents said they owned either an iPad, mobile phone or tablet. The researchers compared results between kids who constantly played with touchscreen gadgets during the day and those who had limited screen time. The experts published their study in Scientific Reports. Some 75 percent of families with touchscreen gadgets admitted their children use these daily. About 92 percent of kids between 25 to 30 months (toddlers) were on the devices regularly, while it's 51 percent for kids from six to 11 months (babies). The researchers also asked the parents about their children's sleep habits during the day and at night. They also considered maternal education and TV exposure in breaking down the findings. The experts learned children with more screen time had shorter sleep at night. Averagely, the children lost 26 minutes of sleep during nighttime and 11 minutes of sleep in the daytime for every extra hour they spent on the gadgets, according to Live Science. Some parents said their kids catch up on naps during the day. Their average sleep time, however, can't make up for the required standard of sleep for kids. Screen time exposure also influenced how long it took for the children to fall asleep. The experts, however, were unable to determine if too much touchscreen use affected why some kids' sleep are interrupted at night. The study emphasized on how improper use of gadgets among kids could displace their sleep schedule. The study compounds a similar research undertaken in 2012 on how blue light from smartphones and tablets affected adults' sleep, as per Harvard Health Publication. The experts, however, don't advise denying younger children of gadget use completely as it can have positive effects like developing their fine motor skills. The experts said further research should determine how to mitigate the effects of prolonged touchscreen use and sleeping habits. They say you can never know real strength until you encounter a mom, more so a mother who takes care of her critically-ill child. One Canadian commercial tear-jerkingly depicted the struggle of these mothers and how they were able to pick up themselves in no time in front of their ailing kids. Medical institution based in Ontario, SickKids Foundation, created the heart-wrenching commercial in lieu of Mother's Day. Per Adweek, the clip featured five real moms of Sick Kids patients, delving into emotional pains by their lonesome. "Some of the strongest women you'll meet are SickKids moms," the description in SickKids' campaign website said. "They don't give in, and they don't give up. No matter the battle, they put on their game face to stay strong for their kids. #SickKidsMomStrong." The report further said that while the clip's message is mom's strength, it depicted true humanity. These mothers were penetrable of weakness and fragile at times but at the end of the day, invulnerable and heroic all for the sake of their kids who need a pillar of strength. Thank you @BTToronto for featuring #SickKidsMomStrong moms this morning! Missed the interview? Watch it here: https://t.co/n5G0mMsW5a SickKids Foundation (@sickkids) April 14, 2017 SickKids debuted their "SickKids VS" campaign last fall and their prior material focused on SickKids patients as the ultimate warriors. Canadian ad agency, Cossette, was the brain behind the exemplary campaign, Creativity Online noted. Since 1972, SickKids Foundation helped young patients to overcome their diseases. The foundation said on its official website that they would not stop until every child is healthy. In fact, the foundation is deeply involved in pressing global health issues. Aside from working to maintain health among Canadian children, SickKids Foundation also supports the United Nations' Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health. What a beautiful irony it is to think that at the end of it all, moms get the strength they need from no other than their ailing children themselves. For more news and updates, check out Parent Herald. One of the most beautiful landmarks in the United States, the Golden Gate Bridge, is said to be a "suicide magnet." That's why government officials have installed a safety net on the sides of the bridge to prevent possible deaths caused by suicide. The Golden Gate Bridge, which is known as an iconic landmark, is often used as an outlet for people that are bound to commit suicide. It's been one of the main destinations for suicide attempts since it was constructed. In 2016, around 40 people died after jumping off the bridge, while another 200 were talked out of committing suicide while standing on the bridge. The increasing number of suicide attempts caused an alarm among officials, thus they came up with a way to cut down the risks. California officials agreed to put up a "suicide deterrent net" that will spread on both sides of the bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge is a source of immense pride to San Francisco. But for too many families in our community, it has also been a place of pain, Pelosi, who represents the San Francisco area in Congress, told TIME in a statement on Wednesday. "The barrier is a suicide deterrent system that will save countless lives" and "an achievement years in the making." The entire project, which costs around $200 million, is expected to be accomplished by 2021. Though its initial price was only $76 million, the numbers continually increased since the implantation was approved. The experimental nature of the project is one of the causes as to why the numbers soared. The stainless steel mesh net will be placed just 20 feet outside of its edges. It remained unclear as to why the Golden Gate Bridge attracts thousands to jump off its edges. A study published in NCBI came up with a theory where it was mentioned that the beauty of the bridge provided an easy outlet for them to jump off. 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 Geneva: Next week the inaugural Women in Focus Awards will take place in Geneva, Switzerland. The Awards celebrate the crucial role women play in the ongoing fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases and a health worker from Bihar State has made the final. Sunita Devi, 53, has been named as a finalist in the INSPIRATIONAL AWARD category and is invited to the prestigious awards ceremony to find out if she has won. http://unitingtocombatntds.org/inspirational-award-2017 Sunita will be joining women from 11 countries across the globe on April 19 to applaud the tireless and vital role played by women on the front line tackling NTDs in their communities. Sunita is dedicated to the improving health services in India offering better immunization programs, polio eradication and morbidity management. She sees health awareness among school children as vital and actively participates in several school programs herself. Sunita is outspoken in favor of human rights, women's rights, and the reintegration of people affected by leprosy into their communities. As 2017 marks the 5th anniversary of the World Health Organizations roadmap on NTDs and the London Declaration, the awards celebrate this milestone by shining a light on these inspirational women helping to control, eliminate and eradicate 10 neglected tropical diseases. Dr. Wendy Harrison, Chair of the Neglected Tropical Diseases NGDO Network (NNN), says: The Women in Focus Awards shine a light on women from all over the world who are working in their local communities, making a remarkable impact on tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases. One in seven people on the planet suffer from these diseases. Thats more than the entire population of Europe. Every day women all around the world are making crucial contributions to help defeat them and this is our chance to celebrate and acknowledge their vital role. We were blown away by the standard of entries and delighted to be honoring this truly remarkable woman from Bihar State. Sunita comments: I have strived to the utmost to achieve not only efficiency but also excellence in all the middle-level assignments that I have undertaken, but now my aim is to integrate people affected by lymphatic filariasis and leprosy back into main stream life and communities. The Women in Focus Awards form part of the NTD summit taking place in Geneva 19-22 April 2017. The overall winner will be announced at a prestigious ceremony on April 19. Patna: Police in Patna on Friday raided R D Inn, a hotel in Patna located within Suraj Mansion in Gosai Tola under Pataliputra police station, and busted a flesh trade racket with the arrest of ten couples found in compromising positions and six hotel staff following a tip-off by an anonymous source. Most of the arrested men are students in Patna, police said adding the girls were brought to Patna from West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Nepal on the false promises of giving them jobs in the state capital. The owner of the hotel, also the kingpin of the sex racket, Pramod Kumar, however, managed to give the cops the slip. Search is on to nab him, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said adding large number of drugs and condoms were recovered from the hotel rooms. Talking to the reporters, the SSP said that after being tipped-off, the police formed a team led by DSP Law and Order Shibli Nomani to carry out a raid in the hotel. As planned, a plain-clothed policeman pretending to be a client walked into the hotel and as soon as a deal was reached, officials jumped into action and made the arrests. Patna: Continuing to hammer the Lalu clan for acquiring properties and other assets more than its known sources of income, a charge Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has faced in the past, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi made new accusations against the former first family of Bihar saying Yadav's two sons now in Nitish cabinet had amassed properties way more than they could ever afford with their known sources of income. Besides leveling new charges, the former Deputy Chief Minister also accused Tej Pratap Yadav, the RJD chief's elder son and Bihar Health/Forest and Environment Minister, of concealing his assets in Aurangabad in his nomination papers before the Election Commission during the last Assembly polls. Armed with papers to prove his charges, the BJP leader said that Tej Pratap, who never finished his college dropping out in his intermediate years, had purchased nearly 15 katthas of land in Aurangabad in 2010 where he built a three-storied building after taking out a loan of Rs. 2.29 crore from the Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank. This property was used to open an auto showroom under the name of Lara Distributors with Tej Pratap Yadav being its Managing Director between 2010 and 2015, Modi said adding the Health Minister needed to explain how did he manage to come up with Rs. 53.34 lakh at the age of 20. Demanding removal of Tej Pratap from the Nitish cabinet, Modi said that he would knock the door of the Election Commission to bring these irregularities in the RJD leader's election papers to light. The former Deputy Chief Minister had earlier leveled charges against the Lalu family of running 25 fake companies to launder money and properties acquired through illegal means. Not surprising, the Lalu clan has denied all the charges saying Modi had become mentally unstable and was throwing charges that had no basis in reality. Social Media Emerges as Major Battlefront in Iran's May 2017 Elections 04/14/17 Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran A month before Iranians head to the polls for the presidential and council elections, a heated exchange between the judiciary and the Intelligence Ministry has highlighted the growing tension over social media between different political factions in the Islamic Republic. cartoon by Ehsan Ganji Several administrators of 12 reformist channels on the popular Telegram application who were arrested in March 2017 have found themselves at the center of the exchange. With an estimated 20 million users in Iran, Telegram is the country's leading social media app, according to a survey published by the Iranian Students Polling Agency in December 2015. Weeks passed with no one taking responsibility for the arrests of the admins, which were either carried out by the Intelligence Ministry, operating under President Hassan Rouhani, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which answers only to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. However, a veiled accusation by the spokesman of the judiciary, which often sides with the IRGC in politically motivated cases, increases the chances that the admins were arrested by the IRGC. His comment also highlights hardliners' growing obsession with controlling social media. "Regarding this particular case, there are matters that relate to the intelligence minister himself (Mahmoud Alavi) and therefore he cannot comment on this case or prepare a report about it," said the judiciary's spokesman, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, on April 12. Hours later, the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) published Alavi's reply. "I don't know of any crime the admins may have committed for which I share responsibility," he said. "It looks like they may have been arrested because of me." CHRI has obtained an Instagram photo showing the minister posing with some of the detained admins. The Instagram account has since been shut down. Administrators of popular social media and online sites in Iran customarily meet with government officials as both sides try to win support and access. However, meeting with the head of the Intelligence Ministry is unprecedented. Telegram's Growing Importance With an estimated 20 million users in Iran, Telegram serves as a more open source of news and analysis operating alongside the country's severely censored official news media. Reformists, which are often blocked from appearing in traditional media, have been increasingly using it to reach the electorate. Recognizing the app's popularity, hardliners have consistently tried to ban or filter Telegram, while also setting up their own channels to reach voters. The Rouhani administration has repeatedly called for less governmental control over the internet, which is heavily restricted and censored in Iran. This has invited the scorn of not only the agencies that police cyberspace, but also hardline politicians seeking to unseat him. Rouhani reportedly resisted pressure from hardliners to shut down Telegram before Iran's February 2016 elections for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts. On April 5, Alavi said the Rouhani government opposed the detention of the detained admins and hoped they would be freed. Hossein Raeesi, a former member of the Tehran Bar Association, told CHRI that the arrests of the admins, whose names have not been officially released, were unlawful because they were carried out without a warrant. "The closure of their Telegram channels and the removal of their content also violated freedom of speech and the press, which are guaranteed by Article 24 of the Constitution," he said. According to Article 24: "Publications and the press have freedom of expression except when it is detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam or the rights of the public. The details of this exception will be specified by law." In an open letter addressing IRGC Commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari on March 18, 2017, reformist member of Parliament Mahmoud Sadeghi wrote: "These arrests could be interpreted as the IRGC's interference in the presidential election as a military institution, which is barred by the Constitution." A week after the arrests, CHRI learned that a number of the admins had been released, but Ali Heydarvalizadeh, the admin of the Majma Eslahtalaban (Reformist's Forum) and Ali Ahmadnia, the admin of Eslahtat News (Reform News) remain incarcerated at an unknown location. Other admins may remain detained. Some of the admins had registered their channels with the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance when the registration became a requirement in December 2016, thus exposing themselves to increased state surveillance. "We wanted to carry out our activities legally and that's why we registered," one of the admins, who asked not to be identified, told CHRI in January 2017. Responding to demands for the admins to be freed, Tehran Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said on April 5, "Naturally those who get arrested have friends and fans who want them to be freed, but in regards to any detention, the judicial system tries to act according to the law." Russia, Iran, Syria Issue Warning Against Another Syria Strike 04/15/17 Source: VOA Russia, Syria and Iran have warned the United States against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international investigation into the chemical weapons attack in Syria. The foreign ministers from Russia, Syria and Iran, meeting Friday in Moscow, said any further unilateral action by the U.S. in Syria would be met with "grave consequences" and pose a danger to the entire world. The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria's al-Shayrat air base last week in response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria days earlier. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the circumstances surrounding the chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 people were still not clear. He criticized the world's chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, for not sending experts to the site of the attack to investigate. "We consider it unacceptable to analyze events from a distance," he said. Lavrov said the investigation should also be widened to include experts from many nations. Russia has rejected accusations from Western countries that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the attack. Russia has alleged that the victims were killed when Syrian warplanes hit a rebel chemical arsenal. The U.S. accuses Assad of deliberately launching the attack. "The use of chemical weapons as a pretext for violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state - a member of the United Nations - is a very dangerous activity," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. "It is essential to prevent such acts as the events in Khan Sheikhoun in [the] future." Lavrov said the U.S. missile strike on Syria was Washington seeking "excuses for regime change." He added, "These attempts will not succeed, this will not happen." Lavrov met Friday with his counterparts from Syria and Iran after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Moscow earlier this week. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday's meeting sent a "strong message" to Washington. Russia and Iran are strong allies of Assad's government and have backed the president during Syria's six-year civil war. Hard-Line Cleric, Seen As Main Rohani Rival, Files To Run For President 04/15/17 Source: RFE/RL Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on April 14 filed to run in the May presidential election. Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian cleric and head of the Imam Reza charitable foundation (source: Afkar daily) Raisi, 56, a professor of Islamic law, is viewed as incumbent President Hassan Rohani's main rival for the presidency. Rohani, a politically moderate cleric, also filed for reelection earlier on April 14. While Rohani has won praise for his groundbreaking nuclear deal with world powers last year, the pact's failure so far to stimulate strong economic growth and discontent due to high unemployment has created an opening for his opponents. Raisi is expected to draw support from Iran's hard-line factions, including the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. On April 14, he made it clear he would try to exploit economic discontent. "Despite all the efforts of previous governments, the situation of the country is such that people ask why is there so much unemployment?" he said. Unemployment in Iran is around 12 percent. Raisi reached out to moderates as well as hard-liners. "I will be the candidate for the whole of Iran. I don't limit myself to a certain group, party, or faction," he said. Raisi said he would announce detailed economic plans soon. A potential spoiler for Raisi arose on April 12, when former hard-line president Mahmud Ahmadinejad made a surprise move to register for the election against Khamenei's advice. Ebrahim Raisi (L) against Hassan Rohani (R) Record number of candidates have registered for this election (source: Khabar Jonoub daily) A clearer picture will emerge next week when the conservative-controlled Guardians Council announces which of the nearly 1,000 registered candidates are allowed to run in the May 19 election. Raisi has solid conservative credentials. Born into a religious family in the holy city of Mashhad, he is a "seyed" whose genealogy is said to lead back to the Prophet Muhammad. Raisi has served in the country's judiciary for decades. He is also a member of the Assembly of Experts, an all-cleric body that will rule on Khamenei's succession. Last year, Khamenei made Raisi head of the powerful Imam Reza charity foundation, which oversees the Imam Reza Shrine and owns a large business conglomerate. With reporting by AP and AFP Iranian Azeri Rights Activist on Trial for Advocating Mother Language 04/15/17 Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran Abbas Lesani, an Azeri ethnic rights activist, is being tried for advocating for state recognition of his mother tongue and making a speech at his friend's wedding calling for an end to the discrimination of Azeris in Iran. Abbas Lesani Speaking in an interview with the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on April 10, 2017, Lesani said his first trial was held in the Revolutionary Court in Meshkinshahr, Ardabil Province, on March 7 for the charges of "acting against national security" and "propaganda against the state." This week he was tried at the Revolutionary Court in Ahar, East Azerbaijan Province, for allegedly "organizing and leading opposition groups intent on overthrowing the state." Lesani told CHRI he has been presenting his defense in the Azeri-Turkish language. "At the March 7 trial, I wrote my defense for the first time in Turkish and I rejected the charges. The judge wouldn't accept it in Turkish at first, but since this is our legal right, he eventually did," said Lesani. Between 16 to 25 percent of Iran's population are Turkish-speaking (different from the language spoken in Turkey) Azeris living mostly in Iran's East and West Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan Provinces. Freedom Of Language by Touraj Saberivand Azeri civil rights activists have long been fighting, among other discriminatory policies, a state-imposed ban on Azeri0-Turkish being taught along with the official Persian language in their schools. "The International Mother Tongue Day is marked around the world, and my Azeri friends and I attended an event that was completely peaceful," he said. "Now they have accused us of acting against national security and I'm due to appear in court in Ahar on April 12." Lesani, 55, is a grocery seller in the city of Ardabil, 373 miles northwest of Tehran. His peaceful activism for Azeri rights has made him a target of Iran's security agencies trying to suppress alleged "secessionist" sympathizers. Lesani has already spent a year in prison for "propaganda against the state." He was released in June 2016. "At the wedding for my friend, who's also an Azeri rights activist, I gave a talk and hoped for an end to discrimination and the realization of the rights of all," he said. "For this reason, I was accused of propaganda against the state and summoned to court in Meshkinshahr." According to Article 27 of Iran's Constitution: "Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam." Article 15 states: "The official language and script of Iran, the lingua franca of its people, is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as textbooks, must be in this language and script. However, the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for the teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian." On February 21, 2017, on International Mother Language Day, activists Alireza Farshi, Akbar Azad, Behnam Sheikhi and Hamid Manafi were issued long prison sentences for peacefully defending Azeri rights. Farshi was issued a 15-year prison sentence and two years in exile. His three codefendants were each sentenced to 10 years in prison and two years in exile. They had been arrested by agents of the Intelligence Ministry in 2014 during a peaceful event marking International Mother Language Day and charged with "forming an illegal group" and "assembly and collusion against national security." On June 3, 2013, days before he was elected president, Hassan Rouhani promised to end restrictions on teaching non-Persian languages, including Azeri-Turkish and Kurdish, in schools and universities. Article 101 of the Charter on Citizens' Rights, signed by Rouhani in December 2016, states: "Citizens shall have the right to learn, use and teach their own local language and dialect." "I don't like to see discrimination against ethnic groups," Rouhani said on May 31, 2016, in a speech to the people of Mahabad, in West Azerbaijan Province where Kurdish and Azeri-Turkish are more common than Persian. "Hiring should be done on the basis of competence, and the mother tongues, especially Kurdish, should be respected," he added. "We are also expanding mother tongue language centers, of course." PHOTOS: Iranians Make A Run For It, But They're Already Out Of The Presidential Race 04/15/17 By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL Virtually anyone can register to run in Iran's presidential election. The formal restrictions as laid out in the constitution are clear: potential candidates must be 18 or older; they must also be among the country's "religious and political personalities," hold Iranian citizenship, and believe in the principles of the Islamic republic and the official religion of the country. But crucially, only a handful of applicants will actually be allowed on the ballot. And the 12-member Guardians Council that vets them has a long record of disqualifying liberal or reform-minded candidates, all women, and generally anyone it sees as a threat to the Iranian establishment. One of the ways that many Iranians try to highlight that gap -- between registering and really running -- is to apply in large numbers during the current five-day registration period (April 11-15). Many of those applicants have no political experience and zero chance of being approved. Here are some of the Iranians whose candidacies are aimed at making one point or another. They include two former political prisoners, several women, a Basij militia member widely known for never missing a state-organized demonstration, an Iranian-American, and a factory guard. Dissenters Publisher, blogger, and ophthalmologist Mehdi Khazali, who has been jailed several times in the past over his criticism of the Iranian establishment, pledged to work to eliminate hostility with the West if elected. Mehdi Khazali "We must seek to remove tension with the entire world," he said, according to AP. "Relations based on mutual positive interaction must be established." Khazali also said that four years ago he supported President Hassan Rohani, adding that he has changed his mind because his is now convinced that Rohani is not a "reformist." Ghassem Sholeh Sadi, a former lawmaker and professor of international relations jailed in the past for "insulting" Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, registered in a suit and a tie, which is considered by many Iranian conservatives to be a symbol of Western decadence. Sholeh Sadi was quoted by the news site Entekhab.ir as saying that there is nothing anti-Islamic about ties. Ghassem Sholeh Sadi "If a tie is a reason for disqualification, it should be noted in the laws," he said. Sholeh Saadi has registered (and failed) to run for president in the past. Iranian-American Academic Houshang Amirahmadi Houshang Amirahmadi, a professor of public policy and international development at Rutgers University, once told the hard-line Fars news agency that, if elected, he would focus on creating a strong national economy and more jobs for the country's youth. Amirahmadi also registered unsuccessfully for the 2013 presidential vote. Woman Azam Jabali Azam Jabali was quoted by the semiofficial ISNA news agency as saying that she is registering -- and will keep doing so -- in order to convince authorities that women should be allowed to run. She said her campaign slogan is "Once Women." This year, Jabali was the second woman to register for the vote. Twins Hassan Seyedkhani and twin brother Hossein Hassan Seyedkhani showed up to register alongside his twin brother, Hossein. He said he put his name forward to raise the visibility of young people. Hassan was also quoted by Iranian media as saying that, if elected, he would appoint his twin brother as foreign minister. As for Hossein, he said he refrained from registering out of respect for his brother, who, he said, is his elder by two minutes. Government Fanboy Hamid Reza Ahmadabadi Hamid Reza Ahmadabadi is an establishment devotee known as "Big Mouth Basiji." He gained public attention for his omnipresence at state-organized demonstrations, where he is often seen, his fist raised, shouting slogans enthusiastically. Factory Guard Abolghassem Khaki Abolghassem Khaki is a guard at a factory in the central province of Yazd who says he plans to travel to the United States and swim a race against U.S. President Donald Trump. Khaki said that his plans also include providing housing to young Iranians. He boasted that he had already prepared a list of cabinet members. A 3-Year-Old A man from the southeastern Kerman Province arrived at the Interior Ministry in Tehran to register his 3-year-old daughter to launch her political career, the hard-line Tasnim news agency reported. Authorities refused to register the little girl. Opium And Polygamy An unnamed cleric A cleric who reported having five wives and 18 children said upon registering said that if elected, he would legalize opium. "Opium is a medicine; it's not banned under Shari'a law," he was quoted as saying. "There won't be so many executions if opium is legalized." He also said that he wouldn't need presidential bodyguards. More photos of the candidates for Iran president: Source Islamic Republic News Agency Ghana in the next few months will have its own indigenous paragliding pilots as the Ministry of Tourism makes frantic efforts to establish a pilot training school at Kwahu in the Eastern Region. In an interview with Citi News at the grand opening of this years Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival, the Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Catherine Afeku, said the training school will help nurture prospective pilots. We are in talks to establish the pilot training school to help nurture indigenous people, you know there are a lot of Ghanaians interested in learning so we have spoken to the pilots from USA who have agreed to train our local people. Three of the pilots have their own schools in USA so it wont be difficult. Madame Afeku added that, the youth who will go through the training will get jobs as well, adding that our youth who will have the chance to be trained in this program will also be employed and this will reduce the unemployment rate in the country. We turn to have a lot of foreign nationals who visit the country day in day out, and not only during Easter, so this will also boost the tourism sector and bring foreign exchange. She added that, the initiative will be a legacy the Akufo-Addo government wants to leave behind. The establishment of the school will be a thing Ghanaians especially people of Kwahu will forever be grateful for and this will be one of President Nana Addos legacies, she said. On his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darfour, who was also at the opening ceremony. shared his excitement with Citi News. He said the people of Kwahu will always welcome people from all shades of life to come and experience how Easter is well celebrated in the world, Kwahu is Easter and Easter is Kwahu, you cannot enjoy the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus without coming to Kwahu. The Director of Ghana AIDS Commission in the Eastern Region, Madame Golda Asante, in an interview with Citi News also encouraged patrons to take advantage of the celebration and know their status. Source: Citifmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President of Ghana Federation of Disability Organization, Yaw Ofori Debrah is urging the Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid to accept that albinism is a disability. According to him, the Minister lacks knowledge about the condition being a disability and called on him to read more on albinism. Mr. Ofori Debrahs call comes after the Minister of Information Mustapha Hamid laughed off comments by Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection that even though he is an albino he has been appointed as a Minister of State. According to Otiko Afisa-Djaba You have persons with disability; somebody just takes a picture without asking their permission, some think that every disabled person should be a beggar. I have met disabled people in the University. In the previous administration, there was a disabled person as a Minister for chieftaincy. Our Regional Minister currently in the Central Region, Hon. Duncan, is also a person with disability. In some places, persons with albinism are not supposed to even operate, but our Minister for Information Mr. Mustapha Hamid is an albino. I met the Minister for Gender of Liberia and she is an albino; and so it means that we shouldnt look at the disabilities of people, but their abilities, potential and usefulness she said. But commenting on the matter for the first time, Mr. Hamid said his colleague minister has a complete misunderstanding of disability. And so to that extent it is a matter that we should laugh about. Frankly, he added. But Mr. Ofori Debrah in an interview with Adom News said albinism is a form of disability explaining that those with the genetic condition have difficulties with sight, they cannot stand in the sun for long hours due to their skin and as a result, suffer some stigmatization from the society. According to him, the minister is just ignorant as far as albinism is concerned and therefore called on him to make use of disability books. Source: adomonline.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 Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid has revealed he was indignant at former President Rawlings during his revolutionary regime because his father was forced into exile at the period. Mustapha said at a tender age he was broken and consumed by bitterness when he was told his father had to abscond from home because he was being hounded by the ex-military leader. Because my father went into exile, quiet frankly, even at that young age I was bitter against Jerry Rawlings, because when I came home one vacation and the room was locked and I sat out from around 11:00 am all the way to late night. I thought my father had gone out and he will come home later in the night. And the Landlord said to me, he said my brother your Father is wanted and he has run away And I said what who wants him? And they said Jerry Rawlings sent soldiers to arrest him and he escaped. So I mean naturally as I a young boy, the name that they mention, they said Jerry Rawlings wants your Father, they didnt even say PNDC. And so frankly I felt Jerry Rawlings you treated me badly, almost ruined my future and so when I grow, I will fight Jerry Rawlings so my father can come home. And so my initial instincts was to go into the army and organize a coupLike if i go into the army then I will also mobilize troop and overthrow PNDC so my father can come home because I didnt even envisage we will be in a democratic era one day, Mustapha Hamid told Bola Ray on Starr Chat, a personality profile show. According to him, the vile abuse of the PNDC government on civilians grew his hatred towards Jerry John Rawlings who led the crusade. He said this was why as a youth he embraced the governing NPP in his quest for quality leadership out of mounting frustration. The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) took over government after the Peoples National Partys elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, on 31 December 1981. It remained in power until 7 January 1993. In a statement explaining the coup detat, Rawlings explained that a holy war was necessary due to the PNPs failure to provide effective leadership and the collapse of the national economy and state services. The PNDC was a military dictatorship that induced civilians to participate in governance. Most of its members were civilians. Its policies reflected a revolutionary government that was pragmatic in its approach. The economic objectives of the PNDC were to halt the economic decay, stabilise the economy and stimulate economic growth. Politically, its goal was to establish structures that would effectively allow the people to express their political will. Most significantly, the PNDC, carrying with it the spirit of the June 4, 1979 Uprising, brought a change in the peoples attitude from a government will provide position to being proactive in nation-building. The PNDC eventually gave up power, provided a new constitution in 1992 and held elections that year. Source: kasapafmonline.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 Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (CSPOG) has said that the Addison committee constituted to investigate the AMERI deal signed by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is in a serious conflict of interest position. In a press release signed by Chairman of CSPOG, Dr Steve Manteaw, the platform said: It also constitutes a big blow to the integrity of the personnel and institutions involved, as well as the credibility of their work. Below is the statement: Hon. Mustapha Hamids admission that AMERI funded the Addison Committees trip to Dubai as part of investigations into the AMERI deal has raised serious conflict of interest issues. Media reports alleged that AMERI paid for the hotel and air tickets of the committee members to Dubai to aid the Addison committees investigation. This situation has led to people, especially the NDC to question the credibility of the report issued by the committee. According to Dr. Kwabena Donkor, the Former Minister Of Power under whom the agreement was signed, AMERIs sponsorship of the Committee compromises the integrity of Philip Addison and his committee to conduct any investigation whatsoever into the deal. While the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (CSPOG) welcomes the public debate that has ensued following the revelation, it wishes to point out that, it has, unfortunately, become the norm, rather than the exception in Ghana for state official and entities to place themselves in positions of conflicting interests. In 2015 before the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed between state-owned distributor, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Karpowership Ghana Company Limited, members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines And Energy, who were responsible for ensuring due diligence before the contract was signed by the government, and who was saddled with responsibility for ratifying the transaction were sponsored on a trip to Turkey by the very company (Karpowership) that the agreement was to be signed with. Karpowership paid their airfares, hotel expenses and per diems. There have also been several cases of government officials who are supposed to have oversight responsibilities over companies and institutions being sponsored by these same companies on trips abroad, serving on boards of these companies or involved with the company for personal gains. The trend is indeed worrying, as it constitutes a huge impediment to the fight against corruption. It also constitutes a big blow to the integrity of the personnel and institutions involved, as well as the credibility of their work. CSPOG recalls that the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) embarked on a mission to develop conflict of interest guidelines for public office holders during the reign of President Kufuor, but wonders what became of the exercise. Now that CHRAJ is being called upon by the NDC to investigate the Philip Addison Committee, CSPOG takes the opportunity to urge that, any such investigation must lead to the prescription and adoption of guidelines by which public office holders, institutions, and investigative committees would be held to. As part of remedial measures, the state must be required at all times, to make funding available to sponsor activities of committees set up to investigate cases of corruption, as in the case of AMERI, to prevent creating avenues for possible bribery which leads to loss of credibility of the committees reports. If the government cannot ensure adequate funding is available to sponsor investigations, then they shouldnt set committees up in the first place. Signed Steve Manteaw (Chairman, CSPOG) 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 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says governments long term strategy to fight the galamsey menace will soon be released. Speaking at the coronation of Kwahu Obomenghene Nana Effa Opinamang III, President Akufo-Addo said his government will do its best to maintain a peaceful relationship with the Chinese government but will make sure the laws are enforced in order to put a halt on the galamsey menace. The galamsey menace was one of the many issues Nana Effa Opinamang III pleaded with the president to solve. In Twi he said galamsey is destroying our lands and water bodies. You made a promise to solve all, our president when we vote you to into power. Now that you are president please ensure that you solve this problem for us in order to save the lands for current and future generations. Galamsey has destroyed most water bodies He also made mention of how Fulani herdsmen are destroying their farms and pleaded with the president to come up with policies to guide cattle rearing in the country in order to save farms. Again Nana Effa Opinamang III pleaded with the president to give them a grant to set up some factories in the Kwahu area in order to create more jobs for the youth. This he said will support the governments One-district, One-Factory policy, which is yet to be implemented. In response, President Akufo-Addo expressed gratitude to the people of Kwahu for throwing their weight behind him during last years general elections, which made him victorious. He said his government will soon come up with a cattle ranch policy that will serve as a long-lasting solution to the issue of Fulani herdsmen in the country. On the issue of galamsey, the president stated that his government will ensure that jobs are created for youth as a substitute to the illegal mining operations. We are working very hard to come up with a policy within which we can find a long-lasting solution to the galamsey problem. Someone might think we have a problem with the Chinese government but that is not the case. We are only enforcing the laws. The president reiterated his willingness to implement the free senior high school policy which he said will commence by September this year. The coronation of the Kwahu Obomenghene attracted some government officials including the ministers of state. Source: 3news 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 Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jay Pharoah, best known for his Kanye West and Barack Obama impressions, has hit out at his old employer, claiming that his talents were under-appreciated on the show. Pharoah was a cast member on the show for six years, but he was fired alongside long-time star Taran Killam ahead of the most recent season, a move that took many by surprise. Speaking to Hot 97s Ebro In The Morning, Pharoah spoke at length about the reasons he was let go, saying: You go where youre appreciated. And if you have multiple people on the cast saying things like, Youre so talented and youre so able. They dont use you and its unfair and its making us feel bad They put people into boxes. Whatever they want you to do, they expect you to do. Im a little fiery too Im not a yes na. In 2013, Pharoah made widely-reported comments about the lack of black female performers on SNL though Sasheer Zamata and Leslie Jones were subsequently added to the cast, he says that his remarks made him unpopular at work. When I said what I said and it went viral, I almost freakin lost my job, he told Hot 97. In spite of all this, Pharoah says that he does not hold a grudge against SNL producer Lorne Michaels. Aint no beef with Lorne, he said. Were on good graces. Its just that there have been some shaky times. Since youre here anyway, go ahead and enjoy this vintage Waking Up With Kimye sketch, featuring MVP Nasim Pedrad as Kim Kardashian: Source: US Weekly. Photo: Larry Busacca / Getty. The lockout laws have seen the closure of numerous beloved venues around Sydney, but at least one place is throwing its middle fingers up to that trend: the iconic Lansdowne Hotel in Chippendale, which has been quietly undergoing renovations for the past several months, and is set to throw its doors open again later this year. Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham, the owners of Marys Newtown and The Unicorn Hotel in Paddington, are the chaps behind the renovation, and have said that they are aiming to have the venue open for business by the June long weekend. Over the years, The Lansdowne has seen performances by You Am I, The Go-Betweens, The Living End, The Hard-Ons and The Preatures, and the new owners are hoping to drag live music kicking and screaming back to Sydney. Lord Mayor Clover Moore has spoke glowingly about the hotels new lease on life, saying: Im really encouraged by this news to see an iconic venue like the Lansdowne returning feels like it could be a real turning point for live music in Sydney. Its a good sign for Sydneys music community the new owners are keeping the Lansdownes long history in the Sydney music scene alive with a meaningful focus on live music, were looking forward to working with the new owners whenever we can. The newly-invigorated Lansdowne will have a bar and kitchen downstairs, slinging burgers and pizza, and a whole floor upstairs dedicated to music. The June opening date may be slightly optimistic given the level of renovations, but Smyth told Fairfax that weve been running this like a motherfucker, so I guess well see. RIP?? lol. Were back with a fucking vengeance A post shared by The Lansdowne Hotel (@thelansdowne) on Apr 14, 2017 at 4:18pm PDT Source: The Lansdowne. Photo: The Lansdowne. More than 100 people rallied in Harrisburg on Saturday morning to demand that President Trump release his tax returns. The rally in Harrisburg was organized by Keystone Progress and was one of more than 200 such events across the country. The Harrisburg protesters gathered in front of the Federal Courthouse on Walnut Street then walked to the office of the Pennsylvania Republican Party on State Street where they unveiled a 10-foot tall inflatable "Trump Chicken." Dion Beard Jr. .jpg An arrest warrant has been issued for pictured York resident Dion James Beard Jr., 27, after police said he shot and killed 22-year-old Collin McGlen Smith Jr. in the 200 block of West Maple Street, York, at about 1:30 p.m. Friday. (York city police ) Police have named a suspect in a Friday afternoon homicide in York. An arrest warrant has been issued for York resident Dion James Beard Jr., 27, after police said he shot and killed 22-year-old Collin McGlen Smith Jr. in the 200 block of West Maple Street at about 1:30 p.m. Police found Smith, of the 600 block of Girard Avenue, dead at the scene. He suffered several gunshot wounds. The York County coroner's office pronounced Smith dead at about 2:20 p.m. Beard is facing criminal homicide charges. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact York city police at 717-846-1234, or text tips to 847-411. Texting tips is the best method of sharing information, police said. Rochelle Hamm, the widow of El Faro crew member Frank Hamm, wipes her eyes during an interview at her home in Jacksonville, Fla., on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. After losing her husband in a maritime accident, she is pressing for what she calls Hamm Alert, a new safety system that would keep ships in port during major storms - similar to air traffic control for planes. An online petition has collected more than 11,000 signatures in support. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough) Just in time for Tax Day, the New York State Department of Taxation announced the arrest of multiple tax preparers for allegedly filing false tax reforms that got their clients inflated tax refunds by filing information that contained false expenses, false deductions and even false dependents. According to a press release from the state Department of Taxation and Finance, law enforcement busted six tax preparers in undercover operations designed to catch them filing false statements. The people who were caught in the stings included Thomas Keeley, a 59-year-old man from Staten Island, who the government has accused of allegedly preparing "several thousand" returns since 2011 that contained fake itemized deductions and "unusually high" job expenses. State officials have also accused Chatise Thomas, a 41-year-old woman from Brooklyn, of allegedly adding illegitimate deduction to lower their tax payments. According to the press release announcing the arrest, Thomas's clients claimed that they didn't give her permission to add the larger itemized deductions to their state tax returns. The Attorney General's office also arrested Anibell Perez, a 33-year-old woman from the Bronx and Sorangel Carrasco, a 34-year-old woman from the Bronx, and accused both of them of claiming fake dependents on their clients' tax returns for the purposes of getting them larger refunds. "We will not allow unscrupulous individuals to line their own pockets at the expense of honest taxpayers. Those who cheat the tax system are stealing from their fellow New Yorkers, and I am pleased to work with my partners in law enforcement as we continue to root out tax fraud," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016 file photo, Emma Morano sits in her home on the day of her 117th birthday in Verbania, Italy. An Italian doctor says Emma Morano, at 117 the world's oldest person, has died in her home in northern Italy. Dr. Carlo Bava told The Associated Press by telephone that Morano's caretaker called him to say the woman had passed away Saturday afternoon while sitting in an armchair in her home in Verbania, a town on Lake Maggiore. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) U.S. forces and Afghan commandos are seen in Asad Khil near the site of a U.S. bombing in the Achin district of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 17, 2017. U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Thursday struck an Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan with the largest non-nuclear weapon every used in combat by the U.S. military, Pentagon officials said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, file photo, a Delta Air Lines jet sits at a gate at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta. Delta is giving airport employees permission to offer passengers up to almost $10,000 in compensation to give up their seats on overbooked flights. Delta's move comes as United Airlines struggles to recover from images of a passenger's forced removal from a sold-out flight. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) Election explainer: How Michigan's university boards are determined Michigan's process for determining the members of university governing boards is unique. The state is just one of four that uses a statewide vote. Explosive Details in the Trump-Russia Investigation In the past week, there have been several startling revelations about the investigations into Donald Trump, his closest allies, and their ties to Russia. Not only has the existence of two investigations, one by the FBI and one by the House Intelligence Committee, been confirmed, but there is increasing information as to just what is being investigated: an alleged deal for Trump to advance Russian interests as President in exchange for a share of the Russian state oil company Rosneft and Russian intelligence assistance in winning the election. This news has been spread over a tremendous number of articles and even Twitter threads, rather than in a single big headline. So today I would like to pull together all of these reports, and make it clear what things are known for certain, what things have been reported and sourced but not confirmed, and what things are still speculation. In, and Out, Like Flynn Why a former three-star general may be turning state's evidence At the center of today's news is Michael Flynn , a retired three-star U.S. Army general, who later worked on Trump's campaign as a private citizen, and then served for 24 days as National Security Advisor. While he was working for Trump's campaign, he was also a highly-paid agent of the Turkish government , receiving over $500,000 to represent their interests. (He admitted this after it became known online earlier this month , and last week filed the paperwork to retroactively declare himself as a foreign agent as required by law.) Michael Flynn Was Paid to Represent Turkey's Interests During Trump Campaign The White House said that Mr. Trump did not know that Mr. Flynn was acting as a foreign agent when Mr. Trump appointed him national security adviser, a position that gave him access to classified meetings and materials.- NYtimes . He is also under investigation by the Army as to whether he was being paid (illegally) by the Russian government in 2015. (Even though he retired in 2014, military officers may be called back to active duty at any time, and so are not allowed to act as foreign agents without Congressional approval.) It is definitely known that he was paid over $33,000 by Russia Today for a speaking engagement back in December 2015; it's a question for the lawyers whether such payments alone would qualify him as a foreign agent, since RT is only a quasi-official arm of the government. The Army investigation is separate and predates this. Flynn was caught on (legal) FBI wiretaps , illegally discussing U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador last December. Worse for him, he lied about it to quite a few people, and when it came out, this forced his resignation as National Security Advisor. Flynn's Turkey angle is even more fascinating. The Wall Street Journal reported, per the testimony of former CIA Director James Woolsey??who was present as an advisor to Flynn's company??that during the campaign, Flynn attended a meeting with senior ministers from the Turkish government where they discussed (illegally) kidnapping enemies of Turkish President Erdogan living in the United States, and shipping them over to Turkey in the dead of night??including Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric (who now lives in Pennsylvania) that Erdogan considers his greatest political enemy. The reason Flynn's work as a double, and possibly triple, agent is so interesting (apart from the obvious) is that in the past few days, several sources have started to report that Flynn has flipped and decided to turn state's evidence. Through a spokesman, Flynn has stated no comment . What makes this so interesting, of course, is that investigators don't flip witnesses unless there are bigger fish to fry. And there are few fish bigger than the National Security Advisor. The Mayflower Meetings Central to the question of who these bigger fish might be is the so-called Mayflower Meeting. This was eloquently summarized by journalist Seth Abramson in a detailed (and heavily-sourced) Twitter thread on March 23rd. Seth Abramson ? @SethAbramson (MEGA-THREAD) The plot to sell America's foreign policy for foreign oil _and_ steal an election in the bargain began at the Mayflower Hotel. 9:45 PM - 23 Mar 2017 17,821 17,821 Retweets - 20,935 20,935 likes The Mayflower Meeting was an April 27th meeting at the Mayflower Hotel, immediately before Trump gave his first foreign policy speech. In this speech, written by Russian lobbyist Richard Burt , Trump promised to make a deal under my administration that's great for America but also good for Russia. The speech, and the meeting before it, were organized by Trump's newly-minted campaign chair Paul Manafort and Jacob Heilbrunn, the event coordinator for the Center for the National Interest, a conservative think-tank closely aligned with the Kremlin . The meeting was a 24-person cocktail hour held in the Mayflower's VIP Senate Room. Trump was there, and according to Heilbrunn , so were (now Attorney-General) Jeff Sessions, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump's previous campaign chair Corey Lewandowski, Iran-Contra figure (!) Bud McFarlane, and Paul Manafort. Also present were four ambassadors??from Russia, Italy, Singapore, and the Philippines??and key figures from Rosneft, Russia's state oil company. (The Philippines are one of Rosneft's primary expansion targets for coming years.) (Paul Manafort is an interesting character: prior to being Trump's campaign manager, he worked as a fix er for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska , for the (pro-Russian) Ukrainian government , and for Ferdinand Marcos' regime in the Philippines . Manafort has been under investigation since last August for laundering illegal payments he received from the Ukrainian government, and documents provided to CNN last week by a Ukrainian lawmaker may prove to be a smoking gun.) It is not clear precisely what was discussed at this meeting, but several things are known for certain. Between December 5th and 7th of 2016, 19.5% of Rosneft was sold through a labyrinth of shell companies to parties unknown . The key brokers in this deal were Singapore, Italy, and the Swiss-Qatari company Glencore, which on December 10th stated that it had received 0.54% of the company as its fee for facilitating the deal. What was particularly surprising about this number was that back in July of 2016, the Steele Dossier reported that Putin had offered Trump the brokerage on 19% of Rosneft in exchange for lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia. (Brokerage rates vary, but such a stake would be worth somewhere between $200 and $400 million) While there has been a great deal of talk about how nobody should trust the Steele Dossier, it's very curious that the exact amount of the missing Rosneft shares was described publicly by this dossier five months before the deal. (Abramson has since followed up with further details on Steele and the dossier, including the possibility that Steele may testify before the House. Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier, spent over 20 years at the British intelligence service MI6 , and is believed to have been head of its Russia desk.) The allegation is an explicit quid pro quo: Trump would as President further Russian interests, eliminating oil sanctions and ratifying Russian control of parts of Ukraine, in exchange for a share of Rosneft and Russian intelligence assistance in winning the election. A few other things were happening during those same few days in early December. Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak were meeting secretly in Trump Tower so secretly that Kislyak was smuggled in through a freight elevator. (This meeting between Flynn and Kislyak was one of the ones which led to Flynn's resignation.) President Obama announced that he intended to impose sanctions on Russia, in retaliation for Russian interference in the election; he did so on the 29th . Putin, to everyone's surprise, did not retaliate as he had threatened to do . It has been widely speculated that Flynn's reassurances were key to this. (It is also noteworthy that during his confirmation hearing as Attorney-General in February, Jeff Sessions denied any meetings with Russian representatives during the campaign. When Sessions admitted that this was false after it was revealed that he had done so at least twice , his revised statement to Congress still did not disclose the Mayflower Meeting.) The Russian interference in the election which Obama was retaliating for was the hacking of e-mail servers used by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Clinton campaign, and the release of embarrassing e-mails at various times throughout the election. (For example, revealing the DNC leadership's preference for Clinton over opponent Bernie Sanders immediately prior to the Democratic Convention in July, or the releases via WikiLeaks of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's e-mails in October.) According to the White House, the Treasury Department , and the CIA , these hacks were the joint work of the FSB (the Russian equivalent of the FBI) and the GRU (Russian military intelligence). The above is what we know for certain about the Mayflower Meeting. The allegation which Abramson suspects may be at the center of the FBI investigation is that the meeting is where an explicit quid pro quo was negotiated: Trump would as President further Russian interests, eliminating oil sanctions and ratifying Russian control of strategic territory in Ukraine, in exchange for the brokerage on 19% of Rosneft and Russian intelligence assistance in winning the election. We do not know that this is true; what we have above is a collection of very interesting circumstantial evidence. It will be detailed investigation by professionals, and testimony of witnesses (like Michael Flynn) who may have been present in person for parts of this, which determines whether or not this is the case. The Investigations There appear to be two primary investigations going on right now: one by the FBI, which FBI Director James Comey testified about to Congress a few days ago, and one by the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Devin Nunes, a close ally of Trump's. These two investigations have very different tones. The Congressional one is (unsurprisingly) highly political. But that doesn't mean it can't get weird; last Tuesday night, Nunes was traveling in an Uber with one of his aides when he received a message on his phone. He promptly got out of the car and vanished , only to turn up Wednesday morning announcing that, after reviewing classified reports, he found that the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition. He then went over to the White House to brief Trump. That last part is really the key to the story; Nunes' independence from Trump has been, to say the least, questioned. Nunes was on Trump's transition team, and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have suggested that his source for this information was the White House itself (!), released to create a distraction from Comey's testimony that Monday. The FBI investigation, on the other hand, has happened mostly quietly, as investigations usually do??except for a surprising number of leaks, such as the revelation of Flynn's telephone conversations with Kisylak which prompted Flynn's resignation. This may be related to the political pressures on that investigation: the FBI, after all, reports to Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, one of the figures at the center of the investigation. Despite Sessions' agreement to recuse himself from this investigation , there is likely to be considerable pressure not to release anything which may be harmful to the administration. As a result, there are two investigations with very different political flavors, and it is quite possible that they will act at cross-purposes in the coming months. If Flynn flipped, it seems that he has been flipped by the FBI investigation??which makes it interesting that immediately afterwards, Paul Manafort announced that he would testify to the Congressional investigation. In Summary The things we know for certain: Michael Flynn was a Turkish foreign agent during the Presidential campaign. He also received money from Russia, and the Army is investigating whether he was in fact a Russian agent as well. During this time, and while a private citizen, he negotiated with the Russian ambassador about lifting U.S. sanctions against Russia. Revelations of these negotiations (and his deceit about their existence) prompted his resignation as National Security Advisor. Paul Manafort, prior to being head of Donald Trump's campaign, was a long-time political operative for a Russian oligarch, for the (pro-Russian) Ukrainian government, and for Ferdinand Marcos' regime in the Philippines. He is the subject of a Ukrainian investigation into receiving illegal payments and money laundering. On April 27th, Trump, several of his senior aides, and the ambassadors of Russia, Italy, Singapore, and the Philippines met at the Mayflower Hotel. Shortly afterwards, Trump gave his first foreign policy speech, with a strongly pro-Russian message. The speech was written by Richard Burt, a former Russian oil lobbyist. In July, the Steele Dossier reported that Putin had offered Trump the brokerage on 19% of Rosneft in exchange for lifting U.S. sanctions against Russia. This information was impossible to verify at the time and received little attention. Also starting in July, a sequence of leaks of information stolen in computer hacks of the DNC and Clinton campaign were released at strategic moments, such as just before the Democratic Convention and just before the general election. Several branches of the U.S. government stated that these hacks were executed by Russian intelligence, and Obama imposed sanctions on Russia in retaliation. In early December, 19.5% of the Russian state oil company Rosneft was sold to a web of shell companies, with Italy, Singapore, and Qatar acting as brokers. The Qatari brokers said that they received 0.54% of the company as their commission. The actual owners of the remaining 19% are unknown. During the same dates, Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak were having secret meetings at Trump Tower. Jeff Sessions, then a U.S. Senator and senior Trump campaign member, and now Attorney-General, lied to Congress by saying that he did not meet with representatives of the Russian government during the campaign. After he admitted this and disclosed the meetings, the disclosures did not include the Mayflower Meeting, even though the event organizer has stated unequivocally that Sessions was there. The things which have been reported with evidence, but which are not fully confirmed: During the campaign, Michael Flynn attended a meeting with senior Turkish leaders, where the subject was planning to (illegally) kidnap enemies of the Turkish government living in America, and bring them over to Turkey. The evidence for this is former CIA Director James Woolsey's description of the event (at which he was present) to the Wall Street Journal . Michael Flynn may have decided to turn state's evidence and testify as part of the FBI investigation. Reports of this have circulated online, and Flynn has responded with a no comment. The truth of this remains unclear. The things which are suspected, and which are possibly the ultimate meat of the investigations: The Mayflower Meeting, and the related meetings at Trump Tower, included an explicit quid-pro-quo deal in which Donald Trump would further Russian interests as President, in exchange for personally receiving some fraction of Rosneft, as well as operational assistance from Russian intelligence (in the form of timed releases of stolen information) to win the election. This allegation is by far the most extraordinary one ever leveled against a U.S. President. Nixon was accused of covering up a burglary; Reagan, of running illegal arms deals to funnel covert money to insurgents. Never before has there been the suggestion that a sitting president has actually been suborned by a foreign power, much less that this foreign power actively worked to install him in office. The information the public has so far is very damning against some Trump aides (such as Flynn), potentially very damning against others (such as Manafort), and is circumstantial but intriguing with respect to the core allegation. What needs to happen next is an open and public investigation of these matters: specifically, of the conduct of Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump, and their other allies and associates with respect to illegal payments from the Russian government. The practical question which comes next is how the investigations will proceed. If the Nunes investigation is politically compromised, it might try to do a public investigation whose purpose is to exonerate the administration and focus blame on individuals such as Flynn in order to discredit their testimony elsewhere. The FBI investigation's greatest risk is that the FBI, and the prosecutors who would pursue a case, ultimately report to Attorney-General Sessions, and one can expect substantial open and covert pressure from the administration not to release any damaging information. (It is fair to suspect that such pressure already exists, and may be related to the unusually high number of leaks from that investigation.) If a damning report were to be released by this investigation, it might put sufficient pressure on Congress that the course of its investigation might change considerably. (And, of course, only Congress is empowered to act against a sitting President, via impeachment and trial) We must watch these developments diligently. 404 A high-speed dirt bike ride from Philadelphia into Upper Darby ended disastrously Saturday afternoon when the driver struck a woman and her 6-year-old niece in a crosswalk on 69th Street in Upper Darby, according to police. The dirt bike rider, who earlier had been pursued by Philadelphia Police, then forced a driver out of a Nissan Maxima at knifepoint and fled in that car, police said. Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said the 6-year-old girl was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was in serious condition Sunday morning. Her aunt was taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, and was listed in guarded condition. The dirt bike driver was in custody. "The carjacked vehicle was recovered on the 6400 block of Market Street, and it looks like the individual may have run into ... Cobbs Creek Park," Chitwood said. "We have a person in custody." Upper Darby was crowded with Easter shoppers and people out in advance of a children's show at the Tower Theater. Traffic was gridlocked when the dirt bike tore through, driving down the yellow center line. Chitwood said the driver "allegedly had been initially pursued out of Philadelphia, by a Philadelphia police officer." Charles Paris, 37, the manager at Michael's Used Cars on Church Road in East Lansdowne, said he watched in horror as a young man on a dirt bike sped north between two lanes of stopped traffic, with a Philadelphia Police motorcycle in close pursuit. Paris said other bystanders told him the police motorcycle was so close to the dirt bike, the tires of the two vehicles made contact at one point. "It's like something you would see in Grand Theft Auto," he said. "It was like any second he's going to run head-on into one of these cars and flip into traffic." Officer Eric Gripp said Philadelphia Police were still investigating the incident. "I can say that we had a detail in the area that was on the lookout for dirt bikes and ATVs," he said. They are illegal on city streets. "Our understanding is that officers assigned to this detail at one point did attempt to pull over the individual involved in the crash and carjacking in Upper Darby. At this time, we do not have any details as far as a time or location of the initial contact." Eric Chen, who works at Top's Beauty Supply on 69th Street, said he heard sirens at about 1:30 p.m. and went outside to see the motorcycle down in the crosswalk. "There was a lot of police cars and an ambulance came in, and I saw two people lying down from afar. And one actually was taken onto the ambulance," he said. A man who works at Cole's Fine Jewelry, a few doors down, did not want to give his name but said he also saw the aftermath, including the motorcycle in the street. "We heard the sirens and walked outside. There's so many people here for the Tower Theater show that it's a total zoo." Javier Santa Maria struggled to drag a 15-foot wooden cross while being flogged by four Roman soldiers. He was mocked as the "son of God" and given a coronet of thorns. Dripping in stage blood an hour later, the bare-chested Santa Maria screamed in agony as the massive cross he was attached to was lifted toward a crowd of over 300 faithful onlookers Friday evening in Bensalem. The overwhelming majority were Hispanic immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador many undocumented. Despite recent reports of raids in Pennsylvania and President Trump's vows to crack down on illegal immigration, hundreds of immigrants showed up at Our Lady of Fatima Church to celebrate Good Friday through a reenactment of the crucifixion. "They come because their love for Christ is bigger than their concerns for an ICE raid," said Santa Maria, 40, who is from Mexico and has been in the United States since 2000. It's the fifth time the house painter from Bensalem has played the role of Jesus, which he does to "remind the community the sacrifice Jesus did for all of us." Faith leaders in Bensalem have described a growing anxiety among the undocumented families who since the 2016 presidential election increasingly fear deportation. "It has many of the people nervous regarding what their future could be," said Bishop Edward Michael Deliman, an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and a pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, also in Bensalem, 10 minutes away from Fatima. Deliman blessed the 25 mostly Hispanic actors before the beginning of the Stations of the Cross. Social workers from the archdiocese noted a recent spike in the number of immigrants seeking legal advice. "Definitely from February to March, there was a jump in numbers of immigrants looking for information from our immigration attorneys. It doubled," said Terri Mitchell, program director at the Catholic Social Services (CSS) center in Bensalem, which provides social services to people of all faiths and ethnicities. But Friday, the Spanish-speaking Catholics gathered in Bensalem seemed unwavering in their faith and devotion. Dozens of families marched slowly around the parish's parking lot and green lawn to the strum of guitars and ecclesiastical songs in Spanish. They stopped to pray and reflect at each of the 14 stations, each depicting a different scene in the passion of Christ: Pilate condemning Jesus to death, Jesus carrying the cross, Jesus falling three times while carrying it, Jesus being nailed to the cross. "They're hitting him so hard," a boy told his sister, wincing, as they watched actor-soldiers lash Santa Maria with whip props. Also known as Via Crucis, the procession is considered a dark prelude to Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. "It's a way for people of any ethnic background to connect with the humanness of god," Deliman said. "He was human and divine, and this humanness reminds us that there will be suffering required of us as well." Vanesa Gamez said she always celebrated the Stations of the Cross in her home country of Guatemala, but Friday was the first time she worshiped on Good Friday in the United States. Her husband was murdered last year, she said, and, fearing for her safety, she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border last Christmas Eve. Gamez, 33, was detained by the Border Patrol in Texas, but claimed political asylum and was later released. "Just imagine how many families are here. To deport them is to leave behind orphans. We have the faith and confidence that God won't abandon us," said Gamez, who wears an ankle monitor as she prepares to defend her claim for asylum in court. Despite mounting fears within the immigrant community, Deliman said he had not noticed a decline in church attendance. Peoplefeel safe in church, he said, but their concerns haven't gone unnoticed. "One of my parishioners once told me, 'You know, Father, I could walk off the property, the church, and be apprehended.' I didn't have an answer," said Deliman. The Hispanic population in Bensalem has continued to grow since 2010. At 4,443, Hispanics accounted for 7.4 percent of the township's population in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Deliman has been in Bensalem since 2011, serving as a leader of the growing Hispanic community. He offers two Masses in Spanish at St. Charles every weekend. Ordained in 1973, Deliman has catered exclusively to Spanish-speaking communities in the region since 1978. In May 2016, Pope Francis named him an auxiliary bishop of the approximately 1.4 million-member archdiocese. Yet he asked to also retain his duties as a pastor in Bensalem. "I have one foot in the daily life of the people and the other foot at the diocesan level," said Deliman, who is fluent in Spanish. "It helps me bring to the table a great perspective." Committed to making immigrants feel comfortable in his parish, he added: "The regular routine here at the church gives them a sort of assurance that they haven't been abandoned." Songkran Foam Party in Central World Bangkok 2017 This is my first time celebrating Songkran the water festival in Thailand and it is one of the must visit festivals in the world. There are two big festivals happening on April. Songkran water festival in Thailand and Sakura season in Japan and both offers different types of experience. As the country still mourning of the loss of Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej last year, the water festivals in Thailand have been toned down and hence the closure of Khao San road for Songkran. However, it didnt stop thousands of tourists from all around the world to meet in this lovely country for Songkran. Many tourists will go to Silom Road or Siam for the water festival but we find the Songkran Festival at Central World a hidden gem. They have dedicated area for the water festival and there are security checks so it is safe for everyone and thats why I find many families prefer to visit Central World for Songkran. Check out the videos. For 2017, they have foam party from 13 to 15 April and it starts from noon. What I like is the security checked our bags and our water guns for the foam party. It is dangerous to play water in foam party as it could be slippery. With DJ spinning and foam from all sides, I enjoyed the foam party very much but I prefer the water festival side in Central World though. You know what is the best part? The Foam Party at Central World Bangkok is FREE of charge. Enjoy Songkran in Bangkok everyone. Cheers! 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 Segovia, Spain a great day trip from Madrid. The Roman Aqueduct is not to be missed. Make sure to stay until sunset to see the shadows! The Cathedral of Segovia is beautiful and the Alcazar of Segovia was an inspiration for Cinderellas Castle! A must on your trip to Spain! CLICK FOR FULL POST> https://www.plainchicken.com/2017/04/segovia-spain-day-trip-from-madrid.html On our second day in Madrid, we took another day trip. We took the train into Segovia. It was about an hour train ride. Unlike Toledo, you cant walk from the train station to the old city. Fortunately, there are plenty of cabs to take you right down to the city. They are also plenty of cabs so when you want to return to the train station. Segovia is very beautiful! It is also very walkable. We walked a ton. I felt like we walked uphill all day! It was a lot of fun, and Im so glad that we went. Keep reading to see this picturesque town! You are welcomed to the city by the ancient Roman aqueduct. It is one of the best preserved aqueducts in the world. The aqueduct is thought to have been built in the 1st century AD. The aqueduct once transported water from the Rio Frio river, situated in mountains 11 miles from the city. It consists of about 25,000 granite blocks held together without any mortar, and spans 818 meters with more than 170 arches, the highest being 29 metres high. We passed Iglesia de San Esteban on our way to the Segovia Cathedral. It is an old Catholic Church. We tried to get inside, but it was locked up. It looked like they were working on restoring it. Segovia Cathedral is the last gothic cathedral built in Spain. It is located in the main square of the city. The cathedral was built between 1525-1577. Look at the ceiling! The cathedral was one of the most beautiful cathedrals Ive been inside. You can get a better view of the tower from the courtyard inside the cathedral. I loved this separate worship area. It was gated and locked, so I couldnt really get a good shot of the whole thing. The cathedral was BEAUTIFUL! The Alcazar of Segovia, the royal palace built on a stone peninsula between the rivers Eresma and Clamores. It was a favorite residence of Alfonso X the Wise and Henry IV, and Isabella the Catholic was crowned Queen of Castile in Segovias Plaza Mayor The Alcazar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then. It is currently used as a museum and a military archives building. We hiked down this mountain, across a bridge and back up another mountain to get this photo. I seriously thought I was going to die! LOL! BUT, it was totally worth it. It is said that this is one of the inspirations for Cinderellas Castle in Disney World. Well, until we had to hike down and back up to go inside the castle! The castle was very ornate. I LOVED all the ceilings! The Hall of Kings was my favorite room. It has a statue representing all of the Spanish Kings and Queens going around the top of the room. Look at that ceiling!! The view of the city from the castle are great! You get a great view of the cathedral and the walls around the city. After all of our hiking we grabbed a quick bite from Granier. We LOVED these croissants filled with ham & cheese and little hot dogs. The mini croissants were THE BEST!!! We got an assortment some were dipped in dark chocolate, white chocolate and this one that was drizzled with a little bit of both. This croissant was worth the trip! YUM! When we were heading back to the train station, we stopped to take more photos of the aqueduct. I LOVED the shadows it cast at the end of the day! Segovia is a fun and easy day trip from Madrid. It is incredibly beautiful! I highly recommend taking the train over to Segovia. Dont miss our other Spain posts: Top 10 Places to see in Barcelona: Where to Eat in Barcelona: Walking Tour of Toledo Spain: Trooper Nic Cederberg has been named North Americas Trooper of the Year. (Photo: Oregon State Police/Facebook) An Oregon State Police trooper who was shot 12 times and critically wounded on Christmas night has been named North Americas Trooper of the Year. Trooper Nic Cederberg received the award at the International Association of Chiefs of Police awards ceremony held in Arizona. Cederberg was shot by a man accused of killing his own wife on Christmas night, 2016. That man was killed in the exchange. According to family, a total of twelve rounds struck Cederbergfive rounds were stopped by his bulletproof vest, but the other seven struck his body. He is paralyzed from the attack, KOBI TV reports. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Before I get to the only story that really matters media speculation about who will replace Loofah Lad lets take a quick Trump Dump to prove whats at the end of the Fox to Offal Office pipeline. With Trump generating more flip flops than Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break, this reporter caught another Fabulous Fox 2Fer this morning. First up? A supercut of the factual media exposing Trumps reversals from this week, followed by a Pete Hegseth reach-a-round: POTUS is pragmatic and smart to change his mind. Trumps laughable and far too public learning curve is recognized by everybody with a brain, which rules out those at Fox. Speaking of laughable: A softball interview with D-Lister Maria Bartiromo of the Fox Bidnezz Network becomes the Marie Antoinette Let them eat cake interview, in which Agent Orange also blurted out other nonsense. Yet, only one thing that he pulled out of his ass resulted in a fact check: Other effluent in the closed loop pipeline: Trump retweets Fox News report about Syrians being grateful for bombing their country Fox News Chris Stirewalt: Says Trumps Military Intervention Is The Pivot We Have Always Looked For Sean Spicers Holocaust Comparison Echoes Fox News Sadly, there will be more next week. And, the week after. The Falafel King Is Dead!!! Long Live Loofah Lad!!! Im celebrating as Bill OReilly takes what hes claiming was a pre-planned vacation, but hes never before taken an Easter break this long. TO BE FAIR: Hes never before been crucified like he has been recently. Meanwhile, Fox quietly reveals a new show called Factor Friday. (Why not Friday Fox Follies?). Like Johnny Carson before him, hell get another day off per week. Gee. I wonder why Fox hasnt promoted this show. If youre unfamiliar with this sex scandal, a good overview is this ABC Report: What to know about the Fox News and Bill OReilly controversies. Otherwise skip ahead. Because hes never lied to his audience before, its totally believable that: Often around this time of year, I grab some vacation because its spring and Easter time. Last fall, I booked a trip that should be terrific, not going to tell you where it is, but we have a contest on billoreilly.com, guess where Bills going. Ill have a full report when I return. Heres my contest entry: To your sumptuous den to play with your loofah while drunk dialing women on the phone. What do I win? When you return? Doncha mean if you return? With advertisers acting doing a 3 Stooges, trying to get out the door all at the same time. With more accusers in the wings, theres heavy betting among the pundit class well never see the No Spin Zone again. Fox is finally taking this scandal seriously. Im with the group that says hell return briefly, but a graceful way will be found to write him out of the script, just like Chuck, Richie Cunninghams older brother. OReilly is the most hated news person on the planet, but he still has his defenders. Such as the aforementioned P*ssy Grabber-in-Chief: Because hes never lied to his audience before, its totally believable that: Often around this time of year, I grab some vacation because its spring and Easter time. Last fall, I booked a trip that should be terrific, not going to tell you where it is, but we have a contest on billoreilly.com, guess where Bills going. Ill have a full report when I return. Heres my contest entry: To your sumptuous den to play with your loofah while drunk dialing women on the phone. What do I win? When you return? Doncha mean if you return? With advertisers acting doing a 3 Stooges, trying to get out the door all at the same time. With more accusers in the wings, theres heavy betting among the pundit class well never see the No Spin Zone again. Fox is finally taking this scandal seriously. Im with the group that says hell return briefly, but a graceful way will be found to write him out of the script, just like Chuck, Richie Cunninghams older brother. OReilly is the most hated news person on the planet, but he still has his defenders. Such as the aforementioned P*ssy Grabber-in-Chief: This is why we cant have nice things: Bill OReillys ratings are soaring after the sexual harassment allegations Face facts, Fox. OReilly is a pterodactyl, like Roger Ailes. That dinosaur doesnt fly anymore in todays corporate climate. The Culture Warrior is revealed as a hypocrite, one you wouldnt trust your daughter or wife to be around. SUPREME IRONY ALERT: As Trump Defends OReilly, Fox Uses Access Hollywood Tape in Harassment Seminars Like Glenn Beck before him, Loofah Lad will not recover from the advertiser exodus, nor headlines like this: Baltimore Suns David Zurawik: Bill OReilly Is The Face Of That Sick And Predatory Culture At Fox News Angelo Carusone On CNNs Smerconish: No One Is Defending What OReilly Did Except For The Co-Presidents Of Fox News Recodes Kara Swisher: Fox News Pattern Of Sexual Harassment Clearly Has Been Going On For Years Media Matters Pam Vogel: OReillys Had A Public Track Record Of Abuse For Years, And Fox News Has Been Complicit NY Times Emily Steel: Sexual Harassment Culture Lingers At Fox Even Without Roger Ailes Meanwhile, lookie who got thrown under the bus to deflect from The Falafel King: Howard Kurtz Suggests Foxs Continuing Sexual Harassment Problems Are Roger Ailes Fault Pleasehile, Meet the People Behind the Ad Boycott of Bill OReillys Show: As of this writing, 82 advertisers have publicly withdrawn from his show, representing an estimated $37-42 million loss, says Angelo Carusone, president of the progressive nonprofit Media Matters, Mother Jones reports. Bill OReillys trouble with advertisers is in part due to a campaign jointly run by Carusone, Think Progress Editor in Chief Judd Legum, and the anonymous Twitter account Sleeping Giants, which gained a huge following shortly after Trumps election by launching a campaign to dissuade companies from advertising on Breitbart News. LONG READ: Bill OReillys World: Books, Philanthropy and Speaking Engagements MURDOCHIAN MADNESS: What will ultimately determine whether Loofah Lad will be back? The bottom line. Television is a business and this station has shareholders. Once the advertiser boycott starts to strangle profits, hes gone. Who will ultimately determine whether Loofah Lad will be back? With protests right outside the Fox moat, that will fall to the Murdoch family, which is apparently divided over their cash cow. There are reports that James Murdoch, CEO Of Fox News Parent Company, Reportedly Wants Bill OReilly Off The Air Permanently. This as Rupert Murdoch Spotlights Fox News Performance Amid Bill OReilly Controversy: As we enter this new spring season, Id like to take the opportunity to wish those celebrating, a wonderful Passover and Easter holiday. The first few months of this year have already given us much to be thankful for, said Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and chairman of Fox News, said in a memo distributed Thursday. Fox News just delivered its highest-rated quarter ever and remains number one in cable in both prime time and total day, while Fox Business has surpassed CNBC as the number one business channel on television. I am tremendously proud of our entire team and truly grateful for the hard work everyone has contributed to ensure our continued future success. Murdoch made no mention of OReilly or the contretemps surrounding the anchor. Its not just 21st Century that could take a hit: Read Attorney Lisa Blooms Letter About Fox News Toxic Culture And Why It Should Tank Murdochs Sky News Deal Murdoch Takeover Of Sky Would Undermine British Broadcasting Standards, Joint Report Shows Watch the stock tickers to divine The Falafel Kings future. ANOTHER LONG READ: The mainstream and conservative media are living in different worlds. So are those who read them Thats a question any news consumer might ask of any story: What is this, and is it bad? Yet when it came to Rice, Americans were about to see conservative and mainstream news outlets come up with two very different answers to that question a symptom of the increasing extent to which Americans often seem to live in one nation but inhabit two widely divergent realities. One version these days typically comes from Fox News and other outlets that echo the Trump White House line. A much different one can often be found on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times and the rest of the mainstream media. Well worth your time. EVIL IS AS EVIL SAYS: Read along as you watch how Fox & Friends Attacks Perks Like Clean Sheets For Immigrants In Detention Facilities: BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): The party is over for illegal criminals in jail. Get this: Theyre enjoying seven hours of outdoor activity. Who gets that anymore? Fresh sheets, and absolutely I dont get that. No need to learn English. I was born with that. But the Trump administration vowing a new plan to cut back on perks in their immigration crackdown, saying, expect a far less detailed set of regulations maybe even dirty sheets including no translation services, so learn English. [] AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Seven hours of outdoor activity, freshly washed sheets, and absolutely no need to learn English. Thats the easy life of an illegal immigrant inside American jails. But now, the Trump administration says the party is over. In another segment, Fox & Friends [lies]: America Shouldnt Help Syrian Refugees Because They Have Absolutely No Paperwork SPEAKING OF EVIL: United Airlines Incident Makes Jesse Watters Nostalgic For Trump Campaign Because Passenger Looked Like A Protester Being Dragged Out Geraldo Rivera: One Of My Favorite Things At Fox News Is Watching Bombs Drop On Bad Guys COMEDY CORNER: Throwing Fox under the bus: Channel 25 to drop Fox from newscast name WFXT general manager Tom Raponi said he believes the station has produced impartial local journalism in recent years. (WFXT was owned and operated by the Fox network until 2014, when it was acquired by Atlanta-based Cox Media Group as part of a trade involving multiple stations.) Raponi attributes the conservative perception among viewers to Fox Newss national reputation a problem compounded by an increasingly polarized political climate. The perception of what our TV news station does is not what we do. They perceive us to be part of the Fox News family, Raponi said. The Fox 25 News brand, he said, wasnt built for this environment. FOXS NEWEST SUPER PARTISAN: FFF will explore this evil man in detail in later columns, but for now: Foxs Hegseth Shrugs Off MOAB Civilian Casualties: This Is Indian Country Fox News Blames Sean Spicers Hitler Credibility Problem On Left -Stream Media I wouldnt be at all surprised if he gets Loofah Lads time slot. Headly Westerfield also writes about issues of race and inequality in Coconut Grove, Florida, for the Not Now Silly Newsroom. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) Alabamas Auburn University canceled a campus speech by Richard Spencer, a white U.S. nationalist best known for drawing Nazi-like salutes at a party to celebrate President Donald Trumps election last year, citing safety concerns. Auburn said it decided to drop Spencers visit scheduled for Tuesday evening based on legitimate concerns and credible evidence that it will jeopardize the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors. The university, located in the city of the same name in Alabama, did not elaborate on its safety concerns, and school officials could not be reached for further comment. Spencer, 38, said he was incensed over the cancellation and considered it an attack on his right to free speech. Im absolutely disgusted, Spencer told Reuters. Thats the only way to put it. Spencer, who leads the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist and nationalist think tank, said his organization paid about $700 to rent a room at the university for the speech and spent an additional $2,200 for security. Spencer said Auburn was aware of the violent threats and protests that typically follow him to his speaking engagements. When Spencer spoke at Texas A&M University in December, some 1,000 people gathered in protest. In January, he was hit in the face by a protestor during a televised interview in Washington. Auburn had been criticized on social media by students and parents who said the university was supporting hate speech by allowing Spencer to visit. In response, the university said in a statement on Wednesday that it strongly deplored Spencers views, but it would uphold his right to speak. After the cancellation, Spencer said he would give the speech at another location in Auburn on Tuesday. He did not say where. Spencer said his talk would touch on free speech issues but mainly focus on his newfound opposition to Trump. Spencer and other white nationalists soured on the Republican president after the recent U.S. bomb attacks in Syria and Afghanistan. We are a true oppositional force, Spencer said. An outspoken supporter of Trump in the 2016 campaign, Spencer rose from relative obscurity in the days after the Nov. 8 election. Widely circulated video footage showed some Trump supporters giving Nazi-style salutes to Spencer during a gathering in Washington to celebrate the Republican candidates victory. In an interview with the New York Times shortly after the incident, Trump condemned the conference organized by Spencer. (Editing by Frank McGurty and Bill Rigby) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print A California federal judge on Friday strongly questioned the U.S. Justice Department over whether to suspend an order by President Donald Trump to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities for immigrants. U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick III questioned the purpose of the presidents order as he heard arguments from two large California counties and the Justice Department in San Francisco federal court. Both counties have asked for a nationwide preliminary injunction to the order. As part of a larger plan to transform how the United States deals with immigration and national security, Trump in January signed an order targeting cities and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Sanctuary cities in general offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Sanctuary city is not an official designation. Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities, sued in February, saying Trumps plan to withhold federal funds is unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit. On Friday, the counties described the order as a weapon to cancel all funding to jurisdictions, said John Keker, an attorney representing Santa Clara County. All around the country, including here, people are having to deal with this right now. Santa Clara County receives roughly $1.7 billion in federal and federally dependent funds annually, about 35 percent of its total revenues. The county argued that every day it is owed millions of dollars of federal funding, and its budgetary planning process had been thrown into disarray by the order. The Justice Department said the counties had taken an overly broad interpretation of the presidents order, which would impact only Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security funds, a fraction of the grant money received by the counties. The government also argued that there had been no enforcement action to date, and it was unclear what actions against the counties would entail. Judge Orrick asked the government what was the purpose of an executive order, if it only impacted a small amount of county funding. Attorneys for the government said the order had highlighted issues that the Trump Administration deeply cared about and a national policy priority. To win a nationwide injunction, local governments must demonstrate a high level of harm, the Justice Department noted in court filings last month. (Reporting by Robin Respaut; additional reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Dan Grebler) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print National security expert and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson told Joy Reid today that hes had about 50 sentient years and that in all that time he has never been so concernedfor the state of this country as he is now, under Donald Trump. "I've never been so concerned, as I am now, for the state of this country & world relations"Col. Lawrence Wilkerson https://t.co/SCkhWCbFwR Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 15, 2017 Ive been on this earth for about 72 years, 50 of which you could call relatively sentient years as an adult. Ive been through the Cuban missile crisis, Ive been through the Bay of Pigs before that, the Vietnam War, the two Iraq wars and so forth. And Ive got to tell you, though, Ive never been so concerned, as I am now, for the state of this country and world relations. For a man who has seen so much, and from a much closer distance than most of us, to be so alarmed by the Donald Trump presidency is truly worrisome. As Wilkerson told The Real News Networks Paul Jay in a recent interview, the people Trump surrounds himself with, including National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, are exponents of our imperial power, and of the military instrument as a necessary component, even maybe a first component of that imperial power. Which attitude, to say the least, more than shreds the spirit of John Quincy Adams words to the House of Representatives on July 4, 1821: America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benign sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit. Donald Trumps short-on-policy and long-on-blowing-stuff-up approach to foreign affairs are like nothing the United States has seen before, but then, under Trump, the United States is no more ruler of her own spirit than the easily manipulated and influenced Trump is his. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print They asked. President Obamas top liaison to federal departments and agencies Chris Lu responded to President Trumps request for input from the public on what agencies to cut by proposing eliminating the White House. Trump is searching for a way to ostensibly make the Federal government more efficient, effective, and accountable to you, so really, Chris Lu has a point. Lu knows of what he speaks. Lu was the Deputy secretary of labor in the Obama Administration, White House cabinet secretary and assistant to President Obama, Executive director of the Obama-Biden Transition Project and Deputy chief counsel, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Want a better functioning government? Get rid of the White House. Heres his probably tongue in cheek but logical tweet: Trump wants to hear from public about which agencies to cut -Go to website https://t.co/yL8miVDjZ8 -Propose eliminating White House -Retweet pic.twitter.com/UbAzluq1mm Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) April 15, 2017 The Trump White House put this out to the public, On March 13th, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order that will make the Federal government more efficient, effective, and accountable to you, the American people. This Executive Order directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to present the President with a plan that recommends ways to reorganize the executive branch and eliminate unnecessary agencies. President Trump wants to hear your ideas and suggestions on how the government can be better organized to work for the American people. Share your ideas below by June 12th! Trumps priorities on cutting spending seem focused on cutting things that help the poor and the average American. For example, the money to cover the cost of President Trumps vacations to his private resort in Florida has to come from somewhere, and according to those monitoring his travel the $25 million that Trump has spent going to Florida would pay for 9 thousand meals on wheels for the vulnerable. Trump is also taking money from kids who are missing to cover his extra security costs. And his Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is taking millions from education to fund additional security for herself, to the tune of a million dollars a month. At the request of Elizabeth Warren and Elijah Cummings, a government watchdog committee has initiated an investigation into possible conflicts of interest, financing and foreign conflicts during President Donald Trumps transition. Based on this, just imagine the conflicts of interest happening right now in the White House, with Mar-a-Lago and Trumps properties around the world. It boggles the mind. The Trump White House is currently refusing to release the visitor logs for the White House , laughably citing grave national security risks and privacy concerns. The Trump incompetencies thus far include but are not limited to a botched Yemen raid, a failed Obamacare repeal and replace bill, a failed Muslim ban, a failed and expensive strike on Syria, threats to attack North Korea (these are walked back, denied, and then taken back at the same Trump level of fickle that is becoming the norm so its anyones guess but reads like Trump threatened and then learned, as is his way), expensive deployment of mother of all bombs in Afghanistan that also achieved nothing, and on and on the list is too long to innumerate and hes only been in office since July 19th. Donald Trump came into office knowing zilch about government, and it shows. But thats not really the problem. All presidents face a learning curve and deserve a little room to stretch and grow. Trumps problem is he doesnt think anyone else has information he should include in his decision making process. Over and over again, he demonstrates the Trump Doctrine of Act Now, Ask Later. For example, Trump accused President Obama of wiretapping him, without knowing anything about the actual wiretapping process. He only asked about that process after the press balked at his baseless accusation, and it was pointed out that if the collections were legal, that said bad things about Trump or his associates due to the requirements to obtain a FISA warrant. Reportedly, there were multiple FISA warrants on Trump adviser Carter Page, for working as an agent of a foreign government (hi, Putin!). It would certainly make the federal government more efficient, effective, and accountable to you if the Trump White House were eliminated. Of course, then we would be stuck with the Republican congress, and thats not looking too accountable to the people. But who knows. The midterms loom, and if the people get organized and refuse to be treated like serfs to the Trump family mafia style dictatorship, its possible a little sanity could be introduced back to Congress. Chris Lu with an Obama level mic drop: Eliminate the Trump White House. Hey, they asked for feedback. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print There was no other group in America that celebrated Russia and FBI director James Comeys hard work to get Trump in the White House than evangelical Christians serving the needs of the Vatican. Oh, its true corporations, Wall Street, Israel, and the military-industrial complex owe a lifelong debt of gratitude to Trumps foreign facilitators and the alt-right contingent in the FBI for putting a rubber stamp in the White House, but the religious right really celebrated they finally gained control of the government the Dominionists have lusted after for a couple of decades. While many pundits are rightly accusing Trump of using acts of war to distract Americans from his and his administrations treasonous collusion with Russia, they are missing the religious right using Trumps various scandals as a distraction from their well-laid plans to transform America into a theocracy; not that any form of media or Democratic politician would ever admit it. The latest patently religious edict nearing fruition is, as usual, targeting a womans right to control her own biological functions and a doctors right to practice medicine protecting a womans health, life and Constitutional right to self-determination. In Montana this week, the Vatican-directed personhood movement succeeded in getting a piece of religious legislation passed that makes physicians guilty of homicide if they perform an abortion; even if it is for the singular purpose of saving the womans life. Now, although there is an unwritten statute strictly forbidding ever saying anything untoward about the evangelical fanatics now running this declining nation, there is no law against citing the Christian bible to prove that the Catholic and evangelical pro-life personhood movement is an abomination before their god. This column regularly cites the immutable utterance of the bibles god almighty defining exactly when life begins, but it is worth beating that horse again. Genesis 2:7 says there is no living being until a fetus breathes air under its own power. That deitys utterance is not this Zen-Atheists opinion; it is the alleged unerring word of the Judeo-Christian god of the bible. In fact, in the very next book of the Old Testament, that same god said that if two men are fighting and accidentally cause a woman to abort or miscarry, the womans husband can impose a monetary fine on the culprit. However, if the woman is harmed, no matter how minor her injuries, the culprit must suffer the Old Testaments eye for an eye, life for a life, bruise for a bruise etc. The whole point is that even the Jewish and Christian god almighty regarded the health and life of the woman, not the fetus, worth whatever the deity deemed necessary in physical damage; the fetus, however, was valued in whatever few shekels the husband could get out of the combatant. Montanas religious Republicans disagree with the Christian bibles unerring god and wholeheartedly embrace the Vaticans Humanae Vitae dogmata prohibiting sexual activity not intended to produce the next generation of Catholic donors and adherents. Their newest religious edict, S.B. 282, is based on evangelical Republicans definition of fetal viability and prevents abortions past 24 weeks, even in cases of a medical emergency that threatens the life of the woman. The religious Republicans claim that according to S.B. 282 that if someone, likely a Baptist nurse, evangelical Republican, or Vatican bishop thinks a fetus stands a 50 percent chance of survival out of the womb, the woman will undergo a C-section by force of the religious Republican law (S.B. 282), or be subjected to evangelically-forced, induced labor. And just to make sure medical professional caring for the living woman adheres to the religious edict on pain of biblical edict; any physician who does serve the needs of the living woman will face a charge of homicide. For the record, homicide is defined by law as the killing of a living person. As noted above, even the god of the Christian bible says a fetus is not a living person; it is a fetus or an embryo. If Catholics and evangelical personhood activists had their way, a single-celled zygote, a lowly single-cell male gamete (sperm), or a female gamete (ovum), fertilized or not, would be legally considered a living person with constitutional rights superseding those of the really living woman. The religious extremist sponsoring the Montana personhood bill, Theresa Manzella (RR), is a religious zealot Senator Ted Cruz endorsed because she is a real Christian conservative. Manzella had the temerity to say out loud that she was pushing the Vaticans religious edict under the guise of Republican legislation because: It is the policy of the state to preserve and protect the lives all human beings and to provide protection for human life. As ThinkProgress Maureen Shaw right noted: Manzella and her [evangelical] conservative colleagues are leveraging S.B. 282 to advocate for (questionably) viable fetuses at the expense of (undeniably viable) pregnant women. As Ms. Shaw said, nearly all women who have later term abortions do so out of medical necessity to preserve their own life or health, not frivolity. Discounting this reality oversimplifies the complexities of such a situation and infantilizes people by confiscating their bodily autonomy. Whats more, forcing a patient to undergo a major surgical procedure like a C-section out of political [Catholic] ideology not medical necessity is dangerous and unethical. (author bold) One Montana Democrat, Representative Virginia Court failed to address the Republican intent to legislate a Vatican-inspired religious edict, but she did state the obvious: I dont think the legislature should stand in the way of a doctors ability to decide what is best for his patient. This is the right of a woman and her doctor, in the privacy of the doctors office. These decisions should be made between the two of them with open, careful, honest, truthful consults. Not by the body of the Legislature. One adds that in a nation with a 228 year-old secular Constitution prohibiting legislation establishing any religion, it is a decision that cannot be not made by an absurdly bastardized interpretation of the Christian faith; which is precisely what each and every so-called pro-life, personhood legislation is based on. But no-one is willing to admit that prescient point because telling the truth about the push to make America a Catholic theocracy is strictly verboten. The theocratic edict is heading to Governor Steve Bullocks (D) desk and it is unknown if he will sign or veto the bill. He has previously gone on record defending a womens right to choose, but that is no guarantee of anything as Democrats learned when North Carolinas newly elected Democratic Governor, Roy Cooper, betrayed his campaign promise and signed a renamed HB2 bathroom law. Keeping that betrayal in mind, Montanas Democratic Governor Bullock promised on the campaign trail that: As governor, I will defend a womens right to choice. I think these are complicated and difficult decisions, but they shouldnt be made by the government [Vatican]. They should be made by women and their doctors. These religious edicts, and thats all they ever are, are not about protecting life and the evangelical Republicans ramming their bastardized version of Christianity are becoming bold enough to say it out loud in defense of the Vaticans, and now evangelical Republicans, intent to control women. In Iowa just a week ago, another evangelical Republican said out loud during a lower chamber debate that her religious edict eliminating a womans autonomy Wasnt written for [sic] the intent to protect or govern, on the side of the woman. It was written to save babies [fetus] lives. Americans who continue to ignore the real and present danger of a Republican-imposed theocracy are playing a very dangerous game. Remember, the same kinds of religious legislation being proposed in evangelically-controlled Republican states are waiting in the wings of the House of Representatives and Senate and a bonafide theocrat is currently the vice president appointed by Trump to dictate domestic policy. Women in Montana can only hope that Governor Bullock does not betray them like Governor Roy Cooper betrayed the LGBTQ community in North Carolina. If he does break his campaign pledge, women will lose their right to control their own bodies and physicians will be forced to abandon their mandate to do no harm to their patients or face homicide charges; something even the savage god of the bible never imagined. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print As nationwide protests sweep the country demanding the release of Donald Trumps tax returns. Protesters in Washington, D.C. went beyond demanding tax returns and chanted for the President Of The United States to be locked up. NBCs Ali Vitali tweeted: At DC Tax March protesting Trump not releasing his taxes, some attendees co-opt campaign chant and shout "lock him up." Ali Vitali (@alivitali) April 15, 2017 According to Trump, nobody cares about his tax returns except for the hundreds of thousands of people around the country who are going to marching and demanding that the President make his tax returns public. The issue goes deeper than Trumps refusal to release his returns. 229 House Republicans voted to block a Democratic attempt to obtain Trumps tax returns. As with the Russia scandal, Trump is being assisted in his cover-up by Republicans in Congress. If the American people want to see Trumps tax returns, the quickest way to achieve this goal would be to vote Republicans out of Congress. The tax returns go to the heart of the Russia scandal, and the Trump familys potential conflicts of interest in the White House. The chants of lock him up in the nations capital show that people more than care. They believe this president is a criminal who should be behind bars. Russell Laffitte, a former top executive for Palmetto State Bank, faces trial this week in Charleston's U.S. District Court. He stands accused of conspiring with Alex Murdaugh to defraud the disbarred Hampton attorney's former law clients. Read moreFormer Murdaugh banker Russell Laffitte battles fraud charges on 1st day of federal trial It looks like South Carolinas first early voting general election went off really well, with more than 600,000 casting votes early, mostly in person but some by absentee ballot. That blows away pre-Election Day voting from any year except 2020, when nearly a million voters took advantage of Read moreEditorial: It's your last chance to cast your vote. We help make sure you don't blow it. University of Minnesota Rochester has enough space to start building, but campus officials have a few things to figure out before that can happen. Since it opened in 2007, the college has seen slow growth. They say they're hoping to continue that incrementally, focusing on growing and retaining about 50 additional students each year. Enrollment sits at about 650 students, which includes undergraduates and others on campus for programs through the Twin Cities campus, said John Hachtel, the college's director of communications. The college's enrollment goal is 1,000 students. With that growth rate, they could need additional space by 2020, but building a new campus on that timeline might be a bit "hasty," said John Hachtel, UMR director of communications. "To be able to building something in 2020, we're going to have to have a lot of deep conversations with the developer, potential partners and a design of space that meets everyone's needs, a governance structure for how that is shared, and that's the hard work." ADVERTISEMENT Planning for any building would be at least a three-year process, said Jay Hesley, UMR's chief of staff. The college has aggressively scooped up land in the 10-acre district downtown. While it would be possible to start parts of the plan right now, they don't have the property necessary to build the entire campus. The college now holds about 2.6 acres in the planned 10-acre district. It could acquire up to 2.8 additional privately held parcels. Another 2.7 acres is held by the YMCA, and 1.8 is city-owned right-of-way. Chancellor Stephen Lehmkuhle said they've been respectful of property owners in the area so far; "We're just waiting," he said. Perhaps one of the biggest barriers is a condominium complex, with each condo owned by a separate owner. Hachtel said acquiring that property could pose a barrier, but UMR's decided to negotiate with each owner, if it does want that property in the future. They're also excited doing this in the context of the larger Destination Medical Center development underway. "It's a neat place where we're trying to build," Lehmkuhle said. "It's the nexus between Discovery Square, the growing First Avenue and that transition into the recreation of Soldiers Field." City and community leaders say they're still supportive of the shared UMR campus downtown, and have dubbed the 10 acres the "Education District." ADVERTISEMENT "I'm excited for the future of that area," said city council member Michael Wojcik, whose district includes the proposed campus. "Frankly, most of the buildings down in that area are quite tired, and to turn that into a vibrant mixed-use educational campus would be just an incredible transformation and really be that missing piece in tying downtown to Soldiers Field Park." Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar of Apache Mall will host a Dining to Donate event Thursday, April 20, to benefit Mia Gerads and her family. Mia is a 7-year-old Rochester girl who suffers from multiple conditions including brain disorders, epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety, as well as issues with coordination, sight, speech and memory. All funds raised through the event will assist the family in paying for expenses associated with obtaining a service dog for Mia through 4 Paws for Ability. The organization seeks to assist the lives of children with disabilities by placing a quality, task-trained service dogs. Guests who present their fundraiser flyer or mention the fundraiser to an Applebee's staff when ordering will have 15 percent of their bill donated to the Gerads family. Those unable to attend can still support the family by visiting https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/samaria/samaria. ADVERTISEMENT The fundraiser runs from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Applebee's of Apache Mall is located at 320 Apache Mall, Rochester, Minn. With an estimated 200,000 Mexican citizens living in Minnesota, the Mexican Consulate in St. Paul has been busy. Aside from serving his countrymen in Minnesota, Louis Celis, the Mexican consul for economic and public affairs, said the consulate also covers needs throughout North and South Dakota and parts of Wisconsin. During an April 8 visit to Rochester, Celis said consulate staff members have seen an uptick in work in recent months, primarily since Donald Trump was elected president. Staff in St. Paul might have processed 105 documents a day in the past, but now they are seeing 120. Paperwork to register births has risen threefold. During a mobile consulate event last week, a handful of staff members processed an estimated 300 documents in the basement of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. ADVERTISEMENT Using a portable setup that looked like the Department of Motor Vehicles on steroids, staff checked existing documentation, took photos, helped complete forms and printed laminated consular identification cards, as well as passports and documentation for dual citizenship. While Celis estimates about 60 percent of Mexican citizens living in Minnesota are doing so without valid visas or other paperwork, he said consulate staff isn't concerned about immigration status. Rather, the effort is to ensure its citizens are safe and have the support they need, In Minnesota, he said, the work is easier than in other states. "We are fortunate in Minnesota," he said. "We have a very extraordinary relationship with governmental authorities." That relationship, he said, extends from the state government to cities throughout the state. "We find local authorities are very receptive," he added. The Rochester mobile consulate visit was the first of eight planned throughout four states this year. While the number of attendees appears to be growing, Celis said the number of immigrants living in the region isn't necessarily rising. He said statistics in the past four to five years show a shift in movement. "We are starting to see more people move back (to Mexico) from the last seven years," he said. DETROIT A doctor was charged Thursday with performing genital mutilation on two young Minnesota girls who traveled to Michigan with their mothers, the first federal prosecution of what the government describes as "horrifying acts of brutality." Dr. Jumana Nagarwala was arrested after the 7-year-olds identified her as the person who performed procedures on them in February at a clinic in suburban Detroit, according to the FBI. Nagarwala heard the allegations during a brief appearance in U.S. District Court and was returned to jail to await another hearing Monday. Prosecutors want to keep her locked up without bond. Defense attorney Shannon Smith declined to comment to reporters. In a court filing, the FBI said many more girls have told investigators that Nagarwala performed procedures on their genitals. "Despite her oath to care for her patients, Dr. Nagarwala is alleged to have performed horrifying acts of brutality on the most vulnerable victims," said Kenneth Blanco, acting U.S. assistant attorney general. ADVERTISEMENT Female genital mutilation of minors is illegal in the U.S. unless there's a legitimate health reason. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit said it's the first case of its kind to be prosecuted in federal court. The FBI said Nagarwala, 44, is a member of a cultural community that believes in the practice but that she denied performing it when interviewed by agents. She is charged with genital mutilation, making false statements and other crimes. A winter glove belonging to one of the 7-year-old girls was found at the Livonia clinic. The parents of that child told investigators they took her to Michigan to see Nagarwala "for a 'cleansing' of extra skin," FBI agent Kevin Swanson said. The government didn't disclose the name of the suburban clinic. Nagarwala apparently doesn't work there regularly. The World Health Organization said the practice of removing or injuring female genital organs has no known health benefits. Yet it has been performed on more than 200 million women and girls in 30 countries, according to the group. "It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children," WHO says on its website. Nagarwala, a 1998 graduate of Johns Hopkins medical school in Baltimore, has been placed on leave at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit where she is an emergency room doctor. Online records show no history of discipline by state regulators. "The alleged criminal activity did not occur at any Henry Ford facility. We would never support or condone anything related to this practice," hospital spokesman David Olejarz said. St. Paul wants to find out if non-taxable property owners, like churches and schools, would contribute to the city budget voluntarily, in lieu of street fees. The fees were substantially pared back after a legal challenge by two churches. The city collected more than $30 million in assessments last year. That's equal to nearly a third of the annual property tax levy. The fees were assessed citywide, including to nearly a third of properties that don't pay property taxes. (Minnesota Public Radio also challenged the fees.) City Council member Dai Thao said a similar program in Boston found some success and could work in St. Paul. "The conversation I have in the community is that the churches and nonprofits are, they want to participate. They want to be at the table. They want to be part of the solution and that's very promising," Thao said at a City Council meeting on Wednesday. Thao and other council members voted to ask the Citizens League to formally study the idea. A report from the league and its work group is expected in August. ADVERTISEMENT Council Member Jane Prince joined her colleagues in voting for the study. "It encourages a really robust civic discussion among taxpayers, business owners, nonprofits, for what it means for all of us to be doing our part and paying our fair share for the really vital services that we all benefit from," said Prince. The fees at issue were put in place more than a dozen years ago by then-Mayor Randy Kelly. St. Paul, as the capital city and home to the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, hosts a substantial number of nonprofits and tax-exempt institutions like schools and universities, churches and hospitals. The city wanted to include some of those properties in its annual revenue stream. The Minnesota Supreme Court, however, ruled against the city last year and said the so-called "right of way assessments" for services like snow plowing were in fact taxes and couldn't be assessed to tax-exempt properties. Samantha Power served as Americas permanent representative to the United Nations from 2013 until President Trump took office, but she made her name as the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2002 book A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. In the book Power indicted and convicted the United States of passivity in the face of genocide. The book is a polemical history. As a polemic, the book advocates the use of American power to prevent or mitigate ethnically based mass slaughters, going to back to Turkeys extermination of Armenians during and after World War I. Reading the book, one awaits Powers reconciliation of her advocacy of military action with articulation of the American national interest in some form. One waits in vain. In the words of Laura Secors laudatory New York Times review of Powers book: Self-interest trumps humanitarian concern in United States foreign policy with striking consistency, Power demonstrates. For this she won a Pulitzer Prize. I find it hard to square Powers claim to fame with her service in the Obama administration. If she were serious, she would have resigned loudly on principle somewhere along the way. The administrations actions offered many opportunities for her to put up or shut up, yet she soldiered on, making a fool of herself and of the United States in the process. Obamas farcical resolution of the issue of Syrian chemical weapons represents a good example. Here the Assad regime had shown itself to posses the means of mass slaughter and the will to use the means. The Assad regime famously crossed Obamas red line in dramatic fashion, yet Obama found the fig leaf of an excuse to do nothing real. This farce played out to tragedy with added dollops of boasting and lying sufficient to revolt a person of average sensibilities, let alone a high priestess of moral indignation such as Power. In the interest of fairness, I should add that Obamas reluctance to intervene militarily on humanitarian grounds in Syria is what one would reasonably expect from reading the book. Obama more than lived down to the history recounted by Power. Accommodating and empowering and financing the truly genocidal ambitions of the Iranian regime, however, Obama has earned a new chapter in Powers famous book if only Power would write it. If only. So what has Power had to say about the Trump administrations limited military reprisal against the Assad regime for the recent sarin gas attacks? Inquiring minds want to know. The Weekly Standards Ethan Epstein sets out to answer the question in The Power of silence. The pun in Epsteins headline spoils the plot, but the suspense isnt exactly high in this case. Epstein found that Power had maintained an unusual silence on her Twitter account following the reprisal. Epstein contacted Power by email directly for comment. Power has not responded to Epsteins inquiry. She has chosen discretion as the better part of hypocrisy, or something. But wait! Power has broken her silence. Epstein has updated his column: Power broke her Twitter silence earlier Thursday to share her excitement about teaching at Harvards Kennedy School of Government and School of Law, and to complain about reports that the U.S. anti-semitism envoys office will remain unstaffed. She has yet to tweet about the attack on Syria. NOTE: Seth Mandel gives Power the treatment she deserves in the Commentary essay The cautionary tale of Samantha Power. In GW1 (the 'honest one'), Schwarzkopf suggested use of the BLU-82 to clear Iraqi minefields. He was advised that "Everybody within 3 miles of the drop will be bleeding from every orifice of his body". Combined with suitable leaflet drops, the psychological effect on the Iraqis would be obvious.... One day we were told "Jake and Elwood will be playing the desert tomorrow!". Having no idea what that meant, it was only after the first 2 BLU-82s had been dropped that we realised that this was a reference to 'The BLUes Brothers'. They had an immediate effect on the rate of desertion, as did the B-52 attacks. The GBU-43 has an even more devastating effect as the rats holed up in their Afghan tunnels have discovered... The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, ABCON, says politicians are behind the persistent fall of the Naira. Speaking in an interview with journalists on Friday in Lagos, Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president, said the recent discovery of huge sums of money in Lagos has vindicated its members. Mr. Gwadabe said ABCON was saddened by the development, but said the real enemies of the Naira were gradually being exposed. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on Wednesday discovered about 43 million dollars, N23 million and 27 thousand Pounds sterling from a building at Ikoyi, Lagos. Amid controversy over the ownership of the money, the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, told PREMIUM TIMES the money belonged to it. But the ABCON boss said every well-meaning Nigerian had seen that the issue of depreciation of the naira was beyond the BDCs. Only God knows the quantum of money that is outside the banking sector, Mr. Gwadabe said. He said it was unacceptable for an individual or group of individuals to store such volume of money at home. According to the ABCON chief, hoarding and currency speculation was no longer profitable, urging members of the public to desist from such acts in the overall interest of the economy. He urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to critically look into developments in the banks, where unutilised foreign exchange was returned to it in spite of long queues of persons waiting to buy them. I hear that 100 million dollars was given to the banks recently and only 45 million was used. The CBN should look into the position of the banks and see how the unused foreign exchange can be earmarked for the BDCs, he said. Mr. Gwadabe, however, expressed optimism that with the spate of investigations and discoveries by security agents, the Naira would soon recover its value. Share this: Twitter Facebook Shareholders have proposed that Facebook Inc. prepare a report on the threat fake news spread on the social media poses to democracy and free speech, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt. According to a proxy filing made on Friday, which its board of directors have recommended a vote against, the shareholders also want the report to look into the dangers fake news may pose to the company itself. The proposal, which suggests the company review the issue broadly, said Facebook had provided a financial mechanism supporting fabricated content on the internet. Reuters news agency reports, Saturday, that it also includes the extent to which it blocks fake posts, how its strategies impact free speech and how it evaluates claims in posts. According to the proposal, Facebook is highly vulnerable, as fake news promoters are spamming their way to visibility for fake news through strategically gaming Facebooks algorithms and publishing platform. It added that, In light of the societal crisis generated by the explosion of fake news and related hate speech, failure to effectively manage this issue creates public policy risk. The U.S. presidential election of 2016 brought the fake news issue to the radar, as many inaccurate posts were widely shared on Facebook and other social media services. The social platform, however, said it was tackling the problem. On Thursday, more than 30,000 accounts were suspended in France, ahead of the countrys presidential election. Similarly, the media platform already has a program in France to use outside fact-checkers to combat fake news in users feeds. Meanwhile, shareholders also proposed a gender pay equality report be prepared by December, with recommendations that the company disclose the percentage pay gap between male and female employees across race and ethnicity and the policies taken to address the gap. Additionally, they want the media platform to state the methodology used to take those measures as well as targets that could be set to reduce the gap. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Rivers State Government has claimed ownership of the money uncovered in at a luxury apartment building in Ikoyi, Lagos, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Governor Nyesom Wike made the claim Friday night in Port Harcourt, the state capital, bringing a fresh twist to the controversy over the real ownership of the money $43,449,947, 27,800 and N23, 218,000 and the apartment where it was recovered by the EFCC on Wednesday. The governor said the money was part of what was stolen and warehoused in the Ikoyi house by his predecessor and current Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, from proceeds of sale of the states gas turbines to Sahara Energy. PREMIUM TIMES had earlier on Friday reported the National Intelligence Agency to have claimed ownership of the money which amounted to over N13 billion using the current CBNs exchange rate. According to security and presidency sources who spoke to this newspaper, former President Goodluck Jonathan approved the fund for the NIA after its immediate past Director General, Olaniyi Oladeji, alerted him to the need for some crucial and covert security projects scattered across the country, with the major one said to be in Lagos. The NIA, according to the National Security Agencies Act, is charged with gathering external intelligence and ensuring Nigerias security from outside. Why it is engaged in an internal security activity, getting cash for projects scattered across the country remains unexplained. Mr. Wike has now challenged the agencys claim of ownership. He also demanded that the money should be returned to his state. He gave the federal government seven-day ultimatum to return the money said to have now been deposited in the Lagos vault of the CBN or risk legal action. We have facts to prove that the said money belongs to the Rivers State Government, Mr. Wike said. The Federal Government must return our money. We are giving them seven days to return our money. Otherwise, we would take legal action to recover our money. $43million will help us complete several projects. We need that money for projects. The demand from Rivers State came after the Federal High Court in Lagos, Thursday, ordered a temporary forfeiture of the money to the federal government. But the court also said that anybody who may want to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the government should appear before it on May 5. Mr. Wike said the NIAs claim was false and suggested that it was employed by the All Progressives Congress-controlled federal government as a cover-up or face-saving mechanism. If you recollect in 2015, we said that gas turbines built by Former Governor Peter Odili were sold to Sahara Energy, business partners of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi at $319 million. That money was used to sponsor the All Progressives Congress for the 2015 general elections. From the date of sale of the gas turbines to May 29, 2015, the money depleted from $319million to $204,000. What was stashed at the Ikoyi residence was part of that fund. As I speak to you, the Federal Government is so embarrassed that this has happened. All the stories that the money belongs to the NIA are fake, the governor said. He also challenged the federal government to constitute a panel of inquiry, which should sit publicly to investigate the money, if it doubted his claim. However, Mr. Amaechi, through his media aide, David Iyofor, denied ownership of the controversial money and any apartment in Lagos, after he was first linked with the cash on Thursday. Also, Adamu Muazu, a former chairman of Mr. Wikes Peoples Democratic Party also denied link with the money but admitted he built and once owned the building which has several apartments. He said he has since sold the apartments to different occupants. Share this: Twitter Facebook At least eight people died Friday after a boat carrying about 50 traders from a local market split into two after hitting a stump in the River Niger. The boat was ferrying traders from Warra, Ngaski local government area in southern part of Kebbi State, who were returning from Malale market in Borgu local government area of Niger State. The sole administrator of Ngaski LGA, Garba Hassan, said eight people had so far died and that the toll may increase. We have mobilised local divers and additional boats to continue (with the) search and recovery of bodies. So far, we have recovered eight bodies, while survivors have been taken to hospital, many of whom have fully recovered and discharged, he said. Survivors told PREMIUM TIMES the accident occurred towards the end of the 90-minute journey at about 6:05 p.m. Friday. Hamza Dogonhaske, one of the survivors, said the boat broke into two midway after hitting a stump. He said he could confirm that four female and three male passengers died. The boat was not speeding and had attempted to make emergency turn away from the stump, he said. The wooden boat hit the stump and broke into two. Some us who know how to swim and nearby boats were able to rescue many who could not swim, Mr. Dogonhaske said. The deputy Senate leader, Bala Ibn NaAllah, who represents Kebbi South, expressed shock over the incident. I have to cancel my scheduled overseas trip and right now I am on my way to the scene of the mishap, he said. He condoled the governor of Kebbi State and the Emir of Yauri and all those who lost their loved ones. Over 40 persons died in a boat accident in the same area in September, 2013, about four kilometres offshore near Malale village in Borgu local government area of Niger State. The boat was ferrying people from Tungar Naillo from neighbouring Kebbi State to same local market in Malale, when it also hit a stump and broke into two. At least 42 dead bodies were said to have been recovered from the river. Residents said the body of the Village Head of Tungar Naillo, Garba Maigari, who was in the boat, was also missing in the waters. Share this: Twitter Facebook At least 136 are missing after a boat carrying some 150 people broke apart Friday, killing eight people. Earlier reports said the boat was carrying 50 traders from a market in Kebbi State when the accident occurred. The sole administrator of Ngaski LGA, Garba Hassan, said eight people had so far died and that the toll may increase. Survivors told PREMIUM TIMES the accident occurred towards the end of the 90-minute journey at about 6:05 p.m. Friday. Hamza Dogonhaske, one of the survivors, said the boat broke into two midway after hitting a stump. He said he could confirm that four female and three male passengers died. The boat was not speeding and had attempted to make emergency turn away from the stump, he said. The wooden boat hit the stump and broke into two. Some us who know how to swim and nearby boats were able to rescue many who could not swim, Mr. Dogonhaske said. But new details published by the News Agency of Nigeria say the boat was carrying 150 passengers returning from Malali Market in Kebbi capsized along River Niger. The coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in-charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, Sulaiman Muhammad, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ngaski on Saturday. He said that efforts were on going between fishermen and the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to rescue the missing passengers. As soon as we had got the hint of the mishap, we put a call to the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority to help rescue the missing passengers. All the people on board were missing, but as rescue and search continue wide and deep of the river intensified, 14 people have been discovered; seven died and seven have been taken to Ngaski Hospital, he said. NAN gathered that the accident occurred when the boat hit a branch of tree in the water and capsized. Ngaski Local Government Area is a two-hour journey from the river where the incident happened. (NAN). Share this: Twitter Facebook The governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has tackled the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, for criticising his response to the outbreak of meningitis in several northern states. Mr. Yari, whose state has been worst hit by the epidemic, with over 200 people killed, had told journalists that Nigerians were facing divine punishment for their sins. But speaking in Kaduna last week, Mr. Sanusi said the comment was an example of a complete failure of social policy. We are fighting culture and we are fighting civilisation, he said. For us to address social policy, we have to reclaim our religion. Dont give these kind of explanations. That is not an Islamically correct statement to make. (If) you dont have vaccines, you dont have vaccines; Go and get vaccines, the emir said. Mr. Yari responded Saturday with fury. He accused the emir of hypocrisy, and advised him to practise what he preaches or keep his peace. Read below the governors full statement signed by Ibrahim Dosara, his special adviser on public enlightenment and communication: For those who consider the emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II to be anything but a first class intellectual, a consummate banker and a bona fide member of Nigerias royalty, the last couple of weeks were a dizzying spectacle of mixed messages on integrity, royalty and wisdom. Within a perimeter of weeks, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, whose royal tentacles and social networks traverse the length and breadth of this country, lambasted the nations economic framework, the northern elite, sub-national leadership especially the governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, and the traditional institution of marriage. All frontiers that we hold so dear. With due respect to our highly revered traditional institutions and royal fathers, as a blue-blooded family member himself, Hon Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar holds the emir in very high esteem. He believes that the emir as a brother and co-occupant of elite positions in Nigeria, he could advise governors and those in positions of authority in several chains of communication that are richly available to him. But he preferred the public platform, for reasons best known to him. Governor Yari firmly believes that a country that goes to its pastors and Imams who recommend prayer and fasting as the solution to every social misfortune, from matrimonial disagreements, to social and economic complications needs to be wary of the wrath of God in the event of an epidemic of unquantifiable proportion such as Type C meningitis. And as a country that succumbs to the supremacy of Allah, we must continue to link Him with all things, fair or foul. Those who want to equate science with God, like HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, can denounce Yaris statement from the rooftops but that will not change Governor Yaris beliefs in the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence of Allah. By a certain bizarre coincidence too, like a prophesy foretold, Sheikh Mahmood Jaafar had before he was assassinated named Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as one of those whose hypocrisy would bring an epidemic of monumental proportions to this country. The tapes are very much in circulation long after Sheikh Jaafars death. He had argued in that sermon that Sanusi Lamido is one of the enemies of Islam who would assume all traits of a good Muslim but deep inside them is a hatred of Islam, and the people far beyond human imagination. Could this be a prophecy foretold? However, the emir should be aware that Allah who gives power to whoever He wills at His own time, also takes it away at the most inauspicious time. As elected officials, we are obliged to serve people just as we serve God. Within this precinct Governor Yari has done his best. As representatives of the best of our traditions, our Emirs, chiefs, kings and queens are also obliged to lead by example, show empathy, adjudicate with compassion, display wisdom and embrace the fear of God, in all they do. In this HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II is struggling. Recently, our erudite emir has been mired in several controversies, which rather than enhance his profile and the integrity of royalty, have put him very much on the spot. And the emir has put up a spirited defense of all the allegations against him. But he was not transparent enough, as he always accused officials, especially governors, to tell the public what he found in the Kano Emirate palace coffers when he ascended the exalted throne. This is the least of his peoples expectations of him. It was the first that our finest royalty would offer. Sacrifice is another attribute known to our royal fathers. But when an emir pledges to commit his hard earned resources for the face-lifting of the palace where he alone would reside and eventually transfers the burden to his impoverished subjects, there is a breach, or a problem. Late Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki, of blessed memory, used his money to rebuild the Sultans Palace in Sokoto to his taste, but until his demise, he never tendered the bill to his subjects for reimbursement. Over time, we know our traditional fathers for their compassion. When their friends from far and near offer to assist them, they would rather the assistance was given to alleviate the sufferings of their people in cash or kind. But for a traditional ruler who identifies the problems of his people and utters these words: We are in denial. The north-west and the north-east, demographically, constitute the bulk of Nigerias population, but look at human development indices, look at the number of children out of school, look at adult literacy, look at maternal mortality, look at infant mortality, look at girl-child completion rate, look at income per capita The north-east and the north-west Nigeria are among the poorest parts of the world, and yet when his friends offered help, he asks for a Rolls Royce. There is more than a fundamental problem. There is a big disconnect. Like Governor Yari has always said, his respect for our creator will never waver. He will also rue joining issues with royalty, in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. He maintains that his reverence of the institution that HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II represents is also unshaken. Hon Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar is only asking HRH to either practice what he preaches or forever keep his peace, because in a situation where epidemics are taking our children, maternal mortality, uneducated youth, social vices and incompetent leaders are the national scourge, to borrow the words of the emir, and all he wants to do is ride a Rolls Royce in the face of palpable poverty, he shouldnt engage in throwing accusations at others. Kano kingdom is an important kingdom amongst the kingdoms in Africa. It is also an important and strategic institution in the history of Nigeria. The occupants of the seat before HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II played a significant and dignified role in making Nigeria what it is today. They respected themselves. HRH should emulate his predecessors and not play to the gallery in a manner that ridicules his own heritage. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has asked the Executive not to give in but rather intensify rescue efforts for the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, in Abuja on Friday, to mark three years of abduction of the girls from Government Secondary School Chibok, Borno State, the Speaker stated that his prayers are with the parents and relations of the girls and urged Nigerians not to relent in praying for their safe return. You would recall that the House, on Tuesday, adopted yet another motion calling on the Executive to rescue our daughters who remain in captivity; this is because no matter how long ago the abduction occurred, as parents, we feel duty-bound to never let the campaign for their release fade out. The fate that has befallen our daughters is a symptom of the many challenges that the girl-child faces not only on the African continent, but around the world, and it is high time that we, as leaders, played our respective roles in protecting the girl-child and their right to education. While we commend the Military and Security agencies for their gallantry in stemming the North-East imbroglio and for rescuing thousands of captives from the dreaded Boko Haram sect, we must also, once more, reiterate the need for the remaining Chibok Girls to be freed from captivity and reunited with their families. The House will not relent in collaborative efforts in providing any form of support to the Executive and particularly the security agencies in order to achieve this. This somber moment also brings thoughts of other students who fell victim to Boko Haram to mind, such as the Buni Yadi boys who were murdered in the most gruesome manner for doing nothing but seeking education. Today, we pray that God grants all affected parents and families succour, as we keep hope alive for the return of our girls as well as other citizens still in captivity. Share this: Twitter Facebook The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido, has asked the BringBackOurGirls campaigners to expand the scope of their campaign to include others boys and girls who were also abducted by Boko Haram insurgents. He stated this on Friday in Abuja while delivering the maiden lecture organised by the group to mark the third anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok school girls. About 270 Chibok girls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents from their school, Chibok Secondary School in Borno State, on April 14, 2014. About 57 of the girls managed to escape at different times while on transit with their abductors. In October 2016, 21 of them were released following a successful negotiation between the Nigeria government and the terrorist group. Mr. Sanusi, whose lecture was delivered on his behalf by his daughter, Shahida, congratulated the BBOG led by a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, for keeping alive the struggle to free the girls but noted that they were just a fraction of the victims of the insurgency. As we remember the girls captured in Chibok three years ago, we must remember that they constitute only a fraction of the victims of this insurgency, he said. I would urge BBOG, while you keep this issue of Chibok on the table, to broaden your message to cover all girls and boys abducted by BH, and also draw attention to the condition of girls and women in our society in general. Mr. Sanusi said in Dalori 2 IDP camp near Maiduguri alone, there were over 1,500 BH-abducted girls who are either pregnant or carrying babies, who have been freed by the military. Hundreds of orphaned children are being carried away to unknown destinations and they are all gone into oblivion due to societys neglect. It is therefore critical, for the BBOG to gain much broader support in the populace and be more effective, to use the dramatic case of the Chibok girls as a referent and a plank, but not the exclusive focus of its struggle. Our interest should be in bringing back all our girls, he said. Mr. Sanusi said the elite consensus was about a culture of silence and complicity, where everyone remained in their comfort zone, and where the voiceless majority were allowed to remain where they were. He said, The argument, it seems, is why should you care about poor rural women when you are able to educate your own daughters in the best schools in the world? Why should you hold up a mirror to our faces, expose our unclean underbelly and remind us of the brutish life to which, over many decades, we have subjected a large mass of our population? Our colleagues and compatriots among the elite do not like statistics. Numbers are disturbing. I recently gave a speech in which I said the North-East and North-West of Nigeria are the poorest parts of the country. This simple statement of fact has generated so much heat the noise is yet to die down. But what really are the facts? Mr. Sanusi said he recalled that the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the UNDP in 2015 published data on the incidence of poverty in Nigeria showing that, on average, 46% of Nigerians were living in poverty. He explained that the information was based on the UNs Global Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index which focuses on Education, Health and Living Standards. Although this average is in itself bad, it masks even more serious internal inequalities and incidences of extreme poverty by region and gender, he said. So for example the South-West of Nigeria has less than 20% of its population living in poverty while the North-West has more than 80% of its population living in poverty. In the North-East the figure is 76.8%. Over 90% of the people in Yobe and Zamfara States are living in poverty compared to 8.5% in Lagos and around 11% in Osun and Anambra states. At the event, Rebecca Samuel, mother of one of the missing girls, said their parents had thought that they would be set free by their abductors within three days. She commended Mrs. Ezekwesili for ensuring that the girls were not forgotten. We have been hoping that our missing girls will return, we are also calling on every Nigerian and government to help us because we dont have the strength, she said amid tears. A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Grace Alele-Williams, who chaired the event urged the military, the police and other relevant agencies to intensify efforts to rescue the remaining 195 missing girls. What stops the Nigerian Army, Police and other relevant security agencies to rescue our missing girls? Mrs. Alele-Williams, a professor, asked. I was told that, our army troops arms were less powerful than the terrorist. Share this: Twitter Facebook President Muhammadu Buhari has again urged Nigerians to keep faith with his governments ability to change the Nigerian story. In his Easter message, the president Saturday, the president said his administration was determined as never before to continue with the fight against terrorism and insurgency; sustain the peace in the Niger Delta; and restore peace and stability in other parts of the country. I enjoin all Nigerians to keep faith in the determination and ability of this administration to change the Nigerian story for the good of all, Mr. Buhari said in a statement he signed. Read his full statement: I congratulate our Christian brothers and sisters on the celebration of this years Easter. I rejoice with you on this historic occasion signifying the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, redemption over condemnation, and hope over despair. The commemoration of this special season in Christianity, is always preceded by fasting, piety, humility, penance and prayers of intercession in the build up to the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, an event which reunited man with his Creator. The message of Easter is filled with themes of love, faith, sacrifice, dedication, commitment, fulfilment of prophecy, hope, expectation and victory, as espoused in the Scriptures and the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus Christ. As we celebrate yet another Easter, I urge all Nigerians to live peacefully with one another and do their utmost to make Nigeria a beautiful place to reside. In the almost two years of this administration, we have worked hard to meet the expectations of Nigerians by improving security, especially in the North-East, sustaining the campaign against corruption and have taken steps to revitalize the economy. We are determined as never before to continue with the fight against terrorism and insurgency; sustain the peace in the Niger Delta through engagements with stakeholders; and restore peace and stability in other parts of the country. It is in our collective interest to live in peace because without peace, no meaningful and sustainable development can take place. Lack of peace in one part affects in one way or the other, all parts of the country. Our people must rediscover the values of peaceful co-existence, social justice, religious tolerance, dignity of labour and patriotism. I enjoin all Nigerians to keep faith in the determination and ability of this administration to change the Nigerian story for the good of all. I wish all Nigerians happy Easter celebrations. MUHAMMADU BUHARI April 15, 2017 Share this: Twitter Facebook Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West, says he escaped death by the whiskers when gunmen invaded his house in the early hours of Saturday at Ayetoro-Gbede in Kogi State. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reported that the gunmen numbering about 10 arrived the house at about midnight through the bush and opened fire from different directions on the house. The house was riddled with bullets while two of the vehicles parked in the estate were damaged by the hoodlums, the agency reported. Mr. Melaye was in his country home at Ayetoro-Gbede in Ijumu Local Government Area for the Easter holiday at the time of the attack, NAN said. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, William Aya, told NAN that the police received a distress call from the senator at about 1 a.m. and immediately responded. He said the hoodlums escaped before the police arrived, thereby making arrest impossible. Mr. Aya said the Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, had set up an investigation committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations to unravel those behind the attack. On his part, Mr. Melaye said the hoodlums arrived at about midnight and started shooting sporadically at the main building in the compound. He said the shooting lasted for almost one hour, adding that apart from the building riddled with bullets, two of his vehicles were damaged. The senator said the attack was most likely due to his incessant verbal attacks on the State Government. I got a rousing welcome from Kabba to my home town on Friday and I know it angered the power that is in the state which mobilised for this assassination attempt on my life. At about midnight, we started hearing gunshots. They fired more than 200 rounds of bullet into the house. This attempt to kill me will not stop me from speaking the truth. If I speak the truth, I will die, if I lie, I will die. Ive decided to speak the truth and die. Im not afraid of death. I only respect men, I dont fear them. I am championing an administrative course. I will continue to speak and be the voice to the voiceless. Im not deterred; I remain resolute to make Kogi better. Noting will stop me from coming home. Mr. Melaye also chided the police for not responding quickly to his distress call, saying that the house of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the town was a stone thrown from the scene of the attempt on his life. The DPO did not come to my house until three hours later. Even the area Commander in Kabba was not notified until I called the Commissioner of police. I suspect a satanic collaboration between Taufiq Isa and the police in Aiyetoro because the duo held a meeting two days ago. Only God will protect us in this country but definitely not the police, he said. In a swift reaction, Isa denied having a hand in the attempt on the life of the Senator, saying that he had been busy for sometime taking care of his sick wife. Ive never been a violent man. My running battle with Dino Melaye, if any, is because I have asked him to stop vilifying the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. Let him (Dino) prove it. I lost my uncle a week ago; Im still attending to my sick wife and busy supervising the APC re- registration programmes. Im a democrat and law abiding. I challenge Dino to prove his case, he said. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook ATLANTIC CITY When state lawmakers finally agreed on a plan last spring to save the nearly broke city, officials touted early retirement buyouts as a way to cut costs without layoffs. A big help is going to be the early retirements, especially for police and fire, Mayor Don Guardian said in May about a compromise state takeover bill. I think well have 120 all together. But what Guardian hoped would be 120 buyouts could now be 120 layoffs. An Early Retirement Incentives, or ERI, program is off the table after a breakdown in negotiations with public safety unions, state officials overseeing the citys finances said recently. The state, which took over the city in November, wants to lay off 100 firefighters and 19 police officers to cut costs. The unions have sued to stop the layoffs and cuts to their compensation. What happened to the buyouts? It depends whom you ask. The citys police unions argued in Superior Court last Monday the state took away the buyouts to punish the unions for not accepting an earlier offer. The states attorney blamed union leaders for reneging on a promise to put its offer up for a vote by rank-and-file members. Guardian has another reason: The buyouts cost money, something the city and state dont have. He has said he sought state Senate President Stephen Sweeneys help to pass a bill having the state pick up some of the costs, but it could only work if the governor was going sign it. Ronald Israel, who represents Atlantic City state overseer Jeffrey Chiesa in court, referenced a possible ERI deal Monday. He said the state initially determined the buyouts were not viable, since they would cost either $23 million at once or $47 million over time. Then a lawmaker floated the idea of a bill to have the state pay the $23 million over a decade with no interest. That was something the state not the state designee, but the governor was willing to entertain, Israel said. But the unions wanted recent promotions of senior officers to count toward the buyout packages, giving them larger pensions, Israel said. That broke a deal that would have been better for union members, he said. The ERI is off the table because the governor and the Legislature are not going to agree to an ERI, Israel added. Its done. Its dead. The police unions dispute this story. Atlantic City Superior Officers Association President Frank Brennan said the union still had questions about the states offer, including whether the promotions would be included. But the state refused to meet again to clarify the details, Brennan said. And a recent statement issued by three South Jersey lawmakers suggests the Legislature, at least, is still on board with the buyouts. The best way, the fair way and the responsible way to right-size the public workforce without jeopardizing public safety is to provide incentives for early retirements, Sweeney, state Sen. Jim Whelan and Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo said in a joint statement. It is also the most effective means of alleviating long-term financial pressures on the citys budget. Brennan said the lawmakers statement shows Israel was wrong in saying the Legislature wont agree to an ERI. He said the unions believe the ERI is right and fair for all involved as it allows millions in savings while minimizing harsh, severe cuts at the Police Department. It should be included as the legislation intended, Brennan said. Senate President Sweeney, Senator Whelan and Assemblyman Mazzeo confirmed this unequivocally in their statement. While Sweeney, Whelan and Mazzeo may want the state to use buyouts, the bill they sponsored essentially lets the state do whatever it wants. The takeover law gave state authority to fire workers and break union contracts, among many other powers. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Affairs said the city cannot afford an ERI without a tax increase. While the takeover law allowed for an ERI, it was silent about how to finance the incentive, DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said. The state appears to be the only source of funds, she added. It is thus off the table and we stand by our statements in court. CAPE MAY The sea is too rough to sink a ship. Rough seas have delayed the intentional sinking of the famed Coast Guard ship Tamaroa, which was scheduled to become an artificial reef 26 miles off the South Jersey coast Tuesday. The 74-year-old ship was featured heavily in the book and film The Perfect Storm and is the last surviving vessel from the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. A rescheduled date for the sinking has not been set. The earliest it could happen is late this week, state officials said Monday. The 205-foot Tamaroa, which served the Navy under the name Zuni during World War II, will become part of the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Artificial Reef. The Coast Guard decommissioned the boat in 1994. Three years earlier, the ships crew saved seven people during two rescue missions near Massachusetts. The events formed the basis for The Perfect Storm. Artificial reefs are used to attract fish, and subsequently fishermen and divers. All manner of vessels have been used as reefs over the years, including a 1901 steamboat that later served as a floating Hooters restaurant on the Philadelphia waterfront and stainless steel New York City Transit Authority subway cars. The states artificial reef program returned last year after a five-year hiatus prompted by the federal governments concern commercial fishermen were impeding recreational anglers on the reefs. Delaware officials said Wednesday the Tamaroa had been cleared for deployment after inspections by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard. Initially, officials from Delaware and New Jersey had said they were expecting to sink the vessel before the end of last year. Work had to be done on the ship to remove interior paneling and insulation and to empty and clean the vessel of all fuel and fluids, according to a statement from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, which is the lead agency in the deployment. Other military ships have been deployed at the Del-Jersey-Land reef, including the SS Arthur W. Radford, the Gregory Poole and the Shearwater, according to the DNREC. Artificial reefs attract wildlife and become hubs for fishermen and divers, DEP spokesman Larry Hajna told The Press of Atlantic City in October. They allow a surface for barnacles, mussels and sea stars to attach themselves to, Hajna said. They, in turn, attract smaller fish that will sort of peck away at them. ATLANTIC CITY A pair of farmers markets will return to the resort in June, organizer Mark Bolner said. One will be open Thursdays at Center City Park, North Carolina and Atlantic avenues. Another will be Sundays near the Boardwalk at Bartram Avenue. Both will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Bolner said. The farm-to-table markets ceremonial opening at 9 a.m. June 15 at Center City Park will include Mayor Don Guardian and others, Bolner said. He said the markets will be open through Sept. 15. Bolner, a vendor who operates Magilla Gorilla Sweet Treats, kept the Bartram Avenue market alive last year after the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority cancelled the events funding. The CRDA seems to have lost its focus on not only promoting large events for the tourism industry, but also promoting these types of events that provide a service to the community, locals and tourists alike, Bolner said Saturday. We thank them and hope they can support our efforts this coming season, he added. Bolner said several vendors have committed to returning this summer, including Boardwalk Beans, Busy Bees Honey and Monteleone Farms. Atlantic City is considered a food desert because it is an urban area that lacks large, nearby grocery stores even though there are more than 400 farms and 29,479 acres of farmland in Atlantic County, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Im not sure how much the locals know about the market on Thursday, said Bolner, adding he has been working to increase the markets visibility. The Farmers Market Committee is looking for additional vendors and sponsors, and bands looking to play at the Center City Park market. For more information, call 609-226-9323. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service is warning residents that spring wildfire season is getting underway, and people need to use caution. The NJFFS said 99 percent of wildfires are caused by people through accidents, carelessness, negligence or arson. Extra vigilance is vital to reduce the risk at this time of year, when weather and other factors are friendly to wildfires. In Atlantic City, no buyouts may mean layoffs ATLANTIC CITY When state lawmakers finally agreed on a plan last spring to save the nearly The beginning of wildfire season can vary from year to year, depending on weather conditions, Forest Fire Service Chief Bill Edwards said in a news release Thursday. This year we are off to a somewhat earlier start, because the winter became drier and warmer than normal as we progressed into late February. We cannot stress enough that a moment of carelessness can lead to wildfires that can place properties and lives at risk. The risk of wildfire is increased by springs dry, warm, windy weather, especially now, when trees and shrubs have not fully leafed out, the NJFFS said. Fallen trees, dormant plants, and leaf and pine needle litter on the ground dry out quickly and ignite easily, fueling wildfires that can threaten property. All of New Jersey currently is at moderate risk of wildfires, the NJFFS said. Fire risks go up as homes are built in wooded areas, the NJFFS said. The Pine Barrens are particularly vulnerable, due to the predominant tree and shrub species and how quickly the porous, sandy soil dries out after rains, the NJFFS said. Most wildfires are preventable, and people are asked to follow these guidelines to reduce fire risk: Use ashtrays in vehicles. Discarding cigarettes, matches and smoking materials on the ground is against the law. Permits are required for campfires. Dont leave fires unattended. Douse them completely when finished. Keep matches and lighters away from children, and teach them about fire dangers. People living in wooded areas should clear vegetation within at least 30 feet of structures to maintain a defensible buffer zone. Make sure driveways are accessible to firetrucks. Pinelands property owners are strongly urged to keep at least 100 feet of defensible space around structures areas kept clear of vegetation that burns easily, fallen leaves, pine needles, twigs and branches. Report suspicious vehicles and people to authorities. Be careful with wood stoves and fireplaces, as both can emit embers that set off spark fires. Fully douse ashes with water before disposal. The NJFFS works to prevent wildfires year-round through public outreach and education efforts, maintenance of fire breaks and prescribed burns. This past winter and spring, the NJFFS did prescribed burns on more than 15,000 acres of woods and grasslands. These burns reduce fire risks and keep forests healthy by burning away litter and dense undergrowth while weather conditions are favorable. For more information on wildfire safety, prevention, tips to protect homes, and current conditions, see njwildfire.org. Obama didnt blame Bush I do not remember President Barack Obama blaming his predecessor, President George W. Bush, for any of the problems he inherited when taking office. President Donald Trumps business brand claims to be first class. However his constant whining of present day problems being inherited from Obama is classless. Ed Dean Somers Point Fund renewable energy I was struck by the ironic juxtaposition of two Jan. 23 articles, Winds of change in D.C. may hinder renewables and OPEC, nations close to cut goal. The first examined the Trump administrations anticipated disassembling of supports for renewable energy. The second was an update on how OPEC and other nations were succeeding in propping up the price of crude oil by restricting production (thus trying to guarantee their profits at others expense). After I stopped laughing at the proximity of the articles, I realized that these are exactly why people must resist all efforts to damage, rein in or cease support for the renewable energy industry. Now, in the 21st century, the U.S. is on the cusp of creating an energy infrastructure based more on cleaner renewable energy than on carbon-polluting fossil fuels. Now is exactly not the time to reduce support of renewable energy, be it solar, wind, tidal etc. Indeed, now is precisely the time to maintain and increase that support. The federal administration is clearly on the wrong road when it pursues rolling back supports for renewables, and trying to revive the dying coal, oil and nuclear industries. People must resist efforts at both the federal and state levels that reduce support for New Jerseys homegrown energy efforts. More should be done to make every possible rooftop a net producer of energy, and finally implement a fully decentralized, collaborative energy grid. Daniel T. Bachalis Hammonton Power plan aids health Regarding the April 5 commentary by Jay Ambrose, Obamas costly power plan all pain, no climate gain: I was extremely disappointed in this misleading, half-truth opinion piece on the Clean Power Plan that President Trump is planning to scrap. This plan is just one part of an entire comprehensive strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as laid out after the Paris Accord to fight global warming. What Ambrose failed to mention was that one of the main goals of the Clean Power Plan is to reduce carbon pollutants that cause soot and smog that harm the health of citizens. This would include fewer asthma attacks, fewer premature deaths and fewer heart attacks. Ambrose conveniently does not even mention the health benefits of this bill, which will result in fewer missed work and school days and less medical intervention resulting in billions of dollars in savings. He does mention the reduction in coal jobs an industry that has been shrinking for years primarily due to cheap natural gas and falling renewable energy costs. This plan would not change those major market factors. Mary Crawford Galloway Township HELENA An East Helena man has been sentenced to 135 months in prison and lifetime supervised release for possessing child pornography. Richard Charles Saari, 33, pleaded guilty in November to receiving child pornography, and he was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Charles C. Lovell in Helena. A Helena Police Department investigation launched in August 2015 found that Saari had enticed an underage girl he met online to send him sexually explicit images of herself via cellphone, a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Offices says. Officials later seized an electronic storage device from Saaris East Helena home, which contained sexually explicit images of at least 11 girls under age 18. Authorities believe he received the images between approximately December 2013 and September 2015, the release says. The Helena, Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force works tirelessly to ensure communities are safe from offenders who prey on our children, Federal Bureau of Investigation Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Rick Shelbourn said in the release. This case reflects the success of that collaborative effort and the commitment to protect societys most vulnerable from those who exploit them. Saari will likely serve his entire prison sentence because there is no parole in the federal system, the release says. However, he will have the opportunity to earn a 15 percent sentence reduction for good behavior. Saari is also required to pay a $100 special assessment and a $5,000 assessment for the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Helena Police Department, the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Lewis and Clark County Sheriffs Office, East Helena Police Department, DHS-Homeland Security Investigation and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. NEW ORLEANS, April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Omega Protein Corporation (NYSE: OME). On March 1, 2017, Omega Protein revealed that in December 2016 it received a subpoena from the SEC related to an investigation of an Omega Protein subsidiary's compliance with its probation terms and the company's protection of whistleblower employees. Omega Protein further disclosed that the investigation could result in a material adverse effect on its business, reputation, results of operation, and financial condition. Thereafter, Omega Protein and certain of its executives were sued in a class action lawsuit, charging them with violations of federal securities laws. KSF's investigation is focusing on whether Omega Protein's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to its shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Omega Protein shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]). About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. Contact: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner [email protected] 1-877-515-1850 206 Covington St. Madisonville, LA 70447 SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Related Links http://www.ksfcounsel.com LONG ISLAND, N.Y., April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The renowned husband and wife team of 'the Pitres,' who provide world class photography experiences, have done it again. They have taken over Easter with their Storybook Experiences. Their Easter Egg-Perience has been a massive success, with families and children coming from all over from New Jersey, Westchester, and Connecticut, to Boston, Florida, California, and Detroit to be a part of it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience that families are lining up for. The kids just cannot get enough of it. They get to meet the Easter Bunny in a personal way and have it captured to last a lifetime. The experience has been so popular that News 12 and even Mommy Poppins featured it. Kristen Pitre established a photography studio in 2012 out of passion and started the 'Santa Experience' in 2014 by creating one-on-one photo sessions with Santa. She wanted families to have photos with the old Norman Rockwell look and the real traditional Christmas experience. After the massive success of those experiences, this lead to the Storybook Experience we all know and love today and the topical Easter Egg-perience. Thousands of happy children and parents have attested to the one-of-a-kind sessions hosted by Storybook Experiences. They truly love the opportunity they get to create memories that are sure to last a lifetime. Storybook Experiences hosts all its events in the company's newly acquired West Islip building, located at 475 Montauk Highway to accommodate the ever-increasing demand for event participation. And they just announced they are opening a second location in Nassau county! For more information please visit www.storybookexperiences.com Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_4bX41HRiE This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Storybook Experiences BOSTON, April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- An Istanbul court on April 12 ordered the acquittal of the 13 remaining defendants in the Odatv case. A fourteenth defendant, Kasif Kozinoglu, who had been a senior intelligence officer at MIT, died while in custody. Odatv runs one of the most-popular news websites in Turkey and has a reputation for being critical of both the current government and its former allies associated with the Gulen movement. The Odatv defendants were accused of supporting the Ergenekon terrorist organization, an alleged secularist "deep state" in Turkey with ties to the military, academia, NGOs, and the media. Ergenekon's supporters were charged with plotting to overthrow the Turkish government. What did Arsenal Consulting's (ArsenalExperts.com) digital forensics reveal? Arsenal's rigorous analysis of electronic evidence in the Odatv case revealed evidence tampering that was missed, ignored, or misunderstood by many other digital forensics experts. Arsenal used a combination of techniques and tools developed in-house to determine how attackers placed crucial documents on Odatv journalists Bars Pehlivan and Muyesser Yldz's computers without their knowledge. In addition, Arsenal used the "Anchors in Relative Time" analysis technique to identify the remote access trojan Ahtapot - which had never been seen before or since in the wild. Finally, Arsenal determined that the attackers sent 420 emails in the operation targeting Odatv, but only 24 emails have been recovered from Mr. Pehlivan and Ms. Yldz - leaving 396 (likely weaponized) emails and an unknown number of additional victims still unaccounted for. What is Odatv defendant and investigative journalist Bars Pehlivan saying? "I am a journalist who spent 19 months in jail due to a conspiracy organized by a gang within the state of the Turkish Republic. Arsenal uncovered the fraudulent activity of this illegal organization, which imprisoned me by planting files on my computer. It assisted in my acquittal thanks to its detailed forensic analyses and extraordinary efforts. I thank Arsenal for once more proving that science will defeat lies." Are there lessons to be learned from Arsenal's digital forensics? When the stakes are high enough, digital forensics practitioners ought not be surprised that all the relevant timestamps within evidence have been forged. They should also be aware that merely determining malware was present within evidence is not enough to answer serious questions - to the best extent possible, they need to establish whether the malware was operational and what it actually did. Did anyone stand up with Arsenal during the Odatv trial? "I would like to thank a small group of people and companies who helped us, publicly or privately, when many others failed to - even after being made aware of the gravity of the situation," said Arsenal President Mark Spencer. "The people we owe a great deal of thanks include Gabor Szappanos, who helped us rip apart malware, and Joakim Schicht and Olof Lagerkvist, who helped us build and improve digital forensics tools." How can people learn more about Arsenal's work? A case study related to Arsenal's work in the Odatv case is in development on the Arsenal website at https://ArsenalExperts.com/Case-Studies/Odatv/. About Mark Spencer Mark Spencer is President of Arsenal Consulting, where he leads engagements involving digital forensics for law firms, corporations, and government agencies. Mark is also President of Arsenal Recon, where he guides development of digital forensics tools. Mark has more than 15 years of law-enforcement and private-sector digital forensics experience. He has led the Arsenal team on many high-profile and high-stakes cases, from allegations of intellectual property theft and evidence spoliation to support of foreign terrorist organizations and military-coup planning. Arsenal is headquartered in the Chelsea Naval Magazine, a historic military structure in which arms for the famous heavy frigate USS Constitution were stored, just outside Boston, Massachusetts. Contact: Mark Spencer [email protected] Photos: https://www.prlog.org/12633407 Press release distributed by PRLog SOURCE Arsenal Consulting, Inc. Montanas program to detect and stop the spread of aquatic invasive species goes fully operational today with regulations in place and staff ready to inspect, and if necessary, decontaminate watercraft. About 75 Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks seasonal employees were trained in Helena this week on operating inspection stations and power washers that spray hot enough to kill a major threat to the states waters: invasive aquatic mussels. By and large, the people Ive talked to have been really supportive and understanding of what were doing, said Greg Lemon with FWP. Everything comes back to the Clean, Drain, Dry campaign. That cup of water left in a ballast or live well is just not acceptable this year. For the first time in the Northwest, larvae from either zebra or quagga mussels were detected in Montana last year. A confirmed sample at Tiber Reservoir and suspected hit at Canyon Ferry Reservoir trigged a governors emergency declaration. Once established the mussels quickly spread, covering any hard surface and clogging infrastructure, adding clean-out costs for dams, municipal water and irrigators. As plankton feeders, the mollusks send ripple effects up the food chain negatively impacting aquatic life. There is no known way to control the mussels once established. Costs in the Great Lakes where populations have thrived exceed $5 billion in a 10-year period. The estimated annual cost to the currently mussel-free Columbia River basin is $500 million. With Montana now considered a source-state for mussels, the state including FWP and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation stood up a program aimed at stopping the spread. The program includes doubling the number of watercraft inspection stations across the state, mandatory decontamination at Tiber and Canyon Ferry and mandatory inspection for all out-of-state watercraft. Mussels attached to boats or microscopic larvae living in standing water is a main means of unwittingly spreading invasives. The states program includes the hiring of 180 seasonal employees as watercraft inspectors. About 350 people applied for the positions, Lemon said, and trainings like the one at Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds walked those on the front lines through techniques and safety. Not all watercraft is the same and inspectors will spend more time with complex boats containing interworkings that could hide standing water. Sometimes a decontamination is as simple as an inspection, he said. If boaters practice Clean, Drain, Dry, that will make it a whole lot easier to go through than the full decon, which could average 30 minutes. I think the smart boater this year will have a towel and have all the standing water gone when they get off the water. If a boat does come through inspection with mud or vegetation attached, thats when staff will likely decontaminate with the pressure washer, he said. Water hitting a scalding 140 degrees will kill mussels and larvae, including flushing pumps or ballasts. In the most extreme cases, the motors cooling system will need to be flushed. Mussels are not the only target of the inspections, as exotic aquatic plants are easily transported attached to boats. While more than 30 inspection stations open Saturday, some roadside stations at places such as Clearwater Junction have operated since February. Tiber and Canyon Ferry decontamination stations have also been in place since ice-off, Lemon said. Launches are either designated for all boats or for local boaters only. Those who plan to only boat Tiber or Canyon Ferry may sign up for the local boater decal. Once certified, local boaters need not decontaminate their boats each time they leave the water, but must still stop at inspection stations. Ramps currently open to all boaters on Tiber are located at Tiber Marina and the VFW ramp. All boaters may currently launch on Canyon Ferry at the Silos on the southwest side and Shannon near the dam. As boat traffic picks up, plans call for opening additional ramps to all boaters funneled to designated decontamination stations, Lemon said. More information, including reservoir maps and open ramps, as well as local boater certification, is available at musselresponse.mt.gov. The necropsy logistics were organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and overseen by NOAA Fisheries. The examination team was led by Bill McLellan from University of North Carolina Wilmington and included stranding response experts from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, Marine Mammals of Maine, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, Center for Coastal Studies, New England Aquarium, Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife, and University of New Hampshire. "It's really worrisome to know that another young right whale has died in our waters," said Misty Niemeyer, Necropsy Coordinator for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "As an endangered species of approximately 500 individuals, every animal is important for the survival of the population. We need to learn as much as we can from her tragic death and gain valuable insight in hopes to further protect the species." The young whale was a female, and was approximately 27 feet long. She has been identified as a one-year old offspring of Eg#4094 from the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog born in 2016. "It's very difficult to lose one of our endangered North Atlantic right whales, but it's important for us to use this tragedy as a means to stay vigilant in our efforts to recover the species," says Kim Damon-Randall, assistant regional administrator for protected resources at NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region. "We'll analyze the samples taken from the whale for disease, biotoxins, histology, genetics, and life history information. This will provide a glimpse into the life and death of this whale, which will contribute to our efforts to protect other whales in the population." Preliminary findings of bruising were consistent with blunt trauma. There was no evidence of entanglement. Final diagnosis is pending ancillary laboratory tests that can take weeks or months. There have been a record high number of endangered right whales observed in Cape Cod Bay over the past few weeks, and over 100 whales were observed last weekend during an aerial survey research project. We urge vessels of all sizes to keep a close look out for right whales at all times and to travel slowly to help prevent injury to both whales and people. Right whales skim the water surface to feed or hang just below the surface and are difficult to see. They can grow to 50 feet in length and weigh up to 55 tons, so they are large animals that need space. Look for blows, ripples in the water, and patches of plankton--these are often signs that whales are in the area. Vessels and aircraft are required to maintain a distance of 500 yards from right whales. We encourage everyone to take this opportunity to view the right whales from local Cape Cod beaches, including Race Point Beach. More information on right whales, and how to report sightings, is on NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region's website. About NOAA NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. About IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) Founded in 1969, IFAW rescues and protects animals around the world. With projects in more than 40 countries, IFAW rescues individual animals, works to prevent cruelty to animals, and advocates for the protection of wildlife and habitats. For more information, visit www.ifaw.org. Follow us on social @action4ifaw and Facebook/IFAW. SOURCE International Fund for Animal Welfare Related Links http://www.ifaw.org NEW ORLEANS, April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE: USPH). On March 16, 2017, U.S. Physical Therapy revealed an accounting error related to "the Company's historical accounting for redeemable non-controlling interests of acquired partnerships due to the fact that those partnership agreements contain a provision that makes the non-controlling interests mandatorily redeemable and, thus incorrectly classified." The Company further stated that "this error will result in the reporting of a material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting" requiring "the restatement of previously issued financial statements." Thereafter, U.S. Physical Therapy and certain of its executives were sued in a class action lawsuit, charging them with violations of federal securities laws. KSF's investigation is focusing on whether U.S. Physical Therapy's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to its shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of U.S. Physical Therapy shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]). About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. Contact: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner [email protected] 1-877-515-1850 206 Covington St. Madisonville, LA 70447 SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Related Links http://www.ksfcounsel.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fedora Update Notification FEDORA-2017-5a01498b4b 2017-04-14 17:18:44.531876 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name : proftpd Product : Fedora 26 Version : 1.3.5e Release : 1.fc26 URL : http://www.proftpd.org/ Summary : Flexible, stable and highly-configurable FTP server Description : ProFTPD is an enhanced FTP server with a focus toward simplicity, security, and ease of configuration. It features a very Apache-like configuration syntax, and a highly customizable server infrastructure, including support for multiple 'virtual' FTP servers, anonymous FTP, and permission-based directory visibility. This package defaults to the standalone behavior of ProFTPD, but all the needed scripts to have it run by systemd instead are included. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update Information: Current upstream maintenance release for the 1.3.5 series. Includes fix for CVE-2017-7418, where not all path elements were checked for symlinks when using a chroot, so attackers with local access could bypass the AllowChrootSymlinks control by replacing a path component (other than the last one) with a symbolic link. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- References: [ 1 ] Bug #1439693 - CVE-2017-7418 proftpd: AllowChrootSymlinks control bypass https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1439693 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This update can be installed with the "dnf" update program. Use su -c 'dnf upgrade proftpd' at the command line. For more information, refer to the dnf documentation available at http://dnf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/command_ref.html#upgrade-command-label All packages are signed with the Fedora Project GPG key. More details on the GPG keys used by the Fedora Project can be found at https://fedoraproject.org/keys ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - _______________________________________________ package-announce mailing list -- package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe send an email to package-announce-leave@lists.fedoraproject.org BILLINGS Planned Parenthood of Montana said it will not be negatively impacted by President Donald Trumps approval Thursday of law allowing states to deny federal family planning to health clinics that also offer abortion. At issue is federal Title X funding for womens health services. Through states, health clinics receive federal funding for family planning services, including contraception, fertility, pregnancy care, breast and cervical cancer screening, sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. The money cannot be used for abortion services. However, anti-abortion groups have argued that any federal subsidy to a clinic that provides abortion helps keep the clinic open and therefore makes abortion services available. These groups oppose a womens constitutional right to decide personal health matters, including abortion, under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Thats not the reality of womens health care at Planned Parenthood of Montana, said PPM President and CEO Martha Stahl. Womens health services, like contraception and family planning, are important in preventing unintended pregnancies, she said. Its really important to point out that the Title X program is one of the best ways in the country that we have for women getting health care and birth control, which reduces the number of unintended pregnancies and reducing the number of abortions, Stahl said. Planned Parenthood is the nations largest womens health network and receives roughly $500 million a year from the federal government for services other than abortion, for which it receives no federal funding. Planned Parenthood reported that in 2013 abortion accounted for 3 percent of the 10.6 million services provided to women that year. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, does not support denying Title X funding to health clinics that provide abortion. And the Montana Legislature voted in 2015 to set federal Title X money aside so it wouldnt be at play when lawmakers debate general funding levels for state government. The 2015 move took the politics out of Title X funding at the state level. Trump's action erases a rule, finalized shortly before President Barack Obama left office in January, that said states could not block the money. It's the latest Obama regulation that Trump has overturned. The rule tossed out by Trump required state and local governments to distribute federal dollars for family planning services regardless of whether the clinic receiving funding provided abortion services. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, said the change will lead to better care for women and girls. She said the law "simply ensures that states are not forced to fund an abortion business with taxpayer dollars." She said states will now have the option to spend federal family planning funds on comprehensive health care clinics. Stahl said Trumps actions confirmed the fears of women who marched the day after his inauguration because they were concerned about political attacks on womens health rights. People are sick and tired of politicians making it even harder for them to access health care, and this bill is just the latest example, Stahl said. Four million people depend on the Title X family planning program, and by signing this bill, President Trump disregards their health and well-being. We should build on the tremendous progress made in this country with expanded access to birth control, instead of enacting policies that take us backwards. Too many women still face barriers to health care, especially young women, women of color, those who live in rural areas, and women with low incomes. 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 Jaipur, April 13 : The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday took early lead over the Congress in Rajasthan's Dholpur Assembly as counting began for the by-poll that was held on April 9. By-election for this seat was necessitated after Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Banwari Lal Kushavah was disqualified as he was convicted in a murder case in 2016. BJP's Shobha Rani Kushavah, wife of the convicted BSP leader, was leading by a margin of more than 2,100 votes over Congress' Banwari Lal Sharma, a former minister. In all, 15 candidates were in the fray here. The by-poll is a prestige issue for both the Congress and the ruling BJP, and it can be gauged from the fact that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje herself, with BJP state President Ashok Parnami and her cabinet colleagues, have spent days in the constituency to woo voters. Similar was the case with the Congress whose senior leaders, including state President Sachin Pilot, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and leader of opposition in the state assembly Rameshwar Dudi, campaigned extensively in the constituency to garner votes for their candidate. In the 2013 assembly elections, the Congress suffered one of its worst defeats in the history of the state, winning only 21 of the 200 assembly seats. The BJP swept the polls, winning 163 seats. The BJP presently has a strength of 160 and Congress 24 in the House. Kabul, April 13 : At least 10 Taliban militants were killed during an ongoing military operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a military statement said on Thursday. "Over the last 24 hours, 10 militants were killed and 14 others wounded during a military operation codenamed Maiwand 5 after Afghan security forces made advances in Aynak area," the statement said. Among the victims was a local Taliban leader named Zia-ul-Haq, Xinhua news agency reported. "The security forces also found 54 landmines and roadside bombs and the operation will continue before the area is cleared off militants," the statement added. Wellington, April 13 : Evacuations were underway in New Zealand's North Island on Thursday as Cyclone Cook is scheduled to hit Bay of Plenty with full force, the media reported. People in low-lying areas of Tauranga were asked to evacuate before it got dark, Radio New Zealand reported. The Whakatane district council earlier asked people in Ohope's West End to leave their homes due to the risk of extreme storm surges and coastal inundation. The storm is due to make landfall later in the day over Bay of Plenty. Officials have warned of high waves, storm surges and landslides. It is expected to bring torrential rain and winds gusting at up to 150 km per hour, and has been classified as an extra-tropical cyclone. It will then move to the South Island early Friday, reports the BBC. Hundreds of homes in Bay of Plenty were without power, with more than 800 properties in Tauranga affected and 170 more in Waihi. Parts of the North Island are now under a state of emergency, with residents in the low-lying parts of Coromandel, which has already seen landslides and closed roads, being told to leave immediately. New Zealand weather officials say that Cyclone Cook will be the worst to hit the country since 1968. Thiruvananthapuram, April 13 : Leaders of the CPI -- the second largest party in the ruling Left Democratic Front goverment in Kerala -- on Thursday expressed unhappiness at a party executive meeting here over the state government's functioning. Communist Party of India Secretary Kanam Rajendran too expressed his unhappiness over the functioning of the Pinarayi Vijayan government during his media interaction after the party meeting. During the daylong meeting, various CPI leaders went hammer and tongs against what they said was the way the Kerala government under Vijayan is handling various issues. Rajendran first took on CPI-Marxist politburo member Prakash Karat, who last week reminded the CPI Kerala unit that it is still part of the LDF government and not in the opposition. Karat said the CPI-M will take up the statements against the government by some CPI state leaders with the CPI central leadership. "We are prepared for a discussion. The CPI-M just needs to intimate us the date for the discussions," Rajendran told reporters. "We will always play the role of a corrective force. We wish to remind him... that we have not taken up the opposition role... we are only concerned to see that the views of the Left are implemented," Rajendran said. Rajendran expressed displeasure against Vijayan and two senior party colleagues -- Power Minister M.M. Mani and E.P. Jayarajan -- who last week criticised Rajendran on the issue of alleged police excesses. "Neither I nor my party has created any controversy on any issue. It should be looked into by those who create it," said Rajendran while responding to a query on controversies in the past 10 months after the Vijayan government assumed office. Washington, April 14 : Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo has slammed whistleblowing agency WikiLeaks, calling the organisation a "non-state hostile intelligence service". In his first major public appearance since taking the top intelligence post in President Donald Trump's administration, Pompeo on Thursday took aim at WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked confidential information about NSA surveillance to news outlets before seeking refuge in Russia, The Hill magazine reported. "It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia," he said. Pompeo said disclosures by Assange and Snowden have done "great harm to our nation's national security and they will continue to do so in the long term", adding that the revelations have hurt the US's relations with foreign partners. The Trump administration has been publicly critical of WikiLeaks since inauguration, even though the President staunchly backed them as a candidate, reports the magazine. WikiLeaks targeted Trump's opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, throughout the presidential campaign, publishing hacked emails from her campaign chairman and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that led to damaging leaks. Trump declared on the campaign trail, "I love WikiLeaks". On Thursday, Pompeo cited the intelligence community's January report concluding that the GRU, Russia's foreign military intelligence unit, used WikiLeaks to release hacked emails from the DNC to influence the presidential election. Pompeo called Assange "a fraud, a coward hiding behind a screen", skewering him for exposing information about democratic governments rather than authoritarian regimes. Last month, WikiLeaks published purported CIA hacking tools in a series of releases called "Vault 7". Experts have largely described the content of the releases as unsurprising, noting that WikiLeaks has exaggerated what they reveal. But the releases have nevertheless inflamed the debate over government surveillance. Pompeo did not comment on specifically on those releases on Thursday, but underscored the CIA's job as a foreign intelligence agency, not an organisation that targets Americans. "We are not tapping anyone's phone in my home town of Wichita," The Hill magazine quoted Pompeo as saying. He also accused Snowden of committing "treason" by leaking top-secret NSA files, adding that his disclosures have made it more difficult for US intelligence agencies to track terrorists and given them tools to hide in "digital forests". "He was no whistleblower," Pompeo added. This illustrated cartographic history of India\'s capital is perhaps the first book of its kind that provides a comprehensive and engaging overview of mapping in Delhi. Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, April 14 : A scholar set off from her native Milan to research on Delhi's pre and post-Independence architecture and planning (1912-1962) for her doctoral thesis. The upshot? Arugably the first book that provides a comprehensive and engaging overview of mapping in the national capital from the 19th century all the way up to the Master Plan for 2021. "Maps of Delhi" (Niyogi Books/Rs 4,500/392 pages), it is authored by Pilar Maria Guerrieri, who has conducted extensive research into European and Indian cultures, the development of megacities, and the effects of cultural exchanges, with a primary focus on pre- and post-Independence Delhi. On arriving here, she soon came to realise that there was much confusion on the subject in academia and elsewhere and thus began looking for primary sosurces to fill this gap. "While I was searching specifically for the pre and post independence maps in several Indian archives and institutions, I slowly found and collected all the other documents. At the end of my PhD I realised that if I had the complete collection of maps at the beginning of my studies, my research would have been much more easier and smoother. I decided to publish the whole collection with the aim that it will turn to be useful for scholars interested in understanding the capital of India," Guerrieri told IANS in an interview. Visually stunning and equally informative, it is the first organised collection of Delhi's maps, containing a chronology of magnificent ancient and modern hand-drawings as well as digital maps of the city. "The process of finding the maps has been an incredible life experience. Took a very long time to collect, select and put in order all the maps scattered in several Indian archives. Dealing with chaotic and diverse archives, handle bureaucracy, time spent getting the right information and patience used to keep going, have been the main challenges of the research process," recalled Guerrieri, who holds a PhD in Architectural Design, Architectural Composition, Criticism and Theory. The degree has been awarded by Politecnico di Milano in association with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) in Delhi and London's Westminster University. Guerrieri said that after getting access to archives, she sat there for months, patiently hunting for maps and documents that could unveiling the story of the capital. The National Archives of India, the Delhi State Archives and many others institutions, the author said, hold incredible treasures whose true value needs to be appreciated. The author further shared that the book unveils the development of the capital, showing the most important changes in its urban planning over two hundreds years. "I believe it is an interesting book for both academics and non-academics. For the first ones, given the amount of valuable primary sources information, is an important detailed specific reference point. Instead, for the second ones, I believe the book provides a fascinating sense of growth and expanse of the city, kick starting the curiosity of exploring hidden historical treasures," maintained the author. The book was jointly launched here by heritage activist Narayani Gupta; historian and author, William Dalrymple and cartographer Manasi Lahiri on Thursday evening at the Intach multipurpose hall here. The author again emphasised that maps are not only important for planning entry and exit strategies from a place but also for understanding and analysing the changes over time. Referring to the capital as "City of Cities," the author added that Delhi is a city of distinct parts -- each with its distinct characters and features -- so distinct that we are actually able to identify those parts as micro cities within the city. The author also pointed out that the latest maps of Delhi make it clear that the city continues to grow non-stop. Unfortunately some major problems -- pollution and environmental degradation -- also grow hand-in hand with the city, she lamented. Guerrieri, who has been dividing her time between Milan, London and Delhi for the past six years, is now an Associate Professor at the Italian-Indian GD Goenka University branch here of the Politecnico di Milano. She is also part of Unesco's "Creative Small Settlements - Culture-Based Solutions for Local Sustainable Development" international project for conservation and regeneration of minor settlements. She has also been nominated as an International Advisory Council Member of the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD), which is specifically responsible for development of villages in India. (Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in) Beijing, April 14 : China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned on Friday that anyone who provokes war on the Korean Peninsula will assume responsibility and pay the price. The minister made the remarks during a joint press conference with his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, that if war occurs, "the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner", Efe news reported Amid increasing tensions with the threat of a possible nuclear test by North Korea on the peninsula, Wang urged all parties not to let things evolve into an irreversible and uncontrollable situation. The warnings came ahead of the birth anniversary celebrations of Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, which are scheduled to be held in Pyongyang this weekend. It is expected that the country may carry out a new nuclear test as USS Carl Vinson, a US aircraft carrier with a navy strike group on board, is sailing in waters near the Korean Peninsula. Wang also noted that China is always firmly opposed to any action likely to increase the tension, adding that in this crisis the winner will not be the one who exhibits more strength. The Chinese minister urged all parties to suspend their weapon trials and military maneuvers as a preliminary step to resuming dialogue. Wang added that Beijing is ready to listen to any useful proposals. Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, said the North Korean nuclear test "would be dangerous and irresponsible". Wang and Ayrault revealed at the press conference held after their meeting that they had discussed bilateral issues and major international crises such as the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the civil war in Syria. The French minister said they also addressed the growing threat of North Korea's military programme, adding that China and France are determined to achieve denuclearisation on the peninsula. Lucknow, April 15 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend World Yoga Day celebrations here on June 21, an official said on Saturday. At a meeting, Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar said as many as 50,000 people are likely to take part in the event and asked all concerned departments to make proper arrangements. The Uttar Pradesh government is looking for a venue that could accommodate such a large crowd and also ensure foolproof security for the VVIP influx, an official told IANS. The Secondary Education Department has been asked to ensure participation of at least 100 students. Preparations are also being made for the participation of senior citizens and 400-500 differently-abled children. Instructions have been issued to arrange for mineral water bottles, shoe bags, t-shirts and yoga mats. A rehearsal will also be held on June 18-19. Washington, April 15 : US President Donald Trump will speak at an upcoming annual National Rifle Association (NRA) convention, the pro-gun rights group has confirmed. The NRA made the announcement via Twitter on Friday, saying that "Donald Trump is speaking at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum on April 28", Efe news reported. Along with the President, other senior Republican figures, such as Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zenke, Florida Governor Rick Scott, and Texas senator Ted Cruz, are expected to attend the annual gathering, which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump, who spoke at last year's NRA forum during his presidential election campaign, will become the first US president to address the gun-rights group since Ronald Reagan in 1983. More than 15,000 people in the US died in 2016 as a result of gun violence, and over 4,000 have died so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Santiago, April 15 : Nearly 300 million years ago, the frozen, inhospitable Antarctica was covered by lush subtropical forests, according to scientists. "That Antarctica was once green is a matter of consensus among scientists, but still unknown to many people," Marcelo Leppe, a paleontologist who works with the Chilean Antarctic National Institute, told Efe news on Friday. Leppe, Chile's representative to the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, has spent his professional life searching for fossils that offer clues to the origins of the flora and fauna of the White Continent. Forests began to appear in Antarctica some 298 million years ago during the Permian geologic period, as glaciers retreated and the global climate entered a warming phase, Leppe said. Fossils from the subsequent Jurassic period reveal the existence of fern and conifer forests where the Cryolophosaurus species of dinosaur thrived. But the golden age of vegetation in Antarctica was the Cretaceous period, which began 145 million years ago and lasted until around 66 million years ago. "Roughly 80 million years ago, walking in Antarctica was like walking today in a tropical or subtropical forest, something like what we could encounter in south-central Chile or in New Zealand," Leppe said. One thing that still puzzles scientists is how the forests survived the six-month-long Antarctic night. "We know that some dinosaurs migrated before the arrival of winter, but in the case of plants, the matter continues to be an enigma," the paleontologist said. While the plants would have received as much as 22 hours of light per day during the Antarctic summer, "that doesn't necessarily imply that they had the capacity to carry out photosynthesis for longer hours than now," he said. The tundra that was the last vestige of the forests disappeared 15 million years ago, leaving Antarctica a frozen desert. Now, however, scientists see grass and wild oats growing in the areas of Antarctica where the ice has retreated due to global warming, Leppe said. Climate change, the introduction of invasive plants, and the retreat of the glaciers are creating the conditions for the White Continent to turn green again. Sikhs from various walks of life are projected as a community of neighbors in a TV ad that was launched on Baisakhi Day, Friday, April 14, 2017, by the National Sikh Campaign in the US. The $1.5 ... Image Source: IANS News A mother and son proclaim themselves to be Sikh Americans in a TV ad that was launched on Baisakhi Day, Friday, April 14, 2017, by the National Sikh Campaign in the US. The $1.5 million campaign ... Image Source: IANS News New York, April 15 : Appalled by the widespread ignorance of Sikhism that sparks hate crimes, a Sikh organisation has launched a $1.5 million TV campaign to educate Americans about the faith and how the religion's values of tolerance and equality reflect that of the nation, according to its promoters. The TV commercials from the National Sikh Campaign (NSC) that debuted on Friday on Baisakhi, are backed by research into Americans' perceptions of Sikhism and religion and take on an original approach with a positive spin presenting Sikhs as integral members of the US society, whether it is politics or popular culture. "We needed to go beyond the narrative about hate crime and discrimination," Rajwant Singh, a co-founder of the NSC told IANS. "We needed to focus our energy in telling the people who we are and what we stand for, what our religion and what our turban is, so people have a better understanding. Right now the turban is considered a symbol of terrorism, or something anti-American." While Sikh leaders have been meeting Presidents and top elected leaders and were warmly received, Singh said, it was realised that it was important to reach out to the common American because the ignorance at that level drives hate crimes against Sikhs. The ads running on national news channels CNN and Fox News, and on local stations in Fresno, the California city with the highest number of Sikhs, shows the community as American neighbours going about their daily lives, professing patriotism and national values - but also a shared love for the TV series, "Game of Thrones" and the children's show, "Sponge Bob Square Pants". The campaign draws on a broad base of support. Singh said that it "was really an amazing, heartwarming experience" to have non-Sikhs, Indians of various communities and Hindus backing it. One of the largest donors to the effort is a Hindu community in Las Vegas that raised a substantial contribution, he added. Two political strategy and messaging companies, one specialising in Democratic Party candidates and the other in Republican and conservative causes were involved in the production of the ads - so far three 30-second spots have been created - and their marketing. Singh, who is a dentist in a Washington suburb in Maryland, said that their studies showed that 60 per cent of Americans had not even heard of Sikhism and, therefore, the first task is to make the masses aware of the religion. When the clothing chain Gap featured Sikh actor Waris Alhuwalia in their ad, Singh said that 100 customers at the company store were surveyed and about 85 thought he was a Muslim, four that he was a Hindu and four said he was a Coptic Christian. "Can you imagine?" he asked with a rueful laugh. Sikhs have been targeted for hate crimes due to popular ignorance of the religion and its adherents being mistaken for Muslims or Arabs because of their turbans even during Barack Obama's presidency. Three days after the September 2001 attacks, Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed in Arizona in a hate attack and in 2012 six Sikhs were shot dead and four injured in an attack on a gurdwara in Wisconsin. In the latest attack, a Sikh was shot in the arm in Washington state last month. The NSC plans for a national campaign began long before the election of President Donald Trump. "Our process started way back in 2014," and it was "really prompted by the attack on the Gurdwara", Singh said. That was when they found that all their efforts of more than a decade since 9/11 "had not moved the needle," Singh said, and it called for a fresh approach. They turned to highly regarded professionals. Hart Research Associates, which had worked in Hillary Clinton's campaign, conducted studies and ran focus groups in New Jersey and Chicago to understand how the average American thinks about a man with a turban, Singh said. After the groups were told about the Sikh religious values and its commitment to tolerance, equality and service to others, their perceptions changed, he said. Based on that study and what they found about what the participants liked about Sikhs, the ad were prepared by AKPD Message and Media, which had worked in Obama's campaigns. The ads were tested with about 700 Americans to make sure they would be well received, Singh said. In the final step making it a bipartisan endeavour, Singh said that for marketing the ads they hired FP1 Strategies, which is a more conservative and Republican-leaning strategies and marketing company that had worked in former President George W. Bush's campaigns. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) Imphal, April 15 : The month-old BJP-led coalition government in Manipur was rocked with senior Minister L. Jayentakumar - in charge of Health and three other important portfolios - tendering his resignation in protest against "uncalled for interference" by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. The Chief Minister has rushed to Delhi to firefight the political threat, it is learnt. Jayentakumar submitted his resignation personally to Biren on Friday evening. Biren in his capacity as the Minister in charge of the Department of Personnel had suspended Okram Ibomcha, the Health Director, without consulting Jayentakumar. There was no specific charge against Ibomcha. The suspension order said that it was to take 'disciplinary actions' against him. Ibomcha is a close relative of previous Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Jayentakumar is one of the four MLAs of the National People's Party (NPP) who was sworn in on March 15 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government was formed. The resignation letter says that he is thankful to the Chief Minister for inducting him in the ministry. But he was not able to fulfil his vision due to the "interference". Some other NPP MLAs have reasons to be unhappy with some of their portfolios, sources said. Y. Joykumar, NPP MLA from Uripok, who is a former Director General of Police had reportedly wanted the Home portfolio, which is important in insurgency-hit Manipur. However, Biren kept it with him. Joykumar is the Deputy Chief Minister. The coalition ministry was sworn in on March 15. Nine MLAs of BJP, NPP, Naga People's Front, LJP and Congress (who changed loyalty) were inducted. Three more Ministers and 12 Parliamentary secretaries were sworn in on March 23. Bhubaneswar, April 15 : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday said the Mahanadi water dispute was no issue, whereas the Odisha government was making an issue out of a non-issue. "A non-issue has been made an issue that people of Odisha knew it very well. Even, attempts were made to make it an issue during Odisha panchayat elections," Singh told the media. Singh was here to attend the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) two-day national executive meeting. He said he was always ready to discuss the issue with his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik. "I am ready to talk on the issue with Naveen Patnaik to meet a conclusion", he added. He also said the executive meeting would deliberate and take several decisions keeping Odisha's interest in mind. "After panchayat polls, the awareness was seen among the BJP workers and the performance shown, let the party come to power in the upcoming elections in Odisha", Singh said. However, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik rejected Singh's statement saying the state government was making it an issue on political grounds. He said Singh was not cooperative to resolve the issue at the meeting called by Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti. Islamabad, April 15 : Protests led by civil society organisations were held in different parts of Pakistan to condemn the killing of university student Mashal Khan for allegedly "publishing blasphemous content online". Demonstrations took place in Zaida village of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday as Mashal Khan was laid to rest, The News International said. The 23-year-old journalism student from Abdul Wali Khan University was stripped, shot, thrown from the second floor of the hostel and brutally beaten to death by a mob on Thursday. At least 20 persons were arrested in connection with the incident. In Peshawar, demonstrators chanted slogans against the university administration and police. According to the protesters in Lahore, it was an unprecedented incident in the history of Pakhtuns. They demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident that drew condemnation from across the country. Mashal Khan's family insisted that he was innocent. "I want justice as my son was innocent. I cannot even imagine that he will have committed blasphemy," said Muhammad Iqbal, his father. About 1,000 people, mostly relatives, friends and co-villagers attended his funeral prayer at the main Eidgah in the village. However, none of his fellow students or university officials attended the funeral. His sister told the media that it was a "conspiracy against my brother and it must be unearthed". Meanwhile, Awami National Party (ANP) Mardan President Himayatullah Mayar urged his party members not to comment on the killing until the issue was probed. Mayar met the university students to learn more about the issue. The students said negligence on the part of the university administration led to the incident. The mob stormed the university's Journalism and Mass Communication Department in search of Mashal Khan, Zubair Khan and Abdullah, became violent and shot him while critically injuring another. The police have registered a FIR against 20 persons including students, employees and outsiders. The university has also formed a six-member committee to probe the incident. The university administration had earlier rusticated Mashal Khan, Abdullah Khan and Zubair Khan over the complaint of committing blasphemy. Mashal Khan had earlier said that his Facebook account was hacked and was being misused. A message on the wall of his room said: "Allah is the greatest and Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God." Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Parvez Khattak said the reports had no evidence that he committed blasphemy. He said nobody should be allowed to take the law into their hands. PTI chairman Imran Khan tweeted: "I am in touch with the inspector general since last night (Thursday) on condemnable lynching of a student in Mardan." Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits. Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai lamented that some Pakistanis had forgotten the message of peace given by Islam. "No one is maligning the name of your country or religion... we ourselves are bringing a bad name to our country and religion," she said. Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Mohammad Yousaf said blasphemy cannot be condoned but no one will be allowed to take the law into their hands. New Delhi, April 15 : India has called off bilateral maritime security talks with Pakistan scheduled for April 17, a coastal security source said on Saturday. A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency officials was to visit New Delhi for maritime talks with the Indian Coast Guard to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations in the seas. The decision came amid tension between India and Pakistan over the death sentence awarded to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistan's military court on charges of spying and espionage on April 10. On Friday, Pakistan rejected India's 14th attempt for consular access to Jadhav and maintained his trial was in accordance with the country's laws. Colombo, April 15 : At least 16 persons died after a rubbish dump collapsed and buried their homes under tonnes of garbage outside the Sri Lankan capital, officials said. "Sixteen people died and seven were injured after the collapse of the Meethotamulla rubbish dump, a worker at the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre (DMC) told Efe news. The 300-feet-high pile had shifted after floods and a fire, and subsequently collapsed on Friday evening onto homes located around the dump, where some 600 people lived, the official said. Rescue and emergency services were still working in the area. According to reports, over 60 houses were damaged, with some witnesses saying more than 100 homes were destroyed. Several others were admitted to hospital for treatment and over 180 people have been displaced, officials said. Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the Disaster Management Centre to provide assistance to the affected families. The residents of the area have been protesting over the past several months urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location. Rome, April 15 : Over 2,000 migrants have been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in the last 24 hours, the Italian Coast Guard told Efe news on Saturday. This latest operation was set in motion on Friday in collaboration with the Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and has so far rescued 2,074 people crossing the Strait of Sicily -- the channel of water separating southern Italy from the North African coast. The migrants were found travelling on separate vessels, including three small wooden boats and 16 rubber boats, in one of which MSF found the body of a teenager, according to the NGO's official Twitter account. Two MSF vessels were taking part in the rescue efforts. The Italian Coast Guard, which coordinates operations in the area, said the number of migrant arrivals to the coast could yet increase as rescue operations were continuing throughout Saturday. According to the Italian ISMU Foundation, an independent organisation that tracks migrant trends in the region, some 24,000 migrants landed on Italian shores between January and March of this year, including 2,293 unaccompanied minors. These figures suggested a 30 per cent increase in migrant arrivals compared to the same period in 2016. Kathmandu, April 15 : Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has appealed to the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) to reach a consensus on addressing their issues through talks. During a central office meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) held in Baluwatar on Friday, Prachanda urged the alliance of Madhes-based parties to come to the negotiating table and iron out their differences, the Kathmandu Post reported on Saturday. He also urged the Morcha to take part in the May 14 local elections. A meeting of Morcha earlier this week decided to boycott the polls and continue its protest, saying that the new Constitution amendment bill was even more regressive than the previous one. Maoist leaders advised Prachanda to continue talks with the leaders of the Madhes-based parties and create an environment for them to participate in the elections. The meeting decided to launch a door-to-door poll campaign and to finalise candidates for the vote by April 22. The Madhesi Morcha leaders have said that the new proposal has not addressed their key demand -- revision of provincial boundaries -- and no provisions pertaining to citizenship, National Assembly and language have been changed. Madhesis form a sizeable portion of the country's population, especially in the Terai region. They have been threatening to boycott the local elections if changes in the Constitution are not made to get them greater statutory rights and representation. Washington, April 15 : An anonymous hacking group "Shadow Brokers" that leaked online a collection of powerful hacking tools allegedly used by the US National Security Agency (NSA) has also published another set of documents that indicate that NSA penetrated the SWIFT banking network in the Middle East. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardised and reliable environment. "This reportedly gave the US spy service a window into the financial activities of a range of organisations, including those belonging to firms in Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories," said a report in The Wired on Saturday. Meanwhile, EastNets Service Bureau, that provides outsourced SWIFT connectivity, on Saturday denied that its bureau was compromised and said that the reports of hack are "totally false and unfounded". "The reports of an alleged hacker-compromised EastNets Service Bureau (ENSB) network is totally false and unfounded. The EastNets Network internal Security Unit has run a complete check of its servers and found no hacker compromise or any vulnerabilities," the bureau said in a statement. "The EastNets Service Bureau runs on a separate secure network that cannot be accessed over the public networks. The photos shown on twitter, claiming compromised information, is about pages that are outdated and obsolete, generated on a low-level internal server that is retired since 2013," the statement added. EastNets is a Dubai-based firm that oversees payments in the global SWIFT transaction system for dozens of client banks and other firms, particularly in the Middle East. The "Shadow Brokers" is a group of anonymous hackers that published hacking tools used by the NSA last year. According to experts, the leaks, published by the Shadow Brokers, target a variety of Windows servers and Windows operating systems, including Windows 7 and Windows 8, CNN reported. "They may have been used to target a global banking system. One collection of 15 exploits contains at least four Windows hacks that researches have already been able to replicate," the experts were quoted as saying. "This is quite possibly the most damaging thing I've seen in the last several years," said Matthew Hickey, founder of security firm Hacker House. "This puts a powerful nation state-level attack tool in the hands of anyone who wants to download it to start targeting servers." Shadow Brokers did not provide a coherent explanation of why they chose to publish the Microsoft and SWIFT vulnerabilities. According to another report in Fortune, the group -- believed to be tied to the Russian government -- also released a set of confidential hacking tools used by US intelligence organisation the NSA to exploit software vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows software. The document dump -- which is mostly lines of computer code -- amounts to an emergency for Microsoft because the hacks consist of a variety of "zero-day exploits" that can serve to infiltrate Windows machines for purposes of espionage, vandalism, or document theft. A security executive who runs the Twitter account @HackerFantastic called the development a "Microsoft apocalypse." Other well-known figures in the security community also underscored the severity of the event for Microsoft. Kabul, April 15 : The death toll of Islamic State (IS) militants killed when the US military dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb or the "mother of all bombs" in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province has risen to 94, a Kabul official said on Saturday. "The number of IS militants killed in the US bomb in Achin district jumped to 94, including four commanders," Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogiani told CNN. "Our team is in the area and they are doing clearance, so the figure might change as they find more bodies," said Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defence. The GBU-43, a non-nuclear, 10-tonne missile powered by a wave of air pressure, was dropped on Thursday onto caves used by the terror group. The initial toll given by Afghan officials for the strike was 36. However, a statement released on Friday through IS' media wing, Amaq News Agency, said none of the terror group's fighters were killed or injured. No civilians were killed in the explosion, said an official. The Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah, said the attack had been carried out in co-ordination with his government and "great care had been taken to avoid civilian harm". The strike targeted a network of fortified underground tunnels that IS had been using to stage attacks on government forces in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border, said the report. The blast destroyed three underground tunnels as well as weapons and ammunition, but no civilians were hurt, Afghan and US officials said. The US military defended its decision when it was quizzed Friday on whether the behemoth bomb was necessary for that particular target. "This was the right weapon against the right target. It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield," General John Nicholson, commander for US forces in Afghanistan, said at a news conference. "The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in southern Nangarhar." The US military previously estimated IS had 600 to 800 active fighters in the area. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he approved of the strike, and it was designed to support Afghan and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region. But former President Hamid Karzai accused the US of using Afghanistan as "a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons." New Delhi, April 15 : Global fashion and lifestyle brand kate spade new york has forayed into the Indian market with its first two stores in the capital. The brand has opened shop in south Delhi -- with one store at the DLF Emporio in Vasant Kunj and another at the Select City Walk in Saket. It has entered India through a long-term distribution and retail license agreement with Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Group. The exclusive distribution rights to the brand in the country lie with Reliance Brands, read a statement. The stores feature its spring 2017 collection, which reflects a Moroccan feel. Throughout the collection, textured fabrics and details including eyelets, pom poms, appliquA roses and ruffles sit against softly flowing and feminine silhouettes. There's ready-to-wear, handbags, small leather goods, shoes, jewellery, fashion, tech accessories, watches, eyewear and stationery from the brand at the stores. Deborah Lloyd, Chief Creative Officer of kate spade new york, is thrilled about the launch. "I am so inspired by the rich and colourful heritage and cannot wait to see how the Indian woman styles our collection," said Lloyd added. Darshan Mehta, CEO, Reliance Brands, said he is confident that the brand "will resonate with the Indian woman and its playful sophistication will add a refreshing twist to her wardrobe". Mumbai, April 15 : A leading Mumbai NGO Harmony Foundation on Saturday appealed to Pakistani peace activists to launch a campaign to save former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan S. Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by that country's military court. Abraham Mathai, President of Harmony Foundation -- which awards the St. Mother Teresa Awards annually to prominent global citizens -- has written to Pakistani peace campaigner Saeeda Diep of Lahore for help in the Jadhav case. Following the appeal, Diep, who is Executive Director, Centre for Peace and Secular Studies, Lahore, has agreed to initiate a campaign in her country to ensure a proper trial for Jadhav, who hails from Mumbai, according to him. Mathai pointed out how Jadhav was not arrested on Pakistani territory but kidnapped by some militant outfits working in tandem with the current (Pakistan) regime, and that all the military courts were allegedly a sham which did not adhere to principles of natural justice. "Jadhav has been denied consular access in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. No copy of the chargesheet has been provided to him which is the fundamental right of any accused," Mathai said. He said the worst of terrorists, when caught anywhere in the world, were given a fair trial, including India, which demonstrated the principles of natural justice by giving a fair trial to hardcore terrorist Ajmal Kasab and upholding his human rights. "In Jadhav's case, all circumstantial evidences indicate that he was framed and accordingly, it is only fair that he be given a fair trial by a proper judicial court," Mathai urged Diep, a former recipient of the St. Mother Teresa Award. Last Monday, April 10, Pakistan announced that a Field General Court Martial had awarded the death sentence to Jadhav, who was reportedly arrested from Balochistan's Mashkel area on March 3, 2016. The Inter-Service Public Relations said that he was tried under Section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 and Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and found guilty of all charges including "involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan". Mumbai, April 15 : Filmmaker Anil Sharma has completed the script of his new project "Genius". He says 19 months of work went into it, and now he is excited about its pre-production. "With blessing of God, finally script of 'Genius'. 19 months of hard work. Really excited... Ready for pre-production," Sharma, known for "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha", tweeted on Saturday. He is launching his son Utkarsh as a hero with the movie. "We will soon start the shooting of the film in the next one or two months," Sharma told the media here at the inauguration of Pakhi Hegde's PRK organisation, which will build affordable homes. Sharma, whose "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha" was based on the love story of an Indian man and a Pakistani woman, was also asked to comment on how "Begum Jaan" is not getting a release in Pakistan. He said: "It is their country and they have every right to decide which film they want to release over there. We have no say in that." Sharma's last release was "Singh Saab the Great", starring Sunny Deol. Kannur (Kerala), April 15 : Two days after leaders of its ally CPI expressed unhappiness over the Kerala government's functioning, a senior CPI-M state leader on Saturday said his party is ready for discussions with the CPI on their grievances. The Communist Party of India is the second biggest ally in the ruling Left Democratic Front, which is led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist. The LDF government returned to power in Kerala in May 2016 and is headed by CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan. "We have no issues at all regarding a discussion with the CPI. Our only concern is that they could have raised their concerns in a LDF meeting, because airing the grievances in public provides ammunition to our political opponents to try and derive political mileage. This should not happen," state CPI-M Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the media here. On April 13, CPI leaders had expressed unhappiness over the state government's functioning during a party executive meeting here. State CPI Secretary Kanam Rajendran too had expressed his unhappiness during a media interaction after the party meeting. "The CPI, when it comes to governance, has more experience since they have been in the government along with both the Congress and the Left," Balakrishnan said. He said the CPI-M leadership felt that the CPI wants the LDF to be stronger. "... public airing of opinions and views won't help the matters. We should remember that in 1980, as part of the then Left government, the CPI had joined a chorus with the Congress in a particular case. In the next assembly elections, the Left (Front) lost power while the case turned out to be a false one," the CPI-M leader recalled. Kannur, April 15 : In the backdrop of the back and forth between the CPI(M) and the CPI, the two biggest constituents in the ruling LDF government, CPI(M) state unit secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has called for unity within the LDF coalition to take on the machinations of its rivals. Addressing a press conference in Kannur on Saturday, Kodiyeri urged the leaders of all constituents of the LDF to desist from saying or doing anything that would give the opposition Congress and the BJP a stick to beat the government with. The CPI(M) leaders presser comes in the backdrop of the frontal attack launched against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government by CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran the other day in a press conference over a host of issues. The LDF government would not do anything that would disappoint the public, Kodiyeri asserted, adding that the government has had many achievements to its credit during the short period its been in power. In eleven months, the government put in place corruption-free governance and implemented policies rooted in social justice, Kodiyeri said. The opinions aired by Kanam Rajendran during a press conference were being used by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala for political gains, he said. The congress were joining hands with the BJP to pummel the government over any issue they could latch on to, he added. In this context, the parties in the ruling coalition should work unitedly, the CPI(M) leader stated. On the recent public airing of differences of opinion over several issues between the leaders of the CPI(M) and the CPI, Kodiyeri said that there was nothing wrong in expressing divergent opinions on an issue. He, however, urged caution against a coalition partner airing differing views in public, saying that doing so on would negatively impact governance. Kodiyeris comments come in the wake of the CPI publicly airing divergent views on recent controversial incidents such as the alleged police excess on Jishnu Pranoys kin in front of the police headquarters in the capital city. Kanam Rajendran on Saturday welcomed Kodiyeris call for unity within the LDF against the machinations of opposition parties and rivals. Responding to queries from reporters on Kodiyeris presser, Mr. Rajendran said that he had aired his opinion on certain issues only with the intent of setting right the LDF coalition. The CPI had said or done nothing to give the opposition a stick the ruling front with, he said, adding that the CPI had at all times only tried to strengthen the LDF government. Damascus, April 15 : At least 22 persons were killed on Saturday when a car bomb struck an area near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo where an evacuation operation was underway. According to Xinhua news agency, 48 persons were also wounded in the blast which targeted the rebel-held Rashideen area in the countryside of Aleppo province. The explosion took place at the gathering point of buses transporting Shias evacuating from two pro-government towns in northern Syria. It was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped potato truck. The buses carrying 5,000 Shias were waiting the reactivation of a deal designed to secure their transportation to government-controlled area in Aleppo. The deal, reached between the rebels and the government under the supervision of Iran, Turkey and Qatar, was designed to secure the evacuation of the people from the pro-government Shia towns of Kafraya and Foa in Idlib province towards areas in Aleppo province. In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus to reach Idlib province. The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shias leaving Kafaraya and Foa and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving the town of Madaya as first batches, the report said. The Shias reached the rebel-held town of Rashideen, while the rebels reached the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing in Aleppo. Both convoys were set to leave to their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held the convoy of the Shias, adding new demands to the original deal. The rebel convoy was also stuck at Ramouseh, amid reports that communications were underway to continue the implementation of the deal. A source told Xinhua that the rebels' new demand was the evacuation of the Shia fighters first from Kafraya and Foa, before the civilians. But the demand was rejected. An eye witness from those waiting in Rashideen said three people with medical conditions died while waiting, before the explosion. He added that three women gave birth inside the busses amid tough humanitarian situation as those people have been waiting there for 24 hours without enough food or water. Jammu, April 15 : Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat called on state Governor N.N. Vohra in winter capital Jammu on Saturday and discussed the security situation in the state. An official spokesman said here, "Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat, in an hour long meeting with the Governor, discussed the external security environment and the internal security in the state." "The Army chief also discussed the possible ways and means to provide opportunities to the youth in the state to ensure them a bright future." The visit of the Army Chief comes in the aftermath of a video going viral that showed a Kashmiri youth tied to the front of an army vehicle ostensibly to avoid being attacked by stone pelters, and the incidents of violence that marred the by-poll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, leading to the deaths of eight persons in firing. The section pictured in the foreground of this building on the 100 block of West Wood Street would be demolished as part of a west end of downtown development project if the city council accepts the agreement on Monday. Online gallery at herald-review.com/gallery DECATUR Development of a new bar and grill, dance studio, office space and residential apartments on the west side of downtown could begin as early as next week if the Decatur City Council approves the plan Monday. Developer MDA Properties plans to spend more than $2 million on properties in the 100 block of West Wood Street, 100 block of West Main Street, and 100 and 200 blocks of South Church Street, with previous investment of $560,000 counted in that cost. The developer would spend an additional $302,000 on public infrastructure improvements, according to city documents. The streets surround One Main Place, 101 S. Main St., on three sides. The developer is represented by Tim Raycraft of Main Place Properties, who said Friday that the area has been of interest for years. We looked at it, having it be there by One Main, and it was always something we asked, 'If we had this space, what would we do with it?' " he said, noting much of the space has sat vacant for over a decade. Its been dark for so long, and you hate to see that. Raycraft said the public infrastructure work would begin immediately if approved. That work would include new public sidewalks and angled parking in the 100 block of South Church Street between Main and Wood streets as well as repaving of the alley in the middle of the block. Leases for businesses that would move into the space, including the new dance studio and bar and grill, have been signed and are contingent on the councils approval. Under the plan, the development would also include: repairing the retaining wall to the west of the property at 151 W. Wood St.; demolishing the east center section of a building at 142 W. Wood St.; redeveloping the second floors of buildings at 155 W. Main St. and 150 W. Wood St. to add at least five residential units; addressing environmental concerns in the area that were identified by a previous study. All that work is set to be finished by the end of the year. In exchange for the investment, the city would release a mortgage lien it has held on One Main Place since 1998, when the property belonged to a different owner. The lien on the property at 101 S. Main St. stems from a 1998 agreement with its previous owner, Real Estate Investors of Decatur LLC, according to city documents. The city at the time agreed to provide Community Development Block Grant funding of not more than $1.4 million to redevelop the site and placed a lien on the property to ensure that the agreed-upon development took place. Real Estate Investors of Decatur made payments totaling $754,000 to the city through 2006, when the LLC was involuntarily dissolved. MDA Properties acquired the property in 2003 and has increased its value, the city said. Property taxes paid on the building increased from $7,138.26 in 2002 to $89,091.10 in 2016. City Manager Tim Gleason was unavailable for comment Friday. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe did not respond to a phone message. The development would come on top of extensive investment in the area since 2015, when the city completed its $14 million streetscape enhancement effort. The project, which replaced sidewalks, created additional parking and eliminated parking meters, was meant to draw more pedestrians to the area and spur retail growth. The downtown area has seen several new businesses and restaurants open in recent years, including Decatur Brew Works, Anna Thai, Taproot, and The Gin Mill. Existing businesses, such as the Lincoln Square Lounge, have also expanded during that time. News of the development proved intriguing for some neighboring business owners and residents Friday. Dreux Lewandowski, co-founder of Decatur Brew Works across the street, said downtown is in the best shape he has seen it in decades, and the development was further proof it was on the rise. He added the residential apartments would be a plus, as they could provide an amenity commonly seen in major metropolitan areas. With the apartments, you get that urban living that is so popular elsewhere, he said. That was a similar appeal noted by Joyce Anderson, who was spending time in Central Park on Friday afternoon. Anderson said several of her friends live in Chicago, where they talk about how much they enjoy living in the city and being able to walk to bars and restaurants. It would be cool to have something similar to that here in Decatur, she said. Bhubaneswar, April 15 : Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah said on Saturday that despite being in power at centre and in 13 states, the party is yet to achieve its peak and urged workers to devote themselves for the cause. "Many (people) declared after the 2104 general elections that the BJP reached its peak, but it was not so. They then said in 2017 (after elections to the five states, including Uttar Pradesh) that the BJP has now attained it peak, but it is not the case," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted Amit Shah as saying at inaugural session of the party's two-day National Executive meeting here. "But the BJP is yet to be at its peak. The BJP will attain its peak when BJP will have Chief Ministers in all the states and it has members everywhere -- from panchayats to Parliament," Shah added, according to Prasad. "Let's resolve to make BJP a pan-India party from panchayats to Parliament. BJP's golden period should be associated with country's golden period," Shah said. Amit Shah said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will complete three years in office on May 26 and it had worked hard during this period. "... we have done work which other governments would do in two-three terms," he said. The BJP Chief also said that earlier there was a perception that BJP was doing well only where there was Congress and not against the regional parties, but the recent election results of Uttar Pradesh has proved this perception wrong. BJP can also perform in the states ruled by regional parties, he noted. Urging party workers "not to be lethargic" after stunning victories in recently-concluded assembly polls, Amit Shah said that all the National Executive members including ministers would visit at least 15 days at booths to know their problems and concerns including to take suggestions for the improvement. Prasad also told media persons that the BJP chief would tour, for 95 days, different parts of the country till September. "Shah will extensively tour the country till September. During this tour Shah will spend three days in Kerala also," he said. Prasad also said that 2,470 workers have shown interest to work for the party for one year while 1,441 have agreed to work for the party for six months and 3.78 lakh workers have agreed to work for 15 days. "They can be posted anywhere in the country besides their home state," he said. The first day of the two-day meet was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 13 Chief Ministers including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was given a grand welcome at the event. London, April 15 : Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai hit out at Pakistan following the lynching of a university student accused of blasphemy. Mashal Khan was stripped naked and beaten to death with planks on a campus in the city of Mardan. "No one is maligning the name of your country or religion... we ourselves are bringing a bad name to our country and religion," Malala said in a video posted to Facebook following a conversation with Khan's father. In the video posted on Facebook following the victim's funeral, Malala said the Prophet did not tell his followers to "be impatient and go around killing people", claiming some followers have forgotten the message of peace and were not representing their religion. "This was not just the funeral of Mashal Khan, it was the funeral of the message of our religion Islam," she said. "This is an incident filled with terror and fear." Mashal Khan, a journalism student was shot dead by fellow students at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Pakistan's Mardan town on Thursday after being accused of blasphemy. Insulting the Prophet Mohammed is a capital crime in Pakistan punishable by anything from a small fine to death, depending on the severity of the slight. Last month, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued an order for the removal of blasphemous content online, adding that anyone found guilty of the offence would face, "strict punishment under the law". Bhubaneswar, April 15 : Enthused by its resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is quite confident that it would come to power in Odisha, where it has never been in a commanding position despite being an ally of the ruling coalition for nine years. The BJP, at its national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar, hoped that it would be able to build its prospects in the state in the wake of the anti-incumbency tide against the Biju Janata Dal government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who has been in power since the last 17 years. BJP president Amit Shah has given a clear signal in the executive meeting that the party would work relentlessly to grab the eastern state in the 2019 elections. "The people in Odisha want change from the incumbent government, which is in power since 2000. The Naveen Patnaik government has failed to provide basic amenities to the people in the state," said senior BJP leader and Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad. What boosted the party's prospects is the recently concluded panchayat polls, where the BJP emerged second, relegating the Congress party to third position. "We were weak in Odisha. But, our workers fought relentlessly and we came to second position in the panchayat polls. Amit Shahji has asked the party workers to work harder and we will continue our work in the coming days as well," said Prasad. The party's stunning victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections has boosted the morale of the party - that it can defeat regional parties as well. "Uttar Pradesh has proved political observers wrong. Political pundits used to say that BJP can overcome Congress, but it puts up a poor showing before regional parties. But the assembly election results have changed that perception," Prasad said. When the BJP unfurled the saffron flag in many parts of the country in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Odisha was among the few states that remained untouched by the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The saffron party could only get one Lok Sabha seat out of 21 in Odisha while the ruling BJD grabbed 20 seats. It managed to get only 10 seats out of 147 in the state Assembly. The BJP hopes that the situation has changed in the last three years and it can ride on the Narendra Modi wave to taste success in the 2019 polls. "People in Odisha understand that there has been no development under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik. Amit Shah, during his address at the executive meeting, maintained that the Odisha government is yet to provide safe drinking water to 86 per cent people and electricity to 41 per cent," Sambit Patra, BJP national spokesperson, quoted Shah as saying. Contact: Pamela Gionfriddo pgionfriddo(at)mhapbc(dot)org http://www.mhapbc.org In preventing and mitigating the effects of violence, weve got to act before Stage 4, and this conference will help show us how to do it! - Paul Gionfriddo, President & CEO, Mental Health America The Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County (MHAPBC) will host a conference, In an Age of Violence: Helping Children & Families Cope, on April 20th and 21st at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport in West Palm Beach. MHAPBC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to leadership in promoting mental wellness for all Palm Beach County residents and providing advocacy for those with mental health challenges through education and outreach. The event will feature talks from thought-leaders in public health and criminal justice. Kevin Hines, award-winning speaker, suicide survivor, and author of Cracked, Not Broken, Surviving and Thriving After a Suicide Attempt, will give a keynote address. "Im grateful to participate in this important conference as taking care of your brain health is cool, it's hip. Paying attention to your wellness and being honest when you need help is admirable, said Mr. Hines. Dr. Jeremy Richman, neuroscientist and co-founder of the Avielle Foundation, which supports brain health research and education, will also present. "Violence, to self and others, is a societal epidemic we can no longer afford to address in our accustomed reactionary fashion, said Dr. Richman. MHAPBC has created a unique opportunity to share a variety of perspectives on this critical topic, and we are thrilled to be involved." The conference will address critical questions around violence and brain health and explore promising initiatives to support those faced with these challenges. Speakers will discuss toxic stress and trauma as risk factors for violence; the neuroscience of compassion; and solutions that can be implemented at the level of community and home. Speaker Judge Ginger Lerner Wren said of the conference: "As presiding judge of America's first Mental Health Court, it is important to know the facts: that most people with mental illness are not violent and according to research are ten times more likely to be subject to victimization. This is why it is essential to promote mental health for all Floridians." For more information and registration for the event, visit http://www.mhapbc.org. Since 1949, the Mental Health Association has been dedicated to improving the lives of people who are touched by mental illness. Through advocacy, education, and outreach, MHA seeks to improve access to services and mental wellness. MHA is working with community partners to reduce the stigma of mental illness and to improve understanding about issues related to mental health and well-being. International high school students from China that are part of the AIEP Host Families program recently performed community service at various locations throughout the state of Connecticut. Over 150 students volunteered their time at Stratford Point, Holy Land in Waterbury, the Greenwich Audubon Society and the Urban Alliance in Hartford. Students activities ranged from planting trees to cleaning debris and raking leaves. At the Urban Alliance Church Army Group event, the students assembled packages that included clothes and gloves. They also wrote positive and encouraging notes that were placed inside of each package that was made. AIEP students are studying at various local private middle/high schools throughout Connecticut including: Fairfield Prep, Lauralton Hall, Trinity Catholic, Stanwich School, Christian Heritage, Chase Collegiate, Holy Cross, Sacred Heart, Northwest Catholic, Masters School and Williams School. During the school year students reside with local host families. AIEP students perform community service twice during the academic school year; once in the Fall and again in the Spring. AIEP is a firm believer in giving back to the community while at the same time teaching students not only the value of helping others but also the importance of teamwork. AIEP is seeking host families for students arriving in August. If you would like to learn more about hosting an international student and attending an info session in May, please contact AIEP at 203.992.2437 or info(at)aiepusa(dot)com. On April 28th 2017, lifestyle brand Free People will open a new store at the Corners of Brookfield in Brookfield Wisconsin. The store will be 4,254 gross square feet. The new boutique will be designed in the brands Black Smith Cottage concept. The store will focus on the more rugged side of the Free People girl, designed as her studio workshop. 2 Neoteric brass Free People signs will welcome customers at the entrance. The use of rough wide planked wood floors, white bead board walls, and blackened steel help to balance out and compliment the more feminine elements of the space, like the glitter plaster walls, shimmery coin curtains and white washed carving. 6 fitting rooms will be available for customers to try on items. A great selection of clothing and shoes will be available at the new location. Dresses, one pieces, and sets will be a store highlight, as well as a soft neutral palette within tops, bodysuits and kimonos. Various silhouettes of denim including shorts, boyfriend jeans, widelegs, and skinnys will be available for customers to check out. A shoe department will be present with a highlight on sandals! Take an exclusive look at the new space and join us to preview the new store on April 27th from 6-8PM. Each Free People store offers personalized shopping experiences from a team of expert stylists. Free People Brookfield customers can schedule a one-on-one appointment with their favorite stylist, as well as interact and gain inspiration through the brands online Style Community, FP Me. The new location will be located at The Corners of Brookfield 20111 W Bluemound Road Brookfield, Wisconsin 53045. Store hours are Sunday 11AM-6PM and Monday-Saturday 10AM-9PM For more information, images, to request an interview, or to discuss a TV opportunity, please call Katerina Patouhas at 215-454-3871 or email kpatouhas(at)freepeople.com. ### About Free People Free People is a global lifestyle brand defined by femininity, creativity, curiosity and adventure, with offerings in unique apparel, intimate wear, shoes and accessories. As an expansion of our lifestyle FP has moved into wellness, fitness, travel and curation of beauty starting from the inside out. The Philadelphia-based retailer is available via our global, UK and China sites, top department and specialty stores, as well as via Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. We wanted to find another way to support the environment, and working with Pinnacle on the Solar Z initiative was the perfect opportunity. Its going to be a great place and a great thing for our Members and the community. Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union unveiled its new Solar Zthe first of its kind in Tennesseeon Friday, so now Turkey Creek shoppers have a place to rest and recharge their mobile devices. The Solar Z is 100 percent powered by solar energy and the product of an ongoing partnership between Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union and Pinnacle at Turkey Creek. In the past year, the Credit Union and Pinnacle have joined efforts to raise more than $30,000 for local charities, per Pinnacle at Turkey Creek Marketing Manager Kristen Bridgers. Through events such as Taste of Turkey Creek, Light It Up, Fido Fest and Sounds of Spring, we raise money for Knoxville charities, such as Young Williams Animal Shelter, Pat Summitt Foundation and Mission of Hope, Bridgers said. According to Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union President and CEO Glenn Siler, the Credit Union was excited to discover another way to give back to the community. To date, weve recycled 968,000 tons of paper, saving 8,300 trees, Siler said. We wanted to find another way to support the environment, and working with Pinnacle on the Solar Z initiative was the perfect opportunity. Its going to be a great place and a great thing for our Members and the community. The Solar Z was manufactured by VendoMax, a Chattanooga-based company that produces innovative, solar-powered sustainable equipment. Our products are totally off the grid, VendoMax President Rob Creswell said. Were so happy to be working with ... Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union to further green initiativeswe just really appreciate the opportunity. # # # About Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union is a not-for-profit, Member-owned and locally operated financial institution existing to serve the financial needs of the community. With 20 locations across East Tennessee, Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union serves more than 167,000 members. The Credit Union helps Members grow financially by offering a variety of accounts, including checking, savings and investments. The Credit Union also offers competitive loan rates on new and used auto and recreational vehicles, mortgages, personal loans and credit cards. In 2016, Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union celebrated 82 years of serving East Tennessee. About the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek Developed in 2006 and completed in 2008, the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek is a regional outdoor fashion center in Knoxville, Tennessee. Managed and leased by Bayer Properties, LLC, this 659,000-square-foot center features more than 70 stores and restaurants, including Belk, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Flemings, Bonefish Grill and Tennessees top-grossing theater, Pinnacle Regal Cinema 18. The Pinnacle is located just west of the intersection of I-40 and I-75 along Parkside Drive. For more information about the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek, visit pinnacleatturkeycreek.com. Dr. Jai Joshi, M.D. Interactions between a good doctor and his patients will always bring forth the physician's humanity in amazing light Dr. Jai Joshi is an experienced, board certified medical oncologist. Dr. Joshi received his medical degree and completed his internal medicine residence at the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, India. He has trained at some of the best institutions in the United States: fellowship in hematology/oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NIH) and the University of Colorado Medical Center, then assistant professor of medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Joshi was awarded the prestigious RO1 Grant Award from the NCI, NIH to study infections in patients with acute leukemia. He has authored book chapters and Editorials and published extensively in peer-reviewed journals making an impact in the field of cancer. He has awarded Excellence in Teaching Awards with Hopkins, including one from the Department of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins University/Sinai Hospital of Baltimore for enthusiastic support and dedication to resident education including the compilation of the Joshi Handbooks in Medicine. He is the subject of biographical record in Whos Who in Frontier Science and Technology, International Whos Who of Contemporary Achievement and in Men of Achievement. His accomplishments appear in the International Biographical Center Register of Profiles of Personalities of America. Since then, Dr. Joshi has helped initiate new cancer programs and academic oncology practices in various small towns and hospitals (Jasper, IN, Laredo and Eagle Pass, TX), with citywide hospital-based tumor boards and actively engaged in community seminars, and radio and television talk shows. Professional Memberships: ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) University of Maryland Medical Society University of Colorado Medical School Alumni Dr. Parsi speaks several languages fluently, which include: English, Hindi, Punjabi Patient Care Philosophy: Dr. Joshi's patient philosophy is that interactions between a good doctor and his patients will always bring forth the physician's humanity in amazing light. From April 15th, 2017 until May 15th, 2017 Holly Geraci and her husband, Peter Francis Geraci, are challenging St. Martin De Porres House of Hope to raise $10,000. Every dollar donated during the challenge period will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000, by Mr. & Mrs. Geraci. The challenge is known as the Help Holly Help Grant Challenge and could help St. Martin de Porres, in Woodlawn, earn $20,000 in funds. The cost of recovery for an individual can run between $10,000 and $50,000 a month. However, at St. Martin de Porres House of Hope, women receive long-term residential recovery services and pay nothing. Founded in 1983, by two nuns, St. Martin De Porres House of Hope has helped thousands of women suffering from substance abuse. The money donated will be used to continue St. Martins mission, which is to create, a safe, healing community where women and their children recover from substance abuse, address trauma and deal with mental illness. The St. Martin de Porres challenge is not Helphollyhelp.coms first challenge. Since October of 2016, Helphollyhelp.com has helped nonprofits raise more than $124,000 with the matching grant challenge. Helphollyhelp.com hopes to raise more money for St. Marting de Porres House of Hope and help them reach more people. You can visit http://www.helphollyhelp.com to mark your donation to St. Martin De Porres House of Hope. You can also follow both Help Holly Help and St. Martin de Porres on Facebook and Twitter. BELLEVILLE The Belleville Police Department has 33 teddy bears to give to scared children because a little girl was inspired by a book found at a yard sale. "Especially kids that have lost something special or someone special, they need a bear," says Noa Grace Welborn, 7, of Belleville. So she pestered her parents into helping. Dad Travis set up a GoFundMe page so she could make Build-A-Bears for other children. "She wanted to do it for a billion; we set it at a thousand" dollars, said Travis, who set up the page called "Bears because I care" on Jan. 27. It raised $550, mostly in donations from friends and family, by early March. Her mom, Kate Welborn, said she has "about a million" books from a series called "Value Tales" by Ann Donegan Johnson, and the one that inspired the bear drive was the story of Elizabeth Fry, who worked to reform women's prisons in the early 1800s. On March 15, the founder of Build-A-Bear, Maxine Clark, matched the donations with $550 of her own. Clark thanks Noa Grace on the page "for all the hugs you have created." After reaching the initial goal, the Welborns increased the goal to $10,000. They'll be contacting other area police departments for the next batch of bears. That first $550 allowed Noa Grace to head to the Build-A-Bear Workshop store in Fairview Heights and start stuffing. Those bears are now at the Belleville Police Department, says Master Sergeant Chris Mattingly, and are spread between investigations and the main desk. The bears arrived with Noa Grace on March 9; none have found new homes yet. "She was quite the impressive young lady," Mattingly said of Noa Grace. He said the police have given out stuffed animals to children before, but it has been about 10 years. He remembers that past children were "very grateful" for the stuffed animals. He remembers one child, younger than 10 years old, who was "scared and cold and grabbed the bear. Kind of swallowed up under the blanket." It's kids like that who Noa Grace wants to comfort. "They're going to think they're really blessed," she said of the children who will get the bears. "And they'll be upset they didn't get them sooner." "I put a wish on the hearts," the second grader said, and kissed each red heart before it was placed into the bear with just the right amount of stuffing. She named each bear as well, adding their names to the birth certificates the bears have in their boxes. Matilda, Lucy, Riley, Carson, Henry, Leonardo and Patrick are among the names she's picked. "She's keeping the list, so she never repeats a name," said her mom, Kate Welborn. The 33 bears that went to Belleville Police are blonde and brown, "because they costed (sic) less money, the people said," Noa Grace says. Her own bears, Sassy and Serina, are purple and blonde. "So many cuddlies!" Noa Grace exclaimed happily. The Welborn family does have another bear at home, ready to go to Texas. "I'm going to give it to my cousin. Her brother just died," she said. "I named it after Levi." Her mom said Levi "was a little fighter" and died at 2 years old. Kate Welborn said Noa Grace came up with the idea about a year ago, all on her own. "Of course she's brought up at church, and at school they're always talking about things" to do for others, she said, but the family had not previously done such charitable acts. Travis said they tried to persuade Noa Grace to go to Walmart for the bears, in order to get more. "She wasn't having it," he said. "She knows what kids like," Kate said. Noa Grace says she hadn't told many of her friends at school, St. Teresa Catholic School in Belleville, but "nobody in my school really believes me." "Don't worry about what people say you can't do," Travis said. Noa Grace has a sister, Ari, 5, and a brother, Ryder, 2. She says her sister wants to donate dolls to the fire department but is too shy to say so herself. "So you're a positive influence on your sister," Kate said. "In one way." The childrens book market was in the spotlight during the week of April 3 as the 2017 Bologna Childrens Book Fair took place April 35, and the fifth Childrens Institute was held April 57 in Portland, Ore. We are fully committed to doing what we can to help make our industry more inclusive and diverse, said Oren Teicher, the American Booksellers Association CEO, in his opening remarks at the institute. That pledge followed a particularly lively town hall meeting at the ABA Winter Institute in Minneapolis in January, at which booksellers voiced their concerns about the lack of diversity on the ABA board and among booksellers in the room. Starting with Ilsa Govans opening keynote, the 2017 institute focused primarily on these themes. Govan, a facilitator with Cultures Connecting and the author of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Strategies for Facilitating Conversations on Race, spoke on hiring and retaining a diverse workforce, even in a small store. Much of her talk centered on countering implicit bias, which can cause even well-intentioned people to act in a way that is not aligned with their values. Despite his lack of sleep due to travel delays, keynote speaker Jason Reynolds was energetic as he called on booksellers to stock books that speak to everyone. A prolific author with several books due out later this year, including Long Way Down (Atheneum/Dlouhy, Oct.), Reynolds said that he stopped reading books at the age of nine. Instead, he listened to rap, read the liner notes, and wrote his own poems so that he could become the next Queen Latifah. He didnt start reading books again until he went to college and took a job with Karibu Books in Washington, D.C. The store, which has since closed, was near his home and stocked African-American literature, urban fiction, and Harry Potter. Although 12-year-old Marley Dias has access to books for black girls, she found the situation much more dire for young people who rely on school libraries. Last year Dias launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign to collect donated books about black girls, and she has received and distributed more than 9,000 copies to date. Speaking in conversation with Suzanna Hermans, co-owner of Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, N.Y., Dias told booksellers that they need to connect more with schools and make more black girl books available, including those from self-published authors. In January, Scholastic will publish Diass guide for other children who want to follow their passions, Marley Dias Gets It Done (and So Can You!). Many of the events educational sessions also focused on the need to make stores inclusive and to stock diverse books. At a session on fostering an inclusive environment for people with disabilities, Drew Sieplinga from Minneapoliss Wild Rumpus noted that she has a disability and many disabilities arent obvious. When you make a store accessible, she added, you make it better for everyone. The message of diversity was welcomed by the 240 booksellers in attendance from 160 bookstores, more than half of whom were first-timers. Total attendance at Bologna was 26,743, an increase of 2% from 2016, fair officials reported. The gain was partly due to a 15% increase in overseas and foreign attendees, whose numbers reached 11,752. Elena Pasoli, BCBFs exhibition director, credited the fairs focus on bringing in more international exhibitors for the upswing in foreign attendance. We have worked hard to include even more countries, she said, suggesting that the fairs efforts to go further afieldtouring its annual Illustrators Exhibition in Asia and running the annual Global Kids Connect conference with PW in New York Citywere paying dividends in making the fair more relevant. Several other factors likely contributed to the jump in overseas guests, including rebounding publishing markets in countries that had previously seen dips in exhibitors, such as Greece, Portugal, and Spain. A favorable exchange rate between the euro and other global currencies likely helped bolster the number of attendees from the Americas and Asia. Forget a book of the fair: agents, publishers, and editors at Bologna didnt really come to a consensus on whether this years event was bustling or tempered, a reminder that publishing isnt one size fits all and that tastes, needs, and perspectives vary widely. I had a very good Bolognadefinitely a case of the right book at the right time, said agent Fiona Kenshole of Transatlantic Literary. Editorsand film peoplewere asking for feel-good stories: happy endings, a smattering of romance. Perhaps a push back at all the other stuff going on in the world? Bent Agency founder Jenny Bent described this years Bologna as a quiet fair overall. She added: [It] didnt seem like there was one big project everyone was talking about. We had a lot of requests for middle grade, which was heartening, and it seemed like people were looking for the next big thing in YA, but no one was exactly sure what that was. One YA title that came up repeatedly in conversations was Tomi Adeyemis Children of Blood and Bone, a West Africaninspired fantasy that sold to Henry Holt in a seven-figure preempt just before the fair. To date, British, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish rights have sold, with auctions underway and offers under consideration in more than half a dozen other countries. At least two houses launched YA lists at the fair: Kids Can Press in Toronto, whose KCP Loft list begins this spring, and Charlesbridge in the U.S., whose Charlesbridge Teen line arrives in the fall. Its been delightful to bring that to the worldwide market, said Megan Quinn, Charlesbridges senior director of sales. We can finally say that were for all ages now, zero through adult. Kids Can rights director Adrienne Tang echoed Quinns sentiments, noting, Its been great for us to sell a different kind of book, since Kids Cans list had also focused on younger readers. Echoing remarks made by Pasoli, Bologna-based publishing consultant Valentina Manchia observed that the fair has extended far beyond the confines of the exhibition halls and that its presence was felt throughout the town. Its very much a part of the fabric of our city year-round now. Summer Reads Its time to finally put the winter coat deep in the back of the closet and start thinking about summer (and, for the lucky among us, summer Fridays). Were here to help you get started with our annual Summer Reads feature, a mix of the biggest, best, and buzziest books of summer. We have personal staff picks as well as our reviews editors selections in eight categories, for readers of all ages. Check it out! From the Newsletters Tip Sheet Want to know which books weve given starred reviews to that are hitting shelves this week? We have a special page for you that lists just that. And check back next week: its always current. Childrens Bookshelf The scoop on Geekerella, Quirks first original YA title since the bestselling Miss Peregrines Peculiar Children series. Religion BookLine The pope is big business for publishers. Global Rights Report Nordic lifestyle trend watch: could sisu be the new hygge? BookLife Report What self-published authors need to know about book awards. Sign up for these and other great, free newsletters. The Forgotten Girl by Rio Youers was the most-read review last week on publishersweekly.com. Podcasts Week Ahead PW senior writer Andrew Albanese explains why a recently introduced bill to restructure the U.S. Copyright Office does not bode well for serious copyright reform. More to Come Interviews with comics artists Thi Bui (The Best We Could Do), Blutch (Peplum), Damian Duffy and John Jennings (Kindred), and more. Blogs ShelfTalker On a successful bookstore visit by Australian childrens literature sensation Andy Griffiths. PW Radio Valeria Luiselli discusses her new book, Tell Me How It Ends. And PW contributing editor Judith Rosen recaps the Childrens Institute. 2017 Algonquin Buys Griffins Farm Two-time National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin (The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone) sold world English rights to a middle grade novel called Blackberry Farm. Algonquins Elise Howard acquired the book from Emily van Beek at Folio Jr., a division of Folio Literary Management. The book, van Beek said, follows a young woman named Becket Branch who uses her city smarts and charms not only to cope, but to thrive when her family moves to her grandmothers farm. Blackberry Farm is set for spring 2019. Allens Line to Dutton In a world English rights acquisition, Andrew Karre at Dutton nabbed Kate Allens middle grade debut, The Line Tender. The author was represented by Michael Bourret at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. The book, Dutton said, is about the daughter of a shark rescuer who experiences a grief-filled summer when she realizes she must face her fears and complete the important scientific work her late mother began. Karre acquired two books in the deal, and the second work is currently untitled; Line is scheduled for 2019. HMH Kids Welcomes Hapkas Junior Ninja Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers Elizabeth Bennett and Alessandra Preziosi bought the first two books in Catherine Hapkas middle grade series Junior Ninja Champion. Jaida Temperly at New Leaf Literary & Media brokered the world rights deal, and called the series American Ninja Warrior meets the Baby-Sitters Club. She said the books are about a diverse group of boys and girls who become unlikely friends while training together at the local gym, each with their own motivation for mastering the tricky challenges and winning the final competition. The first book in the series is set for spring 2018 and the second for fall 2018. Marino Inks Six-Figure Picture Book Deal Tracy Gates at Viking took world rights, for six figures, to three new picture books by author-illustrator Gianna Marino (Night Animals). The first book, Just Like My Brother, is slated for fall 2018 and is about, Viking said, a young giraffe who discovers she is just like her big brother in a game of hide and seek. Deborah Warren at East West Literary Agency represented Marino. Veissids Sword Lands at Chronicle Chronicle Books Victoria Rock bought world rights to Jacqueline Veissids picture book, Rosies Sword. The book, which will be illustrated by Paola Zakimi, is about a little girl who often feels left out when her brothers are playing. Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio, who represented Veissid, said the girl uses a stick and a big imagination to transform the world around her. Zakimi was represented by Emily van Beek at Folio Jr., a division of Folio Literary Management. The book is slated for spring 2019. CHICAGO (TNS) Millennials are finally starting to show interest in homeownership. Weighed down by student debt and job struggles, the generation brutalized by the Great Recession has lacked both the money and the desire to buy homes. They've been a generation of renters. But as they enter their 30s, establish themselves financially and start having families, they're gradually begun to show interest in homeownership, according to Fannie Mae economist Douglas Duncan. To be sure, millennials still trail other generations in home buying by a long shot. But they are making gains as they age. "They were hard hit by the economy, went back to college because they couldn't find jobs and got a later start," said Duncan. "They will start catching up." The trend comes as a relief to real estate agents desperate to sell homes and economists worried that the economy would remain bogged down without enough first-time homebuyers. Typically, 20- and 30-somethings play an essential role in the economy and housing market. They become first-time homebuyers, filling their new homes with everything from appliances to yard equipment. Millennial home purchases also give older generations the chance to sell their own houses and move up. Russ Page and his fiancee, Jessica Doane, have experienced the rigors of the market in Chicago. Both 28, they weren't in a hurry to buy as they tried to get careers on solid footing. But as rents in the Chicago area climbed, they started asking themselves if they were wasting too much money on rent and were tempted to move from a distant suburb closer to downtown Chicago. They recently found a home they wanted in the trendy Bucktown neighborhood -- a sunny two-bedroom condo overlooking parkland. Yet they lost it as many buyers competed for the same unit. The winning buyer offered $10,000 over the asking price. "Jessica was pretty upset," said Page. Still, he remains wary about overspending on anything he buys. "I remember vividly the housing crash," he said. "I was in college, and I watched my parents take a huge loss on their home. It was surreal." Surveys of millennials show they are a practical generation that watched parents struggle to hold onto jobs and homes as unemployment soared to 10 percent and housing prices crashed 30 percent in the Great Recession. But Duncan is picking up on some solid trends in millennial home buying. As he followed a demographic group of people ages 28 to 29, he found that by the time the individuals were 30 to 31, they increased their home buying by 2.8 percent. Millennials seem to be doing at a later age exactly what their parents' generation did when younger, Duncan said. Millennials as a generation have delayed marriage and have waited for several years for the job market and pay to improve. But as incomes rise and they marry and get ready for children, they are less interested in cramming into studio apartments in high-demand areas, and start searching for homes or condos they can afford to buy. A Davenport man was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Cody Lee Motz, 26, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge John A. Jarvey to 70 months in prison, according to U.S. Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Mr. Motz also must serve three years of supervised release following his imprisonment. On Nov. 14, 2016, Mr. Motz pleaded guilty to the charge and admitted he possessed a Lorcin Model L22 handgun. The gun and controlled substances were discovered during a drug investigation that led to the execution of a search warrant at a residence on the 1200 block of Stark Street in Davenport. This investigation was conducted by the Scott County Sheriffs Department and the Davenport Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Iowa. CHICAGO (AP) Democratic candidate for Illinois governor Daniel Biss has released five years of personal income tax returns and is calling on other candidates to do the same. In a statement released Friday, Biss says voters deserve to see how candidates for public office make their money and what potential conflicts of interest they may have. The state senator from Evanston also is sponsoring legislation that would require any candidate running for president whose name is on the ballot in Illinois to release their tax returns. The bill is in response to Republican President Donald Trump's refusal to make his returns public. The returns show Biss and his wife reported $32,568 in adjusted gross income for 2016, with a taxable income of $2,958 after exemptions and deductions. He owed no federal taxes. MOLINE The special service area board responsible for Bass Street has approved up to $45,000 to fix the riverfront fountain. SSAs are defined regions in which property owners pay additional property tax, said Adam Holland, director of Moline Centre, which oversees the city's SSAs. The additional money is used for capital projects, beautification and maintenance withing an SSA's boundaries. The fountain, installed in the early 2000s, initially was not properly maintained, and later attempts at maintenance have only kept the feature in partial operation, Mr. Holland said. The SSA has an annual maintenance budget of about $5,000 for the fountain, but its poor condition has meant the actual maintenance cost has run between $7,000 and $9,000. "We're past the point of spending the resources we have on patchwork (repairs)," Mr. Holland said. The proposed total cost to replace underground mechanical elements and jets is about $82,000, he said. The number of water jets also would increase from seven to 18. At a Friday morning SSA board meeting, members unanimously approved the proposed work; Mike Wennekamp, who represents Two Rivers YMCA and the Sylvan Boat House, was not present. John Miller, of KONE, appointed at the beginning of the meeting to fill a board vacancy, participated in the vote. The SSA measure includes about half of what is estimated for the project and a few thousand dollars extra as a contingency. The rest of the cost is expected to come from the city. At Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting, Moline aldermen approved contributing up to $40,000; that assistance still must be approved at a city council meeting. At Friday's SSA meeting, Mr. Holland said the city's portion may not all be in actual dollars but may include labor and other assistance. The project could start as soon June 1, he said. Initially the work was projected to be done by then, but the contractor, All Around Town Outdoor Services, of Davenport, has taken on additional commitments that pushed the time line back. Mr. Holland said he wants to use the SSA's approval to help nail down the start date in the beginning of June. Once begun, the work will take about two weeks. The bronze statues of children playing would remain at the fountain, though they will be moved during the actual work, he said. Concrete will have to be torn up to replace the fountain's mechanical parts. All Around Town's proposal includes attempting to match the replacement concrete to the current colored pattern on the surface. Mr. Holland said the contract with All Around Town and the partnership with the city will include regular maintenance and winterizing of the fountain. Those annual maintenance costs are expected to be less than the budgeted $5,000. The money for the project will come from the SSA's reserve, Mr. Holland said. On Friday, that reserve was at $79,000. ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL Helping to reduce the post-mobilization time for Army National Guard units was the focus of two working groups that met Tuesday in First Army headquarters. The Maneuver Readiness Advisory Council (MRAC) and the Maneuver Support Readiness Advisory Council (MS-RAC) were the second in a series of five working groups that aim to meet this goal. Maj. Gen. Charles Whittington, First Army deputy commanding general for operations, said the working groups are an extension of an initiative by Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, Army National Guard director. The MRAC and MS-RAC are part of Lt. Gen. Kadavys initiative to create committees that look at different functional areas in order to understand how each of these impact having Guard forces ready and available, and the corresponding tasks that have to be accomplished in order for that to occur, Maj. Gen. Whittington said. As an example, commanders from maneuver formations will look at the challenges to rapidly train, mobilize, and prepare those forces," he said. What these committees will end up doing will be providing a window to First Army into some of those challenges, with an ultimate goal of examining the things and activities that have to happen in the pre-mobilization phrase in order to harvest time for the post-mobilization." While this involves tackling complex questions with many moving parts, Maj. Gen. Whittington notes the working groups are designed to arrive at an answer. These committees are taking some of these larger obstacles and breaking them down to manageable pieces so we can understand and be able to achieve that desired outcome, he said. In order to meet Army requirements, the National Guard will be called on more, particularly armored brigade combat teams and Stryker brigade combat teams. What these committees are challenged to do is to provide Lt. Gen. Kadavy a window from a field commanders perspective on what the challenges are in providing ready forces. Maj. Gen. Rick Nash, Minnesota Adjutant General, said the working groups will help meet Kadavys intent. Its valuable to do it here at First Army and to get input from the First Army staff, and to have Maj. Gen. Whittington here to talk about the issues and how First Army can best support the training strategy, Maj. Gen. Nash said. Its valuable to make sure were all working together to decrease post-mobilization days. Maj. Gen. Kenneth Reiner, Wyoming Adjutant General, said the effort will help with readiness. "Anytime you can get together and sit down with different echelons of our Army and synchronize and start planning and saying, Heres the problem, how are we going to work together and find the solution, its benefit-added," he said. "We have a great partnership with First Army, and our goal is the same across the force: To increase our readiness and get out the door quicker. Id like to address the elephant in the room. That elephant being the Republican Party and their refusal to represent the majority of their constituents. Lets begin with stricter gun control (something that would help lessen the fears parents have when sending their children off to school), 53% of Americans favor this (Pew Research) yet the elephant in the room refuses to consider any such thing. Over 70% of Americans want stricter background checks yet again; the elephant in the room refuses to represent them. 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal. Again, the elephant in the room pushes laws that do the opposite. 74% of Americans do not want social security reduced in any way. But the elephant in the room pushes to do just the opposite, cut social security. 63% of Americans now prefer Medicare for all, but the elephant in the room fights it with all its might. 67% of Americans feel more needs to be done to reduce climate change, but not the elephant in the room. The elephant sides with the fossil fuel industry claiming its not a big concern. Given these few statistics (there are more like them) its obvious that the Republican Party is the party of minority rule, quite the opposite of what our founding fathers envisioned. The Republican Party has become a power cult, not a party that represents the majority of Americans. Remember this while you mark your ballot in this midterm election. Save Democracy! Vote Democratic! AnyBody Petite Cozy Knit Jogger Pants is rated 4.4 out of 5 by 349 . Rated 2 out of 5 by Katyk22 from Quality control is an issue I dont know if its qvc, the customers, or what but I ordered these pants in black ps. They fit perfectly. I went back for a second pair, same size. I get a pair that are much shorter and tighter. I didnt send them back but I should have and next time I will. I think these were washed and dried and they shrunk. If the customers are returning items like this, it should be noted. These were not purchased as is. Buyer beware. Rated 5 out of 5 by soEso from Seriously Perfect Perfect up-to-date fit and style for this 1X, 5-feet-tall girl. Not tight like leggings, not baggy like joggers of yesteryear. Soft and lightweight. These (and AnyBody cozy knit cargo joggers) are my new shorts for summer. Get extras to sleep in :) Rated 5 out of 5 by LoisR from Love these! They are Sooooooo soft! I just got this in the purple...(lavender). So pleasantly surprised as this is my first pair of Anybody. They are so very soft and fit really well. I go between a L and XL. I ordered them in the XL....they are a bit big but it is fine! I am flying to Greece next month and they will fantastic for the long flight. Not too heavy and and just love how they feel. Rated 4 out of 5 by Lib2020 from Size A bit disappointing One pair fit perfect and the other was shorter also snug. I'm considering trying another pair. Rated 5 out of 5 by Anonymous from Very Comfy! I bought two of these joggers! I like that they arent thick. They are so comfy and keep my legs warm. Nice to just put these on and relax and go about my day, running errands and walking my dog. The pockets are a big plus! Will be buying more colors. Rated 5 out of 5 by JillyPas from Perfect for SoCal weather I have four pieces and will buy more. Petite medium is the perfect size for me (5'1" and 120). Very comfortable, fit is wonderful, and lightweight. No way will I ever show my knees or above in public, so these are the perfect alternative. Throw in wash, tumble dry and ready to wear. If you are looking for a heavyweight material, these aren't for you. But if you live in a warm/hot climate, you won't go wrong with these. And they are also great wherever you live when WFH. Go for them!! Rated 4 out of 5 by Shortstuff from Runs Large Love the weight of the material. Comfortable. Well made but it runs large. Petites are also still too long for me. (I'm 5' 0" tall) LOGO Lounge by Lori Goldstein Cotton Slub Short Sleeve Dress is rated 4.1 out of 5 by 81 . Rated 4 out of 5 by Goldenlover3 from Too short This dress is cute and a great clearance price but way too short for this 60 yr old 53 gal! Wish it were 2 inches longer and I would of kept it. Got the sm my usual Qvc size. Fit great except for length. Rated 5 out of 5 by rrt from Please bring this dress back! I purchased this dress a while ago and just wore it for the first time last weekend. It is lightweight and comfortable. I knew it was a hit when I put it on and my 24 year old daughter said, that dress looks good on you. It gives you such a nice shape. I need more colors! Rated 5 out of 5 by Beautiful dress from Cute comfy spring dress This dress is relaxed and cute. I like the simplicity and have spruced it up with my own style, scarf, cute shoes. I got it at a clearance price so well worth the value. I would not have paid the full price for this item. Rated 4 out of 5 by Browinie from Good Deal Everything that I buy from Lori Goldstein I love. A good buy for the price. Rated 1 out of 5 by Anonymous from To big. Not one of my favorite of logos style it was way to big. I got the xs look I could swim in it. Back it goes. Rated 5 out of 5 by N6336 from favorite dress to wear with leggings. I had to send this back for a L instead of XL which is what I usually wear in LOGO brand. I love this with leggings. I will wear with a long sleeve crew top & leggings for winter. I hope Lori comes out with a long sleeve in this style soon. Rated 3 out of 5 by powerqueen from too short I'm 5'2 & this was short even on me. Fabric was too thin & the shape did nothing for me. Had to send back. Disappointed. On May 14, an election will be held for Yerevans new Council of Elders (municipal council). 841,973 individuals will be eligible to cast ballots in the election in which three political parties/alliances are fielding candidates. The ticket of the Yelk Alliance is headed by Nikol Pashinyan, who was elected to the Armenian parliament on April 2. The alliance is fielding 63 members from the Civil Contract, Bright Armenia and Republic parties. There are also some independents on the ticket. The recently formed Apricot Country (Yerkir Tzirani) party ticket is headed by Zarouhie Postanjyan, late of the Heritage Party. 51 candidates are running on the ticket, 29 of which are women. There are 195 candidates on the ticket of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia. Current Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan heads the ticket. In contrast to the April 2 parliamentary election and its 28,021 registered observers from 49 local NGOs, only 147 observers from the Geghama Youth Regional Association will be on site for the municipal election. The label of the North Korean state as a Marxist-Leninist regime, even of the particularly repressive Maoist Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution variety, is a misnomer. North Korea is a dynastic autocracy, ruled by a semidivine Kim family with absolute power over both the inner court and the general populace in a way comparable to a Henry Tudor or a Caesar. Even family members who fall into disrepute are not beyond bloody retribution. Just as a Korean king once sentenced his errant crown prince son to die in a rice box of starvation in the sweltering sun, so too Kim Jong-un recently struck down his own half brother with an internationally banned chemical weapon. The fanaticism of the North Korean public, in its devotion to its leader, is not some Broadway-like drama of feigned affectation. A visit to North Korea and discussion with members of the public at large revealed a clear devotion to the Kims. Implied was a willingness to die in defense of the juche philosophy and the great leader and his bloodline. North Korea, for almost four decades a colony of imperial Japan, has seemingly absorbed the kamikaze-like death wish of those pilots who once made a last-ditch suicidal stand to die for the emperor. And North Korea is not Iraq. North Koreas estimated elite thirty-thousand-strong special-operations unit is not Saddams Republican Guard, which was easily vanquished. These special forces lie in wait ready to burst through underground tunnels to wreak havoc on South Koreas civilian population. Then there is the fact that North Korea is now a self-proclaimed nuclear weapons state with up to twenty nuclear weapons. It also holds an arsenal of chemical weapons to be delivered by an estimated ten thousand artillery pieces, stashed in mountain tunnels near the DMZ, ready to rain down on metropolitan Seoul a mere thirty-five miles away. This treasure trove of chemical death would be the envy of Syrias Assad. (Seoul has a population of over ten million, and the metropolitan area holds over twenty-five million people.) According to South Koreas 2016 White Paper, North Korea, which has been developing chemical weapons since 1980, has between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including anthrax, smallpox and the plague. And CNN reported on April 13 that Japans Prime Minister Abe has warned publicly that North Korea may already have the capability to deliver missiles equipped with sarin nerve agent. North Korea will therefore not go quietly into the night. As Kim Jong-un displays open defiance of President Trump with possible preparations for a sixth nuclear test on or around the April 15 anniversary of the founders birth, he has likely calculated that, despite the American presidents red line, even President Trump would not risk the devastation of a second Korean war. Kim Jong-uns grandfather did not hesitate in taking the most provocative of actions against previous U.S. commanders in chief. The American reconnaissance ship USS Pueblo was seized in international waters in January 1968it remains, to this day, in North Koreaand its eighty-two remaining crew members, one being killed in the attack, were held for almost a year. President Lyndon B. Johnson, caught up in the growing quagmire of the Vietnam War, withheld retaliatory action against Pyongyang. Just a year later, in April 1969, a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over the Sea of Japan by a North Korean MIG-21 aircraft, resulting in the deaths of all thirty-one U.S. crew members, the largest single loss of a U.S. aircrew during the entire Cold War era. Still, Pyongyang craftily calculated that, due to the escalation of the Vietnam War, Washington would keep its powder dry. Then, in the summer of 1976, following by just a year President Gerald R. Fords withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam, Pyongyang struck at the American military again, killing two U.S. Army officers in the infamous axe murder incident in the DMZ. Pyongyang perceived that a war-weary Washington was not about to engage in yet another land war in Asia. So brinkmanship, even involving the loss of American lives, has always been an essential weapon in North Koreas strategic toolbox. As recently as 2010, Pyongyang torpedoed a South Korean naval vessel, killing forty-six seamen, and then later that same year shelled a South Korean island, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians. Again, Pyongyang escaped major consequences for its provocations, with its ally Beijing blocking an effective UN response. Would Kim Jong-un strike again? There is, on record, the testimony of North Koreas most recent high-level defector. The DPRKs former vice ambassador to London, Thae Yong-ho, has spoken directly on the inner workings of Kim Jong-uns mind. Dont underestimate Kim Jong Un, Thae told CBS on February 17. His capacity to wreak harm, not only to America, but also South Korea and the world, should not be underestimated, Thae said. Kim Jong Un strongly believes that once he possesses an ICBM, then he can easily scare off America. Thae had previously told the BBC that Kim Jong-un would nuke Los Angeles if threatened. He will press the button on these dangerous weapons when he thinks that his rule and his dynasty are threatened. At present, Kim is thought to lack the ICBM capability to reach the American mainland, a capability he will likely acquire in the next few years. His short- and medium-range missiles, however, could likely reach U.S. bases in South Korea, Japan and even Guam. Tokyo has, in addition, a real concern that Pyongyang, given its long-term anti-Japanese, anti-imperialist propaganda left over from the colonial era, would in a crisis rain chemical weapons down on Japanese cities. The United States has twenty-eight thousand service personnel stationed in South Korea, which would effectively serve as the trip wire for U.S military involvement should war break out. In addition, there are thousands more U.S. military family dependents, including children, in the country. While there is a Noncombatant Evacuation Operation in place to expeditiously extricate thousands of U.S. and allied civilians from the country, two major issues remain: First, with a number of these civilians, despite U.S. base relocations, still living in the Seoul metropolitan area, would they be able to effectively escape a sudden chemical-weapons attack? Second, if in anticipation of an impending crisis Washington ordered the evacuation of U.S. dependents from South Korea, the resulting wholesale panic could cause mass population movement toward the bottom of the peninsula, a flooding of airports, an exodus of capital, and a devastating drop in the Seoul stock market. Another victim of a second Korean war would be international trade. In 1950, when the Korean War broke out, East Asia was not, unlike today, the economic engine driving the global economy. With missiles flying across the Pacific as far as Guam or even beyond, the shelves of Walmart, stocked with goods from China and other East Asian producers, would likely go largely vacant. Cargo vessels would not wish to risk being caught in the cross fire, and the movement of U.S. troops and equipment across the Pacific would take priority. If war erupted as a result of a U.S. surgical strike on North Korean nuclear and missile facilities, and Beijing chose to honor its defense treaty commitment to its North Korean ally, the results on the global economy would be devastating. China did, of course, intervene in Korea in 1950, when it felt its own vital national interests were threatened. U.S. battle deaths in the Korean War, according to a 2000 Pentagon figure, are listed at 33,651, with additional figures for other, including deaths from illness and accident. The total Korean Warera casualties etched into the Korean War Memorial is 54,246. China lost between 132,000 and 400,000, including one of Chairman Maos sons. The United Kingdom, Turkey, Canada, Australia, France and other allies lost altogether between three and four thousand. As many as two million Koreans, including civilians, died as a result of the war. The war cost the United States an estimated twenty billion dollars, and China 2.5 billion dollars. The costs of a second Korean war, then, would be massive: another possible two million or more Korean casualties; fifty thousand or more dead Americans; the potential mass military mobilization of the U.S. civilian population for another land war in Asia; the utter destruction of South Koreas infrastructure, the Miracle on the Han that turned a war-devastated backwater into an economic powerhouse; possible chemical attacks on U.S. Pacific bases and South Korean and Japanese civilians; plunging Pacific stock markets; the total disruption of global trade; the possible intervention of China; and, most devastating of all, the potential use of nuclear weapons in combat for the first time since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So the question must be asked: is a surgical strike worth the risk? Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. 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Price: $ 1,500 Seller State of Residence: Texas State/Province: Texas City: Port O'Conner Zip/Postal Code: 77982 Location: 779**, Port O'connor, Texas You will be redirected to eBay Nearby 77982 Dakota Meyer says his pregnant wife Bristol Palin is "the most amazing woman." ADVERTISEMENT The 28-year-old Marine Corps veteran shared a photo of Palin getting an ultrasound Wednesday and gushed about the 26-year-old television personality in the caption. "I couldn't ask for a better person to be the mother of my children. She's the most amazing woman on earth and I'm so glad she chose me. Thank you for being my wife @bsmp2 #mywifeisamazing," he wrote on Instagram. Meyer already shares 15-month-old daughter Sailor Grace with Palin, who is also mom to 8-year-old son Tripp Mitchell with ex-fiance Levi Johnston. The couple confirmed in December that they are expecting again in the spring. "We are so excited to announce that our family is expanding!" the pair said. "God has blessed us so much; we are thankful for His grace and new beginnings. A springtime baby in the Meyer home and we can't wait!" Meyer and Palin married in June after calling off their first engagement in 2015. The television personality announced in January that she and Meyer are having another daughter. "Dakota and Tripp are officially outnumbered," she wrote. "So excited to let you all know, ITS A GIRL!!" 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! Palin is the eldest daughter of 2008 vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin In addition to appearing on her mom's show, "Sarah Palin's Alaska," she also competed on "Dancing with the Stars" and starred in her own short-lived "Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp" reality series. , We're sorry, this article is not currently available A sign along the M4 stretch of highway in Armenias Tavoush Province proudly proclaims that the roadway is serviced by Levon the Second Ltd.. The roadway running between the towns of Dilijan and Ijevan is so bad, however, that the sign should read not serviced by Levon the Second Ltd. The ever-present potholes are a bane to drivers. In fact, roads in this northeastern province look like they were shelled in the early 1990s war with Azerbaijan, on the other side of the border. Many stretches are hardly navigable and eat-up the undercarriages of cars. It now takes drivers twice as long to drive the 35 kilometers from Ijevan to Dilijan given the poor state of the highway. There are deep potholes in the highway as it passes through the village of Hovk, even though 150 million AMD was spent in 2010 to repair the road damaged by sinkholes. Drivers ferrying tourists and goods along the road stuck their thumbs up in the air when they saw this reporter documenting the dilapidated roadway with his video camera. They were saying its about time someone was covering the issue. One driver, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was from transporting goods from the Czech Republic and had just passed through Georgia. The driver said the roads there were far better than in Armenia. Armenian drivers say the costs of driving along these roads is staggering. According to a statement released by Armenias Ministry of Transport, Communications and IT, the M4 is slated for maintenance this summer. Work is already underway to fill in the potholes. The road is particularly bad near the village of Haghartzin. It takes careful drivers, concerned about not damaging their vehicles,15-20 minutes just to drive through a one kilometer stretch that runs through the village. On March 17, a company called Haghartzin Ltd. filled the potholes along this stretch with sand. The reason was simple. The next day, Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan was scheduled to visit the area. Local residents were incensed that it took the visit of a top official for the roadway to receive some semblance of repair. The ministry told Hetq that this stretch of road was slated for renovation and that the matter of financing was being discussed. According to information at Hetqs disposal, the government is disinclined to use state funds to renovate the highway. Haghartzin ceased to be a separate community soon after the May 2015 local referendum, even though most voted to remain so. Haghartzin is now administratively a part of Dilijan. The European Union, which has pushed for the consolidation of rural villages, has promised to invest in infrastructure in the event of consolidation. No wonder that the government of Armenia is reluctant to invest any of its own money. While waiting for European Union funds, drivers, and their passengers, continue to suffer. 'The Congress will never change its ideology, but to fight this new kind of propaganda politics, we have to prepare ourselves.' Veteran Congress leader C P Joshi, in charge of the north-eastern states, tells Amit Agnihotri the party is alert to the growing challenges in the region and will turn the tables on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 national elections. You have accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh/BJP of playing divisive politics in the north-eastern region to gain electorally. Why do you say so? The RSS/BJP is pursuing a three-pronged strategy to gain ground in the north-eastern region where they had little presence for decades. They are doing this by forging pacts with regional parties, which are mostly Christian groups. Second, the BJP is reaching out to native communities whose religious practices closely resemble that of Hindu traditions. They are also using various insurgent groups to disrupt the region. Third, the saffron party is using central funds as bait to win over support of the local politicians. How do you plan to counter the BJP? The year 2019, when the next national elections would be held, will be the deciding factor as we will ensure the BJP is out of power. North-eastern players will switch their loyalties to the Congress again. This is not the first time local players are siding with a BJP-ruled Centre. It happened in 1977 also when the first non-Congress government came to power at the Centre. The Congress lost Assam to the BJP in 2016, and now Manipur, after ruling both states for 15 years. Does that ring an alarm bell or do you plan to just wait and watch? No, we can't do that. We have to be politically vigilant and work harder to counter the BJP. But please keep in mind that in Manipur the BJP manufactured a majority by luring small players and formed the government by violating the Constitution. The governor also helped the BJP. However, in Assam the Congress had a problem. The BJP forged poll pacts with the Asom Gana Parishad and the Bodos and had a tacit understanding with Badruddin Ajmal's All India United Democratic Front. We did not forge an alliance with Ajmal despite some in the party favouring it, as the move would have wiped us out in the state and dented our secular credentials. Also, some of our assembly members led by Himanta Biswa Sarma defected to the BJP. Biswa Sarma is being credited with the BJP's victories in the north-east. In hindsight, was it a mistake to let him go? In a way, any old worker going away is a loss. But Biswa Sarma is not such a great strategist as he is being made out to be. If his claims were true, how could the Congress emerge as the single-largest party in Manipur winning 28 of the 60 assembly seats? We had 30 per cent vote share in Assam in 2001 and got 32 per cent last year despite losing the polls. This shows that all is not lost.; Arunachal Pradesh, too, slipped out of the Congress' grasp. What went wrong there? Again, the BJP subverted the Constitution and used money power to hijack power. Can you imagine a regional outfit, the People's Party of Arunachal Pradesh, merging with a national party the way the Pema Khandu government joined the saffron party recently at the instance of Amit Shah? We have taken the PPAP's merger with the BJP to the high court. Earlier, the Centre had imposed President's rule in the state to dislodge our government in collusion with the governor. The Supreme Court gave an order in our favour restoring the Congress government in the state, but the BJP again broke norms, procedures and used money power to gain allies in Arunachal Pradesh. We have now appointed former MP Sanjay Takam as the new state unit chief; he will work to revive the party. What are the relevant issues in the north-east? Barring Manipur and Nagaland, our protests against the note ban drew crowds in the region. Then there is the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which has created ripples in Assam, besides the controversy around national registry, which impacts lakhs of women in the state. How do you plan to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh? Will you keep the alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the 2019 general elections as well? You see, in the 2014 general elections, the SP vote share was 23 per cent, the Congress share 7.5 per cent and that of the BJP 43 per cent. In 2017, the BJP has won more than 300 seats, but their vote share has come down to 39 per cent. Against this, the SP-Congress alliance has a vote share of 29 per cent. It was because of very strong likes and dislikes between Mayawatiji and Akhileshji (Yadav) that we could not have a Bihar-like Mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi was the one who changed the narrative in Bihar where the Congress, JD-U (Janata Dal-United and the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) came together to defeat the BJP. If you add 23 per cent of the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) vote share and 29 per cent vote share of the SP and Congress, it adds up to 53 per cent -- much more than the BJP's 39 per cent. Wait for 2019 when we hope the BSP will come along with us. There will be no space for the BJP in UP then. Is the Congress prepared for challenges? For 10 years, we gave a good government to the country. There are some vacancies where we have to replace some people -- senior people who can be good organisers and younger people who have good experience. By the end of 2018, you will see that we are heading along with a proper strategy. We will see to it that in 2019, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, we pose formidable challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his brand of politics. Is the Congress facing an ideological crisis to fight the BJP? No, I don't think so. The Congress will never change its ideology, but to fight this new kind of propaganda politics, we have to prepare ourselves. We are aware of the challenges. It is the Congress, which is primarily opposing the ideology of the BJP today. The legitimate central space is with Rahul Gandhi. In 2019, we will see how to defeat the BJP. We will do everything that is required to challenge and expose the Modi brand of politics and we will be looking at state-specific political challenges. Strategies, however, can vary from state to state. IMAGE: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on the campaign trail. Photograph: Kind courtesy @INCIndia/Twitter National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll, defeating the ruling Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Nazir Khan, by a margin of over 10,700 votes. Abdullah polled around 48,554 votes against Khan, who got 37,779 votes, officials said. The polling for the seat was held on April 9 amid large-scale violence that left eight persons dead and several dozen others injured. The constituency had recorded an abysmal 7.13 per cent voter turnout, the lowest ever in its history. The Election Commission had ordered re-polling in 38 polling stations in violence-hit areas on April 13. This will be the third term as Lok Sabha member for Abdullah, whose victory is being seen as a major setback for the ruling PDP. He was earlier elected to the House of People in 1980 and 2009. Although there were seven other candidates in the fray, it was NOTA that bagged the second runner-up spot with over 930 voters choosing this option. National Conference workers did not celebrate the win of their party president as mark of respect to the eight youths killed in firing by security forces on April 9. Abdullah later demanded that governors rule be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir as the state government had failed to ensure a peaceful election. I appeal to the governor and the President of India to dismiss this government and impose governors rule in the state where the people will get some respite and feel that such situation will not arise again, Abdullah said speaking to reporters after his poll victory. I will also say that the election in Anantnag should happen under the governors rule, he said, otherwise it is unlikely that the people would get justice. Claiming the eight youth who had died in the poll day violence were martyred, the National Conference chief said that several others were in hospitals or jails and he had never seen such an election. He expressed gratitude towards the people who risked their lives to vote in such a difficult situation. The NC leader trashed the rumours that he would resign from Lok Sabha after Saturdays win and said that he would follow what his party high command decides. Reacting to the video of a youth tied up to an army vehicle, Abdullah said it is very shameful and a very bad act against democracy. I request them not to do such things which will add to the fire and render it uncontrollable, Abdullah said. He batted for resumption of Indo-Pak talks and dialogue with all stakeholders including separatist Hurriyat Conference. War is not a solution to anything, he said. Asked about the dismal poll percentage in the bypolls, Abdullah replied, How does it matter? We have seen polls before also where hardly any percentage was there. It does not make any difference. Democracy has been there. What do you say to the people who have voted, even if it may be seven per cent with all the pressures on them? he asked. The bypoll to the seat was necessitated after the then PDP leader Tariq Hamid Karra resigned from the Lower House of Parliament in protest against the atrocities inflicted upon the people during the unrest triggered by killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani last year. IMAGE: NC president Farooq Abdullah along with NC-Congress joint candidate G A Mir flashes a victory sign after his win in Sirnagar LS bypoll. Photograph: Umar Ganie/Rediff.com Patnaiks popularity remains undiminished, and BJP knows it can only challenge him by riding on the shoulders of the PMs iconic image, reports Archis Mohan. Larger-than-life cutouts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi compete for space with those of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his legendary father Biju Patnaik at traffic intersections and pedestrian pathways of the wide and leafy roads of Odishas capital, hosting a three-day Bharatiya Janata Party national executive meeting that started on Friday. Modi and Patnaik will also contend for space in social media and on local television channels and newspapers. The Patnaik-led government, mostly seen as laidback about self-promotion, has woken up after the BJPs success in the recent panchayat polls. It has launched a propaganda war to showcase its achievements and to counter the Modi governments claims of having rolled out sundry schemes for Odishas poor and youth. The political battle has seldom been this sharply contested after Patnaik first led the Biju Janata Dal to victory in the year 2000. Patnaiks BJD and the BJP were allies until 2009. After the Kandhamal riots he parted ways. On Friday, the BJP displaced the Congress as the main opposition to Patnaiks party. "We have achieved our objective of making the BJP the number two party in Odisha. We believe BJP will become the natural party of governance in the state by 2019, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who has emerged as the BJPs Odisha face, said. The hosting of national executive in Odisha is to instil confidence among party cadres for the battles ahead and to attract influential local leaders from rival parties. Patnaiks popularity remains undiminished, and BJP knows it can only challenge him by riding on the shoulders of the PMs iconic image. The BJPs campaign in Odisha will also rest on the Centres schemes for the welfare of the poor, its attempts to respond to the unfulfilled aspirations of the youth of the state and by appropriating local icons. It also hopes to build on the wide network of Sangh Parivar outfits that have been working in rural areas for decades, particularly to counter Christian missionary activity. While Muslims comprise a mere two per cent of the population, there exists a resonance for Hindutva consolidation in the state. Recent violence, which had stemmed from communal tensions, Bhadrak has touched a raw nerve. Pradhan says Odisha has become a laboratory of the PMs welfare of the poor agenda, and details how Odisha has benefited with greater devolution under the 14th Finance Commission, more national highways are being constructed in the state and central allocations for rural housing is at an all-time high. Beyond welfare politics, the BJP has assiduously worked to appropriate regional icons. On Sunday, the PM will meet descendents of the warriors who had taken part in the 1817 Paika rebellion, considered the first armed rebellion against the British East India Company. The venue for the BJP national executive has been named after 19th century Oriya poet Bhima Bhoi. The Dalit poet has a following across Odisha and Jharkhand, and his philosophy, let the world get redeemed at my cost, is inscribed on the wall of the UN Hall. Other Odisha icons it has included in its pantheon are social reformer Gopabandhu Das and freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai. Whenever they are in Odisha, top BJP leaders, including Modi and Shah, visit the Jagannath temple and the Samaleswari temple in Sambalpur, and also pay their respects to the Shankaracharya of Puri. But as the recent panchayat polls showed with the BJP winning most of the seats in areas where the Congress had been stronger, the only person standing between Modi and Shah's dream of installing a BJP government in Bhubaneswar is Naveen Patnaik. IMAGE: BJP president Amit Shah inaugurates party's National Executive Meet in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. Photograph: PTI Photo The number of Islamic State terrorists killed by the Mother of All Bombs dropped by the United States on Thursday has reached 90, Afghan officials was quoted as saying by news agencies. Afghan officials had earlier said the bombing had killed 36 IS fighters. The US military on Thursday dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat on an Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb -- dubbed the Mother of All Bombs -- was unleashed in combat for the first time, hitting IS positions in eastern Nangarhar province. The bomb smashed their mountain hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in towering flames. Officials insisted that there were no military and civilian casualties at all. Security experts say IS had built their redoubts close to civilian homes, but the government said thousands of local families had already fled the area in recent months of fighting. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani threw his support behind the bombardment. But some officials close to him condemned the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that controls only a tiny sliver of territory and is not considered a huge threat. IMAGE: Afghan special forces patrol in Pandola village near the site of a U.S. bombing in the Achin district of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. Photograph: Parwiz/Reuters IMAGE: A student, injured during a clash between protesters and security forces at Degree College in Pulwama, being treated at SMHS Hospital in Srinagar on Saturday. Photorgaph: PTI Photo A 23-year-old man was killed on Saturday evening when Border Security Force jawans opened fire in Batmaloo area in Srinagar. A senior police official said the man has been identified as Sajjad Ahmed, a resident of Chandoosa in Baramulla, and the BSF jawans opened fire after stones were pelted on the force at the Reka Chowk in Batmaloo. Following the incident, tension gripped the area and all shops have been shut down, the official said. Meanwhile, in Pulwama town, at least 20 people were injured on Saturday in a clash between protesters and security forces. A group of youths started shouting slogans and hurling stones at security forces near Degree College, Pulwama, in the afternoon, a police official said. The security personnel resorted to baton charge and fired several tear smoke shells to disperse the protestors. At least 20 people were injured in the clash, he said. There were unconfirmed reports of security forces firing a few warning shots in the air. ***** Now, videos of personnel beating youth emerge; Army assures probe Two videos, showing military personnel beating up youth and forcing them to shout anti-Pakistan slogans, are doing rounds on social media after which army said that it would ascertain the veracity of the footage and take appropriate action. The purported videos emerged just a day after another video in which army personnel were seen having tied a youth to the fender of their jeep and parading him through villages in Budgam district to bring stone-pelting under control. In one of the videos that emerged on Saturday, four army personnel are seen catching hold of student from Pulwama degree college, pin him to the ground and thrash him with a cane. In the second video, three youth who seem to be under army custody in a vehicle are forced by a soldier to abuse Pakistan and shout slogans like Pakistan murdabad. Azaadi chahiye tum ko (do you want freedom)? the soldier is seen asking the youth before slapping them and hitting them with a stick. Blood is seen oozing from the forehead of one of the youths in the army vehicle. Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said the veracity of the videos is being ascertained. "Action will be taken against those found guilty of misconduct," Col Kalia said. It is not yet clear who shot the videos but they are being circulated across social media platforms, leading to condemnation from citizens of Kashmir. This is complete impunity. Yesterday human shield. Today breaking into a government college in the daylight and these brutal incidents, a Facebook user commented on the video. On Friday, a video emerged in which army personnel had tied a youth to fender of their jeep and paraded him through several villages in Budgam district to bring stone pelting under control. The video drew widespread condemnation, prompting Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to seek a detailed report from the state police. Army also began an internal investigation into the incident. Pakistan has prepared a new dossier to be submitted to the United Nations, in regard with more 'evidence' against alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is set to be executed on the charges of espionage and sabotage. The new dossier is based on the early video confessional statement and also statements given in front of the court by Jadhav for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in Karachi and Balochistan, Pakistan media reports. The attested report of Court Martial General will also be included in the dossier. The dossier will also reportedly include the timeline of Jadhav's 'militant activities' and also the court proceedings. Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale on Friday asked Pakistan to provide a copy of the chargesheet filed and the judgment given against Jadhav while strongly raising this issue. The Indian side also conveyed that it will appeal the order and is studying the Pakistan Army Act for the same. In a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, the Indian envoy sought consular access to Jadhav for the 14th time. However, Janjua said since it is a case of espionage, consular access can't be granted contrary to the Indian High Commission's claim that the same must be granted under international law. Meanwhile, India has called off the Indo-Pak maritime security dialogue it was to host next week, in the backdrop of tensions arising over the death sentence to Jadhav. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said India is taking all measures to gain consular access to Jadhav despite Pakistan denying it 13 times. Singh said, the government is trying everything to get access to Jadhav. A delegation of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency was to visit New Delhi on April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen of both the countries, who are arrested for trespassing, and search and rescue operations with the Indian Coast Guard. Coast Guard sources said the Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegation's visit. India has said if Jadhav were to be executed, it will be considered as a premeditated murder. As per an MoU signed between maritime security agencies of India and Pakistan in 2006, coast guard delegations of the two countries would visit each other every yea Last July, a three-member delegation of the Indian Coast Guard, headed by Director General Rajendra Singh, had visited Pakistan to discuss maritime issues between the two countries. This was to be a reciprocal visit by a delegation of PMSA headed by their DG, a senior Coast Guard official said. A military court in Pakistan earlier this week found Jadhav guilty on two counts of espionage and sentenced him to death. In March, President Donald Trump proposed increasing the U.S. defense budget by $54 billion. Trump wants America to build more aircraft carriers, more nuclear submarines, more nuclear missiles, and... more of Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) famed F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, a weapon that he now calls "the fantastic new F-35 jet fighter." But here's a bit of shocking news for America's populist president: In a poll conducted last year by Voice of the People (VOP), a majority of Americans opted to send the fantastic new F-35 fighter jet to the junkyard. The poll VOP conducted its poll online between Dec. 20, 2015, and Feb. 1, 2016. Surveying 7,126 registered voters who belong to its "Citizen Cabinet" advisory panel, in eight states scattered across the nation, VOP posed a series of questions concerning the U.S. defense budget. Among other revelations, VOP's poll showed that Americans generally favor cutting defense spending on the Air Force (by $2 billion annually), the Army ($4 billion), Navy ($2 billion), nuclear weapons ($3 billion), and missile defense ($1 billion). Perhaps the most surprising revelation from the poll, though, was the sentiment among voters for what is now President Trump's new favorite military jet. Of those polled, 54% wanted to end production of the F-35. The details That's right. By a vote of 54% in favor to 43% opposed, a majority of those polled "endorsed cancelling the F35 Joint Strike Fighter Program and instead upgrading current fighters" such as Boeing's F-15 and (luckily for Lockheed) Lockheed Martin's own F-16. When told that upgrading old planes versus buying newer F-35s would save as much as $97 billion in defense dollars over the next 20 years, voters overwhelmingly voted with their wallets -- to kill the F-35. Anti-F-35 sentiment was widespread, too. Voters in eight states were surveyed, and in all eight states, majorities favored killing the F-35. Even in Texas, where the F-35 is built in Fort Worth, a 51% majority agreed that the F-35 should go away. Why the death sentence? Actually, maybe that's not so surprising, given the negative press Lockheed's F-35 program has endured. In querying voters regarding their feelings on the F-35, VOP pointed out, "Some say the F-35... has many design problems, and is way over budget already, with more overruns likely." That's stating it kindly. As initially envisioned, Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet was supposed to achieve "initial operational capability" (IOC) and be ready for at least limited use in combat by 2010. In fact, by 2015, only one variant of the F-35 (the F-35B, destined for the Marine Corps) had reached IOC. The Air Force anointed its own F-35A variant with IOC status in 2016. And the Navy's F-35C variant... still isn't there yet. Viewed most charitably, the F-35 program is at least five years behind schedule -- and arguably as much as seven years late. Price-wise, the F-35 produced was originally predicted to cost about $35 million per plane in 1994 dollars ($57.5 million today). But even after Lockheed's latest round of price reductions, the average F-35 still costs taxpayers more than $113 million -- 197% of its budgeted cost. And as for the "design problems," well, VOP's poll was conducted more than a full year ago. Since then, the Pentagon's Directorate of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) has released an updated report on the airplane's progress. It details a list of 276 "critical" deficiencies with the F-35, concluding that by and large, the F-35 is "overall ineffective." Were the same VOP survey conducted today, it's possible that even more Americans would vote to kill the F-35. What it means for investors So what is the upshot of all the above? President Trump wants to spend a lot more money on defense this year (and in future years) than President Obama spent last year. Lockheed Martin shareholders were understandably enthused to learn of the new president's desire to spend more on defense in general, and of his kind words for the F-35 in particular. But don't count your warbirds before the eggs are hatched. Much of the extra money Trump wants to dump into defense is earmarked for an airplane that enjoys little support among voters -- and taxpayers. This could make the increase in defense spending a hard sell. And increased purchases of F-35 fighter jets are still not a foregone conclusion. 10 stocks we like better than Lockheed Martin When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Lockheed Martin 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 Rich Smith 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. Voting on Tuesday? Check here to get the information you need The Wells Fargo fake account scandal that erupted in 2016 is an extreme case, but there's no question that bank employees are often under considerable pressure to sell bank products and services. And that pressure may lead them to use trickery or even outright lies to meet their sales quotas. Bankers and tellers may also lie about how certain bank services work because they know that the truth would be pretty unappetizing, and they want to avoid a confrontation. Have your bank's employees told you any of the following fibs? 1. Online banking is perfectly safe It's hard to find a bank these days that doesn't offer some form of online banking, and many also provide smartphone access through apps and mobile-friendly websites. Unfortunately, despite banks' best efforts, there is no such thing as a 100% secure website. Just consider Citibank's 2011 online banking breach, which affected 360,000 credit cardholders. Does this mean you shouldn't use online banking? No, but it does mean you should take precautions, such as setting up alerts to warn you if certain transactions take place and making sure your username and password are secure (i.e., complex and different from all of your other online logins). 2. To upgrade you, we'll need to open a new account Some years ago, I paid a visit to my local Wells Fargo branch to see about switching to a different type of savings account that would get me lower monthly fees and a better rate of interest. The banker informed me that he would need to close down my old savings account and open a new one in order to get me into the new type of account. In reality, banks can switch you from one type of savings or checking account to another without changing anything else about your account. A banker who says otherwise is almost certainly looking to pad their quota of new accounts. If a banker tries a similar line of argument on you, ask to speak with the manager or consider switching banks. 3. Keeping a high balance in your checking account is a good financial practice Banks often structure their account rules and fees to encourage customers to keep large balances in their checking accounts. This is great for the banks, because checking accounts typically pay little or no interest. If everyone kept the bare minimum in their checking accounts and moved the rest of their funds into savings, banks would end up paying out a lot more interest. Try to keep just enough in your checking account to cover your expenses and regularly sweep the rest into a savings account. This is one of the many times when having a comprehensive budget can really help: If you know exactly what's going to come out of your account during the month, you can leave just enough to cover your expenses in checking and make a little extra interest on the rest. 4. Opening a new credit card will improve your credit score If you've maxed out your existing credit cards, opening a new one can indeed help your credit score by reducing your ratio of debt to available credit, which is also known as your "credit card utilization" percentage. But if you already have plenty of available credit, opening a new card won't help you. In fact, it can lower your credit score by adding another credit inquiry to your report. The impact of a credit inquiry is typically small -- no more than five points off your score -- but why take a five-point hit if you don't have to, especially since inquiries remain on your credit report for up to two years? 5. I'm here to advise you Unfortunately, bankers often consider themselves salespeople, rather than advisors. That's inevitable, given that many banks require bankers and tellers to sell a certain number of new products and services to customers, and may pay commissions for doing so. Indeed, Wells Fargo bankers reported that failing to meet sales quotas could get them fired. This places bank employees in a situation where they are rewarded for selling new products -- whether or not the customer needs them. Given this conflict of interest, bank employees may urge you to get new accounts and services for the flimsiest of reasons. If a banker or teller suggests you open a new account, don't agree unless you can see a clear and compelling reason to do so. There's no need to suspect that every banker you encounter is trying to fleece you, and many banks are staffed with employees who are looking out for your best interests. Just be sure to go into any conversation with both eyes wide open -- and be sure to investigate any dubious claims like the ones listed above. 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. Screenshot of a brief video showing a man in police uniform spraying a fire extinguisher on a smoking body at the twon square in Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, April 15, 2017. UPDATED at 2:20 P.M. EDT on 2017-04-17 A Tibetan man in his 30s committed self immolation Saturday morning in Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, according to exiled Tibetans familiar with the region and a video circulating on social media. The brief video shows a man in police uniform spraying a fire extinguisher on a smoking body lying on the ground while other policemen are running towards the scene and blocking shouting onlookers from approaching the body. Exiled Tibetan sources with contacts in the region said the self-immolator was Wangchuk Tseten of Ahse village of Shido town in Nyagrong (in Chinese, Xinlong) county in Kardze. Further details about him, including his fate and whereabouts, were not immediately available. Tibetan sources said the incident took place at about 7.00 a.m local time at the main square in Kardze town, where large crowds are known to gather. Chinese police swiftly took the burned man away, the sources told RFA's Tibetan Service. Security measures in Kardze require three different kinds of IDs issued from three different government offices, the exiled sources said. Attempts by RFA to reach sources in Kardze, as well as exiles who maintain contacts in the region, were unsuccessful. One source said it was possible that the internet may have been blocked in Kardze after the incident. Saturday's protest brought to 148 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009. Of these 125 are known to have died. The previous protest was on March 18, when a 24-year-old Tibetan farmer named Pema Gyaltsen, also from Nyagrong, set himself on fire in Kardze. His fate remains unclear. Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Sangay Dorjee and Kalden Lodoe for RFA's Tibetan Service.. Translated by Benpa Topgyal. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Afghan officials say the number of Islamic State (IS) group fighters killed in an attack by the most powerful nonnuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military has risen to 94. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb -- dubbed the Mother Of All Bombs -- was deployed in combat for the first time on April 13, hitting IS positions in eastern Nangarhar Province. Provincial Governor Muhammad Ismail Shinwari said on April 15 that four key commanders were among the militants killed. Shinwari said no civilian casualties were inflicted as civilians living in the area of the bombing had been evacuated by the Afghan military. Shinwari's spokesman, Ataullah Khogyani, said that a clearance operation in the area was continuing. Afghanistan's Defense Ministry reported on April 14 that 36 IS fighters had been killed in the bombing in Achin district, which targeted a tunnel complex used a as a command center and ammuntions depot by the IS which had been mined against conventional ground attacks. The massive bomb was deployed after fighting intensified over the past week and U.S.-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area, where a U.S. special forces soldier was killed on April 8. The blast triggered shock waves in Afghanistan, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered a threat as big as the resurgent Taliban. President Ashraf Ghani voiced his support for the bombing, saying it was executed in coordination with Afghanistan's government and was "designed to support the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and U.S. forces conducting clearance operations in the region." But some critics called the action "disproportionate." Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the use of the bomb on Afghan soil. "This is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons," he said on Twitter. IS has made inroads into Afghanistan in recent years, attracting disaffected members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban as well as Uzbek Islamists. But the militant group has been steadily losing ground in the face of heavy pressure both from U.S. air strikes and a ground offensive conducted by the Afghan military. With additional reporting by AP, dpa, and AFP Court officials say eight Pakistanis who brutally murdered a fellow university student over his views were charged with murder and terrorism on April 15. A group of students at the Abdul Wali Khan University in the conservative northwestern city of Mardan beat Mashal Khan to death within the university premises on April 13, accusing him of sharing blasphemous content on social media. "Eight students were presented before an antiterrorism court in Mardan over murder and challenging the writ of the state," public prosecutor Rafiullah Khan said. Four others were arrested on April 15, Khan said. Video footage of the attack shows the victim, identified as 23-year-old Mashal, lying on the ground surrounded by men and being beaten with wooden planks. Khan was buried on April 14 in his hometown of Swabi, some 100 kilometers northwest of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. The government had also requested Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident, said Mushtaq Ghani, the information minister of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in conservative Muslim Pakistan, and can carry the death penalty. Even unproven allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence. At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has urged that all those involved in the lynching be brought to justice. Based on reporting by AFP and dawn.com Over the past five years, Iranian officials and state media have touted the "indigenous" ingenuity in the Islamic republic's mass-produced Mohajer-6 combat drone, which Russia has deployed in its war against Ukraine. But a new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found that electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 are far from homegrown. The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of such technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes dual-use technology. The presence of these components in the Mohajer-6 does not mean their producers are in violation of U.S. or EU sanctions, and RFE/RL does not have evidence that this is the case. The investigation also found Mohajer-6 components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm that said it was "very sorry" that its products were being used in war. At least one major foreign-produced component of the Mohajer-6 has previously been identified by reporters in a Mohajer-6 recovered from the battlefield by the Ukrainian military: an engine made by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products. But Ukrainian intelligence assesses that the Iranian combat drone contains components from nearly three dozen different technology companies based in North America, the EU, Japan, and Taiwan, the Schemes investigation has found. A majority of these companies are based in the United States. A Schemes reporter who personally inspected the foreign-made drone parts identified components produced by at least 15 of these manufacturers. These include parts made by the U.S. technology firm Texas Instruments, which said in a statement that it does not sell into Russia or Iran and complies with applicable laws and regulations. To identify these components, Schemes reporters examined parts of the Mohajer-6 drone that the Ukrainian military shot down over the Black Sea near the Mykolayiv region coastal town of Ochakiv. They also reviewed Ukrainian intelligence records on the sources of these components. The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China. Both Western officials and experts on illicit technology transfers say Iran has built a broad, global procurement network using front companies and other proxies in third countries to obtain dual-use technology from the United States and the EU. "Exporters will look at the request coming from the [United Arab Emirates] or another third country, and they'll think that they're selling to an end user based there, when really the end user is in Iran," Daniel Salisbury, a senior research fellow with the Department of War Studies at King's College London, told RFE/RL. In September, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions specifically targeting Iranian companies that Washington links to the production and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for deployment in its war on Ukraine. Fighting rages with no sign of an end more than eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion on February 24. "Non-Iranian, non-Russian entities should also exercise great caution to avoid supporting either the development of Iranian UAVs or their transfer, or sale of any military equipment to Russia for use against Ukraine," U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement announcing the sanctions. Chinese Cameras, California Chips Development of the Mohajer-6, the latest model in a series of drones Tehran has used since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, began in 2017, while mass production began the following year. During a ceremony commemorating the Islamic Revolution, then-Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said that the new tactical drone could perform surveillance, reconnaissance, as well as help destroy targets. Hatami extolled what he described as the drones domestic design, a portrayal echoed in later reports by Iranian media. "The homegrown drone was made through cooperation among the army, Defense Ministry, and Quds Aviation Industries," the English-language Tehran Times quoted an Iranian military official as saying in July 2019. The dismantling of the Mohajer-6 drone recovered by the Ukrainian military shows that the UAV is packed with foreign components. One of these parts is a bright-orange real-time mini-camera produced by the Hong Kong-based company RunCam Technology. Documents seen by Schemes show that Ukrainian intelligence has also identified RunCam as the producer of the camera, which likely assists in remote guidance of the drone. Founded in 2013, RunCam is involved in the development and production of so-called "first-person-view" real-time cameras. "Our users are our friends," the company's website states. The site says that RunCam has two authorized Iranian dealers. Reached by Schemes for comment about the use of its camera in the Iranian drone deployed by Russia in its war on Ukraine, RunCam said in an e-mailed response: "We are very sorry to know that RunCam's products were used in warfare. RunCam is specialized in producing products for model aircraft hobby. We never contact any customer related to military." The provenance of the Mohajer-6 drone-s thermal-imaging camera is more difficult to determine. A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Schemes indicates it could be the Ventus Hot model produced by Sierra-Olympic Technologies, based in the U.S. state of Oregon, but that it also resembles a cheaper analog available for sale by the Chinese company Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology. Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology said in an e-mailed statement that the company did not "have any business with Iran," because "it will affect our business." The company said it specializes in marine services and is not involved in manufacturing. It also said that it did not have a single successful order for its online advertisement of the thermal-imaging camera resembling the one recovered from the Iranian drone. Sierra-Olympic Technologies did not respond to a request for comment on the possible use of its thermal-imaging cameras in Iranian combat drones in time for publication. Microchips recovered from the drone also featured the logos of the California-based company Linear Technology Corporation and its parent company, the Massachusetts-based semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). ADI did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the possible use of its technology in the Iranian combat drone. Schemes reporters also observed among the components of the Iranian drone a voltage step-down converter produced by Texas Instruments. The company said in an e-mailed statement that it "does not sell into Russia, Belarus, or Iran." "TI complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and does not support or condone the use of our products in applications they weren't designed for," Texas Instruments said. Schemes reporters also saw several components produced by the California-based technology manufacturer Xilinx, whose parent company is the multinational semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also based in California. According to Ukrainian intelligence, one of these Xilinx components was integrated into a video data-link module located in the wing of the Mohajer-6 that helped carry out attack missions. "This module transmits information from the board to the missile head. That is, guidance for the missile. With the help of this module, it was possible to guide the missile to the target," a Ukrainian military intelligence representative told Schemes. AMD did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. 'No Authorization' Previous media reports about the components of the Mohajer-6 drone, including by CNN, have shown evidence that its engine was produced by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, whose parent company is the Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP). The Canadian company responded to the reports on October 21, saying in a statement that it "has not authorized and has not given any authorization to its distributors to supply military UAV manufacturers in Iran or Russia." "As soon as we were made aware of this situation, we started an investigation to determine the source of the engines," BRP said. . But Schemes reporters found that the authorized Rotax distributor listed on the Austrian manufacturer's website advertised itself as a Rotax aircraft engines distributor for Iran as recently as December 2020. The distributor, the Italian company Luciano Sorlini S.p.a., has posted multiple magazine advertisements on its websites in which it describes itself as a Rotax distributor for numerous countries. Prior to January 2021, Iran was listed among these countries. The Rotax website also lists a Tehran-based company -- MahtaWing -- as an official service center for its engines. The company, known in Persian as Mahtabal, conducts repairs of Rotax engines, including the Rotax 912 iS, the engine that was found in the Mohajer-6 combat drone recovered in Ukraine. BRP said in an e-mailed statement on November 4 that while Luciano Sorlini S.p.a. is the appointed distributor of Rotax aircraft engines in Iran, "since 2019, no Rotax engines have been sold in Iran, and we will not sell any engines to Iran moving forward." The Canadian company said it had "internal controls" that "significantly" restrict the sale of its products for military purposes. "For example, the sale of any BRP product to operators with any military activity in Iran, Turkey, and Russia is strictly prohibited," BRP said. "We conduct our business in compliance with all EU, Canadian, and U.S. applicable regulations." BRP described the Iranian company MahtaWing as a "local service center" that "offers maintenance services for previously sold aircraft engines." Shahriar Siami of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report. U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan has confirmed that communication channels between the United States and Russia remain open despite the war in Ukraine, the BBC reports. Sullivan, speaking in New York on November 7, said it was "in the interests" of Washington to maintain contact with the Kremlin. Sullivan's comments came after a report in The Wall Street Journal on November 6 that he had held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials in the hope of reducing the risk the Russian invasion of Ukraine spills over or escalates into a nuclear conflict. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. A previous media report, in The Washington Post, said Washington was privately encouraging Ukraine to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia, as the State Department said Moscow was escalating the war and did not seriously wish to engage in peace talks. The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, said the request by U.S. officials was not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but a calculated attempt to ensure Kyiv maintains the support of other countries. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told RFE/RL it was absurd to suggest that Western countries that are supplying Ukraine with weapons would push Kyiv to negotiate on Moscow's terms. "Ukraine receives from its partners, first of all from the United States, quite effective weapons," he said. "We are pushing the Russian Army out of territory. And against this background, forcing us to the negotiation process, and in fact to recognize the ultimatum of the Russian Federation, is nonsense! And no one will do that." He said suggestions the West was pushing Ukraine to negotiate were part of Russia's "information program," though he did not directly rebut a report in The Washington Post. Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on November 7 that he was open to talks with Russia, but only "genuine" negotiations that would restore Ukraine's borders, grant it compensation for Russian attacks, and punish those responsible for war crimes. Zelenskiy signed a decree on October 4 formally declaring the prospect of any Ukrainian talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin "impossible" but leaving the door open to talks with Russia. Sullivan told a public event in New York that the Biden administration had "an obligation to pursue accountability" and pledged to work with international partners to "hold the perpetrators of grave and grotesque war crimes in Ukraine responsible for what they have done." Sullivan did not elaborate on the communication channels that Washington and Moscow maintained, but insisted that U.S. officials were "clear-eyed about who we are dealing with," the BBC reported. Sullivan travelled to Kyiv on November 4 and pledged Washington's "unwavering and unflinching" support for Ukraine. His unannounced visit coincided with an announcement the same day by the U.S. Defense Department of another shipment of weapons to Ukraine worth $400 million. "I was just in Kyiv on Friday and I had the opportunity to meet with President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy and my counterpart Andriy Yermak, with the military leadership and also to get a briefing on just what level of death and devastation has been erupted by Putin's war on that country," Sullivan was quoted by the BBC as saying on November 7. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the U.S. media reports. "I've seen those reportings. So, you know -- and, look, people claim a lot of things about conversations that we -- that the United States has or doesn't have," Jean-Pierre told a news briefing on November 7. "I don't have any specific conversations to read out to you." The secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said on November 8 that the "main condition" for the resumption of negotiations with Russia would be the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity. Danilov said on Twitter that Ukraine also needed the "guarantee" of modern air defenses, aircraft, tanks, and long-range missiles. According to the report in The Wall Street Journal, Sullivan held confidential conversations in recent months with Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev that were not disclosed publicly. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on November 7 that while Russia remained "open" to talks, it was unable to negotiate with Kyiv due to its refusal to hold talks with Russia. With reporting by Reuters North Korea rolled out intercontinental ballistic missiles and other military hardware at a massive parade on April 15 and vowed that it was "ready to hit back with nuclear attacks" against its enemies. The parade, celebrating the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, took place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a significant rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM. State television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, clapping in delight along with senior government officials to acknowledge the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade at Kim Il Sung Square in the capital, Pyongyang. State television showed what appeared to be several KN-08 intercontinental missiles rolled out on trucks at the parade. Experts say the missiles would theoretically be capable in a remote future of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, but the North has yet to flight test them. Military planes flew in formation, creating the number "105" above Kim Il Sung Square. Kim didn't speak before North Korean television ended the live broadcast. But Choe Ryong Hae, reportedly the second-most powerful official in the country, said in a speech that Pyongyang is prepared for any threat posed by the United States. He criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's administration for "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching strategic military assets to the region. "We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," Choe said. Kim, who took power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in late 2011, has been aggressively pursuing a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. Amid the elevated tensions, the United States a few days ago dispatched what Trump called an "armada" of ships, including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula. The move, coupled with the U.S. retaliatory strikes last week against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, and the depoyment of a huge bomb against IS positions in Afghanistan earlier this week, touched off fear in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action against the North. However, U.S. officials said on April 14 that the Trump administration intends to step up pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's leadership. A U.S. military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said Washington has no intention of using military force against Pyongyang in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. With additional reporting by AP, Reuters, dpa, and BBC Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, called on the West to "restore trust" with Russia and warned that the two old adversaries are moving toward a renewed state of Cold War. "All the indications of a Cold War are there," he said in an interview with German newspaper Bild on April 14. "The language of politicians and the top-level military personnel is becoming increasingly militant. Military doctrines are formulated increasingly harshly. The media picks up on all of this and adds fuel to the fire. The relationship between the big powers continues to worsen." A new arms race between Russia and the West is already under way, Gorbachev said. It is not merely imminent. In some places, it is already in full swing. Troops are being moved into Europe, including heavy equipment such as tanks and armored cars. It was not so long ago that NATO troops and Russian troops were stationed quite far away from each other. They now stand nose-to-nose. Gorbachev said the new Cold War could turn into a hot one if both sides do nothing to prevent it. "Anything is possible" if the current deterioration of relations continues, he said. Gorbachev cautioned the West against trying to force change in Russia through economic sanctions, saying the sanctions only galvanize public opinion against the West in Russia and bolster support for the Kremlin. Dont have any false hope in this respect! We are a people willing to make whatever sacrifices we need to," he said, noting that nearly 30 million Soviet soldiers and civilians died in World War II. Instead, Gorbachev said Russia and the West need to find a way to restore trust, respect, and the willingness to working together. He said both sides can draw from a reservoir of good will that remains toward each other among ordinary citizens. Russia and Germany, in particular "must reestablish contact, solidify, and develop our relationship, and find a way to trust each other again," he said. To repair the damage and renew understanding, the West "must take Russia seriously as a nation that deserves respect," he said. Instead of constantly criticizing Russia for not meeting Western standards of democracy, he said.the West should recognize that Russia is on the path to democracy. Its half way between. There are approximately 30 emerging nations that are in transition and we are one of them." Gorbachev traces the deterioration of relations to the West's loss of respect for Russia and exploitation of its weakness after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. That led the West -- and particularly the United States -- to break promises that were made to Russia at the end of the Cold War that NATO forces would "not move one centimeter further East," he said. Based on reporting by Bild.de In a scene that sparked widespread outrage online, United Airlines security employees forcibly removed a passenger from an overbooked flight on April 9. Mobile phone video shows the passenger being pulled out of his seat and dragged down the aisle. The CEO of United Airlines, Oscar Munoz, later defended his employees' decision to remove the passenger after no one volunteered to give up their seats on the flight leaving Chicago. (COURTESY: Jayse D. Anspach) If you live in the United States, even death won't allow you to escape the taxman. The Internal Revenue Services taxes large estates -- as of 2017, those valued at $5.49 million or higher -- when they're passed on to the owner's heirs. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia will also collect a tax on your estate if it exceeds a certain dollar value. Another six states collect an inheritance tax from your heirs. And two states will actually double-dip, taxing both your estate and the inheritance your loved ones receive when you pass away. Estate and inheritance taxes are not assessed in every situation. The heirs you choose and the value of your estate are key factors determining whether the government will stake a claim on assets that you leave behind. It's important to know the rules where you live, especially if your estate is a larger one. Here's a quick guide so you'll know whether a portion of your assets will go to pay a big tax bill after you pass away. Which states assess an estate tax? There are 14 states with an estate tax, and the District of Columbia has one as well. When a state collects estate taxes, it establishes an exemption for smaller estates; yours will only have to pay if it is worth more than the exemption amount. Typically, no tax is assessed if you leave your assets to a spouse who is a U.S. citizen. These are the exemptions amounts and tax rates, as of 2017, for locales throughout the U.S. that charge estate tax: State Exemption Amount Tax Rate Connecticut $2,000,000 7.2% to 12% Delaware $5,490,000 0.8% to 16% Hawaii $5,490,000 0.8% to 16% Illinois $4,000,000 0.8% to 16% Massachusetts $1,000,000 0.8% to 16% Maryland $3,000,000 16% Maine $5,450,000 8% to 12% Minnesota $1,800,000 9% to 16% New Jersey $2,000,000 0.8% to 16% New York $5,250,000 3.06% to 16% Oregon $1,000,000 10% to 16% Rhode Island $1,515,156 0.8% to 16% Vermont $2,750,000 0.8% to 16% Washington $2,129,000 10% to 20% Washington, D.C. $2,000,000 0.8% to 16% Estate taxes are paid by your estate, and its taxability -- and tax rates -- are determined by how much it's worth when you pass away. Virtually all property you own is included when valuing your estate, including real estate, tangible and intangible personal property, insurance, and even assets held in certain types of trusts. Which states assess an inheritance tax? An inheritance tax is different from an estate tax. Inheritance taxes are paid by the people who receive money or property after a death. The value of a deceased person's total estate doesn't matter as much when determining whether inheritance taxes must be paid. Instead, the relationship of the deceased to the person who inherits is the key factor determining whether tax is collected, and in what amount. For example, in Pennsylvania, if you transfer assets to a child over 21 or to a grandchild, your descendant will pay a 4.5% inheritance tax on those assets. If you transfer assets to a sibling, your brother or sister will pay 12%. And if a friend inherits, your friend will pay a 15% tax. There are six states with inheritance taxes, two of which -- Maryland and New Jersey -- also have estate taxes. The states with inheritance taxes, and the tax rates for each, are as follows: State Tax Rate Iowa 0% to 15% Kentucky 0% to 16% Maryland 0% to 10% Nebraska 1% to 15% New jersey 0.8% to 16% Pennsylvania 0% to 15% Some states allow some property to pass without inheritance tax being assessed. In Iowa, for example, no inheritance tax is charged if the deceased person's net estate is valued at $25,000 or less. Others will provide different exemption amounts depending upon who inherits. In Kentucky, a cousin who inherits is taxed as soon as an inheritance is $500 or greater, while a niece or nephew is taxed only on an inheritance of $1,000 or more. The general rule is: the closer the family member, the larger the exemption. Do you always have to pay? If your estate value exceeds the exemption for estate tax and you leave money to anyone other than your spouse, then your estate must pay as required. Likewise, if valuable assets are left to someone who isn't exempt from inheritance tax, that person must pay the taxes due. However, there are some special rules. For example, a special-use valuation for family farms makes it possible for some families to pass on valuable farmland without triggering federal estate tax. This ensures that families don't have to sell their land to pay a tax bill if there are few liquid assets in the estate. It's also important to be aware of tools you can use to reduce estate and inheritance taxes. Inter vivos gifts (gifts during your life), family limited partnerships, and certain types of trusts are among the estate planning tools that may allow you to pass on money tax-free. Creating an estate plan can be complicated, especially when your estate is large enough that you're concerned about estate and inheritance taxes. It is a good idea to talk with a lawyer about how to reduce or avoid taxes that could be triggered upon your death. 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. Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on April 14 called on the White House to raise concerns about the persecution of gay men in Chechnya "directly with Russia's leaders." The respected Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that police in the predominantly Muslim republic rounded up more than 100 men believed to be homosexuals and held them in camps, torturing many and killing at least three. Chechen authorities have dismissed the reports, saying that there are no homosexuals in the republic. Biden said he was "disgusted and appalled" by the reports of gay men being tortured and killed. "When faced with such crimes of hate and inhumanity, it is the responsibility of every person of conscience to speak out," he said. "The human rights abuses perpetrated by Chechen authorities and the culture of impunity that surrounds them means that these hate crimes are unlikely to ever be properly investigated or that the perpetrators will see justice," Biden said. The Trump administration, which on April 7 expressed concern about the reports of gay persecution in Chechnya and urged Russian authorities to investigate, should "advance human rights for everyone by raising this issue directly with Russia's leaders," Biden said. Earlier on April 14, the Kremlin appeared to take a hands-off stance toward the Chechen matter, saying it does not have "reliable information about any problems in this area." Novaya Gazeta had called on the Kremlin for protection on April 14, saying it fears for the safety of its journalists after they exposed the persecution of gay men in Chechnya. Novaya Gazeta in an open letter said that a large gathering in Chechnya's main mosque earlier this week threatened those reporting the story with "reprisals," and authorities should investigate the threats. The newspaper said the Chechen leaders referred to reporters as "the enemies of our faith and our homeland," and promised that "retribution" will be taken "without a statute of limitations." "This resolution is encouraging religious fanatics to retaliate against our journalists," Novaya editor in chief Dmitry Muratov said. Two of Novaya's reporters specializing in Chechnya -- Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova -- have been murdered in the last decade. Neither case has been fully solved. Set up with financial help from ex-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993, Novaya Gazeta is well-known in Russia for its investigations into official corruption, its reporting on Chechnya, criticism of the authorities, and coverage of the opposition at a time when most media are loyal to the Kremlin. The Russian office of Amnesty International on April 14 backed the newspaper's concerns, saying it considers the resolution by Chechen clergymen and elders to be "a threat of violence against journalists." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had been informed of the threats against Novaya Gazeta reporters and suggested that Chechen elders take any grievances they have to the courts. "If in someone's opinion there were slanderous materials, there are legal methods of challenging prescribed by the law. Obviously, we are strongly opposed to any other methods of influence. Especially against actions that could pose a threat to the security and life of journalists," Peskov said. Novaya Gazeta's stories featured Chechen men who reported being arrested and subsequently tortured with beatings and electric shocks, as well as being forced to supply authorities with the names and phone numbers of other gay and bisexual people. A St. Petersburg advocacy group, Russian LGBT Network, set up an emergency hotline to take calls from Chechnya. NBC News reported on April 14 that the group has received about 50 calls from people who were targeted or are trying to escape the region. Russian LGBT Network told NBC News it believes around 20 men have been killed by authorities in Chechnya. "People are very intimidated and not eager to talk. They are hesitant to even talk to us," Natalia Poplevskaia, the network's International Advocacy Officer and Monitoring Program Coordinator, told NBC News on April 11. The Russian LGBT Network said it is helping to evacuate Chechens who have been tortured or are in danger. On April 14, the group's website briefly stopped functioning. The group told NBC News the website was targeted by hackers trying to crash the site by overwhelming it with traffic. The website of Novaya Gazeta was hit by a similar attack on April 13. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and NBC News Monsanto: Buffett's latest agricultural bet As controversial as Monsanto's genetically modified seeds might be, it isn't losing out on sales. Monsanto just reported 12% and 29% jumps in year-over-year revenue and net income, respectively, for its fiscal 2017 second quarter. Management now expects full-year earnings to be at the higher end of $3.95 to $4.44 per share, backed by higher sales of Monsanto's flagship soybean traits Intacta RR2 PRO and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend. At mid-point, that represents an incredible 40% growth in EPS versus 2016. Of course, nothing matters more to the market right now than Bayer's proposed $66 billion buyout of Monsanto. Given that Monsanto is still trading roughly 9% below Bayer's offer price of $128 per share, shareholders can make a quick buck if the deal is approved. If it falls through, Monsanto will still get $2 billion from Bayer in breakup fee. In other words, shareholders will gain anyway -- a probability that appears to have caught legendary investor Warren Buffett's attention. His Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate's Q4 2016 portfolio revealed a little more than 8 million shares of Monsanto. While the merged entity will corner more than 25% of the global seed and pesticides market, a fallout isn't going to hurt Monsanto's existing position in the industry, which means Monsanto's strong guidance should give investors yet another reason to buy the stock for 2017 and beyond. 10 stocks we like better than Monsanto When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now...and Monsanto 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 April 3, 2017. A Richmond firefighter suffered minor injuries Saturday morning in a blaze at a house in South Richmond that was quickly extinguished, an official said. The unidentified firefighter was examined at the scene by emergency medical technicians and was not taken to the hospital, said Lt. Chris Armstrong of the Richmond Fire Department. Armstrong said he had no details on the firefighters injuries, but described them as minor. The fire, in the 5700 block of Bondsor Lane off Jahnke Road, displaced four people. Reported shortly before 7 a.m., the fire was under control about 40 minutes later. Every morning around 7 a.m., Beth Hilscher and her youngest daughter, Emily, exchanged goofy messages over AOL Instant Messenger. Later gater! I love you mas mucho, the mostest! Every morning around 7 a.m. except on April 16, 2007. Early that morning, Seung-Hui Cho, a Virginia Tech student, left his dorm room with guns and ammunition and for reasons unknown to investigators and Hilscher, went to the fourth floor of the West Ambler Johnston dormitory and shot Emily in her room. A resident assistant who is believed to have intervened also was shot. Still very little is known about Cho a decade after he gunned down 32 students and professors at Virginia Tech, carrying out the deadliest massacre on a college campus in the nations history. I try not to get angry, Hilscher said recently in a workshop behind her Richmond home. I try to be productive about things because I cant ever have Emily back. Cho tumbled through the cracks of a mental health system that, despite improvements, remains years and tens of millions of dollars away from overcoming core obstacles, several experts and advocates said recently. If Mr. Cho had the same sort of experiences today, if he had a psychotic breakdown today, I dont think anyone can tell you with a straight face that they guarantee the outcome wouldnt be vastly different, said John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center and a former member of a statewide task force studying mental health commitments. Snook and several others agree that Virginia has been fairly adept at responding to crises but they say lawmakers havent been as successful at addressing the mental health systems underlying problems. Decades ago, Virginia shut down many of its state-run mental hospitals in response to a growing national trend but didnt lay the groundwork for community-based care that would keep residents with mental illness from spiraling out of control. The result has been widespread warehousing of people with mental illness in Virginias jails and prisons. This is the unfinished business of deinstitutionalization, said Richard Bonnie, director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, who has been in the thick of Virginias mental health reform efforts since before the tragedy at Virginia Tech. We havent put in place the public services infrastructure thats needed to help people avoid crises, but thats not to say there hasnt been some progress. Theres a broad-based sense of optimism that the members of the General Assembly are aware of the states shortcomings and want to repair them. But experts and advocates alike say it will take years of continuous investment to prevent future tragedies. Virginia Tech never should have happened, Hilscher said. There have been really good things that have come. Its been slow, but its coming. And this year, for the first time, I felt like the legislature really understood. It was like, wow, OK, we finally got your attention. *** Chos massacre at Virginia Tech was the first of a number of deadly, highly publicized crises that have refocused attention on reforming the states mental health system. But Virginias efforts have waxed and waned. Thirty-three people, including Cho, died at Virginia Tech in 2007. Gus Deeds son of State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath killed himself after nearly stabbing his father to death in 2013. Jamycheal Mitchell wasted away in a jail cell in Hampton Roads in 2015 while awaiting transfer to a state mental hospital. The problem is, weve been too focused on the crises in the past, Deeds said recently. You have a crisis, you respond to it, you do it as well as you can in the political environment in which we exist, and then you move on to the next item thats pressing. Theres always an issue du jour. Cho, who was born in South Korea in 1984 and emigrated with his family to the United States as an 8-year-old, was painfully shy from an early age, according to a report produced by a panel that reviewed the Virginia Tech massacre for then-Gov. Tim Kaine. When asked to speak to visitors at home, Cho grew pale, his palms started to sweat and he sometimes cried. In middle school in Fairfax County, he attended art therapy one of the only ways to reach him because he talked so infrequently through a multicultural counseling center. Shortly after the Columbine massacre in Colorado in 1999, Cho wrote a disturbing paper in English class indicating that he wanted to harm others and himself. At the urging of school counselors and his parents, his therapist connected him with a psychiatrist, who diagnosed Cho with major depression and selective mutism, a type of anxiety disorder characterized by a failure to speak in certain situations. He was on medication for a year starting in June 1999, but his doctor took him off of the drug because he showed signs of improvement. He continued to see a therapist while attending Westfield High School in Fairfax County, but he decided to stop attending shortly before his 18th birthday. His interactions with the mental health system afterward were sparse, despite concerns raised by his professors about disturbing themes in his writing and unsettling interactions with female students. Hilscher said the lack of care after a teenager with mental illness turns 18 is an issue she believes still needs to be addressed. Shes been fighting for 10 years to get lawmakers to provide a safety net after teens become legal adults. Cho had mental health issues in school and he had some good care, and then he got a diploma and all of that care stops, she said. And youre expected now to go and get help. Youre supposed to go to your local (Community Services Board) or retain a psychologist on your own and thats not going to happen for most teenagers and young adults. Many parents of adult children with mental illness lament their helplessness as they watch their loved ones spiral out of control. At 18, teenagers can no longer be forced to seek treatment, and federal privacy laws prohibit physicians from sharing details about treatment or diagnoses, unless the patient signs documents permitting the release of information. Chos parents never knew about the trouble he was experiencing in college, according to the report produced after the shootings. One professor in particular found Chos writing and his behavior to be so alarming, she asked that he be removed from her class. He wore reflective sunglasses and pulled his hat down low on his brow to obscure his face, and he took pictures of other students with a phone camera without their permission. In 2005, he was involuntarily hospitalized overnight because he threatened to kill himself after police warned him not to harass a female student anymore. The judge in that case ordered him to outpatient treatment, but theres no evidence Cho ever received it. Less than two years later, he bought handguns, a stash of ammunition and a set of chains. *** It wasnt like Emily to oversleep, so Hilscher thought it odd that she hadnt received an instant message from her daughter around 7 a.m. on April 16, 2007. An hour later, she got a frantic call from the mother of Emilys boyfriend. Something terrible has happened, Hilscher recalled her friend saying. Hes heard that Emilys been shot. Hilscher shrieked. She and her husband, Eric, called hospital after hospital looking for their daughter. At last they got the news: Emily was dead. The personal horror that caused Hilscher and her husband to collapse to the floor that day would also be felt by the families of 31 others. Cho left West Ambler Johnston, changed clothes, mailed a manifesto and videos to NBC News and then methodically chained shut the doors of Norris Hall. He picked off his victims, one after another, as they sat helpless in classrooms, as they barricaded doors, as they played dead on the floor. Cho turned the gun on himself as police closed in. After 11 minutes of bloody chaos, Norris Hall fell silent. *** The members of the Virginia General Assembly reacted swiftly. They made it easier to commit someone suffering from mental illness to involuntary treatment, and they closed the loophole that allowed Cho to avoid getting outpatient treatment despite a court order for it. They also allocated $47.3 million to the states mental health system. But the Great Recession was sweeping the nation and the funding dried up. The states focus shifted elsewhere, and the mental health system seemed to fade into the background. Im as much to blame as anybody else, Deeds said. Ive been through 26 sessions now, and Ive focused on a lot of things over the years. (Virginia Tech was) one of those things that touched me deep down in my soul. I thought a lot of the work we did after that was important, but it still didnt rise to the level it needed to be. It wasnt until Gus Deeds nearly stabbed Creigh Deeds to death and then killed himself that the General Assembly again turned the spotlight on the mental health system. In November 2013, Gus had been released from custody because a bed at a psychiatric hospital couldnt be located. Early the next morning, he attacked his father and killed himself. Lawmakers quickly extended the amount of time someone can be held while awaiting placement in a psychiatric hospital, and they created so-called bed-of-last-resort legislation that requires placement in a state hospital if a private psychiatric bed isnt available. The worry I had from the very first day was that the focus would wane, Deeds said. The worry I had from the very first day we started this work is that we would move onto the next issue that was big, and there are lots of them. To keep momentum going, the General Assembly formed a bipartisan subcommittee led by Deeds that continues working to solve the states mental health problems. The groups work was set to be complete by the end of 2017, but last fall, it was extended another two years. Bonnie, the U.Va. law professor who has been involved in Virginias efforts at reforming the mental health system for years, said he sees the extension as a promising sign. That represents a genuine commitment I think of the leadership of both parties to do something more, Bonnie said. We are takings steps that are really significant beyond what had previously been done. *** Deeds subcommittee has been working on mental health issues for years, but momentum among the members of the General Assembly as a whole seemed to mount again this year following an outcry over the death of Jamycheal Mitchell at Hampton Roads Regional Jail. The 24-year-old from Portsmouth, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had been arrested for stealing $5 in snacks from a convenience store near his home. Mitchell was supposed to be transferred to a state mental hospital in Williamsburg for treatment, but the admissions office there never received his initial transfer orders, and the second set of paperwork, mailed again months later, was stuffed in a desk drawer by an overwhelmed hospital employee. Mitchell eventually died of extreme weight loss and heart problems after losing 46 pounds in 101 days. The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating the jail where he and other inmates have died. Mitchells family and advocates for mental health reform and civil rights demanded the state change laws to prevent another tragedy. Despite a funding shortfall this past winter, the General Assembly passed a budget that included money for several mental health measures. Included in the budget was $5 million for permanent supportive housing for people who are most frequently in and out of jails and state hospitals. Lawmakers also set aside money to provide same-day access at Community Services Boards across the state. They set up a system that fills a gap in oversight in local and regional jails so that deaths like Mitchells will be fully investigated by a state board. Previously jails policed themselves. In Mitchells case, Hampton Roads Regional Jail cleared itself of wrongdoing. Despite the work, there are still needs that must be met to address the systems underlying issues, said Dr. Jack Barber, interim commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which oversees the states public mental health system. Its been hard for Virginia to sustain interest and funding on the noncrisis part of the system that can help people avoid crises, which by definition are high-risk situations, Barber said, and if you can treat someone before theyre having that level of difficulty, theyre going to be safer. The 40 Community Services Boards, which contract with DBHDS, are the public entities to which people in mental health crises turn for help, but they provide disparate levels of service. Your access to mental health care shouldnt depend on your ZIP code, Bonnie said. That surely is a serious problem. Legislation was passed this session to equalize the services, but the funding for same-day access at Community Services Boards hailed as a major first step in providing a level playing field across the state will only ensure that 16 to 18 CSBs are triaging patients the day they walk in for help, Barber said. There are 40 CSBs in the state, so millions more will be needed in future budget allocations to shore up the rest of them. Deeds subcommittee had originally requested $10 million in funding for permanent supportive housing, which would have provided a place to live for just over 10 percent of the 5,000 people suffering from serious mental illness who need homes. The $5 million approved this year likely will provide housing for an even smaller fraction of the people in need, officials have said Lawmakers also didnt fund mental health screening in jails a major piece of the policy package put forward by Deeds subcommittee at the beginning of the session. Deeds said the committee will study jail screening over the next nine months and may return with a new request next year. Im excited about the work ahead, but its going to take some time, Deeds said. It troubles me because every day we work, every day we try to bring this together, more people slip through the cracks. It troubles me that there are people who need services today who arent getting it. The mental health care system in Virginia ranked 38th in the nation last year by the nonprofit Mental Health America in terms of access to care and the prevalence of mental illness among residents. Hilscher, who has spent the last decade pleading with lawmakers in Washington D.C. and Virginia to close gaps in the mental health system, said she wont be satisfied until Virginia is ranked near the top. "The Salesman," by acclaimed Iranian director and screenwriter Asghar Farhadi tells the story of a husband and wife in crisis. Get new posts by email: Subscribe A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Whether heading out of town or staycationing over spring break, Virginia State Parks are perfect for family-friendly fun. From April 7 through 23, all 37 Virginia State Parks will offer self-guided and ranger-led programs to help visitors learn about the outdoors and spend time in nature. For a complete list of programs and events planned for spring break activities, click here. State parks offer something for all types of outdoor lovers looking to enjoy the weather, from playgrounds and picnic tables to campgrounds and cabins. Virginias award-winning state parks offer more than 1,800 campsites and 300 cabins. Call 800-933-7275 for information or to make a reservation or book online any time by clicking here. To learn about state park activities and events year-round, visit the Virginia State Parks searchable database, at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/park-events. Its never too late to begin a family tradition in a state park, said Virginia State Parks Director Craig Seaver. With park information on our website, we try to make it as easy as possible to plan a visit. And when you arrive, our dedicated rangers are here to make your trip enjoyable and memorable. There are so many ways to enjoy the outdoors in a state park and theres no better time than spring break. Stay up to date with the state parks eNews, a weekly e-mail of articles about parks and links to programs and activities. Submitted by Jim Meisner Jr. At a ceremony April 4 during the 28th Annual Environment Virginia Symposium, Roanoke County was honored with a 2017 Governors Environmental Excellence Award for the Explore Park Adventure Plan. The County received an honorable mention certificate in the category of Virginia Outdoors Plan Implementation for its recently completed vision for the facility. Governors Excellence Award winners were recognized for successes in reducing their own environmental footprint, sustainability services and being examples to others as well as actions they have taken to preserve important natural landscapes for future generations. The awards were presented by the Governors Secretary of Natural Resources, DEQ Director and DCR Director. The Explore Park Adventure Plan outlines key environmental preservation recommendations while providing tools for public interpretation of the parks unique natural and cultural history. A special places report contained in the plan was prepared by nationally recognized naturalist Michael Gaige. Explore Park is a 1,100 acre park located on the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 115. Proposals are currently being accepted for adventure recreation development for amenities including an Aerial Adventure Course, Overnight Accommodations, Food Services, Retail Services, Programs and Special Events. Submissions are due back to Roanoke Countys Purchasing Department by Thursday, May 17. Development of the facility is guided by the Explore Park Adventure Plan adopted by the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors in August 2016. For complete details about the plan, visit http://www.ExplorePark.org/AdventurePlan. Submitted by Scott Ramsburg A brush fire that broke out nearly a week ago in Goshen Pass in Rockbridge County has scorched about 2,600 acres, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry. Department of Forestry and Department of Game and Inland Fisheries crews have carved a few containment lines since Monday, but the flames, which have reached 50 feet in some areas, have been able to get past. Crews built a new containment line Saturday that will cover an area of about 4,000 acres, and the fire is 70 percent contained, Area Forester Bill Sweeney said. No homes or structures are threatened. The flames are mostly feeding on downed hardwood and pine trees in the area, as well as mountain laurel and leaf litter. Because of the steep and rocky terrain, most of the work to build the containment line is being done by hand. About 70 from the two departments were on scene Saturday. Some bulldozers, fire engines and brush trucks were being used, and helicopters made multiple water drops. One firefighter was injured after an ATV rolled over Friday, Sweeney said. No other injuries have been reported. Firefighters are also being warned to watch out for venomous snakes, bears and ticks. Virginia 39 from the eastern overlook area to Virginia 601 was reopened Friday after the Virginia Department of Transportation had to close it Wednesday so a crew could clear debris from the brush fire that tumbled into the roadway. Many roads in that area are closed to the public, including Bratton Mountain Road, Guy Run and Laurel Run. Residents who need to use the roads are urged to use caution as the smoke can reduce visibility. The DGIF owns the wildlife management area where the fire broke out. Luke Fisher, a conservation police officer with the department, said the wildlife management area totals 30,000 acres. Fisher has said preliminary information has led the department to investigate the brush fire as a possible arson case. Anyone with information can call 800-237-5712 or email wildcrime@dgif.virginia.gov. Tips can be anonymous. The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalisms reporting on criminal justice issues is supported by a grant from the Vital Projects Fund. The nonprofit Center (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates. Southwest Virginia chapters of Indivisible a recently organized group opposing the agenda of President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters have scheduled a handful of town halls for U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith and one for U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, but the congressmen say they will not attend. As liberals nationwide have increasingly called for face-to-face meetings with their conservative representatives through town hall meetings, Griffith, R-Salem, and Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, have no plans to host or attend such forums in the foreseeable future. Griffith declined invites to four town halls spread across two days in Roanoke, Blacksburg, Bristol and Scott County. Goodlatte also turned down an invitation to a Saturday town hall at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke. The representatives said they will not subject themselves to Indivisibles theatrics when they have more effective means of communicating with their constituents via phone and social media. If what they want to do is hold a meeting where they get to hold up banners and holler and shout, Im not interested, Griffith said. Griffith, whose district is larger in area than New Jersey, said he would need to hold at least 20 town halls to adequately serve 9th District constituents. In 2011, when Griffith was first elected to Congress, he held town halls in Riner and Bristol. Neither had more than 100 people in attendance, he said. The events were costly and time-consuming for such a low turnout, he said. New River Valley Indivisible will still hold its scheduled town hall Monday in Blacksburg, sans Griffith, said member Alexa Casey. We have to keep putting pressure on him, she said. We have to keep letting people know that were here, were concerned and were not going away. Casey and about a dozen other local Indivisible members protested Tuesday outside a Roanoke event where Griffith was speaking. Griffith and Goodlatte attended a campaign fundraiser for Del. Greg Habeeb, R-Salem. Protesters, who wanted to talk to their congressmen, decried the $100 per person attendance fee for the private event. The protesters held signs reading Unpaid protester, You Work For Us and 1442 Days Since Last Rep. Griffith Town Hall. Griffith has met with members of the New River Valley group on several occasions. Indivisible members discussed their concerns about the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act, cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and other parts of President Donald Trumps agenda. The personal meetings arent enough, Indivisible members say. He works for us, Casey said. He needs to be here for us, and hear not just what a few people have to say, but what a large group of people have to say. Theatrics-filled town halls arent the most productive way to discuss real constituent issues, Griffith said. Its not that I mind discussing issues, but lets have a discussion about real bills, real concepts, real people and then try to figure things out, he said. Griffith and Goodlatte host telephone town hall meetings. Goodlatte's constituents can sign up on his website, and automated calls also target households in specific areas of the district. Griffiths telephone town halls contact a certain number of households in a specified region. During a recent telephone town hall, Griffith started the call with about 2,000 constituents on the line, he said. Goodlatte recently conducted a telephone town hall specifically for senior citizens. The first question went to a woman in Amherst who asked Goodlatte when he planned to hold an in-person town hall. He responded that he would continue holding telephone town hall meetings instead. As for members of the Indivisible movement, they are not included in the formula for having substantive civil discourse, Goodlatte said. In February, Roanoke Indivisible, Together We Will SWVA and STRONG WOMEN. STRONG AMERICA held a town hall for Goodlatte without the congressman, who was leading a bipartisan delegation in India at the time. The more than 200 people in attendance addressed a cardboard cutout of Goodlatte instead. Theyre a Democratic front group, Goodlatte said. Theyre welcome to have any kind of event that they want to have, but Im communicating with my constituents in a host of different ways. Like Griffith, it has been years since Goodlattes last town hall. He hasnt ruled out hosting a forum at a later point, but said that isnt an appropriate way to communicate with his constituents right now. Recently, the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary has started doing Facebook Live town halls. Goodlatte hosted a Facebook town hall the evening before the House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on a health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. As Goodlatte wrapped up the question-and-answer session from his Washington, D.C., office he explained why he would vote in favor of House Republicans health care plan a vote that was canceled when party leadership realized it didnt have enough support. Now is the time to repeal Obamacare, he said as colorful emojis scroll horizontally across the screen. Some are cartoonish hearts and thumbs-up signs, but many are angry-faced emoticons. An estimated 5,100 people watched all of the video, according to Facebook. In an earlier Facebook post announcing the live stream, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello chided the congressman for not holding an in-person town hall. Why have you refused to hold a town hall in person with your constituents? the former 5th District congressman posted. I held 21 in August 2009, and Ive already done 6 in this campaign, including one in your district. Theyre nice people! They dont bite! Perriellos comment garnered 154 Facebook likes. More than half of Virginias 11 representatives have attended town halls this year. Rep. Dave Brat, R-Henrico, held a town hall in February in Nottoway County at the edge of his district following weeks of pressure and criticism from constituents and local activists who wanted to voice their concerns during the early days of the Trump administration. In Northern Virginia this week, members of a political action committee working to unseat Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Fairfax, unveiled a billboard calling her to hold a town hall. The highway billboard includes Comstocks picture and Do Your Job in block type. Last month, freshman congressman U.S. Rep. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham, held his first town hall in Charlottesville. His answers were frank even in the face of jeers coming from the audience. Outside the venue, members of Indivisible Charlottesville protested white supremacy. Protesters also disrupted the question-and-answer session by shouting white supremacys got to go from the front row of the town hall. Garrett has no ties to white supremacist organizations. At the close of the town hall, Garrett thanked the audience and promised to hold additional town halls so he can have an honest discourse with his constituents. At least I listened, he said. At least I gave you what youre entitled to, which is why is he doing what hes doing? The Giles County Christian Service Mission held a ribbon-cutting last month to celebrate the expansion of its food pantry and to formally announce its new partnership with Feeding America Southwest Virginia. The Mission also announced the expansion of its operating hours to include Saturdays, starting on March 4. Recently, the Mission completed a major renovation project to enlarge the capacity of its food pantry. The goal of this project was to increase the number of food boxes the Mission is able to offer to per month and the number of special Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving boxes offered seasonally. The renovation project included the removal of several interior walls, the addition of new shelving, and the reconfiguration of duct work and electrical access. At a total cost of $4,000, the renovation has tripled the size of the food pantry. Dave Zimmerman provided the design plan and led a crew of 25 volunteers who completed the work over a 10-day period. Pearisburg First United Methodist Church, Pearisburg Christ Fellowship and Cornerstone Church provided meals for the volunteers over the course of the project. The Mission is entering into a partnership agreement with Feeding America Southwest Virginia which will also include a USDA Emergency Food Assistance Program. Last year, the USDA distributed nearly $300 million to food-insecure individuals and families across the nation. This program would be the first of its kind in Giles County. Partnering with Giles County, the Mission is also beginning the process of grant-writing and fundraising to acquire an adjacent property. While final plans are still in development, this property may be used for a client-select food pantry in which those in need will be able to specifically choose which food items they most need. Discussions are also being held with the Salvation Army regarding the possibility of offering a soup kitchen or other feeding ministry, and additional client support services. These projects are in response to a recent report from Feeding America that has identified nearly 2,000 citizens of Giles County as food insecure. With distribution centers in Salem and Abingdon, the goal of Feeding America Southwest Virginia is to feed area hungry through a network of partner programs and engage the region to join in the fight against hunger. Feeding America Southwest Virginia covers 26 counties (including Giles County) and nine cities, and provides food and support to 380 partner programs. Serving more than 500 Giles County families annually, the Mission distributed more than $165,000 in food, clothing, housewares, diapers and utility assistance in 2016. The Mission is also home of the Angel Tree Ministry for children and teens in the county, through which more than 300 angels were adopted and provided with gifts and clothing. More than 6,000 hours were logged by local volunteers who gave valuable service to the Mission in 2016. This year marks the 51st anniversary of the Giles County Christian Service Mission, that was founded by the Giles County Ministerial Association. The Board of the Mission consists of an equal number of clergy and non-clergy. Current board members include Rev. David Bracken, Rev. Dr. Brian Burch, Bernice Davis, Rev. Morris Fleischer, Angie Fox, Rev. Katherine Jackson, Al Katz, Drema McMahon, Trish Muldoon, Sandra Spangler, Rev. Lane Spigener, and Rev. Betsy Switzer. The Mission is located at 516 Wenonah Ave. in downtown Pearisburg and is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Contact Mission Director Amy Reynolds at 921-3006 or giles_mission@earthlink.net for more information. George Washington had to deal with tomahawks, not Tomahawks, which is what makes some parts of the United States Constitution so problematic more than two centuries after its ratification. Article 1, Section 8 is simple enough: The Congress shall have power to . . . declare war. Meanwhile, Article 2, Section 2 says: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. Both seemed clear enough in a more languid age when it sometimes took months to move around armies or even the news. The founders, though, didnt foresee a day when a president could fire off missiles on the other side of the world without Congress saying a peep. President Trumps decision to send 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles smashing into a Syrian air force base a week ago was one of most politically significant events of his young presidency and one of the most militarily insignificant actions in American warfare. Within a day, Syrian jets were using the air base again, albeit without using poison gas. Militarily, Trumps Syrian missile barrage had about the same effect as when President Clinton fired some missiles into Afghanistan and Sudan to retaliate against terrorists blowing up American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Neither attack changed the facts on the ground. The real impact of Trumps attack is political: President Obama declared that the use of chemical weapons was a red line and then did nothing when Syria crossed it. Trump did do something, however inconsequential the result. For a candidate elected on a platform that was vaguely isolationist certainly nationalistic he now looks practically Wilsonian. Politics sometimes take strange turns. Perhaps Trumps itchy finger on the send button will have a salutary effect on North Korea, which is hurrying toward the day when it has a missile capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States with a nuclear weapon. Or perhaps it will simply convince the North Koreans that they need an even bigger missile program to forestall a pre-emptive attack. Time will tell. At home, Trumps missile barrage produced a paroxysm of inconsistency. Republicans who had criticized Obama for contemplating military action in Syria now endorsed Trump for doing exactly that. Democrats who had urged Obama to make a stand against chemical weapons now criticized Trump. If an action is right, or wrong, it shouldnt matter what the party affiliation is, but apparently it does.One of the most inconsistent people here is Trump himself. In 2013, when Obama was dithering over his red line, Trump repeatedly tweeted that Obama shouldnt get the United States involved: President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING! The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not! Lets not be too harsh on Trump for his inconsistency. As president, he now has access to information that he did not possess as a private citizen. We need to allow public officials room to grow and, yes, change their minds. The catch, of course, is whether theyre changing their minds because they have acquired new information and insight, or whether theyre just feeling the winds of public opinion shift. Theres plenty of cynicism about Trumps motives here. The satirical website The Onion captured those with the headline: Trump confident U.S. strike on Syria wiped out Russian scandal. Thats funny, but this isnt: Obama struck a deal with Syria to eliminate its stash of chemical weapons. Obviously, that didnt happen. In hindsight, its clear that Obama really didnt do anything about chemical weapons in Syria. Trump may not be able to do anything about those weapons, either, but he has, at least, registered American disapproval. The one consistent voice in all this is that of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia. Kaine discomfited fellow Democrats when he insisted that Obama should seek congressional approval for military action. He is still calling on Congress to exercise its constitutional duty. Congress didnt want to do anything when Obama was president. Democrats didnt want to be seen voting for war, and Republicans didnt want to be seen endorsing anything Obama did. Democrats probably still dont want to be seen voting for war; how will Republicans feel now that a Republican sits in the White House? The real problem for Congress is that if it votes on military force, then it assumes responsibility for the results far better politically to let the president take the credit, or the blame. The problem is thats not how the Constitution was designed. A lot of so-called constitutionalists would rather overlook this particular requirement. The issue here isnt even Trumps missile attack on Syria although Kaine thinks Trump should have gotten congressional approval for that. The real issue is that were already fighting a low-level war in the Mideast, and have been since August 2014, when Obama first ordered military action about the Islamic State. Since then, the coalition fighting Operation Inherent Resolve has launched 18,645 air strikes (and those are overwhelmingly conducted by American aircraft). Thats precisely 18,644 more than Trump launched into Syria last week and therefore probably ought to get 18,645 times the attention especially since there will more strikes against the Islamic States; there might not be more against Syria. Trump has quietly increased the number of American troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria. The Los Angeles Times now puts the number at about 6,700, maybe more. On Sunday, Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, called for sending 6,000 more. You need more American troops to accelerate [ISIS] demise, Graham told NBCs Meet the Press. Since Inherent Resolve began, 17 American service members have lost their lives. This is a war. Its a small war, and maybe a necessary one. But the Constitution doesnt say anything about scale or necessity. It just says Congress is who has the power to declare war. Kaine is right, and has been right from the beginning: Congress ought to do its duty and vote. Business News Japan S Bid To Stop Death By Overwork Seen Falling Short | RobinsPost News & Noticias Japans grueling work culture is again under the spotlight after the death of a journalist at Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) due to overwork ... at a Sept. 2 news conference. Read More Japan has been offloading its dollars and buying the yen in a bid to stabilize the struggling currency, which has tumbled 27% against the greenback this year. Read More Wearing a blue, narrow-brimmed fedora and a white button-up shirt, his hands shaking ever so slightly, Koichi Kashiwa raises his cup to take a sip of coffee as he reflects on his past life running ... Read More A large courtroom at the "Business Court" is seen in Tokyo's Meguro Ward on Oct. 6, 2022. (Mainichi/Kenji Ikai) TOKYO -- Japan's first "Business Court" has been launched in the capital in a bid to ... Read More The nations three largest lenders Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group said they are allowing more flexibility, eschewing a minimum ... Read More after more than two years of work on a pill once hailed as Japan's biggest contribution to the global coronavirus fight. In March, Fujifilm had cut short enrolment in a Phase III trial ... Read More WASHINGTON -Japan ... s currency intervention last month to stop a sharp slide in the yen was likely a signaling action to smooth volatility, though the impact of such moves tend to be ... Read More According to Uno, it's the oldest latrine left standing at a Zen Buddhist temple in Japan. Uno said temple management were discussing the best way to restore the damaged doors, which measured 2.4 ... Read More from and through Japan are getting some big news today: Anyone can now travel to Japan, without a visa. And that's effective today. It's been slow going or no going to Japan for quite some ... Read More Japan, U.S. to Conduct Major Military Drill From Nov. 10 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and the United States will conduct a joint military exercise from Nov. 10, the Japanese Defence Ministry said on ... Read More WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Japan's currency intervention last month to stop a sharp slide in the yen was likely a "signaling action" to smooth volatility, though the impact of such moves tend ... Read More Business News Vse Picks Up Foreign Military Sales Delivery Orders For Egypt | RobinsPost News & Noticias --(BUSINESS WIRE)--VSE Corporation (NASDAQ ... and consulting and training services for global commercial, federal, military and defense customers. VSE also provides information technology ... Read More A new, 2-year agreement as a sales channel partner to distribute more than 200,000 spare parts supporting Embraer business ... federal, military and defense customers. VSE also provides ... Read More Senator Blocks $75 Million in U.S. Military Aid to Egypt Over Rights Concerns By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Egypt has missed out on an additional $75 million in American military aid ... Read More Pizza businesses are fiercely competitive and during the pandemic the industry was primed for the type of business that was needed, home delivery ... in sales during the stay-at-home orders. Read More A Police Lieutenant on the scene told 10 On Your Side that a motorcycle was heading eastbound on Bonney Road when it collided with an SUV that was trying to turn onto S. Boggs Street. https://www ... Read More These contracts bring Piaggios order backlog to approximately 490 ... 180-based full-flight simulator to be placed at the Pratica di Mare military airport, near Rome. According to Piaggio ... Read More Fly Alliance (Static AD_403) placed an order for up to 20 new Cessna Citation midsize and super-midsize business jets12 ... maintenance, parts sales, and aircraft sales and management. Read More SEOUL, Oct 19 (Reuters) - North Korea's military said it has ordered its troops ... the North's official KCNA reported. The firing order comes after the North launched some 100 shells into the ... Read More Csik teamed up with Scozzari and Joiner to score off of one of New Egypts 15 corners in the game, on some bang-bang passing. She followed that up by closing out the games scoring as she ... Read More with total sales rising to 66.3m (2021: 64.7m) despite the problems reported in the businesss 9 September 2022 trading update. Gear4music says even stronger European sales growth of 10% ... Read More DeBrincat picked up his second assist of the season Tuesday in a 7-5 victory over the Bruins. DeBrincat has yet to find the back of the net for the Senators in three contests. He scored 41 times ... Read More Zegras scored a goal and added an assist, both on the power play, in Wednesday's 5-4 overtime win over the Kraken. Zegras contributed to the Ducks' comeback effort, helping out on Ryan Strome's ... Read More Business News A Look Inside Aktau Kazakhstan S Other Hub On The New Silk Road | RobinsPost News & Noticias The countrys ports intersect the North-South, TRASECA international transport corridors. It is planned to create a container hub by 2025 in the Aktau ... Kazakhstan it is expected to build a ... Read More MOSCOW, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's Tengizchevroil (TCO) and Total&Dunga are starting to use new export routes for their oil as they look to sidestep ... its oil via Aktau port to the Baku ... Read More Mangistau region Governor Nurlan Nogayev introduced the deputies of the Aktau city maslikhat the candidacy of a new mayor of the city. Yerbol Izbergenov, who earlier held the post of the deputy ... Read More Rents have soared in Kazakhstan and other ... company's Russian office, having relocated to Almaty. "I am mostly concerned about not being able to transfer money from my Russian bank account to my ... Read More This weeks sight of political ... Tokayev is promising new-style politics, but his New Kazakhstan is about to have what looks very like an old-style election. Joanna Lillis is a journalist based in ... Read More Editor's note ... before Covid the Business Times had a regular feature called Modern Workplace, highlighting innovative office space. We are reviving the feature with a new name: The New ... Read More Search Engine Land PPC A look inside TikToks new automated Smart Performance Campaigns TikTok announced a new campaign type for brands to further enhance their performance in the app. Read More Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business ... is releasing new features for Windows 11 as part of the companys continuous innovation ... Read More SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) A program that helps victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse will move into a new space next month. In mid-November, Childrens Inn clients and ... Read More Zizzo Group Engagement Marketing opened its new headquarters office in an historic Walkers Point building the company restored. Check out the attached slideshow to get your first look inside ... Read More the building is Lehighs largest to date and home to its new College of Health, as well as innovative interdisciplinary research, meeting and community space, according to the university. Read More Russian exodus tests limits of neighbours' hospitality Some 200,000 flee Putin's mobilisation into Kazakhstan Huge influx provokes concern in Central Asian host country New arrivals have to pay ... Read More Health News Texas Mumps Cases Reach 20 Year High | RobinsPost News & Noticias The CDC late last month reported Texas ... seen the high number of flu cases this season, so far. KERAs Sam Baker talked about this with Dr. Donna Casey, an internist with Texas Health Dallas. Read More 2018;67(36):1019-1020. On December 6, 2016, Collin County (Texas) Health Care Services (CCHCS) was notified of a suspected mumps case in a woman aged 41 years (patient A), who developed parotitis ... Read More U.S. mortgage rates reached a 20-year high as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates to try to tame inflation. CBS News' Errol Barnett and Elaine Quijano are joined by Zillow senior ... Read More They were already at 20 year highs yesterday ... the 7s for top tier conventional 30yr fixed rate offerings--in many cases, mid-to-upper 7's. Read More A white tent looms over the grounds of the Uvalde County Fairplex, a sparse multipurpose venue that previously hosted rodeos, quinceaneras and the annual firemen's ball, now ... Read More The decision this week followed a wider ruling in Texas that limits the state's power to prosecute voting fraud cases, which has ... possible sentence of two to 20 years in prison. Read More Mortgage rates reached a 20-year high last week as the U.S. housing market continued its rapid slowdown, according to data released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The 30-year ... Read More Nationwide, home prices soared 43% in two years, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index ... see prices go down from those sky-high levels," CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger ... Read More particularly in the last few years, some slices of DFW stand out. The top spot in North Texas for 20-year price appreciation is in Celina, boasting 210% growth. If you purchased a hypothetical ... Read More Mortgage rates hit their highest point in 20 years ... the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reaching its highest level since April 2002," Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said in a news statement. Read More Elections News Iran Elections Top Candidates | RobinsPost News & Noticias More pressing, Iran's burgeoning cyber capabilities appear to threaten the election itself ... Booker made news as the only Democratic candidate for president in 2020 who said he may not rejoin ... Read More Election watchdogs reported routine issues in key battleground states Tuesday but no major problems as ballots were cast across the U.S. Live updates. Read More Ahead of Tuesdays Midterm Elections, GOP and Democrat candidates make the final stops on the campaign trail to pitch to voters. Read More An man walks past posters of presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi during an election ... two news publications - Jahan News and Panjereh. He was also the head of the student branch of Iran ... Read More Officials are urging patience as ballots are cast in the 2022 midterms. Election groups are reporting routine problems. Live election updates. Read More U.S. officials are concerned malicious cyber operatives could disrupt the election, especially by creating false narratives about election tampering. Read More Former President Trump promised to build on his "America First" record if he runs for president again and wins, and called for a GOP leadership change in the Senate. Read More Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was warned that China has allegedly been targeting Canada with a vast campaign of foreign interference, according to Global News sources. Read More Voters in the 2022 midterm elections will effectively decide whether to embrace Joe Biden's vision for the country or back candidates from Donald Trump's MAGA movement. Read More We've got the data for it: tens of thousands of interviews in our CBS News polling ... party and its candidates to support the former President. Notably, in their approach to politics, they ... Read More Search RobinsPost News & Noticias Potus News Trump Threatens War With North Korea Then Leaves For Mar A Lago | RobinsPost News & Noticias Potus News At Least 4 Arrested In California Pro And Anti Trump Rallies | RobinsPost News & Noticias Former President Donald Trump had previously expressed sympathy for the January 6 rioters when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol building. Read More Science News Opinion For Clean Power For All California Needs An Integrated Grid Not Today S Fragmented Operation | RobinsPost News & Noticias indicate that the power grid was not operating at a capacity that would have necessarily required them, however perhaps out of an abundance of caution due to the heat wave and Californias ... Read More Over time, managing Californias grid, especially amid challenging weather, is likely to change. The state is aggressively adding battery capacity to the grid to store clean power when the sun ... Read More Those farms are home to nearly 6,000 turbines capable of generating 28,363 megawatts of power, which meet 3% of Europe's energy needs ... both California and the U.S. meet their clean energy ... Read More Storage tanks seen at Marathon Petroleums ... not a solution. The Times article pointed out that various authorities have been warning Capitol politicians for years that California needs ... Read More But with wind power now seen as key to helping both California and the U.S. meet their clean energy ... collects power from all turbines in the farm and feeds it to an onshore substation, which is ... Read More President Richard Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Act in 1972. But Congress overrode him on a bipartisan vote, and the landmark law to reverse the toxic degradation of U.S. rivers, lakes and streams ... Read More Sunnovas distributed energy systems to form virtual power plant ... peak capacity needs and strengthen the grid in a predominantly low to moderate income (LMI) community within Pacific Gas and ... Read More Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 ... Read More Those farms are home to nearly 6,000 turbines capable of generating 28,363 megawatts of power, which meet 3% of Europes energy needs ... both California and the U.S. meet their clean energy ... Read More Science News It Will Help Us With Our Product Emails Show How A Billionaire S Philanthropy Boosted His Business | RobinsPost News & Noticias In a cabin in Whitefish, Montana, two ex-spies tell us an outlandish ... inside the room shes in. In emails to the billionaire, she threatens to kill him. And his wife. And Matt had something ... Read More 2 takeaways from our meeting: We like health care and staples, Club stock news Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to ... Read More Thats the assumption that the nonprofit sector is now reexamining. What the data does show ... help us understand the different ways people give. It asks us to reconsider what counts as ... Read More Emails and messages among ... argued that Mr Trump and his rhetoric were central to the violence on 6 January. US Rep Elaine Luria said Mr Trumps failed attempts to overturn the results ... Read More Emails Show Trump Knowingly ... attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump's supporters. Eastman was one of Trump's attorneys when the former president and his allies challenged his 2020 election loss ... Read More For months, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has expressed interest in creating his own version of Chinas WeChat a super ... chips for smartphones and other products, says its quarterly profit ... Read More On Monday, The Daily Beast reported that Tom Barrack, the indicted billionaire ... president's politics were so "divisive" it ruined his credibility with anyone else he wanted to do business ... Read More Donald Trumps presidency ... Barracks business the latter testified at a criminal trial in Brooklyn, New York on Monday. What Happened: Touching on the impact on his company Colony ... Read More Washington Communications from conservative lawyer John Eastman show former President Donald Trump and his ... product privilege. Carter has been reviewing the records to determine whether ... Read More The hits keep coming for Frank Wang, the first drone billionaire. His Shenzhen, China-based DJI, the world's largest manufacturer of consumer drones, was already under pressure after being singled ... Read More Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European ... and business organizations, said over email. Additionally, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform ... Read More Rick Caruso, a billionaire running to be the next mayor ... but Im assuming with LA being as diverse as it is, its not [to] his advantage to just be white, he had to make it known he ... Read More Travel News 10 International Destination Indians Can Travel To Without A Visa | RobinsPost News & Noticias Research, Research, Research India houses a diverse range of bustling destinations ... without extensive international travel under their belt. There's no denying India's great cities can be ... Read More If you are keen to set out on an international trip this winter, we have your back. Here, we bring to you our favourite destinations that you can consider ... of the best travel experiences. Read More Amnesty International ... Mattoos arbitrary travel ban by the immigration authorities at the New Delhi airport in India. On October 18, Mattoo was barred from traveling internationally despite ... Read More The top travel trends that emerged from the August 2022 study include that 8 in 10 urban Indian families ... to travel together. They can easily visit multiple destinations while unpacking just ... Read More Indian visa applications were already time-consuming before the pandemic, but the additional Covid-related checks are fairly standard for international travel these days. Visitors to India no ... Read More This destination can easily be claimed as one of the most stunning places in South India for a honeymoon. Offering you the utmost tranquility and peacefulness, here you wont be disturbed ... Read More alongside countless other travellers to India, facing the ashes of their travel plans. Having been told last week in no uncertain terms that I would not get a visa appointment until the end of ... Read More (Also read: Top 5 places in India where you can enjoy the houseboat experience) Here is the list of Indian destinations that ... which can be reached after a 10-kilometre hike, is home to more ... Read More UK Visa: In his update ... the British high commissioner to India also included an advice for applicants seeking to get approvals soon. You can help by applying early. You can apply three ... Read More The stars of the travel, tourism and hospitality aligned at the Kenyatta International Convention ... included Maldives winning Indian Oceans Leading Destination and Indian Ocean ... Read More The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) announced that Mauritius has scooped three prestigious destination awards at the 2022 World Travel Awards (WTA) Indian Ocean region ... Read More A travel plan would be incomplete without adding that extra ... Gold and Silver, which can be further divided according to the destinations one is traveling to worldwide. The TATA AIG Travel ... Read More Travel News Washington State Travel Alerts | RobinsPost News & Noticias KING 5 has activated First Alert for this weather event, which could affect lives, property or travel in the Pacific Northwest region. Read More Interstate 90 is already congested in the Coeur dAlene metro area, and traffic volumes are expected to double by 2045. Read More A serious injury is involved, the State Road 80 westbound lanes are blocked and traffic is heavily congested in the area. Please avoid if possible or approach with caution. 7:38 A.M. Traffic ... Read More Heading into the general election Tuesday, Lincoln and Ferry counties have indicated no interest in reinstalling the device. Read More Oregon State Police found 83 pounds of suspected cocaine and a firearm during a traffic stop on I-5 after being alerted by a drug detection K9. Read More Oregon State Police found 83 pounds of suspected cocaine and a firearm during a traffic stop on I-5 after being alerted by a drug detection K9. Read More "Don't wait until the last minute: Travel insurance is intended to protect travelers against sudden and unforeseen events," the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking in Washington ... Read More backing up traffic for commuters in the Tacoma area. Washington State Department of Transportation Peter Talbot covers crime and breaking news in Pierce County. He started with The News Tribune in ... Read More Through this deal, you can fly from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood ... How to book: Directly through Plays website. Travel dates: Oct. 1 through Dec. 10; dates vary by destination. Read More The instant traffic ... news" in the lock screen summary, although some publishers share breaking news without explicitly using the term in the alert. Publishers such as Metro, Washington Post ... Read More Us News 2 Killed 1 Injured In Arizona Mall Shooting | RobinsPost News & Noticias Two are dead and one is injured after a shooting broke out Saturday night ... Residents are asked to avoid the area. Reach breaking news reporter Ellie Willard at ellie.willard@gannett.com ... Read More (WDAM) - Police are investigating a shooting that happened Monday in Laurel ... Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. Continue Reading Show full articles ... Read More Mesa police are investigating a shooting at an apartment complex that left one person dead and two others injured. Read More UPPER SOUTHAMPTON, Pennsylvania Two people were killed and another was injured after a shooting at a Pennsylvania bar on Friday night, authorities said. Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck ... Read More Two suspects wanted in a Florida bar shooting that killed one and injured six earlier this month ... top priority," Chief O'Connor said during a news conference. "Our efforts and resources poured ... Read More [NBC News] Two police officers were killed, and a third is seriously injured after an overnight shooting in Bristol, Connecticut. Around 3:30 a.m., the Connecticut State Police said it was ... Read More Us News Man Stabs Woman To Death In Sharjah House Arrested | RobinsPost News & Noticias Another suspect was caught in the same month that the woman was shot and killed. However, his co-defendant was being held far to the north on other charges. Read More A woman has been arrested in connection to the gruesome murder of a 15-year-old girl - 10 years after the notorious crime took place. Moriah Gonzales from Waxahachie, Texas, was stabbed to death ... Read More The arrest was made in less than 24 hours of the incident Sharjah: The Department of Criminal Investigations at the General Command of Sharjah Police has arrested a woman who blackmailed a man on ... Read More A Florida man stabbed his wife to death before ... Salazar was previously arrested in Orlando in 2016 for domestic abuse and was charged with battery against a pregnant woman. Read More The Police have arrested a woman in Ungean Gwari Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa state for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death. This was contained in a statement issued by the ... Read More Janesville police have arrested a man who allegedly stabbed a woman multiple times Wednesday ... share any further details about the attack. News 3 Now is not naming the suspect at this time ... Read More WE HAVE BREAKING NEWS OUT OF OCONEE COUNTY ... THE WALHALLA POLICE DEPARTMENT O A woman has been arrested in the murder of a man found stabbed to death earlier this week, according to Chief ... Read More A man stabbed a woman to death before fatally stabbing himself in ... A request for more information from McClatchy News on Oct. 18 was not immediately returned. Read More A man and woman were arrested after an argument turned into a fight and ended in a stabbing. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Atlanta Police said the incident happened ... Read More An Israeli man who was stabbed by a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank last month died from his injuries Tuesday. Shalom Sofer, 63, was stabbed in the stomach at a grocery store in the Palestinian ... Read More A 43-year-old man died on Saturday after being stabbed in the chest at a Milford home, police said Monday. The suspect in the attack was later arrested ... things breaking news, follow her ... Read More Us News Manifesto Writing Fugitive Found Camping On Wisconsin Farm | RobinsPost News & Noticias St. Croix County Sheriff's Office Lt. Brent Standaert said the campground host made the initial 911 call after other campers registered concerns. Read More Six members of a Wisconsin family found dead after an apartment fire last week each suffered a single gunshot wound, authorities said Monday. Connor McKisick, the father and stepfather to four ... Read More (KFVS) - A fugitive involved in a recent child abduction ... them they had been traveling for several days and staying in campgrounds along the way. The Fulton Police Department transported ... Read More The six people found dead after an apartment fire in a southern Wisconsin village last week had been shot in an apparent case of murder-suicide, according to police. The bodies of a couple and ... Read More Six people who were found dead following an apartment fire in Wisconsin last week were each found to have suffered a single gunshot wound, police said Monday. Connor McKisick, one of the people ... Read More A family from Fremont, a city north of Grand Rapids, that has been missing for a week has been found in Stevens Point, Wisconsin ... located and told The News they are safe. Read More A family of four that went missing from their Michigan home early last week has been found ... located in Wisconsin." Days earlier, Fremont police issued a release and held a news conference ... Read More The Fremont family who left their home last Sunday without a trace has been found safe outside Michigan ... the Cirigliano family in Steven's Point, Wisconsin. All family members were interviewed ... Read More Now, that is a unique experience! This camping trip took us to the Wisconsin River for fishing, kayaking and tubing down the Wisconsin River. This private campground is located only a half hour ... Read More A farm between Darlington and Heighington could officially become a camping and caravan park according to recently-submitted plans. The site, which is found on Westholme Farm, is currently ... Read More Hartland police said at a news conference. Several people have died in a deadly fire at a Hartland, Wisconsin, apartment building, Oct. 21, 2022. An "active criminal investigation" is now underway ... Read More The 35-year-old, who the courts in Utah have said is fugitive Nicholas Rossi ... old in the state and attacked women elsewhere in the US. The man, who says his name is Arthur Knight, appeared ... Read More Us News Watch Live April The Giraffe Giving Birth At New York Zoo | RobinsPost News & Noticias 19 (UPI) --A zoo ... news release announcing Bailey was in labor. "We're optimistic that advances in medicine, like the availability of giraffe plasma and stem cell treatments, will help us ... Read More Watch the birth ... the zoo began a special live stream broadcast from Bailey's overnight stall. Viewers can see Bailey and the rest of the herd during the day on the zoo's two outdoor giraffe ... Read More Ingrid Vasquez is a Digital News Writer ... more. A new calf has joined the herd at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Bailey, a 10-year-old reticulated giraffe at the Colorado zoo, gave birth to a female ... Read More There are 16 reticulated giraffe ... will help us navigate any medical needs the calf may have." Ahead of her labor, Bailey was moved to a sand stall on Sep. 19, which the zoo staff said it ... Read More to give birth to the calf we are all expecting, just read some of the posts on April the Giraffes official Facebook page. My Alzheimers Mom and I watch her all day on youtube, wrote To ... Read More The Dallas Zoo announced the addition of a new little lady to their giraffe herd Tuesday ... Jamie Landers, Breaking News Reporter. Jamie Landers is a breaking news reporter at The Dallas ... Read More Cheyenne Mountain Zoo welcomed a new addition to its famed giraffe herd on Wednesday. Bailey, a 10-year-old reticulated giraffe, gave birth at 10:49 a.m. to a female calf, according to a news ... Read More Bailey gave birth Wednesday, which happened to be her due date. Related Articles Colorado News ... giraffe calf and mom seem to be doing well! Zoo officials said. People can watch Bailey live ... Read More A new study suggests giving birth prematurely can negatively impact the mothers bones. A team of anthropologists at New York University looked at the bones of females who gave birth to babies born ... Read More Students at Frank Allis Elementary School test their model car during an after school program in 2013. Us News For Some Californians Effects Of Punishing Drought Not Over | RobinsPost News & Noticias California has experienced increasingly larger and deadlier wildfires in recent years as climate change has made the western United States much warmer and drier over the past 30 years. Scientists ... Read More Several months ago, Rosario Rodriguez faced a financial dilemma that has become all too common for millions of drought-weary Californians ... s really concerning to us as well, she said. Read More California's drought, on top of Hurricane Ian ravaging citrus and tomato crops in Florida, are likely to push food costs even higher. Drought in an area known as the US salad bowl has not only ... Read More Riverbeds that used to be covered in ample water are now dehydrated by drought. Bodies of water all over ... effect throughout Utah, and it will likely get worse, scientists told ABC News in ... Read More Known as the Middle Class Tax Refund, the payments, starting at $200, are intended to provide Californians with some financial relief ... "It's wrong for us not to be treated like all of ... Read More Over his career in politics ... With sharply different views, Guerra and Quintero more often than not chose not to engage on abortion. Our conversation about reproductive freedom was not ... Read More Most Californians have long been restless and mobile; many of us or our parents came from someplace ... in each of the last five years. This has not seriously dented Californias 39.5 million ... Read More (AP) A Northern California teacher ... told the Sacramento news station that the teenager ran away from home after a disagreement with family members. There were some restrictions on ... Read More Us News Arrest Made In Connection With Murder Of New York Google Employee Vanessa Marcotte | RobinsPost News & Noticias A Massachusetts man was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of Vanessa Marcotte, a 27-year-old Google employee who was killed after she went for a walk in 2016, prosecutors ... Read More A man in Massachusetts has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of a NYC woman who never returned from a jog near her mothers home. Angelo Colon-Ortiz, 36, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the 2016 ... Read More An arrest has been made in connection to the murder of a Red Robin employee back in June ... Don't count on them Arizona releases new school letter grades, first since pandemic First snow of ... Read More Michael Anthony Louise, 79, was arrested Thursday in Syracuse, New York ... murder in connection to the deaths of Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt, Donna Reitmeyer and Sandra Little. According to NBC ... Read More CORRECTION: James Hicks is charged with murder. PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) An arrest has been made in a homicide investigation that took place after Pensacola Police officers responded to a ... Read More (WALB) - An arrest has been made in the early October murder of a Valdosta man ... VPD says more charges are likely pending in this case. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories ... Read More A man has been charged with murder in the tragic Mother ... Roosevelt Rose was arrested early Thursday in connection to the accident. ellis kaplan She was pinned between cars as her children ... Read More Louise was arrested at his home in Syracuse, New York, on an arrest warrant for two counts of second-degree murder, according to authorities. Police say Louise was married to one of the Peacocks ... Read More Sheriff Chris Morris confirmed to 2 News Oklahoma on Monday ... plant where Ketchum worked. Arrest of Cody Ketchum in connection with Holly Cantrell's murder Morris said they'd been looking ... Read More BALTIMORE (WBFF) Baltimore City Police arrested two additional suspects in connection to a robbery ... in less than an hour The first arrest was made on June 30 when officers took Brandi ... Read More Police and city officials announced an arrest Saturday in connection with the series of ... He was arrested around 2 a.m., authorities said at a news conference at Stockton Police Department ... Read More World News Nigeria Marks 3 Years Since Schoolgirls Mass Abduction | RobinsPost News & Noticias The Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA) also known as Chibok Community has decried neglect of the over 100 schoolgirls ... They said since the mass abduction of the 276 of their daughters ... Read More The Central Bank of Nigeria is marking one ... 700,000 transactions worth $18.3 million have taken place on its platform since the launch in October of last year. Officials also said the e-Naira ... Read More Thursday marks three years since severe storms dropped at least nine twisters in North Texas, including an EF-3 tornado in the city of Dallas. Today, the Dallas Independent School District ... Read More London: Here are some key numbers associated with broadcasting giant, the BBC, which marks the centenary ... around the world -- a key component of British soft power since the launch in 1932 ... Read More ABUJA, Nigeria ... this year has increased to 603 as local authorities race to get relief items to hundreds of thousands being evacuated from their submerged homes. More than 1.3 million people ... Read More The death toll from floods in Nigeria ... year has increased to 603 as local authorities race to get relief items to hundreds of thousands being evacuated from their submerged homes. More than 1.3 ... Read More The disaster has killed 603 people and displaced more than one million residents Will Sullivan Heavy floods in Nigeria have killed at least 603 people and displaced upwards of 1.3 million since ... Read More 17 (UPI) --More than 600 people have died and 1.3 million displaced in recent flooding in Nigeria ... at the end of the week. World News // 20 hours ago Iran marks U.S. Embassy takeover ... Read More Malta Demonstrators Mark Five Years Since Daphne Caruana Galizia's Murder VALLETTA (Reuters) - Demonstrators in Malta marked five years since the car bomb murder of anti-corruption journalist ... Read More Vehicles are seen on a flooded road in Lokoja, Nigeria ... year on the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam in neighbouring Cameroon and heavier than usual rains that had been building since ... Read More The archbishop of the small Mediterranean island nation, Charles Scicluna, celebrated a morning Mass in the small Bidnija church near where Caruana Galizia lived, making several references to the ... Read More The latest figures represent a significant increase in casualties and displacements from Nigerias devastating flood crisis this year ... had been displaced since the start of the rainy season. Read More World News The Tone Of Tensions Korean Voices North And South | RobinsPost News & Noticias Air Force military trainings took place in both North and South Korean airspaces as the two nations continue to ratchet up tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Read More Tensions between North ... after a South Korean navy ship had violated the NLL and fired warning shots "on the pretext of tracking down an unidentified ship". The official KCNA news agency ... Read More SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North and South Korea exchanged warning shots Monday along their disputed western sea boundary a scene of past bloodshed and naval battles in a development that ... Read More South Korea's National Security Council (NSC) condemned the North for escalating tensions, calling its moves ... North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station ... Read More The U.S. and South Korean ... North was underway, and the military didn't clarify the cause of the explosion and flames for hours. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name ... Read More More info North and South Korea exchanged warning shots off the west coast today, with each sideaccusing the other of breaching their maritime borders amid heightened military tension. South Korea ... Read More Tensions between North and South Korea have risen this week, with both sides engaging in live-fire military drills while concerns swirl in Washington that North Koreas new war-fighting strategy ... Read More SEOUL, South Korea ... under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing tensions, South Koreas military said. On Friday afternoon, South Koreas military said North Korea fired 90 additional ... Read More A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's military exercise during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. North Korea fired artillery ... Read More North Korea fired about 100 more artillery shells toward the sea Wednesday in response to South Korean live-firing drills at border areas as the rivals accuse each other of dialing up tensions on ... Read More North Korea fired a ballistic missile ... zones the two Koreas established under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing tensions, South Koreas military said. On Friday afternoon, South ... Read More World News North Korea Says It S Ready For War But Pyongyang Remains A City Of Orderly Calm | RobinsPost News & Noticias The state-run Korean Central News Agency ... overly ready security posture. 'Very clear political message' Analysts say the latest display of apparent strides made in North Korea's various ... Read More The 30-year U.S. effort to compel North Korea to give up its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities has rested on offering Pyongyang ... it remains the worst-kept secret in the world. Read More A TV screen shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a news program at a railway ... but Seoul is ready to sternly respond to Pyongyang's provocations with "overwhelming forces." ... Read More With political stability in the Korean ... war to bring the enemies under their control, Kim said, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The North Korean despots ... Read More Kim Jong-un says ... Pyongyangs enemies and its nuclear combat forces were at full preparedness for actual war Kim Jong-un supervised the launch of two long-range cruise missiles, North ... Read More RELATED North Korea says recent missile ... closely cooperating with the U.S." The missiles were launched from the area around the city of Kaecheon, north of Pyongyang, Col. Kim Jun-rak told ... Read More North Koreas Kim Jong Un ... interview with ABC News. But because he hasn't answered any of those entreaties, we have to make sure we have the military capabilities ready in case it should ... Read More SEOUL, Oct. 10 (UPI) --North Korea's ... war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability of the country, which comes to be a severe warning to the enemies," Korean Central News Agency said ... Read More Through seven times of launching drills of the tactical nuclear operation units, the actual war capabilities of the nuclear combat forces ready ... Norths official Korean Central News ... Read More Would it be correct to say North Koreas ... Pyongyang on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of the end of the Korean War [File: Cha Song Ho/AP Photo] Over the long term, I think, the world ... Read More Analysts say Kim is exploiting the distraction created by Russias war on Ukraine ... from a position of strength. North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency said the two missiles ... Read More North Korean leader ... For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Analysts say Kim is exploiting the distraction created by Russia's war on Ukraine, using it as a window ... Read More World News Exiled Russian Opposition Figure Supports Putin Foe For Presidency | RobinsPost News & Noticias Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a businessman and Russian opposition figure ... How the West Fell for Putins Power Gambit and How to Fix It." He joined The World's host Marco Werman from London ... Read More A Russian opposition leader has cautioned that the West should not underestimate Vladimir Putin's threats about using nuclear weapons amid his war on Ukraine. The comments by Nikolay Rybakov, who ... Read More More info A prominent Russian opposition ... to topple the Putin regime. Ilya Ponomarev was a member of the Russian Parliament from 2007 to 2016 and was the only figure in that Government to ... Read More Ilya Ponomarev said the parallel parliament is still in its early stages He said a military coup against Putin ... Russia's military death toll hit 66,650 Thursday A member of the Russian ... Read More PARIS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The Council of Europe awarded detained Russian opposition politician Vladimir ... article with gallery 7:51 AM UTC Support for New Zealand's ruling Labour Party has ... Read More Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attacks were retaliation for a blast Saturday that damaged a showpiece bridge linking Russia to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014. Read More Russias Putin praises ... the region and the world despite all the difficulties that exist in the international relations today. The Russian leader noted MBZs support for the decision ... Read More Biden Says Russia's Putin Has Resorted to Brutalizing Ukrainians WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "in an incredibly ... Read More Putin Says Russia Not Working 'Against Anyone' in Energy Markets (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was not working against anyone on energy markets and was seeking a ... Read More Qatar's emir thanked Vladimir Putin on Thursday for what he said was Russia's support organizing the upcoming World Cup. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also lauded Russia's hosting of the soccer ... Read More World News Massive Dump Landslide Kills 19 People In Sri Lanka | RobinsPost News & Noticias At least 19 people were reported ... and three people died when their boat swamped or capsized in northern Honduras. A man in Nicaragua was killed by a falling tree. Julia hit Nicaraguas ... Read More Three people have died and over 55,000 people from 13,902 families have been affected by floods and landslides in Sri Lanka in the past 72 hours, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said Sunday. Read More Two people have died while 21,888 people from 5,212 families have been affected by the floods and landslides in the last 48 hours in Sri Lanka, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said on Saturday. Read More and works in solidarity with Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka and other communities in Sri Lanka said it will not get involved in the ongoing controversy. The Island sought the GTF's response to ... Read More A landslide in central Venezuela left at least 22 people dead and more than 50 missing after a river overflowed, officials said Sunday, in the latest deadly disaster caused by heavy rains to hit ... Read More Intense rain in northern Venezuela caused a landslide that has killed at least three people, President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday as he visited another site where over 50 died in similar ... Read More ICC's current guidelines allow players to play in the matches of the T20 World Cup 2022 despite turning positive for Covid-19. At the start of the match between Sri Lanka and Ireland ... Read More With the win, Sri Lanka became the first team from Group A to enter the Super 12s of T20 World Cup. O'Dowd's knock kept Netherlands in the hunt for 163 runs, but he lacked support from other batters. Read More A family evacuates their home after a landslide in northern Venezuela ... northern Venezuela caused a landslide that has killed at least three people, President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday ... Read More World News Sri Lanka Garbage Dump Collapse Kills At Least 19 | RobinsPost News & Noticias The cabinet had decided to downgrade the island to "low income" on the World Bank list, said cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardane. "Given the serious financial crisis Sri Lanka is facing ... Read More Sri Lanka has come under intense international ... the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran ... Read More London: The United Kingdom has decided to move Sri Lankan refugees seeking asylum from the British-claimed Chagos Islands to 'a safe third country,' unless they returned to Sri Lanka 'voluntarily ... Read More Sri Lanka has made a disastrous start to its men's T20 World Cup campaign, with the former champions crashing to a 55-run loss against Namibia in Geelong. Namibia made 7-163 from its 20 overs ... Read More GEELONG, Australia, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's T20 World Cup campaign got off to a ... Bas de Leede (3-19) led their disciplined attack as they restricted the UAE to 111-8. Read More They'll hope for similar, if not better fate this time as well. When will the Sri Lanka vs Namibia, T20 World Cup 1st Match be played? The Sri Lanka vs Namibia, T20 World Cup First Round Group A ... Read More To get a hat-trick in a World Cup is special and he is a special bowler." Meiyappan's heroics triggered a middle-order collapse from Sri Lanka ... who top-scored with 19 before being bowled ... Read More The Super 12 stage of the Mens T20 World Cup match no.19 will take place at the Perth Stadium in Perth on Monday between Australia and Sri Lanka ... For breaking news and live news updates ... Read More Dasun Shanaka's wicket completely shattered the dreams and Sri Lanka who were firm favorites to win this game and win the group have to recheck the status. What a start to the ICC T20I World Cup 2022. Read More ICC's current guidelines allow players to play in the matches of the T20 World Cup 2022 despite turning positive for Covid-19. At the start of the match between Sri Lanka and Ireland ... Read More Sri Lankas T20 World Cup campaign got off to a disastrous ... Bas de Leede (three for 19) led their disciplined attack as they restricted the UAE to 111 for eight. When they returned chase ... Read More World News Protesters Clash Over Trump In Berkeley California | RobinsPost News & Noticias Former President Trump reached a settlement on Wednesday with several protesters who accused his security team of assaulting them outside Trump Tower in 2015. Just days after jury selection got ... Read More Former President Donald Trump has settled a lawsuit filed by a group of protesters who say they were roughed up by the Republicans private security guards during his 2015 presidential campaign. The ... Read More MADISON - Robert "Mike" Hardiman, age 79, passed away Sunday, April 9, 2017, at Agrace HospiceCare in Fitchburg, Wis., after a long battle with cancer. He was preceded in death by his wife, Sharon (Johnson) Hardiman; mother, Frances (Anderson) Hardiman; and father, Sylvester Hardiman. Mike was born Feb. 27, 1938, in Watertown, N.Y., and later moved to La Crosse, Wis., where he grew up and eventually met his wife, Sharon. They married in Milwaukee on Jan. 28, 1961, and soon moved to Madison where Mike worked as a draftsperson for Marshall Erdman and Associates. He spent many years at Marshall Erdman and on to Daniels Construction where he was a project manager. Mike ended his career with the Raymond Group as a project manager. He also spent many years working part-time at Redwood and Ross because he enjoyed working with people and had a penchant for fine clothing. Mike enjoyed living life to its fullest. He loved people. He enjoyed both playing and watching sports. He loved his Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers. He was passionate about music, particularly jazz and blues and attended the Chicago Blues festival on a regular basis. He shared his love of music with his two daughters and took them to concerts as often as he could while they were growing up. He enjoyed politics and was an avid reader of history and personal memoirs of people he admired. He also loved to travel. Mike also had a special place in his heart for those that were less fortunate. He and his wife, Sharon, sponsored a child in Africa for many years and other charities that helped those in need. He admired people that made a difference in the lives of others and carried out that attitude in his own life. Mike is survived by his two daughters, Renee Heine and Leslie Hardiman; his three grandchildren, Clark (Kristy) Heine, Sara Heine and Cooper Heine; great-grandson, Noah Heine; sister, Audrey Johnson; brother, Paul Hardiman; special friend, Pat Hall; and great-granddog, Sherman. The family would like to thank Agrace HospiceCare for the compassionate care and comfort they provided for Mike in his last days. A celebration of life will be held at AGRACE HOSPICECARE, Fitchburg, Wis., on May 7, 2017, at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family would ask that donations be made to Agrace HospiceCare in memory of Mike. Bridge engineering firm Modjeski and Masters announced the start of steel construction on the main arch span of the Portageville Bridge across the Genesee River in Letchworth State Park in Portageville, New York. The Portageville Bridge, also known as the High Bridge, is considered to be the vital link along Norfolk Southern Corporations Southern Tier Route, a railroad line that runs between Binghamton and Buffalo, New York. Built in 1875, the historic 820-foot steel viaduct can no longer meet the demands of a Class 1 Heavy Freight Railroad. Construction to replace the bridge began in 2015. To date, construction has been focused on the preparation of the foundations and approach piers, which has included blasting of the gorge walls. Modjeski and Masters engineers began work on the Portageville Bridge by inspecting and rating the original bridge, which confirmed the bridges near-exhausted useful life. Approximately 4,200 linear feet of track realignment was designed for the project to provide a modest increase to allowable operating speed with minimal impact to the scenic park viewshed or park resources. The start of steel construction by American Bridge marks a turning point in what is currently one of Norfolk Southerns largest bridge projects; one that will help to preserve the beauty of its scenic location and continue to draw significant tourism to New York State. Brightly colored powder dusted the grass in hues of blues, yellows and reds near Dejope Hall on the UW-Madison campus Saturday, but the lawn was nothing compared to the colors smeared on the faces of students participating in a traditional Indian celebration marking the return of spring. The Madison Hindu Students Association and India Students Association hosted the Holi celebration, renowned for its use of colored powder and youthful rejoicing. The host organizations ordered about half a ton of the pigmented corn starch, which is nontoxic and water soluble. Participants of various cultures and backgrounds swarmed tables to fill their cups with the powder. Then the fun began. The powder was thrown at and smeared on every person nearby. People chased their friends to dump color on them or rub it into their hair. For some, a sneak attack of color was a way to greet a friend. Srinand Kodali, president of the India Students Association, said the playful Holi celebration is one of the organizations larger events. Its a way to bring people together and be carefree, he said. Dont worry about finals, dont worry about all the stress you have, Kodali said. Just come out and have a blast. The associations mission is to bring Indian culture to campus, Kodali said. The group hosts discussions and other events throughout the year, but Holi is one of the more interactive ones. With Holi, it is something that everyone can come and enjoy with their friends, said sophomore Amritha Jayashankar, the associations events chair. Srinidhi Emkay, president of the Madison Hindu Students Association, called Holi a time to celebrate the rejuvenation of life and the joining of different ideals as people come together in a crowd. Holi is a way to express our ideas and beliefs and for people to embrace culture, Emkay said. I think thats a great thing. To put on the event, both organizations coordinated with University Housing to use the lawn, order hundreds of pounds of powder and hire a live DJ, who played Indian and American pop songs. Another traditional element of Holi is water. Members of the associations handed out squirt guns and filled water balloons. Occasionally, a hose was turned on to spray anyone nearby. The actual day of Holi fell on March 13 this year, which was a warm day in India Delhi had a high of 85 but in Madison, the high was just 25 and more than 2 inches of snow fell. The associations decided to hold the event at a time when spring weather was more likely to arrive. To be near the revelry meant being speckled with colors of the rainbow. To be in the crowd meant being covered. Powder was thrown every which way, and participants would go up to anyone, even perfect strangers, to smear a handful of color on someones face. Holi has religious roots in Hinduism as a celebration of the triumph of good over evil, but religious beliefs are not paramount to celebrating the day, organizers said. Professor Mohit Gupta, who was born and raised in India, came to the celebration with his wife and son. Even though he doesnt call himself religious, Gupta and his family go to Holi celebrations each year, he said, because it reminds us of home. The significance of Holi and its meaning wasnt known by all attendees. Sophomore Emily LaBorde said she didnt know much about Holi, but she went to the celebration after seeing a post about it on Facebook. I love color, and why wouldnt I want to come to this, LaBorde said. Senior Sheetal Gowda said she liked the joy and diversity of the Holi celebration on campus. No ones really having a bad time, Gowda said. The people are being more open with other cultures, which is really nice. By SA Commercial Prop News Industrial Sector remains the top performer in South African Property Market outperforming Retail and Office. INDUSTRIAL remains the top-performing property sector in South Africa, with a total return of 13.6% delivered in 2016, the latest IPD SA Annual Property Index shows. The index released recently MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), showed the South African property investment sector delivered an ungeared total return of 11.1% in 2016. This reflects a 190bp decline from 13.0% in 2015 and the lowest recorded total return since 2009. ALSO READ: SA Listed Property Growth Has Taken a Dive Income return remained steady at 8.3%, while capital growth came in at 2.6% which was down from 4.4% in 2015. Capital growth was underpinned by an improved base rental growth of 6.2% - however, this was offset by negative yield impact. ALSO READ: South Africa's Credit Rating demoted to Junk Status Sponsored by Nedbank CIB, the report is based on asset level data collected from a sample of 1,450 properties with a total capital value of R296.6 billion at the end of December 2016. This represents approximately two thirds of professionally managed investment property in South Africa. Phil Barttram, Executive Director, MSCI, comments: The Index report, provides a unique perspective on the fundamental drivers of commercial real estate returns in South Africa. In stark contrast to socio-political volatility, investors have benefitted from stable incomes, founded on the sectors contractual income base and aggressive cost management. Even given the decline in total returns, the sector has once again proven its resilience by providing real returns in 2016. ALSO READ: Finance Minister Gordhan replaced at a time of Weak Growth At a sector level, industrial property was the top performing sector during the year with a total return of 13.6%, outperforming retail at 12.6%. The office sector continues to struggle on the back of subdued capital growth and was particularly hard hit in 2016 with a total return of 7.6%. At a property segment level, Inner City and decentralised offices counted among the worst performing segments for the year with total returns of 7.5% and 7.7% respectively. The Index has outperformed the MSCI SA Equities Index and the JP Morgan bond index (7-10 year) over 1, 3, 5 & 10 year periods. The top performing segments for the year were High Tech industrial property and Neighbourhood shopping centres which produced total returns of 18.1% and 20.3% respectively. Neighbourhood Centre returns should be seen in a longer term context, which suggests a return to trend growth in 2016 rather than continued outperformance. Robin Lockhart-Ross, Managing Executive, Nedbank CIB Property Finance said, The index results show that the performance of the South African property investment sector continues to hold up well despite the prevailing low GDP growth environment. Although, at 11.1%, the total return decreased from 13.0% in 2015, this is hardly surprising in that commercial property returns will over time closely track the general economy. Nedbank CIB, as lenders, look first for stability in income flows and then for sustainability in capital value, both of which this index demonstrates the SA investment property sector to have delivered consistently since inception of the index in 1995. Pakistan on Friday rejected India's 14th attempt for consular access to alleged spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and maintained the trial sentencing him to death was according to the laws of the country. Pakistan also said that India had not responded to "specific information" sought on Jadhav in January -- which New Delhi has rejected. Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua in Islamabad with a request for consular access to Jadhav and also sought a copy of the charge-sheet against him. The request was turned down. "We demanded a meeting (with Jadhav), but they denied," Bambawale told reporters after meeting Janjua. India said it has sought consular access to Jadhav 13 times earlier, but was refused each time. Making a statement on Jadhav's arrest and trial, Pakistan's top foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz slammed the "inflammatory statements and rhetoric of premeditated murder" issued by the Indian government, which he said would only escalate tensions. He also asked how Jadhav, "an innocent man", could have two passports. At the time of his arrest in March 2016, Jadhav had one passport in his name, and a second in the name of Hussain Mubarak Patel. "Why was Jadhav using a fake name in his identity documents," Aziz asked. Aziz said the April 10 sentencing of Jadhav was "as per the law of the land" and was a "fully transparent process". He said Jadhav, who belongs to Maharashtra in India, had been involved in subversive activities in Pakistan. To Indian claims that Pakistan has not responded to its letters seeking information on Jadhav, Aziz said that New Delhi has not responded to a "Letter of Assistance requesting specific information and access to certain key witnesses" sent on January 23 this year. "There has been no response from the Indian side so far." Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in Kolkata, denied the charge, saying: "No no, that's not true." Rajnath also said he felt that Jadhav did not get a transparent trial. "All efforts are on to get Kulbhushan justice. India will go to any extent to get him justice," he said. Aziz said that Jadhav had the right to appeal within 40 days to a higher court. Jadhav, who was tried by a military court, could also file a mercy petition with the Army Chief within 60 days of the decision by the appellate court. His last option was to file a mercy petition with the President of Pakistan within 90 days after the decision of the army chief. He said Jadhav's sentencing was based on "credible, specific evidence" proving his involvement in espionage and terrorist activities in Pakistan. Rejecting Indian contention that Jadhav was a retired naval commander, Aziz said that India had failed to provide any "credible explanation of why their naval commander was in Balochistan". Jadhav is said to have been arrested in a counter-intelligence operation in Balochistan's Mashkel area. Aziz said India's lack of cooperation and refusal to provide Pakistan legal assistance in the case were the reasons why consular access had not been provided to Jadhav. The adviser said Jadhav's "confessional statement" had been recorded before a magistrate and the proceedings were conducted under proper laws. A qualified legal officer was also provided to defend him in court proceedings, he said. The developments are likely to impact on the already strained diplomatic relations, which have steadily worsened over the past few months over the Kashmir issue and terror attacks, which India has blamed on Pakistan. Mahesh Bhatt has often been slammed for unearthing talent from Pakistan and giving it a platform in Indian filmdom. But the filmmaker, who has worked with artistes like Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Sara Loren from across the border, believes there is no glory in war. He says problems, including betweern India and Pakistan, should be solved through peaceful means without firing a bullet. Be it a warning by a regional political party in the wake of the Uri attack in India last year or criticism from members of the film fraternity, Bhatt has been targeted for working with artistes from Pakistan despite India's strained bilateral ties with the nation. Talking about such attacks on him, Bhatt told media in an interview: "We are on the brink of doom. We need to pause and realise that there is no glory in war. There is glory in peace. "Those who see glory in war must go to the soldiers whom they pretend to worship... or even to their families, and ask them what they think of war. After awards are given to them and they get five minutes of focus in the media, they have a life ahead of it." He stressed on the fact that human history, which is "soaked with blood", has painfully realised that there is no glory in war. "We should solve problems through dialogues and peaceful means, without a bullet being fired. This is my position on the issue of India-Pakistan or for other neighbouring countries." He knows that when the winds of hatred blow, the talk of peace will be laughed at. Irrespective of that, he is willing to extend the hand of friendship. Doesn't he fear for his life? "Everything has a price tag. If you take a position, you have to be able to face the consequences. When winds of so-called 'peace' blow, then everybody talks about the joy of co-existence, etc. But it is in the darkest night that you need to light a candle," said the "Saaransh" helmer. As of now, he is extremely proud of his latest production "Begum Jaan", set against the backdrop of India's Partition in 1947. Though the Indian audience can catch the film, which hit the screens on Friday, the same can't be said about moviebuffs in Pakistan. "I wish they (Pakistan's censor board) had given my film a viewing and then taken this decision of not granting the permission to be screened in Pakistan," said Bhatt, who described the film as a "milestone" in his Vishesh Films banner's journey. Since it's such an important film to him, didn't he wish to direct it himself? "Srijit Mukherji (director of 'Begum Jaan') has an original voice. I would have been jealous had I been competing for this job," said Bhatt, who last directed the film "Kartoos" in 1999. "Begum Jaan" is the Hindi adaptation of Mukherji's hard-hitting 2015 Bengali movie "Rajkahini". While the director was retained for the Hindi project, why was actress Rituparna Sengupta replaced by Padma Shri awardee Vidya Balan? "The film (Hindi version) is completely different. The story moved away from the east to the west. We changed the milieu and the cultural space. It has a north Indian narrative. It has moved far beyond 'Rajkahini'," he clarified. Customer demand for new equipment is keeping production lines so busy at Stoughton Trailers that the company plans to hire 150 more employees to keep up. Ron Jake, marketing manager for the Stoughton-based designer and manufacturer of semitruck trailers, said Friday that recently secured large orders from new customers are behind the need for more workers. The company needs people for all of its operations from professional positions to crews to assemble trailers. He said hiring will be done gradually over the next several months. Weve grown 15 percent when you compare 2016 with 2015, and were on pace to grow another 15 percent in 2017, Jake said. STI Holdings and Stoughton Trailers, an operating subsidiary of STI, announced Thursday it had purchased 17 acres of vacant property across the street from its Brodhead production facility at 302 23rd St. Jake said the company had been renting the property since late 2015 to park finished new trailers awaiting customer pick up. He said the companys Brodhead facility is its highest-volume plant. If we get an order for 100 new trailers, it will go to Brodhead, Jake said. Between its three production plants and parts and leasing operations, the company employs about 1,700 people. Stoughtons other production plants are in Stoughton and Evansville. Jake said the decision to buy the property it had been renting in Brodhead made sense for the company to do it now. We want to control our own destiny when it came to that property and we see a need to have that space, Jake said. The company has no immediate plans to build on the space but will continue to use it to store finished products. The companys investment was welcome news to Brodhead Mayor Doug Pinnow. We are happy to see such a great business choose to invest and grow in our community, he said. Stoughton Trailers has about 450 employees in Brodhead. Jake said the company does not refurbish trailers; everything it produces is brand new. Earlier this year, the company opened a 15,000-square-foot expansion to its warehouse at 1112 Veterans Rd. in Stoughton for Stoughton Parts Sales. The expansion nearly doubled the existing warehouse space. A semitrailer hauls an assortment of cargo and travels millions of miles during the course of an eight- to 12-year life cycle, Jake said. Some businesses may try to use trailers longer, but each companys replacement strategy varies. Some older trailers get sold and are used for other things like long-term storage, Jake said. But to expect to get more than 12 years of use out of a trailer isnt unheard of. A two-day BJP National Executive meeting began in Bhubneswar on Saturday with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah. BJP National Executive members, party office-bearers and state unit chief will discuss the future strategy of the party at the meet, which began at 5 p.m. at Sant Kavi Bheem Bhoi Sabhagar at the Janata Maidan. BJP President Amit Shah is scheduled to address the participants during the day whereas Modi will deliver the address during the concluding session on Sunday. Party sources said 2019 Odisha assembly elections are likely to take the centre stage at the meeting, where political and economic resolutions would also be adopted. Modi, who landed at the state capital in the afternoon, held a roadshow from the airport to the Raj Bhavan, covering a distance of around 8 km. Earlier, Shah held a meeting with party office-bearers to set the meeting agenda. National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the by-poll to the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seat, that was marred by large-scale violence and very poor turnout on balloting day. The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister urged the central government to impose Governor's rule in the state, terming the election as the "bloodiest ever". Abdullah defeated the ruling Peoples Democratic Party's Nazir Ahmad Khan by 10,776 votes. Of the 89,865 votes cast, Farooq polled 48,555 while Khan polled 37,779. A total of 963 people voted for NOTA (none of the above), election officials said. The NC said it would not celebrate the victory because of the violence on polling day on April 9 in which eight civilians died in firing by security forces. Addressing reporters after his win, Abdullah urged the BJP-led central government to dismiss the ruling BJP-PDP alliance. "I request the Government of India and the President to dismiss the present government right away. Governor's rule should be imposed and elections conducted under Governor's rule," Farooq told the media. Thanking the people who supported him, he said: "This was the bloodiest election ever. I am not happy with the win. But results show that people are in favour of NC." In a statement issued by the party, spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu said, "We won't celebrate the victory in the by-poll in view of the deaths that occurred on balloting day." Voting for the parliamentary seat saw a record low turnout of 7 per cent on April 9. Re-polling was held on April 13 for 38 polling stations in Budgam district, that saw a mere 2 per cent balloting. There were nine candidates in the fray, but the main battle was between PDP's Khan and Abdullah. Abdullah, 79, a two-time Chief Minister, will be Lok Sabha member for the third time. He had lost the Srinagar constituency to PDP's Tariq Hameed Karra in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Karra's resignation from the party led to the seat getting vacant. The Telangana government on Saturday decided to hike the reservations for the socially and economically backward among Muslims to 12 per cent from the existing four per cent. The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The cabinet also decided to increase the quota for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) from the current seven per cent to 10 per cent, official sources said. Both the Houses of the state legislature will be meeting on Sunday for a special session to pass a bill for increasing the quantum of reservation for Muslims and STs in education and jobs. As this will take the overall reservations in the state beyond the prescribed limit of 50 per cent, the legislature will pass Telangana Reservation Bill and send it to the Centre with a request to include it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu. Chandrasekhar Rao said Telangana was following the model of Tamil Nadu, where the overall quota for different groups is 69 per cent. A criminal who had snatched a laptop was apprehended after a short exchange of fire on Friday, police said. The gunfight took place at 10.30 p.m. in Vaishali colony under Indirapuram police station and ensued after the police control room received a call from Satish, who reported that as he was walking home from the Vaishali metro station, two criminals snatched his bag containing a laptop and other office material and fled on a motorcycle. Acting swiftly, the Indirapuram police chased the criminals who were on a motorcycle without a number plate. Police asked them to stop but the criminals instead opened fire at them. Police then retaliated the firing and nabbed one of them near the Hindon canal as he was hit on the leg. The other succeeded in escaping. The injured criminal was taken to hospital where his condition was said to be out of danger. During questioning, he revealed his name as Chand Mohammad, a resident of Islam Nagar, and identified the other criminal as Shahrukh. Police recovered the bag of the victim and a home-made pistol from Mohammad's possession. Superintendent of Police, City, Salman Taj Patil said police are trying to ascertain if the two were part of a gang while attempts are being made to arrest the criminal who had fled. Narendra Modi ' title='Prime Minister Narendra Modi '>Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend World Yoga Day celebrations here on June 21, an official said on Saturday. At a meeting, Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar said as many as 50,000 people are likely to take part in the event and asked all concerned departments to make proper arrangements. The Uttar Pradesh government is looking for a venue that could accommodate such a large crowd and also ensure foolproof security for the VVIP influx, an official told media. The Secondary Education Department has been asked to ensure participation of at least 100 students. Preparations are also being made for the participation of senior citizens and 400-500 differently-abled children. Instructions have been issued to arrange for mineral water bottles, shoe bags, t-shirts and yoga mats. A rehearsal will also be held on June 18-19. An anonymous hacking group "Shadow Brokers" that leaked online a collection of powerful hacking tools allegedly used by the US National Security Agency (NSA) has also published another set of documents that indicate that NSA penetrated the SWIFT banking network in the Middle East. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardised and reliable environment. "This reportedly gave the US spy service a window into the financial activities of a range of organisations, including those belonging to firms in Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories," said a report in The Wired on Saturday. Meanwhile, EastNets Service Bureau, that provides outsourced SWIFT connectivity, on Saturday denied that its bureau was compromised and said that the reports of hack are "totally false and unfounded". "The reports of an alleged hacker-compromised EastNets Service Bureau (ENSB) network is totally false and unfounded. The EastNets Network internal Security Unit has run a complete check of its servers and found no hacker compromise or any vulnerabilities," the bureau said in a statement. "The EastNets Service Bureau runs on a separate secure network that cannot be accessed over the public networks. The photos shown on twitter, claiming compromised information, is about pages that are outdated and obsolete, generated on a low-level internal server that is retired since 2013," the statement added. EastNets is a Dubai-based firm that oversees payments in the global SWIFT transaction system for dozens of client banks and other firms, particularly in the Middle East. The "Shadow Brokers" is a group of anonymous hackers that published hacking tools used by the NSA last year. According to experts, the leaks, published by the Shadow Brokers, target a variety of Windows servers and Windows operating systems, including Windows 7 and Windows 8, CNN reported. "They may have been used to target a global banking system. One collection of 15 exploits contains at least four Windows hacks that researches have already been able to replicate," the experts were quoted as saying. "This is quite possibly the most damaging thing I've seen in the last several years," said Matthew Hickey, founder of security firm Hacker House. "This puts a powerful nation state-level attack tool in the hands of anyone who wants to download it to start targeting servers." Shadow Brokers did not provide a coherent explanation of why they chose to publish the Microsoft and SWIFT vulnerabilities. According to another report in Fortune, the group -- believed to be tied to the Russian government -- also released a set of confidential hacking tools used by US intelligence organisation the NSA to exploit software vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows software. The document dump -- which is mostly lines of computer code -- amounts to an emergency for Microsoft because the hacks consist of a variety of "zero-day exploits" that can serve to infiltrate Windows machines for purposes of espionage, vandalism, or document theft. A security executive who runs the Twitter account @HackerFantastic called the development a "Microsoft apocalypse." Other well-known figures in the security community also underscored the severity of the event for Microsoft. Christa Fisher opens a cabinet in her office and fills a cloth shopping bag with some of the supplies inside: Bibles, pencils, postage stamps, calendars; a few pairs of clean socks. She checks the walkie-talkie on her belt, picks up a stack of yellow request forms, and goes to work. She heads through a security door and down a barren corridor to a jail cellblock. Four men in blue jail-issued scrubs come to greet her through the bars, as a TV plays in the background. "Have you got a Daily Bread in there?," asks David Hill, 39, as Fisher looks through her shopping bag and hands him the devotional booklet he asked for on his yellow request form. Then, she leans forward and asks him how things are going. Fisher receives about 100 of these yellow sheets a week, filled with appeals for things such as reading glasses or simply the ear of a nonjudgmental listener. She is one of two chaplains at the Dane County Jail, called to serve inmates at a time of their lives filled with unknowns. Jail is a "depressing" place, she acknowledges. But every day, she finds joy in her work. Fisher, who works full-time, is charged with serving the spiritual needs of the 800 male inmates housed in the jail at any one time. Julia Weaver, who works part-time, serves the jail's female population of 60 to 100 inmates. Both chaplains also are called to serve the friends and families of those incarcerated, plus the jail staffers themselves. "When the chaplain comes, it just brightens my day," said Richard Brown, 23, during Fisher's visit to his cellblock. "You get a new reading or something. Seeing the chaplain keeps me up, keeps me lifted." Marking a big anniversary Fisher's and Weaver's salaries are paid by area churches through the Madison Area Jail Ministry, marking its 50th anniversary this year. The ministry was started in 1967 at the urging of then-Mayor Otto Festge as a program of the Madison Area Lutheran Council. In 2016 its name was changed to reflect the many congregations that now support it not only Lutheran, but United Church of Christ, Episcopal, Methodist and others across Dane County. The chaplain's office also coordinates visits by clergy from other faiths. The jail ministry runs a tutoring program staffed by volunteers, and provides for practical needs such as warm winter coats for people being released from jail in winter. "Incarceration is exceptionally complicated, and the people whom I serve are people, they are full human beings, with the full range of emotions and life experiences and joys and hopes and desires that all of us have," Fisher said. Much of her quest with them inside the jail is "How can we find purpose in this?," she said. "A lot of people come to me and say they believe God put them in jail: 'God has a reason I'm here. God put me here.' "Well, I'm not going to say they're wrong, because sometimes they convince me they're right," she said. "I would never say that God wants anyone to be locked in a cage I would never, ever say that. But sometimes they convince me, that this experience has saved their life." Beyond spiritual support In the jail, the chaplains occupy an office next door to the mental health staff. The high school education teachers' office and medical staff are located nearby. Along with holding weekly worship services and one-on-one spiritual counseling at the jail, both Fisher and Weaver also run support groups out of area churches for people just out of jail or in work-release programs and preparing to leave soon. The groups talk about deeper issues relationships, parenting and everyday logistics, such as getting transportation to a job. Some 16,000 men move through the Dane County Jail each year, landing there for a "wide spectrum" of reasons, Fisher said often related to addiction, drug and alcohol use, domestic violence or other issues. Weaver sees the results of sexual abuse and human trafficking in many of the women she ministers to, she said. And yet "there is so much caring that goes on," Weaver said. "There's hope every week...(in) the way the women take care of each other, and the staff as well." She recounts how recently, when a local woman who many of the inmates and jail staff knew well died of a drug overdose, the jail community rallied to grieve and give one another spiritual support. In Weaver's worship services, each female inmate is asked to say a prayer for another woman in the room, a ritual that creates intimacy and goodwill. Her weekly service last Thursday was designed to touch on Passover, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday all in one. "I appreciate what Chaplain Julia does," said Iisha Murphy, 36, after a worship service held in March. "It gives me a chance to come down here and meet other women, to hear their stories and know that I'm not alone." 'Transformation of men' The jail ministry plays a "significant" role in helping inmates re-join the community, said Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney. The vast majority of inmates are there for nonviolent crimes, and having a strong spiritual network in jail can help them maintain connections with the outside, he said. "I see transformation of men when they are in this circle of support," agreed Fisher, who said she often meets inmates who come from such a hard life she can hardly imagine it. "Sometimes I hear people's stories and I think, 'How can people even survive this?'" The chaplain's job, she said, is primarily to listen. "I listen to people tell their stories, to talk through their pain, their fears, their hopes, their doubts, their sorrow, their joys, their good news and their bad news," she said. A member of Lake Edge Lutheran who was ordained only last week on Palm Sunday, Fisher discovered jail ministry while doing her chaplaincy residency for seminary. She worked as a student alongside Weaver and took over the job of longtime jail chaplain John Mix after he retired. Weaver, ordained in the United Church of Christ and an artist when she is not working at the jail also runs the Backyard Mosaic Project, ongoing art workshops that give women with a history of incarceration a sense of community and a way to creatively express themselves. 'Fasting from drugs and crime' In the jail on a recent Thursday, things run a little behind schedule as Weaver waits for inmates to be brought in for her 2 p.m. worship service. It takes place in a dedicated room painted in colors of warm gold, draped with banners designed and woven by women in Weaver's "Tapestry Project" workshops. "I've been here 15 years, and I've known some of these women for 15 years," Weaver says. "They come back." A guard stops in to explain the delay: More women have asked to attend worship than the 18 the room is designed to hold. Jail personnel must sift through "keep separate" orders so they don't send in women who vehemently don't get along. "There are a lot of personal issues," Weaver explains after the guard leaves. Worship needs to be "a safe place." Eventually, the women arrive. They sit in a circle, dressed alike in blue prison-issue scrubs and rubber sandals. Weaver has set out boxes of tissues. Before she begins speaking, the door to the room is locked from the outside. The worship is both revealing and cathartic, a roller-coaster ride of joy and sadness, regrets and hope. Weaver has been doing a weekly series about Lent. She begins with a reading from Exodus 17, then leads the women in song. The discussion turns to fasting. "Everyone here is fasting today from drugs or from crime," Shelby Koch points out in a group discussion. "I think one of the hardest things I've done is give up my lifestyle." The women talk about other sacrifices they've made in their lives. About trying to give up negative relationships. About the pain of being separated from their children. About the distress of yielding control, the control they crave and sometimes abuse, and having everything in their days regulated and defined by incarceration. The worship "is a chance to hear other stories and to see other people. A lot of people here have never had anybody believe in them," said Shanna Olson, 40, after the service and before being patted down and returned to her cell. "Chaplain Julia will listen to your stories," she said. "She'll meet with you one on one. It's an outlet for people not just about faith, but to have someone believe in you. To give you hope." Salina native to present nature photography seminar Nature photographers in the Great Plains area are gathering for a seminar and photography contest in McPherson this weekend. The company responsible for the mysterious foul odour which had been wafting through the air at the Vaitele Industrial Zone for several days has assured it is working to get rid of the smell. The stench from Samoa Coconut Cluster Limited has resulted in a number of complaints from residents and businesses to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The Sunday Samoan understands that the relevant authorities visited the area last week and ordered the company to fix it immediately. Contacted for a comment, Managing Director Edwin Tamasese, said they are working to fix the problem. Asked what is causing it, he said its the coconut water during production that is responsible for the stench. The problem with the water is that its full of enzymes and nutrients, he said, adding that its really good for fertilizers but it has a bad smell. We have increased our production probably about four times more than the normal and thats caused the overrun, Mr. Tamasese explained. And we dont have enough storage in our tanks here for all the coconut water. The Managing Director gave an illustration about the magnitude of the problem. A coconut contains about 200mils liquid, he said. Were doing 12,000 coconuts so thats by 200mils, so were looking at 24,000litres of liquid." The volume that we are doing now is beyond what we were expecting to do. The other problem is the popo masa (bad coconuts). So weve been loading that since yesterday and weve been finishing work at about 10 p.m. to try and deal with the issue." Yesterday we had a lot of cleaning and we cleared so many things from here, so that must be why the smell was worse. Coupled with the changes in the weather and the mud, Mr. Tamasese said it has been tough. We are working to get rid of the mud because thats another reason for the bad smell, he said. There wont be any smell after we get rid of it. Mr. Tamasese said the Ministry of Health, Samoa Water Authority and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment have contacted them about the complaints. He said they have been until Tuesday to sort out the issue. To speed up the work, the Managing Director said they have bought water tanks from Rotomould Samoa Limited to store all the coconut juice. So what were going to do is get a 2,000litres water tank from Rotomould, dig a septic tank hole and then store the water there and that wont be a problem anymore. Last week, businesses around the area contacted the Samoa Observer about the smell. One businessman said it was unhealthy and the fact that the smell has been in the air for several days should cause the government authorities to be concerned. We are inhaling this smell, he said. People will get sick from it and something needs to be done quickly. Chief Designer of ENARA, Enid Westerlund, is a woman of many talents. Her achievements in the fashion industry as the Founder of the Samoa Sinnet Fashion Show have made her one of the biggest new names in the industry. But she wasnt always the fashionista she is today. Ms. Westerlund also holds the title as one of the youngest female pilots to come out of Samoa. I never went to Fashion school, she said. I was an Air Transport specialist. I grew up on a farm in Samoa. I went to Massey University, so I was one of twenty five students out of 1,000 to be in the programme." There were two other Samoan girls with me. I have a hundred hours of flying experience. I thought that was my career flying from A to B and B to A. She took a year off and her Dad said to her Enid I think youre too smart and too bossy to be a pilot. Youre going to be bored flying from A to B. Youre just a driver. You should consider management. That she did. I went to Aviation Management and I graduated with that. I came home and worked for the Airport Authority. In 2011, after a stint as a Licensing Authority, Ms. Westerlund got the chance to study at the top Aviation school in Singapore for her post grad. A year later, she got another scholarship to go to London. Ms. Westerlund holds the title as the first Islander to do the Masters of Science in Air Transport Planning and Management. But she had other plans. After 2012, Ms. Westurlund became more and more vested in the fashion industry. Four years later, she would launch the Samoa Sinnet Fashion Show. When I started this show, there wasnt a show before of this caliber, she said. I was looking around and we have a lot of emerging designers." We have a lot of young entrepreneurial young people who want to break into business and they dont have stores. So this Show was mainly for the emerging designers. And she has come a long way. With her ENARA brand growing in leaps and bounds, she said she still has plenty to learn. For me as a designer, it was a learning experience for me. I think all Samoans are all creative." Look at the way we dress: colour. You can be a fashion designer whether you were trained to be or not. Being a designer its about taking risks an not being scared. Its about faith." I love working with young people and those who want help in the industry. Looking to the future, Ms. Westerlund said people like her need more support. We need to have the support of government, she said. We need to have formalized training for tailors, for sewing and fashion designing. A lot our people learn off each other." We only have a short term sewing course at N.U.S. but we dont have sewing courses in other places. Thats where we need to go if we really want Samoa to be on the map for manufacturing and fashion designing because the market is there." Look at all the other islands and how our eleis are being replicated and cut up and they make it as their own." Even Hollywood is looking at the Pacific as the source of inspiration. Look at how Moana is taking off. There is a lot of market for our young people. Easter and Passover, among the most important religious holidays for Christians and Jews, have long been a part of American life. A brief look at some of the related history and customs allows us to see the degree to which religion has influenced American politics and culture, as well as the influence of Americas tradition of religious tolerance and freedom embedded in the Bill of Rights on the religious practices of her citizens. The quiz below, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of these holidays as they have been observed in American history. 1. What prominent American religious leader said love was the most durable power in the world in an Easter sermon? (A) Lyman Beecher (B) Cotton Mather (C) Martin Luther King Jr. (D) A.C. Dixon 2. Who was the first president of the United States to have a Passover Seder in the White House? (A) George Washington (B) Barack Obama (C) George W. Bush (D) Franklin Delano Roosevelt 3. Which president was born on Easter weekend? (A) John F. Kennedy (B) James Monroe (C) Thomas Jefferson (D) Ulysses S. Grant 4. Which of the following occurred after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on Good Friday? (A) Jews sang mourning songs instead of Passover melodies. (B) Churches painted Easter lilies black. (C) Some compared Lincoln to Jesus Christ. (D) All of the above 5. Which president started the White House Easter egg roll? (A) George Washington (B) Rutherford B. Hayes (C) Theodore Roosevelt (D) Lyndon B. Johnson 6. Which well-known American poet referenced the Passover meal in a poem about the Touro Synagogue, the oldest Jewish place of worship in the United States? (A) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (B) William Cullen Bryant (C) James Russell Lowell (D) William Carlos Williams 7. Who started Easter sunrise services in the United States? (A) Presbyterians from Scotland in the 18th century (B) Moravians from Germany in the 18th century (C) Puritans from England in the 17th century (D) Catholics from Poland in the 19th century 8. Which city in the United States is known as the Easter city? (A) Rockport, Maine (B) St. Augustine, Florida (C) Old Salem, North Carolina (D) Gloucester, Massachusetts 9. What did Jewish merchant Aaron Lopez send to Newport, Rhode Island, to support the patriot cause during the Revolutionary War? (A) Gunpowder for muskets (B) A rabbi as chaplain to soldiers (C) Flour for the Seder matzot (D) Wax extracted from whale oil to make candles 10. Which famous African-American compared Passover to the Forth of July in a famous speech? (A) Martin Luther King Jr. (B) Frederick Douglass (C) Jackie Robinson (D) Booker T. Washington 11. Which biblical story connected to Easter or Passover gave inspiration to troops fighting for the Union in the Civil War? (A) Joseph being sold as a slave in Egypt. (B) Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. (C) Jesus celebrating the Last Supper. (D) Peter striking off the ear of the priests servant. David Tucker is a senior fellow and Ellen Tucker is publications editor at the Ashbrook Center. Together with Sarah Morgan Smith, they edited Religion in American History and Politics: 25 Core Documents. They wrote this for InsideSources.com. Samoa has launched a new National Summary Data Page (N.S.D.P) in implementing the recommendations of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-G.D.D.S). The N.S.D.P is a national data portal that serves as a one-stop vehicle for publishing essential macroeconomic data in both human and machine-readable formats. Samoa is the first country in the Asia and Pacific region to implement the e-G.D.D.S. The N.S.D.P is hosted by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (S.B.S) on its website, utilizing the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (S.D.M.X). A link to Samoas NSDP is available on the I.M.Fs Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board. Publication of essential macroeconomic data through the new N.S.D.P will provide national policy makers, a broad range of domestic and international stakeholders, including investors and rating agencies, with easy access to information that the I.M.Fs Executive Board has identified as critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies. Making this information simultaneously available to all users will bring greater data transparency. Samoas Minister of Statistics, Sili Epa Tuioti, noted: Samoa is committed to using the e-G.D.D.S to continue developing the national statistical system consistent with the best international practices." Samoas implementation of the e-G.D.D.S will also lead to the production and dissemination of more reliable and timely statistics. Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the I.M.Fs Statistics Department, welcomed this major milestone in the countrys statistical development. I congratulate Samoa for being the first country in the Asia and Pacific region to adopt the e-G.D.D.S National Summary Data Page." I am confident that Samoa will benefit from using the e-G.D.D.S as a framework for further development of its statistical system. Background The e-G.D.D.S was endorsed by the I.M.Fs Executive Board in May 2015 to support improved data transparency, encourage statistical development, and help create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance. The e-G.D.D.S supersedes the G.D.D.S, which was established in 1997. Some brought surfboards, some put on gas masks, others wore bathing suits and some donned yellow hazmat gear. All told, about 30 people gathered in downtown San Diego on Friday afternoon, demanding the 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste that sits on the coastline at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) get moved somewhere else. It is sheer insanity to have nuclear waste that is hot sitting in an earthquake zone, said Ariel Kerman, a psychologist from Del Mar. Advertisement Charles Langley, executive director at Public Watchdogs, said the demonstration that started on the steps of the Hall of Justice at San Diego Superior Court and then moved to Horton Plaza was not a protest but a display of sacred activism in the name of nuclear safety. The beach is the worst possible location for SONGS waste, Langley said. Even (putting it) in downtown LA is probably a better location than the beach. Protesters, some wearing wearing hazmat suits, stand outside San Diego Superior Courthouse to rally against nuclear waste disposal from the San Onofre Power Plant in San Diego, California, April 14, 2017. (SANDY HUFFAKER / Reuters Photo) About 8.4 million people live within a 50-mile area of SONGS. Fridays demonstration was originally scheduled to coincide with opening arguments in a lawsuit brought by activists looking to overturn a 2015 decision by the California Coastal Commission that approved plans by Southern California Edison, the operators of SONGS, to develop a storage facility inside the facilitys 84-acre site. But in a dramatic turn of events, last week Edison announced it would start negotiations aimed at moving the waste from SONGS to another location. We believe the parties in the case and many community leaders share a common goal to transfer San Onofres used nuclear fuel off-site as soon as reasonably possible, Edison executive Tom Palmisano said in a joint statement. We are hopeful that settlement discussions will permit the parties to reach a mutually agreeable solution. As part of a brief filed in court on April 7, attorneys asked for a two-month postponement to try to hammer out an agreement between Edison and representatives of Citizens Oversight, an East County-based civic group that filed the lawsuit. Im really limited in what I can say because of the settlement process, said Ray Lutz, national coordinator at Citizens Oversight. I dont know if I can be optimistic or not about how were going to proceed but I will say this: All indications from Southern California Edison are they want to solve the problem, so hopefully we can work together as a team. Where the 3.6 million pounds of spent fuel could end up is an open question. Citizens Oversight attorney Michael Aguirre has proposed moving the SONGS waste to the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona, located about 50 miles from Phoenix. Last year, Aguirre told the Union-Tribune that Palo Verde would be a logical destination since Edison has a 15.8 percent stake in the Arizona nuclear plant. Other potential sites include private facilities in West Texas and eastern New Mexico that have each filed applications with the federal government. Another option could include Yucca Mountain, the longstanding but suspended federal repository in Nevada that the Trump administration has considered resurrecting. But even if a deal is reached, other questions remain, such as whether a given state would accept spent fuel from SONGS and whether federal agencies such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversee nuclear issues, would insist on intervening. Gary Headrick, co-founder of San Clemente Green, an advocacy group that has long objected to leaving spent fuel at SONGS, acknowledged the potential for complications. Its really important we unite behind what independent experts tell us is the best way out, not just for ourselves but for wherever (the spent fuel is) going to, he said. Ian Cairns, a former surfing champion who lives in Laguna Beach and surfs at San Onofre, was one of Fridays speakers. Do we want a bookend of Fukushima here in Southern California? I say no, Cairns said. The 2,200-megawatt San Onofre nuclear plant has not produced electricity since January 2012 after a small amount of radiation leaked from just-installed replacement steam generators. SONGS is in the process of being decommissioned. Edison has estimated the cost of decommissioning at $4.4 billion and will take about 20 years to complete. Business rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski On April 7, Gov. Jerry Brown issued Executive Order B-40-17, formally ending the drought emergency, which can be read in its entirety at gov.ca.gov, the governors web site. The order is not only confirmation of good news for California, but also immediately changes the applicability of two important statutes in the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act. The Declaration of Drought Emergency was issued by Brown on Jan. 17, 2014, the culmination of several water conservation orders. Shortly after that declaration, the California Legislature swiftly passed emergency legislation, adding certain protections to the Davis-Stirling Act regarding water conservation. Civil Code 4735(c) prohibited associations from fining or assessing an owner who let their yard go brown by not watering it during a declared state of drought emergency. Now that the statewide emergency declaration is rescinded, the statewide prohibition against enforcing landscape maintenance obligations against owners who refused to water their yards also has ended. This section still may apply if a local jurisdiction (city or county) has its own declaration of drought emergency still in place, so managers and boards would be well advised to check with their local jurisdiction for any such local declaration. Advertisement Civil Code 4736 rendered unenforceable any requirement that an owner pressure wash the exterior of their home, so long as a statewide or local declaration of drought emergency is in place. Associations that require their residents to wash their exterior walls may again enforce that requirement, unless the local jurisdiction has its own declaration of drought emergency still in place. While these drought-related laws are no longer in force, not everything reverts back to how it was before the drought. Associations still are not allowed to penalize the installation of drought-tolerant landscaping, under Civil 4735(a)(1). Under Civil 4735(a)(2) associations may not ban artificial turf, even after the drought emergency has ended. Many association boards and managers may be misled by the end of the drought emergency, believing incorrectly that associations can now direct homeowners to remove the modifications made to landscaping in order to conserve water. However, per Civil Code 4735(e), owners who have installed water efficient landscaping measures cannot be required to remove them, even after the drought emergency. So, for example, associations may not force residents to remove artificial turf installed during the drought emergency. Furthermore, the right to install xeriscapes (low water-using plants) or artificial turf still is in place under Civil Code 4735(a). As Gov. Brown urged in his Executive Order, California residents should continue maintaining conservation as a way of life. Much of California is not naturally rich in fresh water resources, and wise property owners and associations will continue to be conservative with the use of water. Common interest development associations (aka HOAs) should have architectural rules in place already to make sure that xeriscapes or artificial turf yards are presentable and an asset to the community. Keeping the yards well-maintained and attractive is still a proper priority for boards and their managers and that priority is not inconsistent with water-wise measures. The emergency-related provisions of Civil Code Sections 4735 and 4736 were not removed from the law. Instead, they are presently inactive. The next time a state drought emergency is declared, the laws will again apply to California homeowners associations. Kelly G. Richardson, Esq. is a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and Managing Partner of Richardson Harman Ober PC, a law firm known for community association advice. Submit questions to KRichardson@RHOpc.com. Past columns at www.HOAHomefront.com. Andrew Kay, an early San Diego technology entrepreneur who founded Kaypro Corp. computers in the early 1980s, died last week in North County. He was 95. A relentlessly curious learner and inventor, Kay gained prominence not only as an early computer pioneer but also for his novel management techniques. He noticed that workers at the end of a production line those who could see the fruits of the labor were more productive than those at the beginning. So he broke the assembly line at one of his companies into teams. Psychologist Abraham Maslow who studied human motivation spent a summer with Kay observing his techniques. Advertisement Maslow later wrote a book on the topic and gave Kay credit for contributing to his theories. Kay had a very wide spectrum of interests, said longtime friend and fellow MIT engineering graduate Joe Marcello, 86. One thing that is taken lightly by many people but is very significant is his contribution to Maslows theory of management. That transformed the way American manufacturers ran their businesses in the 60s and 70s. Computer industry pioneer Andy Kay show here in a file photo at Kay Computers. Kay died Aug. 28 at the age of 95. ( / U-T File Photo) The son of Russian immigrants, Kay grew up in New Jersey and graduated from MIT in 1940 with an engineering degree. He came to California to work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena before moving to San Diego County in 1949 to join Bill Jack Scientific Engineering. In 1952, he invented the digital volt meter to precisely measure electrical current. A year later he founded Non-Linear Systems to make the devices, which were first sold to the military and then later sold to commercial customers. I think he was one of the founders of digital technology because the digital volt meter was the first device that actually read out in electronic digits, said his son, David Kay. He had a long run building those instruments, from 1952 until Kaypro. Kay got into the computer business when he saw that the machines on the market were not as complex as his digital volt meters. He ended up running one of the hottest companies in the computer business for a time. Founded in 1982, Kaypro Corp. made a portable computer. It battled rival Osborne Computer Corp which introduced its product a year earlier with a tiny 5-inch screen in the fledgling market for computers that people could take with them, precursors to todays laptops. Kaypro with the Kaypro II the first really commercially available version took that basic idea of a portable computer and put a 9-inch screen in it, said David Greelish, an Atlanta-based computer historian. That made it way more usable. So he borrowed a lot of the ideas of the Osborne, but I think he made a much better computer. It had a solid metal case. It was really rugged. Kaypro focused on selling to independent electronics stores and saw sales soar to $120 million in just two years. The company went public. By the mid-1980s, it was the third largest computer seller behind Apple and IBM, and Kaypro employed nearly 700 workers in Solana Beach. But Kaypro missed a key technology landmark when it was late to adopt Microsofts MS-DOS operating system, which became the de-facto industry standard. By 1990, Kaypro filed for bankruptcy. In a 2005 interview with U-T San Diego, Kay said he regretted that Kaypro investors lost money. He said that he lost much of his fortune when the companys stock collapsed. He invested millions of his own money trying to save the company. But when Kaypro failed, it wasnt in Kays nature to fret about it. He founded a new company, Kay Computers. Based in Solana Beach, the small company made specialized, rugged PCs for clients around San Diego. Kay led the firm into his 90s, coming into the office every day, making sales calls. He was very resilient, said David Kay. That is something I learned from him. Set your priorities. Dont look back. Just move forward. Take what happened and learn from it. Dont dwell on it. Kay Computers was active until 2010, when health problems forced Kay to give up the business. He was inducted into the Computer Museum of America Hall of Fame in 1998. He was an active member of the MIT Club of San Diego, and was well known in the regions technology circles. Outside of business, Kay served as a trustee on the San Dieguito School Board from 1955 to 1970. He also was a board member of the Johnson OConnor Research Foundation, which is involved in educational projects. Kay also was a founding member of the Del Mar Rotary Club. An open memorial service will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Rancho Santa Fe Village Church. Dont be fooled by her age or her not-so-smart flip phone. Eighty-five-year-old Betty Lou Luce is spurring a technology movement thats spreading from bridge clubs to retirement homes across Southern California. Thanks to a phone service called GoGoGrandparent, Luce is defying the stereotypes associated with older adults, using the same on-demand mobile apps as smartphone-savvy millennials and boomers. The Torrance resident takes Uber rides to and from Cocos Bakery and doctor appointments. She gets meals and groceries delivered by trendy, give-it-to-me-now apps such as Munchery, Postmates and Instacart. And, perhaps best of all, theres no app required. GoGoGrandparent, created by Luces 24-year-old grandson Justin Boogaard, is just a hotline. Justin Boogaard, 24, right, started GoGoGrandparent with his grandmother Betty Lou Luce, 85, left, in mind. Luces first trip using the service was to Cocos Bakery Restaurant. Rick Loomis, Los Angeles Times (Rick Loomis, Los Angeles Times) Luce, and now her social circle and their acquaintances, call a phone number and select from a simple menu of automated choices: Press 1 for an Uber ride, 2 for a return trip, 3 to order a meal, 4 to get groceries delivered and 5 for all other delivery options. GoGoGrandparent handles the rest. My grandma is the kingpin of Torrance and when she likes something, everybody hears about it, Boogaard said. Luces word-of-month referral system has thus far resulted in hundreds of users, around 10 percent of whom are in San Diego. GoGoGrandparent first got rolling at the beginning of the year. Now, the number of calls to the hotline is increasing by 20 percent every week. The nascent, self-funded company doesnt charge callers additional service fees, but it is starting to eke out revenue from affiliate relationships with Uber and other partners. The service uses a custom-built, automated system to manage all Uber ride requests. For now, everything else gets routed to a human operator who places orders on behalf of callers, who are, on average, around 85 years of age. Boogaard and his business partner, David Lung, are still toying with the right age-appropriate options to make sure their older clients can get what they want without too much hassle. Because ease of use is paramount. The Basics Phone number: (310) 400 - 5082 Website: Gogograndparent.com Services: Transportation by Uber; meals from Postmates, Seamless, Grubhub and Munchery; delivery from Amazon Fresh, Google Express and Instacart Cost: Free to call. Customers pay the same rates as offered by the transportation, meal and delivery providers. When I need (a ride), I just dial the telephone number and press 1, said Rose Iacono, 90, who recently relocated from her home in San Pedro to a retirement community in Long Beach. When Im ready to come home, I dial the number, and press 2 and they already know where I am. Its really an ideal situation for me .... Being without a car, its a nice alternative. GoGoGrandparent is a go-between, porting the convenience introduced by the burgeoning on-demand app realm (where anything you want is usually available in an hour or less) to seniors without smartphones who have no way to interface with handy new tools. Fully 70 percent of Americans ages 65 and older do not own a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center. Yet older adults, 78 percent of whom do have access to old-fashioned cell phones, can benefit from speedy delivery and ride services just as much, if not more so, than youngsters. Technology is really critical for older people, especially in terms of help and assistance, said Dilip Jeste, M.D., senior associate dean for healthy aging and senior care at the University of California, San Diego. The number of older people is increasing, but care is declining. That care can only be filled, in large part, by technology. Yet seniors are often overlooked by technology companies. Thats a mistake, Jeste said. And not just because there is a need for tools to assist the increasing population of elderly folks who prefer aging in place, or the practice of allowing people in their golden years to remain in their own homes, safely and independently. Theres a real financial incentive as well. Laurie Orlov, founder of the Aging in Place Technology Watch and a former analyst at Forrester Research, estimates that the senior tech market will become a $20 billion industry by 2020. Semico Research, meanwhile, forecasts that companies creating technologies that support the stay-at-home movement will generate more than $30 billion in revenue by 2017. Inspired by Luces real-life challenges, GoGoGrandparent can piggyback on the aging-in-place trend and help seniors remain self-sufficient while simultaneously saving them money on costlier care-taking services. Justin Boogaard lived with his grandmother for two years, and developed a unique bond that inspired his current company, GoGoGrandparent. Rick Loomis, Los Angeles Times (Rick Loomis, Los Angeles Times) Shortly after grandma lost her vision, she broke her leg, Boogaard said. I started looking into how expensive a caretaker would be (to help with groceries, odd jobs and transportation). The prices seemed unreasonable. Im totally a child of the 21st century. I would rather just (use an app) to pay for the groceries and pay the $6 delivery charge. But of course grandma doesnt have access to those things. Now she does. The University of California, Los Angeles class of 2011 graduate, reared in Chula Vista, is the quintessential 20-something serial inventor. Boogaard has bounced around from idea to idea for the bulk of his brief professional career. At one point, the repeat entrepreneur was spending his weekends on something far more superficial. That product, called Upmygame, helped users of the popular dating app, Tinder, stand out from the crowd by suggesting the most eye-catching photos and bios to use in their profiles. There was also a college-themed project called Bubbleboard and a contract job board named Hustle. His current business is seemingly a more worthwhile endeavor. But for all that GoGoGrandparent can do to support independent older adults, the service has at least one glaring shortcoming. GoGoGrandparent doesnt actually teach older adults how to use the Internet. It certainly doesnt train them to be self-sufficient with smartphones and tablets. These are far more pressing needs for seniors, Orlov said. After all, the Internet is replete with information and tools take the tech training program AARP TEK that can be used to better the lives of older adults. Its a great thing hes done in a fairly niche view of the need, she said. But he needs to carry it a step forward. Callers should be directed to Internet educational resources, Orlov suggested. Boogaard knows theres more to be done. After living with his grandmother for two years and witnessing the pros and cons of aging, he has found his best muse yet: Betty Lou Luce. Ive realized that I am the definition of a family boy who is making it work for him. Im just going to keep going with that, he said. There is so much opportunity in this space and there are not many people focusing on it. jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter:@jbruin In Vista, a slice of federal grant money helps run a shelter for homeless families. In Escondido, similar funds help feed shut-in seniors. In Oceanside, some of the cash goes toward after-school programs for children vulnerable to sliding into delinquency or dropping out of school. The federal money called Community Development Block Grants is channeled through cities, often to bolster local programs that serve moderate- to low-income residents. Several nonprofits that receive the funds now worry the grants will be eliminated under President Donald Trumps proposed budget, which calls for significant spending increases for the military and immigration enforcement, and deep cuts elsewhere including the block grants, which provide $3 billion annually to community programs across the country. Advertisement White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said recently that many of the programs that receive the funding arent effective, and that a better way to show compassion would be to save taxpayer money. At the Alliance for Regional Solutions an umbrella group that coordinates six North County homeless shelters, and gets block-grant money from several local cities leaders said the federal money has a direct and positive impact on people who need it most. CDBG funds are critical for safety services for the poorest of the poor, and those who frankly identify as middle class but live paycheck to paycheck, said Greg Anglea, executive director of the Alliance. When hardship happens, homelessness comes very quickly. The money, he said, changes and saves lives. Anglea said only 9 percent of the people served by winter shelters come back for more help the next year. Its not like we are serving the same people over and over, he said. Its that (new) people are falling into homelessness for the first time. Under federal rules that govern the grants, the money must go to benefit low- or moderate income people or communities, address blight or meet a particular urgent local need. Oceanside uses some of its funds to bolster educational experiences for kids which one city official called the most critical element to overcoming poverty. Without these proven programs, there is a strong likelihood of increased crime and youth delinquency, said Margery Pierce, director of the citys Neighborhood Services department. In Carlsbad, $600,000 that the city had amassed over more than a decade in community block grant money recently went to buy a 2,500-square-foot building to house the Carlsbad Service Center, where low-income residents get help from employment to social services. The services are provided by Interfaith Community Services and until the center opened earlier this month, the organization had been operating its Carlsbad site out of a trailer. In neighboring Vista, the city borrowed nearly $5.7 million in 1999 against future block grant funds to buy the properties that became Vista Village and the nearby Transit Center. The city used the grant money to pay back the loan; the final payment is this coming fiscal year. The amount of block-grant money local cities have been awarded has already been diminishing. Vista was awarded $743,000 through the program in the 2016-17 fiscal year and expects to get about $688,000 in 2017-17, if the program is not eliminated. Under federal rules, only 15 percent of the grant money can be funneled directly to service groups or nonprofits. In Vista, that 15 percent is roughly $103,000. In the next round of awards, the city is expected to dole out between $9,000 and $12,000 each to eight organizations, including the Vista Boys and Girls Club. It also might give $18,000 to Operation Hope, which provides a year-round shelter for homeless families. Last year, Vista gave Operation Hope $20,000 a small slice of the shelters $700,000 annual budget. But with the organization struggling to find money, even a loss of $18,000 or $20,000 is a hit they cant take, said Executive Director Kathleen Higgins. That was always a baseline income you could count on, Higgins said of the grant money. It isnt much, but it is something. When Trumps budget plan was unveiled, an uproar emerged over how the cuts might cripple the national Meals on Wheels organization, which delivers low-cost meals to home-bound seniors, many of whom are on a fixed income. Escondido is among the cities that uses community block grant money to fund Meals on Wheels. This year, the city gave the program $30,000. Escondido is also using the money to pay for new lighting in five residential neighborhoods and safety improvements at a preschool. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT After nearly 14 years patrolling a 350-square-mile section of San Diegos backcountry, California Highway Patrol Officer Anthony Florez knows just about every inch of every road in rural and semi-rural inland North County. Hes seen the quiet country roads grow increasingly crowded often with people heading to and from local Indian casinos and knows what can happen when cars take a curve too fast. Slowing things down is a big part of Florezs mission. The 41-year-old officer also knows many people on his beat by first name, and understands that respect returns respect. He said he treats anyone he pulls over, and anyone he interviews during accident and enforcement investigations, with professional courtesy and finds that they almost always respond the same way. Advertisement 1 / 19 California Highway Patrol officer Anthony Florez took care of some of his paperwork before heading to the field early Tuesday morning. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 19 California Highway Patrol officer Anthony Florez gassed his patrol car at a local gas station before hitting the road. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 19 CHP officer Anthony Florez shook hands with Angel Robles, the son of the gas station owner in Valley Center who wants to become a CHP officer. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 19 CHP officer Anthony Florez wrote a driver a ticket for speeding on Pala road, SR-76. She was going 70 in the 55mph zone. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 19 CHP officer Anthony Florez smiled as he chatted with a woman and her young daughter that he had just cited for speeding on SR-76 Tuesday morning. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 19 Officer Florez stopped to talk to Dusty Rhodes who was spraying invasive plants on the side of the road on SR-76. Florez just wanted to make sure he was being careful with the traffic so he wouldnt get hurt. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 19 SAN DIEGO, CA., April 12, 2017,- | Officer Florez took measurements from a crash earlier this month on East Grade road where a speeding car overturned. | California Highway Patrol officer Anthony Florez (cq) is assigned to the Pauma Valley substation where he patrols rural north county including Mount Palomar, Pauma Valley and other unincorporated areas of the northern backcountry. PHOTO/JOHN GIBBINS, Staff photographer, San Diego Union-Tribune) copyright 2017 (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 19 Officer Florez took measurements from a crash earlier this month on East Grade road where a speeding car overturned. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 19 Officer Florez marked a car parked on one of the turnouts on Palomar Mountain. He surmised that it was probably hikers, but they mark them anyways so they know how long they have been there. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 19 California Highway Patrol officer Anthony Florez drove down SR-76 while on patrol in the back coutnry of northern San Diego county. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 19 Officer Florez sorted out the paperwork from a vehicle an unlicensed driver gave him after he pulled her over for a dangerous pass over a double yellow line she had made on Valley Center road near Harrahs casino. She was cited and her car was impounded for 30 days. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 19 Officer Florez spoke to a woman who was unlicensed after he pulled her over for a dangerous pass over a double yellow line she had made on Valley Center road near Harrahs casino. She was cited and her car was impounded for 30 days. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 19 Officer Florez cited a woman for driving without a license, crossing and crossing a double yellow line. Her car was also impounded for 30 days. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 19 Some of officer Florezs tools of the the trade. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 19 Officer Florez waited for a tow truck to come and impound a car that an unlicensed driver was driving and also cited her for a dangerous pass over a double yellow line. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 16 / 19 Officer Florez waited for a tow truck to come and impound a car that an unlicensed driver was driving and also cited her for a dangerous pass over a double yellow line. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 17 / 19 Officer Florez waited for a tow truck to come and impound a car that an unlicensed driver was driving and also cited her for a dangerous pass over a double yellow line. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 18 / 19 Officer Florez turned an impounde car over to a tow truck driver for a 30-day impound after the unlicensed driver was caught driving dangerously and cited. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 19 / 19 Officer Florez called in information on an impounded car to the CHP dispatch center. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) I havent had to deal with angry people very often, Florez said Tuesday as a reporter tagged along on his patrol. Most of the time and Id like to attribute that to my demeanor Ill talk to people that Im dealing with just like Im talking to you right now, he said. Just because Im in a position of authority doesnt mean I have to talk (down) like that. At local restaurants, Florez will sometimes see people hes written up for speeding and theyll chat with him like a neighbor, he said. Its those kinds of moments accumulated over years that will be hard to leave behind when he transfers in August to a new beat in Temecula. Im going to miss the people out here, said Florez. There are also plenty of painful memories tied to the familiar landscape. Florez has been witness to the carnage of countless fatal accidents and hundreds, perhaps thousands of other collisions. This tree, said Florez, looking at a large oak adorned with a cross along Lake Wohlford Road in Valley Center just south of Woods Valley Road, I took that crash. He was reaching down to grab something out of the passenger side, drifted over, ran the stop sign and continued through and hit the tree. He had taken his seat belt off to reach down and grab whatever it was. Across the backcountry, there are make-shift memorials for other crash victims that hold similar significance for Florez, who is responsible for traffic enforcement in Valley Center, as well as everything north of state Route 76 to the county line, and east of Interstate 15 to East Grade Road near Palomar Mountain. Ive seen a lot of unfortunate accidents military personnel killed, kids killed, he said. Florez is one of five CHP officers who work out of a small station in Pauma Valley off Cole Grade Road that opened in September 2003 after tribal casinos and resorts began attracting a massive influx of travelers to the area. In 1999, state Route 76 and Valley Center Road averaged 3,000 daily vehicle trips; by 2003 that number had jumped to 10,000, and today it averages more than double that. A month after the station set up shop, wildfires erupted across the region, including the Paradise fire that swept through much of Florezs beat and killed two people. I remember thinking what have I got myself into? Florez recalled Tuesday. Four years later, in 2007, another series of massive fires would envelope much of San Diego Countys backcountry. Looking around at the brilliantly green brush covering the landscape the result of an exceptionally wet winter Florez said he cant appreciate the beauty without also thinking how combustible it will become when the brush dries out this fall. Traffic safety has been the stations primary mission, however. In the early days after station opened, officers wrote a ton of tickets because people in the area just werent use to speeding laws being enforced. Not as many tickets are issued now, Florez said. Residents know that the CHP is out there and watching. I dont care about writing the ticket, he said. My goal is to slow things down. Speed, he said, is responsible for most accidents. Curvy roads with limited sight lines need to be respected. Florez frequently talks to young drivers in schools and other settings. Some teen drivers have the mentality that if they dont wear a seat belt and get in an accident all they do is kill themselves. But I explain to them they arent just affecting themselves theyre affecting their families and friends, the community, he said. It goes a lot deeper than just them being killed. He said hes stopped teens who will mention they heard him speak in their class. Ill tell them I stopped you for speeding, so apparently you werent listening to what I had to say, he said. They almost always apologize. So did the Ranchita woman who was driving west on state Route 76 shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday when Florez clocked her doing 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. When he pulled her over, the woman apologized for going too fast and explained to her young daughter in the passenger seat that she had done something wrong and there are consequences that had to be faced. Florez said hell occasionally encounter a situation involving someone who clearly doesnt care about rules or about their own life or the lives of others. He hasnt been involved in many pursuits because the country roads are simply too dangerous to engage in lengthy chases. He said almost always the culprit can be identified, with help of the community, and will have to answer for what they did later. A lot of his time Tuesday was spent checking things out. A couple of cars parked legally off East Grade Road probably by hikers were quickly examined and yellow tagged. In a few days if the vehicles are still there he or other officers will realize something is amiss. At one point he stopped to talk to a heavily white bearded older man who was walking along Route 76 where there was no shoulder. Dusty Rhodes, 68, explained he was killing weeds along the highway. His 6-acre property at the base of Palomar Mountain includes land on both sides of the road. Kill the weeds now and there will be less fuel for a wildfire to consume later, he said. Florez thanked him and went on his way. Jim Bettencourt, the CHP spokesman in Oceanside, has worked for years with Florez and said his character and demeanor have always impressed his colleagues and the community. Hes somebody that no matter what type of situation, makes everybody feel comfortable, Bettencourt said. Hes one of those guys who always does a good job because he wants to help people. jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones Solana Beach is the latest California town to strike a deal with online vacation rental giant Airbnb allowing the company to automatically collect transient occupancy taxes from local bookings and forward that money to the city. Airbnb has similar contracts with about 17 counties and cities in the state, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Palm Desert and San Jose. Partnering with Airbnb is a way to level the playing field for property owners whove decided to list their homes as vacation rentals, said Solana Beach City Manager Greg Wade. Advertisement Until now, it has been up to property owners to collect the tax and turn it in with no real way to determine whether everyone was fully complying. One of the complaints we receive is that there are people out there who arent paying the TOT (transient occupancy tax), Wade said. Everyone should play by the same rules. Solana Beach approved its rules for short-term vacation rentals in 2003, and subjects the rentals to the same 13 percent transient occupancy tax it places on hotels and motels. In addition, property owners who rent out their units to vacationers are supposed to obtain special permits from the city. Airbnb reported 200 rentals in Solana Beach in 2016, but the city had only 198 active short-term vacation rental permits that year leading officials to conclude that at least two hosts, and probably more, were operating without permits. Though Airbnb is the largest online platform for vacation rentals, there are companies that offer similar services. Wade estimated there could be 250 to 300 short-term rental hosts in Solana Beach. In addition to permits, the citys ordinance requires vacation rental hosts pay the TOT, post placards with contact information, rent for at least seven days, and comply with other regulations. The city uses its two code compliance officers to enforce the rules, relying largely on complaints to reveal any problems. The city collected $371,400 in TOT from short-term vacation rentals in fiscal 2015-16, a staff report states. Airbnb charges no fee for collecting the tax. Were not just trying to get more money, Wade said of the deal, although the citys revenue is expected to increase under the contract. The greater goal is to make the process more fair for everyone, he said. Short-term vacation rentals have skyrocketed with the success of online services such as Airbnb, VRBO, Craigslist and others. However, in many resort towns they thrived before that using newspaper ads, bulletin boards and even word of mouth. A typical host in Solana Beach now earns $8,300 annually from rentals, the report states. Guests stay an average of 5.2 nights per visit, and a total of 37 nights per year. Airbnb reports 88 percent of Solana Beach hosts rent their entire home, and 12 percent rent a portion of the private space in their home. Los Angeles leads California in the short-term vacation rental business, with 1 million guest arrivals reported in 2016. San Diego is third on the list with 357,500 guests, behind San Francisco with 444,000. South Lake Tahoe, a tiny town in the High Sierra, is fourth with 131,000 arrivals last year. The rapid growth of short-term vacation rentals has made them a controversial issue in some communities, where long-time residents of older, quiet neighborhoods say the rapid turnover of visitors brings problems with noise, trash and petty crime. Last year the small coastal community of Del Mar placed a moratorium on new short-term rentals until it can prepare a city ordinance to regulate the activity. Short-term rentals have always been the rule, Ivo Feierabend, a Del Mar resident since the 1960s, told the City Council last month. He asked for the rentals to continue, saying coastal homes are costly and many residents depend on the income from vacation rentals. The San Diego City Council has struggled for at least two years to agree on regulations for the growing home-sharing business. Last fall it rejected a proposed ban on the rentals in neighborhoods dominated by single-family homes, but the issue is expected to come up again before the year is out. philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @phildiehl As a member of the Navy SEALs, Chief Special Warfare Officer Joseph John Schmidt III, 42, boasts a chest of ribbons and medals during his 23 years in the military, including a valor citation for combat overseas. To his neighbors and shipmates, hes been the married father who has given pep talks to special-needs children in Los Angeles and toured the country recruiting for the elite Naval Special Warfare teams, even serving as the face of the SEAL program on its website. Schmidt is also Jay Voom, the actor in at least 29 porn flicks during the past seven years, from Apple Smashing Lap Dance to Strippers Come Home Horny From the Club. He has spent most of his time in front of the camera engaging in sex with his wife porn megastar Jewels Jade for her website and film-distribution service. But he also has coupled with XXX actresses Mena Li and Ashden Wells, according to marketing materials found by The San Diego Union-Tribune and confirmed by Jade. Advertisement Schmidt declined to comment for this story. The Coronado, Calif.,-based Naval Special Warfare Command has launched an investigation, and a commissioned officer has been assigned to handle the case. Major questions include whether Schmidt violated rules mandating that SEALs obtain advance approval from their commanders for outside work and whether the SEAL brass has been quietly condoning his film work. The investigation began only eight months before Schmidt had planned to retire, and disciplinary action could affect his rank and pension benefits. We have initiated a formal investigation into these allegations. There are very clear regulations which govern outside employment by (Naval Special Warfare) personnel as well as prohibitions on behavior that is discrediting to the service, said Capt. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the SEALs. In an interview this week, Schmidts wife of 15 years claimed that many high-ranking SEALs have long known about her husbands movies and seemed to tolerate his moonlighting. For example, she said, she was invited to the commandos Coronado campus to sign autographs for troops after she was named a 2011 Penthouse Pet of the Month. Navy officials said Schmidt did not fill out mandatory paperwork to seek clearance from his chain of command for work as a porn actor. The command did grant formal permission for Schmidt to sell herbal supplements as a side business. The armed forces rules for secondary employment have the force of a punitive instruction, which means violators can be tried under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for lack of compliance. The military has a long history of punishing active-duty service members and even veterans who do everything from writing unauthorized memoirs, to taking side jobs without permission, to engaging in work seen as detrimental to the militarys reputation. Like other military branches, the Navy bans activities that prejudice good order and discipline or that is service discrediting, risk potential press or public relations coverage or create an improper appearance. For instance: After she posed nude in a 2007 Playboy magazine spread, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Michelle Manhart received a formal reprimand, was removed from her position as a training instructor and was demoted. During a 1980 probe of seven servicewomen who appeared naked in Playboy, investigators also discovered that a male Marine major had posed in Playgirl. The armed forces punished the women with involuntarily discharges and gave the major a formal reprimand, allowing him to remain in the service. SEALs also are barred from employment that discloses secret tactics and techniques, markets the SEALs active-duty status or involves a contractor doing business with the U.S. Department of Defense. Many high-profile SEAL misconduct cases have fallen into these categories. In 2012, for example, the Navy formally reprimanded members of SEAL Team Six for helping Electronic Arts design the video game Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Similar non-disclosure rules extend into a SEALs retired years. In 2014, former SEAL Matt Bissonnette was forced to repay the federal government $4.5 million for writing an unauthorized, first-hand account of the slaying of terrorism mastermind Osama bin Laden. Paying the bills Schmidts unlikely entry into the skin trade turns on a very different kind of moonlighting gig he took while serving as a SEAL in Virginia. He and his wife founded the Norfolk-based real estate company Schmidt and Wolf Associates in 2005, according to Virginia state documents. Within two years, losses at multiple rental properties created nearly $1.8 million in personal debt, according to the couples Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. Three properties had both first and second mortgages, and bankruptcy records show the pair had resorted to using credit cards to finance loan repayments. Schmidts Navy pay was less than $60,000 per year at the time, according to the federal filing. Jade appeared in dozens of porn films after her 2001 debut in Escape to Sex Island, but she had left the industry by 2003 to become a wife and mother, attend school for her nursing degree and run the real estate firm. Once youre recognized and you build a brand and youve got your fans who know who you are, when you go to try to find a job, you cant get another job. Jewels Jade, porn actress and wife of Navy SEAL As business losses deepened, she became a stripper to make ends meet, logging long weeks in Las Vegas and sending money home. Then she reluctantly returned to making sex films for the cash, she said. Its helped our family. It got us out of a lot of financial issues we were going through, Jade said. I could take care of the child. I could try to get us out of financial debt. When the family rotated to Southern California in early 2009 for her husbands military service, she stayed in the porn business. Jade said it wasnt by choice. She discovered that once a woman becomes a name in the porn video and Internet trade, with millions of fans worldwide, shes spotted nearly everywhere she goes. Once youre recognized and you build a brand and youve got your fans who know who you are, when you go to try to find a job, you cant get another job, she said. Jade said she tried to get a management job at a luxury hotel in San Diego last year. Before she finished her employment interview, a fan recognized her, the gossip quickly spread through that office and she realized she couldnt work there. Shes currently ranked 79th globally for brand recognition by FreeOnes, a website often used by porn directors to book stars based on their popularity. To maintain that level of stardom in the industry, she said actresses need certain side ventures to lend credibility to their personal brand and to give fans a way to follow their careers. So she launched a website and a pair of online film-distribution lines she said are loss-leaders, driving Internet traffic but rarely turning a profit. To reduce the cost of running these side businesses, she and other porn actors rely on content trade donating time to one anothers self-made films. To further cut expenses, Jade said she recruited her husband to help out as an unpaid performer. She alleges that many of his fellow SEALs watched the videos online. They knew about it at work, Jade said. He got called in and they said, Look, keep it on the low, dont mention the SEAL name and blah, blah, blah. He was always pretty open about it with the command. I mean, honestly, all of his buddies knew about it. Everybody knew about it, she said. Military hypocrisy? Although some past and present SEALs have sought to turn their battlefield valor into profit, Jade insisted that she and her husband never asked anyone to alert the media about his porn moonlighting. Other retired SEALs have turned to politics or business to earn a buck or make a name tied to the elite services reputation, but she said that is impossible for her husband in the porn trade. Hes too old, Jade said. Im sorry, but no. Youre never going to be able to contract for a number of different reasons, but mostly because hes too old. The older guys who are still barely running in the industry got in when they were 20, built a huge name and are still kind of filming grandpa porn. While Jade has alluded to an unnamed husband whos a SEAL in several interviews and on social media, the Union-Tribune has found no reason to suspect that she or Schmidt ever used his military career to market their films or herbal products. He has helped to promote her work, however. In a 2013 appearance with Jade on the Dr. Susan Block TV show, he spun on a stripper pole while wearing a Santa hat. The marketing for the Internet event played on current events, including the late 2012 massacre of schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and Americas ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. America treats sex, not violence, as the biggest threat to families and the nation, the ad reads. As long as we do that, we can expect more massacres, at home and abroad. As long as we sanction invasions, executions and drone strikes that kill children while humiliating a decorated general not for bombing innocents but for having an affair, why should we be surprised when one of our troubled young men picks up a few of his moms prized military-style guns and mass-murders a bunch of kids on his own? Jade said she and her husband never saw the ad and were shocked when it was shown to them. She said they would never endorse any statement against the military or the nations war policies or inject her husband into political causes. To Jade, the newly announced investigation into her husbands porn work exposes the hypocrisy of a military she believes is addicted to porn. She said military fans once sent her a photo of their armored vehicle in Iraq decorated with her name on it misspelled thanking her for helping them stay motivated through their combat deployment. Jade also claimed that when she was summoned to SEAL headquarters to sign autographs as a Penthouse Pet, she recognized local strippers there giving buzz cuts to recruits. And when her husband was a rookie SEAL, superiors tasked him with toting the units porn cache on a deployment. Its very ironic, she said. Very hypocritical. The Navy hasnt set a deadline for when the investigation is expected to wrap up. cprine@sduniontribune.com An estimated 200 million eggs will be purchased for Easter celebrations in the United States this year. As a project for the American Egg Board (the incredible edible egg folks), HGTV interior designer Sabrina Soto is offering egg decorating tips. Eggs are like a blank canvas the decorating possibilities are endless, and you dont have to stick to a standard store-bought kit, says Soto. In addition to dyeing eggs in beautiful colors, dress them up with items already sitting in your kitchen or closet, like scraps of ribbon, buttons, glitter or even confetti. Before you get started, though, theres a bit of preparation required. Start with clean, cool, hard-boiled eggs. Make sure everyone washes their hands in hot, soapy water before and after handling eggs. This protects the eggshell from any oils on hands that may prevent dye from adhering. Make use of accessories like an egg dipper, which can be found in egg coloring kits, to hold onto the eggs while coloring them. This accessory helps little hands dip it into the dye securely. A pencil eraser dipped in acrylic paint makes perfect polka dots. Here are a few more ideas from Soto to get your egg decorating work started: Experiment: When using an egg coloring kit, vary the color of egg dye by adding different ingredients to the color tablet. For ultra-vibrant colored eggs, add vinegar. Looking for more traditional colored eggs? Use lemon juice. To embrace the pastel colors of spring, just use water. Perfect polka: Use the eraser end of a pencil to paint perfect polka dots on the egg. Just dip the eraser into acrylic craft paint and dab onto the egg. Make different patterns and use different colors to create designs. Tattoo decor: Kids often have temporary tattoos lying around. Apply those same tattoos to eggs for a professional and easy look that kids will love. Sabrina Soto offers creative ideas for Easter decorations. Ribbon wrap: Tie a pretty ribbon around a dyed egg. Mix colors and patterns for fun visual interest. Adorn with craft or fabric flowers, or even buttons. For a more rustic look, use natural fibers such as hemp or twine with dried flowers in place of the ribbons. Doodle designs: Eggs dont have to be dyed to look special. Get a thin Sharpie marker and doodle away. Create designs and patterns around the egg. Paisley and flowers are simple to make. Start with a leaf or a daisy shape and keep building off that design until the egg is fully decorated! Visit the Incredible Egg on Pinterest.com for more ideas and showcase your unique egg design in the Easter Eggs-travaganza Sweepstakes. The grand prize winner will receive a gift card valued at $1,000. Joshua Waring, the son of former Real Housewives of Orange County star Lauri Peterson, did not have gunshot residue on his hands or clothing after his arrest in connection with an attempted murder, according to an analysis performed by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. Forensic experts cautioned against drawing the conclusion that the analysis supported Warings claim that the results could exonerate him. Waring, 28, has been in an Orange County jail for 10 months in connection with a drive-by shooting in June that left a man severely injured. Advertisement Waring said during a jailhouse interview last week that the results of the residue test performed to help determine whether a suspect had recently fired a gun could clear him. Waring received the results Monday. However, Debra Gibson, acting chief of forensics laboratories for the Los Angeles County coroners office, wrote in the report that the findings were inconclusive. Michael Martinez, a forensic scientist supervisor at the Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory in Texas, said Thursday that gunshot residue is nothing more than an investigatory tool. Getting an exoneration because gunshot residue cant be found is a huge leap, Martinez said in a phone interview. The Orange County district attorneys office declined to comment about the results. According to experts, there are a variety of reasons that residue might not be found on a persons hands even if he or she had fired a gun. The person could have been wearing gloves, washed or wiped his or her hands or otherwise caused the particles to become dislodged, according to the report and Martinez. The type and caliber of the gun used can play a role in how much residue is left behind, Martinez said, as can the amount of time between the shooting and when the sample was collected. Martinez said the ideal window for collecting gunshot residue is within four to six hours after a gun is fired. That doesnt mean we cant find any after six hours, Martinez said. It just means thats the window where its most likely to be found. Waring was arrested about eight hours after the shooting. Authorities have alleged that he showed up at a Costa Mesa house in a BMW around 2:30 a.m. June 20 and fired shots at three people outside. One man was injured. An Orange County Sheriffs Department helicopter crew located the BMW, and police followed it through Santa Ana before it crashed into another vehicle, authorities said. Santa Ana police said in court that Waring ran and hid in the restroom of a nearby business before surrendering to officers. During a preliminary hearing last year, Waring told Orange County Superior Court Judge W. Michael Hayes that he fled from police because he was heading to pick up drugs. Waring faces three counts of attempted murder, one count of unlawfully discharging a firearm at an inhabited dwelling, three counts of assault with a firearm, one count of vehicle theft, one count of shooting at another person from a motor vehicle and one count of evading police while driving recklessly, all felonies. He also faces misdemeanor charges of battery, resisting an officer, and hit-and-run with property damage, along with possible sentencing enhancements on allegations of personal use of a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury. If hes convicted at trial, Waring could be sentenced to life in prison. He is due back in court for a pretrial hearing June 14. hannah.fry@latimes.com Fry writes for Times Community News Robert W. Taylor, one of the most important figures in the creation of the modern computer and the Internet, has died. He was 85. According to his son Kurt Taylor, the scientist died Thursday at his home in Woodside. He suffered from Parkinsons disease and other ailments. Taylors name was not known to the public, but it was a byword in computer science and networking, where he was a key innovator who transformed the world of technology. Advertisement Taylor was a Pentagon researcher in the 1960s when he launched Arpanet, which evolved into what we know today as the Internet. Later, he moved to Xeroxs legendary Palo Alto Research Center, where he oversaw the engineering team responsible for such inventions as the personal computer, Ethernet and the visual computer display. Taylor pushed for his projects with outspoken, uncompromising vision. Along the way, he fought his share of bureaucratic battles. The adopted son of a Methodist minister and his wife landed at the Pentagon in the mid-1960s after a stint with NASA. He worked at the Advanced Projects Research Agency, or ARPA, and was responsible for a project devoted to interactive computing. With millions of dollars at his disposal, Taylor funded nascent computer-science programs at institutions around the country MIT, UCLA, Stanford, the universities of Utah and Illinois. He nurtured the youngest, most talented scientists he could find. But it irked him to have to deal with their myriad incompatible computer systems. He demanded a system that would allow them to communicate with each other and secured the funding to get the concept off the ground. He then oversaw the construction of a network that seamlessly connected numerous research computers nationwide. Taylor foresaw that this network would one day not only be an administrative tool, but a necessary utility for the public. In a 1968 paper he co-wrote, Taylor stated: In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face. He predicted that the network would provide services people would come to rely on, such as investment advice, and others that you would call for when you need them, like dictionaries and encyclopedias. In 1970, Taylor moved to the Xerox Corp. after ARPA moved away from basic research and become more devoted to Vietnam War needs. There, the native of Texas became intrigued by Xeroxs research on the West Coast to develop technologies for the paperless or digital office. Taylor assembled an impressive team of computer designers, in part by raiding the academic programs he had funded at ARPA. Computers of that era were room-sized machines that worked on a time-sharing basis every user competed for time on the machine to run his or her own programs. Taylors concept, and those of the scientists he brought in, was that the computer should be a personal device with a high-quality display. Under his guidance, scientists Alan Kay, Butler Lampson and Chuck Thacker designed and built the first personal computer, the Alto. It was equipped with a screen about the size and shape of a paper page, and in time it sported a graphical display that eventually would become familiar via its offspring, Microsoft Windows and Apples Macintosh screens. The Alto was a genuinely personal device every PARC computer scientist had his or her own. It began to have the electronic power to fulfill Kays dream of a computer that could not only perform calculations, but advance human creativity. Taylors lab also developed Ethernet and a what-you-see-is-what-you-get word-processing program called Bravo which, after its developer, Charles Simonyi, moved to Microsoft, evolved into Microsoft Word. Taylors greatest achievement may have been creating an environment that allowed his diverse, brilliant engineers and scientists to work together. He nurtured their talents and teamwork while fending off more mundane corporate demands. In addition to Kurt, Taylor is survived by two other sons, Erik and Derek, and three grandchildren. esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com @LATBermudez ALSO A new boss ponders the past and future of the fabled Xerox PARC To compete with Silicon Valley for engineers, aerospace firms start recruitment in pre-kindergarten Man who claims to have invented email has filed a lawsuit that could put one news website out of business UPDATES: 10:40 p.m.: This article was updated with more information on Taylors life and career. This article was originally published at 9:35 p.m. Calling her behavior outrageously reckless, a judge on Friday sentenced a young woman to six years in prison for chasing a motorcyclist on two San Diego County freeways and causing the crash that killed him. Darla Renee Jackson, 27, of Imperial Beach sobbed in the courtroom as she heard her punishment, stemming from the 2015 death of Zacharias Buob, a 39-year-old Navy chief petty officer. As Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney ordered the sentence, Jackson lowered her head on the table in front of her, repeating the word, No. Advertisement Jackson pleaded guilty in January to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the incident, which prosecutors have said was sparked by road rage. Buob died following a collision that occurred after he and Jackson got into an altercation on May 28, 2015. Both had been driving north on Interstate 5 near E Street in Chula Vista, then onto Highway 54. Jackson, who was driving a Nissan Altima, pursued Buob at speeds reaching up to 90 mph and crashed into his motorcycle when the traffic slowed in front of them. Buob was thrown to the ground. She ran over him as she swerved her car to avoid the fallen motorcycle. Buob died later at a hospital. Whatever the purpose, she chased. She sped. She followed too closely. and she hunted him down, Deputy District Atty. Laura Evans said during the sentencing hearing. Oh, my God. Oh, my God, no! Jackson said moments before sheriffs deputies led her out of the courtroom. Littlefield writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO Hes saying the meanest things: Family whose dog went missing could be the target of a scammer No gunshot residue found on son of former Real Housewives star charged with attempted murder Decorated Navy SEAL is moonlighting as a porn star A local lawyer mentioned to me in an interview roughly a decade ago that street gangs that once trafficked primarily in drugs had found a new product to push. She used a quote that cant be repeated in full here, but it has stuck in my memory. In essence, she said that although gangs were still dealing drugs all over San Diego County, many had found pimping young women and girls to be more lucrative. But she put it more bluntly: (Prostitution) is the new crack. Advertisement Since then, many local and state politicians seem to have gotten the message. Describing human trafficking as a form of modern-day slavery, those same politicians have called upon the news media to spread the word about the problem in California, where girls as young as 12 have been made to sell their bodies. According to the FBI, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco are among the top 13 U.S. cities where sex trafficking is big business. Human trafficking, which is both a state and federal crime, can also involve people who are exploited for labor services. Politicians, police and prosecutors have also called upon the public to look for warning signs that a woman, man or child may be a victim and in need of help. (For the record, there are adults who say they are not victims and that they made the choice to do sex work of their own volition. But thats another story.) And theres been a big push to change state law in regard to human trafficking in a way that reduces both supply and demand. Republican Assemblyman Brian Maienschein held a news conference in San Diego Wednesday to push his bill, the Commercial Child Rape Prevention Act, which aims to give governments tools they can use to target sex trafficking in civil court as a criminal enterprise. This would mean that district attorneys, attorney generals, some city attorneys and the victims would be able to sue the perpetrators, hitting them where it might hurt the most their profits. State Sen. Toni Atkins, a San Diego Democrat, has two bills pending in the Legislature related to human trafficking. One, if passed, would allow prosecutors in criminal trials to introduce evidence of past illegal acts specifically, sex trafficking, pimping and pandering that would typically be excluded at trial. Atkins has said evidence of past criminal acts is permissible at trial for sexual offenses and domestic violence crimes. A second bill would help train employees at hotels and motels, which the crime networks rely upon to carry out their operations, to identify human-trafficking cases and report them to police. Atkins notes that the airline industry, including the San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport, has been training employees in this since 2012. Each of the bills is set for a hearing later this month. All this talk about human trafficking has led to a relatively recent shift in focus among lawmakers and law enforcement toward treating people forced into sex or labor as victims, rather than criminals, and going after the pimps and johns instead. Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last year several bills related to this subject, including one from Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles. The bill made laws related to prostitution and loitering with the intent to commit prostitution inapplicable to people under the age of 18. In September, the governor also signed a bill by Sen. Bill Monning, a Carmel Democrat, that did away with mandatory minimum jail terms that had been imposed for some acts of prostitution. That same month, Brown signed a bill from Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat, that allows victims of human trafficking who are charged with crimes to present an affirmative defense in court by arguing they were coerced to commit the offenses and feared they would be harmed if they didnt comply. Experts say many victims are runaways, who were abused at home. I came from a background of severe abuse. I didnt have a good foundation. I didnt know who I was or how valuable I was, said Tiffany Mester, 28, who appeared with other child advocates at Maienscheins news conference. Mester said she was trafficked locally by an older man starting when she was 14. It ended at age 16, when the pimp was arrested and she was sent to Juvenile Hall. She now works with the Hidden Treasures Foundation, which works to rescue and restore women and children victimized by sex slavery. dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @danalittlefield Students from Ramona High Schools Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps toured the FAAs massive Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control Facility adjacent to the Marine Corps Air Base at Miramar on March 30. The special behind-the-scenes tour of one of the busiest air traffic control facilities in the world resulted in a great deal of learning about careers within the aerospace field, noted U.S. Navy Cmdr. Bradley Davis, senior naval science instructor at Ramona High. One of the first artists to paint in Chicano Park has finished a new mural, one depicting the plight of migrant workers and denouncing President Donald Trumps planned border wall. Salvador Sal Barajas was part of a group of artists who painted the Historical Mural in the park in 1973 that features the leaders and history of the Chicano movement. While Barajas also worked on a restoration project for the parks many murals several years ago, the new mural is the first time Barajas has put up his own work in the park since 1973. 1 / 9 San Diego muralist Salvador Barajas with his latest mural. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 9 Salvador Barajas hopes his mural sparks conversation about the immigration theme it portrays. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 9 Some people call it Un-American. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 9 The bottom part of the mural shows the allure of what waits on the other side of the border. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 9 The very top shows a migrant worker being pulled at and exploited by powers on both sides of the border. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 9 The mural was painted on an unpainted section of the park. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 9 The mural reads from bottom to top. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 9 A detail of the bottom part of the mural. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 9 Whole vertical column with mural. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Advertisement Park enthusiasts are pleased with the new mural, on the south side of a pillar of the Coronado bridge. Many who support Trumps border wall are upset at the murals message. Barajass latest piece was commissioned almost a decade ago by Border Angels, a migrant rights group known for putting water in the desert to keep border crossers from dying of thirst. This year, the nonprofit group finally had enough funding to make the mural a reality, at a cost of about $10,000. The mural shows a worker sending money back to his family in Mexico while being strangled by two hands. One hand represents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is responsible for deporting people from the U.S. The other hand represents Mexican government officials, whose corruption makes it necessary for Mexicans to migrate for work, Barajas said. The bottom of the piece pays homage to Roberto Martinez and Micaela Saucedo, two activists who worked with Border Angels. A large cross toward the bottom reads, No Border Wall. Another one carries a Border Angels slogan, Love has no borders. The text No Border Wall was one of the last things added to the piece, Barajas said, though the overall message and image was largely the same as what was planned when Border Angels first commissioned the work. We are minorities, and minorities have been oppressed for so long, Barajas said in an interview at the park. We have to express our feelings. We have it in our DNA. Barajas was born in Mexico and sponsored by his father, who was living and working legally in the U.S., to move to San Diego when he was 17, he said. He talked about struggles with racial profiling, low wages and lack of resources that his community experienced as he came of age in Barrio Logan before joining the U.S. Air Force. When youre a minority, youre faced with realities like this all the time, Barajas said. Jesus Amaro, who lives in Mission Gorge, stood admiring the new mural at Chicano Park on Thursday while his daughter played on the playground. He brings her to Chicano Park often, he said, because he likes the community. Its great work, especially for the community around here, Amaro said when asked about the mural. Its a whole united message, everybody coming together and standing for everybodys rights. Join the discussion on Facebook All of the murals tell the stories about the history of the parks community, he said, and he was happy to see one added that reflected current events. Word of the mural has spread further than Chicano Park, and some dont welcome it. Patti Brasga, a Vista resident, received an email from a friend with a picture of the mural. These kinds of people and incendiary statements only serve to divide us and elevate the discord and hate, she said via email. Suellen Shea of Vista took issue with the imagery Barajas used. Shea hasnt seen the mural in person but has seen pictures of it, she said. The artist has talent, but, in my opinion, much of it is offensive and anti-American, especially the ICE agent choking the migrant worker, Shea said via email. American Citizens want safety & sovereignty (enforced borders) for our country. Nothing strange or racist about that Mexico does too. Several San Diegans who were bothered by the new mural, as well as other murals at the park, said they dont think public parks should have art with political messages. San Diego has many parks, wrote Carol Hamilton, an Imperial Beach resident who also received an email about the mural. Only one is splattered with garish posters and anti-American slurs Chicano Park. A national shrine? I dont think so. Its time to whitewash it and use it as a park and not for politics. Chicano Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in January. The Chicano Park Steering Committee, a nonprofit, is responsible for approving any murals or other additions to the park. Neither the city nor the California Department of Transportation is involved, Barajas said, though Caltrans could step in if the department disapproved of a piece. That committee was formed at the same time as the park was founded. Chicano Park was created when the Barrio Logan community, reeling from losing homes to make way for Interstate 5, gathered there in 1970 to stop California Highway Patrol from building a patrol station under the Coronado Bridge. Isidro Ortiz, a professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University, said the act of claiming land for a park was in line with one of the principles of the Chicano movement self-determination. The community has the right to determine its own destiny, Ortiz said. The Chicano movement, Ortiz said, was a way for people of Mexican origin living in the U.S. and coming of age in the 1960s to get a sense of identity. We were neither accepted as Americans nor accepted as Mexicans, Ortiz said. We were living in a twilight zone. It can be very confusing because you really dont know who you are. Ortiz said Barajas new mural is a continuation of the resistance to oppression that has been an important part of Chicano identity, and, to him, that resistance is still important. The oppression has not ended, Ortiz said. Its still there. Chicanos see the park as belonging to them because they believe their ancestors have a claim to the land that predates the City of San Diego, Caltrans or any other U.S. government entity, through Aztlan, the ancestral home of the Aztecs, which stretched from California to Texas. Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels, said he doesnt think the mural is anti-American. How can you say thats un-American when freedom of speech is a right that Americans have? Morones said over the phone. Im absolutely convinced that most people dont have that point of view. Morones said he has received mostly positive feedback on the new mural. One young woman was moved to tears by its message, he said. Being against the border wall does not mean that youre against the sovereignty of one nation or respecting the law, Morones added. Building a wall is a message of hate not only to Mexico but to the entire world. The anti-wall message, he said, was originally intended to comment on fencing that was planned for the border a decade ago. In todays political climate, he wanted to make that message clear. I think it needs to be directly said, Morones said. We cannot be silent. The annual Chicano Park Day celebration will take place on Saturday, April 22. kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate Fueled by resistance to President Donald Trump, the Democratic Party in San Diego County is experiencing a surge in voter registration and scores of progressives are emerging seemingly from the ether to consider running for public office. Between November 2015 and November 2016, for every new Republican registration, there were three Democratic ones. The margin has increased slightly since Trumps presidential victory, voter registration data shows. Democrats also have seen more than a four-fold increase in the number of people interested in running for political office from school board positions to congressional districts. Some of these hopefuls had never been involved in politics, local Democratic Party officials said. Advertisement Whats happened is that people have lost their trust, their faith in the government at the national level. It has struck something inside, it has struck a deep cord. Theyre coming forward, people weve never seen before, said Jessica Hayes, chairwoman of the San Diego County Democratic Party. Theyre literally everybody. I am not exaggerating when I say that, she added. Theyre teenagers to people in their 70s and 80s ... The Republican Party of San Diego County didnt respond to a request for comment. Jason Roe, a campaign consultant who works with Republican candidates including San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, said the trends are troublesome for conservatives. Republicans have lost single-digit leads in some local districts and now face 10-point disadvantages in voter registration. Its pretty horrifying, Roe said. Its a huge shift. Tom Shepard, a political consultant who works almost entirely with Republican candidates, said Democrats have been making steady gains across California, but that the surge is a common cycle for whatever political party is out of power. When you feel threatened, theres a tendency to get more engaged, and thats clearly happening here, Shepard said. Democrats have held a registration advantage in this region since November 2008, but it hasnt automatically translated to widespread ballot wins for Democratic candidates. At the end of March, Democrats had a 6.4 percentage point voter-registration advantage over Republicans, up from 2.8 percentage points a year earlier. As of March 31, 36.7 percent of voters registered in San Diego County were Democrats, 30.3 percent were Republicans and 27.9 percent didnt identify any political party. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential campaign spurred a lot of young adults in San Diego to register to vote, as did efforts by the Democratic club at UC San Diego, said Francine Busby, the local Democratic Partys previous chairwoman. But Trump did most of their work for them, she believes. His campaign rhetoric and his administrations policies have compelled some residents to register for the first time or to re-register after not having voted in years, Busby said. Many immigrants who had been eligible to become U.S. citizens for years heard Trumps comments about Latinos and decided that 2016 was finally the time for them to get naturalized, she added. There isnt this sort of energy among Republicans, Roe said. Pollsters are asking people about their political activism since the November election, and the level of involvement is disproportionately higher among liberals, he said. Beyond voter registration, the local Democratic Party is trying to tap into greater interest from potential political candidates. Busby runs a series of training workshops to prepare new and potential candidates for the rigors of a political campaign, and she said there was a record crowd at her March 18 session. Usually, each workshop attracts 35 to 40 people, particularly when theres still a year before the next primary. Last month, about 180 people showed up. They are all ages, from all over the county. Theyre interested in running at all levels, Busby said. Some are targeting school-board seats, others are eyeing City Council positions from San Ysidro to Fallbrook, and a few are aiming to take on Rep. Duncan Hunter, who represents one of the most conservative congressional districts in California. They see hes not acting in the way they would expect a congressman to act, Busby said. Hunter is under criminal investigation for using campaign funds for personal expenses. Shepard said the increased interest in local politics could have significant benefits for Democrats and bring trouble for Republicans. Despite lagging in voter registration and state offices, the GOP has a significant hold on local offices. But if Democrats can win more seats on school boards and city councils, it could eventually change the bench of seasoned politicians seeking higher offices, he said. If one of the impacts of the Trump phenomenon is that Democrats become more engaged in local offices, that could have a profound effect, he said. That is a potentially transformational change, if it bears fruit. The if is recognized as a key word by both political parties. While Democrats are enjoying an increase in momentum, their local party leaders know it will be of no consequence if those additional members dont cast ballots in future elections. Well do everything possible to turn out the vote, Busby said. If we dont knock on any doors and talk to someone, there is a certain percentage that doesnt turn out. The partys analysis of 2016 voter participation shows that about 67 percent of Democrats will cast a ballot without any contact from a campaign worker. Turnout increases to 75 percent if Democratic activists leave a brochure or door hanger at peoples homes, and the figure rises to about 84 percent if theres a face-to-face conversation. Some Democrats running for office said theyre already working on their get-out-the-vote efforts Twitter: @jptstewart joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1841 A letter from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to law enforcement agencies across Southern California warning about an emerging problem of officers engaging in unlicensed firearms sales came just weeks after a Pasadena police officers home was searched and guns seized. The March 31 letter from Eric Harden, the ATFs Los Angeles Field Division special agent in charge, said the agency has discovered officers buying and then reselling handguns without a federal firearms license. That violates federal gun laws. The ATF letter, first reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, came after a Feb. 16 search of the home of a high-ranking Pasadena police officer. News reports at the time said several large gun cases were removed from the officers Sierra Madre home and loaded into ATF vehicles. Advertisement No arrests were made, but the Pasadena Star-News reported that an officer was placed on administrative leave in the wake of the search. A city spokesman said ATF said the search did not have anything to do with the officers work with the department. Pasadena city offices were closed Friday. Authorities did not release the officers name, and a spokeswoman for the ATF declined on Friday to comment on ongoing investigations. Hardens letter said the agency recently has discovered officers who had purchased more than 100 off roster guns. Those are guns that are not on a California list of approved handguns that can be purchased by the general public. Some have been recovered at crime scenes. The law, however, carves out a specific exemption that allows police officers to purchase such weapons. The letter from Harden, which was distributed to sheriffs and police chiefs, talked about the growing trend of law enforcement officials engaging in the business of unlicensed firearms dealings. It is an issue that the ATF has focused on before. In 2011, the agency investigated and served search warrants in an investigation into deputies in the Sacramento County Sheriffs Department and officers in the cities of Roseville and Sacramento for selling weapons that the vast majority of California residents cant purchase. That investigation prompted bills by a state legislator to close the loophole that allows law enforcement to buy and sell such weapons. Both attempts in 2012 and 2013 were vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. At the center of the issue is a list, or roster, of handguns the state has designated as safe and that can be legally purchased by residents. The roster is a result of Californias 2001 Unsafe Handgun Act, which requires the state to make a list of guns deemed safe enough to sell. New micro-stamping requirements on bullets fired from semiautomatic pistols that took effect in 2013 have shortened the roster. In 2014, for example, 1,152 handguns were on the list. Currently, the number is down to 755. There are exceptions to the law. Firearms that arent on the roster dubbed off-roster guns that were purchased before they fell off the list can legally be kept, and off-roster guns passed on to family members. Some members of law enforcement can also purchase off-roster weapons. They can also legally resell them, including to Californians who would not ordinarily be allowed to buy them. Officers primarily sell off-roster weapons through a transaction called a private-party transfer. After law enforcement officers acquire off-roster guns, there are a variety of reasons they may want to get rid of them. The officers might not like the way they handle or decide to upgrade to a new model. At that point, California law allows them to transfer the weapon to another person who can legally possess a gun law enforcement or otherwise through a licensed firearms dealer. State law limits an individual to five private-party transactions a year though does not limit the number of guns that can be sold per transaction. The government considers someone who frequently buys guns with the intent to resell them to be a firearms dealer and that requires the person to then get a federal firearms license. The unlicensed selling of guns by law enforcement officers is one of the concerns Harden highlighted in his letter. Joseph Silvoso, a Long Beach lawyer who specializes in California gun laws, said the problem of off-roster gun sales has been on the ATF radar for a number of years. Its also been clear, he said, that law enforcement officers arent fully aware of the requirements placed on them by state and federal gun laws. Hardens letter seemed like a final warning, Silvoso said. Heres our warning to you that we know youre doing it, and we want you to stop, he said. And woe be unto you from this day forward if you are going to continue to do this after weve warned you. After the ATF investigation in the Sacramento area, then-Assemblyman Roger Dickinson sponsored a bill in 2012 that would have allowed officers to buy off-roster guns but not resell them, closing an exception in the law. The Sacramento Democrat said the law didnt make sense: guns which the state had decided were not safe could be legally purchased by law enforcement officers and then be sold to anyone essentially putting banned guns into the state, undercutting the purpose of the safe gun list. It was hard to come up with a rational justification for it, Dickinson, who left the Assembly in 2014, said Friday. Brown vetoed the bill. The next year, Dickinson tried again. That bill would have cut the number of allowed private-party sales from five to two. Brown vetoed that bill, too, saying there was no showing that two sales per year were any safer than five. I do not support restricting sales in this way without evidence that such restrictions would improve public safety, the governor said in a veto message. The issue of the law enforcement exemption has also come up in a lawsuit filed by gun-rights organizations challenging the safe handgun list. The suit said the law violates the Second Amendment of the federal constitution by infringing on gun-owner rights. A federal judge in Sacramento ruled against the groups in 2015, and the case is on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Donald Kilmer, one of the lawyers representing the groups challenging the list, also said the law enforcement exemption is a bad flaw. I have never understood why given the premise of the law that all handguns are unsafe unless deemed safe by the state, then the state turns around and says these guns are safe if bought by police officers, Kilmer said Thursday. If the government has made some determination that the gun is unsafe, then its unsafe for everyone. To read the article in Spanish, click here Twitter: @gregmoran greg.moran@sduniontribune.com San Diego police scoured a Grantville canyon for a man wanted on a warrant and did not find him Friday. Police were looking for a man who violated the terms of his parole when they spotted a possible suspect riding a blue bicycle southbound on Mission Gorge Road toward the Grantville trolley station about 3:40 p.m. The man ditched the bike and ran into a ravine along Interstate 8 and Fairmount Avenue. Police officers, dogs and a helicopter crew searched for him. Advertisement The helicopter crew made public address announcements, asking transients in the canyon to walk out. The search was called off by 5:30 p.m. Breaking News Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez A reserve San Diego police detective, determined to make a difference while fighting cancer, took on a cold case and through DNA helped solve the horrific murder of a 84-year-old woman 25 years ago. The killer, Jeffrey Falls, died in a 2006 freeway motorcycle crash in El Cajon at the age of 42. Authorities announced at a news conference Friday that Falls, a teenager at the time, raped and stabbed Angela Kleinsorge to death in her Gaines Street home in the Morena neighborhood on Feb. 29, 1992. He had been the victims neighbor. Advertisement San Diego police homicide Lt. Mike Holden said the evidence that connected Falls was a familial DNA test the first of its kind run by a San Diego County law agency. Routine DNA tests had failed to find a match because Falls, who was about 27 or 28 at the time of the murder, did not have DNA in any database system. But a partial match was made that indicated a family member, and that turned out to be one of Falls brothers, a deceased convict. The connection came about because retired San Diego police Detective Holly Erwin didnt give up on the case, or on herself. She had retired in 2012 with a severe form of breast cancer. The diagnosis was devastating, Erwin said, but I didnt want to lay down and die. You can still make a difference. She returned to work as a reserve officer. Erwin tackled the Kleinsorge case with Detective Lori Adams. In August, they got the Department of Justice to accept the DNA sample from the case for familial DNA testing. The victims daughter, Hedy Kleinsorge, attended the news conference with her brother Roland. She said as time passed with no arrest, she wondered if the killer thought hed gotten away with it, or even gave it any thought. News that the case had been solved, she said, was bittersweet. We finally had a suspect that was identified. But to learn it was a neighbor was horrifying to us, she said. She said she remembered the brothers, younger than herself, from the neighborhood. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said the cutting-edge DNA tests are run only in especially heinous cases where all other leads have dried up. California was the first state to adopt the technology in 2008, and has run 172 such tests since then. A partial DNA match in the Kleinsorge case belonged to a convicted offender who had died, with high likelihood that he was a brother to the killer. Investigators found out he had two brothers, one still living and one, Jeffrey Falls, who had died in the 2006 motorcycle crash. The county Medical Examiners Office still had tissue from Falls autopsy, and a DNA test on that tissue formed the final link to the murder scene. San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said the case, which sat idle for more than two decades, would still be unsolved if it werent for the tenacious and persistent efforts of retired Detective Holly Erwin and criminalist Adam Dutra. Lt. Holden said Jeffrey Falls was contacted during a witness check during the original investigation, and he told investigators he was not home during the time of the murder. Investigators were unable to corroborate his statement, Holden said, but had no reason at that time to consider him a suspect. Regarding Browns gas-tax win shows needed sanity on roads (April 7): The U-T Editorial Board thinks that Gov. Browns shepherding of the gas tax to approval was a great achievement. The board appeared to sign on completely with the governors position. Brown further stated that the people can afford it. I am interested to know how the governor, or the Editorial Board, knows what people can and cannot afford? D.J. Bradt Advertisement San Diego Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Boy what a difference in Democrat and Republican ideas. President Trump is cutting taxes and lowering job-costing regulations, all of which are going to create more jobs and prosperity for all Americans, while Jerry Brown and the rest of the Democrats in Sacramento continue to raise job-killing taxes. Their proposed added gasoline tax is going to hurt all working Californians, except the well-off legislators and governor. Instead of more taxes they should be cutting the government waste like terribly over-priced salaries, benefits and stipends at the top. It seems more than ever that too many of the people we are electing to public office are too interested in their own enrichment. I hope the people remember the tax cutters from the tax adders at election time. James Jungnitsch La Mesa If you dont like the newly proposed gas tax and registration fee hike then stop blindly voting liberal Democrats into the California Assembly and governorship just because theres a D by their names. These new taxes are just the tip of the iceberg. Its a joke (on us) to think that this $52 billion will go towards fixing our roads. Its a bait and switch. Democrats like to say that theyre champions for the poor and working class but these taxes will hurt the poor the most. Wheres the accountability on where/how all of these tax hikes (previous and current) actually got spent? Please, Californians, during the next midterm elections when youre voting for state seats, spend some time to vet these candidates carefully based on their track record of spending our money. Jeff Schulze San Diego How could you find anything commendable in the recent semi-secret rush by our Legislature to again steal from the taxpayers? They have been doing this for years to fund their pet projects and there is no reason to think they wont do it again. The Arnold Schwarzenegger dirty trick you refer to was six years ago, yet the Legislature has let it stand a monument to their dishonesty. They find it easier to steal from hardworking taxpayers than to curtail projects like the Jerry Brown crazy train or the use of taxpayer funds to break federal laws or the granting of pension benefits to labor unions that far exceed the money available. Suggesting that the Legislature is afraid of the environmentalists is a terrible commentary on our government, and an alert that they have more fully abdicated their duty to the public than most of us can even imagine. Barry McElmurry Vista We can only hope that this latest attack on taxpayers will wake the electorate up and cause a mass revolution against the tax-and-spend party. It never ceases to amaze me what the average person in California will endure in favor of the teachers and the government workers high wages and pensions. I am a native San Diegan, 78 years old, and have seen the progressive deterioration of the state thanks to the East Coast liberals who took over California in the 1960s. Gabe Potter Lakeside Dont believe gas tax will be used for roads Regarding California Legislature votes to raise gas taxes, vehicle fees (April 6): Here we go again. An increase in gas tax. Do you really think one penny of this goes to road improvements? Another example of the unions having the governor in their back pockets. Say hello to the most ridiculous project ever conceived. The high speed train to nowhere. I am sure there are millions of people who just cant wait to get to Fresno. Have you been there? If you have, Im sure you will never return. Richard Koppel Ocean Beach Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. White House discord has to come to an end I just heard this morning where the media is claiming that within the new Donald Trump administration, those who were selected to assist the president and our nation are all jockeying for position. This is not the way that we were informed that it was going to be. There is but one elected president, and Trump is that man. Advertisement H. Rick Tavares Campo Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Theres little in envy about Donald Trump William Karbosky of Poway (Letter writers, leaders must support Trump, April 9) states he thinks the majority of folks who oppose Donald Trump are jealous of his wealth and that anyone who will not work with him is a spoiled brat. The definition of jealous includes feeling or showing envy of someone for their achievement and advantages. Trump (the person) and his riches are the exact opposite of anything that the majority of folks envy, covet, desire or respect. Ashamed, horrified, scared, embarrassed and devastated are all words that come to my mind. Jealous? Not. Perhaps those who are truly jealous of Trumps money should have signed up for his university scam and learned the tricks of the trade and the art of the deal. L. Marlene Evans San Marcos Cartoon about Kushner missed its target Regarding the editorial cartoon by Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee (Jared Kushner, April 10). What was that about? No context, no reference to reality or any particular bad deeds or malfeasance, just a comic panel where a hack with a pen and brush can produce some drawings and text that smears somebody? Anybody out there remember George Orwells Animal Farm? And you guys bought this? Can I submit a hatchet job or does it require membership in your Fourth Estate community? Jeff Mellquist San Diego Dont count on Putin to walk away from Syria Vladimir Putin will not leave Syria without being militarily removed. He wants to establish a permanent military base and harbor for future control of the eastern Mediterranean. The only goal for Putin is to bring back the former Soviet Union. Joseph W. Kraatz Oceanside Media must remain skeptical of Trump Regarding Syrian missile strike appropriate and measured but now what? (April 7): In my opinion, a free press must always be a responsible one if it is to be meaningful. Regrettably, this is not always the case. Our press, which has often pointed out that Donald Trump is an inveterate liar, suddenly supports his unilateral war in the Middle East. Pictures of medical personnel handling sarin gas victims without protective clothing, and those of beautiful babies, were used by him to justify his impetuous action. The press did not question them, or even ask what Bashar Assad, who is winning the war against his rebels, has to gain by such a chemical attack. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is a lone voice of caution among our legislators to question Trumps action. She sees no evidence that Assad was behind this attack and concludes that our airstrikes were shortsighted. Our press, however, fully supports them because it makes Trump look presidential. Sorab K. Ghandhi Escondido Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. There is one more Saturday for local youngsters to go on Easter egg hunts in their communities. The following are some events that are being held. Organizers are also reminding participants to bring a basket to hold all the goodies. Living Way Church is hosting a free Easter egg hunt and activities for everyone from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 4 at Poway Community Park, 13094 Civic Center Drive in Poway. There will be a little kiddie egg hunt for those under 3 years, plus egg hunts throughout the event. The start times are 9:30 a.m. for 3-year-olds, 10 a.m. for 4-year-olds, 10:30 a.m. for 5-year-olds, 11 a.m. for 6-year-olds, 11:30 a.m. for ages 7 and 8; and noon for ages 9 and 10. Free activities will include jump houses, a giant inflatable slide, petting zoo, pony rides, crafts and carnival games. There will also be an optional pancake breakfast that starts at 8 a.m. Tickets are $4 per person. For details, call 858-486-1441 or send an email to lwcpoway@aol.com. The spring egg hunt hosted by the 4S Ranch Master Association will be 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 4 in Pioneer Park (the Splash Park) at Sienna Hills Drive and Albert Ave. in 4S Ranch. This event is only open to 4S Ranch residents who must present their resident photo ID to enter. The egg hunt will begin at 9:30 a.m. for ages 3 and younger, 10:15 a.m. for ages 4 to 7 and 11 a.m. for ages 8 and older. Kids can enjoy jumps as well as special treats from event sponsors. Photography by Suzanne will offer professional photos with the Easter Bunny. The 5x7 pictures are $5 each and can be purchased at the event. There will be an optional pancake breakfast served by Rancho Santa Fe Fire firefighters from 9 to 11 a.m. It will include pancakes plus eggs, chips and salsa from Miguels. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $5 per person or $15 per family. At the event tickets will be $5 per person. Proceeds will benefit the San Diego Burn Institute. To buy pancake tickets or get information on how to order a resident photo ID, go to www.4SConnect.com. Westwood Club will host a free Easter egg hunt for its members and their guests at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 4 at the club, 17394 W. Bernardo Drive in Rancho Bernardo. Westwood residents must present their club ID card and guest passes to enter. The Easter egg hunt is for all ages, including adults. Volunteers are also needed to help with the event. For details, contact Nora Kessler at 858-618-2140 or programs@rbwestwoodclub.com. Poway VFW is hosing a community Easter party from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 4 at the VFW Post, 12342 Old Pomerado Road in Poway. There will be egg hunts, crafts and food for all. RSVP at 858-748-7907. Chinese Bible Church of San Diego is inviting all in the community to its Spring Fair, set for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 4. It will be held at Maranatha Christian Schools, 9050 Maranatha Drive in Santa Fe Valley. The event includes a 1:30 p.m. egg hunt, games and activities for all ages, and a wide variety of food. For details, call Gloria Lee at 858-675-8777 ext. 121. The Rancho Penasquitos Recreation Council will host its free spring egg hunt and activities in four neighborhood parks throughout Rancho Penasquitos. The hunts will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 4 and attendees are asked to walk to their closest event, if possible, since parking will be limited. There will also be crafts and other activities, including taking a photo with the bunny. The egg hunt locations are: Penasquitos Creek Park, 8021 Park Village Road; Ridgewood Park, 12604 La Tortola; Rolling Hills Park, 11082 Carlota Drive; and South Village Park, 14756 Via Azul. For details, call 858-538-8131. Why post speed limit if its not enforced? I have lived in the Estates since 1978, and the last 15 years people think San Vicente is a speedway, no highway patrols as in the past. Ninety-nine percent of the drivers are going 55 to 65 miles per hour, there are a few of us that obey the speed limit. I think of the accidents that were fatal and the wording I was not speeding. Thats a laugh. If they were going the speed limit they would be able to stop in time. Why post a speed limit if its not going to be enforced. Our lives have transformed in high gear and that is a shame. Stop and enjoy life, before it is too late for you. Dorothy Hart Ramona Indivisible members have common goal Rebuttal to Tom McKelvey: You use some clever language, which as a teacher I frankly like, but lets get to the content of your article. Indivisible Ramona, like the tea party, is open to having anyone join. It only makes sense that those who are interested are unhappy or even angry with the Trump agenda. All groups have a focus and thats ours. Whats the problem with that? Of course we are more inclined to attract Democrats, liberals, and progressives, but we also attract independents (like me), moderates, and yes we even have Republican members. Polling shows that most Americans are embarrassed by Trump. Hes lost a lot of support, even from Republicans. The fact that Trump is falling in the polls (35% approval), we can expect Indivisible groups will continue to grow and become more diverse. So, yes, anyone can come and learn how to fight for issues that matter to them. That is what makes us non-partisan. Although I voted for Obama, I voted for Bush twice! Frankly, I dont care to label myself. I am working hard and happily, for free, for something that I believe in. We all are. That is democracy. Susan Conrad Ramona Hunter should resign How do Duncan Hunters constituents spell relief? R-E-S-I-G-N. Resignation is the best and only deal that Duncan Hunter will be able to get following the expected release of a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into his fraudulent use of campaign funds for personal use. Hunter charged tens of thousands of dollars for resort vacations to Hawaii and Italy, private school tuition for his kids, including dance lessons and recitals, video games, nail salons, jewelry stores and even $600 for rabbit transport fees to haul a pet rabbit across country. Sometimes superstitious people carry a rabbits foot for good luck; he carries the whole rabbit. Hunter is destined to become the most despicable elected congress person in San Diego history after the infamous Republican representative, Randy Duke Cunningham of Escondido. Cunningham was released in 2013 after seven years of an eight-year prison stint for soliciting bribes from defense contractors. The non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C., a watchdog group headed by Noah Bookbinder, said, Hunter has shown a blatant disregard for the rules. He summarized Hunters case as The most egregious congressional spending scandal since Aaron Schock, the former Illinois Republican congressman who was indicted by the Department of Justice last November on 24 criminal counts. Hunter, a five-term congressman and ex-Marine who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, is an unapologetic warmonger. He told the San Diego Union-Tribune the week of Trumps election he wanted to restore a warrior culture and warrior mentality to the federal government. Supposedly, Hunter has paid back approximately $62,000 in campaign contributions. No one at Hunters offices in Washington, D.C., El Cajon, or Temecula would comment on anything to do with the criminal probe into his misuse of campaign contributions, and referred questions to his campaign office. More than a dozen calls made over a two-week period were never returned. Hunters highfalutin team of lawyers, Elliot Burke and Gregory Vega, said, Hunter intends to cooperate fully with the government on this investigation, adding, That to the extent any mistakes were made, they were strictly inadvertent and not intentional. Hunter also faces censure from his own House colleagues. Mr. Hunters portrait will wind up hanging next to his colleagues, Cunningham and Schock, Tricky Dick Nixon and most recently, Anthony Weiner on the yet-to-be-built Great Wall of Shame in Washington. Peter W. Quercia Ramona Correct website Correct contact info for Susan Conrads claim: there is no website for Republican Women of Ramona. Our website is intermountainrwf.com and we have a contact signal to my personal email account when someone accesses it. Also, not quite ready to meet. I have trust issues. Sandy Hurlburt Ramona Personal Responsibility seems to be missing OK, so we all get it: Indivisible is against everything (pick any subject) associated with President Trump whether they were for it last year or not. Apparently the Left simply cannot believe they lost the election and are simply looking for retaliation, without regard for the American people. With respect to the Hunter town hall, I personally believe in listening to ALL views on a subject and then forming my own opinion (and I dont feel I need a Guide to help do it). Now this is pretty difficult to accomplish when people around me are shouting down those delivering their views. Excusing rude and rowdy behavior because someone else has done the same is patently ridiculous. It has never been acceptable to explain your own bad behavior on the fact that others have behaved badly in the past. That rationale belongs in the same pigeon hole as the dog ate my homework. In other words, personal responsibility is what seems to be missing. It is clear to me that Indivisible is not even remotely interested in uniting the American people. Unlike the Tea Party movement, Indivisible is a top down organization where an elite group at the top has formed and funded an agenda which they attempt to thrust upon the rest of the population. The Tea Party movement continues to be the exact opposite. You, the American citizen, owe it to yourself and this great country to listen to both sides of any issue, form your own opinion, and then act according to your beliefs. Tom McKelvey Ramona It started as a deal to develop a 312-acre plot of land in Otay Mesa, then a dusty region along the border that was emerging as an economic boomtown in 1986. However, developer Roque de la Fuente IIs dream to build an international trade business park ballooned into multi-milllion dollar litigation and earned the distinction of becoming the City of San Diegos longest-running lawsuit. On Tuesday, after decades of finger-pointing, trials, back-and-forth appeals and negotiations gone awry, the case has been settled at no cost to taxpayers and with a blueprint to fully develop the land. Advertisement The settlement calls for two of the citys former insurance carriers to pay both sides in the dispute with $25 million going to de la Fuentes business park and $8.2 million to the city. It also calls for no further lawsuits to be filed for the next five years, for both sides to work together to get the business park on the path to development and for a process to deal with potential disputes that might arise. The City Council unanimously approved the terms Tuesday. Everyone wins here, said City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, who helped negotiate the final terms of the settlement over the past few months. Border Business Park can finally be developed into the world-class property it was intended to become, creating jobs and growing our tax base. The border region will receive an important economic stimulus. And taxpayers, once on the hook for tens of millions, will not only benefit, but be protected against future litigation. Its not clear if the settlement was driven in any way by de la Fuentes long-shot U.S. presidential campaign. The 61-year-old Democrat joined the race in October and is underwriting his own campaign, asking for $10 donations each from 10 million Americans. Its one more thing he doesnt have to focus on, Vince Bartolotta, de la Fuentes attorney, who has helmed the case for decades, said of the settlement. The longevity of the case is right up there with the litigation over the Mount Soledad cross, albeit it has been less publicized. It has outlasted six mayors, three city attorneys and four mediators. It was headed to yet another trial this spring at an estimated cost of $20 million, Goldsmith said to likely be followed by appeals. But one last ditch effort to settle the case worked. As Goldsmith put it, the settlement turned coal into diamonds. By the 1980s, de la Fuente, who goes by Rocky, had taken over his familys enterprises of land, car dealerships and other business interests. He then set his sights on Otay Mesa. He entered into a development agreement with the city in 1986, one that would soon disintegrate. The business park property is bounded by Airway Road, Harvest Road, Siempre Viva Road and La Media Road. He accused the city of hampering his efforts to develop the parcel, including plans that were later scrapped to build an airport on part of the land and changes to the border trucking route that sent semis through the property. He sued the city in 1995, and a jury later sided with him. The 2001 verdict was believed to be the largest judgment against the city ever, at $94.5 million. After the trial, jurors said it was apparent to them that the city was swindling de la Fuente. City officials came across as incompetent and dishonest, and seemed unable or unwilling to answer basic questions posed by de la Fuentes lawyers, one juror said. Another said it appeared as though the city was deliberately trying to make life hard for the developer and take the land for its own use. The citys attorneys painted de la Fuente as an inexperienced developer whose business park was the victim of an early-1990s recession, and accused him of violating the agreement with the city in various ways. Deputy City Attorney Anthony Shanley, who tried the case, wisely noted after the mega verdict in 2001: I think its safe to say that the final outcome of this case is still a long way off. How right he was. The city appealed the verdict, and a new trial was ordered on the breach of contract finding. But the rest of the award was upheld, and, with interest, ultimately put the city on the hook for $136 million. In 2006, an appellate court reversed the verdict and sent it back to a lower court for a new trial. In the meantime, since the filing of the initial lawsuit, de la Fuente-controlled entities filed four more lawsuits against the city. Several more attempts at settlement fizzled. As the case appeared headed for a second trial, City Council member David Alvarez and a judge who were part of the negotiations asked Goldsmith in July to get involved for a last try. The resulting 53-page settlement, overseen by retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Papas, went through 61 drafts before being finalized, Goldsmith said. It dismisses all five remaining lawsuits and prohibits any new litigation from being filed. The settlement puts $18.75 million three-fourths of the $25 million payout to the business park in an escrow fund to be doled out over the next five years as the developer obtains the proper permits and installs the necessary infrastructure to legally do business. That infrastructure includes roads, sewer, electrical and water. De la Fuente gets the rest of the settlement up front. The business park will also pay the city $3.4 million in Facilities Benefit Assessments for road construction. Any issues that might arise during that time frame will be handled by one judge assigned to the case, who will resolve the disputes as he sees fit; no appeals. Sometimes when you have very long litigation, that becomes the status quo, and its very hard to break, Goldsmith said of the difficulty settling the case over the years. We were able to break it through the good work of all the parties involved. ... Ill also say that there there have been different administrations in the city and different interests, and it had to be the right time. Both sides had to see the light, and we all saw it at the same time. The case cost the city some $16 million in outside attorney fees, most of which have already been paid for by insurers, made possible through the negotiations of a former deputy city attorney, Don McGrath. About $3 million from the citys award will cover the remainder, while $5 million goes into the citys general fund. Former City Attorney Michael Aguirre, who was in office when most of the multi-million dollar award against the city was overturned, called the settlement a good one. Hopefully it will be something that will be behind the city, Aguirre said Tuesday. David Wick, CEO of de la Fuente Enterprises, said he is eager to begin work on the property, starting with permits to build a half-mile of road improvements. About half of the property has been lightly developed, while the other part has been used for parking tractor-trailers involved in cross-border trucking. De la Fuente has been a polarizing figure in San Diegos business community. He and the family business have been involved in dozens of lawsuits over the years, many of which he has blamed on government agencies kicking them when theyre down. In one, he settled with San Diego County for $38.7 million for 525 acres of his in Otay Mesa that was acquired to build a new jail. He also won a 2006 lawsuit against the Border Patrol for a payment of about $2.3 million, which includes interest and attorney fees. He accused the agency of putting sensors in the ground on his property without his permission. New York City, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2017 -- Paraxylene, also known as PX or P-Xylene, is an aromatic hydrocarbon compound, derived particularly from benzene. Paraxylene is a colorless, toxic, sweet-smelling, and highly flammable chemical at room temperature . It is found naturally in petroleum and coal tar. Paraxylene or P-Xylene is an isomer of xylene compound, derived from benzene. Some of the other isomers of xylene include O-xylene and M-xylene. Paraxylene finds its largest application in large-scale manufacturing of terephthalic acid for polyester; also known as parylene. The production process of paraxylene is one of the most complicated among all the chemicals; simple crystallization of the xylene normally led to complex purification process owing to the formation of eutectic mixtures . It is manufactured by catalytic reforming of naptha, a petroleum derivative, and separated in a series of adsorption or crystallization, distillation, and reaction processes from ethyl benzene, o-xylene, and m-xylene. The melting point of Paraxylene is highest among other isomers of xylene. A sample of this report is available upon request @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3889 Based on end-user application, the global paraxylene market can be broadly categorized as dimethyl terephthalate (DMT), purified terephthalic acid (PTA), dibutyl phathalate xylene (Di-PX), and others. PTA accounted for the largest share in the paraxylene market in 2013 owing to their increased use in the polyester chain. On the other hand, DMT was the fasted-growing segment in 2013. In recent years, the demand-supply gap in the paraxylene market broadened owing to increasing application of paraxylene in various other nontraditional applications such as PET bottles. However, the production remains tight with limited number of manufacturers; owing to complicated manufacturing process associated with the paraxylene . Increasing use of PTA in polyester manufacturing is the most-dominant driver of the global paraxylene market. More than two-third of the total Paraxylene production was used in manufacturing pollster in 2013. Moreover, the rising demand for PET bottle resin due to increasing use of PET in soft drink and mineral water bottles is further boosting the paraxylene market. Increasing use of bio-based paraxylene in bioplastics PET bottles (Bio-PET) and other bioplastics applications such as catering utensils is creating new opportunities for the Paraxylene market. Asia Pacific is the largest market for Paraxylene followed by Europe and North America. Asia Pacific and RoW (including Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa) are two of the fasted-growing Paraxylene markets, which witnessed an above-average growth in recent years. Country wise , China, the U.S., and India are some of the largest regional markets for paraxylene. China held the largest market share in 2013 in terms of regional consumption of paraxylene. The size of the peracetic acid market is relatively low in the RoW region. However, it is expected to witness healthy growth throughout the forecasted period, especially in petroleum-rich countries of the Middle East. To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3889 Some of the major companies operating in the global Paraxylene (Px) market include British Petroleum (BP), JX Nippon Oil & Energy, Reliance Industries, ExxonMobil, BASF, Braskem, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Dragon Aromatics, Fujian Refining & Petrochemical, Toray Industries, Pemex, Kuwait Paraxylene Production, and Samsung Total Petrochemicals. About Persistence Market Research Persistence 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. [NAIROBI] A programme is helping address undernutrition insufficient quantity and quality of food intake by a person in Sub-Saharan Africa through creation of a local platform to assess and discuss challenges. According to UNICEF, about 28 percent of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are underweight. But experts say existing nutrition assessment such as household economy approach face challenges such as lack of in-depth assessments and situational analyses. To help address these challenges, Action Against Hunger (AFC), a humanitarian non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in France has developed a programme called Link Nutrition Casual Analysis (Link NCA). Urban malnutrition has evaded policymakers and researchers for a long time since it is a unique continuous process. Esther Mogusu, Nairobi County Link NCA is a local process that tries to understand whats happening across different regions by providing independent nutrition survey and analysis and providing multi-sectoral tailor-shaped nutrition security programmes to the communities and stakeholders, said Blanche Mattern, AFC and Link NCA technical advisor, during the Link NCA Learning Event held in Kenya on 28 February. Mattern explains that compared to other nutritional analysis programmes, Link NCA uses people-centred approach. This programme mobilises NGOs, county governments and communities faced with the challenge of undernutrition, Mattern says. With the support of Link NCA technical unit, Concern Worldwide, an NGO, has been conducting in-depth surveys and analyses of Mukuru and Viwandani slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Preliminary results of the study indicated some of the major factors causing undernutrition to be poorly managed day care centres, fluctuation in food prices, and poor housing, health-seeking behaviour, or sanitation. Esther Mogusu, Nairobi County nutrition coordinator, tells SciDev.Net: Urban malnutrition has evaded policymakers and researchers for a long time since it is a unique continuous process unlike arid malnutrition which is cyclical. This has led to a steep rise of undernutrition cases in urban areas. She says the county government of Nairobi plans to mobilise communities to understand what good nutrition is, work with city planning and relevant departments to bring sanity to structures in slums and provide proper drainage and sanitation. For Kenya and Africa as a whole to achieve its sustainable development goals, nutrition has to be one of the top agendas, says Mogusu, citing limited funding for urban nutrition as a challenge.Link NCA provides unique platform where governments and other key actors can link together to solve undernutrition in urban areas.This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. The citizens of Marion are outraged about Mayor Bobby L. Davis performance while in office. However, several factors have impacted his mayoral duties. These factors have not given him many options to work with while in office. Many citizens are blaming him for the lack of jobs in Marion. Yet in 1994 Congress passed and the president signed NAFTA, which has sent thousands American factory jobs to Mexico. This factor has given rise to Marion having the highest unemployment rate in South Carolina. The economic situation is not going to change overnight for the citizens of Marion. They must retrain and develop 21st-century skills in order to succeed economically. Also the citys educational leaders must train young people for jobs in the new economy. Davis cannot do favors for citizens within the city. He cannot take taxpayer money to pay water bills for the citizenry. This is a violation of state law, which can be punishable by prison time and a hefty fine. He cannot intervene in circumstances in which citizens are given speeding tickets, questioned by police or imprisoned for criminal violations. This could lead him to being charged for corruption and dishonesty while in office. He cannot show favoritism to anyone based on race, gender, wealth, status or natural origin. He is the mayor of the entire city. He is required to lead every citizen in Marion in a just, equitable and honest way without any signs of any partiality. KEVIN CRAWFORD Marion Community activists, police watchdogs and others gathered on the steps of the San Francisco Hall of Justice on Friday to pressure District Attorney George Gascon as he makes charging decisions in police shootings that have stirred intense debate in the city. The demonstration was held after Gascon said Wednesday that he found insufficient evidence that two plainclothes police officers committed a crime when they fatally shot Amilcar Perez-Lopez, 21, in the Mission District in February 2015. He was struck six times in the back, but the officers said they were forced to fire to protect themselves and another man from Perez-Lopez after he chased that man down the street with a knife. We disagree with the district attorney, said the Rev. Richard Smith of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist. The district attorney needed to bring this case to court. Smith wore a white T-shirt with a picture of Perez-Lopezs face and the words Justice for Amilcar and Six shots to the back! on the front. He was joined by members of Mothers on the March, who gather outside the Hall of Justice every Friday from noon to 2 p.m. attempting to raise awareness about what they consider unjust killings. Smith was surrounded by more than two dozen others who held up photos of people who had been fatally shot by police officers in San Francisco. They included Mario Woods, a 26-year-old stabbing suspect whose killing in December 2015 in the Bayview prompted outrage when footage of the incident was posted on social media, and Luis Gongora, a 45-year-old homeless man who was fatally shot in April 2016 by two officers in the Mission District. Gascon must make charging decisions in those and eight other cases, including the May 2016 killing of Jessica Williams, a 29-year-old woman who was shot by a police sergeant as she attempted to escape in a stolen car in the Bayview. She was unarmed. Those who gathered called for Gascon to hold a public forum on his decision in the Perez-Lopez case. Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorneys office, said the office had reached out Thursday to Smith, who said he was unavailable to meet that day. When the office suggested Friday, Bastian said, Smith explained he couldnt meet because it was Good Friday, while saying he was unavailable next week as well. Bastian said the office has offered to brief the community advocates on the shooting cases, but has not received a reply. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BARTs Warm Springs/South Fremont station is shiny, clean and just 3 weeks old. But already new riders are being introduced to some of the transit systems traditions: broken escalators, closed restrooms and even puddles of urine in the elevators. After riders reported that an escalator at the station was shut down and under repair, The Chronicle paid a visit Friday. When a reporter and photographer arrived, all six were working but not for long. About an hour later, the middle of three elevators at the station entrance stopped abruptly, and the station agent blocked it with strands of yellow caution tape. Inside, one of the two all-gender restrooms was closed dramatically blocked with a tangle of yellow tape and one of the many ticket machines wore a handwritten sign warning that, like some mom-and-pop businesses, it accepted only cash. But everything else the drinking fountains, the four elevators, the remarkably clear public address system, the ticket machines, the fare gates and the train destination signs all appeared to be in working order. As one might expect from a brand-spanking new station. Just a few passengers flowed through the fare gates and down the escalators to the platform to wait for trains midmorning Friday. Several toured the station, pausing to take pictures and marvel at its shininess. A station agent, who declined to give her name, acknowledged that the escalators have shut down occasionally, sometimes when patrons inadvertently caused them to stop. They go out of service every now and then. It could be a bike hitting the skirt, she said, referring to the escalators lower side panel. She declined to answer further questions. At BART headquarters, 11 stations north on the Richmond line, spokesman Taylor Huckaby said officials were aware of some troubles with the stations escalators. At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and 5:30 a.m. Thursday, he said, two separate escalators shut down at Warm Springs/South Fremont because of mechanical problems. Both were repaired and back in service by noon Thursday. He said he had not been made aware of Fridays escalator shutdown. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Jim Allison, another BART spokesman, said there was no pattern to the escalator breakdowns, and no mechanical issues had been identified. Huckaby said the escalators are under a two-year warranty, which requires the manufacturer, Schindler, to arrive at the station and start repairs within four hours. That happened in both cases, he said. He said he was not aware of the restroom closure or any ongoing problems with the new stations restrooms. But he did say that BART cleanup crews received their first urine cleanup call in a Warm Springs elevator on March 31. Chronicle staff photographer Natasha Dangond contributed to this report. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan The Chinese Presbyterian Mission Church became the first U.S. church with an Asian congregation when it opened its doors in San Franciscos Chinatown in 1853. Six years later, it founded the first school in the nation to admit Chinese students. But that landmark event did not inaugurate an enlightened educational policy toward the Chinese in San Francisco. Instead, it was a feeble exception to a long, ugly government policy of racist segregation that prevented Chinese students and other minorities from attending school with white children and, for 14 years, prevented Chinese students from attending school at all. The first Chinese arrived in San Francisco around 1848. For the next several years, they were few in number and were treated reasonably well: In 1850, Mayor John Geary invited the China boys to march in a funeral procession for President Zachary Taylor. A judge speaking at a ceremony in Portsmouth Square said, You stand among us in all respects as equals. But that brief period of goodwill soon faded. As the Chinese population swelled in the 1850s, white San Franciscans increasingly turned against the immigrants. Like most white Americans at that time, they regarded all people of color, whether Mongolians (a common term for Asians), blacks, Indians or Latinos, as inferior races. During San Franciscos first years, the question of educating the Chinese did not arise. Race was not mentioned in the early school laws of California. Victor Low notes in The Unimpressible Race: A Century of Educational Struggle by the Chinese in San Francisco. In an 1858 editorial, the San Francisco Evening Bulletin reflected the citys overwhelming rejection of integrated schools. Let us keep our public schools free from the intrusion of the inferior races, the paper opined. If we are compelled to have Negroes and Chinamen among us, it is better, of course, that they should be educated. But teach them separately from our Caucasian blood pure. We want no mongrel race of moral and mental hybrids to people the mountains and valleys of California. In 1859, 30 Chinese parents petitioned the San Francisco Board of Education to open a primary school for their children. When the Rev. William Speer offered a basement room in his Chinese Presbyterian Mission Church on Stockton Street between Clay and Washington, the board agreed to open the Chinese School. It lasted just four months and closed for supposed lack of funds, although the total cost of operating it was only its teachers $75 monthly salary. For the next decade, the school was reopened several times, and each time soon shut down. The school board routinely pointed to the schools poor attendance as a reason to end the doubtful experiment: Attendance was indeed low, but a big reason for that was the schools heavy emphasis on religion, which put off students. Meanwhile, Californias third schools superintendent, a Southern racist named Andrew Jackson Moulder, ensured that the states schools would be strictly segregated for decades. In 1858, Moulder blasted mock philanthropists for forcing Africans, Chinese and Diggers (Indians) into our white schools. In 1860, Moulders beliefs became law, when the Legislature decreed that Negroes, Mongolians and Indians shall not be allowed into public schools and authorized local officials to penalize any school that allowed inferior races to mix with whites. There was no requirement that public schools be provided for the Chinese or any other nonwhite children. In 1864, a more progressive schools superintendent, John Swett, revised the state school law to require the establishment of separate schools for Chinese under certain circumstances, but the new law had little practical effect. In 1869, the Chinese School moved from Stockton Street one block west to Powell Street. Because Stockton Street at that time was considered the border of Chinatown, this move exposed the schools students to so-called rude boys, juvenile delinquents who insulted and attacked them. Attendance dropped further. In the 1870s, as cheap Chinese labor undercut white workers wages, hostility to the Chinese peaked. In 1870, the state school law was changed again, stipulating that only blacks and Indians need be educated in separate schools. The San Francisco superintendent of schools, James Denman, who had closed the Chinese School a decade earlier, now had the legal right to close it for good. Denman did so on March 1, 1871, citing its average daily attendance of just 20 students. For the next 14 years, there would be no public school for Chinese in San Francisco. They were denied even separate schools like those accorded to blacks and Indians, who were granted that right in 1874. The Chinese community argued that it was grossly unfair that they had to pay taxes and yet were denied the right to send their children to public schools. In 1878, 1,300 people of Chinese descent petitioned the Legislature, arguing that the 3,000 Chinese children in the state had the right to a public education. They were supported by some clergymen, like the Rev. William Gibson, whose position so enraged anti-Chinese mobs that he was hanged in effigy twice and had the windows of his Washington Street residence smashed. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. But the state took no action, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors remained adamant. Guard well the doors of our public schools, that they do not enter, read one of their reports. For however hard and stern such a doctrine may sound, it is but the enforcement of the law of self-preservation, the inculcation of the doctrine of true humanity, and an integral part of the enforcement of the iron rule of right by which we hope presently to prove that we can justly and practically defend ourselves from this invasion of Mongol barbarianism. It took an 8-year-old girl named Mamie Tape to force the city and state to provide schools, albeit segregated ones, for Chinese. That story will be the subject of the next Portals. Gary Kamiya is the author of the best-selling book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, awarded the Northern California Book Award in creative nonfiction. All the material in Portals of the Past is original for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: metro@sfchronicle.com Trivia time Previous trivia question: What was San Franciscos first fern bar? Answer: Henry Africas, which opened in 1969. This weeks trivia question: Why was Californias first Legislature (1849-50) called the legislature of a thousand drinks? Editors note Every corner in San Francisco has an astonishing story to tell. Gary Kamiyas Portals of the Past tells those lost stories, using a specific location to illuminate San Franciscos extraordinary history from the days when giant mammoths wandered through what is now North Beach to the Gold Rush delirium, the dot-com madness and beyond. His column appears every other Saturday, alternating with Peter Hartlaubs OurSF. A mother and daughter believed to be leaving a Roman Catholic church service during Holy Week were killed by a drunken driver in Santa Clara, authorities said. The Santa Clara County coroner identified the victims as San Jose residents Carina Kubow, 61, and her 92-year-old mother Angela Bontilao. The women were struck by Vinod Kumar Naidu Bonthu, 26, of Sunnyvale, said Officer Ross Lee, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. Bonthu was arrested on suspicion of DUI and vehicular manslaughter and was released to hospital custody due to his injuries, Lee said. Just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Bonthu was traveling north on Highway 101 when he lost control of his car as he approached an off-ramp onto Great America Parkway and hit a raised curb, according to the CHP. The impact sent his car across the highway, over the center median and into the southbound lanes, Lee said. He collided with a vehicle with four people inside, killing Kubow and Bontilao, who were passengers in the other car, Lee said. Lee said the driver and the additional passenger in the womens car sustained minor injuries. Bonthu suffered major injuries. He was carrying two passengers one with major injuries and one who sustained moderate injuries, Lee said. Lee said officials believe the women had just left a service at Our Lady of Peace Shrine and Catholic Church, where both are parishioners. The church would have have been celebrating Holy Week, the final days of the Lent season leading up to Easter. The church posted on Facebook lamenting the loss of the women. Please pray for our dear parishioners, the post reads. Grant eternal rest to them, O Lord, and may your perpetual light shine upon them. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For the first time in years, Ricky Walker had hopes he could get off the streets. After 16 years of homelessness, he doesnt believe most of what officials say but when a city tent-clearance counseling team showed up April 6, they seemed to have solid offers of help. The counselors promised Walker and about 30 others living in a camp at the northeast corner of San Franciscos Mission District that they could stay until the end of the month, while the city tried to find shelter or housing for all of them. Then came Thursday morning. Public Works crews rolled in just after 6 a.m., and by late morning the camp at 15th Street and San Bruno Avenue had been swept away and replaced with metal barriers angering not just the tent dwellers, but the street counselors who had promised them theyd be left alone. The sweep apparently violated the agreement the citys homeless department has with Public Works to cooperate on handling tent camps, and though nobody in either department wants to publicly point fingers, tensions are hot. This really pissed people off, and totally disrupted what the tent encampment team was trying to do, said one city homelessness official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. For most purposes, the departments have been working together, but when someone breaks ranks like this, its very disruptive. Jeff Kositsky, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, declined to comment on the sweep. He said only that he and the other department officials who deal with homeless camps work hard to work together. The director of the homelessness agencys Encampment Resolution Team, Jason Albertson, said he didnt want to get in a fight with other departments, but offered this carefully phrased assessment: Whenever our clients, for whatever reason, are dislocated or relocated, it makes the challenge that much more difficult. Public Works officials say the last thing they want to do is damage relations between counselors and street dwellers, but that the camp conditions constituted a health emergency that needed to be dealt with immediately. For Walker, 44, the roust boils down to distrust and discouragement. After the sweep, he and his friends did what most campers do when they have to move they just set up a new tent city about a block away, on Vermont Street. Their arrival swelled an already sizable camp to more than 50 people. The encampment team counselors were pretty upset when those DPW trucks showed up, Walker said. They had an agreement with us that we didnt have to leave until April 27. Instead, that sweep was miserable Thursday morning, in the rain, no warning. Albertson said his team is still working with the moved campers, with the aim of clearing them off the street now Vermont on April 27 into housing or shelter. But now Walker says he is more wary. I thought we could have an open dialogue, but now Im not sure what those outreach guys can do for me, he said. Public Works spokeswoman Rachel Gordon said the Thursday operation was not planned as a sweep. But she said an intensive cleanup was necessary because this encampment wasnt just on the sidewalk. It had spilled over into the traffic lane and become a real public safety hazard. We did not go to clear it, she said. Our crews told them (the campers) we just needed to come out and clean it. There was a lot of trash that was disposed of. Gordon said Kositskys department was notified in advance of the cleaning. Officials there say thats true, but that Public Works didnt make clear the extent of the operation. We look at the job of addressing tent camps as a partnership with the homeless outreach team, Gordon said. We dont want to disrupt what they are doing. Were all working to the same goal of getting the homeless off the streets and into a safer situation. Kelley Cutler, outreach counselor for the Coalition on Homelessness advocacy group, called Thursdays clean-out off the hook. This was like DPW going rogue, and everyone was ticked, said Cutler, who has been counseling those who were moved. For them to come in and do that was just cruel and pointless. Theres nowhere for people to go. It just undermines the encampment teams work in general. Meanwhile, the manager of the rug shop across the street from the newly enlarged camp on Vermont said he is deeply unhappy. The site is on the radar of city crews, but Kositskys agency has no immediate plans to work with anyone other than those who just migrated there. That camp has been a giant problem for me, Ive been complaining to City Hall for weeks, and now its worse, Farid Yadegar said. I have to wash feces, used needles and pee off my property. Seven times in the past year they stole my recycle bin, and they bother my customers. Ive just about had it. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Whenever you get tired of the San Francisco in the tourist magazines cable cars, Chinatown, high-tech towers, the Castro, all that step aboard the 38-Geary Muni bus and head out to the Richmond District. The 38-Geary is a trip in itself a bus ride through every part of the city, from downtown to the Pacific Ocean, right through the heart of the Richmond. As every San Franciscan knows, all Geary is divided into two parts: Geary Street, which runs from Market Street to Van Ness Avenue, and Geary Boulevard, which is what the street is called west of Van Ness. You could make the case that Geary Boulevard is a textbook example of the civic paralysis that sometimes grips San Francisco. This is a city with a split personality. Sometimes change happens with blinding speed. At other times, nothing ever changes. The city and its citizens have been arguing over what to do about Geary Boulevard since the last old Muni streetcar rattled down the street on the last weekend of 1956 more than 60 years ago. Geary got a new look in 1959 a center median strip planted with trees. The hope then was to turn this main street of the Richmond District into San Franciscos version of the Great White Way, like Broadway in New York. Geary has all the potential in the world a street where you can do anything. Eat, drink and be merry, be born in one of the hospitals, or be laid to rest in the citys only columbarium. There is a restaurant row between Arguello Boulevard and 25th Avenue 81 eating places offering food in dozens of ethnic varieties. The Richmond has a big Asian population and a grand Russian Orthodox cathedral, an Irish-themed bar run by a Korean family. Its the San Francisco mix. But Geary, the districts main thoroughfare, is a mess, jammed with traffic cars, buses, delivery trucks. Its dangerous for people on foot, too. The city estimates that pedestrians crossing Geary Boulevard are eight times more likely to be hit by a car than the citywide average. The 38-Geary bus is the main line through the Richmond. It is Munis busiest route, carrying an average of 52,000 passengers every weekday. The 38 runs day and night and comes in several variations. The 38 local is the milk run, making 97 stops every round trip. Its slow. If the 38 local is on time, its average speed is only 6.82 mph. The Geary limited, rebranded as the Geary Rapid two years ago, makes fewer stops and can get from 48th Avenue to Market Street in 36 minutes. Average speed: 9.66 mph. The buses are usually packed with passengers, like the proverbial sardines in a can. And the service is uneven. Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle When I was a kid in school in the Richmond, Michael Smith said, we used to have a riddle: Whats green and yellow and comes in bunches? The 38-Geary. The buses are different colors now, but its still true. The 38 is the 38. The city has been trying to fix transit on Geary for years; it is the boulevard of broken plans. A subway has been proposed, a light-rail line, a combination subway and light-rail arrangement. Nothing much has changed,. It is what it is. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The current plan is called Bus Rapid Transit, which involves using conventional buses but eliminating stops, and building 1.7 miles of dedicated bus-only lanes, installing special traffic signals for buses, and having boarding areas in the middle of the street. You can see an animation of the concept by Googling Geary Corridor Bus Rapid Transit. Bus Rapid Transit is cheaper than rail and more flexible. Its worked in Mexico City, San Jose and on AC Transit routes in Oakland. It may be cheaper than rail, but its still expensive the Geary corridor version would cost $300 million. In their usual slow way, city planners have gone through 10 years of negotiations, studies, debate and delays. There was a lot of opposition, mostly because of fears that construction would take years and be fatal to some of the small businesses on Geary. But finally, on Jan. 5, the Board of Supervisors, sitting as the County Transportation Authority, gave it the green light. But this is San Francisco, and even a decade of talk is not enough. A group of Geary merchants and residents called San Franciscans for Sensible Transit filed a suit to block the project, which they say is too expensive and unnecessary. The lawsuit calls it a grave error and a bus thruway which destroys the quality of life and the economic health of the Richmond District. So now its in the courts. But thats San Francisco, where change can be fast, but the road to rapid transit is slower than a Muni bus bumping its way out Geary. Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His column appears every Sunday. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesf This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Carolyn Coquillette took an unusual path to becoming a software developer through the back door of her San Francisco hybrid car repair shop. Ten years ago, Coquillette opened Luscious Garage, breaking ground in a male-dominated industry with the first shop that specialized in hybrids. Now shes started Shop-Ware, a software company geared toward her fellow independent auto repair shop owners. In selling the cloud-based, paper-free auto shop management system, the little-known startup is going up against five companies that are already well-established in the space, according to Eric Lough, director of data management at PartsTech, an auto parts search engine. Still, shop owners interviewed for this story estimated that about half or more auto-repair garages around the country are still writing work orders for customers by hand. So at a time when software giants like Salesforce and Oracle offer computerized programs for almost all functions in an office, Coquillette, 38, believes she can make headway in an industry that Silicon Valley has overlooked. Her system, she maintains, consolidates functions like accounting, inventory, parts ordering and customer relations in a way that other, more piecemeal programs do not. Lots of other companies have figured out how to text you with a price for auto repair, she said. But nobody really tried to improve the operating system for independent auto repair shops. It was kind of this forgotten thing we took for granted. Customers of Luscious Garage and the 40 other repair shops that use Shop-Ware can see service orders and work estimates on their computers and mobile devices. Garage technicians can even embed photos of problems they find while working on the car. The customer receives a text or email, pulls up the revised order and can click a button to approve or reject any additional work. The customer receives a text or email when the job is completed. Adam Nielsen of El Granada said hes become a loyal customer of Luscious partly because the software system makes car service less intimidating and more transparent. For example, the garage recently transmitted a photo of his non-hybrid Subarus spark plugs and suggested additional work. That gave him time to do more research online and decide if he wanted to seek another estimate. I could see the corroded spark plugs myself, Nielsen said. Other mechanics can talk down to you and be almost intimidating with their jargon. Here, you can just decline it and you dont have to be all weirded out talking to the guy on the phone. You dont feel intimidated into getting service that you may think your car doesnt need. On the repair shop side, the system saves paper. Lots of paper. One job would generate 15 pages of paper, said Justin Nunes, owner of J&G Automotive of San Rafael. The customer would get a printout of the estimate, the technician would get the repair orders, the customer would get the final bill. Weve gone from printing reams and reams of paper every month to practically not using a single page in weeks. Nunes said the $350 per month fee is about $100 a month more than he paid for his previous shop system, and he had to upgrade each service bay with new computers and stands. But hes saving about $120 per month in ink cartridges alone. Luscious Garage, now on Ninth Street, is surrounded by the South of Market offices of tech companies like Pinterest, Zynga and Adobe Systems. From the start, the garage billed itself as an eco-friendly business, using solar power and natural light, reclaimed water for the bathroom and an all-electronic invoice system that sent customers PDFs and email instead of printouts. Coquillettes first shop system was designed for Luscious. In 2012, she decided to try to sell that system to other garages, but because the underlying code was too old to add all the features she envisioned, she contracted with software developers to start from scratch the next year. Luscious switched to the new system in 2015, and Coquillette began offering it to other shops to test. She funded Shop-Ware herself. Steve Scott, owner of 47 Garage in Carmichael (Sacramento County), began testing the software in March 2015, saying it took care of all the little back-shop details better than any system he had seen, and nobody offered a paperless version. Scott said he hasnt had to hire an extra person to handle service calls because I get an 80 percent faster response by texting. He noted that his garage has a lot of older customers, and some would still ask for a printed work order at first. Some garage owners may be hard to convince too, he said. Because lot of shop owners are older, making the switch to an online system or a digital system is a big jump, said Scott, 54. Its just an industry thats been slow to come around. Quite frankly, we have a lot to keep up with just in the cars. Its a huge jump to learn new software. Thats the thing that Carolyn will have to deal with the most. Pete Rudloff, owner of Petes Garage in Newark, Del., and a member of several committees for the industry group Automotive Service Association, said there are about 227,000 independent auto repair shops in America, not including official automobile dealership shops. Like Coquillette, Rudloff has started an auto shop management software company, although his is still in stealth mode. Many auto-repair software developers are not nearly as invested in the industry because they arent working in the trenches, he said. Someone like myself or Carolyn knows what shop owners need. That gives us an advantage. Coquillette could have chosen to open more Luscious Garage locations. Instead, she steered toward creating the software system, which admittedly is an unsexy core business. She hopes to expand to 300 customers by the end of the year and has received positive vibes from coders. They dont see this as yet another nutrition app or yet another fertility app, she said. They see this as solving a problem. Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChronicleBenny This month, New York City joined Philadelphia and Massachusetts in passing legislation that will ban employers from asking job applicants about their salary history, in an attempt to narrow the wage gap between women and men. More than 20 other cities and states including San Francisco and California have similar legislation in the works. The goal is to prevent gender discrimination from being passed from one workplace to the next by basing an employees pay on his or her prior salary. California passed an equal pay law last year, but only after a provision banning employers from inquiring about an applicants prior salary was removed. The law says that prior compensation cannot, by itself, justify any pay disparity between men and women. A bill introduced this year by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, would prohibit employers from seeking salary information about a job applicant. AB168 also would require employers, upon request, to provide the pay range for a position to an applicant. There are exceptions for government positions and employees if their salary is subject to public disclosure. San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell has proposed an ordinance that would ban employers from asking applicants about their prior salary. It also would prevent employers from disclosing a current or former employees pay without the employees permission. In 2015, women working full time earned 81 percent as much as men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even after adjusting for factors used to explain the wage gap such as shorter hours and career interruptions women still make less than men, according to a study by Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn published last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Most employers ask about prior salary in applications or interviews. Many online applications cannot even be submitted until a prior salary is entered. Its fair to say a majority of companies use prior salary as some input in setting pay, said Joelle Emerson, CEO of Paradigm, a San Francisco diversity consulting firm. In some, its a driving factor. In others, it might move it up or down within a range. Some job applicants say the mandatory disclosure of prior salary can also discriminate against older workers. If their previous salary is more than the new job pays, they might automatically be disqualified in favor of younger, cheaper employees, even if they are willing to accept less for the new position, which might be less stressful, closer to home or able to offer better health coverage than their prior job. Lorrene Salazar, 55, said she has applied for about 50 jobs since July and virtually all asked for her prior pay. I think it inhibits me because they assume I wont take anything less, said Salazar, who landed a temporary job with the City of Hayward. The Boston Chamber of Commerce supported the Massachusetts law that takes effect next year. But many employers oppose the idea. The California Chamber of Commerce opposed last years equal pay bill until the provision banning the salary question was dropped. It has not taken a position on Eggmans bill. Sometimes employers say a persons salary is a measure of their market value right now. Its an imperfect proxy, because there are a lot of reasons why someones current pay does not accurately reflect their experience and qualifications, said Maya Raghu, director of workplace equality with the National Womens Law Center. For example, pay for the same type of work might be different in the nonprofit and for-profit sector. Employer advocates say that if you ban the salary question, How do I know whether I have a real candidate or not? If I have a job I want to pay $75,000 for, and that person is making $125,000, why should I waste my time? said Steven Suflas, an employment attorney with Ballard Spahr. Providing a salary range would allow applicants not to waste their or the employers time. The Western States Trucking Association opposes Eggmans bill, saying it effectively eliminates an employers ability to negotiate wage, as well as creates a new reason to sue. The Association of California Water Agencies said in a letter opposing the bill that it might not actually close the wage gap for many applicants because many employers typically start new employees at the bottom of a salary range, unless they can negotiate a higher pay due to skill or previous salary history. Applicants who do not, or cannot, share their current salary would be limited in their ability to negotiate a salary above the minimum. Eggmans bill would not prevent applicants from sharing their salary history voluntarily. Nor would it prevent employers from asking applicants about their salary expectations. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Under the Massachusetts law, if an applicant voluntarily provides prior salary, the prospective employer may try to verify it, but only after an employment offer with compensation has been made, said Jim Reidy, a New Hampshire lawyer who also practices in Massachusetts. Companies may tell a prospective employer how much a former employee made, but most dont for a variety of reasons such as wanting to avoid lawsuits, said Mike Aitken, vice president of government affairs with the Society of Human Resource Management. Suflas said the prior-salary ban is gaining support, especially in states where people are afraid that the Trump administration might try to water down workplace protections. Raghu said that legislation has been introduced in states that include Texas, Florida, Montana, Virginia and Wisconsin. An employer has information about what they want to pay, what their competitors are paying, how much benefits cost, Raghu said. Applicants can get some of that information through websites such as PayScale, Glassdoor and Salary.com, but you dont know how accurate it is. The one piece of leverage most applicants have is their current salary. If they are asked to give it up immediately, even to apply for a job, they have lost any power they have. Kris Stadelman, director at Nova Workforce Development, a career services agency in Sunnyvale, dissuades job seekers from sharing their prior compensation. If they have to, they should talk about a range, she said. They should also avoid online job boards that require it. They are black holes, not many people get actual jobs that way, she said. Instead, she recommends networking. If you see an opening, find out who in your network works there. In that way, you can get your resume pulled out of the stack. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender At the California Street location of Mollie Stones, a pricey grocery store in one of San Franciscos wealthiest neighborhoods, Mary Risley pushed a shopping cart full of day-old baguettes, rolls and sandwiches tied up in a white garbage bag, walking with a slight hobble from recent hip and knee replacements. The haul was for her organization, Food Runners, which coordinates and delivers food donations to charitable organizations that feed the poor. Though grateful, she knew there could be more. I want all this, said Risley, pointing at the manicured piles of salad, baked pasta and grilled chicken in the deli case, a spread shes pretty sure must result in leftovers at the end of the day. Even three decades after founding Food Runners, Risley is constantly driven to get a bigger portion of the food that San Francisco routinely wastes into the mouths of the hungry. After starting off in her living room, Food Runners now recovers an estimated 17 tons of perishable and prepared food a week enough to make 3,000 meals a day straight from catered parties and hotel buffets to homeless encampments and after-school programs. But considering that 23 percent of San Franciscans are at risk of hunger, thats still not enough for her. What I would like is every business in San Francisco the law firm at Montgomery Street, the bake shop at Dogpatch, the caterer in Pacific Heights I want everybody to know they dont have to throw good food away. It doesnt matter how long its been out, said Risley, 75, whose green eyes, which study you in conversation, and mischievous smile work their charms on the people she hits up for donations. Food Runners growth in the past three decades serves as a gauge of San Franciscos vast wealth disparity. The organizations budget, which for many years was less than $1,000, has risen to $400,000 in the past two years, largely because South of Market corporate cafeteria donations have created a need for more professional help. And while many new app-based food recovery efforts have emerged trying to use a similar model, Food Runners still gets the job done in an old-fashioned, analog way. As with so many food technology things, you see all these people coming in and saying, Oh, we can solve this problem. Its just a logistics issue, said food systems consultant Wendy Weiden, who said legacy groups like Food Runners remain best at dealing with the more difficult non-logistics issues, such as establishing relationships with donors and recipients. The organization is still mostly run by 200 volunteers who pull regular delivery shifts and whom Risley keeps happy with parties thrown twice a year. The organization now has a driver, two cargo bike couriers and a dispatcher on staff, and it owns its own truck. James Tensuan/Special to The Chronicle Donors like LinkedIn, the Ritz-Carlton and Karas Cupcakes use an app to communicate what they have to give, and then Food Runners dispatcher, Nancy Hahn, matches the food with an organization that can use it, fitting the number of servings with the number of clients. She also makes sure the recipient has the facilities to handle the particular type of food whether its perishable groceries, bagged lunches or trays of prepared meals. Then she sends off a runner. Every soup kitchen I work with daily they couldnt operate without Food Runners. They would be down to (serving food) one to two days a week, said Danny Higginbotham, chef at Walden House, which serves an estimated 1.8 million meals a year to clients with mental health and substance abuse issues. That number would be 1.2 million without Food Runners donations, he said. Part of the nonprofits success comes from Risleys tenacity, present at the start, when she wanted to donate extra food from her now closed cooking school Tante Marie and couldnt find a way. I used my skill at delegating to force people into picking up food and taking it to shelters, said Risley, known to have strongly encouraged her onetime culinary students to volunteer, too. Shes a biker with a chef jacket, said Higginbotham. Shes a tough woman. After delivering the Mollie Stones donation to a neighborhood center serving low-income seniors, Risley got back in her car and headed to Real Foods, a grocer on Polk Street. This donation was much larger and more perishable, including large tubs of yogurt, cartons of eggs and boxes full of milk, all just past their sell-by date. Sell-by dates are set by manufacturers and are not required by law, but most stores and the Food Bank avoid selling or giving away food past its sell-by date, even if the sell-by date is not necessarily a reflection of the food's quality. This is so great, said Risley. I was expecting some rotten bananas. She hugged store supervisor Enrico Granados and headed off again. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 James Tensuan/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 2 James Tensuan/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less In an alley off Columbus Avenue, Risley pulled up to the side door of North Beach Citizens, a neighborhood center that helps get homeless into transitional housing and drug treatment programs. A rush of people came to unload her car, including clients who live off their Social Security benefits. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. The money runs out. You tend to spend more in the beginning of the month, said Jeff, 55, who is in cancer treatment. (He didnt give his last name.) Looking at the cartons of milk, he said, It does more than nourish me. Its good for my soul. It can be hard to get new donors on board, said Risley. Some are afraid of liability, though California law protects food businesses that donate food to charity from liability as long as no negligence is involved. The hard one to convince are the hotels, Risley said. They can donate food from the buffet line, just not plated leftovers that were brought to a table. Its a question of managing the culture. Maybe a manager wants to donate, but whos at the party clearing the buffet at 9:30? That is one of the reasons Weiden, the consultant, said that programs like Food Runners are not always scalable. Weiden also thinks that not enough attention is paid to food safety in many such programs, though in Food Runners case, door-to-door delivery is within an hour, Risley said. The self-described rich lady, who lives in a large home on the edge of Pacific Heights that she bought while running her cooking school, said she has never taken a salary from her nonprofit. She started the school, which closed in 2014, with no financial backing from her family and no college education, just a diploma from secretarial school. But after helping to get food to the addicted, the poor and the hungry for decades, she often says that she could have ended up like one of them, sleeping in a car or on the sidewalk. Her goal is to make sure the organization is self-sufficient before she steps away, preferably before she turns 80. I cant be bossing people around for the rest of my life, she said. Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan LITTLE ROCK, Ark. A federal judge dealt a serious blow Saturday to Arkansas unprecedented plan to execute eight inmates in an 11-day period, saying the men have the right to challenge a drug protocol that could expose them to severe pain. The state appealed U.S. District Judge Kristine Bakers order hours later, hoping to follow through with its planned executions, with the first scheduled for Monday. Arkansas supply of one of its three lethal injection drugs, midazolam, expires April 30, and Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he wants to use the drugs before they spoil. Manufacturers object to states using their drugs in executions, and the Arkansas Department of Corrections said in previous court filings that it doesnt have a way of obtaining more of the sedative midazolam. In a separate legal action Friday, a state judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from using a paralyzing drug, vecuronium bromide, supplied by a company that says Arkansas obtained it under false pretenses. Another federal judge and the state Supreme Court had already granted stays to two of the eight inmates, reducing the number of planned executions to six within an 11-day period. If Arkansas had proceeded with its original plan to execute eight inmates, it would have been the most people put to death by a state in that amount of time since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. Hutchinson said he would meet with the states lawyers and its prison officials Monday to discuss Arkansas next moves as it attempts to conduct executions for the first time since 2005. I understand how difficult this is on the victims families, and my heart goes out to them as they once again deal with the continued court review; however, the last minute court reviews are all part of the difficult process of death penalty cases, Hutchinson said in a statement. In her order, Baker said there was a significant possibility that the inmates could successfully challenge the states execution protocol. She said that while the state demonstrated it does not plan to torture the inmates, the inmates had a right to challenge the method of execution in an attempt to show it creates a demonstrated risk of severe pain. Andrew DeMillo and Kelly P. Kissell is an Associated Press writer. The White House war between Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner wouldnt matter in a normal administration with a normal president. But theres nothing normal about the Trump White House, whose major occupant exists in a giant narcissistic bubble impenetrable by anyone but close relatives and a few strong personalities. Which makes this brawl especially important. Kushner is Trumps trusted son-in-law, a 36-year-old real estate scion who knows nothing about government but a great deal about Trump, and whose portfolio of responsibilities keeps growing by the day. Bannon is the rumpled hero of the antiestablishment populist base that drove Trumps Electoral College victory but who appears to be losing clout. The fundamental difference between Kushner and Bannon is over populism. Kushner is a politically moderate multimillionaire with business interests all over the world some of which pose considerable conflicts of interest with his current duties and is quite comfortable with all the CEOs, billionaires and Wall Street moguls Trump has lured into his administration. Bannon hates the establishment. There is a growing global antiestablishment revolt against the permanent political class at home, and the global elites that influence them, which impacts everyone from Lubbock, Texas, to London, England, he told the New York Times in 2014. These opposing views could coexist for a time. For example, Bannon explained to the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February that one of his major goals is the deconstruction of the administrative state. If Bannon meant trimming back regulations emanating from administrative agencies, its an idea that Wall Street and CEOs love. Trump has wholeheartedly embraced it. We are absolutely destroying these horrible regulations that have been placed on your heads, Trump declared last week to a group of enthusiastic chief executives from big companies such as Citigroup, MasterCard and Jet Blue. But Bannon actually meant something quite different. To Bannon, deconstructing the administrative state means destroying the state that is, our system of government. Im a Leninist, Bannon told a reporter for the Daily Beast a few years back. (He now says he doesnt recall the conversation.) Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and thats my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of todays establishment. Under Bannons tutelage, Trump has attacked the core institutions of American democracy. Hes lashed out at judges who disagree with him; called the media the enemy of the American people; denigrated fact-finding groups such as the intelligence agencies, the Congressional Budget Office and government scientists; alleged without evidence that his predecessor wiretapped him; and repeatedly lied about his electoral victory. And rather than support a full and independent inquiry into whether anyone in his campaign might have conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, Trump has done everything he can to subvert it. Does Bannons recent demotion and Kushners promotion mean weve seen the end of these sorts of attacks? I doubt it. After all, Trump originally embraced Bannon because Bannon gave Trump exactly what Trump has sought for decades: controversy, screaming headlines and, above all, the appearance of being an irreverent outsider who rejects politics as usual and rattles Washington to the core. So its doubtful that either Bannon or Kushner will emerge the winner. Theyll both continue to advance their own views and agendas in Trumps chaotic White House. Which means that what were likely to be left with and what Trump is already on the way to adopting is the worst of both worlds: Bannons brand of antiestablishment populism that seeks to undermine the core democratic institutions of government, and Kushners oligarchical Republicanism that empowers and enriches CEOs, Wall Street and billionaires. This is exactly the reverse of what most Americans want. Americans hate big money in politics, but have deep reverence for the institutions of government the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, an independent judiciary, the office of the president (regardless of who inhabits it), freedom of the press, the right to vote and the truth. Americans are rightfully incensed that the system is rigged against them. But theyre angry at the riggers not at the system. Yet Kushner will protect the riggers, and Bannon is out to destroy the system. And Trump is quite happy to do both. 2017 Robert Reich Robert Reich, a former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. He blogs daily at www.facebook.com/rbreich . To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters.. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Health officials in tourist-friendly Hawaii are defending themselves from criticism that they have for years downplayed the severity of a rare, brain-invading parasite that has infected dozens on the islands, including a San Francisco couple stricken by the disease on a recent honeymoon. A cluster of rat lungworm cases in Maui caught widespread attention last week when Eliza Lape of San Francisco and her husband, UC Berkeley journalism professor Ben Manilla, revealed they had become severely ill in January after they eloped on the island. But researchers say the disease had been centered in poorer parts of the Big Island for years and received little notice until state health officials started investigating the Maui cases, which number half a dozen already this year. Susan Jarvi, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, started looking into the disease more than five years ago and said the state is over a decade late in alerting the community, visitors and health care providers. It appears to me that theyve been trying to sweep this under the rug for a number of years now, Jarvi said. I would guess they dont want to hurt the tourism industry. More for you SF couple contract brain-invading parasite on Hawaiian honeymoon State officials defended their actions, noting that of the several million tourists who visit Hawaii every year, just four have reported cases of rat lungworm since 2015. We realize there may be unreported cases since this disease resolves itself in many instances without treatment, Janice Okubo, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii State Department of Health, wrote in an email. That is something we take into consideration as we continue to research and seek better ways to identify and prevent the disease. She said there are no travel health advisories issued related to the recent cases, and travelers can continue to visit Hawaii with confidence. Rat lungworm disease is primarily acquired by consuming snails and slugs that host the parasite larvae or by eating raw, unwashed produce contaminated by a slug. It can cause a rare form of meningitis and fatal complications when larvae invade the brain after being passed on to humans by mollusks that come in contact with rodent feces. Lape, 57, is now nearly recovered from the infection, but Manilla, 64, contracted a harsher form of the disease and is in physical therapy for help walking and using his hands. He was hospitalized in February, spent a month in intensive care, and had operations, bouts of pneumonia, kidney problems and a blood clot, Lape said. The couple do not know how they contracted the disease, Lape said, while noting the abundance of fresh fruit stands they shopped at on the island. Amid the recent uptick in cases, Hawaii state legislators introduced a bill in January that would provide funding for the University of Hawaii at Hilo to research rat lungworms prevention and eradication. The state House of Representatives passed the bill April 6, sending it back to the state Senate, which filed a notice of disagreement with the House amendments a day later. There are questions. Why havent the tourists been told about this? Jarvi said. It should have first been addressed back in 2005. We started seeing an increase in the number of cases. Certainly by 2008 we had a number of serious cases. Jarvi said health officials did not publicize the seriousness of the disease which, with no viable cure, has to resolve itself when the worms die. Some people who contract it lead fairly normal lives, while those with severe cases can face long-term effects such as paralysis, an inability to speak, or loss of bowel and bladder control. Okubo said the state became aware of the disease in 2004 and generally sees between one to nine reported cases a year. Two related deaths were recorded since 2007. The department, Okubo said, invited a team from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the islands in 2005 to help study the problem. Last year, the state reported 11 cases, all on the Big Island. This year, there have already been nine cases six on Maui and three on the Big Island. Officials are also investigating four unconfirmed cases this year: three on Maui and one on the Big Island, Okubo said. The department has held public meetings and presentations and circulated flyers on the disease, and plans to ramp up efforts in light of the Maui cases, Okubo said. But Jarvi said these recent efforts should have taken place on the Big Island years ago. Robert Cowie, another rat lungworm researcher who runs a lab at the Pacific Biosciences Research Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, also said public education on the disease is lacking, but he was not as critical of officials. Its certainly underreported, Cowie said of rat lungworm. The truth is probably somewhere in between ... a lot of the public arent aware. When they do become aware, theyre really scared. Cowie said he began researching the disease during the first noticeable outbreaks in the mid-2000s, and noted that Jarvis lab and the health department often butt heads over research funding. The cause of the outbreak is unknown. State epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said in an email that officials were unable to determine this at this time, and any suggestion would be speculation. Jarvi, though, said years of research point to the recent migration of the invasive semi-slug to Hawaii as a factor in the rise of cases. She also said the states tally is underreported, owing in part to the difficulty of diagnosing the disease. Cowie, a snail biologist, said his research shows the semi-slug is a good carrier but far from the only threat among mollusks on the island. He said the focus should be on washing vegetables with water to prevent potential contamination. Jarvi said she began researching rat lungworm after meeting in 2011 with Hawaii resident Kathleen Howe, whose son, Graham McCumber, was in a coma for three months after he was infected in 2008 at age 24. I had heard about it prior but was under the assumption the false assumption that it was a mild, self-resolving disease, which is what it said on the Department of Health website, Jarvi said. Howe said she quit her teaching job when her son fell ill and doctors told her he might not survive. In 2011, Graham McCumber recovered enough to go to school and his mother enrolled as well to learn more about the largely unstudied disease. She graduated from the University of Hawaii at Hilo last year with a masters degree in tropical conservation biology and environmental science and has worked with Jarvis lab for years, focusing on community education on rat lungworm. This is both a Department of Health and Department of Agriculture problem, and both of them dont want to accept it, Howe said. Weve been saying its epidemic. Theyve been saying no. Weve been saying its a public safety crisis, theyre saying no. We feel the Department of Health is being grossly negligent. Now five years after the illness, Howes son still requires his mother as a caretaker, needs a service dog for balance and suffers short-term memory loss, said his sister, Caydie McCumber. Its frustrating, said Caydie McCumber, who lives in Oakland. Its just sort of this really nebulous thing at this point the government needs to do something about. Its just sort of ridiculous that the governments not protecting its people. Rallies and protest events are a part of political life in the Bay Area. Heres a roundup of whats happening. Monday Town hall: Hosted by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., from 11 a.m. to noon at the San Francisco Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 2850 19th Ave. Attendees must have a ticket. Tickets are free. For information: http://bit.ly/2nBgGTa. Immigration protest: A demonstration calling for Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern to stop working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by notifying ICE on prisoner releases. The protest is from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility, 550 Sixth St. in Oakland. For information: www.facebook.com/events/1679499972067091. Conversation on land use: A discussion on how local communities can make the best decisions to meet regional and local needs on land use and housing. The event is at 6 p.m. at SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission St., San Francisco. Tickets are $10 for non-SPUR members, free to members. For information: www.spur.org/events/2017-04-17/who-should-make-land-use-decisions. Politics 101: A discussion hosted by the United Democratic Club on the political history of San Francisco, how local and state governments work, and what the future holds for political issues like housing and transportation. The event is free and begins at 6:30 p.m. at 524 Third St. in San Francisco. RSVP: http://bit.ly/pol101ap17. Tuesday Town hall: Hosted by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, at 6:30 p.m. at Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center, 2277 Napa Vallejo Highway in Napa. Wednesday Town hall: Hosted by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, at 3 p.m. at City Hall, 525 Henrietta St. in Martinez. ACLU event: The League of Women Voters hosts a discussion with Jay Laefer of the American Civil Liberties Union on safeguarding the rights of our entire community. The event is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Woodside Road United Methodist Church, 2000 Woodside Road, Redwood City. Conversation on Trump resistance: A new event series hosted by The Chronicle is called Chronicle Chats. This event, The Future of the Left: Can the Trump Resistance Grow Beyond Protest? will be moderated by columnist David Talbot and will feature a senior adviser to the Bernie Sanders campaign and other experts and leaders. The event is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Tickets are available at: https://info.sfchronicle.com/chroniclechats. Thursday Peace vigil: A weekly vigil for peace supporters. The event is from noon to 1 p.m. at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Larkin Street in San Francisco. Anti-Trump show: The Museum of International Propaganda is hosting a pop-up art and poetry show called Against Trumpism: The Art & Poetry of Resistance. Bay Area and national artists and poets will present their work from April 20 to 29. The opening reception is April 20 from 6 to 10 p.m. with a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m. at 1000 Fifth Ave., San Rafael. The event is free and wheelchair-accessible. For more information, contact artofresistingtrump@gmail.com. Saturday Town halls: Hosted by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, at 10 a.m. in the gymnasium of Canada College, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., Woodside. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, will host a town hall at 4 p.m. at the Dublin High School student union, 8151 Village Parkway in Dublin. Science march: Marches mark Earth Day. In San Francisco, a march begins at 11 a.m. at Justin Herman Plaza, Embarcadero Center at Market and Steuart streets, and ends at Civic Center Plaza. For information: http://bit.ly/2nAcLkN. A march in San Jose will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Details to be confirmed. For information: http://bit.ly/2oV8oSu. In Walnut Creek, a march from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. will start at Civic Park, 1375 Civic Drive. A Hayward march from 10 a.m. to noon begins at the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center, 4901 Breakwater Ave. For information: http://bit.ly/2n7oonY. April 23 Town hall: Hosted by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, at 1 p.m. at Newark Memorial High School, 39375 Cedar Blvd. in Newark. Sexual assault conversation: Loosid Projects, Planned Parenthood and Bay Area Women Against Rape host a discussion called Locker Room Talk: Confronting Sexual Violence in the Age of Trump. The event is from 6 to 8 p.m. at 507 55th St., Oakland. Tickets are $10 at the door. For information, contact info@loosidity.com. April 26 Environment discussion: Marin County Supervisor Kate Sears will discuss the recent findings of the BayWave Project, a study on sea levels and rising tides from Sausalito to Novato. Sears will discuss Marins vulnerability and list next steps for how to deal with issues associated with rising sea levels. The event is free, wheelchair-accessible and begins at 7 p.m. It will be held at Drivers Market, 200 Caledonia St. in Sausalito. RSVP: www.driversmarket.com. April 27 Comedy night: Hosted by the International Institute of the Bay Area, a Comedy Night for Immigrant Rights will feature Bay Area comedians Irene Tu, Johan Miranda and Zahra Noorbaksh. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at BATS Improv Theatre in Building B at Fort Mason in San Francisco. For tickets: www.iibayarea.org/comedy-night-event. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Cedric Anderson walked into his wife's classroom at North Park Elementary on Monday and fired 10 rounds from a .357 Magnum. He killed his wife, Karen Smith, and her 8-year-old student Jonathan Martinez before turning the gun on himself. Another student is recovering from a bullet wound to the torso. Weeks before the shooting, Anderson had accused Smith of infidelity, leading her to move out of their shared home. Anderson had a criminal history and a record of domestic violence, but Smith didn't take her estranged husband's threats seriously, authorities said. As news of the shooting spread, the phones at one San Bernadino women's shelter began ringing constantly. Related video: Police release portions of 911 calls after shooting Heather Stevning, executive director of Option House, told Vice that she spent all of Monday night taking calls on the shelter's emergency hotline. "Calls have doubled," she told the site just one day after the shooting, as men and women once afraid to reach out suddenly felt the urgency of their situations. According to the San Bernadino County Sun, the police department investigated 1,500 cases related to domestic violence in 2016. "Most of these did not play out publicly like Monday's did for us," Lt. Mike Madden said, speaking at a press conference Wednesday at Option House. Instead, added Madden, "They happened behind closed doors." Kara Duggan of San Francisco women's shelter La Casa says it's not uncommon for hotline calls to spike at shelters when incidents of domestic violence make headlines. "Batterers often use isolation as a tactic," she said, adding that La Casa's hotline received 8,654 calls last year. "Incidents like these let people know that they are not alone, that this is happening to other people." La Casa's crisis support hotline can be reached 24/7 at (877) 503-1850. Those worried about their safety should call 911. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Dana Woldow never met a can of soda pop she didnt loathe. Ms. Woldow, a nationally known public school watchdog, spent decades trying to rid California schools of the twin threats of junk food purveyors and profit-driven school reformers intent on turning public schools into private investments. Soda, potato chips, snack cakes, ice cream, french fries, she liked to say, rattling off the old snack bar menu at the San Francisco middle school her children attended. Garbage! Ms. Woldow, who died Monday in her San Francisco home at age 65, became an expert on school food policy, and many of the improvements over the past decades in San Francisco school lunchrooms can be traced to her dogged, determined efforts on behalf of schoolchildren. Margaret Brodkin, the former director of the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, called her longtime friend a national heroine for the school food movement. She countered every lie by the fast-food industry, everything that schools did to stigmatize kids needing a free lunch, and put the focus squarely on getting the best nutrition possible for kids, and getting it paid for, Brodkin said. She was tough. Ms. Woldow was also a determined foe of controversial, for-profit Edison Schools Inc. and its failed attempt to gain a foothold in San Francisco and the U.S. nearly two decades ago. A tall, slim, wiry woman with a wicked sense of humor, Ms. Woldow acknowledged that her work was possible because she had the time and resources to do it, pro bono. I have many advantages, so I dont need to fear losing my job for speaking out, she once said. I can barge onto a high school campus, for example, and just wander around looking for junk food vending. I dont need to fear reprisals from anyone because, really, what could they do? A native of Philadelphia and a 1973 graduate of Brown University, Ms. Woldow worked as a cook and a portrait photographer before moving to San Francisco in 1977 and becoming involved in public schools. She enjoyed travel, particularly to France, and she took pleasure in weekly trips to the San Francisco Symphony with her husband, San Francisco lawyer Mark Schreiber. She was an accomplished chef, particularly with a wok, and she was a member of the celebrated Les Dames dEscoffier, an international club for women who take their food seriously. She was also a passionate admirer of owls. In 2007, Ms. Woldow was awarded the Jefferson Award from the American Institute for Public Service. The Dana Woldow Grove at Balboa High School was dedicated in 2010 to honor her work in improving school menus. Ms. Woldow had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and endured her illness with the kind of quiet patience she rarely exhibited in her version of old-fashioned school cafeteria food fights. She was a funny, faithful and generous friend, said longtime former San Francisco school board member Jill Wynns. She trained herself to be a statistical analyst. The exuberance of for-profit school management took a big hit, thanks to Dana and her friends. Ms. Woldow is survived by her husband of 37 years; and three sons, Max of San Francisco, Samuel of Mountain View and Jacob of Seattle, all graduates of San Francisco public schools. Memorial donations may be made to Meals on Wheels. Plans for a memorial service are pending. Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF A Trump administration lawyer told an apparently skeptical federal judge Friday that President Trumps executive order against so-called sanctuary cities, such as San Francisco, doesnt deprive them of federal funding at least not yet but merely encourages them to follow immigration laws. Theres been no action threatened or taken against the cities, Assistant Attorney General Chad Readler said at a hearing in San Francisco on a lawsuit by San Francisco and Santa Clara County. He said Trump, in a Jan. 25 order that spoke of withholding federal funds from cities and counties that refused to cooperate with federal immigration agents, was just using a bully pulpit to advocate compliance. But U.S. District Judge William Orrick III said Attorney General Jeff Sessions has publicly identified San Francisco as a sanctuary city, and Trump has also criticized the citys immigration policy. In the first legal test of Trumps executive order, Orrick is considering San Francisco and Santa Clara Countys request for an injunction that would halt enforcement of the order against more than 300 cities and counties nationwide. After a 70-minute hearing in his San Francisco courtroom, Orrick said he would issue a ruling as soon as I can. Readler had argued that the two counties lacked standing the right to challenge the executive order because they faced no prospect of immediate harm. But Orrick noted that San Francisco has received as much as $2 billion a year in federal funding, and Santa Clara County $1.7 billion. Why dont they have standing? he asked. Theres no actual enforcement action on the table, Readler replied. He said sanctuary cities, which would face future penalties under Trumps order, is a term that means different things to different people. Readlers statement reflected varying public positions within the Trump administration on sanctuary cities and the obligations of local governments under federal immigration laws. The presidents executive order cites a long-standing federal law requiring local governments to direct their law enforcement agencies to inform immigration agents of the immigration status of people they are holding in their jails. San Francisco and Santa Clara County say they comply with that law. But administration officials have also demanded that cities and counties hold immigrant detainees after their scheduled release dates when immigration officials want to take them into their custody for possible deportation. San Francisco and Santa Clara County say any such prolonged confinement would be unconstitutional, a position shared by many other local governments that the administration has defined as sanctuary cities. Readler told Orrick the administration was issuing only requests, not orders, to keep immigrants in custody, and that local compliance was voluntary. But Orrick said Sessions has classified local governments that fail to go along as sanctuary cities, meaning they are covered by Trumps order. At one point in the hearing, Orrick said he was inclined to conclude that the local governments faced the prospect of financial harm, a prerequisite for allowing them to continue challenging Trumps order. To issue an injunction, he would also have to find a likelihood that the order exceeded the presidents legal authority. In their lawsuit, San Francisco and Santa Clara County argue that federal funding is controlled by Congress, not the president, and that the Constitution prohibits federal agencies from coercing state and local governments to carry out federal law by threatening to slash their funding. The Trump administration has not yet replied to those arguments, contending only that the suit is premature because no funding cutoffs are imminent. Readler also appeared to back away from threats by both Trump and Sessions to withhold all federal funds to sanctuary cities. The only funding at stake, the government lawyer said at the hearing, would be grants from the Justice Department or the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, and not the bulk of federal appropriations that support local health and social service programs. The attorney general doesnt control Medicare dollars, doesnt control infrastructure dollars, Readler said. He said none of San Franciscos current federal appropriations, and only a single $1 million grant to Santa Clara County, were potentially at risk if the order was enforced. The text of Trumps executive order, on the other hand, appears broader. It directs the attorney general and Homeland Security secretary to make sure that local sanctuary jurisdictions, those that refuse to turn over legally required information to immigration authorities, are not eligible to receive federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes. Lawyers for the local governments told Orrick not to trust Readlers assurances of a narrower scope. Trump and Sessions have made it clear that the executive order is intended as a weapon to cancel all funding to sanctuary cities, including programs for the most vulnerable citizens, said attorney John Keker, representing Santa Clara County. Months from now, the county can find its been designated as a sanctuary city and face the loss of funds it has already spent, he said. A San Francisco deputy city attorney, Mollie Lee, told Orrick, You cannot rely today on recommendations the Department of Justice counsel is making that the attorney general contradicts in public. After the hearing, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the lawsuit had forced Trump to back down from his threat of broad financial penalties. The presidents lawyer ... was forced to admit that only a tiny fraction of federal grants can potentially be withheld from local governments under the presidents order, Herrera said in a statement. But because Trump and Sessions regularly contradict their lawyers court declarations, he said, we need a court order to protect San Francisco and every other sanctuary jurisdiction. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A mother and daughter believed to be leaving a Roman Catholic church service during Holy Week were killed by a drunken driver in Santa Clara, authorities said. The Santa Clara County coroner identified the victims as San Jose residents Carina Kubow, 61, and her 92-year-old mother Angela Bontilao. The women were struck by Vinod Kumar Naidu Bonthu, 26, of Sunnyvale, said Officer Ross Lee, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. Bonthu was arrested on suspicion of DUI and vehicular manslaughter and was released to hospital custody due to his injuries, Lee said. Just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Bonthu was traveling north on Highway 101 when he lost control of his car as he approached an off-ramp onto Great America Parkway and hit a raised curb, according to the CHP. The impact sent his car across the highway, over the center median and into the southbound lanes, Lee said. He collided with a vehicle with four people inside, killing Kubow and Bontilao, who were passengers in the other car, Lee said. Lee said the driver and the additional passenger in the womens car sustained minor injuries. Bonthu suffered major injuries. He was carrying two passengers one with major injuries and one who sustained moderate injuries, Lee said. Lee said officials believe the women had just left a service at Our Lady of Peace Shrine and Catholic Church, where both are parishioners. The church would have have been celebrating Holy Week, the final days of the Lent season leading up to Easter. The church posted on Facebook lamenting the loss of the women. Please pray for our dear parishioners, the post reads. Grant eternal rest to them, O Lord, and may your perpetual light shine upon them. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Robert W. Taylor, who helped shape our modern connected computer world, died Thursday at 85 at his home in Woodside. Mr. Taylor died of complications of Parkinsons disease, his son Kurt said. The Internet, like many inventions, was the work of many inventors. But perhaps no one deserves more credit for that world-changing technological leap than Mr. Taylor. The seminal moment of his work came in 1966. He had just taken a new position at the Pentagon director of the Information Processing Techniques Office, part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as Arpa and on his first day on the job it became immediately obvious to him what the office lacked and what it needed. At the time, Arpa was funding three separate computer research projects and using three separate computer terminals to communicate with them. Mr. Taylor said, No, we need a single computer research network, to connect each project with the others, to enable each to communicate with the others. More for you Apple sparked a tech revolution when it introduced the Mac I went to see Charlie Herzfeld, who was the head of Arpa, and laid the idea on him, Mr. Taylor recalled in an interview for this obituary. He liked the idea immediately, and he took a million dollars out of the ballistic missile defense budget and put it into my budget right then and there. He added, The first funding came that month. His idea led to the Arpanet, the forerunner of the Internet. A half-decade later, at Xeroxs storied Palo Alto Research Center, Mr. Taylor was instrumental in another technological breakthrough: funding the design of the Alto computer, which is widely viewed as the forerunner of the modern personal computer. Mr. Taylor even had a vital role in the invention of the computer mouse. In 1961, at the dawn of the Space Age, he was about a year into his job as a project manager at NASA in Washington when he learned about the work of a young computer scientist at Stanford Research Institute, later called SRI International. The scientist, Douglas Engelbart, was exploring the possibilities of direct interaction between humans and computers. Mr. Taylor decided to pump more money into the work, and the financial infusion led directly to Engelbarts invention of the mouse, a computer control technology that would be instrumental in the design of both Macintosh and Microsoft Windows-based computers. (Engelbart died in 2013.) Any way you look at it, from kick-starting the Internet to launching the personal computer revolution, Bob Taylor was a key architect of our modern world, said Leslie Berlin, a historian at Stanfords Silicon Valley Archives. At NASA, as the new Kennedy administration was putting the nation on a path to the moon, Mr. Taylor met and became a friend and protege of J.C.R. Licklider, a psychologist and computer scientist who had written a pioneering paper titled Man-Computer Symbiosis. As much as any single document, the paper became a road map for the development of the Internet and the personal computer, as well as spectacular advances in artificial intelligence and robotics. Robert William Taylor was born on Feb. 10, 1932, in Dallas and was adopted 28 days later in San Antonio by the Rev. Raymond and Marie Taylor, a Methodist minister and his wife. Growing up, he moved frequently as his father was assigned to different parishes. He often spent summers in Austin with an aunt and uncle. After earning a bachelors degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, he went on to do graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin. It was there, while working on his masters thesis in experimental psychology, that he developed a fascination with new forms of human-computer interaction. His thesis research focused on how the ear and the brain localize sound. When he came to analyzing his data, he took it to the universitys computing center, where he met a staff member in a white coat who, working behind a protective glass wall, helped operate the centers mainframe computer. The staff member showed him the laborious process of entering his data and his program onto computer punch cards, the standard of the era. I was appalled, Mr. Taylor recalled years later during an interview at the university, and after I thought about it for a while, I was angry. The data entry process, he said, was ridiculous. I thought it was insulting, he added. He left the center, went back to his laboratory and used a desktop calculator instead. He knew, he said, that the calculator could manipulate symbols it used high voltages and low voltages to represent 1s and 0s and that 1s and 0s could be combined to represent letters, and letters could be combined to represent text, and text could be combined to represent knowledge. Why couldnt computers do that? Mr. Taylor left the Pentagon in 1969 and taught for a year at the University of Utah before joining the newly formed Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, or PARC, in California. There, he joined a small group of researchers who were refining many of the technologies that had been pioneered by Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute as well as creating new ones, including graphical personal computing. Mr. Taylors team of researchers built the prototype personal computer the Alto, and another group, led by Alan Kay, added a software system that pioneered the desktop metaphor, in which documents are represented by graphical icons on the computer display. That technology, in turn, became the inspiration for Apples Lisa and Macintosh computers and for Microsofts Windows software. The laser printer was also invented at PARC, and, besides generating profit for Xerox, it would play an important role in the office of the future ideas that were being explored by Mr. Taylors group. It was Steve Jobs, however, who profited the most when Xerox management allowed him to visit with Mr. Taylors group at the Palo Alto center. Jobs, drawing on ideas he encountered there, went on to be the first to successfully commercialize the new style of computing. Similarly, Charles Simonyi, a young software designer who developed an early word-processing software program for the Alto, took many of the PARC ideas with him when he joined Microsoft. Toward the end of his career, in the 1990s, Mr. Taylor created and ran the Digital Equipment Systems Research Laboratory in Palo Alto, which helped pioneer the Alta Vista Internet search engine. Besides Kurt, Mr. Taylor is survived by two other sons, Erik and Derek, and three grandchildren. His marriage to Joanne Honnold ended in divorce. John Markoff is a New York Times writer. A section of Highway 101 in Gilroy was closed for about two hours Saturday after a big rig knocked down low-hanging power and cable TV lines, officials said. A California Highway Patrol officer responded to reports of the sagging lines at about 11:45 a.m. on Highway 101 between Maston Avenue and Leavesly Road, said CHP Sgt. Lisa Brazil. Minutes later, a big rig failed to slow down in time, driving through the lines and pulling them down, she said. No injuries were reported. By 12:57 p.m., Brazil said, Pacific Gas and Electric Company workers arrived on scene to de-energize the power lines, cut them and take them off the roadway. Roads opened about an hour later just before 2 p.m., but Brazil said five customers in the area were without power. PG&E will reinstall the power lines later in the day, she added. Pioneer Cable Company was on scene after 2:30 p.m. to fix the downed cable line, she said. It could have been bad but its all open now, Brazil said, adding officials were on scene at 3 p.m., directing traffic. Theyre still trying to get everything cleared up. Officers from the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office, the Gilroy Police Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection assisted CHP officers with the highway closure, Brazil said. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno You know a lot about McDonalds, but McDonalds doesnt know much about you. At least not yet. By years end, the worlds largest burger chain will have a mobile ordering system that will collect a wealth of data about the habits of customers everything from what kind of burgers they prefer to how often they swing through the drive-through. McDonalds plans to use the information to interact with diners. For example, the McDonalds app on your phone might suggest a milkshake to go with your twice-weekly Quarter Pounder order. Despite a recent management shakeup, analysts expect the chains innovation plans to continue moving forward. The ability to collect customer data is important to McDonalds, which is trying to reverse a decline in customer traffic. The move also makes the fast-food giant, which lagged behind competitors in services like mobile ordering and payment, a leader in translating customer data into custom service. Through loyalty programs and apps, companies have for years been gathering information on customers to increase visits and sales. But collecting data and using it to make a customers experience better and faster is relatively new, said David Pierpont, an executive vice president at marketing firm Ansira. Consumers are willing to share data if the benefits are right, he said. I think youre going to see more and more. Millennials and members of Generation Z tend to be more open to their data being shared, but Pierpont said that acceptance of data sharing with all its dangers and benefits is more widespread than many people admit. They say they dont want to give everything away, but theyre on Facebook, theyre on Google, he said, noting that about 90 percent of Facebook users keep location services on, allowing ads on the social network to be tailored to their location. McDonalds has had a smartphone app for years, but its primarily been focused on delivering coupons and store location maps. The ability to order food and pay through the app, which will be at all its U.S. restaurants by the end of the year, is already being used in some international markets. In Japan, McDonalds has found that customers using the app spend 35 percent more, on average. The app makes it easy to place orders, so customers return more often, Global Chief Marketing Officer Silvia Lagnado said. And when customers do take the apps suggestions to add a milkshake or some McNuggets on top of a value meal, those orders are stored and often repeated, leading to higher spending. In France, McDonalds is collecting data from app customers and using that information to personalize the promotions they receive. The same technology advancements that are so dramatically changing the way that we live are also transforming the way we market today, Lagnado said at a recent investor presentation. Were increasingly able to measure things that we would have not dreamt of measuring just a few short years ago. McDonalds also is participating in a number of programs to test technology and its effectiveness in getting more customers in the door. The company recently completed a test in Singapore, where it placed Google ads in areas where its restaurants had fewer customers at that moment, and so were able to handle more delivery orders. The company is working with Facebook to measure the effectiveness of its advertising on the site. Using Facebook location-tracking information, the chain can see the time between when customers see an ad on Facebook and when they walk into a McDonalds. It has similar programs running on other social media sites. The company is trying to improve customer traffic in the U.S., which has been in decline for years. The technology will tell McDonalds where its advertising dollars work, and where they could be better spent. And a new stand-alone advertising agency has been created to help put it all together. We Are Unlimited is a 4-month-old agency borne out of ad powerhouse Omnicom, the winner of a months-long battle with Publicis Groupe for all of McDonalds advertising business, handles all of McDonalds national advertising, from TV and radio ads to digital spots and social media efforts. Samantha Bomkamp is a Chicago Tribune writer. America needs new tools for the timely measurement and monitoring of technology, jobs and skills to cope with the advance of artificial intelligence and automation, an expert panel composed mainly of economists and computer scientists said in a new report. The panels recommendations include the development of an AI index, analogous to the Consumer Price Index, to track the pace and spread of artificial intelligence technology. That technical assessment, they said, could then be combined with detailed data on skills and tasks involved in various occupations to guide education and job-training programs. A public-private collaboration, they added, is necessary to create such tools because information from many sources will be the essential ingredient. Those information sources range from traditional government statistics to the vast pools of new data from online services like LinkedIn and Udacity that can be tapped to gain insights on skills, job openings and the effectiveness of training programs. Were flying blind into this dramatic set of economic changes, Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Sloan School of Management, said in an interview. Brynjolfsson was a co-chairman of the 13-member panel that drafted the 184-page report, which was published last week by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a nonprofit organization whose studies are intended as objective analysis to inform public policy. He and the panels other co-chairman, Tom Mitchell, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, also wrote a separate commentary in the journal Nature that was published Thursday, explaining the problem. Both the report and commentary were spurred by AI advances in recent years, including document-reading software and self-driving cars, which promise to make inroads into work done by humans. That prospect has created angst for many U.S. workers about the difficulties of adapting to technological change and the failure of institutions to help them. Yet technologists and academics still differ sharply on how fast the next wave of automation will proceed and how many occupations will be affected. That prompted the panelists to suggest the new data-monitoring tools and the pulling together of government and online data sources to sort through the consequences. Those moves could eventually give a worker in a declining occupation useful information about a more promising occupation, with some similar skills but also requiring some new ones, Mitchell said. Then the software tool might also pull information on job placement rates for courses that teach those new skills. That style of data-driven decision-making is a hallmark of Internet companies like Amazon and Google, and it has been increasingly embraced across corporate America. Theres no reason government cant do that, Brynjolfsson said. The federal government has made considerable progress recently in integrating its surveys of businesses and households with other data it collects, including information on foreign trade, payrolls and unemployment, said John Haltiwanger, a professor at the University of Maryland and former chief economist of the Census Bureau. But our surveys are not really designed to track technology or its impact, said Haltiwanger, who was a member of the expert panel. The best shot at that is the private-sector data. A broad national project, perhaps with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis setting rules for private-sector data sharing and privacy protections, might not be possible, Brynjolfsson conceded. But he and Mitchell wrote in Nature, Perfection here is not a prerequisite for utility anything is better than flying blind. One program that embodies the panels recommendations is Skillful, a collaboration of the Markle Foundation, LinkedIn, Arizona State University and edX, a nonprofit provider of online courses. The partners are working with employers, educators and local governments in Colorado and the Phoenix metropolitan area to link jobs, skills and training more tightly. Past times of economic turmoil have led to new kinds of economic data collection and analysis. At the outset of the Depression in 1929, for example, there was no measure of national economic activity or reliable information on unemployment. In June 1930, based on scattered reports of improvement, President Herbert Hoover prematurely declared, The Depression is over. To address the information gap of its day, the government hired economists and statisticians to come up with a scientific method for measuring the national economy. In 1934, a team led by Simon Kuznets published its report on how to calculate national income. The field of econometrics took a big step forward, and policymakers were less in the dark. The time has now come, the expert panel suggested, for a similar effort to adapt to the modern digital economy. Steve Lohr is a New York Times writer. A predominant theme in the Bay Area over the past year involves powerful founders behaving badly. Uber Technologies Inc. and Zenefits, a maker of human resources software, are two companies whose public reputations have been partly undone by such conduct. Now the same destructive dynamic appears to be playing out at Tanium Inc. Orion Hindawi, who founded Tanium with his father a decade ago, helped build it into the worlds most valuable cybersecurity startup. Its software is used by government agencies and many of the largest global companies, including every major bank, to monitor and protect their networks of devices. Hindawi, Taniums 37-year-old CEO, began heralding plans last year to take his Emeryville company public and predicted that preparations would begin this spring. But Tanium is facing a crisis. At least nine senior executives have left in the past eight months, including the president, chief marketing officer, chief accounting officer and the chief of operations and finance. Interviews with more than two dozen current and former employees, investors and business partners, along with text messages and staff contracts seen by Bloomberg, also suggest the CEO has fired workers before they could cash in their stock options a practice that had the effect of fortifying his control over the company. The reporting also shows he alienated employees by ridiculing them in front of colleagues. In staff meetings, Hindawi would frequently call workers stupid or fat, and he spread rumors about a junior staffers sexual promiscuity and a former executives drug abuse, said ex-employees, who witnessed or were subjects of the insults but asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. One of the most unnerving aspects of life at Tanium is whats known as Orions List. The CEO allegedly kept a close eye on which employees would soon be eligible to take sizable chunks of stock. For those he could stand to do without, Hindawi ordered the workers to be fired before they were able to acquire the shares, according to current and former employees. Tanium said it investigated the allegation and found no pattern of terminating employees based on stock option schedules. We hold our leadership and our employees to the highest ethical and professional standards, Tanium wrote in an email. We face all employee concerns head-on and have uncompromising and rigorous processes in place to investigate them. In the few instances where investigations uncovered employee behavior that crossed lines, we have exited those people without hesitation. Since Hindawi succeeded his dad as CEO last year, problems have persisted, said the people who have worked for him. As he rose to power, his bullying management style was flagged as a potential liability by its largest investor and has contributed to the exodus from Taniums top ranks. The situation at Tanium underscores the risk of venture capitalists placing near-absolute power in the hands of a companys creators. Orion Hindawi and his father, David, control more than 60 percent of votes on Taniums board. Similar structures have worked for Facebook Inc. and Snap Inc., but investors take on increased risk by ceding authority, said Jesse Fried, a professor of business law at Harvard University: If you have a CEO who generally is doing a good job but is acting bad on the margins, youre not going to get in their face. In 1997, during the dot-com boom, David Hindawi started a tech company in Emeryville. The startup BigFix helped other businesses manage the software on their PCs and servers. Orion, who enrolled as a UC Berkeley undergrad that year, dropped out of school after six months to work for his father at BigFix. Then the dot-com market crumbled. David managed to find new investors in late 2002, but was forced out as CEO within a year. David and Orion realized there would be a big opportunity in doing for the cloud what BigFix had been providing for corporate networks. They set up a new company in 2007 called Tanium. From the beginning, it was a family affair. The father took the role of CEO while the son served as chief technology officer. In 2010, IBM acquired BigFix for close to $400 million. Meanwhile, the Hindawis were funding most of the work on Tanium, with small contributions from friends. That lasted until 2014, when the 46-person startup was approached by Andreessen Horowitz. The relatively young VC firm had quickly risen to prominence thanks to the extensive operational support it provides to entrepreneurs and its reputation for pledging unwavering loyalty to company founders. Steven Sinofsky, a longtime Microsoft Corp. executive who had recently joined Andreessen Horowitz as a partner, persuaded Tanium to take a $90 million investment, and he received a seat on the board of directors. It was the venture firms second-biggest investment at the time. Sinofsky described Tanium in a blog post as magic. The Andreessen Horowitz machine kicked in almost immediately. The firm introduced Tanium to its network of big corporate allies, and within a year, Orion Hindawi said, half of Taniums customers were coming through Andreessen Horowitz connections. The company drew plaudits from customers and has become an essential tool in many IT departments because its fast, simple and can handle a huge number of devices, said Dan Conde, an analyst at research firm ESG. The workforce grew sevenfold in 2014, Orion told the blog Strictly VC. Andreessen Horowitz invested another $52 million the next year. Orions intellect dazzled investors and employees. He delights in personally stamping out bugs in Taniums code, sometimes spending hours on the exercise. Between coding sessions, he introduces parlor games, including one where he selects a topic and asks somebody to argue the opposing viewpoint. But some found Orions tactics at times to be counterproductive. He joined meetings in progress, entered without saying a word and stared intensely at people in the room, current and former employees said. People were reluctant to bring up ideas in front of him because hed dismiss them out of hand. Then he would leave abruptly before the meeting was over. Taniums technology is a source of pride for Orion, but sales reps bristled when he would suggest that their jobs were easy because the intellectual property could sell itself. Robert Stevenson, who was Taniums managing director for Japan before he left last year, said: Ive never been with a company that is so infatuated with its intellectual property. As Taniums value soared, Orion Hindawi developed an unseemly habit: He took to frequently reminding people that hes on the Forbes Billionaires list. Orion and his father were added after Tanium received a $148 million cash infusion from Andreessen Horowitz and several new backers in late 2015. Taniums valuation shot up to $3.5 billion after the investment. The companys successes didnt do much to lift morale. Orion berated workers in front of colleagues until they broke into tears and used company meetings as a venue to taunt low-level staff, current and former employees said. In one call with the sales teams, Orion blamed a failed deal on a former employee whom he mentioned by name and accused him of having a cocaine problem. He now works for a competitor. Even those in Orions inner circle werent spared. On several occasions, he mocked a senior executive for being overweight, said former employees. One promising sales recruit decided not to pursue a job opening at Tanium after attending a steak dinner, where Orion made jokes about the executives eating habits, said two people in attendance. Andreessen Horowitz made note of Orions managerial flaws and presented them to partners at the firm early last year. The report said Orions behavior risked interfering with the companys operations if it hadnt already, according to people who have seen or were briefed on the memo. Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment. In February 2016, Orion said he was taking over as CEO from his dad, who would become executive chairman. We need to focus on building a world-class board, which requires that David spend more time on that aspect of leadership than he has in the past, Orion wrote in a blog post. The next month, Sinofsky was replaced on the board by Ben Horowitz, a founder of Andreessen Horowitz. Tanium is one of the VC firms largest investments, totaling $143 million. As CEO, Orion Hindawi began entertaining the idea of going public. He told the Financial Times that preparations would begin by this month. It was welcome news for staff, many of whom had agreed to take large amounts of their compensation in the form of equity, hoping for an eventual payday. This dream was dashed for the people who found their way onto Orions List, said employees who were fired or asked to carry out dismissals. In some cases, staffers were relocated to different departments before being informed by their new managers that their positions had been eliminated. Sometimes, the firings came within weeks of an employment anniversary, when workers stock options were due to vest. Five employees told Bloomberg they were dismissed from Tanium in such a way. Tanium declined to make Orion available for an interview. A spokesman said the firings were made for inappropriate conduct. Tanium remains committed to taking quick action to ensure that every employee is held to our high standards, the spokesman wrote in an email. We recognize that maintaining those standards often requires our leadership to make difficult decisions and that not everyone will agree with those decisions. The majority of Tanium employees never appeared on Orions List and were able to acquire stock. But in many cases, the company denied peoples requests to sell those shares, and when it arranged a deal to allow some stockholders to cash out, the Hindawis accounted for most of the sale. Soon after, Orion purchased a $10 million home in Yountville. David Hindawi, 72, still comes to the office occasionally and interviews job candidates but is largely removed from day-to-day business. Tanium hired Anna Gilstrap from data analysis company Splunk Inc. to help oversee operations this year, but she lasted just six weeks. A parade of senior departures since July led to the exit last month of Eric Brown, chief of operations and finance. Chief Accounting Officer Kandis Thompson departed this month. Thompson and Gilstrap didnt respond to requests for comment. Brown declined to comment. Tanium said this week that it has hired Fazal Merchant from DreamWorks Animation to be the new operations and finance chief. Merchant is now assigned to help take the company public, which isnt likely to happen soon. Hindawi told Fortune that he needs executives better suited to large companies and that he knew Merchant was a cultural fit after their families met for an afternoon brunch in Napa Valley. Lizette Chapman and Sarah McBride are Bloomberg writers. Email: lchapman19@bloomberg.net, smcbride24@bloomberg.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A new White House office unveiled by the Trump administration has left two Obama-era federal tech agencies, both heavily staffed with Silicon Valley talent, facing an uncertain future. The Office of American Innovation is designed to combine the best ideas from government, the private sector, and other thought leaders. Among its plans: reimagining the Department of Veterans Affairs, remodeling government workers training and providing broadband Internet service to every American. It aims to modernize the governments approach to technology and data, and is seeking the counsel of the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The government should be run like a great American company, White House adviser Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump who will lead the office, told the Washington Post. But the government is already at work on some of these projects: The U.S. Digital Service, part of the Executive Office of the President, includes training government workers in its mission and has projects under way that benefit veterans. 18F, housed within the General Services Administration, is bringing open source and other software techniques from the technology industry into government agencies. And the Federal Communications Commission released a National Broadband Plan in 2010 designed to spread adoption of fast Internet connections. Under Trump, those existing agencies have gotten little mention, while the new office has been closely associated with Kushner, whose influence with the president seems to be on the rise. The devil is in the details of this thing, said Andrew McMahon, the creator and former administrator of 18F. Are they setting up an office to be a public affairs machine, or are they actually going to do the hard work of actually making the government run better? Leah Millis/The Chronicle White House promises to deploy tech for the betterment of America are nothing new. As candidates in 1992, Bill Clinton and Al Gore released an 18-page position paper titled Technology: the Engine of Economic Growth. The plan made technology experts giddy with excitement, the New York Times reported after their election. In 2004, President George W. Bush released a technology agenda, complete with a typeface straight out of Star Trek, that promised better job training and universal broadband access. But nearly three months into the new Trump administration, plans for a digital overhaul of the government remain little more than a White House press release. The government has neither a chief technology officer nor a permanent head of the U.S. Digital Service. Kushner is also the presidents adviser on relations with China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East. And Trump has reportedly questioned the need for Kushners new office. Despite the uncertainty, Matt Cutts, Digital Services acting administrator, welcomed the office as an opportunity to further the work of the organization on an executive level. Ive been very heartened by the support that weve gotten by the new administration, Cutts said. And we see with the announcement of the Office of American Innovation, that they see how top talent with a nonpartisan approach can improve the government. Mikey Dickerson, Digital Services former administrator, left in January. He said hes skeptical of the new office and will assume its nothing until proven otherwise. When Dickerson was the agencys administrator, he said he met with President Barack Obama at least once every three months and sometimes as frequently as twice a week. Cutts declined to say what meetings he had, but said he has received a positive indication that the administration is open to working with the agency. The U.S. Digital Service and 18F were the outgrowth of a mutually beneficial relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley that sprang up during Obamas administration: Software engineers modernized the governments inner workings, while former politicos left the capital and brought their government knowledge and connections to tech companies such as Facebook, Airbnb and Google. Silicon Valley is its own world, and most people have not considered how their skills can serve the greater good, said David Kaufman, who worked at Google and a startup before leading public engagement and communications for Digital Service. The agency, he said, really stumbled on a special group of people. But now, many worry how both Digital Service and 18F will continue to attract the likes of Kaufman and persuade them to uproot their lives and work under an administration that often clashes with the ideals of Silicon Valley. Trumps victory was a bleak surprise for those in the federal tech wings who supported Hillary Clinton. Several former Digital Service members said some employees left as a result of the election, while others could separate their work from politics. Cutts, well-known for his work on the Google search engine, initially came to the U.S. Digital Service for a three-month stint last summer. He decided to stay after the election to provide the organization with some consistency, he said. The popular engineers decision to stay has been considered a saving grace for the agencys ability to recruit people. But he is just the acting administrator, and his plans are unclear. In January, the new administration put a hiring freeze on executive-branch employees that affected Digital Services ability to recruit employees to work with certain federal departments. The freeze was recently lifted. David Eaves, a professor at Harvards Kennedy School of Government who specializes in the governments use of technology, said Trumps new innovation office could be a way for the administration to continue attracting the engineers, designers and product experts it needs. Both Digital Service and 18F rely on a tour of duty model, where employees typically serve only a short assignment in the government before returning to the private sector. As workers come and go, the White House will need to continually fill roles or lose technical expertise. They do have a fixed amount of employees, and they need to attract people to replenish the attrition, Eaves said. I do think that (the Office of American Innovation) is an effort to say, Hey, were going to be working on nonpartisan stuff. During her brief stint in the White House, Janine Gianfredi, who left a job at Google last year to join Digital Service, said she quickly realized the government does not have the luxury of playing out the Silicon Valley mantra of moving fast and breaking things. But, she said, that shouldnt deter people from the tech sector from embracing the agencys mission to improve the American experience. I think the tech industry feels some really healthy constituent ownership of the (Digital Service) and 18F, in a really good way. People really believe in the mission, Gianfredi said. But this work takes time. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani Uber Technologies isnt required to report its finances publicly, but the privately held company has decided to forgo that luxury for the first time. Uber said its revenue growth is outpacing losses, hoping to show the business is strong as it attempts to address a recent cascade of scandals. The San Francisco ride-hailing giant said it more than doubled gross bookings in 2016 to $20 billion. Net revenue was $6.5 billion, while the adjusted net loss was $2.8 billion, not counting the China business, which it sold last summer. Uber declined to report first-quarter numbers, saying they were in line with expectations but that it hasnt yet presented them to investors. The company said its pleased to see revenue growth far exceeding losses last year, and that its business is performing well this year even as it faces unyielding controversy. Were fortunate to have a healthy and growing business, giving us the room to make the changes we know are needed on management and accountability, our culture and organization, and our relationship with drivers, Rachel Holt, who runs Ubers U.S. ride-hailing business, said in an email. Uber has seen an exodus of top executives recently as it investigates claims of sexual harassment and a toxic work culture. It is facing a lawsuit over self-driving car technology from Waymo, backtracked on a program called Greyball that was used to deceive government officials, and apologized after CEO Travis Kalanick was recorded arguing with a driver. Kalanick has said hes seeking a chief operating officer to help right the ship. Ubers business is getting bigger. In the last three months of 2016, gross bookings increased 28 percent from the previous quarter to $6.9 billion. The company generated $2.9 billion in revenue, a 74 percent increase from the third quarter. Losses rose 6.1 percent to $991 million. While the growth is encouraging, Uber is losing a significant sum, said Evan Rawley, a business professor at Columbia University. Thats a lot of cash to burn in a quarter, he said. Uber said it uses generally accepted accounting principles. Revenue includes only the portion Uber takes from fares, except in the case of its carpooling service; the company counts the entire amount of an UberPool fare as revenue. The more Ubers business shifts to the multipassenger service, the faster revenue grows. The loss statement doesnt account for employee stock compensation, certain real estate investments, automobile purchases and other expenses. Valued at $69 billion by investors, Uber operates in about 75 countries. The company was spending aggressively to compete in China, with about $1 billion in losses there last year, bringing its losses to $3.8 billion globally. It sold the China business in August to Didi Chuxing, receiving an 18 percent stake in the Chinese company. Uber recognized the value of those shares in its financial statement, saying global net losses were $1.2 billion after accounting for the sale, taxes and other factors. Since it was founded in 2009, Uber has burned through at least $8 billion. The company said it has $7 billion of cash on hand, and $2.3 billion in untapped credit. Lyft, which is Ubers main competitor in the U.S., is also closely held and doesnt disclose financial performance. Its difficult to compare Ubers business with any public company. Uber partly models itself after Amazon.com, but even at the peak of the dot-com boom, Amazon lost less than $2 billion. Amazon has never lost more than that in a year. Chipmakers Qualcomm and Micron Technology, which require large capital investments, never lost that much. Uber is a one-of-a-kind company, in good ways and bad ways. Its going to be a case study, said Aswath Damodaran, a finance professor at New York University. This is a cash-burning machine. Eric Newcomer is a Bloomberg writer. Email: enewcomer@bloomberg.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Ivanka Trump and the many brands associated with the First Daughter continues to be called out by women who aren't buying into the Trump's line of "female empowerment." Executive chef Angela Dimayuga of Mission Chinese Food is the latest to voice her feelings of distaste for the Trumps and their rhetoric, in epic fashion. On her Instagram account, Dimayuga published a message sent by a freelance reporter from IvankaTrump.com, requesting an interview with the chef. In it, the writer praised Dimayuga's accomplishments, and asked if she would be willing to do an interview for the site. The reporter wrote that the intent was to spotlight Dimayuga's work "as a strong female entrepreneur" stating that IvankaTrump.com is a "non-political platform of empowerment for modern working women." Rather than firing off a quick reply, Dimayuga instead looped in friend (and activist) Shakirah Simley to pen a powerful response, the Huffington Post reported. Had this message slide in my DM last week which had me screaming. Sent her this response today. #resist #fucktrump #dragher @dear_ivanka A post shared by Angela Dimayuga (@swimsuit_issue) on Apr 10, 2017 at 2:34pm PDT And it was quite the response. Dimayuga, a San Jose native, referenced her background as a queer person of color and stated that as long as the Trump name is involved, the site remains politically involved. "I don't see anything empowering about defunding Planned Parenthood, barring asylum from women refugees, rolling back safeguards for equal pay, and treating POC/LGBT and the communities that support these groups like second class citizens. As a queer person of color and daughter of immigrant parents I am not interested in being profiled as an aspirational figure for those that support a brand and a President that slyly disparages female empowerment. Sharing my story with a brand and family that silences our same voices is futile." Dimayuga has received a number of encouraging responses from fans, as well as from fellow chef Anthony Bourdain, who left a, "My hero!" message in the Instagram comments, according to Huffington Post. Dimayuga was named a 2017 Rising Star Chef for her work at Mission Chinese Food for the New York location, not San Francisco and was also part of the 2015 class of Eater Young Guns, comprised of promising young chefs from across the country. SFGATE reached out to Dimayuga for comment and will update if she responds. Read Dimayuga's full reply: Thank you for thinking of me. I'm glad you are a fan of my work so much that you want to provide more visibility for my career to inspire "other working women." However, I'm for women who actually empower other women. I don't believe that IvankaTrump.com is truly "a non-political platform of empowerment for [women]". So long as the name Trump is involved, it is political and frankly, an option for the IvankaTrump.com business to make a profit. I don't see anything empowering about defunding Planned Parenthood, barring asylum from women refugees, rolling back safeguards for equal pay, and treating POC/LGBT and the communities that support these groups like second class citizens. As a queer person of color and daughter of immigrant parents I am not interested in being profiled as an aspirational figure for those that support a brand and a President that slyly disparages female empowerment. Sharing my story with a brand and family that silences our same voices is futile. Thank you for the consideration. Oakland's inventive sandwich shop Pal's Takeaway is celebrating its ninth anniversary this year by launching a guest-chef series called "One Sandwich After Another." The series brings folks like Oakland's Michelin-starred chef James Syhabout and Brandon Jew of Mr. Jiu's into Pal's kitchen so they can create their own signature sandwiches for a day. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Hall in Mid-Market, the neighborhood's popular makeshift food court and public square that opened in 2014, was always meant to be temporary. Essentially, it was space-filler while a 186-unit housing project made its way through the city's lengthy permitting process. And now with the project having gotten a preliminary green light from the city's Planning Commission, we finally know when the Hall will close: the final week of September. Tidewater Capital, the folks behind the Hall and the pending development, picked late September to coincide with the Hall's three-year anniversary. "It was originally intended to be around for two years. It's really a win being able to have it open for the whole three years," says Craig Young, managing partner of Tidewater Capital. "The Hall has served its purpose. It really outperformed our expectations." Young said that over the next few months Tidewater will assist employees in finding new jobs and connect vendors with other landlords in the region. It's worth noting, as the Chronicle's J.K. Dineen reported in February, that people in the neighborhood support the housing project, even if it means losing a bustling, food-centric hangout space. And although food and drinks were the backdrop, the Hall was also home to everything from community meetings and concerts to lectures and fundraisers. The Tidewater crew has plans to reopen the Hall, or a similar concept, elsewhere in the city, Young said. And don't be surprised to see some familiar vendors like Chez Bobo or Graze or even Hall newcomer Back East Sandwich Shop. But all of that is down the road, Young said, and most of the details haven't been nailed down. "We're actively looking for a new location. We don't have one picked out yet," he said. "And we would love to bring some vendors back if they haven't found a space. But with how far out this timeline is, you don't really know what will happen." The Hall: Closing in late September; 1028 Market St., San Francisco Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email jphillips@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @JustMrPhillips MARIETTA, Ga. Republicans in Georgias conservative 6th district dont agree on which of their partys 11 candidates should represent the area in Congress. But theyre united on one thing: it cant be the Democrat trying for a major upset fueled by anti-Trump sentiment and millions of dollars from around the country. I dont care what party youre from, said Marty Aftewicz, a 66-year-old GOP voter from Marietta. If the moneys coming from outside the district, its dirty. Democrats in the area, though, see the flood of donations as a sign theyre not alone in opposing the president. It gives me some hope, even though Georgia is a heavily red state, said Barbara Oakley, a 65-year-old retired pharmacist. I think Democrats got surprised by Trump in November and theyre ready to work. Approaching Tuesdays primary, Republicans are trying to prevent victory by a previously unknown former congressional staffer, 30-year-old Jon Ossoff. His bid to replace Health Secretary Tom Price in Congress carries implications beyond the northern suburbs of Atlanta as both major parties position themselves for the 2018 midterm elections. Five Democrats will appear on the ballot, but Ossoff is considered the greatest threat to the GOP. Two independent candidates also are running. The 18-candidate jungle primary comes a week after Republicans sweated out a single-digit special congressional victory in Kansas. Republican winner Ron Estes had previously coasted to easy statewide victories as state treasurer, but won a House seat in Wichita by just 7 percentage points, with little outside investment from national Democrats. In Georgia, by contrast, both parties have dispatched paid field staffers, and a Republican political action committee backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan has spent more than $2 million pounding Ossoff. President Trump underperformed other Republicans in the suburban district, making it a soft target for Democrats. Jon is being bankrolled by the most extreme liberals, said Republican candidate Karen Handel, referring to Ossoffs fundraising haul that exceeds $8 million, most of it from outside the district. Republicans essentially concede Ossoff will lead the voting Tuesday. That leaves 11 Republican candidates hoping the investigative filmmaker fails to reach a majority. If he doesnt, Ossoff and the top GOP vote-getter would meet in a June 20 runoff. Bill Barrow and Kathleen Foody are Associated Press writers. Henry Hillman, a billionaire who diversified his familys Pittsburgh coal and coke fortune and provided startup funding for private-equity firm KKR & Co. and Silicon Valley venture-capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has died. He was 98. He died Friday at Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh, daughter Audrey Hillman Fisher said in a statement. Mr. Hillman amassed an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him Pittsburghs richest person. He generally shunned publicity, explaining, Its the spouting whale that gets harpooned. Through the Hillman Co., where he was chairman until 2004, Mr. Hillman steered the industrial fortune made by his father and grandfather into real estate, venture capital and private equity. He was one of the best-known passive investors in New York-based KKR from its founding as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in 1976, George Anders wrote in Merchants of Debt, his 2002 book on the firm. On the other coast, Mr. Hillmans $4 million investment provided half the startup money in 1972 for Kleiner Perkins, the Menlo Park venture capital firm that invested in some of the most successful U.S. technology companies, including America Online Inc., Netscape Communications Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. In 1994, Goldman, Sachs & Co.s Whitehall Real Estate partnership agreed to pay $450 million for part of Mr. Hillmans commercial real-estate holdings, consisting of 39 income-producing properties with about 5.3 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space. Mr. Hillman had tried without success to create a real estate investment trust. With his wife, Elsie, who died in 2015, Mr. Hillman was among Pittsburghs most active philanthropists. The Hillman Family Foundations mainly support Pittsburgh and its surrounding communities. The 18 affiliated charitable-giving organizations distributed about $29 million in grants in 2014, according to a tax filing. Mr. Hillmans major gifts over the years, with his family and their foundations, included $20 million to establish the Hillman Fellows Program for Innovative Cancer Research at the University of Pittsburgh, $10 million for a computer-sciences building at Carnegie Mellon University and $10 million to support pediatric transplantation at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh. Henry Lea Hillman was born Dec. 25, 1918, in Pittsburgh, to John Hillman Jr. and the former Juliet Cummins Lea. In 1945 he married the former Elsie Hilliard, who served as a member of the Republican National Committee for about two decades. His survivors include the couples four children Lea Simonds, Audrey Fisher, Henry Hillman Jr. and Bill Hillman 10 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren, according to a statement from the company. Laurence Arnold is a Bloomberg writer. 1 Gas leak: Crews in Alaska were trying Saturday to shut down an oil well that is leaking explosive natural gas on the frozen North Slope. The Environmental Protection Agency said a crack in a BP wellhead near Deadhorse sent up a mist of crude oil Friday before it froze over and an initial leak stopped. But agency spokeswoman Suzanne Skadowski said a second crack was discovered thats releasing flammable, explosive gas. Its unclear how much has vented, but nearby workers have been evacuated and native Alaskan villages dozens of miles away have been notified. No injuries have been reported. 2 Police conduct: An attorney called Saturday for the two Georgia police officers who were fired after being caught on camera having a violent confrontation with a motorist to face criminal charges. Justin Miller said the firing of Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni and Master Police Officer Robert McDonald was not enough. They were fired Thursday by the Gwinnett County Police Department after being videotaped beating 21-year-old Demetrius Hollins in Lawrenceville, just outside Atlanta. The department has opened a criminal investigation into the officers behavior. We want both of these officers criminally charged, Miller said. WASHINGTON President Trump is abruptly reversing himself on key issues. And for all his usual bluster, hes startlingly candid about the reason: Hes just now really learning about some of them. After listening for 10 minutes, I realized its not so easy, the president said after a discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping that included his hopes that Chinas pressure could steer North Korea away from its nuclear efforts. I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power over North Korea, he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. But its not what you would think. Thats just one of several recent comments offering insight into what looks like a moderate makeover for an immoderate president. As he approaches 100 days in office, Trump appears to be increasingly embracing what he describes as his flexibility acknowledging he may not have thought deeply about some of the issues he shouted about throughout his political campaign. Over the past 48 hours, the outsider politician who pledged to upend Washington has: Abandoned his pledge to label China a currency manipulator. Rethought his hands-off assessment of the Syrian conflict and ordered a missile attack. Turned his warm approach toward Vladimir Putin decidedly chilly and declared U.S.-Russia relations may be at an all-time low. Decided NATO isnt actually obsolete, as he had said. Realized the U.S. Export-Import Bank is worth keeping around. Instinctively, you would say, Isnt that a ridiculous thing, he said of the bank he once panned as featherbedding and pledged to eliminate. He now says of the bank, which supports U.S. exports, Actually, its a very good thing. And it actually makes money. Allies describe Trump as merely growing in the job, taking what hes learning and adapting. The White House, however, is struggling to explain some of the changes. Asked about the growing list of reversals, spokesman Sean Spicer argued this week that NATO actually is evolving toward the presidents position, not the other way around, by focusing more on terrorism and encouraging nations to pay more toward defense. Trump, who seemed to remain in campaign mode for months after the election, appears to be listening to different advisers now. His onetime campaign guru, Steve Bannon, has been somewhat marginalized while moderate voices grow louder. It may also be that Trump is merely looking for a way to improve his low approval rating, acknowledging his best tactic could be switching to a less dogmatic, more pragmatic approach. Candidates are always bombastic on the campaign trail and Trump especially. But there is some growing into the office and dealing with the real effects of some of the policies, said Stephen Moore, a conservative economist who helped craft Trumps economic plans. Jill Colvin is an Associated Press writer. PROVO, Utah A woman says she is shocked by a Utah judges comments in which he called a former Mormon bishop convicted of sexually assaulting her a good man during his sentencing hearing. Julia Kirby said Judge Thomas Low appeared to care more for her attacker than he did about her. He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable, said Kirby, 23, who has gave the Associated Press permission to publish her name Low sentenced Keith Robert Vallejo to up to life in prison last week after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape. Kirby said she was 19 when Vallejo, a relative, groped her multiple times when she stayed at his house while attending Brigham Young University in 2013. Kirby plans to file a complaint against Low in the hopes of getting him removed as a judge. Low is facing a deluge of complaints after saying The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man. ... But great men sometimes do bad things. The criticism began around the time Low freed Vallejo from custody after a jury convicted him, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission. But Yim said most of the roughly 40 emails, six voice mails and some Facebook messages received since late March came after Low sentenced Vallejo last week and seemed to get emotional during the hearing. Ryan McBride, the prosecutor on the case, said Lows comments were inappropriate and said it may have come in response to more than 50 character letters about Vallejo, most of them detailing the good things he has done. Low declined comment through a court spokesman. Hallie Golden is an Associated Press writer. ISTANBUL In the last day before Turkeys crucial referendum on whether to expand the presidents power, both yes and no campaigners addressed flag-waving supporters Saturday in Istanbul and Ankara. At stake is the future of Turkeys political system, with supporters saying the constitutional changes will herald a period of prosperity, and detractors warning the reforms could lead to an autocratic one-man rule by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Opinion polls indicate a tight race, and fierce campaigning took place Saturday right up to a 6 p.m. ban. Erdogan has long championed the idea of changing Turkeys system of government from parliamentary to presidential. He is calling on his countrymen to vote Sunday to approve 18 constitutional changes that would, among other things, abolish the office of the prime minister, handing all executive power to the president. The new constitution will bring stability and trust that is needed for our county to develop and grow, Erdogan told supporters Saturday in Istanbuls Tuzla district. He also appealed to voters of other parties to approve the changes so Turkey can leap into the future. Is it a yes for one nation? Is it a yes for one flag? Is it a yes for one homeland? Is it a yes for one state? Yes, yes, yes! he said. Erdogan said the proposed reforms could help counter a series of threats, including a failed military coup last year and a string of deadly bombings, some attributed to the Islamic State group. Fighting also resumed in 2015 between security forces and Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country. But critics argue that Erdogan, who has been at the helm of Turkish government as prime minister or president since 2003, will simply cement his hold on power with even fewer checks and balances if the yes side wins. Turkey is at a junction. We will make our decision tomorrow. Do we want a democratic parliamentary system or do we want a one-man regime? Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party, asked supporters in the capital, Ankara. In Istanbul on Saturday, thousands of no supporters waving Turkish flags marched along the Bosphorus. The opposition has complained of a lopsided campaign, with Erdogan using the full resources of the state and the governing party to dominate the airwaves and blanket the country with yes campaign posters. No campaigners say they have recorded more than 100 incidents of intimidation, beatings and arbitrary detentions. Elena Becatoros and Zeynep Bilginsoy are Associated Press writers. MANILA A foiled attack on a central Philippine resort island last week was a kidnapping and bombing mission by at least three extremist groups affiliated with the Islamic State group in one of their most daring terror plots, security officials said Saturday. The Philippine military initially said government forces, backed by air strikes, successfully detected and thwarted a kidnapping plot by Abu Sayyaf militants in the island province of Bohol, a popular tourist destination far from the militants southern jungle bases. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SEOUL A North Korean missile exploded during launch Sunday from the countrys east coast, U.S. and South Korean officials said, a high-profile failure that comes as a powerful U.S. aircraft carrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a show of force. It wasnt immediately clear what kind of missile was fired from the city of Sinpo, but the failure will sting in Pyongyang because it comes a day after one of the biggest North Korean propaganda events of the year a military parade celebrating the 105th birthday of late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, the current leaders grandfather. President Trump was uncharacteristically quiet about the failed launch. In a statement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump and his military team are aware of North Koreas most recent unsuccessful missile launch. The president has no further comment. Washington and Seoul will try to determine exactly what North Korea fired. While North Korea regularly launches short-range missiles, it is also developing midrange and long-range missiles meant to target U.S. troops in Asia and, eventually, the U.S. mainland. The ultimate goal is to have a full array of nuclear-tipped missiles in response to what Pyongyang says is hostility by Washington and Seoul meant to topple its government. North Korea is thought to have a small arsenal of atomic bombs and an impressive array of short- and medium-range missiles. Many analysts believe the country has not yet mastered the technology to build warheads small enough to place on long-range missiles, though some civilian experts say North Korea can already build nuclear-tipped shorter range missiles that have South Korea and Japan within its striking range. Chronically high animosity has risen on the Korean Peninsula in recent months, as the U.S. and South Korea conduct annual war games that North Korea says are invasion preparation and the North prepared for Saturdays anniversary celebrations. A U.S. aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson, is heading to waters off Korea. Analysts warn that even failed missile launches provide lessons for North Korea as it tries to build its weapons program. The country launched a long-range rocket and conducted two nuclear tests last year, including its most powerful to date. Aside from improving the technology, North Korean missile and nuclear tests are seen by outside analysts partly as efforts to bolster the domestic image of leader Kim Jong Un and apply political pressure on Seoul and Washington. Kim has overseen three nuclear tests and a string of missile and rocket launches since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. Foster Klug and Hyung-Jin Kim are Associated Press writers. A decade ago, he was a young Army soldier training Iraqi troops when he noticed their primitive filing system: handwritten notes threaded with different colors of yarn, stacked in piles. For organizations sake, he built them a simple computer database. Now an Army reservist, the major is taking a break from his civilian high-tech job to help Americas technological fight against Islamic State group. Hes part of a growing force of experts the Pentagon has assembled to defeat the extremists. The ability to participate in some way in a real mission, that is actually something thats rare, that you cant find in private sector, said the 38-year-old Nebraska native who is working at U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md. Youre part of a larger team putting your skills to use, not just optimizing clicks for a digital ad, but optimizing the ability to counter (Islamic State) or contribute to the security of our nation. Last year, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter expressed frustration that the United States was losing the cyberwar against the militants. He pushed the Cyber Command to be more aggressive. In response, the Pentagon undertook an effort to incorporate cybertechnology into its daily military fight, including new ways to disrupt the enemys communications, recruiting, fundraising and propaganda. To speak with someone at the front lines of this campaign, the Associated Press agreed to withhold the majors name. The military says he could be threatened or targeted by the militants if he is identified publicly. The major and other officials wouldnt provide precise details on the highly classified work he is doing. But Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command, said the major is bringing new expertise for identifying enemy networks, pinpointing system administrators or developers, and potentially monitoring Islamic States online traffic moves. He has the ability to bring an analytic focus of what the threat is doing, coupled with a really deep understanding of how networks run, Nakasone said, describing such contributions as really helpful for us. He outlined a key question for the military: How do you impact an adversary thats using cyberspace against us? The military is looking for new ways to bring in more civilians with high-tech skills who can help against the militants and prepare for the new range of technological threats the nation will face. Nakasone said that means getting Guard and Reserve members with technical expertise in digital forensics, math crypto-analysis and writing computer code. The challenge is how to find them. I would like to say its this great database that we have, that weve been able to plug in and say, Show me the best tool developers and analysts that you have out there, Nakasone said. We dont have that yet. The Army has been steadily building cyber mission teams, as part of a broader Defense Department undertaking. Lolita C. Baldor is an Associated Press writer. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which promotes free expression online, chose an Australian business management firm for its Stupid Patent of the Month award in June. In response, the firm obtained an Australian court order directing the foundation to withdraw its online posting and prohibiting it under threat of imprisonment from saying anything about the firms future projects. The foundation delivered its own response Thursday in its hometown of San Francisco: a U.S. District Court lawsuit asserting that the Australian decree is repugnant to the Constitution and to freedom of speech in particular. EFF has not removed the article from its website and does not intend to do so, the foundations lawyers said. They said the Stupid Patent posting was a statement of opinion based on facts, commentary that is of significant public concern and protected by the First Amendment. The Australian company, Global Equity Management SA, or GEMSA, says on its website that it provides strategic planning for other businesses. Its lawyers could not be reached for comment on the suit. The case reflects, in part, international differences in the treatment of speech that may offend or harm others. Free expression is nearly absolute in U.S. law, restricted only when it is intended to cause a violent attack, or under libel laws that are narrower than their foreign counterparts. By contrast, many nations have laws against hate speech that denigrates racial, sexual or other societal groups, some countries punish blasphemy, and some allow libel suits for critical or derisive opinions. Like other Commonwealth (formerly British Commonwealth) of Nations members, Australia has an easier standard for defamation claims, said Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer with the foundation. I wouldnt want to say the Australian lawsuit is valid under Australian law, he said, adding it certainly wouldnt survive in a U.S. court. The dispute also reflects a clash in the patent industry among patent holders, who seek broad protection for their innovations, and opponents who say the exclusive right to market a new product is awarded too easily and can be abused to stifle competition. The Electronic Frontier Foundation launched its Stupid Patent project in 2014 to highlight what it called questionable patents, often obtained by patent trolls that make their living suing unsuspecting users of infringing products. The foundation said GEMSA, starting in October 2015, filed more than three dozen suits in a Texas federal court against well-known companies, accusing them of violating one of two U.S. patents. One patent, which the company had acquired from the original patent-holder, was the subject of the foundations June 2016 award. It granted exclusive rights for the online use of a virtual cabinet to illustrate data storage. Using that seemingly everyday concept, the foundation said, GEMSA is suing just about anyone who runs a website. The company demanded an apology and, when none was forthcoming, sued the foundation in the Supreme Court of South Australia, claiming the article was filled with deceptive and misleading statements including its description of the patent as stupid. The court issued its order in October, requiring the foundation to take down its article and barring it from publishing any content with respect to (GEMSAs) intellectual property, such as other patents. For failure to comply, the court said, the foundations property may be seized and its directors imprisoned for contempt of court. The foundation said GEMSA followed up with a letter in January demanding $750,000 in damages, which it has no intention of paying. Opsahl, the foundation lawyer, said the Australian court order may be enforceable in Australia. But if Thursdays lawsuit succeeds, it wont be enforceable in the U.S. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko BEIRUT Backed by Russian air power and allied militiamen on the ground, Syrian troops have recaptured entire cities from rebels and Islamic State group extremists in the past year, including the key cities of Aleppo, Homs and Palmyra. Yet for the past three years, President Bashar Assads forces have been unable to free opposition-held neighborhoods of the capital Damascus, where rebel fighters have built a labyrinth of underground tunnels, beyond the reach of air strikes and connected to opposition-held suburbs. A weeks-long push to expand the security belt around Assads seat of power, however, shows a new determination to retake the three areas north and northeast of the capital partially held by rebels a long-festering thorn in the governments side. The offensive is the strongest in years, with warplanes reportedly conducting more than 70 air strikes in one day and using surface-to-surface missiles in some of the deadliest attacks in weeks. The regime is pushing with all the powers it has, said Ahmad Mahmoud, an opposition activist based in a rebel-held eastern suburb of Damascus. The Damascus neighborhoods of Barzeh, Qaboun, and Jobar form an arc from the northern to eastern edge of Damascus. They are partially held by rebels and are often used to fire mortar shells into the metropolis and stage hit-and-run attacks, a constant threat and reminder that rebels can disrupt life in the city that has escaped much of the destruction and violence of other areas. Qaboun and Barzeh had witnessed relative calm since 2014 thanks to a reconciliation deal between rebels and the government. During that period, vegetables and daily products were allowed out of the neighborhoods into Damascus and in return the government allowed food and other products into the neighborhoods. That allowed government troops to turn their attention elsewhere and in December government forces and their allies captured rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, marking Assads biggest victory of the six-year war. Aleppo is Syrias largest city and once commercial center. In March, rebels began evacuating al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighborhood in the Homs, the countrys third-largest city, and more recently they evicted rebels from the Wadi Barada region northwest of Damascus. The victories have freed thousands of troops and pro-government fighters. Opposition activists say that some of these troops will be used in the battle to capture the Damascus neighborhoods. Bassem Mroue is an Associated Press writer. KABUL The number of militants killed in an attack by the largest nonnuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military has risen to 94, an Afghan official said Saturday. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier. A Ministry of Defense official had said Friday the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With National Volunteer Week 2017 set for April 23-29 -- seven days to recognize and thank those who lend talents and voices to support causes -- what better time than now to put the Advance spotlight on one of our own who has devoted her life to volunteerism? Congratulations to Ashley Marie Davis, Miss Richmond County 2017, who's being recognized by The National Alzheimer's Association for the work she's done and her commitment to the association that raises awareness and funds for research for the more than 390,000 New Yorkers suffering from the disease. FYI: Two thirds of all those diagnosed with Alzheimer's are women. Ashley explains she became interested in pageants and their goals when she was a young child and has been competing for titles within the Miss America organization since 2013. Currently a junior at Marymount Manhattan College, where she's majoring in psychology Ashley notes: "Many people don't realize the Miss America organization is the largest contributor of scholarships for women in the country," before adding: "The Miss Richmond County title has helped me with my college loans and has given me a platform to help support Alzheimer's disease, which is close to my heart, and part of my family history. During my reign, I've traveled around New York State, performing and participating in events to help advocate for a cure." Ashley, whose personal platform is "Memories Matter: Alzheimer's Disease Awareness and Support," served as the Alzheimer's Association Ambassador for Staten Island in Washington D.C. during the 2017 Advocacy Forum. "It was inspiring to work with my Congressional Action Team to advocate for Alzheimer's priorities on the federal level, including a request for an additional $414 million in research funding supported by the National Institute of Health for fiscal year 2018, and support for the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," said she. "I was able to tell my Congressman, Rep. Dan Donovan, how Alzheimer's has impacted me personally and advocate for all those affected by the disease." Ashley's personal story began with her great-grandparents who were a tremendous influence on her life and practically raised Ashley and her mom. Ashley reminisced, "They would drop me off at school when my mom was working, came to all of my performances, and were really the family caregivers when I was a young girl." In 2007, her grandmother developed vascular dementia and Alzheimer's and it became necessary to find a nursing home for the level of care she required until she passed. After her grandmother moved out of her home, Ashley and her mom began to notice signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in her great-grandfather. "He would have repetitive conversations, missed appointments with his doctor and he began to wander. Tragically, one day when he was visiting his wife in the nursing home, he left the dryer running at home, but forgot to clean out the lint filter. It caught fire and the family home burned to the ground," she recalls with sadness. Ashley continues: "Poppy lost everything and came to live with us. Alzheimer's deprived him of his independence. He couldn't drive, he couldn't leave the house, and he couldn't cook for himself. We reversed roles, and now we became his caretaker. Eventually, we found a place in a nursing home. My mom and I still visit him regularly." What Ashley loves the most about being Miss Richmond County are the opportunities she's had to help others while she's learning and improving herself. She gushes: "I have had the opportunity to discuss Alzheimer's treatment options with doctors and perform in nursing homes as I travel through Staten Island. I value these hands-on experiences, and the chance to speak with our legislators most of all. I hope I can make a difference for those affected by the disease and I will continue to help raise funds for a cure to honor my great-grandparents and all they did for me. Alzheimer's is more than a platform; it is a part of my life." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- While Delfino Velazquez died nearly two and a half years ago in a Travis building collapse, the fines levied against the construction company he was working for are still being contested in court. Velazquez was working on the demolition of the old Dana Ford Lincoln car dealership in the West Shore neighborhood on Nov. 28, 2014 when the mezzanine above the steel-framed car show room collapsed, authorities said. The 43-year-old father of five and grandfather of three was buried under debris and was transported to Richmond University Medical Center when he was pulled out of the rubble. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Two other men were also trapped, but survived. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), part of the federal Department of Labor, proposed $121,000 in fines against Formica Construction, the company Velazquez was working for, in May 2015. A six-month investigation by OSHA found that Formica had violated demolition safety regulations designed to prevent such incidents. Department of Buildings records also indicated the company did not possess the proper permits to perform a demolition. "This worker's death should never have happened," Patricia Jones, OSHA's area director for Staten Island, said in 2015. "Had Formica Construction chosen to plan and carry out the demolition correctly, this collapse would not have occurred, and Mr. [Velazquez] would not have died." Formica Construction has disputed the fines since they were levied. Ken Formica, whose brother, William owns the company, told the Advance in 2016 that he felt the company did nothing inappropriate. He even contested that the company was not performing demolition at the site. "We weren't doing any demolition or anything. We were cleaning the building," Formica said. "[Dana Ford] had a huge auction. There were desks, chairs, filing cabinets, all garbage. ...We were just cleaning the inside of the building out." An OSHA spokesman said the case is still under contest, and that no new hearing date had been scheduled. This wasn't the first time the company had OSHA fines levied against them, according to Advance reports. In 2003, Lorenzo Pavia, a Mexican immigrant like Velazquez, asphyxiated after a deep, unshored trench caved in on him and another worker. The company paid $14,000 in fines from that incident. Ken Formica, who owned the company at the time, admitted he knew the 12-to-15-foot deep trench he sent Pavia and another employee to work in was not safe and pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide. He was sentenced to 16 weekends in jail. -- Want to discuss this story? Click on the comment section at the top of this story. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The MTA will study the potential impacts that reinstating a two-way toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge would have on traffic and revenue. Last month, Rep. Daniel Donovan asked the transit authority to estimate what a return to a two-way toll would look like, given traffic patterns, use of E-ZPass and a conversion to cashless tolling this summer. The MTA will consider: -- Will a two-way toll discourage drivers in New Jersey from entering New York City through Staten Island? -- Will a two-way toll encourage Long Island and Brooklyn drivers to travel to New Jersey through Staten Island instead of through the Manhattan tunnels? -- What net traffic impact would a two-way toll have on Staten Island and South Brooklyn? -- Would a two-way tolling structure impact MTA revenue? Rep. Jerold Nadler, a Democrat whose district includes portions of Manhattan and Brooklyn, has for years blamed traffic in his district on vehicles, mostly trucks, coming through Staten Island because they can avoid the toll. They travel from New Jersey to Staten Island and into Brooklyn or Manhattan, toll-free on the Verrazano and East River crossings, and then take the New Jersey-bound tunnel toll-free back. But they pay a toll on the Staten Island-bound bridges from New Jersey. Nadler argues having a one-way toll creates an incentive for drivers to change their route and go through neighborhoods they would otherwise avoid. He is trying to get Donovan (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) on board to support a shift that would affect constituents on both sides of the bridge and both portions of his district. While the MTA controls the bridge, the direction of the toll is determined federally. Until 1986, when then-Congressman Guy Molinari got it changed, drivers paid tolls going both ways. Getting an amendment into a federal transportation bill, Molinari sought to end backups on Staten Island caused by cars waiting to pay the toll on the Brooklyn-bound bridge. While backups are often seen in E-ZPass lanes today, Nadler argues that with E-ZPass and soon-to-be cashless tolling, fewer cars stop (and soon, none will, theoretically) -- putting an end to traffic jams. Unconvinced, Donovan said he won't support a return to two-way tolling until it's clear the impact will only be positive. Responding to his request to study the impacts of two-way tolling, the MTA noted it "will be closely monitoring" cashless tolling and issues of revenue, expense, toll enforcement and traffic. "As to your request for the MTA to conduct a study examining revenue and traffic impact of a return to two-way tolling at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, we are certainly willing to look at these potential impacts," wrote Donald Spero, president of MTA Bridges and Tunnels. "Specific issues might include commercial vehicle routes, traffic impact on the Staten Island Expressway, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Port Authority of NY & NJ Staten Island crossings. We would also need to analyze the cost impact of such a change." Want to discuss this report? Click the comment link near this story's headline to join in the conversation. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Democratic activists across the country have rallied together on Tax Day and taken to the streets in protest to demand that President Donald Trump release his tax returns. Trump is the first major party nominee in more than 40 years not to release his tax returns, saying it was because he was under audit. He later said that voters don't care about his taxes. The rallies, aptly named the "Tax March", were scheduled to take place in nearly 150 cities across the country including Washington D.C., New York City, Boston, and San Francisco. The #TaxMarchNYC began early this afternoon in Bryant Park with plans to march protesters towards Trump Tower. "We're marching on Washington, D.C., and around the country to ask Donald Trump: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?" the organizers say on their website. "Until he does, we'll never know what he's hiding or who his policies are designed to benefit. Release your tax returns and commit to a fair tax system for the American people." While historically falling on April 15, Tax Day 2017 falls on April 18 due to the weekend and a White House holiday on Monday. The Associated Press contributed to this report. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree Not all Easter traditions in Canberra involve chocolate, hot cross buns and visits to church. For thousands, the weekend meant a pilgrimage to EPIC to set up a campsite, grab an instrument and make their way to the National Folk Festival. The celebration of traditional and contemporary folk life, which began on Thursday and will wrap up on Monday, is in its 51st iteration since it was founded in 1967. Around the festival site on Saturday, old friends reunited, children on their first visit revelled in the scenes and buskers took to the shaded sides of footpaths to show off their passion. I had the good fortune this past week to attend a work breakfast. Now any working woman with children knows that work breakfasts are not as fabulous as they sound. They seduce you with the idea of a more delicious breakfast than you could ever rustle up at home. Let's face it a piece of toast with a slathering of peanut butter and a few grapes that didn't make it into a school lunchbox are not a good way to start the day. They seduce you with the idea that you can network with like-minded people before the work day even begins. Let's face it, I spend most of the few work breakfasts I actually get to looking at all the other people wondering why I am not as switched on as them, why I'm not able to look like I've been up for four hours getting fresh clothes, hair and make-up under control. In all honesty work breakfasts are more trouble than they are often worth. But this week it was different. Bell Shakespeare, on the back of the totally brilliant Richard 3, which finished its run at the Canberra Theatre last night, hosted Power Play: Women and leadership in the modern world. Kate Mulvany tells women's stories even when she is playing a man. Credit:Prudence Upton The panel, led by commentator Jane Caro, a feisty little woman if ever there was one, I love her, and including actor Kate Mulvany, business woman Roseanne Brand, and Amanda McIntyre, head of the Office for Women at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, were more than worth dragging my butt out of bed for. Funnily enough, a few things I've touched on above were discussed. McIntyre, who works part time and has three children, also dislikes work breakfasts. Brand spoke about feeling like an impostor because doesn't have a university degree and has moved through the ranks of PWC to become a partner. And Mulvany, the malevolent Ms Mulvany, as legendary Australian author Elizabeth Jolley once called her, who has been turning the whole idea of women and power and our perception of both right on their heads with her portrayal of King Richard in Richard 3. The girls got to talking about all sorts of things. What the term "power" meant to them, whether quotas are a good idea, whether they've faced any gender bias in their own lives and careers, the treatment of Hillary Clinton compared to that of Donald Trump, how their childhoods shaped their lives as women. It was entertaining stuff. And Caro got them to admit their strengths and weaknesses. Which is always interesting listening to other women admit. Caro made a fantastic point when she said what often draws women to each other is their weaknesses, or at least our ability to admit we have them. I'm more than happy to admit mine, indeed perhaps I've been doing that in this column for too many years to remember, given the number of random people who tell me my story resonates with them. We're all just a bit useless if we're honest enough to admit it. But what are my strengths? My superpower, as Caro put it. I guess it's my ability to see through bullshit. X-ray vision of a sort. The older I get, the less able I am to tolerate liars, and lairs in a neat little word twist. I know your game. Perhaps this strength isn't that at all, maybe intolerance is a weakness and I should be a little more patient with people. But hey, who has the time for that. A former teacher at a Cooma high school has pleaded guilty to two charges of having sex with a student. The first time the offender had sex with the victim, he took her virginity. The man pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated sexual intercourse of a child between 10 to 14 years of age, when the victim was under the authority of the offender. The offences occurred in 2005. According to the agreed facts of the case, tendered in Queanbeyan Local Court, the young student and the teacher struck up a relationship in late 2004. Is Tamzin Taylor the ultimate geek girl? The head of apps for Google Play, Western Europe, tall and slim with a shock of Nordic-white hair, is a picture of feminine power as she strides on stage at Myriad 2017 in Brisbane, plants her feet wide and tells an auditorium full of bearded hipsters in skinny black jeans how Europe is faring in the start-up stakes. "One thing Europe is not doing well on is the female front," notes the London-based former Sydneysider whose job it is to know what everyone else in the audience desperately wants to: how to make money with apps or games on Android and Google Play. "Eighty per cent of businesses that went for funding last year were run by men." Tamzin Taylor, the head of apps for Google Play, at Brisbane's Myriad 2017 festival. Or is Ally Watson the ultimate geek girl? "I worked in an office with 40 people and I was the only girl and it sucked," says Watson, a developer, computer science graduate and co-founder of Code Like A Girl. In the kinds of places she's worked, she tells the packed conference room, female developers are often given the job of cleaning up code men have written. "That's the housework," she states, deadpan. Or maybe Anouk Wipprecht is the ultimate geek girl. She's a "fashiontech" designer, combining electronics, science and couture to produce "dresses with brains", among other intriguing creations. Sensors in her robotic spider dress monitor the space around the wearer; it raises its arms to "attack" if people come too close. Her ethereal smoke dress monitors stress reactions with hidden sensors, and puffs out a warning like a squid squirting ink. Rising from Melbourne's western grasslands is a startling building that is accelerating success. Designed by Six Degrees, the Western Business Accelerator and Centre for Excellence (BACE), in the City of Melton, could contain anything. In a manner fitting to its unusual exterior, it's home to creative start-ups. The Western Business Accelerator and Centre for Excellence was designed by Six Degrees and features a variety of facilities. Credit:Alice Hutchison A recipient of a sustainable award from the Australian Institute of Architects (Victorian Chapter), its strength lies not only in its aesthetics, but as importantly, in its 6-Star Green Star rating. "We worked closely with the company Sustainable Built Environment from the start of the project, rather than bringing in sustainable specialists after plans had been approved," says architect Peter Malatt, a director of Six Degrees. The City of Melbourne has proposed a shift in its heritage ratings scheme away from A-D grades to a new system spelling out a building's significance. City of Melbourne councillor Rohan Leppert, who covers heritage, said the new grading system would give landlords and developers more certainty about what they can do with their properties. Render of the proposed addition to the former Grange Lynne factory. The move comes as concerns mount over the loss of historical buildings, notably the notorious demolition of the Corkman Hotel in Carlton last year and the prospective losses of the Palace nightclub in Bourke Street, the Great Western Hotel and the Hansen Yuncken headquarters. Another building tipped for demolition is the Art Deco Yooralla Building, built originally as Snow's Department Store in 1936, opposite Flinders Street Station. Lithgow residents packed their local library last month to celebrate its refurbishment and relaunch. It was a day of satisfaction and reflection for staff, including library co-ordinator Terry O'Keefe whose career has convinced her that libraries rural and urban can and should be at the very centre of community life. Lithgow Library co-ordinator Terry O'Keefe. "I like the library to be a destination worthy of the effort of getting here," she says. In country towns like Lithgow, which is set in a mountain valley west of Sydney, a mix of on-site and outreach programs ensures services are relevant to people of all ages and with all sorts of interests. As well as programs for pre-schoolers and primary school children, Lithgow Library runs a Lego club, offers classes in teen journaling and subscribes to a service that gives students and job seekers access to an online tutorial service that provides one-to-one help with homework, assessment of assignment drafts and assistance with job applications and resume-writing. Economics is the language of power, politics and change. According to Burwood Girls High School teacher Leith Thompson, it's a subject with the power to address inequality, poverty, environmental sustainability and gender parity. Thompson, who teaches economics, commerce and geography, says it is gratifying to open students' eyes to understanding this subject. Teacher Leith Thompson says girls need more encouragement to pursue careers in economics, business, finance and mathematics. "Teaching a subject that helps to explain the world and gives students the tools to look differently at the world is very rewarding," Thompson says. "Our school motto, 'Not for ourselves alone', makes these issues even more of a focus for students." Globally relevant, the study of economics can also open the doors to rewarding international career options for students. Thompson is particularly keen to encourage girls into the traditionally male-dominated field. She says the barriers to entry for girls to the industry are numerous and include too few role models, insufficient networking and a need for more transparent information. "I aim to make all students, especially girls, aware of possible career options that can stem from a study of economics, business, finance and mathematics," Thompson says. "Evidence and research suggests that strong mentoring and a networking program is crucial in the development of strategies to broaden career aspirations, particularly of female students. Empowering young women to be confident, independent, critical thinkers is the most important thing we can do." A member of both the national and NSW committees of WEN (Women in Economics Network), Thompson says networking and mentoring can make a big difference to students. And so the soldiers sit for hours, barely moving, desperately trying to work out how they can winkle out the enemy snipers or get behind the Islamic State positions. They're not cowards, but they know the defender holds the upper hand in this cramped, close-quarter battle. The snipers wait, aiming, poised to shoot the moment anything moves to their front. Tanks can't operate in the tight, cramped areas of the old city. Iraqi artillery is an area weapon, useful for destroying conventional forces but inappropriate for addressing the threat posed by single snipers or even dug-in, heavy machine guns. Although single shots from US artillery pieces, based many kilometres away, have been called in, the Americans are understandably reluctant to provide the sort of fire support needed to prosecute an assault for fear they might shell civilians. That shot, in turn, attracts a rapid fusillade in reply until it's escalated quickly in scale and anger. Finally, eventually, the weight of firepower forces both sides to shelter down in their improvised sangars, the deep, fortified positions they've constructed in the ruins of the houses in which they're fighting so bitterly. Then it's quiet again for another couple of hours, until the entire process repeats itself, time and time again. Every day in Mosul begins with a period of morning hate. Almost with the regularity of the call to prayer, it so often begins with the crack of a single rifle shot. The Islamic State's snipers shift positions during the night so they'll be ready for the morning. If an Iraqi soldier moves too much, perhaps stretching as he wakes up and exposing himself, you know a fundamentalist will try to pick him off. A man pushes his bicycle past burnt-out cars in a street in west Mosul. Credit:Carl Court If a stalemate appears to have descended on the battle front, it's no one's fault certainly not that of the Iraqi forces that are slowly trying to work their way forward and liberate the city. Daesh, the scatological swear word Iraqi forces use to refer to Islamic State, is ruthless and has no qualm in using civilians for cover. The insurgents have worked out that the best place to keep hostages is in the basements of houses they're defending. This prevents the Iraqi forces from targeting their positions with either artillery or air power. Although the guided bombs are discrete, they can't be aimed so precisely that they'll only kill snipers and leave the hostages in the cellar below unscathed. And so both sides wait, poised and alert, ready to kill. The Iraqi soldiers know every move they make risks sudden death or worse, the searing pain of a wound that could well be fatal. Although medical services at the frontline are the best the Iraqi government can provide, they're still rudimentary compared to the huge investments in casualty evacuation and recovery that has transformed survival rates for other forces. It's hard to ask someone to move forward across the rubble and risk their lives without the air or artillery support that could so easily be called in. That's why the offensive towards Mosul's Grand Mosque, the site of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's proclamation of a caliphate three years ago, has ground down into a desperate struggle, room by room and yard by yard. Signs of the futility of war litter the pitted streets all around. Although there is now no doubt about the eventual outcome, the fighting in the narrow laneways of the old city on the west bank of the Tigris river is as intense, desperate and intimate as ever. The Islamic State fighters know they will die, but for them death is a reward. They are determined to die as martyrs. The calculation for the Iraqi forces, however, has been transformed. No one wants to die, not now, particularly when they can finally see the possibility of living, peacefully, with their family around them into old age. For Islamic State, the dynamic is reversed, hence its willingness to extinguish civilians' lives. Iraq's Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, visited the besieged city this week and met senior officers. Under pressure from aid workers, he's now made protecting civilians central to the campaign, but in the dense urban environment, this has dramatically slowed the assault. It is a sad blight on our country that we are failing in our approach to curb the ever increasing number of people forced into homelessness. It is shameful that almost 10 years after former prime minister Kevin Rudd described the issue as a "national obscenity" there are now more people than ever on the streets. That there are huge numbers of people with nowhere to live, couch surfing, or living in the cars is not a secret, but it is a mystery how successive governments have failed to deal with the problem. It should not take a decade to determine that the country needs a bipartisan, long-term and strategic approach, not a splintered framework between governments and services. Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor Believe it or not My friend Robert Willson (Letters, April 9) engages in a fine piece of sophistry in order to describe Ian Warden's self-described atheism as a "faith". I don't particularly like the word "atheism", as it encourages firm believers such as Robert to dismiss "atheists" as somehow having a "faith", even though the word, from the Greek "atheos" (without God), is defined as "disbelief in the existence of a God". Furthermore, "disbelief" can hardly be described as "faith", as "disbelief" is based on significant scientific evidence. On the other hand, "faith" is based, not on evidence, but simply a belief (however sincerely held) that there is a God, as set out in a number of totally unscientific texts. It is further complicated by the fact that "belief" can be held for more than one "God" with, additionally, firm assertions that each is the true God, but again with no scientific evidence that any of them exist. People are free to believe what they will but it is at best misleading to attach incorrect labels to those on the other side of the religious fence. Eric Hunter, Cook It's not clear whether he's just attempting to play semantics, whether he doesn't understand the difference between faith and unbelief, or if he's actually in denial of his own puerile interpretation of the universe, but for someone with a life so heavily invested in faith and no shortage of counsel for anyone prone to incredulity, Robert Willson's response to Ian Warden's column ("Is heaven bound to disappoint Canberrans?", April 9) was misdirected and disingenuous. Faith is defined as a belief in something without any evidence, and Mr Willson should familiarise himself with Bertrand Russell's Teapot before projecting his own shortcomings onto more-enlightened individuals if he wants to be taken seriously. James Allan, Narrabundah Robert Willson attests that atheists believe that their lives are meaningless. Not true! I believe that we have only one life, so we should do our best with it, and that we have only one place to live this planet so we should nurture it. I do not need a god or an afterlife to make my life meaningful. Kathy Handel, Wamboin Ghost rider's tale At Easter, in Old Jerusalem, AD30, with mention of a stone, this headline might well have been gospel truth, but not in 2017's Australia ("Cyclist still riding after death", Sunday CT, April 9, p11)! Albert M. White, Queanbeyan We're not stupid The Treasurer says mums and dads are buying investment properties that help young people get into affordable rental properties. There are lots of mums of dads in Parliament who put their travelling allowances to good use by staying with family and friends or in garages and use the money to negatively gear investment properties and take advantage of capital gains tax concessions. This doesn't help housing affordability, it worsens it by pushing prices up. Do they really think ordinary Australians are stupid? David McCarthy, Wallaroo Housing 101 Why is there a housing unaffordability problem? Basic economics: demand exceeds supply. Accessing superannuation to buy a house is worse than useless. It doesn't address supply or demand so it can't help. It pushes more money into demand, so prices rise further. It disadvantages first home buyers who will have even bigger mortgages and compromised superannuation. Stop developers monopolising new suburban housing. Let first-home buyers buy their own land and choose the builder they want. Encourage owners of investment properties to sell. Scrap negative gearing on future property acquisitions. And limit residential property investment to Australian citizens and residents, not businesses and not overseas investors. R.Neville, Fraser Aid for the needy Very unusually, I find myself sort of agreeing with George Christensen, Jackie Lambie and Pauline Hanson about cutting foreign aid. At least the billion-dollar foreign aid package going to the myriad Adani shelf companies that are begging for handouts to fund their Carmichael mine. If we have money to spare, how about we give it to those who are in the greatest need, not foreign billionaires. Doug Steley, Heyfield, Vic This Easter, about 50,000 people will go to work on public holidays in the ACT. The lowest paid amongst them, entry level workers on level 1, face a cut to penalty rates of 25 per cent. A little-known part of the Fair Work Commission's decision to cut Sunday penalty rates for retail, hospitality and fast food workers also cuts public holiday penalty rates. If these cuts were implemented, as Malcolm Turnbull recently confirmed he supports, then those minimum-wage workers would have a wage-cut of $527,000 over the Easter holiday. The penalty rates decision would affect workers during the Easter long weekend. Credit:Jessica Shapiro Economic modelling by the Australian Council of Trade Unions conservatively estimates reduced wages for ACT workers of $159,000 for each public holiday. Wages that can't be spent on rent, food or a decent life. Australia is already facing the slowest wage growth in its history. The last thing working people need is a wage cut they can't afford and don't deserve. But that is exactly what Mr Turnbull and the federal Liberal government are supporting. The federal government could stop this wage cut, but it chooses not to. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's claims about the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons last week may well be substantiated by classified sources. But we should bear in mind the equally certain statements one of his predecessors, Colin Powell, made to the United Nations in 2003 about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was quick to applaud the United States' cruise-missile strike on Shayrat military airfield, from which the alleged chemical attacks were said to have been launched. This support was apparently provided without thinking much about Australia's usual commitment to due process, or about the legality of US President Donald Trump's action. While both US domestic and international law are relevant, I will focus on the international circumstances under which it would have been lawful for the US to use military force. Australia and the US have ratified the 1945 UN Charter, which recognises two requirements for using force within another country without its consent. In their heyday in 2008, Dan Single and his Ksubi jeans co-founder, George Gorrow, had an estimated net worth of $24 million. Their impressive rise was compounded by headlines the duo created, like the release of nearly 200 live rats on a catwalk in 2001 or showcasing their sunglasses range propped on a penis. Dan Single with his wife Bambi Northwood-Blyth. Credit:Chloe Paul This week, Single, 39, who is married to international IMG model, Bambi Northwood-Blyth, 25, was again making headlines after finding himself on the receiving end of a swift and severe backlash when he set up, and then deleted, a GoFundMe account asking for a $250,000 handout to bankroll his recovery and lifestyle after an accident last month in which he fell three floors from his Paris hotel room window. With a love of sharing his lavish lifestyle online, the notorious party boy, who has a son Justice, 10, with P.E. Nation's Pip Edwards, was labelled "greedy" and a "disgrace". "Hippie" wasn't always a derisive term. At least, its origins weren't. It evolved from the words "hep" and "hip", each of which mean "in-the-know" or "knowledgeable". Image from Hippie Lane: The Cookbook by Taline Gabrielian (Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99). Credit:Omid Daghighi Although it came to be synonymous with counter-culture, free love and a lax approach to paying rent (or as Ronald Regan so charmingly put it in 1967: "For those of you who don't know what a hippie is, he's a fellow who dresses like Tarzan, has hair like Jane, and smells like Cheetah."), hippies may well have been "in the know" for many of their ideas around health are going mainstream. "The counter-culture is always ahead of what's happening in mainstream culture," Peter Meehan, the editorial director of Lucky Peach magazine told the New York Times last week. "It's as true in any creative field as it is in food." My mum followed in the footsteps of her own mother. She loved theatre and dance and worked as an actor and dancer from 17, touring with J.C. Williamson theatre shows including The Sentimental Bloke, My Fair Lady, Sail Away and Camelot. Edna once chained herself to the Parliament House steps in the 1960s to protest against conscription and war. Her son Mac, my uncle, was a conscientious objector and my grandparents supported his decision to hide from authorities. She marched and was arrested I am quite proud of that. She felt the war was unjust and was left-wing in her views. My maternal grandmother, Edna, was a member of the Tivoli Theatre. She was adventurous in spirit. When my grandfather, Mac, went off to war for four years, it was a tough time for her. My mother, Maxine, still recalls seeing him return from war and how strange it was because she'd almost forgotten what he looked like. Mum married Paul Beaumont, the "catch of Wollongong", and they had a child together, my half-sister Martine. They were young when they married and Mum wanted to do more in life. Paul was popular and good-looking but he played around. My grandfather told Mum to try and make it work. She said, "No way, it's over." When they split, she got into NIDA as a single mum in her early 20s. She was an original cast member of Hair, the '70s musical. My dad, Jeffrey, was a 10 Pom and they met at a wedding in Sydney while she was doing Hair. He was very persistent. They were like two hippies who never really dropped out because they had such a good work ethic. Mum had three children in four years. She went back to university to study teaching when we were young. My earliest memory of her is as a four-year-old, seeing her walk up the hill after catching the bus home with groceries in hands, a broken ankle and a determination to get it all done, despite her injury. She is always putting others before herself. I remember Martine going to Germany as an exchange student when she was 16. We missed having her around. She and my other sisters, Skye and Sacha, were into ballet. But it was their baby brother, who'd only done ballet for six months, who got into the Australian Ballet School at 14. I kind of stole their thunder. That was weird. My first kiss was with a girl at primary school. She told Sacha, who I often clashed with, that she had a crush on me and arranged for us to hang out. We were playing in her backyard and she called me over and laid one on me. I felt ambushed but I didn't complain. The conservative union that undercut the pay and conditions of more than 250,000 workers in a series of substandard wage deals is seeking to "come in from the cold" by rejoining Victoria's peak union body. But the move by the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association (SDA) has been met with heated opposition from one rival union in particular, and renewed criticism of its industrial practices. SDA state secretary Michael Donovan. Credit:SDA The SDA the "shoppies" left the Victorian Trades Hall Council in the early 1990s complaining about its pro-land rights (Mabo) position and political direction at that time. It is renowned as the last bastion of Catholic conservatism in the labour movement, for its key role in the Labor split of the 1950s that kept the ALP from power in Canberra and Victoria for decades, and for its historic opposition to abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage. NORTH KOREA'S forthcoming missile launch will be aimed towards South-East Asia and Australia for the first time, the US has warned. The warning was delivered in person yesterday to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, by a senior official in the Obama Administration, Kurt Campbell, during a visit to Sydney. A North Korean missile launch drill from 2009. Credit:AFP North Korea, which claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear weapon in 2009, has for years worked to improve its long-range ballistic missile capability. Previous missile tests have been launched east, over Japan. But US intelligence suggests the launch announced for mid-April will be aimed south for the first time. "If the missile test proceeds as North Korea has indicated, our judgment is that it will impact in an area roughly between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines," Dr Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said yesterday. Like all burial sites across Sydney, Rookwood is inching towards full capacity. For religious groups that prohibit cremation, such as the Muslim and Jewish faiths, the situation is even more perilous. Up to 120 pig corpses will be used as human substitutes and have individual plots at the same sacred site where more than a million people are buried. There the pig corpses will be exposed to compounds, additives and "a lot of different variables" that are designed to "speed up" the natural process below ground. Fairfax Media can reveal that, in a contentious move at odds with numerous traditional religious customs, Rookwood Cemetery intends to accelerate the human decomposition process so more people can be laid to rest in the same plot. More than a hundred pigs are to be buried in Australia's largest cemetery as part of a controversial, world-first scientific trial that aims to create more grave space. Plot buried pig: More than 100 pigs will be part of a scientific study at Rookwood Cemetery. Credit:Australian Museum "The sustainability of cemeteries everywhere is a major issue right now," said George Simpson, chief executive of the Rookwood General Cemeteries Reserve Trust. "This is a real watershed if we can get it right. It would revolutionise the entire industry the world over." Until details were leaked to Fairfax Media last week, the independent study had progressed, in secret, for three years. While Mr Simpson acknowledged it might trigger some outcry, he said the interment industry had been forced to confront similar issues before. "If you go back to the 1950s and 1960s when cremation first became popular, there was an element of people who were for it and against it. It's the nature of the industry," he said, adding: "We are aware of that. But we also can't lose sight of the fact that we need to look at innovative new ways of providing space for generations after us." When the State Government released the last parcel of land at the 280 hectare Rookwood Cemetery in 2013, it was divided between the Muslim and Jewish communities on the understanding there was no more left to give. Under Islamic tradition, it is strictly forbidden to lay a second body in a grave until the first has completely transformed. Additionally, Rookwood is severely hampered by a clay based soil composition that slows the decaying process. According to Mr Simpson, "those communities from the Middle Eastern area have been encouraging us to come up with ways to accelerate that process." From living in a candle-lit basement while the war in Afghanistan waged around him to anxiously looking out the window, fearing his family would be the next victims of gang violence. Mumtaz Qaumi, 31, escaped civil conflict in the Middle East only to become embroiled in a war of a different kind on Sydney's streets. Mumtaz Qaumi (left), Farhad Qaumi (centre) and Elias 'Les' Elias (right) outside The Star casino in December 2013. Credit:NSW Police Qaumi, along with siblings Farhad and Jamil Qaumi, are awaiting sentence for their roles in the internal Brothers for Life gang conflict in 2013. A conflict between the gang's Blacktown and Bankstown chapters sparked a series of shootings, including the death of Mahmoud Hamzy in Revesby Heights and serious injury of an innocent teenage girl. It's one of the most popular days on the church calendar, and it comes with one simple message: celebrate life. For many religions, Easter Sunday is a day of celebration together. Reuben Enaje re-enacts Christ's crucifixion in Barangay San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga, north of Manila Credit:Kate Geraghty It follows the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday which was recognised by the thousands who watched the Stations of the Cross staged across the world. Orthodox Christians commemorated Good Friday, or Holy Friday, by attending evening liturgies with the procession of the epitaph, ending with a candlelit procession through the streets of Sydney. Pop quiz: which government minister from the right faction said while spruiking a raft of new solar farms in March: "Our aim is for a secure, reliable, affordable and clean energy future." Give up? Answer: Anthony Roberts, planning and housing minister in Gladys Berejiklian's NSW government, which some believe is showing a far greener hue than the paralysed politics of climate change at federal level might lead anyone to expect. Witness the Premier's visit to the flood-stricken north coast earlier this month, where she said the flood was "a one in-40-year event, if not longer", before adding, matter-of-factly, "Unfortunately, these freak weather incidents are going to increase." Professor Stacy Loeb: "You only have a small window for cure. When it's closed, it's closed for good." Credit:Edwina Pickles For every 1000 men aged 55-65 who had annual PSA tests, 87 would have a false positive result after an invasive biopsy, and 28 would experience side-effects including impotence and incontinence. Just two men will be saved from death as a result of screening. But the blistering furore over the controversial test has pushed the pendulum too far in the other direction, US urologist Professor Stacy Loeb warned Sydney doctors last week. Ignoring test results or abandoning screening altogether was a dangerous error that risked younger men developing aggressive prostate cancer and death, Professor Stacy Loeb said. US projections suggested abandoning PSA screening would lead to twice the rate of metastatic prostate cancers and a 13-20 per cent rise in preventable prostate cancer deaths by 2025. "We definitely made mistakes with PSA testing in the past, but we have made massive gains at every step of screening and treatment to preserve the benefits and reduce harms," she said. Prostate cancer has a 95 per cent survival rate, but it was still the second biggest cancer killer among Australian men. "You only have a small window for cure. When it's closed, it's closed for good," Professor Loeb said. Her warning came days before the US Preventive Service Task Force wound back its watershed 2012 guidelines that recommended against PSA screening. New draft guidelines now recommend doctors inform men aged 55-69 of the potential benefits and harms of PSA screening, and the decision should be an individual one. The proposed guidelines were informed by new research showing small net reductions in mortality risk and metastatic disease linked ot screening. The significant shift brings the US largely in line with Australian guidelines, which suggest men between 50 and 69 should be offered the opportunity to discuss the harms and benefits of PSA testing. The Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand welcomed the draft guidelines, having long argued the old recommendations were flawed and harmful. Prostate cancer surgeon at the Sydney Adventist Hospital and Professor of Surgery at the University of Sydney, Henry Woo said the new guidelines remedied the erroneous "one size fits all" approach to testing. "We know PSA isn't a perfect test ... but the previous guidelines were a classic example of 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater'," Professor Woo said. PSA should be used as a risk assessment tool, not a fast-track to surgery, he said. When PSA screening was first introduced it was applied indiscriminately with little regard for an individual's risk profile, Professor Loeb said. But testing for additional prostate cancer markers through blood, urine and tissue samples, and understanding patient risk profiles was helping doctors better identify which patients would likely benefit from treatment and who could forego it, she said. MRI can reduce the number of men over-diagnosed with prostate cancer and improve the precision of biopsy to detect aggressive cancers, recent research suggests. "Our precision in patient selection is getting better and better. We consider not only PSA, but the size of the prostate, are there nodules, family history of prostate cancer but and also other cancers" including the BRCA gene, Professor Loeb said. There had also been an encouraging uptake of the watch-and-wait approach. "A few years ago all our conference sessions were about surgical technique. Now there are multiple sessions on active surveillance, how to monitor patients and what kind of support they need around living with cancer," Professor Loeb said. Associate Professor David Smith at the Cancer Council Australia said Australian doctors had been rigorously pursuing active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer. "Being told you've got cancer and not treating it is counter-intuitive for many people. It contradicts what we know about a lot of cancers, but for prostate cancer it can be a very rational treatment approach," Professor Smith said. "It often comes down to patient choice. Screening men who are well-informed and who need it is what our challenge is," he said. A mentally ill Wollongong man who drove down a packed city mall during a night market in February told police he wanted people to think it was an act of terrorism. John Caddle was detained by security guards after he drove his Hyundai Accent 150 metres into the western end of Crown Street Mall while honking his horn on the evening of February 16. John Caddle (picture in 2011) was found to be in a manic state when he drove his Hyundai Accent (inset) Crown Street Mall. Credit:Illawarra Mercury, WIN News Illawarra The mall was hosting the Eat Street Festival at the time and was full of people, including small children. Caddle, from Mangerton, later told police it was a spur of the moment decision and he had no intention of hurting anyone, however had wanted to test the response time of local emergency services. Hyderabad, April 15 (IANS) The Telangana government on Saturday decided to hike the reservations for the socially and economically backward among Muslims to 12 per cent from the existing four per cent. The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The cabinet also decided to increase the quota for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) from the current seven per cent to 10 per cent, official sources said. Both the Houses of the state legislature will be meeting on Sunday for a special session to pass a bill for increasing the quantum of reservation for Muslims and STs in education and jobs. As this will take the overall reservations in the state beyond the prescribed limit of 50 per cent, the legislature will pass Telangana Reservation Bill and send it to the Centre with a request to include it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu. Chandrasekhar Rao said Telangana was following the model of Tamil Nadu, where the overall quota for different groups is 69 per cent. Ocia Anwar was seven when she and her mother, father and three sisters fled war-torn Afghanistan to seek a better life in Australia. The journey, which involved a three-year wait in Pakistan, almost saw her kidnapped at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "I remember being at the border with my father we were in the car and this stranger reached in and grabbed me and put me on a trolley If my family didn't see it happen I don't know where I would now be," she told Fairfax Media. Ocia Anwar, 17, suffers from an extremely rare form of degenerative disease. She and her sister are the only two known cases in the world. Credit:Henry Zwartz Now 17 and studying the HSC, Ocia is facing a new challenge she says is almost as frightening as that life-changing journey. Ocia suffers from a rare degenerative disease, which exhibits symptoms similar to spinal muscular atrophy. Ocia and her older sister are the only two known cases in the world of this yet to be named condition. A full report is expected to be conducted into an incident which saw a monster truck nearly plough into a group of spectators, leaving one woman in treatment for shock on Saturday afternoon. Emergency services were called to the showground in Sydney's west after the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing it to swerve into a fence and directly into the path of onlookers. The truck can be seen careering towards onlookers. Scott Anderson, organiser of the Monster Slam event at Penrith showground, told News Limited that a "full report would be conducted into the incident". "The truck didn't make contact with any of the spectators," Mr Anderson said. This time last year the Book Kitchen in Surry Hills in inner Sydney was turning over $23,000 a week. Now the well-known restaurant and cafe's revenue has more than halved to as little as $11,000 a week, forcing it to lay off 10 full or part-time staff. The owners lay the blame squarely on disruption from the building of Sydney's $2.1 billion light rail line, which resulted in high barricades being erected directly outside their doors last month. Many property owners along the route of the light rail line from Circular Quay in the central city to Randwick and Kensington in the south-east have already benefited from a surge in the value of their homes and commercial premises on the prospect of better public transport once trams begin running in 2019. Almost a third of Brisbane Uber drivers were unemployed before signing up to work with the company. With the Brisbane unemployment rate hovering about 5-6 per cent, the statistics reveal the disruptive ride-sharing company is helping people earn a living in a difficult market. Uber driver Nick Pikos was struggling to get job security before signing up to drive with the ride-sharing company. Credit:Robert Shakespeare The figures, provided to Fairfax Media, came amid a taxi and limousine industry campaign over the impacts the ride-sharing company had on profits and the worth of taxi licences. Uber surveyed more than 3000 of its Brisbane drivers to find 32.14 per cent of its drivers were unemployed before they signed up to drive with the app-based service. Fallen Gold Coast property developer Craig Gore says he will fight allegations he defrauded superannuation companies of almost $800,000. The former rich-lister fronted the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday charged with 12 counts of fraud and three counts of making decisions that affect a business while disqualified from managing corporations. The fraud charges date back to 2013-14 and relate to allegations Craig Kirrin Gore "dishonestly gained a benefit" for Arion Financial from a range of superannuation companies. Credit:iStock Gore was released on bail on the conditions he surrendered his passport, stayed 100 metres away from international airports and resided at his Cardwell home in far north Queensland. The 50-year-old said outside the watchhouse he was arrested at Brisbane Airport on Good Friday as he attempted to fly to his home in Stockholm, Sweden, where his wife Marina hails from. Two giant shoe-bikes used as part of the closing ceremony parade during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games are up for grabs, with a Woolloongabba antique shop having restored and placed them back on the market. Owner of the Woolloongabba Antique Centre in Brisbane city, Sarah Jane Walsh, described herself as "your typical hoarder" after she bought three of the bikes about seven years ago from a private seller. Woolloongabba Antique Centre owner Sarah Jane Walsh with the pink stiletto bicycle. Credit:Tammy Law She said since the bikes' heyday in the closing ceremony, inspired by the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, they had gone through various auctions and appeared in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney before arriving in Brisbane. Ms Walsh said a man was loitering in the foyer of the antique shop and, when she approached him, he said, "I think I've got something you might like." By the middle of next year, companies and governments will have access to the roof height, composition, amenities and surrounding vegetation of nearly every building in Australia through a single resource. Canberra and Queanbeyan, most of South Australia and Sydney have already been made available on the Geoscape platform, a continent-wide geospatial tool that provides a three-dimensional representation of urban buildings and two-dimensional profiles of rural properties. An example of the various layers of the Geoscape platform. Tree heights and additional building features such as swimming pools and solar panels are also included in the tool. Australia's public sector mapping agency PSMA developed Geoscape with the help of DigitalGlobe, a Colorado-based provider of satellite imagery. Hackers have released documents and files that cybersecurity experts say indicate the US National Security Agency had accessed the SWIFT interbank messaging system, allowing it to monitor money flows among some Middle Eastern and Latin American banks. The release on Friday included computer code that could be adapted by criminals to break into SWIFT servers and monitor messaging activity, said Shane Shook, a cyber security consultant who has helped banks investigate breaches of their SWIFT systems. Edward Snowden leaked NSA files in 2013, but Mr Inglis said he should have tried harder to make his case without causing so much damage. Credit:AP The documents and files were released by the Shadow Brokers, a hacking group that has previously leaked malware. Some of the records bear NSA seals, but Fairfax could not confirm their authenticity. If genuine, such a hack could have enabled the US to covertly monitor financial transactions, researchers said. The head of Victoria's energy watchdog has warned that households are being lured into deals with the promise of large discounts unaware that companies can ratchet up prices at any time. Ron Ben-David, the chairman of the Essential Services Commission, says discounts of up to 40 per cent offered by electricity and gas retailers are rarely locked in, and called for a dramatic rethink to make power bills fairer for consumers. It comes amid growing concern about what has been described as a "confuse-opoly" in energy pricing. While there are nearly 30 retailers competing for customers, experts and consumer advocates say the current system makes it difficult to work out what different options actually mean, let alone which is best. A man has died and four others, including a child, have been injured after two cars crashed on the Princes Freeway in Tynong, near Pakenham on Saturday. Victoria Police spokesman Alistair Parsons said the incident happened at the intersection of the Princes Freeway and Tynong Road about 4.50pm. "The male driver of an SUV, which was south bound on Tynong Road, died at the scene," Senior Constable Parsons said. Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said a woman was flown to The Alfred hospital in a serious but stable condition, where she remains in a stable condition. Baghdad: An Islamic State militant linked to the deadly 2015 attack on French weekly Charlie Hebdo may still be alive, the Iraqi military said on Saturday. Boubaker al-Hakim was reported by American defence officials to have been killed in November, in a US drone strike in Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria. Gunmen outside the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo. Credit:AP Iraqi intelligence supplied information to the Syrian airforce to carry out a series of strikes on Islamic State headquarters and hideouts in Syria, including one believed to belong to Hakim, an Iraqi military statement said. Aircraft from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's airforce targeted several locations in Raqqa and al-Bukamal, near the Iraqi border, said the statement, without indicating the location of Hakim's headquarters or the date of the raids. Up to $240,000 in scholarships to 24 rising college students of Thai ancestry In an inspiring effort to provide financial assistance for Thai high schoolers in the greater Los Angeles area, the Angels Wings Foundation is awarding up to $240,000 in scholarships to 24 rising college students of Thai ancestry from Los Angeles County. The new scholarship underscores Angels Wings Founder Porntip Bui Simon's unwavering belief in the power of education. The Angels Wings Thai Scholarship is a new initiative intended to recognize and honor Thai-American students who have demonstrated academic excellence, concern for their Thai community, and connection and desire to continue their education. Angels Wings Foundation (AWF) has a proud history of funding schools, orphanages, supplying healthcare, and supporting various social services to benefit underprivileged children in Thailand. With outreach efforts expanding to serve Thai youth outside of the country, AWF is launching the inaugural Angels Wings Thai Scholarship of Los Angeles. The overarching vision for the scholarship initiative is to open doors for Thai students to experience higher education, and create a nationwide network of Thai youth scholars. Founder, Porntip Bui Simon, believes the scholars will thrive when given the chance to further develop their relationships with their Thai community and hopes to instill a greater sense of pride and commitment to Thailand and its people. The Royal Thai Consul General of Los Angeles states, "One of the Consulate's continuing goals is to prepare for the future of the Thai-American community. Supporting of young Thai-Americans is a most effective way in fulfilling that commitment." Porntip Bui Simon said "Having grown up in Southern California, I have personally been inspired by the enriching Thai community. Now that my children are becoming more independent, I am thrilled to have the privilege of time to invest in our local Thai youth, and encourage their Thai pride, while continuing to support my beloved country of Thailand." The AWF Scholarship Committee will select a total of 24 undergraduate students to receive up to $240,000 in 2017 college scholarships. Awardees will receive $5,000 towards education expenses to attend trade school or city/community colleges or a $10,000 scholarship to students attending a university. The AWF Scholarship Committee is comprised of representatives from the Angels Wings Foundation and the Royal Thai Consulate of Los Angeles. Applicants will be evaluated and selected based on a combination of their academic promise, high school performance, and essay response. About Angels Wings Foundation: Angels Wings Foundation was founded in 2002 as a non-profit organization aimed at assisting the underprivileged children of Thailand. Shaped from under the wings of native Thai philanthropist, Porntip Bui Simon, Angels Wings has built schools, provided educational scholarships, healthcare, and many other critical services for the youth in Thailand. About Royal Thai Consulate Los Angeles: The Royal Thai Consulate-General, Los Angeles, was established in 1971 as the representative of Thailand in California and 12 other states in western United States. The main function of the Consulate is to enhance the people-to-people relationship between Thailand and the United States by reaching out to all Thais and Thais American, to promote their welfare and encourage their more active role in the mainstream American society. Claim: Being an only child (or an only son) automatically exempts you from military service in the U.S. Rating: About this rating False Advertisment: The belief that being the only child (or the only male child) in a family exempts one from compulsory military service is a widespread but erroneous belief, a misunderstanding of Selective Service rules enacted after World War II: As an only son, I have heard a few times before that there is an "only son clause" law with the military. Meaning that since I am an only son, I cannot be drafted for war. Is this true? Popular fact-based World War II films such as The Fighting Sullivans and Saving Private Ryan have dramatized cases where several brothers from the same family were all killed in action. The Fighting Sullivans recounted the true story of the Sullivan brothers, all five of whom died when the ship to which they were assigned, the USS Juneau, was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. Saving Private Ryan told a fictionalized story based on the real experience of Sgt. Fritz Niland of the 101st Airborne, who was removed from a combat zone in France and sent home by the Army after all three of his brothers were killed in action during the same week in June 1944. In 1948, in order to safeguard the only remaining sons of families that had lost other children during World War II, the United States passed a law that exempted sole surviving sons from the draft. This exemption applied only when one or more children (sons or daughters) from the family had already died or been killed during military service, not when a family simply had a sole living male child (because they only ever had one son, or because the others had died from causes unrelated to military service). In 1964 this law was modified to also extend the exemption to sons who were the only surviving male offspring of fathers who had died as a result of military service, and at the same time the exemption was altered to apply only to peacetime drafts. This law was modified again in 1971 to extend the exemption to any son (not necessarily the only surviving son) whose father or brother or sister had died in military service, and a later provision added mothers to this list. So, to clear up the misunderstandings, note that: You are not exempt from military service simply because you are an only child or an only son. You are exempt only if one of your siblings or parents died as a result of military service. if one of your siblings or parents died as a result of military service. You do not have to be a sole remaining son to meet this requirement the exemption applies to all remaining sons from qualified families. remaining sons from qualified families. This exemption is not in effect during wartime. Or as the Selective Service now notes on their web site: Contrary to popular belief "only sons," "the last son to carry the family name," and "sole surviving sons" must still register with the Selective Service System and they can be drafted. IF A DRAFT WERE HELD TODAY These men may be entitled to a deferment during a military draft if there is a military death in the immediate family. The Military Selective Service Act does have a provision for surviving sons. This provides that where a family member has died as a result of military service, the remaining family members should be protected insofar as possible. If a draft resumes during a war or national emergency not declared by Congress (Vietnam was such a war), a man (along with any of his living brothers) who had another brother, a sister, a father, or a mother killed or missing in action while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, will not be drafted. There must be a military service-related death of an immediate family member for a man to receive this deferment. Simply being an only son in a family does not suffice. The surviving son deferment does not apply if the war or national emergency is Congressionally declared. Note that the Selective Service's wording refers to "deferments," which implies not an absolute exemption from military service, but inclusion in a "will be called upon only if necessary" status. Although all American men are now required to register with the Selective Service upon turning 18, the U.S. does not currently have a peacetime draft, having converted to an all-volunteer military in 1973. Whether a draft held while U.S. forces were engaged in military action but war had not officially been declared would be considered a "peacetime" draft or a "wartime" draft is debatable. Our query to the Selective Service on this point brought only the circular answer that since no draft is in effect at this time, we are considered to be at peace. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Never miss Somerset's latest and breaking news again by signing up to our Daily Newsletter Every two minutes in the UK another person is reported missing. In 2015/16 police forces across the country recorded over 316,000 missing people. Most of these individuals simply returned home or were located within two days, with no harm recorded to them. But for the families of those who stay missing, life can be a desperate struggle with unanswered questions. These people are all officially registered by the authorities as being missing from their homes in Somerset and the South West. Some have been missing for years, including one man since June 2010. All are the subject of appeals by the missing persons' charity Missing People. All of the information in these cases has been given to us by the police, or by Missing People. If you have information about any of these people, please call police on 101. Jonathan South Police fear for the welfare of a man who has gone missing after leaving a medical centre in Wells early on Thursday morning. Jonathan South, 39, from Glastonbury, was last seen at 10am leaving the Priory Medical Centre in Wells. He is described as white with long brown hair. Police are appealing for the public's help in locating the missing man. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Constabulary said: "He was last seen wearing a blue long sleeve jersey top, a red and green patterned sarong with grey sandals. He was also carrying a white plastic bag. Stephen Kent We need your help to find 61 year old Stephen Kent who has been missing from Weymouth since July 19 last year. Missing People say there is great concern for his welfare. If you think you might have seen Stephen, call/text their free helpline on 116 000 or email 116000@missingpeople.org.uk. Stephen, if youre reading this, you can also call, text or email them in confidence to talk through your options or send a message home. Timothy Foote This is Timothy Foote, who was 38 years old when he went missing from Bristol in June 2010. Take a look at his photo - do you recognise him? Have you seen him around? If so, please contact Missing People on 116 000. Amran Hussain Amran Hussain has been missing from Bristol since February 5, 2016. He's 34 years old - have you seen him? If so, please call Missing People on 116 000. Wayne Petherwick Wayne Petherwick is 42-years-old and has gone missing from Bournemouth in Dorset since February 13 this year. Missing People are hoping that someone in Somerset might hold information which can reunite him with his loved ones. If you've seen him, contact them on 116 000. Angela Reynolds This is Angela Reynolds, who has been missing since May 2015 from Bridgwater. She went missing when she was 42 years old and it's believed she may have travelled to Peru. Have you seen her? Do you recognise her? If so, contact Missing People on 116 000. John Hurst Police are concerned for the welfare of John Hurst, 46. He was last seen in Cornwall at around 1pm on Tuesday 7 March, and is described as white, 6ft, of a medium to large build, with short dark hair, with a beard/stubble and has a scratch above his left eye. He is possibly wearing a black coat, blue jumper and jeans. If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of John please contact the police on 101 quoting log number 645 07/03/2017. Sarah Fenton Police in Poole are seeking public help as they investigate the disappearance of a 39-year-old woman who has not been seen since 2012. Sarah Fenton of Fishponds, Bristol was last seen by her husband at around 4.30pm on Sunday, April 1, 2012 as they traveled on a Condor Rapide high-speed car ferry from Guernsey to Poole. British and French Coastguard searched the waters for the woman, but she has never been found. Detective Inspector Becky Riggs said: "Sarah's family are very concerned about her and we are investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. "I am appealing to anyone who may have seen Sarah on board the ferry to contact me urgently." Anyone with information should call us as soon as possible." Anyone with any information about Sarah's disappearance should call Dorset Police on 101, quoting incident number 1:437 Lauren Philips Lauren Philips, 26, has not been seen since February 23. She failed to turn up to work in Bristol and police are concerned for her welfare. Her car was located in Woolacombe, Devon, on February 28, but other than that there has been no sign of her. Lauren is described a white, 5ft 5ins tall, of slim build with brown eyes. She has long dark brown hair which is usually straightened but which is naturally curly. Detective Inspector Mark Langdon said: "Lauren hasn't been seen for some days now and we're growing increasingly concerned. "We really need the public's help in finding her so if you see her or think you might know where she is, please get in touch." Anyone who sees Lauren is asked to call 101 provding the call handler with the reference 5217045398. Rahim Khiri Do you know Rahim Khiri? He went missing from Temple Cloud in Somerset in February last year when he was just 13 years old and Missing People is hoping to contact him and put him back in touch with those who miss him. If you've seen him, please contact them on 116 000. Simon Roberson Police in Weymouth are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of Simon Roberson, who has been missing since November 2012. Mr Roberson, who was 45 when he went missing, was staying at a guest house along The Esplanade, has not been seen or made contact with his family since 11.45am on Tuesday 13 November 2012. He left the guest house without taking any of his possessions. Police Sergeant David Hughes, of Weymouth police, said: "Simon is five feet 11 inches tall, with short dark straight wiry hair and well spoken with a southern accent. "I'd urge anyone who knows of Simon's whereabouts and anyone who has seen him since Tuesday 13 November 2012 to contact the police straight away. "Simon is not in any trouble we simply want to know that he is safe and well." Anyone with any information or knowledge as to Simon's whereabouts should call Dorset Police on 101, quoting incident number 14:108 Selina Mcdonald Selina Mcdonald was 35-years-old when she went missing from Portishead. Missing People say they are desperate to make contact with her. "We are here for you whenever you are ready; we can listen, talk you through what help you need, pass a message for you and help you to be safe," a spokeswoman said. "Call. Text. Anytime. on 116 000." Anyone who has seen Selina can contact Missing People quoting reference No: 10-000128 Scott Cook Do you know Scott Cook? He's been missing from Weston-super-Mare since April 25, 2015.He was 25-years-old when he vanished - but take a look at his photograph. Have you seen him around? If so, please call Missing People on 116 000. Election results: Check out results from various races across the state Todd Young is up for reelection this year in Indiana. Get live election results across Indiana here. NATO essential but allies must pay up says Trump; Ryan to visit next week Washington (AFP) April 12, 2017 NATO is the "bulwark of international peace and security" but its European members "must pay what they owe," US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday alongside the political head of the military alliance. Reversing some of his campaign rhetoric, Trump told a joint news conference that NATO "is no longer obsolete" and hailed its role in the fight "against terrorism." But he renewed his argument that NATO's member states need to dedicate two percent of their gross domestic product to military e ... read more Washington (United States), April 15, 2017 (SPS) - US Western Sahara Foundation urged President Donald Trump to take action to end the illegal occupation of Western Sahara, stressing that King of Morocco Mohamed VI undermines the UN-sponsored self-determination process. In a letter to US president on the eve of a meeting to be held Sunday with Morocco's King, Suzanne Sholte, the NGO's chairwoman, called on the American administration to launch a strong signal to the international community for the settlement of Western Sahara issue, putting an end to occupation. Describing the US Western Sahara Foundation as "an NGO representing many concerned American citizens," Sholte asked President Trump "to urge the King of Morocco, at a meeting this (Sunday) Easter, to put an end to the illegal and brutal occupation of Western Sahara." The head of the US foundation added that at the very least, the King must stop undermining the referendum on self-determination pledged by the US a long time ago. Morocco must stop terrorizing and ill-treating Western Sahara people in the occupied territories, the human rights activist stressed. (SPS) 062/090/700 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD Three days after the November 2010 election, two students stood on a corner near the University of Connecticuts downtown campus waiting to cross the street. We got a governor yet? one asked, referring to the delayed declaration of a winner caused by a ballot mix-up in Bridgeport. Yeah. Its Malloy, his friend replied, holding up a fist. The other student bumped it, smiling. Stamford in the house, he said. That was the sentiment in Stamford when hometown boy Dannel Malloy won the states highest seat seven years ago. It was only the second time in Connecticut history that a Stamford resident was elected governor, and the last one William Minor in 1855 was too long ago to remember. Now the end of Malloys run is in sight. On Thursday, with his favorability ratings among the lowest for governors nationwide, Malloy announced he will not seek a third term. His tenure was marked by economic struggles that began with the recession of 2008. He signed off on Connecticuts two largest tax increases, laid off state workers and cut spending for popular government programs. Fellow Democrats in Stamford, where Malloy was mayor from 1995 to 2009, defended him as a leader who takes on hard fights. Politically, it is very much the end of an era, said Josh Fedeli, chairman of the Stamford Democratic City Committee. I think history will treat him far better than how hes being treated now at the statewide level. Whoever replaces him has big shoes to fill. Sandra Goldstein, president of the Downtown Special Services District, worked with Malloy on improving the city center while he was mayor. Gubernatorial candidates will want Stamford support and we will grill them very strongly because having a man keeping an eye out for Stamford was very important, Goldstein said. I for one am really sorry that he has chosen not to run a third term. Hartford clout There were high hopes when Malloy went to Hartford in January 2011. The capitol had for generations taken tax money from Stamford the second-highest revenue contributor after Greenwich and spent it elsewhere in the state. For generations, residents felt state lawmakers thought of Stamford as an extension of New York, justifying the low rate of return on city tax dollars by citing the size of its Grand List, and ignoring the needs of those struggling under the high cost of living. The hope was that Malloy would change that. In many ways, he did. During his years as governor, Stamford always short-changed on its share of the state Education Cost Sharing grant received more money for city schools. Under Malloy, the state reopened J.M. Wright Technical High School in Scalzi Park, and created an extension of Rogers International School on Strawberry Hill Avenue. While it took many people at the local and state level to make the (Strawberry Hill school) a reality there is no doubt that the governors support was pivotal, said Geoff Alswanger, president of the Stamford Board of Education. Malloy has been credited with an effort to build UConn dormitories, set to open soon on Washington Boulevard. The city tried for years to create housing for college students, Goldstein said. It would never have happened if Malloy wasnt a governor, she said. A city guy For many residents, it felt good to have a governor who understood Stamfords role as Connecticuts economic engine. Malloy knew because, as the citys longest-serving mayor, he helped build it. Malloy told The Advocate in 2010 that his goal was to innovate cities. Hed counted 19 urban centers in Connecticut, he said, and I dont think that the most urban state in the country can make a comeback if its not led by its cities. He ran for governor on his record of reinventing Stamford by overseeing a revitalization of downtown, smart growth around the train station, a $3.5 billion remake of the old industrial South End, construction of a 28-acre urban park, creation of affordable housing, and by attracting corporate headquarters. Some were concerned that he continued to do that in Stamford even after he went to Hartford. In 2012, when zoning officials were in court with a developer that removed the citys only boatyard from a South End peninsula, Malloy came to Stamford with a surprise announcement: His administration had reached a deal allowing the developer to build a headquarters there for a giant hedge fund firm. The deal would give Bridgewater Associates $115 million in financial incentives, and the developer could seemingly ignore state environmental laws protecting coastland. Big foot Stamford residents said Malloy was big-footing zoning officials. Dans ego got the best of him, said Maureen Boylan, founder of Save our Boatyard, a grassroots group fighting development of the peninsula. When youre willing to give one of the worlds richest hedge funds $115 million of our taxes to move Bridgewater to a 14-acre site, when youre willing to allow the DEEP to violate their state regulations when it comes to water dependence usage something is really wrong, especially when the property is in his own backyard. Malloy allowed certain developers to pretty much get away with murder, Boylan said. The Bridgewater deal ultimately fell apart. Similar things were said when the state Department of Transportation announced it formed a partnership with a private developer to transform the Stamford train station into a hotel, retail, office and residential complex. Few details of the plan were revealed, and commuters were angry when they learned that parking would be moved away from the train platforms. Then Malloy proposed a bill that would create an agency that could seize property around train stations and build projects with minimal input from cities. The train station deal, and the bill, also fell through. Unfinished business Then there was the matter of Democratic primary in the mayors race of 2013. That year the Democratic City Committee nominated David Martin, but Malloy, whod remained a force in Stamford politics, endorsed state Rep. William Tong. The committees then-chairman, John Mallozzi, lashed out against Malloy. He seems to be trying to form his own party, Mallozzi said at the time. It seems he has some unfinished business in Stamford ... and ... he wants to put his own person in charge. Martin won the primary and then the general election. The mayor could not be reached for comment for this story. Malloys old sparring partner, Republican Joe Tarzia, with whom he served on the Board of Finance for 11 years starting in the mid-1980s, credited him as a leader. I became chairman of the finance board when Dan was mayor and we had clashes, Tarzia said. My thing was youre spending too much and his was that its necessary for the city. But I dont think it was personal. It was a matter of philosophy of government. Malloy was a hands-on mayor and governor, Tarzia said. He was not shy about pushing his agenda. He would lead the fight. He committed to something and he worked at it. But everybodys time in government comes to an end, Tarzia said. Who knows what hell do next? Politics is a strange business. Staff writer Liz Skalka contributed reporting acarella@stamfordadvocate.com T he eagerly anticipated first trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been unveiled, offering fans a first peek at the sci-fi franchise's eighth episode. It was first shown on Friday as part of a panel at the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida, before being released online. The two-minute teaser begins with Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, apparently clambering over the mountain where she faced Mark Hamills Luke Skywalker at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It ends with a chilling voiceover from the actor, who tells Rey: "I only know one truth...it's time for the Jedi to end". There also appears to be a brief glimpse from behind of the late actress Carrie Fisher, who filmed a reprise of her role as Princess Leia before her death last year. She died aged 60 in December after suffering a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles. Fans have taken to social media to express their excitement at the trailer. One Twitter user said: "Just the music in the #StarWars #TheLastJedi trailer got me excited." Another wrote: Well I'll be putting the new Star Wars trailer on repeat for the rest of the afternoon. And another said: "That was intense! Too bad I have to wait till December to see it. Let the countdown begin!" The film, which will open in cinemas on December 15, will also see Hamill and Kylo Ren star Adam Driver return. Its new trailer already promises more dramatic battle scenes as well as some stunning scenery shots and the famous original score. The Disney production is written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman. Disney's chief executive Bob Iger recently assured fans that further images of Fisher would not be digitally recreated for the film. He told a University of Southern California conference: "Her performance, which we're really pleased with, remains as it was." A Burger King worker was punched in the face and thrown to the ground by a customer in a row over a drink at a central London train station, police said. The fast food worker, a 41-year-old man, was attacked behind the counter of the Burger King restaurant at Marylebone Station on a Thursday evening. The victim was assaulted by a man who became angry when he was told he would have to pay for a drink if he wanted a paper cup, police said. Officers said the customer, who had pushed into the queue, refused to pay and walked behind the counter where he punched the staff member in the head twice. He then threw the victim onto the floor and tried to stamp on him before leaving the scene, according to police. The victim was left with grazes to his legs and bruising around his eye. British Transport Police officers are appealing for witnesses to the attack, which took place at about 9.20pm on March 9. Officers have released a CCTV image of a man they want to speak to in connection with the assault. Investigating officer, Det Con Martin Coburn, said: I would like to speak to the man shown in the CCTV image as he may have information which could help with the investigation. This was a violent attack against a member of staff who was simply doing his job and it is vital that we find the person responsible. "Fortunately, the victim has recovered from his physically injuries, which in the end were not serious, but they could have been a lot worse as the offender was trying to stamp on the victim whilst he was on the floor. Anyone with information about what happened or who recognises the man shown in the CCTV image, is asked to call 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016, quoting reference number 211 13/04/2017. T wo boys have been charged with murder after a teenager was stabbed to death in front of his screaming family in north-west London. Abdullahi Tarabi, 19, collapsed in an alleyway after being allegedly knifed in the stomach in Newnham Close, Northolt, on Tuesday. Paramedics battled to save Mr Tarabi as his devastated family looked on but he died in hospital just after 5.30pm. Scotland Yard said on Saturday that detectives had charged two boys aged 16 and 17 with murder and possession of a pointed or bladed article. Stabbing: Mr Tarabi died in hospital / Lucy Young The pair will appear in custody at Hendon Magistrates' court on Saturday. Mr Tarabi, from Greenford, west London, was one of three people stabbed to death in London in little more than 24 hours. Forensics: Officers at the scene of the stabbing / Lucy Young And he is thought to be the sixth teenager killed in the capital since the start of 2017. Close friend Kallum Reed posted a heartfelt tribute to the teenager he knew his whole life on Facebook, saying: I remember him being just full of energy and full of life. He was always laughing and making jokes so it leaves me confused and hurt that hes been taken from us at a very young age. I will definitely miss seeing him about, he was a special soul. I hope you rest in perfect peace my brother. A 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in an attack in east London. Police probing the sex attack, which happened at a house in Eastern Avenue, Ilford, have now released a photo of a man they would like to speak to. Detectives are urging anyone who recognises the man to come forward with information as it could help with the investigation. The teenage victim, who is not from London, is being supported by specialist officers, the Met said. DC Monir Nainia, who is leading the investigation, said: "I am appealing to anyone who believes they recognise the man in the image to contact us. Similarly, if the person in the image recognises themselves, they should also contact us. "All our enquiries to identify the man in the image have not so far resulted in a positive identification, so we are hoping the public can help us." Anyone who can identify the man, or who has other information that may assist the investigation, is urged to call the East Area Safeguarding team on 101, or via Twitter @MetCC. To give information anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. A six-foot-tall, giant Thomas the Tank Engine made entirely of chocolate has arrived at Kings Cross station to celebrate Easter weekend. The giant Thomas is made of more than 100kg of Belgian chocolate, with the sculpture itself weighing in at over 140kg. Craftsmen and women from She Bakes and Plunge Productions in Sussex have used white, milk and dark chocolate to make Thomas and they say that the most difficult part of the work was getting Thomas face just right. The company says that it was the biggest project the team have ever taken on. The chocolate Thomas the Tank Engine will be at King's Cross until Monday. A n elderly woman has died after she was hit by a car on a leafy road in north London. Police and paramedics rushed to the scene of the crash in Harrow at 10.45am on Saturday morning. The female pedestrian, a woman aged in her 70s, was pronounced dead at the scene just under an hour later, Scotland Yard said. An air ambulance was also called after the crash, which happened in Bessborough Road at the junction with Whitmore Road. The car stopped at the scene. A Met Police spokesman said: Officers are in the process of informing next of kin. A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. No arrests have been made and enquiries continue. Detectives from the Mets Roads and Transport Policing Command are appealing for witnesses. Anyone who witnessed the collision or the moments leading up to it is asked to contact the witness appeal line on 020 8991 9555 or via Twitter @MetCC T he Lyrid meteor shower 2017 will light up the sky later this month and for keen stargazers there are a range of ways to see the dazzling display. The spectacular sight can be seen between April 16 and 25 when the sky will be littered with as many as 20 shooting stars an hour. Experts claim the best day to watch the shower will be April 22. According to Greenwich Observatory, the best places to watch the display are open areas, away from street lights. Meteor shower: Last year's spectacular Lyrid display / Islam Hassan/Flickr So Londoners' best chance of seeing the shower will be from one of the capital's large open spaces such as Richmond Park or Hampstead Heath. The Lyrid is one of the worlds oldest meteor showers, named after the constellation Lyra. It is sparked when Earth passes through debris from the comet Thatcher. Shards of debris vaporise as they meet the Earths upper atmosphere and create colourful flashes in the night sky. Bill Cooke, NASA meteor expert, told Space.com that patience is key to catching a glimpse of the shower. He said: People say there is some periodicity there but the data doesn't support that. M ore than 20 people from at least two different stag parties were removed from a flight at Manchester Airport for "disruptive" behaviour. The Jet2 flight had been due to take off for Prague around 3.15pm on Friday, but was forced to return to the parking bay. Police were called and officers removed the passengers from the plane. The airline apologised to affected customers and said it would "not let the behaviour of a disruptive few spoil the flight for everyone else". Lauren Sian, who tweeted a picture of the unruly suspects being escorted from the flight, said they had been "damaging property, swearing and being disruptive" before staff intervened and police were called. Another passenger, Dave Illingworth, tweeted: "Stuck on the tarmac at manchester airport as some idiot stags and their luggage are removed. Don't envy the jet2 staff at times like this." A Jet2 spokesman said: "Flight LS887 from Manchester to Prague had to return to the parking stand today after our crew called for police assistance. "Police attended the aircraft to support the removal of some customers one of whom has subsequently been arrested and two others have been issued with public order offences. "We would like to thank Greater Manchester Police for their assistance this afternoon and will be fully supporting the investigation and where required will prosecute if that is deemed necessary. "We apologise to all other customers for the inconvenience that this has caused at the start of their Bank Holiday weekend, however as a family friendly airline we will not let the behaviour of a disruptive few spoil the flight for everyone else." He rose quickly through the Tory ranks to take on the vital role of health secretary during a global pandemic. Hell appear on national TV this weekend (probably) eating kangeroo testes. So, what happened, asks Amy Francombe A judge in the US has sparked outrage after calling a convicted rapist an extraordinarily good man who did something wrong. The judge made the remarks while sentencing former Mormon bishop Keith Robert Vallejo, who had been found guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of rape. Judge Thomas Low said: The court has no doubt that Mr Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man but great men sometimes do bad things. Vallejo was ordered to serve life in prison by the Utah-based Judge Low, who appeared to get emotional as he delivered the sentence. The former church bishop preyed on a teenage girls and another woman who was 19, the court heard. Keith Vallejo leaves the courtroom, in Provo, Utah. / AP One of the sexual predators victims said on Friday she was shocked by the judges comments and said he appeared to care more for her attacker than for her. "He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable," said the 23-year-old. The victim plans to file a complaint against the judge in a bid to get him sacked. Criticism began to mount against Judge Low when he decided to let Vallejo out of custody following the guilty verdict from the jury. Ryan McBride, the prosecutor on the case, said Low's comments were inappropriate and said it may have come in response to more than 50 character references about Vallejo, who denied the charges. "I don't think it's wrong to acknowledge the good things that someone has done in their lives," the prosecutor said. "But I think whenever you do that in a case like this, you've also got to say, `But it doesn't excuse what you've done.' Low declined comment through a court spokesman. Additional reporting by Associated Press. R ussian warships will be escorted through the English Channel by the Royal Navy after they were spotted in the North Sea headed towards Dover. HMS Sutherland will escort Vladimir Putins ships on Saturday night as they sail close to UK territorial waters. The Steregushchiy-class corvettes Soobrazitelny and Boiky, which have been joined by a Russian support tanker and ocean-going tug, were located by the Plymouth-based frigate on Friday morning. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: "HMS Sutherland is carefully marking these Russian ships as they pass close to UK waters. One of two Russian warships which will be escorted by Royal Navy ship HMS Sutherland / PA "The Royal Navy maintains a vigilant watch and is always ready to keep Britain safe." It comes at a time of heightened-tension with Russia, with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, criticising the country for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on Syria. They accused Moscow and Tehran of covering up details of Bashar Assad's chemical weapons use. HMS Sutherland, which will escort two Russian warships as they pass through the English Channel / PA Commander Andrew Canale, Commanding Officer of HMS Sutherland, said: "As one of the Royal Navy's high-readiness units, HMS Sutherland is required to escort warships that approach the UK and this task is considered routine business for us. "It is vitally important the Royal Navy demonstrates its presence and commitment to the integrity of UK territorial waters as we work around the clock to secure the seas of our island nation." The Royal Navy frigate was designed to deal with the Soviet submarine threat, but now acts as a high-readiness unit and can be called upon for escort duties, marine search and rescue, or to conduct counter-terrorism operations. In January, HMS St Albans escorted Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, battlecruiser Petr Velikiy and a tug as they passed close to UK territorial waters. The RAF and Navy were also scrambled several times last year to escort Russian aircraft and ships near the UK. CHADRON The Nebraska Attorney Generals Office has filed a complaint against a Dawes County official, alleging forgery and misconduct in office. According to Dawes County Court records, Treasurer Barb Sebesta has been charged with one count of second-degree forgery, a Class I misdemeanor, and six counts of official misconduct, a Class II misdemeanor. A criminal complaint was filed on April 6 and a hearing was held on April 10. Judge Randin Roland will preside over the case. Reports indicate that the charges stem from discoveries during a state audit in September 2016. The results of a surprise audit were forwarded to the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office. The audit alleges Sebesta altered a check written by a taxpayer, changing it from $85.20 to $851.20, but not altering a total balance on a deposit slip. When the First National Bank of North Platte noticed the discrepancy, it changed the deposit slip and sent a notice of the correction. When Sebasta received the correction notice, she told branch personnel she had altered the check without the customers authorization and the bank made an adjustment so the taxpayer could recover the funds. It should be noted that the alteration of a check in this manner is considered to be a form of forgery, the audit read. Sebesta claimed she was trying to clarify the property amount for the banks but did not verify it back to the receipts. She is also accused of failing to collect sales tax or sales tax forms in at least two instances. According to the audit, Sebesta said she was trying to help the vehicle purchaser by not collecting sales tax until June 2016 for vehicle purchased two months earlier. In a second instance, she said she knew the owners of an ATV and that no sales tax would be owed because it would be used on a farm. She told the owners to bring in the sales tax form when they could. She has also been accused of failing to maintain trust balances in a timely fashion, and deposited bond forfeitures into the countys general fund rather than distributing them to the schools as required by law. Sebasta, who formerly worked in the Dawes County Office for six years, was elected to the treasurer post in November 2010. She will not be up for re-election until 2018. Sebasta has declined to comment, saying she wanted to seek legal advice first, according to the Chadron Record. A copy of the audit is available on starherald.com. On May 1, 250,000 additional Medicaid recipients in Missouri will be enrolled in a managed care system, and advocates and health policy experts say they are worried that not enough has been done to make them aware of the changes. Patients could fall through the cracks because of the confusion, say policy experts with the Missouri Foundation for Health. Serving this population is really hard, and you better plan for it carefully or there can be some real pain among the participants, said Jeanette Mott Oxford, executive director of Empower Missouri. Currently, three companies provide managed care for most Medicaid recipients in 54 counties along Interstate 70. Beginning May 1, recipients in all of Missouris 115 counties will be under managed care. Seniors and disabled people are not affected by the change. Medicaid is a government-funded health insurance program for low-income individuals, financed by both the state and federal government. In Missouri, Medicaid covers nearly half of all children and nearly half of all births. There are two systems in Missouri to deliver Medicaid benefits: fee-for-service or managed care. In fee-for-service, participating health care providers are paid for each service performed. But nationwide, more states are moving to managed care, where private insurance companies are paid a set fee each month for each participant. This system provides an incentive for the insurance companies to actively monitor participants health care use in an attempt to keep costs below the monthly allotment. Adding to the confusion this year, Aetna, which had been managing care for 55 percent of Medicaid recipients in Missouri, will no longer be an option. UnitedHealthcare was awarded the contract, beginning May 1. The other companies with plans are WellCare and Home State Health Plan, a division of Clayton-based Centene. Recipients were to choose one of them, but less than 20 percent of the 750,000 people eligible have done so. Those who didnt choose were automatically enrolled in one of the three plans. Advocates said they worry that the low rate of enrollment is a sign that the word has not gotten to the people eligible for Medicaid managed care. The confusion can benefit the insurance companies, Oxford said, because they are paid monthly for each person enrolled, even if no services are provided. Missouri began contracting out management of Medicaid benefits in 1995 in an effort to cut costs. The managed care system is only for children, pregnant women and parents of children 18 and under who are also on the program. The federal government hasnt yet approved the states expansion of managed care to all of Missouri. The Department of Social Services, which applied for regulatory approval last month, did not respond to requests for comment. Yancy Williams, executive director of the Missouri Health Plans Association, which represents the managed care companies operating in the state, said the plans have been in constant communication with the Department of Social Services to ensure the successful implementation of the statewide expansion. The change is a big one, said Alan Freeman, CEO of Affinia Healthcare, a clinic that primarily serves low-income individuals. It is vitally important that enrollees and the more vulnerable in our population have easy access to health care, he said, and that the Medicaid managed care plans and (state) work together to ensure effective processes in this regard. ST. LOUIS COUNTY A former assistant principal at McCluer North High School who police say was involved with a student has been charged with rape and sodomy. Walter Collie, 47, of the 800 block of Keeneland in unincorporated St. Louis County was charged Thursday with statutory second-degree rape and statutory second-degree sodomy. He is being held at the St. Louis County jail with bail set at $100,000. Collie was an assistant principal at McCluer North while he was "romantically involved" with a student between January and February, police said. Police did not release further details. "The Florissant Police department is asking anyone who thinks they may be a victim to contact the Florissant Police department at 314-831-7000," a release from the department said. "We are committed to working with our School Districts in order to keep our schools a safe and secure learning environment." Collie had been working at McCluer North for a little more than a year, said Kevin Hampton, the district's executive director of communications and marketing. He said Collie came to McCluer North from another school district. In a letter to McCluer North parents Friday, the district said Collie resigned from his post in February. Administrators did not know about the charges against him until late Thursday afternoon. "The District has just learned that Walter Collie has been charged with statutory sodomy and statutory rape, and we are surprised, shocked and deeply disappointed," the letter said. "Our highest priority is the safety of our students, and we are concerned for the welfare of this child. We were unaware of these allegations at the time Dr. Collie resigned." "Any time we become aware of a situation that involves the welfare of a child, staff or the district we report to the appropriate authorities. I understand you still may have unanswered questions regarding Dr. Collie and these charges. If additional information becomes available that we can share, we will update you." No one could have known it at the time, but at the end of last summer, Justice Elena Kagan gave Neil Gorsuch a face-to-face tutorial on what it means to be the Supreme Courts newest justice. It starts in the kitchen. Ive been on the cafeteria committee for six years. (Justice) Steve Breyer was on the cafeteria committee for 13 years, Kagan said at a Colorado event where she was being interviewed by Gorsuch and Timothy Tymkovich, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Gorsuch and Tymkovich both were on President Donald Trumps list of potential Supreme Court nominees at the time, and it just so happened that they asked what it was like to be the most junior justice. Kagan is a storyteller, and she knows this is a topic that audiences usually eat up, so she played it for all it was worth. The junior justice has three unique responsibilities, she said. But in recounting them, she always starts with the fact that the newest justice is assigned to cafeteria duty and keeps it until the next justice is confirmed. I think this is a way to kind of humble people, she said during the fireside chat at the elegant Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. You think youre kind of hot stuff. Youre an important person. Youve just been confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. And now you are going to monthly cafeteria committee meetings where literally the agenda is what happened to the good recipe for the chocolate chip cookies. The justices eat lunch together on the days when they hear oral arguments, Kagan explained. Somebody will say, Whos our representative to the cafeteria committee again? Like they dont know, right? And then theyll say, This soup is very salty. And Im like supposed to go fix it myself? You might guess it was not the first time Kagan has told the story. But, as she says, shes worried about the cookies and the soup since 2010 her biggest contribution has been to install a frozen yogurt machine so who would begrudge her? The Supreme Court is a place that runs on seniority. When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gets questions from feminists about why the opera written about her relationship with the late Justice Antonin Scalia is called Scalia/Ginsburg and not the other way around she tells them to remain calm. Scalia got to the Supreme Court before she did, she says. He gets top billing. The junior justices other responsibilities involve the private conference, when the justices meet alone no clerks, no assistants to decide which cases they will take and vote on the cases in which theyve heard oral arguments. Its another event at which seniority rules. The chief justice speaks first, and then each justice speaks in order of longevity on the court. The junior justice speaks last and takes notes of the proceeding. Kagan likes that duty. I pay attention, I dont lose focus and I communicate all our decisions, she said. But thats not all. The third thing this is the most important junior justice responsibility I open the door, she said. The conference room is a real inner sanctum. We have two doors, she said. Why would someone knock? Well, you know, one of the justices forgot his glasses. The other justice forgot her cup of coffee. Kagan said there are no exceptions to the rule of who answers the door. Literally, if Im like in the middle of a sentence lets say its my turn to speak or something and theres a knock on the door, everybody will just stare at me, waiting for me to open the door, Kagan said. Its like a form of hazing. So, thats what I do, I open the door. Pronto. Kagan said all this good-naturedly; she is always one to appreciate the great gig shes landed rather than expound on the weight of the job. Kagan is known as one of the courts best writers, with a style that is clever, conversational, even a little sassy at times. She and Gorsuch, also known for his legal prose, formed a bit of a mutual admiration society. Justice, youre such a very fine writer, Gorsuch enthused. Thank you! Kagan responded. And coming from you, I mean, thats a great compliment. What would you attribute your success as a writer to? Gorsuch asked. Kagan answered that it began with her mother, a schoolteacher, who basically approached the fifth-grade curriculum as if it were a Ph.D. dissertation. She brought that attitude home with her ... I really do feel like she taught me to write. Gorsuch asked if she went back and reread her opinions. Yeah, sometimes, she said. Sometimes I read them and say, Yeah, its all right. Then she turned the tables: Are you always critical of yourself? Oh, I cant read anything Ive written, Gorsuch replied. But everybody loves it! Kagan said. Im interviewing you! Gorsuch protested. Now, the Supreme Courts two youngest justices Kagan turns 57 this month, Gorsuch is just 49 will take their places at opposite ends of the courts mahogany bench and its ideological spectrum. Fittingly, spectators will see Kagan on the left, and Gorsuch on the right. But it will be that way only until the next justice comes along. The justices seats at the bench, like everything else, are dictated by seniority. RIO DE JANEIRO At least 10 times in the last two months, crackling gunfire just outside the Uere special needs school has sent students and teachers diving to the floor as heavily armed gangsters warred among themselves and sometimes with police in the Rio slum of Mare. With rival drug dealers on practically every corner and a militarized campaign by authorities to take them out, shootouts have become so common that the school holds drills for students to practice taking cover quickly. After (a shootout) its not possible to teach, said Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, the founder of Uere, which offers classes for underprivileged students with learning difficulties. So we just play and talk, because some of the children get really nervous. Brazils most famous city has long struggled with violence, particularly in the hundreds of slums controlled by drug traffickers. But amid a punishing economic crisis, some studies suggest 2016 was Rios most violent year in decades despite a police pacification program that was meant to curb slum violence ahead of last years Olympic Games. Crime still seems to be rising: In January and February, homicides rose 17 and 24 percent, respectively, compared to the same months last year, according to Rio state government crime statistics. And schools are increasingly caught in the crossfire. Every day, shootouts force the closure of between 20 and 30 schools or day care centers, according to Cesar de Queiroz Benjamin, the citys public schools chief, resulting in 6,000 to 7,000 children being sent home. If this rate continues, Rio will far exceed the 1,500 closures it saw last year. It has clearly gotten worse, Benjamin said. The toll the violence takes on children attracted national attention on March 30 when a 13-year-old girl was shot and killed at a school in Acari, a poor northern neighborhood, when she was caught in the crossfire of a lengthy shootout between police and gangsters. Maria Eduarda Conceicao was hit by several rounds at the school entrance as she walked to the water fountain after physical education class. Large bullet holes can still be seen on the schools outer wall and front gate, a grim reminder for students, teachers and parents arriving every day. An autopsy confirmed one of the bullets that hit Conceicao was fired from a military-grade rifle in the hands of police. Cellphone video shot by a bystander and widely circulated in local and social media showed two officers continuing to fire at armed but apparently wounded suspects lying on the ground in front of the school. The two officers have been indicted in the killings. When the video is magnified, Conceicaos lifeless body can be seen on the school grounds. We should all feel very humiliated and ashamed, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella said after attending Conceicaos funeral this month. This cannot happen again. Roberto Sa, the head of security for Rio de Janeiro state, has opened an investigation into Conceicaos death, and civil police are also investigating. But Sa said there is little military police can do other than shoot back when they confront heavily armed suspects. He said lawmakers should impose harsher penalties for possession of illegal firearms. Security in Rio de Janeiro is the responsibility of the state, not the city government, limiting what Crivella can do to address the problem. But he has promised to apply special bulletproof coating to walls around at least 10 schools in areas considered conflict zones like Mare. Benjamin, the education secretary, and Bezerra de Mello, the Uere schools founder, argued that bulletproofing would just paper over the root causes of the violence. And Bezerra de Mello said such a wall wont necessarily keep her students safe, because the rounds sometimes come from above. Last month a helicopter taking part in a police operation hovered over her school and opened fire for several minutes, with some of the rounds striking the building. Nobody inside was hurt, but afterward she installed a bright yellow sign on the rooftop that reads, in big, black capital letters: SCHOOL, DONT SHOOT. Bezerra de Mello said that beyond the question of whether bullets breach the schools walls, her 300 students still have to deal with rampant crime in their neighborhoods when class lets out. Up to 90 percent of them, she estimated, have learning disorders linked to the violence and trauma they experience daily. She recently asked a class of 14 students in their early teens how many had lost a family member to gun violence. Six raised their hands. The children arent safe anywhere, Bezerra de Mello said, They wake up to the sound of gunshots and go to bed to the sound of gunshots. They see death at every corner. NEW YORK The path that took Deven Black to his bloody death in a gritty homeless shelter was as baffling as it was tragic. This was a suburban father, a nationally recognized school librarian. In just three years, he had become destitute. He had derailed his career with an inappropriate encounter with a female student, had blown up his marriage by giving thousands of dollars to paramours online and had gotten involved in a bank fraud scheme for their sake. Doctors diagnosed depression. Relatives and friends tried to help, confronting and struggling to get through to him. A year after his death at 62, renowned brain experts have confirmed that more than depression was at work. They recently presented his case as the mayhem of a misdiagnosis of a rare disorder. His estranged wife had suspected it, but his doctors hadnt pushed to test him, and at least one had concluded he didnt have it. Im just so angry that this happened to him, says his sister, Loren Black. And I really wish that we could have figured out how to protect him. Blacks career hit a high point at a black-tie gathering in the fall of 2013, when he got a national award for school librarian of the year. A smart but contrarian high school dropout, hed been a radio reporter on Cape Cod, a bartender and the manager of a popular British-themed pub in Manhattan for nearly two decades. After going back to college, he became a New York City public school special-ed teacher in his 50s, then turned around an outdated middle school library. He and Jill Rovitsky Black, whod met on a blind date, marked their 30th anniversary in 2013. They had a son in college and a home in Nyack, a historic, artsy town on the Hudson River. But the seeds of Blacks decline were germinating. School investigators had recommended disciplining him after a student said hed told her she looked sexy and sometimes put his arm around her shoulder, records show. He gave investigators a different account but was suspended without pay for two months in 2014 and removed from his librarian job to substitute teaching. Feeling down as the investigation played out, he turned to online relationships while withdrawing from real-world ones, according to friends, relatives and court records. And his wife started finding receipts showing hed sent thousands of dollars to people, most of them in Ghana and Nigeria. He said it was an investment. She warned him he was being scammed. Friends urged him to cut off his online contacts. But he plunged deeper into a web of virtual romances. He was so broke by the fall of 2014 that his wife paid his first months rent and security deposit when he moved out. A few months later, Black was under arrest in a jail in the Bronx. At the behest of an online girlfriend he said invited him to start a cocoa business, he had deposited a series of fraudulent checks, withdrawn more than $146,000 in cash and given most of it to her, court papers say. Unusual disorder What was Blacks problem? His wife kept thinking about an unusual disorder shed heard about through her job at a medical-education company. Frontotemporal dementia often emerges in patients 50s or 60s and can scramble their personality and behavior while leaving memory intact, at least for a time. Behavioral variant FTD patients can become uncharacteristically impulsive, behave inappropriately and make bad financial decisions. And some patients families carry a genetic mutation linked to both FTD and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. Blacks late mother and brother both had the disease. Enough of the descriptions of the condition ring true that I think its worth consideration, his wife wrote in a 2015 email to a therapist who saw him in connection with the fraud case, as did a forensic psychologist. The psychologist concluded in court papers that Black didnt meet the criteria for an FTD diagnosis at the time but recommended continued monitoring. Black had been diagnosed with depression while hospitalized as a psychiatric patient for a week in June 2015, according to court records. Hed become suicidally despondent after one of his supposed online sweethearts didnt show up from Ghana for a promised visit, his sister says. By the time Black went to his October 2015 sentencing, hed been evicted and was living in a homeless shelter. Friends and relatives say they feared hed bring his schemes into their homes if they took him in. Reassigned from teaching to administrative work after his arrest, he was facing at least suspension after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. But he told the court in a letter that he was on my way back to stability. He would never get there. On Jan. 27, 2016, police said, Blacks throat was cut by Anthony White, 21, his volatile roommate in an East Harlem shelter for men with mental health problems. Whites family said he wasnt a killer, but he never answered the allegations himself. He fled, disappearing until his decomposed body was found in the Hudson two months later. Two smoking guns The day after Blacks death, his wife called Dr. Brad Dickerson, a professional acquaintance who runs Massachusetts General Hospitals FTD Unit. He quickly agreed to explore Blacks case. With Blacks story and his familys history of ALS, youve almost got two smoking guns, said Dickerson, who worked on the case with Columbia University neuropathologist Dr. Jean Paul Vonsattel. Confirmation came in an image of chemically stained, microscopic brown specks on a bit of Blacks brain that marked deposits of a protein linked to FTD and ALS. FTD affects an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people nationwide. It can be diagnosed in living patients by psychological tests and brain scans, but symptoms are frequently misattributed to depression, bipolar disorder or just a midlife crisis, experts say. Black left behind a strangely apt memento of a life that unraveled and of his loved ones quest to understand how this could happen. If you expect simple answers to complicated questions, his Twitter profile says, youre in the wrong place. An anti-terrorism court on Saturday allowed Dr Asim Hussain to leave Pakistan for two weeks to get medical treatment abroad. The court permitted the former minister to leave the country following the submission of Rs 2 million as surety and ordered him to return to the country within two weeks. Earlier this month, Dr Hussain, who was arrested by the Rangers on August 26, 2015, was released after 19 months of incarceration. Read more: Dr Asim Hussain files petition to remove his name from ECL A request to remove Former Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain's name from the Exit Control List (ECL) was filed in the Sindh High Court on April 12. Dr Hussain's lawyer requested the SHC to allow his client to travel abroad for a surgery for his back ailment. According to the petition filed in court, a medical board advised the former minister to travel abroad for treatment. The petition further stated that Dr Hussain took an appointment with a doctor based in London for April 20 and any delay in treatment might further deteriorate his health. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Ministry of Interior, Home Department Sindh, and Inspector General of Police Sindh were made respondents to the request. A close aide of former president and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Dr Hussain faces corruption references pertaining to land fraud amounting to Rs.9.5 billion, money laundering amounting to Rs 3 billion, misuse of authority, and criminal breach of trust through a Rs 450 billion-fertilizer scam. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) also accused Dr Hussain of illegally awarding gas contracts to a privately-managed gas processing company, Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL). Also read: Dr Asim Hussain released from prison after 19 months The contract, which was awarded without an open auction, allowed the private company to process gas from government-owned gas fields, resulting in a loss of Rs 17.338 billion to the national exchequer. On November 1 last year, the Sindh High Court had also granted bail to Dr Asim Hussain along with Pak Sarzameen Party leader Anis Qaimkhani, Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, Pasban leader Usman Moazam, along with Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, and Pakistan People's Party leader Qadir Patel in a case pertaining to charges of harboring terrorists and providing them with medical treatment. China has warned that conflict could break out at any moment on the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea and the United States increasingly seem headed for a potential military confrontation. Speaking on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also said there would be no winner in a potential war, and that the party that triggered conflict would pay the price. Dialogue is the only possible solution, he said during a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault in Beijing. Tensions between North Korea and the US have significantly ratcheted up over the past weeks. The US has been concerned by North Koreas nuclear tests, which Pyongyang believes act as deterrence against a potential invasion by the US or South Korea. The US has deployed a strike group, including a large aircraft carrier, to the Korean Peninsula, and North Korea has said it is ready for war. US President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday that North Korea was a problem that will be taken care of. An NBC News report on Thursday anonymously cited senior US intelligence officials as saying that the US was ready to launch a preemptive conventional strike if officials were convinced that North Korea was about to follow through with a new nuclear weapons test. A White House foreign policy adviser said Friday that the US is assessing military options in response to North Korea's weapons programs, saying another provocative test was a question of "when" rather than "if." There are reports of activity at a nuclear test site in North Korea ahead of Saturday's 105th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-Sung. Trump has called on China, the Norths main ally, to help denuclearize Pyongyang. But the US president has also said the US would go it alone if China did not help. North Korean warning Earlier on Friday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry censured the United States for the deployment of huge nuclear strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula. The US introduces into the Korean Peninsula, the worlds biggest hotspot, huge nuclear strategic assets, seriously threatening peace and security of the peninsula and pushing the situation there to the brink of a war, the North Koran Foreign Ministry on Friday. This has created a dangerous situation in which a thermo-nuclear war may break out any moment on the peninsula and posed serious threat to the world peace and security, to say nothing of those in Northeast Asia, it added. The North Korean Foreign Ministry also blasted the US for recently launching a missile strike on Syria while simultaneously speaking of peace by strength. The US Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase last Friday. Some observers have said the strike was also meant to send a signal to North Korea. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has censured the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for reporting that "no" campaigners in Turkey's upcoming referendum on extending presidential powers have faced crackdown by Ankara. Now the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says if the result is yes, that means there are a lot of problems. Who are you? First of all, you should know your place. This is not your duty, said Erdogan in a strongly-worded speech at a rally in Konya, the capital city of the Turkish province of Konya, on Friday. Erdogan's comments referred to a recent interim report published by the OSCE, which will monitor the April 16 referendum, on the campaign atmosphere in the Anatolian country between March 17 and April 7. The report concluded that "no" supporters had faced bans, police interventions, violent scuffles at their events and arrests in several cases. It also alleged that Ankara's senior officials, including Erdogan himself and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, equated "no" campaigners with the mid-July 2016 failed coup plotters or terrorist organizations, noting that the referendum would be conducted under an extended state of emergency imposed following the attempted putsch. Sunday's referendum is aimed at abolishing the office of the prime minister and giving more executive powers, including issuing decrees, declaring emergency rule, appointing ministers and state officials and dissolving the parliament, to the currently largely ceremonial position of president in Turkey. Critics say the vote would give the president dictatorial powers. If approved, the new constitution would allow Erdogan to stand in two more election cycles, potentially governing until 2029. "You dont have such a mission. You cannot talk about what would happen if the outcome is yes or no. You cannot give such a report," added the Turkish leader, addressing the OSCE. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights conducted the limited referendum campaigning observation mission in Turkey at the invitation of the country's authorities. The report also said that the freedom of expression had been further restricted by the closure of numerous media outlets and the arrest of a large number of journalists in the wake of the failed coup. "The fact that a number of political leaders and activists remain behind bars has seriously curtailed some groups ability to campaign," it added. The coup began on July 15 last year, when a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later. Following the failed coup, Ankara launched a heavy-handed crackdown on those deemed to have played a role in the attempt, which was blamed on the outlawed Gulen movement. The US-based cleric has, however, categorically denied the allegation. Tens of thousands of soldiers, police, judges, teachers and government workers have been arrested or suspended over the same accusations since July last year. The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown. The Heart Foundation applauds a new initiative from Avis Rent A Car, that will help fight New Zealands biggest killer heart disease. The rental car network is the provider to install life-saving defibrillators at 20 locations throughout New Zealand, including Tauranga and Rotorua branches and service centres. And whats thought to be another first, in recognition of our growing Asian population and booming tourist numbers, a Chinese translation for the instructions will sit alongside the new defibrillators. Over the next four weeks we will be installing defibrillators into our branches where we feel they will offer the most benefit to our customers, staff and the wider community, says Avis managing director Kathryn ONeil who also credits the companys staff who championed the idea. Auckland District Health Board resuscitation coordinator Gareth Jenkin, who set up an app listing defibrillator locations across the country, is thrilled at the prospect of an additional 20 defibrillators and believes theyll bring the national tally up to 7000. Its great to see Avis joining a range of companies in New Zealand who take their staffs and their customers safety seriously by writing a cheque for $40,000 and purchasing 20 units. As we watch tourist numbers surge we would encourage other members of the tourism industry to follow the Avis example and consider installing defibrillators. Defibrillators, like the iPad model purchased by Avis are designed to be so simple that anyone can operate them with no training. Having a Chinese translation available will save even more lives, adds Gareth. Heart Foundation Heart Healthcare manager Kim Arcus is also pleased to see the defibrillators being installed because every 90 minutes a Kiwi will die from heart disease, and adding 20 defibrillators to the national stock will potentially save lives. The Heart Foundation is fully supportive of businesses that take the initiative to train staff in CPR and provide life-saving tools in their premises and educate people about the signs and symptoms of a heart attack. We are also keen to get the message out there that people must always call 111 regardless of how the patient has responded and to be aware of the signs. A man who understands the crucial role of defibrillators better than most is Warriors and former All Blacks physician Dr John Mayhew. John believes he owes his own life to the presence of a defibrillator when in April last year he suffered a heart attack. Its wonderful to see New Zealand businesses like Avis putting their hands in their pockets for the wellbeing of not just their own staff and customers but all New Zealanders. They are setting a positive example for the tourism industry and wider New Zealand businesses and they deserve a pat on the back! he said. The 20 Avis locations will display the recognised international symbol indicating that a defibrillator is onsite. A training programme for Avis staff will accompany the defibrillator installations and include the importance of calling 111 alongside the use of a defibrillator. WHAT IS CARDIAC ARREST? Heart disease is New Zealands biggest killer, claiming the lives of 6000 New Zealanders every year more than one person every 90 minutes while about 172,000 Kiwis are currently living with heart disease. A cardiac arrest is an emergency. It is frequently due to ventricular fibrillation or VF, a chaotic heart rhythm often caused by a heart attack which can be corrected by a defibrillator. Symptoms of cardiac arrest can include chest discomfort, excessive sweating, shortness of breath and nausea. Women can also experience other less obvious symptoms including discomfort in the upper back, nausea, sweating and unusual fatigue. For every minute without CPR or defibrillation, a patients chance of survival falls by 7 to 10 per cent. When an AED is used within three minutes of cardiac arrest, approximately 75 per cent of patients survive. The Toastmasters Spring Division Contest, held in Vitoria in March, saw more than 50 speakers from 21 clubs across Spain battle it out in the English and Spanish speech categories. Third place in the English Speech Contest was awarded to John Sandner, a retired merchant marine officer from Estepona who has been a member of Toastmasters Marbella for nine years. John, 68, said he was slightly disappointed not to have come in higher but proud to have achieved so much for himself and the club. He said, The whole ethos of Toastmasters is one of communal support. The president of Toastmasters Marbella, Ali Parandeh Zandpour, scooped first prize in the same contest for his speech The Dividing Line, in which he raised issues about nationality, religion and politics. The 46-year-old, who has been a member of the club since April 2015, said that he was overwhelmed with joy when the results were announced. Now he will have the opportunity to compete at European level. Ali joined the club two years ago when he was looking for a new challenge and wanted to get back into the academic world. While Toastmasters is not an academic institute, it is very similar in the sense that it includes all the things we learnt in school, university and work and puts them to use in a perfect manner, he explained. Although he is relatively new to the group, Ali said he has been amazed by the changes and improvements he has noticed in other members. He highlighted the dynamic of the group as particularly special because it is not the age that matters but everyone helps each other and we all learn together. All members want you to learn and do better than them, he explained. They all support and encourage you to do better than your best. The only competition is to take the opportunity to improve yourself, pushing yourself slightly out of your comfort zone but in the most supportive atmosphere. In addition to his public speaking skills, Ali believes that Toastmasters has helped him become a better listener, better communicator and a better leader and would encourage others to follow in his footsteps. Life is a journey and provides you with millions of opportunities: to visit places, meet people and learn new things. Toastmasters is one of those opportunities. Toastmasters International is a non-profit organisation that aims to help individuals become more effective communicators and leaders; there are over 15,000 clubs in 143 countries. The Toastmasters concept is based on practice and evaluation of public speaking; each person is encouraged to try different roles including timer, grammarian and filler words counter, as well as presenting speeches. No matter what you do at work or at home, there is always a moment when you have to speak, be it to your colleagues or just your family, at your wedding, a birthday, a wedding anniversary. Public speaking teaches you the art of getting the message across in the most effective way, explained Ali. The Achievers Toastmasters International Club of Marbella is the first of four in Andalucia - Malaga, Seville and Granada are home to the other three - and is the only English-speaking club in the region. Originally created in 2001, the Marbella club now has over 30 members of various nationalities, including British, Spanish, German, Scandinavian, Czech and South American. Members come from an array of professional backgrounds and ages range from 18 to over 70. Anyone is welcome to attend a meeting as a guest, with no commitment to join. Marbella Toastmasters meetings are carried out in English and take place every Wednesday at 8pm in the social room above Bar El Jardin in Nueva Andalucia. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge In fact, the whole experience panned out as the complete opposite of my initial expectations. I want to give a shout out to Joana of Samsung Service Center SM North EDSA for being so helpful. Joana returned to the counter and told me, "Sir Mark, I think we can repair your unit in 2 to 3 hours! Just leave it us and we'll text you once it's been fixed." I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting that I would have to leave my beloved phone for 2-3 days to be repaired. I didn't have to pay a cent for the service and the new screen. I believe I was able to save more than Php 12,000, which is amazing. While I was checking if my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is working properly after the display replacement, I asked the staff, "Do you offer the same speedy repair service to owners of other Galaxy models? Even those in the entry-level category?" One of them answered, "[Sir Mark, we always try to fix units the fastest way we can regardless of the model. Your phone's problem was less complicated compared to other issues so we were able to do fix it in less than three hours. It really depends on the problem of the unit.]" Last Friday - April 7, 2017, I visited the Samsung Service Center in SM North EDSA Annex to have myfixed.Frankly, before I headed there, I had expected the experience to be terrible; Long lines, hours of waiting, and grumpy support staff. I mean, like what most of use are used to when having our devices repaired in centers like this.Thankfully, everything turned out better than what I thought it would be.My Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge unit had a relatively 'simple' issue that I found quite annoying.As soon as I returned home from my trip in Europe last month, I noticed a horizontal thread-thin line of dead pixels right smack in the middle of the screen.The black line seemingly appeared randomly or out of nowhere as I never mishandled my phone while I was abroad; Never dropped it nor hit the screen with something that could have damaged it.Apart from that problem, my unit was working perfectly.I arrived at the Service Center at around 5:45PM and I immediately got a number to have my phone's problem addressed.Apparently, Samsung Philippines has different lines or queues depending on the product or the phone model that you have.Thankfully, they have a special line for their current flagship-level handsets,and, which I own. So I was but one customer away from talking to a representative at the counter when I entered the waiting area; It was really fast.When it was my turn, I handed Joana my SGS7Edge and pointed out the issue. She looked at the screen and confirmed it.After which, she asked if I still have my official receipt. I answered, "Sadly, Joana, I no longer have it. Honestly, I think I've lost it in my pile of documents at home."She answered, "No problem, Sir. I will just check in our system when the unit was made to see if it's still covered by warranty. As per checking, the screen's issue is not caused by physical damage." She was very courteous and straight-forward.Thankfully, Joana was able to confirm that my device was good for 100% service and parts warranty.She then asked me to back-up all the files in my phone first as the unit will be factory reset to complete the repair process.Good thing I had my laptop with me. It took me around 15 minutes to transfer content - photos, videos, and other files - from my handset to my computer.After I handed her the phone, Joana went inside the 'repair booth' and asked the technicians if they have the parts needed for the repair, among other things.The Service Center is located in one of the largest malls in world so I knew I could easily make the most of the 2-3 hours of waiting time.After buying shirts atwith my good friend, Lucky, I received a messaged from Samsung Service Center. It was at 8:23PM or a little more than two hours since I handed Joana my phone."Hi good day! This is from Samsung Service.Your unit is ready for pick up. Thank you."Again, I was impressed.When I returned to the Service Center, Joana had already left but she had endorsed my case to her colleagues.One of them handed me my repaired unit - with a brand new Edge screen - and asked me to sign the 'release' papers.Anyway, I decided to share this story for those who are now planning to have their Samsung devices fixed at any official Service Center of the company and also to give praise where it is due. And with that, let me say, City skylines are always beautiful at night. The beauty of planet Earth at night can be enjoyed from crisp images captured by NASA, called night light maps, and recently released by the space agency. The latest NASA Earth night images of 2016 showcase concrete patterns of human settlement. Compiled from satellite views, NASA's global maps for 2016 stand out for clarity and accuracy compared with similar images that have been around for 25 years. Previously, these images were compiled once in 10 years. In early April, NASA released a global map of night lights in 2016 based on satellite observations. It also released an updated version of the 2012 night light map. The NASA images of cities at night will be serving a scientific purpose besides the conventional use as a tool for studying cities. The night images are being used in research projects of economics, social science, and the environment. In the words of the space agency, the night maps have been offering a "gee-whiz curiosity for the public and a tool for fundamental research for nearly 25 years." Earth Night Maps To Help In Weather Forecasting The images of 2016 express better clarity and accuracy compared with the relatively vague images of 2012. It is an advancement of the globe being lit up and a bigger contribution of humans in shaping up the earth. In the time to come, the satellite images of night Earth referred to as "night lights" will see greater frequency as NASA will be launching more images. This will also help in shoring up weather forecasting, improving responses to natural disasters, and studying the effects of war on the planet. NASA Plans Rapid Update Of Earth Night Images Determined to optimize the potential of NASA night lights, the space agency is planning rapid updates, breaking the 10-year interval. Already, a team led by Miguel Roman, an earth scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, is at work to develop new software to attain more clarity and accuracy for the night lights. The plan is to produce high-definition views of Earth at night. Since the 2011 launch of NASA's NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership or NPP satellite, Roman and team have been analyzing night lights data and developing new software and algorithms to make images brighter, clearer, and more accurate. Obstacles In Mapping Light Radiation NASA coped with many challenges in preparing the night images as the quantum of light shining on Earth varies constantly and predictably. NASA examined how light is radiated, reflected and scattered by land, atmospheric, and ocean surfaces. Challenging Task Made Easy By New Technology Normally, it is hard to make an image at night as constantly shifting light is a problem. Then the changing phases of the moon also affects light patterns. There are also factors affecting the path of light and their visibility in various parts of the world such as vegetation, clouds, aerosols, ice cover, and feeble emissions like auroras. However, things have changed now with the advent of new technology. NASA has an able tool in the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite or VIIRS from the Suomi NPP weather satellite. VIIRS boasts of the capability to detect light reflected from Earth's surface and atmosphere in 22 wavelengths. It also excels as the first satellite instrument that takes quantitative measurements of emitted and reflected light. The measurements can determine the intensity and source of light over a number of years. In September 2016, VIIRS mapped the power outages in southeast America and the Caribbean after Hurricane Matthew hit the continent. "Thanks to VIIRS, we can now monitor short-term changes caused by disturbances in power delivery, such as conflict, storms, earthquakes and brownouts," said NASA scientist Roman. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Amid Texas 20-year-high mumps outbreak and an elevated number of cases reported around the United States this year, some health experts are focusing on the potential need for a third immunization dose to be added to current vaccination guidelines. The Texas health department just disclosed 221 mumps cases this year, the largest total since 1994s 234 cases. While not highly deadly, mumps can bring about long-term complications, from deafness to encephalitis. Mumps Outbreaks In Focus "We have largely seen outbreaks in North Texas, so the Dallas-Fort Worth area and some of the surrounding counties," said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the states health services office, adding that Dallas County on its own has gone through two or three significant outbreaks. In Johnson County, for instance, 189 cases were recorded in 2016 and 2017 among children as well as college students. Mumps is a contagious condition resulting from a virus. It usually begins within a couple of days and patients exhibit symptoms such as fever, headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, and a painful swelling of the cheeks and neck. It normally takes an average of two weeks for mumps symptoms to develop. Highly vulnerable are students since they share food and cutlery frequently. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that in the first three months of this year alone, there were 1,965 cases of the disease in 37 states. Most of these outbreaks are in college campuses. Last year, there were more than 5,000 documented cases at a 10-year high. Waning Vaccine Effects Over Time? The rise in the incidence of mumps has prompted health officials and physicians to eye a potential third vaccination dose to bolster ongoing immunization standards. Fox Business reported that CDC press officer Ian Branam mentioned that the vaccines protective effect may possibly be decreasing with time. The agency, however, is said to be probing many different factors that could be contributing to the rise in cases. There hasnt been any evidence to suggest that the MMR vaccine does not protect against circulating mumps strains, Branam said. However, outbreaks have occurred in highly vaccinated communities, particularly in close-contact settings, despite the protection afforded by mumps vaccination. Dr. William Schaffner, preventive medicine professor at Vanderbilt University, said that while the vaccine is excellent for the short term, it could start to wane in certain individuals after 10 to 15 years. The protection does not completely go away but allows the person to get mumps in a certain situation, he explained. Based on current CDC immunization guidelines, kids should receive two doses of MMR-II, a live virus vaccine for protection against measles, mumps, and rubella. These will be given at 12 to 15 months and at 4 to 6 years. The CDC stressed that the two vaccine doses have an 88 percent effectiveness against mumps, while a single dose is deemed 78 percent effective. The agency is already looking at the need for a third dose as part of the discussion on how it can best use vaccines to get mumps outbreaks under control, Branam said. Prior to the countrys mumps immunization program in 1967, there were around 186,000 cases reported each year, and since then a more than 99 percent reduction in mumps cases had been witnessed, the CDC noted. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. There is no question that exercise is highly beneficial to one's health. Research has proved staying active reduces the likelihood of cardiovascular disease, as well as the risk of cancer. Not to mention runner's high, the feeling of calm and exhilaration often experienced by people who enjoy a good run. On top of that, a new study suggests that running not only keeps you fit and in topnotch health, but it can also boost your longevity. This is great news for jogging and running enthusiasts, who, as it turns out, live 3.2 years longer than non-runners. According to the study, running cuts the risk of premature mortality by 25 to 40 percent. What is more, the research revealed that a one-hour run can extend your life by up to seven hours. How Much Running Is Needed To Reap The Benefits? The study, published March 29 in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, examined the longevity benefits of running and aimed to discover if other forms of exercise offer the same perks. The researchers compared running with walking and biking, as well as other types of physical activity. Although all these forms of exercise were linked to a longer lifespan, dropping the risk of premature death by about 12 percent, none lived up to the advantages of running (pun intended). The scientists also tried to determine how much of running is necessary to be able to benefit from the increase in life expectancy. According to their findings, two to four hours of running per week will do the job. Higher doses of exercise won't do you any harm, but they won't additionally prolong your lifespan either, the study showed. "Running may have the most public health benefits, but is not the best exercise for everyone since orthopedic or other medical conditions can restrict its use by many individuals," state the study authors in their paper. Runners Are More Health Conscious In this study, scientists at the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas, further explored their previous research, which indicated that running every week for as little as five to 10 minutes a day significantly reduces overall mortality risk by 30 percent. By re-analyzing their past data, as well as other studies on the subject, they unveiled that the relationship between running and longevity is purely associational. This means that runners do live longer lives, but only because they are more health conscious. People who run typically lead a healthy lifestyle, maintaining a normal weight and steering away from damaging behaviors like smoking and excessive drinking, which influences their mortality rate. Still, runners who also engage in other types of exercise have the same lower risk of early death. The researchers point out, however, that combining running with other physical activities is "the best choice." 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Researchers from the University of Waterloo claim to have captured the first composite image of something that astronomers have long believed to exist but has not been directly seen and detected: dark matter. The new composite image, a combination of individual images, strengthens the idea that dark matter is really there. It also confirms predictions that galaxies are connected together in a cosmic web of dark matter that, until now, had been unobservable. Elusive Dark Matter Dark matter is believed to exist through the gravitational effects that it exerts on visible matter in the cosmos. Scientists think it explains why galaxies stick together. Dark matter is also thought to be five times more abundant than normal matter in the universe. Despite these, scientists have had difficulty detecting dark matter directly. The absence of tangible proof that dark matter exists already had some scientists question the idea that it is behind the gravitational effect on luminous matter that can be seen by telescopes. University of Amsterdam physicist Erik Verlinde claims that dark matter is not necessary to explain the effects that have been attributed to it and offers a new theory of gravity that does not necessitate the involvement of dark matter in the motion of stars in galaxies. A team of researchers led by astronomer Margot Brouwer of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands tested Verlinde's theory by looking at the lensing effect of gravity around more than 33,000 galaxies. They found that the observations agree well with Verlinde's theory once free parameters are considered. Free parameters are essentially values that can be adjusted to make theory and observations match. "The dark matter model actually fits slightly better with the data than Verlinde's prediction," Brouwer says. "But then if you mathematically factor in the fact that Verlinde's prediction doesn't have any free parameters, whereas the dark matter prediction does, then you find Verlinde's model is actually performing slightly better." Astronomer Stacy McGaugh from Case Western Reserve University and part of the LZ experiment that aims to detect particles of dark matter, says that the project should be the last dice in the attempt to hunt for the elusive dark matter. "This generation of detectors should be the last," McGaugh says. "If we don't find anything we should accept we are stuck and need to find a different explanation, perhaps by modifying our theories of gravity, to explain the phenomena we attribute to dark matter." Dark Matter Exists For scientists who remain optimistic that dark matter does exist and is responsible for how objects in the universe behave, the image produced by Mike Hudson from the University of Waterloo and colleagues offers evidence that dark matter does exist. The image is made up of combined lensing images of more than 23,000 galaxy pairs and shows that the dark matter filament bridge, believed to form the connection between galaxies, is strongest between systems that are less than 40 million light-years apart. The image also confirms predictions that galaxies are tied together through a cosmic web of the invisible substance. "For decades, researchers have been predicting the existence of dark-matter filaments between galaxies that act like a web-like superstructure connecting galaxies together," says Hudson. "This image moves us beyond predictions to something we can see and measure." 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. There are many efforts to identify dinosaurs excavated from sites in many parts of the world but being able to identify new species and seeing full-sized reconstructions of the ancient creatures are always exciting to experience. Now a new herbivorous dinosaur species has just been recognized. The Brigham Young University geologist and professor who discovered the bones in the 1970s has finally given it the name Moabosaurus utahensis, a nod to the location where he excavated the creature. Moabosaurus Utahensis Profile The Moabosaurus utahensis, a relative of the Brontosaurus and Brachiusaurus, stands 32 feet long and has pillar-like legs and a long neck that allow it to reach leaves from high trees. It also has a long tail and a small brain, much like other sauropods. According to the paper published in University of Michigan's Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, the creature is about 125 million years old, which dates it back to the early Cretaceous period. According to the study, the Moabosaurus utahensis is actually more closely related to the sauropod species found in Spain and Tanzania, leading researchers to believe that there were intermittent cross-continent connections during the cretaceous period. The Lengthy Excavation The first bits of the Moabosaurus utahensis were discovered by BYU professor of geology Brooks Britt at the Dalton Wells Quarry in Moab, Utah back when he was still a student in the 1970s. He continued the excavation with colleagues over the decades until they finally collected enough - about 5,500 pieces - of the creature's bones to put it together. "Most bones we find are fragmentary, so only a small percentage of them are usable. And that's why it took so long to get this animal put together: we had to collect huge numbers of bones in order to get enough that were complete," Britt said. Britt also said that analyzing dinosaur species relies heavily on differentiating it from samples of other specimens, which is why it took a while before they confirmed that their excavation revealed a new species. "It's like looking at a piece of a car ... You can look at it and say it belongs to a Ford sedan, but it's not exactly a Focus or a Fusion or a Fiesta," he explained. Naming The Dinosaur As mentioned earlier, the new sauropod species was named after the location of the excavation: Moab, Utah. According to Britt, the name is really a way of expressing gratitude to the city for its support toward his research team's excavation efforts. "We're honoring the city of Moab and the State of Utah because they were so supportive of our excavation efforts over the decades it's taken us to pull the animal out of the ground," he expressed. Watch the video below to get an up-close look at the Moabosaurus utahensis. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Russia's humanoid robot Fedor will be sent to the International Space Station to assist Russian cosmonauts. Prior to getting launched for space missions by the year 2021, however, the so-called cyber cosmonaut is learning a new skill that is reminiscent of the cyborg assassins in the science fiction film Terminator. Robot Trained To Fire Pistols With Both Hands Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin revealed that Fedor (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) is learning to shoot guns using both of its arms. Rogozin, who oversees Russia's defense and space sectors, said that this new ability can be helpful in improving the robot's motor and decision-making skills. In photos and a short video shared on Twitter and Facebook, Rogozin showed the robot's new ability to fire a pair of pistols using both of its hands at a target board with impressive precision. Rogozin said that teaching Fedor to shoot will teach it to make quick decisions and set priorities. Killing Machines That Can End The Human Race The robot's new ability though may inevitably raise concerns for machines that are equipped with the ability to kill humans. Stephen Hawking himself has warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence that can spell doom to mankind. "We cannot quite know what will happen if a machine exceeds our own intelligence, so we can't know if we'll be infinitely helped by it, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it," the scientist said in 2014. The possibility of a robot apocalypse has already prompted Europe to make preparations. It has already put forward a proposal to avert a robot revolution. The proposal aims to implement, among others, a kill switch that would make it possible for humans to terminate a robot quickly and remotely should the need arise. Not Creating A Terminator Rogozin described Fedor as a "Russian fighting robot" but gave assurance that the country is not creating a Terminator, the machine created by the artificial intelligence Skynet in the movies, that can independently kill humans and aim to eliminate the human race. "We are not creating a Terminator, but artificial intelligence that will be of great practical significance in various fields," Rogozin wrote. Fedor's Other Skills Besides having the ability to shoot guns, Fedor also has a range of other skills. It has already been trained to walk upright, lift weights, do push-ups, operate a drill, screw in a light bulb, open a door, insert a key into a lock, and even drive a car. Standing 6 feet tall and weighing about 233 pounds, the robot can lift objects weighing up to 44 pounds. It can work autonomously, respond to voice commands, and be controlled remotely. Robots In Space Missions The robot was unveiled in 2016 by the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects, the country's military research arm. It will be sent to the International Space Station to do tasks considered too dangerous to be done by humans in space. NASA is similarly testing robots for space missions such as the origami-inspired scout robot designed to explore the Martian surface. Russia's humanoid robot will be launched as a sole passenger aboard Russia's new Federation spacecraft in 2021. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens. The world's largest forest must be protected through a coordinated, efficient, and active process, President Nicolas Maduro stressed. | Read More First oceans may have been acidic Rehovot, Israel (SPX) Apr 13, 2017 One way to understand how ocean acidity can change, for example, in response to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, is to look to the history of seawater acidity. Dr. Itay Halevy of the Weizmann Institute of Science has looked to the distant past - all the way back to Earth's earliest oceans. The model he developed, together with Dr. Aviv Bachan of Stanford University, suggests that the early oceans, right around the time that life originated, were somewhat acidic, and that they gradually became a ... read more Any other April 15 traditionally would be the day that federal income tax returns are due. Today's not that day. Thanks to the calendar cycle putting the 15th on a weekend and a Washington, D.C., holiday falling on Monday, the federal tax deadline was shoved back three days to April 18. That's good news for procrastinators, or for those still scrambling to pull together information on their losses after the devastating August flood. Many aren't even back in their homes as rebuilding continues. Whatever the reason, plenty of taxpayers are taking advantage of the delay around the country. As of April 7, the IRS had received 103.6 million individual income tax returns nationally, according to the agency's website. Thats down 3.6 percent from the nearly 107.5 million returns submitted by the same time a year ago. The agency had issued nearly 80.3 million refunds, down from almost 81.8 million refunds in April 2016. The average taxpayer received a $2,851 refund, up from $2,798 last year. While the tax agency doesnt keep track of how many people have filed by each state, the Louisiana Department of Revenue said that as of Monday, nearly 1.35 million residents had filed their state tax returns. Even though the deadline for Louisiana tax returns isnt until May 15, many people who file electronically choose to submit their state return at the same time as their federal return. Nearly 1.47 million Louisiana residents had filed state returns by April 11, 2016, so the number of early filers has dropped by 8.2 percent. The natural reaction is to think that the flood's disruption caused homeowners to delay filing. After all, they face the challenge of itemization and claiming federal casualty losses on the value of their homes and items lost. Renters lost contents as well. Even insured homeowners can weigh their losses against insurance payments they receive in doing their taxes. But a spokesman for the state revenue department cautioned against drawing such conclusions about filing delays because there are too many other variables that come into play. For example, people who owe the federal government or state money generally want to put off making a payment as long as possible. Residents who live or have a business in Livingston and Orleans parishes who were affected by tornadoes and severe thunderstorms on Feb. 7 are getting extra time to file their income taxes. The IRS is giving those people, along with relief workers in the disaster areas, until June 30 to file a tax return or make quarterly estimated tax payments. If a person in one of those parishes who was affected by the storm receives notice of a penalty or a late filing notice from the IRS, they can call the phone number on the notice to get the penalty waived. The IRS projects nearly 2.03 million Louisiana residents will file individual income tax returns for 2016, compared to the nearly 2.01 million who filed in 2015. While the pace of people filing statewide may be down, one local agency that works with the low income, disabled and the elderly said it has seen an increase in activity this year. As of Thursday, 4,583 people had filed their income taxes through the Capital Area United Way 's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. Thats a 2.3 percent increase over the same period in 2016, said Heather Otten, program manager. The areas that were hardest hit by flooding have seen the biggest jump in activity, Otten said, noting that the number of people assisted at the Baker branch library was 63 percent higher than in 2016. The Livingston branch library also had a notable increase, she said. The increase was a pleasant surprise for VITA, Otten said. The agency isnt allowed to fill out claims for people who suffered a casualty loss to their home, vehicle or possessions as a result of the August floods, so that meant thousands of people wouldnt be able to use the free service. Otten said there was also a local spike in private companies providing free refund anticipation loans. Were pleased to help more people, she said. Our goal is to keep offering services. Were going to increase the number of individual flood recovery services and expand year-round. The IRS expects to receive more than 13 million requests nationally through next week for a six-month extension on tax filing. Thats about the same number of extension requests in 2016. Those filing for an extension need to understand that they are getting more time to finish their paperwork, not more time to pay their taxes. Their best guess on taxes owed must be paid to the IRS April 18 or face stiff penalties. To request an extension to Oct. 16, taxpayers can go to IRS.gov/forms-pubs and download Form 4868. The form must have a postmark on or before April 18 and an estimated tax payment must be submitted with the document. To get an extension on paying all or part of the taxes that are due, go to IRS.gov/payments. Payment arrangements can be made at IRS.gov/individuals/online-payment-agreement-application. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Louisiana's tradition of paddling public school students includes those with disabilities, and Gov. John Bel Edwards wants to make the practice illegal. "Corporal punishment of children with disabilities should no longer be acceptable in Louisiana," Edwards said in a statement. State Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, who has sponsored related bills in the Legislature, got the call to handle the governor's plan. "Quite frankly, I was surprised that you could administer corporate punishment to kids with disabilities," Foil said. Disciplining students with impairments is hardly rare. More than 500 students 16 percent of all those disciplined during the 2015-16 school year were disabled, according to state figures compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which backs the proposed legislation. Eden Heilman, director of the center's Louisiana office, said a law is needed because current rules impose a hardship on a vulnerable population. She said corporal punishment can worsen existing medical or other problems. "Students with developmental disabilities can regress," she said. "A lot of students are being paddled for the very behavior that makes up their disability." In the Livingston Parish school district, 59 of 300 students punished last year 20 percent had disabilities. Under current rules, how corporal punishment is used is left to local school boards. Previous efforts to outlaw the practice entirely have failed, although another effort is planned this year. Foil's bill would apply a ban only to pupils with disabilities. "There are other methods that would be more effective," he said. Edwards made the same point. "There are better and more effective ways of correcting behavioral issues that don't jeopardize the children's safety but appropriately respond to their needs," he said. Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, is sponsoring a similar bill, Senate Bill 91. Foil said his proposed ban would apply to students with individual education plans, including those with speech or language impairments, developmental delays, emotional disturbances and autism. It would exclude students classified as gifted and talented. Allowing all students to be paddled is in keeping with other state educational policies. Roughly 60,000 students were suspended during the 2015-16 school year, including about 11,000 with disabilities, according to state figures. The governor's push to limit the practice may spark resistance from educators who contend the issue should remain a local option. "Some districts utilize it; some don't," Scott Richard, executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association, said in an email. "Every instance of student discipline involves a specific set of facts in each case," Richard said. "As with any issue that would change local decision-making, there may be some concerns expressed by local school system leaders as the bill moves forward." Districts that allow the practice often require parental approval before a student can be paddled. Hollis Milton, president of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, said his group plans to review a wide range of bills on April 21. Milton, who is superintendent of the West Feliciana Parish school district, said corporal punishment is not used in that system. However, students with disabilities made up 20 percent or more of cases where physical discipline was used in 12 of Louisiana's 69 school districts, the Southern Poverty Law Center's analysis of state figures shows. That includes the Evangeline Parish district, 22 percent; St. Mary Parish, 33 percent; and St. Landry Parish, 20 percent. Pre-K students suspended? State panel shocked over toss rate A new state panel Friday was surprised to learn the depth of Louisiana's student discipline Livingston Parish school district officials could not be reached for comment. Most of the state's largest school districts do not allow paddling, including those in East Baton Rouge, Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, Jefferson, Ascension, Lafayette and West Baton Rouge parishes. The rate in DeSoto Parish, in northwest Louisiana, was 27 percent for the 2015-16 school year: Nine of the 34 cases involved students with disabilities. DeSoto Superintendent Cade Brumley on July 1 will succeed Milton as president of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents. "DeSoto still offers corporal punishment as an option to our parents, which is generally culturally accepted," Brumley said in an email response to questions. "However, our leadership team is actively working to phase it out." Brumley said the governor's push will spark a needed discussion. Although the bill would impose a ban only for students with disabilities, he said, "the topic warrants further conversation among local leaders surrounding the overall merits of corporal punishment in Louisiana's schools." Heilman, whose group favors an outright ban on paddling, rejected arguments that the decision should be left to local educators. "As a state, we have an obligation to protect vulnerable populations from harm," she said. Heilman also said there is no evidence that physical punishment increases students' respect for authority. In 2009, a bill to outlaw corporal punishment in schools was killed by the House Education Committee. The same thing happened in 2010, this time for legislation that would require parental permission for students to be paddled. The sponsor of both bills, state Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, is sponsoring a third measure this year that would ban the practice House Bill 497. "I don't know why it is so important that we continue to whip children," Norton said during an earlier debate. It was unclear why the Afghan government released casualty figures but US forces did not. For its part, the Islamic State-linked Amaq News Agency denied the bombing caused casualties among the militants, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. IS offered no evidence to support its claim. A Pentagon spokesman said its forces would not release an official statement on potential damage or casualties incurred from the strike, which was carried out in the Achin district of Nangarhar province on Thursday night. The Afghan Defence Ministry said three dozen fighters were killed in the attack, which used one of the largest non-nuclear bombs in the US arsenal, the GBU-43, against a network of tunnels and bunkers in the east. Kabul: US forces in Afghanistan have not yet assessed the impact of a massive strike on Islamic State militants in the eastern part of the country, a military spokesman says, raising questions about the already controversial decision to deploy a 10,000-kilogram bomb on the battlefield. US forces in Afghanistan dropped the military's largest non-nuclear bomb on an Islamic State target in Afghanistan. Credit:AP In Kabul, Navy Captain Bill Salvin, spokesman for US forces, said: "We are still conducting our assessment, and at this time have no evidence of civilian casualties as a result of the GBU-43 drop." Also on Friday, General John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, defended the strike as "the right weapon against the right target", and said it "achieved its intended purpose", which was to remove the tunnel complex as an obstacle to US and Afghan forces on the battlefield. US and Afghan troops went on the offensive against the local IS branch in March, even as they continue to battle a Taliban insurgency in the rest of the country. US and Afghan officials have said their goal is to "eliminate" Islamic State from Afghanistan this year, but the Trump administration has not yet said if it plans to commit more troops to the fight. After 16 years of war, the US and NATO have struggled with how to wind down the conflict here. But the Islamic State affiliate, which is based in Nangarhar, emerged only recently, in the wake of the group declaring a caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Since then, it has staged deadly attacks on Afghan civilians, particularly in Kabul, but has largely failed to break out of its stronghold in the east. There, the group uses the proximity to Pakistan, which is also plagued by militancy, to build up weapons stockpiles and connect with other jihadists across the border. According to General Nicholson, the group, known as Khorasan Province, is made up mostly of Pakistani and Uzbek militants, along with some Afghan fighters who defected from the Taliban. The bad news: the government refuses to tackle the socially destructive policy of negative gearing. The good news: in adopting this anti-social stance it has effectively signed an electoral death warrant. Graham Williams, Glen Waverley Liberals govern exclusively for wealthy The refusal to do anything about policies on buying property betrays the Liberal Party's true motives. Scott Morrison is relaxed about it being easier for a person to buy a 10th investment dwelling rather than a first home. Property ownership is thus ever more concentrated. Getting states to open up more land will only provide more properties for investors to buy. They will continue to outbid home buyers who can't get taxpayers to help pay the interest on their loan. The Liberal Party has left the middle ground and is now an old-style Tory party, governing exclusively for the wealthy, be it through forcing down wages in insecure jobs, reducing services to the poor through Centrelink crackdowns or in that most basic of rights, the provision of housing for new families. Paul Kennelly, Caulfield North THE FORUM Sheltered from ravages The Adani mine is about class and privilege. Annastacia Palaszczuk and Messrs Turnbull, Joyce, Shorten and Adani, who are making the decisions on the mine, have assured futures due to generous pensions or because they are seriously rich in their own right. They will have enough money to shelter their families and descendants from the devastating effects of climate change. On the other hand, the people who will bear the brunt of the climate disruptions we in the West have set in motion are for the most part the world's poorest. The people of Bangladesh are doomed because of rising seas in the south and, in the north, glaciers that will melt and then dry up. The people of other large river deltas such as the Mekong and the Nile may be similarly affected, while the people of the Pacific islands are already fighting rising seas. And on it goes. The consequences for millions of voiceless poorer people are horrendous, yet we are fixated on job creation. It's time we looked further than the ends of our privileged noses and worked for our brothers and sisters in the wider world. Jill Dumsday, Ashburton Comic politicians Who needs a comedy festival when we can listen to our politicians? Did you hear the one about taxpayers giving $1 billion to a rich Indian company based in the Cayman Islands to build a white elephant rail line? But it is no laughing matter. While crying crocodile tears about the budget deficit, the government squanders our taxes on a fool's errand that will threaten our energy security, increase our energy cost and destroy our environment. The evidence from smart business and scientists is that a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewables will provide effective energy management, better economics and a sustainable environment. William Chandler, Surrey Hills Vicarious experience In the 1990s my wife and I went on a tour to Darwin and Kakadu. The first event was "The coral reef by night". At the wharf we looked around for a boat but found to our surprise that the reef was actually an aquarium in a large shed, quite nicely done, but little better than the tropical fish shop back home. The coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef worsens year by year as ocean temperatures rise. Perhaps in the near future the best that tourists to Queensland can hope for will be a similar indoor experience. While dumping the Adani mine might not save the reef, proceeding with it will ensure the destruction of even more of the natural world, along with our own prospects. Peter McCarthy, Mentone Mocking free speech The banning of Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi is deplorable. No wonder the rest of the world regards the West as hypocritical when it trumpets "values" such as free speech. This is just the latest of a long list of censorship decisions in Western countries against support for Palestine. In the land of "Je suis Charlie", it is a criminal offence to call for a boycott of Israel. But not to boycott and sanction Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea and so on. Colin Sheppard, Essendon More to the story? There must be more to the deportation back to Fiji of the Prasad parents than we are being told. It is the only explanation for our government's cruelty. The facts presented show that that Jitend and Joytika have not received any welfare since claiming asylum and their Australian citizen children have not been allowed to use Medicare. So two parents who are not a burden and most likely a benefit are being persecuted. And two citizens are being denied their birthright of support from the government and are being forced to either fend for themselves in Australia or accompany their parents to an uncertain future. It is time to show you have a heart, Peter Dutton, or give a plausible reason why you are persecuting this family. Alan Inchley, Frankston Cruelty shapes society The treatment of refugees is an issue like no other for our society. Although totally at the government's mercy refugees have no means of holding the government to account. They have no vote and no natural power base. The major parties know that while there is no coherent voting bloc supporting generosity, votes from bigots are assured. As both sides share the guilt neither can censure or even moderate the other's actions. Fifteen years ago it would've been impossible for any Australian to believe that so many of the principles we held as essential for a civil society could be violated by successive governments. We now lock up children. Take away the liberty of people we know to be innocent. Deploy our armed forces to drive desperate people out to sea. Justify the persecution of innocent people in the name of deterrence of others. The list goes on. Our approach is not only extremely cruel to innocent people, it is shaping Australian society. Kate Kennedy, Coburg City becoming obese If Melbourne were a human body, a medical examiner might instead suggest it was becoming obese ("Growing pains", Extra, 9/4). In recent times Melbourne has grown by a third, and in just the past year accepted 108,000 people. As with obesity, existing arteries struggle to supply the expanding body; and lungs do not enlarge to provide the needed oxygen. Anyone who has lived in Melbourne for some years has seen it spread to almost 150 kilometres across. They would know our roads are becoming choked, and that our transport system is inadequate. While we endure ever-increasing population density, where are the new green open spaces that could be our expanding lungs? State and federal MPs need to take a deep breath, and stop long enough to realise that infinite population growth is simply not possible. Elizabeth Meredith, Surrey Hills Enriching prison firms Matthew Guy's move to tackle crime is welcome. However, the new sheriff says the cost of his initiative doesn't matter. When asked where the money would come from, he indicated savings would be found as feeling safe is first and foremost. Infrastructure must clearly be considered secondary then it's no good having good public transport if we don't feel safe. Similarly education and health must be at risk. I'm all for getting tougher, but the way to do that is through sentencing, not mandatory sentencing. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work; America, the world's greatest jailer, is abandoning harsh, mandatory sentencing. Change sentencing laws so that a person who has a prior conviction for an offence must face the next level of sentencing for a subsequent offence. Mandatory imprisonment will simply make private companies rich at a huge cost to the state. Douglas Potter, Surrey Hills Led up the garden path I recently applied for a management position in the Victorian public service. Before submitting my application, I contacted the person nominated on the position description to ensure the vacancy was genuine. I was assured it was. Six weeks later I received an email from the human resources representatives advising me I was unsuccessful because "the position has been filled by the redeployment of an unplaced staff member". I contacted the person regarding the disconnect between what he had advised me and the reality. It appears 28 applications had been received, with the panel interviewing only one person. At the very minimum, the public service should include a disclaimer that the "VPS is obligated to advertise this position, but it may be filled by the redeployment of an unplaced staff member". And if it wants to be really transparent, it should add that "the best candidate may not necessarily 'win' the job". Paul Cook, Yarraville Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks to Kent Kerswell about the Ask Izzy app for homeless people in January 2016. Credit:Justin McManus "The current ideas being mooted by the federal government are a series of disjointed ideas that need to be brought together and considered, in addition to current funding." Peter, who didn't give his last name, has been living in Melbourne's streets for the past nine months. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gives a homeless man five dollars. Credit:AAP He said nothing had been done to help the homeless since Mr Rudd's resolve 10 years ago. The 50-year-old said Australia needed more affordable housing to provide a roof for everyone. Illustration by Matt Golding. Peter said although he had been on the streets off and on for 10 years, he had been living with his friend for three years. "I was doing just casual works in factories," he said. "[My friend] moved back to his parents' place and I had nowhere else to go. "I ended up moving out of that house, coming into the CBD and living on the streets." Kylie has been living in the streets for the past couple of months since moving from South Australia. The 37-year-old said she had been in and out of prisons and came to Melbourne to start afresh. But she said there were a lot of homeless people on the streets. "I came this way to Victoria to try get a bit of stability and a home," Kylie said. "In all the years of my live ... I have never seen more homeless on the streets than this year." Lanz Priestley has lived on the streets in Sydney for at least six months of every year, since 1991. He currently lives in Martin Place, where he runs the "24/7 Street Kitchen Safe Space" which gives food, blankets and other supplies to hundreds of people each night who are sleeping rough. Mr Priestley said in recent years he has seen people on the streets who have never been there before, including older women, many people with full-time jobs and people from regional areas travelling to Sydney for doctor's appointments who can't afford accommodation overnight. "We've seen a huge explosion of the numbers and the demographics," he said. "In '94 it was a rarity to find anyone on the streets who worked, who stayed there for any length of time. Now we have people who have worked for all the 20 years they've been on the streets. More than half the numbers of rough sleepers work full-time. "They can't afford housing. We absolutely need to take housing out of the commodities market." Mr Priestley said people are becoming disengaged with mainstream charities and services. He said there is a need to invest in upstart projects like Orange Sky Laundry, while also addressing the reason people take to the streets in the first place. "We've got an industry out here that repetitiously works with governments and comes up with one scheme after another ... and under their watch, the problem is getting worse," he said. "I think we need to look at this holistically. The real problem is the government at all levels is stimulating the increase in the cost of housing while they're handbraking income." The Salvation Army's Major Brendan Nottle agreed that a long-term, collaborative approach to homelessness was the only way to start addressing it. "What we would love to see happen is a bipartisan, long-term, strategic approach to the issue of homelessness, right across the nation," he said. "I think we have to see that his issue of homelessness that we have now, is actually a crisis. It is not something that we can ignore any longer and it's something that we need, not just the government of the day but politicians from all political persuasions to come together. This can not be a political issue any longer." Homelessness Australia recommended the federal government commit to at least a five-year funding arrangement for the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH), to give longer-term certainty to programs, as well as push for more collaboration between the states, and boost funding to initiatives which help prevent homelessness. But Ms Smith said a "housing first" strategy was crucial to combating the growing issue, meaning governments needed to provide a supply of social housing to meet the demand. The government provided $1.3 billion to state and territory governments in the past year as part of the National Affordable Housing Agreement, with Assistant Minister for Social Services Zed Seselja adding more than $4 billion in Commonwealth Rent Assistance would be provided to about 1.3 million people in need. But he acknowledged the numbers kept going up. "The Coalition government recognises that homelessness is a complex issue that affects many Australians," he said in a statement. "It requires a long-term and systematic effort across agencies, sectors and the community." In December last year, the government committed $117 million to extend the NPAH until June 2018. Homelessness has been part of the Council of Australian Governments' agenda since 2015. Two Sydney Trains workers were allegedly assaulted by a passenger at Hurstville. Police said the employees were checking a train which had terminated at Hurstville Station at about 3am. They spoke with a passenger who was still on the train, then began to walk with him towards the station barrier. It is alleged the passenger punched a 52-year-old male worker several times to the face, before punching his 38-year-old colleague in the body and face as he came to his assistance. The men were allegedly assaulted a second time before they were able to close the station shutters. A 21-year-old man from Sutherland has been charged with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and an unrelated charge of destroy or damage property. A teen inmate who was rushed to hospital after being viciously bashed at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre has been released back into the juvenile facility. In the latest violent incident to hit Victoria's troubled youth justice system, police attended the centre around 6.45pm on Friday night, following a fight between a number of offenders. Inmates riot at Malmsbury in January. Credit:Nine News The 17-year-old male, understood to have epilepsy, had reportedly been stomped on during the attack, and was found unconscious. He was transported to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and was in a serious condition before being released back into the Malmsbury youth jail on Saturday morning. A 33-year-old man from Roxburgh Park has been charged after allegedly trying to smuggle 5 kilograms of cocaine through Melbourne International Airport. Sam Kul, who appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday, had arrived on a flight from Dubai on Friday night. A 33-year-old Melbourne man has been charged after allegedly smuggling 5kg of cocaine into Victoria. The Australian Border Force officers examined his suitcase at the airport and allegedly found it had a false bottom which, when removed, revealed three packages wrapped in brown packing tape. ABF officers said the packages contained cocaine weighing approximately 5kg. A further forensic test will determine the exact weight and purity of the substance. A teenage inmate inside the troubled Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre is in a serious condition after he was kicked in the head during a violent assault. Police attended the centre about 6.45pm on Friday following a fight between a number of detainees. A 17-year-old boy was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition, but a hospital spokeswoman told Fairfax Media he was now in a serious condition. The teenager reportedly suffered from epilepsy, was found unconscious at the time of the attack, and was put in a induced coma. The investigation is ongoing. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A nurse practitioner from Richer has revived a practice from a bygone era of medicinehouse callswith the added option of virtual visits outside of her coverage area. Diane Gudmundson, a registered nurse practitioner with Timely Care Clinic in Winnipeg, said she began offering the fee-for-service house calls in early March. She travels to communities in the RMs of Ste Anne and Tache, as well as Steinbach, Winnipeg, and Stonewall. Gudmundson carries with her a laptop computer, allowing her to offer virtual visits to those who live further afield, or to regular patients who occasionally prefer to check in online. Gudmundson, who has been a nurse practitioner for 15 years, said she moved to the Richer area five years ago, and has prior experience with public health care clinics in the region. Diane Gudmundson, a nurse practitioner who lives near Richer, recently began offering fee-for-service house calls to patients in several Southeast communities. Gudmundson is one of four nurse practitioners associated with the new Timely Care Clinic in Winnipeg. The clinic has attracted controversy for its payment model, which critics say may be a form of privatized health care. Gudmundson said the clinic does not violate the Canada Health Act, and offers increased flexibility for nurse practitioners, resulting in additional options for patients. I actually was part of the QuickCare Clinic in Steinbach when it first opened, she said. Currently, she carries out house calls on an as-needed basis. Demand has been on an upward trajectory, she estimated. When we first started, it was one or two calls a week. Now, its almost like we cant keep up, she said. So far, most of her house calls have been in Winnipeg, but last Friday found her en route to a patient in Lorette. We do anything, whether its prescription refills, chronic issues, acute illness, wounds that need stitches, the flu and pneumonia. She has treated children with ear infections, a young man with travellers diarrhea, and a middle-aged individual with allergies, and performed full physicals. We also can accept patients, and we can become a primary care provider if a person wants to do that, she said. We do the full gamut of primary and urgent care. Gudmundson described feedback she has received from Southeast patients as very positive. Many are happy to avoid sitting in the ER for six hours, she said. For Gudmundson, her new job allows her to provide the flexible health care she longed to see become a reality during her years working for Manitoba Health. Working in the public system is very restrictive, she said. Theres no flexibility. If you have creative ideasthey get squashed. You cant really use your creativity to make things better. Timely Carea virtual clinic with a brick and mortar hubprovides her with the flexibility she desired. Its all secure, cloud-based services, she explained. You can get out and you can provide the kind of care that you want to provide as a provider, without limitations. Gudmundson and her three colleagues are not employees of Timely Care. She explained that the clinic employs the same fee-for-service model that many physicians use at clinics in places like Steinbach, except that Timely Care bills the patient, rather than Manitoba Health. The doctors [in clinics] are independent businesses, she said. They would pay a percent of their billings to the brick and mortar building to provide a secretary, computers, and security. Its the same idea here. We pay Timely Care a percent to manage all that for us. Its a model accepting payment from patients in exchange for the provision of medical servicesthat has attracted scrutiny from some of the more staunch defenders of traditional public health care. Some believe the clinics model is, at best, exploiting the grey areas of the Canada Health Act (CHA), and at worst, smuggling in privatized health care one clinic at a time. MLA Matt Wiebe, the provincial NDPs health critic, expressed concern about Timely Care Clinic in light of the recent closure of a QuickCare Clinic in St Boniface. The Manitoba Nurses Union accused private clinics of poaching nurse practioners from an already thinly stretched public system. However, Gudmundson was adamant that her clinics model does not violate the CHA. If I was offering a [private] service thats already [publicly] offered, then Im violating it, she explained. But Im offering a service because there is no other option. A physician who performs a house call can bill Manitoba Healthnot so for nurse practitioners, she said. She likened her services to those provided by massage therapists and physiotherapists, who also have no option to bill Manitoba Health on a fee-for-service basis. Manitoba Health has chosen to keep the nurse practitioner fee structure stuck in one model, Gudmundson said. Were not charging private rates when we could be billing publicly. We have no option. Thats the difference. For the time being, Timely Care Clinic has the apparent support of the provincial government. A spokesperson for Minister of Health Kelvin Goertzen issued a statement that said the clinics model is not a contravention of Manitobas current legislation. Under the Canada Health Act, the range of insured services generally encompasses medically required services rendered by licensed medical practitionersServices rendered by other health care practitioners, except those required to provide necessary hospital services, are not subject to the Canada Health Acts criteria, the statement said. Gudmundson, who affirmed her general support for public health care, said amending the HCA to allow more flexible funding models for independent providers would make sense. All of these years, I was boxed into an eight to four, Monday to Friday [job], she recalled. People need something outside of these hours. Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty. Thats how the New York Daily News greeted news of Christine Jorgensens sex reassignment surgery in 1952, when Caitlyn Jenner was just 3 years old. Jorgensen, the first transgender woman in the United States to be exposed to such media scrutiny, was hounded by reporters when she came home from Denmark the next year. Photos show her surrounded by cameras and microphones, perfectly poised in a fur coat. Im very happy to be back and I dont have any plans at the moment and I thank you all for coming but I think its too much, she announced. It continued to be too much for decades. As transgender writer and activist Monica Roberts wrote, It was [Jorgensen] who endured the stifling media scrutiny of being a trans person under the white hot glare of media publicity from the moment she stepped off the plane until she passed away in May 1989. The year after Jorgensen died, Jenner met Kris Kardashian and temporarily stopped transitioning. It would be 25 more years until a newly-out Jenner graced the cover of Vanity Fair. You might think that our fixation on transgender peoples genitals would have abated in the six plus decades since Jorgensen came home from Denmark. It hasnt. Bye, Bye Penis! Thats how Radar Online, the first tabloid to discover that Caitlyn Jenner has had sex reassignment surgery, relayed the news this week. People has since confirmed that Jenners forthcoming memoir The Secrets of My Life contains an acknowledgment from Jenner that she has undergone the operation: I am telling you because I believe in candor. So all of you can stop staring. You want to know, so now you know. Which is why this is the first time, and the last time, I will ever speak of it. But, of course, they havent stopped staring. The crass headlines about Jenners surgery only multipliedheadlines like Caitlyn Jenner Confirms Her Penis is Gone! and Caitlyn Jenner Is Penis-Free & Shes Ready To Tell The World All About It! (In fact, as noted above, Jenner reportedly writes in her memoir that she will never speak of it again.) And the same day the Radar Online report went up, The Daily Mail announced: Legs for days! Caitlyn Jenner steps out in a flirty blue mini dress after revealing she has undergone gender reassignment surgery. Its Christine Jorgensen all over again. And worse, its happening at a time when transgender rights are under constant threat. But the truth is that both of these trendsthe medias preoccupation with Caitlyn Jenners body and the bathroom bills that are constantly cropping up in state legislaturesare linked. At their heart is a seemingly inextinguishable obsession with transgender peoples genitals. Whether its Germaine Greer declaring, just because you lop off your penis it doesnt make you a woman, or U.S. Republican state representatives trying to pass laws restricting bathroom usage by original birth certificate (i.e., the genitals you were born with), transphobia is often fueled by a fixation on the contents of peoples pants. Indeed, many of the same cisgender people who bristle at having their genitalia scanned in airport security lines seem to think they have a right to know what transgender people have below the waist. That entitlementthat need to knowstems from several different sources. Sometimes, its a lurid fascination with the anatomical details of transgender surgeries or with how transgender people function in bed afterward. Jorgensen, for example, famously walked off The Dick Cavett Show after being asked about her sex life. In the U.S. political context, legislation that targets transgender peoples bodies ostensibly comes from a desire to protect privacy by keeping certain kinds of genitals in one bathroom and other kinds of genitals in anothereven though theres no evidence to suggest that non-discrimination protections for transgender people endanger cisgender women. Fear of the other and a need to fundraise off of yet another culture war might be more likely explanations for the uptick in bathroom bills we are currently witnessing. And on a cultural level, its no surprise that with the bizarre level of significance we ascribe to our genitaliafrom gender reveal parties based off of ultrasound imagery to the conversation around penis size to the trend of cosmetic vaginal rejuvenation proceduresthat grown adults would focus so intensely on procedures that construct a vagina or a penis, especially when a small but visible minority of people seek them out. As long as people still see genitalia as wholly determinative of genderas the very foundation for their manhood or womanhoodthe obsession will remain. Wherever it comes from, the focus on genitalia doesnt do transgender people any good in an atmosphere of widespread discrimination. As Laverne Cox told Katie Couric back in 2014, The preoccupation with transition and surgery objectifies trans people. And then we dont get to really deal with the real lived experiences. In a world where transgender people werent perceived as potentially predatory monsters and legislated against accordingly, this obsession with transgender genitalia would be laughably absurd. After all, who really cares what genitals someone else has? Who even cares if someone is transgender period? As Survivor contestant Zeke Smith joked after being forcibly outed as a transgender man on national television this week, The only people who need to know are medical professionals and naked fun time friends. Indeed, the issue of transgender surgery ought to be seen a benign medical issue. Since 2008, the American Medical Association has recognized sex reassignment surgery as a form of therapeutic treatment for many transgender people, backed up by an established body of medical research. And since 2012, the American Psychiatric Association has officially recognized that appropriately evaluated transgender and gender variant individuals can benefit greatly from medical and surgical gender transition treatments. Sex reassignment surgeries for transgender women have been happening since at least 1930 when Lili Elbe, the subject of The Danish Girl, underwent an early form of the procedure in Germany. The modern procedureof which there are a handful of variantshas been honed over time and, as the World Professional Association of Transgender Health notes, it currently plays an undisputed role in contributing toward favorable outcomes when performed in accordance with their standards of care. Christine Jorgensen herself saw her surgery as relatively simple matter of necessity. In excerpts of a letter that were published by the New York Daily News back in 1952, she wrote to her parents, nature made a mistake which I have corrected and now I am your daughter. It could have been left at that. Jorgensen shouldnt have had to spend the rest of her life fielding questions about her body and her sex life. And even when she didnt speak with the press, as she noted in a 1986 television interview, they invented stories day after day after day. They followed me when I went to get my drivers license, she recalled. They got a picture of me getting out of my car, they got a picture of me getting into my car. Who cares about me getting in and out of the car? That 1986 interview is eerily prescient: In 2015, the New York Daily News and other outlets reported on Caitlyn Jenner getting a new drivers license. Radar Online, of course, had screeched in advance: Sex: Female! [Caitlyn] Jenner Planning Secret Trip to DMV for New Drivers License as a Woman. Pictures of Caitlyn Jenner getting into and out of her car are now a mainstay of the paparazzi. And when the former Olympian and reality star goes silent for too long, the press invents stories about her just as they invented stories about Jorgensen. Last year, for example, CBS News relayed a tawdry tabloid report based on anonymous sourcing that claimed Jenner would detransitiona rumor that tends to swirl with particular viciousness around transgender women who havent yet had genital surgery. Then, having hounded Jenner for years before she came out, the tabloids spent 2016 guessing when she might get the surgery. In an ideal world, this would be about as ridiculous as speculating about when an aging actor will get a knee replacement. But the obsession, it seems, will never die. Those who want to erase transgender people from of public lifeas Laverne Cox has summarized recent attacks on restroom rightswill continue to use the specter of different genitalia in one space as a political tactic. People who are just curious about how surgery worksor how sex happens afterwardwill never be sated so long as transgender people are seen as an exoticized minority. Our genital-obsessed culture will change slowly, if at all. The fact that Caitlyn Jenner is dealing with the same problems as Christine Jorgensen almost 70 years later is not exactly an optimistic sign that things will improve. In that 1986 interview, three years before her death, Jorgensen answered her own rhetorical question. Who cares about me getting in and out of the car? she asked. But obviously the world did. Maybe one day the world wont care so much anymore. Not anytime soon. Nobody does it better, but sometimes I wish someone would. Every year for the past 18 years, the Kaitsepolitseiamet, Estonias domestic security service, the unfortunately acronym-ed KAPO, publishes its annual review of the countrys most attention-grabbing incidents in counterintelligence, terrorism, and corruption, categories that very often overlap. And most of the 45-page document is devoted to a subject with which this small but formidable Baltic power has had ample experience: Russian operatives and disinformation campaigns, now better known as fake news. It cant happen here is a turn of phrase regularly deployed as irony, a warning to citizens of nominally free societies that millions of Germans thought the very same thing even as the Nazis rose to power. Born as the title of Sinclair Lewiss satirical 1935 novel depicting the rise of a populist U.S. president who becomes a totalitarian dictator, the unspoken rejoinder is that, Yes, it can happen here. Which is why it would be tempting to watch the new documentary Karl Marx Cityanchored by co-director Petra Epperleins search to learn if her father was an informant to or agent of the notorious East German secret police known as the Stasiand extrapolate that the right-wing populism representing so much of the Wests current political upheaval could lead us down the miserable path taken by the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Soviet-backed communist prison state which ceased existing upon German reunification in 1990. But that would be a disservice to this excellent and very original film, which mostly avoids making such easy clickbait comparisons (aside from one talking heads rather awkward comment about Facebook being something the Stasi would have found useful). For the most part, the film demonstrates how ideology matters far less than things like overcriminalization, mass suspicion, and censorship when it comes to the creation of a police state. To tell a personal story in the context of the national history of an increasingly forgotten failed utopian state, Karl Marx City uses a great deal of remarkably well-preserved and time-stamped Stasi surveillance footage. As the films protagonist, Epperlein retraces the paths of ordinary East Germans who may not have known but likely assumed they were being watched, walking down the same unassuming streets of her home citywhich shared its name with the film during the GDR era, but which is once again known as Chemnitz. Much of the footage is frightening in its banality, such as a clip of an elderly couple innocently walking down the street, or the chilling sounds of Stasi agents sizing up an overweight visitor from West Germany: He looks like a capitalist A real fat entrepreneur. The film aptly describes East Germans as the most surveilled citizenry in human history. Indeed, those trapped behind the Berlin Wall (euphemistically called the anti-fascist protection rampart by the GDR government, which imprisoned its people behind the militarily fortified barrier in 1961 to stanch the exodus of citizens across its borders) were subject to relentlessly pervasive warrantless searches of their homes, mail, and personal effects. Some of these searches were done in secret, other times Stasi agents would rearrange the furniture in a targets home as a means of intimidation. One interviewee tells a heartbreaking story of how a priestwho had enlisted him to illegally smuggle books banned as counter-revolutionary by the governmentwas later revealed to be a Stasi informant. Negative comments about the government or socialism or the wretched pollution or quality of life in the GDR were reported to authorities by a vast network of informants, which included colleagues, friends, and family members snitching on each other to keep themselves on the governments good side. A familiar East German maxim, noted in Karl Marx City, is that if three people are in a room, one is an informer. Though the Stasi tried to destroy its records in the chaos following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, over 41 million index cards and innumerable files on the lives of East Germans survive in the preserved Stasi archives. In a society that promised every day would be like the last, fear, paranoia, and mandatory nationalism (children failing to express sufficient enthusiasm at GDR military parades could place the entire family under suspicion) were essential to maintaining what the film describes as the invisible control of the modern dictatorship. It is that invisible control that those of us in free societies should be most vigilant against today. Edward Snowdens 2013 revelations about the mass vacuuming of Americans personal data by the National Security Agency (NSA) are obviously analogous to the GDRs ethos that the government can make itself invulnerable to threats if it knows everything about everyone. The GDR used the term prophylactic surveillance to describe its strategy of spotting troublemakers before they could create any trouble, which also turned out to be a sound business strategy for the communist East German government, which during its four-decade lifespan ultimately sold over 35,000 political prisoners to the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the West for more than three billion deutsche marks. Its not just the NSA emulating tactics used by the Stasi to maintain the GDR prison state. In the name of security following the London bus and subway attacks of 7/7/05, mass surveillance of everyday life in the U.K. continues to grow exponentially almost 12 years later. The New York Police Department didnt need to be sold on the idea of pre-crime, with its recent history of suspicionless searches of innocent people, unconstitutional spying on Muslim communities, and a tactic it calls Omnipresence. And while there are plenty of good reasons to encourage denizens of cities vulnerable to terrorist attacks to say something, if they see something, such a mantra can foster a culture of mutual suspicion on a mass scale if it is too broadly applied. History has shown a human tendency for citizens to willfully surrender their civil liberties to the government in exchange for security and order, which is one thing the Stasi could boast that it provided to the GDR. We are still in the very early days of the third post-9/11 presidential administration, each of which has exploited fears of terrorism to chisel away at civil libertiesincluding freedom of speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizurein the name of security. Karl Marx City wisely avoids warning against any particular modern-day political ideology or movement. It does warn how easy it is to enlist citizens as collaborators in their own imprisonment. In the GDR, resistance to state control over any aspect of life was suicide, collaboration was survival. It couldnt have happened without compulsory nationalism, mass suspicion, and omnipresent eyes on the public. Wondering if Im living through fear or living through rap. Kendrick Lamar entered a unique space following 2015s acclaimed To Pimp a Butterfly. Hed been a critical darling since his indie debut Section.80, and 2012s good kid, m.A.A.d city, his major label debut, was a mainstream hit that also indicated the young artist was at the forefront of his generation in hip-hop. But To Pimp a Butterfly arrived in the cultural and political hotbed of 2015: those closing 18 months of the Obama era when police shootings of black citizens sparked a spirit of activism that manifested in everything from Black Lives Matter protests to #OscarsSoWhite. It also was evident in the music. Albums like DAngelos Black Messiah and J. Coles 2014 Forest Hills Drive closed 2014blatantly topical and high profile releases that indicated where the culture was going musically. And in February 2015, Kendricks To Pimp a Butterfly seemed to capture the moment succinctly. From the powerful-but-problematic rhetoric of Blacker the Berry to the resiliency anthem Alright, Kendrick showed that he wouldnt shrink away from the greatness fans and critics had thrust upon him. But that weight tends to get heavy and on Damn., Kendrick sounds leery of any notions that hes the voice of anything or that he has the answers. It seems to me that you have lost something, I would like to help you find it Kendrick Lamars fourth album (third major studio album) opens with a cryptic monologue about a dream involving an elderly blind woman who seems to have lost something and immediately transitions (via gunshot) to a FOX News telecast during which Geraldo Rivera dismissed Kendrick Lamars 2015 BET Awards performance of Alrightwherein the famed Compton emcee rapped atop a police car. Its a transparent way to paint himself as an American anti-hero, but throughout Damn. it becomes clear that Kendrick is struggling with that designation. On Damn., Kendricks reaction to both the election of Donald Trump and the success of To Pimp a Butterfly inform his conflicted thoughts. Five years after good kid, Kendrick is near 30 and the most culturally significant figure in hip-hop. Drake may have the commercial clout and J. Cole may be raps favorite pseudo-underdog, but Kendrick occupies the kind of pop culture space that forbears like Chuck D, Ice Cube and 2Pac held: an extremely visible and popular rapper who seems to have a singular command of the genres most sociopolitical voice. But he doesnt seem to want that. Lamar comes out swinging on the first full track DNA. Mike Will Made It contributes three tracks to the album, and these are where K.Dot flexes the hardest. My DNA is not for imitation, your DNA is an abomination, Lamar spits. Over trunk-rattling bass, Lamar unleashes a flurry of rapid-fire rhymesfrenzied but focused. DNA is a staggeringly breathless display of verbal virtuosity, with Kendrick furiously rhyming that You aint sick enough to pull it on yourself / You aint rich enough to hit the lot and skate before concluding Sex, money and murderour DNA. The woozy Sounwave and DJ Dahi-produced YAH. is the opposite side of the sonic spectrum. A worn-sounding Kendrick focuses a skeptical eye on the media. Im not a politician. Im not bout a religion. Im a Israelitedont call me black no mo. That word is just a color. It aint facts no mo. YAH. sounds like a would-be anthem, but theres an undercurrent of world-weary cynicism that suggests that its harder work for Kendrick Lamar to get to the silver linings than it was when he dropped Alright two years earlier. The scratches and I dont give a fuck mantra that opens ELEMENT. shakes the listener out of the haze of YAH., with Kendricks introspection giving way to declarations of purpose and punishment: If I gotta slap a pussy ass nigga, Imma make it look sexy. Lamar has always walked a line between pensive and confrontational better than most, and when he claims that hes allergic to a bitch nigga, an imaginary rich nigga, it doesnt ever sound like empty posturing. They wanna take me out my element, he raps. His paranoia is justified. Sounwaves atmospheric FEEL. once again brings things back down to a crawl, as Kendrick raps about feeling like the walls are closing in on him. Aint nobody praying for me, he saysand he sounds like he believes it. Its a sentiment Kendrick revisits on the album a few times: the idea that no one is looking out for his best interests. Over some of the albums most fluid bassline and a soft bed of synths, Kendrick never pretends that he doesnt need anyone. When he voices frustrations with the lack of true connections between his loved ones, he sounds wounded by the realization. Produced by Terrace Martin, the Rihanna-assisted LOYALTY. is a slinky duet that once again examines connections and dissects relationships within your circle: Tell me who youre loyal to? Loves gonna get you killed, but prides gonna be the death of you, opens PRIDE. One of the standouts on Damn., his subdued lyrics ride the dense drums and ghostly vocals. Last time, I aint give a fuck, I still feel the same now / My feelings might go numb, youre dealing with cold thumb / Im willing to give up a leg and arm and show empathy from / Pity parties and functions and you and yours. Kendricks most confrontational voice always comes from a sense of judgmentbut it isnt that he positions himself as persecuted. Its because hes better than most of the people talking shit. I cant fake humble just cuz yo ass is insecure. The Mike Will Made It-produced hit single HUMBLE. stands out on the album. Its more bounce-heavy than anything else here and serves as a sort of counterpoint (or is it an affirmation?) of PRIDE. As if needing to reemphasize that he has no reason to pander to those who envy him anyway, the percolating production pushes the confidence of the lyrics. When Kendrick implores let me put the head in on LUST., the song initially seems like a literal examination of sexual desire, but soon morphs into another heady examination of society and culture. The ethereal LOVE. features Sounwave and BadBadNotGood production, recalling Prince at his most lushly seductive and boasting a winning Zacari guest appearance. If I didnt ride blade on curb, would you still love me? / If I made up my mind at work, would you still love me? Kid Capris presence is felt throughout Damn. and XXX. opens with Bono of U2 singing America. God bless ya if its good to ya before Capri snaps it back to the streets: New Kung Fu Kenny! The track is another bouncing Mike Will Made It production that features scratches and synth hits fresh out of 1991 over a skittering beat, with Kendricks flow once again downshifting before erupting: Yesterday I got a call from my dog like 101 / Said they killed his only son because of insufficient funds. Asked to comfort his friend in the wake of violent tragedy, Kendrick raps his bloody response: He was lookin for some closure / Hopin I could bring him closer / To the spiritual, my spirit do no better, but I told him / I cant sugarcoat the answer for you, this is how I feel / If somebody kill my son, that mean somebody gettin killed XXX. drew attention because of U2s much-hyped contribution, but the most evocative momenton an album that keeps its emotions frayed and at the forefrontis the stellar FEAR. Over a somber groove with sprinklings of muted guitar and wailing ad-libs, Kendrick lays bare how fear can be used to control us from childhood. Ill beat yo ass if you tell them social workers he live here / I beat yo ass if I beat yo ass twice and you still here / Seven years old, think you run this house by yourself? / Nigga, you gon fear me if you dont fear no one else Seguing into how many different ways a black youth can die just in the average day-to-day, its a sobering reminder of just how those black youth are imprisoned by societal ills that manifest in virtually every walk of life. But Kendrick takes the song a step further when he connects it to his fears of being Kendrick Lamar. He frenetically spits about his fear of losing creativity and his fear of missing out on you and me. As he breaks down his own insecurities, it becomes clear that those fears represent the overarching theme of the album. And he closes the track with an extended monologue via a phone conversation from his uncle Duckworth discussing the Old Testament and falling away from God. Kendricks spiritual questioning culminates in Damn.s penultimate track GOD. He begins with what initially seems like conflict: Dont judge me, my mama caught me with a strap / Dont judge me, I was young, fuckin all the rats / Dont judge me, aimin at your head for a stack. But Kendrick isnt seeking forgivenessespecially not from lames. Claiming that laughing to the bank and flexin on swole is what God feel like, Kendrick once again turns what appears to be a mournful rumination on spirituality into a chance to throw a middle finger at haters. DUCKWORTH. continues Kendricks tradition of including starkly autobiographical moments to illustrate broader ideas. On the outro of this, Kendrick tells the story of a robbery at a KFC: See, at this chicken spot / There was a light-skinned nigga that talked a lot / With a curly top and a gap in his teeth / He worked the window, his name was Ducky / He came from the streets, the Robert Taylor Homes / Southside Projects, Chiraq, the Terror Dome The story twists and turns, as the young father working at KFC has a fateful encounter with a tough named Anthony. It becomes one of Kendricks most evocative lyrical performances and an epic closer for the album. Without giving too much away, DUCKWORTH stands as a startling study in serendipity. Insecurity feels like the underbelly but not the overarching theme of Damn. Its consistently a much more subdued and insular album than To Pimp a Butterfly, with its jazz and soul leanings; but Damn. is just as potent a statement, albeit a more personal one. Kendrick, like so many before him saddled with the dreaded Voice of A Generation distinction, backs away from any attempts to brand himself a spokesperson or sage; hes as conflicted as we all are. And the results can sometimes be contradictory: a theme he makes plain via both the lyrics and the album sequencing. Not having the answers is a go-to response from artists who seem to have no hesitation in letting the world hear their perspective on the most pressing issues of their times, but here Kendrick makes asking questions sound even more enlightening and illuminating than pretending to know how to answer them. Unlike his celebrated elders of the 80s and 90s that defined hip-hop commentary for Generation X, Lamar is aware of what he gets wrong. Hes still figuring it all out, and his art is richer for it. Confusion never sounded more compelling. I think you can keep great interest in what Jesus said even if he wasnt resurrected, came the cool voice in careful English by phone from Paris. Emmanuel Carrere was discussing his new book, The Kingdom, which follows the journey of Luke, the eponymous Greek gospel writer, as witness to the odyssey of the apostle Paul, a Jewish rebel laying the foundation blocks of Christianity a generation after Jesuss death. Carreres notion of Jesuss importance, despite his doubt about the resurrection, gives ironic echo to Christopher Hitchenss comment to New York Times columnist Russ Douthat: Suppose Jesus of Nazareth did rise from the deadwhat would that prove, anyway? To Carrere, who spent seven years on his book, the answer is, not much. My interest in Jesus is not linked to the Resurrection, said the author, the soul of Gallic detachment. What I believe about Jesus is not important at all. Im not so attached to my beliefs. The Kingdom, his ninth book to be translated into English, rises from a decades-long encounter with New Testament sources. Carreres narrative tracks Luke in his role as Pauls Boswell, traveling from Judea across Asia Minor and on to Rome. Carrere evinces mounting curiosity for the writer who will wait thirty years after Jesuss death to produce his gospel account, and then go on to write Acts of the Apostles. Carrere is equally fascinated with Paul the proselytizer, a borderline lunatic, he writes, a man stalked by illness, spinning wool, and throwing off letters (even from prison) to far-flung communities he has visited. Paul was a genius, soaring high above the common run of mortals, Luke a simple chronicler of events who never sought to escape his lot, writes Carrere. The question isnt whom I prefer. But in a way that is the question. For with his viewfinder on Luke, Carrere telegraphs his central theme. Luke was obsessed with Paul, yet in Carreres estimation, the man who wrote the gospel had a stoical restraint, wondering how much of what he knew he should put into his writing. Carrere notes pivotal moments when Luke has the chance to yield penetrating insights but holds back. Was Luke hiding things about his subject? Was his work edited or censored? That hint of evidence missing between the lines is a prod to Carreres ranging curiosity about a global religion that grew out of the spreading faith in a man people believed had risen from the dead. Those spaces also furnish Carrere, who began his career as a novelist, with a rationale for imagining events that make his story more plausible. What makes The Kingdom so readable is its obsession with obsession. It is a personal obsession, too, for a writer famous for exploring himself, particularly as a sexual being. Carrere entwines his spiritual odyssey with an investigation of the dawn of Christianity, shifting between himself as a man of hungry faith and an agnostic trailed by doubt. Odysseus is a model for Carreres portrayal of Luke, a Greek doctor who sets out to follow Paul. You suggest that in growing up, Luke lost faith in the Homeric heroes, I said to Carrere. You say his soul was in exile when he met Paul. Thats rather like your position in discovering Luke, no? Yes, he replied. Among the older writers of the New Testament, Luke is the only one who is not a Jew and not really a believer. He considered himself more an historian or a journalist than an apologist. It made me feel closer to Luke than other authors of the Gospels. His vision of the world is Greek, even when he depicts the Jews. I did my best with some problems of Luke. He is the one who described the ancient Jewish world more tenderly than other gospel writers. In the gospel on [Jesuss] childhoodthe old Jews, the parents of John the Baptisthe painted them with accuracy and tenderness. They dont exist in the other gospels as he imagined them. I think there is good reason to believe he invented them. I cant be sure about it. Its quite likely. In his early 20s, Carrere wrote several novels and a biography of the film director Werner Herzog. As he branched out as a screenwriter and director, he turned to nonfiction with a string of well-praised books in which he operates as a kaleidoscopic protagonist. In My Life As A Russian Novel (2010), the touchstone is the disappearance of his Russian emigre grandfather in 1944, in Bordeaux, where he had done translation work for the Germans and then ran afoul of the French resistance; but the narrative is largely absorbed with Carreres struggle to make a film in a bleak Russian town where a Hungarian man spent 53 years in a mental hospital after disappearing from the German army. Wrapped into that story-line is the authors fraught relationship with his girlfriend, Sophie, and how an erotic story about her that he publishes evokes a taunting email to the author from Philippe, his lovers side-lover, who brags about his sexual skills and the dimensions of his member. Carreres persona as a self-absorbed protagonist follows a tradition that includes Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Henry Adams, and Norman Mailer, among others. Overkill is the risk in casting ones self as a navigational figure, staking out self-indulgent cul-de-sacs that veer into bombast, as Mailer often did. In The Kingdom, Carreres asides from the faith-journey sections include a two-page analysis of a soft porn video, as if to prove hes a thoughtful sinner. I thought of Jelly Roll Mortons line: Open up the window, let the bad air out. Such small diversions aside, The Kingdoms narrative structure well suits the interwoven tale of a writer pulled between joy and doubt during his toil of reconstructing the lives of two saints. When Carreres erudition in theology and historical literature cannot get past missing points of evidence, the marquee lights go up, announcing a switch to imaginative writing, a fictional episode to push the narrative along. For all the genre-bending, The Kingdom has a magnetic force that keeps one reading. The two stories both have drive. Carreres search for spiritual certitude began thirty years ago. Everything I said and thought at the time, even the most sincere expression of distress, was steeped in irony and sarcasm, he writes. I think this trait was quite common in the little world I lived in, that of journalism and publishing in late 80s Paris. No one said anything without a little smile at the corner of their mouths. It was tiring and stupid, but we didnt see that. Like many Parisians of his generation, Carrere, 59, grew up a nominal Catholic. After years off the religious grid, he experienced a quaking hunger of the spirit in the early 90s, and began reading heavily in theology and church history; he persuaded his significant other to marry and have their two children baptized. Early in The Kingdom, a young American who interviews for a job as the family au pair stuns the author by casually mentioning that she knew Philip K. Dick, the fabled sci-fi writer, way back when, in San Francisco. I babysat his little daughter. Hes dead now. I pray for his poor soul. Carrere scrolls back to the year he wrote an impressionistic biography of Dick, I Am Alive and You Are Dead (English edition, 1993). He began reading Dicks books as a teenager. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the basis of Ridley Scotts film Blade Runner) the detective uses a testing machine to capture androids passing for human. The problem for Blade Runner is that even though schizoids can think like machines, they are nevertheless human, Carrere wrote in the Dick biography. In that book, he continued: Phil knew this firsthand, torn as he was between his keen need to empathize with others and the powerful paranoid tendencies that made it impossible to. These two poles of empathy and paranoia stood, in his mind, for good and evil: they were his Jekyll and Hyde, and thus he knew exactly what Saint Paul meant when he said, The good that I would do I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. In The Kingdom Carrere calls Dick the Dostoevsky of our time. Of the sci-fi writer who felt an encounter with Christ in the Eucharist, he writes, Its tempting to consider Philip K. Dick as a kind of misguided mystic. But even talking about misguided mystics suggests that there is such a thing as a true mystic, and thus a true object of mystical knowledge. He goes on to say that in the year he wrote the book on Dick, his pace on writing notebooks of gospel commentary went slack. Writing about Dick gave him a smug illusion that only gets me further from the truth. A boon, and so a curse: its what Jesus seems to say in the Beatitudes, which are the very heart of his teaching. Im no longer sure the Beatitudes are true. In seeing Dick as a latter-day Dostoevsky (who assailed the church for persecuting Christians), Carrere writes of his encroaching doubt about the Beatitudes. Was that, I asked, because both writers see humanity as barely salvageable? Dick and Dostoevsky I think, each had a very tragic, dramatic life and a mystical approach. Deciding if the Beatitudes are true is not a matter of knowledge. It is a question of feeling, it cannot be controlled. I feel some things are true in the Beatitudes. The idea of the Resurrection is completely different. You can believe in some truth to the Beatitudes without believing in the Resurrection of Christ, or that he was Son of God. You can believe in Beatitudes without believing in God. It was not an intellectual conclusion, he continued. I didnt suddenly change my mind. It was important for me, but not a case of life and death belief; step by step it became less urgent. There was a moment where I had to confess to myself that was I not a believer any more. A conversion is quite something, a before and after. The doubt was more progressive, it did not happen so suddenly. It was interesting to compare St. Paul to Dickthey had something in common, he said. Dick was a mystic, obviously. Was he misguided? He felt not. Thats what most readers reasonably think. Thats what we would think about Paul if he hadnt been successful and created a churchhe would have been a misguided mystic. Another science fiction writer, Ron Hubbard, created a churchScientology. He wasnt not very successful as a writer, though. In the book, Carrere draws a line from Odysseus, who construed paradise as fiction, to Paul, who vaunts paradise as the ultimate reality. And then you ask if Luke, once on board, worries that hes made a huge mistake, I said. What led you to that conclusion? Its a hypothesis, replied the cordial voice from across the Atlantic. Maybe he had been thinking something of that kind. Even when I was a believer, I had my doubts about that and I lent him my doubts. Luke is a very flexible character to imagine in the sense that he agrees with everyone; he likes to agreehes the contrary of a fanatic. Paul was a fanatic, Luke was not. It was, from a novelists point of view, like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Paul was like Holmes, very accentuated, and Luke was closer to Watson, a good writer, a storyteller more than a believer. And also a doctor The more I used him as a hero, the more I liked him. I liked Luke very much, he was a good companion. In the book Luke evolves as a counterpoint to Paul, who was humiliated in Athensfew people there were interested in his preaching. Then, writes Carrere, He left for Corinth, which is in every way the opposite of Athens: an enormous, densely populated, dissolute port city, with neither a glorious past nor prestigious monuments, but with narrow streets teeming with people Half a million inhabitants, of whom two-thirds are slaves. Temples to Jupiter for the form, but at every street corner shrines to Isis, Cybele, Serapis, and above all the Aphrodite, whose cult of worship is overseen by priestesses-cum prostitutes with the pretty name hierodules, known for transmitting a pox that the entire Mediterranean Basin calls with a snicker the Corinthian disease. Its a city of debauchery, profit-making and impiety, but Paul breathes easier here than in Athens, because at least the people work hard and dont think themselves better than the common run of mortals. Carreres long haul with Luke and Paulthe seven years of writing followed twice that time spent in heavy readingis an anomaly in the highly secularized culture of French letters. In France with its historic cathedrals and churches, although 56 percent of the people identify as Catholic, only 15 percent consider religion very important in their lives, according to the Pew Research Center. The comparable figure in Germany and Italy is 30 percent, and Spain 24 percent. Terrorist assaults in the name of militant Islam have jolted all of these countries as they struggle to assimilate Muslim emigres, who account for 9 percent of the French population. France contains Europes most organized proto-fascist populist party, the National Front, whose presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is a front runner at 27 percent in recent polls for the April 23 national primary. Its a well-known phenomenon, one often observed by historians of religion: rather than destroying a faith, denying reality tends to reinforce it, writes Carrere. With Donald Trumps victory feeding the fake news frenzy and Britains Brexit vote, Le Pen is selling a nationalist credo with strong appeal to an alienated working class. Trump won the Catholic vote in 2016. I asked Carrere if Le Pen had widespread Catholic support. I have no idea honestly. Certainly there are Catholics among her supporters. One of the strangest things about Christianity is this link between Catholic beliefs and the right-wing parties; there is no reason for that. Its historically and sociologically true, but it should be the contrary. She doesnt sound very optimistic and even very confident. The emerging liberal challenger, Emmanuel Macron, 39, is a former investment banker and Socialist economics official who formed his own party to run for president. I asked if Carrere thought Macron had the political strength to defeat Le Pen. I have no idea, he replied. I am following it with interest. In the final pages of The Kingdom, the author of wavering faith visits a retreat center attached to a community of mentally disabled people. Some writers would be tempted to use such an encounter for a sentimental ending. Not so, Carrere who pivots from the innocence of a retarded child to his struggle of belief. In a coda to the interview, Carrere came back to the spiritual imagination. I dont consider my beliefs so importantwhat I believe now, its different from 20 years ago. So, you are a resolved atheist? No. I am an agnostic. He paused. I am leaving the door open a little. Jason Berrys most recent book is Render unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church. In July 2016, Mike Pence rallied cheering crowds at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland declaring, I am a Christian, a conservative, and a Republicanin that order. One year earlier, however, as governor of Indiana, Pences radical conservative values trumped his Christian values. During the week of Sept. 21, 2015, the Indiana State Department of Health sent a letter to the parents of 305,000 children. The letter reminded parents that their children had yet to receive the HPV vaccine that was recommended for all adolescents. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection. Every year in the U.S., it causes 27,000 cases of cancer and 5,000 deaths. The HPV vaccine, which was first licensed in 2006, prevents about 85 percent of those cancers. When Indiana public health officials mailed their letter, Indiana ranked 40th in the nation in protecting children against HPV; only 23 percent of Indianas teenage girls had received the vaccine and even fewer boys. The letter, which began Dear Parent or Guardian, stated that the HPV vaccine was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Physicians, that nearly all sexually active people will get [HPV] during their lifetime, and that the virus can lead to cervical cancer in women [and] also cause other oral and genital cancers in men and women, as well as genital warts. The letter explained how parents could obtain the vaccine from either a publicly funded program or through insurance companies. One of the recipients of the letter was Micah Clark, head of a conservative group called the American Family Association of Indiana. Clark, whose 14-year-old daughter had yet to receive the HPV vaccine, felt that the letter was intrusive. He asked Gov. Pence to look into it. Pence agreed, later asking Indiana public-health officials to make it clear that the HPV vaccine was optional and that parents could remove their names from the state registry that had identified their children as lagging behind on their immunizations. Pence, like his conservative supporters, believed in abstinence-only sex education. He reasoned, correctly, that if people didnt have sex before they were married, and didnt stray from their marriage, they would never contract a sexually transmitted disease. Unfortunately, this situation describes a very small percentage of U.S. residents, including those in Indiana. Pence didnt stop at gutting his state health departments letter. He also reprimanded the state health commissioner for speaking about the HPV vaccine at Indianas National Coalition Conference, later requiring all public-health employees to submit their presentations about vaccines to his office for approval prior to any speaking engagement. Then he prohibited the release of a document by the Indiana Cancer Consortium that included information on cervical cancer, the only known cause of which is HPV. Mike Pence did everything that he could to make sure that Indianas parents and schoolchildren knew as little as possible about the consequences of HPV infection and the availability of a vaccine to prevent it. This wasnt the first time that Pence had let his extreme conservative views dictate his response to public-health issues. During his time in Indiana, Pence signed eight anti-abortion bills, supported a religious freedom law legalizing discrimination against LGBTQ citizens, and advocated diverting HIV/AIDS funding to programs promoting changing sexual behavior. As a member of the House of Representatives in 2007, Pence introduced the first bill in Congress to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. If Planned Parenthood wants to be involved in counseling services and HIV testing, they ought not to be in the business of providing abortions, Pence told Politico in 2011. As long as they aspire to do that, Ill be after them. In February 2015, Indiana reported an outbreak of HIV in Scott County caused by contaminated needles shared by opioid addicts. The outbreak, which grew to more than 80 cases in one month, was so widespread that the CDC sent a team to investigate. Pence dragged his feet on supporting a syringe-exchange program, which might have cost lives. Ironically, Pence was a vigorous supporter of the meningococcal vaccine, which is given to teenagers at the same time as the HPV shot. Given Indianas population, which is about 2 percent of the nations, one would predict that every year Indianas residents would have suffered about 10 cases of meningococcus and one death from the disease. HPV, on the other hand, would be expected to have caused 540 cases of cancer and 100 deaths a year. So Pences support of the meningococcal vaccine over the HPV vaccine had nothing to do with eithers relative health effects and everything to do with his ideology. Those suffering meningococcus were innocents. Those suffering HPV or HIV, apparently, were not. On Nov. 2, 2015, Lisa Robertson, executive director of Indianas Immunization Coalition, along with signatories from other professional societies and public-health organizations, wrote a letter to Gov. Pence stating that moving HPV vaccination rates from current levels to 80 percent would prevent an additional 53,000 future cervical-cancer cases among girls who now are 12 years old or younger over the course of their lifetimes. Pence was unmoved. Mike Pence is an evangelical Christian. He believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ as reflected in the four gospelswhich make his actions regarding the HPV vaccine all the more surprising. By making it virtually impossible for Indianas public-health workers to talk about HPV or encourage the use of the HPV vaccine, Pence had rejected his Christian values. As described in the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth was a radical, breakthrough figure, upending the existing order. At the time of Jesus lifebetween 4 B.C and 30 A.D.child abuse was the crying vice of the Roman Empire. Children were property, treated no differently than slaves. Infanticides were legal. So were foundation sacrifices, when young children were killed, placed in jars, and buried at the base of new buildings for good luck. When parents in ancient Rome, Greece, and Persia werent beating, starving, murdering, or sexually abusing their children, they were abandoning them to the elements. Jesus, on the other hand, rejected the ethos of his time. His love of children is evident throughout the New Testament. Jesus believed that anyone who put children in harms way should be punished: Whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea (Matthew 18:4-6). Jesus followers embraced his message of love for children. Indeed, Jesus teachings served as the basis for Christian protective services and Christian relief societies for the next 1,800 years. Perhaps most telling was Jesus statement in Matthew 25:40, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of my brethren you have done it unto mea message that could be carved into the entranceways of every childrens clinic and pediatric hospital in Indiana. If Mike Pence had chosen Jesus message of love over his extreme conservative ideologyas he had promised during the Republican National Conventionhe would have done everything that he could have to protect the children in his state. Allowing children to die from a vaccine-preventable disease can never be cloaked in the guise of love. Paul A. Offit is a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the co-director of CHILD USA, and the author of Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine (Basic Books, 2015). Almost exactly 100 years ago to the day, Marcel Duchamp conceived of a shocking work of art that packed some big ideas into a seemingly simple porcelain package. The influence of Fountain remains strong today, though the original work disappeared soon after it was conceived. Before it would go on to leave its imprint on the history of art, Duchamps notorious urinal was more than just a provocative piece of art. It was also a test, one that his colleagues in the Society of Independent Artists failed spectacularly. Kolkata, Apr 15 (IBNS): West Bengal on Saturday ushered in its new year with fresh fervour, joy, hope and aspirations amid the exchange of hugs and wishes within the Bengali community which is celebrating the auspicious occasion of Poila Baishakh (the first day of the Bengali calendar), which marks the 'Nababarsho' or the Bengali new year. This day generally occurs on the 14th April or 15th April, and is celebrated in both Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, as well as among Bengali communities in the other Indian states, including Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand and Odisha. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wished people on the occasion. The Bengali almanac, which is now in 1424th year, is loosely tied with the Hindu Vedic solar calendar, based on the Surya Siddhanta. As with many other variants of the Hindu solar calendar, the Bengali calendar commences in mid-April of the Gregorian year. The first day of the Bengali year therefore coincides with the mid-April new year in Mithila, Assam, Burma, Cambodia, Kerala, Manipur, Nepal, Odisha, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Thailand. The development of the Bengali calendar is often attributed to King of Gour or Gauda, Shashanka as the starting date falls squarely within his reign. Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, the renowned grandson of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, who was the 3rd Mughal Emperor, introduced the Bengali Calendar. In regards of relatively easier tax collection, Akbar changed the practice of agricultural tax collection according to Hijri calendar and ordered an improvement of the calendar because the Hijri calendar, being a lunar calendar did not agree with the harvest sessions and eventually the farmers faced severe difficulties in paying taxes out of season. The Bengali New Year begins at dawn, and the day is celebrated heavily in Kolkata and other parts with wishing, greeting and seeking blessings from elders. Several cultural programmes are hosted in Kolkata with singing, processions and fairs dominating them. Ladies are witnessed clad in white saris with red borders and men clad in dhuti and kurta take part in the Probhat Pheri or early morning processions to welcome the first day of the year. Traditionally, businesses commence on this day with a new ledger, clearing out the old debts. The shops generally organises a 'puja' and invites the customers to clear old debts. Food is an important element of the day and several Bengali cuisines are prepared at Bengali homes with sweets being a compulsory item to go along. On this day, people wear new clothes and go about socialising. Choitro, the last month of the previous Bengali year, is the month of hectic activities and frantic purchases. Garment traders organise a Choitro sale to attract consumers with heavy discounts. This day being auspicious also witnesses the start of new businesses and new ventures. The Mahurat is performed, marking the beginning of new ventures. The Bengali Hindu traders purchase new accounting book. The accounting in the halkhata begins only after offering puja. Mantras are chanted and "Hindu swastika" are drawn on the accounting book by the priests. Long queues of devotees are seen in front of the Kalighat and Dakshineshwar temple from late night. Devotees offer puja to receive the blessings of the almighty in the new year. Long queues are also spotted in front of restaurants and other food joints in Kolkata. Bhubaneshwar, Apr 15 (IBNS): A two-day Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Committee meet began in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah are also attending the conclave. According to reports, BJP members of Odisha have planned a grand reception for the prime minister when he arrives at odisha's capital city later on Saturday. On Friday, when Amit Shah arrived in Bhubaneshwar, he was welcomed by party workers with a garland of lotuses, the party symbol. Tweeted Shah, "Reached Odisha the land of Maha Prabhu Bhagwan Jagannath. I thank the people of Utkala for their immense love and support." He later said, "The energy and enthusiasm of karyakartas of BJP Odisha is remarkable. I am sure BJP will emerge as the leading political force in Odisha." Image: Amit Shah Twitter New Delhi, Apr 15 (IBNS) : Amid fresh tension in bilateral relationship over former navy officer Kulbhushan Jhadav's death sentence, India cancelled the maritime talks with Pakistan, which was scheduled to be held in early next week, reports said. A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi during April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. According to reports, the Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegation's visit. The development comes in the wake of the death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan Jhadav in Pakistan on the charge of spying. Describing the sentence awarded to Jhadav as a 'premeditated murder', External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had told Parliament that it will have a serious impact on the India-Pakistan relationship. "I would caution the Pakistan government to consider the consequences for our bilateral relationship if they proceed on this matter," Swaraj had said while speaking in the Rajya Sabha. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Kulbhushan Jadhav. This is an act of premeditated murder, Swaraj had said while vowing to go all out to save the former navy officer. Jewish military cadets from universities across the country gathered Friday at Texas A&M Hillel to participate in Shabbat services for Passover week to kick off the first Jewish Warrior Weekend in Aggieland. Each year at West Point Military Academy, Jewish students have invited fellow students from the remaining federal service academies for fellowship and leadership meetings. The past two years, cadets from Texas A&M's Corps of Cadets been allowed to attend the event. This year, students at Texas A&M decided that it was time ROTC cadets from all universities in the United States, not just military-specific institutions, be able to partake in a Jewish Warrior Weekend. "We wanted to expand who is able to come to these Warrior Weekends," said senior Aggie Corps cadet and Hillel member Dan Rosenfield, one of three students who organized the weekend in College Station. "Previously these weekends [at West Point] have only been open to the service academies, and we wanted to find every cadet in the nation. We also wanted to show them around Aggieland." Students traveled to College Station from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, the Virginia Military Institute and the ROTC programs of the University of Colorado and Amherst College in Massachusetts. "Jewish people are such a small minority even within the military itself," said another event organizer and Hillel member, senior Aggie Corps cadet Wyatt Kamin. "We want to grow the camaraderie with each other, whether we are from academies or ROTC programs. We want to show people resources available within the military and the private sector that can be used as a Jewish person." Out-of-state cadets were sponsored by their respective Hillel organizations, as well as the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America organization and the National Jewish Welfare Board to make the trip to College Station. Texas A&M's Corps of Cadets also contributed more than $2,000 toward the trip. The 30 out-of-state guests bunk on the floors of the Hillel student center with their sleeping bags and ruck sacks, and are spending the remainder of the weekend hearing from military leaders, and touring Texas A&M's campus and the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. One of the major motivations of cadets attending the weekend events was a strong need to network with future military members of the same religion and heritage. "It would be nice to make connections and have maybe a Passover Seder with someone when we're deployed," said another weekend organizer and Hillel member, sophomore A&M cadet Doug Mendelsohn. Phillip Resnick, a senior Air Force cadet from Colorado, said this was his first time in College Station, and he was excited to learn about both Texas A&M's Corps of Cadets, as well as how the Aggie Hillel is run in contrast to other Jewish student organizations at other colleges. "We really like seeing how other schools' Jewish programs function," Resnick said. "At our school, it is so small. We have maybe 30 or 40 Jewish cadets at one time." Aaron Kubat, a freshman cadet from the Virginia Military Institute, said he just got in touch with his Jewish heritage and beliefs while attending college. Kubat said his religion has motivated him to stay strong through his freshman trial period at the Institute, and he has clung to the sense of community. "I've loved being able to take a break to come to Hillel, have some pizza and talk to the upperclass cadets," he said, Texas A&M Hillel rabbi Matt Rosenberg said over the course of the weekend, students will discuss how to be effective leaders for other religious service members. "A lot of cadets will be in the military where there aren't any clergy around, so they will need to step up and serve as lay leaders, and we're trying to prepare them for that here," Rosenberg said, "Jews only make up one third of one percent of the United States military." A&M Corps Commandant Brigadier General Joe Ramirez spoke to the congregation of more than 30 cadets during the service, reminding them of the important part they will play serving in leadership roles in the military. "The responsibility of being critical allies with Israel will lie on your shoulders," Ramirez said. "... The Jewish religion has come under attack in this country, and we need to defend that. We need to make people understand the importance of the Jewish nation, the Jewish faith, and the Jewish people to America." College Station police are investigating what's being described as an unexplained death of a 38-year-old man early this morning. The man, whose name is not being released until family members have been notified, was rushed to the College Station Medical Center where he died in the emergency room just after 4 a.m. His body was transferred to the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office where an autopsy will be performed, officials said. The ambulance that transported the man to receive medical assistance picked him up from a duplex in the 2400 block of Bosque Drive, which is between Welsh Avenue and Rio Grande Boulevard near Georgie K. Fitch Park. It wasn't immediately clear who called authorities or whether his body showed signs of trauma. According to 21-year-old Dana Herrington, who lives a few houses down from the duplex, said early Friday she saw at least six to eight police cars in the neighborhood, which she described as a diverse area filled with singles and families of all ages.. Though Herrington said she doesn't feel unsafe, she added that "it's not uncommon to hear a lot of ruckus around here." Srinagar, Apr 15 (IBNS): Demanding Governor Rule in Jammu and Kashmir, former union minister and president of National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said people of valley clearly rejected Peopleas Democratic Party Rule. After he won the Srinagar by-poll by a margin of over 10,000 votes Farooq Abdullah appealed to the President Pranab Mukherjee to impose Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir. He thanked the people who voted for me and National Conference and it shows people have rejected Peoples Democratic Party, Farooq told reporters at NC headquarter Nawa-e-Subh here in Srinagar. He also appealed president of India to dismiss the state government as it has failed to deliver. I will secure the Article 370 and my win is dedicated to people of Kashmir. I will also talk to all stakeholders to find a solution for the Kashmir issue, he added. (Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri,Image: Wikimedia Commons) Election Day updates as polls open and Iowans cast their votes Check back here for live Iowa election updates as ballots are cast, counted and midterm results start pouring in throughout Election Day. Patna, April 15 (TheBiharPost/IBNS): A pregnant woman was brutally killed along with her two-year-old child in Bihar for dowry in a latest incident presenting a very horrible picture of the ongoing dowry killing in the state. The incident took place at Badakar village in Nalanda, the home district of chief minister Nitish Kumar. They (in-laws) tied her hands and feet before setting her afire. They didnt spare her two-year-old son who was killed in similar manner, victims brother Rakesh Kumar told the police on Saturday. Police have registered a case against six persons in this regard. All are absconding. The incident comes amid appeals by chief minister Nitish Kumar to boycott marriages of those taking dowry. He made this appeal at a function held in Patna on Friday. According to a latest official report, a total of 987 women were killed for dowry last year. In 2015, altogether 1,154 women were killed for similar reason. Image:google maps (thebiharpost.com) NORWALK After five years in the works, Norwalks Wall Street Theater is welcoming performers back to the stage. The theater held auditions this week, and has several events lined up for the coming months, including a performance by Macy Gray on May 24, and A Night With Broadways Best on May 15. Wall Street business owners Tony and Suzanne Ancona are excited about the reopening. While the theater may result in the occasional business surge, more important is the effect it could have on the community at large, they said. I think theres merit in what theyre trying to do there. Restoration is a good thing, and anything that puts Norwalk on the map as a destination is definitely a good thing. Its good for Norwalk, its good for businesses and its good for this little Wall Street community, Fat Cat Pie Co. owner Suzanne Ancona said. The more, the merrier down here. I think a theater or performance spot for this area is fabulous, added Fountainhead Wine Shop owner Tony Ancona. Allen Counts, a 15-year Cranbury resident, expressed excitement at the prospect of the reopening. The Macy Gray show on May 24 caught his eye in particular. Its nice to see that they actually finished this, compared to whats happening down the road, Counts said, in reference to the drawn-out POKO Partners Wall Street Place project. This is going to be a real boon for this area. The theaters staggered opening between April and June will be followed by the opening later this year of the first phase of Head of the Harbor, an upscale apartment complex a few blocks east on the Norwalk River by developer M.F. DiScala, which is betting big on a neighborhood where it has long had its offices. Wall Street Theater is in the final months of a five year project to renovate and restore the building to provide a next-generation performance space for artists throughout Connecticut. The 700- to 1,000-seat theater will be the only performing arts facility of its kind in Fairfield County, combining a historic setting with modern technology. In a recent interview, Wall Street Theater President Suzanne Cahill said she hoped to see the local community come in and help us blow out the theater to help it thrive from the get go, while giving back to local organizations that have lent their support. Audiences across Fairfield County spurred $46 million in spending during visits to cultural venues in 2010, according to the most recent estimates by the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Americans for the Arts, with anywhere of one third to one half of that amount for meals before or after a visit. This story includes prior reporting by Alex Soule. Kolkata, Apr 15 (IBNS): Police on Saturday arrested two persons, including a minor boy, for allegedly molesting a school student in Kolkata, reports said. According to reports, an eleventh-standard girl student of city's posh school claimed that she was harassed and molested by two bikers in front of Bangladesh Deputy High Commission at Circus Avenue area near south Kolkata's Park Circus 7-point Crossing on Friday evening, while she was walking home. The girl noted the registration number of the molesters' motorcycle and lodged a complaint against the duo at Beniapukur Police Station later at night. After starting probe into the matter, police held two accused, including a minor boy, from Tiljala Masjid Bari Lane area on Saturday morning, according to officials. "We examined CCTV footage of the area, where the incident was allegedly took place, and searched the bike's registration number to arrest the accused," a senior official of Kolkata Police told IBNS. However, one of the arrested were produced in a city court at Sealdah on Saturday and was remanded to judicial custody, while a juvenile court sent the minor to a city home, reports said. (Reporting by Deepayan Sinha) Image:google maps This week we offer a hearty Saturday Salute to the communities of Broken Bow and Central City. Central City is celebrating the opening of the Widman Cinema, a brand new theater built with loads of community donations, a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and a lot of hard work from community members. It was five years ago, when the State Theater in downtown Central City was about to close, that the idea of a new theater was raised. The $360,000 USDA grant was a big stimulus for the project, but it wouldnt have been carried out without the additional donations from the community that have been coming in for the past five years and continue to come. There have been 125 local donations, along with 3,000 hours of volunteer work put in to get the theater ready to open this weekend. Central City is a community of givers, and before we even had begun moving forward, we had raised a significant portion of resources to start the project, said Dr. Brian Buhlke, president of the Widman Cinema committee. The theater has one full-time paid staff member, the manager, with the rest of the staff being volunteers. The volunteer staffing will help the theater to be able to keep ticket prices affordable. The committee hired local contractors to complete the $1.3 million project, keeping the money in town, and local people and businesses continue to offer goods and services to help it operate. The first movies, The Fate of the Furious and Boss Baby, were shown at the theater Friday and it will have showtimes for two movies daily. With the State Theater having reopened last year as a second-run theater, Central City residents can go to the movies in their own community again. Close to 100 miles from Central City in Broken Bow, work has begun on renovation and expansion at the Broken Bow Public Library. The $1.46 million project will remove walls in the 1971 building to open up the interior space and add 4,000 square feet of space to the south and east of the current facility. Unused garage space will become a childrens multipurpose room and the project will add another multipurpose room and up-to-date technology. It will comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act and provide access to community organizations for classes and events at a low cost. Broken Bow community members have also donated to help with this project, adding to the $500,000 provided by the city government to the point that more than enough has been donated to cover the bid received from Chief Construction of Grand Island, so unforseen costs during construction can be covered. Both of these community projects are quality-of-life additions that show in this year when Nebraska is celebrating the 150th anniversary of statehood that small-town Nebraska is alive and well and will continue to provide rural Nebraskans The Good Life for decades to come. LINCOLN Nebraska Cattlemen are encouraging state senators, in the budget process, to restore the entire balance of funds to the Nebraska Brand Committee (NBC). According to the Cattlemen, the Legislatures Appropriations Committee must advance a budget by Day 70 of the session and has recommended taking $100,000 from the NBC funds to help balance the state budget shortfall. The funds obtained by NBC are producer fees that have been paid for services from a completely cash funded agency which receives no general fund appropriations from the states general fund. A sweep of funds from the Nebraska Brand Committee will cause fiscal struggles for the agency, according to the Nebraska Cattlemen. Depending on the amount swept from the funds, the agency might not be able to meet its financial obligations and stay in compliance with current Nebraska Brand Laws. Aggressively addressing the concerns that were raised in the audit during the summer of 2016, the NBC has pursed new technology which encumbers funds, according to the Nebraska Cattlemen. On top of equipment replacement and upgrades that are needed, there are 10 open employment positions that must be filled to provide the mandated services and investigations. Taking even $1 is too much, said Troy Stowater, NC president. Those dollars are producer dollars that exclusively fund the brand committee efforts. DES MOINES, Iowa The owner of a small-town Iowa newspaper who took on powerful agricultural groups for allowing nitrogen runoff to pollute lakes and streams and wrote that the state has the dirtiest surface water in America, won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing last week. Art Cullen who owns the Storm Lake Times with his brother John acknowledged it wasnt easy taking on agriculture in a state that is the nations top producer of corn and No. 2 in soybeans and where farm fields stretch for hundreds of miles in every direction. The Cullens lost a few friends and a few advertisers, but never doubted they were doing the right thing. Were here to challenge peoples assumptions and I think thats what every good newspaper should do, he said. Cullens writing was lauded by the Pulitzer committee for editorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa. Northwest Iowas Buena Vista County where the 3,000-circulation, twice-weekly newspaper is based was one of three counties sued by Des Moines Water Works for allowing too much nitrogen to be released through farm drainage systems into Iowa rivers from which the utility draws its drinking water. The counties fought the federal lawsuit using money provided by undisclosed sources. The newspaper worked with the Iowa Freedom of Information Council to force the release of documents showing funding came from the Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups. Anyone with eyes and a nose knows in his gut that Iowa has the dirtiest surface water in America, Cullen wrote in a March 2016 editorial. It is choking the waterworks and the Gulf of Mexico. It is causing oxygen deprivation in Northwest Iowa glacial lakes. It has caused us to spend millions upon millions trying to clean up Storm Lake, the victim of more than a century of explosive soil erosion. Cullen, 59, says he feels vindicated that the information was released. A judge dismissed the water utilitys lawsuit last month, giving the farm groups and counties a clear victory. But Cullen is proud that the Pulitzer committee recognized his small newspapers efforts alongside those of larger publications. The two other finalists in the editorial writing category were from the Houston Chronicle and The Washington Post. Weve always believed that the Storm Lakes Times should be as good at covering Storm Lake as The New York Times is at covering New York, Cullen said. Theres no reason why an editorial written in Iowa shouldnt be as good as an editorial written in Washington. The Nebraska State Fair took a big step Friday to greatly improve its ability to provide security and internet connectivity for visitors and vendors during the fair, which this year is Aug. 25 to Sept. 4. At its April meeting, the State Fair board approved $265,000 in funding for Pierson Wireless to improve and expand the fairs internet connectivity, along with updating its wireless infrastructure with the latest generation of wireless technology. Joseph McDermott, State Fair executive director, said the funding will be spent during a three-year period, with the bulk of it in 2017. The money will go for an improved wireless network across the grounds using the latest technology, McDermott said. Included in that funding, he said, will be security cameras that will record video to a hard drive. The Nebraska State Patrol and the Nebraska State Fair are looking to increase the level of safety and security for our fairgoers, McDermott said. That is why we are spending that money. Over the course of the next three-plus years, Im sure that we will be adding cameras that the State Patrol and our own internal security staff can better monitor whos entering the grounds and the activities that are taking place on the grounds. He said the whole system is designed to make our fairgoers feel safer. As more and more people are connected with their smartphones and other devices, the fair board felt that increasing the ability of fairgoers and vendors to connect to the internet is vital to provide a better fair experience. The new system will better reach all areas of Fonner Park during the State Fair and make it easier to get access through the State Fair wi-fi system with a faster signal and wider coverage, especially as the fair expands to the east area of Fonner Park and adds more new attractions and events. We like to think that we are the most technologically advanced fair in the country, McDermott said. There are fiber optics laid in most areas of the grounds, but the older part of the grounds does not have fiber. What we are looking to do is to improve the wireless signal groundswide, which includes the older part, so as fairgoers are on the grounds, they can connect to the network, post to social media and that type of thing. He said they want everyone to have a better experience here at the fair. Of course, the technology is aimed at all fairgoers, but certainly the younger clientele dont go anywhere unless they are connected, he said. McDermott said this investment will allow the fair to do other things that improve the operations of the event as well. He said the improved wireless network and the security cameras inside facility buildings and out on the grounds will be installed prior to the 2017 fair. In other State Fair board developments, Kathleen Lodl, who represents the 4-H program on the board, provided an update about Raising Nebraska and what will be new for the 2017 State Fair and its year-round presence. Last year, the interactive display on all aspects of Nebraska agriculture that is located in the Nebraska Building had contact with 560,000 people. A total of 1,385 participants received 190 hours of instructional teaching during Raising Nebraskas 44 programs for schools, youth organizations and daycares. Lodl said that plans are being developed to increase the activities and attractions in the outdoor part of Raising Nebraska during the fair, along with expanding some of the exhibits located inside. Another goal is increasing the education component of Raising Nebraska during the fair by bringing nationally recognized speakers, such as personalities from the Food Network to give cooking demonstrations. Kim Pederson, volunteer and program coordinator for the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce, also updated fair board members about the volunteer program during the fair. The chamber coordinates the volunteer program and Pederson said they have a goal of recruiting 800 volunteers for the fair this year. She told the board that she is updating the various volunteer job descriptions and working with area businesses on a program that will allow some of their employees to work as volunteers during the State Fair. Also, Pederson said the third annual Nebraska State Fair Volunteer Appreciation Kickoff will be held May 8 at the Pinnacle Bank Arena at Fonner Park. To learn more about the State Fair volunteer program or to volunteer, visit www.statefair.org/p/getinvolved/190 Srinagar, Apr 15 (IBNS): A teenager was shot dead in a mysterious firing incident in Srinagar's Batamaloo area on Saturday evening. Gulmarg of North Kashmir, presently living on rent in S.D. Colony, was fired at by unknown gunmen. "The youth was shot dead near Batamaloo Chowk where there is no deployment of security forces," said a police official. Soon after the incident shopkeepers downing their shutters and went to safest place. Since Apr 9, Kashmir Valley is on edge when eight civilians were killed in clashes during polling. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Sat, April 15, 2017 00:00 2034 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9498b0 4 Inforial Advertisement Free Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil has received an award from the Institute of Democracy and Education (IDE), a non-profit organization, as the Man of the Year. The institute chose the mayor for this years award, because it considered Ridwan Kamil an innovative leader with many ideas of huge impact in inspiring and stimulating the minds of the young generation. The award was handed over at the Southeast Asia Leader Summit 2017 (SEALS 2017) hosted on Tuesday by the Soeltan Coffee shop on Jl. Ampera Raya 59 in South Jakarta. Other individuals who received awards are actress Chelsea Islan and former Indonesian deputy foreign minister Dino Patti Djalal. According to IDE founder Gugun Gumilar, Mayor Ridwan Kamil has the capability to propel and inspire the young generation into action through his innovative concepts. For instance, through his way of involving youngsters in turning Bandung into a creative city, Gugun said. Ridwan Kamil expressed his gratitude upon receiving the award. He said awards were not the greatest motivation for his work but added that he was always grateful when his work received any kind of recognition. Prior to receiving the award at the ceremony, Mayor Ridwan Kamil gave a motivational speech to around 200 youngsters who took part in the SEALS 2017 conference. In particular, Ridwan Kamil encouraged them to cultivate a high sense of self-confidence, decent morality as well as superb intellectual skills. In a few years from now, the youngsters who are present in front of me today will become leaders. Therefore, I just want to encourage you all to cultivate all these positive traits, he said, concluding his speech. Topics : Advertisement Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15, 2017 11:04 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde94a68e 1 City Al-Maidah,Tamasya-Al-Maidah,2017JakartaElection,#2017JakartaElection,#JakartaGubernatorialElection,ahok,#ahok,#Ahok-Djarot Free Tamasya Al-Maidah (Al-Maidah Tour) organizer Ansufri Idrus Sambo said on Friday it expected 1.3 million people would join the program, in which they would be deployed to guard 13,032 polling stations across Jakarta during the runoff election slated for April 19. One polling station would be observed by 100 people whose data had been gathered by the organizer through the Al Maidah Tour mobile application, he said. We target that each polling station could be monitored by 100 Muslims. Insya Allah [God willing], 1.3 million people will participate [in this program], Ansufri said at Al Ittihaad Mosque on Jl. Tebet Mas Indah I, Tebet, South Jakarta. Apart from monitoring the voting process to prevent any fraud, tour participants would move to encourage Muslim voters not to hesitate to exercise their voting rights. Therefore, Ansufri said, it was expected this activity could lead to a fair and democratic election process in Jakarta. Al Maidah Tour is named after a verse in the Al Quran that is often used by conservative Muslim political groups to urge Muslims not to vote for political candidates of different faiths. The campaign team of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, who is a Christian of Chinese descent, has voiced its concern about the program. It says the program may intimidate voters who want to vote for the incumbent and his running mate, Djarot Saiful Hidayat. Ansufri said the organizer had requested all tour participants to maintain public order and to keep security and peace at polling stations. It would also coordinate with police personnel and polling station officers on Election Day. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Amir Shah (Associated Press) Kabul, Afghanistan Sat, April 15, 2017 09:32 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde946e86 2 World Afghanistan,US,massive-bomb,militants,Islamic-State,IS,Massive-Ordnance-Air-Blast,MOAB,#Afghanistan Free The biggest non-nuclear bomb ever dropped in combat by the US military killed 36 militants in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Friday, and villagers in the remote, mountainous area described being terrified by the "earsplitting blast." The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was carried out Thursday morning against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved in the mountains that Afghan forces have tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks in fierce fighting in Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said. US and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban insurgency for more than 15 years. But the US military brought out the biggest conventional bomb in its arsenal for the first time to hit the Islamic State, which has a far smaller but growing presence in Afghanistan. That apparently reflects President Donald Trump's vow for a more aggressive campaign against the group. The bomb known officially as a GBU-43B but nicknamed the "mother of all bombs" unleashes 11 tons of explosives. Pentagon video showed the bomb striking a mountainside overlooking a river valley with a giant blast that overwhelms the landscape and sent up a massive column of black smoke. Agricultural terraces are visible in the footage, but no population centers. The Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement that the bomb destroyed several IS caves and ammunition caches. Gen. Daulat Waziri, a ministry spokesman, said 36 IS fighters were killed, and that the death toll could likely rise. He said Afghan forces were at the tunnel complex assessing the damage. The Islamic State group's Aamaq news agency denied that any of its fighters were killed or wounded, citing a source within the group. Waziri said the bombing was necessary because the complex was extremely hard to penetrate, with some tunnels as deep as 40 meters (over 130 feet). He called it a "strong position," with troops attacking it four times without advancing, adding that the complex "was full of mines." "This was the right weapon for the right target," said US Gen. John W. Nicholson, NATO commander in Afghanistan, at a news conference. He added that there were no reports of civilian casualties. Nicholson said the bomb was intended to eliminate the militants' sanctuary in southern Nangarhar, "and this weapon was very effective in that use." The office of President Ashraf Ghani said there was "close coordination" between the US military and the Afghan government over the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties. But the massive blast still terrified villagers 20 miles away across the border in Pakistan. Pakistani villagers living near the frontier said the explosion was so loud they thought a bomb had been dropped in their village by US warplanes targeting militants in Pakistan. "I was sleeping when we heard a loud explosion. It was an earsplitting blast," said Shah Wali, 46, who lives in the village of Goor Gari, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border with Nangarhar. "I jumped from my bed and came out of my home to see what has gone wrong in our village." Dozens of other villagers also came out of their homes, Wali said. He later went near the border, where he met with other residents. He said he could see smoke in the sky. "The whole house was shaking," said Mufti Khan of Achin district in Nangarhar. "When I came out of my house, I saw a large fire and the whole area was burning." Another Achin resident, Mohammad Hakim, approved of the strike. "We are very happy, and these kinds of bombs should be used in future as well, so Daesh is rooted out from here," he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. "They killed our women, youths and elders, sitting them on mines," Hakim added. "We also ask the Kabul government to use even stronger weapons against them." The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The US has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. Trump called Thursday's operation a "very, very successful mission." "I want a hundred times more bombings on this group," said Hakim Khan, a 50-year-old a resident of Achin. Inamullah Meyakhil, spokesman for the central hospital in eastern Nangarhar province, said no dead or wounded had been brought to the facility from the attack. District Gov. Ismail Shinwari added that there was no civilian property near the location of the airstrike. The Site Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist organizations, reported Friday on a statement from the Afghan Taliban that condemned the US for its "terrorist" attack. The statement said it is the responsibility of Afghans, not the US, to remove the Islamic State group from the country. The two militant movements are rivals. The US has more than 8,000 troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations. In the past year, they have largely concentrated on thwarting a surge of attacks by the Taliban, who have captured key districts, such as Helmand province, which US and British troops had fought bitterly to return to the government. ___ Associated Press writers Anwarullah Khan in Khar, Pakistan, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Robert Burns in Washington and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed. (**) A worker carefully assembles dolls ahead of the Solo Batik Carnival in Surakarta, Central Java, on Wednesday. The handicrafts are priced at Rp 250,000 (US$18.81) to Rp 500,000 to meet demand from local markets as well as from Malaysia, Brunei and the Netherlands. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)(US$18.81) to Rp 500,000 to meet demand from local markets as well as from Malaysia, Brunei and the Netherlands. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi) The allure of interacting with millions of others of the same age has drawn children to make their own video blogs (vlogs), through which they can relate their interests and hobbies to strangers. Nine-year-old Almeyda Nayara Alzier, for example, had never expected that she would be popularly known as one of Indonesias youngest vloggers just a year after she started vlogging. With only a smartphone and a mobile editing application, she made her first video post about how to make a currently popular toy called slime. After making a few videos about slime, Naya became one of the best-known child vloggers with 139,545 YouTube subscribers. Due to her rising popularity, she has been learning gradually to make better videos with some proper editing work, said Nayas mother, Imelda Liana Sari. After watching her doing so, I eventually found vlogging to be a way to boost her creativity and confidence as she has to talk in front of the camera. As Naya reaches for internet stardom, the threat of child predators also looms large. Imelda admitted that she was worried about the Nayas rising popularity as it had led to some threats. One day, she called me and asked if it was true that I could not pick her up from school, Imelda said. Apparently, there was an unknown man calling her by name and telling her that I had sent him to pick her up. Since then, Imelda has been telling Naya to be careful about what she posts on social media by not mentioning her school name or home address. Moreover, she also prohibits Naya from uploading any real-time posts with the locations tagged. Real-time posts might let people know where Naya is currently. So, I dont agree with that, said Imelda. Child expert Seto Mulyadi said that vlogs could be used by child predators to prey on their targets. To avoid children falling victim because of their vlogging habits, parents and teachers must actively take part in controlling their activities on social media, he said. They also have to teach their children and students to not share private information, like their school schedules or names, or their addresses, Seto added. The lessons [of what to do on social media] cannot be given en masse. It has to be done individually through face-to-face interaction, he said. Therefore, it is important for parents to establish the habit of talking with their children, during which they sit side by side at the same eye level without any distraction from gadgets. Such conditions will create comfort for children and, thus, they will listen to what their parents say, including information about social media content, Seto said. Unlike Naya, 10-year-old twins Jessica Kelzha Latarova and Jasmine Keizha Sharapova had never sat together with their parents to discuss what they should include in their vlogs. There are no special notes [from our parents about vlogging], Jasmine said, adding that their mother even often asked them to feature her in their vlog. Both Jessica and Jasmine have been vlogging since a year ago, after they watched videos of a young Indonesian vlogger, Olivina Maskan, popularly known as Peachy Liv. Inspired by her posts, which mostly contain crafting tips and product reviews, the grade 5 twins started to make videos about food, toys or places they found interesting. We like to do vlogging because we want to inspire Indonesias children to find new and creative activities, Jessica said, adding that they had the full support of their parents. Despite a lack of monitoring by their parents, the twins managed to learn by themselves that their posts could make them vulnerable to kidnappers and child predators. Hence, they decided to not post their daily activities and to not mention their private information, like their address, on their YouTube channel, called Jasmine and Jessicas Channel. We do not want to show our daily activities because of that, Jasmine said, adding that she and her twin sister also tried to not appear without their headscarves in the videos. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, April 15 2017 When Christians across the world, including in Indonesia, celebrate Easter, they not only rejoice over the history of human salvation, but also rekindle the virtue of sacrifice that has characterized humankind from the beginning of time. No doubt all faiths promote the spirit of sacrifice as a basic moral ground; willingness to sacrifice is a universal value that both believers and non-believers practice to achieve social harmony and order. As the antithesis of selfishness and egocentrism, sacrifice paves the way for peace. As we accept that common good is all that justifies self-sacrifice, we find it difficult to digest, let alone tolerate, the reasons behind suicidal acts, such as bomb attacks, in many parts of the world. As the primary moral guidance, holy scriptures of all religions encourage the act of sacrifice for the sake of well-being for all. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta Sat, April 15, 2017 12:59 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde94d2f0 1 National Gunungkidul,climate-impacts,Climatechange,climate-change,Yogyakarta,USAID,ICCTF,climate-mitigation,#ClimateChange Free Tens of thousands of tree seedlings of various species have been planted in karst and critical areas, which cover 3,293 hectares of land, in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, as part of climate change mitigation efforts. We have planted 66,800 tree seedlings. In the 10th year of this program, it is expected that the areas can absorb around 64,797 tons of carbon dioxide, conservation group Javlec Indonesia Foundation director Rohni Sanyoto told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. Javlec Indonesia Foundation has received Rp 3.4 billion (US$255,851.02) from the Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund (ICCTF) to implement a climate impact mitigation program through replanting activities in karst areas, critical land near river basins and conservation areas in 20 villages across Gunungkidul. Gunungkidul Deputy Regent Imawan Wahyudi officially launched the tree planting and management activities in Watu Payung, a nature tourist destination in Girisuko village, Panggang, Gunungkidul, on April 6. One-meter-high tree seedlings of various species, such as acacia and beech, were planted there. Rohni said Watu Payung and locations in 19 other villages were selected because their carbon dioxide absorption rate was not ideal, reaching only 31.04 tons per ha per year. Ideally, absorbed carbon dioxide was 35 to 100 tons per ha per year. This program aims to help the Indonesian government reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach a low carbon economy, said Rohni. The Environment Ministry estimated in 2009 that Indonesia would produce 1.72 gigatons carbon dioxide in 2000, which would increase to 2.95 gigatons by 2020. USAID-ICCTF team leader Sudaryanto said the program was a pilot program in climate change mitigation efforts at the national level. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15, 2017 19:08 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9539db 1 City Jokowi,Hasyim-Asyari-Grand-Mosque,city-owned-grand-mosque,moderate-Islam,ModerateIslam,ahok,#ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama Free President Joko Jokowi Widodo has said it is hoped Hasyim Asyari Grand Mosque on Jl. Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, can become a positive symbol of Islam. Indonesia is a country that is plural and has diversity. This mosque should become a symbol of Islam that is friendly, moderate and acknowledges diversity in Jakarta in particular and Indonesia in general, said the President on Saturday. He further said the Jakarta administrations decision to name its first grand mosque after Hasyim Asyari, the founder of Indonesias largest Islam organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, was not without reason. Hasyim was a national hero who loved his country wholeheartedly, he added. As an ulama [Islamic scholar], the founder of NU, he laid the foundation of friendly religious life in the country, said Jokowi. (Read also: Why was inauguration of Hasyim Asyari Grand Mosque moved up a day?) He further said all Indonesians should see Hasyim as a role model in developing Indonesian values and religious practices. Jokowi said the grand mosque was a form of the governments and the Jakarta administrations commitment to supporting the fulfillment of the rights of the countrys citizens. The government is fulfilling the rights of its citizens to have a religion and to perform religious services. When I served as Jakarta governor, I laid the first stone for the construction of this mosque in 2013. Before that, Jakarta did not have a grand mosque, said Jokowi. (mrc/ebf) Bhubaneswar, Apr 15 (IBNS): BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday said the party has not reached the peak so far. The President was quoted as saying that the party will reach the state when the government will be formed in Kerala, Bengal and Odisha. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media about Shah's speech at the ongoing national executive meet of the party. "Shri Amit Shah said, the BJP is yet to reach its peak," Prasad said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also reached Bhubaneswar to attend the meeting. Image: BJP Twitter page Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hasyim Widhiarto (The Jakarta Post) Benoa, Bali Sat, April 15 2017 Cruise guide: A tugboat pulls the Pacific Eden cruise ship to Benoa Port in Bali on Thursday. The 219-meter-long vessel carrying over 1,000 passengers made history after being the first cruise ship to dock at an Indonesian port. (JP/Hasyim Widhiarto) The shimmering sound of Balinese music played by a local gamelan group welcomed the Pacific Eden cruise ship as it approached Benoa Port in Bali on Thursday. Guided by a tugboat, the 219-meter-long vessel, operated by P&O Cruises Australia, needed 30 minutes to smoothly dock at the port that sunny afternoon. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Everything President Joko Jokowi Widodo did to serve visiting King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in early March was unprecedented. Unlike the treatment given to other visiting heads of state, Jokowi greeted the king at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport to show his highest appreciation. The President even honored the king by emptying his schedule to accompany him in Jakarta for three days. However, when it comes to business, unparalleled service, or even bonds of Islamic brotherhood, are apparently out of the equation. Jokowi said on Thursday that he was disappointed to learn that Saudi Arabia had invested US$65 billion in China, almost 10 times the Rp 89 trillion ($6.71 billion) pledged to Indonesia, despite the special treatment. Im surprised that when the king came to China, he signed [contracts of over] Rp 870 trillion [$65 billion], Jokowi said during his visit to the Buntet Islamic boarding school in Cirebon, West Java. I even held an umbrella for the king [during heavy downpour as the king arrived at the Bogor Palace], but we got a smaller amount. Im a little bit disappointed, just a little, the President added. Jokowi said he initially believed the downpour was a sign of good fortune for Indonesia, as rain was considered a blessing in Islam. I will call the king and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud to follow up the expectation that Indonesia will receive a bigger amount than they gave China. Please pray [for me], Jokowi told the audience. Prior to the kings arrival, Indonesian ministers were optimistic Saudi Arabia would invest $25 billion. Foreign direct investment (FDI) from Saudi Arabia only amounted to about $900,000 last year, down from $30 million in 2015, according to the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). The kings stop in Malaysia, before landing in Jakarta, had also illustrated how the neighboring country seized the moment. While Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco invested $7 billion to buy shares in a refining and petrochemical project owned by Malaysias Petronas, Indonesia has been left with relatively petty investments. Much Saudi Arabian money, on the other hand, has been funneled into charities in Indonesia, particularly for the construction of mosques and religious schools. Saudi Arabia is likely to step up its campaign to spread its version of Islam, as it plans to open new campuses for the Saudi Arabia-funded Islamic and Arabic College of Indonesia (LIPIA) in Makassar, Surabaya and Medan. LIPIA has one campus in Jakarta. Its graduates include several hard-line figures, such as convicted terrorist Aman Abdurrahman. International relations expert Badrus Sholeh from State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta said oilrich countries from the Middle East opted to invest in countries that had better infrastructure, such as China and Malaysia. Malaysia and China are far better in terms of infrastructure than Indonesia, Badrus said. Saudi Arabia, he said, was more interested in developing social and cultural relations with Indonesia by trying to persuade the government to allow the establishment of more educational institutions based on Wahhabism (an ultraconservative brand of Islam). It is possible that Saudi Arabia will seek to open high schools propagating Wahhabism in the future, Badrus said. The kings visit received a nationwide enthusiastic response. It was considered historic, as King Salman was the first Saudi Arabian king to visit Indonesia in 47 years. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15 2017 Everything President Joko Jokowi Widodo did to serve visiting King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in early March was unprecedented. Unlike the treatment given to other visiting heads of state, Jokowi greeted the king at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport to show his highest appreciation. The President even honored the king by emptying his schedule to accompany him in Jakarta for three days. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15, 2017 11:14 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde94aedb 1 City Jokowi,jokowidodo,Lukman-Hakim-Saifuddin,Hasyim-Asyari-Grand-Mosque,city-owned-grand-mosque,Jakarta-grand-mosque,#Jokowi Free President Joko Jokowi Widodo is set to inaugurate KH Hasyim Asy'ari Grand Mosque, the first city-owned grand mosque located in Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, on Saturday. Named after KH Hasyim Asy'ari, the founder of Indonesias largest Islam organization Nahdlatul Ulama, the mosque was initially scheduled to be inaugurated in March. Built on a 2.4-hectare plot of land near Pesakih low-cost apartments, Hasyim Asyari Mosque can accommodate 12,500 people for religious occasions. Jokowi introduced the idea of building a grand mosque when he served as Jakarta governor. The idea reportedly emerged on Idul Adha (Islamic Day of Sacrifice) in 2012 because of concerns that the Jakarta administration had not established a grand mosque. The mosque is equipped with supporting facilities, such as office spaces for organizers of events held at the mosque, a function hall with a capacity for 1,000 people and a room for educational purposes. The mosque is also equipped with facilities for people with disabilities, such as ramps for wheelchairs for disabled persons. It is also adorned with Betawi ornaments. Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin and acting Jakarta Governor Soni Sumarsono will also attend the inauguration. (dea/mrc/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) Pyongyang, North Korea Sat, April 15, 2017 08:53 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde944be4 2 World North-Korea,Kim-Il-Sung,kim-jong-un,founding-father,birthday,#NorthKorea Free North Korea has started a massive parade in its capital city to mark the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, and trumpet the leadership of third-generation dictator Kim Jong Un. North Korea's state television showed thousands of soldiers marching at Kim Il Sung Square on Saturday morning to kick off the event that is expected to be attended by Kim Jong Un. The parade may also feature some of the country's most valuable military hardware, such as its prototype intercontinental ballistic missiles. The festivities take place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade or a rocket launch of significance, such as its first flight test of an ICBM. Kim, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011, emphasizes nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy. The country under his watch has been aggressively pursuing a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. In his annual New Year's address, Kim said that North Korea's preparations for an ICBM launch have "reached the final stage." US satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. North Korea conducted two of such tests last year alone, which analysts say would have taken the country a step forward in gaining the knowledge to make nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. The North also last year launched a long-range rocket that put a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology. Amid the elevated tensions, the United States a few days ago dispatched what President Donald Trump called an "armada" of ships in a show of force, including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula. The move, coupled with the US retaliatory strikes against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, touched off fear in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action on the North. However, US officials told The Associated Press on Friday that the Trump administration has settled on a policy that will emphasize on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's leadership. A US military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said the United States doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Pyongyang has expressed anger over the annual spring military exercises the US holds with South Korea, which it considers an invasion rehearsal. It has warned of a nuclear attack on the United States in retaliation for any sign of aggression. That threat, however, has been made numerous times in the past. ___ AP writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ken Thomas (Associated Press) Washington Sat, April 15, 2017 16:42 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde95258e 2 World Mike-Pence,North-Korea,DonaldTrump,Donald-Trump,#NorthKorea,#NorthKoreaNuclear,ballistic-missiles Free President Donald Trump has labeled North Korea a "problem" country and says it will be dealt with through a broad and vague set of options. It may be up to his vice president, Mike Pence, to fill in the details when he arrives in Asia. Pence will be diving into a tense standoff along the Korean Peninsula with visits to South Korea and Japan beginning Sunday. His travels to the Asia-Pacific region come amid indications that North Korea is potentially preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade or a significant missile launch, such as its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Trump, who has proven to be unpredictable on foreign policy, has responded to the recent concerns over North Korea with a swagger that suggests a new, tougher stance. Asked about North Korea this week, he told reporters: "North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of." He has repeatedly declared that if China, North Korea's dominant trading partner, isn't willing to do more to squeeze the North, the US might take the matter into its own hands. The remarks came with a show of military might, as an aircraft carrier head to waters off the Korean Peninsula. However, military officials have said the US doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Tough rhetoric aside, Trump's advisers have chosen a policy that appears to hew to that of the Obama administration. After a two-month policy review, officials settled on a policy dubbed "maximum pressure and engagement," US officials said Friday. The administration's immediate emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of Beijing. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity. Pence is tasked with explaining the policy in meetings with leaders in South Korea and Japan at the start of a 10-day tour that will include stops in Indonesia and Australia. Part of his mission will be to reassure allies in South Korea and Japan that the US will defend them against North Korean aggression without acting in a way that might tip the region into open conflict. "The message, I think, is going to be about vigilance and deterrence," said Victor Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said Pence will try to balance reassurance with a willingness to respond if North Korea acts. "The United States wants to project a more muscular image when it comes to the policy so some unpredictability serves that cause." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pointed to nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy and has openly sought a nuclear weapon that could strike the continental. US analysts have said commercial satellite images from recent weeks indicate increased activity around the nuclear test site in northern North Korea. North Korea has a history of marking significant dates with a show of military force, and Pence's arrival will come a day after the country celebrates its most important holiday on Saturday, the 105th birth anniversary of the country's late founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of its current leader. The US, which last week acted unilaterally in ordering a cruise missile strike on Syria, has recently dispatched what Trump called an "armada," including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula. Thousands of US and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry were also deployed last month in their biggest-ever joint military exercises, which prompted North Korea to issue routine threats of attacks on its rival if they show signs of aggression. Ahead of Pence's arrival, North Korea's vice foreign minister told The Associated Press in an interview that Trump was the culprit of escalating tensions through his tweets and expansion of military exercises, arguing that the US was becoming "more vicious and more aggressive" under Trump compared to his predecessor. While in South Korea, Pence will meet with South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the country's acting head of state in place of ousted President Park Geun-hye, who was recently arrested over a corruption scandal. Pence will also participate in a session with local business leaders. Pence plans to depart South Korea on Tuesday for Japan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and hold economic discussions with top Japanese officials. __ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul contributed to this report. __ Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15, 2017 14:15 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde94e3ca 1 City PPP,PPP-leadership,PPPChairman,PPPChairmanRomahurmuziy,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,#Ahok-Djarot,#ahok,ahok,DjanFaridz,Djan-Faridz,djan-fariz Free United Development Party (PPP) politicians of the Djan Faridz- and Romahurmuziy-led factions declared on Friday support for Jakarta governor-deputy gubernatorial candidates Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno, who will contest the April 19 Jakarta election. The PPP is a party based on Islamic principles. Thus, in choosing and determining a leader, it must adhere to these principles, said Bachtiar Chamsyah, a senior politician from the partys Romahurmuziy-led faction, as quoted by Antara in a press conference in Jakarta on Friday. Several senior PPP politicians from both camps, including Abraham Lunggana, alias Haji Lulung", Mardiono, Ubaidillah Murod, Zarkasih Nur, Tahir Saimima and Yudo Paripurno were present at the conference. The press conference was held to counter the decision of both PPP chairpersons, Djan and Romi, who previously declared support for incumbent candidate pair Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat in the second round of the election. (Read also: Ahok-Anies final face-off loses steam) Bachtiar said their support for Ahok-Djarot was not in line with Islamic principles, which are the partys foundation. It s also clearly stated in PPPs statutes and rules of association that the party must always support a leader of the same faith, he further said. Bachtiar said the PPP would be socially condemned if it supported the Ahok-Djarot ticket. Meanwhile, Lulung said the decision to support Anies-Sandi was a political choice based on the partys statues and rules of association. This choice had nothing to do with ethnic, religious, racial and intergroup (SARA) sentiments, he added. Its in line with the partys statutes and rules of association -- leaders chosen must be of the same faith, he said. (mrc/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Moses Parlindungan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15 2017 The Constitutional Court (MK) has held a welcoming party of unprecedented magnitude for its new justice, with high hopes of restoring its reputation after multiple corruption allegations against previous justices have tainted its image in the eyes of the people. Saldi Isra, who was inaugurated by President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Tuesday, is a constitutional law expert and anti-corruption activist. He replaces Patrialis Akbar, who was arrested on graft charges early this year. The party was attended by distinguished constitutional law figures, such as Bagir Manan, Mahfud MD, as well as the current Chief Justice Arief Hidayat and all seven of the other constitutional justices. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15 2017 In a sign of the militarys growing role in civilian affairs, the Indonesian Military (TNI) will take part in efforts to develop remote and disadvantaged areas. The TNI have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry to formalize the policy. According to the MoU, which was signed at the TNIs headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Wednesday, the TNI will focus on helping build infrastructure. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Matthew Pennington (Associated Press) Washington Sat, April 15, 2017 09:17 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde94600c 2 World North-Korea,DonaldTrump,Donald-Trump,#NorthKorea,#NorthKoreaNuclear,Nuclear,Pyongyang Free The Trump administration has settled on its North Korea strategy after a two-month review: "Maximum pressure and engagement." US officials said Friday the president's advisers weighed a range of ideas for how to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, including military options and trying to overthrow the isolated communist dictatorship's leadership. At the other end of the spectrum, they looked at the notion of accepting North Korea as a nuclear state. In the end, however, they settled on a policy that appears to represent continuity. The administration's emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's dominant trade partner. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity. The new strategy will be deployed at a time of escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. US, South Korean and other officials are closely monitoring the North amid indications it could conduct another missile test or nuclear explosion to coincide with an important national anniversary this weekend. Pyongyang has undertaken five nuclear tests since 2006. An influential Washington think tank estimated Friday that North Korea could already have up to 30 bombs. The Institute for Science and International Security cited a worrying increase in North Korea's nuclear program, but said the arsenal may only have been as large as 13 atomic weapons at the end of 2016. Its research suggested a range between 10 and 16 such weapons two years earlier. The institute's estimates are based on what it believes the North has produced in plutonium and weapons-grade uranium. The margins represent uncertainty as to whether North Korea has one or two uranium enrichment facilities. The North has owned up to one such facility, at its Nyongbyon nuclear complex, but the US. government assumes it has more. "The bottom line is that North Korea has an improving nuclear weapons arsenal," said David Albright, the institute's president. He said the North may have a handful of plutonium-based warheads it can mount on medium-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching South Korea and Japan. But it's doubtful the North is currently able to build reliable, survivable warheads for an intercontinental ballistic missile that can strike the US mainland, he said. As for the Trump administration's policy, the US officials emphasized that no engagement of North Korea is currently taking place. Although China advocates for diplomatic outreach, the focus for now is on pressure. The officials said the goal of engagement would have to be North Korea's denuclearization. It cannot lead to an arms control agreement or reduction of the North's atomic arsenal that would imply American acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear power. The officials are hopeful China and Russia would agree to tighter UN sanctions on North Korea if it conducts another nuclear test. They pointed to a recent editorial in a state-run Chinese newspaper advocating tighter restrictions on selling oil to North Korea. Beijing's decision earlier this year to cut off coal imports from North Korea also are being seen as a hopeful sign. Coal sales are an important source of revenue for Kim Jong Un's government, and the US says China has turned back some shipments in recent days. Russia and China are critical to any pressure campaign on North Korea because they both hold veto power on the UN Security Council. In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, North Korea's Vice Minister Han Song Ryol said President Donald Trump's tough tweets toward Pyongyang were adding to a "vicious cycle" of tensions. Han said if the US shows any sign of "reckless" military aggression, Pyongyang is ready to launch a pre-emptive strike of its own. Trump, who last week acted unilaterally in ordering a cruise missile strike on Syria, has been using America's military might to send a message to Kim. An aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, is heading to waters off Korea in a show of force. Trump has repeatedly issued ambiguous threats that if Beijing isn't willing to do more to squeeze the North, the US might take the matter into its own hands. But a US military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said the US doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. The official said plans could change in the unlikely event a North Korean missile targets South Korea, Japan or US territory. ___ AP National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report. (**) Srinagar, Apr 15 (IBNS): At least 50 students were injured as massive clashes erupted at Pulwama Degree College in South Kashmir between students and government forces on Saturday. According to reports, large contingents of police and CRPF entered in College premises to arrest some boys involved in protests against army presence recently in the area. As soon as the forces were spotted, students staged protests and pelted stones, triggering massive clashes, a student said, adding that police fired dozens of teargas shells and pellets. 50 students were injured in the clashes. The injured students included girls as well and they were shifted to Pulwama Hospital. According to medical officials, Meanwhile, a police statement issued here in Srinagar said: A normal naka was established around 200 meters away from Degree College Pulwama as class work ended some miscreants started pelting stones at the naka party." "To handle the stone pelting, reinforcement was rushed to the spot. The mob swelled as more students joined and pelted stones on the forces," it said. In this incident some miscreants and police personnel were injured. One was referred to Srinagar hospital where his condition is stable," read the statement. It said: "The District Police administration has clarified that no raids were conducted and video being shared on social networking groups is not from Pulwama. (Reporting by Saleem Qadri) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Edith M.Lederer (Associated Press) United Nations Sat, April 15, 2017 09:04 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde9456af 2 World UN,United-Nations,Libya,Antonio-Guterres,AntonioGuterres,#UnitedNations Free Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that Libya risks a return to widespread conflict, citing the volatile security situation in Tripoli and fighting in the eastern oil crescent and elsewhere. The UN chief expressed alarm in a report to the UN Security Council at the renewed military escalation and ongoing political stalemate in the country. Guterres said the Islamic State extremist group no longer controls territory in Libya, but its operatives have been sighted, it has been blamed for a number of attacks in different areas, and the international community in the country remains a target. He said in the report released Thursday that the potential for an escalating conflict remains due mainly to unaddressed political issues "and the multiplicity of armed actors on the ground with conflicting agendas." The overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 has spawned chaos in Libya. The power and security vacuum turned the country into a breeding ground for militias and militants, including Islamic State extremists and al-Qaida affiliates. It has also made Libya a gateway for thousands of migrants from Africa and elsewhere seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Italy. Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias, tribes and political factions. A UN-brokered deal in December 2015 to create a unity government has failed because the UN-backed government now in Tripoli has been unable to win the endorsement of Libya's internationally recognized Parliament in eastern Tobruk, which is a prerequisite to assume power. Guterres said the UN-backed Presidency Council and government remain "constrained in their ability to govern effectively and to provide much needed basic services and security to the population." He said the 2015 political agreement continues to be supported by the majority of Libyans and interested countries "as the only political framework to lead the country forward." An emerging consensus on the need for limited amendments to the agreement "represents an opportunity to overcome the current political stalemate and move the transition forward," he said. Guterres urged all parties in Libya to address the key issues blocking implementation of the agreement including the composition of various institutions, especially the executive authority and military command. The secretary-general said he remains "deeply alarmed" by the human rights situation in the country where violations of international law continue to be perpetrated by all parties to the conflict. "Armed groups from all sides continued to abduct, torture and kill civilians," he said. "In addition, ordinary crime was endemic, mainly owing to the state of general lawlessness and the weakness of judicial institutions." Between Dec. 1 and Feb. 17, Guterres said the UN political mission in Libya documented 24 deaths and 24 injuries of civilians, mainly by gunfire, airstrikes, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices. Migrants and refugees in Libya also "continue to suffer horrific abusers and risk death while transiting the country and across the Mediterranean Sea," he said. While forces allied to the UN-backed government routed IS from its stronghold in Sirte in December, Guterres said remnants are still active "in the hinterland" of the city. They also maintain a presence in the desert and mountainous areas south of Bani Walid and areas further south and west, and there are reports of IS sleeper cells in western coastal areas and the greater Tripoli area, he said. Guterres also expressed grave concern at the deterioration of the humanitarian situation. He said 1.3 million people need humanitarian aid, the health care system "is on the brink of collapse" and the UN has received only $9 million of the $151 million it appealed for to help 900,000 people. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Tabanan, Bali Sat, April 15 2017 Realty and property management firm PT Wijaya Karya (Wika) Realty is betting on the Island of Gods for lucrative business amid slowdown in the property market. The company, a subsidiary of state-owned construction firm PT Wijaya Karya, launched recently a luxury resort and hotel project in Tabanan, Bali, built on 1.3 hectares. The Rp 530 billion (US$39.96 million) project adds to its existing projects on the island, such as the Jineng Resort in Kuta and Tamansari Jivva in Klungkung. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, April 15 2017 After the horrific chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun and the killing of innocent civilians, nothing has changed in Syria. Despite United States involvement and a cruise missile attack on a regime air base, the killing of innocent civilians, force displacements and barrel bomb attacks, blind Russian and Iranian support for the Assad regime continues. Despite clear indications of the involvement of the Assad regime in the Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack, the Russians and Iranians are still busy justifying their support after the worse chemical attack. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15, 2017 14:24 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde94ea0b 1 News IMF,World-Bank,global-economy,bali,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia Free Indonesia is gearing up to host the 2018 IMF-World Bank meeting in October 2018 in Bali. More than 13,000 people from 189 countries are expected participate in the annual event, including official country delegations, international observers, academics, journalists and NGO representatives. At least 30,000 people are expected to travel to Bali in October next year. A coordination meeting was recently held to discuss the events preparation and was attended by Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya and Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi. Read also: Benoa cruise terminal to be ready in 2018 Arief Yahya said the annual meeting offered vast opportunity to promote tourist destinations in Bali and beyond, as well as cruise tourism. Yahya has prepared several tourist packages that will be promoted on travel website TripAdvisor. Besides promoting Bali, the tour packages are for other destinations to which there are direct flights from Bali, such as Lombok, Labuan Bajo, Joglosemar and the iconic Borobudur temple in Yogyakarta. Visitors can also opt to sail to islands located near Bali. Moreover, Yahya said facilities in Bali would be revamped. Currently, an underpass is under construction at the intersection of the Ngurah Rai Monument in Badung regency to ease traffic on roads connecting Ngurah Rai International Airport, Nusa Dua and Denpasar. Regarding water pollution in Badung regency, Pandjaitan said water pollution caused by garbage and trash had resulted in the consumption of fish sourced from polluted waterways. He has invited Jakpro Jakarta and another waste management firm from Surabaya to work together to tackle the issue. Read also: Bali's water question Another issue raised during the meeting by the maritime affairs minister is a plan to have electric motorcycles placed at main tourist spots, after a trial was done in Jakarta. Budi Karya Sumadi voiced approval of the idea and has asked state-owned electricity company PLN to help facilitate the plan. (asw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, April 15, 2017 13:46 2033 a291276806121264c0bd211cde94de40 1 News diplomacy,Europe,tourism,foreign-tourists,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia Free Indonesian Ambassador to Bulgaria, Albania and Macedonia Sri Astari Rasjid recently paid a visit to the Tourism Ministry at the Sapta Pesona building to discuss the promotion of Indonesian tourism in Bulgaria and East Europe. Tourism is important for developing countries as it generates foreign exchange and creates jobs. In Indonesia, tourism is one industry in which Indonesia can compete globally. President Joko Widodo has prioritized tourism along with the maritime, infrastructure, food and energy industries. Thank you to the minister for all the work and partnership that weve done in the past. As a matter of fact, Indonesia has won a number of tourism-related awards, Rasjid said. Read also: Bulgarian journalists explore Yogyakarta, Bali Indonesia recently took home the Grand Prix Award at the 13th International Tourism Film Festival in Bulgaria for a three-minute video titled Wonderful Indonesia: The Journey to a Wonderful World. Prior to that, two short films in the tourism-themed "On the East Coast of Europe" won two awards at the 11th International Tourism Film Festival (ITFF). Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said Indonesian embassies had been very helpful with the promotion of Wonderful Indonesia, I trust her [Rasjid's] judgment in this matter as she is the who knows Bulgaria very well, he said. (asw) (lead article, Socialist Workers Party statement) US hands off Korea! US troops, fleet out now! Militant/Seth Galinsky The following statement was issued April 14 by Osborne Hart, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of New York. I call on fellow working people to join the Socialist Workers Party in speaking out against Washingtons threats against the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Hands off Korea! U.S. troops, warplanes and gunboats out of Koreas waters! Washingtons deployment of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier-led armada, as President Donald Trump called it, is a threat to both the Korean people and the Peoples Republic of China. This fleet includes a combined crew of some 7,500 troops, more than 60 warplanes, a cruiser armed with Tomahawk missiles, and two destroyers equipped with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. At the same time, one of the largest U.S.-South Korean joint war maneuvers ever held is underway. And to send a message, Washington included the notorious imperialist hit squad SEAL Team Six which assassinated Osama bin Laden in exercises that include simulations of decapitation of the North Korean leadership. Washington claims it has the right to target North Korea because the government there carried out a handful of missile tests and has been developing nuclear weapons. The White House says they have the right to take preemptive military action against Pyongyang. Like the recent U.S. Tomahawk attack on Syria, the White Houses provocative threats against the Korean people and Koreas sovereignty are bipartisan, backed by Democratic and Republican politicians alike. It is U.S. imperialism that has amassed a massive and deadly military force in Asia. Washington has the most deadly nuclear arsenal in the world. Sixty percent of the U.S. Navys 69 submarines are now based in the Pacific, many equipped with nuclear missiles. More than 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, and some 50,000 more in Japan are ready to back them up. The Pentagon, despite objections from Pyongyang, Beijing and tens of thousands in South Korea, has begun installing Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile batteries and espionage station in South Korea, a threat to workers and farmers throughout Asia. The U.S. ruling capitalist class has a long record of brutal assaults on the people of Korea. As part of seizing the fruits of their victory in the second imperialist world war, Washington forcibly intervened against popular mobilizations of the Korean people seeking an end to colonial rule, divided the Korean Peninsula and installed a brutal dictatorship in the south. More than 4 million people were killed, including at least 2 million civilians, as a result of the 1950-53 Korean War, carried out by Washington, its imperialist allies and its client regime in South Korea under the banner of the United Nations. Washington dropped more than 635,000 tons of bombs, 32,557 tons of napalm and leveled the vast majority of homes, hospitals, schools and factories across northern Korea, and in large parts of the South as well. Ultimately, they were fought to a standstill, unable to defeat North Korea. Today the U.S. government has imposed draconian sanctions on the North, seeking to sabotage its economic development and make working people there pay for refusing to do Washingtons bidding. They are pressing the Chinese government to tighten the screws on North Korea even more. The Socialist Workers Party has a proud history fighting against Washingtons intervention in Korea. We campaigned against the U.S. rulers forced division of Korea in 1945 when U.S. troops landed and, together with the regime Washington put in place, killed, beat, tortured or jailed those who stood up to the U.S. occupation. We opposed the U.S.-led Korean War, where Washington sought to reimpose capitalist rule on the entire peninsula. And we continue to back the demand of the Korean people for reunification. Korea is one! Working people in the U.S. are battered by the deepening capitalist economic crisis today and by the attempts of the bosses and their government to make us pay to boost their declining profit rates. More workers in the U.S. are dying on the job as the bosses enforce speedup and attack our unions. Millions are unable to find work. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and other social rights workers have won in struggle face the ax. And our political rights are under attack. The same wealthy families who are responsible for Washingtons war moves against working people around the world are assaulting our rights and living conditions here at home. And for the same reason. We say: End Washingtons economic and financial sanctions against the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea! U.S. troops, ships, planes and THAAD out of Korea! For a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons! Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page, Socialist Workers Party statement) Socialist Workers Party: Get US out of Syria, Iraq! Stop Washingtons bombs! All US troops out now! Inset, Militant/Steve Warshell; above, U.S. Navy Cynthia Jaquith, SWP candidate for Miami mayor, at Ft. Lauderdale protest against U.S. bombing of Syria. Above, Tomahawk missile launch from U.S. Navy ship, same type as the 59 used in U.S. attack on Syria April 6. The following statement was issued April 7 by Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of New York Osborne Hart. The 59 deadly Tomahawk missiles that U.S. military warships rained down on a Syrian government airfield April 6 will further escalate Washingtons decadeslong wars in the region. I demand stop the bombing! Get Washingtons troops out of the Middle East now! Washingtons wars against Iraq and the war in Afghanistan the longest in U.S. history both continue today. The administration of Donald Trump has been building on the course of the Barack Obama administration before him, increasing the number of troops in both countries, as well as in Syria. The course is bipartisan. Washingtons missile attack yesterday won applause from Democrats, including New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, as well as the Washington Post. Washingtons attack has escalated the war and will lead to further slaughter of the toilers in Syria and the Middle East. The capitalist rulers who determine U.S. imperialist moves at home and abroad hold their economic and political interests paramount. Washingtons access to resources, markets and investment and the prevention of any revolutionary action by workers and farmers in the region guides their actions. Announcing the attack, Trump called on all civilized nations to join us to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, cynically ignoring the deaths of more than 1,000 civilians and others in U.S. bombing raids there over the past year. It is Washingtons wars that have provoked and prolonged the combat across the region, including creating the vacuum that led to the rise of the reactionary Islamic State. President Trump claims the missile strike is a response to a murderous chemical weapons attack on civilians days earlier. There is substantial evidence, including the direct testimony of survivors of the gas bombs, that the dictatorial Bashar al-Assad regime was responsible. The chemical attack presented Washington an opportunity on a silver platter to escalate their intervention. Washingtons claims to moral authority are an affront to working people everywhere. The U.S. ruling class is the only power to ever target civilians with nuclear bombs. It has used napalm and all kinds of weapons of mass slaughter, enforced its stifling and destructive economic embargo against Cuba for decades to make Cubas workers and farmers pay for their socialist revolution, and on and on. Working people in the Middle East suffer from the carnage of the ongoing wars. The toilers in Syria organized massive popular mobilizations for political rights and against the regime in 2011, but were put down in blood. Since then, over 400,000 have died and 11 million people, more than half the population, have been driven from their homes. Working people in Syria need to find a road forward, but foreign imperialist intervention is a deadly obstacle to the fight for liberation. Worldwide solidarity and political space are what is needed for Syrian toilers to construct the revolutionary working-class party needed to take power. Workers in the U.S. are facing carnage as well. A new normal of permanently lower employment, attacks on health care, pensions, safety on the job, political and social rights, and from the rulers cops and criminal justice system marks life under todays capitalist crisis. The employers and their government are seeking to boost their profit rates on our backs. Among the hardest hit are workers who are drawn into service in the imperialist military, maimed and scarred and left to their own devices when they return. Washingtons attack on Syria is also intended as a warning to North Korea. U.S. government spokespeople have made it clear Washington is ready to use military might to move unilaterally to inflict pain and suffering on the people there if they see the opportunity. The capitalist rulers and their Democratic and Republican parties alike have their foreign policy, to defend their dog-eat-dog capitalist private profit system by all means. Working people need our own internationalist policy of solidarity with workers struggling worldwide. We need our own political party. That is what the Socialist Workers Party is fighting to build. Join us to condemn Washingtons assault on Syria. Join protests against their wars. And demand the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops and military from Syria and the Middle East. (front page) US uses horror at Assad gas attack to step up Syria war Washingtons April 6 missile strike against the Bashar al-Assad dictatorships Al Shayrat air force base represents a further escalation of the U.S. rulers military intervention in Syrias six-year civil war. It goes along with steadily growing numbers of U.S. ground troops in both Syria and Iraq and further involvement in combat in Yemen and Afghanistan. President Donald Trump claims Washingtons 59 cruise missile attack was carried out in retaliation for a chemical bomb dropped two days earlier by the Assad regime against civilians in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province. The Assad regime was being driven back by opposition forces until Moscow moved a fleet of bombers into Syria in September 2015 and joined the civil war. They were backed by troops from Iran, Hezbollah and other Tehran-led militias. Since then the Assad regime and its allies have combined murderous bombing with sieges to starve and batter opposition-held areas. They then offer what they call reconciliation deals and when the fighters agree to surrender their territory, they are permitted to go to Idlib province. Assad is now using his coalitions air power and chemical weapons in Khan Sheikhoun to brutalize rebels there. He says he plans to retake the entire country. And workers and farmers there are paying the price. Reports of surviving eyewitnesses, evidence from bomb craters in the village and the results of autopsies on victims, point to use of a banned nerve agent like sarin and to the responsibility of the Assad regime. The chemical weapons attack handed Washington a golden opportunity to justify its drive to ratchet up its military intervention in Syria. Justifying the attack in the name of national security, Trump, who the previous week indicated his administration could live with the Assad government, blamed the regimes repression of opposition forces for creating a refugee crisis that is destabilizing the region. Decades of seemingly endless U.S. military interventions in the area Iraq three times, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and more is the real source of the destabilization. And it is also the root cause of the initial spread of Islamic State, which filled the vacuum left by the inability of U.S. imperialism to end these wars and the failure so far of working people to carve out a revolutionary leadership capable of taking power themselves. Washingtons missile strike is a significant blow to U.S.-Russia relations, said Dmitri Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow claims that Assads planes had bombed an opposition-controlled storehouse for chemical weapons, but so far no one has presented any evidence such a storehouse ever existed. The day after the attack a Russian warship armed with cruise missiles was dispatched to the area of the Mediterranean where the two U.S. Navy destroyers launched the missiles into Syria. Moscow also suspended an agreement with Washington to coordinate air operations over Syria, set up to avoid accidental clashes, and said it would strengthen Assads air defense systems. U.S. boots on the ground continue to increase in both Syria and Iraq where U.S. military intervention is being carried out under cover of the fight to destroy the reactionary Islamic State. The monthslong battle by the Iraqi army to retake the city of Mosul from IS, backed by Washingtons air power and military advisers on the ground, drags on. U.S. troop strength has climbed to over 6,000, including an initial levy of 300 troops from the Armys 82nd Airborne Division that arrived in Kuwait at the end of March. In northern Syria 900 U.S. troops in alliance with thousands of fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces led by the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), are fighting for position to launch an all-out attack on Raqqa, Islamic States self-proclaimed capital. What to do with the Kurds? Washingtons problems in the region are increasingly compounded by the struggle of the 30 million oppressed Kurdish people for their national sovereignty the geographical spread of the Kurds crosses the borders of Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq. And by the efforts of the capitalist rulers in these countries to prevent the Kurds from succeeding. The YPG, the most effective fighters against Islamic State, control an autonomous enclave of 2 million Kurds in Syria on the Turkish border. Their tactical alliance with Washington doesnt change the hostility of the U.S. capitalist rulers to their decadeslong struggle for independence. The Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invaded parts of northern Syria in an effort to keep the YPG from connecting the Kurdish cantons on the border and forming an autonomous region in Syria. Ankara fears this would strengthen the struggle of Turkeys 15 million Kurds for their national rights. For this reason, Erdogan also opposes the Washington-YPG alliance in the fight for Raqqa. For over three decades Ankara has waged a war against its Kurdish citizens and the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Erdogan considers the YPG an arm of the terrorist PKK. The regime has called a presidential referendum for April 16 designed to replace Turkeys parliamentary system with an executive presidency giving Erdogan virtually dictatorial powers. A special target of the regime has been the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), which has broad support among the Kurdish population. Last November Selahattin Demirtas, the popular co-leader of the HDP, was jailed along with 13 other HDP leaders on charges that they are linked to the PKK. Ankaras troops occupy parts of the Kurdish region and there have been thousands of arrests. (front page) SWP members join discussion, debate over US govt war moves At the end of the first week, the Socialist Workers Partys seven-week spring campaign to take the party, thenewspaper and Pathfinder Press books on working-class politics to working people is ahead of schedule. Participants from several areas indicate that as they took the party and its program to workers doorsteps, as well as on strike picket lines and to social protest actions, discussions were marked by Washingtons bombing of Syria and threats of a preemptive attack on North Korea. The campaign runs together with the Militant Fighting Fund, a drive to raise $112,000 to keep getting the Militant out and around. The goal of the effort is to expand the reach of the partys publications, to increase the number of workers involved in its activities and to build the party. We discussed the U.S. attack on Syria with just about everyone we talked to over the weekend, Alyson Kennedy writes from Denver. Many workers are horrified by the Assad regimes use of chemical weapons. Some were hesitant, but agreed with the U.S. bombing, Kennedy added One worker in Commerce City said Its about time something was done against Assad. Others wanted to know what could be done to end the drawn out crisis in the Middle East and welcomed the SWP statement calling for the U.S. to get out of Syria and the region, continued Kennedy. We found a wide open discussion, including with workers who disagreed. Well maybe you have a point, one worker said after wed talked for a while. I never thought about it like that. A person who got a subscription and a copy of The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record urged us to talk to his neighbor, telling us he went to Standing Rock to support the fight of the Sioux tribe there for sovereignty, Kennedy said. He wasnt there but at the next door a truck mechanic got a subscription. So far weve sold 10 subscriptions and eight books toward our goals of 25 each, Kennedy said. And two of those who got the Militant want to get together again and continue talking. Results of the first week of the drive are shown in the chart on page 1. Anyone who gets a subscription can get any or all of three Pathfinder books on special The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record and Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? both by Jack Barnes, national secretary of the SWP, and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? by party leader Mary-Alice Waters for just $5 each. In Seattle, SWP members and supporters of Mary Martin, SWP candidate for mayor, joined two protest actions against the U.S. bombing of Syria, and visited with workers on their doorsteps and union halls. In the working class neighborhood of South Seattle, a couple originally from Chile asked if we had any information about May Day actions in defense of immigrants in the area. They were glad to see we had a flyer for the May 1 march in Seattle. We are working to build a movement to fight for amnesty for all undocumented workers in the U.S., Martin said. This fight is the only way we can break down the barriers and unite all workers to fight together against the growing attacks by the bosses and their government. They decided to get a copy of all three of the campaign books in Spanish. In Longview, SWP members went door to door and to the Longshore union hall to meet up with union members they had worked with fighting an attempted union-busting lockout by EGT Corporation in 2011-12. They also aimed to win solidarity for silver miners on strike against Hecla in Idaho. Dan Coffman, former president of the ILWU local there said he would be glad to write a statement of support for the miners and renewed his subscription. Two other longshoremen in the hall pooled their money to extend the unions subscription and a third renewed and got a copy of The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record. Helen Meyers from Minnesota reported that bakery worker Ned Neterval, a supporter of the SWP campaign of David Rosenfeld for mayor there, is part of an organizing drive where he works. He was reading the Militant newspaper in the breakroom when a co-worker from Togo asked to see the paper. He wanted to know how he could get more information about the politics in the paper. Neterval decided to take a number of Pathfinder books to work. Two co-workers bought three copies of Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? two in French and one in English, and We Are the Heirs of the Worlds Revolutions by Thomas Sankara, a revolutionary and president of Burkina Faso in the 1980s. Beverly Bernardo in Montreal writes that members of the Communist League there visited with workers door to door over the weekend and at a demonstration of 300 against the U.S. bombing of Syria. With the bombing of Syria and the threats against North Korea this week, we need a revolution to stop these people who rule us, Josette Hurtubise told Bernardo and fellow CL member Michel Prairie as she renewed her subscription. She also got a copy of Pathfinders new Cuba and Angola: The War for Freedom that describes how Cubas revolutionary internationalism led 425,000 troops and other volunteers to help Angola defend itself from invasions by apartheid South Africa. Hurtubise contributed $50 to the Militant Fighting Fund. Progress in the fund drive is shown on the chart on page 3. Contributors are urged to send their donations in early! Related articles: Spring Campaign to expand the reach of 'Militant,' books (week one) Militant Fighting Fund (week one) Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (front page) Trump garners bipartisan backing for escalation of war in Syria, Iraq President Donald Trumps decision to escalate Washingtons intervention in Syria won him bipartisan praise, including from many liberals whove been spending most of their time whipping up hysteria against his presidency. MSNBCs Brian Williams, who has repeatedly attacked Trump, lauded the beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments. It gave a temporary boost to Trumps standing in opinion polls and undercut the liberals campaign painting him as a dupe of Moscow. But the politicians and bosses of the big capitalist media who are shedding crocodile tears over the men, women and children massacred by the Syrian regimes sarin gas bombing in Idlib had no tears for the civilians killed by Washingtons Tomahawk attack April 6. Not to mention the thousands of civilians killed and maimed across Syria and Iraq in previous U.S. airstrikes. After all thats just collateral damage. And some of them echoed the White House in saying Washingtons new war moves should put fear in the heart of others targeted by U.S. imperialism, especially the government and people of North Korea. The day after the strike, CNN analyst Fareed Zakaria who has called Trump a bulls--t artist said, I think Donald Trump became president of the United States last night. Even those in the Democratic Party who had some criticism of Washingtons missile attack stuck to griping about why Trump hadnt sought congressional approval first or worrying about what might go wrong in the future. Trump must explain what this military escalation is intended to achieve and how it fits into the broader goal of a political solution, was the best former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders could come up with. He added he was concerned the strike could lead Washington into a quagmire. The Washington Post, a house organ for anti-Trump hysteria, editorialized April 7 that Trumps response was right as a matter of morality, but it could also yield a host of practical benefits. The Posts editors opined that Trump could fill the leadership vacuum, in the Middle East and beyond, left by President Barack Obamas decision not to enforce his own red line on Syrias use of chemical weapons. All of these pro-capitalist spokespeople came together to try to whip up support for Washingtons war machine defending our interests abroad. It was hard not to feel some sense of emotional satisfaction, and justice done, when American cruise missiles struck an airfield in Syria, the New York Times editorialized April 7. But the owners of the Post, the Times and many liberals and middle-class radical opponents of Trump cant give up on their belief that he must somehow be pushed out of office long before the end of his term. In the same editorial, the Times editors complained whether by design or not, the American military action has also shifted the focus from the scandal over Russias interference in the election on Mr. Trumps behalf and allegations that the president and his allies may have colluded with Moscow. Some middle-class left groups try to pretty up the Assad regime, inventing convoluted conspiracy theories about Assads sarin assault. Trump was responsible for the sarin in order to take peoples minds off his collusion with Moscow, they say. Or Syrian rebels faked it to give Assad a bad name. Workers World Party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation insist opponents of U.S. war moves must recognize the Assad regime as a heroic and principled defender of the fight for national liberation and against imperialism. They argue that charges that the Assad regime is massacring the people of Syria with barrel bombs, chlorine bombs and sarin gas are all lies. Their stance is a blow to the fight against the U.S. imperialist intervention. Splintered Democrats Meanwhile, Democratic Party activists, from supporters of the failed campaign of Hillary Clinton to those who follow Bernie Sanders, have their sights set on taking power in city, state and congressional elections. Sanders goal is what he calls a revolution to take over the fractured party and restructure it toward a base in the working class and away from the elites. He wants to keep workers who are searching for an alternative to the powers that be and a road to deal with the effects of todays capitalist economic and political crisis from breaking with the two-capitalist-party system. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a surging wave of activists who the various factions among the Democrats are hoping to corral into ringing doorbells. Sister District, Code Blue, Act Blue and Flippable are among the groups that have sprung up to counter Trump and pour money and foot soldiers into local electoral races. A key question for the Democratic Party now is whether newly energized liberal activists will work with the party establishment the paper said, push it hard to the left or challenge it in future primary elections. One of the beneficiaries of these efforts is Jon Ossoff, Democratic Party candidate for Congress in the Sixth CD north of Atlanta. Ossoffs slogan is Make Trump Furious. Some 97 percent of the $ 8.3 million raised for him so far comes from small contributors out of state. It seemed important right now to send a message to Republicans that, at a grass-roots level, Americans are not happy, Sarah Kupferberg, a Berkeley ecologist and one of those contributors, told the Journal. She added, Im very disaffected with the Democratic Party. Stop Washingtons bombs! All US troops out now! New York, Apr 15 (Just Earth News): Expressing ahorrora at the killing of three workers contracted by its office in Wau, South Sudan, during violence that wracked the city earlier this week, the United Nations emergency food relief agency has called on the authorities to bring those responsible for the aunspeakable violencea to justice. In a news release on Friday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that the three men Daniel James, Ecsa Tearp and Ali Elario, all citizens of South Sudan appeared to have been killed on Monday as they tried to make their way to the UN agency's warehouse, where they worked as porters. Two died of machete wounds and the third was shot. We are outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of our colleagues, who worked every day to help provide life-saving food to millions of their fellow countrymen, said Joyce Luma, the WFP Country Director for South Sudan. Our sympathies and condolences are with their families. Their dedication will not be forgotten, she added. The UN agency said that it received the information on the deaths yesterday from the company that employed them. The company is contracted by WFP to provide loading and unloading services at its Wau warehouse. Also in the news release, the WFP Country Director underlined that those responsible for the killings must be brought to justice. We call on the South Sudanese authorities to hold those responsible for this unspeakable violence accountable for their actions, stressed Luma. Photo: OCHA/Guiomar Pau Sole Source: www.justearthnews.com Join May Day protests! Demand amnesty for immigrant workers! NEW YORK May Day actions this year to demand an end to deportations and for amnesty for all undocumented workers in the U.S. will be the largest in years. Marches, rallies and strikes are planned in dozens of cities and towns from coast to coast, many with official labor union involvement. An injury to one is an injury to all, Sean Campbell, president of Teamsters Local 813, told an April 3 press conference announcing the May 1 rally here at Foley Square. The 5 p.m. rally is being organized by a coalition of labor, immigrant and religious organizations. There will be a number of other actions around the city starting at 6:30 a.m. This is the first time our local has played a major role in a May Day protest, Campbell told the Militant by phone. We want as many people as possible to come out and see more of these actions take place. We believe that workers rights and immigrant rights go hand in hand, Hector Figueroa, president of SEIU 32BJ, told the press. Local 32BJ scored a victory when Immigration and Customs Enforcement released electrician Juan Vivares, an undocumented worker from Colombia, from custody. Vivares is married to Yahaira Burgos, a building porter, U.S. citizen and member of the union. When the union learned Vivares had been detained during a regular check in with ICE, it organized a protest outside the immigration jail where he was being held. Deportations are increasingly unpopular among workers born in the U.S. The longer workers live, work and join together in fights against attacks from the employers, the more it breaks down barriers between them. Edison Alvarado, a worker at Tom Cat Bakery here, encouraged others to go on strike May Day. Alvarado is one of 31 workers at the Long Island City bakery who are fighting plans by the company to fire them following an ICE I-9 audit that began during the Obama administration. The workers received a letter March 15 giving them 10 days to produce proof that they had work permits. After protests outside the bakery, Tom Cat extended the deadline to April 21. In another victory, Guyanese immigrant Ramesh Palandiandi was released from ICE detention April 7. Although he has a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen, ICE claimed he was deportable because of a non-violent felony conviction in 2007 for which he served six months in jail. Several marches are planned in Los Angeles that will converge at Los Angeles City Hall. I am marching on May Day to participate in sending a clear message: Immigrant workers in America will never give up on our struggle to win dignity, respect and justice, Lydia Flores, a supermarket cashier and member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 told a Los Angeles press conference March 21. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has made demagogic statements scapegoating undocumented workers, claiming they take American jobs and are a threat to national security. But for the most part Trump has extended policies implemented by Barack Obama, including immigration sweeps that supposedly target undocumented workers who have done jail time, I-9 audits that force the firings of workers without papers, and beefing up the border patrol. In 2006 legislation was introduced in Congress that would have made presence by anyone without papers in the U.S. a felony. It went down to defeat when immigrant workers led a wave of protests that culminated on May 1 with millions going on strike and marching in the street. Related articles: May Day Protests Calendar Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home (special feature) US, Canadian socialists, Cuban youth discuss US class struggle HAVANA I didnt know anything about Cubas role in the fight to defend Angolas independence until I came to this country to study, said Godwin Konnyebal, a student from Ghana, at a meeting at the University of Havanas School of Dentistry. The 150 students in attendance listened with great interest to two Young Socialists, Rebecca Williamson from Los Angeles and Philippe Tessier from Montreal, and Roger Calero, a leader of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States. A centerpiece of the meeting was the book Cuba and Angola: The War for Freedom by Cuban Gen. Harry Villegas, which had just been launched at the Havana International Book Fair. Published by Pathfinder Press, its a firsthand account of how Cuban volunteer combatants helped defend Angola from invasions by South Africas apartheid regime and hastened the demise of the white-supremacist regime in the early 1990s. A number of the youth at the Feb. 21 event were from Ghana, Congo-Brazzaville and other African countries. Like Konnyebal, they belong to a generation that grew up three decades after the battles against apartheid and colonialism in southern Africa that changed the course of history, and before arriving in Cuba knew little about the aid to Angola of 425,000 Cuban internationalist volunteers between 1975 and 1991. Several spoke about how important the Cuban peoples solidarity and example has been in the struggles against imperialist oppression and exploitation in Africa. The meeting at the dental school was one of two organized by the leadership of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) for the Young Socialists and Calero to talk with youth in Cuba. The other was an exchange with young workers at a pharmaceutical plant. The Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) organized a third meeting, held at the University of Pinar del Rio in western Cuba. Mary-Alice Waters, a Socialist Workers Party leader and president of Pathfinder Press, also participated in two of the meetings. All four were in Cuba for the annual Havana International Book Fair, where Pathfinder Press had a stand. What kind of socialism? In addition to the interest in Cubas internationalist aid to the freedom struggle in southern Africa, the students and workers had many questions about the class struggle in the United States. The speakers described the depth of the crisis of the capitalist system unfolding today, its devastating consequences for working people in the U.S., Canada, and other imperialist countries, and how communists there are part of working-class discussions and struggles that are developing. They drew on three new books by Socialist Workers Party leaders about class politics in the United States: The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record and Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? by Jack Barnes, and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? by Waters. Those titles, which also were presented at the Havana book fair the week before, and a wide selection of other books on revolutionary working-class politics, were on sale at the meetings. Dozens of students left with one or more books in hand. At the University of Pinar del Rio event, attended by more than 100 students, Yamil Alexander Otero, from El Salvador, said he had learned from many Central American workers about the brutal conditions they face as immigrants in the United States. Those conditions should be known more broadly, he said. Calero agreed, and underlined the importance for the U.S. labor movement of demanding amnesty for undocumented workers and organizing them into unions regardless of their immigration status. Immigrant workers are not simply exploited, he noted. They are strengthening the working class in the U.S. as they join protests against deportations and union struggles. Their actions help break down divisions imposed by the bosses on working people. He pointed to demonstrations by tens of thousands that had just taken place across the country in response to a recent wave of immigration police raids. Can you achieve socialism in the United States through elections, or do you need a revolution? asked Alejandro Simon, a law student at the University of Pinar del Rio. A youth from the Democratic Republic of Congo asked, Are you in favor of the kind of socialism Bernie Sanders talked about during the elections? referring to one of the 2016 Democratic presidential candidates. No revolution has ever been made anywhere through elections, Williamson said. The president of the United States acts as a manager for the interests of the capitalist class. What we need is not a change of president but a change in the class that rules the country and that will take a socialist revolution by millions of working people. For us the Cuban Revolution is a concrete, living example we can point to. It shows how workers have taken state power and transformed society, Calero added. Even today, he said, when Cuba is surrounded by the world capitalist crisis, workers and farmers here continue to defend their own revolutionary gains as well as the interests of working people internationally. Exchange at medicine factory At Medsol, a pharmaceutical complex, the Young Socialists had an exchange with a group of 40 workers at a production unit that manufactures a wide range of medicines. Nearly half the workers in that plant are 35 years old or younger. Workers described some of the obstacles they face in obtaining needed raw materials and spare parts as a result of U.S. policies that were not changed when diplomatic relations were re-established two years ago. Cuba is barred from buying U.S. products or even using U.S. dollars in commercial transactions, and have to obtain more costly imports from other countries. When materials are delayed because of the U.S. blockade or other difficulties, one worker said, we organize ourselves to make sure we can produce in a timely way the medicines our countrys public health system depends on. Many of the employees belong to the Technical Youth Brigades, a nationwide movement of young workers dedicated to developing more efficient production methods and improvising creative solutions to the lack of spare parts another consequence of U.S. trade sanctions that cause machines to be idled. In Cuba we produce medicine in order to cure diseases. In other places its a business, said a director at Medsol. In our plant solidarity among workers is very strong, one worker told us. We try to deal with problems collectively. We look after each other. How do workers in your countries show solidarity with one another? she asked. The speakers described how the capitalist rulers foster competition and dog-eat-dog values. At the same time, they noted the kinds of struggles for safety and dignity on the job that workers become involved in as the bosses, in their drive to increase profits, force working people to look more and more toward each other and their unions to protect themselves, their communities and the environment. Tessier pointed to the current frame-up trial of Thomas Harding and Richard Labrie, two rail workers accused of causing the 2013 Lac-Megantic rail disaster in Quebec. The workers explain that the derailment and deadly fire was a direct consequence of the employers profit drive, he said, and many working people in Canada have rallied to their defense. Roger Calero and Jonathan Silberman contributed to this article. This weekend the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival took over the BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, with punters flocking south of the river to celebrate the current golden age of television and hear from the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, Rowan Atkinson and Lee Mack. On Saturday afternoon Radio Times television editor, Alison Graham, and deputy editor David Butcher, alongside writers Jane Rackham and David Brown, took an hour to impart their wisdom on the next wave of television writers, in their session: Spoiler alert! How to Write About Television. We, of course, got some television suggestions (The A Word I thought that was fantastic David Brown, This Country was one of the best comedies Ive ever seen Alison Graham), and also gained some invaluable advice on how to write about television. Here are five key things we learnt from the session. 1. Theres no set way into writing about television Each of the panellists had a different story about how theyd ended up writing about television. Alison Graham started working on the Yorkshire Post as a reporter, David Butcher started making documentaries and Jane Rackham began on magazine Municipal Engineering. David Brown commented that its all about getting a foot in the door. He started at the Radio Times as a sub-editor, then worked his way up to be the site's soaps expert. 2. Always find a talking point Jane Rackham explained how she often has to write about the unseen, writing preview pieces for live shows like Strictly Come Dancing before theyve aired and when she doesnt know who will leave the competition. Find a peg to hang it on, she explained. You always need to have something you can peg your piece on, and its your job to find that as a writer. 3. You need to hone your craft To be a good critic youve got to be interested in the stuff before your time, David Brown told us. You need to be watching television from 40 years ago, to be able to hone your craft and become an expert in what youre writing. 4. Get used to working to strict deadlines Get used to working right up to the wire Alison Graham said. Youll often be working right up to the print deadline, so you need to be able to keep calm amidst a stressful situation. Often schedulers will send over preview episodes of television as late as possible, and youll have to watch and write about them in an incredibly short amount of time. Youll have to get used to working in this environment. 5. Never feel pressured into giving a positive review You should never feel pressured into giving a positive review if you didnt like the show, just to keep relationships with the creators. People wouldnt dream of pressuring us into stuff, were known for being honest, Alison Graham said. However, remember: Everyone who made TV didnt set out to make a bad piece of telly. Dont just trash a television show for the sake of it try and find a redeeming feature and focus on why other people might like it. Since the Doctor Who series was rebooted in 2005 the television show has consistently presented the Doctor as a moral leader, a key element of which is his respectful relationship with other species. The Doctor expresses admiration and wonder for others, even when they threaten him or his human companions. Christopher Eccleston, who played the first relaunched Doctor, told the BBC that the new show retained the central message of love for life in all its forms. If this is the case, we have wondered , why isnt the Doctor a vegan? Peter Capaldi, who plays the latest incarnation of the Doctor, has not eaten meat on screen. This is a nonhuman character who does not appear eat other nonhumans, and in this regard he differs from his previous three incarnations (Matt Smith, David Tennant, and Eccleston) who were often seen eating dead animals or wearing dead animals skins. This is a partial departure from the Doctors behaviour during the original series, which ran from 1962 to 1989. The sixth Doctor (played by Colin Baker) became a vegetarian in the 1985 episode The Two Doctors after his companions were almost killed by a species who viewed humans as food animals. But the Doctors vegetarianism was expressly abandoned by head writer Russell T Davies when the show returned in 2005. Davies explained that he wrote the Doctors vegetarianism out of the series because he wanted to make the Doctor more relatable to the audience. But the result is that the Doctor now displays some very confused ethics. In episode Boom Town from 2005, Ecclestons Doctor discusses issues about death and mercy with a condemned alien. The scene is set in a restaurant, and the Doctor orders steak and chips. In the episode The Age of Steel from 2006, Tennants Doctor expresses how much he enjoys eating meat hotdogs while acknowledging their similarity to what Cybermen unjustly do to humans. In his first episode in 2010 , Smiths Doctor famously ate fish fingers and custard to recover from the regeneration process. Yet in the Christmas episode that year he reacts with wonder and compassion when encountering flying fishes, who he seeks to save. The Eccleston, Tennant and Smith Doctors have all been shown as enthusiastic consumers of some nonhuman species while at the same time trying to protect others. When the earth is under threat of destruction, the Doctor only ever seems to care about the loss of human lives that might result, and not the many other species living on Earth. In the episode Cold Earth from 2010, Smiths Doctor becomes involved in negotiations for humans to share the planet with Silurians, a species of homo reptilians who lived on Earth before humans evolved. In the debate over whether there is room for both species, there is no acknowledgement that any species other than humans already live on the planet, or that they are kept and killed for the convenience of humans. Capaldis Doctor hasnt yet been shown eating meat like his predecessors. In his first episode in 2014 he even gently chided his companion Claras hypocrisy when she was disgusted by the farming of human body parts by an alien, saying: You werent a vegetarian the last time I looked. Theres been no overt statement that the Doctor has returned to his vegetarianism, but by conspicuously not eating meat Capaldis Doctor has at least brought back the moral consistency of the earlier series vegetarian Doctor. Twelve years after Davies script decision, it seems the Doctor does not need to eat other species in order for us to relate to the character. Aleppo, Apr 15 (IBNS): In a terrorist car bomb attack in al-Rashideen area west of Aleppo city of Syria on Saturday left several people killed, media reports said. According to reports, the incident occurred close to buses which were transporting locals from the towns of Kefraya and al-Fouaa. As per SANA report, terrorists detonated a car bomb in the area where buses and ambulances have been parked for more than 24 hours in al-Rashideen area to transport 5,000 citizens of Kefraya and al-Fouaa towns. Several people were injured in the attack. Photo: UNICEF/Rami Zayat Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Apr 15 (IBNS) : The toll from America's largest non-nuclear bomb mounted to at least 90 on Saturday as the Afghan authorities put the figure at 90, news agency AFP reports. Those killed are said to be members of terror outfit Islamic State, hiding in the caves of Afghanistan's rugged terrain. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb -- dubbed the "Mother Of All Bombs" -- was dropped from US war planes on Thursday as part of the operation to destroy the IS hideouts. "At least 92 Daesh (ISIS) fighters were killed in the bombing," Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP on Saturday. Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani gave a toll of 90. Afghan officials had earlier said the bombing had killed 36 ISIS fighters. Ottawa, Apr 15 (IBNS): Plans to legalize marijuana in Canada had been announced this week at a news conference in Ottawa by the ruling Liberal Party, with the North American country becoming the first among developed nations to fully legalize pot. Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, Health Minister Jane Philpott and Parliamentary Secretary Bill Blair were present in the media conference. Earlier on Thursday, the ruling party in the Canadian Parliament introduced a bill that would legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. The Cannabis Act proposed by the Liberal Party of Canada (Liberals), if approved, would protect public health through strict safety and quality requirements for the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis across Canada, said Health Canada. Cannabis will remain illegal, continued Health Canada, as the bill moves through the legislative process and if approved by Parliament, the bill could become law no later than July 2018. The legalization of marijuana would restrict youths access to cannabis, disallow its promotion and reduce illegal activities, allowing adults to have access to licenced and quality controlled cannabis and raise public awareness of the health risks associated with cannabis, said Health Canada. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the legislation aimed to strike a balance between protecting minors and keeping profits away from organized crime, CBCNews reports said. The plan of legalisation of pot was accompanied by two new bills; one to regulate the recreational use, sale and cultivation of marijuana, and a second to stop impaired driving. The legal limit of the pot, after Cannabis Act becomes Law, permissible to adults over the age of 18, is up to 30 grams of dried or fresh cannabis allowing provinces and territories to set their own higher legal age. Consumers can grow up to four plants at home or buy from a licensed retailer, grow up to 4 cannabis plants, up to a maximum height of 100cm, per residence for personal use from licensed seed or seedlings, make cannabis products, such as food and drinks, at home provided that organic solvents are not used. Provinces, said Health Canada, without a regulated retail framework, would be required to purchase cannabis online from a federally-licensed producer, Other products, such as edibles, would be made available for purchase once appropriate rules for their production and sale are developed. There would be shared responsibility, Health Canada reported, between federal, provincial and territorial governments to oversee the system. The federal government would be responsible for setting industry-wide rules and standards for production practices such as who grows and manufactures cannabis including the types of cannabis products for sale, their packaging and labelling requirements, standardized potency and serving sizes and tracking of cannabis from seed to sale to prevent diversion to the illicit market and restrictions on promotional activities. The new law allows provinces to sell pot at the same place as alcohol, but prohibits tourists from bringing pot past the border. Details regarding its taxes have not been provided yet by Federal Finance minister. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said till all the key elements have been resolved, the move to legalize marijuana would be done carefully and until the new legislation passes, existing laws will be in place. "This must be an orderly transition. It is not a free for all," said Goodale, CBCNews reports said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been stressing the goal of legalization of marijuana to restrict it to minors or to profits from its sales by organized crime. Bill Blair, Parliamentary secretary, responsible for the marijuana file, said Canada had a detailed consultation with other jurisdictions, including Colorado and Washington states, to learn pros and cons of legal marijuana. Blair said, during a news conference after the bills were tabled, that Canadas main focus was on the overall public health and production, distribution and consumption of cannabis. The proposed Cannabis Act, said Health Canada, would target illegal activities and those involved in organized crime and penalties imposed would depend on the seriousness of the offence such as warnings and tickets for minor offences to criminal prosecution and imprisonment for more serious offences. Marijuana advocates had applauded the proposed legalization of pot, but were concerned about rise in impaired driving and the effects on the mental health of young Canadians. It would be illegal to drive, said the proposed law, within two hours of having an illegal level of drugs in the blood, with penalties ranging from a $1,000 fine to life imprisonment, depending on offence and if an injury or death resulted due to impairment. The new impaired driving bill creates three new offences and gives police authority to require saliva tests for drivers suspected of being high. Police can administer a test based on signs such as red eyes or the smell of pot. (Reporting by Asha Bajaj) Image of Marijuana: Wikipedia Woman dies in two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 12 west of Milbank One person is dead and two more are injured after a two-vehicle crash Monday morning near Milbank. 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The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ... Bert Kreischer Is Married To LeeAnn Kreischer With 2 Kids Meet His Family Those familiar with Bert Kreischer mainly have the image of a large-bellied party man whose college life inspired the National Lampoon film, Van Wilder. It is an image that one would not naturally associate with a wholesome family. The standup comedian still maintains his wild party animal image on stage. But, back at home, he is ... 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This Is Everything You Should Know About Caroline Heldman, Her Career Portfolio and Other Facts Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that feminism has come to stay in our world. The movement has continued to garner momentum over the years and this is due to the sustained push by several women, and even men, including the likes of Caroline Heldman. A Professor of Politics at ... Understanding The Enigma That Is Gavin McInnes, The Controversies He Has Stirred and All About His Wife Gavin McInnes is a polemical English-born writer and TV personality, who is best known for his racist and fascist ideologies, as well as his co-ownership of Vice Media and Vice Magazine. He is also an actor a By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Updating toll) Colombo, Apr 15 (PTI) At least 16 people, including four children, were killed when a 91-metre open garbage dump came crashing down on homes following a fire near Sri Lankas capital, officials said today. Over 100 houses were completely destroyed and over 600 people fled in the aftermath of the fire and the collapse of the dump in Meetotamulla area in Kolonnawa, near here, police said. advertisement 16 people, including four children, were killed in the incident that happened yesterday, officials said. Over 400 troops were deployed to rescue the slum dwellers adjacent to the 300-foot garbage dump. The mountain of garbage caught fire and collapsed on dozens of homes as the residents were celebrating the traditional New Year. The military has been deployed to rescue people who might be trapped, police said. The army and an air force helicopter were also deployed to douse the flames, they said. Police said the true scale of the damage remained unclear. "A search for survivors is under way," the police said in a statement. Sri Lankas Parliament was recently warned that 23 million tonnes of garbage at Kolonnawa dump was a serious health hazard. About 800 tonnes of garbage is being added to the dump on a daily basis. The residents have been carrying out protests to move the dump elsewhere. "This is not a natural disaster but man made due to the sheer negligence by the authorities concerned," M S Marikkar, the ruling party local member of parliament, said. PTI CORR UZM ASK AKJ ASK --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Updating toll) Colombo, Apr 15 (PTI) At least 19 people, including four children, were killed when a 91-metre open garbage pile came crashing down on homes following a fire near Sri Lankas capital, with the Prime Minister apologising today for the delay in relocating the dump. Over 100 houses were completely destroyed and more than 600 people fled in the aftermath of the fire and the collapse of the dump in Meetotamulla area in Kolonnawa, near here, police said. advertisement 19 people, including four children, were killed and 14 others injured in the incident that happened yesterday, officials said. More people were feared to be trapped as the military struggled to clear the rubble and rescue people or recover bodies. On President Maithripala Sirisenas directive, hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to rescue the slum dwellers adjacent to the 300-foot (91-metre) garbage dump. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe issued an apology on behalf of the government to the victims. "We had all plans in place to relocate the garbage dump at Meetotamulla. But the tragedy struck before we could put them into action. We apologise for the governments inability to complete the task before the disaster," he said. The residents near the dump had been protesting for months, demanding that the garbage mound be relocated. The authorities, however, claim that they had given enough warning to the slum dwellers to relocate themselves. "We had even paid compensation to them to relocate," Harsha de Silva, the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said. He said the state will bear the funeral expenses of those dead. The minister said it was only a few weeks back that agreements had been signed to begin waste to enegry projects at the dumping site. The mountain of garbage caught fire and collapsed on dozens of homes as the residents were celebrating the traditional New Year. Police said the true scale of the damage remained unclear. Sri Lankas Parliament was recently warned that 23 million tonnes of garbage at Kolonnawa dump was a serious health hazard. About 800 tonnes of garbage is being added to the dump on a daily basis. "This is not a natural disaster but man made due to the sheer negligence by the authorities concerned," M S Marikkar, the ruling party local member of parliament, said. PTI CORR UZM ASK AKJ ASK --- ENDS --- National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, who won the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency bypoll, on Saturday demanded that Governor's rule be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir as the state government had failed to ensure a peaceful election. "I appeal to the Governor and the President of India to dismiss this government and impose Governor's rule in the state where the people will get some respite and feel that such situation will not arise again," Abdullah said speaking to reporters after his poll victory. Abdullah, whose victory is being seen as a setback to the ruling PDP demanded that the bypolls to the Anantnag Parliamentary seat, which have been deferred till May 25, should be held under Governor's rule. I will also say that the election in Anantnag should happen under the Governor's Rule, he said. Otherwise it is unlikely that the people would get justice, he said. Claiming the the eight youth who had died in the poll day violence were "martyred", the National Conference chief said that several others were in hospitals or jails and he had never seen such an election. He expressed gratitude towards the people who risked their lives to vote in "such a difficult situation. The polling for the Sri Nagar Lok Sabha seat had seen an abysmal turnout of 7.13 per cent, the lowest ever in its history while eight persons lost their lives. The NC leader trashed the rumours that he would resign from Lok Sabha after today's win and said that he would follow what his party high command decides. Reacting to the video of a youth tied up to an army vehicle, Abdullah said it is very shameful and a very bad act against democracy. I request them not to do such things which will add to the fire and render it uncontrollable, Abdullah said. He batted for resumption of Indo-Pak talks and dialogue with all stakeholders including separatist Hurriyat Conference. War is not a solution to anything, he said. Asked about the dismal poll percentage in the bypolls, Abdullah replied by saying "How does it matter? We have seen polls before also where hardly any percentage was there. It does not make any difference. Democracy has been there." "What do you say to the people who have voted, even if it may be seven per cent with all the pressures on them?", he asked. National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the by-poll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, defeating People's Democratic Partys (PDP) Nazim Ahmad Khan by over 10,000 votes. The by-election to Srinagar Lok Sabha seat was held on April 9. Here is the timeline of the astute leader's political career: 1980: Abdullah joins politics. He was elected to the Lok Sabha unopposed from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency in the general election. 1981: A year later, he was appointed as the President of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party. 1982: He was elected to the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly and appointed as the Minister of Health. A day after he became the health minister, Abdullah became the anointed heir to the Chief Ministerial throne after the death of his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who was then serving as the state CM. 1983: Abdullah became the chief minister and was appointed as the member of J-K Legislative Assembly. 1983-87: He served as the chief minister with interruptions by the Presidents rule imposed in the state due to the states political instability. 1987-90: He was sworn in as the J-K Chief Minister for the fourth time. 1996: He was elected as the chief minister for the fifth time. 2002: In 2002, Abdullah was elected as the member of Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir for a term of six years. The same year, his son Omar Abdullah was picked for leading the National Conference party. The party suffered a loss in the polls by an INC-PDP alliance led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. 2009: Abullah then continued to focus more on his political career in the Centre. He was re-elected to Rajya Sabha in 2009, however, he resigned in May after he won the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Abdullah, then, joined the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as the cabinet minister of New and Renewable Energy. 2014: His only electoral defeat came in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in the hands of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Tariq Hameed Karra. 2017: He won the by-poll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency defeating PDPs Nazim Ahmad Khan. All accredited media persons will now be exempted from toll tax on all state highways in Punjab. A decision to this effect was taken here on Saturday by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. "The necessary notification in this regard was being issued by the state Public Works Department (PWD)," an official spokesperson said. As per the decision, all accredited mediapersons and those holding yellow I-card (issued at district level to journalists) would be exempted from paying toll tax while moving through state highways. Exemption of toll tax was one of the promises made by the Congress for the welfare of journalists in the run-up to the Assembly elections. The spokesperson said other promises made to the media as per the Congress manifesto would also be implemented soon, he added. Once out of power, the Congress now wants complete ban on liquor in Uttarakhand. Considering the widespread protest by women against relocated liquor shop in the hill state, the party has possibly decided to take some political advantage. Senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh said, After assuming power the BJP has failed to tackle the relocation of liquor shop problem. Even changing the state highway into district highway has not helped. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured all BJP ruled states that they will not face any financial problem and central government will provide them all the help. The Uttarakhand government should put a ban on liquor in the hill state. The earlier Harish Rawat government had to face problem due to their liquor policy. One of the bureaucrats and close aide of Harish Rawat featured in a tv sting operation- showing some fishy deal taking place between liquor mafia and state government representative. Congress had to face the burn of Harish Rawat government promoting a particular liquor brand during state assembly elections. For establishing the monopoly of a particular brand, many popular brands were forced to go out of circulation in Uttarakhand. The process adopted by Harish Rawat government created anger among consumers. In the changed political scenario, Congress is asking for putting complete ban on liquor in Uttarakhand. BJP is struggling to relocate the liquor shops after the Supreme Court order to move them 500/250 mts away from the national highway. Following in the footmarks of Maharashtra, Himachal, Rajasthan and other state government, the Trivendra Rawat government denotified 64 state highway roads. Citing facing practical problem in the maintenance, development and expansion of the state highway, the change was made. But, the protest of hill women against relocated liquor shop has failed to end. After women protest taking place in different parts of the state, Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat claimed that they will develop other revenue sources to reduce their dependence on mining and liquor. Even ex-Chief Minister Harish Rawat has starting mocking BJP for its liquor policy. Making a sharp comment Harish said, When Congress was in power there was big corruption in liquor business. Now BJP is in power, the brand and suppliers remains the same. The BJP is working hard to safeguard the liquor businessmen. What a miracle! Alcoholism remains a big problem in the hill. Despite this both BJP and Congress have never taken any serious effort to address the problem. For every government liquor is a source of revenue. It is a general practice adopted by political party, that is out of power, starts preaching lesson of morality. The same appears the case of Congress. A youth was killed in Srinagar after security forces allegedly opened fire at protesters late on Saturday. Police said it was looking into the circumstances in which the death took place. Police sources said a youth identified as Sajad Ahmad, a resident of Tangmarg area in north Kashmir Baramulla district, was killed in Batmaloo area of the city, but denied any force deployment in the area. "We didn't have forces deployed in the area. We are investigating the matter," said a senior police official. Reports said a vehicle of the paramilitary forces was attacked by stone pelters in the area after which the security forces fired at them, resulting in the death of the youth. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of cheating the people to win power in the state. Addressing a press conference, the 44-year-old leader also alleged that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were manipulated and tampered to favour the BJP in the state assembly elections. "I met lots of party workers and supporters, who told me that they were bewildered over the victory of BJP, as many of them had pressed the button against SP symbol," he said, adding that people had lost faith in EVMs. He also demanded that all future polls in the state be held through the traditional ballot papers method. The SP also started a membership drive from Saturday. Akhilesh Yadav said the party had decided to involve all sections of the society in party work. He also accused the state's Yogi Adityanath government of taking credit for the work done by his government in the past. "We worked a lot to change the power scenario in state, got many sub-stations made and installed new transformers," he said while pointing out that the present BJP government was now taking credit for all this. He also alleged that there was law and order failure in the state under the watch of the Chief Minister and said that only recently the BJP workers had bashed up police officials in Kannauj. "People are being set afire alive, rapes have increased and the state government is doing nothing," Yadav said pointing out how during the SP government even a small crime was blown out of proportions to defame it. Akhilesh Yadav also rebutted the charges levelled by Union Power Minister Piyush Goel on Friday that Uttar Pradesh was deprived of the benefits of many central government-aided schemes, including "Power for All", as he wanted his picture to be displayed over everything relating to the schemes. "I had only said that if Prime Minister's picture will be there, then the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's should also be there," he said. With an effort to make a big push to make inroads into Odisha ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday led a roadshow in Bhubaneswar on the sideline of a two-day national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Soon after arriving at the state capital, the prime minister led the eight-km roadshow from the airport to Raj Bhawan. While party chief Amit Shah landed in Bhubaneswar on Friday, PM Narendra Modi arrived by 3:30 pm on Saturday. Veteran leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will also be a part of the executive meet. About 350 people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah, 40 union ministers, chief ministers of 13 BJP-ruled states, including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are taking part in the meeting. In the two-day meeting, the leaders will discuss the BJP's strategy to increase the party's political footprint ahead of the 2019 general elections. Modi will felicitate members of 16 families associated with the Paika rebellion of 1817 during the meet with the objective to boost the BJP's standing in the state. The national executive meeting is being held in Odisha after a gap of 20 years as part of the strategy of Modi and Shah. In 1998, the BJP had organised the national executive meet and after that the saffron party joined hands with state's now ruling Biju Janata Dal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend World Yoga Day celebrations here on June 21, an official said on Saturday. At a meeting, Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar said as many as 50,000 people are likely to take part in the event and asked all concerned departments to make proper arrangements. The Uttar Pradesh government is looking for a venue that could accommodate such a large crowd and also ensure foolproof security for the VVIP influx, an official said. The Secondary Education Department has been asked to ensure participation of at least 100 students. Preparations are also being made for the participation of senior citizens and 400-500 differently-abled children. Instructions have been issued to arrange for mineral water bottles, shoe bags, t-shirts and yoga mats. A rehearsal will also be held on June 18-19. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his two-day Gujarat visit by holding a roadshow in Surat after arriving there on Sunday evening, an official said. "The PM is scheduled to land at the Surat airport at 6:45 PM. From there, he will embark on a roadshow over an 11-kilometre stretch between Airport and Circuit House," Surat Collector M S Patel told PTI. At Circuit House, the PM will meet BJP leaders and stay there for the night. On Monday, the PM will inaugurate Rs 400-crore Kiran Multi Super Specialty Hospital and Research Centre, built by a trust, Patel said. Modi will then go to Hira Bourse SEZ at Icchapur village in the district to inaugurate a diamond polishing unit of Hari Krishna Export Private Limited. From there, the Prime Minister will go to Bijapur village of Tapi district to inaugurate a cattle feed plant and ice- cream plant of Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, popularly known as Sumul Dairy, and remotely lay foundation stones for dairy products plant at Nava Pardi. He will also address a gathering there, Sumul Dairy officials said. Modi will then visit Silvassa in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli where also he will address a gathering apart from inaugurating new projects and distributing assistance to beneficiaries. Around 21,000 beneficiaries of different schemes of the Centre will be distributed help kits there. Modi will then head to Botad in Saurashtra to inaugurate phase-1 of Sauni project for Botad and surrounding districts. He will also lay foundation stone for phase-2 of the project. In August last year, Modi had inaugurated the first phase of ambitious Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (Sauni) Project from Jamnagar. Under this project, which is divided in four phases, the Gujarat government plans to fill 115 dams of Saurashtra region with excess overflowing water of Sardar Sarovar Dam across river Narmada through a web of pipeline network. This is Modi's second visit to his home state this year. He had earlier visited Gandhinagar on March 8 to address women sarpanchs from across the country on International Women's Day. Making a knife is a lot like making puff pastry. If the connection between hard steel and flaky pastry seems tenuous its not, just ask Joel Black. Black is a knife maker who came to the profession after working as a chef for 17 years. For the last five, hes been a blacksmith and his Damascus steel blades are coveted by both serious cooks and knife connoisseurs. The steel that I make, which are lots and lots of layers, is essentially puff pastry with steel. Its tougher and hard but its made in almost exactly the same way, he says. You fold it over, you put layers and layers and layers through it and you end up with a lattice, which is the same as a mille-feuille or puff pastry. Today, Blacks knives sell from around 75 for a small paring knife to 300 or more for a bespoke knife, with custom orders taking four to six weeks depending on demand. Eager would-be buyers track his website and snap up new knives almost as soon as theyre posted. Black creates only a few knives each week (his partner helps with the website and marketing), making every knife himself from hand-forged metal blade to handle. He also teaches want-to-be knife makers at a two-day course at his forge in Hereford. The move from wielding knives in a professional kitchen to making them, came about after a trip to India. Hed worked in kitchens in the UK, Italy and France before deciding to chuck it in and travel. When I got back, I decided I wasnt very happy in the kitchen and thought Id do something about it so I signed up for a blacksmithing course and that was that. That first course was an experience, taster day, mainly spent making a lot of nails. But it was enough to get him hooked. He went on to get a BA Honours Degree in Artist Blacksmithing at Hereford College of Arts. The goal? To learn how to forge the perfect chefs knife. But what is a perfect knife? It depends what the jobs for, what the knife is made for. If youve got a boning knife, you want it to be tougher. If youve got a fish filleting knife, you want it to be a bit flexible but very, very sharp. What hes aiming for is very tied in with his experience as a chef. I know what I like when it comes to a knife. Its very different from somebody whos come from engineering or a blacksmithing or a design background. But knowing what he wants and translating that into a piece of razor sharp metal that can slice through food cleanly are two different things. When I started doing blacksmithing I had no idea what steel could do, no idea how to work any of the machines, or how to forge properly. Black tells a story of mistakes early on like when he purchased a sheet of stainless steel only to find out it was the type used for making cheap cutlery and worktops not the finest chefs knives. Hes spent years getting the right steel. Youve got the perfect amount of carbon to make the steel very, very hard but not brittle. Trial, error and lots of practice and now, Joel is making knives that are admired by knife pros like chef Henry Harris. Harris learned about Black from Tim Hayward, author of Knife: the culture, craft and cult of the cooks knife. A selfconfessed obsessive hoarder, Harris has kept every knife he has ever owned, including some of the original carbon steel knives he used when he went to Leiths Cookery School. The joy of a well-forged knife is both an aesthetic experience as well as a practical one for Harris. Its less tiring because it requires less effort. You let the knife do the work and also its infinitely more pleasurable. Harris was tempted by a small paring knife Black posted for sale. I thought, I want to buy that. It looked the most perfect shape for me as a paring knife and it was a nice Damascus-patterned steel. And I thought, No, I cant just buy it, as nice as that would be. Instead he decided he wanted to meet Black. Even better, he learned that Black was launching knife-making classes at his forge. Harris joined another chef for a special mid-week session to try his hand at crafting his own knives. Harris discovered that creating the paring knife of his dreams wasnt going to be easy. Its surprisingly difficult when youre forging something by hand, even if youre using a pneumatic hammer, to keep it straight and it requires an understanding of where to tap the metal when its at that stage to bring balance to the blade. By the end of the two-day course, Harris says he was exhausted not only physically but also from absorbing so much new knowledge. I was slightly humbled by it, he admits. Harris idea for a paring knife turned into two knives, both with handles made from bog oak that has an intensely rich, deep and dark grain. It was a choice that seemed right. The setting is so beautiful. The resonance of the hand forging, the natural reclaimed wood to make the handle with it just came together. Would Harris recommend the course? I think every cook should do it. Its just very different and hes (Black) driven by what he does. He does it because he loves the whole craft. Harris knives are proudly displayed on Instagram and hes toying with the idea of going back to make more. It took over a week for my hands to lose their black, scaly, grubby, engrained dirt, which I carried with pride. The Independent By Press Trust of India: Colombo, Apr 14 (PTI) At least six people were killed and nearly 100 houses gutted after a giant open garbage dump caught fire here today and collapsed on dozens of shanties as people were celebrating the traditional New Year. Hundreds of troops joined fire fighters in the rescue operation after the 300-foot garbage dump crashed following a fire in Kolonnawa, a suburb north of here. advertisement A 12-year-old boy and two teenaged girls died at the hospital while three other people who were pulled from the wreckage of homes were already dead by the time they arrived at the hospital, officials said. Around 50 to 100 houses were completely destroyed, said attorney Nuwan Bopage. President Maithripala Sirisena ordered troops and police to join firefighters in the rescue operation. The military has been deployed to rescue people who might be trapped, police said, adding that the army and an air force helicopter were also pressed into service to douse the flames. Police said the true scale of the damage remained unclear. "A search for survivors is under way," the police said in a statement. Sri Lankas parliament was recently warned that 23 million tonnes of garbage at Kolonnawa dump was a serious health hazard. The local residents had protested about the environmental damage as a result of the open dump where some 800 tonnes of solid waste is added daily. PTI CORR MRJ AKJ PMS --- ENDS --- It would be grossly unfair to hold the Prime Minister and the BJP president personally responsible for outrageous comments from lesser-lights (at times not particularly lowly) of the saffron community. Yet both of them would be worse than unfair to the positions they hold, and to the people at large, for their abject failure to initiate punitive and deterrent remedial action against the miscreants ~ be they political workers or RSS activists. There would be validity to the charge they have conveniently ducked their duty, thereby actually sending out a green signal to those advocating political and sectarian strife. And simultaneously have those leaders done little to curb politicised police from slapping charges of sedition, etc., even on those who opt for a pacifist path to deal with adversaries. Things have come to such a sorry pass that someone might be dubbed a traitor should he applaud the proficiency of a sportsman or artiste from Pakistan, maybe even a good showing by a player from Kashmir could invite similar condemnation. There was, therefore, more than a grain of truth to Opposition leaders complaining to the President that a reign of terror had been unleashed: though what they expected Mr Pranab Mukherjee to do about it is a matter for speculation ~ particularly after his consistent calls for a tolerant and liberal society have been shamelessly spurned. Clearly falling into the category of the conveniently ignored is the offer of a bounty of Rs 11 lakh from a leader of the BJP youth wing for the head of the chief minister of West Bengal ~ as legitimately elected to her office as Mr Narendra Modi himself. What appalls is that when the matter sparked off a furore in the apex legislature it was left to the political lightweights handling parliamentary affairs to respond ~ and they could offer nothing more than some meaningless words, and advising the state government to register and pursue a criminal case. Their doing nothing more affirmative lends itself to interpretation as tacit approval of the death threat: not the first such threat to be sure. Is that the brand of discipline boasted by the BJP, the RSS and the Hindutva forces who now boast a chief minister from their ranks? The saffron community is intoxicated with its electoral successes ~ hence the unbridled terror spread by gau rakshaks, the equating of cemeteries with crematoria, and no distinction being drawn between the consumption of buffalo meat and cow slaughter. Not to mention the dubbing of people from the deep South as black, and frequent reminders about who have no right to dwell here. The Modi-Shah combine is so focused on winning elections that it is indifferent to the loss of Indias unique ethos. In the span of a week, the administration of Donald Trump has ratcheted up the pressure from Syria to Afghanistan, verily from one storm-centre to another. Indeed, the US offensive can be said to have escalated from a cruise missile attack to the dropping of the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat. Never perhaps has the ISIS been so sharply targeted, and whether or not the Pentagon has reacted with greater indignation than warranted will be the topic of geostrategic discourse for some time yet. Suffice it to register that the US has for the first time used what the military colloquially calls the mother of all bombs ~ the GBU-43/B. The death of 36 militants ~ the figure till Friday morning ~ is incidental or to summon a technical expression, collateral damage. Crucially, America has bombed what they call a tunnel complex that is used by the Afghan affiliate of the Caliphate. The first major strike on the Caliphates logistics anywhere in the world in the form of non-nuclear bombing has devastated the connectivity that is used by ISIS to spread its tentacles. And it has been devastated three years after US-led NATO forces pulled out of Afghanistan. Of course, America has retained a relatively token presence in the country. Thursdays blitzkrieg has shattered the fragile stability in a fractious land. The development ought not to be confused with Americas response to a combat situation. Was it really necessary to engage in what the Pentagon has described as the first-ever combat use of the bomb? The attack will almost certainly merit a prominent mention in military history. Yet it is open to question whether the ISIS-Khorasan, so-called, will be brought to its knees in a volatile swathe of Asia, indeed the Af-Pak region. Whether ISIS or Taliban, for every militant killed two are born. It was by any reckoning a studiously calibrated strategy, one that the US has not had the nerve to try in any part of the Arab region, let alone the increasingly vulnerable West. If the media briefing by the White House Press Secretary is any indication, the security of US forces was the uppermost consideration ~ We targeted a system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers. In order to defeat the group, we must deny them operational space. No bad thing from the strategic perspective, but it shall not be easy for the White House to justify the use of a never-before weapon from its arsenal. Mr Trump has come through as a war-mongering President. Though he has never been explicit on Afghanistan, he had pledged to bomb the shit out of ISIS. As on a bevy of other issues, he has begun to walk the talk, armed with the right munition. India no longer speaks about the scourge of demonetization. Where now are the outbursts of rage of some politicians who sought to make capital out of the de-legitimization of high face-value currency notes? After the short period of four months, these critics have gone mute and all that remains of the sound and fury are the huge placards in Kolkata with pictures of the chief minister denouncing the note ban and the dictatorship of the prime minister. Even the Cambridge-educated economists, led by a person who called demonetization loot and plunder, are to be heard no more on this subject. Nor are the claque of foreign financial and political experts who were eagerly quoted by the Indian critics, who were apparently unaware that those authorities never harboured any affection for our country which they have consistently denigrated, and predicted its imminent collapse. The welcome silence that has fallen on this issue is not hard to understand. The improved access to cash post-remonetisation, better tax reporting and compliance have generated a positive revenue and fiscal impact for higher public investment. The government calculates a growth upturn of 7.4 per cent in 2017-18. Tax receipts for 2016- 17 of Rs 17.10 lakh crore have exceeded even the revised estimate and are up by 18 per cent with Direct Tax up by 14.2 and Indirect Tax by 22. Merchandise exports are expected to touch $ 275 billion, the best since 2013- 14. Sensex and Nifty indices have reached record heights. In March, Foreign Portfolio Investors placed Rs 31,000 crore into equities. In the same month, manufacturing rose to a 5-month high after a dip in December. Four months is all it took to move the economy out of the worst effects of demonetization. The effect was transient and limited mainly to November and December last year, and had dissipated by February. Taking the macro-economic scene first, alll from published sources that are by no means sympathetic to the government at the Centre, the Q-3 2016-17 GDP figures indicate a growth of seven per cent, with demonetization making a marginal dent on growth over Q- 2, despite the cash-intensive nature of consumption and industry in the unorganized sector. There was slowdown in financial, real estate and professional services, but increase in private consumption, fixed investment, electricity, mining and manufacturing. In fact the unorganized sector did fairly well, especially as the rabi crop was healthy. Agriculture, comprising 94 per cent of unorganized sector output, showed a 8 per cent increase. Banks, buoyed by liquidity, reduced their marginal cost lending rate, and spurred investment, while Small and Medium Enterprises opted for a wait-and watch attitude. After demonetization, against 161 world currencies, the Indian Rupee has gained in strength over 143, including the US dollar, Euro, Swiss Franc, and Japanese Yen, weakened against 17 and on par with one. Against the expectation that up to Rs 3 lakh crore ~ or 20 per cent of the demonetized currency ~ would not return, as of January New Delhi is resigned to the fact that only Rs 75,000 crore will not return to the banking system. Only Rs 14.5 lakh crore had been deposited, or 93 per cent of the delegitimized money, by that time. But this figure includes fake or counterfeit notes that will take time to identify. Rs 401 crore in defunct notes were seized up to 10 January. Four lakh crore of taxevaded income has been deposited during the amnesty window, and Rs 4,170 crore undisclosed money seized in November and December. Rs 25,000 crore in cash has been deposited in previously dormant accounts, 60 lakh bank accounts have each had more than Rs 2 lakh deposited in cash and Rs 80,000 crore has been repaid in cash against loans taken. Cash deposits totaling Rs 10,700 crore have found their way into various deposits in the North-east. There has been a crackdown on 300 shell companies which exist on paper and are used to launder money and evade taxes, with searches at 100 locations. At least 550 persons had laundered Rs 3900 crore through such companies after the demonetization decision. As regards, digitization, the commonly used digital systems are credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, mobile banking and unified payments interface (UPI). There is upward movement in all these except debit cards, which were affected due to the initial lack of money in ATMs. Before demonetization, ATM withdrawals accounted for 90 per cent of debit card usage. From November to January UPI increased by 19 times. A less-cash economy is dependent on mass adoption and focus on the base of the pyramid. A total of 125 lakh persons have adopted the new BHIM app which is backed by Referral Bonus and Cashback schemes to digitize everyday purchases. Aadhaar Pay will be launched shortly for those without debit cards, mobile wallets or mobile phones. Over 1110 million now have Aadhaar cards, and 490 million have bank accounts linked to Aadhar. Further financial inclusion is aimed at, with Aadhaar used for Direct Benefit Transfers resulting in annual savings of Rs 36,144 crore for the government. Steps are envisaged to enhance biometric authentication and to integrate BHIM with Aadhaar and to facilitate greater use of cards despite India having the worst point of sale terminal penetration in the world, at a paltry 693 machines per million users. Increased digital transactions will benefit SME to access formal credit by recording their transaction histories. A top secret study that showed that Rs 400 crore of fake notes were in circulation and criminals intended to pump Rs 70 crore into the economy each year was the trigger for the move to deal with black money and fake currency. This was one of the major themes of the Prime Ministers announcement last November. HDFC, ICICI and Axis are the banks with the best record of detecting these fake notes. Gurmeet Kanwals book, The New Arthashastra, draws attention to the serious menace to our security of counterfeit currency propagated by militant groups with the sponsorship of Pakistan. In February 2017, the government stated that the smuggling of fake currency had entirely stopped ~ but this is likely to be only a short-term relief. Counterfeit notes have been found primarily in Gujarat ~ the closest sea access for Pakistan. The core reason for the silence that has happily descended on the chorus of opposition to demonetization is political. It is obvious from post-November polls that demonetization has not diminished Modis popularity or the BJPs growing prospects of nationwide support. Local elections in Mumbai saw their support grow by 264 per cent, and 180 per cent in local elections elsewhere in Maharashtra. In Zilla Parishad polls the rise was 148 per cent. In Odisha, the increase in Zilla Parishad was 825 per cent. The same story was seen in Gujarats local polls earlier. The people regard demonetization with all its flaws as being a blow against corruption, bribery, the privileged class and politicians pedaling money power. In Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the BJP under Modi won an absolute majority. The wave was insufficient to overturn a 10-year incumbency in Punjab, but enough for government -formation in Goa and Manipur. The UP election was a landmark victory for Modi but left a bitter taste for his opponents, who allege that the western media have been uniformly critical, Indias international image took a severe beating, and Islamophobia as a state policy makes the world take note in alarm. The UK Financial Times astoundingly stated that Modis government is bereft of any substantive achievement after three years. As St Marks Gospel says, Having eyes to see, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Indian politicians are known never to express regret, however much they misjudge the public mood. But for a start the huge placards that disfigure the Kolkata landscape and are a testament to folly, need to be removed. The writer is India's former Foreign Secretary. In the classic novel Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the protagonist tells the tale of his steamboat voyage up the Congo River to a destination of unimaginable danger. Having to choose between unavoidable evils on his journey, he tries to pursue the lesser one, recognising that he has to be loyal to the nightmare of (his) choice. The US Navys aircraft supercarrier the USS Carl Vinson and its accompanying fleet of warships that constitute Carrier Strike Group 1, currently steaming their way towards the Korean peninsula, is unnervingly resonant of that story. Having set sail from Singapore last Saturday, the American armada is sailing towards an abyss, steering the United States and North-east Asia towards a new brink that will trigger one of three possible scenarios by the end of next week. The first scenario is the least garish and the most preferable. It sees political action leading to a halt in North Koreas nuclear weapons-related activities. In this scenario, it is down to Chinese President Xi Jinping deciding to adopt a more coercive approach in dealing with North Koreas supreme leader Kim Jong Un. About 90 per cent of North Koreas trade is with China, and Beijing has not lifted a finger in exacting sanctions that will hurt Pyongyang the most and shape its behaviour away from belligerence. For added effect, Beijing must recall its ambassador to North Korea who is resident there. It is not clear if the strongest sanctions will ultimately resolve medium-term challenges. For now, Mr Xis decision can buy everyone a little time until the United Nations Security Council convenes in a special meeting to discuss options on the North Korean issue, on April 28. The second scenario likely to be triggered if China fails to execute economic sanctions sees Carrier Strike Group 1 launching a pre-emptive strike against North Koreas nuclear-weapons facilities and sites in which intermediate- range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) are located. Washingtons intent would be to destroy as many (if not all) of North Koreas warheads, the facilities that produce them, and also the missiles that are necessary to deliver these warheads to their intended targets. Here lies the crux of the matter, currently glossed over in general coverage of the North Korean quagmire that tends to focus on the likelihood of missiles hitting Americas west coast. There are approximately 80,000 US military personnel and army, air force and naval assets sited at bases in Japan and South Korea. These help the Republic of Koreas armed forces tip the scales against North Koreas military. The clear and present danger posed by the North Korean nuclear threat is against these US assets, not against the US homeland. In the light of its inferior military, Pyongyangs intent would be to use the devastating power of its nuclear weapons as the only means to erase the overwhelming military firepower that the US can bring to bear against North Korea to defeat it. There have been claims by numerous media that North Korea has not yet created nuclear warheads small enough to fit in a missile. But there have been other expert-based reports suggesting that North Korea already has miniaturised warheads, with some estimates capping this number at around 20. Then there is also the Rodong-1 IRBM, which has been successfully tested many times, and of which North Korea may have as many as 90, according to the latest estimate by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies. The decision to divert Carrier Strike Group 1 from its original destination of Australia from Singapore to its new destination is no light matter. It is conceivable that the rerouting of Vinson may be driven by new intelligence on North Koreas intermediate-range nuclear threat. In any case, to have the armada leave the Korean peninsula with no real strategic dividend will weaken US President Donald Trumps credibility. It is also conceivable that any new intelligence may have been received prior to the launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against the Syrian government for its chemical weapons attack on the countrys civilians. The missile strike carries the message that the United States will counter the threat (or the use) of weapons of mass destruction, especially those that threaten its national security, with overwhelming force. The accompanying destruction of North Koreas civilian infrastructure and a significant death toll of its citizens in this scenario would be unavoidable and dreadful. Yet, that would not be the nightmare. The bigger terror would be Pyongyangs reprisal against Seoul in the context of two countries still technically at war with each other by unleashing a barrage of conventional artillery shells onto South Koreas main capital of about 10 million people. The North Korean regime has been aiming a sizeable number of its 21,000 artillery pieces at Seoul (and other parts of South Korea) for decades, like a coiled snake. It is impossible for the US and regional allies to neutralise this threat; not even the roughly 700 pieces that can only be expected to really be trained on Seoul for tactical reasons and which according to one estimate, would exact a death toll of about 64,000 South Koreans in one day. This being so, Pyongyang has established a deterrence mechanism that has kept the prospect of any significant military action against it in check. Using the estimated numbers for the purposes of scale, the question now is whether a unilateralist US President will go so far as to put the lives of 80,000 Americans ahead of 64,000 South Koreans. Lastly, the third scenario would see North Korea doing the pre-emption, either as Vinson steams intolerably close to the Korean theatre of operations or while it is loitering around the peninsula at the Trump administrations behest. Assuming that Mr Kim is convinced in his mind that Mr Trump is going to authorise a pre-emptive attack of his own, once again, this scenario must meet the condition of Pyongyang already having the requisite number of nuclear-tipped IRBMs. We cannot exclude the possibility of a punitive nuclear response by Mr Trump, and it is reasonable to assume that Vinson is being accompanied by submarines that carry sea-launched nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of levelling Pyongyang itself. In this scenario, 144,000 Americans and South Koreans would have died and so would up to 2.5 million North Koreans. This is the ugly business of nuclear war and why astute strategic thinkers and public intellectuals have long argued it should never be fought. It also explains why Mr Xi called his US counterpart on the telephone both sides are clear that the humanitarian, environmental, economic and political fallout will set back the entire region. The Trump administration has likely gamed that the Xi administration knows the implications and it is now up to Beijing to turn the available screws on Pyongyang in order to have Washington divert Vinson away. The Trump administration has given Mr Xi and Mr Kim a clock to work with in this game of chicken. US Vice-President Mike Pence will be touring Seoul and Tokyo for five days from the moment he arrives this Easter Sunday the same day Vinson is expected to also arrive before he leaves for Jakarta. A week for many to be kept up at night. The Straits Times/ANN. Begum Hasinas mission to India has once again hit the reefs along the Teesta, to summon the language of the metaphor. Neither India nor Bangladesh ~ nor for that matter Mamata Banerjee ~ can be particularly delighted with the upshot of her visit after seven years. Seemingly uniform is the degree of disappointment. The thirty kg of hilsa for President Pranab Mukherjee ~ almost a farewell gift, ~ the neighbouring PM's gesture of preparing the delectable smoked variety at the Rashtrapati Bhavan kitchen, and the astonishing linguistic switchover to Hindi in a moment of candour may have lightened the undercurrent of despond over life's essential. Unmistakable, however, is the decidedly jarring note to the grandstanding and the overblown prologue, that was built up both by the MEA ~ or more accurately the PMO ~ and the media. Paani manga, bijli mila, was Hasinas high-minded lament at a reception organised by the India Foundation. And then with tongue firmly in cheek: Lekin mujhe nahi pata didimoni kya karega. It was a stark message addressed as much to Narendra Modi as to a Chief Minister dogged in defending her states rights. Whether or not diplomatic dealings can come within the ambit of state administration need not detain us here. Suffice it to register that Teesta shall not flow into Bangladesh quite yet and West Bengals Chief Minister has had her way for the second time in six years spanning the stewardship of two Prime Ministers. Though one must hasten to add that this time around, she was less vociferous in her opposition compared to September 2011 when she chose to be a no-show at the Kolkata-Dhaka check-in counter. The Chief Ministers rigidity ~ then barely five months in office ~ had left Manmohan Singh and his delegation squirming in disbelief. Aside from the benefits in terms of agriculture in a small and predominantly rural country, it is pretty obvious that both Modi and Hasina appear to be driven by a certain political underpinning. The Bangladesh PM, whose Awami League had won uncontested in 2013, will have to countenance the electoral stakes next year. The nature of her election has rendered her authority somewhat brittle over the past four years. A breakthrough on Teesta will without question strengthen her defences against Begum Khaledas BNP ~ which had boycotted the 2013 parliamentary elections ~ and the potentially mortal Islamist forces. Mr Modis signal of intent that the Teesta treaty will be concluded during his tenure (till 2019) and that of Hasina (2018) sounds rather presumptuous. Indeed, it sounded almost as an expression of diplomatic courtesy, when there is nothing concrete to show, not to forget the agreements in the economic segment and connectivity. No wonder it has left the man on the street in Dhaka and elsewhere wondering whether the momentous agreement will be signed between now and next year. Is it possible that Mamata will change her mind ahead of the panchayat election in 2018 and the Lok Sabha election in 2019? Is it possible too that Mr Modi will accord short shrift to Miss Banerjees reservations and go ahead with the agreement with scant regard to federal sensitivities? One must give it to the Prime Minister that ahead of the Hasina visit, he has stopped short of presenting Bengals head of government with a fait accompli, as did Manmohan Singh who had sent the Foreign Secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, to Writers Buildings, there to inform the Chief Minister that Teesta was a done deal. Last weekends negotiations have thrown up more questions than they have addressed. The uncertainty is much too overwhelming for bargaining at the high table, whether in Delhi or Dhaka. Neither Mr Modi nor his counterpart can be unaware of the low draught of the river. And Mamata has been cut to the quick with the Bangladesh delegation turning down her suggestion to share the water of other rivers, pre-eminently Torsa. She does have a point when she contends that any further reduction in the volume of the Teesta is bound to impede agricultural productivity in North Bengal, where Trinamul has supplanted the Congress. It is the river that now dominates all and everything in the Delhi-Dhaka axis via Bengal. On the surface, the 35 agreements that were concluded between April 7 and 10 are primarily of peripheral import. This ought not to detract from the significance of what has been achieved, however. Chiefly, the defence framework agreement which envisages coordination between the forces of the two countries, notably through joint exercises and patrols, naval exercises. and as partners in training programmes. Deeply critical no less is the economic underpinning, pre-eminently the $ 5 billion line of credit that will take care of a welter of activity ~ primarily ports, roads, and IT. More buses, including one from Kolkata to Dhaka via Khulna, should provide an impetus to connectivity and at affordable rates for the hoi-polloi of the two countries. For all that, it is the journey on foot across a porous border that remains ever so intractable even after the quiet influx began in the late 1970s, in less than a decade after India played midwife in the birth of Bangladesh. In the context of inter-personal relations, there appears to have been a certain mending of fences between Modi and Mamata (soured since the November 8 demonetisation) and between Hasina and Mamata (tense in the aftermath of the 2011 fiasco). It would be uncharitable to underline, in the manner of the chattering class, that the hilsa crate was a gift for President Pranab Mukherjee and not Mamata Banerjee. In terms of geopolitics, there has been an upswing in India-Bangladesh relations, with the Awami League at the helm in Dhaka. And it is fervently to be hoped that the equation shall not flounder on the diplomatically choppy waters of the Teesta. Having said that, the chief regret must be that India in 2017 lacks leaders of the calibre of Jyoti Basu and Atal Behari Vajpayee. Though radically different in their political persuasions, they had acted in concert to facilitate the agreement on Farakka in 1999 ~ in the high noon of the CPI-M in West Bengal and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level. To both does Bangladesh owe its share of the Farakkawater. But the Teesta tap remains ever so dry. The writer is a Senior Editor, The Statesman. Asaduddin Owaisi is the president of the All India Majlis-e Ittehadul Muslameen. He is a three time Member of Parliament representing the Hyderabad constituency in the Lok Sabha. He was honoured with Sansad Ratn Award for overall best performance in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014. Owaisi is known for his articulation on constitutional rights of the Muslim community in India. His party is trying to move beyond Hyderabad and expand its base to other parts of the country. In this interview with Asad Ashraf, Owaisi talks about his party's loss in Uttar Pradesh , the crackdown on meat shops in UP and the question of the Pasmanda community within Muslims among other issues. Excerpts: Q: After the electoral debacle in Bihar, you came out saying that the party will perform better in the Uttar Pradesh election as there was some party structure there and that people are working on the ground in the state. What do you have to say about your recent loss in Uttar Pradesh? A: It is sad that we didnt get success. However, victory and loss are a part of the electoral process and I humbly accept the peoples verdict. I am happy though that through this election I have been able to establish my party in the state. We will introspect into the causes of defeat and try to overcome them in the next elections. Q: Quite a number of leaders from secular outfits and analysts have been pointing that your entering the electoral fray in Uttar Pradesh caused religious polarisation, essentially because you spoke exclusively for the Muslims. What are your thoughts on that? A: The question here is that if I have contested 35 seats out of 403 seats, how does it cause polarisation? Secondly, many Muslim scholars and ulemas urged Muslims to vote for Dalit parties. Thirdly, during the tenure of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh there were 400 communal riots, a riot like Muzaffarnagar happened, there were custodial deaths, Samajwadi party was engaged in its own family feud, Bahujan Samaj Party gave tickets to 100 Muslim candidates. Leaders and analysts who have been pointing fingers at me do not have the courage to question why justice was not given to the victims of communal riots. Why did Muslim candidates of the BSP lose? Why did Congress lose seats in Amethi and Rai Barelli? Counter-polarisation did not take place because of me but due to the misgovernance of Samajwadi Party. I did not contest elections in Jharkand, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir. Why did BJP form the governments in these states? Is it also because of me? Q: Going through the population composition of places where you had fielded your candidates in UP, it appears you had put them up where there were large chunks of Muslim population. Why so when you claim that you are not merely the representative of Muslims? A: It was the first time that we were contesting elections in Uttar Pradesh. Like other parties we also have our electoral calculations. It was the partys decision to contest the election on these seats. I am sure if I had placed my candidates in other seats and not these, you would have had another question on similar lines for me. Q: By following your interviews and speeches quite closely one can observe that you talk about the constitutional rights of the minorities and other marginalised communities. But why is there a perception among the masses at large that Asaduddin Owasi is communal? A: What is happening in this country is that you dont talk about Sharia, you leave the matter of Triple Talaq for Hindutva, you dont eat meat for Hindutva, you sacrifice your culture for Hindutva, and for secularism, you end your political participation. If I take a position against meat ban, Hindutva, ill-representation of the Muslim community politically I am branded as communal. I really cant help it. Q: How do you see your politics in the future? Experts and scholars believe that there cannot be any future for a political party which solely talks about the issues and rights of Muslims in this country. A: It will be too early to comment on that. I suggest you write an obituary after my death. If I dont get success in my own life, the future generations will reap the benefits out of my politics. Q: There is another brand of politics within the Muslim community which identifies itself as backward ~ the Pasmandas. These groups do not accept you as their leader and claim that you represent upper caste Muslims. What do you have to say about that? A: Yes, there are social groups within Muslims. However, I dont identify myself as a Pasmanda or Ashraf. I only identify myself as a Muslim. In fact, I have clearly stated that Dalits should include Muslim Dalits too. My position is that the 1950 presidential order be removed which violates different fundamental rights of the Constitution. Q: What is your position on the recent crackdown on meat shops and the attack on the economy of a certain community? A: We all have to struggle against it. Muslims have been struggling for long and they will continue to do so. But I also think that secular forces such as Samajwadi Party are responsible for this crackdown and not just BJP. Why didnt they renew the licences of the slaughter houses whose licences had expired? You knew that Rs 11,000-crore revenue was coming from the export of meat. Why didnt you renew them? As far as BJP is concerned, their hypocrisy is not hidden. It is the party which talks about the beef ban in North India and assures that people in North East will get to eat beef. As I said earlier, Cow is mummy for BJP in North India and yummy in North East India. Q: It is often said that the Muslim community has to undergo some kind of social reformation. What is your position on that? A: I strongly believe that the key to any kind of reform is political participation. As the late Kanshiram used to say, if we have political representation as a community our status both socially and economically will improve. It must be understood that for any reforms to take place within a community, their political participation must be ensured and they must have adequate representation in Parliament and state assemblies. At least three persons, said to be agents of the Research and Analysis Wing by police, have been arrested in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Mohammad Khalil, Imtiaz and Rashid, all from Taroti village in Abbaspur, were in the custody of police in Rawalakot, the headquarters of Poonch division, Dawn online reported. According to Poonch Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sajid Imran, Khalil is the "main suspect." He said the three were involved in anti-state activities, including the bombing of a police station, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Khalil, according to the police, had reportedly visited Indian Kashmir in November 2014 to see his relatives in Bandi Chechian village. There he came in contact with RAW which "lured him to work for them." Khalil had an intra-Kashmir travel permit. Later, he is said to have recruited Imtiaz and Rashid to work with him "for handsome returns". During preliminary investigations, according to the police, Khalil told investigators that he had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) about 14 or 15 times from different parts in Abbaspur sector. Imtiaz and Rashid had also "confessed to crossing the LoC five to six times," the paper said. "Khalil would take with him cigarettes and [mobile phone] memory cards, carrying pictures of bridges, mosques controlled by the Deobandi school of thought, and army and police installations," Imran said. According to him, he had given two active SIM cards registered in his name to Indian officials. The DSP said the arrested persons had planted an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) outside a police station in Abbaspur on September 27 last year. "We tracked their movements and phone calls with the help of intelligence agencies and finally arrested them two days ago (Tuesday)," he said. They have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Explosives Act. The development follows the death sentence given to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav on April 10. Jadhav has been charged with espionage and waging war against Pakistan. India says Pakistan had abducted Jadhav from Iran. At least 70 people were and 128 others wounded in a blast on Saturday targeting the gathering point of buses transporting Shiites evacuating from two pro-government towns in northern Syria. The blast, carried out by a suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped potato truck, rocked the rebel-held Rashideen area in the countryside of Aleppo province, where buses carrying 5,000 pro-government Shiite people were waiting the reactivation of a deal designed to secure their transportation to government-controlled area in Aleppo, Xinhua reported. The deal, recently reached between the rebels and the government under the supervision of Iran, Turkey and Qatar, was designed to secure the evacuation of the people from the pro-government Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa in Idlib province toward government areas in Aleppo province. In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus to reach Idlib province. The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shiite people leaving Kafaraya and Foa and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving the town of Madaya as first batches. The Shiite people reached the rebel-held town of Rashideen, while the rebels reached the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing in Aleppo. Both convoys were set to leave to their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held the convoy of the Shiite people, adding new demands to the original deal. The rebel convoy was also stuck at Ramouseh, amid reports that communications were underway to continue the implementation of the deal. A source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the rebels' new demand was the evacuation of the Shiite fighters first from Kafraya and Foa, before the civilians. But the demand was rejected as there is a fear that if the Shiite fighters, who are defending the towns, left the towns first the rebels could attack the towns and commit massacres there. Now, there is a state of extreme dismay among the evacuees from Kafraya and Foa. An eye witness from those waiting in Rashideen told Xinhua that three people with medical conditions died while waiting, before the explosion. He added that three women gave birth inside the busses amid tough humanitarian situation as those people have been waiting there for 24 hours without enough food or water. Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari has urged the people to create an atmosphere conducive for conducting local polls which is a must for implementing the new Constitution. Nepal has entered into a federal democratic system by adopting the new Constitution, so the election is a must to implement the Constitution, Bhandari said while addressing a programme in Itahari district in eastern Nepal. The Constitution has guaranteed sufficient rights to the local bodies, so the country would move towards prosperity by maintaining peace and stability, the President said. Her statement comes at a time when Nepal's agitating Madhesi parties have decided to boycott next month's local elections and hold fresh protests, saying that the new Constitution amendment bill tabled by the government in Parliament has not addressed their key demand revision of provincial boundary. The United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), demanding more representation and re-demarcation of state boundaries, is opposing the local body elections top be held on May 14. Prime Minister Prachanda, during a central office meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) held in Baluwatar yesterday, urged the alliance of Madhes-based parties to come to the negotiating table to sort out their differences. He asked them to take part in the local-body elections. Meanwhile, 68 fringe parties including the Naya Shakti Party Nepal-led by former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai today began a 'relay hunger strike' here against the rule that granted party-wise election symbols only to those political parties that have representation in the Parliament. The leaders' strike would last until April 21. The parties said they would obstruct the voter-education programmes of the Election Commission (EC) and other programmes by the government and non-governmental organisation if the EC turns deaf ear towards their demand. The 68 parties have been protesting against the Local Level Elections Act that forbids parties outside the Parliament to get party-wise election symbols for the upcoming polls. Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which they felt marginalised the Terai community. The protest had resulted in the death of at least 50 people. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Friday registered to run for a second four-year term in the upcoming presidential election in the country. At the Interior Ministry's headquarters in Tehran, Rouhani said he had fulfilled the promises he made to the Iranian people during the election campaign four years ago, EFE news cited statements published by official media outlets. In a new attempt to convince undecided voters and citizens disappointed with his policies, the Iranian President stressed that his government's economic performance was better than his predecessors' in recent years. He also alluded to the nuclear agreement signed in July 2015 between Iran and six major powers, whose protection, in his view, is one of "the most important economic and political issues" facing the nation. "Those who made incessant efforts on the nuclear pact should tread the path up to the end," he said in remarks to the press after registering as a candidate. Rouhani said maintaining national security was one of his government's most important goals and stressed that "the ominous shadow of the war (over the country) has disappeared". Rouhani, who won the 2013 presidential elections in the first round with 50.8 per cent of the vote, is the candidate of the reformist bloc, although he defines himself as moderate. His main rival in the May 19 elections is expected to be the conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who aligns with the views of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and is the custodian of Iran's holiest shrine. Another potentially strong candidate for the presidency is former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The registration process, which opened on April 11, is set to conclude on Saturday. The country's Guardian Council the highest political body in the country, which is overseen by Khamenei then has 10 days to approve the candidates. After Amarinder Singh gave up the symbolic red beacon light on his vehicle, the Punjab government has now prohibited the inscription of names of government functionaries on foundation stones and inaugural plaques. By Supriya Bhardwaj: In a bid to oppose 'VIP culture', the Punjab government headed by Captain Amarinder Singh has prohibited the inscription of names of government functionaries - including ministers and MLAs - on foundation stones and inaugural plaques. "The Chief Minister himself is not excluded from these orders, which are aimed at building a stronger connect between the government and the people by removing the VIP culture barriers", said an official Punjab government spokesperson. advertisement Captain Amarinder Singh said during the Assembly election campaign that all projects and programmes, including those inaugurated by the Chief Minister or any of his cabinet colleagues, MLAs or other officials, would be dedicated to the people of Punjab. "There is no bar on government functionaries and leaders inaugurating or laying the foundation stone of any building or project, but the practice of having their names inscribed on such stones or plaques was being discarded with immediate effect, following explicit orders from the Chief Minister," said the government spokesperson. FIGHT AGAINST VIP CULTURE The Punjab government has taken other measures to combat 'VIP culture.' Earlier, Amarinder Singh gave up the symbolic red beacon light on his vehicle, fulfilling a promise the Congress made in its election manifesto. His cabinet ministers followed his example. Amarinder also stood in a queue while checking in at Chandigarh airport to fly to Mumbai for an event called Invest Punjab. ALSO READ | After Moily, now Capt Amarinder from Congress says EVMs cannot be tampered ALSO READ | Amarinder Singh cabinet has 3 Dalits despite 32 per cent vote share, Jat Sikhs continue to rule Punjab ALSO WATCH | Punjab: Captain Amarinder Singh takes oath as CM --- ENDS --- Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai hit out at Pakistan following the lynching of a university student accused of blasphemy. Mashal Khan was stripped naked and beaten to death with planks on a campus in the city of Mardan. "No one is maligning the name of your country or religion we ourselves are bringing a bad name to our country and religion," Malala said in a video posted to Facebook following a conversation with Khan's father. In the video posted on Facebook following the victim's funeral, Malala said the Prophet did not tell his followers to "be impatient and go around killing people", claiming some followers have forgotten the message of peace and were not representing their religion. "This was not just the funeral of Mashal Khan, it was the funeral of the message of our religion Islam," she said. "This is an incident filled with terror and fear." Mashal Khan, a journalism student was shot dead by fellow students at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Pakistan's Mardan town on Thursday after being accused of blasphemy. Insulting the Prophet Mohammed is a capital crime in Pakistan punishable by anything from a small fine to death, depending on the severity of the slight. Last month, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued an order for the removal of blasphemous content online, adding that anyone found guilty of the offence would face, "strict punishment under the law". Millions of Turks will head to the polls on Sunday to vote in a tight referendum race that could transform the country into a presidential republic, granting sweeping new powers to the President. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to replace the parliamentary system with an executive presidency, Hurriyet Daily News reported. Approval could see him stay in office until 2029. About 55 million Turkish voters will be casting votes following a divisive campaign in October 2016 when the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) announced its support to the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) project of replacing the current government system with a presidential system. The Supreme Board of Election announced that 167,140 ballot boxes will be ready for voters. The election process for Turkish citizens living abroad ended on April 9. Over a million registered citizens voted at 120 foreign missions in 57 countries. Polls open at 7 00 a.m. (local time) and close at 4-00 p.m. on Sunday in 32 eastern provinces, and open and close an hour later in the rest of the country, said the report. Supporters say a "yes" vote would streamline and modernise the country whereas opposition "no" camp fear the move would lead to increasingly authoritarian rule. The "yes" campaign supported by Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and the ruling AKP has dominated Turkey, while the opposition "no" camp had faced threats, violence, arbitrary detentions, a lack of TV airtime, and disregard by pro-government media. Critics fear the change would put too much power in the President's grasp, amounting to one-man rule, without the checks and balances of other presidential systems. The referendum could bring about the biggest change to the governing system since the modern republic was founded almost a century ago. It also takes place under a state of emergency which was imposed following a failed coup last July. President Erdogan was holding his final rally in Istanbul and said he was confident of victory. The referendum on constitutional change would abolish the post of Prime Minister, allowing the President to appoint cabinet ministers and bring all state bureaucracy under his control. If the package is approved, the President will be able to retain ties with the political party he or she belongs to. The changes will also grant authority to the President to issue decrees within the executive jurisdiction, declare a state of emergency and appoint public officials. The President will also be able to declare a state of emergency without necessary cabinet approval and to draft the budget, which is currently drawn up by Parliament. The changes will allow the President to dissolve Parliament. Erdogan said the new system will bring stability in a time of turmoil marked by a Kurdish insurgency, Islamist militancy and conflict in neighbouring Syria. The referendum has a simple "yes" or "no" choice on whether to endorse Parliament's approval of a new draft Constitution. Results of the elections are expected late on Sunday evening. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. MARK FLANAGAN is a retired Sun Chronicle editor. He can be reached at mflanagan754@gmail.com. No more Monday to Friday, nine to five? Why these N.L. businesses are choosing a four-day-a-week work model When it comes to those who work nine-to-five jobs, most will tell you the same thing: the weekends are never long enough. In recent years, especially since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been more talks of hybrid workweek models. Amid diplomatic row over death sentence awarded to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, India has cancelled maritime talks with Pakistan. By India Today Web Desk: India has called off maritime security dialogue with Pakistan, scheduled for early next week. The decision comes amid tension between the two countries over death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistan's military court on charges of spying. A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. advertisement Coast Guard sources said the Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegations visit. The development comes amid tension between the two countries over Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, being awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court. India has said if Jadhav were to be executed, it will be considered as a "premeditated murder". THE DIPLOMATIC ROW India and Pakistan are engaged in a diplomatic row over Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence. Kulbhushan was sentenced to death on April 10 by the Pakistani military court on espionage charges. India responded to the military court's judgment saying that it was 'pre-meditated murder'. On Friday, Pakistan's de facto foreign affairs chief Sartaj Aziz rejected India's charges saying that Kulbhushan Jadhav was "tried under the law of the land in a fully transparent manner". Sartaj Aziz slammed the "inflammatory statements and rhetoric of premeditated murder" raised by the Indian government. Sartaz Aziz argued that the sentencing of Kulbhushan Jadhav was "based on credible, specific evidence proving his involvement in espionage and terrorist activities in Pakistan". INDIA-PAKISTAN TUG-OF-WAR OVER JADHAV India followed it up by placing three demands as it asked for consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav and a detailed copy of military court's verdict. Pakistan's military court is not required by the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 to maintain a written record of the judgment citing reasons and logic for the verdict. Pakistan later rejected India's demand for consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav. This was the 14th time that India had sought consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav. Pakistan has put the blame back on India for its decision to deny consular access saying New Delhi had failed to respond to a letter of assistance seeking information and access to witnesses that Islamabad had shared with it on January 23. India has maintained that Pakistan has not shared any substantial evidence or material with regard to Kulbhushan Jadhav's case with it. (With PTI inputs) ALSO READ | 7 RAW rules that prove Kulbhushan Jadhav is not an agent; straight from the mouth of former sleuth Kulbhushan Jadhav death sentence: Pakistan rejects 14th Indian request for consular access advertisement WATCH | WHAT PARVEZ MUSHARRAF HAS TO SAY ON KULBHUSHAN JADHAV --- ENDS --- After his controversial remark on Ram temple construction in Ayodhya last week, Telengana BJP lawmaker T. Raja Singh sparked off another outrage after he allegedly abused a particular community during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations at Bairagarh on the outskirts of Bhopal on Friday. As the video of his speech went viral on social platforms, Madhya Pradesh Congress demanded that a case be filed against the legislator. Raja, who is the MLA from Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad had come to Bhopal to participate in a procession organised by Marutinandan Sangathan on the occasion of Hanauman Jayanti on Friday. In presence of local BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma, Raja allegedly abused members of a community for not singing Vande Mantram. Raja said that those not willing to sing Vande Mataram should be sent to Pakistan border for two days. He said even Pakistan did not welcome such people. They are called Muhajir or outsiders, he added. The state Congress party has written to Director General of Police along with the video clip which had gone viral. Party chief spokesperson K.K. Mishra demanded immediate arrest of Raja so that he can not escape from Bhopal. A case must be registered against the organisers of the function and those present on the dais as the hate-speech has destroyed the peaceful atmosphere of the city, he said. Bhopal police have, however, not yet taken any decision on the matter, a police official said. Raja was booked in Hyderabad last week for allegedly making hate-speech on Ram Navami. He said that all those who came in the way of making Ram Mandir in Ayodhya should be beheaded. A Hyderabad based organisation Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) had filed a police complaint against Raja in this regard. Manipur Health and Family Welfare Minister Langpoklakpam Jayentakumar Singh has resigned citing 'interference' to his authority, a month after being sworn in as the minister. According to a copy of the resignation letter, made available to the press last night, Jayentakumar Singh, an NPP leader, resigned yesterday. Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh, however, told PTI that he neither received the health minister's resignation letter nor has any information about it. Nongthombam Biren Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur on March 15 along with eight other ministers, including Jayentakumar. In the resignation letter to the Chief Minister, Jayentakumar said he had been working with "certain visions". However, he said, "I may not be able to get (the) visions materialised as expected since there have been so many interference to my authority... I am, therefore, taking the step to tender my resignation." Jayentakumar did not mention what kind of interference he had faced. He was also not available for comment. He was elected from Keishamthong constituency in Imphal West district. Kamtapur Peoples Party (KPP), which demands separate nation for Kamtapuris in North Bengal and Assam, has claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would address their rally in Cooch Behar on April 25. KPP is considered the political arm of Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), a proscribed terror outfit active in North Bengal and Assam. However, the ban on KPP had been lifted a few years back after it gave in writing to the left front regime in West Bengal that they would cut ties with the KLO. But they did not budge from their demand for separate nation for Kamtapuris. KPP general secretary Atul Roy said, "We had even invited the prime minister of India for our rallies. What is wrong with the chief minister attending it? Modi, who received an invitation before 2014 election, however, did not attend the rally. Asked about it, Roy told THE WEEK, We are sure that chief minister would come and attend our rally. The CM has given recognition to our Rajbangshi language. So we would like to felicitate her. Trinamool Congress has maintained a stoic silent. Chief Minister will arrive on April 24. But I am unsure about her program, said North Bengal affairs minister, R.N.Ghosh. Tourism minister Gautam Deb said, I dont have any comment to make regarding this. The local administration also did not disclose anything regarding the programme of the chief minister. Nabha is famous for its military school and open air jail. But another pride for the old cantonment town of Punjab was to be a new building block of the Government Senior Secondary Girls School, in memory of Santosh Kumari. She may have been no one, but her daughtersone an IRS officer and another a doctordecided to chip in and collect money for a new block for their alma mater. It took five years to be completed . On Thursday, when it was to be inaugurated a special guest was Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, the Punjab minister for forests, printing and stationery. He huffed and puffed at the school principal, when he saw that his name on the inauguration stone came after those of the sisters responsible for the building. He also threatened to have her suspended. The principal explained that Sanotsh Kumar's daughters were the chief guests. Even as a video of the unsavoury incident went viral on Friday, chief minister Amarinder Singh implemented one of the Congress party's poll promises. The government prohibited the inclusion of names of any government functionaries including ministers and MLAs on foundation stones and inaugural plaques. The chief minister is not exempted from this order. A government spokesperson told the media that the practice of having names inscribed on stones and plaques is being discarded with immediate effect. Dharamsot on his part has been denying the incident. But given clear video evidence, his I did not say so has no takers. ** The battle against terrorism may be years behind us, but the Congress in Punjab cannot forget the dark bloody days, as well as those who instigated and protected terrorists. Sikhs in Canada were seen as funding and fuelling the pro-Khalistani elements, who in turn fled to Canada as political refugees. Now when the Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan is in India, and Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has made it amply clear he will not extend him any courtesies. The reasonSajjan was described as a Khalistani sympathiser with radical fundamentalist agenda, by Sikhs from his own Liberal Party. In fact, about 4,000 Punjabi-Sikhs quit the party in British Columbia, protesting the nomination of Sajjan. Harcharan Singh Bains, general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal and media adviser to former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal thinks it is time to let bygones be bygones. Sajjan represents the people of Canada, and the Punjab leaders whose visit to Canada was sabotaged (by Sajjan and others) also represent the people of their state. The controversy started in Canada must be ended now. says Bains. Amarinder, in fact, could not visit Canada, allegedly at the instance of Harjit Sajjan. ** The high point of Baisakhi is the bhangra dance to the accompaniments of the dhola drum. A fitness studio in Chandigarh used the bhangra and the dhol as the key elements in a fitness workshop. To connect the youth with this dance form, the fintness studio roped in Dipesh Sekhri, a choreographer popular on television channels. The youth of Punjab are weaning away from this traditional dance form. But it is energetic, particularly with live dhol, said Sekhri, who has been enthused by the response to the extent that he now plants to conduct fitness workshops based on the bhangra and dhol in North America. Veteran JK politician and president of the National Conference (NC), Farooq Abdullah, won the polls for Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency held on April 9. He defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Nazir Ahmed Khan, by over 10,557 votes. Farooq polled 47,926 votes, while Nazir got 37,369 votes. Ahead of the polls for Srinagar and Anantnag Parliamentary constituencies, the NC and Congress formed an alliance against the PDP. Elections for Anantnag were postponed after Mufti Tassaduq Hussain, the PDP candidate for Anantnag and brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, appealed to the Election Commission of India. Eight civilians were killed in clashes with security forces on April 9. On May 25, elections will be held in Anantnag, considered a stronghold of the PDP. Farooq had lost the constituency to Tariq Hamid Kara in 2015 Parliament polls. Karan resigned from the PDP and Parliament in protest against the civilian killings in the separatist uprising. An influential politician from Srinagar, he is likely to play an important role in shaping the future of Congress, especially in Srinagar. The victory for Abdullah, who missed the 2015 assembly polls due to a kidney transplant in London, will boost the morale of the NC cadres. Farooq's victory is a setback to the PDP whose political stock dwindled after allying with the RSS-backed BJP. The 2016 uprising, triggered by Hizbul commander Burhan Wani's killings on July 8 in Anantnag, damaged the credibility of the PDP as a party with a difference. Political observers are unanimous that PDP ensured the postponement of the election in Anantnag due to the looming threat of loss. A defeat in his first political outing would badly damage the prospects of Mufti Tassaduq, who is being groomed by Mehbooba to lead the party while she calls the shots from behind. Apple Inc, the manufacturer of iPhone and other electronic devices, on Friday secured a permit to test self-driving vehicles on public roads in California. While the tech giant headquartered in Cupertino, Northern California, did not comment on the latest development, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the Golden State on the US West Coast listed Apple on its website as the latest one getting an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit. As of Friday, the list includes 30 companies, with Volkswagen Group of America, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi Automotive and Tesla Motors as the earliest entities receiving the permit. Other traditional automakers on the list were General Motors Cruise LLC and Ford of the United States; Nissan, Honda and Subaru of Japan; and BMW of Germany. Most other companies holding the testing permit are technology start-ups. Long suspected of working on a self-driving vehicle project, Apple has never openly and directly discussed its interest in cars. 'In 2014 they said BJP has reached its peak; in 2017 they said the BJP's peak has come. Our peak is yet to come,' BJP national president Amit Shah said on Saturday as he kicked off the party's two-day national executive in Odisha. By Brijesh Pandey: In what was the highlight of the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Bhubaneshwar Saturday as he arrived in Odisha for the two-day Bharatiya Janata Party national executive meeting. The dominant mood of the party was reflected in the presidential address delivered by Amit Shah. Shah said that during the last national executive at Allahabad, in 2016, the party had taken a resolve to win the (then) upcoming elections in five states. 'Now we are at Lord Jagannath's place and we resolve to win big in the next set of state elections (in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka),' the BJP national president said. advertisement Amit Shah went on to take the usual potshot at election analysts, saying those who were talking about the BJP winning two-thirds majority in Uttar Pradesh were left surprised after the Bharatiya Janata Party changed the grammar of politics by winning three-fourths majority. He added that up until now analysts had said that the BJP was able to only beat national parties like Congress, and fared badly when it faced local opponents. The Uttar Pradesh win broke that myth, Shah said, adding that the victory clearly proved that people are firmly with the BJP. 'It's a firm rejection of family politics and politics of appeasement, and people have reposed faith in politics of development. Narendra Modi is the most popular prime minister India has ever had due to his extraordinary connect with people,' Shah said. 'OPPOSITION SCAPEGOATING EVMs' Hitting out at opposition parties for raising the bogey of tampered EVMs, Amit Shah said, 'We had thought that parties who lost will do an honest introspection but now they are finding a scapegoat, which is EVM. When BJP lost the 2004 and 2009 general elections or state elections like the one in Delhi, EVMs were just fine. This (the allegations of tampered EVMs) just shows that instead of accepting the verdict they are insulting the EC.' Amit Shah went to talk about the BJP's current position in national politics and the party's future. 'Today, the BJP is the largest party (in India) and has occupied 60 per cent of India's political space,' he said. Laying great stress on improving the party's organisational structure, Amit Shah said that working committee members, including union ministers, will be asked to devote some of their time for organisational work. He added that he over the next few months, he plans to spend 95 days travelling all over the country in order to connect with BJP workers and boost their morale. Shah condemned the recent political killings of party workers in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal, saying that BJP workers are not afraid of violence. 'We will meet violence with peace and determination', he added. advertisement Talking about the work done by the Modi government in the last three years, Shah said the kind and amount of work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last three years would take other parties two to three terms to match. Asserting that the BJP has much more left to achieve, Shah said, 'In 2014 people said that BJP has reached its peak. In 2017, they repeated the statement. But, our peak is yet to come'. 'We have 13 chief ministers across India but we aim to have a chief minister in every state,' he said, adding that from local bodies and state legislatures to Parliament, the BJP will have a majority in all political bodies of India. 'Our golden period should align with the golden India,' Shah said. ALSO READ | At national executive meet, BJP dares 'hacking CM' Arvind Kejriwal to hack EVM ALSO READ | On BJP's foundation day, PM Narendra Modi says party will continue working for poor, marginalised WATCH | Narendra Modi gets rousing welcome during his roadshow in Bhubaneswar --- ENDS --- advertisement Medium user Indian Fowler who authored the original blogpost accusing Arunabh Kumar of molestation says she has herself filed a case against the TVF CEO. By India Today Web Desk: The Medium user named 'Indian Fowler', whose blog from around a month ago sparked a massive firestorm around online production house The Viral Fever and its CEO Arunabh Kumar, has now said that she has filed a case against Kumar. The revelation was made a new blogpost published on Medium.com where the anonymous user writes, "We have few cases filed in 3 cities and one of it is mine so I would expect courts to take a cognizance of that." advertisement Though the new blog, published April 15, doesn't explicitly say so, Indian Fowler indicates that the case she has filed is that of alleged molestation at the hands of Kumar. Indian Fowler's new blog starts with an acknowledgement of how she had disappeared after authoring the original post that accused Arunabh Kumar of molesting and sexually harassing her during her time at The Viral Fever. "I know it has been a long silence. Mostly because of what has been going around. Last time i tried to come out, i was hounded", Indian Fowler writes, adding, "So this time i have been discreet." She then goes on to indicate that she has had a negative experience with registering such cases in the past. "...last time when i filed a complaint, my parents got few calls. This time they also dont know. I dont know how this time it will pan out. But i hope it does pan out well", she writes. 'DON'T HAVE EVIDENCE' Writing further, Indian Fowler says she can't prove how she was molested because it happened in private, noting that in cases likes these it is usually one person's word against another's. She adds, "It (the acts of molestation) was done by a man so filthy that if i face him again tomorrow i will probably beat the s**t out of him." "I dont know if it (the case) will reach a logical conclusion. If it does, i will drink a bottle of tequila that night. If it doesnt, i will trust that God doesnt exist", she says, ending her new blogpost with, "But my belief is that God does exist and he will prevail upon anyone so see what that monster called arunabh is." ABOUT THE CASE The case sprung to limelight around a month ago, after a blog written by Indian Fowler went viral on social media. In the original blogpost, Indian Fowler recounted her experience of working at The Viral Fever. She wrote about how Arunabh Kumar, the CEO of the Mumbai-based upstart that produces online comedy shows, behaved inappropriately with her several times and one occasion molested her. The original blog, which also accused other higher-ups at TVF of dismissing India Fowler's accusations when she approached them, was met with silence from Kumar and with a strong rebuttal from TVF and Arunabh's colleagues. advertisement Soon after the blogpost went viral, several other women started coming out on Facebook and Twitter, levelling similar charges of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour against Arunabh Kumar. Facing massive outrage, The Viral Fever finally mellowed its original response to the accusations, saying it would conduct an internal inquiry. COPS STEP IN Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police took note of the allegations but asked the women to come forward and file formal cases, noting that they could not launch an investigation based on accusations made on social media. Then finally around a fortnight ago, Mumbai Police registered two cases against Arunabh Kumar in quick succession after two women came forward and formally accused the TVF CEO of sexual harassment. The first case was registered on March 29 under Indian Penal Code sections 354 A (causing sexual harassment) and 509 (intending to outrage a woman's modesty by indecent words, gesture or acts). The second case was registered the following day under IPC section 354. Both the cases were registered in Versova, Andheri. advertisement Kumar, an IIT graduate who founded The Viral Fever in 2011, was recently granted interim protection from arrest by a local court in Mumbai. ALSO WATCH | TVF CEO Arunabh Kumar gets interim relief in sexual harassment cases --- ENDS --- These days few self-respecting business people rise to the top of major corporations without that ultimate accolade, the Master of Business Administration (MBA). The ultimate prize shared by such bigwigs as Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook is an MBA from the Harvard Business School. But as a new book, The Golden Passport, by the American writer Duff McDonald, argues, an MBA course may be terrific at telling people how to make money quickly but is hopeless at creating better capitalism alert to social issues, ethics and the environment. A key lesson from boardroom fiascos is that unless the executive gets on top of the issue within the first 24 hours they generally are doomed There was a time when you had to reach way back into corporate history to find case studies (a key part of business school teaching) of corporate idiocy and neglect. In 1984 the US chemical company Union Carbide and its boss Warren Anderson were slow off the mark to deal with the deadly Bhopal explosion in India and the company paid the ultimate price when Union collapsed and executives were prosecuted. Closer to home, retailer Gerald Ratner never recovered from his description of the jewellery sold in his shops as total crap. The shining example of how to deal with crisis was Johnson & Johnson in 1992 after shop displays of its market leading painkiller Tylenol were contaminated by cyanide. Chairman James Burke immediately ordered shelves across the US be cleared of Tylenol, refunded customers who had bought the painkiller and apologised. A relaunch only took place when the company was satisfied it had developed tamper-proof packaging. Lloyds Bank had to be forced to offer an extra 100m of compensation to business victims of fraud at its Reading branch inherited from HBOS. Over the last week all manner of corporate ineptitude has come to light. The lauded chief executive of Barclays, Jes Staley, found himself on the naughty step for using the banks own security staff and federal agencies in the US to try to track down a whistleblower. Lloyds Bank had to be dragged kicking and screaming to offer an extra 100m of compensation to business victims of fraud at its Reading branch inherited from HBOS. Most startling of all were the horrific scenes from the United Airlines plane in Chicago where Dr David Dao was dragged bleeding and screaming from an overbooked flight. Suffice it to say that Oscar Munoz, the chief executive of United Airlines since the 2010 merger with Continental These and incidents such as Wells Fargos shadow accounts for customers, designed to boost bonuses, and Harriet Greens clumsy handling of child deaths on a Thomas Cook holiday in Greece show the cloth ears of trained executives who should know better. Suffice it to say that Oscar Munoz, the chief executive of United Airlines since the 2010 merger with Continental, has a degree in business from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Pepperdine University. It is possible to make excuses for Munoz on the grounds that he is a victim of technology in the shape of the smartphones which recorded Dao being removed. Maybe it is something about the bubble in which many chief executives live that they have not understood how bad decisions can go viral. As damaging as the event itself was the response of the friendly airline United to the whole affair. There was a wooden, corporate-style semi-apology and justification. This was compounded when Munoz emailed staff in support of their actions. The email was an own goal because of the speed with which it leaked. That Munoz didnt consider the possibility that, in the age of social media, it would quickly emerge is odd. Munoz may have done an extraordinary job of squeezing costs at United but the fall in the share price, the reputational damage, the ethical shortcomings in putting out two different messages to different stakeholders and millions in compensation claims will make his position untenable. The simple phrase the customer is always right would have served far better than an MBA. The correct response would have been a fulsome apology to the passenger, an immediate suspension of all the staff involved, over-generous compensation to every traveller on the plane and maybe some gesture towards passengers across the whole network. A key lesson from boardroom fiascos is that unless the executive gets on top of the issue within the first 24 hours they generally are doomed. John Stumpf of Wells Fargo thought he could battle it out before a Senate committee but emerged so damaged he had to go. How Jes Staley or Lloyds Antonio Horta- Osorio would come out of hearings before the Treasury Select Committee is hard to know. They could ask former deputy governor of the Bank of England Charlotte Hogg for advice on what not to do. Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat today met the Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra to discuss the measures being adopted by the Army to combat infiltration and insurgency attempts. By Ashwini Kumar: The Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat today met the Jammu and Kashmir Governor, NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan in Jammu to brief him about law and order situation in the state. Sources say General Rawat will also brief NN Vohra about the clashes witnessed during the Srinagar and Anantnag bypolls. He will be discussing troops deployment on the Line of Control (LoC) from Poonch-Rajouri in Jammu to Kupwara in Kashmir, apart from enlisting the counter-insurgency measures the Army is undertaking. advertisement Among several matters, one is believed to be the recent stone-pelting incidents involving the troops deployed in bypoll duty. ARMY TO RESUME OPERATIONS IN J-K Police sources said that Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 155 terror attacks between October 2016 and March 2017. Infiltration attempts rose to 371 in 2016, from over 121 in 2015 and 222 in 2014. According to sources, more than 50 infiltration attempts had been made by terrorists from Line and Control(LoC) and about 200 kilometers International Border of Jammu up till February this year. Reports from central intelligence states that most of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen militants are using the hills connecting Pakistan with Poonch, Rajouri, Bandipore, Baramulla, Ganderbal and Srinagar for their cross-border movement. Army, Special Operation Group(SOG) and CRPF will now commence secure-operations in Kashmir, which had been halted due to the bypolls. Also read: Post Pathankot attack, government initiates procurement of bulletproof jackets for Indian Army Also read: Kulbhushan Jadhav sentence linked to Pakistan Army ex-officer vanishing in Nepal? Also read: Kashmir: 19000 youth participate in Army recruitment rally --- ENDS --- MBABANE The best of innovations was observed where four men were nabbed with two rhino horns tied to a Mercedes Benz engine at Mahamba. The incident that has created a buzz on social networks such as Tweeter and Facebook happened on Wednesday and was aired by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). According to SABC Journalist Mweli Masilela, the four have already appeared before a South African court. Responding to questions posed to him on Tweeter, Masilela said the citizenships of the quartet had not been established yet. The four were arrested while driving in a Silver grey Mpumalanga-registered Mercedes Benz. Their strategy to hide the horns in the engine area of the car was described as innovative by social media users. Most of those who reacted to Masilelas tweet condemned the act and said only a death sentence could deter people from poaching rhinos. These people made an example of countries like Kenya where they alleged that rhino poachers were shot and killed. However, on Facebook many users were sympathetic with the poachers saying they were trying to earn an income. So long as they did not kill a human being I am okay. Bayatizamela nabo (they are trying to make a living), said one user. Poachers While some people thought it was a brilliant attempt for the poachers to hide the horns in the bonnet, others said it was stupid because even human being could smell the rhino horns from a distance. Rhino horns can be smelt by humans. The heat from the engine makes it even worse, one user posted on Facebook. The men were caught by the South African Police Service K9 Unit (SAPS) together with the defence force. It could not be established though if they were crossing from an informal crossing point or not, or even their destination as it was only said they were caught at the Mahamba Port of entry. MBABANE Traditional healers agree with pastors who say a dream is one way the spirit communicates to that person. Bishop Alexander Mwami of Holy Ghost Firehouse, Nelspruit, South Africa, who was among guest preachers during last weeks Destiny International Christian Centres Barrier Breakers Conference, spoke of how Christians fail to take action when being warned by his or her spirit of events taking place in the spiritual world in the form of dreams. Traditional healer Matjekwane Mahlalela identified with a number of dream interpretations given by the bishop, such as having sex in a dream being a bad experience not to be taken lightly. Mahlalela described having such a dream as an attack by a roaming carnal spirit with the sole intention of causing havoc in the dreamers real life. Echoing the bishops preaching, the traditional healer said a person being tormented by this spirit in dreams was most likely to suffer miscarriages, totally fail to conceive and if she had a stupid husband the marriage will collapse. Mahlalela said there were many things that come with dreams and the meanings vary from one person to another. He further mentioned that it also depends how the dream manifests itself adding that for some, what they see in a dreams, happens as is in real life. Tradition Even in our Swazi tradition, when you have sex in your dream it is something considered with everything to do with an evil spirit that takes a human shape in the dream-tikoloshi. It is a flouting carnal spirit meant to harm the dreamer and can be in the form of a woman where a man will dream having sex with a woman. He said dreams with snakes were a warning about a person so close to you but with evil thoughts about you, evil intentions for you or someone badmouthing or speaking evil things to others about you. Dogs in a dream have a number of different meanings and it was therefore difficult to out rightly interpret a dream about them. For some, dreaming of a dog biting him means that person will face arrest or have a case to answer. With others it might mean something, which has to do with family spirits (tidalwa takubo). The same with dreaming water, meanings vary a lot. However, clean water symbolises good tidings. My intention tonight is to set an agenda for a national conversation. I ask every concerned Papua New Guinean to think and openly talk about our future. The time for whispering, for speculating, for telling stories, and for fear, is over, he said in a speech to more than 500 guests at an Independent Team dinner in Port Moresby. FORMER prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta has suggested the development of a national agenda for discussing Papua New Guineas problems and finding solutions. The audience of like-minded people who want to form an honest and effective government after the election came from a broad spectrum of PNG society, including members of the business community, academics, representatives of non-government organisations, members of parliament, intending independent candidates and ordinary citizens. The Independent Team is a voice for reform, reconstruction and development of Papua New Guinea, and aims to discuss substantive issues and policy matters as they arise during the election campaign. Funds raised at the dinner will be used by the Independent Team to work with like-minded members of parliament to help form government after the election. Sir Mekere laid out four initial priority areas for debate: Weed out corruption and strengthen oversight institutions Spend the money we have differently New revenue and savings Friendly foreign support He said he wanted the public to join him in playing an active part in removing this wayward, corrupt government and in helping rebuild a Papua New Guinea that is fair; a country where everyone has an opportunity for a decent life; a country where people can freely exercise their democratic rights; a country that will provide its children with a sound future. I stand to be counted. I want to help form a good, clean and effective government with moral leadership, a government that is dedicated to the nation, not driven by personal interests. I am ready to help any prime minister, bar one, to achieve that. Sir Mekere said every citizen has a critical role to play by participating in discussions on policy options, and joining with like-minded individuals and organisations to press for the reform that is so sorely needed. People must exercise their voting power at this election to elect good, capable, honest men and women to parliament, men and women who will not be induced by money or the offer of position by the very leaders who have brought our country to its knees, he said. Our future is at stake. As in 1999, we have another date with destiny. Sir Mekere described the government as an octopus led by people whose personal commercial interests conflicts with the national interest and their public duty. It is an octopus with many tentacles invading every crevice, every nook and cranny where there is the smell of money, he said. The tentacles have already grabbed significant commercial stakes in construction, security services, property development, real estate, gaming, hospitality, mining and exploration, petroleum, aviation, insurance, financial services, IT and communications. The tentacles of the octopus have even crossed international waters, to hide and deposit the spoils. Put simply, the octopus has to be destroyed. It is pointless to just cut the tentacles because new tentacles will grow. As many as seven Hindus were beaten mercilessly and their houses vandalised, some shops torched as a warning against voting for their leader in Parishad Union election on Sunday. By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: As many as seven Hindus were today beaten and their houses vandalised in Nazirpur Upazila of Pirojpur district ahead of the Union Parishad election on April 16, Sunday. The parishad election for chairman post on Saturday will see stiff competition between a Hindu leader Uttam Kumar and a local party candidate. The rival party supporters are believed to be behind the attack. advertisement Officer-in-Charge of Nazirpur Police Station Habibur Rahman confirmed the assault and said, "Attack was made on the Hindu community people at Malibari of Madday Joypur under Sreeramkathi union on Friday night." WHY THE SUDDEN ATTACK? The injured have been identified as Poritosh Mali (35), Chittaranjan Mojumder (32), Gita Rani Mali (45), Josna Rani Mali (30), Urmila Mali (32), Gonesh Mali (45) and Shukhoranjan Mali (42). According to reports, Hindus in the area were warned against voting for their leader. Police said a shop was also set on fire by the mob. Sudev Mali, a resident of Nazirpur Upazila said that the rival party candidate Mizanur Rahman Ripon came to the locality and asked the community to vote for him and then set some houses on fire. The police has registered a case of rioting and arson and have also made an arrest in the case. --- ENDS --- MBABANE When residents of Sidwashini in the Hhohho region surrendered their fields for sugarcane farming they had hoped to make money, but some claim to have lost up to E1 million in the process. The residents are members of Vuka Sidwashini Farmers Company that grows sugarcane for commercial purposes. Under normal circumstances, the company pays out dividends twice a year, at the end of the year and during the first trimester. The companys constitution states that its objective is to fight poverty by securing enough space to grow sugarcane, which is sold to Mhlume. This will be made possible if we unite as residents of Sidwashini and liaise with the Ministry of Agriculture to fulfil our dream to grow sugarcane after consultations with the Royal Kraal. An Mvila family is disgruntled after the company allegedly refused it to replace their father who died in 2008. The old man was a member together with some of his children. After his death the family nominated his wife to replace him as the constitution allows, said Ngobeni Mvila, the son of the deceased who is also a member. Ngobeni said the excuse they got from the company for denial of the replacement was that there were already many members from his family who were already shareholders. According to the companys constitution, an eligible member should own a field at Sidwashini; pay a joining fee of E50, pay membership subscription of E85 and pay E300 for fuel. It also states that a deceased member is usually replaced by a nominated family member. In this case, however, it turns out that the deceased Mvilas dividends have not been paid out to anyone ever since he passed on in 2008. This is not the only financial sanction imposed on the family, but an elder son who is also a member has alleged that his dividends have remained frozen for almost three years now pending finalisation of the contest of the decision not to allow the replacement of his father. Ngobeni said the matter has been to court where a ruling was made in March 2016 in their favour as they had challenged the decision of the company to suspend their dividends. After we won the case, we were told that the company filed an appeal but when we went there for the hearing of the appeal two weeks ago, we were told that the papers were not there yet it was said that we would be notified on the developments. LOBAMBA Those who sin knowingly will never be forgiven by God. . This was said by Her Majesty the Indlovukazi (Queen Mother) yesterday at Lobamba during the Easter Services national prayer. She said the Bible informed them that even if peoples sins were red as blood; God forgives them if they repent. This does not mean those who sin deliberately will be forgiven, only those who sin without knowing will be forgiven, Her Majesty said. She informed the congregation that all who attended the national prayer would not have their sins forgiven should they continue sinning because they now knew the truth. If you sin now, your sins will not be forgiven because you know the truth, the Queen Mother stated. She said those who sin unknowingly will be forgiven. The reason God sent His son to come and die for people on earth was because He saw that the devil made people to sin and they did not know it, according to Her Majesty the Queen. She said God asked His son to come to earth and give light to the people so they could see that the devil was making them sin. Her Majesty said preachers had shared the word of God and they spoke just the truth. The Queen mother said she is emotionally touched by the Bible, where Jesus asked God to forgive human beings as they were not aware that they were sinning. Jesus suffered for human sins and not his and this was imperative for people to always remember during the commemoration of his death and resurrection. She said it was important to also note that Jesus asked God to forgive the people because they were not aware that they were sinning. We received the grace of being forgiven as sinners who did not even deserve that forgiveness. Her Majesty added that the King of heavens descended down to earth to suffer for sins committed by the people. MBABANE The Media Workers Union of Swaziland is challenging Swaziland Television Authority (STVA) to reconsider awarding a tender for the collection of television licence fees to a private firm. The union also wants the Swazi TV management to consider re-engaging the affected employees on voluntary exit packages. Some of the employees agreed to undertake voluntary exit packages during the demise of Swaziland Television Authority Rentals (STAR). In a correspondence letter by the workers union to STVA management, dated March 21, 2017, the union requested that the effectiveness of the aforesaid outsourcing be put on hold until the union, on behalf of all the affected workers, was engaged and complicated issues were solved regarding job securities of the employees under threat. Over 10 employees are said to be affected by the outsourcing of the service. We are of the view that before anything new could begin to work; the issue of voluntary exit package must first be addressed. Media Workers Union of Swaziland Secretary General Sicelo Vilane he said it was high time the issue of labour brokering was stopped. Petition He said this was saddening because not so long ago the workers union mother body, Trade Union Congress of Swaziland, delivered a petition to the new Ministry of Labour and Social Security challenging the issue of labour brokering. This, according to Vilane, came about as the number of poverty stricken families and unemployment in the country continues to rise while it enriches the minority. He said it was a matter of fact that these agencies were questionable when it comes to issues of workers rights. One would have expected that the ministry would after receiving the petition issue a notice freezing all exercises of labour brokering, which were still to be implemented to allow the outcome of the negotiations between government and its key social partner, regarding the issue but the opposite happened. And whats happening at STVA is as a result of the kind of arrogance from government. MBABANE Swazis residing abroad are concerned with what they termed new laws that bar their local relatives from receiving medicinal parcels sent through the Swaziland Post Office. Some of the Swazis residing in the United Kingdom, wondered what exactly was happening in the country because their sick relatives were being denied access to medications that were not immediately available locally. They said the parcels were either opened at the post office or at times the person it was sent to would not receive it. One of the aggrieved persons said this was the case with her sister three months ago. Allegedly She said this was at the Manzini Post Office where the family was allegedly told that under the new rules this was no longer allowed. Some of the medication are vitamin tablets, HIV related, painkillers and these are written on the package for them to see, sealed even. Our people are sick and there is no medication at home. The little we do to help relatives cannot reach them. Whats going on? wondered the complainant. The company is said to be refusing to deliver medicinal parcels to the intended person, something which has not been an issue over the past years. SPTC Managing Director Petros Dlamini first explained that Swazi Post used the international postal network for both incoming and outgoing parcels, which means both the sender and recipient were able to log onto the tracking system online, called Global Track, to keep track of the parcel while it is on transit. Transit The Johannesburg Mail Centre (JMC) is the transit office for all international mail and parcels. JMC is a branch of South African Post Office (SAPO). SAPO has a delivery van which brings incoming and collects outgoing items from Swaziland on a daily basis, Dlamini said. NGWENYA Home Affairs employees stationed at Ngwenya Border Gate used the Easter holidays to prove their worth. The workers worth was indeed felt when they refused to resume duty at 6:30am but showed up to work at 8am. There was a total jam at the border gate on Thursday morning as only handful senior officers and supervisors were attending to travellers. The scene was marked with the visibility of police officers in uniform who were ready to restore peace in the event the scene turned nasty. However, everything was done calmly with about 13 assistant immigrations officers and gate attendants emerging from their houses nearby at 7:50am. This is also the time that the police supervisor ordered her team to position itself at the main entrance where the ready-for-work officers were expected to enter. A supervisor identified only as Gule addressed the officers from the main gate where he called out the names of only six whom he said he wanted to resume work. I will only allow shift C to take up duty and these are the people on this list, he said brandishing a piece of paper that he had in his hand. One of the Shop Stewards Sanele Magagula said since they had adopted the we all die or we all live principle, they refused to let only the six go to work. We were all ready to go to work so we felt its either we all go in or we all remain out of work. However, after consulting with their union, the workers allowed the six employees to take up the days shift, which saw the long queue at the border moving a bit faster. The rest of the team returned to their houses while shop stewards went to court. At about 2pm things were returning to normal following a court ruling, which was in favour of the employees. Magagula said this was only the first round of their demands because they also intend filing a claim for their overtime pay dating back to June 2015. He said otherwise they were happy to have the courts backing on this Easter Weekends overtime pay. MBABANE - Its victory for Immigration officers based at Ngwenya Border Gate. This after government on Thursday finally agreed to pay them overtime for working during the Easter holidays. Government further agreed to halt the 24-hour shift system pending finalisation and implementation of the negotiations between the parties (immigration officers and government). The undertaking by government was made an order of the court by Industrial Court Judge Nkosinathi Nkonyane. It was further ordered that government should pay the overtime to the immigration officers as a matter of law. The sudden change of mind by government comes after the 36 immigration officers stationed at Ngwenya Border Gate filed an urgent application in the Industrial Court. Through their attorney Machawe Sithole, the employees were seeking among other things an order interdicting government from implementing the extension of operational hours of the Easter Holidays at Ngwenya/Oshoek Border Gate. implementation They were further wanted the court to direct Principal Secretaries of the ministries of Home Affairs and that of Public Service to engage them on the implementation of the extension of operations hours for Ngwenya Border Gate with a view to consider their terms of service which include among other things payment of overtime or hardship allowance to them. Their lawyer argued that the nature of the application filed by the employees needed an urgent intervention of the court since it dealt with grave injustice and unfair labour practice in which the immigration officers were subjected to at the hands of the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Lawyer Sithole further informed the court that the PS came up with a timetable and aborted negotiations with the officers and their union. He contended that this was a clear indication that the negotiations had reached a deadlock. In his founding affidavit, one of the aggrieved employees Sanele Magagula stated that the application was premised upon the issue of operating hours at the Ngwenya/Oshoek Border Gate. Magagula is also a Shop steward of the Ngwenya Border Gate Staff. In simpler terms, it means that the staff will be expected to work extended hours for the Easter Weekend. The extension of operating hours shall extend even after the Easter Weekend has passed as per a memorandum by the first respondent ( PS, Ministry of Home Affairs) to the National Commissioner of Police dated March 27,2017, submitted Magagula. MBABANE A woman is screaming negligence after losing her newborn baby at the Mbabane Government Hospital last week. The mother of three went to the hospital on Wednesday night to deliver her would-be fourth baby, a boy. Futhi Shabangu said she headed to the hospital after she started having labour pains and also after her water broke. Upon arrival at about 9pm she was examined by nurses who discovered that the baby had bridged and would not come out the normal head-first way or with its feet. After making this discovery they made me sign a form to give consent to a possible operation and I did. She said after that the nurses ordered her to wait and did nothing to indicate that they were assisting her with her issue. The woman at some point during the night said on alerted the nurses that there was an indication that the unborn baby had already relieved itself inside the womb, something she realised when she spotted baby pooh-pooh on a diaper she had used on herself on the night. Even at this point the nurses did not do anything until I delivered at around 7am only to find that the baby had died. She alleged that on the night there were student nurses who were doing rounds in the maternity ward, one of whom showed concern at her situation during the night. Shabangu said the student nurse would check on her constantly and at some point even asked one of the two senior nurses there if there was really nothing that needed to be done regarding the position that the baby was in. The senior nurse responded by saying there was no need to panic for a woman who was not giving birth for the first time. The would-be mother said she was so devastated about the whole ordeal and felt the death of her baby could have been prevented. On Friday morning she went to the hospital in the company of her nephew to formally lodge a complaint regarding the incident. I was shocked again when the sisters-in-charge at the maternity unit told me that my condition did not warrant an operation and also that the nurses were not supposed to assist the baby during delivery. MANZINI Army Commander Sobantu Dlamini has not taken kindly to a visit by a group of members of parliament (MPs) to the army headquarters at Nokwane earlier this week. The Commander has in a subtle manner told the legislators to back off. This comes after the group of about seven irked MPs from the Lubombo Region visited the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force headquarters to deliver a complaint relating to the recent recruiting exercise. The legislators raised a concern that most of the aspiring soldiers from their region, who won during the physical exercises at the various constituencies, had been left out. They alleged that they were called by the affected candidates who told them that they were left behind when the others were called to start training at Mbuluzi Infantry. The law makers said what irritated them most was the fact that the candidates who were supposed to be hired by the army, were left behind and replaced by contenders who allegedly did not even partake in the physical exercises, which were conducted by the USDF in the constituencies. The MPs said they were also not satisfied with the armys medical examination results, which stated that the candidates had some diseases because they tested on their own before joining the race for the USDFs jobs. Furthermore, the MPs asked the army to allow them to hire a private doctor to test the aspiring soldiers and send the results to all of them but the military declined their offer. During this meeting, the legislators met with some senior army officials who work under the army commanders command. The group of legislators are known to this publication but have asked for their identities to be protected. Responding to the legislators concerns during an interview yesterday, the army commander, who was represented by the USDF Public Relations Officer (PRO), Lieutenant Colonel Madoda Mkhatshwa, said the MPs were lucky not to have been chucked out of the facility because it was out of their jurisdiction. Again, the MPs have nothing to do with the armys recruitment exercise because they are not the people we deal with even at tinkhundla level. We deal with the constituency headmen (tindvuna te-tinkhundla). The commander said he believes that the MPs had ulterior motives to achieve because they were also aware that it was the constituency headmen who works with the army in the recruitment process. He further did not hide that he believed that their ulterior motive was to campaign using the matter. When clarifying how they work with the constituency headmen, the army commander said they usually gave them all the records regarding the exercise including the winners and runners-up. He said if one of the selected candidates did not make it through in the next tests, they inform the indvuna yenkhundla to bring the next qualifying candidate. So, if there is an instance where a candidate was not replaced by the next qualifying contender, it is the indvuna yenkhundla who has the right to lay a formal complaint with the army and necessary measures will be taken. Bansal had said that BR Ambedkar was made the creator of the Constitution by political people to garner votes. Dalits demanded that Bansal be arrested and his membership from the Rajasthan Assembly be revoked. By Dev Ankur Wadhawan: Members of the Dalit community on Saturday protested in Rajasthan's Bharatpur demanding the arrest of BJP MLA Vijay Bansal for his controversial remarks against Dr BR Ambedkar. The protesting Dalits also demanded that his membership from the state Assembly be revoked. Protests were carried out by the agitating members at the Collectorate in Bharatpur district under the banner of the District Jatav Mahasabha. They shouted slogans against the BJP MLA and demanded Bansal's arrest for his statement. advertisement BJP MLA's OFFENSIVE REMARK Speaking on the occasion of the opening ceremony of a private school on the 125th anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar, Bansal had said, "Bhim Rao Ambedkar was made the creator of the Constitution by political people to garner votes." The protesting Dalits gathered under the leadership of Rajkumar Pappa, District President of Jatav Mahasabha and Rajendra Sona, District President of BSP at the Ambedkar Park on Saturday and passed a resolution condemning the remark made by the BJP MLA. The protestors claimed that the agitation against the MLA would continue until action was taken against him. Also read | On Ambedkar Jayanti, this BJP leader does not believe what Modi said on Baba Saheb Also read | PM Modi's Ambedkar Jayanti message: Committed to building an inclusive India --- ENDS --- Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Bhubaneswar today as he arrived in Odisha to attend the BJP national executive meet. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Janata Maidan in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar in a grand fashion making his political intentions clear. Narendra Modi held a road show in Bhubaneswar before attending the BJP national executive meet. Hundreds of people greeted the Prime Minister with 'Modi-Modi' chants while Narendra Modi waived at the supporters riding in a jeep and standing at the front door of the vehicle. advertisement Security personnel, though, had a tough time running on the Odisha capital roads under blazing sun. ODISHA CRUCIAL TO BJP'S PROSPECTS Odisha holds critical position in the BJP's scheme of things as the party aims at widening its base in eastern and southern India. The BJP planned to do a Varanasi in Bhubaneswar with the road show of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP hopes that if PM Modi is more visible in Odisha, the move will benefit the party in the run up to the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in 2019. The BJP is said to be working on a blueprint of what they call 'fresh catchment area' of around 120 Lok Sabha seats eastern states including Odisha. The recent success in the Odisha panchayat polls has given the BJP hope to stage a comeback in the state, when it goes to polls two years down the line. #WATCH Live : PM Modi's roadshow in Bhubaneswar, Odisha https://t.co/x50RIC32NU The BJP has emerged as the number two party in Odisha after the panchayat polls pushing the Congress to the third position. The BJP now hopes to capture the anti-incumbency mood against the Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha. Also read | Narendra Modi, Amit Shah to attend BJP national executive meet, focus on Yogi Adityanath in Odisha Also read | Odisha gears up to welcome PM Modi ahead of BJP national executive meet Also read | Odisha is new laboratory of Narendra Modi's pro-poor schemes, says Dharmendra Pradhan Watch | Our aim is to create an India that would make Ambedkar proud, says PM Narendra Modi --- ENDS --- Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Gina Martinez NewYork-Presbyterian Queens celebrated the grand opening of its new Therapeutic Medicine Center Monday morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The center, which is set to open for patients Wednesday, is designed to serve the adult outpatients receiving intravenous treatment for cancer, anemia and other medical conditions. According to the hospital, the center provides a focused, relaxed and peaceful environment for patients. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony were state Assemblyman David I. Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows), City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing), NewYork-Presbyterian Queens President Jaclyn Mucaria, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Amir Jaffer and Chief Operating Officer Robert Blenderman. Cancer care requires much more than treatment and diagnosis, said Dr. David Fishman, director of the American College of Surgeons-accredited cancer program at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. Cancer takes a toll on the patient and their loved ones in innumerable ways. By having our own Therapeutic Medicine Center, we can treat the patients acute illness and assist in every stage of recovery. Patients at the center will receive treatment in private suites instead of shared rooms with several infusion chairs. According to the hospital, the centers comprehensive patient care includes a multidisciplinary team skilled in spirituality, specialized nursing, nutrition, genetics, palliative care, and supportive care services for both the patient and their families. Other features include an open snack bar, holistic therapies, genetic evaluations, cooking demonstrations and nutrition lectures that are specific to cancer care and treatment. Mucaria, president of NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, said the center will help doctors focus on the patient and give them a better experience as they fight cancer. The addition of the Therapeutic Medicine Center to the hospital allows our doctors and staff to treat patients within our four walls instead of referring them elsewhere, she said. It is one of the many ways we are creating a patient-centered approach to cancer care and treatment. Cancer treatment puts a tremendous amount of stress on the patient and their family. We are committed to improving the patients experience by providing a more comfortable and convenient setting in the treatment of this disease. By: Tomislav Jakic After a whole day of long awaited negotiations in Moscow, one thing is absolutely clear. Result is: zero. Surprise? Not at all, despite the fact that Donald Trump successfully cheated the whole world with his, for more than half a year repeated, mantra of the new American foreign policy, of abandoning imposing regimes and the American way of life. So, whoever expected any positive results from the meetings between ministers Lavrov and Tillerson and between President Putin and the guest form the US, proved to me, to say the least, naive. Because, acting only days before this meeting in the manner of the Lone Ranger, characteristic to those who preceded him, the new American President made a personal U-turn and provoked another. Launching 59 cruise missiles Tomahawk to bombard a Syrian air force base, Trump first of all did what he for months was promising not to do. Not only once in the election campaign and especially in his inaugural address Donald Trump solemnly promised that the United States will no more impose regimes, that they will not take part in senseless wars (like the one in Syria), that they will stop acting as the world policeman. Moreover he forgot his messages to Barack Obama, years ago, that he cannot act militarily against Syria without Congressional consent and that such an action would be a grave mistake. Let us go a step further. Trump even did not bother to produce an excuse for the attack. And let us be crystal clear. Nobody with a clear mind would buy the story that Assads forces launched a chemical attack against rebels, especially if one has in mind two key elements. First, Assads forces are gaining ground (so why would he risk such an attack, provoking a possible American reaction) and, second, the Syrian chemical weaponry, handed over some years ago at the Russian initiative, was destroyed by the Americans. It is worth mentioning that staging false pretexts for military interventions abroad is a long-term tradition of the American foreign policy. We do not need to go back to Teddy Roosevelt and Panama. Let us just remember the fake accident in the Gulf of Tonkin, which marked the beginning of the Vietnam war and let us not forget the equally fake story about Sadam Husseins weapons of mass destruction, which marked the start for the invasion of Iraq. At that time the American policy at least tried to stage a more or less plausible story (a full month of political-propagandistic preparations before Iraq was attacked). Nothing of that sort was needed by Trump. Without any solid evidence, without findings of any investigators on the spot, he knew (and the leaders of many European counties repeated after him, like reciting a poem) that the only person responsible for the use of chemical weapons can and is Assad (after that there where attempts to construct, indirectly though, a Russian responsibility too). And Donald Trump attacked. By doing so, he demonstrated two things. First, that he knows nothing about politics, because he completely forgot the Russian component of which he will be remembered one day after the attack on Syria by the Russian prime minister Medvedev who quite clearly stated that the US are on the verge of war with Russia. Alas, that he is a political amateur was a very well known fact, even to those who voted for him. But, he demonstrated something that the majority of his supporters did not expect because all of them did not vote for Trump just to express their support for building the wall along the border with Mexico. He demonstrated that he is ready, without hesitating, to abandon the concept of the new American foreign policy, most probably the product of some of his staff members, maybe General Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign. So, this is Trumps U-turn. The other U-turn he provoked was in the attitude of almost all who until yesterday could not stop attacking him. And they, so called liberals, political analysts, columnists, mainstream media, neo-cons like Senator John McCain and all like him, they are now more than happy with Trump. Not only that they accept him, they even glorify him, which is for example reflected in the statement that on the day he bombarded Syria, Trump became President. In Europe old-style politicians and their media followers are delighted that the American foreign policy is finally returning where it should be, that nothing is going to change and that the US will not allow anybody else to become Number 1 in the world. Both U-turns show that the world is again entering the fatale spiral of senselessness, that was guaranteed by Hillary Clinton and that could have been interrupted, as many hoped, thanks to Trump and his collaborators. And there is another indication that supports this way of thinking, an indication for the continued policy of inventing enemies, so desperately needed both by the military industrial complex and the deep state. A member of the US Congress, a Democrat (and they are traditionally more open if not closer to the left side of the political spectrum, than the Republicans) proposed the reactivation of the law against Nazi-propaganda from the Roosevelt days before WW2. If she had in mind the necessity to prevent the more and more present anti-Semitism, intolerance and racism which is a characteristic not only of the US, but of the US too, it would be OK. But no, she proposed the reactivation of the law that should have prevented Nazi-propaganda in order to defend the US from Russian propaganda which is undermining the very basis of democracy. Only yesterday, did you forget, this propaganda was accused of making Trump the President of the US and Trump was called Putins usefull idiot. But who is interested in such details any more? Now, after the bombardment of Syria, after America emerged again as it always was? Nobody! The very fact that there is an initiative to apply to todays Russia (formally democratic, although with clear authoritarian tendencies) an old law intended to prevent Nazi-propaganda, and Nazism is in its essence, in theory and practice, the very negation of democracy, proves that he West really desperately needs an enemy. If there is not a real one, than a fake enemy. And for what purpose is such an enemy needed? With an enemy on the horizon it is much easier to unite the voting machine in ones own country, as well as those in the allied countries, not to say: in the satellite countries. On the other hand, and this is even more important, with an enemy in sight one can create conditions if not for waging war, than for sure for preparing for war. And it is no secret that in such conditions good money can be made. The whole policy of containing Russia, waged for years by encircling Russia with NATO members, the whole propaganda campaign aimed at projecting Russia as tomorrows aggressor according to prominent and in the past reliable media in the West all of this is aimed at one goal: to make the public opinion prepared and ready to accept growing expenses for defense (or even substituting the professional armed forced with the mandatory serving in the army for every citizen). All of this is aimed at convincing citizens/voters that our media (and our politicians too) are telling the truth, while the Russians, both media and policy makers, are lying. And finally, all of this is aimed at making the public opinion understand why whistleblowers from the intelligence structures, people who at one point listen to their own conscience and tell openly what they are doing, should be treated and punished accordingly as inner danger for the national security. Initiatives such as the one for applying the law meant to prevent Nazi-propaganda to what is described as Russian propaganda (although it is not seldom more accurate and objective than what is being served by the mainstream media in the West), as well as further escalation of the war in Syria lead only to one conclusion: seemingly senseless, but at the same time quite logical. In order to survive the liberal capitalism which is ruling the greatest part of the world, needs a new, great war. The fatale spiral of senselessness which we have entered is, without any doubt, leading us in that direction. The author is a Croatian journalist (TV and press), who served for almost a decade as foreign policy advisor to the second President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesic. Afghan authorities Saturday reported a jump in fatalities from the American military\s largest non-nuclear bomb, declaring some 90 Islamic State fighters dead, as US-led ground forces sought to advance on their mountain hideouts. Dubbed the "Mother Of All Bombs", the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast was unleashed in combat for the first time Thursday, hitting IS positions in a remote area of eastern Nangarhar province. The unprecedented attack triggered global shock waves, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered a threat as big as the resurgent Taliban. The bomb smashed IS\s hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in a huge mushroom cloud and towering flames. "At least 92 Daesh (IS) fighters were killed in the bombing," Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP on Saturday, adding that three tunnels that sheltered the insurgents had been destroyed. Shinwari said that American and Afghan ground forces were slowly advancing on the mountainous area, which is blanketed with landmines, to clear the site, but there were still some pockets of resistance from insurgents. "New fighters have probably come from the other side of the border (Pakistan) to collect the dead bodies," he added. Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani gave a death toll of 90, far higher than the initial toll of 36 IS fighters given by Afghan officials. The dead included the brother of the late IS leader Hafiz Saeed, who was killed in a US air strike last year, officials said. Shinwari insisted there were "no military and civilian casualties at all". Security experts say IS had built their redoubts close to civilian homes, but the government said thousands of local families had already fled the area in recent months of fighting. An elderly man who lives close to the bombing site in Achin\s Momand Dara area said the blast was so piercingly loud that his infant granddaughter was experiencing hearing loss. The massive bomb was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area. An American special forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations. "The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in Nangarhar," General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said on Friday. President Ashraf Ghani threw his support behind the bombardment, saying it was "designed to support the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region". The bombing came only a week after US President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack, and as China warned of the potential for conflict amid rising US tensions with North Korea. Trump hailed the mission in Achin as "very, very successful". But some analysts called the action "disproportionate". "The Trump administration made a lot of noise with this bomb, but the general state of play on the ground remains the same: The Taliban continues to wage a formidable and ferocious insurgency. ISIS, by comparison, is a sideshow," Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington told AFP, using an alternative acronym for IS. "Still, from a strategic standpoint, there is an unsettling takeaway here: The US pulled off a huge shock and awe mission against an enemy that isn\t even the top threat to the US in Afghanistan. The Taliban continues to sit pretty." The Taliban, a much bigger insurgent group, is expected to soon announce the start of this year\s fighting season. IS, notorious for its reign of terror in Syria and Iraq, has made inroads into Afghanistan in recent years, attracting disaffected members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban as well as Uzbek Islamists. But the group has been steadily losing ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. SOURCE: AFP Heres what to know in Beaver County this Election Day If youre a registered voter in Beaver County planning to vote in person today, heres what you need to know. New Yorkers with friends or family members addicted to opioids are worried about a potential shortfall in supplies of the antidote naloxone, as overdose deaths rise and it takes more medication to reverse overdoses from fentanyl, a newer killer on the street said to be 50 times more potent than heroin. The state Health Department says that there has been no shortage of naloxone, known by the brand Narcan. And emergency responders said they are adequately stocked with the antidote, a miracle drug that can revive people from the brink of death. But advocates say people have had a harder time getting naloxone, or at least getting it for free as they have been able to do in recent years through programs that train them to administer the drug. In fact, Albany-based Project Safe Point, an effort of Catholic Charities Care Coordination Services, is now asking folks who attend its trainings not to take naloxone kits unless they think there is a high likelihood they will need the antidote. These might be people who after previous trainings would take the free naloxone, just in case they encountered an overdose. Project Safe Point, which distributes clean needles and other supplies by mobile van, wants to make sure it has an adequate supply of the antidote to hand out to as many as 340 active drug users at high risk of overdosing, as well as to law enforcement agencies it works with, said Director of Prevention Services Joseph Filippone. A couple of factors prompted Project Safe Point to prioritize the distribution of kits, said Filippone and the program's clinical director, Samara Gabree. One was a delay in naloxone shipments from the state, after a recall in late 2016 of an atomizer used to administer the antidote as a nasal spray. Health Department staff promptly responded to Filippone's request for more of the antidote, he said, but the gap in deliveries prompted the program to triage supplies. Another is a continuing rise in overdoses, especially from fentanyl. Project Safe Point has learned it's taking multiple doses of naloxone as many as four, Gabree said to reverse a fentanyl overdose. By comparison, one shot of Narcan is often enough to save someone's life after a heroin overdose. "The drugs out in the community are way ahead of us," Filippone said. Statewide, opioid-related deaths rose almost 150 percent in the 10-year period from 2005-2014, to 1,443 annually. Filippone said opioid overdoses are not slowing down. Earlier this month, 10 people in Greene County were suspected of overdosing in a 24-hour period, with fentanyl suspected, according to published reports. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple has not seen such a spike, but said, "We have overdoses unfortunately almost every day." In Erie County, where opioid related deaths were 10 times Albany County's in 2014, Avi Israel has not been able to get naloxone to parents trained in how to use it through his organization Save the Michaels of the World. The group, named for Israel's late son, offers training for people whose loved ones are active drug users, and typically distributes naloxone kits afterward. But in recent weeks, Israel said he has not always been able to get kits from his usual sources Erie County or area treatment facilities. He eventually reached out to the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services to secure 30 kits. The state Health Department's 2017-18 budget allocates $272,000 to distribute naloxone to schools and $450,000 for community programs. The state distributed nearly 104,000 kits to registered programs in fiscal year 2016, up from almost 80,000 the year before. The antidote seemed easy enough to get from a local CVS on Friday, as long as a customer was willing to pay something for it. The state last year enabled pharmacies to distribute naloxone without a prescription. Most insurance companies cover at least one formulation of the drug, though they may require a co-pay, according to the state Health Department. A CVS pharmacist said the store had naloxone on hand, and that customers could get it by providing their names and dates of birth. CVS will check insurance coverage if a customer wants that. Without insurance, a kit with two doses of naloxone nasal spray costs $145, while one with two doses of injectable naloxone costs just under $45. John McDonald, a state assemblyman who owns Marra's Pharmacy in Cohoes, said he does not stock Narcan because no one requests it likely because they have been able to get it for free through community-based groups, he guessed. When McDonald checked with his wholesaler Friday, he found the pricier nasal spray in abundant supply, but the less expensive injectable down to only 67 boxes available. Chatham Police Chief Peter Volkmann has had no trouble getting naloxone to meet his department's needs in Columbia County. But he does hear from people concerned about an impending shortage and thinks they may be needlessly scurrying to get a kit. "I'm just hearing we may not have it, and people are freaking out," Volkmann said. "It reminds me of the flu shot, when they said, we may not have enough. Then everyone went and got a flu shot." Dr. Michael Dailey of Albany Medical Center, the emergency medical services director for a six-county area, had this message for anyone without naloxone who encounters a person who has overdosed: "All public safety agencies that respond to opioid overdoses are stocked and ready to respond to people in need," he said. "If there's an emergency, please call 911." chughes@timesunion.com 518-454-5417 @hughesclaire This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Last Sunday's violent removal of a seated, ticketed passenger from a United Express jet at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has focused new attention on the rights of passengers in a rapidly consolidating industry. It also has raised questions about just what staff did or didn't do before deciding to summon security officers to remove Dr. David Dao, who was on the last leg of a flight home to Louisville, Ky., with his wife after a California vacation. Other police officials were among those left astounded by what they saw of the videos posted online by several other passengers. "I was blown away when I watched that video," said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, whose jurisdiction includes the Albany International Airport. "That would never happen here." The incident wasn't a safety issue; the airline simply hadn't left enough room for four of its own employees on the plane, and when it didn't get any takers for its voucher offers, airline staff decided to select four of them for involuntary bumping. By now, what happened next is well known. Three passengers left, but Dao refused, saying he had patients to see the next morning. For some unexplained reason, the process was splitting him and his wife. He would have spent the night in Chicago, and she would have flown home alone. United hadn't responded by deadline to several questions posed by the Times Union. United does permit passengers traveling together to split their reservation to improve the chance of an upgrade if, for example, only one seat in first class is available. But such a feature travelers are offered the opportunity to split their reservations at check-in may also have led to only half the couple being involuntarily bumped. The legacy carriers also traditionally have accepted one another's tickets when, for example, a flight is overbooked and another airline goes to the same destination. But it's not clear if the United gate agents ever considered this. American Airlines had a nonstop from O'Hare to Louisville leaving an hour after the United Express flight. And while historically it hasn't participated in the legacy carriers' ticket honoring arrangements, Southwest had a flight from Midway Airport on Chicago's South Side to Louisville leaving later that night. It's not clear whether either of those flights was also full. If not, United might have had to pay for the new tickets and in Southwest's case, taxi fare to Midway. But it would have avoided the nightmare that United now faces. Such procedures conceivably could be included in an updated passenger bill of rights. Jean Gagnon, president of Plaza Travel in Latham, is among those perplexed about why alternate travel arrangements weren't explored, and why the passengers were boarded and seated before gate agents began seeking volunteers. She also said Friday that gate agents should have offered cash when they had no takers for the vouchers, and that they likely would have found some takers if the offer was lucrative enough. Federal regulations state that airlines don't have to offer any more than $1,350 when they bump passengers. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. But Delta, in an internal memo obtained Friday by The Associated Press, has authorized supervisors to offer as much as $9,950 per passenger to entice them to give up their seat. United CEO Oscar Munoz, who after some initial hesitation has apologized repeatedly for what he now describes as a "truly horrific event," has promised a thorough review of policies that led to it. United has outsourced many of its gate and ramp agent jobs. In 2013, for example, the 42 United employees at Albany International Airport were replaced by contract workers. The following year, the Huffington Post reported that nationwide, many of these workers were being paid "near poverty" wages of between $9.50 and $12 per hour. Since then, profits in the industry have climbed due to consolidation. The four major airlines American, Delta, Southwest and United carry more than 90 percent of the passengers at Albany International Airport. Lower oil prices, more automation and a greater percentage of seats filled also have helped. And the bulk of airlines tickets, while discounted from full fare, also carry hefty change penalties, so just because someone is a no-show doesn't mean the airline necessarily loses revenue. Chances are it will get $150 or more in rebooking fees. Apple sees problems like the one facing United largely of their own making. "The onus is on the airline to make it right," he said. "They created it. They need to solve it." eanderson@timesunion.com 518-454-5323 The BJP national executive meet is being held in Odisha for the first time in 20 years and fourth time overall. The Odisha edition of BJP national executive meet is expected to see the party take crucial decisions as it eyes to widen its support base in the eastern and southern states. By India Today Web Desk: The BJP national executive meet is underway at Janata Maidan in Odisha capital Bhubaneshwar. Over 300 delegates are attending the BJP national executive meet. BJP president Amit Shah arrived for the meet yesterday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to arrive in Odisha this afternoon. But, focus is likely to be on Yogi Adityanath, who is attending the BJP national executive meet for the first time after taking oath as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. advertisement Lal Krishna Advani, most of the cabinet ministers of Modi government and 13 chief ministers of the BJP will be in a huddle with PM Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah at the Bhubaneshwar ground named after noted Oriya poet and philosopher Bhima Bhoi. BJP NATIONAL EXECUTIVE MEET: THINGS TO KNOW The BJP national executive meet is being held in Odisha for the fourth time and first time in 20 years. The conclaves were earlier held in 1982, 1992 and 1997. Explaining why the BJP is holding its national executive meet in Bhubaneshwar, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the electoral outcome of 2019-parliamentary elections "will be laid down by the Coromandel and eastern states". The BJP is focusing to widen its base in Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Odisha will also go to the polls in 2019 along with the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP think tank is said to have prepared a blueprint of what they 'fresh catchment area' of around 120 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha and other eastern states. Odisha is critical for the BJP's 'fresh catchment area' strategy after its decent show in the panchayat polls in the state. During the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP while swept entire north India but fared badly in the east. It had won only two seats in West Bengal and only one of 21 seats in Odisha. Among southern states, the BJP drew a naught in Kerala, won just one seat in Tamil Nadu, two of 25 in Andhra Pradesh and one of 17 in Telangana. After the panchayat polls in Odisha, the BJP replaced the Congress as the second largest party after the ruling BJD. The BJP hopes to cash in on the anti-incumbency mood against the Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha two years down the line. The BJP is fresh from victories in four of the five states where Assembly elections were held. The BJP formed governments in Uttar Pradesh with resounding mandate and also in Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. Yogi Adityanath has been hogging limelight ever since he became Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister last month. Besides party president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath is expected to address the BJP national executive meet. ALSO READ | Odisha gears up to welcome PM Modi ahead of BJP national executive meet ALSO WATCH | Our aim is to create an India that would make Ambedkar proud, says PM Narendra Modi --- ENDS --- Election day information: voting times, polling centers and races Residents will have their final chance to cast votes in local races on Nov. 8, including seats on both the NLCS and MCS boards and Sheriff. BJP today attacked AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for questioning the electronic voting machine, saying that he should accept Election Commission's challenge and show how it can be hacked. By India Today Web Desk: The BJP today sharpened its attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning the electronic voting machine (EVM). At the BJP national executive meet, the party asked Arvind Kejriwal to accept the Election Commission's challenge to show that EVMs could be hacked. "One Chief Minister in the country, who is from the IIT, claims that there are 70 methods by which EVM can be hacked. This hacking CM should accept Election Commission's challenge and show that the EVMs can be hacked," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on the first day of the BJP national executive meet in Bhubaneswar. advertisement Ravi Shankar Prasad was briefing the media-persons about what BJP president said in the national executive meet when he dared Arvind Kejriwal to accept the poll panel's open challenge. Earlier, Amit Shah told the BJP national executive that those questioning the EVM were insulting the Election Commission. Amit Shah said, "I expected that the parties losing election would accept defeat, but now they are looking for excuse and blaming the EVM for their own fault." "Was EVM okay when we lost elections in Delhi and Bihar," asked Amit Shah at the BJP national executive meet. The Opposition parties have put out a united front in alleging that the EVMs were manipulated and tampered with during the recently held Assembly elections in five states. The BJP went on to form governments in four states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. The Congress came back to power in Punjab. BSP chief Mayawati was the first leader to raise doubts over the EVM soon after the Assembly election results were announced for Uttar Pradesh shattering her party's dreams of forming a government in the state. Mayawati's claim was reiterated by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party had high hopes of seizing Punjab the way it did in Delhi in 2015. But, the party could not do well either in Punjab or Goa. Kejriwal went on to claim that the EVMs are not safe and can be hacked. Kejriwal even said that he can show this to the Election Commission if the poll panel gives him the EVM for 72 hours. Meanwhile, some reports from Madhya Pradesh's Bhind suggested that the EVMs did not behave properly during a demo by the Election Commission officials. The EVMs and attached Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) routed votes to the BJP irrespective of the button pushed on the machine. Later, a 13-party delegation met the Election Commission in New Delhi saying that they did not have faith in the EVMs. However, the Opposition was not united in seeking remedy. Some parties demanded that VVPAT must be attached with the EVM. Some others including Arvind Kejriwal's AAP demanded that the Election Commission should go back to ballot papers. advertisement The chorus of the Opposition parties has been growing over the EVM tampering. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav today said that ballot papers should be used for conducting election. Also Read BJP national executive meet: Narendra Modi holds roadshow in Bhubaneswar Arvind Kejriwal claims he has 10 ways to hack EVMs, goes on to describe one --- ENDS --- A sting operation by Mail Today found that workers at toll plazas around Delhi are allowing cab drivers to enter the city after accepting bribes. By Chayyanika Nigam, Ajay Kumar: Do you drive a car with commercial plates and want to save some money while crossing an MCD toll booth? There is a way if you have the will to bend the rules. A sting operation by Mail Today found that civic workers at DND, Mayur Vihar and Kalindi Kunj are allowing cab drivers to enter the national Capital by taking bribes and letting the vehicles go without a receipt from the corporation which goes to polls this month. advertisement Apart from kickbacks, drivers in India often use threats, violence, protests and claims of powerful connections to demand toll exemptions. Around 10.40pm on Monday, a Mail Today correspondent posing as a transporter running 15 cabs and looking to dodge the tariff approached the Municipal Corporation of Delhi staff at the Mayur Vihar toll plaza. The operator suggested she ask the driver to pay a bribe of Rs 50 instead of taking MCD challan of Rs 100 that is valid only for a single visit. Else, the driver would have to get a Rs 3,000 pass that is valid for a month. "Ma'am, if you pay the bribe, you won't get the challan slip but you will be allowed to enter Delhi. However, in case someone stops you, you will be held responsible," he said. 'BRIBING IS A COMMON PRACTICE' When the reporter asked some cab drivers about how they manage daily entry, many of them said that they get a monthly pass. However, others admitted to bribing the MCD staff. Another operator at the Mayur Vihar plaza said, "We are under CCTV surveillance so we cannot take the bribe easily. However, bribing is a common practice at other toll plazas like at DND and Kalindi Kunj." AT DND We reached the Delhi Noida Direct flyway at around 11.30 pm. The toll booth here has been placed in the middle of the thoroughfare, putting motorists' lives at risk. Also, it leads to frequent traffic snarls. The moment a vehicle crosses the main toll booth in Noida and picks up speed, it runs into the MCD toll booth and often the person behind the wheel loses control over the vehicle. When the undercover reporter tried to talk to the attendants, they refused to take bribes. However, many truck drivers were caught on camera with Rs 100 notes in their hands when the toll is Rs 500. One of them said: "Dekhna, main issi se kaam chalunga (Just watch, I'll make do with this)." He didn't pay the Rs 500 tax for his truck's entry into Delhi and bribed the attendant to get through. advertisement A DND staffer on duty suggested the reporter to ally with one of the attendants who would fix the kickback amount and let the cabs go. Apart from the traffic snarls and the corrupt practices at the MCD toll plaza at DND, there was another critical problem. Officials from the transport department's special branch were patrolling with a torch to check the documents of truck drivers. They risk lives in the dark by coming in front of the speeding vehicles to stop and inspect papers. AT KALINDI KUNJ The reporter then reached the MCD toll plaza at Kalindi Kunj around 12.20 am, still posing the owner of 15 cabs who is starting out in the business. The toll incharge sitting outside the booth first suggested that the correspondent not try to bend the rules and instead buy a monthly pass. However, when the reporter stressed on bribing Rs 50 per visit, he agreed to it, adding: "It's risky and if your driver is caught he may have to pay a heavy challan to the transport department officials." The vendor of the toll plaza at Kalindi Kunj told the reporter that if his attendants allow any commercial vehicle to pass with bribe, then the operator suffers a loss. So they have to keep a tight vigil on illegal practices. advertisement The municipal corporation has given the toll plaza to the vendors for three years via open bidding and doesn't delve into their management. "There are around 137 toll plazas in the city connecting other parts of NCR. Every day, revenue of around Rs 1.5 crore is generated from Delhi and the vendors are supposed to deposit the amount on weekly basis. If they come on the defaulter list, the amount from the security deposit is deducted," an official requesting anonymity said. TRAFFIC CONGESTION Traffic congestion is another upshot of the MCD toll plazas. Mail Today visited the one on Delhi-Gurugram expressway at Shirhaul border and found that negotiating the stretch at peak hours is a challenge for motorists. "The employees of toll plaza used to stand in the middle of the road to keep an eye on vehicles with commercial number plates. They sometimes jumped in front of high-speed vehicles to stop them," said Neeraj Bhardwaj, a senior executive of a BPO company in Gurugram who uses the route frequently. advertisement The Shirhaul plaza has six main toll lanes and two to three split ones while vehicles are moving from Gurugram to Delhi. They have put cylindrical containers in the middle of the road and once a commercial vehicle driver gets a ticket, it is cross-checked by an employee standing 10 metres away in the same lane. The stoppage of vehicles twice in quick succession slows down traffic. "If some hurdle suddenly appears on the stretch, it will end lead to a pileup with great risk to human life. As the normal toll plaza was shifted some two years ago from this place, the MCD toll should also be shifted to somewhere in public interest," said another commuter, Sunil Malhotra. Ramesh Kumar, a toll employee, told Mail Today that they put drums in front of commercial vehicles if they refuse to pay toll at the booths. The operator has also deployed two SUVs that chase down tax dodging vehicles. If an offender is caught by the flying squad, he is made to pay six times the actual toll as fine. ALSO READ | Collecting toll on Delhi's DND flyway a risky business --- ENDS --- The committee is distressed to note that despite several measures taken by the BSF, the problem of cattle smuggling persists along India-Bangladesh border. By Supriya Bhardwaj: A report on border security tabled by Parliament Standing Committee on Home Affairs in Rajya Sabha in the just concluded budget session, has pointed towards many security loopholes in the India Bangladesh Border. The report, which was exclusively accessed by India Today, also talks about a 'deep and wide' cattle smuggling nexus at the India-Bangladesh border. The committee is headed by Former Home Minister P Chidambaram. advertisement WHAT THE COMMITTEE STATES Due to vulnerable borders, India has witnessed numerous cross-border terrorist attacks. The committee took up this subject due to its crucial importance particularly because borders have now become really vulnerable from the security point of view. The committee, during the course of examination, detected certain major systemic inadequacies which are of cumulative nature, emerging over a period of time. The committee in this report has dealt with many issues pertaining to capacity building and strengthening of borders and the institutional mechanisms that are functioning for the security of the country. ON CATTLE SMUGGLING ACROSS INDIA-BANGLADESH BORDER The committee is distressed to note that despite several measures taken by the BSF, the problem of cattle smuggling persists along IBB. "Committee is particularly anguished to note that West Bengal state government has failed to implement its own order dated 01.09.2003 that outlaws existence of any cattle haats within 8 kms of border area," report states. On this, the committee recommended that the state government of West Bengal should take up steps to cancel licenses of all cattle haats that are illegally functioning within 8 kms of border area and hold the officials responsible for illegally issuing renewing licenses to these haats. The committee also recommended, "Mass movement and trading of cattle should be prohibited within 15 kms of border and steps may be initiated to move all cattle haats located within 15 kms of border to the hinterland." Committee notes that the auction of seized cattle by customs officials is misused by the cattle smugglers who keep buying the auctioned cattle again and again. It also recommended that auction of seized cattle must be banned in the states bordering India Bangladesh Border and the customs department may be requested to arrange for transportation of the seized cattle to states other than the border states and hold auction there. The Parliament Standing Committee, which has members from across party line, also agreed that the mass movement of cattle occurs from all states towards West Bengal and Assam and once they reach border areas it becomes extremely difficult to stop their movement across the border. The Committee in strong words stated in its report, "there is a wide and deeply entrenched nexus due to which this menace has proliferated and government needs to strike at the roots of the nexus, if it has to completely curb this problem." advertisement BORDER OUTPOSTS The committee, in the first instance, takes serious note of the fact that the proposal of constructing 509 BOPs along India Pakistan Border (IPB) and India Bangladesh Border (IBB) to reduce the inter- BOP distance to 3.5 kilometres has been revised and reduced to 422 BOPs. Reducing inter- BOP distance is very crucial for the security of the country and to keep a tab on the activities going on the border. But even the reduced target was not achieved and only 97 BOPs out of 326 BOPs have been completed by the end of 2016 along IBB. Committee recommends that the original plan of constructing 509 BOPs to reduce inter-BOP distance to 3.5 km may be reconsidered in the interest of the security of the nation. BORDER FENCING ALONG IBB Committee notes with anguish the extremely slow pace of construction of fencing along IBB. The ministry was able to complete only 21 km of fencing in 17 months since July 2015. advertisement Committee notes that a long stretch of 423.34 km has remained unfenced due to non-feasibility of physical barrier and deployment of non physical barriers is still in its testing phase and will require time before its implementation. Committee recommended that in the areas that are hotspots for FICN and cattle smuggling, fencing projects should be prioritised and if fencing, in such areas is not feasible then the ministry must increase the deployment of forces and intensify round the clock surveillance till such areas are secured through implementation of non physical barriers. BORDER FLODDLIGHTS ALONG IBB Committee notes that almost until 528 km of border, where floodlights are feasible and have been sanctioned is yet to be floodlit. Lack of floodlights on the border allows the smugglers to perpetrate their devious activities during night. The committee recommended that the ministry must fast track the floodlights project and complete it at the earliest. The committee also recommends short term measures. It must provide adequate long range night vision equipment to all the border outposts situated in areas that lack floodlights. Also Read: Rajasthan: One nabbed after cow smugglers open fire at police in Bharatpur Alwar cow vigilante killing: Cattle carriers had Jaipur municipal receipts, cops booked them for smuggling advertisement Also Watch: Cattle mafia exposed at Bangladesh border, West Bengal govt's role under scrutiny --- ENDS --- U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver opened Day 2 of Convention with a powerful message that no matter how many times American workers get knocked down well always get back up stronger and more unified. #USWUnity More interesting than today's. . . This clip of Congressman Cleaver features in repeated call for American worker resistance.Description:You decide . . . Local violence uptick and nice weather continue another violence Kansas City weekend.Here's the first note on this news:No suspect description or other information is available. Police ask anyone with information to call theThis is the 33rd homicide this year compared with 27 at this time last year for an overall 22% increase in the murder count which stands at a 5-year-high for the calendar date.Developing . . . WE DEDICATE TKC GOOD FRIDAY NIGHT POWER RANKINGS TO THE MOST RESILIENT KANSAS CITY AREA LOCALS DETERMINED TO MAKE A COMEBACK!!! Kansas City Hammer Time Lady Independence Police Dude Kansas City Low Tax Heroes Tonight we pay tribute to the strongest locals in Kansas City who have confronted hard times, setbacks and tragedy but keep pushing forward.To wit . . .Take a look:She withstood a horrific attack and cancer recurrence . . . Nevertheless,and showed the world that she wasn't going to let a violent criminal get the best of her.Despite behind the scenes talk of friendly fire and controversy over media coverage . . . Without question, all of the Kansas City metro hopes for the recovery of an Independence Police OfficerKansas City tax fighters lost a big election but their response isn't to back down but toin the face of adversity. Rather than cash in like so many of the consultant class, these locals continue their work as the engaged, committed and well-informed denizens of our cowtown. Like it or not, there is no keeping down these neighborhood advocates who refuse to simply comply with a tax and spend agenda that continues to rack up debt at City Hall.Accordingly . . .As always, this list has been compiled according toand it's a weekly comprehensive guide to local powerful people. More Kansas City Traveling Music Reporting KCI adds music, outlets and more to improve flying experience KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Live jazz music premiered at Kansas City International Airport on Friday. The music is one of a number of changes made at the airport to improve the overall experience for anyone using the facility. Another Horrible Token Latina Column Mary Sanchez: Fast and Furious operation fails Brian Terry ... again Fast and Furious was a botched federal effort to track U.S.-purchased guns trafficked to Mexican drug cartels. Eventually, guns went missing, and a U.S. border patrol agent ended up dead. Brian Terry's family never learned the full truth of what happened to their beloved son and brother. Broadway Bridge Debate Continues Repair or replace: Future of Buck O'Neil Bridge KANSAS CITY, Mo. - More than 50,000 people like Johnathon Hutchens drive across the Buck O'Neil Bridge every day. But at 60 years old, the bridge is in bad condition. "It's always a little hectic driving near vehicles and obviously an older bridge. Like so many others, it needs repairs," said Hutchens. Kansas City Dead Man Comeuppance Feds want to seize home, cars, other assets from deceased businessman accused of fraud - Kansas City Business Journal The U.S. Attorney's Office is asking a federal court for permission to seize property they allege Mark Sellers gained as part of a $10 million investment fraud scheme. Sellers, who had operated Selden Cos. LLC, was being investigated before he killed himself in August. Show-Me The Missouri Discourse Missouri Legislative Bills, Bridge Woes, And Kansas City Trumpter Hermon Mehari Today, we learn about two bills making their way through the Missouri General Assembly; one would place stricter rules on ride-hailing businesses like Lyft and Uber, another would create a statewide prescription drug monitoring database. Then, the Buck O'Neil Bridge is in bad shape, and city leaders are struggling over how to pay for the needed repairs. Local Claim To Fame Bob Cerv, 91, three-time Yankee who found stardom in Kansas City - The Boston Globe NEW YORK - Bob Cerv's desire to play for the Yankees was roused by a trip to New York with his father, who drove a refrigerated food truck from Nebraska. He was only 11 or 12, but seeing Lou Gehrig hit home runs at Yankee Stadium made him want to play there as well. Home Team Hard Times Continue Kansas City Royals Series Grades: Home Opener A Disappointment Coming off of an impressive series victory over the Houston Astros, there was some hope the Kansas City Royals had things straightened out. With their home opener, and remembrance ceremony for Yordano Ventura, there should have been a little something extra in them. However, the Royals fell short and lost another series. For denizens of our late night local discourse and. . . Here are more than a few Kansas City links worthy of consideration and much better than all of the local press release coverage. Take a peek:And this is thefor right now . . . Now that Kansas City is on the verge of spending more than $800-MILLION worth of taxpayer cash . . . The Mayor has reportedly dodged another public discussion at the Public Library of all places Is the Mayor afraid that he can't answer tough questions??? Is the Mayor hiding from any fair & reasonable public criticism during a MODERATED debate??? Is the spending of TAXPAYER CASH not open for discussion with Mayor Sly James??? Fact: The Mayor doesn't want to talkKansas City Infrastructure with anyone who might disagree with is worldview.Before a crucial election, Mayor Sly James avoided any debate or tough questions.Honestly, we can't figure this out . . .Point of fact . . . This isn't a blogger forum, commercial talk show or street fight that the Mayor is reportedly avoiding . . . It's a forum at the PUBLIC LIBRARY that's open to all of Kansas City . . . Even the hobos.In much the same way that the streetcar vote has undermined Kansas City election process . . . The refusal of Mayor Sly James to answer criticism or questions about his actions in office threatens to weaken Kansas City Democracy and constitutes what should be considered a despicable dereliction of his job requirements.Developing . . . Eide also said that Turkeys demand for access to the four EU freedoms is not a part of the negotiating process Trust was lost during this period, UN Secretary General Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide told Sigmas reporter Christos Charalambous in an interview on Thursday. During an interview on the latest round of Cyprus talks, which restarted on Tuesday, Eide said that trust was lost and that it must return, adding that there is a difficult question to answer now, not only to solve the remaining issues, but to re-create the climate which will allow for the solution of the Cyprus problem. Eide also said that Turkeys demand for access to the four EU freedoms is not a part of the negotiating process. At negotiations, he added, we are discussing the equal treatment, of both sides, which was always a part of the negotiations. The full interview will be available to watch after the main news program on Sigma. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report City Mall, a leading retail destination in Amman, Jordan, has announced the successful completion of the new extension in the banks and services area, thus adding a number of new stores to the facility. The move is in line with City Malls strategy to constantly enhance the mall and its facilities to meet all the customers needs; offering them the best shopping experience, said a top official. A number of new outlets including Enterprise rent-a-car, Dr Nutrition center and BioLab laboratories along with beauty care stores Hair Inc. Beauty salon and Cool Cuts kids salon are being set up as part of the new expansion. In addition to these stores, the City Mall will see Orange Jordan, Arab Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank will move into a bigger facility within the premises. On the new expansion, Maram Enaya, the commercial manager at City Mall, said: "In the past decade, we at City Mall have worked continuously on developing and enhancing our offered services to meet the customers needs and expectations." "Today, this new step solidifies our commitment towards our customers in offering them the best services and amenities to enrich their unique shopping experience and to continue City Malls legacy as the citys favourite shopping destination," she added.-TradeArabia News Service According to eyewitnesses, two police vehicles stopped at the entrance of the college. This infuriated the students as they thought the police had come to arrest them, a day after they had objected to allowing an Army vehicle from entering the college. The students and the security forces started hurling abuses at each other. "As students assembled at the site, police fired pellets and teargas shells into the college premises, which provoked more students to join in and shout slogans against the police. Additional security forces were called in to rein in the protesters. The students started pelting the security forces with stones and the latter were forced to fire more teargas shells and pellets", the eyewitnesses said. They added that due to shelling and beating of students, there was absolute chaos outside the college. Employees at the district hospital in Pulwama said since the rush of those injured was too high to attend to, there was total chaos at the premises. The employees said that forces fired at the hospital premises which led to greater chaos. Dr Abdul Rashid Parra, Medical Superintendent of Pulwama hospital, said that 54 injured students were treated at the hospital. "Most of the injured were girl students, who had fainted or received bruises during the violence. Three of the students were critically injured and they were referred to SMHS and SKIMS", Dr Para said. Rayees Muhammad Bhat, Senior Superintendent of Police of Pulwama district, said that 30 students had been injured. "Only three students were injured due to pellets and teargas shells." Explaining the situation, the SSP said that students pelted the police and the CRPF personnel with stones, which were there as a party patrolling the checkpost. "The checkpost party, which includes two police vehicles and CRPF personnel, is everyday placed nearly 200 meters away from the college for anti-militancy purposes, not to arrest students of the college", he said, adding that a video was being circulated on social networking sites and was being falsely attributed to the Pulwama situation", he added. "We are investigating why the party was attacked today. May be the attack was pre-planned to create unrest in the wake of the bypolls", the SSP said. Meanwhile, a police statement said that a normal checkpost was set up around 200 meters away from the Pulwama Degree College. "As classes in the college ended, some miscreants started pelting stones at the checkpost. To rein in stone pelters, Army reinforcements were rushed to the spot. The mob swelled as more students joined in and started pelting stones on the forces", the statement said. "In this incident, some miscreants and police personnel were injured. One of the injured was referred to the Srinagar hospital, where his condition is said to be stable", the statement added. The district police administration in a statement clarified that no raids were conducted and the video being shared on social networking groups, which has already gone viral on social media, was not from Pulwama. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest and most populous metropolis, brims with rushing motorbikes and bicycles that paint its distinctive scene of crazy traffic. Yet residents claim its chaos is only a facade. Locals and expats like the Australian travel blogger James Clark of Nomadic Notes revealed that Ho Chi Minh City "traffic looks crazy, yet once you are in it the cars move at a slow and steady pace, and you rarely see road rage." Kelsey Cheng, a volunteer from Chicago, told BBC that the fast-paced city is rather "a very calming place" where "the lifestyle is relaxed" and the bustling crowd always gets to their destination "(almost) on time." When it comes to the locals, An Duong of TourMega, said that one can always find a helping hand among fellow Saigoners who "help others voluntarily and enthusiastically like they are in a family." Even celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain loved the people of Ho Chi Minh City who seem to be more "passionate/expressive" as compared to those in the capital city of Hanoi. He loved everything in it including "the sights, the smells, even the noise" and seemed to prefer it over the northern part of Vietnam. Bourdain praised their seafood and preferred the spicier Southern pho over the pho in the north, according to The Guardian. The popular street food restaurant in District 1 known as The Lunch Lady is highly recommended by the locals and Bourdain. Most expats live in this district because it nestles everything that's good about Ho Chi Minh City - the street food, modern shopping malls, nightlife and the Ben Than market. One of the reasons Vietnam is home to a good number of expats is its low cost of living. Clark told BBC he spent $724 the first month he moved in and that many expats can do the same, spend under $1,000 a month and still binge on coffee and enjoy local food. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 More than 400 national parks adorn the U.S., and for limited days this 2017, visitors can visit these parks for free. According to the website of National Park Service, they are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, thus their free treat to visitors nationwide. They have listed the specific dates on when to access these national parks for free. This month, they are celebrating the National Park Week, therefore there would be another free national parks' admission on April 15-16 and 22-23. Make sure to not miss out on this awesome offer and visit some of the most beautiful national parks the US has. Here are some parks you should not miss: Lassen Volcanic National Park, Mineral, California. You might think you're in Yellowstone because of the hissing mudpots scattered all across the park, but you're actually in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Not only is it fascinating for geologists, but visitors will also have a great time exploring the volcanic landscape of the place. The park has all the four major types of volcanoesshield, plug, cinder cone, and composite, according to Eco Philes. Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, Virgin Islands. Surround yourself with the clear, blue waters and the serene atmosphere of Virgin Islands National Park. Snorkeling is one of the top activities here, as well as hiking the trails for some of the most magnificent views of your life. The park also has abundant coves and bays that you can wade in in search of luminescent-green parrot fish, leatherback sea turtles, and elkhorn and staghorn corals. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. It's one of the best and most famous national parks in the US and with good reason. You can never be short of adventures here a Yellowstone. Of course, catching an Old Faithful Geyser eruption is something you shouldn't miss, but make sure to embark on some other activities as well. Make sure to also stop by Observation Point, a great part of the park that offers spectacular views of the Upper Geyser Basin. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Throughout the decades, South America has been putting its name on the roster of the top food destinations in the world. Some of the South American countries that have been known for their amazing gastronomic delights include Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador and Brazil. We listed five of the best restaurants that stand out among all the other food spots in all of South America. Pizzeria Guerrin. This pizza parlor was established in 1932 in Buenos Aires. Pizzeria Guerrin is popular among locals because of its reasonably affordable Italian food and slices of authentic Italian pizza topped with a generous amount of mozzarella and other classic Italian ingredients. According to the Lonely Planet, the delicious pizza slices in Pizzeria Guerrin are best served with a glass of soda or Moscato. Aside from pizzas, Pizzeria Guerrin's menu also offers a selection of sweets and local empanadas for you to enjoy. Epice (Sao Paulo). Epice in Sao Paulo, Brazil is not just your typical fine-dining restaurant. Owned by Alberto Landgraf, this restaurant has emerged to be one of the classic yet modernized restaurants in the district that serve Brazilian classic dishes which are fused with a touch of culinary modernism, The Daily Meal says. Epice's minimalist yet superb menu include cured pork belly with dried cassava, scallops, parmesan gelatin, grilled octopus and the luscious foie gras. Aramburu in Buenos Aires. Each meal course in Aramburu is applied by its owner, Chef Gonzalo Aramburu, with molecular techniques which give an astounding aroma, taste and texture to every Argentinian meal served. The presentation of each meal is plated as if it is the best food experience you will ever have in your life. Among the most popular dishes served in Aramburu is the suckling pig with mandarin sorbet and squash puree as well as the sumptuous filet mignon with celeriac and Andean tubers. Also, what makes the dining experience in Aramburu unique is that the restaurant is limited to 16 guests who can witness first-hand the techniques and strategies used by the chef with their dishes. Astrid & Gaston (Lima). Astrid and Gaston in Lima was established in 1994. This restaurant was founded by Astrid Gutsche and Gaston Acurio in Miraflores. The restaurant served French classics in the beginning. However, as time went by, the menu of Astrid and Gaston has become purely Peruvian. The restaurant offers a 28-course tasting menu that features the Peruvian classics that are highlighted with an ambiance of a magnificent mansion and welcoming servers. Astrid and Gaston also offers more than 250 varieties of wine that are imported from different parts of the world for a perfect tasting experience. El Refuerzo Bar Almacen (San Telmo). Whether you are in the mood for cheeses, cured red and white meats, hand-stretched pasta and traditional casserole dishes, this almacen-styled restaurant in San Telmo is perfect for you. This restaurant has also been popular in the district because of its salmon salad and a number of desserts, which are made of lime and cheese. Every meal in the menu also has a corresponding recommended type of wine to sum up your ultimate dining experience. Just remember not to bring cards because El Refuerzo Bar Almacen only accepts cash for payments. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 A travel, may it be local or international, can never be a fulfilling experience without digging into the gastronomic delights of the place you are going to. Foods are actually one of the reasons that make traveling an exciting thing to do. Here is a short list of the best destinations that every foodie must visit this 2017. Tokyo, Japan. Japanese cuisine is one of the most widely celebrated international cuisines all over the world. And one place to discover the authentic Japanese delights is no less than in the city of Tokyo. According to the Telegraph, Tokyo is surrounded by local and regional izakayas to five-star restaurants serving delicious Japanese specialties. You can also find some of the freshest seafood, soba, tsukudani, sushi, sashimi and budget-friendly food stalls in Tokyo. Santiago, Chile. The cuisine in the capital of Chile is a fusion of the flavors of the Spanish influence and the town's local and native taste and ingredients. You can see markets, restaurants and bars in almost every corner of Santiago that serve authentic Chilean meals combined with the classic Chilean wines. You can go to the Mercado Central if you want to have a taste of the fresh seafood. You can also go to Cafe del Museo for a sumptuous smoked turkey and a unique basil cream sandwich. There is also the large indoor market called the "La Vega" where meats and spices are sold. Dakar, Senegal. Dakar is the capital and the biggest city in Senegal. Its cuisine is a flare of the Lebanese, West African and French flavors. Dakar is popular among food lovers because of an array of street food stalls across the district where you can taste some of the dishes that you can only find in Senegal. The fritters made of black-eyed peas called the accara, and the spicy roasted mutton called dibi are some of the must-tries in Dakar. Chicago, Illinois. Deep-dish pizzas, mouth-watering steaks and hot dogs - these are what Chicago is known for. Chicago's deep crust is overloaded with tons of toppings and is baked to perfection. A traveler who goes to Chicago for the first time should never miss a bite of this classic. You can also find prime steakhouses in this city. However, according to the U.S. News, if you cannot afford the not-so-cheap steaks and pizzas in Chicago, you can also try the restaurants in the lesser-travelled neighborhoods in the city such as the Greektown and the Streeterville. Here you can find cheap restaurants serving Italian cuisines, tacos, Pakistani and Indian classic. Seoul, Korea. Food, (particularly, street food) is of great importance in South Korea, most especially in the city of Seoul. You can actually see the streets which are bombarded with stalls and restaurants serving tasty and classic Korean dishes such as the famous tteokbokki or rice cakes that are bathed in special sauce. You can also find stalls selling different versions of Korean Sundae or blood sausage that is stuffed with noodles. There is also the bibimbop and the potato and pork soup called the gamjatang. Whether you are in the mood for savory dishes or even ice cream and smoothies, the streets of Seoul has it all for you. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Being the biggest island in all of Vietnam, the island of Phu Quoc has a lot of amazing landmarks and sceneries that attract tourists from all over the world. From pristine beaches to high mountains, Phu Quoc Island is one panoramic paradise for visitors to enjoy. Here are some of the best activities that you must not miss during your travel to the island of Phu Quoc. Explore Phu Quoc National Park. A travel to Phu Quoc Island will never be complete without you visiting the Phu Quoc National Park. This over 30,000-hectare national park covers an array of mangrove, forests, mountains and wetlands. As a matter of fact, half of the total dimension of Phu Quoc Island is covered by Phu Quoc National Park itself. According to Mapping Megan, guests can have the option to hire a motorcycle for tours or just take the walking trails of the national park. Do underwater activities. Phu Quoc Island is one perfect place for divers and marine adventurers. Visitors can choose to dive on the two largest diving spots on the island, the Doi Moi or the so-called Turtle Island, and the An Thoi Archipelago. There are also professional divers who are ready to help tourists who want to go on diving or snorkeling. So whether you are a pro or a first-timer, you can still enjoy the spectacular corals and marine life in the sea covering the island of Phu Quoc. Take a tour to the Dinh Cau Cape, Lighthouse and Temple. The Dinh Cau Cape, Lighthouse and Temple is one of the most popular tourist spots in all of Phu Quoc Island. Not only a famous tourist destination but this amazing landmark is also tagged as a symbol of the Phu Quoc's natives. The DinhC au Cape, Lighthouse and Temple is located along the Duong Dong river and is also near the Phu Quoc's night market where visitors can go on shopping and food tripping. Go on fishing. Fishing is what makes the world go round for the people of Phu Quoc Island. And as the island's tourism grow through time, the residents have also started to offer several fishing tours for tourists. Guests can on fishing by themselves along the huge and rich fishing destinations on the island. You can also ask a restaurant to cook your freshest catches the traditional Vietnamese way. Attend a Fish Sauce Workshop. Since the island of Phu Quoc sees fishing as the source of living, it is unquestionable why this island is also known for having some of the best fish sauces in all of Asia. In fact, Phu Quoc fish sauce is also exported to countries outside Vietnam. It is also used to make the traditional Phu Quoc dishes. According to the Lonely Planet, once you arrive at Phu Quoc Island, you can attend the fish sauce-making workshop where you will be familiarized with how the authentic and aromatic Phu Quoc fish sauce is produced. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Vice Minister Han Song Ryol said Pyongyang has determined the Trump administration is "more vicious and more aggressive" than that of Barack Obama. By AP: President Donald Trump's tweets are adding fuel to a "vicious cycle" of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's vice foreign minister told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Friday. The official added that if the US shows any sign of "reckless" military aggression, Pyongyang is ready to launch a pre-emptive strike of its own. Vice Minister Han Song Ryol said Pyongyang has determined the Trump administration is "more vicious and more aggressive" than that of Barack Obama. He added that North Korea will keep building up its nuclear arsenal in "quality and quantity" and said Pyongyang is ready to go to war if that's what Trump wants. advertisement Tensions between Pyongyang and Washington go back to President Harry Truman and the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. But the heat has been rising rapidly since Trump took office in January. This year's joint war games between the US and South Korean militaries are the biggest so far. The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier has been diverted back to the waters off Korea after heading for Australia, and US satellite imagery suggests the North could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. Pyongyang recently tested a ballistic missile and claims it is close to perfecting an intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear warhead that could attack the US mainland. Many experts believe that at its current pace of testing, North Korea could reach that potentially game-changing milestone within a few years - under Trump's watch as president. Despite reports that Washington is considering military action if the North goes ahead with another nuclear test, Han did not rule out the possibility of a test in the near future. "That is something that our headquarters decides," he said during the 40-minute interview in Pyongyang, which is now gearing up for a major holiday - and possibly a big military parade - on Saturday. "At a time and at a place where the headquarters deems necessary, it will take place." TWO TESTS CONDUCTED IN 2016 The North conducted two such tests last year alone. The first was of what it claims to have been a hydrogen bomb and the second was its most powerful ever. Expectations are high the North may put its newest missiles on display during Saturday's parade. The annual US-South Korea military exercises have consistently infuriated the North, which views them as rehearsals for an invasion. Washington and Seoul deny that, but reports that exercises have included "decapitation strikes" aimed at the North's leadership have fanned Pyongyang's anger. Han said Trump's tweets have also added fuel to the flames. Trump posted a tweet Tuesday in which he said the North is "looking for trouble" and reiterated his call for more pressure from Beijing, North Korea's economic lifeline, to clamp down on trade and strengthen its enforcement of UN sanctions to persuade Pyongyang to denuclearize. Trump has threatened that if Beijing isn't willing to do more to squeeze the North, the US might take the matter into its own hands. advertisement "Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words," Han said. "It's not the DPRK but the US and Trump that makes trouble." North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He added: "We will go to war if they choose." A US State Department official said later Friday the US was aligning "all elements of national power" to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs. The official, who wasn't authorized to be quoted by name and demanded anonymity, lamented Pyongyang's "far too common and far too dangerous" provocations, and said Washington would work with international partners to cut the North's government off "from the rest of the world." NO MILITARY CONFLICT, PEACEFUL WAY FORWARD The US seeks nothing more than a "stable and economically prosperous Korean peninsula," not military conflict, the official said. But the US will respond to North Korea's threats accordingly and won't engage Pyongyang until it "chooses a more peaceful way forward." Han said US sanctions efforts are misguided and cited the opening ceremony of a sprawling new high-rise residential area in Pyongyang on Thursday as evidence that sanctions have failed to ruin the country's economy. Leader Kim Jong Un presided over the ceremony before about 100,000 residents and a large contingent of foreign journalists who have been allowed in to cover the holiday. advertisement Han dismissed the suggestion Trump made last year during his presidential campaign that he was willing to meet Kim Jong Un, possibly over hamburgers. "I think that was nothing more than lip service during the campaign to make himself more popular," Han said. "Now we are comparing Trump's policy toward the DPRK with the former administration's and we have concluded that it's becoming more vicious and more aggressive." Han said North Korea changed its military strategy two years ago, when the reports of "decapitation strike" training began to really get attention, to stress pre-emptive actions. "We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a US. pre-emptive strike," he said. "Whatever comes from the U.S., we will cope with it. We are fully prepared to handle it." How much such comments are bluster, or how realistic they are, is hard to gauge. advertisement Also on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said all sides must stop provoking and threatening and start taking a flexible approach to resuming dialogue. He said China is willing to support any such effort. "Once a war really happens, the result will be nothing but multiple-loss. No one can become a winner," Wang said. "No matter who it is, if it wants to make war or trouble on the Korean Peninsula, it must take the historical responsibility and pay the due price." SOUTH KOREA SLAMS NORTH KOREA South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Han's remarks on the North's readiness to conduct a nuclear test and even go to war reveal the "true colors of North Korea's government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations." The ministry issued a statement saying North Korea will face strong punishment it will find hard to withstand if it makes a significant provocation, such as another nuclear test or an ICBM launch. Military experts generally agree a shooting war with North Korea would likely be far more costly than something along the lines of the recent targeted strike Trump ordered against a Syrian air base believed to be linked to a chemical weapons attack by the regime of Bashar Assad. That attack alarmed the North and was condemned as "unpardonable" by Pyongyang, which counts Syria as an ally. Even without nuclear weapons, the North could cause severe damage with its conventional artillery batteries aimed at the South Korean capital of Seoul. Also read: US more vicious, aggressive under Donald Trump; ready for war if they choose: North Korea Chinese tabloid warns North Korea against nuclear and missile tests --- ENDS --- The board was hearing the case of a child who has been a victim of substance abuse and has been consuming thinners and whiteners. By Anusha Soni: Taking cognisance of the increasing menace of drug and substance abuse among children in the NCR region, the Juvenile Justice Board has banned the sale of correction fluids/ whiteners, thinners/diluters and vulcanised solutions/sulochans to children below the age of 18 years unless the child is accompanied by parents/guardian, or has a letter from the school authorities signifying their assent to purchase of the same. advertisement The government of Delhi has been asked to issue a notification to this effect. The board was hearing the case of a child who has been a victim of substance abuse and has been consuming thinners and whiteners. The order also cited the 2010 notification of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in which the government had asked to regulate the sale of thinners and whiteners to ensure that they are not used for substance abuse. Expressing it's anguish over the increasing cases of substance abuse, the Board said, " We cannot be a mere witness to this systematic ruination of an entire generation that is gradually succumbing to the grip of drugs." The Juvenile Justice Board has further asked the Directorate of Health in Delhi to work out a plan to open more de-addiction centres as there is a severe crunch at this moment. According to a report by Department of Women and Child Development, Government of NCT as of September 2016, around 19,320 to 27,090 street children were afflicted by this malaise. Eleven percent of the affected, use inhalants such as whiteners and thinners. The Board has further asked the government to boost the number of rehabilitation centres as currently there are only two rehab centers in Delhi with a capacity of 50 each. These centres are housing far more children than their permitted capacity. Also Read: Punjab: Amarinder Singh government orders crackdown on drugs; 485 peddlers arrested in 10 days Punjab: Akali Dal turncoats cry foul as ED cracks whip in drugs case --- ENDS --- Charu Chhibber Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 15 In a little less than three-and-a-half months since its launch, the Annapurna Akshaypatra, a project initiated by the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), Chandigarh, to provide food for all at reasonable rates (Rs 10 per packet), is now serving nutritious and hygienic lunch and dinner meals to 3,000 people daily at 12 locations across the city. The number of food packets distributed in the city will soon be increased to 5,000 and new additions to the menu are also on the cards. At present, lunch is being provided to patients and their attendants at the PGI and the GMSH-16. Officials of the IRCS said looking at the heavy demand and great response to the scheme, lunch would soon be provided at all locations. The scheme was launched on January 2 with 665 packets being sold at five locations at a rate of Rs 10 per dinner meal. On completion of two months of the scheme on March 2, the number of food packets was increased to 2,000. Significantly, the scheme, a brainchild of city DC Ajit Balaji Joshi, was launched with the aim of satiating hunger of people from economically weaker sections. The IRCS has initiated the project with the active support of the departments of Health, Labour and Food and Supplies Department; Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited; Indian Oil Corporation Limited; Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited; Sewa Bharti, Chandigarh; Panchkula Gaushala Trust, and the Market Committee, Chandigarh. Nutritious needs of customers taken care of Following a meeting between officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the Indian Red Cross Society last month, it was decided that keeping in view the nutrition demands of the clientele, 1 kg of fortified wheat flour would be added to regular flour. Ambala, April 15 The body of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) posted with Government Railway Police here was found on the Ambala-Delhi rail track near Ambala Cantt on Saturday morning. The deceased has been identified as Balwan Singh, a resident of Sonepat district, police said. Balwan had gone to Delhi on official duty on Friday morning. When he was coming back to Ambala Cantt by train on Friday night, he fell and was run over by another train, police said. The police have informed the relatives of the deceased about the incident and sent the body to civil hospital for post-mortem, police said. PTI Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service Mewat, April 14 After the biryani spoiler on Bakr-Id last year, Muslims apprehend more trouble this Ramzan (beginning May). It will never be business as usual. For, buying and selling cattle has been suspended indefinitely after local resident Pehlu Khan was lynched by gau rakshaks in Alwar, Rajasthan, recently. Such is the fear of losing their lives that the Meos refuse to give their names, lest they are identified and targeted by cow vigilantes. They feel safe only within the confines of their district. Step out beyond Tavru, and we are targeted because of our beard, especially if we are trading in cattle. For paltry gains (Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per cattle head), none is willing to endanger his life. We will labour hard but wont step out, says Illyas of Sudaka village, sipping tea at a roadside vend. Asloop of Dhanduka village narrates: I went to buy cattle in Hailey Mandi a month ago. I took money for two cattle head but bought only one, a buffalo. I was stopped mid-way, thrashed for sporting a beard and robbed of Rs 20,000. I was lucky not to have been killed. As a buffalo costs anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh and a cow is priced at Rs 20,000 to Rs 70,000, most buyers take loan to make purchases. Nawab of Sudaka, 50, explains why cow-trading ahead of Ramzan is no longer feasible. A month before Ramzan, the cattle trade would gather pace with the demand for milk rising during fasting. However, Pehlu Khans lynching has forced us to weigh other options. We may not only lose money and vehicles ferrying cattle, but our lives too. It is better to be safe than sorry, he says, adding that being a Muslim is becoming a punishment. Umar Muhammad, president of the Mewat Vikas Sabha, sees the Alwar incident as a deliberate attempt to isolate Muslims. There was a time when Meo traders would dine and sleep at the homes of Hindu cattle sellers in Rajasthan. Now, something is grossly wrong. Fear is being ingrained in our minds to serve a political purpose, he suspects. In Jaisinghpur, Abdul Kamim and other mourners are sitting in a tent outside Pehlu Khans house. He says: Most of us buy cattle from Hindu traders in adjoining Ujina village. But the temptation of having his own pick-up and saving money prompted Pehlu to explore other markets. All that we now have is his video that shows how mercilessly he was thrashed. Everybody in the village has the video. They cant understand why he was assaulted. It makes no sense. But then can a senseless act be justified by any stretch of imagination? If prime minister Turnbull is encouraging that kind of attitude, prime minister Turnbull needs to tell the world that he is like that. How can he not allow Papua New Guinea media? Speaking to journalists at the Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party national convention, Polye said it is even more shocking that this was allowed by prime minister Peter ONeill. OPPOSITION Leader Don Polye says he was shocked to hear reports that PNG journalists were snubbed in three separate incidents during Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbulls visit to PNG last week. If he has no confidence in the Papua New Guinea media, then dont come to Papua New Guinea, Polye said. He reminded Turnbull that PNG was no longer a colony of Australia and was an independent state and as such must be treated with respect. Its a slap to the face of Papua New Guinea as an independent people and independent nation to have a prime minister of Australia not allow Papua New Guineas own journalists to report his visit to Papua New Guinea. That is a big embarrassment and, whatever reason he has, prime minister Turnbull needs to tell the world that he is supporting suppression, that he is supporting subjugation, that he is supporting undemocratic ways of not allowing freedom of speech and freedom of movement by the people of Papua New guinea, Polye further said ONeill should bow his head in shame for allowing such a thing to happen in the country. The first incident happened at Bomana War Cemetery where PNG journalists were asked to leave several times, the reason being that only Australian issues would be discussed. The second incident took place at the Airways Hotel, where local journalists were informed not to ask questions during a joint press conference. In the other incident, journalists from the PostCourier newspaper attending a business breakfast, which their organisation paid for, were not served a meal. Local journalists expressed anger on social media while a PNG-based overseas journalist expressed disappointment and embarrassment. The regional organisation, Pacific Freedom Forum, called for a review of media relations after the shocking bans of the first two incidents. "Standing on sacred ground is no place to deny freedoms that many died defending", says PFF Chair Monica Miller of the Bomana War Cemetery farce. And of the second she said "Australia has long faced criticism from the region for arrogant, neo-colonial attitude." "Issuing bans is no way to disprove those criticisms." 6.1 magnitude earthquake hits northern Chile. The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and struck at about 5:15 a.m. (0815 GMT), USGS said. By India Today Web Desk: A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck northern Chile, 144 km (90 miles) southeast of Calama, at a depth of 188 km, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said on Saturday. The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and struck at about 5:15 a.m. (0815 GMT), USGS said. There were no immediate reports on social media of damage or casualties. advertisement More details awaited. Also read: 5.8 magnitude earthquake jolts Uttarakhand --- ENDS --- Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 15 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the selecting authority to issue the question paper both in Hindi and English for the examination for the recruitment of art and craft teachers in Haryana. It has set a three-month deadline for the purpose. The direction came on a petition filed by Satpal Singh and other petitioners against the state of Haryana and another respondent. A deputy advocate-general, appearing before Justice Bajanthris Bench on the states behalf, submitted that the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, during the pendency of litigation, decided that the question paper for the written examination to be conducted by it in future would be both in Hindi and English. He referred to the order dated December 14, 2015, and said the decision was applicable in all examinations except the language paper. Justice Bajanthri said, In the present case, the selecting authority has suo motu stalled the process of selection. Consequently, the selecting authority is directed to proceed with re-examination by issuing a question paper both in Hindi and English in so far as art and craft teachers are concerned. The exercise shall be completed by the Selection Commission within three months He said with these observations, disposed of the writ petition. The judgment is one of the rulings aimed at making the selection process more effective and candidate-friendly. The High Court had only recently directed Haryana and the Haryana Staff Selection Commission not to provide academic or competitive examination marks of the candidates to the interview committee to avoid arbitrariness in awarding interview marks. The Chief Secretary was directed to take appropriate steps in the matter and report back. The directions by Justice Bajanthri came on a petition filed by Jyoti Sharma questioning the selection and appointment of a respondent as Statistical Assistant on the ground that he did not fulfil the requisite qualification prescribed for the post. He said, If academic marks are to be added to interview marks in such an event it could be done after the interview marks are announced. In other words, the academic marks are to be calculated and kept confidential by other than interview members.The Chief Secretary of Haryana should look into, and take appropriate steps, in the matter and report compliance to the Registry of this court within four months. Nitish Sharma Tribune News Service Ambala, April 15 Dr Vinod Gupta, Civil Surgeon, Ambala, has requested the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, to lodge an FIR against a doctor, who was caught red-handed performing a sex determination test on a decoy customer, and the tout who took the woman to the Ludhiana hospital. A team of health officials from Ambala had raided a hospital in Ludhiana on April 11 and busted a gender determination test racket. A doctor and a woman tout were arrested from the hospital. The Civil Surgeon said, It was a joint operation. Since it was in the jurisdiction of the Ludhiana Health Department, we had written to the District Appropriate Authority-cum-Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, to take necessary action against Dr Amarjeet Singh Rattan and Geeta Saini for violating the provisions of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act . The Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana was contacted regarding lodging of an FIR but surprisingly we were informed that they would not lodge an FIR in the case and would directly file the case in court. The accused doctor is facing another Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act violation case. In the past, Ambala teams had conducted five raids in Ludhiana and FIRs were registered in all cases. We fail to understand that why an FIR is not being registered this time, he added. Dr Gupta said, Lodging of an FIR is necessary for detailed investigation to expose the nexus and catch other offenders, touts who might be involved in the racket. We have requested the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, to take appropriate action as not registering an FIR may hamper the case and the accused may influence investigation. Moreover, it will be discouraging for the raiding team and the woman who helped the department in nabbing the culprits. The department got a tip-off that a woman tout, identified as Gita Saini from Ambala, was involved in a sex determination test racket. She charged Rs 25,000 for the test. Gita was contacted and a deal was struck. She took a decoy expectant mother to Rattan Hospital in Ludhiana. Dr Amarjeet Singh and Gita were arrested in a raid and Rs 19,000 from and Rs 1,000, respectively, were recovered from them. Two ultrasound machines, including an unregistered machine, at the hospital were also sealed by the raiding team. Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service Hisar, April 15 Despite financial constraints and no help from the Police Department, Sub-Inspector Anita Kundu (29) embarked on her second expedition to scale Mount Everest from the north side in Tibet on April 9. She is determined to do it this time as her previous attempt to climb the peak from the Tibet side had failed due to an avalanche triggered by an earthquake on April 16, 2015. She had summited the peak from the Nepal side on May 18, 2013. Anita belongs to a lower middle class family. She has arranged the funds required for the expedition on her own. She has borrowed Rs 20 lakh from private lenders while her friends and well-wishers have pooled in Rs 10 lakh. She had applied to the Police Department for a loan of Rs 10 lakh that has not been approved. If she succeeds, Anita will be the first Indian to scale Mount Everest from both sides. Ramesh Kumar, Anitas cousin, says, She was at a height of 20,500 feet when the Nepal earthquake in 2015 triggered an avalanche. She had to return as the Chinese Government refused permission to the expedition to go ahead. Her determination is her motivation. She vowed to scale the highest peak from both sides when she started mountaineering. It is difficult to climb the peak from the north side, but we are sure she will make it this time, says Ramesh. Anitas family shifted to Hisar 11 years ago after the demise of her father. Her mother, Rajpati Devi, raised the family by selling milk. Tribune News Service Mandi, April 15 Four persons were feared dead when the car they were travelling in fell into the BBMB canal at Hatgarh near Balah in Mandi district last night. One of the occupants had a narrow escape. The car was on way from Sundernagar towards Diargi when the driver lost control over the vehicle near Balah, following which it fell into the canal. Puneet Gupta of Diargi in Mandi, working in the merchant navy, was driving the car, said Balah tehsildar Jai Gopal Sharma. Puneet (22) swam to safety while four others, all in their twenties, were missing. Mandi DSP Rajesh Kumar said the accident occurred around 10:30 pm. The police launched a search operation, but could not locate them. Divers were called today for the search operation, but there was no information about the missing victims till the time of filing of this report, he said. The missing are Himanshu Gupta (19), who is Puneets brother, and Abhishek Kaundal (20), Aditya Sahuta (20) and Sonu Sahu (20), residents of BBMB Colony in Sundernagar. 1 killed in road mishap Kangra: One migrant labourer from Uttar Pradesh was killed and three others injured today when the tractor-trailer they were travelling in overturned near Baroh village in the subdivision today. Kangra Subdivisional Police Officer Surinder Sharma said the tractor-trailer was taking the labourers to a construction site when it overturned on the Jasai village road. Chaiter Pal (28) died on the spot. Bittu (22), Ramesh (50) and driver Vinod (28) were injured in the accident. They were taken to the Tanda medical college.The police registered a case. TNS Srinagar, April 15 At least 20 people were on Saturday injured in a clash between protesters and security forces in Pulwama town in south Kashmir. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) A group of youths started shouting slogans and hurling stones at security forces near Degree College, Pulwama, this afternoon, a police official said. The security personnel resorted to baton charge and fired several tear-smoke shells to disperse the protesters. At least 20 people were injured in the clash, he said. There were unconfirmed reports of security forces firing a few warning shots in the air. PTI Tribune News Service Jammu, April 15 General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff, met Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here today. During the hour-long meeting, the Governor and the Army Chief discussed the external security environment and issues relating to effective internal security management. The Governor and the Army Chief also discussed varied opportunities which need to be provided to the youth for assuring them a stable and bright future. New Delhi, April 14 Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Girish Chandra Saxena, lovingly called Gary, died here today after a brief illness, his family said. He was 90. Saxenas brother Naresh Chandra, former Cabinet Secretary and Ambassador to the US, said he was rushed to a hospital in the wee hours after he complained of breathlessness. He was born in Agra in 1928 and is survived by his wife and two daughters. Saxena, who also headed the external intelligence agency RAW, took charge as the Jammu and Kashmir Governor for the first time on May 26, 1990, and continued in the post till March 13, 1993. He was re-appointed in 1998. An IPS officer of the 1950-batch of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Saxena had the most successful tenure as Governor of J&K and was credited with the revival of state polices intelligence mechanism, where he used his experience of heading the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). He was the RAW Director between 1983 and 1986. Saxena came to J&K at a time when the entire Kashmir valley was facing a turmoil following the killing of Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq by terror group Hizbul Mujahidden. During the Mirwaizs funeral, the mob went on a rampage and security forces had to open fire in downtown Srinagar to control the situation. Nearly 25 people were killed. After his first stint as the Governor, Saxena was again brought to the state in 1998 during which his focus was on the revival of local intelligence and the state police, which was not on the forefront of counter-insurgency operations then. No militancy can be fought without the local police, he had said when he was the Governor in the second term. Chandra recalled that 10 days back, his brother, while being wheeled out from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a private hospital, had held the hand of the doctor and said, I dont have any stress other than the happenings in Jammu and Kashmir. He was deeply concerned, even at this age, about the developments and happenings in Jammu and Kashmir, Chandra said. Former J&K chief ministers Farooq and Omar Abdullah condoled his death, saying that in his departure, a visionary has been lost. I recall my association with Governor Saxena. He was very cool in extreme situations and always had a humane approach to any problem, Farooq said. Omar, who became a Member of Parliament in 1998 and 1999, said, Its sad news for me. He (Saxena) had always guided me during my initial days in politics. After his retirement from RAW in 1986, Saxena served as an adviser to the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi till January 1988. PTI Ehsan Fazili Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 15 National Conference-Congress joint candidate for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, Farooq Abdullah, has won the bypoll by a margin of around 10,775 votes. After his poll victory, Farooq Abdullah demanded that Governor's rule be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir as the state government had failed to ensure a peaceful election. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Abdullah maintained a lead over his nearest rival, Nazir Ahmad Khan of the ruling PDP, in the counting of votes, which began here on Saturday morning. Abdullah polled 48,554 votes whereas Khan polled 37,779 votes. The counting of votes began at 8 am at the highly-guarded Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) overlooking the Dal lake. In all, 90,759 voters cast their vote in the bypoll on April 9, while re-polling at 38 polling stations was held on April 13, after violence marred the polls. Speaking to reporters after the poll result was announced, Abdullah said, "I appeal to the Governor and the President of India to dismiss this government and impose Governor's rule in the state where the people will get some respite and feel that such situation will not arise again." I will also say that the election in Anantnag should happen under the Governor's Rule. Otherwise it is unlikely that the people would get justice, he said. Claiming the eight youth who had died in the poll day violence were "martyred", the National Conference chief said several others were in hospitals or jails and he had never seen such an election. There were nine candidates in the fray, while the main contestants remained the opposition NC-Cong candidate Farooq Abdullah and the ruling PDPs Nazir Ahmad Khan. The other candidates were Bikram Singh of J&K Liberal Democratic Party, Chetan Sharma of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha and Sajad Reshi of Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (Secular). The independent candidates were Mirza Sajad Hussain Beigh, Ghulam Hassan Dar, Farooq Ahmad Dar and Mehraj Khurshid Malik. The Election Commission on Monday announced postponement of byelection to Anantnag constituency of South Kashmir till May 25; the constituency was scheduled to go to the polls on April 12. This decision was taken in view of the widespread violence, mostly in Budgam district, during the polling in Srinagar constituency in which at least eight civilians and several others were injured in the clashes on April 9. Tribune News Service Jammu, April 15 Protests were today held at various places against the alleged assault and humiliation of security personnel in the Kashmir valley. Protesters blocked the Jammu-Pathankot national highway in the Dayalachak area of Kathua district to express anguish against the incidents against security personnel and demanded immediate imposition of the Governors rule in the state. Hundreds of protesters along with the activists of the Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party blocked the highway and raised anti-government slogans. The protesters demanded immediate action against the youths who manhandled a CRPF man during the bypoll to the Srinagar parliamentary seat on April 9. On getting information of the highway blockade, police officers rushed to the spot to pacify the people. In Jammu, JKNPP activists, led by party chairman Harsh Dev Singh, staged a demonstration against the fast deteriorating law and order situation in the state and the demoralisation caused to the security forces due to the alleged unwarranted restraints forced upon them by the government. The protesters torched an effigy of the PDP-BJP coalition and raised slogans against the Central and state governments. Harsh Dev described the security scenario as unprecedented which, he said, qualified for imposition of the Governors rule in the state. He alleged that with the incumbent government allegedly pursuing appeasement policy and promoting rampaging anti-nationals, subversives and separatists in the state, it was a fit case for invocation of Section 92 of the state Constitution. New Delhi, April 15 India has called off maritime security dialogue with Pakistan, scheduled for early next week, amid tensions over death sentence being awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav on charges of spying. A delegation led by Pakistans Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was to visit New Delhi from April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Coast Guard sources said the Ministry of Defence had not given clearance for the delegations visit. The development comes amid tension between the two countries over Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, being awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court. India has said if Jadhav were to be executed, it would be a premeditated murder. Taking all measures to gain consular access to Jadhav: VK Singh Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on Saturday said the government was taking all measures to gain consular access to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav despite Pakistan denying it 13 times. Pakistan government has denied consular access to Jadhav despite India trying for 13 times. We are trying everything to get access to Jadhav, he told reporters. Singh maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran. A Pakistan military court had on April 10 sentenced Jadhav to death in a secret trial for alleged involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in restive Balochistan and Karachi. According to the Vienna Convention, the state which detains a national of another country must allow consular officers of the other country to access the detainee. India on Friday had said that it would appeal against the death sentence and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the chargesheet as well as the army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. PTI Over 16 people were kileld and a dozen injured during a rubbish dump landslide in Colombo. A Sri Lankan man speaks on his mobile phone at the site of buried houses in a collapse of a garbage dump in Meetotamulla, on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, April 15, 2017. (Pic: AP) By AP: A rubbish dump landslide in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo killed at least 16 and injured over a dozen, military spokesman and hospital officials said on Saturday, as emergency workers dug into the mountain of trash in search of survivors. The estimated 300-foot (91 metre) dump collapsed after flames engulfed it late on Friday, the island nation's traditional new year's day, and witnesses said around 100 houses could have been buried. advertisement The death toll rose to 16 as more bodies were discovered on Saturday, army spokesman Roshan Senivirathna said. At least four teenagers were among the dead, a nurse at the main Colombo hospital told Reuters. "We heard a massive sound. It was like thunder. Tiles in our house got cracked. Black water started coming in," said Kularathna, who lives near the dump. "We tried to get out but we were trapped inside. We shouted for help and were rescued later." Another resident, Mohamed, said three of his neighbours were missing and estimated that more than 100 people could have been buried. Rescue operations continued for a second day on Saturday with soldiers using heavy equipment to remove the garbage. Police said about 145 houses had been damaged, but they did not say how many had been buried. Residents of the area, mostly living in shanties, have been demanding the removal of the dump saying it was causing health issues. The government had planned to remove it soon under an infrastructure plan. --- ENDS --- Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service Bhubaneswar, April 15 The BJP today resolved to make itself a pan-India party, spread wings from panchayat to Parliament and in regions where it has to progress with party chief Amit Shah asserting that its peak was yet to come. From panchayat to Parliament, the BJP should be everywhere. That will be our golden period, Shah said addressing the national executive meeting here in the presence of PM Narendra Modi. To achieve that, Shah urged all working committee members, which also include senior Union ministers, to devote at least 15 days to the organisation, meeting cadres and people in parts like Tripura, Kerala and West Bengal where the BJP has to strengthen itself. After the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, analysts said the BJP has peaked. After we gained three-fourths majority in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, they said the same. But the BJP is yet to reach its peak. Our golden period is yet to come, Shah said on the day when the partys opponents made plans to fight it together in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. Briefing about Shahs address, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Shah would himself undertake an expansive tour of the country till September, interacting and connecting with booth-level workers. PM connects with people Narendra Modi is the most popular leader in the country because of his extraordinary connection with the people is what BJP chief Amit Shah said in his inaugural address today, something that the Prime Minister lived up to as he led a vibrant roadshow through Bhubaneswar, waving at crowds and at times, breaking the security protocol to mingle with people. It was almost like a colourful carnival with traditional folk artistes performing on sidewalks while a large number of people stood waiting with lotus flowers in hand to greet him. The almost 9-km-long roadshow starting from the city airport to the Raj Bhawan saw a smiling Prime Minister waving at people gathered on both sides of the road. He stood on his vehicles foot rest with its door open, acknowledging the cheering and slogan-chanting masses. Defying the security cordon, he even got off his vehicle a couple of times, walking up to people to greet them and shake hands with some. For political analysts, the gesture was aimed at showing his easy accessibility to the people of the state that the BJP is trying hard to woo. According to Odisha BJP chief Basanta Panda, the road show heralded a new era of politics in the state. He also expressed confidence that his party, traditionally a marginal force in the eastern state, will emerge as the main challenger to the ruling BJD in the next Assembly poll and the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 15 While the sanctity of the international borders continues to be a cause for concern with increasing number of ceasefire violations, infiltration attempts and smuggling, the service condition of the men tasked with guarding the border leave a lot to be desired. Expressing deep anguish over the neglect of basic necessities to Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel deployed on border guarding duties, Parliaments Standing Committee on Home Affairs has, in its report tabled on April 11, pointed out that inadequate rest, lack of basic amenities in border outposts (BOPs), poor infrastructure and deficient equipment are among issues that need to be addressed urgently. The Home Ministrys submission that a jawan gets minimum of six hours of uninterrupted sleep in every cycle of 24 hours is at variance with the facts observed and learnt by the committee during its visit to border areas, the report said. The committee is anguished to observe that the flawed system leaves grossly insufficient time for jawans to get decent rest and sleep. The committee is concerned to note that due to shortage of manpower, jawans are forced to perform 16-18 hours of duty in a day, the report added. In some areas such as Rajasthan, jawans have to travel for more two hours to and from their patrolling location, leaving them with no more than two to three hours for rest before their second shift. This was taking a toll on their health, apart from leaving them fatigued during their patrolling duty, the Committee observed. During its visit to Pakistan and Bangladesh borders, manned by the Border Security Force, the committee found that the conventional BOPs lacked basic facilities. Pointing out that only 422 out of 1,901 BOPs had good facilities, the committee was constrained to observe that several BOPs did not have even the most essential facilities such as provision for filtered drinking water or proper barracks. It is inhuman to make jawans live and sleep without a fan in the BOPs, the committee said. During its visits, the committee found that in Punjab, the road connectivity in border areas was very bad, which could significantly slow down the movement of forces and cause hardships during an emergency. The BSF has projected a requirement of 700 km of road links in Punjab. Further, widespread illegal sand mining in border areas of Punjab had also worsened the road conditions. Panaji, April 15 Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday dismissed Pakistan as an empty vessel making noise saying the neighbouring country is up to something or the other, to remain engaged. His comments come against the backdrop of the death sentence given by a Pakistani military court to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy official. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) There is a proverb in Konkani, and Hindi as well, which means empty vessels make the most noise. We should not take much note of what they (Pakistan) say, Parrikar said during an interview to DD News responding to a question on Pakistan. Pakistan wants some reason or the other to remain engaged. It is playing a dangerous game. It should understand that if India starts retaliating, then Pakistan does not have the power to fight back, whatever they may project them as. But we (India) want peace; we dont want provocation, because of which they should give back Jadhav. First of all he has been kidnapped. He was not in Pakistan. He was in Iran. Iran has said that the Taliban kidnapped him and took him to Pakistan. Pakistan has a habit of doing something or other, the BJP leader said. About Jadhav, I can only say that, for what Pakistan is going to do...for that Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs minister) has given an apt reply. We will not keep quiet. The country will do what is required to do. We can take care of Pakistan if it tries to do anything ill-advised, he said. They were talking of nuclear power usage which they have stopped after surgical strikes. I hope they have understood that they cannot blackmail us as India has the power to counter them, he added. The ex-Defence minister who is now back in Goa as the Chief Minister after the recent assembly polls, said India achieved many things under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Referring to relations with neighbouring countries like Pakistan and China, Parrikar said, There was soft diplomacy and also there was use of hard power. This has happened for the first time. Parrikar said that during his tenure as Defence Minister, several measures were adopted to increase the military strength of the country. I can say that we were able to bring potency to the potential of the Armed forces. If you see the CAG report of 2013 they have pointed out that 121 types of ammunition had stock of less than 10 days. Now I can say that that number has been reduced to 20-22. In the next one or two years, it will be almost zero, he said. Finally, Army works on ammunition. If anyone asks me what was the gap in capability on the parameter of 100 and how much have you reduced it, I can say I have reduced it up to 75-80, he said. Some things have already been acquired and some are ordered and will be arriving in next one year, Parrikar said. I transferred all my revenue power to the Armed forces and asked them to bridge the gap in building the capability. When I left, the Armed forces had completed deals worth Rs 25,000-30,000 crore, that too in eight per cent less cost. We saved Rs 22,000 crore through that. This is because we took quick decisions, he stated. PTI Ehsan Fazili & Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 15 National Conference-Congress candidate Farooq Abdullah today won the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat for the third time, defeating Nazir Ahmad Khan of the ruling PDP by a margin of 10,775 votes, polling 48,554 votes. Abdullah had earlier represented this constituency in 1980 and 2009. In 2014, he was defeated by PDPs Tariq Hameed Karra, who resigned from the party and the Lok Sabha following differences with the Mehbooba Mufti government over the handling of the unrest in the Valley. Hence, a byelection had to be held. Counting at the highly guarded Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC), overlooking the Dal Lake, began at 8 am and the results were out by late afternoon. In all, 90,759 of the 12,61,395 voters exercised their franchise. While the byelection was held on April 9, re-polling was held at 38 polling stations on April 13. Soon after the results were declared, Abdullah demanded that the PDP-BJP government be sacked and Governors rule be imposed in the state. He blamed the administration for completely failing to secure a peaceful election that had been marred by violence, claiming eight lives. He also demanded that byelection to the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency in South Kashmir, which has been deferred to May 25, be held under Governors rule, otherwise we dont see justice happening. The seat was held by Mehbooba Mufti, who had to vacate it to enter state politics. The National Conference president, a former Union Minister in the UPA-II government, said he would now work towards initiating a dialogue with all stakeholders, including separatists and Pakistan. There is no way forward other than dialogue, which must be started at all costs, he said. On the dismal poll percentage, he said: It does not make any difference. What do you say to the people who have voted? On Article 370, he said the NC stand had always been that it must be restored to the 1953 level. Malda (WB), April 14 Union Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar on Friday said India was trying to secure justice for Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court. Injustice has been meted out to him (Jadhav). A kangaroo court has slapped this charge. In spite of all these, we are trying to secure justice for him. We are eager for his return, he told a press conference here. Akbar said the governments stand on the issue was clarified by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. A military court has awarded death sentence to 46-year-old Jadhav on charges of espionage and sabotage. Singh had stated on Thursday that India would go to any extent to ensure justice for Jadhav. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay had said on Thursday, India has no knowledge of Kulbhushan Jadhavs location and condition. We are making all efforts to get him back but we cant reveal the steps that will be taken in this regard. On the Kashmir issue, Akbar said, Anti-democratic forces are instigating from behind. We want a free and fair atmosphere in Kashmir. Regarding the controversy on beef in Uttar Pradesh, the Union minister said, Uttar Pradeshs Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh has given a clarification. Stating that West Bengal was facing a deep crisis, Akbar said lack of jobs, rising corruption and a stagnant economy were the main problems of the state. PTI Mumbai, April 15 The Maharashtra government is planning to supply seeds, fertilisers and pesticides free of cost to small and marginal farmers to keep the production costs minimal and to reduce their losses. Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil gave this information on Saturday. The idea is to keep the production cost or input cost minimal so that farmers will not feel the heat when the market rates are down, he said. Expressing concern over a large number of farmers currently under debt, the minister said the state government would also include farm labourers into the fold of National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme in the next couple of months. This will bring down almost all costs of farmers required for food grains and vegetable cultivation. The state has observed that the sudden rise in supply leads to commodity prices crashing and farmers incurring losses, Patil said. If we keep the input cost at almost zero, despite the price crash, the farmers will not suffer heavily. Their losses will be limited, he said. These two decisions, if put together, will provide benefits to farmers, Patil said, adding that the government is also coming with a minimum support price (MSP) for food grains, which will ensure that farmers will get certain minimum amount for their produce. During the demand period, farmers can sell their produce as per the market rates, which is generally higher than the MSP. In such a situation, they will not only earn more, but can even book profit and repay loan, he said. During the lean period, the MSP will come as a relief and farmers will earn certain amount, he said, adding that their losses will either be minimal or they will earn something to repay the loan amount. Patil said although only small and marginal farmers are included in the plan, the number of such farmers account for 70 per cent of the total 1.30 crore farmers in the state. PTI Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, APRIL 15 As Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan arrives in India next week, different political hues are being given to him by Punjab even as New Delhi welcomes him as a dignitary. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has accused Sajjan of being a Khalistan sympathiser and has said he will not be meeting him when Sajjan travels to Punjab. On the contrary, the Centre and the Ministry of External Affairs are getting ready to roll out the red carpet, citing his many meritorious credentials. Sources point to Sajjan's credentials as a retired Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian armed forces and a combat veteran. Indications are that the Centre will let the Punjab CM stick to his views but the MEA will host Sajjan here as a VVIP guest. The recent passage in the Ontario legislative assembly which describes the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as 'genocide' and now the visit of a Sajjan, being labelled pro-Khalistan has revived painful memories for the state. Simran Sodhi Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 15 India-Pakistan ties today took a nosedive with both sides taking steps that are likely to raise tension. Pakistani media claimed three RAW agents were arrested from near Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) who had been allegedly assigned to disrupt activity on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC). India, in a retaliatory measure, cancelled the maritime security dialogue with Pakistan scheduled to be held here on April 17. The delegation from Pakistan was due to arrive in the capital tomorrow. This would have been the second such talks after the Indus Water Commission meet in Pakistan recently. Indications from the government here are also that there will be a major cutting down of visas being granted to Pakistani visitors. Over the last one year, tensions have in a way ensured that the passage of artists, actors and musicians from across the border was cut down. These measures are a direct fallout of the standoff over the death sentence Pakistan has awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav. It remains firm that he is a spy, while India maintains he is innocent, though confirming his identity as a former Indian naval officer. Officially, India today maintained silence on Pakistans claim about the arrest of three RAW agents. Sources in the government were, however, dismissive of the claims. We have arrested three terrorists Khalil, Imtiaz and Rashid. All were paid agents of RAW, Rawalkot DIG Sajjad Hussain said. BY KV Prasad The upcoming visit to India is your first as a minister in the Trudeaus Cabinet. How do you see it? I see this visit as an opportunity to meet my counterparts and discuss opportunities to strengthen ties between Canada and India, particularly when it comes to defence and security, business and innovation, and, of course, the rich culture that so many in the Indian diaspora bring to Canada. Im looking forward to the opportunity to build on the excellent work that my cabinet colleagues have done on their recent trips to India. India and Canada share good bilateral ties and defence cooperation is a somewhat newer field in it. What is expected to be on the table in your talks with your counterpart? Canada is often thought of in the same way as our European and North American allies, partially because of the excellent work Canadian armed forces do in cooperation with NATO. But this only tells half the story, because Canada is as much a Pacific nation as it is an Atlantic nation. Canada recognises India as a key player in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. As such, this visit is an opportunity to enhance and strengthen Canadas bilateral cooperation with India on areas of mutual importance like security, defence, and trade. We have detailed areas of defence cooperation through the 2015 joint declaration and are seeking to move forward on areas such as cold-climate warfare, cooperation in defence research and science and expanding engagement in defence industry. Our relationship is multifaceted and encompasses trade, political, cultural and people-to-people ties. Reinforcing this relationship remains a priority for the government of Canada. During PM Modis visit, there was mention of exploring training in cold-climate warfare, naval linkages, defence staff exchanges and defence research. Any specific proposals? Some possibilities could include exploring increased joint maritime exercises, collaboration on peacekeeping or academic exchanges to improve defence leadership, as well as in the fields of defence research and material cooperation. Ultimately, I am hoping to enhance cooperation in these areas by engaging my counterparts and identifying where Canada and India can exchange expertise and knowledge on these fronts. The accent of the Modi government is Make in India and defence manufacturing is one of the thrust areas, how can Canada assist? Canadian industry is well versed in the use of offsets and in the knowledge transfer that would enable a Buy Indian policy. Therefore, doing business in Canada with Canadian companies would greatly benefit India in achieving its policy aim. Canadas Department of Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada has best practices in applying offset policies to defence acquisitions. Canadas Industrial and Technological Benefits policy has been instrumental in helping Canadian industry become part of global defence supply chains. Canada is part of the global supply chain in defence manufacturing. Can this expertise be shared under bilateral cooperation? Canada has a highly capable defence industry that is actively seeking business opportunities and partnerships around the globe (including in India). I am aware of several Canadian companies that are already approaching Indian industry to form partnerships and explore business opportunities that are compliant with Indias offset policies. For these relationships to be fruitful, it is important that the Indian Government clearly communicates its expectations with respect to its offset policies. India and Canada have a joint working group on counter-terrorism and national security advisers dialogue. How do you view its progress? I believe it has progressed well. As you know, its been in place since 2012 and we welcomed Deputy National Security Adviser Arvind Gupta to Ottawa this January. Discussions were fruitful and included counter-terrorism, counter-radicalisation, regional security, Daesh, and cyber security. I believe the dialogue provides a valuable opportunity to exchange perspectives on security issues of mutual concern and identify areas for cooperation and it forms a critical component of Canadas strong bilateral relationship with India. Having served in Afghanistan, how do you view the situation? The situation in Afghanistan is as complex now as it was while I was deployed there some years ago. I believe that Afghanistan continues to make strides in the right direction and Canada remains fully committed to helping Afghanistan achieve long-term stability and prosperity. Though the Canadian armed forces concluded their mission in Afghanistan in 2014, Canada continues to contribute to Afghanistan through extensive humanitarian and development assistance. Turning to your roots, can you share some recollections? How often have you visited? This is my first trip to India after becoming Canadas Minister of National Defence. I left India as a young boy, but have fond memories of going back to visit family. It has been over a decade since I last visited. My life has changed greatly since I visited lastI am a father now, I am representing the Canadian governmentand I will experience this visit through the lens of those responsibilities. You and your family are engaged in some philanthropic works in Punjab. My wife and I support Mamta Foundation because we believe strongly in its goals of promoting gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. We also support Mamta Foundations efforts to care for orphaned and abandoned children. KV Prasad Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 15 Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Singh Sajjan today preferred to sidestep instead of joining issue with Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh over the latters jibe describing him as a Khalistani sympathiser and preferring not to meet him. In an interview conducted through email ahead of his first visit to India as a Minister (beginning April 17), Sajjan said the visit is focused on strengthening Canada and Indias bilateral relationship, and deepening collaboration in a number of areas. Preferring not to respond to Capt Amarinders statement of not meeting him during his Punjab visit, he said, I will continue with my visit to Punjab and remain focused on strengthening the ties that bind Canada and India so closely together. As a Sikh, I look forward to visiting Harmandar Sahib, particularly as it is right around the time of Vaisakhi. My goals for this visit are to attend productive meetings with representatives from the Government of India and the Indian military. Calling himself a proud Canadian, he said, I have served Canada my entire life, as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, a member of the Vancouver Police Department, and now as an MP for Vancouver South and as Canadas Minister of National Defence. Im focused on serving Canada and Canadians. Ever since Capt Amarinder hit out at the former Lieutenant Colonel of Canadian army who served in Afghanistan, the Akali Dal and AAP, besides the SGPC, have criticised the statement. The CM hit back that these reactions were lacking in national pride. On the personal front, Sajjan said he has fond memories of Punjab and returns to visit after a decade when much has changed in his life, as a father and a minister. A WhatsApp group or Facebook page admin might land you in jail, according to a new advisory issued by Bhagalpur administration in Bihar. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Being an administrator of a Facebook page or a WhatsApp group in Bihar might have its dangerous propositions. As bizarre as it may sound, it's true. Being the group admin of Facebook pages and WhatsApp group might land you in jail in Bihar. The Bhagalpur administration has issued a fresh advisory for all the group administrators, especially groups which share news. advertisement The administration has warned them, asking them to verify any piece of news before sharing it on social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook. "Many a times it has been found that a piece of news is shared which is factually incorrect. Such content is forwarded to various other groups in a cut-copy-and-paste format," read a Bhagalpur administration notification. HERE ARE 7 DIKTATS FOR GROUP ADMINS Only such a person should become a group administration who can take responsibility for the group. The group administration should be familiar with all the other members of the group. Group administrator should not only condemn but also remove any such member from the group who shares wrong facts which could lead to vitiating the social harmony. Group administrator should inform the local police regarding any rumour being shared on social media or any news which is misleading. If the group admin does not act against members of the group sharing misleading content, action will be taken against him/her. Case will be registered against the group admin under IT Act, Cyber Act and Indian Penal Code if he or she is found guilty. --- ENDS --- New Delhi, April 15 Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on Saturday said the government was taking all measures to gain consular access to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav despite Pakistan denying it 13 times. Pakistan government has denied consular access to Jadhav despite India trying for 13 times. We are trying everything to get access to Jadhav, he told reporters. Singh maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran. A Pakistan military court had on April 10 sentenced Jadhav to death in a secret trial for alleged involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in restive Balochistan and Karachi. According to the Vienna Convention, the state which detains a national of another country must allow consular officers of the other country to access the detainee. India on Friday had said that it would appeal against the death sentence and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the chargesheet as well as the army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Asked about a video of CRPF jawans being heckled by youths going viral on social media, the minister, who addressed a gathering of ex-servicemen on the second day of a convention on Nationalism and Patriotism, said: Neither I watch such videos nor do I comment on them without knowing the ground reality. We all veterans will join hands and contribute to the development of the nation and teach people what we were taught our whole lives, Singh said at the convention organised by Veterans India, a group comprising all-India ex-servicemen. PTI Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 15 Restrictions on the movement of Sikh pilgrims visiting Pakistan and strained relations with the neighbouring country have led to a poor response from people applying for a visa to visit Sikh shrines there on the occasion of Baisakhi. SGPCs yatra branch head Karamjit Singh said the sanctioned strength of sending an SGPC jatha to Pakistan was 1,800 for Baisakhi, but this year only 595 applied. He said after rejecting 80 applications, the SGPC had submitted 515 cases to the Pakistan High Commission and visa was given to 497. The SGPC had sent a jatha of 646 pilgrims in 2015 and 834 in 2016 on Baisakhi. Harbhajan Singh Brar, president, Sai Mia Mir International Foundation, said tight security was put in place by the Pakistan government for the pilgrims stay. He said members of the visiting Sikh jatha were escorted to every place and were not allowed to venture out individually and even in small groups. Karamjit Singh said the harvest season and soaring temperature could also be the reason behind lacklustre response. Nankana Sahib-based social activist Babar Jalandhari, who runs a Facebook page on the Sikh-Muslim friendship, said it disappointed them that less than half the sanctioned strength of Sikh pilgrims arrived on Baisakhi even as elaborate arrangements were made for their lodging and food. 497 in SGPC jatha Tribune Reporters Sangrur/Moga/muktsar, Apr 15 Fire destroyed standing wheat crop on about 200 acres in three districts today. Crop on around 100 acres was gutted at Sukhpura and Dhilwan villages of Barnala district and on at least 50 acres at Manuke village in Nihalsinghwala subdivision of Moga district. Wheat crop on about 44 acres was destroyed at Peori and Fattanwala villages in Muktsar district. A short circuit is said to have caused the fire. Sparking in a tractors silencer caused the fire, said Jagjit Singh, SHO, Sehna (Barnala). Sources said the sparking occurred when a farmer of Sukhpura village turned on the tractors ignition in a field. The fire spread within minutes, engulfing the surrounding areas. Seeking compensation, the affected farmers alleged that fire tenders reached the spot late despite repeated calls. Fireman Surinder Singh said negotiating the narrow stretches in the fields delayed the tenders arrival. In the Nihalsinghwala incident, preliminary inquiries by the police and revenue authorities revealed that the gutted crop belonged to Mohar Singh (16 acres), Gurmeet Singh, Joga Singh and Jaskaran Singh (five acres each) and Baldev Singh (seven acres), all Manuke village residents. People from nearby villages of Didarewala, Barewala, Patto Hira Singh, Khote and others reached the spot and helped in dousing the fire with the help of local resources. The exact cause of fire was unknown, but some villagers said it was due to short circuiting of power cables passing over the fields. Others claimed that it could be due to sparking of a circuit in the combine harvesting machine. MLA Manjit Singh Bilaspur alleged that the fire tenders reached the spot after more than one hour. By that time, the locals had almost doused the flames themselves. The AAP legislator has demanded adequate compensation to the farmers who suffered losses. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 15 In a step towards realising its promise to waive loans of farmers in the state, the state government has set up an expert group. The panel will assess the quantum of agricultural debt and suggest ways and means for its waiver. Dr T Haque, former chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, has been appointed chairman of the group, which has been tasked with submitting its report within 60 days. The other two members of the group are Dr Pramod Kumar Joshi, Director (South Asia), International Food Policy Research Institute, and Dr BS Dhillon, Vice Chancellor, PAU, Ludhiana. Besides assessing the total amount of credit, both institutional and non-institutional, availed by different categories of farmers, the group will assess the quantum of bad loans or debt and suggest the methodology for the remission of debt. It will also suggest ways and means to raise resources for the debt waiver, according to the notification. The group may co-opt any other member, if so required, to achieve its objectives, in order to facilitate the governments efforts to ameliorate the sufferings of the farmers. The Punjab Mandi Board shall provide both secretariat assistance and financial support, including payment of allowance to the non-official members for effective and proper functioning of the group, as per the notification. Farm labourer commits suicide Moga: A 22-year-old debt-ridden Dalit labourer has allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at Badhni Kalan village here, police sources said on Saturday. Identified as Sandip Singh, he was working as a labourer in the fields of a landlord for the past two years. The sources said he consumed some poisonous substance and went to the village dharamshala to take rest, but after sometime he started vomiting and his condition deteriorated. He was rushed to a local hospital, but died during treatment. He is survived by wife, two children and parents. He was the only bread earner of the family. AAP MLA Manjit Singh Bilaspur has appealed to the government to give a job and Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased. TNS Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, April 15 Shivraj Raju, a reporter of a leading Punjabi daily, alleged that about a dozen Congressmen, including Charanjit Singh Dhillon, president of the Truck Operators Union, Gidderbaha, thrashed him at his office near Bharu Chowk today. He claimed that the assailants made a video clip of the incident and forced him to drink alcohol and urine. Raju said his report on Dhillons family dispute had appeared in the newspaper today. They (Congressmen) had threatened me over the phone last night. Barging into my office (photo studio) today, they punched and slapped me, besides hitting me with shoes. They also threatened me with dire consequences if I reported the matter to the police. They vandalised my office before fleeing, he alleged. He showed injury marks on the chest, abdomen and the back to mediapersons in Bathinda before being admitted to the Civil Hospital there. I cant go back to Gidderbaha as I fear for my life. If I dont get justice, I will commit suicide. Jaspreet Singh Bhalaiana, a personal assistant of Gidderbaha MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, is the mastermind of the attack, Raju claimed. Paramjit Singh Thehri, also a reporter of the daily, said, I have seen the attackers and can identify them. They were carrying sharp-edged weapons. We will lodge a complaint with the police. When contacted, Dhillon said, I neither went to Rajus shop/office nor thrashed him. He is a drunkard who may have fallen somewhere and is now concocting a story. Two days ago, he had threatened the manager of a local community hall over the phone. A complaint was lodged against him. When contacted, Indian Youth Congress chief and MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said, I am in New Delhi for the past about 10 days, campaigning for the Municipal Corporation elections. I have heard that some persons assaulted Raju. If any Congressman is found involved in the attack, I will recommend strict action against him. If Dhillons role is established, he will be removed from the post of the truck union president. On Jaspreets alleged involvement, Warring said, He is officially not my personal assistant, but a close aide. If he is also found involved, I will take action against him as well. Gidderbaha DSP Rajpal Singh said, We have sent our team to the hospital in Bathinda to record Rajus statement. Further action will be taken accordingly. He said a complaint against Raju had been submitted at the police station yesterday. Gagan K Teja Tribune News Service Patiala, April 14 Apparently miffed at his name appearing third on the inauguration stone of an academic block, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Punjab Minister for Forests, Printing and Stationery, reportedly threatened the principal of a government school with suspension. On Thursday morning, Dharamsot arrived at Government Senior Secondary Girls School, Nabha, for the inauguration of the school block raised on the initiative of two former students in memory of their mother Santosh Kumari. He noticed that his name was inscribed below that of Santosh Kumaris two daughters. Agitated, the minister pulled up principal Nishi Jalota for not following protocol. His video threatening the principal went viral. Work on the block, comprising 14 rooms, was started in 2012 with Santosh Kumaris daughters, one an IRS officer and the other a doctor, setting up a trust and collecting Rs 50 lakh. The rest of the amount was collected by teachers, students and some good Samaritans and the project approved by the government. One of the teachers said the minister had been invited as a special guest, as mentioned in the invitation card, and that there was no reason why he should have misbehaved. The principal said she was taken aback by the ministers reaction. Santosh Kumaris daughters were our chief guests. The minister was here as a special guest. He was, perhaps, instigated by certain persons accompanying him, she said. Dharamsot could not be contacted. However, in a video on the social media, he denied the allegations, maintaining he had no problem with his name appearing third, but I do believe that the construction cost is rather high and there may be some hanky panky. The Congress manifesto mentioned that ministers/ MLAs would not lay stones or attend inauguration functions. Washington, April 15 Led by the House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, US lawmakers from both the Republican and the Democratic parties greeted Sikhs across the world on Baisakhi and praised their contribution in countrys development. Wishing our Sikh American neighbours and friends a happy Baisakhi! Ryan said in a tweet on Saturday when Sikhs across the globe observed the annual festival celebrating the spring harvest season. Senator John Cornyn, co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, extended his greetings in a tweet. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Wishing our Sikh American neighbours and friends a happy Baisakhi! Cornyn said. On this historically significant day for Sikhs, Im wishing our Sikh American friends and neighbours a happy Baisakhi, said Senator Gary Peters from Michigan. Wishing our Sikh American neighbours, classmates, and colleagues a happy Baisakhi! tweeted Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. Noting the historical relevance of the day, Senator Maria Cantwell said in a tweet, Today Im wishing our Sikh American friends a Happy Baisakhi! A historic day of celebration for Sikhs around the world! On this historically significant day for Sikhs, Im wishing all of our Sikh American friends a very happy Baisakhi! greeted Senator Ben Cardin, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Happy Baisakhi to Rhode Islands Sikh community & to our friends celebrating around the world! tweeted Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Senators Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley, Marco Rubio and Martin Heinrich also issued the Baisakhi greetings. Today and every day, lets honour the many contributions the #Sikh community has made to promote justice & equality in country & around the world, said Congressman Joe Crowley. Wishing our Sikh American neighbours, friends & colleagues a happy Baisakhi, tweeted Congressman Eliot Engel. Congressmen Brad Sherman, Doris Matsui, Suzan DelBene, Jim Costa and Jerry McNerney also joined their Congressional colleagues in greeting Sikhs on the occasion. On this historically significant day for Sikhs, Im wishing our Sikh American friends a happy Baisakhi, tweeted Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Happy Baisakhi/National Sikh Day/Creation of Khalsa Day to Hoosier Sikhs and the 30 million Sikhs across the world, Congressman Luke Messer said. The minority Sikh community from across the country had parades and cultural events to celebrate the occasion. Several Governors and State Assemblies also issued proclamations and statements to celebrate the occasion. Happy Baisakhi to Hoosier Sikhs & the 30 million Sikhs around the world! said Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. Delaware Assembly is observing April as Sikh Awareness Month. A resolution in the US House of Representatives recognising the historic, cultural and religious significance of Baisakhi has now more than a dozen co-sponsors. In a statement, American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee welcomed greetings by the United Nations on Baisakhi. PTI Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, April 15 As a setback to Dyal Singh Kolianwali in the Congress government, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has rejected his three godowns for wheat storage this season. He is a close aide of former CM Parkash Singh Badal and is SAD chief of Muktsar. The FCI in its letter to the Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation has stated that these open godowns, located on Malout-Sitto Gunno road, were not storage worthy, unhygienic and in low-lying areas, thus should not be used for storage purposes. Kolianwali was also the chairman of Punjab Agro during the previous SAD-BJP government. Sources said this was for the first time that the godowns were rejected. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, during his election campaign in Lambi, had never missed a chance to target Kolianwali. Balwinderjit Singh, District Manager, Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation, said, We have got a letter from the FCI rejecting the site for storing wheat this season. We had kept wheat in one of these godowns last season and vacated it a short time ago. On whether wheat got decayed in these godowns, he said, There was no loss of quality but going by the letter we will not store wheat this season in these godowns. Two of the godowns are owned by Dyal Singh and one is owned by his son Parminder Singh, said an official. Besides, one godown of Markfed on Malout-Bathinda road too has been rejected. Aradhika Sharma The book, a result of crowdfunding, is a volume about the Sikh diaspora. A collection of 10 short stories, it talks about various situations and concerns that Sikhs at different levels of society must handle. Many of the stories are relevant to any strata of the Indian society, but the author strives to root them into the community by creating settings and, from time to time, using language that a Punjabi might use. The anthology starts with The Recurring Dream which is a story about the aching heart of Bally Dhillon. As is true of so many aspirational Punjabis, Bally migrates to Canada in search of a better life. While he finds prosperity in the country, his heart always longs for home and his bebe (mother). Under the Banyan Tree takes the reader to a village in Punjab, where the elders gather around an old banyan tree, playing cards, gossiping and talking about life and times. In the next story Grewal takes us to Delhi and introduces us to Dolly, a young gold-digger in search of a rich husband. She marries into a prosperous family of refugees from Pakistan who have subsequently become successful entrepreneurs. Dollys journey is nicely handled as she rapidly transforms into an obnoxious high society lady, with the shallowest of values. She does have a moment of comeuppance in the end, however, which probably makes her wonder if her flighty life has been worth it. Desi Hip Hop King follows the journey of the simple Jagdeep Singh Sekhon who transforms into the rock star, Jacky S. His rise to stardom is meteoric and one he cant handle as he is swept by the tide of success and adulation. However, a shocking episode jolts him back into good sense and he reforms. In The Five Meter Burden, we meet Kanwar Singh Cheema of Pune who, as a college student, chops his hair to look like his fellow students but is reminded of his identity by a French-Muslim girl. Wanted An NRI Groom is in the form of diary entries by the bubbly Sukhmanpreet Kaur Dhaliwal from Amritsar who desperately wants an NRI groom, under any circumstance. Like most girls of Punjab, I just love everything about marriages. Clothes, make-up, jewellery, tradition, bhangra, dancing, chhed-chhaad. Sukhmanpreet is quite endearing in her unashamed enthusiasm for getting hitched to an NRI. But again, it is predictable as the story of the bride who does find an NRI husband in Melbourne but eventually ends up longing for home and nostalgia. Grewals stories are simple and easy to read. Her characters, however, are uni-dimensional and the stories linear. Not too many surprises or challenges in the book for the reader but she does try to encompass as many Punjabi scenarios as possible. The moral tone of the book is rather distinctive and one wishes that there was rather more subtlety in the messages. Pushpa Girimaji Some years ago, I bought a refrigerator that turned out to be defective. When neither the dealer nor the manufacturer bothered to replace the defective piece, I approached the consumer court. It directed the manufacturer to refund the cost of the refrigerator and also pay me compensation and costs. But the manufacturer and the dealer were unwilling to accept this verdict. Even when the consumer court at the state-level have dismissed their appeal, they have filed a revision petition before the consumer court at the national level, dubbing my complaint as false and frivolous. This is a clear case of harassment of a consumer and exploitation of the consumer protection law. What can I do now? When the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 came into being, trade and industry had expressed the fear that the law may encourage consumers to file false and frivolous complaints, particularly given the fact that there was no court fee at that time. So to discourage such litigation and prevent misuse of the law, a provision for dismissal of frivolous or vexatious complaints with a penalty was introduced in the Consumer Protection Act. When the law was amended in 1993, the penalty for such complaints was increased to a maximum of Rs 10,000 However, ironically, it is not the consumers, but the trade and industry, which are abusing the provisions of the law by filing meritless appeals, thereby prolonging the process of adjudication and harassing the consumers. Fortunately, in the recent years, the apex consumer court has come down heavily upon such litigation and has been using the provision in the law for imposing punitive damages to punish those who indulge in needless litigation. So, I would suggest that you make a plea for imposition of such exemplary damage on the opposite parties in this case for their misuse of the law. Can you quote some case laws to help me? In the Delhi Development Authority Vs D.C. Sharma (RP No 895 of 2013, decided on Feb 18, 2014), for example, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission expressed its strong displeasure over those who filed frivolous appeals and slapped a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the Delhi Development Authority. Quoting several Supreme Court judgements on the subject, the two member bench of the Commission, consisting Justice V.B. Gupta and Rekha Gupta said: no leniency should be shown to such type of litigants, who, in order to cover up their own fault and negligence, go on filing meritless petitions in different Fora. This was a case of the DDA allotting the complainant, in 1997, a flat already allotted to someone else in 1995. When the Delhi State Consumer Commission directed the DDA to provide a similar flat in the same or nearby locality or pay Rs 30 lakh to the complainant, the DDA filed an appeal before the National Commission. Its main contention before the apex consumer court was that it was a false and frivolous complaint, liable to be dismissed with costs to the DDA. Its second argument was that the consumers allotment stood automatically cancelled for non-payment of the demanded amount. Taking strong objection to such arguments and dismissing the appeal, the apex consumer court pointed out that the complaint was not false and frivolous, but the defence put up by the DDA was! Similarly in R. Narasimha Reddy Vs Kuchakula Surender Reddy ( FA No 502 of 2011, decided on March 5, 2012), the Commission had said: Equity demands that such unscrupulous litigants whose only aim and object is to deprive the opposite party (complainants or consumers) of the fruits of the decree must be dealt with a heavy hand. Punitive damages of Rs 1 lakh were imposed on a builder in this case for filing vexatious appeal. Again in Emaar MGF Land Ltd Vs Karnail Singh and Another (FA No 342 of 2014, pronounced on July 25, 2014), the apex consumer court came down heavily upon the realtor for gross abuse of the process of law and imposed exemplary damages of Rs 5 lakh. While doing so, the Commission quoted the Supreme Court in Ramrameshwari Devi and Ors Vs Nirmala Devi and Ors (CA No 4912-4913 of 2011, decided on July 4, 2011) wherein it was observed that unless the courts ensure that wrong doers are denied profit or undue benefit from frivolous litigation, it would become very difficult to curb such practices. By PTI: (Eds: Updating with Pak Foreign Secretarys quotes) From Sajjad Hussain Islamabad, Apr 14 (PTI) India said today it would appeal against the death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the charge-sheet as well as the army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian navy officer. advertisement This was conveyed by Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale to Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua during a meeting sought by him. "We would definitely go to appeal against the judgement but we cannot do it unless we have the details of charges and the copy of verdict. So, my first demand was to provide us the details of the charge-sheet and copy of the verdict," he said. Expressing disappointment over Pakistan turning down Indias request for consular access to Jadhav, the Indian envoy said, "They have denied our request for consular access 13 times (in the last one year). I have forcefully asked for consular access on the basis of international law and on humanitarian grounds as he is an Indian national." Apart from diplomatic options, India is also exploring legal remedies permitted under Pakistans legal system. Bambawale also said that he has no information about former Pakistani army officer Mohammad Habib who reportedly went missing from Nepal. Pakistani officials suspect that Indian spy agencies were behind his disappearance. Foreign Secretary Janjua said the trial against Jhadev was conducted under the Pakistan Army Act 1952 and Official Secret Act of 1923, according to a statement. She said that during the period of trial, "due judicial process was followed and he was provided a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the constitution of Pakistan". Janjua alleged that the Pakistanis "incarcerated" in Indian prisons have not been provided consular access for years, despite repeated requests and follow-up by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. She said the "rhetoric in the Indian Parliament was unwarranted and only added to fuelling hatred against Pakistan which was not conducive for promoting cordial ties between the two countries, in accordance with our Prime Minister?s vision for peace in the region." The death sentence to Jadhav, 46, was confirmed by army chief General Bajwa after the Field General Court Martial found him guilty of "espionage and sabotage activities" in Pakistan. Pakistan claims its security forces had arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. It also claimed that he was "a serving officer in the Indian Navy." advertisement The Pakistan Army had also released a "confessional video" of Jadhav after his arrest. However, India denied Pakistans contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities. India had made it clear to Pakistan that given the circumstances of the case, absence of any credible evidence to substantiates the concocted charges against Jadhav, farcical nature of the proceedings against him and denial of consular access to him, the people and the government of India will consider carrying out of the army court verdict as a "premeditated murder". Pakistan today rejected Indias accusation that there was no credible evidence against Jadhav, and warned that "inflammatory" statements over his death sentence would only result in escalation of tension in the bilateral ties. Pakistan Prime Ministers Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that due process of law was followed in Jadhavs trial. India had yesterday criticised the Pakistan government for not sharing Jadhavs location and details of his condition and said that the international norm to provide consular access was not followed. India and Pakistan have a bilateral agreement on consular access. advertisement Meanwhile, there was no official confirmation on reports of India asking its high commission in Pakistan to go slow on visas to Pakistan nationals in wake of the development. PTI PYK/SH NSA AKJ PMS --- ENDS --- Amit Sengupta It seems like whistling in the dark, but you can hear its sweet symphony from a distance. In the contemporary times of one-dimensional discourse and chest-thumping pseudo nationalism in India, surely, the music of alternative narratives is replete with a certain magic, full of the possibilities of hope. In a recent meeting in a packed hall in Delhi, with mostly youngsters, the collective mind found new by-ways of unravelling the zigzag of social media in the time of organised trolling and the high-octave onslaught of WhatsApp propaganda. Gathered here were individuals and collectives from 40 plus no-profit independent portals, outside all corporate strings, working against all odds, with nothing but idealism, resilience and a burning desire to tell the truth. How to combat the trolls, what is net neutrality and cyber laws, how to share authentic information, join the process of syndication, and block rumours, xenophobia, sexist, perverse and violent assaults on women; how to protect whistleblowers or be on guard against surveillance, what are the ways to dismantle the apparatus of war mongering, the attacks on minorities and Dalits, on freedom of speech and knowledge systems, on campuses. Participants also entered the limitless realm of the social media; that it is crucial to double-check facts and not fall in a trap, that objectivity, factuality and impartiality should be paramount in the dissemination of information, that information should be verified and also the sources, that there should not be a compromise in editorial standards. That is, if four mutton shops have been burnt in Hathras in UP soon after the great Hindutva victory, then all details should be verified, including the illegal nature of the shops, if any, even though, a large chunk of Indias free market street shops or hole in the wall joints might be outside the realm of legality. Is it possible to create alternative narratives, and not follow their agenda? Can we create a counter-culture? Yes, it is possible. A woman blogger said that she runs an independent portal, and, gradually, more than 30 bloggers are freely expressing their views on the world, and on womens liberation, unafraid of sexist attacks. They are not retreating to the kitchen. They are not bothered by sarcastic MCP remarks like, If she is reading Pablo Neruda, who cooks? They can give it back as good as it gets. Hence, when you resurrect the lyrics and music of the Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA), the poetry of Faiz, and Tagores views on nationalism, or when you work on many fronts on a chain-signature petition, backing it with resistance on the ground, or when you are able to quickly share information on a simmering communal polarization unleashed by cow vigilantes, you are consciously donating your social media presence to a large, creative collective, from Shillong to Kashmir, to Gorakhpur and Ahmedabad. The relentless Truth of Gujarat, run so effectively with meticulously documented information on the Gujarat Model including facts on the genocide of 2002, is an empirical pointer. Started by legendary lawyer, late Mukul Sinha, it is his son, Pratik, who is now running it with thousands of views everyday; he has added to the repertoire with another successful venture: Altnews. Indeed, as youngsters and veterans entered the inner lanes of the alternative narrative, what emerged was a parallel cinema, carving a synthesis between the periphery and the centre, the mainstream and the margin. A virtual world, yes, but as truly virtual as the world we live in. A sign of hope. Like love in the time of cholera. Jasmine Singh Butter chicken, Patiala peg and an NRI groom are pretty much the few things that can definitely brighten up a Punjabi face any time. While the chicken and the peg may not have any geographical indication (GI) but the groom must come with a GI tag of the United States. And if by any chance this doesn't work out, then there is always Canaida (colloquial Punjabi pronunciation for Canada). But US President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration in January and a proposal to squeeze H1B work visa programmes have just not affected job prospects of Indians in America, there has been an additional, though interesting, misery they must face. The decades-old demand for US-based grooms has dwindled sharply, thereby affecting the marriage market in India at large. Young Indian men studying and working in the US, once the most sought-after, are no longer finding any takers in marriage bureaus in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Besides, the attack on two Indian engineers in Kansas, in which one was killed, has put a further dampener on the demand for these grooms. Ironically and funnily enough President Trump's order has not just affected the job security of Indians working in States but also their marriage prospects! A call made to a marriage bureau in Jalandhar validates this. A polite voice interrupts us to say that they no longer find rishtas for prospective brides in the USA because they don't deal with the Indian boys settled there anymore. "France, Holland, Turkey, Vancouver...we can look for Indian grooms anywhere else but not the USA. Dekhoji, Trump ne ta saddi market kharaab kar ditti. (Look, Trump has spoiled our market)," adds the voice, sounding genuinely perturbed at this development. With visa laws in the USA getting stricter and Indians working there feeling the heat of it, parents in India are exploring other foreign shores to marry their daughters since the US is out of picture, at least till Trump is the President. "I had asked my elder daughter to find a match for my younger daughter in the USA, preferably a Punjabi from the IT sector," shares Amandeep Sekhon, a landlord from Nakodar, Punjab. "She did find a suitable match; we spoke to the boy's parents settled in Amritsar, and then Trump passed the order. Now, my wife is pressurising me to call off the talks because we can't get our second daughter married in the US as long as Trump is the President. You never know when he throws out all the Indians." If this insecurity wasn't enough to scare the prospective brides' parents, especially those who have always hankered after NRI sons-in-law, racial attacks on Indians is further cementing their resolve to give a miss to US-based grooms. Though some parents are still ready to brave the odds, they are afraid that the couple may be deported. It is this dilemma that has affected the marriage prospects of a large number of Indian bachelors working there and other NRI single men, no matter what positions they are working on. Sarita Suman, who runs a marriage bureau in Noida, tries explaining the shift in the marriage scenario with the help of numbers. "Earlier, out of the 20 marriage proposals I would get from North India, Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai, nearly 15 preferred a US-based Indian boy (preferably working in the IT sector or a physician). Now, with the new immigration policy, only five may still be interested to get their daughters married in the US, rest have changed their preferences to Australia, Dubai, Canada, Germany, Italy and Malaysia," adds Sarita, foreseeing a change in the trend. While the parents of the Indian girls or even the girls themselves have shifted preferences to other continents, Indian boys settled in the US are facing the threat of being stranded at the altar because of these new and stricter laws. Jaskirat Brar (29) from Patti, Amritsar, is a warehouse manager working in Virginia. The talks of his marriage to an Indian Punjabi girl who works for a production house in Mumbai, had almost reached the final 'yes' stage. For the last one month, however, neither Jaskirat nor his parents have had any communication with the girl's side. "All Indians settled in the US will remain bachelor till Trump is in power. I think I have to wait for another five years to get married. Now we wouldn't be picked up by the firangi girls as our future in this country is so uncertain," says Jaskirat woefully. Manbir Sharma, 29, who hails from Faridabad, works at a petrol station in Kentucky. Manbir came to India seven months back to get married. A roka ceremony was held to solemnise the marriage. To his surprise, the girl cancelled the ceremony because she thought he was about to lose his job. "I tried convincing her that it was all talks and nothing concrete has happened yet, but she said she would only marry me if I decided to move to some other country," says a totally disheartened Manbir. The effect is evident even on matrimonial websites. Indian men or women of marriageable age are no longer the preferred choice. "Uncertainty about what will happen with the so-called outsiders has affected the marriage market in a big way," shares Pratap Prabhakar, a professional matchmaker based in Minnesota. As President Trump is going to be there for another four years at least, Indian men in the US should now concentrate on getting a green card. Or maybe they should start giving dowry to girls now to marry them. Now that's a thought! Harish Khare SUDDENLY out of nowhere, we find ourselves having to talk about as to how we should be treating the Khalistanis in the Canadian Government when they visit Punjab. I am rather inclined to applaud that the good Captain has brassily stood his ground on not wanting to meet the Canadian Defence Minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan. Just because a foreign citizen of Indian origin becomes successful in another country, he or she is not automatically entitled to our respect or veneration. And, it would be foolish to forget the bottom line: these people have chosen to forsake their allegiance to the land of their forefathers; the convenient presumption, though, is that the NRIs have not cut off their emotional ties with Mother India. Still, the Diaspora is presumed to be interested and, is encouraged officially to get involved in our collective well-being. We woo and court them at the Pravasi Diwas jingbang; each state government has also devised its own forms of NRI sammelans and melas. In the recent years, the Disapora has regularly chosen to get involved in and divided along party lines not just in Punjab but also in almost every other part of India. In some states, political parties have an informal quota for the NRIs; assembly constituencies are easily identifiable as NRI seats. Political leaders from India are regularly wined and dined or otherwise honoured by the mini-Chatwals and the minor-Hindujas among the NRIs. This is a rather transactional relationship. The Diaspora in North America and England may have an abiding interest in our affairs; but I am not sure they are entitled to any right to interfere in the quarrel among the politicians and political parties. But once they choose to take sides, they should be prepared to be treated like any other partisan in a street brawl. The Captain has a democratic right to put a Khalistani tag on Sajjan or his band of fellow-travellers. The Canadian Government has, expectedly, disagreed with the Captain. But it is rather strange that very many groups and leaders in India feel that as Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh is obliged to receive the Canadian Defence Minister. Let the Defence Minister visit each and every gurdwara he likes; let him be given a siropa at every place; and, he would be entitled to courtesies and protocol. But that should be about it. It is no secret that that there are vast swathes of the Sikh community, living in Canada and the United States, who subscribe to the memory, history and politics of the Khalistan movement. Now this Khalistani tag has acquired a political usefulness in the distant democratic systems, geared to promote multiculturalism. The tricks and tactics of identity politics come into play; there is a political payoff in posing as a defender of the community or faith. Sajjan is a very successful model of this Khalistani politics here and there. *************** ASHWANI Kumar is rather an incongruity in our politics as perhaps is any educated man. In a way, he represents a dilemma of our times. Political life makes unappetising demands on those who choose to enter its portals. Yet, our public space would be an extremely poor place without the presence of men and women of learning, scholarship and erudition. An evolved polity finds ways of accommodating, listening and, occasionally, rewarding those with cerebral gifts. Demagogues and orators do have their place, but so must the educated and the learned. I first came to know of Ashwani Kumar as a partisan in the PV Narasimha Rao-Arjun Singh standoff in the mid-1990s. Over the years, I came to respect him as a man of ideas, who was at a great disadvantage in the world of intrigue and conspiracies that is the Congress Party. He was too decent and too much a gentleman to achieve any substantive breakthrough in the direct electoral arena in that respect, he has Dr Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, Jairam Ramesh, among others, for company. He found his place but was never granted his peace in the Rajya Sabha. He was there for fourteen years. Hope In a Challenged Democracy is a collection of the speeches and articles Ashwani Kumar has penned over the years. The book was released last Monday in Delhi. Put together, the collection is a powerful lament about the decline of the power of persuasion and reason in a democracy and, a warning against the danger of passions and expediencies of the day overriding the established principles of justice and good governance. The best reflections are in the section on the Constitution. Particularly thoughtful is the piece Ashwani Kumar wrote after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was summoned to stand trial. He wonders whether the oppressive prosecutorial process of the criminal justice system can be unleashed against a citizen by the court itself This is part of his larger argument that our political and judicial processes need to be insulated against the impulses of transient majorities. He does put his finger on a great danger of our system the judiciary yielding to public opinion. And, he quotes a distinguished US Supreme Court Justice, Benjamin N. Cardozo, to make the point that a judge is not free to be a bull in a china shop: he is not to innovate at pleasure, he is not a knight errant roaming at will in pursuit of his own idea of beauty or of goodness. He is not to yield to spasmodic sentiment, to vague or unregulated benevolence. As a Congressman, who benefited from the Congress system, Ashwani Kumar is understandably understated in his dissection of what ails Indias oldest political party. The closest he comes to expressing himself is when he laments the routine triumph of intrigue over integrity, of expediency over principle. He daringly makes a distinction between loyalty to the national project and servility to party bosses. I would recommend the book to all those who prefer to abide by the values and practices of liberalism and old-fashioned decency. *************** IF we have survived and prospered as a nation these last seventy years, it is because we are fortunate enough to have had the services of a band of dedicated public servants. Most of the time, such public servants work behind the scene and they mostly remain unsung. Garry Saxena was one such man. He was among the proverbial wise men without whose quiet and sagacious advice no system survives for long. He passed away last Friday. Garry Saxena was a classic intelligence man, who was twice asked to go to the Raj Bhavan in Srinagar during the days of crisis and collapse. As Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, he formally served four prime ministers VP Singh, Chandra Shekhar, PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee but his counsel was sought by every prime minister since Indira Gandhi. During his first stint between May 1990 and March 1993, he saw to it that the authority of the Indian State was restored effectively and efficaciously. I was fortunate enough to have sat, literally at his feet, a number of times; just listening to him as to how this or that crisis was tackled was an education in the principles and practices of statecraft. His memory of men and events remained undiminished till the very last. India is poorer in his death, because he was an embodiment of the first principle of public office: it is a trust that has to be exercised only in the service of the Indian State. He deserves a salute. With considerable fanfare, we were informed the other day that the Prime Minister had decreed that from now onwards, women will not have to change their names in passports after their marriage. Rather curious. There never was any such requirement in law anyway. I should know; my wife never changed her surname and, I have been married since 1981. That calls for coffee, hot and black. kaffeeklatsch@tribuneindia.com As long as I can remember, I have longed to visit China. This may be because as a child, I had read a lot of Pearl Buck whose missionary parents spent a lifetime there and her stories of ordinary Chinese women and girls were fascinating. Another childhood author I loved was Han Suyin, whose admiration of the Chinese shone through her early novels. However, she erred terribly in praising the Cultural Revolution and never recovered her literary reputation after that. Growing up in Almora and Nainital, we were often visited by Lamas from Tibet (trade across the border was then legitimate) and all dentists and shoemakers in the hills were Chinese. Even now, I don't think anyone can match the shoes made by their descendants. Of course, Chinese food is now so popular that every little village offers mo-mos and chowmein and Gobhi Manchurian is almost our national dish. In Delhi, the popular Indian eatery, Nathu's, used to offer a Chinese thaal: pure vegetarian fare with their variation of Chop suey and 'nooduls', swimming in soya sauce and liberally spiced with ajinomoto. My children had dubbed it 'House of Hing' after the Taj Mansingh's famous Chinese restaurant called House of Ming. Soon, Indi-chinese cuisine became so popular that it gave rise to another hilarious named variation, Chinese chaat, served off a thela in Lajpat Nagar market. Maggi noodles and now Patanjali have quickly latched on to the popularity and a plate of 'Maggi' is a wholesome snack across middle class homes in India. By the time you read this column, I will be in China but since I may face difficulty in posting it from there, I am writing this before I leave. As you probably know, China is one country that has not caved into the charms of Google and so in the absence of gmail, I am not taking chances. We will be visiting Shanghai, Beijing and Xian and I can't wait to see the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and Imperial Palace in Beijing, the Terracotta Warriors and Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian and pay homage to the city from where Xuanzang (or Hiuen Tsang as we know him here) started his epic journey in the seventh century AD. A few years ago, while on a trip to Bihar, we visited the famed ruins of Nalanda and a site museum that has a statue of this great pilgrim, with his bamboo backpack. Imagine walking through the frozen wastes of northern China and across Tibet to reach Gaya and Pataliputra. As if this wasn't enough, he went further west and reached Tashkent and the Pamirs! They say, Xian is beautifully preserved and I can't wait to see it for myself. Travel writing is a wonderful way of learning about the culture and social history of faraway lands and I am a dedicated reader of as many travelogues as I can. Another undiscovered gem I recently found was a travelogue by a Bengali (later Bangladeshi) writer who travelled from Santiniketan to Afghanistan in the early 1930s. His account of the perils of travel in those times aboard a rickety bus driven by a one-eyed Pathan driver and his faithful portrait of the Khyber Pass is thrilling to say the least. Strangely it has only recently been translated into English (beautifully, I may add) and one is struck at how little we know of a land that is culturally and topographically part of the same matrix as ours. Really, what crimes the British committed in the name of Empire! Our Chinese tour will begin and end with Shanghai, a city that I am told is so modern that it takes your breath away. And to think that all the modernization of China has been accomplished in a few decades gives me hope that one day our squalid towns and slums will be different. Since Singapore is just a short flight away, we plan to spend a few days there with a niece. Several friends have children in Singapore as well (all successful investment bankers, IT geeks and entrepreneurs) so look forward to being spoiled by them. I want to have high tea at Singapore's Raffles Hotel, immortalized in Somerset Maugham's stories. I am told it is an experience not to be missed and that to do justice to the huge spread, one must skip lunch (and possibly breakfast as well) to taste even a fraction of the goodies. Yumm! I would also like to see some performances of the famous Peking Theatre for it is one of the great examples of the cultural heritage of this ancient civilization. What I want is not to be influenced by the doomsday commentators who have written reams on how much has been destroyed in the process of modernizing China. Sure, that is a matter of great concern but how else do you bring out two-thirds of your people from abject poverty? This debate can engage us for a long time but I mean to steer clear of it for the present if only to see a new nation emerge from its slumber. India has much to learn from the experience of the Great Chinese Leap and I would like to go there with an open mind. I'm no Hiuen Tsang, but am as excited as he must have been once. Naveen S Garewal in Chandigarh Why does Manohar Lal Khattar look so offish these days? He is not even smiling enough, wonders a senior officer in the Haryana Secretariat. The other day the Chief Minister almost lost his cool when a group of Panchkula children gathered at his residence in Chandigarh to earn his appreciation for their theme paintings on Yoga for achieving peace of mind. We were humiliated when a request was made for a group photograph. The CM shouted at his staff asking them who had arranged the meeting, and that such photo ops could have waited for official work, an eyewitness said. The Janata Darbar was quite a spectacle for everyone there. Its easy to know Khattar, admit his loyalists as well as detractors within and outside the BJP, because he has virtually nil experience in governance. Thats perhaps why in 2014 the first BJP government under his leadership coined the slogan sabka saath sabka vikas. Then the Jat agitation happened. The entire administrative machinery collapsed. Even now there is no knowing what the state government would do placate or infuriate the community. The CM since taking over then has made 3,500 announcements, according to a government statement on the floor of the House. But it has acted only on 34% of those fine words. One such announcement was on public healthcare. The CM had announced a medical college each in all districts. The fact is most district hospitals do not have intensive care units, forget medical colleges. The CM, at best or worst, has struggled to understand the mechanism of governance. One aspect of which is checking corruption, about which even party legislators have struggled to be heard. BJPs Gurugram MLA, Umesh Aggarwal, has raised several cases related to corruption in the government, but he has been ignored. Aggarwal sensed corruption in power meter purchase in the department headed by Khattar. Then he raised wrongdoings through mutation of Gurugram Municipal land. And then again, Aggarwal saw change in Metro route in Gurugram benefiting certain individuals. But the CM has remained more or less quiet. Everybody outside his government says the state is being remote-controlled from Delhi through the RSS. Despite that, 16 of the 47 party MLAs rose in revolt against Khattar, saying their position was worse than that of an opposition MLA. The common grouse is that deputy commissioners or district police chiefs dont take their calls or listen to the people-oriented works that they take to the local administration. Like Khattar, his cabinet colleagues too have little or no experience in running a government. As a result, the bureaucracy is virtually calling the shots. In the last 30 months, almost all 22 districts have seen at least three deputy commissioners and three police chiefs. The situation in the 47 sub-divisions is no better. Places like Pehowa have seen five SDMs holding charge under the Khattar Government so far. Yamunanagar has had 5 SPs, some lasting as little as three months. The Supreme Court has asked Haryana and Punjab to sort out the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal dispute. Sources say the Khattar government is not well-prepared to present its case before the Prime Minister who has invited both states to present their case to him on April 20. On the other hand, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh seems better placed as he is already conversant with the facts because it was he who had brought the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004. The CM is definitely fighting to keep a slight load of a smile on his face, quips a BJP activist. Opposition scores a point "Khattar could neither prove to be a good CM nor a good administrator. He has wasted three years without achieving anything. And now his leadership is being challenged by his own men, which is affecting governance in the state." Kuldeep Sharma, Congress Leader and Ex-Speaker "Since Khattar came to power, people have seen a lot of Utsavs (festivities) -- Gita Utsav, Saraswati Utsav or Swarna Jayanti Utsav. The government has merely worked towards increasing the debt." Ashok Arora, State INLD President SMA Kazmi Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 15 After a humiliating defeat in the state Assembly elections held last month, the infighting in the Uttarakhand Congress has come to the fore with senior party leaders firing salvos at each other. Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh has hit out against former Chief Minister Harish Rawat for leading the party to a disastrous election defeat. Speaking at Haridwar on Friday, Hridayesh said it was indeed a black day for the party since former Chief Minister Harish Rawat who had fought elections on two Assembly seats and lost both the seats in the recently concluded Assembly polls. Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat was quick to react. In a statement, he said that he had already owned all the responsibility for the electoral debacle. He further said if the party felt that it was not sufficient he was willing to face any punishment. However, he did not hesitate to hit out at Indira Hridayesh and state Congress chief Kishore Upadhyay. He said it was now up to Hridayesh and Upadhyay to take the Congress party out of darkness. The differences between Hridayesh and Harish Rawat become evident when the former Chief Minister tried to persuade the party central leadership to appoint Karan Mahra, his own close kin as leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly instead of Indira Hridayesh, who is one of the senior most legislator in the state. Both, state Congress chief Upadhyay and Harish Rawat had joined hands to deny Hridayesh the post. Upadhaya in a bid to save his position had sought appointment of Karan Mahra. He felt that if a Rajput from Kumaon region was made Leader of the Opposition, he being a Garhwali Brahmin would be able to retain his position as PCC chief. However, the central party leadership acted smart and did not oblige Harish Rawat by appointment Hridayesh who deserved the position. Interestingly, the verbal spat between Harish Rawat and Indira Hridayesh has indicated that Uttarakhand Congress would be more divided in the coming days. Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat who was instrumental in break up of the party by separating 10 Congress legislators in March 2016, is unwilling to yield an inch of space to any other leader. Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 15 Leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Indira Hridayesh today hinted of Congress support on the state governments any effort towards implementation of prohibition in the state. Hridayesh, while addressing mediapersons at the state party headquarters here today, said the state government had faltered in its very first step by getting failed on a liquor policy and now there was a widespread agitation in the state against opening of liquor shops in localities. First the state government tried to convert some national highways into district roads in order to give a reprieve to liquor shops located at these highways as they were barred to do business due to the Supreme Courts verdict banning sale of liquor within 500 meters from the national highway. There is a strong resentment against opening of liquor shops particularly among women folk, Hridayesh said adding that Congress was not opposed to, if the state government tries to bring in prohibition in the state. Taking a dig at the state BJP government, Hridayesh said the BJP government in the state was about to complete one month, but it is still to draw its attention to the core issues affecting the state. A large number of schools are without teachers and it is thus important to regularise the services of guest teachers, she said. Hridayesh said the Congress had given six-month time to the government after that the party would object any wrong decision of the government. Completely rejecting any groupism within the Congress, Hridayesh said the Congress in Uttarakhand was no more in a position to even resort to groupism. There is no question of groupism and we are now focusing on revival of the party, she argued. Hridayesh yet again asserted that former Chief Minister Harish Rawat was the tallest leader of the Congress. She also asserted that the Congress was studying the reasons that led to the partys humiliating defeat in the recent polls. Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 15 Governor KK Paul today called upon students to adopt modern technology even while simultaneously preserving their traditional values. The Governor was addressing the fifth convocation of Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar. He exhorted the students to realise their moral responsibility towards their country and the state. He said the students must adopt modern technology to succeed in this era of global competitiveness. He also stressed on importance of positivity in life. Always keep alive a curiosity to read good books and learn something new. This leads to positive thinking and strengthens creativity and imagination, said the Governor. He said innovation gave inspiration and provided many solutions to any problem. Congratulating the students who were accorded degrees and gold medals, the Governor said they were now entering a new phase of their lives which would have challenges as well as opportunities for achieving success and prestige. Accept the challenges and move forward towards success, he said. The Governor said he was very much confident that the students passing out of the university, nurtured with Indian values, would play a significant role in the nation building. He said young people must make efforts to become job providers than job seekers. He also called upon the students to develop the art of introspection and self-evaluation in order to improve themselves. He said the social service through internship system of the university was an appreciable effort. He suggested to the university that former students who were now on prestigious posts in various spheres should be invited to the university in an annual event so that the students here could be inspired by them and the universitys status would also be enhanced. The university must build an environment and arrangement which would help prepares its students for various competitive examinations at the national and state levels, the Governor observed. Senior faculty members and a large number of students of Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya were present on the occasion. Tehran: At least 35 people were killed and eight declared missing across four provinces as flash floods hit northwestern Iran, state media reported on Saturday. Torrential rains that began on Friday lashed East Azerbaijan province, with state television showing images of rivers bursting their banks, flooded houses and cars being swept away by the surging water. The districts of Ajabshir and Azarshahr were the worst hit. Khalil Saei, director general of crisis management in East Azarbaijan province, said Red Crescent workers, air ambulances, police and army forces had been deployed to provide aid. In September, 10 people were killed in flash flooding in Tehran and Hormozgan provinces. AFP Ankara, April 15 President Tayyip Erdogan appealed for support from Turkish voters in final campaign rallies on Saturday, the eve of a referendum which could tighten his grip over a country bridging the European Union and a conflict-strewn Middle East. Opinion polls have given a narrow lead for a Yes vote in Sundays referendum to replace Turkeys parliamentary democracy with an all-powerful presidency, a move Erdogan says is needed to confront the security and political challenges Turkey faces. Opponents say it is a step towards greater authoritarianism in a country where 40,000 people were arrested and 1,20,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs in a crackdown following a failed coup attempt against Erdogan last July. Western countries have criticised that tough response, and relations with the EU which Turkey has been negotiating to join for a decade hit a low during the campaign when Erdogan accused European leaders of acting like Nazis for banning referendum rallies in their countries on security grounds. He has also said Turkey could review a deal under which it limits the flow of migrants many of them refugees fleeing war in neighbouring Syria and Iraq into the European Union unless the bloc implements plans to grant Turks visa-free travel. At a rally in Istanbul, one of four he held in the last hours before Sundays vote, Erdogan described the constitutional proposals as the biggest change in Turkey since the country was established nearly a century ago, and the culmination of the response to Julys abortive putsch. Sunday will be a turning point in the fight against terrorist organisations. We will finish what we started on July 15 this April 16, he told a crowd in Istanbuls Tuzla district, decked with Turkish flags and giant pictures of the president. Reuters All-power prez or not: Turkey decides today A 113-year-old church in Colorado has been converted into the International Church of Cannabis for people to consume marijuana together. The church believes "one can find the path to spiritual fulfillment through the ritual use of cannabis." By India Today Web Desk: Potheads now have a place where they can visit to pay their respects. The International Church of Cannabis is planning to open its gates for pot worshippers on April 20 in Colorado, US. How do you pray there, wondering? The self-described 'elevationsists' can gather together to consume cannabis, or what the elevationsists would call it -- sacred flower -- in congregation, according to an RT report. advertisement The promotional video describes the setup as the "first large venue in the world where adults can legally consume cannabis in a social environment." Also Read: For this Himachal village, banned cannabis is its source of livelihood The 113-year-old church which has been redecorated near Washington Park will allow the congregation to "take the sacred flower to find inspiration and meaning." "We were looking at condos and apartments. Then ultimately, a group of my friends convinced me to keep this as a community church, but with a little different angle to it," landlord Steve Berke told KUSA. THE CHURCH AND ITS IDEOLOGY The church is decorated in murals, abstract figures and collages. The church believes "one can find the path to spiritual fulfillment through the ritual use of cannabis," according to Steve Berke. As the news of potheads gathering together in a church consume cannabis, many raised their questions. Steve Berke dismissed concerns, claiming the congregation were not "just a bunch of lazy stoners getting together to get high," claiming they want to have a positive impact on the neighborhood. However it is just a place for pot worshippers where they can all perform the ritual together and marijuana or accessories will not be sold at the church. FYI || Hello, 'high' are you? 12 places that allow you to use cannabis || It will also host events where guest artists, other various artists and comedians will be invited. Watch the video here: FYI || State's now smoking: Marijuana penetrates deep in Bihar after liquor ban || --- ENDS --- Pyongyang/Seoul, April 15 North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, on Saturday, as a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region. A US Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month raised questions about US President Donald Trumps plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN and unilateral sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Il Sungs grandson, looking relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw the huge parade on the Day of the Sun at Pyongyangs main Kim Il Sung Square. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square, next to the Taedonggang River that flows through Pyongyang, in the hazy spring sunshine, followed by tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons. Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead. Unlike at some previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be any a senior Chinese official in attendance. China is North Koreas lone major ally but has spoken out against North Koreas missile and nuclear tests and supported UN sanctions. The North has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering all the necessary technology. Weapons analysts said they believed some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). North Korea showed two new kinds of ICBM enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of trucks, suggesting Pyongyang was working towards a new concept of ICBM, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. However, North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them, Hanham said. It is still early days for these missile designs. North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan. It warned the United States that any provocation would be met with retaliation. All the brigandish provocative moves of the US in the political, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK will thoroughly be foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK, the Norths KCNA state news agency said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean Peoples Army. DPRK stands for the official name of North Korea, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive. Commitment to missiles KCNA said the Trump administrations serious military hysteria had reached a dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked. The US has warned that a policy of strategic patience with North Korea is over. US Vice-President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. North Koreas Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also on parade. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade. Displaying more than one of the missiles indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base a missile on a submarine, which are hard to detect, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review. It suggests a commitment to this programme, said Pollack. Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the programme. Choe, a close aide to Kim, reiterates warning to US Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim, addressed the packed square and reiterated the warning to the United States. If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare, he said. China, North Koreas sole major ally and neighbour which nevertheless opposes its weapons programme, on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. China banned all imports of North Korean coal on February 26 under UN sanctions, cutting off the Norths most important export product. Chinas national airline, Air China, weeks ago cancelled some flights to Pyongyang due to poor demand but it has not suspended all flights there, it said on Friday, denying a report by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that all flights run by the airline between the two cities were to be suspended. North Korea on Friday denounced the United States for bringing huge nuclear strategic assets to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer. Reuters Pyongyang, April 15 North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles in a massive military display in central Pyongyang today, with ruler Kim Jong Un looking on with delight as his nation flaunted its increasingly sophisticated military hardware amid rising regional tensions. Kim did not speak during the annual parade, which celebrates the 1912 birthday of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, North Koreas founding ruler, but a top official warned that the North would stand up to any threat posed by the United States. Choe Ryong Hae said President Donald Trump was guilty of creating a war situation on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching US forces to the region. We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack, said Choe, widely seen by analysts as North Koreas No 2 official. The parade, the annual highlight of North Koreas most important holiday, came amid growing international worries that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM capable of reaching US shores. But if the parade signalled a readiness for war, North Korea has long insisted that its goal is peace and survival with the growing arsenal a way to ensure that the government in Pyongyang is not easily overthrown. North Korea saw the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya neither of whom had nuclear weapons as proof of the weapons power. It will be the largest of miscalculations if the United States treats us like Iraq and Libya, which are living out miserable fates as victims of aggression, and Syria, which didnt respond immediately even after it was attacked, said a statement yesterday by the general staff of the North Korean army, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Also yesterday, North Koreas vice foreign minister told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that Trumps tweets he recently tweeted, for example, that the North is looking for trouble have inflamed tensions. Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words, Han Song Ryol said. US retaliatory strikes earlier this month against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, coupled with Trumps dispatching of what he called an armada of ships to the region, touched off fears in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action against the North. Pyongyang has also expressed anger over the ongoing annual spring military exercises the US holds with South Korea, which it considers a rehearsal for invasion. A US military official said the United States doesnt intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. AP Kim presides over parade Kim Jong Un, who took power in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, emphasises nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defence strategy. Under his watch, North Korea has aggressively pursued a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental US Kim was greeted with thunderous and extensively practised applause as he stepped into view on a large podium, clapping to acknowledge the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade China seeks Russias help to cool situation China is seeking Russias help to cool surging tensions over Pyongyangs nuclear ambitions, the countrys foreign minister has told his Moscow counterpart, after Beijing warned of possible conflict over North Korea Fears over the Norths rogue weapons programme have soared in recent days, with a US naval strike force deployed near the Korean peninsula, while President Donald Trump has warned the threat will be taken care of Elaborate display of tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery Loaded with chlorine, ISIS militants fired a rocket in western Mosul in Iraq after which several soldiers were taken to a nearby field clinic. By India Today Web Desk: An Iraqi military officer says Islamic State militants have launched a gas attack in a newly-liberated area in western Mosul. Islamic State has fired a rocket loaded with chlorine in western Mosul, Iraq, hitting several soldiers with the gas, according to an AP report. The officer with the anti-terrorism forces said on Saturday that the attack occurred the night before in the al-Abar neighbourhood recently liberated from the militants by US-backed Iraqi forces, when IS fired a rocket loaded with chlorine. advertisement At least seven soldiers reportedly suffered breathing problems and were treated at a nearby field clinic. Also Read || Syria gas attack kills at least 100, Donald Trump blames Bashar al-Assad, Barack Obama || The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to release information. The US-backed Iraqi forces are currently battling IS militants in the more densely-populated western half of Mosul. Iraqi officials say more than half of western Mosul has been retaken. The extremists were driven out of the eastern half of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in January. SENIOR CHIEF OF ISIS KILLED Iraqi forces today announced killing a senior chief of the Islamic State. A press statement by Iraqi Federal Police Forces -- Chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat -- said that the police force took down one of the organisation's leaders Mahmaoud Ali Mahmoud, during one of the engagements against IS elements in Mosul, according to a Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) report. Also Read || Syria: At least 39 killed in bomb blast on Aleppo outskirts || With inputs from Associated Press --- ENDS --- Gov. Mary Fallin has asked for an investigation of the Shadow Mountain Behavioral Health System hospital after an eight-month BuzzFeed News examination found possible systemic abuses of patients who receive mental health services at the Tulsa facility. The Department of Human Services needs to investigate and make sure a plan of action is developed as soon as possible to address any problems, Fallin said in a written statement issued Friday. In a story posted Friday by BuzzFeed, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe also encouraged the state to investigate. The recent reports about Shadow Mountain are very concerning, he said in a statement to BuzzFeed. Its imperative that Oklahomas health care facilities are held to the highest standards of care. Shadow Mountain issued a one-sentence statement late Friday when asked for comment on the governors request. We look forward to cooperating with the State of Oklahoma and demonstrating that Shadow Mountain Behavioral Health plays an important role in providing quality care to patients facing complex psychiatric issues, the statement said. In a previous Tulsa World story, DHS reported that it is investigating nine potential cases of child abuse and neglect at Shadow Mountains Oklahoma facilities. The DHS Office of Client Advocacy investigates referrals of alleged abuse and neglect at facilities providing institutional and health services for children and youths, but it does not investigate the facilities as a whole. Shadow Mountain is licensed to operate by the Oklahoma Department of Health. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority has a contract with the facility for SoonerCare, which covers care for Medicaid-eligible children. BuzzFeed News posted a story Tuesday stating that Shadow Mountain Behavioral Health was under a state investigation. It cited police records, state inspection reports, and lawsuits, as well as interviews with more than 15 current and former employees, including administrators and psychiatrists, in an effort to show that Shadow Mountain is a profoundly troubled facility where frequent violence endangers patients and staff alike, where children as young as 5 are separated from their parents and held in dangerous situations, and where wards lack adequate staffing and staff lack adequate training. Oklahoma law restricts license surveys and inspection reports of hospitals and related agencies from the public unless a move is made to revoke or suspend a license. However, federal inspection reports are open to the public. Records provided to the Tulsa World by the state Health Department from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate that an inspection on April 22, 2016, found several instances in which Shadow Mountain was out of compliance, with the most serious being not providing medical screenings to incoming patients and not maintaining records of transfer patients. The inspection report also noted that CEO Michael Kistler did not track information on patients who were and were not accepted for transfer into the facility for treatment. But a review of phone logs noted that patients with a payment source were accepted for treatment nearly every time and that those without were often denied. Documents posted by BuzzFeed indicate that the Oklahoma Health Care Authority terminated a SoonerCare contract in November for one of Shadow Mountains facilities due to noncompliance with minimal staffing requirements. The contract was renewed in December, according to BuzzFeed. DHS data provided to the Tulsa World shows that 312 referrals were made for possible abuse and neglect against children and teens being cared for in Shadow Mountains state facilities between 2014 and 2016. Of those, 124 were accepted for investigation, meaning enough evidence existed to warrant in-depth review. Of those investigations, 94 were determined to be unsubstantiated. Substantiated abuse or neglect was determined in 30 cases. Details of those DHS reports are not subject to the states Open Records Act. Meanwhile, the state Department of Health is considering a request by Shadow Mountain to convert 12 adults beds at the companys facility on South Sheridan Road to the same number of child/adolescent acute care beds. Shadow Mountain currently has 36 child/adolescent beds and 24 adult beds at its facility at 6262 S. Sheridan Road. The company also operates a 57-bed residential treatment center called Riverside at 1027 E. 66th Place. Shadow Mountain has applied to the state Health Department for approval to remodel existing space at Riverside to add eight acute-care beds. A state Health Department notice regarding the requests indicates that the agency will issue a decision by June 2. Seinna Leach is just 12 years old, but she is about to enjoy her sixth summer rehabilitating orphaned and injured birds in her backyard a task that sometimes involves feeding and diaper changes every half hour. For the little ones its every half hour from sunup to sundown, said her father, Matt Leach. As they get older its less, sometimes an hour, every two hours, so youre not completely tied down, added her mother, Christy Leach, as she talked about finding time to enjoy a party with friends last summer. We just had to leave for a little while and come back. The parents are all in with their daughter on wildlife rehabilitation. It started with a weekend workshop like the one set for Saturday where adults and children alike can hear Seinna present some of the basics about bird rehabilitation. Introduction to Wildlife Rehabilitation, presented by the Wildilfe In Need Group-In Tulsa WING-IT and the Tulsa Audubon Society, is set for 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Schusterman-Benson Library, 3333 E. 33nd Place. Thats how it started for us six years ago, Matt Leach said. I think we saw a flier in the library. Now, with her summers of experience helping birds and presenting programs about what she does in the classroom and at some ornithology workshops, Seinna is set to present to the public on Saturday, as well. I give a short overview of what wildlife rehabilitation is and what we do, she said. I put an emphasis on that theyre wild animals and are meant to be returned to the wild, so dont make pets out of them. Emphasis also is placed on finding ways to get young animals back to their parents if at all possible and intervening only when necessary. Then I tell them about some of my experiences and some of the birds Ive rehabbed and how long Ive been doing it, Seinna said. With their connection to WING-IT, the Leachs are networked with other rescuers and with veterinarians at Forest Trials Animal Hospital and Oklahoma Veterinary Specialists, who all work together to help wildlife. So far, Seinna has helped more than 30 species of birds, including scissor-tailed flycatchers, western king birds, red-bellied woodpeckers, and even an indigo bunting that wore a splint on its broken wing for several weeks but eventually was able to fly away on its own. Some of the birds are released in the Leachs backyard and may even hang around for a day or two for free meals, and some are released in the woods near Holland Hall or some other suitable location. My grandfather has purple martin houses, and so we released a pair of purple martins there, Seinna said. They were on the outside for a while, but pretty soon they joined up with all the other ones. Butterflies in the stomach will not be an issue for Seinna on Saturday. She does better public speaking than I do, Matt Leach said. Seinna was interested in birds as a very young child, and a workshop she watched as a 7-year-old took a spark and whipped it into a flame. Now she plans to be an ornithologist when she grows up. She has an eye on attending Cornell University, home of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and is already taking online classes offered through the school. The Leachs have a 6-foot-by-12-foot aviary on their patio Matt Leach designed it with an L shape so it fits against the house and they can look out a window directly into it. At one point last summer it was home to 30 birds. Christy Leach holds the appropriate licenses required by state and federal agencies to have birds at the familys home. She is a teacher at Holland Hall, and when the school year ends, the bird-rehab efforts begin. Fear the Walking Dead has been renewed for a fourth zombie season. The second season averaged 4.19 million US viewers down 45% from the previous season, but still enough to make it AMCs second highest rated original scripted series. Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg of Once Upon a Time have joined as co-showrunners, while Scott M. Gimple, executive producer and showrunner of The Walking Dead will also become an executive producer of Fear the Walking Dead. Were very excited to continue the journey of Fear The Walking Dead, and truly look forward to working with the talented team of Andrew Chambliss, Ian Goldberg, and Scott Gimple, said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV. We are thrilled to be joining Fear The Walking Dead and couldnt be more excited to work alongside the wonderful team at AMC on this show, said Chambliss and Goldberg. We love this universe and are truly honored to have the chance to contribute to it. It airs on FX in Australia, which resumes with Season 3 in June. Source: Variety In her suicide note, she blamed the ills of the society like dowry and extravagant wedding parties that plague the poor to no end. By India Today Web Desk: A 21-year-old Latur woman committed suicide on Friday to save her family from the burden of her dowry, the same district whose resident on Saturday was felicitated by the prime minister and had won Rs 1 crore from the luck draw of Grahak Yojana. Shital Vyankat Vayal, a resident of Bhise-Wagholi village in Latur took her life on Friday morning by jumping into a well, to save her family from bearing her wedding expenditure. advertisement In her suicide note, she blamed the ills of the society like dowry and extravagant wedding parties that plague the poor to no end. It reads, "I am ending my life to ease my father's financial burden and eliminate the practice of dowry in my Maratha-Kunbi community." "Since the past five consecutive years, due to crop failure, our family's financial condition has become extremely delicate. Yet my two sisters were married off in a very modest manner," she wrote. She reiterated that her father had been trying to secure money from lenders and relatives but would always find himself in a limbo. Vayal also asked her family to not be held responsible for her suicide, as it was the societal pressure that drove her to this extreme step. According to the villagers, Shital had been getting many proposals for marriage, but the family declined them as they could not afford to pay dowry or even basic marriage expense. POLITICAL LEADERS THRONG VILLAGE Sonn after the news broke, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar attacked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for failing the farmers and not waiving their loans. "He (Fadnavis) says it will be announced at an appropriate time... When will that time come?" asked Pawar. This is the second similar incident in the village where 18-year-old Mohini Bhise ended her life in January 2016, as her father couldn't afford her dowry. With inputs from IANS Also read: Maharashtra likely to introduce policy for girl students to give up concession in college fees Also read: Mumbai: Girl stabbed to death by 22-year-old man on busy road Also read: Chennai shocker: Man kills girlfriend with hammer wrapped as birthday gift, hangs self with her shawl --- ENDS --- A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Wednesday morning by officials from a local homeownership education program. The Center for Housing Education provides services for homebuyers. It celebrated its grand opening at Franklin and Monument streets in Danville. Constance Henderson, chairman of the board of commissioners for the Danville Redevelopment and Housing Authority said the building will help residents of the city to reach their dreams of homeownership. City administrators, councilmen, staff, clients and Danville residents attended the event. The DRHA homeownership program's housing education director, Kimberly Walker said she waited for four years to move into the new building at 502 Franklin St. The office was previously located on Garfield Street. During Walker's speech she said that it was a labor of love. The center has gone through remodeling and other interior work. Its first class started in December. The Center for Housing Education teaches people how to buy a house and manage their finances. It includes lectures on how to pay mortgages and taxes. Other services include classes on how owners can maintain their homes, such as fixing a hole in the wall, changing a doorknob or performing plumbing work, The Godan River reported. The center is the first in the state to offer hands-on instructions to homeowners in Danville. It offers its services to anyone in the community that is interested in homeownership. Walker said the center received money from the city and a $60,000 grant from the Virginia Housing Development Authority to help pay for work on the building and their training materials. Danville Mayor John Gilstrap gave a speech during the ceremony. He said the center will help the city in its efforts toward blight eradication and neighborhood stabilization. He added that the program will encourage first-time homeownership that will seek out alternative means of home mortgage financing that would be tailored to meet the potential ability of every homeowner to pay. Science has found evidence long ago that early humans resorted to cannibalism. However, the long-held belief that it was because of survival purposes is being challenged with a new study that says early humans eat other humans for nutrition. Cannibalism is considered taboo today although it was common practice in almost all cultures that detest it today. For example in ancient China, it was common to serve human meat cooked in different ways to the emperor and the nobles. In a book called "Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History," author Bill Schutt said it was suspected that cannibalism became taboo because the West justified conquest. If that is not shocking enough, a study led by James Cole, an archaeologist from the University of Brighton, claims that there was little evidence that the early humans during the Paleolithic period ate human meat for survival. To prove his point, Cole presented data how much caloric protein human flesh have compared to other meat making humans favor it during that time. He said that a 50-kilogram human male can yield 30 kilograms of edible meat with an equivalent of 4.g kilograms of protein or 18,000 calories. This is enough daily calorie source for 60 people who weigh an average of 60 kilograms each. The researchers based their calculations on the premise that a person needs 1 gram of protein for each kilo of body weight per day. Despite this interesting observation, many scientists criticized Cole's methodology saying his research has still a lot of loopholes. First, they said he only used males in his study and never provided information how much calories women and children provide. Second, he included studies that had been conducted many years ago and which could provide inaccurate calculations. The idea of early humans consuming human flesh for nutritional value is indeed interesting but it does not really give light to the real reason why early humans engaged in cannibalism. On the other hand, the study might be a step nearer to that. It has been several years ago since the internet has taken the world by storm with the advent of social media. Because of this, it seems like creating and maintaining a social media presence has become very relevant as people become more and more concerned about perception. In the world of social media, almost everybody has an ideal self, and according to research, these personas vary based on the social media site, Phys.org reported. The study was conducted by the researchers from Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology and King's College in London. These researchers have found that social media users adopt different personas based on the social media site, and according to The Indian Express, this does not mean that users explicitly modify their profiles, but what they do is that just adapt into a different behavior in order to fit in. Penn State's Dongwon Lee, associate professor of IST, and Nishanth Sastry, senior lecturer of King's College explained that these varying personas emerge because of a person's desire to fit in with the specific culture of each site. According to Lee, the users have the tendency to portray themselves differently in different worlds. In the research, the researchers were able to compile information from the 100,000 social media users who voluntarily gave their information. They have studied and analyzed the profile pictures and the biography provided by the users and have observed the differences with how they portray themselves. Sastry explained that because social media has a huge influence and impact on its users, understanding how people interact with each other on social media is important in understanding how people relate to each other in meaningful ways even if it's done virtually. Most adults have multiple social networking profiles, and they adopt a unique persona for each account. This is the findings of a new study by Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), alongside King's College in London, England. This new study can even help people determine their own personas in the different profiles they have. According to the research, people tend to create various personas for each profile to fit in to the unique culture and tradition of each platform, Eureka Alert reported. This is a conclusion from the study co-led by Penn State's Dongwon Lee, alongside King's College senior lecturer Nishanth Sastry. Lee explained that an image of an attractive Starbucks drink may gain popularity in Instagram, but not in LinkedIn. The study studied up to 100,000 social media accounts through social media directory site About.me. Lee said it is a very reliable account since users give their own profiles willingly. Sastry said that using About.me is a significant breakthrough helping them to observe social network accounts from platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. The profile pictures and basic information from the users that the researchers observed vary significantly for each social network, Mirror UK reported. The researchers came up with a scientific model that allows them to determine what social media platform a profile is created for by checking the photo and description from that account. The research also found out that different demographics is also a big factor on how people present themselves on their social media account. When it comes to demographics, the research showed that females usually don't wear glasses on their profile pictures, while those who are 25 years below usually don't smile on theirs. The researchers also found out that these users aren't consciously choosing to adapt a different persona for each profile; instead, the personas were created by the user subconsciously. Eight students on a college tour died after drowning at Wairi beach in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district. 8 students dead after drowning at beach in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district By Mayuresh Ganapatye: Eight students on a college tour from Belgaum district of Karnataka drowned at Wairi beach off the Vayri coast in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district today. According to information available from the police, the group of 45 students of Maratha Engineering college of Belgaum had come for picnic here. Maratha Engineering College Principal Dr. V Udipi said the 50 students "went without permission" and that he was going to the spot with an ambulance, ANI reported. advertisement The incident happened at around 11:30 am. STUDENTS IGNORED WARNING TO NOT VENTURE INTO SEA According to locals, students ventured into the sea, ignoring the warning from locals, following which they were pulled in strong currents. On learning about the incident, local villagers with the help of fishermen tried their best to rescue these students. But due to high tide, they couldn't succeed. Fishermen recovered 3 bodies of students from the sea. The other 5 bodies were recovered in the afternoon with the help of police and team of local authorities. "One girl student, who sustained serious injuries, has been shifted to a local hospital in Malvan area", said IG Konkan range Prashant Burade. (WITH INPUTS FROM AGENCIES) Crowd gathered outside the hospital where the students were rushed. Students being treated at the hospital. --- ENDS --- Pakistanis complain that there is Islamophobia, keep saying that other countries are tarnishing the name of their country. No one is destroying the image of Pakistan and Islam. We alone are, Malala said. By India Today Web Desk: Deeply pained over the lynching of a student from Pakistan for alleged blasphemy, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai on Saturday said that Pakistanis alone were responsible for sullying the name of Islam and their country. Mashal Khan, who studied journalism at the Abdukl Wali Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was mercilessly thrashed and later shot dead by a vigilante mob of students from the same varsity. advertisement According to the police, this vigilante group of students suspected Mashal of publishing blasphemous content online and promoting the Ahmadi faith. The 19-year-old UK-based Pakistani education activist, in a video message, said, "Today, I got the news of Mashal Khan's death. This incident is full of terror and violence. I have spoken to his father, who gave the message of peace and patience. I appreciate and salute his message of patience and peace". "We complain that there is Islamophobia, keep saying that other countries are tarnishing the name of our country. No one is destroying the image of Pakistan and Islam. We ourselves are tarnishing the name of Pakistan and Islam", Malala said. MASHAL's FUNERAL IS FUNERAL OF TEACHINGS OF ISLAM: MALALA "This was not only the funeral of Mashal Khan, but also the funeral of the teachings of our religion. We have forgotten the teachings of Islam, which talk about about peace and patience," she said. Malala, who shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with India's child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, said that it was the right of every Pakistani to be safe and lead a normal life. "If we continue to kill one another in such a manner, no one will be safe", she said, referring to the lynching of Khan who, after being assaulted by a large group of students, appeared to have succumbed to a gunshot wound. "So my message to everyone is, please know your religion, culture, values which have always taught us to be patient and preach peace. In the end, I would request all political parties, leaders and government to stand for peace and justice. Stand for the justice to Mashal Khan's family and do not be silent", Malala added. Also Watch: We ourselves are tarnishing the name of Pakistan and Islam: Malala Yousafzai (WITH INPUTS FROM PTI) Also read | Malala Yousafzai named UN Messenger of Peace, to promote girls' education Also read | Malala Yousafzai receives honorary Canadian citizenship --- ENDS --- The Aurora Free Library and Hazard Library will present a Community Read event featuring Jack Mayer's book "Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project" Wednesday, May 3. Taking place from 7 to 9 p.m. at Emily Howland Elementary School, 2384 Route 34B, Poplar Ridge, the talk will cover the story of Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who organized a rescue network that saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis. Admission is free and open to the public. Complimentary copies of the book are available at both libraries. Additionally, Mayer will be at the school Friday, May 5, for the Southern Cayuga Anne Frank Tree Project Difference Makers' Night at 6 p.m. at the school. There will be a traditional Mexican dinner in honor of Cinco de Mayo, music, a talk by Mayer and a presentation to 2017 Difference Makers Cathy and Richard Burns, and Jesse Platt. Mayer will also sign his book, which will be on sale. A donation of $5 per person and RSVPs for dinner are requested. For more information, email scfranktree@gmail.com or visit sccsannefranktree.org. Health Minister L Jayentakumar submitted his resignation to Chief Minster N Biren Singh claiming interference in his work as a minister. By Manogya Loiwal : In what may be called the first sign of fissures in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Manipur government , Health Minister L. Jayentakumar on Friday resigned from his post. The National People's Party leader submitted his resignation letter to Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. In his letter, Jayentakumar said he was not consulted when the Manipur health director was suspended recently. Putting that down as the reason for his resignation, Jayentakumar said the manner in which the health director was suspended was an interference in his work as a minister. advertisement It wasn't immediately known if Jayentakumar's resignation was accepted by CM Biren Singh. The BJP is leading a coalition government in Manipur after finishing second in this year's Assembly election. Congress won 28 of Manipur's 60 Assembly seats. The BJP managed to put together a majority with the support of four MLAs of the NPP, another four form the Naga People's Front, one from the Trinamool Congress, one Independent and one Congress MLA who defected to the BJP. With the majority, the BJP was able to install the N Biren Singh-led government , which completes a month in office today. This is the first BJP-led government in Manipur. Chief Minister N. Biren Singh will today be in Odisha, where he will participate in the BJP's National Executive, which kicks off later in the evening in Bhubaneshwar. (With inputs from Jit Ningomba in Manipur) --- ENDS --- According to Le Duy Hiep, chairman of Vietnam Logistics Association (VLA), increasing their competitiveness and finding more efficient cooperation methods among logistics providers is a must in recent times. The government has assigned VLA to implement the National Action Plan to improve the logistics sector by 2025 and many solutions were mapped out, Hiep said. In February this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved the action plan aiming to increase the contribution of the logistics sector to the countrys GDP to 8-10 per cent from the current three, with annual growth of 15-20 per cent by 2025. The plan also targets to make Vietnam one of the worlds 50 leading logistics service providers. The aim is to have logistics companies that can be competitive both in the domestic and the international markets and enhance Vietnams connectivity with neighbouring countries and develop a regional and international logistics hub, Hiep said. The plan will also set up level 1 logistics hubs (the highest level) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and level 2 logistic centres in Lang Son, Lao Cai, Haiphong, Danang, Quy Nhon, and Can Tho. The Vietnamese logistics sector has been budding since the 1990s. According to the World Banks 2014 Logistics Performance Index, Vietnam stood at the 48th out of the total of 153 ranked countries. The country now has more than 3,000 firms in the sector. More than 70 per cent of these businesses are small and medium-sized. Vietnamese logistics firms must utilise their advantages, such as the knowledge about the domestic market, owning infrastructure facilities, such as ports, storage warehouses, customs declaration, and many others. The action plan would provide short- and mid-term solutions to improve the logistics sector in the next seven or eight years, Hiep added. The Ministry of Finance wants to put enterprise development fund under its direct management. - Photo baochinhphu.vn This is part of the proposed amendments to Government Decree 59/2011/ND-CP about the transformation of state-owned enterprises into joint stock companies. According to Deputy minister Tran Van Hieu the fund is currently under the direct management of the SCIC, and the finance ministry is in charge of supervising fund management. But it is difficult for the ministry to actively monitor revenues, expenses and balances of the fund. This management model makes administrative procedures more complicated and must be changed as the government is speeding up efforts to simplify administrative procedures and improve the business climate. The ministry has also proposed that proceeds from the privatisation of state-owned enterprises be paid to the fund, which is important to prevent loss-making parent companies from using it to compensate for the losses. The draft decree also reportedly proposes a new method, book building, for initial public offerings, besides auctions, underwriting and direct deal. Book building is popular for efficient price discovery, which will improve the chances for the IPOs success. Recent statistics have revealed that though around 96 per cent of state-owned enterprises have begun their equitisation to date, the state capital equitised remained low at eight per cent. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida He extended deep condolences to the family of the 9-year-old girl. At a working session with Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Fumio Kishida informed his guest that Japanese police arrested a suspect in the murder, a 46-year-old man named Shibuya Yasumasa, on the morning of April 14. The Vietnamese Embassy in Japan was also informed of the arrest by the local police on April 14, and promptly notified Linhs parents, who are currently in Vietnam. The embassy will keep watch on the cases developments and assist Linhs family to travel to Japan for upcoming procedures. It will work closely with Japanese agencies to soon bring the culprit to justice. A representative from the embassy said after the tragedy, many Japanese have sent letters to express their condolences and their hope that the case will not affect Vietnam-Japan relations. According to police of Japans Chiba prefecture, Shibuya Yasumasa, 46, is the girls neighbour and his DNA matched samples police collected on the girls belongings. However, he still keeps silence on the case. Linh, who was in her third year at Matsudo elementary school in Chiba prefecture, went missing on the morning of March 24. Her body was found on March 26 morning at a site near a drainage ditch which is about 10-12km from the school. The soggy celebrations are a respite from the heat of Thailand's dry season AFP/Lillian Suwanrumpha Known as Songkran, the Thai holiday is celebrated by paying respect to elders and sprinkling water over Buddha figures at local temples. But the festival has also become one of the world's biggest- and booziest - water fights. Every April rowdy street parties erupt across the nation as hundreds of thousands of Thais and tourists don floral shirts and drench each other with brightly-coloured water pistols. Similar but smaller water festivals are also held in neighbouring Buddhist countries like Myanmar and Laos. The burst of colour was especially striking this year in Bangkok, where many people have worn only black and white for the past six months to mourn the October death of the deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. "At its peak I think there were hundreds of thousands of people in Silom," city official Vallop Suwandee told AFP, referring to a downtown Bangkok district that has become a Songkran hotspot. "Overall the situation is orderly," he added. Many see the soggy celebration as a fun-filled respite from the sweltering heat that grips Thailand during its hot and dry season. But the military government that came to power in 2014 has tried - mostly in vain - to rein in the revelry with bans on skimpy clothing and restrictions on alcohol. The generals have also struggled to curb drink driving, which surges during the holiday week, earning it a reputation as Thailand's "Seven Deadly Days". Authorities reported 167 road deaths over the first three days of this year's festival - a toll only marginally lower than the 181 deaths recorded over the same period last April. The number of accidents was also up slightly, according to the Interior Ministry, with nearly half of the crashes involving drunk drivers. With hoardings bearing the For Clean Delhi, Vote for Kejriwal message, the Aam Aadmi Party says it is the only party that is serious about the issue of cleanliness with the Delhi chief minister leading from the front By Pankaj Jain: Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has been reiterating in all his speeches his promise that he will make Delhi garbage free within a year if his party comes to power in MCD polls. The AAP campaign for the election is based on the slogan "Garbage-free Delhi, corruption-free MCD." Hoardings put up on roadsides show Kejriwal holding a broom in his hand as he is about to clean a particular area. advertisement ONLY AAP CAN MAKE DELHI GARBAGE-FREE An AAP leader said, "If the national convenor of our party himself can sweep the roads of Delhi, it is obvious ours is the only party that can fulfil the promise of garbage-free Delhi, like we have kept our promises on electricity and water prices. AAP's new banner tagline is "For Clean Delhi, Vote for Kejriwal." Sources said that the AAP was also planning to woo safai karmcharis through its manifesto. AAP is including some key demands of the safai karmcharis in its election manifesto - salaries by the 7th of every month, special safety kits and free health insurance of all safai workers. Also read | MCD polls: AAP releases 'Most Corrupt Department' booklet to expose BJP's corruption Also read | Seeking substitute for EVMs, AAP chief Kejriwal demands postponement of MCD polls WATCH VIDEO --- ENDS --- Regardless of whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan succeeds in bolstering his increasingly authoritarian clout in Sundays constitutional referendum, one thing is clear: despite a crackdown on his critics and the media, the country is deeply divided, with signs that the gap is growing. That is bad, not only for Turkey, but for just about everyone with interests in the region, given the countrys economic power and historically strategic location as a bridge between East and West particularly with Syrias civil war and the fight against so-called Islamic State raging on its border. Despite the governments efforts to severely limit campaigning against the changes that could extend Erdogan's rule for a decade or more, polls show the election too close to call. That raises the possibility of violence no matter what the final results are, particularly with last July's military coup attempt fresh in the publics memory. Only a few years ago, Turkey seemed well-entrenched as a flourishing democracy and well on the way to joining the European Union. It has huge potential with Europes youngest population: 19 million of the 75 million people are ages 15 to 29. Today, it stands accused of human rights abuses that have included imprisoning more than 45,000 people, among them the leaders and nine other legislators from the second-largest opposition party in parliament, for alleged links to Kurdish terrorists. Rallies for the No camp are banned due to possible terrorism; coverage of its arguments is severely limited. In fact, almost any opposition to the changes proposed in the referendum carries the risk of being labeled as terrorism. The once-vibrant media have seen their freedoms severely curtailed, with many of journalists jailed. The judiciarys power has been eroded. Unemployment is at 10.7 percent and up to 25 percent among the young who embody the future. A shift from Americas sphere of influence to Russias seems possible, and the prospects of joining the EU are stalled, if not dead. Still, Erdogan stands poised to further enforce his will with the proposed reforms, which would change the government from a parliamentary system to what opponents describe as a dictator-like executive presidency, extend presidential power over the judiciary, allow rule by decree and create a loophole in the limit of two five-year terms for the president. The checks-and-balances system would essentially be gone. Erdogan has pursued this greater responsibility despite an increasingly disastrous record of governance, Freedom House wrote in an analysis of the election. For nearly four years, Turkey has been trapped in a cascade of crises - protests, terrorist attacks, crackdowns, a coup attempt, purges and war. The only blow the country hasnt suffered is an economic crash, but that too seems imminent, as tourism and foreign investment have cratered and Erdogan has subordinated fiscal and macroeconomic management to his short-term political agenda. Analyst Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy was equally harsh. The countrys deep social chasm gives even the most ardent optimist grave cause for concern, he said. Others say they have never seen the country more unstable despite the presidents growing authoritarianism. After serving as prime minister for 11 years, Erdogan was elected president in August 2014. Despite having no clear mandate opponents received 48 percent of the vote he began changing the political landscape quickly, leading to the coup attempt. Since quashing it, he has further consolidated power with those who would choose a near-dictatorship over uncertainty and the rise of terrorism, which has hit Turkey hard. Crises, including an estimated 3 million refugees from Syrias civil war, have not undercut his position as Turkeys most popular politician, based on the early successes of his party and bolstered by his argument that only a strong leader can deal with the countrys problems. "I have been voting for Tayyip Erdogan for 17-18 years, and he never failed me," says retiree Ibrahim Yazka, explaining why he will vote yes. "If he wants, he can just sit in the presidential mansion and sign papers; but, this man loves this country so much that he can't stop. He believes he should do more. That's why I believe in him." The European Union and Council of Europe have voiced concern over the fairness of the campaign, highlighting the fact that it is being carried out under emergency rule introduced after Julys failed coup. Armed troops are prominent in opposition strongholds, creating an air of intimidation. Legitimate dissent and criticism of government policy are vilified and repressed, Council of Europes human rights commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, warned about the impact of emergency rule ahead of the campaign. The friction with Europe has led to open animosity from Erdogan, who said German and Dutch leaders were using Nazi practices by resisting his efforts to have his deputies campaign for yes votes among the sizable expatriate communities living in neighboring countries. Odebrecht SA , the Brazilian engineering company at the center of a historic corruption scandal, paid about $3.3 billion in bribes over a nine-year period that ran through 2014, according to testimony cited by local media Saturday. Through a department specifically established to pay politicians and other recipients for public works contracts, Odebrecht paid as much as $730 million annually in both 2012 and 2013, the years when bribe payments peaked, according to a spreadsheet that a former executive reportedly gave investigators as part of a plea deal. The $3.3 billion figure and related annual tallies as laid out in the spreadsheet were reported by the G1 news site of the Globo media group and Estado de S. Paulo, a leading newspaper. Officials at Odebrecht could not immediately be reached for comment. A trove of plea deal testimony unsealed this week by a Supreme Court justice is shedding light on how Odebrecht, once Latin America's most successful engineering firm, routinely paid officials in Brazil and other countries in exchange for winning contracts. Justice authorizes probes The testimony was unsealed as the justice, Edson Fachin, authorized investigations of eight government ministers, 12 governors and dozens of federal lawmakers implicated in the scandal, uncovered three years ago because of a kickback investigation at the state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras. Odebrecht, whose former chief executive has been jailed since 2015 in connection with the probe, negotiated a far-reaching plea agreement with Brazilian investigators last year, leading to testimony by about 80 company executives and employees. Along with an affiliate, Odebrecht also agreed last year to pay at least $3.5 billion to U.S. and Swiss investigators for international charges related to the scandal. Earlier Saturday, Estado de S. Paulo also reported that Brazilian authorities were investigating whether any of the foreign kickbacks the company has already admitted to violated Brazilian law. The company made those payments in countries including Mexico, Ecuador, Peru and Angola. China is rushing to complete billions of dollars in construction deals ahead of an international conference for its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) project next month. The agreements in several countries are aimed at creating a picture of success for the project, which has become a cornerstone of Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration. The heads of at least 20 countries are expected to attend the OBOR conference in mid-May, one of the biggest diplomatic events on Beijing's political calendar this year. Since March, Chinese ministers have been flying around the globe to sign major construction contracts. Those include a $65 billion investment deal with Saudi Arabia, a $4.7 billion agreement for building a Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway line, and $3.75 billion worth of infrastructure projects in western Australia. China also reached an $850 million biorefinery deal with Finland when Xi visited the country this month. Contradictory moves The aim of China's OBOR project is to open up and expand old Silk Road trade routes through Central Asia and on to Europe, as well as Southeast Asian maritime links through the Strait of Malacca and around India to the Middle East. The grand picture that China is painting of its ability to promote enhanced trade and diplomatic links, however, is only part of the plan, analysts say. For the most part, China is relying on its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to advance the OBOR project. Some say that contradicts Beijing's pledge to revamp and reform these companies, which are already burdened with overcapacity, huge debt and losses. Xu Chenggang, a professor of economics at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said that SOE debt is a major burden on the Chinese economy, and the OBOR program will only accentuate the problem as Beijing bankrolls projects in several countries. "The so-called One Belt, One Road means infrastructure," Xu said. "If certain countries join this, then the Chinese would say, 'Look, we lend you money, you borrow from us.' " With so much focus on infrastructure, the project may lead to the shelving of plans to shut down money-losing companies, including steel plants. Xu said that with its OBOR push, China is not only putting diplomacy ahead of economic reforms, but it also risks making SOEs even larger, and hence more difficult to reform or privatize. Stalled reforms More than three years ago, Xi announced sweeping plans to reform the economy and SOEs, but it has been an uphill task for the Chinese Communist Party, given the tough choices and vested interests it involves. Reform of SOEs means integrating weak and strong companies, breaking large, unmanageable companies into smaller entities, and closing those that are heavily indebted and unable to continue without outside support. The biggest obstacle to SOE reform, however, is politics, said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Many senior Communist Party officials are running state enterprises, or local government officials with local state enterprises, and they like having these sources of income and employment. So, it is hardly easy to get them to give them up," Dollar told VOA. Exporting ills Through OBOR, China will also be exporting its system of funding projects that make political sense at contract-signing time, but are in many cases incapable of generating sufficient revenue to repay the loans, analysts said. Economists and political factions in many countries have begun to question Chinese investments in major infrastructure projects, leading to the cancellation of some of the deals. Thailand last year canceled a Chinese contract for a high-speed rail project, and replaced it with a project about one-third the size. Dollar, also a former financial emissary to China for the U.S. Treasury, said China has invested in both well- and badly managed countries. Chinese officials "are also lending money to some countries with very poor governance, like Angola in Africa or Venezuela in Latin America," Dollar said. "And where the projects are not working out well, there will not be a benefit, but the countries [are] still going to have debt, and probably China will have to forgive some of these debts in future." Exporting corruption Some analysts are asking whether OBOR will give Chinese SOEs an opportunity to export their own brand of corruption. Major political controversies have already arisen in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, while Myanmar has held up construction of a major hydroelectric dam project despite persistent pressure from its much bigger neighbor. Nepal signed several construction deals with China but did nothing to move them forward. A large number of SOE executives are either in jail or facing investigations by the government's anti-corruption bureau at home. Andrew Wedeman, a political scientist and head of the China Studies Initiative at Georgia State University, said Chinese companies going to Pakistan, India or Bangladesh will not be teaching the locals anything new. "Certainly One Belt, One Road will produce new corruption. But it will not create corruption that did not exist before. It will only increase the amounts of money. It probably would increase the rank of people involved, but it will be change in terms of quantity, not in terms of quality." Pope Francis, presiding at a Good Friday service, asked God for forgiveness for scandals in the Catholic Church and for the shame of humanity becoming inured to daily scenes of bombed cities and drowning migrants. Francis presided at a traditional candlelight Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) service at Romes Colosseum attended by some 20,000 people and protected by heavy security following recent attacks in European cities. Francis sat while a large wooden cross was carried in procession, stopping 14 times to mark events in the last hours of Jesus life from his sentencing to his death and his burial. Similar services, known as the Stations of the Cross, were taking place in cities around the world as Christians gathered to commemorate Jesus death by crucifixion. Pope speaks of shame, hope At the end of the two-hour service, Francis read a prayer he wrote that was woven around the theme of shame and hope. In what appeared to be a reference to the Churchs sexual abuse scandal, he spoke of shame for all the times that we bishops, priests, brothers and nuns scandalized and wounded your body, the Church. The Catholic Church has been struggling for nearly two decades to put the scandal of sexual abuse of children by clergy behind it. Critics say more must be done to punish bishops who covered up abuse or were negligent in preventing it. Violence ordinary in our lives Francis also spoke of the shame he said should be felt over the daily spilling of the innocent blood of women, of children, of immigrants and for the fate of those who are persecuted because of their race, social status or religious beliefs. At the end of this month Francis travels to Egypt, which has seen recent attacks by Islamists on minority Coptic Christians. Dozens were killed in two attacks last Sunday. He spoke of shame for all the scenes of devastation, destruction and drownings that have become ordinary in our lives. On the day he spoke, more than 2,000 migrants trying to reach Europe were plucked from the Mediterranean in a series of dramatic rescues and one person was found dead. More than 650 have died or are unaccounted for while trying to cross the sea in rubber dinghies this year. Francis expressed the hope that good will triumph despite its apparent defeat. Security increased Security was stepped up in the area around the Colosseum after recent truck attacks against pedestrians in London and Stockholm. Some 3,000 police guarded the area and checked people as they approached. The Colosseum subway stop was closed. Francis on Saturday is to say an Easter vigil Mass in St. Peters Basilica and on Easter, the most important day in the Christian liturgical calendar, he reads his twice-annual Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World) message in St. Peters Square. Julian Lennon is looking to nurture a new generation's commitment to the environment, with a little help from a white feather. The firstborn son of the late John Lennon has co-authored "Touch the Earth,'' a picture book for kids as young as 3 about the world's water problems, from polluted oceans to the need for clean drinking water in the developing world. Out later this month, the book from Sky Pony Press has a group of kids loaded into a plane called the White Feather Flier as they span the globe and learn about the need for filtration, irrigation and ocean life protection. With illustrations created both by hand and computer, it's the first of three children's books he plans, in line with the environmental and humanitarian work of his White Feather Foundation. "We've failed miserably in looking after our environment. I think this is a great way to approach children into realizing what's at stake, and to help educate and help them make decisions about the right things to do for the future,'' Lennon said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "It's for those with inquiring minds who are asking why?'' Lennon has taken on environmental issues in song, including his 1991 "Saltwater,'' and in film, including the 2006 documentary "Whaledreamers,'' covering a gathering of indigenous and tribal leaders that explores connections among whales, dolphins and humanity. Appealing to the next generation of prospective eco-warriors grew out of his friendship with co-writer Bart Davis after the two put aside plans for now for the 54-year-old Lennon to write a biography. But he hasn't completely abandoned the idea. "I feel time's marching on, you know. A lot of my friends and people I know are popping their clogs,'' Lennon laughed. "You know, who knows what's next. It's in the cards in the next few years, absolutely, before it's too late.'' So what's up with the white feather for Lennon, the former Beatle's son with his first wife, Cynthia? He shares the story at the back of the book. "On the odd occasion when I saw dad he mentioned once that should he ever pass, a way he would let me know that he was OK, or that we were all going to be OK, would be in the form of a white feather,'' Lennon explained. "I thought that quite peculiar. I told mum about it, too, and we just sort of went on with life.'' Later, while on tour in Australia, he was presented with a white swan feather by an aboriginal tribal elder of the Mirning people. "It was a freaky moment, but one I took to heart immediately,'' he said. "I realized that this was about stepping up to the plate now and, you know, I can sing all I want about this stuff but am I actually going to do something about it? So I spent 10 years making a documentary about the Mirning people.'' It's also when he established his foundation, visiting Ethiopia with the head of a clean water initiative and touring schools and health clinics in Kenya. A portion of the books' proceeds will go the foundation, which now does a range of work, including providing scholarships for girls in Kenya. Lennon's father was shot to death in 1980. His mother died two years ago of cancer at age 75. Her loss remains tender. Lennon dedicates the book to Cynthia, and he established the Kenya scholarships in her name. "I talk to her every night, pretty much,'' Lennon said. "She has given me the strength to carry on. Where I'm at at the moment, I feel very strong, very zenlike. I just want to do the right thing. To try to continue to be the best that I can be. That was all based around wanting to make her proud. I try to continue all the work that I do in her name.'' Paul Manafort says he's registering with the Justice Department as a foreign agent. Michael Flynn already has. In both cases, the filings by these associates of President Donald Trump come late after the lobbying has already taken place and accompanied by an admission that they violated federal law. The high-profile filings are putting a spotlight on the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a law enacted before World War II with the goal of unmasking foreign influence campaigns in the U.S. The idea was simple: Lobbyists and others who work on behalf of a foreign government or political interest must disclose their work to sway public opinion and U.S. policy to the Justice Department and to the public. But the cases of Manafort, who was forced out as Trump's campaign chairman, and Flynn, who was fired as the president's national security adviser, have raised questions, particularly in light of the continuing scrutiny of the foreign entanglements of several Trump associates. A few answers: Q: What is the Foreign Agents Registration Act? A: Congress enacted the 1938 statute in response to covert Nazi propaganda agents operating in the U.S. It requires individuals who act in the U.S. on behalf of foreign political parties, people or governments to register as foreign agents with the Justice Department. Registrants are expected to disclose whom they work for and how much they're paid, and to describe their activities. They're also expected to conspicuously disclose that mailings, letters, opinion pieces or other material they distribute are on behalf of a foreign principal, and that additional details about their efforts are available in Justice Department files. There are exceptions in the law for foreign diplomats and foreign government officials, and for people engaged in solely religious, academic, commercial or scientific activities. Q: How Does It Work? A: In practice, lobbyists file reports that can list meetings, phone calls and even emails on behalf of their foreign clients. They must disclose the names of people they meet with and the issues they discussed. The foreign agent must register within 10 days of agreeing to perform the foreign work, before beginning any activities. After that, supplemental reports must be filed every six months, as long as the foreign agent work is ongoing, and the Justice Department must be notified when the agreement is terminated. The reports are posted on a searchable public website: https://www.fara.gov/ Q: Why Did Flynn Register? A: Flynn and his firm, Flynn Intel Group, registered as foreign agents in March for work performed for a Turkish-owned business. In the registration, Flynn acknowledged that the work could have principally benefited Turkey's government. Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was on contract with the company while he was a senior Trump campaign adviser. Over the course of the three-month contract with the company, Inovo BV, Flynn's firm was paid $530,000. Flynn's filing showed the breadth of activities considered foreign-agent work. While his firm performed some lobbying, most of its work was gathering adverse information on Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames Gulen for a failed coup attempt in Turkey last summer and is pushing for the U.S. to extradite him. Gulen denies involvement, and the U.S. has rebuffed Erdogan's request. The goal of Flynn's work, according to his filing, was to develop information that would convince American officials to pursue criminal charges against Gulen. The Associated Press has since learned that Flynn's firm also pushed for a congressional investigation of Gulen during an October meeting. The request was refused. Q: What Prompted Manafort to Say He Would File? A: His spokesman says Manafort worked to further Ukrainian political interests. Spokesman Jason Maloni confirmed the intent to register months after the AP reported that his consulting firm had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party. That effort, from 2012 through 2014, was never disclosed to the Justice Department. Maloni said Manafort began discussions with the U.S. government about his lobbying activities after he joined the Trump campaign. It's unclear whether the conversations came before or after Trump forced Manafort to resign his post, on the same day as the AP report of unregistered lobbying. The Podesta Group, a Washington lobbying firm, has already retroactively registered for its part in the Ukrainian influence campaign. The firm was one of two that worked under the direction of Manafort and his former deputy, Rick Gates. The other firm involved, Mercury LLC, says it also will register soon. Q: Does Retroactive Registration Flout the Law? A: Perhaps, although the Justice Department favors administrative enforcement over criminal punishment and sees value in disclosure no matter when it's made. "The statute's purpose isn't necessarily served by after-the-fact registration, especially where the registration is after the activity on behalf of a foreign interest has ceased,'' said Stephen Vladeck, a national security law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "But for better or worse, DOJ has at least sometimes allowed individuals to escape liability by registering after the fact, especially in cases in which the initial failure to register appeared to be negligent, not intentional,'' Vladeck wrote in an email. In a statement, the Justice Department said it always strives for compliance with the registration requirement and to ensure the accuracy of information about the political activities of those who register. "This is true whether such information pertains to current or past activity,'' the statement read. "Requiring registration for past activities ensures that these objectives are met and that an accurate public record is created and maintained.'' Q: Why Are These Cases Only Rarely Prosecuted? A: Transparency, rather than punishment, is the law's primary purpose. "Not every violation is worth prosecuting,'' said Amy Jeffress, a former Justice Department national security official. Federal prosecutors typically don't prosecute failure to disclose unless they can prove that it was intentional, she said. Dan Pickard, a partner at the Washington law firm Wiley Rein, said that proving criminal intent can be difficult because of the obscurity of the foreign agent law. "To show a willful intent not to register is a tall order,'' Pickard said. An August report from the department's inspector general's office counted seven criminal cases under the law between 1966 and 2015, and cited "differing understandings'' between FBI officials and Justice Department prosecutors about the statute's intent. Justice Department officials believe the law's primary purpose is not to secure criminal convictions. They cite a separate statute, which makes it a crime to spy or conduct other espionage-like activities on behalf of a foreign government, as a point of focus. But FBI officials say they believe federal prosecutors aren't aggressive enough in pursuing punishments for people who fail to register. Q: How Does the Justice Department Enforce the Law? A: A small staff in the Foreign Agent Registration Act unit keeps the records and undertakes open-source research. The unit routinely combs the Lobbying Disclosure Act database and news reports looking for lobbying work that should be disclosed as foreign agent work. When the unit finds a likely case, it sends letters of inquiry to the lobbying firms, asking them to turn over documentation and to register as foreign agents if the work qualifies. There's a catch, though. The letters don't have the same power as a subpoena, meaning the unit relies on voluntary disclosure. The Justice Department has pushed for Congress to grant subpoena authority in cases going back to the early 1990s. So far, Congress hasn't given it. Four gunmen launched an attack on a hotel being used as the headquarters for the European Union military force in the Malian capital, Bamako. Guards at the luxury hotel killed one of the attackers during a firefight. The EU mission later released a statement on Twitter saying no personnel were wounded during the violence, and that forces are securing the area. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault, which comes about four months after militants from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) attacked the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital, killing 20 people. The same group also targeted a beach resort town in Ivory Coast earlier this month, killing 19 people. The fire broke out in the morning on Friday and spread over several kilometres. The administration is making use of a modified I-17V5 helicopter to put out the blaze, District Collector Abhimanyu Kumar said. By India Today Web Desk: A major fire broke out in the forest area near Mount Abu in Sirohi district. Indian Air Force has stepped up its efforts by deploying an additional MI-17 chopper to douse the flames. The fire broke out in the morning on Friday and spread over several kilometres. The administration is making use of a modified I-17V5 helicopter to put out the blaze, District Collector Abhimanyu Kumar said. The district administration also sought help from the CRPF and Air Force personnel. advertisement The affected area is close to Mount Abu, the sole hill station in the state, where a large number of tourists arrive in the summer season. However, tourist activities remained unaffected in the area, a police official said. "The helicopter unit at Phalodi in Jodhpur swung into action on receiving a call from the state government, seeking help in dousing a massive forest fire in the hills fast progressing towards the inhabited areas assisted by winds," said a defence spokesperson. A suitably modified MI-17V5 helicopter with a bambi bucket reached the site and conducted a quick aerial recce before the operation. It drew water out of Nakki lake in the middle of Mount Abu. The IAF team managed to push in seven sorties dropping close to about 20,000 litres of water over the spread of fire dangerously close to inhabited area, he said. The operation is likely to be augmented by an additional IAF MI-17V5 helicopter from Jamnagar tomorrow at first light. Meanwhile, the IAF has directed the state administration to provide aircraft refueling facilities at the location in order to save precious time during operations tomorrow, the spokesperson said. ALSO READ | Senegal: 20 killed in fire at Muslim spiritual retreat ALSO READ | Fire chars third floor of IIT Madras building, no casualties ALSO WATCH | Massive fire breaks out in Hyderabad slum --- ENDS --- With a massive display of military might and armor, North Korea celebrated its Day of the Sun Saturday; the countrys annual commemoration of founding leader Kim Il Sung, born 105 years ago. Kim died in 1994 after 46 years as the communist states supreme leader. He is the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. The parade of military prowess comes as nations express their anxiety about North Koreas missile testing and the U.S. presidents threat to take care of Pyongyangs aggressive policies. The isolated nations display also comes days after the U.S. dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on insurgents in Afghanistan. North Korea seems intent on letting the rest of the world know it has a sizable military power, allowing world journalists rare, live access to the parade where intercontinental ballistic missiles were rolled out on flatbed trucks and soldiers abounded. Speculation about a nuclear test explosion on the holiday sharply increased in recent days, but Pyongyang has given no clue about its plans. After U.S. President Donald Trump denounced North Korea Thursday as a problem for the entire world, the North Korean Peoples Army responded with a characteristic statement vowing dire consequences: Our toughest counteraction against the United States and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive. The statement, attributed to a spokesman for armys general staff, continued: Under the prevailing grave situation, the United States has to come to its senses and make a proper option for the solution of the problem. Pyongyangs statement was circulated by the Norths official Korean Central News Agency and broadcast by its central radio network. There was no comment from the White House or the National Security Council in Washington. Amid all the tough talk, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, are heading to the Asia-Pacific region on a 10-day trip Sunday with their first stop in Seoul, South Koreas capital. The vice presidents press secretary, Marc Lotter, told VOA Pence will reaffirm Trumps commitment to strengthen U.S. alliances and partnerships throughout the region. The message Pence will carry, Lotter added, is that the U.S.-South Korea alliance is the linchpin of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific. WATCH: Key Dates in North Korea's Nuclear Missile Program Rhetoric similar to the statement Pyongyang released late Friday is fairly common, but remarks by its military command are taken more seriously by intelligence and defense analysts than those from government ministries or state media commentators. Chinas Foreign Ministry Friday described the current situation on the Korean Peninsula as complex and sensitive. We have appealed to relevant various parties multiple times to keep calm and exercise restraint, not make moves that may heighten tensions of the peninsula. All the similar acts are irresponsible and also are dangerous, spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing. In his comments about North Korea Thursday, Trump noted that China is working very hard to defuse the international tension over North Korea, and that he is hopeful Beijings diplomacy will be effective. An American aircraft carrier and other warships have been steaming toward the Korean Peninsula in a show of force, although there has been no specific U.S. threat of retaliatory action if Pyongyang conducts another nuclear test or launches more missiles in defiance of U.N. sanctions. Scores of foreign journalists have been in Pyongyang this week for North Koreas Day of the Sun celebrations. Five years ago, the late Kim Il Sungs centenary was marked by a failed attempt to launch a North Korean space satellite, and last year Pyongyang tested a newly developed intermediate range missile - also a failure. Satellite photographs this week have shown continuing activity around the Norths Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which could be taken to indicate another underground nuclear test is imminent. Meanwhile, South Korean and American troops are preparing for a round of joint military exercises - a regular event that Pyongyang has denounced as a prelude to an invasion. If that occurs, the North has said, it would be justified in launching a massive counterattack; however, a spokesman for the South Korean joint chiefs of staff said Seoul has seen no indication that any military action by the North is imminent. CIA Director Mike Pompeo told a security forum in Washington that North Koreas military development has progressed to a point where Pyongyang is now closer than ever to being able to threaten the United States with a nuclear tipped intercontinental missile. That, in turn, has reduced U.S. defense officials options about how to respond to the North Korean threat, Pompeo added during remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He indicated that a worst-case scenario would force the U.S. to take action against the North, and that would be a tough day for the leader of North Korea. Meanwhile, South Korean and American troops are preparing for a round of joint military exercises - a regular event that Pyongyang has denounced as a prelude to an invasion. If that occurs, the North has said, it would be justified in launching a massive counterattack; however, a spokesman for the South Korean joint chiefs of staff said Seoul has seen no indication that any military action by the North is imminent. CIA Director Mike Pompeo told a security forum in Washington that North Koreas military development has progressed to a point where Pyongyang is now closer than ever to being able to threaten the United States with a nuclear tipped intercontinental missile. That, in turn, has reduced U.S. defense officials options about how to respond to the North Korean threat, Pompeo added during remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He indicated that a worst-case scenario would force the U.S. to take action against the North, and that would be a tough day for the leader of North Korea. VOA's Elizabeth Hughes, Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb and national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. North Korea rolled out its military hardware Saturday at its annual Day of the Sun celebration commemorating the 105th birth anniversary of the countrys founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader, Kim Jong Un. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square Saturday where North Koreas young leader reviewed tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and other weapons that rolled by. New missiles Weapons analysts said they believe some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, including a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from a submarine, which would make it hard to detect. Also on display, analysts said, were a midrange missile powerful enough to reach U.S. air bases in Guam, and a new solid-fuel midrange missile that could be fired from land mobile launchers, which would also make it hard to detect before its launched. Military airplanes flew in formation above Kim Il Sung Square where the days festivities were held. Verbal sparing Pyongyang has been engaged recently in a game of back-and-forth threats with Washington. The North has said it has developed a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland, but officials say that ability may take more time for development. That, however, did not stop a North Korean army official from warning the United States that any provocation would be met with retaliation. Our toughest counteraction against the U.S. and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive, the official said, according to North Koreas state news agency. North Korea did not go through with a possible nuclear test Saturday, after the United States demonstrated a credible threat of military force in the region and China increased economic restrictions against its economically dependent ally, but Pyongyang did later conduct a missile test that failed. The missile was launched early Sunday from the Sinpo area on the North's east coast, where the country has a submarine base. The U.S. Pacific Command said the missile blew up almost immediately and that its type was still being assessed. Earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a military parade to celebrate the April 15 birthday of his country's founding leader the late Kim Il Sung, the countrys most important holiday known as the Day of the Sun. Kim Jong Un had planned a fight with the U.S., but decided to give up the plan, said North Korea defector and analyst Ahn Chan-il with the World Institute for North Korean Studies. Watch: Key Dates in North Korea's Nuclear and Missile Program Military pressure Expectations of an imminent North Korean nuclear test grew this week based on reports of recent activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site and Pyongyangs pattern of conducting provocative military tests to coincide with the birthday of the nations founding leader. Since January 2016, Pyongyang has acted with little restraint, conducting two nuclear tests and attempting numerous medium- and long-range ballistic missile launches. This year Kim Jong Un indicated that his nation is in the final testing phase of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could potentially hit the U.S. mainland. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has placed a high priority on preventing North Korea from developing a credible long-range nuclear ballistic missile capability that could directly threaten U.S. national security. The U.S. Pacific Command this week sent the USS Carl Vinson nuclear-powered aircraft carrier naval formation that includes guided missile destroyers and aircraft squadrons to the region. And last weeks U.S. airstrikes against Syria for using chemical weapons added credibility to statements made by the Trump administration that it is prepared to take military action against North Korea as well. Following the Syrian strike, North Koreas KCNA news agency said the Trump administration, has entered the path of open threat and blackmail. A temporary pause While Pyongyang seems to have backed down to U.S. military pressure for now, it is likely only a temporary pause. The Norths military parade Saturday prominently displayed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) for the first time, demonstrating its own increasingly advanced and diverse military capabilities. Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim, addressed the packed square and reiterated the warning to the United States. If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare, he said. North Korean state media earlier warned the United States to end its military hysteria or, Our toughest counteraction against the U.S. and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive. Economic pressure Trump has also been pressing China to do more to rein in North Korea, and has held out the offer of better trade terms for halting Pyongyangs nuclear program. Trump this week praised Chinese President Xi Jinping after Beijing sent back a fleet of North Korean ships carrying coal in accordance with United Nations sanctions. In February China banned all imports of North Korean coal, which is a lucrative source of income for the country. North Korea relies on China for 90 percent of its trade. On Friday, Chinas national airline, Air China, also canceled some flights to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, citing poor demand. Trump and Xi discussed the North Korean nuclear threat during a recent summit at the U.S. presidents Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. They spoke again over the phone Thursday. Afterward Trump said he believed Xi would work very hard to help resolve the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Friday urged all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage. While China opposes the Norths nuclear program it is reluctant to take harsh measures that would cause instability at its border and that would increase U.S. power in the region. Youmi Kim contributed to this report. A religious procession on Good Friday made its way through the Chicago neighborhood of Englewood, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city. Led by Roman Catholic Cardinal Blase Cupich from the Archdiocese of Chicago, the procession recreated the footsteps of Jesus as he walked the path that led to his crucifixion. The crowd marched for peace on the 20-block walk as they prayed, sang hymns and read from a list of 158 names of those killed, mostly in shootings, in the city since the beginning of the year. The presence of so many guns in society is something that cannot remain unchecked. We have to look for a way in which there is sensible gun policy, Cupich said. We also know that theres a responsibility of young people, who turn to violence rather than ways in which theyre going to live productive lives, to make prudent decisions. Cupich said high-powered weapons need to stay off the streets and background checks for gun owners and sellers should be more thorough. His letter to church leaders in the archdiocese urging social action to counter gun violence brought participants from beyond city limits, out of state and leaders from other faiths. Chicago leads US in homicides Chicago led the United States last year with more than 760 homicides and 4,300 shootings. According to a study by New York University-based Brennan Center for Justice out in late December, the city skewed the countrys murder rate upward. Last month, President Donald Trump met with the head of Chicagos police union and questioned what was happening in the city, saying there was no excuse for the violence. He pledged support for officers, saying his administration formed an interagency task force to address violent crime. In January, the president, on the social media site Twitter, threatened to call in the feds. Michael Le Chevallier, who participated in the march, said federal support from the president should be used for programs such as Crime Stoppers or a study that is looking at crime as a health issue. If he [Trump] wants to put federal funds toward that and if thats what hes saying when he says he wants to send the feds here, that would be great. If he wants to send some form of Untouchables, I think thats encouraging more violence in our city, Le Chevallier said. Last month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said more than $4 billion in funding for Justice Department programs would be held back should city and local governments act as sanctuary cities where local law enforcement handle illegal immigrants within their jurisdiction and do not always turn them over to immigration officials. Chicago has designated itself a sanctuary city. How to involve feds While discussion continues on the extent of federal involvement in addressing Chicagos crime problem, march organizer the Rev. David Jones reiterated gun violence was not just a local issue, but something all people of goodwill should care about. We are joined by those who are right in these United States and those who are right in this world, he said. We are joined by those who walk by faith and not by sight and by people who walk with us despite having their very legs cut from beneath them. As the procession wound its way through the neighborhood, many Englewood residents welcomed the attention from Chicago faith leaders, saying it was badly needed. A plaque commemorating a 1932 coup in Thailand that saw absolute monarchy abolished and democracy established is missing, police in Bangkok said Saturday, prompting outcry from pro-democracy activists. The 1932 coup, also known as the Siamese Revolution, was a crucial turning point in Thai history and ended nearly seven centuries of absolute monarchy, paving the way for political and social reforms. Since then, Thailand has gone through a shaky experiment with democracy and has witnessed a succession of political protests and coups. The country has been governed by a junta since the latest coup, 2014, which saw the military overthrow a democratically elected government. Plaque replaced The plaque, which was embedded in a square in central Bangkok, was removed and replaced with a new one, which highlights the importance of the monarchy. It is good to worship the Buddhist trinity, the state, ones own family, and to be faithful to ones monarch and allow oneself to be the engine that brings prosperity to the state, the new plaque reads. Police in the Dusit district where the plaque was located said they were not sure who removed it and were investigating. Ultra-royalist groups had previously threatened to remove the plaque. And activists said that the plaques removal was a bid by royalist conservatives to rewrite history. Royalists accused This is another attempt to alter the history of democracy in this country, Than Rittiphan, a member of the student-led New Democracy Movement, which has protested against military rule, told Reuters. It is nothing more than fascist rhetoric aimed at brainwashing the next generation, he said. The government, led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief and staunch royalist, has stepped up prosecution of critics of the monarchy under a harsh royal insult law. Anti-monarchy sensitivity Rights groups say sensitivity over any activity deemed as anti-monarchy has grown since King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, last year. Last week, the government announced a ban on all online interaction with three critics of the junta who live abroad. King Vajiralongkorn signed a military-backed constitution into law this month, a step toward an election next year that the junta has said will restore democracy. The new constitution is the 20th since the end of absolute monarchy and critics say it will give the military sway over politics for years to come. Turks are voting in a referendum on turning Turkey into an executive presidency from the current parliamentary system. If approved, the 18-article constitutional reform package will greatly enhance presidential powers, creating one of the most powerful elected presidencies in the world. Supporters argue it is essential to meet what they call unprecedented threats facing the country. Detractors warn the measures will turn Turkey into an autocracy. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been at the forefront of the yes campaign, argues the reforms will ensure political stability and efficiency following Julys failed coup and continuing threats by both the Islamic State and the Kurdish insurgent group the PKK. The wide-ranging reforms propose giving the president the powers to appoint ministers, set the budget, issue laws by decrees on a wide range of issues, dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency. The prime minister and Cabinet will also be abolished. Although Erdogans voting coalition of his ruling AK Party and nationalist MHP has accounted for well more than 60 percent of the vote in past elections, most opinion polls indicate only a small lead for yes, which is within the polls margin of error. The no campaign AKP has massive monetary and propaganda advantage, notes political consultant Atilla Yesilada. But my gut feelings is AKP does not have the same confidence it has had in past polls that it will win. A broad coalition has emerged, drawing normally antagonistic groups under the same banner. Both Kurdish and Turkish nationalists, secular and pious voters are supporting the no campaign, united by worries they believe the reforms would usher in an autocratic regime. On the last day of campaigning Saturday, Erdogan made four speeches in Istanbul. All of the speaking venues were in traditional strongholds of his AKP, leading observers to suggest the president is trying to shore up his own support. Strong backing, condemnation While opinion polls indicate AKP supporters strongly back the constitutional changes, a number of prominent political figures, including former president Abdullah Gul, have not campaigned in support of the reforms. The proposals also have drawn strong international condemnation. A dangerous step backwards in the constitutional democratic tradition of Turkey, wrote the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, adding, The Venice Commission wishes to stress the dangers of degeneration of the proposed system toward an authoritarian and personal regime. Erdogan has dismissed such criticism, claiming its part of the international conspiracy against Turkey. In the last few campaign rallies, the Turkish president claimed the conspiracy is led by the pope. Turkey is increasingly like the La La land. The entire country lives in fiction, warns consultant Yesilada, but unfortunately this is what a lot of people believe. That we are under siege by the Christian crusaders and Erdogan is the only man who is standing between captivity or colonialism. Much of the campaign was dominated by diplomatic spats with Germany and the Netherlands over restrictions on Turkish ministers being allowed to campaign among the large diaspora voters. A controversy that is widely believed to have helped the yes campaign. Fairness a concern Concern about the fairness of the campaign is increasingly being voiced. The OSCE, which is monitoring the referendum Sunday in an interim report ahead of the vote, claimed that no campaigners faced bans, police interventions and violent attacks at their events. The OSCE received a swift rebuke from Erdogan, who bellowed, Know your place, at a rally in the provincial city of Konya, he declared the report null and void. Ninety percent of TV coverage has been devoted to the yes campaign. That followed Erdogan issuing a legal decree under emergency powers that have been in force since Julys coup attempt, abolishing the legal requirement for fair coverage by media companies. There is growing scrutiny over the vote itself. According to the OSCE, at least 140 representatives nominated by opposition parties to monitor voting have been rejected by Turkish authorities. While several civic organizations that usually monitor polls are among the more than 1,500 shut down under emergency powers. While the referendum is considered to close to call, scrutiny over the vote is expected to be intense both nationally and internationally. Id just say were obviously following this issue very closely, said U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner. We hope the referendum is carried out in such a way that guarantees and strengthens democracy in Turkey. Backed by Russian air power and allied militiamen on the ground, Syrian troops have recaptured entire cities from rebels and Islamic State extremists in the past year, including the key cities of Aleppo, Homs and Palmyra. Yet for the past three years, President Bashar Assads forces have been unable to free opposition-held neighborhoods of the capital Damascus, where rebel fighters have built a labyrinth of secret tunnels, beyond the reach of airstrikes and connected to opposition-held suburbs farther out. A weeks-long push to expand the security belt around Assads seat of power, however, shows a new determination to retake the three areas north and northeast of the capital partially held by rebels, a long-festering thorn in the governments side. 70 airstrikes in a day The offensive is the strongest in years, with warplanes reportedly conducting more than 70 airstrikes in one day and using surface-to-surface missiles in some of the deadliest attacks in weeks. The regime is pushing with all the powers it has, said Ahmad Mahmoud, an opposition activist based in a rebel-held eastern suburb of Damascus. The Damascus neighborhoods of Barzeh, Qaboun, and Jobar form a semi arc from the northern to eastern edge of Damascus. They are partially held by rebels and are often used to fire mortar shells into the metropolis and stage hit-and-run attacks, a constant threat and reminder that rebels can disrupt life in the city that has escaped much of the destruction and violence of other areas. Qaboun and Barzeh had witnessed relative calm since 2014, thanks to a reconciliation deal between rebels and the government. During that period, vegetables and daily products were allowed out of the neighborhoods into Damascus and in return the government allowed food and other products into the neighborhoods. Years of calm end That allowed government troops to turn their attention elsewhere, and in December government forces and their allies captured rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, marking Assads biggest victory of the six-year war. Aleppo is Syrias largest city and once commercial center. In March, rebels began evacuating al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighborhood in Homs, the countrys third-largest city, and more recently they evicted rebels from the Wadi Barada region northwest of Damascus. In August last year, rebels evacuated the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Daraya after years of siege. The victories have freed thousands of troops and pro-government fighters who are now marching in northern, central and southern Syria against rebels and members of the Islamic State group. Ghouta hardest and last Opposition activists say that some of these troops will be used in the battle to capture the Damascus neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta in what would boost the security belt around Damascus and ease pressure on the capital. They are dealing with the eastern Ghouta enclave last, because it is much larger than all the other enclaves, said Aron Lund, a fellow at The Century Foundation. It is bigger, more populated, and better defended than Eastern Aleppo was. Lund, a Syria analyst, said Qaboun and Barzeh have supplied the eastern Ghouta rebels with arms, fuel, and other goods through smuggling tunnels, so taking these areas would probably be the first step toward retaking the Eastern Ghouta. It will not be an easy battle. They have their own world underground, said Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists around the country. He was referring to the elaborate tunnels that the fighters use to move from one place to another, smuggle food, or launch attacks against government forces before disappearing underground again. Anas al-Dimashqi, an opposition activist based in eastern Ghouta, said that many of the tunnels have been destroyed by the government recently, collapsing under the pressure of airstrikes, or come under control of troops in previous incursions that would eventually turn the balance of power in favor of the government. Surrounded Having surrounded the areas from all sides, coupled with the unraveling of a truce that lasted years, it will be easier for the government to eventually get these areas under its control. Earlier this year clashes broke out in Damascus and March 1, rebels killed Brig. Gen. Bilal Ibrahim Mubarak, who was commanding the operations in Jobar and Qaboun. In mid-March, government forces launched a wide offensive, pushing deep into the so-called al-Darb al-Tawileh road cutting Barzeh and Qaboun from eastern Ghouta. The retaliation came days later as insurgents, including fighters linked with al-Qaida, launched suicide attacks and captured some areas from the government, in their deepest incursion into Damascus since 2012, only to lose them days later. On April 3, government forces launched an offensive in Damascus capturing the Hafez road, a strategic artery, and sieged Barzeh in what would eventually facilitate its capture. Opposition activists say government forces have now gained experience of how to slowly take control of areas after besieging them by starving the population and targeting hospitals and clinics in order to force them to accept a deal that would lead to an evacuation, a process that has occurred across other parts of the country. Ghouta can strike back Marwan al-Omawi, a media activist in eastern Ghouta, said that if the neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta face an all-out attack, rebels are only few kilometers (miles) from the capital and can retaliate by shelling it to pressure the government. He said powerful groups are present in the neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta, including the Army of Islam, Failaq al-Rahman, the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham and the Fajr al-Umma group, illustrating that the battle will not be easy for the government. Osama Abu Zeid, a Syria-based activist said these areas will resist a government attack but eventually these pockets have no supply lines and no lines to evacuate the wounded. Mahmoud, the Ghouta-based activist, says the government will have to carpet bomb the area to force opposition rebels to surrender. We know that the regime can fire 10,000 shells on an area. The regime might be able to advance but only after destroying whole districts with airstrikes and surface-to-surface missiles, he said. Tens of thousands of people marched through midtown Manhattan and dozens of other U.S. cities Saturday to demand that President Donald Trump release his tax returns and to dispute his claim that the public does not care about the issue. "Tax March" organizers in more than 150 cities across the country and beyond wanted to call attention to Trump's refusal to disclose his tax history, as his White House predecessors have done for more than 40 years. The marches coincided with the traditional April 15 deadline for U.S. federal tax returns, though the filing date is April 18 this year because of intervening holidays. WATCH: Marchers in NYC to Trump: Release Your Tax Returns There were no reports of violence or arrests in New York. However, at least nine people were arrested in Berkeley, California, after dueling protest groups threw bottles, cans and punches at each other. Police broke up the clashes and called for calm. They promised to investigate and prosecute those who caused the violence. Fights broke out between Trump tax protesters and members of a conservative group holding a free-speech rally and picnic in the same city park. Two of the biggest tax marches took place in New York and Los Angeles, with each drawing about 5,000 people, according to estimates by Reuters reporters. No official estimates were immediately available. In Manhattan, a good-natured crowd rallied at Bryant Park before marching up Sixth Avenue to Central Park. Among the marchers was a mascot symbolizing their cause, an inflatable chicken nicknamed Chicken Don, suggesting the president was afraid to release his tax documents because they would expose embarrassing information. "Thanks to Trump, I think that releasing your taxes when you run for president now has to be a law," said New Yorker Marni Halasa, 51, who arrived in a tutu and leggings made of fake dollar bills and holding a sign that read "Show Me The Money!" In Washington, more than 1,500 protesters gathered on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol, where members of Congress addressed the crowd before it marched to the Lincoln Memorial. "We are taking the gloves off to say: Knock off the secrecy Mr. President," said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which would play a leading role in tax reform measures being considered in Congress. He described Trump's refusal to release his taxes as being "like a teenager trying to hide a lousy report card." Among the marchers was Melinda Colwell, 34, a stay-at-home-mother from Ledyard, Connecticut. She said she was concerned that conflicts of interest in Trump's tax returns might foreshadow selfish interests in his tax reform policies. "I think it's important to know how that could influence his decisions and how he could benefit from the decisions being made," she said. As a candidate and as president, Trump has refused to release his tax returns, citing an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has said that Trump can release his tax returns even while under audit. The White House could not be reached immediately for comment on the marches. Events were also planned in cities in Europe, Japan and New Zealand. The marches were launched by a single tweet, organizers said. A day after the massive January 21 women's march in Washington and other cities, comedy writer Frank Lesser tapped out on Twitter, "Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong." It has been retweeted more than 21,000 times. Recent public-opinion surveys have estimated up to three-quarters of all Americans feel they should be able to review the tax records of Trump, a real-estate developer and entrepreneur who has estimated his net worth at $10 billion. In Los Angeles, television director Mike Stutz turned up at the march dressed in costume as a Russian general. He carried a sign that read: "What Tax Returns? Putin paid cash. Trust your oligarchs," referring to allegations of contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin. Joe Dinkin, spokesman for the Working Families Party, one of the groups organizing the marches, said investigations into the Trump campaign's alleged connections to Russia underscore the need to disclose his returns. "Without seeing his taxes, we'll never really know who he's working for," said Dinkin, who expected the marches to draw at least 100,000 protesters. There have been some glimpses into Trump's tax history. Last month, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow reported on two pages of Trump's 2005 return that were obtained by investigative reporter David Cay Johnston and released by DCReport.org. They showed Trump paid $38 million in taxes on more than $150 million in income. And in October, The New York Times reported that Trump had declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 federal tax return, citing three pages of documents from the return. VOA News contributed to this report. A rubbish dump landslide in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, killed at least 10 and injured 12, Sri Lankan officials said Saturday, as army soldiers continued to search the site to ensure no one was buried under the enormous mountain of trash that buried dozens of houses. Firefighters fought to extinguish a fire at the top of the estimated 300-foot (91-meter) rubbish dump, which had collapsed after the flames engulfed it. Witnesses told Reuters that at least 40 houses may have been buried in the landslide. The Disaster Management Center said Saturday that 75 people whose homes were damaged were being housed in a nearby school. A 13-year-old boy and and two girls aged 14 and 15 were among the dead, Pushpa Soysa, head nurse at the main Colombo hospital, told Reuters. "Ten more are being treated at the hospital," Soysa said. The government deployed troops and police to help with the rescue operation on the island nation's traditional new year's day. Police said in a statement they were unable to say how many houses had been buried in the landslide. "It is too early and still we can't say how many houses are damaged or destroyed and how many people affected," said Pradeep Kodippili, Disaster Management Center spokesman. Residents in the area have been demanding the removal of the dump, saying it was causing health issues. The government had planned to remove it soon under an infrastructure plan. Responding to threats by the Islamic State group to disrupt Turkey's constitutional referendum on Sunday, Turkish authorities have detained scores of people nationwide suspected of links to the outlawed terror group. IS called on its followers to attack polling places during the referendum, in which voters will make a yes-or-no choice on whether Turkey should shift from its current parliamentary system of government to an executive presidency. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration has been campaigning hard and marshaling media resources to press for a "yes" vote, which would greatly expand the president's powers. In a directive to its followers, IS said, "Choosing a lawmaker other than God is a curse." The admonition was published in the latest issue of Rumiyah, an online magazine the extremists use for propaganda and recruitment. IS issued a similar call earlier this month in its Arabic newsletter El-Naba, asking its supporters in Turkey including "lone wolves," those who are not part of any organized cell or group of fighters to sabotage the referendum in any way possible. The goal is to prevent Turks from voting, Islamic State said, adding: "Use whatever means you have at hand to create ultimate chaos." All who take part in the referendum, whatever their political sympathies, are heretics and infidels, IS said in a rallying call to its sympathizers: "We are asking all our brothers to target all polling places. Strike those places, burn them, destroy and demolish them. Kill all those heretics and polytheists who go to vote." Since the IS threats were issued, Turkish police and security forces have begun operations in provinces throughout the country, rounding up those suspected of ties to IS. Security forces detained five people in Istanbul. Turkish media reports detailed more than 20 arrests linked to Islamic State in the provinces of Istanbul, Adana, Gaziantep, Kirikkale and Mersin. There were no official reports on the total number of those detained nationwide, but it was believed that scores of suspects were arrested. The government-funded Anatolian news agency reported that those in custody were preparing "sensational attacks" in connection with the referendum. Prosecutors in Mersin province, on the Mediterranean coast in southern Turkey, said they had received intelligence reports warning of possible attacks on Sunday. and that a number of suspects with links to IS had been arrested. A prosecutors' statement added: "Turkish police are still looking for three more suspects. During searches at the suspects' homes, police also found various printed IS publications, digital materials, a hunting rifle and some ammunition." Since Turkey took on a larger role in the coalition campaign against Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq in mid-2015, the country has been targeted by IS militants several times. Turkey recently concluded its Operation Euphrates Shield, an eight-month campaign in Syrian border areas aimed at crushing IS operations there. By Press Trust of India: From Youssra El-Sharkawy Cairo, Apr 15 (PTI) Egypts longest serving interior minister under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, Habib el-Adly was today sentenced to seven years in jail by a court here over embezzlement of public funds. The minister, who is in his late 70s, was sentenced along with two of his colleagues to seven years in jail by the Cairo Criminal Court in the case known as "the corruption of interior ministry", state media reported. advertisement The three defendants were fined about USD 11 million and were required to repay the same amount. Eight other defendants were sentenced to five years in prison, while two others to three years. El-Adly and twelve of his colleagues were accused of using their post and obtaining about USD 130 million from the Interior Ministry during their time in office between 2000 to 2011. He served as interior minister of Egypt from November 1997 to January 2011. The former ministers case began in 2012 after he was removed from his position following January 25, 2011 Revolution, which toppled Mubarak after 30 years of his rule. Following the revolution, Adly was convicted of corruption and conspiring to kill protesters and was sentenced to life in prison. In August 2015, the case was referred to the criminal court and all defendants were banned from travelling and their assets as well as the assets of their spouses frozen. PTI YES MRJ AKJ MRJ --- ENDS --- Arkansas plan to execute eight men by the end of the month appeared to unravel Friday, with a judge blocking the use of a lethal injection drug and the states highest court granting a stay to one of the first inmates who had been scheduled to die. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order blocking the state from using its supply of vecuronium bromide after a company said it had sold the drug to the state for medical purposes, not capital punishment. Griffen scheduled a hearing Tuesday, the day after the first execution was scheduled. Halted for now Griffens order effectively halts the executions, which had dropped to six after Fridays state Supreme Court order blocking one execution and a federal judge halting another last week, unless its reversed or the state finds a new supply of the drug. Arkansas, which has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of drug shortages and legal challenges, had initially planned to execute eight before the end of April, when its supply of midazolam expires. That plan, if carried out, would have marked the most inmates executed by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Attorney General Leslie Rutledges office said she planned to file an emergency request with the state Supreme Court to vacate Griffens order, saying Griffen shouldnt handle the case. Local media outlets had tweeted photos and video of Griffen appearing to mimic an inmate strapped to a gurney at an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the Governors Mansion Friday afternoon. One stay issued The order came the same day justices issued a stay for Bruce Ward, who was scheduled to be put to death Monday night for the 1989 death of a woman found strangled in the mens room of the Little Rock convenience store where she worked. Attorneys asked for the stay after a Jefferson County judge said she didnt have the authority to halt Wards execution. Wards attorneys have argued he is a diagnosed schizophrenic with no rational understanding of his impending execution. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker is also considering the inmates arguments that such a compressed schedule could lead to undue pain and suffering. Baker had not ruled by Friday evening. Arkansas scheduled the executions to take place before its supply of midazolam expires at the end of the month. McKesson said it had requested Arkansas return its supply of vecuronium bromide after the San Francisco-based company learned it would be used in executions. The firm said Thursday night the state had assured it would return the drug and the company had even issued a refund, but it never was given back. Under Arkansas protocol, midazolam is used to sedate the inmate, vecuronium bromide then stops the inmates breathing and potassium chloride stops the heart. Companies don't want their drugs used Baker is also considering a request from two pharmaceutical companies that their products not be used for capital punishment. Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp. filed a court brief Thursday asking the court to prohibit Arkansas from using their drugs. Arkansas execution timeline drew condemnation from hundreds of death penalty opponents who rallied at the Capitol waving signs including a large banner that read, We remember the victims ... But not with more killing. The rally was headlined by actor Johnny Depp and Damien Echols, who spent nearly 18 years on Arkansas death row before he and two other men, known as the West Memphis Three, were freed in 2011 in a plea deal in which they maintained their innocence. I didnt want to come back, but when I heard about the conveyor belt of death that the politicians were trying to set in motion, I guess I knew I wouldnt be able to live with myself if I didnt come back and try to do something, said Echols, who now lives in New York. The U.S. vice president has made it clear the U.S. stands with South Korea against North Korea as the reclusive state continues to conduct missile and nuclear tests. Mike Pence said We are with you 100 percent at a joint news conference Monday with South Korean acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. Pence also spoke of the unbreakable bond between the U.S. and South Korea. The vice president said North Korea would do well not to test U.S. President Donald Trump's resolve and that all options are on the table to achieve a denuclearized peninsula. Earlier Monday, Pence visited a military base at the heavily militarized border between the two Koreas where he met with military leaders and American troops. Speaking at Camp Bonifas on the second day of his 10-day Asian tour, Pence said Washington wants to achieve security between the two Koreas through peaceable means, through negotiations. On Sunday, Pence stressed the strength of the American alliance with South Korea hours after the latest failed missile test by Pyongyang. Times are challenging" but America's historic alliance with the courageous people of South Korea has never been stronger, Pence said in Seoul during an Easter Sunday fellowship dinner for relatives of U.S. troops based in South Korea. This morning's provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world, Pence said. Earlier Sunday, the vice president attended Easter church services with military service members. According to the Associated Press, Pence's mission on his first trip to South Korea is to explain to leaders in Japan, Indonesia, Australia and South Korea about a policy called maximum pressure and engagement aimed at increasing pressure on North Korea's government. Not much else has been revealed about the new policy. The failed missile launch from North Korea's port city of Sinpo came a day after a massive military parade in the North Korean capital that amounted to a show of force by the government of Kim Jong Un. However Pyongyang did not conduct a widely anticipated underground nuclear weapons test. In Florida, President Trump expressed satisfaction with his offer to ease up on trade pressure on China in exchange for help in reining in North Korea's nuclear programs. Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? he tweeted. We will see what happens! Washington has been engaged in a sharp multi-national diplomatic offensive aimed at persuading North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to end his push to develop nuclear weaponry. US evaluating launch A short while after the failed missile launch, a statement from the U.S. Pacific Command said the missile blew up almost immediately and that its type was still being assessed. The statement also reiterated Washington's full commitment to working closely with our allies, particularly South Korea and Japan, to maintain security. Pence was briefed on the failed launch during his flight to Seoul and conferred with the president, according to a statement from Pence's office. Earlier this past week, as tensions worsened between Washington and Pyongyang, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. Naval strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to the Korean peninsula in show of force. Pyongyang conducted two unauthorized nuclear test explosions last year and nearly two dozen rocket launches in a years-long push to expand its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Pyongyang boasts of missile prowess North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared in a speech on New Year's Day that his country's program to build inter-continental ballistic missiles had reached its final stage. Pyongyang has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006, along with an international arms embargo aimed at slowing its development of its banned nuclear and missile programs. Since then, Washington and a vast majority of world governments have repeatedly demanded that the North denuclearize the Korean peninsula. Western leaders, however, have yet to devise a plan that would either compel the North to cooperate or create incentives for it to do so. President Trump has in recent weeks pressed China to persuade its North Korean ally to curb its nuclear ambitions, but results of those efforts are not yet clear. President Donald Trump praised the U.S. military for successfully blasting an Islamic State stronghold in Afghanistans Nangarhar province with a Massive Ordinance Air Bomb (MOAB), the biggest non-nuclear explosive in the American arsenal. It was another successful event, Trump told reporters at the White House. If you look at whats happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to whats happened over the past eight years, youll see theres a tremendous difference, tremendous difference. The Islamic State group has made inroads in Afghanistan in recent years and has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks, including last months assault on a military hospital in Kabul that killed more than 30 people and injured 80 others. But compared with Iraq and Syria, where the IS extremists first became notorious in 2014, the groups branch in Afghanistan is not as potent. That raises some questions about why Afghanistan was chosen for the first use of the 10,000-kilogram MOAB, known informally as the mother of all bombs. Explainer: MOAB bomb No civilians where bomb fell Rebecca Zimmerman, a policy researcher for the Rand Corp., thinks eastern Afghanistan was chosen for the first use of the bomb Thursday for what may seem like a counterintuitive reason: to avoid civilian casualties, because the target was in such a remote place. It is impossible to use a weapon like this in Syria, Iraq and most other places, because they are heavily populated, and Afghanistan less so, Zimmerman said. The MOAB device was not merely a bomb, in this case, Zimmerman added. It carried a message that was heard well beyond its blast zone, and sends a signal to Islamic State globally that the U.S is resolved and is willing to employ some fairly extreme measures in order to succeed in the fight against terrorists. Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense in Washington and currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, agrees that the bomb was a message for Islamic State, but he also notes that the bunker and tunnel complex the U.S. forces were targeting required the use of the huge bomb, which detonates above the surface and creates a shock wave that destroys everything and kills anyone in its path over a wide area. Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, in the area where they are along the Pakistani border, have dug a lot of tunnels, and there was no way that traditional bombs would be able to impact them, Korb said. Illustrating U.S. military might Other analysts suggest that the MOAB device was employed on the IS hideout because that target was a perfect opportunity to demonstrate overwhelming U.S. military might. The area was what they call a civilian-free zone, so they could really go in and use a big, indiscriminate weapon, which, God forbid, if you dropped it in a place like Raqqa [Islamic States headquarters in Syria], you would have lots of civilian deaths, said Brian G. Williams, author of Counter Jihad: Americas Military Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. This is a unique enemy position in Nangarhar province, Williams said. It is entrenched and away from civilians. The attack killed around 36 IS fighters, according to the Afghan government; it was a perfect opportunity for demonstration of might. Thomas Johnson, director of the Naval Postgraduate Schools program for cultural and conflict studies, believes MOAB will not have a major impact on IS. I think this will have minimum impact on IS-Khorasan, Johnson said, using the title that distinguishes Islamic State in Afghanistan from the branches of the group in Iraq and Syria. The attack yesterday was more symbolic, Johnson added, and actually had more domestic political implications [in the U.S.] than implications in Afghanistan. Taliban switched sides to IS While Islamic States ranks in Afghanistan do include foreign fighters, Johnson said most of the extremist groups recruits are former Taliban members who joined for financial reasons. Many Taliban foot soldiers joined IS because it was offering $700 a month, which was a lot more money than the Taliban could offer, Johnson said. When the United States and its coalition allies destroyed Islamic States financial networks in Syria and elsewhere, he added, IS recruits, including those from the Taliban, began to drift away. Compared with Afghanistan and other parts of South Asia, Johnson added, the West should devote more attention to combating Islamic State in Central Asia, where the group has been attracting sympathizers. Bill Goodfellow, executive director of the Center for International Policy, argues that the fight against IS in Afghanistan should not come at the expense of ignoring the Taliban. I do not think that this massive bomb is going to change the dynamics at all, Goodfellow said. Islamic State does complicate things in Afghanistan, he added, because they represent another violent extremist group operating in the country, and they seem to be rather hardened and many of them are foreigners. Goodfellow's CIP group is a nonprofit research and advocacy group based in Washington that tries to promote cooperation, transparency and accountability in global relations. Ultimately the deal has to be made between the Taliban and the Afghan government and civil society, and it has to be some sort of enduring peace, and the regional powers, particularly Pakistan, have to be brought in, Goodfellow said. Thats where we should be focusing our attention. A tactical military decision? Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistans ambassador to the United States, told VOA that the Afghan national security forces, backed by NATO, had been conducting military operations in eastern Nangarhar against IS forces for a week before Thursdays bombing, and that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by extremist fighters had made it difficult to advance. General John Nicholson, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, echoed the ambassadors comments about IEDs while talking to reporters in Kabul Friday. He said his decision to use MOAB was communicated with officials in Washington and was a purely tactical decision. This was the right weapon for the right target, Nicholson said. This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive. The office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the operation was not a surprise, and that it had been closely coordinated with the Afghan security forces. Reaction to the bombing from civilians in the area has been mixed. Residents of Achin district, where the IS hideout was located, posted a video from the scene praising the decision. There were ISIS fighters here, a local resident said, pointing to the area in the background where the big bomb exploded. I am very happy that they destroyed IS here. There are no civilians here. Others in the area who opposed the use of the huge bomb said they were concerned that Afghanistan could become a weapons testing ground. The impact of automation on U.S. jobs is open to debate. Robots have displaced millions of manufacturing workers, and automation is getting cheaper and more common, raising concerns it will eventually supplant far more workers in the services sector of the economy, which includes everything from truck driving to banking. University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Ed Hess says we are just starting to see automation's impact. "It is going to be broad and it is going to be deep," he said, adding that "tens of millions" of jobs could be at risk. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared already. While some politicians blame trade for the job losses, most economists say automation is mainly to blame as robots do routine factory tasks previously done by humans. Hess calls self-driving cars and trucks a threat to millions of human jobs, and says fast-food workers are also vulnerable, as companies install electronic kiosks to take restaurant orders. McDonalds says displaced workers will be reassigned to other tasks. The professor says research shows nearly half of U.S. jobs could be automated, including retail store clerks, doctors who scan X-rays for disease, administrative workers, legal staffers, and middle managers. Future of jobs Starting more than a century ago, advancing technology changed the United States from an agrarian to a manufacturing economy. Displaced farm hands eventually found factory work, but the transition took years. This new transition may also take a time because, Hess says, "We're not going to anywhere produce the number of jobs that we automate." But 50 years of experience in banking shows that while automation may change the industry, it does not necessarily end jobs for humans. The first Automatic Teller Machines, or ATMs, were installed 50 years ago, and there are now 420,000 in the United States. International Monetary Fund analysis shows the number of human tellers did not drop, but rose slightly. "Humans were doing mostly service and routine types of tasks that could be converted into more automated tasks," Tremont Capital Group's Sam Ditzion said. But "the humans then became far more valuable in customer service and in sales in these branches." In a Skype interview, Ditzion said that while automation can be "scary," the oversight of ATMs created new kinds of work for "tens of thousands of people." Automation grows A report by Redwood Software and the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) says surging investment and falling prices will help robotics grow. Redwood's software handles business processes that are repetitive, rule-bound and tedious. CEBR Economist David Whitaker says as growing fleets of robots take over mundane tasks, higher productivity could bring higher wages for some human workers. He says people who want to stay employed must hone skills that robots can't handle, such as unpredictable work or the need for an emotional human connection. One example, according to Alex Bentley of Blue Prism software, is a program that helps law firms examine visa applications. The robot enters data but gets help from a human partner with problems such as missing information. Bentley says some human jobs have been lost, but in other cases displaced workers move within the firm to new work, particularly jobs that are "customer-centric." U.S. Senator Chris Coons says Germany and other nations use training programs to help their citizens get and keep jobs in a changing economy. The Democrat says America's competitors invest six times what the U.S. does in skills development and workforce training, while Washington has slashed funding for such programs. Coons and a Republican colleague, Senator Thom Tillis, are seeking more help for schools, companies, workers and government agencies operating programs to upgrade the workforce. New opportunities While workers need to make some changes, philosopher and professor Ed Freeman of UVA's Darden School of Business says companies also need to rethink their basic purpose. He says businesses must do more than just maximize value for shareholders. "I need red blood cells to live," he said. "It doesn't follow that the purpose of my life is to make red blood cells. Companies need profits to live, it doesn't follow that the purpose of a company is to make profits. We have to think through this idea about what purpose is in business." Freeman says he is "optimistic" because many jobs, such as creating applications for smartphones that would have been unimaginable a few years ago, are creating thousands of opportunities. He is also encouraged by his many students who, he says, bring new ideas, passion and energy to the task of starting businesses that will create new kinds of jobs. Freeman is convinced that the problem isn't the tsunami of lost jobs, it is the lack of "really good ideas" for creating a safety net for people who will lose jobs to automation. Many experts worry about growing levels of automation particularly advanced forms known as artificial intelligence hurting employment for U.S. workers. But U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says it will be "50 or 100 years" before artificial intelligence takes American jobs. In an interview with Mike Allen of AXIOS, Mnuchin said, "I think we are so far away from that, [it is] not even on my radar screen." The second mosque in the United States led solely by women held its inaugural service in California Friday, but unlike a Los Angeles congregation that opened two years ago, the new female-led Muslim house of worship in Berkeley is open to both genders. The Qalbu Maryam Womens Mosque is a place for women to worship in the sanctuary, to not be hidden away in dank rooms, said Rabia Keeble, founder of the Berkeley mosque, whose name means heart of Mary in Arabic. Many mosques around the world admit men and women, but most segregate the genders. At the Womens Mosque of America in Los Angeles, male worshippers older than 12 are excluded, making the new Berkeley mosque the first of its kind in the country. We uplift the female, and just as the Prophet loved women, we must follow in his footsteps and love ourselves and each other, she said. Women lead talks, prayers Keeble is a 40-something convert from Christianity with a masters degree in religious leadership from the Starr King School of Ministry, a seminary affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, which has donated space for the mosque. At Qalbu Maryam, there is no imam, as the cleric who conducts worship at a mosque is called. Rather, female lay leaders will rotate in leading the prayers and the talks. About 50 or so women and men, including Muslims, Christians and Jews, attended the jummah or traditional Friday service, listening to prayer leader Crystal Keshawarz chant the holy Arabic words, God is great or Allahu Akbar. Traditionalists object The Koran does not directly address whether women can lead congregational prayer, according to many traditional Islamic scholars. Some argue the Prophet Mohammad gave permission to women to lead any kind of prayer, while others say that he meant to restrict women to leading prayer at home. Still, many traditionalists do not believe a man should hear a womans voice in prayer. Men are conditioned to believe that womens voices are seducing and if they hear her voice they are pushed into an adulteress area, Keeble said. Men should think better of themselves. They are not animals. Mohammad Sarodi, former chairman of the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, California, said he would not attend prayers led by women. If women are leading prayers for women, fine. But if they are leading prayers for men, then that is not something I have been raised with, Sarodi, 70, said. I have never heard from the scholars that this is acceptable. Women are certainly not inferior, but this is not how its done. Time for a change Though Islam is not the only religion with a tradition of male leadership, it is a faith that many non-Muslims, and even some within the faith, view as unwelcoming or even hostile to women. Its simply time for change, Keeble said, both to bring more women into the faith and to alter the perceptions of those who feel that Islam was oppressive to females. I think this is the only way that reputation can be addressed by empowering women, Keeble said. Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images If only there was a way to turn this day backward by 24 hours. Andy Karl, whos currently leading Broadways new production of Groundhog Day yes, hes playing Bill Murrays weatherman character injured himself in the knee during Friday evenings preview performance. Per an account in the New York Times, Karls injury was sustained onstage with about 15 minutes to go in the show; it was temporarily paused while a doctor was sought out, and Karl finished the show with the help of a walking stick. Following Fridays performance, producers for Groundhog Day released a short statement that confirmed the incident: At approximately 10:30 in the second act of Groundhog Day, during the song Philanthropy, Andy Karl injured himself during the performance and left the stage. The show was stopped. Andy insisted on finishing the show and after a 15-minute break went on stage with a cane. Following the performance Andy was taken to see a doctor. We will update you on further news as we hear it. At the hospital to get his injury examined later that evening, Karls fate got even weirder he detailed in an Instagram post that a clock in the ER waiting room fell and nearly hit him. Still, hes in good spirits. Is it irony that I was doing the philanthropy number when I fell? Or is it karma for beating up clocks in the commercials? he wrote. Im home now and I have no broken bones but tweaked my knee after a poorly landed leap frog. Finishing the show for all the @groundhogdaybwy fans and audience members was something I had to do. Thank you all for hanging in there. The last song Seeing You was for you guys Im gonna get it looked at by specialist before I go back on stage, but know I love this show and this company and everyone that supports me more than youll ever know. In a new statement obtained by Vulture, the producers for Groundhog Day have confirmed that Saturday afternoons performance has been cancelled. Karls understudy, Andrew Call, will be playing the leading role at Saturday evenings performance. The production is still currently scheduled to open on Monday. Four students were arrested for stealing answer scripts and planning to sell it to scraps to get some money to buy drugs. By Saurabh Vaktania: Mumbai police today arrested four minor students for stealing answer papers of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams from a school in Dahisar, Maharashtra. The students were planning to sell the answer scripts in scrap to get some money to buy drugs. Police has recovered 330 answer scripts out of 516. "Around 200 papers are still missing and we are trying our best to find them, but if we don't find them the board will have to take decision on those missing papers. The students may have to give exams again which can be big loss," a senior police officer said. advertisement SSC exams finished in Maharashtra last month, after which the scripts go to different government schools for correction. According to police reports, the scripts were stolen from inside pricipal's cabin. Principal Nagendra Pathak had gone for tea, and when he returned the scipts were missing. "Interestingly, when the students stole answer sheets, they realised their mistake. Later they came back to school to return the answer sheets but the principal had left by that time and the school was preparing to file a complaint. And so they left with the answer sheets and disposed the papers inside the National park jungle from where the papers are recovered," a police officer said. --- ENDS --- The 45-year-old Bulgarian national used to clone ATM cards and withdraw money. Over eight ATM cards were seized from him during arrest. By Mustafa Shaikh: The cyber crime cell of Mumbai Police today arrested a Bulgarian national Milcho Angelo for ATM fraud and siphoning off lakhs of rupees from the accounts of several people. The bank (name withheld) whose ATMs were targeted by Angelo, submitted CCTV footage from one of their ATMs in Juhu to lodge the complaint. Angelo, 45, was arrested from his rented accommodation and eight ATM cards along with Rs 70,000 have been recovered from him. advertisement "We are investigating how many people are involved in this fraud and till now how many accounts have been comprised," said DCP Akhilesh Singh, cyber crime cell. The accused used to clone cards and then withdraw money. "He was living a lavish life... He paid Rs 1.5 lakh as rent for the house. We are investigating how he cloned cards and got the data," added Singh. Angelo is currently in police custody till April 17. He has been booked for data theft, impersonation under Section 66C, 66D of Information Technology Act. The police is now finding a translator to record his statement. Angelo is on an year-long tourist visa to India. --- ENDS --- The city of Hewitt, Loaded Sound Stage and Lighting, and the Greater Hewitt Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring a Hounds and Sounds Music Festival from 4 to 9 p.m. April 22 at Creekside Amphitheater in Warren Park, 450 S. Old Temple Road in Hewitt. The family- and pet-friendly event will feature the alternative rock band Trine, followed by local favorite Fenix Theory, and conclude with the headline act, contemporary Christian artists Citizen Way. The event also will include games, inflatables and face painting, as well as Pokey Os and other local food trucks. Admission costs $15 in advance or $20 at the gate and is free for ages 10 and younger. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Humane Society of Central Texas. Parking costs $2. Premium parking is available for $5. For tickets, visit www.cityofhewitt.com or call 666-6173. Marlin jamboree Marlin Senior Civic Center, 104 Hays St., will host its Third Saturday Jamboree from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday. The jamboree features a variety of local musicians. Admission is free, with donations accepted. Sandwiches, desserts and drinks will be available to purchase at a modest cost. For more information, call 883-5536. Author talk German author Barbara Ortwein will give a book talk at 2 p.m. April 17 in the meeting room of the West Waco Library and Genealogy Center, 5301 Bosque Blvd. Ortwein will discuss her historical novel, In the Heart of Texas, But Not Yet at Home, the second book in her trilogy about the immigration of Germans to Texas beginning in 1844. Ortwein will sell and sign copies of her book, available in German and English. The German interest group of the Central Texas Genealogical Society is sponsoring the event. For more information, call 776-0440. Quilt College program Quilter, designer and author Becky Goldsmith, will present a Quilt College program at a meeting of the Waco Homespun Quilters Guild at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Lakewood Christian Church, 6509 Bosque Blvd. Goldsmith has published more than 30 books and hundreds of quilt patterns. Cost is $5. For more information, visit wacohomespunquiltguild.org . I was 29 years old when my father died of multiple myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow. He was 53. Only hours before his death, I spoke with him. Our eyes met during that final visit, the same eye contact we had shared from my birth, though his eyes were growing gray. I held his hand as he drew his last breath, and then, he was gone. His body lay lifeless and unresponsive. The morticians took his body from the hospital room where our family had waited through the night. We visited the funeral home and chose a casket. Shortly afterward other family and friends joined us to view his body lying still and quiet, dressed in his familiar suit, his hair combed. I stood by the casket and stared at his face. It was obvious another hand had combed his hair and another hand had tied his tie. He seemed to be sleeping. I imagined him drawing breath. Imagined him opening his eyes so that they sparkled once again, his lips parting in the familiar grin, the dimples reappearing in his cheeks. But he didnt move. We buried his body in the cemetery 41 years ago surrounded by friends who came to comfort us, many of whom are now buried nearby. I asked myself the question Job asked centuries ago, the question every man and woman must ultimately ask when they stand where I stood on that day, If a man die, shall he live again?(Job 14:14). Jobs struggle with the question was not about theology or philosophy. His struggle was like mine. It was personal. It is the struggle we all must face sooner or later when those whom we love die. After having pondered the question, Job foresaw the Easter event we celebrate this weekend. He wrote, I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me (Job 19:25-27). The world will ponder Jobs question this weekend when we gather in Christian churches around the world. When Jesus was raised from the dead, the answer to lifes most important question became clear. Luke wrote, After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3). Paul wrote, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). James was born September 22, 1939 in China Spring, Texas to RV and Mary Reece. He attended China Spring schools where he met his high school sweetheart, Linda Peacock. They were married on December 24, 1959.James was drafted into the army in 1963 where he and Linda were stationed in France until 1965. Following his discharge from the army, James tried his hand in several areas. He used his keen eye to build fences, started an appliance business with his wife, J&L Appliance, then later went on to become a truck driver where he retired from Consolidated Freight in 2001.James was a loving husband, father, and granddad. He was a hard worker who enjoyed reminiscing and talking about the good ol' days. He was a jokester who enjoyed fishing and hunting with his buddies, taking care of his cows, watching and falling asleep during NASCAR races, and enjoying his old movies and westerns. James leaves behind a wonderful legacy in his five grandchildren who he was so proud of and loved very much. Last week the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that included language that would forbid the use of tax dollars to pay for private or parochial school expenses. This provision was folded into the House budget. It kills the possibility of tax money being diverted from public school programs to private school programs. Republican state Rep. Kyle Kacal, who represents part of McLennan County and much of the rural stretches beyond, voted yes on the proposal to keep public funds going into our public schools. According to staff authorized to speak on this issue, Republican state Rep. Charles Doc Anderson voted to keep the conversation going on ESAs (or so-called education savings accounts), especially with regard to special needs children. In old-school terms, Kacal voted against vouchers for private school tuition and Anderson voted for vouchers. In subsequent Facebook debate, a friend told me that school choice advocates dont use the term voucher anymore. The preferred term is now educational savings accounts. I decided to read up on this fight for ESAs. Theyre a twist to the age-old arguments against public schools and for school choice. And we have a new organization to advocate for choice now. No surprise: theres usually a new name every couple of years for that as well. This session the group is Texans for Education Opportunity. John Colyandro, formerly the executive director of the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, is its leader. The goal of the Texans for Education Opportunity is to advocate for programs like ESAs that would use tax money to pay for private school expenses. Quoting the Texas Tribunes reporting, ESAs would give parents debit cards loaded with taxpayer money to pay for a wide range of education expenses, including private and parochial school tuition and tutoring services. John Colyandro is a seasoned veteran of the Texas political scene. He was once the executive director of a group called Texans for a Republican Majority PAC. This organization was founded by Tom Delay. Delay was a powerhouse in Texas politics, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and for a time House Majority Leader. In 2004, Colyandro, along with Congressman Delay, was indicted for taking corporate contributions into the PAC and spending the money on Texas Republican candidates in the 2002 election cycle. Delay was convicted. The appeals process went on for 10 years and his conviction was eventually overturned. He went on to appear as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. Colyandro accepted a plea bargain to lesser charges and paid a fine. Now Mr. Colyandro is in charge of pushing through legislation that would take public funds and re-route them to private schools via the ESAs that we now speak of. According to Texans for Education Opportunity Board President Stacy Hock, Colyandro is a trusted voice and a champion of smart policy in and around the Capitol for decades. In Mrs. Hocks defense, she moved to Texas recently. She is from New York. She did not live in Texas during the DeLay years. A few more things, possibly even more relevant: Public schools provide a public good to the great state of Texas. Private schools have their own mission based on the tenet of a particular faith or a secular mission statement. Freedom to choose curriculum and direction comes from the freedom they have, being private institutions. But we must remember: When private institutions choose to accept public money theyre no longer truly private and must fulfill the steep publications and rules that public schools meet. You can call tuition vouchers anything you want to: ESAs, tax credits or opportunity scholarships. Some say theyre good investments. Others say theyre unconstitutional. Either way, an effort will continue to seek funneling our tax dollars out of our local neighborhood public schools and send those funds to unaccountable private or parochial schools. Charles Spurgeon, a well-known Baptist preacher in the late 1800s, once wrote that A hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog. I prefer to remind those who trot out voucher proposals before the Texas Legislature every two years, like clockwork, that: You can put lipstick on a pigbut it is still a pig. Meanwhile, our neighborhood schools are still there. They continue to do the difficult work of teaching and training the next generation of doctors, lawyers and teachers. Even if our own children are out of school, those now enrolled may one day serve us as physicians, tax accountants, carpenters, pilots or military personnel. School choice privateers come to the surface every couple of years when they see they might get a piece of the Texas education funding pie. They repackage their proposals. But thankfully, this time cooler heads prevailed. Conservative rural schools dont see the benefit in these policies in their small towns. Suburban schools have generally been happy. When vouchers/ESAs/tax credits come up, these voters form a strong coalition with more progressive urban schools and make sure that the Texas Legislature does not adopt these wildly risky funding schemes. Just for once, it would be nice if lawmakers considered fully funding Texas public schools, including financially supporting all mandated federal and state regulatory requirements and easing the burden of standardized testing that steals the joy out of our classrooms. Every two years, a newly minted organization emerges to carry the banner for choice. And every year, like good and faithful soldiers, the Texas PTA, Coalition for Public Schools, Texas Parent PAC, Texas Kids Cant Wait, Pastors for Public Schools, and our local school and civic leaders rally around the mission of our neighborhood schools. Happily, some state legislators heed them. Public schools do need help. But we cannot get the tools we need to serve the children we serve if we treat public education like a Whack a Mole game. Thanks to state Rep. Kyle Kacal and all those who fight this good fight for all children. Maybe we should muzzle the wag-the-dog talk. MSNBC host Lawrence ODonnell led off his show Friday night with an alarming report: Russian President Vladimir Putin may have told Syrias Bashar al-Assad to launch last weeks chemical attack to let President Trump respond militarily thereby boosting Trumps standing in the United States and dispelling the belief that he is too close to Putin. Its perfect, ODonnell said, telling viewers what you wont hear is proof that that scenario that I have just outlined is impossible, because ... with Donald Trump anything is possible. Im a fan of ODonnell, and it is technically true that we cant prove that Putin didnt orchestrate the attack to boost Trump. But by that logic, we can never prove to everybodys satisfaction that there wasnt a second gunman on the grassy knoll, that Vincent Foster wasnt murdered, that there wasnt a controlled demolition inside Building 7, that former president Barack Obama didnt forge his birth certificate, or that the government isnt controlling our minds with fluoride. But speculation without evidence is at best distraction, and at worst it allows Trumps defenders to discredit the whole story about Trumps contacts with Russia and Russias attempts to tilt the election his way. Certainly, Trumps behavior has shown that hes capable of anything. But we dont need to speculate. Putin did conspire to help Trump win the presidency. Thats damning enough without letting allegations of a chemical-attack conspiracy cloud the whole thing in paranoia. The chemical conspiracy, as The Washington Posts Avi Selk noted, debuted on a left-wing site called the Palmer Report. This is part of a larger phenomenon that has already taken root online, where in some quarters full-blown cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome have already broken out. Trump won the presidency and now governs by creating a parallel universe with alternative facts. Theres a temptation among his opponents to respond in kind. But the way to counter Trump is to speak the truth, not to fight him with more fake news. Trumps campaign, transition and nascent presidency have generated liberal conspiracy theories worthy of Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. Check these days with Snopes, the conspiracy-busting website, and, right there alongside the usual urban legends (woman arrested for training squirrels to attack her ex-boyfriend, female mortuary worker was arrested after becoming pregnant by one of the corpses she was preparing for burial), youll find them confronting various products of the vast left-wing conspiracy: Senior White House officials openly admitted that the chemical strike against Syria had no actual purpose. Donald Trump has vowed to reinstate the draft. Devin Nunes financial wealth is invested in a wine company with strong ties to Russia. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) ordered the exhumation of the body of Clinton associate Vince Foster. Some have gained considerable traction, such as Google engineer Yonatan Zungers late January post on Medium that the travel ban was the trial balloon for a coup detat. As BuzzFeed noted, Huffington Post contributor Alex Mohajer built a case that Trump was involved in the $11 billion sale of Russian oil giant Rosneft. One well-subscribed theory has it that Trumps early filing for reelection in 2020 was actually a conspiracy to silence his critics. Robert Reich, the former Clinton cabinet member, has detected a Trump plot to control American universities in conjunction with chief strategist Steven K. Bannon and former Breitbart News provocateur Milos Yiannopoulos. And a dubious Twitter account claiming to be anti-Trump government officials, @RoguePOTUSStaff has amassed 850,000 followers by tweeting unsubstantiated news about the White House. Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth government professor, explained in the New York Times in February why left-wing conspiracy theories appear to have gained since the election: Political psychology research suggests that losing political control can make people more vulnerable to misinformation and conspiracy theories. How else could people have fallen for the satirical report of a British outlet alleging that Queen Elizabeth II said she can legally kill Trump with a sword if he enters Buckingham Palace? That would indeed be newsworthy, if true. But heres something even more newsworthy: The Putin regime meddled in U.S. elections to help secure the victory of a president to whom it has had extensive ties. And that one happens to be true. On Friday, the 126th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj and Information technology Minister Nara Lokesh used the Telugu word "Vardhanthi" (death anniversary) while greeting a gathering in Vijayawada. By Ashish Pandey: Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj and Information technology Minister Nara Lokesh used the Telugu word "Vardhanthi" or 'death anniversary,' while greeting a gathering in Vijayawada on the occassion of Ambedkar Jayanti. That happened on Friday, the 126th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, at an event in Tummalapalli Kalakshetram. Recently sworn-in as a cabinet minister, 34-year old Nara Lokesh is the only son of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and a graduate of Stanford Business School. advertisement This isn't the first time Nara Lokesh has chosen the wrong word during an important event. During his swearing-in as minister earlier this month, he said "Sradhanjali" instead of "Sradhasakthi". After the video of the address went viral, Nara Lokesh jokes abounded online. However, Telugu Desam Party leaders said it was a slip of the tongue, and that such mistakes should be ignored. ALSO READ | Andhra capital Amaravati will be bigger, better than Hyderabad: Chandrababu Naidu ALSO WATCH | Amaravati will be India's best city: Chandrababu Naidu at India Today Conclave South --- ENDS --- Once upon a time we were moved to action when people were starving. But maybe those days are gone. The Ethiopian famine of 1984 shocked the world and transformed the international aid sector. It even seeded a new style of celebrity activism. The 1984 Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas and the 1985 Live Aid concerts raised today's equivalent of $US350 million. But apparently starvation in Africa no longer shocks us. This year the world faces not one but four famines. Parts of South Sudan have officially reached that extreme crisis point and Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen are likely to follow. Band-Aid in-store promotions asserting that the product helps heal wounds "twice as fast" could be removed from shops after its parent company refused to release research proving the claim. Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturer of Band-Aids, has indicated in an email that the company will remove adverts claiming the adhesive strips were "clinically proven to heal wounds faster" after a complaint by public health campaigner Dr Ken Harvey. The company says it has studies that back up its claims, but refused to release them on the grounds that they are commercial-in-confidence. Experts say Band-Aids are useful for covering and protecting small wounds, and are generally recommended as part of the treatment for shallow cuts and grazes. But advertising for the product goes much further. A 34-year-old man will face court on Saturday after leading police on a long chase through Perth's south - including through Rockingham Cemetery. Police went to a home in Yangebup to speak to the man about a number of matters around 1.30pm on Friday. Police say the man drove through Rockingham Cemetery in an attempt to evade them. Credit:Georgia Matts But the man then fled the house in an FJ Toyota Cruiser and failed to stop for police, they say. Police gave chase, calling in the police helicopter, which was in the area, and tracked the man as he drove along bush tracks and through the cemetery By PTI: Motihari, Apr 14 (PTI) Sashtra Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) personnel today seized 5.7 kg contraband charas valued at Rs 85 lakh in the International market being smuggled from Nepal. Commandant of the 27th battalion of SSB Sonam Chering said during frisking of a Nepali youth, 5.7 kg charas was recovered from him at Mahadeva post on the Indo-Nepal border in Raxual in East Champaran district. advertisement The 26-year-old Nepali citizen has been identified as Vivek Lami, the SSB Commandant said. Smuggling of contraband and fake Indian currency has been frequent along the porous Indo-Nepal border, majority of which falls in Bihar. PTI CORR SNS DKB --- ENDS --- On the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles. Weapons analysts said they believed some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles. By Reuters: North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, on Saturday, as a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region. Missiles appeared to be the main theme of a giant military parade, with Kim's grandson, leader Kim Jong Un, taking time to greet the commander of the Strategic Forces, the branch that oversees the missile arsenal. advertisement A US Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month with Tomahawk missiles raised questions about US President Donald Trump's plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. Kim Jong Un, looking relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw the festivities on the "Day of the Sun" at Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung Square. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square, next to the Taedonggang River that flows through Pyongyang, in the hazy spring sunshine, followed by tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and other weapons. Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead. Unlike at some previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be a senior Chinese official in attendance. China is North Korea's lone major ally but has spoken out against its missile and nuclear tests and has supported U.N. sanctions. China on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. Weapons analysts said they believed some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). The North has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering all the necessary technology. 'EARLY DAYS' North Korea showed two new kinds of ICBM enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of trucks, suggesting Pyongyang was working towards a "new concept" of ICBM, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the US-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. "However, North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them," Hanham said. "It is still early days for these missile designs." The Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also on parade. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade. Displaying more than one of the missiles indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base a missile on a submarine, which are hard to detect, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review. advertisement "It suggests a commitment to this programme," said Pollack. "Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the programme." North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan. Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim Jong Un, addressed the packed square with a characteristically bellicose warning to the United States. "If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare," he said. US V.P. PENCE TO VISIT SOUTH KOREA State news agency KCNA said the Trump administration's "serious military hysteria" had reached a "dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked". The United States has warned that a policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea is over. US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China has also stepped up economic pressure on North Korea. It banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26 under UN sanctions, cutting off the North's most important export product. advertisement China's national airline, Air China, weeks ago cancelled some flights to Pyongyang due to poor demand but it has not suspended all flights there, it said on Friday, denying a report by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that all flights run by the airline between the two cities were to be suspended. China's Global Times newspaper, which is published by the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official paper, said North Korea must have felt the shockwave from the 11-ton "mother of all bombs" dropped by US forces on ISIS-linked fighters in Afghanistan on Thursday. "It would be nice if the bomb could frighten Pyongyang, but its actual impact may just be the opposite," it said in an editorial. North Korea on Friday denounced the United States for bringing "huge nuclear strategic assets" to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer. In Dandong, China's main border post with North Korea, hundreds of North Koreans gathered at a cultural centre carrying floral displays. With the men wearing pins adorned with photos of Kim Il Sung, and the women in brightly coloured traditional dress, crowds lined up to bow to portraits of their state founder before touring an exhibition of photos and North Korean paintings. advertisement KCNA was gushing in its praise of Kim Il Sung, recalling the time he met former US president Jimmy Carter in 1994. "Former US President Jimmy Carter was so fascinated by his personality as to say that Kim Il Sung is greater than that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln put together, eulogizing him as the great sun god of human destiny." it said. ALSO READ | Chinese tabloid warns North Korea against nuclear and missile tests ALSO READ | US more vicious, aggressive under Donald Trump; ready for war if they choose: North Korea ALSO WATCH | Mother of All Bombs dropped to deny operative space to ISIS: US --- ENDS --- By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 14, 2017 | 05:19 PM | PADUCAH, KY Former McCracken County Schools Superintendent Tilford Underwood has died at age 83.Underwood graduated from Murray State University with a Bachelors Degree in Agriculture, but his plans to be a veterinarian were derailed by glaucoma and partial blindness. In the spring of 1957, he was asked to fill in for a teacher at Puryear High School, fell in love with teaching, and went to the University of Kentucky to complete his student teaching requirements. He taught at Sedalia High School before eventually settling in the McCracken County School System for a career that spanned more than 35 years. He taught agriculture, supervised the FFA, and eventually rose to the title of Superintendent of Schools. Upon retirement, he worked for Murray State University, supervising student teachers.In his last few years, Tilford spent many hours sharing the stories of his youth and the lessons he learned from life, including his blindness. He often stated that he had a good life and that he appreciated his family and the friendship of those closest to him.Visitation will be held from 9-11 a.m. Monday at the Lone Oak Chapel of Milner & Orr Funeral Home and Cremation Services. Funeral services are scheduled for 11 am, with his daughter in law, Andrea Underwood officiating. In recognition of Tilfords dedication to the Big Blue Nation, attendees are encouraged to wear their University of Kentucky attire. University of Louisville red is discouraged, along with mentioning Christian Laettner or Duke University, or even Rick Pitino.To see Underwood's very colorful obituary, click the link below. On the Net: Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 13, 2017 | GOLDEN POND, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 13, 2017 | 02:49 PM | GOLDEN POND, KY Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Areas 2017 spring squirrel hunting season will open May 13-June 11, in Tennessee and May 20-June 16, in Kentucky. Hunters must have a valid Kentucky or Tennessee state hunting license for the state in which they are hunting. Hunters age 16 and older must also have a Land Between the Lakes Hunter Use Permit. These are available online, 24/7 at www.landbetweenthelakes.us/reservations/. They are also available during regular business hours at North and South Welcome Stations, Golden Pond Visitor Center, and wherever Kentucky and Tennessee state hunting licenses are sold. Hunters must abide by all applicable regulations and stay within legal hunting areas. The Tennessee daily bag limit is 10 with a possession limit of 20, and in Kentucky, the limits are 6 and 12, respectively. Hunters are strongly encouraged to use a tick repellent containing permethrin during these seasons. To find more information about Land Between the Lakes, log on to the official website at www.landbetweenthelakes.us or call 800-LBL-7077 or 270-924-2000. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 10, 2017 | FRANKFORT, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 10, 2017 | 06:59 PM | FRANKFORT, KY National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week is this week, a time to recognize the efforts of more than 200,000 police and emergency service dispatchers throughout the U.S. The Kentucky State Police employs 190 telecommunicators at its 16 posts throughout the state. In 2016, they handled 554,282 calls. The following story from KSP is about one of those calls. 'It was about 4:30 in the morning and calls had died down," remembers Scott Hall, who was on duty in the radio room at Post 9 in Pikeville. "A 911 call came in and I answered it to hear a frantic male subject who was obviously distressed. He told me that he thought his girlfriend's water had just broke." That's when Hall started to get a little nervous. He had never dealt with a childbirth call before. Instantly, his training kicked in and he began to access his childbirth procedure references. "I asked him how far along she was and he explained that they didn't even know she was pregnant," Hall recalls. He quickly put the caller on hold, directed an ambulance their way, took a deep breath and returned to the line. "I asked him if he could see any part of the baby and he said, 'Yeah, I believe I see the head.'" With the couple starting to panic on the other end of the line, things started to escalate quickly during the next 45 minutes. "Childbirth is not a call we get every day and since it was my first time, it was probably the most nervous I've ever been on a phone call," says Hall. "I was sweating bullets." Fortunately, Hall followed his training, kept his cool and went through all the normal child birthing steps. "At some point the couple's neighbor came over to help," says Hall. "I was so thankful for that because she had a level head and wasn't panicking as I walked them through the steps of the baby being born." Luckily, there were no complications. "Hearing that baby cry on the other end of the phone was wonderful," he says. Looking back, Hall says the hardest part of the call was that it was his first childbirth situation. 'It was nerve-wracking because you can't show the caller any type of nervousness. You have to be confident of everything you say to make it easier for them," he says. Despite the challenge, Hall says it was definitely a rewarding experience. "It was one of the best calls I have taken because it was the most positive call I've had," he notes. "As a telecommunicator, part of the job is often dealing with death," Hall explains. "It's not always a happy ending. Having to notify the coroner is not uncommon." "We deal with a lot of bad, so in this instance, it was nice to have good happen," he adds. "The job has its up and downs," observes Hall. "We deal with people at some of the worst and most stressful times of their lives. They need to talk with someone who will be patient, listen to their needs, treat them like human beings and get them help. That can be a very rewarding job." To watch a short video about this story, click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxU2Qlw75Wk By Press Trust of India: Peshawar, Apr 15 (PTI) Ananti-terrorism court in Pakistan today remanded eight students in police custody for four days on charges of brutally murdering a fellow university student over his liberal views, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the killing over blasphemy allegations. The eight students of Khan Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were produced before the court which remanded them to police custody for four days. advertisement Mashal Khan, a journalism student at the university, was stripped, beaten and shot in the head and chest by a violent mob on Thursday. The video of the gruesome violence made via mobile phone cameras shows Khans disrobed body ? covered in blood ? being dragged, first in a hallway and then on a road of the campus. Another student, Abdullah, was beaten bloody before police managed to rescue him from his attackers. Prime Minister Sharif today issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the lynching of the student, saying the entire nation should be united in condemning this crime and to promote tolerance and rule of law in the society. "The state will never tolerate those who take the law in their own hands," he warned. Sharif said he had been left "deeply saddened" at the students murder by the "insensitive mob". He directed action against those found involved in the incident, ordering police to arrest all those who were responsible. "Shocked to see Mashal Khan killing video. Vigilantism & mob justice are indicative of regressive & putrid mindset. Is that what we stand for?" Sharifs daughter Maryam Nawaz tweeted soon after the premiers statement. "Images of brutal killing of two brothers in Sialkot years ago still haunts & now #MashalKhan. Do we want to be known as benighted nation?" she added. Speaking on the floor of the house, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak condemned the killing as "barbaric" and "brutal". He announced an independent judicial inquiry into the incident. "We have yet not found any blasphemous material in the case," he told the lawmakers. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani said the Chief Minister hassigned a summary requesting the Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also expressed concern "over the cold-blooded murder of Mashal Khan" in a written statement issued by his party and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits. PTI AYZ/ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- While in the South for a while this winter, I had the opportunity to visit Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, anchored at the mouth of the Cooper River in the Charleston harbor. Patriots Point is home to the USS Yorktown (CV-10), the Destroyer USS Laffey (DD-724), the Submarine USS Clamagore (SS-343) and the Vietnam Experience. There are many tours that cover the six levels of the USS Yorktown plus the hangar deck, flight deck and bridge. The Yorktown is the 10th aircraft carrier to serve in the U.S. Navy, being named for the Yorktown CV-5, lost during the Battle of Midway in 1942. The new Yorktown, commissioned on April 15, 1943, was built in Newport News, Virginia, and played a major role in the Pacific in late 1943 that led to the defeat of Japan in 1945. The ship earned many citations and battle stars for its service in World War II. In the 1950s, the Yorktown was modified with an angled flight deck for jets and converted to an antisubmarine carrier. During the 1960s, the Yorktown served in the Vietnam War and in 1968, it recovered the Apollo 8 astronauts who had just orbited the moon for the first time. The Apollo 8 is located in the hangar bay, where visitors can sit inside it and listen to audio from that mission. The USS Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 and towed from New Jersey to Charleston Harbor and dedicated as a museum in 1975. Also on the Yorktown is the interactive National Medal of Honor Museum, featuring four exhibits that describe the medals origin, the toll of war and the bravery exhibited that earned it. From the Civil War to the present, our best and brightest American service members have performed beyond the call of duty to achieve the extraordinary in the most challenging circumstances. The USS Laffey was named for the first Laffey (DD-459) sunk at the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942, which was named for Seaman Bartlett Laffey, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. The new Laffey was commissioned Feb. 8, 1945, and saw action off Okinawa in 1945 against massive air strikes from Japanese bombers and kamikazes. The Laffey was decommissioned in 1975 and brought to Patriots Point in 1981. The submarine USS Clamagore was also brought to Patriots Point in 1981. The Clamagore had a 30-year career serving Key West, Charleston and New London, Connecticut. It was modified several times before the introduction of nuclear submarines. On the landside of Patriots Point is the Vietnam Experience Exhibit, which was our last stop and an era that is still difficult to come back to for many veterans and their families. During the three hours we were exploring the Yorktown we could hear the loud sound of helicopters over on land. As we entered the 2.5-acre exhibit, we saw a huge sign that said Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans and immediately saw over 900 dog tags hanging from a high wooden wall memorializing South Carolina vets who were killed in the war. The exhibit is a U.S. Navy advanced tactical support base (brown water Navy) and a U.S. Marine Corps artillery firebase during the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Khe Sahn in 1968. Using current technology, authentic equipment, including a Boeing Vertol VH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and a rare MK1 PBR patrol riverboat, history was brought to life with the raging sounds of war. Sound effects of jets, helicopters, gunfire, sirens, grenades, rockets, and mortars were heard constantly, including a 50-caliber machine gun atop the observation tower as it protected troops and the wounded arriving in camp. Just some of the other buildings/equipment in the camp were a Quonset hut, M35A2 Kaiser Jeep, fire control bunker, mess hall, communication center, Wilys M725 ambulance, and three Vietnam-era helicopters: a CH-46 Sea Knight, a UH-1M Huey and a UH-34 Sea Horse. It is said to be a place where 2 million Vietnam veterans can come to reflect and reconnect with their experience during their years of service. Having been in college during the Vietnam years, I can attest to the difficult time on college campuses and the atrocious conditions the veterans suffered when they came home from that unpopular war. As Bob Steinbrunn writes in his book, Vietnam Scrapbook: An Army Pilots Combat Tour, Times have changed. The wounds have mostly healed and people, especially those born long after these events came to an abrupt conclusion, want to know. This small effort on my part attempts to address that curiosity, to present what it was like to be a combat helicopter pilot, to share the sights, the aircraft, the missions, and what we did in-between. We were soldiers once, and we were young. I would like you to know more about that. The town historians are opening their museums and presenting programs shortly. Some events coming up to honor all veterans: 9 a.m. Monday, May 29: Memorial Day services in the Victory Union Cemetery June 1-4: The Vietnam Moving Wall at Port Byron Central School July 15: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway of Valor Tribute Ride on Route 38 from Owego (Tioga County) north to Cayuga County to the Hannibal American Legion By Press Trust of India: From M Zulqernain Lahore, Apr 15 (PTI) Pakistans security forces today claimed to have foiled a "major terror attack" on minority Christians here ahead of Easter after they killed a militant and arrested his two aides, including a woman. "Security forces (Pakistan Rangers and police) today conducted a special IBO (intelligence based operation) near Punjab Housing Society, Lahore. A terrorist was killed during the operation while four soldiers and two officers received injuries," the militarys media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement. The terrorists were planning to launch a major terrorist attack during Easter celebrations in Lahore, the statement said. advertisement Two suicide jackets, weapons and explosives have been recovered from the possession of the terrorists. According to officials, a joint team of security forces conducted todays raid on a tip off. The team asked the terrorists to surrender but they opened fire on it. In an exchange of fire, a terrorist was killed. The team managed to arrest two terror suspects, including a woman. Last year, at least 72 people have been killed and hundreds wounded after a bomb ripped through a children?s play area in Lahores Iqbal Park where Christian families were celebrating Easter. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, had claimed responsibility for the attack. PTI MZ NSA --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: From M Zulqernain Lahore, Apr 15 (PTI) Pakistans security forces today claimed to have foiled a "major terror attack" on minority Christians after they killed a militant and arrested his two accomplices, including a woman, in this eastern city. "Security forces (Pakistan Rangers and police) today conducted a special IBO (intelligence based operation) near Punjab Housing Society, Lahore. A terrorist was killed during the operation while four soldiers and two officers received injuries," the militarys media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement issued here. The terrorists were planning to launch a major terrorist attack during Easter celebrations in Lahore, the statement said. advertisement Two suicide jackets, weapons and explosives have been recovered from the possession of the terrorists. According to officials, a joint team of security forces conducted todays raid on a tip off. The team warned the terrorists to surrender but they opened fire on it. In an exchange of fire, a terrorist was killed. The team managed to arrest two terror suspects, including a woman. Last year, at least 72 people have been killed and hundreds wounded after a bomb ripped through a children?s play area in Lahores Iqbal Park where Christian families were celebrating Easter. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, had claimed responsibility for the attack. PTI MZ NSA --- ENDS --- Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HE was known as southern Africas Billy Graham. His name was Nicholas Bhengu, and he was an evangelist with the Assemblies of God in South Africa from the 1940s until his death in 1985. During his ministry, tens of thousands of people attended his crusades and thousands were converted. He started more than 50 churches. Over 20,000 people attended his funeral. And yet, Bhengu is virtually, if not completely, unknown by Christians outside of Africa. Winnipegger Jonathan Bonk wants to change that. Thats why he started the Dictionary of African Christian Biography in 1995 while teaching at Providence University College and Seminary. The goal of the dictionary is to collect, preserve and make freely available the previously unrecorded biographies of African Christian leaders like Bhengu and the many thousands of others who were vital to the growth of the church on that continent. There are lots of stories of western missionaries, but not of the Africans they worked with, who did much of the work and who carried on after the missionaries went home, says Bonk, 72, who left the province in 1997 to direct the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Conn. When Bonk retired in 2013, he returned to Manitoba, bringing with him the responsibility of continuing to support and supervise the dictionary. The stories of these key people were not being told, they had no voice, he says, adding they have amazing stories. Im quite passionate about them. Bonk, a member of the Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship, first got the idea for the dictionary while serving as an aid worker in Ethiopia in the early 1970s. I noticed that what I had learned about Christianity in Africa didnt match what I was seeing on the ground, he says. But when he searched books about the church in Africa, he couldnt find much of anything about African Christians but lots about western Christians who served in Africa. He doesnt blame the missionaries for failing to record the stories of their African colleagues; the times were different, they didnt have the skills and they were too busy writing about their ministries in order to raise funds from back home, he says. But that didnt mean he couldnt try to rectify the situation. Fortunately, the World Wide Web was being born around the same time he started creating the dictionary, making it much easier to publish and share the stories. Today, the dictionary, which is housed by the Boston University School of Theology, has grown to 3,000 entries, with about 150 new biographies added each year. Bonk estimates there is a backlog of more than 500 stories waiting to be published. In addition to Bonk, the dictionary is supported by an advisory council of 12 people from countries in Africa. All the work is done by volunteers; it costs about $50,000 a year to keep it going, including an annual gathering of the council in Africa. Funding comes from foundations and individual donors. Its not perfect, Bonk acknowledges, noting the quality of work overall is varied. But he also doesnt want to get bogged down in scholarly debates about the style or methods of research. I just want to get the stories down, he says, noting that some memory is better than no memory. This is the first-generation work. The second generation can worry about the veracity. This is the best we can do right now. So far, the process has worked pretty well, he says, noting he wants to publish more stories of female leaders, along with stories of musicians music is so integral to Christianity in Africa, he says. One thing Bonk wants to emphasize is that the dictionary isnt just for African Christians. Canadian Christians, he says, should also visit the site to read about the raw power of the Gospel to transform hopelessness into hope in peoples lives. The stories, he goes on to say, will also remind Canadian Christians we are part of something much bigger than ourselves, and that we have things to learn from Christians in other countries. Visit the Dictionary of African Christian Biography at dacb.org. Tax-deductible donations can be made via Providence University College and Seminary. jdl562000@yahoo.com The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Satire, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize peoples stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Which, of course, begs a question: how does one create political satire in an era in which real-life politics has become so exaggerated, ironic, ridiculous, stupid and vicious that scripted topical humour seems superfluous? Thats the challenge facing HBOs Veep as it enters its sixth season with a set of new episodes that was in the process of being created when the American political process took a sharp right turn into The Twilight Zone. With the election of Donald Trump as the United States 45th president, art, life, reality television and sketch and situation comedy collided in a way that left all the familiar rules of made-for-TV humour in a tangled, confused mess. Tony Hale and Julia Louis-Dreyfus star in the Season 6 premiere of Veep Throughout its first five Emmy-winning seasons, the genius of Veeps comedy resided mostly in its outrageousness as a premium-cable commodity, it was not bound by the content restrictions that constrain traditional broadcast-network sitcoms, meaning Veep could be as daring and irreverent and profane as it pleased. Theres no doubt that Washington, D.C., is a place in which overinflated egos, ruthless ambitions and dysfunctional personalities typify the ruling class. But Veeps creator, Armando Iannucci, somehow managed to dream up a bunch of fictional characters whose toxic qualities were just a little bit more over the top than those of the real-life politicos they were intended to lampoon. And as a result, Veep was hilarious in the nastiest way imaginable. And then along came President Trump, surrounded by such living, breathing caricatures as Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller, Sean Spicer, Rex Tillerson and Jeff Sessions. Every day, it seems, real-life Washington serves up something that would make many Americans laugh out loud if they werent already wringing their hands and pondering the merits of a good, long cry. The good news for TV-comedy fans, at least is that Veep doesnt seem to have lost any of its venom as it heads returns to its familiar Sunday night slot on HBO Canada (check listings for time). It has the advantage, as the deep-inside Washington world veers farther into self-mockery, of taking its characters outside the Beltway and dispersing them in a collection of subplots that are separate but still necessarily interconnected. Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who stumbled upward through Veeps first four seasons, is struggling to make sense of her post-POTUS existence. Having been ousted from the White House after less than a year by arcane procedural chicanery, she finds herself outside the political game with little sense of who she is as a person. Having relocated to New York, where shes operating a rather sketchy philanthropic foundation out of a decidedly low-rent (both literally and figuratively) office in the Bronx, Selina still has ever-present body men Gary (Tony Hale) and Richard (Sam Richardson) around to dote on and constantly annoy her, but the rest of her former staffers have scattered in search of suitable employment. Erstwhile chief of staff Amy (Anna Chlumsky) is running her new fiances campaign to become governor of Nevada, and her offend-at-every-turn approach isnt playing well with the small-town desert dwellers. Ever-scheming pretty boy Dan (Reid Scott) is trying to reinvent himself as a TV morning-show host, and communications director Mike (Matt Walsh) is losing his mind as he plays at-home manny to a clutch of screaming kids. Completely at loose ends, former top aides Ben and Kent (Kevin Dunn, Gary Cole) have been reduced to taking mid-level staff jobs in the office of loathsome, lanky Jonah (Timothy Simons), whos now a junior congressman. Of course, the various storylines become increasingly interwoven as the new season unfolds. And it just might be that Selina has a plan ill advised, clumsily concocted and destined to end in disaster that might bring them all back together. Whats important in the interim, however in fact, its the only thing that matters here is that Veep has not lost its satirical edge. It remains the funniest show on television and is undoubtedly one of TVs best comedies ever. Thats saying a lot at a time when each passing real-life day makes politics less of a laughing matter. brad.oswald@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @BradOswald If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more. Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. On Monday, a new national independent brokerage firm called Wellington-Altus Private Wealth will be open for business and ready to take on the Big Six banks. The Winnipeg-based firm combines the former Wellington West Capital built by founder Charlie Spiring in his six years with National Bank Financial, along with his colleague Todd Degelman and Toronto-based Altus Securities. It likely will be the largest and most successful launch ever in Canada. Wellington-Altus will have five locations right off the bat. In addition to the Winnipeg head office, there are Degelmans Saskatoon office, Altuss Toronto office and its sub-office in Halifax, as well as a newly opened West Vancouver office. Melissa Tait / Winnipeg Free Press Files Charlie Spiring, founder of the old Wellington West Capital, is co-opening a new independent brokerage firm with considerable assets from the get-go. Spiring, Degelman and Altuss portfolios combine to give the new firm about $2.5 billion in assets under management at the get-go, plus access to the National Bank Correspondent Network (NBCN) back office. If we pull this off, like we expect, this will be the most successful opening of an investment dealer in the history of the business, Spiring said. Altus co-founders Ben Kizemchuk and Paul Jelec are former colleagues of Spiring; they ran the Toronto office of Midland Doherty, while Spiring was running the Winnipeg office. They formed Altus in the early 1990s around the same time Spiring founded Wellington West Capital. (National Bank Financial acquired Wellington West for $333 million in 2011.) Altus brings more than $600 million in assets under management to the new firm. Now, many years later, here we are joining up again and forming what we believe will be the dominant independent Canadian brokerage firm in Canada, Jelec said. Their confidence has something to do with the fact that the Canadian brokerage business has become dominated by the Big Six bank operations. Looking at it from the industry side, they need some strong sources to help the food chain of wealth creation in Canada, Spiring said. Someone has to start the new companies. We can be the balancing force. Jelec said the Canadian investing public is better served when there is more competition. We think it is necessary, he said. There has not been a time that it is more needed than right now. Spiring was effusive in his gratitude for the treatment hes received from National Bank, which has added to his confidence that the new venture will be a winner. Sixteen months ago I resigned as vice-chairman of the bank and at that time I told them I really wanted to build this with the support of the bank, Spiring said. He has built up a solid team of associates over that time. The CEO of National Bank has been incredible. They helped us in a lot of ways. For one thing, they allowed us to be open in what we were doing. Normally, you have to sneak out the back door overnight and do these things. Instead, the bank allowed Spiring and Degelman to take close to $1.7 billion in assets out of its shop. Its incredibly generous and we are going to try to support them, he said. They are betting on substantial growth. They will be our back office so they will earn some revenue off that. And if we grow three, four, five times, they will be rewarded for their bet on us. The thinking is that Canadian investors are hungry for an alternative to bank-owned brokerages. Ian Russell, CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC) said over the past eight years, about 30 independent firms across the country have disappeared. Banks have become more dominant. They have grown substantially, Russell said. And there is a unique appeal to independents. Russell cited several independents, including Richardson GMP, Canaccord Genuity and Raymond James. They are really very effective competitors in the business, Russell said. There is plenty of evidence to show small firms can be very successful in this market and its very gratifying to see someone else step up to the plate. Spiring believes the time is right and that the experience that the partners are bringing to the venture will allow them to make new mistakes, but not the same ones we may have made in the past. Technology is available now that can compensate for scale and Spiring believes Wellington-Altus can get bigger and faster. The plan is to double the number of offices by the end of the year, when the Winnipeg head office is expected to have a staff of as many as 50. I can see us at $5 billion by year-end, he said. To put that in perspective, last time it took us (Wellington West) 10 years to get to $3 billion. We will be $3 billion by June. At the end, Wellington West only got to $10.5 billion. We (Wellington-Altus) will be halfway there inside our first year. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Apple will soon take its self-driving car software platform to public streets for the first time, a major step that gets the worlds largest technology company into a crowded race to transform transportation. The company was granted approval by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test autonomous driving technology on public roads, according to a notice on the DMVs website on Friday. This is the first time Apple has received approval to test its technology on public streets. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Apple will begin testing self-driving car technology in California, its first public move into a highly competitive field that could radically change transportation. Apple will soon begin testing self-driving car software with existing vehicles, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company started developing a self-driving car to take on Google and Tesla a few years ago before it pulled back and focused on first developing underlying autonomous technology last year, Bloomberg News has reported. The tests are the clearest public sign yet that Apple is serious about a nascent field that could, in time, transform mobility and upend the auto industry. A quarter of all miles driven in the U.S. may happen in shared, self-driving electric cars by the end of the next decade, Boston Consulting Group said this month. Apple wants a piece of this action, but its got a lot of competition: 29 other companies have autonomous vehicle testing permits in California. Subject to standard regulations for testing autonomous technology on public roads, Apples test cars will have a person behind the wheel to monitor the testing. The California permit covers three 2015 Lexus RX540h SUVs and six drivers, the DMV said. Alphabet Inc.s Waymo and Uber Technologies Inc.s self-driving test cars also have people behind the wheel during tests. An Apple spokesman declined to comment beyond a statement issued in December when Apple filed paperwork with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding safety practices for self-driving cars. There are many potential applications for these technologies, including the future of transportation, so we want to work with NHTSA to help define the best practices for the industry, Apple said at the time. The DMVs website was updated Friday to acknowledge Apple becoming a permit holder. A March 30 copy of the website does not list Apple as having approval, indicating it was granted within the past two weeks. The permit requires companies to disclose traffic incidents related to their testing within 10 business days of the event. Apples self-driving technology is being developed in secret company offices in Sunnyvale, Calif., a short drive from its main Cupertino campus, Bloomberg News has reported. The company also has a team in Canada working on a car-operating system that would power the platform, people familiar with the matter have said. The self-driving car platform is designed so that Apple could choose to open it up to existing carmakers or eventually port it to an Apple-designed vehicle. Apple began to focus more on the self-driving technology last year after re-hiring former hardware executive Bob Mansfield to lead the project. Apple aims to decide on the final direction of the platform by fall of this year, Bloomberg News has reported. Bloomberg News Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/04/2017 (2034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. LAUDER, Man. Perched on a dry patch of pasture, Matt Van Steelandt surveys the scene around his ranch where huge pockets of his land are submerged under water. In the distance, Van Steelandt can see about 50 of his bulls stranded on a hill, surrounded by a small lake that suddenly appeared in early April. The land where his cows were supposed to calve this spring is under water, too, just like about two-thirds of his 1,700-acre property. To his right, there is a washed-out provincial road, with a gap about 10 yards wide, where water is running through like a babbling brook. Already, Van Steelandt is stressed about the immediate future. Where will he take the cows to calve? When will his pasture drain? And the most pressing concern of all: What if it rains? Now I have a constant worry about whether Im going to have a livelihood, said the 30-year-old, who runs the 500-head operation with his parents, just south of Hartney, some 275 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. Im in scramble mode. Its getting really stressful, actually. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Matt Van Steelandt, a rancher in the Lauder area of southwestern Manitoba, walks across a a dike to get across a municipal road that connects his land that washed out due to flooding, April 12, 2017 Van Steelandt isnt alone. Hundreds of grain and cattle producers in southwestern Manitoba are experiencing significant flooding for the third time in the last six years, although it has yet to reach the levels of 2011 and 2014. Still, the damages to property and crops not to mention the emotional toll continue to mount. In the municipality of Two Borders, situated in the provinces southwest tip along the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, the damage caused by washed-out roads this spring is estimated at between $8-$10 million when the entire annual budget is between $6-7 million. In addition, municipal officials say thousands of acres of land in Two Borders is currently under water. Several families in the region have been forced to relocate due to road washouts, denying them access to their homes. Two Borders has declared a local state of emergency and plans to apply for Disaster Assistance Funding from the province. In the neighbouring Grasslands municipality, to the east which includes Van Steelandts property the damage is around $1 million, according to reeve Blair Woods. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Matt Van Steelandt tends to his bulls that are surrounded in floodwater on his farm. April 12, 2017 The stress level is just unreal, Woods said. The economics of that (the damages) could be devastating. But the culprit for flooding in southwestern Manitoba, which drains into the Souris River, then the Assiniboine River, and then all the way to Winnipeg, is not just normal spring runoff, producers and leaders contend. The heart of the problem is the evolution of drainage practices in Manitoba and Saskatchewan that have essentially created a funnel that impacts landowners downstream, they say. Its a huge problem, said Debbie McMechan, reeve of Two Borders. Weve had a lot of snow this winter, but theres no question it has to do with increased drainage upstream. In the last two decades, producers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been removing potholes on their land, which once held pools of runoff in low-lying areas, allowing for a table-top affect, said Van Steelandt, echoing the complaint of several farmers. Its flooding now every two years and its happening because of farming practices and political decisions made upstream, he said. If one person does it, no problem. But if everybody does it, holy crap. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Van Steelandt uses his quad to get through the high waters on his land. The grain farmers arent trying to be malicious, he added. Theyre trying to make a living. But it does have consequences. Its simple economics: The faster farmers can drain their land, particularly in low-lying areas, the more they can seed, and sooner. As local cattle producer Anthony Bond, who was also forced from his home for a couple of days last week due to road washouts, explained of grain farm drainage: When land is worth so much per acre, you want to get as much money (in harvest) as you can. Van Steelandt said huge grain farmers on either side of the border now have as much drainage equipment as a landscaping business. Its not just drainage, either. Van Steelandt said existing agricultural practices are lowering the level of soil carbon, which helps water retention. Our lands dont hold as much water as it did 100 years ago, he said. At present, the saturation level for soil along the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border is already maxed out after a fall-winter precipitation that was 200 per cent above normal, said John Pomeroy, the director of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan. So basically, youve got a combination of extremely high soil moisture and concrete frost, so everything runs off, he said. That combination is going to cause a flood. In areas where sloughs or potholes have been extensively drained, the potential for flooding is magnified, he added. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Van Steelandt: 'Im in scramble mode. Its getting really stressful, actually' The farmers are draining because theyre having trouble getting onto their land, he said. Theyre trying to cultivate and theres economic reasons to do that. Almost everyone is upstream from someone and downstream from someone else. So Id argue that theyre both victims but also sometimes make the problem a little bit worse. Lauder-area farmer Cliff Penno was more blunt. These guys who are draining dont give a rats ass who theyre draining to. It becomes What about me? All they want to do is get the water off their land, Penno said. Fines for illegal drainage that can range between $5,000-$10,000 are loose change for large grain outfits, he added, noting, You know what that ($5,000) is? Four of my worst cows. And while residents and producers along the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border might be on the front lines, they stress the flooding theyre experiencing can affect thousands of Manitobans downstream. For example, residents of the town of Wawanesa, situated along the Souris River to the east, are now erected sandbags, bracing for crest levels. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Wayne Drummond and his wife Donna, who has been farming in the Lauder area of southwestern Manitoba for 50 years, had to evacuate their home and are living in a trailer. After all, water in the south eventually flows into the Souris, which flows in the Assiniboine, which flows into the Red. But Pomeroy said theres yet another factor involved in the increased instances of flooding: global climate change. Over the last century, research has shown increasing incidents of substantial rains in the region in the fall and rain on snow in the spring, which creates an ice layer and greater runoff, noted the professor. The changes are that the precipitation is becoming more extreme, added Pomeroy, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change. Regardless, the affects are happening now. Take Wayne and Donna Drummond, who for the last week have been living in their camper hooked up to the Lauder Community Centre because they cant access their farm in vehicles because of washed-out roads. Wayne Drummond drives to the farm house each day on an ATV to feed the family dog and cats and check the home for flooding. They could be out of their home for up to two months, depending on how fast the water recedes. I want to be able to put a crop in and I cant get anything (equipment) out right now, Drummond said. A few kilometres away, Samantha and Brent Steg and their three children are now crashing in their neighbours home after evacuating theirs last Sunday. The home is now filled with 10 people and three dogs. But were making it work, Samantha chuckled, in a phone interview. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Wayne Drummond stands on the roadway leading to his property that has been washed away. But good humour is mostly to help cope with questions and stress mounting in the community. Its all anyone really talks about, Steg said. Theyre asking, Has the water crested yet? When is it going down? The ultimate question remains: How to solve a problem that is costing millions, stressing thousands, and only seeming to getting worse? According to local farmers, potential solutions could include providing incentives to producers to keep their sloughs or potholes, increasing fines on illegal drainage at least tenfold and altering agricultural farming practices to increase water retention in the soil. I want common sense put back into the equation, said McMechan, who also wants the province to pressure Saskatchewan to address drainage concerns in Manitoba. Were in a cycle of wreck and repair. The devastation were dealing with this is going to happen day in and day out. Its terrible. randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @randyturner15 RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Wayne Drummond uses a quad to check his property. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/04/2017 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Bashar al-Assad cannot be part of the way forward for Syria, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau concluded this week, because he is guilty of war crimes against innocent children. That sounded as though Canada had made a decision, but it was really just empty words. The United States administration of Barack Obama made the same apparent decision on Aug. 18, 2011, with the support of other western countries, and yet President Assad is still there, still withstanding the rebel forces who want to remove him from power. The western countries that keep dismissing Mr. Assad from power have no army on the ground to remove him and no better candidate to put in his place. Canadas Chrystia Freeland and the foreign ministers of the other G7 industrial nations met in Lucca, Italy, this week to talk about Syria and agree that Assad must go. SALAMPIX / ABACA PRESS / TNS FILES Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Since they have no means to make him go, they sent U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson off to Moscow to ask Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to ask his boss, Vladimir Putin, to get rid of Assad. But Assad is Putins client and the basis for his claim to a role in Middle Eastern affairs. Putin will gain nothing by dumping his faithful ally. Canada is not going to do anything on its own about bringing peace to Syria. Canada might act as part of a coalition, along with the U.S., other industrial democracies and Middle Eastern nations. The prospects for building such a coalition and bringing peace and stability to Syria are, however, extremely dim. Former U.S. president George W. Bush decided in 2001 that he had to topple the Taliban government of Afghanistan, and led a coalition invasion with Canada and others. The Taliban were kicked out of the capital but they still dominate parts of the country. The U.S. and its allies are still trying to extricate their forces from the continuing conflict. Mr. Bush decided in 2003 he had to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led invasion achieved that aim and started a civil war that still continues 14 years later. The North Atlantic Treaty nations, including Canada, sent bombing runs against Libyan dictator Muammar Ghaddafi in 2011, helping local insurgents defeat his forces. The country has been in turmoil ever since. The U.S. and its allies have no appetite for another such campaign. U.S. President Donald Trump hurled a volley of cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase last week to show his displeasure at Assads alleged use of nerve gas against beautiful babies. Assad shrugged and went back to killing the babies with cluster bombs and barrel bombs. Canada, of course, wants to be on the side of peace and justice in Syria. Mr. Trudeau knows that his people are watching the same television news reports that so distressed Mr. Trump. If a coalition seems to be forming that has both the means and the intention of bringing stable peace to Syria, Canada should act within that coalition to keep its goals realistic and its actions humane. Since this probably involves an invasion, a war with Russia and the erection of a new ruling group to take Assads place, Canadians should not expect it to happen soon. Canada can help pull some survivors to safety. But we should not lead anyone to expect we are going to war against Bashar al-Assad. Sentenced Savana J. Au, 24, of Menomonie, pleaded guilty to a forfeiture theft offense, amended from nonpayment or fraud of an innkeeper, and was fined $181.50 with orders to do 24 hours of community service work. Britt M. Breidung, 24, of Nelson, pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia. She was placed on probation for one year with orders to comply with counseling recommendations. Chaz L. Rowland, 26, of Fountain City, pleaded guilty to operating a firearm while in possession of a controlled substance. DNR license privileges revoked or suspended for two years. Charged Brian J. Hennessy, 59, of Alma, pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of fourthth offense operating while intoxicated, fleeing or eluding a police officer and possession of methamphetamine. Hennessy also pleaded not guilty to traffic citations accusing him of driver in possession of intoxicants, refusal to take test for intoxication after arrest, speeding and a stop sign violation. A case status hearing was scheduled for April 27. Troy D. Clements, 48, of Strum, preliminary hearing scheduled June 7 on a felony charge accusing of domestic abuse involving strangulation/suffocation of a woman in the Town of Mondovi in October. A court complaint accuses Clements of choking a woman during an altercation outside a residence. Jordan Papenfuss, 30, of Fountain City, case status hearing scheduled May 5 on charges accusing him of second offense possession of THC, possession of narcotics and a controlled substance and driving with a suspended license. Mandy M. Jaskola, 39, of Stockton, Minn., arrest warrant issued April 7 for failure to appear in court as scheduled on drug charges accusing her of possessing methamphetamine and THC. Joshua M. Buttke, 23, of Menomonie, arrest warrant issued April 7 for failure to appear in court as scheduled on a felony drug charge accusing him of manufacture/delivery of up to 3 grams of amphetamine. Scott T. Castleberg, 31, of La Crosse, court hearing adjourned to April 19 on a misdemeanor charge accusing him of failure to report to county jail to serve a sentence of less than 10 days. Shad M. Swanson, 44, of Winona, Minn., arrest warrant issued April 7 for failure to appear in court as scheduled on a charge accusing him of possessing THC. Bradley L. Piper, 24, of Winona, Minn., pleaded not guilty to possession of THC. Case status hearing scheduled May 3. Zachary E. Thomsen, 33, of Winona, Minn., court hearing adjourned to April 19 on a charge accusing him of second offense possession of THC. Andrew H. Andersen, 27, of Winona, Minn., court hearing adjourned to April 19 on a misdemeanor charge accusing him of disorderly conduct. Sarah M. Burfeild, 32, of Caledonia, Minn., court hearing adjourned to April 19 on a misdemeanor charge accusing her of disorderly conduct. Jeffrey D. Hurlburt, 51, of Preston, Minn., pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge accusing him of disorderly conduct. A case status hearing was set for May 24. Regina L. Hurlburt, 43, of Preston, Minn., pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge accusing her of disorderly conduct. Case status hearing scheduled May 24. Brittany L. Johnson, 30, of Buffalo City, court hearing adjourned to April 19 on a misdemeanor charge accusing her of disorderly conduct. Skymarie A. Johnson, 21, of Blair, court hearing adjourned to May 3 on drug charges accusing her of possessing a controlled substance, narcotics and THC. Orville C. Memmer, 55, of La Crosse, court hearing adjourned to April 27 on a felony drug charge accusing him of possessing methamphetamine. Michelle L. Miller, 46, of Sparta, court hearing scheduled April 19 on misdemeanor charges accusing her of disorderly conduct and damage to property. Matthew F. Stelzer, 19, of Durand, court hearing adjourned to April 19 on charges accusing him of possessing drug paraphernalia and THC. Stephanie J. Taylor, 36, of Mondovi, court hearing adjourned to April 19 on misdemeanor charges accusing her of damage to property and disorderly conduct. Dyllan M. Whipple, 29, of Mondovi, court hearing adjourned to May 3 on a misdemeanor charge accusing him of failure to report to county jail to serve a sentence of less than 10 days. Corey R. Anderson, 27, of Onalaska, case status hearing April 19 on a misdemeanor charge accusing him of theft. Anderson pleaded not guilty in January. Juan V. Cavazos, 24, of Minnesota City, Minn., case status hearing scheduled May 5 on a misdemeanor traffic charge accusing him of 2nd offense operating while intoxicated. Jamey E. Cleasby, 49, of Eau Claire, case status hearing scheduled April 19 on a charge accusing him of possessing drug paraphernalia. Michael L. Gates, 55, of Mondovi, court hearing adjourned to May 24 on a felony charge accusing him of fifth offense operating while intoxicated. Dale Murray has a knack for getting his students to think deeply about tough issues. The University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County philosophy professor teaches an environmental ethics course each semester that encourages students to consider multiple arguments surrounding environmental issues. I give students guidelines for how to look at an environmental issue start thinking, You might be bothered by this issue, but what is it about the issue that really bothers you? Murray said. Do you really have good reason for thinking other people will agree with you? The courses subject matter comes from Murrays new book, The Global and the Local: An Environmental Ethics Case Book, which delves into 51 case studies in environmental ethics. Murray said his guidelines for approaching environmental issues provide a theoretical backbone for discussions on topics ranging from local invasive species control to global climate change. If youre going to argue in favor of a species or an ecosystem, you have to have something better to say than it hurts the environment, he said. You have to have something more substantive than that. Murrays colleagues say his ability to foster critical thinking in students was a major reason he earned this years Kaplan Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to students made by faculty at UW Colleges. UW-Baraboo English professor Marc Seals, who chaired the committee that nominated Murray, said his frenetic energy and absurd amount of intelligence were also contributing factors. We sat down as a group and said, Who on this campus has shown a sustained commitment to excellence and innovation and teaching? Seals said. Dale was the obvious and unanimous choice this year. Murray began his career at UW-Baraboo in 2006 and earned tenure in 2013. UW-Baraboo is considered Murrays home campus, though he has a split-appointment serving the University of Wisconsin-Richland as well. The divided time between campuses may have caused some of Murrays early work to go unnoticed, Seals said, but now his contributions to the campus are undeniable. The first several years of his career here, he sort of sailed under the radar because we only saw him half as much as most professors, Seals said. But now after seeing his work over the past 11 years, its plain to see that students and faculty love him. The Kaplan Award was established in 1993 to honor Arthur Kaplan, a former provost of the UW Colleges. Each UW Colleges campus awards between one and four Kaplan Awards annually depending upon the size of the institution. The UW-Baraboo/Sauk County award winner is named Kaplan Fellow for the academic year. Considering the outstanding faculty at UW-Baraboo, Murray said he is both honored and humbled to receive the award. Im kind of shocked I didnt expect it at all, he said. Im very thankful for the support of faculty members and staff. Its a great honor, and its very humbling. Apparently the best kept secret in Columbus is the fact that theres a big municipal parking lot on Water Street, right behind the VFW and just a few steps away from East James Street, which, as most people have noticed by now, is undergoing some serious reconstruction, courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Would-be shoppers, diners and patrons have been staying away in droves since the road work started March 6, according to some local business owners and operators. Its killing my business, said Lynn Ewert, general manager of the VFW. Everybody needs to know that were open. The VFW, which took over the space formerly owned by Jodee Os bar about a year and a half ago, was already struggling with the perception that its a private club its not; its open to the public but the construction has compounded its problems, Ewert said. Shes trying to get the word out that the VFW is open to all even during the construction. The bar and grill has daily specials, homemade soups and Friday fish fries and plenty of parking behind the building. People just have to come the back way, on Water Street, Ewert said. She estimates that her fish fry business today is half of what it was pre-construction. To bring people in, Ewert is organizing a new 16-week horseshoe league games will start May 16 and is looking into hosting trivia nights on Mondays or Wednesdays. Shes also making plans to utilize the buildings fenced-in yard more, now that the weather is warming up. She wants to put games out there for kids and host bands in the summer. At Bistro Racian, which opened for business last fall, owner Ian Anderson was hoping to be able to expand hours and menu options as people came out of hibernation and foot traffic picked up with the nicer weather. Instead the opposite has happened. His sales are down 63 percent since construction started in March. We stopped serving lunch because we had so few people coming in, Anderson said. It wasnt even worth turning on the oven. To combat the dearth of diners, Anderson has started advertising on a Madison radio station and doing promotions like Wine Wednesdays (when people can get a glass of the house chianti or moscato for $4) and Walk Downtown Wednesdays (when the restaurant offers spaghetti and meatballs for $7.50). My regular customers know weve got parking in the rear or around the corner, but most people just dont want to deal with it, Anderson said of the construction. Bistro Racian also started doing deliveries this week, in hopes that people who dont want to drive downtown will order out. On the other side of James Street, Chris Krause of Krause Custom Woodworks, said he doesnt get a lot of walk-in traffic anyway, so hes been holding his own during construction. But with the street in front of his building being torn up, its been a challenge for him to deal with deliveries or customers who are coming to pick up pieces. Ive been doing dropoffs and deliveries early in the morning or late at night, Krause said. And hes started meeting delivery trucks out at the BP Travel West truck stop, and transferring lumber and building supplies onto his own truck there, so he can haul them to his shop during breaks in construction. At Big Mikes Automotive Repair and Machine Shop, owner Mike Stadler estimated his business was down 25 percent in recent days. Its not terrible, but its obviously noticeable, Stadler said. There arent any drive-by customers to drive in anymore. For now, Stalder is relying on people who call ahead and schedule appointments, but even that has taken a hit. I used to be booked out a week ahead or better, Stadler said. Now, Ive got openings everyday. Despite the frustrations, Stadler said the construction workers have been very good about working with him and making sure his customers can get their cars into and out of his shop as needed. Like all of the business owners on James Street, he looks forward to the day when the construction is completed. The new street will be awesome when its done, he said. Information is taken from the records of the Portage Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of police activity. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Between 6:40 a.m. Monday and 7:49 a.m. Friday police responded to 114 calls. West Emmett Street: Police on Monday at 7:18 a.m. issued a citation to a 15-year-old Portage female for allegedly throwing a glass bottle at a vehicle on Saturday night, causing roughly $550 worth of damage. West Wisconsin Street: Police on Monday at 10:01 a.m. assisted the Columbia County Sheriffs Office in the traffic stop of a Ford Expedition. The vehicle was found to have been taken from the Canadian Pacific Rail lot near West Oneida. Phillip Taylor, 39, was arrested and cited by county authorities for operating a motor vehicle without the owners consent. River Street: Police on Monday at 3:20 p.m. responded to a domestic disturbance at a residence where one of the subjects had already fled. The 32-year-old Portage man was later found in the woods, arrested for violation of probation and cited for domestic disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and criminal damage to property. East Franklin Street: Police on Wednesday at 3:53 p.m. responded to an incident where Frances Addison, 46, of Portage, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and two counts of bail jumping, Octavia Addison-Clay, 24, of Portage was issued a citation for disorderly conduct, and Perzie Teague Jr., 21, of Portage was arrested and cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. While at Columbia County Jail, staff found 4.5 grams of marijuana on his person and he was also cited for possession of marijuana. West Conant Street and Cass Street: Police on Wednesday at 9:16 p.m. stopped Gary Wenzel, 55, of Portage, who following a field sobriety test, was arrested on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a first offense, registering 0.162 on a preliminary breath test. Ridge Motor Inn: Police on Wednesday at 7:49 p.m. stopped Megan A. Schmidt, 29, of Montello, who was cited for operating a vehicle after revocation of a license as a fourth offense or subsequent. DMRC has constituted a committee to probe the recent incident where a porn video was aired at Rajiv Chowk metro station. By India Today Web Desk: Commuters of Delhi Metro were in a fix on last Sunday after one of the screens at Rajiv Chowk metro station accidentally aired pornography on April 9 around 5 pm. While many were left embarrassed, several of the commuters took time and even captured the incident on their mobile phone cameras, which has started appearing on internet recently. advertisement Soon one of the clips by a commuter went viral, triggering an immediate response from the authorities. Following the mishap, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation constituted a committee to probe into the incident. From preliminary investigation, it is established that the incident is of 9th April at around 5 pm. Incidentally, the screen that broadcast the pornographic clip was meant to air advertisements. From preliminary investigation, it is established that the smart LED TV system was under commissioning and its Wi-Fi port was accessible. As per the CCTV footage, three men aired porn clip through their mobile on the LED TV at Rajiv Chowk station. Attempts are being made to identify these men. CCTV footage is under examination to identify the culprits. This sort of interference with the system will not be possible in the future once software is programmed and centrally controlled. During the commissioning process itself, the contractor will be advised to ensure password protection, said DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal. FYI || Pornhub top 10 Indian searches: Indians go local, choose bhabhis and teachers over Japanese and Indonesian pornography || FYI || Delhi Police shops 'porn detection sticks' to fight cybercrime || --- ENDS --- Rockwell Automation, Inc. provides industrial automation and digital transformation solutions in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments, Intelligent Devices, Software & Control, and Lifecycle Services. Its solutions include hardware and software products, and services. The Intelligent Devices segment offers drives, motion, safety, sensing, industrial components, and configured-to-order products. The Software & Control segment provides control and visualization software and hardware, information software, digital twin and simulation software, and network and security infrastructure solutions. The Lifecycle Services segment provides consulting, professional services and solutions, and connected and maintenance services. The company sells its solutions primarily through independent distributors in relation with its direct sales force. It serves discrete end markets, including automotive, semiconductor, warehousing and logistics, and other discrete markets, as well as general industries comprising printing and publishing, marine, glass, fiber and textiles, airports, and aerospace; hybrid end markets, such as food and beverage, life sciences, household and personal care, and tire, as well as eco industrial, including water/wastewater, waste management, mass transit, and renewable energy; and process end markets comprising oil and gas, mining, metals, chemicals, pulp and paper, and others. Rockwell Automation, Inc. was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to reports, the violence erupted after students objected to the police checkpost near and outside the government degree college in Pulwama. By Shuja-ul-Haq : Clashes broke out between college students and the security forces in Pulwama area of south Kashmir on Saturday. According to reports, the violence erupted after students objected to the police checkpost. Several people were injured in the violence. Local reports said that the police had set up a checkpost near and outside the government degree college in Pulwama, which irritated the students. advertisement The students came out of the college and started raising slogans. CHECKPOST PELTED WITH STONES They soon started pelting the police party at the checkpost with stones, which resulted in clashes. Forces was forced to use tear gas and pellets against the protesting students. The area continues to remain tense. Also read | Kashmir: 3 civilians killed, 63 jawans hurt in clashes after Budgam encounter - what you need to know Also read | Fresh clashes erupt in Kashmir's Pulwama district, 50 protesters, 12 cops injured MAY ALSO WATCH VIDEO --- ENDS --- Pampa Energia S.A., an integrated power company, engages in the generation and transmission of electricity in Argentina. The company operates through Electricity Generation, Oil and Gas, Petrochemicals, and Holding and Other Business segments. It generates electricity through combined thermal generation plants, open-cycle gas turbines, and hydroelectric power generation systems, as well as through a wind farm. The company has an installed electricity generation capacity of approximately 4,970 megawatts; and 21,414 kilometers of high voltage electricity transmission network in Argentina. It is also involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas. In addition, the company offers petrochemicals, such as styrene, synthetic rubber, and polystyrene. As of December 31, 2020, it had approximately 12.625 thousands of barrels of oil and LNG, as well as 24.537 millions of cubic meters of natural gas; owned a refinery with an installed capacity of approximately 25.8 thousand barrels per day; and operated a network of 92 gas stations. The company was formerly known as Pampa Holding S.A. and changed its name to Pampa Energia S.A. in September 2008. Pampa Energia S.A. was incorporated in 1945 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page By Press Trust of India: Imphal, Apr 15 (PTI) Manipur Health and Family Welfare Minister L Jayantakumar Singh, who has resigned citing interference to his authority, today said that the issue would be finalised after Chief Minister N Biren Singhs return to the state on Tuesday. "My resignation from the ministry will be finalised when the Chief Minister returns to Manipur on April 18," Jayantakumar Singh told reporters after attending a programme. advertisement "Please wait till Tuesday as the CM will take the final decision," he said. The chief minister has gone to Bhubhaneswar to attend the National Executive meeting of BJP. To a question on the reason for his resignation, he said, "The matter is confidential. NPP MLA Jayantakumar Singh resigned as minister, a month after taking oath along with the chief minister on March 15. In his resignation letter dated April 13, he said, "I may not be able to get (the) visions materialised as expected since there have been so many interference to my authority." Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh, however, told PTI yesterday that he neither received the health ministers resignation letter nor has any information about it. PTI COR NN --- ENDS --- North East Wales Celebrates its Legends! This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Apr 11th, 2017 A host of legendary promotions showcasing the North East Wales region have been released as part of Visit Wales Year of Legends campaign. Wrexham, Denbighshire and Flintshire have joined forces to produce films, legendary journeys and a digital brochure to inspire new visitors to experience North East Wales. Funded by Visit Wales Regional Tourism Engagement Fund, the promotions explore the regions castles, landscape, arts & culture and food and drink offer as well as telling the stories behind our most legendary figures including Owain Glyndwr and Thomas Telford. Peter McGivern, Chair of the This Is Wrexham Destination Partnership explained: The promotions celebrate our past, present and future like never before with attractions, events and activities at a range of legendary locations. With North Wales being named as one of the top ten places to visit in the entire world this year by Lonely Planet, we are keen to showcase the beauty of North East Wales to both residents and visitors. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the making of the films and brochure, we hope it will inspire visitors to experience all our hidden gems. Included in the new materials are 12 legendary journeys across North East Wales, everything from town centre strolls to long distance trails. All with spectacular settings and all with a story attached. Locations include Wales Coastal Path, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, St Winefrides Well, Coed Llandegla Forest, Castell Dinas Bran, Moel Arthur, Jubilee Tower, Offas Dyke Path and many more. Tourism plays a vital part in the regions economy, with a total economic impact in 2015 of 808m and over 11 million visits made. Economy Secretary, Ken Skates, said: The Year of Legends celebrates our epic past, present and future and 2017 is an excellent opportunity to share the stories relating to Wales landscape, culture and heritage. Im delighted that Visit Wales funding has enabled the north east to work together in order to strengthen awareness and showcase some of the areas highlights which will bring the stories of the area to life this year. The three Destination Partnerships will be launching their Destination Management Plans for 2017-20 this year to build on the work already done and ensure long-term sustainability for the development of tourism. The North East Wales brand will continue to be a key feature of all 3 plans to promote the region for visitors and residents to enjoy. To view the films, brochure and legendary journeys please visit the North East Wales website. After a bypoll in RK Nagar, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's Assembly constituency, was cancelled, its residents are struggling with a crippling water crisis. By Akshita Nandagopal: Days after the RK Nagar bypoll was rescinded by the Election Commission, the constituency that was buzzing with activity is now left deserted. Its residents have been left to fend for themselves as they struggle with a crippling water crisis. India Today visited the bylanes of RK Nagar and saw frustrated residents who face a daily struggle to get water. In this constituency, the people rely solely on the metro water supply, and the lorry's arrival is met by dozens of women waiting with nearly a dozen plastic pots. Water is then hoarded in drums because residents can sometimes go up to 48 hours with no water supply. advertisement "Water supply is very erratic and this is the situation we face every summer. Politicians come and make promises and assure us of action, but once the elections are over they disappear", complains Anjali who walks several kilometers towards the lorries to get water for her family. 'WE KNOW BETTER THAN TO TRUST NETAS' Anjali isn't alone in blaming the political establishment. Most residents echo the same sentiment, in a constituency that has witnessed a bitter political discourse in the last few weeks. "We know better than to trust these politicians now. We have to fight for ourselves and go on with our lives, because netas will only make empty promises", says another resident, who brings her children along with her everyday to carry back pots of water to her home. RK Nagar's political relevance has done no good for its residents, who face the same water crisis as other Chennaiites. It's the poorer sections of the society that are left in the lurch as they can't afford to purchase water from private bodies and thereby are completely reliant on the metro water supply. With every reservoir being bone-dry, there seems to be no respite in sight and it's going to be a dry and thirsty summer in Chennai. ALSO READ | RK Nagar cash-for-votes case: Income tax department says let AIADMK do what they want ALSO READ | Chennai: FIRs against 3 AIADMK ministers for obstructing I-T raids ALSO WATCH | Chennai stares at water crisis; hospitality sector hit hard --- ENDS --- During the ongoing rail workers dispute against the introduction of Driver Only Operated trains (DOO) and in other recent disputes, a regular comment from strikers has been that their struggles are hampered by Britains draconian anti-union and anti-strike laws. Workers have told WSWS reporters that they would support all out strikes of drivers and conductors across the many private franchises that operate Britains rail network, but then raise that this would be difficult and illegal. The extent of anti-strike legislation in the UK is significant. It indicates the degree to which the democratic rights of the working class have been abridged in favour of capital. The Trade Union Act 2016 became law last monthenacted by a Parliament that recently initiated debates aimed at making strikes illegal in key sectors, including transport. It builds on the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher that enacted the Employment Act of 1980. Under this law the definition of lawful picketing was restricted to an employees own place of work. The right to take secondary action (to strike in support of other workers) was restricted. The Employment Act of 1982 imposed further restrictions. With the 1990 Employment Act, all secondary action was made illegal. But the reality is that this legislation has rarely been legally enforced because the ruling elite have relied on the Labour and trade union bureaucracy to impose their dictates. Way back in April 1982, the Trades Union Congress Special Conference voted to oppose the 1982 Act. In the 35 years since, no industrial action has ever been called in defiance of the laws. In fact, the unions, with the exception of only a few legal challenges, have effectively policed the anti-union legislation. In 2002 Unison appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that its right to strike had been subject to unjustified restriction contrary to Article 11 of the European Convention on freedom of assembly. Significantly, the ECHR threw this out on the grounds that, While Article 11 includes trade union freedom as a specific aspect of freedom of association, it does not secure any particular treatment of trade union members by the State. There is no express inclusion of a right to strike or an obligation on employers to engage in collective bargaining. In 2014, the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union brought another case before the ECHR. The RMT argued that under UK law, the statutory requirements for a valid strike ballot notice were too strict and imposed an unjustifiable burden on a union seeking to organise industrial action. Those requirements and the ban on secondary strike action were a breach of Article 11, the union claimed. The RMTs case was also rejected by the ECHR. The most devastating indictment of the trade union bureaucracys adherence to the anti-union lawsin collaboration with the Blair Labour governmentwas during and in the aftermath of the 2005 Gate Gourmet workers dispute. Gate Gourmet sacked 670 of its mainly female catering workforce after they walked out in protest when the firm brought in 120 temporary staff as cover. This was while the firm was in the process of rolling out a restructuring plan aimed at firing hundreds of full-time staff. The 670 were fired after Gate Gourmet gave them an ultimatumreturn to work or be sacked. In response, 1,000 British Airways ground services staff, who, like the caterers were members of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), began a 24-hour unofficial strike. This led to mass cancellations of flights and the paralysis of Heathrow Airport. The TGWUa predecessor of the Unite unionopposed the strike and instructed its members to abide by the anti-union laws, thus isolating the striking catering workers and leaving them powerless against their employer. A few months later the TGWU agreed to a dirty deal with management on a voluntary and compulsory redundancy scheme at Gate Gourmet to cut 675 jobs from the 2,400 strong workforce. Among these were 137 of the dismissed workers, who suffered compulsory redundancy. Just days before, at the Trades Union Congress annual gathering, delegates had passed an RMT motion calling for the Labour government to enact a trade union freedom bill, endorsing lawful supportive action, protection for workers starting from their first day at work and a cut in the notice required to hold a strike ballot. Chancellor Gordon Brownthe second in command to then Labour Prime Minister Tony Blairresponded to this with a speech in which he confirmed, in line with government policy, that no such changes to the law would be forthcoming. Brown was even more explicit when he told Sky Newsowned by arch strike breaker Rupert MurdochThere will be no return to the old failed conflicts of the past, or the disorder or the secondary action of the past. Finally, Blair himself told the union heads at the TUCs conference dinner that evening, It would be dishonest to tell you any Labour government is going to legislate a return to secondary action. It wont happen. The 1997-2010 pro-business Labour government defended and upheld every part of decades of anti-strike legislation, with the unions refusing to oppose them. The experiences that workers have passed through in the decades since 1979 demonstrate that the unions can no longer be described as working class organisations. They function as an arm of management in enforcing their diktats. In fact, it would be more correct to describe the legislation restricting strikes not as anti-union laws, but as pro-trade union bureaucracy laws. The failure of the nationally based unions to defend the working class is evident on an international scale. The evolution of the unions into entities which serve the capitalist class at the expense of workers is not the product of this or that rotten trade union leader. Rather, the evolution of the trade unions has objective causes and arises out of fundamental features of this form of organisation. In his lecture Marxism and the Trade Unions, the chairman of the World Socialist Web Site international editorial board, David North, stated: Standing on the basis of capitalist production relations, the trade unions are, by their very nature, compelled to adopt an essentially hostile attitude toward the class struggle. Directing their efforts toward securing agreements with employers that fix the price of labour power and determine the general conditions in which surplus value will be pumped out of the workers, the trade unions are obliged to guarantee that their members supply their labour power in accordance with the terms of the negotiated contracts. As Gramsci notes, The union represents legality, and must aim to make its members respect that legality. The defence of legality means the suppression of the class struggle, which, in the very nature of things, means that the trade unions ultimately undermine their ability to achieve even the limited aims to which they are officially dedicated. Herein lies the contradiction upon which trade unionism flounders. [David North, The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished 20th Century, Mehring Books, pp 138-39] In the rail workers strike, the drivers union ASLEF and the RMT have done everything to ensure that drivers and conductorswho work the same trainsare isolated from one another. In stark contrast, ASLEF drivers at Southern Govia Thameslink Railway have twice, in February and this month, thrown out a sell-out deal the union agreed with management. Most significant was the refusal on March 13and again in a 24-hour strike this monthby those ASLEF drivers to cross picket lines of RMT conductors at Merseyrail. Such a rebellion points the way forward for the working class in the struggles they confront. The most essential tasks facing rail workers and all others who are opposing the devastating onslaught against their jobs, terms and conditions is the development of new rank-and-file fighting organisations, independent of the trade unions. In imposing DOO, train companies are implementing Conservative government policy aimed at sacking thousands of workers and increasing productivity. In this and every other struggle, workers are thrust into a conflict with all the political institutions of the capitalist state. To carry out this struggle, workers need independent organisations, but to lead it they require a political party. That party is the Socialist Equality Party. The author also recommends: The decline and decay of Britains trade unions [20 September 2005] The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi appealed yesterday to the Trump administration to back away from its threats and preparations to unleash a military assault on North Korea. Reflecting the tremendous anxiety within the Chinese ruling elite of a catastrophic war on its northern border, he declared: One has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment. Yi continued: We call on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage. The Russian government added its warnings. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated yesterday: Moscow is watching with great concern the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. We call for restraint from all countries and warn countries not to pursue actions that could consist of any provocative steps. Unnamed US intelligence officials told NBC News on Thursday the United States will carry out a preemptive strike if the White House and Pentagon believe North Korea is about to carry out another nuclear weapons test. The US and international media is full of reports and purported satellite imagery showing that the Pyongyang regime headed by Kim Jong-un is in the final stages of preparing for such a test at the Punggye-ri site, near North Koreas border with both China and Russia. Today is the Day of the Sun in North Koreaofficial commemorations of the birth date of the regimes first dictator Kim Il-sung. Tests of missiles and nuclear devices have been timed for such nationalist events in the past. The US military is continuing to make provocative demonstrations of the power at its disposal in North East Asia. Following the announcement that the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and its battle group have been dispatched to waters off the Korean coast, the US 18th Air Wing lined up dozens of jet fighters, bombers and helicopters on the runway of its base on Okinawa, releasing photos showing F-15s and other aircraft being armed with missiles and bombs. A vast array of other military hardware is deployed to the region, including submarines, B-1 strategic bombers, helicopter gunships, and an estimated 37,000 American ground troops supporting the well-equipped, 625,000-strong South Korean military. Among the horrifying weapons of mass destruction that would presumably be at the disposal of US commanders against North Korea is the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) conventional bomb that was used for the first time on Thursday on an alleged cave network in Afghanistan (see: US drops largest non-nuclear weapon on Afghanistan: A crime against humanity ). Every effort is being made in the American and allied media to amplify the sense that a US attack is not only imminent, but justified. The bellicose rhetoric of the North Korean military command in response to the NBC report has been seized upon to propagandise about the madness of the regime and the purported danger posed by an isolated and backward country of just 25 million people and a gross domestic product of barely $25 billion. Among other statements, Pyongyang declared that in the event of any attack, US bases in South Korea and Japan, as well as the South Korean presidential palace in Seoul, would be pulverised. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abes government is exploiting the situation to step up its agitation for rearmament and the repudiation of the countrys nominal, post-World War II pacifist foreign policy. It has reportedly dispatched warships to join the Carl Vinson battlegroup. To generate as much hysteria as possible, Abes National Security Council leaked to the media that it had discussed in February a range of plans to evacuate some 60,000 Japanese citizens from South Korea in the event of war, and considered how to respond to a flood of North Korean refugees trying to reach Japan by boat. Ominously, the reports noted that the security council assumed North Korean spies and agents would be among such desperate people, requiring tightened security. Figures within the American political and media establishment have raised concern over the consequences of a war on the Korean Peninsula. The Los Angeles Times recalled the modelling undertaken in 1994when the Clinton White House was on the verge of ordering attacks on North Korea. Computer simulations, it noted, estimated that retaliation by the North Korean military could cause one million civilian deaths in Seoul alone. Some 23 years later, and with North Korea in possession of at least some nuclear devices, the potential cost of a war would be immeasurably higher. Karl Baker, a former military officer now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the LA Times: Trump needs to understand that all options are not on the table. War, however, is not going to be prevented by placing hopes that reason will prevail in the imperialist corridors of power, whether in Washington or elsewhere. It is being driven not by the intentions of political leaders, but the ever-mounting economic crisis of global capitalism and intensifying competition for dominance over lucrative markets and sources of profit. The primary objective of the US build-up toward war against North Korea is to apply unprecedented pressure on Beijing to bow down to Washingtons dictates that it defer to American hegemony over the Asia-Pacific region. From the reckless vantage point of the US political and military establishment, if the threat of a devastating attack on North Korea can be used to bully China, so can threats of confrontation over issues as varied as trade relations and Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Chinese government is desperately seeking to accommodate to the Trump administration. In the past week, it has announced the curtailment of coal purchases from North Koreaone of the Norths few viable exportsand the suspension of the only international flights into the country. State-owned publications such as the Peoples Daily and Global Times, which generally echo the views of the Chinese Communist Party leadership, have warned North Korea to abandon its attempts to assemble a nuclear arsenal, and, in so doing, deprive Washington of its pretext for war. In at least one editorial, the Global Times threatened that China may militarily intervene itself to prevent another North Korean nuclear test. The Trump administration responded yesterday with an apparent concession to Beijing, issuing a statement that its policy is increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Koreas dominant trade and military partner. At the same time, the White House has not retreated from its assertions that all optionsincluding warremain firmly on the table. On Thursday, the United States military dropped the biggest bomb since the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. Twenty-four hours later, this developmentby any standard a major world eventwas being treated by the American and European media as insignificant. Nor was concern expressed over the extraordinary manner in which the momentous decision to use the 22,000-pound Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) was made. On Thursday, US President Trump indicated that he was not asked to sign off on the bombing of the remote province of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan. On Friday, the US commander in Afghanistan said the decision to deploy the weapon was his. By the time of the US network news broadcasts Friday evening, there was virtually no mention of the dropping of the mother of all bombs. That such an event is either praised or treated with indifference is a sure sign that the use of such weaponsand worseis the new normal, to be treated as part of the ordinary operations of American imperialism all over the world. On Friday, the major American newspapers either hailed the attack or maintained an editorial silence. The European press issued no protest. Neither German, French or British government leaders made a statement on the bombing, and so-called left political leaders and parties, including British Labours Jeremy Corbyn and the German Left Party, likewise remained silent. Leading Democrats in the US, from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to the leader of the partys supposed left-wing, Bernie Sanders, said nothing. On Friday, the US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, told the press that the decision to use a weapon so immense that the Pentagon had never used it before, even in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, was merely a tactical one based on immediate military considerations. It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield, he said. This claim is absurd. There is no rationale, from a purely military standpoint, to use such a weapon against a few hundred poorly armed guerillas hiding out in caves in eastern Afghanistan. Coming in the wake of the missile strike on Syria and Secretary of State Rex Tillersons ultimatum to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop backing the Syrian regime, and in the midst of US threats of an imminent preemptive military strike against North Korea, the motives for the action were clearly political. The aim of the bombing was to demonstrate to Syria, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and all other current or potential opponents that there is no limit to the violence the US military will employ in pursuit of the global interests of American imperialism. The next step beyond MOAB is the use of nuclear weapons, and the Pentagon intended to send a message that it is prepared to take that step. The Wall Street Journal summed up these political motives in an editorial Friday hailing the MOAB attack. It wrote: We may also assume that the missile-launching crowd in Pyongyang noticed the deployment of the GBU-43. Far be it from us to suggest that the US drop one on a North Korean nuclear factory. But in the space of a week, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Bashar Assad, Xi Jinping and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, wherever he is hiding, have learned that the US considers it to be in its interest to push back hard against its adversaries aggression. The Washington Post relegated the bombing to an inside page and did not directly address it editorially. However, it articulated the general approval of the political establishment for Trumps foreign policy reversals over the past two weeks in an editorial titled When flip-flops are welcome. Citing Trumps adoption of a hard line on Syria and Russia and his declaration Wednesday that NATO is no longer irrelevant, the Post wrote: When a president moves from being so wrong to being so right on such important questions, the sensible response is not to carp but to celebrate, however cautiously. The newspaper went on to praise the excellent national security team that Mr. Trump has begun to shape, singling out his firing of Michael Flynn as national security adviser and removal of Stephen Bannon from the National Security Council. The Post expressed particular enthusiasm for the new national security adviser, H. R. McMaster, and Defense Secretary James Mattis, without mentioning that the former is an active-duty general and the latter a retired one, effectively placing US foreign and security policy firmly in the hands of the military. In a similar vein, Post columnist David Ignatius, under the headline In foreign policy, Trump gets a taste of success, wrote: President Trump, after a mostly disastrous first two months, has had a good run these past two weeks in foreign policy. He acted decisively in Syria, gained China as a possible partner in dealing with North Korea, repaired relations with NATO and began addressing the serious tensions with Russia. The New York Times did not publish an editorial or commentary on the MOAB bombing, exposing the fraud of its human rights posturing in support of American military aggression. The website Vox, which speaks for the supposed left wing of the Democratic Party, published a comment by Zack Beauchamp that uncritically parroted the line of the Pentagon (the US military has not found any evidence of civilian casualties) and repeatedly insisted that the dropping of the MOAB bomb was perfectly in order. Theres no reason to assume this was something out of the ordinary, Beauchamp wrote, even though the bomb was bigger than ones typically used by the US military. He added that it actually kind of does make sense to use this bomb, and concluded, The speculation, in short, was way over the top. There is a fundamental political lesson that must be drawn from the ominous events of the past two weeks, culminating in the dropping of the closest thing to a nuclear bomb the American military possesses, with the general consent and approval of the media and political establishment. The bitter conflict within the American state and political establishment, which saw Trump assailed for being soft on Syrian President Assad and acting as Putins lapdog, was focused entirely on imperialist foreign policy. The Democratic Party fronted for the dominant sections of the intelligence and military establishment, which would not tolerate Trumps attempt to downplay the conflict with the Syrian regime and Moscow in order to focus more immediately on the confrontation with China. The Democrats used the fabricated claims of Russian hacking in the 2016 election to pressure Trump and effect a shakeup in his national security team. Their differences with Trump over domestic and social policy are miniscule compared to their no-holds-barred support for the most hardline and militaristic factions of the military and intelligence apparatus. The middle-class liberal and pseudo-left political forces in the leadership of the mass protests that erupted in January and February over Trumps attacks on immigrants and plans to gut basic social programs systematically channeled the opposition behind the Democrats, enabling this party of Wall Street and American imperialism to divert the anti-Trump opposition behind its campaign for military escalation in the Middle East and the preparation for war against nuclear-armed Russia. The Democrats have all but dropped criticism of Trumps war on immigrants and social programs. Now, with Trump having adopted their foreign policy line, they will collaborate more directly in his social attacks. On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed a bill that would allow states to deny family planning clinics access to federal funds, based on whether or not the clinic also provides abortion services. The bill already passed Congress last month with a tie-breaking vote by Republican Vice President Mike Pence. Trump has stated that federal funds could continue to be allotted to Planned Parenthood if clinics agree to discontinue providing abortion services, which they have refused to do. Trump signed the bill under the guise of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), instated by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996. It allows lawmakers to nullify rules within 60 days of enactment as long as they have approval from the president. Former President Barack Obamas law, signed just two days before the inauguration of Trump, did not allow any state to withhold federal funds to a clinic for any other reason than its ability to provide family planning services. Trump has made clear his reactionary stance on abortion. Days after his inauguration he signed an executive order which reinstates the Mexico City policy, better known as the global gag rule. It denies US federal money to any nongovernmental organization in the world that provides counseling for abortion, even if the money is not used for actual abortion-related services. The bill gives each state the right to refuse Title X grant money to any clinic that provides abortion services. Title X provides the majority of funding to Planned Parenthood. It was signed into law in 1970 by then-president Richard Nixon, just after Johnsons war on poverty. In 1972 another bill was passed which allowed each state to draw on its federally allotted Medicaid money to provide related services to low-income families. The services provided through the grant money include pregnancy tests and counseling; pelvic and breast exams; cervical cancer screening; breast cancer screening; screening and treatment for a variety of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV; HIV and STI prevention education; contraception; sexual education and counseling; and family planning. According to a September 2016 report released by the Guttmacher Institute, 71 percent of all women served by publicly funded centersor 3.7 millionwere served by centers that received some funding from Title X in 2014. The same report states: Of the 38 million women in need of contraceptive care in 2014, 20 million were in need of publicly funded services and supplies because they either had an income below 250 percent of the federal poverty level or were younger than 20. Among the 20 million women in need of publicly funded contraceptive care, 77 percent (15.5 million) were poor or low-income adults, and 23 percent (4.7 million) were younger than 20. According to their web site, funds from Title X have allowed Planned Parenthood to provide 6 million STI screenings, 1 million breast exams and 800,000 Pap smears in 2015 alone. The law allows states to block this federal grant money to any clinic that provides abortion services, even though it is illegal for any federal funds to provide abortion services to women unless the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, or is proven to be life-threatening for the mother. Over half of Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinics do not provide abortion services to begin with. According to Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens, this legislation would deny up to 4 million people access to family planning services. Around 80 percent of Title X patients have incomes that fall below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. This will affect low-income women of color and immigrant women, especially those who have no other household insurance or income provider, particularly single women with children. Around one-third of people who use services provided by Title X funding were through Planned Parenthood, or around 1.5 million people. Although Planned Parenthood makes up only 10 percent of safety-net health centers, in 2010 over one-third of women who obtained contraceptives through safety-net centers received them at Planned Parenthood. The result of such reactionary measures will be disastrous for low-income, working class and poor women and their families around the country who already do not have access to affordable health care. In a speech Thursday at a Washington, DC think tank, CIA Director Michael Pompeo called the whistleblower site WikiLeaks a non-state hostile intelligence service and said news organizations that reveal the governments crimes are enemies of the United States. Pompeos remarks announce an open break with the First Amendments protection of freedom of speech and a threat that the Trump administration will not tolerate opposition to war, surveillance and corporate plunder. Referring to WikiLeaks founder, Pompeo declared that Julian Assange has no First Amendment freedoms. Pompeos remarks were prompted by Assanges April 11 op-ed in the Washington Post, in which the whistleblower defended WikiLeaks. The threat of US prosecution or assassination has forced Assange to seek refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012. In his remarks, Pompeo said, We have to recognize that we can no longer allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us. To give them the space to crush us with misappropriated secrets is a perversion of what our great Constitution stands for. It ends now. Pompeo is the head of an organization whose record in criminality, illegality and murder is unsurpassed. Over the course of its 69 year history, the CIA has overseen assassinations and coups detat, trained and armed fascistic death squads, collaborated with dictators, and, following 9/11, established a global network of black site torture chambers, giving rise to a new vocabulary of words like extraordinary rendition, advanced interrogation, and rectal rehydration. The number of people killed by the CIA and its collaborators over the years is in the millions. Organizations like WikiLeaks have exposed government actions that violate the US Constitution and international law. Had it not been for individuals like Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, the public would have never learned about the National Security Agencys mass surveillance, the Guantanamo Bay prison operating procedures, many of the worst US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the Democratic Partys efforts to force through the nomination of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 party primaries. Pompeo called these exposures false narratives that increasingly define our public discourse and demean and distort the work and achievements of the CIA. Those who are behind them are committing treason. This thuggish statement is a direct threat aimed at Assange and all who oppose the crimes of the government. In the US, the punishment for treason is death. Last November, Pompeo argued that whistleblower Edward Snowden should be put to death. There is an element of trepidation in Pompeos remarks. He and the military-intelligence apparatus are concerned that in the absence of a vocal rebuttal, these voices, ones that proclaim treason to be public advocacy, gain a gravity they do not deserve. The government is frustrated that figures like Assange, Snowden and Manning are widely regarded as popular heroes. In todays digital environment, Pompeo said, whistleblowers can disseminate stolen US secrets instantly around the globe to terrorists, dictators, hackers and anyone else seeking to do us harm. Pompeo launched a personal attack on Assange, calling him a darling of terrorists, a narcissist, a fraud, and a coward. Assange and his ilk make common cause with dictators, Pompeo said. Assange and his kind are not the slightest bit interested in improving civil liberties or enhancing personal freedom. They champion nothing but their own celebrity, he added. Their currency is click-bait, their moral compass nonexistent, their mission personal self-aggrandizement through the destruction of Western values. Pompeo also made clear that he considers as enemies those who grant a platform to these leakers. Many of these groups may be smalland I mentioned one particular character a few times [i.e. Assange]but its much bigger than that. Its much broader and deeper than that. Pompeo compared opposition news organizations to terrorist groups and countries like North Korea and Syria that are presently targets of US military intervention. This new threat, he said, has as its motive the destruction of America in the very same way that those countries do. And Im confident this administration will pursue them with great vigor. The CIA director attacks Assange for comparing himself to Thomas Jefferson in the Washington Post op-ed and then explains that the government relies on legitimate news organizations such as the New York Times and the Washington Post to protect against this threat of misinformation and propaganda. He called the corporate media truth-tellers extraordinaire and said, Im hopeful that we will get some of the truth-telling from these people. In fact, Pompeos praise for the corporate media affirms the prescience of Jefferson himself, who wrote in a 1785 letter to the Dutch statesman Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp: The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of newswriters who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers to keep the nation quiet. Pompeos speech has been uncritically cited by the Times and other corporate media sources who serve as the standing army of American imperialism. The Times covered Pompeos remarks only to criticize them as the latest sign that neither Mr. Trump nor many of his most senior officials consider themselves beholden to statements they made or stances they took in the presidential campaign, citing the fact that Pompeo once tweeted a link to WikiLeaks documents targeting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The fact that Pompeos fascistic rant calling for the abolition of free speech has passed without criticism is the product of two parallel and interrelated processes bound up with the growth of social inequality and the decline of the USs world economic position. First, the government is controlled by an oligarchic ruling class made up of powerful banks and corporations that have empowered the military and intelligence agencies to wage 25 years of permanent war aimed at securing world domination and access to cheap labor and resources. The marriage between the two political parties, Wall Street and the military-intelligence agencies has purged the media and political establishment of any genuinely oppositional voices. A figure like Donald Trump could have only emerged out of such a toxic climate of militarism and political reaction. Second, permanent war and growing social inequality have created widespread social opposition in the working class to the policies of war, domestic surveillance and corporate dictatorship. Aware of growing subterranean discontent, the government is declaring that opposition is treasonous and illegal. Pompeos speech lays out the new standard: The First Amendment only applies to speech that the CIA deems tolerable. Responding to the Trump administrations unilateral and illegal missile strike on Syria April 7, Russia, Iran and Syria issued a blunt warning to Washington against conducting any further attacks Friday. Meeting in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian and Syrian counterparts issued a strongly-worded statement describing the strike as a flagrant violation of international law. Further action, it continued, would produce grave consequences not only for regional but global security. As if to underscore the point, the statement came less than 24 hours after the US confirmed it had dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan in what amounted to a demonstration of Washingtons determination not to be bound by any restrictions in its ruthless pursuit of its global economic and geopolitical dominance. The horrific weapon was aimed principally at Russia and Iran, and any other power contemplating a challenge to Washington. It followed the trip by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow, where five hours of talks between him, Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin proved incapable of bridging the sharp tensions between the two countries. Tillerson effectively delivered a US ultimatum, demanding that Russia cease its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and emphasized the US commitment to regime change in Damascus. The secretary of state remarked afterwards that US-Russian relations were at a low point, while Trump, hosting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington, acknowledged that Washington and Moscow were not getting along. Although the US military claimed that the MOAB had killed a total of 36 ISIS militants, all indications point to a much higher death toll. A resident in a village roughly 1.5 miles from the blast site told the Guardian the windows and doors in his home had been destroyed and there were cracks in the walls. A local police chief added that it remained unclear how many had been killed by the bomb and by US aircraft, which strafed the area with gunfire Friday morning. The New York Times reported that four houses in the Pekhe area, three miles from the blast site, had been completely destroyed. Even former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who served as a stooge for US imperialism following the 2001 invasion, denounced the bombing as a brutal misuse of our country which was being used as a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. The joint Russian, Iranian and Syrian statement also condemned an initial investigation into the alleged gas attack in Khan Cheikhoun, which bore all the hallmarks of a CIA provocation and was used as the pretext to justify the missile strike. Lavrov called for the expansion of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) team to include experts from all geographical areas, rather than the Western-dominated body that currently exists. If our U.S. colleagues and some European nations believe that their version is right, they have no reason to fear the creation of such an independent group, Lavrov added. The investigation into this high-profile incident must be transparent and leave no doubt that someone is trying to hide something. In fact, it is already clear that the US and its imperialist allies are determined to avoid such an inquiry. No evidence has yet been presented to back up the charge that the Assad government conducted a chemical weapons attack. Russia has countered by saying that the incident was caused when an air strike struck a rebel weapons store, a suggestion dismissed out of hand by the corporate media even though the ability of the Islamists to produce and use chemical weapons has been well documented. On Thursday, Russian officials suggested that an agreement had been struck with Washington not to launch any further unilateral military actions in Syria, but no information to this effect has been forthcoming from the US. On the contrary, White House officials have this week repeatedly refused to rule out further air strikes. The desperate efforts of the Kremlin to arrive at a compromise with US imperialism have been severely undermined over the past week. Initial hopes that the Trump administration would bring about an accommodation with Moscow have been dashed after the military-intelligence establishment, backed up by an hysterical anti-Russia media campaign, prevailed on the administration to maintain the aggressive anti-Russian stance developed under the Obama administration. On Wednesday, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution tabled by Britain, France and the US which blamed Assad for the chemical weapons attack. The Syrian president once again rejected this charge Thursday, saying that it was a 100 percent fabrication. Moscow and Teheran are Assads closest allies and have assisted the Syrian government by sending military forces to the country in response to the strengthening of Islamist forces such as the al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, by the United States and its Western and Gulf allies. Their warning of grave consequences is therefore no empty threat. Warplanes from the US-led coalition are continuing to launch bombing raids over Syria and the prospect of a direct clash between US and Russian aircraft is heightened even further by the suspension by Russia of cooperation with Washington on air traffic in retaliation for the April 7 cruise missile strike. Since Trump took office, he has loosened restrictions on the military so that air strikes can be ordered more swiftly, a move which has seen a dramatic rise in civilian casualties in both Syria and Iraq. Russias warning notwithstanding, all indications suggest that the Trump administration is preparing for a vast escalation of the Syria conflict to prevent the routing of its proxy forces. According to a report by Bloomberg, a debate is ongoing within Trumps National Security Council about sending ground troops into Syria. While Defense Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis and Stephen Bannon, Trumps top political adviser, reportedly reject the plan, it is endorsed by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, whose position on the NSC was strengthened last month following Bannons removal. Retired four-star General Jack Keane, a close ally of McMaster, and other sources familiar with the debate suggested to Bloomberg that the talk was of anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 troops being deployed. Keane told Bloomberg that the policy of relying on the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) was increasingly being seen as unviable. Our special operations guys believe rightfully so that this was a proven force that could fight. While this makes sense tactically, it doesnt make sense strategically. Those are Arab lands, and the Arabs are not going to put up with Syrian Kurds retaking Arab lands. The expansion of the US intervention would inevitably bring further death and destruction to the Syrian population, close to half a million of whom have already lost their lives during the six-year US-orchestrated war for regime change in Damascus. Millions more have been forced from their homes by the conflict. On Wednesday, a US air strike killed 18 Kurdish fighters in a friendly fire incident in northern Syria. The pro-government news network SANA also accused US planes of bombarding an ISIS weapons depot near Deir ez-Zor resulting in the deaths of hundreds due to the release of toxic substances. However, this allegation has not yet been corroborated by other sources, including Russia, which said it had no information on the incident. The Syrian government and rebel forces began the implementation of a forced resettlement program Friday for the residents of four towns, two in Idlib province and two close to Damascus. The agreement will see the predominantly Shia Muslim populations of Fouaa and Kefraya removed from their homes and sent to Aleppo province, while rebel fighters and residents in Zabadani and Madaya will go to Idlib. The move is a further step in the dividing of the country along ethnic lines. While Assads support base is predominantly among Shia Muslims, the Jihadi opposition groups have found their strongest backing among Sunnis. Saudi woman Dina Ali Lasloom claimed in one of her viral tweet videos that she was being held at the Manila airport, and said that she feared her family would kill her. By India Today Web Desk: A Saudi woman, who fled for Australia to seek asylum, is said to have been stopped on a layover in the Philippines and "forcibly" returned to Riyadh on Wednesday. In self-recorded videos, Dina Ali Lasloom claimed that the authorities had held her at the Manila airport and confiscated her passport. Saudi activists later added that Dina was forced onto a Saudi Arabia Airlines flight from Manila to Riyadh on Tuesday night. advertisement A Canadian tourist named told The Australian newspaper after landing in Bali, she had lent her phone to Dina to record and post the videos on Twitter. "My name is Dina Ali and I'm a Saudi woman who fled Saudi Arabia to Australia to seek asylum," she said in one of the videos, "Please help me. I'm recording this video to help me and know that I'm real and I'm here." Dina said that she feared violence from her relatives, though she did not clarify as to why she sought refuge abroad. Meagan Khan told the paper that Dina began to cry when two men whom she identified as relatives arrived at the Manila airport. The Saudi embassy in Manila issued a statement on Wednesday calling the case a "family matter" and added without elaborating that she had "returned with her relatives to the homeland." The Philippine authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Dina's videos circulated widely on social media over the last two days, though the authenticity of the videos could not immediately be verified. SA doesn't only ban adult women from traveling without male permission they hunt them down if they do.#SaveDinaAlipic.twitter.com/6UGDBNYPCK- Anon #???_???? (@dontcarebut) April 10, 2017 WAS SEEN SCREAMING AND BEING FORCED INTO A PLANE Multiple passengers on the Riyadh-bound flight told Reuters that they had seen a woman being carried onto the plane screaming. "I heard a lady screaming from upstairs. Then I saw two or three men carrying her. They weren't Filipino. They looked Arab," said one Filipino woman, who declined to give her name. Dina was not seen emerging at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh after the flight landed early Wednesday morning. A rare gathering of about 10 Saudi activists appeared in the arrivals area of the Riyadh airport around midnight on Wednesday, after a hashtag began circulating on Twitter urging people to "receive Dina at the airport." One of them, a 23-year-old medical student named Alaa Alanazi, appeared to have been detained after approaching airport security about the case. Her sister, Nada, said airport officials told her Alanazi had been sent to a police station in central Riyadh, but said she was unable to confirm her sister's whereabouts. advertisement In Saudi Arabia, women are legally subject to a male guardian, who must give his approval for basic decisions on education, marriage, travel and even medical treatment. With inputs from Reuters || Read more at FYI || "Pakistan plagued with terrorism": Saudi Arabia deports 39,000 Pakistanis Saudi man attempted the impossible, succeeded. NOT. From women to we men: Saudi Arabia inaugurates girls' council but without any girls || Watch more || --- ENDS --- On Sunday, more than 55 million Turkish citizens will participate in a referendum on the constitutional amendments proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Should it succeed it would hand control of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary to the president, establishing a dictatorship in all but name. The referendum is taking place under ever-increasing national and international tensions that reached a new climax after the US missile strike at the Shayrat air base in Syria on April 7. The US missile attack not only further undermined US-Russian relations, but also upset the fragile balances in the Middle East, calling into question the Astana talks on peace in Syria. Ankara has declared its full support for the Trump administration's decision to escalate the war for regime change in Syria, while Russia and Iran, Turkeys partners in the Astana talks, condemned the strike against the Syrian government. The militarist and authoritarian yes campaign led by the ruling AKP and the fascistic Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), however, meets with no real opposition inside the Turkish bourgeois establishment. This has led to rising poll figures for the yes camp in recent days, though the results remain too close to call. The latest opinion polls show Erdogans yes campaign winning by a slim margin. According to leading Turkish polling firm Konda, 51.5 percent of voters will vote yes and 48.5 percent no, with a margin of error of 2.4 percent. On April 13, Gezici Research announced similar results: 51.3 percent yes and 48.7 percent no. As neither side has secured a lead but claims its certain victory, tension between the two sides have increased, especially after Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) called the 15 July 2016 putsch a controlled coup. In response, Erdogan accused Kilicdaroglu of communicating with the putschists: Explain whom you talked to on the phone for 12 minutes? It seems the radars of the coup plotters didnt detect Kilicdaroglu. Instead of apologizing to the Turkish people over what he did, he shamelessly said, the July 15 is a controlled coup. A man should have shame and decency. In response, Kilicdaroglu vowed to quit politics if this claim is proven: If they prove that I spoke with [the coup plotters] for a minute, or even half-a-second, be assured that I will quit politics. The official no campaign, led by the CHP and the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), is even more closely aligned than the AKP with the major imperialist powers. This allows Erdogan to fraudulently portray the referendum as a continuation of the mass popular mobilization that halted the July 15 coup, which was backed by Washington and Berlin. On April 12, addressing families of those killed fighting the July 15 coup, Erdogan said: God willing, April 16 will also be the day of the defeat of all terror organizations, as it will herald a bright day shining on Turkey. The bourgeois no campaign, for its part, is neither anti-war nor fundamentally opposed to the AKP's drive to dictatorship. Both the CHP and the HDP previously agreed in talks with Erdogan on the need for constitutional changes to the Turkish state, in which the HDP proposed a presidential and federalist system. Last October, the CHP voted for a resolution in the Turkish parliament extending the governments authority to launch cross-border military operations for a year. The HDP enthusiastically welcomed the US-led regime-change operation in Syria. Its objection to Turkish military operations in Syria and Iraq is based solely on the interests of the Kurdish bourgeoisie and has no progressive character. Amidst growing international tensions and the escalating war drive in the Middle East, the Turkish referendum is assuming an ever more openly anti-democratic character. Already, 110,000 people have been jailed and at least 152 people, including HDP and DBP (Democratic Regions Party) leaders, have been taken into custody in recent days. A hunger strike of 219 largely Kurdish political inmates in 27 Turkish prisons has reached its second month, with no response from the government, the political establishment or the media. Thirteen HDP MPs, including its co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, have been in jail for months on charges of helping the propaganda of the outlawed Kurdistan's Workers Party (PKK). Thousands of local HDP officials have been removed from office or jailed on similar charges. The HDP's No campaign was thus drowned out in the media, which are all but a mouthpiece of Erdogans yes campaign, while local authorities covered the streets with yes banners and pictures of Erdogan. The AKP has put relentless pressure on the no campaign, accompanied by military operations and fighting in Kurdish regions of Turkey. To the extent that the imperialist powers reacted by stepping up their criticisms of Ankara, however, this has largely played into Erdogan's hands. In a statement on Thursday, UN rights experts declared that Turkey's security crackdown after the failed coup attempt of July 15 had undermined the chance for informed debate on the referendum. Previously, almost all European Union authorities had sharply criticized Erdogan for his crackdown on and purges of opponents. The governments of Austria, the Netherlands and Germany even banned Turkish government officials from making pro-yes speeches to Turkish citizens in these countries. Erdogan reacted by posturing as a victim of the imperialist powers and trying to exploit anti-imperialist sentiment among Turkish workers and youth. Speaking live on television in Istanbul, Erdogan said a yes victory would break the shackles on Turkeys hands, adding, My peoples answer on Sunday will not only be national but at the same time will be international. This only underscores that Erdogan's strongest suit in the referendum is not his own position, but the hypocrisy of Ankaras US and European imperialist allies. Indeed, there are growing signs that they would not have the slightest problem backing an Erdogan dictatorship created by a yes vote as long as Erdogan does their bidding. The Economist, while acknowledging that Turkey is sliding into dictatorship and Erdogan is carrying out the harshest crackdown in decades, warns in its current issue that as a NATO member and a regional power, Turkey is too important to cut adrift. It concludes, If Mr Erdogan loses, Turkey will be a difficult ally with a difficult future. But if he wins, he will be able to govern as an elected dictator. While the imperialist powers may back Erdogan's dictatorship, they are also quite capable of instigating another coup against him, depending of Erdogan's foreign policy orientation. Both scenarios would be a catastrophe for working people. As Toplumsal Esitlik (Social Equality) warned in its statement, rejecting the AKPs proposed constitutional changes will not by itself halt the international drive to dictatorship and war. It is necessary to unify workers and youth of Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and other origins in Turkey and across the Middle East in a struggle against imperialism and the capitalist class in the Middle East, as part of an international struggle for world socialist revolution. The author also recommends: Vote no on Turkeys constitutional referendum! For the United Socialist States of Europe and the Middle East! [April 5, 2017] DECATUR, Ga. (AP) - Two men are dead and another was hurt after a shooting that DeKalb County police believe is the result of a murder-suicide. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports police found evidence of gambling in a garage and also discovered the bodies of a 28-year-old and a 35-year-old late Friday. Maj. Stephen Fore, spokesman for DeKalb Police, said Saturday that it appears the younger man shot the older man and then shot himself. Fore says a 25-year-old man, who was shot in the leg, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition. A preliminary investigation shows a fight over money started between the two dead men, whose names are being withheld pending notification of relatives. LEON CO., Fla. (WTXL) - A suspect is in the Leon County Jail facing murder charges in connection to the death of Tiffany Nance, 33, who was found dead in the woods in late January of 2017. The Leon County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) says they received information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) that showed DNA from Bryon Massey matched DNA from the crime scene. Detectives discovered Massey had been wearing a GPS monitor around the time of the homicide. LCSO says the information from the GPS monitor shows Massey was at the crime scene on January 28th and then returned to the scene two days later. Massey was already in the Leon County Jail on other charges. He is being held without bond for premeditated willful kill murder. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida Department of Health says a medical group wanting to open a marijuana dispensary in northwest Tallahassee is not licensed and therefore not able to do so. Business partners Derek Hart and Costa Vathis recently purchased a 27,000 square foot facility and want to become the next major operation of cultivation, extraction and distribution. But the Florida Department of Health says there are only seven dispensing organizations in the State of Florida authorized to dispense medical marijuana, and the "Huxley Medical Group" is not one of them. The entrepreneurs told us earlier this week that they're gearing up for the possibility that more licensed dispensing organizations will be needed in the coming years. The Department of Health is directed to put rules into effect to implement amendment 2 within 6 months and to implement regulations within 9 months. Until these rules are official, there is no process to register new medical marijuana treatment centers. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man has been sentenced to five years in prison after authorities found more than 230 videos and images of child pornography on his computer. Antonio Fuguet, 36, of Tallahassee, was sentenced Friday to 60 months in prison for receipt of child pornography, after pleading guilty on January 5. The sentence was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. In October 2015, law enforcement officers discovered child pornography files online through a peer-to-peer network that were traced to Fuguets residence. A forensic examination of Fuguets laptop computers revealed child pornography videos and more than 230 images, many of which involved children under the age of 12. VALDOSTA, Ga. (WTXL) - After 17 students and teens were arrested for breaking into Valdosta High School, the Chief of Police at the Valdosta Police Department is asking the community to stop the "name calling". Brian Childress posted a long comment on the department's Facebook page on Friday, calling on the community to not be so quick to jump to conclusions. This comes after around 30 students and others broke into and vandalized the school, costing over $4,000 in damages. All arrested are being charged with felony burglary. His full statement is below: Dear community: Recently the Valdosta Police Department announced the arrest of numerous young adults who broke into the Valdosta High School and damaged the school. This department has pledged to the community, regardless who you are, what color your are, how much money you make, or any title or position you hold, that we will treat everyone the same and file charges based on the crime that was committed. These young adults did commit burglary and they were charged appropriately. The Serendipity Arts Festival was a success in Goa last year, and now the Capital is getting a peek into it. By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: Held last year in Goa's capital city, the first ever edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival brought in all things creative under one roof over the course of eight days. The majority of us in Delhi-NCR might have missed the interdisciplinary arts festival in its full glory but, thanks to the organisers, we now have the opportunity to take a peek at the festival in the comfort of the Capital itself. advertisement "Given that it was our first edition," says Smriti Rajgarhia, director of Serendipity Arts Trust, "we got an extremely positive response to the festival in Goa, as well as the small section of it that is going on in Delhi. The festival was our first step towards creating a sustainable platform and space for different forms of art to interact with each other." Also Read: Meet Harsha Vardhan, the young Indian sculptor we all should be proud of There are three ongoing exhibitions at the Delhi edition right now. Rajgarhia says, "Each of the three exhibitions being displayed are unique. The craft project, curated by Jyotindra Jain and Manjari Nirula, showcases individual craft works from different parts of India. 'Express/Aspire', put together by Samar Jodha, is an exhibition of photographs shot by children from the Auxilliam School in Goa. These are children who have never held a camera before in their lives. 'Chakraview' is a design installation, entirely curated by Rajshri Pathy and designed by Sumant Jayakrishnan. This was not shown at the festival last year, but was part of the London Design Biennale, and holds a unique position in the design space." Next up for the organisers is the 2017 edition of the festival which will be held in Goa. "Along with this," adds Rajgarhia, "the Trust is also working on longer-term projects revolving around the arts, the first being a residency that will be launched in Delhi in May." -Serendipity Arts Festival is on at Bikaner House, India Gate --- ENDS --- Mrs. Brenda Fuentes, left, teaches an 8th grade math class at Granger Middle School in Granger, Wash., Friday, April 14, 2017. Granger school distract has the lowest rate of student absences in the Yakima Valley at 4.3 percent. (SOFIA JARAMILLO/Yakima Herald-Republic) National Conference chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today won the Srinagar bypoll. By India Today Web Desk: National Conference chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today won the Lok Sabha bypoll that took place on Sunday in Srinagar, defeating the People's Democratic Party's Nazir Khan. The crucial election was marred by series of incidents of violence, with clashes between protestors and security forces. While at least eight people were killed in the clashes, scores sustained injuries. advertisement Incidentally, the by-election was unprecedented as it recorded the lowest voter turnout at 7.5 per cent which is the lowest in over three decades time. After his win, Farooq Abdullah thanked his supporters and added that the results showed people were in favour of the National Conference. Thank people who supported.This was the bloodiest election ever. Results show that people are in favour of NC:F Abdullah on #SrinagarBypoll pic.twitter.com/v5cMh9MYik- ANI (@ANI_news) April 15, 2017 State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Shantmanu who visited the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar on Friday, where the counting is scheduled, said counting of votes would begin simultaneously in Jammu, Udhampur and New Delhi where Kashmiri migrants had voted. There were nine candidates in the fray, but the main contest was between Abdullah and Nazir Ahmad Khan. Voting in the by-election was held on April 9. Separatists had called for a boycott of these polls. ANANTNAG POLLS DEFERRED In wake of the prevailing tension in the Valley, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday deferred the Anantnag by-polls till May 25. The by-polls were scheduled to be held on April 12. A school designated as polling station for Anantnag by-polls was set on fire in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. A Panchayat Ghar was also set ablaze in Pulwama district. Also read: Srinagar Lok Sabha bypoll: Repolling begins at 38 polling stations in Budgam amid tight security Srinagar by-election on 38 booths tomorrow, heavy security deployed after Sunday violence killed 8 Also watch: Decade's most disturbing video: Kashmir's true shame caught on camera --- ENDS --- Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form Traditional cleaning for the holiday of Passover led me to an old cardboard box in a tucked away at home. "It's time to open it and get rid of what's inside," I thought to myself. But then, among all the papers and nonsense in the box, I found two old video tapes. On their covers was written "raw material" in my handwriting. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter My curiosity got the best of me and what I found on the tapes was amazing. Ethiopian immigration footage (: ) X The videos were from a dramatic period of seven years from 1984 to 1991 when I was involved in one of the most secret and amazing operations the State of Israel was ever involved in: bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel. When I learned of these operations at the time, it was obvious to me that I would insist on documenting them. Ethiopian immigrants arriving in Ben Gurion However, my request was only granted after a long process of seemingly endless debates. I eventually won out due to my reserve service position as being the person responsible for documenting special operations for the Air Force's Special Operations Division. Other materials in my possession relating to the immigration of Ethiopian Jews had already been published, but the discovery of these two tapes surprised and excited me. One of the Ethiopian Jews' escape routes to Jerusalem was through a secret agreement jointly facilitated with the United States and signed with Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry. Nimeiry allowed a regular airlift from Khartoum via Europe to Ben Gurion International Airport, which took place in less than two months (from November 21, 1984 to January 5, 1985) on a regular basissometimes evening after evening and sometimes within two days. Thus, our first encounters, documenting newly arrived immigrants from Ethiopia, took place at Ben-Gurion Airport. They usually happened in the dark, but occasionally even in daylight. This usually happened with the arrival of a Boeing 707 aircraft with the Belgian airline logo, TEA, which was transported to a hidden runway. There, Mossad agents, representatives of the Jewish Agency, Ministry of Immigrant Absorption and others hid the passengers as much as possible until their arrival in Israel. (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) SKANEATELES A project to improve the safety and aesthetics of the town of Skaneateles' Eastern Gateway could incorporate some of the same features implemented during a similar project on the Western Gateway a few years ago. In order to "find a way to improve the aesthetic and function" of the stretch of Route 20 between Skan-Ellus Drive-In and the village line, Town Supervisor Jim Lanning said, there could be curbing and curb cuts, sidewalks, trees and green space, filled-in ditches, relocated power lines and other features. The vision for what a revamped Eastern Gateway unfolded during a meeting at Chase Design's East Genesee Street location with town residents and business owners whose properties sit in that stretch and Randall Arendt, landscape planner and site designer. The meeting started the second of a two-day visit in Skaneateles for Arendt, whom the town hired to consult with its Eastern Gateway Committee as the committee develops a concept for a project. The schedule the day before included meetings with the town Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and a meeting with state Department of Transportation officials that Lanning called "very productive," as the DOT expressed a willingness to reduce the width of the 11-foot shoulder and fill in the ditches with culverts in order to create a green space. Ahead of a public information meeting that night, Arendt and Lanning met with residents and business owners to both tell them about the concept for a project in the area and listen to their feedback and concerns about it. "We didn't want to have this series of meetings without the property owners and business owners," Lanning said. Arendt called the public input "important for the whole process." He noted that the Western Gateway project which ran from the Red Apple gas station to Fuller Street took 13 years to complete from its first being proposed to the end of construction, but he doesn't see that being the case with the Eastern Gateway project. "Having done that, the committee doesn't need to take another 13 years because it's kind of already there where it has a lot of examples of what works and what doesn't work," the consultant said. Along with decreasing shoulder width and filling in ditches, Lanning said power lines could be rearranged so that poles run along one side of the roadway currently, the electric poles are one side, while the telephone poles are one the other. The space behind the curbing could include a sidewalk, bicycle lane or combination or serve as a greenspace with trees and landscaping, he added. One person asked about burying the utility lines, as was done in the village's downtown area several years ago, but Arendt said that project was done with state and federal funding that is no longer available. "All levels of government now are really, really challenged for spending," he said. Burying the utility lines could be done by using tax money specifically raised from the property owners in the Eastern Gateway and set aside for the work, Arendt said. The consultant also suggested running utility poles behind property as another idea to improve the aesthetics. Another person asked about taxpayer dollars as a whole covering the project since the entire community would benefit from an improved Eastern Gateway instead of just the properties there. "Clearly, the entire community would benefit from a gateway that is much more beautiful," Arendt said. "This is people's first impression of Skaneateles." To pay for the project, Lanning added, the town board would seek grants. In terms of future plans for the Eastern Gateway, Arendt said a set of standards could be implemented in the town zoning code so that future developments in that area correlate to the community's vision for it. Lanning noted that current properties would not be subject to such standards, and the town has no plans to use eminent domain in the project to make properties conform to any new codes. "It's not our intention to force anybody to do anything," Lanning said. "What we're trying to do is find a way to improve the function, the safety and the appearance." Abdullah appealed to J-K Governor and President Pranab Mukherjee to dismiss the state government and impose Governor's rule in the state where the people will get some respite and feel assured that such a situation will not arise again. By Press Trust of India: National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, who won the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency bypoll after defeating PDP's Nazir Khan, has demanded that Governor's Rule be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir as the state government has failed to ensure a peaceful election. "I urge the Governor and President Pranab Mukherjee to dismiss this government and impose Governor's rule in the state where the people will get some respite and feel assured that such a situation will not arise again", Abdullah said while speaking to reporters after his election win. advertisement Abdullah, whose victory is being considered a setback to the ruling PDP, demanded that the by-election to the Anantnag Parliamentary constituency, which has been postponed till May 25, be held under Governor's Rule. HERE IS THE STORY IN DETAIL "I will also say that the election in Anantnag must happen under the Governor's Rule. Otherwise, it is unlikely that people would get justice", he said. He expressed gratitude towards the people who had risked their lives to come out to vote in "such a difficult situation". The polling for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat saw an abysmally poor turnout of 7.13 per cent, the lowest in its history. Abdullah trashed rumours that he would resign from Lok Sabha after today's win and said that he would abide by whatever his party high command decided. He batted for resumption of Indo-Pak talks and dialogue with all the stakeholders, including separatist Hurriyat Conference. War is not a solution to anything, the NC leader said. Asked to comment on the dismal poll percentage in the bypolls, Abdullah replied, "How does it matter? We have seen polls before too where the turnour was hardly any percentage was there. It does not make any difference. Democracy has been there." "What do you say to the people who have voted, even if it may be seven per cent with all the pressures on them?", he asked. Also read | NC chief Farooq Abdullah wins Srinagar bypoll, defeats PDP's Nazir Khan Also read | Farooq Abdullah: Wake up India, talk to Pakistan or lose Kashmir WATCH VIDEO --- ENDS --- Tel Aviv has become the most desirable city in Israel and whoever succeeds in getting an apartment in the city is generally considered lucky. The situation is only compounded by the fact that the price of a three-room apartment in the city center has crossed the NIS 3 million mark. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter However, is it a wise investment that yields an adequate return? Tel Aviv In regards to future betterment of the property, it is impossible to guess how much the price of apartments in the city will rise. However, in terms of annual returns, it is probably worthwhile to find other investment alternatives. In data released by the Global Property Guide on apartment prices in major cities all over the world, rental yield on a 120 square meter apartment in Tel Aviv stands at 2.57%, which ranks fifth worst in the world for an investment prospect. Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, is rated as the world's worst city for rental yield, coming in at 1.57%. Following Taipei is Vienna (2.18%), Mumbai (2.39%), and Singapore (2.54%). In sixth place after Tel Aviv stands both New York City and Hong Kong (2.75%). Photo: Yaron Berner To illustrate the cost of real estate in each of the major cities, the Global Property Guide examines how many years of rent are needed to purchase a 120 square meter apartment. In the case of Tel Aviv, it would take 39 years. In comparison, in Taipei, it would take 64 years of rent to buy an apartment, while in Kishinev, Moldova, only 10 years. In terms of price per square meter, Tel Aviv ranks 11th in the world, coming in at $12,742 (NIS 46,575). Monaco comes in 1st place at roughly $60,000 per meter and Dar es Salaam comes in last at $700. If you're looking for the highest yield on rent, look to Kishinev, the capital of Moldova, where the annual yield for an apartment of 120 square meters is 10%, followed by Kingston, Jamaica, with a 9.75%, followed by Cairo at 9.4%. (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) Syrian President Bashar Assad still has hundreds of tons of chemical weapons according to former Syrian Gen. Zaher al-Sakat, who served as head of chemical warfare in the 5th Army Division before defecting in 2013. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Syria ostensibly handed over its chemical arsenal in a 2014 deal with between the UN, the US, Russia and the Syrian regime. Bashar Assad (Photo: Reuters) However, according to al-Sakat in an interview with The Telegraph, Assad did not turn over his entire stockpile and still maintains a sizable amount. "The regime turned over 1,300 tons, but in reality, it possesses twice that amount," said al-Sakat. "The total amount was at least 2,000 tons, of which several hundred tons were sarin gas." Despite the allegations that the Assad regime still maintains a massive chemical arsenal, al-Sakat claims the Syrians are no longer producing chemical weapons since the 2014 deal. "They don't need any more; they have all they need already." Photo: AFP According to al-Sakat, tons of chemicals were transported to heavily fortified bases in mountains outside Homs and the port city of Tartus, where the Syrians and Russians have their largest military base. The former general also alleged that the order to use chemical weapons could have only come from Assad himself, who al-Sakat said had only become more brazen after the US failed to act when he crossed Barack Obama's "red line." According to the telegraph, al-Sakat claims he was instructed to carry out three chemical attacks in places where demonstrations against Assad had been carried out. However, he attempted to dilute the chemicals with water and bleach before the regime became suspicious due to the low casualties. After his son was arrested and tortured, al-Sakat paid for his release and fled the country where he joined the Free Syrian Army. I could not stand and watch the genocide. I couldnt hurt my own people, he said. Saturday marks the fourth day of searches for Itamar Ohana, Nachman Itach and Liron Karadi, who are presumed to have drowned in the Kinneret last Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Marine patrol officers, police officers, border police personnel, volunteers, divers and aircraft are all engaged in efforts to locate the three young men. Photo: Israel Police Photo: Israel Police Police report that most of the search efforts are concentrated on the eastern shore of the Kinneret near the areas where the three missing young men were recently seen. Police are also asking travelers to refrain from entering the water on undeclared beaches that do not have rescue services. Additionally, vacationers are also requested to not use sea mattresses or rafts due to the risk of drifting. Member of the Israel Police's rescue unit (Photo: Israel Police) The three missing young men The hazards of entering the Kinneret are well known to the public and authorities, demonstrated by the fact that rescue teams were forced to pull no fewer than 80 people from the lake who had fallen prey to its treacherous currents last week, which have only been exacerbated by recent inclement weather. (Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg) BEIRUT -- An Iraqi military statement says the Syrian air force has carried out a series of airstrikes against Islamic State group militants inside Syria, with one killing the group's leader in Raqqa, the IS de facto capital Saturday's statement doesn't say when the airstrikes happened, but described the targets as "the biggest positions for senior terrorists." The statement says the strikes targeted IS positions in Raqqa and the town of al-Bukamal and village of al-Dishaisha near the Iraqi border. The family of the 21-year-old exchange student who was stabbed to death in Jerusalem on Friday has released a statement announcing that they are devastated by this senseless and tragic attack. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Hannah Bladon , the religious-studies and archaeology student was studying at Hebrew University on a semester-long program from her home institution of Birmingham University. Whilst travelling on the busy light rail in the Israeli capital on the Jewish Passover and Christian Good Friday, Bladon was stabbed in the chest by a 57-year-old Palestinian man, Jamil Tamimi, who has a history of mental illness. Tamimi was arrested later that day. Hannah Bladon She was a talented student and was studying at Birmingham University for a degree in Religion, Theology and Archaeology She had been taking part in an archaeological dig that morning. Hannah was a talented musician, part of a serving team at her local church and a member of her local archaeological group. She was an enthusiastic rugby player and a keen Derby County supporter. She was driven and passionate and her death leaves so much promise unfulfilled. Apprehending Bladon's attacker Our family are devastated by this senseless and tragic attack. Academic condolences Rona Evyasaf, an archaeology lecturer at Hebrew University, posted to Facebook on Friday, A student of mine, Hannah Bladon, was murdered today in a terror attack here in Jerusalem. I did not know her well as we only had a few classes since the semester started. But at the little time we had, I found her to be very serious about her studies and very excited about archeology (she wanted to go on a dig before she goes back home). This is breaking my heart. The Israel Antiquities Authority commented on Saturday evening that it sends its deepest condolences to the Bladon family over the murder of their daughter, Hanna, in the stabbing attack that occurred on the light rail line in Jerusalem. Hannah recently volunteered in the IAA excavation at Wilson's Arch in the Western Wall tunnels, and was supposed to return to the excavation after the holiday. May her memory be a blessing. Bladons hosting institution, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, released a statement in which they noted that she had only arrived in the country in January. The university extend our deepest condolences to her family, and we share in their sorrow. The university condemns such acts of terror that harm innocent people, and especially a student who came to Jerusalem to study and widen her academic horizons May her memory be blessed. The tramcar after the attack (Photo: EPA) A statement released by Rothberg International School, the program within Hebrew University that ran Bladons program, added, Her friends described her as an inquisitive and adventurous student who made the most of her opportunity to learn and experience life in Israel. Rothberg Vice Provost Jonathan Kaplan told Ynet, Hannah came to Israel because of the Hebrew and also because of her interest in religious studies. Friends say that she was curious and very active and tried to take full advantage of her opportunity to study in Israel. He spoke with Bladons parents on Friday evening. A statement from the University of Birmingham read, We are deeply saddened to hear about the death of our student Hannah Bladon Our thoughts are with her family and friends during this tragic time, and we will be providing support for any student affected by this terrible event. The tram on which Bladon was attacked (Photo: Reuters) Official condemnations Officials without a personal connection to Bladon also expressed their regret. Mark Regev, Israels ambassador to the United Kingdom, tweeted on Friday, My thoughts are with the family and friends of UK student Hannah Bladon, who was murdered in a senseless act of terror in Jerusalem today. His counterpart, the British ambassador to Israel, David Quarrey, tweeted, Our thoughts are with the family & friends of the young British national who died in such sad & tragic circumstances in Jerusalem today. Thank you Minister Yariv Levin, (the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) & many others in Israel for your messages of condolence on todays terrible news. Quarreys sentiments were echoed by other members of the diplomatic corps in Israel, including Frances ambassador Helene Le Gal, the Norwegian embassy and EU delegation to Israel. Attempts to save Bladon (Photo: AP) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented, Radical Islamic terrorism strikes in capital cities across the world. Unfortunately, it struck today in the capital of Israel, JerusalemIn the name of all the people of Israel, I offer my condolences to the family of the murdered girl. Our security forces are fighting terrorism all the time, with all their strength, and they have thwarted a number of attacks in recent days. Our forces will continue to operate around the clock in order to protect the people of Israel. President Reuven Rivlin said he was filled with sadness adding that Israels thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. He said, This week thousands have come through the ancient gates of Jerusalem, to celebrate the feasts of Passover and Easter throughout the citywhile the security forces work to ensure the safety of the dear residents and visitors to the city. And so we will continue to do. Terror can never overcome us. Terror will never destroy our lives here. Thousands of Christian worshippers attended the ceremony of Easter's Holy Fire on Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and lit their candles with holy fire from what is believed to be Jesus' tomb. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Credit: Reuters X The Holy Fire is considered a miracle occurring every year on Holy Saturday, the day preceding Orthodox Easter Sunday. Worshippers inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Photo: AFP) At exactly 2pm every year, a sunbeam is believed to shine through the window in the ceiling of the church and light a lamp placed in the tomb. Seconds after the Orthodox patriarch reveals the Holy Fire, it spreads throughout the church as worshippers light each other's candles. Traditionally, an olive lamp lit by the Holy Fire is transferred soon after the ceremony to the West Bank town of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Those who arrived early watched as the key-holder to the sacred site arrived to unlock the church doors. As control of the church is divided between different Christian denominations, the keys are held by a Muslim man whose family has been considered neutral by all parties for several generations. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City is believed to have been built where Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected. Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III (C) leads the ceremony. (Photo: AFP) The Israel Police deployed hundreds of officers in Jerusalem's Old City earlier on Saturday to ensure security for the celebration. Security was also present in the church courtyard as local Christians and pilgrims from around the world arrived for the annual ceremony. US President Donald Trump offered Passover and Easter greetings and called the United States, a nation of believers on Friday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In his weekly address released on Friday, Trump noted the United States had, since its inception, cherished the freedom of worship and said it was a freedom not available to many around the globe. (Credit: Reuters) X Trump mentioned the State of Israel when addressing Passover, saying, Down through the centuries the Jewish people have lived through one persecution after another and yet they persevered and thrived and uplifted the world beyond measure. And now the State of Israel stands as a monument to their faith and endurance. Donald Trump (Photo: Reuters) He condemned the recent Palm Sunday attacks in Egypt that left at least 45 dead and wounded scores more a week before the Coptic Easter. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. With Gods grace, life always triumphs over death. Freedom overcomes oppression and faith extinguishes fear. Trump said. Trump ended his address by assuring Americans that his administration was fighting for the right of all citizens to enjoy safety and peace and to work and live with the dignity that all children of God are entitled to know. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said in a speech on Saturday that his organization refuses to negotiate a prisoner exchange deal before Israel frees prisoners released in the Shalit deal who were subsequently rearrested. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Speaking two days before the annual Palestinian Prisoners Day, Mashaal said, One of the obstacles facing a new deal is Israels disregard for its obligations. Israel did not meet its obligations in the previous deal, so who will guarantee that it would be committed in a new deal? ... There were several attempts to mediate regarding prisoner exchange, some of which were leaked to the media, and some of which were not. Khaled Mashaal (Photo: AFP) We informed all the mediators that any information about the Israeli captives would carry a price and would not be given for free. Two months ago Hamas referred for the first time to talks on a prisoner exchange deal. The military wing then told Al Jazeera, which is close to the organization, that Israel had made offers through intermediaries, but that the formula offered by Israel does not meet the minimum requirements. Three Israeli civiliansAbera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed and Jumaa Ibrahim Abu-Ghanimaand the remains of two IDF soldiersOron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in Operation Protective Edgeare being held in the Gaza Strip. The Arab Israeli daily Kul al-Arab reported earlier this year from a Hamas source that Qatar was mediating between Israel and Hamas over a new prisoner exchange deal. According to the report, Hamas made the talks conditional upon the release of 60 prisoners who were released in the Shalit deal and who were subsequently arrested at various stages following its implementation. The report suggests that Israel agreed to the demand on the condition that the released prisoners are expelled to the Gaza Strip or Qatar. This suggestion however, was apparently rejected by Hamas. But the organization denied the report on Qatari mediation, commenting, There is no mediation in this matter, let alone Qatars intervention. (Article translated and edited by J. Herzog) Shayetet 13 ('Flotilla 13'), the Israeli Navy's special operations unit, was sent at the start of the Six-Day War on a daring series of missions deep within enemy territory, which included covert assault on harbors in Syria and Egypt. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Those missions can now retroactively be called suicide missions, as in spite of the soldiers' bravery, the heroic missions failed spectacularly as some of the combatants were even taken captive due to intelligence and navigation errors. (Photo: Naval Museum) Fifty years later, the commandos meet in the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum in Haifa. Even though their average age is above 80, their rough and rugged nature is still clearly apparent. They joke around at each other's expense, reminisce about the times and the harrowing tortures they suffered in captivity and note that even though the mission failed, it showed the lengths to which the sailors of Shayetet 13 would go to defend their country. 'There was no chance we could make it back' On June 1, 1967, the Israeli submarine Tanin ("Crocodile") was sent for a sabotage mission in the Egyptian Navy's Alexandria harbor, under the command of Maj. Abraham Dror. Abraham Dror (Photo: Naval Museum) Dror commanded 60 crew members, which included 8 Shayetet 13 commandos and a Navy physician. Dror recounted the long days of waiting for the order to attack spent under the sea in the cramped submarine. "Whenever we could we would float up to sea level to recharge our electric batteries and to let the commandos practice swimming and stretch their muscles," he recounted. On June 5, after a long and frustrating wait, the order was given to attack Alexandria harbor. Fifty years after that fateful moment, the submarine's combat unit commander Capt. Eitan Lipschitz recounts the "suicide mission." Eitan Lipschitz (L) and Abraham Dror (Photo: Assaf Kamar) "By our calculations, we needed at least nine hours of night to get out of the submarine, covertly enter the harbor and return safely, but it was June, which has the shortest nights all yearwe had no chance to make it back in time. "I decided to keep that information to myself, as to not harm the sailors' morale. I took the waterproof first-aid kit, took out the morphine and put in some cigarettes and matches, so at least I'd have something to smoke before they take me captive and electrocute my balls." (Photo: Naval Museum) (Photo: Naval Museum) Inside the submarine, Capt. Dror did not know the fate of the combatants he had sent. In spite of the danger to the submarine and its crew, Dror decided to risk it and head back to the rendezvous point near the beach, a heroic act he was later awarded the Medal of Courage for. Lipschitz and the combatants were caught by the Egyptian Armed Forces and were held captive for seven months, enduring horrible torture throughout their time there. "I went through hell during captivity, but I told them nothing. Not a peep," said Lipschitz. "We didn't even have a map" Under the command of Lt. Col. Yitzhak Kat, the INS Yafo ("Jaffa") was sent to attack the Egyptian Port Said. They were set to use manned torpedoes, a type of rideable submarine made to carry two divers and heavy munitions in the form of naval mines. The manned torpedo (Photo: Assaf Kamar) (Photo: Naval Museum) First Lt. Yitzhak Shamir recounted the day when they received the surprising order to attack the port. "We were sure that we're going to attack Tartus Port in Syria, and suddenly the flotilla commander tells us that we're going to attack Port Said in Egypt. We didn't even have a map of the area. Yitzhak Shamir (Photo: Assaf Kamar) "Even though the commandos practiced and learned the features of the Syrian port, they were sent on a mission in Egypt with no knowledge of the area." "All we had was a map from the 1800s" The INS Noga, commanded by Mahor Ze'ev Ariel, and two commandeered fishing boats were sent up north to attack the Syrian harbors by using a propelled inflatable boat. The propelled Inflatable boat (Photo: Naval Museum) (Photo: Naval Museum) Maj. Amnon Ben Zion, who commanded the strike force, said, "I suddenly got a message saying that I'm being sent to Baniyas. I was shocked! We had no intel on it, no maps, no nothing! The only thing we had was a British maritime map with a small sketch of Baniyas from the 1800s." Despite that, the commandos were not deterred. "I had three inflatable boats. We were guided by the ship, which sailed with us to show us the way. We saw lighthouses on the shore. I wrote their coordinates and features on a cigarette box, which I stashed under my rubber suit so it wouldn't get wet," said Ben Zion. (Photo: Naval Museum) "We set out towards the shore without even knowing that our navigation was wrong," he added. 'They sent us on a fool's errand' Due to operational failures, among them the accidental sinking of the USS Liberty, the Navy and its commanders were heavily rattled. Shamir is still upset about the failure of the brazen mission. "There was frustration. Not anger, frustration. We smiled and said, 'Damn, they sent us on a fool's errand!'" Fifty years after the failed operation, Ben Zion's calm voice is trying to hide his anger at the operation's architects. "As a result of my son's research, who interviewed President Ezer Weizman, who was at the time the head of the Operations Directorate, we found out that no one in the General Staff knew that we were operating in Syria. Nobody knew." (Photo: Naval Museum) Lipschitz, who was taken into captivity in Egypt and payed a high and terrible price for his commanders' mistakes, doesn't hide his feelings of frustrations, yet still emphasized that as a commando in Shayetet, they were ready to do whatever it took. "If the Egyptian battleship would have stayed behind the harbor's breakwater, and if we had succeeded in sinking it, then it would have been an amazing success, but we were not so fortunate," Lipschitz summarized. (Translated & edited by Lior Mor) This week, the US space agency released stunning new images of the Earth taken by satellite at night, showing artificial lighting clusters, which often called night lights. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter (Credit: NASA) X Israel can be seen in one of the pictures alongside Egypt. The small Jewish state is nearly entirely illuminated, as are cities alongside the coast of the Nile in Egypt. Israel shining brightly (Photo: NASA) NASA said the images, taken during the past year, point to the development of several countries and also to the way the Earth is illuminated in the dark. A composite image of Europe (Photo: NASA) The pictures show that the European continent, the eastern part of the United States, large parts of India, Japan, East China and other places in the world are illuminated at night. India in 2012 (Photo: NASA) India in 2016 (Photo: NASA) On the other hand, the African continent is almost completely dark, with the exception of the Nile region, the Niger region and a few other small centersmainly in the southern part of the continent and in the northern coastal strip. Chicago (Photo: NASA) NASA said the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, the satellite that records the lights on Earth, is about 3,000 kilometers above the planet and takes pictures every day. The US space agency said even the lights on ships at sea can be seen in the photographs, Israel and Egypt as photographed last year from the International Space Station (Photo: NASA) NASA has made some comparisons between photos taken in 2012 and photos taken last year to see new urban areas or the development of cities. Among other things, there is a significant increase in the amount of lights in India. (Translated and edited by J. Herzog) By India Today Web Desk: Tejasswi Prakash, who played the role of Ragini in Colors' popular drama Swaragini, is making a comeback on small screen with Shashi Sumeet Productions's upcoming show Pehredaar Piya Ki. As per the reports, the show is still in the final stages of scripting. The production house seems to have found their female lead in Tejasswi, who wowed us with her brilliant performance as Ragini. The show will be set against the backdrop of Rajasthan and will present a unique love story. Tejasswi Prakash with Helly Shah in a still from Swaragini. Picture courtesy: colorstv.com advertisement Tejasswi will play the role of a girl born in royalty. Playing a Rajasthani should not be tough for Tejasswi, as she played a Marwari girl in her previous show. Also read: Swaragini actor Varun Kapoor will make a comeback with this show Shashi Sumeet Production has earlier produced shows like Diya Aur Baati Hum, Tumhari Paakhi, Punar Vivaah, Dream Girl and Tu Mera Hero.The show will be aired on Sony TV and the makers have also roped in actor Jiten Lalwani for a crucial role. Jiten will play a grey character in the show. --- ENDS --- More than two dozen US insurers affiliated with Travelers Cos have sued two Saudi banks, companies affiliated with Osama bin Laden's family, and several charities for at least $4.2 billion over the September 11, 2001 attacks. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The lawsuit filed late on Wednesday night in the US District Court in Manhattan is the latest effort to hold entities in Saudi Arabia liable for the attacks. Photo: AP, EPA Nearly 3,000 people died when hijacked airplanes crashed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon near Washington, DC and a Pennsylvania field. The 10 defendants in the lawsuit include Al Rajhi Bank, National Commercial Bank, aviation contractor Dallah Avco, the Mohamed Binladin Co, the Muslim World League, and other charities. They were accused in the lawsuit of having "aided and abetted" the attacks through a variety of "activities in support of al Qaeda" in the years leading up to them. "But for the assistance provided by defendants," the lawsuit said, "al Qaeda could not have successfully planned, coordinated, and carried out the September 11th attacks, which were a foreseeable and intended result of their material support and sponsorship of al Qaeda." The insurers are seeking to recoup sums paid to policyholders who suffered personal, property and business injuries from the attacks. Their lawsuit seeks at least $1.4 billion of compensatory damages, triple damages and punitive damages. Monument to the victims of the attack (Photo: EPA) The defendants could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday, which is the start of the weekend in the Gulf. Al Rajhi has previously said that US courts have "repeatedly" dismissed similar claims against the bank, which "has no links to terrorism" and is "committed to operating at the highest levels of compliance" with applicable rules. The Saudi government and affiliates including the Public Investment Fund, its sovereign wealth fund, have a majority stake in National Commercial Bank. A Travelers spokesman, Matt Bordonaro, had no immediate additional comment on Thursday. Several other lawsuits pending in the Manhattan court seek to hold Saudi Arabia liable to individuals and insurers over its alleged involvement in the September 11 attacks. The Saudi government has denied such involvement. Saudi Arabia long had broad immunity from such lawsuits in the United States, but Congress in September overrode a veto by former President Barack Obama and allowed such lawsuits to proceed. Two undercover soldiers from an elite Special Forces unit were exposed and detained Saturday evening by Palestinian police on a main street in Nablus. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The commandos were in operational activity in the Rafidia neighborhood of Nablus when they were arrested by Palestinian security forces and taken to the Palestinian police station in Nablus. The soldiers were then transferred back to the IDF, in cooperation with the Civil Administration. Returning the soldiers Duvdevan is an undercover counter-terrorism unit, and the soldiers were presumably disguised as locals. Senior officials at the highest levels were involved in the event in Nablus, which ended peacefully. An IDF force received the two soldiers next to An-Najah University in Nablus. (Translated and edited by J. Herzog) Jerusalem Magistrates' Court extended on Saturday the remand of Jamil Tamimi, 57, who murdered 21-year-old Hannah Bladon in a stabbing attack on Friday. In addition, Tamimi is set to meet with the district psychiatrist for a mental evaluation. When asked why he committed the murder, Tamimi claimed that he "didn't mean it," saying "I apologize" to Bladon's family. GENEVA Two lambs from their small flock were in trouble after their mothers rejected them. What were Connie and Stan Tatro of Geneva to do? We had to put them somewhere, said Connie Tatro. We didnt want to leave them out in the cold so we fixed up a couple boxes. Where to set up the cardboard and heat lamp nest for Baby and Friday? The answer was right in front of them all the time. So scrap carpet pieces were laid out over the floor of Stan Tatros business office where a comfortable and toasty nursery soon appeared in one corner. Baby, the little female born some four weeks ago, came first. She was one of a set of twins, however, Her mother wouldnt accept her and later died. She took up temporary residence across the room from the office furniture, filing cabinets and the chair in which Connie Tatro would hold and mother her hours on end. Friday arrived next. He is still only a week or so old. He had a hard time in delivery, she said, and was, like Baby, rejected by the ewe. The Tatros, Connie said, own sheep primarily to keep the grass down on our acreage. As a result their experience in the field of newborn lamb rescue, care, feeding and nurturing was nil. Enter Bill Geiger, a local sheep guy who rode to the rescue. We got a lot of good advice from him, Connie Tatro said, beginning with no less important information than how, when and what to feed them. Thankfully, Geiger was fully equipped to foster the foster parents. Weaning time is nigh, however, Theyre not taking pellets too well, she said. That means bottle feedings four times a day. That sounds like a lot of daily interruptions and it is, but could be worse and, in fact, was for a time. I was feeding Baby six times a day, but now were back to four. The Tatros plan, assuming the lambs come to enjoy pellets, is to integrate them into the flock in the next week or two. LINCOLN Next Tuesday, April 18, the Lincoln VA Regional Office will partner with the Nebraska Western Iowa Heath System, Omaha National Cemetery and Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs to host a Vietnam War Commemoration Ceremony. The ceremony will commemorate the 51st anniversary of the Vietnam War. Vietnam Veterans will be honored with a special lapel pin commemorating their service. The Ceremony will be held at the Lincoln Regional Office located at 3800 Village Drive, Lincoln, Nebraska starting at 2 p.m. The protesting farmers put on an act where in they sang funeral songs and screamed out to the Prime Minister to come pay their grieving women a visit and take note of their plight. By Shalini Lobo: For the last 33 days, the farmers from drought-hit Tamil Nadu have been protesting in the national capital. After rolling naked on the floor before the Prime Minister's office, to mock funerals and eating off the roads, the protesters today paraded on Jantar Mantar in sarees. The farmers wore the mangalsutras around their necks which is actually a holy thread symbolising marriage. advertisement The protesting farmers put on an act where in they sang funeral songs and screamed out to the Prime Minister to come pay their grieving women a visit and take note of their plight. The act was complete as a farmer took out a knife and went around cutting the mangalsutras off the protesters' necks as they beat their chests and grieved. "This entire demonstration symbolises the plight of our women. Every farmer who commits suicide leaves behind a widow and the central government should take note of this and do the needful", said farmer leader Ayyakkannu. A delegation led by CPI MP D Raja also reached Jantar Mantar to assure the farmers of stern action and pressurising the government. "Both centre and state remain silent on the issue. The centre even sent a team to assess the situation in Tamil Nadu but they still refuse to release adequate funds", said Raja. The farmers remain adamant that until they meet the Prime Minister, until lands under nationalised banks are waived off and until a Cauvery water management board is set up, there is no going back to Tamil Nadu for them. Also Read: Tamil Nadu farmers protest completes a month in the capital To get an audience from Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu farmers dress as women --- ENDS --- Mumbai: Jet Airways pilots' body National Aviators Guild (NAG) has directed its members not to fly with the expats in the cockpit from next month after one of the foreign pilots allegedly assaulted a trainer in Bengaluru recently. Besides, the guild has also sought removal of all expat pilots from the airline. Jet Airways currently has about 60 expat commanders, who mainly operate its Boeing 737 and ATR fleet. "NAG has issued a directive to all its members not to fly with the foreign pilots in the airline from May 1 as one of the foreign pilots assaulted a designated examiner during a training session about 10 days ago," a source said. The aviators' guild has also directed the trainers not to conduct training sessions with expats from tomorrow, the source said adding that it has demanded from the airline to do away with all expat pilots. The guild claims representation of around 1,000 pilots of the total around 1,500 pilots in Jet Airways. The Naresh Goyal-promoted private airline had witnessed a 5-day long strike by NAG in September 2009 over the issue of forming the union. In a statement Jet Airways said the airline is an "equal opportunities employer". "We today employ a multi-cultural workforce...As an Indian airline operating internationally, Jet Airways has always focused on recruiting the brightest talent," it said. "Jet Airways is committed to offer equal opportunities to all pilots and follows a structured plan for their recruitment based on business outlook," the statement added. New Delhi: Reliance Infrastructure on Saturday reported a net profit of Rs 40.94 crore for the quarter ended March 31. The company had recorded a consolidated net loss of Rs 327.41 crore during the January-March 2015-16, Reliance Infrastructure said in a BSE filing. According to the statement, total income of the company was recorded at Rs 6,145 crore in the quarter against Rs 6,910 crore in same period a year ago. The company's consolidated net profit for 2016-17 rose to Rs 1,425.18 crore as compared to Rs 759.63 crore in 2015-16. The total income in the fiscal under review was Rs 28,222 crore against Rs 28,462 crore in 2015-16. Its engineering procurement and construction order book stood at Rs 5,960 crore and earned a revenue of Rs 2,492 crore in the last fiscal from this business. The company won EPC contract for setting up 2 x 250 MW thermal power plants worth Rs 3,675 crore in Rajasthan from Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. It also bagged EPC contract to build 66 km road project worth Rs 711 crore in Tamil Nadu. Its all 11 road projects of Rs 4,370 lane km are now revenue generating, it said. It said the arbitration award won for 2 road projects -- NK Toll Road and DS Toll Road -- was worth Rs 170 crore. Besides, over Rs 14,000 crore is under advanced stage of arbitration. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) develop projects through various Special Purpose Vehicles in several high growth areas such as power, roads and metro rail in the infrastructure space and the defence sector. The company's board has recommended a dividend of Rs 9 per share. Its share prices closed at Rs 556.50 a piece, down 0.47 percent on the BSE. The first day of the month of Boishakh in the Bengali luni-solar calendar is traditionally celebrated as Shubho Nabo Borsho or Poila Boishakh. This year, the auspicious day falls on April 15 according to the Gregorian calendar this year. Poila Boishakh is celebrated by people in Bengal, Tripura and Assam with great zest and enthusiasm. How is Poila Boishakh celebrated? People rise early in the morning and clean their homes, courtyards and decorate them with flowers and alpana (rangoli). Then, they take bath, wear new clothes and seek blessings of the elders in the family. Many invite a priest to conduct a Ganesh-Lakshmi Puja at home to initiate new beginnings. Some businessmen also open a new book of accounts on this day. After performing traditional rituals and puja, people indulge in the special preparations to treat their taste buds. Later in the day, family, friends, neighbours and well-wishers greet each other Shubho Nabo Borsho by exchanging sweets and delicacies. (Inputs by Ritupriya Chakraborty) New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been vouching for conducting upcoming municipal polls through ballot paper citing EVM rigging, has demanded that the civic elections in the national capital be postponed by a month. Kejriwal urged that till arrangements are made to use VVPAT-equipped EVMs, polls must be deferred. The Delhi Chief Minister on Friday met the State Election Commissioner on the issue of EVMs and put his demand. However, the SEC rejected the proposal, saying there was no provision to postpone the elections. Kejriwal insisted, under the DMC (Delhi Municipal Corporation) Act, the Centre has the power to extend the tenure of the civic bodies by one year. VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home. The MCD elections are scheduled to be held on 23rd of this month. Santiago: Scientists have found that Antarctica, the frozen and inhospitable for nearly 300 million years ago was once covered by lush subtropical forests. Marcelo Leppe, a paleontologist who works with the Chilean Antarctic National Institute, told Efe news on Friday, "That Antarctica was once green is a matter of consensus among scientists, but still unknown to many people." Leppe, Chile's representative to the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, has spent his professional life searching for fossils that offer clues to the origins of the flora and fauna of the White Continent. Leppe said that forests began to appear in Antarctica some 298 million years ago during the Permian geologic period, as glaciers retreated and the global climate entered a warming phase. Fossils from the subsequent Jurassic period reveal the existence of fern and conifer forests where the Cryolophosaurus species of dinosaur thrived. But the golden age of vegetation in Antarctica was the Cretaceous period, which began 145 million years ago and lasted until around 66 million years ago. Leppe said, "Roughly 80 million years ago, walking in Antarctica was like walking today in a tropical or subtropical forest, something like what we could encounter in south-central Chile or in New Zealand." One thing that still puzzles scientists is how the forests survived the six-month-long Antarctic night. The paleontologist said, "We know that some dinosaurs migrated before the arrival of winter, but in the case of plants, the matter continues to be an enigma." While the plants would have received as much as 22 hours of light per day during the Antarctic summer, "that doesn't necessarily imply that they had the capacity to carry out photosynthesis for longer hours than now," he said. The tundra that was the last vestige of the forests disappeared 15 million years ago, leaving Antarctica a frozen desert. Now, however, scientists see grass and wild oats growing in the areas of Antarctica where the ice has retreated due to global warming, Leppe said. Climate change, the introduction of invasive plants, and the retreat of the glaciers are creating the conditions for the White Continent to turn green again. (With IANS inputs) All eyes are on the proposed quota hike which will increase the overall percentage of reservations in the state to 58%. By Ashish Pandey: Amid strong protest by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on proposed Muslim reservation, Telangana State Cabinet is meeting today, ahead of a state assembly's special session scheduled for Sunday. The government intends to bring in a comprehensive bill for reservations to all the concerned castes. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will preside over the meeting expected at Pragati Bhavan in Hyderabad. advertisement Sources say as many as 31 items including the hike in reservations would be considered basing on the figures of the 1911 census. An increase in quota from 4% to four per 9-10% for BC -E and 6 to 9 per cent for the scheduled tribes will be part of the agenda. The GST bill in its final shape and nine more issues will also come up for discussion in the cabinet meet. It is also likely that the state cabinet will also give its clearance for 3.68 % DA hike proposed for the state government employees besides clearing promotions due for 105 senior police officers. However, all eyes are on the proposed quota hike which will increase the overall percentage of reservations in the state to 58% to 59% including enhancement of 12% reservations for Scheduled Castes from the existing 6%. Hike in reservations under BC-E as suggested by Backwards Caste Commission, will be implemented, which will include Muslims. Currently, 4% reservation (being given to backward sections among Muslims that began in undivided Andhra Pradesh) is sub-judice as the matter is in the Supreme Court. The Telangana Cabinet, on Wednesday, decided to raise the percentage of quota in jobs and education in the state, citing the Tamil Nadu model. A special assembly is convened on April 16 to table the Telangana State Reservations Bill 2017. Also Read: Telangana plans to hike reservation for Muslims, Special Assembly Session on Sunday Telangana: CM Chandrasekhar Rao announces 100 per cent free fertilisers for farmers, Opposition calls it early poll preparation --- ENDS --- Bhubaneshwar: BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday instructed the party workers not to be complacent after the party's recent victories in the assembly polls and said that they must strive to win elections from panchayat to parliament in order to cement a pan-India presence. A two-day BJP National Executive meeting began here on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah among other senior leaders in attendance. National Executive members, party office-bearers and state unit chief will discuss the future strategy of the party at the meet, which began at 5 p.m. at Sant Kavi Bheem Bhoi Sabhagar at the Janata Maidan. The main agenda of the meet is to discuss ways to increase its political footprint and plan a roadmap for the assembly and Lok Sabha polls in 2019. "When we came to power in 2014, people said that the BJP has reached its peak. Earlier this year, after winning the assembly polls, they said the same thing. But president Amit Shah said that the BJP is yet to reach its peak... BJP needs to be present at every level of legislature, from Panchayat to Parliament," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters. "Political pundits used to say that BJP can overcome Congress, but it puts up a poor showing before regional parties. But the assembly election results have changed that perception," Prasad said. The meeting also slammed the allegations of EVM voting machine tampering by political rivals. "After their defeat in election, now some parties are looking for an excuse for losing. They're hiding behind the excuse of EVMs. Such allegations are disrespectful to the Election Commission," Prasad added. Shah had held discussions with party office-bearers to set the meeting agenda. PM Modi, who landed at the state capital in the afternoon, held a roadshow from the airport to the Raj Bhavan, covering a distance of around 8 km. A large number of people stood along the road as Modi stood on his Range Rover's foot rest with its door open acknowledging the cheering and slogan-chanting masses. Odisha BJP chief Basanta Panda claimed that his road show will herald a "new era of politics" in the state, hopeful that his party, always a marginal force in this eastern state, will emerge as the key challenger to the ruling BJD by the time next Lok Sabha and assembly polls arrive in 2019. Modi, who was clad in all white, beamed and waved at the people gathered on both sides of the road for a glimpse with lotus flowers in their hands. Defying the security cordon he even got off his vehicle a couple of times, walked up to people, greeted them and even shook hands with some of them. He also offered floral tributes to freedom fighters and illustrious sons of the soil on his way to the Raj Bhavan. As the Prime Minister's roadshow passed through the main road connecting the airport and the Raj Bhavan, the air was rent with the chants of 'Modi .. Modi', 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Bande Mataram'. The state BJP also organised folk dance, songs and folk music at different places along the route taken by the Prime Minister. He received lotus flowers when he was felicitated by members of the BJP's Mahila Morcha in front of the Raj Bhavan. After a 20-minute halt at Raj Bhavan, Modi resumed his roadshow. He got off the vehicle and walked about half-a-km near Jaidev Vihar to mingle freely with the people before arriving at Janata Maidan, the venue of the two-day national executive. Imphal: Senior Manipur Minister L. Jayentakumar tendered his resignation in protest against "uncalled for interference" by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, rocking the month-old BJP-led coalition government. He said later that he has spoken to the Chief Minister and would take a final decision on Tuesday. Jayentakumar, who held the Health portfolio and three other departments, told reporters that he would announce his decision on whether to remain a minister after Chief Minister Biren Singh returns from Delhi on Tuesday. "It will be premature to take a decision in his absence," he said. Jayentakumar had submitted his resignation letter on Friday evening in protest against "uncalled for interference" by Biren. The Chief Minister later rushed to Delhi to firefight the political threat, it was learnt. Jayentakumar admitted that the Chief Minister had called him up to enquire for reasons behind his resignation. It is understood that he had ventilated his grievances, like "interference" in his official work. Biren in his capacity as the Minister in charge of the Department of Personnel had suspended Okram Ibomcha, the Health Director, without consulting Jayentakumar. There was no specific charge against Ibomcha. The suspension order said that it was to take `disciplinary actions` against Ibomcha, a close relative of previous Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Jayentakumar is one of the four MLAs of the National People`s Party (NPP) who was sworn in on March 15 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government was formed. Answering queries from reporters on the suspension of Health Director Ibomcha, the Minister said the Chief Minister had "informed me about this step". Asked if the suspension was justified, he told the reporters "You should ask the high officials concerned." Another grievance that Jayentakumar had was that despite his recommendation Dr Rajo, the family welfare director, was not made the interim Health Director. Besides he was not consulted when Biren Singh appointed an Advocate General. Jayentakumar is also the Law Minister. Indications are that Jayentakumar will agree to withdraw his resignation if the Chief Minister backs out from these two appointments. The Chief Minister has not made any comment on the issue so far. In his resignation letter, the Minister says he is thankful to the Chief Minister for inducting him in the ministry. But he was not able to fulfil his vision due to the "interference". Y. Joykumar, NPP MLA from Uripok, who is a former Director General of Police, is also believed to be unhappy. Joykumar, who is the Deputy Chief Minister, had reportedly wanted the Home portfolio, which is important in insurgency-hit Manipur. However, Biren kept it with him. The coalition ministry was sworn in on March 15. Nine MLAs of BJP, NPP, Naga People`s Front, LJP and Congress (who changed loyalty) were inducted. Three more Ministers and 12 Parliamentary secretaries were sworn in on March 23. New Delhi: The evil practices like triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are ruining many lives of Muslim women in the Indian society. One such example has come to the fore. While speaking to All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) president Shaista Amber, a nikah halala 'victim', narrated her ordeal. The woman said she was asked by her husband to get married to another person as per nikah halala customs, and thereafter she would divorce her new husband and he would happily accept her. But to her dismay, her husband refused to accept her despite promising her in writing. Video embedded at the end of the story. 'Nikah halala' is a practice intended to curb incidence of divorce under which a man cannot remarry his former wife without her having to go through the process of marrying someone else, consummating it, getting divorced, observing the separation period called 'Iddat' and then coming back to him again. Several Muslim women have challenged the practice of 'triple talaq' in which the husband, quite often, pronounces talaq thrice in one go, sometimes over phone or text message. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have advocated for the rights of Muslim women and called for the abolition of the triple talaq and nikah halala. Triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy violate Muslim women's right to equality and dignity and are not protected by the right to profess, practise and propagate religion under Article 25(1) of the Constitution, the Centre has told the Supreme Court. While putting forward its arguments before the SC bench, the government reiterated its earlier stand saying these practices render Muslim women "unequal and vulnerable" as compared to men of their community as well as women belonging to other communities. The Centre described triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy as "patriarchal values and traditional notions about the role of women in society". "There are unreasonable classifications which arise from practices such as those under challenge in the present petition, which deny to Muslim women the full enjoyment of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution," it said. Observing that the judicial conscience is disturbed, the Allahabad High Court has held that triple talaq is cruel and raised a question whether the Muslim Personal law could be amended to alleviate the sufferings of Muslim women. Coming down heavily on the practice, the court had held that this form of instant divorce is most demeaning which impedes and drags India from becoming a nation. The question which disturbs the court is should Muslim wives suffer this tyranny for all times? Should their personal law remain so cruel towards these unfortunate wives? Whether the personal law can be amended suitably to alleviate their sufferings? The judicial conscience is disturbed at this monstrosity, a single judge bench of Justice Suneet Kumar had said. Watch video Srinagar: National Conference president and party candidate Farooq Abdullah on Saturday defeated his PDP rival Nazir Ahmad Khan in the Srinagar-Budgam Lok Sabha by-election. LIVE updates:- - This was the bloodiest election ever. Results show that people are in favour of NC, Abdullah after winning the election. - National Conference president Farooq Abdullah wins Srinagar-Budgam by-election - Farooq Abdullah takes an unassailable lead of 10,208 votes. - Farooq Abdullah set to win, leads by 9,199 votes over PDP's Nazir Ahmad Khan. - National Conference president Farooq Abdullah extends his lead to 5,600 votes. - National Conference enhances its lead. Abdullah is leading by 2,000 votes. - Media not allowed to enter counting hall. Authorities not sharing information with journalists waiting at the counting centre. - National Conference stalwart Farooq Abdullah leading by 986 votes over PDP's Nazir Khan. A meagre seven percent turnout was witnessed in repolling held in 38 polling stations of Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday. Only 709 of the 35,169 electorate voted during re-polling. National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) Nazir Ahmad Khan are among the nine candidates in the fray in the constituency. Eight civilian protesters were killed in clashes with the security forces on April 9. Separatists had called for a boycott of these polls. New Delhi: Apple's flagship iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in Red Variant is now available on Flipkart and Amazon at a discount of Rs 4000. The special edition of iphone 7 128GB and iPhone 7 plus 128GB is available at price Rs 66,000 and Rs78,000 respecively but only for a limited period. The Red variant iPhone has its own significance which symbolises fight against AIDS free generation in US. "The introduction of this special edition iPhone in a gorgeous red finish is our biggest (PRODUCT)RED offering to date in celebration of our partnership with (RED), and we can't wait to get it into customers' hands," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition is available in vibrant red aluminium finish, in recognition of more than 10 years of partnership between Apple and (RED). Apple is the world's largest corporate donor to the Global Fund, contributing more than $130 million as part of its partnership with (RED). (RED) provides access to life-saving HIV/AIDS programs in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to more than two thirds of the world's HIV-positive population. All money raised by (RED) goes directly to Global Fund HIV/AIDS grants that provide testing, counselling, treatment and prevention programs with a specific focus on eliminating transmission of the virus from moms to their babies, the statement said. Bhubaneswar: BJP's two-day national executive meeting will begin here on Saturday with all the party bigwigs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joining the deliberations. The BJP will chalk out a strategy to strengthen the party's base in newer areas, especially the eastern and southeast coastal region, with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Besides party veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP president Amit Shah, Union ministers, chief ministers of 13 BJP-ruled states and three deputy chief ministers will attend the meet. Shah reached Odisha on Friday to attend the BJP National Executive meeting. He was offered lotus garland by state BJP chief Basant Panda and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. BJP has named the venue of its national executive meeting here after the Dalit poet Bhima Bhoi apparently to woo Dalits who comprise over 17 percent of Odisha's population. Of the 147 Assembly segments in Odisha, 23 seats are reserved for scheduled caste candidates while three of its 21 Lok Sabha seats are allotted to the dalit community. BJP had won only two SC seats in the assembly and none of the three LS seats allotted to the community. Despite the Narendra Modi wave in 2014, the BJP couldn't perform well in the eastern, coastal and the Coromandel region (India's south-eastern coastal region). The party is also apprehensive that it might not be able to repeat its 2014 Lok Sabha success in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in 2019. Party strategists feel that there will be some fall in numbers in these states in the 2019 elections. To offset these losses, the party has decided to venture into new territory. These areas include 25 seats of Andhra Pradesh, 19 of Kerala, 21 of Odisha, 39 of Tamil Nadu, 17 of Telangana, 42 of West Bengal, 40 of Bihar, 48 of Maharashtra and over a dozen states in other parts of the region. Ahead of the BJP National Executive meeting, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said Odisha will be a laboratory for testing of the BJP-led central government's pro-poor policies. Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Saturday announced the setting up of an Expert Group to assess the quantum of agricultural debt and suggests ways and means for its waiver. The group has been set up in line with the Congress' promise in its election manifesto that farmers in the agrarian state will be given a debt waiver. Former Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), T. Haque, has been appointed chairman of the Expert Group, which has been asked to submit its report within 60 days. The two other members of the Group are Pramod Kumar Joshi, Director, South Asia, of the International Food Policy Research Institute, and B.S. Dhillon, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. "Besides assessing the total amount of credit, including institutional and non-institutional credit availed by different categories of farmers, the group will assess the quantum of bad loans or debt and suggest the methodology for remission of debt. It will also suggest ways and means to raise resources for the debt waiver, according to the notification," a state government spokesman said here. The Expert Group may co-opt any other member, if so required, to achieve its objectives, in order to facilitate the state government`s efforts to ameliorate the sufferings of the farmers. Punjab`s opposition Shiromani Akali Dal meanwhile termed the exercise of setting up of an expert group as futile, saying that all facts and details of the debt of farmers was already available with the government. The Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been demanding that the Congress government led by Amarinder Singh should immediately announce ther debt waiver for farmers, as promised in the Congress manifesto. Jaipur: Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh has said that there should be no holidays on birth anniversaries of great personalities instead students should be taught about them on these days. Speaking at a state level function at Mundwa village near here on the 126th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar yesterday, he said the holidays on birth anniversaries of great personalities should be abolished and seminars should be held in schools and colleges to make students aware about their life journey. The Governor said that no society can progress unless social harmony is strengthened and discrimination ends. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has echoed the same views yesterday as he payed tributes to the chief architect of Indian Constitution at a function in Lucknow. "There should be no holidays in schools on birth anniversaries of great personalities. Instead special two hour programme should be held to teach students about them", Adityanath said. Mumbai: The second part of SS Rajamoulis magnum opus Baahubali: The Conclusion starring Prabhas and Rana Daggubati, is reportedly facing opposition from Pro-Kannada groups, who are threatening to disrupt the release of the film which is slated to hit the silverscreen on April 28. According to a report in dnaindia.com originally attributed to Bombay Times, the makers are trying to settle the matter ahead of the release of the film. The protestors apparently want Sathyaraj, who plays Kattapa in the magnum opus to apologise for his remarks he had made against the Kannadigas during the Cauvery dispute. Sathyaraj had made those comments almost eight to nine years ago. I don't think this is a major issue. We are trying to resolve the matter amicably and release the film as planned, the film's producer Shobu Yarlagadda was quoted as saying. The first part of the film was released in 2015. Also starring Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Anushka Shetty and Nasser, Baahubali 2 is one of the most anticipated films of the year. Chennai: Superstar Rajinikanth starred in Bharathiraja's directorial debut film 16 Vayadhinile but he says the veteran filmmaker never accepted him as an actor. "I like Bharathiraja very much. He likes me, but in his old interviews, when journalists used to ask him his opinion on me as an actor, he would say, 'He is a good human being.' "He never accepted me as a good actor. I could always read his mind voice, 'How do people accept him as an actor?'," Rajinikanth told reporters here at the inauguration of Bharathiraja's BIIC (Bharathiraja International Institute of Cinema). Rajinikanth, 66, says Bharathiraja asked for his 'time' only on two occasions in his four-decade-long career. "First was the call sheet for '16 Vayadhinile'. The second is to attend this function. I too was a film institute student. Although I learned more from my mentor late K Balachander on sets, I know how studying in a film school could be helpful and hone your skills," the Kabali actor says. Bharathiraja, 75, says he is happy that he has played a minuscule role in Rajinikanth's incredible career. "I saw Rajinikanth as a simple guy when he played the villain in '16 Vayadhinile'. Now, he has reached unattainable heights in his career. I'm happy that I've played a minuscule role in it. I would never say I played an important role in his career growth. He's a self-made man." Actor Kamal Haasan, who has collaborated with Bharathiraja on films such as 16 Vayadhinile, Sigappu Rojakkal, Tik Tik Tik and Oru Kaidhiyin Diary, says the director contributed a lot to his career in the industry. "Bharathiraja is a 'Samana Munivar.' Back in the time, I used to scold youngsters who would come to Chennai to become the next 'Bharathiraja.' Cinema is a democratic art put together by a group of 200 people or more. "A lot of mistakes are bound to happen in a project. That's why we call a director the 'Captain' of the ship. Bharathiraja learned everything as a creator properly and crossed a lot of hurdles effortlessly. He is a great hurdler." Asked about the nepotism controversy surrounding the National Film Awards, Haasan says the jury comprises of 12 members and that both good and bad things are bound to happen. By Indo-Asian News Service: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's son and cabinet minister KT Rama Rao earned Rs 7.30 lakh just in a couple of hours by "selling" ice-cream and fruit juice here on Friday. No, he has not become an entrepreneur. Rama Rao turned "coolie" to raise money for Telangana Rashtra Samithi's plenary and formation day public meeting scheduled to be held later this month. advertisement The state Industries and Information Technology Minister sold ice-cream at a parlour in Qutubullahpur area. TRS MP Malla Reddy bought the ice-cream for Rs 5 lakh. Another party leader Srinivas Reddy paid Rs 1 lakh. At fruit juice shop, Rama Rao earned Rs 1.30 lakh with the party leaders buying the juice from him. Friday was the first day of a week-long programme in which all leaders and cadre of the party will work as "coolies". Chandrasekhar Rao, who is also the TRS chief, announced that 'Gulabi (pink) coolie days' will be celebrated from April 14 to 20. He urged every party worker to work for at least two days to earn the money to meet transportation and other costs. The chief minister, all ministers, MPs, MLAs and other leaders will work as "coolies" for at least two days. The TRS will hold its plenary at Kompally near Hyderabad on April 21 while a massive public meeting is planned at Warangal on April 27 to mark the party's formation day. READ MORE: Telangana IT minister lends car to shift fatal accident victims to hospital Telangana minister KT Rama Rao praises Pawan Kalyan's Katamarayudu Telangana minister to address meet on water resources in US WATCH MORE: --- ENDS --- Washington: The US space agency NASA has approved a project to build instruments for a future European Space Agency mission to Jupiter and its moons which is scheduled for launch in 2022. The space agency said in a statement on Saturday, "NASA's total cost for the project is $114.4 million." The JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is designed to investigate the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants. And it is scheduled to launch in five years, arriving at Jupiter in October 2029. JUICE will spend almost four years studying Jupiter's giant magnetosphere, turbulent atmosphere, and its large icy moons Callisto, Ganymede and Europa, which are thought to have oceans of liquid water beneath their icy crusts. The agency-level approval for the project to enter building phase of instruments also provides a baseline for the mission's schedule and budget. Jim Green, Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington said, "We're pleased with the overall design of the instruments and we're ready to begin implementation". Green said,"In the very near future, JUICE will go from the drawing board to instrument building and then on to the launch pad in 2022." JUICE is a large-class mission, the first in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme carrying a suite of 10 science instruments. NASA will provide the Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS), and will also provide subsystems and components for two additional instruments: the Particle Environment Package (PEP) and the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME) experiment. The UVS was selected to observe the dynamics and atmospheric chemistry of the Jovian system, including its icy satellites and volcanic moon Io. How will JUICE complement NASA's Europa Clipper multiple flyby mission, also scheduled to launch in the early 2020s? Curt Niebur, programme scientist at NASA Headquarters siad, "The missions are like close members of the same family. Together they will explore the entire Jovian system". Niebur said, "Clipper is focused on Europa and determining its habitability. JUICE is looking for a broader understanding of how the entire group of Galilean satellites formed and evolved." (With IANS inputs) Mumbai: Sunil Grover, Ali Asgar and Chandan Prabhakar were members of Kapil Sharmas core team for over 4 years. Since the mid-flight fight controversy, the trio has distanced itself from the star comedian. And now, turns out that Sharma, has reportedly unfollowed them all on Twitter. Kapil had unfollowed Grover soon after the fight on flight controversy made headlines, reports suggest. But now according to a report in dnaindia.com, Sharma has unfollowed Asgar and Chandan too! Team Kapil Sharma is now disintegrated! People who were integral parts of the team are now no longer associated with the show. For the uninitiated, Sharma had abused Grover and the others in an inebriated state on flight while returning from Australia after a successful tour. Some reports even suggest that the Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon actor also hit Grover physically. Its been over a month the trio hasnt shot for the show. While Asgar and Prabhakar have chosen to remain silent on this issue, Grover has clarified that he will only work with dignity. Lucknow: In a seemingly sarcastic mood, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav launched a barrage of veiled attacks against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government and accused them of exercising blatant bias when it came to state politics. "The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not consider me a Hindu. I think the first thing I should do after visiting a temple is tweet a photo of the same as a proof," Akhilesh on Saturday said, while addressing a press briefing here. Akhilesh further said that he was thinking he should start wearing colours according to the days. "I think I should wear colours according to days. On Monday, I should wear the colour supposed to be worn on the day...on Thursday, I should wear yellow. And on Sunday? I guess a t-shirt and a pair of shorts? That`s what is supposed to be worn on a Sunday. Right?" he said. Taking a jibe at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath`s brainchild "anti-Romeo squad", Akhilesh quipped that many innocent men were also being beaten due to this. "Nobody told the real story of Romeo. He had consumed poison. And today, God knows how many Romeos are being beaten up," said Akhilesh. Turning his head towards the heated issue of ban on cow slaughter, Akhilesh questioned the move of ban on cow slaughter only in Uttar Pradesh. "In Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, people are eating whatever they want to. In north-east also, there is no restriction. Why is the restriction put only in Uttar Pradesh?" said Akhilesh. Akhilesh further said that it was shown that the meat exporters met the government and things were sorted, but no picture of the Hindus running slaughterhouses was shown. "I am waiting for those photographs to be released," he stressed. The Samajwadi Party president also went on to accuse the BJP of winning the elections through deceit. He asserted that the Samajwadi Party will play an important role in any future alliance, if made. Pointing out at the BJP`s poll promise of waiving off farmers` loans, Akhilesh said the farming community was fooled by the saffron party. "A farmer said, it is on record, that the way BJP formed the government by dividing Hindu-Muslim, similarly it divided us on the basis of waiving off loans," he said. Akhilesh also demanded an investigation into the row surrounding the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering, urging for polls to be conducted through ballot paper system. Kathmandu: Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari has urged the people to create an atmosphere conducive for conducting local polls which is a must for implementing the new Constitution. Nepal has entered into a federal democratic system by adopting the new Constitution, so the election is a must to implement the Constitution, Bhandari said while addressing a programme in Itahari district in eastern Nepal. The Constitution has guaranteed sufficient rights to the local bodies, so the country would move towards prosperity by maintaining peace and stability, the President said. Her statement comes at a time when Nepal's agitating Madhesi parties have decided to boycott next month's local elections and hold fresh protests, saying that the new Constitution amendment bill tabled by the government in Parliament has not addressed their key demand -- revision of provincial boundary. The United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), demanding more representation and re-demarcation of state boundaries, is opposing the local body elections top be held on May 14. Prime Minister Prachanda, during a central office meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) held in Baluwatar yesterday, urged the alliance of Madhes-based parties to come to the negotiating table to sort out their differences. He asked them to take part in the local-body elections. Meanwhile, 68 fringe parties including the Naya Shakti Party Nepal-led by former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai today began a 'relay hunger strike' here against the rule that granted party-wise election symbols only to those political parties that have representation in the Parliament. The leaders' strike would last until April 21. The parties said they would obstruct the voter-education programmes of the Election Commission (EC) and other programmes by the government and non-governmental organisation if the EC turns deaf ear towards their demand. The 68 parties have been protesting against the Local Level Elections Act that forbids parties outside the Parliament to get party-wise election symbols for the upcoming polls. Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which they felt marginalised the Terai community. The protest had resulted in the death of at least 50 people. Moscow: Russia has offered to host peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, the Russian foreign ministry said after hosting diplomats from the regional countries for consultations on the Afghan issue in Moscow. "The third round of consultations on the Afghan issue was attended by representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan," the Russian Tass news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry statement, as saying. This was the third meeting Russia has hosted in four months to push for political negotiations. The United States had been invited to take part in the consultations, but it refused the invitation. "I think just to end it, we just felt that these talks - it was unclear to us what the purpose was," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said earlier this week explaining Washington`s absence. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, ways and means to coordinate regional efforts for facilitating the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan and bringing peace there topped the agenda. The statement said the participants stressed that there was no military solution to the Afghan crisis and the only way to resolve it was by ensuring a national reconciliation using political methods in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. "The parties reiterated their support for efforts being made by the Kabul government and the country`s social and political circles which are aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan. The parties also called upon Taliban leaders to abandon their activities aimed at using military force to resolve the conflict and turn to building direct dialogue on the national reconciliation with the Afghan government," said the statement. "The participants welcomed Russia`s proposal to provide a platform for the intra-Afghan talks," the statement added. The participants also agreed to continue consultations in the Moscow format. Russia has been leading the regional initiative since the trilateral meeting between China, Pakistan and Russia was held in Moscow in late December last year. The talks were expanded to six nations in February this year. Kabul had opposed Russian proposal during the February meeting to invite the Taliban to the April 14 meeting. According to the Express Tribune, Additional Secretary Tasnim Aslam led the Pakistan team. New York: Sikhs in the US have launched a nationwide million-dollar campaign to spread awareness and address the "collective misunderstanding" over the minority community amid a spike in hate crimes against them in the country. The month-long 'We are Sikhs' campaign was launched by the National Sikh Campaign (NSC), a non-profit organisation, coinciding with the Sikh festival of 'Vaisakhi', a holy day for the community. It is a massive initiative to spread awareness of the Sikh religion and Sikh-Americans throughout the US as over 65 per cent of Americans are ignorant about Sikhism. The campaign is a "national effort to help inform our fellow Americans about who we are and why we are proud to wear the turban, a symbol of our community's commitment to equality and serving others," co-founder and senior advisor of the National Sikh Campaign Rajwant Singh said. "Sikh-Americans are pillars of their communities in every corner of our nation and we must work to proactively meet and connect with our neighbours," he said. The campaign would involve marketing and public relation efforts that will focus on increasing the Sikh-American community's presence in national and local news outlets, online platforms and neighbourhoods. It will utilise national and local television and cable and digital advertisements, social media and community events to affect change. Its organisers said the Sikh community has been the target of discrimination, intimidation, harassment and hate crimes since the 9/11 terror attacks largely because of a "collective misunderstanding" of what the turban means in the Sikh faith. "Sikh values are American values, and Sikh-Americans have been making positive and significant contributions to American life for more than a century. We run local businesses and sing our national anthem with pride," Gurwin Singh Ahuja, co- founder and executive director of the NSC said. "The American dream is fundamental to our identity here in America, and we believe deeply in the freedom to pursue one's own success through hard work," Ahuja said. Elaborating on the campaign, Singh had told PTI this week that the "seven-figure" targeted ad campaign will run on cable TV networks like CNN and Fox as well as on local TV stations and will have a heavy presence on social media. There will be 40-50 spots on CNN and other networks and will be shown in morning and prime time bulletins, circulating throughout the day. The campaign will run for a month throughout the nation. YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Nature Protection of Armenia, member of Armenian Revolutionary Federation Artsvik Minasyan sees himself in the new Cabinet and plans to continue running the office of the Minister of Nature Protection, Minasyan told the reporters on April 15. I think at the moment there is no reason to insist on the opposite, particularly when currently we hold discussions with the RPA, while this is the sphere of key importance not only for Dashnaktsutyun {ARF}, but also for our partner Republican Party and first of all for the President of the Republic, Armenpress reports Minasyan saying. Parliamentary elections took place in Armenia on April 2. 4 political forces, Republican Party of Armenia, Tsarukyan bloc, Yelk bloc and ARF will form the new parliament. The RPA and ARF have already officially announced about their discussions on future cooperation. On the day of the first session of the new parliament the Cabinet will resign. Following that, within 10 days, the President of the Republic will appoint a new Prime Minister who enjoys the support of the majority of the parliamentarians. The Cabinet must be formed within 20 days after the appointment of the Prime Minister. The President will appoint Ministers at the proposal of the PM. TASHKENT (Reuters) - France and Uzbekistan need to strengthen security cooperation in order to combat jihadist groups and prevent violent attacks, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told Reuters on Saturday during a visit to the Central Asian nation. Suspected Islamist militants from the mainly Muslim ex-Soviet region of Central Asia have been blamed for two attacks this month: a metro bombing in Russia's second city, St. Petersburg, on April 3 and an attack in Stockholm on April 7, where a truck rammed a crowd of people on a busy street. The Uzbek government said this week it had informed one of its Western partners that Rakhmat Akilov, the Uzbek national suspected of being behind the Stockholm attack, was an Islamic State affiliate. Ayrault, who met Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov in Tashkent, said security was on the agenda, as well as economic reforms and human rights. "We have actively discussed terrorism and radicalization issues as both of our countries have some youth who are influenced by such groups and choose jihad," Ayrault said in an interview. "That is why it is very necessary for us to have an exchange of information to fight against such a phenomenon. The terrorist acts that happened in St. Petersburg and Stockholm remind us of such a necessity," he said, speaking through an interpreter. France has suffered a series of attacks by Islamist militants over the past few years that have killed scores of people. The country, which holds the first round of its presidential election on April 23, remains in a state of emergency, with army units patrolling the streets of Paris. Ayrault said the level of cooperation between France and Uzbekistan, a country often criticized by the West in the past over its human rights record and lack of democratic freedoms, was insufficient. "Of course, there is some level of cooperation but we need to strengthen it," he said. Ayrault said he had also discussed in Tashkent the possibility of "displaying the rich Islamic heritage of Uzbekistan as represented by the ancient cities of Samarkand and Bukhara at the Louvre museum in Paris", describing them as an example of "enlightened Islam". "This is just a project but I know that the Louvre curators are working on that," he said. (Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Gareth Jones) By Press Trust of India: Hyderabad, Apr 15 (PTI) Agriculture and other manual work besides making tea/coffee are some of the "coolie" jobs being "symbolically" undertaken by ruling TRS leaders in Telangana to collect money towards organising the party plenary and a public meeting scheduled this month. Earlier, TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had announced that he too would do some "coolie work" to raise money. advertisement Telangana IT and Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, son of the Chief Minister, prepared fruit juices and sold ice cream at an ice-cream parlour in the city yesterday. The ice cream and fruit juices, prepared by Rama Rao, were reportedly purchased by Lok Sabha member Malla Reddy and other party leaders who paid Rs 7.5 lakh to the minister. TRS leaders elsewhere in the state also undertook similar works. The TRS had organised such a campaign earlier too for its annual plenary and public meeting. The plenary would be held in Hyderabad on April 21 and a massive public meeting is proposed to be organised at Warangal on April 27. "...the public meeting should be grand. If the meeting is to be grand, TRS leaders and activists already have this habit.. we had done that twice, top to bottom, from village-level activist to state Chief Minister, two days coolie work should be done to earn money. They have to take care of their expenditure (for the public meeting)," Chandrasekhar Rao had said. He had announced April 14-20 as "coolie days" during which the work should be undertaken. "I will also do coolie (work) for two days somewhere, guarantee," the party president had said. Rao is all set to be re-elected as party president at the plenary. However, when asked who is going to be the next party president, Rao had said: "Lets see the result of the election". Asked about speculation that Rama Rao would become the working president of TRS, KCR had said the questioner himself was describing the matter as speculation. PTI SJR RS DK DK BAS --- ENDS --- There aren't a lot of elevators on P.E.I. that take a minute or more to ride top to bottom, but start-up entrepreneurs will get a chance to make their "elevator pitch" later this month. To give local, green or clean start-up businesses a chance to share their ideas with industry leaders, E365 a Charlottetown company that sells green energy sources is organizing a business pitch competition at the first Atlantic Green Expo this month. The winner will take home a $2,500 cash prize. Co-owner Blake Doyle says a one minute "elevator pitch" can be beneficial for start-up entrepreneurs. "Its one of the things most entrepreneurs go through," says Doyle about the pitches, "It's where you've got about a couple minutes to throw your concept out to potential investors." A chance to compete and connect To win, competitors will have to climb to the top of a ladder at the Atlantic Green Expo and pitch their business plan to an open crowd and two judges from E365. "We're very optimistic" says Doyle about finding a credible business pitch to support. "We're putting a cash prize out to encourage people to grow their businesses here on P.E.I." says Doyle. "But I think there will be other interested parties present that may also want to make an investment." Twenty-five companies, institutions and organizations have registered to have an exhibit at the Atlantic Green Expo so far. Their representatives will be welcome at the pitch session. The first Atlantic Green Expo The competition and exhibits aren't the only events set to take place at the Expo. Peter Childs and Hon David MacDonald, will be keynote speakers. Childs is the head of Dyson School of Design Engineering in the U.K. MacDonald, born and raised in P.E.I., was Canada's first chair of the House of Commons Committee on the Environment and a professor of sustainability at Concordia University. Story continues Doyle is also organizing free information sessions where people can learn about making environmentally sound decisions when choosing housing, transportation or energy products and services. The expo is set to run April 21-23 at the UPEI School of Sustainable Engineering. - MORE P.E.I. NEWS | How you can say goodbye to Bruce and Boomer - MORE P.E.I. NEWS | Dying wishes: Health PEI helping you make decisions so your family won't have to By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's 2018 election will decide whether a government fighting for the national interest remains in power or forces serving foreign interests gain control, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday. Orban, whose right-wing government has been in power since 2010, has faced a series of mass protests in the past two weeks after it passed legislation that targets a top international university founded by billionaire financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros in Budapest. Orban has long criticized civil society organizations funded by Hungarian-born Soros, accusing them of opposing his tough migration policies and supporting illegal migration. He says the CEU has violated Hungarian rules - an accusation the university rejects. His government also wants to tighten rules on non-governmental organizations. The EU and the United States have sharply criticized the new legislation. Rights groups say it is part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Hungary, after curbs on the public media, state institutions and the constitutional court. Orban, speaking for the first time since the protests began, told pro-government newspaper Magyar Idok such conflicts were part of a fight for national sovereignty. "... In Hungary the national government is under continuous pressure and attacks so what is at stake at all elections is whether we will have a parliament and government serving the interests of Hungarian people or it will serve foreign interests," he said. He said what happening in Hungary now was a rehearsal for the campaign for the vote in a year's time. Recent polls give Fidesz around 30 percent support and with that a firm lead over opposition parties. "If we accepted that Brussels or other political or financial centers dictated ... what should happen in our country we would not have conflicts," he said in an interview. "But the history of Hungarians is that of a history of freedom fights." The European Commission - often at odds with Orban - threatened Hungary with legal action over a series of measures including the education law, saying they ran counter to the EU's values of human rights and democracy. Analysts say Orban wants to solidify his nationalist-minded voter base ahead of the election. Orban said his government, with its big majority in parliament, was determined to carry on with its policies to keep out migrants and preserve Christian civilization. "The government is determined, I don't see any sign of retreat," Orban said. Thousands of students marched on parliament on Wednesday chanting "Europe! Europe!" and "Free country! Free university!" A new protest will be held on Saturday at 1530 GMT. (Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Alison Williams) The parents of a missing Canadian, who travelled to Peru in search of their daughter, Kimberlee Suzanne Kasatkin, returned without her but did come back with answers. "We failed to find her alive and well, a lot of things transpired," said Alexander Kasatkin, Kimberlee's father. The 41-year-old mother was last heard from on November 26, 2016, when she spoke to her sisters via video call. Her common-law partner of eight years, Christopher Franz, has now been charged with femicide the murder of a woman under Peruvian law. "He is being held in detention for nine months as both prosecution and judge agreed that he would evade justice based on his behaviour during proceedings," said Roger Grafstrom, Kimberlee's brother. Grafstrom said Franz's lawyers tried to appeal the charges but the appeal was dismissed and a trial could start as early as July. Kasatkin's body is still missing, though the family is hopeful that "new crucial evidence" could help uncover her body, which is why they're are going back to Peru in a few weeks. Kasatkin, originally from Abbotsford, had been living in Lima with Franz and their two children a three-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son for more than three years. The two had met in Victoria, where they were studying. Her mother, Kathleen, claims her daughter was in an abusive relationship. "Kim wouldn't leave because he wouldn't let her take the children out of Peru and she refused to leave her children behind," she said. The children are now being cared for by Franz's mother, but the family is advocating to bring the children to Canada so they can be with Kastakin's other two children. Family assisted with investigation The family said at the time of her disappearance, Franz told Peruvian police she had left the home voluntary. But Kimberlee's mother sensed something was wrong and reported her missing to the Abbotsford Police Department. Story continues Despite the case being outside the police department's jurisdiction, in January it put out a plea for leads. Const.Ian MacDonald with the Abbotsford Police Department said if it weren't for the family's tireless efforts, things could have been different. "This is a really strong family, the things and steps they have taken are remarkable," said MacDonald. "At the end of the day, family members went down to Peru and if not for their efforts, I don't think we would have some of the answers the family is looking for," he said. However, the search for answers was a frustrating one caused by language barriers, lack of answers and communication from the courts. But after travelling down there themselves and watching "endless" hours of video surveillance, they're now thanking those that helped, including the expats that opened up their homes when the family needed to extend their stay, as well as the Abbotsford Police Department, Global Affairs in Ottawa, the Peruvian police for their "tireless" efforts, INTERPOL and the press in Peru. "Without the press, the exposure would have been minimal, and we would not have the results that we did," said Alexander Kasatkin. By Chris Francescani and Tom Ramstack NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people marched through midtown Manhattan and dozens of U.S. cities on Saturday to demand that President Donald Trump release his tax returns and to dispute his claim that the public does not care about the issue. Organizers of "Tax March" in more than 150 cities across the country and beyond wanted to call attention to Trump's refusal to disclose his tax history, as his White House predecessors have done for more than 40 years. The marches coincide with the traditional April 15 deadline for U.S. federal tax returns, though the filing date was pushed backed two days this year. There were no reports of violence or arrests, in contrast to a clash between Trump supporters and opponents that erupted at a rally in Berkeley, California, where nine people were arrested. Two of the biggest tax marches took place in New York and Los Angeles, with each drawing about 5,000 people, according to estimates by Reuters reporters. No official estimates were immediately available. In Manhattan, a good-natured crowd rallied at Bryant Park before marching up Sixth Avenue to Central Park. Among the marchers was an oversized inflatable rooster, sporting an angry expression and a sweeping metallic orange hairdo meant to resemble Trump's signature style. Thanks to Trump, I think that releasing your taxes when you run for president now has to be a law, said New Yorker Marni Halasa, 51, who arrived in a tutu and leggings made of fake dollar bills and holding a sign that read Show Me The Money! In Washington, more than 1,500 protesters gathered on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol, where members of Congress addressed the crowd before it marched to the Lincoln Memorial. "We are taking the gloves off to say knock off the secrecy Mr. President," said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which would play a leading role in tax reform measures being considered in Congress. He described Trump's refusal to release his taxes as being "like a teenager trying to hide a lousy report card." TAX REFORM Among the marchers was Melinda Colwell, 34, a stay-at-home-mother from Ledyard, Connecticut. She said she was concerned that conflicts of interest in Trump's tax returns might foreshadow selfish interests in his tax reform policies. "I think it's important to know how that could influence his decisions and how he could benefit from the decisions being made," she said. As a candidate and as president, Trump has refused to release his tax returns, citing an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has said that Trump can release his tax returns even while under audit. The White House could not be reached immediately for comment on the marches. Events were also planned in cities in Europe, Japan and New Zealand. The marches were launched by a single tweet, organizers said. A day after the massive Jan. 21 women's march in Washington and other cities, comedy writer Frank Lesser tapped out on Twitter, "Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong." It has been retweeted more than 21,000 times. In Los Angeles, television director Mike Stutz turned up at the march dressed in costume as a Russian general and said he was called General Bullshitski. He carried a sign that read: "What Tax Returns? Putin paid cash. Trust your oligarchs," referring to allegations of contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin. Joe Dinkin, spokesman for the Working Families Party, one of the groups organising the marches, said investigations into the Trump campaign's alleged connections to Russia underscore the need to disclose his returns. "Without seeing his taxes, we'll never really know who he's working for," said Dinkin, who expects the marches to draw at least 100,000 protesters. There have been some glimpses into Trump's tax history. Last month, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow reported on two pages of Trump's 2005 return that were obtained by investigative reporter David Cay Johnston and released by DCReport.org. They showed Trump paid $38 million in taxes on more than $150 million in income. And in October, The New York Times reported that Trump had declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 federal tax return, citing three pages of documents from the return. (Additional reporting by Dana Feldman in Los Angeles and Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Alistair Bell) theK wrote: Congrats on the sponsorship opportunity! What a great situation to be in! I work for a global consulting firm, and the model that we have is as follows: Eligibility and Requirements - Only top 30% of high performers are eligible. Must seek sponsor from leadership team and go through approval process (local, then global). Minimum 2 years with firm. - There are only 5 approved schools that are deemed to have 'international value'. (Personal opinion: I think it's a restrictively small list, but this is a different topic altogether. There used to be 10 schools in the list, with other schools to be considered on a case-by-case basis. They've changed it this year. /end rant). During School - When at school, we're encouraged to do internship at other companies EXCEPT competitors. - We're expected to work with a managing director assigned as the 'school lead' in promoting the company amongst classmates. This may involve running info sessions or as simple as proactively promoting the benefits of the firm throughout your two years there. - If you're from one of select emerging markets, your housing and other approved expenses may be part of the sponsorship. After School - Once graduated, the expectation is to go back to the region/office that you were part of. - You're expected to work a minimum of 2 years upon return. If you leave within 2 years, you must pay back the firm on a pro-rata basis i.e. 1/24th of tuition (or total sponsorship) for every month NOT worked. Let me know if you have any specific question. Re: whether you should take it up or not, the way I see it is that it depends on what you want to do post-MBA (you're right!) and the minimum of 'X' years you need to work with them upon graduation. What was your original intention of doing an MBA? If you were actually still open to return to the same company prior to hearing about their willingness to sponsor you, AND the opportunities upon your return at the firm are aligned with what you want to do, then that leaves us with the minimum number of years you need to work with them after graduation. I'd say take it up, go through bus-school and decide towards the end. If you change your mind and are ok with paying back the sponsorship at graduation, as long as the contract has a clause that allows you to do so, you can change your mind then. It'll be a difficult conversation for sure, especially if you have a good relationship with them, but if they're reasonable people, I'm sure they'll understand. http://unclearadmit.tumblr.com Latest Blog Entry: 09-05-13 Its been too long ... Updates & the Tuck Loan Signature Read More Thanks for the detailed perspective. Really appreciate it.The number of years will not be 2 for sure. Reasons are 1) first time they are sponsoring someone. Even if they look at it as a loan, paying back your loan in 2 years is a misnomer (assuming $100k + debt). This will more likely be 4 years. Plus, although I am the only non MBA they have ever hired, having an MBA doesnt propel your career (vresus a Bain, BCG etc.) - it works differently in India , 2) the equation is different. The conversation I had was centered around my becoming a partner at the firm. Sure, no one can guarantee that. But the intent is there and needs to be realized by both me, and the firm providing me the support.Career wise, it sounds good. A junior partner at my firm makes $200K+ (in Indian rupees) which is a good amount. If I make partner in 4 years post B school (I would be 32 then) that would be a VERY comfortable living style I can have then.Also, I was pleasantly surprised by how keen they were to sponsor me. Plus they understood that I may choose not to come back, and hence would have to pay them back. So your suggestion of taking the sponsorship, and paying them back if I dont work, is OK. But, two variables get introduced - i) currency fluctuations - as of now this is favourable, but I may be in a situation 2-3 years down the line where I am paying back $110-$120 or whatever instead of $100, and ii) The time to payback - I won't have a 10, 20 year cushion. Will probably need to pay this back within 5 years, ideally lesser._________________ While in Japan and India the decline of British business was primarily a function of the rise of strong indigenous business groups, in Iran, by contrast, the government played a large role in both challenging British commercial interests and stimulating locally owned enterprise. It is true that the British Imperial Bank in Iran was never entirely a tool of the British government, and that the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company did not take its orders from the British government, despite the 51 percent government shareholding. However, the relationship between British business and the British government was sufficiently close that many Iranians understandably viewed the oil company and the bank as symbols of a British imperialist policy." Let us read the passage -the first sentence states that experience of British businesses in Asia is an example of changing importance of British enterprise in Asia. The second sentence expands on this by giving a brief timeline. The third sentence talks about how the situation in Iran was different from that in Japan and India. The fourth, fifth and the sixth sentences all explain why the situation in Iran was different.Note that the entire passage expands on the first sentence - the experience of British businesses in Iran and the reasons for it.Let us look at the first question -A - the passage does not talk about any "problem", just the experience of British businesses in Iran.B - the author only talks about his/her opinion. No other "perceptions" are mentioned.C - this is not the object of the passage. the purpose is to discuss the experience of British businesses and the reasons for it. Also, note that the passage compares Japan and India to Iran, not two countries.D - correct answer. the passage talks about the reasons for experience of British businesses in Iran.E - the author does not challenge any explanation. We do not whether the views mentioned are "accepted" or not.Q2.this is talked in this sentence - "What is the simplest inference that can be drawn from this? Iranian government played a larger role in challenging British commercial interests/the governments of India and Japan played a lesser role in challenging British commercial interests.Only option C states this.Q3.this is talked about in this sentence - "A - goes against the passage.B - the passage does not talk about "Iranian run businesses in Iran".C - the passage does not talk about "joint British and Iranian businesses"D - Not relevant to the question. See the above sentences from the passage - they do not talk about financial difficulties.E - correct answer._________________ United Airlines said it would make sure crews travelling on their aircraft are booked into seats at least 60 minutes before departure. By Reuters: United Airlines on Friday changed its policy on booking its own flight crews onto its planes after a man was dragged off an overbooked flight to make way for a United employee on Sunday, video of which went viral and made the airline the target of global criticism and ridicule. The airline, owned by United Continental Holdings Inc, said it would make sure crews travelling on their aircraft are booked into seats at least 60 minutes before departure. advertisement It said the new policy would ensure that a situation in which a passenger is forcibly removed from a plane does not occur again. United said the change is an initial step as it reviews policies in order to "deliver the best customer experience." THE INCIDENT The passenger ejected from the plane, David Dao, suffered a significant concussion, broken nose and lost two front teeth in the incident, and will need reconstructive surgery, according to his attorney, Thomas Demetrio, who has signalled that Dao will likely sue the airline. United's board said on Friday the company had to craft policies to win back customer trust and apologised to Dao and his family. It added that it stands behind Chief Executive Oscar Munoz, who has been under fire in the wake of the incident. Munoz has said he has no plans to resign. Even before this week, Munoz was under pressure from activist investors to improve the airline's performance, including its customer relations. SCORPION STING? In an unrelated incident, a United passenger complained that a scorpion stung him during a flight from Texas, also on Sunday. A physician on the ground assured the crew that "it was not a life-threatening matter," United spokeswoman Maddie King said in an email on Friday, adding that the airline is "reaching out to the customer to apologize and discuss the matter." Also read US: United Airlines passenger dragged off overbooked flight, video of incident sparks uproar United in another spot of bother after passenger says scorpion stung him during flight --- ENDS --- Legit.ng gathered that a 500level student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) was allegedly shot dead by the police during a peaceful protest. Legit.ng gathered that the deceased identified as Prince Ayilumo Julius Adeniran, had gone home to Ekiti state, for the holidays and had decided to join the Igbara Odo youth for a peaceful protest, when he met his untimely death. Julius had been hit when a bullet shot into the air by the police who were trying to dismiss the crowd, hit him instead. READ ALSO: Prophet and his two sons allegedly convert to Islam, shave off dreadlocks (photos) The incident which occurred on Good Friday, April 14, claimed only the deceased's life. READ ALSO: Female pastor allegedly kills man during deliverance in Edo (Video) Sharing the sad news on his Facebook page, one of the deceased's friends identified as Olowolafe Mayowa Samuel, wrote: Good Friday turned a bad one here. Son of man fell and pool of tears was inevitably instigated today in my hometown. My brother, late Ayilumo Julius was an indigene of Igbara Odo Ekiti, a 500level student of FUTA and a youth with a never giving up spirit. He loved me so much and he believed in the future of our hometown. He was shot and killed today by police officers while the officers were trying to halt a peaceful protest staged by Igbara Odo youths. Bro.your sudden death makes me realise how ephemeral life is. May God have mercy on you and forgive you of your sins, RIP. I love you prince Jul. RIP to him! READ ALSO: Young lady in hijab spotted on electric pole (photos) In a similar incident, the family of a woman who was killed by a stray bullet shot by a policeman in Lagos, spoke to Legit.ng: Source: Legit.ng Legit.ng gathered that the best graduating pediatrics student of 2015 from University of Port Harcourt, Joy Omubo, has expressed gratitude over the N250 she was given as a reward. 25-year-old Joy Omubo, made headlines after news emerged that she had gotten the sum of two hundred and fifty Naira (N250), as a reward for finishing as the best graduating pediatric student of 2015 from UniPort. Joy who received her prize money two years after graduation, has now expressed her gratitude over the gesture. READ ALSO: Prophet and his two sons allegedly convert to Islam, shave off dreadlocks (photos) Joy finished as the best graduating pediatrics student of UniPort in 2015 Speaking in an interview with Punch, the 25-year-old said; About the cash prize, Im grateful for the gesture. I do not feel entitled to anything and nobody actually owes me anything, so I dont feel sad. I would always be grateful for everything I got and anything it brings to me in the nearest future. I appreciate my lecturers especially the paediatricians because without the knowledge they imparted in me, I wouldnt have achieved this. Im also grateful to UNIPORT for giving me the platform to achieve my dreams. The cash reward was inconsequential to me because following this award, I was already recognised at my induction ceremony and the smile on the faces of my family members and friends made the entire journey worthwhile. Joy received N250 for graduating top of her class in 2015 The Chief Medical Director, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Prof. Aaron Ojule, also offered myself and 24 of my colleagues immediate placement for internship. The Association of Resident Doctors gave us a warm reception upon our resumption of internship as well as gifts to celebrate our achievements. So in all, Im actually very grateful. She sure has a positive attitude towards life. Meanwhile, see how the British Council rewarded Nigerians who were exceptional while studying in the UK: Source: Legit.ng As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ After the US dropped a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb on a tunnel complex near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, an Afghan official said today that the number of militants killed increased to 94 from 36. By AP: The number of militants killed in an attack by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military has risen to 94, an Afghan official said today. Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier. A Ministry of Defence official had said yesterday the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district. advertisement "Fortunately there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack," Khogyani said. The US attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing. THE 'MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS' The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains that Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks in fierce fighting in Nangarhar province. The office of President Ashraf Ghani said Friday there was "close coordination" between the U.S. military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties. The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The US has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The US has more than 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations. Also on Saturday, Khogyani said a district leader and three others were wounded when their vehicle was targeted by a bomb. One of the wounded was Ghalib Mujahid, Bati Kot district chief, he said. "The district chief and others are out of danger and are not in life-threatening condition," he said. Last November, Mujahid was attacked by a sticky bomb attached to the vehicle and he was wounded and his driver was killed. ALSO READ | Mother Of All Bombs caught on video: No casualties, claims ISIS ALSO READ | At least 2 of 20 ISIS Kerala recruits feared dead in Afghanistan MOAB attack WATCH VIDEO | Mother of All Bombs dropped to deny operative space to ISIS: US --- ENDS --- A district magistrate in Uttar Pradesh has instituted a new plan to ensure teachers remain present at schools. It involves getting them to click selfies with their students once they reach school every day. Teachers are asked to click a selfie with their students once they reach school By Rajat Rai: Here's a novel idea that seems to have clicked. At a time when new chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his team are trying to instill the virtue of punctuality in Uttar Pradesh's notoriously lax bureaucracy, a young civil servant is quietly playing his part. Kumar Prashant - a 2010-batch IAS officer who got his first posting as the magistrate of Chandauli district a few months ago - has introduced the "attendance with selfie" plan as a disciplinary tool in schools. advertisement "The attendance of students in government schools, especially in rural and remote outskirts, is an age-old problem and what further adds to the menace is the absence and disinterest of teachers," he told Mail Today. "With penetration of mobiles, internet and social networking sites in the remotest parts of developing India, we thought of using it as a more innovative and constructive platform." 'ATTENDANCE WITH SELFIE' The idea was simple: to use the combination of selfie and social media to make teachers responsible and answerable. "We made WhatsApp groups at four levels with each level answerable to the next and that's how things are slowly getting streamlined," Prashant explained. So a teacher reaches his school on time, signs himself "present" in the register, takes attendance of students after which he snaps a selfie with the kids and posts it in the first WhatsApp group within 30 minutes. There are three levels - Nyaya Panchayat Resource Centre (NPRC), block-level group and the district group. "The NPRC collects details of schools under its jurisdiction and forwards them to the block. The block after collecting the selfies from NPRCs sends them to the district headquarters. A control room is formed at the regional information centre that keeps track on daily basis and a review is held every month," Prashant said. BECOMING POPULAR Started in February this year in the Naugarh block that was once Naxal-dominated and is about 70 km from the district headquarters, the initiative is steadily gaining popularity. "We plan to cover all primary and upper primary government schools. Network is hardly a problem. However, if there is a problem, the teacher can post the selfie when he finds a signal," the district magistrate said. The Chandauli administration plans to hold an awareness and participation workshop on April 19-20. According to officials, students also approve of the idea and are now showing interest in coming to school. "Education officials have also started visiting schools frequently. We tell students that people across the district as well as the country will praise them," said Amita Srivastava, district coordinator of girls' education. advertisement At present, no punitive measures are in place, but plans are in the pipeline. "It is just the beginning, as due to elections, the initiative got stalled. However, in future, we will definitely take action against errant teachers and this may include deducting a day's salary or giving an adverse report," Prashant said. ALSO READ | Uttar Pradesh schools charging exorbitant fees; government to step in ALSO READ | Uttar Pradesh: New education policy for state soon, says Dinesh Sharma --- ENDS --- On 3-5 October 2017 Kyiv is going to host the Space and Future Forum to network international experts and youth, many of whom will also participate at the first CosmoHack in the world. Joinfo provides media coverage of the Forum, and some of its topics were already discussed ... U.S. officials secretly ask major banks to continue doing business with some Russian firms 19fortyfive: Is America tired of the war in Ukraine? EU replaces pipeline Russian gas with imported Russian LNG Kommersant: China split the 'unity' of the West Expert estimates level of Azerbaijan's information attack on Armenia in September, comparing it to 44-day war UK wants to work more with the U.S. on gas supplies Donald Trump votes in Florida midterm elections EU admits: It is impossible to set a ceiling on gas prices that will not affect contracts or security of supply Most valuable metal of year is named Mehr: Nikolai Patrushev arrives in Tehran Turkish TV company confesses that Ankara and Israel were arming Azerbaijan against Armenia Who is Baku threatening? Armenia's former deputy defense minister decodes Aliyev's statements Army Commander-in-Chief: Even those who claim to be superpowers do not dare to attack Iran Iran and Russia to build joint pipeline India to continue buying Russian oil Businessman Zhong Shanshan becomes richest man in China Armenia and Poland emphasize OSCE role in promoting stability in South Caucasus Banks are searched in Germany in case of money laundering by Russian businessman Armenian President reacts to Aliyev's speech at League of Arab States summit Armenia increases trade with EEU member states by $1.2 bln Cavusoglu: Sweden and Finland have not yet fulfilled all Turkey's conditions Oldest member of Rothschild dynasty die in Britain Armenian National Security Council head and Polish Secretary of State discuss regional security issues Stepantsminda-Lars highway faces restrictions Kyiv realizes if China starts supplying ammunition to Russian troops it will be terrible State Department: U.S. remains committed to supporting peace in South Caucasus region Iran condemns thousand protesters and calls for retaliation against rest Delegation from Israel visits Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide Media: London is close to agreement with Washington on LNG supplies Aliyev in fact confirms fact of Azerbaijani aggression against sovereign territory of Armenia Toivo Klaar: Important meeting held in Washington between Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs Aliyev switches from threatening Armenia to insulting foreign leaders Karabakh ombudsman: Todays occupation does not change status of Shushi Envoy briefs Kazakhstan human rights commissioner on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Armenia Dollar, euro continue to rise in Armenia U.S. Ambassador to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield arrives in Kiev EU partners welcome justice sector reforms in Armenia Armenia government to have academic city project development working group Rybar: Publication of Iranian film about 'skeletons' of Aliyev family is blow to positions of Aliyev family Zelenskyy to attend G20 leaders' summit Voting for midterm elections to Congress begins in U.S. Russian MFA offers Tehran and Riyadh to mediate dialogue Survey: Georgia residents say Armenia is their friend Arman Yeghoyan to Poland colleague: Armenia needs support from European platforms State Department official: American side is impressed by Armenia Police reforms Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte: I realized that this project is the right one Heads of general staffs of CSTO countries armies to discuss military cooperation development President: Climate change agenda continues to remain priority for Armenia despite challenges, security concerns Armenia discusses issue of EEU citizens' stay in country for more than 180 days Economy minister: 74% of Diaspora Armenians ready to invest in Armenia Constitutional Court of Georgia revokes ban on pornography 158 people die in Philippines storm Close to $7.5M allocated for Armenia scientific infrastructure, material, technical base modernization Byblos Bank Armenia finances the construction of two major solar parks Bloomberg: EU mechanism to provide Ukraine with $18 billion implies conditions Turkey voices its full and unconditional support for Azerbaijan Ombudsperson attends Armenia-EU Human Rights Dialogue session, presents facts recorded in her ad hoc reports Israeli embassy congratulates Azerbaijan on 'Victory Day' World gold prices going down Ankara offers its storage capacity for Russian grain Zelenskiy calls key conditions for talks with Russia Bitcoin price goes down Copper price goes down World oil prices dropping Blinken: Armenia and Azerbaijan are taking courageous steps to achieve peace Newspaper: What changes expected in "Brussels package" of Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization talks? 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas found off Israel coast State Security Service of Azerbaijan is scared by YouTube video about situation in Nakhichevan Newspaper: There were serious problems in organizing Global Armenian Summit MFA: Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs agree to expedite their negotiations President: UAE is a responsible energy supplier as long as the world needs oil and gas EU has serious concerns about US inflation reduction act Head of IMF: The global surge in consumer prices may be close to the high point Germany wants EU to resume trade talks with US as soon as possible Pashinyan's closed meeting with MPs of ruling Civil Contract faction is over Hungary will not support EU efforts to help Ukraine with joint funds Greece to soon ban sale of spyware U.S. military delegation arrives in Turkey German industry calls for postponement of global minimum corporate tax Podolyak: Ukraine has never refused to negotiate Elon Musk calls on 'independent-minded' voters to vote for Republicans Bezos Earth Fund pledges $1 billion by 2030 to protect carbon stocks and biodiversity 7 people killed in collision between truck and passenger bus in Turkey Nikol Pashinyan holds closed meeting with members of ruling party faction Qatar's foreign minister calls criticism of West 'arrogant' and 'racist' Algeria officially applies to join BRICS group Delegations headed by Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs meet in Washington French Finance Minister calls on EU to oppose U.S. Armenian President: Aliyev's statements about intentional destruction of mosques have nothing to do with reality German MFA reports constructive talks in EU on new sanctions against Iran Kazakhstani President Tokayev instructs to increase oil supplies bypassing Russia President of Artsakh holds expanded working meeting Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports to receive more than 250 billion drams in 2023 Borrell says EU is dependent on supplies from China Armenia official: Peace treaty implies restoration of sovereign territory Guterres thinks mankind is heading for climate hell Dollar, euro gain value in Armenia General: Iran riots were US plan to derail nuclear deal Minister: 'Lydian Armenia' may start exploitation of gold mine on Mountain Amulsar Armenia political scientist: Balance is formed in region thanks to Iran By India Today Web Desk: Kumkum Bhagya actress Sriti Jha's alleged boyfriend Kunal Karan Kapoor asked her out for a candlelight dinner but Sriti rejected the offer, as someone had already asked her out and she had said yes. Wondering who's the one, whom Sriti chose over Kunal. He's none other than Harry Potter. Yes, you read that right. @kunalkkapoor sorry someone asked me already and I said yes pic.twitter.com/Lg4PzxTmCp- sriti jha (@sritianne) March 25, 2017 advertisement When Kunal tweeted, "Candle lit dinner tonite?@sritianne #EarthHour." Sriti replied with a pic of a Harry Potter book and a glass of champagne with a note that said, "Sorry someone asked me already and I said yes." Sriti and Kunal have been rumoured to be dating each other for quite some time now. The couple never indulge in PDA on social media and have never even shared a pic together, which keeps everyone guessing if they are actually seeing each other or not. Also read: Kumkum Bhagya actress Sriti Jha wows in her bikini look; see pic Sriti choosing Harry Potter over a candlelight dinner comes as no surprise, as the actress is quite a bibliophile. She often shares images of books that she reads, which includes Harry Potter series, Haruki Murakami, Pablo Neruda and Harper Lee. Sriti has always kept her relationship with Kunal under wraps, but it was one of the rare occasions when Kunal shared Thailand vacation pics where the duo were in the same frame along with few other friends. --- ENDS --- YEREVAN. At this point, there is no reason to say that I will not be a member of a new Cabinet, incumbent Minister of Nature Protection of Armenia Artsvik Minasyan told reporters. Minasyan, who was appointed to this position when ARF Dashnaktsutyun joined coalition with the ruling party, said they are now at the stage of negotiations with the Republican Party of Armenia. Asked about the possibility that another ministerial seat will be offered to him in the future Cabinet, given that he was minister of economy once, Minasyan replied: If I look at my preferences, then no, because I think, that this sphere is the basis for the development of the state. Our natural resources, the environment - a real basis for the development of our country. With the right and targeted policy, we can have a serious development. We should not forget that our natural resources are considered quite competitive in the world from the point of view of water, mineral resources, biodiversity, he said. Ten days ago, President Trump who as a candidate accused China of "raping" our country in part by devaluing its currency called the nation a "world champion" of currency manipulation. Wednesday, he told The Wall Street Journal "they're not currency manipulators." Two weeks ago, Trump's secretary of state and U.N. ambassador said removing Bashar Assad from power in Syria was no longer a U.S. priority. Days ago, Nikki Haley and Rex Tillerson said there was "no option" for Assad to stay in power after he attacked his own people with sarin. Wednesday, Trump said it is not his administration's policy to insist that Assad step down. Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump yearned to improve relations with Russia, including its "strong" and "very smart" president and welcomed Russia's involvement in Syria. Wednesday, after taking Russia to task for its involvement in Syria, Trump said relations with Russia had reached an "all-time low." Last September, Trump ripped Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen for "doing political things," saying he would "most likely" not appoint the economy's single most important official to another term. Wednesday, Trump declared himself open to reappointing Yellen: "I like her, I respect her." Just after taking office, Trump imposed a hiring freeze at federal agencies, save the military and public safety jobs. Wednesday, the Trump administration lifted that freeze. Last year, Trump called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization "obsolete." Wednesday, Trump called NATO "no longer obsolete." Over and over again throughout 2015 and 2016, Trump promised to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Tuesday, his attorney general said he expects Congress to pay for the barrier. Do you follow? The Daily News, New York In the aftermath of the collapse of the Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, we had some small hope that, instead of continuing with their fruitless vilification of the law, the Trump administration would reach out to Democrats and fix it. But sometimes, President Trump should be taken at his word, such as when he predicted Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act is known, would "explode." The Affordable Care Act won't fall apart on its own, but it could be compromised, and even crippled, if the Trump administration undermines it at every opportunity. We're afraid the "explosion" Trump predicted is one for which he intends to light the fuse. We'd much rather the president and Republican legislative leaders resist the destructive impulse to ruin a law that is helping millions of people and work, instead, to strengthen it. The latest proposal from the White House is not encouraging, however. It would revoke two regulations. The first requires insurance plans to cover certain "essential" health benefits, such as mental health care and prescription drugs. The second is known as "community rating," and it stops insurers from charging more to cover people with pre-existing conditions. These proposals would gut the Affordable Care Act and take health insurance back to the days when people who were sick with cancer or some other affliction could not afford to be covered. Only insurance companies could like them. Already, moderate Republicans have spoken out against the proposals, which appear to have no chance of being passed by Congress. Despite propaganda to the contrary, the Affordable Care Act is stable, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It covers millions of people who previously lacked insurance or who lost their coverage since the law was passed. As part of the act, 32 states have expanded their Medicaid programs, and the collapse of the repeal effort has added momentum to Medicaid expansion in some of the holdout states. Ironically, the Republican takeover of the White House and Congress has led to a spike in public approval of the Affordable Care Act. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 75 percent of the public wants the Trump administration to work to improve the law, not destroy it. The same poll found that if the law fails, more than 60 percent of people will hold Republicans responsible, because they control the government now. A recent Gallup poll found that, for the first time since 2012, a majority of Americans (55 percent) support the Affordable Care Act. Only 30 percent want it repealed. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand recently made an emphatic statement of what she sees as her mission helping people. If members of Congress aren't doing that, they should go home, she said. She's right. The Affordable Care Act, despite imperfections, is helping people. Trump can do some good by taking whatever steps are necessary even working with Democrats to make it better. The Post-Star, Glens Falls It's up to the courts as to whether Arturo Di Modica has any legal right to stop the "Fearless Girl" statue from destroying the meaning of his own "Charging Bull" but he's clearly right to call out that truth. At his own expense ($350,000), the Italian sculptor created the bull decades ago to symbolize the strength and resilience of Wall Street. But the girl (though a fine work in its own right) turns his bull into a symbol of ... sexism. Adding insult to injury, State Street Global Advisors installed "Fearless Girl" as an advertising ploy with a plaque that even subtly promoted the company's SHE investment fund. Should an ad be allowed to destroy Di Modica's art? As The Post reports, the sculptor and a half-dozen lawyers on Wednesday announced plans to sue for infringement of his artistic copyright. The offending statue can still make its point if placed elsewhere, he argues say, facing not the bull, but the Stock Exchange itself. State Street, and the city, should consider that move: It might even strengthen the message of "Fearless Girl." New York Post Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has indicated that he is ready to join hands with BSP chief Mayawati if an anti-BJP alliance was stitched. By India Today Web Desk: A day after BSP supremo Mayawati proposed an anti-BJP alliance, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav today said that he was "ready for alliance against propaganda". Talking to reporters in Lucknow, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav said, "I am ready for alliance against propaganda. I will duly perform my role in the alliance." Akhilesh Yadav's comment gains significance as Mayawati proposed only yesterday that an alliance should be formed to tackle the BJP. advertisement Speaking on the occasion of 126th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Mayawati said that to stop BJP's juggernaut, she was open to cooperate with anti-BJP parties. 'EVMs WERE TAMPERED' Mayawati had alleged that EVMs were tampered on massive scale during the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. She said that the BJP tampered EVMs in 250 of 403 Assembly constituencies. Akhilesh Yadav repeated the charges saying that Yogi Adityanath government was formed after cheating the people of Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav demanded that the Election Commission should use ballot papers for conducting polls. AKHILESH'S JIBE AT BJP, RSS Akhilesh Yadav further alleged that law and order situation has worsened in Uttar Pradesh after Yogi Adityanath government took oath. Akhilesh said the BJP workers are running amok in the state. In one incident, the BJP workers chased and thrashed policemen in Kannauj, Akhilesh alleged. Taking a swipe at the Yogi government's emphasis on Hindutva agenda, Akhilesh Yadav said, "They (the BJP and RSS) don't consider me a Hindu. I think I will have to tweet a photograph when I go to a temple." --- ENDS --- YEREVAN. - The device for testing the identity of brandy spirit is already available in Armenia but its test is not yet obligatory for brandy certification. Head of the State Service for Food Safety of the Armenian Agriculture Ministry, Ishkhan Karapetyan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News NEWS.am. There is a requirement that the substance correspond to the labeling. If there is such a violation, there will also be a punishment. We oversee this, having inspected 12 alcohol producers last year. But the requirement on the expert examination of the brandy or wine spirit identity is not obligatory yet. It is up to the Ministry to decide whether to introduce such a requirement or not, Karapetyan said. By testing C2 and H13 isotopes it is possible to reveal the origin of the grape and check whether the brandy, wine or grape vodka were prepared using local raw material and have a right to be called Armenian. Moreover, the test allows to narrow down the test not only to the level of the country but also to that of a specific location. The testing equipment (nuclear-magnetic isolator), acquired with the support of Russia, has been installed in the State Service for Food Safety. FILE - This Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 file photo, a Syrian army soldier makes his way in a tunnel reportedly previously used by rebel fighters on the once rebel-held Bab Antakya street in the eastern Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) BEIRUT (AP) -- Backed by Russian air power and allied militiamen on the ground, Syrian troops have recaptured entire cities from rebels and Islamic State group extremists in the past year, including the key cities of Aleppo, Homs and Palmyra. Yet for the past three years, President Bashar Assad's forces have been unable to free opposition-held neighborhoods of the capital Damascus, where rebel fighters have built a labyrinth of secret underground tunnels, beyond the reach of airstrikes and connected to opposition-held suburbs farther out. A weeks-long push to expand the security belt around Assad's seat of power, however, shows a new determination to retake the three areas north and northeast of the capital partially held by rebels a long-festering thorn in the government's side. The offensive is the strongest in years, with warplanes reportedly conducting more than 70 airstrikes in one day and using surface-to-surface missiles in some of the deadliest attacks in weeks. "The regime is pushing with all the powers it has," said Ahmad Mahmoud, an opposition activist based in a rebel-held eastern suburb of Damascus. The Damascus neighborhoods of Barzeh, Qaboun, and Jobar form a semi arc from the northern to eastern edge of Damascus. They are partially held by rebels and are often used to fire mortar shells into the metropolis and stage hit-and-run attacks, a constant threat and reminder that rebels can disrupt life in the city that has escaped much of the destruction and violence of other areas. Qaboun and Barzeh had witnessed relative calm since 2014 thanks to a reconciliation deal between rebels and the government. During that period, vegetables and daily products were allowed out of the neighborhoods into Damascus and in return the government allowed food and other products into the neighborhoods. That allowed government troops to turn their attention elsewhere and in December government forces and their allies captured rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, marking Assad's biggest victory of the six-year war. Aleppo is Syria's largest city and once commercial center. Story continues In March, rebels began evacuating al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighborhood in the Homs, the country's third-largest city, and more recently they evicted rebels from the Wadi Barada region northwest of Damascus. In August last year, rebels evacuated the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Daraya after years of siege. The victories have freed thousands of troops and pro-government fighters who are now marching in northern, central and southern Syria against rebels and members of the Islamic State group. Opposition activists say that some of these troops will be used in the battle to capture the Damascus neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta in what would boost the security belt around Damascus and ease pressure on the capital. "They are dealing with the eastern Ghouta enclave last, because it is much larger than all the other enclaves," said Aron Lund, a fellow at The Century Foundation. "It is bigger, more populated, and better defended than Eastern Aleppo was." Lund, a Syria analyst, said Qaboun and Barzeh have supplied the eastern Ghouta rebels with arms, fuel, and other goods through smuggling tunnels, "so taking these areas would probably be the first step toward retaking the Eastern Ghouta." It will not be an easy battle. "They have their own world underground," said Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists around the country. He was referring to the elaborate underground tunnels that the fighters use to move from one place to another, smuggle food, or launch attacks against government forces before disappearing underground again. Anas al-Dimashqi, an opposition activist based in eastern Ghouta, said that many of the tunnels have been destroyed by the government recently, collapsing under the pressure of airstrikes, or come under control of troops in previous incursions that would eventually turn the balance of power in favor of the government. Having surrounded the areas from all sides, coupled with the unravelling of a truce that lasted years, it will be easier for the government to eventually get these areas under its control. Earlier this year clashes broke out in Damascus and on March 1, rebels killed Brig. Gen. Bilal Ibrahim Mubarak who was commanding the operations in Jobar and Qaboun. In mid-March, government forces launched a wide offensive, pushing deep into the so-called al-Darb al-Tawileh road cutting Barzeh and Qaboun from eastern Ghouta. The retaliation came days later as insurgents, including fighters linked with al-Qaida, launched suicide attacks and captured some areas from the government in their deepest incursion into Damascus since 2012 only to lose them days later. On April 3, government forces launched an offensive in Damascus capturing the Hafez road, a strategic artery, and sieged Barzeh in what would eventually facilitate its capture. Opposition activists say government forces have now gained experience of how to slowly take control of areas after besieging them by starving the population and targeting hospitals and clinics in order to force them to accept a deal that would lead to an evacuation a process that has occurred across other parts of the country. Marwan al-Omawi, a media activist in eastern Ghouta, said that if the neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta face an all-out attack, rebels are only few kilometers (miles) from the capital and can retaliate by shelling it to pressure the government. He said powerful groups are present in the neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta, including the Army of Islam, Failaq al-Rahman, the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham and the Fajr al-Umma group, illustrating that the battle will not be easy for the government. Osama Abu Zeid, a Syria-based activist said these areas will resist a government attack but eventually "these pockets have no supply lines and no lines to evacuate the wounded." Mahmoud, the Ghouta-based activist, says the government will have to carpet bomb the area to force opposition rebels to surrender. "We know that the regime can fire 10,000 shells on an area. The regime might be able to advance but only after destroying whole districts with airstrikes and surface-to-surface missiles," he said. 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #15 Posted on 15 April 2017 by John Hartz A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week. Articles of signifigance as determined by the editor are highlighted in the Editor's Picks' section. Editor's Picks An Indian court says glaciers and rivers are 'living entities.' Could the same approach work in the US? A Hindu devotee performs a ritual as she offers prayers to the Sun god in the waters of the Ganges River during the Chaiti Chhath Festival in Kolkata, India. The Gangotri glacier feeds the Ganges. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters Just weeks after a high court in the Indian state of Uttarakhand granted legal personhood to the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, the same court recently extended that same standing to the Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers that feed them. The finding follows New Zealands mid-March passage of a law recognizing the Whanganui River a feature that the Maori people consider an ancestor as a living entity. And the Indian courts effort to protect the vanishing glaciers also carries religious overtones, since both the rivers and glaciers are considered sacred sites to many Hindus. The past generations have handed over the Mother Earth to us in its pristine glory and we are morally bound to hand over the same Mother Earth to the next generation, the two ruling justices wrote, according to Indias Hindustan Times. An Indian court says glaciers and rivers are 'living entities.' Could the same approach work in the US? by David Iaconangelo, Christian Science Monitor, Apr 7, 2017 Deja vu all over again: Heartland Institute Peddling Misinformation to Teachers about Climate Change I have had the thrill of sharing the latest discoveries in the classroom with students who asked probing questions, when I was a faculty member of a University. That journey of discovery is one that parents and family members delight in hearing about when students come home and share what they have found particularly intriguing. What if the information the student shared was not based on the best available evidence? Misinformation would begin to spread more widely. If corrected, the student might distrust the teacher who may have not known the source material was compromised. This scenario is not fiction. It has happened and may still be occurring in some U.S. schools. Anyone concerned about this can learn more with an update forthcoming from those who keep track the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). Deja vu all over again: Heartland Institute Peddling Misinformation to Teachers about Climate Change by Brenda Ekwurzel, Union of Concerned Scientists, Apr 7, 2017 China's Xi Outshines Trump as the World's Future Energy Leader US President Donald Trump (L) sits with Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) during a bilateral meeting at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6, 2017. Credit: Jim Watson Getty Images Much of Pres. Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Fla., sits less than two meters above the Atlantic Ocean, meaning big parts of the resort could rest beneath the waves by the end of this century as seas rise in response to global warming. Already nearby communities like Miami Beach are flooded even when the sun shines, as higher seas push water up and out of the porous limestone underneath the ground in southern Florida. China is no better off, with cities from Hong Kong to Shanghai at increasing risk of inundation. Other threats such as extreme weather, farms turned to desert and choking smog are all exacerbated by climate change that results from rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air. Even Chinas efforts to combat those rising concentrationsin part by switching from burning coal to capturing the power latent in rivers like the Yangtzefalter in the face of global warming, as a result of less water in those rivers due to drought and the dwindling glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau. But all that seems to exist in an alternate universe where facts matter, because Trump and Chinas Pres. Xi Jinping apparently ignored climate change at their inaugural meeting last week. Although the two leaders apparently found time to discuss everything from North Koreas nuclear capability to a potential reset of trade relations, climate change was never mentioned, even though Trump might have wanted to take the opportunity to directly fact check his Tweet from last year that China invented climate change to cripple U.S. manufacturing. The silence was not a surprise, however, even if the focus China's Xi Outshines Trump as the World's Future Energy Leader by David Biello, Scientific American, Apr 11, 2017 Sun Apr 9 Mon Apr 10 Tue Apr 11 Wed Apr 12 Thu Apr 13 Fri Apr 14 Sat Apr 15 In less than one month's time, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has reviewed several pet projects of previous Akhilesh Yadav government. Some projects have been frozen, some dumped while others have been rechristened under the Yogi Adityanath government. By India Today Web Desk: Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh will complete one month next week. In this short period, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has reviewed several schemes and projects launched by previous Akhilesh Yadav government. Yogi Adityanath has scrapped, dumped, rechristened or frozen some of the ambitious schemes and pet projects launched by Akhilesh Yadav government. Yogi Adityanath has ordered probe in some of the cases. advertisement The Uttar Pradesh administration has also been tasked by CM Yogi Adityanath to review all the projects launched or undertaken by the previous government and carries 'Samajwadi' tag. SAMAJWADI HOUSING SCHEME Yogi Adityanath has frozen Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Awas Yojana. Yogi Adityanath has, instead, decided to implement the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana in Uttar Pradesh to provide affordable housing to the poor. The Yogi government has released Rs 38 crore to prepare a draft plan and appoint consultants in all 628 urban bodies in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Awas Yojana was aimed at providing affordable housing to the masses. Under the scheme a two-bedroom flat was provided to the middle and lower income group families living in cities across Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh government had set a target to build 3 lakh flats under the scheme but the progress was very slow. The Yogi government has ordered a probe to ascertain why there was so much delay in implementation of the project. SAMAJWADI RATION CARD Yogi Adityanath government rolled back the Samajwadi ration card scheme in Uttar Pradesh. Soon after taking oath as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath decided not to distribute some 60 lakh ration cards printed by Akhilesh Yadav government. These ration cards had photograph Akhilesh Yadav printed on them. Akhilesh government had distributed 3.4 crore Samajwadi ration cards. Yogi government decided to cancel all such ration cards. Samajwadi Ration Card was rolled back by Yogi Adityanath government. The Akhilesh government had hastily got printed those ration cards, but before all the cards could be distributed among the beneficiaries, the election dates were announced and model code of conduct came into effect. This prevented Akhilesh government from distributing the ration cards. NUTRITION MISSION COMMITTEE Akhilesh Yadav's wife and Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav was a member of the State Nutrition Mission Committee constituted by the previous government. The State Nutrition Mission was launched by Akhilesh government in 2014. The mission aimed at eradicating malnutrition among children in Uttar Pradesh. The Nutrition Mission was meant to keep a vigil on the health of new mothers and babies upto three years of age so that malnutrition among them could be controlled. SAMAJWADI PENSION SCHEME advertisement Yogi Adityanath has scrapped the Samajwadi Pension Scheme and sought a review report on the beneficiaries. The Social Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh is preparing a list of beneficiaries of the Samajwadi Pension Scheme to find out if there are any undeserving candidates. Samajwadi Ambulance Service of Akhilesh Yadav government. (Photo: digitalcm.in) Yogi Adityanath also ordered to rename the Samajwadi Pension Yojana as Mukhyamantri Pension Yojana. The pension scheme provides for Rs 500 per month to BJP families. Yogi Adityanath has directed the Social Welfare Department to double the pension amount to widows, specially-abled and old-aged people. 'SAMAJWADI' PREFIX Yogi Adityanath has directed state government officials to prepare a list of all the state run schemes having 'Samajwadi' prefix. 'Samajwadi' word will be replaced by some other words or by 'Mukhyamantri'. The decision to remove 'Samajwadi' from the schemes came during review of the progress of 343-km-long Samajwadi Poorvanchal Expressway. This expressway connects Ballia and Azamgarh and passes through Lucknow. It was the flagship project of the Akhilesh Yadav government. The Samajwadi Ambulance Swasthya Sewa has also lost its original name. The ambulance service is extended free-of-cost and round-the-clock to patients in emergency in Uttar Pradesh. ALSO READ | advertisement Yogi Adityanath impact? Akhilesh Yadav ready for anti-BJP alliance proposed by Mayawati Yogi Adityanath to roll back ration cards with Akhilesh Yadav's photograph WATCH | Yogi launches Annapurna canteens in Uttar Pradesh --- ENDS --- Usefulness Content Freshness Our world is demanding more and more solutions from us each day. Without the right questions, however, we are missing the deep connections (aka knowledge) that can truly solve our problem. In " Ask More:: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change", a media expert and professor inspires readers through touching stories that demonstrate how powerful the right question can be for any problem that you're currently facing. If you buy something through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more. Questions are like furniture. They are in our environment but we often dont pay attention to them until someone asks something and grabs our attention. For Simone, a woman whose story is featured in Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change, that question was: Before I was born a child passed away.what happened? That question asked to her father, in a simple school assignment, unlocked a story that forever changed the way Simone saw her parents. Ask More is about tapping into the power of questions, just like Simone, for better solutions. What is Ask More About? Most of us realize the importance of questions. We ask questions to find directions to find the restroom, to make requests (like Can I get a double latte?), or to figure out our world (Why didnt she call back?). Questions can function on a much deeper level, however. It is this deeper level that Ask More wants to reach. At this level, questions have the power to create or limit solutions, often with critical consequences. Ask More is packed with lots of examples of seemingly simple questions working at this deeper level. One example is General Colin Powells use of eight questions (known as The Powell Doctrine) to determine whether to proceed with a military action. General Powell used this set of eight questions to determine his actions in two wars, the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War. He asked the same questions for each war but ignored some of the answers. In other words, Powells actions in war were directly tied to the questions and answers that he chose to follow. Likewise, the questions and answers we choose direct how we address a problem. In some cases, questions can be used to determine a patients probable diagnosis, create social policies, discover medical breakthroughs, or determine why customers dont buy your product. We know this intuitively but we tend to focus on the solution. In the world of today where answers can be obtained literally in seconds, this pressure to have solutions will become more visible. Ask More is a book that reminds us that our focus shouldnt always be on finding the right solution. Our focus should be on asking more questions that lead us down the right path. In the process, we might gain more knowledge than a quick search engine result could ever provide. Author Frank Sesno is an educator, the director of the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs and creator of Planet Forward, an environmental and sustainability news site. Sesno is also the former host of Late Edition, a CNN public-affairs talk show. What Was Best About Ask More? The best part of Ask More is the down-to-Earth way that Sesno introduces the art and craft of questioning, a subject that most of us take for granted. The book uses stories to demonstrate the power of questions across all disciplines, whether you are in government, in a patients room, in medicine, or on the battlefield for a variety of different purposes. The questions used in these stories arent designed to be elaborate. They are designed to be strategic and collaborative, the depth of questioning Sesno hopes his readers achieve. What Could Have Been Done Differently? Sesno readily admits that Ask More is not prescriptive in nature. His focus is on helping readers understand why they need to ask good questions. The book doesnt go into a lot of detail about which questions to ask for a specific situation. Instead, it is more of an open-ended discussion on the power of questioning rather than a step-by-step guide for busy readers who just want a quick checklist. More instruction on how to integrate good questions into a businesses processes (especially in a book dedicated to that purpose) might be even more helpful for business owners. Why Read Ask More? Ask More is a perspective-shifting book from which any reader can benefit. For leaders, it can serve as a reminder of the important assumptions underlying a plan. The book encourages readers to consider the underlying questions behind their assumptions. It is not exclusively focused on business, but it doesnt have to be. The fact that the book focuses on various disciplines besides business demonstrates that the art and skill of questioning is applicable to various situations. Asking good questions shouldnt be limited to the workplace. Likewise, asking good questions shouldnt only occur outside of the workplace, either. The books memorable stories help to lock in that strong and necessary message for a world where solutions seem to be obtained faster and faster each day. Get discounts and special offers on new and classic business books with an Audible Premium Plus membership. Learn more and sign up for an account today. Slovakia has been advancing significantly in most areas apart from internet connections and the integration of digital technologies. Font size: A - | A + Slovakia has climbed two places in the latest EU ranking of digital development and competitiveness. It placed 20th in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) with an overall score of 0.46 (on a scale where 1 is the maximum), the TASR newswire reported. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement As for the digital public services, the country placed 23rd, up four notches compared to last year. Slovakia also improved its use of open data between individual countries, moving up from 15th place to 9th. Moreover, Slovaks are very active in the use of video-calls, holding 5th place in the EU, as well as in online shopping in which they placed 10th. Relevant steps and subsequent targeted investments in the informatisation development of society have borne results and progress, said Deputy PM for Investments and Informatisation Peter Pellegrini (Smer), as quoted by TASR. Nonetheless, we must continue even more intensively in our work. As much as 78 percent of Slovaks use the internet, with 55 percent having at least basic digital skills. However, Slovak companies are too slow to adopt digital technologies in order to boost their productivity and sales. Although weve been advancing rapidly in the digitisation of public services, the public sector must step on it to bring us among Europes top countries, said Pellegrini, as quoted by TASR. Slovakia has been advancing significantly in most areas apart from internet connections and the integration of digital technologies, according to the European Commission. Meanwhile, it praised Slovakia for its notable expansion of mobile broadband connections and improvements in digital public services, describing it along with Slovenia as the most progressive country in this respect, TASR wrote. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has just published new global maps of the Earth, exhibiting how our Mother Planet looks at night. The new global map is the first set to reveal earths look during night time since 2012. The stunning satellite images of Earth is dubbed as night lights, and have been published in every decade. Since 25 years, images, published under night lights have been a major public curiosity as well as a valuable research tool that has been helping scientists exploring earths view from space. The latest set of images, released by NASA is giving a stunning and startling look at the planet. The striking satellite pictures of NASA are illustrating the high-definition, clearest, and closest view of earth, ever had. The pictures are giving a clear description of the patterns of human society across the planet, showing how human settlement has shaped Earth on which we are living and how we have lighted it up. NASA, while publishing the images said, a team of scientists, led by Earth scientist Miguel Roman is inching closer to capture and deliver daily, high-definition sights of Earth at night. The mission will be accomplished through the data, collected from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Centre. For now, NASA has published only a few images of the set, while later this year, the agency is expected to release the full suite of data for public access. But for now, the US-based space agency has released fantastic global composite maps of night lights which were observed last year. One of the images of the set is giving the clearest and full view of Hemisphere on Earth, while one NASA Observatory Image is showing the stunning lightened image of India. In two pictures, one is showing the view of India in 2012, while in the picture, clicked in 2016 is revealing the changes and increments in human settlement clearly. Now, scientists at NASA are trying to find out if the night lights imagery can be upgraded more frequently perhaps daily so that they can keep an eye on the changes, going on in earth regularly, in fact, more precisely. Doing so will radically alter the manners how the weather is being forecasted, and will enhance the responsive approach towards natural disaster and will even help to track the effects of war. Ficklin Media Note: The needed reporting on the sexual abuse at Choate Rosemary Hall is rather "immediate" to me. I will be attending my 50th reunion next month. Of course, those in power exerting that power over others in not a new story.It is really important from my perspective that but for the Boston Globe articles these personal crimes would not have been so widely known and institutions such as Choate-Rosemary Hall would not have gone to such great lengths to respond in public.Let the record be very clear , great lengths were taken to obscure, deny and suspend reality previously.As we know from the Catholic church molestation crisis of who knows how long it was in play, some students at Choate, at other private schools, at other public schools, in other families, in armed service barracks and in casting rooms just to name a few environments - power seduces.I have spent a few decades involved with creating media, sharing media and producing media .We need to applaud the Boston Globe for keeping the mandate and purpose that the public has a right to know in mind.There is a fine line between wielding a particular vendetta and exposing the need for public accountability or lack there of.Choate during those years was like institutions then and institutions now challenged to uphold dignity universally and not to denigrate selectively. To honor and not to debauch. To nurture and not to negate. To cherish and not to condemn. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani waves to media as he arrives at the Interior Ministry to register his candidacy for the May 19 presidential elections, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's President Hassan Rouhani registered Friday to run in the upcoming presidential elections in May, saying he will continue to preserve a landmark nuclear deal that his country reached with world powers in 2015. Associated Press journalists watched as Rouhani, 68, registered on the fourth day of the allocated period which ends on Saturday evening. In 2013, he had registered on the first day. The upcoming vote will be seen, among other things, as a referendum on the nuclear agreement with world powers, under which Iran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. Running on the platform "More freedom and peace" Rouhani said, "Freedom should be expanded in both scope and strength in this country. Our universities and our youth should feel more lively and delighted." Rouhani vowed to remain loyal to the nuclear deal, and urged all Iranians to vote. "From today on preserving the nuclear deal will be one of the most important domestic, political and economic issues for the Iranian nation," said Rouhani. Rouhani portrayed the deal as a newborn baby and hinted that his hard-line opponents were not fit to protect it, "Those who several times attempted to kill the child cannot be a good caretaker for the child." He said he would continue his past promise to "salvage the economy" and "engage constructively" with the world. "The Iranian nation will not stop half way, and will continue down its path. We'll not go back halfway. We'll continue down our path until the end," Rouhani said. Rouhani also mentioned the giant joint gas field, the North Field, Iran will be developing with Qatar. Earlier on Wednesday former hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his close ally Hamid Baghaei also filed to run for the presidency. Also on Friday Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had earlier announced plans to run promising to fight poverty and corruption, registered to run in the presidential elections. Story continues Iranian hardliners had widely hope Raisi would challenge incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. Raisi in his first remarks after registering praised the country's democracy and the necessity of rule of law during the elections and afterward. Raisi, 56, a professor of Islamic law, has served in the country's judiciary for decades. He is also a member of Assembly of Experts, an all-cleric body that will rule on the successor for the Supreme Leader. Raisi is also prosecutor of the Special Cleric Court, which deals with the offenses of clerics. Earlier this month Ebrahim Raisi announced his readiness in a statement in which he said the country is suffering from "structural chronic illness and incorrect managerial traditions." In 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Raisi as head of the Imam Reza charity foundation, which owns a massive business conglomerate and endowments in Iran. Both Rouhani and Raisi on Friday avoided raising controversial issues, acquiescing to a longstanding demand by Khamenei who had urged a non-polarized election. Registration will remain open until Saturday, and any Iranian national can apply. The applicants will then be vetted by the Guardian Council, a clerical body that will announce a final list of candidates by April 27. The council normally does not approve dissidents or women. The nuclear deal was engineered by the Rouhani administration and went into effect in 2016. Iran has since resumed selling oil and signed deals worth billions of dollars to replace its aging commercial airline inventory. Critics of the deal, however, complain that economic benefits have yet to trickle down to average Iranians. FILE - This undated photo provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines on April 12, 2017, shows people stand by boats which the military said were used by Abu Sayyaf militants to enter the Ibananga River in Bohol province, central Philippines, as government troopers continue clearing operations. Philippine officials said Saturday, April 15, 2017, that an investigation shows that a foiled attack on a resort island this week was a kidnapping and bombing mission by at least three nascent groups affiliated with the Islamic State group. (3rd ID, Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP, File) MANILA, Philippines (AP) A foiled attack on a central Philippine resort island this week was a kidnapping and bombing mission by at least three extremist groups affiliated with the Islamic State group in one of their most daring terror plots, security officials said Saturday. The Philippine military initially said that government forces, backed by airstrikes, successfully detected and thwarted a kidnapping plot by Abu Sayyaf militants in the island province of Bohol, a popular tourist destination far from the militants' southern jungle bases. Three soldiers, a policeman, two villagers and at least four militants, including key Abu Sayyaf commander and spokesman Moammar Askali, were killed in the daylong siege Tuesday in a hinterland village in Bohol's Inabanga town. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said combined military and police forces in Bohol thwarted "major terrorist activities" by the militants, who were aiming to divert the military's focus from intense offensives on the militants' jungle encampments in southern Sulu province and outlying islands. "The persons who died in the area, some of whom have been identified to be known terrorists, are still the subject of a continuing investigation to ascertain their participation," Padilla said, adding that the result of the investigation would be made public in the near future. Interviews with three security officials, along with documents and pictures seen by The Associated Press, indicated that three extremist groups that have pledged allegiance to IS deployed their leading bombers and fighters, some of whom wore IS-style black flag patches, for the Bohol assault. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the ongoing investigation of the foiled attack. While considered a key commander and emerging leader of Abu Sayyaf, Askali had also led a hard-line Abu Sayyaf faction called the Marakat Ansar Battalion, which is among 10 small armed groups that pledged allegiance to IS about three years ago and formed an IS-inspired alliance in the southern Philippines. Askali had been implicated in the beheadings of two Canadian hostages last year and a German tourist in February in Sulu's jungles, the officials said. Story continues Other Abu Sayyaf commanders have refused to align themselves with the Middle East-based extremist group, according to the officials. Aside from Askali, another key Sulu-based militant killed in Bohol was Edimar Isnain, who had worked with Malaysian and Indonesian militants in assembling bombs and leading bomb-making training for recruits of Abu Sayyaf and another violent group called Dawla Islamiya Ranao, also known as the Maute group, based in southern Lanao del Sur province. Troops recovered four assault rifles, rifle grenades and a sack load of bomb-making materials, including detonating cords, blasting caps and electronic bomb parts, a military report said. The AP obtained military pictures of Isnain's body, which was dug up by troops in Inabanga, and the other casualties, including an elderly village couple. It's not clear whether the two Inabanga villagers were killed in the crossfire or gunned down by the cornered Abu Sayyaf militants at the height of the fighting. The militants, who traveled from Sulu, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) by motor boat to the south of Bohol, were guided to Inabanga's interior hinterlands by Joselito Melloria, a convert to Islam. Military officials believed he may have been designated to lead another IS-linked extremist band called Ansar Khilafa Philippines had the Bohol attack been successful, the officials said. The AKP group's leader, Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, was killed by Philippine counterterrorism forces in southern Sarangani province in January. Melloria, who uses the nom de guerre Abu Alih and allowed the militants to stay at his Inabanga home, was wounded in the Bohol fighting and escaped with several other militants, the three officials said. It remains unclear what the targets of the militants were, but Bohol draws foreign and local tourists for its beach resorts, waterfalls, caves and wildlife. Bohol island lies about 640 kilometers (397 miles) southeast of Manila and is about an hour by boat from Cebu province, a trade and tourism center. Bohol is to host a meeting next week of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the regional bloc the Philippines is leading this year. Militants from the three IS-linked groups first collaborated by bombing a night market in southern Davao city, President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown, in a 2016 attack that killed 15 people and prompted Duterte to declare a state of lawless violence. The Bohol attack was the farthest and most daring plot so far by the allied militants. Duterte has threatened to place the south under martial law if terrorism threats spiral out of control. A few days before the Bohol violence, the U.S. Embassy in Manila advised Americans to take precautions amid "unsubstantiated yet credible information" of possible kidnappings by terrorists in Bohol and other central areas. A number of other Western embassies, including Canada and Britain, later issued similar travel warnings to their citizens. Abu Sayyaf militants on Thursday beheaded a kidnapped Filipino fishing boat captain in Sulu, apparently in retaliation for the death of their comrades in Bohol and the failure of the hostage's family to pay ransom, officials said. Dirty beer bottle Dan Muntz When a nuclear bomb goes off, the destruction is as horrifying as it is extensive. Buildings crumble, almost anything combustible ignites, and scores of people die some instantly, yet many more through burns or radiation sickness. Not everything is ruined, however. In fact, there's a good chance survivors of nuclear war could dig through the post-apocalyptic rubble, grab a beer or soda, and quench their thirst without (too much) concern, as we first learned in an NPR blog post by Robert Krulwich. From 1945 through the late 1960s, the US government carried out several above-ground nuclear bomb tests in the Nevada desert. One series in 1955, called Operation Teapot, detonated 14 nuclear bombs to test new nuclear weapon designs and effects. As part of that work, researchers set out a bunch of cans and bottles of sodas and beers to see how they'd fare. The experiment resulted in a 1957 study titled, "The effect of nuclear explosions on commercially packaged beverages". As Krulwich explains in his post: "[I]n 1956, the Atomic Energy Commission exploded two bombs, one 'with an energy release equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT,' the other 30 kilotons, a test site in Nevada. Bottles and cans were carefully placed various distances from ground zero. ... "The closest containers were placed 'less than a quarter mile away,' says Alex [Wellerstein, a science historian], 'a mere 1,056 feet', the outliers a couple of miles off. Some were buried, some left in batches, others were placed side by side." This is what one of the many Operation Teapot explosions looked like in slow-motion video: Although beers closest to the blasts were slightly radioactive, researchers determined they were still drinkable at least during an emergency. Drinks located further away were less irradiated. Scientists even taste-tested the beverages, most of which they deemed good (except those nearest the blast). Story continues Of course, searching for a refreshing beer or soda should not be your first priority if a bomb goes off in your city. A nuclear blast generates a lot of radioactive ash and dust, called fallout, when it goes off and this is in part what researchers wanted to study the effects of. radioactive fallout zones FEMA Some fallout comes from the bomb material itself, but soil, sand, rocks, wood, and other debris that get sucked into an explosion also get incinerated and irradiated into fallout. This material then carries with the wind away from ground zero, sprinkling it over a large area. So if you survive a nuclear blast, it's imperative that you find a thick, sturdy shelter and quickly to avoid the immediate dangers of radioactive fallout. You want to put as much between you and that ash and dust as possible. And if you're betting on an unfortunate turn of events in the near future, make sure to stock your prepper bunker with these long-lasting foods and beverages. Jennifer Welsh wrote a previous version of this post. NOW WATCH: This Cold War-era technology could safely power the world for millions of years See Also: After a 5-year-old boy told teachers at a South Valley elementary school Thursday that his stomach hurt because his mother had thrown a full cup of water at his chest, deputies found his family living in squalor, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. His parents, Jayme Morgan, 35, and Marlon Smith, 37, were arrested and charged with abandonment or abuse of a child. A state agency says its not the first time there have been allegations of abuse or neglect against the pair. An investigator with the Children Youth and Families Department told Bernalillo County deputies that the parents had approximately 17 CYFD referrals reporting potential child neglect and/or abuse within the past three years, according to the complaint. And CYFD told deputies the boy had just been returned to the parents in March after a previous allegation of abuse and neglect. Henry Varela, a CYFD spokesman, confirmed the family had a history with the agency dating back to 2009 but he could not say how many times CYFD had been called. He could not answer any specific questions about the family or the child due to confidentiality restrictions in New Mexicos Childrens Code, so its unclear what the previous reports alleged. Varela said the boy was taken into CYFD custody and is now staying with a relative. The boy had told school personnel and the CYFD investigator that his parents had been fighting and throwing things at each other all night and he was caught in the exchange. He said a puzzle struck him in the head and a cup hit him in the stomach. When the CYFD investigator and deputies visited the familys mobile home on Isleta SW, they found the home didnt have electricity. They found the food in the refrigerator was spoiled, the living room was covered with broken glass, and there was a strong mold smell throughout the home, according to the complaint. SANTA FE Whos being misleading? Friday, two groups representing retailers complained that the political committee supporting a tax on sugary drinks in Santa Fe has engaged in false advertising, and one of them demanded that radio and TV stations pull its advertising off the air. But Pre-K for Santa Fe, the committee supporting a tax of 2-cents-per-ounce on sugar-sweetened beverages, called the claim hypocrisy at its worst. Pre-K for Santa Fe itself previously has complained that a group opposing the soda tax has been putting out misleading information and earlier this month held a Community Conversation about Sugar, Soda, and Health intended to counter disinformation from the soda industry. Pre-K notes that opponents campaign materials have called the proposed levy a beverage tax, without specifying that it would be only on sugary drinks, and falsely listed increases in electricity rates, which are governed by a state agency, as something city government previously has imposed. If approved by voters in a special election May 2, the revenue from the tax would be used to fund an expansion and improvement of local pre-kindergarten programs. The Petroleum Marketers Association, representing convenience stores, Friday released a statement saying Pre-K for Santa Fe is engaging in deceptive tactics. Pro-soda tax campaigns want voters to believe that it is a 2 cent tax on beverages when in fact it is a 2 cent PER OUNCE tax adding DOLLARS to the point of sale transaction. The tax would actually be on distributors of sugary drinks, who can pass the levy onto retailers. Pre-K for Santa Fe is running a radio spot where a woman talks about how the pre-K has benefited her daughter. Its only a two-cent tax, and our children are worth it, she says. A television ad put out by the group starts by saying Two cents seems pretty, well, small. Right? But ad then says 2-cents-per-ounce tax. It shows children in front of a blackboard on which 2 is written in chalk. This is hypocrisy at its worst, Sandra Wechsler of Pre-K for Santa Fe said of the tax opponents complaints. After spending almost a million dollars misleading the public, the Soda Industry is spending even more on its high priced attorneys to file frivolous complaints. People know that with the Soda Tax, we can bring Pre-K to 1,000 additional kids per year whose families cannot afford it and help fight diabetes, obesity and tooth decay for our children. This is just one more example of the campaign of disinformation by the Soda Industry and it allies. Also on Friday, the New Mexico Retail Association issued a statement reminding our local radio and television stations they have a responsibility to pull the Pre-K for Santa Fe ads until the PAC edits its advertising to reflect the real and expensive impact of the proposed tax. A representative with Hutton Broadcasting, which operates several radio stations in Santa Fe, said it hadnt received any complaints about Pre-K for Santa Fes ads. In a related development, the libertarian Rio Grande Foundation, a non-profit that recently launched an education initiative to raise awareness about what it says would be negative impacts of the tax, responded to a letter of concern sent by the city attorneys office about the foundations spending in the campaign and is now choosing not to speak rather than disclose its donors. The foundation said that it doesnt plan on filing a campaign finance report. A letter from RGF President Paul Gessing says that in any case the group has not crossed the threshold of spending more than $250 to reach more than 100 people to be subject to filing reports. We were planning to engage in public communication that would have triggered your reporting requirements and would have done so but for the (citys campaign reporting) ordinance, he wrote to the city attorneys office. He said requiring a 501(c)3 groups to disclose their donors is a major burden and, accordingly, we are choosing not to speak rather than expose the privacy of our donors, including exposing them to potential harassment. SEATTLE A hunger strike to protest conditions at the 1,500-bed Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma has significantly abated, the federal agency that oversees the contract facility said Friday. All but one of the original protesters resumed eating regular meals, Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an email. The sole detainee who is continuing to refuse meals has been allowed to remain in the general population, but the facility personnel are monitoring him closely, Kice wrote of the strike that began Monday. Kice said about one-third of the civil detainees who are awaiting immigration hearings or deportation refused meals but, citing fluctuating numbers, did not provide exact numbers of those who participated in the strike. As of Friday morning, the population count at the facility was 1,401. Maru Mora Villalpando, a spokeswoman for the anti-detention group NWDC Resistance, earlier said as many as 750 detainees were refusing meals at the privately run detention center operated by the GEO Group. On Thursday, about 40 female detainees at the center joined the action and began refusing meals, ICE said in a statement. The number had dropped to 22 on Friday, with all still having access to the commissary, ICE said. Staff planned to meet with the women to discuss their concerns and counsel them about the medical risks associated with refusing food, according to the statement. They will also be advised about the protocols that will be instituted should the threshold for a hunger strike be met, ICE said, referring to the 72-hour period to refuse food or nine meals in row that trigger a hunger-strike protocol and a medical response. Negotiations have taken place between ICE, GEO and the detainees, who reportedly have been protesting the quality of food, facility hygiene, access to medical care, lack of recreation and what they allege are exorbitant commissary prices. The detainees also are seeking an increase in the $1 a day they are paid for performing menial jobs around the detention center. The strike has been led by the NWDC Resistance, which is composed of detainees and seeks to end all immigration-related detentions. Kice, the ICE spokeswoman, said in an email her agency would like to think our ongoing dialogue with the detainees contributed to the drop in participants, while adding, I wouldnt want to speak for them. Villalpando said she heard detainees were offered more menu options but attributed the drop, among various things, to threats to transfer inmates to other facilities and take away the commissary. (Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this story.) 2017 The Seattle Times Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. SANTA FE What happens if the owners of the Santa Fe University of Arts and Design abandon the schools city-owned campus when SFUAD closes next year is a $40 million question. Thats the amount city government will need to complete its 2009 acquisition of the property, without lease payments from the university that have covered the debt service so far. Mayor Javier Gonzales and city councilors say they are hopeful a solution can be found before SFUAD shuts down at the end of the 2017-18 school year. Our No. 1 priority is to protect the Santa Fe taxpayer to avoid these payments, the mayor said in an interview Friday. The city must make sure every consideration is on the table right now so we can quickly isolate the risk to taxpayers to pay the cost of the property. For-profit Laureate International Universities, which operates SFUAD, has been paying rent the past eight years under the terms of a 27-year lease. It announced Wednesday that the school will close next year. City government borrowed nearly $30 million from the New Mexico Finance Department to buy and improve the campus as the old College of Santa Fe was collapsing in 2009. But with interest, nearly $40 million will remain in debt service after the SFUAD closure. The mayor said its important to note that, as of now, Laureate is in good standing with the city, having kept up its rent payments, and is still in control of the property and is actively searching for a solution. SFUADs president told the Journal on Wednesday that Laureate is out of the lease once the school closes. The firm, which owns schools around the world, also has an option to buy the campus. If Laureate does leave, Gonzales said, the citys priority would be to find another institute of higher learning to lease the 64 acres SFUAD occupies near the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Michaels Drive. But he says he recognizes that could be difficult. All the data shows that with higher education, especially in New Mexico, weve seen enrollments have gone down and weve seen costs have gone up, and the state has stepped away from investments in higher education, he said. So we have to be honest with the public that, minus a strong commitment from the state or another higher education institution, I worry about us being able to realize that objective. Other options are to sell off all or part of the property, for commercial development, housing or something else. I believe the property, whether in whole or in part, would be of interest to a number of people in the public and private sector, said City Councilor Michael Harris, whose district includes the campus. I do think the city will be open minded and creative in keeping this facility in service. That may mean leasing it, as we have done with Laureate, that may mean selling off parcels for different use. Both Harris and Councilor Joseph Maestas noted that the campus is part of a new zoning district intended to stimulate development. In the midtown zoning area, it could be a significant anchor for the link and revitalization of the St. Michaels corridor, Maestas said. Its in the center of town, and I really think that can be a part of the revitalization and the transformation of midtown. City government purchased a total of 91 acres for $19.5 million when the College of Santa Fe folded, then leased more than two-thirds of the property to Laureate. The city borrowed $29.6 million from the Finance Authority, with the extra money going toward deferred maintenance improvements. Up to now, payments on the loan have been covered by SFUADs lease payments of $2.3 million or $2.2 million a year. SFUAD can terminate its lease with seven months notice. Without rent payments, the city would have to dip into city funds to cover the debt service expected to remain roughly $2.2 million annually for the 18 years remaining on the term of the loan, amounting to about $39.6 million. Mayor Gonzales said both the city and Laureate have spent money on improving the site. He said the property is being appraised. Were hoping the value comes back more than what the debt is, he said. SANTA FE State District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington on Friday gave a Santa Fe musician the maximum sentence three days short of 12 years on charges that included two rape counts and two counts of voyeurism for videos hed taken. Michael Collins, 46, whos been in jail for more than a year and eight months since his arrest in August 2015, pleaded guilty Friday to six charges and no contest to another. He also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Ellington was not persuaded to issue a lighter sentence by emotional pleas from Collins Santa Fe family, who said he needs treatment for drug and sex addictions and that hes a caring and creative person when not under the influence. Also, the woman who Collins is accused of assaulting in the incident that led to his arrest Collins threatened her with a rifle and pulled a phone from her hand as she called 911, and the woman crawled through a window to escape, with police outside Collins home told the judge via a telephone hook-up that Collins shouldnt spend the rest of his life in prison. She said shed been traumatized and was glad to be alive but that shed found forgiveness for Collins and that he would benefit from treatment, with learning to respect women as part of his rehabilitation. Drugs were involved, she said, and that brings out the worst in people. Collins apologized and said he takes responsibility for what hed done and that he wants the chance to get treatment. I want to make this right, he said. His lawyer said Collins and the woman were using anything they could get their hands on before Collins arrest. A prosecutor and a detective said Collins had exhibited decades of behavior similar to the acts for which hes charged, including videotaping women undressing or being assaulted while unconscious. He had two prior convictions in Arizona and California. In the case that led to his arrest, the woman had a platonic relationship with Collins before he offered her a place to stay, said prosecutor Susan Stinson. The two videos that led to his voyeurism charges were of her, including one where she was getting out of the shower and another from the bathroom. In one, the camera was dropped and it showed Collins, Stinson said. She said whatever the two smoked the night police were called made her drowsy and she drifted in and out of consciousness. She found Collins with his hand up her shirt and her pants unbuttoned and at one point he was wearing a green and silver alien mask later found in the apartment. She showed a police photo of a device attached by duct tape to the underside of a toilet in his apartment. Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal Albuquerques chief procurement officer has rejected a protest filed over a five-year, $4.4 million on-body camera procurement process, clearing the way for the city to award the contract to Taser International. The City Councils Finance and Government Operations Committee discussed the contract this past week and voted 4-1 to forward it to the entire council without a recommendation on whether it should be approved. Councilor Ken Sanchez voted against the motion, raising concerns about awarding the contract to a company embroiled in a criminal investigation over a previous city contract. But City Attorney Jessica Hernandez advised the committee that to her knowledge, the investigation was focusing on former Police Chief Ray Schultz and his conduct as a city employee. If that investigation found some wrongdoing on the part of Taser, it could create a new basis for us to end the contract later, Hernandez said. Attorney General Hector Balderas office is looking into the $2 million no-bid contract the city entered with Taser in 2013 because Schultz began consulting work for Taser while he was still on the citys payroll. The Office of the Attorney General has expanded the scope of the investigation, and we anticipate a determination relatively soon, James Hallinan, spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office, said Friday. The city is now planning to buy 2,000 cameras for police officers and cloud storage from Taser, which earlier this week changed its name to Axon. Albuquerque Police Department Chief Gorden Eden told the committee that APD has only enough cameras to equip members of the recruit class that will be graduating. The city issued a request for proposals in June 2016, received nine responses and narrowed the list to two finalists Taser International and Utility Associates Inc. The evaluation committee eventually recommended that the contract be awarded to Taser, prompting Utility Associates to file a protest in March. Utility argues that Taser failed to meet many mandatory requirements of the citys request for proposals and should have been disqualified as non-responsive. Utility alleges that the citys decision not to disqualify Taser is inappropriate and illegal. But Ramona C. Martinez, the citys chief procurement officer, rejected Utilitys allegations in a determination letter issued to the company this week. Although Utility makes many allegations against the city, none rise to the level of noncompliance with the RFP or city law, she wrote in the letter. Instead, they appear to be based primarily on speculation, a misunderstanding of the citys procurement process, and a misinterpretation of the language of the RFP. Martinez also pointed to a report issued by the citys Office of Inspector General in late February that concluded the procurement process used was fair and unbiased. Utility Associates officials didnt immediately respond to messages left on Friday. A lawyer for the Trump administration told a federal judge Friday that an executive order targeting so-called sanctuary cities and counties was narrow and would not result in a loss of massive funds to governments that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities. During a hearing on lawsuits filed by San Francisco and Santa Clara County challenging the administration, acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler said President Donald Trumps Jan. 25 order was intended merely to highlight an issue the president cares deeply about and would apply only to a limited range of grants from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. We dont know yet exactly how the policy is going to be applied, Readler told U.S. District Court Judge William H. Orrick, who was appointed by President Barack Obama. We dont know whether there will be any enforcement action and what it will look like. Readlers statements were the first indication that Trumps executive order might have little bite. The order directed the attorney general and secretary for Homeland Security to ensure that sanctuary jurisdictions are not eligible to receive federal grants, and said the secretary could determine which governments were sanctuary jurisdictions. Readler said that the order would affect only law enforcement grants and that cities and counties would be notified if their grants were in jeopardy. Santa Clara County receives less than $1 million of the affected grants, and San Francisco doesnt appear to receive any of that money, Readler said. In response to a question from Orrick, Readler said he agreed that the Trump administration could not put new conditions on federal funds already authorized by Congress. San Francisco and Santa Clara County have asked Orrick to block Trumps order nationally, arguing that it unconstitutionally infringes on the authority of states and local governments and threatens to cut billions of dollars from the two jurisdictions. Orrick did not clearly indicate how he was leaning but promised to try to get an order out as soon as I can. Lawyers for Santa Clara County and San Francisco pointed to the broad wording in Trumps order and urged the judge to consider the statements of the president and Attorney General Jeff Sessions in denouncing sanctuary governments. They suggested that the Justice Department was putting a new interpretation on the order to save it from being struck down. The government argument boils down to the hope that President Trump and Attorney General Sessions wont do what they are saying they are going to do with this executive order, said John W. Keker, representing Santa Clara County. There are about 400 sanctuary cities and counties in the country, including Los Angeles, that do not take part in immigration enforcement actions. The city and county of Los Angeles have joined friend-of-the-court briefs in support of an injunction. Santa Clara County officials said the county stands to lose $1.7 billion if Trumps order is enforced. San Franciscos suit said the city could lose $1.2 billion a year in federal funding, most of it for health care, nutrition and other programs for the poor. Immigration authorities want counties to notify them when immigrants who are in the country illegally are in jail and to hold them beyond their release dates so agents can determine whether they can be deported. But Readler said in court that the government can only request counties to hold inmates longer than their release dates, not compel them, though the U.S. has an interest in having cities help immigration authorities. Backers of sanctuary regions say they refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities, unless they have criminal warrants, because they want to ensure immigrants bring their children to school and vaccinate them and report crimes to the police. Cities and counties in California and in 12 other states have urged Orrick to issue a preliminary injunction against Trumps order. Public school districts, California sheriff departments and police chiefs from 11 states also have sided with the challengers in friend-of-the-court written arguments. 2017 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal The presidents of New Mexicos public universities are imploring Gov. Susana Martinez and lawmakers to restore their institutions funding, arguing that the financial insecurity could cost them students and faculty, and might also jeopardize their accreditation and hinder statewide economic development. A letter sent to Martinez and members of the Legislature and signed by the leaders at New Mexicos seven public four-year universities expresses deep concern over the governors veto of all higher education funding for the fiscal year that starts July 1. It seeks reinstatement of no less than the $744.8 million approved by the Legislature a sum eliminated by the governor in what has become a messy budget battle. The message the veto sent to our 133,505 registered students and their families, while unintended, leaves them confused and wondering whether they should enroll in a New Mexico college, whether theyll be able to finish their degree, or whether theyll be able to graduate. While we are trying to calm their fears, there is concern that many of our states brightest students will move to other states to pursue their higher education, they wrote. The Republican governor said earlier this week that universities would be funded by July 1, and her spokesman, Michael Lonergan, reiterated that Friday. We fully expect this situation to be resolved, he said in a written statement, noting that the governor has begun meeting with legislative leaders as they work toward a new budget deal that would prompt a special session and restored higher education funding. The Governors Office calls the defunding a temporary measure and part of an effort to get a balanced budget without the tax increases also passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have blasted the decision and taken steps toward suing the governor. The university presidents stress in their letter that the state provides 50 percent to 60 percent of their instruction and general budgets. They say their institutions simply cannot exist without that money. They add that some faculty members are considering jobs in places with more certainty in higher education, and that the budget questions could jeopardize their accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, which considers certain financial measures. The letter was written on Council of University Presidents letterhead and signed by Garrey Carruthers, New Mexico State University chancellor; Chaouki Abdallah, University of New Mexico acting president; Stephen Wells, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology president; Joseph Shepard, Western New Mexico University president; Steven Gamble, Eastern New Mexico University president; Sam Minner Jr., New Mexico Highlands president; and Richard Bailey Jr., Northern New Mexico College president. The council is an association of New Mexicos four-year universities. The governors veto also eliminated funding for the states two-year colleges. In a Journal interview, Carruthers expressed confidence that schools will have funding by July 1 but said that not knowing the amount has complicated each institutions own budget process. The state requires them to submit a budget to the Higher Education Department by May 1. Carruthers said the department has suggested working with the appropriations approved by the Legislature, but there is no guarantee that amount will materialize. And that appropriation is still 1 percent smaller than this years funding level, which itself is about 7 percent less than last fiscal year. UNMs Abdallah was traveling Friday and could not be reached for comment. But Craig White, acting provost and co-chairman of UNMs budget leadership team said it has already worked toward a financial plan that assumes a funding shortfall. But final recommendations are on hold. Carruthers said Martinezs unexpected action has prompted students to ask him if the school would be open this fall. Carruthers, a Republican former governor, also questioned how people outside the state particularly businesses that might consider locating in New Mexico might perceive the move. Whats the signal were supposed to get? he said. I think when you do things like this you have to understand that this picture is the picture thats used (for) the state of New Mexico. When someones looking to locate a company here and they see this kind of an occurrence, one would have to wonder about the political environment and whether this is a place their company might be comfortable. For nearly four months, Tatanka Means endured the heat and humidity in Austin, Texas, last summer. The New Mexico resident snagged a role on the AMC drama, The Son, which premiered on April 8 to the tune of nearly 3 million viewers making it another hit for the network. The third episode airs at 7 p.m. today on AMC. It is also the episode where Means character is introduced and will run through the duration of the remaining eight episodes. It was continuous shooting, he said. But I wanted to be part of this project because it tells a story from the Native Americans perspective. When we got on set, the producers were very receptive to our suggestions for the Native American storyline. The Son is based on Philipp Meyers best-selling novel. The 10-episode, one-hour drama is a sweeping family saga spanning 150 years and three generations of the McCullough family. The series traces the transformation of Eli McCullough, played by Pierce Brosnan, the charismatic family patriarch, from good-natured innocent to calculating killer. He loses everything on the wild frontier, setting him on the path to building a ranching and oil dynasty of unsurpassed wealth and privilege. Elis eldest son Pete, played by Henry Garrett, has grown up in his fathers shadow and struggles to make him proud while forging his own identity. Petes strong-willed daughter, Jeannie, played by Sydney Lucas, idolizes her grandfather and despite being raised in a male-dominated world, rejects her fate of existing solely to marry and bear children. Elis ruthlessness pits him against his wealthy Spanish neighbor, Pedro Garcia, played by Carlos Bardem, and his quest for power triggers consequences that span generations. Shared through a series of flashbacks, the series enters the world of young Eli McCullough, played by Jacob Lofland and his father figure, Comanche war chief, Toshaway, played by Zahn McClarnon, and deftly explores the McCulloughs rise to become one the most powerful family dynasties in Texas. Means character in the series is Charges the Enemy. Charges the Enemy is the antagonist to Pierces character, Means said. Im the young hotshot warrior of the tribe. And when Eli comes into the picture, there is concern. My character wonders why my tribe is bringing an Anglo into the tribe. Theres conflict between him and young Eli and a woman. Of course, that turns up the heat a little. Means was familiar with the book and his interest was piqued by it being about the Comanche tribe. I wanted to come into this project and bring some historical accuracy and some pride to the character, he said. We had to speak Comanche. Im glad it wasnt my first time having to recite dialogue in Comanche. We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to newsroom@abqjournal.com. On TV AMCs The Son airs at 7 p.m. Saturdays Nearly three dozen men sit on death row in Arkansas, where capital punishment has been suspended since 2005. Unless clemency is granted, seven of them (an eighth man was granted a temporary reprieve) will be given lethal injections all within a 10-day period, between April 17 and 27. Why so many? Why the rush? The New York Times reports the unprecedented pace is brought about by a looming expiration date for a drug used by the state for lethal injections. The drug is midazolam, which has been used in several botched and gruesome lethal injections in other states in recent years. Because of the controversy surrounding midazolams use, a number of pharmaceutical companies have restricted their drugs from use for capital punishment. Anti-death penalty groups are upset, and the state is having difficulty acquiring a sufficient number of witnesses, as required by law. These are bad hombres, as President Trump might describe them. Many of them have been on death row for more than 20 years while the appeals process ground on and relatives of their victims have waited for justice to be served. Don Davis, now 54, was sentenced to death in 1992. He is to be executed April 17. Davis was convicted of shooting 62-year-old Jane Daniel in the back of the head while robbing her home, even though she complied with his demands to hand over her valuables. Bruce Earl Ward, 60, is also slated for execution April 17. Hes been on death row since 1990 after being convicted of murdering 18-year-old Rebecca Doss at a Little Rock convenience store where she worked the night shift. The court heard testimony that Ward drove around town looking for a victim and strangled the young woman in the store bathroom. In 1993, Stacey E. Johnson, now 47, raped, beat, strangled and then slit the throat of Carol Heath, a mother of two. The Sun newspaper reported her daughter, Ashley, then six, was found staring out her bedroom window the following morning having spent the night knowing her mother was dead in the room next door. The list goes on, but this is their common profile. Now for the innocent. More than 59 million abortions performed in the United States since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973. Where is the anti-death penalty crowds compassion for those babies and the many women who say they regretted their decision to terminate their pregnancies and would have made a different choice had they received additional information? Those opposed to capital punishment can certainly gin-up outrage and sympathy for convicted murderers and rapists, but seem to offer very little sympathy to the relatives of their victims and not an ounce of outrage for the innocent unborn who have been aborted. Is this an unfair comparison? Not at all. Consider this. Many oppose the death penalty because they claim all human life has value. Then is not an innocent unborn human life? How is an unborn baby any less valuable than a convicted rapist or murderer? In the end, capital punishment is a matter of justice and just deserts. It is justice for the dead and his or her relatives and it is just deserts for the murderer. On several occasions I have offered people opposed to the death penalty a deal. I will oppose capital punishment for the guilty, if they will oppose capital punishment for the innocent unborn. I am still waiting to hear from them. As the world focuses on state violence from Syria to Iraq to Yemen to North Korea, the groundwork is being laid in the United States for unchecked state violence here at home. Donald Trump is making good on at least one of his many campaign promises: promoting unfettered police power. His point person on these goals, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is leading the Justice Department through a tectonic shift, abandoning Obama-era efforts to protect civil and voting rights, threatening more deportations and resuscitating the decades-old, failed War on Drugs. This week, Sessions told the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Unfortunately, in recent years law enforcement as a whole has been unfairly maligned and blamed for the crimes and unacceptable deeds of a few bad actors. Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said on the Democracy Now! news hour, What we see with Attorney General Jeff Sessions is an effort to basically take us back in time this is a person whos stuck in the 80s, and in some instances, stuck in the 50s. Ifill continued, Its a kind of a retro view of law enforcement and policing in which hes attempting to wipe out the last 30 years of progress in this country, to the extent that its been made the last four years, in particular, where weve really been focused on the issue of policing reform. Much of the recent efforts emanate from the summer of civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014. There, on Aug. 9, an unarmed African-American teenager, Michael Brown, was shot dead by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, sparking months of protest. By March of 2016, the city of Ferguson and the Justice Department, then under Attorney General Loretta Lynch, entered into a consent decree with the shared recognition that the ability of a police department to protect the community it serves is only as strong as the relationship it has with that community. Before long, right-wing groups like The Heritage Foundation began referring to The Ferguson Effect, claiming consent decrees or any other type of judicial or civilian oversight of police actually increases crime by tying the hands of law enforcement. This argument has no basis in fact. After the death of another young African-American man, Freddie Gray, who suffered serious spinal-cord injuries while in Baltimore police custody in April 2015, more civil unrest and protest led to another consent decree. Sessions attempted to delay implementation of that agreement, but last week a federal judge dismissed the motion. In a March 31 memorandum, Sessions instructed the Justice Department to review all existing or contemplated consent decrees, signaling his intention to undermine the more than 100 such accords agreed to under the Obama administration. The statute that governs these investigations and consent decrees the Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute, 42 U.S.C. 14141 was enacted as part of the 1994 crime bill as a result of the Rodney King assault and the acquittal of those officers in the first trial, Ifill said. [It] authorizes the attorney general to investigate unconstitutional policing, to engage in these consent decrees. To the extent that he [Sessions] is a law-and-order attorney general, this is a law hes willing to completely ignore. Norm Stamper knows a thing or two about policing. A 34-year veteran officer, the former Seattle police chief is author of To Protect and Serve: How to Fix Americas Police. The Seattle Police Department is under a consent decree, and Stamper says Theres been a 60 percent reduction in use of force by Seattle police officers. There has been a dramatic decrease in the use of firearms, Tasers and batons. Here is the kicker: Police officers themselves, through the president of the Police Officers Guild, are saying, Were grateful that were at this stage of our progress. The crime rate has continued to go down. Officer injuries are either flat or dropping. So theres been no so-called Ferguson effect or de-policing, Stamper says. About Sessions, Stamper says: Hes clearly in lockstep with his boss. He is clearly an apologist for the worst kind of policing in this country. An Arkansas judge issued a temporary restraining order late Friday effectively halting the state from executing six men it had planned to put to death this month. The state was prepared to execute the men in an 11-day span starting Monday, a move that drew strong criticism from opponents of the death penalty who said it was cruel and unusual punishment and increased the likelihood of a botched execution. The state had initially been prepared to execute eight convicted murderers this month, but recent legal rulings had already halted two executions. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen on Friday issued the restraining order preventing Arkansas from using its supply of vecuronium bromide, a drug used in the states lethal injection cocktail. Griffens ruling was in response to a request from a pharmaceutical company, McKesson Medical-Surgical, which argued that its public image would suffer if the state used its drugs in executions. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledges office said it intends to file an emergency request with the state Supreme Court to vacate the order as soon as possible. As a public opponent of capital punishment, Judge Griffen should have recused himself from this case, Judd Deere, a spokesman for Rutledge, said Friday night. The executions had been slated to begin Monday, followed by more on April 20, 24 and 27, with two men to die each day. No state had executed that many individuals in such a short time frame. Gov. Asa Hutchinson set the execution dates in February after Rutledge determined that the eight men had exhausted their legal challenges. Hutchinson said the state had to act before the end of April, when the states supply of midazolam, an anesthetic, expired. Last week, a federal judge ruled that the execution of Jason McGehee should be put on hold for 30 days after the Arkansas Parole Board suggested to Hutchinson that McGehees sentence should be commuted to life in prison. On Friday, hours before Griffens order, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a stay of execution to Bruce Ward, who was to be put to death Monday. This week a pair of drug manufacturers Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp. asked a federal court to block Arkansas from using its drugs for executions, claiming that doing so would violate contractual supply-chain controls the companies have in place. Fresenius Kabi USA produces potassium chloride, while West-Ward produces midazolam. In a friend of the court brief filed this week, appended to a lawsuit by the inmates aimed at halting the executions, the companies say that they sell the drugs to wholesale distributors who agree to distribute only to hospitals and medical facilities. In the brief, the companies say that their contracts with distributors specifically note that the drugs are not to be provided to correctional facilities. The Rev. Stephen Copley, chairman of the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said he was surprised by Fridays ruling but also approached it with a measure of caution. A member of the United Methodist Church, Copley has been an outspoken critic of the death penalty and had just come back from a rally at the Arkansas Capitol when he learned about Griffens ruling. It isnt over yet, Copley said. That probably wont be the last ruling on it. I have hope, but they still have the state Supreme Court, and it has overruled Judge Griffen before. (Times staff writer David Montero contributed to this report.) 2017 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ A former Sandoval County administration assistant is suing the county for civil rights damages and alleges a violation of the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act. Celena Kwitkowski, who still appears on the staff website for the Sandoval County DWI Prevention Department, claims that last October she presented her supervisor with proof of time card fraud, misuse of county vehicles and numerous policy violations made by county employees. According to the complaint filed last month in state District Court, Kwitkowski asked her supervisor about these issues several times, but each time she asked her supervisor she would be reminded that she was still on probation and could be let go for any reason. Kwitkowski states in the complaint that she took her supervisors responses as threats of termination. The complaint also said that Kwitkowski became aware of misuse of federal grants and public funds for DWI and other county programs. Kwitkowski said in the complaint that her supervisor did not take any action to stop or remedy the illegal conduct that was occurring. The complaint states that shortly after these reports were made, Kwitkowski was terminated just a few weeks before her probationary period was about to end. Sandoval County spokesman Sidney Hill had no comment on the matter. According to the state legislative website, the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act states in Section 3 occasions when retaliatory action is forbidden: A public employer shall not take any regulatory action against a public employee because the public employee; Communicates to the public employer or a third party information about an action or a failure to act that the public employee believes in good faith constitutes an unlawful or improper act; Provides information to, or testifies before, a public body as part of an investigation, hearing or inquiry into an unlawful or improper act; or Objects to or refuses to participate in an activity, policy or practice that constitutes an unlawful or improper. BEIRUT A stalled population transfer resumed Saturday after a deadly explosion killed at least 100, including children, government supporters and opposition fighters, at an evacuation point adding new urgency to the widely criticized operation. The blast ripped through a bus depot in the al-Rashideen area where thousands of government loyalists evacuated the day before waited restlessly for hours, as opposition fighters guarded the area while negotiators bickered over the completion of the transfer deal. Only meters away, hundreds of evacuees from pro-rebels areas also loitered in a walled-off parking lot, guarded by government troops. Footage from the scene showed bodies, including those of fighters, lying alongside buses, some of which were charred and others gutted from the blast. Personal belongings could be seen dangling out of the windows. Fires raged from a number of vehicles as rescuers struggled to put them out. The scenes were the last in the unyielding bloodshed Syrians are living through. Earlier this month, at least 89 people were killed in a chemical attack as children foaming at the mouth and adults gasping for last breath were also caught on camera. The bloody mayhem that followed the Saturday attack only deepened the resentment of the transfer criticized as population engineering. It also reflected the chaos surrounding negotiations between the warring parties. The United Nations did not oversee the transfer deal of the villages of Foua and Kfraya, besieged by the rebels, and Madaya and Zabadani, encircled by the government. No one claimed responsibility for the attack but pro-government media and the opposition exchanged accusations, each pointing to foreign interference or conspiracies undermining the deal. State TV al-Ikhbariya said the attack was the result of a car bomb carrying food aid to be delivered to the evacuees in the rebel-held area ostensibly crisps for the children and accused rebel groups of carrying it out. A TV broadcaster from the area said: There can be no life with the terrorist groups. I know nothing of my family. I cant find them, said a woman who appeared on al-Ikhbariya, weeping outside the state hospital in Aleppo where the wounded were transported. Ahrar al-Sham, the rebel group that negotiated the deal, denounced the cowardly attack, saying a number of opposition fighters as well as government supporters were killed in the attack. The group said the attack only serves to deflect the attention from government crimes and said it was ready to cooperate with an international probe to determine who did it. Yasser Abdelatif, a media official for Ahrar al-Sham, said about 30 rebel gunmen were killed in the blast. He accused the government or extremist rebel groups of orchestrating the attack to discredit the opposition. The Syrian Civil Defense in Aleppo province, also known as the White Helmets, said their volunteers pulled at least 100 bodies from the site of the explosion. White Helmets member Ibrahim Alhaj said the 100 fatalities documented by the rescuers included many children and women, as well as fighters. Syrian state media said at least 39 were killed, including children. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 43, adding that it would likely rise because of the extensive damage. A Facebook page belonging to the pro-government Foua and Kfraya villages said all those in three buses were killed or are still missing while a rebel official said at least 30 opposition fighters who were guarding the evacuees were killed in the blast. According to Abdul Hakim Baghdadi, an interlocutor who helped the government negotiate the evacuations, 140 were killed in the attack. He added it was not clear how many rebels were killed because they were evacuated to their areas. Hours after the explosion, the transfer resumed as dozens of buses, starting with the wounded, left to their respective destinations. Before midnight Saturday, 100 of some 120 buses from both sides had already arrived. The explosion hit the al-Rashideen area, a rebel-controlled district outside Aleppo city where evacuation buses carrying nearly 5,000 people from the northern rebel-besieged villages of Foua and Kfraya were stuck. Residents from the two villages had been evacuated Friday, along with more than 2,000 from Madaya, an opposition-held town outside of Damascus besieged by government forces. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack Saturday in a statement from his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, and called on all parties to ensure the safety and security of those waiting to be evacuated. Those responsible for todays attack must be brought to justice, the statement added. The coordinated evacuations delivered war-weary fighters and residents from two years of siege and hunger, but moved Syria closer to a division of its national population by loyalty and sect. Madaya and Zabadani, once summer resorts to Damascus, have been shattered under the cruelty of a government siege. The two towns rebelled against Damascus authority in 2011 when demonstrations swept through the country demanding the end of President Bashar Assads rule. Residents were reduced to hunting rodents and eating tree leaves. Photos of children gaunt with hunger shocked the world and gave new urgency to U.N. relief operations in Syria. Foua and Kfraya, besieged by the rebels, lived under a steady hail of rockets and mortars. They were supplied with food and medical supplies through military airdrops. Critics say the string of evacuations, which could see some 30,000 people moved across battle lines over the next 60 days, amounts to forced displacement along political and sectarian lines. The explosion came as frustration was already mounting over the stalling evacuation process. The situation is disastrous, said Ahmed Afandar, a resident evacuated from the opposition area near Madaya. All these thousands of people are stuck in less than half a kilometer (500 yards). He said the area was walled off from all sides and there were no restrooms. Afandar said people were not allowed to leave the buses for a while before they were let out. Food was distributed after several hours and by early afternoon the evacuees from rebel-held areas were pressured to sit back on their buses, Afandar said. The evacuees from Madaya headed to rebel-held Idlib, west of Aleppo. After the blast, evacuees from opposition areas pleaded for protection fearing revenge attacks. Syrian state TV blamed the rebels for obstructing the deal. An opposition representative, Ali Diab, accused the government side of violating the terms of the agreement, by evacuating fewer armed men than agreed to from the pro-government areas. Merriam-Webster defines biometrics as the measurement and analysis of unique physical or behavioral characteristics (as fingerprint or voice patterns) especially as a means of verifying personal identity, and if Wells Fargo has its way, in the near future, the use of biometrics to identify a person for banking transactions will be the norm. They would like to eliminate passwords at ATMs and strictly use biometric methods as a means to verify a customers identity, which would greatly increase security as well as making it easier for the customer. Pulling up to an ATM machine to request money, may be as simple as looking at the machine to have your eyes scanned. Other options could include using your fingerprint or possibly voice recognition Wells Fargo is testing them all because they realize that different circumstances could require a different form of biometrics. Steve Ellis, head of Wells Fargos innovation group said, Our view is they [customers] can decide which they want to use in the moment theyre trying to. For example, if Im driving in my car and I want to talk to the bank, Im not going to authenticate with my fingerprint but maybe my voice could be the password. Voice recognition could completely replace the need for user IDs and passwords entered on a keypad. What is so amazing about the adoption of biometrics is that many developing nations have embraced the technology while US banks and other institutions are dragging their feet over its adaptation. In India you can verify yourself for banking activities via a thumbprint and Australias ANZ Bank is now running a pilot project to use voice authorization for transactions of $750 USD and over. The problem with US Banks is trying to decide what method or combination of methods of sign in will be acceptable. In the meantime, Wells Fargo has embraced the biometrics technology in an effort to add both security and convenience for their customers. Hackers are way too comfortable stealing passwords at ATM machines or even other areas where you have to scan your card and then enter your pin number. Duplicating your thumbprint makes it much harder on hackers, but is still not impossible it just requires a lot more work on their part. Voice recognition is really getting nearly impossible to duplicate with the sophisticated hardware that can tell the difference between a live or a recorded voice pattern. Using voice recognition could verify you instantly when calling into the banks automated or customer services number. Eye scanning, Iris scanning, or Eyeprints whatever you want to call them will be used by the end of this quarter to verify commercial customers. This technology uses the mapping of blood vessels and other details from your eyes to verify your identity Samsungs latest Galaxy S8 has this and facial recognition built into the smartphone to unlock the device. Some of the other big banks in the US are following Wells Fargos lead and starting to implement biometrics. U.S. Bank and JPMorgan Chase allow customers to log into their mobile app with a fingerprint as well as some companies such as PayPal. Citibank has expanded logging onto their mobile app to include a fingerprint, voice or facial recognition, PIN or the old-fashioned password. Biometric companies say that banks are still reluctant about using biometrics due to regulations and legalities surrounding the biometric data, but more than that there is resistance from senior executives still leery of the technology. Other forces that drive the change to biometrics are the customers, which do not seem to be demanding the changes as many bank customers are older and barely use a smartphone except to text the kids or exchange pictures. Mobile banking was pushed early on in many emerging markets where desktop banking was bypassed for mobile banking and those countries have used mobile banking longer and are now more comfortable banking via their smartphone. The US has a system all banks are comfortable using an ATM card and password and until they can decide on a new standard, most of the US banks will be lagging behind Wells Fargo in a field that expects rapid growth over the next few years. ECU The latest example of this comes from Sweden, when a PDK incarnation of the Rennsport Neunelfer recently duked it out with an F10 BMW M5.The two engaged in a rolling start battle and while the Porscha came in factory stock trim, we can't say the same about the M car.Now, some of you might wonder about the "honest" part of the title above. You see, unlike other drivers of twin-turbo machines, the guy behind the wheel of this Bimmer was fully open about the mods on his car.To be more precise, the 4.4-liter V8 occupying the engine compartment of this F10 was gifted with Supersprint downpipes and an Akrapovic Evolution exhaust, with ESS-suppliedmapping keeping everything in check. So you should expect the M5 to sit comfortably above the 600 hp mark.We'll briefly take you through a set of numbers that demonstrate what the stock BMW M5 and Porsche 911 GT3 RS are capable of when given a sprinting task. With its 3.1 kg/hp power-to-weight ratio, the rear-engined coupe can complete the quarter-mile sprint in 11.1 seconds. As for the 3.6 kg/hp super-sedan, this needs an extra 0.2 seconds for the job.Nevertheless, when talking about a rolling drag race such as the one we have here, there are two factors that work against the Zuffenhausen machines.First of all, the extreme velocity levels reached by the participants work against the GT3 RS, whose track day-focused aerodynamic profile isn't exactly drag-friendly. Second of all, the Porsche loses its take-off advantage - the 911's rear-engined configuration means that it can put the power down better than the M5 That being said, we're inviting you to check out the all-German speed brawl in the clip below. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un looks like he wants a war, meaning that this weekend's provocative posturing is much more worrisome than in the past. Taunting Trump, Pyongyang today showed off a "Frankenmissile" a new type of ICBM that had not been seen before. Get smart fast: In the past, North Korea has aligned their displays of military force with significant dates. In 2014, hours after the US, South Korea and Japan held a summit to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons capability, the nation tested two midrange missiles for the first time in five years. They tested a Taepo Dong 2, its longest-range and most provocative missile, as the US celebrated Independence Day in 2006. The media's war drums began at the start of this tense weekend of geopolitical risk: The lead of BBC News is the stark "North Korea 'ready for nuclear attack'": "The comments came as North Korea marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding president, Kim Il-sung. ... 'We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war,' said Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be the country's second most powerful official." is the stark "North Korea 'ready for nuclear attack'": "The comments came as North Korea marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding president, Kim Il-sung. ... 'We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war,' said Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be the country's second most powerful official." The Guardian: " On a sunny Saturday morning in Pyongyang, military vehicles and tens of thousands of soldiers filled Kim Il-sung Square as a band played rousing military music." On a sunny Saturday morning in Pyongyang, military vehicles and tens of thousands of soldiers filled Kim Il-sung Square as a band played rousing military music." WSJ's Jonathan Cheng in Seoul: "The weaponry on show, which appeared to include a newly-modified intercontinental ballistic missile and two types of large launchers with never-before-seen missile canisters, is likely to trigger fresh concerns about the speed with which Pyongyang's missile program has advanced." "The weaponry on show, which appeared to include a newly-modified intercontinental ballistic missile and two types of large launchers with never-before-seen missile canisters, is likely to trigger fresh concerns about the speed with which Pyongyang's missile program has advanced." "[A]n expert on North Korean weapons said the new hardware appeared to be far more advanced than expected." said the new hardware appeared to be far more advanced than expected." China warns of "storm clouds" N.Y. Times: "China warned ... that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could spin out of control, as North Korea said it could test a nuclear weapon at any time and a United States naval group neared the peninsula an American effort to sow doubt in Pyongyang over how President Trump might respond." Pulling back the camera: "World power whiplash: Trump reverses views on Russia, China," by AP's Josh Lederman: "Once soft on Russia and hard on China, ... Trump rapidly reversed course in the last weeks, concluding there's more business to be done with Beijing than with Moscow." Why it matters: "Trump's evolving views ... have brought the U.S. back into alignment with former President Barack Obama's pattern of 'great power' politics." North Korea held a military parade earlier today, debuting what appeared to be the country's new submarine-based and long-range missiles. The parade also celebrated the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founding president. Why it matters: The military parade, particularly the presentation of the nation's new ballistic missiles, is the latest display of military force as tensions continue to grow between North Korea and the US. The U.S. deployed a Navy strike group to the waters off the Korean Peninsula on April 9. The group included two guided-missile destroyers, one guided-missile cruiser, and an aircraft carrier. The strike group can intercept ballistic missiles sent from North Korea, as well as launch its own missiles. Why? The strike group was in response to North Korea's continued missile tests, despite UN resolutions banning the nation from carrying out any such tests. They have also pursued nuclear weapons capability. April 11, tweets and threats: President Trump tweeted, "North Korea is looking for trouble," adding that the US would solve "the North Korean problem" with or without China's help. North Korean state media said the country has its "nuclear sight focused" on the US and warned of a nuclear attack if there were any signs of a pre-emptive strike from the Navy carrier group heading toward the Korean peninsula. April 12: Satellite images suggested North Korea was going to conduct its sixth nuclear test, per NYT. The test, an underground detonation through which the nation could figure out how to craft nuclear weapons, would have been the latest in a decade. It also could have been its most powerful test yet, clearly in response to the US' show of force near the peninsula. April 13: The US placed two Tomahawk cruise missiles carriers in the area one of them was 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear site after learning of North Korea's potential nuclear test and recognizing that they often celebrate major holidays and significant dates with military force. North Korea's military parade is the latest show of force amid this growing tension. "We are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks," said Choe Ryong-hae, who is believed to be the country's second-most powerful official. "We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war," he said. Maryam Rajavi expressed her gratitude to senator McCain for his unsparing efforts in support of the MEK from Ashraf and their relocation out of iraq. She said, Today, theres a general accord within the region on the clerical regimes damaging role and theres little question that the non secular fascism ruling Iran is the prime source of war, coercion and crisis within the region. Regime change isnt solely the necessity for ending brutal violations of human rights in Iran but to establish peace and tranquility within the region, she added. As long as the clerical regime is in power, itd not quit export of terrorism and fundamentalism. Senator McCain said he believed that the Iranian regime, Bashar Assad and Daesh were all reticulated and indivisible entities. He stressed on the necessity to oust Bashar Assad and to confront the Iranian regimes damaging role in Syria and iraq. Maryam Rajavi noted, All indications are that the clerical regime is at an impasse socially, politically, and economically and consequently is kind of vulnerable. In the in the meantime, the Iranian individuals and Resistance are more determined than ever for the overthrow of the regime and institution of democracy and widespread sovereignty. Prior to this meeting, senator McCain was accompanied by Maryam Rajavi for a visit to one of the MEK headquarters in Tirana where he was warmly welcomed in the gathering of MEK members settled from Ashraf to Republic of Albania. Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission in Republic of Albania and some Embassy staff in Tirana and McCains advisors accompanied him during this visit. In her speech to the gathering, Maryam Rajavi praised senator McCain for his efforts in support of the MEK members and reiterated, The relocation of MEK members was a great action. Their persistence and sacrifices, including international support created the relocation attainable. You vie a key role within the safe relocation of Camp Liberty residents and therefore the individuals of Iran are grateful. Mrs. Rajavi conjointly underlined the Resistances resolve to continue their struggle to overthrow the clerical regime. She realized, During the 2009 uprisings in Iran, whereas the Iranian peoples want for freedom and democracy was savagely crushed, the U.S. government sadly remained silent. However the Iranian people havent given up their want for regime modification. We have a tendency to are more determined than ever to ascertain freedom and democracy in Iran. Because the regime is beset by deepening crises, we are closer than ever to achieving our goal. On the recent developments within the region, Maryam Rajavi noted, The Iranian regime is to blame for committing war crimes in Syria and it should be evicted from that country. Aside from its valuable humanitarian side, i feel this can be the correct policy from a simply political stand. Senator McCain conjointly addressed the MEK freedom fighters and congratulated them on their victorious relocation from Iraq. He loved their perseverance and steadfastness despite suffering great losses. He said, There is not any doubt that the people in this room have suffered. They have suffered not solely themselves however in the loss of their wanted ones owing to the Iranian tyranny, and that i specific my condolences to everybody during this space UN agency has lost a lover as a results of the Iranian tyranny and coercion. He also expressed his appreciation to the government of Albania for their hospitality. The Chair of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee told MEK members, You have stood up and fought and sacrificed for freedom, for the right to live free, for the right to determine your own future, for the rights that are God given. I thank you for being an example, an example to the whole world, that those people who are willing to fight and sacrifice for freedom will achieve it, and you are an example to everyone in the world that is struggling for (freedom), Senator McCain remarked. Senator McCain applauded Maryam Rajavis leadership. He declared, Someday, Iran will be free. Someday, we will all gather in that square. Following the speeches, Maryam Rajavi presented a copy of the List of 20,000 PMOI Martyrs, Fallen for Freedom, to Senator McCain. She described the book containing only part of the overall 120,000 martyrs as the greatest asset of the Iranian Resistance. Devout Christians in the Philippines literally nail themselves to the cross in Good Friday re-enactment Devout Filipino Christians nailed themselves to crosses in a controversial annual Good Friday re-enactments of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. "As long as we trust in the Lord, praying fervently, it's never too far that the Lord won't listen," 57-year-old Ruben Enaje said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. Enaje, who has been taking part in the ritual for the past 31 years, said this year he was also praying for the 45 people killed in two IS attacks on Christian churches in Egypt. "As long as we trust in the Lord, praying fervently, it's never too far that the Lord won't listen," said the man, who was briefly nailed by the hands and feet to a cross. Enaje said the country's major drug war is another key reason for his participation this year. "I am praying for the victims, the victims of drug addicts," he explained. "These drug addicts can waste their life, but we should also still pray for them because they've done wrong." The re-enactments of the crucifixion have become a tourist attraction in San Fernando, Pampagna, an area 50 miles north of Manila, with many of the participants, mainly impoverished Catholic Christians, using the ritual to pray for the sick or for a better life. The tradition apparently started as a stage play 60 years ago, and features theatrics of actors dressed as Roman soldiers dragging about participants and nailing them with real nails into wooden crosses. The Catholic Church there has spoken out against the practice, however, Reuters reports, calling it a "misinterpretation of faith." It has also opposed the ritual being used as a form of tourism for the area, which is what it has increasingly been becoming. "It was a pretty wild thing to kind of watch and experience," said Canadian tourist Matt Kenic. "It's very intense." "I pity them and I felt like crying," added Philippine tourist Teresa Cruz. The Church has also in previous years warned that the ritual is "self-serving" and corrupts Christ's message of suffering for others. "Penance does not mean you hurt yourself, because your body is a temple that houses the spirit," Archbishop Aniceto Paciano of San Fernando said back in 2014. Bishop Joel Baylon of Legazpi, chairman of the bishops' commission on youth, added back then that there are "other forms of sacrifice and suffering that would lead to real conversion." "The Lord appreciates all these forms of sacrifices, but sometimes the kind of sacrifice that we impose on ourselves is not what the Lord wants us to do," Baylon said. The Philippines has the largest Catholic population in Asia, making up 80 percent of the over 100 million population, though the Church has faced a difficult time dealing with controversial President Rodrigo Duterte over the past year. Duterte, who said he believes in God but slammed the Church on several occasions, has accused priests of molesting children, participating in gay acts, and failing to understand the country's problems. Much of the strife has been caused by Duterte's insistence on bringing back the death penalty in the country, which Catholics oppose and have strongly spoken out against. This article was originally published in The Christian Post. Holy Saturday: The space between grieving and rejoicing A husband was out with his wife celebrating their 25th anniversary when he was killed in the recent attack on Westminster Bridge. Kurt Cochran was one of four fatalities that day and his wife Melissa was one of 50 people who were injured. Andreea Cristea was also in London to celebrate that day. But as she walked across the bridge with her boyfriend, Khalid Masood drove his car down the pavement, knocking her over and into the river Thames. She survived the fall but suffered multiple injuries and died later in hospital. Her boyfriend revealed that he had planned to propose that day. Both of these stories add pathos to the attack that was reported in the news because of the gaping disparity between grand expectations for that day and the grim reality. The space between celebration and grief, between tragedy and triumph, is a difficult place to occupy. It's why Holy Saturday is such a strange day. Should we mourn the crucifixion or should we anticipate the resurrection? Should we remember his words of pain and distress? Or focus on his words of hope? Perhaps that is the conundrum of the Christian life. Do we mourn the brokenness of our world or celebrate the coming kingdom of God? The paradox of the now and the not yet is a challenging path to navigate. It is all too easy to get the tension wrong one way or another. There are days when I get overwhelmed by the darkness of our world. As famine wipes out hundreds of thousands of children with a slow and painful death. As more and more children suffer abuse and neglect. As bombs fall on cities and fleeing refugees drown in the sea. As nationalistic sentiments rise and racism and xenophobia increases and people are killed just walking the streets of London, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's hard to believe that things are going to change. It's hard to see how the gospel will triumph or that grace will prevail. Is justice possible? Will the world really believe? But then comes Sunday and I am reminded that our almighty God is powerful enough to overcome any infirmity. His Kingdom is coming. And in the meantime heaven will touch earth, revival will break out, the spirit of injustice will be captured and the spirit of justice released, our faith will rise and miracles will take place. Forgiveness is possible, grace is free and hope is sure. Wrongs will be put right and our planet will be renewed. Every knee will bow as Jesus is crowned king of all. The world will finally believe and I rejoice in anticipation. Which way do you lean? Are you more of a Good Friday Christian or an Easter Sunday one? Does it look like all is lost or that all has been won? The truth is we live in the in-between times. Scripture calls it the 'last days' as we await the reconciliation of all things. We are told that in these last days we should expect both great joy and great pain. There is sure to be persecution and suffering but also the taste of heaven's healing and hope. For these in-between times we need both Good Friday Christians and Easter Sunday Christians. We need Good Friday churches those who emphasise identifying with the pain of our world and the darkness of our days and the brokenness of our society. And we need Easter Sunday churches those who emphasise the faith-raising testimonies of the miraculous with upbeat worship and hope-filled sermons. Maybe if these churches were to intermingle we would be closer to the biblical balance, avoiding the ecstatic oblivious-to-suffering bubble of the one and the doom-laden joy-killer of the other. Jesus was 'a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.' He was also the one that brought the new wine of the kingdom. We too need to be grounded in the realities of our world, but we also need to be a taste of the future. In other words we need to learn how to be Holy Saturday Christians. Dr Krish Kandiah is the author of 'Paradoxology: Why Christianity was never meant to be simple'. His latest book, 'God is Stranger', has just been published by Hodder. 'Jesus absorbs all the hatred, anger, evil of the world - all the darkness hidden in the corners of our hearts' 'Jesus absorbs all the hatred, anger and evil of the world - all the darkness hidden in the corners of our hearts.' These were the words of the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols as he and thousands of others marked the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in London yesterday. Cardinal Nichols yesterday joined thousands of people gather to watching 100 actors from the Wintershall players enact the Passion in Trafalgar Square. He read the Lord's Prayer before the 90-minute production, after joining a 'Walk of Witness' involving leaders of the Anglican, Methodist and Catholic churches between Westminster Abbey, Methodist Central Hall and Westminster Cathedral along Victoria Street in central London. The procession was led by a man carrying a cross symbolising Christ's journey to Calvary. The Cardinal, preaching himself at the cathedral after the Passion play, said: 'Today, we come to venerate the Cross, in its stark cruelty and in its penetrating beauty. 'As we come forward, we may hand over to the Lord every burden of our sin, of our dismay at failure, of our broken hearts. We may place at the foot of the Cross every sorrow and suffering of our broken world, including that of his disciples who still today are being martyred. 'This Cross is the moment in which we see beyond the immense and relentless suffering in our world, which it represents. 'For on this Cross Jesus is raised up not only agony and pain, but also into glory; for his glory is to be, in his being, in his body, the unwavering total love of God for his creation.' T Wife of driver who died in Texas church bus crash that killed 13 is found dead at home Just two weeks after 13 members of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels in Texas were killed in a bus crash on their way home from a church trip on March 29, the wife of the bus driver who also died, was found dead in her home on Tuesday. Authorities told the San Antonio Express-News that Dianne Barrett, wife of the deceased bus driver, Murray Barrett, 67, was found dead in her Uvalde home on Tuesday. Police say emergency personnel were called to the grieving wife's home at about 9:45 on Tuesday morning. She was dead by the time they found her, police spokesman David Ferguson said. "She was by herself at the time of her death," he explained. An autopsy is expected to reveal the cause of Barrett's death as there were no signs of foul play. Dianne Barrett is listed on the website of First Baptist Church of New Braunfels as a ministry assistant providing office services. "We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dianne Barrett. We continue to pray for our Lord's mercy and comfort for our church family members who continue to grieve," the church told the News in a statement. Dianne Barrett's husband, Murray, was driving a group of older adult church members home from a three-day retreat at the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment when the deadly accident on March 29 claimed the life of her husband and 12 others. The deadly crash occurred at about 12:25 p.m. along U.S. Highway 83 North just south of Ranch Road 1050 in Uvalde where Jack Dillon Young's pickup truck crashed into the church's bus carrying 14 members. Rose Mary Harris, 64, of New Braunfels was the lone passenger on the church bus to survive. Young also survived. Although he is yet to be charged with a crime, authorities say Young was likely texting while intoxicated when the crash occurred. Court records cited by the San Antonio Express-News say Young revealed after the crash on U.S. 83 that he had taken two pills of Clonazepam and generic forms of the prescription drugs Ambien and Lexapro. He was also found with pot. Clonazepam is used to treat certain seizure disorders in adults and children as well as panic disorder in adults. According to drugs.com, Clonazepam may cause dizziness or severe drowsiness resulting in falls or other accidents. People who take the drug are urged not to drive until they know how it will affect them. Along with Barrett, the Texas Department of Public Safety identified those who died in the March 29 crash as: Howard Bryan Allen, 81; Rhonda Barlow Allen, 61; Barber, 87; Margret Robinson Barber, 82; Mildred Goodlett Rosamond, 87; Addie Maurine Schmeltekopf, 84; Sue Wynn Tysdal, 76; Martha Holcomb Walker, 84; and Dorothy Fern Vulliet, 84, all from New Braunfels. Others who died in the crash are: Cristie Clare Moore, 68, of Cibolo, Texas; Donna Elizabeth Hawkins, 69, of Schertz, Texas, and Avis Scholl Banks, 83, of Austin, Texas. The Express-News reported Tuesday that the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels has been quietly holding funerals. It is unclear if Dianne Barrett's husband was already buried. This article was originally published in The Christian Post. Apple 's enormous cash hoard grew to $246.09 billion in the fiscal first quarter, up $8.49 billion from the previous quarter. That figure is larger than Sri Lanka's estimated 2016 gross domestic product, but smaller than Denmark's, according to the CIA World Factbook. If Apple's cash pile was its own public company, it would be the 13th largest in the world. The tech giant also reported earnings that beat Wall Street expectations on Tuesday and said it sold more iPhones than expected. The stock jumped more than 3 percent in after-hours trading as more than 6.8 million shares changed hands. The company's cash reserves have long fueled speculation of acquisitions that Apple might make. Apple keeps most of its cash outside the U.S. for tax reasons, but President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are expected to change rules on repatriation of cash stored overseas, which could make it easier for Apple to spend some of the money on acquisitions without taking a major tax hit. Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC, "Repatriation is front and center. That is good for the country and Apple." Previously, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested that the Islamic Republic would respond harshly to any further incursion into the Syrian Civil War by the US a statement that former Member of the European Parliament Struan Stevenson brushed off as laughable in an editorial published by UPI. The latest elaboration upon Rouhanis commentary highlights the fact that the Iranian response to the US military strike depends not only on exaggeration of Irans military capabilities but also disregard for the longstanding Iranian interference in the Syrian Civil War. By most accounts, the regime of Bashar al-Assad was in imminent danger of overthrow early in the conflict, before Iranian intervention in the form of arms shipments and recruiting for Shiite militias turned the tide in favor of the loyalist military. Furthermore, Qassem Suleimani, the head of the foreign expeditionary Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, was credited with convincing Moscow to commit its air force to the support of Iran-backed operations on the ground. Only then did the tide of the conflict turn conclusively against moderate rebels. Zarifs comments on Friday appeared to blithely ignore the prominent Iranian role in the conflict while rebuking the US government for a single missile strike which resulted in minimal casualties, owing to the fact that Moscow was warned of the attack ahead of time. In this way, the Foreign Ministry can be seen as using a similar strategy in public commentary on foreign policy as it has tended to use in commenting on human rights issues. On Thursday, it was reported that Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi had issued a statement criticizing the European Union for the extension of existing economic sanctions against Iranian entities that are believed to play a role in the countrys demonstrated human rights violations. Qassemi provided no information to refute Western criticisms of Irans overuse of the death penalty or its record of imprisoning journalists and activists. Instead, he simply pronounced the sanctions to be based on political motives and anti-Iranian bias. On Friday, Qassemi repeated the same talking points, this time targeting the United States Department of the Treasury over its implementation of new sanctions against the Tehran Prisons Organization and Sohrab Soleimani, the younger brother of the Quds Force commander who is himself under UN sanctions and a travel ban as a result of his record of supporting terrorism. Iran Front Page News quoted Qassemi as saying, Such measures are repetitive and in line with certain political objectives of the US government. He did not elaborate upon the claim of political bias or on his further claim that such sanctions are in violation of international law. Instead, he attempted to turn established criticisms of the Islamic Republic upon the US, alleging that due to its domestic and international record, the US government is not in a position to comment or take action on the human rights situation in other countries. The reference to an international record seems to tie Qassemis statements to the Foreign Ministrys criticism of the Syria missile strike while continuing to neglect the chemical attack that apparently prompted the strike. This rhetoric was further underscored on Friday by the Tehran provisional prayer leader Hojjatoleslam Kazzem Saddiqi, who delivered a speech against the missile strike, as reported by The Iran Project. In it, he referred to the strike as savage attacks on Syria which were against international norms and laws proved its aggressive and savage behavior to the international community. However, since the strike was carried out, various reports have indicated that it met with general approval from the international community, with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano even going so far as to say that the White Houses apparent, newfound willingness to confront the Assad regime represented the start of renewed harmony between the US and the EU. Such commentary reflects Western concerns not just over the Idlib chemical attack, which killed approximately 80 people and wounded 200 more, but also over a long list of human rights abuses carried out by the Assad regime with the support of Tehran, including the routine use of barrel bombs against civilian populations. At the same time that the Iranian regime refuses to comment upon the evident human rights abuses of its close allies and its own Shiite militant proxies in places like Syrian and Yemen, it also refuses to address the human rights record that was highlighted anew by the European and American sanctions measures this week. It has been variously reported that the Islamic Republic maintains its own internal human rights monitor, but that the office primarily functions to dispute international criticisms of Iranian political imprisonment, mass executions, and so on. Recent reports have also indicated that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have been engaged in a serious crackdown on political dissent, reformist opinion, and supposedly pro-Western or anti-Islamic social activities. As part of this crackdown, the regime has apparently been striving to tighten restrictions on the internet and social media, a trend that was highlighted in an Al Monitor article on Thursday which described the particular assault on the comparatively secure messaging service Telegram. The article pointed out that in March Irans attorney general boasted that between 16,000 and 20,000 Telegram channels were being shut down per week, in line with restrictions on channels that have more than 5,000 followers. As justification for the crackdown, the head of the countrys cyber police force claimed that online crimes had increased by 63 percent, but he did not explain what sorts of crimes he was referring to or how this figure had been determined. In this way, the regimes commentary on domestic affairs is reminiscent of its commentary on foreign-based criticisms and the actions of Western governments, insofar as it largely relies upon ideological statements while failing to address facts that might undermine the regimes case. Ahmadinejads registration defied advice by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that he not run, apparently out of fear that he would prove to be an excessively divisive figure. His candidacy further complicates the hardline opposition to Rouhani, who has been harshly criticized for his outreach to Western powers in the form of nuclear negotiations that concluded in June 2015. Reuters notes that more than 850 candidates had registered alongside Rouhani and Ahmadinejad as of Friday, and that hardline opposition to the incumbent remained diffuse. Nevertheless, the aggregate opposition to Rouhanis candidacy is so serious that some hardliners have even put forth the idea of having his candidacy disqualified by the Guardian Council, which will vet all prospective candidates by April 27 for their perceived loyalty to the theocratic regime and the principles of the Islamic Republic. Although it is unlikely that an incumbent would be disqualified after having previously passed the vetting process, hope for Rouhanis ouster has presumably been bolstered by critical commentary that has emerged from the supreme leaders office in recent months, particularly focused on the slow pace of economic recovery following the nuclear deal. Still, Reuters notes that the lack of hardline unity in the run-up to the election has been preserved in part by Supreme Leader Ali Khameneis declining to intervene or express specific support for one hardline candidate. This could be taken to indicate that Rouhani retains the tentative backing of the clerical head of the regime, and thus that he is unlikely to be barred from standing for reelection by the Guardian Council, half of which is appointed directly by the supreme leader. The hardline faction of Iranian politics is generally close to Khamenei, and his refusal to disavow Rouhani is further evidence of the latters lack of reformist credentials, despite his generally being supported by reformist politicians. In another Reuters report published on Friday, one former senior Iranian official was quoted as saying, Rouhani is a regime insider. He is loyal to the establishment. He is not a reformist but a bridge between hardliners and reformists. The report also quoted the International Crisis Groups Iran analyst Ali Vaez as saying that in spite of the hardline backlash against Irans shifting relations with the international community, the system will be in vital need of Rouhanis team of smiling diplomats and economic technocrats in order to preserve the sanctions relief that was acquired under the nuclear agreement, especially in the wake of the newfound threats posed to that deal by US President Donald Trump. In light of Mahmoud Ahmadinejads firebrand reputation, he can be expected to reverse Rouhanis inroads with the international community in the event that the former president reclaims his office. But the same is apparently true of the individual who appears to be emerging as the main opponent to both Rouhanis and Ahmadinejads candidacies. The Iran Project reports that Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the holy shrine of Imam Reza in the city of Mashhad, formally registered as a candidate on the same day as Rouhani, although he had announced his intention to run one week earlier and shortly after he emerged as the first choice among the conservative coalition known as the Popular Front of Revolutionary Forces. As a former prosecutor, head of the Iranian judiciary, and attorney general, the well-known cleric has established hardline credentials, and his economic policy seems to reflect the preoccupations shared by Rouhanis declared opponents and the supreme leader. In remarks to the media following his registration, Raisi said he believed the Iranian economy should be insulated from fluctuations in the global economy, a position that is reminiscent of Khameneis recent calls for return to a resistance economy based on national development at the expense of re-engagement with foreign and Western markets. His comments suggest that Raisi would be quite willing to reverse the progress that Rouhani has made in decreasing Irans global isolation. Furthermore, Raisis domestic track-record may give Western governments and various non-governmental organizations more incentive to push for resumption of that isolation. According to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, Raisis candidacy alone is a serious setback for a country striving to rejoin the international community because of his leading role in crimes against humanity during the 1980s, including the massacre of up to 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988. The CHRI says that by allowing Raisi to run, the regime is dealing another blow to victims families who are still seeking justice as well as simple acknowledgement of where the bodies are buried. The 1988 massacre gained new prominence in Iranian public discourse last year when Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the only prominent regime official who opposed the killings, released an audio recording of his fathers conversations with the leading players in the mass execution. The CHRI recently interviewed Montazeri over Raisis candidacy and quoted him as saying, If any of the candidates had attacked a person with a knife, he would have had a criminal record and would not get clearance from the authorities, never mind Mr. Raisi, whose record is very clear. Human rights issues, including the ongoing house arrest of Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, were a significant part of Rouhanis presidential campaign in 2013, but he failed to follow through on any promises in this area. Furthermore, the Iran Human Rights website and other critics of the clerical regime have argued that domestic conditions have grown worse in some areas since Rouhanis election, as evidenced by the higher number of executions during his first term than during either of his predecessors terms in office. This sidelining of human rights issues may have helped to insulate Rouhani from the threat of disqualification. And in light of the human rights records of both Raisi and Ahmadinejad, it seems that these issues will not be a major factor in the forthcoming campaigns, which will last from April 28 to May 17, two days before the actual election. If that proves to be the case, then national pride and economic policy will likely be the major points of contention, and the challenge for the Rouhani administration will be to demonstrate that the nuclear agreement has had a significantly positive impact on the countrys recovery. Toward that end, Agence France-Presse reported on Friday that the administration had announced that 20 billion dollars worth of development projects would be going into effect in the coming week. This comes shortly after the announcement that cash subsidies to the poor would triple or even quadruple a move that AFP reported as being immediately criticized by opponents as a transparent attempt to buy votes. 08 Nov 22 Angola: ExxonMobil makes new discovery on Angola Block 15 The National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), ExxonMobil Angola and the Angola Block 15 partners have announced a new discovery at the Bavuca South-1 exploration well. The well is part of the Angola Block 15 redevelopment project. 08 Nov 22 Algeria: Eni starts-up a new field in the Berkine Basin in Algeria Eni has announced the start-up of the HDLE/HDLS oil field, in the Zemlet el Arbi concession in the Berkine North Basin, onshore Algeria, only six months after its discovery. 08 Nov 22 Equinor and Hitachi Energy sign a strategic collaboration agreement to accelerate the energy transition Equinor has signed a strategic collaboration with Hitachi Energy, to collaborate within electrification, renewable power generation and low-carbon initiatives worldwide. The agreement underlines both companies commitment to accelerate the energy transition and advance a more sustainable, flexible and secure energy system. 08 Nov 22 UK: NSTA honoured for digitally-enabled leadership on energy transition The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has been recognised for its use of ground-breaking digital technologies and data to support the UKs drive towards net zero. 08 Nov 22 UK: Finder Energy signs three UK farmout transactions with Dana Petroleum Finder has entered into three farmout transactions with Dana Petroleum in relation to P2527, P2528 and P2530 in the Central North Sea. The deal terms include upfront cash payments to Finder and contributions to the forward work program on each licence. 08 Nov 22 bp and Mauritania to explore green hydrogen at scale bp has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Mauritania under which it will deliver an innovative programme exploring the potential for large-scale production of green hydrogen in the country. The MoU was signed in a meeting alongside COP27. 08 Nov 22 India: OGDCL announces provisional award of new exploration blocks OGDCL participated in the competitive bidding round for exploration blocks held in October 2022 and has been provisionally awarded four new exploration blocks by the Government. 08 Nov 22 Norway: Aker BP awarded drilling permit for 16/1-35 S in PL 1141 The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Aker BP a drilling permit for well 16/1-35 S in production licence PL 1141. 08 Nov 22 US: Zephyr Energy awards rig contract for Paradox Basin drilling Zephyr Energy, the Rocky Mountain oil and gas company, has announced the signing of a rig contract with CWC Ironhand Drilling for its Ironhand Rig 118 to be used to drill the Company's State 36-2 LNW-CC well, the first of three wells designed to further delineate Zephyr's acreage position on its project in the Paradox Basin, Utah, U.S. 08 Nov 22 Indonesia: Empyrean Energy JV receives approval of updated Plan of Development for the Mako Gas Project Empyrean Energy has advised that the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has now approved the updated Plan of Development for the Mako Gas Project within the Duyung PSC. 08 Nov 22 UK: Union Jack Oil provides operational update on UK projects AIM-listed Union Jack Oil has provided an update on its Wressle, Keddington and Biscathorpe licences, onshore UK. Wressle production has significantly exceeded forecast expectations with zero water to date and a well is planned at Keddington in 2023 to upgrade production. 08 Nov 22 Morocco: Predator Oil and Gas provides update on MOU-2 well preparations onshore Morocco Predator Oil & Gas, has provided an update on progress towards finalising its drilling operation to enable the MOU-2 well in the Guercif Licence, onshore Morocco, to commence drilling. Corporate transaction to monetise shareholder value will be considered after MOU-2 and MOU-1 rigless testing 08 Nov 22 Europe needs to take immediate action to avoid risk of natural gas shortage next year - IEA New IEA analysis identifies a challenging 30 bcm supply-demand gap next summer at key time for refilling EU storage if Russia halts all pipeline deliveries and Chinas LNG imports rebound. 08 Nov 22 Brazil: Diamond Offshore confirms award of new drilling program with Petrobras in Brazil for the Ocean Courage Diamond Offshore has received notification of award of a new drilling program with Petrobras in Brazil for the Ocean Courage. The total estimated value of the firm term of the award is approx. $429 million. 08 Nov 22 Chevron and JERA advance lower carbon solutions in asia pacific and the U.S. Chevron, through its Chevron New Energies business, and JERA are collaborating on multiple lower carbon opportunities including production; carbon capture, utilization, and storage; and new technology commercialization focused on the U.S. and Asia Pacific region. 07 Nov 22 Ireland: Bechtel delivers port masterplan supporting Irelands emerging offshore wind industry The Shannon Estuary in Ireland presents a unique opportunity and is best placed in Ireland and Europe to develop the Atlantic floating offshore wind industry and help the country reach its climate goals, according to a new report by global experts Bechtel. 07 Nov 22 Sweden: Nord Stream Pipeline operator reports technogenic craters on the seabed On 2 November 2022, Nord Stream AG, the operator of the Nord Stream Pipeline, announced the results of the initial data gathering at the location of the pipeline damage on Line 1 in the Swedish exclusive economic zone. 07 Nov 22 China: ConocoPhillips China announces the commencement of the Penglai Offshore Windfarm Pilot Project in partnership with CNOOC Limited ConocoPhillips China Inc. (COPC) and CNOOC Limited have officially announced the commencement of the Penglai Offshore Windfarm Pilot Project at the fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. 07 Nov 22 Israel: Energean announces growth drilling programme update Energean has announced that i) the Zeus-01 exploration well has made a commercial gas discovery of 13 bcm ii) contingent resources at Athena have been upgraded following post-well analysis; and iii) the Stena IceMax drilling rig has moved to Block 23 to drill the Hercules structure, the final well in Energeans 2022 drilling campaign. 07 Nov 22 UAE: ADNOC signs agreements with 25 companies for local manufacturing opportunities potentially worth up to AED 35 billion Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed agreements with 25 companies potentially worth AED 35 billion that will stimulate investment in local manufacturing of critical products in support of the diversification of the United Arab Emirates (UAEs) industrial and manufacturing infrastructure. 07 Nov 22 UK: Increase in overall potential project capacity identified for Ossian Wind Farm An increase in the potential overall project capacity from 2.6GW to up to 3.6GW has been identified for the proposed Ossian Wind Farm off the East Coast of Scotland, which if achieved, would put it among the top five largest floating offshore wind farms globally. 07 Nov 22 Kosmos Energy announces third quarter 2022 results Kosmos Energy has announced its financial and operating results for the third quarter of 2022. Kosmos posted another quarter of solid strategic and operational delivery, with the company reaching its year-end leverage target ahead of schedule. 07 Nov 22 Guyana announces first-ever competitive offshore oil and gas licensing round The Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Natural Resources has announced that fourteen oil blocks have been identified and will be auctioned for the nations first-ever competitive offshore oil and gas licensing round. 07 Nov 22 Canada: C-NLOPB releases results for 2022 Calls for Bids The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) has announced the results of Call for Bids NL22-CFB01 (Eastern Newfoundland Region) and Call for Bids NL22-CFB02 (South Eastern Newfoundland Region). Major retailer Marks and Spencer has pledged to source 100 per cent Scottish lamb ahead of Easter amid growing anger over imported lamb in supermarkets. The pledge to return to 100 per cent Scottish in all Scottish stores by the weekend merits similar response from other retailers, says NFU Scotland. Scottish farmers have welcomed the response by Marks and Spencer. It comes as many farmers were described as 'justifiably angry' at the level of imported lamb products on British supermarket shelves this Easter. Shelf watch campaign The retailer was responding to an NFU Scotland shelf watch campaign which found significant volumes of imported lamb on almost all supermarket shelves as we approach Easter, giving people few opportunities to buy Scottish lamb. Last year, Marks and Spencers made a commitment to source 100 per cent Scottish lamb for its Scottish stores this season. However, secret shoppers found the retailer had a significant amount of imported lamb on some of its shelves this week. A statement from the retailer has apologised, indicated that an error in its delivery system was responsible, pledged to have it rectified over the weekend and reaffirmed its commitment to sourcing only Scottish lamb for its Scottish stores. The farming union said it is keen to see all supermarkets now make a similar pledge. In its shelf watch this week, only Aldi stores were found to be stocking 100 per cent Scottish lamb. Despite previous commitments by some retailers, Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, the Co-op, Morrisons and Lidl have all chosen to import huge volumes of New Zealand and Australian lamb, shunning home producers at this hugely important time of year for lamb sales. Looking hard for local Commenting on the M and S statement, NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick said: Having a leading retailer delivering on its commitment to stock exclusively Scottish lamb in its Scottish stores is great news at a time when Scottish farmers and crofters are coming through the difficult spring lambing period. Sadly, the Unions shelf watch indicated that shoppers have to look hard in stores to find any Scottish. Justifiably, many will rely on their local butcher if they want to buy some fresh, tasty and local Scottish lamb. Scottish shoppers want Scottish lamb and butchers, Aldi and M and S show other retailers what can be achieved. Looking ahead, we welcome plans from the Co-op to move to 100 per cent home-produced across all fresh meat later this year. And we continue to call for Tesco and Asda to extend their season for buying home produced lamb in a bid to boost sales of Scottish. We will also be asking questions of Morrisons and Lidl, who have failed to maintain their previous good record on domestic sourcing. Welsh Water has launched a new initiative to encourage farmers, growers and landowners in targeted areas to consider smarter ways of weed, pest and disease control that do not impact on people, water or wildlife. PestSmart, a joint initiative between Welsh Water and Natural Resources Wales, encourages people to consider the way they manage their land to help improve raw water quality before it reaches water treatment works. Ian Christie, Managing Director of Water Services at Welsh Water, said the raw water monitoring programme has detected 'increasing traces' of pesticides in areas never seen them before. He said: While these levels are too low to pose a risk to those drinking the water, they are enough to breach rigorous drinking water standards so we want to work with land managers to take action to address this issue together. Even the most organised of land managers can find themselves with an out of date or now unlicensed product which can be difficult or expensive to dispose of correctly. We know that pesticides form an essential and everyday role in the agricultural community. However, if stored, used or disposed of incorrectly, they can have a devastating impact on people, water and wildlife. By providing this free and confidential scheme in targeted catchment areas across Wales, we want to work with land managers to reduce the risk of pollution and safeguard raw water quality before it reaches our water treatment works. 'Thriving water environment' Lesley Griffiths, Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, said the pesticide disposal scheme 'plays an important role' in Wales' Water Strategy for a thriving water environment which is sustainably managed. She said: It is an example of collaboration in action between the Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Water and very importantly those directly involved in land management. This free scheme will allow for unwanted, out of date or revoked pesticides and sheep dip to be collected and disposed of, safely and confidentially in six catchments across Wales. The scheme will provide multiple benefits in terms of reducing the potential risk to water quality and the wider environment. The scheme is available within the Teifi, Upper Wye, Towy, Pendine, Cefni and Alaw Reservoir catchments. It is completely confidential and available for a limited time on a first come, first served basis. Quote: jschira Originally Posted by I do not doubt you, but do you have any specific information about TS oil? I have heard time and time again "you get what you pay for". But just like more expensive does not guarantee superior quality, a lower price does not indicate lower quality either. The TS oil has been tested twice, once by Ford and once for the API rating, and has been approved by both. So unless someone has specific evidence that the TS oil is no good, rejecting TS oil based simply on its lower price is irrational. But I have found over the years that oil purchases are rarely a rational decision. Oil is not food. There are no oils that are more "nutritional" than other oils. No oil that will improve the operation of the headlights, or the brakes, or the air conditioner. Oil is mixed to meet certain specifications. Either the oil meets those specification or not. Similarly, engines are designed to use oil meeting certain specifications. If the oil meets those specifications, then the oil is fine to use it in the engine. I also hear the argument that "good" oil will help your engine last longer. For those that keep your vehicle for 300k-400k miles, these oils might provide some benefit. But modern LD diesels are designed to go 250k-350k miles without cracking the block using any oil meeting the specifications stated by the manufacturer. My WAP is that only a very small percentage of people keep their vehicle longer than that. Take a look at the 2017 SD board and see how many people traded in a truck that was only 2-4 years old. So spend the extra cash for a "better" oil if you want, but please stop telling me categorically that lower priced oils are no good. Peter Drucker is known as the Father of Modern Management. He was certainly different than other management gurus. And by the way, he didnt like that description of his work. His own choice was social ecologist. In case you are wondering, a social ecologist studies how societies interact and organize themselves. But there is a little more to it. Social ecology was a theory founded by an author by the name of Murray Bookchin. Proving that the conservative Drucker harbored no prejudices, Bookchin was not only a socialist, he was an anarchist. His theory is based on a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society. Maybe this is why Drucker differed so much in his consulting approach from other giants in the field, and in fact from just about any other management consultant. His methods of analyzing issues, solving problems, and making recommendations were far from theirs. These differences start even with the basic organization of the consulting practice, the services performed, and what Drucker demanded of his clients, and perhaps most importantly an emphasis on questioning clients rather than providing answers. In my own study of Druckers consulting I found that any manager can adapt Druckers consulting methods to his or her own practice of management. Druckers Strange Non-Consulting Ways Drucker thought of himself as a scientist, even if he did not use ... The so-called Liberty Revival Alliance thinks that if they can get away with bringing their fascist and racist political agenda to Berkeley, they can take it anywhere. The group is also using a frequent tactic of the Right to superficially deny their hateful politics by rejecting unsavory labels, or alternatively, hide from the consequences of open fascism by waving the banner of free speech. This article is authored by Northern California Anti-Racist Action (NoCARA). You can read the article with photos and tweets on the NoCARA website and on It's Going Down . How the Biggest Racist Alt-Right Rally of 2017 is Happeningin Berkeley Visual Whos Who Guide Of the Racist Right Coming to Berkeley White nationalists, far-Right militias, pro-Trump bikers, members of the Alt-Right, and neo-Nazis are not only coming to the Berkeley Trump rally on Saturday, April 15th they are speaking and organizing it. As we will show, full blown white nationalists connected to Richard Spencer and other leading neo-Nazis will address Trump supporters on Saturday, despite the claims of rally organizers that they have no connection to white supremacists or the Alt-Right. As we will show over and over again, this is a complete and total lie. Even the organizers themselves are connected to the Alt-Right and hold extreme racist and fascist views. Despite the evidence, many Trump supporters refuse to acknowledge this reality, and on the Left, many people refuse to understand the fascist threat growing outside of their door. Its up to those of us who see the extreme danger in rising far-Right violence to take note and take action. Once More Into the Berk My Friends Here we go again. After Milo Yiannopoulos and the Berkeley College Republicans were shut down at UC Berkeley on February 1st, local and regional members of the Alt-Right got together and decided to try again on March 4th to hold a public presence. This constellation of deplorable Trump supporters and Alt-Right assholes received an aggressive welcome from Bay Area anti-racists and anti-fascists and ended with the rights lead organizer Rich Black, literally running away in fear and asking his followers to do the same. Shortly after, Rich Black and his newly-formed group the Liberty Revival Alliance, announced they would come back to Berkeley for a Patriots Day rally on April 15th. Black, along with Kyle Chapman, aka Based Stickman, hit the far-Right podcast and youtube circuit, doing shows with Alt-Right guru, Gavin McInnes. For the rally on Saturday, they have secured a variety of speakers including Lauren Southern, Baked Alaska, and Brittany Pettibone all firmly located within the Alt-Right. In addition, this far-right alliance is partnering with other groups such as the Oath Keepers militia and 2 Million Bikers to join their event and provide security. The so-called Liberty Revival Alliance thinks that if they can get away with bringing their fascist and racist political agenda to Berkeley, they can take it anywhere. The group is also using a frequent tactic of the Right to superficially deny their hateful politics by rejecting unsavory labels, or alternatively, hide from the consequences of open fascism by waving the banner of free speech. But we see through this smokescreen, andurge all in Northern California and beyond to converge in Berkeley on Saturday April 15th and deny the far-Right an opportunity to grow and expand their movement that is killing, burning, and bombing its way across the US. Brittany Pettibone Brittany Pettibone from Gilroy, CA is a white nationalist blogger and podcaster that is growing in popularity on the Alt-Right. She is associated with the infamous neo-Nazi punching bag Richard Spencer and is also a contributor to the white nationalist website that he founded and operates, AltRight.com. Pettibone has been a big supporter of Donald Trump and pushes ridiculous conspiracy theories including Pizzagate and white genocide, which claims that Jews are driving immigration and are orchestrating the forced extinction of the white race. Baked Alaska Baked Alaska, real non-idiot name is Tim Treadstone. Treadstone moved from the far-Right into full blown neo-Nazism to the point of being attacked by even other people on the Right, including talking heads like Mike Cernovich. When a twitter war broke out between the two, Baked Alaska attacked Cernovich and launched a barrage of anti-Semitic memes and comments to the point that Cernovich kicked Alaska out of the Deploraball Trump celebration in Washington DC, replacing him with Milo (which shows where how low Alaska had to go)! According to Business Insider: Tim Treadstone, an unabashedly alt-right social media personality better known as Baked Alaska, was disinvited from the Deploraball after publishing the tweets about Jewish people. After being cut from the event, which initially featured him as a top guest, he lashed out on Twitter at fellow alt-right leaders, a sign of divide in the white nationalist, neo-Nazi, populist movement that backed President-elect Donald Trump. Treadstone zeroed in on Mike Cernovich, a similarly prominent alt-right figure known for such remarks as date rape does not exist, who was responsible for nixing him from the event. Treadstone has a history of anti-Semitic tweets. Other alt-right figures, like leading neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, were previously booted from the upcoming party. Baked Alaska is not a member of the Deploraball committee and will not be attending the event, Cernovich tweeted. We wish him well. Soon after the announcement, Cernovich confirmed that Milo Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart tech editor and conservative provocateur, would attend the event instead. The moves prompted Treadstone to go on a lengthy Twitter rant against Cernovich and Yiannopoulos, capping off with a roughly 45-minute scorched-earth Periscope video in which he called the former a huge cuck and a massive cuck for side-stepping the Zionist question. Lauren Southern Lauren Southern in many ways is the Canadian version of Milo Yiannopoulos, and much like Milo, has made a career off of mainstreaming the Alt-Rights major talking points against cultural marxism and globalism. Like Milo, Southern attacks the Left, immigrants, Black Lives Matter, refugees, rape victims, feminists, and Muslims. According to Media Matters Southern downplayed the prevalence of rape during a Slut Walk protest by holding a sign that read There is no rape culture in the west. She went on to comment, Rapes do happen, but the vast minority of men and women are rapists. In response to her incendiary remarks and antagonistic tactics, Southern was suspended from being a candidate for the Canadian Libertarian Party. Moshe Daniel Quillinan Daniel Quillian isnt speaking at the April 15th rally, however he is in the inner leadership circle of the event along with Richard Black and Kyle Chapman. Daniel Quillinan is based in Berkeley, and used to own a business with his brother. For the past few months, we have observed an escalation in Quillinans aggression at the same time that his politics slide ever closer to the extreme Right, as he has come to embrace open fascism. His Facebook posts often include desires to hurt and kill others, especially political opponents that stand in the way of his utopian vision of a society that works first and foremost in the interest of white male property owners. Quillinan also uses social media to discuss various weapons that he either already owns or wants to. On February 1st, Quillinan harassed demonstrators and even attempted to pull someones mask off. On March 4th, he showed up with armor and weapons looking to fight. He got one, and it ended with him in the hospital getting staples in his head. Its clear that the March 4th event was a point around which Quillinan connected with organizer Rich Black and Kyle Chapman, who he has continued working with. Quillinan also has associations with the Berkeley College Republicans, and is expected to be at the patriots rally on April 15th. Kyle Chapman aka Based Stickman Kyle Chapman lives in Daly City and has been making various trips across the bay into Berkeley since March 4th. At Rich Blacks first Berkeley rally, Chapman showed up with weapons including a dagger, folding knife, long stick, spiked ring, shield, and pepper spray. He was arrested and initially charged with up to 6 felonies, including assault with a deadly weapon, however Chapman has yet to be charged. According to Chapman, Berkeley police also commended his actions while he was in custody. On April 10th, Chapman was in Berkeley wearing his ridiculous costume and eventually got arrested again for assault after he instigated a fight with local youth. Chapman also calls Berkeley residents various names throughout the video, calling them cowards and cocksuckers. He goes on to argue that April 15th will be a win for Western men. The Alt-Right internet movement has turned Chapman into an overrated meme (Based Stickman) after a short video of him assaulting someone on March 4th went viral. Chapman often encourages his supporters and followers to show up to rallies to fight like he does, and to not be afraid of jail time or injury. The April 15th Patriots Day rally will feature Chapman as a speaker. Chapmans facebook also shows that he follows, likes, and supports numerous Alt-Right, far-Right, and neo-Nazis groups and pages. The Alt-Right website WeSearcher, connected to Richard Spencer as well, also raised money for Chapman. Richard Black Rich Black of Southern California has been the lead organizer for both the March 4th and April 15th rallies in Berkeley. Blacks Twitter picture shows him making the hand sign (which in many ways has replaced the Nazi salute) that has come to be associated with the Alt-Right, and frequently used by Richard Spencer and others in the white nationalist movement. Black has described his own politics as libertarian, a movement that for some time has become increasingly mixed up with extreme far-Right fascists such as Augustus Sol Invictus and the patriot and militia movements. Some time before the March 4th event that Black organized, he tried to join the local Proud Boys (an Alt-Right group run by Gavin McInnes) and failed. The Proud Boys disavowed Black and his organizing until Kyle Chapmans internet fame changed their minds. Since then, the Proud Boys have stated that they are planning on being in Berkeley on April 15th in support of Chapman and Black. Oathkeepers, 2 Million Bikers, Identity Evropa and Beyond The far-Right militia the Oath Keepers have stated that they will do security at the event. In their statement they write: Calling on all Oath Keepers (and all three percenters, military veterans, patriot police officers, bikers, and all other brave American patriots): Seeking capable volunteers for an overt Oath Keepers security detail to protect people during the Patriots Day Free Speech Rally to be held on April 15, 2017, at 12PM PDT, in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 2151 M.L.K. Jr Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 Team Leader for the Oath Keepers on the ground April 15 will be John Karriman (Missouri police academy defensive tactics instructor and team leader on both of our Ferguson operations in 2014-2015). The Facebook page for 2 Million Bikers currently has over 50 going, and the group plans to ride from Sacramento to Berkeley. Identity Evropa, a neo-Nazi organization has stated that their leader, Nathan Damigo will be in attendance. He wrote about the event on AltRight.com, the same website that Pettibone writes for and is run by Richard Spencer. Damigo rarely rolls alone, and we expect him to bring around 10 or more members of IE with him, along with a collection of Alt-Right trolls. The leader of the Asatru Folk Assembly, a white nationalist pagan group in Northern California has also endorsed the action and is attending, as are members of the Soldiers of Odin and potentially members of the Golden State Skinheads(GSS). One member, Jason Kale Cas, is on the going list of the Facebook event, along with other neo-Nazi skinheads. Conclusions Different sections of the Alt-Right, the militia movement, Trump supporting Deploraballs, and neo-Nazis are all coming together in Berkeley on the 15th. This is happening to a degree which hasnt been seen anywhere else in the country on this large a scale. Regardless of whatever the organizers like Chapman, Black, and Quillian, (whose own politics are racist, Alt-Right, and fascist themselves) say the Alt-Right and neo-Nazis are coming. Dont let them pull the wool over your eyes. This is as racist a rally as the KKK, despite a few people of color taking part in live streaming, and even taking part in speaking for groups like Latinos for Trump. This diversity is a smokescreen. Will Berkeley be a crucible for a new fascist movement or will we draw a line in the sand and say, not here, not anywhere. Stockton Rural Cemetery ~ Block 27 part of our California African American Heritage by Khubaka, Michael Harris 2017 Memorial Day, we continue to help will build a brighter future for the City of Stockton, California by remembering and celebrating Rev. Jeremiah King. His example of determination and consistency will help identify, document, preserve and help exceed the National Historic standards to include the legacy of those interred within Block 27-Stockton Rural Cemetery and placing in context our authentic elevated seat of authority showcasing California African American Heritage. April 1865, Confederate General Lee of Northern Virginia surrendered to the General of the Union Army at the Appomattox Courthouse and began the laying down of arms during the US Civil War. May 1865, near Charleston, South Carolina the task of properly honoring the fallen soldiers began a tradition we celebrate today as Memorial Day. 2017 Memorial Day, Stockton Rural Cemetery we continue our contribution ferreting out the authentic legacy with a broader request for equity and equal opportunity within Block 27, the historic colored section, as a featured example of a broader proposed California African American Heritage Commission tasked with identifying, documenting, preserving and sharing profound contributions by people of African ancestry creating statutory authority from State of California. Etymology studies the origin of words and how historical meanings have changed over time. The Germanic word, frei, thought to mean outside of the fundal system is defined as, beloved, friend, to love, clear of obstruction; sense of unrestrained movement and has a very different historical context from the unspoken and taboo conversation about Chattel Slavery in the State of California. What is freedom to someone not considered a human being? Chattel slavery called property a slave, not even considered an enslaved human being thus a very salient distinction remains the unspoken value and belief challenged in the current, Black Lives Matter assertion. As a young child in elementary school, it was a great honor to lead the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under GOD, with liberty and justice for all. Today, some of us continue to pay the price for freedom, while helping to form a more perfect union. Some youth question the notion; yet many have no cognition of the authentic past while on bended knee. In 1803, Reverend Jeremiah King was reportedly born in the low country of Georgia and his amazing life ended July 1, 1883 and his body was laid to rest within Block 27~Stockton Rural Cemetery. Interestingly, young Jeremiah spent his youth enslaved in the back breaking humid fields in the low country along the Atlantic seaboard. He spent nearly half a century enslaved in the State of Georgia, the southern most of the 13 English colonies prior to the America Revolution, the only American Colony to originally expressly prohibit the enslavement of people of African ancestry until American Independence. Georgia was originally claimed as part of the Spanish Mission System, the costal Port of Savannah, GA aligned with St. Augustine, FL and the southern ports of Mobile, AL and New Orleans, LA with New Spain headquarters in Havana, Cuba. The economic bonanza of free labor enslaved chattel from the West Coast of West Africa, todays Gambia, Senegal and Sierra Leone, utilized ancient specialized agriculture skills to produce the highly profitable commodities of indigo and rice along the low county of Georgia and the Carolinas, prior to the invention of the cotton gin and King Cotton. The uniquely West African agricultural production methods facilitated retention of ancient African culture within the Gullah/Geeche traditions is part of the California African Heritage we see in the legacy and profound contributions by people of African ancestry throughout the state. By 1849, Jeremiah King and his wife are given freedom papers, money and passage to migrate from bowels of chattel slavery in the deep south to New Orleans and on the California Gold Rush. Prior to California Statehood, September 9, 1850, Jeremiah King struck it rich in the southern gold mining district and settled in San Joaquin County purchasing over 100 acres of prime agriculture land near today City of Lathrop and settling in the Historic Stockton Waterfront District. It is recorded that often Rev. Jeremiah King and his wife would travel to 40 miles to Old Sacramento to worship GOD in the basement of the Chinese Baptist Church. Beginning in September 1854, the African Baptist Church of Stockton was organized in the Historic Stockton Waterfront District, hosting weekly services for the remainder of his life. In 1859, Rev. King successfully petitioned the founding father of the City of Stockton, Captain Charles Weber, for church property on W.Washington St. between Commence and Beaver Street to relocate the purchased church building from Rev. James Woods of the Presbyterian Church of Stockton. During the US Civil War, Rev. Jeremiah King successfully petitioned the Trustees of the Stockton Rural Cemetery to establish a Section 27, a colored section as the final resting place for people of African ancestry in the county seat of San Joaquin, in the heart of the California Central Valley. Memorial Day, was established to remember the fallen soldiers during the US Civil War. Juneteenth, our symbolic end of chattel slavery in America, facilitated by the final military campaign led by Major General Granger at the Port of Galveston Island, Texas with heavy enforcement by several regiments of US Colored Troops leading up to the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution legally ended chattel slavery throughout the United States of America, December 1865. Together, we all should celebrate our collective journey to form a more perfect union, including the amazing contributions by people of African ancestry throughout the Great State of California. Leadership at the Stockton Rural Cemetery, have erected a new grave marker for Rev. Jeremiah King, and we are tasked with spiritually opening the doors of the original African Baptist Church of Stockton replicate and preserve our National Historic contribution, we are asking for your assistance and support, in the Baptist tradition we ask, Is their one? Is their one? Is their one? 2017 Memorial Day, we continue to help will build a brighter future for the City of Stockton, California by remembering and celebrating Rev. Jeremiah King, by identifying, documenting, preserving and sharing National Historic contributions of those interred within Block 27-Stockton Rural Cemetery and placing in context our authentic elevated seat of authority in California African American Heritage. Reddit Email 122 Shares By Mehmet Ozalp | (The Conversation) | The devastating gas attack in Syria, attributed to the Assad regime, and the swift US missile response is a game-changer for all parties involved in the Syrian conflict. This is a complex war, but it helps to look at the key players in three interlocking layers. First layer In the first layer are the local players within Syria. Since the 2011 Arab spring uprisings, all local players wanted to get rid of the 17-year-old regime of Syrian President Bashir Al-Assad. He desperately tried to cling to power and proved surprisingly resilient under immense political and military pressure. Assads strength comes from Russian, Chinese and Iranian support as well as support from the large portion of secular Arab Syrians and religious minorities (Alawites, Assyrian Christians and Druze). Initially, there were three main insurgent groups opposing Assad. The first was the moderate Islamic coalition made up of Sunni Syrian elite who established the Free Syrian Army (FSA), made up of officers who had defected from the Assad forces. The FSAs initial promise soon gave way to pessimism, as it could not deliver a decisive blow against Assad. Second, Kurds in northern Syria organised themselves as the YPG (a militia group whose name translates to Peoples Protection Units) and established the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They received widespread acclaim and support, particularly from the US and other Western nations, for their strong defence against Islamic State (IS) forces. Third are the Salafist jihadist groups such as the al-Nusra Front, which changed their name to the Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and claimed independence from al-Qaeda. It was these jihadist groups that led the chief military opposition to the Assad regime for the last six years, including in Aleppo until its fall in 2016. IS emerged as a key political and military force in Syria in 2014. Unlike other insurgent groups, it did not fight Assad. Rather, it opportunistically claimed large swathes of uncontrolled land and declared an independent caliphate state, becoming the chief source of radicalism threatening Western societies. Second layer The second layer in the Syrian conflict is occupied by regional powers such as Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iran has been a longstanding ally of the Assad regime because of its sectarian, political and economic interests. Assad and his entourage are Alawites, an off-shoot of Shia Islam. Syria is an important corridor for Iran to press its influence over Lebanons Shiite Hezbollah and provide access to the Mediterranean. Irans regional ambitions require the continuation of the Assad regime. Worried about Irans growing influence in the region, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have supported the Salafist insurgent groups. Fearing the spread of IS ideology and popularity in its realm, the Saudi government has supported US-led air strikes on IS since 2014. Turkey has been the most active regional player in the Syrian conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has supported all Sunni insurgent groups with weapons, training and logistics since the beginning of the conflict, with the exception of the Kurdish YPG. Turkey fears that an independent Kurdish region in Syria (combined with Kurdish northern Iraq) would encourage its Kurdish population to also seek separation. Erdogan pushed the Turkish army into Syria in August 2016. Although he desperately wanted to become involved in the impending US-backed offensive on the IS capital of Raqqa, he was left out of the US plans. Third layer The third layer of the Syrian conflict is occupied by Russia and the US. They are major geopolitical players whose conflicting interests over Syria are the source of the current impasse, and the reason why removing Assad has become exceedingly difficult. Unhappy with the increasing US and Western influence in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin saw an opportunity to expand his economic and military interests in the Syrian conflict, and staged a challenge to the geopolitical world order. In the course of the Syrian civil war, Putin has become the custodian of the Shiite alliance between Iran, Syria and Shiite political forces in Iraq and Lebanon. Deep down, Russia fears a destabilised Syria falling under IS control would mobilise radical Muslim groups within its borders. Under the Obama administration, the US consistently stayed out of direct involvement in the Syrian conflict. Busy with the Iraq exit, Barack Obama missed the window of diplomatic opportunity in the crucial early months of the Syrian uprising. When violence started, Obama elected to provide limited military support to YPG and FSA, hoping they could muster enough opposition to dismantle Assad. Obama admitted his strategy failed as the US was muscled out of Syria by an increasingly bold Putin. His support allowed Assad to gain the upper hand in Syria with the fall of Aleppo in December 2016. This is why it was bizarre that Assad would launch a gas attack at this crucial juncture. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Assad vehemently denied the use of chemical weapons, while Russia claimed the Syrian air strike hit a rebel chemical munition depot. The reason is now irrelevant, as the swift US missile attack has sealed the issue. US President Donald Trump served notice not only to Assad and Russia, but all the players in the conflict. Even though Russia and Iran responded with no-crossing-red-line tough talk, the missile attack opens a large ground for a US-led offensive on the key IS stronghold of Raqqa. The US intends to use this space to eliminate IS and dismantle the Assad regime. However, this is not likely anytime soon. Western powers suffer from a dissidence they would like Assad to go, but cannot see a viable alternative. With his secular outlook and promise of protecting religious minorities, Assad still wields much support. Trumps impulsive nature is the USs greatest weakness in world diplomacy, but counter-intuitively, is its greatest strength in a conflict like Syria. The impulsive courage of Trump, coupled with the military prudence of the Pentagon, gives the US the best advantage in the region and disturbs the Assad, Iran and Russian alliance. They can no longer act with impunity, knowing Trump would have no qualms about hitting Syrian regime targets, which were untouched by the Obama administration. Trump has tasted the rush of being commander-in-chief. He is likely to follow with other bold military steps, and insist on the demise of the Assad regime. Assads future lies with Putins obstinacy and ability to withstand US pressure. As the FBI investigation into the Trump election campaigns Russian links deepens, Trump is likely to use Assad card to deflect attention and prove his disassociation with Russia. Betting all his money on Assad, Putin will use the Syrian leader as a bargaining chip to press Trump to accept a place for Assad in the post-IS Syria, at least in the Western part of the wrecked country. This could save Assads skin, but at the expense of Syria remaining a divided country. The YPG will emerge as the main winner securing an autonomous polity in northern Syria in exchange for its help in the US-led Raqqa military offensive, driving another wedge toward the eventual division of Syria. It will follow the trajectory of the northern Iraq Kurdish region, with the prospect of future independence. Sunni insurgent groups are likely to be the biggest losers. They may have to contend with the remaining remote regions while Syria harbours the propensity to be another Iraq and a breeding ground for IS-inspired radicalism threatening societies the world over. Mehmet Ozalp, Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Related video added by Juan Cole: Reuters: Russian, Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers condemn U.S. strikes on Syria Won Ok-kum was named an honorary mayor of Seoul in October 2016. / Courtesy of Won Ok-kum By Kim Ji-soo Nguyen Ngoc Cam smiled broadly as she pulled out three name cards from her purse on meeting this reporter _ one for her role as an honorary mayor of Seoul, one for her role as president of the translation and interpretation company Dong Hanh, and the third for her role as a representative of Vietnam Community in Seoul. The latter is a group representing the interests of Vietnamese people in the greater Seoul area. Nguyen also has a Korean name, Won Ok-kum. At her office in Mangwon-dong, northwestern Seoul, April 5, the vivacious mother of two children was in the midst of a meeting with fellow Vietnamese Trieu Van Manh. Trieu had just been released from a detention center at Incheon International Airport, 20 days after the Korean company he worked for, a construction firm, had illegally cancelled his work contract. With interpretation and translation help from Won, Trieu was released from detention and will start work with the same employer. This is what Won does a lot these days _ helping Vietnamese people in Korea who are caught in a legal conundrum for one reason or another. As head of Vietnam Community, Won has been tapped to help Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, work with a group of female advisers on policies for women. This is not the first time she has worked with Moon; she participated in his first presidential bid in 2012. Moon is currently enjoying the lead over the four other candidates for the May 9 presidential election. They are Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor liberal People's Party; Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party, Hong Joon-pyo of Liberty Korea Party and Sim Sang-jung of the opposition Justice Party. All candidates have a group of advisers, but Moon has several that focus on specific issues. And having an advisory group on women's issues seems fitting. Even though Korea has seen significant progress in women's rights in recent years, women here, who comprise half the voters, still face more challenges regarding housework, marriage and other social norms. "I would like to propose a fairer distribution of welfare benefits across a range of foreign residents in Korea," Won said. There are an estimated 2.1 million foreign residents in Seoul, about 1.1 million of whom are women. But welfare benefits are currently given to only 280,000 people mainly in multicultural families, she said. "But there is a far larger number of people who come to Korea to study, live and work, and we should build counseling centers for these people too," she said. She also recommended providing other benefits to foreign residents and their families, such as expanding government subsidies for their children. She joined the group that includes a wide range of women experts in various fields including Choi Gyeong-sook, the former chief of an anti-nuclear group; Pi Woo-jin, the nation's first female military helicopter pilot; and Choi Hyeong-sook, chief of Intree, a group that supports single mothers and others. The advisory group met on April 2 at a cafe in Mapo, Seoul, during which each member presented her policy recommendations. Moon did not come, but Won hopes to meet him in person. As a Vietnamese married to a Korean, Won sees similarities between Moon's work as a human rights lawyer and the causes she promotes for Vietnamese residents in Korea. Won is originally from Dong Nai in Vietnam. She met her Korean husband while he was working on a construction site in Vietnam where she was serving as an interpreter. They got married, and she came to Korea in 1997. "Twenty years, I have been living in Korea," she said, smiling broadly. Asked on the top challenges she faced adjusting to a new life in Korea, she paused for a while before saying cautiously, "I experienced prejudice. It was prejudice either in the form of people ignoring me because I was a foreigner, or by speaking to me in banmal,'" Won said, referring the casual form of speech in Korean that is in contrast to the polite form people usually use when meeting someone for the first time or speaking to someone older. She said she didn't mention this experience at the Sunday meeting of female advisers. However, she has been working with foreign residents' groups to have an anti-prejudice law legislated. "(The anti-prejudice law) won't just be about the foreign residents in Seoul, but any group that is in the minority, including gender minority groups and others," she said. Won said she has always been an active even back in Vietnam. After arriving in Seoul, she majored in law at Korea National Open University, where she graduated in February 2011. She then pursued graduate studies in judicial affairs at the Graduate School of Public Administration at Konkuk University in Seoul, where she graduated in August 2013. She has done a lot of interpretation work in courts. For instance, the week of the interview, she was at the Labor Court, and on Thursday, she headed to Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, where she will interpret for victims in sexual assault cases. She had experienced hardship and insecurity for much of her first 15 years in Korea, and she said money, though important, was not the main factor in her decision to do interpretation work. "Now, people see me as a role model, and I like being involved," she said. The Vietnam Community in Seoul was launched in 2014, and while there are other such community groups, this one is considered to have been set up "early" among the foreign residents in Korea, she said. Can we expect to see her become the next foreign-born National Assembly lawmaker, following former ruling party lawmaker Jasmine Lee, who is from the Philippines? "No, I think I am too under-qualified," she said. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 14, 2017 A federal judge has ordered former online rental services company RadPad to pay Craigslist more than $60 million for misappropriating its real estate listings. The judgment, entered Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer in the Northern District of California, came one year after Craigslist claimed in a federal lawsuit that RadPad infringed copyright, engaged in computer fraud and spammed Craigslist's users. RadPad, which apparently is no longer in business, didn't object to the order. The lawsuit between Craigslist and RadPad grew out of Craigslist's earlier battle with three other companies: 3Taps, PadMapper and Lovely. 3Taps allegedly scraped Craigslist and made its data accessible to other developers, while PadMapper allegedly combined Craigslist's apartment listings with Google maps, in order to enable people to more easily search for apartments by neighborhood. Lovely allegedly drew on Craigslist's data to offer searchable apartment listings at Livelovely.com. advertisement advertisement When PadMapper and Lovely rolled out their real estate listings, the initiative was hailed by some observers as a welcome improvement on Craigslist's then-dated interface. Those earlier suits were resolved in 2015. Among other terms, 3Taps agreed to refrain from scraping Craigslist's site in the future. That settlement occurred after Breyer handed Craigslist a key victory in 2013, when he ruled that 3Taps may have violated a computer fraud law by continuing to access Craigslist after it took blocked visits from 3Taps' IP addresses. 3Taps allegedly used a proxy server to circumvent the IP block. Craigslist's complaint against RadPad -- which apparently went out of business late last year -- alleged that it was a one-time client of 3Taps. "Instead of innovating to attract its own customer base, RadPad has sought to unlawfully piggyback on craigslists decades of hard work by unlawfully accessing the craigslist website, stealing craigslist users posts and contact information, spamming those users with misleading emails, and then reposting the harvested craigslist listings on the RadPad site," Craigslist alleged in its complaint, filed last April. "RadPad received the misappropriated craigslist listings that 3taps scraped, to use on RadPads own website," Craigslist added. The classifieds service said that after 3Taps stopped scraping, RadPad found other ways to obtain the listings. Breyer said in the order issued this week that RadPad hired a team of people based in India to scrape Craigslist and obtain posts, pictures and users' contact information. RadPad also told the workers in India how to evade Craigslist's efforts to block the scraping, Breyer wrote. In addition to the $60 million award, the order prohibits RadPad and its former officers and employees from copying or distributing Craigslist's listings in the future. The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V.. Read More Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. It also transport petrochemical, black oil, refined petroleum product, and agricultural chemicals by tank barge; and operates offshore dry-bulk barge and tugboat unit that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargo in the United States coastal trade. As of December 31, 2021, it owned and operated 1,025 inland tank barge, approximately 255 inland towboat, 31 coastal tank barge, 29 coastal tugboat, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barge, 4 offshore tugboat, and 1 docking tugboat. Its Distribution and Services segment sells after-market service and genuine replacement part for engine, transmission, reduction gear, electric motor, drive, and control, electrical distribution and control system, energy storage battery system, and related oilfield service equipment; rebuild component parts or diesel engine, transmission and reduction gear, and related equipment used in oilfield service, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents generator, industrial compressor, high capacity lift truck, and refrigeration trailer; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping unit, as well as manufacturers electric power generation equipment, specialized electrical distribution and control equipment, and high capacity energy storage/battery systems for oilfield customer. It serves to various companies and the United States government. The company was formerly known as Kirby Exploration Company, Inc. and changed its name to Kirby Corporation in 1990. Kirby Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. 15.04.2017 LISTEN Kumawood actor Akrobeto has said galamsey is the livelihood of so many Ghanaians and, therefore, must not be stopped. He said should he become president in 2036, he will legalise galamsey. Akrobeto, who said he used to do galamsey in 1986, said licensed mining companies also use water bodies in their operations just as illegal small-scale miners and wondered why the government was only going after galamseyers. He advised the government to use alum to treat the water bodies to make them potable. In the view of the 55-year-old actor, stopping galamsey will rob some people of their livelihood. He spoke to Yaa Kunama on UTV on Friday, 14 April. His comments come at a time the Akufo-Addo government has launched an onslaught on galamseyers with a firm commitment to flushing them out. Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, has given illegal small-scale miners a three-week ultimatum to put their operations to an end or get flushed out. In the past few days, several Chinese and their local collaborators have been arrested as part of the war on galamsey. Audiences are getting their first look at The Last Jedi, as a trailer for the Star Wars film is released online. The movie follows on from The Force Awakens and will feature the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa. Many fans pointed out that it looks like, for a brief moment, Fisher makes an appearance in this new footage. The trailer was unveiled at a Star Wars celebration in Orlando, Florida and amassed thousands of views online in just a few minutes. (Warning: Third party video may contain adverts) A new poster has also been presented to the public, which includes images of Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Daisy Ridley (Rey). While the trailer might have given fans a peek at the new film, its also left them with more questions than answers. Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyongo, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis are all returning for The Last Jedi. Audiences get a glimpse of Reys Jedi training and Lukes instruction. Breathe. Just, breathe. Now reach out. What do you see? Luke says in a voiceover. Light. Darkness. A balance, Rey says. Its so much bigger, he replies. Mystery surrounds the identity of Reys parents and many fans have speculated that Luke is her father. Carrie Fisher died in December 2016 but had shot all her scenes for this Star Wars instalment. Its thought producers may use some of this material in the ninth Star Wars film. The Last Jedi will be in cinemas on 15 December. ACCRA, April 13, 2017 The Federation of Muslim Councils of Ghana (FMC) has declared its preparedness to partner the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to combat corruption in Ghana through the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP). The National Coordinator of the FMC, Alhaji Abdullah Showumi Williams made the declaration at a meeting with a high-powered delegation of the CHRAJ at the headquarters of the FMC in Accra. In welcoming the role of the FMC as outlined in the NACAP, Alhaji Showumi Williams cautioned that the fight against corruption would be a nullity if political leaders, the police, government officials, public officers and other high ranking officials do not themselves stay clear of corruption in their work places, adding that employers must pay workers adequately and promptly to avoid tempting them into corruption. He noted, however, that Islam abhors all shades of corrupt practices, quoting Qur;an . To this end the FMC will soon be embarking on sensitization of its members on the negative effects of corruption, and train its key officials and Imams on the Whistle Blowing. He called on Imams particularly to use the pulpits to preach to their congregants to eschew all forms of corruption in their lives. The CHRAJ delegation, led by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Richard Quayson, met with the FMC executives to brief them on, and solicit their support in the implementation of, the NACAP. NACAP is Ghanas strategic response to corruption, which puts together a comprehensive programme to curb corruption over a 10-year period, and seeks to lay a strong foundation for a sustainable democratic society founded on good governance and imbued with high ethics and integrity. In a presentation, Mr. Quayson noted that the fight against corruption is a shared a responsibility, with roles having been assigned to all stakeholders, including faith-based organizations. He added that as a faith-based organization, the FMC envisaged by the NACAP to, among others, provide leadership for the review of national culture and national values, and to help develop appropriate ethical environment for combating corruption. The FMC is also expected to encourage its members to hold government and public officers accountable by speaking against and reporting corruption and abuse of power by government officials and public officers. Concluding, he said that corruption can be tamed, but it requires sustained effort and commitment, charging that we must unite the country around NACAP to help win the war against corruption. For more information please contact: Hajj Muhammad Kpakpo Addo General Secretary, Federation of Muslim Councils of Ghana 0246247722/0262403357 Is it not said, when someone takes you to see life, you do not take the person to see death? This simply explains as, if someone does something good to you, you do not reciprocate the person with evil. In case you are so ungrateful to have the difficulty of repaying their kindness, it is absolutely morally not right to deliberately cause them miseries. From the displayed attitude by some NPP top men and women in their unrestrained condemnations of the Delta Force culprits who are remorseful for their thoughtless action of chucking the newly-appointed Ashanti Regional National Security Co-ordinator out of his office, I find it contrary to the wise admonition as given above. Was Judas Iscariot not the only and very one among the twelve disciples who ate from the same bowl with Jesus Christ yet, he was the one who betrayed him? Were they not the very ones who said, Hallelujah to Jesus Christ the same ones who later shouted crucify him? All that I mean to tell Ghanaians, especially His Excellency the President, is that it is not everyone closer to him or in his government that shares his aspirations and concerns for Ghana and Ghanaians. If it were not so, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa, the Minister for National Security, would have been very thoughtful and cautious when dealing with the Delta Force when they made the mistake of forcing the Regional National Security Co-ordinator out of his office. By rather being thoughtless to act in an unprofessional machismo manner, threatening, and arranging, to imprison the Delta Force culprits, the case has now self-escalated to the international level with the United Nations being knowledgeable about it and voicing their concerns. The NDC, led by that emaciated Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, alias General Mosquito, a corrupt individual who prided himself in NDC having a well-catered-for, and heavily-armed, NDCs private Special Forces to protect the interests of the NDC during Election 2012, has got the shameless nerves to come out publicly to condemn the NPP government in such an immeasurable term following the actions of the Delta Force. Does the NDC not have the Azorka Boys, Special Forces and the Montie trio bandits (Salifu Maase alias Mugabe, Godwin Gunn and Alistair Nelson) who threatened on air to murder some Supreme Court Judges and also, get a named person to rape the Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood if need be? However, Asiedu Nketiah, another corrupt person who has immensely enriched himself owing to the entire nature of the corrupt administration by former President John Dramani Mahama, says the crime by the Montie trio, murderers in the making, pales to nothing compared to the Delta Force chasing out one Agyei from his office and storming a courtroom. Do you for any reason remove your canine teeth, especially when you happen to be a lion or a carnivore? Canine teeth are used for tearing meat/flesh and once removed; the likelihood of the lion starving to death cannot be overestimated. Subsequently, the Akans have a saying, Obi ntu nese bofo3. You do not get rid of what helps you immensely towards your survival. Are the NPP in their current hullabaloo over the Delta Force incident which is leading into polarization within the party not acting in contravention of that wise saying? Four years will soon come and hopefully, the NPP will need some, or look forward to having some, nonentities, of the types of the Delta Force, Rambo Force and Tamale Bull Dogs to help protect ballot boxes for them to win re-election. This is where I am greatly worried for these young strong men may turn round to tell us, Once bitten, twice shy. They may have learnt a bitter lesson to no longer allowed themselves to be used and dumped as some Zongo youth are claiming following how the Delta Force culprits have been, or are being, treated by some NPP gurus, Government Ministers, MPs and most especially, by Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa, the Minister for National Security. Combination of common sense, strategic thinking and successful implementation of strategies, makes a political party win elections and be able to implement her policies successfully. In 1 Corinthians 10:23, it says, "I have the right to do anything," you say--but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"--but not everything is constructive. Yes, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa, a non security expert but handling issues pertaining to national security with the right to do as he wants when he wants on advice by some con men and women or con security experts, has done what is not edifying or constructive according to 1 Corinthians 10:23. When the Israelites cried unto God to give them a King, He gave them Saul after directing Samuel to anoint him a King. However, when Saul went against Gods instructions as in 1 Samuel 15:1-35 (Saul's refusal to totally annihilate the Amalekites costs him his kingdom. It is .), God denounced him. God actually has given Nana Akufo Addo to us to come to liberate Ghanaians from socio-economic destruction visited upon them by the corruption of former President Mahama and his NDC-led government and party. He has Gods support and favour concluding from how Ghanaians voted massively for him and how God endowed certain individuals with wisdom, intelligence and boldness to outwit the NDC to win the election for Nana Akufo Addo and the NPP despite all the powerful rigging machines and collusions set in place by the NDC which deceptively made them overly self-confident to win the election hands down. Nonetheless, care must be taken in order not to fall into the same trap as did King Saul. Again, beware of the likes of Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa who never supported the party in her great times of need but has landed a lucrative position he seems to be abusing to bring the party down. I shall blame Hon. Albert Kan Dapaa more than I will blame the Delta Force for his failure to resolve the problem professionally before it assumed its current hyperbolic criminality. My earnest prayer is to see His Excellency the President able to deliver on his numerous promises to make his supporters of whom I am a principal, proud. All is not lost. There is still hope to get things right so Ghanaians, please bear with the President. Lest I forget, did the Delta Force indeed play a decisive role to guarantee the NPP and Nana Akufo Addo a massive win in the Ashanti region? If they did, is their current treatment the reward the NPP top men and women are paying them? Are we not removing our canine tooth/teeth? Rockson Adofo (Written on Sunday, 15 April 2017) The deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Johnson Asiama, has urged financial institutions to see regulatory requirements key to improving the banking sector. According to him, these requirements and guidelines must be embraced to ensure that we all operate and promote a safe and sound banking sector. Dr. Asiama, was speaking at the recent Risk Summit Africa 2017 held in Accra. He called on players in the financial sector to develop proactive risk management practices that would help them compete in the global economy. He reiterated that strengthening financial service operations with risk management in the financial sector is a shared responsibility. We, as regulators, will pursue our regulatory and supervisory functions by encouraging banks and other financial institutions to adopt and implement the Basel II and III, which seek to minimize systemic risk in the financial sector, he said. Dr. Asiama hinted that the Central Bank would soon publish its sanctions for non-compliance with provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2014 (Act 874) The new anti-money laundering Act was passed in 2014 to remedy some deficiencies identified in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2008 (Act 749). The new Act extends the application of Act 749, and expands the scope of actions that can be taken under the Act and provides for related matters. The Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2014 (Act 874) include the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in its definition of unlawful activities and the new predicate offence tax offence. It expanded the Customer Due Diligence framework, which is the bedrock of sound anti-money laundering regime. The Act also gives the mandate to supervisory authorities to apply administrative sanctions. The Central Bank promised to publish its sanctions for non-compliance. 15.04.2017 LISTEN HFC Bank has been adjudged the most efficient bank in Ghana as far as response to customer phone calls is concerned -according to the Banking Industry Telephony Efficiency BITE Index by Market Research firm, Walsbridge. The survey was carried out by way of telephone mystery shopping over a 7-month period between June 2016 and January 2017 at the branch level. A total of 650 phone calls were made to 211 branches of 23 commercial banks from a noncustomer perspective. It revealed that the customer call response rate in Ghanas banking industry is just 21% at the branch level whilst 42% of the customer phone calls are simply ignored by banks. HFC Bank emerged Ultimate BITE winner with a score of 75% followed by Cal and Prudential Bank which both scored 70% to share the second spot. HFC achieved this feat after recording a call response rate of 53% compared to an industry average rate of just 21%. Speaking at the launch of the report, Chief Executive of Walsbridge, Kofi Asamoah explained that the ultimate BITE winner is a composite index of 4 categories namely Telephone Response Rate, Telephone Etiquette, Product Knowledge and Competence and Consistency in Pricing Information delivery. Different banks won in different categories. Except that when you put all the figures together, HFC topped. That doesnt necessarily mean that HFC did better than other banks in all the categories but rather when they put all the highs and lows together, it stood tall among the rest he noted. It may be that HFC has well-trained staff than other banks or have better systems than other banks. Its just like writing exams in the classroom, you may do well in some subjects and not too well in others, but when you put all the subjects together, one person will come on top even though you may have done better in mathematics than him or her he added. Access Bank came top in Telephone Etiquette with a score of 89 %. UMB and Energy Bank in 2nd and 3rd positions with 77% and 73 % score followed this respectively. The survey also revealed that almost 50% of the calls were not transferred professionally. Telephone etiquette is basically how bank staff talks and relates to customers on phone - whether he is friendly, patient introduce him or herself, especially in a business call. Most transferred calls had one of more of the following, being cut off mid-sentence, talking to an empty line, talking to another person without proper introduction/warming, holding on for several minutes to a failed transfer or repeating oneself to different personnel after each transfer. In order to make a lasting impression on prospective customers businesses, telephone conversations must be well-branded. Communicating with prospective clients without asking for their names does not send a good signal; perhaps the bank is not interested in doing business with them. HFC and CAL Bank both scored 99% to jointly emerge Best Bank in Pricing Information Consistency whilst ADB placed third with 93%. The survey sought to find out the reliability of information clients receive regarding pricing information from different branches of the same bank. Consistency in prices across branches of the same bank helps to build customer confidence and strengthens brand position. On the other hand, receiving different information from different branches negatively impacts the bank's reputation and customer loyalty. It fuels mistrust and perceptions of hidden charges, overcharging or unauthorised deductions. When prospective clients request for information about prices, they expect the information they receive from different branches or the same bank to be about same. CAL and FBN Bank also both topped in terms of Product and Service Presentation with 98% followed closely by GT Bank with 98%. Product and Service Information is about how the relevant information is presented to the customer because when one wants to do business with a bank, it is expected that the staff is trained enough to communicate effectively with him or her to understand. Product knowledge makes the customer service team looks competent and efficient. Their conviction in the companys offering is reflected when they interact with the customer leading to the higher possibility of a sale and customer satisfaction. Three major indicators were used to ascertain how well bank staff explains products and services to prospective clients. These include the ability to explain requirements and procedure clearly to the understanding of callers, ability to answer follow-up questions properly without the excessive use of jargons or appearing dismissive, repetitive, defensive or condescending and confidence level. The general Ghanaian public has been left confused as to what should be the prudent and efficient way forward in handling the Ameri power plant deal which has since its contract signing stage generated a counter opposition. The experts and public opinions are divided in regards to either annulling the contract, renegotiating or leaving it as it is. The latest to join the debate is the Policy think tank IMANI Ghana,which has disclosed that renegotiating the Ameri deal will save the country US$2 million monthly, translating into US$24 million a year. According to the group, it is imperative for government to renegotiate the agreement to maintain value for money. Vice President of the Group, Bright Simons has argued that some West African countries procured a similar plant at a far lower cost. Burkina Faso and Benin have actually rented APR machines directly from APR. They did not go through all of these processes we took and we know the per kilowatt power per cost that they were charged. When I did the computation for Burkina Faso it was around US$360,000 per megawatt. Ghanas figure is US$2 million per megawatt [monthly] and even more, he said. Ameri Power secured a contract from the erstwhile National Democratic Congress government to provide about 250 Megawatts of power for Ghana because of erratic power cuts in the country. However, the New Patriotic Party government upon assuming office tasked a 17-member committee to investigate the contract, which they believe was not in the best interest of Ghanaians. The lawyer Philip Addison led committee after its investigation disclosed that the contract was bloated by about US$150 million. The committee stated that Ameri in its agreement with government charged Ghana significantly higher than what it was charged by the Turkish registered company PPR, which financed and executed the project. The Turkish firm pegged the total cost of the project which is to span over a 5 year period at a maximum of 360 million dollars. However in the Build Operate Own Transfer (BOOT) agreement signed between government and Ameri, the deal was pegged at a minimum of 510 million dollars. This gave Ameri a commission of US$150 million. Commenting on the issues, Mr. Simons was of the view that the deal is rip-off, and puts government in disadvantaged position, hence the cost must be reduced. We have to consider the other variable cost. We buy fuel and others. Burkina Faso paid significantly less for the same plant and also went directly to APR. We, on the other hand, had to go through Ameri, through Metcat, through PPL and finally got an EPL plant. Thats one layer of bureaucracy and cost, he lashed out. Mr. Simons chastised the representatives of government who endorsed the agreement, pointing out that Ghana was buying the power in excess of the original cost. Basically the agreement that we signed is just a modified version of what APR uses in other places. That agreement indicates that the cost of power is nearly 15cents. I dont see how you can say power is cheap when you are buying it at almost twice what typically you buy from other plants in the country at the composite level, he argued. Of course, some plants are expensive because there are specific circumstances but on the whole, you have to be guided by what is the composite tariff that your own regulator has issued as reasonable to charge for generation of power, he added. He further lamented about the huge cost of power imposed on consumers, calling on government to rectify the issue soon. In this country, how much do we even pay for power that we are importing from Ivory Coast is about 11 cents. Its completely excessive. Considering the fact that we also have to pay for the fuel that power the plant, and the fact that in the agreement when the plant goes for scheduled maintenance, we continue to pay. he said. Bright Simons further explained that about five companies were involved in the procurement and installation and operation of the emergency power plant, Ameri Power. According to him, bringing on-board these companies which included General Electric (GE), PPL, APR AND Metcar was unnecessary. Information gathered indicates that government currently pays Ameri power US$10 million every month for its services adding that the amount is too high. According to him, the company should be paid US$2.5 million instead. Our argument is very simple, in so far as every month government has to go and find nearly US$10 million and hand it over to Ameri, there is room for negotiation to bring that amount down. That is all that we are asking for. Definitely they must re-negotiate. Government has already committed itself to try and bring down that cost. We need clarity from government for the timeline and strategy on how to get that done, he added. He further lambasted the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) for not doing due diligence to deal during its initial stages. In terms of order of anger, Im most incensed by the regulators in the spaceEnergy Commission, PURC and the rest, I think it is completely useless that we pay regulators that absolutely have no understanding of the remit of their mandate. PURC should be involved because they are the regulators, he added. The IMANI Ghana Vice President also said he was disappointed at the NPP government for not giving a clear road map on how the deal with be re-negotiated. In 2015, before the purchase of Ameri power plant, the New Patriotic Party, then the minority in parliament, raised alarm of over pricing on the deal. The minority NPP vehemently opposed and called for a halt in the purchase of the power barge. The minority after failing in attempts to stop the then NDC government from purchasing the power barge, vowed to investigate and further abrogate the purchase agreement contract if the need be. During the heat of brouhaha surrounding the purchase of the Ameri power plant, a private legal practitioner, Kofi Bentil, suggested that there could be a way out for the government to make things right in the deal that had attracted hue and cry over corruption claims then. Government had received widespread criticisms following a Norwegian newspaper publication which raised a possible issue of corruption in the US$510 million deal because the market value of the turbines is US$220 million. Many experts condemned the contract, which according to them, does not give the Ghanaian taxpayer value for the money being spent and called for the abrogation of the contract. But, the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), has hinted that it will be very difficult to abrogate or renegotiate the Ameri power deal until allegations of underhand dealing between the previous government and the Ameri group are clearly established, The Deputy Executive Director at ACEP, Benjamin Boakye has said that the contract is already in full operation and it will be nearly impossible to review it. They should blame those who negotiated the contract for not listening to Ghanaians and for causing this financial loss to us; and I think that is where our focus should be. At this point, Ameri will only be magnanimous to say that maybe I would like to continue doing business therefore I am willing to renegotiate the contract, but we cannot compel them to renegotiate the contract because it was just based on our own negligence. The report of the Committee pointed out three broad problems with the contract. The report found technical, financial and legal lapses in the contract. On the financial side, the committee found out that although AMERI secured the deal, the contractor PPR which actually built and financed the plant charged $360million yet AMERI forwarded a bill of $510million in the BOOT agreement. The committee said this is not equitable and recommends that;"Ameri Energy should be invited back to the negotiation table to address and remedy the issues enumerated in this report and for GoG to aim to claw back a substantial portion of the over US$150million commission". The Philip Addison committee advised that "in the event that Ameri Energy refuses to come to the negotiation table, GoG should repudiate the Agreement on the grounds of fraud". It faulted the NDC government for failing to do due diligence to the extent that it did not have any information on the shareholders and directors of AMERI and other third parties. The report also noted that the AMERI does not have an licence or permit to operate the plants in Ghana which is contrary to section 11 and 25 of the Energy Commission Act, 1997 (ACT 541). In another area for re-negotiation recommended in the report, the committee said the penalties charged AMERI for failing to provide power at agreed levels are woefully not punitive enough to encourage AMERI to deliver on its 330MW mandate. While AMERI pays little for its failures, the report found out that Ghana pays US$8.5million on a monthly basis irrespective of whether power is delivered or not. Supporting a claim by NPP MPs that it was misled to approve the deal in parliament, the report said the terms of a financial agreement, a Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC), was "significantly" different from that contained in the Agreement that went to Parliament. A standby letter of credit offers financial protection to AMERI should something go wrong. AMERI can take away $51million even if Ghana has genuine invoice dispute between with the parties, the report also found. The Philip Addison committee also called for a review of tax exemptions to AMERI and its third parties because they are too wide. It said AMERI and other parties do not pay corporate and income tax. "Basically, Ameri and all its affiliates and sub-contractors and third parties are not liable to pay any form of tax whatsoever in The Republic of Ghana". Meanwhile, Mr. Boakye argued that a cancellation will only be possible if there is evidence indicating that there were indeed some shady dealings that could cost the nation. Unless we get any fresh evidence that suggests that there was some underhand dealings that actually cost this country that money or there was some collusion between our officials and that of Ameri on which basis we can activate a renegotiation or a cancellation, it will be difficult. At this stage, I am afraid the contract is in force and we would have to abide by the terms of the contract. He wondered at the feasibility of cancelling the contract, especially when both parties had agreed and met the terms and conditions. The contract was signed, they have delivered on the contract, and they have brought in the turbines. The turbines are working and delivering power to the grid, so if you have to cancel it, then you have to face the penalties in the contract, which means you have to pay them the money. We will have to focus on how we get answers from our own people. ACEP also cautioned the Akufo-Addo government to take a cue from the findings of the committee on power deals and be transparent in subsequent negotiations. We need greater transparency in the way some of these contracts are negotiated because they add up to the cost of electricity. The attendant effects and facts of the case is that, a poor negotiation for a power plant will make it so expensive, and this will have to be passed on the consumer which hurts businesses and domestic consumers due to price volatility and eventually affects the entire economy. ACEP cautioned that, Once electricity is expensive, productivity also goes down and therefore the taxes you expect to get you will not get it, so government should be mindful of that and be transparent about how we contract some of these power plants so we can get value for money. Contradicting the Philip Addison committees report however, the former Head of Communications for the Ministry of Petroleum, Edward Bawa, has said the committee that probed the AMERI power plant deal churned out a lopsided report. Bawa contested the position of the committee insisting that the AMERI deal was a profound investment decision taken by the team at the time in the interest of the state. What we were involved in was the best deal Ghana could have gotten at the time. The fact that they did not cite a due diligence report doesnt mean we didnt do due diligence. he said. We had three options to this agreement; the first was to purchase it with an amount in the range of US$473 million, and the second option was to rent it for a figure around US$477 million, and the third option was what we settled on which is the BOOT costing us US$510 million. Because of some competing needs of the state we couldnt buy the Plant outright for that 473 million dollars, while the second option was also not helpful because after a period of renting, the plant will be taken back by the partners. So then among the three options, the third one which is the BOOT was quite a good deal and that is why we sent it to parliament for approval. If you want to look at the issue critically you need to compare the AMERI to other existing plants that we have. If you look at the average composite generation tariff which the PURC has approved for the other seven thermal Plants, the average cost is about US14.94 cents per Kilowatt hour [kWh], but AMERI will cost US14.59 cents kWh. So AMERI is better in terms of cost. The other seven Plants also have a contract period of about 20 years, but then again AMERI has only 5 years. So when you compare them AMERI was far better. The Member of Parliament for the Tain Constituency in the Brong Ahafo region,Hon.Gabriel Osei has joined officials of the Information Services Department to campaign on the 2017 budget and economic policy of government. Speaking on Royals FM in Wenchi which was carried live on Tain Fm and a host of Information Centres in the Wenchi Municipality and the Tain District, Hon. Gabriel Osei reiterated governments resolve to revamp the Agricultural sector through the Planting for Food and Jobs policy. He added that the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy will relieve parents and guardians of the financial stress they go through to pay their wards school fees. Using his life story as an example, he said because of financial constraints he could not afford seventeen pesewas he was supposed to pay as admission fees at the Sunyani Senior High School after his middle school education. He was happy that no student will be denied education or a school of his choice because of financial constraints with the introduction of the Free Senior High School. He was however quick to ask Ghanaians not to hesitate to point out aspects of the budget which will not serve the best interest of the country despite it beingGood News Budget. Touching on the Agriculture sector in the 2017 budget, the District Information Officer for Tain, Mr. Baffour-Mensah Amos said government does not see the Agricultural sector as only a food provision sector but a sector that has the potential to create jobs for Ghanaians. He said governments flagship policy Planting for Food and Jobs which will be launched in Goaso in the Brong Ahafo region will create jobs along the Agricultural value chain. He said, the policy will provide raw materials for governments one district one factory policy. He added that with governments resolve to renovate and build more warehouses, the era of post -harvest loses and cheap price for farmers produce will be a thing of the past. Mr. Baffour-Mensah said with the implementation of the Free Senior High School in September coupled with provision of lunch for Day students as well as the revamping of the School Feeding Programme, demand will be generated for food which will create ready market for farmers. Further, he said the employment of Agricultural Extension Officers and provision of improved seedlings as part of the Planting for Food and Jobs Policy will ensure that farmers adopt modern methods of farming to improve their yields. He also touched on the 50% subsidy on fertilizer and government decision to introduce pump irrigation in cocoa farms as well as the one village one dam policy are all interventions that will revamp the Agricultural sector. He therefore urged Ghanaians to eschew partisan politics and support government for a successful execution of the 2017 budget. Other panellists of the campaign crew namely Mr. Immoro T.Ayibani, Mr. E.KD. Totimmeh, and Mr. Cyril B.C Yabang Municipal Information Officers for Techiman,Wenchi and Kintampo North as well as Mr. Stanic Kpodo, a Cinema Commentator all touch on various sectors of the budget including restoration of Nursing and Teacher Trainees allowances, tax cuts and abolition among others. The 2017 budget campaign is a fourteen days programme been undertaken by the Information Services Department to explain the budget and government economic policies to the citizens and take feedback to government. The programme is also aimed at courting public support for a successful implementation of the budget. The Department in the Brong Ahafo region has zoned the region into five and using radio, Information vans, churches, mosques, schools as well as Information Centres to campaign on the 2017 budget. Governance think tank, Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has joined calls for a crackdown on members of New Patriotic Party (NPP) affiliated militant groups. In a press release ahead of President Nana Akufo-Addos 100 days in office, CDD condemned the violent activities of the groups and faulted the security agencies and the NPP for failing to deal with the thugs, popularly referred to as vigilante groups. The many instances of NPP-affiliated vigilante groups forceful takeover of state assets and public facilities (including toilets, toll booths, school feeding programs, etc.) and the unlawful seizure of vehicles of members of the previous administration put a dent on the hitherto smooth transition process. Worse still, the failure of government, and law enforcement agencies to deal decisively with the NPP-affiliated vigilante groups, mainly the Delta and Invincible Forces, that invaded sensitive government installations such as the passport office and Tema Ports and Harbor, appears to have encouraged the recent brazen attacks on the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator and a Circuit Court in Kumasi, by the so-called Delta Force, said the CDD statement. The Delta Force members made headlines when they attacked a Kumasi circuit court last week to free some of its members who were standing trial for a previous attack on the Ashanti Regional Security Co-ordinator. The court has since imposed a fine of 2,400 on them whiles the substantive case continues in the court. Many institutions and groups, including the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the United Nations, have since condemned the attack. The President recently condemned the attack in his Easter message to Ghanaians. Published below is the full CDD statement Monday, April 17, 2017 marks exactly 100 days since the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led-New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration was inaugurated. The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) uses this upcoming occasion to assess the Akufo-Addo/NPP governments performance from its vantage as a democratic governance think tank. We commend the teams of both the John Dramani Mahama-National Democratic Congress (NDC) and that of the Akufo-Addo-NPP government for working out a relatively smooth and peaceful transfer of power. They exhibited high levels of cooperation and accommodation, notwithstanding the occasional disagreement and miscommunication. We commend President Akufo-Addo for the speed with which he assembled his team of ministers and deputy ministers for the takeoff of the new government. We also applaud the efforts the president made to explain the rationale behind the nomination of specific individuals for the respective ministerial positions. This practice suggests the willingness of the President to subject his own logic and reasoning to broad scrutiny a healthy development for Ghanas nascent democracy, if sustained. We further commend President Akufo-Addo for giving impetus to the fight against corruption by allocating a substantial GHC 1.2Million to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to implement activities under the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP). Finally, we commend the president for the declaration to put an indefinite freeze on the purchase of new vehicles and completely terminate the standing policy that allowed government appointees to purchase their official vehicles. CDD-Ghana deems these decisions as important symbolic steps towards promoting good public financial management. In respect of the latter policy, the Center recommends that the Akufo-Addo/NPP government pass a comprehensive law on the disposal of all public assets to provide a long-term guideline for the disposal of public assets. However, a number of developments in the first 100 days of the Akufo-Addo/NPP administration give us cause for dismay. First, the many instances of NPP-affiliated vigilante groups forceful takeover of state assets and public facilities (including toilets, toll booths, school feeding programs, etc.) and the unlawful seizure of vehicles of members of the previous administration put a dent on the hitherto smooth transition process. Worse still, the failure of government, and law enforcement agencies to deal decisively with the NPP-affiliated vigilante groups, mainly the Delta and Invincible Forces, that invaded sensitive government installations such as the passport office and Tema Ports and Harbor, appears to have encouraged the recent brazen attacks on the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator and a Circuit Court in Kumasi, by the so-called Delta Force. CDD-Ghana acknowledges the public commitment the national security hierarchy has made to bring those involved to justice fully as endorsed by the President. The Center fully endorses the calls for the immediate disbandment of all political party-affiliated vigilante groups to uproot this threat to national security. However, the Center is convinced that, the more credible way to deal with the canker of militant party-affiliated vigilantism should, start with proactive de-politicization of state/government control of the police and other national security agencies, including the appointment and transfers of their leadership. It also requires a firm stance to end the accompanying partisanship in the deployment of security agencies which breeds impunity among incumbent government supporters and fosters mistrust among opposition party supporters. CDD-Ghana feels badly disappointed by president Akufo-Addos decision to appoint 110 ministers. It flies in the face of the presidents own declared commitment to protect the public purse as well as its longstanding good governance advocates campaign for meaningful reduction in the size of government and resultant government spending. We believe that the appointments of so many politicians to manage the state bureaucracy will further deepen its politicisation and undermine its authority. We are also disturbed by the continuity in practice after electoral turn-overs whereby the chief executive officers and senior managers of public agencies and parastatals are summarily removed or asked to proceed on leave, and to handover to a caretaker officer/acting CEO. Such actions are inconsistent with good corporate governance practices, it fosters politicization of the public service as well as political exclusion, and undermines the fight against winner takes all politics. The Center deems the interpretation of who is a political appointee under Section 14 (6) in the Presidential Transition Act 2012 too broad and badly in need of review informed by best practice. The Center is very much aware that 100 days into a new administration may be too short a time to fully assess a government, and to get a full measure of what the President and the NPP government can do to fulfil its transformational agenda for Ghana. Nonetheless, it does present an opportunity for a new government to take stock, build on the positive steps and achievements and also correct mistakes it has made. It is our fervent hope that going forward the President and his team will embrace this opportunity to address the many governance challenges that the Country faces, some of which have been noted by the Center in this statement. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com 15.04.2017 LISTEN After a whole day of long awaited negotiations in Moscow, one thing is absolutely clear. Result is: zero. Surprise? Not at all, despite the fact that Donald Trump successfully cheated the whole world with his, for more than half a year repeated, mantra of the new American foreign policy, of abandoning imposing regimes and the American way of life. So, whoever expected any positive results from the meetings between ministers Lavrov and Tillerson and between President Putin and the guest form the US, proved to me, to say the least, naive. Because, acting only days before this meeting - in the manner of the Lone Ranger, characteristic to those who preceded him, the new American President made a personal U-turn and provoked another. Launching 59 cruise missiles Tomahawk to bombard a Syrian air force base, Trump first of all did what he for months was promising not to do. Not only once in the election campaign and especially in his inaugural address Donald Trump solemnly promised that the United States will no more impose regimes, that they will not take part in senseless wars (like the one in Syria), that they will stop acting as the world policeman. Moreover he forgot his messages to Barack Obama, years ago, that he cannot act militarily against Syria without Congressional consent and that such an action would be a grave mistake. Let us go a step further. Trump even did not bother to produce an excuse for the attack. And let us be crystal clear. Nobody with a clear mind would buy the story that Assads forces launched a chemical attack against rebels, especially if one has in mind two key elements. First, Assads forces are gaining ground (so why would he risk such an attack, provoking a possible American reaction) and, second, the Syrian chemical weaponry, handed over some years ago at the Russian initiative, was destroyed by the Americans. It is worth mentioning that staging false pretexts for military interventions abroad is a long-term tradition of the American foreign policy. We do not need to go back to Teddy Roosevelt and Panama. Let us just remember the fake accident in the Gulf of Tonkin, which marked the beginning of the Vietnam war and let us not forget the equally fake story about Sadam Husseins weapons of mass destruction, which marked the start for the invasion of Iraq. At that time the American policy at least tried to stage a more or less plausible story (a full month of political-propagandistic preparations before Iraq was attacked). Nothing of that sort was needed by Trump. Without any solid evidence, without findings of any investigators on the spot, he knew (and the leaders of many European counties repeated after him, like reciting a poem) that the only person responsible for the use of chemical weapons can and is Assad (after that there where attempts to construct, indirectly though, a Russian responsibility too). And Donald Trump attacked. By doing so, he demonstrated two things. First, that he knows nothing about politics, because he completely forgot the Russian component of which he will be remembered one day after the attack on Syria by the Russian prime minister Medvedev who quite clearly stated that the US are on the verge of war with Russia. Alas, that he is a political amateur was a very well known fact, even to those who voted for him. But, he demonstrated something that the majority of his supporters did not expect because all of them did not vote for Trump just to express their support for building the wall along the border with Mexico. He demonstrated that he is ready, without hesitating, to abandon the concept of the new American foreign policy, most probably the product of some of his staff members, maybe General Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign. So, this is Trumps U-turn. The other U-turn he provoked was in the attitude of almost all who until yesterday could not stop attacking him. And they, so called liberals, political analysts, columnists, mainstream media, neo-cons like Senator John McCain and all like him, they are now more than happy with Trump. Not only that they accept him, they even glorify him, which is for example reflected in the statement that on the day he bombarded Syria, Trump became President. In Europe old-style politicians and their media followers are delighted that the American foreign policy is finally returning where it should be, that nothing is going to change and that the US will not allow anybody else to become Number 1 in the world. Both U-turns show that the world is again entering the fatale spiral of senselessness, that was guaranteed by Hillary Clinton and that could have been interrupted, as many hoped, thanks to Trump and his collaborators. And there is another indication that supports this way of thinking, an indication for the continued policy of inventing enemies, so desperately needed both by the military industrial complex and the deep state. A member of the US Congress, a Democrat (and they are traditionally more open if not closer to the left side of the political spectrum, than the Republicans) proposed the reactivation of the law against Nazi-propaganda from the Roosevelt days before WW2. If she had in mind the necessity to prevent the more and more present anti-Semitism, intolerance and racism which is a characteristic not only of the US, but of the US too, it would be OK. But no, she proposed the reactivation of the law that should have prevented Nazi-propaganda in order to defend the US from Russian propaganda which is undermining the very basis of democracy. Only yesterday, did you forget, this propaganda was accused of making Trump the President of the US and Trump was called Putins usefull idiot. But who is interested in such details any more? Now, after the bombardment of Syria, after America emerged again as it always was? Nobody! The very fact that there is an initiative to apply to todays Russia (formally democratic, although with clear authoritarian tendencies) an old law intended to prevent Nazi-propaganda, and Nazism is in its essence, in theory and practice, the very negation of democracy, proves that he West really desperately needs an enemy. If there is not a real one, than a fake enemy. And for what purpose is such an enemy needed? With an enemy on the horizon it is much easier to unite the voting machine in ones own country, as well as those in the allied countries, not to say: in the satellite countries. On the other hand, and this is even more important, with an enemy in sight one can create conditions if not for waging war, than for sure for preparing for war. And it is no secret that in such conditions good money can be made. The whole policy of containing Russia, waged for years by encircling Russia with NATO members, the whole propaganda campaign aimed at projecting Russia as tomorrows aggressor according to prominent and in the past reliable media in the West all of this is aimed at one goal: to make the public opinion prepared and ready to accept growing expenses for defense (or even substituting the professional armed forced with the mandatory serving in the army for every citizen). All of this is aimed at convincing citizens/voters that our media (and our politicians too) are telling the truth, while the Russians, both media and policy makers, are lying. And finally, all of this is aimed at making the public opinion understand why whistleblowers from the intelligence structures, people who at one point listen to their own conscience and tell openly what they are doing, should be treated and punished accordingly as inner danger for the national security. Initiatives such as the one for applying the law meant to prevent Nazi-propaganda to what is described as Russian propaganda (although it is not seldom more accurate and objective than what is being served by the mainstream media in the West), as well as further escalation of the war in Syria lead only to one conclusion: seemingly senseless, but at the same time quite logical. In order to survive the liberal capitalism which is ruling the greatest part of the world, needs a new, great war. The fatale spiral of senselessness which we have entered is, without any doubt, leading us in that direction. The author is a Croatian journalist (TV and press), who served for almost a decade as foreign policy advisor to the second President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesic. Over the years, it's been more or less, a traditional ritual for an incoming president to enjoy a rite of passage into power as a crowd pleaser. Sadly, maintaining such romantic connection with the crowd after a little drive off the garage, seem to be a slight misfortune, as they suddenly tend to pick up the pace on the mockery and hate that follows up quite shortly! Perhaps, it's safe to say- the same people who make a president popular, can as well turnaround to make him scandalously unpopular! While you nod along in agreement, reiterating in your mind why a president deserves a regular backlash for his 'numerous' inadequacies, when do we come to realize we've been going round in circles with every administration? We tend to breed so much hate and disgust for an outgoing president we once voted (who according to our impeccable ratings, have done the abominable), then we embrace a new president we likewise voted into power, only to hate on him in a similar fashion and draw a countdown for his exit, hoping for a better one to come by at the next polls! I worriedly ask... Are all presidents atrocious and insensitive, yet we chose them anyway? Will the bulk of citizens ever find a president good enough for them? I then realized, politics go much deeper than the loud cheers and applauses roared at electioneering campaigns from the majority of people who seem to approve. It is the mystery of running the lives of millions of people who don't really care much about having a great country, but bother more on having a great home! The moment the GDP can't be tangibly reflected any sooner in their lives on an individual basis, however thoughtful your ideas/policies are on paper, or how charming your smile is on camera, you become a clueless, ugly and corrupt monster from the woods! Doesn't it feel a bit strange, how the same people who tarried and labored to win long arguments on behalf of a presidential candidate at barbershops and other public hangouts, before heaping large votes on him in trust of his goals and campaign promises, could suddenly swirl in disagreement of the same goals, or his methods of pursuing them? Every policy, travels on a two-way street. While it gets accommodated by a few, it pisses a lot more off! That's aside the discontent of a rival political party, who strategically oppose the president's methods, in order to continuously dim the lights of his 'street cred'. Presidents are sometimes hated for no fault of theirs, although their unorthodox policies, alleged corrupt practices and high-handedness in certain cases, could give the citizens a sudden hankering for their blood! They are no magicians to swiftly overturn the misfortunes of the people in a split second. Neither can they satisfactorily meet up with every expectation, or sort out the individual needs of every citizen. They can only do the best they can within a time frame and allow the work in progress be inherited by a different administration. On the other hand, no one can blame the citizens for having several demands or growing a high expectation of their leaders who speak like magicians during election campaigns. As a result, citizens may continue to be disappointed with every president's political inadequacy and the presidents alongside, will continue to lounge in the flattering quantity of hatred they enjoy! Twitter: @princewill_nimi Email: [email protected] Bio: Nimi Princewill is a Nigerian creative writer, poet and social reformer. He's very passionate about the social reformation and political development of Africa. He's most notable for his unconventional opinions on issues that cut across religion, sports, social lifestyle and politics. Juba (AFP) - A surge of fighting in eastern South Sudan has forced 60 aid workers to flee, the UN humanitarian agency said Saturday, hurting efforts to help civilians in the famine-hit nation. An increase in violence nationwide has seen thousands flee in the past two weeks, including more than 16,000 from the second-largest city of Wau -- above 10 percent of its population. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA warned that helping the needy was growing ever more dangerous after three people involved in delivering food aid were brutally killed in Wau this week. "There are no words left to explain the level of frustration and outrage I feel regarding the continued attacks against humanitarians in South Sudan who are simply trying to help the civilians who are suffering as a result of this conflict," said OCHA coordinator Eugene Owusu in a statement. "Separately, 60 humanitarian workers have had to relocate from multiple locations in Jonglei yesterday and today -- including Waat and Walgak -- due to intensified conflict in the area." The outbreak of violence in the eastern Jonglei region comes after fierce clashes in southern Pajok and western Wau in the past two weeks. According to a tally of UN figures and deaths that witnesses reported to AFP, 101 people were killed in the two towns. The UN peacekeeping mission UNMISS, which has been blocked from accessing some conflict zones, said 13,500 people had fled to their base near Wau this week. More than 3,000 others were seeking refuge at a Catholic church compound. UNMISS said fighting had also broken out in the western town of Raga and in the north-eastern Upper Nile region. The special representative for the UN secretary general in South Sudan, Moustapha Soumare, on Saturday called for a halt to fighting, urging "all parties, to prove their commitment to peace". "They must show restraint and demonstrate their responsibility to ensure the sanctity of life of all South Sudanese citizens," he said in a statement. The three-year civil war in the world's youngest country has created a massive humanitarian crisis. Famine was declared in two regions in February, affecting 100,000 people. Up to five million need aid. While President Salva Kiir vowed that the government would ensure "unimpeded access to needy populations across the country", March alone saw 79 incidents of humanitarians being blocked from doing their work, according to OCHA. One aid worker told AFP that in 15 years experience he had never seen the situation as bad, yet predicted that the spiral would continue downward. "The country is sliding into the worst crisis. The worst times in terms of wanton violence, disease, corruption and total economic decline are sadly ahead of it," he said on condition of anonymity. South Sudan's leaders fought for decades for independence, but once they got it in 2011, a power struggle between Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar led to all out civil war in 2013. Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako Jnr has cautioned the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) against dropping its 2016 flagbearer, John Mahama. The New Crusading Guide newspaper Editor-in-Chief says although many names have been suggested as a replacement for former President John Mahama on the ticket of the NDC in 2020, none of them, in his view, stands the chance of clinching a victory for the party. Honestly if I look at all the names coming up I still dont see any of them more competitive...none of them is as competitive as John Mahama, he said on Joy FM/Multi TV news analysis programme, Newsfile, on Saturday. Kwaku Baako Jnr The opposition NDC is currently battling a possible destructive watershed period following the 2016 trouncing by the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Internal disputes over the cause of the loss that appeared to have come on the blind of the party have resulted in a fact-finding committee led by party stalwart and a former Finance Minister, Prof Kwesi Botchwey. While one faction blames John Mahama and his close-knit circle of appointees for causing the defeat, others have pointed accusing fingers at party founder Jerry John Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. Others still think that the non-involvement of the Rawlingses in the affairs of the party is working against the party's fortunes and have moved to bring them on board ahead of 2020. However, before Prof Botchwey completes his task of finding the actual cause of the 2016 defeat, there have been proposals for the former President to removed. Last year, NDC-affiliate Al-Hajj newspaper reported that as many as 25 names have been proposed as John Mahamas possible replacement in 2020 and 2024. According to the newspaper, these presidential candidate hopefuls have started preparing grounds for the eventual ascension as flagbearer of NDC when John Mahama retires. Top on the list is Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu and former Trade Minister, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbarah. Other names include break way National Reform Party (NRP) leader, Goosie Tanoh; former MP for La Dadekotopon, Nii Amasah Namoale and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Joshua Alabi. However, Mr Baako, a veteran journalist, thinks the agitation to sideline John Mahama in the next election due to the 2016 defeat is premature. They should wait for the Kwasi Botchwey report, he advised, suggesting that the report will show if John Mahama is a bad candidate for the NDC in 2020. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected] Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. 15.04.2017 LISTEN Former Attorney General Dr Dominic Ayine has revealed that the Africa & Middle East Resource Investment ( AMERI ) is unwilling to negotiate any new deal with the government. He said the country is not getting any $150 million from the $510 million deal already signed under erstwhile President John Mahama government because the power company has indicated that it will be economically and financially unwise to revise anything in the current agreement. Mr Ayine, who played a key role in the controversial deal, disclosed this on Joy FM/MultiTV's news analysis programme Newsfile Saturday and also refuted claims that he did not offer any legal opinion prior to signing the deal. According to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga East, government started dealing with APR Energy, a subcontractor of AMERI where government issued an opinion. Subsequently, when there was an innovation, AMERI was substituted for APR Energy, he added. "In substance, all the terms and conditions are the same except the substitution of the name Ameri for APR. What was the need for us to issue a second opinion to say Ameri has taken over?" he quizzed. The AMERI deal was signed as an emergency power agreement in February 2015, between Government of Ghana represented by the Minister of Power and AMERI Energy, to ameliorate the countrys power challenges at the time. But policy think tanks indicated that the cost of the project was outrageously high, suspecting the cost for the deal had been bloated. The Nana Akufo-Addo government, therefore, set up a committee to look into the deal when it assumed power in 2017. The Committee, led by private legal practitioner Phillip Addison in its report disclosed that it found technical and financial lapses in the contract. On the financial side, the committee found out that although AMERI secured the deal, the developer that built and financed the plant charged $360 million yet AMERI forwarded a bill of $510million in the agreement. The Committee said this is not equitable and recommends that operators of the plant should be invited back to the negotiating table to address and remedy the issues enumerated in this report. However, Dominic Ayine says that is not likely to happen. He explains that before the contract was signed, the Volta River Authority conducted a value for money analysis as well as other technical assessments before the agreement was signed. There has been no such contract in which government has an obligation to pay $510 million. We have a Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOT) with AMERI. In that contract, the obligation to build and operate the plant is on Ameri and then transfers it to VRA in five years. The key obligation for Ghana as a country [ECG and VRA] is to pay is to take and pay for the power and we are paying 14.5 cents pkh and it is only Sunni Asogli that beats Ameri with respect to the price, he said. PricewaterhouseCoopers who did the value for money analysis has also confirmed this. The misinformation about some $150 is pure balderdash, he added, explaining that the cost of the plant including installation and construction came to $360 million which takes into account of the cost of the equipment. According to him, there are operation and maintenance cost elements as well in the agreement which government agreed to pay the 14.5 cents pkh. "Government said AMERI's cost must be capped to a maximum including profit to $30 million per year which comes to $150 for the five years. If that is added to the $360 million it gives you the $510 million. The problem is that the people doing the analysis are not mentioning the $150 millionin all the analysis that Bright Simons [a vociferous critic of the deal] has done he has not mentioned that our principal obligation is to buy the power at the cost of 14.5 cents pkh," he said. "I saw Bright Simons commenting that we choose the uncitral rule and so on...I taught International Investment Law for over 13 years, there is nobody in this country who is more knowledgeable in International Investment Law than Dominic Ayine," he said adding it is unthinkable for you anyone to argue that choosing the uncitral rule amounts to shortchanging Ghana. Dr Ayine explained further, "Ghana doesn't have any obligation since we don't own the plant and if anything happens to the plant, which is not as a result of any act of the government of Ghana, the risk is to be borne by AMERI. Regarding claims that the variable charges of 0.5 percent that comes to $16 million that is supposed to part of the bloated price that government is paying, he said that is the standard clause in Power Purchase Agreement due to the environment the company will be operating in. That is to take care of the wear and tear over the course of the contract. He said government started with a rental agreement but VRA made it clear that they do not have the money to pay the rental charges of $450 million so the BOOT agreement kicked in where AMERI bore all the financial obligations. "If anybody has evidence of monies paid from the government of Ghana to pay for that, they should let me have it. Neither ECG, VRA or the Power Ministry has made any payment to AMERI," he said adding Ameri chose their own third party (Medka) to do what they want on their behalf which has nothing to do with the government of Ghana. Watch the video: Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim |[email protected] 15.04.2017 LISTEN I am very aware that this is an extremely controversial subject- but no that I got your attention lets go on please. 1st of all, if you are looking for a worker (emphasis is on worker not on manager) with a well- rounded business knowledge, please go ahead and hire an MBA graduate only from a very good school (if not from one of the best). But lets examine a few aspects of the MBA education. History of the MBA programs. It seems that formal business training might have started around the 18th century in both Germany and France. France is the first country with a business school in 1819. The 1st Graduate Business training was offered by Dartmouth College in the US around 1900- 1906 names Masters of Commerce. A year or two later, Harvard introduced a similar program and changes that name to Masters of Business Administration. (for your convenience, I am attaching an infograph at the end of this article) The Myths about the value of an MBA 1. MBA Students Learn Leadership skills This is a joke. If you follow a generic book based MBA training, how can you even built management skills? And people claim that MBAs have no9t only management skills, but also leadership skills? Can then a Case-Study based MBA training create Leaders? If you have access to Henry Mintzergs book (Managers, Not MBAs, 2004), please refer to page 155 for the grand failures table he has created for Harvard MBAs. Sure, some MBA graduates become great leaders, but this is not because of their MBA training. 2. MBAs Have the Ability to Think Critically Please refer to my comments on the #1 point above- same logic and thinking. Btw, if you wait to go to postgraduate school to develop Critical Thinking what can I say? Out of respect, I will keep my mouth shut. 3. They Are the Obvious Choice for Hiring and In-House Promotion Sure. That is because there is a plethora of incompetent HR and other hiring) Managers out there. Will someone ever accuse you for hiring or promoting a useless Harvard or IMD or INSEAD or Stanford or LSB useless graduate (sorry, I have seen plenty of these)? Of course not! You can always blame the school for a bad hire! No one can ever fire you for hiring a useless Harvard MBA!! Its the equivalent of the old phrase: no one even got fired for ordering IBM computers) 4. Once hired, an MBA Grad Will Stay Longer and Become More Valuable to the Company Maybe that was a truth in the 1950s and possibly it is try for the big consulting companies (if you work for BCG how can you leave and find somewhere else the same salary?). Today, like everybody else, most MBAs will abandon instantly your company if they get headhunted with a better offer. Loyalty depends on an employees personality and not on their postgraduate training. 5. It Shows a Companys Commitment to Quality Nope. It is just a marketing ploy. Not all MBAs are the same and no single company can hire only MBAs from Harvard and Stanford. And maybe, companies should look to the quality of their hiring process instead to the quality of the names of the degrees of their employees., 6. MBAs are trained to Delegate Authority and Tasks to Produce Results To me, that has always been a scary statement. Sure, no one should go to the micromanagement edge, but delegating authority it can come also with potentially been able to delegate blame too. If you have no accountability, delegating authority is not a major accomplishment- it can be more of I have no clue how to do it. And honestly, what kind of a University training can teach you from reading books and case- studies, how to delegate authority? 7. MBAs Possess Basic Financial Acumen I taught MBAs at the Rotterdam School of Management (at that time one of Europes top 5 MBA programmes) and other Universities. So, have seen this not to be true with my own eyes. Top reasons for NOT HIRING an MBA Let me please start with some quotes: Professional managersMBA CEOsare not very creative or adaptable, and their skills don't suit a startup. Elon Musk in Business Week 28 April 2011) When valuing a startup, add $500k for every engineer, and subtract $250k for every MBA. Mint founder Aaron Patzer Peter Thiel once warned a young entrepreneur: Never ever hire an MBA; they will ruin your company. (both those 2 quotes above come from Ben Horowitzs blog of 17/5/2012 on pando.com) They cant run a business. As one of my mentors used to say, (Most) MBAs are trained to work for others, not to run their own business. If they cant make it on their own, do you want them working for you? MBAs arent Entrepreneurs! They usually lack real-world experience. This is almost a Universal truth with the exception of a few excellent and highly performing MBA training Programs. I will be most sceptical hiring a graduate from any University that accepts students without a minimal of 5 years work experience. While MBA graduates can be better equipped in possibly understanding the nuances of operating a business than their peers, the ones that are fresh out of college have no real-world experience. Lack of original thinking/ No ideas of their own. Which, its not that bad if you just want someone to execute your business plan. Too specialized or too generic knowledge. If their expertise fits well with your business then it can be a great mutual match. Usually an MBA is a generic low- level education in all aspects of business. Low- level= dont expect an MBA with Advanced Knowledge in Marketing, HR, Finance, etc. MBAs Rely on Order, Structure & Framework - When foundations are shaky, MBAs tend to fall back on their education to tide them over. MBAs Cant Bootstrap. Getting things done when the going is tough is not something an MBA program prepares you for. Sadly, MBAs often find themselves out of depth in fast paced and uncertain or complex or unforeseen situations. MBAs Suffer from Outdated Knowledge/ Information - The word on the street is, MBA graduates are knowledgeable but most of what they know is outdated. In the Internet Age (or whatever else you want to call it), all business- concepts and processes are transforming faster than ever before and it takes toooo long for MBA curricula and books to be updated. Other strong criticism the Case Study Fallacy. Do you really expect someone who took some courses and sat for some exams to have been trained and developed their Management Skills? But you think a Case-Study based training can do that miracle? Historically Case Studies were developed by and at Harvard University. FYI: since then almost all major business schools publish case studies. Case Studies were written with the assumption that they can be solved within 4 hrs and that a Harvard MBA student can solve 3-4 cases per day (individually and with team work). So You as a student read something on paper about a company or an organization that you know nothing about, that you have never visited and you have never seen their products or experienced their services, or you have never interviewed any of its employees or even talked to its customer support. Do you think that the Instructor had that experience? And you think that you really can come up with a innovative/ creative solution? One that is identical to the Business Case Solution provided by Harvard (or whoever else published that Case Study) to your teacher? Do you even think that your teacher could even solve that Case on his/ her own? I had colleagues in several MBA programs who will not use Case Studies which have no solutions provided by the publisher. This is a long discussion and a completely different topic, but the only reason that Case Studies survived so long was because of the McKinsey consulting firm. Case studies will create awareness in you (of various business situations) and might foster group cooperation and discussion among MBA students, but they will not turn you into a leader. Sorry for the bitter truth. Are there MBA Alternatives? Sure they are let me list some of them please. GMPs and AMPs General Management Programs (GMPs) are short programmes for junior or starting mature managers who cannot afford the luxury of taking a year off for an MBA course. They tend to be more dense and intense than the average MBA curriculum. Obviously, the AMPs (Advanced Management Programs) are for rather experienced managers (some of these programs expect 10-15+ years of professional experience before you apply) for a lot of people also serve as a refresher a few years after they have attended an Executive MBA. Usually most Universities refer to these programs as GMPs and AMPs, but some of them have different names, but I trust that you got the idea. Kindly allow me to strongly suggest to google the comparison between GMPs, AMPs and MBAs. IPMP The International Masters Program for Managers (https://impm.org) is the brain-child of Henry Mintzberg the Strategic Management Guru. The IMPM came out of his strong (and to my opinion excellent and validated) criticism about the inability of MBA programs to train Managers. IPMP is formally offered by either McGill University (Master of Management) or by Lancaster University (MSc International Masters in Executive Management). My apologies, but I do not know if you can enrol in this program via the Lancaster University in Ghana. Btw, I have no affiliation to any of these schools so that is impartial writing. MOOCs MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) seems to offer an alternative to MBAs, even some of them have bundled up to become Online MBAs. MOOCs can be either free of have a small fee per course. Google please / have a look at http://poetsandquants.com/2013/12/17/the-mooc-revolution-how-to-earn-an-elite-mba-for-free/ Business Schools w/ Business Incubators. I am aware of a lot of Business Schools that they start investing in having their own Business Incubators so students can develop entrepreneurship (be developing their own companies) or support real start-ups and gain first hand hands-on experience with real problems challenging their thinking and formal training the kind of problems that only a very senior manage gets to face maybe once or twice in their lifetime in a big company (small companies usually cant afford MBAs). To the best of my knowledge, most Ghanaian Business Schools are not that keen at starting such investments in in-house Business Incubators. I trust that this will change. Btw, Stanford SEED is a sort of incubator in Ghana (and yes, I am partial to Stanford I am a SEED consultant). FYI- Quick Stats: 45% of South Africas top 40 chief executives have a Masters-level qualification, according to a Jack Hammer (a South African headhunter) 2016 survey. Less than half of those 45% hold an MBA i.e. less than 9 MBAs are particularly useful for liberal arts graduates looking for a business degree at Masters level, but any other high-quality post-graduate business degree can do the same job (Jack Hammer recruiter). In Conclusion. At the end of the day, its all about hiring an MBA graduate who can add value to your company because s/he has the skillset and the brains to do that. You want to make sure that he/she is the right person for your organization and not the right degree for it. The MBA journey takes people places. Just make sure that the Captain of your ship and its First Officers, are skilled ones who rely on each other, their experience and their brains to cross irksome seas, instead of relying on using management tools they learned at an MBA programme. Thank you, Spiros. Spiros Tsaltas is a seasoned Technology & Operations Executive and Management Consultant; he is also a former University Professor (RSM MBA, CUNY, etc). Spiros has hands-on experience on setting up all sorts of Startups both in the US and in Europe. He is an active transformational leader and strategist who has also years-long experience with Boards of Advisors and Boards of Directors. He is currently assisting a couple of Ghanaian companies with the setup of their BoDs. Spiros Tsaltas is associated with a unique Customer Loyalty Startup: HireLoyalty (www.HireLoyalty.com) which is coming out of stealth mode in the next few months. As a NED (Non Executive Director) Spiros is also associated with HIREghana (www.HIREgh.com) and can be hired via them. We welcome all your comments/ remarks/ feedback at [email protected] 2017 Spiros Tsaltas and 2017 HireLoyalty 15.04.2017 LISTEN MTN Ghana makes reference to the bulk sms which the company sent to its Mobile Money Customers requesting for those who do not wish to receive interest to opt out. The decision was arrived at after a number of customers strongly expressed their displeasure with the automatic payment of interest by MTN to its customers. MTN has been made to understand that based on Islamic teachings as stated in several verses in the Quran, Muslims are not allowed to take interest. It is for this reason that MTN is offering these customers an opportunity to opt out of the interest payment. By dialling *595* and following some basic steps, subscribers who do not wish to receive interest can be exempted from subsequent payments. The payment of interest to MTN Mobile Money customers is in line with the EMI Guidelines issued by the Bank of Ghana in July 2015 and this decision does not in any way affect MTNs commitment to the payment of interests. MTN remains committed to the Bank of Ghana regulations and continues to take stringent measures to adhere to them. Since September 2016 when the Bank of Ghana finally gave approval for the payment of interest, MTN has paid over 45 million ghana cedis to its Mobile Money customers and currently in the process of paying the first quarter interest for 2017 in line with the Bank of Ghana calendar for interest payment. In as much as MTN remains compliant with the Bank of Ghana Regulations, the company also respects the wishes and religious beliefs of its customers and will not continue to offend them by paying interests to them if they wish to opt out. MTN has already engaged the Regulator, Bank of Ghana to agree on what to do with the retained interests from those who decide to opt out. As soon as a decision is reached we will communicate to customers. MTN Ghana wishes to assure its cherished customers and the general public that it remains committed to delivering bold new digital services to its valued customers. 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. Since its entry into Ghana in 2006, MTN has continuously invested in expanding and modernizing its network in order to offer superior services to a broad expanse of the nation. Total network investments from 2006-2016 are about US$3.472 billion. MTN has the widest network coverage across Ghana. With the recent commercial launch of 4G LTE services, MTN became the only mobile operator providing 4G services in all regional capitals and large cities. 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. Sheriff Jim Mele View Photos Sonora, CA Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele recently had the honor of attending the FBIs National Academy program in Quantico, Virginia. The National Academy is a professional course study for US and international law enforcement managers. Those selected for the program were nominated for having exceptional leadership qualities. The 267th Session of the National Academy consisted of men and women from 48 states, as well as members of law enforcement agencies from 25 different countries, three Military organizations, and eight Federal Civilian organizations. On this weekends Mother Lode Views, Sheriff Mele will talk about the experience, the main discussion topics that camp up, and how law enforcement issues elsewhere compare to those facing Tuolumne County. - Tanko Yakasai said Nigeria was easy in the few months Vice President Osinbajo was acting president - Yakasai said ill-health and military background has weakened President Buhari - He also said Nigerians have suffered a lot in the last two years since President Buhari took over power Nigerian politician and human right activist, Tanko Yakasai said the last two years of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration inflicted pain and suffering on people. Legit.ng gathered that Yakasai said Osinbajo's 51 days as acting President when President Buhari was away on medical leave in London earlier this year, was the best time Nigerians have had since Buhari became President. He said Nigerians have suffered in the last two years of Buhari's administration and they are still suffering till now. He also said electricity was stable during the days VP Osinbajo acted as president and that oil pipeline vandalism was put to a total stop during the less than 51 days ruling by Osinbajo. Daily Post reports that Yakasai said he wished Buhari 'good luck' if he decided to contest again in 2019. He said: This is in the hands of God. If he (Buhari) is fit, good luck to him. He admitted that things went on fine when Osinbajo acted for him; the vice president is younger, while ill health and military background weaken the president. Yakasai said Nigerians have suffered and are still suffering since Buhari took over power two years ago. READ ALSO: President Buhari sends Easter message to the nation Things were better when the vice president acted because I was getting electricity for eight hours a day, and now since Buhari came back and took over, electricity supply dropped to two or three hours in a day. The same complaint in Lagos of people paying electricity bill that they didnt enjoy, it wasnt happening when Osinbajo was acting. During the short period that the VP acted, there was no blowing of pipelines anymore. If what happens in this country in the last two years didnt kill me, I dont think it will kill me in the next two years. The suffering was much, I suffer and you suffer. The other day I got a text message from somebody who complained how he has been suffering, as his pensions had not been paid for over one year, and his children are still in school, I told him, how I was also suffering. Everybody is suffering, but if we want to suffer, we can continue the suffering. The Hausa people say, Mutuwar yawa kaka (If death is going to take everybody, not me alone, let it come.) READ ALSO: People Goodluck Jonathan depended and relied on betrayed him - Doyin Okupe So, you can see, if Buhari says he is fit and wants to continue, I wish him good luck. Meanwhile, Governor Nasir El-Rufai has explained why he wrote a memo to President Muhammadu Buhari stating that his administration as failed to deliver the change he promised Nigeria during the 2015 election campaign. He also expressed disappointment at the fact that a private memo he sent to President Buhari was leaked but insisted he has no apologies. He said he would not hesitate to write another memo to the president if need be and said he had no regret reaching him through the memo. In the video below, Legit.ng correspondent interviewed Nigerians on what has changed in term of market prices since President Buhari returns from his medical leave. Source: Legit.ng PHOENIX Gov. Doug Ducey signed a new law Friday that even the head of his own Republican Party boasts would do pretty much what Democrat foes charged was the goal all along. HB 2244 overturns not only statutes but Supreme Court case law which say that efforts by voters to propose their own laws need be only in substantial compliance with election laws to go on the ballot. Instead, any measure not in strict compliance could be challenged and stopped before voters ever get a chance to weigh in. In a prepared statement, Ducey said the Arizona Constitution limits the ability of lawmakers to alter what voters approve at the ballot. This commonsense legislation preserves the integrity of the (initiative) process by ensuring that those seeking to make lasting changes to our laws comply with current laws, he said. But Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Lines, in a newsletter Friday to party faithful, praised the GOP-controlled legislature for enacting something that would make it possible for ballot initiatives to be thrown out for minor errors regarding language and paperwork precisely what Democrats charged during several hours of debate this week over the measure. The change to strict compliance is not academic. Had this requirement been in place in 2012 voters would not have been given a chance to decide whether to make permanent a one-cent surcharge on state sales taxes, with most of the proceeds earmarked for education. And just this past year voters got a chance to decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use when the Supreme Court concluded the initiative petitions substantially complied with what Arizona law requires. In both cases, voters decided to reject the proposals. But it was voter approval last November of the minimum wage increase which led to the full-court press by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry to rein in the initiative process. The Chamber did not mount any sort of opposition to Proposition 206, spending only about $50,000 to urge its defeat. Instead, the organization spent close to $1.5 million to quash Proposition 205, the recreational marijuana measure. Chamber officials conceded at the time voter sentiment on the wage question was against them, with spokesman Garrick Taylor saying it made no sense to spend money on a losing effort. Instead, they hired attorneys after the fact to try to convince the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn the vote. That failed. And the 1998 Voter Protection Act bars lawmakers from repealing the law. That left the goal of putting what Chamber President Glenn Hamer called guardrails around the initiative process. Those reforms were originally part of a single measure sponsored by Rep. Vince Leach, R-Tucson. But the bill was divided up into three separate measures. That, in turn, means that foes of the package would have to launch three separate petition drives and not just one to give voters the final say. Even Rep. Ken Clark, D-Phoenix, who has been at the forefront of fighting what the Republican majority approved said that pretty much quashes any such plan. Ducey already has inked his approval to legislation making it illegal to pay petition circulators based on the number of signatures they get. Supporters argued such a system invites fraud. Paid circulation remains an option, but only if done on some other basis, such as hiring people on an hourly basis. And a measure awaiting final Senate approval this coming week would make initiative organizers financially responsible for incidents of fraud or forgery committed by paid circulators, regardless of whether there is evidence that the organizers knew what the circulators were doing. In all three instances, however, the changes apply only to initiatives. Politicians including lawmakers and the governor himself remain free to use paid circulators, are not subject to fines for acts of circulators, and have no risk of having their nominating petitions thrown out for failure to strictly comply with the law. Leach said that distinction is merited because politicians can be thrown out of office every two or four years. There's also the fact that the Voter Protection Act keeps lawmakers from undoing what their constituents have decided to enact. That's not absolutely true. Technical fixes that further the purpose of the underlying measure can be enacted if proponents can get a three-fourths vote of both the House and Senate. And if lawmakers believe an initiative is having harmful effects that voters could not have foreseen they can put the issue back on a subsequent ballot. There is some possibility that the courts could void the change to strict compliance if the justices believe that they and not the legislature decide how to judge the constitutional rights of voters to propose their own laws. Michael Ballhaus, a cinematographer who brought lyricism and light to films by Martin Scorsese, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and a string of other eminent directors, died on Tuesday at his home in Berlin. He was 81. His manager, Angela Carbonetti, confirmed the death, after a short illness. Mr. Ballhaus, who began his career as a television camera operator in his native Germany, became one of the most sought-after cinematographers in the world. Nominated for three Academy Awards, he masterminded the look of pictures as visually diverse as latter-day noir, sanguinary gangster films and music videos. With a filmography of more than 100 pictures, he worked alongside Mike Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Barry Levinson, among other directors. But he was most closely associated with Fassbinder, for whom he shot more than a dozen films in turbulent collaboration, and Mr. Scorsese, for whom he shot seven in satisfying amity. (Mr. Ballhaus, who often declared that he abhorred violence, esteemed Mr. Scorseses work so much that he swallowed hard and kept on shooting whenever the viscera started to fly.) WASHINGTON The Treasury Department officially declined on Friday to label China a currency manipulator, breaking one of President Trumps most prominent campaign promises. In its exchange rate report to Congress, the Treasury said that in spite of Chinas large trade surplus with the United States, it was not acting improperly to depress the value of its currency. Mr. Trump signaled this week in an interview that he was reversing his position, and he has taken a less confrontational stance toward China since meeting with President Xi Jinping this month. The report did take a more pointed tone toward China than in previous years, calling on Beijing to act to reduce trade imbalances and open its markets to American goods and services. It also said that the United States remained poised to act if China did start to meddle with its currency, as it did in the not-too-distant past. Last fall, in the weeks after 21st Century Fox struck settlements with two women who said that Bill OReilly had sexually harassed them, the Fox News host went on morning television and offered a harsh assessment of women who had come forward with complaints about the network. Look, its open season, he said, visibly irritated, when asked about a recently published book by Megyn Kelly, his colleague at the time. In the book, Ms. Kelly provided an account of being sexually harassed by Roger Ailes, the networks former chairman. Later Mr. OReilly added, Lets whack the Fox News Channel. Ive had enough of it. Its a good place to work. All right? The comments set off a media firestorm and frustrated Ms. Kelly, who sent an email to Fox News executives complaining about his behavior and the chilling effect it could have on women at the company and beyond, according to four people with knowledge of the email who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Despite Ms. Kellys complaint, and a plea from a producer that Mr. OReilly not be allowed to make similar remarks on his prime-time show, Mr. OReilly delivered a second public scolding on the program that night. Yes, the lectern was driving home Mr. Cuomos talking point. Mrs. Clinton was there because she had pushed the idea after borrowing much of it from Bernie Sanders. Mr. Cuomo got the idea from both of them. Its not as if free tuition for the middle class was a dream that has been burning in the governors heart since he was growing up in middle-class Queens. It was, as he said on Wednesday, a bolt of insight from watching the presidential race. And so, a few months later, it came to pass: the Excelsior Scholarship, for students from families making up to $125,000 a year (by 2019) who attend the State University of New York or the City University of New York. This is how things can work in Albany, when a single-minded executive controls an opaque budget process, when wheeling and dealing occur behind closed doors. A big, ugly package of legislation emerges in the spring, with policies and surprises aplenty, and lawmakers approve it, lining up first and asking questions later. The questions on free college have begun to multiply. We are not the only ones to notice that Mr. Cuomo didnt seem to think his new scholarship through. How could he have, in the time allotted? This was not the product of extensive hearings or long study; there was no sense that it emerged because public-policy or higher-education experts never mind students! had told the governor, lets examine what is keeping young New Yorkers out of college, and figure out how to get them in and keep them there. So its not clear whether this would needlessly harm private colleges and universities by stealing students, as some officials have complained, or place damaging financial strains on the SUNY and CUNY systems, which have been starved of funds for years. Its not even clear how outrageously ambitious the program is. By one legislative estimate, it will reach only about 32,000 students. The programs strict income limits leave a lot of people out. It is not for part-time students, a huge portion of the community-college population. Students have to earn 30 credits a year to participate. Its not for poor families, who are expected to use the states Tuition Assistance Program or Pell grants or other aid to cover tuition. And even though the cost of room and board and books is whats keeping many poor students out of college, the Excelsior Scholarship covers none of that. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela has sought in recent days to cow crowds of protesters with barrages of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters tossed by ground forces and from helicopters. The government has deployed violence-prone plainclothes militias to discourage more demonstrators from pouring onto the streets. It has ratcheted up pressure on opponents by disqualifying a prominent leader from running for office and by detaining other critics. It has moved to censor the press by blocking access to digital news outlets, by barring foreign journalists from entering the country and by assaulting Venezuelan reporters. Even as the latest wave of street protests has turned fatal, with at least five deaths reported in recent days, Venezuelans show no sign of letting up the pressure on Mr. Maduros authoritarian government. In a striking sign of dissent, demonstrators on Tuesday pelted Mr. Maduro with eggs and stones while he rode in a jeep in a military parade in the eastern state of Bolivar, where his party has traditionally enjoyed strong support. A coalition of opposition factions is calling for a huge march next Wednesday. Big protests are among the few means the opposition has to stand up for democratic principles and decry the governments epic economic mismanagement and cronyism. Mr. Maduro has co-opted the judiciary and rendered the legislature which is controlled by a coalition of opposition parties largely ineffective by disregarding its authority. One bit of woeful shorthand used in tallying the nations gun carnage is I.P.V. intimate partner violence. This is a category in which each week close to 10 women are shot to death by their husbands, boyfriends or former dating partners. The victims and gunmen go unnoticed on the national scene unless the shooting turns into a larger tragedy, like the school invasion on Monday in California, in which a man murdered his wife as she taught class and, in his rampage, killed an 8-year-old student. It turned out that the man, who ended his spree with suicide, had a history of domestic violence and threats that should have denied him ownership of a firearm. But, as with so many of the nations shameful gun control laws, weak enforcement and loopholes helped perpetrate another I.P.V. shooting. The toll of hundreds of defenseless women shot to death each year by current or former partners is a tragedy crying out for more thorough and sensible gun controls. Law enforcement professionals bedeviled by routine domestic disputes know well how these disputes can escalate into gun tragedies. There are federal and state laws designed to rein in the problem, but they are spotty and need to be strengthened, particularly in specifying what authority and obligation the police have to confiscate the guns of abusers. Earlier this year right around the time that Kellyanne Conway, President Trumps senior adviser, was telling us that microwave ovens could be spying on us some friends and I rented a weekend house with no microwave oven. We didnt mind reheating leftovers on the stove, but we did talk about how unusual it was not to have one though in hindsight I guess we were happy that no one was watching our every move. Still, I had microwaves on my mind when I realized that 2017 is the appliances 50th anniversary. Actually, if you are a person to whom facts still matter, the microwave has several possible anniversaries. Like many 20th-century household innovations, it was a product of World War II research and development in radar technology. After the war, engineers at Raytheon, a company that manufactured magnetron tubes, patented both a process for heating food and an oven-shaped device. In 1947, Raytheon introduced its Radarange for industrial use. Tappan, which licensed the technology, offered a wall-mounted appliance in 1955, for use in high-end kitchen remodels. It cost $1,295, the equivalent of about $12,000 today. Not many sold. Then in 1967, Amana introduced the first countertop microwave oven, with new technology that brought the price down to $495. But that was still expensive, equivalent to $3,600 now. Consumer resistance was also fed by reports that microwave ovens leaked dangerous radiation. New government standards went into effect in 1971 and helped alleviate those fears, and sales began to rise. The success of innovations depends not only on their novelty and their price, but also on commercial and social contexts. Even as the price dropped and consumers began to believe in their safety, few families bought microwaves. It took an array of changes in business, social and cultural contexts to make that rented house seem peculiar. A judge in Arkansas moved Friday to block the state from carrying out up to seven executions this month, deepening the turmoil that surrounds a planned pace of killing with no equal in the modern history of American capital punishment. Judge Wendell Griffen of the Pulaski County Circuit Court issued a restraining order Friday that forbids the Arkansas authorities from using their supply of vecuronium bromide, one of three execution drugs the state planned to use. Hours earlier, the nations largest pharmaceutical company went to court to argue that the state had purchased the drug using a false pretense. The judge scheduled a hearing for Tuesday morning, about 14 hours after the state had intended to carry out its first execution since 2005. The Arkansas attorney generals office said the state would appeal the judges ruling, which threatened to derail a plan that once called for eight executions over the course of 10 days. The restraining order surfaced during an afternoon and evening of legal chaos: The State Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for one death row prisoner, and a federal judge was also weighing a request to block the executions. Yet Judge Griffens order appeared to have the widest immediate effect, and it was the first to focus on the misgivings of the pharmaceutical industry. SIKESTON, Mo. Senator Claire McCaskill freely admits the squeeze she finds herself in these days, with a re-election battle looming next year in a state that President Trump won by 19 points. Some of you think Im some tool for the left, she matter-of-factly told the crowd at a town hall-style meeting here this week. Some of you think that Im a sellout because Im not left enough. Ms. McCaskill would prefer another label moderate or perhaps a longer description: someone who can bring polarized partisans together in the middle and therefore is well worth sending back to Washington, even for voters in a state that has moved decidedly rightward in its politics. As a vulnerable Democrat in an increasingly red state, Ms. McCaskill is hoping that her meet-in-the-middle politics will lead to a third term, even after Mr. Trumps success last year. But first, she must determine how exactly to approach his presidency. WASHINGTON David Donaldson, an economist who studies the benefits of trade, a subject very much in the political spotlight, has won the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal for the most significant contributions by an economist under the age of 40. Mr. Donaldson, a professor at Stanford University, was honored for developing new approaches to assessing the benefits of trade, both within and among nations. The American Economic Association, which awards the prize, hailed Mr. Donaldson in a statement as the most exciting economist in the area of empirical trade. Past winners of the Clark medal include some of the most celebrated and influential economists of the past century, including Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson and Lawrence Summers. Paul Krugman, another former winner and a leading trade economist, congratulated Mr. Donaldson on Twitter for lovely, careful work. Mr. Krugman is also an op-ed columnist at The New York Times. WASHINGTON A Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee conducted interviews and collected documents in Cyprus this week as part of the panels investigation into Russias meddling in the American election, and possible links between President Trumps associates and Moscow. Representative Mike Quigley of Illinois said Friday that Cyprus is the center of Russian money laundering, and that the panel must follow the facts wherever they take us. Cyprus, considered a tax haven, has emerged as a focal point in criminal and congressional investigations of Mr. Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who had bank accounts there. The F.B.I. is examining Mr. Manaforts business dealings in Ukraine, and any links he has to the Russian government. Mr. Quigley, who traveled to Nicosia, the island nations capital, with an intelligence committee staff member, said he would not discuss what he had learned. Dr. Mark Wainberg, a microbiologist who identified a drug that later became critical to treating people infected with H.I.V., and who later became a leading advocate for giving millions of people with H.I.V. and AIDS in Africa greater access to antiretroviral drugs, died on Tuesday after struggling in the waters off Bal Harbour, Fla. He was 71. His son, Zev, said that he and Dr. Wainberg had been swimming in rough surf when Dr. Wainberg appeared to be drowning. His son pulled him to shore and performed CPR before paramedics arrived. He was taken to Aventura Hospital in nearby Aventura, Fla., where he was declared dead, according to the Bal Harbour police. The AIDS pandemic was spreading quickly in the 1980s when Dr. Wainberg who spent much of his career at McGill University in Montreal began to study H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. He spent time working with Dr. Robert Gallo, the co-discoverer of H.I.V., who provided Dr. Wainberg with the cells and antibodies to grow the virus in his laboratory at McGill. Then, in 1989, after studying the properties of a new antiviral drug called 3TC, or Lamivudine, Dr. Wainberg found that it was effective against H.I.V. It soon became an important part of the so-called AIDS cocktail of drugs that is still used to treat infected patients. WASHINGTON The bomb that the United States dropped on an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan on Thursday was big at 22,000 pounds, the most powerful conventional weapon in the American arsenal. Arguably, even bigger were the messages it sent, whether by design or not. To potential adversaries like Syria and North Korea, the bombing could signal deterrence. For the American public, it underscored the Pentagons more aggressive stance under President Trump than under his predecessor, whose administration never even debated using the weapon. Dozens of militants were killed, Afghan officials said. American commanders said that the bomb was chosen because it fit the target, a series of tunnels with dug-in positions nearby used by militants in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan, and that it posed little or no risk to civilians. The bombing spared troops from fierce fighting in caves. It also illustrated how Mr. Trump is releasing commanders from Obama-era restrictions on the use of force and how the top United States commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., was seeking to showcase Afghanistans myriad threats. General Nicholson, who has requested reinforcements to the 8,500 American troops stationed there, drew his bosses attention by dropping what the Pentagon has nicknamed the mother of all bombs. With their unlikely combinations of beauty, science, organic material and occasional living things, Anicka Yis works rarely fail to intrigue, provoke and delight. Her titles can range from the abstruse to the sinister, as with 7,070,430K of Digital Spit, seen at the Kunsthalle Basel in 2015. On Friday, April 21, the Guggenheim Museum will unveil Life Is Cheap, an exhibition honoring Ms. Yis receipt of its 2016 Hugo Boss Prize. Accomplished with the help of a team of molecular biologists and forensic chemists, the exhibition will start with an aroma called Immigrant Caucus, based on chemical compounds derived from Asian-American women and ants. There will be a diorama lined with tile and containing sculptures coated with agar, a gelatinous substance that supports the growth of bacteria gathered in Manhattans Chinatown and Koreatown. A second diorama will contain an ant colony, along with mirrors that multiply their numbers, pathways and incessant labor, mimicking the flow of information along electronic highways. (Through July 5, guggenheim.org.) Everybody loves getting an apology. Nobody enjoys making one, especially in public life, where leaders tend to see admitting an error as a sign of weakness. Thats why Im amazed by what has happened in the last couple of months: A captain of industry apologized for something. No, wait two of them did! And then an epidemic of apologies started spreading. One C.E.O., Travis Kalanick of Uber, apologized for well, basically building an always be hustlin business culture that looked less like a responsible multibillion-dollar corporation than a frat kegger. (Honest, always be hustlin is one of the companys 14 core values. You tell me what it means.) As my colleague Mike Isaac has reported, Mr. Kalanick promised to grow up, which at 40 is not a terrible idea. But that apology wasnt nearly as startling as the one from William A. Ackman, a contentious hedge-fund owner who issued a heavy-duty mea culpa to his investors after losing $4 billion. Alternative energy investments like wind and solar power have not performed well in recent years. To make matters worse, the Trump administration has opted for a resurgence of coal and other carbon fuels, not an emphasis on alternative energy. Yet there is a reasonable argument that the outlook for investing in renewable energy may actually be quite good. For one thing, wind and solar power have been rapidly winning market acceptance. Last year, the installed capacity of solar power in the United States nearly doubled. And wind is now being harnessed to produce 5.5 percent of Americas electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Five states draw at least 20 percent of their electricity needs from wind. Kansas, for example, relied on wind for less than 1 percent of its electric power as recently as 2005. By 2016, wind produced 29.6 percent of its electric power, according to government figures. GALLATIN, Tenn. The hulking Gallatin Fossil Plant sits on a scenic bend of the Cumberland River about 30 miles upstream from Nashville. In addition to generating electricity, the plant, built in the early 1950s by the Tennessee Valley Authority, produces more than 200,000 tons of coal residue a year. That coal ash, mixed with water and sluiced into pits and ponds on the plant property, has been making its way into groundwater and the river, potentially threatening drinking water supplies, according to two current lawsuits. Coal ash, the hazardous byproduct of burning coal to produce power, is a particularly insidious legacy of the nations dependence on coal. Unlike the visible and heavily regulated airborne emissions from power plant smokestacks, coal ash is largely unseen unless there is a major spill and, until recently, far less effectively regulated. More than 100 million tons of coal ash is produced every year, one of the nations largest and most vexing streams of toxic waste. The hazardous dust and sludge containing arsenic, mercury, lead and other heavy metals fill more than a thousand landfills and bodies of water in nearly every state, threatening air, land, water and human health. The Gallatin power plant is facing citizens complaints and two major lawsuits over its handling of coal ash. One suit, filed in 2015 by an environmental advocacy group in federal court, says the utility violated the Clean Water Act by allowing toxic leaks from its coal ash disposal ponds. A second, also filed in 2015, by the states attorney general and its environmental enforcement agency, asserts that the Tennessee Valley Authority broke state pollution laws and endangered public health. CHARLESTON -- HOPE of East Central Illinois is holding a shoe drive to raise money for their childrens services. Gently used or new clean shoes can be dropped off at: Charleston High School, Charleston Middle School Carl Sandburg Elementary School, Jefferson School, Jackson Avenue Coffee, Mach1 Gas Station, ICCS, CASA, Mattoon Sylvan Learning Center, First Federal Savings and Loan, First Neighbor Bank, Prairie State Bank and Trust, Lake Land College, or Eastern Illinois University now through the end of April. Collected shoes are sold to a company who then sells the shoes to entrepreneurs in developing countries. We get paid by the pound, so the bigger the shoe the better," said Executive Director Althea Pendergast. Monies raised will go toward providing services to children who have either witnessed or been the victims of domestic violence. Services include individual and group counseling, after school programming, summer programming, and family counseling. Unfortunately, domestic violence services were left out of the states stop gap budget, so we are not receiving any of our state funds, explains HOPEs executive director, Althea Pendergast. We know how vital services are to children who have witnessed domestic violence but without the help of our community we may have to decrease these services until we start receiving funding again. For more information about the shoe drive or about HOPE of East Central Illinois, contact Althea Pendergast at 217-348-5931. Thats the secret to becoming a solver, really. Dont be afraid to start. Dont let others tell you youre not smart enough to solve a puzzle like an acrostic or a crossword. Even if all you know in the beginning is some pop culture, thats O.K. Youre in. Youre solving. And when you toggle between the grid and the clues, youll find yourself learning all sorts of cool things, like who Oedipuss daughter was (the answer is ANTIGONE). And before you know it, youll have a completed acrostic under your belt. Well, it will be on the table, actually, but you know what I mean. Lets hear from our constructors: Constructorss Notes Its not often that we get to perform a public service with these acrostic puzzles, but here were able to deliver, by way of this pioneering marine biologist, a packet of very useful information. Just think of all the people who have casually employed the wrong method of picking up sting rays! Surely they forgot about the spiracles! No doubt they were memorably stung. Well, solvers of this puzzle will know better. No need to thank us. Thank Eugenie. A Little Variety and Spelling Bee Links Puzzles (including Spelling Bee) for April 16, 2017 Answers for ALV for April 9, 2017 Your thoughts? Sarah Margaret Spivey and Garrett Leroy Faulkner were married April 15 at the Sacred Heart Cultural Center in Augusta, Ga. Courtney Petrouski, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for the event, officiated. Mrs. Spivey-Faulkner, who is 29 and known as Maggie, is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, where she also received a masters degree in that subject. Her work examines the behavior of hunter-gatherer groups in the American Southeast. In July, she will begin a postdoctoral appointment as a junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows in Cambridge, Mass. She graduated cum laude from Harvard. She is the daughter of Tina S. Spivey and William O. Spivey III of Hephzibah, Ga. The brides father is a manager of materials management for the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Her mother is a retired instrumentation technician for DSM Chemicals in Augusta. Mr. Faulkner, 31, is a development manager with Advisory Board Consulting. He writes proposals and contracts for health care consulting projects. I retweeted the announcement with a comment: Forget those silly pastel/rainbow colors of White House Easter Egg Rolls past; Trumps Easter eggs will be GOLD. Moments later, I noticed another tweet showing that the Trumps were also unveiling pastel-colored eggs. Then a quick internet search reminded me that last year, for their final Easter Egg Roll, the Obamas, too, had featured a golden egg in addition to the traditional brightly colored ones. I quickly corrected myself on Twitter, but for many of Mr. Trumps ardent supporters, the damage had been done. Over the next several hours and for more than a week afterward, I received hundreds of angry and ugly messages from people who were outraged by my comment, calling for a public apology to the president, my resignation or firing, and worse. More than two weeks later, I still receive at least one or two insults per day related to what I have come to refer to as Easter egg-gate. To them, my tweet was an egregious example of fake news from The New York Times. The reaction was far more vitriolic than any I have experienced covering more serious topics, such as allegations that Mr. Trumps campaign had ties to Russia or his attempts to impose a travel ban. It also suggested that a story I had been picking away at for weeks about the Trumps plans for their first-ever Easter Egg Roll might have more resonance than your typical bunnies-and-Peeps tale. The subject seemed to touch a nerve, not because it was important on its own but because the event was seen as a reflection of the president himself. A plainclothes New York City police officer was seriously injured late Friday night in the Bronx, the police said. The officer was near 137th Street and Willis Avenue in the Mott Haven neighborhood around 11 p.m. when he injured his right arm climbing a fence while taking police action, said Lt. Thomas Antonetti of the New York Police Department. The officer was taken to Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx, where he was undergoing surgery shortly before midnight. He was in serious but stable condition, the police said. Earlier reports that the officer had been stabbed were inaccurate, the police said. 3. I was on a United flight from London to Los Angeles some years ago. As a physician, I answered a call to assist in the care of a pregnant woman who had stopped having fetal movements and was not feeling well. My fear was that she would spontaneously abort mid-flight and I would have to deliver a dead baby on board. I sat with her for several hours on the floor of the galley until she was stabilized. 2 weeks after arrival I received a letter from the United Flight Surgeon thanking me for my service during that stressful flight. Accompanying his letter was a certificate for $25 off my next ticket on United Airlines. I tore up the letter and the certificate. I am not surprised by the actions the airline and security personnel took in this unfortunate case nor am I surprised at the airlines explanation of the incident. Assault and Battery should not be a method of bumping innocent passengers who put their lives in your hand to get them safely from place to place. DKMD in Santa Monica, Calif., reacting to an article about United Airlines overbooking a flight and forcibly removing a passenger off the plane. Many nations have decriminalized marijuana, have allowed it to be prescribed for medical purposes or have effectively stopped enforcing laws against it. Should Mr. Trudeaus bill pass, as expected, Canada would become only the second nation, after Uruguay, to completely legalize marijuana as a consumer product. More than half of Americans now live in states that have legalized use of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 59 percent of voters nationally believe that the drug should be legal and 71 percent say that the federal government should not enforce federal marijuana laws in states that legalized it. A recent Canadian poll found that support for legalization is even greater in that country, at 68 percent. Given the robust level of public support in the United States, as well as a growing body of evidence that cannabis is less harmful than previously thought, Mr. Sessionss decision to reopen the door to federal enforcement in states that have legalized the drug is wrongheaded. It is also potentially dangerous, because it could disrupt efforts by states and the District of Columbia to regulate marijuana, as well as help to re-energize the black market for the drug and the crime and violence that go with it. During the campaign, President Trump said he supported medical marijuana. And while he criticized its recreational use, he said during an October rally that legalization should be a state issue. A few days later, on election night, four states (California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada) voted to legalize recreational marijuana use, and four others (Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Montana) voted to permit medical use. Mr. Sessions does not appear to have been paying attention to the states or, for that matter, to the president. The talk that the political scientist Charles Murray attempted to deliver last month at Middlebury College in Vermont must have been quite provocative perhaps even offensive or an instance of hate speech. How else to explain the vehement opposition to it? Before Mr. Murrays arrival on campus, an open letter to the college from several hundred alumni protested that his scholarly opinions were deceptive statistics masking unfounded bigotry. And when it came time for Mr. Murray to give his speech, which was based on his 2012 book, Coming Apart, an analysis of the predicament of the white working class in the United States, he was shouted down by student and faculty protesters. In chants they accused him of being a racist and a white supremacist. Some of the protesters became unruly and physically violent, forcing Mr. Murray to flee. Mr. Murray ended up giving a version of his talk later that day, via livestream, from another room. How extreme were his views? We have our own opinion, but as social scientists we hoped to get a more objective answer. So we transcribed Mr. Murrays speech and without indicating who wrote it sent it to a group of 70 college professors (women and men, of different ranks, at different universities). We asked them to rate the material on a scale from 1 to 9, ranging from very liberal to very conservative, with 5 defined as middle of the road. We also offered them a chance to explain why they gave the material the score they did. SANDY SORLIEN, PHILADELPHIA The writer is a photographer and urban planner working on a book about main streets. To the Editor: Louis Hymans suggestion that people left behind by todays economy can find work in what he calls global freelancing platforms like Upwork raises some serious questions. Although some in rural and small-town communities might be able to find work through those means, what security, if any, do those platforms provide for their workers in terms of paid sick leave, vacation and health insurance? And how are such workers going to be able to have access to a secure retirement? Of course, these questions are also appropriate with respect to those workers still employed by traditional, Main Street-style businesses, but I would surmise that those businesses might be more likely to extend greater loyalty (and with it, more security) than those who employ workers through freelancing platforms. The sense of nostalgia many feel is not merely for lost jobs, but also for the benefits and sense of security that used to come with them. AMY LAIKEN, CHICAGO To the Editor: Louis Hyman misreads how Main Streets function in todays small-town America. Green Bay, my home, is the third largest city in Wisconsin. And although we dont have one Main Street, we have, through the deliberate efforts of our mayor and community leaders, allocated many resources into maintaining the city center as a place for all residents to congregate. Other communities like Appleton, La Crosse, Oshkosh, Fish Creek and Grafton have similarly focused on creating Main Streets that attract local businesses, cultural events, institutions and national chains. In this way, Wisconsinites are reclaiming and maintaining all that is good about a city center with a true local identity. These places have retailers and ubiquitous coffee shops. But they also have businesses participating in the new economy that Mr. Hyman describes in the last part of his article. In Green Bay and other Wisconsin cities, these businesses choose to locate in the city or town center to take advantage of the community vibe already created there. Maintaining a center or Main Street is an essential element to staying vibrant and relevant. CELESTINE JEFFREYS GREEN BAY, WIS. The writer is chief of staff for the City of Green Bay. To the Editor: I suspect that the writer of The Myth of Main Street has never tried to make a living through Upwork or selling on Etsy, as he suggests at the end of his article. On Upwork, you are competing with people from all over the world, including low-wage countries, and its the predictable race to the bottom, often amounting to well under minimum wage. On Etsy there are too many gorgeous and beautifully photographed handmade goods chasing too few buyers. Christians celebrate Easter on Sunday. But wait do we really think Jesus literally rose from the dead? I asked questions like that in a Christmas Day column, interviewing the Rev. Tim Keller, a prominent evangelical pastor. In this, the second of an occasional series, I decided to quiz former President Jimmy Carter. Hes a longtime Sunday school teacher and born-again evangelical but of a more liberal bent than Keller. Heres our email conversation, edited for clarity. ME How literally do you take the Bible, including miracles like the Resurrection? PRESIDENT CARTER Having a scientific background, I do not believe in a six-day creation of the world that occurred in 4004 B.C., stars falling on the earth, that kind of thing. I accept the overall message of the Bible as true, and also accept miracles described in the New Testament, including the virgin birth and the Resurrection. With Easter approaching, let me push you on the Resurrection. If you heard a report today from the Middle East of a man brought back to life after an execution, I doubt youd believe it even if there were eyewitnesses. So why believe ancient accounts written years after the events? George W. Bushs self-image had slightly more allowance, but even so, nothing made Karl Roves stomach knot like the nickname Bushs brain that a few journalists hung on him. It was both compliment and curse, and to interview him or any of Bushs other top aides back in the day was to be pummeled with sentences that all started with the same subject, adjusted for whichever title Bush held at that point. The governor believes. The president-elect has decided. The president feels strongly. Ask them for their opinion, and theyd tell you what he thought. That was the pecking order, which was reinforced by Bushs own nickname for Rove: Turd Blossom. Rove endured as one of Bushs two or three pre-eminent advisers for about a decade, and his eventual diminution was largely a function of Bushs waning popularity in the second term of his presidency, when Rove was moved from a corner suite in the West Wing to a windowless office across the hall. Donald Regan, Ronald Reagans second chief of staff, was forced to resign after just two tumultuous years, partly because hed lost sight of his place, infuriating the first lady. In her memoir, My Turn, Nancy Reagan complained that he often acted as if he were the president. That behavior reflected the ease with which senior advisers get caught up in feeling smarter and more powerful than the principal, said one veteran Republican strategist, who added that the advisers who survive are able to reject or mask that grandiose sense of self. Bannon is an amateur masker. While he didnt give Time any quotes for its manipulator story and the photograph of him on the cover had been shot for a different reason three months earlier, he has spent plenty of time talking off the record with political reporters, too little of it actively tamping down his legend. KANSAS -- The Tarble Arts Center has announced that Cultivating Creativity 2016-17: Consolidated Communications Childrens Art Exhibition continues at Edgar County Bank and Trust Co., 101 S. Front St. The exhibit will be on view April 22 to May 13 during normal business hours: Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday 8:30 a.m.-noon, closed on Sunday. The Cultivating Creativity Childrens Art Exhibition displays the most outstanding art produced by school art programs throughout East-Central Illinois during the 2015-16 school year. Underwritten by Consolidated Communications, the exhibition is drawn from the Childrens Art Exhibition, presented annually each spring at the Tarble Arts Center on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Each year, one student from every contributing school is selected to participate in the exhibition that circulates throughout the region during the next academic year. This year the exhibit will travel to 13 area communities, from Assumption to Paris and from Tuscola to Effingham. There are 44 student works on display this year ranging in media from pastel and acrylic to watercolor and tempera that represent the following schools: Altamont Grade School; Altamont Jr. High School; Altamont High School; Arcola Elementary School; Arcola High School; Arthur Grade School; Arthur Jr. High School; Ashmore Elementary School; Bond Elementary School; Carl Sandburg Elementary School; Carolyn Wenz Elementary School, Casey-Westfield High School; Casey-Westfield Jr. High School; Central A&M High School; Central A&M Middle School; Central Grade School; Charleston High School; Charleston Middle School; Chrisman Elementary School; Chrisman High School; Crestwood School; Cumberland High School; Effingham High School; Effingham Junior High School; Gregory Intermediate School; Jefferson Elementary School; Kansas School; Lake Crest Elementary School; Mark Twain Elementary School; Mattoon High School; Mattoon Middle School; Memorial Elementary School; Moulton Middle School; Oakland High School; Okaw Valley High School; Okaw Valley Middle School; Riddle Elementary School; Shelbyville High School; St. Anthony Grade School; St. Anthony High School; St. Marys School; Williams Elementary School; Windsor Elementary School; and Windsor Jr.-Sr. High School. Kansas Community Schools and Ashmore Elementary School are representing schools in the Kansas area. Melia Eskew, a seventh-grader from Kansas Community Schools, created a piece called Bird House under the instruction of Barb Markewitz. At Ashmore Elementary School, kindergartener Ayla Traub created a piece called Teddy under the teaching of Mandy White. Cultivating Creativity is a community engagement program created by the Tarble Arts Center to help raise awareness of the importance of including the arts as part of the regular school curriculum. For more information about the Cultivating Creativity exhibit or other exhibitions and educational programming, contact the Tarble Arts Center at 217-581-ARTS (-2787) or tarble@eiu.edu. Sponsorship for exhibitions and programming at the Tarble Arts Center is provided by: The Tarble Family Foundation, Consolidated Communications, First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust, EIU Art Department, the EIU Center for the Humanities and the Academy of Lifelong Learning. The Tarble Arts Center is a major arts resource for the people of Central Illinois and Eastern Illinois University that focuses primarily on the visual arts. Its mission is taking the arts to the people. The Tarble Arts Center is open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. The Tarble is closed on Mondays and holidays. For more information, visit www.eiu.edu/tarble or www.facebook.com/TarbleArts. What Steve meant by this, I think, is that the world is unfathomably complex. To believe we have mastered it in all respects that our angle of vision on matters like politics, philosophy and theology is just right all the time is ridiculous. This doesnt mean one ought to live in a state of perpetual doubt and uncertainty. If we did, we could never speak up for justice and moral truth. It does mean, however, that were aware that what we know is at best incomplete. We see through a glass darkly is how St. Paul put it in one of his letters to the Corinthians: We know only in part. My point is not that humility is uniquely available to Christians; it is simply that Christian teaching and tradition affirm its importance. Humility is a sign of self-confidence; it means were secure enough to alter our views based on new information and new circumstances. This would be a far more common occurrence for many of us if our goal was to achieve a greater understanding of truth rather than to confirm what we already believe if we went into debates wanting to learn rather than wanting to win. This is a challenge for people of every faith and people of no faith, but as Robert Putnam and David Campbell write in American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, Christians and other religious Americans, while generally better neighbors and more conscientious citizens than their secular counterparts, also tend to be less tolerant of dissent than secular Americans. Certitude can easily become an enemy of tolerance but also of inquiry, since if you believe you have all the answers, theres no point in searching out further information or making an effort to understand the values and assumptions of those with whom you disagree. Its worth noting, too, that our checks-and-balances system of government assumes that none of us has all the answers and therefore no single person should be trusted with complete authority. Humility believes there is such a thing as collective wisdom and that were better off if we have within our orbit people who see the world somewhat differently than we do. As iron sharpens iron, the book of Proverbs says, so one person sharpens another. But this requires us to actually engage with, and carefully listen to, people who understand things in ways dissimilar to how we do. It means we have to venture out of our philosophical and theological cul-de-sacs from time to time. Its worth the effort. For black students, having even one black teacher can make a huge difference. Thats the conclusion of a new study, which found that that black boys who had a black teacher during their elementary school years were less likely to drop out of high school. It also linked the presence of black teachers to kids expectations of attending college. I wasnt surprised to hear this. Im one of a small fraction of black teachers in my district. I know that, as much as many would like to think that good intentions and talent are the only important qualities for educators, students respond differently to teachers whom they can relate to. The week before the study was released, I showed my ninth graders a film about Kalief Browder, a black teenager who was arrested at age 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack, spent three years on Rikers Island without being convicted of a crime and died by suicide after his release. I was moved by the impassioned mini-essays about police brutality and stop-and-frisk my students produced and the honest experiences they shared. I realized its not just that my students live these topics every day. Its also that they are teenagers who have seen me interact with law enforcement during our trips off campus. They trusted me because they knew I lived them as well. The fact that my skin color matches that of my students doesnt give me any superpowers as an educator. But it does give me the ability to see them in a way thats untarnished by the stereotypes, biases and cultural disconnects that fuel inequality and injustice like the outlook that made Trayvon Martin, carrying Skittles, appear dangerously suspicious to the man who took his life. Like the assumptions that studies show make people see black boys as less innocent than their white peers. This material defect should have been disclosed before you signed the lease. Because it wasnt, you have grounds to break the lease. But you need to act quickly, or the landlord could argue that you waived your objection to the defect. Write the landlord a letter saying that you are vacating the apartment because he failed to disclose the defect. If he holds you to the lease, you need to decide whether you would rather live with the bizarre toilet or move out and brace for a possible fight. If you choose to leave, hand the landlord the keys when you vacate, a critical step in providing evidence that you surrendered the apartment. Your landlord may sue you for the months the unit remains vacant, possibly for as much as the balance of the lease. But his failure to disclose a material defect would be a strong defense, and you could countersue for damages, including the cost of moving and broker fees. And if the landlord holds your security deposit, you could sue for the deposit as well. But I wondered something: Farhad makes use of Uber as an example of how technology has significantly improved the experience of getting in a car. Thats true for now, but perhaps Uber and other industries like it end up going the way of airlines eventually? If an industry isnt regulated and essentially holds a monopoly over the sector, what keeps Uber from making things worse on consumers over time? Weve already been asked to use UberPool, which makes us pack into the car with other people. Perhaps there are other ways to improve Ubers margins over time. Is that me being too cynical? Nicole: Not at all. I stopped using UberPool after my Uber driver picked up a man and a woman wearing shower caps, audibly crying on their way to the airport to say goodbye. It was awkward. Mike: Wow. Thats like a short story waiting to be written. Nicole: As for United, I think something like this was bound to happen anytime you outsource your customer service to automation. What happened to this passenger was absolutely horrifying. In this case, a computerized lottery determined he would get dragged down the aisle. The bigger story is that algorithms are widening the gap between businesses and people. Outsourcing these tasks to computers may save companies money in the short term. But these public relations disasters are likely to cost them far more in the long term. United lost $1 billion from its market cap in a day. And I heard one class-action lawyer on CNN say the passenger could get a dollar for every person who has watched the video of him being bloodied up by airport cops. Thats a lot of dollars. The irony is that this guy will never have to fly commercial again. Mike: Im reorganizing my retirement plans around such a scenario. Is there anything in the security world I should be paying attention to right now? I probably have to change all my passwords or something, huh? Nicole: Security is a lost cause at this point. Just make sure you use different passwords for different sites and maybe stop using I<3Farhad420. Mike: Hmm. Ill think about it. Nicole: Actually, the big story in security this week was an epic hack of Dallass emergency sirens that set off some 150 emergency sirens across the city last Friday and sent people flooding 911 operators with calls. Increasingly, were going to see this style of hacks play out as more and more of our infrastructure migrates online. Until now, everyones just been hooking up their smart fridges, thermostats, traffic lights, bodies online, which is cool, until you get hacked and someones pumping you full of insulin. Uplifting, isnt it? In a 101-page order on Saturday, Judge Baker embraced arguments by the eight prisoners whose executions had been scheduled, plus one other death row inmate, that Arkansass reliance on midazolam, as an execution drug posed a risk to their constitutional rights. The drug is supposed to render a person unconscious and unable to feel pain during a lethal injection. The threat of irreparable harm to the plaintiffs is significant: If midazolam does not adequately anesthetize plaintiffs, or if their executions are botched, they will suffer severe pain before they die, Judge Baker, an appointee of President Barack Obama, wrote. She added that the men had shown a significant possibility that they will succeed on the merits of their method of execution claims based on midazolam. The drug is one of the worlds most popular and versatile sedatives, and at least six states have used it for executions since 2013. Less than two years ago, the United States Supreme Court upheld its use as an execution drug. But the divided Supreme Courts opinion in that case, Glossip v. Gross, did little to settle the controversy around midazolam, which was developed in the 1970s as an alternative to Valium and emerged only in recent years as an execution drug. After the Supreme Courts 5-to-4 ruling, critics of the death penalty continued to argue that the drug lacked the power to render a prisoner sufficiently unconscious before executioners administered drugs that cause pain when stopping a persons breathing and heartbeat. The drug has been used for executions that mostly drew little outrage, but it was also part of a handful of executions that went awry. In 2014, for instance, midazolam was part of the drug protocol in Arizona when a mans execution lasted nearly two hours; the state has since agreed not to use midazolam to carry out death sentences. California has long had a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. But under state law, elder abuse cases are exempt from the limit. Ms. Valentine said she had obtained verdicts and settlements exceeding $250,000 for relatives of many patients who had died because of infected bedsores, medication mix-ups, malnutrition, dehydration or a failure to provide care. The bill would not limit a patients ability to recover economic damages, for medical expenses or lost earnings. If more than one defendant was responsible for an injury, the jury would award damages against each one in proportion to the share of responsibility. The bill says that a doctor who prescribes a drug or medical device approved, licensed or cleared by the Food and Drug Administration may not be named in a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer or seller of the product. The bill provides similar protection for pharmacists who fill prescriptions. The bill would restrict contingency fees that lawyers can charge for representing plaintiffs in health care lawsuits. The measure would limit claims related to coverage provided via a federal program, subsidy or tax benefit. Brian K. Atchinson, the president of the Physician Insurers Association of America, a trade group for insurers, said this meant that the House bill would apply to health insurance provided by employers, because the federal government provides a tax break for such coverage. The tax-free treatment of employer-provided health benefits is one of the largest tax breaks in the tax code, costing the government more than $150 billion a year in lost revenue, according to the Congressional Research Service. The costs of the medical malpractice system have been hotly debated for years. Reliable, comprehensive data is not available. Several studies suggest that the costs, including damage awards, legal fees and the effects of defensive medicine, may represent 2 percent to 2.5 percent of national health spending. The House bill is supported by the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Health Care Association, a trade group for nursing homes. But manufacturers of medical devices have mixed feelings about it. We support the overall intent of the bill, to reduce litigation burdens on the health care system, said Greg Crist, a spokesman for the Advanced Medical Technology Association, which represents device makers. But some of our members are concerned that the bill could actually have the opposite effect and could increase burdens on manufacturers by insulating doctors and other health care providers from any liability related to devices. Thousands of protesters are expected to turn out on Saturday in cities across the country as part of Tax March, a demonstration that organizers hope will put pressure on President Trump to release his personal returns. The march which organizers estimate has the backing of about 70 organizations falls, not coincidently, on the day traditionally associated with the deadline to file taxes. (This years deadline is April 18.) A rally in Washington will begin at noon on the West Front Lawn of the United States Capitol; attendees will start marching toward the Lincoln Memorial about an hour later and will finish by about 4 p.m. Similar marches will occur in about 150 other cities and towns, organizers said. The collective demonstration is expected to be one of the largest since protesters flooded the streets in January for a womens march. The tests are underway, and at one point during an interview with The Times, company executives said they had reached out to Mr. Wolf to discuss the matter after he joined the T.S.A., listing his name among a series of agency officials they had recently contacted. But when asked again about Mr. Wolf, they would not give details from the conversation, at one point contradicting themselves and saying they had not spoken with him. Then one of them, Mark Laustra, a vice president at Analogic who leads the companys efforts to sell the screening devices, said, Our interaction with Chad since he joined T.S.A. has been next to nothing. Mr. Wolfs Twitter account on Friday still identified him as a lobbyist and displayed posts from last year urging the T.S.A. to buy the devices. Positive developments from TSA on upgrading checkpoint scanners, a post from July said. CT tech is the future. A T.S.A. spokesman agreed to arrange an interview with Mr. Wolf who worked at the agency during the Bush administration before becoming a lobbyist but canceled it when told about the topic in detail. Im afraid Mr. Wolf isnt going to have any available time in his schedule today, said Mike England, the spokesman, who then declined several follow-up requests over a one-week period. He later added, in a statement, that Mr. Wolfs duties have not required a waiver of the ethics standards Mr. Trump adopted in January, although Mr. England would not discuss the matter further. The Department of Health and Human Services has become another source of potential conflicts. Lance Leggitt, who serves as chief of staff to Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, worked last year as a lobbyist for 10 different health care companies, including United States Medical Supply and Advanced Infusion Services. He focused largely on lobbying the agency related to Medicare billing rules, as well as rules for health care supplier accreditations, lobbying disclosure reports show. All these issues are routinely handled by the agency he helps oversee. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, received more than $350,000 in payments in 2014 and 2015 from nearly a dozen different pharmaceutical companies, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals, whose two approved drugs are seen as breakthrough treatments for cystic fibrosis. (They carry list prices of more than $250,000 a year.) Dr. Gottlieb, who has never been registered as a lobbyist but has served as the director of eight pharmaceutical companies and one laboratory company, wrote in a letter that he was prepared to recuse himself as necessary to avoid any conflicts. The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for a comment. Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, said the sheer number of potential conflicts which will require recusals, necessitate waivers or result in violations of the ethics rule is disturbing, particularly given the secretive approach the administration is taking on the issue. According to statistics from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the number of Mexican citizens deported from the United States in the first three months of 2017 dropped by nearly 20 percent from a year earlier. The Mexican governments statistics also show a slowdown in Mexican citizens being kicked out of the United States during January and February, with fewer deportations in those months than during any month last year. (March figures were not yet available.) The number of deportations often fluctuates considerably from month to month, for a variety of reasons, and an official with the American immigration enforcement agency cautioned against drawing any firm conclusions from the recent decline. But whatever the pace of deportations under Mr. Trump turns out to be, he has already provoked a nationalist surge in Mexico, uniting the country across political and economic divides in outrage at his stance on immigration, trade and border security. Carlos Bravo, a historian at CIDE, a Mexico City university, said Mexican politicians were clearly trying to respond to and perhaps gain from that popular anger. Rallying to the side of Mexicans kicked out of the United States offers them an easy way to score points at home, with few political risks. The cause of deportees has very few costs, he said. Its a noble cause in the eyes of most Mexicans. Mr. Guo explained in a March 8 videotaped interview with Mirror Media Group, a Chinese-language news company based on Long Island, how Mr. Hes son He Jintao was the boss of the second-largest shareholder in Founder Securities, a company in which Mr. Guo was seeking to acquire a large stake. He Jintao concealed his role through a proxy, according to Mr. Guo. That deal soured when Mr. Guo tried, without success, to name directors to Founder Securities board and became locked in a dispute with his former business partner, Li You, who was the chief executive of the brokerages state-owned parent, according to a report by Caixin, a Chinese news company. Mr. Guo, using turns of phrase that wouldnt be out of place in The Godfather or The Sopranos, said He Jintao was working against him. To be honest, if I could publish evidence about you, He Jintao, I promise that in 24 hours, 10 million people will take to the streets and will eat you alive, Mr. Guo told Mirror Media. Mr. Guo, who also goes by the name Miles Kwok, did not offer any proof of wrongdoing by the He family. But for all his bluster, there is some documentation to support his assertion that the family had a financial stake in Founder Securities. In 2015, New York Times reporters working in Beijing, Hong Kong and the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu mapped out the financial network of He Guoqiangs family, examining shareholding records and verifying relationships by interviewing a member of the family. Those documents and interviews show that the family did appear to control, indirectly through a series of shell companies, a stake in Founder Securities, which has a joint venture in China with Credit Suisse, the Swiss bank. Embarras Volunteer Conservation Day set CHARLESTON -- The Embarras Volunteer Stewards will hold a Conservation Day at 9 a.m. today at Burgner Acres for garlic mustard removal. Take Coles County Road 1000 North to County Road 1150 East, turn south and go about 0.2 mile to the end of the road. All are welcome, and no prior experience is necessary. Sturdy footwear and gloves are recommended. Tools are provided, but extra loppers and shovels are welcome. Visit www.embarrasstewards.org for more information. Updates are posted on the group's website. To receive email notifications, contact thorsenhutton@gmail.com. Duplicate bridge results announced CHARLESTON -- The results of the duplicate bridge game played on April 10 are: 1 Rich Brummer - Grant Sterling 2 Randy Malone - Keith Atteberry 1B Shirley Wilson - Dan Drake The next game will be held Monday at the First Christian Church in Charleston at 6:45 p.m. Art Talk Tuesday scheduled at Flourishes SHELBYVILLE -- Local artists of all skill levels are welcome to join the free sessions at Art Talk Tuesday at Flourishes Gallery and Studios, located at 140 1/2 East Main. There is no cost or registration needed. Sessions begin at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays. This week's topic will be training the eye through measuring and drawing from a picture. For more information, call 217-827-5690. American Legion Auxiliary Quarter Auction set MATTOON -- The American Legion Auxiliary Quarter Auction is scheduled to be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, with bidding starting at 6:30 p.m. Food and drink will be available. The auction will feature more than 20 vendors of crafts, books, toys, purses, wallets, yard decor, makeup, gift certificates, kitchenware, and other items. The auction is a monthly event, held the third Thursday of each month, with profits going to American Legion Auxiliary projects. This month proceeds will go to Mattoon-Peoria St. Jude Run. The proceeds will benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital. The last auction was for Area 9 Special Olympics. They netted $450 for their projects. The American Legion is located at 1903 Maple Ave. in Mattoon. Hospital auxiliary holding flower sale EFFINGHAM -- The HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital Auxiliary is taking prepaid orders for 11-inch hanging flower baskets. There are three varieties of flowers available for the hanging baskets: Ivy Geraniums, Wave Petunias, or Calibrachoa (Million Bells), with multiple color options available within each variety. The flowers are grown locally. Each hanging basket is $15. Orders will be taken in the St. Anthonys Memorial Hospital Gift Shop until Friday. The gift shop is typically open from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, dependent on volunteer availability. An order can also be placed by calling Kathern Upchurch, auxiliary special events coordinator, at 217-343-8211 before April 21. Flower orders must be picked up at the hospital on May 4. Amin Karim, the spokesman for the main faction of Hezb-e-Islami, a conservative Islamist party with links to the insurgency, said members of his party disagreed with the strike because they believed it was carried out for American domestic political reasons and as a way to send a message to other countries at odds with the United States, rather than strictly to fight terrorism in Afghanistan. The goal of this attack was for beyond Afghanistan it was for showing American power to North Korea, Syria and some other countries; it was for scaring these countries, Mr. Amin said. At a news conference organized by the Nangarhar governors office on Friday, a group of elders from the Achin district, where the bomb was dropped, expressed support for the use of such overwhelming force to eliminate the Islamic State fighters. Atta Muhammad Noor, the powerful governor of the northern Balkh Province and a leader of the Jamiat-e-Islami, one of the largest Islamist parties, said he supported the use of the bomb as well as any crackdown on insurgents and fundamentalists. Mr. Karzai said the people of eastern Afghanistan had expressed concern about Islamic State fighters crossing the border with Pakistan when the threat emerged more than two years ago, but little action was taken then. They allowed Daesh to come and come, and empty villages of their residents and entrench themselves, he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. Why did they wait for two years? Why didnt they stop them then? All the entry points were known. He added: The conclusion is that Daesh was a U.S. contractor, like DynCorp, like other U.S. companies, that they used to empty an area of its population and create a cause, create an environment, a psychological environment in which the U.S. can then test its weapon. Mr. Karzai, who has grown more anti-American in recent years despite having come to power with the help of the United States military, had been seen as a quiet opposition figure, albeit one intent on derailing Mr. Ghanis government. If I earned 500 rupees, I would spend 200 on alcohol, he said. He earns the equivalent of about $200 a month as a driver, he said, but I often wouldnt bring any money home. Now, his family is able not only to buy more food, but also to pay for tutorials to help the children in school, he said, and it has been able to expand the brick house shared by the extended family. So taken were Mr. Chandrawanshi and several reformed drinkers with a new, sober life that they have joined the womens vigilante group in harassing and identifying illegal alcohol operations. They also answered the call of their chief minister to show their support for the alcohol ban by standing together in a human chain across the state. More than 30 million Biharis, about a quarter of the population, joined hands along 7,000 miles of roadway one day in January, local news media outlets reported. Mr. Kumars initiative is so popular among the public that leaders of other states are taking notice. Delegations of state legislators have visited in recent months to study the reasons for Bihars success. The chief minister of nearby Madhya Pradesh State recently announced that he would phase in prohibition. On March 31, the Supreme Court of India reaffirmed its ban on alcohol sales near the nations highways to try to reduce drunken driving. The secret in Bihar is a ferocious law propelled by a relentless social and political campaign that resonates powerfully with women, Mr. Kumar said. Only when you have the women behind you can you succeed, he said. Making their parade debut on launcher trucks with huge wheels were very large missiles encased in tubes or canisters. Analysts said the tubes appeared to have been designed for two other kinds of long-range ballistic missiles. There were multiple examples of each tube; it was impossible to see what was in them, but analysts said it was likely that they contained missiles that were either completed or under development. Militaries use such canisters to cold launch missiles, ejecting them high into the air before their fuel ignites. If North Korea perfected that technology, it would help the nation better protect its mobile missiles from environmental damage while being driven around and from fiery exhaust during launch. The method can also make missiles harder to detect once fired. Theyre not just showing off missiles that are hard to build, said Jeffrey Lewis, a North Korea specialist at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, in California. Theyre showing off all the associated technologies you need for credible deployments. Kim Dong-yub, a missile expert at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul, said one kind of tube appeared to be for the KN-14, a modified version of the KN-08 that was first displayed in a parade in 2015, during which the North claimed that its missiles were tipped with nuclear warheads. The other tube design was new to the analysts. Given the size, it looks like it contains a new ballistic missile with a range of at least 6,000 kilometers, or 3,700 miles, making it potentially an intercontinental threat, said Shin In-kyun, a military expert who runs the Korea Defense Network, a civic group specializing in military affairs. Officials in the region will scramble to figure out whether this is a new solid-fuel, long-range ballistic missile the North was believed to be developing. Residents have long objected to the hulking garbage dump and the trash-soaked water that pours into narrow lanes of surrounding neighborhoods when it rains, leaving pools of standing water where mosquitoes breed. Successive governments have groped for a solution, at one point proposing that city garbage be transported by rail and dumped in a quarry, said Raisa Wickrematunge, co-editor of Groundviews, a citizen journalism initiative. Still, year after year, the mountain of garbage continued to grow, with tractors scaling its sides to dump fresh loads. It requires urgent action, too, because as we have seen, peoples lives are at stake, she said. Harsha de Silva, Sri Lankas deputy foreign minister, described the collapse as the culmination of a problem running for decades, perhaps as long as 20 years. He expressed sympathy to bereaved families, but he said it was unfortunate that many families had been compensated to move from the area but failed to do so. He added that garbage would no longer be deposited at the site. The police said Saturday that they thought an explosion underneath the dump had set off the landslide, sweeping as many as 100 houses off their foundations and sending them crashing into neighboring homes. Some were deposited 30 yards from their original locations, a few landing on the roofs of other houses, said Priyantha Jayakody, deputy inspector general of police. Mr. Jayakody said it was unclear whether the explosion had been natural or man-made. Sugath Dammika, 41, a laborer, said he had just dropped off two of his sons at his sister-in-laws house when it was buried by waste. As he spoke, his wife was at a government morgue, identifying the body of their elder son. The younger son is still missing. COLOGNE, Germany The impressive Islamic complex here, Germanys largest, boasts towering minarets and a soaring prayer hall. But what Turkish officials here seem most proud of are the hundreds of windows, which allow outsiders and Muslim worshipers to glimpse each others worlds. The idea, they say, is transparency. Yet it is what lies beneath the surface these days that concerns both Germans and Turks as Turkey prepares to vote on Sunday in a referendum that could vastly expand the powers of its already authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose reach into Germany both open and concealed has become an increasing point of friction. Since Turks arrived for work in the 1960s, Germany has maintained the largest Turkish diaspora in Europe, now some three million people. For many years, Germany was happy to let the Turkish state provide and pay for prayer leaders and other provisions for its emigrants. This now includes overseeing more than 900 Muslim associations and training and appointing many of Germanys imams. The large mosque complex here is a part of that network. But Turkeys resulting grip in Germany is coming back to haunt both sides. German intelligence agencies and politicians now charge that Mr. Erdogan is using the decades-old arrangement to hunt down and punish opponents as he pursues a desperately wanted victory that would make his authority all but unchallengeable. Roughly half of the Turks who live in Germany hold Turkish citizenship and are eligible to vote. ISTANBUL A Turkish prosecutor has opened an investigation into 17 people accused of fomenting last years failed coup, including many prominent American officials, academics and politicians, state news media reported on Saturday. Among those placed under investigation by the chief prosecutor in Istanbul are John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. chief; Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York; Preet Bharara, the former United States attorney for the Southern District of New York; and David Cohen, who at the time of the coup was the deputy director of the C.I.A., according to the Anadolu Agency, a state-run news wire. The investigation was announced just a day before a national referendum to expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leading to speculation that the two events were linked. BEIRUT, Lebanon Dozens of people were killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday when a car bomb struck a group of buses carrying residents and fighters who had been evacuated from two besieged towns the day before. The blast interrupted a deal between the government and the rebels to evacuate people from four villages that have suffered prolonged sieges. Photographs from the scene posted on social media showed a line of buses destroyed in the blast, their windows blown out and charred bodies scattered in the road. Syrian state television said at least 39 people were killed in what it called a terrorist attack. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which opposes the government and tracks the war from Britain through contacts in Syria, said at least 43 people were killed. There have been dozens of cases of starvation, many of them children, and ill and elderly people. The conflict has also seen what a recent paper by The Lancet and the American University of Beirut called the weaponization of health care citing the arrest of doctors and systematic attacks on medical facilities. Nearly 800 medical personnel have been killed, more than 90 percent by the government, according to studies by Physicians for Human Rights. In the days before the chemical attack this month, the main hospital in the area was hit by an airstrike. And a hospital several miles south was hit by another chemical attack one of what medical groups working in opposition areas say have been dozens since Syrias government promised to give up its chemical weapons in 2014. Since this months chemical attack, residents have reported several attacks with incendiary weapons in Idlib and neighboring Hama provinces, uploading videos that show blinding fires typical of weapons like thermite and white phosphorus. They cause severe burns, similar to napalm, and their use is prohibited in civilian areas. Many who have suffered lost hope of redress long ago. A Syrian man who did four stints of detention and torture for taking humanitarian aid to wounded protesters and rebels recounted his experiences, but then expressed despair that anything would come of it. Countries dont need this evidence they already know whats happening, said the man, Abu Ali al-Hamwi, using his nom de guerre because his mother is in government-controlled Syria. We are just pawns on a chessboard. I have women friends who were detained, raped, got pregnant, were tortured with acid. He shrugged. There is no justice, he said. And because there is no justice, there is no hope. Limited Steps Toward Justice As the war has dragged on, groups of activists, lawyers and others in Syria and beyond are documenting atrocities in hopes of one day bringing perpetrators to account. The world faces the prospect of more tension with China over trade, security and human rights after Xi Jinping awarded himself another five-year term as leader of the ruling Communist Party and called for self-reliance in technology, a stronger military and protection of core interests abroad. At a party congress, Xi gave no sign of plans to change the "zero-COVID strategy that has frustrated Chinas public and disrupted business and trade. He called for faster military development and announced no change in policies that strain relations with Washington and Asian neighbors. Xi is tightening control at home and trying to use Chinas economic heft to increase its influence abroad. NYTimes.com no longer supports Internet Explorer 9 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser. It has become embarrassing to be an American. Our country has had four war criminal presidents in succession. Clinton twice launched military attacks on Serbia, ordering NATO to bomb the former Yugoslavia twice, both in 1995 and in 1999, so that gives Bill two war crimes. George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and attacked provinces of Pakistan and Yemen from the air. That comes to four war crimes for Bush. Obama used NATO to destroy Libya and sent mercenaries to destroy Syria, thereby commiting two war crimes. Trump attacked Syria with US forces, thereby becoming a war criminal early in his regime. To the extent that the UN participated in these war crimes along with Washington's European, Canadian and Australian vassals, all are guilty of war crimes. Perhaps the UN itself should be arranigned before the War Crimes Tribunal along with the EU, US, Australia and Canada. Quite a record. Western Civilization, if civilization it is, is the greatest committer of war crimes in human history. And there are other crimes--Somalia, and Obama's coups against Honduras and Ukraine and Washington's ongoing attempts to overthrow the governments of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Washington wants to overthrow Ecuador in order to grab and torture Julian Assange, the world's leading democrat. These war crimes committed by four US presidents caused millions of civilian deaths and injuries and dispossessed and dislocated millions of peoples, who have now arrived as refugees in Europe, UK, US, Canada, and Australia, bringing their problems with them, some of which become problerms for Europeans, such as gang rapes. What is the reason for all the death and destruction and the flooding of the West with refugees from the West's naked violence? We don't know. We are told lies: Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction," which the US government knew for an absolute fact did not exist. "Assad's use of chemical weapons," an obvious, blatant lie. "Iranian nukes," another blatant lie. The lies about Gaddafi in Libya are so absurd that it is pointless to repeat them. What were the lies used to justify bombing tribesmen in Pakistan, to bomb a new government in Yemen? No American knows or cares. Why the US violence against Somalia? Again, no Americans knows or cares. Or the morons saw a movie. Violence for its own sake. That is what America has become. Indeed, violence is what America is. There is nothing else there. Violence is the heart of America. violence (Image by jadawin42) Details DMCA Consider not only the bombings and destruction of countries, but also the endless gratuitous, outrageous police violence against US citizens. If anyone should be disarmed, it is the US police. The police commit more "gun violence" than anyone else, and unlike drug gangs fighting one another for territory, police violence has no other reason than the love of committing violence against other humans. The American police even shoot down 12-year old American kids prior to asking any question, especially if they are black. Violence is America. America is violence. The moronic liberals blame it on gun owners, but it is always the government that is the source of violence. That is the reason our Founding Fathers gave us the Second Amendment. It is not gun owners who have destroyed in whole or part eight countries. It is the armed-at-taxpayer-expence US government that commits the violence. America's lust for violence is now bringing the Washington morons up against people who can commit violence back: the Russians and Chinese, Iran and North Korea. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). If it's Thursday, it must be MOAB. That's "mother of all bombs" for those who missed the background briefing. The bomb was dropped in Afghanistan today on an ISIS target, making good on Trump's promise to "bomb the sh*t out of them." Boom boom boom, here we go again. The big bad mother was as much a psychological as a physical message, and was likely also intended to show Kim Jong Crazy and Bashar-al Assad (or"Basaad" as Sean Spicer would say) that Trump means business. When the ratings are in the tank and your supporters are wavering -- bomb the sh*t out of something. Works like a charm (see: George W Bush). The recent Syria bombing met mixed reviews, but did put an end to the Putin/Trump bromance. The proxy war is alive and kicking and it seems the cold war is heating up again. All this as the multiple investigations into Trump's Russian liaisons continue under the surface. The fallout of the MOAB attack failed to prevent The Guardian from releasing it's latest breaking news, that British spies have "concrete" evidence that Russian intel operatives were communicating with Trump campaign officials as early as 2015: The Guardian has been told the FBI and the CIA were slow to appreciate the extensive nature of contacts between Trump's team and Moscow ahead of the US election. This was in part due to US law that prohibits US agencies from examining the private communications of American citizens without warrants. "They are trained not to do this," the source stressed. "It looks like the [US] agencies were asleep," the source added. "They [the European agencies] were saying: 'There are contacts going on between people close to Mr Trump and people we believe are Russian intelligence agents. You should be wary of this.' "The message was: 'Watch out. There's something not right here.'" According to one account, GCHQ's then head, Robert Hannigan, passed material in summer 2016 to the CIA chief, John Brennan. The matter was deemed so sensitive it was handled at "director level". After an initially slow start, Brennan used GCHQ information and intelligence from other partners to launch a major inter-agency investigation. In late August and September Brennan gave a series of classified briefings to the Gang of Eight, the top-ranking Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate. He told them the agency had evidence the Kremlin might be trying to help Trump to win the presidency, the New York Times reported. Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House committee, has expressed an interest in hearing from Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer whose dossier accuses the president of long-term cooperation with Vladimir Putin's Moscow. Trump and Putin have both dismissed the dossier as fake. One source suggested the official investigation was making progress. "They now have specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion," the source said. "This is between people in the Trump campaign and agents of [Russian] influence relating to the use of hacked material." This is just the beginning. Wait until the Carter Page wiretap and Michael Flynn testimony hit the headlines. What is the protocol when a presidential election is nullified? Do they have an automatic do-over? Is there a Constitutional provision for such a thing? Yeah, but it's all fake news anyway" CHARLESTON -- Two residential properties on Seventh Street have been nominated to become city designated landmarks. The Charleston Historic Preservation Commission nominated the addresses, 838 Seventh St. and 1002 Seventh St., both of which are located in the Sixth and Seventh Streets Historic District. 1002 Seventh St. According to a city press release, the residence at 1002 Seventh St. was designed and built by noted local architect and builder, Charles Mitchell (1863-1929). The release notes Mitchell designed and built many structures in Charleston, including the McFarland-Dudley house. He built the 1002 Seventh St. home around the turn of the 19th century, where he and his family lived until approximately 1919 or 1921. Notable Charleston stonemason, Alexander Briggs, who is known for work on the Coles County jail and Eastern Illinois University's Old Main, constructed the stonework of 1002 Seventh St. In 1904, a photograph of the house was featured in an exhibition for a local quarry, where the stone originated, at the St. Louis Worlds Fair, the release states. This home bears many Queen Anne style features including an asymmetrical facade, steeply pitched roof with a dominant front-facing gable, decorative brackets under the eaves, wrap-around front porch, bay windows, and a turret, the release reads. David Bell, the current residence owner, is in support of the nomination, according to the release. 838 Seventh St. The other residence nominated at 838 Seventh St. was the home of Livingston C. Lord, Eastern Illinois Universitys first president, and is often called the Livingston Lord house. Another Queen Anne-styled home, the residences characteristics include a hip roof with cross gables; spindle-work details in the gables, porch frieze and balustrade; asymmetrical front porch; a second story porch over the front entry; and projecting bay windows, among other features, the release reads. The lawn was frequently the site of receptions for the colleges graduating classes; and Lord also entertained faculty, lecturers, educators and homecoming celebrities in the home. Lord often walked from his home to his office in EIUs Old Main building, according to the release. For many years, the house was used as a college rental property. Then it sat empty and neglected for many years. By the early 2000s, the house had fallen into disrepair and was on the brink of demolition before it was saved in 2007. After a change of hands, it was sold in 2010 to Blair Lord, Eastern Illinois University provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. Lord and his wife, Jeanne, are in support of their homes nomination as a landmark, the release states. A final decision regarding the two properties' potential landmark status will be made by the Charleston City Council. A public hearing regarding both properties will take place at 7 p.m. April 24 in the council chambers of Charleston City Hall, 520 Jackson Ave., after which the Historic Preservation Commission recommendation will be made. Charlestons existing landmark designations include locations like the Will Rogers Theater and the commercial block on Monroe Avenue. For more information, those interested should contact the Charleston Historic Preservation Commission through the city clerks office at 217-345-5650. Volunteer (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA In Pictures: Hebron on lockdown as Israeli settlers and tourists celebrate Pesach 14th April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil (Hebron), occupied Palestine (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA [ISM Photo: Israeli Border Police occupy the area around the Shuhada Street checkpoint. The concrete barrier was also moved further up the road recently by Israeli forces, extending their control in H1.] Since the evening of April 10th, 2017, Israeli forces have imposed increased restrictions on the Palestinians of al-Khalil as colonial settlers and Israeli tourists celebrate Pesach -- or Passover -- across the city. So far, homes have been occupied, checkpoints closed, and Palestinian children attacked with teargas during the week-long holiday. Preparations for the festival began early in the week as an increasing number of Israeli soldiers and military vehicles arrived in Hebron. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA Since the beginning of the week, an increased number of Israeli soldiers and military vehicles have arrived in al-Khalil. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA Israeli soldiers gather in al-Khalil Consequently, Palestinians have faced increased delays and harrassment from soldiers, both the areas of H1, officially under full Palestinian civil and security control, and H2, which is under full Israeli control -- the two areas into which al-Khalil has been divided since this Ibrahimi Mosque massacre of 1997 by a Jewish settler. The number of ID checks, bag searches, and body checks have increased across the city's checkpoints as well as in the Old Town, as a result of Israeli military incursions, both day and night. Israeli forces also entered the homes of Palestinians living on Shuhada Street -- for whom the only entry is through the rear of the house -- before occupying the roofs of the houses for hours at a time. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA An Israeli soldier aims his rifle at Palestinians making their way past the boys' school (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA A Palestinian is subject to a body check by Israeli soldiers outside Mutannabi boys' school, H2. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA Israelis and colonial settlers celebrate outside the kindergarten on Shuhada street, while Palestinian children are made to pass through a military checkpoint every day on their way to school. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA A group of Palestinian boys are questioned by Israeli Border Police in the souk, al-Khalil's Old Town. On Wednesday 12th April Israeli forces closed and barricaded the Ibrahimi mosque and the adjoining checkpoints, further restricting Palestinians' rights to free movement and worship in and around the mosque. ISM activists were also informed by the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) that teargas was being fired at Palestinian children by Israeli Forces outside Saleymeh checkpoint. Whilst the checkpoint nearby the Ibrahimi Mosque had reopened for Friday Prayers, Palestinians continue to face long delays and harrassment at the hands of Israeli forces. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA The checkpoint leading to the Ibrahimi Mosque was closed on Wednesday, an barricaded with an upturned table. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA Palestinian residents are made to wait outside the Ibrahimi Mosque checkpoint following its reopening on Friday. Meanwhile that day, Israeli forces gathered outside Shuhada checkpoint for over five hours, shutting down a whole road in H1 to allow (often heavily armed) Israeli settlers and tourists to pass through the area. Two military vehicles blocked the road, causing significant traffic congestion along Bab es-Sawiyah, while upwards of ten Israeli soldiers and fifteen Border Police filmed internationals and prevented Palestinians from passing through. Shuhada checkpoint leads to Shuhada Street, an area where Palestinian vehicles -- including ambulances -- are forbidden. Palestinians are only allowed to enter the street if they are numbered and registered as residents of the area. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA Soldiers escort heavily-armed colonial settlers during an hours-long incursion into H1, near Shuhada Street (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA Colonial settlers walk through H1 as part of the Pesach celebrations. (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA Armoured personel carriers block off roads in H1 On both Wednesday and Thursday, the Palestinian-owned shops surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque were ordered to close. Further closures and roadblocks were also imposed by Israeli forces during several incursions by large groups of colonial settlers which passed through the souk in Hebron's Old Town. Whilst these settler 'tours' happen every Saturday in al-Khalil, this week's incursions follow similar events in occupied Palestine this week, most notably in occupied East Jerusalem where 385 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa . (Image by International Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA A group of colonial settlers make their way through the Palestinian souk, escorted by heavily armed Israeli forces. This year, Pesach is celebrated from the evening of Monday, April 10th, until the evening of Tuesday, April 18th. For Israeli settlers, the holiday this year has an additional significance in marking the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of Rabbi Moshe Levinger and followers of the Greater Israel movement -- the first colonial settlers in al-Khalil -- to the Park Hotel in 1967, posing as Swiss tourists. Today, around 700 colonial settlers live in the H2 area of al-Khalil and are accompanied by almost 1,500 Israeli soldiers as well as Border Police and Israeli civil police. USA Out of Syria (Image by UHURU Solidarity Movement) Details DMCA The Uhuru Solidarity Movement condemns the genocidal U.S. war against the people and government of Syria that has been raging for the past six years under Obama and continues today under Trump. Yesterday on April 6th, 2017, Trump authorized the launching of 54 missiles at a military airfield in Syria. USM is the organization of people of all races under the leadership of the African People's Socialist Party, organizing primarily in the white community for justice to African people and in solidarity with oppressed peoples everywhere. As Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People's Socialist Party has proven through his writings, the United States and Europe were built on the enslavement of African people, genocide against the indigenous people and colonial war and domination of Muslim people with the Crusades and other assaults on the peoples of the planet earth for the last 600 years. European imperialism: the root of violence in Syria Imperialist war gave birth to the European nation and the white society that benefited the entire white population at the expense of the robbery of resources and the denial of self-determination to the peoples of the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Fundamental to this process has been the war within U.S. borders against the colonized African population and Indigenous peoples whose homeland was stolen from them at gunpoint by white settlers. In the past century alone, U.S. imperialism and Europe have created the modern-day crisis in the Middle East by carving up the Middle East just like they carved up Africa to divide amongst themselves in order to compete for access to colonial loot. The Sykes-Picot agreement, the founding of Israel as an illegitimate white nationalist colonial settler state, and the creation of the borders which today constitute Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc., were devised by European colonial powers for the purpose of wealth and resource extraction. This is part and parcel of a parasitic capitalist U.S. economy built on stolen resources for the benefit of the white ruling class and general white population. Crisis of imperialism caused by resistance of oppressed It is a parasitic system which, as Chairman Omali explains, is undergoing serious crisis today because of the resistance of the colonized peoples of the world who are wresting back control of their resources and making it impossible for the capitalist status quo to function in the same old way. That is what is represented by the fact that the U.S. has been engaged in a 15 year long war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They thought they could just go in, kill the leaders of those countries and plant the American flag and declare them American client states but the resistance of the people has made that possible for them to do. They are in crisis today because peoples and governments of the world are defying the ability of the U.S. to control their resources any longer as well as the rising challenge posed by Russia and China to U.S. imperialist hegemony. The war in Syria is symptomatic of this crisis. The U.S. wants to undermine Iran which is vying for regional influence and independence in that region. The U.S. wants to uphold and defend the murderous Zionist occupation of Palestine. They want to weaken Hezbollah and other resistance movements. They are trying to accomplish that by attacking Syria and attempting to overturn the government of Bashar Assad who has historically united to varying degrees with resistance in the Middle East. But they will fail in pushing back the tide of progress represented by the righteous, anti-colonial struggles of the oppressed. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). What about the children? (Image by DVIDSHUB) Details DMCA The U.S. Thursday (April 13) dropped a bomb with an explosive force equal to 11 tons of TNT on a cave complex used by the Afghanistan branch of the , the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Pentagon said. The bomb is officially called a GBU-43 or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), the origin of its nickname as the mother of all bombs. The 9,797kg GBU-43 was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft in Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan, according to the Pentagon. At the White House, President Donald Trump called the bombing "another very, very successful mission." According to CBS News, asked if he personally authorized the strike, Mr. Trump said "everybody knows exactly what happened." "What I do is I authorize my military," Mr. Trump said. "We have the greatest military in the world and they've done their job as usual. So, we have given them total authorization and that's what they're doing." White House Press secretary Sean Spicer said that the strike targeted a "system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters used to move around freely." He said the U.S. "took all precautions necessary" to minimize civilian casualties. Not surprisingly, the office of the US-client Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement the US attack was a part of a joint operation by Afghan and international troops. "Afghan and foreign troops closely coordinated this operation and were extra cautious to avoid any civilian casualties," it said. In a statement, the U.S. command in Afghanistan said the strike was "designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS fighters and facilities." General John Nicholson, head of US and international forces in Afghanistan, said the "weapon achieved its intended purpose". Nicholson said the decision to use the bomb was based on his assessment of military needs and not broader political considerations. Hamid Karzai condemns Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has condemned the dropping of the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat, saying Afghanistan shouldn't be used as a "testing ground" for weapons. In a series of Twitter posts, Karzai said: "This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons." Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Dr Omar Zakhilwal, also took to Twitter to share his views. Alluding to the bombing of Afghanistan since 1979, first by the USSR and then the U.S., ambassador Zakhiwal said: "If big bombs were the solution we would be the most secure place on earth today." Hindustan Times quoted an Afghan journalist as tweeting: While the "civilized west" is celebrating Easter, the "uncivilized & barbarian Afghan Muslims" are being dropped at 21,000-pound bomb... Dropping 'mother of all bombs' was yet another stage show by Trump who made it clear that Muslim lands are but the West's laboratories. The GBU-43 ultra-heavy bomb is equal to 11 tonnes of TNT with a blast radius of 1.6km on each side. At a village 5km from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, witnesses said the ground shook from shockwaves, but homes and shops appeared unaffected. "Last night's bomb was really huge. When it dropped, everywhere it was shaking," a resident told Reuters news agency, adding he believed no civilians were in the area hit. Al Jazeera quoted spokesman for a hospital in eastern Nangarhar, as saying that the facility had received no dead or wounded from the attack. On its part, ISIL denied it suffered any casualties. "Security source to Amaq agency denies any dead or wounded from the American strike in Nangarhar using a GBU-43/B," the group's self-styled news agency said on social media accounts. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "Rob Kall shows us that the high-tech information revolution set the stage for a political and social evolution, the connectivity of which has the capacity to transform everything, everywhere. We have only to say 'yes' to tap [into] the power of this interconnection, participating in it from where we stand." Dennis Kucinich, former U.S. Representative (D-OH) and 2004 and 2008 Democratic presidential primary candidate Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. There seem to be two standard modes for British cinema. Tough and gritty (Lock Stock), or peppy and resilient (Made in Dagenham). Their Finest is definitely the latter. The tone is overwhelmingly mired in WWII blitz spirit, but if there was a risk of the film becoming twee and predictable, it is not evident in the final product. While early scenes do suggest a plucky, can-do, happy-go-lucky tone, as it moves and evolves, a more layered and insightful product evolves. Gaby Chiappe's writing showcases a healthy degree of cynicism, particularly in the dialogue for Sam Claflin's screenwriter Tom Buckley. His character rails against a prosaic, interfering ministry, even as he embodies "Keep Calm and Carry On" better than almost everyone around him. His bitter taste initially sours him to Gemma Arterton's Catrin Cole, but his obvious smarts intrigue her. Likewise, he becomes interested in her when he realizes her seeming naivete is actually native intelligence. They are brought in to work together on a patriotic British propaganda film about the Dunkirk rescue. Gradually the project takes on greater and greater national significance, just as their workplace relationship takes on greater and greater personal significance. As the film develops we are introduced to a colorful cast of recognizable types. Bill Nighy dons his Bill Nighy Sunday-best as Ambrose Hilliard, a faded leading man turned lovable curmudgeon. We watch as he grudgingly makes the decision to age gracefully in to being a senior character actor. Richard E. Grant is austere as ever in his turn as government official Roger Swain. Jake Lacey does enjoyable work as picturesque Yank Carl Lundbeck, the man who can fly a plane and look good doing it, but can't act for toffee. Rachael Stirling is the ministry bureaucrat with the heart of gold. Jack Huston is Catrin's earnest but scandalous artist-husband. The supporting militia all turn out good work here, and the film's numerous side-stories all play out wonderfully. The main event is, of course, the making of the movie and the romance in the writer's room. As production problem after production problem befalls their film, Catrin, Tom and their cohort Raymond Parfitt (Paul Ritter) have to work faster and faster, dealing with Ministry interference, unwieldy actors, and personal drama. All the while, the war seems to be hitting closer and closer to home. Arterton and Claflin's chemistry is undeniable through all this. They distinguish themselves in that they are able to make their transition from combative cooperatives to love interests both compelling and wholly believable. Gaby Chiappe's script excels throughout, allowing for character appropriate verbal dexterity, whilst also showcasing her ability to write dialogue for all walks of life. The plot twists, which we must assume come from the Lissa Evans novel on which this picture is based, are a mix of comfortably familiar and welcome novelty. Blending the two allows for the one to compliment the other. Special mention must be made of cinematographer Sebastian Blenkov, and director Lone Scherfig. Their teamwork is tireless here. Their Finest spends extended segments living in the technicolor world of a mid-war movie. Every shot of these sequences looks and feels like the real deal, and is obviously the result of intense care and effort. On top of that, there is a moonlit shot in the third act of the movie that is staggeringly beautiful, to the point where you could frame it. Their Finest is full of little surprises like this that keep the watcher planted firmly in their seat. Thematically, the film covers the ground you expect it to cover. Much of it in a familiar way: sexism in ye olde England, the horrors of war, the madness of the film industry the material has definitely been done before. However, Their Finest never pretends otherwise, and is consistently able to put enough of a fresh spin on things to keep the audience engaged and appreciative. In many ways, this is the essence of what Their Finest is: seemingly old rope spun into gold. It is a joy to watch, often heartfelt, regularly witty, and a wonderful cinematic portrait of the world it aims to capture. Recommended to anyone with an appreciation for British film, sentimental war movies, and period dramedy. 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. CDL/DOT Drug Testing for Seasonal Employment and New Hires Offered CDL/DOT drug testing for seasonal employment and new hires Contact Wisconsin Drug Testing Consortium mike@widrugtesting.com 888-784-8842 Photo: https://www.prlog.org/ 12633421/1 Wisconsin Drug Testing Consortium888-784-8842 End -- Finding qualified employees can be a challenge for transportation companies. Once you have the ideal candidate, with the right skills and experience, the next step is making sure they are drug-free and complete a DOT physical. Wisconsin Drug Testing Consortium (WDTC) provides CDL/DOT drug testing for seasonal employment and new hires, allowing you to focus on the hiring process.Federal regulations require all transportation employees, including those hired on a temporary basis, to complete drug testing. WDTC offers convenient, affordable drug testing options, including onsite and mobile testing. Our collection process is streamlined using both online and traditional platforms. Our electronic process is web-based and eliminates the paper chain of custody forms. We also keep your records secure and stored in compliance with DOT rules.In addition to initial drug testing for new employees, WDTC is also a Third Party Administrator with the DOT. By partnering with WDTC, we make sure your business fully complies with federal and DOT drug and alcohol testing guidelines. Employees cannot enter WDTC's consortium pool until a negative pre-employment drug test is filed with us. Proof of a drug test that has been completed in the past 12 months is required before entering the pool. We keep track of your employees' records in a secure setting that follows all of the federal regulations."Transportation company owners need to focus on running their business and filling their open positions. We take over your drug testing needs and make sure you are compliant with all of the federal rules," said WDTC President Mike Bray.WDTC partners with transportation companies to conduct CDL/DOT drug testing for seasonal employment and new hires. We make sure you are compliant with all the DOT rules regarding drug testing. We also provide DOT consortium management and employer responsibilities training so supervisors know their legal requirements regarding drug testing. Visit our website at https://widrugtesting.com to learn more about all of our drug testing programs or contact President Mike Bray at mike@widrugtesting.com for more information. Defense Media Activity (DMA) has awarded DigitalGlue a $10+ million contract to supply a full scope of design and engineering services, software and equipment to upgrade The American Forces Networks (AFN) transmission systems. AFN is the worldwide radio and television network serving US troops, Department of Defense employees and government civilians and their families stationed overseas, as well as US Navy ships.The project will replace the networks existing systems with four standalone MPEG-4 AVC multichannel compression systems with DVB-S/S2 RF modulation, thus allowing standard definition channels to be upgraded to high definition. This new system is also deploying a Simulcrypt Verimatrix conditional access system with the existing PowerVu conditional access system, enabling an economical path to the latest technology as it is deployed while not interrupting the currently deployed set-top boxes (STBs).Via its in-house software development team, DigitalGlue is also providing several key software systems customised to DMAs needs including a subscriber management system, a high-level monitoring and control system, and an artwork server for an audio-only channel.DigitalGlue has long provided services to government and military organisations but we are particularly honoured to play such a significant role in designing and delivering the transmission systems to AFN, said Sean Busby, president of DigitalGlue . This contract illustrates the US governments continued confidence in DigitalGlues solutions and equipment, and we are especially proud of our ability to simulcrypt both the Verimatrix and PowerVu conditional access systems providing AFN and its viewers an economical upgrade path. Authorities in Kosovo have increased police patrols nationwide, warning of possible plots to commit violent attacks during the upcoming Easter holiday. In a statement April 14, the government gave no details about who might be behind the plots targeting "institutional and political leaders of Kosovo." Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Milan Radojevic told RFE/RL's Balkan Service that police had stepped up security and surveillance of churches nationwide. A day earlier, the U.S. Embassy in the capital Pristina warned U.S. citizens of the potential for violence during Easter, which will be celebrated April 16 by Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian churches worldwide. Similar warnings were issued by U.S. diplomatic missions in Macedonia and Albania. The poor, tiny Balkan nation has faced a growing threat posed by Kosovars who support the Islamic State extremist group. An estimated 300 Kosovars have gone to Syria to fight alongside Islamic State militants in recent years. Police arrested 19 people in November on suspicion of having links with Islamic State and planning attacks. TVS Motor Company and BMW Motorrad are reportedly working on another product (most likely a naked RR310) BMW Motorrad India has still not updated its entry-level G 310 siblings to BS6 emission norms. Sharing platform with the Apache RR310 at TVS Motor Companys manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, the G 310 R and G 310 GS are two of the most expensive single-cylinder motorcycles available in the country. At an initial asking price of Rs 2.99 lakh and Rs 3.49 lakh ex-showroom, one would find it hard to justify its desirability (especially when compared to a KTM India product). In a few European markets, the G 310 siblings are considered as excellent starter motorcycles. Even in India, both single-cylinder BMW motorcycles offer an enjoyable ride but just not enough for what you pay. However, various reports state that BMW Motorrad India could introduce a massive price cut of up to Rs 75,000 for their BS6 versions read more details. Apparently, the German two-wheeler manufacturer and its Indian partner plan to introduce another motorcycle from the shared platform. Most likely, it would be a naked avatar of the TVS Apache RR 310. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis may have brought about a delay in its development. Chetan Kale has modelled, textured and rendered an interesting BMW G 310 RR concept on Blender. With subtle tweaks, Chetan has added the 2019MY BMW S 1000 RR super sports fairing on a G 310 RR chassis. Alongside its wheels and exhaust, the tail section mostly remains untouched. Even though the TVS RR 310 is a faired G 310 on paper, chances of BMW Motorrad introducing a single-cylinder faired motorcycle in its base portfolio are not bleak. The baby S 1000 RR could be a success in markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines where models such as the Yamaha YZF-R15 and Suzuki GSX-R150 are quite popular. On the other hand, the Indian market is already unhappy with the way BMW Motorrad priced the G 310 siblings. This will change if their BS6 updates come with the substantial price drop mentioned above. In the outgoing BS4 format, the BMW G 310 R and G 310 GS make 33.6bhp @ 9,500rpm and 28Nm @ 7,500rom from a 312.2cc liquid-cooled DOHC single-cylinder motor. The same engine has become BS6-compliant in the 2020MY TVS Apache RR 310. Output figures have witnessed a slight variation at 33.5bhp @ 9,700rpm and 27.3Nm @ 7,700Nm. The 6-speed transmission in the TVS boasts of a slipper clutch as well. BS6 versions of entry-level BMW G 310 series should come in the same configuration. Source SANA'A, April 11. (Saba) - Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf met on Tuesday with the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Yemen Jamie McGoldrick. The Minister delivered the UN Coordinator an urgent letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and to the President and members of the Security Council. The letter refuted the allegations of Saudi Arabia in the port of Hodeida, and the escalation by the countries of aggression off the west coast of Yemen. The port of Hodeida is the main lifeline for food and medicines for nearly 80% of the Yemeni people, as well as the entry of humanitarian aid from international organizations working in Yemen. The letter confirmed that any targeting of the port will lead to a worsening of the humanitarian crisis the country experiences. In addition, a famine is increasing because of the siege imposed on the Yemeni people. The port closure represents an intention to commit a genocide crime against the entire Yemeni people. He warned of Saudi Arabia- led coalition against civilians on the west coast of Yemen which represents a violation of all international conventions and humanitarian norms, especially international humanitarian law. He also denied the allegations of the coalition on Iranian arms trafficking in Yemen and called on the Security Council to inform all members of this, called on the United States to prove these allegations. Sharaf requested the Secretary-General and the Security Council to assume their responsibilities in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. He urged the United Nations Security Council to stop the military operations against Yemen. The minister stressed the firm and clear position of Yemen calling for a just peace, welcoming the continued efforts of the UN Secretary-General to stop the military aggression, and open a Yemeni - Saudi dialogue in parallel with the Yemeni - Yemeni dialogue for a peaceful political settlement. HA Saba Despite the internet-dependent nature of our world, a thorough understanding of the internet's physical makeup has only recently emerged, thanks to painstaking work by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their collaborators. Professor of Computer Sciences Paul Barford, Ph.D. candidate Ramakrishnan (Ram) Durairajan and colleagues have developed Internet Atlas, the first detailed map of the internet's structure worldwide. While average users rarely think of these elements, things like submarine cables -- buried below the ocean floor -- run between continents to enable communication. Data centers in buildings all over the world are packed with servers storing many types of data. Traffic exchange occurs between different service providers at internet exchange points. Though these and other elements may be out of sight for the average user, they are crucial pieces of the physical infrastructure that billions of people rely on. Collaborators on the team include Joel Sommers, a UW-Madison alumnus now on the faculty at Colgate University; Walter Willinger, chief scientist at the NIKSUN Innovation Center; and graduate and undergraduate research assistants who help with data collection. Supported by a Department of Homeland Security grant, Internet Atlas has already attracted considerable attention from publications like MIT Technology Review, New Scientist and others. And in February, Barford and Durairajan presented their work at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, the world's biggest information security conference. Internet Atlas was one of a select group of DHS-funded projects invited to present at the conference. "It was nice recognition" to be chosen, says Barford, since RSA is attended by tens of thousands. Mapping the physical internet helps stakeholders boost performance and guard against a number of threats, from terrorism to extreme weather events like hurricanes. Furthermore, "a lot of infrastructure is by major right-of-ways, like railroad lines," says Barford, meaning that an event like a train derailment could end up disrupting internet communications. "The question of 'how does mapping contribute to security?' is one of our fundamental concerns," says Durairajan. The project has helped direct attention to the problem of shared risk, the subject of an influential 2015 paper by the team. Physical infrastructure is commonly shared by multiple networking entities, so damage to any particular piece of infrastructure can impact more than one entity. "We quantified that for the first time," says Barford. Much of the data used to create the Internet Atlas comes from publicly available information, such as what internet service providers publish on their websites. Other data has taken more legwork to uncover, such as combing through mundane items like local permits for laying cables. "The core work is grunt work, but by rolling up our sleeves, we assembled a unique data set," says Barford. Now, the team is looking to enhance the maps even further and share their work so it can be deployed by others to boost network performance and security. "We'll complement the static maps with the ability to actually examine the status of the network in real time," says Barford. "We've built certain capabilities that allow exactly that to be done, and one of the important focuses going forward is to enhance that capability, basically putting the maps in motion." What is the volume of water in lakes on Earth? Using a mathematical analysis, researcher David Seekell, at Umea University in Sweden, and his American collaborators now suggest that the mean depth of lakes is 30 per cent lower than previously estimated. Shallower lakes implies less fresh water and has consequences for our understanding of climate change and the carbon cycle. The results have been published in Geophysical Research Letters. "Our estimations measure around 190,000 km3, which is a very small amount of water. In comparison, the ocean contains 1.3 billion km3 of water. If we poured the water of all lakes on Earth together into one big lake, the mean depth of the lake would be 42 metres. The mean depth of the ocean is 3,682 metres," says David Seekell, associate professor at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences and the Climate Impacts Research Centre (CIRC) at Umea University in Sweden. A possible conclusion is if lakes are shallower, they release more methane into the atmosphere than previously estimated. Measuring the volume of the lakes on Earth seems like a simple task. Nevertheless, the challenges to carry out a measurement on a global scale are huge. Satellites can measure the volume of very large lakes, such as for instance Lake Vattern in Sweden or Lake Superior in the United States and Canada, but measuring the tens of millions of small lakes spread across the surface of Earth requires time-consuming field work. A commonly used method is GPS positioning and depth sounder by boat. The researcher is required to row around on the lake until he or she has collected a large number of depths. The depths and coordinates are later used to build bathymetric maps which the volume and mean depth can be derived from. The approach works well for small lakes, but is expensive due to the time-consuming process and only a small number of lakes can be mapped. So far, there have been few estimates of the volume of fresh water in lakes on Earth, and those that exist vary greatly and are typically presented without any data or methods. "We decided to use a theory driven approach. We assumed that the surface of Earth is self-affine. This basically means that if you zoomed in and out of a cross-section of Earth's surface, the statistical characteristics of the vertical topography are predictable based upon a stretching factor," says David Seekell. advertisement The researchers evaluated their model with measured volumes from thousands of lakes from diverse landscapes. The presumptions proved accurate and based upon this model, the researchers were able to deduce a theoretical volume-area relationship. "We were able to use the model to estimate the mean volume of lakes at each given lake surface area, but also for variations in volume of lakes with the same surface area. Given the total lake surface area on Earth -- which can actually be accurately recorded by satellite, even for small lakes -- we were now able to estimate the total volume and assess the uncertainty in the estimate," says David Seekell. The research team assessed that there are 184,000-199,000 km3 of lake water. The reason behind the variation can be explained by how lakes are counted and how their surface area is measured, particularly the smaller ones. The majority of lake water can be found in a few very large lakes such as the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, and Lake Baikal. In fact, about 80 percent of lake water can be found in the 20 largest lakes alone. The quality and quantity of lake water can rapidly change due to human activities. For example, in some regions many ponds and reservoirs have been built for ornamental purposes, for irrigation, to generate electricity, or to store drinking water, which increasing the volume of fresh water. On the other hand, some large lakes have dried up and disappeared. For example, Lake Poopo in Bolivia previously had a surface area of about 3,000 km2 and was one of the largest lakes in Bolivia. Due to climate change and water diversions for agricultural production, there is almost no water left, which greatly affects local communities. A very similar story can be told about the Aral Sea -- once the fourth largest lake on Earth -- where climate change and water diversions for agriculture have left only a tiny fraction of its former surface. It is not only quantity that is of great concern at the moment. The water quality of the largest lakes on Earth are subject to degradation due to human activities. For example, Lake Erie in the United States and Canada with a surface area of about 25,667 km2 has been exposed to nutrient pollution and harmful algae blooms. This has rendered the lake an unreliable source for drinking water for communities along the shoreline. As a consequence, over 400,000 people even lost access to drinking water due to neurotoxins in the lake water associated with algae bloom in 2014. "Our study emphasizes the relative scarcity of lake water, and how rapidly human activities can change the quality and quantity of water resources," says David Seekell. A wild-born, pure Australian desert dingo called Sandy Maliki has taken out first place in the World's Most Interesting Genome competition. The UNSW-led proposal to have Sandy's DNA decoded was one of five finalists for the Pacific Biosciences SMRT Grant, which provides cutting-edge sequencing of the complete genome of a particularly fascinating plant or animal. The public determined the winner, with two-year old Sandy securing 41 per cent of the international community votes, closely followed by a Temple Pitviper snake, then a solar-powered sea slug, an explosive bombardier beetle, and a pink pigeon. "We are thrilled that our bid to have Sandy's DNA sequenced captured the public's imagination," says project leader, Professor Bill Ballard of the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. "Sandy is truly a gift to science. As a rare, wild-born pure dingo, she provides a unique case study. Pure dingoes are intermediate between wild wolves and domestic dogs, with a range of non-domesticated traits. So sequencing Sandy's genome will help pinpoint some of the genes for temperament and behaviour that underlie the transition from wild animals to perfect pets. "As well, learning more about dingo genetics will help efforts to conserve these wonderful Australian animals, through the development of improved tests for dingo purity," Professor Ballard says. Sandy and her sister and brother were discovered as three-week old pups in the Australian desert near the Strzelecki Track in 2014 by NSW animal lovers, Barry and Lyn Eggleton, who have hand-reared them ever since. The pups were close to death and their parents could not be found. advertisement The dingo sequencing project will be the first to test Charles' Darwin's 1868 theory that the process of domestication can be divided into two steps: unconscious selection as a result of non-intentional human influences; and artificial selection as a result of breeding by humans for desired traits. "This project will reveal the DNA changes between wolves and dingoes (unconscious selection) and dingoes and dogs (artificial selection)," says Professor Ballard. A key aim of the annual international PacBio competition, which attracted more than 200 entries this year, is to raise public awareness of science and how genomic research can benefit society. Sandy's team, which set up a DancingwithDingoes Facebook page, enlisted the support of a wide variety of people around the world, including animal conservationists and fans of wolves, dingoes and dogs. "We also engaged with staff and students at UNSW, by bringing two pure alpine dingoes from the Bargo Dingo Sanctuary onto campus for everyone to meet," says Professor Ballard. The cutting edge PacBio technology allows DNA to be sequenced in long sections containing tens of thousands of bases, rather than in shorter sections of a few hundred bases, as with existing techniques. This can reveal important rearrangements in the genome that affect gene expression. advertisement The sequencing will be carried out at the University of Arizona, with initial analysis by Computomics in Germany. The Australian team behind the Sandy project also includes Professor Claire Wade of the University of Sydney, Dr Richard Melvin of UNSW, Dr Robert Zammit of the Vineyard Veterinary Hospital and Dr Andre Minoche of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. UNSW has a strong reputation in genomics research, with scientists at the university's Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics having worked on the genomes of a variety of other important native creatures, including the koala, the Tasmanian devil, the wombat, the platypus, the Queensland fruit fly and the Wollemi Pine. "We're very proud of UNSW's history of contribution to genomics and we are delighted that Sandy's genome will now be sequenced as the prize for winning this competition," says UNSW molecular biologist and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Merlin Crossley. "Australia has so many interesting animals to sequence and the results enhance our understanding of evolution and biology and help improve agriculture and pest management." For more information about Sandy Maliki and her siblings, Eggie Warrigal and Didi Mirigung, see their Pure Dingo Facebook page. Dingoes were introduced to Australia about 5000 years ago. It is widely accepted they were not domesticated by Indigenous Australians. Pure dingoes are becoming increasingly rare as the native animals interbreed with wild dogs and domestic dogs, and are targeted as pests by landowners. See Video of Sandy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4cauEamnTA In early 2017 Burma ordered $40 million worth of the new Indian made Shyena lightweight anti-submarine torpedo. This is the first export sale and the Indian Navy has apparently only received a few dozen of them. For India Shyena replaces the Italian A244S, a 254 kg (559 pound) model widely used (by 16 nations) since the early 1980s model. These smaller torpedoes are used mainly for anti-submarine warfare and are usually fired from helicopters, naval patrol aircraft or warships. India bought 450 of the A244S but obtained a license to manufacture their version (called NST58) in India and because of that was able to develop local suppliers for nearly all the components. Shyena was supposed to be an improved A244S but apparently was that in name only and not as capable as the latest MK 3 version of the A244S, which has a longer range (13.5 kilometers compared to six kilometers) and a much more effective sensor and guidance system. In 2012, after two decades of development, India put Shyena into production and at least 25 were delivered to the Indian Navy for use on helicopters. Meanwhile in 2011 India ordered 32 American Mk54 lightweight anti-submarine torpedoes to equip their eight new P-8I anti-submarine aircraft. The existing P-3 aircraft (which the P-8 is replacing) usually carries eight torpedoes. The Mk54 is, like Shyena, a 324mm (12.75 inch) weapon, weighing about 340 kg (750 pounds) and with a warhead containing 45 kg (100 pounds) of explosives. Its guidance system has been designed to work well in shallow coastal waters. In addition, the U.S. Navy has two glide kits for air-launched anti-submarine torpedoes like the Mk54. Putting wings on torpedoes is all about U.S. Navy concern about the growing use of anti-aircraft missiles by submarines. To deal with that problem, it sought to equip some Mk54 torpedoes that are normally dropped into the water at a low altitude, by P-3 patrol aircraft, with an add-on glide kit. These systems consist of wings, control flaps, a flight control computer, battery and GPS for navigation. The kit allows a torpedo to be released at 6,300 meters (20,000 feet), which is outside the range of submarine launched anti-aircraft missiles, and glide, for 10-15 kilometers, down to about 100 meters (300 feet) altitude, where the glide kit would be jettisoned, and the torpedo would enter the water and seek out the sub. Normally, the P-3 has to descend to under a 330 meters (a thousand feet) to launch an Mk54 torpedo. This takes time, and puts stress on the aircraft. Reducing stress on these larger maritime patrol aircraft was apparently one reason for introducing the glide kit. There apparently not a lot of subs out there equipped with anti-aircraft missile systems. These systems have been around for years, and many are basically shoulder fired type missiles adapted for launch from a water-proof container that is released by a submerged sub. The P-8s are jet powered, and prefer to remain at higher altitudes. There are other reasons for the glide kits. Many subs have sensors that are sensitive enough to detect low flying helicopters (the main target for the subs anti-aircraft missiles) and aircraft. The P-3 is also more effective if it can stay at high altitude all the time. Moreover, the glide kit is easy to build, since it can use items already used for smart bombs (JDAM) and earlier glide kits. The Mk54 lightweight torpedo entered production in 2003 and is a good example of how to handle development of systems like this. Costing about a million dollars each, the Mk54 is a cheaper, and somewhat less capable replacement for the Cold War era high tech Mk50 and the old reliable Mk46. The Mk54 is a more cost effective alternative to the three million dollar Mk50, which was in development for over two decades. The Mk50 was difficult to build because it was meant to be a "smart" torpedo that was light enough to be carried by helicopters, and could go deep to kill Russian nuclear subs. But when the Mk50 finally became available in the late 90s, the typical target was a quieter diesel-electric sub in shallow coastal waters. So the Mk54 was developed, using cheaper, off-the-shelf, electronic components, some technology from the Mk50 and larger Mk48, as well as the simpler, but not deep diving, frame and propulsion systems of the older Mk46 lightweight torpedo. Thus the 3.25 meter (ten foot) long Mk54 is a bit of a hybrid, created to save money, and also be more capable against quieter subs operating in shallower water. The Mk54 has a range of about ten kilometers and a top speed of about 72 kilometers an hour. It has a built in sonar that can search for the target sub, as well as acoustic sensors (listening devices to pick up any sounds a sub might make). The Mk54 also has an onboard computer and a data file of underwater noises and search tactics, which are used as it tries to find its target, and keep after it until it can hit the sub and destroy it with the explosives in the warhead. In the last 40 years, some 25,000 of the older Mk 46 torpedoes were made, and at least a few thousand Mk54s have been manufactured. Mk50s are kept in inventory to deal with the few hostile nuclear subs that are still out there, although the Mk54 also has a capability of going deep, just not as deep as the more expensive Mk50. There is still a market for lightweight torpedoes that are produced in smaller quantities. A few thousand built and sold over a decade or so is economically viable. This was the case with the A244S and similar models from European nations. China also developed its own lightweight torpedo based on some A244S ones it bought. In addition to selling the torpedoes the manufacturer makes a lot of money selling upgrades, customer modifications and maintenance and repair services. Most of these torpedoes are never used as intended and eventually retired when they are so old they are unreliable and not worth refurbishing. In light of all this India will have a difficult time establishing Shyena as a economically and militarily worthwhile effort. The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army agree they may have finally found a caseless ammunition design that will work reliably in combat and be much (37 percent) lighter than conventional 5.56mm ammo. Caseless ammo is not a new concept but you need the right materials and right design to make it work. Its all a matter of getting the right tech and the right design. Back in the 1980s the German firm Dynamit Nobel developed a 4.73mm round that weighed much less than the existing 5.56mm rounds but was similar in effectiveness. The new (at the time) G11 assault rifle was designed to fire the caseless 4.73mm round. A G11, along with 510 rounds, weighed the same (7.36 kg/16.2 pounds) as an M-16 with 240 rounds (eight, 30 round magazines.) The West German army tested the G11 extensively in the late 1980s and was considering adopting it and its caseless ammo to replace its 7.62mm assault rifles. But then the Cold War ended, Germany was united, and the decision was made to go with the cheaper G36 5.56mm weapon. The caseless ammo was also more expensive than the conventional 5.56mm stuff, and there were still concerns about reliability, even after years of testing. Not much work was done on this caseless ammo in the 1990s but after 2001 American firms began working on upgrading and improving the Dynamit Nobel tech and field testing has shown that the new polymer case design is safe and reliable. But the new caseless design has to survive combat testing and the military has yet to decide on when and where to carry that out. Meanwhile the U.S. Army completed development of a new LSAT (Lightweight Small Arms Technology) 5.56mm machine-gun in 2012. But this new machine-gun was tested using two types of lightweight ammo and it wasnt until now that one of those lightweight ammo designs reached the point where it was ready for combat testing. The LSAT machine-gun weighs 4.27 kg (9.4 pounds) compared to 8 kg for the current M249. Moreover, the ammo for the new machine-gun is 37 percent lighter as well. Thus the new machine-gun, with 1,000 rounds of ammo, weighs 13.9 kg (30.6 pounds), which is 40 percent less than an M249 with a thousand rounds. Moreover, the new ammo takes up twelve percent less space. Developers are working on caseless 5.56mm ammo that will take up 40 percent less space. The U.S. Army came up with a radical new machine-gun design in 2006, mainly to save weight. The U.S. Army is really making an effort to reduce the load the infantry have to carry into combat. In both Iraq and Afghanistan infantry did most of the fighting, and the troops are using the Internet to hammer the brass and politicians about the excessive loads they have to carry. In the beginning the army called together some of its small arms manufacturers, gave them some money, and told them to come up with a much lighter 5.56mm light machine-gun. In effect, replace the M249 with the LSAT. Start from scratch the weapons wonks were told. The only constant were the caliber of the weapon (5.56mm) and the troop handling of the LSAT should be roughly the same as the M249. The goal was to greatly reduce the 17.41 kg (38.3 pounds) the M249, and 600 rounds of ammo, weighs. This is what a machine-gun armed soldier usually has to carry into combat. Starting in 2008 the LSAT was developed, built, and tested. LSAT passed its first field tests in 2012 which involved having eight prototypes firing 25,000 rounds over three weeks. At that point everyone agreed that it works. More testing was required to ensure ruggedness and reliability. That took five years, about twice as long as expected. The LSAT actually comes in two versions. One uses ammo using a non-metal, telescoped case, and the other uses caseless ammo. The telescoped ammo is ready for use now while the caseless stuff was still in development. Both LSAT weapons feature a revolutionary ammo feed that employs a pivot, rather than a bolt, to load the ammo into the chamber. This design propels the case out the front of the weapon. Naturally the caseless ammo has no case to eject. The use of the pivot reduces overheating problems, which are more of a hassle with the plastic case of non-metal telescoped cartridge prototype (which is a straight case, like a pistol, not a bottleneck case more common with high powered rifles). The caseless round is the ideal solution but this design is more difficult to manufacture. Caseless rounds have been developed before but were found to be more expensive and more vulnerable to rough handling. The original LSAT expectation was that if the caseless round were used, the LSAT and 600 rounds would be 9 kg (19.9 pounds) lighter than the current M249 and its ammo. The new plastic case and the LSAT is 6.8 kg (15 pounds) less than the M249. In early 2012 eight LSAT machine-guns and 100,000 rounds of the telescoped ammo were delivered for army troops to actually use and passed field tests. At this point it became possible to use the same technology for a new assault rifle. While LSAT passed muster with the troops and the realities of use in a combat zone by 2012 most of the fighting was over. The new machine-gun will be much appreciated by infantry operating in Afghanistan, where the machine-gunner is often lugging his weapon and all that ammo up steep hills. But back home there was less enthusiasm, and money, for a new generation of assault rifle and light machine-gun. Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, one of Flagstaffs first public charter schools, is celebrating 20 years of opening their doors and expanding the minds of local students. The school is holding a fundraiser extravaganza to celebrate the occasion, from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight at the Coconino Center for the Arts. Tickets for the event are $25. The school has come a long way from the four trailers and a handful of staff/teachers. The school was founded by Karen Butterfield in 1996, said Janeece Henes, the art educator and service coordinator at FALA. Butterfield was a teacher at Flagstaff Unified School District and was named teacher of the year in 1993, she said. When FUSDs governing board announced cuts to the districts arts programs in the mid-1990s, Butterfield protested. When the cuts came down, Butterfield created FALA with the help of others to make sure that high school students who were interested in the arts had a school that featured them. According to its website, FALAs courses are designed to prepare students for college. Besides the regular core middle school and high school courses that are required at all Arizona schools, FALA students also have to take at least one course each in theater, dance, art and music. High school students also have to participate in the schools service learning program. The service learning program requires students to have at least 30 hours of volunteer work in the community, at the school and participate in projects that improve the community. And students have to take part in the schools weekly advisory program, which helps students mentor other students, set goals, create portfolios and track their growth. At first, the school was renting four trailers on property owned by the Museum of Northern Arizona, Henes said. The museum graciously allowed the school to use the museum an extension of the school to teach the students, Henes said. Things happened so fast that when we opened the doors that first day we didnt even have desks, said teacher Mike Levin. Teachers doubled as administrators and administrators doubled as teachers, said Henes, who started at the school in 1998. The school was so small that everyone hung out with each other, she said. Geeks hung out with goths, teachers hung out with students and administrators hung out with teachers. It created a cohesive atmosphere where despite differences in opinion, dress and art preferences, everyone felt as if they were accepted here. In 2010, the school moved to its present location on North Fort Valley Road and expanded to include middle school students. Levin and Henes said the school has been a joy to work for as well. Even though the students are required to take and pass the AzMerit test, teachers have great latitude on how and what to teach the students. This has always been a place of love, Henes said. Even as the school has changed and evolved, the founding principles have stayed the same. NEW YORK-The city so nice they named it twice. Most cars here seem to be hybrid taxis. Next up, hybrid police cars. Third (by observation, not necessarily scientific research), the biggest, baddest SUVs imaginable. All getting approximately zero miles per gallon as they slog through the worst traffic imaginable. A city of contrasts then; what a perfect setting for a car show! Ironically, most carmakers were talking fuel economy, when obviously few New Yorkers care, at least when it comes to vehicles they buy for themselves. But here is what struck our eye. First, a caveat. The New York show has two press days, always the Wednesday and Thursday before Good Friday. Due to our production scheduling constraints, we can only cover the first day for this weeks Wheels section. But with a few exceptions, which well cover next week, most of the big news happened on Wednesday. Such as it was. There werent too many true global novelties here, a common problem for New York since Genevas show was just a few weeks ago One of the few world debuts came courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover. The Range Rover Velar is the third vehicle off the Range Rover platform. Norris McDonald has more on this car and some interviews with the people behind it elsewhere in Wheels today. Subaru showed a concept car called Ascent which will become its biggest SUV in early 2018. We put concept car in quotes because this is very close to the real thing. Ascent is a three-row vehicle, bigger that any existing Subaru, but reminiscent of the ill-fated Tribeca, of which the less said, the better. Subaru hasnt made too many wrong moves since well, since the Tribeca. But big SUVs seem all the rage now, so lets hope for their sake, they have better luck with this one. Still with big SUVs make that massive SUVs New York saw the official debut of the 2018 Lincoln Navigator. This car, oddly enough, was one of the concept car stars of last years show, with its zany and too-cool-to-be-true massive gullwing doors. Sadly, but predictably, they didnt make it to production. The only engine at the moment anyway is a turbo 3.5-litre V6, whose 450 horsepower outdoes archrival Cadillac Escalade. The biggest Lincoln is all about sound the near-absence of it, thanks to active noise cancellation, acoustic glass, and much of the sound-deadening techniques introduced in last years Continental; and the presence of it, via a 20-speaker Revel Utlima audio system. The Conti and now the Navigator indicate that Lincoln, for several years on its back foot, is about to take Cadillac on for supremacy in the American luxury car battlefield. Hyundai announced a concept theres that word again of a fuel-cell-powered SUV for its upscale Genesis brand, dubbed GV80. The car looks more than ready for production, but the guess is it will be launched with the same powertrains as the G80 sedan, a 3.8-litre, 311-horsepower V6 and 420-horsepower, 5.0-litre V8 engines, with optional four-wheel drive. Hyundai has hinted at a production fuel-cell vehicle as early as 2020, and the G80 might well be the first one of its kind. Honda expanded its Clarity range, adding a pure electric model with a range of just 128 kilometres (which, of course, assumes nice, warm weather, no rain, no hills, all the usual issues with battery-powered cars), and a gasoline-electric hybrid which can do considerably better, with up to 67 km of battery range (with the same above caveats) from its electric motor, mated to a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder gasoline engine running under the Atkinson cycle, producing 181 horsepower. This gives the vehicle a total range of 530 km i.e., about half that of my 14-year-old Volkswagen Jetta Diesel. Jes sayin ... The Clarity fuel-cell vehicle is available only in California; a shame, because it is the only one of the three that has any hope of being a significant part of our longer-term future. The electric will be offered in select California and Oregon markets. No restrictions were announced for the hybrid, which suggests it will be available on a wider if-as-yet unannounced basis. No plans were announced for any of these to reach Canada. Jeep resurrected an old tradition of off-the-wall auto show previews (e.g., driving a vehicle through a plate-glass window at Detroit some years ago) by driving the new Trailhawk version of the Grand Cherokee down a flight of stairs. While this vehicle might have to cede ultimate off-roading capability to its Wrangler sibling, it clearly will go places no self-respecting big SUV owner would ever even think about trying to negotiate. But for Jeep, being able to do it is a huge part of the brand image, even if as an owner you may never have to prove it. You might think that a vehicle its maker calls the fastest production car in the world might have been deemed worthy of a press conference of its own at New York. Nope; the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, the subject of a months-long social media campaign, was just sort of there on Press Day. If someone had fired it up, it wouldnt have been there for long. When filled with 100-octane racing fuel, the supercharged 6.2-litre V8 can shove 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet of torque through the rear wheels, flinging the car from rest to 96 km/h in a stunning 2.3 seconds. Launched correctly, this car can even get its front wheels nearly a metre off the ground. Now, what was that about fuel economy? SHARE: NEW YORKIsaac Lieberman loves a good flash crash. Theres nothing nefarious afoot here, to be clear. Its just that at a time when many currency-trading firms dont know what to do when extreme price fluctuations hit, Liebermans brought together a bunch of military and tech gurus to form a firm Aston Capital Management thats designed to thrive at those moments. When others shut down, it gears up. We get very excited about flash events because it gives us data to work with thats very hard to come by, Lieberman said in an interview at Astons office on the 85th floor of New Yorks Freedom Tower. You cant simulate things like this. Violent shifts in the $5.1-trillion-a-day (U.S.) foreign-exchange market have become more common in recent years. New players such as Aston, which began in 2014, have emerged as electronic market makers. They offer to buy and sell currencies to customers even during the hairiest price swings and hope to profit when prices bounce back. Astons techies analyze price patterns and create computerized strategies to predict where markets will move. They also measure the companys performance during the events and adapt its algorithms. A flash crash or an event could be an opportunity for a currency manager who specializes in volatility, said Alison Romano, senior investment officer at Floridas State Board of Administration, which manages the state pension plan. I want my managers to be taking advantage of that. Aston and firms including XTX Markets, Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial are stepping into a gap left by traditional dealers. Stricter regulation enacted since the 2008 financial crisis has prompted some banks to withdraw from the market and cut staff. Thats created a vacuum which makes it more difficult for customers to trade when they want to, at the prices they want to. Newcomers have also disrupted other assets. Citadel Securities, Virtu, Global Trading Systems and IMC Financial Markets have shaken up how stocks are bought and sold in the U.S., overseeing almost all trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange now. And in bonds, JPMorgan Chase & Co. last year agreed to outsource some of its Treasuries business to Virtu. The new era of turbulence began in 2015 when the Swiss National Bank jolted foreign-exchange markets by abandoning its cap on the franc, triggering a rally of about 41 per cent in 20 minutes. Most recently, the euro surged 1.6 per cent over several minutes during Asian trading in December. Before that, in October, the pound slumped about 9 per cent in a matter of seconds, prompting a review by the worlds biggest central banks. The South African rand and New Zealand dollar also took similar roller-coaster rides. Lieberman said Aston traded $500 million in 90 seconds during the pounds plunge. Traders can get wiped out if they take the wrong side of a price move. Liebermans challenge, when he started the firm with his own money after leaving JPMorgan Chase, was to put together a team willing to risk their shirts. Frustrated by competition for engineers and mathematicians in New York, Lieberman said he found a tech whiz through his East Side synagogue. With the help of Roi Klein, an ex-army major from the elite 8200 intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces, he recruited a team in Tel Aviv. Some of Liebermans employees had military or tech experience, but scant knowledge of financial markets. So he said he got a white board and started drawing. One of his first examples was a grid of numbers, or an order book, listing bids and offers that traders use as a sort of shopping list. From there, the company created software to make money when big shocks hit the market. During a flash crash, what we like to understand is when it hits the wall, which is the hardest to find, but the most opportune to trade into, Lieberman said in his three-man office with a view of the Statue of Liberty. At a certain point, it simply stops and prices start to go back to fair value. While many of the ex-army quants who helped build Aston have since moved on, the systems they built are still working. The firm handles an average of $1 billion to $2 billion dollars a day theyre not just a flash-crash shop, of course and it returned more than 22 per cent last year through November, according to a company performance report. Foreign-exchange trading volumes are shrinking, and prices are swinging more wildly, according to a December report by the Bank for International Settlements. Unexpected events such as the pounds flash crash will probably happen again and its hard to predict where and when, said Chris Salmon, executive director for markets at the Bank of England. For many in the market, flash events are a time to play it safe. Dori Levanoni, a partner at First Quadrant, a Pasadena-based hedge fund that manages about $12.6 billion in currency strategies, said that portfolio managers and traders can hit the pause button and wait for better market conditions before placing orders. This is Liebermans cue to spring into action. We try to put together a collage, a story of what happened, he said, so we can understand it. SHARE: Decades of Hollywood movies to the contrary, the United States did not have a monopoly on protest movements in the 1960s and 70s. Social revolutions occur all over the world, sometimes leading to civil unrest, and they happen in the United Kingdom, Germany and even in Canada. This point is driven home in Guerrilla, a six-part miniseries from writer/director/producer John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) debuting Sunday at 9 p.m. on CraveTV. Set in London in 1971, the U.K.-U.S. effort stars Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and British actor Babou Ceesay (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Jas and Marcus, two idealistic young lovers fighting against deep-rooted racism and prejudice. Tired of being held back and bullied simply because of the colour of their skin, they organize a resistance. With the help of a top activist (played by Idris Elba), they set out to liberate a political prisoner. Thats when things get ugly. Unbeknownst to Jas and Marcus, a special branch of Scotland Yard the Black Power Desk has been created with the sole purpose of thwarting the black rights movement. That black lives were systematically targeted by law enforcement officials way back in the early 70s in England came as a shock to Ridley. The American Crime showrunner, who won an Oscar for his 12 Years a Slave screenplay, wrote five of the six Guerrilla episodes. Not that he was a stranger to protest movements. This is something I grew up with, says the 51-year-old Wisconsin native, who remembers hearing and reading about the Black Liberation Army, the Black Panther Party, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They all fascinated him because they have a real emotional velocity to them. As a screenwriter and perhaps, he says, a more mature person, he looks for ways to humanize the people behind the movements. Jas and Marcus are the human face of Guerrilla, a young couple in love and willing to risk everything to effect social change. Ridley first learned of the Black Power Desk while in London four years ago doing post-production on a film about Jimi Hendrix. It was a real education for me personally, he says. Pinto, who was born in Mumbai, India, was also in the dark about unrest in London in the early 70s. The first thing the 32-year-old actress did when she was asked to play Jas was contact relatives who grew up in England at the time this story takes place. Youd be surprised at how little they knew, she says. Ridley sought out witnesses among police and protesters to get caught up on the history behind this story. One of the things he discovered was that there was a cross-pollination of revolutionary ideas going on from America to the United Kingdom, to Germany, Japan and beyond. That included Canada where, throughout the 60s, the separatist movement escalated under the radical Front de liberation du Quebec. The October Crisis of 1970 saw the murder of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte. Then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, suspending civil liberties. Police arrested and detained more than 450 individuals. FLQ leaders were tried and convicted. Five were dispatched to Cuba. Ridley touches on the Canadian unrest in Guerrilla. One character, Eliette (played by German actress Bella Dayne), is French-Canadian. Just as British radicals had been involved in FLQ terrorism, FLQ sympathizers were active in London in 1971. A lot of people there were radicalized, says Ridley. When you put a lot of ideas in a pot and you stir it up and put it on boil, it isnt necessarily something that is easily digestible. Guerrilla, Ridley cautions, is not meant to be some sort of cautionary tale about political divides in America or anywhere else today. Its sometimes very painful to be telling stories that are timeless, but unfortunately are also very timely, he says. The things that I want people to take from this story, and again from the central relationship here, are passions, are consequences, are individuals who are there for each other in every circumstance. Those transcend time. I think those transcend borders. SHARE: Im 53, and have found that public discourse has deteriorated substantially over the course of my life. I inwardly rant, for example, about science-denial and attacks on the LGBTQ community and make my views known to those around me. The problem is Im losing hope. Hope used to be the universal role of religion, but I gave up on imaginary friends when I was four. I have two beautiful daughters and I try not to poison their view of the world. But is there any hope left in this frightening world? Hope is not the same as optimism. And faith does not require imaginary friends. Optimism is a feeling that comes more easily to some personality types than others. Optimistic people are lovely to be around; they believe that, despite the evidence, everything will work out just fine, thank you. They festoon Facebook with slogans like, Things will be OK in the end, and if they arent OK right now, that means the end hasnt come. They send greeting cards proclaiming, God never sends us more than we can handle. I can only speculate but it must be lovely to be an optimist. Hope is radically different. Hope starts by acknowledging that evil is powerful. You claim that hope is the universal role of religion; if so, on this weekend in the middle of Jewish Passover and Christian celebration of Easter, its worth remembering that Jewish hope is born out of enslavement, while Christian hope grows out of the torture of an innocent. Hope knows enough not to embrace the lovely, but foolish, notion that everything will work out. And hope is not a feeling; its a decision. Acknowledging the worlds ugliness, hope chooses to move intentionally towards the beautiful and the good, and to help others do so. Optimism, like naive liberalism, believes the world will just, somehow, get better. Hope knows that the world is very, very sick, and makes the active decision to work, long and hard, despite the odds, towards reconciliation and healing. Is there any hope left in the world? Indeed there is. Hope lives when RCMP officers reach across the American border to help frightened migrants find safety in this country. Hope breathes when tiny, rural communities raise money to provide homes for Syrian refugees and raise hell with the Canadian government when the arrival of those troubled families is painfully slow. Hope thrives when Torontonians spend their weekends staffing soup kitchens, clothing depots, flop houses. Hope dances when volunteers read stories to dying children at Sick Kids, or sit by the bedside of terminal patients in hospice. Hope marches in pussy hats, sings protest songs, writes cheques and walks for miles. Hope looks forward when a Muslim girl marries a Jewish boy and they send their kids to a daycare housed in a Christian church. And so it goes. Hope requires neither a cheery outlook nor imaginary friends. It requires only the courage to make ethical decisions in an unethical time the courage to be kind, to be generous, to be faithful, to be loving. In a world that too often says no to life, hope is the decision to say yes, dammit, yes and then to live accordingly. Send your questions to star.ethics@yahoo.ca SHARE: The notion chocolate should be subject to the same sniffy connoisseurship as wine with its flights, pairings and tastings is not normally the kind of lifestyle trend I want to jump on. Even though I certainly love to eat good food and drink great wine, it seems silly to make such a big deal out of the terroir or origin of such kitchen pantry basics as water, flour and salt. And isnt it funny the most humble, commonplace elements are always the ones elevated to haute gastronomic experience? Sometimes living in the 21st century feels like a test in sheer absurdity we have collectively failed. In Francois Pralus, however, I have met my Waterloo. After sampling this pretty, striped mini-trunk of 50-gram chocolates from the French maitre chocolatier, I give up any objection to such preciousness. Thanks to Pralus little library of pure origin chocolates derived from beans from the worlds 10 greatest vintages (Papua, Indonesia, Sao Tome, Trinidad, Venezuela, Tanzania, Ghana, Madagascar, Colombia and Ecuador) each wrapped in its own little country-coded slip of foil I am now fully convinced the idea of terroir does indeed apply to chocolate. And that a really good chocolate really is a gastronomic experience worthy of a tasting. Says Pralus on his similarly striped website: You can talk about cocoa vintages just as you can for great wines. The Venezuela grade-up has a slight smoky taste, the Trinitario grade-up is woody, powerful and slightly sharp. Madagascar cocoa is fine and acidic and tastes of red fruit. Whats more, Pralus chocolates are seriously artisanal. Unlike at your run-of-the-mill Hersheys or even Lindt plants, Pralus claims to do everything himself, from sourcing the finest dried beans from the very best cocoa plantations all over the world including his very own plantation in Madagascar to brewing infusions of pure source beans in order to draw out their essence before mixing them into chocolate. And because each of the tiny bars contains 75 per cent pure chocolate mixed with the same amount of sugar and cocoa butter, you really can compare what chocolate from Indonesia tastes like versus chocolate from Trinidad or Venezuela. Plus, since each one is such a tiny soupcon of chocolate, you dont feel the slightest bit guilty while doing so. The whole package is so fetching and such fun, its like a little game that you get to eat. Which makes it possibly the most fantastic hostess gift, or the best dessert treat to break out at the conclusion of a dinner party. Given that its Easter, however, you really dont really need any other occasion or excuse to conduct your own at-home tasting. So convinced am I, my new spring health regime is to stick with Pralus and forgo all other sweets altogether. (Francois Pralus Napolitains mix, $21.99, summerhillmarket.com) SHARE: This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family are again the focus of a major international magazine. Trudeau, his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and their son Xavier grace the cover of the latest international edition of Paris Match. The Saturday edition has a six-page photo spread within, and documents the familys recent trip to France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. More than 10,000 Canadian troops were killed or injured in the battle, when four Canadian divisions, attacking together for the first time, successfully captured the ridge from the Germans during the First World War. The magazine photos captured the Trudeaus visiting the Vimy memorial and Juno Beach, the Canadian landing point on D-Day during the Second World War. Paris Match is a French news magazine with a weekly circulation of nearly 600,000. While the Trudeau family does not appear on the cover of the version sold in France, the photos are included within the magazine. By now the Trudeaus are used to appearing in international publications. Paris Match covered Trudeaus electoral victory in October 2015. The prime minister and his wife were also photographed for a Vogue magazine article in December 2015. Read more about: SHARE: It was a human experiment on an unprecedented scale. Its target: 10,000 Ontario miners. Its tool: a mysterious black powder they were forced to inhale in a sealed room before plunging underground to work. From 1943 to roughly 1980, an aluminum-based prophylaxis called McIntyre Powder was sold as an apparent miracle antidote to lung disease. It was designed, historical documents suggest, by industry-sponsored Canadian scientists bent on slashing compensation costs in gold and uranium mines across the north. The problem: experts say aluminum is now known to be neurotoxic if significant doses get into the blood. And victims families say those exposed to Canadas miracle McIntyre dust might be paying a devastating price. Janice Martell has pulled together hundreds of pages of research on the experiment after her miner father, Jim Hobbs, was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease in 2001. Small pieces of him get taken away every day. Its hard to watch, says Martell, who works as a counselor in Elliot Lake. I just felt so helpless. After a year of outreach, she says she has been contacted by 368 former miners across the province exposed to the powder. Around one third, she says, are living with a neurological disorder. Ten, or roughly 3 per cent, developed Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative and incurable condition that slow kills the ability to swallow, speak and breathe. In Ontario, the prevalence of motor neuron disease which includes ALS is estimated at less than one in a thousand people. Because they are not based on a random sample, Martells numbers dont necessarily prove that miners exposed to McIntyre Powder are more likely to suffer from neurological conditions. But they are concerning enough to prompt McMaster University to start studying survivors. According to the provinces workers compensation board, there is no consistent evidence linking aluminum exposure to neurological disease a policy formed in 1993 and only now coming under expert review. For the time being, it is impossible for potential victims to make a successful claim. The board says it relies on the best scientific evidence available and recognizes scientific advances can have an impact on decisions. We understand when a loved one becomes ill we want to know why, says Christine Arnott, spokesperson for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. A report on the aluminum policy is expected back this spring. For many miners, that will be too late. Something registered with me that this is not right, says Ed Graham, who was exposed to the powder when he started mining in Timmins 58 years ago, aged 17. A lot of the fellas I knew, a lot of them passed away a long time (ago). It was around 2007 when Dr. Christopher Exley, an expert on the toxic effects of aluminum and a professor at Keele University in the United Kingdom, heard a knock on his door. Outside stood an elderly man clutching a small canister. As a young worker, he was blasted with its contents as part of a trial conducted in Englands southwestern tin mines. The faded yellow tin of McIntyre Powder still sits on Exleys shelf. The label reads, Made in Canada. According to Martells extensive research based on records at the Archives of Ontario, the product was developed in the 1940s by the McIntyre Research Foundation, which ceased operations in 1992. The groups founding directors included staff doctors and executives from the now-abandoned McIntyre-Porcupine Mines in Timmins. The result was an aluminum powder which, when tested first on guinea pigs and rabbits, then on humans was believed to dramatically reduce their likelihood of developing silicosis, a fibrosis of the lungs caused by the high content of carcinogenic silica in gold and uranium mines. A 1942 letter from a doctor researching silicosis in Timmins to the McIntyre mines warns of the grave potential liability of the disease, and said aluminum gives promise of saving the industry large sums of money that otherwise would be expended in compensation. In 1979, the Star profiled miners being dosed with danger dust. By that time, 190 million individual powder treatments had reportedly been administered, and researchers from South Africa, Sweden and the U.K. had raised the alarm. The article quoted the McIntyre Research Foundation as saying the powders beneficial qualities, as proven by animal experimentation, were now universally accepted. Proper ventilation and dust control would have done more to protect workers lungs, Martell says but were more costly. Graham, now 75 and a resident of Red Lake, some 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, remembers the McIntyre drill well. He would take off his street clothes, and enter the mine dry where his work clothes hung. Without warning, he says, the doors would close. The ventilation would shut down, and the room would fill with black powder. The McIntyre Research Foundation described the discharge as terrifying, and suggested the powder be dispersed before workers arrived. Graham doesnt remember being scared. But he does remember being unsettled. I remember I used to keep a rag on my hook and Id try to tie it over my mouth and nose when they sprayed. They told me not to do that, he recalls. Graham is now being treated for a spot on his lung; Martell says researchers knew as early as 1937 that breathing in aluminum powder without ventilation could damage the lung structure. But as for neurological effects, no biopsies of test animals exposed to aluminum dust were conducted until at least the late 1980s. Since then, the evidence has mounted. In the U.K., Exley has spent decades studying a complex and nuanced question in science: whether higher than normal levels of aluminum in the brain connect in some way to Alzheimers disease. My position now, and bearing in mind that Ive been working on this subject for nearly 30 years, my decision now is that it more or less certainly does, he told the Star. When asked about the Workplace Safety and Insurance Boards policy, which says there is not enough evidence linking aluminum to neurological disorders, he has a simple question. How can that be? Recently, while attending a conference on aluminum organized by Exleys Keele University, Martell watched a researcher demonstrate the effects of aluminum exposure. The substance was introduced into the system of a rat searching for food. It quickly became confused, disoriented and incontinent. Martell began to cry. It was the first time in my life I ever felt empathy for a rat, she says. I wanted the rat to find that food. I thought, just keep trying. Because I watched my dad have those same struggles. For decades, miners in Ontario were subject to mandatory annual chest X-rays administered by the workers compensation board. But although they might be the single largest sample size of humans forced to regularly breathe in aluminum dust, there has so far been no research on whether their exposure could be linked to neurological disorders. That could now change. A technique called neutron activation analysis offers a solution to previously invasive ways of testing aluminum levels in the body, measuring them quickly and painlessly through a low dose of radiation to the hand. The lab specializing in the procedure is based at Hamiltons McMaster University, and is currently the only one of its kind in the world. I think we were a little aghast at the idea of people sitting in a room inhaling dust, says Fiona McNeill, McMasters director of radiation sciences. If we can help find out whether there are health effects as a consequence of that, we are willing to do it. Although McNeill says there is well-established research showing aluminum is neurotoxic if it reaches the bloodstream, the unanswered question is how much of the dust inhaled by miners ended up there. Thats where the science needs to be nailed down, she says. The universitys labour studies program has played an active role in connecting victims of occupational disease across the province, including former employees of General Electric Peterborough whose story was the subject of a Star investigation last year. But lack of funding, experts say, is a chronic struggle. McNeill says there is no money to conduct studies on miners exposed to aluminum dust, but the faculty believes so strongly in the research project it has decided to self-fund. Its the only way to start unravelling whether workers who breathed in McIntyre Powder may have been at higher risk of neurological disease. In March, the head of Ontarios United Steelworkers union, Marty Warren, petitioned the provinces Ministry of Labour to dedicate more money to the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) to enable rapid and sustained response to the plight of former GE Peterborough employees and miners exposed to McIntyre Powder. This was human experimentation at its worst on thousands of unwilling subjects, the letter says. It is vital that OHCOW have the funding to devote a dedicated team to its further investigations. Ministry of Labour spokesperson Janet Deline told the Star that discussions on resources and funding were currently ongoing with our partners. It is unclear what the size and scale of that funding will be. OHCOW is a critically important partner in Ontarios occupational health and safety system with its unique role as a labour-based organization delivering specialized clinical and other services to Ontario workers, Deline said in an emailed statement. Growing up with a miner as a father, Martell knows them as tough workers of few words. There is pride in the wealth they built for the province. But there is anger, too. I felt mad, says Graham of his experience. A sick feeling, that we were used like guinea pigs. I just didnt like it. But without research and a change in policy at the WSIB Martell says miners exposed to McIntyre Powder will never have a chance at justice. Its like talking to soldiers. Theyve gone to somewhere and experienced something that the rest of us in society gratefully do not know about, she says. There is zero faith in the system. Workers exposed to McIntyre Powder can call 1-800-461-7120 for more information SHARE: As per the casualty numbers thus far provided by Afghanistans defense ministry, the cost of taking 36 ISIS militants off the grid on Thursday blowing their lungs out of their mouths, as described by one expert stands at $444,444 per kill. Ive no pity for the death cult of Daesh (also known as Islamic State or ISIS), but this strikes me as stupidly wasteful from a cost-benefit analysis. The Hindenburg of bombs dropped over a tunnel complex in a remote mountainous region of Nangarhar Province also took out three large reinforced caves. Essentially this was a replay although contained to one day and one mother of ordnance, rather than 11 days and multiple strikes of the late December, 2001, assault on Tora Bora, which reconfigured the landscape, yet failed to kill Osama bin Laden, who escaped to the lawless tribal frontier of Pakistan. So, more than 15 years later, were back to where we were in the very early phase of the post-9/11 war on terror, albeit with a much more widely dispersed enemy straddling at least three countries in the region, as conventional fighting formations, with franchises, in cells small and large, across Asia, the Horn of Africa, Europe and even the Americas, if all it takes to cause havoc is one inspired acolyte. That first-use GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, a/k/a the mother of all bombs, had a price tag of $16 million U.S. and a Pentagon development bill of $314 million. The generals say pshaw to that. Its operational military purpose, in this event, is baffling. The 22,000-pound monster the largest non-nuclear ordnance in the American arsenal (although the Russians have apparently tested a bigger one) explodes just above the ground with massive force, sending a pressure crunch across a vast blast radius. It spews no fragmentation, but will turn bodies anywhere in the vicinity inside-out. Really, theres no underestimating the lethal imagination of weapons contractors. Nor is the MOAB the most effective bunker-busting munitions, as other bombs penetrate deep into the ground, capable of scything through metres of concrete before exploding. So, to what end was it deployed, when according to American military authorities the Islamic States fighters in Afghanistan had already been reduced from an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 spread across 11 districts a year ago to about 800 in three districts before hell was unleashed this week? (The attrition was attributable to the intense U.S. air campaign mostly B-52 strikes, as many as 10 a day in the first two weeks of this month, according to The New York Times that has been targeting jihadists in Afghanistan.) If the intent was to put the fear of God in Daesh and weaken its resolve, theres no evidence theyll turn tail and run. They live to die. Helping them along only ratchets up their martyrdom bona fides. And the kill-count is puny. (A spokesperson for Nangarhars governor yesterday pegged the number of militants vaporized at 82.) No civilians were hurt. Afghan commandos, according to several reports, had been given notice that the MOAB was coming and pulled about two miles back from the drop point. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been talking out of both sides of his mouth for years. But his outrage over Thursdays attack is not without merit. This is not a war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons, he wrote on Twitter. It is on us, Afghans, to stop the U.S.A. President Donald Trump promised a more aggressive war against jihadists. His administration hasnt enumerated the ways and means. While Trump authorized without the approval of Congress (amidst heated debate over whether he requires it, as his immediate White House predecessors also acted unilaterally) last weeks Tomahawk strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation for the regimes apparent chemical attack against civilians, Trump had, as of Friday, not said whether he personally approved of Thursdays bombing mission. We do know this president has extended greater authority to military commanders for military decisions. Im unsure which is more alarming: leaving it to the generals or to Trump. In recent weeks, sloppy strikes have killed civilians in Yemen and coalition allies in northern Syria and Mosul. It appears dumping the MOAB on war-ravaged Afghanistan had precious little to do with degrading Daesh, and was more a concussive message to North Korea, as that deranged regime girds up for another nuclear test, possibly Saturday. Pyongyang is intent on building up its nuclear weapons stock. Its believed to have about 20 nuclear devices in its silos, adding half a dozen yearly, although not yet capable of fitting a nuke into the nose cone of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. With the American aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson U.S. and its strike group (90 aircraft, 300 Tomahawk cruise missiles) making 30-knot progress towards waters off the Korean Peninsula as a bristling show of strength, the potential for catastrophe, intended or not, escalates. For the first time since the Cold War, probably never so much as the Cuban Missile Crisis, nuclear war is, at least, conceivable. We are dealing with two seriously un-hinged leaders here: Trump and Kim Jong-Un. The who-blinks-first confrontation has ominous written all over it. Expecting China to exert sane influence over North Korea seems the stuff of gossamer hopes. I dont expect Trump to reveal his hand. I do expect him to say something to the American public, to the world, which might instill a bit of confidence that he has a clue what hes doing. Yesterday, Pyongyang threatened a merciless response to any US provocation, asserting the country is ready to go to war, if thats what Trump is bucking for. In a statement provided to CNN, North Korean officials made a chilling vow that the current grim situation justified a self-defensive and pre-emptive strike capabilities with the nuclear force at the core. My God. Read more about: SHARE: Halton Regional Police have arrested and charged three men with weapons and drug offences after executing a search warrant in Oakville early Friday morning. Police raided a property on Dundas St. W., in Oakville and seized a number of illegal weapons including one .44 magnum revolver, a .22 revolver, a 12 gauge shotgun, a .22 semi-automatic rifle, two silencers, two Tasers, ammunition, Canadian currency, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana. The value of the drugs seized is about $60,000, police said in a press release Friday afternoon. The Oakville SPCA removed 16 dogs from the property after police discovered a dog breeding centre there. The release said they will continue to investigate the incident. Daanish Butt, 24, of Milton, Gurpreet Singh, 23, of Milton, and a 17-year-old male from Mississauga were charged with numerous weapons and drug offences. The three are awaiting a bail hearing in Hamilton court. Correction April 17, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to a .22 semi-automatic revolver. Read more about: SHARE: A recent sexual assault case in Brantford has made clear that the defence cannot succeed in having a case tossed due to unreasonable delay if they themselves have caused much of it. In the wake of a landmark 2016 Supreme Court of Canada case, R v. Jordan, in which the top court set strict timelines to bring an accused person to trial, experts have said that one of the biggest misunderstandings from the public about the ruling is that defence lawyers will prolong a case until reaching the time limit and then request that it be stayed. If people believe that the Jordan case allows defence counsel to be creative and create delays in order to get a stay of proceedings, then that's a misconception, said University of Ottawa law professor Sebastien Grammond, speaking generally. In the case of R.V., a man convicted of sexually assaulting his cousin when their families were camping together for the Canada Day long weekend, Ontario Court Judge Robert Gee dismissed the defence application last month to stay the charge due to unreasonable delay. R.V. was sentenced to four years in prison, but released on bail pending his appeal. He was identified only by his initials to protect the identity of the victim. When one looks at this case in its entirety, it becomes clear that any delay that might otherwise look at first blush to be well beyond constitutionally permitted parameters, resulted from decisions made by Mr. V and his legal team, or due to other exceptional circumstances related to the defence, Gee wrote in his 14-page ruling. (There is no indication in Gees ruling that the delay caused by the defence was a deliberate attempt at prolonging the case.) R.V.s Toronto-based lawyer, Allan Lobel, declined to comment, other than to say he regrets that he cant respond to the ruling and others related to the case as they are under appeal. In the Jordan ruling, a five-judge majority of the Supreme Court said if a case in provincial court takes longer than 18 months between the persons arrest and the anticipated end of their trial, then it should be stayed unless the Crown can prove there are exceptional circumstances. But the court made clear that delay caused by the defence must first be deducted from the overall delay to determine if the case has gone over 18 months. Defence delay comprises delays waived by the defence, and delays caused solely or directly by the defences conduct, the majority wrote in Jordan. Defence actions legitimately taken to respond to the charges do not constitute defence delay. In the Brantford sexual assault case, Gee found that the overall delay in the case was 40 months more than twice the limit set by the Supreme Court. But he found that 19 months was attributed to defence delay and a further seven months attributed to exceptional circumstances the death of the accused mans father and Lobel being ill. After those deductions, the delay was determined to be 14 months, therefore not violating R.V.s right to a trial in a reasonable time enshrined in section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Among the causes of defence delay listed by Gee: The decision on the first day of R.V.s preliminary inquiry in August 2014 to re-elect the mode of trial and keep the case in provincial court. This meant that the dates for the preliminary inquiry had to be set aside and the case put over to May 2015 for pretrial applications. Not having complete materials when arguing before a different judge on whether the defence was required to file an affidavit from the accused in what is known as a section 276 application, where a judge decides if the defence can cross-examine the complainant on prior sexual history. There is no requirement for an affidavit in the Criminal Code and the defence argued one was not needed for this case, but the judge noted that the Supreme Court has said one is necessary for such an application. Specifically requesting that sentencing for R.V., who was found guilty in October 2016, be scheduled for after Christmas. But 10 days before the Jan. 30, 2017, sentencing, the defence filed its application to have the case tossed due to unreasonable delay. Jan. 30 was instead used to argue the delay application, with sentencing postponed to March 22. Not only did the defence not give any indication of a concern for Mr. V.s s.11(b) rights until Jan. 20, 2017, the defence in fact asked for the accused to be accommodated with a date for sentencing after Christmas, Gee wrote. Had there been any indication from the defence that Mr. Vs rights were in jeopardy, discussions would have ensued about shorter reserve time for judgment, stand down pre-sentence reports instead of standard ones, and the request for accommodation for sentencing to take place after Christmas likely would have been viewed in a much different light. SHARE: Judges in Newmarket have regularly had to remind justice of the peace Adele Romagnoli how to apply the law. But getting Her Worship to follow their rulings appears to be a problem. The longtime jurist is now facing a public discipline hearing over whether she committed judicial misconduct for, among other things, ignoring principles in judgments that overturned her decisions and instead doing her own thing from up on the bench. Romagnoli, who was appointed in 1992, declined the Stars request for comment. Her lawyer, Mark Sandler, said shell make her position clear at the discipline hearing, which will be scheduled in July. Romagnoli gained a level of notoriety in 2015 when she put off for 11 months the case of four individuals who were prepared to plead guilty to speeding. She did accept the guilty plea of a fifth individual, but delayed her ruling on the $200 fine for nine months. A Superior Court judge one of several who have overturned Romagnolis decisions in a two-year span ordered her to immediately accept the pleas and impose the fines. Recognizing the volume of cases in the Provincial Offences Court and the stresses that go with presiding in the Provincial Offences Court, there will always be occasions where a justice of the peace needs to reserve his or her decision, Justice Mark Edwards wrote in his ruling. This was not one of those cases. Failure to rule promptly on matters is a judicial misconduct allegation levelled against Romagnoli, who earned a salary of $130,000 in 2016. The independent Justices of the Peace Review Council lists 16 cases where Romagnoli refused to accept the joint submission on a penalty put forward by the prosecution and the defence, and instead imposed lesser fines, sometimes without giving reasons. (Courts have held that joint submissions should not be rejected unless they are contrary to the public interest or so egregious that they would harm the administration of justice.) In some of the listed cases, the prosecution presented Romagnoli with higher court rulings that had overturned her decisions in a bid to get her to properly apply the law, but to no avail. One of them is Region of York vs. Alakoozi. In that case, there was a joint submission for a $100 fine for a driver who pleaded guilty to a charge of disobeying a sign. Romagnoli refused to accept the submission, and asked both sides to call evidence, which they declined to do. She then imposed an $85 fine, nearly two months later. The municipality appealed to a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice, and Judge Joseph Kenkel imposed the $100 fine as originally proposed. Part of the exchange between the prosecution and Romagnoli was quoted in Kenkels ruling. When Romagnoli said she was not bound by joint submissions, the prosecutor attempted to refer her to an appeal judgment of another one of her decisions that said she should indeed follow joint submissions. Things then got heated, with the prosecutor trying to remind Romagnoli of stare decisis which Kenkel described as a fundamental doctrine of the legal system, where lower courts are bound by the decisions of higher courts. Prosecutor: So, your Worship, Im just sorry obviously there must be a case from a high level of court Romagnoli: Would you like to take a few moments and consider your comments? Because I find that youre out of line. Prosecutor: Your Worship, stare decisis, its a simple legal principle that courts are bound Romagnoli: Youre out of line She later told the prosecutor: You refused to listen. And if this manner of behaviour persists, you leave the court no alternative but to hold you in contempt. Kenkel, the judge, had harsh words for Romagnoli in his appeal judgment. He noted this was the fourth case in which a judge overturned Romagnoli on the same point. The rejection of the joint submission in this case was unreasonable and arbitrary. It was contrary to binding authority including three prior cases involving this Justice of the Peace, Kenkel wrote. The whole of the proceedings show a miscarriage of justice. This must not continue. Failing to understand and/or refusing to accept the principle of stare decisis is another allegation Romagnoli is facing at the review council. The councils notice of hearing indicates that the director of prosecutions for York Region had to twice forward to Romagnoli the same Superior Court ruling overturning her in a different case to ensure she would properly apply the law. However, the review council says she still did not follow that appeal ruling in subsequent cases. The common law is based on the idea of precedent, so ultimately, the fact that higher court decisions are binding on lower court judges is a cornerstone of the justice system, criminal defence lawyer and former Crown attorney Antonietta Raviele told the Star, speaking generally. If a justice of the peace or a judge were to not follow decisions, specifically overturning their own decisions, then it would suggest that the justice is essentially saying that theyre not going to follow the law. That says, This is my court and Im going to do what I want. A spokesperson for the Ontario Court of Justice told the Star that Romagnoli is still hearing cases, but refused to say whether she has received additional training on stare decisis and joint submissions, saying it would be inappropriate to comment as the matter is now before the review council. Romagnoli is also facing potential discipline for imposing negative fines of minus $5 in three cases one of which was overturned by a judge who said negative fines are not permitted by law. Finally, Romagnoli faces allegations of bias against police and prosecutors, with the review council alleging she was seen fraternizing in courthouse hallways, still in her robes, with paralegals and was overheard making disparaging comments about prosecutors and describing how she would deliberately make things difficult for them. Your conduct undermines the confidence of prosecutors and police officers that they would obtain a fair and impartial hearing before you, says part of the complaint against Romagnoli. Prosecutors feel bullied, threatened and intimidated when appearing before you. If a justice of the peace is found to have committed judicial misconduct, penalties range from a reprimand to paid or unpaid suspension, to a recommendation to the attorney general that the justice of the peace be removed from office. SHARE: Its been nearly two decades since the amalgamation of the City of Toronto, and at long last the mystery of the Scarborough chain of office has been solved. Five mayors were unchained in 1998 when the six municipalities that now form Toronto became one, as former North York mayor Mel Lastman became the first mayor of the new megacity. The others were supposed to give back their symbolic medallions when the city set out to retrieve them. But some mayors didnt, and Toronto says its been unable to locate one in particular until today. I know that my father tried to return the chain of office to the City of Toronto at amalgamation but they showed no interest in them, said Jean-Paul Faubert, the son of Scarboroughs last mayor, Frank Faubert. The elder Faubert, who was elected mayor in 1994, went on to become a Toronto city councillor for Scarborough following amalgamation. But he died the following year, leaving the chain in his familys possession. Although Scarborough is no longer a city of its own, the Faubert family is keeping the seal handy for Franks successor should that ever change. He told me that he was required, by tradition and law, to keep them and hand them over to the next mayor of Scarborough at the inauguration ceremony, Jean-Paul, who now lives in British Columbia, said in an email. As he was the last mayor, before he died my father gave them to us to keep safe. We are proud to have them as a symbol of my fathers service to the City of Scarborough. But city spokesperson Wynna Brown said the clerks office doesnt know the chains whereabouts. At the time of amalgamation, city staff set out to locate all applicable chains and were unable to locate the Scarborough chain, she said in an email. I am advised by the clerks office that the location of the chain of office for the former City of Scarborough is unknown. Most of the other chains are being kept by the city as a remnant of the citys pre-amalgamation era. Those of North York and Etobicoke can be found at the Toronto Archives, while the former City of Torontos is at the Market Gallery. Yorks chain of office is on display at the communitys civic centre. All except East Yorks chain are accounted for. The chain is owned by the East York Foundation, which was established in 1965 to preserve East Yorks historical artifacts. But it too has been AWOL since amalgamation nearly 20 years ago. Its actually remained in the possession of Michael Prue, the boroughs final mayor, who went on to become a Toronto city councillor and a 13-year NDP MPP for East York. Prue, who now lives in the Windsor area, says he plans to return the chain to Toronto next month, but not to the city itself. Its theirs, its not mine, Prue said. When amalgamation happened, the borough of East York, and I was the mayor, we passed a motion giving all of our artifacts and everything to the East York Foundation so that Toronto would never get their hands on it. Prue recalled turning over the chain to the foundation the day before Torontos megacity was formed. The foundation had it for about a month or two and then they gave it back to me and said they didnt have an appropriate place to keep it, he said. They were afraid it was going to be stolen. So I kept it at home all these years. But after moving to Amherstburg, Ont., a town about 25 kilometres south of Detroit, following his political career which ended in 2014, Prue said he felt it wasnt right that he still had the East York relic. He said he reached out to the foundation about giving back the chain and was told theyd let him know when they wanted it. Last week, the foundation contacted him requesting he return it. Itll be placed in a frame and displayed in the East York Civic Centre, said Ray White, chair of the East York Foundation. Michael was a well-respected director of the foundation and we were grateful that he agreed to be custodian of this important artifact, White said in an email. We are looking forward to the project to have this displayed in a public place as it is an important part of the East York community and history. The former mayor said he plans to return the symbol on May 3, when he will be in Toronto, during a formal presentation at the civic centre. SHARE: The York school boards director of education cited numerous times in a scathing report for his conduct and lack of leadership has been given until Tuesday to respond to calls for his dismissal, but observers say even if he doesnt step down, his days are numbered. In J. Philip Parappallys 10-year contract with the board, which also has a subsequent job for life clause, the York Region District School Board has the right to fire him for cause, or, in its absolute discretion, for any reason, give him a years pay and show him the door. An independent job performance appraisal is also on the horizon, after being ordered by the education minister, which is be completed by the end of May. In many ways, however, the performance appraisal has already been done in public, said Charles Pascal, a former deputy minister of education who is now a professor in the University of Torontos education faculty. The blistering report from two provincial reviewers slammed Parappallys unusually long contract and the promise of a supervisory position at the end, and noted most senior staff do not have confidence in him as a leader. The reviewers heard from parents who say he treated them with disrespect, fostered a culture of mistrust among senior educators, ordered staff to spy on one another, and that overall the administrative side of the school board is struggling . . . suffering from damaged relationships, low morale, mistrust and a lack of strong, principled leadership. At a board meeting Wednesday night, sources told the Star that trustees voted unanimously in private to call on him to resign before they begin the laborious and complex process of firing him for cause. But before they could hand him the notice to dismiss in writing, he left the room, sources say. Parappally must respond after the Easter long weekend, by Tuesdays board meeting. His contract states that if he is dismissed for cause, it can be done so without notice or pay. He could not be reached Thursday for comment. Board spokesperson Licinio Miguelo said the director was scheduled out of the office, and had not replied to messages. After the report was released, Education Minister Mitzie Hunter ordered the board to complete a 360 performance review of Parappally by the end of May. They were also told to create a clear process for the hiring and monitoring of the director position. The trustees have the authority to address the directors contract; that is something that would be up to the trustees, she told the Star Thursday when questioned about trustees asking him to resign. My focus is on the board fulfilling the 22 directions that I have provided. I know they have already started on that, and Im looking forward to them continuing to follow that path. In the report, some of the interviewees said the controversial hiring of Parappally was believed to be the cause of, and the beginning of, much of the difficulty the school board is currently facing. Hunter has told trustees to renegotiate his contract and job for life clause, as well the independent performance appraisal. Pascal said the board, however, must do more than deal with issues around the director, given the myriad troubles outlined by the reviewers, including trustees who are unclear of their role and responsibilities, and who failed to act after high-profile incidents of anti-black racism and Islamophobia. If the focus is just on the director and theres no real reflection . . . you cant transition to a better future unless the (trustees) really understand how they messed up in the hiring, monitoring and the contract itself, he said. I would put my money on, down the road, some form of supervision to reflect and just to ensure that the board as a whole really understands what good governance looks like. He said Hunter has been very patient . . . (and moving) step by step according to the Education Act. Board Chair Loralea Carruthers said trustees are united, working together on a clear path and acting quickly. We are committed to moving forward in an open and transparent manner to restore public confidence in our board and ensure we are providing our students with a safe, inclusive and welcoming learning environment, she said in a statement. She has refused to comment on the directors future because it is a personnel matter. However, the board did report that in a private session, trustees approved the motion regarding a personnel matter. Parents continue to call for Parappally to resign, saying he must go if the board is ever to get past its difficulties. Parappally was given an unheard-of 10-year contract under then-chair Anna DeBartolo without any real performance review. Parappally was also guaranteed a job for life with the board after the deal expired, according to a copy of his contract obtained by the Star last April. Sources have told the Star Parappally was negotiating an exit strategy with the province before the reports release, though it fell through after he made unreasonable demands for a payout. Parappally, who was hired in 2014, still has seven years on his contract. He earned $259,000 last year. SHARE: Imagine that someone had told you when President Donald Trump was sworn in last January that he would ditch several of his most extreme foreign policy promises in his first 100 days in office but, despite all of this, you would still have every reason to be scared witless about the future of the world. That, in a nutshell, is where we are at the end of yet another extraordinary, roller-coaster week in Trump World. A week ago, the president got the ball rolling with his decision to fire 59 missiles at a military base in Syria, ostensibly in response to a Syrian chemical attack that killed more than 70 civilians, including beautiful little babies, as Trump described them. Trump didnt note at the time that his military response contradicted everything he has said in the past in ridiculing humanitarian efforts to help Syria, or that Syrias beautiful little babies were among those banned by him from coming to the United States as refugees. On Wednesday, Trumps flip-flops escalated. He declared the NATO alliance no longer obsolete after months of bitterly attacking the organization for being just that. He announced that China would not be declared a currency manipulator even though he had promised during the campaign that this would happen on day one. And he reversed his positions on other major global economic issues, such as the fate of the Export-Import Bank and the future of the current Federal Reserve chair. This was all in a weeks work for the new president, who is suffering from among the lowest approval ratings in modern U.S. presidential history. Apparently at the urging of his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump seems to be turning his back on the nationalist America First promises that fuelled his improbable political rise. As if by magic, he is transforming himself into a more conventional Republican politician. So if this is true, shouldnt we begin to relax and coax our grandchildren from underneath the bed? Well, the answer is no, not quite yet for three reasons. First, the world is still edging perilously close to a catastrophic military conflict. American relations with nuclear-armed North Korea are fraught with risk. Emboldened by the thrill of his first military act as U.S. commander-in-chief, Trump has moved a major aircraft carrier strike group close to North Koreas shores. There are signs that Kim Jong Un may respond with his own provocation. Second, if Trumps far-right supporters are losing influence, Americas notorious military hawks are staging a return. American relations with Russia are at their lowest point in decades, according to both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This comes at a time when the same U.S. military hawks who supported the discredited 2003 invasion of Iraq in the armed forces, Congress and the media are setting the agenda once again in Washington. And third, in spite of Trumps purported empathy for Syrias beautiful little babies, his America and its allies have already killed scores of innocent Syrians. In the more than two months since Trump took office, U.S. airstrikes have resulted in hundreds of deaths of civilians in Syria and Iraq. In March alone, more Syrian civilians including women and children were killed by U.S. forces or their coalition allies than Russian or Daesh-led forces. Of course, there are those who argue that there is a method to Trumps apparent madness. His supporters and others who could only be described as incorrigible optimists say that Trumps unpredictability rattles Americas adversaries and gives the U.S. a strategic advantage. After all, Trump wouldnt be the first U.S. president to think this way. When Richard Nixon was president at the height of the Cold War more than four decades ago, he used what he called the Madman Theory as a tenet of his foreign policy. Nixons chief-of-staff, H.R. Haldeman, wrote that Nixon told him he wanted his adversaries to fear his unpredictability: Well just slip the word to them that, For Gods sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about communism. We cant restrain him when hes angry and he has his hand on the nuclear button. Yes, that was the same Richard Nixon who, in 1974, was the first U.S. president to resign from office in disgrace. Tony Burman is former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com . Read more about: SHARE: BEIRUTA stalled population transfer resumed Saturday after a deadly explosion killed at least 100, including children, government supporters and opposition fighters, at an evacuation point adding new urgency to the widely criticized operation. The blast ripped through a bus depot in the al-Rashideen area where thousands of government loyalists evacuated the day before waited restlessly for hours, as opposition fighters guarded the area while negotiators bickered over the completion of the transfer deal. Only meters away, hundreds of evacuees from pro-rebels areas also loitered in a walled-off parking lot, guarded by government troops. Footage from the scene showed bodies, including those of fighters, lying alongside buses, some of which were charred and others gutted from the blast. Personal belongings could be seen dangling out of the windows. Fires raged from a number of vehicles as rescuers struggled to put them out. The scenes were the last in the unyielding bloodshed Syrians are living through. Earlier this month, at least 89 people were killed in a chemical attack as children foaming at the mouth and adults gasping for last breath were also caught on camera. Read more: Syrian evacuations deepen war-torn countrys divisions The bloody mayhem that followed the Saturday attack only deepened the resentment of the transfer criticized as population engineering. It also reflected the chaos surrounding negotiations between the warring parties. The United Nations did not oversee the transfer deal of the villages of Foua and Kfraya, besieged by the rebels, and Madaya and Zabadani, encircled by the government. No one claimed responsibility for the attack but pro-government media and the opposition exchanged accusations, each pointing to foreign interference or conspiracies undermining the deal. State TV al-Ikhbariya said the attack was the result of a car bomb carrying food aid to be delivered to the evacuees in the rebel-held area ostensibly crisps for the children and accused rebel groups of carrying it out. A TV broadcaster from the area said: There can be no life with the terrorist groups. I know nothing of my family. I cant find them, said a woman who appeared on al-Ikhbariya, weeping outside the state hospital in Aleppo where the wounded were transported. Ahrar al-Sham, the rebel group that negotiated the deal, denounced the cowardly attack, saying a number of opposition fighters as well as government supporters were killed in the attack. The group said the attack only serves to deflect the attention from government crimes and said it was ready to co-operate with an international probe to determine who did it. Yasser Abdelatif, a media official for Ahrar al-Sham, said about 30 rebel gunmen were killed in the blast. He accused the government or extremist rebel groups of orchestrating the attack to discredit the opposition. The Syrian Civil Defence in Aleppo province, also known as the White Helmets, said their volunteers pulled at least 100 bodies from the site of the explosion. White Helmets member Ibrahim Alhaj said the 100 fatalities documented by the rescuers included many children and women, as well as fighters. Syrian state media said at least 39 were killed, including children. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 43, adding that it would likely rise because of the extensive damage. A Facebook page belonging to the pro-government Foua and Kfraya villages said all those in three buses were killed or are still missing while a rebel official said at least 30 opposition fighters who were guarding the evacuees were killed in the blast. According to Abdul Hakim Baghdadi, an interlocutor who helped the governmentnegotiate the evacuations, 140 were killed in the attack. He added it was not clear how many rebels were killed because they were evacuated to their areas. Hours after the explosion, the transfer resumed as dozens of buses, starting with the wounded, left to their respective destinations. Before midnight Saturday, 100 of some 120 buses from both sides had already arrived. The explosion hit the al-Rashideen area, a rebel-controlled district outside Aleppo city where evacuation buses carrying nearly 5,000 people from the northern rebel-besieged villages of Foua and Kfraya were stuck. Residents from the two villages had been evacuated Friday, along with more than 2,000 from Madaya, an opposition-held town outside of Damascus besieged by government forces. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack Saturday in a statement from his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, and called on all parties to ensure the safety and security of those waiting to be evacuated. Those responsible for todays attack must be brought to justice, the statement added. The co-ordinated evacuations delivered war-weary fighters and residents from two years of siege and hunger, but moved Syria closer to a division of its national population by loyalty and sect. Madaya and Zabadani, once summer resorts to Damascus, have been shattered under the cruelty of a government siege. The two towns rebelled against Damascus authority in 2011 when demonstrations swept through the country demanding the end of President Bashar Assads rule. Residents were reduced to hunting rodents and eating tree leaves. Photos of children gaunt with hunger shocked the world and gave new urgency to U.N. relief operations in Syria. Foua and Kfraya, besieged by the rebels, lived under a steady hail of rockets and mortars. They were supplied with food and medical supplies through military airdrops. Critics say the string of evacuations, which could see some 30,000 people moved across battle lines over the next 60 days, amounts to forced displacement along political and sectarian lines. The explosion came as frustration was already mounting over the stalling evacuation process. The situation is disastrous, said Ahmed Afandar, a resident evacuated from the opposition area near Madaya. All these thousands of people are stuck in less than half a kilometre. He said the area was walled off from all sides and there were no restrooms. Afandar said people were not allowed to leave the buses for a while before they were let out. Food was distributed after several hours and by early afternoon the evacuees from rebel-held areas were pressured to sit back on their buses, Afandar said. The evacuees from Madaya headed to rebel-held Idlib, west of Aleppo. After the blast, evacuees from opposition areas pleaded for protection fearing revenge attacks. Syrian state TV blamed the rebels for obstructing the deal. An opposition representative, Ali Diab, accused the government side of violating the terms of the agreement, by evacuating fewer armed men than agreed to from the pro-government areas. Read more about: SHARE: ISTANBULIn the last day before Turkeys crucial referendum on whether to expand the presidents power, both yes and no campaigners addressed flag-waving supporters Saturday in Istanbul and Ankara. At stake is the future of Turkeys political system, with supporters saying the constitutional changes will herald a period of stability and prosperity, and detractors warning the reforms could lead to an autocratic one-man rule by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Opinion polls indicate a tight race, and fierce campaigning took place Saturday right up to a 6 p.m. ban. Erdogan has long championed the idea of changing Turkeys system of government from parliamentary to presidential. He is calling on his countrymen to vote Sunday to approve 18 constitutional changes that would, among other things, abolish the office of the prime minister, handing all executive power to the president. The new constitution will bring stability and trust that is needed for our county to develop and grow, Erdogan told supporters Saturday in Istanbuls Tuzla district. He also appealed to voters of other parties to approve the changes so Turkey can leap into the future. Read more: Turkey is closer to reforming constitution, expanding Erdogans powers Is it a yes for one nation? Is it a yes for one flag? Is it a yes for one homeland? Is it a yes for one state? Yes, yes, yes! he said. Erdogan said the proposed reforms could help counter a series of threats, including a failed military coup last year and a string of deadly bombings, some attributed to Daesh, also known as ISIS. Fighting also resumed in 2015 between security forces and Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country. But critics argue that Erdogan, who has been at the helm of Turkish government as prime minister or president since 2003, will simply cement his hold on power with even fewer checks and balances if the yes side wins. Turkey is at a junction. We will make our decision tomorrow. Do we want a democratic parliamentary system or do we want a one-man regime? Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party, asked supporters in the capital, Ankara. In Istanbul on Saturday, thousands of no supporters waving Turkish flags marched along the Bosphorus. The opposition has complained of a lopsided campaign, with Erdogan using the full resources of the state and the governing party to dominate the airwaves and blanket the country with yes campaign posters. No campaigners say they have recorded more than 100 incidents of intimidation, beatings and arbitrary detentions. Erdogan has painted supporters of the no campaign as people bent on destabilizing the nation, accusing them of siding with those blamed for the July 2016 attempted coup. Sunday will be a turning point in our struggle against terrorism, Erdogan said. The referendum comes as Turkey is still under a state of emergency declared after the failed coup. Some 100,000 people, including judges, lawyers, teachers, journalists and police, have been dismissed from their jobs. More than 40,000 people, including opposition pro-Kurdish legislators, have been arrested. Hundreds of news outlets and non-governmental organizations have been shut down. We want peace, freedom, democracy. We will have these with a no vote tomorrow, Pervin Buldan, a lawmaker from the opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, said at a rally in the predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir. Security will be high for Sundays vote, with nearly 34,000 police deployed in Istanbul alone. Daesh has called for attacks against the referendum. On Saturday, Turkeys official Anadolu news agency said 49 people, including 41 foreigners, were detained on suspicion of planning attacks during the vote. SHARE: During my sophomore year at Proviso West High School in Hillside, Illinois, my guidance counselor, Mr. Gusloff, refused my request to take auto shop because I was, he said, college-bound and my presence in a vocational program would take space needed by a student who was not so destined. I was disappointed, and I felt then, as I still do, that he was wrong to pigeon-hole me and limit my options, but I had no choice but to accept his decision. I never even told my parents, both of whom held Ph.D.s. They would have only shrugged their shoulders anyway. This was long before parents were involved with their kids. Back then (the 1960s), nearly every high school in America and especially those, like PWHS, that served lots of kids from blue collar households, offered vocational education. In addition to auto shop, Proviso offered machine shop, woodworking, plumbing, and other trades. Today, despite the fact that America still needs mechanics, machinists, plumbers, and so on, and despite the fact that (POLITICAL INCORRECTNESS ALERT!!!) some kids, for various reasons, simply are not college material, it is the rare high school that offers vocational education. Which is one reason why the outstanding bill for government-issued college loans currently stands at, in round numbers, one trillion dollars, a good amount of which will never be repaid. It also goes a long way toward explaining why more than five million jobs are currently going begging in the USA. My solution to this would be to require high school guidance counselors to assume half the college loan debt of former students whom they should have told Sorry, but you arent college material but didnt. If their bad advice cost them something, perhaps theyd think twice before doling it out. Parents want their kids to go to college, two reasons being they (a) like to brag about their kids and (b) believe college equates to success. High school guidance counselors are also incentivized to encourage college and help kids obtain acceptance letters. School administrators like to brag, too. They like to talk about how many of their graduates go to college. They never talk about the number who dont finish, finish with crippling debt, or cant find jobs after graduation. The high school dropout rate has declined in recent years to around 7 percent, but the number is misleading because, lets face it, a good number of students drop out but still occupy desks. Vocational-tech would promote student motivation, increase literacy, and significantly reduce dropout rates. Reducing dropout rates would reduce crime, drug use, and various other social ills. Then theres the matter of the jobs that are waiting for the kids in question. Employment opportunities in skilled trades for high school graduates who arent college material are the best possible antidote to poverty. Employment further reduces crime, drug use, etc. and also fosters the formation of families, thus promoting responsible child-rearing. In short, the societal benefits of voc-tech are numerous and far-reaching. Every American, regardless of political persuasion, should get behind President Trumps plan to reinstate vocational education in Americas high schools. Im fairly certain that if he was still alive, Mr. Gusloff would. WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump has called North Korea a problem country and said it will be dealt with through a broad set of options, though theyre vague for now. It may be up to his vice-president, Mike Pence, to fill in the details during a visit to Asia. His travels to the region, including stops in South Korea and Japan beginning Sunday, come amid indications that North Korea is potentially preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade or a significant missile launch, such as its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Hours before Pence left, North Korea showed off its ICBMs in a military display at the annual parade in the capital that celebrates the birthday of the Norths founding ruler, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. Read more: North Korea displays ballistic missiles at parade amid regional tension Trump, who has proved to be unpredictable on foreign policy, has responded to the recent concerns over North Korea with a swagger that suggests a new, tougher stance. Asked about North Korea this past week, he told reporters: North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of. He has repeatedly said that if China, North Koreas dominant trading partner, isnt willing to do more to squeeze the North, the U.S. might take the matter into its own hands. Trump has sent an aircraft carrier to the waters off the Korean Peninsula. U.S. military officials have said the U.S. doesnt intend to use force in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch by the North. Kims No. 2 official accused Trump of creating a war situation and said the North will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack. Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump After a two-month policy review, the Trump administration has settled on a policy toward the North that relies on maximum pressure and engagement, U.S. officials said Friday. The administrations immediate emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of Beijing. The officials werent authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity. Pence will try to explain the policy in meetings with leaders in South Korea and Japan at the start of a 10-day tour that will include stops in Indonesia and Australia. Read more: North Korea ready for war if Trump shows reckless aggression: North Korean official Part of his mission will be to reassure allies in South Korea and Japan that the U.S. will defend them against North Korean aggression without acting in a way that might tip the region into open conflict. The message, I think, is going to be about vigilance and deterrence, said Victor Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said Pence will try to balance reassurance with a willingness to respond if North Korea acts. The United States wants to project a more muscular image when it comes to the policy so some unpredictability serves that cause. Kim has pointed to nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defence strategy and has openly sought a nuclear weapon that could strike the continental United States. Analysts have said commercial satellite images from recent weeks indicate increased activity around the nuclear test site in northern North Korea. The U.S. last week acted unilaterally in ordering a cruise missile strike on Syria and has sent what Trump called an armada to the waters off the Korean Peninsula. Thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry were also deployed last month in their biggest-ever joint military exercises, which prompted North Korea to issue routine threats of attacks on its rival if they show signs of aggression. Read more about: SHARE: VATICAN CITYPope Francis on Saturday denounced how migrants, the poor and marginalized see their human dignity crucified every day through injustices and corruption, and urged the faithful in an Easter Vigil message to keep hope alive for a better future. Francis presided over the solemn late-night ceremony in St. Peters Basilica at a time of heightened security fears following a spate of Islamic-inspired attacks and tensions over Europes migrant influx. Security was particularly tight, part of the heavier-than-usual safety measures that have been deployed around the world for Holy Week activities, particularly following the twin Palm Sunday attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt that killed at least 45 people. Read more: Crowds brave tight security to pray with Pope at Good Friday Colosseum procession Church bombings in Egypt kill 44, wound 126 Holding a single candle, Francis processed down the basilicas centre aisle, symbolizing the darkness that fell after Jesus crucifixion on Good Friday. When Francis reached the altar, the basilicas floodlights turned on, symbolizing the light of Christs resurrection. In his homily, Francis recalled the biblical scene of two women approaching Jesus tomb and said their desolation over his death can be seen every day in the faces of women whose children have been victims of poverty, exploitation and injustice. We can also see the faces of those who are greeted with contempt because they are immigrants, deprived of country, house and family, he said. Others are victims of paralyzed bureaucracies and corruption that strips them of their rights and shatters their dreams, the pope said, echoing two themes he has emphasized in his four-year papacy: caring for migrants and denouncing corruption. In their grief, these two women reflect the faces of all those who, walking the streets of our cities, behold human dignity crucified. But rather than remain resigned to such a fate, Francis urged the faithful to have hope, as symbolized by Christs resurrection. He called for Catholics to break down all the walls that keep us locked in our sterile pessimism, in our carefully constructed ivory towers that isolate us from life, in our compulsive need for security and in boundless ambition that can make us compromise the dignity of others. Saturdays late-night service came just hours after Francis presided over the evocative torchlit Good Friday procession at Romes Colosseum, where he repeatedly denounced the shame of the blood spilled by innocent children, women and migrants in the worlds conflicts, shipwrecks and other tragedies. On Sunday, Francis will celebrate the joyful Easter Mass in a flower-filled St. Peters Square. Thousands of people are expected to brave street closures, metal detectors and other security measures to reach the square for the Mass. SHARE: The rapid, technology-driven evolution of the workplace, which is relegating a growing group of people to part-time, low-wage work, has been endlessly confusing for governments that feel forced to choose between the needs and rights of workers and the economic promise of technological innovation. Across the country, and in the Greater Toronto Area in particular, precarious workers, many of them millennials, have been largely left behind by legislators who say the shift is inevitable and theres nothing much that can or ought to be done about it. But the consequences of this complacency are cruel. Two new studies paint bleak portraits of the economic circumstances of young workers and others struggling to get by in the new economy. Together, they suggest that while governments may not want or be able to stop the evolution now underway, they must move quickly to address widening gaps in worker protections, lest the better part of a generation fall through the cracks. The first study, from the British Columbia-based non-profit organization Generation Squeeze, describes the darkening outlook for young workers across Canada, and in Ontario in particular. With full-time wages declining and housing prices soaring, its much harder now than in previous decades to cover the basic cost of living. In 2003, it took an average of eight years to save for a 20-per-cent down payment on a typical Ontario home; today it takes almost twice as long. And thats for the lucky minority with full-time jobs. In Canada and beyond, contract and part-time work is quickly becoming the norm. In the GTA, 52 per cent of workers are employed in some version of precarious work, which often doesnt provide benefits, pension or even minimum wage. This economic instability carries troubling social consequences, too. Researchers have shown that hopping from gig to gig causes many to put off marriage or children or to decide they cant afford children at all. The second study, from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, looks specifically at jobs in the so-called sharing economy, with companies like Uber, Airbnb and Doordash. This survey of more than 2,000 GTA residents found that about 9 per cent have participated in this emerging sector. While many say they like the work, the majority feel they have no other options. Most are young, college- or university-educated people with families, for whom driving for Uber, say, is far from a temporary gig or a convenient income supplement, as these jobs are often characterized. Most have been at it for over a year and earn most of their income from this work. Yet they remain classified as independent contractors and are therefore denied most protections under Ontario law. This leaves them vulnerable to abuse and it seems employers are more than happy to exploit the opportunity. A recent story in the New York Times described how Uber uses new technologies and behavioural science to manipulate its drivers into working longer days than they would prefer, boosting company profits while cutting into workers hourly wages. Part of the problem is that our labour codes were written for a very different world. Ontario is currently reviewing its laws with an eye to closing emerging gaps in worker protections. As the Star has argued before, there are a number of concrete steps Queens Park can take to significantly improve the lot of workers and to curb precarity itself. Ontario should, for instance, expand the legal definition of employee to cover those currently deemed independent contractors and who are denied protections provided only to permanent, full-time staff. As the CCPA study shows, many sharing-economy workers are working full time, yet making less than minimum wage. Thats unacceptable. It should also reform the labour code so all workers get a minimum level of paid sick leave. Under the current system, ill workers in precarious jobs are too often left to fend for themselves. And it should set a limit on the length of time an employer can use a temporary worker before giving that person a full-time job. Finance Minister Bill Morneau got himself in trouble last year by saying Canadians will have to get used to job churn, as if theres nothing to be done about it. But Ottawa also has its tools. It should consider similar changes to its own labour code, which applies to the more than 800,000 employees in the federally regulated sector. Ottawa can also use its significant procurement clout to require businesses vying for public money to demonstrate that they provide decent work to their employees. And, as Morneau has said, governments will have to reimagine our social safety net, which was woven at a time when secure full-time jobs, replete with pensions and benefits, were the norm. Ontarios current experiment with a basic annual income is a welcome acknowledgement of this need, whether or not its the right policy. Ottawa, meanwhile, deserves credit for its investments in affordable housing, though it should reconsider its apparent aversion to universal daycare, pharmacare and dental-services programs, all of which have the power to protect workers from the worst threats of precarity. The choice between workers and progress is a false one. Of course, governments cant and shouldnt want to stop innovation. But neither are they powerless to shape it or to protect workers from its worst consequences. SHARE: Re: United Airlines committed crimes against passengers, capitalism and even words, Mallick, April 12 United Airlines committed crimes against passengers, capitalism and even words, Mallick, April 12 Bravo to Heather Mallick for calling on the government of Canada to create a ban on overbooking. Unfortunately, the Toronto Stars editorial (Respect Passengers) meekly accepted overbooking, with the caveat of a few more bucks in compensation. Why interfere in the free marketplace? Airlines are great supporters of capitalism as they relentlessly raise fares, add fees and gobble up the competition. However, whenever they create an overbooked flight situation, their capitalist creed suddenly wanes, along with the size of the compensation offered for passengers denied boarding. Stop overbooking now. Allan Coates, Oakville Whats truly surprising about this incident is that the rest of the passengers didnt instinctively unite to stop it. Its not enough to bear witness by cellphone documentation. That passive act during the misdeed just makes one more morally complicit. The passengers should have identified with one of their own being harmed and crowd-sourced their moral outrage into an act of human solidarity. The police confronted by an ultimatum to stop voiced by such formidable numbers might have backed off. Herd protection can only happen when the herd recognizes its own strength, when acting in unison to protect one of its members targeted for unjust brutality. Tony DAndrea, Toronto All the stories draw our attention to the fine print that is buried in every ticket that allows an airline to cancel your reservation and ask you to leave the plane. But no amount of fine print and no amount of contract law can trump the basic tenets of society under which we are all expected to operate. If United Airlines had sent the pilot or co-pilot, or indeed any of the flight crew to explain to the passenger about the rules and make him see that there is no choice, the matter could have been settled in a much more civilized way. Instead, they sent goons to reason with their fists and drag the passenger on the floor and grind off bits of his skin. The weak apology from the CEO of United did not even mention that the passenger is a doctor and expressed his need to see patients in Louisville. I am certainly not going to be on any flight operated by United ever again. Venkat Krishnan, Ajax The solution to the problem of airlines bumping passengers is simple to resolve. The airlines need to buy back the seats at market price, where the passengers on the plane constitute the market. If a cash offer of $800 does not free the seats, the bid needs to be higher. I am sure there would have been four bump volunteers on that flight well before the airline bid $10,000 for each seat and everyone would have been happy. Don B. Smith, Toronto Apparently it doesnt take much power to go to someones head. Whoever ordered the use of force to remove a passenger from the flight deserves to be charged with assault, since the passenger clearly had the right to be on the plane by virtue of having a valid ticket. Airlines overbook flights because they dont want to absorb the cost of empty seats. By the same token, they must absorb the costs of whatever it takes to convince passengers to voluntarily give up their seats when the plane is overfull. Assaulting passengers who dont want to give up their seats should never be an acceptable option. Gary Dale, Toronto There is something extremely wrong when the thought of flying makes me more afraid of airport and airlines staff than of terrorists. Joanne Clarke, Toronto From most of the comments I have read, there appears to be a total lack of understanding of what the term volunteer means. If these passengers were asked to volunteer, then they had the right to refuse. United had the simple option of asking for someone else to agree to volunteer after making known the compensation for such an act. It appears that no one in this situation except the passenger who was assaulted knew what this meant, and he is a doctor. Emanuel D. Samuel, North York SHARE: Re: Trudeau following Trumps dangerous path on Syria, Walkom, April 12 Trudeau following Trumps dangerous path on Syria, Walkom, April 12 I appreciated Thomas Walkoms clear insights into the crisis in Syria. It is important to note that the U.S. missile attack was illegal. Unilateral attacks, without UN approval or without imminent fear of an attack, are illegal But I have been astounded at the Trudeau governments seemingly automatic approval of the U.S. action. While spokespeople for the U.K. government, the UN and even Trudeau himself had stated that the chemical attack required investigation, that cool-headed appraisal ended quickly with Trudeaus supplication to the U.S. and his mind-boggling reference to supporting regime change. Other attempts at regime change around the world have yielded many failures and led to the deaths of many innocent people. But it seems that, in order to appease an erratic and suddenly interventionist president, we have jumped in to support this ill-conceived and war-mongering U.S. position. Who would we install? How will this end? I doubt anyone can say, since Syria is a mess. There are many actors on this stage and none offer a palatable alternative to Assad. I am outraged by Trudeaus knee-jerk reaction. But, if I hoped that the loyal opposition might provide some balance, I was sadly disappointed. I watched Conservative Peter Kent on CPAC describe Trumps actions as courageous. Disgusting. Bruce Van Dieten, Toronto It is astonishing that a prime minister whose government has taken months to find a problem (Mali?) to match its preconceived solution (peacekeeping), only to halt that process due to uncertainty around the Trump administration, has taken a mere week to determine that the solution to the far more intractable and bloody conflict in Syria is for Bashar Assad to be deposed, based, it seems, on the certainty of the Trump administration. Kristian A. Kennedy, Toronto Its fascinating to watch Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus lightning change of heart. A few days ago, he was publicly cautioning that there still wasnt firm evidence about who was responsible for the gas attack in Syria. Now, despite still having no firm evidence of culpability, he is stating that Syrian President Bashar Assad is responsible and that his regime must go. You wonder whether Trudeaus Washington handlers yanked his leash, whether he just decided after watching U.S. President Donald Trump in action that hysteria is a good enough basis for conducting international relations, or whether he thought that playing the tough guy could rescue his sagging poll numbers, as it seems to have done for Trump. Whatever the case may be, how reassuring that bugbears like evidence arent tying his hands, even when it comes to fanning the flames in a conflict that could tip us over into a world war. Andrew Brooks, Toronto Dear Prime Minister: I suggest that before you so quickly decide that deposing Assad is the way to go, take a lesson from what happened in Iraq and Libya when their leaders were deposed. Things ended up much worse than they were before. Deposing Assad is tempting, but could give Daesh just what its looking for: an Islamic state to call their own. At the very least, you should know who/what will replace Assad before diving in. Al Yolles, Toronto My faith in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has nosedived after the blind support afforded to the Trump regime in removing the legitimate president of Syria, Bashar Assad. Trudeau should have learned from his predecessors about the horrific consequences of such an act. The aftermath of invading Iraq in 2003 on the wrong premise of weapons of mass destruction by then-president George W. Bush is vividly ingrained in our minds. Fourteen years later, history is repeating itself. The most lucrative solution of peace in Syria is for the West and its allies to stop arming the opposition with arms, ammunitions and chemical weapons. On the other side of the coin, if it is proved beyond any doubt that Assad has used chemical weapons, he should be charged in the International Criminal Court. Raza Kara, Richmond Hill Well said! Words of reason, few and little of which we have seen emanating from Washington or Ottawa on this serious humanitarian situation in Syria. For all their faults, at least Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien stood firm against the Yankee imperialists, choosing to be on the side of caution and rationality, unlike their yogic-flying, Liberal Party protege, the millennially altered Justin Trudeau now occupying the national premiership. The situation is made worse by the Conservative and NDP caucuses jumping on board an opposition showing no alternative critical capacity to argue for peace over war, choosing instead to blindly back the dark and deadly forces of corporate-inspired and American-led military-industrial opportunism. So little is being said or argued against war in this nation these days, be it in its 100th-anniversary remembrance of Vimy Ridge or in its approach to the savage internecine civil war being waged in Syria. Only its glorification. Where has the peace movement in this country retired to? Mario Godlewski, Toronto Read more about: SHARE: Corning Incorporated engages in display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses worldwide. 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LLC, Rx Choice Inc., Rx Initiatives LLC, Rx USA Inc., The Bartell Drug Company, The Jean Coutu Group PJC USA Inc., The Lane Drug Company, Thrift Drug Inc., Thrifty Corporation, Thrifty PayLess Inc., and Tonic Procurement Solutions LLC. Read More - The list of top six most beautiful female politicians in Kenya is out - They are young, brilliant, bold, daring, and have got the Wow Factor - They plan to be on the ballot come August 2017. Who are they? The race to August 2017 polls is fast approaching crescendo. Among those salivating for the various top political seats are these young Kenyan women. They are bold, brilliant and arguably the most beautiful breed of female politicians in Kenya today. READ ALSO: These are the most VOCAL 'queens of local politics' that Kenyans should watch out in August 2017 (photos) Queens of politics. Install TUKO App To Read News For FREE Here they are, listed in no particular order: 1. Anne Waiguru Who would have imagined the former Cabinet Secretary would become one of the top political contenders in the August 2017 poll after the explosive NYS scandal? Yes, her reputation may have suffered serious dents, but she appears to know what she wants and nothing will stop her from getting it. She is reportedly looking for a powerful political seat in Kirinyaga County. 2. Esther Pasaris Esther Pasaris charm is not dead! If anything, her recent dramatic spat with one Miguna Miguna only helped to strengthen her political ambitions. She is arguably one of the cutest, boldest and most brilliant female politicians that Kenya has been blessed with. 3. Millicent Omanga Millicent Omanga may not be very popular yet, as she is one of the relatively new comers in the stormy local political arena. But her arrival is already being felt, especially in Nairobi where she plans to go for the hotly contested Women Representatives seat. Watch this pace! 4. Karen Njeri Nyamu They call her Bae wa Nairobi and for a good reason. Karen Njeri appears to have won the hearts of many with her charm and confidence. She wants to be in the next breed of Woman Representatives in Kenya. Isnt she worth your vote? 5. Njeri Thorne Robert Kipkemboi should be very worried! With the bold and beautiful Njeri Thorne in the Langata race, things could prove tough for the men who are also eyeing the MP seat in this area, especially because she has all that is needed to clinch the seat. She recently came out to make it clear that she is not a 'love making object' , so men, be warned! READ ALSO: 9 most powerful women in Kenyan politics who rule your life Anne Waiguru (left) and Karen Nyamu. 6. Rachel Shebesh We cannot talk about beauty, refinement and grace without mentioning Rachel Shebesh, the current Nairobi women rep. She is the embodiment of beauty, style and adorableness. This is in addition to her strong leadership skills and uncanny ability to tussle it out with men in her field. She is defending her seat in August and has promised to thrash anyone and everyone who comes close to her throne. Nairobi women rep, Rachel Shebesh Watch video of top 10 most beautiful wives of rich Kenyan politicians: Have something to add to this article? Send to news@tuko.co.ke Source: TUKO.co.ke Militants launched 45 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in ATO area in Donbas over the past day. This is reported by the ATO press center. In Mariupol direction, the enemy used 120mm mortars and heavy machine guns to shell Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk). In addition, militants launched attacks on ATO troops outside Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol), using 120mm mortars, grenade launchers and small arms. Ukrainian marines near Hnutove (19km north-west of Mariupol) came under small arms fire. In Donetsk direction, terrorists shelled Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka (18km north of Donetsk), using 82mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. Militants also launched attacks on Ukrainian strongholds outside Opytne (11.5km north-west of Donetsk), using antitank missile systems, 82mm mortars, grenade launchers. In Luhansk direction, the militants fired 120mm mortars and grenade launchers on the defenders of the villages of Krymske and Katerynivka. The town of Popasna came under fire from grenade launchers, while the village of Stanytsia Luhanska was attacked with small arms. ish Shelly Miller, a Lincoln woman who went missing after a fire at her home three weeks ago, was found Saturday afternoon in Washington. Deputies from the Skagit County Sheriff's Office found Miller, 50, at 1:19 p.m. (CDT). She was safe and unharmed, but her silver Jeep Grand Cherokee was stuck in a field just off the road, according to Lincoln Police Capt. Bob Farber. Miller disappeared March 25, when emergency personnel responded to a fire at her northeast Lincoln home. Miller was not home at the time of the fire, which was started from an unattended candle. Her vehicle and purse were gone, but her cell phone remained. Her family was unable to reach her and bank cards showed no activity. Investigators found the disappearance suspicious, because no one was home during the fire and her disappearance was reported after that. Family was notified Saturday that Miller is no longer missing, police say. Lincoln police have not yet been in direct contact with Miller, but Farber said LPD plans to continue its investigation. "We've just got to see if she's willing to visit with us," Farber said. "But you can't make people talk, especially when they're half a country away." Skagit County is approximately 40 miles south of the Canadian border. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Ukraine in one-two months. It may happen that the work on the Agreement on Free Trade Area (FTA) will be completed by then. Turkey's Ambassador to Ukraine Yonet Can Tezel said this in an exclusive interview with Ukrinform. "President of Turkey is expected to visit Ukraine in a month or two. It is rather difficult but maybe the negotiations [on FTA Agreement] will be completed by then. Both countries need this agreement and both countries will benefit from it," the diplomat said. According to him, the visit of the Turkish President is a part of the cooperation mechanism, which is called the High Level Strategic Council. "Every year the two Presidents pay a visit to each others country. Last year Mr.Poroshenko was in Turkey. Two years ago Mr.Erdogan was here. And now the President of Turkey will again come with several ministers, and a lot of issues will be discussed," the ambassador said. ish The Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II on Friday canceled most Easter celebrations, limiting them to a simple Mass, following the recent twin attacks on churches by Islamic State militants that killed dozens of Christian worshippers. During his sermon on Good Friday, Pope Tawadros said, "Easter celebrations shouldn't come at a time of offering condolences to our martyrs.'' He said that the Easter morning reception, in which worshippers exchange greetings, would also be cancelled. In a rare show of discontent and anger, several dioceses and monasteries across the country issued similar statements. After the deadly attacks, Christians blamed the government for failing to protect churches. During Palm Sunday prayers, suicide bombers targeted two separate churches packed with worshippers in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta, killing 45. The Alexandria attack took place as Pope Tawadros was presiding over the service, but managed to escape unharmed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility and vowed to wage more attacks against Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population. The attacks prompted the army chief-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to declare a three-month-state of emergency. He also ordered deployment of the armed forces to help police secure vital installations including churches. The past days witnessed a sharp increase in security measures across the country, with checkpoints set up along the roads that lead to the main churches in Cairo and its adjoining governorate of Giza. Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, have repeatedly complained of suffering discrimination, as well as outright attacks, at hands of the country's majority Muslim population. Over the past decades, they have been the immediate targets of Islamic extremists as Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Christians strongly supported longtime autocratic President Hosni Mubarak before his ouster in 2011. They rallied behind el-Sissi in 2013 as he ousted his Islamist predecessor Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group. Attacks on Christian homes, businesses and churches subsequently surged, especially in the country's south. As the community still reels from the shocking bombings, disgruntled Muslims have attacked Christians' houses and set three on fire in a southern village named Kom al-Lufi, a flashpoint of sectarian tension. The recurrent attacks came after Christians held prayers inside a house, stirring suspicions among the village's Muslims that Christians were planning to turn the house into a church, a common trigger of sectarian violence. Security forces were deployed on Friday to the village to protect the Christians who were reportedly locked inside their homes for fear of attacks by Muslims. The United Nations Childrens Fund says there has been an alarming surge in the number of children being used as suicide bombers by the militant Boko Haram in the conflict engulfing the Lake Chad region in West Africa. Data gathered by the UN childrens fund shows children were used as suicide bombers in 27 attacks in the first quarter of 2017. That is three times more than during the same period last year and nearly the same number as the whole of 2016. The militant Islamist group Boko Haram has been forcing children to blow themselves up in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon since 2014. As the Islamist group finds itself on the run, it reportedly is resorting increasingly to this tactic to spread terror among civilian populations of the Lake Chad region. UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac says Boko Haram uses children, rather than adults, as human bombs because they can be easily manipulated and more likely to escape scrutiny. He tells VOA girls are mostly used in these attacks. Since January 2014, among the 117 children that have been used in suicide attacks, more than 80 percent of them are girls. So, girls are particularly exposed to this horrific practice, he said. Boulierac says children are viewed with deep suspicion by the authorities and public at large. He says children who have escaped captivity from Boko Haram often hide what they have experienced when they return to their communities. They fear the stigmatization and even sometimes the violent reprisals from their community who might at some point think that these children are still dangerous," he said. "It is important, in any case, to remember that these children are victims. They are not perpetrators. UNICEF says local authorities often hold children intercepted at checkpoints in prolonged periods of administrative custody. It is calling for an end to this practice and for the children who often are severely traumatized by their experiences to be immediately handed over to civilian authorities who can support them. Lawyer Savas Ersoy and his wife turned down many chances to leave Turkey and work abroad. But after a failed coup, a wave of bombs and the referendum on expanding presidential powers on Sunday, they are packing their bags. Like other professionals who are leaving Turkey, the Ersoys say they are uncertain about the country's political future and afraid of instability. "We have been thinking of moving abroad for about a year and a half. However, with the developments in Turkey over the past six to seven months, we have decided to move," said the 37-year-old lawyer. Sunday's referendum could grant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan new authority and transform Turkish politics. Already the most powerful leader since the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Erdogan has won successive elections and enjoys strong support among pious and conservative voters, mainly in rural areas. But he is viewed with suspicion by many liberal Turks, who say the secular foundations of the country of 80 million people are being eroded by an increasingly authoritarian president. It's 'gotten out of hand' The Ersoys are moving to the Danish capital, Copenhagen, this month; Ersoy's wife, who works in the pharmaceutical sector, took a job offer she had previously declined. "We have had job offers from abroad before as well. We didn't accept them, thinking, 'Why would we go?' But the developments after [the failed coup on] July 15, the referendum, this executive presidency issue things have gotten out of hand," Ersoy said. "We don't know what will happen in six months. Bombs are exploding in many parts of the nation. I have a 3-year-old daughter and Europe is safer." A "yes" vote on Sunday would empower Erdogan to appoint ministers, top officials and judges; dissolve parliament; and declare emergency rule powers his backers say are needed to confront Islamic State and Kurdish militants and root out those behind last July's attempted coup. Erdogan's critics say the changes would remove checks on his power, moving Turkey closer to becoming an authoritarian state, after a post-coup crackdown in which more than 100,000 people were sacked or suspended over suspected links with terrorist organizations. Statistics on exactly how many professionals are leaving Turkey are hard to find, but Ersoy's comments echo those of several who spoke to Reuters in the run-up to the referendum. White-collar exodus Gokhan Gokceoglu, who runs a financial consultancy in Britain, said a growing number of Turks were trying to follow in his footsteps. "As someone who lives in Britain, I can say that there is an increase in demand from white-collar and well-educated people in recent times to live in Britain and get citizenship," he told Reuters while on a holiday break in Istanbul. Feray Aksit, 36, worries about how Turkey's secular outlook will be affected by the policies of Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party, particularly the impact on her daughter's schooling. She resigned from her job in the telecommunications sector to prepare for a move to Germany, where her husband, an engineer, found work. "I am the mother of a girl. The uncertainties in the country, changes to education and the curriculum becoming more detached from science has raised some concerns," she said. "In terms of security, we don't have the same comfort we did five or six years ago, either. ... At first we doubted whether we were doing the right thing. But after the decision to hold the referendum, we thought the coming years would be uncertain as well," she said. While many lawyers, economists, engineers and bankers look for work or university programs to get residency permits in foreign countries, those who do not have those options but do have cash buy property to secure their place abroad. Investment levels vary Several European Union countries offer residency permits in return for real estate investment, with minimum levels set at anything from 250,000 euros to several million euros. Education consultant Tolga Gurses, 42, attended a presentation in Istanbul promoting investment in Portugal as a way of getting residency permits. "There were approximately 200 participants. Though it is a bit saddening, there is great interest in the option to live abroad," Gurses said. Another target for real estate investment is neighboring Greece, despite its often fraught history with Turkey. "There is a noticeable demand for Greece in recent times," said Cenk Tanman, who founded a website for people wanting to invest there. "They prefer Greece as a plan B." Selcan Turk, who has lived there for 15 years, set up a business for Turks buying property in Greece. She said she brought dozens of people to examine properties in March, and three of those prospects had turned into sales. "Turks' interest in Greece has increased dramatically in the past five to six months. Even though their economic status isn't too high, they are using all the resources they have," she said. Universities across the country, including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, are keeping an eye on the number of students who come to the U.S. from other countries for a college education. Fallout from the 2016 presidential campaign, seen as hostile to immigrants, has created uncertainty for foreign students hoping to study in the U.S., according to a survey conducted by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Roughly 4 in 10 universities said the political discourse surrounding foreign nationals in the U.S. leading up to the November 2016 U.S. presidential election has damaged international recruitment efforts. The survey said the most common concerns reported to universities included: * Perceptions the U.S. is now less welcoming to individuals from other countries. * The Trump administration travel ban could be expanded to additional countries. * Changes to visa restrictions have limited students ability to travel, re-enter the country or obtain employment. At UNL, which has more than doubled its growth of international students over the last decade, contributing to record-breaking enrollment, roughly 1 in 8 students calls another country home. More than 3,200 students are from a country other than the U.S., according to enrollment data recorded last fall, up from just more than 1,500 at the beginning of the 2007-08 academic year. Chancellor Ronnie Green told the NU Board of Regents on March 31 administrators are watching several issues that could slow UNLs enrollment growth, which nearly reached 25,900 students last fall. In addition to concern from students and parents about what will likely be a dramatic tuition hike to help make up for a loss in state appropriations, Green said UNL is also closely watching the national and international political climates. Our international enrollment is significantly down as a result of the greater environment, I think, that is out there around international questions, Green said. No hard figures to measure international applications or interest against previous years are currently available, said Amber Williams, UNLs director of admissions and associate dean for enrollment management. The process for international students to apply and enroll at U.S. universities is dramatically different than domestic students, she said, and decisions are not often made until just before classes start in August. But anecdotally, Williams said UNLs international enrollment is tracking with what other schools, particularly in the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences, are reporting. As of today, we are a bit concerned about the number of applications we have received so far, Williams said. But at the same time, we know a good chunk of those students will come throughout the summer. On the other side of the coin, 35 percent of the universities surveyed by the registrars and admissions officers association reported an increase in international applications, while 25 percent reported no change. The University of Nebraska at Omaha has not seen shifts in either direction, spokesman Charley Reed said in an email. Because these applications are still coming in, there is no way to definitively anticipate our fall enrollment numbers, Reed said. However, we do not have evidence of significant changes in the number of international student applications at this time. Michael Stopford, assistant vice chancellor for international affairs at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where approximately 400 foreign students are enrolled, said the campus was bullish on the future of international students in Kearney. In general, I think we will actually see an increase, he said. Stopford said UNK has developed a reputation as a welcoming and safe place for foreign students and professors. Over the last two years, UNK has launched several initiatives to reach new students in diverse regions such as Oman on the Arabian Peninsula. A partnership UNK has developed over the last year with the American University of Ras Al Khaimah in the predominantly Muslim United Arab Emirates has been chilled in recent months, however. According to Stopford: We had a promising program in the Middle East that was put on hold. In February, Richard Guavain, associate professor of Middle Eastern studies at the American University, wrote Stopford following the rollout of the Trump executive order banning travel from seven Muslim majority countries to describe a genuine worry among our students as to whether they can or even should visit the United States. Stories of ordeals faced by both faculty and students who have traveled to the U.S. have spread across the university, Gauvain wrote. I suspect that such stories will soon be forgotten. But they have had an immediate, and predictably negative, effect on our existing study abroad programs with U.S. partners. Gauvain told Stopford that the American University of Ras Al Khaimah would touch base again in six months' time. By this time, normal operations will doubtless have been resumed, Gauvain said. More than a decade after it was proposed, Indias most ambitious tax reform measure is set to roll out in six weeks following the passage of a law that will replace a plethora of confusing levies with a single, nationwide tax. The new goods and services tax (GST) will unite the worlds fastest growing economy into a common market of 1.3 billion people. The measure is seen as a major achievement for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who struggled for two years to build a political consensus. The government says the GST will be implemented from July 1 after state legislatures ratify it. The new tax is expected to make it vastly easier to do business as it dismantles tax checkpoints at every state border. Businesses have often complained that Indias complicated tax system leaves them grappling with a mesh of separate duties levied by each of the countrys 29 states, and goods are often stranded for hours or even days at state borders as payments are worked out. By making distribution more efficient and less expensive, Ankur Bisen at New Delhi based consultancy, Technopak, sees big benefits for consumer-oriented businesses, which have to move goods across state lines in the vast country. Another huge benefit will be increased transparency. It will have implications on corruption because taxation regime will not be vague anymore, it will be very clearly defined, says Bisen. For the government, the GST is expected to improve tax compliance and draw more people into the tax net in a country where tax evasion is common. It will also make India more attractive for foreign investors by simplifying rules for a huge and increasingly attractive market. The government estimates the new tax will boost economic growth by about half a percentage point in its first year of implementation and in the long run by as much as 2 percent. However several economists say that the political compromises that had to be struck win approval of the new tax mean the sweeping benefits India had hoped to see may not accrue in the short run. Taxes will be levied at four levels five, 12, 18 and 28 percent. Many say the 18 percent and 28 percent tax rates are too high. It could potentially have been a transformative measure if the structure of GST would have been characterized by a large base and low and single rate, says D.K. Srivastava at consultancy Ernst and Young. But, he says, it is going as a multiple-rate system and some of the rates are very high and the tax base is still narrow. Therefore it is a kind of a fragmented GST. Despite the shortfalls, Srivastava says that given the complications of the size of the Indian economy, it might be useful to start off with a functioning model and then go on reforming it as matters progress. Many also warn against a hasty implementation, saying that rushing ahead with a July 1 deadline could make it difficult to handle the transition in a country which has always struggled with bureaucratic ineptitude. Many businesses, which had long clamored for such a tax, are asking the government for more time to prepare for the switch, saying six weeks is too little. They worry that the tax rates for various products have still be to be decided. Others point out that the GST will be serviced by state-of-the-art technology and an electronic portal where taxpayers can register, eliminating the conventional and discretionary role of tax authorities. The Trump administration is dropping a lawsuit against North Carolina after the state moved to undo its "bathroom bill." Justice Department lawyers filed a motion Friday to dismiss their federal lawsuit. The move doesn't directly affect separate pending litigation by LGBT rights advocates who say the new North Carolina law doesn't go far enough to ensure rights for all. North Carolina's compromise deal last month got rid of the most well-known provision of House Bill 2 that required transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates in many public buildings. But the replacement law prohibits local governments from enacting new nondiscrimination ordinances until 2020. The ACLU has said it's planning to continue its legal fight for LGBT rights despite the new legislation. The Lebanese government was urged on Thursday the 42nd anniversary of the start of the nation's civil war to help families of the thousands of missing by approving a project to collect DNA samples to try to trace their whereabouts. With families still struggling to cope with their loss, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-government organization Act for the Disappeared staged a one-day exhibition in Beirut of chairs made by families of the missing. "People who have lost a member of their family and don't know what happened are living in this in between," Fabrizio Carboni, head of the ICRC delegation in Lebanon, told Reuters. "No grief possible and at the very same time hope is still present. So, it is really torture for these families." More than two dozen families participated in "Empty Chairs, Waiting Families," an exhibition of chairs painted with drawings and pasted with photos. The ICRC called on Lebanese authorities to run a project to collect DNA samples, and to pass a law that will help families of the missing get clarity on what happened to them. There is currently no public database or exact numbers for people who went missing during the civil war between 1975-1990, in which an estimated 150,000 people were killed. Lebanon was shattered by its 15-year-long war. Villages and neighborhoods in which Muslims and Christians had lived side by side for centuries were reshaped. Hundreds of thousands of people retreated into separate enclaves controlled by sectarian militias. Fate unknown The ICRC said thousands of people from all sides and backgrounds went missing during the civil war and their fate remains unknown. "Under international humanitarian law, government authorities are required to clarify the fate of persons who go missing in conflict situations. However, Lebanon has yet to take the necessary steps," the ICRC said in a statement. The ICRC is asking the state to set up a mechanism to give families some answers whether that is through preserving and opening mass graves, or getting forensic information or biological reference samples. Missing since 1982 was Said, whose 80-year-old brother Riad Sharif Harmouch used his chair to draw his brother in the car he used to transport people between the Christian East and Muslim West of Beirut, returning them to families if they went missing. "I am two years older than my brother. I was really affected. We were really close friends, more than just brothers. I lost a piece of me," said Harmouch. Fardous and her mother, Jamila Agha, drew her father Nazih's fishing boat and motorcycle on a chair. He used to fish and sell what he caught while riding his motorcycle. "We have hope that he will come back so we can get back what was taken away from us," said Fardous, whose father went missing in 1982 when she was two years old. Sayde Jhantous Tayyar, 53, whose brother Elias has been missing since 1984, replicated part of a drawing her brother did when he was younger on a chair and drew him holding a kite. Jebran Harmouch, 71, whose brother Elias has been missing since 1976, included a photo of his brother and words that remind him of Elias. "I remember his laugh, his jokes," said Harmouch. "What is harder than death is the fact that I don't know whether he is alive or dead. This creates more sadness." Carboni referred to the chairs project as "heart therapy" with a purpose. "It is an opportunity for families to manage their pain and this traumatic situation. And on the other hand, it's an opportunity to raise awareness in the public for the political authorities," Carboni said. Russia, Syria and Iran have warned the United States against launching new strikes on Syria and called for an international investigation into the chemical weapons attack in Syria. The foreign ministers from Russia, Syria and Iran, meeting Friday in Moscow, said any further unilateral action by the U.S. in Syria would be met with "grave consequences" and pose a danger to the entire world. The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria's al-Shayrat air base last week in response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria days earlier. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the circumstances surrounding the chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 people were still not clear. He criticized the world's chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, for not sending experts to the site of the attack to investigate. "We consider it unacceptable to analyze events from a distance," he said. Lavrov said the investigation should also be widened to include experts from many nations. Russia has rejected accusations from Western countries that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was behind the attack. Russia has alleged that the victims were killed when Syrian warplanes hit a rebel chemical arsenal. The U.S. accuses Assad of deliberately launching the attack. "The use of chemical weapons as a pretext for violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state a member of the United Nations is a very dangerous activity," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. "It is essential to prevent such acts as the events in Khan Sheikhoun in [the] future." Lavrov said the U.S. missile strike on Syria was Washington seeking "excuses for regime change." He added, "These attempts will not succeed, this will not happen." Lavrov met Friday with his counterparts from Syria and Iran after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Moscow earlier this week. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday's meeting sent a "strong message" to Washington. Russia and Iran are strong allies of Assad's government and have backed the president during Syria's six-year civil war. Retail sales had their worst two-month stretch in more than two years in February and March, according to U.S. government data released Friday. The U.S. Census Bureau said overall retail sales declined two-tenths of a percent in March, driven by lower fuel prices and lower auto profits. The National Retail Federation (NRF) said the delayed issuance of government tax refunds also contributed to weaker spending. Weaker than expected sales receipts in March and February may also reflect changes taking place in the retail landscape. Business Insider called the changes a "retail apocalypse" that has led to a wave of bankruptcies and store closures. About 3,500 stores across the United States are expected to close in coming months, including some from major chains Macy's, Sears and Kmart. But instead of a retail apocalypse, NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz says it's part of the natural evolution of the retail industry. "Other industries have gone through transformations," he said. "Look at the banking industry. We had twice as many banks 10 to 15 years ago as we do today. There are consolidations that go on. It's a natural phenomenon in a market economy." Millennials' habits The phenomenon is driven by new technology and demographic shifts that have changed the way people shop. Kleinhenz said millennials those who reached adulthood at the turn of the century are a good example of how buying habits have changed. "They're more comfortable with new technology," he said. "They're not buying stuff like we [baby boomers] did when we were in that age group. They're on a different pathway in terms of their careers and their spending. And that's changing how retailers are responding." Others describe the changes as a "perfect storm" that has upended the retail landscape. Murali Gokki, managing director of the retail division of business consulting firm AlixPartners, said one of the bigger changes in the last decade has been the rise of e-commerce, and the even more rapid ascent of m-commerce, or the ability to buy almost anything from mobile devices such as smartphones. "Mobile commerce was marginal back in 2012. Now it accounts for almost 20 percent or more of online purchases," Gokki said. Small part of the picture But while online retail companies like Amazon have been among the big beneficiaries, Sarah Spagnolo at Foursquare, a location intelligence company, said e-commerce represents a small slice of the retail pie. "That's a topic that gets lost in the conversation around the growth of e-commerce. Ninety percent of foot traffic happens in the real world [of brick-and-mortar stores], and that should be an area that people pay a lot of attention to." Retail experts predict more brick-and-mortar stores will close in the United States in coming years, partly because of the overabundance of retail space. The U.S. has the world's largest ratio of retail space per capita 23.5 square feet of shopping space per person. Compare that with second-place Canada with 16.4 square feet per person and third-place Australia with 11.1 square feet per person. But to suggest that the changes in the retail landscape mean consumers are spending less would be false, said the NRF's Kleinhenz. The NRF outlook for 2017 calls for retail sales to increase by 3.7 percent to 4.2 percent. "Consumers are actually having one of the best times, in terms of access and buying power," AlixPartner's Gokki said. "It's the retailers that are hurting right now." Face-to-face with victims of South Sudan's famine and civil war, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee strongly defended U.S. foreign aid on Friday despite President Donald Trump's proposed deep cuts in humanitarian assistance. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee visited the world's fastest-growing refugee crisis in northern Uganda, just across the border from South Sudan, in a pointed response to Trump's "America First" platform that would slash funds for diplomacy and foreign aid. Without "U.S. leadership, these people would have no hope," Corker told The Associated Press in an interview. "I think Americans, if they saw what I see here, and I see in other places, would be glad that our country does what it does." The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds significant sway over the foreign budget, and the proposed cuts almost certainly would need Corker's approval. More for military The United States is the world's largest provider of humanitarian assistance and in 2016 gave roughly $2.8 billion in food aid, but the Trump administration has thrown such funding into doubt. At the same time, Trump wants to boost military spending. At the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, Corker served food to South Sudanese who recently fled fighting in the East African nation, where the United Nations has warned of ethnic cleansing. A grandmother in a flowing green dress huddled with five of her grandchildren, clutching metal cups of food. The family had walked two weeks to arrive at the refugee camp. Nearby sat a woman with a gaping bullet wound in her ankle. "The 1 percent that we spend on diplomacy and assistance, if we spend it wisely, then the expectations are that the men and women that we love so much in uniform are less likely to get into a hot war or in harm's way," Corker said. Trump's proposed budget, announced in March, would cut 28 percent of the budget for foreign aid and diplomacy. The budget plan, which still needs approval by Congress, would put pressure on all nearly all foreign aid, according to U.S. officials. More spending at home The budget would "spend less money on people overseas and more money on people back home," Mick Mulvaney, the president's budget director, said last month after the plan was announced. Few countries are likely to suffer as much as South Sudan if Trump's budget is approved. The country is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid, receiving more than $2 billion from 2014 to 2017. The world's youngest nation was plunged into civil war in December 2013, and the fighting contributed to desperate conditions that led the U.N. to declare a famine in February. Roughly 1 million people are said to be on the brink of starvation. On Friday, South Sudanese refugees told Corker stories of misery. One man described how his hometown of Yei has been ripped apart by ethnic fighting. A woman told Corker how she was raped during her trek to Uganda. And throughout the day, Corker heard the same message again and again. "They are giving us little food," the woman said. "Food. Food. Food." "I don't know what the answer is when you have brutal leaders who care nothing about the people that they are to govern and are willing to allow their soldiers, their men, to rape, kill, to terrorize people," Corker told the AP. Starvation for 20 million The United Nations says South Sudan is part of the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, along with Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. The U.N. estimates that 20 million people could starve. Surrounded by refugees, Corker did not outright criticize Trump's proposed budget, but he outlined an alternative vision of foreign assistance. Corker said there is no doubt Trump's proposed humanitarian and diplomacy cuts are drastic, but added that "I've never seen a president's budget ever come along" without changes. The senator did not say what the foreign aid budget would be, but he proposed reforms to a law that requires foreign food aid to be grown in the United States and shipped under an American flag. He blamed a "cartel in Washington" of maritime companies and "a small group of people in Washington" that cause fewer people to be fed. Instead, he said that allowing food aid to be grown closer to the site of a crisis and shipped under any flag would be cheaper and more efficient. "It's taken in some cases six months for those products to actually get here," Corker said. Rebels with the South Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), allied with rebel leader Riek Machar, on Friday attacked Raja town, the capital of Lol state. SPLM-IO Secretary-General Tingo Peter confirmed his forces now controlled Raja after clashing with government troops. "Since 12 o'clock, we captured Raja, and it is now totally under our control. Even now, our forces are looking for the governor. They are trying to see where he is," Peter said. Lol Governor Rizik Zachariah Gassan and his entire cabinet fled the area, according to Peter. Peter said the SPLM-IO was asking civilians in Raja to remain calm as their forces combed the town for government soldiers who might be hiding in residential areas. "Now they are with us and they are safe," Peter said. "We give them protection, but the problem is we can't manage to offer them food or water." He urged the international community to intervene and help civilians in Raja town. He said the SPLM-IO would also protect all aid workers in the area. Raja resident Issa Ramadan confirmed to South Sudan in Focus that Raja was under the control of SPLM-IO rebels. Ramadan said he could see from inside his home that rebel forces were moving around the town with tanks they captured from government forces a few hours earlier. "At around 2 p.m., the rebels attacked the town and now they took over," Ramadan said. "Many citizens have run out into the bush and some have sought refuge in the Catholic church compound." The coordinator of Lol state in Juba, Ibrahim Surur, confirmed that there was fighting in his state but declined to provide details. He said he tried to call officials in Raja, but most were not answering their calls. WFP deaths Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) said Friday that three of its contract workers were killed in Wau this week. Daniel James, Ecsa Tearp and Ali Elario, all citizens of South Sudan, reportedly died Monday as they tried to make their way to a WFP warehouse, where they worked as porters. A WFP statement released Friday said two died of machete wounds and the third was shot to death. "We are outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of our colleagues, who worked every day to help provide lifesaving food to millions of their fellow countrymen," said WFP Country Director Joyce Luma. "Their dedication will not be forgotten, and we call on the South Sudanese authorities to hold those responsible for this unspeakable violence accountable for their actions." WFP learned of the workers' deaths Thursday from the subcontractor that employed them. A United Nations expert said on Friday she hoped her visit to Cuba would open the door to a more intense dialogue on human rights and praised the country's social welfare system for reducing Cubans' vulnerability to human trafficking. Communist-run Cuba is generally suspect of inspections by international institutions, and this was the first visit by a U.N. human rights investigator in a decade. "I hope that this will be a stepping point for a more intense and fruitful dialogue with the whole human rights system," said Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, U.N. special rapporteur on trafficking in persons. Cuban dissidents, whom the government considers mercenaries funded by U.S. interests, said it was a positive sign that she had been invited, but only a first step. "It is notable they are not inviting special rapporteurs who look into torture, penitentiary systems, freedom of expression, the functioning of electoral systems, etc," said Elizardo Sanchez, leader of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation, which monitors arrests of opponents. Cuba's free healthcare, education and social security systems help reduce vulnerabilities that can lead to trafficking, Giammarinaro told a news conference. "Vulnerability factors are probably less significant than other countries' - for example, social inequalities and situations of complete destitution," she said. She did note, however, concerns over Cubans emigrating, for example, in hopes of taking greater advantage of their skills abroad and then "finding themselves in a situation of destitution." A migration crisis erupted in recent years due to fears the United States might end its lenient asylum policy for Cubans in the wake of its historic detente with Cuba. Thousands sold their belongings to raise cash for perilous journeys in pursuit of their American Dream. Cuba long argued that this U.S. policy fostered human trafficking, and the Obama administration repealed it in January. Giammarinaro said she had been informed there had since been a decrease in emigration. After a week of meetings with Cuban civilians and government officials, Giammarinaro said she had identified a few other areas of concern, such as sexual abuse, particularly of children. She said the Cuban legal framework could be improved. For example, children should be protected by criminal law until the age of 18, and not 16 as is the case today. Giammarinaro applauded that prostitution is not seen as a crime in Cuba but raised her concern with authorities that it was still stigmatized socially and sometimes punished with detention. "People shouldn't be punished for being induced, manipulated or forced into prostitution," she said. The U.S. Air Force will this weekend deploy a small number of F-35A fighter jets to Europe for several weeks of training with other U.S. and NATO military aircraft, the Pentagon said Friday. In a statement, the Pentagon said that the deployment would allow the U.S. Air Force to "further demonstrate the operational capabilities" of the stealth jet. It did not say where the aircraft would be sent. The F-35, which is the Pentagon's costliest arms program, has been dogged by problems. The Pentagon's chief arms buyer once described as "acquisition malpractice" the decision to produce jets before completing development. During last year's presidential election campaign, Donald Trump criticized Lockheed Martin Corp. for the F-35's cost overruns. Days after taking office in January, Trump announced his administration had been able to cut $600 million from the latest U.S. deal to buy about 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The United States is expected to spend $391 billion over 15 years to buy about 2,443 of the F-35 aircraft. F-35s are in use by the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, and by Australia, Britain, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Israel. Japan took delivery of its first jet in December. The closed Janesville Assembly Plant covers 4.8 million square feet on the southern end of town. (Alyssa Schukar/For The Washington Post) JANESVILLE, Wis. At 7:07 a.m., the last Tahoe reached the end of the assembly line. Outside it was still dark, 15 degrees with 33 inches of snow nearly a December record piled up and drifting as a stinging wind swept across the acres of parking lots. Inside the Janesville Assembly Plant, the lights were blazing, and the crowd was thick. Workers who were about to walk out of the plant into uncertain futures stood alongside pensioned retirees who had walked back in, their chests tight with incredulity and nostalgia. All these GMers had followed the Tahoe as it snaked down the line. They were cheering, hugging, weeping. The final Tahoe was a beauty. It was a black LTZ, fully loaded with heated seats, aluminum wheels, a nine-speaker Bose audio system and a sticker price of $57,745. Five men, including one in a Santa hat, stood in front of the shiny black SUV holding a wide banner, its white spaces crammed with workers signatures. Last Vehicle off the Janesville Assembly Line, the banner said, with the date, Dec. 23, 2008. It was destined for the county historical society. Television crews from as far away as the Netherlands and Japan had come to film this moment, when the oldest plant of the nations largest automaker turned out its last. Janesville, Wis., lies three-fourths of the way from Chicago to Madison along Interstate 90. The county seat of 63,500 people is the home town of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R) an old United Auto Workers town in a state led by a new generation of conservative, Gov. Scott Walker (R). It is a Democratic town still, though the economic blow that befell Janesville is the kind of reversal of fortune that drove many working-class Americans to support Donald Trump for president. The assembly plant began turning out Chevrolets on Valentines Day 1923, and, for 8 decades, the factory, like a mighty wizard, ordered the citys rhythms. The radio station synchronized its news broadcasts to the shift change. Grocery prices went up along with GM raises. People timed their trips across town to the daily movements of freight trains hauling in parts and hauling away finished cars, trucks and SUVs. And so, when the plant stopped in the midst of the Great Recession, the people of Janesville even as they began to reinvent themselves and their town clung to a faith that GM would reopen the plant so their future could be like their past. Over time, though, people began to confront a question they had not considered before: What choices to make when there were no more good choices left? Mike Vaughn, center, watches a Wisconsin Badgers basketball game with his father, Dave, and his wife, Barb. When the Janesville Assembly Plant stopped production, the Lear Corp., which had made the seats for GM vehicles, closed, too, ending Barbs job, then Mikes. Mike eventually gravitated away from his familys long history as local union leaders. (Alyssa Schukar/For The Washington Post) What does a union man do? Aug. 24 was coming up soon. The first day of classes. And Mike Vaughn knew he couldnt put it off much longer. He couldnt remember the last time hed kept a secret from his dad, let alone a whopper like this one. But in this Janesville summer of 2009, every time he imagined telling his father, he couldnt get past the very real possibility that the man whod always stood behind him might not be able to stand behind him now. So Mike waited a few more days and a few more days, until time was running out. How do you tell your father that youre going to the other side? The shadow of the three generations of Vaughn union history kept stopping him. The family lore was his lore. It went back to the lead mines that had been scattered through Wisconsins southwest corner in places with names like New Diggings and Swindlers Ridge, and the McCabe Mine in which his great-grandfather had been killed. Mikes grandfather, Tom, had come to Janesville to work for a GM job in the See the USA in Your Chevrolet 1950s, doubling his wages from $1 an hour to $2. He became a zone committeeman representing 1,000 GMers in UAW Local 95. Mikes father, Dave, was hired into the assembly plant in 1967 as a teenager, and three years later, while Tom was on the union bargaining committee, they went on strike together for 11 weeks. Dave became a Local 95 vice president a couple years after Mike got hired at Lear Corp., making seats for the assembly plant. Dave loved the union so much that now, with the assembly plant closed, he and a buddy stepped out of retirement to reprise their old gigs as its vice president and president. The Vaughns were one of only two families in town who had three generations on the Local 95 executive committee. Union pride ran as deep in Mike as in the generations before. But the truth was that his father had been retired for five years and his grandfather buried for a year by the time his wife, Barb, lost her job at Lear and his own would end soon. What does a union man do when there are no workers left to represent? Mike trolled unionjobs.com in three states, but the more he considered the possibility, the less he could imagine leaving Janesville. This discovery he made about himself startling to his core had come along gradually, but there it was: There were limits to what he was willing to do to keep standing on the union side. Nothing in his familys past had prepared him for the choices he was confronting. As he struggled with what to do, he watched Barb in astonishment, her head deep into her schoolwork at Blackhawk Technical College, retraining to go into criminal justice, turning crisis into opportunity. As it happened, Blackhawk Tech was starting a human resources program, with predictions of jobs at the end. Hed be crazy not to sign up. But the jobs werent union jobs. Hed be management. What would his father think? The moment came during his fathers 61st birthday party, as they sat on his parents screened porch together with their smokes. Mike turned to his father and said, Ive decided what Im going to do. He started with the easy stuff. The stuff about going back to school in 20 days, and Blackhawks new program, and the governments training money. Then he launched into the part that was hard. About how he had come to see that human resources management was a way to educate workers, too. About how he figured that, if hed been doing it from the union side, how different could it be from the company side? As he was talking, he kept a close watch on his fathers expression. Was that a flicker of sadness? Yes, it was there. But his words didnt say what Mike had feared the most: that Mike was going over to the dark side. No, the old union leader told the young union leader he was proud of him for taking this opportunity to better himself. Then his father wrapped him, the last generation of the union Vaughns, in a hug. With his fathers arms still around him, he heard the words he had imparted to Lears job-losing workers: If you dont change with the times, youll be left behind. When the assembly plant closed in 2008, Matt Wopat went back to school to retrain, hoping for a job at a utility company. Shortly before he was to graduate, and fearing that jobs wouldnt be available in the field he was studying, he made the hard decision to transfer to a GM plant in Fort Wayne, Ind. He still commutes the 4 hours to Indiana every Monday morning, driving home late Friday nights to spend the weekend in Janesville with his wife and daughters. (Alyssa Schukar/For The Washington Post) Becoming a gypsy Just get going, Matt Wopat whispered to himself. Go. He was in his Sierra pickup, in his garage, merely a few feet from the open doorway to the laundry room where his wife, Darcy, and the girls were crowded together. He watched them as if in a picture frame. They were crying. They were blowing kisses his way. He saw his daughters turn away from the doorway. He saw Darcy wave a last goodbye and shut the door, as if she couldnt take it anymore. He was alone, fighting tears himself. He had tried hard to sound reassuring, to convince them that everything would be fine. Now he wondered how persuasive hed been, because, frankly, he wasnt sure he believed it himself. A twist of the key in the ignition, and Matt felt the aging trucks familiar idle. His hand drifted to the gear shift, but he couldnt make himself shift into reverse. A weight pressed on him, the kind of weight that presses hard on a man who is on the cusp of his fifth decade when he discovers that doing everything right is not enough. Not enough to live by Plan A, as his father and his father-in-law had done, working on the assembly plant until the years added up to 30 and they could retire. He came up with a Plan B, learning to climb utility poles, just in case the assembly plant failed to reopen. But Plan B wasnt looking good, either. By this Sunday afternoon in March 2010, seven months had gone by since Matt began to study electric power distribution finding himself in the throng of out-of-a-job factory workers who pivoted to Blackhawk. Peculiar and embarrassing as it had seemed at first, he made peace with spreading his schoolbooks on the kitchen table after dinner, along with his three daughters, all of them doing their homework and him sometimes even asking his oldest in 12th grade for help with his math. His main instructor, Mike Doubleday, had been a journeyman lineman for a power company until he heard that the college needed an instructor to help with the backlog of people wanting to learn to do jobs like his. Mike already had an instinct for predicting which of his students were going to succeed. Matt was going to make a good lineman somewhere, Mike was pretty sure. What he could not see in Matt was that, as he was puzzling out algebra formulas and electrical theory with some of the guys in class, he also was worrying. Matt is a deliberate man, and deliberate men do not let their mortgage payments slip behind, but there it was. He and Darcy had lived near the edge of what General Motors $28 an hour could buy, as so many GMers did, paying $270 a month on their camper, trading in cars for newer models. So even though, as a GMer, Matt was lucky to get his union Supplemental Unemployment Benefits on top of his unemployment checks, and the federal government was covering his tuition and textbooks and gas mileage to campus and even the right clothes for climbing utility poles, it didnt add up to anywhere near $28 an hour. The reality was that he and Darcy didnt have much cushion, and his SUB pay was about to be cut in half, and his GM health benefits were going to run out. He just needed to hang on until May, until he got his technical diploma and could grab onto the kind of job that Mike used to have if one existed. By this winter, hundreds of Janesville GMers had morphed into GMers working far from Janesville. Their UAW contract gave them these transfer rights. Some were in Kansas City, Kan. Some were in Arlington, Tex., which was still turning out the Tahoe SUVs that Janesville had made. And a few were in Fort Wayne, Ind., to assemble Chevy Silverado trucks, which were so popular that the plant was adding a third shift and sending job offers to more Janesville GMers, including Matt. GM gypsies, they were called, because even the ones in Arlington, nearly 1,000 miles away, had, for the most part, left their families behind and were commuting home as best they could. Matt had been firm that he was not going to become any gypsy. No way. But he and Darcy didnt want to move, either. Theyd had long, soulful, repeated conversations on this subject. They were in agreement. Close as they were to both their families, how could they leave? But that was before the mortgage payments started slipping behind, and his benefits were about to get cut, and the GM jobs opening up were in Fort Wayne, which, while 4 hours away, was closer than Kansas City or Arlington. That was why, one day, Matt and a bunch of the GMers learning to climb utility poles with him decided that it was time to stay after class and ask their instructor, Mike, a tough, pointed question: If they stayed in school to graduate, would linemens jobs be waiting for them or not? Mike started by laying out the benefits of electric power distribution. But the more he talked, the more he felt he needed to be a straight shooter with these guys who already had lost so much. The truth was, he had to admit, not many of his Blackhawk graduates got jobs last year. If I were you guys and had an opportunity to get GM wages, the instructor said, I would run and not look back. That was when Matt understood that the option hed rejected was the only choice he had left. He couldnt even call it a choice, because he felt that it had all come down to either Fort Wayne or possible bankruptcy, and responsible men dont file for bankruptcy. As his mind churned on this jam he was in, he could find no one to blame. Not the instructor who was just leveling with him. Or the government, dutifully paying for classes for a job he might never get. Not GM, shelling out for his benefits even as the company had gone bankrupt itself. Not even himself, because every time hed rethought the exceedingly hard question of whether he had missed a clue, whether he had overlooked some narrow passageway that would have led him out of the maze, he had come to the conclusion that he had not. Nine weeks of classes to go before he was to get his diploma, Matt left school. So now, in less than 24 hours, he would be working at a GM plant hed never seen in a city hed never visited. He couldnt think of anything he wanted to do less, or anything he needed to do more. It wont be so bad, he had told his family. He would be back every weekend. Now, sitting in the Sierra with his hand on the gear shift, it was time to pull out of the garage and head south into Illinois, past the Belvidere Chrysler plant not hiring, of course and then east into Indiana, where he would crash on the couch of another Janesville GMer because Matt didnt have a clue where he was going to live. Plan A, Plan B or whatever plan it took, he would at least be the man hed always understood himself to be: Who would rather put himself out than his family. Who always kept his word when he said hed do a job. Who understood that, to protect his family, he had to leave them. Kayzia Whiteaker and her mother, Tammy, share a laugh outside. After Kayzias father was laid off from GM, she and her twin sister, Alyssa, teenagers at the time, worked five part-time jobs between them, sometimes helping their parents buy groceries and pay utility bills. (Alyssa Schukar/For The Washington Post) Late night at Woodmans Kayzia Whiteaker tiptoed over to the couch, where her mom, Tammy, was still up, as she often was now on weekend nights, working her scissors through a stack of coupons. Want to go grocery shopping? Kayzia asked, gently as she could, trying to make it sound as if it was no big deal, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world for a 16-year-old kid to offer to take her mom to Woodmans and pay. She realized, as she asked, that her childhood was slipping away. This night near the end of 2011 was what growing up too fast looks like, and it had been creeping up on her for a while. A child wouldnt notice that, the longer her dad, Jerad, worked as a jail guard, his third not-good-enough job since GM, the more depressed he seemed. Or that her mom, plowing through her coupons while her dad was asleep, had become the chief worrier. After 10 months at her first after-school job, at Culvers, home of the ButterBurger, she had more in her checking account than her parents had in theirs. It wasnt so rare anymore for one of her parents to ask her or her twin, Alyssa, very politely, whether they could lend a few dollars for groceries or gas. That her dad tried sarcasm We supported you the first half of your lives, you can support us the second half to hide that asking killed him, every time. Kayzia and her parents might joke, but they didnt talk about the stark facts. She didnt talk about money with her friends. She didnt talk about it even with her grandmother, who she noticed had been quietly sending her parents a little extra each month for the mortgage. There was someone, however, with whom Kayzia talked about everything: Alyssa. In eighth grade, they had huddled on their beds in their basement bedroom, trying to figure out what it meant that their dad was home for breakfast. They had tried to approach this problem in an optimistic and practical way. Kayzia would add a second job working as a receptionist for a chiropractor in town. Still, once in a while, she and Alyssa have let their minds drift further outward. What if a day came when their parents cant pay the mortgage? How will they afford college? Can Alyssa achieve her dream of becoming an engineer? Kayzias of becoming a general practitioner? But that was for the future. The immediate problem was that the fridge was nearly empty again, and her parents were low on cash. And that specific problem, not the future, pulled Kayzia to decide that tonight was the time to tiptoe over to the couch and ask her mom the grocery question. Her mom looked up from her scissors and her coupon stack. From her expression, Kayzia could tell shed used the right tone. Whew! It was a delicate matter, after all, this scheme to pay for the family groceries. She found Alyssa in the paneled family room, watching TV with Justin, her boyfriend. Do you want to come with? Kayzia asked, putting it that way because she didnt want her sister to feel pressure to help. But Alyssa was in, of course. Justin, too. Before they left, Kayzia and her mom looked through the coupons to see which ones would be useful. Her mom made a grocery list. Then they were in the car, Tammy at the wheel and Kayzia in the front seat, with Alyssa and Justin in back, as if this thing they were doing wasnt completely topsy-turvy. First stop was the Blackhawk Community Credit Union ATM, where Kayzia and Alyssa jumped out and got $100 each. Then they shot off to the all-night Woodmans on the north side of town. By the time they arrived, it was almost midnight, the wide aisles nearly empty of shoppers. Kayzia had worked out the details. Justin took charge of the coupons, Alyssa worked the calculator, and she pushed the cart and helped her mother load. They bought chicken because theyd been having too much pasta. Lunch meat, because Kayzia was sick of PB&J. Cocoa Puffs and Capn Crunch for a change, instead of generic cereal. And then they came to an aisle so tempting but unnecessary that Kayzia let herself walk down it only because it was, after all, her own money: the aisle with frosted chocolate chip cookie dough Pop-Tarts. The crucial part of the whole venture, the key to its success, was the checkout. They needed to do it just right. No clue that her mom wasnt buying the groceries the way mothers usually do. So, in line, the girls slipped Tammy their crisp $20 bills. On the ride home, groceries in the trunk, Kayzia relaxed. Sure she was tired, but the thought of Cocoa Puffs in the morning made her as happy as the little girl she used to be. Funny she should think that, she told herself, because, at this moment, she was feeling more grown up than ever in her life. Taking responsibility. With her bringing home $150 to $200 from Culvers every two weeks, and trying to save $100 of it. Sometimes she resented the sacrifices and the responsibilities. But she reminded herself that she and Alyssa had been taught to help people since they were little. They donated to the National Honor Society blood drive and raised money for Parker Highs Relay for Life. So why, really, when her parents need the help, should it be any different at home? As they got to the house, Kayzia felt relief that her dad was asleep. All this time after his General Motors job went away, with him bumping in and out of other work that doesnt pay enough, she knew that he still wasnt over the idea that he was supposed to provide for his family. He was so hard on himself, she thought, not giving himself credit for looking online all the time for better jobs. In the morning, she knew, he would not be happy to find the refrigerator filled by this midnight shopping adventure fueled by his daughters checking accounts. Barbara Feinman Todd came to Washington in 1982 with a creative-writing degree from Berkeley and no particular prospects. Starting as a lowly copy aide at The Washington Post, she wound up as a researcher, book doctor or ghostwriter for some of the most famous names in town: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Ben Bradlee and Hillary Clinton among them. Feinman Todd, now the founding journalism director at Georgetown University, writes in her new memoir, Pretend Im Not Here, that back then she was constitutionally camera-shy, both literally and figuratively. Being a ghost offered me cover. I could hide behind the celebrity of prominent people. But it all came with a price, making her feel virtually obliterated by the powerful personalities for whom she worked. Their problems became more important than mine, their dreams more alluring. [Ben Bradlee, legendary Washington Post editor, dies at 93] Of these larger-than-life figures none seemed more important than Woodward, one of the most celebrated reporters of the past half-century. He was boss, mentor, teacher, friend and source of connections that advanced Feinman Todds career. "Pretend I'm Not Here: How I Worked with Three Newspaper Icons, One Powerful First Lady, and Still Managed to Dig Myself Out of the Washington Swamp," by Barbara Feinman Todd (William Morrow) And yet, she writes, he stunned her with a breathtaking betrayal, an act that, if true, would be a serious breach of journalistic ethics. In a telephone interview, Woodward denied her account. Feinman Todd writes that in October 1995, after she finished ghosting Clintons It Takes a Village, Woodward invited her to his house for coffee and a visit. They went for a walk, and he pried from her a juicy Clinton story. After spelling out all kinds of conditions that he couldnt use anything I told him, Feinman Todd writes, she related a bizarre scene she had witnessed earlier that year, when a New Agey spiritual adviser led Clinton through imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi, apparently as a way to help relieve the pressures of White House life. Feinman Todd, who had signed a contract with a confidentiality clause when she went to work for Clinton, acknowledges in the book that she shouldnt have told Woodward about the incident. At the time, he was working on his own book, about Bill Clintons reelection campaign. But Woodward reassured me he would keep his promise not to tell anyone what Id told him, she writes. He wouldnt use the material. . . . Not now, not ever. He just wanted to understand the first ladys general state of mind. But on a Saturday afternoon in June 1996, Woodward phoned to warn Feinman Todd that the next days Post would have a front-page excerpt from The Choice: How Bill Clinton Won. And it would contain Hillary Clintons strange conversations with the dead. He admitted that even though he promised not to, he had taken what I told him in confidence and gone to the other participants to confirm the story. Woodwards efforts to report the story could explain why Feinman Todd suddenly found herself on the outs with the Clinton White House, which ordered the publisher of It Takes a Village to withhold her final payment. And, when the book came out, Feinman Todd was given no credit, despite a requirement in her contract that she be included in the acknowledgments. Describing what she calls Woodwards breathtaking betrayal, Feinman Todd writes: By breathtaking, I mean literally that it took my breath away. As I type these words twenty years later, I feel my throat tighten. In response to the charge, Woodward said in the phone interview, What she says is just not true. He described an entirely different encounter, starting with how they came to talk that day. Feinman Todd called him, he said. He didnt call her. She said she was troubled by this thing shed seen in the White House. Im never going to say, I wont use it, Woodward said. Of course you check things out. I talked to other people who were there. She was totally protected. Feinman Todd contends in her book that it would have been obvious to everyone who the initial source was, particularly as Woodward left only her out of the scene in his book. He also said in the phone conversation that Feinman Todd gave him two transcripts of interviews shed done with Clinton, neither of which related to the weird episode. From one, Woodward took for his book Clintons comment that she believed she could change the way she felt and thought through self-discipline, a view she summed up in an aphorism from Alcoholics Anonymous: Fake it til you make it. He said he gave the transcripts to The Post last year for its presidential campaign reporting. Feinman Todd would not confirm or deny in a telephone interview that she gave Woodward any transcripts, which would have been a violation of her contract with Clinton: If I gave him any material, it would have been a way to illustrate her state of mind. Im not going to say I did. But she disputed his version of events: Its illogical that, if I were troubled by it [the Clinton meeting], I would wait five months and suddenly need to pour my heart out to him. She added that she was more fascinated than upset by what she called Clintons therapeutic exercise. [Bob Woodward: How Mark Felt Became Deep Throat] Woodward is no stranger to controversy over sourcing. In 2014, he was pressed by David Martin on CBS Sunday Morning about the treatment of his most famous source of all, Watergates Deep Throat. Martin said: Part of your ground rules with him were not just never to even quote him but never to acknowledge his existence. And you did that in All the Presidents Men. Woodward replied: Indeed. We felt we had to lay it all out, tell the truth. But, Martin persisted, that put Mark Felt, the deputy FBI director who years later came forward as Deep Throat, in the position of having to lie repeatedly in public. Isnt that burning your source? Woodward replied: I had to be aggressive with him. We had to tell the complete story. Only Woodward and Feinman Todd know what happened in their conversation more than 20 years ago, which she said led to havoc in my life and my professional life. She said he made a deal never to use what she told him. He said he did not and would never make such an agreement. Im very disappointed he wont own this betrayal, Feinman Todd said. I owned my mistake. I always think people should have their say, Woodward said, but this one little grain should be corrected. Rose Byrne and Oprah Winfrey star in HBO's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," which airs on HBO on April 22. (Quantrell Colbert/HBO) Oprah Winfrey says she lives without feeling rage, which is a nice way to go through your days but potentially limiting when youre playing the pivotal character in a film about an emotionally scarred woman who is all but consumed by it. Needing to get in touch with some visceral fury, Winfrey reached out to one of the students she calls my girls a young woman from the South African leadership academy she famously endowed and asked her to recount her experiences with an aunt who had beaten her. Winfrey was beaten as a child, too, but time and other sources of healing blunted the pain to the point where, as she puts it, there was no charge for her left. I asked her to tell me the story, because I didnt have enough charge from my own beatings, she explains. I have to work really, really hard to pull up anger and rage. But hearing someone else talk about their beatings, I could have great empathy, great compassion, great sorrow and sadness. I felt a genuine desire to share this story, Winfrey said. (Vera Anderson/WireImage) And an explosive sense of indignation, a summoning she found immensely helpful in conjuring a daughter struggling to come to grips with the fate of her long-dead mother in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a movie directed and largely written by George C. Wolfe and based on the best-selling 2010 nonfiction book of that title by Rebecca Skloot. It premieres on HBO on April 22 at 8 p.m. Its easy to see what the attraction was for the 63-year-old Winfrey, in one of her infrequent acting forays. Her last movie role was in 2014s Selma, and she appeared in her OWN 2016 drama series, Greenleaf. Via HBO, she took the project to Wolfe, a theater veteran, after their plans to work on a Broadway show together failed to crystallize. The film, which features Rose Byrne as Skloot and a supporting cast that includes Renee Elise Goldsberry, Reg Cathey, Courtney Vance and Leslie Uggams, tracks a reporters investigation into the life of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman who died in obscurity in Baltimore in 1951, but who nevertheless became world-renowned on a cellular level. Scientists found that the cells cultured from her tumor samples didnt readily die off, which meant they could reproduce again and again. As a result, these valuable cell lines, which have come to be known to research labs and biotechnology companies worldwide by Henriettas abbreviated name, HeLa, have been instrumental in dozens of medical breakthroughs for a number of diseases, including cancer and AIDS, and are still in use to this day. I see all of my work as a kind of offering, Winfrey says in a telephone interview from her estate in Santa Barbara, Calif. It comes from a genuine spirit of enthusiasm. I felt a genuine desire to share this story, because this is a name that people should know. The participation of Winfrey significantly upgrades the movies curiosity value. Its an astonishing performance, Wolfe says. Theres a power to her and a ferocity to her. Winfrey takes a deep dive into rage as a consequence of portraying Henriettas youngest daughter, Deborah, sometimes called Dale, a woman so disordered by grief and grievance she seems to live in a limbo of distress: Although her mothers cells have enduring purpose, Deborah cant find any deep meaning for her own life. (Goldsberry, a Tony winner for her portrayal of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical Hamilton, plays Henrietta in flashback sequences.) Byrnes Skloot, sensing the inequity of a medical establishment profiting from Henriettas unwitting bequest but offering no compensation to her struggling descendants, persuades the erratic Deborah to team up with her to excavate material for the book. (The fight over Henriettas legacy has created bitter rifts among her survivors, although people involved in making the movie say the feud had no effect on it.) Director George C. Wolfe on the set of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. (Quantrell Colbert/HBO) So its actually the stories of two women, separated by death. By way of Deborah, the movie is about a citizen seeking redress from powerful institutions, a theme that strikes a particular nerve at this moment of deep mistrust of American government, media and other symbols of authority. The medical world, represented here by Baltimores august Johns Hopkins University, where Henrietta was treated and her tumor was removed, is not excused from criticism, although the movie doesnt look for villains. Through Henrietta, the film enlarges on a positive notion, of one person contributing to the betterment of humankind in a way that transcends ones modest circumstances, or even the knowledge the benefits have occurred. It is a story of economic injustice, Wolfe insists, as he sits in the offices of a Manhattan media studio where Henrietta Lacks was edited. But the movie is also about taking this person from abstraction and claiming this person as a tangible human being. One of the things that I really love is that in 1951, on paper, one of the least powerful people you could be is a moderate-income black woman. And yet HeLa was so powerful. What got to Winfrey, one of the films executive producers, was less the science than the search. Her thing was not about the money, she says of Deborah. It was, I just want to figure out who my mother was. Winfrey was encouraged in that point of view by Wolfe, she says, when he told her: Its the story of womans search for her own identity through her mother, and if she can figure out who her mother is, she can figure out who she is. The effort to translate Skloots book to the screen had gone through several false starts before Wolfe came on board, but for the author herself, the most mind-bending point in the process was when Winfrey signed on. Because Deborah, who died in 2009 just before the book was published, had her heart set on a chain of events that fell astonishingly into place. She wanted nothing more than the story to go out into the world, Skloot says. And she said for years she wanted Oprah to play her in the movie. To give Winfrey even more insight into Deborah, Skloot shared with her and Wolfe hundreds of hours of tapes she and her subject recorded over the years of Skloots research. Renee Elise Goldsberry stars as Henrietta Lacks. (Quantrell Colbert/HBO) Truth, and larger truth Deborah Lacks Pullum had a highly developed sense of drama, as The Immortal Life makes abundantly clear and which, Skloot says, Winfrey managed to convey. Watching it, you do get a potent sense of Deborahs appetite for the truth, even if that trait alienates her siblings and brings into their midst a young white reporter whose motives they dont always understand. It was everything that Deborah had wanted, and she really captured her spirit, Skloot says of Winfrey. When I was on set and saw her in costume, Oprah ceased to be Oprah. Shot in rural Georgia and Baltimore Johns Hopkins allowed its facilities to be used, Wolfe says the movie offered roles that many actors found irresistible. Byrne, who only recently had a baby, was inclined to pass on the role, but the film revealed the relationship between a reporter and subject so freshly she couldnt. Im such a snoop, the actress confesses. I could have missed my calling. Cathey, a veteran of The Wire and House of Cards, who plays Deborahs younger, damaged brother, Zakariyya, felt a bracing connection to his own losses: I remember thinking about Mom and Dad and how Im now an orphan. Vance, who worked with Wolfe on the Broadway drama Lucky Guy, and was cast in Henrietta Lacks as a charlatan legal adviser who tries to bilk Henriettas survivors, signed up on the strength of Wolfes request. He says Jump, Vance says. I say, How high? The mission to inform a wider audience was confirmed in the number of cast members who had no idea who Lacks was. For those familiar with other stories of ordinary African Americans drawn into scientific experimentation, such as the notorious study of black men with untreated syphilis in Tuskegee, Ala. throughout the mid-20th century, being unaware of Lackss story was nothing short of mind-boggling. Im a voracious reader, so I didnt understand how I missed this, says Uggams, cast as one of Henriettas surviving cousins. And then I read the book, and I was stunned by the whole thing. Id never even heard of the HeLa line, Goldsberry says. Like others in the cast, though, Goldsberry came to sense a larger purpose in being able to spread the story of Henriettas contribution. I felt that the story is bigger than the performances, she adds. Just like in Hamilton, when its long overdue for the world to know about something, it becomes about serving the moment it feels like its bigger than any particular group of people. Winfrey herself professes amazement at having Lackss story revealed to her only now. And I lived in that town for eight years! she declares, referring to her work as a reporter at a television station in Baltimore, the city where Lacks died 66 years ago. Ultimately, though, she says, shes grateful there was another journalist to piece together this key bit of scientific history. We owe a lot to Rebecca Skloot, Winfrey says. Had she not been persistent, we would not know the story. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks premieres April 22 at 8 p.m. on HBO. 1 of 28 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Four-star movies of 2017 View Photos A sampling of recent movies that received four stars from Washington Post film critics. Caption A sampling of recent movies that received four stars from Washington Post film critics. Downsizing Hong Chau and Matt Damon in Downsizing, a film that is set in a world where people can be shrunk to the size of Barbie dolls in an effort to preserve Earths dwindling resources. Ann Hornaday writes, The rewards are rich and revelatory in a film that doesnt soft-pedal the woes facing the planet, but celebrates the kind of direct, healing action that makes it worth fighting for, even in the face of certain doom. Read the full review Paramount Pictures/Paramount Pictures Wait 1 second to continue. Can anyone hold a shot like Cristian Mungiu? Like a tenor sustaining a high C in a Verdi aria, the Romanian filmmaker has developed a singular cinematic language, composed of long, unblinking takes. This ruthlessly observational style isnt unique to Mungiu, of course; its been standard fare since the beginning of cinema. But few filmmakers have mastered and perfected the approach so thoroughly, calibrating performance, setting, pace and forward movement that, even at its most glacial, bursts with tensile, pent-up force. Those values were on masterful display in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Mungius breakout 2007 film. And they infused Beyond the Hills, a religious melodrama that entailed a surprising amount of keening, high-pitched emotionalism. The writer-director returns to form with Graduation, a close study of post-Soviet Romanian life that engages issues of ethics, globalism, civil society, personal morality and the agony of parental separation within a genre that might be dubbed a socio-philosophical thriller. As Graduation opens, in a smallish town of Cluj, an unseen laborer is digging an enormous hole outside a modest apartment complex. Moments later, inside one of the units, a rock sails through the living room window. Is it an errant piece of detritus from the big dig? Something more sinister? Thats the question faced by Romeo (Adrian Titieni), the prosperous physician who lives there, and who is busy bustling his daughter Eliza (Maria Dragus) out the door and attending to his homebound wife, Magda (Lia Bugnar). On Romeo and Elizas ride to her high school, we discover that shes preparing for her final exams, which will determine whether she can accept a highly coveted scholarship to attend college in England. The test is merely a bit of official red tape for Eliza, who has been a stellar student. But, as she wistfully talks about missing her friends and meeting her motorcycle-riding boyfriend later, its clear that her desire is wobbling, if not waning entirely. [Q&A: Cristian Mungiu on compromise as a personal choice and corruption as a social phenomenon.] Filmed in tight intimacy by Mungiu, and edited to increase the viewers sense of looming foreboding, Graduation takes a dramatic turn early on, after which the story becomes a thought-provoking, often painful microcosm of the little questions that vex most human beings on any given day, but that can quickly balloon into high-stakes existential crises. (As one character observes dolefully, Misfortunes occur, unpredictably.) There will be interactions with any number of Romanian institutions, including Elizas school, where Romeo encounters a caring teacher (Malina Manovici); the hospital where Romeo works; the local police department (alert viewers will recognize Vlad Ivanov from 4 Months); and Romeos own crumbling marriage. What emerges is a portrait of idealism tempered by cynical, hard-won experience in post-communist Romania, where an entire invisible economy has blossomed on the strength of favors, obligations, status and expediency. Of course, Romania isnt the only country in which social capital is king. Because of that, Graduation resonates not just as a vivid portrait of a culture at a particular moment in time, but also of the most enduring and confounding contradictions of human nature itself. Although hes contemplating age-old arguments about means vs. ends, Mungiu nonetheless infuses them with timely relevance, both in the context of a world order that has become broader and more cosmopolitan, and a society that, 30 years after its rebirth, still struggles with establishing agreed-upon norms, expectations and rules of the road. Put most simply, Romeo is in search of justice, and he doesnt care how many rules he must break to find it. At one point, his bullheaded journey takes him to a literal and figurative no mans land, where hes completely disoriented and stripped of the power his profession and carefully cultivated respectability gave him for so many years. Deceptively simple on its face, Graduation is full of such bluntly effective scenes, which Mungiu films in wide, generous shots, the better to accommodate his characters, their environments and their unspoken history. The power of the film is cumulative, as the filmmaker spins a mesmerizing morality tale from the dross of daily life. In his skillful hands, the ordinary turns out to be anything but. Exceptional Excellent Very Good (Jennifer Chase/For The Washington Post) Martine Sauniers wines are sold mostly to restaurants, but a few including the Feraud-Brunel and the Niepoort recommended here are available at select retail stores. Other wines this week include an easy-to-find bag-in-a-box rose from Provence, a fine gruner veltliner from Austria and a racy albarino from Spain. Dave McIntyre GREAT VALUE Feraud-Brunel Cotes du Rhone Villages 2013 Rhone Valley, France, $20 Cotes du Rhone Village is a relatively modest appellation, but this is not a modest wine. It has the color of Bing cherries, and on the palate it tastes like cherries, meat and herbs. In other words, it has loads of flavor that doesnt quit. Alcohol by volume: 14 percent. Distributed by Washburn Wines: Available in the District at DCanter; on the list at DBGB Kitchen, Ici Bistro. Steininger Gruner Veltliner Grand Gru Reserve 2015 Kamptal, Austria, $28 A fantastic vintage from one of my favorite Austrian producers yes, I have many this classy white wine is limpid and deep. Its initial impression seems understated, but there is a lot of fruit, white flowers and peppery minerality to grab your attention. ABV: 13 percent. Distributed by Siema in the District, Maryland and southern Virginia; Select Wines in Northern Virginia: Available in the District at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, DCanter, MacArthur Beverages, Whole Foods Market in Georgetown. Available in Maryland at Cranberry Liquors in Westminster; Downtown Crown Wine and Beer and Finewine.com in Gaithersburg; Fenwick Beer & Wine in Silver Spring; Old Line Fine Wines, Spirits and Bistro in Beltsville; Spin the Bottle Wine Co. in Frederick; Wells Discount Liquors in Baltimore; Wine Bin in Ellicott City. Available in Virginia at Arrowine & Cheese and Twisted Vines in Arlington, Balduccis (Alexandria, McLean), Chain Bridge Cellars in McLean, Oakton Wine Shop, Unwined (Alexandria, Belleview), Vienna Vintner, Wine Cabinet in Reston; on the list at LAuberge Chez Francois in Great Falls, Rincome in Arlington, Trummers on Main in Clifton. Niepoort Twisted Tinto 2015 Douro Valley, Portugal, $19 Dirk Niepoort is one of the Douro Valleys leading champions of table wines, in addition to the ports the region is known for. Douro winemakers have favored the powerful, tannic and alcoholic style of red wine, but Niepoort is moving in the opposite direction, toward elegance and finesse. The Twisted red blend features lively acidity and savory dark fruit flavors. Try this with steak, stew or . . . well, anything that makes you think of red wine. ABV: 14 percent. Distributed by Washburn Wines: Available in the District at DCanter, Irving Wine & Spirits; on the list at Arroz, Eno Wine Bar. Available in Maryland at Rips Wine and Spirit Shop in Bowie. Nessa Albarino 2015 Rias Baixas, Spain, $17 Nessas albarino is classic, with racy, refreshing flavors of citrus and kumquat. This wine will be happiest when you pair it with seafood. ABV: 12.5 percent. Distributed by Elite, and by Grapes of Spain in Montgomery County: Widely available in the District, including at 1 West Dupont Circle Wine & Liquors, Batch 13, Cairo Wine & Liquor, Chinatown Liquor, Daily 14, MacArthur Beverages, Quincy Liquor, Rodmans, Virginia Market, Wagshals Deli, Whole Foods Market (Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Tenleytown). Available in Maryland at Balduccis in Bethesda, Downtown Crown Wine and Beer and Finewine.com in Gaithersburg, Highland Wine & Spirits in Highland, SoCo Fine Wine & Spirits in Deale, Old Farm Liquors in Frederick, Rodmans in Wheaton, Wine Cellars of Annapolis. Available in Virginia at Arrowine and Cheese and Streets Market & Cafe in Arlington, Balduccis in McLean, Cheesetique in Alexandria, J. Emerson Fine Wines & Cheese in Richmond, Tastings of Charlottesville, Unwined in Belleview, Whole Foods Market (various locations). GREAT VALUE Chateau Montaud Cotes de Provence Rose 2016 Provence, France, $26 (3 liters) Who can argue against a delicious rose from Provence that comes in a three-liter box for a bargain price the equivalent of less than $7 a bottle? Its $13 in a 750-milliliter bottle. If you want to splurge, it is also available in a really cool-looking three-liter bottle for about $75. The box is easier and more fun. ABV: 12 percent. Distributed by M. Touton Selection: Available in the District at Capital City Wine & Spirits, Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, Eye Street Cellars, Magruders, Rodmans, Sherrys Fine Wine & Spirits, Yes! Organic Market (various locations). Widely available in Maryland. Available in Virginia at Balduccis in Alexandria, Ivy Provisions in Charlottesville, Leesburg Vintner, Planet Wine & Gourmet in Alexandria, the Town Duck in Warrenton. Availability information is based on distributor records. Wines might not be in stock at every listed store and might be sold at additional stores. Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor. VIRGINIA 35-year-old man gets life for robberies A man who robbed several stores and restaurants in Northern Virginia will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Larry Pyos Jr., 35, of Burke, was given a 115-year sentence by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria federal court on Friday. Last August, Pyos was indicted on charges including use of firearms in an armed robbery and being a felon in possession of firearms. A federal jury convicted him Oct. 20. The robberies began Christmas Eve 2015 when Pyos robbed the Good Fortune Supermarket in Falls Church, sticking a pistol in an employees back, according to court records, and grabbing cash. . Over the next several months, Pyos robbed three stores in Springfield, and two restaurants in Falls Church and in McLean. Twice he fired at employees who tried to follow him. In Falls Church a worker was hit in the foot by a bullet fragment after Pyos shot at the back door. Rachel Weiner William & Mary starts search for president The search has begun to replace Taylor Reveley, president of the College of William & Mary, who will retire next year. College officials said a search committee has been formed. Its 19 members include the schools leaders, board members, faculty and a current student leader. The group plans to hear from faculty, staff members and students at public forums on April 19. The school also seeks input from the larger William & Mary community in Williamsburg. The committee will eventually describe the kind of person it wants, and will guide the nationwide search. The universitys goal is to choose a new leader by the winter or spring 2018. Reveley will retire the following June. Associated Press Va. man dies in crash in Loudoun County A motorist was killed last week in Loudoun County, on Route 15 just north of Route 50, the state police said. Authorities said Aaron S. Burdick, 35, of Berryville, Va., was killed Wednesday when his vehicle ran off the road and he overcorrected, causing it to overturn. He was partially ejected, police said. Martin Weil Melvin Wellington makes dinner for his family inside the cramped motel room. Chanda Davis is in center, wearing yellow. The children are, left to right, Chamel (age 7), Meliana, (age 1), and Melvin, Jr. (age 6). (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) The nations capital is one of the few places in the country that guarantee homeless families a right to shelter. So when Chanda Davis faced eviction last winter from the apartment in Southeast Washington she shared with her four children, she thought she could count on D.C.s Department of Human Services for help. Davis got help she wasnt expecting. Instead of putting a roof over her familys head, the city put bus tickets in their hands and sent them on a one-way trip to North Carolina. Davis, a 28-year-old Giant Food clerk, was one of 4,605 people or 78 percent of applicants rejected for family shelter last year in the District. Her case offers a front-line view of the hurdles homeless parents and children face in a system that promises shelter as a universal right but routinely turns away those who seek it. The Districts shelter admission rate of 22 percent trailed those in comparable right-to-shelter jurisdictions, an analysis by The Washington Post found. New York City admitted 50 percent of family shelter applicants last year, and Massachusetts 44 percent. D.C. officials say the number of rejections is largely attributable to a policy success: By weeding out families that arent eligible and finding alternative ways to help those that are such as financial assistance or brokering ad hoc living arrangements with applicants relatives they say they are preserving shelter as a true last resort. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is now pushing legislation that would further tighten shelter eligibility requirements, a move she says is necessary to ease the strain on a system coping with a population of homeless families that has nearly doubled over the past decade and may be further swelled by people traveling from Maryland and Virginia to take advantage of the Districts right-to-shelter policy. Already, the city is spending $80,000 a night on hotel rooms for families crowded out of the main shelter at D.C. General, officials say. They also assert that a quarter of the rooms rented by the city are not consistently used, suggesting that some people have other housing options despite claims of homelessness. We need to be able to hold that line if were going to make shelter available to the people who really need it, said Laura Zeilinger, who heads the human services department. Distinguishing true need in the onslaught of demand is a very difficult job, she said. District officials said they rarely direct homeless families to other cities or states, a widely discredited practice that homeless advocates mockingly call bus-ticket therapy. They said Davis, Melvin Wellington Sr., 29, and their children were one of only two families sent on long- distance bus trips in the past six months. But several other parents who have battled shelter rejections over the past year said they have also been detoured into questionable housing arrangements. One said she was denied shelter and advised to illegally stay in her mothers public housing unit; another that she was told to go back to the home where she said she had been attacked by an abusive husband who was under a restraining order. Their accounts suggest that what city officials call an overly permissive screening process can look very different to those on the outside trying to get in. Davis said her own familys story shows how efforts to triage shelter applicants, however well-intentioned, can go wrong. Once she and her children arrived in North Carolina, District officlials plan for them to move in with an estranged relative unraveled. Within days they were on the street and 300 miles away from the job and school they had left behind. After they returned to the District with financial help from parents in her daughters D.C. Girl Scouts troop, Davis found a lawyer and successfully appealed her shelter determination. The family was placed in a motel, but she said she is still angry about a bureaucracy she thinks went to extremes to keep her family off the shelter rolls. I cried in front of these people. I pled my case in front of them. They didnt care, Davis said. They didnt bat an eye when I told them how reluctant I was to go to another city when I was established here. Campaign promises Bowser has actually made the citys shelter system significantly more welcoming than it was under her predecessor, former mayor Vincent C. Gray (D). During Grays last year in office, the District admitted just 9 percent of families that applied for shelter. Bowser, who declined to comment for this story, campaigned against Gray in 2014 promising a more liberal policy, and her administration has won plaudits from homeless advocates for opening the shelters year-round. Gray admitted families only on nights cold enough to trigger a hypothermia alert. But some say the system is still impenetrable for too many. Amber Harding, a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said intake workers appear to lack clear guidelines on how to assess need and when to encourage other housing options, such as staying with relatives. She said clinic lawyers frequently persuade senior city officials to reverse decisions made at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, the central intake point for homeless families. To me, it is a sign of a broken system that someone can go to the family resource center and be denied and I can tell their same story to the senior leadership . . . and they get admitted, Harding said. You shouldnt need a lawyer to get into emergency shelter. At a D.C. Council Committee on Human Services hearing last month, Harding said that no other public benefit is as erratically and inconsistently provided to applicants. Latanya Campbell, 27 and a mother of three, was jobless and unable to pay rent when she turned to the city for help last year. Instead of admitting her family to a shelter, she said, a social worker directed them to continue staying with her mother in a one-bedroom D.C. Housing Authority unit that bars tenants from hosting guests for more than 30 days. (When she applied for shelter, Campbell said, she was already over the limit.) The Budget Motor Inn on New York Avenue houses many homeless families in the city. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) The city referred her to a nonprofit organization for assistance finding housing, but no options have panned out, she said. For almost a year, she and her children have been sleeping in her mothers living room. You have to go beyond and beyond to get help, she said. Keisha McDonald, a 27-year-old security guard with three children between the ages of 3 and 9, abandoned her apartment in Southeast last spring after an alleged attack by her then-husband. She said in a court filing he had punched her, broken her cellphone and threatened to kill her. The judge in the case issued a one-year protective order. Several months later, after spending four weeks in a Virginia hotel through an emergency housing program for domestic-violence victims and staying with relatives and friends, she requested shelter for her family at the Virginia Williams center. They were granted an interim placement in a District hotel for five days, but then told they were ineligible for long-term shelter because her name was still on the lease to her old apartment. She found a lawyer and successfully appealed. The city tried to figure out every way not to help me, McDonald said. It was really horrible. I really needed someplace to stay, and I was running from a bad situation. City officials declined to comment on individual cases, citing client confidentiality. Dora Taylor-Lowe, a spokeswoman for the department of human services, said in a statement that if a family is deemed homeless but has a safe place to stay for at least one night, intake workers will try to find options besides shelter and will often conduct mediation with relatives or friends of a family to negotiate a short-term stay with supports offered when needed. She said there are no circumstances in which the agency would encourage the placement of any family or individual in an unsafe or unwelcoming environment and that a family is never placed in a diversion arrangement without their consent. She also said that families receiving rental subsidies through the citys rapid re-housing program are immediately moved to another apartment if they report domestic violence. McDonald, who was in rapid re-housing at the time of the alleged attack by her husband, said she told her caseworker about the incident but was not found a new apartment. Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said many cities attempt to winnow applications for family homeless shelters, which are costly to run and can be uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous for small children. Eligibility rules and tactics for diverting homeless families into other housing options are valuable tools in that process, she said. But they have to be applied with care. Its complicated, Roman said. Where is the line between someone who really is homeless and has no other options, and someone who you think has options and they dont think they have options? Something they forced on us Having dinner in the cramped motel room are Meliana (age 1), Melvin Jr. (6), Chamel (age 7) and foreground, Kimel, (age 4). (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) Davis and Wellington settled in the District five years ago and began to build the rudiments of a stable upbringing for their children, now 7 and younger. They enrolled their eldest daughter and son in the well- regarded Miner Elementary School, where Melvin Wellington Jr., 6, received the Mr. Responsible award in his kindergarten class. Chamel Wellington, 7, joined a Daisy troop on Capitol Hill. Theyre a family thats really working hard, said Laura Brown, a Capitol Hill attorney who is co-leader of Chamels troop. Although Davis held a steady job at a grocery store in Cathedral Heights, Wellington worked only sporadically as an inventory clerk and deliveryman for kitchen appliances. By last fall, the family had cycled once through homelessness in the District and been placed in a two-bedroom apartment north of Fort Circle Park with a rapid re-housing subsidy. In November they could no longer afford the rent and agreed to move out when threatened with eviction, Davis and Wellington said. When they went to Virginia Williams to request emergency shelter, they said their case worker, Lisa Watford, instead urged the family of six to board a Greyhound to Goldsboro, N.C., where they would stay in the two-bedroom apartment Melvins mother, Yvette Wellington, shared with her boyfriend. Davis and Wellington said they agreed to go, thinking their other option was the street. It was something they forced on us, Wellington said. Theres a reason I dont live with this lady. Theres a reason I dont talk to this lady. The familys account of their experience at Virginia Williams was confirmed by Carol Betts, a D.C. Public Schools teacher who accompanied them on one of multiple visits to the center before the trip to North Carolina. Betts, who teaches Melvin Jr. at Miner Elementary, said she assumed that the plan to bus the family across state lines stemmed from a misunderstanding that could be sorted out by someone fluent in the workings of D.C. bureaucracy. She was wrong. A lot of people give you their view of stuff, and they exaggerate. These people werent exaggerating, Betts said of Davis and Wellington. She said Virginia Williams was rife with a culture that has existed in the District for many decades: Ive got my job, and my job is to tell you no, and to find all the different ways I can tell you no. Watford, the familys case worker, declined to comment on the case. Zeilinger said it was not city policy to relocate homeless families outside the District against their will. We would never, ever send somebody out of town if it was not their willing choice to want to go there, she said. They need to be able to want to go, and there needs to be somebody on the other end willing to receive. Reached by telephone in North Carolina, Yvette Wellington, 52, recalled her conversation with the case worker who phoned. She was like, they was homeless or whatever, and blah, blah, blah, Yvette Wellington said. I said, No, I cant take none of them, she said. But the next thing I know, Chanda and Melvin and all the kids were at my house. Kimel Wellington, 4, enjoys a drink of milk after dinner in the cramped motel room the family shares. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) Chanda Davis and her family were denied shelter in the District. Eventually they came back to the area and were placed in one of the motels handling shelter overflow. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) After a few tense days, Melvin and Yvette Wellington argued, and the family left. I dont have a problem taking care of them kids, but I aint taking care of no grown-ups, Yvette Wellington said. They homeless cause they want to be f---ing homeless. With what money they had, the family checked into a hotel in Goldsboro. Davis went online and started a GoFundMe account, which quickly filled up as word of the familys predicament spread at Miner Elementary and among Girl Scouts parents. On the familys return to the District, Brown helped Davis find an attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless who persuaded city officials to place the family in a motel. Brown said she could recognize a sensible rule putting families in shelter only as a last resort applied without common sense. It ostensibly makes sense, except when someone tries to impose the policy in a way that is absolutely absurd, which it was in this case, Brown said. She left a job. She pulled her kids out of a school they had been enrolled in for years. It was absurd the extent to which she was uprooted in the name of homelessness prevention. This story has been updated to clarify the job titles of some D.C. officials who work with the homeless. Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report. The man forced his way into the bar, swung a big chain at employees, and grabbed a phone from the bartender who was calling the police. Then he continued his rampage, breaking bottles and glasses. After hitting another employee he went out the back. It happened Friday morning at a sports-themed bar and grill in the Reston/ Herndon area of Fairfax County, according to the county police. For employees and patrons of Glory Days, which is in the Fox Mill commercial center just west of Reston Parkway, it began around 12:30 a.m., as they were on the front patio of the premises on John Milton Drive, according to the police account. Police said a man approached them, swinging a large chain, the police said, forcing peope to get inside the building and lock the doors. That didnt work, police said. They said the man broke the doors , went inside, and kept swinging the chain at the staff. Then he took the phone, went to the rear, and encountered the second employee, and hit him, police said. They said the employee, a 58-year-old man, suffered injuries to his hand that did not appear life-threatening. A short time later, police said, the owner of a house about a half mile away on Freetown Drive awoke to hear glass breaking. Both windows adjacent to the front door had been broken, police said, and a man was trying to get in. The homeowner yelled, police said, and the man fled. Police were called and they said that they found a man lying under a nearby car. They said Quan Anh Ly, 33, of Herndon, was arrested and charged with malicious wounding, attempted malicious wounding, burglary, and felony destruction of property. No explanation for the incidents was given by police. The Lincoln Arts Council (LAC) has awarded project grants to help arts outreach projects develop new audiences, facilitate underserved groups and increase arts access for all. Eleven projects were selected from 20 applications to each receive $500 from underwriting provided by the Ken Good Beautification Fund and administered by LAC. Cline Williams Wright Johnson and Oldfather provided meeting space for the selection process in January. Community members are encouraged to attend and support these worthy projects. Lincoln Municipal Band toward funding professional outdoor band concerts free for the community during summer 2017. Angels Theatre Company artist stipends for the third First Flight Festival, July 18-29. Angels Playwriting Collective provides a unique opportunity for playwrights to work together and learn what it takes to move an idea to stage production. The festival engages the community in live theater. KZUM Community Radio to underwrite promotional printing for the Stransky Park Summer Concert Series a free, family-friendly weekly event that includes live music and hands-on art by the ArtReach Project. Lincolns Symphony Orchestra to support the spring family concert, young peoples concerts and all outreach to four Lincoln City Library sites, two YMCA community learning centers and two LPS elementary schools. All performances are offered free of charge. Nebraska Jazz Orchestra for artistic fees to produce Jazz Goes to School and Jazz 101 educational programs, which send professional musicians from the NJO to perform in schools and to offer free tickets to NJO concerts to local middle and high school students. Sheldon Art Association for artist fees to host photographer Jim Lommasson, for collaboration with UNL College of Journalism & Mass Communications students and members of Lincolns Yazidi (Iraqi) community, to create an immigration stories exhibit hosted by the Sheldon in 2017. Also to conduct a What We Carried storytelling workshop with students and Yazidi community members. Flatwater Shakespeare Company to partially underwrite artist fees involved in producing free live Shakespeare at outdoor locations around Lincoln in summer 2017. Lincoln Community Playhouse to support its fourth Penguin Project Production, High School Musical Jr., which casts children and young adults (ages 10-21) of all abilities as actors and peer mentors in June 2017. Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music to cover the artist fee for one visiting chamber ensemble to perform in an underserved public school in Lincoln. Asian Community & Cultural Center to underwrite banners for the Lunar New Year celebration featuring cultural performances, food, crafts, henna and face-painting. Lincoln Choral Artists to underwrite artistic director fees to produce Sowing the Seeds of Music in Nebraska May 7 at Nebraska Wesleyans ODonnell Auditorium. The concert of music, history and heritage is presented in honor of Nebraskas sesquicentennial. Arts organizations are encouraged to submit outreach projects for funding beginning in October. Qualifying arts organizations must be members of the Lincoln Arts Council and be registered as 501(c)(3) nonprofit entities. For more details, see artscene.org or call 402-434-2787. Thelma Butlers daughter Pamela, 47, went missing in February 2009. Police arrested Pamela Butlers then-boyfriend in April 2017 and charged him with murder. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) When the man charged with killing Pamela Butler appeared in D.C. Superior Court for the first time after his arrest this month, his defense attorney questioned whether prosecutors could even prove a crime occurred. Butler, a 47-year-old computer analyst from Northwest Washington, disappeared shortly before Valentines Day 2009. Authorities insist that Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, Butlers then-boyfriend, killed her in a jealous rage. But because Butlers body has never been found, Rodriguez-Cruzs attorney argued, there is no evidence of a murder let alone evidence that proves her client is a killer. There is insufficient evidence that Ms. Butler is deceased or, if deceased, that her death is the result of a murder or that Mr. Cruz is the perpetrator, Judith Pipe, of the Districts Public Defender Service, argued at an April 10 hearing. [Man accused in Pamela Butler slaying linked to disappearance of first wife ] It was an argument judges in the District have heard before in those rare murder cases in which the victims body has never been found. In the nations capital, there have been four such cases that have gone to trial, the first dating to 1984, according to prosecutors who track them. Pamela Butler (Butler family) But no-body cases, as they are called, are not that uncommon. In Maryland, Montgomery County prosecutors secured convictions in two high-profile no-body murder cases the killings of Lisa Tu, 42, in 1988 and Michele Dorr, 6, in 1986. In a no-body case in Northern Virginia, a federal jury in Alexandria convicted a former naval intelligence officer in 2006 in the death of his wife, Doris Lentz. Montgomery detectives also have alleged that two sisters missing from Wheaton since 1975 Sheila Lyon, 12, and Katherine Lyon, 10 were killed, even though their bodies have never been found. A suspect in that case, Lloyd Welch, faces trial this year on murder charges in Bedford County, Va., where the girls bodies were believed to have been taken and possibly burned. In the District, authorities believe that 8-year-old Relisha Rudd is dead after she vanished in 2014. But that case is unlikely to ever end up in court, as the suspect in her disappearance, a janitor at the homeless shelter where Relisha stayed, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Without a body, prosecutors lack a key witness during trial, the medical examiner. The medical examiner often gives the narrative of the persons death, detailing the cause, time and specifics. They are difficult. With a no-body case, you dont have the essential piece of evidence, said former D.C. prosecutor Tad DiBiase, author of the book No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting, and Winning Cases When the Victim is Missing. When prosecutors do decide to file charges in such cases, DiBiase said, it often means they have collected a significant amount of evidence. That can include witness statements, DNA or statements from other defendants. Since the early 1800s, about 480 no-body cases have gone to trial. Of those cases, about 89 percent resulted in convictions, DiBiase said. Of the four cases tried in the District, all four resulted in convictions, DiBiase said. The most recent case involved the death of 18-year-old Latisha Frazier of Southeast Washington in 2010. Prosecutors argued that Frazier was brutally beaten by a group of teens, who then discarded her body in a dumpster. Her body was never recovered and authorities believe that it was dumped in a Virginia landfill. Six people pleaded guilty in the case. One defendant, then-17-year-old Johnnie Sweet, was charged as an adult and pleaded not guilty. After a trial, a jury found Sweet guilty of orchestrating Fraziers death. He was sentenced to 52 years in prison. Former D.C. prosecutor Chris Kavanaugh, now a federal prosecutor in Virginia, said as long as other evidence in the case is strong, jurors today are pretty sophisticated and realize a murder suspect may dispose of a body in an effort to avoid charges. But Kavanaugh said other pieces of evidence have to be strong, such as proving a motive, uncovering a false alibi or showing a history of violence. Jurors understand when evidence is missing . . . such as a murder weapon in a case, that the person on trial is responsible for the evidence being missing, he said. During Sweets trial, prosecutors had the advantage of the account of a co-defendant. That witness, a 19-year-old woman, told the jury how she and her friends beat, kicked and choked Frazier to death on Sweets orders because he believed Frazier had stolen money from him. There are no co-defendants in the Butler case. But authorities say there is ample circumstantial evidence as well as a history of violence. Butler, who worked at the Environmental Protection Agency, had surveillance cameras installed outside her home. The cameras showed Rodriguez-Cruz in and out of the house in the days after Feb. 13, 2009, several times carrying trash bags and once cleaning supplies. He told police that he was removing personal items after he and Butler had broken up. Though police did not find evidence of blood or a weapon inside the house, they said that parts of the house were in disarray and that Butlers bedsheets and blanket were missing. [Womans disappearance leaves trail with no end] During the initial hearing for Rodriguez-Cruz, prosecutor Deborah Sines noted that Butler had been declared dead after years without contact with her family. Sines said Butler was abused during her relationship with Rodriguez-Cruz. Sines said the defendant had also abused other women and may also be responsible for the disappearance of his first wife in 1989. Past evidence of abuse, particularly in domestic relationships, often is key in no-body cases, DiBiase said. The majority of such cases, he said, are the result of domestic violence involving a parent killing a child or a boyfriend or husband killing a partner. DiBiase said assailants in those cases often believe authorities will view them as the primary suspect and then decide that if there is no body, it would be more difficult to make an arrest. In 2010, a D.C. Superior Court jury found Terrence Barnett, then 45, guilty of second-degree murder in the 1999 disappearance of girlfriend Yolanda Baker after prosecutors argued that Barnett had a history of abusing Baker. Baker was officially declared dead in 2009, 10 years after she was last seen leaving her Northeast Washington home. Her body has not been found. Defense attorney Nikki Lotze, who represented Barnett in the trial, said not having a body is a glaring piece of missing evidence because it sets the scene of the crime. Lotze said that for prosecutors who dont have any witnesses to a crime, persuading a judge to admit details about a suspects past is not a guarantee. Lotze was not surprised to hear that Rodriguez-Cruzs attorney immediately argued that there was no proof of Butlers death. By arguing there is no body, a defense attorney is doing their job and pointing out the absence of evidence, she said. A man who robbed several stores and restaurants in Northern Virginia will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Larry Pyos Jr., 35, of Burke, was given a 115-year sentence by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria federal court on Friday. Last August, Pyos was indicted on multiple charges, including use of firearms in an armed robbery and being a felon in possession of firearms. He was convicted by a federal jury on Oct. 20. Pyoss girlfriend, Ariel Long, bought the handguns he used, accompanied him on some of the robberies and served as his getaway driver. She pleaded guilty and testified against Pyos in a trial last fall. Pyos was also caught on several surveillance cameras. The string of robberies began Christmas Eve 2015, when Pyos robbed the Good Fortune Supermarket in Falls Church. He stuck a handgun in an employees back, according to court records, shoving her away from the cash register and grabbing the money inside. Over the next several months, Pyos went on to rob three stores in Springfield, the Hong Kong Palace Restaurant in Falls Church and a Subway in McLean. Twice he fired his gun at employees who tried to follow him. At Hong Kong Palace, a kitchen worker was hit in the foot by a bullet fragment after Pyos shot at the back door. When Pyos robbed the Ding How Carry-Out in Springfield on April 4, 2016, according to court records, the owners 14-year-old daughter was behind the counter. She testified at trial that he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the cash register, showing her the handgun. Pyos and Long were arrested May 11, 2016, two days after the Subway robbery. Prosecutors said he admitted to all the crimes and several others in an emotional interview. But he changed his mind and fought the charges at trial, blaming his girlfriend. Long was sentenced to 138 months in prison last year. A flier from 1918 encourages schoolchildren in California to kill destructive ground squirrels using poison. (N/A/State Commission of Horticultures Rodent Control Division ) While poking around online a year or two ago, Dave Gilson came across a curious hashtag: #SquirrelWeek. Id like to say it was connected to my Squirrel Week the annual exploration of all things Sciuridae that I launched in 2011 but who can say for sure? What is for sure is that Dave, a senior editor at Mother Jones magazine in San Francisco, did what he often does: He searched old newspapers for stuff that somehow relates to stories in the news today. And, Dave said, when he typed squirrel week into an archive of old California newspapers, it turned up all these stories about Squirrel Week and the campaign to kill the squirrels. That sent me down a rabbit hole or perhaps a squirrel hole. Whatever kind of hole it was, it was deep and it was dark. How dark? In 1918, the state of California encouraged schoolchildren to exterminate as many ground squirrels as they could, by any means, during the week of April 29 to May 4. It gives Squirrel Week a whole different cast. Said Dave: My first reaction was, this is so weird. Especially these days, most people think of squirrels as cute and fuzzy and not really that annoying. Dave wrote about his findings in a wonderful story published in November on the Atlas Obscura website. The headline: In 1918, California Drafted Children Into a War On Squirrels. The campaign was framed in terms of the damage squirrels did to the states crops. One poster Dave found was headlined Death to the Squirrel and featured a skull and crossbones (human, not squirrel). Millions in food must be saved, the text read. Slay the mother squirrel during breeding season March to May. A squirrel in time saves killing nine. Another illustration showed a bonnet-wearing woman holding a bucket labeled Poison barley. Says the woman: Children, we must kill the squirrels to save food. But use poisons carefully. Said Dave: There was one pamphlet that literally told you how to hook up the exhaust pipe of your car to a squirrel burrow and basically asphyxiate an entire colony. Pretty sadistic territory. Wrote Dave in his Atlas Obscura piece: Just in case civic duty wasnt motivation enough, there were also rewards: $50 ($800 today) to each of the elementary and high schools whose pupils killed the most squirrels, and $30 and $20 to the runners-up. The United States was at war in 1918, and Squirrel Week took on a jingoistic tone. Some anthropomorphic squirrels were depicted wearing German-style spiked helmets. They were eventually portrayed not just as pests, but as allies of the Germans and allies of the Kaiser, Dave said. By the end of the schoolchildrens squirrel-killing contest, 104,509 ground squirrels tails had been turned in. While the kid angle might have been unprecedented, such murderous incentives were not new. An 1897 article in The Washington Post noted that 30 U.S. states were offering bounties for certain troublesome animals, including wolves, panthers, ground squirrels, pocket gophers, woodchucks and English sparrows. But the ecosystem is complicated, and its not always easy to figure out who the real enemy is. According to The Post, over the course of 18 months, Pennsylvania had shelled out $90,000 in bounties for chicken-killing hawks and owls. But it was noted that each hawk and owl would have killed 1,000 mice, an animal injurious to crops. Wrote The Post: It appears that Pennsylvania expended $90,000 in destroying birds worth $3,857,230 for the sake of saving $1,875 to the poultry interest. Two species of ground squirrels Otospermophilus beecheyi and Otospermophilus douglasii are still officially a problem in California. Their burrows are said to weaken levees and divert irrigation water. The critters themselves eat alfalfa, almonds, apples, apricots, oranges, peaches, pistachios, prunes, tomatoes and walnuts among other crops. These days, though, the squirrels elimination is left to professionals, not children with buckets of poisoned barley. A kinder kind of Squirrel Week I asked Dave if he felt a close connection to squirrels. Not necessarily, he said, though he admitted its hard not to find tree squirrels playing in the park cute. Then Dave mentioned that when his mother was a girl, she had a pet squirrel, a golden-mantled ground squirrel called Sally, named by her brother after his swim instructor at camp. Thats my only close family connection, Dave said. As this years Squirrel Week my Squirrel Week comes to a close, lets remember Sally and all the other squirrels out there that have entertained, inspired and, yes, even bedeviled us. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. With just under three months left, Metros SafeTrack program has shifted to the Green Line in Maryland, and transportation officials are optimistic disruptions for riders wont be as severe as some of the maintenance projects earlier work, despite last-minute changes. The third-to-last safety surge, which started Saturday, will close College Park station for two weeks and Greenbelt station for one month. Metro initially had planned to have trains share a track to continue service to those stations during the course of the 30-day project. However, Metro officials opted to instead suspend all service on that section of track, to complete the work more quickly and to lessen delays on the rest of the Green Line. The closure was a surprise to us and it took a bit of scrambling to figure out what we were going to do, said Anna McLaughlin, assistant director of the University of Marylands Department of Transportation Services. But weve built in a little flexibility with the number of buses and drivers that we have available, so we can scale up if we need to. Well do some watch-and-see, and accommodate as best we can. [Metros SafeTrack Surge 14 will shut down the northern end of the Green Line] The month-long period of maintenance work will actually be performed in two distinct stages. From now through April 29, Metro will close Greenbelt and College Park stations. Bus shuttles will service those stations and carry riders to and from Prince Georges Plaza station and the rest of the Green Line. Starting April 30, only Greenbelt will remain closed to Metro trains. A shuttle will run to College Park station, where riders can transfer to the Green Line. That second stage will conclude on May 14. Metro says there should not be much downstream impact on the rest of the Green Line or other parts of the system, except for one notable change: Yellow Rush-Plus service will be canceled during the entire surge on the northern and southern ends of the Yellow Line. Paulette Jones, spokeswoman for the Prince Georges County Department of Public Works and Transportation, said she is confident that commuters experiencing their 11th month of SafeTrack woes will take the latest closures in stride. What we have found is that for a lot of these commuters, because were on Surge 14, theyve gotten real savvy and figured out all the alternate routes, Jones said. Still, theres one wrinkle that could exacerbate the problems. Because of previously scheduled road construction work, there will be one lane closed in each direction on Route 1 between Campus Drive and Rossborough Lane from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Those closures are scheduled to continue through May 19, after the scheduled end of the surge. Compared to the previous surges weve looked at, this one is a little bit unusual because there is also a scheduled roadway closure, said Lei Zhang, director of the University of Marylands National Transportation Center and a professor of civil and environmental engineering. We see this one as potentially having a more significant traffic impact on roadways compared to previous surges, Zhang said, but were talking a three-, four- or five-minute increase in travel times. Its not like people will have to spend 10 or 20 more minutes in traffic. [June 2016: How Metros SafeTrack plan could affect your commute if you drive] Metro suggests that those who usually park and commute from Greenbelt and College Park stations instead head to Prince Georges Plaza on the Green line, New Carrollton on the Orange line, or Forest Glen on the Red Line. Riders headed downtown can also take MARC trains headed to Union Station, which will be making more frequent stops at Greenbelt and College Park stations through the middle of May. Commuters might also want to consider bus options: Metros G12 and G14 buses start at Greenbelt and end at New Carrollton station on the Orange Line. Prince Georges County will operate extra service on its 15X bus, which also travels between those stations. At the University of Maryland in College Park, officials are preparing for the disruption by offering a special SafeTrack parking pass $5 per day, or $50 for the entire closure period. Its a way to provide students and staff with extra options if they dont want to brave the bus shuttle. As of Thursday afternoon, the university had only sold 10 of those permits, though they expect more students and staff to opt to make that purchase if Mondays commute is particularly hairy. In total, McLaughlin said, an average of about 3,000 people ride the universitys shuttle that runs between campus and College Park Metro station on a daily basis a good indication of the number of people who usually rely on train service to commute daily, she said. The university will also run shuttle buses directly from campus to Prince Georges Plaza station through the end of April. Those buses will run every 6 to 12 minutes from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays only. With two more SafeTrack installments left to go before the conclusion of the year-long project, the region is not in the clear yet. But Zhang says there have been significant unseen benefits to all these disruptions at least when it comes to the research performed at the National Transportation Center, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Researchers have been closely watching the traffic impact of all the previous surges to provide travel forecasts for commuters in the Washington-metro area, but also to amass data and statistics on the impact of transit closures on regional transportation networks. SafeTrack has provided a lot of good data for researchers around the nation for studying infrastructure resiliency issues, Zhang said. And while each surge has delivered its fair share of headaches, this one hits particularly close to home for Zhang. He said hes hopeful the station closures wont radically affect his commute, because he has some flexibility on his arrival time at work. But its a different story for some of his colleagues. I am concerned about quite a few of my graduate students and post-docs, who use Metro service on a regular basis, Zhang said. Some of them are telling me that theyre starting to look at other ways to get to campus. One told me, Maybe now is a good time to buy a car? [SafeTrack closures: These D.C. Metro lines and stations will be disrupted in the next year] There is much hand-wringing over the potential of North Korean nuclear missiles [U.S. sends Navy strike group toward the Korean Peninsula, news, April 10]. North Korea does not represent a nuclear threat. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is not dumb, despite his often bizarre behavior. He knows the United States would determine the origin of any missile based on its trajectory. He also knows that he would then face the full retaliatory capability of the United States strategic nuclear forces. If he really wanted to strike the United States with a nuclear weapon, there are better ways of doing so. And, ma ny of these could be made virtually undetectable for a uranium weapon and possibly even for a plutonium weapon. We have spent many millions on missile defense against adversaries who would never launch against us and radiation detection in ports that adversaries would never use. Yet we fail to fully fund efforts that would provide us with the intel needed to defeat real covert threats. John R. Powers, Alexandria THE UNITED NATIONS has rigorous and rarely met criteria for declaring a famine: 1 in 5 households in an affected area must be severely short of food; more than 30 percent of the population must be malnourished; and at least two starvation-related deaths must occur per day for every 10,000 members of the population. U.N. authorities did not declare a famine zone anywhere in the world after 2011 until this year. Now there is one in South Sudan, and soon there may be three more in northern Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. As many as 20 million people may face starvation. This extraordinary emergency is attracting remarkably little attention, and alarmingly paltry funding. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says $4.4 billion is needed by July to deliver food, water and medicine to afflicted areas, but only 10 percent of that sum has been raised. If Congress allows the drastic cuts in U.S. foreign aid proposed by the Trump administration, the funds necessary to prevent mass starvation almost certainly will not materialize. Last year, the United States provided almost a quarter of the World Food Programs budget, or about $2 billion. The food shortage in Somalia, the site of the last U.N. famine declaration six years ago, is in part the result of a drought affecting much of East Africa. Tragically, however, the emergency in the other three countries is entirely man-made. In South Sudan, government forces are impeding the delivery of food to two areas held by rebels, threatening 100,000 people with starvation. In northern Nigeria, more than 5 million people are short of food in areas still controlled by the Boko Haram movement, which has aligned itself with al-Qaeda. In Yemen, 7.3 million people urgently need food assistance, according to the OCHA website. There, the shortages result in part from the virtual closure of one of the countrys largest ports, Hodeida, which supplies the capital of Sanaa. The city is held by Houthi rebels; Saudi forces, which are attempting to drive out the Houthis, are slow to allow food shipments through a naval blockade. The United States bears some responsibility for much of this chaos. It has backed the ill-advised Saudi military adventure in Yemen; the Trump administration recently resolved to step up support for the war while setting aside human rights considerations that caused the Obama administration to pause some aid. The United States midwifed the birth of South Sudan, then failed to prevent its feuding political factions from going to war with each other. It has quietly waged war against the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab movement in Somalia, through drones and proxies. Staving off disaster will require speedy and decisive action. The United States should quickly supply its normal share of U.N. funding for food and push others to contribute. It should insist that Saudi and South Sudanese leaders open up the bottlenecks that are slowing food deliveries. If the White House will not supply the necessary funds, Congress should step in. The United States must not stand by as millions starve this year. David Chavern is president and chief executive of the News Media Alliance, a trade association representing about 2,000 newspapers in the United States and Canada. [Editors note: The Post is a member of the alliance.] Google and Facebook are facing new competition to their online business models after President Trump signed a bill putting Internet service providers on a path to being able to monetize online users the same way these technology giants do. Next up is the threatened unwinding of the Obama administrations net neutrality rules, which could put these companies in a double bind, because they could soon have to pay Internet service providers a metered rate to move their content to customers screens. Google and Facebook will argue as they did during our fight on net neutrality in 2015 that ISPs should not be able to prioritize and price the flow of online content. The problem is that they make the exact opposite argument in their role as distributors of news content crucial to our democracy. The two digital giants increase or reduce users exposure to news content based on whether publishers such as the Wall Street Journal or the Indianapolis Star agree to play by their rules. Those rules are crafted to maximize the flow of advertising revenue, not quality content. Proponents of net neutrality, including Google and Facebook, persuaded the Federal Communications Commission to treat ISPs as common carriers, akin to traditional telephone companies. Under decades-old law, such entities are subject to high levels of government regulation on price, access and other consumer issues, all in the name of the public good. Because of the elevated levels of regulation, ISPs arent permitted to favor any content, regardless of consumer demand. Now that Ajit Pai who has said that net neutralitys days are numbered has become chairman of the FCC, many think the agency will help ISPs reclaim the ability to set their own rules and toggle content based on revenue opportunity. News outlets, as creators of high-quality (and expensive) news content, like a level playing field and have supported net neutrality. But it would be hypocritical for Google and Facebook to be the faces of this fight, given their business models. The digital giants have become central to how millions of Americans consume their news, and as these companies rely on consumers ever-increasing appetites for news to capture their audiences, the business terms they dictate put intense stress on news industry economics. For example, Google requires publishers to offer First Click Free content, lest they be punished with demoted content that doesnt abide by the rules in search results. Facebooks Instant Articles allows articles to load faster in user news feeds, even with the newly announced changes and trials, but doesnt allow a simple or direct way to subscribe to a publication. Meanwhile, both companies pressure newsrooms bottom lines by soaking up online ad revenue. A study by Digital Content Next, a publishing trade group, found that major publishers with large digital operations earned only about 14 percent of their total revenue in the first half of last year from distribution platforms and most of that was from YouTube. Smaller news publishers get peanuts. This debate as well as the spread of fake news and questions about digital companies responsibility in weeding out false content seems to be leading the tech giants into an increasingly fraught political landscape. Media reporter Michael Wolff observed that the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress are creating a uniquely dangerous moment for the digital industry as its customers and employees demand that companies swear ever-more anti-Trump oaths. Google and Facebook understand the burgeoning vulnerability in their positions. Each has teams to think through its relationships with news content providers. Facebook brought on former CNN anchor Campbell Brown to help news organizations and journalists work more closely and more effectively with Facebook. Although welcome, such outreach wont be enough. Newsrooms have always cooperated with Facebook so much so that they have co-opted their economic models. Whats really needed is a fair and sustainable split on the advertising income earned off breaking news and good reporting, not just more happy talk about the importance of journalism. As the net neutrality issue heats up again, Facebooks and Googles conflicting positions wont go unnoticed. These companies argue that their content shouldnt be prioritized based on revenue-driven decisions by ISPs, yet they are doing the same thing to news organizations. Its an inconsistency that even ardent defenders of net neutrality will be unable to resolve. Somethings got to give. RACINE Gorman & Co. intends to do a project at Machinery Row, whether that means redeveloping two old J.I. Case Co. factory buildings, or razing them. Machinery Row is the name of a plan announced in mid-2014 by Davenport, Iowa-based Rodney Blackwell of Financial District Properties to redevelop the two massive former Case buildings at 820 and 900 Water St. Blackwell had planned to convert them into housing and commercial uses and work with the city to turn the waterfront there into a public thoroughfare. But after FDP defaulted last December on a $4.5 million city loan it had used to buy the properties, Gorman of Oregon, Wis., stepped in with interest in the site. Gormans 60-day due diligence period recently expired, and on Friday the companys Wisconsin president, Ted Matkom, repeated the companys commitment to the city-owned site, a 20-acre riverfront stretch along Water Street and immediately east of Marquette Street. But for the first time publicly, Matkom said undertaking a development there might require demolishing the two old Case buildings that date back to the early 1900s. Nine million dollars in state historic tax credits designated for Machinery Row in late 2014 are endangered because time is running out for their usage. If Gorman cannot get an extension on those credits, it would be very difficult to do a redevelopment, and the company would very likely have the buildings dismantled to create a clear construction site, Matkom said. But, he added, Its not a foregone conclusion. Legislative process Racine Mayor John Dickert has said the city is asking for a six-month extension for the credits, which would keep them allocated through the end of 2018. Matkom said any extension of the tax credits must be a line item in the upcoming state budget, and advocates for keeping those credits with Machinery Row have been to Madison to talk to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the original granting agency. State Rep. Tom Weatherston, R-Caledonia, has voiced doubt the Legislature would go along with that. Matkom said the process will play out by July, and Gorman will know if it has those tax credits to work with. If we got those credits, we would work really hard to figure out how to save those buildings, he said. Construction could probably begin next spring, he said, and both structures would likely be redeveloped simultaneously. Converted uses of the Case buildings could include market-rate housing, offices and a grocery store, Matkom said. Gorman would have no interest in subsidized, or low-income, housing, he said. However, failing the extension of the tax credits, demolition might be unavoidable, Matkom said. That would include salvaging and selling the old-growth lumber, Cream City bricks and metal inside the old Case factories. The question of the moment is what to make of the normalization of President Trump. Not normalization in the way used by the Trump resistance to argue against becoming inured to unacceptable behavior. But normalization of Trump in the usual sense of the term: that Trump is, if not behaving normally, at least adopting normal positions. NATO is no longer obsolete. China was a currency manipulator and would be branded as such in the Trump administration; now, never mind. Syria was not an American problem; now its behavior is Americas, and Trumps, responsibility, and Bashar al-Assad is a butcher. The Export-Import Bank, once bad, is now good; same, maybe, with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. These about-faces represent, in part, a Trump Tower-size version of the realities that confront any new president. Campaign trail proclamations yield to Oval Office sobriety. Thats not only to be expected it should, for the most part, also be welcomed. Bill Clinton vowed to revoke trade privileges with China because of its human rights abuses; in office, he found himself renewing Chinas most-favored-nation status, proclaiming, I think we have to see our relations with China within a broader context. George W. Bush promised to usher in an era of humble foreign policy and to stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions. You remember what happened next. Barack Obama criticized rival Hillary Clintons health-care proposal because it forces everyone to buy insurance, then crafted a plan with, yes, an individual mandate. Health care turned out to be complicated perhaps not more than Obama knew, but more than he was willing to admit on the campaign trail. Indeed, Obama underwent the same transformation as Trump on the Export-Import Bank, which as a candidate Obama derided as little more than a fund for corporate welfare. Of course, Trumps dizzying string of policy pirouettes is different from the evolving positions of his predecessors. None of them flipped so much, so soon. Thats not surprising. Trumps learning curve is steeper. His attachment to any particular position is especially flimsy because he lacks any coherent worldview; his guiding ideology involves only the promotion of Trump. And the ever-shifting cast of Trump whisperers Jared Kushner is up, Stephen K. Bannon is down means that what policy prevails in a given week could be upended with the next tweet. Even with a weather vane, you wont necessarily know which way the Trump wind blows. So no one should count on the current spate of Trumps good judgment to continue. Indeed, to call this past week one of good judgment is to ignore concurrent events. While our attention was focused on Mellow Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was busy reviving a misguided war on drugs, dismantling consent decrees with police departments and cruelly ramping up deportations. Yet there are reasons to exhale, ever so slightly. The functioning of the federal courts and the dysfunctioning of the legislative branch have worked, so far, to stymie much of the Trump agenda. A presidents greatest powers, and therefore greatest threat, lie in the arena of foreign affairs. Here, the troika of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster has emerged to present an effective brake on the mercurial president, especially comforting as the North Korea threat looms. A White House with Michael Flynn gone and Bannon neutered is a better place, and the country is safer for it. Adults are in the (situation) room. And Trump, notwithstanding the vastness of his policy ignorance and his evident distaste for remedying that embarrassment, is learning. He has moved from I alone can fix it to Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated. Neither statement is true, but the second at least evinces a dawning rationality. Likewise, Trumps recounting of his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who seems to have had more success than intelligence briefers at getting the attention-impaired president to sit through a lecture on the region. He then went into the history of China and Korea, Trump told the Wall Street Journal. And Korea actually used to be part of China. And after listening for 10 minutes I realized that not its not so easy. No, it isnt. Previous administrations werent full of stupid people making bad deals. They were staffed, for the most part, by smart people diligently navigating complex situations. If that is beginning to dawn on Trump, however belatedly, we should be relieved. It is possible both to resist the new normal and to give thanks that, for now anyway, it is not far worse. Read more from Ruth Marcuss archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. WHEN A front-runner in Frances impending presidential election obliterates history by denying the countrys well- documented complicity in deporting tens of thousands of French and foreign Jews to Nazi death camps, it is clear something sinister is afoot in the birthplace of the Enlightenment. Characterizing France as a victim rather than a willing and even enthusiastic participant in World War IIs mass liquidation of French and foreign Jews, Marine Le Pen, head of Frances far-right National Front, tried to remove the indelible stain left by that shameful chapter in her countrys history. Instead, she only ensured the stain attached to her own candidacy. Founded by her father, the racist Holocaust minimizer Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front spent several decades mainly at the extremist margins of French politics. Since taking the partys reins in 2011, Ms. Le Pen has presented herself as a gentler sort of immigrant-bashing nationalist. But, evidently loath to alienate the partys old guard, she has negated her efforts to detoxify the National Front with dog whistles to the partys nativist base. With her willfully denialist remarks last weekend, she went even further squarely into the realm of historical revisionism. I think France was not responsible for the Vel dHiv, she said, referring to the Winter Stadium in Paris where more than 13,000 Jews mostly women and children were rounded up in July 1942 before being sent to their deaths in Nazi gas chambers. I think generally, if anyone is responsible, then it is those in power at the time, not France as such. It wasnt France. She added that France has been mistreated, in peoples minds, for years. Actually, it was very much France that carried out the stadium roundups specifically, some 4,500 French police, deployed in pairs, fanning out through the City of Light beginning at dawn on July 16, 1942, and acting on the direct orders of French officials. In all, 13,152 Jews were picked up over five days: 5,919 women, 4,115 children and 3,118 men; nearly all of them were then deported and murdered. More Jews might have perished had some not been tipped off or hidden by a small number of police, neighbors and friends. That is part of the story, too, but hardly absolution for all France. Following the war, more than 50 years passed before the French government officially acknowledged the nations guilt and collaboration in abetting the Holocaust, in which, of 6 million Jews who died, more than 76,000 were deported from France. Nonetheless, denialism and willful historical ignorance have maintained their grip, thanks partly to Mr. Le Pen, who advanced the idea that the Nazi gas chambers were a detail of World War II. Two years ago, having repeated his loathsome views, he was expelled from the National Front and repudiated by his daughter, then eyeing a presidential bid. But the party, which leads in next weekends first-round presidential races, according to some opinion polls, hasnt really been remade, just recast. Ms. Le Pen has made that clear. A 27-year-old man met a 15-year-old girl on a social-media website where people supposedly go to meet new people, chat, flirt and match. On Jan. 9, he and the teenager arranged to meet in his car at a parking lot at the Quarterfield Crossing Apartments on Old Stage Road in Glen Burnie, Md. Once they were in the back seat, he gave her $80 in return for sexual activity. After it was over, she attempted to leave the vehicle, but found the doors locked. He produced a handgun, pointed it at her and demanded his money back. She complied, and he, after taking the money, let her get out of the car. Thats ugly enough. But whats even uglier? At the time of the incident, the alleged gun-toting robber and sexual predator was a D.C. police officer, Chukwuemeka Ekwonna. And he remained a cop until he was fired last week. Ekwonna was arrested April 6 at his home in Glenn Dale, Md. According to court documents, Ekwonna was charged with armed robbery, the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime, assault of a juvenile female and the commission of a sexual offense in the third degree upon a juvenile female. He is being detained in Anne Arundel County, where he awaits trial. Ekwonna sought to be released, but as the Capital Gazette in Annapolis reported, District Court Judge Eileen A. Reilly denied bail, saying the charges against the officer were incredibly disturbing, to say the least and that he could pose a danger to the community. Which raises the question: What danger, if any, did Ekwonna pose to the District of Columbia while serving as a cop for the past 14 months? Consider his service with the D.C. Department of Corrections prior to joining the police force. Dwayne Anthony Nowlin alleged that while he was in Corrections Department custody in August 2013, he was the victim of an unlawful assault and battery by Sgt. Harrison Ekwonna, Officer Chukwuemeka Ekwonna and a number of unknown corrections officers. Sgt. Ekwonna is Chukwuemeka Ekwonnas father. Nowlin said the officers took him to the ground where he was kicked, punched and beaten. Nowlin, through his attorney, sought $250,000 for his injuries, lost wages, medical costs and attorneys fees. The office of Attorney General Karl Racine agreed on March 6, 2017, to pay Nowlin and his lawyer $20,000 to settle the case. This incident is significant because the lawsuit against Chukwuemeka Ekwonna was pending in court when he applied to join and was accepted by the D.C. Police. Asked about the circumstances under which Ekwonna was hired, acting D.C. police chief Peter Newsham said the matter is being reviewed. The lawsuit should have been considered. I dont know if it was or wasnt, but we will look into that, said Newsham, whose nomination for chief is speeding through the D.C. Council. How could Newsham not know? I sought an interview with him but was told to submit my questions via email, which I did Wednesday. To date, no response. Newsham should have been sensitive to this case. After all, the D.C. police department has a history of men with badges doing abominable stuff. The evidence can be found in columns I have written about the police forces rotten apples since 2013, and in other news reports. The subjects include: Police officer Darrell Best, accused of sexually abusing two teenaged girls, allegedly assaulting a 17-year-old at police headquarters and a 16-year-old at his church where he serves as pastor. Best was sentenced to 18 years in prison in February after pleading guilty to sexual abuse charges involving minors. Officer Wendel Palmer, sentenced to 18 years in prison in July 2014 for repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl who sang in the youth choir that he directed. Officer Linwood Barnhill Jr. in the 7th District, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to forcing underage girls to work as prostitutes out of his Southeast apartment. Hes serving a seven-year prison sentence. Marc Washington, another 7th District officer, found dead in December 2013 in the Washington Channel from an apparent suicide after he was arrested in a child sex case. He was accused of taking partially nude pictures of a 15-year-old girl, allegedly while wearing his police uniform and saying he was following police procedure. Kenneth D. Furr, a D.C. police officer convicted in October 2012 for solicitation of prostitutes and assault with a dangerous weapon. Detective Richmond Phillips, convicted in January 2013 of murdering his girlfriend, leaving her body in the woods, driving off with their 11-month-old daughter in the car, and abandoning the car and the baby in sweltering heat, where she died. Those officers are a direct threat to public safety. Newsham joined the department in 1989 and was an assistant chief during all of the above incidents. He needs to account for the departments hiring practices, standards of conduct and performance oversight, and tell us how things will be different on his watch, if he can and he must do it before he is confirmed. He wont answer my questions. The council, if so inclined, may have better luck, before the final vote. Read more from Colbert Kings archive. Regarding the April 12 news article Spicer walks back his insensitive Holocaust reference: Press secretary Sean Spicer suggested Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was worse than Hitler because he used nerve agents on his own people who were innocent. Lest we forget, Hitler rose to power by casting certain groups as the other and blaming them for Germanys problems. These were innocent German citizens, but Hitler didnt see it that way, just as President Trump is unable to see a Latino judge as an American. Just as millions have been encouraged to tell anybody with brown skin or an unfamiliar name to go back where you came from. Just as some argue that the rights of Muslims should be restricted. Just as somebody felt empowered on the first day of Passover to spray paint our Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia with swastikas. What Mr. Spicer did isnt just a case of violating some political taboo. This was a representative of the president contributing to a narrative in which the phrases gas chamber and six million have become abstractions, and in which Jews to some people is not the same as citizens. At the Passover table we retell the story of the exodus from slavery, making a commitment to never forget to never be satisfied until we live in a world in which no communities are marginalized and denied their rights. We have a lot of work to do. Scott Ableman, McLean Regarding the April 13 news article United CEO apologizes to man dragged off plane: It is time for the Federal Aviation Administration to ban involuntarily bumping paying passengers so that airlines can give seats to their own employees. Having been forced to give up the only flight that would get me to a court hearing, I know firsthand that this kind of last-minute bumping can mean more than a minor inconvenience. And having these decisions made after boarding makes the delays longer and harder for passengers to remedy. Airlines need to plan for their personnel better or offer better incentives to get passengers to give up their seats, but they wont do so until the option to force passengers off the plane is taken away. David Reiser, Takoma Park SOLITARY CONFINEMENT in a tiny, often sweltering, cell is something that most prison inmates try to avoid at all costs. Not so at Alabamas notorious St. Clair Correctional Facility. So dangerous are the conditions there that prisoners actually prefer the segregation units to the general population, where they daily run the risk of being violently assaulted, raped and even murdered. Whats most appalling about the nightmarish conditions is that those in authority dont seem to see any urgency in bringing about improvement and have instead tolerated the culture of violence. The problems at the facility, one of six maximum-security prisons in Alabama, were recently highlighted by the New York Times. In recent years, even by the standards of one of the nations most dysfunctional prison systems, St. Clair stood out for its violence, wrote Campbell Robertson, detailing rampant violence and sexual abuse by both inmates and prison staff. Like Devils Island, was how one current inmate described the facility. Knives were ubiquitous and corrections officers absented themselves from cell blocks for long periods as calls for help from vulnerable inmates went unheeded. The article cited overcrowding, understaffing and shoddy facilities, but most of the blame was placed on poor prison leadership, which has ignored and even encouraged the abuses. It is a conclusion that matches an investigation by the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative, which in 2014 filed a class action federal lawsuit on behalf of inmates at St. Clair after its efforts to get the state to do something about the dangerous conditions were ignored. The final straw for the group was the September 2014 murder of Timothy Duncan, the sixth homicide in three years. Since the lawsuit was filed, there have been some fixes, including a security upgrade that replaced the broken locks on cell doors and a reduction in the inmate population. State corrections officials report a downward trend in the number of inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults. But more must be done to address the serious, systemic problems that persist. The Equal Justice lawsuit is in court-ordered mediation, a comprehensive plan to transform the state prison system is before the state legislature and the U.S. Justice Department has launched a broad overall review of the prison system. Lets hope these responses lead to productive steps in improving prisoner protection and programs. If not, the reflections of Mr. Robertson on his visit to St. Clair are bound to be borne out: You know that terrible violence has happened here and will almost certainly happen again. The April 7 letter by Robert Phillips, Democrats are also out of excuses on Virginias Medicaid expansion, proclaimed that my team neglected to secure a 1115 waiver and other waivers from the federal government that would allow us to explore creative avenues for expanding Medicaids health coverage. The writer may be misinformed about the purpose of 1115 waivers. They are not expansion waivers but are designed to demonstrate delivery reforms. Virginia has had a different waiver (1915b) for a similar purpose for years. The federal government requires states to use existing waiver authority if possible before applying for 1115 waivers. Virginia has used and continues to use that waiver authority, which has allowed the commonwealth to integrate and coordinate care for more than 700,000 Medicaid beneficiaries to improve quality and bend the cost curve. Virginia applied for and received State Innovation Model funding before the federal government froze that program. Since 2012, the commonwealth has implemented a number of reforms, including all Medicaid reforms asked of us by the Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission. Virginias Medicaid program has pursued all avenues for expanding coverage possible without the General Assembly authority required for actual Medicaid expansion. It is always the goal of my department and Gov. Terry McAuliffes (D) administration to provide the best and most efficient health care possible, and we will continue to pursue every federal waiver that makes sense for our program. Bill Hazel, Richmond The writer, a Republican, is the Virginia secretary of health and human resources. When not furrowing their collective brows about creches and displays of the Ten Commandments here and there, courts often are pondering tangential contacts between the government and religious schools. Courts have held that public money can constitutionally fund the transportation of parochial school pupils to classes but not on field trips. It can fund nurses at parochial schools but not guidance counselors. It can fund books but not maps. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wondered: What about atlases, which are books of maps? On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider the constitutional significance of this incontrovertible truth: A scraped knee is a scraped knee whether it happens at a Montessori day care or a Lutheran day care. That assertion is in an agreeably brief amicus brief written by Michael McConnell, a Stanford University law professor specializing in church-state relations. He requires just 13 pages to make mincemeat of Missouris contention that a bit of 19th-century bigotry lodged in its constitution requires it to deny shredded tires to Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, which runs a preschool. Missouris Department of Natural Resources, which has a capacious conception of natural resources, runs the Scrap Tire Program. It enables playgrounds to replace gravel and dirt with a rubber protective surface that is kinder to the knees of the devout and heathens alike. The department refused the churchs request for a $20,000 grant, citing this from the state constitution: No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion. Trinity Lutheran says the state is abridging its First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and denying the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws. Both sides agree that the U.S. Constitution poses no impediment to Missouri giving a grant to Trinity Lutheran. The question for the Supreme Court is whether Missouri can demand an even stricter separation of church and state. Can it exclude an otherwise eligible entity from a generally available public benefit a benefit serving a completely separate purpose (see above: knees) simply because the entity is religious? Missouris constitutional language is a Blaine Amendment, named for the Republican Speaker of the House and 1884 presidential nominee James G. Blaine. Protestants resented Catholic immigrants founding parochial schools that taught Catholicism as forthrightly as public schools taught Protestantism with prayers, hymn singing and readings from the King James version of the Bible. Each public school was, in Horace Manns approving words, a nursery of piety Protestant piety. Hoping that anti-Catholicism would propel him into the presidency, in 1875 Blaine unsuccessfully proposed amending the U.S. Constitution to stipulate that no public money could go to schools under the control of any religious sect. But 37 states put versions of his amendment into their constitutions, and Congress required its inclusion in the constitutions of states entering the union. Even if, as Missouri implausibly insists, its constitutions language, which was enacted in wait for it 1875, was unrelated to anti-Catholic animus, the language is nevertheless incompatible with the Supreme Courts establishment clause jurisprudence. Splitting and re-splitting judicial hairs over the years, the Supreme Court has produced a three-part test: A statute pertaining to contact between government and religion does not constitute establishment of religion if the statute has a secular legislative purpose (again: knees), it neither advances nor inhibits religion, and it does not involve excessive government entanglement with religion. Practices during the Founders era demonstrate, McConnell argues, that including religious groups in neutral public benefit programs was not viewed as an establishment. And: Shredded tires have no religious, ideological, or even instructional content . . . a rubberized playground is existentially incapable of advancing religion. Missouri cites, in defense of its practice, an utterly inapposite case in which the Supreme Court upheld a states refusal to fund students seeking degrees in devotional theology, even though it funded degrees in secular subjects. This involved entirely different issues than Missouri denying an organization access to a public safety benefit simply because the organization is religious. Spreading shredded tires beneath a jungle gym hardly (in the Supreme Courts language) intentionally or inadvertently inculcates particular religious tenets. And Missouris denial of this benefit is, McConnell writes, the clearest possible example of an unconstitutional penalty on the exercise of a constitutional right, the free exercise of religion. The religious status of the Trinity Lutheran day care bears not the slightest relevance to the purpose of the states program. Which pertains to knees. Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook. More Americans disapprove than approve of President Trumps job performance. His White House is in a perpetual state of turmoil. Fellow Republicans control Congress, but no signature legislation has passed. And in ruby-red Kansas last week, the Republican candidate in a special election got a scare from a turbocharged Democratic base, winning a House seat by a far slimmer margin than expected. For a Republican Party already starting to strategize ahead of next years midterm elections, the turbulent, inchoate environment as the Trump presidency nears its 100th-day mark could be a cause for concern or even alarm. Yet party leaders and strategists are preaching patience, not panic. These Republicans who acknowledge that their political brand will be shaped by the 45th president as long as he holds office say their political fortunes will be told over the next year and a half in the answers to two overriding questions: Does Trump project strength? And does he achieve progress that amounts to more jobs and higher wages? What matters is a record of accomplishment, said Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who has been conducting focus groups of Trump supporters. People can disagree over the details or the significance of the change, but if you have a record of accomplishment, that fixes everything. . . . If you dont, no rhetoric will fix it. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) That view contrasts sharply with the conservative ideological projects inspired by some past Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and is part of an emerging recognition for the Grand Old Party that doctrines may not drive voters as much as selling changes Trump has made. [Trump as a conventional Republican? Thats what some in GOP establishment say they see.] Though Trumps first three months in office have seen a flurry of activity, including adding conservative Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, he has no major legislative victory. Trumps push to change the Affordable Care Act the health-care law Republicans have derided as Obamacare and campaigned to repeal and replace collapsed in a humiliating defeat for Trump and the GOP leadership. The president who campaigned on his decades of real estate dealmaking and his vow that nobody could execute more beautiful deals in Washington is anxious to achieve, well, deals. Hes realizing that the party will hang with him, but there are no guarantees and no easy paths forward, said Ed Rollins, a longtime GOP strategist. Its got to kill them that they have the whole thing the White House and Congress and they cant seem to get it together. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) was blunt: We cant blame this on Barack Obama. We have to look in the mirror. For congressional Republicans, the challenges are not necessarily overcoming a policy divide with Trump, but getting clear direction from the White House about the shape and scope of the agenda for the remainder of the year. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) On health care, there is a lingering concern that the conservative House Freedom Caucus remains a conundrum without an answer. On taxes, too, Republicans on Capitol Hill say they are perplexed by a lack of consensus on rates and how to address various deductions. It is not even clear to them who in the Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin or National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn is taking the lead, or whether House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) will eventually be called upon to craft a compromise. The ability of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to guide Trump on policy is another unknown. With Ryans hand burned by the health-care defeat, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has an easy rapport with Trump, is rising as a potential new power broker. [The closer? The inside story of how Trump tried and failed to make a deal on health care.] What worries Republican leaders is the potent Trump resistance movement activated on the left. Consider last weeks results in Kansas. Trump carried the 4th Congressional District last fall by 27 percentage points, yet Republican Ron Estes won the special election for the open House seat by just seven percentage points over Democrat James Thompson, who was buoyed by a surge in his partys turnout. Another special election this Tuesday presents a second test, this time in a suburban Atlanta district that is expected to be more competitive for Democrats than the one in Kansas. Their base is whipped up and going, Cole said of the Democrats. Nothing we can do is going to change that. So you better have your own base equally charged up, and to do that you have to convince them that youre getting things done that the fact that they gave you the Senate, the House and the White House means something. In his quest for legislative wins on such issues as tax reform and infrastructure spending, Trump is signaling a desire to broker with Democrats, although outreach has been scattered and no bipartisan alliance has emerged. In the past week alone, Trump reversed several positions in conflict with his campaign promises. He said that he now supports NATO and the Export-Import Bank, and that he no longer believes China is manipulating its currency. Trumps new stances reflect the rising influence of a bloc of business-friendly, global-oriented advisers at the expense of Stephen K. Bannon, the chief White House strategist and champion of Trumps nationalist ideas and pugilistic tactics. The shifts have fueled the perception that the president is evolving into a more traditional Republican. The question is: Will he continue to engage his populism and his outsider status? asked Patrick J. Caddell, a political consultant and Bannon friend. What is his organizing principle? It has long been overthrowing and changing the system, protecting people and taking on institutions. If he abandons those kinds of ideas, then what is he all about? [Inside Bannons struggle: From shadow president to Trumps marked man] Strategists who are counseling Republican leaders and candidates in the 2018 midterms said most voters may not care, for instance, whether Trump labels China a currency manipulator. What matters, they said, is whether the Republicans in charge can work together to get results. People were voting for change, said David Winston, a GOP pollster. It doesnt have to be everything all the time, but there has to be a sense of forward progress. Theyre looking for two basic outcomes: more jobs and higher wages. Its pretty straightforward. Austin Barbour, a Republican strategist based in Mississippi, said, Trump voters see him not for the policy stances that he takes. It has to be a really big single issue to get their attention. Most of them think, hes not Barack Obama and hes a straight shooter who will always say whats on his mind and he says hell make the country a better place. Trumps first three months in office have not been without action. He has signed a slew of executive orders. His Cabinet is working to loosen regulations throughout the bureaucracy. He has pressured business leaders and sought to take credit for thousands of new manufacturing jobs, although most were already in the works. Trump also has reimagined Americas posture in the world. He has won accolades from many Republicans and some Democrats for a bombing strike in Syria, dropping the mother of all bombs on Islamic State forces in Afghanistan, toughening his administrations approach to Russia and cultivating a rapport with the leaders of China and Japan amid rising tensions with North Korea. Some Trump allies say he must stay true to his promise of wholesale change to maintain his political currency. Theyre in power because people reacted to the options that were presented and went with the party that seemed to be more like change, Caddell said. There is no deep support for the GOP. They remain an unpopular party, and people are very dissatisfied, which is why Trump is sitting in the White House. If the Republicans dont recognize that, our politics will move on from them. US President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 12, 2017. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images) Amid the often jarring inconsistency of President Trumps foreign policy, one thing has always been crystal clear: He loves a big show of American military force. You gotta knock the hell out of them Boom! Boom! Boom! Trump said of Islamic State terrorists at a January 2016 rally in Iowa, punctuating each boom with a punch of his fist. That same impulse has been apparent over the past 10 days as Trump pummeled a Syrian air base with cruise missiles, threatened military action against North Korea over its nuclear weapons program and praised the U.S. militarys first-ever use of a massive 11-ton bomb, nicknamed the mother of all bombs, to kill Islamic State militants in Afghanistan. So incredible. Its brilliant. Its genius, Trump said Tuesday of the missile strike in Syria. Our technology, our equipment is better than anybody by a factor of five. As he searches for a coherent foreign policy during his first months in office, Trump has celebrated but often inflated the effect of military actions. The massive shows of strength, at times, have seemed to be a strategy unto themselves. (U.S. Defense Department) If you look at whats happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to whats happened over the past eight years, youll see theres a tremendous difference, tremendous difference, Trump told reporters after the military unleashed the giant bomb on a largely unpopulated region of the Afghan wilderness. This was another very, very successful mission. U.S. military officials estimated that the giant bomb killed 36 Islamic State fighters. Trumps full-on embrace of military force offers a sharp contrast to Barack Obama, who promised to end Americas wars and who worried publicly about escalation and overreach, often to the point of paralysis. Trump has taken the polar opposite approach, and for the moment he seems to be benefiting. Some foreign leaders took comfort in the speed of Trumps response after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly used chemical weapons against his own people. In Asia, they appreciated the decisiveness, said Richard Fontaine, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and president of the Center for a New American Security. They see this as a sign that the administration will move quickly in response to events. The tough talk and the cruise missile strike have provided a small boost to Trumps approval rating at home and have drawn widespread cable news coverage, distracting from his domestic struggles and the ongoing probe into contacts between his campaign officials and Russia. Trump has also drawn praise from a foreign policy community that has blanched at his criticism of NATO and worried about his isolationist, America First instincts. (Amanda Erickson,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post) Theres value in Donald Trump signaling to the world that this is a different United States you are dealing with and we arent going to tolerate certain behavior, said Danielle Pletka, a vice president at the American Enterprise Institute. His actions have been an improvement. The big question is whether Trumps recent military maneuvers can be fashioned into a long-term strategy or whether they are the Trump foreign policy equivalent of an angry tweet. The problem for all of us is judging where does he go from here, Pletka said. For now, Trump seems to be embracing precisely the strategy that Obama came to reject. In meetings with his closest aides and in an interview in The Atlantic magazine, Obama often railed against the Washington playbook, which he said too often pushed presidents to use military force. Its a playbook that comes out of the foreign policy establishment, Obama said. Where America is directly threatened, the playbook works. But the playbook can also be a trap that can lead to bad decisions. In the midst of an international challenge like Syria, you get judged harshly if you dont follow the playbook, even if there are good reasons why it does not apply. It may be too early to draw conclusions from Trumps Syrian strike and the saber rattling directed at North Korea. By military standards, the missile strike was a low-risk mission that put no troops at risk, cost little and was telegraphed in such a way as to ensure that Russian troops were not injured. That is not a real military commitment, said Eliot Cohen, a senior official in George W. Bushs State Department and a professor at Johns Hopkins University. That was an easy decision. It is also unlikely that the strike in Syria or the massive bomb drop in Afghanistan will produce much military benefit in conflicts that are rooted in poor governance and deep-seated ethnic and sectarian differences. But Trumps unpredictability could be yielding some benefits. With North Korea thought to be preparing for a new nuclear test and U.S. Navy warships steaming toward the Korean Peninsula, Trump unleashed another bellicose tweet. I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A., he wrote Thursday. Trumps defenders, and even some of his critics, suggested his impulsiveness might be serving as something of a stabilizing influence on the volatile peninsula. In recent days, China has stepped up pressure on Pyongyang, threatening consequences if it provokes a confrontation with the United States. For the moment, its tough to tell precisely whats driving the Chinese to take a tougher stand. Is it because of our leverage or because of what North Korea is doing? asked Derek Chollet, who served in the White House and the Pentagon under Obama. Even less clear is whether Trump, who has long been fascinated with the military and generals, fully appreciates the limits of his military-heavy approach. When Trump described his foreign policy strategy on the campaign trail, it was often in vague, broad and even contradictory terms: He promised to strengthen the military in hopes that it would never have to take action. He pledged an America First mentality that would keep the United States out of an another expensive, deadly war but also promised to bomb the s--- out of the Islamic State. The same contradictions have followed Trump into the White House. One fear is that in overestimating the military's power he could also overestimate its effectiveness. Its all swagger, bluster and showmanship, said Cohen, a Republican and a Trump critic. He will run into the limits of that. I just hope he doesnt kill a bunch of young Americans doing so. Trumps unpredictability praised as an asset after eight years of Obamas carefulness and caution also could quickly become a problem if it causes allies to question Americas reliability in a crisis. Most people see this for what it is, which is Trump not having thought things through, Chollet said. For at least this week, though, Trump seems to be settling on a foreign policy philosophy, one that has been taking shape since his first days in office. The generals are wonderful, and the fighting is wonderful, but if you give them the right direction boy, does the fighting become easier, and, boy, do we lose so fewer lives and win so quickly, Trump said in a speech to the CIA headquarters the day after his inauguration. And thats what we have to do. We have to start winning again. Twelve weeks into his presidency, Trump now speaks as if the military has already scaled up. What I do is I authorize my military, he told reporters Thursday. We have given them total authorization and thats what theyre doing and, frankly, thats why theyve been so successful lately. Whats Going On includes upcoming one-time events in and around Racine County such as breakfasts, dinners, car washes, rummage sales, parties and dances intended to be money-raisers by or in behalf of nonprofit community organizations, either held or requiring reservations within the next two weeks. Events held on a regular basis are not used. Announcements must arrive at The Journal Times by noon Tuesday before the desired Saturday publication date. Announcements may only be used one time. Send information to the Online Calendar at www.journaltimes.com/calendar and select Benefit & Fundraiser under sections; mail information to Community, 212 Fourth St., Racine, WI 53403; fax to Loreen Mohr, 262-631-1780; or send email to lmohr@journaltimes.com. Check the TODAY listing in the Local section for other events taking place today. THROUGH APRIL 30 PLANT SALE Racine Neighborhood Watch is conducting its annual plant sale. Annuals, perennials, vegetables, plant accents, potted plants, herbs, flats, hanging baskets and patio displays will be sold. Orders can be placed by April 30 by going to http://www.racinenw.com/flower_sale.html. Orders will be available for pickup from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 20, at the City Hall Annex parking lot, 800 Center St. For more information, call 262-637-5711. April 22 RUMMAGE SALE St. Edward Catholic Church, 1435 Grove Ave., 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 22. Items for sale will include clothing, small appliances, books, games, jewelry, plants and household items. A bag sale will be held at 2 p.m. Handicapped access is available off the parking lot at the northeast corner of the building. FOURTH FEST TRIVIA NIGHT Union Hall, 1840 Sycamore Ave., 7:30-11 p.m. Saturday, April 22. Check-in is at 7 p.m. The cost is $10. A team can have up to 10 players. People can bring their own snacks and beverages. There will be raffle prizes and 50/50 raffles. For more information or to donate prizes, call Call Sabina Lopez at 262-417-5155 or Andrea Munoz at 262-930-6652. Proceeds benefit Fourth Fest of Greater Racine. MEAT AND GIFT BASKET RAFFLE Hiawatha Bar and Grill, 9809 Durand Ave, Sturtevant, 1-5 p.m. Saturday, April 22. The event will include a meat and gift basket raffle, and live and silent auctions. There is no admission fee. Fischer USA will match the proceeds that will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation. RACINE FOUNDERS ROTARY '80S PARTY Festival Hall, 5 Fifth St., 6-11 p.m. Saturday, April 22. The Rotary Club of Racine Founders will celebrate Rotary's 100th anniversary with a 1980's themed celebration. The event will feature food until 6 p.m. and live music by the 1980's band Weird Science. Attendees are encouraged to dress in their best '80s attire. Tickets cost $20. Go to www.eventbrite.com. April 23 CALEDONIA LIONS PANCAKE BREAKFAST St. Louis Catholic Church Hall, 13207 Highway G, Caledonia, 8-11:30 a.m. Sunday, April 23. The menu will include all-you-can-eat pancakes, as well as eggs, potatoes, sausage, applesauce, coffee, milk and juice. Costs are $7 for adults and $4 for children ages 4 to 11. Children ages 3 and younger eat free. Fresh fruit-filled turnovers will also be sold. WHEELS AGAINST CHILD ABUSE Route 20, 14001 Washington Ave., Yorkville, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, April 23. Guardians of the Children: Belle City Chapter will present their "Wheels Against Child Abuse" Car and Motorcycle Show fundraiser. Registration for show cars and motorcycles begins at 8 a.m. Registration costs are $10 for a car and $5 for a motorcycle. The event will also include family-friendly activities for children. Proceeds will go towards child abuse awareness and prevention materials, as well as assisting victims directly. Go to www.bellecitygoc.com. April 28 "DEATH BEMOANS HER" DINNER THEATER Italian American Club, 2217 52nd St., Kenosha, 6 p.m. Murder mystery dinner including dinner with dessert, wine tasting, theater and silent auction. Tickets cost $50 or two for $90. For tickets, go to http://kjwc.pingg.com/2017kjwcwine. Proceeds will benefit Selah Freedom (Bringing Light into the Darkness of Sex Trafficking) and the KJWC Scholarship Fund. Sponsored by the Kenosha Junior Woman's Club. April 29 SPAGHETTI FUNDRAISER Salute Italian Restaurant, 314 Main St., noon-3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 29. Costs are $10 for adults, and $7 for children ages 10 and younger. Proceeds will go to the Walking Shoes Cultural Travel Club to defray travel costs. For more information, go to www.facebook.com/walkingshoestravel. President Trump, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), left,and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), speaks during a meeting with House and Senate leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Trump and his Republican-led Congress have swung for the fences early and, so far, have struck out. (Evan Vucci/AP) A couple of weeks after the 2008 election, Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, and Phil Schiliro, the incoming White House director of legislative affairs, huddled with the Democratic congressional leadership to talk strategy. Everyone knows the big agenda they pursued an $800 billion economic stimulus, a sweeping health-care law and an overhaul of Wall Street regulations but the leaders also agreed on a parallel strategy that was almost as critical. That effort became a steady supply of smaller bills, more niche in focus but also bipartisan in support, ranging from enhancing consumer protections in the credit-card industry to making it easier to stop children from smoking. The singles, Emanuel, now the mayor of Chicago, called those efforts in an interview last week while visiting Washington. These smaller measures filled the House and Senate floor throughout early 2009 as committee chairmen battled behind the scenes on the finer print of the much bigger legislation to come. Eight years later, President Trump and his Republican-led Congress have swung for the fences early and, so far, have struck out. As Republicans again try to craft a repeal plan for the 2010 Affordable Care Act and continue shooting for a massive tax cut, Emanuel wonders from where the GOP will get its momentum. The bunt singles, he said, motioning his arms like a ballplayer trying to get the smallest of hits, they dont even have them. Some GOP lawmakers block-everything mentality could imperil big-picture plans A quarter of the way through Trumps first year in office, Republicans only legislative successes have come on small bills that wiped out regulations from the last weeks President Barack Obama was in office. Lawmakers are using the obscure Congressional Review Act of 1996 to do so on party-line votes. Those dozens of nixed regulations do represent a win for Trump, and Republican leaders are aware of the need to demonstrate some wins. In an interview before Congress left for its two-week spring break, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) noted that undoing regulations unfortunately doesnt make a lot of news and said his office was going to compile a report on the sweep and impact of those moves. But Congresss authority to undo a previous administrations regulations through the CRA process expires early next month. Confirming Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, only after blowing up Senate rules to do so on a simple majority, is the only other solid victory the GOP can so far claim. The only reason that we were able to do them is they were 51-vote situations, McConnell said. McConnell has made clear that the overhaul of the tax code is the only other big piece of legislation that would fall under special budgetary rules allowing for a simple majority in the Senate. Everything else will require a minimum of eight Senate Democrats, and all 52 Republicans, to overcome a filibuster in that chamber. That makes it much more difficult for Republicans to get things done than those early regulatory repeals and confirming members of Trumps cabinet. Its unclear what Republicans will do while leaders and committee chairmen continue haggling behind closed doors over the big battles on health and tax policy. Their agenda is starting to look pretty barren. After they figure out a way to keep government agencies funded by April 28, Republicans do not have much lined up to push onto center stage on the House and Senate floors. Theyve got some bills waiting to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administrations collection of user fees on the makers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, along with legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and the state-based Childrens Health Insurance Program. If theyre not careful, Republicans could head into the long August recess without adding anything more to their win list than the already-repealed regulations and Gorsuchs confirmation. Thats not exactly the sort of vision that Trump cited in his January inaugural address when he vowed: The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Sixteen years ago, the George W. Bush administration operated with amazing early efficiency. By mid-June 2001, Bush had signed into law a $1.3 trillion tax cut and the House and Senate had approved their versions of the No Child Left Behind education legislation each passing with significant Democratic support. In 2009, Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), then the Senate majority leader, and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), then the House speaker, set out to get some early singles by approving a large expansion of the CHIP and a pay-equity bill. Before Memorial Day in 2009, Obama enacted legislation giving consumers more rights against credit-card companies, with the support of 113 House Republicans. A month later, he signed a bill to allow the FDA to more forcefully regulate tobacco marketing to prevent children from taking up smoking with the support of 70 House Republicans. We all agreed on the need to hit some singles and doubles, Jim Manley, a senior Reid aide, recalled of the strategy session with Emanuel and congressional leaders. Those early wins helped teach everyone how things are supposed to work, building up confidence at the White House and Congress. Eventually, Democrats passed most of their big-agenda items, and voters recoiled, leading to devastating losses in the 2010 midterm elections for Obamas party. But Democrats had succeeded on one level passing some progressive laws and giving their supporters something to show for the losses they suffered politically. Now, Republicans are struggling to enact their overarching agenda, and their counterparts think that its because the GOP never learned how to do the basics as an opposition party. Instead, maybe Republicans should be seeking a few smaller pieces of legislation. One of the reasons they are in the mess they are is that they didnt do that, Manley said. They swung for the fences immediately with batters who didnt have a lot of batting practice and werent used to hitting at all. Read more from Paul Kanes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. A submarine-launched ballistic missile is displayed in Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. April 15, 2017 A submarine-launched ballistic missile is displayed in Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. Wong Maye-E/AP North Korea held a huge military parade to mark the 105th birthday of its founder Kim Il Sung and displayed a series of new and technologically advanced missiles in front of leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea held a huge military parade to mark the 105th birthday of its founder Kim Il Sung and displayed a series of new and technologically advanced missiles in front of leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea held a huge military parade to mark the 105th birthday of its founder Kim Il Sung and displayed a series of new and technologically advanced missiles in front of leader Kim Jong Un. Photos from North Korea during celebration of the birth of late leader Kim Il Sung Photos from North Korea during celebration of the birth of late leader Kim Il Sung With the kind of fanfare that only a totalitarian state can muster, North Korea on Saturday flaunted missiles that can theoretically reach the United States and defiantly stated that it was prepared to counter any U.S. attack with a nuclear war of our own. But it soon looked like a case of style over substance. North Korea somewhat ruined the impression created with the parade, which took place on the most important day of the year for Kim Jong Uns regime, with a failed missile launch Sunday morning. The ballistic missile was fired from the Sinpo area on the east coast shortly before 6 a.m. local time, U.S. Pacific Command said. It blew up almost immediately, complicating efforts to identify the missiles size and range. North Korea fired a land-based version of its medium-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile from the same area earlier this month. That exercise also failed. The missile was fired as Vice President Mike Pence took off from Alaska on his way to Seoul, where he is expected to issue a strong warning to North Korea to stop its provocative behavior or face consequences. "We weren't surprised by it, we were anticipating it, a White House foreign policy adviser told reporters traveling with Pence. It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when. The good news is that after five seconds it fizzled out." As a result, the U.S. doesnt need to expend any resources against that, he said. Pence had been in contact with President Trump while he was traveling to Asia. As tensions with North Korea escalated heading into the weekend, Trump spent Friday and Saturday mornings golfing at his private club in West Palm Beach, Fla., greeting members after he returned from the green, according to someone who saw him. The president seemed to be hoping for a calm weekend. He was joined on his trip by just three junior staffers and K.T. McFarland, a deputy national security adviser who was recently pushed out and made ambassador to Singapore as a consolation. Many of Trumps White House aides were given the weekend off. Trump had nothing to say about the launch, said Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. The president and his military team are aware of North Koreas most recent unsuccessful missile launch, Mattis said in a statement. The president has no further comment. The missile was launched into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, where a U.S. Navy strike group is patrolling. Military commanders ordered the group, led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, to the area this month as tensions with North Korea mounted. (Reuters) The group has the ability to shoot down incoming missiles and launch missiles of its own. Although the missile in Sundays attempt like others before it exploded shortly after launch, experts warn that North Koreas rocket scientists learn something from failures as well as successes, giving them information they can use to hone their technology. Certainly, the military hardware paraded through Pyongyang on Saturday shows that Kim is unrelenting in his quest to develop a missile capable of reaching the United States. Experts were stunned at the sheer number of new missiles on display during the parade including, apparently, a new and previously unknown type of intercontinental ballistic missile. Its not like not doing a nuclear test was good news this is all part of the same program, said Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California. North Korea has claimed to be able to make nuclear weapons small enough to be able to fit on a missile. Its like theyre saying: Hey, heres some other bad news, Lewis said. The two-hour-long parade took place on a day officially known as the Day of the Sun, the anniversary of the 1912 birth of Kim Il Sung, North Koreas founder and the current leaders grandfather. A relaxed Kim Jong Un stood smiling on a balcony as untold tens of thousands of soldiers marched past, planes in a formation making 105 for the anniversary flew overhead and missile transporters rolled through the square in front of him. He did not look like a man worried about a strike ordered by Trump, like that in Syria earlier this month, or concerned about Chinas increasing anger over his belligerence. [ Here are the missiles North Korea just showed off, one by one. ] We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war of our own, Choe Ryong Hae, one of Kims top aides, said in a speech at the parade, as the 33-year-old leader looked on. Kim said in his New Years address that North Korea was in the final stage of preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. That prompted Trump to tweet in response: It wont happen! But Kim appeared to demonstrate Saturday that he is in the process of making it happen. North Korea has previously shown off at these parades two kinds of ICBMs, the KN-08 and the KN-14, both with the theoretical capacity to reach the U.S. mainland. Saturdays parade included the same vehicles as in the past, but instead of carrying missiles they were carrying huge, previously unseen missile canisters. Those could have contained the KN-08 and KN-14, or something else or nothing at all. But the message was clear. This was a promise of future capabilities more than a demonstration of existing missiles, said Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, which tries to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. We do not know if there is actually an ICBM in that canister. But it is certainly coming. Furthermore, the canisters are probably an indication that North Korea is pressing ahead with solid-fuel technology, because canisters are used to keep the temperature stable for solid-fuel missiles. [ North Koreas display of new missiles is worrying, analysts say ] By using solid fuel, North Korea can roll out its missiles from a hangar or tunnel ready to launch, rather than having to fuel them on a gantry like the older liquid- fueled rockets. That allows much less time for the missiles to be detected by satellites. North Korea has been using this technology for its submarine-launched ballistic missile, which Kim boasted was the greatest success, and the land-based variant, tested earlier this month but less successfully. Both types of missiles were displayed in the parade Saturday. In addition, although experts were continuing to analyze footage, it appeared that North Korea had shown off a third and previously unknown ICBM. The black-and-white missiles looked like KN-08s but were slightly smaller. They were rolled out on vehicles usually used for the medium-range Musudan missile, which North Korea tested a barrage of last year. In January, South Koreas Yonhap News Agency reported, citing military officials, that North Korea had probably built a new ICBM that was less than 50 feet long. The black-and-white missile seen Saturday was consistent with that description, experts said. But rather than being concerned that North Korea potentially had a new weapon that could reach the United States, Michael Elleman, senior fellow for missile defense at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, saw something encouraging. This could signal some confusion in terms of where they want to go with their long-range systems, he said, noting that it could mean North Korea has not finalized the design of its ICBM. [ Will North Korea fire a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland? Probably. ] Elleman said he could not believe that North Korea had been able to master the technology necessary to launch even one stage of a two- or three-stage ICBM. Until theyve fixed the Musudan, theyre not going to get anywhere, he said. North Korea launched a series of medium-range Musudan missiles last year thought to be designed to become a stage in an ICBM and all but one failed. North Korea has never launched an ICBM, but given how difficult the technology is, it would almost certainly fail on its first test, experts say. Markus Schiller, a German aerospace engineer who specializes in missiles, also cast doubts on how much progress North Korea was making. The Soviets tried to build a solid-fuel missile and it took them more than 15 years to get it up and running, he said. You dont just get a solid-fuel missile overnight. But even if North Korea does not yet have the technical capacity to launch a missile capable of reaching the United States, it has clearly demonstrated that it has the political will. Its alarming that they are pouring so much money and resources into this program, Elleman said. Eventually, they are going to be successful. Ashley Parker in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report. Read more: A timeline of North Koreas five nuclear tests and how the U.S. has responded With both the U.S. and North Korea saber rattling, is conflict imminent? As North Koreas arsenal grows, experts see heightened risk of miscalculation Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news A car bomb in northern Syria killed more than 100 people Saturday when it ripped through buses evacuating residents from a town besieged by rebels for more than two years. Syrian state television showed bodies strewn across the ground, the charred vehicles still packed with their passengers possessions. By late afternoon, the road was lined with body bags. The attack served as a bloody reminder of the human stakes for regional powers as they broker a complex population swap, moving some 30,000 Syrians between government- and rebel-held territory. The buses had left the northern town of Fouaa on Friday as part of a long-awaited first phase of that agreement. Those on board had spent years under siege by extremist rebels, living in fear and without access to regular food or medicine. Eyewitnesses to the attack said the air filled with screams as passengers, some of them on fire, staggered out of the cloud of dust. A man who gave his name as Ali described watching a frail old woman stumble and fall. We reached her too late, her leg had snapped and there was nothing we could do. What did she do to deserve this? She was just someones mother. The White Helmets rescue group said its volunteers had recovered more than 100 bodies from the wreckage, and that another 55 people had been injured. The death toll was expected to rise. In one video from the site, a shaken reporter said the dead included civilians as well as rebel fighters from the area where the blast occurred. Using a cellphone camera to capture the devastation, his video showed the charred bodies of two small children dangling from vehicles. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its implications for the broader transfer deal were unclear. Overseen by Qatar and Iran, the negotiations had negligible input from the Syrian government, underscoring the extent to which President Bashar al-Assad has lost control in certain areas. The population shift is an attempt to alleviate the hardships of residents of towns under siege by both rebel and government forces. Each side has used the civilians it surrounded as bargaining chips to gain leverage over the other. Some 2.3 million Syrians lived under complete siege or in areas at risk, according to Siege Watch, a Washington-based monitoring group. Opposition officials have accused the Syrian government and its Iranian allies of using siege tactics to force demographic changes across the country, mostly along sectarian lines. The mostly Shiite towns of Fouaa and Kefraya have been reliant on government airdrops since rebel forces cut their supply lines in May 2015. Also part of the deal were the southern towns of Madaya and Zabadani. Madaya in particular had endured a siege so tight that dozens of people starved to death. Medics say others were killed by the snipers and land mines that surrounded the town. Frustrations were already mounting among evacuees when Saturdays explosion occurred: Thousands of people from pro-government and opposition areas were stuck on opposite sides of the edge of Aleppo city as rebels and the government bickered over the terms for evacuating fighters. The attack sent shock waves through Madayas convoy, also traveling under the terms of the deal. Inside those buses, the rebels, activists and doctors warned they could become sitting ducks in the face of retaliatory violence. Everyone is tense here; we feel like the attacks could start at any time, said one man, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect the security of family members still in Madaya. But by nightfall Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring network reported that buses were crossing into government- and rebel-held territory from the two transit points as movements under the deal appeared to resume. In footage broadcast by the Syrian state-owned al-Ikhbariya channel, a woman stood weeping outside the Aleppo hospital to which the dead and wounded had been taken. I know nothing of my family. I can't find them, she said. Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul and Suzan Haidamous in Beirut contributed to this report. Read more: In Syria, residents board buses in tears as starvation siege comes to an end Assad calls Syria chemical attack a fabrication, dismisses evidence Tillerson meets with Putin amid deepening tensions over U.S. missile strikes in Syria Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news North Korea put on a huge military spectacle Saturday to celebrate its founders birthday, parading its series of new and technologically advanced missiles in front of Kim Jong Un, and in a defiant show of force in front of the world. North Korea did not, however, carry out another nuclear test or ballistic missile launch, against widespread speculation that it would seek to celebrate Kim Il Sungs 105th birthday with a bang. [A timeline of North Koreas five nuclear tests and how the U.S. has responded] April 15 is the most important day in the North Korean calendar, and Kim Jong Un has celebrated his grandfathers birthday with great fanfare as a way to boost his own legitimacy as the successor to the communist dynasty. North Korea presented two of its newest model missiles at the parade in Kim Il Sung Square on Saturday, including the submarine-launched ballistic type it successfully fired last year and the land-based version it launched last month. 1 of 26 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Photos from North Korea during celebration of the birth of late leader Kim Il Sung View Photos North Korea held a huge military parade to mark the 105th birthday of its founder Kim Il Sung and displayed a series of new and technologically advanced missiles in front of leader Kim Jong Un. Caption North Korea held a huge military parade to mark the 105th birthday of its founder Kim Il Sung and displayed a series of new and technologically advanced missiles in front of leader Kim Jong Un. April 15, 2017 A submarine-launched ballistic missile is displayed in Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. Wong Maye-E/AP Wait 1 second to continue. And there were a lot of them, said Melissa Hanham, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California. The signal that theyre trying to send is that they are moving ahead with solid-fuel missiles. North Korea has been working on solid fuel which, unlike liquid fuel, can be preloaded into missiles as a way to fire missiles quickly to avoid prior detection by satellites. Analysts were working to identify all the missiles that were shown off on Saturday, many of which appeared to have new paint jobs or be variants of known missiles. [ With both the U.S. and North Korea saber rattling, is conflict imminent? ] One of the missiles looked similar to the KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea had included in previous parades. This missile has a theoretical range of about 7,500 miles, which is enough to reach all of the United States from North Korea, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Nonproliferation Review. It also put two ICBM canisters, which protect solid-fueled missiles from the effects of the environment, on the trucks that had carried the ICBMs previously. One may have been a KN-14, another missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, although it has a slightly shorter range. The trucks that carried the missile canisters were Chinese ones that have been exported to North Koreas Forestry Ministry but have shown up in military parades like this one. (White House) Saturdays display was worrying, Hanham said. They have an indigenous tank system now, so they have more launchers, and they have solid fuel, which means they can launch a lot more of these things in quick succession without having to refuel, she said. The overall message to the world was that North Korea was pressing ahead with its missiles and making technological progress. The parade took place amid stern warnings from the outside world and mounting fears about some kind of military action in the region. China has been particularly vocal in warning both sides to remain calm. The United States has sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the Korean Peninsula region, and President Trump has repeatedly tweeted that if China will not use its leverage to rein in North Korea, the United States will act. Vice President Pence arrives in Seoul on Sunday on the first leg of an Asia tour, and he will underscore Washingtons strong alliances with South Korea and Japan and its determination to stop North Koreas nuclear weapons program. [Why is April 15 such a big deal in North Korea?] Trump administration officials describe the situation as more dangerous than in the past, because of the progress North Korea has made in its nuclear weapon and missile programs and because of the hostility on both sides. But U.S. officials said no decision has been made about how to respond to any new test nuclear or ballistic by North Korea. While officials do not rule out other actions, they also stress their desire to ensure that the situation does not escalate out of control. Pentagon officials denied recent media reports that the Trump administration is ready to launch a preemptive strike if North Korea appears to be about to conduct a nuclear test. [ As North Korea celebrates anniversary, its neighbors are united by jitters ] North Korea has a habit of fueling tensions to increase the rewards it might extract from the outside world if it desists. Previously, the North has agreed to return to denuclearization talks in return for aid or the easing of sanctions. [ Kim Jong Uns rockets are getting an important boost from China ] But with his approach, Trump is tearing up the old playbook of how to deal with North Korea, analysts said. This approach to North Korea is relatively new, said James Kim of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. The approach in the past has been very calculated. That has gone out the window with talk about military options, he said. We always knew all these options were there, but no one was bold enough to go down that path. Its a new approach. Right now, Trump has some cards to play, said Kim of the Asan Institute. He might say: If you want one less battleship in the region, what are you going to give me? he said a reversal of the usual situation, in which North Korea asks what it can get from its adversaries in return for changing its behavior. Simon Denyer in Beijing contributed to this report. Read more: A look at North Koreans living in Pyongyang Defying skeptics, Kim Jong Un marks five years at the helm of North Korea As North Koreas arsenal grows, experts see heightened risk of miscalculation A legal challenge to a wage-cutting deal between supermarket giant, Coles, and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), a trade union that covers many retail workers, has been the subject of nervous commentary this month. Senior business figures, Labor and Liberal-National Coalition politicians and union officials have warned that an overturn of the agreement threatens the framework of company-union enterprise bargaining which has been central to the decimation of jobs, wages and conditions since the 1990s. The challenge to the deal, struck by Coles and the SDA in 2011, was brought to the Fair Work Commission (FWC), the federal governments industrial tribunal, by Penny Vickers, a Brisbane Coles worker and SDA delegate last year. Since then, despite multiple hearings and mentions, no date has been set for the case to be decided. Vickers, who works night and weekend shifts, is alleging that the agreement, one of a series of pro-business deals between the union and the company, resulted in her weekly pay being slashed to $33 below the mandated award wage for the industry. While the deal contained marginal increases in base pay rates, it cut weekend and night penalty rates for affected workers, eliminating them entirely on Saturdays. As a result of agreements between Coles and the SDA since 2011, an estimated 43,000 workers, or 56 percent of Coles supermarket employees, have been underpaid. According to Fairfax Media, the average underpayment has been around $1,500 a year, saving Coles between $70 million and $100 million per year. Up to 80 percent of the workforce is casual or part-time, with supermarket workers among the lowest paid. Some have annual wages of as little as $10,000$15,000. Vickers has stated that when workers voted on the agreement, they were not informed, by the SDA or Coles that it contained pay cuts. Vickers is not the first worker to challenge Coles-SDA wage-cutting deals. In 2015, Duncan Hart, a Brisbane Coles employee, lodged a FWC case challenging the 2014 Coles-SDA enterprise bargaining agreement, which contained substantial cuts to weekend and night penalty rates. In May 2016, the FWC ruled that the 2014 deal would be invalid, unless the company increased penalty rates. It refused, and instead reverted to the 2011 agreement, which is the subject of Vickers case. In both instances, the SDA has collaborated with Coles in seeking to quash the legal challenges. The alliance of the SDA and the company against the supermarket workers is a graphic expression of the utterly corporatised and anti-working-class character of the unions. Other unions are also implicated in similar wage-cutting. The Australian Workers Union (AWU), the largest in the country, was a party to the 2011 and 2014 agreements. The AWU, formerly headed by Labor Party leader Bill Shorten, signed a host of other deals reducing the pay of cleaners, farm labourers and other low-paid workers. Unions across the board, including those promoted as left-wing and militant, such as the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), have established enterprise agreements that contain real wage cuts for workers they falsely claim to represent. In February, for instance, the CFMEU pushed through an agreement covering about 900 workers at the Maryvale paper mill in Victorias Latrobe Valley, slashing wages by 5 percent. Such agreements have played a central role in creating the conditions for last years national wage growth, across the private sector, to fall to its lowest-level since records began in 1969just 1.8 percent. The SDA has vehemently opposed Vickers case, citing slight increases in base pay rates, particularly for workers on day shifts. SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer declared that the rolling up of penalty rates at Coles and Woolworths, another supermarket chain, had delivered higher wage rates to some workers. Under current industrial legislation, however, an agreement must pass a Better Off Overall Test (BOOT), which supposedly requires that no worker be worse off overall. Senator Eric Abetz, a leading figure in the federal Liberal-National government and a former industrial relations minister, called this month for the Labor Party to assist the government to remove the BOOT clauses from the legislation. The Labor Party has fraudulently postured as an opponent of recent cuts to penalty rates. But Abetz pointed to the central role of Labor governments in creating the enterprise bargaining framework under which company-union wage-cutting deals are struck. I think the enterprise bargaining system should be supported, it is one of those good things that came from the Hawke-Keating-Kelty era, Abetz declared. Enterprise bargaining, as it currently exists, was put in place by the Labor government of Paul Keating in the early 1990s, working hand-in-glove with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and its secretary, Bill Kelty. The move was part of a broader agenda begun under Keatings predecessor, Bob Hawke, which included the establishment of Accords between the government, the major corporations and the unions providing for the deregulation of the economy, and the destruction of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs. Greg Combet, another former ACTU secretary and a leading member of federal Labor governments from 2007 to 2013, echoed Abetzs comments this month. Combet pointed to the pro-business character of the system, stating: Continuing a system of enterprise bargaining in our economy is extremely important because it allows companies to adjust to competitive circumstances. In other words, enterprise bargaining allows the companies, working through the unions, to slash the wages and conditions of employees to boost profits. Underscoring the ongoing company-union-government alignment, Business Council of Australia chief executive Jane Westacott also warned that no one wanted enterprise bargaining to collapse. She called for bipartisanship between Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition to defend it. As these responses indicate, the case launched by Vickers has once again shown that any struggle by workers against the corporate assault on jobs, wages and conditions must be carried out in direct opposition to Labor and the unions. Since the April 6 cruise missile strike by the Trump administration against a Syrian airbase, tensions between the United States and the European powers and Russia are at their highest level since the cold war. The rhetoric from the US and its allies has centered on defending the unprovoked attack while Russia has responded by increasing its military support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The most recent escalation of these tensions is the dropping of a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) by the US military in Afghanistan. A MOAB is a 21,600 pound bomb, the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the US militarys arsenal. It has never before been used in combat. While the official target was an ISIS cave and tunnel complex in Nangarhar Province, the real aim was to demonstrate to Iran, Russia, Syria, North Korea, China and any other nation that gets in the way of American imperialisms global interests that there are no limits to the violence the US military is prepared to unleash on those it considers its enemies. What is striking about the media coverage of the increasingly acute geopolitical crisis is the lack of discussion--whether it be the New York Times, the Washington Post, Fox News, MSNBC or CNN--of the consequences of a nuclear exchange. The next step up from a MOAB is a low-yield tactical thermonuclear warhead, a weapon that is at least an order of magnitude more destructive. Yet no one in the corporate media has asked: What would happen if such weapons were used in Syria, Iran or North Korea, let alone Russia or China? This raises two further questions: How close is the current situation to one in which there is a clash and military escalation between the US and Russia that leads to nuclear war? How many people would die in such a conflict? To shed light on these question, the World Socialist Web Site spoke separately with two experts on the dangers of nuclear war, Steven Starr and Greg Mello. * * * Steven Starr is a senior scientist at Physicians for Social Responsibility and an associate with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His articles on the environmental dangers of nuclear war have appeared in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and the publication of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies. World Socialist Web Site: In your opinion, how real is the danger of a military conflict between the US and Russia over Syria or with China over North Korea? Steven Starr: I think there is a very significant danger of that happening. The Russians are allied with [Syran President Bashar al-]Assad and have been beating ISIS. Theyve won back Aleppo and its made the US media and political establishment hysterical, because thats not how they wanted the war to end. Trump campaigned for a detente with Russia, for a non-interventionist policy. When [Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson was in Turkey, he said that Assad could stay. But five days after that, the US launched cruise missiles at Syria. As a result of the attack of 59 cruise missiles by the US on a Syrian airbase, weve basically destroyed relations with Russia. Weve crossed the Rubicon. Russia has suspended the 2015 aviation safety memorandum that had provided 24/7 communication channels aimed at preventing dangerous encounters between US and Russian aircraft. This will give the Russians in Syria the right to decide whether to shoot or not to shoot at US planes. The Russians already own the Syrian airspace and they have stated that they are going to increase Syrian air defense capacity. What happens when US planes start getting shot down by the Russians? WSWS: One thing worth contrasting is the completely dishonest and false reporting by the corporate media and the scale of the consequences of the policies being pursued. As bad as it is to pump out propaganda on behalf of the American political establishment, when you are pursuing a policy that will result in the destruction of the planet, it assumes a new dimension. SS: From my perspective, the international news published by the papers of record has mostly become propaganda, especially after the events in Ukraine and Crimea in 2014. While you always expect bias in each countrys news reporting, Western media no longer seems constrained by the need to provide hard evidence to support their arguments and allegations. There has been no investigation about the chemical attack in Syria--Trump launched the missile strike before any investigation could be carried out. The CIA is deeply involved in this process. There are only six megacorporations that control 90 percent of US and Western media, and they do not publish stories that are contrary to Washingtons official party line. Censorship by omission with no dissent permitted is the defining characteristic of what we hear today. The use of official sources without supporting factual evidence creates a false narrative that is used to support US military actions. As a result, there has been a deafening silence in the media about what the consequences of what a war with Russia might mean. When have you heard mainstream media have any discussion about the consequences of a nuclear war with Russia? WSWS: What would happen if there was another US attack on Syria, perhaps following another manufactured chemical weapons attack? SS: The situation could escalate very quickly, especially since relations between the US and Moscow have deteriorated to their worst state in history. One report Ive read is that there are plans to deploy 150,000 US troops to Syria. Given that there are Russian and Iranian troops in Syria (at the request of the Syrian government), it would be an incredibly stupid decision for the US to send large military forces to Syria. It would be very hard to avoid WWIII. If the US and Russia get into a direct military conflict, eventually one side or the other will start to lose. They either then admit defeat or they escalate. And when that happens, the possibility of using nuclear weapons becomes higher. Once nukes start going off, escalation to full-scale nuclear war could happen very quickly. WSWS: How catastrophic would that be? SS: The US and Russia each have about 1,000 strategic nuclear weapons of at least 100 kilotons, all ready to launch within two to 15 minutes. Since it takes about nine minutes for a missile from a US submarine to hit Moscow, this means that the Russian government could retaliate. And these are only the missiles that are on a hair trigger alert. The US and Russia have 3,500 deployed and operational strategic nuclear weapons (each with a minimum explosive power of 100,000 tons of TNT) that they can detonate within an hour. They have another 4,600 nuclear weapons in reserve, ready for use. There are about 300 cities in the US and about 200 cities in Russia with populations greater than 100,000 people. Given how many nuclear weapons there are, its a large chance that most large cities would be hit. Probably 30 percent of US and Russian populations would be killed in the first hour. A few weeks after the attack, radioactive fallout would kill another 50 percent or more. Nuclear winter, one of the long-term environmental consequences of nuclear war, would probably cause most people on the planet to die of starvation within a couple years of a large US-Russian nuclear war. The global stratospheric smoke layer produced by nuclear firestorms would block most sunlight from reaching the surface of Earth, producing Ice Age weather conditions that would last for at least 10 years. Another rarely discussed consequence of nuclear war is high altitude electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. A large nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude (100-200 miles high) will produce an enormous pulse of electrical energy, which will destroy electronic circuits in an area of tens of thousands of square miles below the blast. A single detonation over the US East Coast would destroy the grid and cause every nuclear power plant affected by EMP to melt down. Imagine 60 Fukushimas happening at the same time in the US. * * * Greg Mello is the secretary and executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group, an organization that has researched the dangers of nuclear war and advocated for disarmament since 1989. His research and analysis have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and Issues in Science and Technology. WSWS: What role have the Democrats played in the increased tensions between the US and Russia over Syria? Gregg Mello: Even as recently as 2013, when there was a fake chemical weapon attack in Syria, I dont think the Democrats were as on board with war as they are today. But now, as a result of the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, the Russia-baiting and the neo-McCarthyite hyperbole has really ratcheted up, marginalizing even those within the party who express any amount of skepticism about the official story, such as Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. And this is someone who went to Syria to find out what was really going on. She found that the majority of people in Syria want the US to stop funding the rebels and are happy with the Assad governments efforts to oust Al Qaeda and ISIS. But shes being silenced. WSWS: Could you speak on some of the corporate interests involved in this? GM: Fifty-nine cruise missiles cost a lot of money. Each missile used costs, I guess, between $1 and $1.6 million, so the strike as a whole cost between $60 to $100 million. That doesnt include the cost of the deployment of the ships and the other elements that make up a strike. Its probably twice as much, if you include those elements. In terms of the missiles, if they are replaced, thats income for whatever company replaces them. Companies also get free advertising from such a strike. I saw the clip from MSNBCs Brian Williams, who praised the missiles using the Leonard Cohen line, Im guided by the beauty of our weapons. Thats a priceless advertising clip, especially when the same images and videos of the missiles are on primetime news and across the Internet. Im sure their stock values, literally and figuratively, went up. But even this is peanuts compared to the really high dollar amounts that come from continued tensions with Russia and the US governments need to dominate the world. Were talking not about millions of dollars, but billions--really, trillions. To maintain the idea that we should be in every part of the world, the US spends on all components of national defense about $1 trillion a year. So it really adds up quickly. And the US military just got an increase to its base budget that is comparable to Russias entire defense budget. In the US, we spend way more money on the military than all of our potential adversaries combined. Thats where the real money is. We get NATO to buy the latest versions of military equipment, compatible with ours. All of those arms sales plus our own national purchases are worth trillions. Thats what this strike upholds. A military spending pattern on a colossal scale. This goes along with the geopolitical questions you mentioned. WSWS: Could elaborate on the geopolitical questions? GM: Well, Trump has said that we wont go into Syria, but theres no consistent policy on this. Lets assume there is another strike, will it involve Russia? Will it kill Russians? What will Putin or any other Russian leader feel he needs to do then? Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton and New York University, noted that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called American and Russian relations ruined. And Medvedev is not a hardliner against the West. For him to say that, you can only imagine what the generals and other hardliners are whispering in Putins other ear. If we make another strike, either with a US airplane or a coalition airplane, it could easily be shot down by the high end anti-aircraft weapons that Syria and Russia have deployed. This would lead to an outcry from the US political establishment to do more, to double down on our mistake. All in all, its difficult to see how an air campaign could have a decisive effect on the war in Syria without creating an extreme risk of escalation between the US and Russia. Geopolitically, the situation in Syria has gone so far towards Assad remaining in power and the terrorists being pushed out that a serious US attack on Syria would either fail, or else it would really damage Russian interests, humiliate Russia and kill her soldiers along with Assads, and therefore tilt the balance toward WWIII. The idea that the poisonings in Khan Sheikhoun occurred because of chemical weapons or precursors released by a conventional munitions attack on an Al Qaeda weapons warehouse or workshop, which is the report of the Russian government, makes the most sense given everything we know. The notion that Assad or some rogue element in his army dropped chemical weapons on his own people, just when he is winning militarily and politically, is ridiculous. Now we see that the US does not want the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons involved in an investigation of the attack. Really? The OPCW is the worlds policeman for chemical weapons, something the US helped create. They got the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for verifying that all of Syrias chemical weapons had been destroyed. They destroyed them on a US ship. In this case and in every case, the OPCW would carefully study evidence gathered with chain of custody procedures at an accredited laboratory, all of which are essential when matters of war and peace are at stake. Its the same way youd collect evidence in a high-profile murder case. This hasnt happened for the most recent chemical weapon attack--and the US doesnt want it to happen. Instead, the US has recently issued a statement of the facts, a piece of paper claiming to be from all 17 intelligence agencies, but without letterheads or signatures, which uses weasel words like we have confidence. There is no indication what agencies have signed off on this or what actual evidence has been collected. Moreover, an attack like this takes a few weeks to investigate, not a few days. This all is happening because Syria is one of the more important crossroads between the hydrocarbons of the Middle East and European customers. If youre going to get oil and natural gas from Qatar to Europe without going through Iran, you have to have pipelines that go through Syria. This is especially important if you dont want Europe to be dependent on natural gas from Russia, if you want to prevent Germany and Russia and the rest of Asia from further integration economically. The US government does not want Europe dependent on hydrocarbons supplied by Russia or Iran. So, really, Syria is a proxy war between the US and other regional powers--Iran, allied with Russia--for control over Europes gas and oil. In addition, Israel wants control of the Golan Heights in order to drill in that region. Its also worth considering that Chinas oil production seems to have peaked. The worlds net exports of oil--that is, the oil that can be bought on the international market--are starting to very slowly decline. Since a barrel of oil will produce more value in countries such as China and India because the workers are paid so much less, China can always outbid the US and Europe for oil. Given a free market, they will. Alongside this problem, the oil-producing countries are using more oil internally as their populations and economies grow, which will inevitably produce a crisis in the availability and affordability of oil. That crisis will be upon us in the 2020s and it implies the potential for great power conflicts over these resources. You didnt have this during the Cold War because the US and Russia each had enough resources, as did our allies. But now, the cheap oil is running out and there are no cheap replacements. The potential for conflict, including between nuclear-armed powers, is rising. WSWS: How many people would die during the first day of such a war? GM: To a first approximation, in a nuclear war between the US and Russia, everybody in the world would die. Some people in the southern hemisphere might survive, but probably not even them. Even a couple of nuclear weapons could end the United States as a government and an economy. It wouldnt take a great deal to destroy the just in time supply chains, the financial markets and the Internet. The whole system is very fragile, especially with respect to nuclear weapons. Even in a somewhat limited nuclear war, say a war where only ICBM silos and airfields were targeted, there would be so much fallout from the ICBM fields alone that much of the Midwest would be wiped out, including places like Chicago. Then there is the problem of the nuclear power plants, which have stored within them and their spent fuel pools and storage areas truly vast amounts of radioactivity. If their electricity supply is interrupted, these plants are quite susceptible to fires and meltdowns, as we saw at Fukushima. Keep in mind that nuclear war is not one or two Hiroshima-sized bombs. The imagination cannot encompass nuclear war. Nuclear war means nuclear winter. It means the collapse of very fragile electronic, financial, governmental, administrative systems that keep everyone alive. Wed be lucky to reboot in the early 19th century. And if enough weapons are detonated, the collapse of the Earths ozone layer would mean that every form of life that has eyes could be blinded. The combined effects of a US-Russian nuclear war would mean that pretty much every terrestrial mammal, and many plants, would become extinct. There would be a dramatic biological thinning. I think many parts of the US military just dont get it. Ive talked to people on the National Security Council and they have the idea that Russia will back down. I begged them, about 18 months ago, to bring in some Cold War era veteran diplomats from the realist school, people like former ambassador to Russia Jack Matlock, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, to try and convince them that Russia wont just do what we want, that they have their own legitimate interests that we would do well to understand and take into consideration. WSWS: What are your thoughts on how to deal with the problem of nuclear war? I would say that the effort to decrease inequality in the world is at the core of dealing with the threat of nuclear war. We have to get the military-industrial-financial complex off peoples backs. If you have so much power concentrated in so few hands, and have such high levels of inequality, the people in power are blinded by their position. They are insulated from societys problems. So gross inequality--economic and especially political--leads to sort of political stupidity. It could lead to annihilation. The ignorant masses are not the problem. Its the ignorance and hubris at the top. It always is. After more than two months of industrial action, meat processing workers in Wellington voted on April 7 on a contract drawn up by the Meat Workers Union (MWU) and the Taylor Preston company. The agreement pushed through by the union bureaucracy further entrenches the poverty wages and insecure conditions at the factory, which has some of the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. The two-year agreement includes an extra 70 cents an hour for union members, who are about half the 900 workers at the site. Cleaners will receive a slightly bigger pay rise. The increase amounts to roughly $25 a week for a full time worker, around the price of one cup of coffee per day. Since last May, when the previous contract expired, union members have been paid 30 cents less than non-members. The deal mirrors the governments pitiful increase to the minimum wage, which went up 50 cents an hour on April 1, from $15.25 to $15.75. Most Taylor Preston workers, even those with many years experience, will still receive little more than the minimum wage. A worker who attended the April 7 MWU meeting told the World Socialist Web Site it lasted over an hour and a number of workers expressed anger about the agreement. Some questioned why it did not include back-pay from May 2016, which the MWU claimed it was seeking in negotiations. The union officials had no answer, other than to say they could not get a better deal. Workers received a one-off payment of $125 (before tax) for approving the deal. This will cover only a small fraction of wages lost during the dispute. The agreement does not include any additional pay for weekend and night shift workers. Workers will be paid time-and-a-half rates only if they work longer than 45 hours a weekdown from 47.5 hours under the previous agreement. The deal maintains the casualised status of workers. Their hours can be drastically reduced without notice when stock numbers fall. Every year during the off-season, meat workers throughout the country are laid off, sometimes for a month or longer, without pay. They are forced to rely on family members or the governments miserly welfare payments. All this is accepted by the MWU. Workers were not given the full contract to read prior to voting, just a one-page summary. The WSWS understands that between 100 and 200 workers attended the April 7 meeting and not all union members have voted on the agreement. A majority of those who voted approved the deal, having been worn down by limited industrial action, during which they worked marginally reduced shift hours and refused to work weekends. Several workers told the WSWS they were not happy with the agreement but voted for it because they could no longer survive on reduced income. In fact, the industrial action was designed to play into the companys hands. There was no strike called, nor was support sought from non-union members and meat workers at other plants. Instead, workers were organised to finish at 3.00 p.m. rather than the usual 4.30 p.m., at a time when the killing season was beginning to wind down anyway, causing only minimal disruption. Now the action has been ended on terms dictated by the employer. The union has not announced the exact results of the secret ballot and made no public statement on the agreement. The media and pseudo-left organisations completely ignored the industrial action at one of Wellingtons largest employers. Only the WSWS reported on the dispute. When a worker at the April 7 meeting asked why the union had remained silent, a MWU official said coverage of the dispute would not be sympathetic to workers. The real reason for the MWUs silence is that it never intended to carry out a fight to improve wages and conditions. For decades, the union has collaborated with the meat processing companies, negotiating with management behind the backs of the workers while suppressing resistance from workers to increased exploitation in the industry. Before the recent action there had not been a strike at Taylor Preston in 10 years. The only reason the union took action this year was to try and stop the ongoing decline in its membership and dues. Hundreds of thousands of workers see no reason to join unions, which work hand-in-hand with corporations and the government. They are run by privileged bureaucracies whose job is to enforce redundancies, wage freezes and factory closures under the nationalist banner of making New Zealand-based companies profitable. Meat workers have historically been among the most militant in the New Zealand working class. Today, following repeated betrayals by the MWU, they face increasingly intolerable conditions. The latest company-union agreement at Taylor Preston means another two years of poverty wages while the cost of living, especially for housing, continues to soar. Workers should fight to overturn this rotten deal. A new struggle must be launched for a substantial and backdated increase in wages, along with other basic provisions such as five weeks guaranteed annual leave and double wages for night and weekend shifts. The regime of casualised labour and the policy of sacking workers every year must end. Workers must demand the right to a secure job on a decent wage that can support a family. Such a fight requires a rebellion against the MWU, which insists there is no alternative to the companys dictates. Workers should establish their own rank-and-file factory committee, totally independent of the MWU, and seek to unite with workers in meat processing and other industries who are facing similar attacks. The fight against low wages is inseparable from a political struggle against capitalism and the nationalism used by the unions and the Labour Party to divide workers from each other. Workers need their own political party, based on socialism and uniting workers internationally. The Socialist Equality Group calls on workers to contact us to discuss how to advance this struggle. Under the patronage of the government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Russian embassy in Colombo organised a seminar and exhibition, at the end of March, claiming to celebrate the centenary of the Russian Revolution. The government grabbed the opportunity to throw a stale crumb to the pseudo-lefts that supported it in taking office. The fake lefts painted Sirisenas election as president in January 2015 as similar to the February revolution in 1917 that dethroned the Russian Tsars dictatorship. The real objective of those who sponsored or patronised this bogus celebration was to totally distort the history and the lessons of the 1917 revolution, as well as the political history of Sri Lanka, in order to give a political boost to the increasingly unpopular Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government. According to Jayampathy Wickramaratne, a government parliamentarian, the Centenary Celebration held in March was the first in a series of government-supported events to be held around the island. He explained that a number of events, including an international scholarly conference, will be held in Colombo to mark the centenary. The Colombo seminar was a congregation of right-wing politicians, pseudo-lefts and anti-Marxist representatives of academia who are deeply hostile to the heritage of Russian Revolution and any independent political mobilisation of the working class. After a speech by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the keynote address was delivered by Jayadewa Uyangoda, a Colombo University political science professor. Wickremesinghe said the Russian Revolution had a critical influence on shaping social reforms in the 20th century throughout the world, including in Sri Lanka. Yet, he was quick to add that in 1917 Leon Trotsky and the Bolshevik leaders took power by the bullet, but we cant do it today. This is because the soviet system couldnt deliver what people expected. We saw how it collapsed. In one go, Wickremesinghe uttered two grotesque lies to slander the October 1917 Revolution. He falsified the October events by denigrating them as a gun battle, hiding the historical truth that it was the masses of workers, with the support of the multi-million peasantry, which made the revolution under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party. At the same time, Wickremesinghe repeated the worn-out falsehood identifying the Bolshevik government with the degenerated Stalinist bureaucratic rule that later usurped political power in the Soviet Union through a protracted struggle against the revolutionary internationalist forces led by Trotskys Left Opposition. Wickremesinghe shares these reactionary views with the pseudo-lefts in Sri Lanka and around the world. Affirming the distortions peddled by the fake lefts, the prime minister said: We have also done two revolutions in Sri Lanka. According to him, the first was Sirisenas elevation to the presidency, backed by the Obama Washington administration in January 2015, and the second was the formation of a National Unity Government by the countrys two main capitalist parties, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP). Appealing for the continued support of the left fakers, Wickremesinghe said: Like Lenin and Trotsky, we should take the victories of these revolutions forward. The magnitude of Wickremesinghes distortion can be gauged when it is set against the Marxist view of revolution. Leon Trotsky explained that the most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct interference of the masses in historical events ... the forcible entry of the masses into the realm of rulership over their own fate. How distant is the January 2015 regime-change operation in Sri Lanka from this social dynamic of a revolution! Sirisenas installation was the culmination of Washingtons project to oust the former President Mahinda Rajapakse for increasingly leaning toward Beijing, which the US considered as a hindrance to its geo-political offensive against China. Rajapakses removal was the result of behind-the-scenes intrigues by pro-US political operators together with a campaign by various pseudo-lefts, unions, NGOs and professionals to falsely paint Sirisena as the champion of democracy. In his speech, Wickremesinghe referred to the opportunist role of his father, Esmond Wickremesinghe, to further reassure the pseudo-lefts about their own careerism. He related how his father, once a young member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), later became a leading strategist of the right-wing UNP. Gamini Viyangoda, a civil society leader and government apologist, later elaborated on this point. He said that in 1939, Esmond Wickremesinghe, along with N. Shanmugadasan, who later became the leader of the Stalinist Communist party (Chinese wing), were arrested by the police for distributing revolutionary leaflets as LSSP student activists. Viyangoda noted: Maithripala Sirisena, who started his political life with Shanmugadasans party in the 1960s, is the president today and Esmond Wickremesinghes son is the prime minister. Viyangoda avoided any concrete historical facts about the episode he cited, in his haste to paint a distorted picture about the progressive lineage of both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe. Esmond Wickremesinghe and Shanmugadasan represented social elements which were attracted to the socialist politics of the LSSP, the only political movement in the country that fought for national independence under the British colonial rule during the 1930s. But Shanmugadasan joined the minority Stalinist faction that was expelled from the LSSP in December 1939 for supporting the imperialist war waged by the British colonial master, while Wickremesinghe hung on inside the LSSP a little longer. Under the conditions of the establishment of the fake independent state in the late 1940s and the post-World War II international economic boom, petty-bourgeois elements, like Esmond Wickremesinghe, that earlier supported the LSSP, rapidly abandoned their left leanings in their adaptation to the capitalist state. Every modern-day opportunist would readily emulate their treacherous record, including Viyangoda and his fake left companions. Professor Uyangodas keynote address was another testament to the sharp turn to the right of the ex-radicals. His speech, titled From February to October: The Legacy of Russian Revolution and Sri Lanka Today, was another monstrous misrepresentation of the revolutionary history of 1917. Uyangodas task was to dismiss the plausibility of any mass social revolution today. He echoed Wickremesinghes position, saying: [A] little over two years ago, we saw a renewal of impetus for reform. Then he stressed: The agenda of political reform, and not that of revolution, has reached the centre of the current historical process of political change in Sri Lanka. To claim there is no potential today for a revolutionary alternative against capitalism is a cynical distortion of the present world situation. Coinciding with the revolutionary explosions in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011, mass working-class resistance was developing in Sri Lanka against the Rajapakse governments attacks on democratic rights and living conditions. Despite the brutal repression and killing of protestors, thousands took to the streets on issues such as attacks on workers superannuation, education privatisation, subsidy cuts and water pollution. This momentum was temporarily diverted by the 2015 regime-change, with the full support of the pseudo-left, trade unions and so-called left-intellectuals. However, it is now resurging in strikes and protests against the privatisation and austerity agenda of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government. These attempts to falsify the history and political lessons of the Russian Revolution under the cover of Centenary Celebrations demonstrate the deep concern within the ruling class about a new generation of workers and youth being educated and inspired by the lessons of 1917. Millions of workers internationally are being driven into a renewed upsurge of class struggle, faced by the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s, deepening austerity and the imperialist drive towards a new world war. The most advanced elements among them will inevitably turn toward the experiences of the Russian Revolution. The WSWS invites the workers and youth of Sri Lanka and South Asia to join our international online lecture series on the centenary of the Russian Revolution and study the real lessons of the revolution drawn by the Marxist movement. PHOENIX Arizona lawmakers want to find out whether every employee who has a state-issued car actually needs one. Or, more to the point, what's wrong with getting a ride from Uber. State senators are on the verge of approving legislation that would require every state agency to go through its records and determine if they really need as many vehicles as they have. The goal, according to Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler, is to cut the size of the fleet by 10 percent. That would be a significant dent, with the most recent report showing the state owns more than 10,500 vehicles. And that doesn't count another 1,200 operated by the state's three universities. Weninger said it's more than about the state having to buy expensive new cars and trucks when the old ones wear out. He said there's also the cost of operating them. Overall, the state Department of Administration which manages the fleet reports the average vehicle eats up $1,266 in fuel each year. And there's another $819 in maintenance. HB 2440 does more than set the goal of a 10 percent fleet reduction. It requires the Department of Administration to make an effort to reduce the use of state-owned vehicles by finding other ways to get people around. That includes not just renting vehicles as needed but also using rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. Weninger said the goal is achievable, citing his own experience on the Chandler city council. When the recession hit, we looked at our fleet, he said. We found a lot of vehicles that were severely underutilized. For example, Weninger said there were city employees who were assigned their own vehicles. They drove two times a week for three hours each day, he explained. But they had their own car. The result, he said, was revamping the system so that those who need to go somewhere would check out a car on an as-needed basis. But he said there were no instances where someone who needed a vehicle did not have access to one. Weninger said he remains convinced the study his legislation mandates will come to the same conclusion. Overall, I'm convinced that we have too many vehicles and we could get by with less, he said. Weninger conceded that the 10 percent figure is, in some ways, arbitrary. But he said he has been flexible. His original measure mandated a 20 percent reduction in vehicles for each agency. That got cut to 15 percent during debate. And the 10 percent figure in the measure awaiting final Senate approval, Weninger said, remains only a goal and not a mandate. He said that ensures that agencies get credit for the moves they already have made. Even at that, he said that 10 percent is across the board, meaning some agencies might escape with smaller cuts while others might be able to shed more vehicles. It's a far cry from where I started, Weninger said. About the only opposition to the legislation came from Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson. Farley said he is not opposed to what Weninger wants to do. But he thinks it's just too narrow. So he sought to add a requirement for the Department of Administration to also look at public transit. It would be a lot cheaper if there was a convenient way for state employees to get from one place to another on the bus or on the light rail for them to take that, Farley said. It's going to be a lot cheaper than even an Uber. Farley was unsuccessful at attaching the amendment during Senate floor debate, at least in part because he had not secured Weninger's approval for the change. In general, legislative protocol requires getting the consent of the lawmaker on whose bill an amendment was being attached. Weninger said he never actually had a chance to discuss the issue, saying Farley only texted him just minutes before the debate. But he said that what Farley wants is not precluded, saying the list of alternatives to state-owned vehicles includes other public-private partnerships. And Weninger said he reads that to include mass transit. If the governor's office and ... different departments see that they're along the light rail system and they could jump on the light rail and go down Central Avenue and go to an appointment, I don't think there's anything that's going to be preventing them in this bill that's going from doing it, he said. Weninger said he's not trying to do anything to state employees that he would not apply in the real world. It's what I do in my restaurant business, said Weninger, part owner of a firm that runs Dilly's Deli which has several sandwich shops as well as Floridino's Pizza and Pasta. If I can save two seconds on a transaction I'm like a geek and I'm excited about that, he said. And this isn't the end. Weninger said his next target will be the amount of heavy equipment owned by not just the state but also local governments. Why does Mesa need to buy a $300,000 or $500,000 earth mover and Chandler buys one and Tempe buys one, and they all use them 20 or 30 days a year? he asked. It just seems insane to me. MOUNT PLEASANT A Chicago man was arrested Friday at Educators Credit Union after he allegedly used a stolen Social Security number to fill out a loan application. On Thursday, the security department at the credit union, 1400 Newman Road, contacted the Mount Pleasant Police Department regarding a suspicious online loan application that used fictitious documents and a Social Security number from Iowa, according to a release. The application, which was for an $18,000 loan, was made by Kody Jack, 28, who was arrested Friday afternoon while he was attempting to finalize the application. Jack apparently drove a vehicle that had been reported stolen out of Milwaukee to the credit union to finalize the loan. Racine County Jail records show Jack was incarcerated as of Saturday afternoon. According to the release, possible charges for the Chicago resident include identity theft, wire fraud, operating vehicle without the owners consent, fraud against a financial institution, and obstructing an officer. Jack likely will make his initial appearance when courts reopen Monday. Johnny Depp appeared in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Friday, to lend his support to protesters opposing executions in the state. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor spoke at the Rally to Stop the Arkansas Executions, which drew hundreds, according to CBS affiliate THV 11. Standing in front of a sign reading Thou Shalt Not Kill, the actor told the crowd, Arkansas almost put an innocent man to death. I dont believe that possibility should ever happen again, THV 11s Erika Fernando tweeted. Johnny Depp: Arkansas almost put an innocent man to death. I dont believe that possibility should ever happen again. pic.twitter.com/8YTbBuHU1p Erika Ferrando THV11 (@ErikaFerrandoTV) April 14, 2017 The actor also told the assemblage, Theres a wrong thing to do and the right thing to do. Also Read: Johnny Depp Racked Up $6 Million in IRS Penalties and Interest, Court Docs Say Depp has a deep connection to the topic. The actor was a vocal supporter of the West Memphis Three, a trio of men who, as teenagers, were convicted of the murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, but eventually freed. Damien Echols, a West Memphis Three member who was condemned to death row before being freed, was also at the rally. Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson has drawn criticism for deciding to put seven prisoners to death over an 11-day period, which is set to begin Monday. Also Read: Johnny Depp Lawsuit Shocker: 6 Jaw-Dropping Claims About His Spending Habits Hutchinson put the execution spree into play because one of the drugs used for executions, Midazolam, is set to expire at the end of April, the BBC reports. Midazolam, one of three drugs used in a lethal injection cocktail. has been criticized for contributing to botched executions in other states. Story continues Related stories from TheWrap: Johnny Depp Racked Up $6 Million in IRS Penalties and Interest, Court Docs Say Johnny Depp Lawsuit Shocker: 6 Jaw-Dropping Claims About His Spending Habits Pirate of the Cabernet? Johnny Depp Had $30K Monthly Wine Habit, Ex-Managers Claim After delivering his dance-heavy record "Unforgettable" last week, French Montana unveils the visuals for his summery single with Rae Sremmurd's Swae Lee. Shot in Uganda, Montana shreds the tradition of having bodacious video vixens in place of the talented residents of Uganda. Showcasing their dancing skills, the Ugandan kids are found joyously contorting their bodies to the melodies of the record. The inspiration for Montana's latest video stems from his adoration for Uganda's Triplets Ghetto Kids. Their street dancing galvanized the "No Shopping" star and led him to shoot his video there. Originally born in Morocco, North Africa, Montana felt right at home while shooting "Unforgettable." Earlier this month, Montana explained the importance of the single's cover art on Instagram. "The picture of my mother and father at their wedding in Africa is my favorite picture," he began. "It's unforgettable for so many reasons, since it was the same year I was born and the same year my father was incarcerated for unfortunate circumstances. He named me from jail. After he was released, we were granted US visas and in 1996 I went on my first plane to go to America." Then, Montana dove into his transition to the United States and the hardships he encountered during his teenage years. "I didn't know any English," he revealed. "It was tough because I thought we were moving into the high rises of NYC, but we ended up in the back streets of the South Bronx lol. It was still better than back home in Morocco, but my father had a hard time and wanted to move back. My mother knew we couldn't because there weren't any opportunities there and she sacrificed a lot for us to survive in the states. We were on welfare and she worked overtime to keep us fed, clothed and a roof over our heads. I promised my mother that I would hustle and make my accomplishments unforgettable once I found my opportunity. I want other people who might be struggling to know that the sky is not the limit You can do unforgettable things, so I present to you my single 'Unforgettable.' Feat @swaelee." Check out "Unforgettable" below: French Montana and Rae Sremmurd's Swae Lee party in Uganda in their celebratory clip for "Unforgettable." French Montana and Rae Sremmurd's Swae Lee party with the community of Kampala, Uganda in their celebratory video for "Unforgettable." French was inspired to film the "Unforgettable" video in Uganda after watching a dance clip of the country's Triplets Ghetto Kids on YouTube. The rapper, who grew up in Morocco before moving to New York with his family at age 13, felt a deep African pride with the project. (His parents' wedding day photograph from Morocco appears on the "Unforgettable" single cover art.) The duo dance in the streets and shoot pool with the locals, until French is abruptly blindfolded by gunmen. That scene fades out, triggering the intro to French's Future collaboration, "No Pressure," suggesting a potential clip for that track. The rapper released his latest Future team-up, "No Pressure," last week. Earlier this year, he partied on Diddy's private plane in the latter's wild "Can't Feel My Face" clip. More News Watch French Montana, Drake's Festive 'No Shopping' Video Watch Jeezy, French Montana in Raw 'Going Crazy' Video Kanye West, Nas, French Montana 'Figure It Out' in New Video All Stories Related Content: The little girl who made headlines last year after writing a letter that convinced President Obama to visit her hometown of Flint, Mich. while it was undergoing a contaminated water crisis criticized President Trump for breaking his promise to address the same issue. Amariyanna Copeny, 9, who goes by Mari, called out Trump during a protest in front of the White House on Thursday, according to video from the Huffington Post. President Trump also came to Flint. I met him, Copeny said after commending Obama for visiting Flint. [Trump] was not so very nice to me at all. Copeny, also known as Little Miss Flint after winning a beauty pageant, said Trump didnt let her ask any questions during his visit. She then criticized the President for not addressing the water crisis in Flint since taking office. On the campaign trail, he promised he would fix Flint, she said. Unfortunately, this was one promise that he failed to keep, just like his promise to make America great again. Flint faced a drinking water emergency after city officials belatedly confirmed in 2015 that the water supply was contaminated with lead and had poisoned local children. In January 2017, officials announced that the water supply no longer exceeded the federal lead limit, but it is still not considered safe to drink. In March, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded Michigan $100 million to upgrade Flints water infrastructure, using funds Congress approved under Obama, according to CNN. Little Miss Flint remains very displeased with President Trump. "He was not so very nice to me at all." pic.twitter.com/3vlqt6f2tB - Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) April 13, 2017 The promise Trump has kept, according to Copeny, is the one to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump is tearing families apart with his policies on immigration, and us kids are here to tell him, no more,' she said. This article was originally published on TIME.com Elon Musk announced on Thursday his companys plan to unveil an electric semi truck in September. Musk said the truck, which would be an environmentally friendly alternative to diesel-powered trucks, is seriously next level. But will trucking companies actually use them? Its not yet clear how much Tesla will charge for the truck, but it may be a tough sell for companies who have fewer trucks compared to giants like UPS and FedEx. Roughly 97% of an estimated 1.3 million trucking companies operate 20 or fewer trucks, according to a 2015 report from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Nearly 91% of companies operate with six or fewer. To Craig Holt, a Staunton, Va.-based driver for transport company Shenandoah, its going to be a long time before an electric truck looks attractive to smaller companies. For one thing, industry experts predict the Tesla semi-truck will only be able to travel for 200 to 300 miles before needing to recharge, according to Forbes. And Holts freightliner typically needs 300 gallons of diesel fuel to travel 1,400 miles before refueling. The whole point is to travel long distances as quickly and effortlessly as possible, Holt said. Keenan Owens, a Fort Worth, Texas-based driver for food and beverage distributor Ben E. Keith, echoed Holts sentiments, adding that a number of drivers nationwide are paid by cents per mile. If my truck only works for a few hours, youd have to do extra loads to compete, he said, adding that frequent breaks at Tesla charging stations would subtract pay for drivers who get paid by the mile. These added stops would also increase congestion and overall trip time, said Mike Hewitt, associate professor of information systems and supply chain management at Loyola University in Chicago. Hewitt doesnt see how the wide-spread adoption of Tesla trucks could be done without the government paying for more charging stations-and President Donald Trumps plan for infrastructure is still a work in progress. Story continues Given members of Trumps administration have spoken out against climate change, its unclear what the future of electric vehicles in particular looks like-even with Musk serving on the presidents economic advisory council. Large shipping companies like UPS tend to make public commitments to sustainability, but with less visibility, Hewitt is skeptical small companies would be inclined to get behind Teslas truck. This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday he does not view recent U.S. missile strikes on ally Syria as a message for Iran, which he called a "powerful country" that the U.S. cannot harm. The controversial former president made the remarks to The Associated Press on Saturday in his office in northern Tehran, three days after he stunned Iranians by registering to run for president again. His surprise candidacy must still be approved by authorities but has already upended a race that was widely expected to be won by incumbent moderate Hassan Rouhani. Ahmadinejad dismissed suggestions that the U.S. strike on Syria might also be a warning for his country. "I do not think it has a message for Iran. Iran is a powerful country and people like Mr. Trump or the United States administration cannot hurt Iran," he said. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration earlier this year announced it was putting Iran "on notice" in part over its ballistic missile tests, and last week pounded a Syrian air base with cruise missiles in response to a chemical weapons attack. Iran is the main regional backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is involved militarily on the ground in that country's civil war. Ahmadinejad struck a mostly conciliatory tone during the interview, taking care to not stir up controversy that could alienate voters or clerical authorities. He avoided repeating inflammatory statements that made him infamous in the West, such as those predicting Israel's demise or questioning the scale of the Holocaust. He dodged questions about issues such as Iran's missile program and the possible reaction by the U.S. and Israel to another Ahmadinejad presidency. Like all candidates, the 60-year-old must be vetted and approved by a powerful constitutional watchdog known as the Guardian Council before he can ultimately run. It will announce its list of approved candidates by April 27. The council, which is made up of clerics and Islamic jurists, normally disqualifies dissidents, women, and many reformists. Story continues Ahmadinejad said the strike on Syria could have happened even if Hillary Clinton had won the U.S. election. He added that the decision to attack Syria was made by people behind the scenes in the U.S., strongly implying that the U.S. presidency is decided behind closed doors. "Those who are the directors must give the role (of president) to a person who can pull it off best. A woman cannot put up a good war face," he said. "A man can do that better. They need to come up with a figure and say he is very dangerous." Ahmadinejad also dismissed the Trump administration's aggressive talk toward Tehran as political posturing, suggesting that a businessman with such varied international interests would rather avoid war. "If he were dangerous, he would not have $70 billion of assets. However he has no choice but to play such a role," he said. It was unclear how he arrived at that dollar figure. Ahmadinejad also voiced reluctant support for Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with the U.S. and other world powers, which saw Iran accept curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions. Iran has managed to sign a string of multibillion-dollar civilian aircraft deals since sanctions were lifted, but many ordinary Iranians are still waiting on hoped-for economic benefits of the nuclear agreement to trickle down. "The nuclear deal is a legal document and a pact. In the Islamic Republic, the officials and the supreme leader have approved of it and declared their commitment to it," he said. "The problem about the nuclear deal is how they advertised it. Both parties have represented it in such a way as if it can solve all the issues of human history. It was incorrect. It later turned out to be untrue," he continued. Ahmadinejad's candidacy has left many inside Iran scratching their heads. He registered to run on the same day as did his former Vice President Hamid Baghaei, saying at the time his decision was meant to support his political ally. The move has fueled speculation that Ahmadinejad registered knowing that the Guardian Council would be reluctant to risk angering his conservative base by disqualifying both him and Baghaei. His candidacy runs in opposition to a recommendation Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he not run because it would create a "polarized situation" that would be "harmful for the county." Ahmadinejad had ruled out running in the wake of Khamenei's comments in September, but after reversing course this week he called the supreme leader's comments "just advice" that does not prevent him from running. ___ Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report. The United horror stories keep coming out of the woodwork. After the internet exploded over a viral video showing a man being forcibly dragged from his seat on a United flight last weekend, another passenger has taken to Medium to share his horrible experience with the airline. SEE ALSO: Unsettling video captures United passenger being forcibly removed from overbooked flight Trey Harris' tale of inhumane customer service and unreasonable responses left him frustrated and upset enough so he wrote a lengthy post Thursday about the incident, which happened at the beginning of last month. Harris' honeymoon was nearly ruined when United barred him from bringing his "previously-approved, DOT & TSA-allowed mobility device," a Segway miniPro, on board his flight from Newark to San Diego, where the couple had planned to board a cruise. Harris says in the post he has spondylitis, a type of autoimmune spinal arthritis, which can make walking difficult. Based on Harris' account he had done his research and homework to make sure the TSA and United would let him travel with the device. It seemed like everything was set for him and his new husband to saunter onto the plane where they'd splurged on first-class seats since it was their honeymoon. After making it through security without a hitch, it appears a typo and unreasonable staff threw a wrench in his travel plans. A note about his call into the airline about the device seems to have said he was not allowed on board with the device which didn't make sense since the TSA and the rest of the note clearly stated everything was copacetic. "I tried to explain that logic to them, but they were unyielding," he wrote. United has not responded to our request for comment on this alleged incident. In an email Friday, Harris declined to speak beyond what he wrote in the Medium post until he could touch base with a lawyer. The drama continued with a lot of confusion about whether the Segway was actually a hoverboard and prone to exploding. No matter how much evidence Harris presented he got a United special needs representative on his cellphone to tell staff at the airport that his device was allowed on board and a TSA representative to OK it in person the staff at the gate was relentless. The pilot was called in to assess the situation and eventually said no, too. Story continues Harris and his husband ultimately had to leave the Segway at the gate since they didn't want to miss the cruise. They weren't allowed to gate-check the device and there was no time to have a friend come pick it up. Using his cane, Harris made it onto the plane. "We take off, and my honeymoon starts with me sobbing for an hour, my husband consoling me," Harris wrote. From there, Harris said he had to find other accommodations for getting around the cruise and they ended up renting a scooter in San Diego for several hundred dollars. The couple had to modify some excursions and getting around was much more difficult with the clunky, unwieldy device than with his Segway. But overall, the couple made it work and had been enjoying their vacation until there was another nightmarish turn. About halfway through the cruise, Harris received messages that he had "abandoned a hazardous material at an international airport," and a hazmat team was handling it. He would owe money for its disposal and he could face arrest when he arrived in Newark for the alleged crime, according to the messages. "I spent the rest of cruise terrified and stressed out," he said. Once they disembarked in San Diego their plans for a day in the city were thrown off again without his Segway, he explained in the post. Thankfully, once back in Newark he wasn't arrested and baggage crews returned his Segway to him. Everything more or less worked out, even if his honeymoon was anything but smooth. Harris wrote that his post isn't an attempt to get paid by United, but is more about receiving an apology. And assurance that next time he flies he can bring his device with him. The couple's already booked the same cruise next year. After the week United's had many company policies and changes are in the works. We'll see if this huge PR disaster has any effect on customer experience. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. WATCH: Here's United Airlines' adjusted 2017 pre-flight safety speech Viewers with an appetite for quality television should hope that a Hollywood feud never erupts between writer/producer/director Tim Minear and his frequent collaborator Ryan Murphy. Between six seasons and counting of American Horror Story and the current season of Feud: Bette and Joan, theyve turned out some of the most riveting and provocative TV content of recent years. An executive producer on Feud, Minear a veteran of an enviable assortment of beloved series including The X-Files, Firefly, Wonderfalls and Angel has contributed to some of the limited series key episodes and helped guide the shows meticulously detailed sensibility. But for Episode 6, Hagsploitation, which he co-wrote with Gina Welch, he also stepped behind the camera to direct. Coming after the confrontational fireworks of the previous installment, in which Joan Crawford and Bette Davis ego-clash exploded at the Academy Awards, Minear revealed some of the behind the scenes secrets of the latest episode, which set the stage for next phase in the acting legends Hollywood futures, their still-evolving antipathy, the unintended film sub-genre born of the surprise success of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and the reason behind one of the series most inspired casting choices yet. Why was Episode 6 an installment that you were particularly excited to direct, as opposed to working on only the script? I was excited to do anything on any of the episodes Im in love with all eight of them. Im not sure I love one more than the other, although I have fondness for Episode 3 and for Episode 5. And the finale is amazing. Because we had such a small writing staff, we really had to get a lot of the scripts locked before I could step away from the computer and on to the stage, so it sort of fell at a certain time. The reason I was excited about it was becauseits interesting: its a transitional episode. Its coming off of the big climax of Oscar night, and its resetting the story to get us to the end. So I felt like it was an important episode in terms of everythings sort of in a minor key, its paying off some character moments and its really rearranging the furniture and resetting the stage for the ending. Story continues I think it was good that one of the executive producers was there for that one, because its important to reset the table the right way so that we can go out big. Also, I got to direct John Waters, so I was pretty excited about that! Lets talk about that for a second: while he does not bear even a passing resemblance to William Castle, I cant think of a better bit of casting than John Waters. The way that came about was, we were just talking about who would make for a great cameo to portray William Castle. As I was actually doing my Castle research, I found some interviews online about Castle and some of it was John Waters John Waters interviewing the guy who played Trog in Trog. Thats not a William Castle picture, but thats John Waters talking about William Castle and how important William Castle was to him growing up. And as it turned out, John was actually at one of these screenings with Castle and Crawford went to on their tour. So he saw the exact stage show that we recreate in the episode. SEE ALSO: 'Feud: Bette and Joan' is about so much more than Hollywood's most infamous catfight So while he doesnt bear a passing resemblance to Bill Castle maybe John Goodman might the sort of spirit of fun, independent, lower budget filmmaking is personified in John Waters, so it just felt like a tribute to Castle in that way. There was no intent to try to physically change John Waters, because John Waters has an iconic silhouette in the same way that Castle did. How much fun was it to shoot the Strait-Jacket sequences and recreate that type of filmmaking? Recreating Strait-Jacket was so much fun, and also so bizarre. Literally we were recreating the trailer for Strait-Jacket, so youre doing shots that dont relate to anything. It really is kind of a shabbily-put-together trailer. It doesnt really make any sense. It was important to capture it in a realistic way, and it was really fun doing that with Jessica, putting her in the straitjacket. Wed watch the reference film over and over and over again, and she would say, okay, so she screams here, she turns her head to the left here, she screams again, theres two more screams, she turns her head to the right. We were trying to get it perfect, and it was absolutely hilarious, and a lot of fun. How much of a connoisseur of the hagsploitation genre have you been, or have you become, as a part of this whole process? Its interesting: I went through a phase in my late 20s/early 30s, when I was really doing my own kind of autodidact film school in my apartment. I just discovered, Oh, there are films that predate the '80s. I started consuming them. I was a big Robert Aldrich fan. I took a film class and studied Kiss Me Deadly, so I was a big Aldrich fan to begin with. When I discovered Baby Jane, thats when I fell in love with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. So at that time in my late 20s, my friends and I did start becoming connoisseurs of things like Strait-Jacket, and Lady in a Cage, and Berserk. We watched all those films. Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis. Image: Prashant Gupta/FX Then I sort of put it aside, and having returned to it for this project [I've] regained a contempt and a love and a respect for it all at the same time. Whats interesting about Strait-Jacket is, its not bad. Its bad, but in a way its not bad. You watch Crawford in that movie, shes giving it everything shes got. Granted, in every third shot theres a six pack of Pepsi-Cola in the foreground, so she never forgot where her loyalties lie. Even though shes working with these B-actors, and in some instances, not even actors, because I think the guy who played the doctor was one of the investors in the movie or something hes terrible! she is committed in every scene. Everyone involved, in one way or another, is writing a love letter to Hollywood, and its legacy, and the films of the past. Tell me about that side of that for the project for you, being able to get really, really wonky in your details in recreating this very specific period. For me, and I think for all of us, but Ill just speak for myself here, Im obsessed with old Hollywood. Everything from the silent era through whats considered the Golden Age, which is sort of up through 39, and then the films of the 70s are maybe even the greatest American films. But Im obsessed with Old Hollywood, and have been trying to do a project in that genre for 15 years. So this coming along, and Ryan coming to me and saying, Come do this with me, was absolutely a dream come true. I will say, I am sort of a walking Wikipedia when it comes to facts about Old Hollywood. I live here, I grew up here, and this is going to sound so corny, but I dont care theres a part of me that feels a responsibility to the ghosts that haunt this town, who created this thing out of nothing. SEE ALSO: Here's how 'Feud' brought '60s Hollywood to life so accurately When were talking even about the 60s or somebody like Jack Warner, you have to remember, these people invented the film industry. They came out to a desert, they were running away from the patent holders in New York, they came out to a desert where there was nothing, and they willed paradise out of the dirt. Thats what they did. They created something new. So to travel back in time even a little bit in a project like this, and I think our love for Old Hollywood is all over this thing, its just such a pleasure, I cant even tell you. Tell me about trying to show the bleak side of what Jack Warner and Hedda Hopper represented in the industry, but also who they were and what they were about. I think thats always a challenge, and I think a goal in everything Ive done with Ryan. What interests one are flawed human characters, and often very despicable characters. When youre writing characters like that, you want to find some human elements in them. And plus, look, youve got Stanley Tucci and Judy Davis. What you dont want to do is just have them come in, drop some exposition or something, and walk away. You want them to be a little more full-bodied, so theres that. I think whats interesting about Hedda, in this episode in particular, is yeah, were sort of showing a human side of her, but it makes her feel even more awful in a way. And maybe its a little bit that way with Jack too. We were so in love with Stanley, that when we were breaking this story, Ryan was pitching out what hed like to see: its Jack wants Aldrich to get the band back together. In my research, what I discovered was, Jack Warner did not get the band back together. This was not a Warner Bros film. It was actually 20th Century Fox. So we created what we imagined may have happened between Jack and Aldrich. Alfred Molina as Robert Aldrich. Image: Prashant Gupta/FX Knowing that that was coming, it was a great way for us to put weight in Bobs story in a very subtle way throughout the preceding episodes, and sort of play with impotence. Literally, the metaphor could not be more of an anvil in some ways, with him being literally impotent but him getting his balls back in the middle of the episode, I hope is going to be a very satisfying moment for the audience. Episode 6 really begins to delve into the pathos of Joan Crawfords life on every front. Give me your take on her, and why she was, to you, a sympathetic figure, why she was also her own worst enemy some of the things that are clearly put across in this episode. Weve hit some areas in this episode that we hadnt up until now her brother Hal; the whispers that had always been around that she had performed in stag movies when she first started; that she kind of used her body to get to where she was. The reason I find Joan to be a fascinating character is because shes a tragic character. Shes not just this shrieking harpy from Mommie Dearest. Were talking about a woman who was a little girl with almost Dickensian kind of a childhood, where she was abused by her stepfather and mistook that for affection, whose mother did not like her and felt like she was in competition with her, and then sent to this convent school where she had to pay her own tuition. She had to pay her own room and board. SEE ALSO: 'Feud' star Jessica Lange on the ways Hollywood is still failing women Shes Cinderella. She was scrubbing the toilets, and cleaning up, and feeding the other girls who were paying to be there, and she was beaten and slapped around, and she would slip out the back door, and find affection with boys when she was very young. She learned that this was something she could use to get what she wanted and what she wanted, I think, more than anything, was what everybody wants, which is affection and to be adored and to be loved. And like a lot of people, she mistook sex and the act for human affection and love. Whats great about Joans story for a writer is that it has a tragic arc. It has a trajectory. She sacrificed everything to get what she wanted, and I think by the end of it, she didnt even know who the hell she was because everything about Joan Crawford was complete artifice. Jessica Lange talks about that: playing this character for her was a real leap of faith, because she was playing something that was a construct. So how do you play something thats a construct, and show the person underneath? Of course only Jessica Lange could pull that off. She pulls it off from the moment she steps on the screen. WATCH: This bra supports you both physically and mentally The passenger who was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight by aviation security officials Sunday garnered much public sympathy in the days since video emerged of him being dragged, bloody and screaming, down the aisle of a plane. David Dao, 69, retained a lawyer and filed a petition with an Illinois court to get all evidence related to the incident preserved. While a lawsuit wasn't filed, Daos lawyer confirmed in a press conference Thursday there would likely be one, which begs the question: In the wake of such a high-profile, controversial incident, how much will Dao get? Read: United Airlines Dragging Passenger Off Plane Was Illegal Dr. Dao will likely get millions here, James Goodnow, an attorney with the Lamber-Goodnow Injury Law Team at Fennemore Craig, who is licensed in Chicago, told International Business Times in an interview Thursday. The only question is how many zeros will follow the first number. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Dao has a number of claims against both the city of Chicago and United. First and foremost, he has an assault and battery case. This is going to be a slam dunk, a no-brainer, an easy win, Goodnow told IBT. Its documented on multiple cell phones. Theres no question. RTX35FRP Photo: Reuters Other claims will likely include breach of contract, false imprisonment, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Thats just a big fancy way of saying that the officers involved, and/or United Airlines, intentionally engaged in outrageous conduct that could be expected to have an emotional impact on Dr. Dao, said Goodnow. I think most people would consider this conduct outrageous and I think theres little question Dao has suffered emotionally. Story continues There is no specific monetary cap in Chicago on what a plaintiff can get. Dao would likely collect on an array of damages including medical bills, lost wages and general damages, which include those things that cant be quantified, like emotional distress and pain and suffering. Illinois is one of the most restrictive places in the country when it comes to punitive damages, which refer to damages awarded to punish wrongdoers and deter future wrong conduct, so lawyers would have to look elsewhere for a larger payday. Read: A Full Timeline Of The United Airlines Overbooking Controversy The real money is going to come in the area of emotional distress damages the pain and suffering. We call those general damages, said Goodnow. Thats where you can juice this up from a monetary perspective. In a typical personal injury case, Goodnow explained, a general rule of thumb is that plaintiffs are rewarded three to four times his or her medical bills. In a case where a clients past and future medical bills are estimated to be about $100,000, the payout would likely be somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000. Not so for Dao, namely because the case will almost certainly never make it to court. What you will see here is a settlement value that will blow away anything Dr. Dao will ever recover in court, said Goodnow. Because of the nature of the case and the intense public scrutiny, United will likely be motivated to aim for a settlement, which will garner a larger payout for Dao than a trial would. The company has already become the subject of numerous boycotts, internet mocking and a plunging stock price and cant afford to be at the center of yet another controversy. Look at the attention this case has received in just a few days, said Goodnow. Imagine what would happen if you have a public trial and every reporter is covering it. Every day will be another paper cut for United. The mistakes made by United after the incident will presumably benefit Dao. At least, from a monetary standpoint. Instead of apologizing to Dao, the airline said it was sorry for having to re-accommodate passengers in their first statement. They were the subject of swift backlash by people who took issue with the phrasing. In a different memo to employees, which was obtained by the media, CEO Oscar Munoz appeared to blame Dao for being disruptive and belligerent and leaving the crew no choice but to call aviation security to forcibly remove him, though video recorded right before the incident suggested otherwise. All of these missteps are going to enter into the equation when United is deciding how much to pay here, said Goodnow. If United insults Dr. Dao and his legal team with a 'lowball' offer, they risk an ever greater backlash. If that information were to leak out, it would be so damaging if it looks like, in the face of this, United is trying to get out on the cheap. Munoz issued yet another statement from the company Tuesday in which he took full responsibility and pledged to make the situation right. I dont think Uniteds legal team is going to try and 'lowball' Dr. Dao here, said Goodnow. I think theyre going to come in with the biggest number they can to get this put to bed as soon as possible. Related Articles Upper Karnali, Arun 3 hydel project: Developers complain about delays in forest clearance Indian companies constructing hydropower projects in Nepal have complained about the delay in issuing permission to clear forest land at a meeting of the Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism held on Wednesday. Tech giant Apple is considering backing Hon Hai's multi-billion dollar bid for Toshiba's lucrative memory chip business, a report said Saturday. The US firm plans to financially support Taiwan's Hon Hai, which has reportedly bid some 3 trillion yen ($27.6 billion) in the initial tendering round for the memory chip business, the Mainichi Shimbun said. Apple, which uses Toshiba's memory chips for its iPhone, hopes to secure stable supplies of the key parts by supporting Hon Hai's bid, the daily said. Hon Hai, which acquired Japanese electronics maker Sharp last year, is separately asking SoftBank to join the team, the daily said. The Japanese telecom company may help Hon Hai negotiate with local banks currently supporting Toshiba, it said. Immediate confirmation of the report was not available. Among other bidders are Google and Amazon as well as US private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and American chipmaker Broadcom, news reports have said, quoting unnamed sources. Local media said any foreign buyer would need to pass a Japanese government review, given concerns about security around systems already using Toshiba's memory chips. Toshiba is the world's number two supplier of memory chips for smartphones and computers, behind South Korea's Samsung, and the business accounted for about a quarter of its 5.67 trillion yen in revenue last fiscal year. But it plans to sell off the chip business, seen as crucial for the cash-strapped company to turn itself around, after suffering huge cost overruns and construction delays at its US nuclear power unit Westinghouse Electric, which filed for bankruptcy protection late March. On Tuesday, Toshiba reported an unaudited loss of $4.9 billion in long-overdue financial results for the nine months to December 2016. In announcing the earnings, Toshiba also warned of the likelihood of a worsening financial situation and said its survival was at risk. Chicago (AFP) - Arkansas's plans to execute eight prisoners in just 10 days faced new setbacks Friday, after a judge blocked use of a key lethal injection drug and one of the inmates got a top court reprieve. Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order barring authorities in the southern US state from using vecuronium bromide, which the state had planned to use for its executions. The move came after drug distributor McKesson Corporation asked the court to ban the anesthetic. Griffen set a hearing for early Tuesday, one day after the state -- which has not carried out an execution since 2005 -- had planned to begin the series of lethal injections. There have been mounting protests over the executions in front of the state Capitol in Little Rock, Arkansas. The state's attorney general, Leslie Rutledge, plans to appeal the judge's ruling. "As a public opponent of capital punishment, Judge Griffen should have recused himself from this case," she said in a statement, referring to a demonstration in which Griffen is said to have participated. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for one of the death row inmates -- 60-year-old Bruce Ward -- without explanation. "We are grateful that the Arkansas Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for Bruce Ward so that they may consider the serious questions presented about his sanity," Ward's attorney Scott Braden was cited as saying. "He deserves a day in court for that, but in Arkansas the rules do not permit that. Instead, they give the power to director of the department of corrections to decide whether the department can execute someone or not. That is both unfair and unconstitutional." Last week, a federal judge granted another prisoner, Jason McGehee, a 30-day reprieve to consider a clemency petition. No other state has scheduled as many executions in 10 days since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) When administered as their manufacturers intend, the three drugs Arkansas could use in lethal injections next week if courts allow the executions to proceed are key products of the pharmaceutical industry. They produce amnesia for patients heading into medical procedures, relax muscles to the point that they don't interfere with knife-wielding surgeons and regulate heart rhythms in cardiac patients. A state judge ruled Friday that Arkansas cannot inject inmates with the muscle relaxant currently on hand until he addresses a complaint that prison officials obtained the drug improperly. He set a hearing for Tuesday; the executions were due to start Monday. The companies that produced the drugs have said they don't want their products used in executions. Here is a look at the midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride in Arkansas' execution protocol: ___ MIDAZOLAM Arkansas' supply of midazolam, the key drug in the procedure, expires April 30. Monday would be the first time Arkansas would use midazolam in an execution, and the intent is to have it sedate inmates before vecuronium bromide stops their breathing and potassium chloride stops their heart. "It doesn't block the experience in the moment," anesthesiologist Dr. Joel Zivot of Emory University testified in Little Rock federal court this week. "The pain is still there, but they won't recall it later." At normal adult doses of around 4 mg, midazolam can slow or stop breathing to the point that medical literature advises doctors to monitor patients closely. With a 500 mg dose listed in the state's execution protocol, Arkansas expects that the inmates will not be aware they are dying. "Midazolam is an appropriate selection," doctor of pharmacy Daniel Buffington of Tampa, Florida, told U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker. Doctors testified this week that the drug can "precipitate," in which a portion of the drug converts to a solid in the bloodstream under certain conditions. Pharmacists who studied botched executions noted the phenomena in a paper published in 2015 and said precipitation is "a likely scenario" with large doses. Story continues The U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 authorized the use of midazolam in executions, rejecting claims the drug couldn't adequately sedate inmates. ___ VECURONIUM BROMIDE Vecuronium bromide is a muscle relaxant, but not in the typical sense. Rather than being prescribed for tightness or muscle pain, vecuronium is used to prevent muscles from moving so they don't interfere with surgeons. After receiving the drug, patients must be on a ventilator or they will suffocate. "How long can you hold your breath?" Zivot asked in court when asked to describe the drug's effects. "If given alone, people would be totally aware" that they were becoming oxygen-deprived. He likened it to being held underwater. The typical dose is up to .1 mg/kg intravenously, or 8.5 mg for the typical inmate set to die this month. Under Arkansas' protocol, executioners will administer 100 mg, or more than 11 times the typical dose. Medical supply company McKesson says Arkansas obtained its vecuronium bromide under false pretenses. ___ POTASSIUM CHLORIDE Potassium is essential for maintaining a proper heart rhythm with levels too high or too low both able to cause cardiac trouble, Zivot said. The anesthesiologist said potassium chloride causes considerable pain when injected and is typically diluted and given over several hours. He said the drug is typically given in doses of 20 milliequivalents over several hours. Arkansas plans to use 240 mEq immediately after the inmate is injected with vecuronium bromide. "It's not only painful, it's caustic," Zivot testified. "It will destroy the vein as it passes along its length." Madan Kharel, who is from the pharmacy school at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore and has doctorates in pharmaceutical sciences and biochemistry, told The Associated Press this week the paralysis caused by the vecuronium bromide should be sufficient to kill the inmates before the executioner delivers a drug to stop the heart. "The potassium chloride is just to make sure he is dead. It's a final assurance," he said. ___ Follow Kelly P. Kissel on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kisselAP and go to http://bigstory.ap.org/author/kelly-p-kissel to see his work. ATLANTA (AP) A homeless man charged with starting the fire that destroyed a section of Interstate 85 in Atlanta is being made a "scapegoat" by the state, which shouldn't have stored flammable material under a highway, his lawyers said. Basil Eleby will plead not guilty on Monday to charges of arson and criminal damage to property, they said. Police say Eleby was smoking crack cocaine under the overpass and deliberately started a conflagration. But Eleby's supporters say the Georgia Department of Transportation should be held accountable for storing construction materials under the highway. GDOT has said the materials fiber-optic cables on wooden spools were left over from a project to install cameras along the highway, and had been secured inside a fence. Those materials burned so hot that the cement and steel overpass crumbled, snarling traffic in the already congested city. Reconstruction is expected to cost millions and take until at least mid-June. Eleby's supporters held a news conference Friday urging people not to rush to judgment. "This is a railroading on steroids. It really is," attorney Mawuli Davis said, to suggest that Eleby "is responsible for all of this devastation." More than a dozen people and social justice organizations have formed the Community Coalition in Support of Basil Eleby to advocate for his constitutional rights. Georgia NAACP President Francys Johnson said the coalition hopes to "prevent another man from being tried unfairly and punished unjustly." "When you think about the quality of American justice," Johnson said, "the quality of that system should be measured not by how society treats its most affluent." The coalition has asked witnesses to call 1-800-237-6072 or use www.basileleby.org to bring forward any relevant information. Lawyers also have asked transportation workers to share information. By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alabama's Auburn University on Friday canceled a campus speech by Richard Spencer, a white U.S. nationalist best known for drawing Nazi-like salutes at a party to celebrate President Donald Trump's election last year, citing safety concerns. Auburn said it decided to drop Spencer's visit scheduled for Tuesday evening "based on legitimate concerns and credible evidence that it will jeopardize the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors." The university, located in the city of the same name in Alabama, did not elaborate on its safety concerns, and school officials could not be reached for further comment. Spencer, 38, said he was incensed over the cancellation and considered it an attack on his right to free speech. "I'm absolutely disgusted," Spencer told Reuters. "Thats the only way to put it." Spencer, who leads the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist and nationalist think tank, said his organization paid about $700 to rent a room at the university for the speech and spent an additional $2,200 for security. Spencer said Auburn was aware of the violent threats and protests that typically follow him to his speaking engagements. When Spencer spoke at Texas A&M University in December, some 1,000 people gathered in protest. In January, he was hit in the face by a protestor during a televised interview in Washington. Auburn had been criticized on social media by students and parents who said the university was supporting hate speech by allowing Spencer to visit. In response, the university said in a statement on Wednesday that it strongly deplored Spencer's views, but it would uphold his right to speak. After the cancellation, Spencer said he would give the speech at another location in Auburn on Tuesday. He did not say where. Spencer said his talk would touch on free speech issues but mainly focus on his newfound opposition to Trump. Story continues Spencer and other white nationalists soured on the Republican president after the recent U.S. bomb attacks in Syria and Afghanistan. "We are a true oppositional force," Spencer said. An outspoken supporter of Trump in the 2016 campaign, Spencer rose from relative obscurity in the days after the Nov. 8 election. Widely circulated video footage showed some Trump supporters giving Nazi-style salutes to Spencer during a gathering in Washington to celebrate the Republican candidate's victory. In an interview with the New York Times shortly after the incident, Trump condemned the conference organized by Spencer. (Editing by Frank McGurty and Bill Rigby) The most Vermont thing to ever happen took place on Friday. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gave a speech inside a giant tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Sanders spoke to employees at a Ben & Jerry's factory in St. Albans on Friday afternoon. He then tasted some flavors, because when you're at a Ben & Jerry's factory, you eat some ice cream, OK? SEE ALSO: Ready your ears for a dousing of hot BERN SAUCE, Bernie Sanders just dropped his podcast Sanders shared a photo of himself giving the speech in what may be the most amazing podium to ever grace the land. It was a giant tub of ice cream. The flavor? Euphoric Stuff. When we stand up and fight back we can change the country in very positive ways. pic.twitter.com/U4jSzrFaK5 Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 14, 2017 When we stand up and fight back we can change the country in very positive ways - @SenSanders pic.twitter.com/j9Dqbc7unS Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) April 14, 2017 Given the opportunity, the internet will respond, and Bernie Sanders standing inside a giant tub of ice cream was the start of a delicious new meme. me, leaving corner store: "Ah, stoked to enjoy this Ben & Jerry's!" *opens lid, Bernie Sanders pops out * "POWERFUL SPECIAL INTERESTS ..." pic.twitter.com/diINMKgKeA Sam Laird (@samcmlaird) April 14, 2017 Worst bachelor party ever pic.twitter.com/2ZmL0vKzSK David Burge (@iowahawkblog) April 14, 2017 When we stand up out of a big tub of ice cream and surprise the whole party, we can https://t.co/6TQpyikbdp libby watson (@libbycwatson) April 14, 2017 Ben & Jerry's unveils new Bernie Sanders ice cream. Can be left out in the cold at any party. pic.twitter.com/kT513PAbbd Your Name Here (@OdelGauri) April 14, 2017 I literally cannot think of anything more Vermont than Bernie Sanders emerging from a giant tub of Ben & Jerrys pic.twitter.com/FhwVFLZAPu Freddie Campion (@FreddieCampion) April 14, 2017 this image of bernie sanders preaching from a ben and jerry's pint podium is a fantasy ive had for some time now https://t.co/UVidksDQUj c_def (@c_def) April 14, 2017 .@SenSanders can't visit our Vermont factory without trying some new flavors. pic.twitter.com/QhSpki7lEQ Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) April 14, 2017 WATCH: If you give up your seat on a Delta flight you could get almost $10,000 On April 15 the day tax filings are due thousands of Americans across the country took to the streets to demand that President Donald Trump release his tax returns. As a reminder, Trump still hasn't released his tax returns, unlike every other American president and presidential candidate since Richard Nixon. Of course, the protesters had some pretty good signs: Wow look at all the coastal elites in Farmington Michigan demanding to see POTUS's taxes! #TaxMarch @IndivisibleMich pic.twitter.com/r4P1P4xwwi Abby Vegas (@AwkwardCeleb) April 15, 2017 My daughter couldn't make it today but she made a sign for us to carry #TaxMarch #taxmarchla pic.twitter.com/QtbkzyRRd2 Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) April 15, 2017 There are #TaxMarch people packing the blocks on 6th from 42nd to 36th & more piling on every minute. Signs are great pic.twitter.com/zoH5MOHs2R Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) April 15, 2017 At the Philly #TaxMarch - because who isn't annoyed by those long ties with the scotch tape? @taxmarch @IndivisibleTeam pic.twitter.com/Diih664qoo Marc Schleifer (@marcfs13) April 15, 2017 WATCH: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' teaser trailer is finally here North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un A giant global disruption is looming. Its not the demise of the European Union, or Trumpian trade wars. Its North Korea, the worlds most menacing nation. Youve heard this before. Many times. Whats different now is a gathering of forces that seem to be leading toward some sort of inevitable confrontation in 2017, whether military or political. North Korea possesses perhaps 10 nuclear weapons, and the capability to produce maybe 20 more. Intelligence experts believe the sixth North Korean test of a nuclear weapon may be imminent, with each test since 2003 demonstrating more destructive capability than prior ones. The most recent test, last September, involved a bomb with 35 times the power of the nuke that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. The nukes are half the problem. The other half involves the missiles able to target them at enemy states, and the miniaturization required to place a warhead atop a missile. North Korea already has missiles that can reach South Korea and Japankey US alliesas well as American territories such as Guam and maybe the state of Hawaii. And North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has pledged to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, capable of reaching the continental United States sometime this year. Since North Korea has repeatedly threatened nuclear action against the United States, some national-security experts feel the US cant allow the reclusive nation to develop missiles capable of delivering nukes it already has to American territory. The real wild card Theres one other factor that could lead to a showdown this year: President Donald Trump, who has already shown greater willingness to use force than his predecessor, Barack Obama. The unknown wild card is not Kim Jong Un but the Trump administration, says Sue Mi Terry of the consulting firm Bower Group Asia, who was a former senior analyst on North Korea at the CIA. The situation is definitely moving toward a critical threshold. But North Korea is not Syria. Its not as simple as saying Im going to take out target X. Story continues On April 11, Trump said in a tweet that North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! That came as the Pentagon was sending a group of warships, included the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, toward North Korea, a show of force meant to signal Washingtons displeasure should the nuclear test take place. Reining in North Koreas nuclear ambitions, however, has vexed every US president since Bill Clinton, with each president inheriting a more complex and dangerous situation than his predecessor. All the options basically suck when it comes to North Korea, says Terry. The risk for global financial markets War on the Korean peninsula is not inevitable during the Trump administration. But if theres some kind of negotiated outcome, it may require the credible threat of military force by the Pentagon, and the kind of brinkmanship sure to rattle global financial markets. The recent cruise-missile strike on Syria chilled markets briefly, as did the use of the giant mother of all bombs in Afghanistan. Military action involving North Korea would be far riskier. For a nation nearly cut off from the civilized world, North Korea could cause a lot of trouble in financial capitals. Thousands of artillery pieces are arrayed along its border with South Korea, which could rain down shells on Seoul, the Souths capital, in a shooting war. Thousands would die before US and South Korean forces were able to subdue all those guns. North Korean missiles can reach Tokyo, and while they may not be all that accurate, they could certainly cause mayhem. If North Korea has a nuke able to fit on a missile aimed at either of those two countries, it would obviously multiply the threat, and any risk of US action that triggers a North Korean response. The role of China Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo China plays a key role because it is North Koreas only ally and to some extent, its patron. China buys raw material from North Korea, providing cash used to fund North Koreas weapons programs and sustain its elite (even as much of the population endures brutal poverty). China provides food North Korea desperately needs, and Chinese banks may aid North Korean smugglers and criminal enterprises. Were China to squeeze North Korea, it might be able to persuade Kim to lay off the nuclear program or at least stop being so bellicose. China recently began sending back North Korean shipments of coal, its first significant embargo of exports from its troublesome neighbor. But that alone is unlikely to influence Kim, and China seems reluctant to go further. China likes North Korea more or less as it is, because as a communist nation, in theory, its a counterbalance to the democracy in South Korea. China also fears regime change in Pyongyang, or anything else that could send millions of refugees streaming across the border. And it certainly opposes a reunification of the peninsulawhich could happen if North Korea collapsesunder the guidance of the democratic government in Seoul. The Chinese also have no reason to cave to American demands. The Chinese have made a calculation, says Mary Beth Long, a senior adviser to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former top Pentagon official under President George W. Bush. Has the United States ever demonstrated a willingness to do anything militarily against North Korea? The answer is no. Never. Weve never taken out the electrical system or embargoed shipping. Sending an unequivocal message that would indicate our willingness and ability to take out their weapons or other targets needs to be part of getting the Chinese to act. And that, of course, is the sort of warmongering that would drive investors out of risk assets and send stocks plummeting. Were running out of time Nobody knows how Kim would react if the United States threatened military action against him, or actually conducted preventive strikes meant to destroy nuclear facilities, missiles, launch systems or other weapons. The Kim regime prioritizes its own survival above all else, so Kim may not be as willing to attack Seoul or Tokyo as his loose rhetoric suggests. The United States and South Korea would undoubtedly prevail in an all-out war, but the scale of destruction could rival that from any conflict since World War II. The Pentagon has spent decades developing anti-missile technology able to shoot down missiles in flight, and it recently deployed such systems in South Korea, over Chinas objections. But anti-missile systems are largely unproven and could easily fail. There are also efforts underway to use cyber weapons against North Korea, similar to the malicious code that knocked the Iranian nuclear program offline for a time. But North Korea is reportedly a harder target, partly because its so hermetic. After his recent meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Trump said via tweet that I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem! Trump, of course, has repeatedly promised tariffs on Chinese imports and other trade protections meant to combat the decline of American manufacturing jobs. But a nuclear North Korea is a far more dangerous and complicated problem than cheap imports that actually benefit many American families. After the Xi meeting, Trump seemed to link his theories on trade with the very real problem posed by North Korea, in effect making a complicated and increasingly urgent national-security problem even more complex. The Chinese are dogged and clever, and unlikely to take the bait. Trump is obviously learning that some of his rowdier campaign promisesrepeal Obamacare, tear up trade deals, ban certain immigrantsare impractical or politically difficult. North Korea requires an accelerated learning curve. Were running out of time, says Long. The pace at which testing has occurred, and the technological leaps, are moving more quickly than people had anticipated. Options are falling off the table. One option still on the table is simply tolerating a nuclear North Korea, much as the United States had to tolerate other states that acquired the bomb, such as China in the 1960s and Pakistan in the late 1990s. That may have been the ultimate outcome under Obamas strategic patience approach. But Trump promised to clean up global messes Obama left behind, and the time will soon arrive for him to decide how much hes willing to risk to give it a try. The answer could lead to the most momentous developments of 2017. Confidential tip line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com Read more: Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman Sorry flat Earth truthers: Bill Nye yes, the Science Guy has a message for you: You're wrong. SEE ALSO: A Bill Nye science talk show is coming to Netflix "Theres a movement afoot right now to deny facts and presume that ones own belief is every bit as worthy as scientifically proven fact," Nye told Mashable in a recent interview. "We people in my science education community have to work to overcome this." Nye, who is returning to the small screen with a new Netflix show, said throughout history many people ranging from the Ancient Greeks to people in the Medieval Times have known the earth was round. "All the evidence that the earth is round is overwhelming," Nye said. "The idea in science is you seek truths in nature that you can prove, that you can show to be true. What you dont know you admit you dont know, and you pursue ways to find out facts about nature or laws of nature. The earth is round everybody." Bill Nye Saves the World debuts on Netflix on April 21, the day before Earth Day. WATCH: Bill Nye explains how our brains process the Internet using emoji British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Saturday urged North Korea to abide by UN resolutions and stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons, as the reclusive state brandished its military might. "We have been here before but continue to monitor the situation carefully," Johnson said in a statement. "We stand alongside our international partners in making clear that North Korea must adhere to UN resolutions designed to secure peace and stability in the region and stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons." The nuclear-armed state is under United Nations sanctions over its weapons programmes. It has carried out five nuclear tests - two of them last year - and multiple missile launches, one of which saw several rockets come down in waters provocatively close to Japan last month. North Korea's weapons of war rolled through Pyongyang on Saturday and a senior figure in the regime said it could "beat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice", as leader Kim Jong-Un mounted a spectacular show of strength. Ostensibly Saturday's event was to mark the 105th anniversary of the North's founder Kim Il-Sung's birth -- a date known as the "Day of the Sun". But it was also intended to send an unmistakable message to Washington about the isolated country's military might. Tensions over North Korea's nuclear ambitions are stretched to the limit, with US President Donald Trump deploying an aircraft carrier battle group to the region. Speculation that Pyongyang could conduct a sixth blast in the coming days to coincide with the anniversary has reached fever pitch, with specialist US website 38North describing its Punggye-ri test site as "primed and ready" and White House officials saying military options were "already being assessed". Dhurmus Suntali Foundation gifts homes to Musahar community The Dhurmus Suntali Foundation handed over an integrated settlement built for the Musahar community in Bardibas Municipality-1, Mahottari, on the occasion of New Year on Friday. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Gov. Jerry Brown announced Saturday that he has pardoned 72 ex-convicts, continuing his tradition of timing his decisions around major Christian holidays including Easter. Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, limited most of his pardons to people who were convicted of drug offenses and other lower-level crimes and who have already completed their sentences. He also issued seven commutations. Those pardoned included three men who served in the U.S. military but were deported to Mexico after completing sentences for various crimes and a teenage mother who killed her newborn child after giving birth in a bathtub. One of the men, Hector Barajas Varela, was expelled from the country after serving more than one year in prison for shooting at an occupied home or vehicle. He founded the Deported Veterans Support House in Tijuana, Mexico, to help deportees adjusting to life there and has advocated to allow deported veterans to return to the United States. "I'm very humbled," Barajas said in a video he posted on his Facebook page. "There are days when I feel like giving up, but it's because of things like these ... that I still believe, that I still have faith that eventually we will go home." None of the decisions were as notable as his pardon of Robert Downey Jr. in December 2015 for a 1996 drug conviction that sent the actor to prison for nearly a year. Downey was imprisoned for violating his probation after he was convicted of felony drug possession in Los Angeles County. His life and career have since rebounded. Such pardons don't erase the convictions. But state and federal law enforcement agencies are informed, and pardons become public records. California's longest-serving governor has now issued 1,330 pardons, including 404 during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983. Pardons were rare for his three immediate predecessors. Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger gave out 15, Democrat Gray Davis granted none, and Republican Pete Wilson granted 13. Brown's office says earlier Republican governors were more generous, with Ronald Reagan granting nearly 600 and George Deukmejian more than 300. By Leah Schnurr and David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada was on track to legalize recreational marijuana by July 2018 after the government put forward legislation on Thursday that will see it regulate production but left the details of how the drug will be sold up to the provinces. Recreational marijuana has been legalized in some U.S. states, including Colorado and Washington, but Canada would be the first Group of Seven country to do so nationally. The ruling Liberal party made legalization part of its successful 2015 election campaign and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has argued that it will keep marijuana out of the hands of underage users and reduce drug-related crime. "Criminal prohibition has failed to protect our kids and communities and we need a new approach," said Bill Blair, the government's point man on the issue and a former police chief. The government said it will provide details on a new licensing fee and tax system in the coming months. Blair said Ottawa was talking to provinces and producers to make sure the sale price will be "appropriate." The provinces will be responsible for overseeing and approving retail sales of cannabis. Authorities have been battling a rise in illegal dispensaries, particularly in British Columbia and Ontario, for over a year. In jurisdictions that do not put a regulated retail framework in place, Canadians would be able to purchase marijuana online. The minimum legal age would be 18, though provinces would be able to raise that. Only cannabis grown by a federally licensed producer will be available for sale, though Canadians could grow up to four plants at home. Packaging would not be allowed to appeal to youth, include endorsements, or associate cannabis with a certain "way of life," according to the legislation. An official panel recommended late last year that the government require plain packaging. While medical marijuana is already legal in Canada, consulting firm Deloitte has estimated annual sales of recreational marijuana could be as high as C$8.7 billion ($6.5 billion). Shares of marijuana producers were trading lower following the announcement, though the stocks have seen a run-up in anticipation of legalization. Canopy Growth Corp fell 3.8 percent to C$9.92, though the stock has more than tripled in the last year. OrganiGram Holdings Inc, which has nearly doubled, fell 9.7 percent to C$2.80. The market action was likely a "sell the news" reaction as the legislation was largely in line with what an official task force recommended last year, said Aaron Salz, founder of Stoic Advisory. The legislation will be reviewed in Parliamentary committees, where alterations could be made. But it is ultimately all but guaranteed to pass, as the Liberals have a majority in the House of Commons. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr and David Ljunggren; Editing by Dan Grebler and Lisa Shumaker) Carrie Fisher will not appear in Star Wars: Episode IX, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed on Friday. In an interview with Good Morning America, Kennedy said Fisher, who died in December, will not be in the movie at all, putting to rest prior reports that Princess Leia would make an appearance in the film, which comes out in 2019. Unfortunately, Carrie passed away, so by the time we were well underway with Episode IX in our thoughts - we had not written the script yet, she said. But weve regrouped, we started over again in January, so sadly, Carrie will not be in IX. EXCLUSIVE: Lucasfilm President Kathy Kennedy says Carrie Fisher will NOT be in @StarWars Episode 9 as General Leia. #SWCO #TheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/gxH80QteYb - Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2017 Fishers brother, Todd Fisher, told the New York Daily News earlier in April that his sister would be in the movie, using previously shot footage. Kennedy said he was probably confused about the information. Star Wars fans will see Fisher this December in The Last Jedi. The actor had finished filming her scenes for the movie before she passed away. This article was originally published on TIME.com (Reuters) - A 5-year-old boy sustained fatal injuries at a rotating restaurant atop a skyscraper in downtown Atlanta when his head became lodged between a stationary wall and a table affixed to the slow-moving floor, officials said on Saturday. The Sun Dial restaurant's automatic systems stopped the floor's rotating motion when the child became stuck on Friday and then employees dislodged him from the tight space, Atlanta police said in a statement. But the child was critically injured and died later that day at a hospital. "The kid was just wandering as kids will do. Somehow he found himself in a critical situation where he's lodged in between the rotating floor and the wall," Warren Pickard, a spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department, told reporters on Saturday. The boy, whose head was caught within about 5 inches (13 cm) of space, according to police, was identified as Charles Holt of Charlotte, North Carolina, an investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office said on Saturday. His death was ruled accidental and he was found to have suffered crushing injuries to his head and brain, it said. A spokeswoman for Sun Dial, on the 72nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel in the Georgia capital's downtown, did not return a call or email seeking comment on Saturday. Sun Dial's website says it offers 360-degree views of the Atlanta area. A representative for the business told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution it would be closed until further notice. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler) Beijing (AFP) - China's growth stabilised in the first quarter thanks to rising investments and a recovery in exports, experts said, though they warned the reprieve may be temporary. According to an AFP survey of 16 economic analysts, the gross domestic product expanded 6.8 percent in the first three months of this year -- the same level of growth as in the last quarter of 2016. The official GDP growth figure will be released Monday. "Our expectation is stable to stronger growth in the first quarter, based on faster industrial production and investment related mostly to the housing sector bubble and increased fiscal spending on infrastructure," Brian Jackson of IHS Markit told AFP. Cheap credit has bolstered the construction sector since last year, attracting savers and speculators who have fuelled housing prices in large cities and accelerated manufacturing activity. While the country attempts to rebalance its economy around services and domestic consumption, "the question we need to ask is whether China has returned to the same old property-driven model," ANZ Bank's chief economist for greater China, Raymond Yeung, told AFP. - 'Headwinds' - "Particular areas of focus for fiscal policy are infrastructure investment, public services, social welfare and social housing, and tax and fee reductions for businesses," Oxford Economics analyst Louis Kuijs said in a research briefing last month. Beijing announced in March that it will maintain a 3 percent budget deficit, with 2.6 trillion yuan ($376 billion) invested this year in railway, road and waterway projects. Foreign trade also showed improvement as US President Donald Trump backed down on calls for a trade war. Exports rebounded sharply in March while imports surged by 24 percent in the first quarter, reflecting strong domestic demand. But the momentum is not expected to last: according to the AFP poll's median full-year forecast, China's GDP growth will fall to 6.6 percent overall in 2017. Story continues The government has aimed for 6.5 percent growth, which would mark a new slowdown and the economy's worst performance in 26 years after a 6.7 percent GDP increase in 2016. "We expect growth to slow down somewhat later in 2017," Kuijs told AFP, "due to slower real estate activity momentum and the impact from the less accommodative macroeconomic policy stance." While more infrastructure spending and property sales in lower-tier cities will support healthy economic conditions in the first half of the year, "more headwinds" are expected in 2017, RHB Bank analyst Fan Zhang told AFP. Fearing a housing bubble, more than 20 large cities have tightened regulations around apartment purchases and home loans. The Chinese central bank has also raised short-term rates -- effectively increasing the cost of credit -- with an eye to a surging Chinese debt that exceeds 260 percent of the GDP. "This suggests that policymakers are now prioritising efforts to address credit risks over measures to support growth," Capital Economics analyst Mark Williams said in a statement. "We expect further hikes in the coming quarters." Other experts were more circumspect. "Despite more emphasis on containing financial risks, solid economic growth is still a key objective," Kuijs said in the briefing. He predicted authorities would avoid "both too much strength and too much weakness" on the housing market, maintaining a "timid" approach to structural reform. Nicosia (AFP) - Cyprus is at a vital moment in its UN-backed peace process aimed at reunifying the island, President Nicos Anastasiades said Saturday, but admitted that differences with his Turkish Cypriot negotiating partner remained. "We find ourselves before critical and defining developments for the future of our homeland," Anastasiades said in a televised Easter address. The Mediterranean resort island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup. Successive peace efforts between its Greek- and Turkish-speaking communities have stumbled over issues including territory and security. The current process, which saw talks resume in May 2015, is seen by analysts as the best hope for a lasting peace deal. Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have agreed to schedule four new meetings, in a new phase of talks, with the first beginning on April 20. "In order to achieve a solution acceptable by the people, we must establish conditions that will allow us to live in a well-organised European state without any dysfunctions or open wounds," the Greek Cypriot leader said. Much of the progress in recent talks was based on the strong personal rapport between Anastasiades and Akinci, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The Turkish-held north is recognised only by Turkey. But a row over Greek Cypriot schools marking the anniversary of an unofficial 1950 referendum supporting Enosis -- union with Greece -- has eroded trust. And the leaders are still far apart on core issues such as power sharing, territorial adjustments and property rights. Also in the mix are Greek Cypriot presidential elections year and the search for oil and gas, which Ankara wants to see stopped until peace talks have reached an outcome. Any peace accord must be put to a referendum for a final say. The Fate of the Furious may have been director F. Gary Gray's first Fast and Furious film, but it's the eighth installment in the series over all. And as such, Gray had a tall order to fill. The Straight Outta Compton helmer had to figure out how to deliver on the over-the-top action and earnest sentimentality that made the earlier movies so lovable while bringing enough to the table to keep the series feeling fresh. SEE ALSO: 'The Fate of the Furious', or the one where Jason Statham becomes MVP Ironically, one of the new elements in the sequel is actually a return to its origins. The much-hyped New York chase sequence serves as a wink to the news article that inspired the very first Fast and the Furious movie. But there are others, too, including an icy new villain played by Charlize Theron and a dramatic action scene set in Cuba. And then, of course, there are the callbacks to earlier entries like a surprising about-face for Jason Statham's character, who was the villain of Furious 7. Recently, we had the chance to sit down with Gray about how he put his own stamp on this 16-year-old, multibillion-dollar franchise, the decisions he fought for while making the movie, and the one sequence he's proudest of pulling off. So, obviously, as the director of the eighth film in the franchise, youre trying to live up to some really high expectations. How did put your own stamp on the series? Did you feel a lot of pressure to outdo the craziness of the last few films? Well, just naturally, you want to take it to the next level, because the fans deserve that, right? They dont want to see more of the same. They want to see something fresh, they want to see something new. So doing little things, like taking the quarter mile and turning that into the Cuban mile, where they rip around corners and drive through traffic and things like that, thats how you inject, little things like races and stuff like that. Story continues One of the biggest things is just the story, the storyline. Youre not used to seeing Dom go against the family, so thats gonna be really different for the fans that are familiar with the franchise. And because thats so inherently dramatic, theres going to be a little bit more drama, so the tone is gonna be a little different. I like to think that I bring a little something to that with the performances. And my humor is very specific, and so, again, youll have a little more humor in a different way. And you dont want to reinvent the wheel because its such a successful franchise. You want definitely to have your voice heard, but its collaborative. The balance of what you saw was team team team team team, Gary where for lack of a better word, it sounds cliche, kind of the family of creators that put that on the screen. Charlize Theron and director F. Gary Gray talk on the set of The Fate of the Furious. Image: universal Gotcha. So what was the first decision you made after you were hired to direct the film, be it an actor you knew you wanted to bring in, or an action scene you knew you really wanted to shoot, or a location that you really wanted to go to? Charlize Theron. You know, just, how do we cast the role of Cipher? She was my first choice, and I dont know if you know Hollywood well or not, but sometimes you dont always get your first choice. And shes such a strong actor that we wouldve been really disappointed if we didnt land her, but that was one of the first choices. How can we land Charlize? And then the biggest struggle was, we fought for Cuba, which was really really hard to land, given Americas relationship with Cuba and the lack of infrastructure. And how can we make New York work? Because when you have cars racing through Manhattan at top speed, these are things that are hard to pull off physically. But to permit them was a huge challenge given pedestrian traffic and post-9/11 security in Manhattan. It was a major feat. Well, there are some really crazy action scenes like the New York one that you mentioned, and the Cuba scene and everything, and some really shocking twists. So whats the one thing that youre proudest of pulling off in this film? Im really proud of the New York sequence. I think that the raining cars, the weaponized vehicles, all controlled by Cipher whos played by Charlize Theron, I think thats one of the most unique action sequences youll ever see. And its just a lot of fun. Theres drama in the movie, theres fun, theres action, but this is a combination of all three. And Im in love with Cuba. And I love Iceland as well. You have a submarine chasing down a Lamborghini. These are all big toys for the kid in me. But New York is just the next level for me. The dropping cars sequence in New York is next level for me. This high-speed car chase through New York may just be the most implausible thing that happens in this entire franchise. Image: Universal What was it specifically about New York where it was so important for you to make sure you got that done? Well, the franchise has traveled all over the world. It's spent a lot of time in Los Angeles, and its just kind of the natural evolution of the franchise to go to New York. If you are a Fast fan, you know that this franchise was developed from an article about the New York street car culture, not Los Angeles. So it took eight films to make it to New York, but we made it. And I think its, for lack of a better word, sexy and fun and cool and hardcore. Thats what I think the eighth film needs is all of these things happening simultaneously and why not New York? Why not in New York? Well, as a New Yorker, thank you for giving me the fantasy of actually being able to move really quickly around the city, cause that would actually never happen. Hey, listen, thats why you go to the movies, right? You know if you were to pitch this idea, the average New Yorker would say, "Okay, impossible. Theres no way to drive through Times Square at anything more than five, ten miles an hour. Period. So lets go shoot this somewhere in the Philippines." But the fact that we pulled it off is gonna make, I think, a lot of people go to the movies, just to see that sequence specifically. Doing the impossible is why you go to see the movies on the big screen and not Netflix and chill with your laptop. And thats why we kind of took it to the next level, to make it feel cinematic and really fun and big and over-the-top. The Fate of the Furious is one of the first major film productions to shoot in Cuba since the embargo was lifted. Image: universal Yeah. So, Ive heard that the idea for Fate of the Furious was to start to shift the franchise away from the heist films that they have been for the last few films and more toward the spy genre, like Mission: Impossible or James Bond. Can you talk about why you wanted to do that and what you had to do to make that successful? Well, I wouldnt say I was consciously trying to make it feel Bond-ian, or spy genre. I just really wanted to stay true to the twists in the saga and more specifically the storyline of Dom going rogue. The fact that we have a billion-dollar jet that Cipher owns, is the fun of not just having a normal headquarters for a villain. The fun of going to exotic locations like Cuba and Iceland is part of, not only the fun, but its part of what you would expect when you go to a Fast movie. You know, take me somewhere. As far as spies and things like that, I think thats just kind of a natural byproduct of the character of Cipher whos into hacking. You have to go to the movie to understand her motivation. I say that for the audience who hasnt seen it yet. But I do think all of it felt natural for the story. Its not something that I look at and say, okay, now lets figure out how we can be more like Bond. I think its a new look for Fast and I think its cool. We'd complain about the family being so quick to forgive Han's killer, but Jason Statham is honestly the best thing about The Fate of the Furious. Image: universal Yeah. Yeah. So, you bring in Jason Stathams character, who was a villain the last time we see him, but in this film he kind of becomes part of the family. Was it hard to make that shift believable? Well, first of all, Ive worked with Jason before on The Italian Job. So I know what his range is. Hes capable of doing a lot. And you see him stretch himself a little bit in this movie, a little bit of humor, a whole lot of action. You know, if you were to interview Jason, he would say, "Well, I wouldnt necessarily say I was a villain. I wouldnt necessarily say Im a part of the family either." He just has a very specific mission in mind. You have to see the movie to see what it is, but I thought it was very interesting that he could team up with the family and work for a common goal. Thats something that I dont think people would expect and, again, thats part of the reason why you go see the movie, to see why. Yeah, that was one of my favorite parts of the movie. Yeah, hes awesome, and Im glad he was up for it, he was game. Like you said, without giving up too much, its such a fun part of the movie, especially given that theres pockets of drama throughout. WATCH: That sick 'Fate of the Furious' tank is a real Army vehicle? Hell yeah it is Michael Salzhauer, the celebrity plastic surgeon from Snapchat who's best known as Dr. Miami, offered to fix Dr. David Daos nose for free. Dao suffered a broken nose, concussion, injuries to his sinuses and lost two front teeth Sunday after he was brutally dragged from a United Airlines flight after it was overbooked. Daos lawyer, Thomas A. Demetrio, said in a press conference Thursday he would need reconstructive surgery and Dr. Miami wants to perform that service. While on vacation, Dr. Miami reenacted the event on Snapchat and Instagram. His sister-in-law, Rosie, pretended to be a United Airlines flight attendant. READ: United Airlines Dragging Passenger Off Plane Was Illegal, Says Lawyer Here's Why Thank you for flying with United Airlines today. Unfortunately, we have overbooked. We need four people to give up their seats, she starts. If no one volunteers, we will have to randomly select four people. Any volunteers? Thats when Dr. Miami is randomly selected and two people drag him off the beach and into the water. What if United Airlines ran your whole vacation..._ #unitedbreaksnoses #drmiamifixesnoses #feelbetterDrDao #unitedowesyouaREALapology @ro_zi_ working on her tan... A post shared by DrMiami (@therealdrmiami) on Apr 13, 2017 at 3:02pm PDT So, were sorry this happened to you, Dr. David Dao. United is ridiculous and we want to fix your nose for you, Rosie, who works at Dr. Miamis office, says. Well send the bill to United, Dr. Miami adds. Daos daughter, Crystal Pepper, said her father was on a connecting flight to Louisville after a vacation in California. What happened to my dad should have never happened to any human being regardless of the circumstances, she said. United originally defended the airlines policies, but later apologized, offering a refund to everyone who was on the plane. This horrible situation has provided a harsh learning experience from which we will take immediate, concrete action, the company said in a statement Thursday. We have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix whats broken so this never happens again. Story continues Dr Miami Photo: WEtv Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella Related Articles Governing RPP announces fresh protests against EC The ruling Rastriya Prajatantra Party has announced protests against the Election Commission demanding revision of its decision to remove from the RPP charter the agendas of constitutional monarchy and Hindu state" WASHINGTON (AP) As Easter Sunday arrives, President Donald Trump has yet to attend a church service in the capital since the worship events of his inauguration weekend in January. Trump was spending this holiday at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, a frequent weekend destination. The White House would not say if he would go to Easter services. A year ago, while a candidate, he attended the nearby Episcopalian church where he and Melania Trump were married. Where a president worships is always of interest in Washington. Bill Clinton frequented a Methodist church. Jimmy Carter taught Baptist Sunday school. and Barack Obama visited an Episcopal church near the White House. But compared with the buzz in 2009 over whether newly elected Barack Obama would join a church, there has been less chatter this year about Trump. Some of the more liberal churches oppose his policies. Also, he's out of town a lot of weekends. And he's not seen as a committed churchgoer anyway. To be sure, Obama attended church only occasionally. Perhaps the churches are better off without the hubbub, said the Rev. Darrell Scott, a pastor from Cleveland who supported Trump's candidacy and serves on a faith advisory board. Said Scott: "I believe one of the reasons he has not established a home church is it will become larger than life." Raised a Presbyterian, Trump has called himself a "religious person." At a 2015 gathering hosted by Christian conservatives in Iowa, Trump said: "I'm Protestant, I'm Presbyterian, and I go to church, and I love God, and I love my church." He has also spoken about attending Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. In his weekly radio address, he called Easter Sunday "a holy day of reverence and worship" and "a sacred time that fills the spirit of our nation with the faith of our people." Some Washington churches might be an uncomfortable fit for him. Story continues "Churches in D.C. tend, not all, but tend to be a little more liberal. It's a hard sell," said the Rev. Roger Gench, the senior pastor at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church near the White House. He said his church has not reached out to Trump, though all are welcome. "The policies of Trump are counter to the views of most of the people in the church," he said. The thrice-married Trump once espoused more liberal positions but ran for president as a conservative. He did not immediately win over the Christian right in the Republican primaries, but solid support from evangelicals helped propel him to the White House. And so far, those supporters are looking at his words and deeds over his church attendance, said Bob Vander Plaats, president of the conservative Iowa group the Family Leader. "When he announced our action as it relates to Syria and he also used the words, seeking God's wisdom, that's an encouragement to me," said Vander Plaats. He added that conservative Christians are happy with policy moves like nominating Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and signing legislation that lets states deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. In general, Vander Plaats said, "I also think faith leaders and people of faith are not looking for him to be somebody he's not." The White House started an office dealing with faith-based community efforts under George W. Bush, and it continued under Obama. So far Trump's administration has not announced a new director, and the White House did not answer questions about when that position might be filled. During his inauguration weekend, Trump attended a private service at St. John's Church, near the White House, and the national prayer service at Washington National Cathedral. He has spoken about leaning on faith to serve in the Oval Office. Speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network this year, Trump said: "The office is so powerful that you need God even more because your decisions are no longer, gee, I'm going to build a building in New York or I'm going to do this. These are questions of massive life and death, even with regard to health care." Even if Trump doesn't go each week, heading to church from time to time might be a good idea politically, said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. "No president has ever done damage to his career by showing up to a church service on Sunday," said Brinkley. "It shows people that perhaps God is on your side, that you understand the power of prayer." Cairo (AFP) - Egypt tightened security outside churches as Coptic Christians prepared for a subdued Easter mass on Saturday days after suicide bombers killed scores of people in two churches north of the capital. Worshippers will pass through arduous checks outside churches after police, backed by the military, beefed up security following the Palm Sunday church bombings that killed 45 people in two cities north of Cairo. The government had declared a state of emergency and called in the army to protect "vital" installations following the suicide bombings in Tanta and Alexandria, which were claimed by the Islamic State group. Police have deployed in force since Friday creating a cordon outside churches for initial inspection, and worshippers will be searched again with metal detectors at church gates, interior ministry officials said. The heightened security procedures include preventing cars from parking in streets adjacent to churches, according to the officials. "Security has indeed improved so much as it seems the situation needed to be tightened up a lot," said Coptic Church spokesman Boulos Halim. Coptic Pope Tawadros II will lead Easter mass in Cairo's Saint Mark's Cathedral, while the church said celebrations this year would be scaled back. "Tanta and Alexandria created a big shock, for all of Egypt," Halim said. Easter, which along with Christmas is one of Christianity's most important events, marks what followers believe was the resurrection of Christ on the third day after his crucifixion. In Egypt, Copts break a 55-day fast abstaining from all animal products following Saturday's mass. Sunday's bombings, the deadliest attack on Copts in recent memory, were the latest in a series of attacks against the Christians who make up around 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people. In December, an IS suicide bomber struck a Cairo church, killing 29 people. Halim said the church will forgo Sunday morning's traditional celebrations, and instead members will visit the families of "martyrs" as well as those wounded in the blasts, including police officers. Story continues "The happiness of resurrection helps us overcome feelings of pain," said Halim. - Further attacks feared - IS, which has waged an insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula that has seen scores of attacks on security forces, has threatened further attacks on Copts. One Copt who gave his name only as John said he will attend Easter mass despite the threat of attacks. He plans to go to a church in the relative safety of the capital, but admitted "if I were somewhere else outside of Cairo, like a village, I would not want my relatives to go and I would be worried about attending". Christians in a village south of Cairo had been attacked by Muslims after they tried to pray in an abandoned home on Thursday, after which a mob set fire to four homes nearby, according to police officials. The village boasts several mosques, but Christians there have been prevented from building a church, Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told AFP. "There is a general climate where Copts are being persecuted and unfortunately the state just tries to stop violence from spreading, they don't solve the root cause of the problem." Cairo (AFP) - When Egyptian real estate developer Hassan tried building an apartment block without paying bribes, officials stalled the project, going so far as to suggest there were ancient relics beneath the lot. Hassan buckled and found a middleman to disperse the bribes. Bribery and corruption have been rife in Egypt, where a traffic policeman can look past a violation if a crumpled bill finds its way into his pocket. The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has decided to crack down, with each month bringing news of stings ensnaring a corrupt official. Corruption "breaks people's morale, and gives them a feeling that there is no hope," Sisi has said. It was one of the main causes of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. But critics say that despite the crackdown, more work has to be done to fight corruption. "The only thing that changed is the faces" said Hassan, a pseudonym. Since 2015, the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) has prosecuted several high-profile cases, including an agriculture minister forced to resign and later sentenced to 10 years for taking bribes. In January, a senior judge hanged himself in custody a day after his arrest for alleged corruption. - Crossing the line - "The ACA's efforts were very fruitful and there is a noticeable decline in corruption incidents" reported in the media and in government statements, said Walaa Gad al-Karim, Partners for Transparency's general manager. The ACA declined several interview requests. Analysts including Gad al-Karim say high profile stings alone cannot end corruption. A legal overhaul is needed, they say, including guarantees of freedom of information, protections for whistle blowers and autonomy for agencies tasked with battling corruption. "There is a very strong anti-corruption political discourse as the president is always talking about fighting corruption, but we need this to be translated into legislation faster," said Gad al-Karim. Story continues Egypt scored 34 on Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perception Index, dropping two points from the previous year. A score of zero is highly corrupt while 100 is very clean. The decline was partly because of "restrictions on civil society and public scrutiny over corruption," said Kinda Hattar, TI's regional advisor for the Middle East and North Africa. Hisham Geneina, the former head of the Central Auditing Authority (CAA), has become a cautionary tale for officials who are too outspoken on corruption. He was fired and then sentenced to jail after publicising a study based on 2012-2015 reports that calculated the cost of corruption at about 600 billion pounds (about $33 billion). It was reduced to a suspended sentence on appeal. "Geneina crossed an important red line, which stipulates that the independence provided to the CAA has always been conditional on the confidentiality of their data," said Osama Diab, an anti-corruption researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). A July 2015 decree in which Sisi gave himself the right to sack oversight institutions' heads and members, "adds to their direct subordination to the executive authority," the EIPR said in a 2016 report. - Cost of corruption - Corruption costs the country a lot of money, and occasionally lives. Losses to state coffers from selling state land at below-market prices translate into losses in state services, said Gad al-Karim. "Egypt is known for buildings that collapse on its residents where buildings weren't done in accordance with proper specifications," said Hattar. The low salaries of civil servants and policemen contribute to the phenomenon. Many of Egypt's civil servants make 1,200 pounds monthly, the public sector's minimum wage. The average low ranking policeman, the sort Egyptians are more likely to interact with on a daily basis, makes less than 3,000 pounds, an officer told AFP, although Egyptian media has reported higher salaries for them. "Three quarters of my colleagues have problems in their homes because their wives believe the media," said the officer, who requested anonymity. When Danya, also a pseudonym, was pulled over with an expired driving licence, and paid a 500-pound fine, a police officer told her: "If you had paid the policeman back there 50 pounds you wouldn't have had to pay the 500". Hassan said he would pay higher fees to compensate underpaid officials, "if this money will actually go to the government." BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers could summon French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen to discuss the lifting of her immunity over the alleged misuse of European Union money, before the second round of the French election, an influential legislator said on Saturday. French judges have asked the European parliament to lift the immunity of the National Front leader, who is a member of the EU legislature, to permit further investigations over alleged misuse of funds to pay for party assistants [nL8N1HM0CR]. "The legal affairs committee has agreed that Le Pen will be summoned for a hearing on the first possible date in May," Laura Ferrara, the deputy chair of the committee, told Reuters. She said the hearing could take place in the first week of May, before the May 7 runoff in the French election, which polls show Le Pen is likely to reach. Le Pen has denounced legal proceedings against her as political interference. Opinion polls have put Le Pen in first or second place in the first round of voting on April 23, although her three main rivals are now close enough for any two of the four to go through to the runoff. Polls show Le Pen is not likely to win the runoff. Ferrara, who is a member of the Italian eurosceptic 5 Star Movement, said that Le Pen may decide not to appear before the parliamentary committee. The European parliament has already sanctioned Le Pen for misusing EU funds. Since February her monthly salary as EU lawmaker has been cut by half to around 3,000 euros and other allowances have been withdrawn [nL5N1FL3TT]. The French investigation is aimed at establishing whether other sanctions are warranted. The EU legislature lifted Le Pen's immunity in March to allow a separate French investigation over her posting of pictures of Islamic State violence on social media, an offence that in France can carry a penalty of three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($79,567) [nL5N1GF38X]. Before deciding to lift the immunity of a lawmaker, the EU parliament's legal affairs committee usually arranges a hearing with the accused legislator. The actual decision follows a few months later. In the majority of cases, the immunity has been lifted. ($1 = 0.9426 euros) (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Editing by Andrew Bolton) By Paul Carsten ABUJA (Reuters) - The United Nations' World Food Programme could in a few weeks run out of funding to feed millions living on the brink of famine in Nigeria, four people familiar with the matter said, intensifying one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. In the northeast, 4.7 million people, many of them refugees from the conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, need rations to survive, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), one of the main aid groups handing out food. Many of those living in camps for displaced people say they already barely get enough to eat. "With the money they have right now, and if they won't cut rations, they can only go to May 18," one person said, citing talks with the WFP, who asked to not be named because they were not authorised to speak to media. The WFP was "reasonably certain" it would get enough funding to last until late June, the person added. "All humanitarian crises globally are woefully underfunded and for WFP Nigeria is in one of the worst situations for funding," a WFP spokeswoman said. "We are trying to save lives. We need over the next six months $207 million for Nigeria. At the moment the programme is 13 percent funded for 2017. It's extremely low. Of the four countries facing famine it is the least funded." The conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a caliphate in Nigeria's northeast, began in 2009 and shows no sign of ending. It has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than two million. Nigeria's northeast is now teetering on the brink of famine, aid organisations say, pointing to two years of missed crop harvests in what was once a breadbasket for the country, and the high likelihood of missing a third. The approaching rainy season increases the risk of disease spreading, especially within camps for the displaced, adding more stress to efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis. The wet season also means tens of thousands of refugees are attempting to return home to farm, despite facing serious dangers, saying there is not enough food provided in the camps to sustain them. CONTINGENCY PLAN In a meeting on Monday with the WFP in Nigeria's capital Abuja, donor countries and organisations, criticised the group for not having a satisfactory contingency plan if funding starts to dry up, two of the people with knowledge of the talks said. The WFP spokeswoman said meetings with donors were genial, open and frank. "When we are funded and able to get out to the field we are getting to people. This crisis can be averted and we want people to understand this will work if it's funded. We can avert the famine." The U.S. Embassy in Abuja said the U.S. government was working "urgently and cooperatively with our partners in an effort to address the critical humanitarian needs in northeastern Nigeria". "There is not adequate funding to sustain the global response to those needs here. Additional resources must be found urgently so that feeding does not stop," the embassy said in emailed comments to Reuters. The WFP and donors have also locked horns over who is to blame for the lack of funding reaching the aid organisation, with the U.N. agency saying the money promised has not been released to them and donors arguing that basic paperwork still has not been submitted, the two people said. "There's a dark cloud hanging over them that they'll cut rations," one person said. "It shouldn't be this way." The WFP, along with other groups, has come under fire in Nigeria for its slow reaction to the humanitarian crisis in the northeast, only launching a full-fledged response last year while other aid organisations had been in the country since at least 2014. On Wednesday, the U.N. children's fund said its response to the crisis "remains severely underfunded", a warning echoed by many other aid groups. The United Nations says it needs $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid this year for the Lake Chad region - which spreads across parts of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad - and $457 million had been pledged for 2017 by late February. Despite the Nigerian army saying the insurgency is on the run, large parts of the country's northeast, particularly in Borno state, remain under threat from Boko Haram. Suicide bombings and gun attacks have increased in the region since the end of the rainy season late last year. (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Susan Thomas) Moscow (AFP) - Kremlin critic and former oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Saturday threw his support behind Russian President Vladimir Putin's foe Alexei Navalny for Russia's 2018 presidential election. Khodorkovsky, who was released by Russia in December 2013 after a decade in jail and now lives in exile in Western Europe, also announced his desire to quit the leadership of his Open Russia foundation. "Today in Russia, there are no legal structures other than Open Russia and the FBK (the Anti-Corruption Fund created by Navalny) proposing a policy different from the one followed by the authorities," Khodorkovsky told a conference in Tallinn, according to Open Russia's website. Navalny is the Kremlin's main opponent. The anti-corruption blogger intends to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin at the next presidential election, but his candidacy could be hampered by his five-year suspended prison sentence for embezzlement. Khodorkovsky, former head of oil giant Yukos, who served his lengthy jail sentence for tax evasion, announced last September that he would not run for the Russian presidency in 2018 but that he would finance a campaign that offered an alternative to Putin if the president decided to run for a fourth term. Turning to the leadership of his pro-European Open Russia movement, he added that he intended to step down as its president. "I think that Russian society is ripe for a model without a figurehead, which is why our organisation is founded on a model in which the president changes each year," he said. News isn't the only thing that's sometimes fake on Facebook. The social network said Friday it has shut down a massive spam operation that generated thousands of "inauthentic likes" on publisher pages. SEE ALSO: Facebook is cracking down on hoaxes in your News Feed The announcement comes days after the company claimed to have deleted 30,000 fraudulent accounts in France ahead of the country's presidential election. The scam targeted in the more recent crackdown operated at a more sophisticated level than the French network, according to Facebook's security team. The fraudsters used various technical tricks to mimic human behavior, like running traffic through proxies to create the impression that the accounts were spread across Asia and the Middle East instead of a centralized data center. The company said it's been investigating this particular scheme for six months. The fraudsters' apparent intent was to dole out comments and likes on the pages of popular media outlets in hopes of friending users. The bots would then flood those "friends" with spam. Facebook doesn't think they ever got that far. The behavior of the accounts suggests they had yet to enter their friending and spamming phase, it said. The company is still in the process of scrubbing all the illegitimate likes, but it assured publishers that 99 percent of pages with more than 10,000 likes would likely see a dip of no more than 3 percent. The effort is tied to Facebook's ongoing battle with the wave of fake news that's contaminated the site. The problem has put the company and other big online platforms under increased media scrutiny since last November's presidential election. Fake news purveyors are known to use ghost accounts and bot traffic to juice their numbers for advertisers. WATCH: Facebook F8 'Fast and Furious' mashup MEXICO CITY (AP) Prosecutors say a couple and their son were killed during an Easter week visit to a cave in central-east Mexico that is popular with tourists. The Puebla State Attorney General's Office says in a statement Saturday that prosecutors believe robbery was the motive for the killings in the picturesque mountain region. The statement did not reveal the names or nationalities of the victims who were killed in the Chivostoc cave in Cuetzalan municipality by unknown assailants who shot them and took their belongings. It also did not specify the date the crime occurred. Also known as the devil's cave, the spot is the subject of many legends and is a popular tourist attraction in the mountainous zone of Puebla state near the border with the state of Veracruz. BIDI BIDI CAMP, Uganda (AP) As President Donald Trump seeks to cut foreign aid under the slogan of "America First," two U.S. senators are proposing making American food assistance more efficient after meeting with victims of South Sudan's famine and civil war. Following a visit to the world's largest refugee settlement in northern Uganda with the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware told The Associated Press on Saturday that the U.S. "can deliver more food aid at less cost" through foreign food aid reform. The United States spent roughly $2.8 billon in foreign food aid last year and is the world's largest provider of humanitarian assistance. But current regulations require most food aid to be grown in the U.S. and shipped under an American flag. "It's taken in some cases six months for those products to actually get here," Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee told the AP. "We have people coming over the border (from South Sudan). They need food. We can actually buy the food cheaper, use our taxpayer dollars cheaper." The two senators on Friday toured a food distribution site at the refugee settlement, which holds more than 270,000 South Sudanese who recently fled the three-year civil war in the East African nation. The U.N. says South Sudan is part of the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, with roughly 20 million people there and in Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen facing possible famine. Two counties in South Sudan were declared famine areas in February. The senators watched as South Sudanese divided sacks of corn and cereals during a food distribution. Behind them, snaking lines of refugees waited for their rations of food that last for 40 days. The Bidi Bidi settlement is a sprawling complex of mud-brick houses that hold some of the world's most desperate people. With little respite from the fierce sun, arguments broke out at the food distribution site. Story continues "We don't have enough food," said Madra Dominic, one of the waiting refugees. "Right now they are reducing (food)." Uganda's government has said it is near "breaking point" and that there could be serious food shortages if more outside aid doesn't arrive. In March, Trump proposed a budget that would cut 28 percent of funding for diplomacy and foreign aid, singling out the Food for Peace program that funds a majority of U.S. foreign food assistance. The budget plan still requires approval by Congress. Both Coons and Corker defended humanitarian aid, and argued that lifting restrictions on where foreign food aid is grown and how it is shipped would feed more people. Corker blamed a "cartel in Washington" of maritime companies and "a small group of people in Washington" who cause less people to eat. "Americans have real questions about whether their money is making an impact (abroad)," Coons told the AP. Last year, Coons and Corker co-sponsored a law which allows flexibility in how a portion of foreign food aid is grown and delivered. About $900 million of food aid now can be grown near the site of a crisis overseas and shipped under any flag. Roughly $1.2 billion of the U.S. food assistance still carries the restrictions of being grown in the U.S. and being shipped under a U.S. flag. The U.S. Agency for International Development has estimated that the Coons-Corker plan to lift those restrictions would reach 2 to 4 million more people with equivalent funding. At the same time, a March study by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found "certain deficiencies in USAID's oversight" of the portion of food aid that has more flexibility. On Wednesday, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway of Texas, a Republican, said in a statement that "demands for even more flexibility are premature" when it comes to foreign food aid. Farm-state lawmakers and shipping companies have long opposed the additional flexibility. Delivering any food aid inside South Sudan has been challenging, with South Sudanese officials repeatedly accused of restricting humanitarian access and harassing aid workers, while rebels in some cases have abducted aid workers. Some also are targeted in the fighting. As Corker and Coons met with refugees and toured the food distribution site, the U.N.'s World Food Program announced that three of its contract workers had been killed on Monday in the town of Wau in South Sudan. Two were killed by machete wounds and the third was shot, WFP said. Large cardamom price plunges three-fold The price of large cardamom has plunged three-fold due to drop in overseas demand coinciding with a rise in output this year. It has left a large number of farmers worried. Washington (AFP) - The United States is deploying "a few dozen" troops to Somalia to assist the national army and conduct unspecified security operations, a US military spokeswoman said Saturday. The soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, a light infantry unit trained for air assaults, will mainly train and equip Somalia's army "to better fight Al-Shabab," an Al-Qaeda linked extremist group, the spokeswoman for the US Africa Command based in Germany, Samantha Reho, told AFP. They will also conduct "security force assistance," she said, confirming a report by Voice of America. "For operational security issues, we will not discuss specifics of military efforts nor speculate on potential future activities or operations," she said, declining to say precisely how many troops were being sent. Somalia's fragile central government is still propped up by the international community and a 22,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force after nearly three decades of civil war and anarchy. While Shabab militants have lost large swaths of territory and were forced out of Mogadishu by African Union troops in 2011, they continue to strike in the capital and countryside. They have threatened a "merciless" war against the new administration of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a dual US-Somali citizen who goes by the nickname Farmajo. He took office in February. The 101st Airborne Division has been extensively used in US-led military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States' most notorious military operation in Somalia was in 1993, when an ill-fated attempt to snatch militia leaders led to two Black Hawk helicopters being shot down in Mogadishu. A chaotic rescue was mounted, resulting in hundreds of deaths, including those of 18 US soldiers. The incident was made famous in the book and the movie "Black Hawk Down." The US military spokeswoman noted that US forces have been in Somalia since 1993, helping the Somali government on security concerns. On Saturday, thousands are once again expected to march in cities across the U.S. But this time its not because of immigration policy or issues that affect womenits to demand the release of President Donald Trumps tax returns. The main marchesorganized by a group of nonprofit leaders and members of the Working Families Partywill take place in Washington, D.C., and New York, with simultaneous demonstrations planned in cities such as San Francisco and Chicago, Des Moines, and Nashville. According to the Tax Marchs website, there are nearly 200 planned marches in 45 states along with international marches in Germany, Japan, New Zealand, and the U.K. Trump has changed his stances on a variety of issues since the days of his 2016 campaign, from deeming China a currency manipulator to saying the Labor Departments statistics are accurate. But one issue he hasnt changed his position on is releasing his returns. Recommended: How Subarus Came to Be Seen as Cars for Lesbians On the campaign trail, Trump said hed make the documents available after an IRS audit has been completed. Many have criticized that response, noting that an audit does not prohibit him from releasing the returns. Kellyanne Conway, one of Trumps top advisors, has vacillated in her response to the question, at times saying that he wont make the records public, but then also echoing her bosses claims that the returns will be available after the audit is complete. The release of Trumps tax returns is an issue Americans of both parties seem keen to hang on to. In January, a poll by ABC News and The Washington Post found that 74 percent of Americans believed that Trump should release his returns. Another poll found that 64 percent of Republicans want to see Trumps tax returns too. Though the turnout of Saturdays March isnt expected to be as large as the Womens March on Washington, Trumps unwillingness to show the public his tax records has evoked plenty of frustration. He is the first president to break with the 40-year tradition of presidential candidates releasing tax returns before a general election. Americans generally support the idea, largely because tax returns reveal a great deal more about an individuals finances than the voluntary financial disclosures Trump provided as an alternative during the campaign. Story continues With that level of interest, its no wonder that Rachel Maddows tax scoop in March, a few pages from the presidents 2005 tax returns, was a nonevent that still received immense media and public attention. Anna Chu, one of the organizers of the Tax March who works at the National Womens Law Center, told DCist that the leak didnt show what the public needs to see. And a one-page leak of Trumps record to The New York Times only whet the publics appetite. The speculation that his returns might turn up concerning revelations is amplified by ongoing worries that Trump hasnt taken adequate measures to distance himself from his businesses while in office, resulting in myriad conflicts of interests. Recommended: Why People Are So Upset About Wall Street's 'Fearless Girl' As president, Trumps returns will be automatically selected for auditing every year in accordance with an IRS rule. But that mandatory audit wont reveal his finances to the public, nor will it scrutinize the presidents financial situation prior to taking office. After Trumps inauguration, the first petition to appear on the White Houses citizen-petitions website We the People called for the immediate release of the presidents tax returns. That petition has since garnered over a million signatures, the most signatures a We the People petition has ever gotten, though theres been no official response from the White House. The idea for the march started as a tweet from a professor and a comedian; the fact that its turned into a national event is indication enough that Americans have no intention of letting the matter go easily. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai accused his successor on Saturday of committing treason by allowing the U.S. military to drop the largest conventional bomb ever used in combat during an operation against Islamic State militants in Afghanistan. Karzai, who also vowed to "stand against America", retains considerable influence within Afghanistan's majority Pashtun ethnic group, to which President Ashraf Ghani also belongs. His strong words could signal a broader political backlash that may endanger the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan. Afghan defence officials have said the 21,600-pound (9,797-kg) GBU-43, dropped late on Thursday in the eastern province of Nangarhar, had killed nearly 100 suspected militants, though they acknowledged this was an estimate and not based on an actual body count. [nL3N1HM1WB] "How could you permit Americans to bomb your country with a device equal to an atom bomb?" Karzai said at a public event in Kabul, questioning Ghani's decision. "If the government has permitted them to do this, that was wrong and it has committed a national treason." Ghani's office said the strike had been closely coordinated between Afghan and U.S. forces and replied to Karzai's charges with a statement saying: "Every Afghan has the right to speak their mind. This is a country of free speech." Related: For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Public reaction to Thursday's strike has been mixed, with some residents near the blast praising Afghan and U.S. troops for pushing back the Islamic State militants. While the bomb has been described as one of the largest non-nuclear devices ever used, its destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT. Story continues "VIOLATION OF OUR SOVEREIGNTY" During Karzai's tenure as president, his opposition to airstrikes by foreign military forces helped to sour his relationship with the United States and other Western nations. As the Kabul government, split between Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah under a U.S.-brokered power-sharing deal, remains fragile, Karzai's political interventions draw close attention. Ghani has failed to build the kind of domestic following that Karzai still has despite stepping down in 2014. Karzai said he planned to "stand against America", a stance he compared to decisions earlier in his life to fight against the Soviets and later the Taliban regime. "I decided to get America off my soil," he said. "This bomb wasn't only a violation of our sovereignty and a disrespect to our soil and environment, but will have bad effects for years." While Karzai did not elaborate on how he would oppose the United States, his stance may pose problems for Ghani's administration, which is heavily reliant on the United States and other foreign donors for aid and military support. On Friday, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, defended the strike, saying the decision to use the bomb was based on military needs, not political reasons. Afghan troops, backed by U.S. warplanes and special forces, have been battling militants linked to Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan for years. The most recent operation began in March and continued until troops hit Islamic State fighters entrenched in booby-trapped tunnels in a remote mountain region, leading commanders to call for the use of the GBU-43 bomb. (Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Gareth Jones) Paris (AFP) - One wants to ban Pokeman Go, another lays claim to knowing France the best of all 11 candidates for president after crisscrossing the country on foot for nine months. But with the main candidates hogging the limelight in a rollercoaster race full of upsets and scandals, the underdogs are struggling for the voter's ear. Thanks to France's strict electoral rules on equal time, the candidates who are scoring in the low single digits have been enjoying a somewhat higher profile in the final two weeks before voters cast their first ballots on April 23. Trotskyist Nathalie Arthaud, who says she has no interest in actually becoming president, seizes every chance at the microphone to attack the "power of money" with gusto. "If I came to power -- if my ideas came to power -- that would mean there's been a societal upheaval, it would mean millions of women and men have decided to fight and to take their destiny into their own hands," Arthaud, 47, said Thursday on TF1 television. The standard-bearer of the Lutte Ouvriere (Workers' Struggle), who won 0.56 percent in the 2012 election, wants to ban layoffs, raise wages and give workers control over companies. Arthaud, a schoolteacher, has a soulmate in Philippe Poutou, the only other candidate with a "normal" job -- in his case as a mechanic at a Ford factory where he is also a union leader. In an April 4 debate among all 11 candidates, Poutou pleaded for the "millions who suffer in this society and are sick to death of this capitalist steamroller that destroys everything in its path". The 50-year-old head of the New Anti-Capitalist Party also took on conservative candidate Francois Fillon and far-right contender Marine Le Pen, both dogged by scandal. "When we're called in by the police, there's no worker's immunity!" he said in a dig at Le Pen, who may see her immunity lifted at the European Parliament over an expenses investigation. Story continues Also running "against the political elite that has made a pact with the empire of money" is 75-year-old Jacques Cheminade, even though he attended the training ground for France's elite, the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA). Running for a third time after winning 0.25 percent of the vote in 2012, the retired civil servant who is the oldest candidate in the race has opted for a more down-to-earth approach after being written off as an oddball five years ago for proposing the colonisation of Mars. One of his pledges this time around is to ban Pokemon Go, saying the virtual treasure hunt is an "expression of the mental state of our society that is both ridiculous and appalling". - Southwestern twang - Unlike most of his rivals, one-time shepherd Jean Lassalle is brimming with confidence that he will become France's next president in May, despite his 1.5 percent standing in the latest Ipsos poll. Critics say "I am incapable of doing anything besides keeping sheep," Lassalle, an MP since 2002, told France Info radio in his thick southwestern twang. But "I am the candidate who knows France the best in all its contours," said the 61-year-old who covered more than 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) during his cross-country trek in 2013. He also staged a 39-day hunger strike in 2006 over a threat to jobs in his constituency nestled in a valley of the Pyrenees. On the right side of the aisle are candidates Francois Asselineau and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who both take pains to set themselves apart from Le Pen and Fillon. Asselineau, 59, is a former tax inspector who bills himself as the "national liberation" candidate, vowing to pull France out of the European Union and the euro, as well as NATO. - 'Vote with their hearts' - An ENA graduate like Cheminade, Asselineau advocates leaving the EU immediately -- unlike Le Pen who says she will put the proposal to a national referendum within the first six months of her presidency. Calling for a withdrawal from NATO, he says France has become "a satellite of Washington, which drags us into illegal and neocolonial wars, especially in the Middle East." As for 56-year-old Dupont-Aignan, head of Debout la France (France Stand Up), he favours a withdrawal from the eurozone, but said that unlike Le Pen, "I want to change the rules without shattering everything." On Friday, Dupont-Aignan, who won 1.79 percent of the vote in 2012 and is now polling at around 3.5 percent, railed against tactical voting in the two-stage election. "I want the French to free themselves from the tyranny of the system and vote with their hearts," he said. The United States bombed caves in eastern Afghanistan, which were believed to be occupied by Islamic State (ISIS) fighters, on Thursday. The move came a week after U.S. airstrikes struck an air force base in Syria, giving rise to speculation over what President Donald Trumps next step will be. The uncertainty was reflected on the internet, where it translated into a spike in Google searches for the term World War 3, possibly related to the escalating tensions across the world. Read: New World War? US, Syria, North Korea, Russia Rhetoric Ramps Up From Top Diplomats Syrian President Bashar Assads regime carried out an alleged chemical attack on its people, which prompted the U.S. to take action in the form of 59 Tomahawk missiles being fired to target the Shayrat air field, from where the planes carrying the chemicals reportedly originated. On Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians, Trump said April 6. Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. trump syria Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria This week, the U.S. military fired a GBU-43 bomb, also known as the mother of all bombs, at caves in Afghanistans Nangarhar province, the first instance of the bomb being used in combat. At least 94 ISIS fighters were reportedly killed in the bombing. U.S. relations with Russia have also steadily deteriorated over the Kremlins alleged hacking of the presidential election and its continued support for Assad's regime in Syria. Another sphere that has seen a massive escalation of tensions is North Korea and its nuclear threat. On Saturday, Kim Jong Uns administration carried out a massive military parade where it showed off an alleged submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), called Pukguksong-2. Story continues north korea Photo: REUTERS At the parade, Choe Ryong-hae, who is said to be one of the most powerful politicians in North Korea, made a thinly-veiled threat to the U.S. when he reportedly said: We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack. According to data by Google, the searches for Trump War were also at their highest level in April, along with a spike in search for other terms like war and nuclear war. Related Articles Tunis (AFP) - A Tunisian zoo that closed after a crocodile was stoned to death has reopened, with extra guards and new signs instructing visitors not to throw things at the animals. The Belvedere Zoo in central Tunis shut its gates in March after a public outcry over the animal's death. Images shared on social media showed the dead crocodile's head beside what appeared to be a bloodied paving slab and another large rock. The reptile's death was the latest in a string of scandals at the 50-year-old zoo, which has long been in need of renovation. Pictures of the site filled with litter caused an outcry on social media last year. Staff have other complaints. "Some people, when they see a lion sleeping, want to throw a pebble at it to get it up. We ask them to stop," said Taoufik Yaacoubi, a guard at the zoo for 20 years. "It's not normal." Zoo visitors often left rubbish on the ground or threw it into ponds, with some hurling bottles of water into the enclosures. Director Mahmoud Latiri said that before the makeover, "people thought they were in a circus". He echoed widespread complaints that delinquent behaviour had risen in Tunisia since a revolution toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. "People thought everything was allowed, that that was what freedom meant," Latiri said. Environment Minister Riadh Mouakher said videos from the zoo even showed children sitting on the backs of rhinoceroses. Following the crocodile's death, Mouakher decided to deploy extra guards at the zoo, which he said was "in a rather dilapidated state". "It was more a playground than a zoo," he said. But since the zoo reopened over the weekend following an extensive makeover, he said he had seen an "improvement in behaviour". The authorities have cleaned pools, restored pathways, planted thousands of shrubs and flowers, and installed rubbish bins every five metres (yards). Story continues Plastic bags, which are dangerous to animals that eat them, are now banned. New signs instruct visitors not to disturb, feed or throw things at the animals. "We have a better zoo," Mouakher said. His ministry is hoping to spend a further $6.5 million (six million euros) on developing the Belvedere Park surrounding the zoo. School holidays have bumped visitor numbers up to 8,000 a day. This week, families strolled along the pathways in the sunshine. Riadh, accompanied by his wife and daughter, said he could see a definite improvement since the makeover. "Now it is cleaner. You can see that they are looking after it," he said. Now when you pay, you understand why." Tehran (AFP) - Ebrahim Raisi, the leading candidate for Iran's hardliners in next month's presidential election, has left many wondering whether the country's fragile opening to the West could be under threat. The 56-year-old judge and cleric registered on Friday for the May 19 vote and his candidacy is being closely watched by foreign investors and diplomats who fear the return of a hardline administration that could threaten the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and efforts to open up trade. So far, Raisi has given little indication of his views on foreign policy, keeping his comments vague and predictable. "Our relations will be ongoing with every country -- except the occupying regime of Israel -- but on condition of respect," he said Friday. Analysts describe Raisi as utterly loyal to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meaning he would likely remain deeply suspicious of engagement with the West but unlikely to backtrack on the nuclear deal, which had the boss's tacit consent. "He has no experience in foreign policy, so at least initially he will have to follow the system's grand strategy of preserving the nuclear deal and shifting any blame of undermining it to the US," said Ali Vaez, Iran analyst for the International Crisis Group. - Entrenched conservative - Raisi is entrenched in the conservative establishment, having served as attorney general, supervisor of state broadcaster IRIB and prosecutor in the Special Court for Clerics. Press reports indicate he has recently been elevated to the status of "ayatollah". His father-in-law leads Friday prayers in Mashhad and both have seats on the Assembly of Experts that will choose the next supreme leader -- a position for which Raisi himself is often rumoured to be in the running. There is little chance he will ease social restrictions or release opposition leaders held under house arrest since the 2009 protest movement, known to conservatives as "the sedition". Story continues "The Islamic System has treated the heads of the sedition with mercy. Those who sympathise with the heads of sedition must know that the great nation of Iran will never forgive this great injustice," he said in 2014. Crucially, Khamenei picked him in March 2016 to head Astan Qods Razavi -- the centuries-old foundation that looks after the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad -- placing him at the intersection of political, religious and economic power. The foundation hosts 20 million pilgrims a year at the shrine, and has also developed into a sprawling, multi-billion-dollar conglomerate that runs everything from farms and power plants to brokerages and IT firms. - Why is he running? - One big question is why Raisi would risk a run for the presidency if he has ambitions to become supreme leader as many speculate. "If he loses, his status will be damaged, so it seems like a big risk," said a Western diplomat on condition of anonymity. "Moreover, all presidents end up facing criticism from the supreme leader -- that's how the system is set up -- so why put himself in that position?" The presidency could provide a stepping stone to the top -- as it was for Khamenei in the 1980s. "But if he loses to the incumbent, who has no rivals in his own camp and has remarkable executive credentials, Raisi's future rise to the peak will be in question," said Vaez. For now, Raisi has focused on domestic economic issues, playing to the conservative base among poorer, more religious voters. "Despite four decades of the Islamic system and many promising achievements, people are still suffering chronic problems," he said when announcing his bid last week. The 12 percent jobless rate and slow trickle down of benefits from the nuclear deal are seen as Rouhani's weak spots. "Raisi's lifestyle is modest and he regularly stays with the poor sections of society, while Mr Rouhani has more of an aristocratic, comfort-seeking spirit," said Hamid Reza Taraghi, a member of the conservative Islamic Coalition Party. His opponents are unimpressed. "Mr Raisi has absolutely no plan to manage the country. Even (former hardline president Mahmud) Ahmadinejad had more experience and he was disastrous for the economy," said reformist Tehran-based economist Saeed Laylaz. Tehran (AFP) - Registration for next month's Iranian presidential election closed on Saturday, with more than 1,600 hopefuls signing up, including a last-minute entry by Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. The 55-year-old conservative mayor had given mixed signals about whether he would make a third bid for the presidency, but showed up at the interior ministry just before the deadline for registration. There was also a surprise last-minute entry from first vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri, a close confidante of President Hassan Rouhani who registered on Friday. It is assumed Jahangiri, a 60-year-old reformist, is running to offer an alternative in case Rouhani is disqualified by the Guardian Council, which vets the candidates. Others speculate he could be trying to raise his profile ahead of a more concerted bid in 2021. "Rouhani and I are side-by-side," Jahangiri told reporters. Rouhani, a politically moderate cleric who has stabilised the economy and overseen a partial rapprochement with the West, is widely seen as the man to beat, although there is little polling in Iran and past elections have thrown up major surprises. His main challenger is considered to be hardline cleric and judge Ebrahim Raisi, 56, who also signed up on Friday. In total, 1,636 people registered, including 137 women. Almost all will be disqualified over the coming fortnight by the Guardian Council, which is controlled by religious conservatives. The council has never permitted a woman to run. Around half a dozen candidates are normally approved, with the campaign set to start on April 28 and the vote on May 19. Ghalibaf was the runner-up to Rouhani in 2013. He is a war veteran, former Revolutionary Guards commander and police chief, who was picked by a grouping of conservatives as one of their top choices last week, along with Raisi. With much of the focus this year on Iran's stagnant economy, he told reporters at the registration that he would create five million jobs and more than double Iran's revenues. The biggest surprise from this week's registration was the appearance of former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 60, who shocked everyone by signing up against the advice of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. NC district leaders urge to take Morcha onboard for elections District president of Nepali Congress Province 2 have urged to take the dissenting Madhesi Morcha into confidence before conducting the local level elections. A scene of panic unfolded in New York Citys Penn Station Friday after false reports of gunfire prompted a stampede that resulted in a number of injuries. Heres what you need to know. What happened? Around 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Amtrak police deployed a taser on a man within the station, according to officials, CNN reports. The sound of the stun gun was mistaken as gunfire,NYPD Chief William Morris said, according to CNN, and crowds began to push away from the scene, leaving behind bags and other personal belongings in a panic. No real gun shots were actually fired, but the pandemonium resulted in the injury of at least 16 people, CNN reports. The station was particularly crowded due to delays on a New Jersey Transit train and the evening rush hour ahead of the holiday weekend. A look at the chaos at Penn Station after Amtrak police used a Taser on a man. Details: https://t.co/4eIk8Ak0k2 pic.twitter.com/RjcuwGX7NR - Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) April 14, 2017 Were there any deaths? No deaths occurred in the incident and all of the sustained injuries were deemed non-life-threatening, authorities said, according to CNN. Amtrak authorities said the man who was tasered was taken into custody, CNN reports. UPDATE: No shots fired by police. 16 people treated for non-life-threatening injuries by @FDNY stemming from #PennStation incident. pic.twitter.com/VibHqa1fsS - Det. James Byrne (@NYPDByrne) April 15, 2017 What did officials say? Mayor Bill de Blasio reiterated that no shots were fired in the station. FDNY is on scene treating injuries that were sustained during panic, he wrote in a tweet Friday night. Story continues No shots were fired at Penn Station this evening. FDNY is on scene treating injuries that were sustained during panic. - Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 14, 2017 NYPD spokesman J. Peter Donald said the chaos had spread to nearby Herald Square, but there was no reason to panic. Additionally, we have responded to numerous calls for shots fired in & around @Macys on 34th Street in Manhattan. All are unfounded, he tweeted. This article was originally published on TIME.com PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un didn't speak to the thousands of soldiers and civilians gathered at a massive parade honoring his late grandfather on Saturday, but his expanding array of ballistic missiles made an emphatic statement. The military hardware displayed at Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, named after Kim's grandfather and North Korea's late founder, included intercontinental ballistic missiles that could one day be capable of reaching targets as far away as the continental United States, and solid-fuel missiles that could be fired from land and submarines. The festivities took place amid concerns that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM. A look at the weapons the North displayed and other notable elements from the parade: ___ INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILES North Korea has a history of marking significant dates with shows of military capability, and it was its ICBMs that were most notable on the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung. Several KN-08 missiles were rolled out on trucks at the parade. Military analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far away as the continental United States, although the North has yet to flight test them. North Korean soldiers also paraded large rockets covered by canisters that were rolled out in two different types of transporter erector launcher trucks, or TELs. An official from South Korea's Defense Ministry couldn't immediately confirm whether any of the rockets represented a new type of ICBM. Kim Dong-yub, a military official-turned-analyst at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the canisters and trucks suggest that the North is developing technology to "cold launch" ICBMs, ejecting them from the canisters before they ignite. This would allow North Korea to prevent its limited number of ICBM-capable TELs from being damaged during launch and also make the missiles harder to detect after they're fired, he said. Story continues ___ SOLID-FUEL ROCKETS The parade also featured North Korea's new solid-fuel missiles, which can be fired from land or under the sea. These missiles concern South Korea because they're harder to detect before launch than liquid-fuel missiles, which need to be filled with fuel before launch and also require fuel trucks and other vehicles that could be spotted by satellites. Soldiers carried out on trucks North Korea's "Pukguksong" missile, which can be fired from a submarine. In a test launch in August last year, the missile flew 500 kilometers (310 miles) after being launched from a submarine and crashed into waters near Japan, prompting Kim Jong Un to declare that North Korea had gained "perfect nuclear-attack capability." The parade also featured the "Pukguksong-2," a land-based variant of the submarine-launched missile. It's called the KN-15 by outside analysts. In a February test launch, the missile flew 500 kilometers (310 miles) before dropping into international waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. North Korean then fired the missile at a lofted angle for testing purposes. Some analysts say that if the missile were fired at a normal angle, its maximum range could be up to 3,000 kilometers (1,870 miles). ___ RESCUED FROM PURGE? A surprise at the parade was the appearance of Kim Won Hong, who was among the senior government officials joining Kim Jong Un at the podium. The South Korean government had said earlier this year that Kim Won Hong was fired from his job as state security minister, presumably over corruption. An official from South Korea's Unification Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules, confirmed that the man was Kim Won Hong and said his appearance shows he has been reinstated from a "purge state." The official said it wasn't immediately clear what Kim Won Hong's current role was with North Korea's government. South Korea has a spotty record of tracking developments in North Korea, as information about the secretive, authoritarian state is often impossible to confirm. Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim Jong Un, made a speech at the parade, saying the country is ready to stand up to any threat posed by the United States. He was believed to have been briefly banished to a rural collective farm for re-education in 2015, but apparently regained his political footing during a rare ruling party congress last year. Since taking power in late 2011, Kim Jong Un has executed or purged a slew of high-level government officials in what the South Korean government has described as a "reign of terror." ___ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. BETHEL, Maine (AP) In a journey from celebration to sadness to celebration again, a California man who learned of his brother's death in the Korean War on the day he turned 14 celebrated his 80th birthday Saturday by receiving his brother's long lost Purple Heart medal. "I was 14 years old celebrating my birthday with my grandparents and that's when we got the news that my brother was killed, so it's like coming around full-circle," Raymond Coulombe said. "He was my love, my life. I idolized him dearly. To bring this all back after this many years, right now I feel like I'm in another world." U.S. Army Sgt. Joseph Maurice Coulombe was killed in action on March 31, 1951, in South Korea. The medal of valor he was awarded posthumously was sent to his wife, but Coulombe's family never knew he had married at age 17 while in boot camp. When his widow recently died, her daughter turned to an organization called Purple Hearts Reunited to help locate the family. The nonprofit foundation arranged for Raymond Coulombe to fly from Los Angeles to Maine, where the brothers grew up. On Saturday, he placed a flag on his brother's grave in Berlin, New Hampshire, and planned to receive the Purple Heart and celebrate his birthday later at the American Legion post in Bethel. "What they're doing for me, what they've opened to me after 66 years, I feel like an incredible person," Coulombe said. "I feel so blessed." Purple Hearts Reunited, based in Georgia, Vermont, has returned medals and other artifacts to more than 300 families and museums. Maryland firefighters rescued 24 people from a roller coaster at Six Flags America on Thursday, April 13, after the ride became stuck about 100 feet in the air. Firefighters used safety harnesses and a tower bucket to lower each of the passengers on the Jokers Jinx ride to the ground, according to a local report. The passengers ranged in age from six to 45 years old, and the rescue took about four hours to complete. The Prince Georges County Fire Department released video on Friday giving an up-close look at the rescue. Credit: Prince Georges County Fire Department via Storyful When Veronica Contreras-Shannon learned five years ago that she needed a mastectomy for a stage 2 cancer in her right breast, she was sure she'd have her healthy breast removed too. I thought, I cant go through this again, she said. Her doctors said theyd support her decision. But they also explained the risk of getting a new cancer in her left breast was very low. She changed her mindand opted for a single mastectomy and reconstruction instead. Contreras-Shannon is not alone: More women diagnosed with cancer in one breast consider getting their healthy breast removed, according to recent research. The practice is known as contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, or CPM. In a study published last month, researchers with the American Cancer Society found that among women 20 to 44, the proportion choosing CPM rose to roughly 33 percent in 2012 from about 11 percent in 2004. For women 45 or older, the proportion choosing CPM increased to more than 10 percent in 2012 from just under 4 percent in 2004. Previous studies have shown that overall rates of CPM have been consistently on the rise since the late 1990s. Despite the growing popularity of CPM, for women with no other breast cancer risk factors, removing a healthy breast actually doesn't significantly reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer, according to the American Society of Breast Surgeons. Women with cancer in one breast substantially overestimate the risk of getting cancer in the other breast, says Todd Tuttle, M.D., chief of surgical oncology at the University of Minnesota. Risk estimates vary, but experts say the chances are only about 2 percent to 6 percent over 10 years that a woman diagnosed with cancer in one breast will develop a new cancer in her healthy breast. Some women do have serious risk factors for breast cancer. For them, breast removal may be a reasonable decision, says Judy C. Boughey, M.D., professor of surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. But removing a healthy breast may not substantially reduce the risk of developing a new cancereven for those with a family history of breast cancer. Story continues Heres what you need to know if youre considering a preventative mastectomy. Know Your Risk Level The American Society of Breast Surgeons and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network have recommended against prophylactic mastectomies for women with no other breast cancer risk factors. Still, you may want to discuss the procedure with your doctor if you have any one of a few key risk factors: History of chest radiation. Women with cancer in one breast who underwent chest radiation therapy before age 30 may be at a higher risk for a new cancer in the other breast, according to Boughey. This mainly applies to people who had another cancer early in life, such as Hodgkin's or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Strong family history. Most women who get breast canceraround 80 percent, according to the American Cancer Societyactually dont have a family history of the disease. However, women with cancer in one breast who also have a strong family history do have a higher risk of getting cancer in the other breast, says Boughey. A strong family history is a first-degree relative who has also had breast cancer, such as a mother, sister, daughter, or brother, or two or more second-degree relatives (aunts/uncles, nieces/nephews, grandparents/grandchildren) on the same side of the family. One first-degree relative with cancer can raise your risk of getting a second cancer in your other breast to almost 9 percent for women between age 25 and 54, and to nearly 15 percent for women in their early 30s, according to one study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Those numbers rise if a relative had bilateral breast cancercancer that appears in both breasts simultaneously. Genetic risk factors. Scientists estimate only about 5 percent to 10 percent of breast cancer cases are caused by genetic mutations. That means its not necessary for every woman to have genetic testing. But women with a strong family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer should consider it, Tuttle says, to get a clearer sense of their risk. Consumer Reports Choosing Wisely Campaign also advises women to consider genetic testing if they have Ashkenazi Jewish heritage and a close family member who has had breast or ovarian cancer. Mutations on certain genes, most notably BRCA1 and BRCA2, can significantly raise your risk of a new breast cancer in your second breast. For women whove tested positive for BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations, and whove had breast cancer in one breast, the risk of developing a new cancer in the second breast is between about 11 and 21 percent over 10 years. The risk of a new cancer rises as you age, and by age 70 its between 62 and 83 percent for this group. A few other genetic mutations can also raise your risk of breast cancer, according to Steven Chen, M.D., president-elect of The American Society of Breast Surgeons and a surgical oncologist and breast surgeon in San Diego. A thorough family history done by your doctor or a genetic counselor may uncover these patterns and help guide the need for genetic testing or treatment, Chen says. The Risks of Removing Healthy Organs Women considering removing a healthy breast should make sure their doctors discuss all the potential risks and benefits with them before proceeding. Despite the prevalence of CPM, a study published this week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that many women still arent receiving appropriate guidance about their genetic risk. Those conversations are critical. With a substantive discussion of the surgerycovering rates of survival, recurrence, development of a new cancer, as well as cosmetic outcomes and the recovery processpatients were more likely to be satisfied with their ultimate decision, found another study published this month in JAMA Surgery. While people tend to carefully consider their risk of developing cancer in a healthy breast, they may not consider some of the risks associated with removing it. These risks include those associated with the surgery itself, such as bleeding and infection. According to Tuttle, the complication rate after a single mastectomy with reconstruction is about 7 to 10 percent. Its twice as high when a patient undergoes a double mastectomy and reconstruction. If a woman opts for immediate breast reconstruction, an infection can mean losing the implant, Boughey says. And if a woman is planning on undergoing chemotherapy or radiation for cancer after a mastectomy, an infection in either surgical site can delay those treatments. One of the hardest things to educate patients about is the numbness that comes with a breast reconstruction, Boughey adds. Even if the surgeon reconstructs a nipple, there can be no sensitivity or arousal. Women will tell you, its strange, Boughey says. I can hug you, but I cant feel it when your bodys up against mine. Why Some Women Choose Preventive Mastectomy Despite the risks and downsides, many women still feel it's worthwhile to remove the healthy breast, says Atilla Soran, M.D., clinical professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and a surgical oncologist at the Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC. Soran has surveyed women who chose to have their healthy breast removed as well as the affected breast after a cancer diagnosis, and he found that almost all of them97 percent, to be exactwere happy with their decision. Women cited fear of recurrence as the number one reason they chose CPM. Some of it is a sense of no regret, Boughey says. They think, If I were to fall in that 2 percent that had cancer in the other breast, I would never forgive myself. For some women, it may be worth the risks of the surgery to alleviate the fear of a possible cancer in their other breast, Chen says. Patients feel that once they have breast cancer in one breast that they will be able to sleep better at night and have less anxiety if the other breast is removed, says Bougheyeven when a hard look at the numbers would suggest its an unnecessary intervention. Other factors also played a role, Soran found. For instance, some said the fact that their insurance plans covered the surgery influenced their decision. It may be that some women who thought they might lose their insurance coverage later chose to remove a healthy breast partly in an attempt to avoid the costs of a potential second diagnosis and surgery later, according to Soran. Others said discussions with friends, relatives, and spouses pushed them to go for it. Finally, some women who have cancer in just one breast choose to remove and reconstruct both in order to achieve a more uniform appearance. Your Risk, Your Choice Although Contreras-Shannon has a family history of breast cancer, she learned through genetic testing that she doesn't carry a BRCA mutation that would raise her cancer risk. Her doctors put her personal risk of developing a new cancer in her healthy breast at just 3 to 5 percent. For her, losing her healthy breast wasnt worth the minimal risk reduction. If I can be 50 percent operational, she said, I think I prefer that to no sensation whatsoever. Today, she says if she could go back, shed make the same decision. Contreras-Shannon also says shes met many women whove chosen CPM, who also say theyre happy with their choicesdoing whatever they can to reduce their risk, even if the change is small. No matter which way breast cancer patients are leaning, they should be sure to talk to their doctors to get a clear picture of their risk for a new cancer in the healthy breastand the risks of an often unnecessary surgery. Theres always that worry, acknowledges Contreras-Shannon. Im a scientist probably compared to other people my understanding of what those risks mean is a little different. But she understands that for most women, looking at the odds is not always convincing. 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. Whether you enjoy spending time maintaining a lush, manicured lawn or view cutting the grass as a tedious chore, you don't want to deal with a broken-down lawn mower. If you're in the market for a new mower this year, Consumer Reports can help you avoid that hassle. The top brands covered in our exclusive lawn mower brand reliability report break half as often as the worst, and others are so problem-prone that more than a third of their owners are likely to experience a problem by year four of ownership. Here are the most and least reliable lawn mower brands in each configuration. Gas Push Mowers Gas push mowers are more reliable than self-propelled models. Honda takes top honorsonly 14 percent are estimated to break by the fourth year of ownership. Troy-Bilt and Yard Machines come close, with just 16 and 17 percent, respectively, likely to break by year four. Models from each of those lawn mower brands do well in our tests. The Yard Machines 11A-B9A9, $240, and the Troy-Bilt TB130 XP, $250, both cut well in mulching and side-discharge modes, even if they aren't the very best baggers. At the bottom of our reliability survey are Husqvarna and Lawn Boya quarter of their owners can expect to experience a problem in the same time frame. Gas Self-Propelled Mowers Self-propelled mowers have more moving parts than push mowers, so it stands to reason that they're more prone to breakage, and as a group they are. Honda again tops this category as the most reliable lawn mower brandonly 16 percent of owners will likely experience a break in our year-four interval. That's good news, considering Honda routinely occupies the top spots in our ratings of self-propelled mowers. The Honda HRX2175VYA, $700, is currently the best self-propelled mower in our ratings, and the Honda HRR216VKA, $430, cuts almost as wellwithout some bells and whistles such as electric start or a blade-brake clutchfor much less money. Story continues On the flip side, the Snapper SP98 self-propelled mower, $296, offers decent performance considering it's the cheapest model of its kind in our ratings, but it ranks dead last for reliability. A whopping 35 percent of Snapper owners can expect a break by year four. Electric Push Mowers The reasons to avoid switching to an electric push mower seem to be disappearing by the day. We've already talked about their rise in performance, but our latest reliability survey might just sell you on the idea of going gasless. Electric push mowers have lower rates of breaking than any other mower type in our survey. And Kobalt leads the chargeonly 4 percent are likely to need repairs by the fourth year of ownership. The Kobalt 632477, $500, wasn't a standout in our tests, but it cut well enough in all three modes. Considering this lawn mower brand's impressive reliability, it might be just what you're after if your top priority is fuss-free trimming. Even the less reliable electric mower brands in our survey, Black+Decker, GreenWorks, and Ryobi, have a breakage rate of only 13 and 17 percentbetter than most of their gas competitors. The Ryobi RY40170, $400, performed similarly to the Kobalt, but it's $100 less, and some of Ryobi's other tools, including string trimmers and leaf blowers, can run on the same battery. 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. President Donald Trump dubbed his Mar-a-Lago resort the "Winter White House" just days before taking office in January. But a month into his presidency he seemed to rename his Florida retreat the "Southern White House," presumably because Trump realized the "winter" name was limiting: it's now April and Trump hasn't shown any signs of cutting back his travel to the Palm Beach resort. In total, Trump spent seven of his 13 weekends as President at Mar-a-Lago, which cost taxpayers $25 million, according to a new website, IsTrumpatMaraLago.org, launched Friday by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The website answered the question in it's web address ("Yes," is the answer this weekend) and tracked the total costs of Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips. It also featured a drop down menu that allows users to compare the cost of those tax-payer trips against the cost of government programs Trump has proposed cutting. Read: How Much Do Presidents Spend On Travel? Trump vs. Obama But the figure the site used to calculate the cost of those trips is problematic. The website said each trip to Mar-a-Lago costs taxpayers $3.6 million. That number is from a Governmental Accountability Office Report, a citation which gives the figure weight and authority. News outlets have widely quoted that number as well. There's just one problem: That number isn't from a GAO report about Trump's travels. It's from an October 2016 GAO report about Obama's travels. The report detailed Obama's trip to Palm Beach, so it makes sense that Trump's travels to Mar-a-Lago would incur similar costs. An Associated Press look at the figure found that it's simply hard to know if the number would be the same for Trump's trips, especially because the $3.6 million cost included a leg of travel from Washington, D.C., to Chicago, where Obama gave a speech, before flying to Palm Beach. Story continues But regardless of the exact price, Trump's trips are expensive. The most conservative estimates put the price for each trip at $1 million, the Associated Press said. Trump has made a point of showing how his extraordinary wealth can save taxpayers money. Earlier this month, Trump donated his entire salary for the first quarter of the year to the National Park Service in the form of a $78,333.32 check. But as IsTrumpatMaraLago.org points out, Trump's travel is costing taxpayers 322 times that amount. So even if the actual cost is half of the $3.6 million figure the site uses, Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago would still cost taxpayers a figure 161 times the size of the parks donation. Related Articles North Korea unveiled what could be a new intercontinental ballistic missile at a giant military parade in Pyongyang on Saturday, analysts said. Nearly 60 missiles rolled through Kim Il-Sung Square at an event to mark the 105th anniversary of the North's founder, in a show of strength as tensions mount over the isolated nation's military ambitions. Its ultimate goal is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland something President Donald Trump has vowed "won't happen". Saturday's parade displayed devices in increasing order of range and it was four huge green missiles, rolled out on articulated trailers towards the end, that caught the attention of military specialists. "This appears to be a new ICBM," Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified South Korean military official as saying, adding that they appeared longer than the country's existing KN-08 or KN-14 missiles. Pyongyang has yet to formally announce it has an operational ICBM, but Chad O'Carroll, managing director of specialist service NK News, said the new rockets could be liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, or an early prototype. These long-range missiles would be "a big game-changer once it is deployed in service", he said but added there would be a long testing schedule ahead before a trial launch of the missile itself. But liquid-fuel missiles also "take hours to fuel up and if there is intelligence that they were doing that it would be quite easy to stop it before it was launched", he told AFP. Solid fuel ICBMs are a "much more difficult threat to prevent", O'Carroll said, adding that risk was still "many many years" away. But Kim Dong-Yeop of the South's Institute for Eastern Studies said Pyongyang may have already begun developing the technology. "Judging from the fact that it was contained in a launch tube, it is likely to be a cold-launched, solid-fuel ICBM," he told Yonhap. Story continues - Making mock-ups? - To achieve its ultimate aim of developing technology capable of hitting US targets, Pyongyang not only needs to improve the range of its missiles, but also miniaturise a nuclear device to the extent that it would fit on the tip of a warhead. Experts differ on the details of Pyongyang's missile capabilities, but all agree it has made rapid strides in recent years. The North has paraded what were thought to be KN-08 ICBMs three times since 2012, and in 2015 it unveiled a new variant, the KN-14. None has ever been launched, although Kim said in his New Year's address that the North was in the "final stages" of developing an ICBM. The last missiles in the parade, on giant 16-wheeler vehicles, could have been KN14s in launch tubes. Also on display was the Pukkuksong, a white-painted device on a blue trailer, which is claimed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Submarine-launched devices could give the North the ability to strike without warning from a vessel somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. They could also reduce the effectiveness of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) defence system, which Washington and Seoul are deploying to the South, to the fury of Beijing. But the experts sounded a note of caution. O'Carroll pointed out that the nosecone of one of the final group of missiles "wobbled quite noticeably", raising questions about whether or not it was real. Since only their launch tubes were visible, Lee Il-Woo, a senior analyst at the private Korea Defence Network, told AFP: "I suspect they all might be mock-ups aimed to impress the outside world." Niamey (AFP) - Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou held talks with student leaders Saturday in a bid to defuse the country's university crisis after a violent protest left one person dead, a student union head said. "We met with the president and commitments were made to renew the dialogue between the USN (Union of Niger Scholars) and the government," Ousseini Sambo, USN secretary-general, said on public radio. President Issoufou had ordered the University of Niamey campus to reopen on Monday, he added. The campus has been closed since hundreds of unhappy students joined a demonstration Monday, paralysing traffic by setting up barricades of tree trunks, blocks of stone and burning tyres, mainly on the right bank of the River Niger where the campus is located. The protest sparked clashes with security forces who used tear gas to disperse protesters, who responded by throwing stones, according to images shown on local television. According to official figures, 313 people were arrested following that protest, some of whom have since been released. One protester died after a fall which was not linked to police action, authorities said. An enquiry has been opened into the death. The USN insists that the death of Mala Bagale, a third-year Sociology student, was a result of having been hit by a police teargas cannister. A total of 109 people were injured in the melee, 88 protesters and 21 police. Sambo said another meeting, with Prime Minister Brigi Rafini, would take place "to find adequate solution to the students' demands". The students are calling for better living and studying conditions and the payment of grants. "We have promised the president a spirit of appeasement," said Sambo, adding that the students told that those still detained following Monday's violence would be released "in the coming days". Nepali New Year Resolutions! Well, here we are at 2074 Bikram Sambat and it looks like it will just be another same old year for the country and its people. SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea attempted to launch a missile on Sunday near Sinpo, on its east coast, but it is believed to have failed, South Korea's military said. The attempted missile launch comes a day after the North held a military parade in its capital marking the birth anniversary of the state founder where what appeared to be new ballistic missiles were displayed. "The North attempted to launch an unidentified missile from near the Sinpo region this morning but it is suspected to have failed," the South's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. There were no further details, and the office said it was analyzing the launch. The North launched a ballistic missile from the same region earlier this month ahead of a summit meeting between the leaders of the United States and China, its key ally, to discuss the North's increasingly defiant arms program. Tension had escalated sharply in the region amid concerns that the reclusive North may soon conduct a sixth nuclear test or a ballistic missile test launch timed with the April 15 anniversary it calls the "Day of the Sun." The White House has said U.S. President Donald Trump has put the North "on notice" while the possibility of U.S. military action against Pyongyang has gained traction following U.S. strikes against Syria on April 7. Trump has ordered a navy strike group flagshipped by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to head to the region as a show of force as his officials assess tougher economic sanctions as well as military options against the North. The North has in turn warned of a nuclear strike against the United States if provoked. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence as part of a 10-day trip to Asia arrives in South Korea on Sunday in what his aides said was a sign of the U.S. commitment to its ally in the face of rising tensions over the North's weapons programs. (Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park; Editing by Sandra Maler) PYONGYANG, North Korea) - North Korea rolled out prototype intercontinental ballistic missiles and other military hardware at a massive parade on Saturday to celebrate the birthday of the countrys late founder, as third-generation leader Kim Jong Un looked on in delight. State television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a limousine and saluting his honor guard before walking down a red carpet. He then stepped up to a podium and clapped with senior government officials to address the thousands of soldiers and civilians taking part in the parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, the capital. The festivities, celebrating the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Uns grandfather, took place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a significant rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM. State television showed what appeared to be several KN-08 and KN-14 missiles rolled out on trucks at the parade. Military analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, although the North has yet to flight test them. North Korean soldiers also rolled out what appeared to be another large rocket covered by a canister. An official from South Koreas Defense Ministry couldnt immediately confirm whether the rocket was a new ICBM. Other military hardware at the parade included tanks, multiple rocket launchers and artillery guns, as well as a solid-fuel missile designed to be fired from submarines. Also on display was a powerful midrange missile that outside analysts call a Musudan, and which can potentially reach U.S. air bases in Guam, as well as a new solid-fuel midrange missile that can be fired from mobile launchers. Military planes flew in formation, creating the number 105 above Kim Il Sung Square. Choe Ryong Hae, who some say is the second-most powerful official in North Korea, said in a speech that the country is ready to stand up to any threat posed by the United States. He criticized the new U.S. government under President Donald Trump for creating a war situation on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching strategic military assets to the region. Story continues We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack, Choe said. Other senior officials joining Kim at the podium included Kim Won Hong, who the South Korean government had said earlier this year was fired from his job as state security minister, presumably over corruption. South Korea has a spotty record of tracking developments in North Korea, as information about the secretive, authoritarian state is often impossible to confirm. Kim Jong Un didnt speak before North Korean television ended the live broadcast. Kim, a 30-something leader who took power in late 2011, emphasizes nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy. The country under his watch has been aggressively pursuing a goal of putting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM capable of reaching the continental United States. In his annual New Years address, Kim said that North Koreas preparations for an ICBM launch have reached the final stage. U.S. satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time. North Korea conducted two such tests last year alone, which analysts say would have taken the country a step forward in gaining the knowledge to make nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. The North also last year launched a long-range rocket that put a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology. Amid the elevated tensions, the United States a few days ago dispatched what Trump called an armada of ships in a show of force, including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula. The move, coupled with the U.S. retaliatory strikes against Syria over a chemical weapons attack on civilians, touched off fear in South Korea that the United States was preparing for military action on the North. However, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Friday that the Trump administration has settled on a policy that will emphasize on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Koreas only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kims leadership. A U.S. military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said the United States doesnt intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. Pyongyang has expressed anger over the annual spring military exercises the U.S. holds with South Korea, which it considers an invasion rehearsal. It has warned of a nuclear attack on the United States in retaliation for any sign of aggression, a threat that has been made numerous times in the past. ___ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. This article was originally published on TIME.com North Korea held a massive military parade to celebrate the birth of the regimes founder Kim Il-sung. The country also used the opportunity to show off an alleged submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), called Pukguksong-2. As tensions grow between the United States and Kim Jong Uns regime, North Korea celebrated the Day of the Sun on Saturday with thousands of soldiers and military vehicles parading through the Kim Il-sung square, with a band playing loud military music. Read: Can North Korea's Nuclear Missiles Hit The US? How Far The Weapons Reach The countrys leader, donning a black suit, stood on a platform with senior military officers and officials of the Workers Party. He broke into a smile at multiple occasions and applauded as the troops marched in a tribute to his grandfather, the first leader of the regime, on his 105th birth anniversary. The regime also took the opportunity to warn the U.S. about the implications of creating a war situation with increased militarization in East Asia. Choe Ryong-hae, who is said to be one of the most powerful politicians in North Korea, reportedly said: We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack. The occasion was the first instance where the communist regime unveiled a newly developed weapon, the SLBM, at a public event, possibly because of the rise in tensions with neighbor South Korea and the West. The new IRBM, also referred to as a KN-15 missile, was test-fired earlier this year and was reported as having flown 500 kilometers (310 miles) into the sea. Pyongyang said it was a complete success, South Koreas Yonhap News Agency reported. Watch the live stream here. Story continues Note: International Business Times cannot verify the authenticity of this footage. Related Articles The United States slammed North Korea's latest missile test as a provocation and insisted Sunday it is working closely with China to resolve a crisis that Washington sees as reaching a critical stage. Amid broader fears that North Korea may again test a nuclear bomb, the Pentagon said Sunday's missile launch was a failure, with the weapon blowing up almost immediately after its early morning takeoff near Sinpo on North Korea's east coast. Following the test, US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told ABC News: "There's an international consensus now -- including the Chinese and the Chinese leadership -- that this is a situation that just can't continue." Amid sharply heightened tensions, McMaster said the US and allies were studying all actions "short of a military option," though the Trump administration has not ruled that out. North Korea watchers remained on high alert, as leader Kim Jong-un was reportedly poised to conduct a sixth nuclear test. Vice President Mike Pence, who arrived in Seoul on Sunday, assailed the missile test as a "provocation" and assured South Korea of Washington's full support against the threat from its volatile neighbor. Pence is in Seoul for talks on curbing the North's weapons programs. "This morning's provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face each and every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world," Pence told US military families at an Easter dinner, at the start of a 10-day Asia tour. Some 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea. President Donald Trump has ordered a naval strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, to the region, though the vessels remain a long way from the peninsula. McMaster repeatedly stated that China -- North Korea's key ally -- is increasingly concerned about the reclusive communist state's behavior. Story continues The new consensus is "that this problem is coming to a head. And so its time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully," McMaster said. Trump turned to Twitter to underscore the importance of cooperation with China on North Korea. Having blasted Beijing throughout his presidential campaign for unfairly manipulating its currency, he tweeted Sunday: "Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!" - 'A threat to all people - McMaster said Trump had directed US military, diplomatic and intelligence officials to provide him with options -- in concertation with regional allies including China -- that could be used "if the North Korea regime refuses to denuclearize." He called Kim "a threat to all people in the region, and globally as well," but cautioned that Trump "is clearly comfortable making tough decisions." A White House foreign policy adviser, briefing reporters on the plane that carried Pence to Seoul, was asked what steps China had committed to when President Xi Jinping met recently with Trump in Florida. "There were a number of steps that were discussed," the briefer said on condition of anonymity, adding that when China recently turned back ships bringing North Korean coal, it was a "good first step." "China is the key," Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Sunday on NBC. "They can stop this if they want to because of their control over the North Korean economy." - 'Medium-range' missile test - Congressman Mac Thornberry, McCain's counterpart in the House of Representatives, said Kim's message to the United States was "we are strong and we can hurt you." "This guy (Kim) is not interested in negotiation. He wants to have an (intercontinental) ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead to threaten us, and I think he's determined to get it. Even failed launches tell them something and improve their program," Thornberry told Fox News Sunday. Trump has repeatedly said he will prevent Pyongyang from developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States. The latest missile launch came a day after Pyongyang staged a massive military parade, showcasing nearly 60 missiles -- including a suspected new ICBM. But the missile involved in the failed test evidently was smaller. The briefer on Pence's plane called it "medium-range." US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump was aware of the failed test but had "no further comment." North Korea has often test-fired missiles to mark major dates such as Saturday's 105th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder Kim Il-Sung, or as gestures of defiance when top US officials visit the region. South Korea's foreign ministry said that by conducting the latest test just a day after displaying a series of missiles, "North Korea has threatened the whole world." By Sue-Lin Wong and James Pearson PYONGYANG/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, on Saturday, as a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region. Missiles appeared to be the main theme of a giant military parade, with Kim's grandson, leader Kim Jong Un, taking time to greet the commander of the Strategic Forces, the branch that oversees the missile arsenal. A U.S. Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month with Tomahawk missiles raised questions about U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. Kim Jong Un, looking relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw the festivities on the "Day of the Sun" at Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung Square. Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square, next to the Taedonggang River that flows through Pyongyang, in the hazy spring sunshine, followed by tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems and other weapons. Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead. Unlike at some previous parades attended by Kim, there did not appear to be a senior Chinese official in attendance. China is North Korea's lone major ally but has spoken out against its missile and nuclear tests and has supported U.N. sanctions. China on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis. Weapons analysts said they believed some of the missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). The North has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering all the necessary technology. "EARLY DAYS" North Korea showed two new kinds of ICBM enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of trucks, suggesting Pyongyang was working towards a "new concept" of ICBM, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the U.S.-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. "However, North Korea has a habit of showing off new concepts in parades before they ever test or launch them," Hanham said. "It is still early days for these missile designs." The Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) were also on parade. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade. Displaying more than one of the missiles indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base a missile on a submarine, which are hard to detect, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review. "It suggests a commitment to this program," said Pollack. "Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the program." North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan. Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim Jong Un, addressed the packed square with a characteristically bellicose warning to the United States. "If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare," he said. PENCE TO VISIT SOUTH State news agency KCNA said the Trump administration's "serious military hysteria" had reached a "dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked". The United States has warned that a policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea is over. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China has also stepped up economic pressure on North Korea. It banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26 under U.N. sanctions, cutting off the North's most important export product. China's national airline, Air China, weeks ago canceled some flights to Pyongyang due to poor demand but it has not suspended all flights there, it said on Friday, denying a report by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that all flights run by the airline between the two cities were to be suspended. China's Global Times newspaper, which is published by the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official paper, said North Korea must have felt the shockwave from the 11-ton "mother of all bombs" dropped by U.S. forces on Islamic State-linked fighters in Afghanistan on Thursday. "It would be nice if the bomb could frighten Pyongyang, but its actual impact may just be the opposite," it said in an editorial. North Korea on Friday denounced the United States for bringing "huge nuclear strategic assets" to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer. In Dandong, China's main border post with North Korea, hundreds of North Koreans gathered at a cultural center carrying floral displays. With the men wearing pins adorned with photos of Kim Il Sung, and the women in brightly colored traditional dress, crowds lined up to bow to portraits of their state founder before touring an exhibition of photos and North Korean paintings. KCNA was gushing in its praise of Kim Il Sung, recalling the time he met former U.S. president Jimmy Carter in 1994. "Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was so fascinated by his personality as to say that Kim Il Sung is greater than that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln put together, eulogizing him as the great sun god of human destiny." it said. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim, Minwoo Park in SEOUL, Natalie Thomas and Damir Sagolj in PYONGYANG, Michael Martina in BEIJING and Philip Wen in DANDONG.; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Robert Birsel and Stephen Coates) Jalalabad (Afghanistan) (AFP) - Afghan authorities Saturday reported a jump in fatalities from the American military's largest non-nuclear bomb, declaring some 90 Islamic State fighters dead, as US-led ground forces sought to advance on their mountain hideouts. Dubbed the "Mother Of All Bombs", the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast was unleashed in combat for the first time Thursday, hitting IS positions in a remote area of eastern Nangarhar province. The unprecedented attack triggered global shock waves, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered a threat as big as the resurgent Taliban. The bomb smashed IS's hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in a huge mushroom cloud and towering flames. "At least 92 Daesh (IS) fighters were killed in the bombing," Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP on Saturday, adding that three tunnels that sheltered the insurgents had been destroyed. Shinwari said that American and Afghan ground forces were slowly advancing on the mountainous area, which is blanketed with landmines, to clear the site, but there were still some pockets of resistance from insurgents. "New fighters have probably come from the other side of the border (Pakistan) to collect the dead bodies," he added. Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani gave a death toll of 90, far higher than the initial toll of 36 IS fighters given by Afghan officials. The dead included the brother of the late IS leader Hafiz Saeed, who was killed in a US air strike last year, officials said. Shinwari insisted there were "no military and civilian casualties at all". Security experts say IS had built their redoubts close to civilian homes, but the government said thousands of local families had already fled the area in recent months of fighting. Story continues An elderly man who lives close to the bombing site in Achin's Momand Dara area said the blast was so piercingly loud that his infant granddaughter was experiencing hearing loss. The massive bomb was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area. An American special forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations. "The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in Nangarhar," General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said on Friday. - 'Disproportionate' - President Ashraf Ghani threw his support behind the bombardment, saying it was "designed to support the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region". The bombing came only a week after US President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack, and as China warned of the potential for conflict amid rising US tensions with North Korea. Trump hailed the mission in Achin as "very, very successful". But some analysts called the action "disproportionate". "The Trump administration made a lot of noise with this bomb, but the general state of play on the ground remains the same: The Taliban continues to wage a formidable and ferocious insurgency. ISIS, by comparison, is a sideshow," Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington told AFP, using an alternative acronym for IS. "Still, from a strategic standpoint, there is an unsettling takeaway here: The US pulled off a huge shock and awe mission against an enemy that isn't even the top threat to the US in Afghanistan. The Taliban continues to sit pretty." The Taliban, a much bigger insurgent group, is expected to soon announce the start of this year's fighting season. IS, notorious for its reign of terror in Syria and Iraq, has made inroads into Afghanistan in recent years, attracting disaffected members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban as well as Uzbek Islamists. But the group has been steadily losing ground in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. The Hague (AFP) - Russia criticised the world's chemical weapons watchdog for not sending experts to the site of an alleged chemical attack in Syria, saying it was "unacceptable to analyse events from a distance". But the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is in a difficult position, with its scientists and experts undertaking a dangerous mission in an ongoing war zone. Here is a look at the OPCW: - What is the OPCW? - Founded in 1997, the OPCW based in The Hague oversees the application of The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) aimed at ridding the world of toxic arms and preventing new ones being manufactured. Chemical weapons, such as mustard gas, were first used in combat on the battlefields of World War I, and also in 1988 by late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein against civilians in Halabja, Iraq. Other incidents include the 1995 subway sarin gas attack in Tokyo by a Japanese cult. After almost 20 years of negotiations, the convention took effect on April 29, 1997. The OPCW now has 192 member nations. In the past two decades, the OPCW has overseen the destruction of some 94 percent of the world's declared chemical weapons stockpiles. It is planning a ceremony on April 26 to mark its 20th anniversary. Russia and the United States are on target to destroy their chemical arms stockpiles within the next seven years. Only four nations have not yet signed up to the convention -- Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan. - What is the OPCW mission in Syria? - After years of denials, the Syrian regime caved to international pressure in September 2013 and agreed under a US-Russia deal to hand over its toxic stockpile to the OPCW for destruction, averting threatened US air strikes. The admission came after a sarin gas attack in August 2013 on rebel-held areas near Damascus that was blamed by the West and the opposition on the regime. An estimated 1,000 people died. The OPCW says 100 percent of Syria's declared chemical arms -- a total of 1,300 metric tonnes -- was handed over and destroyed by January 2016. Story continues However, amid continuing attacks there are fears Damascus did not declare everything. The secretary general Ahmet Uzumcu has highlighted what he calls "gaps and inconsistencies" in Syria's 2013 declaration. Chlorine, which can be used to make choking chlorine gas, is however a common chemical for such uses as fertilisers and water purification and does not need to be declared as a chemical weapon. - How does OPCW work in Syria? - For the first time in the OPCW's history, it is investigating chemical weapons in a country embroiled in a civil war. In 2014, a fact-finding mission of scientists and experts was set up to investigate persistent allegations of chemical weapons attacks. It has deployed "numerous" times to Syria and uses "investigative methods to determine if chemical weapons have been used", according to the OPCW. After an OPCW team hit a home-made roadside bomb in Syria in early 2014, experts can no longer travel outside of Damascus for their own safety. Instead, the OPCW "interviews witnesses and obtains environmental and biomedical samples and physical evidence for analysis" in OPCW-designated labs. The reports of the fact-finding mission are sent to a joint UN-OPCW team known as the JIM, set up by the UN Security Council in 2015 to determine "to the greatest extent feasible" who is behind the attacks. It has so far found the Syrian military to blame for at least three chemical attacks in villages in 2014 and 2015. And it has said the so-called Islamic State group was behind a 2015 mustard gas attack. - What about the April 4 attack? - The OPCW has an "ongoing" investigation into the April 4 attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun, in Idlib province, which killed 87 people. At a special OPCW meeting in The Hague on Thursday, Uzumcu said technical experts had analysed available information "and their preliminary assessment (was) that this was a credible allegation". Britain told the meeting its scientists had analysed samples which "have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, or a sarin-like substance". Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told AFP the reports were "100 percent for us a fabrication" to justify a US military strike on a Syrian air base. The fact-finding mission is hoping to complete its work in the next two to three weeks. "Our experts are fully aware of the significance of the task they are expected to fulfil and I am confident that they will do it in a professional and impartial manner using all available technical means," said Uzumcu. WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump has called North Korea a "problem" country and said it will be dealt with through a broad set of options, though they're vague for now. It may be up to his vice president, Mike Pence, to fill in the details during a visit to Asia. His travels to the region, including stops in South Korea and Japan beginning Sunday, come amid indications that North Korea is potentially preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade or a significant missile launch, such as its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Hours before Pence left, North Korea showed off its ICBMs in a military display at the annual parade in the capital that celebrates the birthday of the North's founding ruler, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. Trump, who has proved to be unpredictable on foreign policy, has responded to the recent concerns over North Korea with a swagger that suggests a new, tougher stance. Asked about North Korea this past week, he told reporters: "North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of." He has repeatedly said that if China, North Korea's dominant trading partner, isn't willing to do more to squeeze the North, the U.S. might take the matter into its own hands. Trump has sent an aircraft carrier to the waters off the Korean Peninsula. U.S. military officials have said the U.S. doesn't intend to use force in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch by the North. Kim's No. 2 official accused Trump of "creating a war situation" and said the North "will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack." After a two-month policy review, the Trump administration has settled on a policy toward the North that relies on "maximum pressure and engagement," U.S. officials said Friday. The administration's immediate emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of Beijing. Story continues The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity. Pence will try to explain the policy in meetings with leaders in South Korea and Japan at the start of a 10-day tour that will include stops in Indonesia and Australia. Part of his mission will be to reassure allies in South Korea and Japan that the U.S. will defend them against North Korean aggression without acting in a way that might tip the region into open conflict. "The message, I think, is going to be about vigilance and deterrence," said Victor Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said Pence will try to balance reassurance with a willingness to respond if North Korea acts. "The United States wants to project a more muscular image when it comes to the policy so some unpredictability serves that cause." Kim has pointed to nuclear weapons as the foundation of his national defense strategy and has openly sought a nuclear weapon that could strike the continental United States. Analysts have said commercial satellite images from recent weeks indicate increased activity around the nuclear test site in northern North Korea. The U.S. last week acted unilaterally in ordering a cruise missile strike on Syria and has sent what Trump called an "armada" to the waters off the Korean Peninsula. Thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry were also deployed last month in their biggest-ever joint military exercises, which prompted North Korea to issue routine threats of attacks on its rival if they show signs of aggression. __ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul contributed to this report. __ Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC Protesters chanting "Hey, hey, ho, ho, corporate greed has got to go" marched in Center City on Saturday, calling for President Trump to release his tax returns. With a 10-foot inflatable chicken leading the march -- perched on the bed of a gray Chevrolet pickup truck -- a crowd estimated by a police inspector at 2,000 peacefully marched down Market Street from City Hall to Independence Mall. To the sounds of drums beating and tambourines clashing, the protesters chanted along with march leader Devan Spear, 21, a University of Pennsylvania senior and an organizer with the Penn Student Labor Action Project, as she yelled into a microphone, "Donald, show us what you paid!" and "No more secrets, no more lies! Show your taxes, show your ties!" Devan Spear, of Penn Student Labor Action Project, led #TaxMarchPhilly around City Hall w/ chants Saturday morning. pic.twitter.com/A7RpwUGx1j Julie Shaw (@julieshawphilly) April 15, 2017 The Tax March Philly rally was one of about 150 planned nationwide for April 15, which is traditionally Tax Day. (This year, though, Tax Day has been pushed back to April 18 as the deadline for the filing of taxes.) Gwen Snyder, executive director of Philadelphia Jobs With Justice, which organized the march, has said the chicken symbolizes that Trump is chicken for not releasing his income tax returns. Camera icon Julie shaw / Staff Gwen Snyder (center, in blue dress), executive director of Philadelphia Jobs With Justice, marches on Market Street during the Tax March Philly event. The chicken, made in China, has been one of various large birds that have been manufactured to resemble Trump. The original, a 32-foot-tall rooster, featured a golden coxcomb that resembles Trumps own. Participants in Saturday's march first gathered at 10 a.m. at Thomas Paine Plaza, across from City Hall, where many held signs calling for the president to release his returns. Ralliers also called for economic justice and decried corporate greed. Nijmie Dzurinko, of the health care-oriented group Put People First!, who gave opening remarks, told those gathered at Thomas Paine Plaza: "People are angry that billionaires are mooching off the system." Marchers then headed with a police escort around City Hall, then down Market Street toward People's Plaza, at Fifth and Market Streets on Independence Mall, where more speakers rallied the crowd. They included State Sen. Daylin Leach; civil rights lawyer Larry Krasner, a candidate in the Philadelphia district attorney's race; and the Rev. Gregory Holston, executive director of Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower & Rebuild, or POWER. Trump is the first presidential nominee of a major party in more than 40 years to not release his tax returns, saying he cannot release the documents because he is under IRS audit. He and his staffers have later said that voters don't care, but several national polls have shown otherwise. "People care about the taxes," Holston, in a roaring voice, told the crowd gathered on Independence Mall. To much applause, he called on Trump to "release your taxes right now ... because I need to know whether you paid any taxes or not." Camera icon Julie shaw / Staff The Rev. Gregory Holston, executive director of POWER, speaks on Independence Mall during Tax March Philly. "Presidents owe us the highest level of transparency," said Leach, a Democrat who represents parts of Montgomery and Delaware Counties. He has introduced Senate Bill 247, which calls for mandatory disclosure of federal tax returns by a candidate running for president or vice president of the United States. Otherwise, the bill says, that person's name will not be printed on official ballots in Pennsylvania. Other states where legislation on tax-return disclosure has been introduced include New Jersey, New York, Arizona, California, Connecticut, and Maryland. Krasner, echoing themes in his campaign for district attorney, called for the end of the death penalty, mass incarceration, and cash bail. Before he spoke, Snyder told the crowd that Philadelphia Jobs With Justice was not endorsing any one candidate in the DA's race. The march brought out colorful costumes and clever signs. Zachary Maichuk, 40, of Lansdale, dressed up as a Tyrannosaurus rex, with a "T-Rump T-Rexes Want to see your taxes" sign; and another person held up a tall Trump clown. Earlier, at the start of the rally across from City Hall, Donna Davis, 50, of Northeast Philadelphia, held a sign with a drawing of the Trump chicken. "I don't trust Trump to tell the truth," she said. Her friend Dorothy Maurer, 49, of King of Prussia, added: "I believe he's flat-out lying to us and he's hiding something in his taxes, and the American people need to see it." Her orange sign read: "I SHOWED YOU MINE NOW YOU SHOW ME YOURS!" Camera icon Julie shaw / Staff Dorothy Maurer (left), of King of Prussia, and her friend Donna Davis, of Northeast Philadelphia, held up signs during the Tax March Philly protest, which began at Thomas Paine Plaza, across from Philadelphia City Hall, on Saturday, April 15, 2017. See tweets from the Philadelphia event: This article contains information from the Associated Press. Most Popular on Philly.com Satellite cities: Plan to build new town moves forward The Kathmandu Valley Development Authority has moved a step forward to develop a modern satellite city through a public-private venture that will transform a few selected areas into a modern urban centre offering high-quality services. BANGKOK (Reuters) - A plaque commemorating a 1932 coup in Thailand that saw absolute monarchy abolished and democracy established has gone missing, police in Bangkok said on Saturday, prompting outcry from pro-democracy activists. The 1932 coup, also known as the Siamese Revolution, was a crucial turning point in Thai history and ended nearly seven centuries of absolute monarchy, paving the way for political and social reforms. Since then, Thailand has gone through a shaky experiment with democracy and has witnessed a succession of political protests and coups. Thailand has been governed by a junta since the latest coup, 2014, which saw the military overthrow a democratically elected government. The plaque, which was embedded in a square in central Bangkok, was removed and replaced with a new one which highlights the importance of the monarchy. "It is good to worship the Buddhist trinity, the state, one's own family, and to be faithful to one's monarch and allow oneself to be the engine that brings prosperity to the state," the new plaque reads. Police in the Dusit district where the plaque was located said they were not sure who removed it and were investigating. Ultra-royalist groups had previously threatened to remove the plaque. Activists said that the plaque's removal was a bid by royalist conservatives to rewrite history. "This is another attempt to alter the history of democracy in this country," Than Rittiphan, a member of the student-led New Democracy Movement which has protested against military rule, told Reuters. "It is nothing more than fascist rhetoric aimed at brainwashing the next generation," he said. The government, led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief and staunch royalist, has stepped up prosecution of critics of the monarchy under a harsh royal insult law. Rights groups say sensitivity over any activity deemed as anti-monarchy has grown since King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, last year. Last week, the government announced a ban on all online interaction with three critics of the junta who live abroad. King Vajiralongkorn signed a military-backed constitution into law this month, a step toward an election next year that the junta has said will restore democracy. The new constitution is the 20th since the end of absolute monarchy and critics say it will give the military sway over politics for years to come. (Reporting by Cod Satrusayang and Matthew Tostevin; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Robert Birsel) Police have made an arrest in the case of jogger Vanessa Marcotte who was murdered while on a jog in Massachusetts last summer. Police detained Angel Cordero Ortiz, 31, on Friday night in connection with the slaying of the 27-year-old Google executive, according to reports. Read: Murder of Jogger, 27, in Massachusetts Shares Eerie Similarities With New York Killing Ortiz is being held at the state police barracks in Millbury on a $1million bail. Marcottes naked body was found in the woods by a K-9 unit near her Woodlands home on the evening of Aug. 7. After she didnt return home from a run, her family reported her missing. Police said the woman tried to fight off her attacker. She had burns on her feet, hands, and head when she was found. In February, the Worcester County District Attorneys Office announced that they made a DNA breakthrough in the case and said they were searching for an average height Hispanic man in his thirties. Police announced Saturday during a press conference that a Massachusetts State Trooper saw a dark-colored SUV in Worcester, similar to the one that was seen driving from the scene. The man driving fit the description of the suspect. The trooper then went to the man's home and eventually got a swab DNA sample. Police said the DNA matched the DNA found on Marcotte's body. Police said Ortiz was working near where Marcotte was killed on the day of the murder. Read: Jogger Found Dead by Her Own Father After Failing to Return From Evening Run Marcotte was visiting her mother at the time of the attack. Ortiz has not been charged yet. He is set to appear in court on Tuesday. Watch: Mother Of Murdered Queens Jogger Lashes Out At Suspect In Court Related Articles: When Allan Lichtman correctly predicted the widely unexpected outcome of the 2016 presidential election, he received a personal note of congratulations from Donald Trump. Months later, the President will soon receive a copy of a new book outlining Lichtmans next big prediction: impeachment. Throughout his career, Trump has avoided accountability, Lichtman told TIME on Friday. As president, though, you cannot walk away from accountability. You cant declare bankruptcy, you cant just abandon a deal. And the ultimate accountability is impeachment. Lichtman, an American University history professor who has used a set of keys to correctly predict every presidential election since 1982, gained attention last year when he predicted that Trump would win the election and then be impeached. His new book, The Case for Impeachment, outlines eight possible reasons to impeach Trump, including his business-related conflicts of interest, his teams connections to Russia and his involvement in previous legal disputes, such as lawsuits against Trump University. In his most edgy argument, Lichtman says Trump could be impeached for a crime against humanity based on his refusal to take action on climate change. There are so many bases on which Trump can be impeached, Lichtman said. Thats one way in which he is more vulnerable to impeachment than any other figure who has been elected for the first time to the presidency of the United States. The book, which will be released Tuesday, draws comparisons between Trump and the two U.S. presidents who have been impeached - Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 - as well as Richard Nixon, who avoided inevitable impeachment when he resigned. Johnson and Clinton were both impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted in the Senate. What might distinguish a Trump impeachment from that of Clinton and Johnson is that the transgressions could be more Nixonian - that is, more serious, more threatening to our constitutional order, our liberties, our freedoms and our national security, Lichtman said. Story continues But impeachment is a difficult process, and the act of actually removing a president from office is even harder. Thats especially true when the presidents own party has control of Congress - as Republicans do now. But Lichtman believes enough Republicans would support impeachment if any concrete evidence surfaced to show Trumps campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the election. I think the Russian connection would be the most likely source of impeachment, Lichtman said. There sure is a lot of smoke. And my own suspicion is theres some kind of fire thats producing this smoke. Whether its serious enough to warrant impeachment, we dont know yet. If the investigations do turn up some serious wrongdoing, I think even Republicans in Congress are not going to overlook it, Lichtman added, while acknowledging its a steep hill to climb. If a vote were to take place in the House today, all 193 Democrats and 23 Republicans would need to vote for impeachment in order for it to pass. In the Senate, 19 Republicans would have to side with all 46 Democrats and two independents in order to remove Trump from office. While making the case for impeachment, Lichtmans book also gives Trump a blueprint for surviving as president that includes fully divesting from his business interests, supporting measures to prevent climate change, hiring a fact-checker and firing chief strategist Steve Bannon. I hope he reads this book, and I hope he does change, Lichtman said. I am rooting for Trump to some extent because I am a believer in American democracy, and I would much rather see our democracy cherished and protected than see President Trump being removed. This article was originally published on TIME.com Washington (AFP) - Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday in cities across the United States to pressure President Donald Trump to release his tax returns, a move of transparency he has repeatedly refused. The demonstrations were timed to coincide with the traditional April 15 deadline for annual tax filings, a massive date on the calendar for US households, and resulted in dozens of arrests. For decades, US presidents and presidential candidates have released their returns voluntarily, although there is no legal obligation to do so. US law requires only the publication of a financial statement that estimates assets, including debt and revenue, but does not give details on the amount of taxes paid. Trump, a billionaire property tycoon, released a financial statement but has kept his tax returns private, both during the election campaign and since taking office in January. Protesters and political rivals have said he should make a fuller disclosure to remove any inkling of potential conflicts of interest between his business interests and his political decisions. "Until he does, we'll never know what he's hiding or who his policies are designed to benefit," said organizers of the "Tax March" demonstrations on its website. "We need a president who works for all Americans -- and a tax system that does, too," it added. At least 21 demonstrators were arrested after Trump opponents and supporters clashed at a march in Berkeley, California, US media said. - 'Real men pay their taxes - In Washington, several thousand protesters of all ages gathered in front of the Capitol building housing Congress, holding signs such as "What is he hiding?" and "Real men pay their taxes." A huge inflatable chicken with an orange-gold beak and a swirl of hair resembling Trump's mane was displayed on the sidelines of the Washington protest, and at other venues. It was seen by some as the unofficial mascot for the protest -- to suggest that the Republican president was afraid, or chicken, to publish his records. Story continues "If he's got nothing to hide, he should release his tax returns," said protester Liz Turner, 31. Asked what she suspected was in them, Turner replied: "Maybe something to do with Russia?" Ellen Lodwick, 67, a retired corporate researcher from Maryland who has participated in anti-Trump demonstrations since his November 8 election, cast doubt on the president's businesses. "There are probably many illegal or questionable investments in things that could affect how he looks at government and legislation, because he's too connected," she said. The protesters then marched along Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House, shouting "shame" as they passed by the Trump International Hotel. - Trump again at Mar-a-Lago - In New York, thousands also marched, and demonstrations were held from Boston and Philadelphia on the East Coast to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles out West, and cities and towns in between. The Berkeley protests saw hundreds gather at a park, including Trump supporters who held a free speech rally, while opponents of the president's policies shouted and chanted. Several fights broke out, according to the East Bay Times newspaper. Activists waved signs reading: "No! Pussy-Grabbing! No! Patriarchy! No! Fascist USA! Drive out Trump-Pence regime!" and "Fascist scum your time is done." Trump has justified his refusal to publish tax returns by noting they are being audited. Federal tax authorities say that does not bar him from releasing the documents. Trump has repeatedly said he has used legal loopholes to minimize his tax burden. "Disclosing tax returns is the very lowest ethical bar for a president, and we are going to insist that he clear it," Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the Washington crowd. Trump was not in the capital during the demonstration; he is again spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where several hundred "Tax March" protesters demonstrated outside Saturday. "Pay your taxes!" several shouted One young girl held a small sign that read "Trump is a tax e-VADER" and showed an image of Darth Vader wearing a blond hairpiece. Caracas (AFP) - Opponents and backers of Venezuela's embattled President Nicolas Maduro announced new marches for Wednesday after violence in ongoing anti-government protests that have left five people dead. Both sides promised to hold sway across Caracas on the heels of two weeks of demonstrations that also have seen 117 people arrested. The latest in more than a week of violent clashes erupted overnight Thursday to Friday in the town of Los Teques near the capital. Protesters mounted barricades and hurled Molotov cocktails, and police fired tear gas, photographs on social media showed. The demonstrations are expected to be the next big showdown in an increasingly fraught crisis that has raised international concerns about Venezuela's stability. The opposition is demanding the authorities set a date for postponed regional elections. It is also furious over moves to limit the powers of the legislature and ban opposition leader Henrique Capriles from politics. Those moves have raised international condemnation including from the United States and the European Union. Maduro has resisted opposition efforts to hold a vote on removing him, vowing to continue the "socialist revolution" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez. Maduro says the economic crisis is the result of what he calls a US-backed capitalist conspiracy. Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana posted a cryptic message to his website Thursday that was seemingly aimed at estranged wife Janet Jackson. The couple split last week, three months after their son, Eissa, was born. He shared the following passage from the Quran: You shall most certainly be tried in your possessions and in your persons; and indeed you shall hear many hurtful things from those to whom revelation was granted before your time, as well as from those who have come to ascribe divinity to other beings beside Allah. But if you remain patient in adversity and conscious of Him this, behold, is something to set one's heart upon. - 3:186 READ: Janet Jackson 'Wanted More Freedom' During Marriage To Wissam Al Mana: Report Even though theyre not together anymore, a message for Jackson remains on his site in the love section. It reads: To the most beautiful person in the world, thank you for your divine love, your eternal support and for being my best friend. I love you so much, inshallah. We will be together in the Great Forever x. The couple did not issue a public statement after theyre breakup, which was reportedly caused by their different cultures. Wissam wanted a wife who stuck more with the Muslim traditions, an insider told Us Weekly Wednesday. Even before the baby was born, they clashed and butted heads a lot. Jackson, 50, didnt like her career taking a backseat to her personal life. [She] thought her career was suffering and she started resenting Wissam for it, the friend said. She couldn't settle down and be what he wanted her to be. Janet wanted more freedom. Wissam Al Mana and Janet Jackson Photo: Reuters/Alessandro Garofalo Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella Related Articles Associated Press There has already been two coaching changes halfway through the NFL season with Indianapolis firing Frank Reich this week four weeks after Carolina did the same to Matt Rhule. The NFL had a record-tying 10 coaching changes last offseason and three-quarters of the teams have changed head coaches at least once in the past five years. Here's a look at some coaches who figure to be on the hot seat if things don't turn around in the second half of the season and some assistants who could be in line for head coaching jobs. Dwindling funds for scientific research could encourage scientists to cheat, a report released Friday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine finds. Additionally, research misconduct is eating up precious funds even as they grow scarcer. The report, Fostering Integrity in Research, said the funding crunch could hamper progress as scientists skip protocols and arrive at faulty conclusions. Research misconduct, some of which was not detected for years, has led to an increase in the number and percentage of research articles that are retracted and growing concern about low rates of reproducibility [raising] questions about how the research enterprise can better ensure that investments in research produce reliable knowledge, Chairman Robert M. Nerem wrote in the reports preface. Read: Swedish Scientist Breaks Taboo, Edits Genes Of Healthy Embryos The U.S. devoted 2.81 percent of gross domestic product to research and development in 2012, with the private sector contributing two-thirds of that. The bulk of government research funding goes to defense. The report cites numerous instances of research misconduct, including falsified grant applications. Former University of Wisconsin researcher Mary Allen noticed a grant document failed to give an accurate description of some 2005 research, NPR reported. Read: Using Social Media For Research Tempting "We weren't certain it was falsification. It could have been a mistake. The results sounded slightly better than they really were," Allen told NPR. "I think one of the reasons she [the supervising professor] did it was she was under so much stress about getting funding for the students [so] she decided tweaking the data a little to make it look better would allow her to get a grant and therefore fund us." The report emphasizes effective research is a process that includes planning, review of work by others, training the next generation of researchers and effective stewardship of the scholarly record. It is up to research institutions, the report said, to create an environment that supports integrity. Story continues Highly visible research misconduct cases continue to appear regularly around the world, the report said. CSIRO_ScienceImage_1175_Forestry_scientist Photo: CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products/Creative Commons Concerns about scientific research that have emerged in the scientific and general media over the past several years reinforce the need to rethink and reconsider the strategies used to support integrity in research environments. A growing body of evidence indicates that substantial percentages of published results in some fields are not reproducible. Part of the problem involves the growth of research itself and its globalization, along with pressure from the media to generate controversy and political debate. The process is not broken, the report said, but it does face serious challenges to maintaining and fostering integrity. Among the recommendations in the report is for researchers and research institutions to update their response to shoddy research, maintain the highest standards for conduct, make sure whistle-blowers are protected, establish an independent board to assess research environments, develop disciplinary procedures for violators and avoid duplication. Beyond questions of needless human suffering, the total scale of monetary costs from research misconduct and detrimental research practices may run from several hundred million dollars up to multiple billions of dollars per year in the United States alone, the report said. Related Articles Cairo (AFP) - Egyptian Coptic Christians observed Easter Mass under tight security on Saturday with the ancient minority still reeling from twin church bombings that killed dozens just days before. In Saint Mark's Cathedral, where Coptic Pope Tawadros II led the mass, worshippers passed through three metal detectors as policemen and soldiers stood guard in the sprawling compound and on the streets outside. "We pray for peace, to spread in hearts and minds," Tawadros said in a speech during the mass, describing the bombings as "beyond the boundaries of humanity." Two Islamic State group suicide bombers struck two churches north of Cairo last Sunday, killing 45 people in the worst attack on Copts in recent memory. Police cordoned off roads leading to the cathedral compound, where another suicide bomber had attacked last December, killing 29 people. The government declared a state of emergency and called in the army to protect "vital" installations following last Sunday's suicide bombings in Tanta and Alexandria. The Islamic State group, which claimed all three attacks, has threatened more. Following the Palm Sunday attacks, the church had said it would scale back Easter celebrations. "Tanta and Alexandria created a big shock, for all of Egypt," Coptic Church spokesman Boulos Halim said. Easter, which along with Christmas is one of Christianity's most important events, marks what followers believe was the resurrection of Christ on the third day after his crucifixion. - 'Brokenness of humanity' - In Egypt, Copts break a 55-day fast, abstaining from all animal products, following Saturday's mass. "On usual occasions Holy Week is a week for reflection, for considering things that go wrong in the world, the presence of sin in the world and the brokenness of humanity," said Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain. "In a week like this it becomes especially pertinent because we see the direct effect of that sin," he told AFP by phone. Story continues Sunday's bombings, the deadliest on Copts in recent memory, were the latest in a series of attacks against the Christians who make up around 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people. In Sinai, where IS's Egypt affiliate is centred, jihadists killed seven Copts in January and February, forcing dozens of Christian families to flee the peninsula. Halim said the church will forego Sunday morning's traditional celebrations, and instead members will visit the families of "martyrs" as well as those wounded in the blasts, including police officers. "I don't think the churches are any emptier, in fact they might be fuller," said Bishop Angaelos. "But it just means people leave home knowing they are a target, but that doesn't stop them." One Copt who gave his name only as John said he will attend Easter mass despite the threat of attacks. He plans to go to a church in the relative safety of the capital, but admitted "if I were somewhere else outside of Cairo, like a village, I would not want my relatives to go and I would be worried about attending". Christians in a village south of Cairo were attacked by Muslims after they tried to pray in an abandoned home on Thursday, after which a mob set fire to four homes nearby, according to police officials. The village boasts several mosques, but Christians there have been prevented from building a church, Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told AFP. "There is a general climate where Copts are being persecuted and unfortunately the state just tries to stop violence from spreading, they don't solve the root cause of the problem." Political events in Nepal trigger palpable concerns in New Delhi New Delhi though has not officially spoken a word about Nepals local level elections scheduled for May 14, some concerns are palpable among politicians, government officials, Nepal watchers and media here, with most of them voicing for bringing the agitating Madhes-based parties on board for the successful conduct of the polls. Juba (AFP) - A surge of fighting in eastern South Sudan has forced 60 aid workers to flee, the UN humanitarian agency said Saturday, hurting efforts to help civilians in the famine-hit nation. An increase in violence nationwide has seen thousands flee in the past two weeks, including more than 16,000 from the second-largest city of Wau -- above 10 percent of its population. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA warned that helping the needy was growing ever more dangerous after three people involved in delivering food aid were brutally killed in Wau this week. "There are no words left to explain the level of frustration and outrage I feel regarding the continued attacks against humanitarians in South Sudan who are simply trying to help the civilians who are suffering as a result of this conflict," said OCHA coordinator Eugene Owusu in a statement. "Separately, 60 humanitarian workers have had to relocate from multiple locations in Jonglei yesterday and today -- including Waat and Walgak -- due to intensified conflict in the area." The outbreak of violence in the eastern Jonglei region comes after fierce clashes in southern Pajok and western Wau in the past two weeks. According to a tally of UN figures and deaths that witnesses reported to AFP, 101 people were killed in the two towns. The UN peacekeeping mission UNMISS, which has been blocked from accessing some conflict zones, said 13,500 people had fled to their base near Wau this week. More than 3,000 others were seeking refuge at a Catholic church compound. UNMISS said fighting had also broken out in the western town of Raga and in the north-eastern Upper Nile region. The special representative for the UN secretary general in South Sudan, Moustapha Soumare, on Saturday called for a halt to fighting, urging "all parties, to prove their commitment to peace". "They must show restraint and demonstrate their responsibility to ensure the sanctity of life of all South Sudanese citizens," he said in a statement. Story continues The three-year civil war in the world's youngest country has created a massive humanitarian crisis. Famine was declared in two regions in February, affecting 100,000 people. Up to five million need aid. While President Salva Kiir vowed that the government would ensure "unimpeded access to needy populations across the country", March alone saw 79 incidents of humanitarians being blocked from doing their work, according to OCHA. One aid worker told AFP that in 15 years experience he had never seen the situation as bad, yet predicted that the spiral would continue downward. "The country is sliding into the worst crisis. The worst times in terms of wanton violence, disease, corruption and total economic decline are sadly ahead of it," he said on condition of anonymity. South Sudan's leaders fought for decades for independence, but once they got it in 2011, a power struggle between Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar led to all out civil war in 2013. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A North Korean missile exploded during launch Sunday, U.S. and South Korean officials said, a high-profile failure that comes as a powerful U.S. aircraft supercarrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a show of force. It wasn't immediately clear what kind of missile was test-fired from the east coast city of Sinpo. But the failure will sting in Pyongyang because it comes a day after one of the biggest North Korean propaganda events of the year celebrations of the 105th birthday of late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather. The North's test firing can be seen as a message of defiance to the Trump administration in Washington, coming as it does on the day U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is set to arrive in Seoul for talks on North Korea. For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. President Donald Trump was uncharacteristically quiet about the failed launch. In a statement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump and his military team "are aware of North Korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch. The president has no further comment." Washington and Seoul will try hard to figure out what exactly North Korea fired. This matters because while North Korea regularly launches short-range missiles, it is also developing mid-range and long-range missiles meant to target U.S. troops in Asia and, eventually, the U.S. mainland. The ultimate goal is to have a full array of nuclear-tipped missiles in response to what Pyongyang says is hostility by Washington and Seoul meant to topple its government. North Korea is thought to have a small arsenal of atomic bombs and an impressive array of short- and medium-range missiles. Many outside analysts believe that North Korea has not yet mastered the technology to build warheads small enough to place on long-range missiles, though some civilian experts say North Korea can already build nuclear-tipped shorter range missiles that have South Korea and Japan within its striking range. Story continues The U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement that Sunday's missile exploded on launch. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was analyzing exactly how the North Korean launch failed. Neither military knew what kind of missile was fired. In Seoul, South Korea's presidential office convened a national security council meeting to examine security postures. Always high animosity has risen on the Korean Peninsula in recent months, as the United States and South Korea conduct annual war games that North Korea claims are invasion preparation and the North prepared for Saturday's anniversary celebrations. A U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, is heading to waters off Korea in a show of force. Analysts warn that even failed missile launches provide valuable knowledge to North Korea as it tries to build its weapons program. The country launched a long-range rocket and conducted two nuclear tests last year, including its most powerful to date. Aside from improving the technology, North Korean missile and nuclear tests are seen by outside analysts partly as efforts to bolster the domestic image of leader Kim Jong Un and apply political pressure on Seoul and Washington. Kim Jong Un has overseen three nuclear tests and a string of missile and rocket launches since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. Another missile test from Sinpo failed earlier this month, when the rocket spun out of control and plunged into the ocean. That launch came shortly before Trump's first meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. China is North Korea's only major ally. The extended-range Scud missile in that earlier launch suffered an in-flight failure and fell into the sea off North Korea's east coast, according to U.S. imagery and assessments. Despite Sunday's failure, the North's previous claim to have used "standardized" warheads has led to worries that it was making headway in its push to develop small and sophisticated warheads to be topped on long-range missiles. Washington sees North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as a threat to world security and to its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea. The United States, South Korea and other countries have vowed to apply more pressure on the North, but so far nothing has worked to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program. Six-nation negotiations on dismantling North Korea's nuclear program in exchange for aid fell apart in early 2009. Thanks to Fridays The Last Jedi panel at the Star Wars Celebration, galaxy far, far away fans are sure to be on the lookout for the character of Rose when Episode VIII hits theaters in December. Played by Kelly Marie Tran, the Resistance maintenance worker was described by director Rian Johnson as having a major role in the film. [She] has the biggest new part in the movie and ironically is played by the smallest actor, he said of Tran. Shes not a soldier. Shes not looking to be a hero, and she gets pulled in a very big way into an adventure in this movie with Finn [John Boyega]. Tran also appeared onstage at the event to chat about the role, revealing she had to keep her involvement in the franchise secret from everyone, including her family. They didnt know for four months, she said. I told them I was doing an indie movie in Canada. At one point, I actually got some maple syrup so I could bring it back to them so they actually thought I was in Canada. Tran has previously appeared in a series of CollegeHumor Originals, as well as NBCs sitcom adaptation of About a Boy. Watch the trailer for The Last Jedi above. This article was originally published on TIME.com A grey-haired woman in her early 60s daintily lifts small trays topped with different varieties of marijuana to her nose, sniffing each of them carefully. "Which one would you recommend for someone with medical issues?" she asks salesman Paul Monot, co-founder of the DrGreen shop in western Switzerland. Posters of bright green cannabis plants advertise its wares, which, like those sold openly in a growing number of shops across Switzerland, are completely legal. There is a catch however: They won't make you high. "There is no psychotropic effect of our weed," says Monot, at his store in Lausanne. On display are four varieties of legal cannabis boasting familiar names such as Skunk and Purple Haze, and an identical appearance and smell as their illegal counterparts. Since 2011, cannabis containing up to one percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -- the component that gets recreational users high -- can be sold and consumed legally in the wealthy Alpine country. That compares to a 0.2-percent limit in most European countries, which effectively blocks all sale of cannabis flowers since crossbreeding plants to consistently contain below that level of THC has so far proved impossible. Switzerland was eager to enable large-scale production of non-drug cannabis, especially to exploit another active component, cannabidiol (CBD), used in a range of products, from cosmetics to pet food, and increasingly valued for its potential health benefits. - Taxed liked tobacco - It has taken years for the low-potency cannabis business to develop and demand to grow, but recently shops like DrGreen have been booming. Monot and his partner launched in December and are already raking in sales of up to 100,000 Swiss francs ($99,500, 93,400 euros) a month. Swiss media have cited estimates that sales of legal cannabis are currently about 100 million Swiss francs annually. Trade really took off after health authorities in February ordered the low-THC cannabis be taxed like tobacco and carry similar health warnings, making it clear just how legal the product is. Story continues "For the past month or so, it has just been exploding,... and we're surfing the wave," Monot told AFP. Aziza, 37, said she only discovered a few weeks ago that legal cannabis was on sale in shops near her Geneva home. "I love this stuff," she said, adding she had become increasingly concerned about the rising THC-levels in the illegal product she liked to smoke. "With this stuff, I feel the same relaxation as before, but since there is no high, I can still get things done and play with my kids," she said. - 'Sort of oasis' - Monot buys the cannabis he sells in bulk from a producer in northern Switzerland, KannaSwiss, which has also seen an explosion in sales. "Switzerland has become sort of an oasis" for legal cannabis, said KannaSwiss co-founder Corso Serra di Cassano. KannaSwiss counts around 10,000 square metres (108,000 square feet) of outdoor growing space and plans to soon triple the 800 square metres it has indoors. "Demand in Europe is very big, and we're the only country at the moment that has laws that make this possible," Serra di Cassano said. Canada has just unveiled legislation to fully legalise recreational marijuana use, making it only the second country to do so, after Uruguay. For many, the Swiss offer seems too good to be true. "So this stuff is 100 percent legal?" asks a man in his 20s with several visible piercings and tattoos as he sniffs the DrGreen Skunk. "Can I smoke it on the street?" Monot says he spends much of his time advising customers how to use his products without getting into trouble. If police are suspicious, they can demand to test the cannabis in a laboratory for THC levels and hand the bill to the user if it is above one percent, along with a fine for illegal possession. Monot urges the man to smoke discreetly and suggests he hold onto his receipt, pointing out that as long as the seal on the plastic container is not broken, the product inside is guaranteed to be legal. - 'Calming' - The cannabis plants KannaSwiss and others specialise in are bred not only to have low THC levels but also high levels of CBD. CBD is considered anti-inflammatory and to have numerous potential therapeutic benefits, such as for panic attacks or as pain relief. "It really calms the nervous system, but without any psychoactive effects," Serra di Cassano said. Many people also buy the low-potency cannabis to help wean themselves off the illegal variety. Legal cannabis currently sells for between seven and 18 Swiss francs a gramme, on a par with the street price for the THC-loaded illegal marijuana. - 'Wild West' - KannaSwiss specialises in making CBD oil, also used for therapeutic and relaxation purposes, which sells for between 17 and 50 francs a gramme depending on its concentration. But while that business is booming, Serra di Cassano says the regulation of legalised cannabis is not yet tight enough. "It's a bit the Wild West," he said, worrying that without strict controls poor-quality and even health-hazardous weed could reach the market, or that dishonest sellers could mix illegal cannabis with KannaSwiss' product. "We would like to see (this business) continue for a long time," Serra di Cassano said. But he said he feared that "if people misbehave and don't treat it with respect, I don't think it will be around for very long." Bryan Mills (Clive Standen), Christina Hart (Jennifer Beals) and the rest of their team at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) are going to help an Israeli spy named Leah Wicker (Ayelet Zurer) in Season 1, episode 8 of NBCs Taken. According to the synopsis for the episode, the ODNI assists Leah when her own agency tries to kill her. Its unclear why exactly Leahs own agency is trying to eliminate her, but Bryan and Christina figure out that it may have something to do with her early onset Alzheimers diagnosis. They cant know. No one can, Leah tells Bryan and Christina of her illness in a sneak peek from the episode. READ: Is The Office returning to NBC? But when Christina suggests that Leahs agency may have already known about it from her doctor, the Israeli spy starts to understand why her agency is trying to get rid of her. If they know then they want to retire me, Leah says. With a bullet, adds Christina. With the things I know from all the years of intelligence work, now they cant take the risk of leaving me to [God], Leah realizes. And yeah, they want to do it here of all places now, and for it to look like an Iranian hit. Leah says she feels so alone. But Christina assures her she isnt. I was in car accident not long ago where I sustained a concussion, Christina shares. When I went to the doctor, she told me that I have a lump in my brain. So youre not alone. Okay? As viewers can remember, Christina underwent a brain scan in Season 1, episode 3 after she and Clara Ward (Claire Rankin) were attacked by William Davis in Season 1, episode 2. Her doctor said at the time that everything is fine except for a mass seen in her brain. Meanwhile, also in episode 8, Bryan and Asha (Brooklyn Sudano) have an argument due to his trust issues. In the preview clip for episode 8, it seems that Bryan suspects that Asha is spying on him. Its gone too far, Bryan. I dont feel safe here, Asha tells her boyfriend. Story continues Taken Season 1, episode 8 airs on Monday, April 17 at 10 p.m. EDT on NBC. Watch the sneak peek and preview clip below: Clive Standen as Bryan Mills Photo: Panagiotis Pantazidis/NBC Related Articles CHICAGO (AP) Thousands of chanting, sign-carrying protesters took to the streets in cities across the nation Saturday, demanding that President Donald Trump release his tax returns, so Americans can scrutinize his business ties and potential conflicts of interest. Violent clashes were the exception during the largely peaceful demonstrations, but in Berkeley, California, police arrested 13 people and confiscated knives and makeshift weapons after fistfights broke out between factions that support and oppose Trump. Trump was the first major-party nominee in more than 40 years not to release his tax returns, saying it was because he was under audit. He later said that voters don't care. But 71-year-old Ilene Singh said he's wrong. She rode a bus from New Jersey to New York City with her friend Geraldine Markowitz, 83, to take part in protests. "We're here to say we care," said Singh. Pushing her walker, Karin Arlin, 85, a Holocaust survivor who came to the U.S. from Germany when she was 9, said she's also worried about the direction of the country. "You don't know which way the country goes," said Arlin next to her 89-year-old husband who fled Czechoslovakia during World War II. "I hope Republicans see it." Actress and producer Justine Bateman, who addressed several thousand people at a rally in downtown Los Angeles, said Americans need "financial statement proof" that Trump is not beholden to any business interests or country other than the U.S. In Washington, D.C., one of Trump's sharpest critics in the House spoke to protesters at the U.S. Capitol just before they set off on a march to the National Mall. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, of California, said there's nothing to prevent Trump from releasing his income taxes and that "the simple truth is he's got a lot to hide." "If he thinks he can get away with playing king, he's got another thought coming," Waters said. Story continues The 13 arrests in Berkeley came Saturday after about 200 people gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park for separate rallies and pushing and fistfights began. Officers confiscated knives, flagpoles, helmets and sticks with signs on them, things that were being used as weapons. In Last Vegas, police said a broadcast photojournalist for KLAS-TV was arrested and cited for trespassing and obstructing during a protest at Trump International Hotel near the Strip. Event organizer Laura Martin says at least three others were detained but released. Authorities said the protest was attended by about 250 people. For four decades, presidents and major party nominees have released some of their tax returns, with the exception of Gerald Ford. Trump's break with precedent has raised questions about possible conflicts of interest. Protesters in Raleigh, North Carolina, said they suspect that Trump's returns might show he has paid little or nothing to the government he now heads, or that he was indebted to Russian, Chinese or other foreign interests. "His reputation ... as a businessman and, more importantly, as a true American, a person who is concerned with American values, would be totally destroyed if all his financial information was made public," said Mike Mannshardt, a retired teacher. Democrats are pushing for a vote on a bill from Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California, which would require the president and all major-party nominees to publicly disclose their previous three years of tax returns with the Office of Government Ethics or the Federal Election Commission. Republicans also have rebuffed Democrats' efforts to get the House Ways and Means Committee to act. It has legal authority to obtain confidential tax records, and could vote to make them public. Many demonstrators said they hoped Saturday's marches would convince Trump to voluntarily release them. "We do care. We want to see his taxes," said Ann Demerlis, who was among hundreds who marched in Philadelphia from City Hall to an area in front of historic Independence Hall, carrying signs and chanting "We want your taxes now!" Tuesday is the deadline for taxpayers to file returns. By Hamid Shalizi and Josh Smith KABUL (Reuters) - The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said on Friday the decision to deploy one of the largest conventional bombs ever unleashed in combat was a purely tactical decision made as part of the campaign against Islamic State-linked fighters. As many as 36 suspected Islamic State militants were killed in the strike on Thursday evening, Afghan defence officials said, adding there were no civilian casualties. The strike came as U.S. President Donald Trump dispatches his first high-level delegation to Kabul, amid uncertainty about his plans for the nearly 9,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan. Nicknamed "the mother of all bombs," the weapon was dropped from an MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar bordering Pakistan. Nicholson said he was in constant communication with officials in Washington, but the decision to use the 21,600-pound (9,797-kg) GBU-43 bomb was based on his assessment of military needs and not broader political considerations. "This was the first time that we encountered an extensive obstacle to our progress," he said of a joint Afghan-U.S. operation that has been targeting Islamic State since March. "It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield." Afghan and U.S. forces were at the scene of the strike and reported that the "weapon achieved its intended purpose,", Nicholson said. Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the massive blast that targeted a network of caves and tunnels that had been heavily mined. "No civilian has been hurt and only the base, which Daesh used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed," Waziri said in a statement. He was using an Arabic term that refers to Islamic State, which has established a small stronghold in eastern Afghanistan and launched deadly attacks on the capital, Kabul. The GBU-43 is a GPS-guided munition that had never before been used in combat since its first test in 2003, when it produced a mushroom cloud visible from 20 miles (32 km) away. The bomb's destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War Two, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT. At a village about 3 miles (5 km) from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, witnesses said the ground shook, but homes and shops appeared unaffected. "Last night's bomb was really huge, when it dropped, everywhere, it was shaking," said a resident, Palstar Khan, adding that he believed no civilians were in the area hit. He praised the strike, saying killing Islamic State fighters was a "positive move." Other residents said they saw militants climbing up and down the mountain every day, making occasional visits to the village. "They were Arabs, Pakistanis, Chinese and local insurgents coming to buy from shops in the bazaar," said resident Raz Mohammad. 'TESTING GROUND' On Friday, the village was swarming with Afghan and international troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said in a statement the attack was a part of a joint operation by Afghan and international troops. "Afghan and foreign troops closely coordinated this operation and were extra cautious to avoid any civilian casualties," it said. But former president Hamid Karzai condemned the use of the weapon on Afghan soil. "This is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons," he said on social media network Twitter. The Taliban also denounced the bombing. "Using this massive bomb cannot be justified and will leave a material and psychological impact on our people," the Taliban, who compete with Islamic State in Afghanistan, said in a statement. American officials said the bomb had been positioned for possible use in Afghanistan for "some time" since the administration of former president Barack Obama. The United States has steadily intensified its air campaign against Islamic State and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, with the Air Force deploying nearly 500 weapons in the first three months of 2017, up from 300 in the corresponding 2016 period. Thursday's strike was not the first time Islamic State fighters have been targeted by heavy American bombardment in Nangarhar, where a U.S. special forces soldier was killed battling militants a week ago. Last year, B-52 bombers operating out of Qatar flew at least two missions in Afghanistan for the first time since 2006. Such aircraft can carry as much as 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg)of bombs, missiles, or other weapons on each mission. In March, U.S. forces conducted 79 "counterterror strikes" against Islamic State in Nangarhar, killing as many as 200 militants, according to the U.S. military command in Kabul. U.S. military officials estimate there are about 600 to 800 Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar, but also in the neighbouring province of Kunar. The United Nations has raised concerns that the American air campaign is swelling civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Last year, air strikes by international forces caused at least 127 civilian deaths and 108 injuries, up from 103 deaths and 67 injuries in 2015, the United Nations said. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) SEOUL, South Korea (AP) A North Korean missile exploded during launch Sunday, U.S. and South Korean officials said, a high-profile failure that comes as a powerful U.S. aircraft supercarrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a show of force. It wasn't immediately clear what kind of missile was test-fired from the east coast city of Sinpo. But the failure will sting in Pyongyang because it comes a day after one of the biggest North Korean propaganda events of the year celebrations of the 105th birthday of late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather. The North's test firing can be seen as a message of defiance to the Trump administration in Washington, coming as it does on the day U.S. President Donald Trump was uncharacteristically quiet about the failed launch of a North Korean missile from the country's east coast. In a statement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says Trump and his military team "are aware of North Korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch. The president has no further comment." Trump has been leaning on China to put pressure on North Korea, but has also threatened to take on the country alone if necessary. "I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will!" he tweeted Thursday. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles in a massive military display in central Pyongyang on Saturday, with ruler Kim Jong Un looking on with delight as his nation flaunted its increasingly sophisticated military hardware amid rising regional tensions. Kim did not speak during the annual parade, which celebrates the 1912 birthday of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founding ruler, but a top official warned that the North would stand up to any threat posed by the United States. Choe Ryong Hae said President Donald Trump was guilty of "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching U.S. Story continues PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un didn't speak to the thousands of soldiers and civilians gathered at a massive parade honoring his late grandfather on Saturday, but his expanding array of ballistic missiles made an emphatic statement. The military hardware displayed at Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, named after Kim's grandfather and North Korea's late founder, included intercontinental ballistic missiles that could one day be capable of reaching targets as far away as the continental United States, and solid-fuel missiles that could be fired from land and submarines. The festivities took place amid concerns that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major rocket launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM. Japan's foreign minister says his country needs to remain on alert over North Korea even after this weekend's celebrations. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida made the comment to reporters Saturday just as a massive parade started in North Korea marking the 105th birthday of the country's late founder, Kim Il Sung. Kishida noted that more events are expected in North Korea later in April, and said "there is a possibility that the country may take action on those occasions." North Korea has another big military holiday on April 25, when its army marks its anniversary. Kishida said that Japan needs "to be fully prepared to take various measures." He did not elaborate. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) While the world watched the latest round of saber-rattling between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea staged a massive rally and military parade Saturday to mark the 105th anniversary of its national founder, Kim Il Sung. There weren't any nuclear tests or ballistic missile launches to mark the day. But concerns the rising tensions could lead to a real conflict were on the minds of many Koreans on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. The Associated Press talked to residents in Pyongyang and Seoul to get a feel for how the people at the center of the storm see the situation. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is embarking on a 10-day, four nation tour of the Asia-Pacific this weekend, arriving in South Korea amid tensions over North Korea's aggressive flaunting of its nuclear and missile program. Pence will visit South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Australia during his trip, meeting with leaders in the region, military troops and business groups. It will be Pence's second foreign trip as vice president he traveled to Germany and Belgium in February to meet with NATO and European Union officials. Five things to know about President Donald Trump's No. 2 at the start of his visit. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) President Donald Trump's tweets are adding fuel to a "vicious cycle" of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's vice foreign minister told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Friday. The official added that if the U.S. shows any sign of "reckless" military aggression, Pyongyang is ready to launch a pre-emptive strike of its own. Vice Minister Han Song Ryol said Pyongyang has determined the Trump administration is "more vicious and more aggressive" than that of Barack Obama. He added that North Korea will keep building up its nuclear arsenal in "quality and quantity" and said Pyongyang is ready to go to war if that's what Trump wants. BEIJING (AP) There can be no winners in a war between the U.S. and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, while pledging support for dialogue between the sides. Wang's comments Friday mark the latest attempt to cool tensions by North Korea's most important ally and key provider of food and fuel aid. Any fighting on the Korean Peninsula is likely to draw in China, which has repeatedly expressed concerns about a wave of refugees and the possible presence of U.S. and South Korean troops on its border. China also has grown increasingly frustrated with the refusal of Kim Jong Un's regime to heed its admonitions, and in February cut off imports of North Korean coal that provide Pyongyang with a crucial source of foreign currency. WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump has called North Korea a "problem" country and said it will be dealt with through a broad set of options, though they're vague for now. It may be up to his vice president, Mike Pence, to fill in the details during a visit to Asia. His travels to the region, including stops in South Korea and Japan beginning Sunday, come amid indications that North Korea is potentially preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade or a significant missile launch, such as its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Hours before Pence left, North Korea showed off its ICBMs in a military display at the annual parade in the capital that celebrates the birthday of the North's founding ruler, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. Transparency advocates are protesting the White Houses decision against releasing visitor logs for the White House complex. In a letter to White House Counsel Don McGahn, representatives from seven groups stated their opposition to the Trump Administrations reversal of an Obama-era policy of releasing the names of most of those who enter the White House complex, calling it deeply troubling and calling for the decision to be reversed immediately. Transparency is a core principle of American government, the letter states. As one of the first proponents of the Freedom of Information Act said over fifty years ago, We must remove every barrier to information about and understanding of Government activities consistent with our security if the American public is to be adequately equipped to fulfill the ever more demanding role of responsible citizenship. Or as Abraham Lincoln put it more succinctly, Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe.' White House communications director Michael Dubke said the decision to reverse the Obama-era policy was due to the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. The signatories to the letter, which was drafted by the group American Oversight-founded last month by former Obama administration staffers and Democratic operatives,-include the American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Every Voice, Public Citizen, the Sunlight Foundation and United to Protect Democracy. The full text of the letter is below: Todays announcement that the Trump administration will not release White House visitor logs is deeply troubling and strikes a blow against transparency. The White House should reverse the decision immediately.As you know, after significant public and legal pressure, the administration of former President Barack Obama agreed to release regularly information regarding visitors to the White House. With limited exceptions, every month, the administration released the names of individuals who had visited the White House over the preceding ninety days.The stated rationale for President Trumps decision to reverse this policy-that releasing logs implicates grave national security risks and privacy concerns-is rebutted by experience: the Obama administrations policy included exceptions to protect national security and privacy.[1] Stripped of pretext, the Trump administrations decision to withhold the logs from the public reveals a concerning aversion to transparency and accountability.Transparency is a core principle of American government. As one of the first proponents of the Freedom of Information Act said over fifty years ago, We must remove every barrier to information about and understanding of Government activities consistent with our security if the American public is to be adequately equipped to fulfill the ever more demanding role of responsible citizenship.[2] Or as Abraham Lincoln put it more succinctly, Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe.President Trump has the opportunity to add to this important legacy. In his inaugural speech, he said, What truly matters is not which party controls our government but whether our government is controlled by the people. Todays decision to withhold visitor logs reduces the presidents statement to mere campaign rhetoric. By choosing secrecy over transparency, President Trump raises a fundamental question: how can Americans control the government if the president deliberately withholds information that our national understanding of how the peoples business is conducted?Sincerely,[Signatories] This article was originally published on TIME.com During the most harrowing moments of Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibsons new drama about the first conscientious objector to win a congressional medal of honor, Andrew Garfields Private First Class Desmond Doss seeks the aid of a higher power: Lord, please help me get one more. Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist who refused to bear arms but enlisted as a medic in the U.S. army, is on the battlefield on Okinawa in the spring of 1945. Armed with nothing but a bible, hes carrying his wounded comrades to safety, one by one, through enemy fire, repeatedly beseeching God to help me get one more. The words that emerge from Garfields mouth are, in fact, the same words the real Doss uttered on the Japanese island more than 70 years ago-and, indeed, much of the plot is faithfully drawn from Doss life. (He died at 87 in 2006.) Screenwriter Robert Schenkkan, who wrote the first draft (co-writers include Randall Wallace and Andrew Knight), based the story on military records and footage of interviews with Doss, though finding ample material proved challenging because his subjects modesty made him averse to the limelight. The number of lives Doss risked his own to save is under debate-he estimated it at 50, the military insisted it was closer to 100, so they settled on 75-but Gibsons movie doesnt concern itself with those details. Instead, it focuses on the upbringing that shaped Doss convictions and the gruesome battle that compelled him to put them in action. The result is not for the faint of heart-one reviewer called the movies close-ups of spilled-out entrails and flesh-eating rats sadistic, outlandish savagery-and its depiction of World War II may be the hardest to shake from memory since Saving Private Ryan nearly two decades ago. Heres where Hacksaw Ridge, out Nov. 4, stays true to Doss story and where it takes some liberties. Warning: some spoilers follow. Mostly Fact: Doss vow to practice nonviolence was inspired by an illustrated Ten Commandments hanging in his childhood home and a violent fight between his parents. Doss grew up in Lynchburg, Va., the middle child of William Doss, a carpenter, and Bertha Doss. From a young age, he was captivated by a framed poster of the Ten Commandments, and in particular the illustration that accompanied the Sixth Commandment: a drawing of Cain killing his brother Abel. Though his father, a World War I veteran, was often drunk and depressed, his mother was a woman of strong faith who regularly took her children to church. A scene in the movie in which Desmond takes a gun from his father during a fight between his parents is a variation on a similar event in Doss life. In reality, it was a fight between Doss father and uncle that prompted the boy to vow never to touch a gun again. Story continues Fact: Doss could have deferred his military service but felt a moral obligation to join up. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Doss was working at a shipyard in Newport News, a position which made him eligible for deferment. Though taking it might have been an easier means of staying true to his convictions, Doss felt a moral obligation to serve, especially because the fight was not just for freedom but for religious liberty. He figured that as a medic, he could, as he put it, be like Christ: saving life instead of taking life. He also believed serving as a medic would prevent him from having to break the Fourth Commandment (to honor the Sabbath, observed by Seventh-Day Adventists on Saturdays) because, as he argued, Christ healed on the Sabbath. Partly Fiction: Doss met his future wife, a nurse named Dorothy Schutte, while donating blood for an accident victim at a nearby hospital. Doss did fall for a nurse named Dorothy Schutte, and he did walk several miles from his home to the hospital to donate blood after hearing a call for volunteers on the radio, but the events are fictitiously merged in the film. Doss and his future wife actually met at church in Lynchburg, and the two were married in August of 1942. They would remain married until her death in 1991, raising one son, Desmond, Jr.. Doss would later marry Frances Duman, with whom he remained until his death. Fact: While in training, Doss became a target of both his comrades and military superiors, who saw him as a liability. Doss viewed himself not as a conscientious objector, but a conscientious cooperator. Unlike objectors, he was eager to wear the uniform, salute the American flag and serve his country. But when he arrived for basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., he quickly became alienated from his fellow soldiers, and his small stature and soft-spoken demeanor didnt do him any favors. As in the film, he took both physical abuse and attempts, made by his superiors, to have him discharged from the military on the grounds of mental instability. Fellow soldiers resented him for getting out of duties for the Sabbath and felt they couldnt trust him to protect them on the battlefield. Fact: Doss went on to save between 50 and 100 of his comrades during the Battle of Okinawa. Doss went overseas with the 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division, in the summer of 1944. He served as a medic on Guam and in the Philippines, which the movie doesnt depict, prior to the Battle of Okinawa. During that battle, as in the film, he ran through enemy fire to bring his wounded comrades to safety. Doing so without cover was a particular risk for Doss, as Japanese soldiers targeted medics above other soldiers. Doss used a special double bowline knot which he had accidentally discovered during training in order to lower the soldiers from atop the ridge on which they were fighting. He served for two more weeks before being wounded by shrapnel from a grenade. He continued to treat other soldiers, despite his injuries, until his arm was broken by Japanese fire. Fact: Doss became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. On Oct. 12, 1945, President Harry S. Truman presented Doss with the Medal of Honor. Doss later recalled that Truman shook his hand like an old friend. He stated that he owed his life to God, who he believed saved him on numerous occasions so that he might perform the duties he did during battle. He would spend more than five years after the war being treated for his wounds, losing a lung to tuberculosis. Because of his injuries, he was never able to work full-time, and he devoted the rest of his life to working with his church. Watch it now This article was originally published on TIME.com Ring road clean-up campaign begins from today A Ring road clean-up campaign has been launched along the ring road as part of the Bagmati Clean-up Campaign from today. Tunis (AFP) - The Tunisian branch of the radical Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, which calls for Islamic law and wants to unify Muslims into a caliphate, said Saturday it was time to "bury" democracy. "Democracy no longer attracts anyone," the movement's politburo chief Abderraouf Amri told its annual conference. "It is time to announce its death and work to bury it." Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in several countries and Tunisian authorities regularly accuse it of "disturbing public order". Hundreds of party members took part in the congress near Tunis, praising "the caliphate, saviour of humanity" and denouncing "persecution" by the democratic system. It said it was the victim of "attempts to prohibit and hinder" its activities. Mehdi Ben Gharbia, a minister overseeing relations with civil society, said he had filed a request earlier this month for a one-month suspension of the group's activities over its "attacks against Tunisia's republican system". Tunisia's government in September asked a military court to outlaw the movement, created in the 1980s but only legalised in 2012 following the overthrow the previous year of longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Interior Minister Hedi Majdoub has called the group "a party that does not recognise the civilian character of the state". Hizb ut-Tahrir's 2016 Tunisian conference was banned for "security reasons". Tunisia has been in a state of emergency since a deadly 2015 jihadist attack against presidential guards. ISTANBUL (AP) Turkey's state-run news agency says the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into 17 U.S.-based individuals, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and ex-CIA director John Brennan, for their alleged links to cleric Fethullah Gulen. Anadolu Agency says Saturday the probe was launched after a group of Turkish lawyers filed a criminal complaint. It said the prosecutor's office would investigate their links to Gulen's movement, in a step that could lead to charges of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and membership in a terror organization. Turkey accuses Gulen, who is based in Pennsylvania, of orchestrating last summer's failed coup and has designated his movement as a terror organization. Gulen denies involvement. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's top politicians made a final effort on Saturday to sway undecided voters in a frenetic end to campaigning a day ahead of the closely-contested referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers. With election rules banning all campaigning after 1500 GMT, both the 'Yes' and 'No' camps squeezed in a flurry of rallies as the clock ticked down to Sunday's landmark poll. Analysts see the poll as a historic choice on the direction of the NATO member which will shape its future political system and determine relations with the West. If passed, the new presidential system will implement the most radical political shake-up in Turkey's recent history, dispensing with the office of the prime minister and centralising the entire executive bureaucracy under the presidency. "Turkey will tomorrow make one of the most important decisions in its history," said Erdogan as he wrapped up an exhausting nationwide campaign with a rally in the Istanbul district of Sariyer. Confidently predicting victory, he declared: "The polls look really good." But he urged people not to succumb to "lethargy" in voting, saying "the stronger result the better". "A 'Yes' that emerges from the ballot box with the highest margin will be a lesson to the West," added the president, who has frequently railed against the European Union in the campaign. - 'Last messages' - Erdogan, who has dominated the airwaves in recent weeks with multiple daily rallies and interviews, gave no less than four rallies in Istanbul districts. The standard-bearer of the 'No' camp, Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, warned at a meeting in the Ankara region that Turkey was deciding if "we want to continue with the democratic parliamentary system or one-man rule". He described the new system as "a bus with no brakes and whose destination is unknown." Story continues The opposition has cried foul that the referendum has been conducted on unfair terms, with 'Yes' posters ubiquitous on the streets and opposition voices squeezed from the media. The two co-leaders of the second opposition party the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, have been jailed on charges of backing Kurdish militants in what supporters say was a deliberate move to eliminate them from the campaign. The poll is also taking place under a state of emergency that has seen 47,000 arrested in an unprecedented crackdown after the July 15 failed coup. "The last messages," headlined the Hurriyet daily. "With one day remaining to the historic referendum the leaders are making the final calls to influence undecided voters." Despite the clear advantages enjoyed by the 'Yes' campaign, opinion polls have predicted drastically different outcomes and analysts are expecting a close result. - Security an issue - The campaign has not been plain sailing for Erdogan, and some heavyweight figures within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been conspicuously silent on the new system. Former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke before Erdogan at a 'Yes' rally in the Anatolian city of Konya on Friday but, to the amusement of opposition commentators, failed once to endorse the presidential system. The 'Yes' campaign also hit a last-minute hitch when the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the AKP's partner in promoting the changes, reacted angrily to comments by a presidential adviser suggesting a federal system could be imposed in Turkey. Such a system is an anathema to nationalists who believe in the indivisible unity of Turkey and particularly fear the creation of any Kurdish region in the southeast. Erdogan moved rapidly to say that no such plan was on the agenda and MHP leader Devlet Bahceli said the issue was now closed. Turkish media said all AKP advisers and ministers had been told to cancel TV interviews scheduled for the last hours of the campaign to prevent further slip-ups. After a slew of attacks over the last year blamed on Kurdish militants and jihadists, security is set to be a major issue on polling day. Authorities in Istanbul on Friday detained five people suspected of planning an attack on polling day, following the arrest of 19 alleged Islamist extremists in the Aegean city of Izmir earlier in the week. The Dogan news agency said a total of 49 IS suspects had been detained in Istanbul alone over the last week. More than 33,500 police officers will be on duty in Istanbul alone on referendum day, according to Turkish media. A few weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that American strategic patience with North Korea is ending, a U.S. naval fleet is moving toward that country, prompting Chinese authorities to caution against further provocation between the two nations. As experts advise that North Korea seems ready to launch a new nuclear test, plans have been laid for a potentially large conventional strike by the U.S. against North Korean test sites and facilities, to be executed if North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test. Were President Trump to authorize such a move, it would represent the first time in the history of the world that any nation had launched a formal military attack on the territory of a declared nuclear state. It is perhaps no coincidence that this step is under consideration now that there is no one with any influence in government who would remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an adult. Yet it behooves us to revisit another instance in which the U.S. government flirted with a nuclear confrontation with another nuclear power - one that would have taken place, as it happens, in the same territory, Korea, in 1953. In 1953 the Eisenhower Administration - like the Trump Administration - took power in the midst of a long, frustrating, indecisive conflict. The Korean War had been stalemated for nearly two years, and President Eisenhower had promised to end it during the campaign and traveled to Korea before his inauguration. Upon taking office he ordered his administration to consider what would be necessary to go on the offensive in Korea again and re-occupy North Korea, as General MacArthur had done in late 1950, before Chinese intervention on the other side forced the U.S. and its allies to retreat to the South. Planners found that such an offensive would require a big new build-up of ground troops, and also suggested that the United States might want to use atomic weapons as part of the new drive north as well, even though the North Koreans Soviet ally already possessed a nuclear capability. Story continues Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Leading civilians and military leaders discussed the possible use of atomic weapons in a meeting on March 27, 1953. Hardened not only by nearly three years of war in Korea but by the Second World War before that, these officials got to the heart of the matter in ways that we can only hope their counterparts today might emulate. General Lawton Collins, the Chief of Staff of the Army, asked the first critical question: would the weapons be effective on the battlefield? The Communists, he said, are dug into positions in depth over a front of 150 miles, and they are very thoroughly dug in. Our tests last week proved that men can be very close to the explosion and not be hurt if they are well dug in. The parallel question today would ask whether American weapons - including the so-called Mother of All Bombs, which the U.S. has just used in Afghanistan - would in fact be able to disable underground North Korean nuclear facilities, and whether the U.S. really can locate all key North Korean nuclear installations. Paul Nitze of the State Department, who for at least four decades insisted that strategic nuclear superiority was essential for the United States, raised closely related questions. The United States was now relying on atomic weapons to defend allies around the world, and if they did not work in Korea, allies might lose confidence in the U.S. We also had to ask, he said, whether the USSR [which had exploded an atomic bomb nearly four years earlier]. . .might not decide to retaliate in kind. Today the critically affected allies are the South Koreans and Japanese, and so far we have heard little or nothing about how they feel about this possible act of war on North Korea. Yet the most interesting exchange was still to come. General Hoyt Vandenberg was Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the new service that was already pushing the idea that an atomic strike force could solve any national-security problems that the U.S. might face. I hope that if we do use them, he said, we use them in Manchuria against the [Chinese] bases. They would be effective there. General Collins immediately raised a critical question in response - the question of retaliation. Before we use them we had better look to our air defense, he said. Right now we present ideal targets for atomic weapons in Pusan and Inchon [the two major ports and U.S. base areas in South Korea]. An atomic weapon in Pusan harbor could do serious damage to our military position in Korea. We would again present an ideal target if we should undertake a major amphibious operation. An amphibious landing fleet would be a perfect target for an atomic weapon at the time when it was putting the troops ashore. On the other hand, the Commies, scattered over 150 miles of front, and well dug in, dont present nearly as profitable a target to us as we do to them. Read more: How North Koreas Nuclear History Began Samuel Johnson once wrote that when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. Faced with a possible escalation to nuclear warfare, General Collins had grasped what remains the essential point about nuclear weapons: the only really important thing is not to have one dropped on ones self. Today the United States is not directly threatened by North Korea nuclear weapons - but Japan may be, and South Korea surely is. A nuclear detonation in either nation would be a catastrophe of untold proportions, not least because the 72-year-old taboo against the use of nuclear weapons would be lifted. The relatively stable international order that our parents and grandparents left to us would be gone forever. As it turned out, things took a turn for the better in Korea in the spring of 1953. The death of Joseph Stalin in that same month of March led to a breakthrough in the peace talks, which had been stalled over the issue of the return of prisoners of war, and to the armistice that remains in force today. The U.S. lived with the nuclear-armed Soviet Union for another 36 years, until Communism collapsed. Things might have gone very differently had the United States normalized the use of atomic weapons by using them in Korea in 1953. A strike against North Koreas nuclear capabilities would reflect the policy adopted by the George W. Bush Administration in 2002: that the U.S. will make war on any nation seeking weapons that we do not think they should have. North Korea, however, seems already to have developed usable weapons, and the North Korean government has stated its willingness to use them. Let us hope that senior Washington officials examine the situation with the same prudence that they did 64 years ago. Our childrens world may be at stake. Historians explain how the past informs the present David Kaiser, a historian, has taught at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Williams College, and the Naval War College. He is the author of seven books, including, most recently, No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War. He lives in Watertown, Mass. This article was originally published on TIME.com Uber will eliminate its use of UberRush for restaurants as a logistics and courier delivery service, Quartz reported Friday. The lesser-known Uber delivery service allowed restaurants and some other businesses to power their own deliveries. But as the popularity of UberEats, which allowed customers to order food directly through Uber grew, drivers who could have been picking up passengers were busy transporting meals through UberRush and UberEats. That led to surge pricing for UberX the actual service Uber customers depend on most. SEE ALSO: Uber's self-driving cars have trouble going a mile without human intervention, leaks show We got into a situation where dinner rush would mean a lot of people were taking food deliveries, but then they werent driving for UberX, so it was causing surge pricing, an Uber employee told Quartz. We were attacking our own business. UberRush's availability to restaurants will end May 8, according to emails obtained by Quartz sent from Uber to businesses who used UberRush. Instead, some businesses besides restaurants will be able to use a new version of UberRush not meant for prepared foods. We built UberEATS to specifically meet the needs and support the growth of our individual restaurant partners," Uber said in a statement. "Moving forward, we will focus UberRUSH on powering backend delivery logistics for merchants and enterprises such as grocery stores and florists. Is this the first piece of Uber news in months that's not totally horrifying? Maybe. Bye, original UberRush. WATCH: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' teaser trailer is finally here United Airlines pilots are now blasting the way Dr. David Dao was treated as he was violently removed from a flight Sunday after refusing to give up his seat. Read: Daughter of United Victim Sounds Off on Airline as His Horrific Injuries Are Revealed "United pilots are infuriated by this event," the pilots union says. "This should not have escalated into a violent encounter." The union slams what it calls a "grossly inappropriate response by the Chicago Department of Aviation." Dao was knocked unconscious and dragged off a United plane after refusing to give up his seat on Sunday for an employee of the airline. Dao, a 69-year-old Kentucky physician suffered a significant concussion, a broken nose, damaged sinuses, and had two teeth knocked out as he was forcefully removed from the flight. Dr. Dao refused to leave the Louisville-bound flight that was departing from Chicago, saying he was a doctor and had patients to see Monday morning. Read: Passenger Dragged Off United Plane Identified; CEO 'Emphatically' Stands Behind Employees After he was dragged off the plane, he somehow wound up back on the aircraft, shouting, I want to go home" as blood poured from his mouth and streaked across his face. Every passenger was ordered off so they could clean up the plane. The aircraft eventually departed. The CEO of United Airlines, Oscar Munoz, has since apologized for the incident. Watch: Did United Airlines CEO Get Preferential Treatment When He Received Heart Transplant? Related Articles: When they had passenger David Dao forcibly removed from an internal flight in the US, staff at United Airlines apparently forgot two golden rules of marketing. 1. Dont let your customers get hurt Dao was asked to disembark when United discovered that the flight was overbooked. He refused, saying he needed to get to his destination in order to work. An argument ensued, and airline staff sent for security guards. A video clip posted by a fellow passenger on social media appears to show Dao being dragged out of the plane, his face streaked with blood. Oscar Munoz, chief executive of United Airlines, issued a brief apology. He said: This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United, I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. But in a private email to staff promptly leaked to the media Munoz was more defensive. It said: As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. It added that he had been disruptive and belligerent and that staff had followed established procedures. Munoz commended staff for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right. On April 11, however, he issued a wider ranging apology. 2. When you apologize to a customer, sound like you mean it Airlines have, quite rightly, the authority to ask passengers to leave an aircraft if they are genuinely disruptive or are considered a threat to safety. That is as it should be. But with power comes responsibility. Airline staff should be trained to use their discretion, and to know the difference between obstructive belligerence and a genuine complaint. Sadly, not all are. I was once threatened with removal from a budget airline flight in the UK when I made a quite mild comment about the chaotic boarding arrangements. A member of airline staff shouted at me and told me to Fuck off back to America (I am, in fact, Canadian). Im still waiting for an apology. Story continues These incidents should not happen, ever. Businesses live and die on the backs of their reputation with customers. Their brand value is built on the quality of service they deliver and the stories people tell about them. The stories people are telling now about United are largely negative. The apology eventually issued by CEO Munoz appeared heartfelt and genuine, but it was too late. The damage, across social media and in the press, has been done. For the next little while, at least, anyone choosing an airline in the US and seeing Uniteds name will be reminded of the man with the bloody face and that ghastly word reaccommodated. The buck in this case stops directly with Munoz. In any organisation, the tone is set at the top. His remarks to his staff suggest that United has a culture where the needs of staff are prioritized over the needs of paying customers. In this case, Dao and his fellow passengers were reaccommodated to make way for four members of airline staff. That must end. Munoz needs to concentrate on building a culture that puts customers first and makes quality of service a key business objective. Reward systems, bonuses and performance reviews all need to start reflecting this. Service standards need to be introduced, and adhered to strictly. In this respect, United should learn from rival Delta, which was once one of the best-known airlines in America, highly profitable and popular with customers. Then the culture at Delta changed, and customer service suffered. Customers switched to other airlines and Delta went bankrupt. Now, Delta is thriving again, in large part due to its focus on keeping both staff and customers happy. Will the same thing happen to United? The damage could be serious, especially if there is another similar incident in the future. In the age of smartphones and social media, any misstep gets blown up and broadcast across the world. Yet it is also highly possible that United will get away with it. Standards of service across the US airline industry are already low, and it probably wont be long before another scandal at another airline is splashed across social media, and the headlines. Morgen Witzel, Fellow of the Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. conversation logo Photo: The Conversation The Conversation Related Articles Los Angeles (AFP) - A US judge heard arguments from lawyers representing two so-called sanctuary cities that are challenging President Donald Trump's executive order stripping such jurisdictions of federal funds. The outcome of the high-profile case in US District Court in San Francisco could impact more than 300 cities and counties across the United States that have denounced as unconstitutional Trump's order to withhold funds from cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents. The federal judge in the case, William Orrick, said he would issue his decision "as soon as I can" after he heard arguments from lawyers representing San Francisco and Santa Clara County. Both jurisdictions have sued the administration and are seeking an injunction against Trump's order which calls for money to be taken away from local governments that refuse to share information with federal authorities about undocumented immigrants. The case bears similarities to the court challenges faced by the Trump administration over its two travel bans targeting Muslim-majority countries. Santa Clara officials say the county stands to lose nearly $1.7 billion in federal funds because of the executive order aimed at sanctuary jurisdictions. San Francisco receives up to $2 billion a year in federal funding. Lawyers for the Trump administration told the judge on Friday that neither jurisdiction was at immediate risk of losing the federal funding, adding that the order was simply aimed at coercing them to comply with immigration laws. - 'Don't mess with us' - "Theres been no action threatened or taken against the cities," acting assistant attorney general Chad Readler told the judge. He said Trump's order was "narrow" and would affect a limited number of grants from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security. However attorneys representing Santa Clara and San Francisco in their landmark lawsuits urged Orrick to block the order nationwide on grounds it is unconstitutional. Story continues They also said the judge in making his decision should take into account comments made by Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions against sanctuary jurisdictions. Dave Cortese, president of the Board of Supervisors for Santa Clara County, told AFP that it was clear Trump's order was "hastily" put together and was unlikely to stand up in court. "He (Trump) has got two choices -- he can just continue to be a bull in a china shop and continue to put forward executive orders and other initiatives that don't pass constitutional muster and that are refuted by the courts or he can get better advice and be more thoughtful in what he's doing," Cortese said. He added that local governments across the country would dig in their heels should the administration push forward with any decisions that adversely affect them. "The message we are trying to send to them is -- and I hope he gets this -- we have a very large governmental operation here... and we have some of the best attorneys in the country," Cortese said. "Don't mess with us unless you've got the legal standing to do so because you're gonna have a fight on your hands. "They need to know in the West Wing of the White House that we have the capability of defending ourselves." CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) A tiny, ice-encrusted ocean world orbiting Saturn is now a hotter-than-ever candidate for potential life. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected hydrogen molecules in the geysers shooting off the moon Enceladus, possibly the result of deep-sea chemical reactions between water and rock that could spark microbial life, scientists announced Thursday. NASA and others are quick to point out this latest discovery does not mean there's life on Enceladus (ehn-SEHL'-uh-duhs), but that there may be conditions favorable for life. A liquid ocean exists beneath the icy surface of Enceladus, which is barely 300 miles (500 kilometers) across. Scientists have long known about the plumes of water vapor spewing from cracks at the moon's south pole, thanks to Cassini . The heavy presence of hydrogen suggests chemical reactions between the warm water and ocean-floor rock that could support life. Cassini uncovered the hydrogen during its final close flyby of Enceladus in 2015, when it dove deeper than ever through its plumes of vapor and particles. The researchers reported that the hydrogen, along with carbon dioxide that was also found, could mean that undersea microbes are producing methane as they do in the bowels of our own oceans and waterways. "It really represents a capstone finding for the mission," said Cassini's project scientist, Linda Spilker, noting that the spacecraft has been circling Saturn for more than a decade. "We now know that Enceladus has almost all of the ingredients that you would need to support life as we know it on Earth," she said at a NASA news conference. A press conference viewer, asking questions of the scientists via Twitter, asked if NASA was talking about bacteria or algae or giant squids. "Most of us would be excited with any life," said Mary Voytek, an astrobiology senior scientist for NASA. "We're going to start with bacteria and, if we get lucky, maybe there's something that's larger." The findings were reported Thursday in the journal Science by a team from Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Launched in 1997 and now finally running low on fuel, Cassini is drawing ever closer to its demise. The spacecraft will duck through the gap between Saturn and its rings 22 times before spiraling out of control and vaporizing in the sky above Saturn this September. Cassini has no instruments that can detect life, so it will be up to future robotic visitors to seek out possible life on Enceladus, the scientists said. Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter also believed to have a subsurface ocean, may have water vapor jets spewing into space as well, similar to Enceladus. The Hubble Space Telescope has observed what looks to be plumes emanating from Europa. A spacecraft under development called the Europa Clipper, to launch sometime in the 2020s, could shed more light on the matter. Voytek said her money is still on Europa for potential life, versus Enceladus, since Europa is much older and any potential life there has had more time to emerge. While questions remain, Thursday's news represents "an important advance in assessing the habitability of Enceladus," Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Jeffrey Seewald wrote in a companion article. "We still have a long way to go in our understanding," said Seewald, who was not involved in the study. "Future missions to explore oceans beyond Earth will answer many of these questions." ___ Online: Ruling parties for single-phase polls Top leaders of the three ruling parties have agreed to hold local elections in single phase on May 14 even if the agitating Madhes-based parties refuse to participate. Negotiations, however, will continue, they said. Aboard Air Force Two (United States) (AFP) - Vice President Mike Pence will arrive in Seoul Sunday, flying into a geopolitical maelstrom amid a possible North Korean nuclear test and harsh US warnings about a military response. Pence's first visit to South Korea -- part of an Asia swing that also includes stops in Japan, Indonesia and Australia -- was conceived months ago, but could hardly come at a time of higher tension. In the last week, geo-spatial imaging showed North Korea possibly preparing a nuclear test, to coincide with the 105th anniversary of the birth of founder Kim Il-Sung. US President Donald Trump has warned that North Korea will be dealt with and officials have confirmed that military action is being considered, although has not been approved. That issue will be top of the agenda when Pence begins talks with South Korea's interim Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn on Monday, and in Tokyo during talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Both Japan and South Korea are firmly in the firing line and will want to caution against any US military action that could prompt a broader conflagration. Away from immediate security matters, Pence will try to reassure allies concerned about Donald Trump's commitment to decades old security guarantees and protectionist rhetoric. US officials acknowledge Trump's message of "America first" has at times been read by allies as meaning "everyone else last." Pence's message will be that America's security and economic commitments are enduring and "ironclad," according to a senior White House foreign policy advisor. That commitment, aides say, will be underscored by Pence's very personal ties to South Korea. Sixty-four years ago to the day, his father, Lieutenant Edward Price was awarded the Bronze Star for valor in the Korean War. In Seoul, Pence will try to steer clear of South Korea's tumultuous domestic politics ahead of elections next month. He is not expected to sit down with opposition leaders who could take the reins next month. Story continues But he will no doubt address worries in Washington that any new government may slow-walk the deployment of THAAD -- a system designed to shoot down missiles from North Korea or elsewhere. The United States has almost 30,000 troops in South Korea and is keen to see the project fully deployed. The issue has been complicated by China's furious opposition to the prospect of having a high-tech radar system on its doorstep, fearing it could partially neutralize its nuclear deterrent. Beijing has responded though diplomatic pressure and economic coercion, that has soured relations with Seoul. But Pence, whose public message at times seems at odds with Trump's, will have plenty of work to do to reassure South Korea that the United States is a reliable partner. Trump has repeatedly complained that the United States shoulders too much of the burden for other countries defense and has suffered under bilateral and regional trade agreements. An agreement on who pays for US troops in South Korea is due to expire next year, and South Korea -- where anti-US sentiment is high -- could be asked to pay more. Trump has also called for a review of all bilateral trade agreements, including the five year old US-South Korea deal -- or KORUS. The new US president's relentless focus on trade deficits, has some of the deal's supporters dismayed. "There is not a valid reason to be concerned about KORUS" Wendy Cuttler, who helped negotiate the deal told a Korea Society event this week. "I don't think its correct to judge the success of a trade agreement on the basis of a bilateral trade deficit." According to Cuttler, the deficit has more to do with steady US economic growth that has raised demands for Korean imports. Others point to tens of billions of dollars worth of South Korean investment into the United States, that have created an estimated 50,000 jobs. Why do we use the word Easter to describe the springs eggiest holiday? Theres more than one theory, but the most interesting intertwines with the tale of a monk known as the Venerable Bede. A learned man in literature and astrology, Bede worked to improve souls in 7th-century England. The scholar also did a lot of writing, and while he covered topics from spelling to science, he spilled a lot of ink on the question of which day was the right one to celebrate Easter - a contentious topic back in his day. Should it coincide with the older Jewish celebration of Passover, as some early Christians said it should, meaning it could fall on different days of the week depending on the Jewish calendar? Or must it be on a Sunday, the historic day of Jesus resurrection, as other Christians decreed? Which calendar should be used? Catholics said it should be after the spring equinox, but when is the spring equinox anyway? (The calculation thats been generally settled on today is still complicated.) Tucked away in Bedes lengthy analysis is the origin story, just a few lines suggesting what inspired the name of the holiday: a goddess named Eostre, who represents spring and fertility. Pagans had celebrated her in a month that became known as Eosturmonath in Old English, he wrote, which corresponds to what we now call April. And so people started calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honored name of the old observance. Its a tidy tale, especially since other Easter trappings have similar associations. The eggs and the bunnies, those are fertility things, as linguist Gretchen McCulloch points out. Other Christian holiday words have pagan roots, too, like yule and yuletide, which come from the name of an ancient midwinter festival. But language experts are also quick to say that, so far as they know, no other historical source confirms Bedes account of the words evolution. Easter is a very old word. It goes back to the earliest varieties of Old English, says Cliff Sofield, a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary. And its hard to know the nitty-gritty details about how any word came to be, especially one people started uttering a millennium ago. Story continues Another theory is that the English word Easter comes from an older German word for east, which comes from an even older Latin word for dawn. In spring, dawns mark the beginning of days that will outlast the nights, and those dawns erupt in the east. So that tale is tidy, too. As Merriam-Webster Editor-at-Large Peter Sokolowski sums it up in an email, The basic logic seems to have been: Spring > sun > dawn > east.' Many European languages, like French, have words for Easter that come directly from the Hebrew word for Passover, the springtime holiday that commemorates the Jewish peoples freedom from slavery in Egypt. Though English didnt go that route, there are still vestiges of the word for Passover in Easter-time things like paschal candles. Though it has fallen out of use, the word easter has also been used as a totally secular verb meaning to turn or move to the east. Easter can also be used as an adjective to describe things that lie toward or nearest to the east. The Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto used the latter version in a line people might want to co-opt for any holiday toasts theyre giving. The dawning brake, he wrote 500 years ago, and all the easter parts were full of light. This article was originally published on TIME.com WASHINGTON (AP) Once soft on Russia and hard on China, President Donald Trump rapidly reversed course in the last weeks, concluding there's more business to be done with Beijing than with Moscow. Trump's evolving views on those two world powers have brought the U.S. back into alignment with former President Barack Obama's pattern of "great power" politics. Though Russia critics welcomed Trump's newly hardened tone, there's less enthusiasm from America's allies in Asia, who fear the U.S. could overlook China's more aggressive posture toward its neighbors. It may be that Trump, the businessman-turned-world leader, is discovering China's transactional approach to foreign relations is better suited to achieving his own goals. Chinese leaders have sought a U.S. relationship based on the two powers respecting each other's spheres of influence and not intervening in one another's internal affairs. Such a balance-of-powers approach had been Russia's traditional stance. Moscow still wants Washington out of its backyard, but Russia's alleged campaigns to influence the U.S. presidential election and upcoming votes in the heart of Western Europe have made it harder for American officials to take the offer seriously. Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and Trump's newfound commitment to militarily countering any chemical weapons attacks also is proving hard to square. Also, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's shared tendency toward nationalist, "don't-mess-with-us" rhetoric may be putting the pair on a collision course. The sudden U-turn has been head-snapping for people around the world, despite Trump's self-professed penchant for unpredictability and willingness to adapt to changing circumstances. As the Republican presidential nominee, Trump praised Putin repeatedly as a strong, "very smart" leader. Trump dismissed America's Russia hawks as "stupid people or fools" and predicted under his leadership that the Cold War foes would "work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the world." Story continues Trump's gestures to Moscow even fueled perceptions that his campaign and Russia were colluding to help him get elected a possibility the FBI is now investigating. "Frankly, if we got along with Russia and knocked out ISIS, that would be a good thing, not a bad thing," Trump told a radio host in October, citing his still unrealized goal to have both countries cooperate to defeat the Islamic State group. This past week, it was the opposite message, as the U.S. and Russia feuded about Syria. "We're not getting along with Russia at all," Trump said. "We may be at an all-time low." Trump's declaration came at a joint news conference with the leader of NATO, an alliance established as a Cold War bulwark against the Soviet Union. Trump had dismissed NATO as "obsolete," but now says it is "no longer obsolete." As he shifts away from Russia, Trump is offering an outstretched hand to China. Trump recently hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Florida resort, and on Thursday hailed Xi as a "terrific person" and a "very special man." For years Trump said that China was "eating our lunch," and he peppered his campaign rallies with promises to label China a currency manipulator as one of his first acts. He even threatened to start a trade war, arguing that China's trade surplus was the reason for America's economic woes. Trump's growing focus on the North Korean threat, heightened by signs the North might soon conduct another nuclear test, has changed Trump's thinking. Now he is looking for help from China, North Korea's dominant trade partner, and easing up on his rhetoric. "I think China has really been working very hard" on North Korea, he said. Coinciding with this new assessment was Trump's announcement that he won't declare China a currency manipulator. It was Trump's second major concession to Xi, after backing away from a threat to abandon America's "One China" policy that sees Taiwan as part of China. So what did Trump, the self-declared deal-maker, get in return? "The U.S. hasn't gotten anything from China yet," said Evan Medeiros, who was Obama's top Asia adviser in the White House. "The question becomes, if they don't give him what he wants, what happens next?" Trump and White House aides have pointed to Beijing's move to restrict coal imports from North Korea as a sign it's listening to Trump. But the restriction merely put in place U.N. sanctions passed last year with China's support before Trump took office. Although U.S. allies Japan and South Korea are heartened by Trump's North Korea focus, his softer tack toward Beijing is causing concern. China's other designs for Asia include staking sovereignty to maritime territories, sometimes far from its coast, that others countries claim as well. Despite Trump's argument that China is taking North Korea seriously, China remains adamantly opposed to U.S. deployment of an advanced missile defense system in South Korea. Trump, like Obama before him, insists the system's sole purpose is to protect against the North. Beijing isn't so sure, and doesn't like such sophisticated radar being able to peer into Chinese territory. ___ Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP By Clare Baldwin (Reuters) - Hackers released documents and files on Friday that cybersecurity experts said indicated the U.S. National Security Agency had accessed the SWIFT interbank messaging system, allowing it to monitor money flows among some Middle Eastern and Latin American banks. The release included computer code that could be adapted by criminals to break into SWIFT servers and monitor messaging activity, said Shane Shook, a cyber security consultant who has helped banks investigate breaches of their SWIFT systems. The documents and files were released by a group calling themselves The Shadow Brokers. Some of the records bear NSA seals, but Reuters could not confirm their authenticity. The NSA could not immediately be reached for comment. Also published were many programs for attacking various versions of the Windows operating system, at least some of which still work, researchers said. In a statement to Reuters, Microsoft , maker of Windows, said it had not been warned by any part of the U.S. government that such files existed or had been stolen. "Other than reporters, no individual or organization has contacted us in relation to the materials released by Shadow Brokers," the company said. The absence of warning is significant because the NSA knew for months about the Shadow Brokers breach, officials previously told Reuters. Under a White House process established by former President Barack Obama's staff, companies were usually warned about dangerous flaws. Shook said criminal hackers could use the information released on Friday to hack into banks and steal money in operations mimicking a heist last year of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank. "The release of these capabilities could enable fraud like we saw at Bangladesh Bank," Shook said. The SWIFT messaging system is used by banks to transfer trillions of dollars each day. Belgium-based SWIFT downplayed the risk of attacks employing the code released by hackers on Friday. SWIFT said it regularly releases security updates and instructs client banks on how to handle known threats. "We mandate that all customers apply the security updates within specified times," SWIFT said in a statement. SWIFT said it had no evidence that the main SWIFT network had ever been accessed without authorization. It was possible that the local messaging systems of some SWIFT client banks had been breached, SWIFT said in a statement, which did not specifically mention the NSA. When cyberthieves robbed the Bangladesh Bank last year, they compromised that bank's local SWIFT network to order money transfers from its account at the New York Federal Reserve. The documents released by the Shadow Brokers on Friday indicate that the NSA may have accessed the SWIFT network through service bureaus. SWIFT service bureaus are companies that provide an access point to the SWIFT system for the network's smaller clients and may send or receive messages regarding money transfers on their behalf. If you hack the service bureau, it means that you also have access to all of their clients, all of the banks," said Matt Suiche, founder of the United Arab Emirates-based cybersecurity firm Comae Technologies, who has studied the Shadow Broker releases and believes the group has access to NSA files. The documents posted by the Shadow Brokers include Excel files listing computers on a service bureau network, user names, passwords and other data, Suiche said. That's information you can only get if you compromise the system," he said. ATTEMPT TO MONITOR FLOW OF MONEY Cris Thomas, a prominent security researcher with the cybersecurity firm Tenable, said the documents and files released by the Shadow Brokers show the NSA has been able to compromise SWIFT banking systems, presumably as a way to monitor, if not disrupt, financial transactions to terrorists groups. Since the early 1990s, interrupting the flow of money from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere to al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other militant Islamic groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries has been a major objective of U.S. and allied intelligence agencies. Mustafa Al-Bassam, a computer science researcher at University College London, said on Twitter that the Shadow Brokers documents show that the "NSA hacked a bunch of banks, oil and investment companies in Palestine, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen, more." He added that NSA "completely hacked" EastNets, one of two SWIFT service bureaus named in the documents that were released by the Shadow Brokers. Reuters could not independently confirm that EastNets had been hacked. EastNets, based in Dubai, denied it had been hacked in a statement, calling the assertion "totally false and unfounded." EastNets ran a "complete check of its servers and found no hacker compromise or any vulnerabilities," according to a statement from EastNets' chief executive and founder, Hazem Mulhim. In 2013, documents released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden said the NSA had been able to monitor SWIFT messages. The agency monitored the system to spot payments intended to finance crimes, according to the documents released by Snowden. Reuters could not confirm whether the documents released Friday by the Shadow Brokers, if authentic, were related to NSA monitoring of SWIFT transfers since 2013. Some of the documents released by the Shadow Brokers were dated 2013, but others were not dated. The documents released by the hackers did not clearly indicate whether the NSA had actually used all the techniques cited for monitoring SWIFT messages. (Additional reporting by Tom Bergin in London; Dustin Volz and John Walcott in Washington; Joseph Menn in San Franciso; and Jim Finkle in Buffalo, New York.; Editing by Brian Thevenot and Cynthia Osterman) FILE - In this June 22, 2016, file photo, a drone aircraft with a payload of simulated blood flies during a ship-to-shore delivery simulation in Lower Township, N.J. With the number of commercial drones expected to soar into the millions in the next few years, it spells an opportunity for budding drone mechanics to make a good living without spending a lot of time on training. A community college in northwestern Minnesota that has been teaching unmanned aircraft maintenance for larger military-type drones is expanding its program to include smaller drone repair. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File) FARGO, N.D. (AP) With the number of commercial drones expected to soar into the millions in the next few years, it spells opportunity for avionics shops and budding drone mechanics who could secure lucrative careers repairing aircraft. And it won't take a four-year college degree. A community college in northwestern Minnesota that has been teaching unmanned aircraft maintenance for larger military-type drones is expanding its program to include smaller drone repair. Officials at Northland Community and Technical College are promising a high-paying job after just one or two years. One Northland student, 26-year-old Chris Rohlfing, is taking drone maintenance and repair classes after serving four years in the military. He plans to include drone repair as part of a business to help local farmers fly unmanned aircraft to grow crops. Nokia is soon going to launch three distinct Android handsets, but all three of them are mid-range devices at best by this years mobile standards. However, rumors indicate that high-end Android handsets are also in the works, with the Nokia 9 supposed to be the flagship that will rival the Galaxy S8 and iPhone 8 this year. Weve seen leaks that suggested the Nokia 9 will have specs that might be even better than the Galaxy S8s, and now a series of images seems to indicate the phone might have an even better design than Samsungs flagship. Don't Miss: 5 devices under $100 that work with Amazon Alexa A tipster sent purported Nokia 9 and Nokia 8 schematics to NokiaPowerUser, the same site that shared recent Nokia 9 rumors, including the purported specs sheet and the phones price. Assuming the following images are accurate leaks rather than fan creations, the Nokia 9 might indeed sport an edge-to-edge all-screen design. The home button and its fingerprint sensor seem to be relocated to the back beneath a dual lens dual flash camera setup. That rear design looks a lot better than Samsungs camera and fingerprint combo on the Galaxy S8. The Nokia 8, as the name suggests, will be a cheaper version of the Nokia 9. The render indicates the Nokia 8 will have bigger top and bottom bezels than the Nokia 9, and the home button will be placed on the back. The rear will still incorporate what appears to be a dual lens camera, although it has a different flash design. Its unclear at this point when Nokia will unveil new devices. The company should launch the Nokia 6, Nokia 5, and Nokia 3 in multiple markets around the globe by the end of the second quarter. Whether any of these Nokia 9 and Nokia 8 are accurate or not, the fact remains that Nokia isnt done unveiling new hardware, and flagship handsets are only to be expected. Whats exciting about all of Nokias phones is that theyll run a nearly pure version of Android, or at least thats what HMD Global keeps promising. Story continues Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com There has been some debate over what Samsung has planned for a possible "active" version of its Galaxy S8. Now, it appears that a more durable version of the phone is indeed on the way. The Galaxy S8 Active should have smaller bezels than the S7 while still being durable. Credit: AT&T The Galaxy S8 Active should have smaller bezels than the S7 while still being durable. Credit: AT&T Samsung is working on a new Galaxy S8 Active model currently codenamed Cruiser, Samsung-tracking site SamMobile is reporting, citing sources who claim to have knowledge of the company's plans. While it's unclear why Samsung is calling the handset Cruiser internally, SamMobile argues it might have something to do with its size and a possible big battery. Samsung has in recent years offered up Active versions of its flagship handsets. In most cases, those devices come with bigger batteries than the original models and deliver more rugged features. For instance, the S7 Active comes with a shatter-resistant screen along with IP68 water resistance. In addition, the S7 Active boasts a 4,000 mAh battery. Compare that to the 3,000 mAh battery in the Galaxy S8 and 3,500 mAh battery in the S8+. MORE: Galaxy S8 and S8+ Final Specs: Here's What You Get However, there was some speculation that Samsung might ditch plans for a Galaxy S8 Active this year due to the design tweaks the company has made. Specifically, the Galaxy S8's nearly bezel-less design and big, curved screen, might make it a bit harder to ruggedize and safeguard the handset. There are also questions of whether Samsung would really be able to add a bigger battery to the Active model. According to SamMobile, details on the device are currently a bit hard to come by. The sources didn't know, for instance, exactly what the device might look like and whether it'll come with an Active key like its predecessors did. That said, the sources did say that the Galaxy S8 Active will likely be an AT&T exclusive when it's released this year. It's not known how much the handset will cost and when it might reach store shelves, but Samsung has in the past released new Active smartphones in June. It's possible the company could do the same with the Galaxy S8 Active, though it's worth noting that Samsung is offering this year's flagship a bit later than those in the past and might want to wait a bit longer on the Active. Story continues Look for more on the Active in the coming weeks. See also : The Best New Features of the Galaxy S8 The Red Line for Holi In light of last months social media furore regarding harassment during Holi, the authors conducted a short poll to understand the extent and dimension of the issue. Here is what they found UML CC meeting postponed The Central Committee (CC) meeting of the main opposition CPN-UML scheduled for Sunday has been postponed. US military defends use of massive bomb in Afghanistan The top US military commander in Afghanistan says the decision to use a powerful bomb in the country was based purely on tactical considerations. Timothy is a copy editor for The Kathmandu Post. Previously, he was a reporter on the Features desk and deputy editor on the National News desk. Whitewater rafting spurs Sindhupalchok tourism Tourist arrivals to places along the Sunkoshi and Bhotekoshi rivers have rebounded strongly after a yearlong slump caused by the deadly earthquake of 2015. 1. Yes. Taxpayers are funding its operation; they should have a voice in the naming process. 2. Yes. The city should operate with a spirit of inclusivity. Residents will be responsive. 3. No. Public input can be problematic; rejection of suggestions can be divisive for residents. 4. No. Residents elect council members to make decisions on their behalf. No input is needed. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say whether public input would be more of a benefit or a hindrance. Vote View Results craigslist: thailand jobs, apartments, for sale, services, community, and events craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, services, local community, and events The Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda has welcomed the suspension of State Labor Minister Herbert Kabafunzaki. This is after President Yoweri Museveni ordered the minister embroiled in a bribery scandal out of office to allow for smooth investigations of the matter. The minister was arrested a week ago as he reportedly attempted to solicit and receive a Shs5m bribe from an investor. Now speaking to KFM, the coalitions executive director Ms Cissy Kagaba says while suspending Kabafunzaki is good, it is not enough. She has urged the governments anti-graft bodies to ensure the matter is dealt with to its logical conclusion. No Yes, a light case Yes, two or more light cases One serious case Two or more serious bouts Vote View Results ANGOLA Jeremy Comment didnt pay much attention to the solar energy bill moving through the Legislature this session, because he knew it wasnt going to have much impact on the solar farm hes building in rural Angola. Thats because this Goshen entrepreneurs solar farm isnt going to rely on net metering to produce income from an electric utility, in this case, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. Instead, Comments system, when up and running possibly by June, will rely on a different fee arrangement, known as a feed-in tariff, when his farm sends electricity into the grid. It is regulated by the federal government. It doesnt impact me directly, Comment said about Senate Bill 309, which received final approval Monday and is working toward Gov. Eric Holcomb for his consideration. It is not known how the governor leans on the bill that was viewed as controversial because it set limits on fees solar producers of electricity could receive in the future, ultimately phasing out the current retail payments to homeowners, businesses, schools and the like that invest in solar and put energy into the grid in net metering arrangements. Its one of those (bills) thats going to take some deep consideration, Stephanie Wilson, Holcombs press secretary, said on Friday. When interviewed Tuesday, Comment said he didnt know much about the details of SB 309, though he knew there were rumbles out there about the utilities possibly putting the squeeze on non-commercial solar operations. Comment sees SB 309 as a way for the utility companies particularly the large companies (he speaks glowingly about his relationship with NIPSCO, a fondness he doesnt hold for the larger concerns) to start looking at other ways to curb growth in renewable energy. They kind of got their foot in the door (via SB 309), he said. But thats down the road, as far as Comment can tell with his operation as a sole proprietor doing business as 1AU LLC. The difference between Comments system and others is that his puts electricity directly into the grid as a generator. Others, like the one being built at Fremont Community Schools and the one in operation at Wible Lumber in South Milford, put electricity into the grid in exchange for credit on utility bills, which is known as net metering. Comment is an engineer who works for an original equipment manufacturer for the automotive industry. He commutes to Portage, Michigan, for work, but is investing in systems like the one under construction northwest of Angola. Solar, he quips, is not his day job. Yet. Comments build off of West C.R. 100N near Interstate 69 is on about 10 acres of ground. The solar farm covers a small portion of the land. Its quite a process, he said. In addition to the grant and process to get a contract with NIPSCO, Comment had to get a variance from the Angola Plan Commission, something he received in 2015. His system is working through a federal grant program that requires smaller solar installations be built in ag-related communities. Comment scoped out a variety of properties close to home then bid on a contract with NIPSCO. The contracts with utility companies are awarded by a lottery. That site there in Angola was one on a short list of properties, Comment said. We were looking for a site where we would be eligible for the grants. Plus there were some technical requirements, which this site provided. Even though the Angola site is large enough to put in more panels, Comment said his system is limited by the grant program. What were putting in up there is as big as we can make it, Comment said. The system is capped at 200 kilowatt hours of alternating current (300 kilowatts of direct current) that Comment says will power some 60-90 homes. Physically weve got a pretty large footprint, but in the grand scheme of things, not so much, he said. Comment said he would like to build more systems such as the one near Angola if he can be awarded contracts. If we can get more contracts, great, he said. Comments Angola solar farm will provide power to homes and businesses in the general vicinity of his operation. Its going to be consumed right there, reasonably close, he said. Comments system and others like it allow utilities to capitalize on the fact that they dont have to generate electricity by other means, whether it is fossil fuel or renewables, then transport it for miles and miles to the end user. The closer you can get the generator to the user, the lower your cost, he said. Comment knows. He has 46 solar panels at his home that produce 10 kilowatts of power. Near Angola, when running, the array will have 915 panels with 912 producing energy. By comparison, the IKEA store being built near Indianapolis will have 3,888 solar panels on its roof, enough to power 182 homes, Indianapolis area media have reported. It will be the largest rooftop system in the state. At the Indianapolis International Airport, the airport authority has installed one of the largest solar farms in the world with nearly 90,000 panels that can produce 36.1 million kilowatt hours per year, enough to power 3,650 homes, the airport authoritys website says. dnartker@kpcmedia.com KENDALLVILLE A plan to dredge the Bixler Lake fishing channel received a financial boost when Kendallville was awarded a $30,000 matching grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Lake and River Enhancement Program. Bixler Lake is one of eight northeast Indiana lakes receiving a total of $617,000 in grant funding. Other area lakes and grants are: Sylvan Lake, $140,000; Jimmerson Lake, $60,000; West Otter Lake, $30,000; Blue Lake, $7,500; Round Lake, $30,000; and Silver Lake, $145,000. Grants were announced this week by the DNR. The Kendallville Park and Recreation Department applied for the grant to dredge the channel at the north end of the lake. The last time the channel was dredged was about 20 years ago. In the spring of 2016, the DNRs Lake and River Enhancement Division investigated the need and feasibility of a dredging project. Park and Recreation Department staff had prepared a sedimentary recovery plan, explaining contaminants in the channel sediment, how much sediment should be removed, where it would go and a tentative timetable for the project. Dredging could start after July 1 of this year, according to Kendallville Park Board member Dr. Tom Jansen. Doug Nussbaum with the DNRs Lake and River Enhancement Division said at a public meeting in October that a lot of the sediment in the channel is organic material, and levels of unwanted contaminants are below normal. The project would entail removing about 6,500 cubic yards of material from the bottom of the 800-foot-long main channel, for a maximum removal depth of 4 feet from the water and 6 feet from the channel bottom. The maximum target water depth is 10 feet. The 80/20 grant requires a 20 percent match from the applicant, and the Park Board has the matching funds, Jansen confirmed Friday. Fishing should improve in the channel after the dredging, Nussbaum said in October. The Park Board will hire a contractor to do the work. JANESVILLE The nationwide manhunt for a Janesville man who allegedly stole guns and mailed an anti-government manifesto to President Donald Trump ended Friday morning in remote Vernon County, where Joseph Jakubowski gave himself up without incident after law enforcement authorities found him under a tarp, looking disheveled and tired. Several hours after Jakubowski, 32, was found in a primitive campsite along Estes Road near Readstown near the Vernon, Richland and Crawford county lines law enforcement officials expressed relief the manhunt concluded without anybody getting hurt. Today is truly a very good Friday for all of us in Rock County and Janesville, Janesville Police Chief David Moore said. Jakubowski appeared Friday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker in U.S. District Court in Madison, where he was charged with stealing a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer. During the five-minute hearing, dirt was visible on Jakubowskis face and clothes, which consisted of a tan T-shirt over a long-sleeved thermal undershirt and blue jeans. He was wearing socks but no shoes and his ankles were shackled. In addition to a mustache, Jakubowski also had a patch of beard on his chin. He only spoke to his attorney, federal defender Joseph Bugni. After the hearing, Jakubowski was sent to the Rock County jail and he is expected to stay in custody as federal and state prosecutors prepare their cases against him. He faces three felony charges in Rock County Circuit Court in connection with his alleged burglary of a Janesville gun shop, where authorities say he stole 18 guns. FBI Special Agent Justin Tolomeo said Jakubowski was found at his camp site with four handguns, one rifle and multiple boxes of ammunition, as well as a samurai sword, a bulletproof vest and helmet, containers of flammable liquids and his 161-page manifesto. Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Joel Lee wouldnt say whether authorities know the location of all the stolen guns, including a machine gun. Strategically, for the sake of the case, we want to keep that information close to the vest right now, Lee said. Attempts to get answers from Jakubowski are continuing in earnest. Authorities say that Jakubowski is an anarchist who mailed his rambling 161-page manifesto criticizing government, law enforcement and religion to Trump, burglarized the gun shop, burned his car in a desolate area and then took off with the stolen guns as part of a plan, according to Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden. Now, investigators are questioning him about how he got to Vernon County, if he had help from friends and what he had planned for his end game. How did he envision this ending for him and our community? Spoden said. Federal officers positively identified Jakubowski around 6 a.m. and he surrendered without incident after 60 to 70 federal, state, county and local law enforcement officers spent the night surrounding the site following a solid tip from a local farmer around 11 hours earlier that Jakubowski was camping in the area, according to information provided by Spoden and Tolomeo. Jakubowski followed through on his plans to get off the grid by hiding in a very dense, wooded area in Vernon County where there was no opportunity for internet connection, according to Spoden. I can tell you there werent any types of electronic devices that we found there, he said. He said later that Jakubowskis site was so primitive that authorities were unsure if Jakubowski, who had been missing since April 4, knew of the manhunt and all of the chaos he produced, which included schools closing or going into lockdown modes and canceling after-school activities in southern Wisconsin because of threats he allegedly made. A Facebook friend of Jakubowski said she believes his decision to stay in a primitive site proves he had no plans of hurting anyone and that law enforcement authorities overreacted since he never specifically threatened anyone or anything. Tracey Chen, 54, of Grants Pass, Oregon, who said she received a copy of the manifesto that Jakubowski called a letter of truth, said she believes Jakubowski reached a crisis point by continuing to stress over government control, and he believed the government was out to get him. Since he was a felon and couldnt own guns, Jakubowski stole guns to defend himself and then went out to hide, she said. Jakubowski reportedly made a similar claim in a note of apology to the owner of the gun shop that he allegedly burglarized. A criminal complaint filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court and an affidavit of an ATF agent mention the note of apology, which was found at Jakubowskis sisters home. Spoden said after looking at the totality of Jakubowskis statements on video asking for a revolution, his decision to steal guns and write an anti-government, anti-law enforcement and anti-religion manifesto all clear warning signs of a potential terror attack our response was appropriate. There were a lot of red flags. ... If he was doing all that as a way to vent his frustration, he sure picked a poor way to do it. Acting U.S. Attorney Jeff Anderson is expected to present the case against Jakubowski to a grand jury on Wednesday. Anderson said the gun charge would be presented to the grand jury, and a decision on other charges would be made after further investigation. Jakubowski will be back in federal court on April 25 for an arraignment and detention hearing. The criminal complaint charges Jakubowski broke into Armageddon Supplies, 2144 Highway 14, Janesville, and took guns that included a fully automatic .223 caliber M16 rifle and a Glock 19 9mm semi-automatic handgun, along with two silencers. As the weather starts to get nice and our thoughts turn to summer vacation, children talk about swimming, hiking, family vacations or camping. However, all too often, some children know summer holds little, if any, hope for something special. Welcome to the 14th annual Camp Send-a-Kid, a unique four-night, five-day camp for at-risk children ages 7 to 13 in the Greater La Crosse Area. Begun 14 years ago as the brainchild of the La Crosse Tribune, Camp Send-a-Kid is now organized through a collaboration of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse, the YMCA, Gateway Area Council Boy Scouts of America, Family & Childrens Center, La Crosse Sheriffs Department, La Crosse and Onalaska Police Departments, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Kicking Bear. It is the mission of Camp Send-a-Kid to provide a structured leadership experience with caring adult role models to underprivileged youth. Through structured activities, the camp promotes responsibility, values, self-esteem and self-confidence. Last years camp put smiles on the faces of more than 75 boys and girls and the numbers continue to grow. Each year, Camp Send-a-Kid needs to raise $20,000 to provide this experience for less fortunate youth. During the 14 years, the program has been able to send more than 500 children to camp. Each year, donors old and new continue to respond. The cost of sponsoring one camper is $200. The La Crosse community has always been generous and we ask for your help again this year. I can tell you from experience that Camp Send-a-Kid is a great opportunity for kids to explore new adventures and be exposed to new challenges. Because of the generous support of the community, kids that wouldnt normally have the opportunity to experience the programs and activities offered by this camp are now offered that chance. Sean Henneman, scout executive and CEO of Boy Scouts of America Gateway Area Council, said: Camp Send-a-Kid is a communitywide effort to ensure disadvantaged youth, oftentimes youth who need it the most, are afforded the same opportunities as every other young person. Each year, the camp sees youth returning who have benefited from their experience. They hold onto the values that are taught and implement them into their lives. This could be the summer that some underprivileged child experiences something special, thanks to the kindness and generosity of people from our community. Please consider sponsoring one or more youth or give what you are able. Every gift is helpful and we are very grateful. This years Camp Send-a-Kid is scheduled July 30 through Aug. 3 at Camp Decorah. If you wish to help, please send your contributions to Camp Send-a-Kid, c/o Trust Point, 230 Front St. N., La Crosse, 54601. I have been planning to initiate an annual family ritual this Earth Day by planting a tree with my children on Saturday. For them to share my concern for the quality of the land is important to me. I used Google to assist the effort and provide some context on the tree-planting programs associated with Earth Day. While I learned more about these planting programs, I wondered about the customs efficacy. The carbon-dioxide emissions for the trip to get the sapling may not even be compensated for by its planting. I will still go through with the ritual, but it got me thinking about the purpose of Earth Day and what role I play in its realization. One of the Earth Day Networks campaigns is to reduce CO2 emissions and their effect on climate change. What is my output relative to others? I live in a nation with the second-highest CO2 emissions in the world. Our per capita rate is also one of the worst, 16.39 metric tons in 2016 according to the World Bank. Japans per capita output was 9.76, Chinas 7.55 and Frances was 5.05. My nation is more to blame than most. What is my CO2 output relative to other Americans? I turn off devices and lights when not in use. My wife and I drive fuel-efficient cars, we recycle and consciously eat less meat to support the climate agenda we buy into. I certainly felt like we were doing better than most. To check this sentiment I used The National Geographics online CO2 calculator. Around the house we did 25 percent better than the average household in the Midwest. When I factored in the cars and our driving we jumped to 6 percent above the average. Despite my concerns and values, I am more to blame than most. One solution to reduce my output is simple: move closer to work. This is not exactly convenient. Even if I made the move, I will have only reduced my output. My carbon sins will have been lessened, my conscience clearer. But I am only me. What about you? What about the others? Why should I expect someone else to drastically alter their life when I am unable or unwilling to do so? This problem is exacerbated should our energy consumption increase. The odds for it decreasing cannot be good. I wont willingly leave the grid and become a Luddite. The nations population will grow, and its future citizens will expect the same level of consumption, if not more, to meet their needs and dreams. I sound pessimistic but it is only from highlighting the problems. We are capable of overcoming such challenges. We do not necessarily need to consume less energy, but we do need to change the type of energy we use. We have the means to generate clean, renewable energy already. Initially the fossil fuel industry will still be a valuable part of the energy equation, but we need to make the transition away from it. The only real issue is cost. I do not think the average person cares where they get their energy as long as it is the cheapest. This is the real problem to solve. If the invisible hand of economics does not act in time, then we need a real hand the feds. I usually cringe when I hear of more government involvement, but I fear it is needed in this case. There are multiple policies to reduce carbon emissions being considered, but I think the revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend legislation proposed by Citizens Climate Lobby is by far the most practical. A progressively increasing price is put on carbon emissions at the source (oil and gas wells and coal mines) and the money collected given back to households as we transition to more economical, renewable energies. For any policy change to happen, there needs to be the political will to support it. Generating the will is challenging because climate change is so politically polarizing. It is sad because I think most people care about the land, their home, the environment and their future. Tomorrow I will need to feed my family and pay the bills, and just like you, I will do this as a participant in the economic system that created this problem. With a crucial push from our government, revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend legislation could be a solution to climate change. Urge your members of Congress to support it. WASHINGTON (TNS) With little attention, President Donald Trumps administration has been quietly loosening firearms restrictions in the United States after successfully seeking the support of gun owners on the campaign trail. His agencies narrowed the definition of fugitive, a change that cuts the number of people wholl be included in a database designed to keep firearms from people who are barred from owning them. Federal officials have also signaled that they may no longer defend the Army Corps of Engineers ban on carrying loaded firearms and ammunition on federal lands. Trump signed a bill behind closed doors that killed an Obama-era regulation that required the government to add to the no-buy list people whom the Social Security Administration has deemed eligible for mental disability payments. He signed another one that lifted restrictions on hunting on federal lands in Alaska. With Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, gun rights groups are on the offensive for the first time in years, aggressively looking to push a series of new laws on Capitol Hill and regulations in various federal agencies to ease restrictions. All of these things considered in isolation may not be a big deal, said Chelsea Parsons, vice president of guns and crime policy for the left-leaning Center for American Progress. But what is the overall goal, keeping in mind the extreme investments made by the NRA? The National Rifle Association was a strong backer of Trump from the start, unlike most traditional conservative organizations, many of which were leery of the brash businessman-turned-reality-TV-host and political novice. It endorsed him earlier than it had other candidates in previous years and became one of his top donors, with $30 million in contributions and TV ads that targeted his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Ultimately you judge a politician on whether he or she keeps their promises that they made during the campaign, said Chris Cox, chief lobbyist and principal political strategist for the Institute for Legislative Action, the NRAs lobbying arm. NRA members and supporters across this country are very pleased with what weve seen out of this administration so far. But there is still a lot of work to do. Before he hit the campaign trail, Trump, who says he doesnt hunt but does own a gun, had come out in favor of a waiting period for gun purchases and a ban on assault weapons. But after he entered the race, he changed his views, speaking forcefully on behalf of gun rights regularly as he found support in many rural pockets of the country. Were gravely concerned and have been all along to the extent he was making himself beholden to the corporate gun lobby, said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He is looking to pay them back. Trump has already rescinded 13 Obama-era regulations through the rarely invoked Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers and a new president to reverse regulations imposed recently by a previous president. Two of those reversals were related to firearms those involving the Social Security Administration and hunting on federal lands in Alaska. We inherited, this administration did, the biggest regulatory burden, we believe, of any president in American history, said Marc Short, director of legislative affairs for the White House. We believe this is fulfilling a campaign promise. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives referred questions to the FBI, which referred questions to the Justice Department, as did the White House. Justice and the Army Corps of Engineers did not respond to questions for comments. Gun rights groups have a pair of bills they are pushing in Congress this year: allowing Americans to carry concealed firearms from state to state bypassing a confusing patchwork of laws and making it easier and cheaper to purchase silencers. But while those fights will play out in front of cameras on Capitol Hill, others worry about what is being done behind the scenes. Trump quickly nominated a trio of leaders that gun rights groups supported: Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. By far and away, the NRAs most important goal was to help secure an acceptable Supreme Court nominee. On his first day as interior secretary, Zinke canceled a ban on the use of lead ammunition on federal lands leading some to worry that the lead could be ingested by birds and directed all agencies managing federal lands to identify areas where hunting could be expanded. The Army Corps of Engineers, which controls 12 million acres of land around lakes and rivers, allows hunting in some of the areas it controls. But its banned carrying loaded firearms and ammunition on its lands since the 1970s. Courts have disagreed on whether the ban violates the Second Amendment. The NRA has long advocated that those federal lands be treated the same as national parks, where some guns are allowed or where state gun laws apply. Last year, it supported a bill that would have allowed gun owners to carry firearms on Army Corps of Engineers land. Last month, the Army Corps of Engineers signaled that it was considering dropping its gun ban in a case now before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving a Georgia couple who objected to the ban. The Army Corps of Engineers is reconsidering the firearm policy challenged in this case, as well as plaintiffs requests for permission to carry firearms on Army Corps property, the Army Corps of Engineers argued in a motion asking that the couples case be moved to mediation. And in February, the Justice Department resolved a long-standing dispute between the FBI and the ATF about who should be called a fugitive and be barred from buying a firearm. The ATF considers a fugitive to be anyone subject to an arrest warrant who crossed state lines to avoid arrest. The FBI had a broader definition, describing a fugitive as anyone whod left the city or county where the warrant had been issued. In a Feb. 15 memorandum, the FBI agreed to adopt the narrower definition, saying a person must have fled the state to avoid imminent prosecution or court testimony to be considered a fugitive. The NRA did not weigh in on the issue. Gun control advocates are bracing for Trump to appoint a new head of the ATF, fearful that hell pick Ron Turk, the ATFs associate deputy director and chief operating officer. Critics say Turk managed the agency at a time it was involved in a series of botched sting operations and that he wrote a controversial memo that closely tracked gun rights groups priorities, including studying whether the ban on imported assault weapons should be lifted. Weve been reluctant to discuss some of these things for years in ATF, and I think thats not healthy, Turk said at a congressional hearing April 4 about his January memo. Its important for our staff to be able to totally discuss the entire broad range of gun regulatory issues. WASHINGTON (TNS) The Trump administration will keep the records of who visits the White House secret, ending a practice started under the Obama administration of partially releasing visitor logs, a White House official said Friday. Even though President Donald Trump led chants of drain the swamp during the campaign and promised to protect government business from special interests, the decision makes it harder for the public to know who is influencing the president and his close advisers. Keeping the visitor logs hidden from public view will protect the privacy of visitors and is meant to address security risks that may be posed if people are identified publicly as close to Trump, White House communications director Mike Dubke said Friday. The public and the media will be able to file requests for the logs under the Freedom of Information Act, Dubke said. Such requests often require legal action that can delay the release of records for several years. Given the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, the White House Office will disclose Secret Service logs as outlined under the Freedom of Information Act, a position the Obama White House successfully defended in federal court, Dubke said in a statement. The Secret Service conducts background checks and keeps a list of all visitors to the 18-acre White House grounds. The Obama administration voluntarily released some visitor records, but often omitted the names of visitors that Obamas aides considered sensitive, such as candidates for judicial posts and personal contacts, including celebrities and some Obama campaign donors. The Democrat leadership has made constant, profound and incredible pronouncements that one's supportive vote for Republicans is tantamount to surrendering Democracy forever. Understanding their sincere thinking in their extreme position: How will you still vote on this election day? Democrat; because the continuance of this Democracy from the existential threat of extreme Republicans is paramount. Republican; the process of having a choice is the democratic method within what "Democracy" exists. Last fall, the postmaster at the Westby Post Office received an interesting piece of mail from Lowell Joerg of Stockton, California. Mr. Joerg wrote: Good Morning, I hope this letter brightens your day! I was at an antique store here and found this old 1892 postal card from your town. You must have had some Norwegians in your community. Its an old Timer for sure so I thought it would be nice to send it back to where it can be appreciated. Posted up it will make for good conversation. My wife is laughing at me and says if I hear from you, I will have to take her out for lunch. Im eighty-eight years old and still going strong. Well, I gave $4 for it so if you want it for $5 or $6 why thats sure o.k. Throw in a little postage if you want, too. I call my little hobby a re-distribution of happiness. Our world sure needs it! Thank you and Godspeed in your work, Lowell Joerg, Stockton, CA P.S. My friends kid me about being the only Packer fan in California. I just give them a smile and let it go at that. Go Pack! Westbys Postmaster, Tracy J. Frost sent Mr. Joerg some dollars and then shared his letter and the 1892 post card with officers of the Westby Area Historical Society. The post card is a government-produced postcard from the pioneer period of post cards, 1870-1898. The first government-produced postcard was issued in 1873. One side of the post card was for the message and the other side was for the recipients address only. Private publishers were still allowed to print postcards, but they were more expensive to mail than the government-produced cards, 2 cents instead of 1 cent. This returned card was postmarked April 12, 1892, Westby, WIS. and was sent to Mr. Lars Swenson, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and had the following message in Norwegian that we have translated to English: Please be so friendly and send me a choral book and one of the Temperance beliefs in Gods word of light. If the Bibles are not already sent, please ship them with these. We have been collecting books for our society and we still do, and it works good. We shall soon meet. Chr. M. Ndtvedt Christian Magnussen Ndtvedt was a Norwegian-Lutheran Pastor at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Westby during the years 1890-1896, and a leader in Westbys Temperance Society, the social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Ndtvedt left Westby in 1896, and next served congregations in Oregon, before returning to Wisconsin in 1908. The first Post Office for the Westby area was called the Coon Prairie Post Office and was established within the area of Old Town in 1857, with George Smith as Postmaster. Between 1857 and 1879, the post office moved back and forth between the townships of Viroqua and Christiana. About 1875, Peder Evenson was the Postmaster, and the post office was located in his general store. The establishment of a post office within the Westby city limits is said to have been in 1879, the first city postmaster was Andrew Johnson, who was shortly succeeded by Nicholas Nelson, who still held the office in 1884. Erick C. Bratlie was Westby postmaster for fifteen years from 1896-1911. The locations of the Westby post offices since 1879 are: Ole Westbys General Store, 1879-?; 100 block of West State Street, (later Goettels store); Somewhere on South Main Street, unknown dates; 104 North Main Street, 1909-1925, (State Bank building); 107 East State Street, 1930-1961; and 102 Melby Street, 1961- present. This 1892 postal card is especially interesting to the Westby Area Historical Society as it contains the earliest postmark from Westby in our archives collection. We are grateful to Postmaster Tracy and to Mr. Joerg for his random act of generosity or redistribution. Do you have any old letters or post cards from Westby, more information on the Temperance Society in Westby, or pictures of the post offices? You can contact us at 608-634-4478 to leave a message or send an email to westbywihistory@gmail.com The legislatures Joint Finance Committee, on which I serve, held its first public hearing on the Governors budget on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville campus. I would like to thank every resident of the 17th Senate District who joined us to give a voice to the rural communities of our state. Your messages were heard loud and clear. We heard seven hours of testimony and nearly 150 voices. We heard about topics that run the gamut of budget issues. We heard about public education, seniors issues, the Department of Natural Resources, state parks, segregated fees on our university campuses and treatment for incarcerated people in our correctional facilities. The input and ideas shared with us on Monday will be very helpful as we work on the budget. One of the loudest voices came from our hosts. UW-Platteville campus spoke up, too. They spoke up by being gracious, hospitable hosts who made the public hearing a positive experience for those who came to testify and those of us who listened. The faculty, staff and administration we heard from and interacted with made a very good impression. They also took this unique opportunity to make the case for the biggest needs on their campus. UW-Platteville pitched its case for a new engineering building Sesquicentennial Hall and renovations to the Boebel building. Chancellor Dennis Shields, Dean Wayne Weber and Dr. Phillip Parker capitalized on having the members of the JFC on their campus by filling in down time with a tour of the aging facilities and by sharing their vision for the future of their campus. Out of 70 projects system-wide, the UW Board of Regents had proposed Sesquicentennial Hall as the only new construction project for this budget year and the Boebel Hall as its top priority for renovation. However, Gov. Walker did not include these projects in his official recommendations to the State Building Commission for the capital budget that is a part of the overall state budget. I will ask my colleagues to consider funding for these projects during our budget deliberations. Sesquicentennial Hall is a $55 million project, and Boebel Hall is a $23.7 million project. UW-Platteville has determined that it can fund the $307,000 annual operational budget, but it needs permission and bonding from the state to do the capital projects. I believe this should be one of our priorities. UW-Platteville has the premier engineering program in the state of Wisconsin that graduated the second largest number of engineering students in 2016. It is ranked 35th by U.S. News and World Report for engineering at non-doctoral-granting institutions nationwide. Approximately 58 percent of graduates from UW-Platteville earn a degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM-related) programs. However, the engineering program is housed in one of the oldest buildings on campus. Ottensman Hall was built in the 1960s and Boebel Hall, which houses many other STEM-related courses, has labs that barely support their basic needs. While the engineering program has made do and some of the labs have been modernized, the buildings cannot support modern laboratory curriculum and instruction. It also cannot handle any more growth, and the UW-Platteville engineering and STEM programs are flourishing. The need is not just about modern technology. The basic conditions of the building are outdated and in need of more renovation than is practical to keep the facilities functional. The building, frankly, has outlived its life as a building for instruction. They may be able to re-purpose it, but it is not a fitting location for modern, cutting-edge engineering instruction anymore. In fact, the mechanical engineering labs and classrooms are located in the basement of Ottensman Hall, which hasnt been updated since the 1960s. One legislator who toured the building could not believe the poor air quality and stifling conditions in the classrooms. It happened to be a very rainy day, and the buildings HVAC could barely keep up. The legislator commented on how difficult it would be to spend the entire day learning and teaching in these conditions. I believe these projects are worthwhile investments. Nearly 75 percent of engineering graduates over the past three years stayed in Wisconsin. Eighty percent of incoming engineering students in the fall of 2016 are Wisconsin residents. The return on investment is the best in the state at 11.4 percent for in-state students. UW-Platteville engineering students are employed by Wisconsin companies like the Kohler Co., Kimberly-Clark, Georgia-Pacific, Alliant Energy and more. The average annual starting salary is $57,000. When we invest in UW-Platteville, we invest in Wisconsin. Again, thank you to everyone who joined us at UW-Platteville for the listening session. We heard you, loud and clear. I encourage you to stay engaged in the state budget process and contact me if you have additional input and ideas. For more information and to connect with me, visit my website http://legis.wisconsin.gov/senate/17/marklein and subscribe to my weekly E-Update by sending an email to Sen.Marklein@legis.wisconsin.gov. Do not hesitate to call 800-978-8008 if you have input, ideas or need assistance with any state-related matters. Waupun Correctional Institution inmate Cesar DeLeon said he has punched the wall until his fist is bloody during 15 years in prison in which he has rotated in and out of solitary confinement. I cant understand why I have to do it, said DeLeon, 34, but the pain somehow gives me a sense of reality. DeLeon is in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping. He also is facing trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a Columbia Correctional Institution staff member in 2014 with a scissors after he was denied a promotion at the prison library where he worked. Brandon Christian said he fantasizes about the violence he will commit if he ever leaves solitary, where he has been for more than seven years. One time, allowed additional time out of his cell for good behavior, Christian attacked another inmate. Someone was talking crap about me, and I didnt know who, so I just picked someone and stabbed him, Christian, who is serving time at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel, wrote in response to a survey by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. After 2 years in isolation spending at least 22 hours a day alone in a tiny, solid-walled cell fellow Boscobel prisoner Ernesto Cervantes wrote in response to the survey that he is no longer capable of normal human interaction. I have not been able to function properly in a social setting, Cervantes said of his experience after release from administrative confinement, a status with no specified end date. I think others are talking about me and feel watched. I also feel like I have lost proper comprehension as when people are speaking to me it sounds like gibberish noise. These are some of the voices of Wisconsin prisoners kept in administrative confinement a little-known category of solitary that the state Department of Corrections describes as an involuntary non-punitive status for inmates who pose a serious threat to life, property, self, staff or other inmates, or to the security of the facility. The agency says these inmates are so dangerous that they must be confined for months, years even decades in a cell the size of a parking space with no human contact at least 22 hours a day. State Department of Corrections officials denied reporters requests to interview inmates in person about their experiences in administrative confinement, so the Center mailed surveys to more than 100 who had been held in 2016. The Centers survey conducted in the wake of an inmate hunger strike launched in June aimed at ending long-term solitary confinement in Wisconsin asked about prisoners living conditions, mental health status, whether they received regular meals and whether they had committed or been a victim of violence while in administrative confinement. Several, including DeLeon, 34, participated in the hunger strike; some of them were force-fed. Sixty-five inmates, many of whom have committed horrific crimes including multiple murders, violent attacks and sexual assault, responded to the surveys. One respondent to the Centers survey was in solitary for about 28 years; another has served 20 years. The results of the survey were stark: Ten inmates reported attempting suicide while in administrative confinement. One said administrative confinement makes you numb, violent, hateful, loud, disrespectful (and) suicidal. Most described feelings of isolation, hopelessness, anxiety or paranoia. Of the 65 respondents, 26 claimed they have had medications or medical devices withheld or threatened to be withheld by security staff who distribute prescriptions or that they had overheard it happening to other inmates in solitary. More than a third of the respondents 28 inmates said they had been treated violently by other inmates or prison staff; 13 acknowledged harming or threatening to harm staff members or other inmates. Several described sleep deprivation from screaming and banging from other inmates and perpetual lighting. Thirteen inmates had food complaints, with some saying guards sometimes failed to deliver meals or that portions were inadequate, leaving them hungry. How to manage such violent or non-compliant inmates without worsening their behavior or mental health problems is a big challenge for prison systems. Because of the negative effects of long-term indefinite solitary confinement, Colorado has largely ended this practice, which a top United Nations expert has said is equivalent to torture after 15 days. In 2015, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections implemented policies although not all inmates were aware of the changes to reduce the amount of time inmates spend in solitary for disciplinary reasons and narrowed the types of offenses that can land them there. It also has made moves to remove prisoners with serious mental illnesses from solitary and to require that psychological staff provide input when such inmates are facing placement in solitary, spokesman Tristan Cook said. The result is a large drop in inmates in all forms of solitary confinement from a high of 1,362 in March 2014 to 1,073 as of Feb. 28, Cook said. Of those, 93 were in administrative confinement. DOC has made significant reforms to the restrictive housing process with the goal of minimizing (its) usage for all inmates and eliminating the use of restrictive housing for inmates with serious mental illnesses, he wrote in an email. As of Oct. 1, 2015, Wisconsin held about 3.7 percent of its inmates in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day, 15 continuous days or more, compared to a national average of about 4.9 percent, according to a study released in November by the Association of State Correctional Officials and Yale Law School. The practice has gone from central to prisoner management to one used only when absolutely necessary and for only as long as absolutely required, the report found. There are signs that Wisconsin is attempting to improve conditions for inmates held in solitary. Gov. Scott Walkers 2017-19 Department of Corrections budget request includes changes to solitary to boost mental health care and to allow some inmates with serious mental illnesses to spend up to 20 hours a week out of their cells for programming and recreation. 'Prison within a prison' Former Waupun prison psychologist Bradley Boivin said that the lack of an end date while in administrative confinement can be especially damaging to inmates mental health, creating a prison within a prison. The Center approached Boivin last year after inmates raised questions about why he had left DOC. Imagine being told youre going to prison for five years or youre going to prison for as long as we want to keep you there, Boivin said. The ambiguity of it creates additional levels of psychological distress for the inmates. Boivin said he resigned after trying unsuccessfully to make changes from within at Waupun. It wasnt about correction at all, he said. It was about perpetual punitive behavior (toward the inmates). Thats what I couldnt be a part of anymore, I guess. In solitary units, Boivin said, people with the highest mental health classifications are required to be seen by a psychologist once a week. Inmates with a classification of less severe mental illness are seen every two weeks. The brief sessions take place through the inmates cell door, allowing others to hear. Inmates call them drive-bys. Theres nothing clinical or therapeutic about (weekly check-ins) whatsoever. Its really just a quick check-in, Boivin said. Thats it, theyll say, Im fine, and you walk away. Suicide attempts, drugs withheld In the surveys, most inmates presented bleak descriptions of life in solitary confinement. Ive tried many times to hang myself with a sheet, overdose on medication. I start to see things or people who isnt there; I talk to myself, wrote Quenton Thompson, 35, who is serving a life sentence at the Boscobel prison for killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child. Shirell Watkins, 37, said he has tried twice to hang himself. Watkins, who is serving a 25-year sentence for reckless homicide, said he has spent years in various forms of solitary at three institutions, most recently Green Bay Correctional Institution. He described severe mental anguishment, depression, sleeplessness, high level of stress, constant self-communication, headaches, weight fluctuation, eye aches, hyper-reaction to situations/incidents, isolation/loneliness, short attention span, poor concentration and at times poor memory and difficulty concentrating. In early 2016, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that one staff member was fired, one resigned and another retired from the DOC-run Milwaukee County Secure Detention Facility after they were caught on audiotape taunting an inmate and withholding his medication. He was being held in solitary confinement. Thompson, the inmate at Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, said officers sometimes withhold medication from him just to give me a hard time. Boivin used to hear these kinds of complaints from inmates, and he usually did not believe them. But the psychologist said he witnessed it himself at Waupun in 2015 after a sergeant, upset with an inmate, threatened to withhold his medication. The problem, Boivin said, is that untrained non-medical staff should not be administering medicine. DOC has acknowledged the practice is not acceptable, requesting more than $1 million over two years for trained medical staff to administer medication at the embattled Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake juvenile prisons. Cook did not answer questions about whether DOC is considering changes to how medicine is administered in the adult prisons. Suicide watch 'humiliating' In Wisconsin, some of the harshest treatment is reserved for inmates who want to kill themselves. Boivin said he personally and professionally felt these suicide watch placements were more torturous than solitary confinement itself. An inmate in so-called observation status is confined in a cell with a hard bed with a thin rubber mat. The prisoner wears a paper security gown or a quilted security smock. The lights are on 24 hours a day, and, initially, he is not allowed any property, even a book. In extreme cases, inmates are strapped down, restrained at their shoulders, their wrists, their ankles and their knees, in an eight-point restraint. Boivin said he has seen inmates restrained for hours or days, nude except for a washcloth covering their genitals. Its humiliating, its degrading, Boivin said. Theyre just kind of there, like a tied down animal. In 2015, there were 80 inmates with serious mental illnesses in solitary who had a total of 132 placements in suicide watch, according to a DOC budget request. After a couple of days in observation, Boivin said, the decompensation is noticeable. Inmates eyes become bloodshot and watery, and they can become aggressive, delirious and eventually shut down. Days of boredom and rage Inmates were asked to describe a typical day in administrative confinement. Many wrote of repetitiveness, spending the entire day in bed or that the days blur into one another. Reading, watching TV, working out in their cells or the rec cage, and writing letters are some of the ways inmates keep busy. Eric Conner, 30, is at Boscobel serving 30 years on his most recent sentence after stabbing another inmate and injuring a correctional officer. Cook said in all, Conner has had 56 conduct reports since he was imprisoned in 2008 for murder. During his time in solitary, Conner wrote that he hears his victim telling him to kill or harm himself. Im stuck in the cell and have nothing to distract me from him, he wrote. Christian, 29, said he has been in solitary confinement for more than seven years including 3 years in administrative confinement while serving a 29-year sentence at Wisconsin Secure Program Facility for first-degree sexual assault with a dangerous weapon and armed burglary. I pace my cell for hours thinking about all the horrible things Ive done and the horrible things I will do, Christian wrote, adding that he would have no problem assaulting an officer if given the chance. When he returned from a medical leave in early 2016, psychologist Bradley Boivin discovered a troubling pattern among Waupun Correctional Institution inmates who had been held in solitary confinement. Thirteen of his patients mental health classifications had been changed without Boivins knowledge and in his opinion, without proper assessment. The re-evaluations came after a July 2015 memo from Deputy Secretary Cathy Jess to psychological staff to reassess the mental health classification of the most seriously mentally ill inmates in solitary confinement, according to a memo provided by Boivin to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Boivin resigned from Waupun in 2016 because of a difficult environment at the prison after he expressed strong disagreement with prison officials over several issues, including the treatment of inmates, especially those with mental illnesses. Boivin said some of the conditions for inmates in solitary confinement are beyond unacceptable and inhumane. The mental health reassessment ordered by Jess is part of a push by the administration of Gov. Scott Walker to limit the use of solitary for inmates with serious mental illnesses and to improve conditions for inmates there. In its 2017-19 budget request, the Department of Corrections acknowledged that the overall psychological effects of solitary confinement are negative for inmates already suffering from mental illness and include increased depression or anxiety, worsening of trauma-related symptoms, insomnia, worsening of psychosis, paranoia, emergence of self-harm behavior, suicide attempts or aggression. Boivin agreed that inmates with mental health problems can get worse in solitary. The reality is you see a lot of mental illness and you see things exacerbated in that environment, and you dont have to be a rocket scientist, a psychologist, to understand that when you put someone in that kind of an environment very loud, everywhere you go if you move even to see your therapist youre shackled its just a very vulgar environment, Boivin said. I refer to it as a very toxic environment. Legislative efforts to curb the use of solitary in Wisconsin have been unsuccessful. Assembly Bill 1001, introduced in 2016, would have required the state DOC to develop evidence-based criteria for confining a prison inmate in a solitary cell and an audit by the Legislative Audit Bureau on the states use of solitary confinement. Senate Bill 803 would have prohibited the use of solitary for any offender under age 18. Both bills, proposed by Democrats, died without a hearing. In March, Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. LaTonya Johnson of Milwaukee proposed restricting solitary confinement for any inmate with a serious mental illness to no more than 10 days. DOC spokesman Tristan Cook said the agency already has made some changes. The number of inmates with serious mental illnesses in solitary dropped from 155 inmates to 91 inmates between April 2015 and April 2016, and the number of inmates in administrative confinement with serious mental illnesses has decreased from 11 to 10 inmates, Cook said. Walker is proposing additional funding in the 2017-19 budget to improve conditions in solitary, especially for inmates with serious mental illnesses. His budget includes $2.2 million to convert a vacant housing unit at Oshkosh Correctional Institution to house up to 86 inmates with serious mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities who are in so-called restrictive housing status. The funding would allow inmates to spend 20 hours of out-of-cell time a week, instead of the four hours a week that many prisoners in solitary currently receive. This program requires 10 out-of-cell hours for structured programming and therapy in addition to 10 unstructured out-of-cell hours for activities such as meals and recreation. The state also is seeking to expand this 10/10 model currently in use in Colorado to other prisons. Walker has endorsed a DOC budget request for about $600,000 over two years for increased psychological staff at restrictive housing units at Waupun, Green Bay and Columbia correctional institutions. At Columbia Correctional Institution, the DOC seeks an additional $773,200 to staff a new Health Services Unit to treat the prisons large population of chronically and mentally ill inmates. The budget request also includes $591,000 to buy body-worn cameras for staff working in solitary confinement units, where numerous complaints of mistreatment have been lodged. The Rev. Jerry Hancock, director of Madisons Prison Ministry Project, a prisoners rights advocacy group, said the governors budget request is laudable but also a far cry from what Colorado and other states are doing to curtail solitary confinement. The Department of Corrections finally has recognized that extended stays in solitary confinement is not appropriate, effective or humane treatment for the more than 2,000 seriously mentally ill people in Wisconsin prisons, Hancock said. Japanese carmaker Toyota has designed a robotic leg to help disabled people walk. The company demonstrated the new device to reporters at its headquarters in Tokyo this week. The robotic leg is called the Welwalk WW-1000 system. It has a mechanical frame that fits onto a persons leg below the knee. Patients can practice walking on a special treadmill. Eiichi Saito is a doctor and an executive vice president at Fujita Health University. His university helped Toyota develop the robotic leg. Saito said it is designed to be worn on one leg for patients who are paralyzed on one side of their body because of a stroke or other disease. The device is attached with a strap to the thigh, knee, ankle and foot of the person using it. A motor helps to bend and straighten the knee. Sensors provide information about what is happening and medical staff can control the system through a touch panel screen. This helps just barely enough, said the researcher, who said helping a patient too much can slow recovery. Japanese carmakers are also making robots Japanese carmakers have been developing robotics for manufacturing and other uses for many years. Honda Motor Co., for example, has developed the Asimo humanoid robot that can run, dance and speak. Toyotas WelWalk system uses robotic technology to assist people in moving and walking. Toyota took about 10 years to develop the robot walker. Toshiyuki Isobe is with Toyotas Frontier Research Center. He told Reuters news service that it has taken the company time to develop robotics products. The biggest challenges have been in determining the needs of the robot market, which is relatively new, and to ensure that our products are safe, he said. Robots that assist in health care are seen as an important and growing market. Growing market for robots in healthcare Eiichi Saito says Toyotas device is aimed at helping common paralysis caused by health problems like strokes that can happen to aging people. Japans population is aging faster than other countries. In 2015, more than 26 percent of Japanese were aged 65 or older. Robotic devices may also be better for patients in some cases. Saito said patients using the device can recover more quickly because the robotic sensors in the WelWalk are more sensitive to movement than a human health worker. Some experts expect demand for robots used to assist in care of the old and disabled will increase sharply. That is because there will be fewer people in the work force to care for the growing number of older patients. The International Robotic Federation says more than 37,000 robots used in healthcare for the aged and disabled will be sold between 2016 and 2019. It says the field is expected to increase a lot in the next 20 years. Toyota plans to rent 100 of the robotic systems to medical centers in Japan later this year. Costs include a $9000 one-time charge and a monthly rental cost of $3,200. However, competition in walking assistance devices is growing. The medical technology company Hocoma of Switzerland and ReWalk Robotics of the United States also have developed robotic walkers. Im Mario Ritter. Naomi Tajitsu and Maki Shiraki of Reuters and Yuri Kageyama of AP reported this story. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This story treadmill n. a machine used for exercise or rehabilitation that has a large belt that moves allowing a person to walk or run on it without moving paralyzed adj. unable to move, unable to walk touch panel screen n. a kind of computer screen that operated by touching the screen humanoid adj. like a human being challenge n. a difficult task, something that is hard to do Before too long, unaffiliated voters are likely to surpass Republicans as the second-largest voting bloc in North Carolina. But unaffiliated voters will not be represented on the newly created State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement (if it eventually survives inevitable challenges from Gov. Roy Cooper). And that's OK. Senate Bill 68 passed both the House and the Senate on Tuesday. It merges the state boards of elections and ethics into that new body. Cooper says he'll veto the bill, and if the General Assembly overrides the veto (it passed both bodies by large enough margins that an override is possible), Cooper says he'll sue to get it overturned as an unconstitutional violation of the separation-of-powers doctrine.I'm not going to get into the details about the merits of Cooper's arguments. They're serious. Carolina Journal's Dan Way reported on some of them here Instead, what was silly was the consternation expressed, primarily by Democrats during debate over the bill, about the absence of unaffiliated voters on the new state board. Several noted that - of roughly 6.7 million registered voters in North Carolina - there are only 30,000 more Republicans than unaffiliateds, 0.4 percent of total registration.And yet Republicans and Democrats have equal representation on the new eight-member state board, four members nominated from each party.If the GOP effectively became a third party in North Carolina, critics asked, why should Republicans hold equal sway with Democrats on a panel charged with supervising elections while unaffiliated voters held none?The simple (and correct) answer is that there is not an Unaffiliated Party in North Carolina. It has no chairman, executive committee, staff, or headquarters. The governor could not request a list of nominees from nonexistent party officials. There's no one to take a call, receive an email, or open a letter.You may think this is fundamentally unfair. But guess what? That's the way the current State Board of Elections operates. Unaffiliated voters aren't guaranteed representation on the state board or on county boards. The new law would not change that situation.Also, unlike a myth that swirls around the growing number of partyless voters, the unaffiliateds aren't necessarily moderates or centrists who can't find an ideological home. They tend to vote Republican - for now.You see that in election results. While Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 10 points in total registration (39.2 percent to 30.4 percent), last year Republicans won more partisan statewide races than Democrats. The GOP won races involving U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, six of the 10 seats on the Council of State, and all five seats on the state Court of Appeals.If unaffiliated voters were divided evenly, Democrats would have won many more of those contests.That said, there are unaffiliated voters who think the Democrats aren't left-wing enough, and the Green Party's not on our ballot, so those voters don't have a home. Other unaffiliateds think the GOP isn't far enough to the right, and they won't register as Libertarians because they disagree with that party's stance on, say, social or national defense issues.Still others aren't "joiners," at least not yet. The Carolina Population Center's survey of voter registration patterns by age showed 36 percent of Millennial voters were unaffiliated, the largest percentage of any age group. Moreover, 52 percent of unaffiliated voters first registered in North Carolina in 2010 or later, compared to 33 percent of first-time registrants who chose the Democratic, Libertarian, or Republican parties.But to steal from an old American Express commercial, "Membership has its privileges." If you register as a Democrat or a Republican, you have some capacity to influence the direction of your party's agenda and priorities. You also have the prospect of serving as a representative of your party on any number of oversight boards, including your county or state elections/ethics board.If you're unaffiliated, you're out of luck.And that's OK, too.Voters choose not to join a political party for a host of reasons. Some, perhaps many, think the two major parties are too rigid ideologically. Others want the freedom to choose one party over the other during primary elections, when they're allowed to request a Republican or Democratic (or Libertarian) ballot without joining one of the parties. Others may not want to be bombarded by political mailings from groups affiliated with the major parties and those issue-advocacy outfits that rent party mailing lists.But here's a thought. If you want to participate in electoral politics, and are turned off by the ideological rigidity of the political parties, you're more likely to modify a party's thinking by working inside it rather than shunning it. The adage applies about it being better when you're inside the tent rather than outside it. LEXINGTON The Lexington Parent-Child Center will continue awareness efforts in April, a yearly tradition, for Sexual Assault Awareness Month with purple ribbons. Also, local groups and business employees are encouraged to wear jeans this month for "Denim Days," a fundraising effort organized by the Parent-Child Center. Participating members and employees are asked to donate a dollar or two for each day they wear jeans. Proceeds go to the Parent-Child Center, which uses the funds to meet the needs of survivors of sexual abuse, domestic assault and other forms of abuse, said Janet Brown, client advocate/community educator for the Parent-Child Center. "We welcome donations all through the year. The money goes to the general fund to needs of clients," she said. The story behind Denim Days, as noted by Brown in a letter to local businesses, reads in part: "Denim Days began as part of an international protest of an Italian Supreme Court decision to overturn a rape conviction because the victim was wearing jeans. The Italian Supreme Court dismissed charges against a 45-year-old rape suspect because his 18-year-old victim was wearing jeans. The court stated in its decision that "it is common knowledge ... that jeans cannot even be partly removed without the effective help of the person wearing them ... and it is impossible if the victim is struggling with all her might. (Also noted in the court finding) ... because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex. " "Denim Days is just an outward example of how a community can help change people's perceptions about violence against women, men and children," Brown wrote in the letter. Past events held in conjunction with the Sexual Assault Awareness Month have included a candlelight vigil and a "walk a mile in her shoes," event where male volunteers wore women's heels shoes, Brown said. Staff with the Parent-Child Center would be involved with Healthy Kids Day at the Orthman Community YMCA April 28 and the Week of the Young Child event on April 27 at the Lexington Middle School, she said. Brown said cases of sexual and domestic assaults are a big issue in Dawson County. Statistics compiled by the Parent-Child Center for 2015 show that there were 405 victims of domestic, sexual, child and physical abuse helped by the center. "We are thankful we got a community that supports us with donations, money, furniture and clothing. We need so badly to bring awareness," she said This website is inclusive of tolerant people of all faiths, without exception. Neither anti-Semitism nor Islamophobia nor homophobia should ever be acceptable to anyone. We must all strive to live in peace and harmony with each other, regardless of religious affiliations, or none. Intolerance is the mother of strife and conflict. Mark Alexander We Britons are Europeans!Wir Briten sind Europaer! Nous, les Britanniques, sommes europeens ! Mark AlexanderEmail me at:markalexander.librabunda@gmail.com 'Carolina Cares' sold as a way to expand affordable coverage to middle-class workers; GOP leaders aren't buying Rep. Greg Murphy, R-Pitt, introduces the Carolina Cares legislation at a Tuesday press conference. He is flanked at the podium by (from left) Reps. Donna White, R-Johnston, Josh Dobson, R-McDowell, Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, and Gale Adcock, D-Wake. (CJ photo by Dan Way) If it is modeled after a Medicaid expansion program, and is funded like a Medicaid expansion program, it is a Medicaid expansion program.That's what health care analyst Nic Horton says. Horton, a senior research fellow at the Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability, which has scrutinized Medicaid and expansion plans around the nation, says House Bill 662 , known as Carolina Cares, is Medicaid expansion that North Carolina would do well to shun.Yet Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, lead sponsor of the legislation, insists H.B. 662 is not a Medicaid expansion plan, but instead an opportunity to provide health care coverage for up to 350,000 uninsured North Carolinians. The leaders of his party in the House and Senate aren't sold.Under Carolina Cares, participants would pay a nominal premium and small co-pays, and have to work. North Carolina hospitals would be charged an assessment to help pay costs. Other unspecified assessments also could be levied.Lambeth says North Carolina would save approximately $45 million in traditional Medicaid expenditures on an annual basis under the plan. That is the amount Medicaid pays hospitals to their emergency room costs for uninsured patients.But the added coverage would cost federal taxpayers - including those in North Carolina - plenty. Backers of the legislation say it would bring $21 billion in federal funding to the state. Those tax dollars may be funneled through Washington rather than Raleigh, but North Carolinians still pay their share of them.Lambeth wasn't able to estimate the costs to state taxpayers. But in an email, he said under current law, the federal government is picking up 90 percent of the costs. The sponsors anticipate that level of support would continue under the federal waiver, which is negotiated between state and federal officials.Lambeth said. It focuses on preventive care with a wellness emphasis, and participants who don't comply with those primary care conditions could be removed from the program.Horton said.Horton said.Bill co-sponsors at a Tuesday press conference with Lambeth were Reps. Josh Dobson, R-McDowell, Greg Murphy, R-Pitt, and Donna White, R-Johnston. Early indications are the bill is in for rough sledding in the General Assembly.House Speaker Tim Moore's office said the Cleveland County Republican remains opposed to Medicaid expansion, and referred to a statement he made Monday:Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, has opposed Medicaid expansion numerous times in the past,his office said.Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, speaking Wednesday morning on the KC O'Dea show on WTKK-FM, said the renewed debate in Washington over health care reform makes discussion of state-level Medicaid expansion even more confusing to policymakers and the public.Despite the promise from bill sponsors that no state funds would be required, Forest said, "there's no free ride." He also noted that while he respects the bill's sponsors, many of them are connected to the health care provider community, which would stand to receive more money from expanding Medicaid.Lambeth said his billBut some analysts who have reviewed the legislation say it has the same funding problem as an expansion proposal advanced by Gov. Roy Cooper, which drew a federal lawsuit from Berger and Moore.If the Affordable Care Act stays in place for several more years, the subsidy the federal government sends to states covered by expansion plans would decrease from 100 percent of the cost to 90 percent. If North Carolina paid for expansion entirely through higher taxes on health care providers, it would have to double the tax to cover the state's portion. There is a 6 percent cap on provider taxes, and North Carolina already is at 4.1 percent. There might not be enough capacity left in the provider tax to cover costs of expansion.Congressional Obamacare replacement plans all have included phasing out the Medicaid expansion, which would mean the 90 percent federal share would drop to the normal 66 percent funding level, leaving the state to bridge the gap.H.B. 662 is modeled after Indiana's Healthy Indiana Plan, an Obamacare expansion Horton calls a failure. Like other expansion states, Indiana has spent more tax money on the plan and put more able-bodied adults on Medicaid than expected.Horton said.Julie Henry, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Hospitals Association, said the organization is prepared to work with the General Assembly and Cooper if they agree on a plan.The Hospitals Association balked at Cooper's Medicaid expansion plan because hospitals would have paid for it. But the group's concerns have diminished because Congress and the Trump administration have failed to agree on how o replace Obamacare, and no replacement plan seems imminent.Henry said.Lambeth and others touted the economic benefits of the legislation. They cited a George Washington University study that said the expansion would create 43,000 new jobs, half of those in the health-care sector, and bring $21 billion in federal funds into the state.If the program did create that many jobs, it would represent one new health care position per 16 Carolina Cares enrollees, assuming Lambeth's 350,000 projection.Horton said he was puzzled that conservative lawmakers were touting a government program as a jobs bill, when Medicaid properly should be viewed as a temporary safety net. DECLO Sister Malorie Bowen, of Declo, returned home from serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Washington Seattle Mission. Malorie will report her mission at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Declo 3rd Ward. She is the daughter of Kerry and Melanie Bowen. TWIN FALLS Police have recovered two of the five replica Clovis Point artifacts stolen from the Herrett Center museum and have identified the suspected thief, whom they say is in jail on unrelated charges. The suspects name is being withheld until hes officially charged with the thefts, police said. Three of the five replica artifacts are still missing, and police are still seeking the publics help to find them. Twin Falls police received several anonymous tips after releasing information this week about the April 6 theft, officer J.P. ODonnell said. Those tips led our detectives to Jerome County, where the sheriffs office actually had an investigation going on the same individual on a different case, ODonnell said. Ultimately we served a search warrant (Thursday in Jerome) that led to the recovery of one replica artifact, ODonnell said. We were able to identify the suspect and located the second one in the city of Twin Falls. Police were withholding specifics of the investigation but said the warrants were served at residences in both locations. The suspect is in jail on other charges not related to the missing replicas, ODonnell said. The replica artifacts, worth a total of $15,000, were stolen between 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on April 6. The suspect went to the Herrett Center earlier that day and was unable to open the display case, but he returned in the afternoon and pried the display case open after using a tool to remove security screws. The stolen items are replicas of priceless pre-historic artifacts found at a site near Fairfield, said Joey Heck, exhibits/collections manager for the CSI Herrett Center for Arts & Science. The real artifacts, acquired by CSI in the mid-1990s, are kept in a secure vault; the replicas were made at a casting lab and cost about $2,000 each. The authentic artifacts, not the replicas, were likely the target, Heck said earlier this week. The thief was probably under the impression the real artifacts were on display. It appears he targeted that particular set of artifacts, Heck said. Police hope theyll soon find the three missing pieces. Twin Falls County Friday arraignments Donald Scott Neilson, 62, Twin Falls; lewd conduct with a child under 16, sexual abuse of a minor under 16, $100,000 bond per warrant, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing April 21. Adam Doral Goff, 30, Twin Falls; sex offender fail to register change of address or name, $10,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing April 21. Dustin Mark Johnston, 28, Twin Falls; possession of a controlled substance, $50,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing April 21. Nathan Ray Torres, 25, Twin Falls; assault or battery upon certain personnel, $50,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing April 21. Kamron Karry Timmons, 26, Jerome; fugitive (Washington warrant), to be held without bond per warrant, public defender appointed, fugitive identification April 21. Kamron Karry Timmons, 26, Jerome; driving without privileges, no insurance (second or subsequent offense), $500 bond, public defender appointed, pretrial June 6. Nicholas Emmet Stewart, 23, Buhl; forgery, own recognizance release, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing April 21. Amel Plojovic, 23, Twin Falls; grand theft by possession of stolen property, walk-in arraignment, bond previously posted, public defender continued, preliminary hearing April 21. FILER With a Jeep barreling down on him and fearing for his life, Twin Falls County Sheriffs Sgt. Rick Beem fired at the car in a desperate attempt to stop it, the sergeant testified April 14 during a preliminary hearing for the man behind the wheel. The driver, Dennis Leroy Barnes, II, 37, was bound over to district court April 14 on felony counts of eluding police and aggravated assault on law enforcement with the use of a deadly weapon. Magistrate Judge Roger Harris ruled that prosecutors established theres enough evidence for the case to go to trial. Beem and a Filer Police officer testified April 14, but it was Beem alone who told what happened during the shooting, when he says he was out of his patrol vehicle with Barnes driving the Jeep toward him on a narrow dirt road south of Filer. There was a brief pause it seemed to be quite a while but we locked eyes with each other, it seemed like forever, but we were staring right at each other, Beem testified. So I could see his face, I could see his body, I was staring at his eyes. Did you do anything to try to get that Jeep to stop or slow down? Twin Falls County Deputy Prosecutor Stan Holloway asked. I did, Beem said. I had my hand up in a stop position. And did it appear to slow down? Holloway asked. No, it did not, Beem answered. Once I realized that the vehicle wasnt going to stop, and thought it was going to run me over, I fired at the vehicle. During cross-examination by defense attorney Daniel Taylor, Beem said he remembered firing three to six rounds that hit the Jeeps front hood area, but he didnt believe he hit the windshield or the drivers side door. Barnes swerved when the shots were fired, the sergeant said, crashing into a ditch and climbing out the drivers side door before officers arrested him. Harris said the testimony presented April 14 clearly showed there was sufficient evidence for Barnes to stand trial for fleeing from police and trying to hit Beem, causing him to fear for his life. Barnes, in custody on $250,000 bond, will next appear to be arraigned in district court and enter a plea. A date for that hearing is not scheduled. Meanwhile, the Ada County Prosecutors Office is reviewing the shooting to determine if the sergeant acted appropriately by firing his service weapon. Beem, who was shot at during a chase last November, was the only county sheriffs deputy to fire his weapon in the past five years, spokeswoman Lori Stewart said in February, and possibly the first dating back the last 26 years. Barbara Bassler TWIN FALLS Barbara Bassler, memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 15 at Rosenau Funeral Home, 2826 Addison Avenue East, Twin Falls. Sharon Johnson TWIN FALLS Sharon Johnson, funeral services at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 15 at Reynolds Funeral Chapel, 2466 Addison Avenue East, Twin Falls. A viewing will take place from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, April 14 at the funeral home. Delfino Pep Martinez TWIN FALLS Delfino Pep Martinez, services at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at Rosenau Funeral Home, 2826 Addison Ave E with visitation at 2 p.m. Junior Jay Larson GLENNS FERRY Junior Larson, celebration of life at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 15 at the VFW Hall Post 3646, Glenns Ferry. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtney Chapel, Mountain Home. Jim Schmidt SPOKANE, Wash. Jim Schmidt formerly of Twin Falls, funeral mass at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 18 at St. Peter Parish, 3520 E 18th Ave., Spokane, Wash. Republicans havent been able to replace Obamacare, because they think the problem with it, metaphorically speaking, is that the food is terrible and the portions are too small. That, of course, is what Woody Allen had to say about life in Annie Hall. But the same kind of contradictionyou hate something, and want more of itis why Republicans havent been able to agree on anything other than that they want to be able to say that they repealed Obamacare. That might work on for campaigning, but, as weve seen, its a flop in office. President Trump on Tuesdayin whats become something of a weekly traditionagain promised his party would strike a deal. But even if Republicans keep trying to come to terms on a compromise, theyre going to keep tripping over the same problem. Thats because no matter how much dealmaking prowess you might have, you cant make one if people want fundamentally different things. Now, when it comes to Obamacare, there are generally two types of Republicans: ones who despise everything about it, and ones who understand nothing about it. The first group are libertarians who want to get rid of the law root-and-branch. They dont think the federal government should play any part in helping people get coverage, or telling insurers what that has to be. Instead, theyd like to go back to a world where the sick are mostly on their own, and insurance companies are mostly free to discriminate against them. This, together with higher deductibles, is what they believe is the best way to keep costs and premiums down for everybody else. The idea, you see, is that people will spend less overall if they have to spend more out-of-pocket, and if thats too much for them, they can always be put in a slightly subsidized high-risk pool. (Emphasis on the word slightly. The Kaiser Family Foundations Larry Levitt says that the technical term for the funding in the GOPs latest proposal is chump change.) In other words, they want to make insurance more affordable for the young and healthy by making it unaffordable for the old and sick, and worse for everyone. The second group are so-called moderates who oppose Obamacare entirely because of politics, not policy. Which is to say that they attack the unpopular parts of the law, like penalizing people for not getting insurance, at the same time that they support the popular parts, like banning insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions. What they dont get, though, is that you cant have the latter without the former. If youre going to force insurers to cover sick people, then you have to force healthy people to sign up too so that premiums dont explode. And if youre going to force healthy people to sign up, then you need to help them be able to afford it. And that brings us to the GOPs real problem. Its that a lot of Republicans secretly kind of like Obamacare, or at least they like what it does. They dont want to get rid of the way its covered sick people or expanded coverage or let kids stay on their parents insurance until theyre 26 years old. The only thing they do want to changewell, other than the name and the individual mandateis the way that premiums and deductibles have continued to march ever higher. But that, whether they realize it or not, is actually an argument that Obamacare hasnt gone far enough. That we need bigger subsidies so people can buy better coverage that doesnt make them pay as much out-of-pocket. So how do you reconcile the idea that the healthy should pay more and the sick pay too much with the belief that the healthy should pay less and the sick be taken care of? You dont. At least not when youre in power. When youre out of it, you can at least hide these differences behind the amorphous mantra of repeal and replace. But not anymore, not when its clear that theres a philosophical divide between Republicans who think the federal government shouldnt be involved in covering people, and ones like Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy who believe that theres a widespread recognition that the federal government, Congress, has created the right for every American to have health care. That used to be what Republicans and Democrats argued about, but, now that Obamacare has made people expect more from the government, its what Republicans and other Republicans argue about today. And there are going to be large portions of that. 1 What was the Legislatures single greatest achievement this session? What went right? We made great strides with public education and skilled workforce development which equates to well-paid careers. Following the Education Taskforce recommendations has been so successful, Governor Otter has created a Higher Education and Workforce Development Taskforces. Seven K-12 education budgets passed the legislature which include increases for teachers and classified staff salaries, career counseling, and discretionary funding for school districts. Seeing a need to fill upcoming science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM) related jobs, we are studying ways to improve Idahos funding and delivery of training programs to meet growing employer demand for skilled workers. New job growth is projected at 138,000 but the looming mass-retirement of the baby boomer generation means we are looking at a workforce shortage of about 49,000 workers with necessary skills to fill those jobs. 2 What do you wish lawmakers had accomplished but did not? What went wrong? With deep disappointment, healthcare remains unresolved. Most impacted is the 78,000 uninsured gap population in Idaho; 10,000 of this group are our veterans. This also continues to burden local governments with indigent care expenses. Also, the legislature did not adequately provide resources for rural transportation infrastructure. The expensive transportation bill that passed helps mostly urban, congested roadways, not rural needs, but all Idahoans will pay the price tag. 3 What was your single best contribution to the session? Maybe sponsoring a key bill or working behind the scenes on high-profile legislation. Tell us something you did that youre proud of. I am proud to be one of only two legislators on the Workforce Taskforce, which brings together industry, educators, and agencies in an effort to expand opportunities for Idahos workforce. The committee will present its recommendations by July 1st. Invasive species like the fast-growing Quagga and Zebra Mussels remain a critical threat to hydroelectric dams, irrigation, native species, fisheries, and the recreation & tourism industry as well. I cosponsored legislation that increased boat sticker fees for non-residents to ensure our check stations have the resources needed to stay open longer. Recently, a boat with live Quagga mussels was stopped at a check station near Twin Falls, which demonstrates how critical it is to keep them out of our clean waters. 4 What will be your focus over the interim? As of the end of March, 28 out of our 44 counties had declared an emergency due to the harsh winter. So, working with emergency services, agencies, and the transportation department is the first need. Water issues and workforce development will continue to be my focus during the interim. Cheer Cheers to the Jerome County commissioners, who continue to pursue plans for the Snake River Canyon Park, a vision for the land north of the canyon to the interstate. The board has formed a seven-member steering committee that includes representatives from Twin Falls and Jerome counties. Commissioner Roger Morley and Southern Idaho Tourism liaison Kellee Traughber will assist. The park has been in the works for more than a decade, but complicated land swaps with other government agencies slowed the vision. Now, with some of those obstacles sorted out, commissioners hope to move sooner than later. Its a good thing, too, because the site is getting increasingly dangerous. People already flock to the area to shoot guns, ride off-road vehicles and, well, make a complete mess of the space. Garbage is building up fast, and with no designated spaces for shooting and riding, commissioners are worried its only a matter of time before someone gets hurt. Establishing the park that accommodates everyone would be huge boon for the region. Were confident the steering committee finally has the personalities who can work together to make it happen. Jeer Jeers to Gov. C.L. Butch Otter, for the second week in a row. This time, the governor appears to have a total lack of understanding about a bill he just vetoed. The issue is civil asset forfeiture, laws that allow police to seize personal property, including cars and cash, from people suspected in drug crimes. As the law stands now, police can seize property even if youre not charged with a crime. A Times-News investigation into the practice last year revealed several cases where police seized property after finding only small amounts of marijuana on suspects. A bill passed with bipartisan support this session would have kept civil asset forfeiture on the books in Idaho but established important safeguards to ensure the laws werent being abused by law enforcement. Otter vetoed the bill last week. Misdemeanors, especially in drug (crimes) is for personal use, Otter said Tuesday on Nate Shelman Show on radio station 670 KBOI . If youre trafficking, it is a felony. Its the felony that triggers the asset forfeiture. Problem is, thats simply not true. Otter also said that, while law enforcement does seize property before a conviction, it returns the property if the crime turns out not to rise to the level justifying a seizure. Thats also not true. Its very alarming that the governor is so woefully misinformed about how civil forfeiture really works in Idaho, said Institute for Justice lawyer and Nampa native Dan Alban. The fact that the governor vetoed a bill that would have shined a light on this abusive practice speaks volumes. Is it too much to ask that the governor understand the current laws and a bills implications before he issues a veto? In Idaho, maybe so. Cheer Cheers to the FBI, who this week confirmed to the Times-News that it is joining the investigation into one of Burleys most notorious unsolved crimes. In 1995, 14-year-old Regina Kriegers body was found on the banks of the Snake River weeks after she disappeared. A blood trail led from the teens home, and her body was found with the throat slit and stab wounds to the heart. Rumors swirled for years after the murder, but no one was ever arrested. Now, the FBI says theres new evidence in the case, although its not clear what the new leads are. Nevertheless, were pleased law enforcement hasnt given up hope solving this terrible crime. For the girls family and the communitys sake, we hope the renewed efforts can finally bring the perpetrator to justice. College officials have cultivated a nice image for themselves-scholarly people who care deeply about providing the best possible education for their students. The reality, however, is often very different. They can be petty, self-serving, and ideological, sometimes sacrificing educational quality in favor of other objectives.Occasionally, faculty members become inconvenient to the leadership and must be eliminated. Two recent cases show college leadership at its worst.Consider Professor Dennis Gouws of Springfield College in Massachusetts. Peter Wood explains in this Federalist article that on March 27, Springfield's dean of arts and sciences, Anne Herzog, sent Professor Gouws a letter informing him that he had been placed on "Official Warning Status." That sounds ominous-what had he done?His story begins in 2005, when Gouws was asked by the Springfield English department to teach a course entitled "Men in Literature." It turned out to be a rather popular course and Gouws, who holds tenure, taught it eight times between 2005 and 2015. But in 2015 a student lodged a complaint against the course with school leaders. It wasn't that Professor Gouws had mistreated her, but simply that the course content, focused only on men, bothered her.In a sensible era, officials would have said, "Well, then take something else if you're offended," but "progressive" academics seem incapable of insisting on common sense from students these days, especially if they're in one of our supposedly oppressed groups. At Springfield, the result of the student's gripe was to trigger what Wood terms "a feminist jihad" against a veteran, highly capable faculty member.This has taken the form of a stream of harassments against him by school officials. His standard request for a sabbatical was denied. His syllabi for other courses have been questioned. He has been subjected to dozens of petty directives that don't apply to other professors.Moreover, Wood writes, "Gouws discovered that he stood in considerable risk if he agreed to meet with Dean Herzog in private. He found his recollections of what was said at such meetings were at wide variance with what Dean Herzog reported to others. And he found that his problems with teaching 'Men in Literature' had spilled into almost everything else he tried to do."Contributing greatly to his persona non grata status was the fact that Gouws had become an outspoken advocate for men on campus and had even disagreed in public with the notion that American campuses are in the grip of a rape epidemic.When Gouws asked to know the reasons why he was being subjected to such treatment and said that he wanted them put in writing, his request was denied. When he asked to be allowed to bring a witness to meetings with officials, that too was denied.So Gouws hasn't really done anything, except to disagree with the militant feminism that's running Springfield. He's inconvenient and the dean wants him gone.Incidentally, the English department offers "Women and Literature" and that's perfectly all right.Next consider Nathaniel Bork, an adjunct professor at Aurora Community College in Colorado. He'd been teaching philosophy and comparative religion at the college as an adjunct professor since 2010, without any incident.Now Bork has lost his job because he didn't agree with the administration's efforts at making introductory courses easier to pass.As we read in this Inside Higher Ed story , in September of last year Bork took a call from the chairman of his department, who told him that his employment was immediately terminated. The reason Bork was given for his abrupt termination was his supposedSo a school feels the need to fire an experienced professor for "ineffectiveness" in September? You would expect that if such a faculty member were actually teaching ineffectively, college officials would inform him of the problem and work with him to remedy it.Bork has a different explanation for the school's action. He maintains that the reason for his firing was that he had complained that the department had dumbed down the introductory "gatekeeper" courses in an attempt to increase passage rates, thereby encouraging students to continue on at Aurora.Encouraging students is fine, but watering down courses is not the way to go about that. Bork said that Aurora had told him to cut 20 percent of the material in his introduction to philosophy course, require fewer papers (and no more than a total of eight pages for the whole semester), and devote 30 percent of the course to women and minority philosophers.Bork had resisted that, emailing his superiors,It seems clear that Bork was summarily fired not for any lack of "effectiveness," but because he complained about being compelled to teach such a weak course and the administration's decision to lower academic standards.You shouldn't be surprised at this. College administrators frequently want faculty to lower grading standards and reduce course content in order to keep more students happy. Rarely do the faculty members resist-after all, giving high grades in an easy course makes them more popular-but when they insist on keeping to their standards, the result is apt to be very painful for them.College leaders always pay lip service to educational excellence, but they don't always mean it. Educational excellence often collides with another priority of administrators, namely student retention. When it does, professors like Nathaniel Bork who want to maintain academic rigor become inconvenient.What these cases (and many similar ones) demonstrate is the weakness of oversight in higher education. College officials shouldn't think they have free rein to pursue petty vendettas against faculty members or fire those who want to uphold standards, but often they do. Error 404 Not Found You may have mis-typed the URL. Or the page has been removed. Actually, there is nothing to see here... Click on the links below to do something, Thanks! Take Me our of here For picture posts from 2010 and earlier, see the Earlier Picture Posts Page BILLINGS Zoot Enterprises, a Bozeman-based high-tech company, plans to purchase the Billings GE Capital building and expects to hire some of GE's workers whose jobs will be eliminated by the end of the year. Big Sky Economic Development's board of directors approved an $8 million letter of intent to sell the property in Billings on Thursday morning. BSED owns the building and has been leasing it to GE since its completion in 2009. The property will undergo an appraisal before the deal is finalized. GE announced last November that it would close its Billings operations center by the end of 2017 as part of an overall plan, announced in 2015, to get out of the finance business and concentrate on its industrial businesses. Chris Nelson, chief executive officer of Zoot Enterprises, said the company plans to hire around 25 people in Billings during the next year, but that number could increase in future years. Zoot will also move its Billings computer center, currently located downtown, to the GE building, where it will be more secure, he said. "This is an exciting time for Zoot," Nelson said. "We are marrying the software that we are known for developing with GE-trained staff to deliver top-notch service to our customers and what could be better than doing so in my hometown?" Zoot, founded in 1990, developed a system that allows financial institutions to make instant credit decisions on loans. The company has about 260 employees in the Bozeman area and has operations in Switzerland, Germany and London, England. Zoot is often mentioned as a Montana success story in the technology sector. On average, Zoot services about 1.5 million loans each day, Nelson said. Steve Arveschoug, chief executive officer of Big Sky Economic Development, said Yellowstone Countys economic development agency is excited to bring another job creation development to Billings in the wake of GEs decade-long run in Montana. Arveschoug said discussions with Zoot have been ongoing for more than a year. We reached out to Zoot back in February of 2016 to tour their facility in Bozeman and brainstorm prospects for the Billings GE team and facility, Arveschoug said. Before long, it became clear that the GE facility provided an opportunity for Zoot to grow into the GE space, retain a portion of the GE team and expand the services that Zoot provides to financial institutions, Arveschoug said. Zoot estimates that it will need about $2.5 million to retrofit the GE building to meet its business needs, according to the letter of intent. As part of the agreement, BSED will contribute $500,000 from its opportunity fund to help defray those costs. In addition, BSED will pay Zoot $600,000 that was included in the recently approved GE Capital settlement agreement. GE will also provide BSED with $763,500 over three years to cover the buildings operations and maintenance expenses. That money will be transferred to Zoot when the building purchase closes. Aside from the purchase agreement, BSED will also assist Zoot in applying for money thats available through a variety of job training programs. The pending sale to Zoot frees BSED from the risk associated with owning the building without a tenant. "I know you were all nervous about having that building with debt service on it," Arveschoug told board members. "This gives us a chance to address this issue and put money in the bank. And we're meeting our mission to bring a company that can grow further and provide opportunities in the community. It's about five days before "Noises Off" opens at the University of Montana, and Alessia Carpoca thinks parts of her set look too nice. It's "way too clean, way too nice," she said. "So today we're going to mess it up." Carpoca designed the set for UM's School of Theatre and Dance production of a play by British playwright Michael Frayn. The British playwright went meta, and the set designer can't escape the self-referential nature. In Frayn's farcical script, a small and untalented British theater company stages a cliched British bedroom farce called "Nothing's On." As "Noises Off" progresses, "Nothing's On" degenerates into chaos. In the second act, the audience sees this hapless production from backstage. It fell to Carpoca, the head of the school's design/technology division, to design a set that could rotate all the way around to show the backstage, which won't look as nice when she's done with it. The "Nothing's On" company isn't very good, so she wants their set to be a little rundown. The front, meanwhile, also must look like the set a middling community theater would take on a tour that's gone badly. So there will be little things wrong: missing door knobs, a chandelier that hangs a little too high, or perhaps a little too low. "Everything will be a little askew," she said. It created some difficulties finding the compromise it must be realistic to the world of "Noises Off" while not making the UM department look bad. Plus she had to fight her instincts as a designer. "We should not go overboard and make it too nice, but that is hard, because you always want to design something that's nice as it could be," she said. *** The two-story set, with a staircase to a second-story landing with functioning doors, comprises three different sections that the crew can split apart and rotate during the two intermissions, which allow only 10 to 15 minutes including furniture changes. It was constructed in the school's scene shop, located behind the stage at the Montana Theatre. The shop has ceilings that span above 26 feet, allowing them to build sets in full in the shop before pushing them out to the stage through an equally tall set of doors. Carpoca, who teaches scenery and costume design, stepped in to create the "Noises Off" set. UM typically leaves that role to upper-level undergraduate or graduate students. These are "practical arts," she said, and students need to learn by doing, whether it's lighting, costumes, set design and construction or painting. She said theater/design graduates have a 100 percent job placement rate. For one, they are in high demand within the theater industry, she said. However, if they decide they don't want to continue in drama they have the job skills for other work such as home construction or fashion. Brian Gregoire, the scene shop manager, oversees the construction work done by students enrolled in design classes and a small paid work-study staff. Gregoire said set construction and design takes creativity along with the foundational knowledge of construction work, sometimes applied in ways that aren't obvious to the audience. Each set presents different complications. Last year's UM production of "Treasure Island" called for a ship mast that people could either safely climb or safely fall off. The Montana Repertory Theatre's set design for "Barefoot in the Park" included a 30-foot beam on the ceiling of its small New York apartment. That's not unusual for an apartment, but the set doesn't have the benefit of a solid foundation. Before and after every show, someone had to safely put that beam in place. How sets or props will be used also must be considered. "Factoring in use is a huge thing in scenery compared to residential construction for something as simple as stairs," he said. In a typical home design, stairs are designed to a practical width, allowing a person to safely walk up or down. In the world of theater, people don't just walk up or down. They walk up a few steps, stop and emote, he said. Or they fall down stairs without hurting themselves. Or run down stairs in a 1930s dress with high heels, an action that normal people never do. "Why would you run up and run down a staircase in heels and your ball gown?" Carpoca said. So small things, such as the stairs for "Noises Off," are wider than normal stairs. Furniture for a play must be sturdier, Carpoca said, and structurally reinforced. "If you have a chair, more often than not, someone will be dancing on the chair," she said. Or someone might need to throw the chair across the room. "Those are the fun things those little challenges are what make our job so rewarding," Gregoire said. This book tells the story of how I got a free Ivy League education. So begins Sharon Egretta Suttons When Ivory Towers Were Black, an unusual hybrid of memoir, institutional history and broadside against the entrenched whiteness of the architecture profession in this country. The institution in question is Columbia University and, in particular, its department of architecture and planning. The time frame is between 1965 and 1976, mirroring the emergence and denouement of the black power movement, as Sutton puts it. And the narrative is really a two-part story, exploring how an era of intense student protest at Columbia, which peaked in spring 1968, gave way to a remarkably successful if short-lived effort to recruit students of color to study architecture and urban planning on the universitys campus in Morningside Heights, on the southwestern edge of Harlem. I could paraphrase the story of how Sutton, now professor emeritus at the University of Washington and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, became one of those students, but I am unlikely to improve on her version. And the details, in any case, are what make it memorable. It takes place in the dog days of summer 1968. At the time, she writes, I was working as a musician in the orchestra of the original cast of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, playing The Impossible Dream (The Quest) on my French horn over and over, eight times a week. As an antidote to that mind-numbing sameness, I had begun taking interior design classes at Parsons School of Design during the day (since I mostly worked at night). But in August I received a call from the secretary for Romaldo Giurgola, a famous architect who was then chairman of the Division of Architecture. One of my teachers at Parsons had worked in Giurgolas architecture office and had told him about this black woman who was in his class. And thats how I was recruited to the School of Architecture. What Sutton didnt learn until far later was that she and the rest of the newly recruited students were brought to Columbia by a pair of related forces. The first was a $10-million Ford Foundation grant to the university in 1966 to be used for urban and minority affairs. The second was the student uprisings that peaked in 1968, when Avery Hall, which held the architecture school, was occupied by protesters along with four other buildings on the Columbia campus. In the wake of those protests, which ended with a violent police raid that Sutton says unfolded over two terrifying hours, administrators discovered a) a pressing need to diversify the architecture department, and b) that the Ford Foundation money had never been spent. And so the outreach to French horn players taking classes at Parsons and others like Sutton all over the country began in earnest. Together the new students changed the demographics of the Columbia architecture school dramatically and in short order. Between 1968 and 1971, the percentage of students of color in the department jumped eight-fold, to 16 percent from 2 percent. In the planning division, which Sutton credits for pursuing reforms even more actively, the percentage was higher. At first, Sutton writes, the experience was exhilarating for her and for the other recruited students. They entered a department that had been turned upside down during several years of unrest, opening the eyes of white students and faculty to the sort of injustice and police aggression that the black students had dealt with their entire lives. This, for Sutton, seemed to produce a kind of equilibrium in the department or at least revealed common goals. The recruits, she writes, shared with the Avery insurgents a commitment to change a racist society and the Eurocentric education offered at Columbia. Things werent perfect. Many of the recruits felt isolated. But student demands, on the whole, were taken seriously. There was grant money for traveling. African American architects on the faculty, including the late Max Bond, served as mentors. The recruits more than held their own academically. Inside Avery, Sutton writes, the period between 1968 and 1971 was a magical, intoxicating time. Then it all fell apart or, to be more precise, drained away. A backlash against affirmative action and Lyndon Johnsons Great Society programs during the Nixon administration; a financial crisis in New York and at Columbia; the departure of key figures from (and uncertainty over accreditation within) the architecture department: All of it contributed to an atmosphere where recruiting students of color received less attention and even less funding by 1972. A new dean James Stewart Polshek, who contributes the foreword to the book took over. The number of students of color graduating from the department peaked in 1973, the year Sutton earned her degree, dropped by half the following year and continued to decline steadily after that. Students, Sutton writes, sought out the tranquility of an earlier era. The experiment was over. Suttons book, which began as an oral history of the recruits and their experiences at Columbia and elsewhere, includes updates near the end on what her former classmates are doing now. But it is perhaps most valuable as an instruction manual for a new effort to diversify the field. As Sutton notes, today just 1.5 percent of all registered architects in the U.S. are African American. The strategy how and where Columbia spent that Ford Foundation money is laid out in significant detail. How much went to grassroots efforts to identify promising students and how much to top-down ones. How much was spent in the New York area versus nationally. The great success the recruiters found by making repeated visits to six historically black colleges and universities. If we can only show the resolve to follow it, the road map is there. The University of Montana is in a sweet spot for higher education as far as Dean Brock Tessman sees it. Tessman, chair of a council that put together a strategic plan for UM, said in the future, three different types of universities will survive: Massive ones, such as Arizona State University, which has counted more students than the population of the city of Missoula in recent years; intimate liberal arts colleges with, say, 750 students; and ones like UM, offering the best of both in his view. "I think the University of Montana is positioned right in that magical middle point," Tessman said Friday. It's large enough that students get the undergraduate experience available at a flagship, he said, but it's small enough they'll get to know faculty and develop relationships with them. The dean offered that perspective at a question-and-answer session with roughly 50 people including faculty, staff, and other campus officials. At the hour-long meeting, participants praised the plan but also noted some of the challenges of implementing it. Tessman remarked on UM's size in response to a question from head of African-American Studies Tobin Shearer. Shearer asked to hear the elevator pitch about the plan, "UM Strategic Vision: Creating Change Together," and he also lauded the document. "This is one of the more hopeful things I've seen emerge from the university in months and maybe years," said Shearer, also associate professor of history, to applause. The plan calls for investing in leadership, growth, and relationships, and it also outlines initiatives. One goal listed as a strategic opportunity is that UM establish an "Institute for Community Partnerships and Solutions." "The ICPS will bring community and campus together through cross-disciplinary research and creative scholarship that directly tackles challenges facing Missoulians and Montanans," the plan said. Jeanne Loftus, head of the the Franke Global Leadership Initiative, said she has heard some of the terms in the plan identified as priorities before. Previous planning called on UM to focus on online, international, and interdisciplinary efforts. But Loftus said strategies need to be in place to turn the goals, such as being interdisciplinary, to reality. "I think we have some real challenges with that," Loftus said. Another audience member agreed. Some programs, such as neuroscience, are part of a couple of different budgets, he said. But UM operates in silos, and one silo undercuts another in order to meet its budget. The outcome works for the unit, he said, but it's bad for UM as a whole. "What are the tactics to address that particular issue?" Tessman, who acknowledged UM's challenges, said some of the strongest feedback council members heard about the plan was that it doesn't address cultural change and organizational reform. But he also said implementation will depend on a couple of other efforts underway at UM, and he said the plan, labeled version 1.0, is a beginning. "That one point zero is intentional. It's meant to imply that there will in fact be a 1.1 and perhaps a 1.2 and so on," Tessman said. If a tree issue blows up in the forest, does anyone hear it? Considering that eight of every 10 Americans live in big cities, thats a problem for the Society of American Foresters. On Friday, the organization of forest professionals, loggers, mill workers, academics and government land managers gathered to puzzle how to better get their stories told. Because while millions of Americans may never see a Ponderosa pine burn in a wildfire, they will breathe the smoke and may cancel their vacation plans and might pay more taxes for disaster relief. Meanwhile, the assembled society members at the University of Montana struggled with their own mixed messages, long-standing mistrust of opponents and unfamiliarity with a fast-changing media landscape. If we cant get our collective act together, how can we expect the public to come around to broader agreement on forest issues? asked Dave Atkins, a retired forester who now runs the online Treesource.org media outlet and serves on the North American Forest Partnership communication committee. He cited a recent NAFP survey that found 45 percent of U.S. and Canadian residents think that trees are harvested in national parks and protected areas (not true), and 64 percent believe deforestation is a major threat in North America (forests here are shrinking, but not at the rate of tropical forests in the Amazon or Indonesia). We have to take responsibility for the fact that people dont understand what the forest condition really is, Atkins said. Seventy-one percent of the respondents had not heard about a forestry sector story in the past year. In places like Montana, we see this stuff all the time. But 83 percent of Americans live in urban areas. That means explaining things like fire-borrowing to Congress members or taxpayer organizations starts from a point of blank confusion. The U.S. Forest Service must borrow money from its own day-to-day activities to pay for wildfire expenses which in recent years has often consumed more than half its annual budget. Thats very different from the natural disaster funding systems the federal government uses to provide relief after hurricanes or tornadoes. Fires a big deal, said former Chief of the Forest Service Dale Bosworth. We need to do a better job communicating the things that can be done on the ground, in environmentally friendly ways, that can help with the fire problem. Thinning followed by adding fire every 15 or 20 years could make a huge difference, but we havent communicated that very well. We havent explained that whats happening every year doesnt need to happen. Representatives for senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines added that Congress would be working on issues like overturning the Cottonwood decision a federal court ruling requiring the Forest Service to do much more planning where endangered species are affected. That likely will face intense opposition from supporters of the Endangered Species Act unless someone can make the case that forest planning can be done without hurting protected animals. UM Bolle Center for People and Forests Director Martin Nie said considering the opinions of others outside the usual tribe of co-workers can be tough. And people deeply invested in a topic often dont get why the rest of the world doesnt feel the urgency. What has the Society of American Foresters done to engage with the Wildlife Society? Nie asked. I saw the same thing a few years ago when I was at a Society of Conservation Biology meeting, and everyone was asking why wont the public engage in this ecological crisis? Retired Forest Service Supervisor Edward Monnig said the issues got more personal as well. Noting the divide between people who believe nature is best left alone to self-correct and those who think people should intervene to restore historical conditions, Monnig said forest professionals need to consider their audience when proposing ideas. Were dealing with the results of years of fire suppression in places like the Clearwater-Nez Perce National Forest or our own backyard in the Rattlesnake (National Recreation Area), Monnig said. We did lots of high-grading (logging best-quality trees) in the Rattlesnake in the past. How much should we intervene in those natural processes? Any kind of intervention takes time and participation, added retired Bitterroot National Forest supervisor Orville Daniels. Speaking of his own involvement with the Clearwater Basin Collaborative thats working on restoration of 1.5 million acres in Idaho, Daniels warned that the highly polarized communities at land management negotiations needed patient trust-building before they might agree to any course of action. We as a profession need to get our act together to reach these people, Daniels said. We as a profession are the best-qualified to make this work. While police are still searching for a man who fired a gun Wednesday during an altercation outside a Missoula apartment building, charges have been filed against another person in the case. On Wednesday morning, 17-year-old Lacey Moore called police saying she was being held at gunpoint before her phone call died. As officers were responding, they received a report a shot had been fired, but all the people in the parking lot of the complex had left the scene when they arrived. Acting on a tip, Moore was found safe at a Missoula hotel on Thursday. Cory Lee Kendall, 43, is charged with felonies for endangering the welfare of a child and solicitation of evidence tampering in relation to the case. Kendall was originally found and questioned by police on Wednesday, after which he was released. At the time, Kendall was wearing a holster and a gun was in his car, although police say he is not believed to be the shooter from the incident at the apartment building. According to a court affidavit, a .45-caliber shell casing was found in the parking lot. On Thursday, police found Kendall at the motel where they located Moore. The court affidavit describes Moore and Kendall who is termed a methamphetamine dealer as being in a relationship with each other. In an interview with investigators, Kendall denied supplying her drugs but allegedly said he did give her money for meth and helped her to buy meth from others. In 2011, Kendall was charged with selling his medical marijuana to a 16-year-old described in court documents as his girlfriend. He eventually pleaded guilty to felony drug possession with intent to distribute under a plea agreement with prosecutors. District Court Judge Robert Dusty Deschamps imposed a three-year deferred sentence in the case. Kendall is being held on a $50,000 bail imposed by Justice of the Peace Landee Holloway following his initial court appearance on Friday. Sgt. Travis Welsh with the Missoula Police Department said the agency is still investigating the case, including searching for the suspected shooter, described only as a 6-feet-tall white male with shaggy brown hair. Coal is dead. Well, literally, the vegetation that made up coal died in the Carboniferous Period hundreds of millions of years ago. Coal has been called beautiful because combusting coal generates electricity to produce everything you can imagine that runs on that power, as well as directly producing heat energy. So yes, that is beautiful if you ignore the tradeoffthat since the dawn of the industrial age this grimy organic rock has also polluted our skies and lungs with soot and sulfur, mercury and disease. Its true that with technological advances we burn coal more cleanly than in the past, but with population and consumption growth we crave more and more energy and resources, and today we remove mountain tops to get coal and fill in streambeds with the detritus. But coal, indeed, is truly beautiful! The vegetation that became coal stripped carbon from an atmosphere that averaged 800 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the Carboniferous Period. That transformation into coal performed an amazing environmental service from a human-centric perspective, fixing carbon, locking it up, playing a part in the evolution of an atmosphere and climate beneficial to human lives. Once you understand the science, the stupidest use of coal is to dig up all that reserve and burn it and release that carbon back into our atmosphere over a mere few hundred years. Yet dig and burn we continue, along with other fossil fuelscarbon reservesand that is why we now have over 400 ppm of CO2 in our atmosphere and rising, a meteoric increase from 310 ppm a mere 60 years ago. Climate scientists estimate that if we actually continue "business as usual" and consume our fossil fuel reserves over the next few centuries, CO2 levels will top 1,500 ppm, and this devastating scenario doesnt even account for feedback mechanisms of other, even worse, greenhouse gases such as frozen methane released from a warming Earth. And the second stupidest thing is to defend "business as usual" by denying climate change exists and merely crying jobs! Yes, everyone deserves to make a living, but not if that "living" causes unnecessary catastrophe. The unremitting pumping of carbon into our atmosphere is clearly leading us towards a global future of unnecessary suffering, conflict and death. Clean coal is an empty slogan, because regardless of some future technology to capture carbon, it will never make economic and environmental sense to go to such effort to keep on digging and burning coal. Fossil fools such as President Trump ban government websites from uttering the CC words and call climate change a hoax. Fossil fools such as new Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Pruitt deny the reality of climate change and human involvement. And fossil fools such as Montanas U.S. Sen. Steve Daines rail against the "War on Coal" without even mentioning climate change. There is no war on coal, but simply a rational reaction to a threat, embracing ultimate self-preservation, as opposed to short-term greed. There definitely is a war on science. We need a war on stupidity. Burning coal is stupid. Ultimately, burning fossil fuels is stupid, but coal is the poster child of such stupidity. While politicians mouth platitudes on Earth Day, remember that as CO2 levels continue to rise, as the Earth continues to warm, as ice continues to melt, as the oceans continue to expand and acidify, as climate refugees swell across the planet, remember: Its the carbon, stupid. As Earths ecosystems go, so go all the systems of human civilization. Coal is beautiful. Keep coal dead. After 30 years in public service management, I have a broad perspective regarding government. We always hear that government is a big business and it should be run accordingly. That feat is only possible if we treat it like a business and put the political fodder aside. Greg Gianforte has an extremely successful business career. He is an advocate for the changes we need to see in the federal architecture. Gianforte wants to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C., by changing the architectural landscape and ensure Montanas voice is heard. Gianforte will strive for accountability in Congress and bring the tough issues to the table. He believes a balanced budget is paramount. He is not afraid to address term limits and fight to make sure members of Congress do not become lobbyists. Gianforte will fight for senior citizen rights to Social Security and Medicare, prioritize veterans issues, and develop real healthcare solutions that work. Montanas economy is a critical issue. Over-regulation has stifled our economy. Gianforte wants to see more success and greater prosperity for Montanans. He wants to capitalize on the coal and timber industries. And, Gianforte is committed to reaching out to Montanans and stakeholders to develop collaborative solutions on the issues we face. Gianforte has a strong business acumen, has Montanas interests at heart, and he is running for the right reasons. Greg Gianforte deserves our vote for Montanas representative to Congress. Dan McGowan, president, McGowan Enterprises, Inc., Helena Re: Donald Trump Jr. to help Greg Gianforte. The Republican billionaires club shows no limits to what they will do to get their guy elected to Congress. Now Gianforte is getting help from Donald Trump Jr. at rallies across the state of Montana. This is your tax dollars at work. Even through Donald Trump Jr. is not involved in his fathers administration, he is protected by the U.S. Secret Service, and the taxpayers are paying for his flights and travel expenses. In addition, Gianforte is getting help from out-of-state dark money running ads that post Rob Quist as a crook. Is this what the Montana voters want another puppet who votes for the billionaires' club to get tax breaks while the rest of us pay the tab? Send the billionaires a message; vote for Rob Quist and tell Gianforte to move back to New Jersey. Frank DiNenna, Lakeside Time Magazines Brilliant People & their Not so Brilliant Plan of Action I have not bought a Time Magazine in decades. I'm not sure how long it was since I bought one but I think the price was somewhere around $.50. Based on what I paid for the one I just bought, it will probably be the last one I ever buy. I paid $6.99. When the clerk told me the price I said, "No, I don't want a six-pack. I just want one". I became curious about what would make those Brilliant People at Time Magazine think they could charge $6.99 for their magazine. You know what happens when I get curious. You guessed it. I put on my Potted Plant Outfit and drove to Time's Headquarters in New York City and slithered my way into their board meeting. What I found out was these brilliant people who run Time Magazine are not too smart. Here is their plan for the future... They are going to continue to raise the price of their magazine. They are planning to go after a smaller market of very rich people. I actually heard one of them say, "Once we get the price up to $1,000,000 an issue we will have it made". They have figured out they will only need to sell 10 issues per publication at $1,000,000 and they will be in able to make an excellent profit that will generate very nice bonuses into the foreseeable future. ------------------------ Actually, as illogical as this thinking is, I see another major problem on the horizon for Time Magazine. In my $6.99 issue I read a story about the recent Presidential Election that contained this quote from a Hillary Clinton supporter, "I thought, when Hillary becomes President, girls will be treated better. Boys wouldn't boss them around anymore." I will not get into any commentary about whether or not there is any basis in fact about why this would be true or not. I would like to make you aware that this quote came from a 10 Year Old Girl . Does Time Magazine really think it can get us to spend somewhere between $6.99 to $1,000,000 an issue by interviewing 10 Year Old Children ? Would I kid u? Smartfella Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen A facelift is in store for Park Street, with several property renovations that are either planned or already underway. A group of nonprofits occupying the Phoenix Building will soon unveil plans for a new revitalization project of the Uptown structure at 66-68 W. Park St. The group, which was recently awarded a $37,500 Community Development Block Grant from the Montana Department of Commerce to compile an architectural report, will host an event Saturday to celebrate the project, which the group is calling Operation Phoenix Rising. Olivia Everett, creative director of the Imagine Butte Resource Center, an arts-centered nonprofit that resides in the building, said the event will showcase the groups vision for the Phoenix along with an exhibition documenting the buildings contribution to Mining City history. This isnt the first time efforts have been made to revitalize the Phoenix, which is owned by the National Affordable Housing Network. The Housing Network purchased the building in 2005 and made upgrades to the structure using a matching $86,000 grant from Buttes former Urban Revitalization Agency. In 2013 the group received another URA matching grant for $150,000 and a loan from the current URA for $204,500 in 2015. Also in 2013, Mainstreet Uptown Butte received a $150,000 matching grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, part of which went to the establishment of the Imagine Butte Resource Center. As a result, the IBRC opened in 2015 with a classroom, print studio, mezzanine of offices, small independent public studio, and the Foreground Gallery. The building currently serves as the community headquarters for local nonprofit organizations and partnering volunteers. Taco del Sol co-owner Carrie Fisher, meanwhile, said she and her husband Buddy Fisher are also planning an upgrade to the building they own at 146 W. Park St. Fisher said they want to expand their Taco del Sol business into an adjacent storefront, where they plan to offer espresso, breakfast burritos, and beer and wine. Demolition work is already underway, Fisher said, and they expect to have a building permit for the construction next week. Monica Evans-Cavanaugh, who owns Cavanaugh's County Celtic gift shop at 131 W. Park St., said she wants to expand as well. Evans-Cavanaugh said she plans to move her shop across the street to a third storefront in the Taco del Sol building. Evans said she isnt exactly sure when the new location will open but that shes shooting for some time during the summer or fall. As for Everett, she says she hopes the restoration of the Phoenix can add to Buttes cultural heartbeat and contribute to other revitalization efforts in the city. We really do want to feel as much as possible that community members are sharing this experience with us, said Everett. Thats always been our mission with so many of these projects that we work on, that vision that all boats rise. Montana Tech is partnering with Bozeman-based Absaroka Energy, General Electric, and the U.S. Department of Energys National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado to study the effectiveness of a new technology that could make integrating renewable energy into the nations grid system more streamlined. Proponents of renewable energy have long touted the benefits of non-extractive energy sources like wind and solar, but power companies can sometimes be hesitant to integrate renewables because of the variable amounts of energy they produce. During a storm with high winds, for example, wind farms generate a lot of electricity all at once. But when the weather is stagnant, the farm might not be producing any electricity at all. This can be especially problematic for grid operators, because they need to synchronize the amount of energy produced with demand, which also changes over time. But Absaroka is working on developing pumped storage hydro technology that could make these issues less problematic. Absaroka and Montana Tech were recently tapped by NREL to study the effectiveness of the companys technology as part of DOEs HydroNEXT initiative, which was launched to facilitate hydropower technology development. DOE is dishing out $1.25 million for the 24-month study. While pumped storage hydro might sound like a fancy term, the technology has actually been around for almost as long as the light bulb. Its first recorded use goes back to the late 1800s, and the concept goes a bit like this: energy can be stored by pumping water from a lower elevation to a higher one and released by letting the water run downhill through a turbine. In the case of the wind farm, for example, you can store excess energy produced during a storm by using it to pump water to a higher elevation. Then, when you want to access the energy, you can let the water flow through the turbines back to the lower elevation. Carl Borgquist, Absarokas president and chief executive officer, described the system as being a bit like charging a battery. This technology is creating what you could think of as a battery where the storage medium is water and gravity, he said. Absaroka is bringing the technology into the future through what the company is calling the Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Hydro Project. Seven years in the making, the project involves the companys proposal to build a pumped storage hydro facility on private land in Meagher County, located three miles west of Martinsdale on Highway 294. The proposed facility will consist of one lower and one upper reservoir connected by a tunnel. Nearby Cottonwood Creek will serve as the water source, though Borgquist said the facility will be a closed system that will only draw from the creek during spring runoff to make up for water lost due to evaporation. The company hopes to begin construction on the facility which is projected to cost $900 million, take three years to build and produce 350 construction jobs sometime next year. Borgquist, whos a lawyer by training, said he first came up with the idea in 2007 when one of his clients asked him to get involved in wind development. I started realizing that, as more renewables came onto the grid, that tools like this would be necessary to keep generation and load demand in balance, he said. Incidentally, Borgquists first idea was to use the Berkeley Pit as a lower reservoir for a hydro storage project but soon learned doing so was unfeasible. Ultimately Borgquist settled on Gordon Butte for his project, which he said has an ideal geography for pumped storage with an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet and 5.5-mile proximity to a nearby Colstrip transmission line. But whats makes Gordon Butte project unique isnt just its geography. Its also a General Electric ternary pumped-storage technology the project is using an all-in-one unit that functions both as a pump and a turbine. Montana Tech Electrical Engineering Assistant Professor Matt Donnelly (who, along with department head Dan Trudnowski, will be studying how well the technology performs) said what makes the ternary unit special is its speed. According to Donnelly, the unit is able to switch from its pumping and generating mode at 20 megawatts per second and can even pump and generate at the same time. The system is so fast, Donnelly said, its able to help with grid stability. Donnelly described the grid system of the United States as a massive web of inputs and outputs consisting of thousands of generators that require a careful balancing act to maintain. Donnelly said grid stability is an area of expertise for the Electrical Engineering Department at Montana Tech. He and Trudnowski will be studying the project's impact on power system dynamics, which he described as the study of how to keep the components interconnected, even during a worst-case scenario. One such worst-case scenario occurred in 2003, when a sagging power line brushed against a tree branch, which lead to a chain reaction that left 50 million people across the Northeast without power. According to Borgquist, the incident speaks to just how important grid stability can be. Donnelly added that he believes that if Gordon Butte comes to fruition, it could poise Montana to be a leader in energy production but not just in the form of coal production. Everyone in the world right now is struggling to find ways to integrate renewable technology, he said. Police reports Alcohol in car with kids Butte police responding to a home on the 3100 block of Carter Street just after midnight Friday arrested a woman for allegedly driving drunk with two children in the car. Police said Crystal Lynn Thompson, 36, told them she had been driving, and when she opened the door to get her ID, officers saw an open Twisted Tea inside. According to police, Thomas failed field sobriety tests, and the kids 5 and 7 years old were released to another adult. At the jail, police said Thompson blew over the legal driving limit and she was booked for misdemeanor DUI and two counts of felony criminal endangerment. Extension of the concession contract with Hell Creek Marina will be one of the items on the Montana State Parks and Recreation Board's agenda when it meets on Thursday, April 20, in Anaconda. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in Room 103 of Fairmont Hot Springs, located at 1500 Fairmont Road. Also on the agenda are capital projects over $5,000; Recreational Trails Program and Off-Highway Vehicle Program grant approvals; a review of the proposed 2018-19 Biennial Fee Rule; informational updates on the Makoshika State Park Campground waterline extension project; the Smith River Advisory Council; and the 2017 Montana legislative session. The public is invited to attend the meeting. Public comment for items not on the agenda is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Online streaming audio is unavailable. On Wednesday, April 19, board members will participate in tours of Anaconda Stack State Park in Anaconda and Pipestone OHV area near Whitehall. To view the board's agenda or for more information about agenda items, visit: http://stateparks.mt.gov/about-us/parksBoard.html. Butte police arrested a driver and his passenger early Friday morning after a state officer shot out one of the vehicle's tires and the vehicle crashed, ending an Uptown chase. The chase began at a home on the 100 block of East Platinum Street, which state probation and parole officers were searching, Silver Bow County Sheriff Ed Lester said in a press release. According to Lester, two officers were outside the home, and when a car drove up, they approached it. Lester said the car then sped off and one of the officers fired at least two rounds at its tires, deflating the right rear tire. "The only shots fired were by the parole officer," Lester said. Three Butte police patrol cars pursued the vehicle to Shields Avenue and East Second Street, where the vehicle struck a guard rail on the north end of the bridge and crashed. The driver, 28-year-old James Wasson, was arrested for three felony counts of criminal endangerment, DUI refusal, fleeing from police, reckless driving, and driving with a suspended or revoked license. One passenger, Lawrence Roach, 34, was arrested for a felony probation violation. A third passenger was identified but not arrested. Two others at the house being searched also were arrested, but Lester said they were not involved in the chase. The Montana Department of Criminal Investigation is heading up the investigation as they do for all officer-involved shootings, and Butte police are assisting. Wasson was sentenced in 2011 to five years in the Department of Corrections for stealing a motorcycle in 2009 as well as burglary charges. According to police reports, on March 10, Wasson arrived to the scene of a traffic stop after another man was arrested for driving Wasson's car with a suspended license. When police tried to arrest Wasson for failing to appear in court, he fled on foot and was arrested after hiding in a parked car in a garage. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Build your health & fitness knowledge Sign up here to get the latest health & fitness updates in your inbox every week! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy HELENA Montana's governor has sent a bill back to lawmakers that would have allowed people to carry concealed weapons in restaurants that sell alcohol, saying weapons and intoxicating beverages don't mix. In an amendatory veto Friday, the governor wrote that "Montanans recognize that guns and alcohol in public places don't mix." He said the bill, House Bill 494, carried by Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, would create uncertainty. The bill would have let a person with a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon to bring a concealed gun into any restaurant where alcohol is not the chief item for sale. The governor's veto would only allow concealed weapons in restaurants where alcohol is not served. "Establishments that serve alcohol are often gathering places in Montana," he said. "It is not uncommon for a bar to also serve food and for family-friendly restaurants to serve alcohol." Bullock said that while he is a strong advocate for Second Amendment Rights, he is "also an advocate for common sense." The Legislature is on break until next Tuesday. When they reconvene, the amendatory veto will go to the House floor for a vote. Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] HELENA Gov. Steve Bullock has yet to name a new commissioner of political practices calling into question whether Montana lawmakers will have enough time to vet a nominee before the legislative session draws to a close, possibly as soon as next week. Some Republicans are eager to see the current commissioner out the door. But that won't happen until Bullock nominates and the state Senate confirms a replacement for Jonathan Motl, who was controversial from the moment Bullock nominated him for the post four years ago to enforce state laws governing political campaigns, ethics and lobbying. "There was some extreme politics when I was nominated and confirmed, and so there's going to be some politics involved when my successor is named. And that's probably what's going on," Motl said. Senate President Scott Sales doubts political motives are behind the delay, saying the governor has assured him that a nominee would be named soon. As the legislative session winds to a close, the matter of replacing Motl has been dangling, as contentious pieces of legislation such as the state budget and an infrastructure bonding bill remain hanging. "My opinion is that the selection of the commissioner is not tied to that. It better not be," Sales said. "I'm hoping (the governor) lives up to his commitment and gets a name to us this week, and we can hold hearings before we leave town." Bullock is picking from two nominees sent to him by a bipartisan legislative panel: Jeff Mangan, a former Democratic legislator, and Ben Tiller, a staff attorney for the Montana state auditor. "I haven't spoken to any of the candidates saying they will have the job," Bullock said, during his meeting with reporters on Friday. The commissioner would be the governor's last key appointment after the Senate considers his nominee to lead the Department of Corrections, which is expected to happen midweek. Motl asserts he can stay in the job If a new commissioner is not confirmed by the time the Legislature adjourns. He said he would have no plans to resign. That would likely anger some Republicans who have made no secret of their dislike for how Motl has performed his job. Critics argue that he has been overly partisan by focusing too heavily on Republicans, although Motl disputes that assertion and says he's performed his due diligence in investigating Democrats. The Senate could find a way to fast-track the appointment if it chooses. However, the governor would first need to formally nominate a new commissioner and send the name to the Senate, which has confirmation authority over the governor's top-level appointees. Lawmakers typically hold committee hearings on the nominee before sending the matter to the full Senate for consideration. Montana Highway Patrol seized more than eight pounds of marijuana and arrested one person during a traffic stop on Thursday. The man arrested, 52-year-old Steven Daniel Martin, was charged with one count of felony criminal possession with intent to distribute. He appeared Friday in Yellowstone County Justice Court. Justice David A. Carter set bond at $5,000 at the hearing and ordered a GPS monitoring unit if he is released. According to court documents, a trooper pulled over a vehicle after seeing it tailing another on Interstate 90 on Thursday night. Martin was driving and his wife was in the passenger seat, charges state. Martin's wife allegedly told the trooper that they were visiting a cousin in Washington, while Martin said they were visiting a cousin in Oregon, according to court documents. The trooper noted a marijuana smell in the vehicle, and Martin reportedly produced a small bottle of it from the center console. After a K-9 unit alerted to a smell in the vehicle, the trooper obtained a search warrant. They found six one-pound bags of marijuana and three additional bags weighing 2.5 pounds, as well as edible marijuana products, charges state. Another bag reportedly contained five empty bands for labeling stacks of money. The bands were labeled $1,000. Martin is scheduled to appear in Yellowstone County District Court on April 26. Need a job? If you can work, youre a hot commodity these days. With Napa Countys unemployment rate hovering at new record lows, employers are eager to connect with would-be new hires. To fill that need, local employers will be seeking new employees at the second Annual Spring Community Career Expo from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Napa Valley Colleges library plaza. About 50 employers will attend the Expo, which is free, open to the public and features free parking. Organizers are hoping to attract job seekers of all ages, experience levels and backgrounds who are willing to share their resumes and be interviewed. We are looking to fill two internship positions this summer with our CPA firm, said Jeff Vance, director of operations for Ganze & Company of Napa, one of the employers who will be interviewing job candidates at the Expo. This internship could turn into a full-time position, so we are closely looking at college students. Their responsibilities will include data entry, account reconciliations, and month-end entries. We want to attract people who are not only looking to obtain their CPA certificates but who want to join a growing company that already has experienced accountants who are driven in their pursuit of excellence in both their professional and personal lives, said Vance. We encourage each team member to grow personally and professionally and keep a good work/life balance. As a firm we look to hire the best, considering experience, expertise and character, he said. Erik Burrow, another employer who will attend the Expo, said DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Spa Napa Valley-American Canyon, has hired job seekers he met at last years NVC Expo. Last year, with the leadership of Dr. Sherry Tennyson of American Canyons Family Resource Center, the DoubleTree was able to recruit some very talented and (hospitality) career-minded individuals, said Burrow, the hotels general manager. The beauty of this industry is that it can take people who are willing to work hard and exhibit a sincere interest in providing exceptional service, and put them on a trajectory path to anywhere they want to go, said Burrow. Many entry-level employees have quickly advanced into supervisory roles and ultimately upper-management and executive positions. We hope to find more of the same at this years Expo, he said. The Career Expo is being organized with the help of Karen Litzenberg, human resources director for the California Department of State Hospitals-Napa (Napa State Hospital) in collaboration with the Napa Valley College Career Center and the office of state Sen. Bill Dodd. Litzenberg said she is excited to take a more active role in this years event. We hope to see a great turnout of job seekers this year so that we can match more NVC students and residents from the greater Napa area with employers who need staff, said Litzenberg. Here at Napa State Hospital, we are like a little town of our own and we hope to connect with candidates interested in a variety of jobs, from food service to accounting, to plumbers, electricians, engineers, police officers, nurses, psychiatric technicians, doctors, office support staff, and many other vocations, Litzenberg said. We have something for everyone. Employers at the event will include, US Bank, Meritage Spa and Resort, DoubleTree Hotel and Spa, Balloons Above the Valley, Bank of Napa, Bay Respite Care, Coast Landscape Maintenance, Constellation, Long Meadow Ranch, Meadowood Napa Valley, Mezzetta, Raleys, Villagio Resorts, Mumm Napa, Walgreens, WestAmerica Bank, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, the California Employment Development Department, and many others. More information is available at DSH.recruitment@dsh.ca.gov or the Napa Valley College Career Center website: napavalley.edu/studentaffairs/CareerCenter. The cancellations came quickly and in rapid succession. Within days of President Trump's first executive order restricting travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, a number of European travel groups pulled their plans, amounting to a loss of 2,000 overnight stays for Hostelling International USA. The ban would complicate travel for citizens of the countries cited - among them Iran, Syria and Libya. But Canadians, Europeans and others were dropping their plans, too. As group organizers put it, people suddenly had an unsettling sense that the United States wasn't as welcoming a place as it once was. The result was a wave of withdrawals. "Getting those cancellations all at once, that was startling," said Russ Hedge, chief executive of HIU, which oversees 52 hostels across the country. "We've never seen something like that." From hostels to major hotel chains such as Marriott, tour group operators to outfits that cater to business travelers, the toll of Trump's proposals on the nation's tourism industry has been swift. Some say long-term damage has been done. And it could be compounded by recent reports of Trump administration plans to implement "extreme vetting" of foreign travelers. Visitors - including those from allies such as France and Germany - could be pressed to turn over mobile phone contacts, social media passwords and financial records, according to a Wall Street Journal report. "The travel ban is only a negative at this point," said Michael Bellisario, an analyst for the investment bank Robert W. Baird & Co. "It hurts travel, regardless of whether we're talking about one of the six banned countries or not," he said, referring to the second, revised entry ban. Demand for flights to the United States has fallen in nearly every country since January, according to Hopper, a travel-booking app that analyzes more than 10 billion daily airfare price quotes to derive its data. Searches for U.S. flights from China and Iraq have dropped 40 percent since Trump's inauguration, while demand in Ireland and New Zealand is down about 35 percent. (One exception: Russia, where searches for flights to the United States have surged 60 percent since January.) The result could be an estimated 4.3 million fewer people coming to the United States this year, resulting in $7.4 billion in lost revenue, according to Tourism Economics, a Philadelphia-based analytics firm. Next year, the fallout is expected to be even larger, with 6.3 million fewer tourists and $10.8 billion in losses. Miami is expected to be hit hardest, followed by San Francisco and New York, the firm said. The administration's travel ban deals a blow to an industry that has only recently recovered from a $600 billion loss following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "In the aftermath of 9/11, at first people didn't feel safe coming here, and then they didn't feel welcome," said Jonathan Grella, an executive vice president at the U.S. Travel Association. "Our industry still refers to that as 'the lost decade.' There is a very real risk that that could happen again." --- As anecdotal evidence mounts, industry experts say it's increasingly clear that travelers from all over - Canada and Mexico, Europe and Asia - are rethinking their plans to visit the United States. Marriott International, the world's largest hotel chain, has noted a 15 percent drop in bookings from Mexico to the United States. Meanwhile, bookings from the Middle East to the United States fell about 30 percent in February. The strong dollar, executives said, contributed to a decline in international travel to the United States. Mike McCormick, executive director of the Global Business Travel Association, said that following Trump's first travel order, there was a "pronounced drop in bookings," resulting in estimated losses of $185 million. "It hurts the industry," he said. "You have discretion in moving meetings and events to other places. They don't have to be in New York or Chicago or here in the U.S." Fifteen miles from the White House, the Sheraton Tysons Hotel is now offering a free Apple Watch to anybody who books a meeting. "We're doing everything we can to get through this storm," said Chris Zindash, the hotel's director of sales and marketing. Concerned guests have been calling for weeks, he said, and a group from Asia recently backed out of a long-planned visit. "There is a lot of apprehension," Zindash said, "a lot of fear that people will arrive here and the gates will be closed." At Hostelling International, among the first to cancel was a British-based youth group that had planned a trip for 400 to the East Coast this summer. The three-week gathering, called Merit360, was to culminate in presentations to the United Nations. But then Trump issued his first travel ban. Nearly 80 citizens of the affected countries had already paid their deposits for the annual trip. The year before, when Barack Obama was president and there were no such bans in place, nearly 200 of the organization's 550 participants had failed to acquire proper visas for their trip. This year was bound to be much worse. "This has been a setback on so many levels," said Marlou Hermsen, chief operating officer of World Merit, which oversees the program. "When the first ban was announced, that's when we thought: It's real. We're not welcome anymore." Two-thirds of participants voted to move the gathering to Britain, with plans to meet with Parliament in London instead of the United Nations in New York. Grella, of the U.S. Travel Association, says it's not so much the executive orders that bother him, but the fact that the U.S. government hasn't made an effort to reassure international travelers. "All it takes is a little rebranding: 'Here's who's no longer welcome for the time being, but for everybody else, yes, we're open for business,' " Grella said. "The ripple effects of this are very real. We've unnecessarily ruffled a lot of feathers." --- Since Trump announced the ban, Marie Aguado has canceled three trips: business travel to Los Angeles, a visit to see her brother in Austin and a family vacation to Disney World. "We're afraid to leave," said Aguado, an American who lives in Mexico City with her French-born husband and two daughters. She asked to be identified by her middle and last names for fear of government retribution. "I'm dead serious about not going home," she said. "When the ban happened, I was thinking of my children." Aguado's oldest daughter was born in Dubai. The other was born in Mexico City. Both are also French citizens. "I was just thinking they're going to see my daughter was born in the Middle East," she said. "And then what's going to happen? I got totally freaked out and said to my brother, 'I'm not coming to see you anymore. Come see me.' " Just one more wrinkle, she said: Her brother's wife is a green-card holder from Ukraine. "They're afraid to travel, too," Aguado said. That fear of leaving - and re-entering - the United States has led to a slowdown in traffic to Mexican border cities, which have long been popular destinations for shoppers and those seeking cheaper health care. Francisco Vazquez Michel, a Mexican dentist in the border town of Nogales, said that 80 percent of his clients are Mexicans or Hispanics living in the United States, who cross the border for less-expensive care. Now about half as many as usual are coming, he said. "They are very afraid, and it's fear that Donald Trump put into Mexicans," he said. "One day, not long ago, all of our appointments [were] canceled in one day, because the rumor went around that if people crossed, they would lose their visas." The president of the Nogales chamber of commerce, Carlos Jimenez Robles, said that the number of shoppers crossing into Mexico had dropped by 40 percent. "We have seen a hardening by border agents, where they have more questions for people, more doubts about who people are," Jimenez said. "Not only with tourists, also with American citizens." --- Not everybody reported an immediate slowdown in business. "It hasn't made a difference to us," said Nayan Patel, owner of the Georgetown Inn in Washington. "America is still America - we're still a democratic country full of opportunity - and that's enough to get people to come here." Small World Vacations, a travel agency in New Jersey that specializes in Disney vacations, hasn't noticed much of a drop-off, either. It has received just one cancellation this year, from an Iranian American with a German passport. He didn't want to leave on a Disney cruise to the Bahamas out of fear he wouldn't be allowed back into the country, said Sue Pisaturo, the agency's founder. "We do get our share of international travelers from every country - even countries I've never heard of - but so far it's business as usual," she said. That's not the case, though, at Westmount High School in Montreal. Seniors there had been planning their graduation trip for months. "We usually go to New York but decided this year to go to Washington," teacher Sabrina Jafralie said. "The kids were overjoyed." They were drawn to the capital, she said, by the new African American History museum and were interested in visiting the Holocaust Museum. One hundred students signed up. Then the Trump travel ban hit. Jafralie, who is Canadian-born but whose father emigrated from India 40 years ago, realized that four of the students were from Iran. They held Canadian visas but weren't Canadian citizens. Students from Pakistan and Sri Lanka also expressed concern. They had read a number of media reports about people being stopped at the U.S. border for long interrogations. A Montreal-area woman wearing a hijab was blocked from going on a day-long shopping trip to Vermont, while a Canadian-born woman of Indian descent was told she would need a visa to enter the United States for a weekend spa visit. After long, sometimes agonizing discussions with her students - Jafralie teaches ethics - they agreed to go to Toronto instead. "We decided that we were not prepared to leave any students behind," she said. "It's not a political boycott on our part. We're not anti-Trump. We're not anti-American. We're anti-not-being-together. We're a family, and we travel together." AMERICAN CANYON Many local churches this Sunday will have special services for Easter, but only one will feature artifacts dating back to when Jesus Christ is said to have lived. That church is the Family Worship Center in American Canyon, where 2,000-year-old Roman tools, Jewish clay pottery and more will be on display for only a couple hours for worshipers and members of the public to see and touch. A lot of churches will have special Easter programs, said Pastor Lawrence Exum. But theyre not going to see this. The artifacts belong to Exum, who has spent the past 20 years collecting antiquities from the time of Christ. Scholars estimate Christ lived until about 30 A.D. Following the conclusion of its Easter service at 10 a.m., the Family Worship Center will display to congregants and visitors dozens of historical objects similar to those used during some of Christs most important moments, including the Last Supper and his crucifixion. The artifacts are authentic, says Exum, but not the exact tools or dishes handled by Christ. The displays are intended to offer people a chance to go back in time on one of Christianitys most important holidays. I call it, Hold history in your hand, he said last week of the collection hes making available. Whether people believe Jesus was the son of God, said Exum, regardless of your personal beliefs, these are from that time period. Pointing to a Roman hammer made two millennia ago, he said: Someone 2,000 years ago was holding this, hammering with it. Its quite remarkable. The church will have three displays of artifacts for viewing Sunday. The carpenters collection will consist of hammers, adzes, chisels, pliers, drills, and shavers used by craftsmen in Galilee, Israel. Christ worked as a carpenter, but in Nazareth. The Last Supper collection will have bowls, plates, cups and serving vessels, all made of clay and found in Jerusalem, according to Exum. The crucifixion display will include Roman nails and a hammer made of iron, plus a modern-day crown of thorns made from a plant indigenous to Israel, Euphorbia milii, one of three possible sources for the crown placed on Christs head. The third display also will have ancient silver shekels, similar to those paid to Judas for betraying Christ, said Exum, and two Roman coins minted during the reign of Pontius Pilate, who ordered Christs crucifixion. If these coins could speak, said Exum, people would have heard the languages of Aramaic and Hebrew. The shekels represent a mini history lesson in themselves. Exum explained that during Roman rule, Jews werent allowed to mint gold or silver coins. So they used silver coins made in Greece, which were still circulating in Israel from the time Alexander the Great conquered that part of the world. Ancient coins also hold an importance in Exums own history. It was these artifacts that got him hooked on antiquities and archaeology 20 years ago. Living in Napa at the time, Exum was working as the principal of a local Christian school, New Life Academy. After eating lunch one day at Burger King, he wandered into a nearby coin shop. There, he saw some very old looking coins. He asked the man behind the counter what they were. Widows mites, retold Exum, who purchased them for only $35. Widows mites, he said, are very old, but not rare. Even today a small collection of them can be purchased for $60, according to Exum. From that point on the Pentecostal pastor began reading books on biblical coins and getting to know archaeologists from around the country. Hes made numerous trips to Israel, and even participated in archaeology digs to help uncover artifacts. Today, his collection numbers in the hundreds of pieces. He says he has enough clay pottery for nearly 13 table settings. He also has framed, first-edition pages of the Bible dating back six centuries or more. On Sunday, those visiting the Family Worship Center will see three displays, some of which will be secured in glass cases. But Exum will allow people to touch a few of the pieces so they can, as he said, hold history in their hands. Queen of the Valley Medical Center will lose more than $2 million in federal funds over three years because of various hospital-acquired conditions, including a high rate of a bacterial infection that causes diarrhea. According to the California Department of Public Health, in 2015 Queen had 30 hospital onset cases of Clostridium Difficile Infection, called CDI or C. diff, nearly twice the expected infection total. These bacteria can multiply in the gut and colon when patients take some antibiotics to kill off other germs. It can also spread through contaminated surfaces or hands. The Department of Public Health estimated that a facility the size of Queen of the Valley should have had only 17 such cases. As a result these bacteria infections and other hospital-acquired conditions, the Queen will be penalized 1 percent of its Medicare payments for three years ending this October. According to the hospital, 2016 Medicare net revenue totaled an estimated $76.5 million. In recent years, approximately 30 percent of net patient revenues comes from Medicare, said the Queen. As a non-profit organization called to care for all members of our community, every dollar matters, said Vanessa deGier, a Queen spokeswoman. That said, we are confident that the decrease in reimbursement is temporary, as we have addressed the (CDI) data and plan to see full reimbursement in the near future. We are continuously working to improve patient care, said Maureen Disbot, Northern California regional vice president, quality and performance improvement at St. Joseph Health Northern California. The Queens CDI standardized infection ratio of 1.8 in 2015 compares to the Adventist Health St. Helena ratio of 1.4, the Northbay Medical Center ratio of 1.6, the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital ratio of 1.4, and Kaiser Vallejo a ratio of .9. The ratio for Kaiser Hospital in Santa Rosa was 1.8. The Queen performs rigorous internal reviews of our quality and safety and performs exceptionally well in the majority, if not all, reviews, Disbot said. However, No individual single data source provides a complete picture of the care provided at a hospital, said Disbot. As to the 2015 CDI data, We have taken steps and achieved considerable improvement in CDI infection rates, said Disbot. For example, Disbot said that from July 2015 to December, 2015, the Queen had 19 cases total. From July 2016 to Dececember, 2016, the Queen had only 10 such cases, a 47.3 percent reduction. Some of the steps the Queen has taken include: Improved laboratory testing to ensure the Queen captures current CDI infections rather than individuals who are colonized with CDI. According to Disbot, colonized individuals are carriers of CDI but do not have an active infection. Such cases were erroneously included in the 2015 numbers, Disbot said. Implemented the use of an ultraviolet light device, a full spectrum germ-killing robot, to clean patient rooms and units. Instituted a robust antibiotic stewardship program that provides appropriate restrictions to the use of antibiotics, which is a major contributor to the cause of CDI in hospitals. Enhanced infection prevention education provided to staff, especially around strict hand hygiene practices. Queen of the Valley isnt the only hospital affected by Medicare cuts. In 2016, the federal government cut payments to 769 hospitals that had high rates of patient injuries, which include antibiotic resistant bacterial infections like CDI. In California, 96 hospitals are being penalized, including Kaiser Oakland, Kaiser Vacaville, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Stanford Health Care, UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. The Queen was the only Napa County hospital penalized for the most recent fiscal year, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis. While it does not appear on the penalized list for this past year, St. Helena hospital had its Medicare payments reduced by 1 percent for the fiscal year that ran from October 2014 through September 2015. That reduction was due to high rates of potentially avoidable mistakes that can harm patients, known as hospital-acquired conditions. These most recent punishments come in the third year of Medicare penalties for hospitals with patients who most frequently suffer from potentially avoidable complications, including various types of infections, blood clots, bed sores and falls. While the government did not release the total dollar amount of the penalties, they will exceed $1 million for many larger hospitals. Nationally, hospitals will lose about $430 million, 18 percent more than they lost last year, according to an estimate from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The reductions apply not only to patient stays but also will reduce the amount of money hospitals get to teach medical residents and care for low-income people. Each year, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, including nearly a quarter million cases in hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 23,000 people die from them. While it can be treated by antibiotics, CDI or C. diff can become so serious that some patients need to have part of their intestines surgically removed. C. diff can cause diarrhea and can be deadly for the elderly and other vulnerable patients. C. diff has challenged infection control efforts nationally. While hospital infections dropped 8 percent from 2008 to 2014, there was a significant increase in C. diff that final year, the CDC says. The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimated there were 100,000 hospital cases last year. The reality is we dont know how to prevent all these infections, said Dr. Louise Dembry, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine and president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The hospital industry has raised objections about Medicare fines. Many hospitals complain that they are penalized because of their vigilance in detecting infections, even ones that do not cause any symptoms in patients. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, contributed to this story. Isnt it wonderful that we are raising a generation of children who dont have a clue what Polio is? And isnt it also equally wonderful to know that St. Helena has been a part of eradicating this horrible disease since 1979? Thats right, this has been the primary international mission of your local Rotary Club since then. Along with Rotary Clubs across the globe, in partnership with such organizations as The World Health Organization and the recent support of the Gates Foundation, we have reduced this disease to only five cases so far this year in the world. Though the wild polio virus still exists and this fight will go on for another generation, your local Rotary Club is now focusing on the issue of improving and/or providing clean drinking water for both national and international populations. You will soon see one such effort in evidence. The St. Helena Interact Club (Rotarys high school branch) will be fundraising for Project Hope, a local non-profit that specializes in supplying water filtration systems to the indigenous people of the Amazon Basin. You will soon see these young energetic students out in front of our local markets or coming into your businesses offering very well thought-out Earthquake Survival Kits. Though not inexpensive, these kits are designed to give a family of four clean drinking water, rudimentary shelter and basic first-aid in case of a major quake or other disaster. Please at least give these kids a listen when you see them. Jim Smith, President St. Helena Rotary Last week, I drove to Sacramento to testify before a State Senate committee on Californias bullet train. My main takeaways: The argument in favor of High-Speed Rail is catastrophically weak, and parking near the State Capitol is awful. My testimony did little to persuade Senate Transportation and Housing Committee members. They ultimately killed SB414, a bill that would have given Californians the right to vote again on a rail project that has, since the first statewide ballot measure in 2008, gone through more style changes than Lady Gaga. In a supermajority Democratic Senate, the chances for State Senator Andy Vidaks (R-Hanford) bill were dismal. About as dismal as the chances of finding parking near the State Capitol. No kidding: All metered parking spaces and paid parking lots were fully occupied on a Tuesday afternoon, obliging me to park in a two-hour zone 10 blocks from a three-hour legislative proceeding. There were a few free spaces in several lots near the Capitol, but those are available only to state employees and monthly permit-holders. And somehow that dire parking situation seems, like High-Speed Rail itself, a perfect illustration of state governments antipathy to cars, or its inability/unwillingness to provide adequate public services, or both. The committee, chaired by Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose), ran in businesslike fashion. Senators reviewed about 10 bills that day, giving proponents and opponents reasonable time to express themselves before voting to move the legislation along or kill it. On the downside, some senators walked in and out of the hearing. Particularly disturbing was the fact that committee Vice Chair Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres) walked out before the High-Speed Rail bill came up and remained out of the room for the entire discussion. He also did not cast a vote. With Republicans uniting in opposition to the bullet train, it is disappointing to see a leading GOP legislator ducking this issue. In Washington, D.C. earlier this year, all 14 House Republicans asked Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to defer action on a federal grant to Caltrain because of its association with high speed rail. At the hearing, Republican Senators Patricia Bates (Laguna Niguel), Mike Morrell (Rancho Cucamonga) and Ted Gaines (El Dorado) spoke out forcefully against the project. Several Capitol watchers said Cannella abstains on High-Speed Rail because his engineering firm, Northstar Engineering Group of Modesto, gets business from the High-Speed Rail Authority. Because of the business relationship, Cannella seems to believe that voting on HSR is a conflict of interest. Assuming that Cannella has a business relationship with HSR, two thoughts come to mind: (1) the senator should feel free to vote against the bullet train because he would not financially benefit from such a vote, and (2) maybe he should step off the committee. Californias finances would be better served by a committee member who is unconflicted and willing to demand accountability from HSR. If the real goal of High-Speed Rail isnt great transportation so much as good jobs, the state could almost certainly come up with other make-work projects that dont inconvenience Central Valley commuters, destroy farms and waste so much money on a system that is unlikely to be completed. Widening roads, laying more fiber-optic cable and digging holes and filling them up again could also provide jobs and contracts without so much waste. For Committee Chair Beall (who also happens to be the sponsor of SB1, the road-tax increase), the decision came down to funding. He called a representative of the High-Speed Rail Authority and led her through the list of funding sources. She confirmed that the authority has already spent almost all of the $3.5 billion in federal matching funds it had been granted. Of this amount, $2.6 billion has yet to be matched by the state and if California does not issue at least $2.6 billion of HSR bonds and spend that money, it will have to return the federal funds. Bealls conclusion: SB414 must be defeated and the project must continue or else well have to return $2.6 billion. There was little debate, and no one said what seems obvious. First, if California had a better relationship with the federal government and was willing to consider scrapping HSR, perhaps it could negotiate a deal under which the state would be required to return less money or perhaps none at all. After all, President Trump claims to be a dealmaker. Second, since there is insufficient funding to complete the entire line from San Francisco to Los Angeles, its better to return $2.6 billion rather than waste tens of billions more on what could well turn out to be a train to nowhere. Throwing good money after bad? Keeping people busy? If thats all the pro-HSR forces have, they may not survive Gov. Browns exit from the stage next year. Want to post something? Want to be added to our monthly newsletter which details each month's clay club meeting? (different than signing up for blog emails below) Have any questions? Contact Tori Motyl at Tori@MotylPottery.com About Clay Club TITUSVILLE, Florida A Florida man is in jail after police say he stole a womans purse and hit her with his car in a Walmart parking lot in Titusville, Florida (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 14, 2017, 25-year-old Christopher Lynn Braun allegedly stole a womans purse out of her vehicle as she was returning an empty shopping cart to the cart corral in a Walmart parking lot located at 3175 Cheney Highway. The woman then confronted Braun and thats when police say he subsequently struck the woman with his 2006 Hyundai Sonata as he was fleeing the scene. Within minutes after receiving a 9-1-1 call reporting the crime, Titusville police were able to locate a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed in the area of Park Avenue and Dixie Avenue that matched the description of the suspects vehicle. Detectives then followed the vehicle until it was parked at a nearby residence. Braun was arrested shortly thereafter. Police were able to recover the womans cell phone in a tree at the intersection of Hickory Hill Boulevard and Cheney Highway. The womans purse and contents were located in some bushes on Brittany Way. Police say that the woman only suffered minor injuries. Braun was charged with Burglary to an Unoccupied Conveyance, Grand Theft, and Leaving the Scene of Crash with Injuries. Braun is currently being booked into the Brevard County jail. The Missouri River Reservoir System is the largest reservoir system in North America. Management of the system is complicated by multiple and diverse interest groups and applicable laws. Interest groups represent irrigation, flood risk, hydro power, recreation, water supply, navigation, fish and wildlife, cultural resources, and commercial sand and gravel dredging. Fish, birds at risk One of the applicable laws is the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which provides for the conservation of threatened or endangered species and their habitats. In the Missouri River basin, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the endangered pallid sturgeon, the endangered least tern, and the threatened piping plover. The Missouri River runs over 2,300 miles from Three Forks, Montana, where the Gallatin River, Madison River, and Jefferson River join. It drains into the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. It was once the turbid, rapid stream the Missouri. That is how John Jay Audubon described it in 1843. Now the Missouri River is slowed at six major reservoirs behind dams. Fort Peck Lake and Fort Peck Dam are on the river in Montana. North Dakota has Lake Sakakawea behind Garrison Dam and Lake Oahe behind Oahe Dam. In South Dakota, there are Lake Sharpe at Big Bend Dam and Lake Francis Case at Fort Randall Dam. South Dakota and Nebraska share both Lewis and Clark Lake and Gavins Point Dam. This large reservoir system affects the three listed species. Maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this reservoir system has the capacity to store 72.4 million acre-feet of water. An acre foot of water can cover one acre to a depth of one foot. Precipitation, snow melt, hydrology, basin and agriculture drainage, and resource uses influence decisions about the level of each reservoir. How can the Corps of Engineers operate the reservoir system without jeopardizing the listed species? To answer that, the Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, has prepared a massive Draft Missouri River Recovery Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement with supplemental materials. The plan offers six alternatives intended to help the three species. Alternative 1 is the congressionally mandated no-action alternative. It is not acceptable as the Corps of Engineers recognizes demonstrated needs for management plans informed by the best available science, including new scientific information about the species and their habitats. The remaining options provide for variable amounts of mechanical construction of emergent sandbar habitat for the plovers and terns. The different water flow releases of the alternatives account for the variable amounts of mechanical sandbar construction. The five remaining alternatives also include managing reservoir releases during nesting season to reduce the chances of rising water taking nests, eggs, or chicks of the plovers and terns. Furthermore the five alternatives support hatchery propagation of the pallid sturgeon and monitoring sturgeon population, as well as construction of early-life stage habitat in the lower river. These are good basic measures. Better option needed But beyond that, where are provisions for designation of critical habitat for the endangered pallid sturgeon; for unbalanced reservoirs to address the situation at a particular reservoir; for the application of the best science currently available? Habitat loss, fishing and caviar harvesting, entrainment and watercraft propellers, contaminants, hybridization, invasive species, and iridovirus all threaten the endangered pallid sturgeon. None of the alternatives provide adequate response. The pallid sturgeon requires shallow-water habitat. Designation of critical habitat is necessary. The Corps of Engineers seemingly acknowledges that with the phrase avoid jeopardizing the continued existence of pallid sturgeon or its critical habitats in the accompanying Draft Science and Adaptive Management Plan. Perhaps having unbalanced reservoirs as a management tool in the Missouri River main stem Reservoir System Master Water Control Manual is adequate, but perhaps not. To say that Alternative 2 following the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services 2003 Biological Opinion projected actions is the best alternative presented, and it is clearly is, is not to say that Alternative 2 is adequate. A lot of science has been done since 2003, and that science should inform policy and practice. The final document should include an improved best alternative, with more fairness in estimating the costs of the various alternatives. In other words, the best is still to come. I hope. Posted by Mark Williams | April 15, 2017 It's no secret that Jeep is soon jumping into the fast-changing mid-size pickup truck segment. To find out more, we sat down with the brand's head designer Mark Allen during the 51st version of the annual Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. Allen has almost single-handedly brought major success and recognition to what used to be a small off-roading brand. You can't say that about Jeep any more. March sales reports indicate that Jeep could sell 1,000,000 units in the U.S. by year end. That number totals sales for the Renegade, Compass, Patriot, Cherokee, Grand Cherokee and Wrangler SUVs. Jeep is ready to get back into the pickup truck game after a long absence and an even richer history with an all-new mid-size pickup. We were able to find out more when Allen and his team of designers took time out from the safari to answer questions about the new Jeep pickup. But not to worry, we talked about the safari as well more on that later. Why Return to Pickups and What About Sibling Rivalry? When asked what makes Jeep think it can reenter the pickup segment, Allen noted that Jeep buyers, especially those he stays connected to by attending the Easter Jeep Safari every year, understand two things beyond basic off-roading: They know the purpose and value of pickups, and the torque diesel engines deliver. He was quick to note he was not guaranteeing that the coming 2019 Jeep pickup would have a diesel engine, but we're guessing that certainly would make potential Jeep pickup buyers happy. We also asked about the relationship between Ram and Jeep both part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and how that plays out in behind-the-scenes discussions. Allen said the company sees Ram trucks as being all about the work and the tasks they can accomplish, having the right tool for the project at hand, he said. Jeep, on the other hand, is focused on adventure, boulder bashing and backcountry exploration. Allen added that this new pickup should replicate what happened when Jeep came out with the four-door Wrangler just a little more than 10 years ago. At the time, he said, there were plenty of people who thought it couldn't be a real Jeep if it had four doors. But the four-door version brought Jeep a completely new audience: families. Allen sees the pickup truck doing the same thing for existing Jeep enthusiasts as well as people who will appreciate the capabilities of a Jeep with a good-sized cargo bed. He suggested there are plenty of families with a double-duty pickup truck in the driveway and a minivan in the garage. Giving those buyers a shot at finally getting a Jeep is what will lure half-ton fans into a Jeep pickup. If you spend even a small amount of time in Moab, you'll see many four-door Jeeps with open rear cargo areas being used the way pickups are used: to haul gear and supplies. Because of the limited space, that cargo must be piled high behind the rear seats or stacked on top of a roof rack. Clearly, if there was a longer-wheelbase Wrangler Unlimited with a 6.6-foot bed, life could be simpler for quite a few Jeep enthusiasts. "Giving our current customers more of what they want has always been one of our guiding strategies, and this pickup will be no different," Allen said. "It won't be too long [before] you'll see quite a few Jeep families towing their modified Wranglers behind a Jeep pickup." However, when we asked about whether the heavy-duty truck guys are likely to be interested in this new pickup, Allen was clear this is not going to be a vehicle to lure those HD guys away from their work trucks. They already have a Ram HD choice. Other Truckmakers' Strategies Allen also discussed the paths other truckmakers have taken. He noted that he can see why Honda changed some of the Ridgeline's exterior design cues for the new model, adding that he likes that it now looks more like a traditional pickup without losing its core non-pickup buyers. It's no surprise that this intrigues Allen; the new Jeep pickup has a similar challenge. It must provide something less conventional than a 4x4 SUV and still appeal to Jeep's core buyers. In terms of Nissan, Allen addressed the challenges of offering something for everyone in all the standard versions with two different but also similar pickup trucks in the light-duty Titan and stronger Titan XD. He declined to answer questions about a stronger, better-towing Jeep option package, but that wouldn't be a bad idea. Maybe a smart four-corner airbag suspension for flexibility in 4-Low and rigidity when in Tow/Haul? Allen acknowledged that the Ford F1-50 Raptor is an impressive player in the off-road arena, essentially because of how "all-in" Ford allowed its engineers to go. "My impression was, at the time, that Ford was an old man's pickup, so to offer that kind of package and personality to a new half-ton was quite smart," he said. What About Special-Edition Jeep Pickups? Naturally, that led us to wonder if this new Jeep pickup or maybe some special editions will give Jeep a wider appeal. Certainly, it got us thinking about all kinds of special "flavors" a Jeep pickup could leverage, either reinforcing the existing Jeep personality (a Rubicon model perhaps?) or taking Jeep in a whole new direction with a Mojave Desert edition to better compete with the likes of a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 or Raptor on a Baja 1000 pre-run. And what about a Jeep pickup Hellcat? If our universe can accommodate a 707-horsepower Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk with a lowered suspension, 20-inch wheels and a race-launch setting, a Super Sport Jeep pickup can exist. But we might be getting ahead of ourselves. Based on what Allen told us, it looks like we can expect to see quite a bit of the new Jeep Wrangler in the coming pickup, both of which will be built at the soon-to-be-refurbished plant in Toledo, Ohio. We'll get a chance to see the all-new Wrangler later this year, then the pickup prototypes likely by the summer of 2018. This should certainly shake things up a bit. About the 2017 Easter Jeep Safari Every year Allen and his team reveal a new set of "concept" vehicles to the Jeep faithful at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. If there is a more Jeep-centric, Jeep-friendly place on Earth, we don't know about it. Everywhere you look in Moab someone is driving a Jeep, towing a Jeep, working on a Jeep or talking about Jeeps in a parking lot. This place is all about Jeeps, especially around Easter, mainly because the hundreds of nearby spectacular 4x4 trails make it a mecca for Jeep and 4x4 enthusiasts. Allen always put quotation marks around the word "concept" because normal car designers make concept vehicles that look good in a studio or on an auto show stage or turntable. They are prototypes that will never put rubber to the road; they're typically shuttled from the studio to a transport truck to auto show floors. That's not the case with the safari concepts. Allen takes great pride in the fact that the project vehicles for this annual event are drive-ready when they're shipped to Moab and other remote trail locations for Jeep events. Unlike 2016, there were no pickups at the safari but that doesn't mean there weren't small cues in these concepts that might make their way to a pickup. Cars.com photos by Mark Williams; manufacturer images 08:31 Saxena breathed his last after he was rushed to a hospital following breathlessness, his brother and former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra said. The funeral pyre of Saxena, who served as the governor of the troubled state twice, was lit by his grandson Varun in the presence of political leaders and senior bureaucrats, including National Security Advisor A K Doval. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and serving and retired officers from RAW and Intelligence Bureau also gathered at the crematorium to pay their last respects to Saxena. Born in Agra in 1928, Saxena, an IPS officer of the 1950 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre, who also headed the country's external intelligence agency RAW from 1983 to 1986, is survived by his wife and two daughters. He first took charge as the Jammu and Kashmir governor on May 26, 1990, barely a few days after the religious head of Muslims in Srinagar Mirwaiz Farooq was gunned down by the Hizbul Mujahideen.. He was credited with the revival of intelligence gathering mechanism of the state police. His experience at RAW came in handy in discharging his duties from Raj Bhavan. After his first stint as governor, Saxena was again brought to the state in 1998. He was lauded for his efforts which turned the state police into an effective counter-insurgency force. "No militancy can be fought without the local police," he had once said during his second stint as governor. Former J&K chief ministers, the father-son duo Farooq and Omar Abdullah, while condoling his demise, said a visionary has been lost. "I recall my association with Governor Saxena. He was very cool in extreme situations and always had a humane approach to any problem," Farooq said. Omar said, "It's a sad news for me. He (Saxena) had always guided me during my initial days in politics." Image: A file photo from Rediff Archives of J&K governor G C Saxena in 2002. Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Girish Chandra Saxena, whose tenure saw a significant decline of militancy in the Valley, died in New Delhi on Friday after a brief illness. He was 90. Mystery Ranch wouldnt be the company it is, nor would we be located in Bozeman, if it werent for Montanas wilderness heritage. Our respect for that heritage is so great, that several of our hunting backpacks carry the name of the states wilderness areas the Bob Marshall, the Scapegoat, the Anaconda-Pintler, and the Cabinets. Hunting and backpacking in Montanas backcountry be it a big W wilderness area, a wilderness study area, or a wild place without wilderness in its official name serve as the inspiration behind our business, our products, and the work of our 100+ employees. It is likely the inspiration for hundreds of other businesses in the state, outdoor-related or not. This week, the Legislature attacked Montanas wilderness heritage and passed House Joint Resolution 9, calling on Congress to release seven wilderness study areas in the state. This would strip protection from the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn, West Pioneer, Blue Joint, Sapphire, Ten Lakes, Middle Fork Judith, Big Snowies, and other wilderness study areas beloved by hunters, anglers, hikers, and other users. It would make close to a million acres of premier big game habitat vulnerable to development. Lawmakers passed this divisive resolution in spite of receiving thousands of emails and phone calls in opposition. At a hearing on the resolution in the House Natural Resources Committee, more than 70 people signed in as opponents, while 10 signed in as proponents, mostly industry representatives. The WSAs proposed for the HJ9 chopping block are some of the wildest places in Montana, places that are vital for wildlife and offer pristine recreational opportunities and the clean water that many of our communities and blue-ribbon fisheries depend on. Each of these WSAs is unique and deserves its own careful consideration of future status, not a one-size-fits-all plan like this resolution, that takes Montanans out of the process for deciding how these places will be managed in the future. That perhaps is the aim of HJ9 to make an end run around every Montanans right to weigh in on the fate of these lands. Thats not how we do things in Montana. We work together with our neighbors to arrive at solutions that are best for our state and people. We dont appreciate top-down legislation crafted and supported solely by politicians, no matter if they are in D.C. or Helena. Deciding how to best manage these special landscapes is challenging work that takes time and understanding, and must include a diversity of voices and interests. Montanans have a good track record of doing that work. The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, and many other grassroots, community-led efforts have empowered Montanans to find consensus over the fate of our public lands. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates that elk, deer and antelope hunters alone spent $324 million in Montana in 2016 and supported 3,300 jobs. With numbers like these boosting our bottom line in Montana, we cant act with the recklessness that HJ9 proposes, recklessness that threatens the places that our big game populations depend on. We cant let politicians who arent listening to Montanans and havent considered the collaborative, community-driven ideas dictate how we manage wild places and other public lands across the state. Let your local elected officials know that HJ9 should never have passed. Not only does it strike at Montanas wilderness heritage and our hunting economy, it also strikes at the time-honored tradition of respect and collaboration among the people of this state. With their stellar performance the two Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth outclassed their respective opponents in men's singles semi-finals, and will now clash with each other in the finals of the Singapore Open. This is the first time that two Indians will be battling it out in a Superseries Final. Till now only three countries -- China, Indonesia and Denmark -- had had two of their players contesting a men's final at a Superseries event.Praneeth entered into his maiden Superseries final after defeating South Korea's Lee Dong Keun in straight sets 21-6, 21-8 taking 38 minutes. He became the first Indian to reach the men's singles final in Singapore since it became a Superseries event in 2007.MORE UNI XC NC PY VN2014 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-855905.Xml It won a prestigious award at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The documentary, based on Aam Aadmi Party and its creator Arvind Kejriwal, won the Audience Choice Awards (Documentary) at the festival. The movie has been making waves ever since it's international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Khushboo Ranka, director of the documentary said, "It's been an incredible journey so far with this film and we have had houseful screenings in countries like Mexico and Spain. It's surprising how much people identify with a political story that took place in New Delhi. We are playing across five countries in April alone." The filmmaker followed Kejriwal and the AAP over two years and shot more than 400 hours of behind the scenes footage with them. 'An Insignificant Man' is expected to hit theatres nationwide soon. (ANI) Omar urged to prosecute the guilty. "Using youth as human shield is very unfortunate. An inquiry should be initiated in this matter and the guilty must be prosecuted," Omar told ANI. A video showing a Kashmiri youth tied to the front of a moving army jeep went viral yesterday after Omar shared it on his Twitter handle. "This young man was TIED to the front of an army jeep to make sure no stones were thrown at the jeep? This is just so shocking!" Omar tweeted. He followed it up with a video saying, "A warning can be heard (in the video) saying stone pelters will meet this fate. This requires an urgent inquiry and follow up NOW." The video has evoked immense anger among people, with demands for an investigation into alleged brutalities by the Indian Army in Kashmir. (ANI) Acting on a complaint from the Income-Tax department, the Chennai City police have registered criminal cases against three Tamil Nadu Ministers for allegedly threatening andpreventing IT officials from discharging their official duties during the April seven IT raids at the residence of Health Minister Dr C Vijayabaskarand others. The cases were registered against Ministers R Kamaraj, Udumalai K Radhakrishnan, Kadambur Raju, besides two other AIADMK-Amma party functionaries--Special Representative to State Government in New Delhi N Thalavai Sundaram and party functionary Aiyappan. The IT department, in its complained to Chennai City Police ChiefKaran Singha, said the three Ministers and and Mr Sundaram, along with others, barged into the premises of Dr Vijayabaskar during theIT raids and obstructed the officials from discharging their duty, besides harassing and criminally intimidating them. After an inquiry, cases were registered at the Abiramapuram Police station under Secs 183 (Resistance to the taking of property by the lawful authority of a public servant), 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 189 (Threat of injury to public servant) and 448 (Punishment for house-trespass) of the IPC. UNI GV 1150 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1230623.Xml Guna ADM Nizam Khan has assured that strict action would be taken against the culprits. "We are sending a probe team to this village, strict action will be taken against the culprits," Khan told ANI. Bringing to fore the regressive mindset still prevalent in rural India, a shocking diktat was given by Khiriyadangi Panchayat in Tarpur village here, where marriage of a five-year-old daughter of a villager was fixed with an eight-year-old boy. The decision was made due to death of a calf by the girl's father Jagdish Banjara three years back. Banjara had hit a calf with a stone while it was feeding in his field, due to which the calf died. Following this, he and his family were boycotted by the villagers. He was also asked to take bath in the Ganges and distribute food in village. According to the Panchayat, since the death of the calf nothing auspicious has happened in the village. Due to this, the Panchayat now fixed Jagdish's five-year-old daughter's marriage with an eight-year-old boy as a mark of repentance. Raising voice against the injustice, the girl's mother filed a complaint with SDM Neeraj Sharma. The officials have already given a warning to the Panchayat to not go forward with such a thing but the Panchayat is adamant on doing it. (ANI) Lashing out at the Jammu and Kashmir Government for the ongoing turmoil in the valley for the past few months, the National Panthers Party (NPP) on Saturday said the state government has failed and has led to emergence of anarchy in the state. NPP leader Bhim Singh said the government was using the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and making them do things according to their motive. "I ask under which law the army is being called. Where is the police? The Government wants to get that work done which a law body cannot. Therefore, the CRPF is being used because they are helpless and they will work as instructed," Singh told ANI. Singh also opined that seeing the situation in the valley, the Jammu and Kashmir Governor should impose the Governor's Rule in the state after seeking permission from the President. "I don't know why the President is silent? He does not have to take permission from the Government of India," he said. Earlier, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah demanded an investigation into the matter where a Kashmiri youth was tied to the front of a moving army jeep. Omar urged to prosecute the guilty. "Using youth as human shield is very unfortunate. An inquiry should be initiated in this matter and the guilty must be prosecuted," Omar told ANI. "This young man was TIED to the front of an army jeep to make sure no stones were thrown at the jeep? This is just so shocking!" Omar had tweeted. He followed it up with a video saying, "A warning can be heard (in the video) saying stone pelters will meet this fate. This requires an urgent inquiry and follow up NOW." The video has evoked immense anger among people with demands for an investigation into alleged brutalities by the Indian Army in Kashmir. In a similar incident, another video went viral featuring a CRPF personnel using immense restraint even when he was attacked by an angry mob at a polling booth in Srinagar. The video shows the jawan walking when a civilian suddenly attacks the soldier. (ANI) The transmission of additional 60 MW power from Tripura has begun two days ago as per the agreement signed between Indiaand Bangladesh after successful completion of the first anniversary of Indo-Bangladesh power deal of 100 MW. Tripura is one of the few power surplus states of India, which is having thepotential to sell more clean power. Besides, generation of surplus power, the transmission network of Tripura that connected South Comilla grid of Bangladesh is found to be most efficient, which insisted centre to clear the nod for further deal, said a top official of the state. He said that after beginning of stable power generation from long idle Monarchak power plant of NEEPCo in West Tripura, surplus becomes more in the state when many of the generation companies in the country have been running in short. As a result, Ministry of Power accepted the proposal of Tripura to allow another 60 MW power trading. With the approval, Tripura has started transmitting 60 MW more power to Bangladesh grid from the Monarchak power project formally from April 12 last based on the agreement signed among government of India, Tripura government and Bangladesh. The director of Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) Technical, Mahananda Debbarma said during the construction of 726 MW capacity mega thermal power plant at Palatana near Udaipur, Bangladesh government had rendered 'invaluable help' by allowing free transit of heavy equipment including turbines. " We had agreed that time we would make available to them 100 MW power from Palatana. Subsequently, we have 60 MW surplus power from Monarchak in Sonamura," he pointed. He also referred to the recent agreement between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina whereby India would supply 700 MW of power to Bangladesh. " The direct connectivity between Suryamaninagar and Comilla grids has reduced transmission loss as well as helps the country to established alternative power supply system as Indian grid code. Now 500 MW power directly fed to Bangladesh national grid from West Bengal, which may be enhanced further to 1000 MW after discussion at highest level," he stated. UNI BB KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-1230800.Xml Three people were killed on the spot after the car, in which they were traveling in, skidded and hit a divider on the Mumbai-Ahmedbad Highway near Tawa village of the district today, police said. The deceased were identified as Kunal Sabh (25) Vishal Dhodia (30) and Sukvindersingh Gujral (37). All the victims hailed from Surat. Police said the car was en route to Gujarat. However, the driver escaped unhurt, the police said.UNI XR NV SDR SV 1330 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1230704.Xml As their car was going toward Jalgaon, the truck which was coming oppsition direction dashed against it, police said today. Police sources said the deceased are identified as Dilip Sopan Pingale (52) and Vinayank Radhysham Sharma (42). They were going to Jalgaon. Dilip is the BJP general secretary of Malegaon city. Police have registered complaint and further investigation are on.UNI RDS NV SW 1412 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1230756.Xml The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Friday afternoon in Mandan. Mandan Police Lt. Pat Haug said a Mandan Police officer shot one person while responding to a reported domestic incident at a house on the 500 block of Fourth Avenue Northeast. No one else was injured. Haug declined to say whether the person died, but indicated medical responded and no one went to the hospital. He said police are in the process of notifying family of the situation. Haug said the person posed a "threat to the officer," but would not say whether the person was armed. The officer has been placed on administrative leave. Haug said the last officer-involved shooting for the department was in 2009 when a police officer shot an apparently suicidal man at a local hotel, who turned his gun toward police. Last year, Bismarck Police officers fired their guns in four separate incidents. Police are expected to release more details on Saturday or Sunday. National Conference President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Saturday won the by-poll to the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seat, beating his PDP rival Nazir Ahmad Khan. --IANS sq/rn ( 39 Words) 2017-04-15-15:42:08 (IANS) "A fire broke out at a mustard oil mill situated along NH 34 in the old Malda police station area at around 11.15 a.m. Two fire tenders were pressed into service," the official said. The injured person was taken to a local hospital. The mill was completely gutted and the entire area was covered in black smoke. A hotel adjacent to the mill was also damaged, he added. "It took about an hour to control the fire. Many inflammable materials were stocked in the mill. But the exact reason for the fire is not yet identified. Investigation is going on," the official said. --IANS bdc/ssp/ruwa/bg ( 156 Words) 2017-04-15-16:08:08 (IANS) Being a lager lover if you think you had enough of Connaught Place then here is something you must know! Something awesome has hit Delhi as the capital gets its first own ministry for the beer lovers, the 'Ministry Of Beer'. A joyous whoop for youthful fun, MOB (a short name for Ministry Of Beer) is the first steampunk themed bar with an astounding ambiance of artistic styles and aesthetic design with bold and beautiful interiors. A craft beer hub, MOB is multi cuisine restro pub, which serves extensive and scrumptious menu consisting of excellent culinary delights and mouth-watering signature cocktails. Living up to the legacy of innovation, MOB is sure to take you down to the urban grunge lane, where industrial meets the Victorian to create a concoction that is bold yet elegant; and contemporary yet classy. "Pubs come and Pubs go, but the challenge is to create something that withstands the passage of time," believes Director MOB, Pratekk Chturvedi who is the man behind the mechanical parts, antique lights and Victorian furniture that goes well with the place. "We have tried to build a place that grows on you every time you visit MOB, you'll notice something you haven't noticed before - and the more you'll fall in love with the place," he added. A very unique and innovative concept, MOB is a place which is highly enjoyable and moderately priced. It connects with the zeal of the youngsters with its uber ambiance. Not only this, but the place surely deserves a visit due to its owners, who are not only amazing hosts, but are also very interactive and friendly. Offering the most terrific, mouth-watering and zesty delicacies, the menu incorporates Continental, Italian, Asian, Indian. Items such as Old Monk Ki Raan, Palak Patta Chaat, Chilli Paneer, Paneer Tikka, Triple Kukkad Burger, Sushi (Spicy Avocado Maki), Veneration Nigiri, Baked Chicken Wings, Kachi Ghani Achaari Murgh, Mutton Rahra Lukmi, Grilled Snapper Polychattu, Braised Lamb Nets are sure to keep you drooling. In mains, one can gorge on Dal Makhani, Paneer Butter Masala along with Veg Biryani, which completes the package. The main bar at this downtown staple feels like you've been transported to another century. It is designed in such a way that steam punk vibes and Gothic flair pulsates throughout. It has great combination of cocktails and craft beers. One of the best fine dining restaurants in town, MOB will not disappoint you with the quality of service staff either. From a smiling Chef to other service men, the place is friendly and prompt. Overall the place is convincing enough as it scored high on our expectations, and the bar of value for money. Place: MOB Brewpub Timings: 12 noon to 12 midnight Cost for two: Rs. 1,500 for two people (approx.) with alcohol Address: M 44, Outer Circle, Connaught Place, New Delhi. (ANI) Only plastic materials can be thrown into the smart bin and people will get money in return. The machines have been installed at Connaught Place's eight blocks and one at India Gate. However, it will take one week to install the software in the machine and after which people can use this. As of now, the company has not cleared that how much money one get on each plastic material. Earlier, the NDMC gave the contract to this start-up company to install similar machines in other areas of the national capital as well. In December last year, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated two such 'smart dustbins' at Palika Bazaar, under the smart city project of NDMC in which only plastic bottles or cans can be thrown in the smart bin and people will get coupons in return. These smart bins-cum-vending machines will recycle the bottles and cans using the latest technology. (ANI) "Opposition leaders find an excuse for their defeat. In 2004 and 2009, when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won, there was no issue with EVM. When Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) won in Uttar Pradesh, there was no issue with EVM. When Akali- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition lost in Punjab and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won in Delhi, there was no issue with EVM. Questioning EVMs means questioning the Election Commission of India," Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while addressing a press conference during BJP executive meeting here. Earlier in the day, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said he had heard that voters had pressed the Samajwadi Party symbol on the EVM, but the votes went into the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) basket. Akhilesh further demanded that polls be conducted with the help of ballot papers. Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati has said that she is ready to join hands with other political parties to take on the BJP on the issue of EVMs tampering. Mayawati had raised the issue of EVM tampering after the results of the recent assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand went in the favor of the BJP. Irked by the charges, the Election Commission (EC) challenged skeptics to prove that EVMs can be tampered with. (ANI) In continuing drive against trans-border smuggling ofliquor into 'dry' Bihar, police and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans seizedhuge consignments of foreign liquor and arrested a peddler in Saran andSupaul districts today. While 30,000 bottles of foreign liquor were seized by police in Saran district,SSB jawans seized 1792 bottles of Nepalese liquor near Indo-Nepal borderin Supaul district. A Chhapra report said police seized 30,000 bottles of foreign liquor beingsmuggled from Haryana on a truck near Bahrauli village under Mashrakhpolice station in Saran district. The consignment was intercepted from the truck on State Highway 73following a specific intelligence input. The truck driver and co-driver made good their escape from the spot,police added. A Supual report said SSB jawans seized huge consignment of Nepaleseliquor being ferried on a boat in Kosi river near Indo-Nepal border underRatanpura police station area in the district. SSB Commandant Ramavatar Bhalotia said here that 1792 bottles ofNepalese liquor were seized from the boat near Indo-Nepal border followinga specific intelligence input. A peddler identified as Vidyanand Mukhiya wasarrested from the spot. The nabbed bootlegger is being subjected to intensiveinterrogation for arresting other members of his gang, police added.UNI DH KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-1230890.Xml A JKLF spokesperson here said that Malik was this evening released after his judicial custody ended today, when election process of bypoll to Srinagar constituency ended after the declaration of results. Malik was arrested on March 18 and sent to judicial custody to central jail, Srinagar for 12 days. He was presented before Additional Session's judge, who again sent him to judicial custody till April 11. The JKLF chief was again remanded to judicial custody for three more days.UNI ABS SB 2057 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-855960.Xml Security forces today foiled Awami Itehad Party (AIP) protest march towards Army headquarters in Srinagar against use of civilians as alleged human shields during bypolls in Srinagar parliamentary constituency on April 9. AIP chief Er Sheikh Abdul Rashid, MLA, was taken into preventive custody along with several of his party activists. A video went viral on social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, in which a youth can be seen tied to an Army jeep and a warning can be heard saying stone pelters will meet the same fate. Er Rashid, who represents Langate constituency in the frontier district of Kupwara, along with his supporters, tried to take out a protest march towards Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar to protest against the Army's alleged action. However, the protestors, who were holding placards which read, "Do you still claim most disciplined army in the world?", "Is this why you need AFSPA and "Army goes Israeli way, ties youth to vehicle, Shame on you", were stopped by security force from moving ahead. As the protestors didn't back down, Er Rashid, along with several of his supporters, was taken into preventive custody. The video had triggered massive outrage in the valley and elsewhere. Expressing shock over a video, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said it requires an urgent inquiry and follow up now. "This young man was TIED to the front of an Army jeep to make sure no stones were thrown at the jeep? This is just so shocking!!!! #Kashmir," Mr Abdullah, who is the working president of main opposition in the state National Conference (NC), wrote on micro-blogging site on April 13.UNI BAS PY SB 2144 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-855893.Xml Chief Justice of High court for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Justice Ramesh Ranganathan has said the heinous crime of acid attacks on women needed to be curbed by creating proper awareness among the public. Participating as the chief guest at a programme on implementation of NALSA (legal services to victims of acid attacks) at the district court in Rajahmundry today, he said, the acid attack incident in Warangal during 2008 was unfortunate which created fear among all the sections. In order to prevent such incidents, he said the youth in schools and colleges should be given orientation on gender equality and good behaviour. A provision was made by the legal services authority for assisting the acid attack victims stipulating that financial assistance should be given in such cases within fifteen days of its incidence' he added. District judge N Thukaramjee said provision was made in IPC under sec 326 (a) and (b) for dealing with the offences of acid attacks. The legal services authority is the coordinating agency with the other governing agencies for ensuing speedy trial and disposal of such cases. He said the women should be cautious about such incidents and creating of more awareness among the people was also needed. Legal and technical services IG of police E Damodar has narrated the acid attack incidence on Lakshmi Agarwal and the directions of the supreme court and said that the acid attacks were more in south Asian countries such as Bangla Desh and India. The acid attack incidents have comparatively come down in Bangla Desh due to stringent actions, he added. District Collector H Arun Kumar, SP Misala Ravi Prakash Rajahmundry Urban SP Rajakumari, Damodaram Sanjivaiah National Law University Associate professor Dr P Sridevi and secretary district legal services authority L Venkateswerarao were among those attended.UNI XC DP PY 2156 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-856009.Xml The SAD today said it was clear from Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh's recent utterings that he was executing a direct order from the Gandhi family to discredit Canadian Defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan as well as all Punjabi representatives in the Canadian parliament after the Ontario legislature passed a resolution terming the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre ''genocide''. In a statement here, senior SAD leaders and MPs Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Balwinder Singh Bhundur and Prem Singh Chandumajra said the Gandhi family's hand in the sordid humiliation of Mr Sajjan could be gauged from the fact that it had most to lose from the 1984 mass murder incidents being termed as genocide. "Everyone knows that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi instigated violence after the assassination of his mother and then PM Indira Gandhi by stating the earth would shake when a big tree falls. The Gandhi family has tried to downplay this detestable legacy but now faces the prospect of being exposed worldwide with other countries and parliaments also likely to accept the '84 violence as genocide," he said. "It is for this reason that the Gandhi family has directed Amarinder to strike out against Punjabi origin representatives in Ontario's legislature who were instrumental in getting this resolution passed. Terming these representatives as Khalistanis is a diversionary tactic to take away attention from the fact that people would now question the direct role of the Gandhi family in this genocide", the SAD MPs added. The SAD MPs also did some plain speak with Amarinder and said "Instead of telling all sections of Punjabis who have roundly condemned you for your churlish behavior it is best if you give a clear answer. Please tell the Sikh community whether the 1985 violence was genocide or not? Your answer will be self- explanatory and tell whether you are with the Sikh community or a stooge of the Gandhi family". They urged Capt Singh to introspect on his statements and actions. "You are not the scion of a former Maharaja now who can get piqued at personal insults. You are the CM of Punjab and represent the State in the Punjabi diaspora also. How can you equate Mr Sajjan's visit with revival of terrorism in Punjab. In fact it is you who is guilty of having a hand in the revival of the Khalistan movement in Canada. You shared the stage with Khalistanis at the Dixcy gurdwara during your earlier tenure as chief minister of Punjab. What moral ground do you have of lecturing others on terrorism?" Mr Chandumajra asked. They also asked Amarinder to correct himself even now in the interest of Punjabi and Punjabis worldwide. "Don't get swayed by trappings of self-grandeur. Remember you are a Sikh and Punjabi first and chief minister later. You cannot publically humiliate a visiting Sikh dignitary of Punjabi origin so wantonly and then claimyou alone are right and everyone else is wrong. Let bygones be bygones. Welcome Mr Sajjan wholeheartedly and give him the respect he deserves", they added. UNI DB PY 2140 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-856040.Xml The seniors in Constance Kellers advanced health sciences class at Mandan High School are job shadowing professionals as part of an eight-week program that allows students to assess work opportunities at medical and health facilities in the Bismarck-Mandan area. During the course of the eight weeks, which began March 21 and will end May 12, students can participate in police and ambulance ride-alongs, crime scene investigations, transports as well as tours of the Bismarck Cancer Center, Bismarck State Colleges Allied Health Campus, Custer District Health Unit, Chemistry and Micro lab, Dakota Travel Nurse, Crime Lab, Edgewood in Mandan, Eastgate Funeral Home, State Medical Examiner, the nursing program at Sanford, continuing care centers, CHI St. Alexius Medical Center, Respiratory Program at St. Alexius, University of Mary's Health Sciences Department and Vibra Health. Keller explained how special it is to see the light bulb go off for a student that has found a career path theyre passionate about. When you just see that brightness in their face, it just makes it all worthwhile," she said. Advanced health sciences student Brita Cowan plans to study oncology and has been accepted to the University of South Dakota. Cowan said the most memorable experience so far during the job shadowing program was watching a patient receive radiation at the Bismarck Cancer Center. "Coming into this class with Mrs. Keller has helped me clarify that I, for sure, want to be in health sciences," Cowan said. On Tuesday, the class of 13 students attended a Sanford Air Med tour at the Bismarck Aero Center to learn about helicopter ambulance services and flight nursing. During their time at the facility, students sat in two medical helicopters, learned how a patient is loaded into an aircraft and spoke with Bismarck Air medical and Metro Air ambulance professionals. "We try to entice, advise or simply stimulate their minds so they can make a rational decision as to what they want to do," said Jeff Saxvik, a pilot at the Bismarck Air Medical. "Getting out in the workforce has helped us get a better idea of what we want to do in the future," said Luke Peterson, another of Keller's students. Peterson will be attending the University of North Dakota in the fall and plans to study pre-med and biology. He says the most interesting experience he's had so far was job shadowing a nurse practitioner at a dermatology practice. By the end of the semester, students will learn CNA skills, professionalism and receive a HIPPA certification plus immunizations, according to Keller. The biggest thing I want them to walk away with is learning compassion for people, Keller said. The CPIM) leader termed the incident ''unfortunate and uncalled for''. Use of excessive force against college students and injuring scores is the worst form of repression, he said. Mr Tarigami demanded immediate action against the erring security personnel, so that such incidents are prevented in future.UNI ABS PY SB 2134 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-856041.Xml Official sources said unidentified gunmen opened fire at Qasbayar in Pulwama, resulting in injuries to two persons. Both the injured were immediately rushed to a hospital, where one of them, identified as Bashir Ahmad Dar, was declared brought dead. Meanwhile, the gunmen managed to escape under the cover of darkness. After completing all the legal and medical formalities, the body of the deceased was handed over to his relatives for last rites. Security forces have launched massive operation to nab the killers.UNI ABS PY SB 2313 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-856101.Xml The Treasury Department, in its semiannual report on exchange rates sent to Congress, has not labeled any country as a currency manipulator but it kept six countries on the monitoring list that merit close attention for their currency practices. China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan remained on a previously established watch list of countries in the Trump administration's first report on currency values. No country met the three criteria to be labelled a currency manipulator in the second half of 2016. "Expanding trade in a way that is freer and fairer for all Americans requires that other economies avoid unfair currency practices, and we will continue to monitor this carefully," The Hill quoted Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as saying in a statement. In recent days, President Donald Trump has backed off his calls to label China a currency manipulator after vowing to punish Beijing in the early days of his administration. Trump, in a recent interview to The Wall Street Journal, backed away from his promise during the presidential campaign to punish China for manipulating the yuan. He had repeatedly railed against the trade imbalance between the United States and China during his election campaign. (ANI) Hasina's personal letter was handed over by Bangladesh Foreign Minister A. H. Mahmood Ali, who is currently visiting Moscow, to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday. Hasina wrote that Medvedev's visit to Dhaka would take bilateral ties between the two sides to the next level, reports Dhaka Tribube. Russia which was then USSR had recognised Bangladesh as an independent country in January 1972. According to a Foreign Ministry official, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev is likely to visit Bangladesh during the second half of this year. The official said that about 25 deals and Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) are being discussed between the two sides and about half of them are already in the final stage. The official added that they were working to make sure the deals and MoUs are signed during Medvedev's Dhaka visit. (ANI) The second mosque in the United States led solely by women held its inaugural service in California, but unlike a Los Angeles congregation that opened two years ago, the new female-led Muslim house of worship in Berkeley is open to both genders.The Qal'bu Maryam Women's Mosque "is a place for women to worship in the sanctuary, to not be hidden away in dank rooms," said Rabi'a Keeble yesterday, founder of the Berkeley mosque, whose name means "heart of Mary" in Arabic.Many mosques around the world admit men and women, but most segregate the genders. At the Women's Mosque of America in Los Angeles, male worshippers over the age of 12 are excluded, making the new Berkeley mosque the first of its kind in the country."We uplift the female, and just as the Prophet loved women, we must follow in his footsteps and love ourselves and each other," she said.Keeble is a 40-something convert from Christianity with a master's degree in religious leadership from the Starr King School of Ministry, a seminary affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley which has donated space for the mosque.At Qal'bu Maryam, there is no imam, as the cleric who conducts worship at a mosque is called. Rather, female lay leaders will rotate in leading the prayers and the talks.About 50 or so women and men, including Muslims, Christians and Jews, attended the jummah or traditional Friday service, listening to prayer leader Crystal Keshawarz chant the holy Arabic words, "God is great" or "Allahu Akbar."The Koran does not directly address whether women can lead congregational prayer, according to many traditional Islamic scholars. Some argue the Prophet Mohammad gave permission to women to lead any kind of prayer, while others say that he meant to restrict women to leading prayer at home.Still, many traditionalists do not believe a man should hear a woman's voice in prayer."Men are conditioned to believe that women's voices are seducing and if they hear her voice they are pushed into an adulteress area," Keeble said. "Men should think better of themselves. They are not animals."Mohammad Sarodi, former chairman of the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, California, said he would not attend prayers led by women."If women are leading prayers for women, fine. But if they are leading prayers for men, then that is not something I have been raised with," Sarodi, 70, said. "I have never heard from the scholars that this is acceptable. Women are certainly not inferior, but this is not how it's done."Though Islam is not the only religion with a tradition of male leadership, it is a faith that many non-Muslims, and even some within the faith, view as unwelcoming or even hostile to women."It's simply time" for change, Keeble said, both to bring more women into the faith and to alter the perceptions of those who feel that Islam was oppressive to females."I think this is the only way that reputation can be addressed - by empowering women," Keeble said. REUTERS PS 0408 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1230496.Xml Russia has offered to host peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, the Russian foreign ministry said after hosting diplomats from the regional countries for consultations on the Afghan issue in Moscow. "The third round of consultations on the Afghan issue was attended by representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan," the Russian Tass news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry statement, as saying. This was the third meeting Russia has hosted in four months to push for political negotiations. The United States had been invited to take part in the consultations, but it refused the invitation. "I think just to end it, we just felt that these talks - it was unclear to us what the purpose was," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said earlier this week explaining Washington's absence. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, ways and means to coordinate regional efforts for facilitating the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan and bringing peace there topped the agenda. The statement said the participants stressed that there was no military solution to the Afghan crisis and the only way to resolve it was by ensuring a national reconciliation using political methods in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. "The parties reiterated their support for efforts being made by the Kabul government and the country's social and political circles which are aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan . The parties also called upon Taliban leaders to abandon their activities aimed at using military force to resolve the conflict and turn to building direct dialogue on the national reconciliation with the Afghan government," said the statement. "The . participants welcomed Russia's proposal to provide a platform for the intra-Afghan talks," the statement added. The participants also agreed to continue consultations in the Moscow format. Russia has been leading the regional initiative since the trilateral meeting between China, Pakistan and Russia was held in Moscow in late December last year. The talks were expanded to six nations in February this year. Kabul had opposed Russian proposal during the February meeting to invite the Taliban to the April 14 meeting. According to the Express Tribune, Additional Secretary Tasnim Aslam led the Pakistan team.(ANI) The Dawn quoted a statement issued by the Iranian embassy in Islamabad on Friday as rejecting "unfounded rumours being circulated in some media during recent days about linking the activities of some miscreants with some Iranian organisations". A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) set up by the Sindh government to investigate Baloch had last year in its report said: "Uzair Baloch was involved in espionage activities by providing secret information regarding army installations and officials to foreign agents [Iranian intelligence officers] which is a violation of the Official Secret Act 1923." Uzair had in a confessional statement said that he had met an Iranian intelligence official in Chabahar, who had asked him to provide information about Pakistani military officials and Karachi's security environment, reports the Dawn. The embassy said "dissemination of such baseless" material was aimed at turning public opinion against Iran. "It goes without saying that such untrue stories are not commensurate with trajectory of expanding bilateral relations in all spheres between two friendly and brotherly countries of Iran and Pakistan," the embassy said. A 13-page self-written confessional statement of Baloch emerged hours after Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) confirmed on Wednesday that Baloch has been taken into military custody under Pakistan Army Act / Official Secret Act - 1923 On charges of espionage (Leakage of sensitive security information to foreign intelligence agencies).(ANI) Hungary's 2018 election will decide whether a government fighting for the national interest remains in power or forces serving foreign interests gain control, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today.Orban, whose right-wing government has been in power since 2010, has faced a series of mass protests in the past two weeks after it passed legislation that targets a top international university founded by billionaire financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros in Budapest.Orban has long criticised civil society organisations funded by Hungarian-born Soros, accusing them of opposing his tough migration policies and supporting illegal migration. He says the CEU has violated Hungarian rules - an accusation the university rejects. His government also wants to tighten rules on non-governmental organisations.The EU and the United States have sharply criticised the new legislation. Rights groups say it is part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Hungary, after curbs on the public media, state institutions and the constitutional court.Orban, speaking for the first time since the protests began, told pro-government newspaper Magyar Idok such conflicts were part of a fight for national sovereignty."... In Hungary the national government is under continuous pressure and attacks so what is at stake at all elections is whether we will have a parliament and government serving the interests of Hungarian people or it will serve foreign interests," he said.He said what happening in Hungary now was a rehearsal for the campaign for the vote in a year's time. Recent polls give Fidesz around 30 percent support and with that a firm lead over opposition parties."If we accepted that Brussels or other political or financial centres dictated ... what should happen in our country we would not have conflicts," he said in an interview. "But the history of Hungarians is that of a history of freedom fights."The European Commission - often at odds with Orban - threatened Hungary with legal action over a series of measures including the education law, saying they ran counter to the EU's values of human rights and democracy.Analysts say Orban wants to solidify his nationalist-minded voter base ahead of the election.Orban said his government, with its big majority in parliament, was determined to carry on with its policies to keep out migrants and preserve Christian civilisation."The government is determined, I don't see any sign of retreat," Orban said.Thousands of students marched on parliament on Wednesday chanting "Europe! Europe!" and "Free country! Free university!"A new protest will be held today at 2100 IST.REUTERS SDR RK1410 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-1230776.Xml "The number of Daesh fighters killed in the US bomb in Achin district jumped to 94, including four commanders," CNN quoted Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogiani, as saying. "Our team is in the area and they are doing clearance, so the figure might change as they find more bodies," said Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense. The initial toll given by Afghan officials for Thursday's strike was 36. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs" was dropped at 7:32 p.m. local time Thursday to target a network of fortified underground tunnels that ISIS had been using to stage attacks on government forces in the province according to the U.S. administration. The blast destroyed three underground tunnels as well as weapons and ammunition, but no civilians were hurt, Afghan and US officials claimed. The 30-foot-long, GPS-guided bomb is capable of destroying an area equivalent to nine city blocks. The US military previously estimated ISIS had 600 to 800 active fighters in the area. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he approved of the strike, and it was designed to support Afghan and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region.(ANI) Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai accused his successor today of committing treason by allowing the US military to drop the largest conventional bomb ever used in combat during an operation against Islamic State militants in Afghanistan.Karzai, who also vowed to "stand against America", retains considerable influence within Afghanistan's majority Pashtun ethnic group, to which President Ashraf Ghani also belongs. His strong words could signal a broader political backlash that may endanger the US military mission in Afghanistan.Afghan defence officials have said the 9,797-kg GBU-43, dropped late on Thursday in the eastern province of Nangarhar, had killed nearly 100 suspected militants, though they acknowledged this was an estimate and not based on an actual body count."How could you permit Americans to bomb your country with a device equal to an atom bomb?" Karzai said at a public event in Kabul, questioning Ghani's decision. "If the government has permitted them to do this, that was wrong and it has committed a national treason."Ghani's office said the strike had been closely coordinated between Afghan and US forces and replied to Karzai's charges with a statement saying: "Every Afghan has the right to speak their mind. This is a country of free speech."Public reaction to Thursday's strike has been mixed, with some residents near the blast praising Afghan and US troops for pushing back the Islamic State militants.While the bomb has been described as one of the largest non-nuclear devices ever used, its destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT."VIOLATION OF OUR SOVEREIGNTY"During Karzai's tenure as president, his opposition to airstrikes by foreign military forces helped to sour his relationship with the United States and other Western nations.As the Kabul government, split between Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah under a US-brokered power-sharing deal, remains fragile, Karzai's political interventions draw close attention. Ghani has failed to build the kind of domestic following that Karzai still has despite stepping down in 2014.Karzai said he planned to "stand against America", a stance he compared to decisions earlier in his life to fight against the Soviets and later the Taliban regime."I decided to get America off my soil," he said. "This bomb wasn't only a violation of our sovereignty and a disrespect to our soil and environment, but will have bad effects for years."While Karzai did not elaborate on how he would oppose the United States, his stance may pose problems for Ghani's administration, which is heavily reliant on the United States and other foreign donors for aid and military support.Yesterday, the top US commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, defended the strike, saying the decision to use the bomb was based on military needs, not political reasons.Afghan troops, backed by US warplanes and special forces, have been battling militants linked to Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan for years.The most recent operation began in March and continued until troops hit Islamic State fighters entrenched in booby-trapped tunnels in a remote mountain region, leading commanders to call for the use of the GBU-43 bomb.REUTERS PY AN1957 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-855830.Xml "Whether this works is a huge unknown. Re-establishing a population takes years and years, and there is a high likelihood that it won't work." Aaron Robinson, North Dakota Game and Fish upland game management supervisor, on efforts to transplant sage grouse from Wyoming to North Dakota. q q q "I'm just admiring the building. It's a big improvement. It feels like a big town." Butch Dressler, Halliday, on Hazens new Sakakawea Medical Center. q q q "This is so much more than STEM class and solar power; I think you guys are learning lessons that will carry you a long way." Ryan Townsend, Simle Middle School teacher, talking to his students as they were honored for being the state finalist in Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow Contest, which aims to encourage students to use STEM science, technology, engineering and math skills and help those in their communities. q q q "I do see some light at the end of the tunnel. It's not pretty." Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, on the outlook for the end of the legislative session. q q q "It was an awesome turnout. I couldn't be more proud." Mandan Mayor Tim Helbling, on the attendance for a fundraising breakfast for Mandan's deputy police chief Paul Leingang, who was recently diagnosed with stage IV cancer. q q q "It's not only the fact that you need to be punished and you need an opportunity to rehabilitate, but the public needs to be protected from you. You are a violent, dangerous person. And until you realize that, the treatment you're going to have is not going to do you any good." South Central District Judge Sonna Anderson during sentencing of James Vann, who was convicted of threatening people with a gun. Vann must serve five years at the state penitentiary. q q q "Our history tells us that these are our homelands. My children, my great-grandchildren, this will be their legacy of who they are and where they come from." Wendi Wells, discussing the Double Ditch Indian Village Historical Site. q q q "We understand reductions have to be made. But we'll be paying close attention to where they're made." Environmental Health Section Chief Dave Glatt, on Environmental Protection Agency cuts. q q q "The reality is this is a moral issue, at least from the standpoint of some of our committee members. We took property that didn't belong to us, in my opinion." Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck, on Senate Bill 2134 that will change how minerals under Lake Sakakawea and the Missouri River are leased. q q q "We want our nursing students to know that when they begin a program in the state, they will be able to see it through. This extension allows us to take a moment to make sure we can make this program viable." State Board of Higher Education chairwoman Kathleen Neset, on a new nursing school lease agreement between North Dakota State University and Sanford Health. q q q "By and large, there are not going to be radical changes. For us, we're looking at them as our teachers are sitting down, highlighting what's different in the old standards and probably discovering just additional clarity in the new standards, additional examples, additional tools to communicate with parents but not a radical departure from school as they knew it." Bismarck Public Schools Superintendent Tamara Uselman, on new standards adopted to guide the states math and English teachers. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 00:31:12|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, held a strategic communication via phone Friday on bilateral ties, the situation in Syria and the Korean Peninsula. The two foreign ministers pledged to actively implement the consensus reached by the two countries' heads of state on the development of China-Russia relations and to prepare for a series of high-level exchanges in the near future. The two ministers stressed that China and Russia enjoy solid mutual trust and are ready to strengthen strategic coordination in regional and international affairs. On the situation in Syria, Wang said the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria should be respected, adding that a top priority of the moment is to conduct an independent, just and professional investigation into the use of chemical weapons in the country. He said he believed that the fact will come to light. On the Korean Peninsula, Wang said, preventing war and chaos on the peninsula meets the common interests of China and Russia, and pulling all the parties back to the negotiating table is the common goal of the two countries. China is willing to coordinate closely with Russia to cool down the situation on the peninsula and push the related parties to resume dialogue, he said. Lavrov said that Russia and China enjoy frequent high-level exchanges, ever deepening mutual trust and fruitful results from bilateral cooperation in various fields. He said Russia is in favor of a fair investigation into Syria's chemical weapon issue as soon as possible and a resumption of dialogue on the Korean Peninsula issue. Lavrov said that Russia is willing to continue to keep close strategic coordination and communication with China. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 01:21:20|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHICAGO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures close higher over the trade week which ended April 13, mostly on fund short-covering and wet weather. Corn ended 11 cents higher weekly, settling at the highest level since early March. Fund short covering was featured, and despite a mostly bearish April USDA report, speculators were indeed excessively short (160,000 contracts) ahead of a Northern Hemisphere growing season. Analysts mention that very little U.S. corn seeding is expected in the month of April, and as the equatorial Pacific warms an active pattern of rainfall looks to continue through early May. Parts of Western Europe and Ukraine are also much drier normal, and so some measure of premium has been added. However, South American crops continue to get bigger, Brazil is trending wetter through late April, U.S. HRW (hard red winter) wheat yield prospects are improving, and overall competition for world grain demand this summer is rising, not falling. As such, analysts maintain a strategy of selling rallies, but better opportunities lie ahead. U.S. wheat markets this week rallied 5 to 12 cents, led by spring wheat contracts amid slower than expected planting -- and a likely tightening of the HRS balance sheet in 2017 even with trend yield in the U.S. and Canada. Otherwise, the recent recovery has been centered on fund short covering, after a near-record short position was established ahead of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) April WASDE (World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report). Crop potential is improving in the U.S. as the recent pattern shift to wet weather across the Plains looks to hold on through late April, and the ongoing boost in soil moisture should limit bouts of excessive heat through spring. Western Europe and parts of the Black Sea, however, have been much drier than normal. Rainfall since March across France, West Germany, Ukraine and South Russia rests at just 35-70 percent of normal, and whether this trend continues will be watched closely. Soybean futures fell to new lows at the April WASDE report release and then closed out the week higher on Thursday. The USDA's April update to world supply/demand estimates did not offer any significant surprises, but did confirm expectations of a larger South American crop size, as well as a slight increase in US old crop stocks. The drop back to harvest lows found short covering, which supported higher trade into the end of the week. Fundamentally, Chinese demand remains strong while world farmers are so far slow sellers on the recent break in prices. U.S./world supplies are record large, but analysts doubt prices fall much further until the U.S. crop is planted and the market is assured of a good start to the new crop. They think rallies back to 10 dollars will warrant both old and new crop sales. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 01:26:22|Editor: yan Video Player Close KIEV, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government may double the country's defence budget if the economy strengthens further, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said here on Friday. Ukraine's defence spending may rise to 9.6 billion U.S. dollars per year when the country achieves a sustainable economic growth, Groysman told the parliament. After two decades of keeping its defense expenditures at below 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), Ukraine started to gradually boost its defense budget in 2014, when the conflict between government troops and independence-seeking insurgents started in eastern regions. While in 2013 the country's defense budget stood at 1.11 percent of the GDP, in 2016 it has reached 5 percent of the GDP. The Ukrainian government has estimated that the country's spending on defense will stand at about 4.8 billion dollars or 5 percent of the GDP this year. The Ukrainian economy grew by 2.3 percent in 2016 compared with a consolidated decline of 16.5 percent over the previous two years. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 01:31:23|Editor: yan Video Player Close CHICAGO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- General Motors (GM) and its joint ventures sold record 345,448 vehicles in China in March this year, up 16 percent year on year. The U.S. automaker attributed the increase, the largest since last August, to brisk sales of SUVs, MPVs and luxury vehicles, saying its Buick, Cadillac and Baojun brands all hit new sales records in March in China. According to figures posted on GM's website, Buick sales rose 21 percent to record 88,519 units; Cadillac sales rocketed 63 percent to 12,369 units; and Baojun soared 81 percent to 81,353 units. Cadillac sales in China totaled 39,414 units in the first three months of this year, up 90.5 percent year on year. In another development, Ford and its joint ventures sold only 90,457 vehicles in China in March, down 21 percent year on year; and a total of 255,261 units in the first quarter of 2017, down 19 percent year on year. However, Ford remains optimistic about its market in China. "We continue to see strong demand from Chinese customers for our premium Taurus large sedan, Edge and Everest SUVs and performance vehicles in the first quarter," Peter Fleet, vice president of Ford's Asia Pacific marketing, sales and service, said in a statement. "We are pleased with the momentum that Lincoln continues to make in China." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 02:51:34|Editor: An Video Player Close LONDON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Famous English writer Beatrix Potter made the red squirrel popular by introducing her character Squirrel Nutkin to generations of children. Experts have warned that the red squirrel could disappear completely by 2030, having lost its battle for survival against the stronger grey squirrel. Thousands of people made the trek Friday to a special haven, north of Liverpool, which is one of just a handful of places in Britain where the red squirrel is able to survive. The squirrel reserve at Formby, a vast area of conifer woodlands, is celebrating its 50th anniversary during the Easter holiday weekend. It gives visitors a chance to have a close encounter with the rare animal, described as cheeky and impish. In Britain, there are 2.5 million grey squirrels and around 140,000 red squirrels. Red squirrels have lived in Britain for around 10,000 years, while the grey squirrel was introduced from North America in 1876. An estimated 80 percent of red squirrels were wiped out in 2008 when an epidemic swept through the population. They caught a virus passed on by the grey squirrels who are immune to the disease. The vast woodlands at Formby is cared for by the National Trust (NT), the official agency caring for special buildings and places across Britain. A team of volunteers work to feed and keep a close eye on the squirrel community, making sure their grey cousins are kept away. Now at Formby, which faces the Irish Sea, there has been a steady recovery of the species, and it is once again possible for visitors to enjoy seeing red squirrels along a specially created trail. "Red Squirrels were once a common sight across Britain but, since the introduction of the North American Grey Squirrel in the 19th Century, their numbers have declined," said an NT spokesman. The plight of the Red squirrel is recognized in local, regional, national and international conservation policies. It is afforded the highest level of protection under UK law -- the Wildlife and Countryside Act, according to the spokesman. "Formby is one of the few places in England where Red squirrels have survived, and sightings of this charming little animal provide joy to local residents and visitors," added the spokesman, calling on people to continue to work together to protect the animal. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 03:22:27|Editor: yan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Defense will deploy a small number of F-35 fighter jets to Europe for training this weekend, a milestone for the F-35 programs, it said in a statement Friday. The F-35A Lighting II joint strike fighter aircraft will conduct training with other U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aircrafts as part of the European Reassurance Initiative, the statement said. The program constitutes an "important milestone and natural progression of the F-35 program," as it will allow the U.S. Air Force to demonstrate the operational capabilities of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft, and prepare Europe for receiving the jets in early 2020. The announcement came two days after a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington, during which Trump reversed his harsh criticism of the military alliance during the campaign and said it was "no longer obsolete". Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 06:38:43|Editor: yan Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Apple Inc., the manufacturer of iPhone and other electronic devices, joined Friday more than a dozen of companies to be allowed to test self-driving vehicles on public roads in California. While the technology company headquartered in Cupertino, Northern California, did not comment on the latest development, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the Golden State on the U.S. West Coast listed Apple on its website as the latest one getting an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit. As of Friday, the list includes 30 companies, with Volkswagen Group of America, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi Automotive and Tesla Motors as the earliest entities receiving the permit. Other traditional automakers on the list were General Motors Cruise LLC and Ford of the United States; Nissan, Honda and Subaru of Japan; and BMW of Germany. Most other companies holding the testing permit are technology startups. Long suspected of working on a self-driving vehicle project, Apple has never openly and directly discussed its interest in cars. As the state DMV tries to establish a path for the testing and deployment of fully autonomous vehicles in California, the largest and most populous among the 50 states in America, proposed new regulations were published on March 10, 2017, to be followed by a public hearing scheduled for April 25 in the state capital of Sacramento. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 07:34:03|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close HAVANA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,200 foreign delegates are set to join Cuba's May Day celebrations in honor of International Workers' Day, state daily Granma said on Friday. The Cuban capital's May 1 parades and rallies at Revolution Square traditionally attract an international contingent, including a growing number of U.S. nationals, according to Ulises Guilarte, secretary general of the Central Union of Cuban Workers (CTC). In the past two years, Americans have comprised the second largest foreign delegation participating in the show of solidarity for the world's workers, he said. Some of these activists are invited by the different trade unions or solidarity organizations, while others are individuals who come "to support the (Cuban) revolution," Granma cited Guilarte as saying. In the lead-up to May 1, many foreign delegates undertake volunteer work or visit workers' organizations "to find out firsthand the reality of the Caribbean nation," he said. Cuba's workers will call for the lifting of the U.S.-led trade embargo against Cuba and the withdrawal of the U.S. military from a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, and express their support for Cuban President Raul Castro and his economic and social reforms. On May 2, Havana's convention center will host an International Solidarity Meeting, where foreign and Cuban experts will debate the impact neoliberal policies have on the working class. This year's May Day will be the first key workers' celebration to take place following the death of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Nov. 25 of last year, who regularly led the central rally at Revolution Square. Last year, 1,600 foreign delegates from 209 trade unions and social organizations from 68 countries took part in Cuba's May Day parade. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 07:34:03|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a head-on collision between a fuel tanker truck and a passenger bus in south Mexico has climbed to 26, officials said on Friday. Also Friday, investigators concluded the bus driver was at fault, after apparently letting his vehicle slide into the opposite lane and crash head on into the tanker truck, which soon burst into flames. Neither driver survived, and the rest of the fatal victims, who burned to death, were passengers heading to the beach for the Easter holiday. The accident, which occurred early Thursday along a highway in the border region between the states of Guerrero and Michoacan, initially killed 24 people and injured nine. At a press conference, Mariana Ponce, the director of forensic services for Michoacan state's Attorney General's Office said her Guerrero counterpart delivered the bodies of 26 people for identification. The bus passengers were members of one family and their neighbors who had rented the bus to travel from Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, to either Zihuatanejo or Acapulco, both beach resorts in Guerrero. A worker counts Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) at a bank in Linyi, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 11, 2015. (Xinhua/Zhang Chunlei) WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Treasury Department on Friday declared that no major trading partner of the U.S., including China, met the standard of manipulating its currency, while six economies were listed on its Monitoring List as their foreign exchange polices bear close monitoring. In its Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies, the Treasury Department concluded that no major trading partner of the United States, including China, has manipulated their currencies over the past six months to keep them undervalued. However, it put China, China's Taiwan, Japan, South Korea,, Germany, and Switzerland on its Monitoring List, saying their foreign exchange policies bear close monitoring. The report said that China remained on the list because of its "disproportionate share of the overall U.S. trade deficit," despite that China's current account surplus was only 1.8 percent of GDP in 2016, sharply down from 2.8 percent of GDP in 2015. U.S. President Donald Trump this week said in an interview that China hasn't been manipulating its currency for months, a sharp reversal from his campaign rhetoric. Many economists have argued that the Chinese currency, RMB, has been at equilibrium level in recent years. Over the last decade, China's effective exchange rate has appreciated more than any other major currency, rising a total of more than 40 percent, said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Brad Setser, an expert with Council on Foreign Relations, noted that the RMB exchange rate is now close to equilibrium. He expected that the RMB exchange rate would remain stable at current level with China's current account surplus and its efforts to deal with capital outflows. The International Monetary Fund declared the RMB as no longer undervalued in 2015. Under Obama administration, the Treasury Department also dropped its previous assessment that the RMB was "significant undervalued". Despite concerns about funding cuts for North Dakota universities, state lawmakers passed a slimmer higher education budget bill Friday. Senate Bill 2003 includes more than $610 million in general fund spending for the states campuses and university system, which is a little more than the higher education appropriation in the 2009-11 funding cycle but amounts to a nearly 32 percent cut from what lawmakers agreed to spend two years ago. The bill includes a fraction of the one-time spending that lawmakers authorized for the 2015-17 biennium. Legislators have looked to slash budgets in the face of reduced tax revenue this session, but the higher education cuts didnt sit well with some lawmakers. Im all about getting rid of the fat but these are deep, impactful cuts that will affect enrollment and will erode all the success and progress weve made in recent years, said Rep. Alisa Mitskog, D-Wahpeton. The bill caps tuition increases for resident students at 4 percent for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years. The cap doesnt apply to graduate programs, nonresident students or rates determined by reciprocity agreements. The bill passed the House in a 77-10 vote and is expected to land in a conference committee. Internet sales tax bill signed Large out-of-state sellers will have to collect and remit sales tax under a bill signed by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday. Senate Bill 2298, introduced by Sen. Dwight Cook, R-Mandan, was promoted by business groups as a way to balance the scales between brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers. The National Conference of State Legislatures estimated North Dakota lost $31.3 million in uncollected sales tax from remote sellers in fiscal year 2012. The bill wont become effective until the the U.S. Supreme Court confirms a state may impose a sales or use tax on an out-of-state seller or overturns its 1992 decision in Quill v. North Dakota. In that case, the court said North Dakota couldnt make the mail-order catalog business collect sales tax because the existing system was too complicated, but state tax officials have said updated software has removed that burden. PERS changes debated A conference committee made up of House and Senate lawmakers debated a study provision included in the budget bill for the North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System on Friday. House Bill 1023 asks for a legislative study of the PERS boards powers and duties, changing the contract bidding process to every two years and the feasibility of implementing a self-funded insurance plan. The Senate on Thursday unanimously rejected a bill requiring PERS to establish a self-insurance plan for hospital, medical and prescription drug benefits coverage. Under a self-funded plan, state insurance premiums would be pooled into a reserve fund to pay claims and administrative expenses, according to a news release from the office of House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo. The states current plan has been described as a hybrid rather than a traditional fully insured setup. The House passed the bill in a 71-19 vote in late March, despite concerns it would affect the PERS contract with Sanford Health Plan. Carlson had argued it would help the state control rising premiums and provide more flexibility in plan design, but he said employees wouldnt be affected. Senate members of conference committee on House Bill 1023 argued the idea needed more time to be vetted. Firearm storage bill Burgum signed a bill Tuesday creating a new exemption to the ban on firearms at public gatherings. Its a Class B misdemeanor to possess a firearm or dangerous weapon at sporting events, schools, churches and public buildings, although there are several exceptions in state law. House Bill 1279 says the prohibition doesnt apply to a person storing a firearm in a building thats owned or managed by the state or a political subdivision, as long as the person lives in the building, stores the firearm in their assigned residential unit and theyve received permission from the state, governing board or a designee. A previous version of the bill, introduced by Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, drew concerns from the North Dakota University System that it would apply to residence hall directors or resident assistants living in university housing. But a lawmaker said last month the bill included adequate safeguards and wasnt aimed at university residences. NDUS spokeswoman Billie Jo Lorius said the State Board of Higher Education created a policy that acknowledges the bill and indicates that authority to grant permission lies exclusively with SBHE or the institution presidents. The safety and security of our students and employees is our primary concern, and we are diligent in any and all considerations of firearms and dangerous weapons on campus, she added. Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, addresses a press briefing in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on April 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Lu Shuqun) KABUL, April 14 (Xinhua) -- No civilian casualties were reported following Thursday's massive U.S. bombing against an Islamic State (IS) position in Afghanistan, the U.S. and NATO commander said on Friday. On Thursday evening, the U.S. military dropped a GBU-43 or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb, on an IS cave complex in Achin District, eastern Nangahar Province bordering Pakistan. "We have Afghan and U.S. Forces at the site and we see no evidence of civilian casualties nor have there been reports," Gen. John Nicholson told a press briefing here. This is the first time that the U.S. military used in combat the massive bomb, nicknamed "the mother of all bombs." "This was the right weapon against the right target," he said, adding that "I want to assure the people of Afghanistan that our forces took every possible precaution to prevent civilian casualties." At least 82 militants of IS group had been killed following the raid that also destroyed a big IS hideout along with several bunkers as well as a 300-meter-long tunnels, according to Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman of provincial government. Earlier Friday, the Afghan Defense Ministry, based on initial findings, said that 36 IS militants were killed by the attack. The mountainous province with Jalalabad city as its capital, 120 km east of Kabul, has been the scene of clashes between security forces and IS militants since the emergence of IS there in early 2015. More than 1,900 IS militants, several Afghan security forces and two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Achin and neighboring districts since 2015, according to Afghan military officials. COLOMBO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan authorities on Saturday said that they had recovered ten bodies from the site of a collapsed garbage dump just outside the capital Colombo. The garbage mountain in Meethotamulla collapsed Friday evening damaging over 60 houses with some saying over 100 homes were destroyed. A rescue operation continued overnight following fears many people were buried in the incident. Among those killed in the incident were four children and several others were admitted to hospital for treatment. Over 180 people have also been displaced, officials said. A fire had also broken out at the site and the Air Force was deployed to douse the flames. Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the Disaster Management Centre to provide assistance to the affected families. The residents of the area have been protesting over the past several months urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 14:45:32|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) on Friday warned that Brazil's ongoing political crisis and corruption scandals could hurt the country's credit ratings. S&P said Brazil's positive factors were at below 10 percent, while its negative factors were between 70 and 80 percent. More than 80 Brazilian government officials, including ministers, senators and deputies, have been involved in a massive corruption investigation called Operation Car Wash, a probe into bribery and kickbacks at state oil giant Petrobras and construction companies it contracted, including Odebrecht. Brazilian President Michel Temer said Wednesday that he would not allow the investigation to paralyze the government. "The government cannot be paralyzed," Temer said, a day after the Federal Supreme Court (STF) had revealed the extent of the wide-reaching probe into corruption in the public sector. "Nothing must stop the activity of the government," said Temer after some of his closest aides appear on the court's investigation list of suspects. The court's special rapporteur for the investigation, Judge Edson Fachin, on Tuesday unveiled the list, which targets eight ministers. The suspects have all been incriminated by former executives of construction firms, such as Odebrecht, that paid bribes and kickbacks to officials in exchange for lucrative construction contracts. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 15:20:38|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close Aerial photo taken on April 1, 2017 shows Xiongxian County, north China's Hebei Province. China announced Saturday it would establish the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province, as part of measures to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. The New Area, about 100 km southwest of downtown Beijing, will span three counties that sit at the center of the triangular area formed by Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei's provincial capital Shijiazhuang. (Xinhua/Wang Xiao) BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China's centrally administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have voiced support for Xiongan New Area in Hebei province, pledging efforts to participate in its construction. Telecom giants China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom said they would offer advanced communication services to the area, supported by innovative models such as cloud computing, big data and e-commerce. China Mobile and China Telecom will make sure Xiongan is covered by a 5G network. Wang Yupu, chairman of oil giant Sinopec, said the company will increase investment into geothermal energy in Hebei, and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) plans to focus on natural gas businesses in the region. China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) joined the chorus of support, promising a plentiful supply of clean energy to the region. Other state firms, including China Guodian Corp., and China Huaneng Group, also pledged to contribute to the construction of the new area. The plan for Xiongan New Area was officially announced on April 1. The new area will span Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties in Hebei Province, eventually covering 2,000 square kilometers, with a population of 2 to 2.5 million. Chinese leaders hope the new area will help address the severe "urban ills" of traffic congestion and air pollution in Beijing, by curbing the capital's population growth and moving non-capital functions out of Beijing. China's top SOEs regulator on Friday announced it would establish a special working group to encourage state firms to map out future development strategies for the area. "The centrally administered SOEs have been encouraged to support the construction of the zone in areas like energy security, infrastructure, electricity, telecommunications, rail transport, ecological protection, information-based network and smart city," noted the statement from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 15:35:40|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Trade between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region totaled 36.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first two months of this year, down 1.5 percent year on year. Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed that mainland-Hong Kong trade during the period accounted for 6.5 percent of the mainland's total overseas trade volume. In January and February, mainland exports to Hong Kong hit 35.5 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 1.5 percent on a year-on-year basis, while the mainland's imports from the region saw a decrease of 48.9 percent to 1.1 billion U.S. dollars. Hong Kong is the mainland's sixth-largest trade partner and fourth-largest export market, according to the ministry. The mainland approved 1,847 Hong Kong-invested projects in the first two months, with the actual use of Hong Kong capital reaching 14.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 27.5 percent from the same period of last year. By the end of February, the mainland had approved 400,813 Hong Kong-invested projects, with the actual use of Hong Kong capital reaching 929.7 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 52 percent of the total overseas investment in the mainland. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 16:26:05|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close Gong Xiaosheng, China's special envoy on Middle East affairs, receives an interview with Xinhua during his visit in Cairo, capital of Egypt, April 14, 2017. The Belt and Road Initiative may become China's most significant contribution to the Middle East peace process, Gong Xiaosheng said on Friday. (Xinhua/Meng Tao) CAIRO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative may become China's most significant contribution to the Middle East peace process, China's special envoy on Middle East affairs said in Cairo during his recent visit to Egypt. China seeks comprehensive solutions to the Middle East crisis, and an essential part of it will be economic restoration, where the Belt and Road Initiative will conjoin with restoration plans of regional countries, Gong Xiaosheng said in an interview with Chinese media outlets in Cairo. BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE ECONOMIC SOLUTION TO CRISIS "The ancient Silk Road witnessed frequent trade and cultural exchanges between the Arab world and China, which is part of the reason why the Middle East countries have been so eager to cooperate with China after the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013," Gong said. The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes. As a senior diplomat who started his career working in Egypt almost 40 years ago, Gong hailed the robust economic and trade cooperation between the region and China. "When I visited some Middle East countries in 1995, there were almost no Chinese commodities in the market. But seven years later I found half of the goods in an Emirati supermarket were made in China," he said, adding that the economic ties would only be more active in the future. Furthermore, Gong said he believes Belt and Road Initiative will contribute to the Middle East peace process. Regional countries stuck in crisis will start after-conflict restoration process sooner or later, Gong said, adding that economic issues like renovating infrastructure and creating jobs will be relevant again. "I think the Belt and Road Initiative is highly likely to become China's most significant contribution to the Middle East peace process because it will provide the economic solution the region needs," Gong said. PALESTINIAN ISSUE CORE OF REGIONAL CRISIS Gong reiterated in the interview that China seeks a comprehensive solution to the Middle East crisis, stressing that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is "the core of the regional crisis." "All the crises in the regions have been entangled, and it is impossible to solve one without solving the others, especially without handling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict properly," the senior diplomat explained to Xinhua. The international community should respect the relevant United Nations resolutions and seek the political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Gong said. Most countries in the world agree to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the Arab Peace Initiative and the two-state solution because they are the most feasible solutions on the table, Gong said. CHINA HAS NO SELFISH INTERESTS IN MIDDLE EAST As an emerging power, China will shoulder its due responsibilities in the Middle East but it has no selfish interests in the region, Gong said in the interview. China is keen to see the Middle East countries regain peace and stability and achieve economic prosperity, he said. China's Middle East policy focuses on pushing forward peace process on an equal and just basis, the Chinese envoy said. "China always seeks to quench the fire rather than stir the flame, which is a traditional Chinese wisdom of conflict management," Gong said. Speaking of the recent twin suicide attacks in Tanta and Alexandria in Egypt, Gong said China condemns all forms of terrorist activities and supports Egypt in combating terrorism. "China stands together with Egypt especially during hard times," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 16:26:06|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A central bank official on Saturday said green financing must be improved as the country seeks greener and more sustainable growth. In a speech delivered at a meeting on green financing, vice governor of the central bank Chen Yulu said China's green financing is still at an early stage and it has the potential to be more effective. The investment returns on some green projects are not attractive enough, and some fields still face financing difficulties and high financing costs, Chen noted, calling for a coordinated role between the government and the market to promote green financing. China should encourage local governments to set up green funds and work together with social capital to bring down financing costs, Chen suggested. Innovation for financing products and services should be boosted to speed up development of green bonds, green asset-backed securitization, green indices and green insurance to offer diverse products to investors. China should also enhance transparency in the green financing market and deepen international cooperation in the area, according to Chen. China is pushing the development of green finance to support its industrial upgrading and anti-pollution campaign. According to credit rating agency Moody's, green bond issues worldwide hit a record high of 93.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, rising 120 percent from a year earlier, bolstered by China-based issuers. China accounted for nearly 40 percent of new green bonds last year, followed by the United States, France and Germany, according to Moody's. LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Eleven civilians were killed in a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand Friday night, local authorities said on Saturday. "A minibus carrying civilians touched off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Mullah Abbas locality, Nawa district late Friday night. The blast killed all 11 people aboard the vehicle that was destroyed by the blast," Omar Zwak, provincial government spokesman, told Xinhua. The bodies were shifted to a hospital for identification process. The Taliban militant group uses IEDs to target security forces but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians, according to military officials. The IED explosions are the third largest cause of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, following ground engagements and suicide attacks. The district has been the scene of heavy clashes as security forces have been involved in an ongoing military operation to drive out the militants form the district, south of the city of Lashkar Gah, Helmand's provincial capital. Helmand, notorious for poppy growing, is a Taliban stronghold. A worker counts Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) at a bank in Linyi, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 11, 2015. (Xinhua/Zhang Chunlei) Hi, here is what you need to know about China SHIJIAZHUANG -- Another human H7N9 bird flu case was confirmed in north China's Hebei, local health authorities reported Saturday. The patient, a 69-year-old male surnamed Liu, lives in a village in Dacheng County, Langfang City. He had been in contact with live poultry before he fell ill, officials with the county health department said. - - - - WASHINGTON -- U.S. Treasury Department on Friday declared that no major trading partner of the U.S., including China, met the standard of manipulating its currency, while six economies were listed on its Monitoring List as their foreign exchange polices bear close monitoring. In its Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies, the Treasury Department concluded that no major trading partner of the United States, including China, has manipulated their currencies over the past six months to keep them undervalued. - - - - BEIJING -- Apple announced on Friday that three more suppliers in China will use 100 percent renewable energy in manufacturing its products by the end of 2018. "As Apple continues our renewable energy efforts, we're thrilled to work alongside our manufacturing partners to advance China's green future," said Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives at Apple, in an email to Xinhua. - - - - CHICAGO -- General Motors (GM) and its joint ventures sold record 345,448 vehicles in China in March this year, up 16 percent year on year. The U.S. automaker attributed the increase, the largest since last August, to brisk sales of SUVs, MPVs and luxury vehicles, saying its Buick, Cadillac and Baojun brands all hit new sales records in March in China. According to figures posted on GM's website, Buick sales rose 21 percent to record 88,519 units; Cadillac sales rocketed 63 percent to 12,369 units; and Baojun soared 81 percent to 81,353 units. NEW DELHI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Former Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday made a U-turn on his remarks on Indian-controled Kashmir and that he served under a lot of pressure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, saying media reports incorrectly reported the same. "Reports attributed to me by some news agency regarding my speech at Ambedkar Jayanti is factually incorrect," Parrikkar, now the chief minister of the western Indian state of Goa, tweeted. Parrikar reportedly said Friday at the 126th birth anniversary celebrations of India's social reformer Babasaheb Ambedkar in state capital Panaji, that the Kashmir conundrum is not an easy issue to resolve and advocated a long-term policy to tackle it. "It is not easy to resolve the Kashmir issue. There is a need for a long term policy to resolve the Kashmir issue," he said. Kashmir has been the bone of contention between India and Pakistan and both the countries have fought at least three major wars over the disputed territory in the past 65 years, with both staking claim to the region. Parrikar also said he was not used to Delhi and that there was a lot of pressure on him when he was serving as the defense minister in the national capital. "Delhi is not my place. It is not the place I am habituated to. There was a lot of pressure on me," he was quoted as saying by the media. Parrikar served in the Modi government as defense minister from 2014 to 2017 before returning to his home state of Goa as the chief minister after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party formed a coalition government there. DEVILS LAKE -- Evaluations for two suspended Devils Lake police leaders do little to confirm complaints about their performance, with most comments being positive. Some of Chief Keith Schroeders evaluations are either incomplete or missing, however, and Capt. Jon Barnetts files note him falling asleep and a call for an improvement in his productivity. Annual evaluations for Schroeder and Barnett obtained by the Herald mostly showed positive remarks and satisfactory ratings for the two suspended officers. The latest Schroeder evaluation, from July 2016, said he had satisfactory performance, displayed organization skills and had no weaknesses. But those were the only comments left on his evaluation, which was signed by City Commissioner Craig Stromme. The commissioner holds the police portfolio and has conducted evaluations with Barnett since 2011. The back of the 2016 evaluation, which gives officers ratings in several categories, was left blank. Schroeders 2014 and 2015 evaluations were missing from his file, and its unclear if they were misplaced or not filled out and handed in. Stromme declined to comment during a special meeting Monday that was meant to allow Schroeder and Barnett to comment on a critical assessment report that called the Devils Lake Police Department the laughingstock of law enforcement in North Dakota. The report, which was based on interviews with officers and police staff, said Barnett and Schroeder had no respect in the department, with complaints emphasizing low morale and lack of communication. The two were put on paid administrative leave April 3. Barnett didnt speak at the meeting, but Schroeder told the City Commission he was working on strategies to fix problems at the department. That was before commissioners voted to prepare a severance package for Schroeder. He told the Herald he was disappointed in the outcome, pointing to his positive evaluations, but respected the commission. He declined to say whether he would accept the severance package. Stromme did not respond to an email asking for comment on the evaluations. The Police Department declined to comment, deferring questions to City Hall. The commission will hold an executive session Monday to discuss separation agreements for Schroeder and Barnett. Grand Forks record Before taking over as the Devils Lake chief in 2009, Schroeder worked for the Grand Forks Police Department since 1986. Annual evaluations dating back to 1990 are mostly positive. A 2007 evaluation said Schroeder was commendable in working with others, adding he was quick to find solutions. A 2013 evaluation in Devils Lake said Schroeder should work on enhancing overall morale and promotion of the department to the community. One of the few controversies Schroeder faced was when former Grand Forks Police Chief Chet Paschke tried to fire him and another officer after allegations arose the two officers used unnecessary physical force while a suspected drunk driver, former Grand Forks resident Jeffrey Shoults, was in handcuffs in 1989. Shoults refused to take a breath test and was uncooperative, according to Herald archives. Witnesses claimed one or both of the officers pulled Shoults hair, placed him in a chokehold and punched him. Schroeder also stepped on Shoults leg and put his full weight on the leg, according to accusations. Former Grand Forks Mayor Mike Polovitz denied Paschkes request to fire Schroeder and the other officer, saying he felt firing them was too severe. The two were suspended without pay for a month each. A lawsuit resulted in the incident but was eventually settled with Shoults being paid $130,000. But overall, Schroeder appeared to exceed expectations in Grand Forks, according to his supervisors. Barnett files Barnett has been employed as a Devils Lake officer since 1983, with police chiefs, including Schroeder, conducting his annual evaluations. Most of them have been positive, but his career hasnt been without incident. The latest evaluation, from June, said Barnett came in early to meet with sergeants on a regular basis. Schroeder called him a dedicated member of the force. Former Chief Bruce Kemmet, who resigned in 2009, gave Barnett satisfactory marks on his evaluations, but the chief noted several times that Barnett needed to work on productivity. At times when working nights, Sgt. Barnett will read and it appears that he is sleeping, a 2008 evaluation read. A 2004 evaluation said he confronted an administrator in a disrespectful and argumentative manner. He also was suspended for a day for falling asleep in his patrol car while on duty. Some evaluations said he wanted to make friends with his officers, was protective of new staff and was willing to listen to and address issues. In December 1999, Barnett submitted a letter of resignation but withdrew it days later. by Chris Mgidu NAIROBI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police said on Saturday that they were interrogating two terror suspects who were arrested on Friday in the coastal town of Kwale and northeast border town of Mandera near the Somali border. Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said during the two operations, security officers also recovered two grenades and some bullets. Boinnet said one suspect Stephen Wagechi was arrested on Friday while sneaking into Mandera from Bula Hawa in neighboring Somalia "The police also arrested wanted terror suspect Juma Mwengo in Likoni, Kwale County," said Boinnet in a statement, adding that two grenades, 10 rounds of ammunition and other terror paraphernalia such as CDs with radical preaching were seized He said the suspects, believed to have been planning terror attacks on unspecified locations in Kenya during the Easter holiday, are in custody for further interrogation and subsequent court appearance. Security analysts said the arrest of Mwengo was a blow to the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group that is on a steady decline and defeat by Kenya. The arrests came as Kenya was on high alert during the Easter holidays after intelligence reports warned of high risk of terrorism in the country. The intelligence service had warned of possible attacks against soft targets including churches in the northeast region and security personnel and their facilities. Police Spokesman George Kinoti on Thursday confirmed that security forces were on a high alert after receiving intelligence reports that nine terrorists were planning to strike in the country. Police have said in a security report that Kenyan suspects are moving back to the country following sustained attacks by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Somalia National Army. CAIRO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced on Saturday Habib al-Adly, the longest serving interior minister under the ousted president Hosni Mubarak, seven years in jail over embezzlement of public funds, official news agency MENA reported. COLOMBO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a garbage mountain collapse in Meetotamulla, just outside Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, rose to 16 by Saturday afternoon as rescue teams continued with search operations, Disaster Management Officials said. Disaster Management Center spokesperson Pradeep Kodippilli said that tri forces along with rescue teams were continuing the clearing of the area and residents were being relocated to safer locations. Kodippilli said that 12 people continued to receive treatment for their injuries. The 300 foot (91 meter high) massive garbage dump collapsed on Friday evening, burying over 100 homes and displacing over 600 people as the country celebrated its traditional New Year. Police said many residents had evacuated their homes before the disaster because the heavy rains on the previous day had caused garbage slides and damaged the foundations of many homes. Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha De Silva said the state would bear the funeral expenses of the victims and forces had begun relocating people who were under threat. De Silva said that no more garbage would also be dumped at this site and two temporary sites had been identified. "It's ironic that it was only a few weeks back that agreements were signed to begin waste to energy projects to finally deal with this perennial issue," he said. However, he said that it's unfortunate that even though payments had been made for those families under risk of land slides to move out some had not done so. They had even been advised to leave as recently as two days ago. Residents of Meetotamulla have been protesting against the dumpring of garbage in their area and had several times urged the government to look into the matter. Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) beef up security at Adar oilfield, South Sudan, March 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Gale Julius) JUBA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The South Sudanese government on Friday denied that there is genocide taking place in the country. The denial followed remarks by the Britain Secretary for International Development Priti Patel, who said Wednesday that tribal genocide is taking place in the war-torn country. President Salva Kiir's spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Xinhua that the government can not commit genocide against its people and called those talking of genocide as liars. "I can only feel sorry for her (Patel), the government can not commit, implement genocide against South Sudanese. The state apparatus can not be used against a particular tribe," he said. "South Sudanese can never commit genocide. There is no genocide and it will never be there," Ateny added. The government troops (SPLA) have been accused of targeting civilians in the restive Yei town southwest of the capital, and last year the UN Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng said genocide was likely to occur after visiting the border town. Ateny also dismissed claims by the British official that African countries needed to intervene to calm the South Sudan violence rather than wait for the international community. "It is another misconception, the South Sudan case has already been handled by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and there is no need for another option," Ateny said. The war-torn country recently accepted to the deployment of the much-awaited African peacekeeping protection force that will help to separate the warring factions and protect civilians. South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013, as political disputes between President Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar caused fighting to spread along ethnic lines between Kiir's Dinka ethnic group and Machar's Nuer. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million from their homes. Both the SPLA and militia groups fighting in Yei, Kajokeji areas of Equatoria region, have been accused of carrying out ethnic targeted killings on civilians, hence forcing thousands to flee violence. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 18:26:38|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close CAIRO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced on Saturday Habib al-Adly, the longest serving interior minister under the ousted president Hosni Mubarak, seven years in jail over embezzlement of public funds, official news agency MENA reported. Al-Adly and twelve of his aides were accused of illegally seizing two billion pounds (11 millions U.S. dollars) belonging to the Interior Ministry during their time in office from 2000-2011. In November 2014, a court dropped charges against Mubarak, al-Adly and six of his aides over the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 revolution. He was acquitted in another corruption charges in March 2015. He served a three-year sentence he was given for taking advantage of his position and forcing police conscript to work for his property. Several Mubarak-era figures have been recently released pending retrials on charges of corruption for lack of evidences. A South Sudanese child waits to be repatriated in a vehicle in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, on Dec. 14, 2013. (Xinhua/Mohammed Babiker) by Ronald Ssekandi LAMWO, Uganda, April 15 (Xinhua) -- It was a normal day at Pajok Primary School. The head teacher had just finished briefing the pupils during the morning assembly. At the neighboring Ayela Primary School, it was the same routine until hell broke loose. Gunfire started and children were asked to run home. Several of them, according to Joseph Okumu, the head teacher of Ayela Primary School, were killed. Okumu rushed home to rescue his children and wife but did not find them. Only his 76 year-old-mother was left in the house. Okumu quickly gathered what he could and rode his bicycle carrying with his mother for about 15 km to the neighboring northern Ugandan district of Lamwo. This was another cycle of movement sparked off by continued fighting between government troops and rebels in South Sudan. The attack on Pajok about two weeks sparked the relocation of over 5,000 South Sudanese to Uganda fleeing for safety. Most of them, according to the UN Refugee Agency, are women and children. As the world focused its attention on war in Syria, the children in this part of the world continue to ponder where their future will be. Okumu's wish is for his two daughters, who he later found in Uganda after they fled with their mother, to continue schooling. He said while his future might be ruined, at least that of his children should be guaranteed through education. At Ngomoromo refugee reception center here in Lamwo, hundreds of children have been relocated to another refugee settlement over 50 km away from the border. Aid agencies argue that that the reception center is overcrowded, which may cause health hazards. "They are not in the best of conditions, many children are malnourished, there are pregnant mothers who need help," Joy Bamutya, a refugee officer told Xinhua. A Ugandan police inspects the belongings of a South Sudanese refugee at Ngomoromo in Lamwo, northern Ugandan, April 12, 2017. (Xinhua/Ronald Ssekandi) South Sudan has plunged into fighting since late 2013 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his then deputy Riek Machar. The UN said it needs urgent help to provide humanitarian relief not only to the victims of the Pajok attack but also the other South Sudanese who have fled fighting. UN figures show that of the over 1.5 million South Sudanese who have fled fighting, over 800,000 are in Uganda. Many of the refugees occupy Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in northwestern Uganda. It is now ranked the largest settlement in the world, according to UNHCR. "Uganda has turned out to be the biggest refugee host country in Africa with over 1.3 million refugees. Uganda needs support and this operation is critically underfunded," Wellington Carneiro, Field Officer UNHCR Lamwo, told Xinhua. Uganda, which is globally acclaimed to having an open refugee policy, has said it is at the brink of breakdown as it can no longer handle the influx of the thousands of South Sudanese entering its border. PEACE EFFORTS Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday met the visiting South Sudan First Vice President Taban Deng Gai. According to a statement the president issued on his social media platforms, the meeting among others discussed restoration of peace in South Sudan. "I call upon all people of South Sudan to refrain from violence. The only politically viable way is peace and dialogue to achieve development," Museveni wrote. The meeting came almost a week after Museveni met some of South Sudan's leaders in opposition. Apart from the bilateral efforts to restore peace in the world's youngest nation, there have been regional efforts although they are yet to yield fruits. Aid workers argue that what is most needed is restoration of peace to stop the influx of refugees in the face of dwindling international funds to support them. COLOMBO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is expecting a substantial increase in Chinese tourists this year as more resorts and hotels throughout the country are putting in place to cater to the Chinese market, Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said here Saturday. Amaratunga told Xinhua that with China becoming the number one outbound tourism market in 2016, Sri Lanka too was gearing up to welcome more Chinese tourists. "China is one of the most powerful countries in the world. We are targetting more Chinese arrivals and we have enough of hotels which are prepared to cater to that market," Amaratunga said. He added that more locals were now also learning the Chinese language in order to guide the Chinese tourists and Sri Lanka had in the first quarter of this year already received several inquiries from Chinese travel agents. He added that Sri Lanka Tourism was continuing its promotion campaigns in the major cities across China. According to the latest report released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, China was once again named the number one market in the world with the highest number of outbound tourists in 2016. by Julius Gale JUBA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan UNMISS Saturday called on the warring parties to show restraint amid escalating violence in the conflict-ridden country. Moustapha Soumare, Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, called for ceasefire and urged the parties to commit to their responsibility towards protecting civilians from conflict. "During this holy celebration of Easter, which for many symbolizes reconciliation and the rebirth of hope, I call on all parties to prove their commitment to peace," Soumare said in a statement issued in Juba. "They must show restraint and demonstrate their responsibility to ensure the sanctity of life of all South Sudanese citizens," he added. UNMISS reported that fresh fighting has broken out between government SPLA and opposition forces in a number of locations including Raga in the west of South Sudan, Waat in Jonglei to the east and in the area of Wunkur and Tonga in the northern Upper Nile region. It follows recent fighting in Pajok, and a week ago in Wau town and the surrounding area, which led to the displacement of thousands of people and killing of at least 16 civilians. UNMISS said it continues to push for access to areas affected by the conflict despite challenges encountered in reaching some parts of the country, and also deployed a number of peacekeeping patrols to deter violence and protect civilians. The UN mission added that it is also monitoring any human rights abuses as a part of its mandate. UNMISS said it received some 13,500 people who fled their homes due to the violence, which brings the number of internally displaced persons seeking protection at the site adjacent to its base in Wau to 38,746. "The warring parties must know that there can only be peace through a political solution," Soumare said. "They must once and for all silence the guns, return to dialogue, reconcile their differences and bring the peace the South Sudanese people want and deserve," he added. South Sudan has been devastated by civil war that broke out in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. Machar denied the accusation but then mobilized a rebel force. A peace deal signed in August 2015 led to the formation of a transitional unity government, but was again shattered by fresh violence in July, 2016. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 20:06:59|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close XI'AN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- One of the country's most important museums will raise bronze chariots, which belonged to China's first emperor, from a subterranean showroom to a new exhibition hall above ground. Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Museum, home to the 2,000-year-old terracotta warriors, will undergo an overhaul this year to accommodate the surge of visitors to the site, said Zhou Kuiying, deputy director of Shaanxi Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage. Zhou said one of the highlights is the construction of a new exhibition hall for the bronze horse-drawn chariots, which are displayed in a small underground room that is very cramped during high season. The timeline and other details of the renovation work have not yet been disclosed. Qinshihuang, China's first emperor, is remembered for unifying the country and building the Great Wall. He had an entire army of clay warriors and horses created to help him rule in the afterlife when he died in 210 B.C. The terracotta army around Qinshihuang's mausoleum is one of the greatest archeological finds of modern times. It was discovered in Lintong County, 35 km east of Xi'an, in 1974 by farmers who were digging a well. The mausoleum was later declared a National Heritage site and a World Heritage site. The museum received about 2 million visitors annually before 2012 but this jumped to 5 million in 2013 and has continued to rise. In 2016, 5.6 million people visited the museum. NEW DELHI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- In a tragic incident, some eight students died after drowning in the sea off the coast of Vayri in the western Indian state of Maharashtra Saturday. "The victims, along with other students of an engineering college in the southern state of Karnataka, were on a picnic in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district and went to the sea for a swim," a senior police official said on condition of anonymity. While others swam to shore, the eight students drowned and their bodies were later shipped out, the official said, adding that three other students sustained injuries in high tide and have been admitted to a local hospital. Police said local fishermen helped them in the rescue and that the students ventured out into the sea, despite warning from locals of strong current and high tide at the time. "The bodies of the students have been handed over to their parents who arrived in Maharashtra after they were informed about the mishap. They will be cremated later in the day or Sunday," another official said. College authorities have been called for questioning to ascertain their role in the incident, the official said, adding that there was no teacher from the college present on the spot at the time of the incident. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 21:17:09|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- An explosion targeted a Syrian military base in the country's northwestern province of Latakia on Saturday, with casualties feared, a well-informed source told Xinhua. The explosion was caused by a car bomb that tore through a military base in the town of Salma in the countryside of Latakia, the source said on condition of anonymity. Further details about the bombing are still forthcoming. Salma is a town in northern Latakia close to the Turkish borders. In January 2016, the Syrian army backed by Russia recaptured the town, three years after it fell to the Turkish-backed rebels. by Joy Nabukeya KILIFI, Kenya, April 15 (Xinhua) -- As Kenya intensifies the war against terrorism, relatives of suspected Al-Shabaab militants are enduring immense stigma, threats and blackmail from combatants on both sides of the battle. Speaking during a recent forum in the coastal town of Kilifi, the female relatives of terror suspects narrated how they have become unwitting victims of a complex fight between the militants and security forces. Those who agreed to be interviewed by Xinhua on condition of anonymity revealed an intricate but harrowing account of what they have undergone either as victims of terrorism or target for interrogation by security apparatus. Fatihiya (not her real name) only learnt about her son's involvement in the terror group Al-Shabaab when he was injured during one of the raids by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops based in Somalia. She had suspected that her son, who had earlier disappeared without notice, might have been recruited by the al-Qaida-linked militant group, but when the news came, Fatihiya was still devastated immensely. "As a mother, when I was lured to a nondescript place at the mention of the condition of my son, I readily obliged, little did I know that it would be the beginning of this traumatic experience dealing with the members of a dreaded militant group," said Fatihiya. "I was put in a very difficult position because Al-Shabaab still had my injured son and kept threatening me that if I did not do their bidding they would kill my son. In any case, they said, he was useless to them because of the injuries he sustained," she said. Fatihiya is now deeply entangled in Al-Shabaab messy affairs, though not as a fighter or suicide bomber. She revealed to Xinhua that she has been running errands for the terror network and occasionally met her son in an undisclosed location to evade surveillance by security forces. "The Al-Shabaab militants are heartless and use very crude means to get supplies like drugs to their camp. It is as if they are aware my son is so dear to me and because of that I would go at whatever length to ensure that he is not killed," said Fatihiya. "But deep down I know they are just using me and my son as an excuse. The mode of transporting drugs-both medicinal and hard drugs is the most painful exercise and even more dangerous because I have to use some routes that are not frequently used to get to Somalia," she added. She decried the degrading treatment she always undergoes while delivering the consignment of drugs in the Al-Shabaab hideouts. "It is so dehumanizing," Fatihiya said, adding that she was stripped naked to get the drugs stashed into her private parts for safe delivery. She disclosed that she had reported the disappearance of her son to Kenyan authorities, though no positive response has been forthcoming. Likewise, many rights campaigners were yet to honor her request for help and only paraded her before donors only to worsen her vulnerabilit, said Fatihiya. The heartbroken woman has terminated engagement with security personnel or rights groups and has reconciled with the tragic reality of her son not escaping from the snares of a vicious terrorist network. A female trauma counselor who spoke to Xinhua on condition of anonymity said female relatives of terror suspects hardly share their traumatic experience to loved ones or friends. She noted Fatihiya represents a growing rank of women who have been forced by circumstances to cooperate with Al-Shabaab because their husbands, sons or brothers have joined the militant group as combatants. Such women, the expert said, run a number of errands for the Al-Shabaab including spying and smuggling supplies and weapons into their base in exchange for the lives and wellbeing of their relatives. "Some of these women have sought help from state security agencies and rights groups but their pleas are yet to be answered. Consequently, they have become hopeless, scared and traumatized. They literally live at the mercy of the rebel group that watches their every move," said the therapist. "At the moment there is no legal framework in Kenya to deal with such cases and that is why female relatives of terror suspects dread to come out in the open and share their traumatic experiences," she added. A farmer works in a pyrethrum plantation near Naivasha, Kenya, on Oct. 15, 2015. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei) by Christine Lagat MACHAKOS, Kenya, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Joyce Nduku's three-acre farm located at the heart of Kenya's Machakos county was the hallmark of green shoots on Thursday thanks to several days of heavy downpour. The middle-aged mother of eight was optimistic the much awaited rains would herald a bumper harvest and a quicker recover from the drought-incurred hunger in a locality renowned for rampant food insecurity. Apart from the rain, Nduku and dozens of her peers are also grateful for the ecologically sensitive farming methods promoted by international and local conservationists to beat hunger amid climatic stresses. Speaking to Xinhua at her farm, Nduku pointed at a promising future thanks to organic farming and inter-cropping that have in the past delivered higher yields in her farm. "The experience that I have gained in my 25 years of farming has triggered an urge to keep on adapting to new ways of producing food, and organic farming stands out as the most effective shield against hunger in the face of harsh weather," said Nduku. She is among thousands of smallholder farmers in Machakos and other semi-arid Kenyan counties who are engaging in climate-resilient farming practices championed by Green Peace Africa in conjunction with local partners. So far, Green Peace Africa and a local conservation lobby, Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) has trained Nduku and her colleagues how to harness indigenous knowledge and innovations to transform food production in the face of climatic stresses. Joseph Mbuvi, a local agricultural officer, said the number of farmers who are engaging in climate resilient food production methods has been increasing. "Farmers have realized droughts are now a recurrent phenomenon and are practicing agro-forestry, water harvesting and use of organic manure to boost crop yield," said Mbuvi. Nduku and her colleagues have heeded the call to realign their farming methods with changing weather patterns and are not only boasting of surplus harvests but have also expanded their revenue streams. Two weeks before the onset of the rain season, the affable farmer planted maize, beans, green grams and cow peas using compost manure. The legumes and cereals in Nduku's well-tended farm are now inches tall and lush green following adequate rains in her locality since early April. An ardent fan of mixed cropping, bench terracing and agro-forestry, Nduku was upbeat the harvest will be abundant to cater for domestic consumption. "In recent times, I have managed to harvest six bags of maize in a single acre thanks to use of compost manure and bench terracing that prevents soil nutrient loss during rains," Nduku told Xinhua. Other smallholder farmers agreed with Nduku that climate smart agriculture is not an option but an imperative in the face of recurrent droughts in their locality. Simon Mwaki, a retired civil servant who has taken up organic farming with gusto, said that conventional methods of producing food are no longer sustainable due to unreliable rainfall, declining soil fertility and high cost of fertilizers. His three-acre farm that is a few meters from Nduku's is a beautiful spectacle to watch thanks to inter-cropping of legumes, cereals and fruit trees. "I have always practiced mixed cropping that guarantees better harvests. The fruit trees in my farm have created a buffer against scorching heat that usually destroy crops," said Mwaki. He also plants maize, beans, green grams and cow peas in his ancestral farm while a range of fruit trees like oranges and mangoes have provided him with surplus income. "It is not surprising to spot green foliage in my farm in February when the dry season is at its peak. Fruit trees and undergrowth have always retained moisture content in the farm," Mwaki said. Conservation lobbies have encouraged Kenyan smallholder to adopt climate resilient agricultural systems like agro-forestry, zero tillage farming and crop diversification to achieve food security. Samuel Wathome, a field officer with Institute for Culture and Ecology underscored the critical role of organic farming, mixed cropping and bench terracing to cushion farmers from the ravages of drought. "We are encouraging farmers to diversify and practice bench terracing that enhances soil water retention in order to strengthen their resilience to droughts," said Wathome. He disclosed that mulching and adequate watering can produce eight 90-kilogram bags of green grams in a one-acre farm. Margaret Kaloki, a mother of three who has consistently practiced mixed-cropping and agro-forestry, said they have unleashed multiple benefits that include soil regeneration and higher yields. "Feeding my three children has been easy thanks to inter-cropping and organic farming" said Kaloki. "I have also dug terraces and shallow wells inside the farm to harness storm waters and use it for irrigation during the dry spell," she added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 21:57:18|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- An explosion on Saturday targeted the gathering point of buses transporting Shiite people evacuated from two pro-government towns in northern Syria, killing many people, a well-informed source told Xinhua. The blast, which is believed to have been carried out either by a car bomb or explosive devices, rocked the rebel-held Rashideen area in the countryside of Aleppo Province, where buses were to carry 5,000 pro-government Shiites to government-controlled areas in Aleppo, after the reactivation of a recent deal reached between the rebels and the government under the supervision of Iran, Turkey and Qatar. The deal was designed to secure the evacuation of the people from the pro-government Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa in Idlib Province to government areas in Aleppo Province. In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus for Idlib. The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shiite people leaving Kafaraya and Foa and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving Madaya as the first batches. The Shiite people reached the rebel-held town of Rashideen, while the rebels reached the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing in Aleppo. Both convoys were set to leave for their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held the convoy of the Shiite people to add a new demand to the original deal. The rebel convoy was also stuck at Ramouseh, amid reports that communications were underway to continue the implementation of the deal. The rebels' new demand was to evacuate the Shiite fighters from Kafraya and Foa before the civilians, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. But the demand was rejected for fear that if the Shiite fighters, who are defending the towns, left the towns first, the rebels could attack the towns and commit massacres there. Now, there is a state of extreme dismay among the evacuees from Kafraya and Foa. An eye witness among those waiting in Rashideen told Xinhua that three people with medical conditions died while waiting before the explosion. He added that three women gave birth inside the buses amid tough humanitarian situation and people have been waiting there for 24 hours without enough food or water. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 22:02:20|Editor: Zhang Dongmiao Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- At least 22 killed and 48 wounded in a blast Saturday targeting the gathering point of buses transporting Shiites evacuating from two pro-government towns in northern Syria, a well-informed source told Xinhua. The blast, carried out by a suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped potato truck, rocked the rebel-held Rashideen area in the countryside of Aleppo province, where buses carrying 5,000 pro-government Shiite people were waiting the reactivation of a deal designed to secure their transportation to government-controlled area in Aleppo. The deal, recently reached between the rebels and the government under the supervision of Iran, Turkey and Qatar, was designed to secure the evacuation of the people from the pro-government Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa in Idlib province toward government areas in Aleppo province. In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus to reach Idlib province. The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shiite people leaving Kafaraya and Foa and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving the town of Madaya as first batches. The Shiite people reached the rebel-held town of Rashideen, while the rebels reached the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing in Aleppo. Both convoys were set to leave to their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held the convoy of the Shiite people, adding new demands to the original deal. The rebel convoy was also stuck at Ramouseh, amid reports that communications were underway to continue the implementation of the deal. A source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the rebels' new demand was the evacuation of the Shiite fighters first from Kafraya and Foa, before the civilians. But the demand was rejected as there is a fear that if the Shiite fighters, who are defending the towns, left the towns first the rebels could attack the towns and commit massacres there. Now, there is a state of extreme dismay among the evacuees from Kafraya and Foa. An eye witness from those waiting in Rashideen told Xinhua that three people with medical conditions died while waiting, before the explosion. He added that three women gave birth inside the busses amid tough humanitarian situation as those people have been waiting there for 24 hours without enough food or water. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 22:32:25|Editor: yan Video Player Close MINSK, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Intensive and fruitful parliamentary exchanges formed one of the foundations for the comprehensive strategic partnership between Belarus and China, said top Belarusian legislator Mikhail Myasnikovich. Myasnikovich, chairman of the Council of Belarus's National Assembly, or the parliament speaker, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to a visit to Belarus by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress. "The parliamentary exchanges between Belarus and China were activated immediately after the establishment of diplomatic relations," Myasnikovich said, adding Belarus spoke highly of the results of earlier visits by the two countries' parliament leaders. He stressed that it is very important to continue the constructive contacts between the two countries' parliament leaders, which also involve the practical cooperation in economy. He said that Belarus thinks the exchanges between parliament leaders and the coordination of the two countries' law-makers in international organizations are significant for bilateral relations. The parliament leader called for promoting the role of parliamentary exchanges in the two nations' promising cooperation. During a state visit to China by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in September 2016,the two countries agreed to build mutual trust and win-win cooperation as part of the comprehensive strategic partnership. The bilateral relations have reached an unprecedented level since then. "Over the 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Belarus and China, the forging of such a high level of partnership is the main political achievement in the development of the bilateral relations", Myasnikovich noted. In recent years, the high-level visits between the two countries have become increasingly active. Almost all the state organs of Belarus have established partnerships with their Chinese counterparts. Both sides have formulated and implemented relevant projects. States and the capital city of Belarus have established the twin-city relationship with the Chinese side, Myasnikovich said. "I want to emphasize the achievements of the scientific and technical cooperation between Belarus researchers and China's local centers of scientific research, which we believe has a great prospect," he said. Speaking of the two countries' plan to further develop their friendship, Myasnikovich noted that the idea fully corresponds to the spirit of mutual trust and win-win cooperation agreed upon by the two sides. "For our small country, China becomes an 'umbrella' in the world's political bad weather. Today, there are too many uncertainties in the politics of large countries, and China takes the responsibility to act as a stabilizer" on global issues, Myasnikovich said. He also stressed that the friendship between the two countries enables them to move further towards a community of shared future for mankind, an idea championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and, in the eyes of many, represents the ultimate goal of human development. Photo taken on April 11, 2017, shows Narus, the baby giraffe, steps out with the herd for the first time.(Courtesy of Chester Zoo) LONDON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chester Zoo in northwest England released a video and new photos of a rare Rothschild's giraffe baby earlier this week. The week-old giraffe became an online sensation when over 20 million people across the world watched the moment he fell almost two meters onto soft hay during his birth. Rothschild's giraffes are one of the world's most endangered mammals, with less than 1,600 now remain in the wild. The calf was named Narus after a valley at the Kidepo National Park in Uganda, where zoo conservationists from Chester are fighting to save the species. "Giraffe calves get to their feet within minutes of birth, but those long legs can still take a bit of getting used to. He has settled in really well and after his little adventure outside, he seems to have come on leaps and bounds," said Tim Rowlands, curator of mammals at Chester Zoo. "Narus was only born last week and already more than 20 million people have watched the footage of his birth online, so it's great that he has been able to raise such huge awareness of his species -- which is experiencing a silent extinction in the wild," added Rowlands. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-15 23:37:35|Editor: yan Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- At least seven policemen and a Naxalite were killed Saturday after a prison van carrying them crashed into a truck in India's eastern state of Bihar, police said. The accident took place at Gaighat village of Sitamarhi district, about 110 km north of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. "Today a van carrying two Naxalite prisoners and 12 policemen crashed into a truck near Gaighat village of Runnisaidpur area," a police official told Xinhua. "The van was taking the two Naxals to Sitamarhi court when it met the accident." According to police, four policemen died on the spot, while three other policemen succumbed to their injuries on way to hospital. "The remaining five injured policemen and Naxal were later shifted to a Sri Krishna Memorial College and Hospital," the official said. Police officials said the cause of accident was not immediately known. The Bihar chief minister has announced compensation to the families of policemen killed in the accident. Photo taken on Feb. 22, 2017 shows rime scenery at Huangshizhai scenic spot in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Wu Yongbing) by Xinhua writer Yang Shilong NEW YORK, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Hollywood 3D blockbuster Avatar has recently got a new role -- promoting tourism for a unique national forest park located in Zhangjiajie City in central China's Hunan Province. "These pillar-like mountain formations are the prototype for Avatar's fictive diorama of hanging, mist-shrouded peaks where Pandora's fearsome 'ikran' dragon birds had their nesting grounds," said Wang Zhaoye, Vice Secretary General of Zhangjiajie City, to a group of representatives from New York's tourism industry on Friday. Wang was showing a video clip about the immense, scenic spread of mountain pillars in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, located 32 km from Zhangjiajie City, that appeared in the 2009 James Cameron movie. Over 61 million tourists visited Zhangjiajie in 2016, an increase of 21 percent over the year before, said Wang, who is leading a tourism marketing team in the United States. "Yet among all the tourists, Americans only account for 0.0003 percent," Wang said. "That's why we are here." The Chinese official has every reason to use Avatar to draw attention of his American audience to the city. In the 160-minute movie, there are about 20 minutes of scenes that were inspired by the strikingly beautiful Zhangjiajie. Simone Olivier Bassous (R), excutive director of Pacific Asia Travel Association New York Chapter watches the scenery photo of Zhangjiajie, during an event to promote tourism in Zhangjiajie in New York, the United States, April 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) "It is other worldly, it is from other world, we were not prepared to see it, everything is unbelievable, just say, otherworldly, you thought you were in another world, so it is an extraordinary experience," Simone Olivier Bassous, executive director, Pacific Asia Travel Association New York Chapter, told Xinhua about her visit to Zhangjiajie in the 1980s. "I am among the first Americans who visited Zhangjiajie," Bassous said. "If you don't go, you don't feel it. You have to see to believe it. I wish telling my clients, this is the Grand Canyon in China, same extraordinary, huge experience." She said the Grand Canyon is "very special," so is Zhangjiajie. "Everybody who goes there has a spiritual connection with it, it is there, it is how you connect it with, Zhang Jiajie is the same place, you see it, it does something to you." When visiting Zhangjiajie in 1986, the then lieutenant governor of the Colorado State of America, Nancy. E. Dick, exclaimed that visitors to Zhangjiajie should pay five dollars for every breath. Indeed, Zhangjiajie is a huge "natural oxygen bar." Bassous has great confidence in the future of Zhangjiajie's tourism. "It has a future which is extraordinary for tourism. I should go back because since those days, you have arranged so many other ways to visit it, say the glass sky walk." Bassous was referring to the world's longest and highest glass bridge in Zhangjiajie. Photo taken on Aug. 20, 2016 shows the aerial view of Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon's glass-bottom bridge in Zhangjiajie scenic spot, central China's Hunan Province, Aug. 20, 2016.(Xinhua/Long Hongtao) The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge opened to the public on Aug. 20, 2016. It offers a way to enjoy a panoramic view of the stunning Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon -- if you dare to walk on it! Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 02:23:13|Editor: yan Video Player Close ISTANBUL, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Supporters of "Yes" and "No" camps on Saturday poured into the streets in Istanbul for final campaigns on constitutional changes, including whether to turn to a presidential system, a day before voters go to the polls across Turkey. The naysayers gathered at the seaside of the Bosphorus Strait to say "no" to a one-man regime, while yeasayers met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in several other districts. About 1,000 Turks who oppose the proposed constitutional changes held a march along the seashore, singing anthems which tell stories of heroes in the country's War of Independence, which led to the birth of the Republic of Turkey under a parliamentary system in 1923. "It will be disastrous for Turkey if 'yes' votes get out of the polls," said Necla Ozkan who was waving a Turkish flag and a "no" banner. "Turkey would be transformed into another regime similar to Syria and Iraq." Ozkan, a mother with a 30-year-old son, also spoke of her concern about a possible brain drain after the referendum in case of a "yes" win. "Well-educated young people cannot stand being oppressed," she explained, warning of more repression under a one-man rule in the country. Turks will vote on a package of 18-article constitutional amendments, the most controversial one being the switch to an executive presidency, under which the president shall be granted sweeping powers with less checks and balances. Filiz Korukcu, another naysayer, said she will vote no to keep Binali Yildirim at his post as prime minister, which is set to be abolished if the package passes. In Istanbul's Sariyer district, supporters were waiting for the president's last appearance before the voting day. Mehmet Akin is going to vote yes, as he considers the presidential system the best regime for Turkey. "What advantage did you ever experience in the parliamentary system?" he asked. Faruk Cetin, another yeasayer, said "Plurality is not suitable for Turkey." Ayse, an old lady, expressed her appreciation to the president for the well-established health service. "Now I do not have to wait in long queues in hospitals," she said. "I can also call an ambulance whenever I'm sick." In his speech, Erdogan called for voters to go to the polls on Sunday, saying the new constitution "will bring stability and trust that is needed for our county to develop and grow." The voting starts at 07:00 in the morning and ends at 16:00 local time in eastern Turkey, while the western part begins the process one hour later. Crops arent the only thing farmers are harvesting these days. Some of them are digging up software code. Producers in particularly remote areas have taken to hacking the computer software on their own tractors rather than wait for a service technician to show up in the peak of planting season. A technical glitch can be costly. For producers, thats a big issue because now theyre done. Theyre dead in the field, said Paul Gunderson, who recently retired as director of the Dakota Precision Agriculture Center at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake. As technology on farming equipment becomes more advanced, it often requires a dealer or authorized technician to make repairs. But in states where agriculture dealerships are sparsely located, it may take several hours or longer before a service technician can arrive to fix the problem, Gunderson said. Some producers are turning to websites developed in Eastern European countries where they can purchase John Deere software hacks, or what Gunderson calls gray software, to diagnose problems and repair the equipment themselves. Its relatively new. Its kind of exploded, he said. Gunderson said hes researched some of the websites, which he said users can access with a $25 or $35 fee and then purchase software codes to download. Gunderson said hes not sure how widespread the websites are used regionally, but he knows of North Dakota producers who use them and theyre comfortable with them. Apparently it works and it gets them through the repair stages and gives them some sense of not only ownership per se, but some sense of being able to take care of repair problems on their own, said Gunderson, who has an emeritus appointment with the college. Chuck Studer, director of industry relations for John Deere, said the companys dealers understand the risks of downtime for a producer and work to minimize it. Replacing the software code is really only needed in less than 1 to 2 percent of repairs, and when it is, the dealership can handle a lot of that remotely, Studer said in a statement. The issue has become a hot topic recently as contemporary software in farm machinery is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a federal law that protects the copyright holder of things like digital media downloads or proprietary software. The DMCA allows companies, like farm implement manufacturers, to write software that cant be accessed or changed except by licensed technicians. In the case of John Deere machinery, farmers dont legally own that software but instead license it for the duration of time they own their machine. You have to go through a dealer to fix your machinery now, said Devon Russell, head of the precision ag technology department at South Dakotas Mitchell Technical Institute. Back in the older days, you could try to fix it yourself. Right to repair It isnt just tractors at the center of this debate. Smartphones, cars and a rapidly increasing number of everyday devices come with similar caveats. Thats why several states, including Minnesota, are considering right to repair legislation, which would allow consumers or independent businesses to repair them. Minnesota Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, who sits on the Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee, said the measure is about fairness. Its amazing to think that when youre purchasing something you are actually just buying a license to use it, he said. In the case of farmers, not being allowed to fix something that might cost them upwards of $250,000 doesnt seem to make sense, Marty said. "Farmers are savvy, used to fixing things on their own, and they get angry when they cant fix their own machinery, he said. He added that right to repair laws could also spur local and regional small business growth through independent repair shops. The laws also could help the environment by preventing devices from becoming obsolete and becoming waste, he said. The bill stalled in committee and most likely won't be considered again until the next legislative session, Marty said. Sen. Kent Eken, DFL-Twin Valley, who hails from a farming-rich district, said hes heard from constituents about this issue but doesnt think many farmers are aware of the implications to their own investments. He cites powerful interests lined up against it for the bills failure. You spend that kind of money on this machinery, its yours, Eken said. You should have the right to repair your own equipment. North Dakota Rep. Marvin Nelson, D-Rolla, who works as an agricultural consultant, said hes hearing concerns from producers who worry their farming equipment wont be functional in the future if the manufacturer decides to no longer support the software system. Theyre nervous about it, he said. The issue didnt come up in the North Dakota Legislature this session, but Nelson said hes monitoring it and might propose a bill in future years. Worth the risk? Producers who attempt to make unauthorized repairs are taking a risk because that could void the warranty on their equipment, Russell said. You can make it worse if you try to do it yourself, Russell said. It depends on your level of knowledge of what youre doing. John Deere dealers have the expertise to keep the complex machines working efficiently, often proactively fixing machines before downtime occurs, Studer said. He added the vast majority of repairs can be completed without software, and owners or third-party technicians can diagnose and initiate many repairs using publicly available technical manuals. Modifying or reverse engineering the embedded software poses risks to operators, bystanders, dealers, mechanics and customers, Studer said. But in some cases, producers could be taking a risk by waiting on repairs and losing time in the field when weather conditions give them a narrow window to work, Gunderson said. The marketplace is so tight in terms of cash flow, they just cant afford to take a risk with spring planting, Gunderson said. Theyve got to do the work when the time is right. At RDO Equipment in Moorhead, Minn., technicians have been able to respond to customers within a couple of hours and store manager Mike Wollschlager said hes not hearing complaints or reports of people using software hacks. The technology today is allowing us to respond quicker, Wollschlager said. The advancements in technology can be beneficial to a producer when the technology works correctly. For example, a dealer might get an automatic notification that something is wrong with a piece of equipment before the farmer notices it, and a technician can arrive prepared to fix the problem, Russell said. Theyll know exactly whats wrong with the tractor before they leave the shop, Russell said. Nathan Shaw, a technician for Titan Machinery, estimates he gets 130 to 200 calls a day from customers in eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. It is a higher level of job security every year, said Shaw, a precision farming specialist. About a third of the calls relate to some kind of failure or software issue, a third are related to new equipment and the final third require a simple fix such as flipping a switch, he said. Shaw said he hasnt heard of producers attempting to do unauthorized repairs. I think we do a good job of satisfying what they need, he said. A train is seen at a railway station in Salzburg, Austria, Sept. 14, 2015. (Xinhua/Qian Yi) VIENNA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were injured in a train-crash accident on Saturday in Vienna, police told media. Two trains crashed in Vienna Meidling station, one of the main train station of the city, in the afternoon. A witness told local media that the accident took place in the station when both trains ran in low speed. At least nine were injured in the crash, but the drivers of the two trains were not injured. Some of the passengers have been sent to hospital in Vienna, while many of others got out of the train themselves. A spokesperson with the Austrian Federal Railways said the accident might be caused by technical problem, but the investigation is needed. An investigation into the causes is underway, but the conclusion is supposed to be unveiled next week. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 04:03:55|Editor: yan Video Player Close MOSCOW, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A total of 14 violations of the ceasefire regime in Syria were registered by Russian monitors in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday. "Within last 24 hours, the Russian party of the Russia-Turkey Commission on violations of the Joint Agreement has registered 14 ceasefire violations in the provinces of Damascus (8), Latakia (2), Hama (3), and Daraa (1)," the ministry's centre for Syrian reconciliation said in a daily bulletin. The document also noted that Turkish monitors have registered 12 cases of ceasefire violations, with only two of them confirmed by the Russian side. Both Russia and Turkey are guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime that came into force on December 30, 2016. According to the bulletin, the total number of settlements that have joined the ceasefire regime has increased to 1,463. Negotiations on joining the ceasefire regime have been continued with field commanders of detachments of armed opposition in the Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, Hama, and al-Quneitra provinces, the document read. TUNIS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia suffers a trade deficit of 3.88 billion dinars (1.67 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2017, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Tunisia announced on Saturday. The deficit widened 8 percent year on year to 66 percent, said the INS in a periodic note. The continued worsening of Tunisia's trade deficit is mainly due to the rising import, which grows 20.3 percent as export up only 7.4 percent. According to the INS, the sharp increase of Tunisian imports is also attributed to larger energy imports as well as the surge in imports of oil and refined products. The European Union, however, recorded a remarkable 10.6-percent increase in its imports from Tunisia, it added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 04:24:02|Editor: yan Video Player Close BERLIN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- German government has supplied more arms and munitions to some countries involved in Yemen conflict despite dissent from opposition parties, local media Deutsche Welle reported on Saturday. Berlin has approved a sale to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of 203,448 detonators for 40-mm shells produced by Junghans Microtex, and 134 million dollars worth of armor-plating for military vehicles by Dynamit Nobel Defence. The sale, ratified last week, immediately triggered controversy among the opposition parties, as they worried that it might deteriorate the humanitarian situation in the war-torn Yemen, and violate the guidelines of German arms export. The UAE is taking part in the Saudi-led military coalition against Yemeni Houthi militants since March 2015. The two-year conflict has already claimed over 10,000 lives and heavily damaged the country's facilities and infrastructure, according to a UN report. German opposition Green Party spokeswoman Agnieszka Brugger said the government is delivering "military equipment to a war participant." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 04:44:05|Editor: Mengjiao Liu Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Hours after an explosion killed 70 people on Saturday, 50 buses carrying Shiite evacuees reached government-controlled areas in the northern city of Aleppo, a military source told Xinhua. The 50 buses transporting Shiite Syrians from the towns of Kafraya and Foa in the rebel-held Idlib province reached government-controlled areas in Aleppo city. Their arrivals came 24 hours after their buses were held by the rebels in Rashideen area, west of Aleppo, and just hours after a deadly bombing rocked the gathering point of their buses in the rebel-held area, killing 70 and wounding over 100. The blast, carried out by a suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped potato truck, ripped through a bus depot, where 5,000 pro-government Shiite people were waiting the reactivation of a deal designed to secure their transportation to government-controlled area in Aleppo. The deal, recently reached between the rebels and the government under the supervision of Iran, Turkey and Qatar, was designed to secure the evacuation of the people from the pro-government Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa in Idlib province toward government areas in Aleppo province. In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus to reach Idlib province. The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shiite people leaving Kafaraya and Foa and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving the town of Madaya as first batches. Both convoys were set to leave to their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held the convoy of the Shiite people, adding new demands to the original deal. The rebel convoy was also stuck at Ramouseh, amid reports that communications were underway to continue the implementation of the deal. A source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the rebels' new demand was the evacuation of the Shiite fighters first from Kafraya and Foa, before the civilians. But the demand was rejected as there is a fear that if the Shiite fighters, who are defending the towns, left the towns first, the rebels could attack the towns and commit massacres there. But following the explosion, the rebels released the buses and agreed to resume the deal, and the busses carrying the rebels and their families from Madaya left Ramouseh toward Rashideen and later will go to Idlib. The source told Xinhua that the deal will continue and the rest of the people from the four towns will evacuate as planned. Earlier, an eyewitness from those waiting in Rashideen told Xinhua that three people died while waiting due to poor medical conditions, before the explosion. He added that the three dead are all women, who gave birth inside the buses in tough situation as those people had been waiting there for 24 hours without enough food or water. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 06:19:16|Editor: yan Video Player Close NEW YORK/CHICAGO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of protesters took to the streets across the United States Saturday to demand that President Donald Trump release his tax returns. The crowd in New York City stretched for blocks as speakers stood next to a giant inflatable rooster, bearing Trump's golden hairdo, on a stage in Bryant Park Saturday afternoon. Comedy writer Frank Lesser, whose tweet in January sparked the idea for the Tax March, said the participation in the nationwide marches proves that people want to see Trump's returns. The demonstrators left Bryant Park at about 2:30 p.m. to march to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, chanting, "No more secrets, no more lies. Show your taxes, show your ties" as they walked. "We march to demand that the president release his returns, as he has repeatedly promised, but failed, to do," the Tax March website reads. "We march because it is in the best interest of the American people to know what financial entanglements and conflicts of interest our leaders have." Trump has repeatedly said he can not release his tax returns because they are under audit, though many tax experts have said he is not barred from releasing the information during the audit. In Chicago, the protest started at Daley Square in downtown. It is more like an outdoor gathering: an orchestra band playing at intervals, many protestors dancing to the tune of the music; toddlers sat in strollers, and infants carried in parents' arms. Protesters holding placards and banners that read "I demand transparency," "Donald, release your taxes," and "What are you hiding?" "We are not reporters, but we care," said a protester, referring to Trump's remarks that only reporters care about his tax return. After the organizers took turn to give speeches, the protestors marched northward and stopped on the bank of the Chicago River across the Trump Tower. Other tax marches took place in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and dozens of other cities. They coincide with the April 18 deadline for tax returns in 2017. A petition demanding him release them garnered more than 1 million signatures. Many lawmakers, including some Republicans, have also called on Trump to make them public. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 06:24:18|Editor: yan Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A disco in Mexico's Pacific coast resort of Ixtapa, Guerrero, which had been closed in the wake of a deadly shooting, burnt down in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday. Authorities shuttered the Malkerida Disco after four people were shot dead inside the establishment last Saturday, two of them identified as members of a criminal ring. ln a statement, Guerrero state's Secretary of Civil Protection said the 911 emergency hotline received a call at 3:20 a.m. reporting a fire at the disco, which is located at the Plaza Laguna shopping center along the resort's hotel strip. "So far, we do not know what caused the fire, but believe it could have started at the Malkerida," the agency said. The fire then spread to surrounding businesses and at least one home, according to the agency, with another disco-bar (Kopados) and a boutique (Too Late) burnt to the ground. Another two bars and the home were partially damaged, while two other bars suffered minor damage. No one was injured in the incident. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 06:24:19|Editor: yan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- It may have never occurred to the people of Kafraya and Foa towns that death ghost was lurking on their long journey to safety. They had been waiting over 24 hours in their buses without food or water, waiting for a glimpse of hope to get them to safety in Aleppo city after a deal concluded between the government and the rebels for their evacuation from their towns in the countryside of Idlib province. The evacuation is in exchange of the same move of rebels and their families to evacuate from the towns of Zabadani and Madaya near Damascus. While efforts for their transportation was being exerted, a suicide car bomber detonated his truck, which was packed with food and explosives, in the gathering point of the buses carrying 5,000 people from the two Shiite towns, killing 70 and wounding 124 others. Some activists placed the death toll at 112. The photos of some bodies hanging out from bus windows and others laid on ground near the vehicles haunted Syria as well as the world. The so-called Jaish al-Islam claimed responsibility for the attack against the Shiite evacuees, who were stuck in the rebel-held area of Rashideen west of Aleppo waiting for their transportation toward government-controlled areas in Aleppo city. At first, fear rose about the possibility of continuing the deal, which was brokered by Iran, on the side of the government, and Qatar and Turkey on the rebels' side. While the buses of the Shiites from Kafraya and Foa were waiting in Rashideen, buses of the rebels and their families from Madaya and Zabadani were waiting at the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing south of Aleppo, with the hope of continuing their way toward rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib. The evacuation from the four towns began on Friday, but the rebels in Rashideen held the buses from Kafraya and Foa, making extra demands, which delayed the process. But after the deadly bombing, they apparently succumbed to the pressure of their regional backers and allowed the buses to proceed to the government-controlled Aleppo city. After the blast, anger hit high among the people of the two Shiite towns, with some threatening retribution, which caused the government forces to secure the buses of Madaya in Ramouseh. During the night, all the buses carrying 5,000 people from the Shiite towns arrived in Aleppo, and the buses carrying 2,300 rebels and their families from Madaya reached Rashideen and will move later to the rebel-held Idlib province. Jaish al-Islam, which is largely based in the countryside of Damascus, was seemingly against the deal, as it saw a demographic cleansing behind it, particularly that Madaya and Zabadani will be largely emptied, save for the people who want to live under the government control. Now, the first part of the deal was implemented, through a prisoner swap that began on Wednesday and the evacuation that started on Friday and ended on Saturday. Still, around 3,000 people are still in the Shiite towns waiting their turn in evacuation. Once they are out, both towns will be completely emptied of their population, and the rebels will take over, after besieging the towns for years. The same with Madaya and Zabadani, as the army entered Madaya on Friday following the evacuation of the first batch of rebels and their families. The next step of evacuation will be in Zadabani, where 500 rebel commanders and civilians are set to leave next. Still, it's not clear when the second batch will leave the four towns, particularly after the explosion. Earlier, an eyewitness from those waiting in Rashideen told Xinhua that three people died while waiting due to poor medical conditions, before the explosion. He added that the three dead are all women, who gave birth inside the buses in tough situation as those people had been waiting there for 24 hours without enough food or water. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 06:29:20|Editor: yan Video Player Close QUITO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Saturday accused the right-wing opposition of trying to foment a Venezuelan-style "state of upheaval" through baseless claims of electoral fraud. "Part of their strategy is to take us towards a state of upheaval similar to the one in Venezuela, to prevent governability. They are desperate," Correa said in his regular weekly report. An April 2 runoff saw the ruling PAIS Alliance candidate, Lenin Moreno, defeat opposition rival Guillermo Lasso, of the Creating Opportunities-led coalition Creo Suma. Lasso, a life-long banker who lost his second run for top office, is contesting the outcome. He indicated even before the election he would not accept defeat, and declared victory on election night based on an exit poll. He has cried electoral foul and called on his supporters to go out into the streets and protest the results. The National Electoral Council (CNE) has agreed to a partial recount, to take place on Tuesday, and has invited universities, unions, embassies, and political organizations and parties to accompany the process, which is to be broadcast live nationwide. "We hope to have delegates of the PAIS movement and the Creo Suma coalition" there to observe the recounting, CNE President Juan Pablo Pozo said on Saturday. Lasso planned to boycott, saying "we will not accept anything less than the opening of all of the ballot boxes to recount all of the votes, that is why we will not endorse any partial opening of the ballots with our presence." A bitter power struggle between the ruling socialist party in Venezuela and the right-wing opposition has created an economic and political crisis marked by frequent street protests that have occasionally turned violent, shortages of basic goods and a highly divisive society. "I don't want to frighten (anyone), but recall what has happened in Venezuela through the same right-wing strategy. They want to do the same thing to us here, to discredit the results," said Correa. "We are faced with ... the capricious whim of an uppity rich boy who wants to buy the presidency of the republic. We will not allow him to destabilize the country in order to do that," said Correa. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-16 06:49:23|Editor: Mengjiao Liu Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Fighting broke out as people supporting or opposing U.S. President Donald Trump converged Saturday on Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in Berkeley, Northern California. At least 13 people were arrested as police struggled to keeep the two camps separate. The City of Berkeley Police Department posted on its Twitter account images showing some "prohibited items," including a knife, removed from the site in the downtown park area. Police initially said 15 people were arrested. While witnesses put the number of Trump supporters and opponents at hundreds, authorities in the city north of San Francisco did not gave an estimate for the size of the crowd but did cite a "large number of fights" to advise people to stay away from the area. Trump supporters, some of them members of the alt-right movement, were there for a "free speech" rally. The Trump opponents, who identified themselves as anti-fascists, arrived at about 10 a.m. to voice their anger against the movement and the president. Fireworks were thrown in the crowds; and sticks, flagpoles and other objects banned for the park were collected by police, who erected a plastic barricade between the two camps. "A large number of fights have occurred and numerous fireworks have been thrown in the crowds. There have also been numerous reports of pepper spray being used in the crowd," the police department said in a statement. By 2:00 p.m., the crowd spread out but traffic around the area was still blocked. There were reported injuries among people in the crowd, but police did not confirm any of the report. Berkeley and the University of California, Berkeley, have been sites of a series of violent and non-violent protests since November last year, when Trump was elected president of the United States. Paralysed after HPV vaccine Danielle Flavinney, of New Grant, received the vaccine in October last year. Doctors have diagnosed her with a rare psychological disorder but her mother believes the vaccine is to blame. Six months on Danielles mother Jamie Flavinney said the teen has no feeling on the left side of her face, her left arm, left torso or left leg. She said she traced the beginning of her daughters condition to October 21, when she received the first round of the vaccine with other students of the St Matthews Anglican Primary School. The elder Flavinney said Danielle in January began complaining of not feeling anything in her left hand and arm. She came to me and said Mummy, look at my hand. What happen to my hand? Flavinney said. The hand was bent up in a way, almost like it was deformed, she added. Again in January, after she first lost feeling in the hand and arm, Danielle received the second round of the vaccine in school. With no improvement in her condition, Flavinney took her daughter to the Indian Walk Health Centre. She was then referred to the San Fernando Teaching Hospital. They first sent her to a bone doctor who said he couldnt do anything because she had no broken bones. They did an MRI, but before the results came back they sent a psychiatrist to review her. The psychiatrist said he didnt find anything wrong with her, but he didnt know why they would send her to him when the results of the MRI didnt come back yet, Flavinney said. An MRA (Magnetic Resonance Angiogram) was also done and doctors said nothing was physically wrong with Danielles brain, spine or left hand. After spending nine days warded at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, Danielle was diagnosed with conversion disorder and discharged. She has not been back to school since. In an interview with Newsday, Professor Gerard Hutchinson, head of Clinical Medical Sciences, at the University of the West Indies explained that conversion disorder was once called hysteria and suggests that there was some serious psychological conflict that the person has that expresses itself in that way. Hutchinson said because of Danielles age and the fact that her paralysis is only on one side of her body, all physical explanations must be checked out. For example, it could be related to epilepsy, but if they are sure that nothing is going on there, then it is likely to be that (conversion disorder). Hutchinson said if Danielle did have conversion disorder, it was not a conscious choice. It is almost as if your brain is telling your body to react to a stressor or a conflict in this way. So you have to identify the conflict, resolve it, and then the person is able to recover, he said. Since her first diagnosis, Danielles condition has progressively worsened, her mother said. In February, she lost feeling in her leg. Flavinney showed Newsday a video of a doctor pinching Danielles torso and sticking her with a needle in different parts of her body during a second visit to the San Fernando Teaching Hospital in February. In the video, Danielle was seen flinching only when she was pinched and stuck with the needle on the right side of her body. She was discharged with the same diagnosis of conversion disorder and on February 24, she lost feeling on the left side of her face. Flavinney also said Danielle has had no bowel movement from January 21 to March 17. They (doctors) are telling me that is impossible, but I am telling them what is happening. What could cause this to happen in a 13-year-old girl? the worried mother said. Flavinney says she cannot accept the diagnosis of conversion disorder. I am not accepting that. I am not accepting that at all, she said. She is hoping for another medical opinion. Contacted for his opinion, gynaecological oncologist Dr Gordon Narayansingh said while he could not comment directly on Danielles case since he did not have all the information, he said he has never seen a patient become paralysed after receiving the HPV vaccine. Narayansingh has been a long-time advocate of the HPV vaccine before its introduction in schools in 2013. Danielle is scheduled to undergo a counselling session at the Child Guidance Clinic in Pleasantville on May 9. Her mother, however, is appealing for help to find out what is wrong with the teenager. Dr Hutchinson has offered to do a clinical assessment at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Good Friday killing in PoS D ead is Quincy Allen, 28, of Duncan Street. Allen was at the corner of Nelson Street and Independence Square when a lone gunman approached him from behind and shot him once in the head. The gunman ran off. Allen was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital by the Emergency Health Services but was pronounced dead on arrival. According to reports, Allen parked his silver Nissan AD wagon at the side of the road and went to a shop to purchase an item. While on his way back to his car, he was approached by a gunman who shot him before running off. Shocked bystanders contacted the police and Besson Street police responded. Up until late yesterday afternoon, homicide detectives and crime scene investigators were at the scene of the crime. Parishioner Glenda Harris, who was in the Cathedral when the gunshots ran out, said she was unshaken by the shooting. I am firm in my faith. What happened was really sad but were not going to put our faith and our lifestyle as Christians on hold over something like this and even with the murder its time for us to pray now more than ever. Officers have yet to establish a motive for the killing. Officers of the Homicide Bureau are continuing investigations. Throwing cash into the sea The AG vowed to complete his analysis of the documents within the coming week. He said he will then provide his legal opinion and recommendations as to any action to be taken in respect of any wrongdoing in this matter. Al-Rawi said that on the face of it, the Galicia issue is deserving of attention . In particular, Al-Rawi said the issues of proper procurement and value for money in the leasing of the Galicia are important to this countrys taxpayers . The AG said it is a fact that the operation of the vessel from the waterfront alongside the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain has damaged the area and this is reflected in a claim from the hotel for millions of dollars in damages . Al-Rawi said it is also a fact that the Galicia has never been able to operate at 100 percent since it arrived in TT. Saying the arrangement which the PP entered into to lease the Galicia was a long term arrangement without any possibility of it being changed to an interim one, Al-Rawi described it as a transactional gun to the head. He said because the draft of the Galicia is too large for its current berth next to the Hyatt, the Port Authority would have to spend $50 million every two years to dredge the harbour, just to berth the vessel at Queens Wharf. Al-Rawi said while the substitutes to replace the Galicia in the interim may be less than ideal, the public needs to be a little more patient and understanding . We inherited a terrible situation, the AG said . The TT Spirit, TT Express and a barge are among the options being considered to handle the cargo load of the Galicia.Two Coast Guard supply vessels are also being considered as options. Al-Rawi also said no sane-minded businessman would have continued to operate the arrangement which the Galicia has been working under . Noting that tenders have been issued for a replacement cargo vessel, Al-Rawi said the best option at this time is to ensure any inconveniences that arise until a proper vessel can be obtained to take over from the Galicia. This is a matter of logistics, Al-Rawi said. The Galicia ends its operations on the sea bridge on April 21 . Sinanan: Galicia cost millions in damage to Hyatt waterfront In a telephone interview with Newsday, Sinanan said the costs of keeping the Galicia far outweighed its use. He said the damages incurred from the mooring the vessel at the waterfront were among the reasons considered for its removal from service. We are looking at all the options we have available to us at this time. From what weve seen thus far its clear that it cannot remain as Trinidad and Tobagos major cargo vessel. The vessel was originally supposed to be berthed at Queens Wharf but Hyatt gave the owners of the Galicia up until the end of 2014 to keep the vessel moored at its waterfront and to this day its still being used by the vessel, he said. He also noted that loading the Galicia at the Hyatts waterfront often resulted in traffic congestion along Wrightson Road. He said while cutting cost was an important factor in withdrawing the Galicia, he said it was also important to secure an appropriate replacement in the long-term. Were reviewing all the options at our disposal. The cargo vessel is very important to both Trinidad and Tobago, more so to Tobago, he said. He also said he understood the concerns of the Tobago Chamber of Commerce of a barge replacing the Galicia when it is taken off the sea bridge roster on April 21. I too have my concerns about the barge, but a barge is just an option and it is really my last option, he admitted. He said the barge will be operational and it was the choice of Tobago businessmen to put cargo on it or not. Think before you act Fr Christopher Lumsden made the statement yesterday morning during his brief address atop Calvary Hill, Covigne Road, Diego Martin after a joint procession of St Johns Roman Catholic Church and St Michaels All Angels Anglican Church through the streets of Diamond Vale, Diego Martin. As he (Jesus) looks upon the world, he is in pain. He sees his sons and his daughters, their lives being snuffed out through crime and violence. He sees the murders, he sees the rapes, he sees the abuse of children, he sees the abuse of his body because we are all part of this body of Christ, said Lumsden. He stressed that the procession, which began around 6.30 am at St Michaels Church on Wendy Fitzwilliam Boulevard, Diego Martin, was not just an ordinary walk or an outing. He said what they did as they said the stations of the cross, sang hymns and prayed, was to walk with Jesus and experience his suffering in their hearts. He said Good Friday was not a day of celebration or one of fun but a solemn day of prayer and reflection. Therefore he asked them, young and old, to put aside some time to reflect and recognise that Jesus suffered for all mankind so that they could have life and live it to the full. Lumsden encouraged the parishioners to inspect their own lives and see how they nailed Jesus to the cross by their sins and how they could remove those sins from Jesus. Councillor for Diamond Vale, Keron Seebaran, a parishioner of St Johns who participated in the procession, told Newsday the annual event was special because it brought both churches together. It is important, not only because it recognises the sacrifice Jesus made for us, but because it encourages community spirit and brings people together in spirituality, he said. Fuad Khan wants gun licences for private citizens There he complained of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowleys rejection of his suggestion at a recent sitting of the House of Representatives. He said it was obvious that the Commissioner of Police was overwhelmed by the thousands of applications for firearms licences waiting to be processed and was in need of assistance. It was therefore surprising to hear Dr Rowley deride this suggestion, instead proposing that the Commissioner of Police continue to restrict the number of licensed firearm users in our country, as if to suggest that they were in any way responsible for the absurd death toll under his watch. Because to date, there has been no evidence to suggest that criminals require registered firearms to commit their transgressions. In fact, while the PNM administration is hellbent on prohibiting law-abiding citizens the ability to own firearms, those who are using them to cause harm to others are capable of amassing their illegal weapons with relative ease. Khan accused Rowley of essentially issuing a death sentence on citizens by not allowing more citizens to own a gun to protect themselves. He said government officials had armed security guards paid for by taxpayers, and accused them of not valuing the lives of those who elected them to office as much as they value their own lives. Ministries meet on Local Govt Reform Present at the meeting were Permanent Secretaries at the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, Jacinta Bailey-Sobers, and Joy Persad-Myers as well as Permanent Secretary at the Rural Development and Local Government Ministry, Desdra Bascombe, and other members of both Ministries executive teams. The Task Force for Local Government Reform was also represented by several of its members. Technical and Field Officers of both Ministries were also present. Among the items discussed were, the objectives of the reform, the services proposed for devolution and possible challenges to the reform process. Discussions also included possible approaches to the transition of services and the legislative amendments which may be required to effect the reform as it relates to social service delivery. Other key areas identified by the Ministry representatives to be addressed included: Capacity Building/Training; Recruitment/Staffing; Accommodation; Change Management and Culture. Both ministries agreed that there was the need for further dialogue and to continue to work together to ensure that there is a clear understanding of what is required for the transition to Local Government Reform. FARGO -- Danika Murphy grew up in a family of motorcycle enthusiasts, but was new to the thrills of riding herself. Just last summer, she bought a starter bike, a Honda Rebel 250, went through the basic riders course and got her license. Her mother, Cyndi Woeck of Hendrum, Minn., said Danika was excited. Just the feeling it gave her. Powerful, independent, cool, Cyndi said. But between then and this spring, she rode fewer than a dozen times, and that inexperience ended up costing the 26-year-old from West Fargo her life. It also led her family to make a powerful but tragic connection with an Iraq war veteran the man driving the truck she struck. A false confidence Cyndi said Danika took her first long ride only one day before the accident, Monday. I think she was very nervous, Cyndi said, after speaking with a friend who rode with her. But Cyndi thinks her daughter found a false sense of confidence. Despite being warned by her parents to stay off the interstate, Danika hopped on her bike the next afternoon and tried to merge on I-94 from the 25th Street ramp in Fargo. She hit the back tire of a flatbed semi and was thrown from the bike, suffering grave injuries, including severe head trauma. Eight days later, she was taken off life support at a Minneapolis hospital, surrounded by family. She went peacefully, and honestly, if we knew on Monday the day of the accident, we would never have put her through that pain, Cyndi said. Before Danika died, Cyndi reached out to the semi driver, 31-year-old Jake Jennerman of Weston, Wis. She assured him he didnt cause the crash and that the family didnt want him to feel guilty. The call was a soothing salve on an open wound and the start of healing for both. I cant even put words to it, said Jennerman, an Iraq War veteran. It hurt, but at the same time, it hurt in a good way. In a split second Jennerman remembers everything that happened that warm afternoon, as he drove through Fargo on his way to deliver a load to Washington state. His flatbed semi was in the right lane of the interstate when he noticed a motorcycle coming down the ramp to his right. A longtime rider himself, he said he pays attention to bikes. His attention then turned to a pickup hauling a trailer next to him, to be sure it was in its lane. In a split second, it happened. I felt and heard a thump, Jennerman said. He immediately checked his mirror to see the bike and its driver cartwheeling through the air. Jennerman stopped his semi as quickly as he could, coming to rest a quarter mile down the road, and immediately called 911. An ambulance arrived before he was even off the phone. He saw that several drivers had stopped to tend to the fallen rider, so he remained in his semi to wait for law enforcement. In hindsight, Jennerman could tell Danika was a rookie rider in the instant he saw her on the ramp. She came down too fast and with her limited riding experience, that pushed her to the outside of the curve, he said. Where the ramp and the semis lane came together, there was nowhere to go. Danika suffered breaks to her pelvis, tailbone, shoulders, arm and had two broken femurs. Her left leg was degloved from thigh to calf, a medical term for when a traumatic force pulls skin away from the underlying tissue. At Essentia Health in Fargo, before Danika was flown to Hennepin County Medical Center, a flight nurse said Danika needed a tourniquet because of the bleeding. Cyndi pleaded with the nurse to save her daughters leg. The nurse grabbed a hold of me and said, We gotta save HER! Cyndi said. As a woman who loved to dance, the family was most concerned about Danikas legs. The worst injury, however, was to her brain. She was wearing a helmet, but it came off from the impact, with the chinstrap still fastened. At 5 feet 9 inches and only 105 pounds, Danika was a slight woman; and the helmet she was wearing was a size medium too big for her, according to her mother. Despite all of her injuries and pain, Danika did respond to verbal stimuli in the early days after the crash. The other driver Sometime after pulling into Washington, Jennerman received a phone call from a Minnesota number he didnt recognize. It was Cyndi, letting him know that the family in no way held him responsible for the crash. Jennerman was devastated to hear the extent of Danikas injuries. On his return trip home, he met with Cyndi and her husband, Ken, in Fargo to put together the puzzle pieces of what had happened. The next day, Cyndi let Jennerman know Danikas neurological tests had worsened, that her pupils were no longer reacting to light properly. He decided not to drive home to Wisconsin, against his employers wishes, and parked his flatbed at a truck stop outside the Twin Cities. He had a friend drive him to the hospital. Danikas family wanted Jennerman to see her. They brought me into her room. I held Danikas hand and I collapsed on the floor next to her bed, he said. He gave the family a bracelet hed worn through two tours of duty in Iraq, and they placed it on Danikas wrist. Jennermans wife and friend also joined him at the hospital. One of the nurses told Cyndi that in all her years on the job, shes never seen the other driver in a crash show up. For both families, that was the only way it should be. There was so much potential for all of these negative feelings to explode and the exact opposite happened, Jennerman said. Bringing people together Cyndi said Danika was a shy, awkward kid, who was teased a lot in school and used that to empower others. She was just for the underdog all the time, Cyndi said. Danika had three sisters and four brothers and was a champion for her youngest sister Zoe, who has epilepsy. For a time, she was a certified nursing assistant working with dementia patients, before deciding to pursue a psychology degree at North Dakota State University. Cyndi said Danika chose that path because she used to be a cutter, causing self harm as a teenager. But she worked through her problems and decided she wanted to reach out to others. She was never judgemental. I could talk to her about everything, Cyndi said. A celebration of life will be held in Hendrum on Saturday, April 22. Jennerman and his family will attend and be guests in Cyndi and Kens home over the weekend. Danika had a way of bringing people together, even in death, her mother said. Danikas ashes will be spread in a mountainous area of Colorado and a memorial ride may be held sometime down the road. In the short term, Cyndi implores riders to wear a helmet and protective clothing, to know their limits, and for vehicle drivers to be on the lookout for bikes. I never want to say my daughter was to blame, but I think it was her adventurous, free spirit. She just took it a little too far, Cyndi said. Butch Hartman is the creator of Bunsen is a Beast and several other successful shows. [Image by Katelyn Balach/Nickelodeon] Bunsen is a Beast is aimed at children but contains humor that adults might enjoy too. [Image by Katelyn Balach/Nickelodeon] To celebrate Nickelodeon USA premiering the brand-newhalf-hour special "Astro-Nots" tonight, Good Friday, 14th April 2017 at 5:30pm ET/PT, Inquisitr.com has unveiled a fantastic interview with Butch Hartman, the creator of Nickelodeon's newest Nicktoons series, which you can check out below!In the brand-new Bunsen Is a Beast episode "Astro-Nots" (#111), while on a field trip to MASA, Mikey and Bunsen run into Commander Cone, mistaking him for a Mastronaut. Not wanting to disappoint his young fans, Commander Cone gives them a tour of MASA and accidentally launches them into space!Butch Hartman is the executive producer and creator of. An industry veteran, he is also the creator of the Emmy-nominated animated serieson Nickelodeon as well asand, and he also wrote and directed episodes of, andfor Cartoon Network. He is now working on a much bigger project called The Noog Network, which is an interactive app featuring cartoons, live-action shows, and games for kids.Butch has dreamed of being an animator since he was a small child growing up in Michigan. He pursued drawing throughout high school and went on to study Animation at Cal Arts. After graduation, he started working for production houses including Marvel and Hanna-Barbera and eventually made his way to Nickelodeon and is now one of the most respected names in the industry.In 2005, Butch and his wife, Julieann, founded a non-profit organization called Hartman House that aims to help underprivileged children all around the world. Since its formation, Hartman House has helped to support several charities worldwide including a shelter for adolescent girls in Africa called the Angola Girls Project. Hartman House has also spearheaded aid projects in orphanages in Uganda and Haiti, and they have funded school scholarships for inner city children living in Los Angeles.Butch currently lives in California with his wife, two daughters, four Dogs, and one Cat. He was happy to discuss his career, his most recent show, and his hopes for the future:Ive loved cartoons ever since I was a kid and was fortunate enough to be able to pursue animation and grow in it all my life.I came in when I first sold the pilot forto Fred Seibert for the Oh Yeah! Cartoons show. This was back in 1997.It was super fun. I originally created the idea as a possible childrens book. I had drawn one drawing of a boy and beast staring at each other with the title above them. That was the start. It all has to start from somewhere!My favorite episode so far is Astro-Nots. Its an episode where Bunsen and Mikey are accidentally blasted into space with their hero, Commander Cone, an ice cream man who has some emotional problems. Commander Cone is played by Jerry Trainor fromThe great characters and the strong writing. Thats what will give any show an appeal to an audience.To have it be the #1 cartoon in the world, of course!I created theand an app called The Noog Network. I also just had my first comic book released. Its calledfrom Lion Forge Comics.The fact that I get a chance to make kids laugh all the time!To expand The Noog Network into its own network and to makethe #1 cartoon in the world!Keep practicing! Everything! All the time!As mentioned before, theres The Noog Network, which contains all original shows, cartoons, and games. Its always expanding. Also, theres my charitable foundation: Hartman House. Its a non-profit that helps people all over the world. Plus I always have new ideas cooking! You never know what will show up next!Visit Nick.com Instagram and the Nick App to learn more aboutTo learn more about the Hartman House Foundation, visit HartmanHouseFoundation.org/ To watch Butch's new cartoons - download his app, The Noog Network: https://appsto.re/us/HvPP7.i Be sure to like, subscribe, and follow everything of Butch's below:Facebook: /butch.hartman1 Instagram: @butchhartman Twitter: @realhartman Snapchat: @realhartman & @noognetworkYouTube: Butch Hartman Pinterest: /butchhartman/ President Trumps foreign policy adviser Walid Phares has warned against attempts by Tunisian Islamists and their Tripoli-based counterparts to bring down President Caid Essebsis democratically elected regime. The US official and Trumps right-hand man for the Middle East indicated on his facebook page that Washington received intelligence that Tunisian Islamists are colliding with their Libyan counterparts in Tripoli to topple the democratically elected regime. For Phares, if confirmed, the move will constitute a threat for moderate forces in Tunisia, the entire North African region and for the United States as well. The North African country is the only success story of the Arab Spring, which swept across the Arab world in 2011. Cradle of the Arab Spring, Tunisia has emerged as a nascent democracy. Run by a fragile coalition, the country is facing series of social protests demanding creation of jobs and execution of development projects in underprivileged regions. Many analysts believe that political parties in the opposition have been fueling the protests in a move to remove the regime and hamper the work of Prime Minister Youssef Chaheds cabinet